Hunting Fiends pt8

When last we left our brave and noble heroes, Kore had been scouting and had returned withg news for the motley collection of wererats and the rest of you about the structure, the former Animus temple, that now it woiuld appear could belong to Asumit's agents.

Great.

In any event, they've heard Kore's tale and the questions and plans offered so far without offering anmy of their own. Seems they're content to let you take the lead for now.

Hun'rar taps his chin. "Unless we have a way to all get to the top of the building I think going in the front is the best way, our rat friends can cover the sewers while we work our way to the top. Quite possibly during the day too, having extra light is likely to help us more than the enemy."

Serraphine stares at the building, tilts her head, "Why don't we just find a way to set it on fire and wait for the rats to run out?" She shrugs and starts rummaging around in her bag of endless cookies. Before she pulls out a...

Nope, and she's groping around in the bag up to her elbow.

She.... She can't be out can she?

Morgan nods "most groups like that are late night party types so they would be sleeping most likely. I do like Serraphine's idea but I could go in there drop a fireball and then you all rush in."

Sasha says, "And then we'd have everything coming our way, Morgan. I've been told I'm an excellent healer, but the resources are finite.""

Hun'rar shrugs "I have no problem providing the bulwark if we are hit but I am concerned about needless destruction and fire spreading if we go that route. Could mean a lot of collatoral damage and the like. I think we need to go in and flush our enemy out."

Morgan nods to Hun'rar "yes and a good chance to get books on this group so we can track them to other areas." she is also thinking of loot.

"She said all the books were missinmg," says one of the rats to Morgan. They're all in their human shapes, of course, kicked back and enjoying their ales.

All of them are lookiing between each other and then r the rest of you.

"There's no telling what would happen, though, if we set it on fire. TEmpting as that is."

"I can go in ahead and prepare the way once we have a plan," Kore suggests. "If nothing else, we can unlock the doors. I... Do not believe we will all necessarily fit through the vents I used to enter." Kore is speaking in her usual careful, measured way, like she might be relaying a grocery list. "The fact there were no demons visible at all suggests that if we can take out the portal we can potentially prevent them from entering the fray entirely. Excluding whichever were already there and hidden."

Iskandar tilts his head back to survey the tower. He scratches his chin. "We can't all move without being seen, like Kore did--" he inclines his head at the monk. "-But there are other ways. What if we capture a few and disguise ourselves?"

Serraphine gives a shrug, with one arm as the other is still now bicep-deep in the bag of never ending cookies. A blink and she stares at Kore, "No way I'm fitting through any vents, that's for verdamn sure." She nods and frowns again, finally retrieving her arm from the bag... cookie-less.

Morgan walks in circles and hands Serraphine a frieddough ball that is covered in sugar that is wraped while she walks by "Well the front door is fine all we need is a few of the rats to take care of the exit."

Hun'rar hols up a finger "Actually do we know all the exits? Sewers sure, the front entrance but is there a back one? Also do we know if our prey can fly?" he offers as a suggestion. "Perhaps we can turn this trap around on them, bait our foe out."

Serraphine raises the fried ball to her nose, sniffing, and waits for Morgan to be facing the other direction. Then she covertly hands it off to one of the not-quite rat people while 'licking her fingers' to make it seem like she ate it. "Mm. So tasty."

GAME: Serraphine rolls Bluff: (5)+2: 7

GAME: Morgan rolls sence motive: (14)+sence motive: 14

GAME: Morgan rolls sense motive: (19)+2: 21

GAME: Kore rolls sense motive+2: (4)+24+2: 30

At this point Morgan is use to Serraphines rudeness but does not care about the not eating it "Any one else have a idea on how to enter it."

"It can be easy to get wrapped up in too many ideas, but let's remember, the less they know about what we're doing, the better. Now, my team can either go in through the sewers or wait outside or whatever, but if you want to take point, you need to decide how." They glance at each other, nodding. "If there's some kind of portal in there, it might be good to shut it down before gods knows what comes through."

Serraphine had tried to be incredibly tactful! Passing it off when Morgan wasn't looking and even miming that it was tasty. But, alas, it had failed miserably as she might've well have been miming eating empty air and talking with her mouth full.

"How about we block the front doors and go through the sewers?"

"It's an option," agrees the rats to Serraphine.

"Or we could pincer. It's not like vents provide any particular challenge to us. We can squeeze better than... hey, where'd she go?" They're looking around for Kore.

She's, you know, /right there/.

GAME: Kore rolls stealth: (17)+16: 33

Iskandar looks at Kore. "You didn't actually go down into the sewers, did you? You just know that there is a way...?" He rubs his short beard in thought. "I still think we should stick to the route that's already been charted. I heard of nothing that would make me worry and seek to find a different way." He squints at the rat who spoke. He seems a bit uncomfortable discussing their detailed plans in front of them. Or, as uncomfortable as Iskandar ever gets. Which is to say, not very. "But I agree that we should get to the portal as soon as possible and close it. Time to mop up the remaining villains once that's taken care of."

Kore raises her hand helpfully to draw more attention to herself. It doesn't help. After doing so, she breathes a heavy sigh and gives Iskandar a nod.

"There's something beneath the building. But I don't know if it's --- an entrance, or a crypt full of monsters, or..." She shrugs slowly at this.

"The issue with the vents is the climb, and size. I am not entirely sure we can get an entire party in through them and we definitely can't all get back out if something goes wrong. So... Bear that in mind. Unlocking the front door might work out better," Kore relates softly. "Or looking for that sewer entrance."

Hun'rar nods to Iskandar "Seems the sensible thing to do. IF we make this too complicated it could also mean more things can go wrong. Is there a civil guard force here in the city we can potentially recruit to form a perimeter around the building? I am guessing not so much..."

When Hun'rar mentions civil guards, the rats start laughing.

"You're looking at part of it."

They're drinking. "The rest, well... they don't call us the city of thieves for no reason, you know." That is to say they're very bribable.

Morgan says "Well I would like some spells back so can we get two and a half hours please?"

GAME: Morgan refreshes spells.

Serraphine blinks, "I still say the payment and block the main doors. Then we just work /up/ instead of worrying about them escaping out the bottom." Serraphine reaches into another pouch, searching for her emergency back-up cookies now.

Hun'rar nods "Thats a good idea, rest up a bit and then go in from the sewers."

"I mean, we can hold the doors for you," agrees the rats leader, a correspondignly wiry looking man, "if that's your p[reference. Whatever you guys want. You're the ones taking the lion share of the risks here."

Hun'rar nods "Indeed, that seems to be best I think, probably would help if you hired some folks to help you out and honestly... I don't really want to know who and how."

Sasha says, "it's because they have Althea with them." She says looking to the rats. "I'm more worried that you may get caught. IF you can take down the portal.""

Morgan takes a momemt and says "or tell some lord about a soon to be empty place and they might send some people to help."

Serraphine tries the back-up back-up emergency cookie bag and...

"Okay. What's the plan? Because we're taking a rest and then I'm going. Let's wrap it up." Serraphine was... completely out of cookies. "I need to get back before Mayra has puppies since she's pregnant."

Mayra cackles at her and cocks her head to the side.

"I mean Acleese is pregnant." It's totally not because she's out of cookies.

Sasha says, "You're out of cookies. Good then you can focus on the task. When we get back, I'll HELP Acleese bake a new batch.....or 20."

"So, the sewers or I open the front door. Let's take a quick vote?" Kore pauses for a second. "I say sewers, if we can find an opening. If there IS something hiding there we need to find it eventually. Then our friends block the front door." She looks to the rats.

Morgan sighs "Though I hate them sewers

"Sewers. And have them block the front. Yeah." Serraphine nods, and raises up her hand.

Hun'rar nods and agrees with Serraphine.

GAME: Kore rolls Perception: (19)+17: 36

...down into the sewers you go.

Again.

Poor Kore, right?

Still, you're soon enough following the paths that would take you under the temple structure. It too has sewers. Priests have gotta use the toilet too, after all. It takes some time, but eventually Kore identifies a concealed passage that leads /deeper/, deeper beneath the temple and out of the actual sewers into some rough hewn, natural caves.

GAME: Morgan casts Overland Flight. Caster Level: 10 DC: 22

Sasha's not.....enjoying this foray at all. "More sewers. I'm gonna have to take a week long bath just to get the smell out of my nostrils....let alone get clean."

Constantin prowls along, worried now. Too many things live in the sewers to be anything else.

Morgan stays about the water as she flys with the group "I will magicaly clean us all a few times, and what the hell do they eat here."

Kore clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth, frowning as she studies her surroundings. Sasha gets a sympathetic nod, though the Monk is quick to return to studying her surroundings with care. "You get used to them eventually. "I wish I hadn't had to," she adds after a moment, teasing a rueful grin. "But you make due."

Serraphine tromps along through the sewers, her hands still pulling at different pouches. Surely... surely one of the cookies must've escaped to somewhere.

Iskandar has his short bow in one hand. In the other he holds a torch. He keeps towards the back of the party so as not to spoil anyone's darkvision or attempts at stealth. "Who's idea was it to come through the sewers?" he mutters darkly.

...and it isn't too t erribly long before you are, in fact, finding what appears to be catacombs. In slots in the walls are rows of skulls placed atop collections of bones, yes.

Congratulations: you found old Animusite burials beneath the temple! Far beneath.

You're going to have a ways up to go, it semes.

Morgan looks around and mentaly sighs as there is so much to learn here but she follows with the group as she will come back here.

Sasha looks about and tilts her head. "The Vardaman might be interested in this."

Kore has out her Silver Harp symbol and is wielding it like a talisman against the darkness as they proceed, murmuring a prayer to Vardama as they travel. She's staring at the crypts in a rare show of obvious surprise. But otherwise she forges onward.

"Everything," Connie opines to Morgan. "They eat everything." He grunts, looking around. "A few folks would, I think. Maybe the Elunites, as well."

Morgan says "Keep poking the bear why dont you. I could wright a book on that area alone." she is still hovering off the ground.

Was that whispering?

Sure sounded like it, but then it's gone.

Still, you're all sure you heard *something*.

Constantin's sword flares to life. "Well, show yourself. You have our attention." Connie sounds... resigned.

Iskandar can't help but peek into a few of the slots. "These must be ancient," he murmurs. "I wonder if the imposter clerics," he glances at Kore for confirmation. They were clerics, right? "Knew they were down here..." At the whispering he raises his bow, although he still holds a torch and won't easily be able to fire.

GAME: Morgan casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 10 DC: 17

Nothing reveals itself as of yet.

Still, these catacombs are really turning ionto mazes, now, as they have ups and downs. At least you know to go up, but then up turns into a curve that goes down, with intersections and more!

Morgan says as she is remembering where they are going "remember if the fight gets bad in the fight stand next to me and I will teleport us out of the fight."

Iskandar squints down a few intersections. "We might need you to teleport us -to- the fight," he admits. He slows and then glances back in the direction they came from. "And I still wonder what that sound was..."

Sasha says, "I'm wodering too."

Morgan says "Maybe the dead." said flatly as "good thing they were passive."

Constantin nods, scowling. "Yes, me as well." He looks up at the ceiling. "I'd be pretty mad about this cult above if I was the spirit of a dead cleric of a dead god getting taken in vain."

There it is again, louder.

It's not just one set of voices. It's actually dozens, coming from all around you.

Everywhere.

And this time it isn't rats./

Iskandar turns his head in one direction and then another. "Form a square," he hisses. "Casters in the middle." Iskandar tosses his torch to one side and knocks an arrow. He takes up a place and turns to face outwards.

Constantin doesn't raise his blade, though it's still lit. "I think we might want to hold off. Carefully."

GAME: Kore refreshes spells.

Kore lifts her holy symbol, scanning the darkness as her frown intensifies. She nods once, slowly, and moves toward the outer edge of the party. Unsurprisingly, given her heritage, the Monk has not bothered to produce light for herself. She focuses on taking up a defensive stance and murmuring another of those quiet prayers.

Morgan wants to follow up on her idea she takes the postion that Iskandar said to take. She places two fingers to her head and says in a holloed voice "caex di xilunwai majak ve toma putole toma." her eyes turn black as she starts to look around.

Sasha is starting to back away from the voices.

Morgan says as takes a stance "Oh we do have undead around us, and do not focus on the voices. It might be a siren call."

Serraphine looks one way, and then the other. Her mouth pulls off to the side, "Well, if we have undead..." She glances toward Sasha and shrugs her shoulders. "Do you have the ability to banish them?" She stops trying to find cookies, sighs, and draws her sword slowly out of its scabbard instead.

Sasha says, "Banish? No. Harm them, yes. But it would cut into my healing ability."

All at once, all the skulls along the walls shart chattering.

Morgan says "lets just get out of here do not attack."

Constantin nods to Morgan. "Come," he strides forwards, to lead them away from the skulls. "Let's go."

"They are evil... This is not right. We need to stop them or they may cause us problems." Serraphine looks at the others, "You cannot seriously think letting evil persist here is a good thing."

Iskandar says, "Down here we can fight them without alerting those in the tower. If we lead them to the entrance...it may reveal our presence and our plans."

As you begin to push forward, the skulls start to rise off the shelving units. Floating.

Sasha says, "And...there is the source."

Constantin stops, when others don't follow. He raises sword and shield. "Then let's do it."

Serraphine holds up her hand higher, the holy symbol dangling from her wrist "THE POWER OF SERRAPHINE... Wait, SERRIEL COMPELS YOU!" And she channels her faith through the symbol.

The headache really did jumble things around in her head a little.

GAME: Serraphine rolls 4d6: (12): 12

"We should destroy them now before they have a chance to fester further," Kore replies quietly. She waits to see the result of Serraphine's conjuring as she draws herself into her preferred fighting stance. "Vardama guide my fist. May these souls find their rest again soon." And on that note, Kore is preparing to engage in battle. Someone may wish to stop her from leaping at the nearest enemies.

You know those bones that are also on the shelves? They're moving now too.

And they, and the skulls,a re moving together into some massive, boneyard abomination...

...great. It's animating the bones and /pulling them to itself/..