Shara nods at Garland's response. "Indeed, this is a sanctioned little expedition, though it may still be a dangerous one. We should be on our guard, in case this foul cult reached this crypt before we did." she replies.

Kendra responded warmly to her friends warm words, giving Darcon a warm, sad smile and Garland a little squeeze as they comforted her. Once the following day's plans were set she cleared away the table as everyone settled in for the evening.

---

The following morning Kendra was up bright and early with breakfast, her demeanor excited and her hands fidgeting with nervous energy. She had replaced her black mourning dress with work clothes, trousers, and a wide belt festooned with pouches. She had a long kitchen knife stuck through her belt like a sword.

"Very well, then, shall we be off to the Restlands?" She asked brightly, eyes eager.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:16, Mon 11 Feb 2019.

When morning came Garland got up early. He knew he would be delving into an old crypt today and who knows what, or who would be down there. While he could find no burial records for it he also couldnt find any construction records making the crypt's history and layout an enigma. He spent the morning preparing for the incursion and by the time breakfast was ready he was prepared for the expedition.

"Before we go, Shara and I will be making a slight detour to the temple to get Enos, one of the local priests. He will accompany us on this expedition as a consultant and I believe it will serve us best to be transparent with him and the temple."

Keanala was just finishing up her morning preparations.  Her scale mail, still a little dusty from the long travel to town, was donned, and a hood pulled up over her head.  She was not ashamed of her Oread ancestry, and it was easy enough to pick it out in what skin she showed.  After yesterday, Keanala had decided to try and downplay it, if only for a little bit.  A morningstar hung at her waist, and she was putting a fresh bowstring onto her short bow.  From her mouth, hung half of a muffin.

"...permission to exhume a crypt..." she muttered in amazement, balancing the act of talking and eating the muffin admirably.  "I don't know if I've ever had such a thing.  Not that I make a habit out of breaking into crypts but...permission.  This is going to be an interesting day."

The string tied on, the Oread gave her bow a few testing draws.  "Anything else we need to know about this venture?  No grave robbing, I assume?"

"Because we don't know if the crypt has been tampered with, I intend to bring my companion along with me. I will reveal her to you now, so you are not alarmed at her presence later." Shara says.

She closes her eyes, focusing inward, and chants under her breath. After a minute, a spectral figure appears. Shaped like an armor-clad human, the translucent form appears wispy around the edges, and a feminine face can just barely be seen beneath the ghostly visor of its spiritual armor.

"Do not be alarmed, for she is no undead. Merely a lost spirit that the goddess has tasked me with helping to find her way to the River of Souls. She's stubborn, but she may aid us if circumstances are dire." she continues.


Those familiar with the church of Pharasma have heard of spiritualists like Shara, shepherds of lost souls, and they are very much different than necromancers, despite the ghostly appearance of the phantoms.

Kendra seemed very interested in Shara's phantom, pacing around the ghostly figure in wonder and peppering her with questions. The ghostly figure fascinated her and her questions revealed a keen mind and not inconsiderable knowledge of supernatural phenomena.

Our heroes made their way to the temple where they were met by Father Grimburrow. He exchanged some words of ecumenical nature with Garland before calling for Enos to accompany them. To the young acolyte, a lad of perhaps fourteen, he extended a warning to be careful and keep his wits about him. Enos was wide eyed at the prospect of excitement in as sleepy a town as Ravengro, his gaze constantly drifting over the group's weapons and adventuring gear.

Garland led the way through the Restlands and, with his hand drawn map and a little direction from Enos, was easily able to find the crypt that the professor had mentioned.

It was a freestanding granite mausoleum, two leering gargoyles perched on the roof and gaping sightlessly down at the little group of adventurers. It was surrounded by well tended headstones and markers but bore no family crest. Instead the word Aurum was insculpted above the entryway. Darcon quickly translated from an old dialect of elven, it meant Golden.

The twin doors were heavy, iron, and pitted with weather. A fine lock held them closed, but a closer inspection showed that the locked had been melted through with acid and then rearranged to look from a distance like it hadn't been tampered with.

Shara steps closer to the mausoleum, noting the damaged lock. Phantom at her side, she pulls the mangled lock from the door, inspecting it with brief curiosity before dropping it to the ground. With a whispered word of instruction, her phantom tugs on the door as she steps back, ready for any signs of danger.


Phantom has 12 Strength and is manifested corporeally. It'll try to open the door.

Darcon had travelled in silence with the others, the hood of his pristine cloak hiding his features, just like he preferred. He studied Shara's conjured phantom with interest though, but he tried his best to hide his study. The ability to summon creatures from beyond, from other planes or realms was not a minor feat, and he found himself looking at Shara in a new, more respectful light. He hoped that the creature would be able to offer constructive aid in their investigation.

When they reached the temple Darcon paid close attention to the head priest Grimburrow, trying to discern if he had any hidden motives. Darcon was not a suspicious person by nature but the events of the past few days had made him a little paranoid, as if he expected any potential cultists to jump out of the shadows at any given moment.

Enos seemed earnest though, and was offered a small smile of encouragement as he joined them. As with the summoned phantom, Darcon hoped the lad had useful skills to offer on their investigation in the crypt, despite his youthful appearance.

When they finally reached the mausoleum and after deciphering the elvish script, he noted yet was not surprised at all at the evidence of tampering on the lock. "Who was it though who passed here last, the Professor, or someone else?" the mage wondered out loud in a soft voice.

SCG had informed the others that although initially helpful the sheriff had been put in his place by the councilman.  And reported the availability of dwarven crafted weapons and armor.

The updates from the others were similarly very limited in scope.

He thought it appropriate that the whispering way would take measures to maintain secrecy.

“It is my Hope our answers shall be enough to take the sting from our grief.”

He looks to each person in turn
“Perhaps we should know of each other’s strengths and abilities so as better to face the challenges to come.”

Garland took some time to examine the gate as he reached down, pulling the morningstar from his belt before he looked back. He began chanting a spell until the weapon became a shining beacon of light, casting it in all directions. "My suggestion is thus, Constantine in the front as you are likely the most heavily armored of us all. If there is danger you will have the greatest protection. I will follow behind to provide support and healing as necessary. Enos and Kendra will stay by me at all times. I also recommend one our burly members take up the rear in case of rear or pincer attack. If you see something say something as soon as possible. Now when delving into places like this is is paramount that we stay together and move slowly as a group. If you get seperated stay where you are unless you are in mortal danger and call out. Echos are common in such places making locating a lost person difficult but I promise that I will come for you."

Garland paused as he pointed to the grate. "If we have rope tie it to the grate and it will serve as a guideline back to the exit. Our goal here is to explore the crypt and find the artifacts mentioned by the professor. All other goals whether academic or monatery are secondary."

Garland's glowing morningstar illuminated the dark interior of the crypt as a ghostly touch swung the doors wide, rusted hinges squeaking loudly. The interior chamber was large enough for the group to squeeze into together, bare walls of carved stone seemed to eat the light from Garland's morningstar. Rather than a sarcophagus or monument the center of the chamber was taken up by a stone staircase descending into darkness.

The stairs went down a single flight into a large subterranean chamber, bare stone walls carved with burial niches much like any other mausoleum. They were all empty, no bodies were interred here. Instead several of the niches held wooden chests, aging, discolored wood bound with iron fittings. It looks as if the Professor's journal was correct. This was a cache, not a tomb.

As our heroes fanned into the chamber, weapons at the ready, a dread shiver ran down every spine. The air seemed to cool and the group felt the unmistakable feeling of being watched.

And yet for all the caution that these foreboding circumstances may prompt, several of our heroes acted wholly without caution.

Garland, Constantine, and Darcon felt a fearful wave of lethargy fall over them. Fear and horrified fascination filled their minds and they felt themselves inexplicably drawn forward, towards the center of the chamber. They walked forwards, enthralled. And then all three saw a vision of a massive, spectral mallet swinging down on them.

The rest of our heroes saw the three walk forward but, before they could intervene, a low crumbling sounded in the chamber roof. They saw no spectral visions but, with a crack, the ceiling crumbled, sending stone and earth tumbling down on the three in the center of the chamber.

---

Garland, Constantine, and Darcon all fail will saves and walk like zombies into the center of the room where the ceiling collapses on them.
Darcon takes 10 damage.
Garland takes 8 damage.
Constantine takes 3 damage.
Anyone still conscious is fine, if you were knocked unconscious you are partially buried and must be dug out as a standard action before you can be moved.

Constantine shakes off the strange feeling and is glad his shield deflected much of the collapsed ceiling.

He immediately holds his shield overhead and begins to try and locate and free his companions. Through the dusty air and debris.

“Garland, Darcon?  Where are you?”
This message was last edited by the player at 22:56, Thu 14 Feb 2019.

Not a moment after Constantine calls out for him Garland lets out several labored coughs as he pushes over a large bolder. The cleric is covered in blood with a huge gash over his eye and running down over his face and onto his black armor. "Pharasma has not seen fit to claim me yet." he said, letting out a few more coughs as he covered his mouth with his free hand, trying to keep the dust from getting into his lungs.

He tried raising the morning star to see better but felt a sharp pain in his shoulder which made him groan in pain as he looked over it, knowing it was dislocated at best and maybe broken at worst. The cleric didnt wait a single moment though and instead pushed forward with one arm working he started digging at the rubble. "Come on, everyone! We have to get them out of there!"

Shara watched in horror as the ceiling collapsed atop her comrades. As the dust settled, the moans of pain alerted her to the fact that they survived. Ill-suited to manual labor, she directed her phantom to start pulling pieces of rubble off the survivors.

"Of course we are going into a tomb, 'nala.  Why didn't you bring a shield."  Keanala muttered to herself, changing her bow for her morningstar.  She had just started to look around the room when the ceiling collapsed.  Her first instinct to to step closer to Kendra, making sure that her friend was okay.

"Careful, there may be more triggers." she cautions and then turns her attention to the three fallen companions.  "Hey!  You guys still with us?"

OOC:
If Kendra is okay, Keanala will help to dig the others out.

“Darcon must be knocked out under this rubble, everyone get clear I will pull him out.”

Fearing the roof will collapse further he attempts to convince the others not to come in.

He uses Darkvision to scan the rubble for the heat of the man’s body or at least his blood...

The growing feeling of dread in the back of his mind was not enough to prevent him from moving forward, and when he saw the spectral mallet bearing down upon them Darcon realized it was too late.

Instinctively he raised his hands and staff in a futile attempt to protect himself as the mallet appeared to suddenly disappear and the ceiling came crashing down on them instead with a loud rumble.

The mage's feeble attempts at defense were less than useless, though perhaps mercifully he was knocked out almost immediately by the falling rocks. He came to once the dust had settled and found himself buried in darkness, with a searing pain in his head and arms. Instinctively he called out, "Help!", though the effort caused another stab of pain to lance through his head.

---

Stabilization Check: 10 (success!); <b>Free Action: Call for help!


This message was last edited by the player at 09:05, Sun 17 Feb 2019.

Although the rumbling subsided, bits of dust drifted down from the now cracked ceiling and the occasional pebble bounced down over the pile of rubble pining Darcon's legs. His compatriots had little trouble pulling him out of the pile of tumbled stones. Although he was still battered, crushed, and debilitated, he was no longer pinned after a little digging.

As Keanala moved to check on Kendra she heard the shorter woman gasp and rush to Enos' side. The young acolyte lay crumpled near the entrance. A quick investigation revealed that nothing had happened to him, he had simply fainted dead away when the ceiling collapsed. Kendra splashed his face with a little water from her water skin and he began to come too groggily.

"We should hurry, who knows how sturdy the rest of the ceiling is." She said nervously, glancing upwards.

Apart from the pile of new rubble in the center the room was large and bare, save for the burial niches, and the only exit was the stairway that the group had descended through. Three medium size chests, probably light enough to lift with a burly adventurer on either handle, occupied niches at the far wall.

SCG picks the man up and gets away from the collapse...

Can someone aid Darcon he is badly wounded.  Perhaps a burst of healing energy will both aid us all and clear some evil from this place.”

Garland groans a bit as he reaches up, taking hold of the holy symbol hanging from his shoulder. He pulls it from his shoulder while still connected to the small chain, gripping it tightly as he takes in a deep breath. "Pharasma, lady of graves, judge of all life. Grant us your healing touch."

The prayer fills the room with a brilliant white light for just a moment. Cuts close, broken bones reassemble, bruises fade, and everyone is left with a feeling of warm belonging and love as the healing takes effect.


OOC: Everyone will heal 7hp

Darcon blinked instinctively as there was a flash of white light, right after which he felt a jolt of energy suffuse his body. The numbness was driven away and though there was a brief surge of pain in his head it quickly vanished, like ice rapidly melting under a hot sun.

Gingerly he touched himself on his head and winced slightly; it was still tender but not painful and any swelling appeared to have faded. Ditto for his shoulder.

Slowly he rose to his feet, using his staff for support and stepping gingerly around the rubble. "My thanks Garland, I do believe I can move without help for the moment," he said weakly. "This was ill done; though we should have been more careful and vigilant. Still, at least the trap implies no one else disturbed this crypt before us, despite the tampering on the lock."

Turning his head towards the far end of the room he gestured at the niches with the chests and added, "Might as well collect those, I believe they contain what we came here for. But careful for any more traps."

---

At Darcon's suggestion Kendra moved to investigate the chests. The first chest was unlocked, covered in dust and cobwebs, and completely empty. It looked like it had been raided many years ago and left empty on the shelf. The second chest showed signs of having been recently pilfered. The dust was disturbed and the lock was melted open with alchemist's acid, just like the look on the crypt door. Inside was a wooden divider partitioning the interior into chambers. About half were empty, while the other half held vials of potions, bundles of arrows, and a leather scroll case. The third chest was locked tight.

As Kendra investigated the crumbling stone of the roof groaned and dust drifted down from rotting wooden cross beams. A carved stone fell loose and clattered onto the pile of rubble near the center of the room.

"This place is coming down any minute." She said. She waffled for a moment, then grabbed a handful of items from the chest and made towards the exit.

"Let's get out of here."

---

Kendra grabs the scroll case and a quiver of arrows from the second chest.
The remaining items in the chest are:
Two silvery white potions
Two clear potions
Two glass cylinders that Keanala recognizes as Haunt Siphons (more info in the Journal thread)
A quiver of 10 masterwork arrows
A quiver of 5 masterwork arrows
2 masterwork arrows

It has been 2 rounds since the original collapse
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:35, Tue 19 Feb 2019.

Garland looked up at the ceiling and felt like the place was going to be more dangerous every moment. He walked over and grabbed one side of the large locked chest, looking over to the others. "One of you help me with this, everyone else head to the exit!" he said in a hasty tone. Garland had no plans to leave any of the artifacts behind and if he couldnt take them with him he was going to take the whole chest until they could unlock it.

SCG shield in hand holds his shield high and grabs ahold of on handle of the chest.

“We should plan to restock this cache for future use.”

With Garland and Constantine on either side of the locked chest they had little trouble manhandling it up the narrow stairs and into the standing mausoleum. The structure itself looked sturdy enough, although stones continued to tumble from the crypt roof below. Once they were outside they could see a section of graves and earth directly behind the mausoleum visibly sagging as the subterranean chamber began to collapse.

Kendra, her arms full of equipment, paused to grab Enos by the wrist and drag him out into the daylight behind Constantine and Garland. She double checked to make sure that the rest of our heroes had made it out before the ceiling tumbled in entirely, caving in with a crash and a whoosh of air like a foul sigh from the mouth of the mausoleum.

"Is everybody alright?" She asked, double checking the party members that had been injured in the original collapse.