Malik follows Braydir into the room and kneels next to the skeleton. "So it seems this place did not have a happy ending."
"Well what with the Plague of Madness falling upon the city, there were many unhappy endings," Khere said to Malik as he carefully wrapped the skeleton's bones, asking Anubis to forgive him for carrying the remains of these poor souls in such a fashion, but his means and supplies to carry them in a more dignified matter were extremely limited.
"I support your desire to lay them to rest, Khere, but they have lain for years in relative peace. Can they not wait a few minutes longer?"
"Or we could bury them now, no? We are in no particular hurry. I would hate for you being weighed down to result in injury that could otherwise be avoided."
Khere thought for a moment and sighed.
"You have a point. Once we have cleansed this place of evil we can come back here and take these poor souls to be laid to rest in the family crypt," he said agreeing with Jeggare.
Khere, you notice that the northwest table is in reasonable shape, and would be a good place to leave a skeleton until you can come back for it, in more honor than under a table.
Jeggare heads south.
Khere places the skeletons on the table laying them in a more dignified fashion they were originally.
He then followed Jeggare south.
The three rooms to the south, in order, are:
A small household shrine to Abadar, Pharasma, and Sarenrae. It has been defiled by someone, but looks quite easy to clean up.
A privy.
A bath. It has a large tiled pool in the center, and murals of river life on the walls. The pool now contains quite a bit of sand.
Jeggare takes a look around the shrine.
"I guess they felt they were abandoned by the gods?"
Hajar looks around from his position,
" It is possible, the Madness made everything chaos. If the defiling was more permanent I might think your theory correct, my comrade. "
Inspecting the Bath and Shrine
The dwarf slowly moves about, examining each area slowly as long as their is no imminent threat.
"I guess they felt they were abandoned by the gods?"
Braydir shoots him a look, "If they were then they deserved it. Tha Gods do nae desert ye unless ye have given them cause ta do so!"
The murals give an interesting view of life at the time just before the plague of madness, and if Malik is still chronicalling your journey, Braydir's examination helps Malik.
The desecration of the chapel looks recent, sometime in the past few years.
"I guess they felt they were abandoned by the gods?"Braydir shoots him a look, "If they were then they deserved it. Tha Gods do nae desert ye unless ye have given them cause ta do so!"
"Do the gods interfere every time you ask? Even as a priest, you do not have all the power of your god on tap. These people even less so."
"Non-interference looks much the same as abandonment to those who have never known different."
"Odd. Is it just me or does this chapel's desecration seem...recent? Like in the past few years recent? Strange... I suggest we all stay vigilant; no telling what foul things have moved in this home."
He then answered Jeggare's question, "Sometimes the gods work in mysterious ways. For me, I was given a second chance. I could have become a tomb robber in order to save my mother from a terrible illness, but the god Anubis forgave me and healed my mother. To atone for my sin of robbing a shrine of his, I was charged with becoming one of his paladins. But that is true: we don't always have the full power of the gods at our disposal, but with time and experience, we can be blessed with much power if we have faith in the gods. Even after the old ways were mostly forgotten, the gods of ancient days still exist and bless the people of Osirion."
Malik spends some time with Braydir going over the murals. "It's odd to see how life was both so different and so similar."
The dwarf seems nonplussed by Jeggare's response but decides now is not an appropriate time to cause a scene, making a note to comment on this later.
Once Malik has finished his chronicling of the murals he leads the party towards the granary and studies the area closely once there.
Morharis does not find any traps in this area.
You find yourself in a small dining room. Although the furniture is falling apart, you can tell that it was not richly furnished, suggesting that servants and guards ate here, instead of the family.
To the left you get a glimpse of another dining room, and to the south you see sunlight in a courtyard or garden.
Malik heads for the dining room first, giving someone more skilled at finding traps a chance to get ahead of him.
Braydir examines the other dining room, to see if it looks different than the servants room. Once there he assists Malik in inspecting it.
Jeggare is more curious about the garden, but follows after Malik so they're not spread out too much.
"Things have been very calm recently. I don't trust it."
"It's almost as if there is danger just lurking behind the next corner. Or my imagination. Either way." Morharis jokes as he examines the area very finely without leaving a hint of detail out.
Morharis leads the team into the larger dining room, looking for traps as he goes.
An enormous stone table, the marble top polished and smooth, runs parallel to the west wall of this large room. A much smaller stone table stands in the east side of the room. Splintered piles of dust and wood lie in the corners and along the walls—the only remains of chairs after untold years. A strong, fetid stench pervades the room. An open, sand-filled hallway lies to the south, while an open doorway leads east. On the main table are six tarnished silver dinner plates. On each plate is a tarnished silver goblet, and sitting on top of each goblet is a severed human head. As Morharis enters the room, the heads rise from the goblets, preparing to attack.
Morharis
Braydir
Jeggare
Malik
enemies
Khere
Hajar
Malik stares in stunned silence for a moment.
"Now I've seen everything."
Without another thought he blasts the closest head with his wand.
Braydir exclaims, "Unbelievable." The dwarf moves up to strike the first atrocity, but the unbelievable sight before him causes him to completely and utterly miss his strike.
"I told you so."
Jeggare steps in to attack.
Jeggare plucks one of the heads from the air, and slams it palm first into the ground. It splatters like a ripe melon, and moves no more.
Morharis fires a bolt of energy at one of the heads. "That doesn't look appetizing."
Morharis, Braydir. and Malik each squash a floating head in their own way. The heads then surround Morharis and attack.
Each remaining head tries to slam into him, but they all miss. They then start to make taunting sounds at him, sounding like a chorus of spoiled children, staying up close and in his personal space.
Hajar repositions himself, a heat forming around the disks he carried idly as with a flick of the wrist scorching sand-made facsimiles rush towards a floating head.
"Gah! Confounding creatures!"
Morharis flails about.
Khere swings his flail at one of the flying heads, whispering a quick prayer to Anubis.
Khere swings at a head and his flail barely swings past the head. Hajar's sand disk squashes one more head.
Morharis, Jeggare, Braydir, and Malik, you're up. Only two heads left.
Morharis fires a bolt after trying to whap one of the heads with his gauntlet before stepping back and letting loose one bolt after another.
Jeggare reaches out and touches another head.
He crushes the next one in between two palms.
Morharis and Jeggare each squash one more head, and the taunting little voices mercifully stop, leaving a wonderful silence. You look around the room, and other than the gore from the heads, you see nothing of interest.
To the south of the dining room you are in is a hallway with a double door that leads out into the grounds, a doorway to the central courtyard, and a doorway into what appears to be a living room or parlor.
Braydir motions to the parlor. "Let's head that way. It looks ta me like it might be some kinda parlor. If thar were floatin' heads in here, I hate ta think what we might find in thar though. Be on yer guard lads."
In the parlor, you see a large staircase climbing up. Dirt and dust cover the room's floor, and broken wood, shattered pottery, and disintegrating fabric litter the room. Painted columns stand in three corners of the room.
"Let's stay alert everyone," Khere whispers as he tightens his hand around the handle of his flail.
When assured of his safety, Malik will inspect the three columns. "I appreciate the extent the ancients went through to preserve their histories in the form of murals. Makes things simple."
"Hm yes."
Morharis scans the room disinterestedly as he feels more sure that whatever people lived here must have taken their valuables with them.
So much for grand treasure. These fellows are interesting enough though.
No one else notices anything.
"Aha! Thought too soon."
Morharis plucks the ring out of the rubble and turns it over in his hands before showing the others.
As soon as Morharis touches the ring, a ghostly scene
superimposes itself over the ruins of the room, as
translucent furniture and decorations like potted palm
trees and richly upholstered divans waver into existence.
In the center of the room, a ghostly young man clasps the
hands of ethereal young woman. They speak in Ancient
Osiriani, but you are all strangely able to understand it anyway.
“I’m so sorry,” the young man says. “I can’t find the ring
I bought you anywhere. I just had it!”
“It’s all right, my love,” the girl replies quietly. “It’s not
the right time to tell my family anyway.”
“Come with me, Ariseti! Come across the river where
we’ll be safe!”
“Not just yet, darling. My father says we’ll be safe here.
You go, and when all this is over, you can come back for me,
and we’ll announce our engagement then.”
She pauses, and reaches out to touch the man’s forehead.
“Are you feeling all right? You’re burning up!”
With this the vision ends, as first the figures fade from
view, followed by the room and its furnishings.
Morharis feels flushed for a moment as the haunt ends, but then he is fine. The ring he picked up is a ring of protection +1. Also in the room are the following: a silver anklet set with tiny gems and an ankh charm worth 150 gp, a tarnished silver serving tray worth 35 gp, and a small ornate vase worth 75 gp. You guys do not need to track treasure that you don't want to use due to the way I handle WBL and level up.