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Thomi disappears like a shadow into the darkened room and slides along the wall until he finally is lost in darkness only to re-emerge as the Saklasi screams in pain and surprise as Thomi's blade slices through the dark robes and banded mail.
Bijannar incants the final words of the ancient Brotherhood formula as he lets a fine spray of ground mica fall from his hands and tosses it dramatically in the direction of the three hooded guards. Suddenly a burst of glittering dust descends from the dome and covers the three men and outlines the shadowy form of Thomi who is murderously standing behind one of the men. The sparkling dust explodes a hue of golden light reflected from the two hooded lanterns.
Despite the glittering dance of a thousand tiny suns in the room, the three men seem undisturbed by the display, although each (and Thomi) is now covered in a layer of the golden dust.
Thomi- Since Aegwyn's spell, it looks like they have already been disrupted. They seemed to be trying to construct a rope ladder up to the large opening up in the top of the dome. Right now the three of them have drawn their blades and are waiting for you, although one of them (the one still holding the grappling hook has intentionally dropped his). No knowledge of dungeoneering required, I'll let that ride from your Perception check. You still have all of your actions left for your turn in the initiative. Toranindracar-let me know if you want to spend a move action to pick up the die and examine it in detail.
Toranindracar: Before Aegwyn cast her spell: Three men were standing in the middle of the room. One of them was standing next to a barrel and holding a grappling hook, swinging it, and looking up at the hole in the ceiling, as if he was throwing it. The man next to him was modifying the rope ladder that is attached to the grappling hook and it's rope. The third man was doing nothing except keeping watch.
After Aegwyn cast her spell- all three men immediately draw their weapons. Then the man who is still holding the grappling hook in his left hand, dropped his sword (as a free action), and turned to you all and smiled. The man in the middle dropped the rope ladder. None of them have moved other than to draw their weapons. Only a few seconds have passed since Aegwyn cast her spell. Thomi is next in the initiative order. If you like you can (as a swift action) pick up the die next to her foot. It's landed with the one pip facing up. You note that unlike your current die, this one has had an "X" carved through the one-pip. Something about it is unnerving you (you can make either a Perception check or Sense Motive on your own initiative turn), although that would be a move action. Does that help clear everything up?
Thomi- You're up!
If your Perception score is over 25-READ THIS:
As the winds tore around Aegwyn and into the room they also dislodged a fair amount of debris in the hallway. As a result laying right next to Aegwyn's foot has come to rest what appears to be a single, very small, gambling die.
Additionally, you notice something you hadn't caught before about the dark robed Saklas worshiper who just dropped his sword. When you first opened the door he was swinging the grappling hook as if to throw it up, toward the hole in the ceiling. But now you see that that action doesn't make sense. Tied onto the grappling hook (which is attached to a rope ladder) is a very fine thin twine which you see coils down to the ground and then back up and is tied to a bolt loaded into a heavy crossbow which is on top of one of the barrels.
Toranindracar only: You are absolutely certain that the die next to Aegwyn's foot is yours and you are fairly certain that you did not lose it and that it is still in your pouch where you left it.
Aegwyn's eyes flash as a powerful gust of icy wind blows down the corridor you are standing in and gales down from the opening in the top of the dome. Dust and debris fly everywhere, a cloud of ash hangs in the air above the fire for seconds and slowly starts to come down, as if time had slowed for just one instant. The feint lantern light seems to dim ever so imperceptibly around the first Saklas follower and you swear that for a moment you see a ripple in space itself. Still holding the grappling hook in his left hand, he very intentionally drops the sword from his right hand and smiles in the direction of the door ( ). Could everyone except Thomi (whose amazing previous roll I will let ride) roll either a passive or active (in place of a move action) Perception check?
Varan’s in! Here’s Initiative – Who does what? • 23-Aegwyn
Also, I failed to mention that there is a 10-foot diameter raised marble dias portion, roughly 8 inches high and with a silver band at the top. This is what the 3 guys are camped out on top of. The walls in the room are covered in frescoes and carvings, as is the dome itself up to roughly 2/3rds the height.
So we've got:
Varan?
I was just letting Thomi's previous 22 Stealth "ride", unless there was a new reason to make a Stealth check. Right now Initiative looks like:
Still waiting for Varan & Bijannar to enter the fray!
As Toranindracar quietly whispers his spell in the darkness of the corridor outside the large circular room, he closes his eyes briefly to concentrate upon hearing the thoughts of the three men inside.
Eerily, Toranindracar hears a quiet nothing from all three men, just as everyone else at the door observes that in unison the three men turn their heads toward each of you and draw their blades.
Toranindracar's incredible powers of observation are able to discern that they are indeed dressed the same as the dead man and that their descriptions seem to match the descriptions you were given, although by count, they are missing at least one (not including the dead man). They wear the same dark clothes over armor, although from this distance it is impossible to see if they have the Saklas tattoo that the other man did. Toranindracar keenly observes them for a heartbeat and realizes that their movements are far too coordinated for people who aren't even speaking to one another. You suspect that they may be under some unnatural influence. The black living ooze which had seeped from the dead man's ears and swam in his eyes comes to your memory.
Everyone stands tense in the hallway as Thomi opens the door. The dim corridors with the winds blowing through them, suddenly more fiercely Aegwyn notices, have made sound difficult. The winds smell ancient, like this place, and their is a cold dryness to them that makes you feel unwelcome. With a push Thomi forces open the door against the wind, just wide enough to peer inside. The room is a large circular room, perhaps 60 feet in diameter and beautifully carved into the living stone of the mountain, with depictions of various floral and botanical scenes. There is a high domed roof with what looks to be, in the far distance at the top, an opening in the dome. The room has two other doors, in a T configuration, with the door you are entering from the middle, base, door. Inside the room stand three very largely built men in dark robes and armed. They have set up a makeshift camp in the center of the room, although the fire is out and their gear is packed and ready to go. Three large wooden barrels have been set at the edge of their small camp and currently one of the men is standing on top of one of the barrels trying to swing a rope and grapple up, ostensibly to the opening in the dome. Next to him another of the men is tying large knots at intervals in the black silk rope, and the third man is carefully looking around ( ). He does not seem to notice the door opening. Something about the three men unnerves Thomi just a little.
Thomi manages, after a few tries and attempts (being sure that he doesn't get poisoned in the process), and manages to extract the needle from the door and disable the trap. Toranindracar- it seems that your quarry went into this room!
Bijannar[b] - the symbol is one of Sa1klas, the serpent of chaos. Ialdabaōth, as [b]Varan can explain, are not very fond of the Saklas worshipers. Thomi detects a crude trap that seems to have been hastily set up. A small needle, which appears to be poisoned, is set into the hand on the door. [b]Toranindracar[b] - correct. Imagine a letter "C" where you came from the lower tail and the door is located at the top tail. Right at the top of the "C" is where it starts to curve is another narrow corridor leading up.
Aegwyn and Thomi slowly start to make their way along the upward slopping corridor as the others give the room one last examination before gathering their things and joining the other two on the stairs. Bijannar quickly checks the body one last time, just to be safe, and pulls down the neckline of the deadman's tunic. There, crudely stylized on his chest, large enough to be viewed by all in the room, in black charcoal ink, is the outline of what could only be a large multiheaded serpent. Bijannar shudders for a moment and quickly moves to join all of you as you ascend the steps. As the party moves ahead the corridor begins to level off although it begins to curve sharply to the right. At the apex of the curve is a narrow passageway, made of the same stone as this corridor, and as your eyes follow the curve to the right, you see that it ends in large ornate silver double doors, carved with images of trees and gardens.
So currently, as I understand the situation, Thomi and Aegwyn are standing on the stairs, waiting and looking about. Varan, Toranindracar, and Bijannar are still inspecting the body and the small room. Is that right?
Jaye - totally agree, although that said, I love the rooms options for buildings and also most of the rules for kingdom building. Both of which we will need for Peacemaker! :D
Just as an FYI - yesterday I picked up the "Ultimate Campaign" book and it's AWESOME! Probably one of the best Paizo books I have seen in a while and will be absolutely required for Peacemaker!
Toranindracar - there is remarkably little dust on the equipment or the barrels, save for the fine black silt from the mixture of saltpeter, sulphur, and charcoal. Your guess is that it couldn't have been here longer than a week. Thomi creeps his way among the shadows to the top of the stairs. He can hear nothing, but his keen senses smell and feel a slight breeze coming from the angled corridor which stretches ahead into the darkness. Your sense of the engineering of this place would suggest that the tunnel rises and at some point not too distance must come into contact with the surface. Varan stands, sword at the ready, carefully guarding Aegwyn and with his Dardish greatsword pointed right at the solar plexus of the dead man....ready. Bijannar- you firmly stopper the vial and hold it out, half to show Aegwyn and half just to keep the thing away from you. It does seem to be alive, although it's movements are slow and erratic. No signs of a magical nature....
The creature living inside the dead man, a sample of which Bijannar has now collected into a vial, seems absolutely foreign and none of you have heard of such horrible monstrosities. Toranindracar - the acrid smell is indeed coming from the barrels and you can tell from residue on the ground that the heavier barrels seem to contain saltpeter, together with sulphur and willow charcoal, combined into a powder.
Bijannar's keen powers of perception are able to see a set of tracks, what looks like two laden men, headed further into the tunnel and up a flight of stairs. Upon looking around the body, Bijannar's notices that a very small amount of the black liquid seems to have seeped from the man's right ear and is slowly dripping toward (but has not yet reached) the ground. Aegwyn doesn't detect any lingering magical residues, but upon leaning in to get a closer inspection of the strange black liquid in the man's eyes she could almost swear that it retreated further into his eyes as she tried to investigate further.
Aegwyn investigates the body of the dark robbed dead man, leaning down and carefully examining him. Aegwyn: You carefully and cautiously move about his clothing and it becomes very obvious to you from the blackened burn marks and the searing entrance and exit wounds that the man died of the wounds inflicted upon him from the magically trapped door at the base of the stairs. He must have died not long after he suffered the wounds, left here against the barrels and mining equipment by his companions. You do notice something else strange, however, as you examine his head. At the corner of his eye, near the tear duct and eye muscle, you observe the faintest hints of a viscous black liquid which has gathered there, quite unusually. You see that it is in both eyes.
Your search of the mining equipment and body, between two keen sets of eyes and their appraisals, reveals roughly 50 - 100 solins worth of items and equipment, although nothing looks out of the ordinary or exceptional at first glance. Does anyone have a healing skill? Toranindracar - you are able to determine, through your sensitive observation and training, that stamped on to the each pick is a maker's mark, which you don't immediately recognize, but whose characters and lettering you identify as coming from Airgiallne. The "robes" are not Brotherhood robes, although they do seem to be designed to give the wearer (something Thomi's expert eyes discern) a () benefit to slipping through dark places. One thing strikes you both in pilfering through the dead man's belongings. He is absolute devoid of any personal insignia, personal items, papers, or other markings.
Guided by the divine grace of Elpis, Thomi slowly and cautiously passes through the doorway and up the ancient flight of stairs. At the top a small landing is packed on either side with wooden barrels stacked all the way up to the ceiling. An acrid smell lingers in the air and a fine black grit dusts the ground. On one side of the chamber, leaned against the barrels is what appears to be mining equipment, picks, lamps, and the like. On the other side, slumped against the barrels, legs splayed out on the ground, is a man in dark cloth, sitting in a pool of blood. His hand clutched over his abdomen, he has clearly bled out some time ago, left to his fate by his two companions, whose prints can be clearly seen passing through the silt to the end of the chamber ahead and towards another flight of stairs which go up.
Do you all pass through the doorway?
Aegwyn floats the torch up ahead, through the doorway and past the first small chamber and up towards a flight of stairs. At the furthest distance of the torch's flickering light, Aegwyn can just make out a landing on top of the first flight of stairs, and what looks to be a large number of wooden casks stacked on top of one another upon the landing. Thomi does not sense any traps immediately outside the door or in the small room immediately beyond. His sense of the layout of underground places, however, gives him the impression of fresher air coming from further ahead up the stairs, and what, from the sound, must be a long tunnel gradually moving upwards in the direction of the surface.
Toranindracar and Aegwyn examine the blood stains. Aegwyn scratches her head in puzzlement while Toranindracar determines that the stain is not more than a week old, although without medical training he cannot be sure, the blood was unleashes in a spray, and judging from the angle and trajectories of the spray, would have hit the individual in the chest and gut, passing both through him or her and laterally. He quickly ascertains that it was most probably caused by setting off whatever trap was set into the door. The parchment does not seem to have any words on it, but is instead a crude and not entirely accurate drawing. Looking at it carefully, Toranindracar and Thomi discern that at the far right hand side of the "map" is a drawing of the Citadel, with several cave like portions drawn underneath the Citadel. An "x" is marked on one of the lower caves where a passage is drawn leading halfway across the page to a rectangular "room", the room contains another passage leading from it's left and toward the top of the paper where a small hill and tower are drawn and the illustration of several trees around the hill.
As far as Toranindracar can tell, every spell in this corridor has been permanent. The winds tell Aegwyn indeed to continue forward and avoid what is clearly a force overwhelming for a small band of adventurers, much less a city-state of dark daethol. Toranindracar dispels the most basic spell, a spell which has no doubt already warned the casters that this ancient vile place has been violated. Varan steps to the front, raises his shield, the others falling in line behind him as he steps forward, his feet trailing through the bloody prints of the person who passed before him, whether noble Ma'an or the worshipers of Makish, or someone else. As Varan steps forward, cautiously, sword drawn in this space which until recently had not seen breath in generations, Thomi observes a small piece of parchment, half covered in blood, laying in a blood stain at the base of the stairs...
Thomi, very calmly and patiently, examines the door and its frame for traps. His expert gaze methodically and carefully passing over every detail. In so doing he discovers that the door is indeed trapped, or at least it was, and certainly the blood and blast stains at his feet (the base of the door) are an indication that whoever opened the door at least, was not prepared for this particularly nasty trap. The blood and prints seem to pass through the doorway into the narrow corridor beyond. The damage was severe enough that the person lost so much blood that they were dragging their feet through it into the passage on the other side. Toranindracar carefully observes the door's magical aura and determines that it has four auras, two weak auras of abjuration, a strong aura of adjuration, and a strong aura of illusion. By divining the auras, Toranindracar is able to determine that the lesser spells are alarm, arcane lock, and that the stronger aura of abjuration is a greater blast glyph of warding, although the power of the illusion remains too strong for even Toranindracar to determine. Toranindracar finds it very odd that the door is open, a trap apparently triggered, yet somehow the wards remain in place. Aegwyn has difficulty determining much in the dim light and can only see that the ramp slopes downward before switching back on itself and descending again.
The trough is carved of stone into the floor of the hallway so that the runoff from the crying statues above then flows to either side of the hallway and falls down into the caverns to the left and right below. Toranindracar and Thomi observe that whoever passed through here did the same as each of you, crossing over the carved canal and toward the back to the open door. Brogdar quietly catches his breath and says: "Those are Ma'an's tracks. He's been here. But where did they go? Beyond these bars or to the open doorway ahead?"
At the dim edge of the furthest torch's glow you can make out a back wall, a narrow wall not unlike the one you entered from, covered in both script and etchings, as well as what appears to be a section of the wall within it, now open and facing away from you, revealing a thinner, narrower passage ahead. The facade of the section of the wall, now displayed to be a "door", shows both inscription and the face of a human in calm yet stern countenance, surrounded by various images, the bars continue (as in the back) to all but a few feet from the back section. Aegwyn determines that the whole hallway is approximately 70 feet in length, from far wall to back wall, and the bars extend to all but the last 10 feet at either end. The large cavernous rooms on either side, beyond the bars, are so large that even the dim light of the torches is unable to reveal a far wall. Moreover, beyond ten or fifteen feet, it drops a distance such that there too it is impossible to see anything except open blackness. You do discern that on the left side of the room a short ledge extends just a few feet beyond the bars before dropping off suddenly in a sharp cliff. On the right side of the room, the smooth stone ledge is a bit wider, roughly 10 feet and at the north end becomes a ramp leading steeply down to a narrow platform in the shadows below, at the near edge of the torch's light.
At the dim edge of the furthest torch's glow you can make out a back wall, a narrow wall not unlike the one you entered from, covered in both script and etchings, as well as what appears to be a section of the wall within it, now open and facing away from you, revealing a thinner, narrower passage ahead. The facade of the section of the wall, now displayed to be a "door", shows both inscription and the face of a human in calm yet stern countenance, surrounded by various images, the bars continue (as in the back) to all but a few feet from the back section.
Toranindracar observes the feint patterns of the dust upon the ground in correlation to the spray emitted from the falling streams of the Tears of the Daetholayn and determines that in fact four different sets of footprints traveled through this corridor and over the trough.
The Detect magic reveals several quite powerful auras which go from the base of the columns up to the very top of the room, like a magical barrier hovering over the silvery metal bars on both sides. Unfortunately the intricacies of the magic are simply too complex for Aegwyn to divine. Toranindracar, however, is able to determine that there are actually three auras enchanted on each bar, all strong, and all from the abjuration school. The ancient daetholayn script tells the story of the "Betrayal of Makish" and the assault on the city of Mtol Daerine, and the whole world, 300 years ago by the khthonoi and the servants of that evil god. The script is both a eulogy to those lost in the war and a warning against the tyranny of the khthonoi and their Dark God. It states that beyond the bars is the entrance, below in the depths of this abyss, to an ancient khthonoi city and that the room stands as a symbol of their imprisonment by the collected people's of the world, that none would ever had to know the tyranny of Makish and the wickedness of the khthonoi.
Toranindracar: Can you do a Knowledge (arcana) for the auras after you cast Detect Magic?
The aura of magic is nearly overpowering here. All of the silvery columns and even the stone which encase them at the base and the apex glow with a powerful aura of magic on either side of you and although you cannot see it in the dim light, the far end of the corridor glows with a magical aura, although one not as significant as the auras which glow to your left and right.
Good luck and stay warm! Hopefully it will be a well deserved mini-vacation! If a bit snowy...
The winds swirl and blow through the cave opening from above and a heavy wind blows down along through the ancient corridor. At the stone recess carved into the floor which serves as a channel for the cascading water from above, the winds split and branch, two rushing up in a low howl up around the falling streams and to the eyes of the ancient women, while a third continues straight down the hallway in a low moan. Bijannar does not feel any closer to understanding the specific meanings of the inscriptions high above at the edge of the light, but the divine inspiration does give a sense of confidence that the fine silvery inlay floridly carved along the frieze acts as some form of memorial ward or warning
A very very happy and belated (by a day) birthday to our awesome designer Jaye! May this year bring him and his studio (Storm Bunny Studios) much success and fortune and lots of fun! Happy Birthday Jaye! |