Return to the Barrow Mounds:

[Leitz]

My take from Spearmint's post was that we killed the ooze since we had a turn to damage it, without much risk.

[sastaz]

Latest map again, for easy access

Doors
A. 'Trickling water'. Wedged shut, sodden wooden door.
B. Locked, reinforced with iron and embellished with verdigris designs.
C. Iron reinforced, well preserved, lacquered and greased hinges. Has a panel containing a book cover? Two scarabs cover keyholes. Door locked.
D. Wooden, opens freely.
E. Swollen oaken door, now shrunk and opens freely.
F. Leeing face. Smell of hops or barley.
G. ??
H. ??
I. ??
J. Wooden, green with mold and swollen by damp. Locked and the rusty keyhole has a broken lockpick in it.
K. Wooden, green with mold and swollen by damp. No lock or securing device.
L. Wooden, opens freely.
M. Iron reinforced door.
N.
O.

Unexplored areas
I. ??
II. ??
III. Rusted porticulis, behind it some sort of storage or guardroom.
IV. This is where the cultists made their stand and the location of their sacrificial pit.

[sastaz]

My take from Spearmint's post was that we killed the ooze since we had a turn to damage it, without much risk.

I will roll with this until told otherwise

Gerdal, having calmed down somewhat, to Orgoth

"I see your point. My suggestion would be the tapestry room, all things considered. If we can bolt it shut while resting. What do you think of that? We should move as soon as possible, it's a small wonder no one discovered us yet."

[Spearmint]

it's a small wonder no one discovered us yet."

yes it is ... Or maybe they have ....

As far as the ooze goes I figured while enough of you guys were watching it digest the masked pair, studying its behaviour, movement, eating, then you might pick out any discrepancies in its form ie, the bruised discoloured area from the stone throwing.

If you assumed it moved slowly then you could surround it, build the pyre and set it alight while keeping out of any pseudopod reach. Heat does minimal harm to such creatures but it could be bludgeoned and splattered. In fact it could be hit by iron weapons but a sword would dissolve after hitting it. It was slain in the trap door so the weight would trigger the trap opening when that reset a few minutes later.

So ooze pieces, victim remains, wood ashes, large stones all fall into pit, some large mess staining the flagstones.

Sorry if my description or narrative was not clear.

[sastaz]

yes it is ... Or maybe they have ....

GM rolls random dice and smiles diabolically behind GM screen

[Rex]

Orgoth

"The tapestry room seems a good choice."

[sastaz]

Gerdal

"I say we head there now and talk things through. If no one objects, lets gather and let Orgoth lead the way there?"

[Rex]

Orgoth

"That is fine with me."

If everyone agrees Orgoth will lead the way.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sven tries to put everything back the way they found it, sliding the pair of pilfered legs back in place with his staff and cleaning up any other obvious messes they made.

"I dont think we need to rest just yet, but I am up for the idea of regrouping somewhere so we can discuss what we've seen and where we should go next. Lead the way Orgoth, and I will follow."

Once in the room again, the young mage has everyone search around carefully a second time to make sure they didn't miss anything the last time we were in here.

[Leitz]

Steban will follow the group.

[sastaz]

Gerdal agrees and follows along. Well in the room she will first study the tapestry for a while, fascinated by the design.

"I wonder what brought this one here. Perhaps someone wanted to be buried with it? But what is its significance?"

After a while she will make a clean place for herself, sit down and produce some pots and herbs.

"Let me make some tea. Do you care to see what's ahead of you? I must warn you that the future is not always pleasant. A lot of suffering in theses halls. Sven, Steban, you both seem to have questions?"

A strange, but not entirely unpleasant, scent rises from the herbal mixture.

[Rex]

Orgoth

Orgoth will lead the way and search carefully once there.

[Leitz]

Steban

Since he has searched this room, Steban used some water to make the stake impalment zone a little cleaner. It's a common thing to dip feces or perhaps ghoul icor onto a stake; slowly dead is still dead.

"The tapestry looks interesting, and potentially valuable," he said. "Though I know little of what its value might be. We probably want to secure the door and talk about what comes next. Whenever you are ready."

Once his cleanup was done, Steban munched lightly and waited for the rest of the group.

[sastaz]

map update. tapestry room (current) is behind door (L)

Doors
A. 'Trickling water'. Wedged shut, sodden wooden door.
B. Locked, reinforced with iron and embellished with verdigris designs.
C. Iron reinforced, well preserved, lacquered and greased hinges. Has a panel containing a book cover? Two scarabs cover keyholes. Door locked.
D. Wooden, opens freely.
E. Swollen oaken door, previously shrunk but now stuck once again.
F. Leeing face. Smell of hops or barley.
G. ??
H. ??
I. ??
J. Wooden, green with mold and swollen by damp. Locked and the rusty keyhole has a broken lockpick in it.
K. Wooden, green with mold and swollen by damp. No lock or securing device. Opened and shut before by Amos without trouble.
L. Wooden, opens freely.
M. Iron reinforced door.
N. ??
O. ??

Unexplored areas
I. ??
II. ??
III. Rusted porticulis, behind it some sort of storage or guardroom.
IV. This is where the cultists made their stand and the location of their sacrificial pit.
V. ??
VI. There's a large stone table or something similar in this room.

[sastaz]

description of current room, copied here for convenience

... a 20x20'ft room. Some old torches have been wedged in the stonework, long since burned out. A mouldy tapestry covers the south wall, some broken pottery urns and their contents strewn across the floor. Bits of coal and chalk, smooth pebbles and a collection of rotten teeth. In the centre of the room are two derelict and vandalized wooden caskets whose contents would appear to have been the two skeleton figures, exhumed and tossed into the corner. They are draped in rags. Each has a hole in its forehead, a third eye socket? a bolt to the brain?

and

The tapestry shows a black dragon in flight over a green forest against a mountain peak background. It is covered in mildew and threadbare in places but despite its age, is in relatively good condition. Unlike the two skeletons who have a hole in their foreheads. Examining the skulls, you see the hole is not fractured or splintered as you might expect from a traumatic injury, it seems deliberately carved into the bone. The coffins are rotten and empty but among the strewn contents of the jars are a few items the tomb vandals overlooked.

also

After searching the room, among the detritus left behind you find six miniature stone carved figures. About the size of a chess or gaming board figure. One looks like a little tower, the others are soldiers stood to attention.

and finally

Sven, eager to watch the other tomb robbers or tomb guardians leaves a detailed search of the room until later but he has enough time to spill out and gather the last remnants of a broken urn, which are thirty long canine teeth. They each have a small hole drilled through them suggesting they were once worn as a necklace though no cord is any longer attached.

[OGRE MAGE]

Super helpful!

Sven closes the door once everyone is inside the room. As the group catch their breath from all the wild action, he takes the time to line up all the items they found so far in a row on the floor. “I will need to document this. All of it. Everything we’ve found so far and exactly where it was discovered. I refuse to consider ourselves some simpleton tomb raiders. This is supposed to be an official exploratory mission, remember.”

He casts his cantrip of magic detection while looking over the line of items briefly, hoping for the best. He decides to look the rest of the group over as well, starting with Steban and going from tallest to shortest.

He smiles at his friends innocently, intending no offense. “What? The rest of you can’t tell if something is magical or not? Gerdal, you can, right?”

1st Level Spell Retention (INT 15) [4d6+1]=12+1=13

[Leitz]

Steban

Sven might recall the black scowl he recieved from Steban, when he asked intently about treasure found in the pit. If Sven had forgotten, the scowl returned when he prodded about treasure.

Steban glanced up from his bloody leg and did not look favorably on the smaller man. For a long moment he said nothing, but then wrung blood and water out his trouser leg. "The ghoul in the pit was a person, and my guess is that she has not been there for decades. When we leave here I am going to seach the local area for her family, and return a personal item from the body."

He huffed, and winced as he made his wound bleed a little more. "Down here we may use her mirror as needed, but it does not belong to us. Other things, I am not so sure about. We all want our fair share, so let me show you what I have found."

Steban wiped his hands off on his trousers before digging through his pack. First was a mirror, and he opened it to show the picture of the young lady. He set a belt buckle next to it. "These are not ours."

He produced a pocketful of dung beetle scarabs and laid them out for observation. "These are interesting, especially this one. I kept myself occupied in the pit, watch this."

Steban twisted the carapace on one beetle and a small key popped out. Passing it around, he dug out half a dozen small carved figurines. One was of a small tower and the others were soldiers standing at attention. If anyone cared to notice such things, Steban's method of digging things out of his nearly empty backpack and large belt pouch make it clear that he's holding nothing back.

[redwarrior]

Isvand produces the pouch found on the fellow dead in the cave in. 25 SP, sling, sling stones, 2 differently colored stones - maybe semi-precious? and, slowly, the harmonica. Watching the goings-on…So, we’re staying here a while? Well, I guess I should eat and look to my gear. Isvand will help search & secure the room and take a watch.

[Spearmint]

May 3rd 1066.

Barrow Maze.

Exploring the corridors.
6.00pm. Lantern light (Gerdal) Candlelight (Sven).

Conditions: Steban -7hp, Isvand -3hp.

Bro' Fabian has already tagged and bagged the limbs of the crushed adventurer after searching through the pockets and blessing the remains

The group take a well deserved 'r&r' in the 'tapestry room', shutting the door behind them. A lantern is hung to illuminate the room and folk set about a few personals. Searches are made and the room spruced up to make a group a resting place. The detritus of bits of coal, chalk and teeth, pottery urns and broken caskets are swept into one corner, the two skeletons in another.

Gerdal takes the third corner and lights a mini stove to slow boil a pot of water. She has a concoction of fragrant herbal leaves to make tea, add sugar to taste. She enquires if any wishes 'a reading of fortunes'? Harkazz lazily fades into the background to hunt some grubs.

Steban shows what plunder has been found. None of his trove radiates even the faintest aura of arcane enchantment. The scarab key is an interesting design though. He cleans his wound. The piercing deep but thankfully not infected with any disease.

Isvand empties his pouch of goodies. The two egg shaped sling stones do 'ping' on the detection. There are no indications or markings on them with would identify the specifics of the dweomer. It may be like enchanted arrows, they are a single use item or not as the case may be?

Sven checks his teeth, the loose ones. They are large, from some carnivore of unknown type.

The skeletons ... no, nothing to be seen there. The tapestry. This is about 12'ft x 15'ft. It shows a black dragon in flight. The mould is deeply entrenched in the fabric but it could be cleansed with soap and disinfection. Several of the threads are cut or frayed. In one corner a name, perhaps the manufacturer, Ossithrax

Orgoth and Bro' Fabian check the walls for any concealed niches but fail to locate any. Amos sits with his back to the door, listening out for footsteps or slitherings in the corridor.

You spend at least three turns in the room, unhindered and so far, supposedly unknown to the labyrinth denizens.

next actions please

[Rex]

Orgoth

Orgoth will eat a days worth of rations and drink some water. "What next, do we just keep resting or make a plan?"