Ballast gives a single nod, though whether he's agreeing with Cumarinda or Brankx is up to interpretation.  He keeps alert for anything that might try to sneak up on them while they're debating the morality of using the weapons of the dead.

Crossing his arms over his chest, the barbarian grunts. He looks at them but doesn't say a word. Fenris nods his head, glancing at the cleric.

Fin watched carefully as Brankx explained his position, knowing it was an argument in which the dwarf was unlikely to prevail.  While working in the depths of Sharn, the rogue made due with whatever he could acquire but was quite selective with his marks.  He never claimed to be noble or someone with honor, but he wasn't entirely dishonest either.  Delving into tombs was a new adventure for him, but his skill set seemed admirably suited to "grave robbing," as the wizard had put it.  He drew a breath before speaking, also knowing that he was equally unlikely to sway the cleric's view.

"I highly doubt the woman who requested our assistance in investigating noises down here imagined for a moment what we just encountered in the first chamber," Fin emphasized before continuing.  "It's far more likely she believed we would discover some lost cats or perhaps a mischievous youth or two poking about where they didn't belong.  And if we are honest with ourselves, we didn't expect to find any of this either."

"I'll just say what we're all thinking," the rogue went on, "this fish-priest and his skeletal minions are only the exposed tip of a larger problem.  I'll toss my lot in with Brankx on this one, my dear.  Not because you're young or because you're new to our group, but because we're not in the abstract.  This is as real as it gets and we can't count on cutting through potential threats as quickly as we did this time.  For me, I'll use whatever means I feel are necessary and expedient given the circumstances to keep me and all of you alive.  Determining ownership of any pretty baubles we might uncover is a debate for a later time."

Fin knew he was running the risk of souring a friendship with Cumarinda at the outset of meeting her, but there was a time for strict adherence to dogma and a time for moral flexibility and encountering the undead to him definitely felt like the latter.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:37, Thu 18 Apr 2019.

"STOP!" The barbarian snaps out. He looks at them."Take them." He seems aggrivated about all this holy stuff and who does it belong to. He grips the sword, blood beginning to form on his hand. He turns towards the cleric then lowers his head, before turning to go down the dusty tomb.

She shook her head, her usual smile fading to an expression of disappointment. Looking briefly as if she was going to speak again, the cleric instead pauses and closes her mouth and shakes her head again.

Looking skyward she prays, "Great Father Sun, bless me with greater patience and wit so that I may understand, and the words to be understood. Let my allies understand that no one wishes to deny them tools they may need to survive, but that in the end such wealth that may be found here be offered to the surviving descendant of the family that rests around us. May your Blessed Light shine on us all."

Curmarinda then pauses to look over the group again, sighs and silently turns to follow Fenris.

Fin grimaced at Cumarinda's prayer of frustration.  He understood it and knew what she was asking wasn't impossible or even difficult, but it certainly flew against the winds of expediency.

Falling in step behind Fenris and the cleric, he struggled for words to say which might soften the suddenly somber mood.  Finding none, the rogue remained quiet.

The barbarian hears her doing her prayer and as she is about to finish, Fenris turns around and goes to kiss her."Shut up?" What the heck? He turns, and waits. Tilting his head he stops at a intersection. To the left is a wooden door. The right is what looks like a magical wall with three plaques before it. And straight ahead up a flight of stairs is another cavernous hallway.

The rogue (backtracking) finds a odd plaque with a spider on it inside the coffin. And it is magical as well due to the wizard using his spell upon the several items.

Ballast cocks his head and gestures at the wooden door, that being the easiest to open if one did not wish to leave potential enemies behind.

Seeing the group was ready to move on to the next room, Fin tried to quickly pry off the odd spider plaque from inside the coffin of Sir Balus Henton in order to hurriedly catch up with the group.

Brankx wasn't suprised by the clerics view, but with fenris and his sudden opinion.  With the gear taken, brankx interest was with tbe magical wall. When the plaque was mentioned, the dwarf smiled. "Then it stands to reason there will be two more. something hidden like that could be something if interest to the mayor"

Brankx was all for searching the other rooms

The cleric spoke all but the last words of her prayers when she was suddenly kissed by the elven barbarian. Her body went rigid, her eyes wide, and her arms briefly held his body before he broke the kiss asking her to ‘shut up’.

Her mouth silently gaped wide open, her shocked expression a combination of emotions ending with indignation. Cumarinda’s hands and body shook, the color of her face darkened, and her eyes closed for a long moment.

As Fenris turned away, she looked after him. Cumarinda’s open eyes briefly flashed with anger as her mouth closed into a brief frown. A heartbeat later, her shaking stopped and she regained her pleasant composure.

“He will come to know soon enough that he cannot silence a servant of the Great God Pelor. Still, the silence of the others after my prayer clearly shows that they do understand me. But, he kissed me! He really likes me in his own barbarian way. But for good or ill, now is not the time to deal with this kiss.” she thought.

With one hand on her holy symbol and the other on the handle of her mace, she continued to follow behind the others.

Fin hurried to catch up with the group.  He offered the strange spider plaque to Brankx.  "Almost missed this, it was in the coffin as well.  You're more likely to make sense of it then I," he said.

The barbarian raises his massive sword and goes over to the closed doorway. He looks at the others, not saying a word and without warning slams the door open. Inside the room it has two statues. One has a red spot in the center, the other a blue one. There are no markings besides the red looks like a man and the blue looks like a female. Both look human. There are two benches in front of them and they glow slightly.

Brankx takes thespider plaque and nods to fn, placing the plaque in his pack. Following Fenris, he winces as he slams the door open. "Knock, knock" He mutters to himself more than anyone, and looks in the room with a frown. The room with the two circles intrigued him and the glowing benches had a magical property. Before Fenris fully enters, he places a hand on the barbarians arm, still looking in the room.

"Ware boy.....there's magic afoot here." Te dwarf was eager to inspect it, but he learnt quickly that a greedy mage often died at the hands of magic...and he wasn't going to let anyone die if he could help it. He took a step in the room, grasping his staff tight and looked around, stopping just beyond the threshold, and looked around. When he was sure it was safe he approached the statues and benches. "Keep Ye distance der now....I want to make sure their safe" He looked at fin, hoping he would read the dwarfs caution and check for more mundane dangers

Ballast enters cautiously behind Brankx, not advancing according to his advice.  Examining what he could from the distance, he opined, "A test?  A judgment?"

Fin simply nodded at Brankx and stepped into the room.  Slowly and deliberately, the rogue searched the area.  He avoided directly touching the statues or the benches.


11:59, Today: Fin rolled 24 using 1d20+6.  Search.

It took several minutes, but Fin completed his search of the room and was fairly confident there were no mundane traps. Turning to Brankx and the rest of the group, he nodded and said, "Odd as it seems, I'm not finding anything that appears to be a trap.  Finding magical traps or explaining why these benches glow?  Well, I can't really help you there."
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:34, Wed 24 Apr 2019.

Ballast shrugs.  "If they don't make noise, they're not the problem.  Unless they only make noise sometimes.  Should I throw a trident at them and see if anything happens?"

Taking his time as he worked the room, Fin finally completed his sweep then turned to the others and nodded.  "Doesn't seem to be anything of the mundanely dangerous variety here," he said. "But as far as why things are glowing," Fin paused, "well, that's outside of my purview."

"Excuse me gentle and not-so-gentle men. May I take a look at the things that have you all so confused?" asked the smiling fire-haired cleric. With a subtle nudge from her shoulders and hips, she gently but firmly pushes her way into the room.

Fin couldn't help but smile as he bowed his head to the cleric.  "By all means, Cumarinda," he said cheerfully.  "Speaking as a heathen, I welcome any person who might be able to explain what it is we are seeing."

She's smart and definitely sure of herself, he thought as he watched her move into the room.

The barbarian doesn't move. He stands there watching the cleric, knowing who the not-so-gentleman she was refering to. After everyone moves he steps aside. A grunt comes from him and he leans against the wall.

Brankx, still studying the benches, only half hears the conversation. He snaps out of his musing, to look at Cumarinda and smiles. "Be my guest lass.....I was gonna cast magic to see if there was any magical reason, but I bow before th' Wisdom of both th' church and a beauitful woman."

The dwarf steps aside and leans against the wall near Fenris, his staff in the crook of his arm, watching the woman as he thinks

Brankx chews on his lip as he thinks, looking ath the benches, the statues, and the overall room. His eyes narrow as he speaks what he was thinking. "Not my scope o' magic here, so gonna confirm with ye lass, but my thoughts are this room has some magic in it. I be thinkin' this is some kind of relaxin' room....meditation and healin'. Not to sure....like i said, not me thing, but the benches, the statues and th' feel has a peacefulness, somewhere ye might rest and heal."

he looks at the room, his eyes on the door. "...maybe th' door closed will help that, seclusion an' all." he then looks at Cumarinda for confirmation
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:07, Sat 27 Apr 2019.

After listening and taking a moment to look around the room she nods and smiles to the others. "Our bright wizard is right, this is a place of rest, relaxation, and meditation to gather one's thoughts and to commune peacefully," she says with a warm grin.

She reaches over and pulls Fin and Fenris fully into the room and starts to close the door. "This works best if the living are all inside." the cleric says confidently. Once everyone is inside and the door is closed, she sits on the bench in front of the blue spot and quietly examines the statue.

Ballast shrugs and steps to the side to let anyone outside come in who wish it, and then shuts the door behind himself.  He heals differently than other beings, and sleep is a thing he's never experienced, but he will certainly give this "meditation" a try.

Brankx was one for silent contemplation, but meditation was not one if his strong suits....his busy mind was always thinking too much for the quiet contemplation.  When he had silence, the dwarf studied magic.

But brankx was not going to ruin this moment. Sitting on the oppisite bench, he sat looking at the statues.

It was clear moments later that try as he might he was ill suited. He looked around, frowning, and tapped his fingers on his leg without him even realising