Age of Ashes (Team Alseta)

Game Master Delta Arena

"Netkin, relax," Ardoinel says. "These 'dragons' are only about as tall as you are."

"While they might be short in stature, I've known kobolds to be quite dangerous at times. We should be on our guard even moreso!

Cerrus takes a close look around the room.

In spite of Ellaeaanda’s words, there is no answer. And Netkin, looking everywhere in the room, finds no signs of anyone else being present. Ardoinel, however, is right about the pile in the middle being their “horde” and Cerrus even manages to find some damaged coins and random pieces of precious metals worth 15gp.

On the eastern wall, the stones have been smashed, and some of the dirt past them has been removed. In fact, the side has been excavated for about three feet. Bent pieces of metal and pipes lay on the ground just besides the entrance, as well as smaller pieces of metal that look like rusty spoons.

“Silence and mystery abound,” Ellaeaanda intones in a faraway voice as her greeting goes unanswered. She steps closer to the eastern wall, examining the excavation and metal more closely. “What purpose calls thus in a hellknight fortress?”

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16

Whatever the purpose, the dirt on the bars and spoons is still slightly damp. Whatever this was, Ellaeaanda can tell that it was recent.

"Do you think it might be the kobolds who did that?" Netkin peers at the inside of the excavation. "I can't think of a good reason to dig a tunnel inside a fortress..."

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

“Recent this is,” Ellaeaanda responds as she bends down to feel the damp earth. To no one’s surprise, it’s clear that the hellknights aren’t responsible for this tunnel. “But whence this metal?” The elf probes with an arcane sight beyond sight, then picks up one of the rusty spoons for a closer examination.

Cast Detect Magic; Perception +9 if needed

Resa seems relaxed that nothing came out at them, but she does wonder when the kobolds left, because they did not fight them nor pass that she was aware of. "I do not know if they have passed us by some way, or if there is something else we missed. I missed."

"Do you think it might be the kobolds who did that?" Netkin peers at the inside of the excavation. "I can't think of a good reason to dig a tunnel inside a fortress..."

Ardoinel shrugs.

"They're kobolds, they love digging tunnels almost as much as dwarves do."

"হ্যালো?" he calls in Draconic. "যে 0মহৎ এবং করুণাময় ড্রাগনকিন এই জায়গাটিকে বাড়ি বলে ডাকে তারা কি আমাদের দর্শকদের সম্মান দেবে?"

There is no magic nearby. As for the spoons, it is clear that they were used to excavate the abandoned tunnel project, which was meant to be supported by the metal bars and pipes.

Once again, there is no answer to the call. Wherever the kobolds might be, they are not here.

“None remain,” Ellaeaanda pronounces solemnly when only silence answers the dwarf-elf. “An escape by spoon, without elven patience, abandoning both tunnel and supports.” She keeps one of the spoons, then turns and walks out of this room that offers nothing.

“Our fate lies elsewhere. The collapsed stairway to the aiudara calls past slime and haunt.”

Shall we explore the stairway?

"Whatever they are, they've probably left," Netkin nods with no small amount of relief.

Off to the stairway!

"Yes, let's keep exploring. We can come back for that bear later."

Cerrus walks with the party to the wide hallway that they fought the birds in and closely inspects at the collapsed area, as well as listening at one of the doors. B3

"Indeed. If they feel like showing themselves, they'll let us know."

He reaches into his pouch and removes a gold sail (the Chelaxian coin) and places it on the junkpile.

"আপনার মজুদের জন্য একটি বিনীত শ্রদ্ধাঞ্জলি," he says, loud enough that any who might be watching can hear. "আমাদের ভালো উদ্দেশ্য দেখানোর জন্য।"

The stairway has completely collapsed. Heavy stones and dirt from the battlement and courtyard above leave no access for either descent or ascent. Clearing the stairway would take days to accomplish.

There is more silence behind all three of the doors. The ones to B3s and the one to B2

There is noone there to thank Ardoinel for the act of kindnes... Except for the GM, who gives 1 Hero Point to Ardoinel.

How many hit points is everyone at? I got 22/30 for Ardoinel, 23/28 for Cerrus, 22/22 for Ellaeaanda, 22/26 for Netkin and 2/22 for Resa (Idk if resa drank the elixir or just took it.) But I don't know if my notes are right.

Ellaeaanda follows Cerrus, her bright violent eyes taking in the surroundings illuminated by her floating orb of light. She examines the rubble around the collapsed stairway, not in a futile attempt to clear it, but to search for any signs of danger. “Order within a hellknight’s domain?” She gestures at the northernmost (rightmost) of the three doors, suggesting that they maintain their pattern of searching north to south.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11
HP for Ellaeaanda is correct.

Mine are correct too. I think Resa drank the elixir?

"A dead end, too? Oh dear..." Netkin holds his breath, still expecting a herd of kobolds to run out of a door screaming and waving sticks. Or possibly something sharper than sticks.

He was always an imaginative kid. There were times when he regretted it.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

That's my count for Cerrus' HP as well. Maybe it's time for a round of Treat Wounds. I think the 25 minute timer on Resa is close.

Ellaeaanda

It seems rather unlikely that anything would come through that way, and the debris itself seems to have settled, with no risk of further collapse.

Netkin

I think so too but I saw no roll for it, so idk.

Perhaps it is your overactive imagination, you but think you hear tiny wooden steps coming from the central room. B2

Cerrus

Everyone’s timer has run out by now.

Ellaeaanda advances to the northern door, listens for any sounds beyond, then opens it.

Check for traps (Perception +9), then open rightmost door to B3

The entry hall inside is still decorated with the remnants of homages to the Order’s most storied deeds. Tall oil paintings, the majority of which are severely damaged, cover both long walls. The paintings, from what you can see in spite of the damage, depict Hellknights victorious over bandits, armies and monsters, including a black dragon, hamatulas, gylous and erinys.

"I think I heard footsteps in the other room..." Netkin whispers to the party nervously.

He gestures for Resa to come closer, and pulls his healer's kit out of his backpack. "Let me change your bandages. Better safe than sorry..."

Treat Wounds: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16
HP: 2d8 ⇒ (6, 2) = 8

Once the matter of Resa's injuries is mostly dealt with, he has a closer look at the paintings. "These look... Well, a bit hyperbolic, don't they?"

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25 Search the room

As Netkin tends to Resa, Cerrus searches the room, looking for anything interesting. "These paintings look interesting. Alak, do you recognize any of these battles?"

Ellaeaanda calmly helps Netkin search the room before turning her attention to the southeast door, listening for the footsteps that he had heard earlier.

Perception (Aid Netkin’s search): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

Resa nods as her wounds are helped out, her breathing still a bit hard as she was missing a few pints of blood still. But that was not the issue here. She whispers softly " If we heard things but have no found it, is it possible we misheard? I remember some nights I listened so hard, thinking I would be attacked, and yet nothing. There was no one there."

The entry hall inside is still decorated with the remnants of homages to the Order’s most storied deeds. Tall oil paintings, the majority of which are severely damaged, cover both long walls. The paintings, from what you can see in spite of the damage, depict Hellknights victorious over bandits, armies and monsters, including a black dragon, hamatulas, gylous and erinys.

Ardoinel looks at the painting of the battle with the bog dragon and shudders a bit, finding fire coming to his hand unbidden before he realizes what's happening and focuses, closing his fist and snuffing it out. This is what you granted me this power for? Petty acts of revenge for slights long ago? You are an overgrown wyrmling... he thinks to himself, and pays for this slight by being racked with another fit of burning coughs.

After he recovers, he straightens up and takes a drink of water.

"I'm alright. It seems my "benefactor" takes offense to your order's exploits," he says to Alak.

Netkin

You successfully clean Resa’s wounds and clean her bandages.

As you examine the paintings you see how badly damaged they are. There is water damage and there are rips in almost all of them. There is one, however, that is not as damaged as the rest; it is the scene with the black dragon, and it only has some water damage around the edges.

The painting depicts three Hellknights battling the black dragon in an ominous swamp. A fourth Hellknight leaps from a rise behind the dragon with her halberd raised, ready to bear down on the dragon’s back, while a robed Hellknight in the background attends to a wounded knight. In the corner of the painting, the artist has signed their work: “R. Stagram.”

Cerrus

”I recognize some of them from stories, although I don’t know how many of those stories were true. Usually the stories with devils are older, and fancier, than the rest.”

Ellaeaanda

I thought Netkin was searching this room rather than investigating the noises. Are you looking for the noises or are you aiding?

Resa

It is always possible, with so many things lurking in ancient places there is as much chance of something being your imagination as it being real.

Ardoinel

”Who is your benefactor? And to which deed does it take offense? You have not signed a contract with hell, have you?”

"Nay, I value the hard work of my hands too much to be tempted by the shortcuts and easy power Hell offers. But I didn't get a choice in this matter."

Ardoinel gets a grim look on his face.

"To clarify, I meant "benefactor" in jest: throughout my life I have been haunted by visions of fire and destruction. Visions that, in times of stress or after a truly bad nightmare, can cause very real fire to erupt in the waking world. From the research I've done, the power resonates with depictions of dragons and icons of The Endless Destruction; the god Dahak. I keep his dark influence at bay through the grace of Torag and Yuelral alike: turning his fires from weapons of destruction to tools of creation. I think he wanted to compel me to burn the painting in an act of petty revenge for the slaying of the dragon it depicts. I know not if his anger was at the picture itself or at me for taking the opportunity to blaspheme against him, at least in my mind."

"If we heard things but have no found it, is it possible we misheard? I remember some nights I listened so hard, thinking I would be attacked, and yet nothing. There was no one there."

"Mm. Maybe. I-I have very good hearing though. Our house is old, and quiet, and... So is my grandma. And she fell only a couple of times, but - it's hard to keep your guard down afterwards..."

Once Resa's injuries are dealt with, Netkin finds himself rather absorbed by the paintings. He's particularly intrigued by the signature. Maybe he's seen that name before...

Lore (Hellknights): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

"To clarify, I meant "benefactor" in jest: throughout my life I have been haunted by visions of fire and destruction. Visions that, in times of stress or after a truly bad nightmare, can cause very real fire to erupt in the waking world. From the research I've done, the power resonates with depictions of dragons and icons of The Endless Destruction; the god Dahak. I keep his dark influence at bay through the grace of Torag and Yuelral alike: turning his fires from weapons of destruction to tools of creation. I think he wanted to compel me to burn the painting in an act of petty revenge for the slaying of the dragon it depicts. I know not if his anger was at the picture itself or at me for taking the opportunity to blaspheme against him, at least in my mind."

He only hears Ardoinel's explanations distractedly - until he gets to his patron's particular wishes. "Oh, don't burn the painting!!" Netkin explains. "I mean - we've barely had the time to take a look at it! Maybe it's important!"

"And even then, it's quite old... It could have value. It's tied to the history of this place, after all."

"I don't mean a financial one necessarily, but... Well, maybe if it was hung somewhere in Breachhill for people to see... Like a building that could retrace the history of the fortress, back when it belonged to the Order... The good and the bad, of course. I suppose this shows how the Hellknights see themselves rather than having some kind of realistic purpose."

"Don't worry, Netkin. Thankfully, I caught that destructive impulse before I did something."

He takes a closer look at the painting in question and his eyebrows rise.

"Huh...R. Stagram! It appears your father wasn't the only artistic talent in the family, Alak..." he comments.

@GM: Sorry for not being clear. Her Perception check is for listening at the door.

Cerrus perks up at the mention of Alak's ancestor being a painter. "Ah, I hope this finding means that we'll find your family hierloom soon. I know that is important for you to find."

Next, Cerrus turns his attention to Ellaeaanda as she listens at the next door, gauging her reaction for clues on what might lie in wait behind the door.

”I am glad that you have found a way to create order out of Dahak’s chaos. He is the very essence of what the Nail stands against,” Alak says as he and Ardoinel approach Netkin.

”R. Stagram. Thank you for protecting the painting, Netkin. It must be from my great-great-uncle, Reiner Stagram. I had heard about his painting, but I had never seen one of them in person.”

”There is still hope, we have most of two wings left to explore. But, even if we fail to find my father’s ring, this search has already paid off with the painting.”

Ellaeaanda

You don’t hear the steps, but you do hear a thumping noise of wood hitting against wood. It is a hollow sound, and not a particularly loud one, but it comes in uneven rhythm broken down by short pauses.

“Wood against wood,” Ellaeaanda announces what she hears to Cerrus. “Reality Netkin hears, not Resa’s dreams. Prepare, for our search continues.” She waits for everyone to get ready, then opens the door.

"Any idea what it might be making the noise?" Alak asks Ellaeaanda.

Ardoinel moves away from the painting to join Ellaeeanda, listening for the sound to try and identify it.

The sound makes you think of a wooden puppet hitting its head against a desk, or a bookshelf. The light, wooden steps also sound puppet like, but for there to be a moving puppet in the abandoned citadel... It must be a construct of some sort.

Ellaeaanda answers Alak in a soft, faraway voice. “Hollow wooden thumping, irregular noise and silence, wooden steps: a wooden construct matches all of these. Will sight confirm sound?” The elf opens the door.

Sorry for stealing Ardoinel’s info drop. Fingers crossed that Netkin gets to use his Inventor archetype!

"A wooden what?!" Netkin whispers urgently. His teammates always knew so much more than he did... "You mean... An artificial creature, of a sort?"

Upon hearing the other party members talk about a wooden construct of sorts, Cerrus pages through his tome looking for creatures that match that description.

"Sounds like it," Ardoinel comments. "Wonder how long it's been down here, bumping around..." he muses.

Ellaeaanda

You saw right through me.

A splintered table stretches across the centre of the room, the knocking sound coming from the other side of it, while broken chairs, mouldy books, and general detritus litter the floor. The boggard bodies lie sprawled on the floor near the centre of the room. A tattered map of Isger still lies on the table.

Netkin

I wonder who could be interested in such constructs?

Cerrus

While there are many constructs that could potentially fit what you know thus far, there is a certain sense of unguided will that hints towards one type of construct in particular; it is a Soulbound Doll animated by a soul fragment.

Ardoinel

Enough time to grow really, really bitter.

As Ardoinel, Ellaeaanda, and Netkin discuss the sound of wood on wood, Cerrus comes across a particular page in his tome with a drawing of soulbound doll.

"Ah, I've never encountered one of these before but from the sound it could be a soulbound doll. I don't know much about them, but they are usually a child's toy that has been brought to life by a piece of a person's soul captured into a jewel. Nasty business if you ask me - to be trapped in a doll."

As Ellaeaanda opens the door, Cerrus readies himself and surveys the room, hoping to see if his tome was correct in this instance.

I wonder, indeed!

"A living doll?!" Netkin squeaks. A thousand childhood terrors about menacing stares from otherwise inconspicuous-looking toys flash before his eyes. "Oh no, that's awful! We've got to free them..."

From the looks of it, he'd rather have this charitable action done by one of the big warriors - preferably at a safe distance.

“A marionette that pulls its own strings, both freed and trapped by artifice and magic,” Ellaeaanda interjects placidly, but without any apparent concern for the doll—or for the fragment of soul within. With one hand upon her whip she enters, moving to investigate the fallen boggards.
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

I didn’t move my token on the map because whenever I try to do so, I end up moving the green outline instead.

Ardoinel gives a "Hrrm..." and a nod. "I'm inclined to agree, Ellaeaanda...it's not quite the same thing as a person being trapped in it...the only way to truly 'free' it will be releasing it to Pharasma's judgment and Magrim's anvil."

He approaches the door and readies to open it.

"If it's been down here as long as I suspect it has, that soul fragment, even if it's not the full spirit of a person, has had plenty of time to grow bitter...bitter enough to take that frustration out on the first people to not just stay out of its way."

He leaves the implications that he and the rest of the party are those first people unspoken.

Cerrus

Unfortunately, you can’t see whether or not your tome was correct, as the desk blocks your view. But you do notice that whatever it is, it stops making sound as Ellaeaanda approaches the boggards’ bodies.

Ellaeaanda

The two corpses are clearly from Cinderclaws with clear marks of blunt force trauma.

Ardoinel

And with those words...

You can all place your tokens within the green area.

Ardoinel’s initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Cerrus’ initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
Ellaeaanda’s initiative: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12
Netkin’s initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Resa’s initiative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Ardoinel and Cerrus you can go before Alak and the construct.

" I do not care for the spirits nor ghost to much, but... but I think if someone is needed to be free, we should free them. I... I would have enjoyed that if someone had done that sooner in my life. Sooner is better than never." Resa doesn't speak loudly, but she clearly is bothered the idea of some still being bound to this plane even after they should have passed. It seems awful to her.

“A marionette that pulls its own strings, both freed and trapped by artifice and magic."

"Oh, that sounds... Awful."

Netkin mentally counts his leftover vials. He might have just enough for one more bomb - but would it make more sense to keep it for later?

He will have to think fast regardless.

Starting Cerrus next to Ellaeaanda.

Cerrus hears the noise in this room go quiet when the group gets close to the table. Not seeing any indication of the source, Cerrus walks around the table, looking for an enemy.

◆ Stride (ending on the other side of the table)
◆ Seek towards the NE
◆ Exploit Vulnerability Assuming Cerrus sees something

Exploit Vulnerability: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 8 + 1 = 24