Fair enough here is the entire first floor. Nothing attacks you here. Not yet anyways. :P
The next room Alex checks is also empty, its purpose not apparent.
The room after that however has a series of plaques on the walls. Each plaque has a label.
“Laedrissia the Beautiful who believed she need not honor her promises to us.”
“Markhan the Golden, the draconic protector. He slept then and now he sleeps forever.”
“Kallister Feign, an illusionist too clever to keep his head.”
“Lazarus M. Who mourns for you now?”
“King Croc, 23 feet snout to tail, delicious on a spit”
“Iris of Ghastenhall, dead from a broken heart and a poison dagger.”
“The Great Serpent of Korokunga, slain for its venom”
“Lord Jurys Hallifax called the Just hid in his castle and hope we had forgotten. We hadn’t.”
“Snorri Five-Axe died on a sixth.”
“The ears of Lord Kelerrian. If only he had sense enough to listen.”
“Chief Gorgun Sakkathet, invincible in battle, careless in choosing his cupbearer.”
“Ergun Nigma, The third scion left in the House of the House Hyrhul, the second greatest swordsman in the land, the first to die.”
You assume trophies once hung here but they have all been removed.
The next room beyond this has an almost fully functional smithy. The bellows and the Anvil are in fine shape and there is even a stock of coals. You don't see any tools, however.
Moving on from the smithy Alex finds a large room with a steel cage in the center. Above the cage, a trapdoor hangs open.
You continue on and find a series of holding cells all long empty and finally a torture chamber. This chamber has also seen most of its furniture smashed but the tools of the trade all still remain intact.
You can go no further east so you go north and find a throne room.
Here sits a large stone throne decorated with scenes of daemonic victory over angels.
A spiral staircase built inside a hollow column in this room leads to the second floor. The hidden passage was smashed open. It appears to go both down and up.
Nailed into a pillar close to the throne you spot a small silver disk with a holy symbol of Iomedea on it.
A passage to the west leads to a courtyard with a fountain that still runs with fresh water.
Around this courtyard is six identicals rooms with beds and small furniture. Barracks most likely. One room looks like an explosion occurred here. The charred remains of several humanoids are scattered about and the entire room is charred. Another one of the small silver disks is pinned here. You find a book here. It appears to have been the journal of a low-ranking acolyte in the cult.
Moving on you find a tavern. There is a large fireplace here, a bar and shelves for drinks, and tables and chairs. The furniture here has been left unsmashed but all the food and drink is gone. If it was restocked you would have a working tavern here. Searching the area you find a hidden cache in the bar that was missed by the paladins. It contains an elixir of truth, some poison (Snake venom; injury or ingested; save Fort DC 15; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d4 Con; cure 1 save.) and 50 gold.
Behind the tavern, you find a large kitchen which has also been left intact.
You find what appears to be a storage room but all the boxes are empty. The body of a minotaur has been pinned to the wall with a spear through the chest here. Strangely the minotaur looks like he has only been dead for days.
That's it for the first floor. Let me know if you want to investigate anything further. Feel free to move about on the map in roll20 I labelled all the rooms and opened all the doors.
Cori reaches out towards the symbols of Iomedae each time the group encounters one, trying to see if they are possessed of any divine energy, or if they are just been placed here as some sort of marker.
Iomedae, light of the sword Aleks says with more condencsion then should be humanly, or half-orcly possible.
His voice switchs to a high pitched version, imitating the method of speaking of a high born human noble, whose nose was generally on a higher altitude then her brain.
Look at me, I am oh so Important! I walked through a dungeon and I am a goddess know! Fear me and bow before me! Clearly my deeds are so legend even my foes have honored them!
Alexandr pulls out the Illustrated Nocticulan version of the 66 unauthorized acts of Iomedae and waves it around.
Look Look, even Nocticula-Sempai notices me!
This Alexandr says, Is clearly the best tome on Iomedae, as a matter of fact, I have, upon the recommendations of my superior, devoted a fair degree of study into this unhallowed tome, to better know the secrets and weaknesses of our adversaries!
Alexandr really dislikes Imoedaeans :)
Looking over the everything as they Casta can’t help but point out small marks here and there theorizing how the battle went, “There is a smear of blood there, looks to be a spray, possibly a dagger to an artery. A deep partial gash in the ceiling, possibly an ally bringing retribution on the attackers head….” Trailing on and on quietly to the group and himself.
At the disk he studies it for a moment curious as to what it may possibly be, offering a comment to Alexandr “Your contempt for them is well placed, in their final moments I’ve noticed many shirk their allegiances to try to save their lives. I wonder if their goddess notices that? Do you think you may have inadvertently damned some someone as you cut their throat? The idea is interesting to say the least, that last moment is just so transitory and monumental.”
“Do you think your goddess would care or notice if you decried her in your last breath? Or or, do you think that moment is forgiven in their god’s eyes? Such a intriguing aspect, to think that someone’s entire life hinges on that final moment.”
As he speaks he thinks about the item and studies it.
As they explore he goes to look at the Minotaur and the spear quite interested in it. “I wonder, what sort of magic has caused this? If this is new then… who did it?”
The small silver disk radiates good. It is part of some kind of spell meant to suppress the evil in this place.
The room with the minotaur has a spell in place to keep food and drink fresh longer. Apparently, it had the same effect on the minotaur's corpse.
"Anybody know what would happen if I bring a blade infused with corruption down on one of them?" Cori asks. She draws her sword, weighing the possibility of what could happen if she smashed the silver symbol with the force of her dark power behind the blow.
My Godess would either consider it a valid attempt of deception of an enemy or a reason to do some exceedingly naughty things to my soul.
She sometimes turns her followers directly into Demons, passing by the the annoying larval stage and the dumb thing with forgetting what you were. I do not think I have provided sufficient amusement for her to qualify for that yet.
Alexandr says to Casta.
My guess is some exploding radiant damage, following by the laugher of evil gods, if we are lucky it summons some angel whom we can murder in the name of our lords. Go ahead but be ready for fight.
Best not set off any alarm or summoning spell, well, not until we are ready for company anyway. Stanislav recommends. Looking over the Minotaur he adds Vinnick is gonna love you big guy.
Stanislav will take the journal with him, intending to read it when time allows. He is happy to let others read it as well, but he is quite interested in learning more about the cult here and how it operated since, well, you know...
Vinnicks a necrophile Baphometan? Asks Alexandr at Stanislavs comment, as if remarking that Cori is blond, with an interested/bemused but not-judgemental expression.
Not specifically, no. He just hates to see resources go to waste. Stanislav thinks further. I do wonder though, with the condition of the body, should we endeavor to have the Minotaur returned to life? While Vinnick is powerful, his control of mindless undead has limits and that creature could have been a skilled warrior and not just a beast. On top of that he would have valuable memories of the cult. Worth discussign with Thorn I think.
Been probably dead for a while, soul should be gone, albeit their may be posession rituals that could be used to install someone or something inside, either Cardinal Thorn or Lady Thiadora may have viable candidates.
Given the state of the brain, such as asset may well be capable of accessing the subjects memories. I may actualy have one a possible rider as well, what do you think Shadie? Up for joyriding on a minotaur?
Asks Alexandr as his Phantom manifests. It looks vaguely like him, but with a fairly unusualy haircut and definitly more feminine.
(there is a picture in discord).
Hello Handsomes The Phantom waves at Cori and Stanislav.
Havents actually tried posessing people other then Alex much, he is kind of comfy on he inside actually, well, here goes nothing! The Phantom smiles as it manifests incorporally and attempts to hijack the dead Minotaur.
The phantoms haircut is a polite imitation of Nocticulas, without attempting the outright heresy of trying to copy it, by having 4 and not 7 tips.
If this is possssion, it is highly unusual.
As they explore the fortress, she looks about, even sitting on the throne, watching the other looking at the silver discs, rubbing Ajikisshochraos head, speaking in draconic, just need a treasure pile, some plants to make this enjoyable home.
Looking at the plagues, Whoever did these plagues, definitely had a sense of humour.
Seemed to be a well provisioned fortress before being put out of business.
In the torture room, she picks up a few instruments, Nice toys we have here to have some fun.
At the minotaur, Looks to be in good condition, usable for sure.
The shadow seems to enter the minotaur and it shudders and shakes for a moment but then the shadow reappears and shakes its head negatively.
As R'yzz is examining the plaques she notices something. A small silver ring was hidden inside one of the letters. “Iris Of Ghastenhall”. The same color as the plaque, the ring is easy to miss. This unimpressive piece of jewelry, clearly intended for a very small finger, has a tiny inscription ‘IoG’ beside an ornate rose. The ring is worth 5 gp for its delicate craftsmanship.
With the shades failure to posses the dead Casta shrugs, looks to the others. “Well seems we have found all there is to find at this level. Shall we journey up or down the stairs we found? I prefer up, in case we have to leave we can at the least try to escape through a hole or a window.”
Pity about thatSays Alexandr as his cunning attempt to aquire a Minotaur is waylaid.
Maybe something about the specific pact? I did rather thoroughly insist on limiting your abilities to a degree that would make it pretty impossible for you to take me over.
Yes, you are one big meanie! The Shadow pouts her lips and gives the perfect impression of an annoyed teenager fed up with her dad before she pops back into Alex.
Up we go then. Alex voices his ascent to go up.
You return to the throne room and use the stairs in the broken pillar to climb up to the next floor.
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. At the of the room is a throne with an identical chair as the one below.
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 reads (in abyssal) “Lead the flock into the arms of blessed Death.
In this room you find one more of the silver disks with symbols of Iomedea nailed to a pillar.
Inside this room, you also find a stone statue that has been decapitated. The statue is in the middle of the room and looks like it's running towards the throne. There is no sign of the head.
Lead the flock into the arms of blessed Death Alexandr reads out loud.
Веди паству в объятия благословенной Смерти.
The curious Absence of "Cuka" "Blyad" and "Ebat" means it is Abadonnian rather then proper Abyssal, in case the Daemonic rather then Demonic imagery didn give it away.
Interesting! Alex exclaims as he finds the statue.
Kind of bet that guy was petrified and then decapaciated, finding the head could net us a possibly valuable asset! Does anyone have by chance a measurement device? Having the neck circumference written down could do wonders in terms of actually finding the correct head.
Throne is probably magical, but currently surpressed by the least-important-godess-ever-symbols, I wonder if some way to invert, rather then remove them exists.
Spotting the silver ring, she sees if it is magical before putting it on a finger.
Hearing the discussion at the stairway she heads off to the gathering group, I agree. Rather go up first.
On entering the room from the stairway, she looks are all the designs and towards the throne in this room, Hmmm...., this definitely seems to be the real throne room, the one below a fake one, for not trusted visitors to the fortress. Definitely the silver disks is some ward keeping the original magic in check.
Looking at the statue, I guess there was someone that could turn flesh to stone. Need to be careful.
Movement pattern indicates that one was running towards the throne, hmm
Does Alexandr see any wounds on the beheaded statue?
Quite an expenditure of resources to stone one who seemed to be fleeing, assuming that the followers of "Notice-me-Sempai" are rational in their resource usage, then the throne contained a degree of power that made expending, perhaps a scroll, or petrification a smart plan.
The small ring doesn't seem to be magical.
You notice a letter of some kind in the statue's hand (also made of stone) you assume it was a piece of paper that was turned to stone when the person holding it was. A small part of it is legible.
“...upper levels lost...stairs a deathtrap...only way out...get to the throne.”
Outside this room, going north there is an L-shaped corridor that 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 cult. Some of the murals have been defaced, but there is simply so much adornment throughout that after a while the knights simply could not deface it all. They instead contented themselves with annihilating its defenders.
To the south, you find another chamber with a large cage, it looks like there is another trap door above it but this one is closed.
To the west, there is a small courtyard where you find several smashed statues put in a pile.
Another room further to the west holds a training room of sorts. Here a skeleton has been pinned to the wall by six spears, and the skeleton's hands have been cut off. A message in common has been written on the wall. "The Master of Acolytes who would come in the night to steal children. Let all who would turn to darkness see his fate and return to the light."
There is so much history here. So many things to investigate and consider. Stanislav comments. We could spend months here cleaning this place up and studying its secrets. I wonder about those identical thrones. No reason I can think of to make them identical unless somehow they are linked. One more thing to look into later. This skeleton here. He indicates the pinned skeleton with no hands. Is it the skeleton of a human? Stanislav will look to see if it has fangs. Why remove the hands unless it was a caster maybe?
Replying to Stanislav, Seems to be a priest of sorts, seeing the killers wrote a message to others the same will be done if caught.
The note, maybe throne doubles as a teleportation system? Curious.
Commenting on the murals:
I know an artist worshipping my Lady in Shadows, Specialist painter, fairly fun to be around. Sacrifice wise to summon wise, she greatly appreciates captured Paladins. I think Paladin blood was an ingredient for her magic red-colors, and I do not wonder that much what she uses for white, but she may have also been b&!$+&&~ting me.
You know, the murals that double as an information system because the eyes actually have a field of vision and can subtly gleam the secrets and capabilities of those who would dare to invade, or even draw in and corrupt an unprotected viewer.
On the throne Casta interjects, “I imagine whatever the magical ability of the throne is why it was suppressed. If it be teleportation or some other effect they used to escape, I would imagine the paladins discovered both ends and marked them as well. Or I could be wrong who knows.”
He will study this upper throne for a moment to see if he can get any idea as to its magical abilities or if there are any hidden things in or on it.
At the murals he takes note of them but seems apathetic to it. Mostly curious as to how such a cult forms. But at the dead skeleton he can’t help but marvel at it.
“This is strange, if there was more I could possibly determine what happened to him in order…at the very least it is a pleasant reminder if we are not capable enough what will happen. Failure does not bode anything but pain and death”
A thoughtful look comes onto Stanislav. The self righteous do-gooders came here in force with vengeance in their hearts. I am sure the tales of their victory here is recorded in their holy books. When we strike at the castle it may be that those priests and paladins will remember this place and come here to see if their foes have re-taken their old stronghold. So before that strike it would behoove us to be as ready here as we might be. If we cannot be ready, best to not occupy this old stronghold.
"I can't imagine these symbols are going to benefit us in any way," Cori says. "If we take them down, it may trip an alarm, but if we leave them up, they could be suppressing our abilities in ways we won't realize until it is too late. I'd feel better with them ripped from the walls, personally. If the paladins want to come for a fight, I'll give it to them."
She taps her chin, Perhaps, there the wards in place. When the paladins come we replace the silver disks with fake ones, as we move into a safe escapable room. Let the paladins enjoy whatever they were warding against. Once they are deal with, we then take care of the rest, or put back the silver disks. Let the paladins think the wards are in place until the last moment.
They may not come as quickly, if there is one thing one can count on its that self-righteous do-gooders are always certain in their victory.
Lady R'yzzntyg, I like the way you think, you have given me quite the inspiration! Alexandr gives a graceful bow to R'yzzntyg.
What if, mid-term, we get into the holy symbol market and establish ourself as a supplier? Of fake ones, which are actually linked to perhaps my Patron, although Lady Coriandrine may be agreeable as well. Only to reveal their lack of functionality when we make our strike! We could both fill our coffers, drive actually good aligned providers of holy symbols out of business and create weaknesses at the same time!
"I love the idea," Cori replies, "but can we pull-off a scam like that in the short time that we have? We are working on a deadline, after all. Emphasis on dead!"
More of a medium term plan after we reduced their number of castles by one. In our line of business, its always important to have something to look forward too!
Alexandr replies in a pretty upbeat fashion.
Second floor ladies and Gentlemen?
Grinning happily with her teeth showing, Thank you Alexandr. I do rather let others do much of the work, and stepping in to finish off.
Well we do have plenty samples of the silver discs to look at to get the design correct for our fake non-functional silver discs. After all we do have a workshop here.
Sure I am ready to see what the next floor holds for us.
“If they believe all of the cult is dead, then we may be ok. Magic is tricky, maybe they would think the plates failed or a creature crawled in and knocked them off. I simply worry about a trap, someone as devious as these cultures surely had many traps. It’s what I would do, but anyways onward for curiosity and villainy.”
Mid term, I am also for redecorating at least part of the premises in a manner befitting the Savored Sting and the Lady in Shadow.
Onwards to profits, glory and villainy friends!
It's impossible to tell the order the injuries were done at this time.
Continuing your search you come to a room that looks like it was the personal quarters of someone important. A large luxurious bed is here. This impressive oak four-poster bed is a mammoth piece of wood and a masterpiece of craftsmanship easily worth 2000 gold.
A mural on the wall shows two strange-looking horned and clawed bear-like creatures being summoned from the nether planes and bound using plates of iron.
You can all roll knowledge arcane or the planes.
You also find several more modest rooms in the area.
One room contains a full-blown shrine to Iomedae as well as several benches. It looks like the knights of Ozem stayed here to keep watch for some time after their victory and consecrated this room.
In a final room to the southeast, however, you notice the south of gusting winds inside. You open the door and see that the western wall of the room (Which is the outer wall of the fortress) is broken open and exposed to the outside. The room is also overrun with thick green vegetation.
(This assumes you go no further than opening the door let me know if you go inside.)
Some of the murals seem to indicate different rituals used to summon beings from other planes. One for hellhounds, one for nightmares, another for Earth Elementals.
The final one in the luxurious room shows the summoning of two Greater Ceustodaemons. Interestingly enough the plaques held by the Cultist in the depiction seem to have the true names of the daemons written on them in abyssal. Hexor and Vexor. The names seems short however and you guess they are incomplete.
Would be nice to know the true names of some daemons. Stanislav muses. Can't gp nay higher for now. The basement?
To the southwest you see a long hallway, there is a pit trap in the middle of the hall that was left open and some planks were put across it as a makeshift bridge. The pit falls down into the cage below. Beyond that, there is an open door that leads outside to a long staircase that goes down.
“As long as they don’t seek to destroy us, outsiders are never far from betrayal. Hmm, I wonder if there is a secret door we may have missed. Curious, I’ll take a look around before we head to the basement. Don’t want to miss anything just yet.” he takes out from his bag a small green vial, and with a careful hand pours several droplets into his eyes. The violet color of his irises glows brighter for a second as he blinks away the liquid and they return to their natural brightness.
“What a rush, I forget how invigorating Polypore can be.” he looks about with a renewed vigor about him.
Looking around Casta comes around to the pile of destroyed statues. Casta does a quick count and notices that there is an extra head in the pile.
He quickly examines it and he can tell that most of these are just ordinary statues and he finds the one that can only belong to the headless statue in the throne room.
You do not find any secret doors or passages however but you do notice that there is a trapdoor above the cage south of the throne room. If you could get up there and pry it open you could climb up to the floor above.
Barring that you could climb the outside of the fort.
As Casta is doing that Vinnick comes up.
"I tried to reanimate the minotaur downstairs and my magic failed. I did a few tests and it seems that all necromancy spells fail when attempted inside the fort at this time. Also, my undead minions cannot enter the fort currently. I'm pretty certain this is the doing of those silver disks we saw nailed all over." He explains.
Holding the stone head like a prized vegetable in a garden, he says. We’ll looks like we may be able to get some answers from our friend below. We will need to fix him of course before we turn him back to flesh but we may have some answers. There is however a trapdoor to the floor above in the cage on this floor. We may be able to continue up, if we want or we can go and clear the lower floors now that we have secured most of the tower atleast.”
At Vinnick’s arrival and comments he nods, As I suspected. Well maybe we shall deatroy them sooner rather than later Hmm?”
"It sounds like some sort of ward against undead. If that's the case, we'd better take it down, or Stan's going to have serious problems really soon." She turns to Vinnick and asks, "Do you have any idea on how to dismantle the ward?"
"I believe simply taking them down and removing them from the building should suffice. Destroying their shrine may also be required. I believe the wards are here for a reason, however. Likely to suppress haunts or spirits that may have lingered after the battle. Removing them could bring us troubles."
Replies Vinnick.
Remove one, quantitatively measure the effect on an undead, rinse and repeat? Could also be useful since, if we remove some he spirits or haunts will still be depowered, and we would have an improved diplomatic position over them.
I wonder if we can "reroute" the shrine rather then simply brute force desecrate it. 2 of us do explicitly worhsip deities of trickery and deception. Alexandr gives a nod to Cori
Good to know at least some things they do. Cori wanted to deal with them now. I see no reason to until we finish our look around but if Cori has a feeling about them then I will listen to her.
Going down the stairs in the Throne room pillar takes you to a natural cavern. The cavern you exit the stairs is small and empty.
The south wall of this cavern shimmers and is transparent and you can see a larger cavern beyond. As you examine the wall you realize it is a one-way illusion. Stepping outside you look back and see only a solid stone wall.
The cavern beyond the illusionary wall is small and empty but branches off into several other tunnels and caverns.
Vinnick will remain a little behind the others to further investigate the disks. Aiding himself further with magic.
Apologies for my distraction, this place does truly provoke ones mind and imagination, and of course I am mildly frustrated that my magic is unable to function properly.
he will look up for this studies as the illusion is revealed.
How interesting... that will prove useful, though, perhaps adding a bit of realness to it would work better. A wall with a hidden door, behind an illusion. That may prove useful indeed.