Jade looks to Koric and Lux, "Our duty includes cleansing the land of anything unholy, even if it slows us down a bit. We will get to the Mere, but I for one would feel an injustice if we left this area half done."
She looks up to Axeholm, "So, I feel if we can open the gates, lets do that as the confines of the area probably won't be as bad as the catacombs? But if we can't, we do have the backup entrance. Thoughts?"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Koric draws a deep breath and stares at the gates in trepidation. "Perhaps Balthar can help," he says as he crouches down once more, eyes closed, and asks the owl to descend a short way down the catacombs entrance.
She tries to flit from perch to perch, moving slowly and stealthily down the shaft, but goes no further than 100 feet. All the while Koric listens and watches through her senses, describing what he sees to those nearby.
Norbus responds "I don't know exactly how other then brute force. That gate looks pretty heavy and reinforced." "Still," he says, patting the side of his pack "I've got the climbing gear we originally intended to get into Axeholm with before it because clear Vlydara knew we were coming. We could scale the wall and then rappel down into the castle through the chimney". Motioning at the catacomb entrance closest to the door, he continues: "Plus, with the ghouls and ghasts out here having been disintigrated when we beat Vyldara, the catacombs might be a clear path through"
You send Balthar fluttering noisilly down into the catacombs, and depite him being nothing less than excessively noisy, he isn't attacked or disturbed by anything. The catacombs looks quite narrow, and Balthar follows the catacombs's route, which incredibly quickly leads to it's destination. It appears to be some sort of trap door, although how strong it is is unclear. Despite all the undead having come through here recently, it appears to be closed. Balthar turns around and flies back, still encountering nothing on his way out
When he returns to his sense Koric sighs, "The catacombs look empty. Your ropes and tackle might be handy there as well..." He looks dubiously up at the top of the castle, "Much easier than free-climbing up that monstrosity, I'd wager."
Elandra looks up and down at the imposing fortress in front of her. "I'm loathe to delay the Mere much longer, I am sure my Lady has impeccable reasoning for wanting us to clear it of evil with the utmost haste. However, I can't help but feel that fate brought us this way for a reason. Our paths crossed and we have carried the quest through this far, if Vyldara was te centre point of evil then maybe there is little more danger in this place. I don't think I could in good faith leave Dazlyn and Norbus to tackle the last stage on their own were there still to be danger within. Plus, with the proximity to the Mere, there is a real chance that the two are tied together."
Koric sits staring at the dark entrance to the catacombs, his mind racing as it catalogues all the ways he might die in the dark places under the castle. When the others make their decision he rises and follows them down.
((Apologies that I've not been around the last few days, it's been an extraordinarily busy week!))
Liri nods. "We've come this far - we should finish what we've started. And I do not think our patrons would fault us for wishing to ensure the evil is truly cleared from this place."
As Koric relays what Balthar found in the catacombs, she stares at the entrance, considering for a moment. "It makes sense that any undead under Vyldara's control would have been destroyed inside the catacombs as well as outside when she fell. There might well be other creatures inside that were not under her spell, so we should still be cautious, especially as there is still something that is not right about this place. But the same would be true if we entered over the castle walls as well. I say we try the trapdoor via the catacombs."
"Well that's a decision enough for me." Jade declares as she opens up her pack and pulls out her rope and looks around for something solid to tie it around. "Anyone have pitons and a hammer?"
Going to move ahead and have you guys enter the catacombs as that seems to be where things land. Norbus uses some of the rope on his pack, letting you get down into the catacombs without much issue, and you begin to walk along the tunnel. It's quite narrow, so you walk in single file with Jade leading the group, as she was the closest to the open entrance. As you reach the end of the tunnel, the trap door is about 10 feet above your heads, and seems sealed. What do you do from here?
As Lux moves past Elandra, she touches him briefly on the shoulder, "Take care, we know not whether there are traps that still linger. Though I'm sure a priest of the light is more than a match for any darkness we encounter."
You can use both, yes. The trapdor busts open, and peeking up, you can see the ruins of what was clearly once Axeholm's great hall. Norbus begins digging some pitons into the wall of the catacombs up, ready to get all of you into the space
As you ascend, you can see that the room is almost completely barren, cleared out at some point of all of the valuables and decorations that must have once adorned this place. Only the four supportive pillars of the room and a bunch of rubble remain. The fortress branches off to the left, the right, and right in front of you, with the gate being behind you. Although the doors on the left and right are long since rotted away, the one in front of you is still standing, likely due to being made of iron instead of wood. Where do you all go from here?
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Lux passes on what he sees. He also lowers a rope to aid folks coming up. As the team comes up he looks about shedding light as he goes. He walks up to the door in front of him and listens/investigates: 13 plus Guidance: 1
While Lux checks out the iron door, Jade heads to the right a bit, though not out of sight of her company. Checking around the area, see if she senses anything.
She uses her divine sense for the areas not behind the iron door.
The presence of strong evil registers on your senses like a noxious odor, and powerful good rings like heavenly music in your ears. As an action, you can open your awareness to detect such forces. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type (celestial, fiend, or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity (the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance). Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated, as with the hallow spell.
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"That's a good point Koric. Maybe we should continue on our main quest" Lux says
D&D since 1984
Jade looks to Koric and Lux, "Our duty includes cleansing the land of anything unholy, even if it slows us down a bit. We will get to the Mere, but I for one would feel an injustice if we left this area half done."
She looks up to Axeholm, "So, I feel if we can open the gates, lets do that as the confines of the area probably won't be as bad as the catacombs? But if we can't, we do have the backup entrance. Thoughts?"
Koric draws a deep breath and stares at the gates in trepidation. "Perhaps Balthar can help," he says as he crouches down once more, eyes closed, and asks the owl to descend a short way down the catacombs entrance.
She tries to flit from perch to perch, moving slowly and stealthily down the shaft, but goes no further than 100 feet. All the while Koric listens and watches through her senses, describing what he sees to those nearby.
Stealth: 10
Perception: 15
@Koric
Norbus responds "I don't know exactly how other then brute force. That gate looks pretty heavy and reinforced." "Still," he says, patting the side of his pack "I've got the climbing gear we originally intended to get into Axeholm with before it because clear Vlydara knew we were coming. We could scale the wall and then rappel down into the castle through the chimney". Motioning at the catacomb entrance closest to the door, he continues: "Plus, with the ghouls and ghasts out here having been disintigrated when we beat Vyldara, the catacombs might be a clear path through"
You send Balthar fluttering noisilly down into the catacombs, and depite him being nothing less than excessively noisy, he isn't attacked or disturbed by anything. The catacombs looks quite narrow, and Balthar follows the catacombs's route, which incredibly quickly leads to it's destination. It appears to be some sort of trap door, although how strong it is is unclear. Despite all the undead having come through here recently, it appears to be closed. Balthar turns around and flies back, still encountering nothing on his way out
When he returns to his sense Koric sighs, "The catacombs look empty. Your ropes and tackle might be handy there as well..." He looks dubiously up at the top of the castle, "Much easier than free-climbing up that monstrosity, I'd wager."
Elandra looks up and down at the imposing fortress in front of her. "I'm loathe to delay the Mere much longer, I am sure my Lady has impeccable reasoning for wanting us to clear it of evil with the utmost haste. However, I can't help but feel that fate brought us this way for a reason. Our paths crossed and we have carried the quest through this far, if Vyldara was te centre point of evil then maybe there is little more danger in this place. I don't think I could in good faith leave Dazlyn and Norbus to tackle the last stage on their own were there still to be danger within. Plus, with the proximity to the Mere, there is a real chance that the two are tied together."
Bring out your inner chatacter class...
Koric sits staring at the dark entrance to the catacombs, his mind racing as it catalogues all the ways he might die in the dark places under the castle. When the others make their decision he rises and follows them down.
((Apologies that I've not been around the last few days, it's been an extraordinarily busy week!))
Liri nods. "We've come this far - we should finish what we've started. And I do not think our patrons would fault us for wishing to ensure the evil is truly cleared from this place."
As Koric relays what Balthar found in the catacombs, she stares at the entrance, considering for a moment. "It makes sense that any undead under Vyldara's control would have been destroyed inside the catacombs as well as outside when she fell. There might well be other creatures inside that were not under her spell, so we should still be cautious, especially as there is still something that is not right about this place. But the same would be true if we entered over the castle walls as well. I say we try the trapdoor via the catacombs."
"Well that's a decision enough for me." Jade declares as she opens up her pack and pulls out her rope and looks around for something solid to tie it around. "Anyone have pitons and a hammer?"
@All
Going to move ahead and have you guys enter the catacombs as that seems to be where things land. Norbus uses some of the rope on his pack, letting you get down into the catacombs without much issue, and you begin to walk along the tunnel. It's quite narrow, so you walk in single file with Jade leading the group, as she was the closest to the open entrance. As you reach the end of the tunnel, the trap door is about 10 feet above your heads, and seems sealed. What do you do from here?
As they get to the trap door, Jade turns around and faces the rest, "I'll give someone a boost if we want to just try and see if it'll open?"
Koric presses himself back against the wall, glancing each way and ready to let any foolhardy volunteers through.
Lux will volunteer
D&D since 1984
As Lux moves past Elandra, she touches him briefly on the shoulder, "Take care, we know not whether there are traps that still linger. Though I'm sure a priest of the light is more than a match for any darkness we encounter."
Lux gain a Bardic Inspiration Die (D8)
Bring out your inner chatacter class...
@Lux
As you are lifted up, it looks like the trapdoor is relatively reinforced, but definitely breakable. Make a strength check
(Not sure I can use both Inspiration and Guidance)
Strength: 15
inspiration: 2
guidance: 1
D&D since 1984
@Lux
You can use both, yes. The trapdor busts open, and peeking up, you can see the ruins of what was clearly once Axeholm's great hall. Norbus begins digging some pitons into the wall of the catacombs up, ready to get all of you into the space
As you ascend, you can see that the room is almost completely barren, cleared out at some point of all of the valuables and decorations that must have once adorned this place. Only the four supportive pillars of the room and a bunch of rubble remain. The fortress branches off to the left, the right, and right in front of you, with the gate being behind you. Although the doors on the left and right are long since rotted away, the one in front of you is still standing, likely due to being made of iron instead of wood. Where do you all go from here?
Lux passes on what he sees. He also lowers a rope to aid folks coming up. As the team comes up he looks about shedding light as he goes. He walks up to the door in front of him and listens/investigates: 13 plus Guidance: 1
D&D since 1984
While Lux checks out the iron door, Jade heads to the right a bit, though not out of sight of her company. Checking around the area, see if she senses anything.
She uses her divine sense for the areas not behind the iron door.
The presence of strong evil registers on your senses like a noxious odor, and powerful good rings like heavenly music in your ears. As an action, you can open your awareness to detect such forces. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type (celestial, fiend, or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity (the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance). Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated, as with the hallow spell.