Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Seravin" data-source="post: 2814246" data-attributes="member: 6783">Temple ServicesThere’s probably a way to describe what happened next.  Indeed, the verbalization of the prayer used to ward the nave and sanctuary of the Cathedral would provide enough technical detail to anyone versed in spellcraft.For the lay person however the only informative description is that the dimensional doorways didn’t work.  The exit points of the angelic doorways should have opened up in the center of the nave of the cathedral, between the rows of pews.  Instead the exits collapsed upon themselves and the travelers found themselves forced out of the nave and shunted back astrally to the boundaries of the forbiddance*.The six travelers staggered to their feet within the darkened, wide entryway of the church.  Behind them the great double doors were barred shut, denying entry to anyone not bringing a portable ram or magic.  Before them were two large archways curtained off.  The curtains were stained and glistening with some dark liquid.  Beyond the curtains they could hear the muffled chanting of a single deep voice.The six dimensional-travellers had only a few moments to take this in when shuffling movement within the entryway drew their attention.Three figures from either side of the entryway emerged from dark alcoves.  The figures were dressed in the white robe of Latinan acolytes with the hoods pulled low obscuring their features; but these robes were bloodied and torn.  Their walk was shuffling, almost lurching, and every living person in the entryway recognized the creatures as the walking dead.Kellron pivoted to the right, drawing Deverat with a practiced movment, and presented the sword in a salute as he called out.  “Sarath!”  He invoked, channeling the righteous and holy power of the war god.  The three zombies still shuffling towards them burst with a silver fire and burned away to nothingness.Under the effects of Jallarzi’s hastening spell Kellron pivoted smoothly while holding the same salute.  “Sarath!”  he called out again; and the remaining zombies burned away to dust.Jared, Kestral, and Jallarzi went up the curtained archways and pushed the soaked cloth (blood they could now tell) aside to peer into the nave beyond.  The scene presented was out of some hellish play.The nave and sanctuary, once illuminated by sunlight, torches, and candles was now lit only by a monstrous, roiling, pillar of red-orange flame that started were the altar once stood and roared up thirty feet through the ceiling and beyond.  A dark, shadowy shape, perhaps ten feet tall, could just be made out in the center of hellfire.  The pillar somewhat obscured the back of the sanctuary, but it was apparent that the once gleaming-white statue of Latina the Defender had somehow been transformed to a woman enchained.A cloud of brimstone smoke hung in the air and the once glorious stained-glass windows were blackened.  What little light seeped through the panes suggested horrible scenes.  The iconic imagery of the shields and swords which had graced the stone and wood of the temple were blackened, twisted, and broken.  Almost like they had been melted or reformed like clay.There were witnesses to this hellish scene.  The front five or six rows of pews were half-filled with people wearing blackened, hooded robes; just standing and staring at pillar of fire.  Jallarzi was the first to pick out the source of the chanting; a large, robed man standing in the center aisle.  Apparently realizing that he was about to be interrupted the robed man raised both of his hands up in a sudden movement and the congregation took up the chant with him.  The sudden swell of voices seemed to lend substance to the shadowy, monstrous looking figure trapped in the hellfire.“Hells.”  Whispered Jallarzi.Jared agreed, but he wasn’t about to voice that invective.  Catching the half-elf's eye he nodded to the left hand row of pews which she was closest to.  He then jerked his head to the pews on the right.Jallarzi smiled savagely and nodded agreement.  Nearly as one both Jared and Jallarzi moved into the sanctuary, with Baob following Jared and Ferd protecting Jallarzi.  Corruscating tendrils of black energy flared as the humans and angels entered the nave proper.  Mage, priest, and avoral grimaced but pressed on.  The tendrils died and let them pass unharmed; unable to break their will.  The four cautiously made their way to the rear most pews and looked about the temple for any hiding foes.Not to be left behind Kellron also raced into the sanctuary and made his way down the long center aisle.  As had happened to his friends, the black energy flared again and tried to keep the paladin at bay; but he wasn’t about to be slowed from his duty.  Kellron was going to try and fill the sinkhole of evil with the righteous wrath of the war god.Kestral, her mind racing also made to move into the sanctuary at the same time as Kellron.  This time the black warding energy found purchase.  Kestral gave a muffled half-scream as she was blown back into the entryway.  Ravaged nerves screamed pain as the young woman regained her footing.  Kellron noted his friend’s cry as he skidded to a stop about halfway down the aisle, some sixty feet from the pillar. Pointing Deverat at the flames Kellron invoked a brief but feverant prayer to Sarath.  White power flared up around the paladin and the pillar of hellfire, and for a moment the fires dimmed and the shadowy figure faded.  The flames resurged though as the chanting lended it power again.  Kellron snarled and tried to focus himself; he would be Sarath’s blade.  Again the flames died back as holy power was fed into them and again they resurged.The black-robed figure leading the chanters turned at the unwanted intrusion.  With a deliberate shrug the man raised his arms up and pulled back his hood.  The snarling visage was the perfect mirror of Kellron.  The man glared at Kellron with hate filled eyes and then was suddenly gone.Thinking through the pain, Kestral finally remembers what’s been bothering her about the scene and calls out a warning.  “Don’t kill them!” she shouted.  “Whoever is behind this has been kidnapping people of the street!” reminded the young adventurer.Jallarzi, her hands filled with packets of guano stops the first gestures of a fireball spell and grimaced.  For his part, Jared lets out a slow breath as he realized he nearly invoked a plane of swords into a group of innocents.  There was no telling what that could have done for the creature in the hellfire.Stuffing the packages back into her spell component pouch Jallarzi looked to Ferd.  “Can you dispel a charm?” she asks.The guardian angel nods once and turns his sharp-eyed gaze onto the congregation.  With a single bird-like sound a sudden stillness grips the congregation on the left hand side of the Cathedral.  Baob, invokes his own dispel magic with a similar cry, stilling his half of the congregation.  Jared augments the angelic dispelling with his own god-given prayers.The stillness lasted for about two heartbeats and then the chanting resumed again; but this time by only half of the congregation.  The other half staggered where they stood and began to look around.“The Defender help us!” cried out a voice, while another person screamed in terror.  Within seconds the formerly enslaved members of the congregation were tripping over each other trying to reach the aisles.“Keep trying to free the rest!”  Jared ordered the avorals, as he and Jallarzi moved to the center aisle and made their way to Kellron.  They were able to move against the people easily as no one wanted to get in their way and there weren’t enough fleeing people to jam the aisle yet.Seeing the onrushing horde of panicked people Kestral took a deep breath.  She wasn’t sure what was outside, between the Cathedral and its walls but she would bet her own money that the grounds were not safe.  Lifting up her arms she called out for calm and order.  “Hold up!”  She ordered.  “It’s not safe out there!  Everyone calm down and we’ll get you out of here as soon as the pillar is gone!”The crowd of twenty-odd people faltered in their rush to the door, but fear is a harsh master it drove away reason.Thinking fast and still acting under spell-graced speed Kestral stamped her foot and threw back her shoulders, remembering to slow her words so she could be understood.  “I said hold it!”  She shouted, her voice piercing through the threatening madness.  “There are undead monstronsities just outside the doors waiting to eat anyone who steps out.  We have angels in here who will save us all if we just lend them our prayers!”The stick and carrot approach worked and Kestral cared not whether or not either was true, as long as everyone else did.  Kestral pointed to the alcoves at the side.  “Everyone just squeeze into these alcoves right now, out of the way of danger.  We don’t want any stray spells hurting anyone.”  She smiled with satisfaction as the still fearful people began to obey her.Meanwhile, Kellron was still trying to channel the will of the war god with only limited success.  Each time the pillar would dim but it would always flare back to life.  Kellron knew in part it was because he was more warrior than priest and it was only his force of personality and devotion to Sarath that would make this task possible.  Then Jared was beside him, lending his own faith to the task, and the two men poured more holy energy into the pillar.  Jallarzi moved up beside the two men and looked about as the avorals continued to free the congregation of their mental enslavement.  A cry of pain drew her immediate attention and Jallarzi whirled to the source.Almost all of the congregation members were throwing back their hoods as they were freed.  A handful had not, but in the ensuing confusion the hoods had dropped back anyway.  There were undead mixed amongst the congregation and they were starting to attack anyone trying to flee.Jallarzi paused only long enough to pick out two ravaged, walking corpses and invoked a stream of five magic missiles.  “More undead."  she noted to the two men.Kellron only half-heard.  Reaching deep inside he found and touched the well of energy that he recognized as Sarath.  Raw holy power, bolstered by Jared’s own attempts, poured from the paladin in a torrent of silver flame**.  Under this perfect expression of faith the hellfire pillar didn’t flicker, it simply went out with single monstrous cry of rage that was suddenly silenced.Without missing a beat Kellron and Jared each turn to face separate parts of the congregation and invoked a final turning each.  The skeletons and zombies flared briefly again and disappeared.Kellron allowed himself a moment of satisfaction before turning to Jared.  “We need to get these people out of here.  Can Baob and Ferd get them out the same way they got us in?  Maybe take them all the way to the church of Sarath…”Jared nodded.  “Good idea.”  Turning to the avorals he shouted to be heard above the shouts of the now freed crowd and Kestral’s commanding voice.  “Baob!  Ferd!  Please start ferrying these people to the safety of Sarath’s church, or as close as possible in a single trip.”The two guardian angels grunted assent and half-hopped/half-flew to the entryway.  Once there they began gathering the thirty or forty odd Imperial citizens close so they could get them to safety.---*This was a 3.0 Forbiddance.  The way it was written left me in some doubt on how it denied teleportation effects.  I ultimately ruled it would dump then at the edge of the effect. **Natural 20 with an assist from Jared.  Kellron was the primary because he has a nice Charisma score which offset his paladin-ness penalty.  Jared has a Charisma or 10 or 11. </blockquote>

Verification