Walt searches the room and finds no secrets in its simple design.
As to the papers, they are a mess of disjointed notes, calculations, and semi-legible journal entries written mostly in Common. Make an Investigation check to see what information you can glean from them.
Zartan and Walt lay out the papers and try to make sense of the cultist's disheveled and chaotic notes.
The woman's name was Teocín, you conclude, a cult fanatic dedicated to Pazuzu, the demon lord. This chamber was her workspace. Teocín used this laboratory to research ways to corrupt the magic of the Night of the Remembered. For months, Teocín’s ghouls have killed animals, hunters, prospectors, and others wandering the borderlands so Teocín could study and raise the dead using profane knowledge she gleaned from unholy rites. She kept the belongings of her victims in that chest, as Walt surmised, and the chamber below was used to dispose of her failed experiments.
There are other names in the notes, too, although much of it is in shorthand and in a language you cannot comprehend. Besides Pazuzu and Teocín, you also see Itzmin's name several times, as well as someone named "Serapio". But the context is unclear.
A historical name is dropped as well: "Orencio". Twenty years ago in San Citlán, you learn, an ambitious sorcerer named Orencio made a bargain with the demon lord Pazuzu to gain magical power, a deal that resulted in the deaths of many of his peers. Months later, Orencio’s partner, Rosa, found evidence of the profane oaths he had sworn, revealed his crimes, and witnessed his execution. What this long-dead sorcerer has to do with the activities in this mine are unclear.
Pax gets up to look over Walt and Zartan's shoulders but for him the papers themselves hold no interest, although the story certainly does. "I wonder if this corruption of the magic of the Night of the Remembered is the cause of the Sereno curse. Perhaps this Teocin was trying to create more olvidados like Rufina but bent to evil for her own purposes and Pazuzu? Or perhaps it is to resurrect this Orencio? Was she successful and this Orencio is the owl-fiend now spreading Sereno. There are many questions and I fear our only answer is to explore deeper into the mine. The exit is sealed, there is no way out except down."
He holds out the red amulet necklace once more, "Does anyone wish to study this further?"
Zartan is able to identify the amulet with certainty. It is a periapt of health. Teocín made clear in her notes that she took great pains to avoid any threat of disease that came from working with the dead.
Walt shares what he and Zartan have learned from the papers to the rest of the crew.
"Itzmin...I didn't care for him before. And seeing his name spread throughout that cultist's ramblings makes my blood boil. I cannot decipher some of the language in these papers to get the entire story, but I can't say that I'm surprised to learn that he's involved in this some how."
Walt gathers up the papers and stashes them in his pack for safe keeping. He looks back towards the pile of jewelry and coins and he looks sick to his stomach. "All this coin and jewelry...I want nothing to do with it. I can carry it out in this pack that Baldar gave me, but I'll not take any share of it for myself."
(OOC: DM are there any symbols or icons of note on these papers?)
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Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
Once Zartan explains what this amulet is, Walt stops and ponders what this means for the party. He tries to recall the events of this last battle. "Friends...did anyone else come into contact with the corpse monsters? Anyone else than myself, that is."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
"Just you, Walt, I think. I saw it up close and personal, too,"Tuuli shudders a little. "Let's leave the treasure here for now, we can direct the right people to come find it when they need it. It'll take a long time to shovel it all into Baldar's bag."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he). Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
(OOC: DM are there any symbols or icons of note on these papers?)
Zartan (who has proficiency in religion) recognizes symbols representing the demon lord Pazuzu throughout, but there are no other unique symbols in Teocín's notes.
Meanwhile, while nobody was paying attention, the corridor silently reappeared outside the laboratory door. The chasm is gone, as if it were never there.
Tuuli grabs a handful of coins and goes over to the doorway, scattering the coins on the "floor" to see if it is just illusion, or if it is something more complicated than that.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he). Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
"Perhaps it would be wise if I wore that amulet. If I have contracted anything, I can detect and cure disease later."
Walt walks over to Tuuli watches as she scatters coins on the floor. "Interesting. I wonder if Teocin had knowledge of the mold earth spell. I've dabbled with that spell and it might be capable of making the ground disappear. Just in case, l'll mark the boundary of the pit."
Walt reaches into his possibles pouch and digs out a hunk of chalk and marks both sides of the ground. He doesn't trust the floor so he uses his ring of jumping to jump back and forth over the spot.
Aranor nods at Walt. "I can take the lead again. Hopefully I don't fall into any more pits this time though," he says, trying to lighten the mood a bit despite how dire the situation has become.
He takes the path that leads further down into the mines, through the charnel pit of horrors where Teocín disposed of her...scraps.
Leaving the arcane laboratory, Aranor leads the party down the sloping, spiraling corridor, past the dissolved jellies, and through the foul-smelling chamber of bones.
(What is the marching order after Aranor?)
The southern exit of the bone room slopes steeply downward, and corkscrews west.
Aranor sees another room ahead - makeshift living quarters or study of some sort. Damaged furniture has been dragged into this area to create something resembling a study. Two bookshelves stand alongside chairs and a desk covered with papers. The rough cave walls feature gouges, as if some powerful creature dragged its claws across the stone.
Pax hands the amulet over to Walt, then follows the group as they descend, headlights still shining. The memory of how his joints ached keeps him towards the back of the group with some caution. As they enter the makeshift study, he moves to the wall and holds his own hand up aside the gouges, checking the size.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Walt searches the room and finds no secrets in its simple design.
As to the papers, they are a mess of disjointed notes, calculations, and semi-legible journal entries written mostly in Common. Make an Investigation check to see what information you can glean from them.
Walt manages to gather up a handful of papers and he skims them for information. He’s not one for formulas and he starts to get a little frustrated.
He looks up to the cosmos and whispers the incantation for guidance before continuing his investigation.
Roll for Guidance: 4
Investigation check: 17( 13+4)
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
Investigation 17
D&D since 1984
Zartan and Walt lay out the papers and try to make sense of the cultist's disheveled and chaotic notes.
The woman's name was Teocín, you conclude, a cult fanatic dedicated to Pazuzu, the demon lord. This chamber was her workspace. Teocín used this laboratory to research ways to corrupt the magic of the Night of the Remembered. For months, Teocín’s ghouls have killed animals, hunters, prospectors, and others wandering the borderlands so Teocín could study and raise the dead using profane knowledge she gleaned from unholy rites. She kept the belongings of her victims in that chest, as Walt surmised, and the chamber below was used to dispose of her failed experiments.
There are other names in the notes, too, although much of it is in shorthand and in a language you cannot comprehend. Besides Pazuzu and Teocín, you also see Itzmin's name several times, as well as someone named "Serapio". But the context is unclear.
A historical name is dropped as well: "Orencio". Twenty years ago in San Citlán, you learn, an ambitious sorcerer named Orencio made a bargain with the demon lord Pazuzu to gain magical power, a deal that resulted in the deaths of many of his peers. Months later, Orencio’s partner, Rosa, found evidence of the profane oaths he had sworn, revealed his crimes, and witnessed his execution. What this long-dead sorcerer has to do with the activities in this mine are unclear.
Pax gets up to look over Walt and Zartan's shoulders but for him the papers themselves hold no interest, although the story certainly does. "I wonder if this corruption of the magic of the Night of the Remembered is the cause of the Sereno curse. Perhaps this Teocin was trying to create more olvidados like Rufina but bent to evil for her own purposes and Pazuzu? Or perhaps it is to resurrect this Orencio? Was she successful and this Orencio is the owl-fiend now spreading Sereno. There are many questions and I fear our only answer is to explore deeper into the mine. The exit is sealed, there is no way out except down."
He holds out the red amulet necklace once more, "Does anyone wish to study this further?"
Zartan will offer to study the amulet.
Arcana: 16
D&D since 1984
Zartan is able to identify the amulet with certainty. It is a periapt of health. Teocín made clear in her notes that she took great pains to avoid any threat of disease that came from working with the dead.
Walt shares what he and Zartan have learned from the papers to the rest of the crew.
"Itzmin...I didn't care for him before. And seeing his name spread throughout that cultist's ramblings makes my blood boil. I cannot decipher some of the language in these papers to get the entire story, but I can't say that I'm surprised to learn that he's involved in this some how."
Walt gathers up the papers and stashes them in his pack for safe keeping. He looks back towards the pile of jewelry and coins and he looks sick to his stomach. "All this coin and jewelry...I want nothing to do with it. I can carry it out in this pack that Baldar gave me, but I'll not take any share of it for myself."
(OOC: DM are there any symbols or icons of note on these papers?)
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
Once Zartan explains what this amulet is, Walt stops and ponders what this means for the party. He tries to recall the events of this last battle. "Friends...did anyone else come into contact with the corpse monsters? Anyone else than myself, that is."
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
"Just you, Walt, I think. I saw it up close and personal, too," Tuuli shudders a little. "Let's leave the treasure here for now, we can direct the right people to come find it when they need it. It'll take a long time to shovel it all into Baldar's bag."
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
Zartan (who has proficiency in religion) recognizes symbols representing the demon lord Pazuzu throughout, but there are no other unique symbols in Teocín's notes.
Meanwhile, while nobody was paying attention, the corridor silently reappeared outside the laboratory door. The chasm is gone, as if it were never there.
Tuuli grabs a handful of coins and goes over to the doorway, scattering the coins on the "floor" to see if it is just illusion, or if it is something more complicated than that.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
The coins bounce, jingle, and roll down the quite solid corridor floor.
"Perhaps it would be wise if I wore that amulet. If I have contracted anything, I can detect and cure disease later."
Walt walks over to Tuuli watches as she scatters coins on the floor. "Interesting. I wonder if Teocin had knowledge of the mold earth spell. I've dabbled with that spell and it might be capable of making the ground disappear. Just in case, l'll mark the boundary of the pit."
Walt reaches into his possibles pouch and digs out a hunk of chalk and marks both sides of the ground. He doesn't trust the floor so he uses his ring of jumping to jump back and forth over the spot.
"Now, shall we get going?"
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
“Let’s move on”
D&D since 1984
Aranor nods at Walt. "I can take the lead again. Hopefully I don't fall into any more pits this time though," he says, trying to lighten the mood a bit despite how dire the situation has become.
He takes the path that leads further down into the mines, through the charnel pit of horrors where Teocín disposed of her...scraps.
Extended Signature
Characters: Bryony Alderleaf (Phandelver and Below) ♦ Vesta Trevelyan (Vecna: Eve of Ruin) ♦ Ada Kendrick (Curse of Strahd) ♦ Gareth Blackwood (Dragon of Icespire Peak) ♦ Karys Velthune (Out of the Abyss) ♦ Surina Xarith (Simple, Heroic Adventure)
DM: Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus
Leaving the arcane laboratory, Aranor leads the party down the sloping, spiraling corridor, past the dissolved jellies, and through the foul-smelling chamber of bones.
(What is the marching order after Aranor?)
The southern exit of the bone room slopes steeply downward, and corkscrews west.
Aranor sees another room ahead - makeshift living quarters or study of some sort. Damaged furniture has been dragged into this area to create something resembling a study. Two bookshelves stand alongside chairs and a desk covered with papers. The rough cave walls feature gouges, as if some powerful creature dragged its claws across the stone.
There are no visible occupants.
Zartan towards the back
D&D since 1984
He would like to examine the bookshelves and tables
Investigation: 24
D&D since 1984
Pax hands the amulet over to Walt, then follows the group as they descend, headlights still shining. The memory of how his joints ached keeps him towards the back of the group with some caution. As they enter the makeshift study, he moves to the wall and holds his own hand up aside the gouges, checking the size.