At mention of the raven, Jayla quietly added from her place by the fire, "I did not see it follow us to the Manor. Perhaps it has returned to its Master or Mistress for now."
Turning to face her new companions, feeling the fire's warmth now upon her back, Jayla asked, "Was there a map or drawing of the false crypt among the late Professor's notes and books? It would help to know how to get in and out without detection and where we are going once we're inside the Pharasmin Temple."
"I'm not sure... I think he might have left a sketch of it in the back somewhere." Kendra disappears into the library again.
It takes a few minutes for her to return. "No, I'm afraid he didn't. I think he was paranoid that the Whispering Way would find his journal, so he was as vague as he could be when describing where the crypt is--that includes not depicting it in sketch." She shakes her head in resignation. "I think he mentioned that it was in the northern part of the Restlands... still, there aren't that many mausoleums or crypts in the Restlands anyway. Odds are it'll be easy enough to find, even in the dark."
With preparations made, the party departs from the Lorrimor home as night falls in its entirety. The streets are dark, with even colder winds than before sweeping through them, tugging at clothes and hair with an almost preternatural ferocity. Not a soul can be found this evening, out and about... aside from the winds, the village is still.
The old road to the Restlands is well-traveled and dusty, and following its winding path for twenty minutes leads back to the gates of the town's large graveyard. The headstones loom all around, ever silent.
"I'd forgotten humans can't see in the dark," Khardan grumbles. "A lantern would be better than a torch," he continues. "Easier to shutter."
Imperia tries to keep her light source as unobtrusive as possible. She doesn't want to draw attention to bobbing lights in the cemetery if possible.
"I believe Kendra said the crypt should be to the North. Let's head in that direction. If I remember the layout correctly from the funeral this morning there was a crypt to the Northwest and a group of crypts to the Northeast. Where should we search first?"
The winds have stopped blowing. A pall of silence falls over the graveyard.
"There are a few crypts separated from the others," says Khardan. "They seem more likely than the others. Or we could just go clockwise through the them all. I guess they'll all have some sort of symbol of Pharasma on them. So we need to look for something that stands out beyond that."
Khardan leads the group to the first crypt clockwise from their position. Most of his attention is on his surroundings rather than the crypts themselves. He feels his job is to protect his little team and let the scholars in the group do the discovering.
"You can tell a lot about a community by looking at its graveyard," he says, conversationally. "It will tell you about families, the economy, hopes and fears. A graveyard can be serene and beautiful, a place to think and reflect. This one, though... It's... It feels as though it's holding its breath. Waiting for something."
Bramwell nods. "Yes, yes. Many families, many dead people. So the world marches on. No beauty here, Khardan. Now, on to other matters: I believe the crypt was located between Eversleep and Black Path, in the intersection, yes? Let's look for the signs on the pathways, and we'll find it." Bramwell starts walking north, stepping out of Imperia's light and into the darkness, where he feels most comfortable.
"Those who have gone before form the basis of all community, My Lord," replies Khardan, falling in beside the creepy nobleman and warming to his subject. "It is not the dead, but their memories which form the beauty here."
Bramwell smiles upon hearing Khardan's remark. He pauses for a moment, surprised by the half-orc's insight. "Hmm. Very well. There's beauty in your words, too, Khardan. Write them down so Miss Imperia can keep them. Me, I'll remember them till I join the people below us."
Imperia follows Khardan and Lord Bramwell. She doesn't hurry to catch up. She knows they don't need a light to see. She listens to their conversation as best she can, and smiles slightly when Lord Bramwell suggests that she write down Kardan's words.
Jayla listened to Khardan and Bramwell and was content to remain quiet for now and look around the crypts and headstones and following Khardan and Lord Bramwell in front. Lirin remained inside her Jayla's hood, feeling safer there at present.
Imperia was nearby and her torch light cast a shadow around them. Jayla used her darkvision to see into the dark(er) shadows about the crypts they passed and along the paths between.
She quietly casts Detect Magic to determine if there are any magical auras in the area.
However, looking over the graveyard, you think you catch glimpses of some magical auras... they're faint, so far.
The walk to the northeastern sector of the graveyard is relatively peaceful, if one considers grave-like silence to be so. The light cast by the lantern illuminates the party's path well enough, but the shadows the lantern casts loom ominously all around. The mausoleums the party passes are mostly unadorned and dignified, and all of them appear to be sealed against intrusion.
Coming upon the intersection of the Eversleep and the Black Path, the party notices a freestanding granite mausoleum, the roof of which is decorated with a pair of leering gargoyle statues. A single stone door with a rusty-looking lock sits in the mausoleum's south facade.
Imperia tries to look at the mausoleum, but is distracted by the stillness of the air. She doesn't notice anything of importance.
Khardan is so deep in conversation he'd walk right past the mausoleum if someone doesn't point it out.
In a much lowered voice, Jayla voiced her observation to the party, "I managed to catch glimpses of some magical auras over the earlier section of the graveyard, but they were too faint and far to determine what they were."
As they approached the intersection, Jayla's gaze is too intent on the gargoyle statues on the roof of the mausoleum to note anything else at this time.
The dhampir lord snorts. "Hmm. It appears the lock on the door here has been sabotaged. Broken with acid... Petros, you clever boy."
Imperia pulls out her rapier. She removes the loc,k and uses the rapier to push open the door. "Let's see what we have inside."
The stone door opens with the *grinding* of stone on stone. Within is a flight of stone steps that lead down into the darkness, ending in a large room with two archways on the north wall. The walls of this room are lined with empty niches--it appears that no dead are interred in this part of the crypt. A great deal of dust has settled everywhere in the crypt; it appears this has been the first time in a long time that the crypt has been disturbed.
A second flight of stairs descends further into the crypt beyond the archways.
Jayla cast her eyes about the space and her darkvision allowed her to see something on the dusty floor.
She quietly pointed them out to her companions, "See there, a set of human bootprints in the dust."
Khardan looks closely at the indicated footprint, then shies a small stone across the floor, allowing it to clatter down the stairs. He watches and listens. If nothing happens, he will lead the way downward.
The stone clatters down the steps.
Nothing happens.
Imperia follows the group down the stairs. She takes up a position in back of the group. She doesn't want to ruin their low light vision, and she can protect against attacks from behind.
Bramwell takes a look at the footprints discovered by Jayla, and unches over nearly touching his face to the floor. The position seems quite uncomfortable, if not impossible, but Bramwell seems to endure it effortlessly. "Hmm. Yes, I can see it. It goes this way. Please follow, will you." He starts retracing the footsteps of the stranger that came before them.
Following the footprints in the floor, Lord Bramwell leads the party deeper into the crypt. A second flight of stone stairs leads to a large room carved from stone, mostly bereft of anything save for a stone sarcophagus at the back of the room. Four stone statues of robed women loom from the four corners of the room.
The dusty footprints lead straight to the sarcophagus.
...
...something's in the crypt with you. You hear something *skittering* in the shadows of the statues.
Bramwell stops in front of the sarcophagus. "It ends here. I assume the stash lies within, protected by the coffin's occupant." The dhampir then proceeds to open the sarcophagus.
Imperia follows the group. Staying to the back. She looks around staying alert as they travel into the crypt, but doesn't notice anything.
As they step down, deeper in the crypt, Lirin nestles against Jayla's ear.
Jayla takes in the four female statues while Lord Bramwell speaks up by the sarcophagus. Lirin peers into the darkness surrounding the stone women, her feathers fluffed up but settles down among Jayla's dark tresses.
As Lirin chirps in Jayla's ear, the *skittering* noise gets louder. Leaping out from behind the statues are a pair of lengthy, segmented horrors, with countless legs and mandibles dripping with venom. They immediately close to striking distance!
As the creatures approach, Bramwell hisses and opens his arms, his palms stretched out, each facing one of the centipedes. "Halt, crawlers!" He squints his eyes, his own thoughts unnaturally reaching out to the vermin's primitive minds.
The centipedes skid to a halt for a moment as Lord Bramwell addresses them. They chitter briefly in surprise before resuming their attack.
Round 1
Seeing the approaching creatures with the dripping mandibles, Jayla takes a 5ft step back to stand between her three companions and begins casting, placing her hand on her chest.
Lirin hops into Jayla's hair, hiding inside (at the back of) her hood.
Back to back with Jayla, Khardan utters a prayer for Arqueros's blessing.
The centipedes lunge at the party, one of them biting at Khardan and the other chomping at Lord Bramwell...
Khardan's centipede bites down hard on his arm. It starts feeling numb.
Bramwell's centipede only barely scrapes his shin with its jaws.
Imperia moves carefully around the room in an attempt to avoid an opportunity attack. She gets behind the creature in order to split it's attention between her and Lord Bramwell. She strikes out with her rapier.
Imperia's rapier stabs the centipede, but it isn't able to pierce its hide.
Round 2
Jayla, seeing Khardan get bitten by the large centipede before him, immediately sets about warding the Half-Orc in order to aid him against any further attacks.
Having failed to stop the centipedes with the power of his mind, Lord Bramwell resorts to a mor physical approach. The dhampir arms himself with the scythe he had been carrying in his back, and slashes against the vermin.
Lord Bramwell's strike misses the centipede.
Khardan drops back five feet and stabs at the nearby centipede from ten feet away.
Khardan sweats and shivers, but doesn't slow down or give in.
Though Khardan's swing goes wild and nearly sends him off-balance, his natural resilience allows him to throw off the rest of the centipede's venom.
The two centipedes strike again, one biting at Bramwell...
...and its jaws bite into the blade of his scythe before it withdraws.
The other turns and bites at Imperia.
It misses entirely.
Imperia swings with her rapier again.
She then swiftly uses some of the power stored in her implement to create a shield around herself to protect against some damage.
As a swift action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to create a shield of mental energy around you that protects you from harm. The shield prevents a total of 2 points of damage per occultist level you possess.
It lasts until the start of your next turn or until exhausted.
For example, if you are 5th level, the mind barrier protects you from 10 points of damage; if you are hit by an attack that would deal 12 points of damage, the mind barrier is exhausted and you take 2 points of damage. You can activate this ability as an immediate action, but doing so costs 2 points of mental focus instead of 1.