Evara, after a short prayer grabs the blue sapphire and black open from Hanna and places the blue sapphire by the lightening in the storm and the black opal on the bubbling vial.
Brother Keefe starts coughing from the fumes, the odor intensifies and everyone’s lungs begin to itch painfully, as Evara places the last stone. The sound of stone scraping comes from multiple directions, along with distant, complex squeaking sounds some of you recognize as ropes straining on rusty pulleys.
The door to the mausoleum slowly opens at the same time as the sarcophagus shifts across the floor, causing Enzo to wobble slightly and revealing a stairway leading down into darkness.
As Token attempts to regain his breath, he tries to grab Brother Keefe’s hand to escort him towards the outside of the mausoleum entrance.
”The air in here ain’t safe. Perhaps it’d be best t’ regain our breath an’ clear out our lungs outside ‘fore continuin’.” Token says to Brother Keefe and the rest of the party.
Valde during the trip into the graveyard was impressed by foreign activities as gardening and burying the dead. In his land, the deads are cremated, specifically to prevent necromancy, meanwhile herbs and shrubs are picked from the wilderness. So it goes without saying that he feels like fish out of water.
What he knows better are the concepts of Undead and Dragons. He remembers tales of white dragons gliding over the frozen tundra.
Looking at the present, he sees darkness below the staircase and he asks calmly:" Does any of you know how to make a light and light the way? I'm gonna prepare and light a torch, just in case.". Valde lits a torch , hoping to shed a bit of light into this looming darkness below.
Hana will go immediately to help Token get Brother Keefe out of the mausoleum and to the clean air as well.
"Are you okay, Brother Keefe?" She asks as they get him out. "We should go back inside and investigate the secret door."
Hana looks back inside.
"Huh, I never really needed light. I can see pretty well in the dark." She explains as she goes back inside after making sure Brother Keefe is okay, waiting for the rest.
Under the torchlight, Valde clearly sees a steep stone staircase descending approximately twenty feet down. At the bottom it curves into a passageway to the right composed of uniformly-cut stone blocks. With his passive perception and proficiency in Survival, Valde can also clearly make out tracks in the otherwise thick dust on these steps. At least two different human-sized pairs of boots have traversed these steps multiple times, apparently somewhat recently.
Brother Keefe recovers his breath and mumbles words of gratitude to Token and Hana. He squares his shoulders and pivots in place to face Robin, and his voice is slightly less monotonous than it has been up to this point. "The Most Solemn Order of the Silent Shroud were not the caretakers of Valhingen Graveyard when this tomb was built, over two hundred years ago. Our order began following the apotheosis of Kelemvor, shortly after the Time of Troubles. We are not responsible for allowing this structure to be built."
(You all would be aware of stories from the Time of Troubles, when gods were forced to become mortal and walked the face of Faerun. Several were killed and their power changed hands, dramatically altering the makeup of the pantheon, and a few mortals, including Kelemvor, became gods. Most of you would know that this happened over a century ago, some would be more specific at about 130 years ago.)
Token looked back at the inside of the mausoleum. If the Silent Shroud were not the creators of this tomb, who knows what kind of dangers lurked within its deeper chambers.
"Perhaps it's best y' wait here and regain yer strength, Brother Keefe. There might be more traps n' dangers down there but once we've done our inspectin' of the lower chambers, we can come back an' take ya down there. However, it's all up t' you but remember yer payin' us so y'shouldn't exert yerself fer nothin'. If y'decide t' stay up here an' need somethin', just holler an' we'll come right back." Token said. With one deep inhale of fresh air, Token scurried back into the mausoleum to join the group.
Evara joins Valde by the stairs. She peers down and slowly makes her way down the stairs looking around for traps or new information. Every step is taken with care, not knowing what comes next. She holds her breath incase of any new gases that might arise. She prays silently to Garl for strength.
Brother Keefe nods to Token. "This is exactly the reason why you were hired. Good luck in there."
Evara makes it to the bottom of the stone staircase without incident. As she stands at the foot of the stairs, torchlight from above provides enough illumination to see that this passage continues spiraling toward the right on a steady, but not too steep, decline. No sounds or sources of light seem to be ahead.
Mavis is relieved that Keefe revealed this was built before his time, so that she didn't have to ring the information out of him herself. Mavis prepares a torch of her own, and makes her way to the front of the pack. As the city watch, it is her duty and obligation to be the barrier between any danger and her party. Seeing the stairs continue to spiral downward, she lets out a deep breath, as dust particles fly everywhere in the process. She is apprehensive to alert anything below of their presence, so she elects not to call out into the darkness below, and she indicates that same mindset to her team by placing her index finger over her mouth before descending further down the stairs.
After Brother Keefe explanation, Hana looks at him and nods. The place is older than the order. Older than the Times of Troubles. That couldnt be any good. This time, she will have to focus completely on the task at hand and the dangers around them.
Hana follows the party down the stairs with a slow pace. She makes sure not to make too much noise and stays vigilant of the environment, looking for anything the group may miss, like a trap or any other danger.
With Mavis's torch at the bottom of the stairs, she, Hana, and Evara are all standing at the bottom of the stairs. The passageway is 10-15 feet wide and equally tall, and curves rather sharply, perhaps in a spiral pattern that goes to the right and slightly downward. The floor is bone-dry, with a layer of dust that has multiple sets of boot-tracks in it going down the hall and back. There are spiderwebs were the walls meet the floor and along the ceiling, but they appear to have been cleared from the ground up to a bit above head-height. The air seems still, stale, and cool. The only sound is the sound of your own movement.
Mavis has suggested everyone be quite. Anyone who is going to go downstairs can make a stealth check if you’d like (with disadvantage if wearing most medium or heavy armor).
Before going down the steps, Enzo draws a wand from a sheath on his belt. He makes a few passes along his body and says some words under his breath. A near translucent suit of black armor appears around his body, slowly shrinking inward until it can't be seen anymore. (Mage Armor)
Evara understands to be quiet and carefully progresses further down the hall inspecting walls, ceilings, and the ground for information or traps. She goes slowly and carefully while praying to Garl that she stay as quiet as possible.
As the party descends down the stairs, Token places one hand on his longbow and another on the handle of the sheathed shortsword at his hip. If they had sprung the trap, it was likely those who had set it up were aware of their presence, perhaps ready to ambush them. As the party is approaching the lower chambers, Token will listen very closely for any signs of abnormal movement or activity from whatever might be hiding in the shadows of the catacombs as well as looking out for any additional traps that might be prepared to hinder them.
As members of the party start moving down the hallway, Hanna notices two sections of the stone wall that look slightly different than the surrounding masonry. One is almost directly in front of the stairs, and the other is twenty or thirty feet further down the curved passage. The stone in each of these sections is slightly indented, forming the impression of a rectangle from floor to ceiling approximately five feet wide. Because of the curve of the tunnel, one faces east and one faces south. Once she notices it, Token’s passive perception would be enough for him to see where she’s looking and then recognize the indentations as well.
Observing Hanna’s discovery, Token will try to silently motion the rest of the group to come back and analyze the indentations in the walls together. He will then try to figure out if these indentations could pose a threat to the rest of the group as some sort of trap.
Evara, after a short prayer grabs the blue sapphire and black open from Hanna and places the blue sapphire by the lightening in the storm and the black opal on the bubbling vial.
Brother Keefe starts coughing from the fumes, the odor intensifies and everyone’s lungs begin to itch painfully, as Evara places the last stone. The sound of stone scraping comes from multiple directions, along with distant, complex squeaking sounds some of you recognize as ropes straining on rusty pulleys.
The door to the mausoleum slowly opens at the same time as the sarcophagus shifts across the floor, causing Enzo to wobble slightly and revealing a stairway leading down into darkness.
As Token attempts to regain his breath, he tries to grab Brother Keefe’s hand to escort him towards the outside of the mausoleum entrance.
”The air in here ain’t safe. Perhaps it’d be best t’ regain our breath an’ clear out our lungs outside ‘fore continuin’.” Token says to Brother Keefe and the rest of the party.
Valde during the trip into the graveyard was impressed by foreign activities as gardening and burying the dead. In his land, the deads are cremated, specifically to prevent necromancy, meanwhile herbs and shrubs are picked from the wilderness. So it goes without saying that he feels like fish out of water.
What he knows better are the concepts of Undead and Dragons. He remembers tales of white dragons gliding over the frozen tundra.
Looking at the present, he sees darkness below the staircase and he asks calmly:" Does any of you know how to make a light and light the way? I'm gonna prepare and light a torch, just in case.". Valde lits a torch , hoping to shed a bit of light into this looming darkness below.
Hana will go immediately to help Token get Brother Keefe out of the mausoleum and to the clean air as well.
"Are you okay, Brother Keefe?" She asks as they get him out. "We should go back inside and investigate the secret door."
Hana looks back inside.
"Huh, I never really needed light. I can see pretty well in the dark." She explains as she goes back inside after making sure Brother Keefe is okay, waiting for the rest.
Under the torchlight, Valde clearly sees a steep stone staircase descending approximately twenty feet down. At the bottom it curves into a passageway to the right composed of uniformly-cut stone blocks. With his passive perception and proficiency in Survival, Valde can also clearly make out tracks in the otherwise thick dust on these steps. At least two different human-sized pairs of boots have traversed these steps multiple times, apparently somewhat recently.
Brother Keefe recovers his breath and mumbles words of gratitude to Token and Hana. He squares his shoulders and pivots in place to face Robin, and his voice is slightly less monotonous than it has been up to this point. "The Most Solemn Order of the Silent Shroud were not the caretakers of Valhingen Graveyard when this tomb was built, over two hundred years ago. Our order began following the apotheosis of Kelemvor, shortly after the Time of Troubles. We are not responsible for allowing this structure to be built."
(You all would be aware of stories from the Time of Troubles, when gods were forced to become mortal and walked the face of Faerun. Several were killed and their power changed hands, dramatically altering the makeup of the pantheon, and a few mortals, including Kelemvor, became gods. Most of you would know that this happened over a century ago, some would be more specific at about 130 years ago.)
Evara says “I hope everyone is ok! I’m going to go back inside and see if the smoke has cleared and look around!”
Token looked back at the inside of the mausoleum. If the Silent Shroud were not the creators of this tomb, who knows what kind of dangers lurked within its deeper chambers.
"Perhaps it's best y' wait here and regain yer strength, Brother Keefe. There might be more traps n' dangers down there but once we've done our inspectin' of the lower chambers, we can come back an' take ya down there. However, it's all up t' you but remember yer payin' us so y'shouldn't exert yerself fer nothin'. If y'decide t' stay up here an' need somethin', just holler an' we'll come right back." Token said. With one deep inhale of fresh air, Token scurried back into the mausoleum to join the group.
Evara joins Valde by the stairs. She peers down and slowly makes her way down the stairs looking around for traps or new information. Every step is taken with care, not knowing what comes next. She holds her breath incase of any new gases that might arise. She prays silently to Garl for strength.
Brother Keefe nods to Token. "This is exactly the reason why you were hired. Good luck in there."
Evara makes it to the bottom of the stone staircase without incident. As she stands at the foot of the stairs, torchlight from above provides enough illumination to see that this passage continues spiraling toward the right on a steady, but not too steep, decline. No sounds or sources of light seem to be ahead.
Mavis is relieved that Keefe revealed this was built before his time, so that she didn't have to ring the information out of him herself. Mavis prepares a torch of her own, and makes her way to the front of the pack. As the city watch, it is her duty and obligation to be the barrier between any danger and her party. Seeing the stairs continue to spiral downward, she lets out a deep breath, as dust particles fly everywhere in the process. She is apprehensive to alert anything below of their presence, so she elects not to call out into the darkness below, and she indicates that same mindset to her team by placing her index finger over her mouth before descending further down the stairs.
After Brother Keefe explanation, Hana looks at him and nods. The place is older than the order. Older than the Times of Troubles. That couldnt be any good. This time, she will have to focus completely on the task at hand and the dangers around them.
Hana follows the party down the stairs with a slow pace. She makes sure not to make too much noise and stays vigilant of the environment, looking for anything the group may miss, like a trap or any other danger.
With Mavis's torch at the bottom of the stairs, she, Hana, and Evara are all standing at the bottom of the stairs. The passageway is 10-15 feet wide and equally tall, and curves rather sharply, perhaps in a spiral pattern that goes to the right and slightly downward. The floor is bone-dry, with a layer of dust that has multiple sets of boot-tracks in it going down the hall and back. There are spiderwebs were the walls meet the floor and along the ceiling, but they appear to have been cleared from the ground up to a bit above head-height. The air seems still, stale, and cool. The only sound is the sound of your own movement.
Mavis has suggested everyone be quite. Anyone who is going to go downstairs can make a stealth check if you’d like (with disadvantage if wearing most medium or heavy armor).
Before going down the steps, Enzo draws a wand from a sheath on his belt. He makes a few passes along his body and says some words under his breath. A near translucent suit of black armor appears around his body, slowly shrinking inward until it can't be seen anymore. (Mage Armor)
He nods to himself and begins his descent.
Enzo Ballantine - Shadow Sorcerer
Evara understands to be quiet and carefully progresses further down the hall inspecting walls, ceilings, and the ground for information or traps. She goes slowly and carefully while praying to Garl that she stay as quiet as possible.
As the party descends down the stairs, Token places one hand on his longbow and another on the handle of the sheathed shortsword at his hip. If they had sprung the trap, it was likely those who had set it up were aware of their presence, perhaps ready to ambush them. As the party is approaching the lower chambers, Token will listen very closely for any signs of abnormal movement or activity from whatever might be hiding in the shadows of the catacombs as well as looking out for any additional traps that might be prepared to hinder them.
As members of the party start moving down the hallway, Hanna notices two sections of the stone wall that look slightly different than the surrounding masonry. One is almost directly in front of the stairs, and the other is twenty or thirty feet further down the curved passage. The stone in each of these sections is slightly indented, forming the impression of a rectangle from floor to ceiling approximately five feet wide. Because of the curve of the tunnel, one faces east and one faces south. Once she notices it, Token’s passive perception would be enough for him to see where she’s looking and then recognize the indentations as well.
Observing Hanna’s discovery, Token will try to silently motion the rest of the group to come back and analyze the indentations in the walls together. He will then try to figure out if these indentations could pose a threat to the rest of the group as some sort of trap.