Shattered Swords (IC)

[lostsole31]

[OOC]I didn't have my book with me yesterday...[/OOC]
EDIT: Achilles says this after the trap is disarmed.

But even Taking 20, Fellian is unable to open the lock. It is just too much for him.

It'll be up to Achilles with his adamantine blade and Power Attack-y skills of Goodness to cleave apart the iron door ... which, being a non-stress situation ... can be done without any rolls.

The ancient iron doors lie in twisted (and sharp) metal ruins.

Fifteen corpses stand frozen in place, equally spaced along the lenght of this rectangular room (15' w x 30' l). From head to toe, the corpses are covered in faintly glowing blue runes.

Achilles, Aaroniel, Grot, and Fellian see this ... as the others are down the other side of the crawlspace.

[srgonzo]

Oh boy. This looks vaguely necromantic, what with all the corpses and glowing runes.

[lostsole31]

"Well, if we're going to deal with more necromancy," says Fellian, "I suggest calling in Endora. If so, either we take the risk we won't deal with battle and jam up a person or two ... or one of us has to swap out. I'd say swap out Aaroniel. I dunno."

Aaroniel adds, "Sergeant, I agree. There is just way too much necromantic power floating around. Fellian has simply been incredibly lucky. She can come down, check for magic .... dispel it if she can. Then, Fellian begins to enter to check for traps."

[srgonzo]

Sounds like a good idea. Aaroniel, go ahead and see to whatever preparations you need to make to help Fario recover from his ailment and have Endora come down here to see if we can't do something about this mess.

[lostsole31]

Aaroniel nods and crawls out, and Endora takes his place a minute later.

She casts a spell and then says, "Beyond the normal background necromantic energies, and the evocation that gives the panels the power of light and cold generation, this room is actually one of the most clear of magics we've seen yet. There are glyphs and runes on the preserved bodies that are worth looking at. But they seem more informational and don't show any magic."

Fellian asks, "Should I start crackin' on checking for traps of the more mundane variety, Sarge?"

Grot

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Sigh. Sorry, buddy. This is the problem with having a meatwall guy when a battle isn't being waged. And the last battle was a great battle in terms of terrain and such ... but also made you feel marginalized. Believe me, when it comes time, you will have your time. Otherwise, feel free to add any RP fillers unless you want to maintain that the rhek really isn't a talker.

[UserClone]

The stoic Rhek simly stands guard, watching the doorway behind the group. He is so unnervingly still as to be indistinguishable from a large, intimidating statue.

[lostsole31]

"Blech," says Endora, thumbing towards Grot. "This statue rheks - er, reeks - with living energies."

[srgonzo]

Yeah, go ahead and tend to the traps. Endora, you said these runes are informational. Would you be willing and able to share that information?

[lostsole31]

"I'll do what I can," she says.

Fellian goes in and starts the long process of checking for traps on everything. Once satisfied it is clear, Endora goes in ....

Does the Sarge call everyone else down to keep the party from being separated, since you can include the room and the hallway now to fit everyone?

[srgonzo]

Yeah. That sounds like a good idea.

[lostsole31]

The entire group makes its way down. Fario guided by Shensen.

The room holds 15 corpses: five each of dwarves, elves, and humans. Each is covered with spell weaver runes and glyphs.

"I've got some training deciphering ancient or unknown script," says Endora, "but as a necromancer I don't have that ability magically. I do, however, have the ability to speak with these frozen corpses which seem to be mostly intact."

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So, I know I'm NPC-ing the "smart" folks, but now's your time to think of what questions you would want Endora to ask. This is the speak with dead spell.

So, what questions do you want her to beg of these corpses?

[lostsole31]

Endora casts a spell for 10 minutes, and asks everyone to link hands to call up the spirit around a human for which she chooses to demand questions of that spirit.

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I know the spell really is only for the caster to cast, and it's just the mouth that animates for the time being. But, honestly, when you think about it this spell is effectively a seance for calling up spirits of the deceased so that questions may be asked .... well, a poor man's version, since the actual spirit isn't called but a residual echo.

Endora will have enough just with Achilles (he pretty much has questions, so that's a no-brainer), Grot (if he wishes, but his exalted nature might find the spell too distasteful regardless of intel), Shensen, and Fellian.

Such a spell, cast by so dark a witch, is too much for Aaroniel whose entire devotion is to a deity of protection, healing, and life. That's alright, though. Fario might be too weak to deal with this seance, and Aaroniel can tend to him outside. That makes Aaroniel a good sentry with his protective bubble away from the party, but as a bulwark at the entry should anything physical try to get in that way.

Three seances are held - one human, one dwarf, and one elf - and nothing happens on any of the three. Nothing at all.

"Well," says Endora, "the spirits simply cannot be contacted. That is strange, since it doesn't actually call the real sentience in the afterlife, but affects an imprint of memories that stays for eternity with the dead. On the other hand, if a soul is stripped out of a body at or before death, then there is nothing to imprint. That is my professional opinion: that their souls were stolen for some other nefarious purpose. I could cast the spell on the others, but I am pretty confident that the result would be the same.

"Now, in addition to these runes, I am interested in checking the twin pillars in the other room in which we fought the fiendish half-orc and the bone-snake. But first, I say we get to work as best we can deciphering these runes."

Just in case Aaroniel and Endora meet with failure trying to decipher the runes the old-fashioned way, Fellian is praying to the Traveler (how fitting) to give him enough passing knowledge to read the runes. No need, though Fellian is finishing up the hour of prayer as the other two believe they are successful.

Endora ironically calls this the "Library of Souls" for the lack of souls, but for the information contained on the bodies. The glyphs on the corpses record the history of Karran-Kural and its spell weaver creators. The history is brief, but it outlines the spell weaver belief that a fundamental connection exists between the magical essences of death and cold and that the tomb was built to explore that strange connection.

As the two explain their findings, Fellian says, "That's all well and great, but as you said - this is a libray, albeit a freaky one. So, my question is ..... what tomb? It said 'the tomb' ... and 'the' tells me only one, and a specific one. Sure, we saw what we might term 'spell weaver coffins' upstairs, but there were several of them.

"But again, what tomb? and if it is infused with cold and necromancy, what do we expect to find there?"

For a few seconds in the room, there is breathless silence ...

Achilles/ Grot, any comments?

Achilles, Endora wants to check out the pillars, but that may have no bearing on the larger picture. What do you want to do now?

[srgonzo]

Go ahead and check out the pillars. Let's examine everything here as thoroughly as we can.

[lostsole31]

The party makes its way back to the room with the big pillars. Endora verifies that the pillars store a combination of both strong necromantic and divinatory magic.

The party makes its way down to the floor, under the overlook from the balconies, so she can make contact.

She concentrates for 10 minutes before touching the pillars. Once she touches the pillars, she seems enraptured for what appears to be a minute, even drooling on herself. It is very unnerving. Just before someone can't take it anymore and might try to jar her from this, she finally comes out of her daze.

"Well?" asks Aaroniel.

"These are soul pillars, powerful repositories contacting tortured spirits. Destroying the soul pillars - which are big enough to possibly bring the whole place down on our heads - will not free the souls. The purpose of this thing is that the spirits act as messengers to some distant power for knowledge, much like the spell contact other plane. I was able to push through, but seeing the horror of what lies beyond was too much for me. I can't wholly remember what I experienced, but I will not try to articulate it.

"If anyone else wants to try it, they're welcome to it. The more intelligent you are, the better chance you have of divining secrets and maintaining wits. Sergeant, I recommend Aaroniel."

Aaroniel looks at Achilles and says emphatically. "I will do no such thing(insert Period with a capital "P")"

Achilles/ Grot?

[lostsole31]

Posto revealioso!

[srgonzo]

I wouldn't ask you to. Endora, while I wouldn't categorize necromancy as inherently evil, this thing is. How do we free the souls of those who are trapped within? I'm just guessing, but that much work means these pillars provide something with a huge advantage we'd want to take away from our adversary. Besides that, I also believe there is a moral imperative to free these souls to move on to whichever plane is their destination.

[lostsole31]

Endora says, "We have a necromancer - me - whose spells have a better chance of imprisoning than freeing, but I don't have them regardless. We have a holy man who has several powers; exorcism isn't one of them. We have a holy rhek and yourself, whose foci are smashing the physical, not liberating the metaphysical. We have a druid-bard and a combat rogue .... need I say more on them? And we have you.

"We need a cleric. Which we have, but he is not focused on that path and is junior in the church of Fharlanghn that just casting cure moderate wounds is difficult, and most of his greatest power is helping us survive the freezing temperatures of this place. The very concept of exorcism is far, far above him. No offense."

Fellian inserts, "None taken."

"No, your moral imperative will have to wait until we finish our mission and can return with a cleric. As a cleric of Wee Jas, guardian of the dead, this is something that will be my follow-on mission after this one while the rest of you continue tracking down the Cagewrights. I'm sure I can persuade a powerful enough Jasidian priest to come here."

[srgonzo]

Very well then. Let's see if there's anything we can use to our advantage in here, besides the pillars, and then we'll get to moving onward.

[lostsole31]

Shensen, a good druid, will have nothing to do with the pillars ... despite her bardic side's quest for knowledge.

Fellian is likely the most intelligent member of the group that would try, simply out of curiosity. "Just because I'm not a powerful priest doesn't mean that I'm not interested in seeing what travels these spirits have endured.

"Sarge, what do you want me to ask of the spirits?"

[srgonzo]

Fellian, I can't ask this of you because any information gained from this is tainted. It's one of those rare occasions where I'll choose a tactical disadvantage because of a point of morality. The only way I'd consider phrasing any questions would be if those who were chained to the pillars actually went to this fate willingly. If you are determined to do this, then you're doing it of your own accord, and I trust your judgement enough to ask the appropriate questions, but keep in mind that any answers we get are going to be cryptic. Do you still want to do this?

[lostsole31]

Fellian says, "The spirits lie in torment. Do we not honor them by calling on them? They are creatures forbidden to travel and that breaks my heart, so I am willing to contact them."

[srgonzo]

That's a position I hadn't considered. Frankly, we need to know who and/or what is in charge, what forces are aligned against us in this specific endeavor, and we need to know how we can best overcome our opposition.

[lostsole31]

Fellian touches the soul pillar and concentrates. After 10 minutes he seems to be in sort of a trance and he says, "What is in charge here?"

He answers in a spooOOooky voice. "Unknown."

"What forces are aligned against us in this specific endeavor?"

"Unknown."

"How can we best overcome our opposition?"

Endora screams in pain just as the answer comes, as if seeing a familiar tormentor.

"Leeeeaaaavvve ...."

Fellian comes off the pillar, exhausted. Meanwhile, a look at Endora sees that she is holding her head as if she had a massive headache. When she is attended to by Aaroniel, she says, "I was looked away from it da first time, but I hears it again da second."

The incredible sense of presence she normally commands is vastly diminished. She seems kinda' dumb (as her speech indicates), though still coherent, but incredibly shaken. Still good presence, but nothing really noteworthy now.

Aaroniel says, "It's hard to say what or how powerful the spirits together are, but if this is anything like a contact other plane spell - and it seems to be - then this effect can only be healed by extremely powerful healing from a cleric, or else it wears off in anywhere from a week to more than a month depending on power of contact."

He shakes his head, "Thanks to her powerful cloak of charisma, she can still cast weak to moderate spells, but she won't be at full verve, and they've lost a severe amount of her punch and control."

Endora says, "I come this far. I still got the dark powers in me. It's too much to go back to Cauldron."

Sergeant? What do you do?

[srgonzo]

Oh Hells. We press on. Would we have turned back if one of us had died? She's not dead. She's injured. Endora said she can continue. Let's respect that.

[lostsole31]

"And what of Fario, Sergeant?" asks Aaroniel. "His health and pure strength and speed still make him worthwhile in a normal combat, but his ability to survive any specialized attack has been seriously compromised."

[srgonzo]

Endora and Fario are compromised, and that leaves us with Fellian, Shensen, Grot, you and me in top fighting trim. What happens if we go back? We might survive the trip, but what of our objective? I don't mind getting help if we need it, but taking hits is a part of combat. At the very least, we need to be able to report back about something. Thus far, we've seen a few things, but not enough to report back.

[lostsole31]

Aaroniel says, "I'm not talking about aborting for retreat to Cauldron. I'm talking about pulling out today for Fario's sake, and helping him tomorrow when he has to pass the Trials of Darkness."

[srgonzo]

Oh, I was about to suggest that myself. Let's camp for the night, keep Endora and Fario off the watch rotation, and try again in the morning.