"Did no one else see the body here?" Lev gestures to the ground in front of the coffin where he'd seen the woman laying. "It was an elven woman, that's why I brought the body here to begin with..." He puts a hand to his forehead, clearly questioning his own eyes again. Could it have been the fear? Or had he actually seen what he thought he saw?
"If the skull is good enough to speak with the deceased, then let's hurry," he said, forgetting in the moment which of them has the scroll. "Where's Amgaeng?" He says, suddenly realizing that she's not present... then looks to the door and just barely sees her making an escape. A small part of him is gland in that moment that it doesn't seem like he was the only one affected by the fear, but the greater part of him is worried. They can't split up. If they split up then...
He grits his teeth, hoping that Amdaeng will return once the fear wears off... if it wears off at all. Right now he feels like the rest of the group is in more danger than she is, so it wouldn't make sense to run after her.
Twiggy will become Invisible and stay near the coffin. She will watch for anything happening around the coffin and try to help and assist in any way she can.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace, and live beneath the sun again, where trees and flowers grow."
— The message of Eilistraee to all decent drow.
"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”
Amdaeng is in the crimson-tiled hallway where the armory stood. She takes in a deep breath and gathers her courage. Ning is looking at her, confused.
(OOC: I believe Iólinder has a speak with dead scroll)
The ghostly girl moves to the 9th pillar with the blue turbaned head of one of the sultan's unfortunate guards. "Yos"
Vydar
"Nine"
At this point, all note that the skeleton guards appear less translucent than when initially forming. None move, all getting up after their heads are attached and standing at attention.
Twiggy keeps an eye on the coffin, invisible but nearby.
Amdaeng hit the ground sliding between Iólinders legs as she continued at speed towards the door....
Acrobatics- 18
Iólinder's fear subsided a little bit when he witnessed Amdaeng dive onto the ground and slide past him between his legs. Honestly, that was kind of impressive and made him forget about the phantom river of blood for a moment.
"Did no one else see the body here?" Lev gestures to the ground in front of the coffin where he'd seen the woman laying. "It was an elven woman, that's why I brought the body here to begin with..." He puts a hand to his forehead, clearly questioning his own eyes again. Could it have been the fear? Or had he actually seen what he thought he saw?
"If the skull is good enough to speak with the deceased, then let's hurry," he said, forgetting in the moment which of them has the scroll. "Where's Amgaeng?" He says, suddenly realizing that she's not present... then looks to the door and just barely sees her making an escape. A small part of him is gland in that moment that it doesn't seem like he was the only one affected by the fear, but the greater part of him is worried. They can't split up. If they split up then...
He grits his teeth, hoping that Amdaeng will return once the fear wears off... if it wears off at all. Right now he feels like the rest of the group is in more danger than she is, so it wouldn't make sense to run after her.
'Amdaeng is out there.' Iólinder pointed at the door. 'I could not stop her from running.'
As an answer to the groups' inquiries, Iólinder put down his backpack and retrieved the spell scroll from it. Before he unfolded it, he told the others: 'After I cast the spell, we only have five questions. Maybe we should first think about this and prepare what we want to ask.'
As Amdaeng peers back in her observations from before becomes clear. As the ghostly men regain their heads, they are slowly becoming more corporeal, and less human. Lira has retrieved bones from the well. An eerie reddish hue covers the tiles now all the way across the room to the well. To Amdaeng the red hue seems to flow like fabric blowing in the wind.
A huge thrown room was entered through large double doors. A symbol of the Cult of the Dragon King was painted in its center. Around the border were more proclamations of the sultan's greatness.
Nine of of twelve pillars in the room now have what you believe to be an ethereal skeletal sultan blue turbaned guard standing at attention. Some have noted that they seem more corporeal now than when the first few were formed. Efforts to disarm them have not worked, as your hands go right through them. They do not notice you nor do they seem to aware of their environment.
The ghostly girl has methodically continued her task. A ritual that she has undoubtedly repeated for a very long time. She floats to the shallow pool covered in ice with skulls underneath (Upper left side of map). Reaching her ethereal hands through the ice (A solid surface), grabbing a head that appears to have human features of the person from life, floating toward a pillar. On the floor of the pillar, a body without a head appears and lies still. She puts head to body and the skeleton, armed with weapons and armor, stands. She says what Vydar has identified as a number, then returns to the pool of skulls. She has assembled Nine so far. There are twelve pillars. Some have been creeped out by the macabre scene and lost their senses momentarily.
Meanwhile, Lira jumped into the well and recovered the skeletal body of a child, which for some reason is completely intact. She also recovered the full size head of an elf.
Some has seen a sort of crimson red liquid running down the tiled center. Lev thought he saw a beautiful women lying on the ground next to the coffin, wearing red.
The coffin has claw/ finger nail marks and Lira has noted she thinks Shareella was in this coffin. The coffin has not been thoroughly searched, nor has some other areas of the room.
(OOC: There are several versions of the story, The River of Blood. One was left by Natalie Storm, the high priestess told a story of the girl, and Lira has alledegly met Shareella and had a conversation with her, giving her some contrary information. Lira has an amulet around her neck that seemingly cannot be removed.
Iólinder has a speak with dead scroll. This allows 5 questions. (OOC: The dead only know what they knew in life including the languages it knew. The corpse must still have a mouth and can’t be undead. Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive, and the corpse is under no compulsion to offer a truthful answer if you are hostile to it or it recognizes you as an enemy. The corpse can’t learn new information, doesn’t comprehend anything that has happened since it died, and can’t speculate about future events.)
And that brings us to the present. Amdaeng and Lev have gathered their courage. Some are spread around the room, with Amdaeng and Iólinder the furthest from the raised two level dais and coffin. You are trying to come up with some questions to ask if you use the scroll and pick which dead to cast the spell on. And...the girl continues her route the the tenth pillar, "Arw"
Knowing he is likely the only one who will be able to understand the corpse, Vydar moves over to Iolinder and Lev. He stays quiet while the others begin the conversation, all the while he eyes the child ghost as she continues her ritual.
On a hunch, Lira wanders over to the shallow pool of ice in which the ghostly child has been removing heads. She takes a moment to count. There are 12 heads under the ice. The same number as when she first looked in. They are undisturbed. Even though the girl reaches down and her hands appear to go through the ice the surface is unbroken. She removes a head, that has most of its human features. Yet, the skull remains under the surface of the frozen water. (Only an ethereal image of the head is removed. 12 physical skulls are under the surface of the frozen undisturbed pool.)
Seeing the exact amount from the story gives Lira an idea. She hurries to get the mother's skull from Lev.
"We cantry putting this into the pile after she gets to 12. That's when she got confused in the story because she couldn't find the last head. The bodies appear once she grabs a head, right? I'll need help to break the ice."
(OOC: When the girl reaches through the ice, she "grabs" a head, then moves toward a pillar. As she draws closer, the body appears of the next occupant.
(As noted by Zarbyn, when and how to break the ritual will be critical to the success/ or failure)
Vydar's firebolt hits the ice and it breaks through its thin layer. Likely one or two more shot and you may be able to remove any contents within. The ghostly girl continues on her path, undisturbed by the actions of Vydar or Lira.
"Thanks,"Lira murmurs to Vydar as he works on melting the ice, feeling awkward holding the skull in her hands as she waits for the girl to take the 12th skull before adding the mother's, "A person, reduced to this... I'll be glad to give her some dignity at least, and free the girl. Ah, I've thought of another question too. 'What do you know about Shareella?' Nemset will only know things from when she was alive, but that might give us some insight on how to stop her."
The little ghost floats back to the partially broken ice. She reaches her tiny hands through the ice, without disturbing the ice or water below. She pulls out another head. This one has large side burns, triangular beard, and some long braided brown hair. The head is surrounded by a blue turban. The girl floats toward the 10th pillar. A headless body appears on the ground below it. As she places the head on the body, it rises to attention. "Arw."
Vydar
"Ten" Vydar knows how to count in this language: 1: Neg, 2: Hoyr, 3: Gurw, 4: Dorw, 5: Taw, 6: Zargaa, 7: Doloo, 8: Naim, 9: Yos, 10: Arw, 11: Arvan Neg, 12: Arvan Hoyr, 13: Arvan Gurw, etc.
Lev
Again, Lev sees a beautiful woman in red lying on the ground. Her very dress seems to flow toward the grand entrance to the room. Then he looks again and sees the adult-sized skull with the child's full skeletal body next to it.
Lev has to do a double take when he sees that woman again... only for her to vanish. Good grief what is going on with him? He shakes his head, "Did anyone else see that? An elven woman with red hair and dress...?" He looks to his companions, who have already started trying to hack away at the ice. His heart pounds in his chest, and he clenches his fist around the haft of his glaive.
He squints, moving towards the skull and body trying to see if he can catch another glimpse of whatever is going on.
Iólinder traces his finger across the seal on the spell scroll.
'Who are you? What's your daughter's name?' He muttered. 'If this is the girl and mother from the story, I think we can disregard those two questions. "What do you know about Shareella" is a good one. We can start with that one and extrapolate from there.'
Iólinder walked over to Lira and broke the seal. He unfurled the scroll and looked at the others. 'Remember: we only have five questions. Do not ask or speak a question unless you're absolutely sure about it. And do not ask each other questions. If the corpse overhears, as per the spell's workings, she can take it as one of its five questions.'He quickly scanned the writing, muttered 'Here goes.' And read the incantation out loud.
Spellcasting ability check to cast Speak with Dead for DC 13: 19 (My god, I could see the virtual dice almost tipping towards the 6...)
Much to everyones suprise, Iólinder is able to use the scroll that was given to him.
(I'm assuming you are casting it on the skull that Lira took near the area filled with 12 skulls, not the child's skeleton.)
Magical energy infuses the skull, floating from mouth to nose, to both empty eye sockets. It seems to float slightly off the ground and you get the eerie sense that it is looking at you, waiting.
"Did no one else see the body here?" Lev gestures to the ground in front of the coffin where he'd seen the woman laying. "It was an elven woman, that's why I brought the body here to begin with..." He puts a hand to his forehead, clearly questioning his own eyes again. Could it have been the fear? Or had he actually seen what he thought he saw?
"If the skull is good enough to speak with the deceased, then let's hurry," he said, forgetting in the moment which of them has the scroll. "Where's Amgaeng?" He says, suddenly realizing that she's not present... then looks to the door and just barely sees her making an escape. A small part of him is gland in that moment that it doesn't seem like he was the only one affected by the fear, but the greater part of him is worried. They can't split up. If they split up then...
He grits his teeth, hoping that Amdaeng will return once the fear wears off... if it wears off at all. Right now he feels like the rest of the group is in more danger than she is, so it wouldn't make sense to run after her.
( When it becomes relevant- Amdaengs Wisdom Save- 17 )
Twiggy will become Invisible and stay near the coffin. She will watch for anything happening around the coffin and try to help and assist in any way she can.
Amdaeng is in the crimson-tiled hallway where the armory stood. She takes in a deep breath and gathers her courage. Ning is looking at her, confused.
(OOC: I believe Iólinder has a speak with dead scroll)
The ghostly girl moves to the 9th pillar with the blue turbaned head of one of the sultan's unfortunate guards. "Yos"
Vydar
"Nine"
At this point, all note that the skeleton guards appear less translucent than when initially forming. None move, all getting up after their heads are attached and standing at attention.
Twiggy keeps an eye on the coffin, invisible but nearby.
Iólinder's fear subsided a little bit when he witnessed Amdaeng dive onto the ground and slide past him between his legs. Honestly, that was kind of impressive and made him forget about the phantom river of blood for a moment.
'Amdaeng is out there.' Iólinder pointed at the door. 'I could not stop her from running.'
As an answer to the groups' inquiries, Iólinder put down his backpack and retrieved the spell scroll from it. Before he unfolded it, he told the others: 'After I cast the spell, we only have five questions. Maybe we should first think about this and prepare what we want to ask.'
William Brackwater: Human Fighter - The Windward Isles
Tyrgram, the Butterfly Knight: Dwarf Warlock - Secret of Greenwold
Iòlinder Corrach: Half Elf War Cleric - Allansia Adventure
Valerius Sergius Publius: Dhampir Paladin - Vae Victus
Amdaeng moved timidly back up to the doorway, deeply ashamed....
Amdaeng
As Amdaeng peers back in her observations from before becomes clear. As the ghostly men regain their heads, they are slowly becoming more corporeal, and less human. Lira has retrieved bones from the well. An eerie reddish hue covers the tiles now all the way across the room to the well. To Amdaeng the red hue seems to flow like fabric blowing in the wind.
Amdaeng moved back into the room keeping an eye on the 'men', " Sorry..........."
" So hopefully one of you can sort this because I'm really not sure what's happening....", she flexed her fingers in the brass knuckles and waited.
A huge thrown room was entered through large double doors. A symbol of the Cult of the Dragon King was painted in its center. Around the border were more proclamations of the sultan's greatness.
Nine of of twelve pillars in the room now have what you believe to be an ethereal skeletal sultan blue turbaned guard standing at attention. Some have noted that they seem more corporeal now than when the first few were formed. Efforts to disarm them have not worked, as your hands go right through them. They do not notice you nor do they seem to aware of their environment.
The ghostly girl has methodically continued her task. A ritual that she has undoubtedly repeated for a very long time. She floats to the shallow pool covered in ice with skulls underneath (Upper left side of map). Reaching her ethereal hands through the ice (A solid surface), grabbing a head that appears to have human features of the person from life, floating toward a pillar. On the floor of the pillar, a body without a head appears and lies still. She puts head to body and the skeleton, armed with weapons and armor, stands. She says what Vydar has identified as a number, then returns to the pool of skulls. She has assembled Nine so far. There are twelve pillars. Some have been creeped out by the macabre scene and lost their senses momentarily.
Meanwhile, Lira jumped into the well and recovered the skeletal body of a child, which for some reason is completely intact. She also recovered the full size head of an elf.
Some has seen a sort of crimson red liquid running down the tiled center. Lev thought he saw a beautiful women lying on the ground next to the coffin, wearing red.
The coffin has claw/ finger nail marks and Lira has noted she thinks Shareella was in this coffin. The coffin has not been thoroughly searched, nor has some other areas of the room.
(OOC: There are several versions of the story, The River of Blood. One was left by Natalie Storm, the high priestess told a story of the girl, and Lira has alledegly met Shareella and had a conversation with her, giving her some contrary information. Lira has an amulet around her neck that seemingly cannot be removed.
Iólinder has a speak with dead scroll. This allows 5 questions. (OOC: The dead only know what they knew in life including the languages it knew. The corpse must still have a mouth and can’t be undead. Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive, and the corpse is under no compulsion to offer a truthful answer if you are hostile to it or it recognizes you as an enemy. The corpse can’t learn new information, doesn’t comprehend anything that has happened since it died, and can’t speculate about future events.)
And that brings us to the present. Amdaeng and Lev have gathered their courage. Some are spread around the room, with Amdaeng and Iólinder the furthest from the raised two level dais and coffin. You are trying to come up with some questions to ask if you use the scroll and pick which dead to cast the spell on. And...the girl continues her route the the tenth pillar, "Arw"
"Hm...'Who are you?, What is your daughter's name?' I'm not sure she would know anything about this ritual, but we could try asking."
Knowing he is likely the only one who will be able to understand the corpse, Vydar moves over to Iolinder and Lev. He stays quiet while the others begin the conversation, all the while he eyes the child ghost as she continues her ritual.
On a hunch, Lira wanders over to the shallow pool of ice in which the ghostly child has been removing heads. She takes a moment to count. There are 12 heads under the ice. The same number as when she first looked in. They are undisturbed. Even though the girl reaches down and her hands appear to go through the ice the surface is unbroken. She removes a head, that has most of its human features. Yet, the skull remains under the surface of the frozen water. (Only an ethereal image of the head is removed. 12 physical skulls are under the surface of the frozen undisturbed pool.)
Seeing the exact amount from the story gives Lira an idea. She hurries to get the mother's skull from Lev.
"We can try putting this into the pile after she gets to 12. That's when she got confused in the story because she couldn't find the last head. The bodies appear once she grabs a head, right? I'll need help to break the ice."
Vydar nods to Lira, that seems like a good enough plan.
“Here” he moves beside her and casts fire bolt on the ice hoping to melt a good chunk of it.
(attack if needed)
To hit: 23
Damage: 6
(OOC: When the girl reaches through the ice, she "grabs" a head, then moves toward a pillar. As she draws closer, the body appears of the next occupant.
(As noted by Zarbyn, when and how to break the ritual will be critical to the success/ or failure)
Vydar's firebolt hits the ice and it breaks through its thin layer. Likely one or two more shot and you may be able to remove any contents within.
The ghostly girl continues on her path, undisturbed by the actions of Vydar or Lira.
"Thanks," Lira murmurs to Vydar as he works on melting the ice, feeling awkward holding the skull in her hands as she waits for the girl to take the 12th skull before adding the mother's, "A person, reduced to this... I'll be glad to give her some dignity at least, and free the girl. Ah, I've thought of another question too. 'What do you know about Shareella?' Nemset will only know things from when she was alive, but that might give us some insight on how to stop her."
The little ghost floats back to the partially broken ice. She reaches her tiny hands through the ice, without disturbing the ice or water below. She pulls out another head. This one has large side burns, triangular beard, and some long braided brown hair. The head is surrounded by a blue turban. The girl floats toward the 10th pillar. A headless body appears on the ground below it. As she places the head on the body, it rises to attention. "Arw."
Vydar
"Ten" Vydar knows how to count in this language: 1: Neg, 2: Hoyr, 3: Gurw, 4: Dorw, 5: Taw, 6: Zargaa, 7: Doloo, 8: Naim, 9: Yos, 10: Arw, 11: Arvan Neg, 12: Arvan Hoyr, 13: Arvan Gurw, etc.
Lev
Again, Lev sees a beautiful woman in red lying on the ground. Her very dress seems to flow toward the grand entrance to the room. Then he looks again and sees the adult-sized skull with the child's full skeletal body next to it.
Lev has to do a double take when he sees that woman again... only for her to vanish. Good grief what is going on with him? He shakes his head, "Did anyone else see that? An elven woman with red hair and dress...?" He looks to his companions, who have already started trying to hack away at the ice. His heart pounds in his chest, and he clenches his fist around the haft of his glaive.
He squints, moving towards the skull and body trying to see if he can catch another glimpse of whatever is going on.
Perception: 13
Iólinder traces his finger across the seal on the spell scroll.
'Who are you? What's your daughter's name?' He muttered. 'If this is the girl and mother from the story, I think we can disregard those two questions. "What do you know about Shareella" is a good one. We can start with that one and extrapolate from there.'
Iólinder walked over to Lira and broke the seal. He unfurled the scroll and looked at the others. 'Remember: we only have five questions. Do not ask or speak a question unless you're absolutely sure about it. And do not ask each other questions. If the corpse overhears, as per the spell's workings, she can take it as one of its five questions.' He quickly scanned the writing, muttered 'Here goes.' And read the incantation out loud.
Spellcasting ability check to cast Speak with Dead for DC 13: 19
(My god, I could see the virtual dice almost tipping towards the 6...)
William Brackwater: Human Fighter - The Windward Isles
Tyrgram, the Butterfly Knight: Dwarf Warlock - Secret of Greenwold
Iòlinder Corrach: Half Elf War Cleric - Allansia Adventure
Valerius Sergius Publius: Dhampir Paladin - Vae Victus
Much to everyones suprise, Iólinder is able to use the scroll that was given to him.
(I'm assuming you are casting it on the skull that Lira took near the area filled with 12 skulls, not the child's skeleton.)
Magical energy infuses the skull, floating from mouth to nose, to both empty eye sockets. It seems to float slightly off the ground and you get the eerie sense that it is looking at you, waiting.