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Post by TerraDave on May 19, 2005 13:45:30 GMT -5
Bertram heals both himself and D'nar (Bertram regains 14 HP and D'nar 12 HP), as Terjon aproaches the entrance to the moat house from which the dragon issued
"Wonder what is to be done with great corpse? Ah well, are ye ready to see what lies within, at least for a moment?"
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Dnar
Master of the West Wind
Posts: 177
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Post by Dnar on May 19, 2005 16:33:05 GMT -5
"Bertram, my good holy friend. Thank you for your ministrations. I feel good as new and ready to take hard one treasure from this scaly beast!
I have not heard much, at all, of these fearsome creatures called dragons, but I have heard that they are known for hoarding treasures. I think I can smell gold and silver. *Sniffs the air* Yes. Gold."
D'nar shall follow Terjon into the entrance to the moat house from which the dragon emerged and pulls out the elvish orb acquired from the Namoren vault to light our way, should light be a problem.
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DrSpice
Master of the South Wind
Posts: 467
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Post by DrSpice on May 19, 2005 19:37:04 GMT -5
Bertram looks to D'nar's empty hand and evaluates the Gypsy's sanity about claims of an "Elvish Orb." Seeing no such orb, he hands D'nar his bullseye lantern, just in case. "I'm ready to have a what-ho about the inside of this place. At least a little what-ho." If the others follow, he leads the way into the entrance, weapon drawn.
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Post by TerraDave on May 20, 2005 8:01:22 GMT -5
all the electricity must have gotten to D'nar
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Post by TerraDave on May 20, 2005 10:47:10 GMT -5
Andric seems to vanish as he enters the room, but he is quickly followed by the Canon. Neither waits for Bertram, who bring up the rear with D’nar. Walking close to the brown stain that goes up the stairs and into the chamber.
As you enter…<br> The stench of death is strong here. Shafts of daylight peek through the rotten and partially ruined ceiling timbers. In the center of the room lies the corpse of a man; it appears to be partially eaten. This man wore ochre colored robes now shredded and smeared in dried blood. A heavy mace has been set atop his body. In the north west corner lies the corpse of a woman wearing black studded leather armor, with a sword and a bow.
Terjon strides into the room, oblivious to the elf’s efforts at stealth. He concentrates (and perhaps cast something—it is hard for D’nar to tell as he comes from behind in the courtyard). After about 12 more seconds, he says “yes, yes, this will make a fine donation to the church, with the proper blessing, a proper cudgel indeed” and grabs up the mace.
He continues “This bow may be of interest to you, and you may wish to search a bit more. Still this is a bad business, these are clearly some kind of evil cultists, maybe the dragon did us a favour, though for what foul reasons we know not, nor even how it arrived here!”<br> “In the days to come, you all must continue your investigations here”. “In any case, I must be getting back to the church soon”, (sense motive DC 5) and he seems to say it with little reluctance.
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DrSpice
Master of the South Wind
Posts: 467
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Post by DrSpice on May 24, 2005 20:06:57 GMT -5
Bertram studies the room for possible exits. He examines the robes and clothing worn by the two corpses for any symbols. Anything familiar? Do the bites taken out of the corpses seem Dragon-sized? Are the corpses in an advanced state of decay or are they "fresher?" I say to the others that we should search the bodies for more clues as to who they are, when they died, and perhaps, although it seems obvious, how they died. (Obvious because it seems it was the Dragon).
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Post by TerraDave on May 25, 2005 9:45:19 GMT -5
As far as anyone can tell, these two where killed by the dragon. And probably killed in the courtyard and then dragged in here.
Without too much searching, the following can be noted:
The great hall is a 45 by 45 foot room.
There is a door in the northeast corner (north wall)
An opening in the northwest corner (west wall)
An opening to a hallway in the middle of the west wall
An opening to a hallway in the middle of the south wall through which Andric thinks he sees a stair case going up
An opening in the southeast corner (south wall)
You came in through a door to the courtyard in the southwest
The corpse of the woman wears black studded leather of quality; has a longsword, a high quality shortbow, 13 shillings, and 3 hard opaque green gems. Around her neck dangles a black iron triangle with an upside down yellow Y inscribed within.
The foul cultist in the middle of the room wears chainmail, has a scroll in a scrollcase, 24 shillings, and a strange lilac-colored stone relic shaped like a mask. He wears a symbol like the one worn by the woman.
The symbol they wear seems similar to one of the ones Andric saw in the cave by Weston. The corpses aren't that decayed, but no one can judge exactly how long they have been there.
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Post by Andric on May 26, 2005 10:54:02 GMT -5
"Bertram, Dnar, Terjon, take a look at this strange symbol, the black iron triangle with an upside-down yellow Y inscribed within. Both corpses are wearing it; I think that I have seen it when we were back in Weston! Is it a a symbol of the cult? Terjon, can you tell us any more about this symbol; is it a weapon of some kind?" I test it for its capability as a thrown iron weapon. "Can you tell us any more about this cult? What sort of people and forces might we encounter?"
I walk up and stand next to Terjon, so that Terjon is in-between me and Bertram and say, "Terjon, I can see how you value the mace, however is there another item that you can find here that would be more beneficial to both our cause and to your church as a donation?" While in this position, when Terjon's attention is being distracted by conversation elsewhere, I will quickly search Terjon to pickpocket, I'm looking for something small. If I find nothing on him, or if the search fails, I will stop the pickpocket attempt.
I turn my attention to Bertram, "Bertram, would you benefit from that mace more than Terjon? It sounds like Terjon is being pulled by obligation back to Hommlet; can you put the mace to better use, since we will be venturing deeper into the tower?"
After I speak to Bertram, I scan the female corpse. I will attempt to pickpocket that lilac-colored mask-shaped gem. I think to myself, something about Terjon doesn't sit well with me. Something about his joining our team in order to get past the dragon, then quickly scavenging over the corpses...what is Terjon's true motive?
"Everyone, the items in this room and the blue dragon corpse all have value. I suggest that we clean out this room and return to Hommlet with the dragon corpse. Surely there are craftsmen and armorsmiths who would pay top-shilling for dragon hide! And the dragon blood, nails, sundry body parts, are these not valuable to arcane mages? We should take samples of the blood while it is still fresh, if someone has an empty vial or two?"
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Post by TerraDave on May 26, 2005 13:40:14 GMT -5
"Bertram, Dnar, Terjon, take a look at this strange symbol, the black iron triangle with an upside-down yellow Y inscribed within. Both corpses are wearing it; I think that I have seen it when we were back in Weston! Is it a a symbol of the cult? Terjon, can you tell us any more about this symbol; is it a weapon of some kind?" I test it for its capability as a thrown iron weapon. "Can you tell us any more about this cult? What sort of people and forces might we encounter?" I walk up and stand next to Terjon, so that Terjon is in-between me and Bertram and say, "Terjon, I can see how you value the mace, however is there another item that you can find here that would be more beneficial to both our cause and to your church as a donation?" While in this position, when Terjon's attention is being distracted by conversation elsewhere, I will quickly search Terjon to pickpocket, I'm looking for something small. If I find nothing on him, or if the search fails, I will stop the pickpocket attempt. I turn my attention to Bertram, "Bertram, would you benefit from that mace more than Terjon? It sounds like Terjon is being pulled by obligation back to Hommlet; can you put the mace to better use, since we will be venturing deeper into the tower?" After I speak to Bertram, I scan the female corpse. I will attempt to pickpocket that lilac-colored mask-shaped gem. I think to myself, something about Terjon doesn't sit well with me. Something about his joining our team in order to get past the dragon, then quickly scavenging over the corpses...what is Terjon's true motive? "Everyone, the items in this room and the blue dragon corpse all have value. I suggest that we clean out this room and return to Hommlet with the dragon corpse. Surely there are craftsmen and armorsmiths who would pay top-shilling for dragon hide! And the dragon blood, nails, sundry body parts, are these not valuable to arcane mages? We should take samples of the blood while it is still fresh, if someone has an empty vial or two?" Reminding D'nar of a time in the Hexham abbey a few months back... Andric follows Terjon around and generally iritate him, he takes one of symbols off one of the corpses and throws it across the room, begins riffling the corpse of the woman looking for a gem that isn't there (D'nar keeps an eye open to make sure non of the actual valuables are taken), starts talking about dragon blood, and generally behaves in an eratic manner. Terjon: "Elf, have you lost your mind! Keep your hands to yourself, and leave those bodies be. Tell me not what I will do with this mace or anything else" afer a bit more time passes, he shifts away from anger to something more like pity. Holding his mace (which is also of high quality): "Perhaps he will have to be subdued"
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Post by TerraDave on May 27, 2005 8:09:37 GMT -5
The dragon lies on a 15ft high wall, with no obvious means of reaching the top. He is very large for a "medium creature", and may be heavy (320 lbs to be exact).
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Dnar
Master of the West Wind
Posts: 177
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Post by Dnar on May 27, 2005 12:52:17 GMT -5
"Thank you, friend Bertram, for the bulls-eye lantern. I had become used to using that handy elvish orb to light our paths in dark places. At least the elves are good for something.
Also, friend Bertram, I like your idea of trying to secure some well-earned trophies from that great, blasted wyrm. I have a vial of ink I can empty and believe I have an empty stone vial from the vaults that I can use as well to hold the beasts blood. I am not certain I am nimble enough to get up on the walls. Perhaps our crafty elvish friend could be persuaded? Or perhaps we can wait and explore the rest of this tower and see if we find a way up on the wall?"
D'nar, after following Bertram into the room, and watching the exchange between Terjon and Andric, casts detect magic on the corpses. In particular, D'nar will cast detect magic on the mask, bow, scroll case and quality leather armor to determine if any of these radiate any aura of magic.
D'nar will also search the rest of the room, looking in particular for any items of interest, particularly items of value.
Once that is done and the items are acquired that are worth acquiring, D'nar suggests to Bertram and Andric that the party continues its explorations. "Surely such a fearsome creature was hording more treasure than this!"
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Post by TerraDave on May 27, 2005 13:09:51 GMT -5
The bow and the scroll case both have faint magic auras.
The short bow radiates evocation, the scroll case is unclear (spellcraft check may not have been high enough).
Nothing else of interest seems to be in the room, but the heirs do hear some scrapping noises coming from the ceiling.
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Post by Andric on May 27, 2005 17:12:36 GMT -5
Andric feels confident that he has made his point with Terjon.
"Dnar, please lend me your stone vial, and I will attempt to scale the wall to fetch some blue dragon blood. But before I go, I remember something vague from many years ago...the ceiling...someone once described dangerous creatures living on the ceiling of the first room of the moathouse tower. So be careful!"
He takes D'nar's advice and D'nar's stone vial, attempts to scale the wall and fills it up with blue dragon blood. If necessary, he will 'take 10' in order to ensure successful wall climbing. Is he successful? When he examines the wall, what does he see?
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Post by TerraDave on May 31, 2005 10:38:18 GMT -5
Andric provides a mysterious warning on the sounds coming from above (but which room is the "first room"?) and then attempts a carefull and delibriate climb of the wall by the dragon, carrying some vials provided by D'nar.
Andric makes it about 8ft, then falls, suffering a few bruises in the process (a few points of non-lethal damage). Both vials are broken.
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DrSpice
Master of the South Wind
Posts: 467
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Post by DrSpice on Jun 1, 2005 21:51:36 GMT -5
"Shall we return to Homlet then?" asks Bertram of the party.
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