Book One: Chapter Four: "Plots Unearthed"

Mordax treads as quietly as he can, bearing hammer and net.

OOC: What's the lighting like in here?"

The lightning is dim; there are only two small torches in this massive cavern.

"Straegis, take the eyepatch and inspect the glyph."

Alex hands over the eyepatch, getting accustomed to its passing around. He stands in front of the reaper and looks up with heavy blue eyes.

He summons a tiny sphere of water from the air, and sets it spinning at his fingertip to aid the party's investigations, sure to stand where the light will not reveal them through the arches.

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Light.

Straegis puts on the eyepatch carefully, unsure of what to expect since he watched the princess and his friend both age unnaturally when the looked thru it last. He's slightly confused and comforted tho that Davin did not seem to grow any older when he wore it last. He moves slowly as he scans the room and the writings trying to locate anything Davin may not have noticed.

Perception: 1d20=16+4(half-lvl)=20

Mordax stands guard at the arches while his friends inspect the cave.

Readied action: attack any movement beyond the arches.

Straegis wrote:Straegis puts on the eyepatch carefully, unsure of what to expect since he watched the princess and his friend both age unnaturally when the looked thru it last. He's slightly confused and comforted tho that Davin did not seem to grow any older when he wore it last. He moves slowly as he scans the room and the writings trying to locate anything Davin may not have noticed.

Now, looking at the glyph himself, Straegis is amazed by how much detail Davin was able to discern in such a short time; especially with no knowledge of the Supernal script, and basically no knowledge of arcana. But, Straegis is now convinced that his original reading was spot on: Perdurable Crepuscule. Straegis is a little surprised, however, by the location of the glyph; it's on the angel's belly, just below the waist.* It's an unusual place to put a magic symbol.

Mordax wrote:Mordax stands guard at the arches while his friends inspect the cave.
Readied action: attack any movement beyond the arches.

Peering through one of the arches, Mordax does see movement within the shadow; but he's not immediately sure how to attack it. The hall beyond this arch is flanked by a series of arched alcoves, each seperated from the corridor by a set of sturdy iron bars. The movement, as well as the moaning, seems to be coming from those alcoves. But the hall is very, very dark; Alex's light in the main cave doesn't quite reach this far back.

Invisibly, I move from my hidden niche to the arch opposite Mordax and head down the hall beyond, scouting a bit.

Stealth=35
Perception=37

O.O.C. - What lamentations are going on? People being tortured? Ritualistically killed? I have the Crossbow in hand.

-Swift

As Mordax peers into the darkness, Davin slips past him and into the hall where he uses his elven vision to discover the source of the cries; the many cells are full of undead!

Though they seem oblivious to Davin, the closest ones have become acutely aware of Mordax. Throwing themselves against the bars in an effort to reach the warrior, the zombies enter the dim light only briefly.

"Uhhrrrrrrrrrrr."

At this point, Mordax realizes these are zombies.

But Davin's keen vision pierces the darkness and sees that these are no ordinary zombies. They are risen from composite corpses; bits of numerous corpses have been sewn together and reanimated. Orc-bodies with Goblin-heads and Ogre-arms; Ogre-bodies with two Kobold-heads and Lizardman tails for arms; Tiefling-heads on Dragonborne bodies with Ogre-legs for arms and Kobold-arms for legs; and worse atrocities. Who could do such a thing?

Davin slinks back to the party and, visibly shaken, quietly describes what he has seen.

Regaining his composure, the wood elf continues.

"It's that glyph. I bet it kept those...things...alive long enough to be...reassembled.? It may be keeping them alive still. It could have been that necromancer we faced, or his master, further in the temple. In any case, the Cave Temple certainly needs some cleansing. We do have that Naptha...it might do a number on those caged monstrosities..."

O.O.C. - Did I see how the cages were locked?

-Swift

Davin wrote:Did I see how the cages were locked?

Big dwarven steel padlocks.

"I could attempt to wash away the glyph, but only tomorrow. Perhaps Straegis and I could disable it though?"

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As in, disable it like a trap. A number of magical effects I have come across can be removed with a series of good Arcana checks before enough failures- like a skill challenge. Can this be done?
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Mordax cautiously backs away from the opening, rounding the curve until out of site of the zombies.

New readied action: Leap out and attack when Davin says so.

Alex wrote:"I could attempt to wash away the glyph, but only tomorrow. Perhaps Straegis and I could disable it though?"

As in, disable it like a trap. A number of magical effects ... can be removed with a series of good Arcana checks before enough failures- like a skill challenge. Can this be done?

OOC: Certianly, you could try that; you could use either Arcana or Disable Device.

Sparks flicker before Alex's hands, bubbles of water rise and pop and waves of coloured steam float away from his busy hands, working in concentric circles and attempting to disable the glyph. Hopefully it will disable the monsters.

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Cool. I'll have 4 tries. Arcana: 33, 22, 22, 26. Damn. rolls. If nothing bad happens I'll keep going until its done (if it looks like I'm having an effect) with +16 on my Arcana roll.

Alex wrote:Sparks flicker before Alex's hands, bubbles of water rise and pop and waves of coloured steam float away from his busy hands, working in concentric circles and attempting to disable the glyph. Hopefully it will disable the monsters.

Arcana: 33, 22, 22, 26

Alex makes some progress, safely removing a portion of the glyph; but he also destroys part of the glyph in an unsafe manner. At this point, it seems like the operation could go either way; it could end well, or badly. But, the four of you are able to examine the magical energies that are released in the effort ...

Malazek wrote:Straegis recognizes the Supernal script immediately. It says "Perdurable Crepuscule" ... and Verity experiences deja vu.

Straegis thinks it over and reckons that it probably refers to some sort of death defying repose; like a spell meant to prevent the soul's release, allowing the recipient to survive (albiet barely) long enough to be healed. Or fufill some other condition. (He rules out "lasting shadow" because the cave wasn't really dark enough to warrant the effort needed to make it permanent). It could be something else; but this seems the most likely.

Thinking back, Straegis recalls several faery tales that involve putting beautiful maidens in stasis until they could be healed; he also recalls the story of an angelic messenger who, when slain in battle, entered such a state in order to deliver a message to Velatine the Iniquitous.

Malazek wrote:By examining the bendy curves and hooks at the top of the letters, Alex affirms Straegis's hunch: Protracted Liminality (Perdurable Crepuscule). Obviously, the symbol is used to create some sort of lasting state of transition; either shadow, or the state between waking and sleeping, or a state of near death. Given the environment, the last seems probable.

That puts his total up to 41.

Malazek wrote:Now, looking at the glyph himself, Straegis is amazed by how much detail Davin was able to discern in such a short time; especially with no knowledge of the Supernal script, and basically no knowledge of arcana. But, Straegis is now convinced that his original reading was spot on: Perdurable Crepuscule. Straegis is a little surprised, however, by the location of the glyph; it's on the angel's belly, just below the waist.* It's an unusual place to put a magic symbol.

OOC: 41 is an extremely high roll; Straegis should be able to discern more information than what I gave him (even though it IS an extremely rare glyph). So, I decided to add some details ...

After watching Alex's attempts to disable the glyph, Straegis (with the help of Alex, Verity, Vangg, and Juugug) is able to surmise a few more things about this extremely rare ritual:

• Its magic is contained within the statue itself; that is, it is NOT emenating any sort aura or zone. That means, it's probably not keeping the zombies alive.
• Furthermore, the magic within the statue seems to be balled up directly behind the rune itself. That is, it's not affecting the entire statue; just part of it.
• The magic is divine in origin, and uses Psychic, Healing, and Sleep oriented magicks.

The Raven Queen wrote:You have dared not only to face death, but to wrench it from the gaping womb of time itself

“Fate presents us with Her Prophecy once more, I'm sure of it.
As for how we do Her will... Well, first we must know if this rune is for good or ill. The womb of time is not to be wrenched lightly," Verity says without a trace of irony.

Confident that he can contain its magic energies. Alex soldiers on.

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Ooooh. Did much better this time.
rolls.
29, 36, 30, 28.

Verity wrote:

The Raven Queen wrote:You have dared not only to face death, but to wrench it from the gaping womb of time itself

“Fate presents us with Her Prophecy once more, I'm sure of it.
As for how we do Her will... Well, first we must know if this rune is for good or ill. The womb of time is not to be wrenched lightly," Verity says without a trace of irony.

Alex wrote:Confident that he can contain its magic energies. Alex soldiers on.
29, 36.

Heedless of Verity's guidance, Alex removes the rest of the glyph. A barely audible cry is heard when the magical energies dissipate; something like a cross between a baby crying and a death rattle. And then Straegis senses no more magic from the rune.

But the zombies in the hall continue to meander in their cramped cells (in the arched alcoves which used to serve as living quarters for the priests of the Cave Temple).

Oh god I didn't see Verity's post!.

"Erm...it was more to see if I could wrench away those horrid things from existance than anything else. I thought I'd be doing 'the Queen' a favour if I could help dismantle the undead that are such an abomination to her and this most holy of places."

He shrugs apologetically.

Swifthand wrote:Invisibly, I move from my hidden niche to the arch opposite Mordax and head down the hall beyond, scouting a bit.

Stealth=35
Perception=37

Okay, I guess Davin wanted to continue on ...

After telling the party about the composite undead, Davin slips back down the curved hall (leaving the waiting fisherman at the ready). Quietly and cautiously, he slides past a dozen such cages, where this hall reunites with the one behind the other arch; similiar cages, filled with similiar monsters, stand on either side of that hall, too. Where they meet, stands a set of enormous steel doors. Seeing no evidence of a trap, Davin pushes the heavy door open to reveal a massive hall beyond; easily 3 stories high and four rods wide, it stretches beyond the elf's site and into the distance.

The hall is well lit by fires overhead, burning within a series of heavy censers, connected to the cieling by thick chains.

Davin sees the scorch markes on the floor before the door. Apparently, there was a trap on this side; but somebody already disabled it ... but, judging by the shape of the scoring, not before his companions were burned alive.

The long hall is eerie to say the least. Half-columns the size of towers buttress the walls, each covered by runic depiction of the rites and history of the cave temple. 64 steel plates, arranged 8 on a side, stand between each of the coumns; sepulchres, if Davin guesses correctly.

Knowing the Dwarves made it through here, Davin moves forward, confident that no traps will escape his notice.

The long hall stretches for nearly two miles, at which point it is closed by another pair of giant steel doors. Davin can hear the many voices of a Dwarven army on the otherside. Peering through the spaces between and under the door, he estimates that approximately a thousand dwarves are housed in the next room.

Prudently, he decides not to attack so many.

As he turns to head back, his keen elven eyes barely pick-up the shape of two doors, one on each side of the main door, concealed within the stone walls. Examining them further, he's certain they are doors.

Now, does he head back? Or does he stick around and examine the secret doors?
If he sticks around, I need atleast two Perception rolls.

Davin checks out the secret doors.

Perception=25
Perception=28

-Swift

Examing the first door, Davin notices another glyph, etched ever so faintly into the hidden door ... but he isn't fooled by it. The glyph is a ruse, meant to diguise a trio of hidden nozzles; nozzles built into the door, and hidden within the loopy letters of the false rune.

Checking the other door, he finds the same set-up.

Not knowing when he will have another opportunity to work on the door without any Dwarven entanglements, Davin pulls out his tools and attempts to disable the trap.

Thievery=35

-Swift

Davin wrote:Not knowing when he will have another opportunity to work on the door without any Dwarven entanglements, Davin pulls out his tools and attempts to disable the trap.
Thievery=35

Davin gets to work clogging the nozzles, and makes short work of the first one ... but almost as soon as he's finished with that very first one, he hears a rumble of popping sounds.

OOC: Roll Initiative! Davin has one nozzle disabled, but now the trap is going to attack on its initiative every round. Davin could try to dash in, disable a nozzle, and dash out again each round; but that seems like a tough proposition.

If you'd like to try, drop an initiative roll and a couple of thievery checks.
If you have a better plan, let me hear it.