DM-Kal |
Marcello's search reveals that each lesser ruler had several ruined fineries, with only their crowns intact. The dead king was wearing large full plate armor and carrying a large heavy steel shield as well as a large longsword. They appear somewhat damaged, but were surely fine works in their time.
Notably missing is a crown appropriate to the great throne.
Crystal Shalhoume |
Crystal nods eagerly at Marcello's suggestion. Hellknights would be a welcome addition to the City...and who else would they ultimately report to but a priestess of the Devil God? She grins wickedly, finally taking note that the large crown for the middle throne is missing.
She starts to wander the room, looking about for the item.
Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Victor Ravenport |
Victor drags the crown off his head, disappointed by the lacking effect it had on him. He pauses a moment before whispering unheard arcane incantations to test the crowns and indeed the entire chamber for magical effects.
Detect Magic.
Crystal Shalhoume |
Crystal frowns at the mystery of the missing larger crown. Not that it would fit on any of them. The symbology behind it would be worth much more, though...still, they had came and conquered, now to see what the spoils were, beyond mastery over the City.
Also cast detect magic, attempting to discern the properties of the crowns and thrones.
Spellcraft Crowns: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Spellcraft Thrones: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Sarcon the Enduring |
So what happens when Sarcon puts the crowns on? or does nothing happen till he gets bored and sits in a chair, like hes about to do.
Sarcon sees victor is done with his crown and puts that one on too, before sitting in the big chair.
Crystal Shalhoume |
If Sarcon's four crowns on one head idea doesn't bear fruit...
"Perhaps each of the lesser four crowns should sit in the lesser chairs. That might trigger the fifth?"
Marcello Wintrish |
Following Sarcon with the eyes, Marcello looked over at Crystal at her question.
"Sounds reasonable... Magical and all that, but reasonable..."
Instead of doing as Crystal said though, Marcello moved behind the throne where the undead king had been. Still under the effects of the spell, Marcello would use his higher outlook to see if the King might have put something up in that height worth noticing.
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Victoria Fate |
Fate stares at the crowns, entanced by them. "Fate agrees vith Crystal's plan. Fate volunteers to sit in the great throne as ve give it a try."
DM-Kal |
Marcello sees nothing in particular with his extraordinary perspective, but it would seem that he is uniquely suited for lighting the hanging braziers above the dais. And perhaps putting a special ornament atop a large decorative tree, if such a need arose.
Crystal determines that the lesser crowns possess abjuration magic, and thinks it likely that they respond to aggression with a ward of force. However, this ability seems to be quite limited.
Head Slot
1/day when the wearer rolls initiative, the crown casts mage armor on the wearer. This happens the first time the wearer rolls initiative and is not a choice made by the wearer, nor an action.
Marcello Wintrish |
Shrugging with his large shoulders, Marcello would walk to the throne left of the main throne.
"Sarcon, would you mind giving me one of the crowns?"
Waiting for the spell to lose it's effect, Marcello sat down on the throne when he finally returned to his own size and wearing the crown. Taking place, he gave himself the break to take a small checkup on himself... The Longsword had given him quite the wound. He would need to be healed up when all this was over.
I see what you did there DM, well played.
DM-Kal |
And yet, although you are quite dead, and quite aware of your death, you are still awake. You feel completely numb, smells and tastes vanishing from your senses, but you can still hear those around you, and remarkably, though your eyes are closed in death, you can still see, perhaps just beyond them rather than through them. But you cannot feel nor move. You are as a prisoner in your own dead body.
Victor Ravenport |
Victor shuffles uncomfortably in his seat for a moment, his eyes having locked unto the crumbling remains of the former ruler that had taken this very seat. He seems to raise his hand, the gesture slow, shaky and nearly painful to behold, his aging demeanor having returned ten-fold. Victor's hands clutches around his throat and a harsh, strained rattling escapes his lips.
Only for him to lean forward slightly, collapsing in a huddle unto the cold floor. The floor where he remains, cold, empty and terrifyingly still.
Crystal Shalhoume |
Crystal snaps out of her daydream of raising a temple of Asmodeus in the City proper, only to watch Victor collapse to the floor. She hurries over, casting Detect Magic on him, then checking him for signs of life if the screening comes back negative.
Marcello Wintrish |
Marcello was running a hand over his wound when Victor decided to drop down on the floor. Looking up at them, Marcello's eyes widened by the sight. Jumping up from the throne, he ran the short distance and knelt beside Crystal.
"What happened? Is he okay?" His voice had the urgency of someone who had seen death before, on the field of battle and knew that if he just needed some kind of spell, seconds could do all the difference.
*If this was the work of De Wesnu, why isn't he moving about?* Marcello's head worked on a speed it didn't usually do and he didn't like the speed of his thoughts.
Crystal Shalhoume |
Crystal backs up from the wizard, in shock. "He is dead." Looking about warily, she reaches forward and pulls the crown off his head, wondering if it was the cause.
Victor Ravenport |
He even attempts to channel a bright light into his mask. Knowing very well that such a thing doesn't require movement but only spoken words.
Sarcon the Enduring |
Sarcon sees Victor fall as Fate tries to shoo him from the big chair,
Uh, you might wanna go help with that.
Sarcon watches as Crystal removes the crown from his head, to no avail.
Maybe it was the chair? You said they were magic to didn't you?
Crystal Shalhoume |
Crystal nods to Sarcon. "Perhaps. I don't know what kind of magic the chair possesses." Frowning, she casts detect magic on the chairs again, trying to again discern the nature of the magic in them.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Crystal Shalhoume |
Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
Crystal's eyes narrow as she catches a flicker of movement from Victor's corpse. "There's something strange going on here. I could have sworn his finger just moved."
Her lips purse as she thinks it over. He sat down on the throne, crown on his head, and then fell over dead. But maybe not dead?
Crystal Shalhoume |
At a loss, Crystal starts thinking through cause and effect. Sarcon had put multiple crowns on, sat on the larger throne, and nothing had happened. Victor put a single crown on, sat on a smaller throne, then keeled over. Her eyes drift to the dead men they had just defeated, wondering if that was their fate should they choose to rule the City.
"I don't think he's dead...but I don't know what's wrong with him, either." Crystal shrugs, irritated at this turn of events. She puts the crown Victor had upon her own head, waiting for something to happen.
Victoria Fate |
"Should ve perhaps try to heal him?" Fate places her hand on her chin. "Und if ve are going to do this, vould ve use positive or negative? His position is rather...confused...at the moment."
Marcello Wintrish |
Shrugging, a careless action and not well thought through, Marcello got up from his knee. Dusted the worst of his legs and looked once again at Victor.
"Maybe... How long did it take for him and I to wake up after our last... Endeavor?" He gestured to the skull mask on Victor's face. "We did after all not wake up as quickly as Lady Shalhoume did, so maybe we just need... Time?"
Having said that, Marcello willed himelf over to the throne from earlier and sunk down onto it. He felt drained from this...
Crystal Shalhoume |
Crystal hadn't thought of the strange transformation they had undergone being the underlying culprit behind Victor's 'death'. Still, it was too much coincidence. She continues to wait and see if wearing the crown does anything beyond make her appear more regal.
Crystal Shalhoume |
Crystal waits for Marcello to rise, then sits upon the far right lesser throne, circlet upon her head. If nothing happens, she sends forth the mental communication to the Keep's constructs to begin the activity they have been dormant from for all these years. She turns to her fellows, sparing Victor a short glance.
"I think I'm going out into the City to celebrate. Anybody else coming along?" The blonde grins as she feels the adrenaline rush of power flow through her. She straightens out her garments, cinching the white belt at her waist as she starts to make her way to the Main Gate.
Crystal Shalhoume |
Looking down piteously at the corpse of Victor, Crystal sighs, gathering his frail frame under the arms and dragging him to a lesser throne. She props him up in it, all Weekend at Bernie's style, even going to the extent of placing a lesser crown upon his brow. Then, placing another crown upon her own head (assuming Sarcon will give up one of his), she heads towards the City.
Marcello Wintrish |
Looking up at Crystal, trying to find an appropriate response, he is instead stunned by what she does to Victor's corpse.
Still wearing the crown and sitting in the first left throne beside the great one in the middle, Marcello would probably strike a royal figure if not for the greatsword leaned up against the throne, the armor with blood splatter here and there and the way he was sitting like he didn't belong... Still, he had time to practice.
"You should do that... Proclaim to the city that we are the new rulers." He got up from the throne with a small groan. "I have no interest in telling other, so... I'll most likely return here after I've gotten healed."
He looked at the others. "Any of you that want to hold the fort til I come back... Oh yeah and keep Victor company, I refuse to think that he would just die after we just got the keep." Looking at Victor once again, Marcello nodded, like he was agreeing with himself.
Victoria Fate |
Fate gives a grand wave towards Marcello and Crystal. "You two vould make excellent representatives in this matter. Fate does not have patience for the common folk, und she vould like to begin planning renovations."
Fate begins walking the room, trying to imagine how best to furnish and decorate the room in tyrant-chic. She glances briefly towards Victor.
"Further, Fate vould prefer not to leave Herr Victor in this...state...unattended. Vhile this may just be 'normal' for people undergoing this transition, it could very vell be something else."