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Try placing a writing instrument into one of the hand. Lichen recommends.
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The room is obviously a chapel. It's filled with 3'x3' prayer plinths carved from the living stone of the mountain. The faint sound of rattling chains leads you to the center of the room where a dozen skulls made from ice hang from 10' chains dangling from the ceiling. As you investigate, a drop of water drips from one to land with a plop on the stone floor.
Opposite the entrance is a great altar shaped like a fanged skull. A bowl sits on the altar. To mount the altar or look into the bowl, you need to walk into the skull’s mouth.
On the wall north of the altar is an organ whose keys are fingerbones and whose pipes are made from the thighbones of some enormous animal. The ends of the pipes are stained like a dying animal’s teeth.
On the wall south of the altar is a bronze door flanked by two basins built into the walls filled with blackened water.
There is a simpler stone door in the north wall of the chapel.
THere are also several murals on the walls. One wall mural depicts a man in a crown and cape from behind, with many demons bowing before him: the Bloated Goat, The Empress of All Widows, The Primordial Demogorgon, the Ringwolf, etc.
Another wall murals depict unimaginable violations—one shows hundreds of women hanged from a single spreading tree, another shows hundreds of men impaled on leaning pikes. It has an inscription in the now familiar alien tongue of this place.
Another mural depicts a man stabbed with nine swords being dropped
into an hourglass.
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Zask walks the room, his lantern held high to illuminate the scenes in front of him,
"Such remarkable atrocities committed and documented here. Probably better if they were forgotton."
He eyes one a bit more closely,
"Vhaezil do you have any knowledge on these events?
Zask being.. well Zask sits at the organ and attempts to play a small portion of a ballad he remembers from childhood, The Last Stand of Smallhand.
Vhaezil's baleful gaze burns with intensity as he takes in the fell surroundings and the inscriptions.
He points to the sigils;
"It reads thus: “Name them yet build to them no monument”. The second inscription reads: “He is made holy, an eater of souls”... these Duvan'Ku were truly blackhearted..."
The infernal sage ponders the words, attempting to drown out the clumsy playing by dredging though that which he has learned about the Duvan'Ku thusfar.
:
As Zask begins to play the organ, several thing occur. 1. There is a clink and clatter, as something is dislodged from the organs inner workings and falls to floor beneath it. 2. Sickly yellow spores shoot out of the pipes to dust the immediate area. 3. You feel a slight tremor rumble through the room. 4. Everyone feels a bit dizzy.
Anyone looking under the organ will see a carved onyx bowl and jeweled necklace resting there.
Everyone's reaction to Zask :)
Vhaezil steadies himself, blinking several times, as if awaking from a malaise or dream.
"An accursed vision visited upon me, not one of the Nine Hells, but of torture and death most foul... perhaps in these very halls. It was a fate I do not wish to enact..."
As he speaks the scribe absentmindedly rubs the side of his head, before checking his glove afterword.
Zask blinks away the vision and stumbles away from the organ coughing as the spores invade his airway.
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Fool of a monk! Do not touch anything in this place. But what is this? You seem to have dislodged some things, which I will retrieve as soon as that strange colored dust settles. Are you all right man?
Turning to Vhaezil he adds I too had a vision of my own icy death...
Dolgrin finds himself spitting as if strands of hair or something else is caught about his face, while rolling his shoulders and shuffling his feet about to make sure feeling has returned to his extremities.
"Bah, I hate spiders, don't ye be playin nuther tune on that organ Zask, one death tonight is 'nuf." the dwarf grumbles
Coughing Zask shakes off the vision and the dust,
"Just a bit of dust and a little day dreaming, all this reading and timidness is getting us no where! Look see, played the fabled tune of the Halfing's and look what it's got us now, a shiny necklace and a bowl!"
Zask scoops up the necklace and the bowl and stows them in his backpack.
"So what which way should we take a look at now? Even I'm a bit cautious about walking into that big mouth over there, so which door will it be.. the shiny one, or the simple one?"
The news that Lichen too shared a vision of his death gives the infernal scrivener a momentary pause of thought;
"Visions? Auguries? Or merely mind-games devised to play off fears.. I wonder..."
As Zask scoops up the spoils, Vhaezil urges caution;
"Ware such tomb robbing Master Quickhand. The Chronicles of noted archaeologist Ser Josef Whemple provided gruesome accounts of the ill-fates suffered by those who plundered the fabled mausoleum of Ihm-Ho-Tepp."
The warlock then mulls his own words;
"However if you are damned from being added to the Liber Ex Mortuis, then you may have little to fear."
Dolgrin approaches Zask, "You were quick to deposit the items in your pouch, perhaps they might lend some relevance to this chapel of woes."
Dolgrin will search for any clues that might be found on the items,the depictions on the walls bring involuntary chills to his neck and arms like someone walked over his grave.
"Vhaezil, what can you make of the tapestries, what did this foul place have to do with our lost clanhold?"
Vhaezil nods at Dolgrin's request and gestures toward the first mural;
"I would surmise that this depicts the sacrifices carried out in the name of the Duvan'Ku and their demonic overlords. The inscription stating "Name them yet build to them no monument" would likely refer to our book of denominations."
The sage casts his infernal gaze fleetingly toward Zask, then points toward the second inscription and its accompanying depictions;
"I believe these fell scenes depict a ritualistic transformation, but of what nature I do know. Its content is alien to my scope of vast knowledge. However the wording " He is made holy, an eater of souls” suggests an ill fate for those changed, and in turn those they encounter..."
At the dwarf's final question, the infernal sage pauses, weighing his words;
"We should check the tome for reference to your clanhold kin. Ancestral names and the like. It may be they were... remade in whatever warped form the Duvan'Ku ordained. Another possibility is that these invaders sought raw material... footsoldiers for their armies - the same armies that your kin defeated... and we now stand in the halls where those armies were constructed."
Vhaezil eyes the two doors, then the alter itself.
"We should select a door, and before pressing on, decide if the alter should be investigated fully..."
"Aye we should check the alter before leaving this chapel of death, to have come here in search of answers and question that might need them. It would be foolish to not investigate that which we can see."
Dolgrin moves towards the altar, taking care to not disturb anything unnecessarily.
Dolgrin carefully enters the skull to investigate the alter. Though unnerving, nothing ill befalls him. On top of the alter, resting inside a carved stone bowl, is a jeweled hooked knife and a ruby pendant necklace.
Studying the contents of the stone bowl, Dolgrin describes what he has found to Vhaezil .... "Does that match anything within the tapestries?"
Looking at the items Dolgrin reaches within sure that the knife has likely drunk more life blood than he'd ever care to know, he picks up the pendant to study it more closely.
When Dolgrin picks up the necklace, a sound like to tolling of a bell deep within the earth rings through the room and a tremor rumbles the ground beneath your feet. The dripping ice skulls sway on their chains and one falls to the ground where is shatters with a wet splat.
"Hmmm, that can't be good." Dolgrin states as the skull comes down in a wet splat.
Vhaezil comments in his monotone;
"A fell portent indeed. It would be prudent to proceed under the common perception that any denizens of this place are aware of our presence..."
The infernal scrivener gestures toward the stone and bronze doors;
"Are any of you gentlemen of keen enough hearing to discern what, if anything living, lies beyond either portal?"
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Looking quite unhappy about it Lichen steps up to listen at each portal.
"Nice work" Dolgrin says as he studies the necklace, pocketing it he reaches back in to retrieve the knife. "No sense leaving this behind for further use."
if needed
Lichen doesn't hear anything coming from either door. The door to the north is plain and unadorned. The door in the eastern wall is made of bronze and ornately carved. It does not have an obvious door knob. Beside it are two offering basins carved into the wall. Now that you are closer, you can see that both are filled with oily black water that prevents you from seeing their bottoms.
When Dolgrin removes the dagger, a sound like to tolling of a bell deep within the earth rings through the room and a tremor rumbles the ground beneath your feet. The dripping ice skulls sway on their chains and another one falls to the ground where is shatters with a wet splat. A wave of dizziness washes over Dolgrin and a sense of dread suffuses his very soul.
Do those bowls want blood? Lichen asks with loathing at them and then back again at the blade. Lets try this plain wooden door first. he recommends.
As the ice skull falls and portents of doom echo throughout, Vhaezil's infernal eyes burn intensely as he too gazes at the oily watered bowls;
"Truly a fell place... They may well indeed Master Wanderer..."
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"Well I'm not supplying any, irregardless of how lousy I feel right now. Besides Zask was the one daring to try everything." The war priest says waggling the dagger Zask's way with a grin before sliding it in his belt, for safe keeping.
Moving over behind Lichen Dolgrin peers into the water before speaking "expurgo"
The lady Florence has taken aim at our lovely state and a looks to be ready to do a bit of house cleaning, I'll likely be absent a good bit as the power restoration efforts begin in about 36-48 hrs
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The water in the basins clears, revealing what lies beneath. Both basins are full of teeth, each with a single rune carved on it. In the left basin there is also a gold chain with a small, walnut-sized hinged box on it.
Vhaezil reaches into the left basin, retrieving a handful of the teeth. He examines one after another intently;
:
"The rune inscribed says: Gift... As for who the owners were..."
lichen places a hand over his mouth absently as he looks on. What of the gold chain and box?
Vhaezil eyes the teeth like a jeweler valuing a gem;
"Most sentient races. Teeth of both adult and childe are present..."
At Lichen's question, the sage snaps from his thoughts and replaces the teeth back into the bowl. He then reaches for one of his daggers bearing sigil infernal and uses it to fish out the chain and box...
Zask laughs at Dolgrin's accusation.
"daring or dumb, not sure if i know the difference some times."
Watching his companions take their fair share of daring he is content to observe.
"Shall we venture deeper into the vault?"
"In for a ounce, in for a pound da would say, let's go to the right"
Dolgrin offers repressing a cold chill as it courses across his shoulders, while readying shield and hammer.
Vhaezil opens the small trinket box, displaying its contents to his companions should any wish to examine the item more closely;
"A portrait. its subject is the same one impaled upon the nine swords within the mural..."
The sage mulls its subject matter;
"Would seem this one is treated differently. Nine blades and an hourglass. My personal conjecture would be he has been transformed, and time will allow him to rise again. If I am correct, we should ware... for he may await the curious and foolhardy."
At Zask and Dolgrin's interchange, the infernal scrivener merely shrugs his shoulders;
"Without a lock or key we may require to provide a "gift" to open the portal. Can anyone see how these doors may operate?"
Vhaezil holds. hoping for some interjection from his companions.
When there is none he recovers a small item from his pack; a warped cube of scorched and pitted wood which he displays to the others;
"This is a charred remnant of the Great Library of Carinthia, raised by the Imperials and the catalyst for my... rebirth..."
He walks to the "offering" bowl situated before the bronze doors;
"Memorati memoriam meam praeteritam aperire ostium vetiti"
"A relic of my past to open a door forbidden."
The infernal sage drops the cube into the bowl...
[b]I am betting it only wants blood. We will see. [/ooc]
Vhaezil waits impassively to see if his gift is accepted or not...
"Perhaps Master Wanderer. However the box and chain trinket was a material offering not of blood. We shall see..."
"Perhaps we should just beat the door down, if it doesn't take your offering. Don't think we should offer this house of horrors any additional blood willingly."
Dolgrin offers from his position ready for the door to open.
Nothing happens when Vhaezil drops his doodad into the basin.
If Vhaezil is disappointed he does not show it. Recovering his cube of charred wood he nods toward the plainer of the two doors;
"Unless we wish to practice tooth extraction I would surmise we move onward through the other portal... This one remains shut to us... for now."
The infernal scrivener pockets his keepsake and moves toward the plain door, gesturing to Dolgrin to take the lead;
Age before youth eh Master Shieldarm?"
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I've no spare teeth or desire to offer to whatever power is represented here.
The door to the north opens with the faint rasp of stone against stone. Beyond it is a long hallway that ends in another door. Three other doors line the right side of the corridor, while two more are inset in the left side.
Dolgrin advances to the first doorway and tries the door, unsure as to what atrocities he'll find behind it.
Just how big is this bloody place? Lichen complains as he follows the dwarf.