"This is...Odd. I don't recognize what period or culture these things are from at all." Velyra pores over some of the artifacts for a minute or two before wrapping some back up and placing them in her bag. Preferably ones with symbols or depictions on them. "There are people I need to show these too. Hopefully some that will know more than me."
Walking back out into the main area of the basement, she listens to what Usul has to say and nods. "So it could be a shortcut to where we need to go anyway."
"Or a shortcut to some other place, with the only exit at the surface and hordes of undead between. If Dib did not see glowing runes, there may be no way back..."
He looks around the room, his frustration finding a new, higher, plateau. "I never thought it possible to gather so much information, yet understand so little."
He starts counting on his fingers, "One - it's clear that blowing up this ring should not be done lightly, until we decide if we want to use it. Two -- we could send through explosives -- I doubt there are any innocents nearby-- and they might collapse the mine. , but..." he looks around, at the barrels, at the runes, at the bodies, "...three -- if we want to stop this then we need to understand it, and destroying it might not be the way. We don't even know who put the rings here! The dark-clad assassins, or the master of the undead? Likely the latter, I think."
"We should probably search the rest of the manor, but I'm not sure this room should be left unguarded. Perhaps we could block the door?"
(( Did we ever hear how long the undead have been a problem -- especially the clased ones? ))
We've always has a problem out here with the living dead, but it's been manageable for the longest time. They were dumb, slow, and so far in the wilds that it was easy to forget they even existed sometimes."
"A few months back they started showing up in the mines, just a few of them at first, but then it was like a whole army of them was coming up from underneath the mountain. They started hitting the settlements, showing up in larger numbers than we've ever seen before. Some of them are faster, more viscous. And here have been times where I swear there was an intelligence behind their movements. Flanks, ambushes, misdirection. Gods, we had to erect that barrier around Silverfair just a week ago after they hit both ends of the town at once."
tl;dr: Undead have always been a problem in the region, but more of a nuisance than anything. A few months back it started ramping up into a huge problem, and the clawed variety(which can make new undead) appeared.
"Would blocking the door do any good? That thing didn't really seem to care about the fact it was closed in the first place." Kal holds the glowing sword up to the statues, pausing to study the central figure. "If we want to take a chance going through that thing, I won't say no. If the mines are the source, it would make sense that whoever is behind this would have a way to get there and back quickly."
"Or if we plan on continuing on foot, I would say we need to hurry through the rest of the manor. We're burning daylight, and you remember what happens at night."
Silthras sighs and looks around the room, "I doubt it. We are not even sure it came in here -- it seems it only tried to lead us here into the trap."
"Our original plan was to get to the mines and back to the inn before night. Now I think we should properly investigate this place today, send some explosive though, and destroy these runes before tonight, then return to the inn."
'It would be interesting to see if it has any effect on the arrval time of the clawed ones."
He glances at Dig again, then at Kal's sword. "We might get more information if Dib had a light source..."
"I don't think we should be hasty with the explosives until we know what it is we're burying, and I'm not convinced we should try and destroy this teleportation mechanism yet either. I'm beginning to think we really spooked that thing we encountered earlier, and it was trying desperately to break line of sight to pull off some trick. The inn was guarded, I don't think it was expecting or wanting visitors. This may not be a trap, it could be a back door."
Velyra takes a piece of rope from her pack and cuts it, fashioning a loop than can be put around Dib. If Usul is willing to put him through the ringer again, she'll cast Light on the loop. "Sorry Kal, you're going to have to light a torch or live in the dark for a moment."
Before Velyra extinguishes his light source, Kal will pull out a torch and get it lit(or if there are lanterns in the basement, he will light those). "This is the last place I want to be with no vision."
"I agree with her assessment though. This portal could be a boon."
Looking to Dib, Usul again says some things in Gnomish, and then nods, saying “He’ll go through again. Let us put that on.”He then takes the loop, puts it around Dib’s neck, and will repeat what they’d done just a minute or so before. Again, pulling him back at a five count.
The teleportation platform once again swallows the magical weasel whole shortly after he drops onto the platform, vanishing from sight. A few moments later, Dib pops back into existence on Usul's shoulder. Telepathic images hit the gnome's mind, revealing a rocky tunnel a little over ten feet wide. No platform rested under the tiny weasel's feet, nor anywhere nearby. In the opposite direction of the softly glowing light, Dib was able to briefly glimpse a mound of rubble leading up a hole in the rocky roof before being pulled back.
There are indeed oil lanterns in the basement, which Kal is able to easily light. The storage rims are not well lit from the angles, but the rest of the basement is easily visible now.
Eh. Could be. Maybe. Who really knows what kind of key the cipher even needs at this point?
edit: In seriousness, later on if you want to try breaking the cipher with some idea relating to the statues, you can try and see what happens. Just need something concrete. :)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
1. Walking quickly along the deck, the party would find nothing warranting further investigation. The tables are all partially damaged, and contain no drawers.
2. Getting a closer look at the large desk in this room, you can now see some of the papers on it are incredibly well done sketches of landscapes and animals such as foxes, rabbits, or deer. There's a litany of charcoal pencils, tracing papers, and feathers scattered over the desk. Inside the drawers of the desk, you can more tools that an artist might use. Brushes, oil paints, spatulas, and jars. In the shelves behind it you find canvasses of unfinished paintings, and a large amount of rolled up scrolls containing more sketches and calligraphy works. The lock on the chest next to the chest opens easily for Usul, and contains:
4 small jars of a fine black ink that occasionally has flashes of iridescence(200 gp worth of the special inks needed to copy spells into a wizard's spell book)
A blue hard-covered book with intricate geometric tracings in a lighter blue. The pages are filled with arcane symbols and lists of runes that you can't recognize. ((Sil Arcana: 10)) Completely unsure what this book might be.
In the southwest corner of the room, the bookshelves is filled to the brim with books. They range from great works of poetry, to historical studies of past military conflicts, to treatise on formal academic subjects such as astronomy. The small desk in the corner over here is a simple one without drawers, just four legs and a hard tabletop. There is a single candlestick on the desk, and a journal written in common. According to a scrawling on the first page, it belonged to an Elsia Redvale.
Moving the rug and inspecting the floorboards, you don't find any hidden compartments. Nor does there appear to be anything hidden in the fireplace or on the mantle.
3. As you move all the portraits in this room, you vaguely recognize the artistry style from some of the unfinished works you discovered in the previous room. Tapping on the walls behind each portrait, they sound solid - as if there were no hollow spaces to hide things. Throwing open the wardrobe, you find clothes obviously belong to a female, dresses, skirts, blouses. But also riding pants and regular breeches. A variety of shoes line the bottom of the wardrobe. Fanciful dress shoes, boots.
On the desk, you inspect the small boxes, and find they contain pieces of jewelry(total 25 gp worth) and small containers of powder makeups. The small endtable next to the bed is bare, save for three half-melted candles.
4.The barrels along the wall are spigoted, and cracking the top of them open you can see they're both about half full of ale that has gone horrendously bad. The stench itself burning your nostrils as it wafts in. The bottles lining the wall are similar to those you found in the basement, containing a light brown, strong smelling hard liquor. The piece of sheet music is titled 'The Lucky Lady.' There are lyrics written alongside the notes, as if it were a jig meant to be sung along with.
Likewise to the other room, the fireplace has nothing to hide.
5. The table has two candles on it, and contains no drawers. There are about twenty figurines in the cabinet that are made of porcelain, they depict various people performing artistic tasks. Some are ballet dancers, actors/actresses in the middle of a performance, bards strumming on lutes, etc.
While the party is investigating this room, Usul shuffles off into the bedroom north of it, opening the small chest next to the bed. Inside, he finds a collection of stuffed dolls. A few are childish human-like figures, but the vast majority are animal-like, cats mostly.
Usul, going through the rooms and searching for treasures and hidden compartments is having all too much fun, and is, at least for the moment, completely engrossed and no longer at all worried about the crazy monster that they’d recently scared off.
In the room with the beer and liquor, he pops the cork on one of the strong bottles, and unable to help his youthful curiosity, takes a half sip from one, immediately coughing and gagging as his head swirls.
Looking at the inks and scrolls in the chest, he says, “We’ve seen things like this before in Mr. Kwiz’ study. Though we never quite figured out how to read all the symbols and scratching...”
Opening the child’s chest and findings the dolls and toys inside it, he smiles and then carefully places them all back in the small box. He then puts the entire box in his bag.
As they finish searching the old home, Kal sheaths his sword and slings his shield back over his shoulder. "Well, I think it's safe to say we're alone now."
"The creature is long gone, to who knows where. I imagine we'll see it again, but hopefully not anytime soon. It's a shame the rest of our search didn't yield anymore clues...But we have learned quite a lot today."
"We still have daylight left. Though I'm not sure if it's enough to walk to the mines, search them, and make it out before dark."
Silthras nods, and looks around at the room they just upturned, "Lives in ruins."
"I don't get the impression that the Redvale's were in league with the ... the forces in the mines. Where the the three black-clad victims fit is unclear -- they may have been doing what we are doing."
"If we don't intend to use the portal, we should destroy it, I think -- before tonight."
"They didn't deserve whatever happened to them, and I think you're very close to the truth about these other victims. A pity they weren't as prepared as we were." Velyra will take one each of the scrolls of detect magic, locate object, and find traps.
"I think we should just go through the portal. From what Dib has seen, It would appear it leads exactly to where we need to go."
Silthras will take the book and one of the Detect Magic scrolls, "Perhaps some of the mundane valuables could be given to the townsfolk..." he says, "...the will need to rebuild."
Then he smiles at Kal, "...and we may need to buy more explosive."
"This is...Odd. I don't recognize what period or culture these things are from at all." Velyra pores over some of the artifacts for a minute or two before wrapping some back up and placing them in her bag. Preferably ones with symbols or depictions on them. "There are people I need to show these too. Hopefully some that will know more than me."
Walking back out into the main area of the basement, she listens to what Usul has to say and nods. "So it could be a shortcut to where we need to go anyway."
"That is tempting..."
"Or a shortcut to some other place, with the only exit at the surface and hordes of undead between. If Dib did not see glowing runes, there may be no way back..."
He looks around the room, his frustration finding a new, higher, plateau. "I never thought it possible to gather so much information, yet understand so little."
He starts counting on his fingers, "One - it's clear that blowing up this ring should not be done lightly, until we decide if we want to use it. Two -- we could send through explosives -- I doubt there are any innocents nearby-- and they might collapse the mine. , but..." he looks around, at the barrels, at the runes, at the bodies, "...three -- if we want to stop this then we need to understand it, and destroying it might not be the way. We don't even know who put the rings here! The dark-clad assassins, or the master of the undead? Likely the latter, I think."
"We should probably search the rest of the manor, but I'm not sure this room should be left unguarded. Perhaps we could block the door?"
(( Did we ever hear how long the undead have been a problem -- especially the clased ones? ))
tl;dr: Undead have always been a problem in the region, but more of a nuisance than anything. A few months back it started ramping up into a huge problem, and the clawed variety(which can make new undead) appeared.
"Would blocking the door do any good? That thing didn't really seem to care about the fact it was closed in the first place." Kal holds the glowing sword up to the statues, pausing to study the central figure. "If we want to take a chance going through that thing, I won't say no. If the mines are the source, it would make sense that whoever is behind this would have a way to get there and back quickly."
"Or if we plan on continuing on foot, I would say we need to hurry through the rest of the manor. We're burning daylight, and you remember what happens at night."
Silthras sighs and looks around the room, "I doubt it. We are not even sure it came in here -- it seems it only tried to lead us here into the trap."
"Our original plan was to get to the mines and back to the inn before night. Now I think we should properly investigate this place today, send some explosive though, and destroy these runes before tonight, then return to the inn."
'It would be interesting to see if it has any effect on the arrval time of the clawed ones."
He glances at Dig again, then at Kal's sword. "We might get more information if Dib had a light source..."
"I don't think we should be hasty with the explosives until we know what it is we're burying, and I'm not convinced we should try and destroy this teleportation mechanism yet either. I'm beginning to think we really spooked that thing we encountered earlier, and it was trying desperately to break line of sight to pull off some trick. The inn was guarded, I don't think it was expecting or wanting visitors. This may not be a trap, it could be a back door."
Velyra takes a piece of rope from her pack and cuts it, fashioning a loop than can be put around Dib. If Usul is willing to put him through the ringer again, she'll cast Light on the loop. "Sorry Kal, you're going to have to light a torch or live in the dark for a moment."
Before Velyra extinguishes his light source, Kal will pull out a torch and get it lit(or if there are lanterns in the basement, he will light those). "This is the last place I want to be with no vision."
"I agree with her assessment though. This portal could be a boon."
Looking to Dib, Usul again says some things in Gnomish, and then nods, saying “He’ll go through again. Let us put that on.” He then takes the loop, puts it around Dib’s neck, and will repeat what they’d done just a minute or so before. Again, pulling him back at a five count.
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
Silthras pulls the Moon Sword from his pack and hands it to Kal before Dib goes through. "Perhaps this is best in your hands."
The teleportation platform once again swallows the magical weasel whole shortly after he drops onto the platform, vanishing from sight. A few moments later, Dib pops back into existence on Usul's shoulder. Telepathic images hit the gnome's mind, revealing a rocky tunnel a little over ten feet wide. No platform rested under the tiny weasel's feet, nor anywhere nearby. In the opposite direction of the softly glowing light, Dib was able to briefly glimpse a mound of rubble leading up a hole in the rocky roof before being pulled back.
There are indeed oil lanterns in the basement, which Kal is able to easily light. The storage rims are not well lit from the angles, but the rest of the basement is easily visible now.
As the lanterns are lit and Dib is sent, Silthras ponders the statues. Could they be a clue to deciphering the book?
Kal shakes his head, declining the sword. "You may need it. That thing was quick, you'll want something useful if it gets in your face."
Silthras Intelligence: 11
Eh. Could be. Maybe. Who really knows what kind of key the cipher even needs at this point?
edit:
In seriousness, later on if you want to try breaking the cipher with some idea relating to the statues, you can try and see what happens. Just need something concrete. :)
1. Walking quickly along the deck, the party would find nothing warranting further investigation. The tables are all partially damaged, and contain no drawers.
2. Getting a closer look at the large desk in this room, you can now see some of the papers on it are incredibly well done sketches of landscapes and animals such as foxes, rabbits, or deer. There's a litany of charcoal pencils, tracing papers, and feathers scattered over the desk. Inside the drawers of the desk, you can more tools that an artist might use. Brushes, oil paints, spatulas, and jars. In the shelves behind it you find canvasses of unfinished paintings, and a large amount of rolled up scrolls containing more sketches and calligraphy works. The lock on the chest next to the chest opens easily for Usul, and contains:
In the southwest corner of the room, the bookshelves is filled to the brim with books. They range from great works of poetry, to historical studies of past military conflicts, to treatise on formal academic subjects such as astronomy. The small desk in the corner over here is a simple one without drawers, just four legs and a hard tabletop. There is a single candlestick on the desk, and a journal written in common. According to a scrawling on the first page, it belonged to an Elsia Redvale.
Moving the rug and inspecting the floorboards, you don't find any hidden compartments. Nor does there appear to be anything hidden in the fireplace or on the mantle.
3. As you move all the portraits in this room, you vaguely recognize the artistry style from some of the unfinished works you discovered in the previous room. Tapping on the walls behind each portrait, they sound solid - as if there were no hollow spaces to hide things. Throwing open the wardrobe, you find clothes obviously belong to a female, dresses, skirts, blouses. But also riding pants and regular breeches. A variety of shoes line the bottom of the wardrobe. Fanciful dress shoes, boots.
On the desk, you inspect the small boxes, and find they contain pieces of jewelry(total 25 gp worth) and small containers of powder makeups. The small endtable next to the bed is bare, save for three half-melted candles.
4.The barrels along the wall are spigoted, and cracking the top of them open you can see they're both about half full of ale that has gone horrendously bad. The stench itself burning your nostrils as it wafts in. The bottles lining the wall are similar to those you found in the basement, containing a light brown, strong smelling hard liquor. The piece of sheet music is titled 'The Lucky Lady.' There are lyrics written alongside the notes, as if it were a jig meant to be sung along with.
Likewise to the other room, the fireplace has nothing to hide.
5. The table has two candles on it, and contains no drawers. There are about twenty figurines in the cabinet that are made of porcelain, they depict various people performing artistic tasks. Some are ballet dancers, actors/actresses in the middle of a performance, bards strumming on lutes, etc.
While the party is investigating this room, Usul shuffles off into the bedroom north of it, opening the small chest next to the bed. Inside, he finds a collection of stuffed dolls. A few are childish human-like figures, but the vast majority are animal-like, cats mostly.
Usul, going through the rooms and searching for treasures and hidden compartments is having all too much fun, and is, at least for the moment, completely engrossed and no longer at all worried about the crazy monster that they’d recently scared off.
In the room with the beer and liquor, he pops the cork on one of the strong bottles, and unable to help his youthful curiosity, takes a half sip from one, immediately coughing and gagging as his head swirls.
Looking at the inks and scrolls in the chest, he says, “We’ve seen things like this before in Mr. Kwiz’ study. Though we never quite figured out how to read all the symbols and scratching...”
Opening the child’s chest and findings the dolls and toys inside it, he smiles and then carefully places them all back in the small box. He then puts the entire box in his bag.
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
As they finish searching the old home, Kal sheaths his sword and slings his shield back over his shoulder. "Well, I think it's safe to say we're alone now."
"The creature is long gone, to who knows where. I imagine we'll see it again, but hopefully not anytime soon. It's a shame the rest of our search didn't yield anymore clues...But we have learned quite a lot today."
"We still have daylight left. Though I'm not sure if it's enough to walk to the mines, search them, and make it out before dark."
Silthras nods, and looks around at the room they just upturned, "Lives in ruins."
"I don't get the impression that the Redvale's were in league with the ... the forces in the mines. Where the the three black-clad victims fit is unclear -- they may have been doing what we are doing."
"If we don't intend to use the portal, we should destroy it, I think -- before tonight."
(( I assume we grab the valuable and will add to the 'loot' post shortly ))
"They didn't deserve whatever happened to them, and I think you're very close to the truth about these other victims. A pity they weren't as prepared as we were." Velyra will take one each of the scrolls of detect magic, locate object, and find traps.
"I think we should just go through the portal. From what Dib has seen, It would appear it leads exactly to where we need to go."
Silthras will take the book and one of the Detect Magic scrolls, "Perhaps some of the mundane valuables could be given to the townsfolk..." he says, "...the will need to rebuild."
Then he smiles at Kal, "...and we may need to buy more explosive."
Loot list updated.