[DnD 4e PbP] Vale of Buried Shadows, Chapter 2: Signs & Portents (IC)

Aegis

Aidan:

Your spirit-friend does not appear all that talkative of anything in the catacombs. If asked, then her only mention is that they're quiet now, silence. As if the previous recollection was but a wisp.

Kay

Atherton stands up, dusts off his hands, and returns his brush, picks and magnifying glass to his kit. "These are the Mason's Catacombs, dedicated to the faithful of Erathis, Lady of Civilisation. We are quite close to her temple, so this all makes sense. The door back there," he says, while gesturing in the vague direction that they came, "is the odd thing here. I'm shocked there are no symbols pertaining to the goddess in here, or on the tombs. It is all very simple, no ornamentation. Ergo, a burial place for commoners with enough coin to reserve a resting place, but nothing... special. The dead lining the walls seem to back up this assumption, those in the tombs were probably the richest of the commoners."

After stifling a cough in the cold, dusty air, Atherton continues. "I feel that continuing north here would put us somewhere in the temple's vicinity, the other direction is more likely to lead to the Tombwood, and eventually somewhere around Moonstone Keep, if my recollections of the town's layout are correct. I have to admit, though, rifling through the resting places of the dead is not as exciting as I first thought. In fact, I would have to say that it is making me feel guilty - they had few riches in life, and now we are attempting to take even that from them."

The slight human indicates the northern path. "We could continue, see if we find anything else of interest down there, towards the Temple of Erathis, or we can continue back towards the tunnel that may lead towards Tombwood, if people prefer."

"Alternately you can all head back to an inn, get some sleep, and go get some legal employment in the morning killing bandits or dragons or something," Lenoir suddenly suggests. "But that's the boooooooring way out."

"Be quiet, Lenoir."

"Grow a pair, Atherton," the bird quips, sweetly.

Horseshoe

"Toward moonstone keep?" Snarl smiled. "Oh yes... I think that's where we ought to be headed."

Snarl got down in a crouch and prepared to make his way toward the indicated corridor.

"Wizard! Same as before with the light... if we hit trouble I want to stab 'em in the back before they even look your way."

Sakutian

Pleased to venture out of what had now been revealed as a burial place for the fallen worshippers of his chosen goddess Kell ventured back to the open coffin and replaced the book into it's owners skeletal hands. He then made a silent prayer to the deity hoping she would forgive his slight against her, and he vowed to make an offering at her temple when they returned to the surface. Once certain he could do no more to appease his goddess at that moment Kell turned and followed Snarl down the tunnel being careful not to bathe him in his staff's light as they walked.

"Lead the way sir."

Horseshoe

"What are you doing? If you're not keeping the book I'm taking it!"

Sakutian

"I would advise against that Snarl, the book carries little value. If you desire it though than feel free to take it." Kell continued down the tunnel making no motion to prevent Snarl from reclaiming the book.

Horseshoe

"Sod that. Everything is of value. I might be able to fence this to some scholar for decent coin."

He peered down into the coffin, speaking to the Corpse.

"Oi! Skeleton! If you want that there book, say so. No? Well then don't mind if I do."

Snarl threw the book into his rucksack and started down the tunnel, shaking his head. Amateurs. He disappeared into the dim shadows of the low light beyond the view of the humans, and kept his eyes peeled for hazards... or promising signs.

Stealth: 1d20+11 31 ain't nobody seein this!

Perception: 1d20+8 24

Aegis

Dusting themselves off from their recent stint in grave...liberating...the party continues on their path along the brick-walled corridor to the north. Not thirty feet forward, two openings present themselves on either side of the hallway, containing roughly identical rooms, filled with more alcoves along the wall and plain stone tombs on the floor itself. With the light from Kell's staff, you note that the hallway itself continues north for a bit before making a right turn.

Sakutian

"Perhaps we should leave these rooms be for the time beingand continue onward. I doubt we would find anything more valuable in these chambers than we did the last one, the real treasure must lay beyond if they are here." Kell spoke as low as possible trying to keep his voice from carrying throughout the tunnels and warning any guardians that might be present.

Perception Check: 17
Just trying to see if I hear anything coming from our front.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2482232/

Kay

"You know," Atherton states, "I have a feeling that this is going to come full circle." He rounds the corner and continues on, while Lenoir chuckles none-too-quietly on his shoulder.

"I'm going to laugh so hard if you're right, Ath," Lenoir says. "I guess your friends have seen a ton of talking ravens, they've not said a word!"

"Oh, do be quiet," the swordsman replies.

Horseshoe

"Atherton, are you talking to yourself again? And... ugh... you've got no vision, Kell. We found 30 gold pieces in that last one, and a one-of-a-kind book that you almost threw away. I say stop moving and we kick 'em all over."

Snarl's a bit overconfident, he's just going to crowbar every coffin without checking for traps this time

Aegis

Kell:

As you near the corner, and round it, you swear you can hear something in between conversation. It's very light, and seems to come from both down the turned-corner hallway (heading east) but still a bit to the north, as if behind the wall in a northeasterly direction.

Snarl sets to work at moving about the tombs in the siderooms as the rest of the party mills about or continues on, though in not very good light given Kell's position at the hallway junction ahead of the rooms.

Atherton continuing down the hallway and proceeding east will see (at least as far as Kell's light allows) another all too familiar brick hallway disappearing into the darkness.

Sakutian

As soon as Kell is certain he's heard something he turns towards his companions gesturing for their silence as he walks closer to them. "I think there's something ahead of us, I heard a strange sound" he whispers.

Kay

Atherton motions Kell forwards, while pointing towards the sound. Lenoir lets out a barely audible sigh, then takes flight, swooping towards the edge of the wizard's light, to get closer to the noise. Anything he hears, Atherton hears.

The Swordmage creeps foward slowly, waiting for support from the other human. Lenoir also shuffles foward, ready to take flight at the first sign of trouble.

tzeentchling

Aidan, disgusted by Snarl's greed, pays more attention to the front. When Kell whispers, he stops as well and strains his dwarven ears. Apparently, however, they are blocked with wax.

Perception: 1d20+10 12

Rius

Rakash senses the change in Kell's demeanor and sheds his aloof regard of the evening's events, switching almost instantly into an alert hunter. Keeping pace with Atherton and subtly shifting his grip on the longspear as he moves into the tunnel, he strains to listen, trying to catch whatever sound Kell had mentioned.

Perception, once more; 1d20+12=22 ; Not so bad.

Aegis

The party noticeably watches Rakash's progress down the eastern corridor, as the shifter narrows in on the location of the noise, and moves to the edge, and then beyond, of Kell's light.

Rakash:

Training your ears, the sound is faint and indeed coming from the northeast. The only problem is that the hallway only heads due east. Making your way down the hallway (about as far as the distance from the broom closet to the first room) you stop, your ears now telling you the noise is coming from straight north, seemingly through the wall. If you listen just closely, it almost sounds like:

Drip.

Drip.


Drip.

Rius

Alright, that's quite enough skulking around in the dark... it's time for some light. Moving slowly in the dark, Rakash reaches back to the side of his pack, detaching one of the sunrods there and cracking it against the wall behind him such that it does not ignite right in front of his eyes. His other hand levels his spear toward the dripping noise, willing to risk looking foolish if it means he'd be prepared for anything... unexpected.

Sakutian

Kell proceeds after Rakash down the tunnel holding his staff well in front of him to shed it's light as far ahead as possible and preparing to fire a potnet spell at anything unseemly leaping out at him.

Aegis

Snarl gleefully rummages through the sideroom tombs, picking through skeletons after dessicated skeleton, though mostly coming up with the odd gem, a single perhaps-not-useless necklace, and a few more coins (total haul: 80 gp). If he's paying attention, an intense burst of light suddenly appears around the eastern corridor providing enough illumination all the way back to his siderooms.

Rakash's use of a sunrod reveals...a hallway. Staring north in the direction of the sound is naught but a stone wall much like the rest. However, to the shifter's keen senses, a section of the wall doesn't seem to mesh completely with the surrounding walls. Searching around the side of the wall, he will notice a slightly protruding brick.

Horseshoe

"What the --"

Snarl stashes the loot in his rucksack and unsheathes a dagger, running around the corner to see... his companions standing in a massive amount of bright light. There is an audible sound as his palm hits his face.

"Hrm." The half-orc closes his eyes to hide the incredulity... and continues in a whisper that seems like a contained yell. "Look... I know you lot don't do this quite as much as I do. Okay, some of you have never done this. This... is like... what I spend most of my time doing. It's very important that you be careful not to reveal yourselves... there's a decent chance this tomb is guarded and alerting them will only bring more guards. Element of surprise good sirs... and never pass up a chance for looting this place. I found more stashed in the other caskets... gems this time... see?

Snarl drapes the necklace over himself as a demonstration.

"Purty, ehnt it? Now... I trust your spears, your swords, and your intelligence... but for Grummsh's sake let me take the front where I can scout these things out! And stash that sunrod... if you want a light I'll len -- I mean -- rent you my torch."

Snarl smiled as prettily as he could... which admittedly... not so pretty.

Kay

Atherton screws his eyes shut at the sudden bright light, and turns away while he adjusts to it.

He gestures with one hand, palm down, an attempt to signal the others to stop moving, then he beckons them forwards slowly. He turns his head to Rakash, and tilts it with a look of inquiry on his face, which he accentuates with a shrug and a shake of his head. He hasn't heard anything.

When Snarl comes around the corner though, he straightens up and leans against the nearest wall, arms folded over his chest. Again, he shrugs, before placing a finger to his lips - ssshh.

Horseshoe

"Alright..." whispers Snarl, "did any of you at least find anything?"

Sakutian

Kell points towards the misaligned brick with his staff without coming anywhere near touching the piece of suspect masonry. "Yes we did find something. There seems to be a brick out of place here Snarl, perhaps it's some sort of mechanism for a trap? You're more experience with such things though."

tzeentchling

"Sides, Mr. Snarl, we ent seen tip nor tail yet," Aidan whispers. "Ent nobody been in here for a spell. Any kinda guard they might have, a little light ent gonna be a difference one way or nother."

tzeentchling

Weird double post, sorry.

Sakutian

Perception Check: 21
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2482680/

I'll go ahead and throw out a perception check to see if Kell notices any obvious traps placed on this wall.

Aegis

Kell:

Doesn't seem like there would be a place to fit something on the wall, unless it was concealed on the other side. But then, the only noticeable indication that this might be more than a wall, doesn't seem to be more than a simple, potentially pushable, brick that seems at closer glance to only appear to be harder to find due to age, the accumulation of dust and dirt, than deliberate obfuscation.

Sakutian

Hoping to prevent his newfound allies from being exposed to any traps that might be sprung by their approaching the wall to closely Kell decided to take action. He extends his staff towards the wall uttering a single word and and the light he'd cast glows a faint blue glow.

"Itara." A ghostly hand appears and hovers in the air flying from the staff to the wall where it begins pressing against the brick.

Cast Mage Hand and attempt to push the brick

Aegis

The insubstantial appendage materializes in front of the brick, slowly pushing it into the wall as the brick helpfully agrees. As it slides back into the positions, the wall in front of those gathered near it begins to retract to the right, the grating of stone on stone heard as it does so. A cold, damp, and slightly stale gust of air hits the faces of those near the newfound opening as the light sounds of water dripping intermittently on stone are now audible enough for all to hear.

Beyond, in the opening a short staircase descends before turning into what appears to be a natural rock tunnel. From the party's initial vantage point, while the floor seems smoothed, the walls are unworked rock, in stark contrast to the brick hallways that the initial catacombs afforded you. The sunrod providing some illumination still, a few torch brackets can be seen bolted into the rock here and there before the tunnel turns a corner out of sight, heading for the most part straight north.

Horseshoe

"Hrm... interesting, eh? I take back what I said earlier, lads. If not for the light I may not even have seen it... this looks promising."

Kay

"Well," says Atherton, "this looks like it has potential."

He moves onto the stairway, examining the stone and fittings that are still 'safely' in the sunrod's light. "Interesting, most interesting," he muses, before turning to Snarl, his hand on one of the torch brackets. "This seems like a perfect moment to scout ahead, in the darkness," Atherton suggests. "If you are willing to take Lenoir with you, anything you whisper to him about what you see? I will hear."

The raven looks from Snarl to Atherton, then hides his head under his wing. "How can you be sure he won't just eat me, Ath? He looks hungry," Lenoir interjects.

Dungeoneering (Depth/Age Guesstimate): 1d20+8 9 (Oh shit, three miles above sea level!)

Aegis

Atherton: There's little to go on, due to the lack of visible construction beyond the non-active torch brackets and poor visibility to gauge the age of whatever this apparent natural tunnel is.

Sakutian

"Indeed this seems like a task well met by your skills Snarl." Kell peered down into the growing darkness of the tunnel they'd uncovered and strained his ears trying to hear any hint of whatever sound he'd caught moments ago.

Perception Check: 14 Just generally trying to see what if anything I can hear. Bad roll though.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2483075/
Are there any torches or candles in the brackets at the moment?

Aegis

Kell: You can maybe see two torch brackets, perhaps a third hidden by a turn in the protruding rock. One of the brackets is empty, while the other has an unlit torch in it (the one closest to the opened door in fact).

Horseshoe

Snarl lets the raven perch upon one of his shoulders, and begins stalking up the stairway. He's methodical, to be sure... pausing occasionally to set down the torch and advance into the dim light, he slowly advances up the stairway.

Stealth: 1d20+11 17 +2 (equipment) = 19

Perception: 1d20+8 21

hrm. well if something notices me hopefully i see it before it sees me

also: dagger in the other hand

Kay

"Atherton never sneaks anywhere, this is a new thing for me." Lenoir tells Snarl. "Oh oh oh, after this is all over, can you, ah, introduce me to some ladies of the night? The ladies love me, I make them laugh. And I love them, heheh." The raven is whispering, but after he's said his piece once he's settled on Snarl's shoulder, he falls quiet and lets the half-orc do his scouting.

Aegis

Snarl descends the stairway onto the cold and slightly damp stone passageway, slowly creeping along quickly getting out of sight of the rest of the party save for the bit of illumination from his muffled everburning torch. The rest of the party milling about the entrance of the passageway continues to hear the occasionally drip, drip, drip of water on stone somewhere in the distance ahead as the cool, slightly refreshing air, continues to waft in your direction from deeper in these mysterious tunnels. As Snarl walks along, the torch reveals a shadow of what you swear is a casually upturned, dusty and cracked skull resting nonchalantly in a nook at the base of the stone wall.

Snarl & Atherton (through the Raven):

You follow the passage which, while windy, sticks to its course north for the most party for perhaps a minute, the sounds of the dripping getting noticeably louder. Several more torch brackets are placed along the tunnel in occasional increments as you progress, with several discarded or forgotten pieces of skeletons lining the stone passageway at its base.

Your occasional movements of your torch to light the way in front of you tell you that you appear to be nearing (perhaps 15 feet away) the opening to a larger stone cavern. Before reaching the opening, however, your ears pick something. As you get closer to the dripping (narrowed down to this upcoming cavern), the sound of, almost like nails on stone seem to suffuse the area. It's a light, and dull noise, but constant in its regularly almost as if it were filling the cavern. And when you stop, it sounds like they begin to get louder.

Kay

Atherton's eyes roll up into his head slightly, as he concentrates on the link between himself and Lenoir, and the sounds he can hear in the raven's vicinity.

Nature: 1d20+3 18
Dungeoneering: 1d20+8 17
Arcana: 1d20+9 15
Religion: 1d20+9 19

Horseshoe

"Something in here... monstrous, I don't think they're humanoids..." he whispers, "And I they're hunting me... might be nice to have a sword up here, Atherton."

Goddamnit, he thought, I'm talking to a bird... I must be out of my mind.