Into the Temple - Part 6

Log Info

• Title: Into the Temple - Part 6
  
• GM: Whirlpool
• Characters: Rune, Harkashan, Eztli, Bryn, Silmeria
  
• Location: Felwood
  
• Summary: The lost temple of Eluna stands revealed, its grounds consecreated, and the the exterior secured. Now all that's left is to begin its exploration.

Maeva looks on silently at the skeletal remains of her people's ancient pasts. She has kneeled and offered prayers up to the Gods, quietly, while the others worked to get the next trap open. With that accoomplished, she rises to her feet and nods towards the next door.

"Are you all ready?" She whispers.

"Ready," Silmeria affirms, cocking her gun and pointing it at the floor.

The prayers for the dead had been observed in silence, a reminder for the Speaker to brush up on her Elunan funereal custom before she considers her work complete. Perhaps to dig into the archives to find older rites...

Snapping her attention back to the here and now, she focuses on the door, and the inevitable disaster beyond.

With their next door forward already taken care of, Rune looks over the array of chemical bottles which had been set up in the trap, taking inventory of the ones that might still be usable. "Got some usable vials of acid, and a couple of bottles that must have been meant to be alchemist's fire." She reports to the others, "Anyone want a couple? Might be useful somewhere..." If nothing else, it saves her having to lug all of them around, herself.

At the question, though, Rune nods her head, "Ready as ever."

"Well, at least I don't think this temple is going anywhere, at the very least. Someone will be able to take care of all of this later. Someone needs to take care of this later." Eztli sighs as she heads over to the cleared door. "Sure, I'll take a couple. Safer to leave them on me, I'm mostly fireproof. And if those stoppers are disintegrating, better I burst into flames than someone else."

"I am ready to cross the threshold." Harkashan answers in the affirmative, as the others work on gathering any last items and preparing themselves. The Sith-makar awaits at the door, ready to lead the way inside. Tilting his head away to no longer look upon the desiccated bodies. He promises, a proper burial will come.

Bryn looks over the scene. It's like it was a final meal. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, but she is quiet out of respect. Took alot to do that.

Speaking of taking alot to do things, she looks to Rune. "Those gonna help against hellspawn 'n automatoes 'n whatever else? If'n so, wouldn't mind some. Elsewise," she eyes the path ahead, "Le's farkin go."

And so it is, then, across the threshhold. It quickly becomes clear that the demons did in fact make it through. The damage to the walls, the scorch marks obscuring the murals that once decorated it, make that abundantly clear. It's not even the signs of batttle, really, but simple, wanton destruction that wasn't present earlier. Odd that the outter parts of the temple through which you've traversed did not show the same kinds of damage that it does within this space.

As the last room passed through was a dining area, it should coome as no surprise that this is clearly a wing of living quarters, as you cautiously reach an intersection where you can go left or right or simply go oon ahead. A peek either way reveals the aforementioned nature. A quick perusal of a couple of the rooms shows that, each one having a raised stone platform against a wall which must have served as a place to put a bed. The walls are decorated with floral patterns of winding vines, damaged and chipped at as the hallways were. Shattered remnants of what would now certainly be antique furniture are also on display. Its as if, where as something outside has been keeping the temple cleaner, whatever magic is at work is simply not being applied here.

GAME: Harkashan rolls Perception: (17)+30: 47

Weapon drawn, Harkashan continues forward with a firm step. Taking note of every hint, every signal of demon presence. Yet, at first glance, there's nothing really here. Nothing beyond the signs of battle themselves.

"Hrrrm." Harkashan's tail whaps against the floor in irritation. "All of these signs of battle, yet no demons. Nothing, aside from the silence of this place. We press on." Harkashan remarks, glancing into the occassional broken door. Leaving the ones that are still attached to their hinges to the others.

GAME: Rune rolls perception: (10)+36: 46

Bryn is ready, anxious, and/or nervous. The curved blade at her back is drawn out, kept in one hand as she glances into the rooms (or at the doors) they pass. "Maybe the demons left when they couldn't get in? Or they got their sulphurous sacks kicks 'n went home?" She likes a scrap as much as the next person, but not finding demons isn't so bad, neither.

"Well, that explains the barricades at this point. I guess they wouldn't put those up with no reason at all." Eztli considers, stopping to peer into a room. "These areas look older though, more like what I would expect. Are the previous areas the ones that look wrong, then?"

"This whole place makes no sense though, to be perfectly honest, though." The sorceress adds. "I hope we'll find the source of this all, somewhere."

"...They were here for a purpose," Silmeria murmurs, brow furrowing at seeing some doors closed and some broken. "The job was *specifically* to execute every Elunan within this temple. Given the time of day the attack happened, it's not surprising that few of these rooms were broken into. It is, after all, easier to track your target when you can hunt the lights of holiness..."

Shuddering, she gives her head a brief shake, a bit of her good humor falling away to reveal the granite-boned detemination beneath.

Maeva grimaces.

"I suspect we've already met the residents anyway," She glances behind her, forlornly, towards the mess hall you just departed. A quick examination and exploration will reveal that the left turn dead ends, as does the north hall, suggesting you've reached this corner of the temple. taking a right leads you to what seems to be another exit. Further persual reveals that all of the rooms on either side of this hallway are more oro less the same this way. They seem increasingly ransacked, as if there was a sense of mounting wrath by the demons, frustration. One of the walls at the end of the tunnel initially ahead of you has claw marks on the wall, alongside ancient sprays of waht must be demonic blood on the walls, dripping... indicating the likelyhood that they turned on each other.

"Can't say, as I have no idea what sort of things might be lurking in here, but I find very few things are immune to both fire and acid." Counting out the vials, she hands two of each to both Eztli and Bryn, so that the resources are spread out within the group. If they get into a tight spot, at least there will be more hands with them.

As people begin to move forward, Rune draws her blades and hangs just behind the forefront, making sure to let her eyes scout ahead for signs of other traps. "What I don't like is that the outer areas, the ones that you'd expect to have found damage, was unmarred, but here..." Her brows furrow, "Maybe they made their way in a different way than we did?"

"Thanks," Bryn tucks the gifted vials away. "Here's hopin ye don' find more of 'em here." She eyes the spatterings on the walls. "Nothin looks fresh ta me, at least." She's not entirely sure whether that is a good thing or not.

As they reach the end of the hallway, Rune peers around Harkashan's bulk and eventuallly squeezes herself past him, possibly by magical means by the look of it. She hovers at the door and holds up a hand, peering through the keyhole. "So... it looks like we've got more of that opal on the other side. Like... whatever sealed off the other door, was trying to seal the entire area." She looks over her shoulder. "We could try to take the door off the hinges, but there's still the opal to deal with on the other side."

Bryn peers at the door, and at Rune peering through it. Then she sighs with enough force to make her lips flutter. "Great. More o' that evil opal stuff. "N I thought doors were bad on their own."

"Oh, great, more of this stuff. Why couldn't they have blocked off these doors with something just, I don't know, a bit less susceptible to corruption?" Eztli grumbles. "I can blow it up again if I have to, but I really don't want to mess with it again if we can help it." She adds with a slightly concerned look to Silmeria.

Harkashan slows as Rune mentions the opal and forms up on her position for a short while. "It's odd. Between the Opals - which alude to being set traps - and the way they seem to have turned on eachother... either a small group of them ended up coming together..." Harkashan shakes his head. "Something is not yet adding up for me."

GAME: Rune rolls disable device+8: (2)+32+8: 42

"Interesting," Silmeria says, peering at the door, then Eztli. "You're not wrong, of course, but we *did* assure our friend we'd clear this temple and reconsecrate it... and I honestly can't imagine a consecration standing with that sort of corruption in place. Though... perhaps we can manage it from a bit further back, than before? Everyone else *does* now have walls to hide behind..."

"Sorry Ez. I would deal with it if I could, but magical nonsense is kind of out of my league." The rogue may be preternaturally good at some things, but dealing with tainted crystal is not one of those things. Instead, she motions to Harkashan, "Come here, big guy. I'll get the hinges, you move the door." Because there is no way she can carry it on her own. So, with a few *tink tink*s of her tools, the pins fall out of the hinges and she backs up. Quite a ways back. Not wanting to be caught in the explosion radius of the opal.

"Alright. Moving the door." Harkashan answers, grabbing the door as Rune gets the hinges, and puts it against the wall to the side, so it no longer interferes with their passage.

"Ain't all nonsense," Bryn points out, "but this kinda magic's way outta my league, too." She keeps her distance from the now-doorless opal. "Shame it's gotta be all corrupted and evilized. Worth a fortune otherwise."

"It's okay, but there's a lot of magical nonsense here, and it seems like every bit of said nonsense has led to someone or other getting hurt." The small makari sighs, rubbing the back of her neck. "Course, I can still just make it blow up, but I don't know if it's safe to do it without help. Gods damn it, can't tell if someone getting hurt is better than risking blowing it up without help."

"Alright, anyways, you all stand back." Eztli grumbles, rolling up one sleeve, which wasn't particularly useful given the clothing was magical anyways.

Before Silmeria backs away with the rest, she raises a hand toward the corrupted opaline substance. "'Pain shared is pain halved,'" she quotes, a wry smile softening her grim countenance. "It's a common sentiment among most of us who serve... And I'd rather hurt a bit, to ensure *you* don't hurt a lot, Eztli."

Closing her eyes, she concentrates on the blessings of the Goddess of the Dead, murmuring a hushed litany of prayers and paeans. A wavering, silvery light gathers in her outstretched palm, gradually strengthening and brightening.

With most such prayers, the chant would end in a crescendo, a final, fervent shout to blast the cleric's will outward. It is, perhaps, fitting, that this servant of Death simply falls silent, her prayer ending with all the finality of a second date etched in stone.

With that end, though, Vardama's work begins; in this case, the bright silver light rushing forward, purity to combat demonic corruption.

GAME: Eztli casts Fireball. Caster Level: 13 DC: 21

"Okay, okay, ready!" Eztli shouts before their ally begins chanting in prayer. "Conflagrate!" the sorceress hisses, flicking one finger into the palm of their hand that sparks a small flame that picks up speed, swirling around into a ball of flames which she holds until the ritual is complete, where she tosses it directly into the opaline barrier, causing the corridor to erupt into flames.

Boom!

From a safe distance, you're able tto reduce the opals to slag, dust, and shards.

It works well enough, and oonce the sparks and embers are burnt out, you're able to move ahead having contributed your own scorch marks to the history of this place. What's a few more scorches, right?

Things take on an immediately different character as you move beyond the threshhoold into anotheer hallway that runs paralell to this room, left and right. Immediately, things return to the more, almost immaculate state of the rest of thte temple was in initally.

Magical lights spring into life. You're eyes are immediately drawn to the wisps moving back and forth, little cyclones of arcane energy that seem to be... cleaning.

Dusting.

Mopping, even. They're woorking their way down towards you from the right.

Harkasha grimaces as the detonation goes off... but luckily, nothing else happens. "Alright. Well done Eztli." He remarks, and then starts heading to the hallway and into the cleaner chambers - where motes of light are doing some cleaning.

He takes a moment to look at Maeva to see what her reaction to all of this is, before he moves towards the right. "The cleaners came from this direction. Just a gut feeling, but perhaps the last dirty thing they cleaned was in that direction. So let's head that way."

Rune lifts her hands from her ears, giving her head a shake. Loud noises were sometimes hard on her sensitive hearing. Reclaiming her weapons from their sheaths along her back, she follows the others into a... much cleaner hallway. Except, this time they seem to have some sort of explination for it, by means of the strange wisps that seem to be tidying the place. "Well... that explains some things."

However, some confusion follows, "Don't most spells have a limited lifespan? I wonder how these things are still active after all these years." Harkashan seems to have a fair idea, though, so she nods her head. "Makes sense. If nothing else, it's worth a look."

"...Well that's a thing," Silmeria says, eyes focused in puzzlement on the 'cleaning' motes. "...And it explains why the cleanliness..." Looking over her shoulder, she raises an eyebrow. "...I suppose their work is quite overdue," she murmurs, then draws in a breath. "Onward, then. Let's see what there is left to see."

"It's a good questiono," agrees Maeva, frowning as she looks back and forth, "...but it does at least explain the state of the exterior. They couldn't get past the opals to do their work, I suppose." She nods towoards Silmeria, then loooks down the hallway both directions, leaving the choice oof direction up to the professionals.

"Well, those are quite interesting. Shame they fell out of fashion at some point, for some reason. I hate cleaning." Eztli grumbles, mostly to herself as she dusts off her robes. "Maybe they couldn't reach there, so they might fix it up."

"Could be something with this place absorbing magic, or time being a little bit fucky here maybe, always a posibility." Eztli considers. "Well, guess it'll be harder to navigate if they're cleaning up the messes. One of you will probably need to find the trial."

As you bypass the cleaning instruments, they work around you, seemingly paying you no heed beyond following after you to clean the smudges your boots might make. As you get further doown the way, you see some of them heading intoo the area you opened up to their efforts. Perhaps they're going to get to work in there. If so, it's going to take them a very long time. And besides, you quickly realizey ou have other problems. You emerge intoo a large chamber, dimly illuminated like the rest of the temple. Your eyes are immediately captured, however, by what lays at its center. First, there is too thosoe who have made themselves familiar with the outlying spires, a familiar spiral staircase leading up.

But it's what stands in frontt of it that is more alarming. Upon a raised stone platform is a pillar of the magical opal material that has been present throughout it.

Before you can so much as approach, however, something happens. Cracks appear in the pillar and then it quite suddenly crumbles...

... before quickly reforming into an approximation of humanoid shape. A large humanoid shape formed from living gemstone, its parts disconnected and tethered by flaring arcane energies.

...and visible on the stones surface are the trapped visages of a thousand, raging demons.