[WFRP] The Bloody Crown X

[RossN]

Adelbert

Adelbert tried to conceal his shock. He'd always considered Elsa an absolute Sforza diehard. It took him a moment to collect his thoughts.

'I would remind you Elsa that the temple is currently safeguarding the book for us, the same one that we so foolishly reintroduced back into the world. In a very real sense those elders are aiding us with our past mistakes. We're relying on them to be more than a few feeble elders.'

His eyes dropped to the book she was currently holding. 'If you are so worried about a latent spell then surely the answer is to work with us, at the very least Hieronymous and myself. I am not a wizard but I have insight... and so does he.'

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa gritted her teeth, feeling like she was losing the argument. "We're getting the Morrites' help with the Book because they're experts at keeping the dead all nice and quiet. On the other hand, we have no one who's well-versed in daemonology. No one but me."

Sigmarites were likely the closest thing to dedicated daemon slayers, though they had a culture of willful, almost aggressive ignorance when it came to their foes. Elsa would certainly not trust them with this matter.

"At the very least I'm begging you to see what advantages we can get from this place before we take any steps to cleanse it. Opposed to Chaos we may be, but magic is part of Chaos and we've needed it many times. There's no clear line to cross where we've doomed ourselves, is what I'm saying."


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We're likely getting to the point where we have to start exploring some more. I'm in favor of going through the other door.

[Erulasto]

Astoria watched the interaction between Adelbert and Elsa curiously, noting the obvious tension between the two of them. It was an understandable tension. Even one as uneducated in the matter such as she could tell that magick was a polarizing force in the world, for good or ill.

”If you wish a few moments to take a transcription of the circle, I could push ahead somewhat. I believe that I am capable enough to hold out in the event of trouble until yourself or Sieghard can join me.”

[RossN]

Adelbert

Adelbert wondered how 'well-versed' Elsa could actually be in daemons. He didn't know exactly how the Colleges operated but Elsa had not struck him as terribly experienced when they'd met.

He looked at her doubtfully for a long moment. 'Why did you even bring me along if you didn't want me even talking to my mentor?'

Adelbert turned to Astoria. 'You have a point Caballera. I'll go on with you.'

[LeSwordfish]

"If we can't read the way this is written, all we do by copying it is make it possible for someone else who can read it to find it. Do we even know it's for Cacophrax?"

Ludo shook his head. "We can go on. But we should smash those symbols with a pickaxe first, if you ask me."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Not for certain," Sieghard replied. "But it seems more likely than not. The Bretheren bargained with daemons and destroyed the Illuminated Order. They're responsible for what happened to the Library and Cacophrax had become the Library's master. The painting, the mask, it all points to him, and I wouldn't want to pass something that can be used against him if we ever need to."

[LeSwordfish]

"Well, do we have a dictionary of daemonic languages somewhere?" Ludo asked. "Because unless we can read it, there's no point having it."

"Let's leave it for now and move on. But on the way back, if we come through here again and we haven't found anything that could interpret it, we smash it."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"And then we'd have nothing," Sieghard said. "We can worry about how to read it later. Compared to what we're already safeguarding, what harm can some symbols on parchment do? "

Of smashing the circle on the floor, he had no objection - so long as they copied it first.

[-Sentinel-]

"I say we leave it intact," said Elsa firmly. "For one thing, nobody will just wander in and use it to summon Cacophrax; they need the ritual. For another, this circle likely contains a lot of magic, and smashing it carelessly would release it in... unpredictable ways. And besides, magic circles can be used for all sorts of spells, not only summoning. One day I might want to use it."

She wondered how things would have worked out if she had had this kind of setup when attempting to save Beatrix Fassbender.

[RossN]

Adelbert

Adelbert looked troubled but slowly and with clear reluctance nodded at the logic of Elsa's words.

'Well, I think that's decided. You transcribe, we'll continue exploring.'

[LCP]

Leaving Elsa to her occult symbols, Adelbert and Astoria took one of the torches and headed out into the passageway on the other side of the door. To their left, it narrowed into darkness, much like the first tunnel they had followed from the cavern beneath the well. To their right where the tunnel widened, still water gleamed in the flickering light, twenty yards or so from the door.

Holding the torch above his head, Adelbert approached the water's edge. It was about eight feet across at its narrowest point, and deep. Undulating limestone walls faded down through the murky water into bottomless blackness, a handful of pale cave fish schooling at the furthest point the light could reach. He brought the light closer to the surface, and the fish vanished, jacknifing further down into the dark.

On a smooth ledge of rock about seven feet down, a wrecked jumble of ancient planks clung precariously to the side of the flooded chasm. If Adelbert had to guess, he would have supposed them the remains of a small bridge.

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I have a message from Erulasto saying he's ill, so RossN please take the lead!

[RossN]

Adelbert

Adelbert knew very little about caves but there was something vaguely comforting about the fact that fish could live down here. Whatever else the water could sustain life, even if that life was unfamiliar.

'Well, short of us building a boat that isn't an obvious way out,' he said to Astoria. 'Let's try the left.' Cautiously he shone the torch down the dark passageway.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo frowned. "I could jump that."

"Probably."

Instead, he turned to follow Adelbert.

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Long jumping is Move+SB-(DoF on a Strength Test) in yards, and the river is <3 yards across, so Ludo has about a 60% chance of making it, I think. Adelbert has about a 70% chance, Astoria roughly 90%.

[LCP]

Following the passageway left from the door revealed no more doors or turnings - just the one tunnel, narrowing continuously as it stretched back into the dark. Before they were thirty yards from the chamber, it had become so narrow that the three of them had to pass in single file; before they had gone another twenty, Astoria in her bulky armour could not proceed at all.

[RossN]

Adelbert

'Let's turn back,' Adelbert advised. 'I suppose Ludo could go further but since the daemon worshippers who lived here do not appear to have been halflings I don't think it is worthwhile.'

Assuming the others agree Adelbert would return to the spot where the bridge had been. 'Looks like we might have to consider jumping after all.'

[LeSwordfish]

"Give me a few minutes." Ludo said, shoving past Adelbert's legs. "Let me see what's up there and come back."

Holding his lantern high, he began shoving forward into the passage.

[LCP]

Ludo hadn't got far past the two tall folk before the passage became a squeeze even for him. Worming his way around a tusk-like stalagmite that rose up to constrict the tunnel further, he turned a corner and found himself looking straight at a dead end - but not an entirely empty one. Slumped against the back wall, so constricted by the narrow walls that it still sat semi-upright, a human skeleton lay in a jumble of age-yellowed bones. A few rags still clung to its ribs, but from their colour and state of decay it was clear that it had lain here for a very long time.

[LeSwordfish]

"Oh..."

Ludo had seen more aged dead bodies recently than he'd really expected, and never really knew how to react to them. This particular one seemed unusually wretched to him - he was used to tunnels, and still thought that this would be a horrible horrible place to die.

He performed a cursory search of the body, and began worming his way back towards the others.

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I think we can probably reverse all the way back to the water?

[LCP]

There wasn't much to find among the old bones. In one skeletal hand was a lump of rust that might once have been a dagger. Nestling in the yellowed pelvis was another that looked like it could have been the head of a crossbow bolt. A silver chain, tarnished almost black, hung over the faded blue rags that still clung to the collarbone. A symbol hung in its centre - a slender inverted triangle, like a blade without a hilt or handle.

Ludo returned to the others, and the three of them made their way back towards the doorway, and the flooded section beyond it. The gap looked eminently jumpable, but the bottomless chasm beneath the surface made the prospect of failure more intimidating than it would otherwise have been. Ludo never had learned to swim.

Somewhere down in the depths, a brief light flared, garish violet. It was gone in a moment. Ten or fifteen seconds later, a hissing stream of bubbles rose to the surface, bringing a whiff of brimstone with them as they burst.

[RossN]

Adelbert

On hearing of the bones Ludo had found Adelbert solemnly made the Sign of Morr before the narrow tunnel. There was not much else he could do, but it was something.

Back at the water Adelbert's eyes widened as he saw the light in the water and even as the first bubbles popped he turned to Ludo, his face paling: 'Get Elsa and Sieghard, quickly!'

The priest risked a further glance at the water, hoping to find some pattern there...

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Magical Sense: (1d100)[52] vs 53.

[LeSwordfish]

"Right... yes!"

Retreating sharply from the brimstone, Ludo headed back to the laboratory they had found to fetch their allies.

[LCP]

Adelbert

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Peering down through the murky water, Adelbert thought he caught a glimpse of swift, rolling motion at the very edge of the light. It was there for a moment, then was gone - but whatever it was, he got the impression it had been much larger than the little white fish.

Elsa had just about finished copying down the last of the symbols around the circle's edge when Ludo burst in. Hurrying out into the passageway, they joined Adelbert and Astoria by the water's edge. The water looked still and calm - no bubbles rose to the surface, no lights gleamed in the depths.

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa's brow furrowed as she peered at the still waters. She had adventured long enough with Adelbert and Ludo to know they were not the sort to be spooked by tricks of the light. If they had seen something under there, she believed them.

"Hmm. Maybe it's best if we call it a day, wouldn't you say?"

The expedition had not yielded the great wealth of knowledge she was hoping for, nor the literal wealth Sforza must have been hoping for, but unlike Kheneb-Ptra-Urush and the Lost Library, it had claimed no lives yet. If things could be kept that way, Elsa would consider it a success.

Elsa only

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Of course, they might disagree, thought Elsa. What do they want of me? Do they want me to perform the summoning ritual?

She wanted power, but she was not quite that desperate.

[LeSwordfish]

"We're not going to try to get across?" Ludo said. He seemed notably less keen to do the jump himself. "It's not that far, and who knows what's on the other side. All the fuss about what's down here for one room?"

[RossN]

Adelbert

'I'm pretty sure something is down there in the water, and it is not an overgrown cave fish.' Adelbert told Elsa. 'There was the flicker a strange violet coloured light and then the smell of brimstone.'

[-Sentinel-]

"Well, if we're to carry on," said Elsa, digging inside her purse, "I don't want this thing at our backs. Let's try to deal with it right here and now."

Her hand came out with a handful of shillings. She raised her closed fist, ready to chuck them into the water.

"Anyone objects, say it now."

[LeSwordfish]

"I don't think we can pay it off," Ludo joked. He took a few steps back from the pool and drew his sling, but didnt otherwise object.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Foolishness," Sieghard muttered. Nonetheless, he loaded his crossbow and moved to where he would have a clear shot.

[LCP]

The coins sank slowly into the blackness, trailing bubbles as they fell. They waited some time in silence after the last of them sank out of sight - but nothing rose from the dark water in reply.

[LeSwordfish]

"Well, that was a waste of money." Ludo said.

He took several large steps back. "Hopefully i'm no more palatable."

And with that, he sprinted forwards into a leap, tripped on a rock, and went face-first into the water.

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The chasm is eight feet across, which is <3 yards. Ludo is taking a run-up into a jump.

Jumping distance is, in Yards, Move distance (4) + SB (2) - Degrees of Failure on Str test.

Strength test: (1d100)[76] vs 21, re-roll (1d100)[85] vs 21

I need three or fewer degrees of failure to pass the jump (since three degrees takes me 3 yards, greater than <3) - so 61 or better.

Of course correct me if something else comes up or if I have misread the maths.

WELL THIS WILL BE INTERESTING