Brandark pulls free his Oil of Magic Weapon following Perri’s action. Roya, even in her weakened state, leans into Erastil to provide the strength that she lost. Calling forward Erastil’s positive energy and unleashes a touch attack that flashes as it lands. The white light of Erastil grows brighter within the shadow and causes the creature to turn into strands of shadow to rise of from where it was and leads into where the remains of the charred body.
Moments pass and it appears as if the shadow is gone.
As the shadow disappears from in front of his eyes, Brandark shakes his head.
Did you just get rid of a moving shadow Roya. I think that you just saved all of us.
He slips the oil back into poke, and walks over to Roya.
He offers a hand and says Well done, Very well done.
"That," Perri begins as he sits down next to his pack, "was actually frightening. I've been scared both before and in a fight. I've not been frightened like that, and I didn't even get engaged. Yes. Thank you, Roya. Thank you very much."
Then he puts his vial of oil away, the pack on his back, and prepares to move (with the others) back to find a door for the key.
Joras joins the others in congratulating Roya, "Truly brave, Roya, thanks, it likely saved us from a terrible fate. However that thing did touch you and it seemed to hurt. Don't mistake bravo for bravery;if you are hurt let us know how so we can help." Joras was close when that thing attacked and is sure something is wrong.
Address all, Joras says, "We need to move quickly, if we do not complete our tasks today, I fear we will not make another. We don't know who set this fire or why or much of anything. There is little reason to die in the attempt to prove ourselves if things continue to go more and more wrong. I do believe in being cautious," Joras nods to Perri, "and I do believe we need to do what is right when we must." He nods to Conrad, "But events keep getting more dangerous. At some point we will need to consider retreating. For now let's backtrack and see if there is a way down to the chamber with the lantern and go from there."
Roya shivers involuntarily, standing frozen for a bit before leaning against Conrad to let him help carry her weight.
"It...it was Joras. He did it, I just followed up and would not even have managed to touch it if not for his distracting attack.", she attempts to lift a hand to gesture towards the Halfling, unwilling to take all the praise alone - she was painfully aware that her own powers would have been insufficient to deal with the creature before it would have had a chance to end her.
Her hand raises slowly, her clothes feeling like lead.
"I...I am still scared. I think I was about to wet myself, there, to be honest. Thank you all for your kind words. I do feel very weak. I think I can walk, but there's no way I'm pulling that bow string...I...I think I have to rely on you lot for a while, now..."
Miron gives a shiver of relief as the shadow dissipates. He stows his wand away and joins the others to check on Roya.
"Do you need someone to carry your pack?" he offers. "We could go outside, I feel like some sunshine would be nice before we go any deeper." he adds.
Oh, also, did I inspect the dagger for magic before? I'll check now if I didn't
Joras follows up himself saying, "I helped but you carried the day Roya with your faith and courage." Continuing, "There is one corridor we haven't checked I think there may be a door at the end, not sure, and there is the door at the pool unused. Daylight sounds good though, it we could use some lifting of our spirit. Then, plunge back in if we all agree to do so, this situation has already gone beyond reason." Joras will assist Roya as he can and she will permit and will follow the lead of a target err heroic person much larger than him.
As the group decides what they are going to be doing next, Miron check over the dagger casting Detect Magic. Detecting as Transmutation, Miron discovers that this dagger with a blackened blade is a +1 Dagger.
The group decides to head back outside for some fresh air. As you begin to move through the chamber you notice that the smell of rot coming from the corpse of the villagers is growing stronger. The fresh air is welcomed, except when you walk out the double doors vultures fly off from picking the flesh off the horses and ponies.
"No...I don't think I could walk much farther if I wanted...", Roya offers a weak smile. "But thanks. The air is not much better here, but some sun is welcome. I do feel better already..."
"More and more I'm convinced this is NOT how our lantern lighting was expected to go. I'm almost ready to grab out panicked friend and head home. But one locked door suggests we've nearly finished or basic task, despite the situation." He looks down, and kicks at a buried stone.
"I've been thinking. We shouldn't panic the town. The story of what we've found, what needs to be done here, should be given to the leaders, not the masses. The town may be better off without a panic."
"Yeah, we should tell the mayor when we get back." Miron agrees. "We need to find Roldare's sister. I hope it wasn't the body that got burnt up. We could see if he recognises the dagger? It's magical, that's why it didn't get wrecked, I think."
"Should we bury the bodies of the people we found?" Miron asks, watching the vultures fliy off. "It'd give us something to do before we go back in, and it seems like it's more respectful for the tomb?" he adds uncertainly. "Plus, they're starting to smell."
I agree Perri, I doubt this is how the village elders expected the lantern lighting to go. I also agree, that someone needs to deal with what is happening. otherwise I have no idea what it will be like for the elders, plus we are here.
He takes a breath
Besides, my Uncle always told me, that bravery is being scared out of your wits, and still doing what needs to be done.
And this
He waves a hand at the tomb
Still needs to be done.
Joras sighs saying, "I agree the town leaders should be told first but I will tell family about what happened;lying, even by omission, is not our way. So the story will get around and it would be best if told clearly, not by rumor. This will have an impact on everyone so everyone will need to deal with it, sooner or later. Best sooner. And that assumes will all come back somewhat close to intact, even one death would be difficult to pass off as an accident. We can move to light the lantern, assuming that there is a flame left to light it from, and see if we can find the missing lady. Hopefully that will be the end, and we can depart, leaving answers to other questions to others. In the meantime, I'll play a tune for hope and fortitude and we can set off, when ready."
Joras plays a tune of hope in the face of adversity to lift spirits.
After much discussion, the party decides that it is important to accomplish the task at hand, but upon arrival back in Kassen to inform the mayor and town leaders of what has happened here. Joras’ way is not to lie, even by omission.
The group takes time to regroup and fill their waterskins in the chamber with the pool. Without a shovel it is would be a difficult task to dig the graves for the four bodies, including the heavily charred one. With the rocky walls of this valley, the group does believe they could gather enough to make a cairn to bury the bodies beneath. This way would prevent scavengers from eating them.
When the group shows Roldare the dagger he shake his head; “No… no… that isn’t hers. That no one from our town has a dagger like that.”
With the dagger being a temporary dead end, the only way to go is with the key. The group heads to the room with the pool. From your previous inspection of the door, there were no traps just locked.
The key opens the door revealing a small chamber followed by a long straight hallway.
A small stone bench sits in the center of this dusty chamber. On the far wall is a faded mural depicting the hero Kassen defeating the mercenaries at the entrance to this crypt, with his blade piercing the chest of the mercenary leader. These figures stand alone in the center of a scene of carnage, with dead villagers and mercenaries all around them.
You find this odd. Both Kassen and the mercenary leader are wearing golden necklaces, each made up of a simple golden chain, from which hangs an oddly shaped medallion. While not identical, the amulets look similar.
Well, this is odd, the medallions that they are both wearing are similar, maybe brothers ?
Brandark also flips the dagger hilt out and passes it to Miron.
I think that you will be using this a bit more than I
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Shield strapped to his arm and flail drawn, Conrad stays on his guard for any sign of movement. He notices the similar medallions too. "Or some kind of holy symbol?" he suggests, unconvinced. The only person he's ever seen with a medallion is Father Prasst - though this looks nothing like a symbol of Erastil.
"There's p-probably another room ahead," he points at the hallway facing the group.
"Do you think there's more traps, here? The other corridor was...not fun.", Roya cautiously stares down the hallway after looking at the Mural for a bit and taking note of the oddity Brandark noticed.
She casts light on some pebble or piece of debris and throws it down the hallway.
Joras says, "Only one way to find out, I'll scout ahead a bit." Joras cautiously moves forward, slowly testing his weight on each tile forward ready to jump back if it gives away.
While advancing Joras tries to recall anything about amulets worn by the hero and villain of the founder's stories.
Medallions worn by anyone connected to the founder in any way.
"Hunh. Interesting." Perri moves closer to the mural, trying to get a better look at the medallions. Is the difference an artistic angle? Can he tell what is supposed to be engraved or carved on either?
Miron takes the dagger, although he checks if anyone else want to use it.
He looks over the mural, once again wishing he'd paid more attention to the tales about Kassen. "I guess the bench is if you want to study it for a while." he suggests, with a shrug.
When people mention the amulets, he casts Detect Magic again and looks over the painting again as the pale blue glow washes over his eyes.
Brandark offers Miron the dagger, who checks if anyone else wants it before placing it in his belt.
Joras scouts ahead to see if there are any more trap like they have previously encountered. He makes his way safely to the end of the hallway and finds a door. It is not locked it is also not trapped.
Miron mentions the bench but turns back to the painting. Casting Detect Magic on the painting does not reveal that it is magical. Besides a few things the group owns, nothing in this chamber is magical.
You have not heard any stories about a possible background between Kassen and the mercenary leader in the paintings. But, you fully believe that there is something connecting the two based on the amulets. As you know, some stores are lost forever in the past.
Opening the door reveals a slight resistance behind the door. Not of something in the way, but almost as if it is designed to close itself.
In this wide domed shaped chamber, you see a single pillar in the center of the room supporting its ceiling. At the base of the pillar you see a pit surrounding it, but a stone bridge crosses the pit on the south side. Dozens of arrows jut from holes in the pillar, facing every direction.
You can see that to the south there is a door. From the doorway you cannot see the far side of the chamber.
After going down the corridor without incident Joras is confronted with the door at the end. Not seeing anything like a lock or any obvious trap he opens it and peeks in. He then tells everyone what he sees and lights up a pebble. Carefully not stepping into the room and firmly holding the door open, he tosses the light to the area he cannot see.
Joras also tells them about the odd resistance to the door and what he sees when the room is lit up.
He says, "Hey everyone, that room looks very trapped, and I don't trust the door not to close and lock on us once inside. Any way we can take this door off its hinges? I'n not sure how to approach this without major trouble."
How about we spike the door open instead of trying to remove the door.
"Or, you know, throw in one of the animal bodies...while we stay here - if it's designed to lock us in, we might find out. Or, at least, we'll know it's safe to take a few steps inside and take a closer look.", Roya adds to the chorus of suggestions.
Joras shrugs, "Just a suggestion but my thinking is does any of us know for sure how to securely spike or block the door? If the door is taken off it won't just leap up and rejoin - at least without a lot of magic. I'm not sure it's even possible to remove it, just that its resistance made me think it is rigged in some way. If not, spiking or blocking would be our only options anyway."
"Blocking the door seems much simpler. If it can't close, it can't trap us inside, right?"
Looking over the door before testing his strength, Conrad does not see any traps. He also discovers that even though this tomb is almost 200 years old the construction of it is strong. He is unable to rip the door off the frame.
Other make suggestions on what to do.
In all that has happened, you remember Roldare saying something about the shields being key or the shields are the key
Wait, wasn't there a line about the shields being key ?? if so, how about we go grab the shields off that wooden thing that attacked us.
"But we don't know with what force the door will try to slam shut...if you want to block it, it must be something strong...", Roya looks at the pillar with concern.
"I've still got a couple of pitons." Miron says, pulling them and the hammer out of the pack. He carefully hammers it into place, glancing nervously up at the pillar of arrows every so often.
"Yeah, I'd feel better with one of those between me and all thosearrows."" he agrees with Brandark.
Conrad, Perri, you want to come with me to go grab them shields?
Brandark borrows the hammer, and hits the piton a couple more times to ensure it is wedged open.
He then walks off to go bring back those 2 big arsed shields.
Joras follows up what Roya says, "Yeah, Roya that was my thinking, door on floor not getting shut, door spiked or block maybe it shuts anyway with enough force. Don't know maybe just a bit well, scared, because things are not working out as they should, I agree with Perri, this has gone wrong. Even that hit from that statue was too hard for a prank."
At the suggestion of the shield Joras replies, "Sounds a good idea as any, that pillar of arrows looks really bad. Shouldn't be fatal as a prank but not willing to bet anyone's life on it. One or two at a time and cautious advance."
"Yes. Let's get the shields. Brandark and I can be a mobile shield wall, and one of you at a time can hidebehind the shields as we ferry back and forth through the room. Maybe we won't need them, but we don't need to risk assuming we won't."
As Miron uses two pitons to wedge the door in place he believes that this would be strong enough to hold it in place. Stepping back proves that he was correct.
Joras tosses a light into the room and it is fully illuminated. Without going in the room and rounding the wall, it is impossible to see on the other side behind the pillar. But you think you can see the edges of a door frame.
While that is happening Brandark & Perri head off to go and get the tower shields from the wooden statue. On the front of one is inscribed “Home” the second is inscribed “Family.” Both are able to make their way back with no problems.
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Conrad puts his buckler away so he can carry the tower shield back into the room. He's surprised by how heavy it feels, and has difficulties even lifting it slightly off the ground, mostly pushing it in front of him awkwardly. It's rather fitting he went for the home labelled "Home", he thinks, because that's how much it seems to weigh.
"So-what do we d-do?" he turns to Brandark, and gestures vaguely at the rows upon rows of arrow tips. "J-just hold it in front of us and trigger the t-trap?"
I am thinking that is exactly what we do. But I suggest Perri uses this one
He quickly glances around to see if anything looks like a shield imprint.
Add 2 for unusual stonework.
"Almost. We overlap the edges a bit, like this, keep the face of the shields turned towards the arrows, and keep ourselves and a third person behind the shields as we scoot them across the room. Who wants to make the first trip?"
Joras volunteers, "Best be me, you'll have to scrunch a bit but, if anything goes wrong, I'm the most nimble and have the best chance to dodge. If that goes well should be long in time but short in risk to shuttle the others safely." Joras doesn't seem too concerned about this, confident in is size and quickness.
"We might just need to trigger it once?" Miron offers. "Maybe chuck something at the pillar."
"Yeah, Miron is right. I mean, how likely is it that it will reload those arrows by itself? We bolted the door open. Why not just get close enough to trigger it, then hide behind that shield and get back out? Maybe we need to do that 2 or 3 times before it runs out of arrows, but that seems much safer than trying to shuttle people across it while it's busy firing...", Roya adds to Mirons suggestion, while weakly holding on to the sleeve of Joras tunic, implying him not to risk it. "Plus we don't know what is on the other side. If there's something dangerous, we won't be able to come help."
Perri shrugs. "Should work if we can find the triggers. That's the part I'm worried about. Losing focus while trying to step on the right spot, and letting the shield drift from where it should be . . .. But we can try it, sure."
Joras notices the tug at his tunic smiling slightly, he says, "Okay Roya, I'll stay put and let the big guys with shields test this. I could use a sling ..." Joras is interrupted by Conrad, so he replies, "Okay, if you want, come back if it starts shooting we want to draw it out of ammo." Joras crouches lower to let everyone see over him as he watches what happens.