Chilling Adventures in the North

Muharg looks up at the half orc “Arogna…” he says, then after a short pause, he looks at the door “it’s already open.”

He then turns to Shad “By all means, Shad, feel free to try.”

If Blue isn't suited to secretive recon, but Shad wants to give it a try, Qinfaren would cast Guidance on him, if that was helpful.

"Kickin' makes the point, though, Muharg," Arogna growls. "Lets 'em know you're comin'. But if we're goin' quiet like, too, that's alright. Don't get caught alone though, Shad, like what I done."

“Why do you feel such animosity towards this Artus Cimber person, though, Arogna? I mean, he’s here supposedly fighting an undead army… what’s so wrong about that?” Asks almost in a whisper while they wait for Shad to do his thing.

"Fightin' 'em??" Realization crashes quite slowly onto Arogna's face, and her jaw drops, as if a glacier had calved from a cliff with the impact.

"Fightin' 'em??" she repeats. "May the Red Bear [an orcish phrase that translates very, very roughly as "accurse my corner of the cave"] for a rabbit-witted idiot. Here I thought this whole time that he was makin' 'em. All this talk about necromancy like. I got inta my head it was him doin' it. Well, [an orcish curse]. 'S a good job you said somethin' before I met him, Muharg. [A further curse.] He wouldn't'a known what on earth I was thinkin'."

Arogna stomps to the pile of body parts and methodically kicks them off the edge of the cliff. "So he don't need these then. [Further cursing.]"

[OOC: This was not an elaborate IC setup, and in fact the rabbit-witted idiot is me. Goodness sakes.]

Muharg raises an eyebrow and tries to figure out if Arogna is being serious. "You didn't..." He then has to suffocate a burst of sudden laughter "Yeah! That would have been an interesting encounter!"

"Hmm," Shad says. "Well, I did suggest it. Sure." He pulls his coats tight around himself. "I'll try sneaking in for a quick look."

Stealth: 19 + Guidance (Thanks, Qinfaren!) 1

Shad sneaks in through the door and peers inside. His natural ability of seeing better in the dark allows him to see further into the chamber. He confirms that the six shapes that Qinfaren mentioned are in fact pillars that hold up the roof of the cave.

However, the chamber does appear void of life, undead or otherwise. Though as he stands there near to the door he does he sound of metal striking against stone and the sounds of man yelling. He realises that sounds are coming from the direction of a staircase leading down. Perhaps there is something happening on a lower floor in the cave.

Blue takes great interest in the rest of the delivers. He would nuzzle them and allow them to pet him if they want. He occassionaly tries to fly with his tiny wings but never manages more than a hop.

"He seems to be able to see quite well in the dark. Much better than me anyway," Bjorn answers as he points to Blue, "I believe Blue may be able to fly when he gets older, but at the moment that's all he can do." 

When they start to move deeper in past the door, Bjorn would follow with Blue by his side. He lets out a little chuckle which he quickly muffles as he hears Arogna realize her mistake.

Once Qinfaren sees that Arogna hasn't found anything he starts digging around in his pack until he finds a torch. He quickly makes use of his tinderbox and gets the torch lit.

He then smiles at the others.

"My kind haven't spent a lot of time in the dark," Qinfaren says. "Little bit of wood and flame and I won't have to be stumbling into things in there."

He then follows along inside, urging Shad to continue towards the stairs. As he does so, he places a hand on Shad's shoulder providing him with more Guidance if he chooses to scout a little ways down the stairs.

Shad leaves the cave and confirms Qinfaren's description of the pillars to the others. He adds that he heard a person's voice. "Is Artus Cimber being held captive by the undead? I didn't see more of them, though I didn't explore the lower level. Shall we go look?"

Muharg nods at Shad and gestures with his head towards the staircase. “I’ll be right behind you.” He adds in a whisper.

[OOC: Muharg will stay 25 feet behind Shad]

Qinfaren will follow as well, not going down the stairs until he's sure the torchlight won't give Shad away.

Rasping laughter begins to echo through the room as you descend the stairs, then begins to speak in a booming voice. “Artus Cimber, you scrawny, foolish whelp! You may destroy me as many times as you like, but so long as my phylactery exists, I shall never die!”

You reach the bottom of the stairs and see a wide ritual chamber. Hiding behind a pillar near you is a grizzled human warrior, a sword in one hand and a rune stone the size of his torso clutched to his chest. He looks over his shoulder and growls, “Then if I have to fight you forever, Skarde, I will! I’ve got time.” He then stands and runs from the pillar he was hiding behind to another one to the east—just in time to avoid a blast of acid that melts the first column to slag.  

Qinfaren looks down the stairway at the sound of the voices. While doing so he checks passed Shad and Muharg to see if there's light coming from the room below, to see if he can extinguish his torch.

He looks over at Arogna and Bjorn, and Muharg if he's still close by.

"Any one know what a phylactery is?" Qinfaren asks, more curious about the new word than he is about whatever fight is going on below.

Arcana/Religion 12

[OOC: Assuming a DC 15 is a success, plus the fact paladin, undead, blabla… Please don’t hesitate to state otherwise and I’ll edit the post]

“A phylactery is a device where the life force of a lich (a terribly powerful undead entity) is atttached to. As long as the phylactery remains intact, the lich will rise over and over again, no matter how many times it is destroyed.” Explains Muharg in a whisper.

He then adds “We need to help Artus, the lich must be put down.”

[OOC: If we decide to fight it, Right before entering combat Muharg will cast Sacred Weapon.]

Qinfaren nods.

"Yes, sounds terrible," Qinfaren says. "Guess we can at least go down and see the lay of the land."

He looks around at the others.

"Anyone need any more healing before we head in?"

"I'm good," Arogna growls, hefting her hammer. "Let's go. I gotta debt to pay to Artus Cimber. Though he don't know it. An' nobody tell him, please."

"Hey! Package delivery," she hisses in Artus' direction. "Somethin' you needs right now?"

Shad will cast Aid on everyone except himself before they move out of its range. He will try to hide as he moves down the stairs: Stealth 13

OOC: Aid only helps three folks, so I guess alphabetical order: Arogna is passed up this time, but not next.

"And just what is a lich?" Bjorn gestures for Blue to stay by him as he readies his bow.