D&D 5E [IC] Creamsteak's Princes of Elemental Evil

[CanadienneBacon]

Dent grunted his acquiescence to Qarbo's invitation to enter as a guest. He moved inside the monastery, and gestured with his right hand and the crook of a shoulder that the others should come, too, but leave the door open if they could.

Inside, Dent looked at the stairs, then at the interior of the room he'd just entered. He returned his impassive gaze to Qarbo, and raised an eyebrow in expectation. "Protocol calls for myself and my colleagues to wait here while you retrieve the Mirabarian entourage. We will do so." Dent stood stock still at his pronouncement, and leaned on his openly unsheathed longsword. The tip of his steel ground into the floor of the monastery. His formalism indicated he would not be going downstairs.

 

[Creamsteak]

Four large columns of natural rock dominate this shrine. A wide set of steps descends into darkness in the center of the room, in front of a slab-like stone altar. Large, copper sheathed doors stand in the middle of the south wall, and smaller doors exit to the east and west. Two narrow windows in the north wall admit thin fingers of light from outside. Above the altar, a triangular symbol has been chiseled into the heavy stone blocks of the wall.

A second priest in similar garb is standing at the far side of the room.

"That's peculiar. Very well then. I shall have Hazwald collect the commander. Is this suitable?"

Qarbo gestures to one of the two earth guards.

 

[Shayuri]

"That should be fine," Aridha allows. She then looks around. "This is quite an impressive place."

 

[CanadienneBacon]

"Standard procedure." Dent lifted the tip of his sword from the stone floor and strode forward ten feet. He jerked his chin in a silent "yes" at Qarbo, indicating he agreed to wait while Hazwald fetched the Mirabarian. "Not 'Commander,'" Dent corrected. "His title is 'Knight Captain of Mirabar.' We will take him, and any who were with him in the caravan. My unit commander back in Mirabar will see to their justice." Dent let the lies linger, and stared unblinking at Qarbo. He doubted Hazwald would return with the Knight Captain--no doubt it would prove to be an imposter laying claim to the Knight Captain's title--and privately began to worry that even if the monastery truly held his captain that the priests here had corrupted the man. His captain had never been a man of prayer or worship, so Qarbo's claim that he was down below bent in study was queer to Dent's ear. Dent said nothing more, however, and fell to watching Qarbo and whichever of the guards and other priest remained.

OOC: Move: From AB12 to Z13. Divine Sense: Until the end of your next turn, know presence of any desecrated or consecrated place or object; or any celestial, fiend, or undead w/i 60' of you that is not behind total cover.

 

[hafrogman]

Tolan stands still and waits silently, doing his best to pose as some sort of honor guard.

 

[Creamsteak]

"That should be fine," Aridha allows."

"Hazwald." The armored man looks a bit curiously and then departs down the stairs.

She then looks around. "This is quite an impressive place."

[sblock=Aridha]You notice that the alter has old runes on the surface that have been recently chiseled out.[/sblock]

Qarbo grins slyly. "Yes. It is. The monks work very hard to maintain it. This place was built upon old ground."

"Standard procedure." Dent lifted the tip of his sword from the stone floor and strode forward ten feet. He jerked his chin in a silent "yes" at Qarbo, indicating he agreed to wait while Hazwald fetched the Mirabarian. "Not 'Commander,'" Dent corrected. "His title is 'Knight Captain of Mirabar.' We will take him, and any who were with him in the caravan. My unit commander back in Mirabar will see to their justice."

Qarbo continues to smile. "Has the Knight Captain committed some sort of crime? Perhaps that is why he has come to us. Perhaps he was penitent. Many come to follow our path. It takes a great deal of work in both mind and body to become one with the sovereign stone. We all have failings and atonement. Perhaps you could share yours with us here."

 

[CanadienneBacon]

"We are all sinners. What the Knight Captain's sin is, I do not know. Just that my orders are to retrieve him." Dent declined to comment on his own sins, which were legion. He continued to peer at Qarbo, then looked around the temple.

OOC: Does Dent pick up on anything from his use of Divine Sense?

 

[Creamsteak]

OOC: Nothing that I can see would show up.

You notice that the second priest seems to be standing next to a bronze lever of sorts. The alter has emblems on the surface that appear to have been chiseled out.

Qarbo, still with a smirk on his face, addresses the rest of the party, "And what of the rest of you? Have you found your sins heavy? Do you find your needs many?"

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Dent moved another ten feet, to Y15, and examined the column of natural rock. He looked up to examine the ceiling in here, expecting to see frescoes like those in the basilica in large cities. The bronze lever and the priest standing by it piqued Dent's interest; he switched his stare from Qarbo to the priest and made an unabashed circuit of the room, walking behind the columns behind Qarbo, ending in U17.

 

[Creamsteak]

The ceiling seems rather plain with copper trim. The second priest seems to be carefully eyeing your entire group up and down. He gives no mind to Qarbo. The remaining earthen guard seems nervous. He doesn't like having his back to you or your party, but he seems to focus on the group standing near the doorway. Qarbo is completely unconcerned with your exploration and seems to want to hear the answer to his question.