[D&D 4E PbP] Into the Shadowhaunt - IC

godmode

Act I - Into the Shadowhaunt

Map of Longsaddle

This adventure starts as so many other great adventures before...in a tavern. It's here in Longsaddle where we find Jorges Moorges, Acquisitions Head of Respectable Ed's Recovery Service. Jorges' travels have taken him and his occasional companions all across Faerûn in search of fortune and fame, and Longsaddle is just the most recent gig. Along the way he acquired the services of Sassori, and she was quickly promoted to Marketing Executive. Tyn Wulf also numbers among Jorges' colleagues. Tyn wishes his job were as easy as negotiating payments and writing advertisements, but instead he is in charge of security. Mordenkrad in hand, he ensures the safety of the group and its recovered goods.
News of paying work has brought the gang to the Longsaddle Tavern, and it is there that they find Jansys and Kaz-iel, whom they discover are also seeking gainful employment, and decide to throw in with the Recovery Service. Once Jorges draws up the contracts (Naming Jansys as Monster Identification Executive and Kaz-iel as Head Arcana Examiner), they converse briefly with the tavern keeper and hear tell of the town silversmith's peril: His two sons have gone missing in the night. His name is Quinn Stasi and he is crushed by their loss. It has been days and the local sheriff has made no progress in solving their disappearance. Quinn is a widower, and will pay most anything to have his sons return. With this information, Respectable Ed's Recovery Service makes for Stasi's shop.
The group enters to find the place shut up and quiet. Following a series of bangs on the door from Tyn's fists, you hear a crash within, some muffled grumbling, and footsteps shuffling about. A moment later, the door cracks open, revealing a pair of watery, bloodshot eyes that immediately squint against the bright sunlight.
"Whaddaya wan'? Um closssed," Quinn Stasi slurs into the blinding light.

Langly

Good Sir, we are here...for employment. We have heard that your sons were most cruelly taken from you, without the requisite kidnapping and ritual sacrifice forms (notarized, of course), or any form of payment at all. We at Honest Ed's specialize in recovering any item, living or inanimate, which was either held past contract or taken unlawfully.

We would be more than happy to aid you in returning your children, if you will be so kind as to peruse our normal contract and general warranty disclaimer.

((so like...do I do a check here? do you make me do one? IDK!!!))

Langly

also @gatsby @thatdudeoverthere @sassori @rainfall

this is actually happening now.

Sassori

Sassori poked her head over the rest of the group and shoved her lute into Jorges's ribs as she stepped forward.

"Sir? Is there any information you can provide about the night they disappeared? Have there been any other kidnappings in the area?"

godmode

Quinn's eyes brighten and he opens the door wider, and the scent of alcohol wafts over you. He beckons you within. "Yeah, yeah, please come in I'll tell ya wot I know!" He staggers off to a nearby bench and sits heavily, and takes a swig from a bottle next to him. There are many such bottles covering various surfaces. It looks as if Stasi has holed up in here for quite a while, drowning his sorrows with no one else to comfort him. His clothes are disheveled and stained, his hair a mess. Though, if one were to overlook the garbage strewn about, they would notice that the space is actually quite tidy.
"Me boys mean everythin' ta me, but they wen' missin' in the night daysh ago. They're all I have lef'. Me wife passed years ago. Talked ta the guar' and they ha'n't seen nothin'. I jus' miss 'em so ba'ly." With that, his face crumples and his eyes moisten. Tears fall down onto his shirt to join the other stains and blotches. "Ya hav ta help me!" He pleads. "I'll pay ya han'somely fer yer service, near anythin'."

TheySlashThem

Tyn grunts. "Wot they look like?"

Rainfall

Ampeia coughs quietly as she casts her gaze around for a bottle of wine. There has to be at least one here, right?
Then she shakes her head, and steps up to the sobbing man, placing one hand comfortingly on his shoulder.
"Have no fear, good sir. We'll save your children from whatever danger they find themselves in. Could you describe them for us? The clothes they were wearing, any possessions of theirs that went missing along with them? Even the smallest thing could be important in finding where they are."

godmode

Quinn sighs. "They were jus' boys. Eigh' an' ten. 'Bout yay high," he finishes, holding his hand above the floor about 3 or 4 feet. Dunno wot they were wearin'. It was late a' nigh', I hear a rustlin' and look to see they're gone, rush ou'side an' there's none 'round but the town beggar, an' he's ravin' and I'm sick with worry righ' away. It was awful." He sniffles loudly, and his brow crinkles in thought, "After the guard told me they ha'n't found 'em, I wen' off to the temple of Erathis seekin' help. They di' some magic, waved 'bout some thins, say a few words, and tell me the boys are still alive...bu' they're in the ol' mausoleum to the north of town. I can' go in there alone! The place is haunted. Terrible things abou'. I don' know wot ta do!"

Gatsby

"That old mausoleum, eh?" Kaz ponders, leaning against a door frame as she furrows her brow, thinking back to any mention of it in the books she studied while on the seas.

History Check: 1d20+9 12

Well that's encouraging...

godmode

Kaz recalls that the Shadowhaunt Mausoleum is north of Longsaddle, and is the final resting place of the Kaius Dynasty, a line of local warlords. She cannot quite recall anything beyond that, though...

Gatsby

"Well, it's a mausoleum, so that already means possibility of undead is pretty high," she rattles off, finger to her chin. "But that's where the the legacy and remains of the Kaius Dynasty are, so we're going to be dealing with trained and most likely armed undead. Perfect."

Sassori

Sassori coughed delicately into her hand before offering her own insight on the Shadowhaunt Mausoleum.

History Check: 1d20+7 16

godmode

Sassori remembers quite a bit more about the mausoleum: The Kaius brought relative peace and prosperity to this area. Their dynasty ended with the tragic death of the last Kaius warlord's only son, and his father's dark and ultimately deadly depression. There have been tales that tell of his spirit still haunting the mausoleum, protecting his family's rest.

Melding

"Oh please, it's probably some prospector that found valuable gems, or an old servant who refuses to let go."

godmode

You get the feeling that you won't find out for sure either way while you're awkwardly standing around in the silversmith's home.

Gatsby

"Okay if no one else is going to ask the tough question, I will," Kaz cricks her neck from side to side before sidling right up to the homely smith. "Aside from feeling good about ourselves what do we get out of this?"

godmode

Quinn looks up hopefully, "You mean you'll look fer 'em? I'm na a rich man, but I've got some gold to offer, and I can probly make somethin' fer ya as well. I'll give ya 50 gold each if ya tell me wot's happened to 'em. Even if..." he swallows loudly "...even if it's na good."

Sassori

"I ain't afraid of no ghosts."

Sassori looked to the rest of the group. She was willing to help some poor man find his kids.

TheySlashThem

Tyn looks to Sassori, grunts and nods.

Melding

"It's not ghosts you should be afraid of. It's what the ghosts can do. Which is why we must find those children. I couldn't live with myself if i allowed something to happen to them."

Rainfall

"Ugh, undead. Pinot hates undead, they taste all wrong."
Ampeia shudders, then starts walking towards the door, looking over her shoulder.
"Well, let's not wait around any longer than we have to. Those children need our help, yes?"

Langly

Jorges looks up, as if they had been in a reverie, thinking of other times, other realities. Maybe other realities where they were mostly drunk and not coherent enough for simple tasks. He shakes his head.

"Let us take our leave, then, and fetch forth the children!"

godmode

"Bless you," Quinn replies, wiping a tear from his eye. "The mausoleum's to the north. You should start there."
Quinn follows you to the door and follows you to the street outside. He waves as you depart, and watches until the gang disappears around the corner.
The walk to Shadowhaunt Mausoleum is a short one, only a few miles north of town. The weather is pleasant. One certainly wouldn't expect anything was out of sorts on a day like this. The road leads you into the foothills where the Longsaddle Cemetery sits in quiet summer sunshine. Amidst the graves, alone on a hill, sits the mausoleum: dark gray slate and granite silhouetted against the clear blue sky. The group reaches the top of the hill and observes in the entrance a massive, iron-bound double door.

Langly

Jorges approaches the doors and reaches out to open them.

godmode

Upon approaching the doors, Jorges discovers that they're already open a crack, thought not enough to peer through. It appears someone has passed through here sometime recently. Jorges pushes and while the doors are heavy and old, they open with little effort.
Beyond the doors is a simple, gray, rectangular room, illuminated by sconces filled with everburning flame. Trios of stone sarcophagi line the walls to the left and right, each adorned with the effigy of some long-dead warlord. In a niche above each sarcophagus is a small statue of either Pelor or Bahamut. At the room's center stands a ten-foot-tall marble obelisk bearing inscriptions on each side.

Langly

@gatsby @melding @rainfall @sassori @thatdudeoverthere

((alright we're doing this thing let's goooo))

Langly

Jorges studies the inscriptions using a religion check - 23

http://orokos.com/roll/110110

godmode

Jorges closely examines the obelisk in the center of the room and the inscriptions that cover its surface. He discovers on each side written the names and deeds of each of the Kaius warlords interred here. There are 20 warlords in all, 5 per side, and their accomplishments involve bringing peace and prosperity to the region by defeating tribes of goblins, packs of ogres, and marauding dragons.
While examining the inscriptions, he discovers a strange draft near the base of the obelisk-it seems that the area below is vacant. Jorges determines that the obelisk must be covering a secret door.

Langly

((would that be a dungeoneering roll in order to open a secret door?))

Gatsby

Running her hand over her smooth, energy-line covered head, Kaz looks around the mausoleum more. She tries wracking her brains for anything useful from her books or passed down tales from old sea captains she worked with.

Orokos is being slow so here's an invisible castles roll

History: 1d20+9=16

godmode

While the group ponders the room and how to open the hidden door, a translucent, silvery, humanoid form emerges from a side of the obelisk. It regards the adventurers calmly, and addresses them in a deep, raspy voice. "Interlopers, beware. If you trespass you shall not realize the wisdom of my words. From entry sinister, the way becomes clear when son follows sire."

Langly

"Oh ok so sinister means left" , Jorges says

Langly

"Furthermore, I know that 'sun' is pelor and sire is bahumet , so we should look for a room with a sign of pelor behind bahumet , I imagine."

Langly

Jorges approaches the obelisk, and situates himself on a side where the statues align themselves with the figure of pelor following bahumet with the statue to his right (on the left of the obelisk). He then tries pushing the obelisk.

godmode

You feel cold marble beneath your hands, but that's just about it. The obelisk does not budge.

Langly

Jorges inspects the statues of the gods

godmode

You notice that there are six statues total: Three statues of Bahamut above the three sarcophagi left (North on the map), and three statues of Pelor above the three sarcophagi right. The statues are about a foot tall and carved from stone. You guess they weigh about 10 pounds.

Langly

Jorges takes the sinister bahumet statue and switches it with the sinister sitting statue of pelor.

godmode

Tyn Wulf prods about the obelisk as well, but has no more success than Jorges about finding a way within.

godmode

Jorges hears a faint click and....

....Nothing happens. You can't quite be sure, but it sounds like the specter chuckles. You may want to consider putting the statues back in their original places and trying again.

godmode

Jorges plods back and forth across the room, first replacing the first set of statues, then moving on to those in the middle of the room. As soon as he places the second Bahamut statue into the space of the middle Pelor statue, a loud *CLICK* is heard, followed by the sound of grinding stones. You look to the center of the room and see there is now an opening in the bottom rear side of the obelisk, and a set of stairs within. The spirit manages to look impressed and gives a slight nod to the group before disappearing into the floor.