@Doozey: In most larger settlements, towns, and cities, grave-robbing is indeed a punishable crime. In some cities which claim to be even more righteous, the simple action of disturbing a body's resting place, whether any actual stealing has taking place, is in itself a crime. You have no reason to believe Phlan's laws would deviate much from that. All of that said, this is the type of crime that is hard to prove unless someone is caught in the act, so enforcers may have a hard time prosecuting based only on allegations.
Graxx is the first to vocally react to Cassyt's accusation. While Doozey and Utar observe, the barbarian speaks assertively to the acolyte and convinces her to quiet herself, explaining that they were paid for a service and have no obligation to take up another. Once Graxx addresses the Welcomers, the tiefling responds: "Ha! Listen to your elders, girls! Be quiet and let the adults make the decisions." This does not strike Doozey as the type of answer a wrongly accused person would give. Cassyt pouts and silently sits back down on her corner near the door.
Then, when Graxx turns back around to propose the Welcomers move their stash, the elf responds: "A wise suggestion. Worry not, we have already started." He jiggles his pockets to produce sounds of unseen trinkets hitting each other. The tiefling and half-orc repeat the gesture, with the drunk one giggling guiltily as he does so. The elf continues: "You have never seen us, or us you. In a tenday our stash will be elsewhere."
With that, the tiefling moves to pick up the rope and grappling hook apparatus and then walks back to her previous spot next to her companions. Neya expresses some doubt about the viability of their entry point but the trio points out that the shaft opens up to the outside world and that only a single metal piece of the grate fell off, so they should be able to try using it as an exit path as well. It takes four tries but the tiefling manages to snag the hook in place. She climbs the rope first, followed by the elf. When it is time for the half-orc to follow them, he tries to rise but stumbles. He has clearly had too much to drink. He gives the rope a few pathetic tries before the tiefling yells from above: "Give him a hand, will you?" He is making a lot of noise.
“Quiet you.” Graxx sternly commands to the drunkard.
”You’ll bring the dead upon us.”
Graxx takes the rope from his pathetic hands and will attempt to make a harness with two loops one for each leg that they can use to hoist out their comrade.
Utar goes to offer what help he can to Graxx, talking him through some knots that might be effective.
"Loop, then loop again. That's right. Now the rabbit goes down the hole."
Stopping the half-orc before he ascends the rope, Utar hold out a hand as if waiting for payment. Sucking air through his teeth, Utar's voice takes on a decidedly.surly tone.
"Unfortunately there's a charge for use of this here lift, mate. Surcharges to the honourable guild of lifters and hoisters, union dues, that sort of thing, you know how it is?"
More out of self-preservation than selflessness, Graxx approaches the half-orc Welcomer and begins to improvise a harness around his torso. It is only after Utar agrees to help with the knotting that the device is properly secured. Above CRAP, the elf and the tiefling seem reluctant to spend their energy hoisting their companion up, at least at first. "We should leave him behind as a lesson for guzzling the whiskey." They talk themselves out of it a moment later, however, under the assumption the half-orc would spill their secrets if confronted by the Kelemvorites.
As he begins to be lifted, Utar uncharacteristically grifts the Welcomer for some payment for services rendered. His judgement hindered by drink, the half-orc reaches into one of his pockets without raising any fuss and then places an item into Utar's hands. The cleric waits until the Welcomer is halfway up before examining his plunder. Opening his hands, Utar comes to terms with the fact he is now holding a glass eye. Utar can sense a very faint magical aura from it.
Cassyt is still protesting in silence.
(OOC: If you would now like to start your short rest, please go ahead.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Utar looks down at the glass eye on his hand. A shiver runs down his spine as he suddenly considers that it might be staring up at him.
Looking at Cassyt, he feels he owes the acolyte an explanation. "We barely put these two down, we couldn't pick another fight straight after. If you're intent on teaching those three that disturbing the rest of the dead won't be taken lightly, you know where their stash is and you know how they're getting into the catacombs. That's powerful information. If I were you, I'd mark the door of the stash and maybe poke my head up, see exactly where they're coming into the catacombs."
His piece said, Utar settles down against the wall facing the entrance to the room. Rolling the glass eye around in his hands, he uses some of his time to offer a prayer of healing, granting CRAP and Cassyt 12 hp.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
After coming to his conclusions, Doozey had continued to quietly watch the proceedings. It might've been nice to get a pulse on the current situation with the Welcomers since ridding them of the Zhent's influence.... But, the stoutling almost immediately dismissed that thought in favor of focusing all his attention towards marking their appearance in mind while Graxx and the others "helped" in the trio's escape.
And once they were gone, he would -- along with Biscuit, following a signal from Doozey -- walk over to the spots the trio been and sniff around, trying to find their scent past the booze and atmosphere itself, and mark it in mind for later. If they could find some tearing off cloth or other left behind marker in the process, all the better. Such things Doozey would put in its own seperate pouch prior turning to properly address the others.
--> Survival: 23. (if Biscuit is consered helping: 14. 2 less off the second roll if treated seperately) (If investigation would be more appropriate knock off 3 from above rolls)
"Now that that's all over with. Still keep your ears and eyes peeled. And.. probably stay away from the walls in case that spook comes back and tries to sneakily posses one of us again, ya?" Doozey suggests, before regarding the zombie corpses. After a moment of thought, he'd go to investigate them next, examining their form and clothing for hints to suggest the sort of area they'd been staying in the most before finding their way here.
Cassyt is still bothered by the whole encounter with the Welcomers and how it came to pass. She listens to Utar and Graxx and, after some minutes to think about it, decides to give CRAP the benefit of the doubt. She is still pouting when she says "I guess cleansing the catacombs of undead takes priority over ridding it of grave-robbers right now. The Doomsguide will still hear about this, though." She takes out one of her notebooks and begins taking detailed notes on the location of this stash and on what she can remember the Welcomers looked and sounded like.
Doozey spends the next few minutes investigating the spot where the Welcomers sat. Surely enough, Biscuit and his master easily find glass shards that once formed a whiskey bottle as well as the piece of cloth that wrapped the bread Utar shared with them. Among their own smells, these items do carry a faint scent of each of the humanoids who touched them. Doozey saves them for later. The stoutling then warns the group to stay a few feet away from the walls and they resume their rest.
While resting, Neya pulls out her map and studies it. Using her tools and making a few calculations, the monk concludes that they are still beneath Valhingen Graveyard. Doozey also engages in some studying, though his subjects smell a lot fouler. He notices that the layers of clothes don't follow any specific style and, in fact, are of varying qualities. They are also peppered with dirt, suggesting they were buried. Last but not least, Utar stares attentively at the glass eye he earned with his intimidation tactics. Over the next several minutes, he comes to understand that a person who has lost an eye may plop this enchanted one into the empty socket and have it work just as well, if not better, than the original. It is nothing but a trinket, which could be sold for some gold, but it is also the clearest indication that the Welcomers may have indeed been digging up graves. How else would they have come across such an oddity down here?
Near the end of the resting period, the group begins to hear someone crying in the distance.
(OOC: Utar's [spell[Prayer of Healing[/spell] helps everyone recover 12 HP. If you are rolling any Hit Dice on top of that, please do so now.)
(No need to roll for hit die thanks to Prayer of healing. But did reset any SR stuff.)
"Probably a good thing, as I had booby trapped the other hallway. Give me a moment to clear a path, as we need to get deeper anyway to find our missing armored undead." With that, Doozey spares the two zombie boys another look, thinking back to the varying clothing style, before turning his attention back towards getting out back in the hallway. With a bit of assistance from Biscuit and a briefly called over Gravy, Doozey collects what caltrops he can and brushes the rest far enough off to the side as to reduce if not eliminate any possible harm they can possibly cause.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Cassyt's suspicions about the Welcomers confirmed, Utar also recalls that no lost of the belongings of those interred here exists. Thinking his new trinket might better serve one of the living, he stows it in a pocket with a mind to give it a good clean before passing it on.
"Let's tread carefully. The cries could be a trap. They could be exactly where we need to be..."
(OOC: Be sure to mark any used Hit Dice and hit the Short Rest button, as well as confirm it.)
For the remainder of the rest, Graxx and Utar patch up the last few wounds that were still exposed. (Graxx recovers 70 HP; Utar recovers 24 HP.)
While Doozey and his more bestial companions clear the path out of the room, Neya tries to pinpoint the source of the cries. Unfortunately, she can only conclude that the sounds are reverberating around the many walls and narrow passages in the catacombs, making it hard to determine the direction they are coming from. That said, the monk does not think that the crier is too far from the party.
(OOC: Assuming the group does not want to either force their way into the Welcomers' stash or backtrack upstairs by climbing the remainders of the fallen staircase, there really is only one path to follow.)
Exiting the sun pit, CRAP passes by the statue of Jergal once again and continues down the only unexplored path ahead of them. Some 10 feet past the statue, the path turns to the right. It leads down a hallway with stairs leading further down should the group decide to move straight ahead. Alternatively, there is an opening to the left, just before the steps leading downstairs. The crying can be heard more clearly now that the party is looking down this hallway.
(OOC I haven't applied advantage to that roll as I assume the check is more listening based and the weird eye on Utar's shield maybe isn't all that useful for that. If I'm wrong, here's the advantage roll: 20)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Both Doozey and Biscuit's ears perk up a bit at the sound, though only the former really sniffs at the air, searching for scents related to fear from either path. The sort of pheromones only a living being could produce...
Though if such things were beyond the scope of even his heightened senses, weretouched though he may be, he still look back and whisper to the others,"I don't suppose any of ya have magic to defend against future possessions on ya? For in all likelihood, 'less some kind drop down one of those grates the welcomers mentioned, best be prepared for this to be a ploy from our spectral friend from before."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
@Utar:Those seem like cries of sorrow to you, or some sort of lament.
@Doozey: Both you and Biscuit are pretty sure there aren't any pheromones in the air.
Once Doozey and Utar share these finding with the rest of the party, Graxx and Neya comment on their ability to deliver blows to the suspected source of the cries, a ghost. The group discusses some strategies but soon realizes they have to make a choice in order to advance.
(OOC: Will you go straight and down the steps or will you investigate the room/opening to your left.)
@Doozey: In most larger settlements, towns, and cities, grave-robbing is indeed a punishable crime. In some cities which claim to be even more righteous, the simple action of disturbing a body's resting place, whether any actual stealing has taking place, is in itself a crime. You have no reason to believe Phlan's laws would deviate much from that. All of that said, this is the type of crime that is hard to prove unless someone is caught in the act, so enforcers may have a hard time prosecuting based only on allegations.
Graxx is the first to vocally react to Cassyt's accusation. While Doozey and Utar observe, the barbarian speaks assertively to the acolyte and convinces her to quiet herself, explaining that they were paid for a service and have no obligation to take up another. Once Graxx addresses the Welcomers, the tiefling responds: "Ha! Listen to your elders, girls! Be quiet and let the adults make the decisions." This does not strike Doozey as the type of answer a wrongly accused person would give. Cassyt pouts and silently sits back down on her corner near the door.
Then, when Graxx turns back around to propose the Welcomers move their stash, the elf responds: "A wise suggestion. Worry not, we have already started." He jiggles his pockets to produce sounds of unseen trinkets hitting each other. The tiefling and half-orc repeat the gesture, with the drunk one giggling guiltily as he does so. The elf continues: "You have never seen us, or us you. In a tenday our stash will be elsewhere."
With that, the tiefling moves to pick up the rope and grappling hook apparatus and then walks back to her previous spot next to her companions. Neya expresses some doubt about the viability of their entry point but the trio points out that the shaft opens up to the outside world and that only a single metal piece of the grate fell off, so they should be able to try using it as an exit path as well. It takes four tries but the tiefling manages to snag the hook in place. She climbs the rope first, followed by the elf. When it is time for the half-orc to follow them, he tries to rise but stumbles. He has clearly had too much to drink. He gives the rope a few pathetic tries before the tiefling yells from above: "Give him a hand, will you?" He is making a lot of noise.
“Quiet you.” Graxx sternly commands to the drunkard.
”You’ll bring the dead upon us.”
Graxx takes the rope from his pathetic hands and will attempt to make a harness with two loops one for each leg that they can use to hoist out their comrade.
Survival: 8
Utar goes to offer what help he can to Graxx, talking him through some knots that might be effective.
"Loop, then loop again. That's right. Now the rabbit goes down the hole."
Stopping the half-orc before he ascends the rope, Utar hold out a hand as if waiting for payment. Sucking air through his teeth, Utar's voice takes on a decidedly.surly tone.
"Unfortunately there's a charge for use of this here lift, mate. Surcharges to the honourable guild of lifters and hoisters, union dues, that sort of thing, you know how it is?"
Intimidation 10 plus 4
(OOC If it's more a deception check then there's only a plus one modifier. Unless the half-orc is secretly a green dragon...)
Help Survival: 22
More out of self-preservation than selflessness, Graxx approaches the half-orc Welcomer and begins to improvise a harness around his torso. It is only after Utar agrees to help with the knotting that the device is properly secured. Above CRAP, the elf and the tiefling seem reluctant to spend their energy hoisting their companion up, at least at first. "We should leave him behind as a lesson for guzzling the whiskey." They talk themselves out of it a moment later, however, under the assumption the half-orc would spill their secrets if confronted by the Kelemvorites.
As he begins to be lifted, Utar uncharacteristically grifts the Welcomer for some payment for services rendered. His judgement hindered by drink, the half-orc reaches into one of his pockets without raising any fuss and then places an item into Utar's hands. The cleric waits until the Welcomer is halfway up before examining his plunder. Opening his hands, Utar comes to terms with the fact he is now holding a glass eye. Utar can sense a very faint magical aura from it.
Cassyt is still protesting in silence.
(OOC: If you would now like to start your short rest, please go ahead.)
Utar looks down at the glass eye on his hand. A shiver runs down his spine as he suddenly considers that it might be staring up at him.
Looking at Cassyt, he feels he owes the acolyte an explanation. "We barely put these two down, we couldn't pick another fight straight after. If you're intent on teaching those three that disturbing the rest of the dead won't be taken lightly, you know where their stash is and you know how they're getting into the catacombs. That's powerful information. If I were you, I'd mark the door of the stash and maybe poke my head up, see exactly where they're coming into the catacombs."
His piece said, Utar settles down against the wall facing the entrance to the room. Rolling the glass eye around in his hands, he uses some of his time to offer a prayer of healing, granting CRAP and Cassyt 12 hp.
After coming to his conclusions, Doozey had continued to quietly watch the proceedings. It might've been nice to get a pulse on the current situation with the Welcomers since ridding them of the Zhent's influence.... But, the stoutling almost immediately dismissed that thought in favor of focusing all his attention towards marking their appearance in mind while Graxx and the others "helped" in the trio's escape.
And once they were gone, he would -- along with Biscuit, following a signal from Doozey -- walk over to the spots the trio been and sniff around, trying to find their scent past the booze and atmosphere itself, and mark it in mind for later. If they could find some tearing off cloth or other left behind marker in the process, all the better. Such things Doozey would put in its own seperate pouch prior turning to properly address the others.
--> Survival: 23. (if Biscuit is consered helping: 14. 2 less off the second roll if treated seperately)
(If investigation would be more appropriate knock off 3 from above rolls)
"Now that that's all over with. Still keep your ears and eyes peeled. And.. probably stay away from the walls in case that spook comes back and tries to sneakily posses one of us again, ya?" Doozey suggests, before regarding the zombie corpses. After a moment of thought, he'd go to investigate them next, examining their form and clothing for hints to suggest the sort of area they'd been staying in the most before finding their way here.
--> Investigation: 20(if helped 10).
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Graxx walks over and nods to Cassyt.
"Utar is right. It may not seem like it now but I was protecting you."
"Notice I didn't use your name and stopped you from talking further about the Doomguide. We don't want that type of folk knowing your names."
Graxx looks at the stash.
"I wouldn't put it past them to booby trap that stash. I don't think I'd mess with it."
Neya, curious, will try take out a map of Phlan and try to find out where they are, taking into account their movements in the catacombs.
Perception (w/ Cartographer's tools): 19
Extended Signature
Cassyt is still bothered by the whole encounter with the Welcomers and how it came to pass. She listens to Utar and Graxx and, after some minutes to think about it, decides to give CRAP the benefit of the doubt. She is still pouting when she says "I guess cleansing the catacombs of undead takes priority over ridding it of grave-robbers right now. The Doomsguide will still hear about this, though." She takes out one of her notebooks and begins taking detailed notes on the location of this stash and on what she can remember the Welcomers looked and sounded like.
Doozey spends the next few minutes investigating the spot where the Welcomers sat. Surely enough, Biscuit and his master easily find glass shards that once formed a whiskey bottle as well as the piece of cloth that wrapped the bread Utar shared with them. Among their own smells, these items do carry a faint scent of each of the humanoids who touched them. Doozey saves them for later. The stoutling then warns the group to stay a few feet away from the walls and they resume their rest.
While resting, Neya pulls out her map and studies it. Using her tools and making a few calculations, the monk concludes that they are still beneath Valhingen Graveyard. Doozey also engages in some studying, though his subjects smell a lot fouler. He notices that the layers of clothes don't follow any specific style and, in fact, are of varying qualities. They are also peppered with dirt, suggesting they were buried. Last but not least, Utar stares attentively at the glass eye he earned with his intimidation tactics. Over the next several minutes, he comes to understand that a person who has lost an eye may plop this enchanted one into the empty socket and have it work just as well, if not better, than the original. It is nothing but a trinket, which could be sold for some gold, but it is also the clearest indication that the Welcomers may have indeed been digging up graves. How else would they have come across such an oddity down here?
Near the end of the resting period, the group begins to hear someone crying in the distance.
(OOC: Utar's [spell[Prayer of Healing[/spell] helps everyone recover 12 HP. If you are rolling any Hit Dice on top of that, please do so now.)
Hit Dice: 70
Graxx heads snaps in the direction of the crying.
"Ya'll hear that. I'm not charging head strong into something again. What do you think we should do?"
Neya opens her ears more to try and determine where the crying is coming from.
Perception: 5
(Neya is pretty close to full right now, so hit dice aren't necessary.)
Extended Signature
(No need to roll for hit die thanks to Prayer of healing. But did reset any SR stuff.)
"Probably a good thing, as I had booby trapped the other hallway. Give me a moment to clear a path, as we need to get deeper anyway to find our missing armored undead." With that, Doozey spares the two zombie boys another look, thinking back to the varying clothing style, before turning his attention back towards getting out back in the hallway. With a bit of assistance from Biscuit and a briefly called over Gravy, Doozey collects what caltrops he can and brushes the rest far enough off to the side as to reduce if not eliminate any possible harm they can possibly cause.
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Cassyt's suspicions about the Welcomers confirmed, Utar also recalls that no lost of the belongings of those interred here exists. Thinking his new trinket might better serve one of the living, he stows it in a pocket with a mind to give it a good clean before passing it on.
"Let's tread carefully. The cries could be a trap. They could be exactly where we need to be..."
(OOC Spending 3 of Utar's hit dice for 24 hp.)
(OOC: Be sure to mark any used Hit Dice and hit the Short Rest button, as well as confirm it.)
For the remainder of the rest, Graxx and Utar patch up the last few wounds that were still exposed. (Graxx recovers 70 HP; Utar recovers 24 HP.)
While Doozey and his more bestial companions clear the path out of the room, Neya tries to pinpoint the source of the cries. Unfortunately, she can only conclude that the sounds are reverberating around the many walls and narrow passages in the catacombs, making it hard to determine the direction they are coming from. That said, the monk does not think that the crier is too far from the party.
(OOC: Assuming the group does not want to either force their way into the Welcomers' stash or backtrack upstairs by climbing the remainders of the fallen staircase, there really is only one path to follow.)
Exiting the sun pit, CRAP passes by the statue of Jergal once again and continues down the only unexplored path ahead of them. Some 10 feet past the statue, the path turns to the right. It leads down a hallway with stairs leading further down should the group decide to move straight ahead. Alternatively, there is an opening to the left, just before the steps leading downstairs. The crying can be heard more clearly now that the party is looking down this hallway.
Utar listens intently to the cries now they are clearer. Are they cries of pain? Of sorrow? Hopefully not passion...
Perception 13
(OOC I haven't applied advantage to that roll as I assume the check is more listening based and the weird eye on Utar's shield maybe isn't all that useful for that. If I'm wrong, here's the advantage roll: 20)
Both Doozey and Biscuit's ears perk up a bit at the sound, though only the former really sniffs at the air, searching for scents related to fear from either path. The sort of pheromones only a living being could produce...
Doozey's Perception: 30.
Though if such things were beyond the scope of even his heightened senses, weretouched though he may be, he still look back and whisper to the others,"I don't suppose any of ya have magic to defend against future possessions on ya? For in all likelihood, 'less some kind drop down one of those grates the welcomers mentioned, best be prepared for this to be a ploy from our spectral friend from before."
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
(OOC: @Lerus Hit confirm!)
Graxx brings his Pike close.
"Only magic I've got is what happens if I get a good hit on the ghost with this Pike."
Graxx shrugs and looks a little helplessly at Doozey.
"I really don't know what else to do in this situation."
"My strikes have been able to make contact with the specter." Neya says. "The only issue is it escaping from our reality."
"But as for getting possessed again, I don't believe I have such defenses."
Extended Signature
@Utar:Those seem like cries of sorrow to you, or some sort of lament.
@Doozey: Both you and Biscuit are pretty sure there aren't any pheromones in the air.
Once Doozey and Utar share these finding with the rest of the party, Graxx and Neya comment on their ability to deliver blows to the suspected source of the cries, a ghost. The group discusses some strategies but soon realizes they have to make a choice in order to advance.
(OOC: Will you go straight and down the steps or will you investigate the room/opening to your left.)