"It looks like someone has been here since the construct come through. See how the more humanoid footsteps are messing with these, more obviously not humanoid footsteps."
"We will have to hope who ever came through here, didn't find what the construct left behind."
Making sure the door is closed behind them, Morphlets the illusion drop.
Turning back towards the footsteps and the stairs down, Morphcast Detect Magic and keeps his eye's open for any magic.
(While searching the mausoleum, Morphwill keep recasting Detect Magic, to keep it active.)
On the second level, the light is dim but it is not hard to spot the bodies laying at and around the corner of the catacombs.
One of them, a woman in her late 20s or early 30s appears to be breathing shallowly. The other two are clearly dead. All are dressed in dark hooded robes.
Rethan frowns at seeing bodies on the floor, even more so when he realizes one of htem is still breathing. "I know this is a mausoleum," He says dryly, "But aren't the dead bodies interred in such usually...a bit less recentliy dead? And...more appropriately interred? Not just dropped in the corner?" He moves over to the woman to check on her, waving Morph over as he does, since the other man is clearly the more knowledgeable for the situation.
Morphand Rethanfind no weapons or other items on the hooded bodies. Upon casting Healing Light, the woman's wounds mostly close. A moment later she sits upright, shielding her face with her hands and gasping for breath. Her gaze falls upon Morph, and then Rethanand Maland she doesn't recognize any of them. This comes as a relief and she lowers her guard.
Then her eyes open wide. "Holiver!" she croaks and crawls across the dusty floor to the next nearest body. Finding him dead, she sobs as she cradles his head. "Those bastards."
After a few minutes of letting her grieve, she dries her eyes and nods to the adventurers, seemingly in thanks. "If only you had found us sooner," she says, looking at Holiver. "I am Vaelle. Five of us came here to retrieve the key. A magical stone of some type. We found no trouble, so Arn and Seffia had to make some. They killed Holiver. And Kaeth," she says, looking at the other body. "And they tried to kill me as well."
She sobs over Holiver for a few more moments. "Those bastards," she says again. When she looks up, it is with a steely gaze through her drying tears. "I think I know where they took it," she says. "An old windmill in the South Ward where we would meet to worship." She grits her teeth as she makes her bargain next. "If you can heal the rest of my wounds, I will lead you there."
Vaelle looks Rethanafter wiping her tears. "We are worshipers of Asmodeus," she says flatly, as if it was obvious. "One of our members left the stone here for us to retrieve and take to a safe place. Supposedly it unlocks a great treasure. Great enough to kill for. Who would not want that? As for Seffia and Arn, I won't defend them. They are greedy and cruel and always have been."
Mal will walk back towards the entrance to keep watch (perception: 4)
After checking the surroundings, he will point finger surreptitiously at Morph and cast message.
To Morph: "Like I said: cult. Oh tumult! That rhymes. Oh, right. Helping her. Not sure we should. Seems they were dying to get in there - not sure we should follow suit. Can we trust anything she says? Should we not trust her for any reason? I can make sure she is telling the truth if you give me a few minutes alone with her. Just give me a look if you want me to come back in, will you?"
Tituswill cast Divine Sense to examine Vaelle, as well as the rest of what he can see in the catacombs, including the bodies of the deceased. He listens to her tale and does his best to listen for any signs of dishonesty.
Mal approaches. "Yet we must know that she speaks truly. Give me two minutes - one even. I'll get to the bottom of this. She will tell us everything we need."
Vaellecalls from down the hall, "It's the windmill just south of Caravan Court." When everyone turns to look at her, she is standing with her fists clenched. "I really would rather stab them in the throat myself. But I will find my vengeance another way, if I must." She looks down at Holiver and stifles a sob. "South of Caravan Court. You can't miss the run down piece of shit windmill. You'd best hurry, though."
"Hmm, look here."
Morph points at the layered footsteps.
"It looks like someone has been here since the construct come through. See how the more humanoid footsteps are messing with these, more obviously not humanoid footsteps."
"We will have to hope who ever came through here, didn't find what the construct left behind."
Making sure the door is closed behind them, Morph lets the illusion drop.
Turning back towards the footsteps and the stairs down, Morph cast Detect Magic and keeps his eye's open for any magic.
(While searching the mausoleum, Morph will keep recasting Detect Magic, to keep it active.)
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
On the second level, the light is dim but it is not hard to spot the bodies laying at and around the corner of the catacombs.
One of them, a woman in her late 20s or early 30s appears to be breathing shallowly. The other two are clearly dead. All are dressed in dark hooded robes.
Rethan frowns at seeing bodies on the floor, even more so when he realizes one of htem is still breathing. "I know this is a mausoleum," He says dryly, "But aren't the dead bodies interred in such usually...a bit less recentliy dead? And...more appropriately interred? Not just dropped in the corner?" He moves over to the woman to check on her, waving Morph over as he does, since the other man is clearly the more knowledgeable for the situation.
"Can someone think of something that rhymes with 'Cult'? I'm having trouble, and I get the feeling we might need it soon."
Mal glances down at the still breathing woman as he walks by to peek around the corner. Over his shoulder, he softly calls: "Can you help her?"
perception from the peek around the corner:9
The entire catacombs appears to be empty, save for the bodies and still-breathing woman.
Morph comes over at Rethan's direction.
"Hmm, lets see what we can do for her, but first, maybe we check for any weapons?"
Morph will search (with help from Rethan?) for any weapons on the woman, and move them away from her before he uses 1d6 of Healing Light on her.
Investigation check to find any weapons and move them out of reach: 16 (Advantage from Rethan helping)
Healing Light: 6 HP
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
Morph and Rethan find no weapons or other items on the hooded bodies. Upon casting Healing Light, the woman's wounds mostly close. A moment later she sits upright, shielding her face with her hands and gasping for breath. Her gaze falls upon Morph, and then Rethan and Mal and she doesn't recognize any of them. This comes as a relief and she lowers her guard.
Then her eyes open wide. "Holiver!" she croaks and crawls across the dusty floor to the next nearest body. Finding him dead, she sobs as she cradles his head. "Those bastards."
After a few minutes of letting her grieve, she dries her eyes and nods to the adventurers, seemingly in thanks. "If only you had found us sooner," she says, looking at Holiver. "I am Vaelle. Five of us came here to retrieve the key. A magical stone of some type. We found no trouble, so Arn and Seffia had to make some. They killed Holiver. And Kaeth," she says, looking at the other body. "And they tried to kill me as well."
She sobs over Holiver for a few more moments. "Those bastards," she says again. When she looks up, it is with a steely gaze through her drying tears. "I think I know where they took it," she says. "An old windmill in the South Ward where we would meet to worship." She grits her teeth as she makes her bargain next. "If you can heal the rest of my wounds, I will lead you there."
(Vaelle is at 6/9 HP)
"Who are you? Not your name, but what were you five after this key for. And why would two of your group turn on the rest of you?"
Morph looks to the others with an expression that says, shell we?
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
Vaelle looks Rethan after wiping her tears. "We are worshipers of Asmodeus," she says flatly, as if it was obvious. "One of our members left the stone here for us to retrieve and take to a safe place. Supposedly it unlocks a great treasure. Great enough to kill for. Who would not want that? As for Seffia and Arn, I won't defend them. They are greedy and cruel and always have been."
(We got some hardcore cultists :S)
Religion check to see if Morph knows about Asmodeus: 12
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
Morph knows Asmodeus to be the god of Indulgence and the ruler of the Nine Hells.
Mal will walk back towards the entrance to keep watch (perception: 4)
After checking the surroundings, he will point finger surreptitiously at Morph and cast message.
To Morph: "Like I said: cult. Oh tumult! That rhymes. Oh, right. Helping her. Not sure we should. Seems they were dying to get in there - not sure we should follow suit. Can we trust anything she says? Should we not trust her for any reason? I can make sure she is telling the truth if you give me a few minutes alone with her. Just give me a look if you want me to come back in, will you?"
Titus will cast Divine Sense to examine Vaelle, as well as the rest of what he can see in the catacombs, including the bodies of the deceased. He listens to her tale and does his best to listen for any signs of dishonesty.
Investigation 12
Vercinius Thrax: Lizardfolk Cleric - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
L’Ouverture Zinn: Kobold Sorcerer - Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
Titus Vorenus: Dragonborn Paladin - Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Nemean Goldenmane: Tabaxi Fighter - Lost Mine of Phandelver (Retired)
"Ahh, Asmodeus? Hmm..."
Morph receives Mal's silent message and turns back to Vaelle,
"Could we have just a quick moment to talk before we continue?"
Morph waves everyone over to huddle, closer to where Mal walked, and hopefully far enough away from Vaelle, not to be over heard.
Whispering to the others,
"Asmodeus is the lord of the nine hells! We shouldn't be healing her, we should be handing her over to the watch for imprisonment!"
"Having said that, we cannot let a possibly large fortune come into the hands of a cult to the lord of hell himself."
"The evil they could perpetrate with that kind of backing, is not something I would want to have to consider."
"Do we heal her and get the details we need, then hand her over to the watch when we are done?"
"Or do we just try to extract the information from her here and know?"
Morph looks at Mal with this last suggestion.
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
Titus does not detect any great evil. Nor does he see any clues that contradict the woman's tale.
Laniel is silent for a moment. "They killed her love. And tried to kill her. She worships Asmodeus no more, I'd wager."
Mal approaches. "Yet we must know that she speaks truly. Give me two minutes - one even. I'll get to the bottom of this. She will tell us everything we need."
"I wouldn't trust her myself. If Mal has a method of extracting the truth from her, my vote goes to Mal."
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
Vaelle calls from down the hall, "It's the windmill just south of Caravan Court." When everyone turns to look at her, she is standing with her fists clenched. "I really would rather stab them in the throat myself. But I will find my vengeance another way, if I must." She looks down at Holiver and stifles a sob. "South of Caravan Court. You can't miss the run down piece of shit windmill. You'd best hurry, though."
Morph tries to workout if he thinks Vaelle is telling the truth or possibly lying.
Insight check to try to determine if Vaelle is lying: 17
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss