Alethan wrote:... Wights level drain. So we need to watch our asses.
How would one IC that out? I feel as I have lost skills? I feel weaker?
Markd readies his sword for when they open the two unopened coffins. He will attempt to read any inscriptions.
Dandelion - female half-orc beautyqueen in training (The Lone City in the Wildlands) OSRIC Halfpint - female halfling badgirl wannabe (Lab Lord- The North Marches) LL Mark'd - charismatic human fighter (Lab Lord- The North Marches) LL
Winnie pauses in her search and looks up at Heingst. I did not intend to imply the wights were "proper," but they do appear to be guarding this crypt, nonetheless, even if it is only because it is their home. But really, why else would they have been created, if not to guard this place?
And while I am glad to help rid the world of these abominations against Life, I do not feel that filling the world with "Baudh's light" is a solution. I would seek a balance between Light and Dark, for too much of any one thing sets the world out of balance.
Mark and Bandy saw first hand at the White Tower what happens when there is too much of one. The priests of Light sought out Darkness and became undead, themselves. She smiles kindly at the cleric, looking forward to more theological and philosophical conversations in the coming days.
The party considers the chamber, the sound of the two turned wights echoing in the stillness beyond. They inventory, finding they have three vials of holy water among them. Winnie points out to Bandy the five broken coffins in the alcoves - looking more closely, they do indeed find that the coffins are broken open from the inside and that the grave goods are already looted.
Fingers and Markd examine the writings, finding that the elegant stone coffins are, in fact, all properly labeled. The pair of coffins in the center belong to King Trythgarn (son of Trygve) and his queen. The five coffins surrounding are immediate family members of the King honored in the tomb. A younger son, two daughters, his mother-in-law, and a favored cousin. Small statuettes, only 2-3 feet tall, stand in insets around the room, showing the appearances of each person entombed. The two central coffins remain sealed, wards of Baudhic prayer engraved across the surface. Hengist also notes that there are protective prayer-wards around the main entrance to the alcove and the circumference of the room, although these have all been defaced.
Fingers gestures towards the writings on the coffins and doorway. "Hey, Heingist, does that mean anything to you? Looks like it might be a magical trap or something."
"And...look. I guess we should decide what we're okay looting and what we're not okay looting. Dead guys that aren't actually dead trying to kill us? I'm totally cool taking their stuff. Screw 'em. But opening up coffins and taking stuff from the dead that are still dead...well, I guess I'm not sure about that. I mean, stuff is stuff, and the dead ain't using their stuff—and if they are, that means they're not really all dead and we have to kill them again. But for the dead-dead...what do you religious types think? Is it okay to open a coffin to, y'know, make sure the dead are still dead? And if they happen to have really fancy useful things...well, y'know? Or do we only take stuff that's out in the open and has probably already been looted?"
Fingers huffs and scratches his dog on the head. "Should gone after gargoyles instead. No one's god is gonna complain about taking their stuff."
There's no reason for Fingers to keep the existence of traps to himself. If it makes things more efficient, I'd suggest assuming that Fingers informs the group of any traps he finds.
If the dead are dead, they have no more use for their worldly possessions. It seems a shame to leave useful items locked in vaults for an eternity, particularly if those items might help rid this world of the undead that plague these catacombs. It seems that any devotee of Baudh would feel as Heingst, and would like to see their belongings used to cleanse this crypt. "Spreading light," was the term you used, wasn't it?
Also, why is it any more reasonable to take ownership of a dead man's scroll, book or ink, than it is a sword or shield? Because of a crest? And why does it make any sense at all to leave these things here just so they can be looted later by others, quite possibly with more nefarious motives? And wasn't the Duke just presented with a golden mask taken from the tombs under the White Tower? He did not seem to take umbrage.
Stuff is stuff. If it does not belong to a living person, it is okay by me to take it and make use of it to help restore the natural balance of the world.
She look s at the warding and tries to determine if it is voided out because of the defacing.
Winnie examines the defaced runes at the entrance to the room. Her naturalistic training in flowers, warmth, and laughter leaves her ill-prepared for questions of symbolism, ideal forms, and warding circinations used by more traditional spellcasters. The defacement, however, seems deliberate and likely to ruin whatever effect the warding prayers at the room entrance were intended for.
The wards are to ensure that the sanctified dead within continue to rest. We break them at our peril. I t would be better to leave these sealed.
Recovering the items borne by teh walking dead is fine. Opening the caskets of the slumbering dead to loot their bodies is not an action I can condone.
Playing: At the Forest's Edge: Desmond Halfling Vagabond
The Northern Marches: Hengist Cleric of Baudh
Fingers nods at Heingist's words, his disappointment mixed with relief. "Okay, we'll leave them alone. Let's move on to the circular room next door."
Looking at the map, let's start with the circular room to the west of the one we're in. If we get that far, Fingers will check for traps at the first door.
Markd warns that they have had great luck so far against wights. If he has to take on another band of them, he would just as soon fight the gargoyles.
Dandelion - female half-orc beautyqueen in training (The Lone City in the Wildlands) OSRIC Halfpint - female halfling badgirl wannabe (Lab Lord- The North Marches) LL Mark'd - charismatic human fighter (Lab Lord- The North Marches) LL
Moving by the light of Winnie's staff, the group clusters together and proceeds counterclockwise in the tomb according to Finger's directions. Leaving the sealed coffins behind and crossing the defaced prayer wards, you ascend the stairs from the crypt up to the central tomb. The central tomb is a wide hallway with walkways on either side, the center recessed and filled with a pool of opaque, silver liquid. The unadorned wall where the chamber ends (clockwise from you) is where you expect the secret doors to be, according to the building plans you acquired. You see the statues flanking each set of stairs, as you expected. Your light doesn't stretch far enough to illuminate the other end of the central tomb. You'd swear that the kingly statues that flank the top of the stairs are watching you disapprovingly.
Moving counterclockwise, you descend the next stair, finding the doors at the bottom as you expected. Fingers checks them thoroughly and then Markd opens them, as with the last door. Beyond the door the stairs continue, deeper and deeper into the earth. You move down slowly, your footsteps echoing into the darkness, far lower than the rest of the tomb. At last the bottom circular room opens up at the bottom of the stairs below you and you pause - you see that the bottom stairs, the walls, and the floor are all engraved meticulously, arcane symbols carved into the stone itself. The air in the chamber swirls with mist and cloud, though you feel no wind on the stairs where you are.
"Gargoyles," mutters Fingers. "Definitely should have gone to fight the gargoyles."
"Heingist, can you make anything of those symbols? If not, let's just remember this is here and keep going counter-clockwise—starting with the secret door."
Marullus wrote:The unadorned wall where the chamber ends (clockwise from you) is where you expect the secret doors to be, according to the building plans you acquired.
I don't see secret doors on the map I saved. Are the doors at the east end of the main hall secret?
Yoldessi Royal Crypt.jpg (96.03 KiB) Viewed 432 times
Winnie offers to send a magical missile into the mist, or start a fire within, but advised against it in the same breath. Then the nature witch, tries to decipher meanings from the symbols, consulting with Heingst as appropriate, with the thought that two heads are better than one. She makes sure the front people are not crowded while doing so.
She remains ever-ready to flee up the stairs. This is soooo creepy and unnatural.
edited to take out the ridiculous auto corrections.
Last edited by Rusty Tincanne on Wed Sep 26, 2018 11:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
