Yaz' Joke Backfires

"Damn bloody cowards," Kokal spits as the priests escape. "An'one think this cursed dark goes all th' way back wit 'em, or c'n we jus' walk through it an' 'ave it gone?"

"I can' see a damned thin' tha's back there," he says, peering disgustedly at the darkened area before returning to the area of first row of pews to see about the party's condition.

"I thin we should get on wit lookin' fer where they got their captives. Seems like th' door behin' th' altar'd be th' best bet. Closer fer bringin' up sacrifices an' th' like. Foul bastards!"

Winnacer too looks towards the darkness through which the priests made their escape. He wonders to himself that it is perhaps just an illusion, remembering the way that the gnomes of Heimlin's village disguised the entrances to their grottos. He closes his eyes, then looks at the darkness once more. However, it still remains and the young Lord realizes that the darkness is real.

After a moment, Yaz picks himself up from between the pews and dusts himself off, looking sheepish:

"Can't even trust my own feet," he says, then spits and wanders over to the darkened area.

Winnacer then glances around to see the state of the group and realizes that they are temporarily secure. His face is still far from happy as his eyes rest upon the unholy altar. He addresses the stone slabs:

"Much vileness has occurred upon your back, foul altar. Spravedelna has charged me with the task of passing judgement upon your creators and the responsibility of destroying their implements. Never again will a sacrifice spill its blood upon you."

Winnacer gathers up the remainder of his holy water and hurls half of it upon the surface of the altar.

As the holy water splashes onto the dark stone of the altar, it starts to splutter and hiss as if the altar was glowing white hot, yet it is as cold as any normal other stone in the building. The holy water starts to turn to steam and, as Winnacer looks into the white vapor, it almost appears as if faces appear in it, hideous rotting faces that seem to be wracked in agony. The hissing as the steam evaporates seems to take on the sound of crying and screams of pain.

In a matter of seconds, the unholy display is over, all signs of the holy water having been evaporated. He looks once more at the dull stone slab, and sees that its condition remains unchanged.

"We'll have to start carrying around a sledgehammer or two to deal with these things," Jihan says as he watches Winnacer's testing of the altar with holy water.

"I'm not sure that would be best Jihan," Winnacer replies. "It seems that many souls have been trapped to some extent within this evil machination. Simply destroying the altar may only serve to condemn those souls forever, serving no Justice."

On his way into the darkness, Yaz watched Winnacer speak to the stone bench and splash it with water, a quizzical look on his face. Then he turned and walked into the darkness, trying to find where that door is located.

Padre Kokal takes his eyes off the sight and looks around the temple once more:

"Might be best t' wait 'til we see if there's 'nother way out other tha' back through 'ere 'fore we cut ourselves off, though. We still got t' get th' prisoners out too -- as tha's th' reason we're in this cursed, foul place t' begin wit."

Winnacer nods in agreement then looks towards the tapestry, his face cold as ice:

"It seems we must follow them yet again. But perhaps it would be best if we could find a different way through..."

"So let's do it. We all should scour the walls looking for secret portals like the one Jihan uncovered in the Temple of Smurt in Dobroushka. And burn that tapestry while we're at it. Disgraceful composition of fabric."

Xavier strides over to the tapestry and glares at it with great distaste:

"Whoresons taking pleasure in the curse of leprosy. Gott in himmel, I vill not be happy until all who take pleasure in such lay coughing up blood at my feet."

Xavier shakes his head and utters a long stream of Teutonic obscenities:

"Radengast shall cleanse this place with fire before I depart here. That I swear. I have seen its foul effects. To make a tapestry of its victims is disgusting!"

With these words, Xavier starts to strike through the cords hanging the tapestry to the wall with the Justifier. As it collapses to the floor he says:

"None shall look upon this filth again. It shall be burnt!"

"Aye," the Padre agrees, "it is Radegast's will that this obscenity be removed from this realm."

He then starts to assist Xavier with the task, using his hand axe to hack down the tapestries. Once the two followers of Radegast have hacked down all of the tapestries, they pile up the pieces of fabric into a large heap, taking care not to touch them with unprotected flesh. The Padre then reaches into his pack and produces a couple of vials of oil, which he then proceeds to pour upon the pile of fabric. Xavier follows him with his flint and steel and strikes a spark to the pile and stands back as the oil catches light, almost exploding into flame.

Xavier then stands back, and watches as the tapestries are burned down to ash.

Once the walls are bare, both Jihan and Gronk set to work in investigating them closely, trying to see if there is any other way out of the temple other than through the darkness in the center of the north wall.

As the dwarf and elf do so, Winnacer looks to the remaining spellcasters:

"Anybody have the counterspells for these foul sorceries?"

"Not me," Kokal replies.

Faewen'il brushes her skirts down and walks over to where Winnacer was standing, ignoring the bard for the moment. Secretly, she wished she could just leave him like he was.

"I ha' a scroll tha be undoin magical effects... but it be only good far one parson. One o them will ha ta wait till after I can copy tha spell into me books from tha second scroll an then study it."

"So take yar pick."

"The bard's got at least TWO magick's on 'im," the Padre adds. "Th' paralysis AN' likely a charm enchantment too. The priestess an' Bennett only got one, I thin."

Looking toward Aneira's whining form in the corner, Kokal says:

"Looks like she won' hurt no one, 'long as we c'n stan' 'er bellyachin' ... an' get 'er t' move. 'Least as much as we c'n EVER get 'er t' do anythin. So mebbe we c'n wait 'til th' magick wears off 'er n' try t' see she don' throw 'erself 'r anyone else off some cliff in th' meantime. But Bennett an' this one..."

The Padre nods towards Will:

"... 'r goin' t 'ave t' be carried if we wan' t 'move on straight 'way an' can' dispel th' enchantments. I, fer one, would rather not wait 'roun 'ere fer 'owe'er long it's goin' t' take t' copy scrolls or wait fer the magicks t' run their course an' give those vermin a chance t' get away or come at us again. An I don' guess we c'n leave any o' th' three o' them 'ere, e'en if some o' us might like t' do jus' tha' t' some o' em."

Aneira rises to her full height and glares at the form that is Kokal:

"I warned you. You continued. Now you will die. We will all die. Cast your little spells. All is futile."

Aneira's gaze locks on Kokal's with a manic gleam:

"Die," she repeats.

"If th' magess is willin' t 'use 'er scroll on th' bard, that'd take care o' 'im an' leave us figurin' 'ow t' cure Bennett," the Padre continues. "If we 'ad te, could we smack 'im t' bring 'im to 'is senses? I could 'eal th' damage straight 'way, 'long as we d'int kill 'im ... an' 'e d'int kill US fer doin' it. Would tha' snap 'im out o' it?"

Winnacer almost breaks a smile when he realizes just what antics Faewen'il is up to as he looks at the two charmed comrades. Almost. He ponders this for a second before answering:

"Perhaps it would best if we left them for now, letting them head back upstairs to safety. There are still enough of us operational to press forward and I believe we still have enough clerical healing magicks to aid the wounded. It probably would be best to save your scrolls for later, when one of our number in a more critical tactical position decides to give up the fight suddenly. We can remove their charms next time we make camp, as long as we can find enough time to sit in one place for you to study."

"Although it would be nice if we could get Bennett back onto his feet before pressing ahead. Anybody have anything for removing the paralysis of a wyvern?"

Fae, tired of all the bickering, ignores everyone's suggestions and simply digs in her satchel and pulls out a wooden scroll tube from which she extracts a scroll.

She then begins to read off of it and gestures towards Aneira.

The Padre looks more than a tad confused at both Aneira and Faewen'il, haltingly finishing off his ideas about the immobile party members, but his hand drops to his morningstar on his belt as Aneira growls at him and Fae starts to read.

As she does, the words disappear off the scroll as she reads them. Once the scroll is nothing more than a piece of parchment, she points towards Aneira.

Aneira looks a little confused for a moment after receiving the benefits of the scroll and stares at everyone, wondering why they are all staring at her.

Seeing the change in Aneira's attitude, Kokal seems to breathe a sigh of relief. Noticing his hand on his weapon, he quickly lets go of the star and looks a little sheepishly at the rest of the group:

"Sorry 'bout tha. Fer some reason, I'm a little jumpy. Thought she was makin' a suggestion there. Sorry I couldn't oblige ye if ye were, priestess."

Aneira shakes her head, looking at Kokal carefully:

"Were you about to attack me?" she asks in disbelief. "What the hell is going on here?"

She looks around, majorly confused and slightly angry.

"I was 'bout t' defend m'self," Kokal says, matter-of-factly, "what wit ye goin' ff 'bout 'ow we was all goin' t'die, an' lookin' at me as if ye meant me t' be first."

"Don' remember any o' that?" Kokal asks, raising a curious eyebrow at Aneira.

Aneira shakes her head angrily:

"I remember calling the ice blade."

She looks around at the dead, growing more angry, she seems about to speak, then fell silent:

"Of course I remember," she says, though from her tone, she quite clearly doesn't.

"Damned priests could've gotten inta yer head too wit their cursed enchantments," Kokal says, looking angrily toward the area where the Nemotz fled. "OR, mebbe there be some fell magic 'bout this damn place tha' brings on despair. Tha' seems like their style."

Aneira snorts:

"There is no priest in my head that I know of. You must have imagined it."

"Mmmm," the Padre replies, scrunching his eyebrows,"ye prob'ly right. I prob'ly imagined it. I get tha way in th' 'eat o' battle sometimes."

"An'way, thanks t' th' magess, ye fine now, eh?" the Padre asks, a little tentatively, but sincerely. "We need ye. 'Ow're ye feelin'? Got a few nicks an' such, looks like."

Aneira takes a quick inventory of her flesh and is relieved to see no new wounds:

"Not too bad," she replies. "I feel no worse than before, I guess."

"Ah, tha's right," Kokal remembers. "Ye still carryin' 'roun what th' bastards did t' ye up on th' wall, aren't ye?"

"Well, suit yeself, 'course," the Padre shrugs. "Got t' admire ye fer savin' ye 'ealin -- an' everyone else's too, fer tha' matter -- case th' others might need it, 'stead o' usin' it t'elp yeself. Fair noble o' ye."

"Speakin' o' which, I'm goin' t' go check t'see 'bout those other wounds now," he says as he slowly begins to move off.

"Glad ye back t' norm..... errr ... back wit us, priestess."

"If you're through nattering, I'll do the same." replies Aneira, rolling her eyes slightly.

She glances around quickly and sees that Gronk is the most wounded and moves toward him, readying a spell...

"Well, this is a familiar feeling," Aneira murmurs in dwarven as she tends to Gronk's wounds.

Aneira lays her hands upon Gronk's wounds. The effects serve to lessen the dwarf's wounds, but the results are not great, and the accident-prone little fellow is still a fair way away from being returned to full health.

At that precise moment, the party's attention is diverted by the sound of a familiar voice cursing at the entrance to the temple. They look round to see Bennett picking himself up off the floor, the paralysis seemingly having worn off now.

After receiving his healing from the ice priestess, Gronk heads over to Bennett as he sees him moving:

"No more layin' down on da job, Bent," Gronk says as he grins and pats Bennett on the back. "Next time I be havin' ta dock you's wages iffin ya can't pull you's weight."

Bennett laughs coarsely:

"Yeah, like you've ever had a goddamn pot to piss in anyway! Hell, you don't even buy the beer, you bastard!"

"An art 'at is," Gronk says as he chuckles with Bennett. "Ya never buy da beer."

Gronk then goes back to his task of checking the walls.

Bennett then picks up the fact that the rest of the group has headed in the only possible direction and heads down to join them:

"What? You bunch of bastards were just going to leave me there on the floor? Damn!"

He shakes his head in mock anger:

"So where'd those prick priests run off to? I have a score to settle. You all got to nail a couple of them each, it looks from the blood downstairs, and I need to carry my part of the load here."

The Padre then comes up to Jihan and Gronk, who are still checking the walls to see if they can find any hidden doors elsewhere in the temple:

"Either o' ye want ye wounds seen te?" Kokal asks Gronk and Jihan. "If ye feel like ye c'n 'ack it, ye still might wan' t' try those 'ealin' salves the apothecary gave us all. But I still got some magicks if ye'd prefer t' ave 'em now rather tha' later."

Jihan and Gronk both look disappointed as they give up on their task of searching for any other exits from the room:

"No, there ain't no other exits from 'ere far as I can tell," Gronk reports, shaking his head sadly.

"Gronk's right," Jihan agrees. "Together we've searched every inch of these walls and neither of us can find anything."

"Actually, a little of Radegast's blessing wouldn't hurt now, Padre," Jihan says, rubbing at his sore ribs, "thank you." Peering towards the burning tapestries, the elf nods in approval. "Filthy things..." he mutters beneath his breath.

"I could be usin' some o' yar 'ealin' too, Padre," Gronk says. "Looks like 'ey done be 'ealin' up too, so we's better be ready."

Aneira looks slightly upset that the dwarf ignored her healing at all, or that he did not want more healing from her. Muttering, "Excuse me." In dwarven, she leaves Gronk to Kokal's tender mercies.

The Padre nods in agreement and casts minor healing spells on the pair of them. The effects of the spells are almost negligible, however, especially in Gronk's case as the spell is so weak that it is hardly possible to see the difference and the dwarf is still far from being completely healed. The results of the spell upon Jihan are better and the elf is not far from being back to full health now.

"Hmmm," the Padre grimaces, noting the less-than-impressive results of his efforts for Gronk. "Guess ye aren't one o' Radegast's favorite people at th' moment fer some reason."

"Mayhap it not be me 'at be da one not in Radegast's favor," Gronk grunts as he can't really tell much difference after the Padre's healing.

"I got some stronger magic, if ye wan' I should try it," Kokal offers.

"Aye," Gronk nods, "that's be grand, Padre."

The Padre nods in agreement and begins to cast another healing spell on the dwarf. The results of this spell are substantially better than the previous results, leaving Gronk within a fraction of being back to his regular self.

Jihan then turns his attention to the task of searching the bodies for anything interesting. However, he finds little of interest to him, as the disease priests carry no coin. The only items that they have are the sickles that each of them are armed with, the chainmail that each of them is wearing, and the silver rat holy symbols that each of them wear around their necks. The three dead guards are also without any possession other than their chainmail, longswords and longbows.

Just then, the party hears another noise from the corridor leading into the temple. Turning round, they look up to see that now Will's paralysis has now passed and he walks towards them:

"Did anyone see where those nice priest chaps went to?" he inquires.

"Nope," Yaz replies, having walked back through the darkened area back into the main temple.

"I didn't have any problem seeing through the darkness 'cuz of my infravision. There's a short 10' long corridor behind the tapestry, which leads to a door. I had a quick look inside to see if they were there, but they're not."

"The room behind there is 30' square. It looks like it must be some sort of preparation room to me, cuz it's got all kinds of religious crap stored in there. There are several ceremonial robes and mantles hanging from pegs on the north wall. Four basins of wash water rest on small stands along the western and eastern walls. In the north east corner of the room are boxes of spare candles, a candelabra, cones of incense and other trappings of religious worship."

"There are doors in the east and west walls of the room that I didn't wanna try on my own. So which one do you think we should try?"

'No sign o' which one th' cowards 'o ran might 'ave taken?" the Padre inquires.

"Oh ya, I forgot to mention," Yaz replies through thin lips, "there was a big yellow sign with red blood letters reading 'We went this way.' Sorry, I didn't think it was important."

"Well, I still thin' th' way be'ind th' altar likely t' be th' one tha'll lead us t' th' prisoners," Kokal responds.

"He's pretty smart, considering it's the ONLY F***ING WAY," Yaz mutters to himself, enjoying the chance to call someone else stupid for a change.

Kokal seems to be visibly fighting the urge to pound Yaz through the floor.

"Wouldn't touch the damned thing goin' past it, though, or tha' water in th' room back there either," the Padre warns. "Damn! We should've asked th' priestess t' step over near th' altar 'fore Fae did 'er thin! Mighta killed three birds wit one stone."

Yaz raises an eyebrow at the mention of killing birds, but sneers and says nothing.

"Wonder if th' door on the righthand wall in the room behin' th' altar connects t' th' room tha's behin' where th' tapestry was hangin'?" Kokal wonders. "Might wan' t'fin out, in case th' bastards went tha' way an're waitin' t' try t' double back on us."

"If not, tho', I'd say we ought to try t' carefully get 'roun tha' vile rock there," Kokal continues, nodding to the altar, "an' get after the runners, or try t' find where the bastards keep their captives."

Yaz laughs and shakes his head:

"Aw f***, he chuckles. "You're right, man, I don't know HOW we're gonna get past that altar without touching it. But even if we DO make it, then we gotta decide whether to go through the doors to chase the priests, or go through the doors to find the captives."

Yaz snorts through his nose, and unexpectedly catches some mucus from his sinuses, which he then sends shooting out one nostril while holding the other with a finger:

"Shit, Koke, can't argue with that logic."

"Thank Radegast fer tha'," the Padre mutters.

The Padre then starts to head toward the doorway in the temple to try to answer his own question.

Kokal heads towards the darkness that leads into the priests' preparation room that Yaz peered into earlier. Knowing that the Padre's skills do not run to checking for traps, Jihan quickly comes up behind him. As it becomes apparent that the east door is the door of choice, the elf walks towards it and performs his standard test for traps. Bennett also decides that, having missed all of the last combat, he's not going to miss out on this one and also heads off into the room.

Winnacer, however, does not join the others heading into the back room. While the rest of the party seems content to move on and progress with the scouting around the room, Winnacer continues to contemplate the unholy altar. He kneels in front of it with his silver gavel in hand, praying to Spravedelna for guidance in purifying the travesty to Justice in front of him.

On his way past the altar, to follow along with the others, Yaz makes like he is trying very hard to avoid touching the altar, but eventually loses his balance and falls forward onto its surface, being sure to catch Kokal's eye as he does so.

The instant that he does so, the druid realizes that he is going to pay a high price for his joke on the Padre. As he falls against the altar, Yaz screams with pain as he feels his hands are on fire. He tries to pull his hands away from the altar, but finds that this skin of his palms has stuck to it. The skin sizzles away to nothingness, leaving just bare flesh of his hands. Wracked in agony, the druid starts to run around the room in pain, staring at his skinless palms as he howls in agony. Yet worse is yet to come. He can see that his bloody hands are already starting to putrefy, going from red to yellow in a matter of seconds. He can see that the flesh of his hands is starting to rot away. The green/yellow spread of rot is already starting to spread to his wrists and he continues to howl out in agony as he can feel his body starting to be consumed by the rapidly spreading disease. He knows that he has less than 20 minutes to live if the rot continues to spread at this rate.

Gronk seems slightly amused at Yaz's situation, but realizes the seriousness:

"Bloody stupid 'at was ya pointy-eared tree-hugger. Even a cranky dwarf like me knows gods ain't da kind ya wants ta be messin' with. Stop runnin' 'round, put you's arms out on one o' 'em pews an' I'll whack 'em off so alls of ya won't be turnin' ta pus."

Yaz runs like the devil to where Aneira stands with her arms folded, looking at him. He holds out his palms as he dances from foot to foot in excruciating pain:

"H-h-help!" he pleads pathetically.

"Damn ye, an'way!" Kokal says through gritted teeth, watching Yaz' agony in frustration, realizing he has no magicks to cure disease.

"I don' know why I waste m' breath on th' lot o' ye. 'Parently ye thin th' Nemotz're jesters're runnin' a funhouse 'ere."

"I can't 'elp 'im," the Padre says. "Gonna 'ave t'be up t' th' priestess, or 'e's finished."

Winnacer stands horrified and powerless as Yaz starts to disintegrate in front of the group. Terrified, Winnacer whispers:

"oh spravedelna..."

The Padre simply stands looking at the pathetic form of the druid, wrestling with a huge: "I told you so."

He looks around at the two entrances to the temple, careful to ensure that no one takes advantage of the party's disarray by launching a counter-offensive.

Will is abhorred by what has happened to Yaz, but knowing he can do nothing to help, he joins Kokal in keeping watch.

Aneira scowls at Yaz even as she begins to give him Zima's blessing:

"Like I would have let you die," she grumbles....

Yaz kneels to receive the winter priestess' blessing, his body wracking with pain. When she's done, he continues to shake and squirm.

"Is it done? Did it work? Am I going to live?"

He looks up at Aneira pleadingly.

The ice priestess studies Yaz hands and arms after casting the spell. There is a moment of doubt evident in her eyes, but then she sees that the creeping rot that threatened to engulf the druid's body has now gone into reverse. The rot starts to retreat down his arms, before disappearing off his terribly burned hands.

Xavier looks on with great concern upon his face. Seeing the healing power of Aneira, a broad smile sweeps his face:

"Rodengast be praised. Danke to the great goddess, Zima. May her name be forever praised."

Xavier comes over and puts his hand on the half elf's shoulders, and he kneels down beside him.

"Danke to Zima dat you are healed, mein freund. It vould have pained me greatly to see your death after so much water has passed beneath us. I can honestly say, for the first time in mein life, that the death of a fey vould have brought sorrow not joy to mein old bitter heart. Vhen ve get out of this foul place ve shall share a few steins, and it vill be me dat is buying"

At Aneira's nodded 'yes' telling him that the effects of her curing were successful, Yaz sits on his butt crosslegged and proceeds to administer a healing spell to his cracked and bleeding palms, then applies herbs and bandages to his forearms and wrists. He tries to stay absorbed in his activity for as long as he can. Despite the length of time that he spent upon the exercise, the results of his healing efforts are poor, and the druid remains in a fairly fragile state. Everything that he touches results in a wave of pain bolting through him from the exposed nerve endings upon his fingers.

Bennett and the Padre stopped their entrance to the darkness in order to watch Yaz' little joke backfire on him in a deadly way. Jihan, however, had already slipped through the darkened area as a result of his infravision and carries on investigating the rooms, oblivious to the scene that is going on in the temple.

The elf is gone for around five minutes, exploring the rooms off the one that Yaz discovered behind the altar. Upon his return, he presents his findings to the rest of the party, oblivious to the state that Yaz has been in while he was absent:

"So I checked out the eastern door first of all. The door was slightly ajar and was untrapped. It led into a room that was 40'long and 30' wide. The room appears to be a private chapel. Every surface of the chamber is a dull, flat black that seems to absorb any light brought near it. The altar here is similar to the one in the main temple, but on a smaller scale. The material of the altar is the same black stone, yet this is streaked with fine, red swirls making the stone appear similar to marble. It is 3' long and 1' deep and high. It rests upon a small tier rather than supports, so the top of the altar is just 3' from the floor."

"When I tried to approach the altar, I started to feel quite sick, and so I kept away from it, just in case it gave off any disease.

"Yah the whole damn place sickens me," agrees Xavier. "A cleansing fire is vhat this damn place needs!"

"Two large candelabra rest upon the altar, each having seven branches holding a white candle streaked with red," the elf continues. "Behind the altar hangs a large tapestry, which covers the entire east wall. The tapestry shows the scene of a siege of a large keep sitting atop a craggy hill. All of the besieging warriors are diseased and rotting zombies. I had a look behind the tapestry to see if there was another exit behind there, but there was none that I could see. To either side of the altar, a bronze gong hangs from a small rack. A mallet, the handle coated in silver, hangs next to each. Upon the floor just to the east of the center of the room is a white circle of inlaid stone. The stone circle is approximately 8' in diameter, and the white stone which makes up the circle's border is approximately 1' wide."

"There were no doors leading off that room, although I didn't have a hunt around for any secret or hidden doors. I decided to check out the door in the west wall before spending a lot of time searching."

"The door in the west wall leads to what appears to be the private quarters of the high priest. It's a small room, just 20' long and 30' wide. The room is plain but nicely furnished. The walls of the room are painted with murals. The north wall shows a family of five - mother, father, a son and two daughters - in the prime of their health. The east wall shows the same five people, yet there is a slight change. They are a bit wan, and the artistry is such that the gleam of life has left their eyes. The south wall shows the family again, yet now the quintet wears tattered clothing and all have visible sores. The final mural on the west wall shows the five people in an advanced state of some horrid disease, which has eaten away at their bodies and their spirits. The room's furnishings consist of a single bed, a small chest of drawers, a writing table and chair, and a small trunk at the foot of the bed."

"We must burn the murals," Winnacer comments. "The rest we should examine. Perhaps there will be clues to the layout of this place, their master plan, and how to destroy the altars."

"Once again," Jihan continues, "I couldn't see any sign of any doors off the room, although I didn't check for any secret doors or anything."

"I checked the chest and the trunk for traps and didn't find anything. However, I decided not to open anything just in case I might have missed something. If I'm going to get blown up or diseased, then I'd feel a lot happier having the rest of you around to pull me out in case things go badly."

After giving his findings, Jihan looks towards the now slowly recovering body of Yaz, prostrated on the floor in front of Aneira. Not realizing the seriousness of situation until he walked around to see the half-elf from the front, Jihan inquires about the recent happenings:

"What was all that yelling back there? We cleared out the foemen for the moment, didn't we? I didn't see any on my way to the doors..."

Coming up behind the druid, the elf extends a hand towards Yaz's shoulder:

"You didn't touch that altar, did you? Wouldn't that have been a..."

His eyes suddenly falling on Yaz's formerly rotten state, the elf recoils, drawing his hand back as if a snake had struck.

"By the Three!" he utters, morbidly watching the druid's attempts to heal himself of the effects of the terrible disease "What is this, 'how many ways can Yaz's body rot away' week?"

Upon being informed that the disease is now under control and that a few healing spells are all that are standing between the druid and full health, Jihan lets out a sigh and then turns to peer around the church, arched eyebrow raised and a small moue of a frown on his face.

"Filthy äpärä," he swears under his breath. Despite the demeaner, those nearby can see a look of worry in his eyes as his hands find a glassteel dagger to occupy them:

"Oh, Blanka, I hope by the Three that we find more then another set of Yaz's hands left down there..."

"You alright then, brother?" he asks, moving over to place a hand on the druid's shoulder.

Upon receiving assurances of this, the elf looks up towards Aneira:

"Thank you, sister," he says with all sincerity and a small bow of gratitude, "for that and all the others I've forgotten."

He then moves towards where Winnacer is contemplating the altar.

"You were right, Winn, that altar is more than just blasphemy against the living... It's a real threat... We may need to seek help in Brunn, or Olmutz even for those able to cleanse it and exorcise the souls within... And the high priest's private sanctuary as well..."

"Shall we leave them for now and investigate the priest's quarters then?" the elf continues, seeing no obvious solution to the dilemma.

Winnacer nods and then walks over to Faewen'il and begins to address the magess:

"Faewen'il, that altar is possessed with almost limitless malevolence. A great many innocents may have had their souls stripped upon the dark stone and I worry that these innocents may still be imperiled by our actions against the altar."

"My understandings in these things is not great, and I would ask for your opinion on this. To leave such an evil within the world is to do a great injustice, but to condemn any of the souls trapped would be no Justice either. Have you any means of accessing the true nature of this device, in order to find out how to destroy it?"

Winnacer falls quiet for a second:

"Perhaps the minds of its victims lie within the stone. Perhaps we could read their tormented minds hoping to find the answer."

Winnacer shudders:

"Such a thing may scar the mind and rend the soul. It is not something I can rightly ask you to do"

Winnacer contemplates this quietly:

"For me, it is worth the risk."

Faewen'il waits until the paladin finishes blathering before speaking. Her tone of voice is rather its typical cold self though she does manage to keep the bitter loathing out of it.

"Tha altar be a thing o PRIESTLY powers, na magical ones. I can SUGGEST that ye simply blast tha stone ta pieces an carry tha pieces back ta some holy ground ta be tended to; where IF tha souls be tied ta it, they can be released by yar gods."

"As far usin tha amulet ta gain rappor with tha tortured souls, it be a simple thin ta try and sartainly more pleasant than anythin YE ha put me through ta date."

This last is said with much venom as she turns to face the altar and concentrate upon it, with her hand holding tight to the amulet.

Aneira looks from Fae to Winnacer and bursts out laughing. Catching herself before it gets too manic, she abruptly stops and returns to her normally expressionless expression.

Ignoring her, Fae continues to rub the amulet gently as she tries to read the souls contained within the stone. After a few moment, she lets the amulet fall from her grasp and shakes her head:

"Nothin," she says without emotion and then turns her back from the altar.

Seeing that Winnacer's interest in destroying the altar is not shared by all, the LawBringer petitions harder for the destruction of the altars:

"Perhaps in the destruction of the altars, we will sever the Priests from their favor with Nemotz. It is certainly worth an attempt."

"I agree," the Padre nods. "These wretched thins 'ave t' be dealt wit. This 'ole 'orrid place should be. But after we've seen to its' servants ... an' th' captives."

"But the question is 'ow do we do it?" the Padre finishes.

Winnacer seems to be deep in concentration for a moment, seemingly asking Spravedelna for her guidance in the matter. Eventually he speaks:

"Well there are several ways in which it MIGHT be possible to destroy it, although it's hard to tell which may work unless we try each of them."

"Perhaps casting another healing spell upon it similar to the one used to stop the disease infecting Yaz might work, or perhaps other types of healing unguents. Perhaps direct sunlight might work either, although it will be quite an effort to move it to somewhere where this would be possible."

"Perhaps it might burn. After all, coal does. Then there's Yaz' ability to shape stone, which has always worked in the past, or perhaps the unsubtle approach of simply trying to smash it up using brute force."

Winnacer sighs, obviously running low on ideas now:

"Or perhaps I could urinate on it," he finishes with a shrug, as he sees the looks on the others' faces.

All goes quiet for a moment as they contemplate the situation with the altar, and the apparent lack of exits from the rooms behind the altar. Padre Kokal is the next to speak:

"There's got t' be a secret door somewhere in those rooms back there. M' guess'd be in the floor. These rats seem t' like t' sink inta th' depths an' muck."

Jihan nods in agreement:

"There's certainly no harm in our looking while Winnacer continues to consider what to do about the altar."

He looks over at Gronk, Yaz and Will:

"It would appear that us four are the best qualified for the task," the elf says. "Would you assist me with it?"

Will and Gronk nod and both accompany Jihan back through the darkness in order to search for concealed portals. Yaz, however, stays at the back, out of the way, silently, looking very, very humiliated.

The three of them are gone for ten minutes or so and then return. It is Will that looks a little excited:

"There seems to be a secret door in the easternmost corner of the north wall of the high priest's living quarters," he reports, obviously quite excited by his discovery.

"Excellent," Winnacer responds. "What's behind it?"

Will's smile fades a little at this:

"Errm .. . I couldn't quite figure out how to get into it, but I know that there's something behind it."

"I knew there was something more to that room," Jihan exclaims. "Let me have a look at it and see if I can't figure out how to get past it. Perhaps there'll be a clue among his belongings... Let's check it out."

"Coming, brother?" he asks towards the rather dejected looking Yaz in his place in the corner.

Yaz nods his head and follows the elf back into the room along with the rest of the group, interested at seeing what there is inside the room.

Those of them without infravision stumble their way through the darkness that is still in place and emerge on the other side to find themselves in the priests' preparation room, as described earlier by Jihan. At seeing little there of interest to them, they turn to the left and Jihan takes them into the room that was obviously the private quarters of the high priest.

They look around with distaste as they see the murals on the four walls showing the slowly decomposing family of five. They then look around at the room's simple furnishings, consisting of the bed, the small chest of drawers, writing table and chair and the small trunk at the foot of the bed.

Will then walks over to the easternmost part of the northern wall and taps gently upon it with his knuckles:

"It's definitely hollow behind there," the bard says as he continues tapping around the area.

"But it stops here and here," he says as he continues knocking, before tracing the outline of a door with his finger.

Jihan comes up to investigate. He looks closely at the area that Will mapped out with his finger, but then steps back, shaking his head sagely:

"I really can't see any outline of a door at all," he says with a little sigh. "I've seen several secret doors in my time, but this is definitely one of the best."

"There 'as to be some other way of openin' it then," says Gronk. "Somethin' like a lever or some other mechanism."

"Everyone look around," suggests Jihan. "If anyone finds anything remotely out of the ordinary, then let me know and I will check it out."

They all agree and then start to scour the room in order to try and find anything that looks similar to a release mechanism. With ten of them on the search, the job is not a difficult one, as they can afford to take the room an inch at a time.

Yaz is unnaturally quiet while the party searches for the mechanism to open the secret door. He keeps his head down, especially when Padre Kokal is near. He peers at the walls intently, using his knuckles to feel for cracks and ridges that might indicate a trigger. His stripped palms are raw and red, and look painful.

Being totally out of his depth when it comes to rifling through looking for secrets, traps, etc, Bennett hangs back while the more adept members search.

It takes a little over five minutes before Yaz starts peering curiously at the mural on the north wall, focussing upon the picture of the youngest daughter in the family group:

"Hey, Jihan, come over and check this out," the druid calls.

Jihan is over with the druid immediately.

"Y'see the girl's eyes,?" he asks pointing in the general direction of the girl's face with his still gnarly fingers, "y'see that they're indented a little?"

Jihan nods as he investigates the mural carefully:

"Yes, I see it. Perhaps that's it."

Not wanting to risk catching a similar infection to that which Yaz gained by brushing against the altar, Jihan firstly tries poking the eyes with his strips of wood, but nothing happens.

"They look sorta finger-shaped," Yaz says helpfully. "I'd give it a try myself, but .. ."

Yaz holds up his still recomposing hands by way of explanation.

Jihan takes a deep breath and makes to touch the eyeholes with his fingers:

"Ye be careful now, Jihan," warns the Padre. "Neither th' priestess nor I be havin' the power to be curin' more disease today. If'n the mural be the same as the altar, ye'll be dead for sure."

The Padre's speech did little to calm Jihan's nerves and the sweat is starting to run from his brow as he continues to bring his finger up to the eyehole, shaking with nerves.

When Jihan makes to touch the eyesockets with his fingers, Yaz cringes, and casts furtive glances between the elf and Winnacer. The beginnings of a squawk of protest leave his lips, but he cuts it off, with a look toward Kokal, from which he immediately retreats.

Closing his eyes, he touches the first of the eyeholes with his forefinger.

Nothing happens.

He breathes a swift sigh of relief and gives thanks to The Three and then brings his index finger up before pressing it into the second of the eyeholes.

He is rewarded by a satisfying click as the secret door comes ajar.

Jihan immediately withdraws his fingers and stands panting with relief for a while. He then cautiously makes his way towards the door. Using his wooden rod again, he cautiously opens the door, fearful of any traps and then peers inside.

He sees, to some dismay, that the door does not lead to a corridor, as he had expected, but is rather a small secret storage area just 10' square. More interestingly, however, is the fact that the area contains two small chests as well as a shield propped up against the wall. He cautiously enters the storage area and investigates both of the chests carefully. He spends several minutes upon the task and then reports his findings:

When the treasure room is opened, Bennett's eyes widen, but seeing no weapons therein and already having a shield, he sighs a bit.

"This one on the left seems to be OK to me," he explains. "The one on the right looks trapped to me - a classic poison dart model that Uncle Luuhan warned me about during the old days."

"But what about the priests' exit route?" Winnacer asks. "Could there be another secret door off this chamber?"

Jihan starts to carefully investigate the three walls of the storage room. After ten minutes, however, he returns, shaking his head:

"No, the exit must be elsewhere. There is definitely no other door off the room."

Jihan nods his head with regards to the treasure chests and such, not liking the prospect of simple poison traps being set up specifically by priests of disease, no matter how apparent they are:

"A classical trap out in the open often covers up a more devious one... Or there might be something in the chests themselves, some disease or poisonous cloud. It would probably be best to wait until we are better prepared before we get TOO close with them. Maybe we should attempt to barricade them in here, so that the priests will not be able to sneak back up and drop something nasty on us from them."

Xavier looks on deep in thought:

"Yah, mein freund, I be not trusting this things either. These whoresons have no honor or morals at all!"

Winnacer regards the chests and the shield with Spravedelna's sight for a moment, his face contemplative. After a moment he speaks:

"Perhaps we should leave off examination of their treasures until after we have cleansed this temple of opposition. If we were to fail to spot any traps upon these goods, we would not have the resources to continue on with our sortie."

Yaz steps away from the wall he is lurking next to to speak:

"W-Winn," he starts, in a meek voice that is not like him, "what if it's stuff we can use? It might help us just as well as hurt us. Only one box has a trap on it -- let's at least open the other one, huh? We got those ointment things if you get nicked by poison.. ."

Yaz makes to head over to it, then stops:

"Um, I'd better not touch anything," he says to Jihan. "Maybe you could, uh..."

He gestures to the box at the foot of the bed:

"And there's that thing too."

He stands where he is, regarding the chest helplessly.

"You all know how I feel about unnecessary risks," Winnacer replies. "I'm of the mind that we have enough resources between the lot of us to bring an end to the priest's diseased imaginings. I can't imagine us finding anything so powerful a weapon against the priests that they would not keep it on their persons or that we could figure it out without a few days searching the stacks in the Temple of Kitry. I know that if we do not meddle with the chests we assume no risk. I think we should avoid them."

Winnacer pauses for a second.

"But it's not my place to keep the rest from what has been duly earned by us. If the lot of you want to see if we can crack open the chests, give it a shot. I brought down my lance, in case we need to poke things from a distance. Feel free to use it. I just hope you don't mind if I take a couple of steps back while you inspect the treasures further."

Aneira whirls on the pompous knight:

"We're not going after things we 'duly earned' Winnacer. We're looking to see if there's something that might aid us here. Perhaps you can attribute something other than greed to any but your own motives for a change."

"How stupid would we be to ignore things that could aid us in our fight? Just so we can avoid risk. If we were to avoid risk, those of us that still have homes, would still be in them, raising babies."

She turned back to watch Jihan carefully, ready to lend her aid.

Jihan looks back at Aneira's words, then towards Winnacer, his face thoughtful. Looking as if he were about to say something, he shrugs his shoulders and turns his attention back to the drawers and chests even as Aneira turns her gaze to him.

Winnacer replies without bothering to face the Ice priestess:

"I disagree. But there is no point in arguing this."

"Jihan, do you feel like running this risk? It really is up to you, since it would largely be your risk."

Jihan looks towards the ice priestess:

"You have another spell for the healing of the disease priest's foul enchantments then?" he asks.

Aneira simply nods in reply.

"I'm sorry fer scarin' ye earlier," apologizes the Padre. "I thought the priestess be usin' up all 'er powers of curin' disease fer the day."

Considering the chest carefully, Jihan rubs at his bare elven chin in contemplation:

"I suppose I could check out the safest looking ones first, as I'd really not like to leave any resources behind for the priests to use from surprise if they should have some means of getting up here we can't discern. Xavier could use another shield as well. I'd rather pry open the trapped chest from behind with Old Bessy than risk setting the dart off..."

"You're up to it then, sister? If there's anything nasty in there, I'll probably need Zima's aid rather quickly."

Aneira nods her head dourly once again.

Nodding his head with a smile of thanks for the offer, Jihan makes his way towards the chest and drawers in the main room.

"Let's do it," he says.