"I'll check this monstrosity for traps, but I'm thinking it might be extra careful searching. What do you think about camping here for the night, Brave Lady Kava?
Latro moves toward the statue and begins to examine it.
Ah'd not be steppin too close to that beastie gentle Kava, It looks to these weary eyes that yon Draco once had blood pumpin through it's veins an a nasty temperence ta go wit it's evil nature. Rulf raises his arm warding Kava from moving too close. Me thinks it be best that young Latro take a gander,..... someat changed its form so we'd best step wary.
A'loran, that heart looks more magical ta me than spiritual my friend.
In fact on closer inspection ah'd say it was about to take a nasty chunk out a someone standin afore the heart when it was frozen in time
Rulf points out a point most likely for the Dragon to be biting.
Agreed
Pausing with Rulfs hand on her arm "That is sound advice. Well if we are going to retire for a rest perhaps the rooms back with the goblins are the safest and most defensable?
"Yes. Let's get going."
"I'm pretty tuckered out, and perhaps my tired eyes might miss something. It might be better to get a fresh look at this after some much needed sleep. Lady Kava, you wanna lead us?"
With that, Latro turns and walks to the hallway. He waits for Kava to lead the way to the day's resting place.
Rulf follows, eager to have some of yesterdays mutton he still has about his person somewhere and rest his weary bones after a job well done.
Rulf follows Kava into the room and starts clearing the place and looking for a good spot to sleep all the time muttering about Goblin filth cluttering up the place.
A'loran quietly follows the rest of the group. Pondering something. He settles down on the floor and addresses the group. "Could that dragon be... eating people. Like Anmuspi?"
A'loran nervously adjusts his leather armor.
"lets just hope we make it through the night without any more of us ending up as puddles of blood."
A'loran takes out his pack and removes some rations and his journal. He quickly jots down some of the things he's seen today. Finishes the snack and settles down for the night.
He quickly opens his eyes "I'll take second shift, Please wake me."
Small piles of litter are arranged about the cells. Goblin footprints in the dust give away who put the clutter into piles. Most of the piles appear to be splintered planks of rotted wood. There are a few piles of rusty metal, odds and ends that may have come from suits of armor or broken weapons. The last piles are bones, dusty old bones. Some are humanoid and some look human but have great curving horns. There are also some that look dragonborn. The goblins may have been playing a game with the skulls, given that the skulls form somewhat messier piles and several are broken.
Kava
Latro
"Um, guys..and brave lady. You gotta see this. There's a, well, it's umm...a corpse with all sorts of weird symbols on it. Up hear on the ledge. And there appears to be something tied between the corpse and the heart."
"Um, guys..and brave lady. You gotta see this. There's a, well, it's umm...a corpse with all sorts of weird symbols on it. Up hear on the ledge. And there appears to be something tied between the corpse and the heart."
Canas heads over to the platform. "Well, let's take a look at this... oh my."
Rulf too heads over, thinking that there may be something to tell from this corpse. His knowledge of medicine (healing) and burial practices and rites (religion) may come in handy. So, let's have a wee look at what young master Evermeet has dragged up.
About ten feet away from the stone heart lies a bloody body. Strange symbols cover are carved into the flesh making it impossible to identify the corpse without closer inspection. A foot-wide strip of leather is stretched out and hammered into the floor with pitons between the corpse and the heart.
Kava carries up a set of leather robes made of magically reinforced parchment inscribed with arcane writings.
Detect Magic
This armor is made of magically reinforced parchment inscribed with arcane writings.
Level: 4
Price: 840 gp
Armor: Leather
Enhancement: +1 AC
Property: This armor contains 1 arcane charge. Recharging the armor requires an extended rest.
Power (At-Will): Free. Trigger: You use an arcane power and make an attack roll. Effect: You spend any number of unused charges from this armor and gain a power bonus to the attack roll for the triggering power equal to the number of charges spent.
Canas
Rulf
"This certainly was some sort of ritual, but I can't tell what..." Canas blanches as a look of recognition comes over his face. "Douven..."
Kava
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"Oh my" Kava says bending down over the mutilated Professor "From these insisions and the markings here... She says pointing to the body parts "... these markings on make him the focus of the ritual, and somebody attempted three times. This is horrible, but Douven Stal should have survived this process. All I can say is the Ritualist failed miserably to understand a critical part of what they were doing. Bahamut protect his soul and deliver it to the Dark Lady"
"Oh my. I didn't really need to see that. And I certainly don't want to be on the wrong end of THAT ritual. So what's our next step?"
With that said, Latro moves away from the body slumps against the wall, and slowly slides to the floor.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm beat."
Well I for one intend ta get a good nights rest and pray ta mighty Kord that the spectres of such sights as this not be a hauntin my dreams.
With that Rulf heads back to the other room and gets comfortable and calls out wake me when it's my watch ehh
The night goes by quietly.
"A'loran, have you had a chance to look at the armor? If not, I'll take a look."
Detect Magic
This armor is made of magically reinforced parchment inscribed with arcane writings.
Level: 4
Price: 840 gp
Armor: Leather
Enhancement: +1 AC
Property: This armor contains 1 arcane charge. Recharging the armor requires an extended rest.
Power (At-Will): Free. Trigger: You use an arcane power and make an attack roll. Effect: You spend any number of unused charges from this armor and gain a power bonus to the attack roll for the triggering power equal to the number of charges spent.
Canas
Canas** spoiler omitted **
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As part of her nightly routine Kava lays out the bodies of the Goblins and hobgoblins in the northernmost room, and prays Bahamut protects their souls on the way to the Raven Queen.
"...ith bahamut troth wer woari seoyl vur troth astahi ekess wer whedab gibagi..."
After the blessed uneventful rest Kava prays again for thanks in watching over them.
"...ihk naktair udoka tokeq, ith di wer daguam, yth vinxa..."
When they are ready "Let us view the stone dragon once more. If this is the Netherese Evil then we must destroy it or keep it from causing harm"
Rulf tosses and turns throughout the night, visions of floating eyeballs and talking parrots filling his dreams. he wakes somewhat rested and rubs his rheumy eyes while enquiring how goes the group.
Ah'll never get used ta sleepin on cold hard stone ya know, give me a warm comfy bed any day. so whats for brekkie and are we ready to clear out the rest a this once fine cathedral.
Latro pulls the hood of his cloak back from his and slowly rises. Speaking as he stretches, Latro agrees with Rulf.
"Aye Rulf. This is my first night sleeping away from home and I do not look forward to another night of sleeping on the cold ground. On the other hand, I can't wait to see what today brings! Yesterday was so much fun...except for that bit about An'muspi. And yes, what's for breakfast? I'm famished!"
Latro rolls up his bedroll, attaches it to his pack, and readies to put it on.
"So where to now?"
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"Well I think we should find out just what this ritual was. For A'loran sake and the sake of everyone in the path of that Goblin horde we have been out running. I have a feeling if they get what they want then i will be bad for us all. I think that it includes finding out about the statues. What say you?"
A'loran awakes to the chattering of his comrades and is filled in on the dark discoveries.
"looks like I missed most of the excitement."
A'loran will then take his shift of watch carefully examining the armor and ritual site. looking for some clues.
shaking his head "poor duven... who would do this too you?"
A'loran
The dragon is an ancient red, and it is definately not a statue. A red dragon’s breath weapon is a blast of raw elemental fire that sears flesh and heats metal. The breath of an ancient dragon can strip even magical resistance to fire away from a creature caught in its blast, so even efreets fear these mightiest of dragons. Though red dragons prefer to lair deep underground, they often have high perches above ground where they survey their territory, watching for intruders.
Red dragons are terrible forces of destruction and chaos, and often ally with similarly minded creatures, including githyanki and demons.
The heart continues to baffle you.
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Standing with A'loran, Kava muses "I am not sure what else we can do here? There is no hint of Anmuspi and whatever ritual took place here has failed. I wonder why Owyk led us here now. It seems that the ritual had already failed with out us." Thinking a minute "A'loran, what was your friend studying here that he may have come fallen foul of these cultists?"
"So where to now? Let's have some more fun today!"
"So where to now? Let's have some more fun today!"
"Back to Fallcrest, I assume. Will you excuse me for a moment, there's something I need to do." Canas walks back to Douven's body and with a wave of his hand sets it alight. "Goodbye, old friend." He then turns back to the rest. "Well, we really ought to be leaving now." As he walks away, the faint sounds of some distant battle can be heard.
A'loran slowly gets up. "he must have been captured. They were trying to free the dragon but the ritual failed."
"Douven was researching a map which lead to this place I believe. Its my fault. I should have found him sooner. But we need to hunt down the group that are behind this because they'll keep trying to free this dragon. And that would be horrible for this land."
what about this here heart thingy Rulf says, indicating the heart shape stone on the platform. isn't this the focus of yon dragons ire or at the least it is protecting it.
Latro remembers what he said he would do in his half-asleep state last night.
"Okay let's see what I can find. Anyone else want to help me search for secret doors, traps, whatever else there might be? This is a big room and it will take me a long time to get through it on my own."
Latro begins searching the back wall near the heart.
turning towards Rolf "I'm not sure about the heart. I'm thinking we should head back to town and try and do some research. I'm afraid what destroying the heart would do."
"latro, I can help search. I'm not as good as you but it will move things along faster."
It looks like the goblins were here for a while and did a pretty thorough search. Anything of interest has already been piled up. And of that, nothing appears valuable. No sign of secret doors or anything else.