Quest #33 "Wizards, Temples, and Obelisks, Oh My!"

[kruk]

May want to edit post for Andron as Lerrick cast Light on the creature's eyes two post ago

[Quonundrum]

I know, but it's entitled to a save vs spell. I want to make sure of them sticks before it escapes.

[OGRE MAGE]

Not Much Su Su Su Su
Waterday, 3rd of Harvester
Late Morning, Warm, Humid, Buggy

As soon as Andron snaps out of his mental funk, so does the creature. As it’s about to pounce at him, its tail still hanging from the branches above, Cresty and friends prove just how difficult it is to fight normally in theses tight jungle confines. Not one of their melee attacks connect.

Tlachtga has never seen anything close to this creature before, but that doesn’t stop her from lighting it up in a glowing outline so the others can see it better, thankfully. Lerrick and Andron call forth the light of their deities, blinding the strange creature before it has a chance to rip out any throats. Bright light starts to glow all around the beasts head.

Confused and blinded, instead of attacking, it yanks itself back up to its overhead branch by its powerful tail and perches there, out of the reach of hand held weapons. It growls and sniffs the air, feeling around with its paws to chose an elevated escape route.

Actions?

positions:

Alordan AC3 22/22
Tlachtga AC7 23/23 1st 4/5 2nd 4/4 3rd 2/2
Andron AC10 13/13 CL 1st 3/4 2nd 3/3 MU 2/2
Lerrick AC5 14/20 1st 4/5 2nd 4/4
Maag AC5 19/19
Cresty AC4 11/11

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche

Andronichishche stares up in wonder at the blinded, macabre creature. Again his near-death honed survival instinct overcomes his natural curiosity and fascination of this remarkable beast, however. He gestures with one hand towards the north and begins to carefully move along the trail in the same direction, keeping a wary eye on the monster. "Quickly, let us make haste away from here", he whispers urgently. "There may be more than one about. I will explain later."

[kruk]

Lerrick

Listening to Andron, Lerrick stops herself from casting another spell that she was preparing to cast. She move slowly up the trail in the direction that the cleric-mage is moving. She keeps her eye on the beast's movement as the cleric moves up the trail.


Cresty

The fighter quickly sheathes his sword and equips his bow, then notches an arrow. He moves towards the others up the trail but keeps the arrow trained on the beast, ready to fire at a moments notice.

[Rex]

Tlachtga

Tlachtga follows along, making sure the creature doesn't follow.

[ravenn4544]

Alordan squints into the trees to search for more of strange creatures. He moves on as the group chooses to flee. He shakes his head, "We'll have to deal with this on the way back..."

[Jernau35]

Maag

Maag keeps his sword in his hand and his eyes on the trees as he moves on with the rest of the party.

[OGRE MAGE]

The Temple
Waterday, 3rd of Harvester
Early Afternoon, Hot, Humid, Buggy

Watching that the monster doesn't cause them more trouble, the group decides to continue on without any further harassment of the beast. The blinded and glowing cat-like creature seems content where it is at the moment, apparently unwilling to attempt any more aggressions in its current hindered condition.

Proceeding to slog along through the overgrown trail, the group hikes for another couple of hours with little else to see but lots of bugs and more thick jungle. They pass one widened clearing that appears almost inviting enough to stop for a quick lunch, but with even more black flies buzzing around than normal, they decide to press on till they find their destination.

Eventually, the trail opens up into a large clearing where they see a crumbling stone wall around a dilapidated manmade building that resembles an old stone church. A pair of tall towers adorn the front of the church, though one of them has fallen over and now lies in rubble on the western side of the edifice. The wall around the place is unkept and in bad condition, falling in on itself in a few places. It currently blocks any view inside, but there is a damaged rusty iron gate hanging askew on its hinges directly in line with the path leading into the inner complex. Atop that gate sits another of this jungles many creatures, and the first avian Tlachtga has seen closer than a few dozen yards away so far.

Jungle_owlet_(Glaucidium_radiatum)_Photograph_by_Shantanu_Kuveskar.jpg (468.3 KiB) Viewed 730 times

Actions?

positions:

548104E8-0CEC-4EC6-A603-F81C99907F30.jpeg (94.29 KiB) Viewed 729 times

Alordan AC3 22/22
Tlachtga AC7 23/23 1st 4/5 2nd 4/4 3rd 2/2
Andron AC10 13/13 CL 1st 3/4 2nd 3/3 MU 2/2
Lerrick AC5 14/20 1st 4/5 2nd 4/4
Maag AC5 19/19
Cresty AC4 11/11

[Rex]

Tlachtga

Tlachtga pulls out a piece of dried meat and carefully moves closer making soothing noises. Once within range she casts Animal Friendship on the owl.

[OGRE MAGE]

Tlachtga

Tlachtga pulls out a piece of dried meat and carefully moves closer making soothing noises. Once within range she casts Animal Friendship on the owl.

That spell takes a full hour to cast.

Is everyone okay with that?

[kruk]

Lerrick and Cresty are fine with it

[Quonundrum]

No problem here.

[Jernau35]

Maag

Maag grumbles and mutters impatiently. Not for the first time, he regrets that Gramble stayed at home. I bet if I 'ad dared 'im, 'e would 'ave thrown sumfin' at dat stupid bird."

He keeps his sword ready, waiting for whatever is getting ready to leap out of the trees while they all stand there watching Tlachtga hooting and flapping her arms.

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche

After they were well away from the area with the strange simian and the normal jungle noises return, Andron elaborates on his earlier warning, his voice tinged with a hint of embarassment. "I believe my spell provoked that attack", he began. "It's a hybrid spell that uses principles of psionics ... powers derived from the mind," he adds in clarification. "It should have detected intelligent creatures nearby, but my mind was psychically assaulted in the process." Andron grimaces as the he recalls the severe pain in his head. "That creature seemed to sense what I had attempted, so either it or another of its kind nearby mentally attacked in response." He smiles meekly. "I rang the dinner bell, in a manner of speaking. I am rather shocked that such a wild creature exists with that ability." He then looks about at the almost impenetrable jungle along either side of the faint trail. "Although on this island, perhaps I shouldn't be ..."

As they approached the temple clearing Andron recalls what he had learned from rumors of a previous expedition. "The temple was occupied until fairly recently by a necromancer, named Gorman." He pauses and glances uncomfortably at Lerrick. "Gorman had apparently defiled the temple graveyard to create minions for his undead army." He clears his throat and continues. "Fortunately, another group killed him and dispatched his undead soldiers. As I understand it, other than any kobolds inhabiting the temple now, not much else remains as a threat. There should be a fountain on the temple grounds that is home to some kind of monster that literally ate Mr. Nehru. The original owner of the Hi-Lo. The details are unclear, but he had come to parley with Gorman and his group was ambushed."

Andronichishche pauses as the outer gate comes into view and watches in fascination when Tlachtga begins the lengthy spell to befriend the owl perched on the ancient iron portal. His reverie is snapped by Maag's comment, however. "The way Mr. Gramble was eyeing that hog, I'm sure he would have eaten the bird, feathers and all, without a dare."

[kruk]

MaagMaag grumbles and mutters impatiently. Not for the first time, he regrets that Gramble stayed at home. I bet if I 'ad dared 'im, 'e would 'ave thrown sumfin' at dat stupid bird."

Cresty

The fighter hears the words of the fighter-thief and then searches for a suitable rock. He spots one nearby and picks it up. He inspects the new found projectile and then eyes the bird. He the positions himself to throw the rock at the bird, cocking his arm back...

Lerrick

The cleric looks in horror as she now understands what the fighter is attempting to do. She moves quickly over to the fighter and grabs his arm and hisses under her breath Stop Cresty! What are you thinking?! The startled fighter looks at Lerrick, then the bird, then Maag, then drops the rock. He clears his voice and mutters to himself something about keeping guard on the path the party just took to get here. He unsheathes his sword and stands guard.

[Rex]

The spell allows a saving throw at the beginning of casting, so if it fails we won't waste the whole casting time.

[ravenn4544]

Alordan scans the grounds. "Who built a temple like this in the middle of no where? Why? I've got a bad feeling about this...."

[OGRE MAGE]

The Temple
Waterday, 3rd of Harvester
Early Afternoon, Hot, Humid, Buggy

Tlachtga begins her spell, keeping the attention of the owl as she hoots and flaps her arms about in what looks like some kind of mental possession to the others. When the bird doesn't simply fly off, she believes she is making progress, but knows that this process will take a good while to complete.

Andron fills the others in on the recent history of the temple beyond, reciting the demise of Mr. Nehru in the process. He warns about the fountain and of his suspicion of kobolds inhabiting the place, when Alordan mentions the bizarre location of this building. If the clues and maps they have found on this island so far have proven anything, perhaps this area wasn't always so remote.

Cresty almost tosses a rock at the bird after Maag's comments, but luckily Lerrick seems to understand the fallen paladin better than most, staying his hand and preventing the druid from having to start all over again.

After about a half hour of watching this strange ritual, Cresty and Maag start to hear a slight commotion off in the distance. It sounds like something is coming up the trail they are now on. Maag just shakes his head as if he knew this was coming all along.

Actions?

positions:
no change
Alordan AC3 22/22
Tlachtga AC7 23/23 1st 3/5 2nd 4/4 3rd 2/2 AF: (Processing)
Andron AC10 13/13 CL 1st 3/4 2nd 3/3 MU 2/2
Lerrick AC5 14/20 1st 4/5 2nd 4/4
Maag AC5 19/19
Cresty AC4 11/11

[Rex]

Tlachtga

Is to focused on her spell to notice anything.