____________________________________
Galadine, while eager to follow Dal and Yako, decides to try to learn more from this individual. Now that he’s a bit calmer, he may be able to share more information, whether he realizes it or not. Even more clues at this point would be helpful.
It’s clear he’s been traumatized yet somehow he’s managed to stay alive. Who is the dead one he speaks of? Could it be one of his companions or others who’ve tried to enter and failed? Or possibly the skeletons or the eerie shadowy figure we saw in the other room? So many questions! And what he’s said so far only leads to more questions. Let me try to assure him that we want to help him and the skeletons and beetle are destroyed. Maybe that will help calm him more, build his trust in us and possibly get him to tell us more, something, anything!
In a now much softer and calmer voice Galadine says,Hello sir. We are from Kassen. I’m Galadine and this is Kora and Eve. We are not going to harm you. You are safe with us. We have come to bring the Everflame back to Kassen to save the townsfolk. We have destroyed the skeletons and the beetle so they cannot harm you. Please tell us, who is the dead one you speak of? Where have you seen this being and what lies has the dead one spoken to you?
Dal and Yako push the door with all of their strength and if that doesn't open it, Dal detects magic on it to see if it has some sort of magical lock.
Then if the door doesn't open or isn't magical he turns to Yako and says, I think we hit a dead end, lets go back and get the others and head back to the main entry room where the skeletons were and try a different path.
___________________________________
Dal returns to the room with the crazy man and gets the ladies and they all go back to the 1st entry room and search the end of the room for doors or passages. If there are none Dal and Yako open the door to the right of the entrance.
Maybe he needs some time to calm down? Let's head back to the main room and check out that other door.
Back in the main room now, Kora takes another look at the two bodies on the ground. Anyone recognize them?
Nothing out of the ordinary stands out to him as Dalamagne searches the initial area they entered. the skeletons are still dead, the bodies are definitely decomposing, and nothing else has moved or otherwise changed since all of you had been gone some hours past. A glance outside the open door shows that it is well into night, the chill draft that finds its way in seeming colder every night. That seems to be partly the reason that the unknown bodies have not rotted more than they have.
At least the scavengers have not gotten to them yet.
The second door in the room creaks open easily, the matching pattern in the doors an elaborate work that has faded with time. In the center of this room is a large pool of clear water, fed by a fountain on the wall above it. The fountain has a stone statue of a weeping maiden holding the slain body of Kassen, but his head has been broken off and is nowhere to be seen. A voice booms out from the darkness, saying, The voice slowly fades, leaving a dreadful silence.
________________________________________
I got a bad feeling about this...Galadine we may need your magic, there is a strange statue in here.
Dal enters the chamber and heads immediately towards the exit in case he needs to make a run for it.
My spells are not of much use at this time however I can cast a protective ward around us. We're going to need to rely on Kora's spell to learn if that voice came from the undead.
As she approaches the entrance, Galadine casts a Protective Ward around the group. Kora approaches the entrance next followed closely behind by Yako and Eve.
Dalamagne carrying the torch can illuminate all of the room with no issue and there appears to be nothing lurking about. Of note are the numerous keys that are strewn about in the bottom of the pool. There had to be almost a hundred of them, strewn across the bottom of the pool like fountain offerings. Whether they were initially this way, or a key was added at some significant time is hard to tell. What is certain, is the depth of the pool. The keys sit at the bottom, tens of feet down, just enough that the torchlight can fitfully illuminate them, but not with any consistency.
The doors that Dalamagne examines are locked, but do not appear to be otherwise hazardous. Whether or not the two doors both lead to the same place is hard to say.
Slowly, walking into the room, Kora examines the statue and dips her fingers in just brushing the surface.
Hopefully the key is any kind of magic
Not knowing what to do she casts Light on the water hoping her magic might reveal something about the pool or the keys.
Eve also walks into the room. Observing the situation she checks out the corners of the room and leans up against the post in time to see Kora trying to cast something onto the pool. If nothing happens Eve walks to the edge and gages if she’s be able to swim down there and grab a few keys for them to try.
Dal attempts to pick the lock at the door while keeping an eye on the statue and the others.
As everyone takes stock of the room, examines the water, and checks the doors, Kora reaches out with her magic to test the water. The spell does not take, the magic feeling like there was nothing to grasp, or the subject of the spell was too diffuse to have it register. A more solid item could hold the spell, even if it was mundane.
Eve gauging the depth can tell it is a long way down— long enough that it would not be an effortless swim to get down there and grab any keys and then resurface. It would be easier with a light source, though. Provided that there was nothing dangerous in the water beyond the depth, it was possible, but it would take a long while to find the right key without some luck. Time was something that they had plenty of, at least.
As all of you take this time, nothing stirs in the room, or outside... None of you are fully rested, though. The wear of the day is lighter, but all of you could benefit from some uninterrupted rest. The unstable individual in the other room was unlikely to allow that.
The door is complex. Whoever designed these locks knew their trade well. The difficulty of the lock was such that Dalamagne could conceive of picking the lock, but it was not very likely to happen without the stars aligning.
_____________________________________
This door isn't going to be easy to open. I will dive in and get the keys while you guys stand guard. I've heard travelers at the inn talk about living statues.
Dal sets down his pack and strips off his armor, tunic, and boots and swims down to the bottom of the pool and gathers as many keys as he can.
The Light spell did not work on the water so Kora uses it on Dal before he goes in. Kora begins resonating the fire and light and then gracefully puts her hand on Dal’s shoulder and fills him with the warmth and light so that he may see the keys better.
Be careful Dal.
Kora, when Dal surfaces, let’s see how many keys he’s been able to collect and we can determine if I should also try to dive in and try to collect more.
The water is almost freezing, as Dalamagne descends down towards the bottom. Actually reaching the bottom does take some effort, as the depth of the pool is more than a casual dip. Once he reaches the bottom, grabbing a few keys and turning for the surface is easy enough, as is the swim back up. Several keys are in his hands, but none of the six that he retrieved seem to be the ones needed to unlock the doors. It seems that he would have to go down again, and grab another few keys to try. Nothing seems to have wandered your way yet, either from the crypt itself, or from outside its doors. No doubt that they would come eventually for the bodies, but perhaps the decomposition of the bodies has not yet reached that point for the scavengers to come and investigate.
With any luck, the four of you will be done with this adventure and gone before the larger scavengers tend to make an appearance.
_____________________________________
Out of breath, Dal blows some water out of his mouth and reminds Yako to close and guard the door.
It is deeper than it looks. Ok I am going to retrieve as many keys as I can. Remember the voice we heard said "Magic is the key", so one of these must open the doors. When I am done lets camp here for the night since it seems safe and close to the exit of this treacherous place.
He makes 10 more dives.
Then will rest for the night. Yako taking first watch. Eve 2nd. Dal third.
The next dive down sees Dalamagne in the water for over a minute before he resurfaces with a gasp of air, and six more keys clattering to the stone of the room. No luck on these. Again, he submerges and returns. Six more keys, no luck on those, either. Once more down and back, another six. None of those are the keys you need to unlock the door. On the return from the fourth dive down to retrieve keys, Dalamagne has become sluggish, out of breath and significantly affected by the chill of the water in this deep stone pool.
Winter is not doing the temperature any favors, but without a source of warmth, it will take a while before he can recover from the effects of the chill. While continuing is possible, for Dalamagne, it would be dangerous for him to keep attempting the dive.
As you all wait, nothing out of the ordinary occurs.
___________________________________
Dal crawls out and warms under a blanket.
Someone else will have to get the rest of the keys, I am out of gas.
Take a rest, Dal, and get warm. Let Yako take a few dives. Eve, you keep watch while Kora and I get some rest.
Galadine pulls out her giant pillow and curls up in a corner with her back against the wall. Kora takes a moment to eat something and shared some of her provisions with Galadine and Eve. Then she pulls out her blanket to get some rest, too.
Yako grunts back away, I am a strong swimmer. I will get the rest of the keys as he shakes his head at Dals weak attempt at diving.
The shock of the water almost startles the air out of Yako's lungs, and he can feel the cold wearing down on him. The realization that the light is diminishing as he descends only comes once he raches the bottom and can barely make out the difference between it and the keys. Still, the cold is not to be underestimated, and he finds the cold is already making it difficult for the more precise movements. Swimming back up becomes harder as he got closer to the surface, and it took an extra effort to making it back, but he reached the surface, four keys held in his hand.
Testing the keys as he recovered from the chill of the swim found that one of them was the key that you needed! The lock in the top door turns, and just like that, you can continue.
-- That is, if you were not planning on resting.
__________________________________
We will rest for the 8 hours the mage needs to restore her powers.
Yako takes 1st watch with all doors closed. Eve second watch. Dal 3rd watch.
Good work Yako and Dal. You have earned some well deserved rest. Wake me when it is my turn to watch.
Eve wonders what mystery or creature they will find behind this door as she falls asleep.
The room is secure. Nothing disturbs your rest.
With the peace to finally sleep, and the room undisturbed, resting until you feel refreshed is easy enough. The key to open the door has been found, and the question of the day was "what needed to be done?" The remainder of the crypt was still an open question, the wailing individual was also something that had not quite been resolved yet, and they barely saw anything in the smoky room before running was ordered. Whatever it was, it did not seem to follow.
Where were the two corpses from? Was the man in the room related? How many others were there? What was going on in this crypt that things had changed so drastically in a year?
______________________________________
As everyone awakens and gets some rations and water Dal recommends a course of action
I'm not sure what happened back in the main room or how those Kassen people got slaughtered or who the crazy guy is, but lets pack up and keep moving by unlocking the door to the right.
Once everyone is ready Dal unlocks the door to the right with the special key.
This long corridor is flanked by a row of human statues, set into alcoves on each side. With the torchlight from Dalamagne illuminating the majority of the halloway, you are able to make out the details of the statues. The statues look like Kassen, and each one holds a longsword out in front of it. The blades of roughly half the statues are wrapped in leather padding. There seems to be no one present, and even the wailing that you had heard before has not resumed, making the crypt silent save for your footsteps and the sounds of wind leaking through the small cracks from the doors that you have passed.
Statues, even made from wood as these were, were not simple things to craft. The more rooms that you explore, the more it is being displayed that Kassen was truly a notable figure. The history of the town has as much of his history as they can, but how much did that individual do outside of here, before he decided to found a town?
The group continues single file through the hallway, Dal leading of course and checking for traps along the way. Kora admires the statues as she walks along, her respect for Kassen growing.
Kassen was an explorer and adventurer before his days here in Kassen. I wonder if this situation we find ourselves in has anything to do with one of his adventures.
Dal attempts to open the door at the end of the hallway.
Eve, taking up the rear, hears Kora’s words but is not so sure if she agrees. Yes, this crypt seems to revere Kassen as a great man, but it is now filled with darkness and has taken the lives of some of the townsfolk. What if there was another side to Kassen that the town didn’t know about, and this is all his doing. While eve doesn’t believe this just yet, she still is skeptical unlike Kora. Eve takes her bow out and prepares for what may lie behind the next door.
Trying to recall the tales of yore, Galadine’s suspicion of more foul creatures lurking ahead grows like the billowing cloud of a massive thunderstorm.
I wonder if Kassen’s foes, both living and dead, have returned for revenge. We must remain alert and prepared for another creature, trap or obstacle. Her right hand rests upon her dagger, ready to draw at an instance. Her other hand clutched tight around her staff, ready to strike.
We have not yet encountered the creatures that have caused the death and destruction that we have passed. We have heard and voice leading us to the keys, yet none of us have identified the source. Stay alert and be on guard. I fear there could be other dangers lying ahead in the darkness of the next room.
Almost completely through the hallway with everyone following, Dalamagne paused, motioning everyone to stop as he crouched to look at a section of flooring that seemed no different from any part of the hall corridor than the other. Everyone was motioned back a good distance as he started to probe it with his tools, finding something after a tense few minutes and then taking another two or three minutes before he took a piece of his rations, of all things, wedging it under a part of the flooring and standing up slowly after outlining the section of flooring.
"A clever trap", he explained, dusting his hands off and wrapping the ration back up.
Opening the door, the torchlight reveals a multi-level room. One half of this lo!y chamber has a lowered floor, with stairs on either side to reach the bottom. Standing opposite the door is a tall wooden statue of Kassen grasping a gigantic wooden shield in each hand. One of the shields is inscribed with the word “home,” while the other reads “family.”
______________________________________
Relieved at actually finding a trap and thankful to Jimes Iggins for the training, Dal pauses to ponder another statue. This one made of wood? Dal has been paranoid of all statues ever since he heard Timo Huck an old spelunker tell him a story of statues coming to life back at the inn in Kassen... But alas the statue at the pool didn't come to life so maybe this one won't as well.
Continuing to look for traps, Dal grabs his shortbow and sets out an oil flask and wraps 4 arrows with part of the pillow cases, dips them in oil.
Wood should burn easily enough if this statue is more than just a statue. Everyone that has a bow take a flaming arrow that I have created here. If anything in here moves, go ahead and dip the arrow head in my torch and fire away.
Kora leaves the flammable arrows for the rest of the group. She has her fire bolt spell for burning things. The words on the shields really show Kassen’s character and who he was.
Those are the things he defended, his home and family, and in other words the town of Kassen. Maybe he can help us defend them now.
Kora examines the statue for a clue about what is going on or which way to go next.
Eve gladly takes one of the arrows Dal has made and keeps it in hand along with her long bow as Dal and Kora check out the statue. If nothing happens Eve checks out the next door, seeing if it is unlocked.
As Dalamagne prepares for something that seems a reasonable possibility, setting up for a reasonable possibility considering everything that has occurred so far in this crypt.
Eve follows suit, waiting. Thus far the signs of individuals have been obvious, with the pillows placed in the pits, and the leather sheathes on half of the swords of statues in the hallway they just exited. There should not be many clues in here, but there should have been something to see.
Yako stands at the ready, just in case. The statue is wood, so his javelins are not going to be too effective, but his axe... His axe will do just fine.
Kora takes the stairs down to examine the Statue on its pedestal, taking the stairs carefully, cautious. Nothing happens during her descent, but once she takes two steps off of the stairs towards the statue, something happens!
With a turn of its head, the statue orients on Kora, the rest of the body following suit to its orientation, the bulk shifting off of its pedestal with a single step, then another, approaching with an implacable stride. The platform it was standing on shifts, and with sound of stone over gears, both sets of stairs shift, turning into inclines that would make climbing them difficult, but not impossible.
____________________________________
For a split second Dal thinks of trying to negotiate with the giant wooden statue since he feels both the statue and the band of Kassen youth are all on the same team, but the aggressiveness of the statue changes Dal's mind quickly and he dips his arrow quickly in the torch flame and nocks it firing at the statue before it wipes Kora off the face of the earth!
he ponders as he looses the arrow.
Kora, D U C K!
Yako throws a hand axe at the statue.
Kora stumbles back as the statue comes to life. She then turns for the stairs which have somehow gone away and formed into an incline.
Skillfully climbing and dodging her teammates attacks, Kora makes it to the top platform with the rest of the gang. She turns and casts Firebolt at the statue.
Following in Dal's footsteps, Eve also tips her arrow into the torch flame and stakes her shot at the large, wooden statue beneath them.
Gal dips the arrow setting it aflame and fires at the hulking wood statue.
A hasty retreat is the wise response, Kora scrambling back up the incline of what used to be steps with no difficulty as the flaming arrows launched from the bows arc over her head. The statue keeps its attention on her, the methodical strides covering the distance as it navigates the incline with no issue at all. Its footing slightly precarious, but not enough that falling was any sort of threat.
Mid-stride, at least one arrow finds its mark, with Kora sending a bolt of fire to splash against the statue as it tried to navigate the narrow footing of the once-stairs. One flaming arrow sticks in the statue briefly before falling out, but a lick of fire could be seen.
____________________________________
Gal fires another flaming arrow.
Yako meets the wooden statue at the top of the stairs and swings his great axe.
Dal fires another flaming arrow
plus fire damage
The group backs off, except Yako, and fires away. So Kora does the same, with another Firebolt.
Eve also follows suit, makes a flaming arrow, and shoots again.
The statue is halted in its advance up the stairs by Yako, his attack cleaving into the wooden statue and leaving a significant gouge in its form. As arrows sail dangerously near the fight, only two hit the statue, the hardened wood preventing penetration from the others. However the fire does start to burn, and it does not seem to notice, that same shifting of its body raising the two shields up to bring them down on the impediment to its advance with a finality.
Yako stands under the dual impacts, but while he may be extraordinarily near the brink of death, there is still a little life left, clinging to this mortal plane.
The statue raises its arms from the strike, and maintains its balance on the stairs that are difficult footing. Its head turns to the others, marking them as its next objectives, preparing to advance again, if by some miracle, Yako was not still preventing it from advancing! You see its head turn back to the barely standing half-orc, stilled for a moment at still being blocked from advancing.
___________________________________