Wodin glares at the two demons, but knows his own body enough to know they're mostly right. "Not like admitting, but beasts correct. Wounds are great, risk is greater."
Oh quit bellyaching. I thought Dwarves were tough. Agrippa says irritably Seems my original thoughts on the dwarf were false, he is a whiner.
Agrippa casts Infernal Healing on the dwarf, healing him for 10HP over 10 rounds.
"Seem to recall of becoming invisible at first sign of trouble, am not interested in opinion," the dwarf snarks, but gratefully accepts the healing.
Sidious also lends some healing to the group, channeling to heal more of the electric damage and then laying his hands upon the dwarf.
Hate to say it but he may have a point - even after that wash of healing I am not feeling the best... how abouts we explore the lower levels, clear em', rest up and go for the big one up top that even these two creatures admit is a challenge?
Sidious does his best to heal the damage done by the daemons, while Eldred begin to fear the monster above, questioning if they shouldn’t explore the lower levels before facing the monster.
Enough of this standing around, we have a Daemon to summon. And a Horn to claim. Agrippa says as he moves to the stairs on the other side of the room and begins to descend.
Eldred follows Agrippa and then moves to take the lead.
Wodin plants himself in place, arms crossed. "Horn can wait until wounds healed. Поспеши́шь - люде́й насмеши́шь, fools rush," he states in a harsh tone, trying to convince Agrippa to think about what he's doing. "Impatience will be death."
If we are going to continue today I shall share more of the master's blessings, saving only one channel in case I need to try to save a life.
Making sure everyone who is wounded is within range Sidious channels three times.
He thens looks to Johan. We have chosen you to lead us Johan. What is your decision?
Down stairs - we'll explore this level instead, Eldred calls back.
Deciding to explore the lowers levels before the sanctum, the party heads into the first level of the horn, one supposed to not have any enemy.
Stepping out of the secret staircase, they are once more in the massive room with a large stone throne decorated with scenes of daemonic victory over angels. It radiates a moderate conjuration aura. At its base in small script is the nonsense word ‘Yah’ in Abyssal
The room at the left side of the throne appears to be a room used by priests and acolytes to don their vestments and prepare for the horrific rituals performed in the Lower Temple.
The room to the right once this was where sacrifices intended for the grisly rites of the Lower Temple was held. Now, it is merely an empty chamber. The open archway is covered by a ragged silk tapestry. The tapestry is so soiled, it is difficult to make out the great white horse skull that adorns it surrounded by a ring of jagged daemonic iconography that loosely translates, ‘All must ride with the Horsemen’. Inside it, an open wooden door.
A brief search in the place reveals nothing of interest, and thus the villains keep forward exploring the place.
==//==
The next room once used as a guardroom, is now empty.
This room contains other three doors, besides the one you came from, one of them being a door made of metal.
Eldred checks over the area the spray of blood - maybe its indicative of a trap, and then he checks over the doors for traps as well.
Sidious also searches, spear ready.
Searching the place reveals nothing of importance.
The blood is really old, probably it remains from the Victor raid, eighty years ago.
Johan moves forward to inspect the metal door first. With his eyebrows still sizzling from the encounter with the deamons, his is wary of electrical traps.
Wodin follows Johan's lead, weapon resting on his shoulder. He presses his back against the wall next to the door and nods to the Inquisitor, signaling his readiness.
Johan open the metal door, expecting a trap that, if it existed, never triggered.
A stout iron door with a small barred window controls entry to this plain stone cell. The door once had a fine lock but that was smashed when the door was kicked in by a Darian knight.
The place holds nothing of significance or interest.
Leaving the cell, Johan moves to open the door in the south.
Beyond the door, what once was the pride of the priesthood of the Pale Horse-man, a torture chamber that is now in sore need of repair.
Wrecked by the Victor’s men, the chamber has remained a tangled pile of neglected metal and splintered wood for decades.
Searching the place, you notice that despite the actual state, if it were for you to invest some time and money, the place could be put to work again.
With no other passages or any interesting detail, Johan moves to the last door.
The next chamber contains a cage made of stout iron bars that run from floor to ceiling. It seems it was connected to a pit trap from the floor above.
The metal faux-stone pit trap cover is gone so now there simply is a chute in the ceiling that leads to level 2 above. The lock has been broken beyond repair and so now the door to the cage simply swings open.
There's another door at this room.
Johan paces the inside of the cell and checks that the ceiling/trap door above is secure, then heads across the room to the last door, pushing into the room beyond with shield at the ready.
Going through the door, Johan notices what appears to have been a Trophy Room.
Maybe once grisly trophies hung on the wall of various enemies that the “Sons of the Pale Horseman” had disposed of through the years. The actual trophies are gone, burned in the same pyre as the Sons themselves. However, the wall is still discolored where the trophies long hung and the plaques beneath the trophies still remain.
There are twelve inscriptions:
“Laedrissia the Beautiful who believed she need not honor her promises to us.”
“Markhan the Golden, the draconic protector of Lossewyn. He slept then and now he sleeps forever.”
“Kallister Feign, an illusionist too clever to keep his head.”
“Lazarus M. Who mourns for you now?”
“King Croc, 23 feet snout to tail, delicious on a spit”
“Iris of Ghastenhall, dead from a broken heart and a poison dagger.”
“The Great Serpent of Korokunga, slain for its venom”
“Lord Jurys Hallifax called the Just hid in his castle and hope we had forgotten. We hadn’t.”
“Snorri Five-Axe died on a sixth.”
“The ears of Lord Kelerrian. If only he had sense enough to listen.”
“Chief Gorgun Sakkathet, invincible in battle, careless in choosing his cup bearer.”
“Ergun Nigma, The third scion left in the House of the House Hyrhul, second greatest swordsman in the land, the first to die.”
None of the names are familiar to our villains save for the city of Ghastenhall is mentioned in the sixth inscription.
Inspecting panels are closely, Eleven of them are unremarkable. However “Iris of Ghastenhall” actually has a small silver ring mounted beneath the name. The same color as the plaque, the ring is easy to miss. This unimpressive piece of jewelry, clearly intended for a very small finger, has a tiny inscription ‘IoG’ beside an ornate rose.
There’s another door in the room.
Agrippa will detect for lingering magickal auras in the trophy room.
No magical aura of any sort can be detected in the place.
"Think more and more, place is of interesting. Dangerous, but is of very interesting," the dwarf says, even though he doesn't really see any meaning in the various names arrayed on the plaques. His interest soons wanes, however, and he moves to check the next room, moving cautiously.
Examining the silver ring, Sidious will remove it and give it to Abraxas, thinking it might fit the Imp's finger.
The ring is a small one, but it proves too big for Abraxas finger.
Exploring the next rooms, the knot founds:
Two of what appears to have been guard rooms. and an almost functional forge. .
Those chambers have nothing out of ordinary save old broken furniture and tools.
Moving ahead, you reach what appears to have been an alchemy laboratory.
Wrecked during the Victor’s raid, broken glassware and alchemical equipment litter the floor.
Lying upon the stone slab in the center of the chamber is a broken, ruined golem.
On the floor of this chamber, you find schematics for an alchemical golem, three ounces of stone salve. As a lot of other pieces of equipment that you can’t tell what it is for, or if it is still usable.
Agrippa examines the golem
He mutters to himself Interesting...these apparatus here...perhaps...Three? Why not two of them? Surely one stone here would work instead.
Wodin prods the ruined golem with a plated boot. "Think can of fixing?" the dwarf asks his companions. "Possible to make ally."
I would hate to have to fight this construction. Those protrusions on its hand. I suspect it once through flames or something similar.
Wodin nods, recalling some of Thanehelm's defender golems. "But if fix and control, then powerful comrade," the dwarf says, arms crossed over his chest. "But now is junk pile. Can worry after."
Aye - later
15 - This is the easiest to get to Horn. You simply walk up a wide set of stairs a hundred feet and arrive at the landing. Clearly, this area was supposed to be guarded. There are six arrow slits on both the east and west walls. Forty feet into the passage a solid stone half-wall rises that could provide cover to two medium-sized combatants.
14 - This chamber is empty. A long stone bench built into the north wall and tell-tale broken bits of barrel wood hint that once guards holed up here, ready and provisioned to guard this entryway for prolonged periods. But now there is only emptiness and quiet.
21 - This is another empty guardroom adorned only by an L-shaped stone bench in the southwestern corner.
22 - This room once held many months of provisions for the residents of the Horn, if perchance their temple was ever besieged. When the attack upon the Horn came, it happened so quickly no such stocks were needed.
A temple guardian, a minotaur, retreated in here during the Victor’s assault and fought to the last. This minotaur had the honor of being impaled by the Victor himself using a spear taken from a fallen comrade. So powerful was the Victor’s strike that the minotaur was pinned to the floor. There he remains to this day, looking as if he died yesterday. He bears upon his arm a tattoo of a white horse skull with three burning green eyes. This is the symbol of the servants ofVetra-Kali.
As far as provisions, this room is empty, with anything not claimed by the Victor’s men long ago stolen. However, a faint aura of transmutation magic does remain.
19- This ransacked room there is nothing of great value here, nothing but a coat of dust and countless cobwebs.
20 - There is nothing here but ash, blast marks and few burned bits of refuse.
18 – This room remains ransacked, tossed into disarray and left to cobwebs. Eldred finds aa small coin purse that was probably missed in the ransack. It holds 31 gp and an elixir of truth.
Othewise the room is unremarkable.
23 - This wrecked room is full of broken bunks and moldering personal effects. There is nothing of value here.
Curious temple - definitely fits the feel of what I think a Daemon would have though I'm buggered in understanding why anything or anyone would worship such.
24 –This was once a tavern. The tavern is actually not in terrible shape for a building that has been abandoned for eighty years. There is a fireplace in this part of the tavern that actually has a small vent that opens in the side of the Horn. This vent, though covered by a small metal grate, is actually another (very difficult and dangerous) way in. If someone climbed two hundred feet (Climb skill checks DC 15) and pried off the grate (Strength check DC 12), they could climb down the flue and into the fireplace.
Only medium sized are smaller individuals could fit through these tight spaces.
25 – This is the second part of the Death’s Head Tavern connected to 24 by an open archway. A There is a bar here and a small grill.
26 – This large courtyard was once the central gathering place for the guards and servants who served the priests in the levels above. The courtyard buzzed with activity day and night. But those days are long gone. Now the place is empty, silent and dark.
The only hint of former glories is a magic fountain that still produces fresh water (it possesses a moderate transmutation aura). The fountain’s centerpiece is carved in the form of Charon on his skiff. When water is needed the skeletal figure bleeds water like blood into the basin below. The great basin of the pool holds a hundred gallons of water and when it is depleted the basin is replenished at the rate of one gallon a round. Despite the fountain’s sinister appearance and the fact it was created by a pestilence-worshipping daemonic death cult, the water is clean, fresh and potable. The fountain is part of the floor of this room and cannot be removed.
27- This wrecked room is full of broken bunks and moldering personal effects. There is nothing of value here.
28-Another wrecked room. There is nothing of value here.
29- Another wrecked room. There is nothing of value here.
Brother Trask’s journal.
One of the acolytes, Brother Zander Trask, kept a journal. The journal is frankly rather dull and poorly written. Trask was no great thinker and mostly it is a repetitive and boring record of the day to day drudgery of being a lowly acolyte of the temple. If carefully read and studied for three hours though three interesting facts can be gleaned.
1. Trask believed there to be something unusual about the south eastern pillar in the lower temple. He suspected it was hollow and had a secret door into it.
2. Trask knew by rumor that two powerful daemons named Hexor and Vexor guarded the upper levels. He didn’t know precisely where they were stationed, but he desperately wanted to get a look at them some day.
3. Trask had seen a priest (who thought no one was present) sit upon the throne and mysteriously vanish. He didn’t know where the priest went but thought it very interesting.
Other than the lost journal, there is nothing of any interest or value here.
17- This wrecked room it is full of broken bunks and moldering personal effects. There is nothing of value here.
16- This room is identical to the others. There is nothing of an interest or value here.
It seems this level was where the servants stayed. And the easiest way to access the Horn. Agrippa says nodding to the stairs that descend.
Johan finds an old journal in the wreckage of one of the rooms. He leafes through it half-heartedly. Hm, looks like it was written by one of the lower ranking accolytes. Mentions the deamons we found upstairs briefly, plus a secret staircase hidden in one of the pillars. Is that the one we found leading to the top floor? Also something about people disappearing on a throne - some sort of teleporter maybe?
Wodin rubs at his beard, interested in Johan's find. "Is worth of checking. Things may have survive Mithran invasion."
Sidious pauses at the minotaur body still pinned by the spear. This is a mystery. What preserves the body so? He casts Detect Magic and studies the weapon, body and area trying to discern if any magics are involved. Perhaps I could use this body to raise up as an undead warrior to serve us? I have one large black onix for just such a purpose.
It would be a powerful ally. Give it a try.
Sidious detect a magic aura, but is unable to determine what it does, that's when Agrippa intervenes and explain it preserve anything inside the room. That's why the Minotaur seems to have just been recently killed.
Removing the spear causes the body to falls, and it does not rises as a vampire trying to suck all of your blood.
Looks like we found our larder
Wodin nods at Eldred's statement. "Can leave foodstuff here without worry. If need stay for months, can procure food of Farholde. Problem is still damnded tree."
We can hunt deer or such from to time if there is a need and our frogmen will keep.
Sidous nods at the explanation. I fear my onyx is not large enough to animate the minotaur. Perhaps more can be obtained if we go to town.
Which raises a question... is it worth returning to town and prepare? We can slaughter our mule and you can pray up some food but I'd like to get well situated with supplies before we start. 4-5 mules worth of food plus the mules themselves hung here, I'm expecting some expensive weapon blanches in 2 weeks and you could use some bulk spell components, including onyx. We could all use a few changes in clothin' and blankets left here so they don't rot and and we could use a crap tonne of spell components to make enough unholy water - oh, and a sacrifice for our Agrippa AND another to get the ritual started... the Baron may have a criminal or two he can spare for those.
We should continue our journey in this place....plumb its secrets, before we scurry back to Farholde. Agrippa says, eager to understand more about this place and its arcane power.
"Am of agreeing," Wodin states. "But much plan to make."
Deciding to fully explore the place later, the group leaves the Minotaur body and the room behind, as they move back to the secret stair and from there to the second level.
You end up in a temple, much like the one in the floor below. This is the smaller of the two temples but is by far the grander. Six stately pillars rise to high vaulted ceilings. Images of winged carrion birds circle high above set into the stonework. Stunningly beautiful, intricate murals cover every inch of the walls and floor of this place. At first glance, the murals appear quite lovely showing vast armies of supplicants, each exquisitely rendered in bas relief, walking arms outspread towards some unseen goal.
Only as you progress towards the throne and the eastern wall does the message of the murals becomes clear. The figures become more and more emaciated, worn and diseased. Around the throne can be seen cackling daemons herding them like sheep. Nearer the wall they are no longer supplicants but instead shambling undead marching in great legions. And on the eastern walls is the supplicant’s destination -- a throne carved in the likeness of a great skull and above it reads (in abyssal) “Lead the flock into the arms of blessed Death.”
If the throne is searched carefully there is another easy to miss inscription (DC 15 Perception skill test) here -- “Rah.” (In abyssal)
Uninterested in the artisty of the temple, Johan moves to the far door and waits for the others to join him before proceeding.
Perception
Elders is just as blissfully unaware
Agrippa studies the mural closely and follows the path of the damned to the Skull Throne. Rah. he whispers... Could this be what was written in the journal?