I have only an alchemical antidote remaining, but perhaps it will fight whatever toxins hey injected ...

He recovers the bottle from his pack and wets a bandage with it, wetting Rondalds tongue with it, then Terri's and finally Judocs...
You want to try a little Magnus?
There is only perhaps a fingers width left in the bottle.

For the second time this trip, and the second time in his life for that matter, Magnus had found himself more or less useless against powers beyond his comprehension.

They were all (after an urgent check on those that had fallen) alive. That he was grateful for, and he thanked almighty God and the cool heads of his friends for that. But he also felt more than a little frustrated, guilty, and down on himself. He could have done more, somehow, he believed.  He had not even managed to touch one, and had been forced to basically hide under his shield at one point. It irked him.

But it was also motivation to keep training.

"Sure, I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the doors, you may have saved us on this one." he said to Gustav and downed what little remained.

"I'm gonna buy a helmet, first thing I do when I get back." He said mostly to Finn, but in such a way to include the others. "That's gotta be the second, maybe third time I've missed one in a fight. Some smiths got to have the skill to make one that would fit me."

After he had calmed down a bit, he jerked his broad shaggy head towards the doors that Gustav had closed.

"What do you think? Call it and go?" he asked the group.

Blood from the trapped deamon bug abomination oozes from its wounds.  It thrashes and flails from the confines of his firm grip but it is all for naught.  As a guerrilla fighter with its bird like mass and invisibility it has won the battle but its small size and equally small constitution are no match for the giant strengths of Finn and Gustav, it has lost the war.

When Finn is certain the thing is dead, which takes a long moment since he's never seen anything like this nightmarish creature, he tosses it to the ground and mashes it under his heel as his head turns back and forth in search for signs of more.

At last it seems the first wave is dead.  Gustav is already on his knees unstopping a vial.  Finns head turns to their resident professional mage.  ”Judoc.  Judoc!  Is it poison?  Is there a chance 'a death?”

Razzel pays little mind to the big behemoth that is their wall of muscle as he reflects on missing one.  Finn who has been walking the room to check on his friends one by one with his expert medical skills pats the Minotaur on the shoulder.  ”Money is the grease that makes the world move my friend”, he says with a smile.

Then as Magnus suggests they 'call it' Finn almost chokes.  His eyes bulge wide.  ”Go??!!”  He looks around the room as if needing an explanation.   Then he settles in to answer the ridiculous suggestion.  ”Did you see the size 'a that rock?”


OOC:
EDIT:  Magnus posted before me after I wrote my post.  So I added the last bit to respond to him.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:13, Wed 11 Mar 2020.

Gustav spills a bit of the crystal clear liquid in Rondald and then Terri's mouth, offering a bit to Judoc and then Magnus in turn.  Judoc puts a hand up for a moment, apparently to decline, though he thinks better of it and swigs a small portion of the liquid before handing it back to the swordsman.

"Judoc.  Judoc!  Is it poison?  Is there a chance 'a death?"  Finn shouts at the mage as Judoc slumps against the wall.

"Eh."  Judoc shrugs noncommittally.  "It's definitely something.  Poison of some sort, probably, though I'm not much learned on that front.  I would think though, that if it were killing us it would hurt a lot more.  I just feel a bit fuzzy...  like I'm a bit numb all over or something...  And tired, though that's probably just from the casting."  He glances over at Magnus.  "How do you feel?  You'd think if anyone was spared from its effects it would be you and Rondald, big as you are."

Unsatisfied, Finn starts looking over Rondald and Terri for obvious signs of injury.  Terri seems fine, her breathing deep and her pulse a normal hum despite the state of her armor, singed and smoking, the leather burned away, black and curled in parts and her chest guard still hot to the touch.

Rondald however, seems to be significantly worse for wear.  His face is paled, his breathing shallow and erratic.  There's little doubt the big sailor needs healing, or perhaps some respite from the poison coursing through his veins.  Though if it is the latter, Finn does not know how to give it.

When the conversation turns to the cell and giving up or getting whatever it was within, Judoc turns his head up again.  "I don't think we want to fight any more of those...  I think I can tell by spellwork if there are any more of them in there... but if there are, I don't suggest we look to open it any time soon."

OOC:  Rondald and Terri do not wake up with the end of combat.  Terri seems ok, Rondald does not.  Magnus, you are still feeling the effects as well, a numb fogginess that seems to affect your movements and your thinking and you remain at -3 to DX and IQ.  Judoc is offering to cast Sense Foes in the cell, which should let him know if there are any more nefarious creatures there.  Feel free to keep roleplaying or just give me the long term plan.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:51, Fri 13 Mar 2020.

Yea, and with a chain Aventail attached methinks.


When Magnus asks if they should quit looking he adds Indeed, there is easier money to be had.

To Finn he responds, I did and all of us couldn't carry it out of here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:04, Sat 14 Mar 2020.

Magnus thought for a moment before he replied. "I feel sort of drunk, but not good drunk, just like my legs are wobbly and my face it numb" he said to Judoc before he prodded his cheek where he had been bit with one gloves finger.

"He gonna be ok?" He jerked his big shaggy head towards Rondaled. "Looks kind pale." he added more softly.

When the matter of going back in came up Magnus seemed hesitant. "That was pretty close Finn, you gotta admit it. Had there been even a couple more we might not be having this conversation."

By the time he asks Judoc for a take on the poison the plucky thief-mage is kneeling over the fallen ex-mariner.  One doesn't need to be a doctor to see something is very wrong.  Finn has been wishing for a time that Rondald would just shut the hell up and ironically he has gotten his wish.  But not like this.  Finn is serious, gone is his usual smile and bravado, he is genuinely worried for fallen warrior.  The Row agent listens to the rambling and Finn decides that it cant be that bad or the professional mage would be on the verge of a break down.  Still, Rondald isn't doing well so the poison must be serious on some level.

The ever optimist leader begins his short checklist beyond the obvious.  Is his skin cold and sweaty?  Are parts of his body turning a strange color?  And all the while listening to his comrades speak.

As often happens it doesn't take Finn long to decide on a course.  He turns to look at those who have the strength and seemingly the mind.  ”I'm gonna do what I can for Rondald.  I don't know if it's gonna help.  Cant hurt.  I ain't no country medicine man.  If Judoc cant wash this gut rot out it'll just have ta run it's course.  But when I'm done I'm gonna be weak as a baby.  Gus, Magnus, we need rest.  You're gonna have to git us back to camp.  Pronto.”

Still bent over the sailor Finn wiggles a few fingers and chants some strange gibberish.  Smiling a satisfied smile he slumps like a sack of flour and falls on his side like a drunk man looking for a place to sleep it off.  Then he rolls onto his back.

His speech is slow and a bit slurred.  He sighs heavily.  ”Well then.  The whole 'a the party's 'gainst me.  Even Judoc turned.  You aint no treasure seekers.  You're just errand boys.  Aint no point in continuin' then.  We'll call it.”


OOC:

Gustav Du Meseries:

In reply to Magnus (msg # 207):

Yea, and with a chain Aventail attached methinks.

I have no idea what that means.

What Finn is saying is that there is enough resistance to continue trying to finish off this cell, and there has been enough skepticism over all that Finn concedes to the “wow, we barely made it out of that situation” sentiment floating around.  He is throwing in the towel and saying we rest, divvy up the loot and go home.

Before we go back to camp lock the cell so it wont open.  Gather up the dead deamon bugs.  Someone somewhere might pay to examine them.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:46, Fri 13 Mar 2020.

"Finn, we barely beat those things." Judoc's voice is tired, and he slumps down to the ground in a position of rest. "Terri and Rondald are out cold, Rondald needs healing, and I'm nearly spent. That doesn't mean I'm giving up, but we need to take a break." Concentrating, he murmurs a few words of a spell, and then leans his head against the wall.

"We should probably rest here. If we're attacked by another of those ghosts, we're not at full strength to fight it off."

OOC: Cast Sense Foes to see if any more enemies are inside the cell with the nest. Then rest.

"Well, maybe you'll find some real treasure seekers when you get back Finn. Some that won't disappoint you so much." Magnus liked Finn, he did. They were very different people, from very different worlds, and the mans vanity and ego contrasted harshly with the Minotaurs own more subdued countenance. But they had been through a lot together, and his boundless optimism and excitability had grown on Magnus of their time working together.

There was something about this last exchange however, that seemed to highlight that their time together was drawing to a close.

Maybe Finn would come back with some other group, or the Row, or whoever and start cracking open vaults. Maybe they would all become remarkably wealthy overnight. Who knew what was in these things?

Or maybe he might die alongside his new companions, never once believing that it was actually happening, when he finally pushed things too far. That thought spread a pang of sadness through his chest. He would never want any harm to come to any of his friends, but he did worry that without the likes of Judoc, Rondald, Gustav, Terri and himself to temper that headlong instinct, Finn just might get himself into real trouble.

God only knew.

"Good idea..." Magnus nodded to Judoc wearily, and spoke quietly. "I'll post first watch." And then turned to lumber off towards the doors.

Finn sends his magical energies into healing Rondald, which leaves him completely exhausted, though at least Rondald's pallid look is restored to something close to its normal color.  He slumps to the side, exhausted just as badly as Judoc is.

Though the four agree that it is probably not worth the risk to open the cell doors again, at least with Rondald and Terri still unconscious, Judoc cannot help but at least see if he can tell if there are more of the things just waiting.  After a moment of casting, Judoc sighs... "I don't think there are any of them left."

The conversation resurges, with Finn in particular voicing his opinion that they should at least go back in the room to take a look at the treasure once they are somewhere near full strength.  There are those who are against it, Gustav voices his own distrust... though after fifteen minutes of arguing back and forth they manage to come to a tired conclusion that they will give the room one more go...

Of course, that is if Terri and Rondald ever wake up.

Several times they are checked on, by Gustav at first and then by Judoc as he regains his energy.  Though their breathing is regular, and their heart beat seems normal, they continue to sleep past an hour... past an hour and a half.  By this time Judoc and Magnus both report that their symptoms seem to have abated, so hopefully sometime soon...

It is only after two hours have passed that Rondald stirs, his body in pain though he seems to have no lasting damage done.  He immediately works his way over to Terri, softly caressing her and speaking to her in whispering tones.  Despite his attentive care, it is another forty or fifty minutes before Terri too wakes.

"Let's get moving then!"  Finn says, barely waiting for Terri to prop herself on her one good elbow before he moves forward, ready to grab open the doors to search the inside of the cell.  Magnus and Gustav begin to protest, though with Judoc behind him, Finn pulls open the large black doors, peering his head just behind.

The nest, if it was such a thing, has been burned to char and ash, an amalgam of wafer thin burned paper that flutters and sheds a few flakes as the cell is opened to the room beyond.  A black smear of soot marks the ceiling in the corner, spreading out in thin, disappearing fingers towards the walls and middle of the room.  On the floor below, a thin puddle of solid red lays in the corner just below where the nest had been, catching the ashen flakes as they drift down from the burned paper above.

Finn has no eyes however, but for the massive crystal in the corner.  After a cursory check of the room around, he immediately walks towards the hulking mass, overwhelmed by its size and clarity.

"That is definitely magical."

The voice is Judoc's, though the information is not much needed by the thief.  He was still a few feet away from the thing when he knew it as well.  Of course, there is a small problem.

Gustav was likely right...  Judging by the size of its iron frame, which was about as thick as Finn's forearm, the thing weighed over a ton... possibly multiple tons.  Even with the combined strength of all their animals, there wasn't any way that sprung to mind to move it without a reinforced cart of some sort... which would have a tough time making it through the mountain passes...  Still, Finn's greed spurs his mind into overdrive trying to find ways to make some use of the stone...

Outside, Terri, now fully recovered investigates the little bloodsucking vermin at the end of her knife...

OOC:  We are on the precipice of finishing here, though I wanted to give you guys the chance to interact with the room.  The crystal weighs about as much as a juvenile elephant, so I'm having a hard time imagining ways for you guys to take it out...  that isn't to say it's impossible though.  I'll probably give myself one more post before allowing you guys the last word.

Gustav is on guard and alert to any noise ... in fact he is a bit jumpy given the last go round.

Rondald is exhausted, but greatly relieved when Terri comes round. He is still checking her when Finn reopens the door.

"You can't bloody well wait until we are at least standing, can you! Did you even check to see if there were any left?" he curses, readying his axe and shield and covering Terri's still prone form with his own...but that rest of the attacks don't come. [OOC: He was still out cold when you did the check, if I read it right, so he would not have known!]

After some time and no buzzing or attacks, he started to relax...a little. He then started to investigate what had come out of the hive.

"Well, you wanted to hide the keys in a rock. Here is a rock, now, show us how you can break it up if you want to take any home!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:52, Sat 14 Mar 2020.

Magnus looked at the massive crystal with a little apprehension. Not only was it obviously rare and valuable, but it was also apparently magical enough for Judoc to just know. He was a far cry from a Mage, but Judoc's reaction seemed to indicate that it was also powerful.

But...what could it do exactly? Was it inherently magical or had it been manipulated in some way? And more importantly, why had it been locked away when it was so difficult to move?

"So...what do we do with it?" he asked as he paced and looked at the remains of the nest.

The resting period seems to take forever.  With the pessimistic view point of his comrades following the short battle Finn had all but conceded that there would be no more fishing for gold, however, when Judoc works his magic and announces the vacancy of life from the black room Razzel's excitement returns immediately.

Though exhausted he is like a child.  He talks almost non stop for the hours that the group slowly regains their strength and wait for the bonded couple to rouse.  Several times Finn is told to 'Shut up', 'Shut up!!', and even 'Shut up or I'll shut you up' but the young fortune seeker cannot contain his giddiness over knowing what lays beyond the heavy black doors.   As he says during the painfully long rest even if they cannot take it with them seeing and touching such an artifact is a prize in and of itself.

When at last the pair awakens and Finn pries the doors apart he gives the required glance to the blood soaked hive.  Knife in hand he waits a few seconds for the sounds of buzzing and signs of the party being pricked.  As a precaution he waits, fingers twitching at the ready to cast a spell that hangs on his lips ready to leap forward.  But the attack does not come, Judoc's sagely advice once again is right on.  Finn will miss his unflappable reliability.

When at last the plucky mage-thief comes close enough to touch the thing he is stupefied.  In awe.  He does not seem to hear Rondalds comments but somehow Magnus's words get through the fog.  Finn half turns, half distracted.  He shrugs.  ”Dunno...”, he says smiling through.  He places his hand on the crystal running his fingers along it.  His eyes are glazed over, he is lost in some vision.  His voice is a dreamy sing song kind of thing.  ”Imagine who made this.  Their knowledge.  What power they must'a had ta get it here.  And 'chant it.  Oh lord.  To live in that time.  Wer seein' a peice 'a history here.  Few will ever be so lucky.”


OOC:
Of course Finn will examine the crystal to see if there is any way there is a chance to take some or all of it with us.  Finn will test to make sure its real and not an illusion.  Test to see if its like a puzzle – that it would come apart if pulled or turned in the right way.  He would look over the frame to see if there is some kind of key hole.  I assume all of this leads to nothing.

Finn would talk about different kinds of magic, none of it he knows.  But there are spells that can shrink such an object.  And of course there is magic to move things from place to place to bypass that nasty burden of carrying stuff over headaches like mountains and rivers.

Magnus stared at the crystal, that which they had risked life and limb for, and wondered at Finns words. It was obvious that the Minotaur had never benefited from any kind of extended education, although he was literate.

"My Dad used to say our kind weren't from here, that we were from a long way away, some other place. That's why you see so few of us." Magnus said, his eyes not leaving the Crystal. "Maybe there were more of us back then? Or none at all?" he shrugged slightly. "It does make you wonder though, what it was like." he added softly.

He looked around at the others. "I mean, it's got to be important right? But maybe dangerous too. Way beyond my ken, in any case."

He looked to Terri, Rondald, those who seemed to have suffered most during the last exchange. The thought of how close they had been, it bothered him.

"We're leavin in the morning then?" Magnus clarified with Finn. The Prison was secured, their enemies dead or fled, the keys in their possession. They had completed what they had set out to do and so much more, and although there would be a payday at the end of all this, and he had come away with a weapon beyond his wildest imagining, it had come at a cost. His mind was weary, and troubled at the dangers they had faced, and the sheer scale of the bloodshed.

He wanted a rest, somewhere safe, somewhere away from the bugs and the heat. Somewhere he could get his head on straight.

Gustav slowly calms down, as nothing appears, his guard relaxes a little, but he stays alert, too many surprises have occurred here not to be alert.

Rondald too is very cautious. Perhaps the last to lower his guard, he is not trusting his eyes so much to warn him of danger.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:16, Mon 16 Mar 2020.

At Rondald's protest about further enemies, Judoc replies, a bit testily, "Yes, I checked, Rondald. I picked up a few spells from Finn over the course of our adventure, including one to check for the presence of enemies, and I cast it while you were unconscious."

Drawn to the crystal, Judoc spends a moment looking at it with fascination. What had led the prison's keepers to store it here? What was its function?

The rest of the group, sans Finn, seem eager to leave Perdition, and Judoc understands this impulse. Defeating Mik'ail had been relatively straightforward, despite the rabbit chase the necromancer had led them on, but the prison's guardians seem more potent. Still, what knowledge lies hidden here? What wonders, what magics lost to time? A team of Templars would tear this place apart brick by brick. Judoc would far rather the prison's secrets be found by his group than Graves.

"I can see what spells are on this crystal, but the spell will take an hour to cast," he tells the group.

Gustav nods, Do so, best to know what it is. What affect it might have on a commoner like myself.

While the other seem to be taken in by the massive crystal in the corner, Magnus instead goes for the burned hive, looking for a moment at the ashen paper above, then pausing to look at the giant pool of red below.  As he touches the thick fluid with a finger, he realizes that it is not blood, but some sort of wax, hardened now that it is cooled, though undoubtedly it melted with the fire that was brought on with Judoc's spells.

A dozen feet away, Finn touches the crystal an odd barrier, almost translucent green, seems to spring up some five yards on each side of the crystal or at least those sides which are not obstructed by the black glass of the prison.  Finn gapes, open mouthed, looking to touch the outer edge of the barrier...  his hands pass through with no effort... but as he walks through he realizes he cannot take his knife with him...

Finn goes back to the giant crystal, pressing the face again, touching the other faces...  once he gets to the fifth side he sees the barrier disappear, and then on touching the sixth, he sees a different barrier, a soft, translucent purple take the place of the old.  Finn again tries to touch the thin, purple sphere, though his whole body passes through it, weapons and all without the slightest interference.

Back and forth Finn goes, trying to decipher what each face of the crystal does... it seems evident that the fifth face cancels all the others, though the specifics of the others he has a hard time recognizing.  One keeps any part of him from passing through, though allows his knife, another seems to do nothing... the last stops anything he attempts to push through it, whether it be himself or something on his person...

Judoc attempts to discern the spells cast on the crystal, his own attempt lengthy and detailed, requiring various rituals.  Though his best efforts seem to fail... for he seems to be able to offer little more than, "It seems to be some sort of protection... some sort of tool."

The point seems moot, as none in the group has any idea how to get the crystal out of the cell, let alone back out of the mountains and down to the fort.  Some hours later, they give up and lock the cell, lest anyone else find the contents and manage to remove it...

Without another cell opened, It is decided later that the group will depart in the morning and split what goods they have already acquired.

The worst of the conversation is what to do with the keys.  Rondald suggest splitting them between each of them (for there are conveniently six of them) to giving the keys to a local lord, though Finn is having nothing with the idea.  In the thief's mind, the whole point of the expedition was to find the treasure, to exploit it, and to take if for their own.  Throwing the keys away to someone else invited the cells to be opened on someone else's terms, while splitting them up seemed to infer that the cells should never be opened again... something that Finn seemed unable to accept.

At the end the fight got so escalated, Finn, completely red in the face declared "Fine!  I'll fucking bury them here!"  Muttering a simple spell, Finn removes six feet deep of earth from a small hole in the orchard before hurling the tiles down and replacing the earth with the gesture of his hand.

It is a fateful end for the group that had potentially saved humanity from a grizzly fate...

Still, the morning after, the group girded up and started their journey down from the mountain...  Their cities saved, at least for now.

OOC:  Some personal flourishes on the end of this story, so please don't blame Finn for burying the keys when there has been no further discussion.  He is the only other one with shape earth, so it's probably easiest for him to remove the tiles, though anyone else would be able to remove them after seeing where they are buried after a significant amount of work.  If anyone wants to prevent Finn doing this... tough luck.  You may stay back on your own if you wish, digging them up after everyone else leaves though.  Let me know if anyone else wants to do this.  I am keeping the thread open for people to post up their last remarks - please don't fast forward yourselves to anywhere significant.  Yes I plan on putting you where you asked, but there may be significant things along the way that happen which I would rather cover in my own time.

Gustav is in favor of burying them, so is happy with this outcome.

Rondald suggests planting a tree on top of them, and using magic if they have any to make it grow faster. At least it will be some disguise, as well as a marker...

The trip has been successful, and Terri and Rondald reflect on what has been accomplished, and what is coming up. The world is a dangerous place, and there are many evils to defend against, but they have shown that they are better to fight them together. Intending to use the mule to full effect carrying goods back, they would prefer to continue with some of their new friends, particularly Magnus, Giles, Gustav and the young mage Judoc, though concerns about Finns greed, which had nearly killed the couple, were voiced. But as a group, they were able, as Magnus pointed out, to help counter each others weaknesses, and that is what working as a group was all about.

The trip home would grant plenty of time to consider the future.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:35, Tue 17 Mar 2020.

The applications for the crystal seem intriguing to Judoc. A device such as this would provide adequate protection for a castle's keep if the radius of the barrier could be extended. The crystal seems designed to prevent different objects from passing through the barrier it creates. Perhaps some of them protect against energy attacks as well. The massive size of the crystal is the only drawback, and a portable version would be extremely useful.

Ultimately, Judoc agrees with the decision to hide the keys. If only he had a writing utensil of some kind! At least then he could make a crude map of the keys' location. He instead contents himself with memorizing the location should Graves demand that Judoc return to the area and attempt to recover what the as-yet unopened cells hold.

"We didn't do too badly, did we?" he says thoughtfully, reflecting back over their accomplishments. That Bjorn had betrayed them and fled during the night still rankles somewhat, though Judoc can understand why the Northman did what he did. Treasure had never been Judoc's primary motivation during this endeavor, though he also understands how Finn's motivations would be different on that score.

"We stopped Haj and Mika'il's plan to unleash the horrors of Perdition and destroyed Sadda and its evil influence. We accomplished what we set out to do, and perhaps one day, we can return to this place to plumb its mysteries again."

Gustav essentially has no plans; he was escaping a powerful person's wrath, which this has done, but will there be someone waiting to knife him in the back when he returns to the fort or Craine?  He is in a quandary, but obviously having others he can trust around is a plus, so he will join Rondald and any others who want to stay together.  He does wish to improve his skills some and will obviously have to carry this broadsword instead of his saber around here. He will approach Judoc about scanning his sword for abilities.

As the journey home becomes more of a reality, and not just a goal to press on towards, Magnus has plenty of time to reflect on recent events.

It really had not been that long, but for him in particular it had been life changing. From the outset it had been different, he had taken his first life and seen his own flash before his eyes on their very first day together, and it had gotten progressively stranger and more dangerous ever since. He did not know how he was going to tell even half these stories, and he did not expect that any would believe them.

The pay was good, yes, and he would return to the Guild a far more seasoned member. But more importantly it had been the best group he had ever worked with by far. He had grown fond of them all, and not just because they tolerated his oddities. They truly seemed to think of him as a friend in kind, and not just a comrade in arms or a wall of meat and metal to put before them. He had known other good men and women, but not like them, never so many in one place.

He already knew he would miss them.

Aside from his personal feelings, on the more practical end he would be losing the legitimacy that they brought by their presence. Once again he would be the outsider, the wanderer, the beastman. It was back to the long hard road.

Also, he had grown fond of having not one but two mages in their company. The first he had ever known, he had a new found appreciation for how ever one could turn a band into a formidable army. The healing magic alone changed everything, and when you added the other arts atop that it was little wonder that their were so sought after by Generals, Kings and the wise.

They were at a crossroads, and while he suspected that at least some of them would meet again, he had no idea when, or how or if some might pass in their absence.

For now, he enjoyed their company while he could, and looked forward to the relative comforts of civilization.