"I believe LT is right... We should keep moving. This messianic and apocalyptic figure, Sotos, seems beyond our comprehension here and now, if ever. He sounds like some... fallen angel. Forsaken. Expelled with his dark apostles from a dying paradise."
A madman's song, unbidden and unspoken, comes to Lyra's mind, though she dares not give it voice in this desecrated place.
Lover, lover, let's pretend we're born as innocents Cast into the world with apple eyes To wish, wish dangerous, my dear delirious And try to leave the rest of us behind
Almost visibly shaking herself out of her brief reverie, Lyra points at the locked chest at the southern end of the room.
"It seems as if that, at least, is something we should investigate. Can any of you pick a lock? Or, we could take the chest with us to inspect later..."
"You think whoever was left behind would leave corpses everywhere?" Ilya asks the ranger as she begins to look over the documents on the desk. "I think we're alone here."
“I don’t think whatever did all this cares for the sanctity of the dead…or the living for that manner. I don’t expect them to render honors as we have done.”
”After learning last night that we’ve been abducted for more than a month without memory, I believe we are far from alone…at least for the foreseeable future.”
"If we can't find a key, or Ilya some tools to take a crack at it, we'll come back for it and just carry it away." He says in regards to the locked chest.
Kalamin waits for LT to finish surveying the map that caught his attention, then nods. "Shall we move on then?"
Kalamin waits for LT to finish surveying the map that caught his attention, then nods. "Shall we move on then?"
Leftenant spends no time at present surveying the map (unless it is so large or framed to not be brought back).
”I’d rather review this when the approaching night does not press in on our return of supplies. Let us carry on with the search. I’m interested to clear the ground floor before moving up…or down.”
LT The map isn't in a case, but unfurled on the desk and held down by a few paperweights (you notice these paperweights are fashioned from bone). You quickly glance over it before you roll it up to store and take with you. Again, you also don't immediately recognize the names on the map, nor the borders. The physical geography looks like the region around the Emerald Sea and the surrounding lands (which in modern times would include the original Solari Kingdom). But the names of nations are foreign to you: Vae'ra, Nalkir, Mekanor...It's all nonsense.
To Remind of What's Around Back in the foyer, there were two rooms on either side(you have explored the right side). To the left side you would have been able to see in what looked like a kitchen, and beyond that the destroyed side of the manor. Further into the foyer there were two hallways leading in either direction. Within this room there is a door on the north wall. I'm presuming the earlier plan of "start on the right and go counter-clockwise."
Realizing that the door on the north wall almost assuredly leads into the hall, you gather what interests you from this room and then open the door. It opens into a hall - to your left is the foyer once more, and infront of you the hall splits into two directions, with a door at the end. There is also another door on the right side of the hall. Both however, are locked.
Map for Clarity
Using LT's token to denote your party's current position.
Glyptemis, who had been distracted for a time by the altered perspective that comes from the Detect Magic spell, has absent-mindedly taken the amulet from Kal. (DM: do the amulets all look identical?) He shakes his head and looks at the chest. "I should be able to open this with a simple spell... but it's probably safest to see if there's any trickery involved with it" (would like to check it for traps).
Glyptemis You run your hands along the small chest(12" long, about 7" wide and 5" deep), gently prodding some areas and inspecting the locking mechanism. You realize very quickly that some of the chest's ornamentation is made of bone, and as you look closer you realize it to be human bone. Despite that unsettling fact however, it doesn't appear to be trapped at all. And the lock itself is quite simple.
While the tortle looks over the chest and decides what to do with it, Ilya ends up wandering into the northern hallway. She rattles the knob on both doors, disappointed to find them locked. They needed to find keys, or a crowbar, or a set of tools she could use to pick these infernal locks. She peaks down the hall to the west. After casting a glance back at the others to see Glyptemis still messing with the chest, she shrugs and walks down the hall to see what's down there.
Ilya Further down the hall you can see it opens up into what looks like a food preparation area. On the far west of the room is a double set of doors. In the hallway itself you come across another door - this time unlocked. As soon as you open it, you're hit with a nauseating stench. The room is a small bathhouse with stone floors with a few light golden rugs outside each of the bath stalls. There are a few cabinets, and a large drain sits in the center of the room. The floor is wet, a mixture of water and blood. Several decaying corpses fill the room: two men barely covered in bath towels, their bodies marred by stab and slash wounds. Three other bodies twisted into impossible contortions. Their own arms driving into their backs and tearing through their chests. It's horror unlike any you've likely seen before.
Kalamin watches Ilya slip away down the hall. "Keep at it Glyp,"He says to the wizard as he continues to work on looking the chest over before stepping out of the room himself.
"Wait up, you shouldn't go too far on your own."By the time he's caught up to her however, she's already thrown open the door. As he comes up beside her to look in he throws his arm up over his face to mask the stench. "These Silvermanes seem to have been a capable bunch." He mutters as he surveys the grotesque scene. Presuming the clothed and twisted bodies to be those that attacked to stop the ritual, he moves in to investigate. The first thing he checks for is more of those amulets, then moving on to look for any other useful tools or weapons they might have been carrying.
Glyptemis looks at the simplicity of the lock, and after determining that the chest is not trapped he says "Yes... this should take a very simple spell indeed" he looks around to see if everyone else is distracted with their investigation and then proceeds to smash the locking mechanism with the butt of his scimitar. (24 to hit for 8 damage)
Kalamin Three bodies, three more amulets. They were armed with shortswords, hand crossbows, and a small quiver of bolts. You find a small waistbag nearby, the bands evidently torn off by whatever killed these people. Within one you find lockpicks and files, the tools of a thief. There's also a small keyring that has what looks like two housekeys on it.
Glyptemis Make a strength check instead of a weapon attack.
Kalamin looks over his shoulder at Ilya before handing the waistbag to her. "You said something about needing the right tools, is this what you were looking for? Couple of keys in there too. Might try them out first."
He gathers the amulets, stashing them in his own pack for now. Later when they have downtime he'll hand them off to Glyptemis.
Leftenant, who had been silently standing-by keeping watch for any signs of danger, might notice the tortle’s efforts to subtly cast ‘Knock’ on the chest. (Perception: 20)
He keeps tabs on the others, moving to positions at intersections for optimal observation. As the others clear rooms, he stands watch, silently monitoring the progress, making mental notes of the layout.
Ilya doesn't go into the bathhouse, more than happy to let Kal be the one to investigate. She holds her hand over her mouth and nose, stepping back out of the doorway to get away from the smell. When he returns with a small bag containing lockpicks she takes with a nod. "Thanks, these'll come in handy." Taking one last look at the gruesome scene, she returns back to the two locked doors. First she tries the keys on them.
If that doesn't work, her eyes flare guidance as she digs through the bag of thieves tools, picking out the ones she needs before getting to work on the door.
Wordlessly for once, Lyra brings up the rear guard as her companions advance, gazing about at the carnage. This cannot stand.
In a quixotic gesture, knowing it will do nothing to reduce the desecration of this cursed place yet feeling compelled nonetheless, she sets the corpses behind them into less horrific postures, laying them to rest gently. Almost tenderly, she closes their eyes, and cleans off the worst of the filth, blood and viscera, using a combination of both Prestidigitation and Mage Hand rather than daring to touch them directly.
Once done, Lyra straightens up, eyes somber, and casts Protection from Evil and Good on herself. Wishing she could cast it on everyone.
Glyptemis The young tortle is stronger than he seems to think. As he smashes the hilt of his blade into the lock, it cracks and the lid pops open slightly. Peeking inside, Glyptemis retrieves a few odd items:
A musty and sort of gross looking leather cloak, patched together very haphazardly.
A smaller (can fit in a hand) box made of ivory? Or perhaps human bone once more. It has inlays tracing out an intricate and flowing pattern across it. Each side seems to be different. A cursory glance reveals no obvious way of opening it.
A wickedly curved dagger with a bone hilt.
Ilya The first room's door (adjacent to the bathhouse) opens easily with your newly acquired tools. You open the door to a bedroom, furnished with a writing desk, wardrobe, and a fireplace in the corner. The wooden floor is partially covered by lavender rugs that match the bed coverings, and the walls are adorned with scenic mountainscape paintings. A chest with no lock sits on the east wall.
The second room (adjacent to the study you first explored) opens into another, smaller bedroom. There is a small desk in one corner, covered with page after page of sketches. There is a bed, a wardrobe, and a small nightstand table on the far side of the bed with a mirror propped up on it.
Leftenant You move to the cross-section of the hall which lets you see all of your companions, or at least the entryway to the rooms they're in. As you keep watch, you only hear the sounds your companions make as they search. There's no sign of anything else moving in the manor.
Lyra As you do your best to clean the bodies, you that each of the attackers' corpses have an odd - and unsettling - symbol carved into them. At its center is what seems to be some kind of organism, a bug perhaps? Surrounded by concentric circles of shapes. The inner set are clearly symbols, and you can at least recognize a sun or star at the top. The outer set are more like runes. At the bottom is of the circle is a lashed eye.
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"I believe LT is right... We should keep moving. This messianic and apocalyptic figure, Sotos, seems beyond our comprehension here and now, if ever. He sounds like some... fallen angel. Forsaken. Expelled with his dark apostles from a dying paradise."
A madman's song, unbidden and unspoken, comes to Lyra's mind, though she dares not give it voice in this desecrated place.
Lover, lover, let's pretend we're born as innocents
Cast into the world with apple eyes
To wish, wish dangerous, my dear delirious
And try to leave the rest of us behind
Almost visibly shaking herself out of her brief reverie, Lyra points at the locked chest at the southern end of the room.
"It seems as if that, at least, is something we should investigate. Can any of you pick a lock? Or, we could take the chest with us to inspect later..."
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
“I don’t think whatever did all this cares for the sanctity of the dead…or the living for that manner. I don’t expect them to render honors as we have done.”
”After learning last night that we’ve been abducted for more than a month without memory, I believe we are far from alone…at least for the foreseeable future.”
With Ilya’s mention of a map, Leftenant’s interest is peaked enough to indicate he would like to review it when time permits.
”Perhaps looking through the rest of the manor will reveal a key or other options for opening the chest.”
"If we can't find a key, or Ilya some tools to take a crack at it, we'll come back for it and just carry it away." He says in regards to the locked chest.
Kalamin waits for LT to finish surveying the map that caught his attention, then nods. "Shall we move on then?"
Leftenant spends no time at present surveying the map (unless it is so large or framed to not be brought back).
”I’d rather review this when the approaching night does not press in on our return of supplies. Let us carry on with the search. I’m interested to clear the ground floor before moving up…or down.”
LT
The map isn't in a case, but unfurled on the desk and held down by a few paperweights (you notice these paperweights are fashioned from bone). You quickly glance over it before you roll it up to store and take with you. Again, you also don't immediately recognize the names on the map, nor the borders. The physical geography looks like the region around the Emerald Sea and the surrounding lands (which in modern times would include the original Solari Kingdom). But the names of nations are foreign to you: Vae'ra, Nalkir, Mekanor...It's all nonsense.
To Remind of What's Around
Back in the foyer, there were two rooms on either side(you have explored the right side). To the left side you would have been able to see in what looked like a kitchen, and beyond that the destroyed side of the manor. Further into the foyer there were two hallways leading in either direction. Within this room there is a door on the north wall. I'm presuming the earlier plan of "start on the right and go counter-clockwise."
Realizing that the door on the north wall almost assuredly leads into the hall, you gather what interests you from this room and then open the door. It opens into a hall - to your left is the foyer once more, and infront of you the hall splits into two directions, with a door at the end. There is also another door on the right side of the hall. Both however, are locked.
Map for Clarity
Using LT's token to denote your party's current position.
Glyptemis, who had been distracted for a time by the altered perspective that comes from the Detect Magic spell, has absent-mindedly taken the amulet from Kal. (DM: do the amulets all look identical?) He shakes his head and looks at the chest. "I should be able to open this with a simple spell... but it's probably safest to see if there's any trickery involved with it" (would like to check it for traps).
Glyptemis
(All of the amulets look exactly the same. Make an investigation check to see if the chest is trapped.)
(23 investigation)
Glyptemis
You run your hands along the small chest(12" long, about 7" wide and 5" deep), gently prodding some areas and inspecting the locking mechanism. You realize very quickly that some of the chest's ornamentation is made of bone, and as you look closer you realize it to be human bone. Despite that unsettling fact however, it doesn't appear to be trapped at all. And the lock itself is quite simple.
While the tortle looks over the chest and decides what to do with it, Ilya ends up wandering into the northern hallway. She rattles the knob on both doors, disappointed to find them locked. They needed to find keys, or a crowbar, or a set of tools she could use to pick these infernal locks. She peaks down the hall to the west. After casting a glance back at the others to see Glyptemis still messing with the chest, she shrugs and walks down the hall to see what's down there.
Ilya
Further down the hall you can see it opens up into what looks like a food preparation area. On the far west of the room is a double set of doors. In the hallway itself you come across another door - this time unlocked. As soon as you open it, you're hit with a nauseating stench. The room is a small bathhouse with stone floors with a few light golden rugs outside each of the bath stalls. There are a few cabinets, and a large drain sits in the center of the room. The floor is wet, a mixture of water and blood. Several decaying corpses fill the room: two men barely covered in bath towels, their bodies marred by stab and slash wounds. Three other bodies twisted into impossible contortions. Their own arms driving into their backs and tearing through their chests. It's horror unlike any you've likely seen before.
Kalamin watches Ilya slip away down the hall. "Keep at it Glyp," He says to the wizard as he continues to work on looking the chest over before stepping out of the room himself.
"Wait up, you shouldn't go too far on your own." By the time he's caught up to her however, she's already thrown open the door. As he comes up beside her to look in he throws his arm up over his face to mask the stench. "These Silvermanes seem to have been a capable bunch." He mutters as he surveys the grotesque scene. Presuming the clothed and twisted bodies to be those that attacked to stop the ritual, he moves in to investigate. The first thing he checks for is more of those amulets, then moving on to look for any other useful tools or weapons they might have been carrying.
Investigation: 19
Glyptemis looks at the simplicity of the lock, and after determining that the chest is not trapped he says "Yes... this should take a very simple spell indeed" he looks around to see if everyone else is distracted with their investigation and then proceeds to smash the locking mechanism with the butt of his scimitar. (24 to hit for 8 damage)
Kalamin
Three bodies, three more amulets. They were armed with shortswords, hand crossbows, and a small quiver of bolts. You find a small waistbag nearby, the bands evidently torn off by whatever killed these people. Within one you find lockpicks and files, the tools of a thief. There's also a small keyring that has what looks like two housekeys on it.
Glyptemis
Make a strength check instead of a weapon attack.
( Lol I tried! 16-1=15 STR )
Kalamin looks over his shoulder at Ilya before handing the waistbag to her. "You said something about needing the right tools, is this what you were looking for? Couple of keys in there too. Might try them out first."
He gathers the amulets, stashing them in his own pack for now. Later when they have downtime he'll hand them off to Glyptemis.
Leftenant, who had been silently standing-by keeping watch for any signs of danger, might notice the tortle’s efforts to subtly cast ‘Knock’ on the chest. (Perception: 20)
He keeps tabs on the others, moving to positions at intersections for optimal observation. As the others clear rooms, he stands watch, silently monitoring the progress, making mental notes of the layout.
Ilya doesn't go into the bathhouse, more than happy to let Kal be the one to investigate. She holds her hand over her mouth and nose, stepping back out of the doorway to get away from the smell. When he returns with a small bag containing lockpicks she takes with a nod. "Thanks, these'll come in handy." Taking one last look at the gruesome scene, she returns back to the two locked doors. First she tries the keys on them.
If that doesn't work, her eyes flare guidance as she digs through the bag of thieves tools, picking out the ones she needs before getting to work on the door.
Check 1: 14
Check 2: 16
Wordlessly for once, Lyra brings up the rear guard as her companions advance, gazing about at the carnage. This cannot stand.
In a quixotic gesture, knowing it will do nothing to reduce the desecration of this cursed place yet feeling compelled nonetheless, she sets the corpses behind them into less horrific postures, laying them to rest gently. Almost tenderly, she closes their eyes, and cleans off the worst of the filth, blood and viscera, using a combination of both Prestidigitation and Mage Hand rather than daring to touch them directly.
Once done, Lyra straightens up, eyes somber, and casts Protection from Evil and Good on herself. Wishing she could cast it on everyone.
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Glyptemis
The young tortle is stronger than he seems to think. As he smashes the hilt of his blade into the lock, it cracks and the lid pops open slightly. Peeking inside, Glyptemis retrieves a few odd items:
Ilya
The first room's door (adjacent to the bathhouse) opens easily with your newly acquired tools. You open the door to a bedroom, furnished with a writing desk, wardrobe, and a fireplace in the corner. The wooden floor is partially covered by lavender rugs that match the bed coverings, and the walls are adorned with scenic mountainscape paintings. A chest with no lock sits on the east wall.
The second room (adjacent to the study you first explored) opens into another, smaller bedroom. There is a small desk in one corner, covered with page after page of sketches. There is a bed, a wardrobe, and a small nightstand table on the far side of the bed with a mirror propped up on it.
Leftenant
You move to the cross-section of the hall which lets you see all of your companions, or at least the entryway to the rooms they're in. As you keep watch, you only hear the sounds your companions make as they search. There's no sign of anything else moving in the manor.
Lyra
As you do your best to clean the bodies, you that each of the attackers' corpses have an odd - and unsettling - symbol carved into them. At its center is what seems to be some kind of organism, a bug perhaps? Surrounded by concentric circles of shapes. The inner set are clearly symbols, and you can at least recognize a sun or star at the top. The outer set are more like runes. At the bottom is of the circle is a lashed eye.