"Michael the Archangel! The Lord does truly bless us. We must continue this quest." Boga looks at Lucius, "Please translate for us." He looks around at the others, realizing they saw nothing. "Michael the Archangel has spoken to us. Lucius, tell us his words!"
an ‘archangel’ must be good, the new man is very excited about it...
Zagathoth thoroughly searches the alcoves assigned to him, then glances around the chamber and observes, ”no light here; we keep looking for next light?”
The corridor to the west lterminates in a spacious crypt, The Crypt of the Popes, where several popes have been entombed!
At the far west end of the Crypt of the Popes lies a marble altar, upon which rests a bronze brazier. Directly above this pedestal and brazier, suspended by a length of silver chain in a net of silver wire is a blue crystal, the size of a human fist...
A spiral staircase rises from the center of the crypt, up to the surface, in the Church of Saint Peter.
Meanwhile, in the Ethereal Demiplane of Gooseland, at the Great Fall Wall...
In Sylvan: Gadzooks!! You nearly made me have another great fall off of Great Fall Wall, Rumplestilskin! You can't go popping in out of nowhere on a fellow like that... I believe I've scrambled my yolk! Damnations, Rumplestilskin! What do you want!?
HOHOHOHOOO!! HAHAHAHAAA!! HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEEE!!! In Sylvan: The look on your face be priceless, Dumpty! Oh my! Sorry to have startled you, old chap... What I want is some of that magical glue that Mother Goose finally used to put you back together again after your unfortunate, but quite hilarious, fall...
Hilarious, was it!? BUGGER OFF, RUMPLESTILSKIN!!
You ought not speak so rudely to a fellow who could easily arrange for Mister Humpty Dumpty to have another great fall...
Errr... Yes, I believe I still have the jar, Mister Rumplestilskin... No need to speak of falls...
Humpty Dumpty produces the jar of sovereign glue that was used by all the king's horses and all the king's men to put Humpty Dumpty together again, and hands it over to Rumplestilskin...
Later that evening, in Mother Goose’s Garden, at the center of the demiplane of Gooseland...
In Sylvan: And you say that you need the universal solvent to help goodly Johann the Bear, who is on a holy quest for the pope? My Heavens! Of COURSE you may have my jar of universal solvent, my dear Rumplestilskin!
Grinning and bowing deeply before Mother Goose, the Duchess of Gooseland, Rumplestilskin replies in Sylvan: I knew I could count on you, Mother Goose! Johann could count on you... Many thanks to you, Fair Duchess of Gooseland!
And so Rumplestilskin obtains the universal solvent from Mother Goose, his “care package” for Johann becoming ever the more useful...
|
"WELL, THAT IS A VERY NICE CLOAK, INDEED, CARDINAL. TRY IT ON, TRY IT ON. VERY NICE. THE RED COLOR... REALLY BRINGS OUT THE RED IN THE REST OF YOUR CLOTHES."
Johann looks about the burial place of popes. This is a holy place. There shall be no looting of the graves here! He looks at the brazier. Is it as simple as before? Just light the brazier. Still, better not take chances. Let the Fox do it.
Arc nods sagely at Johann's statement, though he seems a bit skeptical about the whole 'holy revelation' bit. "Red is indeed a suitable color for a gentleman of your station. Now, who shall take up the task of lighting the next crystal?"
The Fox looks about for any sign of something different from what we've seen so far.
"Well, I don't want to hog all the fun, but if no one else is so inclined..."
With that, the Fox pulls out his flint and steel again, approaches the brazier, and lights it after several strikes.
As Fox lights the brazier beneath it, the blue crystal begins to shine with a bright azure light!
Johann does indeed search throughout the crypt while Fox works on the light. [dice=perception]d20+8
[dice=Perception]d20+1
The Fox looks about for any sign of something different from what we've seen so far.
Boga peers around the crypt. He respects the popes, but recognizes that they are not the final authority with God.
Boga peers around the crypt. He respects the popes, but recognizes that they are not the final authority with God.
[dice=Perception]1d20+9
Boga spots a scroll tube made from a human femur, sealed with cork stopper at the head of the bone...
[dice=Perception]d20+1
The Fox looks about for any sign of something different from what we've seen so far."Well, I don't want to hog all the fun, but if no one else is so inclined..."
With that, the Fox pulls out his flint and steel again, approaches the brazier, and lights it after several strikes.
Ogon Fox also spots the thigh bone scroll tube...
Double-checking on his fingers, the orc gives a toothy smile to the blue light and announces, "Four more lights left. Where do we go now, Father?"
"How macabre, a scroll tube made from a femur," says the cleric with a hand hanging from his neck. He gingerly removes the tube from its resting place and opens it, pulling out the scroll. He opens it, making an attempt to read it. Failing at that, he looks up, "Lucius or Quinlan, care to take a look?"
Finding neither dweomer nor trap on the scroll or its macabre tube, Boga unravels the scroll, which is a missive scribed in dried blood on parchment, in a strange script...
“What might that be?” Arc cranes his neck as he tries to get a look at the scroll’s contents. Once he does, though, he freezes and his eyes widen, his face stuck in a hybrid mask of fascination and terror.
"Are you able to read this text, Arc?"
Seeing Arc's interest, Boga passes the scroll to him, "Feel free to take a look. I can't make head nor tail of it."
Peering at the scroll over Arc's head Quinlan gulps. "Well that's not encouraging"
”What is not in courage being?” Zagathoth asks without even pretending to look at the scroll.
“It’s... about a dragon. The beast has a lair in Mount Vesuvius,” he concludes once he pulls himself together. “This Antichrist sounds like quite the adversary.”
"A dragon!? This quest must be completed. Let us press on before we retire for the evening. We can explore northeast as Johann suggests. Afterwards we can take news of the dragon to Pope Eugenius IV."
Johann enthusiastically leads the way back to the central vault of the Catacombs of San Callisto , and from there, on to the northeast passageway ...
a dragon?!? a dragon is not in courage being... that doesn’t make sense but I’ll remember it for later...
Zagathoth smiles at the bearman’s enthusiasm. With his falchion in hand he takes his place in the front line to kill whatever his enthusiastic companion distracts.
The northeast corridor runs some twenty-five feet before opening into a square vault fifteen feet across, with a narrow (five-feet-wide-by-ten-feet-high) corridor exiting northward onto darkness...
The walls of this vault are hollowed out with alcoves as found throughout the Catacombs, filled with dusty, web-shrouded skeletons of Romans long dead...
At the center of the chamber, suspended by a rusty chain from the vaulted ceiling, is a large spiked cage, or iron maiden, with a human skeleton inside...
The diabolical magic of the Church of Lucifer has given a mockery of life to this spiky horror of iron and bones! It rattles violently as it senses the approach of trespassers...
OOH-OOH-AH-AH-AH!! IRON MAIDEN CONCERT! ROUND ONE!! DING! DING!
QUINLAN!
JOHANN!
ZAGATHOTH!
CARDINAL LUCIUS!
OGON FOX!
ARC!
ANIMATED IRON MAIDEN!
BOGA!
EEEEK!!!
Quinlan tries to recall everything that he know about animated objects.