Random Banter D&D 3.5e Campaign IC

[Teddy]

Can you stand?

Tass hurries to light her lantern anew before her spell winks out.

[Amidus Drexel]

Daedrim nods, then staggers to his feet. "I... uh... yeah, I think I can stand." He looks around, then raises an eyebrow, "Is she... Is she dead?"

[Teddy]

No, she escaped... again.

Tass receives the returning Lingon.

She must still be somewhere close, but she'll be hard to track down, and I don't want to encounter her now. That was too close already.

She starts to walk over to the altar room again.

Let's examine her altar before we go find the others.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Search check: (1d20+4)[24]

Spellcraft check: (1d20+11)[18] (if she encounters anything perceptibly magical)

[Amidus Drexel]

The Altar Room

You return to the large, circular room at the end of the tunnel. The black, vaguely altar-shaped stone at the center is littered with ash, bones, and broken pieces of iron, and coated with a thin layer of spattered blood that gives it a sickly red sheen. Some of the iron pieces stand at impossible angles, as if they were driven into the rock. Though you can see the bottom of the pool of water at the back of the room, the clear water gives you some difficulty in judging exactly how far away that is.

Strewn about the room are pieces of broken stone and metal chains, as well as four tomes and perhaps a dozen blank scrolls, as well as one or two that still contain writing. One is written entirely in an unrecognizable runic alphabet, and neither you nor Daedrim can quite figure out what it describes. The other two on the floor are written in Draconic, and while you cannot read them, they are full of detailed sketches and paintings. One contains pictures of a variety of supernatural creatures, many of which you recognize as faeries and other spirits of nature (something the occasional Sylvan phrase confirms); and the other contains images of many plants and animals found in the natural world. You also find an unused scroll of silence, and a small white twig that appears to have violently been snapped in two.

The fourth and final book - titled Ürrbürreckg - lies on the altar, and is written in the Nordic tongue! A page is bookmarked, and opening to it reveals a lengthy description of the ritual you just saw the assassin perform. A passage in large lettering catches your eye:

Tayk sycks seel'd harts bownd wythe iyrn
And sett upon the altyr stohne

Chant the nayms yn the aynshynte tung
Ov the sfeers to be restorr'd

And wen the orrb ys yn arrms' reech
Sliysse yt wythe the ritchooul niyfe

Daedrim looks over your shoulder as you read, and mumbles out loud as he reads. "Take six sealed hearts bound with iron, and set upon the altar stone. Chant the names in the ancient tongue of the spheres to be restored. And when the orb is in arms' reach, slice it with the ritual knife.

"I wonder which 'spheres' she was restoring order between... And the title of the book seems familiar for some reason... Urbureg... no, that isn't quite right... Ürbereg? Do you not roll the r's in ancient Nordic? Urrberreg? No, that's definitely not it..."

[LaZodiac]

Alphonse coughs a moment, then says "We are bound deeper into the mountain, Sir Virgil. Could you perhaps point the way?"

[Amidus Drexel]

Alphonse coughs a moment, then says "We are bound deeper into the mountain, Sir Virgil. Could you perhaps lead the way?"

Virgil manages to put together a puzzled expression for a few seconds, but it lasts only a moment.

many ways down
the lode is... down

He looks back down the tunnel he came up from.

...cannot show you the lode
...
can show you the faceless
at the face
...the face is down

He begins to walk down one of the tunnels, then stops and looks back expectantly.

face is this way
am leave to...
see the faceless
...you can follow
if you wish
...
the lode is... another way... down

[LaZodiac]

Alphonse starts walking towards the direction he came from, which he takes to be where "The lode" is. "Well Sir Bela, I suppose we're about to find a...lode. Whatever that is. I'm going to assume it means a lot."

[Cuthalion]

Béla shakes his head. No. We need to find Tass. We don't need to find... It. You're in no position to go down again.

[LaZodiac]

"Sir Bela I am working on the assumption that Lady Tass is at this lode thing. It seems the most important thing in this place, and if our assassin is anywhere I think it would be the lode. But if you have any other suggestions I'm willing to hear them out, because...you do have a point."

[Teddy]

Tass puts the scroll in her case and inspects the broken twig, trying to recall any spell which might've used it for a component. She then puts the three first tomes in a neat pile on the altar, leaning over Daedrim's arm to inspect the Nordic book as well.

Yrbyreckeg? Sounds ancient.

She keeps voicing different pronounciations under her breath, trying to figure out any which sounds like something she's actually heard before.

And these spheres, it does sound abstract and magical, possibly cosmological.

She keeps mumbling pronounciations.

Spoiler: Rolls

Show

Spellcraft check: (1d20+11)[22]

Intelligence check: (1d20+2)[12] (to figure out the title)

[Amidus Drexel]

The Altar Room

The twig is surprisingly tough - whoever snapped this was either stronger than you or very determined - or both. As you touch it, a small spark of white energy leaps from the broken portion in the middle and touches your finger. You feel warm for a second or two, but the sensation quickly fades. It strikes you more like the remains of a wand than a spell component, but you'd have to get it identified to be absolutely sure.

The title is completely unfamiliar to you - you have no idea what it means, and the bizarre ancient spelling leaves you with only guesses as to how it's pronounced.

OOC: You heal 1 point of damage from touching the broken twig.

--
The Northern Tunnel

Virgil listlessly walks away in the direction of "the face", leaving the two of you alone at the intersection of tunnels. You can no longer hear the faint clanking sound from the tunnel he came up from.

[Teddy]

Ah! That... actually felt pretty nice. I hope it isn't destroyed beyond repair, though. I'll have to examine it tomorrow to see if there's any magic left in it.

Tass puts away the wand as well, before she picks up the four books.

Phew, they're heavy. I think Béla might enjoy reading them, though. At least he can tell us what they say.

She stuffs them into her backpack and turns toward the entrance.

Let's go find the others, we need some rest.

[Cuthalion]

Béla looks after Virgil for a moment, and sighs. I suppose... He turns and walks a few steps toward the tunnel Virgil came from.

[LaZodiac]

Alphonse walks with him, saying "Well Sir Bela, if we find nothing this way, I'm sure we can always go the other way. I just don't trust this Virgil character."

[Amidus Drexel]

The Altar Room

As you go to pick the books up off of the altar, your magic gauntlets briefly get stuck to the black stone. Pulling them free is easy enough, and a short test reveals it only seems to happen when your hands are very close to the stone. By this time, Daedrim has made his way to the exit. "Let's go - we don't know when that sorceress is going to be back, and I don't think we can risk running into her again."

As you and Daedrim begin to leave the mountain's heart, you hear the sounds of metal plates softly brushing against each other. Daedrim stops, his eyes wide, and points down the tunnel. Following his finger, you see a glowing light advancing towards you - one that you suspect belongs to a lantern. "I believe we've been reunited with... well, Alphonse, at least. Presumably Bela as well."

--
The Northern Tunnel
As you walk further down towards the "lode", as Virgil put it, you get the strange feeling that you're being watched.

OOC: Can I get spot and listen checks from everybody?

[LaZodiac]

Alphonse tenses himself, preparing for the worst.

Spoiler: Rolling

Show

Spot: (1d20-1)[2]
Listen: (1d2001)[1283] Result is 2

[Amidus Drexel]

The Northern Tunnel

Alphonse and Bela

You look around, but don't see anything, then - a light! The tunnel ahead of you is glowing with lantern-light, much like your own. After a short time, the lantern appears, followed by Tass and Daedrim. Tass carries a stack of four tomes, and Daedrim now has both a hole in the front of his cloak and a small trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

--
Tass

Alphonse and Bela soon come into view, and you walk up to meet them. Alphonse looks pale and slightly out-of-breath, and he's got two cuts on his arm that almost look like abnormally large fang-marks.

--
Daedrim greets you with one raised eyebrow, then two, and then a shrug. He coughs and spits out a little bit of blood, then says, "Did you find anything?"

You can't shake that uneasy feeling that something's watching you...

[LaZodiac]

"In order we found a dwarf corpse, a large amount of spiders, a large amount of spider venom, a wispy tendril creature that kills the spiders, and then a weird person called Virgil who is going down to see the faceless faces. We were going this way to find 'The Lode' as he called it." Alphonse answers. He then looks around, still feeling weird about the current situation and hoping the added light will help him see.

Spoiler: Tryin' to see things

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Spot: (1d20-1)[17]
Listen: (1d20-1)[17]

[Amidus Drexel]

One of Daedrim's eyebrows returns to its previous position. "Whoa, slow down. Spiders, huh? Pretty large ones, I take it, by the size of the holes on your arm. ...and venom. Are you poisoned?" Not waiting for Alphonse to answer, he continues, "I should be able to help with that, if we've got 15 minutes for me to prepare a spell or two. I still have some unspent magical energy that I haven't put to u-."

Suddenly he stops, and cocks his head, aiming a pointy ear at the tunnel behind you. Straining your ears, you hear the faint, distant sound of garbled and distorted whispering, like dozens of people trying to talk at once in just as many languages. The sound - or sounds, perhaps - are slowly but steadily getting louder.

Daedrim furrows his brow. "That's the same sound I heard from the third sublevel of tunnels when we were coming down the main shaft."

Spoiler: Tass

Show

You see, near the edge of the lantern's light, a water droplet fall from the tunnel ceiling. It takes several seconds for it to reach the ground, as if it's moving through tar.

[LaZodiac]

"The same sound...you mean the thing, or things, that slowed some of us down? Or sped us up, I can't quite remember." Alphonse guesses, hoping they might have time to cure himself of poison.

[Cuthalion]

I don't care about the lode, we came to find you. But if that is the sound that... Thing made? We are trapped. It was what slowed us down, we saw the same effect on the spiders. It sucked the life energy out. We have to go. Is there any way to go?

[Amidus Drexel]

Daedrim looks at Alphonse. "I strongly suspect there is just the one, but if Bela's right, there isn't time for me to explain that now." He points down the tunnel. "That way lies a junction of many tunnels with several leading back up - though I know not where to. With luck, one will take us back to the main cavern."

"Sucked out the life energy..." His eyes widen, and he says weakly to Bela, "...The description matches no undead that I know of, though... Do you know if the Thing is incorporeal? I may be able to buy us some time."

[LaZodiac]

"It was see through if that helps. I'd like to believe most see through things are incorporeal." Alphonse answers. He then starts going the way Daedrim pointed them too, cautiously.

[Cuthalion]

I.... I think it was incorporeal. He stares at Daedrim. Can we go?

[Teddy]

Tass breaks her eyes from the poorly lit corridor.

We might want to move fast, I think it's on our tail.

She points toward the corridor she was looking down.

[Amidus Drexel]

"A waste of a spell, then. I can always seal off another tunnel, should we need to do so." Daedrim nods, then turns and begins to run. "If we hurry, we might be able to lose it."

--
You move down the tunnel as fast as you safely can, away from the advancing creature and towards the heart of the mountain. Bela and Lingon soon pull ahead, as the rest of you are weighed down by your armor. You can hear the whispers getting louder, and for those of you with low-light vision, a glance backwards reveals the occasional tendril poking out of the darkness just at the edge of what you can see.

You soon reach the bottom, and find yourselves standing in a small pool of ankle-deep water. There are three paths to your left, one to your right, and another straight ahead. Daedrim points to the one directly across the cave and says, "That one just has a big stone and a deep pool - I don't think we can get out that way unless you fancy a swim."

[LaZodiac]

"I don't. I say we take the right." Alphonse says, readying his glaive just in case.

[Teddy]

Less pondering, more moving!

Tass follows Alphonse's suggestion without slowing down.

[Amidus Drexel]

The four of you scramble into the passage to your right, but Daedrim lingers by the entrance. With a few purposeful words in Druidic, he raises his hands, and begins to move the stone at the entrance like putty - it seems to move feet with even the slightest movement of his hands. He seals up the entrance in a matter of seconds, then leans up against the wall, out of breath.

"It's only an inch or two thick - a few strong blows with a sledgehammer will make short work of that wall. With luck, the beast won't notice what I've done, and take some other path. We should probably keep moving, though - the assassin and those two odd-looking men will no doubt notice should they return to that place." He begins to walk up the passage with the rest of you.

"You said something about a creature named 'Virgil', did you not? Was he with another - one that looked like him? We saw the pair of them, and they appear to be subservient to this assassin." Daedrim slows down, and appears to be trying to remember something. "Where did you say he was leading you, again? It may be a good idea to avoid such a place."

Spoiler: Spellcraft DC 18

Show

Daedrim cast stone shape.

[LaZodiac]

"He said he was taking us to...the faceless faces. I have no idea what he meant, but I take it he was leading us to more of his ilk. I agree that we should avoid them, Sir Daedrim, though in this blasted maze of tunnels I don't imagine we will. Alphonse answers, continuing the march, hoping he didn't have to fight just yet.