Guildmage [IC]

[Reverent-One]

Jarl

The dwarf's eyes narrow suspiciously at the skulls as he recognizes the magic, "Well, I doubt this was set up for our benefit. It would take me a while to go though and smash each one though. Anyone with a bit more reach want to volunteer?"

[Shadow_Elf]

Flavius
No no, it won't be necessary. The only magic on these is a ritualized version of a simple Light cantrip, and a spell trigger. It ignites for any living creature that enters the room; it should be of little concern.

[PChubby]

As Riley passes the entrance, he ponders the inscription on the doors. Death is a doorway? Is that some architech's idea of comfort in such a morbid place? He continues inside the mausoleum pausing momentarily allowing his eyes to adjust as the skulls light the dim room.

"If the lights are attuned to the living, they might work against us. We'll need to speak softly and walk even softer to avoid any more surprises like outside." The halfling tilts his head side to side as he rolls his shoulders working out any possible pops or creaks. With a fluid movement, he move silently across the room and says with a whisper "Any suggestions for which way?"

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Thieving Crew: Allies within 5 gain +2 to Stealth and Thievery

Stealth: (1d20+24)[38]

[NecroRebel]

Elise

"I agree with Riley. This is a major cause for concern. What if there's more rituals like this one set up below? We walk into a room and it lights up like a festival? We're not going to be able to catch anything by surprise like that." She approaches the center of the effect and examines it more closely. "We should find a way to detect these and to shut them off without activating them if we can."

[Shadow_Elf]

Flavius
If you are concerned about making noise, Riley, perhaps everyone should relay their words through me? The magic of my medallion makes not a sound, suggest Flavius, as he too approaches the wall. I am familiar with this cantrip. I may be able to develop a way to replicate the spell, given enough time... but detection and disabling is a different beast. Could take longer, or less time; hard to say. With that message, the gnome extends his senses to the wall to better understand the workings of the ritual, and how he might disable and detect others like it before they are triggered.

[Dacia Brabant]

Valen

It took Valen a while to recover from the assault he endured from the undead monstrosities, but after getting help cleaning his wounds--for which he offered his silent thanks with a grateful if pained nod to Elise and Riley--he was back on his feet and ready to examine the mausoleum's interior.

"Hmm, it was always said this place was haunted and deserted, and I think I'm beginning to understand why," he whispered, not quite feeling sure about opening his thoughts up to mental communication just yet. "If these lights are a kind of warning, there must've been someone, or something, in here that didn't wish to be disturbed, I imagine long before the Demon came. Some Hevian creation, I suppose."

He shrugs, and quietly moves over toward the western wall to get a better look at the bronze doors.

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Stealth: (1d20+21)[33]

I'd also like to check for traps on the bronze doors. Thievery: (1d20+19)[25]

[Reverent-One]

Jarl

"Fair enough, Flavius. Let's not waste any more time debating it then and move on. Shall we try the doors?" Not waiting for an answer, Jarl moves over to the large bronze doors and, after taking a moment to see if he can hear anything on the other side, attempts to open them a crack.

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Moving on from the leaving the lights on or off discussion since it's going nowhere.

perception to listen-(1d20+8)[10], if I hear anything suspicious, don't open the doors immediately
Stealth-(1d20+6)[24]

[Chambers]

Though intricate, expensive, and seemingly heavy, Valen doesn't find any trap mechanisms in or around the door. Likewise, Jarl hears nothing on the other side. Satisfied, he pushes them and they glide open at the slightest pressure. The doors swing back silently and reveal a small room, as long as the main chamber but only 15ft wide.

The green light from the skulls slowly illuminate the back room and you can see that it's empty, save for two sarcophagi at either end. Carved of marble, the sarcophagi rise to chest height and each have a heavy marble lid. The sides of both of them are engraved with images of what seem to be mages calling down fire and lightning from the heavens. The lid on the sarcophagi on the left has the form of a robed mage carved into it, his stone staff in hand and wand held across his chest. The other sarcophagi has a similar carving, though of a woman and instead of a staff and wand there is a book of stone on her chest, her hands laid across it. Each sarcophagi and lid is covered with the same old Hevian script, though you immediately recognize it as the words of a warding spell.

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Arcana, DC 31

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You recognize the two spells as something akin to a Glyph of Warding but much more powerful. Comparing the spells on these lids to the ritual you know is similar to comparing the Archmage Cedaris to a neophyte mage. These spells must be very old in order for them to be that powerful, not to mention that the wards are still functioning to this day.

[Shadow_Elf]

Flavius
Careful, friends. If I were a necromancer invading this city, the first thing I would do is raise dead Hevian wizards to fight for me. Let me make sure that this warding has held against the invaders.

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Arcana Knowledge: (1d20+24)[41]
Arcana Warding Spell Intact: (1d20+24)[34]
History, who are these mages?: (1d20+20)[24]

[Chambers]

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The wardings are still active.

Though you don't know who these people are, you do recall hearing a report from a few years ago, before the war when foolish people would travel the desert looking for ancient tombs to loot. The report, given by the last remaining member of their group, was more than a little incoherent as the man had lost both eyes and most of his hearing, as well as his right hand just below the elbow.

The mages didn't want to press him too hard as he was clearly in poor health, and so they got only a partial story before he died the next day. What he did say had something to do with the tombs of the ancient Hevian wizards. He claimed that his group had spent weeks bypassing an orc tribe and stumbled upon a crevice that led to a deep undergound temple made of stone. Inside were ancient artifacts, things he called industria mortems...although the mages weren't sure if that was the name of the things or what they held. Or did.

He said that they found a number of burial chambers in the temple, each with one or more sarcophagi. They had all agreed not to open them and instead make off with the other relics from the temple, but apparently someone in the group opened one during the night. He wasn't clear on who, but it seems that the person was compelled or enchanted in some way to do so. The details got less coherent after that, and the man's last words were something refer to a moving darkness...the dead walk it.

[Shadow_Elf]

Flavius
Do not touch these old sarcophagi. I heard a tale out of the desert, told by a blinded man, savaged by some horror of Hevia. He told of sarcophagi like these, opened by a fool of the raiding party. He was not coherent enough to tell the Guildmage what killed them, but there's no doubt that it did. Best leave these with their wards intact and head on our way.

[NecroRebel]

Elise

Elise nods and points back towards the downward passage, whispering "If these are what is being guarded in this place, we can come back later to open or destroy them, but our target is probably underground. Let's leave these here for now; it doesn't make sense to open up old, untouched corpses where our enemies can get them if they're not threats now."

The sorceress stops to consider what she said for a moment, then exclaims, "Hey, if there are bodies that the Demon's people can't get to in these tombs, maybe we can use a similar spell to stop them from reusing any bodies we blast apart!"

[Reverent-One]

Jarl

"I see no reason to go poking around and creating more trouble, we have plenty already. Let's move on then." Jarl says as he closes the doors again, leading the way down the stairway.

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Stealth as I can-(1d20+6)[26]

[Shadow_Elf]

Flavius
A simple Gentle Repose spell can prevent necromantic spells, and it is a very simple warding spell. With little effort, such a spell could be expanded on to last longer or affect more targets. Some variation of that may hold the bodies in their sarcophagi, replies Flavius to Elise. Being the most frail of the Guildmagi, Flavius tries to stay to the middle-back of their marching order.

[Chambers]

Stale air wafts up from the hole in the ground and as Jarl descends the old metal stairs he's surprised to find that they hold his weight. A quick glance at the iron shows it to be only lightly pitted with rust, though the dwarf's knowledge of stone and ironwork tell him that it's much older than it looks. Whatever's below must be remarkably well-preserved and sealed, to keep out the moisture of the years.

The stairs also don't squeak as Jarl creeps down them and he makes his way to the bottom, stepping out onto a rough sandstone floor in a natural cave that is pitch black. The ceiling is 10ft high and the cave goes south for about 60ft before sloping towards the east. Even through the miasma of the sinkhole and natural darkness, Jarl's dwarven instincts serve him well in this place.

The walls are hewn from red-brown sandstone and they've been rounded down smooth by the passage of time. The floor is slightly uneven and is covered by a thin layer of pebbly sand, which makes it easy to spot the trails of those who disturbed it. There's heavy foot traffic going to and away from the spiral stairs, some tracks that look like heavy boots...and others that look like a slow drag with a heavy limp. Directly south of the stairs the floor is covered with some broken up small rock, loose scree that seems to have come loose from one side wall.

[Reverent-One]

Jarl

Keeping silent, Jarl waves the party forward as he follows the tracks south into the cave.

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Perception-(1d20+8)[20]
Stealth-[roll]1d20+6[/roll

[Chambers]

The passageway slopes to the southeast and heads into a T intersection, one way going farther south and the other jutting around the rock wall and heading back north. A few tracks head north, further into the darkness, while the majority are coming to and from the southern passageway. Peering down you can see that it goes about 40ft before opening on the left into some kind of open chamber, but you can't make out the details this far away. You do see the that it's light that way, possibly from some fire or other light source in that chamber.

[Shadow_Elf]

Flavius
Fewer tracks to the north... do we pursue the less numerous enemy to eliminate them first or, do we assume that when it comes to the undead, less is more, so we take the southern passageway to destroy the underlings?

[PChubby]

Riley

Riley eyes the light source and relays his thoughts through Flavius. I'll sneak a peek at the room with the fire if it'll help narrow our choices.

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If no one objects Riley will scout the room with the light source. Close enough for a look but far enough to minimize risk.

Stealth: (1d20+23)[40]
Perception: (1d20+15)[23]

[Chambers]

Creeping along the wall, Riley sneaks down the passageway and pauses before the chamber open before him. It's a wide place, easily 50ft across and he can see that it goes down south for almost double that. Pillars of stone rise up from the floor to support the ceiling over head. The floor is covered with a thick layer of sand and dust making the tracks easy to spot in the light provided by the heatless torches that burn in sconces along the walls.

Though it's hard to make out many details in the dim light, Riley can see patches of low fog roiling about in a few places in the chamber. Whether it's a trick of the magical light, the miasma of the stinkhole, or something else, it seems as though the fog is glowing with a weak, pale green light.

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Here's an image of the open chamber. You all are entering from the northwest passageway (up is north). There are exits North East, South East, South West, West, and North West.

Image

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Religion DC 16

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Some shadow of power reaches out to your senses as you enter this chamber. You can sense the echoes of past rituals and sacrifices...none of them wholesome or good. For a moment you think you can faintly hear the last cries of the damned as the knife descended and the cultists chanted...but it's soon replaced by silence and the heavy weight of psychic corruption.

Perception DC 16

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The heavy dust makes it easy to spot the tracks, however there are so many in this chamber that it's hard to follow just one set. Due to the lack of wind in these catacombs the tracks from years ago are still relatively preserved, making it difficult to tell which are recent and which are from years ago.

Arcana DC 22

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The patches of fog floating in the room are another sinkhole effect, specifically called Umbral Taint...but you get the sense that these fogs aren't connected to the corruption of the city. Some other force was responsible for these fogs, and you know that while they are uncomfortably cold to stand in, they don't harm the living. They do instead revive and restore any undead creature within the mist.

[NecroRebel]

Elise

Although not nearly as quiet as her halfling compatriot, Elise is still capable of moving quietly, and follows a ways behind Riley. As he stops at the mouth of the tunnel, she does as well, analyzing her narrower view of the cavern beyond, knowing that she may well see more clearly than he. Elven eyes, even with human minds behind them, see in shadow, after all.

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[roll=Stealth]120+13[/roll]
Religion - (1d20+9)[20]
Perception - (1d20+7)[16]
Arcana - (1d20+14)[33]

[PChubby]

After surveying the area, Riley flattens against a wall and mentally reports what he discovers. It's no surprise, horrible things happened here and the corruption still lingers. Umbral Taint is everywhere. I see signs of passage but can't tell how recent. We could move further in to take out whatever passed though here, if it's still here. Or we can try to cleanse the area. Although I have no idea on how to do that.

[Reverent-One]

Jarl

Jarl strides down the path and into the room upon hearing Riley's report. Feeling the past horrors crash on him, he wonders about what can be done to put the spirits to rest.

"I don't see what we can do here, and we have no lack of choices of which way to go next." He finally says, "So taking one path at a time seems best." The dwarf indicates the passageway to their left first.

[NecroRebel]

Elise

Elise follows Jarl into the chamber, her gaze fixed on the clouds of fog. After a short time, she makes a sound of disgust. "That miasma is totally unnatural. I can't feel it at all. I've liked sculpting vapors since I gained the skill, but it's like these aren't even there. I've got no idea how to clear them out, either... Maybe just a good breath of fresh air would do it, maybe not.

"If we can't do anything here, we should go further in. That path seems as good as any," she allows to the dwarf's suggestion.

[Chambers]

The loose stones and rubble on the ground look to be the result of a minor cave in at the entrance of the western passageway. It wasn't complete, but the rocks stack up a few feet, making travel over them difficult but not impossible. Once past the rocks you find a round, domed chamber with faded ceramic tiles across the ceiling. Inside at each cardinal direction are four sarcophagi made of iron, the head of each pointing towards the middle. Like the ones above, these sarcophagi have sculpted figures on top, though these are cast from bronze and iron and appear to be warriors of some type instead of mages, as they are holding swords, spears, maces, and shields on their chest instead of wands and staves.

The sarcophagi are less richly decorated than the ones above, each with only a single word repeated at the base of the sarcophagi, engraved over and over like a chain of script. They also don't appear to be enchanted, as none of you can sense any arcane energies emanating from them.

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The single word is the old Hevian word for 'Guardian'.

Passive Perception 22

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You notice that beneath the pile of rocks are a pair of skeletons, their bones broken as they lay crushed under the rubble. Whatever clothing they once wore has rotted away but you can catch some glints of metal next to them. It would take at least an hour of hard work to remove all the rubble, but only 10 minutes or so to clear the skeletons.

[Shadow_Elf]

Flavius
Hmmm... I do not sense any warding magic about these sarcophagi. Perhaps their seals have been broken and their charges released in undeath? Are there any tracks leading away from the sarcophagi that do not lead towards them? Elise, you should stay near me; I have a spell to whisk us away from the melee if we are ambushed as we were above, so that our companions more martially inclined can handle the front line.

[NecroRebel]

Elise

Elise had been following somewhat closely behind Jarl, but at Flavius's sending looks back, nods, and slows so the gnome can catch up. "I'm worried about how all these coffins seem to be closed, even if they're not really sealed. If anywhere would be a good hiding spot for those wraiths that escaped us on the surface, it would be inside something like these. We should open them to be sure."

[Dacia Brabant]

Valen

Valen finally broke his silence--he was still in quite some pain, it was apparent in his voice, but didn't wish to admit to that so he kept quiet near the back--only to say a quick "Agreed" to Elise after she suggests checking the sarcophagi. He carefully, quietly approaches them and looks them over cautiously before daring to open one.

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Thievery to examine the sarcophagi for traps: (1d20+19)[23].

Oh and I forgot to add the bonus from Riley in my last Stealth check, I think that's +4

[Reverent-One]

Jarl

Though wary about opening the caskets, Jarl nods. After carefully examining one, Jarl uses his blade to lever it open.

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Perception to examine one-(1d20+8)[21]
Will open it assuming nothing untoward is detected.

[Chambers]

Valen doesn't find any obvious traps on the sarcophagi with the shieldbearer on top...which gives him the idea that maybe the rock fall wasn't just a natural occurrence. He and Jarl find a thin line marking the separation from bottom and top and they're able to slowly slide the top off, laying it down on the ground, leaning against the sarcophagi.

Inside are the bones of what was once a human, judging from the skeleton. The skeleton's clothes have faded into dust but its metal armor, helm, shield and sword are still bright and true. The styling of the weapon and armor mark them as antiques; no one has worn a helm with a noseguard like that in a long time, and the guard on the slightly curved sword seems to only cover the first two knuckles. The scalemail armor looks the most familiar in style - it's a design hard to improve upon - but the metal itself is not a common ore; it shines with the telltale sign of mithral. The shield stands out from the rest for another reason as it's been battered and dented to the wastes and back, but it still somehow looks serviceable.

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They're not magical, but are of superior quality. I'll post the exact details later. That is, if you're going to take them.