knightsoflegend | katoomba ♔ while I formulate denials of your effect on me

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katoomba ♔ while I formulate denials of your effect on me

WHO || Alanna, Jaime, Faith, Fiona, Jordan, Adi [Closed]
WHAT || The Knights investigate a shady temple of Mystra.
WHERE || Katoomba, Australia
WHEN || July 24th [forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

The Knights take off for Katoomba, Australia, to investigate a tale of a temple to the goddess of magic Mystra that was erected very suddenly and mysteriously, seemingly unknown to other Mystran clergy in the world. A bizarre tale of a cleric being chased out with gunfire, and a missing bookseller with a connection to the church have left Wynn worried about what might be going on within the walls of the temple. It is constructed a short distance from the actual city proper, up the river.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Adi's on the same page as Alanna (nat 20 knowledge check), but he's substantially less irritated about it. He's quiet throughout most of the ceremonies and quiet about being woken, only speaking up after giving Alanna an even look. ]

I thought meditation was meant to have a soothing effect.

[ He says it like it's an idle observation. Totally not a super obvious joke re: Alanna's current mood. ]

Give me a ceremony to Lurue any day. [ faith sounds a little grumpy as she yanks on her lame vestments, but they barely have time to say more before fembrys appears in the doorway, looking them over with a deep frown.

"If you will follow me," is all he says, and he heads back into the temple, moving towards the double doors that have been guarded and kept locked the entire three days they've stayed here. this time the doors are thrown open, and they are led in to the inner temple. 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. "Please," fembrys says, motioning between the two pillars, in front of the altar. "Gather here and prepare yourselves to receive the Sacred Trust: you are about to look upon the Starry Gnosis. All your questions are soon to be answered." ]

[ fiona's been sneaking food for herself (and maybe faith) with some stealthy casting of create food and drink spells when they're all alone at night. also, the communal showers are a little weird, but she gets over it quickly.

with a knowledge (religion) check of 18 she's been following the lessons they're meant to learn here (as she did have vested interest to begin with) and she pays about as much attention as she can muster in any single session.

today, as the move through the locked doors into the inner temple, she can see beyond the poorly lit areas in the room beyond with her darkvision of 120 ft. :) she is also very excited to finally see where all this has been leading, even if it's not going somewhere particularly good. either way, she definitely has spells prepared b/c what else have would she have been doing with all her "meditation" time? ]

Are you guaranteeing that? Because I have a lot of unanswered questions up in here. [ as she taps her temple with two fingers ]

[Jaime has definitely checked out Alanna in the communal showers (will 9). But if she called him out he'd scoff and say something about how little he currs and how she's not his type at all. And his nat 20 fort save means there DEFINITELY were no erections he was just.... idk. Jaime. We don't want to know what he's thinking. HE doesn't want to know what he's thinking.

And he definitely has laughed out loud at some of her snarky Fembrys remarks (will save crit fail.....).

Anyway, they've made it through, though Jaime's int check of 12 means he's... not been really following. He's probably just waiting for the time when he gets to start hitting stuff. Though the hunger means it'll probably be more difficult.]

Honestly, I'd settle for receiving a bloody sacred crust of bread and a bit of wine. Does Mystra really tell her followers to starve themselves?

[ fiona is able to discern two darkly swathed guards hiding in the shadows in the unlit areas... but they seem to just be standing there.

fembrys ignores their comments, unlocking a secret compartment on the altar, and pulling out a black globe, like a crystal ball gone dark, no more than grapefruit-sized. tiny points of light, like stars, twinkle distantly at the periphery of the dark core. he turns around, holding it up high, repeating the most common words of the daily chant: "Knowledge lies between the stars."

everyone must make a series of 4 will saves as they observe this ritual (DC 21). if they succeed at any one, they have resisted the starry gnosis and can stop making saves. if they fail all four, they find themselves bewitched as they watch the stars twinkle out... and feel compelled to do anything that fembrys asks of them.

faith's brow furrows as she watches the stars, initially entranced (will 16), falling further and further into the spectacle (will 14), but abruptly she seems to sense that something is wrong, and manages to shake it off (will 27). she makes a wisdom check of 21 to recognize sort of what was happening, and also realizes she should keep her mouth shut, pretending to go along with it, even as she sneaks a glance at the others, masking her concern (bluff 22), casting thought shield on herself. ]

[ After an initial will save of 13 leaves Alanna staring with deep, reverential awe at the globe, she gathers her wits and composes herself (will save ~~crit fail~~ action point! 23. Because I wasn't sure how crit failing would go over in this string of 4 so I'll just spend an action point).

Her wisdom check is absolute balls (6), so she doesn't realize that it's happening to everyone, or that it's deliberate on Fembrys' part. She leans back, blinking hard. ]

Knowledge isn't all that lies between those bleeding stars. A woman could get lost staring into that thing. Or, [ she turns to grin cheekily at Jaime since he's been laughing at her snide comments and also just brought up starvation, ] Maybe that's the starvation of the devout talking.

[Nope the starvation of the undevout is ignoring her now to star at the sparkly thing (will saves 7, 9, 7, 18). Her snark almost draws him out on that last save, but he's too lightheaded from lack of food, so he merely murmurs:] Hush. [And continues staring at the thing.]

[welp. maybe it was a combination of the boredom of the past few days, or the near starvation they had endured while going through the supposed rituals that fembrys had led them through. either way, when they enter the temple jordan is relieved to be nearly at the end of their stay here. he is all for mystra, and learning about the lady of magic and all of her to-do, but he is not so impressed with what he had seen thus far. having grown up around magic, in a castle pretty much made of magic, the tricks they had seen over the past few days had been less than awe-inspiring.

as fembrys begins the ritual, jordan's mind is ripe for the plundering, apparently. he hadn't really been paying that close of attention to the temple, didn't notice the guards in the back of the room and sure wasn't prepared for the actual magic in fembrys words as he began to speak. because jordan sure did crit-fail that will save.

fembrys words begin to flow over him and he is completely bowled under by the power of the magic flowing from the globe. his pupils dilate, the bright blue turned nearly black but for a ring of sapphire color on the outer edge. a faint shimmer surrounds him, a dusting of muted glitter hovering around him as he stares up to the altar, mouth slightly ajar. jordan is completely under fembrys spell.]

[ Adi spends a moment completely enthralled (will 11), but he snaps out of it when Alanna speaks up (will 25). Wisdom 17 means he's vaguely aware of what's going on, and possibly also that he shouldn't interrupt just yet.

Unfortunately, he doesn't do a particularly good job of faking it (bluff 11). ]

What the hell is it?

[ Stage whisper, not very subtle. ]

[ fiona doesn't even try to resist the pull of the starry gnosis, as she stares wide-eyed into the globe, desperately seeking whatever knowledge may lie between its stars. the sudden charge of magic surging from jordan only serves to excite her further, her mouth going dry and her palms beginning to sweat.

she does, however, manage to choke out a few words in response to adi's question. ] The knowledge that lies between stars. Duh.

[ fembrys looks across them, as well as those random couple other people who were here who all failed like losers, duh. he looks satisfied, and replaces the orb, now void of stars, into the altar.

"Go to gather your belongings, then bring them down the stairs behind the altar."

faith glances over at the others, trying to ascertain who is actually affected, and who isn't, but is having a hard time... doing that. so she'll just nod and say in a voice that seems appropriately zombified: ] Behind the altar.

Right. That.

[ The fuck is this? The fuck was that? Her wisdom check was balls to find out who's affected again, so she's just continuing to play along based on ... what they've been doing the whole time. Priests and their orders: is there anything else they know how to do?

She glances briefly sidelong at her companions, but moves to retrieve her stuff all the same. Maybe they'll get a spare minute in the room while gathering their things to discuss a plan of action. While abysmal, her 11 wisdom check is enough to realize something sketchy is happening. She's not completely deficient. ]

[ Thank you, Fiona. Adi's wisdom check is similarly balls, so he just follows Faith's lead and plays along, giving Fembrys a slightly uncertain glance.

He falls into stride with Alanna as they go to collect their belongings, keeping his voice low. ] Did you see anything? Is Jordan glowing?

[ Glittering, same thing. ]

You expect me to be able to explain what the hell a genie's doing?

[ Srs? Alanna sounds absolutely baffled, but that essentially confirms that Adi, at least, is seeing what's really happening: Jordan is glowing/glittering. ]

I can tell you one thing: I'd like a refund for whatever knowledge we're meant to have gained. I didn't learn a bloody thing from that mess.

[ Rude. Her hushed whisper is about as hushed as Alanna can ever manage. ]

[jordan nods at fembrys words, more than eager to do his bidding as he heads with the group to their chambers. Once there he immediately grabs up his lamp from beneath his pillow, cradling it in both his hands.

along with the glittering there is a faint smell of sun and hot sand coming from him now. he doesn't join in the banter of his teammates, simply turns for the door with his lamp. as he passes by fiona his eyes glance to her, a smile coming to his face at the feel of her magic mirroring his own.

that doesn't stop him from leaving the room. with his genie lamp. that can control him. and whatever power he possesses. he's going for the altar, or more precisely the stairs behind the altar. ]

[ as they walk back towards their chambers, faith snaps in front of fiona and jordan's faces, concern etching a groove between her brows. no guard accompanies them, and the other hypnotized petitioners ignore them entirely as they go to gather up all their items from their trunks on the far side of the room. it's pretty clear that adi and alanna at least have their wits about them, so she falls back to whisper: ] That thing hypnotized them. [ with a particularly boss wisdom check, she moves to get her things out of her trunk, and... pulls up her phone, fingers flying as she pulls up the drakenet, casting surreptitious looks at her friends, as they mindlessly go about their business.. ] How do you spell 'Gnosis'?

[Jaime's not really paying attention to the rest of the group. He's gathering up what little shit he came with, mainly all his heavy armor and his sword, and walking purposefully back to the altar with the genies.]

[zombie walking, zombie walking, zombie walking. glittery clouds following him like pig-pen from charlie brown.

this has been a tag.]

[ fiona brought like... nothing, except maybe a couple changes of clothes and a few random research books. she doesn't use a spellbook and, luckily, she gave faith her bottle to hold on to for safe keeping, so it looks like she's just grabbing up her bundle of clothing and eventually heading back to the altar :) ]

[ int check 17. ]

G-N-O-S-I-S.

[ She whips her head around, watching Jordan walk for the door and LOOKS VERY STARTLED THAT HE KEEPS GOING (wis 14 to be like hmmm genie bottle maybe not a gr8 idea). Leaving Faith to do the legwork with researching this shit, she grabs her sword out of the trunk and bolts after Jordan. ]

Oi! Not so fast with that thing.

[ thanks alanna gurl. faith does some frantic googling (research 17), and i guess... relates her findings to adi, congrats. ] That's what I thought - there's no known artifact or holy item in the Mystran church called the Starry Gnosis.

Whatever this is, it has nothing to do with Mystra. [ actually concerned, she goes to get her stuff out of her trunk - most notably fiona's bottle, which she wraps up in a sweater of hers to hide. ]

[ Adi who's distracted by Alanna's valiant attempt to intercept Jordan, but Faith gets his attention when she starts explaining. Now that the situation's been spelled out (literally), he casts a concerned glance after their zombie-walking companions. ]

Maybe we should hit them.

[ wis 15 for that sure-fire plan. Meanwhile, he's getting his belongings, which aren't much, or particularly impressive. ]

[yeah, jordan is not stopping at alanna's words, not even acknowledging them. he is to go to the stairs behind the altar. duh.

and if someone does reach for his bottle, he will be putting up a fight. a glittery, genie fight.]

[ oh goddess. alanna gives up when she notices him blind to her, tipping her head back and cursing the great gods for landing her in this. gathering her wits, she bolts back to the room, rustling up her pendant and looping it around her neck. never take off a trinket from a bloody goddess, coram would have told her. that's like to be the time you'll need it. and it may shed some light on whatever magic is bewitching them.

looking up at adi and faith, alanna pulls her sword from her belongings, drawing it. ]

Great! Hitting. [ she nods, encouraging. ] Hope you've got a good fight in you. Our blessed genie isn't waking up, and I've no intentions of allowing Fembrys one in his employ. Look alive.

[Jaime keeps on trucking with that armor. It's even more awkward when he's carrying it, not wearing it, especially with his dex check of 9, so there's a clatter and a clang as he drops something and has to reorient so he can get it all up together again.]

once more in the right place oops

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