Travels amongst the Border Princes (WFRP 2e) IC

[Haval]

Spoiler: Outside

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Gabriele will jump a little and reach for her bow from reflex. At least they weren't mutants. 'I didn't expect to see anyone else out this way.' She's annoyed at herself for not noticing their approach. 'Water we can probably handle as long as you'll tell me what you're doing out here. We're waiting for some friends of ours.' The new arrivals didn't look that threatening, but perhaps it was better to indicate that they weren't alone.

[rs2excelsior]

Spoiler: Temple

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Torendil leafs through the ledgers, records, and orders, and quickly discards each, deeming them not worth his time, though he does give a brief snort of irony that this temple treated the priests of Sigmar in the same way that so many Imperial priests treat others. (Someone else can press him for what was in them and he will reluctantly summarize, or perhaps one of the nobles picks up the books as he discards them and reads them as well). He does examine the map, noting the treasure room--perhaps whatever magical artefacts or tomes this place surely contains are there? Yes, that makes more sense--why leave them out here where any simpleton could accidentally destroy them?

He is pleased to see that the door remains shut, undeterred by the possibility that it might turn them away as well--anything inside will be undisturbed. He doesn't share Alyssa's frustration, swiftly coming to the conclusion which is obvious to him--"Magic. It is obvious, is it not? This temple was made by magic. Surely magic is also the key to their most treasured possessions. I just have to find the proper incantation to open it."

Despite his outward (and inward) confidence, his limited set of spells doesn't include any door-opening spells, specifically. Instead of blindly casting something at the door, he opens his senses to the aethyric energy present in the door.

Spoiler: OOC

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Magical Sense test (vs WP+10):
(1d100)[46] vs 51

I'll use a fortune point if that fails: (1d100)[45]

EDIT: FP not necessary after all

[dojango]

Spoiler: Outside

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Sir Leclair and Albrecht are also surprised at the new arrivals. They don't reach for weapons, partially because Sir Leclair's arm is bound up and Albrecht is unarmed, and they hesitantly raise hands in greetings as well. Victor & Conrad, upon getting closer, you notice that most of the men (and the woman) outside are wounded.

Spoiler: inside

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Everyone starts wandering around the throne room. One of the soldiers has taken the metal pole and is whacking at the walls, listening for hollow sounds. Alyssa examines the door, to see just how it opens, while Severin examines the throne itself. Sir Laurens stays beside Severin, "Well, the evil sorcerers were, uh, evil. They say they sacrificed thousands to pursue their nefarious schemes. They ruled these lands for a hundred years before Heraklon cast them down. I always dreamed of being a great hero like him... never thought that would mean turning cloak..." he trails off, trying to reconcile these revelations while Severin is poking around the throne. Eventually, Severin finds a small hole beneath the throne and peers into it. There is a mess of gear-work and mechanisms of some sort. Torendril brings his light over, and Alyssa tries to make sense of the gear work. It's not a trap, but a mechanical contraption of some sort. It's fouled with rust and grime. It takes some time, but with a bit of elbow grease, and actual grease, Alyssa manages to clean the mechanisms up so that they should work. Of course, all that is required is some sort of lever to provide the necessary force... everyone turns to the soldier poking at the walls with the metal bar. It fits easily over the attachment mechanism. If you want to try it out...

[Mada]

Victor gives a little bow, before patting Conrad on the shoulder. "Well, at the moment we're looking for water, maybe some food as well. But in the long term I'm looking for some ounce of civilisation, though I must admit I do not know much about where I am going." He dons and earnest smile as he approaches the group. Upon noticing their injuries he points to the most obvious one and keeps talking. "By what manner of trouble did you run into to sustain such damage?"

[Ionbound]

Spoiler: Temple

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Alyssa raises her eyebrows when she sees the mechanism, commenting, "Well...That's...Concerning, at best. This is really, really high quality stuff for a ruin like this," as she cleans. Eventually she gestures for the other soldier to come over, and places the metal rod into the slot before giving it a pull.

[Haval]

Spoiler: Outside

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Gabriele will toss Victor a water bottle. 'We were attacked by mutants coming through the pass. The locals wanted to go deal with them, and in the course of all that we found this place. Whatever it is.' She gestures over her shoulder at the temple. 'We went in to have a look around and ran into ambush. Apparently I have no business getting into a fair fight.' She'll use her bow to lean on. 'The others are still down there.'

[DrK]

Conrad

THe heavy set bald sigmarite scowls. "Mutants you say. Accursed scum worthy of nothing but the cleansing flame." Approaching he gladly accepts some water and takes a long swig. "My thanks.Its a long and dusty road here in the Border Princes." Approaching the wounded he nods at the injuries. "I am skilled somewhat with healing. WOuld you like me to take a look at them?" Glancing over their shoulders he nods to the Temple. "What would the Temple contain? What God is dedicated to?"

[Haval]

Spoiler: Outside

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Gabriele scowls, 'Maybe none of the good ones. Although other then Sigmar and Ulric I don't think I'm qualified to know for sure. Seems to be a ruin now though.' She'll sit back down. 'As for healing we have Doctor Stangl here to help us with that, but I suppose you're welcome to take a look.'

[Mada]

Victor looks both worried and puzzled.
"Ah. That sounds... horrid. I can't say I've had the displeasure of meeting a mutant but I hear they're quite ferocious."
Victor also accepts the drink and takes moderated sips. The temple intrigued him but he wasn't sure about the risks of going inside. "How many of these others are there?"

[dojango]

Spoiler: Inside the Master's Chambers...

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The lever takes all of Alyssa's strength to move, but it slowly ratchets forward. Each time it does, there is a loud clank and the door opens a little bit. After several clanks, there door opens enough for a blast of stale, musty air to pour out of the chamber. Everyone peers intently inside. The first thing everyone notices are several skeletons huddled up in the entryway. Their clothes are tattered and worn, but one of the skeletons glints with gold and silver jewelry...

[Ionbound]

Spoiler: Inside

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Alyssa grins when she sees the glitter of gold and silver, exclaiming, "Score! We've got treasure!" as she ventures into the room to claim the jewelry from the dead.

[rax]

Spoiler: Inside

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"When she gets herself killed, I'm claiming the crown," Severin mutters in exasperation. "Alyssa! Sigmar's flaming flatulence, woman! All those people are dead, just inside the door, don't go rushing in until we can determine if whatever killed them is still about!"

Moving quickly to the door, Severin stops outside and takes a look inside. Whether they were locked in or barricaded themselves in the master's chambers, the fact that the bodies are all piled up inside the door seems highly suspicious to him. It almost seems like they died trying to get out, and if that's the case, it must surely have been a quick process. People dying of starvation would have no reason to gather at a door they knew they couldn't open...

Perception test (1d100)[12] to determine if the skeletons show any obvious injuries.

[Ionbound]

Spoiler: Inside

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Alyssa pauses as she's about to step in side, frowning and replying, "Fair. I figured it was just...I dunno. Starvation, or poison gasses or something that's not a threat anymore."

[Haval]

Spoiler: Outside

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"How many of these others are there?"

'Of those who came over the pass with me there's a halfling and some girl who talks like she's gentry. Oh, and there's Torendil who's an actual Elf wizard. He's a little less impressive then you might expect but still...' It wasn't like you saw a wizard everyday. 'More importantly, we met the son of the local Duke when we made it to a town and he asked us to help with tracking down the mutant's camp. He brought his people with him and they've been doing most of the actual fighting.' To Victor, 'It's dark and eerie in there but I'm not sure there's much to worry about now. Mutants aside. I suppose there's every chance that Sir Laurens and his people have cleared them all out.'

[dojango]

Spoiler: Inside

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Severin examines the bones. There are no signs of injury and the skeletons are intact. Well, save for the one where Alyssa is prying the bones apart to remove the rings. She finds three gold rings, one of which has a black stone set in the center. She also finds a silver necklace with red stones, matching the ones on her crown, and an gold armband shaped like a snake biting its own tail. It has green gems set for the eyes. Sir Laurens steps up behind her as she is pulling it off one of the skeleton's arms. "My father's rules for salvage acquired on campaign are fairly straightforward. One fifth goes to him, naturally, while the remainder is divided up by the commander of the expedition amongst his men. It is, uh, my discretion to determine the shares. I was thinking we would split everything equally between you adventurers and my soldiers, but, uh. I see you've taken a liking to that crown. It suits you, so you can have that as a gift in recognition of your valor. But the remainder, we'll pool it and split it once we get back to Castle Bremcote."

Further inside the room, you see extremely expensive-looking furniture. A large dining room table, chairs, benches. There are fine furnishings, silver candelabras, statuary, objects d'art. To the south is an open door leading to a bedchamber. The silken sheets and clothes strewn about the room are moth-eaten and rotten with age, although several wooden chests contain fine clothes that look almost new. The door to the room in the north is closed.

Spoiler: Outside

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Once Victor and Conrad have drunk their fill, Albrecht says, "There's a well just inside, it's got good, clean water. If you want to refill your canteens, there's the place to do it. Sir Laurens is inside, if you want to inspect the ruins, be my guest. Just try not to look like a mutant. We've already killed a few dozen of those today."

[Mada]

Victor has an obvious look of distaste at the mention of more mutants. "Well, a full canteen certainly sounds good. Do you need me to refill yours, now that we've drunk of your water?" He'll then turn to Conrad. "What do you think? Do you have interest in this temple?"

[DrK]

Conrad

the sigmarite initiate looks at his Breton companion and nods, "Aye, water will be important." He looks at the men lounging around the tenple exterior and nnoe seem inclined to stop him so he wanders into the entranceway of the Temple, stopping to stare at the ruins and the dim caves within. "Hail the temple. Folk coming in..." he bellows loudly, glancing to Victor with a whispered aside - "Seemed best to let these folk know we are coming in. "

Then with his presence announced he enters the tomb, heading to the well, one hand on a water skin, the other on the hilt of his heavy hammer

[rax]

Spoiler: Inside

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"Nothing. No signs of violence at all," Severin notes with some concern. "But that makes no sense. Why are they all piled up inside the door? Were they trying to break out after Heraklon locked them in here? No, there must be a way to open this door from the inside. The only way he could've shut them in would've been to sabotage the opening mechanism, but it wasn't broken - just grimy. So, logic suggests they shut themselves in here. But if so, why are they dead? Why didn't they leave when Heraklon left? I don't like this one bit, Sir Laurens," he says to the young knight.

Moving cautiously, Severin heads further inside. After a quick glance at the furniture in the room, he makes for the bedchamber.

OOC: Is there anything noteworthy about the statuary and objects d'art? What do they depict?

Inside the bedchamber, unless there's an obvious threat, Severin will rummage through the chests to have a look at the clothes. Is it men's or women's clothing? Do they appear to be for one person or are they sized/cut so that they could conceivably have been made for different individuals?

[rs2excelsior]

Torendil scowls when it turns out that the opening mechanism is so... mundane, but he doesn't immediately acknowledge that he was wrong. Instead, he lets Severin examine the skeletons (and Alyssa loot them a bit) before stepping over the bodies with a look of distaste and moving further into the room. Once again, he searches for books, scrolls, or other things of mystical significance. Let the soldiers loot and the halfling worry about people dead centuries ago, neither was of much concern to him.

Spoiler: OOC

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I'll roll magical sense again, if that might help finding enchanted items or the like.

[Ionbound]

Spoiler: Inside

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Alyssa looks somewhat disappointed as Sir Laurens describes the loot sharing but she shrugs and says, "Fine. I'll put it all in my bag and we can figure out the exact valuation of stuff when we get back to the castle." After stowing the jewelry, she follows Severin deeper into the bedchamber, leaving no chest or drawer or cupboard unopened in her pursuit of valuables. Eventually she comments, "Hmm...Old sheets but new clothes? I wonder...Who's are these? I...Have a bad feeling..." before coming back to the closed door. She glances at Severin and asks, "Well...We're not gonna leave that door closed, right?"

[Mada]

"I agree, lets go." Victor keeps a steady hand on his blade, he's not used to fighting but he's had some practice.
He'll follow behind Conrad, keeping an eye on what's to the sides and checking behind them, while letting the sturdier looking man walk up front.

[dojango]

Torendril opens his third eye again. The residue of dark magic suffuses the temple, as it always has, but there is a strong and unpleasant sense that the residue is thicker behind the locked door. In fact, as Torendril focuses on the door, he notices strange patterns of dark magic that bind the door... as if some sinister spell was cast on the door. As he glances away, he also notices a similar pattern tracing the edges of the crown Alyssa is wearing so jauntily...

Meanwhile, Alyssa and Severin examine the clothes and the knickknacks around the bedroom. The clothes stored in the wooden chests were well-preserved, anything left in the open has decayed. The clothes are both women's and men's. They are luxurious and well-made, with bright dyes and patterns, and expertly tailored. They are cut for a human's size. There is a portrait of a man and a woman. The man is sitting in the throne, the woman in a small chair beside him, holding his hand as he stares sternly out of the portrait. It is labelled "Magos Valens and Lady Valens" The man is wearing a crown similar to the one Alyssa has, and upon close inspection, you can see that the woman has a necklace similar to the one you found on the body. There are a few pleasant pastoral scenes, a picture of a battle of some sort, and a picture of a strange-looking building titled "Temple of the True Gods". The objects d'art all seem to be mundane, if potentially valuable. Some stone statues of men, women, and animals. A jade medallion of some sort. A silver bowl. After a few minutes of looking around, you hear some noises from where you came. Soldiers grasp weapons, Sir Laurens goes to the doorway, sword drawn. A voice calls out again. "Hail!" Sir Laurens shouts out, "Who goes there?"

Conrad and Victor had shouted out before they entered the temple, without response. They easily found the well in the front room, the water as promised, was cool and clear, but the food in bags stored in the corners seemed... unsavory. They headed further in the temple, shouting out as they went. There were more bodies in the temple; in the central altar, they found a handful of twisted and misshapen mutants, hacked down. There were noises from the west, and so they headed back that way, seeing more bodies. Conrad shouted out again, and they heard an answering response. "Who goes there?"

[rax]

Spoiler: Inside

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"Looks like we're going to end up with quite the haul. All of the stuff in here should sell for a pretty penny, assuming we can get it to the right hands," Severin murmurs to Alyssa. "A word of warnin', though. Don't go pocketing any of the pretty knick-knacks you found on the skeletons. I think Sir Laurens likes you well enough, but he's also young enough to take a mighty offence at you betrayin' his trust and defraudin' his old man."

"Now, according to the map, the room with closed door should be the Magos' study. I agree that it merits further investigation. How about we try an' be first inside?" he says with a wink.

OOC: Are we at the point where we should just drop the spoilers?

[rs2excelsior]

Torendil regards the door carefully--and takes quiet note of the crown, as well. Odd--he supposed she had been acting a bit odd since finding it. He really hadn't paid attention before.

"The Magos's study, yes. There is a spell on the door. I do not recommend touching it until I can discover how to disable or bypass it." He turns about in a brief moment of alarm at Sir Lauren's shout, but focuses back on the door--if there are more enemies the soldiers can hold them off for a bit. Carefully, he steps a bit closer to the door, trying to piece together what the spell does and how it is triggered.

Spoiler: OOC

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I really don't know what to roll for this... so if the DM wants to roll for me that's fine. Or I can just poke it with a stick :P

[dojango]

Torendril realizes that it's a ward on the door. Either a lock, or an alarm, or a trap... there must be a key to get through (not necessarily a key itself) or perhaps he can figure out a way to dispel the ward. Alternatively, he could just have someone else trigger the door and see what happens... it would be educational to see what such a long-standing spell might do.

[Mada]

Victor calls out. "Just two travelers! Your friends at the door let us in!"

[dojango]

"Well, you don't sound like mutants. What brought you to this desolate place?"

[DrK]

Conrad

The priest breathes a sigh of relief as a reply rings out and he nods to Victor beside him. "Best say hello eh." Looking into the dark temple he looks for the source of both the light and the voices and walks carefully towards them. At seeing the cluster of men and what appears to be an elf he raises a hand in greeting. "I am named Conrad. I'm a devotee of the Hammer. THe borders have long since drifted from sight of the Heldenhammer so I've come to see why that is so."

Looking around the temple and the room with all the artefacts, "You are not of the borders. What has brought you here and who might we be speaking to?"

[Ionbound]

Alyssa stops approaching the door when Torendil mentions a spell, instead during her attention to the noise from the hallway. She steps out, blade drawn, only to sigh with relief and stow it when she realizes that the newcomers are just travelers, not more mutants. She smiles and greets them, "Alyssa. Nice to meet you both. We're currently investigating this temple, as you might have noticed." She neglects to mention the treasure, figuring what they don't know won't hurt them.

[rs2excelsior]

Torendil lets the others make introductions, keeping his focus on the door, but he does grimace when the man announces he's a priest of Sigmar. A zealot. Exactly what we need.

Instead, he begins looking around for something that might dispel the ward, keeping up his magical sense and looking for an aura that matches. "There is likely a way to deactivate it, perhaps an item. Look for an object, something small and portable, in all likelyhood. Maybe something that fits into the door somehow." He heads over to the pile of bodies and begins looking through the bones--perhaps one of them had something.

Spoiler: OOC

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I don't suppose there's a recess or anything in the door which would fit an object? Something that might give a hint as to size or shape?

Magical Sense (vs 51): (1d100)[61]
Search (vs 48): (1d100)[59] (maybe vs 58, if my Excellent Vision talent applies here as well)

EDIT: well, doesn't matter if the +10 applies or not :P