Crypt of Osorin, part 7
Log Info
- Title: Crypt of Osorin, part seven
- Emitter: Culix
- Characters: Glasha, Aimarra, Smuldur, Paenitia
- Place: Crypt of Osorin
- Time: Wednesday, April 28, 2021, 1:39 PM
- Summary: The adventurers continue exploring the Crypt. Deciding to explore the crafted areas, and not the fissure they continue forward and discover a door marked with a constellation similar to the main entrance. Glasha determines that it is seeking a neutral individual, so Aimarra presses her hand to the palm print, and access is gained. Inside is a shrine to Rada, and some glowing, golden scales. Glasha takes them, a wave of positive energy washes over the group, healing them and giving others a golden glow. Heartened, they advance, and Paenitia opens a door to a room full of swinging blades. Disheartened, they contemplate ways around them.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Appearing, in Height Order =-=-=-=-=-= Paenitia 3'0" 34 Lb Halfling Female A Lucht knight, dark skinned in bold feathery finery. Smuldur 3'4" 45 Lb Goblin Male A gently used (cut, scraped, burnt, exploded) gobber. Aimarra 5'1" 128 Lb Half-Elf Female Brown hair and eyes, breastplate, leathers, pointed ears. Glasha 5'8" 100 Lb Half-Orc Female Green-skinned, young lady with bleached hair. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- As the smallest GM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Culix 3'2" 36 Lb Goblin Female Beady-eyed goblin female in leathers and hood. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
The adventurers, having dispatched the swarm of beetles who had called this tomb their home, pressed onwards into the natural rift in the stone which seems to have split the crypt in two, given they have yet to see the end of it yet. The swarm of beetle nymphs seem uninterested in the adventurers, busy instead consuming their first meal of their own egg shells and the jelly within them. They have demonstrated that if they are approached too close they spray a foul-smelling but seemingly harmless substance from their abdomens.
Further down the rift, there are ominous sounds of metal grinding against stone and the whooshing of air being swept aside. There remains a passage east from the large room they have just vacated which is as yet unexplored, and poor Ramirez is still stuck on the wrong side of a dart trap which has yet to be disabled.
Glasha, looking neither excited nor disappointed in the lack of imprinted animals, says, "Paenitia, before we go much further, shouldn't we go back for your mount? I wouldn't want something to happen it couldn't handle alone, and similarly I don't want to have to take care of it if something happens to you."
From her position still in the hallways off of the east corridor where they'd evaded the dart trap, Aimarra calls, "Yes, we'd better not get separated. I'd bet on there still being a dart trap there. Can someone take it out, preferably without hurting the bird?"
"Break darts!" Smuldur volunteers. This shouldn't be any surprise, and he scampers towards the sharp pointy things. Surprises always await for those to break things!
'Ruaaaaaaah!' Ramirez calls out, seemingly agreeing. Or perhaps being concerned about being left alone in the dark.
"Yes." Paenitia agrees, following along behind Smuldur.
GAME: Smuldur rolls disable device: (14)+2: 16
Glasha seems to have given up being Smuldur's babysitter. Instead, she pulls a nut from the small pouch nestled in the small of her back and lifts it for Luna to eat, waiting on this fiasco to end one way or the other.
Smuldur doesn't need a babysitter! Though sitting on babies does sound kind of fun... Almost as much as banging on trips and traps with his trusted tool, Torchie. "Broke! Safe!" He assures, before skittering ahead. At least he's confident enough in his work to do so? Also, there are probably more exciting and/or shiny things ahead in the eastern passage.
"Go ahead." Aimarra wears a very small smirk that doesn't really serve to hide her amusement, and she rests one hand on her hip, leaning one shoulder against the wall next to her as she watches the gobber work. Her bow remains in the other hand, and she seems not the slightest bit concerned.
She is, however, conveniently far enough back that any explosion from Smuldur's work will have a wall between her and it.
Once the trap is disabled, Paenitia runs up to her hippogryph and hugs him on the foreleg. He nuzzles at her, scraping his beak along the brim of her hat. She takes the reins and leads him forward, as far as the crack that runs through the crypt.
She examines it critically, and the size of her steed. "It widen further in, so Ramirez can fit. There will be much pulling. He will not enjoy the turn-around. We can bring him, but I think if the crack get more narrow, this is the bad idea."
"Isn't there that other passage farther in?" Glasha asks, looking down from Luna to the group. "Nothing says we have to do this part first. Save it for last if it doesn't wrap around somewhere."
Only when Smuldur is done does Aimarra straighten and step into ready view. "I agree. I wouldn't like to be Ramirez, left alone in the dark. Let's follow the bigger paths first."
"It is agreed then. I go, and lead Ramirez, for he is still injured. Friend Smuldur with me. Aimarra and Glasha follow, for the shooting and spelling." Paenitia says, guiding her hippogryph forward and around the corner to the start of the eastern passage. She hesitates and doesn't leave the room.
"This is good place for another trap? I do not see one?" She peers carefully.
Glasha moves to where Ramirez is and gives the creature a pet, if it allows. "Besides," the half-human says with a playful smile, "I need you to keep my elementals safe." Glasha gives a wink down at Paenitia. "Okay, I'm okay going ahead of Aimarra." She looks at Aimarra as she starts walking toward the wide passage. "Stay to the right, I'll try to keep left to stay out of your line of fire as much as I can." She stops just past the archer to wait for the melee fighters to get in front.
GAME: Glasha rolls Perception: (9)+1: 10 GAME: Paenitia rolls perception: (15)+4: 19 GAME: Aimarra rolls perception: (15)+12: 27 GAME: Paenitia rolls 1d20+5: (18)+5: 23 (Ramirez Perception) GAME: Glasha rolls 5: (3)+5: 8 (Luna Perception)
As the group cautiously advance into the eastern passage, one steps upon a flagstone which shifts subtly... but then nothing happens. It is simply a loose flagstone. After a moment of held breath, they are able to proceed unmolested- it seems this particular crossroad does not have any traps.
"Understood." Aimarra falls into line at the back with a shrug of acceptance, remaining to the right as bid. It helps that doing so keeps her line of sight clear for traps. The momentary shift makes her jump backward lightly, but nothing untoward happens, and after a few breaths, she continues forward. "Nothing thus far."
Ramirez loves all attention, he is a peacock after all, and naturally believes he should be at the centre of it. He whickers happily, which takes on an odd whistling quality passing through his beak. Then it's clop-scratch, clop-scratch. A moment's hesitation when the flagstone slips, then he's ready to continue.
"It seem safe." Paenitia says, glancing to her side, trusting the fiery goblin to... well set off the traps if he doesn't find them first. Carefully she makes her way down the hallway to the end where it turns into a 'T'.
Glasha isn't being particularly observant. Other people are doing it better. "Don't fool yourselves," she says. "Nothing I've seen so far leads me to believe this place is any kind of safe."
At the end of the hall, they come upon a junction with another wide hall. This one leads north and south, bending back west to the north. The southern reach ends abruptly with a pile of stone and earth and broken flagstones where a section of the crypt has given way.
To the north, before the passage bends to the west, there is a door- this one is stone, like many in the crypt, though it is much smaller than the main doors at the entrance. Its surface is enscribed with the same constelation, that of the Scales- that was present at the crypt's entrance. The enscryption glimmers faintly in the darkness, as though flecks of gold catch the flickering torch flame.
Glasha furrows her brow. "Another keyhole?" she asks nobody in particular. "Let me through," she says to the rest. "Let's see if that inscription is more legible than the one outside."
"Okay," the Red Knight says, brining her Ivory hippogryph into the hall way and making room for Glasha. She peers dramatically to the south, taking the time to obviously stare. Perhaps her mask limits what she can see, "The passage is fully collapsed there. We have only the way north and the door."
"What is written on the door, Magus Glasha?"
Glasha steps forward, cautiously moving, testing each stone she steps on past the front of the group as she approaches the inscription. When she's close enough to read it, she stops and looks at it carefully, translating it in her head to recite for the group.
As Glasha draws nearer- there is no text to read, it is an image of the minor constellation, the Scales of Rada. There does not seem to be a key hole that can be discerned, but close examination shows that the stone is very faintly discolored in the shape of a palm just above one of the plates of the scale.
It's not text. It's a constellation.
Glasha approaches. "It's the same constellation Aimarra used to open the way in here," she tells the group. She raises a hand, hesitantly. "There's a palm print there," she says, holding her hand two hand lengths away from it. "If you guys are okay with it, I'm going to place my hand there and see what happens." For science!
"Ok. Touch the door." Paenitia agrees, moving a little closer, but not so close she and Ramirez would be caught in any spell.
"Wait, it wasn't that simple, magus," Aimarra calls back. "Let me see."
Glasha puts her hand on her chest and takes a step back. "By all means. You've proven your wisdom outshines my curiosity and logic in certain practical applications."
The constellation doesn't seem to move like the one on the main door did, at least, there's nothing obvious to move it.
"I don't like this door," Glasha says. "I know I'm not a cleric or enlightened, but I kind of hate myself for wanting to touch it. Like wanting to pet an undead. Just...wrong to me. Got a chill."
Aimarra takes the compliment in stride, acknowledging it with a rare smile for Glasha, and steps in to inspect the door, carefully without touching it. "It's probably magically operated," she agrees. "But I don't see anything weird." Glasha's remark interrupts her then, and she turns to regard the mage. "Huh. I'm not getting anything off about it. I'll try it."
With that, unless someone stops her, she reaches to place her palm print on the discolored place on the door.
Glasha reaches out and puts a hand on her shoulder. "I don't trust this," she says.
"The hand shape options are few. There is the glove on a stick. Or a glove on the skeleton hand." Paenitia suggests. "And the hammer or the pry-bar."
Stopped cold by the hand on her shoulder, Aimarra turns, regards Glasha steadily, then nods and drops her hand, stepping away from the door. "Your bailiwick, I'll trust you. Let's go someplace else. Bet me this is where Osorin's remains are." She steps backwards and looks northward up the hallway, curiously.
"Don't need to go elsewhere, just think the obvious hand print is a trap," Glasha says. "Negative energy damage or something."
GAME: Glasha casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 5 DC: 16 GAME: Glasha rolls Knowledge/Arcana: (19)+14: 33
Glasha utters out an increasingly familiar spell, her voice doing unnatural things as her hand followed suit. She then looks intensely at the door, studying it for several seconds. "Just give me a moment," she says softly and slowly as she looks. "Looking...for..."
"Okay," Glasha says. "The palm print is magic." She looks at Aimarra, looking her over, then locking eyes with her strangely intensely. "You don't really strike me as 'fight the power' or strictly by-the-books, and while you're not evil, you don't seem particularly altruistic. The handprint seems to be looking for someone without such convictions, but I don't know what for. You...are probably one of the safer options to try touching it. As pedantic as I am, and with such a bleeding heart for others, I think that's why it made me so uncomfortable."
Unperturbed, Aimarra steps back and lets the wizardess do her thing. She moves to lean against the opposite wall, within easy sight of the door itself, bow in both hands, waiting until Glasha has her answers. "Oh really? It cares about your morals?" She laughs lightly. "I'm trained as a bounty hunter, my friend. Morals are a liability in my line of work."
"Ha ha!" The Red Knight laughs heartily, "it would not like a Mad Dog of Isobar! This place speaks of the Lord who raises himself on the backs of the people, even tries to cheat death. The treasures I would give away, and his fame erase."
"I am not the best for pushing on that door."
Glasha smiles at Aimarra regardless. "I'm just glad there are people like you who can take care of people I would never be able to take down in time to save people. All I can tell you is what I've gotten from detection. I don't know if it's looking for neutral persons for negative reasons, just that it's looking. If you're brave enough, it's better you than me, given our gut feelings."
"Seems pretty stupid to me, if you want my honest opinion," Aimarra observes, straightening. "If you didn't want your tomb robbed, doesn't it make more sense to enchant it so someone with morals has to open it?" Cynical laughter flickers in the brown eyes as she drops one hand off the bow and returns to the door. "Instead, the people who don't give a snail's horns if they're robbing someone are the ones who can get access. What an idiot."
So saying, she juts her chin towards the others. "You might want to back up, just in case." She doesn't wait more than a few seconds, though, before reaching again for the handprint on the door.
Glasha takes a few steps back in the seconds given. She stands with Aimarra...in spirit, but will definitely take cover from magical shenanigans. Not so far she can't bolt through an opening and closing door in a heartbeat, though.
The door promptly begins to slide into a recess in the wall, revealing the room beyond to the adventurers- it is a small room, with very little in it- save for a plinth to one end, resting atop which is a set of golden scales. They glimmer faintly with an inner light which does not seem to stem from Smuldur's torchie, but from within the metal itself.
Paenita makes a clucking noise at Ramirez, and gets him to step backwards in the hall, enough that he's in the junction of the 'T'. This will allow the best movement options, should something happen.
She backs up with him, readying her shield and warhammer.
"There is some positive energy in the scales, too, just so you're aware," Glasha says toward Aimarra. "I don't know what that means for you, though. It's not the handprint that you'll be touching."
Glasha moves forward to peek in. "Those scales..." she says. As positive energy isn't particularly harmful, she takes a step forward toward them, hand outstretched. "Positive energy. I can see it. I--" she walks through the threshhold, stupidly not looking for more traps, but fixated on the gold and positivity.
Not being versed in the ways of magic, Aimarra can only shrug. "The Lord of the Seas Beyond the Coasts is neither friend nor foe, and his scales weigh all. It doesn't surprise me a bit that there's positive to go with the negative, He's kind of like that himself." She drops her hand back to her bow, and ventures inside, studying the plinth with interest. "A shrine, I guess?"
"Is there a feather to weigh your heart against? Or a bowl for offerings?" Paenitia asks. As Glasha moves into the room, she and her mount move up. Her footfalls are quiet on the old flagstones, Ramirez is a little louder.
"Maybe a rite here make the Crypt easier."
GAME: Glasha rolls Will: (5)+5: 10 GAME: Aimarra rolls will: (13)+3: 16 <OOC> Paenitia says, "well not resisting, lets see what happens." GAME: Culix rolls 2d6: (8): 8
As Glasha touches the golden scales, they suddenly emit a burst of bright light- painful to look at directly. The wave of light washes over the party, spilling out into the hallway beyond before gradually disappating. Those who it washes over feel a warmth well within their chests, and their hurts are lessened. Ramirez and Glasha feel great- ecstatic, even, suffused with a frantic energy that makes their skin tingle.
Glasha touches the scales and she has to squint her eyes at the brightness of the light. Her hand shines out a golden glow. She finds this curious. She looks up and sees that Luna also glows. She smiles and begins collecting the scales. She then finds that she's giggling like a schoolgirl. She looks at the scales again, curious if they'd used up all of the positive energy or not.
The scales are much, much heavier than they ought to be. And as the light fades, their golden luster fades to a dull grey sheen. It seems that in releasing their positive energy, they have transmuted into lead.
"Ha! You are the golden bird now Ramirez." Paenitia laughs, feeling the wave break over her, then the literal glowing confidence of her steed behind her.
The peacock-andalusian is delighted, believing his true presence is on display. He starts to spread his tail feathers.
"No! Ramirez! No dancing now. No displays. We adventure." The little Lucht chastizes, "Down. Put them down."
'RuuuaaaahhhH!' He does not want to.
"You must my love. Save the display. It block what sneak up behind us. You can be triumphant when we are outside."
After this moment passes, she asks, "Is there more in the room, or we go ahead?"
Automatically, Aimarra throws up an arm to shield her eyes from the light burst that is so abrupt and painful in a place that to this point had been at best relatively dim. "Agh!" She blinks several times, clearing the afterimages and spots from her eyes, and only when her eyes have settled does she lower her arm and take stock. "A kindness, I think - except for being blinded." She straightens, testing her full weight on the thigh that had taken the spear. It had been workable before, but moving without pain is definitely a boon. "Better."
When Paenitia asks, she looks carefully around the room to determine the answer.
The room seems otherwise devoid of anything of note- now that the scale has expended its power, it is little more than a lump of metal. The only other items in the room are some fragments of wood that may once have been a chair or perhaps a lectern, but if it were the latter, any book it may have contained has been since removed or lost to time.
Glasha takes the scales and puts them in her pack, either for later study or at least to be melted down and made into divination shielding. People pay good money for that stuff. She exits the room. "Nothing much else in there that time hasn't claimed."
"Seems not," Aimarra agrees. "I'd like to find something that makes this place worth the crawl. Let's go." She, too, exits the room, trailing Glasha, and looks northward up the passageway.
Further up the hall, that sound of whooshing and metal grinding against metal can once more be heard- it's what they heard through the fissure, so it stands to reason that the fissure connects once more up ahead, at the source of that noise. It seems to be just beyond the door at the north end of the hallway they are traversing.
"We take the lead!" Paenitia says, perhaps intending a pun, as she moves up ahead of Glasha and Aimarra and leads Smulder and Ramirez around the corner. As before, she steps carefully and lightly. "You will spot the traps, right my friend?"
In case he doesn't, either of the men, she maintains her vigilance. The northern passage slants north-westerly, before heading north again. "They can be heard, easily."
This door seems a simple enough affair- it's not stone, but iron-banded and treated wood. Thick and sturdy, but not locked, and easy enough to open using the hefty ring handles on it.
Paenitia opens the door. This involves grasping the ring handles and pulling. They're at an average height, which means they are not 'right-sized' and she's reaching above her head to pull on them. She ends up hanging briefly, a red-clad figure yanking door that's immense in comparison.
"You might have asked," Aimarra calls from behind Ramirez' tailfeathers.
The doors do eventually shift with a bit of effort, swiging open with a noisy creak to reveal the room beyond. And the source of that persistant grinding, whooshing sound. Three pillars fill the center of this long hall, and each of the pillars have a slit near the center. Once every few seconds, a pair of steel blades erupt from the slit in the center, spin once around the room, and then retract back into the stone.
The blades do not seem to be in unison, erupting and spinning at differing times, so that at least one set is always protruding.
On the western side of the room, there are two openings- one looks to be manmade, lined with flagstones, and a narrower one seems to be the other end of that fissure they discovered.
The far side of the room is too distant for the torches light to reach, and remains shrouded in darkness for the time being.
Glasha peeks around the others and huffs out, "I wish I were a rust monster about now. Those would look tasty instead of intimidating."
"The door is easy. The blades, I need the help." Paenitia says, looking into the room, looking for the nymphys they disturbed earlier and evidence of other adventurers risking it.
"On the wall, the crack and the corridor. It may be easier to sneak around there. Ramirez, you will never make it, either way. The blades will take your tail."
There is a sudden intake of breath by the hippogryph. Paenitia keeps speaking, "The blades do not hang low, nor they wobble to and fro. Smuldur and I are right-sized to crawl beneath. Maybe. But you are too tall, they will cut you in half."
It takes Aimarra a minute, peering around and through a peacock's tailfeathers, to see what is going on, but when she does, she stops cold. "Maybe there's a mechanism to stop them that we missed. I can run back and look."
Glasha is looking from the back, listening as much as looking. "If you can do it without getting shaved even smaller," she says. "There's the other side from where we were, unless the geometry of this space is weird. Might be worth scouting out before we belly crawl under deadly blades that outmass us."
to be continued...
