Something Wicked This Way Comes (Inactive)

Game Master Fanguar

Xanos shook his head in exasperation and walked away from the pair of arguing zealots.

Going around the corner to 2-21 to look at the mural until this is sorted out.

Albrέkt casts a baleful gaze down at the priestess as she lays claim to the Mitran shrine in the name of her lesser goddess;

"Hunger? Ja. For blut. For power. Never gesättigt(Necril: sated)... Ve makke der veak rise as der strong!"

The armoured brute bears his teeth;

"Do nicht doubt her power little Engelblut. Nor mine ast her chozen Streiter(Necril: Champion)Haf yur klien (little/petty) schrine to the Hure Königin then..."

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16 Religion to know about Urgathoa

"Yours is a goddess of excess, gluttony, hedonism and let's be fair, cowardliness. She ran away from her final judgement, likely because she was scared of what awaited her."

Molasbar takes another step back, relieved that the situation was deescalating. "Before all is said and done, the Lord of Hell's plan will have enough glory and gore for all of us. Until then, we should finish looking around this level as a group. Let us stay with Xanos."

Sorry for the delay. The boggard sacrifice is fine. RP it up. It doesn't take much to deface the symbol. After the sacrifice, Mitra's presence fades.

2-21

This long L-shaped corridor extends almost 220 feet. Every ten feet is a new mural carved in larger than life detail. Together these murals depict a detailed history of the Sons of the Pale Horseman. Some of the murals have been defaced, but there is simply so much adornment throughout the Horn that after a while the knights in the Victor’s service simply could not deface it all. They instead contented themselves with annihilating its defenders.

Someone with a working knowledge of the Abyssal tongue and with patience could catalogue every major event in the Sons’ history -- from their founding in a distant land, their expulsion, their search for a new home, their building of the Horn, the summoning of Vetra-Kali and then the many years of serving the daemon prince. It is actually an epic tale (though doubtless aggrandizing of the sons).

Carefully reading the murals, you realize that there are detailed rituals described within. Transcribing them into usable forms will be time consuming.

For every day of labor, the transcriber can make one Knowledge (arcane), Knowledge (religion) or Knowledge (planes) skill check to try to learn one of the rituals.

Man, I need a level to pick Abyssal via Linguistics lol

"Useful." Xanos said. "I will be here while you decide what to do with the shrine."

Might as well start now with Knowledge Arcana. I'll take 10 for 26 (with aid anotehr from familiar) to get a baseline for the difficulty and complexity of these translations.

At Haruk's comment Albrέkt turns his stare toward the infernal sorcerer;

"A kommon miskonzeption amongscht laymen und ser unedukated."

The iron clad wretch leers a jagged smile at the sorcerer before continuing;

"Der Blassen Prinzessin vas above Pharasma's judgement... In rejekting sush Urgathoa bekame Der Erste des Todlosen! (First of the Deathless)"

Having made his point and proved the superiority of his gluttonous goddess, Albrέkt settles into the majestic surroundings to view the weavers of majick do their work...

Sariana returns with a boggard who struggles futilely against her vampiric strength as she drags it into the shrine. As she enters she recoils slightly, as though the shrine recognises her bloody intent and tries to stop her. She bares her fangs in a snarl and pushes on, striking the boggart hard on the temple to render it unconscious.

Looking at Rose she climbs onto the altar with the limp body before carefully drawing her teeth across the reptilian neck. The blood gushes out and Sariana carefully maneuvers the body to coat the whole altar, especially the symbol of Mitra.

Once the altar is covered Sariana slams the body down onto the edge of the altar, causing a loud snap as the boggard's spine gives way.

"Drown in blood, Verflucht Gott! Cursed God"

Rose's jaw hangs open as Sariana mutilates the boggard in front of her eyes and smears the creature's blood over the altar. Eventually, she recomposes herself. "That was unorthodox . . . but pleasing. Well done."

Rose draws the shape of a winged serpent into the blood as she chants in Infernal praises to Eiseth the Whore Queen. Still, she cannot fully complete her work without including the pentacle of Asmodeus, a grudging acknowledgement of the authority of the Dark Prince.

Rose's jaw hangs open... Eventually, she recomposes herself.

:D Be careful what you let the vampires do :P

Haruk will lend Xanos a hand in figuring out the murals meaning 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25 Aid Another

Albrέkt watches the ceremony with idle curiosity, at Rose's praise to Sariana, he flashes a cruel smile and applauds his fellow vampyr;

"Bravo! Bravo kiene Schwester (Necril: Little Sister), you danse vell for Der Hure Königin (Whore Queen's)akolyth...

Still not feeling entirely confident in the group's common bond and goals, Molasbar lingers around the temple, keeping an eye on Rose's back while she works.

Feeling entirely confident about the group's lack of common bond and goals, Xanos kept working on his translation of the mural.

After some time watching the females and their power games, Molasbar steps back out to the hall of murals.

"Xanos, we should finish exploring this place. Even with all three of us working on interpreting these murals, it could take days or weeks to find what is relevant to our mission. Perhaps elsewhere we can find clues as to where to start."

"I agree. Waiting was neccessary. Doing it here, working on a useful task was more desirable to me than listening to livestock argue which butcher deserves the most praise." Xanos closed his book of notes and was ready to continue.

@Xanos: Your take 10 is good enough. I'll detail the rituals you discern once the party settles in,

@All:Consider the shrine desecrated, evil spells are back on the menu. Where to next?

"While we're right here, we might as well examine the large room next to us. I believe it's a temple akin to the one downstairs, but let's make sure there's nothing interesting in there." Room 2-20

Those still in the shrine should probably check out 2-17 and 2-19 while those in the hallway check out the temple

Rituals complete Albrέkt moves to where the ruined corpse of the boggard lies.

"Vatching you göttliche Damen vork ist making me most hungrig..."

Digging his gauntlet hand deep into its wound the vampyr tears flesh and organ from the body and dines upon them with relish, squeezing the blood from lumps of flesh as if they were crimson sponges...

As ichor drips from his chin, the ironclad wretch nods nonchalantly at Haruk's instruction;

"Ja. Vunce I haf dined minn fill..."

2-17: Former priest quarters. Nothing of interest.

2-19: The appears to have once been a chamber for acolytes. No much on interest remains except for a broken statue of a man, it head missing. Even at a cursory glance, you can't help but notice the exquisite detail of the statue.

2-20: (Haruk, Molasbar and Xanos)

This is the smaller than the temple on the floor below, but is by far the grander of the two. Six stately pillars rise to high vaulted ceilings. Images of winged carrion birds circle high above set into the stonework. Stunningly beautiful, intricate murals cover every inch of the walls and floor of this place. At first glance, the murals appear quite lovely,showing vast armies of supplicants, each exquisitely rendered in bas relief, walking arms outspread towards some unseen goal.

Only as you progress towards the throne and the eastern wall does the message of the murals becomes clear. The figures become more and more emaciated, worn and diseased. Around the throne can be seen cackling daemons herding them like sheep. Nearer the wall they are no longer supplicants, but instead shambling undead marching in great legions. And on the eastern walls is the supplicant’s destination -- a throne carved in the likeness of a great skull and above it is a florid inscription.

Knowing where to look, you that at the base of the throne is inscribed the nonsense word 'Rah'.

2-19: The appears to have once been a chamber for acolytes. No much on interest remains except for a broken statue of a man, it head missing. Even at a cursory glance, you can't help but notice the exquisite detail of the statue.

Molasbar steps up to the decapitated statue, running his finger over the fine detail. To the others he says "Do you think this was perhaps flesh to stone, or perhaps a basilisk? Or did a craftsman just have this much time on his hands?"

If it is a statue, can Molasbar tell if it was sculpted as headless, or if the head was taken off? Same if it looks like a person turned to stone: can he tell if the head was removed before or after being turned to stone?

Rose checks out the new throne. "More thrones with nonsense words. Is this like the other throne we saw?"

She decides not to ask about sitting on it, this time.

Knowledge Arcana (identify spell effect): 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 14 + 2 = 25

Xanos looked the statue over trying to determine if it's origin was magical.

Still chewing on remains, Albrέkt follows the others to the new temple.

As he gazes upon the murals, the armoured wretch flashes a jagged grin in appreciation as he speaks reverently in his foul tongue of the dead:

"Wirklich vorzüglich! Der Künstler war in der Tat begabt, solch eine schöne Zerstörung einzufangen ..!"

The unholy warrior eyes the throne, then back to the majesty of the chamber, before emitting a hacking chuckle;

"Heh. Haf your petty schrine little Engelblut. Zhis place vill be vhere I nest... und vorship!"

Xanos looked at the throne for a few miments. "Rose, are you still wanting to risk using these?"

Xanos looked at the throne for a few miments. "Rose, are you still wanting to risk using these?"

[cough]minions[/cough]

They can't talk. For what I'm thinking, that's important.

"I'll do it." Sariana offers. "Traps will be much less effective on me."

@Xanos: Magically it appears similar to the throne on the previous level.

@Molasbar: There used to be a head attached to the statue. It was definitely broken off.

"Sit on the throne. Say "Rah." Xanos said.

"Rah." Sariana says drily, after crouching on the throne ready to spring.

Albrέkt watches as Sariana sits upon the throne and utters the strange word as instructed.

He takes a mental note that should she be annihilated it will be one of his living companions that will used in any future magic trials.

Nothing happens when Sariana says 'Rah'.

"I suspected as much. Try 'Yah.'" Xanos said.

Sariana nods as the logic comes to her. "Yah"

With a sizzle and a pop, Sariana disappears from the throne.

Xanos gave a small, self-satisfied smile and waited.

Albrέkt lumbers to the empty throne, examining it for any trace or remains of his fellow vampyr.

He then turns his baleful gaze toward Xanos;

"Vhere ist she Old Vun? If schee ist zerfallen (disintegrated) you vil bear der konsequences..."

"Rah."

Haruk sighs again "Albrekt, Sariana volunteered herself. Are you threatening Xanos because he provided her with the command words??"

Albrέkt utters a dry chuckle at Haruk's veiled challenge;

"Nein Höllenbrut, I merely schtate zhat vun of Der Hoch-Unvergänglich schud nicht be sakrified needlessly... Vhen zhere are ozhers more vurthy... Ja?"

Xanos ignored the threats and said nothing.

Xanos' hand skittered to the foot of the throne, put up three fingers and started counting down.

Two... one...

With a soft fwomp of displaced air, Sariana reappears on the throne.

Rose applauds Sariana's reappearance. "Hey, you're back! Looks like you got it figured out."

Xanos gave Albrekt a long, flat look that spoke volumes.

"The thrones are linked by teleportation magic. The word is the trigger." Sariana states, eyeing the tableaux Albrekt and Xanos form. "If there are more thrones we should locate them as quickly as possible."

Have we discovered the whole horn now? I'm still confused as to whether there's another level above us...

There are actually two more floors, but we haven't found them yet. There's also a bit more to discover on this floor, I believe.

Sariana sits back down on the throne and begins muttering to herself.

"Aah, Bah, Cah, Dah..."

Testing a hunch...