Emma walks in water slowly. Who would build a house on top of such a place, or build such a place under a house? She dares not ask, nor do anything to disturb the silence that suddenly fell upon them.
In the candle's faint light, Emma can't help but nervously look around, fearing something will jump at them from behind. Where are all who prayed here just moments ago? And worse of all, this did not appear like an exit at all, which means they're still trapped here, in this accursed house.
Eventually, she breaks the silence, though with only a mere whisper - which is as loud as shouting in this quiet room. "Should... should we turn back? I don't think we should be here when... whoever made that sound returns."
The brown bear steps carefully in the water. Who knows what could be lurking under the surface. She turns to regard Emma when the guild woman speaks, her large dark eyes sympathetic. But she remains in the room. She carefully approaches the dais and sniffs at it. Does the bundle smell like a baby or a small corpse, or a ghoul, or something else entirely?
"But, there is nothing here that will lead us out. It's just a creepy dead end." Emma answers, but she will not press on the matter. Eventually, the others will reach the same conclusion, surely. Or, alternatively, something will happen. Though, would that be a good thing?
Juniper climbs the dais. The bloodstained altar stands before her, whispering its tales. Red tales. Shivers dance up her spine. It's as if the entire chamber awaits her with bated breath... And just as she reaches the final step, an ill wind blows throughout the depths—thirteen shadowy figures manifest on the ledge, wielding black torches that seem to swallow light. Their faces are but voids, and in one great union they chant, "One must die! One must die! ONE MUST DIE!"
At the sight of the apparitions, Lancelot begins to whimper in fear.
Investigating the bundle, Juniper discovers a single dagger.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.” ― Gary Gygax
The brown bear's head lifts and tilts in curiosity when, nudging the bundle with her nose, a dagger is revealed. She didn't know what she expected to find, but this was definitely not it. When the figures appear and begin chanting, confusion turns to terror. She roars, snarls, and barks at the figures around her, and begins to back out of the room, hackles raised like a mat woven of steel thread. But before stepping down, she impulsively snatches up the bundle with the dagger inside it and pulls it away with her.
This is all instinct. Meanwhile, Juniper's mind is more calculating. A chorus needs a conductor. Which one of the spirits is the leader?
Emma takes a step back, then another. Trembling, she reaches back and tries to feel for the way out. Meanwhile, her eyes remain fixed on the figures, filled with horror, she can't help it. Other than back out, there's nothing she can do but watch. She can feel her heart pounding, so loud - for Emma - she can barely hear anything else.
One must die, what does that mean? Is that the key to leaving this place? In that case, her own death would be the best for everyone, but at the same time, she felt - she knew - she won't be able to do it, and if she even tries, the opposite is more likely to occur.
Emma takes a step back, then another. Trembling, she reaches back and tries to feel for the way out. Meanwhile, her eyes remain fixed on the figures, filled with horror, she can't help it. Other than back out, there's nothing she can do but watch. She can feel her heart pounding, so loud - for Emma - she can barely hear anything else.
One must die, what does that mean? Is that the key to leaving this place? In that case, her own death would be the best for everyone, but at the same time, she felt - she knew - she won't be able to do it, and if she even tries, the opposite is more likely to occur.
(I suppose Emma couldn't find the path out of this room?)
'I know just what you're feeling.' Emma thinks, feeling Lancelot next to her. She turns away, looking for the passageway she couldn't find. Then back at the figures. Chanting, they didn't anything else. "W-what are we going to do?" Emma asks desperately, her voice shaking just as much as she. Experienced as they were, surely one of the others had some insight on the matter? Though, she wonders, if one truly must die for the rest to get out... whom will it be? Will she be picked for being the easiest target, or must she... must she... Emma takes a few steps farther back, until her back hits the wall.
'We should not have come here,' She thinks again. Then, looking down to Lancelot, she thinks: 'You should not have come here. I'm sorry we led you down here. Up there, you lived for who knows how long. Down here... you might meet your end.'
The brown bear has backed into the doorway to the room with one corner of the bundle holding the knife from the dais clenched in her jaw.
The bear stands, raising one paw to the bundle as its shape now transforms, diminishing, fur retreating into limbs and face and leaving the brown skin and lithe form of the elf you know as Juniper, dressed as she was, her bow perched over one shoulder, the bundle now held in one hand.
With the back of her other hand, she wipes from her face a few ants which survived her prior snacking upon them, as she looks at the others.
“No one. No one is dying.”
She turns to the figures and yells at them. “YOU HEAR THAT??”
She then bends down and picks up Lancelot if he lets her. She regards the others, her eyes flashing in anger.
“I’m burning this flocking place to the ground. Then we’ll see if the door still holds. Who is with me?”
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As Juniper leaves the alter, and yells out a refusal to sacrifice anyone, the shadowy figures hiss, and their cries of ritual sacrifice turn to, "Come, demon! We awaken thee! Come, demon! We awaken thee!"
The chamber quivers, shakes! Dust falls from the ceiling. The dirty water that fills the chamber begins to ripple. Something is moving beneath the surface!
Then a host of bones, flesh, and disparate body parts come together forming a massive, shifting heap of gore centred above the altar. The sound of a crying infant emits from the mound of bones and flesh.
The portcullis behind the group slams shut.
(Roll for initiative. Mound: 9)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.” ― Gary Gygax
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"D-demon?" They found the monster? Or has it found them? Emma can hardly think. Her heart, beating so loud. Her legs barely holding her weight. And... something else, within.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The natural world is full of surprises, even for one who has devoted her life to its study and its protection. New species, new strands, new color patterns. Once, Juniper had spotted a Luna moth — a regular one, not a giant one — as big as her face, watched its serene motions until it had fluttered away. She came across a lynx kitten being raised by a pack of wolves. Inexplicable things, or at least things which made her question what she thought she knew. But nothing compares to the unnatural evil embodied in the living mound of gore now rising before her.
The young druid recoils in fear and disgust, turns to run, the portcullis slams shut in her face. She grabs the bars, shakes them in terror and frustration. No good.
‘I’ve got to face this thing.’ She closes her eyes for a moment, orders the fear away, sets her jaw. Turns, her eyes flashing defiantly.
“Emma,” she says, her voice emotionless, compact and strong as elven rope, “we’re taking it down. You’ve gotta let go. DON’T HOLD BACK.” With a nod to Kal and Star, she crouches, lets Lancelot down (mechanically: drops), readies her bow.
Emma walks in water slowly. Who would build a house on top of such a place, or build such a place under a house? She dares not ask, nor do anything to disturb the silence that suddenly fell upon them.
In the candle's faint light, Emma can't help but nervously look around, fearing something will jump at them from behind. Where are all who prayed here just moments ago? And worse of all, this did not appear like an exit at all, which means they're still trapped here, in this accursed house.
Eventually, she breaks the silence, though with only a mere whisper - which is as loud as shouting in this quiet room. "Should... should we turn back? I don't think we should be here when... whoever made that sound returns."
Varielky
The brown bear steps carefully in the water. Who knows what could be lurking under the surface. She turns to regard Emma when the guild woman speaks, her large dark eyes sympathetic. But she remains in the room. She carefully approaches the dais and sniffs at it. Does the bundle smell like a baby or a small corpse, or a ghoul, or something else entirely?
(Smell Perception: 19)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
"Turn back and go where?" Kal asks. "The doors to the house wouldn't open, we couldn't get out this way. I think this is our only option."
"But, there is nothing here that will lead us out. It's just a creepy dead end." Emma answers, but she will not press on the matter. Eventually, the others will reach the same conclusion, surely. Or, alternatively, something will happen. Though, would that be a good thing?
Varielky
Juniper climbs the dais. The bloodstained altar stands before her, whispering its tales. Red tales. Shivers dance up her spine. It's as if the entire chamber awaits her with bated breath... And just as she reaches the final step, an ill wind blows throughout the depths—thirteen shadowy figures manifest on the ledge, wielding black torches that seem to swallow light. Their faces are but voids, and in one great union they chant, "One must die! One must die! ONE MUST DIE!"
At the sight of the apparitions, Lancelot begins to whimper in fear.
Investigating the bundle, Juniper discovers a single dagger.
“The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.” ― Gary Gygax
The brown bear's head lifts and tilts in curiosity when, nudging the bundle with her nose, a dagger is revealed. She didn't know what she expected to find, but this was definitely not it. When the figures appear and begin chanting, confusion turns to terror. She roars, snarls, and barks at the figures around her, and begins to back out of the room, hackles raised like a mat woven of steel thread. But before stepping down, she impulsively snatches up the bundle with the dagger inside it and pulls it away with her.
This is all instinct. Meanwhile, Juniper's mind is more calculating. A chorus needs a conductor. Which one of the spirits is the leader?
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Emma takes a step back, then another. Trembling, she reaches back and tries to feel for the way out. Meanwhile, her eyes remain fixed on the figures, filled with horror, she can't help it. Other than back out, there's nothing she can do but watch. She can feel her heart pounding, so loud - for Emma - she can barely hear anything else.
One must die, what does that mean? Is that the key to leaving this place? In that case, her own death would be the best for everyone, but at the same time, she felt - she knew - she won't be able to do it, and if she even tries, the opposite is more likely to occur.
Varielky
Emma takes a step back, then another. Trembling, she reaches back and tries to feel for the way out. Meanwhile, her eyes remain fixed on the figures, filled with horror, she can't help it. Other than back out, there's nothing she can do but watch. She can feel her heart pounding, so loud - for Emma - she can barely hear anything else.
One must die, what does that mean? Is that the key to leaving this place? In that case, her own death would be the best for everyone, but at the same time, she felt - she knew - she won't be able to do it, and if she even tries, the opposite is more likely to occur.
Varielky
"One must die..." Kal murmurs, peering around the room.
The shadow figures continue to chant "One must die! One must die!"
However, it seems that there is no leader, just a group of apparitions floating around the room.
Lancelot continues to whimper in fear, pushing himself into Emma's leg.
“The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.” ― Gary Gygax
(I suppose Emma couldn't find the path out of this room?)
'I know just what you're feeling.' Emma thinks, feeling Lancelot next to her. She turns away, looking for the passageway she couldn't find. Then back at the figures. Chanting, they didn't anything else. "W-what are we going to do?" Emma asks desperately, her voice shaking just as much as she. Experienced as they were, surely one of the others had some insight on the matter? Though, she wonders, if one truly must die for the rest to get out... whom will it be? Will she be picked for being the easiest target, or must she... must she... Emma takes a few steps farther back, until her back hits the wall.
'We should not have come here,' She thinks again. Then, looking down to Lancelot, she thinks: 'You should not have come here. I'm sorry we led you down here. Up there, you lived for who knows how long. Down here... you might meet your end.'
Varielky
Emma fails to find any other way out of the room. She backs up against the wall next to the rooms entrance.
Juniper continues to stand on the dais in her bear form.
Kal continues to glance around the room.
“The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.” ― Gary Gygax
"As much as I don't like it, if a life is truly required..." Kal says as his eyes stop roving and settle on Lancelot. "Better him, than one of us."
The brown bear has backed into the doorway to the room with one corner of the bundle holding the knife from the dais clenched in her jaw.
The bear stands, raising one paw to the bundle as its shape now transforms, diminishing, fur retreating into limbs and face and leaving the brown skin and lithe form of the elf you know as Juniper, dressed as she was, her bow perched over one shoulder, the bundle now held in one hand.
With the back of her other hand, she wipes from her face a few ants which survived her prior snacking upon them, as she looks at the others.
“No one. No one is dying.”
She turns to the figures and yells at them. “YOU HEAR THAT??”
She then bends down and picks up Lancelot if he lets her. She regards the others, her eyes flashing in anger.
“I’m burning this flocking place to the ground. Then we’ll see if the door still holds. Who is with me?”
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
As Juniper leaves the alter, and yells out a refusal to sacrifice anyone, the shadowy figures hiss, and their cries of ritual sacrifice turn to, "Come, demon! We awaken thee! Come, demon! We awaken thee!"
The chamber quivers, shakes! Dust falls from the ceiling. The dirty water that fills the chamber begins to ripple. Something is moving beneath the surface!
Then a host of bones, flesh, and disparate body parts come together forming a massive, shifting heap of gore centred above the altar. The sound of a crying infant emits from the mound of bones and flesh.
The portcullis behind the group slams shut.
(Roll for initiative.
Mound: 9)
“The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.” ― Gary Gygax
"D-demon?" They found the monster? Or has it found them? Emma can hardly think. Her heart, beating so loud. Her legs barely holding her weight. And... something else, within.
Initiative: 3.
Varielky
The natural world is full of surprises, even for one who has devoted her life to its study and its protection. New species, new strands, new color patterns. Once, Juniper had spotted a Luna moth — a regular one, not a giant one — as big as her face, watched its serene motions until it had fluttered away. She came across a lynx kitten being raised by a pack of wolves. Inexplicable things, or at least things which made her question what she thought she knew. But nothing compares to the unnatural evil embodied in the living mound of gore now rising before her.
The young druid recoils in fear and disgust, turns to run, the portcullis slams shut in her face. She grabs the bars, shakes them in terror and frustration. No good.
‘I’ve got to face this thing.’ She closes her eyes for a moment, orders the fear away, sets her jaw. Turns, her eyes flashing defiantly.
“Emma,” she says, her voice emotionless, compact and strong as elven rope, “we’re taking it down. You’ve gotta let go. DON’T HOLD BACK.” With a nod to Kal and Star, she crouches, lets Lancelot down (mechanically: drops), readies her bow.
(Initiative: 16)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
(Okay, rolling for Kal and Star.
Kal: 17
Star: 7)
“The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.” ― Gary Gygax
(Order: Juniper, Star, Kal, Emma, and Mound.)
“The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.” ― Gary Gygax
(I'm out of town this week, so I may or may not be able to post)