Willa stared at the big green crystal until her neck got sore and nothing came to mind.  Though there were still the other two doorways to explore, so she crossed the bowel and climbed out and looked at them.  Both were indeed like the first though the one bore highly stylised darkin marks which read ‘Escape’ and the other was written upon in common, saying ‘This passage to the city of the dead may only be entered those who carry the light of the spirit.’

  Captain Acano fell back into her chair as she folded her arms and said “No, we do not at the moment.  When the darkness fell over the village it would seem all the Spirit Lanterns vanished.  However I suspect the druid might have one or could obtain one as she is the only remaining spiritualist in the village.  The other would have been the Gravekeeper of the Gravewatch but he’s most certainly dead now.”
  She looked over at Drex as he mentioned the rings and amulet.  “A master craftsmen could tell you if any of those are forgeries or genuine articles.  I do not have that skill.”

[Le sigh for their being no “crafting” related skill in D&D 4th edition, so its basically just a perception check done by someone who should have that sort of knowledge, ala artificer or such.]

Willa wondered over and tried the door marked 'escape'.  Perhaps, if it led outside the watchtower and was big enough, it could be used as a way back in for her and her friends.

Having been quiet whilst he tried to regain his composure from telling his story, Phelan had simply been listening as the others spoke. Eventually Drex brought out the items, and Phelan's curiosity was aroused. There had not been opportunity to examine earlier; he decided now was a good time.

"If I might take a look?" He enquired, clambering up onto a chair to get a better look, eyes narrowed at the items. He tried to recall if he had ever seen them before so he could compare them to mental recollections of genuine articles.

Perception: 15. Woo?

Drex sits quietly, observing the scene. Waiting for Phelan to come to his conclusion about the rings.

Jubei gave a low rumble and then a bit of a smirk. "Well, good that we found one in the augur's little laboratory then.", he said as he carefully pulled the thing from his backpack. "Just out of curiosity, since I'm not fully familiar with your rites here, why is a spirit lantern... required to enter the Necropolis?", he asked, while he of course tried to figure it out himself, he might even consult the spirit of it!

11:03, Today: Iron Jubei rolled 21 using 1d20+9. Religion check: musings in regard to the lantern.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:04, Fri 06 June 2014.

    Willa was not certain how she would open either of the doors as they appeared to have no visible mechanism by which they could be opened.  Yet as she approached the door marked in darkin with the symbols for ‘Escape’ the door shimmered and vanished and in its place stood the glowing apparition of an umbrean.  He appeared dull blue and much like Willa had rather child-like proportions and was wearing a neat robe and mantel made from patches of discarded fabrics of mostly browns and beige with a polygon of orange upon his stomach.  His bright yellow eyes were flecked with black and stood forward from his face upon two stubby stalks.  He spoke with deeper voice then one would have expected from a creature just over two feet tall, and he spoke in darkin “Cousin of the Wells I can only hope that you have found the lands above this chamber in a far better state then in which we had been forced to leave them.  This passageway before you is a trap meant to lead those who would pursue our kind into a maze from which they would be unlikely to escape in a timely fashion.” the image smirked to itself, blinked and continued “We found passage south, with the aid of the druid, who – unlike most – bare our kind no ill will.  There are secret ways out of this place if you seek them, simply walk the circumferance of the chamber and they will reveal themselves to you cousin of the well.” he pointed around the large room before saying “May you find your time precious.” as he folded his arms and vanished, leaving the stone door reappearing in his place.

  Having worked with metal himself, Phelan quickly found that one of the two rings was indeed counterfeit.  It lacked the imperfections and stylizations of a jeweller or smithy’s handiwork and so had probably been produced by magic.  He grinned to himself, in that the isleborn did something so similar to what the narayah did; only narayah made precious articles exorbitantly intricate or puzzle like to prevent easy duplication.
  While the room was bathed in the soft green light produced from the low, heatless and smokeless flame within the lantern.  The captain’s brows drew up at the sight.  Then she explained something that was also unravelling in Jubei’s mind, and which Drex knew, the graveyards of the Old Kingdom had been built in equal parts to honour the Isleborn’s compact with the Grim and to protect the dead from interference by the living.  Something that was for the most part the fault of kaetyma raiders of old, who were not above using sorcery to raise the dead of the isleborn to fight in their service.
  The necropoli grew from those fortified graveyards.  As part of their fortifications the necropolis were built with powerful magical protections which would assault any living or undead being that entered or tried to enter the necropolis without the sanction of the dead within the necropolis.  The Spirit Lanterns were instruments created to facilitate communication between the living and the dead and to allow save passage into and through the necropolis to those who fed it their blood and who bore no ill will toward the dead.

Experience Reward: Discover the Fate of the Umbrean Colony of Kyssea (125 Points)
[Congratulations to Willa for finding out what happened to the missing umbreans.]

Phelan tapped the faux ring thoughtfully with a claw. "This one is a forgery." He informed the room at large quietly. "It seems my initial assumption really does have grounding in reality. This is a magical duplicate; possibly the same person who created the necrothaumatology lab." He felt somewhat suspicious about the captain's behaviour, particularly her reaction to the shard that Jubei had presented to her.

I wonder... How many Enchantment specialists are present in the land now? He thought to himself, focusing his ability to detect magic around him, paying careful attention to any sort of magic around the captain.

Arcana check - Detect Magic: 16. Derp! Maybe Willa can fill him in later. We all roll a 3 sometime...
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:52, Sat 07 June 2014.

At the appearance of the umbrean's apparition, Willa was struck by a cavalcade of emotion: confusion, joy, wonder, longing, excitement, gratefulness, emptiness, despair and loss.  All of which accumulated in a lonely whisper a few brief moments after the image had faded, "...bye."

Willa had little to no experience of her kind and the sense of belonging that accompanied conversing with one, even just an illusion of one, was incredible to her.  He had spoken as an equal, with acceptance and...kinship.  Cousin he had said, cousin.  The concept of family was new to the little oozeling.  She had seen other races' families of course, but it was so very alien to her.  Then there, for the briefest moment, she experienced a fraction of what it must be like for them.  Perhaps deep down it was something she had always wanted without realising?  May be that explained her passion for making friends?

But, as suddenly as it began, it was over and she was alone again.  Feeling cold, silent and bitter.  Willa shook her head free of the negative thoughts.  It had been a busy day!  She sighed and grinned happily at the door, thankful to have been able to be a part of this moment.

"You be grateful too, naughty head-hugger-thing!" She said to the invisible companion accompanying her.

09:54, Today: Willa rolled 21 using 1d20+7. Arcana - Willa trying to converse with her little hitchhiker.

Walk the circumference of the room?  Should she do that now? She pondered whether or not that would be a good idea.  What if that made a lot of noise and the guards came?  Before she realised that she was now beyond caring about the guards, she had already walked half way...
This message was last edited by the player at 08:57, Sat 07 June 2014.

Jubei listened to the explanation of the captain with a rather grim expression before he gave a bit of a nod. Of course he knew about the whole affair with the kaetyma invasion, but beyond that he wasn't quite as versed in history, especially if it wasn't even of his home.
"Well, thanks for illuminating that for me.", he said and then looked over to Phelan. "If it is a forgery, then someone has been impersonating the augur... maybe even before the necromancer showed up. I dare say that the threat from the Necropolis isn't the only one here, but it's certainly the more obvious one.", he continued before he looked to the others. "So... what will be our next step?"

[Willa is a little ahead so I'll give her part of the story a skipover for this round. While the rest of you make up your minds about the next stage.]

  The captain was apparently deep in thought as the adventurers conversed.

Phelan's conclusion about the rings confirmed his suspicions. Drex think it unwise to say to much in front of the captain. But they do need to discus the next step, they are going to take. "Well I think we need to regroup and maybe have some lunch. I am getting hungry." He looks down at his stomach as it rumbles.

[Alrighty then, I’ll move this along then.]

    The adventurers bid their farewell to the captain and make their way back to the inn, keeping an eye out for Willa as they do so, though they do not spot her as they make their way back to the inn.  Though Phelan wonders out loud to his companions about perhaps using the guild badge to send a message to Willa about where they were going, and hoping that the warlock would either tell them where she was so that they could meet up with her there or that she could meet them back at the inn.
  None of the adventurers wanted to express the gnawing worry they felt, which they believed was just concern for their missing comrade.

  Walking around the periphery of the chamber Willa did not notice the glowing darkin marks that sprang up upon the wall, and the bright outlines of doorways these marked until she caught herself from her reverie.
  Paying attention now as she walked around the room she found there were six hidden passages.  Each indicating a general direction and the distance as well as annotations that named the area within which the passage existed, these were as follows;
North by 5 miles – Old Quarry.
East by North-East by 2 miles – Sea Caves.
South-East by ¼ mile – Southern Outskirts.
South by 3 miles – Cauis Farmstead.
South by South-West by 1 mile – Western Outskirts, Caravan grounds.
West by South-West by 4 miles – Plaerus fields.

"That is a grate plan, I'll do that." Drex takes out his badge and sends a message to Willa. The message told her that they are going to the inn and wants to know where she was and if she was in danger, hoping that she was not.

"Well ifs done now we wait... And I think this short rest would do us good." Drex waits to hear what the others have to say before he also mentions that he would like to speak to the Druidess before we head to the necropolis, but if you think we should rather do as the captain wants that's fine with me..." He said to Jubei and Phelan as they walked to the inn.

Jubei rubbed over his chin and gave an agreeing nod. "Yes.. we should wait for Willa... hear whatever she learned. Then go and meet the druid. I just can't shake the feeling that there are more threats present than just the necromancer in the Necropolis. The Augur must have been replaced long before that ehuron even showed up.", he mused and then froze up for a few minutes and took a look around if they were being followed or otherwise shadowed by something. For an onlooker it might look amusing how the large kaetyma was circling around himself for a little bit, like some sort of dog.

17:21, Today: Iron Jubei rolled 16 using 1d20+4. Perception check: Stalkers, eavedroppers and other creeps.

Willa looked back in puzzlement as her backpack started talking to her.  "Naughty-Head-Hugger? No...Drex!"  She exclaimed recognising the voice at last.  Digging around, she pulled out the strange badge-thing that she had 'borrowed' from that guild-place.  She tapped at it inquisitively, not quite sure how it worked and tried talking to it.

"Uh, hello?  This thing on?  Willa okay.  Umm...bit lost may be."

She looked at the doors.  None of them indicated that they would lead to the inn.  That was a little surprising considering she had found tunnels there.

"Many doors.  All lead out of village."

Willa was a little stumped.  On one hand it might be best to use one of these passages and find another way back here.  Then they could return bypassing the guards.  On the other hand she had no idea which locations, if any, were safe and she didn't want to let undead back into the village.

The umbrean vision had said that they were in close contact with the druid and Willa knew she was to the south.  But how far south?  Would one mile be too far?  She thought it best to ask.

"How far Mardigras' home?"

As she waited for a reply Willa looked aorund to see if there were any other tunnels leading out of the room, which she had not noticed before.  In case the way to the inn was not hidden behind a magical door.

17:04, Today: Willa rolled 14 using 1d20+4. Perception.  Wooking for wabbit warrens.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:20, Mon 09 June 2014.

Drex relays Willa's message to the group...

Well at lest she was not in any trouble. Drex thought to himself. "I think we should wiat half-an-hour and if Willa has not joined up with us, then we must go and look for her."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 08:27, Tue 10 June 2014.

    The ceramic disk shone with faint blue light from the inlaid symbol of House Vana’Mere as Willa spoke her message and she thought about her friends.
  As she wondered out loud about how to get to the druid’s home a stream of bright green light flowed from the stalagmite like crystal in the ceiling and ran across the floor towards the doorway that led to the Caravan Grounds.  It continued to flow that way even as Willa stood watching and seemed to remain in place making a glowing line upon the floor.
  Willa had simply taken the crystal to be a light source rather then something else.  She hadn’t sensed an inherent magical aura to it when she had entered the chamber.  And even now she did not detect any magic from it nor from the stream of light that was pouring out onto the floor.
  Despite this lightshow she tried to find other doorways out from the room but became quite certain there weren’t any more.

    Jubei only noticed a smattering of the village folk going rapidly about their business.  Much like before they were being very wary about staying in any dark spot for long.  Satisfied that they weren’t being spied upon at the moment, they made their way to the inn.  Which was quite with one of the wenches the only person in the large tavernhall and she seemed to be daydreaming, her gaze upon the low fire in the hearth.
  Drex had to make a polite grumble to shake her from her reverie.  Phelan wanted to smack her, in equal parts annoyance and because looking into a fire for too long was incredibly stupid.  You never knew what devil or other thing from the abyss might be looking back into you then.

Willa cocked her head as she pondered over the green light.

"Caravan Grounds, huh?"  She spoke uncertainly, remembering the last caravan she had encountered. After a moment she nodded enthusiastically, thanked and waved to the helpful crystal and slipped over to the indicated door.  It was, after all, the one she had been thinking about trying anyway.

Before packing up her badge she sent a message to Drex, informing him that she would try to get to the druid's hut and cautiously headed out.

Drex orders something to eat and drink, while he takes a seat. "I wonder if the missing people and the necromancer are connected or do you think they are two separate occurrences..." Drex said when they were alone, just then the message from Willa came through. Drex relays the message to the rest of the group.

As the wench brought his food and drink. He in-hails it all, mumbling something about eating now and tasting later. He tells her to put it on there tab.

Drex will wait for anyone else who has ordered a meal, then if all of them are ready to leave and its agree to go to the Druidess Madahgarra's abode. He will cover the rear and making sure no one is following them.

If not, then I will re-post if necessary.
10:34, Today: Drex rolled 14 using 1d20+12. Perception check

Jubei also ordered himself a rather generous meal. The events up to this point had kept him mind busy enough that it didn't realize the needs of his body, well until they walked to the inn. "I am not sure.", he said after ordering something. "Do we actually know when these people went missing? I think the captain said that the miller's men were the first to disappear? Maybe we should check by there and investigate. Though we shouldn't forget about the necropolis either... I am sure that by nightfall we'll get to hear something from there."
He dove right into his meal the moment it was placed before him.

    Willa began her long trek down the passage.  Dimly lit out before her by the thing stream of green light which ran off down the dark tunnel for what Willa suspected was about a mile.  To a creature as small as her, a mile was as good as five times that to the bigger folk…
[Willa, you are going to be walking that distance for a good bit, so again – depending on the others – you may have to sit out on a post or two.]
  Phelan points out on the map the Vito (the alchemist) had provided them that the Miller’s home lay between the main road that ran east-west through Kyssea and the Augur’s Villa.  That would be their best bet to find the miller he supposed.
  Drex noticed nothing peculiar about his surroundings, nor any immediate danger.  Though a few men came to the inn for a quick bite to eat and something to drink before they went out again, they talked a bit about how this darkness was probably ruining the harvests in the fields and how they wouldn’t really get paid much by the farmers if there wasn’t much of anything for the farmers to sell.  One of them hoped in apparent vain that maybe the clerics at the temple would help and he got told that such help was as likely as the druids doing anything about it.

Jubei tried not to chew too audibly as he leaned over to take a look at the map as well before he let out a low rumbling. "So... I would suggest that we first go and see the druid, since that would provide us some more leads. Sure we could go to the miller first... but our only lead there is that his men disappeared. That's not much to go by. What do you say?", he looked at the other two then.

"I think this would be the wisest course of action." Drex said, nodding his head will leaning back in his chair and crossing is arms. "If we are finished here, then I think we should head there right now."

Jubei gave a slow nod and tapped his chin. "Well, we should wait for Willa to arrive first, no? Maybe she has learned something important to share with us, that might change the situation?", he rumbled while he finished his meal.

[So while Drex and Jubei, with the quiet and ever observant Phelan, decide what to do I’ll continue with Willa.]

    The oozeling emerged from a door which lead out from atop a ladder which was all concealed within the trunk of a very large, black willow tree set among a small copse of other willows near a small pond.  This is were the light stopped.  Once will was out of the tree the green light retreated and left Willa in to dark amongst the quiet trees.
  Taking a quick look at her surroundings Willa could see only about 1/3rd of a mile away lay the outskirts of the village.  The druid’s home should not be too far from here, but Willa realized she would have to look harder to find a lone building out here in the dark.  And she didn’t even know if the druid hid her home with magic or was it perhaps between a copse of trees like this one?