Virgil's attempt to recall any type of religious attachment to the room was unable to find anything necessarily relatable. There was nothing holy about this place. However, if the stone foundations were in fact bases for other statues, he had good reason to believe that this may indeed have been some twisted place of worship, perhaps of either a dark secret cult, or perhaps even a place where the parishioners were forced to worship against their own will.
"Damn it all! No songs that I can recall. But if the stone foundations were in fact bases for other statues, there's reason to believe that this may indeed have been some twisted place of worship, perhaps of either a dark secret cult, or even of forced worship, as this statue would suggest. Either way, that's all we got. I couldn't find any secret passageways when I was here before. So unless we feel like smashing this thing for being an affront to anything approaching beautiful, it appears the only courses of action aside from following that hot-head of a knight are to leave this place entirely or investigate the final tomb in the cell room you found me in. Although that may release another ghost, which we may not want. I suppose we could rest until we inevitably hear the cries of help from the others-Forgive me I'm still regaining my full composure, I shouldn't let a simple knight get under my skin."
Viilgahan took the time to add the room and the statue to his parchment map before returning them to stowage. "The fear the others feel may not be unfounded however..." the dragonborn finished securing his satchels contents. "...the evidence so far has pointed that the 'ghosts' have only harmed the cultists here." he shrugged. "I'm not suggesting they won't harm us, only they seem to have priority on subjects. I am inclined to search the tombs however I understand that your..." he turned to Ura. "...companions have some sort of pressing matter they may or may not be on about?" he paused. "Didn't the human say she was hunting Viggo? Perhaps there is a hurry on your ends. I am willing to help if it is your intent to clear the area. It will at the very least make my research here easier...." he shifted the weight of his satchel in a manner that Ura might have placed as familiar to some other person she once knew.
"I am not however going to throw myself into some foolhardy crusade." he pointed to Ura now. "You at the very least seem to have your wits and talent about you so if some of that gold is mine, consider that my pay for services to be rendered." he turned to the man named Virgil. "As for you and what your...real...motive for being here or rather staying here..." he clacked his tongue against his teeth as he thought. "If your comment earlier about also being a historian has any weight to it well, I would at least appreciate another set of eyes and another pair of hands to make light the work when this is settled. There is much here to look through and learn and I suspect...some semblance of knowledge and therefore power to be gained."
Virgils shadow grinned all the wider but Viilgahan paid it no mind. It wasn't as though either of them would see it.
"At this point, I'm after answers. Answers as to what Anton is up to so that I may bring him to ruin. Answers to what secrets this continent holds. And answers as to what whoreson knighted a fool like Ander. And I'm more than a historian, I happen to be versed in most things, one has to be in my trade." Virgil straightens his clothes. "So have we exhausted all objects of intrigue in this room? Shall we continue?"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Hmm,"Ura said, frowning at the statue as the others relay their finds. She summoned her mage hand and poked her magical mage-finger into the hole in the side of the sculpted victim's head, just to see if anything would happen.
On the likely chance that nothing actually did, she turned to the others. "I don't like this. If the cultists were in this room preparing a victim, they might have been trying to summon... that. Well, I kind of have doubts about their competence and ability to do so, but it's still not a great look." She pauses, noting that the others have gone by, and a look of worry crosses over her face.
"I need to go after my friends. But I'm tired, they're tired, and we're all making mistakes under pressure." She shoots a look at Virgil. "I know Ander seems like an ass right now, but he's always been there for us when we needed him. And if something is making him act weirder than normal-" She thinks of this new talkative Ander with a bit of worry, here. "- well, then, I owe it to him to be there when he needs me. I won't force either of you to follow me down that staircase... but I am holding all the money, you know."
That bribe is rather anticlimactic and Ura knows it -- it really wasn't all that much money, once she figured in a fair split between everyone. But if it was enough to convince the two with her to lend their strength to her cause, she'd use anything... and at the moment, the money was all she had. That, and a shared hatred of the Berossus family, that was.
"... of course if coin won't do it for you, know that I want Zelda's head on a platter, almost as much as I want Viggo's bow. If you're going after the other Berrosus with just as much vigor, I'll help you in any way I can. One less shitstain in this world is always a good cause,"she says.
Ura then makes her way towards the staircase, handing her hooded lantern over to her invisible mage hand and lighting it with a quick flare of prestidigitation. Dropping the hood to dim light, she has it follow along at a pace behind her, providing light for the other two. And at the top of the stairs, she points her finger downwards and sends a message to Uthal:
I'm coming after you guys, and I'm bringing Viil and Milton with me. Anything we should know about on the way down?
Ura does what she does: Stealth: 13 Perception for bad things on the staircase: 12
Virgil looks to Viilgahan. "I suppose if there's a chance for Ander to get humbled, I'd rather not miss it. Plus it seems there's little here to investigate. And despite her-" Virgil realizes Ura has attempted to hide again, but has failed to escape his notice. He motions his rapier in her general direction. "-doing that all the time, I'd rather not see Ura pay a poor price for a loyal heart."
Viilgahan let out a low hum at Uras back. Quiet. Short. Somewhere between annoyance and anger. "Sooner or later there is always a price to be paid..." and he gestured for Virgil to carry on ahead.
It laughed. It laughed and laughed and kept laughing. ...they don't even listen, not to a thing you say! Who would? For are you not as pitiable a creature with as wretched and stagnant a soul as the very things that they chase in the dark beneath these ruins? If you follow you are a fool. They will lead you to your death and it won't cost them anything to forget your passing. You are a stone in a river they must cross and you will be used in the crossing of it... The laughing continued all the while. ...You follow blind idiot children into unknown and unknowable non-corners of what you perceive to be real. Look at that thing and fill yourself with the confidence that your demise will be an endless supply of screaming that I will listen to until your stars grow dim... The faces around him were staring, uncarring, mouths open in mute and silent screaming, wanting, wishing, lamenting. ...Go, in some vain hope you gain some knowledge to better prepare yourself for your imminent demise. Try not to forget to actually getpaid... It added mockingly, long wispy thin fingers rubbing together. Can you not hear the black wind howl? One amongst you... The dead shuffled all the closer, only the smallest of distances away from Viilgahans maw. ...shall shortly perish...
The shadows grin was perhaps far more loathsome than its touch upon his shoulders. Why else would it hide its face from the world?
"Shak fahn." the dragonborn muttered and followed.
Abyssal - a phrase meaning to literally "Embrace the Earth"
At the bottom of the stairs, the corridor continued on for another 20 feet before opening to a large gruesome scene. The room was about 70 by 70 feet, and nearly three stories high. Unlike the previous tunnels, whose ceilings were of the same stone as the rest of it, the walls in here rose and ended at earth and rock above it. Even roots could be seen, growing down. And in additional to a number of torches lit and placed around, there was also natural light, entering through seemingly random holes in the 'ceiling'. The southeastern corner of the room appeared to be flooded, with quite a bit of debris fallen around it, possibly from erosion of the ceiling above. And it almost created a natural terrain pool, though there was nothing natural of the liquid filling the pool.
While the room in and of itself was simply a large underground cavern, it was the more recent 'made-man' features that made it gruesome. In the center of the cavernous room an altar of sorts; a stone table atop a staired platform. Immediately beyond the altar, two identical statues. While unsettling, the altar and statue likely had resided here for quite some time.
The newer additions were what covered the statues, altar, floor around it, and then the floor leading to the pool. Various cutting tools and instruments surrounded the altar, and did blood and unidentifiable bloody matter. A large-bellied human lay on the altar, his face covered in blood, missing his lower jaw, so it goes without saying that he was likely deceased. Blood soaked the altar and ground. And to where the blood led to the 'pool' was a small pile, of several other bodies.
"Well this just keeps getting better and better. At least we know what happened to Duke Schart." Virgil turns to Viilgahan. "You appear to be more familiar with this particular brand of horror than I, shall you take lead in examining the room for answers and I assist?"
Virgil would like to Help Viilgahan on his investigations.
"Do you really need me to tell you that the dead are dead?" he made a dismissive gesture with a hand as if to say 'ignore that remark, I'm just being cheeky' before Viilgahan stood stock still at the opening of the room. "From here this appears to be a rather large room with no visible signs of a group of individuals that came this way. Ritual mutilation and likely blood sacrifice occured." he noted the blood. "Recently." He looked at both Ura and Virgil. "This is one of those rooms that screams 'I am a trap step up and die please' so any investigation will be me standing here and going 'Burn that...and that...in fact the whole room can be burned with no real loss'."
The dragonborn does exactly as he said, attempting to investigate the room and identify the bodies from his precarious perch on the precipice of the masonry proper.
The statues were two humanoid figures with bowed heads, wearing cloaks and hoods that covered any features of the figures, and they each held a large bronze circular plate. It appeared that a jaw, quite likely that of the body on the altar, rested on one of the statue dishes.
The bodies in the room were primarily human with an elf or two in the mix, though likely more bodies were below the water line.
From where Viilgahan stood, the obvious actions of the room, the sacrificial acts of the dead victims, though if he were to uncover anything more detailed, a closer look would be required.
Ura swallows back her disgust and begins to move into the room. "You don't learn anything by standing still,"she replies to Viiligahan. On hearing who the fat man is from Virgil, she rapidly fires off three more messages to Uthal, Anaeris, and Ander.
Hey. We just found the remains of Duke Schart on an altar here, according to Milton. Have you guys seen any sign of D'Armes yet? Come on, reply to this if you can hear me, so I know you're not one of the bodies lying around!
She then carefully slinks her way between the altar towards the statues, grimacing at the jaw on the offering plate. Whatever they were trying to summon before they were interrupted, Ura figures is probably a good idea to not encourage, so she takes her rapier and gingerly reaches out with it, knocking the bloody jaw off of the offering plate.
Once that's done, she turns around to investigate the remains... particularly Shart's body, just in case anything of value was left on the man.
Ura’s message receives no response. Of course, this could be for any number of reasons, as they were separated in tunnels, and she wasn’t aware of their current location.
From the position directly in front of the statues, Ura could see the facial traits of the bowed heads. They were almost elvish, including the ears, however, everything was sharper, with harsher angles, almost more goblin or even demonic, in a sense, compared to a high or wood elf.
Ura found nothing on the Duke’s body when surveying the surface and checking pockets. However, upon viewing the statues, Ura did discover something else about the room. Just behind the statues was a stairwell, descending to another area. Not necessarily a hidden stairwell, simply easy to miss.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Let's burn it on the way out then." Virgil continues to make his way around the room towards the altar. They're clearly accomplishing something here, this all can't be mere ceremony.
Virgil inspects the altar and it's surroundings for anything magical in origin. Arcana 10
Hmm, perhaps not. Strange. This may be a preparation room. Onward then.
As Ura approaches the steps, she notices that at the top of the stairs, two more dead cultists. Something of note though, at least to her, was that one of them had their knees smashed in with a blunt instrument of some kind.
As Uthal stopped to listen up the stairs, Ander and Austin had already returned and moved ahead enough to view the next room.
It was long, 60 feet running north to south, and 30 east to west. On both the east and west walls, there were iron doors, three on each side. The room had six potential ‘cells’ but more appropriately the room had six crypts. Running the length of the room were four pairs of columns with a section about head height hollowed out, were fires were lit.
At the other end of the room, were Ander heard the voices coming from, there was a thin veil hanging. Enough to let light through, and show a faint movement of shadows, but not enough for anyone to see what was actually beyond.
Virgil's attempt to recall any type of religious attachment to the room was unable to find anything necessarily relatable. There was nothing holy about this place. However, if the stone foundations were in fact bases for other statues, he had good reason to believe that this may indeed have been some twisted place of worship, perhaps of either a dark secret cult, or perhaps even a place where the parishioners were forced to worship against their own will.
"Damn it all! No songs that I can recall. But if the stone foundations were in fact bases for other statues, there's reason to believe that this may indeed have been some twisted place of worship, perhaps of either a dark secret cult, or even of forced worship, as this statue would suggest. Either way, that's all we got. I couldn't find any secret passageways when I was here before. So unless we feel like smashing this thing for being an affront to anything approaching beautiful, it appears the only courses of action aside from following that hot-head of a knight are to leave this place entirely or investigate the final tomb in the cell room you found me in. Although that may release another ghost, which we may not want. I suppose we could rest until we inevitably hear the cries of help from the others-Forgive me I'm still regaining my full composure, I shouldn't let a simple knight get under my skin."
Viilgahan took the time to add the room and the statue to his parchment map before returning them to stowage. "The fear the others feel may not be unfounded however..." the dragonborn finished securing his satchels contents. "...the evidence so far has pointed that the 'ghosts' have only harmed the cultists here." he shrugged. "I'm not suggesting they won't harm us, only they seem to have priority on subjects. I am inclined to search the tombs however I understand that your..." he turned to Ura. "...companions have some sort of pressing matter they may or may not be on about?" he paused. "Didn't the human say she was hunting Viggo? Perhaps there is a hurry on your ends. I am willing to help if it is your intent to clear the area. It will at the very least make my research here easier...." he shifted the weight of his satchel in a manner that Ura might have placed as familiar to some other person she once knew.
"I am not however going to throw myself into some foolhardy crusade." he pointed to Ura now. "You at the very least seem to have your wits and talent about you so if some of that gold is mine, consider that my pay for services to be rendered." he turned to the man named Virgil. "As for you and what your...real...motive for being here or rather staying here..." he clacked his tongue against his teeth as he thought. "If your comment earlier about also being a historian has any weight to it well, I would at least appreciate another set of eyes and another pair of hands to make light the work when this is settled. There is much here to look through and learn and I suspect...some semblance of knowledge and therefore power to be gained."
Virgils shadow grinned all the wider but Viilgahan paid it no mind. It wasn't as though either of them would see it.
Exitus Acta Probat
"At this point, I'm after answers. Answers as to what Anton is up to so that I may bring him to ruin. Answers to what secrets this continent holds. And answers as to what whoreson knighted a fool like Ander. And I'm more than a historian, I happen to be versed in most things, one has to be in my trade." Virgil straightens his clothes. "So have we exhausted all objects of intrigue in this room? Shall we continue?"
"Hmm," Ura said, frowning at the statue as the others relay their finds. She summoned her mage hand and poked her magical mage-finger into the hole in the side of the sculpted victim's head, just to see if anything would happen.
On the likely chance that nothing actually did, she turned to the others. "I don't like this. If the cultists were in this room preparing a victim, they might have been trying to summon... that. Well, I kind of have doubts about their competence and ability to do so, but it's still not a great look." She pauses, noting that the others have gone by, and a look of worry crosses over her face.
"I need to go after my friends. But I'm tired, they're tired, and we're all making mistakes under pressure." She shoots a look at Virgil. "I know Ander seems like an ass right now, but he's always been there for us when we needed him. And if something is making him act weirder than normal-" She thinks of this new talkative Ander with a bit of worry, here. "- well, then, I owe it to him to be there when he needs me. I won't force either of you to follow me down that staircase... but I am holding all the money, you know."
That bribe is rather anticlimactic and Ura knows it -- it really wasn't all that much money, once she figured in a fair split between everyone. But if it was enough to convince the two with her to lend their strength to her cause, she'd use anything... and at the moment, the money was all she had. That, and a shared hatred of the Berossus family, that was.
"... of course if coin won't do it for you, know that I want Zelda's head on a platter, almost as much as I want Viggo's bow. If you're going after the other Berrosus with just as much vigor, I'll help you in any way I can. One less shitstain in this world is always a good cause," she says.
Ura then makes her way towards the staircase, handing her hooded lantern over to her invisible mage hand and lighting it with a quick flare of prestidigitation. Dropping the hood to dim light, she has it follow along at a pace behind her, providing light for the other two. And at the top of the stairs, she points her finger downwards and sends a message to Uthal:
I'm coming after you guys, and I'm bringing Viil and Milton with me. Anything we should know about on the way down?
Ura does what she does:
Stealth: 13
Perception for bad things on the staircase: 12
Virgil looks to Viilgahan. "I suppose if there's a chance for Ander to get humbled, I'd rather not miss it. Plus it seems there's little here to investigate. And despite her-" Virgil realizes Ura has attempted to hide again, but has failed to escape his notice. He motions his rapier in her general direction. "-doing that all the time, I'd rather not see Ura pay a poor price for a loyal heart."
Viilgahan let out a low hum at Uras back. Quiet. Short. Somewhere between annoyance and anger. "Sooner or later there is always a price to be paid..." and he gestured for Virgil to carry on ahead.
It laughed. It laughed and laughed and kept laughing. ...they don't even listen, not to a thing you say! Who would? For are you not as pitiable a creature with as wretched and stagnant a soul as the very things that they chase in the dark beneath these ruins? If you follow you are a fool. They will lead you to your death and it won't cost them anything to forget your passing. You are a stone in a river they must cross and you will be used in the crossing of it... The laughing continued all the while. ...You follow blind idiot children into unknown and unknowable non-corners of what you perceive to be real. Look at that thing and fill yourself with the confidence that your demise will be an endless supply of screaming that I will listen to until your stars grow dim... The faces around him were staring, uncarring, mouths open in mute and silent screaming, wanting, wishing, lamenting. ...Go, in some vain hope you gain some knowledge to better prepare yourself for your imminent demise. Try not to forget to actually get paid... It added mockingly, long wispy thin fingers rubbing together. Can you not hear the black wind howl? One amongst you... The dead shuffled all the closer, only the smallest of distances away from Viilgahans maw. ...shall shortly perish...
The shadows grin was perhaps far more loathsome than its touch upon his shoulders. Why else would it hide its face from the world?
"Shak fahn." the dragonborn muttered and followed.
Abyssal - a phrase meaning to literally "Embrace the Earth"
Exitus Acta Probat
"But price can always be negotiated, if you play the game right." Virgil follows Ura, sword at the ready.
At the bottom of the stairs, the corridor continued on for another 20 feet before opening to a large gruesome scene. The room was about 70 by 70 feet, and nearly three stories high. Unlike the previous tunnels, whose ceilings were of the same stone as the rest of it, the walls in here rose and ended at earth and rock above it. Even roots could be seen, growing down. And in additional to a number of torches lit and placed around, there was also natural light, entering through seemingly random holes in the 'ceiling'. The southeastern corner of the room appeared to be flooded, with quite a bit of debris fallen around it, possibly from erosion of the ceiling above. And it almost created a natural terrain pool, though there was nothing natural of the liquid filling the pool.
While the room in and of itself was simply a large underground cavern, it was the more recent 'made-man' features that made it gruesome. In the center of the cavernous room an altar of sorts; a stone table atop a staired platform. Immediately beyond the altar, two identical statues. While unsettling, the altar and statue likely had resided here for quite some time.
The newer additions were what covered the statues, altar, floor around it, and then the floor leading to the pool. Various cutting tools and instruments surrounded the altar, and did blood and unidentifiable bloody matter. A large-bellied human lay on the altar, his face covered in blood, missing his lower jaw, so it goes without saying that he was likely deceased. Blood soaked the altar and ground. And to where the blood led to the 'pool' was a small pile, of several other bodies.
"Well this just keeps getting better and better. At least we know what happened to Duke Schart." Virgil turns to Viilgahan. "You appear to be more familiar with this particular brand of horror than I, shall you take lead in examining the room for answers and I assist?"
Virgil would like to Help Viilgahan on his investigations.
"Do you really need me to tell you that the dead are dead?" he made a dismissive gesture with a hand as if to say 'ignore that remark, I'm just being cheeky' before Viilgahan stood stock still at the opening of the room. "From here this appears to be a rather large room with no visible signs of a group of individuals that came this way. Ritual mutilation and likely blood sacrifice occured." he noted the blood. "Recently." He looked at both Ura and Virgil. "This is one of those rooms that screams 'I am a trap step up and die please' so any investigation will be me standing here and going 'Burn that...and that...in fact the whole room can be burned with no real loss'."
The dragonborn does exactly as he said, attempting to investigate the room and identify the bodies from his precarious perch on the precipice of the masonry proper.
Investigation: 16
Exitus Acta Probat
The statues were two humanoid figures with bowed heads, wearing cloaks and hoods that covered any features of the figures, and they each held a large bronze circular plate. It appeared that a jaw, quite likely that of the body on the altar, rested on one of the statue dishes.
The bodies in the room were primarily human with an elf or two in the mix, though likely more bodies were below the water line.
From where Viilgahan stood, the obvious actions of the room, the sacrificial acts of the dead victims, though if he were to uncover anything more detailed, a closer look would be required.
Ura swallows back her disgust and begins to move into the room. "You don't learn anything by standing still," she replies to Viiligahan. On hearing who the fat man is from Virgil, she rapidly fires off three more messages to Uthal, Anaeris, and Ander.
Hey. We just found the remains of Duke Schart on an altar here, according to Milton. Have you guys seen any sign of D'Armes yet? Come on, reply to this if you can hear me, so I know you're not one of the bodies lying around!
She then carefully slinks her way between the altar towards the statues, grimacing at the jaw on the offering plate. Whatever they were trying to summon before they were interrupted, Ura figures is probably a good idea to not encourage, so she takes her rapier and gingerly reaches out with it, knocking the bloody jaw off of the offering plate.
Once that's done, she turns around to investigate the remains... particularly Shart's body, just in case anything of value was left on the man.
Investigation for loot: 13
Ura’s message receives no response. Of course, this could be for any number of reasons, as they were separated in tunnels, and she wasn’t aware of their current location.
From the position directly in front of the statues, Ura could see the facial traits of the bowed heads. They were almost elvish, including the ears, however, everything was sharper, with harsher angles, almost more goblin or even demonic, in a sense, compared to a high or wood elf.
Ura found nothing on the Duke’s body when surveying the surface and checking pockets. However, upon viewing the statues, Ura did discover something else about the room. Just behind the statues was a stairwell, descending to another area. Not necessarily a hidden stairwell, simply easy to miss.
"Let's burn it on the way out then." Virgil continues to make his way around the room towards the altar. They're clearly accomplishing something here, this all can't be mere ceremony.
Virgil inspects the altar and it's surroundings for anything magical in origin. Arcana 10
Hmm, perhaps not. Strange. This may be a preparation room. Onward then.
"Hey. There's a staircase over here," Ura says, beckoning to the others to follow and making her mage hand float over, leading the way.
Stealthing down those steps: 10
As Ura approaches the steps, she notices that at the top of the stairs, two more dead cultists. Something of note though, at least to her, was that one of them had their knees smashed in with a blunt instrument of some kind.
As Uthal stopped to listen up the stairs, Ander and Austin had already returned and moved ahead enough to view the next room.
It was long, 60 feet running north to south, and 30 east to west. On both the east and west walls, there were iron doors, three on each side. The room had six potential ‘cells’ but more appropriately the room had six crypts. Running the length of the room were four pairs of columns with a section about head height hollowed out, were fires were lit.
At the other end of the room, were Ander heard the voices coming from, there was a thin veil hanging. Enough to let light through, and show a faint movement of shadows, but not enough for anyone to see what was actually beyond.
Ura sighs and rolls her eyes, sending another message to the three amigos as she continues down the stairs.
Seriously. Could you guys not just wait one damn minute for us to catch up? You're having all the fun without us.
Uthal gestures back up the stairs as he sees Ura approach. "Not our fault. You were late. We found more humans with squishy knees."
Gronk in Bastion, Kingdom of Medrin Elixisys in Talaveroth (Team 2) Uthal in Lost Continent of Theviranne