"Good finkin' , mate."
Midnight - Pharast 26th, 4708
Midnight. The surgery hall seems like a sensible place to stop and rest.
Ryor makes an improvised trap that will wake everyone up if more scorpions come in through the hole. Watches are designated, a few candles found in the supply room are lit around the entrances to the surgery, and some musty blankets made into temporary beds.
The Deceiver spends a quiet moment praying to his deity.
My vote for further exploration would be to clear this whole level out before heading to another, we may find something of interest that could help us in the crypts or any possible upper levels.
The Deceiver spends a quiet moment praying to his deity.
As does Pulsifer. Not that anything happens, but still...
The Deceiver spends a quiet moment praying to his deity.As does Pulsifer. Not that anything happens, but still...
The Deceiver spends a quiet moment praying to his deity.As does Pulsifer. Not that anything happens, but still...
"We came here to investigate the temple, didn't we? So I say we search the whole complex when everyone is rested."
Except for the odd whisper of dry desert air caressing the sand in the scorpion hole your watches pass with all the stillness of nighted catacombs. Dreams of distant friends, vain corsairs, and corrupted beasts gnaw at your sleep like crypt-rats on the bones of the dead.
Morning – Pharast 26th, 4708
By morning everyone is well rested. Prayers are spoken, spells replenished, blades cleaned and sharpened… harnesses donned. To the north, a crypt awaits. To the east, the stilled body of Calebra has cooled in the night air. Two doors remain unexplored at the northern end of the main chamber.
There are stairs to the north leading. Let's go see where they lead.
let's see what's in the crypts
that'd be the eastern temple entrance labled "dead bodies"
The crypts are the stairs north. I mentioned earlier the smell of dry death emanating from the stairs down - so it's not really a secret what's down there.
After everyone finishes their morning rations Jon and Cordoba stand and announce that they are going to go see what's down the stairs.
Wetsands chatters as the Bhuka and they position themselves in the doorway between the surgery and the infirmary.
"They stand guard."
Jon heads down the stairs first walking slow and being careful.
The Deceiver follows closely behind Jon.
Rackham follows Cordoba, staff held before him.
Might as well have some light.
"The Lord Aroden said 'Let there be light'..."
Rackham's staff begins to glow with a soft, orange-red light.
"Flippin' 'eck, yer all bleedin' wizards! Dun't 'old wiv it meself. Just a simple salt, me."
The stairs bring you down about 50 or 60 feet below the main level of the temple into an antechamber. It is approximately 40 feet square, another ornately carved archway with stairs leading farther down faces the entry you have just come in. The center of the room is a huge stone table with a vent or chimney above it - you can feel the air being drawn out. Beside it is a massive stone urn. The walls are tiered to hold rows of candles, now exhausted.
The dust on the floor is all pushed to the edges of the wall by the traffic of some kind of creature, perhaps the scorpions you fought in the surgery.
<Sniff, sniff.>
"The dead."
<Sniff, sniff.>
"Scorpions."
I have plenty of light to give, tell me of what you need lightened.
Jon searches the antechamber carefully.
Perception (1d20+6=22)
Jon picks through some of the candles on the ledges near the floor.
Jon (or any DC 15 perception for a careful but quick look around the room):
There is another stairway. Shall we continue further down into the lightless bowels of Golarion?
Onwards into the great unknown.
From back in the surgery chamber Bohdan calls down the stairs.
"Have you found anything of interest down there? Should we all come down or is it just a dead end?"
Everyone's muscles ache from the previous day's climb.
Jon carefully steps down another stair.
Perception (1d20+6=15)
Everyone's muscles ache from the previous day's climb.
The Crypt
Jon carefully steps down another stair.
The stairwell below gapes darkly. The mustiness of the dead mixes with a strange odor you don't recognize.
Everything is still and quiet. Shortly the stairs end - some kind of large chamber opens before you but you can't see very far within.
The chamber seems to have two levels, with stairs to the lower level resuming about ten feet in front of you. You can see large stone urns to your right and left, lined up along angled walls.
Presumably this is when the dead were interred, inside the large jars.
View from the bottom of the stairs in the crypt chamber.
Jon, Pulsifer, Cordoba, Aref:
Bohdan, Syd:
Ryor:
Perception rolls will elicit further description.
You hear a barely audible almost soft clicking sound.
Ryor says he can see the other side of the room. It's hexagonal like the main chamber.
Jon carefully searches the chamber and looks for the source of the sound.
Perception (1d20+6=20)
The Deceiver tries to get a clearer view.
Jon circles the hexagonal chamber to the right, and Cordoba to the left. The walls are lined with stone urns all the way around the chamber.
Cordoba walks to the edge of the hexagonal depression in the middles of the chamber finding more of the huge jars below.
As Jon passes the first of the urns on the right he finds slightly translucent orange eggs piles around them... hundreds of eggs the size of a man's fist.
A loud chattering noise erupts from the far side of the chamber.
Round 1
Jon spots something large, dark and low to the ground moving to this north of his position and hisses at the others. Cordoba and Pulsifer can also see it moving in the shadows, toward Jon.
INIT RANK:
23 The Deceiver: Init +7 (DEX 16)
20 Ryor Saar'Narlok: Init +4 (DEX 18)
19 Aref Sami Sharokh: Init +3 (DEX 16)
19 Wetsands: Init +3 (DEX 16)
18 Sydley Hentooth: Init +2 (DEX 14)
17 Rackham Pulsifer: Init +1 (DEX 13)
17 Jon Qiang: Init +1 (DEX 12)
16 Bohdan: Init +0 (DEX 10)
10 Giant Scorpion
Cordoba and Pulsifer are moving toward the middle to size up the room, and just as the chattering sound erupts, Pulsifer notices the eggs on the lower level as well. Something tiny skitters away into the shadows near the eggs.
Cordoba, Ryor, and Jon too notice tiny creatures taking action in the shadows as if motivated by the noise.
Rackham yells back to his comrades in the hallway.
"GIANT SCORPION!"
"Behind the pillars and use them for cover! Prepare to flank that monster!"