You are unable to perceive any movement, either from the east nor the door to the south.
When Anator enters the room, Khessa perceives complex and entrancing patterns of silvery bones and skulls that fill the black walls and floors. Flanking but not far from the doorway, sinister violet fames dance in twisted oversized iron braziers that are covered in thorns and adorned with shining metal skulls. Atop the low, rectangular dias squats the basalt altar, covered in layers of dried blood that fail to conceal a shiny pair of ram's horns. Two statues flanking the altar portray identical corpulent figures that have cloven hooves, bat-like wings, and a ram's head. In one fist, each statue clutch a skull-topped rod of black Iron. The eye sockets of the rods' skulls gleam in the light.
You are unable to perceive any movement, either from the east nor the door to the south.
When Anator enters the room, Khessa perceives....Two statues flanking the altar portray identical corpulent figures that have cloven hooves, bat-like wings, and a ram's head.
Assuming that Khessa reports what she saw through Anator, Xanrym moves forward slightly so that he can shine the beam of his lantern on the statue to the north of the altar. Does Xanrym recognize this demon?
Not seeing Fadheela, Khessa calls Anator back and lets him fly idly near the ceiling of the room where the party is located.
The blonde arcane warrior indeed reports what she saw through Anator and adds: "It must be the sacrificial room where our quarry conducts its rites... and it could contain interesting material, perhaps even the bones we've heard about, but I'd suggest neutralizing the quarry first... Then, I'd check what's behind the other door. She might be there."
Assuming that Khessa reports what she saw through Anator, Xanrym moves forward slightly so that he can shine the beam of his lantern on the statue to the north of the altar. Does Xanrym recognize this demon?
As the lantern's beam falls on the statue, Xanrym gasps! He looks back at the others and explains hurriedly in a loud whisper: "I can see a statue in the shrine from here. Maroe did not pay fealty to the drow's 'Queen of Spiders' here. This is a shrine to the Demon Prince of the Undea!." He's not sure whether that title means anything to the others if they haven't studied demonology, but he shakes his head to cut off any questions, "I will not speak his name here." (Xanrym has read that using a demon's name risks drawing its attention. He definitely does not want to do that -- not while he's looking at the imposing, baleful statue of Orcus.)
Xanrym says, "This is the darkest necromancy. And the Demon Queen of Spiders would not permit the drow to worship a rival demon prince like him. No wonder Maroe hid this shrine behind secret doors and magical guardians!"
The blonde arcane warrior indeed reports what she saw through Anator and adds: "It must be the sacrificial room where our quarry conducts its rites... and it could contain interesting material, perhaps even the bones we've heard about, but I'd suggest neutralizing the quarry first... Then, I'd check what's behind the other door. She might be there."
Xanrym nods and moves into the corner so that Khessa can open the door. He gets his spear ready and sets down his lantern. He presses himself into the southeast corner of the room, trying to blend in with the stone and hide both from anything in the shrine to the east and from whatever lurks behind the door to the south.
Movement: Move into the southeast corner of the room. Action: Hide - Stealth: 23 (advantage from Cloak of Elvenkind) Free Action: Set lantern on the floor, pointing west. Equip spear.
(OOC: @Painted_Beyond - I moved Khessa's token to put her in front of the door if she wants to open it. If anything attacks, Avery is already next to her, and Xanrym will hopefully get advantage from being hidden.)
Khessa isn't sure whether to be more relieved or more concerned that Maroe was loyal to a Demon Prince instead of Lolth—so she simply leaves the matter hanging. First things first, Fadheela.
The blonde arcane warrior reaches the new door and, since the party seems in agreement, opens it as soon as everyone is ready.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Theldrin maintains his vigilance, keeping his Fire Bolt ready as Khessa approaches the door. He takes a moment to consider Xanrym's words and the description of the statue of the Demon Prince, if he's come across anything about this in his studies.
You open the door to the south to reveal a narrow chamber with stone benches carved from the walls, as well as stylised eyes carved into those walls. On the far end of the room hangs an ornate peg with no clothing on it.
Otherwise there are no other exits or anything else of interest in the room.
Khessa thoughtfully examines the room: "Indeed, this doesn't seem like the ideal den... so lacking in comfort... although at least, if I were a drow wearing a cloak..." she removes the ghost's cloak from her shoulders "...at least I'd know where to hang it: here!" and tries to hang it on the ornate peg in the wall.
The tall adventuress looks around, ready for anything, expecting the gesture to trigger some effect, such as perhaps opening a secret door.
If nothing happens, the blonde arcane warrior retrieves the cloak, shrugging: "It was worth a try. At this point, since there are no obvious threats waiting here, shall we examine the ritual chamber before we explore further?"
(OOC: @drumdigby - Do the eyes cover the entire wall? Or do you mean that they're spaced out across the wall? Are the eyes stylized symbols that resemble an eye, like the Eye of Horus? (image info for public domain image)
Or do they resemble actual eyes, like on a statue of a person? (original image by Renke Huang)
Are the eyes the size of an actual human eye? Larger? Smaller? All they all the same size or different sizes? I'm just trying to get a sense of how creepy or sinister the walls of eyes seem. When I searched for "wall of eyes sculpture," some of the results were pretty unnerving!)
although at least, if I were a drow wearing a cloak..." she removes the ghost's cloak from her shoulders "...at least I'd know where to hang it: here!" and tries to hang it on the ornate peg in the wall.
The design and features of this room seem out-of-place to him, not liked the lived-in rooms downstairs. If it were a vestry for the shrine, he would expect more hooks or shelves for robes. When Khessa goes to hang her cloak on the peg, Xanrym says, "Clever!" He holds his breath and tenses up as she places the cloak, ready to see whether anything happens.
If nothing happens, the blonde arcane warrior retrieves the cloak, shrugging: "It was worth a try. At this point, since there are no obvious threats waiting here, shall we examine the ritual chamber before we explore further?"
If nothing happens, then...
Xanrym agrees with Khessa, "Yes. This room seems safe enough, as long as no one has ommetaphobia! Let's check the ritual chamber first. If we don't find anything there, then we can come back here and haveTheldrin search the room. If there's a secret door here, I'm sure that he will find it!" But for now, he's just happy that there don't seem to be any guardians in the small room with the eyes. He thinks that they should check the ritual chamber while Syllen still has his Chalice Starry Form.
Before anyone moves into the ritual chamber, Xanrym will reposition, placing his lantern on the floor under the archway so that it shines into the ritual chamber and then moving back to the west of the font for cover. Then he moves to the west of the font for some cover, encouraging Khessato lead them like one of the heroes of old and "strike another blow against the drow and the foul creations of the necromancer!" Finally, he readiesVicious Mockery.
Movement: Move to archway and then back to the west of the font. Action: ReadyVicious Mockery, WIS 17 save or target takes 10 (psychic) damage and has disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn. Trigger: cast the spell at the first thing that approaches Khessa or Avery or that makes any move to attack them when they lead The Company into the shrine of Orcus. (That is, he's trying to disadvantage any opponent before they can even make their first attack.) Bonus Action: Grant bardic inspiration to Khessa Once within the next 1 hour when Khessafails a D20 Test, she can roll a 1d8 and add the number rolled to the d20, possibly turning failure into a success. If she uses the inspiration, but the D20 Test still fails, she keeps the inspiration die because of Xanrym's Unfailing Inspiration. Free Action: Item interaction - setting down the lantern.
Ok so you open the curtain and head into the Shrine of Orcus. You notice a couple of things that were not immediately obvious through Anator’s eyes: First, the ominous flames in the braziers have dark eyes; they’re creatures. Second, an amorphous cloud of darkness broken only by two points of blazing violet rises from the bloody alter. A breeze moves toward it as if it’s drawing in air. It hisses:
“You have entered the sanctum of Choke: my sanctum. I have already made a bargain with the mutant that neither she nor her servants may enter. State your business or feel the cold of the Void Necromental!”
Khessa is mildly disappointed that interacting with the peg hasn't led to anything, but her disappointment turns to concerned surprise when she realizes how many details she'd missed when observing the room through Anator's eyes.
The blonde arcane warrior, therefore, attempts to explain her (not at all feigned) surprise and turn the situation to the party's advantage: "Perhaps Fadheela, the mutant you speak of, didn't quite understand your bargain, since she sent us a message with directions to get exactly here... and without telling us anything about you! You know what? I think she deceived us, to make you and us fight among ourselves pointlessly - and then try to get rid of the winner! But I don't see why we should go along with her schemes!"
"What do you say, Coriana, Xanrym?" the tall adventuress seeks support from the group's more eloquent members. "You tell Mr. Choke, too... If he could tell us where she usually is, we could immediately abandon this shrine and go explain to Miss Mutant how much we appreciated her trick! And it would be an advantage for Mr. Chocke, too... After all, when we're done 'thanking' Miss Mutant, he'll have one less threat to watch out for..."
Khessa hopes the conversation will bear fruit, but she's still ready to cast a defensive spell at any moment...
[[ OOC: Khessa isn't particularly good at social skills, so my intention would be for her to, with her cue, help Xanrym or Coriana convince Chocke to let the party go without a needless fight and, if possible, with directions to Fadheela's whereabouts. But if the DM ultimately decides that Khessa should be the one to roll, just tell - she'll do her best (possibly using Bardic Inspiration or something else to improve her chances of success). ]]
Syllen is also disappointed that Khessa's idea did not result in anything. Having suffered a substantial amount of damage Syllen will stay by the door with his shield at the ready. As the others negotiate with the creature Syllen will try to remember any useful information about what a Void Necromental is.
Sorry I should have said, Khessa did have a really good idea! But that’a not exactly the point of the Room of Eyes. As for convincing Choke to tell you where Fadheela is. I’d say this will be another group Negotiation Test. You all can have a go at convincing Choke, a 1-10 will have both interest and Patience go down, 10-15 has just patience go down, and 15+ has Interest go up. Once Patience reaches 0 you’re stuck with whatever level Interest is at:
You are unable to perceive any movement, either from the east nor the door to the south.
When Anator enters the room, Khessa perceives complex and entrancing patterns of silvery bones and skulls that fill the black walls and floors. Flanking but not far from the doorway, sinister violet fames dance in twisted oversized iron braziers that are covered in thorns and adorned with shining metal skulls. Atop the low, rectangular dias squats the basalt altar, covered in layers of dried blood that fail to conceal a shiny pair of ram's horns. Two statues flanking the altar portray identical corpulent figures that have cloven hooves, bat-like wings, and a ram's head. In one fist, each statue clutch a skull-topped rod of black Iron. The eye sockets of the rods' skulls gleam in the light.
Will Anator inspect anything closer or come back?
Assuming that Khessa reports what she saw through Anator, Xanrym moves forward slightly so that he can shine the beam of his lantern on the statue to the north of the altar. Does Xanrym recognize this demon?
Religion: 16 (in game log)
It’s Orcus, the Demon Prince of Undeath.
Not seeing Fadheela, Khessa calls Anator back and lets him fly idly near the ceiling of the room where the party is located.
The blonde arcane warrior indeed reports what she saw through Anator and adds: "It must be the sacrificial room where our quarry conducts its rites... and it could contain interesting material, perhaps even the bones we've heard about, but I'd suggest neutralizing the quarry first... Then, I'd check what's behind the other door. She might be there."
Avery nods in agreement
Merry Christmas Ya'll
As the lantern's beam falls on the statue, Xanrym gasps! He looks back at the others and explains hurriedly in a loud whisper: "I can see a statue in the shrine from here. Maroe did not pay fealty to the drow's 'Queen of Spiders' here. This is a shrine to the Demon Prince of the Undea!." He's not sure whether that title means anything to the others if they haven't studied demonology, but he shakes his head to cut off any questions, "I will not speak his name here." (Xanrym has read that using a demon's name risks drawing its attention. He definitely does not want to do that -- not while he's looking at the imposing, baleful statue of Orcus.)
Xanrym says, "This is the darkest necromancy. And the Demon Queen of Spiders would not permit the drow to worship a rival demon prince like him. No wonder Maroe hid this shrine behind secret doors and magical guardians!"
Xanrym nods and moves into the corner so that Khessa can open the door. He gets his spear ready and sets down his lantern. He presses himself into the southeast corner of the room, trying to blend in with the stone and hide both from anything in the shrine to the east and from whatever lurks behind the door to the south.
Movement: Move into the southeast corner of the room.
Action: Hide - Stealth: 23 (advantage from Cloak of Elvenkind)
Free Action: Set lantern on the floor, pointing west. Equip spear.
(OOC: @Painted_Beyond - I moved Khessa's token to put her in front of the door if she wants to open it. If anything attacks, Avery is already next to her, and Xanrym will hopefully get advantage from being hidden.)
Khessa isn't sure whether to be more relieved or more concerned that Maroe was loyal to a Demon Prince instead of Lolth—so she simply leaves the matter hanging. First things first, Fadheela.
The blonde arcane warrior reaches the new door and, since the party seems in agreement, opens it as soon as everyone is ready.
Theldrin maintains his vigilance, keeping his Fire Bolt ready as Khessa approaches the door. He takes a moment to consider Xanrym's words and the description of the statue of the Demon Prince, if he's come across anything about this in his studies.
History: 17
You open the door to the south to reveal a narrow chamber with stone benches carved from the walls, as well as stylised eyes carved into those walls. On the far end of the room hangs an ornate peg with no clothing on it.
Otherwise there are no other exits or anything else of interest in the room.
Khessa thoughtfully examines the room: "Indeed, this doesn't seem like the ideal den... so lacking in comfort... although at least, if I were a drow wearing a cloak..." she removes the ghost's cloak from her shoulders "...at least I'd know where to hang it: here!" and tries to hang it on the ornate peg in the wall.
The tall adventuress looks around, ready for anything, expecting the gesture to trigger some effect, such as perhaps opening a secret door.
If nothing happens, the blonde arcane warrior retrieves the cloak, shrugging: "It was worth a try. At this point, since there are no obvious threats waiting here, shall we examine the ritual chamber before we explore further?"
(OOC: @drumdigby - Do the eyes cover the entire wall? Or do you mean that they're spaced out across the wall? Are the eyes stylized symbols that resemble an eye, like the Eye of Horus?.jpg/1280px-Wedjat_eye_Amulet_MET_DP164714_(cropped).jpg)
(image info for public domain image)
Or do they resemble actual eyes, like on a statue of a person?
(original image by Renke Huang)
Are the eyes the size of an actual human eye? Larger? Smaller? All they all the same size or different sizes? I'm just trying to get a sense of how creepy or sinister the walls of eyes seem. When I searched for "wall of eyes sculpture," some of the results were pretty unnerving!)
When Khessa opens the door and nothing immediately attacks, Xanrym lifts his lantern and shines it into the small room.
The design and features of this room seem out-of-place to him, not liked the lived-in rooms downstairs. If it were a vestry for the shrine, he would expect more hooks or shelves for robes. When Khessa goes to hang her cloak on the peg, Xanrym says, "Clever!" He holds his breath and tenses up as she places the cloak, ready to see whether anything happens.
If nothing happens, then...
Xanrym agrees with Khessa, "Yes. This room seems safe enough, as long as no one has ommetaphobia! Let's check the ritual chamber first. If we don't find anything there, then we can come back here and have Theldrin search the room. If there's a secret door here, I'm sure that he will find it!" But for now, he's just happy that there don't seem to be any guardians in the small room with the eyes. He thinks that they should check the ritual chamber while Syllen still has his Chalice Starry Form.
Before anyone moves into the ritual chamber, Xanrym will reposition, placing his lantern on the floor under the archway so that it shines into the ritual chamber and then moving back to the west of the font for cover. Then he moves to the west of the font for some cover, encouraging Khessa to lead them like one of the heroes of old and "strike another blow against the drow and the foul creations of the necromancer!" Finally, he readies Vicious Mockery.
Movement: Move to archway and then back to the west of the font.
Action: Ready Vicious Mockery, WIS 17 save or target takes 10 (psychic) damage and has disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn.
Trigger: cast the spell at the first thing that approaches Khessa or Avery or that makes any move to attack them when they lead The Company into the shrine of Orcus. (That is, he's trying to disadvantage any opponent before they can even make their first attack.)
Bonus Action: Grant bardic inspiration to Khessa
Once within the next 1 hour when Khessa fails a D20 Test, she can roll a 1d8 and add the number rolled to the d20, possibly turning failure into a success.
If she uses the inspiration, but the D20 Test still fails, she keeps the inspiration die because of Xanrym's Unfailing Inspiration.
Free Action: Item interaction - setting down the lantern.
Theldrin continues to keep his Fire Bolt ready, whether Khessa triggers a secret door or the party moves towards the ritual chamber.
Ok so you open the curtain and head into the Shrine of Orcus. You notice a couple of things that were not immediately obvious through Anator’s eyes: First, the ominous flames in the braziers have dark eyes; they’re creatures. Second, an amorphous cloud of darkness broken only by two points of blazing violet rises from the bloody alter. A breeze moves toward it as if it’s drawing in air. It hisses:
“You have entered the sanctum of Choke: my sanctum. I have already made a bargain with the mutant that neither she nor her servants may enter. State your business or feel the cold of the Void Necromental!”
Khessa is mildly disappointed that interacting with the peg hasn't led to anything, but her disappointment turns to concerned surprise when she realizes how many details she'd missed when observing the room through Anator's eyes.
The blonde arcane warrior, therefore, attempts to explain her (not at all feigned) surprise and turn the situation to the party's advantage: "Perhaps Fadheela, the mutant you speak of, didn't quite understand your bargain, since she sent us a message with directions to get exactly here... and without telling us anything about you! You know what? I think she deceived us, to make you and us fight among ourselves pointlessly - and then try to get rid of the winner! But I don't see why we should go along with her schemes!"
"What do you say, Coriana, Xanrym?" the tall adventuress seeks support from the group's more eloquent members. "You tell Mr. Choke, too... If he could tell us where she usually is, we could immediately abandon this shrine and go explain to Miss Mutant how much we appreciated her trick! And it would be an advantage for Mr. Chocke, too... After all, when we're done 'thanking' Miss Mutant, he'll have one less threat to watch out for..."
Khessa hopes the conversation will bear fruit, but she's still ready to cast a defensive spell at any moment...
[[ OOC: Khessa isn't particularly good at social skills, so my intention would be for her to, with her cue, help Xanrym or Coriana convince Chocke to let the party go without a needless fight and, if possible, with directions to Fadheela's whereabouts. But if the DM ultimately decides that Khessa should be the one to roll, just tell - she'll do her best (possibly using Bardic Inspiration or something else to improve her chances of success). ]]
Syllen is also disappointed that Khessa's idea did not result in anything. Having suffered a substantial amount of damage Syllen will stay by the door with his shield at the ready. As the others negotiate with the creature Syllen will try to remember any useful information about what a Void Necromental is.
Sorry I should have said, Khessa did have a really good idea! But that’a not exactly the point of the Room of Eyes. As for convincing Choke to tell you where Fadheela is. I’d say this will be another group Negotiation Test. You all can have a go at convincing Choke, a 1-10 will have both interest and Patience go down, 10-15 has just patience go down, and 15+ has Interest go up. Once Patience reaches 0 you’re stuck with whatever level Interest is at:
Current Interest: 2 Current Patience: 3
Theldrin quickly scans the room, looking for anything the party might improvise into their story in order to make it more convincing to Choke.
Investigation: 21
(OOC: Keyser Söze style for anyone who remembers that movie LOL)
Well, then I'd say Khessa, from the way I described the scene, was attempting Deception...
Deception: 3
Bardic Inspiration: 7