"Arlok no care, old bone have no meat. Even bone juice dry up. I guess I help smash though."
using guidance
As Scoot quickly skitters away from the melee, his mistress boosts Arlok with her ancestor's blessings. As the godling waits to see whether the skeleton succumbs to the witch-doctor's will, Praetor sends his unholy power over the sarcophagus...
saved.
failed.
You feel your hold upon the skeleton first grow...then all of the sudden you feel the presence of a second undead....apparently also inside the sarcophagus! Quickly recognizing this undead as a shadow you realize you can impose your will upon this creature...though not without some risks...
"Destroy the zombie, now!" Grey told his allies. "There is a shadow in the casket. I have it."
Seeing the skeleton rise was perhaps expected given his location however the flash of steal directed at the fetchling's arm puts Keil on the defensive. Drawing his sword he slashes wildly at its bones hoping to make himself a harder target to hit.
Once Praetor has indicated both the skeleton and the zombie needs to be destroyed, Arlok brings the hammer down, shattering the skeleton into shards of bone.
Brok's eyes bulge at the appearance of the undead.
He follows Grey's advice and fires his crossbow at the zombie (that he never trusted anyway).
Brok reacts quickly, turning upon the zombie and tearing a large piece of its rotting flesh away.
Vargrenz finishes the job Brok started, reducing the former Grey Servant to nothing but a pile of decaying flesh as the necromatic energies dissipate.
With that quiet returns again to the chamber, the only movement coming from the shadow where you all see its red eyes glowing with hatred at you...but Praetor knows the shadow is under his complete control...for now.
"Tell me your name." Grey said calmly, though his heart was pounding.
"Look in box?" Brok asks as he skirts around the shadowy thing with the red eyes.
He searches the coffin.
(+3 for traps)
Despite the chilling effect of Praetor's new servant, the search for the treasure goes well. The first skeleton, in addition to his rusted chain shirt, also wielded a fine blade which bears a minor enchantment. . The second sarcophagus has another skeleton which is easily dispatched, and it was clutching a silver goblet in its bony fingers. The final sarcophagus is empty, filled with cobwebs and dust. This coupled with the gems found is all you can find here.
The shadow servant satres at Praetor for a long time before moaning softly, barely in a whisper, "Name....I....have....no....name...."
"Fancy sword!" Brok exclaims.
Keil busys himself collecting the gems both from within and adorning the sarcophagi as the Grey witch speaks with his new prize.
Flush with new wealth, the shadowy man next turns his attention to the alcoves on either side of the chamber. Fixing his gaze upon the mortar and patterns made by the masonry he looks for anything hidden.
Keil's search bears fruit as he does find a secret door in the west alcove, where the shadow first arose from. Following it he sees it leads to a crypt. The only thing left in here are five sarcophagi. The lids of each one of them contains a small dent where something, perhaps a gem, was dug out of the lid. Three of them have already been opened and stand empty with their lids propped up next to them. The other two sarcophagi are closed.
"Then we will call you Shade." Grey said to the shadow.
"You serve me now. Here are my first commands."
"You will serve me faithfully and act in my best interests in all things. You shall not attempt to bring me or my allies to harm, either through action or inaction. Unless specifically overruled by me, you shall obey commands from my allies, who you see here before you, as if they were my own."
"You shall actively seek to aid me, offering up any knowledge you have that may be helpful to me, and taking actions of your own initiative which you feel would be beneficial to myself or my allies."
"Each day while the sun is high you shall submit yourself to my control, reminding me if I somehow forget to reassert my dominance over your through the power of my Goddess. Should I be unable to renew my control, you shall go to the surface and allow yourself to be destroyed in the sunlight before my control over you wanes."
"You shall pass these commands on to any shadow you create while in my service, including this one."
"Do you understand?"
Raaz glances over his shoulder at the orc hirelings who have heretofore been silent and obediently carrying the various valuables and trinkets you have gathered so far. Barking a command to them as they shudder in fear, "Control yourself! Your master has complete control over it. You will not come to harm. Now gather up the supplies, we are heading out!"
Once the orc warriors have stepped out of earshot, he sidles next to Praetor and softly whispers in the infernal tongue, "Well done. This will prove useful in our explorations as we try to gain entrance to Rappan Athuk proper and strike against the Goat Prince! I have complete confidence you will maintain control of your...Shade." He barks out in laughter and switches to the common tongue. "Shade! An apt name for your friend! You are indeed suited for one another!" He snickers in laughter before moving off and taking his customary position near the orc hirelings.
As the other's talk amongst themselves, Keil slips away. Upon finding the unopened sarcophagi, he sets to work examining the unopened ones. As his eyes search for clues a feeling of deja vu menaces over his shoulder, There's something about these shadows...
Brok helps Keil check the two new sarcophagi for danger.
(+3 for traps)
(+3 for traps)
But he remains distracted by Grey's alliance with the shadowy undead...
"Arlok no mind shadow. Arlok strength is Arlok power. Watch shadow or Arlok destroy."
As the two rogues comb over the sarcophagi, Keil catches Brok's eye, "Shall we test Grey's latest pet on these? or set Scoot to the task of peeking inside?"
Deciding the sarcophagi are safe to open, Keil motions Arlok to open the lids. The first sarcophagus contains a skeleton that does not react to your presence, though the nest of mice nestled in the skeleton's pelvic bone do react here, fleeing for safety. Moving onto the next one, Arlok heaves the lid open. The second sarcophagus contains another normal skeleton, this one holding a rusted (and worthless) dagger.
"Arlok no mind shadow. Arlok strength is Arlok power. Watch shadow or Arlok destroy."
"Indeed, Arlok. Should the shadow become more of a liability than an asset, I will undoubtably need your help in destroying it."
"The undead are weapons. It can serve well to think of them like explosives. Useful and powerful, but very, very dangerous."
"My goddess has granted me power over the undead for a reason. Not to advance them. She is not one of those delusional Gods who feels that undeath is some kind of virtue. She has no vendetta against the living. The undead exist to serve the living. Their time has passed. If they will not lie quietly in their graves, they shall be bent to our purpose or destroyed."
"I will require vigilance from all of you. This is not a decision I undertake lightly. Skeletons and Zombies are one thing. This is different. If, at any point, any of you feel this is a risk you are not willing to undertake, we will destroy the Shadow and move on."
Being born into a land of darkness and shadow, Keil shares at least some small trait with the creature Grey has just tamed. Torn between feeling a sense of comradre and fear for what the thing represents, Keil distracts himself looking for that which he holds most dear, gold. Although busy searching the sarcophagi Keil's ears perk up as the witch's speech draws to a close he whispers,"Speaking openly of killing it is reckless."
Spitting in disgust of how little has been found in this chamber, Keil looks up at Brok and Arlok. Feeling philosophical the shadowy man adds a little of his own theology, "Hel seeks the same for all, death. She cares for nothing other than the spread of death. As does the shadow. As does everyone here, yes? Grey is right to encourage vigilance."
Throwing down the rusty dagger Keil waves to Brok, "Time to press on." The fetchling leaves the chamber to retrace their steps across the bridges over the fire and out to the corridors. Quietly he enters the adjoining corridor and turns south. There he sets his attention on the last remaining door.
"Attend Keil." Grey commanded Shade.
Keil sees the door is not trapped and easily opens to a short passage which ends at another door.
The shadow which has been christened 'Shade' stares at the fetchling with a burning hatred but does hiss at him, "Gooooo...throughhhhh....dooooor?"
Keil returns the look. "Yes brother." Conscious of Shade's position, the shadowy man fixes his yellow eyes upon the door in front of him and before Shade fully disappears through the barrier, he adds, "Describe what you find in detail."
failed.
The shadow slides through the door after hesitating a brief moment. The fetchling listens closely at the door to determine if anything reacts to the presence of the undead servant, but all is silent.
After several moments Shade emerges from the door. In a chilling voice the shadow addresses Keil, "Room....be empty. Nothing...inside."
Eyeing the shadow wearily, Keil nods then opens the door.
As the fetchling pulls the door open and steps inside, several candles in small wall alcoves spaced evenly apart the room ignite, dimly illuminating the room. As he looks over the chamber he does note the room appears to be empty...almost. In the center of the room there is a square red carpet ten feet by ten feet in size.
All is silent.
Candles don't ignite by themselves... Stopping where he stood as no serious trap has been sprung, he hopes, the shadowy man's eyes narrow and his mouth spits out a word, "Magic." Turning to look back down the corridor his raspy voice calls for the scrawny wizard, "Grezzor, there is need of your skills here."
When Grezzor arrives, Keil will describe what has happened in the room and request the goblin scan the room for further magical oddities .
The goblin wizards moves up silently to the doorway, giving Shade a wide berth, and mutters an incantation. Moving slowly into the room he scans the entire room.
Nodding matter-of-factly he addresses the tiefling. "Yeah looks like the whole room is filled with magic, and it definitely is an enchantment effect of some kind." He points out towards the red carpet. "The aura is strongest at that carpet."
Grimly summarizing Grezzor's assessment, the shadowy man scowls as he strokes his chin, "Enchantment." Cautiously, Keil walks around the carpet, being careful not to touch it, to contemplate the many physical possibilities an enchanted carpet might have. Enchanted to...strangle? consume? burn? Keil's nose sniffs at the air for alchemical agents, hoping for any obvious signs of oil. Shrugging he muses, Flying? But then not being a magician, the fetchling can't be sure if flying is an enchantment or some other form of magic. Addressing anyone of the group who happen to be near he fishes for advice, "Thoughts?"
Finally, Keil examines the walls of the chamber to be sure he has not missed any exits to the room or hidden compartments.
Deciding to be extra cautious here, the fetchling explores the rest of the room here while leaving the red carpet alone. Other than the area surrounding the carpet the search for any other hidden compartments proves fruitless.
Brok examines the room from the door, preferring to let Keil find / set off any magical traps through direct exploration.
(+3 for traps)
Brok and Vargrenz watch the room closely for any hidden threats but nothing happens.
Grey moved in near Grezzor, scanning for auras himself. Once he had a full analysis he began attempting to break down the construction of the effect.
"Hold." he said to their scouts. "I believe we can get more specific with our analysis."
Praetor does not need the assistance of the other spellcasters to realize the effect is a sleep spell, and it is indeed centered on the carpet. The aura is a very strong aura, but it does weaken somewhat as it moves away from the carpet. It does encompass the entire room, however.