I think I'm ready to jump back in... just need to get caught up on the story.
Again, sorry for the absence. From the traffic on the IC thread I'm guessing nobody saw the post I made here in the OOC thread on the 5th (3 posts above this one)?
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Very sorry for the delays. I need to take a break from the game for a bit. I'm going through some rough stuff right now and I just can't get my head in the right place. Hope I can come back soon. As long as everyone was on board with the plan and was backing him up, Dolelan would enter via the door and, in a respectful manner, attempt to address the congregation. Please NPC me as necessary... sorry to flake out on you.
Then we should prepare to fire the church while at the same time allowing Dolelan the opportunity to try and investigate, or even speak with the leader on the pulpit. In any event, a quick exit may be necessary. Anyone have a better idea? "I'm with Maeltheron on this. Burn it and lets move on. Charon says with a blank stare at the building. Erm... I hate to sound like a broken record, but it's a stone building and I can't think of any way to burn it down. If we favor a violent solution then our best bet will probably be to have Ariella stand by with fireballs and positive energy bursts. To move things forward, I plan on having Dolelan re-enter the church via the steeple and take a look around, then (depending on what we discover) attempt to make contact with the congregation. I just noticed that Ariella's avatar and description has changed, did she drop out of this game?
Then we should prepare to fire the church... As you break the treeline you come to the bottom of a hill, the path stops at a set of stairs that seem to lead up to a stone church. The grounds around the church are completely bare save for the soft carpet of grass that covers the entire hill. The church itself is a two story affair in something of a medieval style with stained glass windows at regular intervals on either of it's sides and a tall narrow roof leading up to a steeple in which sits a bell. Note that per the original description, the church is built of stone and burning it down will be a dificult proposition. Fireballs and flaming spheres might help to burn out the inside, but we would need to stack a substatial amount of flammable material around the church to get a fire that would do more than scorch the pews. I'm not sure if the floor for the second story was wooden or stone...?
So, to move things forward Dolelan is in favor of either sneaking in through the steeple or of trying to communicate with the undead. Either one could end disastrously, or could get us some new information. I'm fine with whatever the group is comfortable with... Dolelan is very much the foolhardy scholar, always rushing into danger to satisfy his curiosity with little mind for the consequences. I've been playing his wisdom of 8 as a sort of arrogance: being blind to his own faults and limitations, jumping to conclusions, and always pressing forward. It worked out well enough with the first group (particularly with Nera), but you guys should feel free to call him on it and reign him in a bit.
Dolelan things for a moment then ventures his opinion, "I don't know of any way to tell whether the wards were placed before the undead entered or afterward. As to how it may help ensure safety for the people of Bosh, I'm not sure either. I can only conjecture that it is unlikely that something like this occurred in isolation... it <i>must</i> be related to what is happening."
At first Dolelan wants to fire back a quick retort and deal with this woman like he would an onerous student. Certainly she didn't have the benefit of his arcane studies or of the elves' keen senses, but surely even a human could note the smell inside the church or see the exchange between the parishioners and the 'priest'. Some people seemed to take a perverse sort of pride in remaining ignorant... but then he stops that line of thought and takes a deep breath to calm himself. If he ever found himself wandering the Sarannan wastes he might be similarly at a loss as to what is significant. He spreads his hands abashedly, "Of course, I'll strive to keep you better informed. At this point, all I have are observation and conjecture, and vanishingly few facts to back it all up or construct some sort of sane narrative of what has happened in the Folly. Being an expert on these matters is hardly bringing me any relief! If all you want is information I could go on for hours about the building's architecture, Urgathoan mythology, and funerary customs dating back to when this whole region was still known as The Shadowglen... but we still wouldn't be any closer to stopping the attacks." "As to our next action," Dolelan gives the bell in the church's steeple a measured glance, "we could continue our investigation of the church by sneaking in through the steeple or I could attempt to communicate with the undead. I suspect their presence is benign but I'm loathe to either attack them or leave them here without knowing for sure. You all can see the tactical situation, and we all saw how effective Ariella's magic was in fighting off the undead before... if we go in there and things don't end well are we comfortable fighting our way out?"
Long-winded, yes, but I am beginning to expect that is your nature :) It's weird, that only happens when I'm writing for Dolelan. Most of my other posts in other games are concise and to the point... I guess it's a subconscious way of getting in character with his posts.
"Perhaps so. I'd settle for knowing what we're doing here. If he needs to question these strange creatures - do so. If we need to destroy them, let's fire the church and be done with it... What I'm not inclined to do is stand around like a target defending some academic who doesn't have the civility to explain our purpose." "Or, when he does so, it is so long-winded that it does not make any sense. I was thinking that firing the church was a good plan as well. Dolelan is slightly nonplussed; he was standing right there on the hillside with them, why were they talking about him in the third person? Was it a side effect of some odd magic in the area or just an regional linguistic quirk? He clears his throat, "Madam, I have never been less than forthcoming about my purpose in coming this way. As I mentioned before, I chose to explore the glen due to its reputation as a place where the barrier between life and death is weak and necromantic energies sometimes flow freely. Our foe's use of a powerful evil talisman to bring the dead back as shadow demons made me want to investigate this region to see if he was channeling the energy of the area similar to what he did in Gulorne's clearing, and to rob him of that power if it was the case. Perhaps I suffer from a surfeit of caution, but I was not eager to wade through the swamp itself to seek such a focus and I do not recall you arguing the matter." "What we saw in there adds more questions than answers... they were not undead of the sort that attacked us in Orp. Did you note the wards on the doors? They were wards against evil influences. Further, even the lowliest of zombies in that room were paying rapt attention to the figure at the pulpit and were clearly sharing some sort of communication or communion with it. I assure you, this is not normal behavior for the undead- tortured souls ripped from their afterlife and possessed of nothing but hatred and hunger. And did you notice the smell? Not only did some unknown agency grant them sentience, there was not a hint of decay in that room... the whole scene spoke of loving preservation and stewardship of the risen." "The attacks on Bosh began what... a few weeks ago? Look at this church, it has plainly been here much longer than that and I doubt it is directly related to the shadow creatures. I think that to burn the chapel down before we understand what is happening in there would be a gross disservice, whatever power is involved might be just as opposed to the use of the Heart as we are (though for entirely different reasons) and be a potential ally... what do you think? Or am I being too 'long winded' to make any sense?""
As he continues his notes, he occasionally jots down cryptic notes in the margins. heart rediscovered --> shadow demons, nonsapient animals/sentient heroes?
He's beginning to suspect that there may be more than one necromancer at work in the Folly, and that they may be working to different ends or outright opposing each other... but where did the Warden's mark play into all of this? What role had the Wardens played in this forest back in their heyday; who was buried in the plot they'd passed? Why were the weapons secreted away in Orp, of all places? Who had placed the wards? As the service dragged on it seemed less and less likely that the answers would be found here. With a set of closing notes on the mixtures of magic auras that he can perceive in the area, he closes the book and tucks it away. He makes eye contact with the others still in the church, then creeps out through the doors as quietly as he can.
It does seem in fact that they are communicating somehow. Fascinating! The classic model of reanimation has treated the lower forms as insensate, existing only to please the will of the power that stole them from the grave... yet here was clear evidence of two way communication amongst the rotting congregation. Dolelan redoubles his efforts to chronicle what he is seeing.
I will be traveling until Wednesday and will probably not be able to post again until then.
Dolelan purses his lips in annoyance at the interruption and jotts down a line common in the notebook then shows it to Alenthyn, The presence of a cult of U--- is likely related to the discovery of a powerful necromantic artifact. Names have power. Within the walls of this place hallowed to her, he won't risk drawing attention by so much as writing the name of the goddess. Left to his own devices, Dolelan will spend 20-30 minutes writing his observations and making quick sketches of the various 'paritioners', the priest, and the church.
After having a look around and seeing a surprising lack of hostility, Dolelan slowly takes his hand off his hilt and pulls out a small notebook. This is amazing! A chance to observe an authentic Urgathoan service first hand! He hurriedly scratches down notes and observations, his cramped shorthand quickly filling the pages.
Dolelan entered the church then stood at the back, scrutinizing the assembled 'congregation', the man(?) at the podium, and the interior of the building itself. His hand is on his sword's hilt, but he has not drawn it yet.
Dolelan examines the temple with mild interest as he begins warming up to a lecture. "I've always found Urgathoa to be an interesting deity. I wasn't aware of any history of cult activity in this area, but that's not surprising as these sects are often quite secretive. One thing that I find fascinating about her worship is the dual roles she wields as protector/mother figure and spiteful blighter/plague bearer. Indeed, there was one documented farming community that adopted one of her priestesses in return for protection from a pestilence that was blighting their crops. They became a local power for some time, as they grew fat and strong while the goblinoids that assaulted them withered from countless poxes. While there is an entire branch of her church dedicated to hedonism and indulgence in various physical excesses, she is been more commonly idolized as the midwife who presages over the birth of the undead back into this world. As Professor Alikan mentioned in his seminal treatise on the subject, most of her worshipers..." Dolelan keeps droning on in a stream of consciousness fashion, as he brings to mind various bits of scholarship he's heard about Pallid Princess's worship. [ooc]Knowledge (religion) , Knowledge (history) : Is there a history of cults dedicated to Urgathoa's worship in this region? As they get closer Dolelan watches Charon examine the door for a time, growing somewhat impatient. He declares with utter conviction, "This is obviously a church! It was meant for a large number of worshipers to join together in communion- there's no reason anyone would build a trap into the front door. As long as we are respectful in our examination I doubt we will have anything to fear from the building itself. The parishioners might be another story entirely..." So saying, Dolelan sets to entering the church with Maeltheron.
Dolelan doesn't notice the gathered frogs until Ariella points them out, then he stares in frank curiosity. "That is not natural. Hmmm... there was a druid in their service for a time, but she should not be an issue any longer." "Shall we?" Dolelan nods in agreement as he gathers his last few pieces of camping kit. "With any luck we'll stumble across the glen soon and then can explore the Shivver before nightfall."
Sorry, things got ridiculously busy at work over the past several days; 12-16 hours of shift work at a time. I think things are back to normal now...
If there ever were letters carved into the face of the tombstone they've long since worn away, Dolelan crouches down for a closer look and pulls out a sheet of paper to take a rubbing from the surface of the tombstone The rubbing is pretty clear.
"Anyone recognize this symbol?" "Yes... I believe it was associated with one of the orders of the Wardens, or perhaps the organization as a whole." Dolelan crouches down for a closer look and pulls out a sheet of paper to take a rubbing from the surface of the tombstone, on the off chance that there were some faint impressions still legible.
"It looks like we know where those ghouls came from..." Dolelan murmurs a spell as well, and checks to see whether the necromantic energies they'd observed before are present here as well. When Alenthyn returns from his survey and there's no worries about disturbing tracks or other subtle signs, Dolelan will step in to examine the headstones to see what he can learn about this cemetery. With any luck he'll be able to better orient himself by this landmark and spare himself any further stumbling around the swamp in search of the glade.
Dolelan plans on following the path back to the split in the road and exploring the other fork, unless someone comes out loudly in favor of exploring the swamp.
Dolelan surveys the expansive bog in front of them and shakes his head. "Aye, it looks like there's nothing left of the Old Road past here..." While everyone surveys the swampy ground ahead he finds a relatively dry place to sit down and pulls out a journal and pen, then jotting down a few notes before tucking it away. "The chance of still being in that swamp at nightfall... I'd sooner try to reach the glade by the other road than brave the fen in a place like this."
Dolelan presses his lips together and keeps his peace. As they depart though, he does spend a few minutes looking down into the depths of the well. He doesn't fall far behind, and it is only a matter of minutes before he catches up with the rest of the party.
Dolelan arches an eyebrow at the priestess. "And you're just going to leave it there? This road may not be well traveled, but I'd just as soon not have the death of the next traveler on my head if it can be avoided... and perhaps that well bears investigating."
Dolelan frowns, not having seen anything, but pulls out his bow and nocks an arrow- just in case. He remains alert as they advance into the ruins and Ariella and Rikka begin to examine the walls.
Absent any other input, Dolelan would choose the path to the left.
"Is anyone seriously harmed?" Ariella asks the group. "If not I suggest we move on, the battle may attract the notice of other creatures dwelling in this foul morass." "I am well." Dolelan replies curtly, wiping the dull grey metal of his blade clean of undead filth before replacing it in its sheath. "I should like to see if these creatures bear any identifying marks before we leave; it might be useful to know whether they arose from their rest due to the unwholesome influence of this place or if they were sent here to guard it." So saying, Dolelan proceed to examine the most-intact of the ghouls for a few minutes before departing.
After the one that he had engaged sprouts arrows from its back, Dolelan steps over it to finish off the other ghoul that is clawing at Gulorne.
Dolelan will stay close to Gulorne rather than rush out to meet the things. When they are close enough he will unsheathe Heartsong and (attempt to) put it to good use. Modified actions:
Rather than ready an action, I'd like to delay until they are close enough for a full attack. I'll keep the first attack roll and add this one: Damage for first attack:
Dolelan's eyebrows shoot up at about the time Ariella makes her announcement. He utters a quick spell of harsh syllables and seems to swell slightly as he draws his sword and look around warily. For once in his journeys the ever-present sucking mud that made each step such a trudge was working in his favor. He steps a bit closer to the comforting bulk of Gulorne's trunk as they approach the glade and prepare to deal with whatever is making that sound.
My life has become rather busy at the moment, I'm traveling for the next week for my son's surgery. I'm not sure if this will leave me with more time for posting or less, but it's why I've been a bit slow to post lately...
He looks back at Dolelan, "Any bits of information you've picked up that would be helpful? Information is power, as they say." "When we found the place of power where Drivus and his allies had been siphoning off the life-energy of the forest, the vessel they chose was a flower. There was an unnatural fog and an irridiscent white rose that had stored a rather alarming amount of magic... I'd advise you not to touch any unusual flowers." "Oh, and don't forget to look up." He adds somewhat sheepishly.
Did we take a wrong turn? The intention was to explore Wight Whisper Glade...
Oh, and don't forget the tree in that marching order... he'd probably be best with the group in the middle.
(Just keep them safe)
"So be it. Lead the way." Oh, it's impossible to miss. We just follow this road..."
I'm thinking a logical marching order would be... Looks good to me. We'll probably want to be a bit more spread out than in Roshan's example, it's usually prudent to keep some people out of fireball radius...
"You two have horses?"
"Where were you headed next? Do you have any leads on their possible locations?" Ariella asks Dolelan. "A long time ago a mile-wide rift opened along the old road to Minne Serras , the schism extends approximately four miles and is twisted over in such a way that no light reaches the bottom. The locals call it the Shivver. We've seen how much the shadows fear the sunlight; I'm certain that it is where they've chosen to make their lair." He pauses and thinks for a moment before continuing on, "There's another thing too. To the South of here, about 10 miles down the road, there is a clearing in the forest that has had an ominous reputation since time immemorable. They call it Whisper Wight Glade- or was it Wight Whisper Glen? Regardless, I'd planned to investigate it the next time I passed this way, and I believe the need is even more pressing with so much necromatic energy being tossed around", he gestures to the pile of corpses strewn about the hamlet, "we already came across one region where the natural energies of the forest were being siphoned off to power the artifact, I shudder to think what might happen if we allowed our enemies to tap the geomantic energies of that particular patch of land..."
"You mentioned a risen local adventurer. What do we know of him? And what do we know of this 'magician'… Drivus?"
Dolelan gives a bit of a sigh and shakes his head regretfully. "Sir Walter Thomas. He was knighted for heroism and well loved by most people in these parts. He disappeared about twenty years ago after setting out to take care of a warren of trolls that were harassing a nearby hamlet. That was the last anyone ever heard of him, until the attack on Bosh. One of the shadow monsters was leading the others- it was bigger than the others and could speak- though it spoke only the blasphemous tongue of the demons. It introduced himself as Sir Walter, and I'm inclined to believe it." "As to Drivus... he made a very bad reputation for himself at a small magic academy near Hobb. Rumor had it that as they dragged him out he was swearing up and down the halls that he'd bring the place to its knees. At least I hope he's the one we're dealing with. I recall that he was named after his his great grandfather who was a very, very powerful wizard- nobody to be trifled with. While I don't remember reading anything specific about his funeral, his biographers say he was a man like any other and these days are long past his mortal span. If Drivus the senior has somehow returned then we are in a lot of trouble... but frankly I find that very unlikely."
Hidden in the Folly? If these are items of power you speak of, then why can we not take these things and use them to our own advantage? If not, then we should find this Drivus and what he has already called forth before it gets worse.
"The item I speak of is powerful indeed, but I wouldn't trust myself to touch it. It is the legacy of a powerful necromancer from forgotten lands and has brought nothing but sorrow to any who have tried to take it up. Legends say that it is a human heart, still beating from when it was ripped from the breast of a condemned murderer. It bleeds a black ichor that corrupts all it touches, even wresting the dead from their graves.
Dolelan gives a curious glance toward the proffered items and examines them in detail, first noting the mundane details of their construction and looking for a maker's mark, minting information, or any other hints to their history or origin. Next he recites a simple spell and studies their auras...
"There was an artifact brought across the Waking Sea by an evil cult long ago. Last I'd heard of it was a story about a Warden named Xen who fought against the cult many years before I was born, he fell in the struggle but eventually the cult faded to obscurity. Recently the artifact was unearthed by a thoroughly unpleasant self-styled lord named Richard Drivus who fancies himself a magician. He has used the power of the artifact to corrupt the beasts of the forest and turn them into those shadow monsters, and has apparently raised a local adventurer of some renown from his well-earned rest to lead a pack of the shadows. If he can gain enough mastery over the artifact to raise the heroes of the past and command them against the people of Eastmarch... well, I know of things hidden in the Folly that make me very worried about that possibility."
Dolelan finished what he had been doing to conceal the entrance to the cellar and joined Legaid under Gulorne's canopy. He soon finds it prudent to join the conversation before Charon can drive these potential allies away. "Fine. I'll cut to the chase. What are you doing now? May we help?" Ariella replies. "Please pardon us if our caution seems excessive. Since reaching the Folly we've discovered who is responsible for the attacks of the shadow beasts and how they are created. We were also attacked by one of his agents and have become a little wary of strangers. What is the news in Bosh? How is the mayor getting along?" Dolelan carefully observes the expressions and body language of the newcomers as he claims to know who is responsible for the shadows and asks after the mayor...
In his typical long-winded pedantic fashion, Dolelan spends the night sharing the stories of the various weapons and their owners. "Now, I mostly pursued the tales of turnmist from an anthropological perspective. It can be quite illuminating to note which stories are retold and how they've changed over time to reflect the hopes and fears of the teller. The stories of Kara in particular can reveal attitudes toward the Council in different parts of Eastmarch; for instance the tale of the lilly and the dragon reveals how..."
"HALT! What is your business here?" "I'm going to use that dagger, make sure those other weapon stay hidden or with you. We could have some bandits on our hands. Nera head up with me Legiald always needs our help." Dolelan gives a sharp nod at Charon's suggestion. Even bandits would be welcome at this point, after what they'd seen at the keep and in Orp... but a certain degree of caution seemed wise. He considers for a long moment before taking up Heartsong, but finally decides that necessity overrides any concerns about propriety. In case deception should be necessary, he takes the duplicate Heartsong from the statue and wraps it up with the other weapons before wrapping them back up and concealing them in the area under the statue. "I'm Rikka Rask. I'm on the trail of some shadow creatures that laid waste to a town called Bosh some miles from here. Also, I'm dogging the steps of some other adventurers on the same mission. Have you greeted them just as warmly?" Dolelan climbs up from the trapdoor behind Charon and Nera and closes it behind him, even going so far as to move some debris over it. He overhears the exchange while he works and wracks his memory for mention of this 'Rikka Rask'. The accent sounded almost Sarannan...
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