Gad'larr walks up to the pool.
"May I? I believe I have the fastest hands and best reach combined in case the water is dangerous."
If Qina is willing to point out the magical key, Gad will try and grab it as quickly as possible.
Gad reaches out to snag the key and quickly realizes the well is much deeper than it appears.
"I am NOT a swimmer however. Anybody a good swimmer that has not been too drained to do so?"
Qina summons her magical sight again and inspects the key only to realize "this key isn't magical, but there appears to be a magical one in the pool. Why don't you lower me down on a rope?" Almost regretting the idea as soon as she spoke it, Qina couldn't help but flinch after the suggestion. She didn't think the others would take her up on it. They looked at her like most people looked at her, as though she was a child, and no matter how hard she tried not to be, she still was at least some what a child. "I can't swim, but I can sink pretty well and then you'll just have to pull me up, hopefully quickly."
Brezik looks into the water... and laughs...That's allot of keys... maybe we can use them to make the first piece of your plate mail Vivian? Even if the metal isn't high quality enough to make armor of we could use it for ornamentation...
Brezik starts taking off his clothes till he's down to his underwares...
Gad, get your rope out. I'll go down and fill my backpack up with keys... then you and Allister haul it up.
Then he empties out his backpack, ties it to the end of Gad'larr's rope, and starts filling his bedroll with rocks.
I'll use the bedroll as Ballast to pull me down and hang onto the rope as you guys pull it out. This might take a couple tries till we get the right key ... hmm ... one thing first...
Brezik walks up to the fountain and takes a drink of the water to make sure it's not dangerous.
Though a bit stale the water seems to do no harm.
Secretly relieved that she wouldn't be getting wet, and a little grateful that Brezik would be getting a bath, Qina wished the dwarf well before he jumped in. "Be careful Brezik. There could be something else in the water. The magical shield is still in place so that should help. Maybe you should take this dagger with you. You won't be able to swing your hammer too well. Here, take it."
Thankyou Qina. Brezik places the dagger between his teetha nd jumps into the water.
Brezik gets to the bottom of the pool and has no idea which key it was that Qina pointed too so he just keeps filling his backpack with keys till he is either low on breath or his friends start pulling the backpack up.
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Vivian looks at the pool and the thought of going for a swim makes her shiver. 'Ugh, all the rust that would cause..'
Brezik brings up an interesting idea though, "Hmm, Key Plate, I kind of like the ring to that.. since you're fishing them all out we'd might as well use them if they end up being a strong metal."
Vivian then turns around and faces South towards the doors leading out. "While you guys are doing that, I'm going to see what else is going on here."
Gad looks around nearby at Allister and Qina with a wide grin.
"And we thought we'd never get him to take a bath!"
With Brezik acting as a dwarven scuba diver the group very quickly amasses roughly 60 keys and a very wet dwarf. Qina is able to pick out the proper key with no trouble at all.
While everyone else is watching Brezik and making sure nothing suspicious happens Vivian is checking out the room and the doors to the south. She discovers the key she picked up from the room with the Shadow goes to the door on the east. After Qina has picked up the key from the pool it is discovered it opens the door to the west.
With everything that has been happening it is difficult to tell how much time has passed, but Qina feels her spells have roughly a half hour left before their time is up.
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"I'll take the key, but only if Brezik doesn't want it. He swimmed for it, he can use it if he wants. Vivian's mention of door number 1 and the fountain's splashing water sounds make Allister have to wee. He might have already gone number 2 when he saw the shadow. Allister thinks about potty jokes and snickers.
Brezik happily hands over the key to Allister and proceeds to be dressed.
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Standing next to Brezik, Allister can no longer smell his friend. He lifts his own arm and takes a sniff. Brezik smells better than me now. I need a bath.
While Brezik readies himself, Allister looks to Vivian and asks "One at a time, or both?" Once he gets a response and has the key in hand he moves to the first door and prepares to unlock it.
"Time to move." He turns key in the lock and throws open the door (at the same time as whoever opens the second door if that's the decision).
As the others engage in the diving and fetching Belathorian examines the statue light hands feeling the lines, lingering on the break where the head would have been.
this is not damage, this is vandalism... someone doesn't like Kassen... but where's the head... find the head, find the problem?
Seeing Brezik breaking the surface of the pool breaks his reverie. He reaches out to help pull the encumbered dwarf from the water then stops, reminded of his current frailty by the weight.
Just as I am finding myself, I fail.
As the party gather themselves to move on
"Thank you Brezik, Allister, Gad'larr, I would have... but I have not the strength."
He falls in line, a follower once more.
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"One first Allitser, no more surprises would be nice until we get some strength back."
Vivian looks at one of the keys Brezik brought up from the well, turning it over in her hand inspecting the workmanship, weight, and purity of the material.
When Allister starts trying to fit the key into the door, she'll stand up and arm herself with mace and shield. She also casts light onto Allister's Greatsword.
Qina watched patiently while leaning heavily on her spear. She was only carrying her long spear and the small vial she wore on her neck, but they seemed to weigh her down more than she could believe. How could she be so silly. To jump to the front like that and assault some dark shadowy creature of the night. She couldn't help but think about Pressi. Maybe Pressi was right. Maybe she wouldn't survive this journey. Her lips slowly sunk down as she considered never seeing her parents again.
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Just before Allister throws open the door his greatsword begins to glow like a lantern in the darkness and he gasps "A miracle! Wow..." He pauses for a moment and stares with twinkling eyes at the glowing weapon, pride overwhelming him. "Like a star in the night sky. Lightbringer."
"Whatever waits behind this door, just think that we fought the darkness and won. What more have we to fear?" Wow, that was really smart. Almost like Gad'larr's words in my mouth. I must be learning to be smarter.
He is energized by the spell and opens the door with renewed confidence and vigor
stop! We know that whatever is behind those doors is secured and not going anywhere. Why don't we tak a look around upstairs before we unlock the doors?
A small stone bench sits in the center of this dusty chamber. On the far wall is a faded mural depicting the hero Kassen defeating the mercenaries at the entrance to this crypt, with his blade piercing the chest of the mercenary leader. These figures stand alone in the center of a scene of carnage, with dead villagers and mercenaries all around them.
Brezik walks in looking for traps and unusual stonework... As he takes his first step the keys now loaded up into his backpack shift making a funny jingling sound.
The keys while sturdy are made of poor metal and seem to be made of scraps from the town. They can be smelted down for raw materials, but not much of it will be good for creating steel.
Nothing seems to be strange and there are no traps that you can see.
Gad'larr looks closely at the Murals and bench, while speaking off-handedly to Allister.
"Not all adventuring is about killing and taking 'the monster's' stuff Allister. Sometimes it is nice just to
stop and 'smell the roses' from time to time...Fascinating!"
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Allister shrugs, then nods in agreement with Gad'larr. "You're right, Gad. This picture is neat, I guess," he says, lightly running his fingertips over the mural. "Still, I wish there were squirrels down here, or cats. Why are there never animals in crypts?...Hey Gad, do you think Irori is even down here in the crypt?"
Gad continues to speak to Allister without looking at him.
"Irori is here, because I bring him with me wherever I go. My faith in him sustains me and helps lead me
closer to self-perfection, in turn I am a vessel for his will on Golarion. Just as Vivian is for Gorum,
and Bel is for Pharasma. Didn't the Dawnguard teach you to keep Seranrae close to your heart in times of need?
What they won't usually tell you is the gods need us too, in their own way."
Finally looking up at Allister with a smile Gad continues.
"As far as animals in crypts are concerned, then you should see the ones in ancient Osirion. I have heard
there are crypts and tombs filled with the ancient mummified remains of cats and other animals found all over
the desert."
Turning back to the mural Gad's tone changes as he points.
"Vivian? See the amulets there? They are very similar. Could these men have been of the same faith? Or maybe
related by blood? Something is very odd here..."
Belathorian slumps onto the bench. Relieved to get his unfamiliar weight off his feet, he stares up at the tapestry...
"So this is Kassen... does anybody remember anything about the man he's fighting... I thought I heard something once but... Maybe it's nothing"
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Allister thinks for a few moments about what Gad'larr said to him. "Well, the Dawnguard taught me to remember what they taught me in times of need. The Dawnguard doesn't favor one god over another, as long as they're not evil. My parents, now they were the ones who taught me to worship Seranrae, so I always did" He pauses, sounding distraught or saddened as if he has been forgotten. "I don't know, I just never saw Sarenrae, never heard her voice - how do I even know she is real? I have seen the Dawnguard, the good they do in this world. I have seen other people pray to their gods and make magical things happen, but not me. Not yet." After his thoughtful rambling, Allister realizes he has been talking to the mural while the others in the room are going on about their business.
He moves to the center of the room and sits on the small stone bench. "I would love to meet Sarenrae one day. I hear she's a beautiful fire angel."
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"He's fighting a mercenary leader," She touches the two amulets in the mural, "..I could see for a riddles sake that these are considered 'shields'."
Vivian puts her fingers together to form a triangle and looks at the mural through it. Her hands glow and turn the triangle space into a magical lens. She casts detect magic on the mural.
If nothing happens when she touches them, "Let's check the other room, we might be missing a piece of the puzzle still."
All that changed when Asar Vergas came to Kassen’s Hold with a host of mercenaries under his command. Asar was an old companion of Ekat, and the two had traveled together for some time before splitting up just after Ekat’s last adventure. Over the years, Asar became sure that Ekat had cheated him after that adventure. Promising great wealth to his mercenaries, Asar raided the town relentlessly for 2 months. Finally, the townsfolk managed to locate Asar’s camp in an ancient crypt deep in the forest, and Ekat himself went out to deal with his old companion. The battle was terribly bloody, with only a few townsfolk coming back to tell the tale. In the end, Asar was slain and his mercenaries scattered, but Ekat suffered a mortal wound. He died 2 days later, on the 11th day of Neth, 4535. In honor of their beloved founder, the townsfolk buried Kassen in the ancient crypt, interring his bones in a place of honor, above the simple sarcophagi used to inter Asar, his mercenaries, and the townsfolk that lost their lives in the bitter struggle. They placed an eternal flame above Kassen’s final resting place, so that all who visited might find warmth in the wilderness.
The mural does not glow with magical light in Vivian's eyes.
Looking at Alister again Gad replies, but carefully.
"As I'm sure that Bel will tell you, that as long as you keep that wish in your mind, Pharasma will
make sure you meet her one day. That's part of her whole reason for being. Nor is Seranrae a goddess
that shirks her duties to her faithful."
Looking at Bel and Vivian, Gad'larr nods.
"That makes sense Bel. They were adventuring buddies originally. Yes let's move on from here."
Brezik steps to the back of the room so he can see the entire mural at once... He tilts his head and strokes his shoulder as if he is judging the quality of the work.
You know, Seems like a dumb idea to keep something like that down here. The only time anyone see's the thing is when ever someone has to come get the flame. Would make more sense to have something like that in town.
With that Brezik shrugs and continues on down the hall in the careful, and cautious manner that seems to have become characteristic of the dwarf.
Qina pulls a firefly out of her pouch and squishes in between her fingers as she mutters a few words. He reaches out and rubs the remains on Allister's sword and draws a tiny sun on the blade. "There. Now you can have some light again."