"Quand vous serez prêt, Cardinal Lucius, je vous suivrai."
The Basilica of St Peter is connected with the Castel Sant'Angelo via a covered walkway, down which Pope Eugenius leads the six adventurers...
Within this mighty fortress, formerly the Mausoleum of Hadrian, a collection of arms, armor, and equipment is stored in the armory.
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Johann walks past the rows and rows and weapons and mail. The smell of steel is strong, and it assaults his nose. To think all of the industry behind the art of war, all of the money, when one should be able to simply attack with claws and teeth. And a good stick. A good stick always comes in handy. Ol' pa used to say that one skilled in a long stick could beat a man with a sword two out of three times. Johann grabs a quarterstaff. (0 gold)
"DON'T WORRY, FRIENDS. I WILL TAKE CARE OF OUR LIGHT ISSUES." Johann fills his pockets with sunrods, and also finds a small rope that he can use to tie an active sunrod to his armor. (Takes 25 of them, 50 gold).
My job as their protector is to stand in front of my new friends and prevent them from getting hurt. That means pain for me, but it can't be worse than that one time I accidentally chopped to my leg bone with pa's axe. He gave me... one of these thingys.
Johann finds a stash of potions and grab 9 of them. (9 cure light wounds potions, 450 gold)
Quinlan walks around half mumbling to himself and half speaking to his companions. "Not much of a fighter but you never know, I'd rather not stick my hands directly into a walking corpse." He wiggles his fingers to display his claws, then picks up a solid oak staff. "Might as well grab extras" he picks up some extra crossbow bolts and several vials. "and these look quite helpful." He pulls quite a few flasks of holy water from the shelves as well as some other bottles. "I believe that's all for me."
The orc’s eyes go wide as they walk into the armory. ”I have never seed so much blades and armor in one place,” he marvels as he begins examining and testing various weapons. After a few minutes he has claimed a very well made new sword, replaced his greataxe with a cold-forged one of dwarven make, and found the shiniest mace in the room to grab.
Ever one to pack light, Arc opts for a few items of significant value rather than many items of lesser value.
The Ogon Fox picks and chooses several scrolls and flasks of different liquids which he carefully puts in his backpack. He finds a grappling hook and fine rope which he loops through his belt. Finally, he grabs a small log that is shod in iron on one end with a couple handles on it. He walks over to Zagathoth and holds it up to him.
"You will make good use of this if we need to break down any doors," he says in English, then looks to Lucius to translate to Spanish.
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Waiting for the others to pick their gear, Johann approaches one of the guards. "SO...AH, BEEN IN ROME AWHILE?" Right. "Ah, sorry about that, ol 'ma always told me to keep my voice down. I'm sure you good fellows must talk to the townfolk, eh? So, you have any idea what kind of monsters people are seeing down in the Catacombs? And do you feel like they are getting out into the city anywhere?"
I am Roman, sir, was born here... I have heard some talk of skeletons, zombies, ghouls and ghasts creeping forth from the catacombs by night to prey on the living! I have also seen some pretty big rats, spiders, scorpions, and other giant vermin crawl in and out of the holes that lead down to the catacombs... It is said that the deepest levels connect with the Underworld! If so, it wouldn't be a surprise to encounter demons and devils down there...
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"So... ah... you know. We are going down there. Hope to kill Nero. Should be in and out and have the business done by nightfall. Don't see why not. We will need to pick a location to enter the place. Do you know what entrance is closest to the homes of the poor? I always felt the poor needed protecting first, because they are least able to protect themselves."
"Hope to kill Nero. Should be in and out and have the business done by nightfall. Don't see why not."
The Fox rolls his eyes and shakes his head.
The entrance to the catacombs of San Callisto are located in a shanty town outside the city wall... Paupers live there, and those too poor to afford a home within the walls...
"Oh yes, I'm sure we'll be in and out quickly and with no complications." Quentin says with a chuckle.
“Never underestimate that which is unknown,” Arc adds in a cautionary tone. “Our foes come from Hell itself, and while we cannot afford to fear them, we must respect the threat they pose to us all.” For the time being, he tries to help the other party members gather and sort their equipment for the long journey ahead.
What can one small brotherhood do against the horrible powers I have seen firsthand?
Zagathoth does his best to follow the conversation but his brow furrows deeper and deeper as he continually misses the subtleties of the exchanges. Eventually the confused orc abandons his attempt to keep up and simply asks, ”Skeletons?!? Bones with no flesh? How would this hurt people?”
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"Skeletons are dangerous my son. They move under dark magic and have none of the human weaknesses - no pain, no thirst."
Lucius retains his position in the middle of the group, translating back and forth as needed. He claims a small selection of potions and scrolls for himself and waits until the rest of the group are ready before leading the way to the catacombs.
INTO THE DARKNESS...
Having equipped themselves with superior arms, armor, and gear for dungeon delving, the adventurers follow Cardinal Lucius through the ancient, bustling, cobbled streets of Rome to the outskirts of the city, where lies the dark, cave-like entrance to the Catacombs of San Callisto...
(front)
Johann | Zagathoth
Arc | Ogon Fox
Quinlan
Lucius
(back)
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Johann cracks his first sunrod and ties it to his armor. The bright light radiates out and dispels the darkness while create long ominous shadows at the same time.
The darkness, and the possibility of danger, are a continuous reminder to Johann to talk quietly.
In a buzzing that sounds like a really loud bee, he says, "My eyes can see far with just a bit of light, and orcs don't need any light at all. Evil will soon fall before us and we will be eating honey and drinking mead with the blonde wench before she even has realized we left!"
Quinlan walks behind the others quietly thinking to himself. If I had known I would be crawling through the catacombs looking for undead I might have prepared different spells this morning. Hopefully these fellows are as strong as they are confident.
As the door swings open, Zagathoth draws his new sword and smiles. When Johann starts trying to tie a brightly glowing stick to himself the orc raises his eyebrow in bemusement.
Arc holds his journal tightly against his chest and utters a prayer before tucking the book into its designated satchel. Pausing only to make sure his various spell components and adventuring tools are readily accessible on his belt, he draws his longsword and takes his place close to the front of the group.
The Ogon Fox doesn't know much about the undead--no more than an average person. But they're not the kind of foes he would seek out on his own. His confidence is boosted, however, by the presence of these others with him. Cardinal Lucius, whose knowledge and experience in the church have surely prepared him for such as this. Johann and Zagathoth, who just might be scary enough to scare the living dead. He's not yet sure whether Arc and Quinlan are any better suited to this than he is, but there is more safety in numbers, at least.
CATACOMBS SAN CALLISTO, area 1
Johann (having strapped the sunrod on in a way that allows the light to radiate in all directions--atop his shaggy head like a miner's lamp) and Zagathoth lead the way into the Stygian gloom of the Catacombs of San Callisto, cautiously descending a flight of broad, rough-hewn stairs, worn smooth by the tread of countless feet over the long centuries since the catacombs were delved...
Arc and the Ogon Fox follow close behind in second rank...
Quinlan and Cardinal Lucius follow in the rearguard...
The flight of stairs descends 60 feet from the entrance to a great, diamond-shaped, vaulted chamber, 40 feet across and 20 feet high, with dark archways opening onto 10-foot-wide-by-15-ft-high corridors to the northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, and northwest...
The hewn stone floor is lightly littered with the bones and skulls of humanoids and beasts...
As the six adventurers reach the diamond-shaped vault and begin to peer into the darkened corridors beyond the seven archways...
Distracted by the grim sight of humanoid skeletal remnants mingled with the bones and skulls of less identifiable beasts, Quinlan fails to notice (at first) the sudden appearance in the northeast archway of a pair of thin, pale humanoids, with sunken eyes like glowing embers, unnaturally long tongues lolling from toothy mouths, and long, bloodstained claws instead of hands, clad only in tattered and bloodstained funeral shrouds worn like togas!
The others certainly do notice, especially when the pair of ghastly figures hiss and creep into the vault, and a horrific stench of decay hits them like a sickening miasma!
SURPRISE! SURPRISE! EEK! EEEEEK!!!
QUINLAN! SURPRISED!
JOHANN!
LUCIUS!
OGON FOX!
ARC!
ZAGATHOTH!
GHASTS!
OOH! OOH! AH!
Hisssss!!
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"Ghouls!" Lucius shouts, "Be on your guard!" He shouts in spanish, mentally cursing for a moment the group's linguistic diversity and privately vowing to learn the groups english as soon as possible.
From the back of the group he draws his longsword and begins the Lord's Prayer, his voice sonorous in the dark catacombs. "Pater noster, qui es in caelis."
His nerves already on high alert, the Ogon Fox reacts quickly as he yelps in surprise, summoning and throwing a small bolt of golden lightning in the general direction of the wretched creatures.
Unfortunately, "general direction" is the best that can be said of his hasty aim as the electricity flies by the ghasts and dissipates harmlessly against the catacomb wall.
Upon seeing the ghasts enter the radius of Johann's light, Arc uses his free hand to pull one of his flasks of holy water from his belt, waiting for his targets to get within range.