"Here, this should help," Jyra says, pulling a climbing harness from her pack, "Mishelle, get the climbing rope out of your pack, Kathlyn, use the heavier rope to lower the packs down, and do try not to set them on the torch."
"Wells Jyra is seems you planned well even if some people in your crew did not" Ruuz casts a disgusted look at Ghorkin. "Yes lets get all the gear ready to lower down once our scouts down there have declared it safe."
Ruuz waves Valessa over "Could you use your rope skills and help us secure this gear."
I turn to the professor and say "Sir, would you like me to descend before or after your party?" in a respectful tone while thinking "Mabye you'll do us all a favor and fall to your death, gullible old toad."
When he reaches the bottome, Beren is hanging in the air about 5' off the 'ground'. Jyra has tossed down a torch, and looking around, you find the aside from the pile of rubble beneath you, the room is still cloaked in shadow.
There are several dark stains on the rubble near where you have climbed down, and not far away there is the remains of a corpse, stripped of flesh, with a spear protruding from its back.
Beren drops the remaining five feet and lands in a crouch while taking the knife from his mouth and scanning the area. When he finds no immediate threat, he picks up the torch, sheaths his knife, and pulls out his longsword. Beren then walks the perimeter of the hole using the torch to shed light into his darker surroundings. He notices stains on several areas of rubble and starts to examine the stains and search among the rocks. He then notices a corpse and attempts to examine and search this also. Beren also picks up some rocky dirt and gravel and gives it a sniff to determine any scents while he is looking for tracks and scanning for exits.
"What do you see down there?" to Beren.
Beren peers up through the darkness to the tiny bit of skylight and the silhouettes of his companions, “Some blood and a body. Give me a few moments to scout, then I will give you the ok.”
When he reaches the bottome, Beren is hanging in the air about 5' off the 'ground'. Jyra has tossed down a torch, and looking around, you find the aside from the pile of rubble beneath you, the room is still cloaked in shadow.
There are several dark stains on the rubble near where you have climbed down, and not far away there is the remains of a corpse, stripped of flesh, with a spear protruding from its back.
Beren drops the remaining five feet and lands in a crouch while taking the knife from his mouth and scanning the area. When he finds no immediate threat, he picks up the torch, sheaths his knife, and pulls out his longsword. Beren then walks the perimeter of the hole using the torch to shed light into his darker surroundings. He notices stains on several areas of rubble and starts to examine the stains and search among the rocks. He then notices a corpse and attempts to examine and search this also. Beren also picks up some rocky dirt and gravel and gives it a sniff to determine any scents while he is looking for tracks and scanning for exits.
Sari drops down shortly after Beren gets a chance to look around. IT is dark but Jrya's torch yields some light. "What all have you seen so far or rather which areas have you looked at? I can look where you have been to see if I see anything different, I mean this of no offense to you."
"Wells Jyra is seems you planned well even if some people in your crew did not" Ruuz casts a disgusted look at Ghorkin. "Yes lets get all the gear ready to lower down once our scouts down there have declared it safe."
Ruuz waves Valessa over "Could you use your rope skills and help us secure this gear."
"What am I, the hired help?" mutters Valessa to herself. "Why doesn't your new girlfriend do it herself?"
But she walks over and ties the ropes (takes 10 again for 14).
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Beren:
The scent of the place is quite overwhelming, whatever those creatures were, their guano is still as pungent. Kneeling down to examin the body, you realize the odor clings like a malaise to the ground.
The spear is of a very odd design, longer than a normal spear, but shorter than a long spear. The entire length is carved with runic symbols that seem to twitch and dance in the fire light, making your head swim, and your eyes hurt.
The body is slight, perhaps a skinny human, or maybe a half elf, there is too much missing for you to determine. Some of its gear remains intact. You can clearly see it still has a backpack, and some damaged armor, as well as some nearly destroyed clothes. The bones of its right hand still cling to a longsword, and a few feet away you can see a lantern.
"Ah, Damn my Shifter nose. That stink! I will never get it out." Beren shakes his head furiously, growls, and coughs.
With no apparent danger in sight, Beren looks for a spot to brace the torch. Once done, he also sheathes his longsword and moves to the lamp to see if he is able to light that also. Then he searches through the contents of the body's backpack, inspects the longsword, and finally removes the spear from the body's back to inspect it further. Once he is certain that the room is secure, he yells up through the hole, "All Clear."
Once all that is done, Beren will pull out his bow, knock an arrow, step into a crouch, and guard while the others descend.
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"Ah, Damn my Shifter nose. That stink! I will never get it out." Beren shakes his head furiously, growls, and coughs.
With no apparent danger in sight, Beren looks for a spot to brace the torch. Once done, he also sheathes his longsword and moves to the lamp to see if he is able to light that also. Then he searches through the contents of the body's backpack, inspects the longsword, and finally removes the spear from the body's back to inspect it further. Once he is certain that the room is secure, he yells up through the hole, "All Clear."
Once all that is done, Beren will pull out his bow, knock an arrow, step into a crouch, and guard while the others descend.
The lamps oil has spilled out, but it is otherwise functinal.
The longsword seems of excellent quality, and the metal has an odd luster to it.
The pack contains: A climbing harness, 2 sets of adventuring clothing (sans boots), a 100' length of silk rope that is knotted cutting its length to 60', and a wooden box about 1 foot long and 6" square with a worn fork and knife inlaid in the top.
Touching the spear to pull it out causes you to waiver for a moment, you are certain you hear the sound of your own screams echoing inside your eyes.
Fortitude Save -
Success- you remove the spear
Fail - you don't
either way - 1 point of non-lethal damage
When Beren lays his hands on the spear, images of his worst nightmares surface. He quickly lets go and stumbles backward, "Ahhh, Sons of Kyber. What foul demon haunts that spear. It is like it was made for creatures from Xoriat itself." Beren breathes heavy and looks drained and flushed.
I begin to slowly descend on the rope, keeping my eyes facing forward and not looking down.
I make it to the ground with no incident and draw my scimitar, looking around the room for any signs of danger.
I trot over to Beren and ask "What's this stuff you've found? Anything interesting? When he almost collapses I look alarmed and ask "What happened? Are you alright?" I examine him, looking for anything visibly amiss.
Ruuz looks over the end and starts to lower himself down. The going is slow but he makes it down. 'I already miss the city atmosphere, don't think I am cut out for this exploration thing.' Ruuz thinks as his feet touch down.
Ruuz walks over to Beren, "Let me look at the spear before someone else touches it. You might have gotten off lucky."
Ruuz digs though his backpack and grabs his a blanket from his bedroll, folding over several times he wraps it around the spear shaft and pulls it free. Ruuz away from the group and starts looking the spear over trying to figure out what magical properties it might have.
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Ruuz looks over the end and starts to lower himself down. The going is slow but he makes it down. 'I already miss the city atmosphere, don't think I am cut out for this exploration thing.' Ruuz thinks as his feet touch down.
Ruuz walks over to Beren, "Let me look at the spear before someone else touches it. You might have gotten off lucky."
Ruuz digs though his backpack and grabs his a blanket from his bedroll, folding over several times he wraps it around the spear shaft and pulls it free. Ruuz away from the group and starts looking the spear over trying to figure out what magical properties it might have.
You can sure try... I believe that requires a roll
"Er, OK - I'm coming down."
Rokko wanders over to look at the sword. "Hmm, seems like an interesting material..."
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"Er, OK - I'm coming down."
Rokko wanders over to look at the sword. "Hmm, seems like an interesting material..."
Examining the blade of the longsword you determine it is normal steel, but with what looks like powdered dragonshards embedded into the blade. You note that Siberys and Eberron shards are present, but Khyber shards are distinctly absent.
I trot over to Beren and ask "What's this stuff you've found? Anything interesting? When he almost collapses I look alarmed and ask "What happened? Are you alright?" I examine him, looking for anything visibly amiss.
"Ahhhh." Beren grunts and stumbles for a bit, then shakes his head and stands upright. Somewhat disorientated, Beren looks down at Merreck, waits for his vision to clear and says, "That spear." There is a short pause as he looks past Merreck to where the spear sticks upright. Beren notices Ruuz going for the spear. He tries to shout, "No ... Don't....." But it is too late. The spear is already is Ruuz's hands.
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UMD Check 10 +8 = 18
Spellcraft 20 + 7 = 27
I think it is spellcraft and no it's not because it's the highest..... well maybe alittle
Artificer level + Int I think...
But either way, the weapon is obviosuly magical, aligned, and malicious towards the unintended user.
Decipher script: 15 or Know: Planes 20 or familiarity with the daelkyr language (which i don't remember the proper name of) reveals the symbols to be meaningless scrawling in that language.
Also, Having removed the spear give you access to the rest of the body, which is wearing studded leather armor that has been damaged by the spear.
Artificer level + Int I think...UMD Check 10 +8 = 18
Spellcraft 20 + 7 = 27
I think it is spellcraft and no it's not because it's the highest..... well maybe alittle
Ruuz finishes his initial overview of the spear and walks over to Jyra as she steps down into the pit. "You know anything about these markings?"
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I posted this once, so it is liable to show back up...
Jyra moves to take the spear from Ruuz, until a shout from Beren stays her hand. Instead she stoops close and inspects the markings, explaining they are written in the language of the Dalkyr, the lords of madness.
She points out it is odd to find such a thing, here in Xen'drik
After a bit of fumbling with the harness, Brick begins to lower himself down. With each movement, the rope twangs like a taut bowstring, as it has been stretched to its limit by the sheer mass of the ceramic man. Finally, the warforged reaches the bottom.
Brick immediately sees Ruuz and Beren standing near the corpse. He immediately walks towards them.
"Hey look, a dead guy."
Ruuz looks a Jyra as she explains some of the writing and tries to not let the disappointment show that she can't read the writing but she did help with narrowing down the possibilities.
"Thanks your knowledge has helped." Ruuz looks up and takes the spear over to Valessa and waves Rokko over "Come and look at this, but what ever you don't touch it. Can either of you read this script on here? If not I have one last option that I would like to avoid if I can."
Valessa peers closely at the spear, careful not to touch it. “Yes, definitely Dalkyr Prof,” she says after a moment, “and definitely unusual to find such here,” with a sideways glance at Jyra. “Now let me see if I can read it….”
She will also help Rokko examine the sword.
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Valessa peers closely at the spear, careful not to touch it. “Yes, definitely Dalkyr Prof,” she says after a moment, “and definitely unusual to find such here,” with a sideways glance at Jyra. “Now let me see if I can read it….”
She will also help Rokko examine the sword.
The script is the meaningless scrawlings of a mad man, but having concentrated so intensly on it, from time to time when you blink, you still see the characters... or worse yet they are there in the flickering shadows of the torchlight...
You add nothing of importance in regards to the sword.
"There is definately something very ... wrong about this spear," Valessa states, licking her lips and looking around nervously. "What happened when you tried to touch it Beren? What did you feel? Regardless, I don't think we should touch it ... if we can carry it wrapped... Or maybe it would be safe for Brick to touch it, but I'm really not sure."
"I have a spell that will allow us to read the script. Unfortunately, I didn't prepare it today. But if we can secure the spear without sending ourselves insane, we should do so and I will analyse the script tomorrow."
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Now, with the full group inside the hole, the raised platform of debris is becoming quite crowded. Extra torches are lit and cast their light into the surrounding darkness.
The chamber is a massive sphere, some eighty feet in diameter, gently curving walls of polished white marble, with thin veins of bright red crystal, possibly Eberron shards embedded in the stone. The upper reaches of the sphere are lost in shadow, and through the upper portal you can barely see the Ring of Siberys and a few starts against the encroaching dark velvet of night.
The dais you stand on consists of the dirt, roots, and trees of the jungle above, mixed with some tine pieces of the shattered marble.
All of the surfaces here are covered in a thick frothy paste of “bat creature” guano, though the coating atop the rubble is far thinner than elsewhere in the room.
There are three apparent exits from the chamber, massive doors of giant size carved from the same white stone, and inset in the base of each, a much smaller door. Pathways, kept mystically clean, lead up to each door, somehow immune to the offal of the creatures.
The first door lies not quite due east of the center of the room, and the other two are equally spaced around the circumference.
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Please decide how you are going to carry the gear you have found so far, and decide on a course of action.
Meanwhile, I will cackle maniacly...
"I have a spell that will allow us to read the script. Unfortunately, I didn't prepare it today. But if we can secure the spear without sending ourselves insane, we should do so and I will analyse the script tomorrow."
"Yeah I have a scroll that can read the script also but if I remember I have to touch the spear for it to work and I don't really want to try it now. Well I am fine waiting until later to examine it more." Ruuz starts wrapping it in his blanket went he stops and looks a Brick, Ruuz walks over to Brick and holds out the spear "Now don't touch but have you seen this before?"
"There is definately something very ... wrong about this spear," Valessa states, licking her lips and looking around nervously. "What happened when you tried to touch it Beren? What did you feel? ..."
Beren looks at Valessa, his eyes wide and his face flushed. He is feeling something that he has never felt before. Something that he cannot comprehend. Fear induced by chaotic insanity. "I heard screams. My screams …. like out of my worst nightmares. Where did they come from." Beren shakes his head vigorously, "Ahh, that spear is evil."
After several moments of reorienting himself, Beren looks around and with more light notices the design of the room and three potential exits. He starts to inspect the doors for runes, script, drawings, and ways of opening. After his examination, he returns to the repacked backpack and turns to Brick, "Hey Brick, do you think you would be able to carry these while I do some scouting?"
Ruuz starts wrapping it in his blanket went he stops and looks a Brick, Ruuz walks over to Brick and holds out the spear "Now don't touch but have you seen this before?"
"Yes, I have," states the warforged, "It was on the floor five minutes ago."
After his examination, he returns to the repacked backpack and turns to Brick, "Hey Brick, do you think you would be able to carry these while I do some scouting?"
Brick takes the pack, wordlessly. With some difficulty, he shoulders it, the pack appearing absurdly small strapped to Brick's massive back.
"Yes, I have," states the warforged, "It was on the floor five minutes ago."
Ruuz looks a Brick and says "I would call you a smart ass if I thought you would get the meaning."
Ruuz finishes wrapping the blanket around the spear and then straps it to his backpack and grabs one of his torches in one hand and his morningstar in the other.
"Well lets head out and see what we can find, Beren you and Sari go ahead and lead the way and I will supply the light in the back." Ruuz walks over and lights is torch with the one braced on the ground and walks over to the back of the group.
“I’m not entirely certain we want to be able to read what’s written on that spear, higher learning be damned,” Valessa mutters to Rokko. “Hey, do you have any idea what that sword might be good for – apart from the obvious that is? I mean, powdered dragonshards embedded into the blade … made to kill aberrations and other nasties from Khyber do you think? Or something else? What do you know of dragon-shard properties?”
Once her muttered conversation with Rokko is over, she heads with the others over to the east door. “Now, what can we see here…”
I follow Valessa and say "Let me see the sword. I might recognize something about it. I've picked up alot of stray knowledge." I look at the sword for a moment, searching my memory for anything similair.
I then follow Valessa to peer through the door after her, but keeping a reasonable distance from the door but my caution preventrs me from seeing anything.
While Beren is running point with Sari, inspecting the doors, and looking of clues, he turns to her for a moment, "You're good with a sword and you're a House member. You should take that sword." With that quick statement, Beren turns back to the task at hand.
Rokko unlimbers and loads his crossbow, and follows after Valessa. "Not too many spells left..."
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I follow Valessa and say "Let me see the sword. I might recognize something about it. I've picked up alot of stray knowledge." I look at the sword for a moment, searching my memory for anything similair.
I then follow Valessa to peer through the door after her, but keeping a reasonable distance from the door but my caution preventrs me from seeing anything.
Your recognize the sword as similar to others you have heard of, something called an 'Enchanter's Blade', but you don't know what the properties of such would be.
"Look, blood." Beren states as he investigates the eastern door. "Door's locked. Can't find a latch. Maybe there is a hidden lever in the rock." Beren then starts to perform a visual and tactile search of the walls and door.
"It's called an Enchanter's Blade but I've got no idea what it does." I say and then go over to Beren to help him search for some way to open the door but I don't find a damn thing.
While Beren is running point with Sari, inspecting the doors, and looking of clues, he turns to her for a moment, "You're good with a sword and you're a House member. You should take that sword." With that quick statement, Beren turns back to the task at hand.
"I can take a look at it and see if I notice anything different but I am fairly sure that I haven't seem one quite like it before." Sari walks towards Valessa to get a better look before catching back up with Beren to continue there exploring.
"It's called an Enchanter's Blade but I've got no idea what it does." I say and then go over to Beren to help him search for some way to open the door but I don't find a damn thing.
Sari walks up to Beren and Merreck. "Why can't we just have brick try to break down the door? I think he might even enjoy it a bit."
"Well, its not very subtle but... What's the door made of? Anyone recognize that stone?" I say, looking at the door with an appraising eye.
"Maybe we should check all the doors before deciding which one to take?" Rokko takes a quick look at the other doors.
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The doors are each made of the same smooth white stone as the rest of the chamber.
A Tracking check may reveal more info about the hand print.
The other two doors lack the same hand print design, and the southern most of the doors actually sits slightly ajar (that is the whole giant sized door, not the slave door), not far enough to even look past, but enough to know it is not set on the lock.
Spoiler for Ruuz: