Tales from Talaveroth

Father Ephesian stops his chant for a moment to reply. "There are too many, they're too engrained. Destroying them will mean destroying the church. But the demon must be destroyed. And who's to say that you are not with them, paladin. They have corrupted many more. But the paladins are usually good. But not all. This god that I worship..."

Having stayed below with the rest of the group, Si'Juul looks up towards the hatch.

"Guessing it isn't going well up there. I would like to head back down but I don't need to have my materials explode on me when I pass that ring of fire. Poinki better finish this quick."

Twitch climbs up after Poinki. When Father Ephesian begins to chant again, she holds up the book, before beginning to speak. "Poinki here has put it very well and I doubt I can top what he's said. But this book is multiple generations old. This sect has been held at bay before, it has been riven out before. The church has survived this before. When a wound has started to fester and the limb is befallen by rot, you have to cut it off. It's dangerous, sure, and sometimes the patient dies. But it's the best hope he has to survive, and it's the only option we have to save your church. We need figures that are beyond reproach, that are respected, to give hope to the believers. We need people like you, Father Ephesian. If the church is destroyed in the process, so be it, it must happen if we want to stop the demon. But what if you're wrong? What if the believers will see the true for what they are, and will be able to separate the truths of the church from the corruption of its highest ministers? All I'm asking is that you have a little faith."

Si'Juul looks to Elhanna.

"Well, are you going up there too? I'm not of any use with this religion stuff, and you're the most religious out of all of us, I believe. If you're not going up then could you help get me past the fire on the way down?"

Twitch gets a pretty good idea that what the old lady said was true, the Father is too far gone. The look in his eyes says that he's not actually paying attention to their words, but instead is lost with his own thoughts. 

Is there anything else she notices? ABout the magical orb, for instance?

The orb seems to just be producing a dim light for now, specifically out of one side. Twitch could probably hazard a guess that when it produced more light it could be the Lighthouse beacon that would keep ships away from the shore.

Heading back down to Elhanna and Si'Juul, Twitch looks saddened. "Sorry, Si'Juul, for not trusting your judgement. It's just, I don't like to use force, I think you know that about me by now. But I think you're right, there's little we can do for him. I still think that the church doesn't need to be doomed because of this, but that's a problem for another day. I'm not sure if Poinki is trying to do something more or not, but we need to get that beacon back up, and perhaps let the acolytes down below in on what Father Ephesian discovered, to see their reactions. Maybe we can get allies that way, or maybe they'll decide to leave the place, so that we'll only have to deal with Father Ephesian at the top."

"I can head down if that fire wall is taken care of. Those runts downstairs won't be of much use to us or him. I suspect they just bought into the honeyed words of the mad man but are naive to anything really going on. They even said as much. If you can get the fire out of my way I can inform Oleg and whoever else is down there waiting on what's happening."

"I can't, it's Poinki with the flask. But I agree on the general sentiment with regards to the acolytes."

"Hmmmmm.... he better hurry up then."

Deception: 15 (with a -2 I was not expecting to roll that high, I suspect Twitch's sharp wit would have made the roll redundant anyway)

Twitch, and Elhanna if she chooses not to join Poinki, would hear the soft *tik tik tik* of Si'Juul's claw on his talon lightly tapping on the floor.

OOC: It's actually high enough to not be noticed by her.

"I want to give him some more time. This might be a defining moment for his faith, I don't want to rush that. Just a little more patience."

Poinki returns to his companions, looking dejected. "Can do no more, words not help. Ilmater himself seemed to speak through Poinki, and Father would not listen."

Si'Juul's claw still tapping upon the floor, he crosses his arms and looks down at the floor.

"So what are we doing next? Kill him? Leave him be?"

Elhanna has gone over to the old lady and started to prepare her for her final journey. She take a pause from it though when Sj'juul speak to her.  

"I won't go up there, it is not my place to be and it would be wrong of me to tell him what to do. I think he will have to stay up there until he find an answer for himself."

"But there must be more to this then what meets the eye. What was that poem he spoke? 'The god that i worship, the demon I blame, conspire as one, exactly the same' . Does that mean that Abraxes is Ilmater? or does it have some other meaning?" 

Her attention goes back to to the lady. When she is done she recite a funeral poem. "There, now you can rest in peace." she tell the dead woman in a gentile tone. Then she stand up and look around for a moment to find an open space and plop down in the lotus position and start praying to Mishakal and ritual casting detect magic.

Elhanna's magic probes the room but doesn't find anything on this floor, outside of the items that she and her friends are already carrying. 

"Abraxas NOT Ilmater," Poinki growls. "Poem stupid."

"Poinki, can you disable the fire down below as you have so I can get downstairs? I'm sure Oleg and those in the tent we saw would like an update."

Deception: 14

Those who can, based on that roll, will see Si'Juul keeping his arms at his sides, as if he is deliberately keeping his hands away from his holster. Trying to hide his discomfort, but likely failing.

“I’m sorry Ponk, that is not what I meant. I was just wondering what the poem meant. I don’t think that Ilmater is Abrexes, but what if it means that Abraxes at some point started to infiltrate the church and has struck a deal with its ruling body? We can’t just ignore what is write in the text, and assume it will all go away. This book is very old and some one at some point made all these claims.” 

Poini nods, and goes down to let Si'Juul through the flames.  "Poinki wait here to let you back in," he says.  Then he sits down to ponder the situation.

If the church of Ilmater is being stolen by Abraxas, Ilmater must be unhappy.  Maybe Poinki was drawn to the church because Ilmater needed a champion who knew all about how miserable a way of life greed and corruption could be. Maybe he has been chosen by Ilmater to cleanse the church.

Poinki prays to Ilmater, asking for guidance and wisdom. "And how to tell true Ilmater followers from demon traitors."