(@Ori: Location wise, the conversation between Utar and Neya is not taking place far away from Elias. You can assume you heard the words. No check needed.)
As Utar catches on to the happenings in the hallway, Elias offers what he considers to be some parting words.
In the reliquary, Neya uses her crowbar as a piton and jams it into a nook in the stone edge of the pit. She has her choice of a few of these nooks, and picks the one that looks the sturdiest. Looping the rest of her rope around the tool and adding a few knots along its length, the monk provides her companion an easy way into and out of the pit. Praxx thanks her with less flourish than usual and begins his descent: "I'll bring the sacks over to the top. Keep an eye out there for me, will you?"
As Neya watches the gnome work, she takes a peek into the sacks once they arrive. There are many baubles inside, but most of the contents are simply golden coins clearly taken from the altar or base of the large jade statue in the main worship chamber. Of note, there is a series of plates of beaten brass engraved with strange glyphs inside one of the sacks. These symbols match the ones on the stone that was used to block the passage into this underground temple, but unlike that one, there is no magic left in these.
Meanwhile in the corridor, Graxx searches Grim's body for anything of use apart from that magical sword Utar is safekeeping. The sergeant's headless body is, by now, covered in thick blood, as are most of his belongings. After noticing the obvious items (a flail and the full set of plate armor), the barbarian is able to recover a blood-soaked piece of paper from inside the breastplate. It has clearly been ripped from a book, tome, or journal. Most of the ink has been undone by the blood, but a few phrases are still visible: "...cursed demon worship...", "...won't heed my advice...", "...forgive me, my friend."
Ignoring the reading of the note, Drazzim quickly searches the other two bodies and finds nothing of great use: "They were not keeping their riches on their person..."
Elias makes no other sudden moves except to rub his wrist; and even then, he is sluggish about to give Utar no reason to act in haste. But the half-orc is silent for a time as if considering his own next words carefully. Once back to his feet, or at least as much as he could be while leaning back against the wall for support, Elias says a few more in Orcish. A flash of pain crosses his features at one point, causing by all appearance him pause. But he presses on swiftly, and eventually extends a hand.
"Much as I hated Matthis, and Naru grated on my nerves, they along with the rest your lot 'saw' to were the closest thing to 'kin' I had left in this world. At least ever since Grim found and recruited me."There is as a pause, and brief shake of the head as if Elias sought to brush somethign aside. "... My spear."
If his last words are heeded, he stands attention as much as his body allows in a defensive posture. It was a clear façade any seasoned fighter could see through. One meant more to preserve an image when the end is nigh. Elias stares straight at Utar throughout the process, never shirking away even at the last moment. Though if there is hesitation on Utar's part, Elias tries to erase it by charging and provoking a lethal attack upon his person.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Even for those hearing the conversation from afar in a language they do not understand can tell, based simply on tone, that Utar and Elias have reached the end of their exchange of words. Whatever happens next, will surely happen soon.
As Graxx moves to he other room, he sees Utar give Elias' spear back to him. For a moment, the barbarian thinks his companion might be mad, but he quickly realizes that the Black Fist guard is in no conditions to initiate another fight. A Arriving in the reliquary, Graxx watches Neya and Praxx counting the gold coins they have found. He interrupts the counting to ask a question to the gnome.
-> Praxx's history check (advantage for recency): 16
The bard responds: "Hmm... let me see... hmm... yes, yes..." he scratches his chin. "The blood has bloated the letters that still remain, but I'd venture a guess that this is quite similar to Igan Sokol's handwriting. However, I never saw the handwriting of anyone else here in this island, so no way to know for sure. Perhaps if you had not killed them and got the note from them a bit drier... or even just faster before all the blood soaked it ... sigh..."
Back in the main chamber, Drazzim walks in and begins watching Utar and Elias from a distance. He has a tight grip on his bloody greataxe.
While Neya is counting, she glances up and sees Elias leaning on the wall with an extended arm, speaking with Utar. She starts paying more attention, intrigued by what's developing.
Graxx hearing the news sends him further into descent of his rage against the Black Fist. Graxx takes the note back from Praxx.
"Thank you, gnome. They were worshiping demons. They must be purged."
Graxx walks back and sees Utar standing with Elias. Graxx holds up Igan's writing to Utar.
"Look! This was found on Grim's body. They were worshiping demons, Utar! This is Igan's writing. He was trying to talk sense into them and they cut him down! Slay them Utar! Do not let them play mind games with you. It's Bane's evil magic messing with you mind."
Drazzim responds to Utar by putting on a sarcastic “look at the tough guy” facial expression and pointing at him with a sideways thumb a few times. Also in the room, Graxx ignores the dwarf’s jest and instead spurs Utar onwards so he can finish the task at hand.
Elias uses this moment of hesitation to start charging Utar. With a limp on his left leg and a soft grip on his spear, it is painfully obvious to anyone watching that the rushing guard no longer poses a threat. Utar turns and swings his hammer as if he does, giving the fellow half-orc the death of a warrior.
By the time Neya asks the question about the statue, Praxx re-emerges from the reliquary and says: “If we manage to sell all the baubles and add them to the hard coins already in these sacks, I reckon each of us will be about 100gp richer.” The gnome would normally smile while delivering such good news, but the whole event has left a sour taste in his mouth.
Then, Drazzim is the first to acknowledge Neya’s question: “No, not yet. But I agree that we should.”
"Yes we should... But what? It seems to be valuable but I am not sure if it should even exist. Is there any way we can ask Harae? I am just not sure how to communicate our intentions."
Standing again, he looks at the statue. "If we take that thing down, will it do anything for the lighthouse and how do we do it without bringing this place down on our heads?"
While thinking of what to do about the statue, Neya sees the broken-off piece out from the corner of her eye.
"Obviously, we have no means of hauling it up as it is, and it is too dangerous to be left alone. But what if we break off pieces? Grim seemed to think the material it is made out of is valuable in and of itself, and his subordinates have already demonstrated it is possible to do so," She says and points at the piece on the ground.
You all notice that Harae's presence has not left Grim's body's side. Her breeze is simply swirling, ever more rapidly, around the dragonborn. It is not as welcoming as it was during most times.
Utar searches Elias' pockets finding some pocket silvers (7sp), a small tribal totem in the form of a bone dagger, and a heavily edited apology note addressed to Naru for some past incident. What exactly is unclear, as there are more scratched over phrases than actual readable words on the small piece of paper.
Once the group begins discussing about what to do with the statue, Drazzim contributes: "When that one Black Fist became undead, the broken off piece also glowed green, remember? I'm not smart, but it looks to me like damagin' the idol did very little to its power..."
"This is true. It seems like Grim wanted to keep it in one piece more to preserve the gold value rather than the power. Maybe we can chop it out of this form and transport it to the top. First, I want to see what Harae is bringing out attention to. What do you see, Utar?"
Praxx is enveloped in Harae’s breeze. His lute is strummed twice followed by a pause. Another two-time strum, another pause. Then, the instrument is played a third and final time, also a two-note sound.
She twirls rapidly once more and you all swear you can hear a whistle in the wind: “Thank you.”
Harae’s breeze then flies away rapidly toward the entrance of the underground temple.
Apart from some gold (25gp) and a set of pitons, Utar only finds other mundane items of little use on Grim body. By now, they are all soaked in a blood mixture of the four prisoners executed in close proximity.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As the notes from Praxx's lute fade away, Utar shrugs his shoulders,
"Just some gold and some pitons. I have no idea whether the lighthouse is restored or whether she just wanted to check he was dead. I guess she's at rest again now though."
Letting a moment pass by, he collects the items from Grim's corpse, then does the same to Elias, storing the bone dagger especially with an air of reverence.
Taking the sledgehammer from his pack, he advances in the statue, his voice dripping with sarcasm while he spits the first few words.
"I hear the concerns of our learned dwarf, but I can't see how we destroy this thing without removing it from this place. I also can't see any of us taking it out in its current form. Whether it breaks the power of the thing or not, I reckon we'll have more luck dealing with it in pieces than whole."
With that Utar will set about the statue with the hammer, using the opportunity to work out a little frustration.
"Agreed.." Says Graxx as he steps back to let Utar go to work.
"I almost hate to waste this power. If only we could harness it somehow. Somehow control the risen. We could take the Black Fist on directly instead of these small skirmishes!"
The half-orc then grabs his sledgehammer and begins to go at the large green idol of Dagon. The tentacles come off easily enough with each swing, but the humanoid body and the head of a many-fanged fish are much more bulky. The surface layer of the hard green stone cracks but fails to break completely. Utar's arms tire before he can do any real damage to the main mass of the 6-or-so-foot statue.
Drazzim seems to be having a hard time keeping his mouth shut: "Start wielding the power of the dead and you'll make an enemy of me yet, barbarian! Those are not the tools of heroes. I'm sure the Tormite would agree with me on this one."
(@Ori: Location wise, the conversation between Utar and Neya is not taking place far away from Elias. You can assume you heard the words. No check needed.)
As Utar catches on to the happenings in the hallway, Elias offers what he considers to be some parting words.
In the reliquary, Neya uses her crowbar as a piton and jams it into a nook in the stone edge of the pit. She has her choice of a few of these nooks, and picks the one that looks the sturdiest. Looping the rest of her rope around the tool and adding a few knots along its length, the monk provides her companion an easy way into and out of the pit. Praxx thanks her with less flourish than usual and begins his descent: "I'll bring the sacks over to the top. Keep an eye out there for me, will you?"
As Neya watches the gnome work, she takes a peek into the sacks once they arrive. There are many baubles inside, but most of the contents are simply golden coins clearly taken from the altar or base of the large jade statue in the main worship chamber. Of note, there is a series of plates of beaten brass engraved with strange glyphs inside one of the sacks. These symbols match the ones on the stone that was used to block the passage into this underground temple, but unlike that one, there is no magic left in these.
Meanwhile in the corridor, Graxx searches Grim's body for anything of use apart from that magical sword Utar is safekeeping. The sergeant's headless body is, by now, covered in thick blood, as are most of his belongings. After noticing the obvious items (a flail and the full set of plate armor), the barbarian is able to recover a blood-soaked piece of paper from inside the breastplate. It has clearly been ripped from a book, tome, or journal. Most of the ink has been undone by the blood, but a few phrases are still visible: "...cursed demon worship...", "...won't heed my advice...", "...forgive me, my friend."
Ignoring the reading of the note, Drazzim quickly searches the other two bodies and finds nothing of great use: "They were not keeping their riches on their person..."
Utar shakes his head grimly then speaks in common.
"No more questions. I'll let you die on your feet, I owe you that much."
As Utar bends to untie Elias, he asks softly in Orcish.
"Any words you want said afterwards, anything you want passed to kin, tell me now."
Hesitatingly he adds,
"If you want to die weapon in hand, best ask for that now too."
Graxx looks on interestingly at the note he takes it to Praxx.
"Gnome. Does this handwriting look familiar? From the diary you read?"
Elias makes no other sudden moves except to rub his wrist; and even then, he is sluggish about to give Utar no reason to act in haste. But the half-orc is silent for a time as if considering his own next words carefully. Once back to his feet, or at least as much as he could be while leaning back against the wall for support, Elias says a few more in Orcish. A flash of pain crosses his features at one point, causing by all appearance him pause. But he presses on swiftly, and eventually extends a hand.
"Much as I hated Matthis, and Naru grated on my nerves, they along with the rest your lot 'saw' to were the closest thing to 'kin' I had left in this world. At least ever since Grim found and recruited me." There is as a pause, and brief shake of the head as if Elias sought to brush somethign aside. "... My spear."
If his last words are heeded, he stands attention as much as his body allows in a defensive posture. It was a clear façade any seasoned fighter could see through. One meant more to preserve an image when the end is nigh. Elias stares straight at Utar throughout the process, never shirking away even at the last moment. Though if there is hesitation on Utar's part, Elias tries to erase it by charging and provoking a lethal attack upon his person.
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Even for those hearing the conversation from afar in a language they do not understand can tell, based simply on tone, that Utar and Elias have reached the end of their exchange of words. Whatever happens next, will surely happen soon.
As Graxx moves to he other room, he sees Utar give Elias' spear back to him. For a moment, the barbarian thinks his companion might be mad, but he quickly realizes that the Black Fist guard is in no conditions to initiate another fight. A Arriving in the reliquary, Graxx watches Neya and Praxx counting the gold coins they have found. He interrupts the counting to ask a question to the gnome.
-> Praxx's history check (advantage for recency): 16
The bard responds: "Hmm... let me see... hmm... yes, yes..." he scratches his chin. "The blood has bloated the letters that still remain, but I'd venture a guess that this is quite similar to Igan Sokol's handwriting. However, I never saw the handwriting of anyone else here in this island, so no way to know for sure. Perhaps if you had not killed them and got the note from them a bit drier... or even just faster before all the blood soaked it ... sigh..."
Back in the main chamber, Drazzim walks in and begins watching Utar and Elias from a distance. He has a tight grip on his bloody greataxe.
Utar brings up his shield and growls to Drazzim, "Stay out of this, dwarf."
If that gives Elias an opening to rush Utar, bring it on.
If he's able, he retaliates with a swing of his mace.
Attack: 9 Damage: 10
(@MoistBooks: The rush is moreso if Utar hesitates from indecision or reluctance, so no need to worry.)
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
While Neya is counting, she glances up and sees Elias leaning on the wall with an extended arm, speaking with Utar. She starts paying more attention, intrigued by what's developing.
"Looks like we are almost done, here..."
Then, stray question suddenly leaves her lips.
"Did we do anything to the statue, yet?"
Extended Signature
Graxx hearing the news sends him further into descent of his rage against the Black Fist. Graxx takes the note back from Praxx.
"Thank you, gnome. They were worshiping demons. They must be purged."
Graxx walks back and sees Utar standing with Elias. Graxx holds up Igan's writing to Utar.
"Look! This was found on Grim's body. They were worshiping demons, Utar! This is Igan's writing. He was trying to talk sense into them and they cut him down! Slay them Utar! Do not let them play mind games with you. It's Bane's evil magic messing with you mind."
Graxx looks on expectantly.
Drazzim responds to Utar by putting on a sarcastic “look at the tough guy” facial expression and pointing at him with a sideways thumb a few times. Also in the room, Graxx ignores the dwarf’s jest and instead spurs Utar onwards so he can finish the task at hand.
Elias uses this moment of hesitation to start charging Utar. With a limp on his left leg and a soft grip on his spear, it is painfully obvious to anyone watching that the rushing guard no longer poses a threat. Utar turns and swings his hammer as if he does, giving the fellow half-orc the death of a warrior.
By the time Neya asks the question about the statue, Praxx re-emerges from the reliquary and says: “If we manage to sell all the baubles and add them to the hard coins already in these sacks, I reckon each of us will be about 100gp richer.” The gnome would normally smile while delivering such good news, but the whole event has left a sour taste in his mouth.
Then, Drazzim is the first to acknowledge Neya’s question: “No, not yet. But I agree that we should.”
Graxx gives Utar a pat on the shoulder.
"You did what had to be done."
Graxx then walks back closer to Drazzim and Neya.
"Yes we should... But what? It seems to be valuable but I am not sure if it should even exist. Is there any way we can ask Harae? I am just not sure how to communicate our intentions."
Utar stares down at Elias. Kneeling beside the body, he places a hand on Elias' face, closing his eyes. He whispers in Orcish as he does so.
"The battle is over. You fought bravely. Rest now."
While he kneels, he checks Elias for anything useful.
Investigation 12
Standing again, he looks at the statue. "If we take that thing down, will it do anything for the lighthouse and how do we do it without bringing this place down on our heads?"
While thinking of what to do about the statue, Neya sees the broken-off piece out from the corner of her eye.
"Obviously, we have no means of hauling it up as it is, and it is too dangerous to be left alone. But what if we break off pieces? Grim seemed to think the material it is made out of is valuable in and of itself, and his subordinates have already demonstrated it is possible to do so," She says and points at the piece on the ground.
Extended Signature
You all notice that Harae's presence has not left Grim's body's side. Her breeze is simply swirling, ever more rapidly, around the dragonborn. It is not as welcoming as it was during most times.
Utar searches Elias' pockets finding some pocket silvers (7sp), a small tribal totem in the form of a bone dagger, and a heavily edited apology note addressed to Naru for some past incident. What exactly is unclear, as there are more scratched over phrases than actual readable words on the small piece of paper.
Once the group begins discussing about what to do with the statue, Drazzim contributes: "When that one Black Fist became undead, the broken off piece also glowed green, remember? I'm not smart, but it looks to me like damagin' the idol did very little to its power..."
Utar will go over to Grim's body. Looking down for anything they may have missed.
"Harae, is there something we need to know here? Somthing to do with Grim? Does it link to the lighthouse?"
Looking around the room for something for Harae to communicate through, Utar's eyes settle on Praxx's lute.
"Harae, could you strum Praxx's strings once for yes, twice or no?"
Investigation 18
Graxx nods to Drazzim.'
"This is true. It seems like Grim wanted to keep it in one piece more to preserve the gold value rather than the power. Maybe we can chop it out of this form and transport it to the top. First, I want to see what Harae is bringing out attention to. What do you see, Utar?"
Praxx is enveloped in Harae’s breeze. His lute is strummed twice followed by a pause. Another two-time strum, another pause. Then, the instrument is played a third and final time, also a two-note sound.
She twirls rapidly once more and you all swear you can hear a whistle in the wind: “Thank you.”
Harae’s breeze then flies away rapidly toward the entrance of the underground temple.
Apart from some gold (25gp) and a set of pitons, Utar only finds other mundane items of little use on Grim body. By now, they are all soaked in a blood mixture of the four prisoners executed in close proximity.
As the notes from Praxx's lute fade away, Utar shrugs his shoulders,
"Just some gold and some pitons. I have no idea whether the lighthouse is restored or whether she just wanted to check he was dead. I guess she's at rest again now though."
Letting a moment pass by, he collects the items from Grim's corpse, then does the same to Elias, storing the bone dagger especially with an air of reverence.
Taking the sledgehammer from his pack, he advances in the statue, his voice dripping with sarcasm while he spits the first few words.
"I hear the concerns of our learned dwarf, but I can't see how we destroy this thing without removing it from this place. I also can't see any of us taking it out in its current form. Whether it breaks the power of the thing or not, I reckon we'll have more luck dealing with it in pieces than whole."
With that Utar will set about the statue with the hammer, using the opportunity to work out a little frustration.
Athletics - 24
(OOC Does Utar recognise anything about Elias' dagger?)
"Agreed.." Says Graxx as he steps back to let Utar go to work.
"I almost hate to waste this power. If only we could harness it somehow. Somehow control the risen. We could take the Black Fist on directly instead of these small skirmishes!"
Utar collects Elias' dagger and pockets it. In the back of his mind, he wonders whether he knows anything about it.
(@MB: Please give me a history roll).
The half-orc then grabs his sledgehammer and begins to go at the large green idol of Dagon. The tentacles come off easily enough with each swing, but the humanoid body and the head of a many-fanged fish are much more bulky. The surface layer of the hard green stone cracks but fails to break completely. Utar's arms tire before he can do any real damage to the main mass of the 6-or-so-foot statue.
Drazzim seems to be having a hard time keeping his mouth shut: "Start wielding the power of the dead and you'll make an enemy of me yet, barbarian! Those are not the tools of heroes. I'm sure the Tormite would agree with me on this one."