Death from Below and Above!

The Magnogoblin Abomination lay as a pile of rotting flesh, exorcised by holy water blessed by acolytes of the Order of the Sea-Mother. A skeletal necromancer re-rose into a state of malicious undeath and swiped the sharp tips of its gnarled fingers over Kegho's exposed chest. Despite the injury, Kegho laughed heartily at the scratch. “Bitches love scars!” he shouted while glancing insecurely at Amma bas Sisa. She rolled her eyes in response, yet she secretly admired the Ashkuz horse warrior's bravado. The party methodically struck down the crimson skeleton, but while they focused their blows on one, the other rose and so forth. When Zhuge regained his senses after diving too deeply into the paradoxical nature of The Ar, he employed a basic incantation to inscribe the bones of one of the skeleton necromancers with mystical glyphs from sutras for the dead to ease its passage to the next world, but the scriptures appeared to be ineffectual.

As the melee continued, Alex shouted to the rest of the party that the only thing not continuously resurrecting was the goblinoid abomination that had been splashed by Theo’s holy water. However, in the heat of battle, his comrades did not catch his meaning. Alex ran to Theo and grabbed a vial of holy water off of his belt and smashed it on a pile of bones waiting to re-re-animate; the pile went up in a great conflagration and settled into nothing but dust and robes. Theo now immediately understood the tactic and heaved the second to last bottle at the remaining skeleton necromancer, yet his scholarly arms weren't enough to launch the vial far enough. Missing his intended target, the vial shattered on the stone floor of the chamber and splahed over Kegho, lustrating him in the beatific sheen of someone blessed by Naeia. The skeleton necromancer was terrified by the spray of holy water and fled to a corner where he was taken down by Miniho; its death made final by the scriptures Zhuge had etched into its bones.

With all of the necromantic champions of Vargus slain, a whisper past through the minds of our adventurers with promises of power in Vargus’ new world order. However, girded by Theo's faith in the Ouranic Church, the party chose to ignore the mad sea-god's 'generous' offer. Theo and Zhuge set about purging the evil from the desecrated altar as Elissa and Alex began searching the chamber. Alex looked inside the giant mouth of the Skull of Vargus, only to be stricken by insanity and terror, causing him to flee the room. Observing this, the daughters of Sisa bas Tanni calmly suggested it was time to go.

Returning to the ground floor of the shrine complex, the party tracked back to the room full of thieves they had burnt to a crisp earlier but found their way blocked by the collapsed roof; whatever treasures that room held was now buried under tons of rock and timber.

Their plan foiled, they went back to the main entrance. Standing before the large wooden doors that had been graffitied in both Wemhavian and Aeriscan with what seemed to be forceful warnings against entry, the adventurers hotly debated opening the doors and investigating what lay beyond. Eventually the impish Oameni's inclination to bad ideas prevailed and they forced their way through the door with a combination of force and creative Alvi manipulation of the spikes holding the door in place. On entering the main room of the shrine, they were awestruck by the classic Rexan decor in an advanced state of decay, the domed ceiling and southeastern wall having collapsed to expose a breathtaking view of Labrax Bay over windswept sea cliffs. They were also struck dumb at the sight of a very irritated mated pair of Giant Telian Hawks swooping down from the sky to attack them, as their nest built on the shrine's altar had been disturbed.

Alex, Miniho and Zhuge chipped away at the oversized birds before Amma was severely injured by a vicious slash to her belly from one of the hawks. She managed to successfuly retreat out of their reach by huddling between two pillars, as did the tactically-minded Zhuge. One of her pack being injured sent Miniho into a rage and she pulled one of the birds out of the air before Alex deftly beheaded it with a quick stroke from his cortéla as it tried to take off. Alex and Miniho then coordinated to bring down the second bird that had been weakened by Zhuge’s relentless lightning attacks. It finally fell when Theo managed to brain it into oblivion with his mace.