Nulgaz chuckled and patted the falchion. ”This is easily my most powerful spell. I had an aptitude for it for some time but my magic makes it much better depending how much I put into it. I could kill a gourd at six paces. And occasionally just get the stem. Eh, I am always trying to get better but I am not a soldier. It helps when I can plot the trajectory and focus on where I am sending it.” Nulgaz shrugged but grinned back accenting her protruding tusks. She adjusted her cloak behind her and continued to try to find a more comfortable position. ”It really is too bad,” she continued, “that I can’t summon beds. But still I guess we can settle for a toasty room temperature for the next six hours or so.”

She paused, stopped breathing and blinking for a moment. She scratched at her nostrils and turned back to Ty. ”Did you kill any of them? There was no evidence of undead. There was evidence of some charring on the ground but that was it. Did you do anything before they appeared that might have triggered an illusion?” She searched her knowledge for a spell that might have caused the effect. ”What about sound or smell? That tends to require more powerful spells.” Nulgaz looked to Ty in curiosity.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:08, Thu 19 Oct 2023.

"Well..."  Tyrael started to reply but stopped mid sentence.  She looked up at the ceiling, her face furled in concentration as she tried to remember details about her interactions with the undead.  She was pretty sure that her molotov cocktails had set some of the undead on fire, but she couldn't recall if any of them were destroyed.

"...now that you mention it...I heard them pounding on the door but..."  She fell silent once more, deep in thought.  "...if it was an illusion, or some other kind of magic, I don't think that I would know."

Nulgaz considered the different schools of magic. She didn’t think you could polymorph something into undead. In theory conjuration could summon undead from somewhere but she didn’t know any particular spell that could manage it. There was no spell she knew of that would let regular raised undead disappear. She wondered if blink zombies were a thing. She kept coming back to illusions. They weren’t the only solution but it made the most sense. ”Where were you exactly when they appeared? If it was an illusion either you triggered a trap or an illusionist was watching from somewhere near by. And that leads to my se one question, what would someone gain from scaring you into staying in here?”
This message was last edited by the player at 17:56, Sat 21 Oct 2023.

Tyrael looked around the large main room of the church.  "I was here.  Sort of.  I mean in this area, when I heard the noises outside."  she said.  If what Nulgaz was saying was true, then had Tyrael set off a trap?  She didn't think that she did, but then what did she know about magic or traps?  Both were painful, but she was hardly a scholar in each.  "I don't think that I was doing anything that might have set off a trap or a spell.  I was just in here, maybe digging in the back of the wagon, but here."

”Unfortunately,” she said, ”that doesn’t give me any ideas. You would not have missed a glowing sigil. That doesn’t eliminate some form of trap I don’t know. Or that there is someone hiding here and directly casting it. All the better that  the ‘hut’ is up. It gives us a little privacy.”

For a moment she slowed her breath as best she could and tried to listen. She had no idea what she expected. It wasn’t like she was especially good at listening for clues. It just seemed the thing to do. More perfunctory than anything.

A strange sound comes from above and sitting on the rafters is a dove. It tilts its head "Wrong you are. Church is old, very old." What in the world? It looks like the bird Tyr saw before.

Looking to the half-elf Nulgaz asked, ”Ty, do you know each other?” She stood up from her comfortable position and looked up. Cupping hands around the sides of her mouth she called out. ”Mister Bird? So old that maybe spectral projections of the dead as protectors? Maybe from the buried or even from catacombs down below?”

She took her time to look up at the bird. Then she thought to take a good look at her surroundings and how the church itself was laid out. She pondered places stairs or doors could be hidden. She tried to remember if there was a mausoleum in the church yard. It was a wild guess, maybe it was just an old church doing its old church things. She shrugged.

Tyrael started at the birds voice.  Looking up to the church ceiling, there was a dove.  It looked the same as the bird that delivered the message from Dreamljocht.  "We're old friends."  She replied to Nulgaz, keeping her eyes on the bird.

"Welcome back.  Anything new from the others?  They're on the way back, right?"

The bird gives the odd wizard a strange look "Catacombs beneath? Not sure. As for who I am, I am a avatar." He adjusts his swings and tilts his head "I am not concerned of this place. And as far as I know, far as I know. I can do little. Guidance of course. Guidance. Telling you what I may now solves nothing. One must discover it on their own." What a strange bird.

Nulgaz thought about what she noticed about the layout of the small church and its yard. If there was something below it would only be accessible one of two ways as far as she could tell. She thought it safer to first investigate the option that kept them inside. ”Did you examine that way down over there? It looks blocked but sometimes that is a trick, an illusion or a mechanism. There also another door outside that might be worth investigating again.”

She thought about the bird. An avatar, guidance, just a talking bird, whatever it was it admitted it could it help with this situation. If there was something to find they would have to be the ones to find it. The fact an avatar was interested in their actions was interesting in its own right. She thought this small church must be more significant than it first looked, something not hard to believe. Lost knowledge can be hidden in the most innocuous looking places.

Tyrael regarded Nulgaz critically for long several minutes.  The Half-Orcs way of thinking was interesting, like a fighter.  She wanted to check out all of the entrances and exits from the church, just as Tyrael had done when she had first arrived.  That was good to see.  It meant that Nulgaz had a good head on her shoulders.

"Relax, Nuls."  Tyrael waved a hand around lazily.  "I've checked the place out.  Beneath that pillar over there is an entrance to the basement of this place.  Not much down there unless you feel the need to pray to Gorum.  I've barred all the doors and windows that I could find to keep the outside things....well outside."

She turned her attention to the messenger bird.  "What Guidance can you offer us....uhm...do you have a name?  What do we call you?"

"Offering you guidance whenever you ask isn't what I intend. Provide insite of course. Perhaps what you seek is not outside but somewhere within no? If you do not know what you are looking for then your not looking correctly. Wise bird I am. Call me...Sunny. That fits." The bird flaps his wings out "If what lies outside is really no?"

”I wish I had Detect Magic memorized. I would check if you were enchanted to make sure you don’t have to look inside to disbelieve what I believe to be an illusion. ‘If you don’t know where to look you are looking wrong’ and all that,” she said as started rising to her feet.

She pulled her cloak and the rest of her clothing back into position. ”Still,” she continued. ”I do have another option open to me. It won’t help if it is an illusion, which I am still leaning towards, but it could help if it is something else. I might as well. If anything it will give me a chance to look at those ways down.”

Nulgaz walked toward the the way down inside. Calling up the complex memorized formulae and the concepts of what would have been the material components, she cast See Invisibility. She gave out a sigh and looked around. The spell didn’t help with illusion or concealment but she figured it didn’t hurt to search the small area in earnest in addition to anything the spell might have revealed. The spell would last an hour, she hoped she might have a chance to scale back down outside and check out there as well but first things first. She looked around for obvious invisible things and searched.

"Well Sunny, I do hope that whatever lies outside stays outside."  Tyrael replied, but then thought about her answer for a moment.  "Scratch that.  I hope that whatever was outside was just an illusion.  That sounds a bit better, I think."

She looked over at Nulgaz, watching what she was doing with some interest even though she did not fully understand all of it.

"I dislike you. Really. I don't. Your talking to a avatar-a being of pure magic and you doubt it because you cannot cast a spell?" The bird seems aggrivated. And dissapears. Then re-appears above the half-orc. It dissapears once more and voila! Appears right at Ty's shoulder.

The spell is cast from Nulgaz but it reveals nothing.

”Pardon me, I meant no offense. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you. I was more concerned I was misunderstanding you. Plus I wasn’t sure if the spell was here or on our friend here. Honestly, illusions are not a specialty of mine and this place is so old it may have magics I have never even heard of. But because of your help, I am sure we are safe from what she saw,” she said to the avatar. Nulgaz continued to look around while talking. She felt like she had to be missing something, the illusion had to come from somewhere. With the blocked door checking the outside entrance would have to wait. Even she knew better than to leave in the middle of a conversation.

OOC: She is going to examine where the ladder is blocked off.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:38, Fri 17 Nov 2023.

"Hey now, let's not fight you two."  Tyrael said lazily.  "This place is too small for a proper verbal match, and you'd probably wake the cub."

"Feel free to check out the building, Nuls.  Matter of fact, why don't I show you around."  Tyrael rose to her feet and gathered up her shield and sword.  "You've already seen the upper floor, there's not much up there.  I haven't found a way to the roof yet...but I haven't really gone looking.  We've got this big room here and there's the basement area beneath the pulpit over there.  Where do you want to go?"

She looked over at the enchanted bird.  "You want to tag along, Sunny?"

"This isn't a fight. Its a argument between a half-orc that acts like she knows everything against a simple bird who she cannot kill that knows so much more. I cam here to let you know your allies are safe and get insulted because she does not trust anyone. Be wary, warrior. A mage cannot be trusted. As for spells going off or whatnot there isn't any. But why trust a avatar? You wish to wander around after precautions were taken to keep people in so be it. Mess up what has been done. Go on. This shall be amusing. Do you want to have a intellecutal debate mage? You will lose quiet quickly. This is why I do not come often for I offer aid and get tossed aside like I am nothing. I shall leave. Yes I shall. You know your friends are safe. Some of them are at the very least. As far as I know of they are coming back but it will take tike. Take time." The bird flaps his wings and sighs deeply. Or whatever the bird can do to well sigh.

The ladder is blocked off by a gate on the floor with probably heavy wood and whatever was fond around the area-Whatever the warrior found. Bricks boards, anything heavy.

"Sunny, relax.  There's no need to get your feathers ruffled."  Tyraels tone was conciliatory.  Things seemed to be escalating pretty quickly with the magical bird and she wanted to try and calm it down.  "Nuls wasn't trying to insult you.  She was just curious about you.  It can't be every day that you meet up with a divine, intelligent avian such as yourself.  Who wouldn't be?"

"Thanks for delivering the message that Dream and the others are okay.  That means a lot.  I've been sitting here wondering what had happened with them.  I mean, should I go chasing after them because they may be in trouble, or are they all dead and I should continue on with the quest, or maybe they are on the way back after finding Hailie?  In between magical, possibly illusionary, weirdness, my mind does wander a bit."

"Come back down here and let's have something to drink, or eat.  We only really have trail rations and water so you'll have to excuse the meagre hospitality and...do you eat or drink?"

Nulgaz snorted loudly then shrugged. Looking up at the bird she said, ”You don’t like half-orcs do you? I am not trying to disagree or insult. What I am trying to do is figure out what is going on to make sure we are safe. It could have been a spell but you say now. Which means likely vanished or the undead are really good cleaning ladies or…. Ugh!” She let out a frustrated grunt and muttered insults at herself.

She looked towards Ty in frustration. ”I am so stupid. Divine messenger, divine building… Divine! They weren’t illusions, it was evocation, divine evocation! Or would that be invocation? That’s why there was no evidence, don’t you see?”

She slapped her forhead and shook her head. ”Destroy Undead!” she said like it was self evident.

Fed up with being insulted countless times, the bird decides to leave with a 'poof!' Sunny? Insulting him without realizing it and he already stated they were alive! Alive! All of thos jumble about this place being divine yet why would it turn on them with undead? Its a insult! Before he 'poofs out' he looks at Nul "Divine? Divine? You insult all magic! This place is cursed! I said it and you can deal with it." Insulting a avatar!

Whoosh! Poof! And its gone without a trace!

After some time, something hits the door several times. Looking into the church, the cleric and the others are visible. Well three of them-Halie, Dream and Gordo. Not Sam or Anton. Haile is definatly cold, shivering badly despite Dream's extra clothing. Seems they have returned, some of them. To them-nothing attacked them least not lately. And they returned some time after the bird vanished. Haile was brough to the abandoned hut, revealing her dead parents. In time they are buried back to rest within the graveyard. Its up to them. She is told they were frozen and arrows were used on them but who did it remains a mystery. Halie insist they are removed from where Dream buried them-easy enough. Whatever happens remains to be a cold experiance. Well not cold. Well it is a mystery. At least her parents rest within the churchyard. Cold, tired and miserable, they wait outside. Why were they so far from where she saw them last? Baffling. Maybe they were taken or were worried about Haile. Maybe they were lost. Its a tough call. Perhaps it was magic? It remains unknown. The lost her parents, her sister lost within the darkness and now Sam is missing....

The small bear looks up from the wagon and starts to cry or whimper. Something to show dismay unsure of who has come.

Bump bump bump.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:09, Fri 15 Dec 2023.

Sunny disappearing suddenly was surprising, and maybe a little frustrating, but there was little that Tyrael could do about it.  She spent the rest of the time talking with Nulgaz.  That pleasant distraction lasted up until there was banging on the front door of the church.

Tyrael was up immediately, her weapons in hand as she went to a window at the side of the door to see who, or what, was making the racket at the front.  Peering through a slit in the boarded up window, the Half-Elf gasped.  She ran to the main door and began to pull apart the hasty fortifications that they'd erected.

"Hang on!"  she shouted, pulling open the doors.  Tyrael started ushering them inside.  "Glad to see that you're alive but you must be freezing.  Get inside and  grab a spot by the fire."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:52, Tue 19 Dec 2023.

Nulgaz frowned at the response of the bird. She had no idea what god of which it was an avatar but she figured some form of crab or badger or something else with a surly manner. She returned to her warmed dome and sat down next to the beasts. She curled in on herself, pulling her shoulders in, and tried to stay out of the way of the reunion.

Dreamljocht entered the old church, not remembering ever to be so glad of the safety and warmth the building provided. He gently brought the shivering Halie near the fire. "She needs warmth; she is cold to the bone, losing her winter gear. Do you have some warm broth ready perhaps?" he asked Tyrael.
Turning around he eventually notices the newcomer, probably someone with orc somewhere in his bloodline: "Hello, you're new blood for our party it seems. I'm Dreamljocht, Dream for short. Halie is the one who needs the warmth of the fire. We almost lost her." and turning to Tyrael: "Sam is probably still out there. He is a tough one, not to kill so easily. We ran into some family of Halie who tried to kill us. Sam lured her away. I hope he will make it here as well in time."

Nulgaz got up to make room and gestured the others to join the rest around the fire.

”Please come in and sit down. I erected a dome of warmth centered on the fire, which I am sure helps on its own. Can I help in any way?” she said as she proffered her cloak.

Fangs bared she attempted to smile, however her forehead was creased and her eyes darted around assessing things. She fretted and kept an eye towards outside. She wondered would the next visitor be the lost companion or a horde of undead… or a combination thereof.