Chapter One - A grim fate

[Vile]

After recovering his axe and inspecting the blade, Siegfried stirs the remains of the red imp with his foot. Kicking the staff out of the mess, he gingerly picks it up and shakes it.

"I wonder what this thing does in the right hands? Maybe when we find that magician we can ask her."

Shrugging, he stuffs it into his backpack, and unexpectedly finds Aden pressing a gooey lump of ... something into his hand. Awkwardly mumbling his thanks, he sets to anointing the tears in his skin.

Siegfried will inspect the chamber more closely. Is there anything of interest to see?

[cmrsalmon]

Aden's ministrations may smell somewhat unusual, but the salve works and the bleeding quickly stops.

The room, at this end at least, is about 60 foot wide. The walls are smooth, save for periodically carved symbols of unknown provenance.

The evenly placed stone benches are similarly plain.

The room must be close to 100 foot long, and in the darkness you can barely make out the far wall. As you reach the centre of the room, something catches your eye at the far end. A flicker of light, a torch perhaps?

The skeleton wreathed in robe-like tendrils of smoke continues to pace up and down between the rows of benches, waving its empty censer. The half-hummed, half-mumbled tune you heard when you first entered the room appears to emanate from the figure.

As you reach the middle of the room, the skeleton breaks off its circuit and looks again in your direction, before moving towards the wall to your right. It places a skeletal hand on one of the carved symbols.

You hear a dull, metallic sound as a stone door, located about half-way along the long wall, slides open. The skeleton slowly walks through the doorway.

Are you resting at all?

[mjulius]

Aden surveys himself and says, "On a scale of, say, one to eleven, I feel like a four. But I'm game for moving on. I could summon some strength if push comes to shove."

[Pulpatoon]

Aldus: "This area seems quiet enough, now. Given the bizarre and deadly nature of our circumstances, it may be wise to rest when we can. To, as it were, assure we are all elevenses."

Even as he says these words, Aldus looks for something to wedge in the skeleton's open door, in case it were to shut again.

[cmrsalmon]

The room is somewhat bare, save for the occasional pile of rotted wooden fragments. Nevertheless, Aldus, you find a small iron brazier that either rusted or was smashed into pieces. One of the legs should serve as a doorstop, should the need arise.

Assuming you rest...

After a few minutes of treating wounds and snacking on old cheese, you hear the skeleton's gently-tapping footsteps approach. As the figure walks slowly into the room, waving its censer and muttering the oddly-familiar tune, the stone door begins to close.

Could I get a DEX roll from Aldus to check his door-wedging skillz?

As you attempt to place the wedge, Aldus, you catch a glimpse of a small passageway beyond the door, no wider than the three-foot door itself. Without a light in your hand, you cannot see any further.

[Pulpatoon]

DEX (15) [1d20] = 2

"Allez Oop!" sings Aldus and he does a little dancing slide, neatly kicking the brazier into the closing door. Spinning around with a little flourish, he regards the skeleton. Is it responding to their presence, of just going about its business?

[mjulius]

Transfixed by this ceremonial skeletal display, Aden picks up the torch, slowly approaches the door and peers, torch forward, around the edge.

So this was a 'short rest', rejuvenating AP, or the once per day, and rolling HD?

[Vile]

Siegfried is in good shape after applying the salve, but his armour needs a bit of repair. He keeps a close eye on the skeleton's antics.

[cmrsalmon]

Siegfried tinkers with his armour as the group take a breather.

As you prop open the stone door, Aldus, the skeleton stops, turns, and again appears to regard you and your actions. Its head turns down to the iron leg wedged under the door. The skeleton pauses, then resumes its slow procession, into the darkness beyond the torchlight.

Feeling somewhat refreshed, Aden, you follow Aldus's lead and peer into the narrow corridor revealed by the opening of the stone door.

The torch reveals a narrow stone passage, no wider than the door. The stone seems much smoother, and in better condition. The air in the passage is stale.

The passage appears to end after ten foot or so, with a space beyond. You can make out what could be a table or altar in the gloom, with small, regularly spaced points of something metallic catching the light behind.

Do you enter?

[Pulpatoon]

Indicating the skeleton, Aldus addresses the others: "My gran always said—and who am I to doubt her?—that the unquiet dead were a species of idiot, prone to repeat a given habit beyond any reason—following the pattern of a stitch even if the cloth has run out, so to speak. My guess is this fellow will continue with his rounds unless we disturb something he considers essential to his ritual—say, looting an altarpiece."

Peering down the corridor, he says, "Speaking of such, shall we?"

He begins to artfully tiptoe down the hall.

Delicate movement, keeping an eye out for trips and traps: Sneaky Stealthiness (DEX 15) [1d20] = 7 [1d20] = 4

[mjulius]

"Speaking of...wait, what?", says Aden, and motions to Siegfried, "Sounds like we may need your ax skills."

Carefully following the footfalls of this reckless yet agile thief, Aden exams the hall and maneuvers the light to better see what glimmers beyond the alter.

[cmrsalmon]

The pair of you creep delicately along the short corridor. The passage opens into a small, stone-walled room.

The space is dominated by a large, solid stone block of table height, occupying in the centre of the room.

Unlike the white, red-veined stone you have seen elsewhere, the block is carved of pure white stone. Relief carvings of faces cover the sides of the block. The open-mouthed, expressionless faces remind you of those covering the ceiling of the larger room.

The top surface of the block is covered by a grid of many evenly-spaced holes, each no wider than a finger. A set of blades and other implements lies on the table. They seem more akin to a barber-surgeon's tools than anything, but are of exceptional quality, cast in silvery metal and inlaid with small, blood-red gems.

As you peek though the doorway, you see that the three other walls are lined with metal panels, seven foot tall and two foot wide. One of the panels has opened on a hinge, revealing an two foot square empty recess.

Behind the stone block stands a rack of equipment, including a pair of quarterstaffs, a censer and four longswords.

Do you venture further into the room?

[Pulpatoon]

Aldus stops rigidly. "Oh dear," he whispers to Aden. "My bowels are suddenly full of ice water. This is a foul bolt of nastiness we have stumbled upon. I've seen cults that like a blood sacrifice now and again, and need a well-drained altar to suit. But whoever uses this room doesn't just kill for their gods, they dissect."

Rubbing his chin, he adds, "Still, those barbering tools do look under-appreciated down here, don't they? Wouldn't they be more fitting in the hands of a king's surgeon? That monarch would surely consider us duty-bound to retrieve them.

"Only... only I'm rather nervous about traps and curses."

[mjulius]

Aden pauses and begins to back step slowly, "there's nothing but death and death and death in here. I don't see any wizard girl and I'm not anxious to find out what is in here either."

[Vile]

Siegfried hastily dons his armour and follows his companions' footsteps down the corridor, only to meet them backing out again. With his usual grace and patience he huffs, "Well, make up your minds! Is it to be forwards or back?"

[Pulpatoon]

Aldus, not quite licking his lips, but nearly, "Oh, it's forward. Think of that poor, bereft king, being treated with surgeon's tools of common pewter. It's just... well, prudence is called for."

Aldus, from the safety of the doorway, carefully and thoroughly examines the room, looking for anything that might be a trap.

WIS (9) [1d20] = 11

"Well, I don't see anything, but I still don't trust it. Curses don't need trip wires. Do we have anything long that I could use to probe the way?"

[mjulius]

Aden sighs. "Well, if you'all are in, then so am I." Waving his weapon at the skeleton and the two closed panels, he says, "It's just that I think I brought a bow and arrow to a skeleton fight."

"I don't have anything long, but maybe we can test it? If what you say is true about alterpieces then maybe... Well, how about we try to knock those utensils off the block and see what develops?"

"I have an arrow, and it's not a skeleton fight."

"Yet."

@cmrsalmon: Can you ballpark what the odds are to knock something off that alter? How far away are they? Are they small and scattered about? Is it disadvantage? What if I take my time and aim?

[Pulpatoon]

Aldus nods. "Very good. Give it a try. We'll keep an eye on our ossified friend."

[mjulius]

In the interest of a brisk pace and to push the story forward, I'm going to go ahead and call it disadvantage.

Aden hands off his torch, takes careful aim at the tools and sends an arrow into the room, skidding over the block.

Short Bow DISADVANTAGE {DEX 14} [1d20] = 7 [1d20] = 13 Damage [1d8] = 5

*grinning* "Like a resting rabbit in a meadow."

[cmrsalmon]

The tools scatter onto the floor, as neatly as if you had pushed them by hand, Aden. The tinkling sound they make seems unnervingly loud in the enclosed quiet of the small room. Their fall does not appear to have triggered any effect, magical or otherwise.

The skeleton's footsteps, echoing down the passage, fade to silence. Its progress presumably continues around the much larger chamber.

Aldus, although the room looks innocuous enough, you spot a small raised stone, about the size of a coin, jutting half an inch out of the stone floor beside the altar. It's purpose is unclear.