Anger of the Morally Upstanding People [IC]

[BelGareth]

Surprised by the sudden end of combat.

She stands, suddenly aware of her crouched stance, heart thumping in her chest. Standing, she looked around almost in dissapointment.

"well, that was quick." she said wryly.

She turns to the door and yells out loudly "all good in here, you can come in!"

[Steckie]

Hadwisa

"You're complaining you've killed the thing too fast? You soldier types are weird.
I'm more interested in what this place is. It's probably old, at least that dwarf looked pretty old and who knows how long he's been here."
Hadwisa looks around and tries to see what this place is all about. And she'll take a look around to find anything interesting.

Spoiler

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Knowledge history: (1d20+9)[11]
Perception: (1d20+1)[15]

[PersonMan]

Spoiler: Hadwisa

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Your search reveals little among the shattered bits of stone strewn over the floor...at first.

In the corner of the room, beneath a few broken pieces of stone, lies a dust-covered but clearly well-made warhammer, itself decorated with small images of the same hammer that is present on the wall of the structure.

A muffled exchange comes from outside and, a moment later, Anevia enters with Aravashnial, Horgus close behind them.

"What happened?" The blind elf asks, as Anevia leads him through the entryway into the main room, almost stumbling over some of the stone littering the floor.

[Steckie]

Hadwisa

"Some dwarf that seemed dead came to life and attacked us. Church and Brigadyr put him back to rest. My guess is that he was some sort of undead. A disgusting, unnatural undead.
Oh, and i've found some sort of hammer here. It's got the same drawings as this building. Does any of you recognize the image?"
Hadwisa tries to see if the hammer's magical.

Spoiler

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Detect magic

[PersonMan]

Spoiler: Hadwisa

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The hammer is not magical.

"An undead?" Aravashnial says, with some small measure of shock. "These caverns are more dangerous than I realized. Be sure to sever its head, and bring the remains out of this place. Whatever caused it to animate may be tied to this structure somehow," he continues quickly, straightening somewhat, his tone growing a touch firmer. As he speaks, he gestures, presumably meaning to indicate the fallen beast, but instead pointing at a scuffed portion of the stone floor.

"The symbol of this place...I think it's Torag's," Anevia says slowly, her gaze moving off to the debris-covered floor rather than looking at anyone present, shoulders tensing slightly as her brows furrow.

Horgus doesn't seem to notice, looking around the room in visible distaste as he enters. "What a mess," he says, then stops to stare as his eyes go to the dwarf. He takes a step back. "It came to life?! You're sure it's dead now though, right? I think the elf has a point, cut its head off to be sure!"

[Hazuki]

Brigadyr scratches her head. "Well, the heart wants what the heart wants..." Then cuts off the dwarf's.

[BelGareth]

Church was about to cut the things head off, but, she just watch grimly as Brigadyr did so, and probably much more efficiently.

She nodded at the apparent wisdom, it seemed fair enough.

[PersonMan]

Aravashnial nods at the sound of the beheaded un-undead dwarf's body slumping back to the floor, then shifts his head from side to side, as if casting a look about the room. "Anything else here?" He asks. "Any ways beyond here, in the other area? We should keep moving," the elf continues, and Horgus nods, himself nudging a broken piece of stone away from him with one foot.

"He's right. My time is valuable, and wasting it in whatever place this is, is...not good," the nobleman says, turning back towards the way out, taking a step before stopping. "Er. Of course, someone more, ah, well-equipped, should go in front."

[Steckie]

Hadwisa

"While i completely agree that we should probably hurry back to the surface, we may want to do something about the dwarf.
We probably shouldn't leave a dead and decapitated dwarf to rot in a temple of Torag. We're trying to get back up and do something in the fight going on there and insulting a god by leaving his temple a mess might be a bad idea.
We should at least drag the body out. Maybe burry it if we have the tools for it?"

[BelGareth]

Church nods in assent. "This is a good idea, " she thinks for a moment about Torags ceremonies, seeing if she recalls anything.

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K religion - (1d20+5)[20]

[PersonMan]

Spoiler: Church

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Torag has several burial rites; which is used is determined by the life of the one being buried, preferring to keep the body in some form of well-made coffin or tomb, whenever possible. However, it is acceptable to burn a corpse that cannot be properly put to rest, and the bones then interred when circumstances allow. These prescriptions are for the faithful; enemies deserve no such honor, their remains being disposed of in whatever manner is most practical. Often, this means unmarked graves.

"It's best to respect holy places, even if they're in a place like this," Anevia says, helping Aravashnial towards the door to be out of the way, as Horgus softly says something like "As long as it doesn't take too long..." and follows.

[Steckie]

Hadwisa

"Alright, let's first get him outside." Hadwisa says. She walks over to the body, looks at him for a moment and then changes her mind. She picks up the head and starts to walk out of the building.
"I'll take this part."

[BelGareth]

Church nods absentmindedly.

"I'm not sure how to do this, I can recall how Torag followers do burial's, however, it depends on if the person was honorable or not...I would not like to offend a deity."

[Hazuki]

Brigadyr, as some of the group carries the corpse outside, remains in the room with their charges, just in case some other surprise emerges.

[PersonMan]

It takes some time, but eventually a compromise between practical and religious concerns is met; the dwarf's remains are placed in a cairn made of the broken stone that was scattered inside the structure, piled in a way to properly cover the corpse as best as possible with the limited materials. Anevia seems slightly distracted for some of the process, but eventually returns to more alert state, keeping watch on the entrance to the cave until the matter is complete, leaving only the question of what to do with the hammer Hadwisa found.

Once this matter is settled, the group reassembles its earlier formation, leaving the oddly-lit cave and heading forwards through the path not taken earlier, a natural-looking way through the stone that leaves room for nothing but single-file movement, lit by the magic at the group's disposal and nothing else. It's quite some time - nearly another hour - before the route changes meaningfully, opening up into a cavern of comfortable size - about forty feet wide, extending another 35 before it narrows to a single, small way further ahead. At the edge of the light, odd shapes stand out on the walls, appearing to be carvings when fully illuminated. They cover the walls; depictions of what seem to be armored humanoids, relatively crude holy symbols adorning them, each bearing an expression somewhere between sorrowful and resigned.

[BelGareth]

Church sees the odd carved figures and notes them to the group, but otherwise ignores them, they were carvings, did they need to check each and every small detail?

She thought not, and moved on.

[PersonMan]

Passing through the narrow way forwards, Church finds herself entering another, larger chamber. Up ahead, another natural tunnel seems to go forwards; but this cavern isn't as empty as the last. A bedroll, with a relatively neat but visibly well-used look, lies next to the remains of what once was some sort of campfire. Not far off, near the wall to the left of the way in, a dwarven body lies motionless on the ground, face down, a number of head-sized stones lying on the ground around it.

[Hazuki]

Brigadyr does as Brigadyr does, which is search for evil in these deeply foreboding halls.

[BelGareth]

Church frowns.

Another dwarf? she muses to herself.

She turns to the rest of the party and describes the scene. "WE HAVE ANOTHER DWARF!" surprising herself with her volume.

It definitely was strange.

She searches for tracks around the dwarf and its strange stones, sniffing the air for anything stranger still.

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Survival - (1d20+7)[23] + Scent.

[Steckie]

Hadwisa

"Another dead dwarf.....
I'll do the same thing we did before." Hadwisa says and she picks up a stone to throw at the dwarf. She keeps throwing from a distance until she hits the body.

[PersonMan]

Spoiler: Church

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The cavern has a noticeable smell to it; the dwarf clearly stayed in here for quite a while.

There's nothing else of note - apart from, perhaps, the lack of any scent of decay that would indicate the dwarf to be dead for an extended period.

Spoiler: Brigadyr

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No evil here.

Hadwisa's rocks hit their mark, but the dwarf remains unmoving.

[BelGareth]

Church frowns....she seemed to be doing that a lot recently.

"This dwarf...I think this dwarf is freshly dead....or even perhaps not?" she asks the last part as a question, the cavern stunk of the dwarf, must have been here for a while "I can't smell any decay here."

Looking at the dwarf, to decide if it was faking it, she decides and then if happy she will move forward and then attempt to heal the dwarf.

Spoiler

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Cast guidance before both checks
Sense Motive - (1d20+9)[10] to see if he is faking

Then if she thinks he isn't she goes to try to help him with her healing kit.
Heal - (1d20+10)[28]

[Steckie]

Hadwisa

"Hmmph, looks pretty dead to me.
If he's dead we should at the very least take his bedroll with us. Don't know how long we'll be down here, we might need the thing."
Hadwisa nudges the dwarf with her foot, just to be sure.

[PersonMan]

For a moment, Church is convinced that she sees the dwarf move - a slight shift, an intake of breath...proof that he's alive. But, as she comes closer, the illusion fades - he lacks a pulse, and after a moment's thought the half-orc woman comes to the conclusion that he probably isn't actually living after all. This inspection also reveals that the dwarf was fairly well-equipped, with a crossbow, various pouches and similar strapped to his person.

[BelGareth]

Church regards the dwarf and then turns to the others.

"Well, he's definitely dead. Though what killed him, I am unsure."

She then takes the crossbow, and bolts from the dwarf, riffling through anything else he might have.

[Steckie]

Hadwisa

"Take everything he has. It's probably disrespectfull, but in the face of a demonic invasion going on i think we'll be forgiven.
And what's with those dwarves down here? I haven't even heard rumours about tunnels down here, if there's people here there should at least be rumours going around. People talk."

[BelGareth]

She nods as she casts detect magic on the items and the stones around the dwarf.

[PersonMan]

Church's search finds that the dwarf's cloak, while fairly dirty and with clear signs of a lack of proper mending, holds a faint magical aura. Further 'digging' reveals two sturdy metal vials, stoppered and with their own faint magical auras, as well as half a dozen opened, empty ones without signs of magic. Other pouches contain scrolls, in somewhat tattered condition and covered with illegible scribblings that, in two cases, have magical auras. His other possessions of note are a single dagger and a small pouch of jangling coins; eight platinum pieces, slightly bent (likely by past recipients testing their legitimacy) and seven gold.

The dwarf's ranged weapon has the build and weight of a light crossbow, with ten bolts in his possession (not counting two which are broken, in another pouch).

[Hazuki]

Brigadyr idly taps her foot against the ground, and keeps an eye on the inactive members of the group.

[Steckie]

Hadwisa

Hadwisa eagerly awaits the results of the search Church is doing. Hopefully there's something to help them get out of these caves.
She quietly walks over to Horgus.
"So uum. I'd just like to say that.... Well the thing is...... I was probably a bit unfriendly to you back in the first cave. Maybe it's the shock about what happened. Or i'm just not that good with people.....I'm probably not very good at first impressions.
What i'm trying to say with this rambling is that i'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you Horgus Worm."