PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

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Norjax
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PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#1 Post by Norjax »

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The Temple of Chaos

For the past several months, your village has experienced terrifying sights and sounds. Animal corpses have been found in the woods with their skins removed. Distant, nocturnal screams have awoken most of you over the past several weeks. Some of your friends and family have disappeared. There are whispers of a stranger being sighted handing out "wisdom berries" to villagers. Rumors are rampant.

Determined to find the source of this terrorizing pestilence, one group has traced the activity to an ancient, underground temple of a chaos god. The brush-covered stone door has been cleared, indicating the sanctum is once again in use.

Those of you who have mustered the courage (some more than others) to investigate have gathered near the entrance to the temple, just as dawn breaks …


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Norjax
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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#2 Post by Norjax »

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Temple of Chaos, Entry Door

A circular, stone door seals the entrance. A rune circle has been carved into it. The door looks ancient, but the carvings are recent. In the middle of the circle is a lot of dried blood.

The door is currently closed, even though the picture shows it open.


..

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#3 Post by kalstone »

Irakas, Halfling Trader

Irakas looks at the door nervously.

"Well, it's closed. I guess we'll have to come back later." He looks around, not wanting to be the first to head back to the village.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#4 Post by ybn1197 »

Toross looks at the suspiciously. "Does anyone know of another way in? Blood and runes mean evil magic is at work here."

Sitrus snorts derisively at the elf. "Magic is nothing but the lazy man's way of getting things done that could normally be done by those with strength of arm. Anyone else want to give me a hand?" Sitrus approaches the stone, ready to roll it to the side if someone else is willing to help.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#5 Post by Starbeard »

Kid Crimson & Beefheart

"Last one in is a rotten egg!" cries Kid Crimson. He rushes up to the stone door and helps Sitrus roll it open.

Beefheart stands back.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#6 Post by OGRE MAGE »

Miss Cleo stares at the stone for a while. She closes her eyes and holds her palms out towards it as if she is trying to open it with just her mind.

"Me can see the pic-ture in my mind bout dis! Me pretty sure the stone needs to be rolled to da left in order to enter."

She does not help with the actual "rolling" however.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#7 Post by OGRE MAGE »

Timmy walks up to the stone with trepidation, making sure his prized instrument is stored safely away.

"Rolling the stone away to enter? Now where have I heard of that before? It must have been an old tune that I cant remember anymore."

He whistles a quick ditty as he attempts to help with the grunt work.

"Rolling stones, eh? Hey! I think I just came up with a cool name for my next pict!"
Last edited by OGRE MAGE on Mon Apr 10, 2017 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#8 Post by Pulpatoon »

Symond Berry, a big, beefy farmer's kid who seems barely squeezed into his apprentice-robes, lends a hand moving the door. "I think I read something about seals like this... or heard someone talking about them? Maybe I just had a dream. But I think the blood is... a bad sign?"

Foul Ol' Amphelice, beggar queen of Stump Alley, hangs back with the others. Stumping along on her crutch, she sidles up to Toross. "Ohhhh, an elf are you? Mighty good luck, elves are, ain't they? You wouldn't have some good luck to spare a poor ol' woman? And maybe a copper or two? Just enough fer a crust of bread?"

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#9 Post by abwinningh42 »

Pert Cornwallace

Pert took a moment to look around assess the motley crew that had assembled before the dreaded temple. "Well, between the lot of us, we should be able to move the stone." The sizable farmer cracked the knuckles on his large hands before heading over to see if he could assist with rolling the stone.

Egburt Skurg

Egburt stood quaking in his boots. One of his thin hands was wrapped tightly around his walking stick, the knuckles gone white. In the other, he fingered a piece of chalk. "Are we so sure about this? Perhaps we made a mistake and this isn't the right place?" It sounded ridiculous, even to him, but Egburt had never been particularly brave, and he wasn't sure now was a good time to start.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#10 Post by kalstone »

Irakas, Halfling Trader

Irakas brightens. "Aha! You're exactly right, Egbert. This isn't the right place. Oh well. Back to town I suppose." He starts to slowly walk back towards town, looking over his shoulder to see if anyone is following.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#11 Post by Griffith »

Sir Hanout Longpepper laughs"Ha! I think the halfling has the right idea. But, alas, how will I win back my father's favor if I slink back to town without first finding the missing villagers?" He straightens his rumpled vest and dusty tri-cornered hat (his finery had seen better days). He adjusts the longsword hanging from his waist and nervously played with the gold ring on his finger (as he often did)."Schlovell!" Hanout snaps at his traveling companion, "Don't just stand there watching the others work. Take that damned 10-foot pole and go see if you can wedge that stone door open!"

Schlovell the blacksmith had been standing, watching the activity around the temple entrance, the 10-foot pole across his shoulders, when Hanout barked his orders. Schlovell jumps, "Yes, sir! I'll get that door open." He trots towards the stone door, the hammer and tongs on his belt jingling, the 10-foot pole over his shoulder bobbling. He will move in among the crowd of men and try to lever the door open with the pole.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#12 Post by Norjax »

...

Miss Cleo’s clairvoyance is put to question, since the stone door is aligned with a prominent, grooved track running to the left. Sitrus, Kid Crimson, Timmy, Symond, Pert and Schlovell collectively pull, push, twist, pry and kick the door trying to roll it to the side.

The door does not budge or even wiggle, despite your best efforts. Some of you are intelligent enough to determine that the mass of the door is insufficient to prevent movement from the position that it currently resides.

There is a discernable gap between the back of the door and the face of the entry passage. The door does not appear seated against the stone face, so something is balancing it in the vertical position. There is either a stout mechanism or foul magik that holds the door closed.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#13 Post by Griffith »

Sir Hanout Longpepper stands some distance away watching the others toil at opening the door without success.

Schlovell curses the stone and backs off a few steps. "It just won't budge, sir." He leans on his pole, breathing heavily, wiping the sweat from his brow. "There is a circle carved into the door, sir. A message or sign of some sort? Whoever carved it must have hurt themselves 'cause there's blood on it."

Hanout considers Schlovell's description. "You are a bit off the mark, Schlovell. More likely the circle you see is a magical rune and not a benevolent one either. A device of the black arts, I'd guess. Feed it blood and it will open the door."

Hanout looks at the others to see if they agree. Schlovell grimaces.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#14 Post by Starbeard »

Kid Crimson & Beefheart

Kid Crimson says, "You're right! Someone has to wipe his blood on the rock to open it. Egads, I haven't got a knife. Here, somebody cut me! Somebody cut me!" He holds out his hand so someone can slice it with a sharp object, then smears it across the bloodstains.

Beefheart stands back.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#15 Post by coil23 »

Toldren carefully examines all around the stone to try and discover any mechanism, switch, or indication how the stone is held in place. He makes sure to position himself to be able to jump out of the way if it were to suddenly shift. There's always some mystery that is holding up progress for a caravan. Always another obstacle that needs to be dealt with so the man just sees this as yet another one- nothing ominous. He's not even convinced there is anything supernatural about the recent hijinks that have upset everyone. Probably just some damn fool kids. Boredom + people can be a deadly combination.

Quill, on the other hand, walked right up to the stone but not to help push but rather to examine the glyph on its face. The elf squints his eyes, trying to remember if he has seen this before in any books at the scriptorium. He nods sagely for the others' benefit but he really has no idea what is going on.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#16 Post by ybn1197 »

Toross visibly quivers and moves away from the foul woman. Once he has re-positioned himself he remarks, "As I said, magic. And as it requires the use of blood, magic most foul. We need to tread carefully here."

Sitrus leans on his shovel. "Magic, bah. Just an excuse to avoid a good honest day of back-breaking labor. I'll take the Kid there over magic any day."

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#17 Post by Pulpatoon »

Foul Ol' Amphelice adopts an exaggerated expression of wounded offense as she is silently rebuffed by Toross. "OH. Them's them fine elf-ish manners you hear about. Don't concern yourself with one poor ol' unfortunate, your worship."

Noticing the many young folk struggling with the door, she says, "Wash her off, why dontcha?" Prodding Pert Cornwallace with the mud-caked end of her crutch, she says, "Farmhand! You look fulla piss. See if you can't aim that high."

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#18 Post by OGRE MAGE »

Timmy (minstrel) steps away from the circle once the idea of "wetting" it gets tossed around. He has no idea how to get this thing open, but he sees that brute force isn't going to do the trick. He thinks back in his memory, trying to recall any songs that spoke of opening bloodied doors.


Miss Cleo (fortune teller) just shakes her head and takes another step back as well. When the idea of cutting ones self is discussed, she takes one more step back. "Me can sense dat opening it by force isn't the way in. I agree dat we should rub some blood on it to see what dat may do!"

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#19 Post by coil23 »

Toldren continues his examination though cocks one eye toward any who may approach for wetting. One hand rests on his thigh, a good swat waiting for anyone who places a stream too near him.

The elf pales at the idea of urinating on the stone. Quill wonders what would be done to someone who did that at any other place of worship. He resumes his scrutiny of the symbol while the others discuss options behind him. Earnest hope spurs him on to recognize something or have some original idea so the others will recognize him as a sage.

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Re: PROLOGUE: The Temple of Chaos

#20 Post by Norjax »

...

Quill does not recognize any meaning to the rune circle carved into the door. Before he can examine the carvings further, Kid Crimson approaches to wet the symbols and the elf steps back.

After a blade is drawn across Kid Crimson’s hand, he proceeds to smear blood onto the rune circle. As he places his hand against the door, additional blood is drawn out of his skin and absorbed into the stone. Kid tries to withdraw his hand, but it is stuck to the runes by an unseen force. Kid is eventually able to remove his hand and you all hear a sound of the door rattle or move, becoming slightly loose and tipping against the face of the entry passage. Kid feels lightheaded and staggers to remain balanced. He takes 1hp of blood-loss damage.

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