You've rebelled against your master, Cardinal Adrastus Thorn. Can you kill him before he kills you? Who will lead the forces of Asmodeus in their final assault on the noble kingdom of Talingarde?
1) The Con damage can be cured by restoration, but it happens again every day -- and the aging damage can't be cured. You'll be dead in a couple of months.
2) Is there any way out? Dungeoneering for dragons and their ways.
3) One does not just automatically turn into a graveknight, alas.
What, like the immense pile of treasure that's just lying around?
Seriously. The copper dragon had most of his stuff neatly filed away, but this guy? Traditional. He shoved most of it into a bigass pile, and slept on it.
"Yes, I must have ate something bad earlier. The knight places his hand on his mace and says something under his breath. The handle begins to glow a dark red without much light, the color of old blood.
Edmin finishes the task of removing the dragons head and drags it awya from the body.
"We must assume that Thorn will know we have his...item once we disturb it. Find it and prepare to leave this area before we take it.
good question. Dm I knew about the curse when we started, I assume I know how to remove it? Remove curse? Break enchantment?
Ulp only:
Ha ha no. We're talking wish or miracle maybe.
Here's another Dungeoneering roll: 1d20 ⇒ 12 Some legends claim there are other ways, but (1) they vary with each linnorm, and (2) they usually involve something super obscure and/or insanely difficult. Throw-the-Ring-in-the-volcano type stuff.
This room, at the center of the cairn, is a massive dome -- over a hundred feet across and almost ninety feet high. It is rank with the foul, cold smell of ancient dragon. A faint breeze stirs the air. There is no light source here, so those of you without darkvision will need one.
In the center of the room is a massive obelisk, three feet across at its square base and about forty feet high. It might have been higher once, but its top seems to have been broken off. There are glyphs or carvings of some sort on it.
Piled around the base of the obelisk is a vast, sloppy mass of treasure -- coins, silver ingots, gold nuggets. Three battered and damaged looking wooden chests poke out of the mass, and a small iron box sits on top of it. A larger, oblong wooden box is half buried. Also mixed with the treasure are a number of other items, including a long wooden staff and several suits of armor.
A little off to one corner is a small stand or pedestal. Something small and greyish-white seems to be floating above it in the darkness.
A great many bones lie mingled with the treasure. None are intact skeletons, and most have been crushed and broken.
The Judge raises his hand to stop the others:
Let me see if there are any more traps here. Although, considering it was a dragon, I am sure that he believed his mere presence would be enough to ward against any interlopers.
With that, the Judge will move toward the pile, casting Detect Magic and carefully scanning the area for anything of note.
1) Everyone else wait while the judge carefully picks his way around the treasure pile, stopping from time to time to peer carefully at various items. I assume you all watch the Judge carefully while he does this. I'll PM him with whatever he finds.
2) Go to one or more items and check them out yourself. Again, I'll PM you.
3) Do something else.
N.B., I assume that Jax has already thrown himself onto the treasure pile and is trying to swim in it like Scrooge McDuck. He can still pick one of the above options, though.
Edmin walks in the air around the room making sure he does not disturb anything but watches the others. "Remember our mission gentlemen. We may have to extract from this location quickly. Find what we are here for first. The rest can be played with later."
Okay, well... Jax strolls over to the floating thing.
It's a stone pedestal. On top of it sits a crystalline vessel, a tall dome with a metal base. It's about two feet high. Inside the vessel is a skull. The skull seems to be somehow floating in midair, about a foot above the base.
The skull looks very old but is still intact. Several of its teeth have been replaced by what appear to be enormous, perfect diamonds. Two even bigger diamonds have been emplaced in its eyesockets.
Below the skull, lying on the metal base of the vessel inside the crystal dome, is a small flat golden casket about the size of a man's hand.
Affixed to the base of the vessel is a metal sign. It has the symbol for "Magical Hazard" on one side, and the symbol for "Necrohazard" on the other. In between, there are engravings in several different scripts and languages. All of them say the same thing:
DANGER - DO NOT DISTURB
This vessel contains an extremely dangerous evil spirit. Do not attempt to communicate with it! Touching, moving or otherwise interfering with the containment vessel is a crime punishable by life imprisonment and a fine of up to ten thousand golden crowns. If found, report immediately to the nearest official of the Holy Mitran Church.
[signed] Samuel Havelyn, Bishop <-- A large and elaborate Mitran seal is stamped over the signature.
Undead, meh. The black sword's humming voice is faint and disinterested. Not really in the mood. It's like, cold fish? Iced coffee? Like that. Fine as an occasional thing.
The Judge also tried several detect magic/knowledge arcana on the skull/floaty thing.
Spellcraft was 35, Knowledge(arcana) was 28. All other rolls are a few posts up.
The Judge looks at the rest of the party.
I have all the time in the world. If you all want to get yourselves cursed and killed, keep playing with dangerous stuff. If you want me to test things out first, let me know.
The Judge really does not care one way or the other. Admittedly, even in his cold undead heart he has a smidgeon of feeling for those with whom he has spent much of the last few years. But, if they are too foolish to stay out of trouble, he is not going to keep them from killing themselves.
"..well then I'll leave you two to figure out what it is."
Jax goes off in search of something he feels more comfortable touching. Like that iron box.
Good call, probably, murmurs the black sword. You'd probably have to smash the crystal anyways, and that's tool work. Let Strong Silent Type and Captain Cranky sort it out. That last is one of several nicknames Brink has for Edmin and his axe, or rather for the axe and Edmin. (Brink seems to think the axe is another talking weapon who for some reason refuses to ever actually talk.)
So what now? Find any magics? I see treasures. Lots of treasures. Ulp licks his chops and his tail lashes back and forth as he gathers various gems, though he knows they will be taking most of it eventually.
basically ulp can't detect magic so he will wait until he is asked to do something. He can help ID things, just can't detect it.
The Judge also tried several detect magic/knowledge arcana on the skull/floaty thing.
Spellcraft was 35, Knowledge(arcana) was 28. All other rolls are a few posts up.
Whoa! There's some serious abjuration magic on that thing. Near artifact level.
Arcana: there's a cycle of gruesome legends that involve a floating skull-thingy described as looking just like that. However, these particular legends seem to be just that: scary stories that adventurers tell each other. Like, giant green devil faces whose mouths are spheres of annihilation? That sort of thing.
Male Human Oracle (FC) 15 Init: +8 Perc: +0 AC:24/14/20 F:+13 R:+14 W:+15 HP:124/124 Freedom of movement, Resist Cold/30, Air Walk 30'
Dren's eyes turn black as he sits and begins a ritual to talk to the Havero...their otherworldy knowledge is beyond the others and may prove helpful in finding out more about what is here.
Read the Tapestry (Sp): Once per day, you can spend 10 minutes meditating on the mysteries of the Dark Tapestry to send your mind to another plane and communicate with the strange or alien beings there. This functions as the contact other plane spell.
HP 169/169; AC:37/21/29; Saves: +22/+23/+20; Init +10; Per +28(See Invisibility), CMD 42
Misc:
Effects: Resist Cold 30, Fly 30', Telepathic Bond
Appraise! Jax rocks at that! Appraise:1d20 + 25 ⇒ (20) + 25 = 45 ..NOW he rolls the f~@@ing twenty.
"Yeah, while all four of them stand around and stare at the glory of the jeweled skull, let's get something worth looting, eh? Maybe I'll buy you a shiny new scabbard. Maybe we'll make it intelligent to give you something to talk to....you realize Edmin's axe lacks your intelligence, what you have of it anyway, right?"
Woo! It's been a while since Jax had to quickly guesstimate treasure value from bulk, but here's what you see in terms of non-magical treasure.
-- More than two tons of hacksilver plundered from countless peoples of the north. Value: 20,000 gp, perhaps a bit more.
-- Those three wooden chests? Upon examination, they're not locked or even closed all the way. They are piled haphazardly with coin and ingots from dozens of different nations. The metal here is a mix of copper, silver, electrum, gold and platinum worth at least 18,000 gp. However, Jax's keen eyes catch that there are also a bare handful of rare adamantine coins tossed into the mix. Separating these out would add another few thousand gp to the value of the hoard.
-- There are several rotting sacks full of amber from the northern fjords. There are hundreds of pounds of the stuff, in every
grade from the poorest stone to translucent jewels. Estimated value: around 14,000 gp. Jax, you notice one particularly
fine piece of amber with an entire dragonfly delicately preserved within. Someone has carefully engraved the word "friendship" on it in flowing elven script.
-- There are over fifty different non-magical works of craftsmanship and art here: large, crude goblets of hammered gold, massive collars and armbands inset with semi-precious stones, golden belts and girdles, and the like. Rough estimate, about a hundred pounds of stuff with a total value around 8,500 gp.
-- Several non-magical but masterwork weapons and sets of armor, some of them with lovely decorations or engraving. Total value about 2,500.
-- As noted above, mixed in with all the loot are the scattered bones of several dozen would-be dragon slayers. One of the corpses still wears a jewelled crown of hammered gold set with crudely cut but splendid emeralds.
It will take about a dozen man-hours of sorting and examination to get a close appraisal of the total value of the non-magical treasure; the above is rounded to the nearest thousand or so.
-- The aforementioned bit of amber with the dragonfly in it.
-- A somewhat heavy and crude-looking two-handed sword.
-- An intact suit of plate mail. Pieces of the former owner are still inside.
-- The rod that protruded from the mass, mentioned above. (It's a fine walking stick made of polished and lacquered oak burl adorned with a particularly sizeable reindeer antler made into the handle.) It radiates strong conjuration and transmutation.
-- A great golden mead cup adorned with scenes of warriors marching grimly into battle against an inlaid dragon that gnaws upon the roots of a tree so great that worlds hang in its branches. Moderate enchantment.
-- A finely made leather quiver stamped with draconic motifs and elegant knotwork. The tightly capped quiver holds twelve black arrows with heads of fine dwarven make. The quiver is non-magical (its 300 gp value is included in the "masterwork weapons and armor" above), but the arrows radiate faint necromancy.
-- A very ragged looking suit of chain mail. Though not masterwork, and apparently damaged, it radiates faint abjuration.
-- A bright red stone on a golden chain. (Moderate conjuration.)
-- A magnificent cloak of resplendent silk! It is gorgeous. It's reversible, with one side a deep black and the other a rich burgundy adorned with fine mithral brocade. Sewn into the lining of the cloak is a tag that reads “The Mantle of Maximillian Zartha, called by some The Magnificent. Please return or at least use with panache.” It radiates abjuration and transmutation.
-- The crystal vessel that contains the floating skull. As noted, it has powerful abjuration magic. The gems on the skull inside -- if they're real -- would be worth tens of thousands of gold pieces. The eye gems, in particular, are so huge it might be hard to find a buyer. The crystal vessel itself would be worth at least 500 gp intact, just for the craftsmanship. It weighs about 100 lbs.
-- The long wooden box that sticks up out of the mass of gold. It looks like a massive, heavy wardrobe, with two doors, made of heavy oak with bronze hinges. A coat of arms are carefully carved onto the doors: a hand holding a flower, pushing through a hedge of thorns. It is locked and also appears to be nailed shut. It weighs about 250 lbs.
-- A small iron box, about 2 x 1.5 feet. It has a very complex looking lock on it. It weighs 30 lbs.
-- A metal flask with a stopper. The stopper is screwed or jammed in pretty hard; casual pulling or turning does nothing. The flask is small and does not radiate magic, but it's oddly heavy for its size -- 10 lbs.
-- The aforementioned bit of amber with the dragonfly in it.
-- A somewhat heavy and crude-looking two-handed sword.
-- An intact suit of plate mail. Pieces of the former owner are still inside.
-- The rod that protruded from the mass, mentioned above. (It's a fine walking stick made of polished and lacquered oak burl adorned with a particularly sizeable reindeer antler made into the handle.) It radiates strong conjuration and transmutation.
-- A great golden mead cup adorned with scenes of warriors marching grimly into battle against an inlaid dragon that gnaws upon the roots of a tree so great that worlds hang in its branches. Moderate enchantment.
-- A finely made leather quiver stamped with draconic motifs and elegant knotwork. The tightly capped quiver holds twelve black arrows with heads of fine dwarven make. The quiver is non-magical (its 300 gp value is included in the "masterwork weapons and armor" above), but the arrows radiate faint necromancy.
-- A very ragged looking suit of chain mail. Though not masterwork, and apparently damaged, it radiates faint abjuration.
-- A bright red stone on a golden chain. (Moderate conjuration.)
-- A magnificent cloak of resplendent silk! It is gorgeous. It's reversible, with one side a deep black and the other a rich burgundy adorned with fine mithral brocade. Sewn into the lining of the cloak is a tag that reads “The Mantle of Maximillian Zartha, called by some The Magnificent. Please return or at least use with panache.” It radiates abjuration and transmutation.
Edmin stands above the others and watches. "We should catalog any magical items for future use. Has anyone observed anything that may remotely resemble what we are looming for? We should have our minions gather what waluables are left. Conquest is not just fueled by determination but gold also."
