Vakase spends part of the night meditating with her raven informing her of nearby deaths. In the morning she prepares herself for what lies ahead.
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Vakase hurriedly ducks in to buy a healing potion. "So I was wandering around and I ran into the undertaker from the Sunset House. We had the most fascinating conversation about death and I completely lost track of time." "Where are we heading next?"
I'm traveling on a brief road trip today and tomorrow. I'll have spotty internet access and limited time to check on my games until Friday night. Please bot me as needed.
"We may as well. They'll want to know for certain Hunclay's unfortunate fate."
Vakase fires another eldritch blast at the kobold, feeling she's on a hot streak.
Vakase fires another eldritch blast at the nearest kobold archer.
Vakase moves up by Davin to see into the darkened corridor with her darkvision and fires an eldritch blast at the archer.
"So if the dead man might be the missing wizard Hunclay, what was he looking for down here? This looks like it was a deliberate attempt to stop him." "I agree we need to press on."
"Possibly to stop this man and the kobolds from finding something?" "So do we search further or report back on what we've found thus far?"
Vakase calls back Elsa and takes a look at the body.
"He's human, whomever he was. Looks to be fairly old and had fine clothes. And he had these." She holds up a key ring with a silver key and a brass key. "There's a couple dead kobolds over here too, each holding a spade. Could it be they were digging for something when the cave collapsed? This might have been tied to the explosion that collapsed the tower." "Rurik, you lived around dwarves. Any insight on how this collapsed?"
"Well, that looks like a job for one of you big, strong boys, doesn't it?" Vakase quips before turning to her raven. "Alright Elsa, my dear, let's see if you can't get through that opening. You stay up as high as you can this time and first sign of anything you come right back to me, got it? I don't want to have to summon you back from the Shadow realm again." She sends the raven to fly ahead so she can see and hear through it.
After Vakase has summoned back her Raven and completed her commune with her patron, she instructs Elsa to maintain a high perch and fly a 100' perimeter patrol every 10 minutes.
Vakase follows behind Hack, raven on her shoulder.
"If it's all the same, I'm going to keep Elsa a bit closer for now." Testing out her new eldritch invocations, she casts False Life upon herself.
Adding eldritch invocations: Agonizing Blast & Fiendish Vigor (to be replaced by Book of Ancient Secrets at level 3). Spells: drop False Life and add Arms of Hadar and Sanctuary.
As things have quieted down and the group finds a safe place to briefly rest, Vakase meditates in silence with her hood up and her head down. She feels the presence of her patron, the Raven Queen as she briefly glimpses the shadow realm that overlays the natural world. She feels her magic grow and change. When she finishes her meditation, there's a sound of flapping wings and the caw of a raven coming closer as Elsa flies up and perches on her shoulder.
"We've got an elf down over here!" Vakase calls out, looking at Rurik.
Vakase fires another eldritch blast at the ghoul.
"You're bad and you should feel bad you bird-killing undead #$@%!"
Vakase tries to keep her distance from the ghoul and fires another eldritch blast at it.
She casts a minor curse on the creature to slow it down.
Vakase gets a good look at the creature when she blasts it. "It's a ghoul! Don't let it claw you or you'll be paralyzed!"
"Appreciated, Kara, but I have ways to summon her back later." Vakase tenses and raises her arms, moving forward until she's in range. "But in the meantime there is retribution to be had." she snarls.
"I guess we'll figure out how to open the cage later. Something is out there." Vakase walks up to the tunnel entrance sends her raven to fly forward so she can get a better look. "Come back the first sign of trouble, Elsa."
"That tunnel looks pretty fresh. Something getting in or getting out?" Vakase puzzles. "I'm also curious about those chests, probably from hanging around Kara too long." She examines the gaps in the bars and sizes up her halfling friend.
"Some kind of weird magic around that key, but damned if I know what it is." Vakase stops to examine the door, peering into the keyhole and looking back toward the golem and the floating key.
"I don't see any traps. That's a good sign. Looks like the door's locked, and it's about the right size for that floating key. Or we could try smashing it."
Vakase manages to keep her balance as Davin stumbles.
"It was worth a try. Sometimes I'm scary." Vakase says with a wounded tone as she follows along.
Vakase steps up, looking as menacingly at the construct as she can. With her eyes glowing and fangs bared she yells to it. "How about we make a deal? You forget about the crest and just let us pass, and we don't take you apart? As you can see, we outnumber you." "And we're really itching to take something apart right now." she snarls.
Vakase catches up from behind hoping she hasn't missed too much.
Work's got me beat down right now, probably until the weekend. Bot me as needed.
Vakase awakens and slowly sits up. "I just had the strangest dream. Did we win?"
Vakase has a vision of the Raven Queen, not one she expected so soon. But she hangs on a few more seconds.
Vakase senses the imp's position with Elsa's help and fires an eldritch blast in its direction.
Unfortunately, her aim isn't accurate enough.
Vakase fires another eldritch blast at the imp.
On missing, she gets frustrated and casts a hex on the creature.
Vakase and her raven listen carefully for the imp and she tries to fire an eldritch blast at it.
"You aren't a servant of the Raven Queen like Elsa here is, are you?" Vakase addresses the raven with curiosity. She has no idea what the creature's true origin might be. Elsa caws on her shoulder.
Vakase readies her eldritch blast, knowing Kara's penchant for leading the group into trouble.
Vakase motions to Kara to pass the flask along. "If there's one thing you can count on with halflings, apart from their love for food and ... natural curiosity, it's that they don't skimp on their drink." She takes a gulp and hands it back. "I feel like that should uncurl my horns if I didn't have infernal blood. Nicely done!"
Vakase keeps her distance and fires another eldritch blast at the elemental.
"Note to self - never let a halfling pull a lever or push a button, no matter how shiny." Vakase mutters to herself as she fires an eldritch blast at the attacking elemental.
Vakase shakes her head and leans in closer for inspection.
"As soon as we confirm this thing isn't going to kill us or make that elemental notice us, it's all your Kara. Deal?"
"Elemental. Fascina -- Kara!" Vakase suddenly snaps at the halfling. "Why don't you be a dear and wait until we've had a proper look at things?" "Let's both go look at it together, shall we?" She walks forward carefully to look at the lever, to at least get a sense of what may happen if it's tampered with.
"I should know what that thing is, but I can't quite place it. Definitely not from this world though. It doesn't look like you can just set it on fire, Kara."
"Perhaps you can end up as a hungry ghost as well." Vakase moves in to examine the secret door before Kara might hastily open it.
Vakase looks on distastefully. "Always a one-track mind with them." she mutters to her raven, who caws in acknowledgement. "Let's see what else is around here."
"I guess feeding it can't hurt." Vakase is intrigued by the situation. She wants to study this apparition but fears she lacks the skill or experience to truly comprehend it. So she stands by quietly to observe and try to learn.
Vakase moves the one of the secret doors and listens for strange sounds. She draws her staff and knocks gently on the door to see if it's locked or possibly trapped.
Vakase takes a few steps forward slowly and carefully looks around with Elsa on her shoulder, watching and listening for any activity.
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