Sin's In (Part 2)
You return to Alexandria to discuss your plans, and to await a long enough period of time so that when you re-arrive in the town it will be after nightfall. Currently, that is the extent of the plan however, to return after nightfall and learn what you can of the township newly renamed after those demonic beings which have sent their blessings to the townsfolk. It's a bit eerie to remember how... happy everyone had been. And it's even more discomforting to return to the town with the long shadow of the newly risen statue in the town center disappeared into the dark. It looks somehow sinister under the light of so few stars and no moon at all.
Hun'rar waits well outside of town, he is by far the noisiest around and him going into town is just going to cause further trouble. "I really hope these people are misled, then this becomes a lot easier than having to take out an entire town." he says with worry on his voice.
A journey in the dark? Shadowy threats? Adventurers possibly having rushed off to more than they could manage and now regrouping and returning in force? Aya's interest is piqued by any or all of these rumors, and thus seeks out the volume of varied vigilantes venturing to the village.
Malik looks to Hun'rar, raising an eyebrow at the man. "You would slaughter an entire town, if it came to it?" He seems to weigh that idea. "I wouldn't have thought to hear that from one such as you. Apparently there are still some surprises in the world." He's leaning on his bow, looking very much himself, waiting on the others to arrive.
"The world is a never-ending supply of surprises," Aya notes quietly as she steps from the shadows to join those overwatching the down. "Razing the whole town would be moderately effective, though may not be the most efficient."
Halani squats on her heels, outside the village and in the shadows, observing the lit town and listening to the others in the group. "Grandpa would say 'bridges yet to cross' yeah?" She wipes at her nose, this time with a small towel she had the foresight to bring. Though it's starting to look a little sodden at this point. "Where's the demon hiding? Sneak in... kill it... see what happens? Betchu it's in the temple."
Hun'rar shakes his head at Malik "Only if in the case of irreversible corruption. I just suspect its a demon or that priest though, we just need to remove the source of the issue. I hope the other scouting are successful." he notes, just a bit impatient at being left behind to wait.
Seldan had spent the time while in Alexandria to purchase a couple of scrolls, but aside from doing what he could for Halani, had largely been quiet on the journey back, and on the return, his bearing suggesting more than a little guilt for what had happened. "There is more than one, I think," he murmurs quietly, He, too, seems to be staying behind, though he had paused far enough out of town to use one of the scrolls he'd purchased. He makes a point of staying well clear of Halani during the casting, but it is over swiftly enough, the incantation's gray energies settling into his skin and vanishing. "I can appear differently, but I am not skilled as an actor. They will know me, do I speak."
GAME: Seldan used a Scroll of Undetectable Alignment.
Aya looks from one to the other, arching one white brow. "Removing few would be easier than the entire population. If they are a flock, they might well scatter without their shepherds." She then looks to Seldan. "More than one demon, or priest? Do they serve the demon, or does it represent another?"
Malik shrugs. "It's a demon, not a storybook villain. It's vain enough to hide in a Temple, I think, but I have no idea if it would be so unintelligent to do so." Though as the other paladin speaks up, Malik looks his way. "I think I've proven that I can both appear as a different person, and act the part reliably." A one-shouldered shrug. "Should it be desired. I can also remain unseen."
"Okayokayo..." Halani says, then pinches at the bridge of her nose as she rises. "So I'm thinking," she goes on in a painfully nasally voice, "a couple've us sneak in, yeah? Check the temple... see if the priest or demon or both are there." There is a pause to sniffle, then she drops her hand so she can use it to start gesturing. "Then we sneak back... or signal... smuggle our heavies in... bolt the door so we can fight all uninterrupted... kill the priest and maybe the demon too... and then see what happens?"
Seldan flushes a deep pink at Malik's commentary, eyes dropping to the ground as he coughs, but he nods. "I do not question you, Malik. I think it best if I remain unseen until the game is up and the battle joined. Halani ... beware. More within are evil than the priest, and I cannot say if the demon is present or no." He's still talking to the ground as he re-gathers his composure.
Malik glances between those gathered, sighing. "Well," he suggests, "someone had better decide on something soon, before we all die of the plague. Or old age. Whichever comes first." For the moment, he just takes an arrow out of his quiver, running the point under his fingernail, listening to Seldan and Halani's plan, nodding along. "Unseen for you, I can do as well." Glancing to Aya and Hun'rar, he asks, "Objections? Alternatives?"
Aya gestures to Halani with a hand. "I favor that over razing, and certainly over waiting for infirmity to claim them all. If any remain here in caution until the fiends are found and a strongpoint secures, I can return quickly enough with word, and hasten our mutual return. Shall we?"
Halani just flashes a grin at Seldan, though it's somewhat wan. "This one would not want to be someone who got in our way, evil or no, yeah? If they do... we go over them." She pumps a fist into her other hand. "We pull out the roots, let the tree fall where it will." With that the monk woman straightens and does a few stretches, wincing only a few times, then nods to Aya and Malik. "This one is ready. I am ready."
Hun'rar nods "I will await your signal to go in. Should take me no time as I can call on some wings to speed me in." he says as he looks to the others. "Anyone need a hand? Mage armor or elemental resistance?"
GAME: Halani rolls stealth: (10)+22: 32 GAME: Malik rolls Stealth: (19)+19: 38 GAME: Aya rolls stealth+4: (7)+21+4: 32 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+26: (14)+26: 42
As you sneak up on the temple, you can hear the sound of the priest talking to someone through one of the temple windows. "Yes Master, it goes very well. These humans, they just /give/ it to you." He stops suddenly as you near the window and there's the sound of scraping and then the window opens quite suddenly. It's the priest poking his head out the window. You're all well hidden in the shadows of a bush, but the priest's eyes fall on that bush as if they will burn the bush down and then with a grunt he calls out in common. 'What brings you here so late?' <abyssal>
Malik glances at the other two when the priest turns his attention toward their hiding spot. It's impossible to know who is made and who isn't, though they don't exactly get a lot of time to sit and ponder the situation. Malik, for his part, simply steps out of the bush and into the more open space, glancing around the temple with a look of mild distaste. "Well," he sighs. "At least you're decent at -something-." There's an edge in his voice that isn't usually there as he runs a hand along one of the walls, pulling his fingers away as he dusts them off. Very much looking like he's judging the priest's performance.
A distinct look of relief washes over Halani's face as Malik steps forward. Though one hopefully unseen by the priest, though the monk is clearly, at least to Aya and Malik, not confident that this priest isn't all knowing at this point. At least she catches on a bit to Malik's plan, electing to remain where she is.
Aya neither moves nor speaks yet, eyes looking to the priest and his window. Alas, narrow window, wide priest, or a combination of the two block any insight she might gain of the room beyond. Perhaps it shall change, perhaps not.
"Pardon?" The priest frowns at Malik, clearly not getting whatever point the other man is trying to make. "Did you come all this way to insult me?"
Malik rolls his eyes. "No, fool," he starts, moving to lean against the window sill. "I came here to spy on you, of course." A sly smile there. "I've been trying to claim this town for the better part of two years for Ashalazar, Knower of Ten Thousand Names, The Lord of the Unknown. And I never managed to find an opening. And yet, here you are, making quite the show of it. On the one hand," Malik keeps up, "I would normally offer you praise on your speed. But," he says, voice dropping, "your haste made you sloppy. You got the attention of -two- paladins. And their respective temples."
GAME: Malik rolls Bluff: (9)+13: 22 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+18: (19)+18: 37
And then maybe he didn't see everyone. Halani holds her breath, though. Partly from the suspense... partly because she's worried that breathing with a sore throat and a stuff nose might not be the quietest thing in the world. She fingers her ring, but doesn't do anything with it yet.
The priest blinks at Malik and then smiles, motioning the other man closer. "Come inside. Talk with me." He seems very welcoming all the sudden in spite of the vaguely insulting tone Merek had. "It seems we have something to discuss you and I."
GAME: Aya rolls sense motive: (15)+17: 32 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+28: (17)+28: 45
Hun'rar is back in the woods meanwhile, pacing a bit. "This makes me nervous." he says to Seldan. "First sign of trouble we both fly in. With luck we can be quick enough to go unnoticed by the town." red dragons are stealty right?
Aya watches the priest, peering as he suddenly seems far more amicable. Either Malik was convincing... or very much not. In any case, a potential opening appears forthcoming.
Malik doesn't seem very concerned with whether or not he was convincing, stepping into the Temple through the window that the priest has now helpfully fully vacated. He glances around the room, then glances back to the priest, waiting to see what becomes of this interaction -- while keeping a thumb on the ring on his own hand. Just in case.
Seldan is sitting rather more quietly, but clearly isn't happy either, from the frown he wears. "I doubt we will go unnoticed," he answers. "Will you let me conceal your aura, at the least? They know what we are, they see it as surely as I see them."
Halani waits as best she can for an opportunity to activate the ring, much preferably when someone is speaking. Failing that, the scraping of a door, or /anything/ to mask the ring's activation. At the very last, once the priest is out of sight. Once activated, she disappears completely from view... and then on the softest feet she can manage, she pads in after Malik.
GAME: Malik rolls Will: (1)+10: 11 (EPIC FAIL)
As Malik comes around the window's edge, a smooth, even voice calls out to him. "Sit down, and do not move." The voice's commmand can not be ignored, and in spite of preparation, Malik obeys. Which leaves Halani slipping in behind him to the sight of a beautiful individual sitting in the priests quarters. The window closes behind her and then the weight of the priest's hand is falling on her shoulder.
"You would be wise to join your friend on the couch." His voice is much firmer than the non-gender specific voice of the beautiful being that Malik is now seated beside comfortably.
Halani freezes when she feels the priest's hand on her shoulder. And mutters. "This one is getting her refund." It's an under the breath kind of mutter, but obviously the gig is up. Then, louder, "Wouldn't say a -friend- yeah? More... associate? Or what's your word... aquaintance? Maaaaaaybe work friend.." All the while she's speaking, Halani slips out from the priest's grasp. Or at least, that's her intent, shrugging her shoulder and lifting her hand as if to push his away. "Am kind of sick, hey? Probably don't want to get too close." She wipes at her nose to emphasize, then raises her wrist to show him the... soiled... cloth. "Think this one's brain is leaking."
‘This seems to have gone from suspicious to... far worse. Still, there may be some room for action. She ceases to exist in the shadows of the bush with a wisps of fading additional shadow. She rejoins the prime material a couple hundred yards at or towards the others in wait. As much as the priest left an opening for a wonderful entrance, there is still the remnants of a plan to salvage, so Aya seeks to inform the others.
GAME: Halani rolls will: (12)+13: 25
The individual motions toward the couch, the one who spoke and so easily commanded Malik gestures to Halani. "Sit down." There's an air of command behind that as well, but it doesn't force Halani to act upon it. The priest looks between the two and smiles at Halani.
"Your sickness, we can cure it if you like, make you well again. Tell me that you wouldn't give much for that." His eyes are sharper than his gentle words.
Hun'rar looks up when Aya returns "What is the word?" he says with his hand going to his pomel. "Do we rush in or..." he says raising an eyebrow. He is tensed like a bow ready to fire.
"The priest and ...something are within the temple," Aya informs the pair, "as are our peers. Should you care to aid the latter, we should go. Now. I will divert them as best I'm able. Unless you'd rather leave them." She doesn't know their preference, so she at least offers the choice.
Halani shakes her head slowly. Maybe it's the resistance to the... being's compulsion. One she can't quite bring herself to get a good look at. Or maybe it's the priest's offering... like it's a temptation she doesn't want to give in to. She takes a half step sideways.. one that gets her a little further from the priest while also getting further away from being between him and his... boss? "This one would.." she finally admits, stuck in her old odd islander accent, probably because of the stress of this situation. She wipes at her nose again. "Would give a lot to be well. Forgot what being sick was like, yeah?"
GAME: Halani rolls bluff: (9)+8: 17
-TBC