"Always disturb the evil ritual." Saeri said firmly. "It's bad when they misfire, but worse when they're completed." With that, she loosened the flap of her deck holster, ready to grab and hurl cards on a moment's notice.
Janus looked out into a long corridor which seemed empty enough, save for the usual walls and doors. It was considerably tidier than the previous chamber, though still not a place he'd like to lay down if he wanted to get up still alone.
Chaia looked over the strange, small undead. She recognized them as tomb motes, creatures of grave filth and stray remains spontaneously animated by ambient necromantic Art. They tend to be biddable if they smell enough necromancy on a practitioner and see much use as messengers and lookouts.
"Always disturb the evil ritual." Saeri said firmly. "It's bad when they misfire, but worse when they're completed." With that, she loosened the flap of her deck holster, ready to grab and hurl cards on a moment's notice.
“True. There’s something to be said for the subtle approach, where possible,” Chaïa said, thinking of the various bits and pieces she carried to deal with magical traps, and wistfully anticipating the day she mastered a proper dispelling by sheer force of her own magic, “but if all else fails, shrieking to disrupt sinister chants, scuffing out the magic circle, throwing things – are all good ideas.”
There was a frightfully long beat before she continued no less awkwardly, “Not that I wish to alarm anyone, but after thinking about it for a bit, those little things hiding with the skeletons? From what I remember, those sorts of creatures often form spontaneously in places where a lot of necromancy has been worked. We should stay alert, but something may already have started here a long time ago.”
"Always disturb the evil ritual." Saeri said firmly. "It's bad when they misfire, but worse when they're completed." With that, she loosened the flap of her deck holster, ready to grab and hurl cards on a moment's notice.“True. There’s something to be said for the subtle approach, where possible,” Chaïa said, thinking of the various bits and pieces she carried to deal with magical traps, and wistfully anticipating the day she mastered a proper dispelling by sheer force of her own magic, “but if all else fails, shrieking to disrupt sinister chants, scuffing out the magic circle, throwing things – are all good ideas.”
There was a frightfully long beat before she continued no less awkwardly, “Not that I wish to alarm anyone, but after thinking about it for a bit, those little things hiding with the skeletons? From what I remember, those sorts of creatures often form spontaneously in places where a lot of necromancy has been worked. We should stay alert, but something may already have started here a long time ago.”
"So you are saying zey caught second-hand necromancy? Great, I didn't know it was contagious ..." Lu muttered. After some time to think she added. "Zough zat really do explain vampires I guess."
"But let's get moving yeah. First door on ze right?" Lu offers and then steps into the corridor, after a brief look around for traps. Or undead. Possibly a mix of the two as well.
"So you are saying zey caught second-hand necromancy? Great, I didn't know it was contagious ..." Lu muttered. After some time to think she added. "Zough zat really do explain vampires I guess."
"But let's get moving yeah. First door on ze right?" Lu offers and then steps into the corridor, after a brief look around for traps. Or undead. Possibly a mix of the two as well.
[dice=Perception]1d20+8
Lu found a succession of shammc hambers with simple, much neglected beds and chests. Amid the dust she found a small pouch that clinked with coin. Alas, none bore the hoped-for undead and traps.
"Of course there are undead. The Tangled Briar warned us of them." Saeri answered calmly, moving down to the next door and checking it over before pushing it in. Might as well proceed at a timely rate, right?
"Of course there are undead. The Tangled Briar warned us of them." Saeri answered calmly, moving down to the next door and checking it over before pushing it in. Might as well proceed at a timely rate, right?
[dice=Perception]1d20 + 3
The stench of rotting flesh rushed out to meet the explorers when they opened the door. Beyond, ten chairs surrounded an oblong dining table. Along the north wall, a staircase ascended to higher levels. A sagging wooden shelf dominated the west wall, looking quite near to collapse.
Three tall candles stood in a row on the table, casting flickering light over awkwardly seated humanoid figures. Every seat save the one at the distant head of the table had its occupant, in varying stages of rot. Some sat poised in mid-feasting. Others slumped near to falling off their perches.
Heaping plates of fresh food sat before each diner. Several bottles of red wine rested upon the table and each corpse had its half-finished glass. A fly passed nearby, its buzz the only break in the chamber's silence.
Chaïa peered curiously through the doorway, trying to puzzle out the curious sight. She fixed the corpses with a fierce look, trying to spot any sign of movement: if there had been skeletons before, why not zombies now? Then too, what kind of strange scene was being set here? Her thoughts skipped back to the group’s flippant conversation about the aesthetic merits of various forms of undead.
"Yeah, if a Necromancer invites us for dinner I zink I'll pass." Lu unhanded her flail and pinced her nose. Then, free from the worst of the stench she smiled and grunted. "Zis party looks absolutely dead! Heh."
Satisfied that at least something good had come from the grisly scene Lu cautiously advanced with her sword raised. Just in case these corpses needed to be reminded that they were in fact dead.
After a moment of consideration, Saeri raised a hand and pointed at the room in general. "If they start moving, I'll try to blind them." she murmured. She could only do it once, but better to use the magic you might need than hold it forever 'just in case'.
Chaia was sure the corpses were animate, probably zombies. That shouldn't make them too dangerous, except in numbers. But she knew more powerful undead sometimes appeared much like zombies.
She had heard of some necromantic cults which made gruesome rituals out of meals, usually involving some form of cannibalism. So far as she could tell, the food laid out for the feast appeared normal. Then again, she's heard rumors that some cults would slip the flesh of thinking beings into ordinary meals as a way to initiate others unwitting. The tainted flesh might grant a measure of influence over their minds, or kindle in them strange and powerful cravings only the cult could satisfy.
"Right. Let's see if zey wake up or not!" Lu decisively stepped towards the closest corpse, still covering her nose and mouth with her free hand. Then she simply swung her blade to decapitate the body.
Just as she was about slip through the door, Chaïa pulled herself short. Turning to the others, she stage-whispered, “I’m pretty sure those aren’t as dead as they look: zombies, maybe? You hear about monsters doing these things. ‘Come to my party, it will be fabulous!’ And then, ‘Nya-ha-ha-ha! Have you seen your son lately, milady?’ In the end, the ball turns into a danse macabre.”
Obviously, a voracious reading habit had not yet helped the mage to develop a more discerning taste. In any case, seeing fleshier creatures, Chaïa stored her bow and drew her dagger instead, in case anything started moving too close to her that oughtn’t to.
As Lucrecia boldly swooped in, Chaïa followed behind, ready to cast a blessing on everyone if it looked like it would be helpful.
The head went sailing without any resistance, but as it did the zombies sprang to life. They reached for their knives and made the motions of drinking and eating. None had the fine dexterity for the task, which reduced it all to a crude mummer's show. After a few of what could only be called bites by the most generous speaker, the one to the empty chair's left spoke. Its lips moved with a fluidity their rotted flesh ought not support and spoke in a clear, lucid voice that should be utterly beyond such creatures unless Chaia had badly misjudged their nature.
"It is an honor to dine in your august presence, My Lord."
The others chimed in:
"The Watchful Order should never have turned you out," remarked a male elf.
A young woman declared, "I shouldn't ever have doubted you, Filge. I always loved you when we were together. Now I will love you forever."
"The Lords of Waterdeep will tremble before your Art, Master."
"The Blackstaff himself will beg to be your apprentice. And you will refuse him, of course."
"It is you who the Lady of Mysteries most loves."
After a few more utterances they returned to their original positions and fell silent.
As the undead starts to move Lu steps back and readies her sword again, anticipating another fight. But she wasn't prepared for what actually happened. Confusion and then disbelief and a small bit of pity crosses over her face. "Ahh what? Zis is ... pitiful? And sick. Both. Bleh."
"... Sooo. Should I just decapitate ze rest to be sure? Zey *can* obviously move so if 'Master Filge' shows up I'd rather he had less minions to command."
“We’ve all known some hard times, I imagine,” Chaïa agreed, “but this is just tragic. Can you imagine? Day after day of this, and none of it real...”
With that, she called up a cantrip to try to see if it was just some sort of illusion on top of ordinary zombies.
Shaking her head, Chaïa sobered abruptly. “You’re right: as much as I hate to say it, we should de-animate these bodies, one way or another.”
Trying to remember what she had learned about zombies, she took up position behind the nearest one to make sure Lu didn’t have to do all the dirty work. Animating the dead is lazy, her lessons floated back to her. It perverts the energy flowing through a body, but relies on the usual pathways and channels: it can normally be disrupted in the same ways as true life.
"......."
Well, it was either a terrible riddle or someone showing off. Arrogant, much? It was good to love the Art, but if the Lady liked you the most, she would darn well tell you so herself. Flattering people and telling them they were better than they really were didn't work out so well.
"I think it would be a mercy to end the show." she noted.
“We’ve all known some hard times, I imagine,” Chaïa agreed, “but this is just tragic. Can you imagine? Day after day of this, and none of it real...”
With that, she called up a cantrip to try to see if it was just some sort of illusion on top of ordinary zombies.
Chaia can tell there's Art about, but not of what sort.
"De-animating decapitation coming up." Lu stepped up to the next body to relieve it off its head. And, if there were no complications, the other ones too!
"That is truly twisted. We are dealing with a madman here. Deluding himself."
Helping Lu put an end to the show, he stops next to the young woman:"Filge, hu. That name mean anything to one of you? Or maybe this lady seems familiar to someone or someone remembers one going missing?"
Saying a quiet prayer to ease the passage of the last bit of soul-stuff disturbing the rest of the body seated in front of her, Chaïa did her bit as part of making the zombies useless. It was all too horrible to really think about: just the idea was profane.
She seized upon Janus’ question as a welcome distraction, trying to think of the latest gossip she had heard about magic in human lands. “Whatever else it was, it seems to have involved a whole guild, if only to get everyone to agree to cast this Filge out.”
As the others moved in to chop some heads off, Saeri stood back and kept a few cards at the ready, just in case she needed to hurl them and protect the others. No harm in being prepared, after all, and someone had to be the lookout.
Lu relieved all the zombies of their heads without incident save for more repetitions of the same things said before.
Neither Chai nor Janus had heard of any Filge before.
"So, move on and hope for our sanity's sake that we don't come across a bedroom?", Janus quips, moving to the next door - he still very much feared that they might be working on a timer, and cleansing the place as extensively as possible would be desirable before the one responsible came to check.
"Gossip eh? Let me zink..." Lu takes a moment to think back and see if she has ever heard about this fellow. Or any (public) excommunications from wizard orders - not that she expected them to be public about that (or anything really). As she did she borrowed a napkin to wipe her blade, trying to inhale as little as possible of the corpse stench.
"But yeah, let's get going. Maybe I'll come and zink of something eventually. Or not..."
"So, move on and hope for our sanity's sake that we don't come across a bedroom?", Janus quips, moving to the next door - he still very much feared that they might be working on a timer, and cleansing the place as extensively as possible would be desirable before the one responsible came to check.
"Mph. Let's hope zere is something less disturbing behind zis door!" Lu went back to pinching her nose and stepped towards the door underneath the stairs. Unless there's something really weird about it she'll open it once everyone is ready.
Saeri considered Janus' words for a moment, then her face twisted in disgust. "This is why I let other people go first." she muttered. She was ready to go, though, following along as soon as a path was picked.
Saeri considered Janus' words for a moment, then her face twisted in disgust. "This is why I let other people go first." she muttered. She was ready to go, though, following along as soon as a path was picked.
The explorers found nothing more than a storage closet beneath the stairs. It held spare chairs in the main.
“Hmm. Many closets, few skeletons. Small mercies, at least,” Chaïa quibbled, before turning on her heel to consider the other doors. As she quickly crossed the room again, she spared the now deanimated zombies a third glance. It was a long shot, given that the collection seemed to be assembled from unfortunates who had known this Filge creature in life, but she took another look in case any of the zombies looked out of place. Could Alastor’s family have been used to fill out the table?
“Hmm. Many closets, few skeletons. Small mercies, at least,” Chaïa quibbled, before turning on her heel to consider the other doors. As she quickly crossed the room again, she spared the now deanimated zombies a third glance. It was a long shot, given that the collection seemed to be assembled from unfortunates who had known this Filge creature in life, but she took another look in case any of the zombies looked out of place. Could Alastor’s family have been used to fill out the table?
Chaia finds that both doors to the south open into a large kitchen that shows some signs of recent use and also much neglect.
"Soooooo..." Lu looks around in the kitchen, poking at the things that looked to be food. She was a bit curious as to what necromancers actually ate. Looked like poorly! "Maybe we should just stuff it all with salt or something and watch who comes running for water? Heh..."
"Actually, we probably should take a bit of salt. Might be useful." Saeri observed. "Some things don't like it very much. Anybody know what they've been making in here?" It might have seemed silly, but knowing the eating habits of others - like whether they exclusively dined on cuts of raw meat - could tell you what to beware of...
"Actually, we probably should take a bit of salt. Might be useful." Saeri observed. "Some things don't like it very much. Anybody know what they've been making in here?" It might have seemed silly, but knowing the eating habits of others - like whether they exclusively dined on cuts of raw meat - could tell you what to beware of...
It looked like about a normal assortment of food to Saeri: some bread that had a touch of mold but was otherwise fine, some dried vegetables, and so forth.
“Not too fussy, then,” Chaïa said, noting the mold, “but at least it is just bread. Time to check upstairs?”
She gave the food a last look, trying to figure out how many people the supplies were meant to feed.
"I am not sure that stuff is for human consumption...might be for the dinner guests outside...You know, to make the scene a bit more realistic...", Janus notes on the moldy and bland food, then turns his attention to the way up :"Aye, lets check upstairs..."
If there is any flour(or similar) in the kitchen, Janus will take it and empty the container at the entrance to the dining room, so that anybody coming from outside would leave tracks.
"Upstairs zen." Lu agreed after watching Janus and Saeri plunder the pantry. She'd join in herself except she wasn't *that* hungry. Who knew what sort of things a Necromancer did in his kitchen!
Huh. Zombies and vegetables. Those didn't go together very often, outside of some very worrying stories she'd heard. With that, Saeri headed after Janus to see what else was here.
The explorers mounted the stairs and came upon a bedchamber that filled near to the whole floor. Light filtered in from the tall windows to catch motes of dust in the calm air. A fine bed with red linen sheets squatted upon a dais along the southeast corner. A nightstand next to it held a wax-choked candlestick and a black book bound with brown and red leather.
At the midpoint of the eastern wall a stronge form stood rigid atop a short wooden stool, as tall as a halfling and clothed in a fine black suit and tophat. Clean cloth bandages wrapped every inch fo the sentyr's skin. A pair of ash-tinted spectacles rested upon a long skinny nose. The figure held a silver platter, presenting the severed head of a middle-aged woman. A platinum coin sat upon her outstretched, purple tongue.
A messy desk rested against the opposite wall, piled high with loose papers. An apparatus holding four long tubes filled with colored liquid peeks out from the clutter. Doors on the north and west walls appear to lead to small closets.
Wide stairs lead above. A massive white stone statue of a thin human man with outsretched angelic wings and a beatific look upon his face loomed large in the northwest corner. The angel held a sword in one hand and cradled a harp in the other. The presentation conjured thoughts of mausoleum peaks or the graves of important men. Tall letters etched upon the statue's base spell out a single word: "Filge."
"So - a bed!" Lu exclaims and glances at Janus. None of his other terrible theories seemed to be true. Luckily! In this particular Necromancer bedroom at least ...
"Hmph. Zere's a lot of junk here." she mumbles and looks around in the room, carefully stepping into the room. "None seems to be at home right now. Or zey might be hiding in the closet!"
Janus was glancing at the severed head:"Guess that one is special."
Overlooking the rest of the room, he points at the statue:"And that one thinks he's a special way of special."
Heading to the desk, Janus looks through the loose papers, trying to get a rough idea of what the man was trying to do.
The book on the nightstand would probably hold more secrets...but need more time than a customary glance, and Janus definitely did not feel safe enough here to let his guard down.
Saeri eyed the platinum coin nervously. If history was any guide, that thing was cursed as hell, and she had absolutely no intention of touching it unless she had to. "Anyone familiar with that name?" she asked as she looked up at the named statue.
Janus was glancing at the severed head:"Guess that one is special."
Overlooking the rest of the room, he points at the statue:"And that one thinks he's a special way of special."
Heading to the desk, Janus looks through the loose papers, trying to get a rough idea of what the man was trying to do.
The book on the nightstand would probably hold more secrets...but need more time than a customary glance, and Janus definitely did not feel safe enough here to let his guard down.
Jauns found many of the papers nearly incoherent, filled with random phrases and paranoid rantings about Them and Those Fools. Mixed in were more careful notes and illustrations of surgical techniques with notes about their use "to improve up on the substrate of Necromantic Arts." Within the mess he also found a scroll tube, stopped tightly shut, and four six inch glass tubes. Each held a cloudly liquid: milky blue, deep red, sallow yellow, and white with black streaks. He couldn't be sure if it was just his handling or not, but it seemed as though things sometimes moved within each.