"Mahaffy, this necklace is quite nice. Do you think we can find a buyer for it? I think it's worth over 800 gp."
Spellcraft
Ka'kara kneels, smiles. and tussles the blink dog pups as the others are busy.
Gregori studies the body determining if it shows any signs of life.
The body is almost skeletal, dead a long time, but radiates no evil so it's not undead.
The dogs accompany you almost all the way, and not many monsters care to bother a well-armed party with blink dog scouts so your trip is safe, up to Caer Dire.
Caer Dire is an old ruined castle, remote from civilization (apart from a few roving bands of ogres and goblins. It is run by an ogre mage named Brazzer Mandragora, who keeps the peace with an iron hand.
On top of its tower grows a huge oak tree, named St Sophia by the band of rangers, the Wood Wards, that venerate it.
It is an important trading post, both for the ogre tribes that make their home in the wilderness and for adventurers lucky enough to actually return from a foray into Rappan Athuk.
As you approach the ruins, you see a few red-eyed goblins with striped faces scurrying about and what looks suspiciously like a bugbear sticks his head out of a ruined tower and curses at you.
The dogs bid you farewell and tell you that this is as far as they will go. They wish you good luck and remind you to keep your peace at the inn.
Roylenna will make the rounds, showing some affection to all of the dogs. She's become attached to them once the imminent danger had passed.
To the rest of the companions once the blink dogs are gone, she asks,"We need to heal up before we try to go farther. Can we do that here?"
Ka'kara is thrilled to have 'Lenna join her in playing with the dogs and tells her with a laugh, "I don't understand a thing they are saying but I have named the pups Dash, Nipper, and Yip. Their momma is Patience because she's got to have it dealing with these rascals all the time..."
She somewhat sadly waves goodbye to them but is happy to see them free and safe.
Ka'kara lets loose with a few choice curses of her own back at the bugbear in a voice still raspy from the burns, much of it having to do with its obviously mixed goblin and warthog parentage.
The bugbear looks a little taken aback at being answered in kind and vanishes from sight.
As you enter the arched doors into the main room, the first sight you notice is the gargantuan staircase winding its wall around the inside wall. An extraordinary network of timber crossbeams, that looks infested by goblins, supports the stairs in their ascent to the solar some 50 or so feet above. Debris litters the room's stone floor, and enough haphazardly constructed tables and chairs are placed about the tavern to seat two hundred patrons comfortably while still leaving plenty room for moving about. Five fairly sizeable cook fires burn in various places, becoming tiny islands of orange light as the sun sets outside.
Quite disconcerting are the ochre-stained buckets set around the room to catch blood falling from the ceiling. There isa massive ale and mead still int eh southeast corner. Supplies packed into crates, barrels of fresh ale and mead, empty barrels waiting to be filled, and sacks of hops and barley are stacked high on either side of the impromptu brewery. Woodchips of oak, hickory and spruce are piled up behind the sill.
A huge wooden chandelier hangs from teh ceiling by a rope as thick as a human's arm. Yellow-gray wax drips from it like so many pasty stalactites. The chandelier does not seem to have been lit in a long time, but there are happy goblin children swinging on it.
A looming blue ogre wearing a stained apron is busy serving the mixture of humans and ogres that make up the clientele. He looks up at you briefly and grumbles something, at which a goblin with a striped face and a ragged towel wrapped around its arm runs up to you. "Welcome gentlemen. What can I do you for?"
Tika looks around quite fascinated by the place (wondering things like how exactly blood gets onto the roof) Vaguely hearing the blue Ogre she blinks and turns to the others "Gentlemen" She quietly mouths to them.
Ka'kara also raises an eyebrow at the obviously clueless goblin, "Bring us a strong brew to wash away the dust from the road." She finds a suitably sized table for their group.
"No touching," Artival warns the goblin, as he sees the grimy spread open arms of the little creature heading for him. "Like the lady said, bring us soem grog and make it snappy."
With a quick laugh, "Lady?! Your even more lost than the goblin!" She gives him a powerful but playful (of course I am sure her and Art's definition on "playful" differ greatly) slap on the behind and addresses the goblin with a mischievous grin, "Ignore him, he likes it when you do that." Turning back to the mage, "Though I like the rest of what you said."
"Ka'Kara, as I have told you before, you simply need a man strong in his convictions that will treat you like a lady. You;d be purring like a kitten in no time, throwing away that sword and replacing it with an evening gown and makeup," the sorcerer laughs, knowing the barbarian could know no greater version of hell than that. Artival takes care to take a seat outside of punching range, just in case.
Eyes wide, Roylenna stops and take in the sight. She smiles at the children playing on the chandelier, but doesn't spend much time considering the buckets of blood.
Mahaffy does his best to be forgotten amongst all his racial enemies
Gregori enters, his eyes scanning the tavern, his body tense, used to the reaction of somone who looked like himself most often recieved from a place such as this.
Lyria looks around, but seems to be more relaxed than others from her group. She smiles as she hears the exchange between Artival and Ka'kara, then orders some wine from the goblin waiter. As she sits in her place, she looks around on the other patrons and their doings, but her eyes seem to go back to the goblin children.
In response to Artival she gets a wistful sad far-off look and sighs, "But where do I find such a man?" She can't hide her grin for long however, "Where is that grog?!"
The blue ogre approaches bearing a tray with various beverages (mostly strong and of large size, but surprisingly good). As he passes he gives Lyria a push that breaks her concentration. "No pets", he states in a matter-of-fact tone.
Then he turns to the rest of the company and breaks out in what is probably meant to be a smile, but mostly looks as if he's about to eat you. "So what brings you ladies" (with a glare at the goblins "and gentlemen to our parts?"
"Rappan Athuk." Ka'kara says matter-a-factly. "Where is it and how do we get there?"
mbmblmble
The tiny halfling sips from a smaller vessel and nods appreciatively.
The tone is respectful, but it's obvious that the alcohol, even such a tiny amount, hit her hard and sudden.
Diplomacy
Gregori sips the drink, nodding to himself and grinning as Ka'kara and Roylenna address the ogre.
Just as Artival was preparing to respond to the barbarian's query, by volunteering Gregori or himself for such a Herculean task, he was cut off by the approaching ogre. "We'll talk about that later," he tells her, as the group focuses on the questioning about their mission.
Rappan Athuk? Just follow the trail of dried blood to the north. Brazzer guffaws. Sorry, just a bit of ogre humour. I could draw you a map in the morning. And if you should happen to pick up some interesting tidbits, I'd be happy to reimburse you. I may be an ogre, but I'm honest. It hurts business not to be.
To Roylenna: I do make my own beverages. It passes the time, and I found that there is less fighting - indoors at any rate - when the brew is good. I apologize about the buckets. It's those Wood Wards. Crazy bunch all of them. Insist on impaling their victims upstairs. Say that they nourish the roots of Saint Sophia - that's the tree. Told you they were crazy.
I'm glad to see new faces, but see that you settle your bills before you venture into... that dungeon. He winks, which is a pretty disconcerting sight.
Taking a big draw from her mug Ka'kara grimaces from the alcohol on her raw throat and croaks out, "Yeowch! That burns worse than the witch's flame!" She then immediately downs the rest of her mug and slams Gregori's before he can even touch it, "No, still can feel it." Finally, downing a third mug (this one Mahaffy's), "Ah, that's better." She slowly sinks into her chair, "All right, my lips have barely been wet. Let's start the real drinking."
;P
Lyria watches the others with a smile and sips her usual wine, barely started while Ka'kara downs her third mug.
The next time Brazzer passes next to their table, she will ask him to tell her more about Rappan Athuk, while tipping him with a few coins.
Brazzer grabs a huge stool and sits down, after serving you another round of the bitter brew. This is his story (spoilered for length):
remnants of the followers of Orcus disappear from all human reckoning, but so did the army of light that followed after them disappear as well. Some said that in the eternal scales the loss of so many good men was a fair price to pay to rid the world of so much evil.
The evil cult, however, had not been destroyed. The surviving priests and their followers instead settled on a hill near the Forest of Hope, a sylvan woodland near the Coast Road. There found a vast underground
complex of caverns and mazes, carving out a volcanic intrusion beneath the hill. There, the priests of Orcus found the perfect lair to continue their vile rituals. For many years, they carried on in secret, hidden from the light and from the knowledge of men.
Many years later, their underground delving completed, the evil priests erected a hideous mausoleum and a sunken graveyard atop the hill. It is believed that these graves are in fact the final resting place of the pursuing army of heroes that had been destroyed to a man. Soon after the mausoleum was erected the peaceful creatures of the wood began to disappear. Though many rangers and druids investigated these happenings, the cause of the creatures’ disappearance was not immediately determined. Some years later, a powerful group of adventurers, led by Bofred, a high priest of Iomedae, investigated the evil happenings and found the sunken graveyard leading to a labyrinthine complex. Bofred and his companions found great hordes of evil creatures in the complex. Though some of his companions returned from their expedition, btelling tales of fantastic treasure and ferocious monsters, Bofred was never seen again—lost in the
catacombs beneath the cursed mausoleum.
For the last one hundred years, ranks of adventurers swarmed to the newfound dungeon. Many fell prey to bandits and monsters in the surrounding wilderness. Of those who survived to reach the mausoleum and the sunken graveyard, rumors suggest that most were slain by guardians of green stone before they even entered the dungeon or perished on the very first level. Those rare few who return from deeper treks speak of horrible undead and creatures that cannot be slain. All who have explored Rappan Athuk offer this one universal piece of advice: “Don’t go down the Well.”
You can all make two Int checks (DC 13) to see what rumors you know. Lyria and Tika can also make a DC20 check with their casting stat.
Int checks
Caster check
Int check
Int. check
Int. check
Here are some rumors for you to ruminate on:
A high priestess of Nethys was turned into a statue of living rock, and is entombed in the dungeon. She had a magic ring that allowed her to shape change. Her name is Akbeth.
Magical black skeletons inhabit the dungeon. They are greatly feared, as clerics cannot turn them.
On the fourth level, there are no monsters, but wondrous amounts of gems.
Kazleth, a titanspawn abomination (the head of a bull atop the body of an ogre), rules as Lord of the Maze.
Later that night, after a considerable amount of beer has been consumed, Brazzer shows you to your rooms (picking Ka'kara up and physically depositing her on the bed). The beds are surprisingly comfortable and you enjoy what might be your last night's sleep ever.
Early the next morning you set out for Rappan Athuk. Amazingly, your journey is uneventful.
You crest the last hill and finally the complex comes into view. In stark contrast to the lush greenery of the hills lies a large sunken graveyard laid out in the shape of a cross. Rather than towering above the ground, the graves have settled into depressions, and the main mausoleum, a building of strange green stone, rests in the deepest depression some 40 feet below the ground on which you now stand. At the other end of the grave-filled hallow stands what appears to be a stone well. There are no gravestones near it. The normal sounds of wildlife are gone, and large carrion birds circle overhead. An ominous silence rests about the place. Each of you knows in your heart that you have found the legendary dungeon of Rappan Athuk. And though none dare speak it, you wonder if you will live to return to the warmth of hearth and home.
The little halfling shivers as she looks around the graveyard.
"Well I guess we should open and go down the well..." Her sideways glance and mischievous grin say she is anything but serious. "You think the entrance is in that green tomb? Well, if you need to do anything to ready yourselves I suggest you do it." She pauses for a moment bafore heading forward toward the mausoleum.
Actually checking the well looks like a good idea . The building reminds me of what Brazzer said about 'guardians of green stone' and if they are anything like the green witch we fought yesterday , I'll pass
"I believe what Brazzer said was that everyone who previously visited here agreed that the well was a bad thing to mess around with. Sounds worse than any green stone building" She seems to be saying this out of more practicality than fear, "You want to be lowered down the well Mahaffy?"