Jubei grew rather frustrated with the pile of documents before him and the information that so far had eluded him. He let out a snorting sound as he wordlessly left the room again to instead return to the one with the peculiar lantern.
No doubt it was an item of importance, after all it stood out like a sore thumb and probably didn't just serve to light the room. In fact he had the hunch that they had found a Spirit Lantern here.
So he carefully looked around the room to find something that he could use to retrieve the lantern, and maybe hold it with. A hook pole for example. Anything that would be able to help really.

10:38, Thu 01 May 2014: Iron Jubei rolled 23 using 1d20+4 ((19)).

    Willa’s initial attempt unravel the secrets of one of the mysterious potions was a failure, however there were two more potions to be looked over as well.
[Make a check for each of the potions please.  :3]

  Though Phelan knew the item was probably more suited to a warlock like Willa, though she hadn’t really revealed much about what sort of warlock she was.  And as Phelan thought about Willa, his thoughts becoming rather paranoid about what power she truly served-  Everything suddenly went bright blue.
  The next moment Phelan found himself laying on the floor, his body was warm, his fur was bristling and his ears were ringing.  The helmet was in his hand beside him on the floor.  The narayah spent a moment recovering from his faint.
  Returning to his investigation he found a letter amongst the notes, written in primordial script.  The paper was crisp and white with the corners cut way into flat angles, making the page look like octagon which had had its sides stretched to make it more a rectangle.

  Even as Jubei looked for some tool to grab the lantern with he realized he could always ask Willa – who was in the room – to bring it to him.  Even though the thing was about as big as she was, it wasn’t beyond reason that she could find some way handle it.
  Sadly the dragon did not spot any poles long enough to accomplish his task.

Willa scrunched up her face and carefully placed the first bottle aside.  She almost knew what it was.  Never mind, may be she would do better with the other two.  Unlikely but still...

01:51, Today: Willa rolled 14 using 1d20+6. Arcana - Bottlings 2 and 3.
01:50, Today: Willa rolled 12 using 1d20+6. Arcana - Bottlings 2 and 3.

Its so difficult to identify magical effects >.<


Nope.  No idea...

Phelan held his free hand to his temple as he got up from his position on the ground. That was... Odd. I wonder what happened... He returned to his investigation, still wondering when he came across an odd note in a language he didn't know. He decided to store the  note for now; maybe one of his allies could speak it.

As he continued going through the notes, he tried to hazard a guess as to what might have happened.

Arcana check to explain what happened: 25!

Otherwise he just continues going through the notes. I swear he'll stop eventually!

Drex had decided to take his time inspecting the body. He examines the face of the deceased person. Memorizing his facial features before removing the ring from his finger. "I wonder who this man could be?" He think to himself. Could this be the auger and if so how was the man upstairs?

Drex then tried to free the man from the shackles. He was not planing to leave the man to here to rot. Who ever the man was he deserved proper funerary rights and every dead body can become a weapon in the hands of this ehuron-meanness.

As he proceeds to figure out how to free the corps from the shackles, he sings a prayer for the man.

13:23, Today: Drex rolled 18 using 1d20+6. Thievery check (+2 for thieve tools).
If Drex can't find a key or unable to pick the lock to open the shackles. That is if if it has any key-holes at all he will call for help.

Jubei looked around for a little longer, but eventually had to admit defeat in the face of his inability to find any poles. The draconic quadruped then let out a sigh as he turned and saw Willa, who was still fiddling around with those bottles she had fun. "Hey Willa, would you fetch that lantern over there when you're done shaking those flasks? Just... be careful with it, it looks quite fragile.", he said with slightly furrowed brows.
The stench in the room was slowly becoming quite unbearable to his nostrils and so he decided to walk back into the central room, where the air was still thick with rot but at least had the ocassional refreshing breeze from above the stairs. There he decided to look around for some other clues that might have escaped their notice so far... and which were hopefully not damaged by the battle that had taken place here.

14:59, Today: Iron Jubei rolled 7 using 1d20+4. Perception check.

Sadly Willa could not more determine the potions precise magical properties now than when she had noticed them upon the table.  Though she knew she could always try again later or ask Phelan what he could make of them.  It was this stream of thought that Jubei’s voice interrupted.
  Staring at him sheepishly for a moment she turned her attention to the thing he was talking about.  It barely seemed to her to be a lantern and was the least interesting thing in the whole room!  And what made it worse is as she approached the thing she could not sense a lick of magic from it.
  Taking care with the delicate looking thing Willa brought over a stool, climbed onto it and experimentally shifted the lantern.  Much to her surprise it was far lighter than it seemed, but not too much.  It was just light enough for her to lift but heavy enough that it seemed that it would not easily fall over.
  As that childlike wonder took hold of her attention, Jubei noticed a suddenly force – like a gust of wind – press against him.  Then it was gone.  He soon recognized the feeling as spiritual pressure, the result of being enveloped in the aura of a spirit…a particularly powerful one at that if he could feel it like that.  Yet it had faded quickly and no harm seems to have come of it.  He doubted someone not as trained in the spiritual arts like himself or Drex would have sensed it.

  Casting his gaze about, while he waited for Willa Jubei did not notice anything else that seemed really worthy of his attentions.

  While going through the notes, Phelan tried to his best to understand the significance of his fainting and the accompanying blue flash.  Tried as he might nothing surfaced from his memory that matched it, save the same kind of flash that ended his nightmare from last night.  And even if those things were related, what exactly did it mean?  He was left wondering more about these questions then really paying attention to the notes he was going through.
  None of those documents particularly drew his attention either.  It all seemed to be mostly about the finer details about whatever operation was going on down here exactly.  Phelan couldn’t find anything like a journal or even a report of what had exactly gone on here or even why.

  Drex hadn’t been told what the augur looked like, nor had his companions mentioned it.  Though he did now have a firm image in his mind about how this poor man looked.  As for the shackles, it didn’t take long for Drex to realize that they were indeed magical.  And after looking at his keys, none of them matched the bizarre star-like keyhole.
  And as Drex’s musical prayer carries out of the jail it seems to bring its own kind of serenity to the macabre scene.  Enough so that the oppressive darkness around the lantern lights no longer seems so menacing.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:55, Sat 03 May 2014.

Willa shuffles over to Iron Jubei with the lamp.  Placing it on a table in front of him she leans forward with her hands clasped behind her back and grins at him, happy to have been of some help.

Bobbing, she speeds off back into the room and scoops up the three potions she had found before rushing off to Phelan.

"Mr Phelan, sir!  Mr Phelan, sir!" She calls as she hurries towards the room his is in.  However, once inside and next to him, she says nothing, instead just holding out her hands, offering him the three potions and looking at him questioningly.

Finishing his prayer he decides to leave the dead man there for the moment and see what the others were up to. He sees Willa bobbing from the one room where Jubei stands to the other. Leaving her Drex heads to Jubei. "What have you fou...nd." Drex said as he stare at the strange looking cylinder.

It seems that Jubei have found an important component to aid them in solving the problems of Kyssean. Drex puts his hand on Jubei's arm. "Well done. If that is what I think it is, we will now be able to enter the necropolis." Drex points to the room where Willa entered. "I'm just going to ask Willa or Phelan to break the enchantments on the shackles of the dread man, then we can leave." Drex adjusts the wet cloth covering his nose and mouth before heading to the other room.

Jubei gave a bit of a smirk and nodded to Willa as she placed the lantern on the table next to him. "Thank you.", he said simply, his mind right now turned to other things. He was just about to lay out a simple rite he had been taught back in his training to discern if spirits were present and what their intentions might be as Drex came into the room as well.
For a moment he seemed a little annoyed by the distraction, but he wasn't far enough into it yet that this small lapse in concentration would ruin it. "Yes... it seemed to be quite out of place so I thought it was significant... also being a lantern and all.", he rumbled and then resumed with his scrying.

20:50, Today: Iron Jubei rolled 25 using 1d20+9. Religion check: Checking for spirits.
20:51, Today: Iron Jubei rolled 21 using 1d20+9. Insight Check: Spirit's motives?
Just rolled for motives too... because why not :|

    Phelan was interrupted by the sound of tinkling and short but somewhat heavy breathing, as Willa arrived with three small bottles for the narayah to look at.
  Willa on the other hand could not help but notice the dark and obviously magical helm sitting upon the table.  Not far from Phelan’s reach.
[Phelan you will have to make 3 separate arcana checks for each potion, you can make them all in one post though as looking over potions doesn’t really take long.]
  Despite being so full of death the room is remarkably lacking in almost any sort of spiritual presence.  Even the background pulse of the land is…absent.  Looking at the walls Jubei guessed that the chambers must have been treated in some fashion, or a spell must have been cast to keep spirits out of this place.
  Besides himself and the nearby pulse of Drex, Phelan and Willa – Jubei could sense only one other presence, that of the lantern in his hands and it was odd.  Unlike the pumping of a living heart the presence within felt like a low, almost-background hum, as if just above or below the range of his senses.
  As the paladin tried to feel out this other spirit there was a brief moment, akin to the eyes of two people across the room locking and realizing that they both were doing exactly the same thing with the other.

  At this moment Drex walks into the room, rather blissfully unaware of the spiritual examinations going on as he goes to see Phelan.
  Just after Drex enters the…study for a lack of a better term, there is a loud set slam from the hall.  This broke Jubei’s concentration.  And it came from the stairwell leading up to the surface.

Phelan shook his head in frustration at the lack of a useful journal. He was surprised out of his research, however, when Willa suddenly ran up to him calling his name. He turned to look in surprise at the warlock."

"Willa...?" His tone was questioning, and cut off when she held out the potions to him. "Ah... I'll take a look then..." He took the potions off her hands, examining each of them carefully with narrowed eyes.

Potion 1: 24
Potion 2: 33 (with a natural 20)
Potion 3: 33 (with ANOTHER natural 20)

The loud slam startled the Kaetyma enough that he nearly dropped the spirit lantern and it took some rather frantic fumbling to catch it again and he quickly sat it down on the table again and quickly pulled his axe again as he turned to face the door to the stairs. A sudden realization came to him and he tensed up. Did the corpse come alive after all? Wasn't it just paranoia striking him? Either way he had to investigate and he hesitated for a moment... he should alert the others as well. So he began to trudge backwards... rather awkwardly so due to his rather sizeable lower body and having to basically go blind as he kept his eyes on the door to the staircase until he was about on level with the door to the study, turning his head just enough to call to the others. "Hey, guys... there's something or someone at the stairs, you might want to come.", he shouted, hoping that they would hear them... before he walked forward to the stairs again to see what was going on there.

Willa did not think she was a bad umbrean.  She sought not to harm other people and always wanted to help.  She tried her best not to break the rules (though could not always avoid it) and did not practice unholy arts.  Yet her curiosity was immense and she found curios of all sorts exciting.  The rarer the better and, since less...pure things were kept hidden, they were more uncommon and therefore more interesting to her.  So, much as the morbid scenes in the other rooms had sparked her imagination, she was instantly transfixed by the skull-shaped item in front of her.

"Wooooow!" She awed, eyes gleaming.  "Mr Phelan sir, what...what is?"  She pointed at the strange object.

So enamoured by the item was Willa that whether or not she heard Iron Jubei's call was irrelevant.  She had simply forgotten about everything else.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:51, Mon 05 May 2014.

Drex was about to ask Phelan or Willa for help. At that moment Drex also heard the sudden noise. Followed by Jubei calling them. Could this be more undead, or was it the conspirators coming to keep this dark discovery hidden. What ever it might be he was not going to be caught of guard. Taking his axe he moves to meet Jubei in the main room. Motioning with a finger instructing Jubei to keep still as he moves closer to the hallway.

Holding his breath Drex first listens at the corner before risking a peek. He takes two fast breaths and leans around the corner...

08:06, Today: Drex rolled 17 using 1d20+9. Stealth check.
08:06, Today: Drex rolled 19 using 1d20+12. Perception check.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:10, Tue 06 May 2014.

    The first potion Phelan doesn’t recognize, the wax sealing the vial suggested that the black material within was either volatile or reacted with air in some way.
  The second was revealed by a quick sniff to be an Elixir of Aptitude and the last was an Elixir of Clairvoyance after Phelan swung the bottle a little.
[Both of these items can be found in Mordenkain’s Magnificent Emporium on page 90 and 91 respectively.]

  Drex saw nothing in the dim shadows as he looked around the corner.  Risking another glance he could swear something was different but couldn’t put his finger on it.  Until after a few tense moments black smoke-like shadows poured from the doorway.  Bubbling and oozing like some fluid as it clung to the floors and walls and seemed to reach out towards Drex from the ground.  The deseekay, naturally, retreated.  Only to have the material follow him into the room, along with the more which clawed at the nearby tables and caused the legs to break as they collapsed to be set about by what Drex and Jubei could only consider to be…hungry shadows.
  As they watched more poured in from the stairwell.  Both realized they had perhaps minutes before the oddly smoke-like fluid filled the chamber and then its adjoining rooms.

"By the dragons, what abomination spawned this now!?", the kaetyma snarled as he stumbled back rather awkwardly, not caring about what he might knock over with his rear given that there was a quite immediate threat in the front. "We can't fight... shadows.", he grunted and then looked to the lantern and quickly reached over to grab it and hold it infront of him, halfway expecting it to incinerate the shadows right away... or something along the lines.
"How do we turn this thing on?", he grunted as he looked over it and eventually resorted to giving quick prayer.

19:05, Today: Iron Jubei rolled 19 using 1d20+9. Religion check: Make the lantern work!
This message was last edited by the player at 17:08, Tue 06 May 2014.

"It's an incredible find. A truly rare artifact. You see-" Phelan's excited telling was cut off by yelling and  then odd sounds. He quietly pocketed the potions for now and placed the helm in his bag. He held a finger in front of his mouth, indicating Willa to be quiet as he peered into the room Jubei and Drex were in, eyes widening at the shadows.

"Um... Willa? Might have to explain later." He gestured her to join him, pointing at the shadows when she did. "Do you think you could use that light thing from earlier on those? Like you did with the skeletons?"

Not waiting  to hear a response, he stood out, gesturing with an open hand, focusing on Jubei. The Kateyma's armor was coalesced in sonic energy that rippled, then boomed in the direction of the shadows.

I'm yelling at the darkness!
Thundering Armor
Close Burst 10 Primary target: You or one ally in burst
Effect; +1 power bonus to Jubei's AC until end of my next turn. Make an attack
Secondary target: One creature adjacent to Jubei
Attack: 8 vs Fortitude (BAHAHAHAHAH)
Hit: 9 thunder damage and the target is pushed 1 square away from the primary target

Willa slowly turned around, her gaze lingering on the helm.  As she dragged her eyes away and looked at the smoke she let out a small exclamation of surprise.

"Oh."

Cocking her head she watched intently as it scratched at the tables.

"Look Mr Phelan, sir.  Shadows."

Only vaguely listening to the Narayah, Willa mumbled something about what light thing and fumbled around in her pack.  After a moment she took out her ever-burning torch.  It took her some time to grab the item from her bag as she was so focused on the shadows and trying to figure out exactly what they were.

22:24, Today: Willa rolled 11 using 1d20+6. Arcana - Identify Conjuration or Zone on Shadows.

Drex takes a step back from the approaching shadow. He looks to see what the others are doing, hoping that this is not his last day. "No time to think about that." Drex thinks. He making a quick study of the shadow thing, before taking his next action.

"Phelan do you know any rituals to protect us if we find ourselves trapped? If you do I think you need to find a space far enough from the shadow and start. Jubei and Willa see if you can slow its progres into the room. I'll look for an escape rout out of here."

This was anything but perfect and would like to first discuss it but there is no time for a debating his choice. Drex move to the room with the draining basin, where Willa and Jubei found the lantern and bottles. Making use of this keen sight he scans the rooms walls, flour and ceiling. But also glances over the shelves for anything else that could help them.

11:45, Today: Drex rolled 20 using 1d20+6. Religion check, identifying the shadow thing.
11:46, Today: Drex rolled 29 using 1d20+12. Perception check.

    Reciting a prayer to the spirit within the lantern a call was echoed back at Jubei.  The lantern could not fight the faux darkness that had entered this dungeon but it could direct Jubei towards another exit.  However it had no power of its own, the lantern required the strength of another as marked by an offering of blood, which would ignite the lantern’s fire.
[Spend a healing surge to activate the lantern.]
  This exchanged was cut short by the vibrations that resounded through Jubei’s armour, carrying outward and knocking a few things about the room, yet sadly not having any effect on the shadows on the floor.
[Its good to see you taking failure with such good spirit’s Phelan!]
  Willa was not frightened by the shadows but awed by them, certainly somewhere in her umbrean brain an instinct kicked in that told her to not touch it, but she could not help but wonder at it.  Sadly this distracted her warlock mind from understanding exactly what this thing was that threated the group.
[Sorry Willa your roll just didn’t make it, you can’t try identifying the effect again for the rest of the encounter/scene.]
  Drex recognized the shadow not as any sort of monster in and of itself but rather as a miasma breathed out by some unholy creature.  Though sadly there could be any number of beasts capable of releasing such a pestilence.  Unfortunately he could not see any such entity nearby.  It was possible that the creature was up the stairs and merely casting its breath down here…
  He guessed that it was only a matter of moments before the shadow took over the entire main hall that lead to the other chambers and from then it would be inside those.  So frankly he did not have much time to loose.
  Casting his gaze about the laboratory Drex found nothing he could conceive of as a weapon or a means of escape there.  Which left only one room that could possess a concealed exit of any kind…

  No fool himself Phelan also realized that the shadow would swallow this place quickly and if there was no other means out…there was that teleportation device that Drex had given him.  It would certainly be up to the task of safely transporting the entire group away from here.  But there was no real way of knowing at the time what lay there.

  While the shadow spread itself to cover nearly half of the hall, seeking out the adventurers with dark tendrils…

"Mr Phelan, sir, Willa not know how to fight smoke."

The little umbrean waved her torch pointlessly at the encroaching gas.  "Shoo!"

"Nothing here, shit." Drex thought as he ran to the room where Phelan and Willa was just a moment ago. Only paying attention not to get to close to the shadow. Drex knew if an escape was not found soon, they will be trapped and the gods only know what will happen then.

Sliding into the room where he repeats the same possess he did in the other one, walls, flour, ceiling and the furnishings.

08:34, Today: Drex rolled 22 using 1d20+12. Perception check.

"Throw any kind of magic you know at it. That isn't necrotic or shadowy in nature." Phelan replied to Willa as he reached into his pack, feeling around the vials and helm for the device Drex had found earlier. The artificer found it and pulled it out, examining it carefully. He wanted to make sure it was set up for immediate teleportation, but did not want to activate it unless he had no other choice.

"I can try to improvise another ritual, but I don't think we'll have time." Phelan replied. It might not be too hard to reverse the effects of a make whole ritual and combine it with the banishment knockback effect of his new ability. Adding in a bit of his own blood for a more destructive component might be feasible as a method of driving the shadow back, but he had no idea if it would work.

"It pains me to admit this but we can't fight this.", the kaetyma growled and then stared at the lantern for a few precious moments before he gave a nod. "Show us a way out of this, spirit.", he said and used his axe to cut the top of his hand and let his blood drip into the lantern to fuel it. Before he held it up, hoping it would illuminate the path out.
[Spends a healing surge to activate the lantern.]