Kevan was too busy working on the lock to notice anything else, he gets a little focused. Once Felix is healed and appears ready to go through, Kevan bows and gestures toward the door as the paladin moves through.
After receiving healing from Jhessa, Felix moves forward switching positions with Kevan after he disabled the lock. Looking around and seeing that everyone is ready Felix turns the handle and begins opening the door. It only opens a few inches as it hits something behind the door. It is not enough to get an arm in but enough to let out light from within.
Then suddenly those up front, Felix, Kevan and Aldmus, hear a click as a bolt flies from within the room striking Felix off guard
The wailing from within and you are able to make out rambling words. “Angry bones… sweet Dimira… won’t get me…” You cannot make out the figure from within, but you see that it is moving side to side blocking and unblocking the light source behind it.
Initiative: Round 1
You all
X
"Ow! Darnit!" Felix pulls the door to and takes a deep breath as he gets his feelings under control. He opens the door again, just wide enough to be able to speak through. He shouts to be heard over the wailing.
"Hello?! Can you stop shooting at us, please? We're not skeletons! We are very alive, and we've just travelled here from the village of Kessan. Will you talk to us, please? Maybe we can help!"
Herskor hears Felix's reaction and draws his bow, readying an attack in case his companion's diplomatic efforts fail, and if he can manage a miraculous line of sight to whomever is their adversary.
Esgean follows Felix' lead; if there's someone alive in there and part of the group that met their fates in this awful tomb, they owed it to that person to try to save them.
She takes one of her rations and quickly wraps it, then kneels beside Rejke. "Take this and deliver it to whomever is inside."
The bobcat accepts the small parcel of food in her teeth and slinks past the rest of the team into the room beyond.
Does Kevan recognize the name Dimira?
From within the door you continue to hear the ramblings of whoever is on the other side; “Maybe they are here to help… no… no… tricks of the dead one… the one who speaks…”
Herskor readies his bow but realizes the shot would be a Harvest Day’s trophy shot if he were to hit what was past the door with how far away he is, shooting through his friends, and the door opened just a few inches.
That is exactly what Rejke finds as she arrives at the door with the rations. But Rejke uses her strength to nudge the door open just enough to barely squeeze through.
As she enters everyone from the outside hears a clattering as if something was knocked over or dropped and you can see from the shifting of the light that whoever is within this room is running for its life; “No… an undead beast… HELP!!!”
Opening the door you find a small chamber that has been turned into a makeshift safehouse. What chairs, barrels, and crates that were in this room were pushed in front of the door as a barricade. You see a very nice quality Light Crossbow laying on the floor, that must have been what Felix was shot with. It looks to be of the craftsmanship of Braggar Ironhame.
In the corner cowering for his life, you see a sad pitiful sight. You see Roldar another one of the mayors friends. He is a handyman around the village doing odd jobs for people. Kevan would recognize the name Dimira as his sister. It wasn’t until seeing his face that the picture became clearer in Kevan’s mind.
"Roldare, we are the group of young initiates sent from town to capture the Eternal Flame. We were dispatched two days past by the Mayor. We are very much alive and can help you. Here, take a little of this food."
Esgean unwraps the parcel given to Rejke and cautiously approaches Raldore on her knees, extending the bread to him.
"My name is Esgean. This is my companion Rejke and these are my friends. I know you recognize us."
"I wonder what he was doing here...?" - Herskor ponders to his companions, as they wait for Roldare to reply to Esgean.
"Is Dimira ok?" Kevan asks actually seeming concerned.
As Roldare sees your much living faces, mentioning of being sent from Kassen to capture the Eternal Flame, and Esgean’s mention of friends and that she know you recognize us Roldare slowly holds his hand out and touches the soft fur of Rejke. You can see that the worry and fear of an undead beast as he called her melts away, but his eyes begin to fill up and tears roll down his dirt filled face leaving trails behind.
Collapsing into Rejke as if she was a pillow he begins to weep as he takes comfort in the bobcat. If Rejke pulls away or allows this to happen, Roldare continues either way. “Three days ago… it’s been three days trapped in here. We arrived to prepare the tomb for your first adventure… but that first night evil walked the halls… Walking bones attacked in the middle of the night, killing poor Gerol and Vark.”
Wiping the tears from his face as they continue to fill his eyes as he recounts the incident; “We tried to fight… then the one with the voice of death appeared… He took my sister, Dimira… I left her behind… I would have died too… he stalks these halls wearing ancient mail…”
His eyes catch the crossbow that he dropped and he quickly rushes over and picks it up and starts to push it towards the closest of the group; “Here, take this… please save her… Save my sister…” falling back towards the corner where he was, he continues wailing; “What have I done… I’ve abandoned her…”
He continues to cry in the corner, holding Rejke if allowed otherwise he is holding his knees against his chest.
With a quick survey of the room you see that with the door that locks and things that could be used as a barricade, that this would make a great safe haven for the group if the need came for a place to regroup and recuperate.
In the corner you see a pack, a quiver and two bedrolls sitting next to a barrel. On top of the barrel, you see an unlit bullseye lantern and an empty waterskin.
4 flask of oil, two potions labeled as Healing. . You also see the empty remains of a ration pack.
Rejke may be Esgean's lifelong companion but she is still a wild animal at heart. The bobcat begins to retreat but everyone can see the calming influence the animal has on Roldare. The young druid sits in the corner should to shoulder with the broken man, encouraging Rejke to sit on her lap and allow the man to take solace in her warmth.
"We'll find your sister, I promise you. Here, have another bite to eat," she says, again offering him a bit of food. Then she asks, "How many of you came from the village? Who else should we look for?"
Felix leans down and puts a consoling hand on Roldare's shoulder.
He looks at the others. "The undead! The undead have come to Kassen's tomb! We have to stop them!"
Turning back to the crying man, Felix kneels down and motions to Esgean. "As she says, we will find your sister. Do you want us to lead you out, first? We have already found the bodies of three of the others. It's not safe here in the crypt."
Kevan pats Roldare on the knee, "We'll get her back. I promise, we'll get her back." Kevan says with none of his usual frivolousness. He looks at the rest of the group, [b]"I think it goes without says but if this thing has taken her then we need to go get her."
Kevan gathers the oil from the pack and transfers it to his own leaving the healing potions.
Aldmus stands to the side, ruminating on the drastic change of events and leaning on his staff as he does so. Grimble, his raven, sits on his shoulder, and uses his beek to nudge the side of the half-elf's head, saying, "Pay attention. Serious stuff, now."
"Bah! Knock it off, old bird. I know." the mage scowls at the blackbird, and then says to the scared villager, "Are you well enough to head back to the village on your own, Roldare? You're in no state to be of help here, but you could head back and let them know what's going on."
"Can you do that? It would probably be a good way to assist your sister...and us. You could make her proud..." Aldmus moves to stand near the scared man, trying to make eye contact as he speaks.
Between bites Roldare answers; “Six… there are… were six of us…” as the idea of the party leading him out so he could find his way home Roldare sternly shakes his head; “No… not without Dimira…” he continues to eat.
The group knows there are a few options to check out still. The first one is the room with the flowing water, the second two come in the room with the beetles. The closed door and the stairs that go up into darkness.
"There are more rooms on this level to explore, but the room with the beetles did have stairs leading down. Could we use some of the lamp oil from Roldare's pack to burn the beetle swarm away?"
Esgean looks around the room. "You have done well to make this room defensible, Roldare. You can hold out here until we return with your sister."
To the others she says, "My vote is the room with the pool. If there were six then beside Roldare's sister, one more is still unaccounted for."
"An oil fire is exactly what I was thinking for the beetles. As to the water room, I guess we can go take our chances on facing an octopus. Just don't let it jump on your face. I heard of a guy who had his brain sucked out his nose by one. Gruesome." Kevan says.
"Good ideas." Aldmus nods in agreement with the Esgean and Felix's solid plans...right up to the point where Kevan mentions the octopus.
"There's no way that there's an octo..." and then catches himself in midsentence. "You know, it would be ridiculous, but...this IS a unique enviroment. Who's to say what's waiting for us in there..there just might BE an octopus."
"In any event, let's make it four votes for that idea. We'll face the beetles only if we need to..." the mage nods again, encouraged by the plan of attack.
A pause, then Aldmus adds quietly, "...but just to be clear: octopuses DON'T suck people's brains out their noses."
"Really? I can't believe they would have lied to me about that. Just the same, we need to be careful when we go in. Kevan responds as they head off to the water room.
When Jhessa hears Roldare's tale, she exchanges a look with Aldmus as if to say 'theory confirmed'. As the others talk, she puts a hand on Esgean's forearm and whispers "Well done" for calming the clearly distressed man down and praising him for his efforts in keeping safe.
Spotting the empty rations, she asks Roldare "Do you need more food? Or anything else?" in a kindly voice, conscious that being barricaded in the room for three days consumed with worry is not likely to have done much for his mental state. Once she's happy he is ok - or at least as much as is possible given the circumstances - she asks "Can you tell us anything more about the creatures within the crypt? What they look like, how they act? Anything could be helpful for us looking for your sister. The light of Shelyn will guide our way."
As Jhessa addresses the poor man, Herskor approaches also - "And what do you mean exactly when you say 'you arrived to prepare the tomb for our first adventure...?" - the half-orc seems confused.
The group is taking great care of Roldare and though still majorly shaken from the things he witnessed, he seems to be calming down even more.
As Herskor mentions them arriving to prepare the tomb, Roldare nods between sips of water; “Yes… we come in and lesson the traps of this tomb… pillows in the pits… blunt arrows instead of arrows… pad the blades…” Looking as if he disappointed a child on Christmas who was just revealed that Saint Nicolas is not real; “We have done it for years… and the leaders before us did it too… and before them… but this time something evil happened… walking bones…” saying those words brings him mentally back to the night when it happened and he starts to close up a little.
Jhessa ask about the creatures and Roldare shrugs; “There were six… maybe seven… only one had the voice of death… it was the only one wearing ancient armor…” a tear goes down his cheek; “Dimira…”
You get the clear impression that Roldare is not willing to go anywhere without his sister. This is also the safest room you have come across up to this point. “Now that I know there are others… I will unlock it for you…” and he shares a simple knock code that will give him confidence that it is you trying to get back in.
The group backtracks through the tomb. Passing by the hallway that leads to the beetles and the hallway that leads to the dead end. You make your way through the pit maze and back into the entry chamber of this tomb.
Back at the chamber with the pool that Kevan peeked in before heading through the pillar maze you see that 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. Almost like a thunder clap, a voice comes out from the darkness, saying; “Magic is the key.” The voice slowly fades, leaving a dreadful silence.
A little subdued by the booming voice, Felix quietly asks Kevan if he wants to go first or if he thinks it's clear for Felix to go in.
"I got it. All you guys have voices that sound like that to me." He says before heading into the room looking for traps as he goes. He sticks to the eastern wall to start and then follows it around until he works his way back to his starting point. Unless an octopus does jump him when he checks the fountain, he says, "Wow, no octopus. Who knew? This is like the time Dr McCaskill and I entered the lair of the werewolf Belerophon. Creepy, but she didn't have an octopus either."
If needed:
Before they leave the room, Aldmus asks Roldare, "The one in the ancient armor? What can you tell us about him? About his 'Voice of Death'"?b[/]
***
His curiosity getting the better of him, Aldmus steps to the entryway of the 'pool room', obviously intrigued by the mention of the word magic.
Seeing the halfing progressing through the chamber, he mutters,[b]"Be careful, Kevan..."
While the group waits, the magic-user once again casts Detect Magic and ponders the meaning of the words spoken by the cryptic voice. He then scans the room, though only from the doorway.
Absently he asks, back over his shoulder, "Esgean? Do you have any way of checking if water is safe for consumption?"
Esgean squeezes Jhessa's hand and smiles wearily. It's an expression that says more than words: I'm afraid.
Minutes later at the pool, the young druid's fears are raised again by the disembodied voice and its cryptic clue.
To Aldmus she replies, "Not prepared. What are you thoughts?"
When asked about the Voice of Death Roldare speaks; “He… he controlled them… then he took Dimira… that’s all I know… I ran…”
Making his way into the room, Kevan does not find any traps. Again, it is pitch black in this room except any light sources the group brings with them. The pool itself looks like fresh, clean and clear water. Outside of the natural distortion water has on seeing things below, you can see clear to the bottom of this pool. You believe it is roughly 40 feet deep.
As you are looking you see something below, but with the fountain pouring into this pool it is hard to see exactly what it is. But your light source does reflect off something that is covering most of the bottom of the pool.
Looking around the rest of the room you see two doors that lead south, both are locked. Looking them over Kevan knows that it is outside of his ability to unlock this door. He will need the key.
From the doorway Aldmus does not detect any magic. Which would leave Aldmus to think that the fountain must be pouring from some sort of natural spring, or that there is some kind of pump system from the pool itself.
Esgean squeezes Jhessa's hand and smiles wearily. It's an expression that says more than words: I'm afraid.
Minutes later at the pool, the young druid's fears are raised again by the disembodied voice and its cryptic clue.
To Aldmus she replies, "Not prepared. What are you thoughts?"
Jhessa understands Esgean's unspoken message and squeezes her hand back: Me too, she silently conveys. But we're going to get through this.
"Before we move on, everyone gather round please and I'll give us all a lift. You too, Roldare. If you've got any injuries - or any mental hurts too - this will ease the pain." Moving herself to the centre of the group, Jhessa raises her arms towards the heavens, palms up. Reciting the holy words of a simple prayer, she becomes a divine conduit for Shelyn's power, feeling love and hope pour into her and a rose nimbus of light briefly surrounds her. Moving her arms down and stretching them wide, she unleashes a surge of holy power, washing over the party and healing them of hurts. Feelings of love flow through the girl, proud to stand tall in her goddess' favour, a radiant smile on her face and a bright blush on her cheeks.
* * * * *
In the pool room, Jhessa peers into the water. The light spell is not effective as she would expect and she can't see clearly to the bottom. "Are we able to do something with rope to try and retrieve anything that's down there?" she asks. "With a bucket or something? Otherwise, how is everyone's swimming?"
As Herskor mentions them arriving to prepare the tomb, Roldare nods between sips of water; “Yes… we come in and lesson the traps of this tomb… pillows in the pits… blunt arrows instead of arrows… pad the blades…” Looking as if he disappointed a child on Christmas who was just revealed that Saint Nicolas is not real; “We have done it for years… and the leaders before us did it too… and before them… but this time something evil happened… walking bones…” saying those words brings him mentally back to the night when it happened and he starts to close up a little.
”So this is all a farse…” - Herskor pondered - ”A farse gone terribly wrong”
—————
”If we are sure we need whatever it is that lies at the bottom of the pool, I can dive for it” - the half-orc shrugged.
Before:
Though renewed by Jhessa's healing, the young mage sighs, feeling pity for the obviously broken Kassenite, but asks just one more question of Roldare, "You can help us find your sister most by giving us some details of what is to come...tell us something of the challenges you know were are supposed to face. Things have changed, yes, but anything you can offer might make all the difference."
***
Now:
Aldmus moves into the room and up to the fountain with reasonable confidence, illuminating the way with his staff. "I'm not detecting any magic here, guys. I think that the fountain must be pouring from some sort of natural spring. That, or there is some kind of pump system from the pool itself."
The half-elf glances over to Esgean and then to where Jhessa is indicating and makes a face. "Swimming? Not my area, but it's probably a good idea for us to check this out, Herskor. Hmmm. Or maybe I could try to work up a spell that would transform Grimble into a..."
"Nope!" Aldmus' raven caws and leaves the magic-user's arm, landing on the lip of the fountain a few feet away.
The wizard chuckles, "Just kidding, old bird."
”The disembodied voice said magic is the key” - Herskor continued - ”Could this mean some sort of spell is required to open these doors?”
Aldmus nods at the Ranger, "Seems about right. Do you want me to look into that more before you swim down, or wait?"
"Halflings are natural swimmers of course. Though I must admit I'm better at finding hidden devices and breaking them than I am at swimming. I'm all for Mr Wizard giving this whole thing a look see. Belerophon had a big pool like this but it was more or less her doggy dish." Kevan says looking expectantly at Aldmus for him to do something amazing.
Aldmus nods at the Ranger, "Seems about right. Do you want me to look into that more before you swim down, or wait?"
"That's one way of interpreting it," Jhessa agrees. "But I think it could also be understood as 'the key - as in the object - is magic'." She frowns. "But then your spell didn't pick up on anything magical in here so that seems unlikely. And we haven't found a key, for that matter. Ignore me, I'm just thinking aloud."
She changes tack, looking for any writing in the room that may hold further clues, especially any that is magical and she can utilise a spell on. "Has anybody found anything interesting or unusual that may help, before Herskor - or our natural swimmer -" she shoots Kevan a wink, "takes a dive?"
Aldmus nods at the Ranger, "Seems about right. Do you want me to look into that more before you swim down, or wait?""That's one way of interpreting it," Jhessa agrees. "But I think it could also be understood as 'the key - as in the object - is magic'." She frowns. "But then your spell didn't pick up on anything magical in here so that seems unlikely. And we haven't found a key, for that matter. Ignore me, I'm just thinking aloud."
"No, no. You might be on to something. It could be that spell use is necessary, or it may very well be that a magical item is somehow needed. We can't just assume either is the case." The half-elf pushes his lips in and out for a moment, thinking. "If it is an item, it just might not be in this room. In any event, we should investigate both options, I think."
Felix tries the closer door, just in case. If it doesn't open, he'll try the other door, also.
Jhessa is heartened by Aldmus' words and that he thinks her idea may have some merit. I hate feeling stupid, she thinks, I'm glad that I've brought something to the situation. "Ok!" she says with enthusiasm. "That's a good point, but other than the beetle room there isn't anywhere we haven't been, I don't think. So unless we've missed it then it's either here," she looks round the room, eyes drawn to the statue of the weeping woman, "or it's back the other way. And I think none of us were keen on that if we can avoid it."
"Ok then, I will take a look" - Herskor nods, and strips down to his loincloth. You can see scarring on his back, and some kind of intricate tattoo covering his shoulders and upper arms.
Then he ties one of their ropes around his waist, and hands the other end to Felix - "Pull me out if something tries to eat me" - he smiled, grabbing a dagger between his teeth, and diving into the pool.
Felix smiles and nods as he's handed the rope. He wraps it around his forearm a couple times, grabs the rope, and braces his feet in readiness.
Esgean casts Guidance on Herskor and then grabs hold of the rope behind Felix. "Be safe," she says to her friend before he jumps in.
Unsure how he can be of help, Aldmus shrugs, then grins at Herskor and offers a small salute. "Good fortune, my friend."
Beyond that, he stands ready and watchful, while the others are concentrating on the pool. They'll call me over if they need me.
"Grimble. Watch for trouble." Aldmus calls over to his raven, with the standard command that puts the blackbird on high alert.
"Bossy. Bossy." the raven replies, though Grimble does somehow appear far more attentive at the moment.
Kevan picks up a pebble he can hold in his hand. If there is not one in the room he goes out to the main chamber. Once he has a suitable rock he returns to observe Herskor’s progress.
While in the room with Roldare, Jhessa channels positive energy of Shelyn through her holy symbol and it fills the room. In an instant everyone feels better. The aches and pains of battle is gone. Roldare even looks to be in better spirits from that healing surge.
In the room Herskor believes that he could dive to the bottom with ease. Aldmus walks into the room and for the first time sees into the pool. The light from his staff reflects off items at the bottom, but with the waves of the water distorting what’s below it only looks like glittering.
The discussion turns to the voice and what it said. Could casting magic on the door open it?
Felix tries the door he is standing beside locked and won’t budge. Tries the other one and he gets the same results.
Everyone waits as Herskor dives into the pool.
You dive into the pool and the cool water refreshing as it instantly wipes away the grime of this rite of passage, farse or not. The deeper you get the darker the water becomes . Reaching the bottom, it is almost impossible to see except you do see the light from above reflecting off things down here. Getting closer you see that it is keys. Around 100 keys fill the bottom of the pool. All different shapes and sizes, but all of them have the similar look of a door key.
"Um...He's got darkvision, right? Crap. I don't know..." Aldmus mutters, fishing in his pouch for a copper piece, which he then summons his arcane energies and temporarily infuse them into the metal coin with his Light cantrip.
Stepping forward, the mage swiftly tosses the coin into the water, with the idea of having it not land on top of the Ranger, but rather, to the side of him.
Esgean casts Guidance on Herskor and then grabs hold of the rope behind Felix. "Be safe," she says to her friend before he jumps in.
"I will" - he paused before diving - "Else I expect you to come get me" - then splashed in.
Since there are so many keys, Herskor grabs as many as he can, and swims back up.
Herskor emerges again, his hands carrying several keys - "There are at least a hundred keys at the bottom, so I brought a few back up" - he explained - "Maybe the one we are looking for is of them? A magic one? 'Magic is the key'?"
Herskor returns to the surface no worse for wear, and Esgean breathes a sigh of relief. But there are so many keys!
On a lark, she casts Spark on each of the doors. Rejke mews at her.
"Just fiddling," she says quietly.