[IC] Exploration of Yrannia [Pathfinder 1E] [E6]

[Felhammer]

Evelyen and Aella tug and tug but the leg will not come free... Evelyen can feel the bony hand's grip tightening, painfully squeezing her ankle...

[rs2excelsior]

Vaughn

Vaughn shakes his head. "You say that like I have done this before..." Still, he sets off with the others towards the tower.

He almost doesn't notice when Evelyn stumbles--the others seem to be looking to him for leadership at the moment, and he is fixated on movement from the tower. When Aella hisses at him, he spins around, quietly cursing and moving to help get her free.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Strength check ahoy!
(1d20+3)[21]

If we can't pull her free, I'm going to go and try and punch the arm (if that's okay to go ahead and declare/roll for--figure it might help keep things moving along)
Attack: (1d20+4)[5]
Damage: (1d6+3)[7]

EDIT: oof. Hope that strength check is successful.

[Felhammer]

Vaughn grabs the woman's leg and yanks it up with a mighty tug! As Evelyn pulls up her leg, the party finds a long, gangrenous, skeletal hand and arm still firmly attached to the woman's leg. The party can hear muffled groans coming from the ground but, after a few tense heartbeats, nothing seems to be crawling out of the earth...

[rs2excelsior]

Vaughn kicks the leg and shudders, staring down at the ground to see if anything else will come out. Shaking himself, he looks around for any sign they might have been spotted. "If you're alright, Evelyn, let's keep moving. The quicker we get in, the quicker we can leave this place."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Perception check to keep an eye out for any more skeleton grabby things: (1d20+2)[11]

[Felhammer]

With Vaughn's keen eye ever watchful for more traps, the party padfoots forward, darting between shrubs and gnarled trees. The undead watch has not returned yet but it will soon. The group stands at the foot of the tower, the stench of death is overwhelming and vile. Billowing out of the entrance, you can hear groans and cries for help. Such calls are all drowned out by the blood curdling screams of someone on the top level. The crackling, sizzling sound of lighting precedes and lingers after every yell. The party has timed their arrival perfectly, the portcullis is open. The party dashes up the stairs and dives into the tower. Inside, they are met by a ghastly affair. Mounds and mounds of corpses are strewn out across the floor, some piled waist high. As you look around, you notice people whom you have seen before... People from Dun Danachad. People who, like you, fled the dragon but, unlike you, met foul, loathsome people on the outside. As the group scans the bodies, they find eight people are alive. Four look beyond hope, their wounds have already turned gangrenous. The other four look like they might be able to leave on their own, if they are given some food, water and shaken out of their shock. As the party looks around, they find two heavy wooden doors, both of which have been closed, as well as the control mechanism for the portcullis. Then... A whimper. Soft at first but soon growing into a loud groan... There is a ninth survivor.... Buried under six bodies...

Spoiler: Enter Jamol

Show

Spoiler: Reminder of what the tower looks like

Show

[infomatic]

"Mmgh, mmgh? AH! AHH! AHH!"

Jamol was awake, but couldn't tell if his eyes were open or not. This was more than darkness — even more than the primordial night that lay beyond the lamps of Dun Danachad. It was a physical force that pressed in all around, as if the blackness had become alive and was trying to smother him.

I'm dead and buried… was his first thought. They've buried me and I'll never see the stars again. But that wasn't it. He could hear a faint screaming from far away, so he wasn't dead after all. And this wasn't earth around him — he'd had his hands in enough soil to know that. He could barely move but his fingers could reach and feel fabric, flesh … bone.

No, he wasn't dead. He was buried in the dead.

Panic grips him, and the screams are now right in his ears.

[Chromascope3D]

Evelyn looks up from her new charges, dread showing on her face, and asks, "Oh, um, please stop screaming!"

She leaves her blanket with one of the survivors and runs to help dig out this new stranger.

[Felhammer]

Evelyn yanks a bunch of corpses off the poor sod whom was buried under the mass of rotten corpses!

Spoiler: Jamol

Show

You have all of your equipment. They more or less just tossed you in here, then piled a bunch of corpses on top of you.

[BramsesII]

Aella

As Evelyn moves over to help the poor soul trapped under a pile of bodies, Aella steps up beside her to help out. She's mostly lifting the heavy ones out of the way so that Evelyn can get to the person at the bottom. Once the stranger is free, Aella decides to have a good look at the corpses to see if there's any indication of what killed them.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Guess we're doing a heal check (?) here: (1d20+1)[6]

[Felhammer]

The party reveals their new companion. They examine the man but find him to be relatively healthy - at least compared to everyone else in the chamber. Screams can be heard coming from the top of the tower, as well as the sizzle-snap of lightning...

[Chromascope3D]

"Well, you don't look like you're in shock," Evelyn mutters, after very closely inspecting the stranger's pupils and pulse. She backs up to give him a bit more space, asserting "You look a lot better off than these folk at least!"

She flinches at the crack of lightning, and shakes herself off, continuing, "Gawds, this place is horrid."

[infomatic]

The pressure on him lightens, and a rush of fresh air — relatively speaking — breaks over his face as unfamiliar hands pull him free of the foul pile of bodies. He gains his feet for a moment, then stumbles and scrambles backward, away from the others.

"Wh … who are you all? he stammers. You're not with the elf? They didn't seem to be — for the few seconds he was conscious, it seemed that his captor relied on the dead for servants. And who knows for what else.

But these people were living. Which meant … "Are you from Dun Danachad?"

[rs2excelsior]

Vaughn

Vaughn looks around in with growing horror at their surroundings, even more so when he realizes that some of these people are actually still alive, left to die among the corpses. He glances around nervously, flinching a bit at the thunder and screams.

When he realizes that the others are digging one of the survivors out, he pitches in to help, watching as Evelyn checks the man over. "Dun Danachad?" His eyes snap to the portcullis at another round of screams. "Yeah. Got out a few days ago. By all of Yrain's children, what is this place?"

[BramsesII]

Aella

While the others tend to the survivor they recently dug up from a pile of corpses, Aella goes quiet. She decides to simply keep her eyes open and let the others do the talking.

[infomatic]

Jamol

Jamol raises his hands to wipe his face … then recoils when he realizes what his hands have been touching, and looks around vainly, for something clean to wipe them on. He finally settles on his backpack, which seems freer from gore than his own robes.

"I don't know," he replies to Vaughn, shaking his head. "It's filled with the dead, skeleton warriors. But there are some living here who command them, an Elf who spoke of a Lady Deathhand and a veneration of Mira."

"I must have fled the city after you … I was deep in the mushroom fields when it all happened. I fell asleep under … the sky … and then they found me and took me here."


He looks up reflexively just as another crack of lightning erupts, punctuated by another cry of pain. "So that wasn't just me screaming, then."

[Chromascope3D]

"I see, I see..." Evelyn mutters, vigorously scribbling down this new information in her journal.

[infomatic]

Jamol

Overwhelmed, Jamol doesn't even have the energy to look confused at the woman's odd behavior. Finally he's able to articulate what's stumping him.

"So you weren't captured also. And … you're not with the elf," he begins. "Why would you come here?"

[hannahbbug3]

While the others are talking with the newcomer, Daedalia keeps an eye on the room around them. There are too many dead bodies in here for him to feel comfortable, especially knowing that they are dealing with necromancy...

Perception - (1d20+5)[20]

[Chromascope3D]

Evelyn scratches her forehead, pondering the question for a few moments. She answers, "Well, I guess that's a little complicated. I don't think you'd believe the exact details if we told you and I don't think we have the time to sit down and explain it thoroughly, so I'll just say we're on a quest of sorts to, uh, retrieve a giant holy chalice!"

She smiles.

[Felhammer]

Spoiler: Daedalia

Show

Daedalia combs the room for anything of note, and finds:

Several pouches of Dun Danachad coins totaling 34 gp, 5 sp, 8 cp

Some sort of potion

A scroll of some sort.

A Bag of Wheat
10 Baskets
A Bolt of Canvas
A Glasscutter
A Pole (10')
A Rope Net (10' x 10')
A Small Cask of Wax
A Half a Wedge of Cheese
A golden pendant with a mythical Lion on it.

Daedalia also finds a pouch with a silver key inside.

Beyond the left door, the tiefling hears slow scratching/scraping. Nothing can be heard emanating from the door on the right.

[hannahbbug3]

Daedalia brings the looted and scattered items he's found back to the others, offering the scroll and the potion to Evelyn. "Do you think you can identify these?" he asks, claiming the bag of wheat and wedge of cheese for himself immediately. "We can split these coins... but more importantly... there's a noise from back there," the tiefling says, pointing out where he can hear the scratching. "And I found this silver key, as well..."

[Chromascope3D]

Evelyn adjusts her glasses and responds, "Oh? Well, I can certainly try!"

Taking the items, she finds a cleaner spot on the floor to sit down. She first weighs the vial in her hand, giving it a couple gentle shakes to approximate the mass and amount inside, before uncorking it. She holds it about a foot from her face, and wafts the fumes towards her to get a scent, and pours out just a drop in her fingers to check the viscosity. She nods, and recorks the bottle, before turning her attention to the scroll.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

(1d20+9)[26]Craft (Alchemy) to identify the potion
(1d20+8)[24]Spellcraft to identify the scroll
Also a K: Religion and History to identify that Lion medallion, assuming it's not a noble crest cuz I don't have K: Nobility :P
(1d20+8)[13] Religion
(1d20+5)[14] History
edit: hubris kept me from just taking 10

[infomatic]

"A chalice, like a cup," Jamol repeats, clearly pretending to understand. He wipes his hands again and gathers his things. "You don't have it yet, then? We get it, and we can go?"

As he speaks, he keeps glancing at the ceiling and cringing, as if expecting it to cave in.

[Felhammer]

Spoiler: Evelyn

Show

The potion is Pass Without a Trace, caster level 3.

The scroll is Command, caster level 1.

Although Lions are mythological creatures, Evelyn believes that this medallion is most likely part of some noble's heraldry.

[rs2excelsior]

Vaughn

"Yeah, we get it and go. Or at least we take a look. I don't want to spend any longer here than I have to." He follows Jamol's glance up at the ceiling, then again at the door. He gives the other survivors a bit of water from his waterskin, if they seem conscious enough to take it--even the badly injured, they deserve at least that little comfort before the end. "Daedalia, let's see if we can find where that key goes. Though perhaps we avoid that door?" He indicates the one where the tiefling heard scratching.

[Felhammer]

Spoiler: Key

Show

The key does not look like it goes to anything in this room.

[infomatic]

Jamol sees Vaughn offering the injured some water and speaks up. "I can help with that," he says. He's beginning to feel a bit steadier — the abject panic has faded, though the adrenaline has left him feeling a bit queasy still — and wants to start feeling useful again.

He offers his own waterskin, then borrows a heavy pot from one of the others and bends over it, concentrating. From the bottom of the pot, water begins to bubble up until it's full.

"We probably should drink up while we can," he said.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I can't remember who but I know somebody's got a cooking kit, and I'm assuming a big pot would be visible enough for Jamol to borrow. Casting Create Water, 2 gallons

[Felhammer]

One of the heroes pulls out a pot and Jamol creates water inside of it. The water is then given to the survivors.

[Chromascope3D]

Evelyn adjusts her glasses and exclaims, "Oh! Fascinating! I think i've heard of people conjuring water but I've never seen it myself!"

She dips her finger in to test, continuing, "Huh, seems real too..."

The scholar looks at Jamol and asks, "How often can you do that?"

[infomatic]

"I'm … not sure. I'm not sure it's even me doing it," Jamol replies, hesitantly. "I was thirsty after I fled the mountain, and water appeared. I heard some of the older folks talking about water that came from the sky. I don't think this is what they meant, but I welcome it."

He refills the pot with water, to see if he can, then stands. "We won't die of thirst, anyway, but I'd just as soon be gone from this place. I agree about avoiding that door, though."
He points to the door with the scratching sound.