Cormyr - The Tearing of the Wave

[Madmage]

"Indeed," Maesyn says to Marlae as the group comes together, "and quite forceful arms they are, too. Believe me, sir Dwarf, we tried every peaceful means of resolution we could devise -- and then some."

"Aust, whatever you've done is your business," the Bard states. "As far as I'm concerned, you've earned your share of Tunaster's reward, but I'm afraid it will be some time before we can redeem his note. Your path from here is up to you."

Maesyn casts a worried glance toward the door where Kevrin just exited with Shan Thar's corpse. "Ought one of us go with the wizard to make sure nothing happens, either to him or to the false priest's body?"

He also spots the dead guard by the door. After Maesyn had been stunned by Shan Thar's spell, his summoned celestial canine had eviscerated the unfortunate guard. "Marlae, might there be anything that could be done for the poor guard who was attacked by my dog? At the very least, a prayer for his soul?"


Maesyn Silverhair

She nods. "I can see to the rites of the dead."

The Dwarf looked at the priest with a bewildered face.
As he blinks he recovers "That's fancy for.. they where naughty so they deserved this?"

As he ties that last knot binding Fembrys.

"What kind of blasphemous where they guilty on? Any proof?"

"None. I was only persuaded to remain and not continue on my pilgrimage by a local woman whose husband, a book seller, disappeared shortly after inquiring about this ritual." She pauses for a moment, realizing that while the dwarf's concerns were the same as hers and in the right, he did not explain his reasons for suddenly being involved. "I'd ask the same of your motives."

[Baveboi]

Zarien throws his hands in the air like a spoiled child that doesn't want to keep on playing an unfair game. "You know what, I don't know what's happening anymore. Madness, this is!"

He turns to the others and the newcomers. "What's going on here? I was unjustly attacked by a false priest of my deity, what are these elves doing? Why is there a dwarf in my sights? I thought you were gone for good, cleric, what gives; are you following me?" Only in the end his not-so-sane gaze turns to face Marlae and Maesyn, in an ungrateful gesture towards the people that healed his wounds back to health.

[puffmagicdragon]

Ryxikor looks around, then back to the wizard and smiles, "Only one elf now." he says non-chalantly, but then takes his hat off in a sweeping bow. He puts the hat back on and asks, "Can I be of assistance in any way?"

[LtPowers]

Maesyn puzzles at the wizard's ranting. "Zarien, I had hoped you could tell us," the Bard replies. "How did you determine for certain that Fembrys was a false priest?"

To the newcomers he explains, "My name is Maesyn Silverhair. This is Marlae, devout of Lathander, and Zarien, a wizard of some skill. Savin is the name of the Calishite who just left. We were all hired by a man named Tunaster Dranik, a Mystran who was intrigued by the construction of this new temple to his deity. But when he came here to investigate, he sensed something was wrong, and was shot at when he started asking too many questions.

"Deeply troubled, he hired us to investigate the situation, while he journeys to Sembia to find a true Mystran temple. What we discovered was an operation led by Shan Thar and assisted by Fembrys, here. On the surface, all seemed normal, but there were hints of something not being entirely right. Aust, Savin, and Zarien were invited to undergo the ritual of Mystra's Sacred Trust, and on the third night -- tonight -- were to complete their path. Something happened in that inner chamber that exposed the false priests' lies."

He turns to Mordiun. "Your arrival was most timely, and thank you for helping. We know what brought the Elf hunter here, but what about you? Are you with him?"


Maesyn Silverhair

[achinca]

Marlae and Maesyn try their best to explain to Mordiun why they were engaging the servants of Mystra in Her temple. However, the 3 heroes who went through the Mystra Sacred Trust ritual, cannot answer: Aust has been teleported back to Chondalwood, Savin is with Kevrin and Zarien is throwing one his now famous tantrum.

They both got a sense that some evil was happening in the temple but unsure of what. In addition, Marlae explains that she is trying to help locate the book seller and turns the table on the dwarf, asking him why he is in the temple.

Maesyn, after explaining in detail what has brought the current situation wonders too why Mordiun is here.

Ryxikor, his mission completed, offers his services to the group.

In the meantime, Kevrin has taken a waterskin which reeks of wine and a shower and has started digging a tomb for Shan Thar, under the watchful eye of Savin. For each dig from the shovel, the sorcerer takes two sips of wine.

The last two guards have exited the temple and closed the door in their way out..

[Ouroborosi]

Mordiun looks toward mage with a puzzled look. For one of the younger races this one acts rather surprisingly immature.

The Dwarf processes the claims of the ritual, other missing people because of it. And the sudden attack. He still isn't fully convinced about the good nature of this strange company he is in. But the human priest and the bard seemed true to there claims.

His head turns toward the tied down Mystra priest he has to question him sooner then later. Might as well come clean now then risk his sisters safety on a later date.

As all eyes are on him he clears his thought.

"I am known by the name of Mordiun Goldminer a scout from the Great Rift.
My twin sister Meradi decided to move to your country to study your unreliable magic and creatures. But we haven't heard of her since. She went to this temple but nobody saw here leave.

And now these rumours about strange rituals."

He closes his eyes "It's troubling"

[Madmage]

Marlae ignores the wizard's outburts for the time being.

"Well met Mordiun. I am Marlae, cleric of Lathander on pilgrimage. I cannot speak to the fate of your sister Meradi but we can inquire once our prisoner, for lack of the better term, regains consciousness."

She turns to the wizard Zadrien. "I remained as a more compelling argument and evidence was provided that there was something possibly suspicious afoot rather than than Tunaster's intuition." She sighed. "I shall look to the burials in the mean time and to Savin's injuries." She turns to Maesyn. "Maesyn, I trust you to settle the situation while I'm away. May I suggest inspecting the items found on Shan Thar and the other?"

[razorback]

As Savin and Kevrin dig, he looks at the drunk for a time before asking.

Kevrin, I feel for your fallen friend but we need to know what was going on here. It would seem as if Fembrys was duping everyone. Locals have gone missing, being drawn in as part of the ritual... I felt their fell power, as Fembrys took control of my mind! Savin shake with obvious fury as he tries to control his anger.
There are others, like yourself, who sought the salvation of Mystra and were taken advantage of. More than like of purposes of evil intent. These who sought good and may have been towards evil. From the sounds of what happened, it would seem that you spent time down that path and seek redemption. Help us understand what was going on here so we can save these innocents.

[puffmagicdragon]

Getting a little irritated at being ignored of his questions about helping this group, Ryxikor moves away looking for something to eat. The curious elf winds up walking into Kevrin and ShanThar's quarters, instead of the kitchen, where he takes an interest in the featureless silver disks they wear. After a time he sees the chest and starts to examine it.

[achinca]

Mordiun listens carefully to what Maesyn and Marlae tell him and he realizes that his twin sister might be in some kind of danger. He realizes that may be Fembrys has the answers he is looking for.

Marlae asks Maeysyn to take over the situation as she goes providethe last rites to the people being buried.

Savin is trying to get information from Kevrin as they both dig holes for the two bodies. Kevrin between sips of wine answers. “You are correct. I lived a wicked life. I took advantage of my limited handle of magic to separate people from their goods and girls from their maidenhood. I am not proud of what I did which is why I took to the bottle. I thought I will die wicked but I found this brand new temple and Shan Thar took to me. He seemed to really appreciate my ability to cast silent image and have the stars move the way we wanted. I never understood why, as a priest of Mystra, he could not make it happens but he told me that I did not understand divine magic. Fembrys was never friendly and kept to himself. He never allowed me inside the inner temple. I was allowed only the courtyard and a few times in the middle temple. But it did not matter. I was doing good and Shan Thar was my friends. The guards are the same stories. All had past there were not proud of and were trying to make amend by guarding the temple of the Lady of Mysteries.”

Ryxikor is wondering why he is being ignored and that starts to annoy him so he decides to look for food. All he can see are food offerings by the various altars in the courtyard. He ignores that and instead goes into the sorcerer and cleric quarters. He does find food there. The silver disk looks like just a silver disk. The chest looks like it is unlocked.

Fembrys, slowly wakes up and realizes he is tied. He looks at the adventurers and all his stuff on the ground before saying. “OK. You have won. Would you untie my hand and give me my symbol to allow to heal myself? If you don’t want to do that, would you mind feeding me the potion you took? It is a healing potion. ”

[Ouroborosi]

Mordiun makes a courteous bow.

"Anything else? A concealed dagger? A platoon of soldiers?"

the Dwarf walks to Fembrys belonging and gets his cloak.
puts it over his arm and walk head straight. Toward the tied priest.
He applies some of his saliva on it. He starts to clean the rat dung from his face.

When the dwarf suddenly put some pressure on the priest eyeball. Enough for it to hurt.

"Your in no position to make demands. We want answers"

[puffmagicdragon]

The elf looks around in these quarters, smelling the food, but deciding against tasting it. Instead, he stares at the chest, wondering what may be inside. He walks over to the chest and begins to pull it out to take a closer look, when he thinks it's best to check for traps. He searches under and around the chest, making sure it's safe to move, disarming any traps he may find.

When satisfies all is safe, he checks the chest itself, making sure he doesn't set off a trap opening it. Again if he finds anything, he attempts to disarm it, otherwise, he opens the chest to survey it's contents. After checking the chest, including checking it for false bottoms, the curious elf continues checking the contents in these quarters.

search for trap: (1d20+6)[13]
disarm (if found): (1d20+9)[19]
search for trap: (1d20+6)[9]
disarm (if found): (1d20+9)[19]

[LtPowers]

((OOC: Sorry for "ignoring" Ryxikor; there's been a lot to cover and it's hard to cover it all without sounding like rambling. =) ))

Maesyn examines Fembrys; if his injuries appear severe enough to threaten his life, Maesyn will cast his last healing spell on him (1d8+4). Otherwise, he sees no hurry.

"Easy, friend," the Bard indicates to Mordiun, though he can hardly begrudge the Dwarf, considering that his sister is missing. "Fembrys -- if that is your name -- the Dwarf here has a personal stake in your treachery, so you might want to start explaining. You may begin with who you really are, and the whereabouts of the supplicants who have gone missing."

Maesyn keeps an eye out for Ryxikor and grabs the Elf's attention if he can.


Maesyn Silverhair

[achinca]

Frembrys yells as Mordiun pokes his eyes. "If you going to torture me, at least do it openly like a man! Just ask what you want to know dwarf! Be a man! You can be a man against a tied one, can't you?"

Ryxikor inspects the chest and identify no trap. He opens the chest and luckily for him, there was not trap. Inside the small wooden chest, he finds 9 potions and 10 scrolls.

Fembrys looks at Maesyn "Fembrys is my name invader. What do you want to know? No one has gone missing! They all joined Mystra Sacred Trust. Listen, I am really weak. If you want to torture me, why don't you heal me first? Let me drink the potion of healing. You can smell it or try it yourself."

Spoiler

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OOC: Fembrys just came out of unconsciousness so he is at HP zero. Any significant movement or pain could make pass out again.

[razorback]

I understand. We all have things we have done that we are not proud of.
With the hole dug, he helps Kevrin lower the body down. After a small prayer to his friend, Savin presses him some more.

Do you remember any other petitioners coming recently? Are they around? Or, have they shown up but disappeared shortly after the ceremony?

[achinca]

Kevrin leads Savin inside his quarters and pulls out a jug "Dwarf spirit! It will grow hair on your chest if you need it!"

He pours some in a dirty cup and drinks it straight. He shakes his and upper body "Good stuff but quite strong! I cannot say if petitioners came in or out. I spend a lot of time sleeping during the day and after the evening ceremony, I hit the bottle. I do not remember the staff of the church growing. It was just me, Shan, the guards and Fembrys. I never got close to a petitioner. Shan told me that given my past I was not pure enough ..... "

[achinca]

Kevrin leads Savin inside his quarters and pulls out a jug "Dwarf spirit! It will grow hair on your chest if you need it!"

He pours some in a dirty cup and drinks it straight. He shakes his and upper body "Good stuff but quite strong! I cannot say if petitioners came in or out. I spend a lot of time sleeping during the day and after the evening ceremony, I hit the bottle. I do not remember the staff of the church growing. It was just me, Shan, the guards and Fembrys. I never got close to a petitioner. Shan told me that given my past I was not pure enough ..... "

[LtPowers]

Maesyn casts cure light wounds on Fembrys.

(1d8+4)[12]

"So what is Mystra's Sacred Trust? Where can we find those who have undertaken it?" he asks.


Maesyn Silverhair

[achinca]

Fembrys wounds heal as Maesyn uses his magic.

He looks at the silver elf "Go through the ritual and you will found out. Then you will be one with Mystra."

[puffmagicdragon]

Ryx smiles at his find, the potions and scrolls. He closes the lid of the chest and carries it out of the quarters, into the chamber with the others, setting it down. "Scrolls and potions, they could come in handy." he states. He then returns to the quarters, retrieving anything else that looks interesting or worth something.

[LtPowers]

Fembrys wounds heal as Maesyn uses his magic.

He looks at the silver elf "Go through the ritual and you will found out. Then you will be one with Mystra."

"You are hardly 'one with Mystra'," scoffs the Bard. "You raised an undead, for Sehanine's sake, and you imposed magical domination on Savin. That is dark magic unsuited to a temple such as this, and proves you to be lying. I insist you tell me the truth."


Maesyn Silverhair

[achinca]

Ryxikor brings back the small chest with potions and scrolls to the rest of the group. He goes back to the quarters and on the bookshelf sees old books as well as a few spirit bottles.

Kevrin gets up and picks up another bottle. "Join us elf. Misery is better with company."

Spoiler

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If Savin and Ryxikor join Kevrin in his drinking, I will need a fortitude save

Ryxikor looks at the desk but nothing found in it seems to implicate the temple's clergy in anything other than the days they plan to stay open to the public, the rates which they are prepared to ask for healing services, and so on.

Fembrys although all tied up looks quite amused. "I am just a pawn for my god to play with. I am telling the truth. You are not bright enough to understand it ....."

[Ouroborosi]

Mordiun gives the accusations of the Bard some pause.
His new found companions didn't show any recent behaviour of being mind controlled. The other accusation was even more bizzar. There was no single undead in the area.

The dwarf puts one of his ham sized hands on the Bard shoulder.

"He is either mad or lying. But if you plan to hand him over to the authorities you need proof of your accusations. Making up claims about undead won't help our cause."

He points with his other hand to the place they fought. "I fail to notice any undead"

The dwarf then looks at the fake priest not in the least angered of his claim of not being a man. He was a soldier and had already done it's share of questionable things to stay alive scouting the underdark in his military days.

"Your monastery is accused of kidnapping" Mordiun explains. "If your love for Mystra is as faithful as you claim you better cooperate. Where did this ritual take place?"

[achinca]

Fembrys smiles at Mordiun statements.

"Hey silver elf, listen to the dwarf. At least he is not as slow as you ....."

He looks at Mordium "Ritual took place in that room ... "

With a movement of the head, he points to the room north of the room they are currently in, i.e. the Inner Temple.

[puffmagicdragon]

The elf blows the dust off the books, and tilts his head slightly to read the titles on the books.

When Ryx is back with the others, and listen to Fembrys, watching him motion with his head, the elven warrior starts walking into the inner temple to see what can be discerned.

[achinca]

The books titles refer to magic. As Ryxikor has not arcanic knowledge, he cannot get more information.

The inner temple is as follow: Slabs of obsidian line the floor, walls, and high ceiling of this room. Two thick, square columns each hold a single blazing torch on their west face. This arrangement provides uneven light to the front of the temple, but leaves the temple’s further recesses in shadowy darkness, especially the two large stone figures set in the rearmost alcoves. Also poorly lit is a dark stone altar set forward from the statues but behind the direct light offered by the pillars.

[LtPowers]

He points with his other hand to the place they fought. "I fail to notice any undead"

"Well of course not." asks the bard. "We were fighting alongside a priestess of Lathander. She vaporized it with holy radiance before it even had a chance to make an attack. As for the domination, ask Savin about it when he returns."

He sighs. "I understand how confusing this is. You were not privy to what we saw in their nightly rituals here, or to the pleadings of those who implored us to investigate. I was approached by an old woman yesterday who insisted that her husband had entered the temple to investigate himself, but has not been heard from since. Much like your sister, it seems. Surely you must see that something here doesn't add up."

He indicates the fat wizard ranting in the corner. "Our friends who underwent the 'ritual' are malnourished and fatigued. Perhaps in a day or two, Zarien will be more coherent. He is himself a Mystran and is not the sort to brook blasphemy against her name."


Maesyn Silverhair

[puffmagicdragon]

Ryxikor takes the tomes and stores them in his backpack, if there is a profit to be made, he doesn't want to leave them behind.

ooc: can we have a map where everyone is?

[Ouroborosi]

The dwarf leans further toward the bard and wipers "Your Mystran friend sadly gives of the same air. Same lout mouthy attitude."

"Our prisoner knows we don't have enough proof to warrant his arrest. Witness reports from outsiders do not go well in a dwarven court, why should it bare more weight in a human one?"

"Nonetheless, his insults border to suicide. Your right he knows something but I get a feeling he rather dies then tell us that."

"Master Mage" the dwarf addresses Zarien "Could we borrow your expertise of the arcane to search for indiscriminating things around to lock up our friend?"

"One Moment..." Mordiun said with pause while closes his eyes.

Spoiler

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Locate Direction of Twin D12 Mordiun (1d20+2)[14]

If successful Mordiun searches the direction (1d20+5)[17]

[achinca]

Fembrys shakes his head at Maesyn. "Listen elf, you and your friends attack my temple, kill my guards and my acolyte and accuse me of blasphemy towards my God. All of it without a shred of evidence. Let's go talk to the Purple Dragons. I am sure they would love to hear your reasons, from imaginary undead to "dominated" drunkard."

Ryxikor enters the room, his backpack significantly heavier. He looks around the temple, feeling ignored by the others and unsure to what to make of this group.

Spoiler

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OOC: As we are not in battle, look at the last map I posted. Movement is free

Mordiun exposes the conundrum the silver elf is in. Fembrys nods "Killing people without reasons called murders, I believe. I am sure that Wheelon courts would love to listen to your "Explainations". And you are right dwarf, I am willing and ready to die for my God."

Mordiun uses his special link with his twin sister and feel that she went through here, likely down the doors on the northern wall.