Expedition: Fingers/Ghostly Trial - Part II - 23 July 2021

[onlyme]

Did we need to burn those bones to prevent re-forming?

Once everyone has settled down and rested a bit, Markd asks if they are ready to proceed. He holds his dagger with a firm grip.

[Zhym]

Fingers experimentally sprinkles a few drops of holy water on the smashed bones to see if it has any effect. "Sure would be great to stop 'em reforming," he says. "Maybe holy water can do it."

[DavetheLost]

"I wonder if the runes inscribed on these tables have anything to do with the bones reforming. How long did it take the the last time you were here? Hengist asks looking around the room.

[Alethan]

Bandy waits to see if Fingers' action produces any results...

[Marullus]

Fingers sprinkles a flask of holy water on the bone fragments on the floor and is rewarded to see that they disintegrate into a wet dust slurry upon contact. He uses the full vial and finds that he has dissolved about one third of the fragments currently in the hallway.

Hengist finds that the room is too dim to really make out much more without getting a light source.

Date: 8:00am, 24 July 2021
Light: Hallway candelabras
Effects: None
Injuries: None

[Zhym]

Fingers uses two more vials of holy water to dissolve the rest of the bone fragments.

That leaves Fingers with 1 vial, FYI.

[Alethan]

Before Fingers can use a third vial of holy water, Bandy gets one of his vials out and uses it to dissolve the last of the skeleton bones.

OOC: Bandy was going to do this once he confirmed that it worked, so only mark off two vials total, Zhym. Or Bandy will just give Fingers one of his two vials. Same net effect.

[Zhym]

Done. One vial added back.

[Marullus]

All the bones now dissolved, the party now stares into the shadowed room.

Date: 8:20am, 24 July 2021
Light: Hallway candelabras
Effects: None
Injuries: None

[onlyme]

Didn't we have a map of this place already? I cant find it.

[Marullus]

I think you did. That's why I recommend you share them in the Maps thread.

[Zhym]

I have a map that's only a little incorrect (it should have 10' thick walls, I think):

Barrowdown.png (157.88 KiB) Viewed 174 times

[Alethan]

Bandy thinks a moment and says, "Let's check out that door that's up there by the sarcophagus on the left-hand side; I don't think we've ever seen what was there."

If nobody disagrees, he heads into the skeleton room and moves up to the door he mentioned. He listens at the door to see if he can hear anything...

[Alethan]

OOC: I guess I need to be explicit about not going places if it's too dark to see?

Bandy sticks a candle in his candelabra and lights it to get a better look at what is going on around him.

[Marullus]

Lighting his candle, Bandy can see clearly in the room. The others only see a faint illumination of a single candle some 40' away - they know where Bandy is, but otherwise wait for his report.

Bandy sees there are five tables total. The tables are broad, polished black marble, engraved with symbols. The bases they rest on have a few narrow drawers. The tabletops are currently empty, but do have finely-engraved runes around their circumference and symbology across the entire top surface.

On the east side of the room is a wide set of wall shelves filled with incredibly dusty lidded ceramic jars, glass bottles, and collapsed boxes. On the west side, where Bandy now stands around the room's middle, there is what looks to have been a set of shelves which he now stubbed his foot on. There are shards of glass - sufficient for at least a dozen glass potion bottles - covering the floor and a still-sticky residue congealed in a massive puddle from whatever they contained. Holes in the wall indicate where the shelves tore free from their mountings, likely due to a heavy weight pulling on them.

At the far end of the room a stone sarcophagus rests, it's foot towards you and it's head raised, resting at about a 45 degree angle as it faces you. An unlit candelabra hangs above it in the corner, otherwise similar to the one in the hallway outside. Bandy examines the sarcophagus. It is made of granite - a different material than both the natural stone of the hill and also that of the polished marble tables - and engraved with writing in a language not known to you. It doesn't appear to have any locks or closures - one suspects that the lid would slide off.

The door adjacent to it on the west wall is made of stone with a sturdy latch but no apparent lock. The door is covered in runes and sigils as well.

Date: 8:40am, 24 July 2021
Light: Bandy's Candlestick
Effects: None
Injuries: None

[onlyme]

Markd will offer his lantern's use once the candle is out.

He holds his dagger tightly as he does a more close examination of the sarcophagus, knowing a wight could be lurking within.

Re, the lighting. I will admit I wouldnt have picked up on the clues until something happened and wouldnt have helped had I been able to post yesterday pm, so 1 hp to one pc as a warning seems perfectly fair. (Sorry to Bandy) However, I would also request that a more specific warning be posted, or just assume a standing MO that Markd would always light his lantern before going into a room where he couldnt see.

[Alethan]

OOC: No worries.

Studying the stone sarcophagus and wooden door for a bit, Bandy shakes his head and turns away from them.

"Not disturbing either of those things on my own, no way," he mutters to himself.

Looking back at the tables, he notes the drawers at the bottom of each of them and checks them for anything of interest.

[Marullus]

There are no assumptions on lighting. I'm counting on you to accurately track your inventory of oil, torches, and candles, which means I need you to post when you deduct one (and preferably, how many you have left) before I count it in-play.

Markd joins Bandy in looking at the sarcophagus. There's not much else he discerns from the outside. It doesn't look like it has been disturbed for millennia.

Bandy (and his candle) leave the sarcophagus and check the drawers under the tables. In the drawers, he finds small bone tubes - each appears to be a mid-section of a human femur. Both ends of each tube are sealed in red wax, fragile with age. A few of the tubes have cracked wax, and you can see that they tubes are filled with fine metallic powder where the seals allow it to spill into the drawer. Check all the drawers you find 37 bone tubes in total.

"Not disturbing either of those things on my own, no way," Bandy mutters to himself. When he returns to the others, Hengist is able to look more closely at the tables by his narrow candlelight. The etchings are clearly mystical, but not innately understandable to him.

(Hint: If Hengist wants to cast Detect Magic, he may learn more about the tables through that insight per the house rules on investigating magic items.)

Date: 8:40am, 24 July 2021
Light: Bandy's Candlestick (until 9:30)
Effects: None
Injuries: None

[Zhym]

Okay, so that's now, what, three posts since 2:00 EST yesterday? None of which were based on any input from the ostensible party leader?

Fast updates are not a problem if it moves the action forward without getting anyone hurt. If it's going to be a way of pulling "gotchas" on players, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could slow the hell down.

Thank you.

[Marullus]

It is normally my policy that non-combat investigatory actions can be handled individually. I'll wait for all players to post between each update at your request.

I redacted all the other posts, including your perceived "gotcha" out of the thread already. Please just play the game.