(052) Reckoning the Abbey

[waysoftheearth]

Mysteriously, the nun makes no response.

Sniff, sniff, "Smells funny," remarks Mondes, wrinkling his petulant nose.

Desmond gets it too... a faint whiff of rot...

[ehiker133]

Desmond stops once again, turns to the others, and wrinkles his nose, saying, "I think maybe they accidentally left this one down here...". Then he turns back and walks a bit closer.

As he does this, one head looks up at the ceiling, checking for anything lurking above, and the two-headed duo also keeps an eye out for what might have been a light source while the old woman was down here. Surely they wouldn't have left her down here in compl... He doesn't want to finish the thought for fear of it tarnishing his idea of nuns being completely wholesome and good.

[coffee]

Dieter pushes his way to the front of the line, going through the door with sword and shield up and every sense alert. He is scanning the room, including ceiling and floor, for any threat to the party. (He'll leave the actual exploration up to the others.)

When he sees how Desmond/Mondes react to the nun, he'll keep close to his double-barreled diminutive comrade(s).

[sully]

With Des heading into the room, perhaps prematurely, Dorgan will forget about checking for silver, drop the Marrowstone back into his pack, and quickly snatch up Mads Cold Iron Axe and shield.

Time permitting, the dwarf will proceed into the room with his friends.

"I'd watch yer step if'n I was you. Whatever that is, it ain't living."

[Eris]

Wen hears Ulric and relay the message back into the room. Josiane the room has been opened and they are in need of your guidence.

"With all haste, my friend."

Josiane makes to descend into the mysteries below, then pauses, looking back at Olaf.

"My Lord will be well holding the watch alone?" she asks, perhaps a trifle anxiously...
edit: fixed quote

"I'll do the best I can." Olaf says, "If you think of it, send someone else back to aid me, but best you be going forward to see why they need you."

[mushgnome]

Highbough stands (invisibly) somewhat at awe of the pious Lady Josiane and her determination. He is somewhat back of the main group, having not yet pushed his way into the statue room.

[mgtremaine]

Wen stays near the top of the stairs we he can hear and see Olaf on guard and the group moving into the room. Wen placed the walking stick - aka KEY - back on the loop of his pack.

[waysoftheearth]

Desmonds/Mondes, Dorgan, and Dieter are the first to stride into the room, in that order.

As they come a few paces into the place, a mysterious, ivory illumination issues from the eyes and mouths of figures graven into the arches overhead, and also from the back of the three naves. The lighting is soft and beneficent, filling the chamber with a warmth that wasn't present moments ago, and the articles and decorations around the naves are gloriously lit.

The three adventurers relax, somewhat, in the benign illumination.

Josiane then arrives to see all this...

The fountain continues to trickle quietly. The "nun" continues to not move silently.

[doctorx]

Josiane's grey eyes go wide with awe at the sight before her.

"Oh, my," is all she can bring herself to say.

Then she drops briefly to one knee, makes the sign of the Enigma and moves into the room to examine it more closely in an attempt to discern its purpose.

"Lord Olaf guards the way above alone. Might one of our warriors move to join him?" she asks politely as she does so.

She then turns her attention, first to the statues, and the water-bearer first of all. Once she has made examination of these she will turn her attention to the wall-carvings, then move very cautiously to examine the (presumed) cadaver of the Holy Sister kneeling within, although she will be careful to touch nothing at this stage.

She is on the most careful watch for anything that looks, sounds, even feels remotely out of place within a chapel of the Faith, while at the same time searching her brain for any tradition she may have heard of self-immurement among the worshippers of Thuul.

Do the robes of the Sister suggest someone of high rank in the Faith?

[waysoftheearth]

Josiane sense nothing wrong with this place. The carvings are all of religious figurines, scrolls, and symbols typical of any Church of Thuul. Surely this place must be the abbey's reliquary? Even so, it is grander again than she might have dared hope... although what about this place has not proved larger than expectation? It must, once, have been a grand abbey indeed.

She cannot help but note the body -- for deceased Sister it is -- appears to be robed most mundanely. The Sister appears to have died some months hence, maybe by starvation or a more sinister ailment; it is impossible to know. Whatever the cause, Josiane has heard of no such ritual immurement, this must have been an atypical death.

The fountain nave contains a statue of an adult -- a robed Sister clearly hale and in her prime, holding her arms up as she stands in a fecund forest by a pond. Around her feet lie deer, foxes, badgers, and other woodland denizens, all apparently looking up. The pond itself is a broad silver basin, some two feet across. Water spills over the brim and into the base of the nave...