Shards of Terna [IC]

[Tavar]

Yep, it's definitely oddly shaped an placed. To know any more, you're going to have to try and dig.

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Do I have to keep saying this?

[SamBurke]

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LOLOLOL.

Serol glances towards the two talkers, discussing the obvious. "Just... dig..." He rolls his eyes a bit and begins to tear into the dirt as best as possible. His humanized hands don't do an extremely good job, but the claws help.

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Strength Check?

(1d20+4)[17]

[Barbarian MD]

Forsaken grumbles, reaches into his survival bag, and pulls out a shovel. He then strips off his armor, lays his weapons within easy reach, and starts to dig.

[Tavar]

A few minutes of work, and the earth is flying. Then Forsaken's Shovel smashes into something: not a rock, but a corroded piece of steel. Carefully moving the dirt out of the way, you reveal what was once a sword, still grasped in a corroded plate gauntlet.

Uncovering a bit more, and it is obvious what this mound is: a mass grave, of sorts. The bodies seem to be dwarven in nature, and it looks like they died in some hard fought battle. The degradation makes it difficult to tell, but backbones and armor split down the middle, or plate sleeves sliced cleanly through strongly suggest that.

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You can make checks among the bodies, if you like. You've only uncovered about 5 corpses, though it looks like their are many more. It's early afternoon at this point.

[DracoDei]

"Hmmm... let me have a look, maybe I can tell whether it was beasts or blades that did the killing. Let's not get so wrapped up we get ambushed, or forget to leave enough time to scout out the keep before we bed down there... and I STILL would like a stream so we don't waste any water, although I suppose this blood should be all flaked off by the time it is time for me to write up what I have discovered today."

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(1d20+10)[14] Heal as forensic "weapon" and "time since death" identification. Don't necessarily give me the results yet, I am going to keep going with each body as it is uncovered (or every other shovel stroke on average if I am doing the finer work of uncovering an individual body, which might give me some sort of circumstance bonus.

Pala goes over to the mule and gets the shovel off of it. As it clears the pack saddle, the tool grows in his grasp to fit his frame*.

"And here I thought the only thing I would be using this for was digging latrines."

*((I think that is how Enlarge Person would work, if not I can unbuckle the belt, grab the shovel, then rebuckle the belt while wearing it.))

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Don't forget I am large size and strength 16 right now... Con is only 12, but then again the breaks to examine the bones will probably mean that I will just be SLOW, not EXHAUSTED. Of course, if I would get better results as far as getting an idea of cause of death with STR 14 and Dex 12 instead of 10, then I will unbuckle the belt.

[Barbarian MD]

When he finds the first bones, Forsaken eschews the use of the shovel, at least until they've figured out what they're dealing with. He carefully brushes off dirt with his bare hands.

"What do you guys want to do? Get some history? Mark this location and continue to explore? Check out the buildings and set up camp?"

[DracoDei]

(Retcon based on OOC thread: Undoing belt for this work.)

"I want to know what we can about what killed them and how long ago. Might be valuable information both for our survival over the course of the next few weeks and in terms of its intelligence value for the overall exploration efforts. Historical and religious value... well, if that were our concern I think our best move would be to stop right now and maybe even re-cover what we dug up. Actually, that makes me think. Does anyone know if these look like they were buried BY dwarves? The victors MIGHT have shown them that much respect if the dwarves lost, especially by surrender. If the armor was more intact I would tell you to be wary of plague, but it seems obvious, even at a cursory examination, that they died by violence."

[Milo v3]

"I never liked dwarves, they always slowed down progress."

[Necroticplague]

"Or maybe these burial is covering something of more interest... Hold on, its about time I did something useful." Solooze then crawls into the hole, oozing between the bodies to see if there is anything but the dead in there.

[Tavar]

The Neo-Slokan did not favor mass shallow graves, no. But, if their were few survivors, that might have been all they could do.

The bones and armor are in too poor shape to really tell much about what happened. You can make some guesses as to the cause of death, such as the dwarf body split head to groin, or the one with a massive hole in the chestplate and ribs where it's left lung would be. Not exactly clear how long it's been, though judging by the corrosion it's been years. The problem would be possible preservative magics cast on the bodies: the Neo-Slokan did favor such arts, as this fort clearly shows.

The bones are packed tight together, but the ooze is able to squeeze between them. It doesn't seem to be anything but bones and armor, and many of them

[DracoDei]

"I am sorry my comrades, but I can not guess even if it was a crafted weapon or tooth and claw that slayed them, time has simply been too hard on the evidences. Grave robbing appeals not to me, yet those who would risk the touch of a necromancer often would also be buried with that which could still serve the living. Still, my conscience would still sit the easier if we explored the keep to allow this matter to churn in our minds."

[SamBurke]

"Killed, buried so killers not die." Serol mutters, scratching dirt and pulling a raw bone from the side of his mouth. "Now?"

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We know they died from violence, that's obvious. Even victors would bury large amounts of bodies to prevent rot and disease from breaking out in their own ranks.

I do think we'll want to rest at the *top* of a tower nearby for the night, or the top floor with a roof at least.

[Milo v3]

"The beast is right, strangely. But based on all the preservation magic, rot shouldn't have been a problem. Which means those who killed these dwarves likely weren't native to this shard.

But either way we should probably return to those structures, it would serve as good cover."

[DracoDei]

"Don't know how you jump from "preservation magic was used" to "the ones doing the burying weren't native to this shard". The preservation magic argues at more care than would be needed to stop disease. It COULD be a necromancer's cache, that would explain burying them with the armor and weapons just as well as respect for the dead. In any case, I think we are doing more harm than good, especially if there are dwarves on this shard... and not doing ourselves any favors with dwarves of our nation either.* They tend to have long memories about such things I believe. I vote we look for a usable well and a safe place to sleep in the keep, not necessarily in that order."

*

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How are dwarves represented in our home-nation(s)?

Do I see a good place I can stake out my mule to graze while we explore the keep or MAYBE even overnight(but that sounds risky and I would rather expend the feed I brought tonight than risk it)?

[Milo v3]

"It could be many things, but ...
Strong preservation magic must have been used on the structure, but since the corpses have degraded so much, they must not have been affected by the preservation magic. It makes no sense that they wouldn't stop the rotting which means the people who made the structure likely didn't kill these people. That means that they are likely not native to this shard.

So yes it could be a necromancers cache or other things, but I then I do think he was a local.

Also if we follow that stream's direction then it should lead to a water source that the people who lived here used.

But that might be dried up..."

[Barbarian MD]

Forsaken stands and straps on his armor. "Into the keep, then."

He picks up one of the ancient swords, one with an intact hilt, to investigate later. He sticks it through his belt on one hip and leads the others towards the keep.

[Necroticplague]

Solooze crawls out of the whole muttering "So much for that theory." Hearing the other two talk about what to do, it chimes in "We could follow the road that took us here, there are normally something at both ends of a road, since they normally link two things. As for what buried these guys, while we know it can't be whoever built this, beyond that I find myself not caring."

[DracoDei]

((EDITED!))
"The keep works for me." says Kajal Pala.

[Necroticplague]

Solooze quietly thinks about the situations for a second and then calmly states: "We appear to have three options:following the road, following the stream, and entering the keep.I think we should hold a vote for it. I vote for the keep, because being surrounded by the earth is comforting to me. "

[Barbarian MD]

"I think we should examine the keep. It may prove of use as a base of operations, or it may yield some findings of value. In any event, we are likely to continue down the road whenever we finish with the keep, whenever that may come."

[Barbarian MD]

Seeing no opposition, Forsaken leads the way, shield up but hardly expecting any dangers from this silent crypt.

[Tavar]

Everyone can feel the magic radiating from the stone: while this looks like a simple border fort, the amount of magic layered on it is clearly equal to some of the strongest defenses in the land. Which means the battle must have been fierce: the en-spelled stone walls look like trees after a bear has marked them.

Before you is a solid oak and iron door, with some writing on the top. Forsaken alone among you has any knowledge of the language, and his is sketchy at best. It seems to say something about unyeilded Bone or unyeilding stone.

[SamBurke]

Serol shambles to the wall, and slumps against it, pushing with his hands and adopting a semi-standing pose, making him look quite normal, surprisingly. "Danger?"

[Barbarian MD]

Forsaken tries the door.

[Tavar]

Nothing happens. No traps, but the door's mechanism seems rather stiff.

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Strenght Check. Or try to destroy the door.

[Barbarian MD]

Forsaken throws his weight against the door.

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Strength: (d20+3)[16]

[Tavar]

He solidly connects, but one man alone cannot fully open the doors, merely creating a small gap in the stonework.

[Necroticplague]

Solooze notices the trouble with the door, and decides to chip in to help. While it lacked hands, it thinks it could use magic to lend one. It launches a rock at the door, hoping the extra force will help open it.

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Attack (if required to hit stationary door):(1d20+7)[24]
Damage:[roll][2d8][/roll]

[Barbarian MD]

"Alright, on three. One... Two... Three!"

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Strength check (again): (d20+3)[18]

[SamBurke]

Serol, eager to oblige, throws his hulking, lithe form against the door, and braces, each tough hand pushing against it with undeniable viciousness. Both unshod feet dig into the sides of the arcanic stones, providing a firm brace to push with. Doing his best to thrust in time with Forsaken, the man-monster's grunts punctuate the air with a metronome's musical regularity.

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Strength - (1d20+4)[17]

Next turn, I"ll activate Tenebrous Touch if need be, which is a 15 foot force push for anyone who fails a reflex save. Given that doors have particularly bad reflex saves, it should do the trick.