Benevolence (IC)

[fendrin]

XVII

XVII does not answer Daggoo's question.

[pseudovere]

Virhan runs across the clearing, trying to finish writing some notes about the fungus he was examining, and, as a result, trips several times in the process.

Kel's appearance completely overshadowed anything else he had seen on this trip. In fact, it was more interesting than anything Virhan had seen in months. He hurriedly flips the book to a blank page, readies his pen, and starts blurting out questions at a breakneck speed:

"That's amazing! What holds them together? Is it magic? If so, how susceptible are you to anti-magic effects? How resilient are they? Do the exposed vessels cause you bruise easily? Can I poke you? How much do you weigh? Do you still require a constant intake of fluid? How does the animating process work? Do you have any memories of your life before animation? Actually, were you even animated, or spontaneously created from scratch? Is positive energy harmful to you? Or have you ever..."

((For the sanity of all of us, including me, I am not writing out the full extent of his questioning, as probably somebody will just tell him to shut up anyway.))

[Valairn]

Kel

Kel looks at Virhan carefully before responding, "I am not a normal undead, I am not animated by negative energy. As to the manner of my creation, I only know that my spirit was originally associated with my body when it was alive, or so I was told, anything else beyond that, I don't know. And no, I have no memories from my previous life. And by serving, there was no magical compulsion behind it, simply a choice, and I have certainly been well treated regardless, and what's a dead guy with no memory going to do without a guide, Aernac certainly seemed trustworthy so I went with it, and am very glad that I did."

[Voth]

Gilgimesh

Unphased by Kel's apperence, Gilgimesh speaks up. "Perhaps it would be better if we continued this conversation on the way towards the ruins? I'm sure we are all anxious to find out what Father... I mean Aernac has in store for us."

[Stabby]

Daggoo

With a grin and a shrug of his shoulders to get his pack settled, Daggoo nods.

"Aye, my Da always said that I should work while I talk. Normally it was mending sails, but walking works too."

[fendrin]

XVII

"Let us proceed."
XVII begins walking in the same direction that the group had been going the previous night.

[pseudovere]

Virhan quietly watches Kel as he walks along at the rear of the party. Yet another one of his traveling companions turns out to be like him, in being an oddball in humanoid society, and in Kel's case, not knowing the specifics of his creation.

At least they didn't have to deal with the needs and clumsiness of a natural organic body, and they knew their creator, and apparently had some sense of purpose.

Virhan knew nothing about his creator, or what he was made for, or even if he was made intentionally. For all he knew he was a hideous accident of some uncaring arcanist.

He snaps back to his senses.

What's wrong with me?

He pulls out his pen and starts scribbling away at his book again.

[Icewalker]

As he walks, Virhan has a slight revelation: This blood vessel being seems familiar. You can remember that they exist, having heard of them once or twice (from Aernac perhaps?), so he isn't an accident, but you don't know anything about them.

[hr]
As you continue into the forest, you stumble upon a more open area quite suddenly. The area is more open, a lot more bare of trees. You can see at the other end of the clearing there appears to be the ruins of some sort of stepped temple.

Next to the temple there appears to be a dark patch, and it takes a moment to realize it as it is completely overgrown, but it appears to be a large hole leading underground, in the form of a tunnel.

There are many blackened indented squares on the ground, with some ruins of stone near them. Seeing the last remaining column makes it evident that there was once a circle of pillars. The last remaining one is completely covered in vines and plants, and is broken off at the top, and the upper portion of it can be seen lying in the leaf covered ground next to it.


((Lastly, everyone make a survival check))

[pseudovere]

Virhan survival= (1d20-1)[15]

[Voth]

Survival Check! (1d20+2)[12]

[Stabby]

Daggoo

"Well well, look what we have here. So I think we found those ruins. Whats the next line of the riddle?

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Survival (1d20)[1]

[fendrin]

XVII

"'An ancient place of ruins, in the land of the tree
This is where your next corridor shall be.'

Clearly we are to descend."

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Crap! I never fixed XVII's sheet when it got screwed up... well, I know I didn't put any ranks into survival, so for now it's ok. I'll fix it ASAP. Probably tonight.

[roll=survival]1d20-1[/survival]

[fendrin]

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Urg. Me make stupid mistake. Me need to wake up.

survival - (1d20-1)[13]

[Valairn]

Kel

"Well the tunnel down seems to be the logical next step, but then again Aernac didn't always appreciate a straightforward point of view, we should look around a bit before heading down."

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Survival: (1d20+3)[13](16)

[Stabby]

Daggoo

"Agreed, I'll check out the temple. Anyone want to check out the pillars?"

Daggoo heads off to check out the temple.

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Search check (1d20+4)[23]

[Voth]

Gilgimesh

"Sure!" Gilgimesh replies, excited at the prospect of adventure.

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Search Check!(1d20+3)[19]

[pseudovere]

{{huh, I could have sworn I typed this up several hours ago and sent it in, but it's obviously not showing up... oh well}}

Virhan runs enthusiastically after Daggoo, and begins examining the pillar's construction, what time period it was likely to have been constructed in, the vines growing over it, the state of decay the pillar is in and how long since it must have been abandoned, as well as anything else that he could think of to examine about it.

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Knowledge (Architecture): [roll0]
Knowledge (Nature): [roll1]
Knowledge (History): [roll2]
Search: [roll3]

[Icewalker]

Daggoo
You ascend the extremely steep staircase up onto the temple carefully but quickly, looking forward to exploring it to discover whatever you can. You reach the top of the steps and glance down, and find yourself perhaps 40 feet above the ground with a very steep drop. You grin silently to yourself: it's nothing compared to a crows nest in a swaying ship in bad weather. The top of the temple is quite large, about the area of a large room. The sides are open, but there is a roof precariously supported on aged pillars. At the front and in the middle, the most prominent aspect is the slab of bright white stone. It looks like it has been polished so many times that even age hasn't worn it down again (not to say that it clearly hasn't been cleaned in a long time). The top of the slab however, despite having been washed, is still deeply stained with a dark red substance you realize to be blood. There are small slits in the slab that run down the sides, along the floor and then down the front of the temple which are also stained, even more deeply, with blood.

In the very center of the upper roof of the temple is a staircase most likely leading down into the inner rooms of the temple, however a section of the roof has caved in and into the hole, as have part of the walls in the tunnel beneath. Looking through past the rubble you can tell that much has collapsed inside, and there is no way you can get in or clear the ruins.

In the back of the temple, attached to the wall, resting on a completely rusted but once ornate support there is a very vicious looking knife of simple but beautiful craftmanship. It is curved and of some once bright metal, with a well made black leather handle. The blade is stained with blood as well, although it seems that it was also once well cleaned. Upon extremely close inspection it can be seen that the handle has also been subjected to blood many many times before. It looks more like droplets of blood were on it, rather than being drenched in it.

Hanging beneath the knife from a once golden hook there is an extremely unusual piece of jewelery. It appears to be some kind of circlet or diadem, but with closed top. It is of an extremely light gold mesh, and when you lift it it is far lighter than you expect. Upon close inspection, you can see slight bloodstains on the inside of the cap. It looks like it has suffered some damage as well, several of the thin wires have been wrenched out of place leaving a small gap.

On the sides of the temple there appear to be a couple of baskets, once filled with oddities, they appear to be mostly empty now. There are the extremely dry remains of some unidentifiable herbs, and a few bottles of now solidified liquids of various shades.

A glint catches your eye as you are almost done, and you note that there is a nest on the exposed part of the roof from the cave-in. The birds nest contains several small metal objects. Upon closer inspection, there appears to be a small but finely crafted copper ring, an amulet which is set on a wide ribbon instead of a chain like most, and a collection of small golden wires, likely torn from the circlet by some avaricious bird.

The copper ring and small amulet both seem unusually bright for such old objects. In fact, they appear to be in perfect condition, unlike all else you have seen. The ring is ornate, much in the style of all else in the temple, several intertwining spirals of brilliant copper wire. The amulet is gold, with a symbol in the center that appears to be a drop of blood. It looks slightly moist, and when you touch it you realize that there actually is a slight condensation of blood on the symbol. The ribbon is of a blood-red coloring, but when you look closer you realize that it is also deeply bloodstained in a similar manner to the knife's handle.

[Stabby]

Daggoo

With a grin at his find, Daggoo quickly hurries to the entrance and calls down to his companions.

"Get up here, I found some things you all might want to see."

Daggoo then turns and with a focused look, begins to go through the arcane motions of casting a spell, all the while murmuring softly to himself.

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Knowledge: Arcana [roll]1d20+8[/roll]
Casting Detect Magic
A spellcraft check for each aura, if there are any. Spellcraft is +8 plus possible bonus for my knowledge check. I'll let you yell me if I need to roll more.

[Stabby]

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Knowledge: Arcana (1d20+8)[23]

[Stabby]

Daggoo

Daggoo finishes his casting and concentrates.

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Spellcraft 1 (1d20+8)[14]
Spellcraft 2 (1d20+8)[18]
Spellcraft 3 (1d20+8)[26]
Spellcraft 4 (1d20+8)[16]
Spellcraft 5 (1d20+8)[20]
Spellcraft 6 (1d20+8)[26]

[pseudovere]

Virhan:

Virhan glances up from his examination of the pillars, and considers examining whatever Daggoo found, but decides to finish his examination of the pillars first.

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Knowledge (History): (1d20+5)[12]
Knowledge (Architecture): (1d20+5)[10]
Knowledge (Nature): (1d20+5)[8]
Search: (1d20+4)[22]

{{Edit: Ironic how the skill I'm the worst at I did the best at...}}

[Icewalker]

((And, sadly, the one which doesn't actually count... ))

Daggoo, you see a small plethora of magical auras around the place. There is a very slight aura surrounding the entire area, but that isn't unexpected, considering that it is a temple.

The slab with the bloodstains seems to be a focal point for the temple's overall aura. It condenses around the altar, especially within the blood and the ruts that run down the sides of the temple.

The baskets seem to be radiating magic very very faintly. It seems that the herbs and oddities within them are components for various spells unbeknownst to you. The small bottles in the baskets seem to have a sour feel to their magic, it seems they may have once been potions, but with their powers now distorted by time.

[Voth]

Gilgimesh

((Assuming I am told about the magical auras)) Gilgimesh closely examines the alter, trying to discover what sort of ritual happened here.

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Knowledge Arcane Check:(1d20+8)[24]

((If not told)) Gilgimesh turns to Daggoo and asks, "Do you detect anything in here?"

[fendrin]

XVII

Having been called up to the temple, XVII ascends the ziggurat.

"What have you found?"

[Icewalker]

((I made Venndor roll a d20 when I saw him today, so that's done with))

Maqarl
Upon entering the clearing something catches your eye. Some unusual markings in the ground. Walking over to them halfway across the clearing you inspect them more closely. They are definitely humanoid tracks, moving into the clearing and straight into the tunnel, without stopping or moving off. From the looks of the tracks you believe that there were three people, and two of them were carrying something very heavy. The third seems like someone who was light on their feet, perhaps an elf or a monk, or something of that sort. The tracks are very fresh, only hours old.

The Pillars ((For any who looked at them))
The pillars that sat in a half-circle around the clearing, open to the temple, are not quite like your normal Corinthian pillars. They were not huge white carved masses, but quite small and thin. Inspecting the close one, you have a hard time identifying what it once looked like, as it was primarily constructed of wood, and has long since mostly rotted. From the pieces you can see, the wood was painted in bright colors, reds and yellows, and there is gold inlay in the pillars as well.

Daggoo, the Ring, and the Amulet
Both the ring and the amulet warranted a longer inspection. Concentrating further, you find that they are both infused with magic in the general layout of a magic item. From the design you can tell that they are not your average run-of-the-mill Ring of Protection or Amulet of Health, but that they were uniquely tailored. However, they also radiate only very slight magic, and are probably somewhat simple in function and power.

The ring has an odd feel to it though, kind of an emptiness. It doesn't feel bad or wrong to you, but merely like there is something in it that was once better and could be again. Shaking it off, you continue to probe it's properties. You can tell little about it, and looking into the school of magic, you can't figure it out. Being so uniquely crafted, it seems to dip into several schools of magic, combining a Abjuration, with a little Illusion and Evocation, although you can tell that they are all part of the same function.

The amulet is odd. When you take it down off of the sunlit roof of the temple to analyze it, the blood droplet motif on the front vanishes, leaving the item a simple golden amulet, although it is still radiating magic lightly. You try to grasp the details of the magic, but they slip away from you. You aren't sure much about it, although you think you caught tinges of the Enchantment school.

[Stabby]

Daggoo

After explaining to both Gilgimesh and XVII what his arcane senses had revealed about the temple, he holds out both the amulet and the ring.

"I am not sure what these are. They are magical, but not overpoweredly so. Its like the magic is um... elusive is the best word for it. Have either of you ever seen anything like these before?"

[Voth]

Gilgimesh

"Let me think..." Gilgimesh says as he tries to search his brain for any sort of helpful knowledge for either item.

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Knowledge Roll for the Amulet:(1d20+8)[9]
Knowledge Roll for the Ring:(1d20+8)[24]

[Icewalker]

Voth racks his mind for any information about the item, but you realize you have never seen or heard of anything like it, so presumably it was made by some individual in this secluded temple in the forest a long time ago.

[fendrin]

XVII

XVII silently examines the objects and the temple.

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Temple in general:
knowledge_arcana - (1d20+6)[21]
knowledge_religion - (1d20+4)[8]

Amulet:
knowledge_arcana - (1d20+6)[26]
knowledge_religion - (1d20+4)[21]

Ring:
knowledge_arcana - (1d20+6)[19]
knowledge_religion - (1d20+4)[24]