click
The padlock drops (and can be retrieved if someone wants it), and a long tunnel yawns before you. Eager to escape this place, the group walks through the tunnel, which angles downwards, for a good half an hour before it finishes at a final secret door. It swings open to reveal you a good 60' up on a cliff, which borders a gigantic lake on its west. A wide path follows the side of the lake before vanishing into the forest below. The cliff continues another 50' upwards, and this path appears to be made by hand, rather than by nature.
The town is much closer now, and appears to be guarded by a somewhat ghastly-looking chateau up on a hill to what you presume is its southeast. To the west of the town a large wood stretches out, and to the east are fens which feed into the lake.
The path itself continues to slowly make its way down the cliff before vanishing into a tunnel near its base.
Well, doesn't THAT look inviting... not."
Crystal is silent the whole time the party is leaving the goblin tunnels.
The sight of the chateau causes her to frown. "Hmm... that doesn't look like a safe place to rest. If anything, I suspect that place may be crawling with undead. Or worse."
It is late afternoon. The rain has let up and now the area is simply overcast and dreary.
Well, we needn't go to the castle. Let's just head into town and look for an inn... and perhaps something more enjoyable than more jerkey.
Determined to make the most of the rest of their day, the group continues traversing their way down the mountain side, enjoying the view of the lake as they can. As the group progresses, the town becomes more distinct. The town certainly appears to have activity, although any details are impossible to make out from this far. It's a walled community with a
surprisingly large church; almost a cathedral.
The spiking, gothic architecture of this small cathedral gives it patron deity away immediately; Pharasma.
After a couple of hours down the mountainside, the group finally enter into the tunnel, vanishing below the earth. The tunnel itself turns into ancient, wide stairs which are easy to descend. After a short while, they come to an old metal door, which hangs ajar.
Beyond the door is a spectacular hall with enormous arched ceilings. Statues line this 40' wide hallway in alcoves, which continues on beyond your light spells. A sudden stench assails your nostrils as you look in; a goblin corpse lies to your right, several weeks old.
Further down the hallway, those of you with darkvision can spot two enormous double doors, 15' wide each and at least 40' tall. Lettering has been carved into the doors, which show no seem, keyhole, or means of egress. Two complete suits of armour stand guard beside the doors. A second, more modest door leads southwards,
Crystal's eyes widen as she recognizes the gothic architecture of the cathedral. "There--the town has a cathedral of Pharasma." A smile appears on her face. "We may yet find allies there."
The sights of the interior tunnels cause her smile to fade, replaced by its usual serious demeanour. "Hmm... interesting..." She eyes the suits of armour flanking the grand entrance. "I'm not sure I like the sight of those armour suits. They're guarding a pair of double doors up ahead--and they don't seem to have any way to open from here."
Ragnar looks amazed by the sight of the ancient ruins. In some books he read, sketches of places like this were to be seen, but to be here in person, that was fascinating.
Ragnar makes his way to the front of the group and lights three more stones with his spell, throwing them to the left and right of the group and keeping the last one on himself.
"Let me just take a quick look around for any signs of magic, just to be sure. If I fall unconcious, be sure to get my body and run like hell." The Mage says with a smirk.
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Ragnar remains near the west doors, casting light spells to light up different parts of the room before detecting magic.
The enormous metal doors light up like the moon as Ragnar looks them over, shining with the telltale shimmer of abjuration magic, and strong magic at that.
There are no magical auras on or near the dead goblin; it's just dead.
"There seems to be some strong magic working on the doors. Abjuration to be accurate. They are protected magically, most likely to keep them shut. We should be cautious, we don't know what killed the goblin. There is no magic aura about him."
As Ragnar scans the room and the door, he takes a step closer. The head on a suit of armour slowly turns to regard Ragnar with an ominous creak.
Ragnar takes a slow step backwards.
"You guys saw that? The statue turning its head?"
Let's hope I'm not going insane, Ragnar thinks, while getting ready for possibly being attacked by a statue. Since he isn't really the fighting type, he doesn't draw a weapon or anything, but he is gathering his concentration and getting ready to jump behind his more combat-savvy friends.
"I saw it, Ragnar. Get away from it." Crystal nocks an arrow and moves to within 30 feet of Ragnar.
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The armour remains still, having only moved its head to regard Ragnar. Once Ragnar moves back the head snaps back to stare forwards.
Crystal eyes the armour suit, not convinced it's no longer a threat.
"Between the dead goblin and these suits... I wonder..."
The dwarven script on the door makes her grumble in frustration. "If I still had spells left to cast, I would be able to read what that door says."
"Are you sentient?" Juid asks the suits of armor, feeling very foolish. "May we pass?"
Keeping his distance, Ragnar tries to read the runes. He also translates what his comrade says for the off chance the guardians of this place are sentient and only speak dwarven.
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The armour does not answer. Ragnar's facility with language pays off, however. The runes on the door are ancient Dwarven; more or less intelligible to a modern speaker.
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Still on edge regarding the armour suits, Crystal slowly approaches the southern door, keeping an eye out for anything unusual.
Crystal moves further into the room. The grand hallway ends at a cave-in at the end of the hall. The statues in the alcoves are all marble and of dwarves in various poses, the artwork is extremely good and untouched by the ravages of time.
The south door is of the same metal as the double doors, but has no lock and shows no sign of traps or other tomfoolery.
Not to leave Crystal wandering on her lonesome, Juid follows.
Ragnar follows closely, taking in each impression and trying to read every old rune still readable.
When reaching the cave in, he shakes his head.
"Not getting out this way, maybe the door in the south will take us further? "
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"It appears to be safe..." Crystal reaches the south door and stops before it.
She turns to the half-orc. "Czein, you take point. Let's see what's behind this door."
"ho-ho thinking strategically now are ya? Right then." Czein walks to the doors, trying to make his posture as nonthreatening as possible but still eyeing the armor.
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As the group approach the door the armours' helmets slowly turn to keep watching everyone's pace. However, they do not move beyond that. Czein easily pulls open the south door, which leads into what looks like it was once an ancient storeroom. There is little of note in here, although it looks like two skeletons have been hacked to pieces; their bones litter the floor.
"This all doesn't look too inviting. We should keep our guard up. "
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Ragnar walks into the room, keeping up his concentration to to scan the room with detect magic, especially the door. He then starts examining the dead bones, not particularly hoping to find anything, but you can always get lucky.
Crystal stays behind Ragnar, her bow readied. She looks all around the room.
"Hmm... I wonder if it would be safe to rest here..." She ponders.
Ragnar looks at her a bit disappointedly.
"You do remember I don't have anything to sleep on? If someone could spare a blanket, maybe the one taking the night watch? Just thinking out loud."
"I'd really rather not... As much as I don't like town, we should press on. At the very least we need to know the entirety of our surroundings before we doze off."
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"Especially with that many recently killed things lying around. "
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Crystal starts going over the room and area in detail. Anything that was once in this store room is long since missing, but after some work she manages to find a loose stone. Fitting in her fingers, she pulls it free to reveal a small alcove with a leather bag. The bag ancient and hard as a rock, but within is a beautiful dagger.
The east door does not appear to be trapped or locked. She hears a very, very faint scratching through the door and feels a bit of a breeze coming from under the door.
Crystal holds up the dagger for everyone else to see. "Well, well, well."
Then she hears something behind the east door. "Something's scratching behind the door... it could be rats, or something else entirely." She stands in front of the door, her bow readied.
"May I have a look at that? SOmething that old, still here after such a long time. Fascinating."
Crystal hands the dagger off to Ragnar for him to examine. "Knock yourself out."
At first glance the dagger is clearly of masterwork quality although with simple, functional design. It is also extremely ancient, likely 1,500 - 2,000 years old and of dwarven make. The pommel is a glimmering blue crystal. This could easily sell for a thousand gold.
"This should solve our financial problems quite well, if we find the right buyer for it," Ragnar sais with a satisfied smile before tugging the dagger into his mantle. "I will hold onto this until we find a buyer. I guess we split the profit? Everyone getting his fair share of anything we find on our travels?"
"That seems reasonable, Ragnar. But let's see what Crystal has discovered." Juid listens to the scratching she pointed out, trying to determine if there is any rhyme or reason to it.
Juid listens carefully to the door. The scratching is very quiet and almost impossible to hear. After a moment it stops entirely. It's hard to discern the reason. It was irregular and sounded like someone dragging something lightly across stone.
"If we want to rest here, we need to find out what's behind this door. Maybe if I can... "
Ragnar starts searching for a way to open the door. He won't go through it first, but he doesn't want to stand around idly either. Time isn't really on their side and the sooner he can find a place to sleep, the better. Also, well, he is very curious what lies beyond. This whole place is simply fascinating.
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The door opens easily enough and reveals a hallway leading to an ancient store room. Barren stone shelves line the walls, heading up at least 30'. More interestingly, an open doorframe at the end appears to lead outside. A boulder blocks the way out but a bit of low light shines through. The room appears empty.
Crystal takes a couple of steps into the hallway, her bow still readied for trouble. She looks all around, uncertain as to what's lurking in the room ahead.
Crystal creeps down the hallway. Nothing jumps out at her, metaphorically or literally.
Crystal looks over her shoulder and waves the other party members forward.
Juid double moves into the room before the hallway Crystal has entered, bringing Pisîm with him. He keeps his eye out for trouble, ready to fire a bolt of divine fire at it if need be.
The group begin to file in behind Crystal in the hallway. The room, and apparently an exit from this hall, beckons ahead.
Crystal, satisfied that nothing has tried to jump out and eat them so far, steps toward the door leading out and opens it once everyone else has readied themselves.
Czein places a hand on the door and nods to Crystal to open it together
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