(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown

Grugga collapses against the wall of the stone passageway and heaves a sigh of relief followed by a hacking cough that produces some more water from the Orc's aching lungs. He watches as Guilim puts his hands on their commander, who sputters back to life. The artificer shakes his head in disbelief that they made it out of this alive, and then begins laughing - at nothing in particular, just an uncontrollable jubilance of surviving a trip to death's door... again.

Grugga collects his small box from the floor, which he dropped at some point in the fight, and grinds up a crystal for himself. cure wounds 4 healing

Taking a deep breath of the mist returns some color (well, grayness) to his cheeks, and he offers a hit to any of his companions, saying: "I can only channel a little more magic for the day. Does anyone want some?"

Before discussing their next move, Grugga moves into the ritual room, pulls the corpse of Brother Such-and-such out of the pool, and looks for some clues as to A) the nature of the hag coven B) any possible secret passageways and C) a way to defile or destroy the altar to remove its magical capabilities.

Arcana: 8
Investigation: 19

Rohuzar sits up, bleary. 

"So... It seems proof again: this is good team. Good vork. Elemental is no small fry." 

Leelan catches up to the party, still panting and drenched in water. 

"This…will surely make a…fascinating new chapter in my tome…Well done, gentlemen."

Grugga, the body of cultist is wearing blue and gold robes.  On his person, you find 7gp and 5 sticks of incense, now soggy and waterlogged.  He carries a holy symbol as well, a small black disc with the Leviticus/Hag symbol etched onto it.  A bloody dagger lies on the wet stone floor, the suicide weapon, no doubt.

Getting a look inside the ritual pool room, there is no true 'altar'.  The pool sits at the back wall, and there is a 1 foot high stone lip around it, with pillows for sitting or kneeling.  Two braziers sit in the room and provide fiery light, but no heat.  The pool itself is very cold, and about three feet deep, though the bottom falls away and disappears below the back wall.

Aubrey sends Furvus to scout the rest of the temple to make sure there are no stragglers except for the Nothic.
"Yes, excellent job everyone. Can we patch ourselves up enough to take on that Nothic now or should we return later for that." Aubrey says, carefully watching the corridors for new threats.
Perception: 11

Rohuzar nods in agreement and retreats to the bunk room we passed through to make bandages and try to eat something.

(Short rest okay, DM?)

[Short rest is OK but let's make sure we are all in agreement first...]

Aubrey:

Aubrey quickly informs the others of what his familiar has reported (previous post).
"Perhaps we should take care of that robed man before he destroys more evidence." He suggests, ready to move on to the library.

Guilim shrugs and moves to sit as the others take a chance to recover from the battle with the elemental.

Leelan casts a quick healing spell to reinvigorate himself before proceeding with the others to the library.

Cure wounds: 7

While Furvus is scouting, Grugga alerts his allies to his discoveries: "The ritual pool looks like it's an underwater tunnel - probably going to the lake." He shakes his head. "We're not going to be able to anything about that." Grugga takes the money off the corpse and then stomps on the holy symbol, shattering it.

Once Furvus returns and Aubrey reports his findings, Grugga sighs and looks to his comrades. "In for a penny, in for a platinum, right? What do you say we finish this off?"

Rohuzar lurches back to his feet and goes towards the library at a jog on Aubrey's alert, downing goodberries as he goes

Grugga follows after Rohuzar, downing his potion of healing and grinding up another crystal on the way. By the time they arrive at the hallway to the library, he's looking much better.

Healing potion: 4
Cure Wounds: 8

Aubrey nods to Grugga giving him a quick smile and follows Rohuzar, keeping his conentration up on his Hex spell, ready to do battle again.
Perception: 8

You backtrack out to the main hall and then take the side door in the direction of the library.  Eventually you reach a sturdy wooden door.  A sign painted in white reads:

Library

Entry forbidden to all but the 3rd Circle

From the other side of the door you can hear crackling sounds and there is a heavy smoke smell.

[If anyone doesn't like their positioning, let me know.]

Aubrey nods to Rohuzar, signaling that he is ready.
Stealth: 21 Perception: 11

Rohuzar tries to open the door

Rohuzar tries the door handle.  It is locked.  When his hand grips the door, thin blues lines trace around the door and its frame, illuminating sigils and runes etched faintly onto its surface.  Soon the entire door is glowing with an unearthly blue hue.  Then the handle becomes intensely cold and a thin stream of freezing water and ice shards sprays out of the handle toward Rohuzar's palm.  DEX save DC 12 or take 4 cold damage.

The door remains tightly locked, and the blue light fades once the handle is released.  

From inside the room, a voice calls out.  "Hold them off!"

[I will start initiative again]

• ???:  3
• ???: 12
• Rohuzar:  15
• Guilim:  21
• Grugga:  13
• Aubrey:  15
• Leelan:  15

Rohuzar dex save 9 

I'm sorry, that should be +4 not +2, I forgot proficiency so I think I just barely made it.

After seeing the trap go off, Grugga tightens his grip on his sword and steels himself for what lies beyond the door.