Predators of Xendrik [IC]

[true_shinken]

Van looks at the corps, deeply enraged. This is horrible. Those drows... I hate them. Tears forming in his eyes, he marches forward. I'll kill them for this. But I'll kill them swiftly and mercifully, because I'm not a monster like them.

[Grendus]

Garret grins evilly. "We'll make a proper survivor out of you yet," he says, standing a few feet behind Van (still invisible). "Unless someone else wants to waste time here, I'd say we should get going."

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

The question isn't whether or not we should do something. The question is, how do we get in and punish those damned scorpion-fetished...things. I'm loathe to even clasify them among the civilized races.

[true_shinken]

Van stops for a second, cleans his tears with the back of his hands and turns to Denaru. Master priest. Would it be okay for us to, uh, pray for these poor souls? I kind of don't know how, though.

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Words will be spoken, but for their souls to be at ease, their wrongs must first be righted. The soul can not know peace until justice is had. Denaru's eyes flash dangerously with conviction and fire, and the air around him nearly crackles with magical energies waiting to be unleashed.

[Grendus]

"Bah, we're all damned anyways," Garret says. "Not like we get a better or worse afterlife. Who cares about their spirits comfort, they're dead. Worry about the here and now, do you want to join them?"

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Your absence of faith is not proof of an absence of divinity. If you don't believe in cold, your body will still freeze to death. If you don't believe in hell, you're actions may still lead you there. We would do best to investigate and punish those who would treat their fellow denizens of this world in such a manner.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Gods, no gods, some gods...it really doesn't concern me," Jorden says. "I visit Host temples mostly because my family does, not because I'm expecting any divine intervention in my life. I've seen enough corrupt priests and priests of strange cults to convince me that divine magic isn't evidence of gods; it's essentially wizardry, but more faith, prayers, and incense than study, equations, and sulfur. No offense meant to you, Inquisitor; I'm sure you'd make just as good an arcanist as you do a priest."

"And those things aren't mutually exclusive, you know," he adds to Garret. "You can worry about your soul and your body. For instance, you can care for your soul by not making a senior Flameite angry, and you can care for your body by not standing out on a huge stone platform right in the open." He raises his eyebrows pointedly and crosses his arms. "While I like discussing metaphysics just as much as the next gnome, I don't think this is the time or place. Let's get back down into the tree cover and figure out where we're going next, then we can continue this discussion."

[Ladorak]

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I think Garret's still invisible...

'Worse atrocities were committed during the Last War, although I grant that is only because of the scale. Aside from the rending of Cyre I have not seen such... pointless cruelty. To torture for information or even to dissuade others is understandable. This is.... alien.' He turned away, his voice choked with disgust and anger 'If we cannot spare their souls, nor tore this place down stone by stone then let us take what revenge we can, for ourselves and those who died before us. What do you suppose is the purpose of that?' He points down through the grate

[Chambers]

As if in response to Ladorak's question, chittering noises can be heard coming from the treeline. They pause for a second, and then start again, and seem to come from the area next to the dirt path. It lasts for another moment and then is silent. On the opposite side of the ziggurat, something in the trees seems to answer with more chitterings, almost like a response to the previous call. It screeches for a few moments and then silences as well.

Standing near the grate, Ladorak sees a dark shape flash across the stone slab at the bottom, a shadow passing through the sunlight. It's gone in an instant, too quick for him to make out more details. The noises from the opposing sources stops, and the top of the stone is silent except for a light breeze coming from the west.

Knowledge (Nature) DC 15

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The noises sounded like the noises that scorpions make when they "talk" to each other. No idea what was actually said, but most lower vermin and beasts have a simple intelligence, their vocabulary related mostly to food and danger. Which one of the two they said you were, you're not sure.

[Ladorak]

Stalker stepped back from the grate and drew his twin blades in one swift movement. He did his best to keep attention focused both on the noises below and the grate beneath 'Dragon below! There's something down there, in all that blood. When the noise suddenly stopped he grit his teeth and said nothing, although he thought bitterly to himself Scorpions I bet.

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Ready an action to use a psionic tattoo of chameleon if anything comes out of the forest

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Think there's a back door? I'd rather not have to rappel down into a scorpion infested blood pool...

[true_shinken]

Van draws his longsword Tempestade and waves his free hand for mystical passes, chanting angrily the arcane words of his spell. As the magic spreads through his body strenghtening his muscles, he puts his free hand on his short sword's pommel, getting ready to turn everything to shreds.

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Casting Bull's Strenght on myself

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Now is as good a time as any...

Denaru chants, and a slight shimmer passes over all present.

That will ward you against any unintelligent undead. Just a precaution. Don't attack them, and they won't be able to hurt you.

He then chants on more time, touching Grant briefly on the shoulder. This should help keep the voices out of your head. We all know you have enough of them as it is...

[Grendus]

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Actually, Garret does believe in the gods. It's just that in Ebberon everybody gets the same afterlife, you go to another plane and your memories slowly fade away until you do. The temples teach that you follow the gods for rewards in this life rather than the next. Or so I've been told, I couldn't find it in any of the Ebberon supplements I have.

Just realized I had Garret worshiping a Greyhawk deity. I changed it, he'd probably worship The Mockery

Garret slides back behind the others, leaving his hands free to attack. Now would be a bad time to be encumbered with weapons.