Bjorkus marches on warily, oblivious of the paladins' efforts.
Rilka lies on the floor quickly to check the level, tell-tale signs of pressure plates, and for tripwires. Next she stands and slowly approaches the left door. ”Wait where you are, please. I’ll check both and then we can choose one to go through.” She inspects the frame, door handle, and door itself for any runes, sigils, glyphs, or any mundane signs of a mechanical trap. If there is a trap, she’ll check the right door next before attempting to disarm any traps.
Rilka searches both doors, the floor, and the rest of the room, but after her search she doesn't believe there are any traps.
Toramin's eyes narrow slightly. Two auras, I didn't know that was possible. There are limits to its subtlety.
As they progress, the dwarf trips slightly. "There appears to be something in my boot. Step in front of me Dalton and shine a light on the issue."
When Dalton puts Toramin between himself and Raul, Toramin will shout, "He has been infected, use a scroll on Raul!"
Dalton
Raul
Bjorkus
Rilka
Toramin
Gabriel
[dice=""Raul" Init]1d20[/dice]
Rilka has her hand on the left door’s handle when Toramin shouts out his warning. Spinning, she brings her slingstaff up in a defensive position and moves next to Dalton.
Toramin is doing a total defense. He doesn't want to engage.
"We should move fast. Cast, and lets move towards the necromancer."
Worried about a possessed Raul bringing that deadly two-handed sword to bear, Bjorkus tackles the disfigured Whitecloak commander.
"Dalton, do it!" the bull roars.
Gabriel ready's his blade, waiting, just in case.
A wise choice.
Raul was strong, but not beyond the bounds of magic. Dalton whipped out the scroll and invoked its power.
"Out, spirit!"
Bjorkus jumps and wrestles Raul down the ground, holding him still as Dalton casts from the scroll.
Raul's eyes flick back into his head as his hips buck up, then he relaxes briefly before his eyes refocus and his head whips around at the scene. "What. The. Bloody f!!$ are you doing on me?!"
”The damned bodysnatcher took control of ya”, Bjorkus explains as he releases Raul and climbs to his hooves. ”Dalton had to burn one of the scrolls to set you free.”
”We’ve gotta move faster. Those scrolls won’t last forever. Get that door open.”
"Had I known we were going to be penetrated by this thing more than a wench on a weekend, I would've prepared a few more uses of the spell myself earlier."
Despite the wry levity in his statement, Dalton was not amused by the situation. Let's put and end to this.
"S#@!." He stands, shaking his head and looking around. "Looks like we're already underground. Lead on." He draws his greatsword and follows.
Bjorkus rumbles with laughter at the elf’s humor but otherwise doesn’t respond.
"Let's go. Let's go."
Rilka slightly relaxes as Raul is returned to normal. She nods her head, agreeing with the others that time is of the essence. Swinging open the southern door, she does a quick check for traps just past the threshold and starts walking down the hall.
Rilka leads the party through the southern door down a 15 ft. hallway that leads into a 20x20 ft. room. Running through the center, from north to south, is what looks like a man-made channel. Currently it's dried up.
There is an open hallway at the southeast corner of the room.
Bjorkus snorts as he scans the room.
"Hurry, we must make all due haste."
The channel is a bit winding, but it's pretty consistently about five feet wide.
Gabriel lets out a sigh of relief when Raul is freed and returns his concentration to watching those in front of him.
Gabriel doesn't break rank, nor does he let his concentration waver. He and Toramin, they would keep this spirit away, they would protect the party while the party protected them. But when they stop, he does speak up. "I agree with Toramin. Time if of the essence."
The party begins moving across the channel, then there's a loud series of clicking noises that emanate from the floor. After a moment of adrenaline, the clicks subside. Looking around the room shows nothing to have changed.
As they move through the next hallway they are greeted by the sound of burbling water. Dalton's light follows and reveals the area. The room is slightly wider and much longer than the last, and in the middle is a fifteen foot wide river moving at moderate speed to the right of the room. In the southwestern corner are two crates. Inside the crates are digging and tunneling supplies.
Not trusting the indoor waterworks, Bjorkus snorts in frustration.
The bull joins Rilka in searching the crates.
"No dallying."
Toramin urges his compatriots to value the minute they have.
The river runs under the wall, which goes all the way down to the floor. There is an open hallway at the northeastern corner of the room.
Bjorkus wades into the strange fluid slowly, testing his hooves on the questionable footing.
Dalton glances out at the water. "I do not feel like taking a swim. Especially considering we know now what lurks in this foul place. One of the more potent magics I have prepared for today allows one person to fly for a time. Conceivably, this individual could ferry us across. They would have to be strong." Raul wasn't quite trustworthy enough, and Dalton worried about the armor on Toramin. Bjorkus's natural musculature came to mind. "Would you mind giving it a go?" The wizard asked Bjorkus with a wave of his hand, clearly requesting the bull's feelings - not funneling him towards an outcome he didn't desire. "The experience will feel a bit odd, I imagine, but my experience in the school should give you better control over your movement."
"Of course, if there's truly nothing amiss, a few feet wouldn't hurt us..."
"I imagine that would take at least a couple minutes. It would be better to simply forge across. Then again, you are not immune to anything that might be in the water as I am... It is not my risk so I will cede to the groups choice." Gabriel doesn't move, his eyes fixed on the party, their prismatic glow shifting rapidly through a myriad of different multi-colored patterns. Somehow he knew he was going to have a horrid headache come morning. The power was hardly a trickle, a drop or two, compared to all that he had used today... but his soul was well and truly thirsty for it.
Bjorkus notices the water has a faint, odd smell to it. It's just slightly thicker than water, and there's also a hint of salt.
After allowing himself a second to get acclimated, Bjorkus fords the river.
Bjorkus makes it across with no issue, climbing out. The faint smell clings to him and the liquid is drying slower than water, but it seems to have no ill side effects.
After a quick shake to shed as much of the filmy water from his hairy hide as possible, Bjorkus gestures for his companions to follow. "Come on!"
Toramin follows the ox across.
After allowing himself a second to get acclimated, Bjorkus fords the river.
Dalton wrinkles his nose at the prospect. "Very well." Wading through the thicker-than-water substance, he kept his mind off of whatever it might have been. Feces... Urine... Blood... I'll need a new set of clothes after this.
Gabriel follows last, allowing Toramin to turn around and watch him while the tiefling kept his focus on the rest of the party.
The rest of the party wades across the river. Clinging to everybody is the faint odd smell of the liquid that seems just a little thicker and clingier than water.
Once across they go down a 40 ft. hallway that ends in a T. To the left is a hallway that goes into darkness, and to the right is a circular room. At the center is a glowing pit of coals built into the ground. A 20 ft. diameter circle of magic markings is centered on the coals. At the eastern and southern walls are two piles of rubble. On the east wall there is also another hallway that leads out.
Approaching the clear signs of ritual magic, Bjorkus snorts and shakes his shaggy mane in distrust.
”What do you make of it?” he rumbles.
Gabriel's eyes couldn't glance entirely at the circle lest he break his concentration but he could see some of it out of the corner of his eye. "Looks like magic." Gabriel provides helpfully, then thinks about it for a moment, trying to determine if they held any religious significance.
Rilka sniffs the water as they cross and rubs her fingers together. ”Embalming fluids and salt are in the water. Useful for necromancy. I don’t like the idea of this being on us.”
Once she sees the magic circle she begins studying the symbols. ”Let me think about this while I check the rubble.”
This circle looks like a magic circle combined with a protection from energy spell focused outwards.
As the people in front start studying the circle, the people in back finish walking into the room. As soon as Raul is completely within the room, There's another series of clicks that stops in less than a second.
The instant the clicking stops, the circle on the ground starts glowing red, pulsing with energy. It seems to be slowly growing in light fluctuation and energy.