The Godsmouth Heresy [Pathfinder]

"We were specifically told to kill whatever was causing the bodies to disappear," Vyara notes. "Seems pretty straightforward to me. This man is obviously a necromancer, and I think the Pharasmans would rather we took care of the problem for them instead of bringing it to them to deal with. That is why they hired us."

"It probably would be safer to deal with him now. If we try to take him back alive he'll slow us down, and we don't know what kinds of tricks he might still have up his sleeve," Fayth says. "And as Vyara said, we were hired to deal with the problem ourselves." She shakes her head momentarily. "As much as it goes against my instincts as a healer, I really must agree with Vyara, we should just deal with it now."

After hearing what Vyara and Faith have to say, Sumner nods. "I can understand that reasoning. I will do it, then." He lifts the masterwork ranseur he'd acquired earlier and drives it through the "necromancer's" chest.

Looking around the room, the corridor north is interrupted by a ten-foot pit, containing a number of discarded body parts. There are a number of books, including notes from the Chymists of Life in Death. Vyara looks over the book, frowning. "This is a book on the creation of alchemical undead. The Pharasmins would be loathe to let this into anyone else's hands." She looks to the rest of the group. "I imagine they'd want to see this. I don't know how they normally deal with heretical texts."

"Probably burn it," Fayth says, looking at the book. "More power to them, nasty creatures undead."

The group loots the alchemist, then continues adventuring, finding a pathway deeper into the ossuary behind a door emblazoned with a strange seven-pointed in the back of an alcove that isn't tenable, as it's covered in rocks and stuff. Then the group finds a new room-- A thirty-foot-diameter pit fills this circular room, its bottom lost in darkness. The ceiling arches twenty feet above the pit, which is encircled by a narrow, five-foot-wide walkway. A door stands in the opposite wall of the room, across the pit. They discover a secret room, and as Fayth approaches, a large snake with metal scales springs out from behind the room's sarcophagus. It goes down quickly, but it's soon accompanied by a bony skeletal snake with a human face that comes slithering out of the pit. The group nearly perishes as the snake writhes its body in a dazing dance, but Ottazer and Fayth manage to take it down after some great amount of trouble. Ottazer, breathing heavily, growls, "we're camping for the night away from this stupid pit."

As she picks up the rest of the party with their own energy, and uses the last of her own strength to heal herself, Fayth nods emphatic agreement. "I'm burned out, another fight like that would probably kill us," She says, before moving back to the sarcophagus chamber. "But while we're here we might as well see what those snakes were guarding."

Opening the sarcophagus, the group finds a handsome dead man in excellent state of repair, with a fancy magical Sihedron medallion and a pair of +1 Bracers of Armor, which they summarily loot.

---

The next day, all patched up, the group continues exploring. The other side of the pit room proves less than exciting, merely providing an alternative route to a location they'd been to before, so they instead explore another corridor. Down one branch they find themselves in a long chamber, carved with images of religious ceremonies and judging priests, and lined with stone benches facing a podium at the far end. The chamber's lone inhabitant is a winged undead head, which stops banging itself against the wall as it hears their approach, and gets quickly dispatched as it attempts to attack.

The group continues to a new room, where they encounter a figure that billows darkness out from it: fortunately, Sumner had just the proper spell, and daylight emanates outwards from Orl. Freshly invigorated, Orl and Ottazer charge into battle. While Ottazer misses his blows, Orl lands two soundly, the first pulling the legs out from under the target and the second a blow on the way up.

At the second blow, the small, humanoid creature stumbles back. He sobs loudly, covering his presently useless eyes. "Please, I only want to leave! I'll cause you no trouble, I swear!"

”Okay!” Ottazer responds, putting his battleaxe away. ”Who are you, anyways? And sorry about smacking you, this llace has put us all pretty far on edge.”

The creature still edges away from the bright wolf, shifting his hand to cast a shadow over his eyes. He squints as he tries to look at the group. "I'm called Falk..." He mutters in another language for a minute, trying to find his words. "Was trapped here by danger, both sides..."

"What kind of danger?" Fayth asks, glancing at the other door in the room.

The small creatures mutters for a moment. "Said wormfolk?" he answers hesitantly, shuffling his feet.

"Wormfolk?" Sumner tilts his head. "I've never heard of such things."

Falk shuffles nervously, muttering to himself. "It said wormfolk, don't know how to explain it," he answers, muttering again. "Please, I'll cause you no trouble, let me leave." Muttering once more, he also adds, "I can give you my treasure, if that let me leave."

Sumner shakes his head. "You don't need to give us anything, but who's 'it'?"

He points to the door on the other side of the room, currently closed.

"Maybe we should check this 'wormfolk' out," Vyara suggests. She turns to Falk. "Everything's going to be all right. You can leave if you want to."

As they examine the room, Sumner suddenly snaps his fingers. "I just remembered- wormfolk means naga. Sorta snakelike monsters. Very much not to be trifled with."

Falk doesn't wait for second permission, and shuffles out. The group finds a cloak of resistance +1 hanging in a cabinet of mundane priestly vestments, and two scrolls of delay poison among the religious texts. The rest of the religious accoutrements stored here are all unexceptional, though the church of Pharasma will pay a total of 100 gp for these historical artifacts.

"Snakelike huh? Anything you think we might need to watch out for, like venom?" Fayth asks from the cabinet.

Sumner shrugs. "Sorry. I don't know anything else."

"If they're like snakes, then we probably shouldn't get caught in their coils," Ottazer notes. "My uncle said he once saw a giant snake crush one of his adventuring companions like that."

They go to the next room. The theme of judgment in the afterlife is continued in the carvings on the walls of this room. A wide table stands along the north wall, draped with a heavy black cloth. A single candle burns in a tall, iron candlestick in the southwest corner, but the rest of the room is cloaked in shadows.

The group starts to look around, with Orl approaching the table. Before he reaches it, a slightly feminine voice speaks to them from under the table in a sibilant whisper. "Will you draw back the veil of mystery that cloaks the Godsmouth Ossuary, and reveal all the secrets of the Ancients?" she asks, any s sounds elongating into little hisses. "I am an oracle that can assist you in doing so... for a price."

"Oh really?" Fayth says, sarcasm tinting her voice as she keeps her distance from the table. "Not much of an oracle, hiding away beneath a table, though you do have the crypticness down I suppose. Orl, I'd suggest keeping your distance from that table."