City of Ashes (Inactive)

Game Master Grimmy

Priscilla readies her sling and slips somewhere she can hide.

Stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23

Cairenn stands as far from the approaching foes as he can, bow drawn and an arrow nocked, letting Lilia and Priscilla have the shelter of the rocks.

Lueck stands next to Cairenn. He sets his spear down and readies his bow as well.

On the far side of the cavern, a skeletal apparition appears at each of the three passage mouths.

Appearing in the left and right passages, are similar looking skeletal warriors in bronze breastplates wielding archaic bronze shields and longswords.

In the center passage stands a skeleton in tattered robes.

To the surprise of all, it speaks to the group in a tongue understood only by Cairenn... the language of the dead.

"Lower your weapons.. for now. There will be more guardians coming when your life force is detected. The rest of the ancients are resting deeper in these tunnels. The master can not raise them and bend them to his will until their amber crystals are shattered, as ours were, when the earth trembled. You must proceed into the tunnels and retrieve the amber crystals, so that they may be shattered. There are wards ahead that prevent we undead from carrying out this task. That is why you have been called here, the living servants of the prince of death, who still draw breath and therefore can pass further into these warded grounds."

Cairenn tenses at seeing the skeletons appear, his fingers all-but-trembling on the string of the bow with the desire to fire. But then... speech! He stares, and lowers his bow reflexively before he's really thought it through.

He hesitates, then responds to the skeletons in the same sibilant whispering.

Quickly, Cairenn says to the others: "They seem to have a task for us--" and he repeats, word for word, the statement of the robed skeleton.

"But what of this 'prince of death'," he mutters, rubbing at his jaw. "Is that an entity whose whims we ought to blindly follow?"

Knowledge Religion, Undead: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 9 + 1 = 25

"I don't think we should do anything that a Prince of Death wants us to," Lilia barks, not sure of the task.

Cairenn pales further as he comprehends they are talking about THAT Prince of Death. Oh yes. Right.

He clears his throat and says very softly, "Quietly, if you please, Lilia... these guardians serve him, and that they speak in the tongue of the dead doesn't mean they may not understand our own... I understand your sentiments, but if we refuse, we shall be in a fight... with servants of Orcus himself. It might be wise to pretend to agree, to pass by them..."

"Or we could retreat. If there are more of these undead," she whispers.

The aasimar stands ready strike as the undead vermin approaches the group, with his grip tighten as it speaks in a sickly tongue. When the half-elf shares his findings the cleric's face turns bright red and rage starts to cloud his judgement.

Will Save:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

He starts to move his sword and reason stops him as the memory of his fallen party members flashes through his mind. He steadies his blade and still only can let out a low growl. Ares waits for his comrades to make there initial move, but won't be much help in the plan as he stares daggers at this servant of Orcus.

From where they are standing, the undead have not looked at Ronen and Ares carefully yet, so they have not noticed any holy symbols.

There is a tense moment of silence as the robed skeleton waits for a response, then suddenly a shouted expletive is heard from back up at the top of the escarpment, and T'Salix pokes his face through the curtain of crimson mist.

"This is ridiculous, we need to go back up and get supplies from the cart. I just cut my foot on one of these rocks. Somebody sharpened them I think, they're like razor blades! Are you talking to someone down there?"

His eyes quickly turn to Brother Valorn as he watches the leader of the abominations and Cairenn converse.

Whispering to Brother Valorn, "Stay your blade brother. We must see what Cairenn is learning from these abominations. Cairenn translate what they are saying and what is this task you are speaking about?"

Urrnir whips her head towards T'Salix. The others where handling the skeletons but the bumbling fool seemed intent on interfering again.

"Silence, gravekeeper" she hisses "Now is not the time for your foolishness. You were to stay on the ledge above."

Whispering to Brother Valorn, "Stay your blade brother. We must see what Cairenn is learning from these abominations. Cairenn translate what they are saying and what is this task you are speaking about?"

Cairenn did so already.

...and he repeats, word for word, the statement of the robed skeleton.

Priscilla waits unsure of what is happening. She does wince at the blade pulling and the lovely triade the gravekeeper was giving.If need be she would slip into some nook and await to strike these guys later when she felt she could be more stealthy about it.

"Cairenn, do you think you can convince these guys that we are here to help? If so, that might allow us to slip by them, and investigate what is deeper, and make sure those are unable to rise as undead. We might even find something to use against these as well."

Cairenn nods to Lilia, nervous but resolute.

Murmuring in the sibilant whispering tongue of the dead, the young bard is not so easy to take lightly... for once he seems genuinely creepy!

Bluff: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Before concluding his speech, Cairenn glances at the other skeletal warriors flanking the robed undead.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Wordlessly, the undead withdraw into the corridors from which they had emerged.

Cairenn exhales slowly, and then kneels beside the augury pool. Cupping his hands, he scoops some of the water to his lips and drinks.

The bards' eyes roll back in his head and he trembles for a moment. Before anyone can get to his side to make sure he's ok, he stabilizes, and shakes off the trance. His face looks a little shaken up, but not disturbed. His brow furrowed, he looks to the others, saying simply, "We should press on."

"What are you doing, crazy?!". Lilia steps forward to knock the nasty poison out of the bard's hand, but she was too late. "You can't be drinking that stuff...its poison! But anyway, if you are okay, let's keep heading onward. We need to be sure the other skeletons are put to rest forever."

As the two speak, the skulking water elemental slides off following the current of the stream towards where it spills into another channel in the far side of the cavern wall.

"Cairenn...What was said between you and the abominations that made them withdraw?

He watches as Cairenn kneels down and drinks from the pool, "What are you doing?"

Even as Ronen moves to aid Cairenn he returns to normal almost as if nothing had happened and says, "We should press on."

Perplexed but not wanting to further complicate things he looks down the closet passage, "Lead on Cairenn."

With the situation defused Urrnir drops her combat stance. Instantly she turns on T'Salix with a scowl and speaks through a clenched jaw: "You need to stop being underfoot. Now, stay close and, please, try and keep quiet."

Ares stares at the vile creatures as they leave and as soon as there out of sight the cleric moves towards the bard. "Hold still, I know this stuff is only poisonous in large amounts but I need to check you out anyway." The aasimar checks the half-elves vitals and casts a minor prayer then offers up of his holy water flasks. "Please drink this or at least rinse out your mouth to be on the safe side."

Casting detect poison on him, and heal check:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

"So what are doing, Are we going to follow these boneheads or what?" Priscilla asks as she walks up to the others revealing her self to the decrepit undead things, but confident her friends can save her.

Sorry for the long absence, guys. 'Sick in the family' became, inevitably, 'sick for me'. Last few days have been very little sleep, lots of pukin', and still the work deadline. But I feel better right now and have knocked down at least one work deadline, so I'll try and get back on the horse. Thanks for the GMPC, Grimmy.

Cairenn draws himself up to his full height and looks quite haughty at Lilia and Ronen's words. "I drank a small mouthful, not gallons, and as I told you: this contains visions. Visions that may be extraordinarily useful to us, as we have suddenly entered a world of dire threats and grand players. I will not disdain any insight... let alone for so small a risk."

The bard is excited despite himself. The grand adventure he has always dreamt of is upon him! ...alright, he might perhaps wish for something a little more... genteel, to lead up with, than servants of Orcus himself, but... well, beggars can't be choosers.

"I lied to the guardians," he informs the others, "and let them think we too serve the dread Prince. It is a stroke of luck that they were expecting other servitors: now, we must use that luck for all we can. If the amber crystals that the dead speak of are shattered, then their souls will be freed to reinhabit their bodies, swelling the ranks of Orcus's foul followers. We cannot let this happen. The safest path I can think of is to seize the crystals ourselves, and take them somewhere safe-- perhaps a temple of the light, where the clergy may know powerful spells of protection. Now, we must make haste: there may be more guardians like the water elementals."

He turns to the grave-keeper. "T'salix," he says, voice firm and earnest. "There are events happening here beyond your comprehension. Yet fate has seen fit to place you among us, for the hour, and I believe nothing happens for no reason. The path ahead is a treacherous and dangerous one, I will not lie to you. But I would rather you walked with us of your own volition, displaying the courage your people are known for, and left petty grievances behind, because the foe we face now cares nothing for the battle lines between dwarf and half-orc. We shall all need to trust each other, to go forward. What say you?"

Cairenn wants to try diplomacy with T'salix to make him a bit more understanding of the stakes and get him more on their side, rather than being along under duress, as it were. If permitted:

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10 (Sigh)

Kn Religion Undead: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29 (This roll is for the undead servitors we just ran into-- he'd like to know what they are other than just 'skeletons' (i.e., get a sense of their threat levels. Are they skeletal champpions, liches, etc?)

"Why don't we just send the orc out of here? We can deal with him later. I don't see anything productive that will result from him coming along with us and mucking up our plans. His crimes pale in comparison to this Orcus."

"I would happily. Everyone else has insisted that T'Salix come along, however."

He turns to the grave-keeper. "T'salix," he says, voice firm and earnest. "There are events happening here beyond your comprehension. Yet fate has seen fit to place you among us, for the hour, and I believe nothing happens for no reason. The path ahead is a treacherous and dangerous one, I will not lie to you. But I would rather you walked with us of your own volition, displaying the courage your people are known for, and left petty grievances behind, because the foe we face now cares nothing for the battle lines between dwarf and half-orc. We shall all need to trust each other, to go forward. What say you?"...

This seems like a speech T'Salix would normally respond well to, but the dice roll doesn't back up the good RP very well here. Maybe someone else with good face skills wants to throw another diplomacy check to back up Cairenn's speech.

Kn Religion Undead: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29 (This roll is for the undead servitors we just ran into-- he'd like to know what they are other than just 'skeletons' (i.e., get a sense of their threat levels. Are they skeletal champpions, liches, etc?)

They are indeed skeletal champions. Two of them have warrior levels and the robed one who spoke has mage levels. But he is still a skeletal champion, not a lich.

Diplomacy 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25 to help out Cairenn earlier!

No diplomacy here :[

Between Cairenn's clever argument and Lilia's soothing tone, T'Salix seems to grow less resentful of the group.

"Well, this is the latest I've ever stayed here on the grounds. To be honest I was dying to take off and catch up with Erlend or Fuad. But with the headstart the others have i'd probably end up traveling alone all the way to Bard's Gate if I left now. I may as well wait and make the trip with you lot. Safety in numbers. Now do you want me to press on with you deeper in this tomb, or climb out and check that supply cart for anything that will be useful for extracting you all when your done exploring?"

"It might be better for you to check out the cart. There's no telling what we might encounter, so having someone to help us out if we are needing to leave....quickly could help out.". Lilia didn't mention that she found him repulsive and didn't want him anywhere near the group.

"It might do you some good. But I can't garuantee that you'll be any safer with them than you are with us! I mean those dead are walking about, as well as crazy cultists. So just a thought"She says as she smiles a big smile.

"I mean if you do stay we will protect you, I mean look at me i'm still here amongst these guys so stay close and we can protect you, or if you do leave make sure you stay hidden until you see us okay!"Pris says with her cherubic smile.

Hopefully diplomacy will work with this
diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

T'Salix nods.

"I'll be at the top of the barrow mound. Tug on the rope when you're ready to come up. I'll have the cart from the real archaeologist team up there in case you need any tools. If those shadow wolves come down out of the hill, I'll try to make a loud noise."

Ares moves to the T'Salix and puts his hand on the half-orc's shoulder, "Do as my little friend here says, she is wise in matters like this." He gives the man a confident smile and then hands him his last short spear and a vial of holy water. "Use as a last resort, and my Muir keep your resolve strong." The aasimar says a small blessing to the man.

Then he brings his attention back to Cairenn, "That is sound plan Cairenn, I have learned from experience not to charge straight in. Let us get moving before these vile servants get out of control."

T'Salix makes his way back through the road of the dead, and out through the bone portcullis back to the cavern with the causeways. With a little luck he will be there for you when it is time to go back to the surface.

Ahead of you the three paths that the undead had arrived from branch out of the chamber.

The middle path, where the skeletal mage had stood, is paved like the road you took to get here.

The left and ride paths are rough hewn stone, maybe natural tunnels.

Between the left and center paths, the river spills into another channel and continues. This is where the water elemental went.

"Anyone feel like scouting these tunnels out for a bit," Lilia asks glancing at Priscilla.

The left and ride paths are rough hewn stone, maybe natural tunnels.

Typo: I meant "The left and right paths..."

"The strongest forces are with the robed one, I believe maybe take out a few of the weaker groups first." Ares thinks out loud to the group.

"I always offer to scout ahead, but I believe I might be a little loud. Though the dark prince and all of this I swear I could of heard this before." The aasimar tries to reach back into his memory to remember this black prince.

Knowledge(Religion):1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

" Yeah Ares....you and your armor is not stealthy not to mention your foot steps. remind me to teach you how to take lighter steps. You may look angelic but your steps are more like an elephant!" she says as she giggles and heads forward looking at the others.

"Okay folks let me show you tallies how its done down here in halfling country first of strangely magicked Cairenn which way do I need to prod!" She says readying herself with a few quick stretches just encase she need to roll out the way of dangerous pointy things of doom!

The ancients have filled these low, narrow passageways with carvings showing a doomed soul’s journey to the Abyss.

It seems the gauntlet is designed to mirror the torments inflicted by the demons. By besting the challenges here, the candidate would free themselves from facing the damnation of the abyss. The emerging champion would have earned his right to dwell with family and ancestors in a private demi-plane inside the amber crystals.

The carvings show Maughuxin cooking captive souls, Lhamskarr symbolically consuming the flesh of the screaming damned, and Felclugh drowning souls in the Blood Lake.

The ceiling in the labyrinth is 8 feet high. There is no natural light source. The acoustics are strange, making it hard to tell what direction and distance sounds come from. Right now running water can be heard.

Several low, narrow passageways continue onwards into the oppressive darkness of this strange place.

The map will be expanded to include all this but try to get a picture of it in your mind. Ask me questions, tell me who is exploring what, etc. etc.

"Go safely," Cairenn tells T'Salix. Whatever unsavory racism the half-orc displays, Cairenn does not privately think it has merited the treatment he's received so far.

The half-elf inspects the carvings with his expression somewhere between queasy and fascinated. Even knowing it was all meant to be metaphorical, and not a glorification of these demons, the carvings are still rather... evocative.

"Those were skeletal champions," he says to the others as he squints down the halls. "Not, perhaps, insurmountable foes... but I would pick our battles, as none of us are as fresh as we were earlier today. Fighting them singly rather than together is perhaps possible. They also said that more guardians might come-- I think they meant, in the vein of the elementals. So let us be on guard for that as well. As to which passage..."

He gazes at the three mouths, wondering if it matters; then shrugs to himself. Fortune favors the bold. "Abraxes!"

The flickering manshape appears again, and Cairenn directs it to the mouth of each tunnel, peering down as far as the light lets him see before frowning. To Priscilla, he says, "I'm sure you're as light of foot as a butterfly, but those tunnels are pitch black. If you take a light source, it matters not how quietly you move: a child could see you. If you do not take a light source, then you're blind, and not much good as a scout, hm? I think instead we'll all need to stick together. As for which tunnel..."

Are the carvings keyed to specific tunnels? Three demons, three carvings, three tunnels? If not, then Cairenn is fine with just starting at the left, since to him it seems no difference which they go down.

Know. (Arcana) 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17
Know. (History) 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
Know. (Local) 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23 to see if Lilia can recall anythign about those particular demons.

"Sure let the weird thig do all the work I get paid either way" She says with a smile as he kept her tools handy just in case.

"Still when we go down the tunnel as a group I'll lead so we get no nasty mechanical surprises okay"

Know. (Arcana) 1d20+8

Know. (History) 1d20+6
Know. (Local) 1d20+6 to see if Lilia can recall anythign about those particular demons.

Lilia those rolls won't quite do the trick, however with Ares permission we can assume he shared what he knows. Also, Cairenn, I should tell you, you are privy to the same information after drinking from the augury pool.

Here are links to the info known by Ares and Cairenn:

here and here.

"Let's stay away from the water, since it would be harder to be ambushed by the skeleton then the water elemental. And we can avoid fighting a little more on top of that, since we know the elementals will attack us no matter what while the skeleton's could be avoid if necessary." Ares offers his opinion to the group.

"So it sounds like there is no good option. I think we should take either the left or right tunnel first. If violence happens, then we might be able to deal with the skeleton before reinforcements arrive. What's the rest of your thoughts?"

Urrnir had been helping T'Salix climb back up the cliff while the group was discussing. Only now was she able to catch back up to them. "Whatever we do; we should do it swiftly. Our time here is not limitless and who knows what ensuring the Ancients slumber will entail."

Are the carvings keyed to specific tunnels? Three demons, three carvings, three tunnels? If not, then Cairenn is fine with just starting at the left, since to him it seems no difference which they go down.

Good question.

They do not seem to be tied to specific tunnels. Scenes of souls being tormented by all three demons can be found on the walls of all three tunnels. There is no notable difference in the motifs.

"Let's move right then, since my father always says right path is always the right path." Ares tries to lighten the mood a little bit and break the tension. "Then let's get moving, I am game to be up front or in the back since I don't need a light source to see."