Behold the Unloved King (Part 2)
Log Info
- Title: Behold the Unloved King (Part 2)
- GM: Whirlpool
- Place: Tomb of the Unloved King
Several possible locations for the Tomb of the Unloved King have been identified. You're at one right now, having been pointed to it, and are now digging.
You have hit stone slabs that appear to be vibrating at the touch, rather consistently, fortunately, as opposed to some form of rythmic beat which might've been worrying.
It would appear that you're on the right track.
GAME: Telamon rolls linguistics: (6)+11: 17
Resting his fingertips on the slab for a moment before drawing them back, Telamon shudders. "It's not a beat or anything, thank the gods. Just... vibration." He shivers, before staring down at the inscriptions. "Verna, Hark, can you come here for a minute?" Tel puts his head together with the two of them, conferring, before looking to the others nervously.
"It's... well, it's warning signs. Very emphatic warning signs. The kind that dwarves put on mine shafts with poisoned air and they don't want anyone going in there, -ever-." Telamon's face is grave. "If this -isn't- what we're looking for, I'd be surprised and appalled."
GAME: Harkashan rolls Sense Motive: (7)+24: 31
Seldan's eyes lower. He'd been going to help as well, but had paused, and set aside his shovel, before realizing that he had not been asked, and when the group announced what it was, he stops, and turns away from the others, eyes lowered.
Harkashan gazes down and gets a glimpse - having unearthed it. Though the Sith-makar isn't the smartest in the world, in the time he's been tied to Thirku, it has shared memories in the past. Memories of the Vast, of the Desolation, of various cultures. A reward? An exchange? It's hard to tell what the best way to view it would, or should be.
But it's allowed him to have these glimpses that one would not expect from him. There's this heavy gruff sound from him. His tail swatting at the ground as his mind can't help but grab at the characters and translate bits and pieces.
"I do not like it." He rumbles, without passing on the translation in his mind. "This however, was not left here by people 'just' as a warning..." He then adds. "I sense... regret from its creators."
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Perception: (6)+23: 29
"Indeed," Verna concurs with Telamon's summary of the inscriptions.. yet she adds caveat. "A rough translation, as most contextual information was lost with the end of the language's use ... but informative enough." A nod. "Warnings are not often placed upon empty vaults."
She takes a long look to Harkashan before commenting, "Let us hope they they are the last to regret their involvement with this location." They are all very well aware of risks, but have also taken most every foreseeable precaution. Then, "There is the matter of entry, if that is our course."
Cor'lana looks just as alarmed as Telamon is. After all, they share thoughts, emotions, everything. She signs again to the others. "So we have what we're looking for," she expresses. <Handspeech>
She notices Seldan out of the corner of her eye. The fact that he is turned away from the others, his eyes lowered, registers something within her head. She goes over to approach him, and she signs. "Do you have any insight, Seldan? You're from an old family line in Myrddion, right? The Aiglosian language was a predecessor to Myrrish language... Maybe Reunion might have commentary?" <Handspeech> Although that would perhaps require being able to hear Reunion. She offers Seldan a light smile.
With the winds of Desolation whipping past, Aryia wipes her forehead, eyeing the dead language as the others gather to try and figure out what is bespoke before them. She takes a moment to gather the dirt flung about into a small pile, staying out of the way of the more learned folk.
Slinging her shovel back over her shoulder, she glances to the others, brows furrowing deeper and deeper with each report. "We knew the kind of shit we're getting into, but at least its a sign to move forward," she gestures, adding to the piling gestures. Seeing Lana step off to the side to speak with Seldan, she opts to answer Verna, "I can get us in. It involves what I've been training for months on." She cracks her knuckles. <Handspeech/Tongues>
Telamon turns from the slab, seeing Lana approach Seldan. His hands move in the patterns of handspeech, and he grins at Aryia. "Let's make sure we can close it up again if we open it, Aryia. Once we're done here I have no intention of letting someone else stumble across it." Despite his nervousness, there's a steely note of resolve.
He takes a deep breath. "Let's see if Reunion can add anything, before we crack this thing open. I wonder...." His eyes flick to Verna. "Are the dead, or even the undead, affected by this song? Constructs? Plants? I'm just wondering what kind of nasties we might find inside."
It takes a moment before Seldan looks up, and studies the gestures intently and thoughtfully. When she is done, he shakes his head, the scarf over his face against the wind and dust covering his own small smile, but his eyes crinkling. "I cannot hear Reunion," he signs back swiftly. "A moment of uncertainty only. I am well. We should proceed. Have we a way in?"
Cor'lana continues smiles gently at Seldan. "It might be well that you cannot, sometimes," she signs back. "But I just wanted to make sure your voice and your input was heard too. I know nothing of old Myrddion. And Pothy--if he were here--would likely only be able to tell us of old Myrrish snacks." <Handspeech>
She grins, before she looks back to the group. "Is a disintegrate spell needed to get in? I know that Seldan, myself, and Telamon can supply it if needed. Verna may as well, if she has it memorized for the day?" <Handspeech>
Verna regards Cor'lana and Seldan for a moemnt before her attention is pulled to the (expected) prepared Aryia and then Telamon at his gestures. "Typically, the undead are unaffected by such emotional or mental influence: the mindless class are animated shells not unlike most constructs; even the sentient varieties lack true soul. The truly dead should likewise be unaffected."
After a pause, she admits, "Even so, I do not expect that anything we might encounter below shall be considered ... typical." She then motions to Aryia and the others. " How best shall we create a re-sealable opening?"
GAME: Seldan rolls 1d100: (19): 19
Aryia's eyes crinkle back at Telamon in a smirk, her face obscured by cloth. "Mages have that spell that fixes stuff, right? I can punch in a circle, make big chunks, then we take the chunks back up, or do whatever Verna did to make her house, lots of walls of stone. Don't worry. I professionally fuck things up."
She looks back as conversation goes to Reunion, but alas, Reunion has no hands. The mute quirks her head to the side, and her shoulders slump slightly. "We've all got uncertainty about this. But we'll get it sorted. And if we fuck up, we can fix it. If /I/ fuck up, fuck me up." A glance to Telamon and Verna, nodding several times before she approaches the large slab. "Best? I'll try and not turn it to dust." <Handspeech/Tongues>
Harkashan watches the motions of peoples' hands. He's glad that he's spent time with Rune before going on this escapade to really study up on handspeech again - so he can follow multiple conversations in one go.
He then looks to Aryia, and mimes; "You had prepared for this. I presume you will lift the slab, and we go underneath?" He motions with his hands. Only for Aryia to explain she's just going to punch this thing REAL HARD.
"Or that." He motions.
Telamon nods to Aryia with a smile, and signs to her. "I know the spell. Try not to pulverize the stone. Once we're done, we'll reassemble it -- it's a fairly minor spell and shouldn't be too vulnerable to mana hiccups."
He looks to the others. "Let's get this over with. We're not going to get anything done standing out here, and the sooner we start the sooner we can forget about it." That done, he moves over to Lana, and takes her hand in his. A simple contact, but necessary all the same.
With his moment over, Seldan has returned to watching the various flying conversations, but turns back to Cor'lana. "Thank you," he signs. "Few enough display such regard. I have the means to destroy a wall, should that be needful, and to restore it, upon our retreat. I carry with me scrolls to create stone walls."
When Telamon joins Lana and takes her hand, he inclines his head. "Let's go."
Cor'lana takes Telamon's hand, smiling brightly at Seldan. "It isn't the first time, and it won't be the last," she signs. It's that promise of friendship that she continues to keep.
Meanwhile, she looks at Telamon with an expression like she's curious to see how Aryia's work might go. "Go ahead, Aryia!" She signs with one hand. Or at least, attempts to. It's a little difficult.
Seeing nods all around, approval, and reassurances, Aryia rolls her shoulders and pulls her sleeves up. She traces a line of dirt in a semi circle with her boot across the slab. Her neck cracks. And smiles at Harkashan. "Sure, I'll lift it. Part of it." A fist cocks back and flies forth into the stone at blinding speed into the line of dirt. Bits of stone fly out in a spray, its own rhythm in countenance to the dull thrumming in the earth. She goes back and forth, wearing down the rock. Fingers jam into rock, making finger holes to grab onto, as a free hand works the line free of stone, as the pugilist tries to pull the quartered piece back and out of the way. <Handspeech/Tongues>
The stone is not magical, of course and while it is certainly reinforced by the construction below it, destroying this top layer is easy enough. It reveals ...
...another layer, with yet more and similar warnings inscribed on it.
Removing *that* layer will take some time (and punches) as well, and soon you've got a hole leading into darkness, and a whole lot of dust and, more imnportantly, stagnant and stale air. You're going to need to give it some time before you can even think about descending into there unless you've brought your own air.
Once Aryia is done putting a proper entry into this... vault, Telamon crouches down near the hole, peering in. His eyes shimmer with starlight, as he waves aside a waft of dust, staring down. Then he turns to the others, so they can see his hands, stepping prudently away from the hole.
"Stone floor, no lights. Some old work tools down there -- stonecarving ones, I think. I saw a hammer and chisel, and a couple others. No movement." He pauses, then continues, "Maybe we're lucky and there's nothing ambulatory inside. But I doubt it."
Stone rises, and further stone is cracked through. Harkashan is earnestly a bit flustered at what he's bearing witness through. The kind of physical prowess that would even make his egg-father sit down and take notes. The Sith-makar settles down on the ground for that time, staying out of the way, and does not get up until a proper path is revealed.
Once it is, he rises up and stares down the hole from a distance. Listening to Telamon explain what he's seeing down there. "A hammer and a Chisel... were some trying to get out?" He inquires.
While Aryia is punching her way in, Seldan stands back, tucking his shovel back into his handy haversack and watching silently while she works. At some point, he closes his eyes and breathes a silent prayer to Eluna for wisdom and guidance, the strength to know what is right, and his eyes remain closed until the crashing and crunching stop.
When it does, he looks at Aryia, then at the hole, then at Aryia. "A deeper hole, then. It may be best to wait for the air to clear. Are you well?"He looks especially for blood on her fists.
Telamon's movement distracts him, then, and he watches those hands as well. "We will need light. Many here can conjure, can they not? I can."
Nothing of note here, indeed. So mcuh nothing that those from the past felt compelled to lay multiple layers of warnings. She winces during the initial strikes; a simple reflex that abates quickly enough. Still, she stands well away from the stone pieces. Not to avoid aiding, but rather to avoid becoming more two-dimensional should something tip. A nod is made to Harkashan in confirmation as she then begins to retrieve some rope from her satchel. Whilst she would rely upon magic for light, here, she is less confident of such being the sole opposition to gravity in a descent.
"If or when we encounter ambulatory occupants," she signs, "they shall be handled accordingly."
"I should, but I can't," Cor'lana signs back to Seldan's question of a light, but the motion of Harkashan's signing is terrifying. "Someone trying to get out? There might well be something inside indeed." <Handspeech>
That sits poorly with her, and she casts a spell to protect herself, a spell she hasn't had to cast on herself in quite some time.
GAME: Ravenstongue casts Mage Armor. Caster Level: 19 DC: 19
Aryia pants and hacks, covered in sweat as she pulls away not one, but two large chunks of stone for the group to get through. Hands scuffed and bloodied, but she stands, arms akimbo, proudly examining her handiwork. So much of her training in the quarry is paying off here.
Chest heaving, she glances to the side as Seldan garners her attention. "Am I well? I feel fucking great!" she flashes a thumbs up. "Haven't had that good of a workout in a while. Just give me a while."
She plops into the dirt. "Probably making... these warnings or what not." <Handspeech/Tongues>
GAME: Harkashan casts Status. Caster Level: 12 DC: 19 GAME: Ravenstongue casts Mind Blank. Caster Level: 19 DC: 26 GAME: Harkashan casts Light. Caster Level: 12 DC: 17 GAME: Seldan casts Light. Caster Level: 16 DC: 20 GAME: Harkashan casts Magic Circle Against Evil. Caster Level: 12 DC: 20 GAME: Harkashan casts Magic Circle Against Evil. Caster Level: 12 DC: 20 GAME: Harkashan casts Magic Circle Against Evil. Caster Level: 12 DC: 20 GAME: Seldan casts Magic Circle Against Evil. Caster Level: 16 DC: 23
"Agreed." Harkashan signs, before closing his eyes as he starts making a few quick signs. He takes some ashes between his fingers, sprinkling them out before himself, before he moves over to Aryia and Ravenstongue and touches their shoulders -- making sure to approach Aryia from the front.
A sensation that no doubt these Adventurers are well used to buffets out from their position, wreathing the area around themselves and Harkashan in a feeling that evil itself is being warded from them.
He then steps over to Seldan, and touches his shoulder. "This way I can sense your status. If you come under attack and do not sense it yourself, I might." He remarks to Seldan in hand-speech.
The Sith-makar then steps back and signs; "I will take up the rear behind Ravenstongue and Telamon, in case we are assaulted from behind." As the gem between his horns begins to glow.
Telamon draws one of his metamagic rods, and lightly taps it with a finger. A soft glow begins to emanate from it, a soothing hue of yellow-white redolent of sunshine. That done, he watches the others prepare. He signs politely, "Take your time. Let's do this right so we don't have any surprises. I'd rather take the extra few minutes if it means we all come out of here with our bodies and souls intact." He tilts his head to Lana, looking at her intently. Telepathic communication, probably.
On feeling the emanations that Harkashan's spells generate, Seldan works a few spells of his own with quick hands, the gestures long since known. The tip of his bow begins to glow with blue-gold-silver light, and he stops when Harkashan gets to him. He watches the signs, then nods, accepting the spell easily with an inclination of the head. "Thank you."
He resumes with the second spell, generating a magic circle of his own as well much like Harkashan's, but his under the aegis of Eluna. When that is done, he stops, considers, and goes looking through his scrolls. He fishes one out and reads from it with unheard words, directing the spell at the entrance and the place itself. "I would shield this place, as well as ourselves," he signs when it is done and the scroll crumbles to dust in his hand.
GAME: Seldan used a Scroll of Mage's Private Sanctum.
Cor'lana nods at Telamon with his look at her, seeming to tell her something as she finishes casting another of her own protective spells on herself. "That's a brilliant idea, Seldan," she signs, before she signs over to Harkashan, "I appreciate your spellwork on my behalf." She is grateful, too, for all the lights that the others are providing, but saying 'thank you' is a thing that can be hairy for one of fae blood at times.
Aryia is used to such a blessing at this point in her adventuring career, her bowing her head in a thankful nod before taking a large breath In. Then slooowly out. Moonlit lines of energy zip across her skin before vanishing away. Her mini break over, she gets to her feet and gestures about. "Yes. Slow and steady. And that's a good idea, Seldan. Keep from some other idiots from gleaning this place."
She peers at the hole. Ponders. And starts to pull out some rope and ties it to herself. "I can hop in," she volunteers, starting to tie an anchor to the two large slab sections that were removed. <Handspeech/Tongues>
...down you go.
The first thing you see is the stone slab walls and narrow passages extending into the darkness. The second is the skeletons -- a pair of them -- sitting beside each other, fingerbones interlaced, a set of tools sitting near to them. They could have used those to escape... but did not, leading to one inescapable conclusion: they sealed themselves within this place by deliberate choice, shoulder to shoulder.
Telamon floats downward, buoyed by his flight spell, carrying Lana in his arms as he drifts down after Seldan. He sets Lana on her feet, just in time for his eyes to land on the two skeletons. The sorcerer stiffens, taking in the tableau... and then his face creases in sadness and compassion. As the others make their way down, he points at the two skeletons.
"They stayed. They didn't try to escape. They just... waited here. Till they made their way to the Halls." Telamon's fingers shake as he signs, and he stops to take a deep breath. Looking down the dark passages, before his eyes meet Verna's. "If we succeed, maybe they can be buried someplace better?"
Once upon Ea firma anew, Verna makes note of the paired remains and their masonry tools. Their intent, if not the full details of their final moments, is apparent. She nods to Telamon before The Scales about her neck are clasped. A silent (or at least unheard) prayer is offered The Harpist on their behalf. "After we succeed, yes," she affirms.
One of the two Deathsingers stepping into these forgotten halls that have not seen light in such a long time, turns to look at the skeletons. Nobody was here to give them rites. They died, together - yet alone. Refusing to escape. He had spoken of an attempt to escape and failing. But no, they had the tools but eventually decided otherwise.
His brow furrows and he lets out a gruff sound, turning away.
Such a sight is all too familiar for him. Yet it does not take away a shred of the scene before him.
He doesn't speak or sign. To pray to the Death Singing Dragon in this moment is not what he must do. He must protect the people with him, to make sure they do not become another group of such skeletons.
Cor'lana would give Telamon a kiss on the cheek for his efforts, but her violet eyes fall on the same sight that he does. The image that flickers through her mind--and through the bond she shares with Telamon--is that they could end up like that. Skeletons, fingers interlocked, forever dead in each other's grasp.
"At least they were together," she signs. "Dying forgotten is one horrible thing. Dying alone... is also horrible." She declines to weigh how horrible those two things are compared to each other. <Handspeech>
She shakes her head as she shivers, and she interlaces her arm around Telamon's for a moment. Just to remind herself they are alive. They are here. And they have a purpose and a mission. She nods only then, violet eyes determined to see this through.
Seldan grabs the rope above Aryia and goes down with her, releasing it to jump clear in a clank of metal and look around him. When he spots the skeletons, he merely regards them in silence, lowering his eyes. He, too, breathes silent prayer, knowing even as Harkashan does his path. His is the hand that brought them all here, to risk a thing that must be forgotten for all time. On his head lies any death or corruption that happens here. It is for him to shield those with him, as best he may.
He does not immediately answer the question of removing them, pausing for a long moment. "I would take nothing from this place unless we must," he signs in answer. "No greater honor have they than this."
Once Aryia's blue boots touch the stone floor, her pinkies jam themselves deeper into her ears, making sure those plugs are firmly rooted and truly stuck, before tightening everything back up and casting her gaze about. Her brows relax some at the sight of the two skeletons. She gives a wordless bow of the head towards their sacrifice before turning towards the darkness as the rope is untied from her waist to let it dangle freely in the stale air. "I agree with Seldan- leave them. To them, this is their magnum opus."
Taking up the front with Seldan in the rank. "If you need to get my attention, throw something at me. Remember. We are here for one thing only. A celestial's hammer, or what remains of it. If any of us get crazy, we may have to do something drastic to keep that song contained."
Her glowing gaze hardens. "I permit such drastic measures be taken on me too, should the need arise." She looks forward, frame tense. "Let's find our hammer." <Handspeech/Tongues>
What's more, all of you can feel it now. A vibration, a rumbling, almost like a thundering that's ever ongoing coming from the tunnel further down. Exploring it reveals a deliberate cave in blocking your way. It will take some time to get through it, but it's not like you can't. They very clearly did not want anyone getting through. There are more warnings as well, written on the walls of a similar character to what came before.
The vibration grows more intense. Never painful, and fortunately, never musical. Finally, you've cleared away enough of the cave in to proceed further into the earth, a gradual downwards slope.
A question dogs you, though: if they were attempting to bury this soing deep beneath the earth, why provide a path *to* it? Even a collapsed tunnel is *still* a tunnel.