[WFRP] The Bloody Crown III

[LeSwordfish]

"Let's go let's go lets go!" Ludo said, shaking handfuls of coin out of his bag and onto the floor. He refused to get nothing out of this trip.

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Ludo is going to keep trying to lighten his bag enough to carry it, shaking out some gold and trying to lift it. Intelligence test: (1d100)[83] vs 48. If this takes only a half action, Ludo will move towards the door with the rest of his turn.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard grabbed his pack and made for the doorway.

"Which way? Back the way we came or down?"

[-Sentinel-]

"The way we came, I say," said Elsa, heading out of the room with barely a look over her shoulder to see if the others were following. "Not getting stuck in another dead-end."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Might run into more of them coming for us if we go that way." Sieghard replied. "Same could be said for going down, though... Just don't let your guard down til we've gotten out of here."

[LeSwordfish]

"At least we know how to get out that way." Ludo pointed out, ignoring for now the second army.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo almost whimpered in relief as Sieghard finally dispatched his rictus faced attacker. "Thank you Sieghard, thank you! Sigmar Bless you!" He called out as the mercenary moved off to collect his pack.

Sheathing his long dagger he quickly stooped to pick up the torch, almost singeing his fingers in the process. Limping past the backs of Cesar and Orfeo and following in Adelberts' footsteps he called out once more as they made their way to the exit. "Elsa's right, lets just get out of this hell hole the same way we came in!" Sparing a glance over his shoulder at the embattled soldiers, he urged them on. "Orfeo! Cesar! Kill the motherless son of a goat! Hurry!"

OOC

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Quick Draw: Pick up Torch
Half Action:Move
Half Action Move

Viggo will move into an adjacent (either beside or behind) square to wherever Adelbert ended up.

[LCP]

Orfeo obliged with a back-handed blow of his sword's pommel, shattering the skeleton's skull against the wall. As it collapsed to the floor in a heap of bones, Cesar looked round for Elsa.

"Signora!" he shouted. "We go!"

On the other side of the pit, Sieghard had run into a little trouble. Feeling the weight of his pack as he made to pick it up, he heaved it up off the floor anyway - he wasn't some puny halfling, to be crippled by a heavy bag. There was an ominous rrrrrip as he did - and the bottom of his pack gave way, spilling its contents onto the floor in a cascade of golden coins.

At the bottom of the pit, the surviving skeleton scratched and scrabbled. It seemed to have found a handhold.

[LeSwordfish]

"Leave it!" Ludo urged. "We'll come back!"

Ludo darted a little way down the corridor to the intersection, peering into each darkened passageway. "Let's go lets go!"

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Can Ludo lift his bag yet? If not, consider him to keep trying that. (1d100)[85] vs 48. Otherwise, he's going to the intersection of the corridor to see if he can see/hear anything from the darkness: (1d100)[18] vs 48. Ludo has Night Vision.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Come on my friend!" Adelbert urged Sieghard, moving to the intersection and trying to get a bearing on the right way to flee.

OOC:

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Perception Test: (1d100)[16] vs. 66 (Int 46+20 for Acute Hearing)

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard stared at the spilled coins. Somehow the sight filled him with as much dread as the dead men had.

"Go, I'll catch up. If you have another torch, light it and leave it for me." He knew it was madness the moment he said it, but he didn't care. More gold had spilled out of his bag than he had ever seen in one place anywhere else in his life. He couldn't get it all back, but surely he could grab some of it while there was still time.

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If any of you want to try to stop Sieghard from being stupid, he can be persuaded depending on how you go about it. If Adelbert or Ludo hear or see anything that suggests the skeleton's reinforcements are closer than we'd like and say as much, that'd to it. Even if not lying would probably work. Other ideas might do it too, if you have them.

[LCP]

Frantically scooping handfuls of coins into his leather cap, Sieghard hesitated as he heard a different noise from below. The skeleton's futile scrabbling had stopped. It had found purchase on the smooth walls and was halfway out of the pit. Clutching the meagre amount he had managed to save to his chest, he dashed after the others.

Adelbert was finding the weight of his own pack rather more than he'd anticipated. The gold shifted as he walked, jingling like the bells on a jester's cap. Much as he hated to admit it, it was definitely slowing him down.

Standing at the junction of the stairs and the corridor, he lingered for a moment, straining his ears for any sign of enemies. Just there, he thought he could hear - the rapid tramp of marching feet, approaching the way they had come.

The sound was rapidly replaced by Sieghard calling a warning as the skeleton behind them levered itself over the edge of the empty pool.

OOC:

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TheSummoner, feel free to roll yourself for recovered coins.

Adelbert is encumbered, -1 movement with his current pack weight.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo had come sliding to halt besides Adelbert and Ludo at the intersection, but he was not very happy at the delay. "Sod that lads! Keep moving!" He set off at a lurching run down the corridor, his torch held high. He looked over his shoulder as he ran, hoping the others would keep up.

His leg was still threatening to give way beneath him, but Viggo's fear lent him the strength to carry on in his flight from this dreadful place. For now."Sieghard don't worry about the bloody coins! Get us out of here alive and there's enough gold in my pack to keep us both like kings!"

OOC

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Full Action: Run! He'll flee down the corridor in the direction of the stairs they came up. If Viggo see any skeletons approaching from that direction he'll skid to a halt and immediately turn and start running back towards the others!

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Come on, down the stairs!" Adelbert hissed, moving down the near set of stairs. He was bitterly aware his gold was slowing him down but given how badly wounded he was he was unwilling to give it up until he absolutely had to - he'd earned that gold the hard way.

[LCP]

Yards ahead of Adelbert, Viggo hardly heard the scribe's call to go the other way. What stopped him faster was the hint of movement in the corridor up ahead - and then as he slowed, the pinpricks of greenish light that began to appear through the shadows. The gold in his pack rattled and clinked as he turned and fled back towards the others, leaving the stumbling skeleton that had clawed its way out of the pit in his dust.

The stairs were steep, and their rapid footfalls filled the echoing stairwell with their sound as the seven of them fled down into the depths. Somewhere behind them, a horn wailed again - but it seemed their skeletal pursuers were no more capable of sudden turns of speed than the lumbering beast that had pursued them in. Soon they were alone in the dark, the blue flame of Elsa's spear and the fitful crackle of Viggo's torch casting different shades of shadow over the stone steps.

They reached the bottom, and found themselves faced with a blank stone wall. A bronze dish with a cracked residue of what might once have been lamp oil at the bottom stood next to it, while an open arch to the left led into a little cubby-hole or vestry. Part of the ceiling inside it had collapsed, littering the floor with rocky rubble. What sparse furnishings it might have had had clearly been destroyed in the collapse, leaving only a few pieces of rotting wood scattered over the floor.

On examination, the wall was not so blank. Under the light of Elsa's spell, a thin seam in the masonry showed the outline of a door - carefully crafted to sit flush with the wall, and at the very least faced with stone.

As Viggo brought up the rear and the clinking of coins that accompanied their movements stopped, Ludo strained his ears to listen. Sure enough,there were steady footsteps on the stairs behind them...

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Ludo you're the archaeologist... what do you make of this as an exit?" Adelbert asks, the scribes voice strained with barely supressed fear.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Of course." He set his coins on the ground. Even trapped as they were, he took care not to let any more of them spill.

He turned to Cesar. "Help me hold them off. We'll take as many with us as we can before we die."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo froze, his heart pounding, before he started to move again. "I need light." He reached out sharply and took Viggo's torch, and began to use it to inspect the wall, the bowl, the ruined furniture- anything that could possibly help them.

"It's big. I bet it's heavy. Is there a handle? I doubt you can just push it. Can you?"

Behind him, Stoutheart growled up into the darkness.

OOC

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Okay, a horrifying dead end puzzle!

Firstly, unless Viggo stops him, Ludo will take his torch and use it to look more closely.

Search test! Anything that's not been mentioned so far. (1d100)[64] vs 48.

Additionally, Perception/Intelligence test: Can Ludo tell what the furniture in the annexe was? (1d100)[74] vs 48.

Next, Ludo will follow the crack around the door around the edge, to see if there's anything that looks like a hinge, lock, handle, or even a damaged area that he could fit his crowbar in.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

At Ludo's mention of a handle Adelbert glanced over the door more closely. He had no illusions he'd find anything but if there was any chance at all...

OOC:

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(Untrained) Search Test

(1d100)[88] versus 23

[LCP]

Neither Ludo nor Adelbert could see any sign of a handle. With only the moisture and stale air in this place to act on it, the seam had not suffered much erosion either - its edges were still reasonably intact. There were a few places where perhaps the point of a crowbar would fit.

The footsteps on the stairs were coming closer. They stamped in time like a regiment on parade.

OOC:

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The remains in the annexe room look like they might once have been some kind of wardrobe or dresser. They're just bits now.

From the corrosion and dust, the bowl looks as old as everything else in this place - which is really, really old.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo drew his crowbar out, and rammed it into the gap. "Does this move at all?"

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(1d100)[45] vs 21 Strength. Even if Ludo fails, he's going to see if the leverage makes the door move even the slightest bit.

[LCP]

To Ludo's amazement, the door offered almost no resistance. Its hidden bearings were a little stiff, but for a solid slab of stone it swung back with remarkable ease - to reveal another wall.

At least, that was how it looked at first glance. In fact, Ludo realised, he was looking at the back of a free-standing obelisk. Stepping over the threshold and raising Viggo's torch over his head, he found himself looking at the high walls and deep shadows of another pillared hall.

Crafted to blend into the wall and placed behind the obelisk, their door had clearly been designed for subtle entrances. The hall, by contrast, was a work of deliberately imposing architecture. Though not quite as high or long as the atrium the troll had chased them through, Ludo immediately got the sense that this place had served a far more important function.

Ranged along either side of the hall, stone stelae like the one behind which they were standing towered as tall as giants. On the face of each monument, enormous humanoid figures had been carved in sunken relief. Always depicted in profile, it was difficult to make out details past the pool of light cast by the torch - but there was something about their strangely varying shapes that suggested something monstrous through the shadows.

In the centre of the room, two empty pools like the ones in the treasure chamber - but much larger and deeper - stood to either side of a broad flight of stone steps. The steps led up to a dais, the collapsed remains of rotted banner-poles still adorning its corners. At the back of the dais, a walled sanctuary stood - a room within a room. Its square entrance was empty and dark. It backed onto rear wall - perhaps a dead end, perhaps a passage deeper into the rock.

At the opposite end of the hall, on their right, a square archway opened into darkness. If Ludo's sense of direction still held true, that was the way back to the hall of pillars - and whatever might still be waiting there...

Elsa Only

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As soon as she stepped into the new hall, Elsa felt a chill inside her chest. Everywhere she turned, she could see the black oil she had seen in the courtyard - oozing from the cracks in the masonry, running like tears from the eyes of the shadowed idols. Darkness had saturated this place, and never relinquished its grip.

Doing her best not to reel from the strength of the impression, she caught a glimmer of reflected torchlight from the sanctum on the raised dais - and knew immediately that it was the centrepoint from which the darkness came. It pulled at her like a lodestone, the rustling whispers of the marsh rising again in her ears until she could hardly hear the others speak...

OOC:

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Most of the hall is in darkness - what is described are the gross features you can make out at the limits of the torch's light. If you want to look for other details, feel free to roll Perception. Then again, you may just want to leg it as fast as you can!

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo nearly fell over as the door opened. He was no engineer, but bearings that were smooth after this long must be very impressive indeed.

As was this room. Passing Viggo's torch back and slipping his crowbar in with the bag of gold, Ludo fought down a strong compulsion to ascend the stairs and look into the anteroom.

"Let's get out of here. We can look at the architecture later. We will look at the architecture later." He was determined to come back, with an army if necessary. He couldn't resist inspecting the wall drawings as the torchlight passed them, though.

OOC

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Perception test for Ludo: (1d100)[53] vs 48. Ludo has Night Vision, but he's no longer carrying a source of light.

In addition, what can Ludo hear from the doorway towards the exit?

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Let's jam the door behind us." Adelbert said, hurrying after Ludo. "Might buy us a few moments at least. Can we do anything?"

He turned and looked at the door he'd just come through, trying to tell if he could jam it with anything.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard watched in amazement as Ludo pried opened what had appeared to be a solid stone wall. Deciding better than to question it, he picked up his cap full of coins and hurried through.

"Maybe there's something we can block the passage with."

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(1d100)[69] vs 36 Perception. Sieghard also has Night Vision.

Edit: Rolling as well as ever I see, Sieghard. Well, maybe if we just shut the thing, they won't know about the passage. Or maybe someone else will succeed where Sieghard failed.

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa's face was very pale in the flickering flame on her spear.

"This room," she said, out of breath from the running, no longer trying to conceal her fear. "It's the source of this place's darkness. It comes from over there." She pointed at the sanctuary.

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Elsa has no problem taking the time to roll Perception, as she's now hesitating. She won't be the first into the sanctuary.

Int 45: (d100)[48] - narrowly failed.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"What do you mean?" Sieghard asked, unnerved by the tone of Elsa's voice. He had thought a woman like her would be too stubborn to know fear.

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa gesticulated impatiently. "I mean that whatever magic makes the dead walk, it comes from over there. No idea what we'll find there; not sure I want to know." She bit her lip. "We're running out of options, though."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Is it something that can be killed... Or destroyed? Would our chances be better against the dead men?"

He had no understanding of this sort of thing and that more than anything else made him uncomfortable. All he could do was trust the judgement of someone who did.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo paused. "We might have to fight our way out of the main entrance- it's worth a look."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert looked exhausted and frightened and only barely keeping himself on his feet. "Let's... let's see if we can destroy whatever is causing this. It might be our only chance."

He moved hesitatingly towards the sanctuary.