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Post by Daos on Nov 7, 2021 14:48:00 GMT -8
Torch in hand, Giunona descends the ladder, then down the stairs. The others follow suit. The stairs are choked with rubble and debris, but they can make their way down with care. The air is cold and damp, and the musty smell of age is thick. They wind down 30 to 40 feet before the stairway ends, opening into a dark corridor that is a narrow passageway between two open chambers. Another set of stairs like the one she just used heads back up into darkness across the hall, but it seems to have caved in. She can see several doors in the outer chambers, and a set of low steps to the right lead up to a great double-door. An unusual seal or symbol in the shape of a coiling dragon is emblazoned across the doorway. The floor of this room is littered with several skeletons, and a few bits and scraps of armor and weaponry. The walls are lined with several ruined tapestries, broken sconces, and soiled banners. In one corner there is a new lantern with 6 flasks of oil beside it, a 50’ coil of rope, 12 pitons, and a small hammer. They all appear rather new.
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Matt4
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Post by Matt4 on Nov 7, 2021 20:37:22 GMT -8
Giunona ScarletbarkHP: 33/33 - AC: 18 - CD: 1/1 - Inspiration: Yes " That must be Giles' stuff. Does anybody here know what happened to him and his men by the way?" - she looks particularly toward Terrance, as she asks this question. " By the way, I say we start with the big door over there. Let's check it out. The soon we get out of this place, the better." - she says, as she get close to the great double-door murmuring a prayer of protection. OOC Actions Do Giunona recognize the dragon symbol as one from Myrkul's cult? Also, Perception check for traps on the door+Guidance: OTSHr7Nm1d20+5 + 1d41d20+5·1d4
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Post by Daos on Nov 7, 2021 21:01:11 GMT -8
Giunona does not recognize the dragon emblem.
"No idea, really," Terence answers. "From what I heard, they poked around these ruins for a day, then packed up and rode off east, toward Arden."
Moving closer to the double doors, Giunona can now see one of the doors is propped open by a shiny new helmet. Inside she sees a large room with deep niches along the walls and a dark altar at the far end. The floor is tiled with a mosaic depicting the coiled serpent or dragon emblem she saw before. Overhead, a groined vault supports a ceiling 20 feet above the floor.
She spots no traps on the stairs or the door itself.
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Matt4
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Post by Matt4 on Nov 7, 2021 21:32:05 GMT -8
Giunona ScarletbarkHP: 33/33 - AC: 18 - CD: 1/1 - Inspiration: Yes " Oh, they left...? I see..." - As she opens the doors, her eyes falls again on that eerie symbol. - " There is something weird." - she says: " This symbol..is not a part of Myrkul's mythos. Don't step on it or touch it, it could be a ward against intruders." Giunona enters the room, stepping on the side and leaving enough space for the others to enter. " I assume that helmet is Giles', so he must have come this way." From her position she glances at the altar in the back of the room, then she passes the torch to Nicholas. " Rooms like these usually holds most of a temple secrets. Let's see if Giles found them all. Guard me as I cast a ritual, it will take a few minutes." - she says to the others. Giunona wasn't really fond of ordering people around, but in that situation she didn't really had any choice, and none of them seemed willing of taking the lead, not even Miles. After all, temples' stuff was probably more her field of expertise. The priestess kneels on the ground, her holy symbol in hand, as she starts praying in dwarvish. OOC Actions Casting Detect Magic as a ritual.
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Post by Daos on Nov 7, 2021 23:14:20 GMT -8
Stepping into the room, she can now see that the niches contain grotesque statues of horrifying creatures, with fang-filled maws and vicious spikes. The altar sits on a raised dais, and is decorated with sinister carvings and human skulls. Flanking the altar are two iron braziers. In the corners of this evil shrine stand two taller statues of dark, armor-clad warriors. Nicholas holds the torch aloft so everyone can see, and Giunona prays. When her ritual is complete, she can begin to see magical auras. The mosaic on the floor and the altar both radiate magic. The former Evocation, the latter Necromancy.
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Matt4
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Post by Matt4 on Nov 8, 2021 9:27:18 GMT -8
Giunona ScarletbarkHP: 33/33 - AC: 18 - CD: 1/1 - Inspiration: Yes - Attive Effect(s): Detect Magic [C, 10 minutes] " As I thought, the symbol is bad news, and the altar is even worse. Let's stay clear from them for now." Giunona looks around the room, checking quickly both the niches and the taller statues. " There doesn't seem to be anything else on note on first glance, at least from what I can see." - she turns toward the door they came in. " We'll probably need to investigate things further here, but as long as Marthammor is guiding my eyes, let's check the other rooms to see if there is something else that may be of interest." OOC Actions *rubs hands* I love exploring dungeons let's see those other rooms what hold in store..Let's start with the southern one, the one on the left when we get out of the room with the altar. edit: oh, as we get out of the altar room I'll check to see if the other dragon symbol gives off the same Evocation magic.
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Post by Daos on Nov 8, 2021 15:08:59 GMT -8
Giunona and the others leave the altar room. The dragon symbol on the door does not radiate any magic. Moving southward, she tries the door there. It's a small chamber, almost 15' x 15' in size. From the looks of it, this chamber holds the well for the fortress above. A rickety wooden frame and several smashed pails lie beside a dark well, lined by a low wall of brick. She can hear the dripping of water from somewhere far below. Nothing in here radiates any kind of magic.
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Matt4
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Post by Matt4 on Nov 8, 2021 15:29:23 GMT -8
Giunona ScarletbarkHP: 33/33 - AC: 18 - CD: 1/1 - Inspiration: Yes - Attive Effect(s): Detect Magic [C, 10 minutes] " This seems just a well room, we'll check later if there is something useful." She then head to the northern room next.
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Post by Daos on Nov 8, 2021 15:33:52 GMT -8
The party moves on to the northern room. Splintered furniture and heaps of debris fill this room. At one time, a row of wooden pegs along the wall probably held a number of dark, hooded robes, but the pegs have disintegrated and the robes are small piles of rotten cloth on the floor. Against one wall there are several sacks of rotten grain and the sour smell of old vinegar fills the room.
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Matt4
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Post by Matt4 on Nov 8, 2021 15:40:34 GMT -8
Giunona ScarletbarkHP: 33/33 - AC: 18 - CD: 1/1 - Inspiration: Yes " So that's a storage then. But there could be something useful in those robes, maybe a key or some other object we could use to advance. Still, let's see the last two rooms first." This time, she goes to the northern room on the other side of the ruins. OOC Actions I assume if you don't say anything that she doesn't see anything magical.
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Post by Daos on Nov 8, 2021 15:50:55 GMT -8
Not seeing anything magical there, Giunona and the party walk out and instead move past the stairs to the west side of the ruins, toward the northern door. The wreckage of old furniture and decorations litters this room. Giunona can see the remains of four or five simple cots, several smashed trunks, a scorched writing desk, and several moldering tapestries and ripped up paintings. To the south is another door. Nothing in the room radiates magic. "Boy, someone really went to town in here," Thuskar comments, noting all of the smashed furniture. "Or they threw a massive party," Ulster adds.
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Matt4
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Post by Matt4 on Nov 8, 2021 15:59:29 GMT -8
Giunona ScarletbarkHP: 33/33 - AC: 18 - CD: 1/1 - Inspiration: Yes Giunona laughs at the exchange between the two soldier: " I wonder what actually happened here. Maybe someone was searching for something... I wonder if they found it." - then she goes to open the other door in the back of the room.
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Post by Daos on Nov 8, 2021 16:03:59 GMT -8
Giunona checks the room to the south. It seem to have once been a private bedroom. A comfortable bed, a large desk, and a standing armoire have all been smashed to pieces and scattered around the room. Nothing magical can be detected here.
"If this was indeed a temple to evil," Terence hypothesizes, "perhaps this destruction was from the forces of good that destroyed it."
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Matt4
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Post by Matt4 on Nov 8, 2021 16:12:04 GMT -8
Giunona ScarletbarkHP: 33/33 - AC: 18 - CD: 1/1 - Inspiration: Yes Giunona ponders what Terrance said: " Hmm... I didn't see it that way and it may hold true, although..." - she glances and all the destruction there. - " It was the cultists that were evil, not their beds or desks. It seems a tad too much, but maybe I'm missing something." Maybe she truly was, after all there was only one room left and they didn't find anything that resembled something important. With a bit of dread inside, she approached the last door left, her mind going to the dark altar. She could feel its energy, soon they would have had to get close to it again.
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Post by Daos on Nov 8, 2021 16:43:15 GMT -8
The party leaves and heads for the southern door on the western side of the ruins. Approaching the door, Giunona notices that the door to this room is made of sturdy oak, bound with iron and fitted with a heavy lock. Fortunately, it isn’t locked or barred. Pushing it open and stepping inside, she sees a small guard room with torches burning in the sconces and a rack of polearms against one wall. She also sees a couple of hulking shapes turn to face her. They resemble ogres, but it’s obvious that they have been dead for a long time. Silently, they lurch forward, readying their morningstars. (OOC: Roll initiative and state actions for Round 01.) InitiativeFriar Nicholas iCLB1kuq1d20Captain Miles 1d20-1Terence 1d20+1Ulster 1d20+1Thuskar 1d20+1Undead Ogre 01 1d20-2Undead Ogre 02 1d20-21d20·1d20-1·1d20+1·1d20+1·1d20+1·1d20-2·1d20-2
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