"We will look for your sister. Obviously something has gone wrong here and we will need to discover what that was. Why were you setting traps here, and are there any more beyond the room full of pits that leads here?"
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Cira isn't sure what to do in this situation! "Does he need to come with us now? He can wait here while we deal with this other one he's talking about. What do you mean by the one that talks Roldare? Where is it?"
My posting is spotty atm too. I'm out of town but I'll be back tomorrow.
"It's true! Think about it. How could we get here otherwise? Do undead talk? We're from Kassen, we can take you back there where you'll be safe."
"Hmm... I guess we push?"
"It's really stuck."
She turns around and whispers. "Well... should we try to open it? I think whatever is happening here needs investigation. I'm just not sure I want to find it."
Cira moves closer to the door that is the apparent source of the wailing. She listens carefully at the door.
"I don't think it's weird about the pillows. They just didn't want to kill us in the pits. This wasn't supposed to be truly dangerous."
Cira frowns and shakes her head. "Let's try that again with Athromar at the door. As soon as we pull the switches try to open the door."
Cira calls back. "Ready." and counts down with Pheneas, pulling the lever on three.
Cira also follows in Blacklock's path. "There must be more switches. The men with the pillows must have known what to expect. I'd the elders of Kassen must have known about the pits, they probably put pillows there to keep them from killing the young people they send here. As Blacklock pulls the switch she muses."There must be more switches. I think it's most sensible for Blacklock to search the rest of the room with us close behind him."
Cira moves forward carefully into the next square. "This is a very odd place. What do you think the brooms are for?"
Cira heads over to what looks like the a door to the east and inspects it carefully.
If she finds nothing amiss she opens it carefully.
"I don't know where to go from here. There was a noise from the east when we entered, maybe we should investigate?" Cira becomes quiet an strains to hear whether there are still any sounds coming from the east.
"Well, it seems likely that these are the owners of the horses." Cira looks around at the bones scattered throughout the tomb. "We've been sending young people here for years. They can't have been fighting skeletons this whole time? What did these men do that was different?They brought blunt arrows, an odd choice, did they anticipate what they would be fighting? Not very well it seems."
Cira moves forward and tosses a bomb at the skeleton 20' directly in front of her. Vs Touch AC
"You might be right as well Blacklock. We won't know anything until we investigate further." Cira approaches the door and listens intently for any sounds. . "How should we proceed?"
Cira frowns at the bones. "Your hypothesis might be sound Phineas. I don't anything about necromancy or the creatures it creates. What could be waiting beyond that door?"
Cira searches the surrounding area for clues. "I can only guess that somebody went inside the crypt and somebody else did not want them to leave unharmed. We'll learn little else without investigating. Unfortunately I feel it falls to us, if this happened only a few days ago relevant events could be transpiring now."
Updated my profile with changes. The most significant thing is I added infusion as her 2nd level discovery.
We do lack a melee frontliner. Cira's certainly not a tank. Her only melee capability comes from mutagen, there's not too much I can do to improve that without rebuilding her.
"Phineas!" Is he dead? Cira limps over to try and help guide Phineas back to the fire. She looks back at the slope. "I hope that's the worst thing that happens to us."
Cira tries to help Blacklock with camp, but her injuries and rattled nerves render her less than helpful.
Cira lays on the ground dejected for a long moment before picking herself back up. She's covered in scrapes and bruises as well as mud and detritus. She picks her way down to the ground gingerly and looks back up the slope, and then over at Blacklock. "It's a good thing I was careful." It is impossible to tell if she may have been making a joke.
Cira looks dubiously at the ravine. "I think we should proceed cau... Blacklock wait we need... Oh well, never mind." Cira sighs and begins to scoot carefully down the ravine.
Cira considers Blacklock's words. "A sensible suggestion. The village could probably use a dedicated alchemist. I would not become rich, but I could live comfortably enough." She is quite for a moment. "I am not certain that is the most pragmatic suggestion. I do some things well but interacting with customers would not be one of them. To run a business in a fixed location would draw time and attention away from the things I truly excel at. As you say, Holgast has little left to teach me about alchemy. It may be I can leverage my talents and inclinations best by seeking advanced training not available in Kassen."
Cira surveys the empty campsite. "This has been abandoned for months. Maybe it belonged to the dead man we found." She looks at the rain clouds and frowns. "It would be unfortunate if we were delayed by rain. Let's move on quickly."
Cira gather's up the man's shortsword and coins. "These do no good here." She shrugs. "It's a strange set of circumstances. I have no theory for it."
As Blacklock moves forward Cira cringes a little "Blacklock be carefull!" She admonishes him, disturbed by his seemingly carefree demeanor. When he reports what he found she gives a start and hurries forward. "A dead person?" Covering her mouth and nose but not the least bit squeamish she leans forward to investigate the corpse.
"What is that?" Cira's nerves are a little raw now. She seems indecisive and nervous. I'm just going to start throwing bombs at everything soon. "I think we should hold our position." She raises her crossbow hoping that whatever she sees goes away soon.
Cira watches Athromar with confusion. "These are dangerous animals, helping them does us no good. Even if we feed them now they will be hungry again soon. They could easily start hunting in the vicinity of the village. They would be a serious threat to a lone woodsman or traveler." She makes no move to interfere, however.
"Lookout Blacklock!" Certain these wolves are all to real. Cira picks up her crossbow and fires at the injured wolf. Unused to combat her nerves cause her shot to go wildly awry. "Relax relax relax relax relax relax..."
"Wolves!" Cira raised the alarm."There's three of them!"
At the sound Mira sits bolt upright and peers into the darkness, clutching her crossbow. "More tricks?" She whispers. "Trying to rob us of sleep? I don't understand this, and I'm not enjoying it."
Cira nods at Blacklocks words and frowns. She busies herself setting up camp. "It's cold. Should we start a fire?
With that done she sips appreciatively at Blacklock's soup.
"It's dark. We had better stop." Cira looks around. "I don't know who would have done that... With the illusions. It just seems mean. Maybe it was supposed to be funny. I don't really understand funny. Holgast keeps trying to teach me jokes but I just get confused. You were laughing Blacklock. Was it funny? Was it a joke?" Cira looks for a good place to camp. "How about here?"
"We should keep watch. I don't know how to determine who who should go first. We could just go in alphabetical order by first name?"
Cira stands still here eyes wide but unseeing. "I... I thought I was dead." She shakes her head. "Illusions... I don't understand." To Athromar she says. "You cast a spell. To save me. Thank you."
Cira reels from the blow, sure that her life is about to end. Then she watches in astonishment as Blacklock drops his weapon and starts laughing! Is he crazy? Wait, what is he doing? "They're illusions?"
Suppressing her alarm Cira draws her club and strikes back.
She swings wide as well.
Updated tagline.
Cira has some skill at getting around in the woods, earned through the years spent foraging for materials for Holgast. "Unless one of you is a woodsman, I should look at the map fragments. She pauses to study them for a moment. "The Broken Glade is the first landmark along the way. We should reach it easily."
As she walks a question comes to her. "My understanding of the Everflame ritual is that it is a mechanism that serves to increase ties with the town. In the interest of cohesion. Unless of course you believe the town requires the protection of a mystical flame. If that were the case the would surely send somebody more capable. Do any of you believe that participation in this ceremony will change your attitude about Kassen in any respect?"
"Good." Cira nods with satisfaction as Phineas takes the lantern, and then nods again at Athromar's introduction. "Eh... off we go then." She looks like she thinks she might wave or bow towards the assembled townsfolk, but it just manifests as an indecisive shrug and she starts of south after Phineas.
Cira eyes the lantern speculatively. “Rationally the lantern bearer should be someone for whom the honor is meaningful and who will benefit most from said honor. Blacklock benefits substantially from his inclusion in the ceremony at all. Phineas is not well known to me but as a temple acolyte his inclusion is in the ceremony is not unusual. The other is not known to me but having never seen him I will hazard a guess that his participation is a formality, and his attachment to the town is not deeply personal. I will nominate Phineas as the one to gain the greatest benefit from the ‘honor’ of being lantern bearer."
Cira mentally measures the distance across the square. Moving forward deliberately she counts her steps. One, two, three, four... Then she stops abruptly. Oh, no! Have I gone too far? Am I standing too close? She stands at attention awkwardly, the little flower forgotten in her left hand.
"Oh, ok then." Perplexed Cira fights the urge to turn around and go to her nook in Holgast's tower. It's ok. It will be over soon. Not knowing what to do she awkwardly holds on to the little flower and begins reciting the names of all the flora she can see under her breath to comfort herself.
Cira gives a little start as Blacklock hands her the weed. She takes it and inspects it. "Um... aeramensis boticulous. Err, it's a very nice one." She hands it back.
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