The dwarf checks the door.

On the other side of the closed southern door, Ishmael hears nothing. Checking the portal itself, he finds no evidence of traps of any kind.

Pushing the door open, the adventurers discover a small, twenty by twenty foot chamber. The eastern and western walls are hung with banners, wide black rectangles of cloth emblazoned with the symbol of a single white skull. Unlike their surroundings, the banners do not show any signs of age or deterioration.

In the center of the room is a rectangular table, surrounded by four straight backed chairs. A pair of black iron candelabras sit on either end of the table, four tallow candles burning in each, which illuminate the room brightly. Spaced in an even row in the center of the table are five skulls, either human or demi-human, each one carefully polished.

The chamber is unoccupied. The only visible exit is an iron banded door to the south.

Dax steps through the door, and to the side, sword drawn. "I don't like the look of this at all. Dryvyk, Barnabus...what do you say?"

"The territory is marked, isn't it?" the cleric agrees. "And those," he adds, gesturing at the row of skulls, "suggest the habits of those who have marked it."

Loquaciously, he continues, "It's almost as if they're asking, do you want yours to join those five? If so, come right in. I think we should oblige the four of them -- if they do seat themselves one each per chair. It's one thing to store skulls in the proper manner and another thing to collect them in an improper one."

On a whim, he checks to see if there is anything underneath any of the skulls, all the while smiling contentedly at his turn of phrase.

Through the southern door.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 22:09, Fri 04 Mar 2022.

When Malivoire entered the room and saw the display on the walls and the table he realized the barrows held much more than the corpses and restless bodies of the dead.  Even beyond the strange beastmen they had just encountered, there were living beings using the space beneath the moor.  That was a worry, for what good soul would willingly choose this as their place of residence?

While Barnabus examined the skulls on the table Malivoire looked at the banners, trying to recall anything about the symbols depicted there.  And also taking a quick peek behind each in case they concealed something of importance.

None of the skulls hide anything beneath them.

Regarding the banners, Malivoire recognizes that the skulls depicted on them are designed in the same manner as the one that the company found painted on the wall of the crypt with the shattered sarcophagus. Like the painting, the mage can sense a faint, but palpable power emanating from the dark lengths of cloth.

Checking behind each of the banners, Malivoire finds only blank stretches of stone wall. Nothing is concealed behind either of them.

After Ishmael checks the southern door, Dax pushes it open, finding a mold stained corridor running east and west. A short distance to the east, on the opposite, southern wall, is a closed wooden door, swollen with moisture. The eastern branch of the passageway continues into shadow.

To the west, twenty feet away, the hall opens into a square room The illumination from Lampert’s torch enables the company members to see that numerous pieces of pottery are scattered around the floor of the chamber, and near the center, a lone skeleton is crumpled amidst the ancient containers.

"We should take one of those back with us," Barnabus suggests, after Malivoire has examined the banners.

"On our way out," he appends, making no move to gather one up just yet.

He keeps talking, "I would have thought the marking of territory would have extended in some small way into this hallway -- the occasional white skull wall sconce. Well, let's see if that chap has anything for us" -- referring to the skeleton in the room just twenty feet to the west.

Is the level of moisture seem higher than the general area would seem to warrant for that water-logged door?
This message was last edited by the player at 22:07, Sun 06 Mar 2022.

Dax moves carefully to the west, sword drawn, fully expecting the skeleton to come to life.

"Be wary of the skeleton!"

As they'd entered the room Grugar had gone cold, the word Death hung in his mind's eye, this place reeked of it and its followers. He fastidiously refrained from touching anything and had no plans on taking anything from such a place.

He considered this to be a possible haunt of necromancers, which gibed with the warnings the Mongrelmen had given.

He heaved an invisible sigh of relief as they moved south, the corridor beyond was dank and noisome, but he preferred that to the death room. He hefted his blade, waiting for signs of movement from the skeleton, but also looked for any signs of recent passage.

"Just crush its head bafore it moves." The dwarf suggests.

As Malivoire examined the wall hangings more closely he breathed a concern at least some of his companions no doubt were thinking.  "We must be cautious when we meet the adherents to this malevolent order."

The elven mage followed the rest as the group left the dark chamber and moved down the hallway toward the pottery and lone skeleton.

As the party cautiously approach the western chamber, many of the adventurers keeping a close watch on the crumpled skeleton, several glimpse the glint of metal within a few of the earthenware containers gathered within the room.

As they draw close to the entrance to the chamber, there is the sudden sound of an unearthly shriek, a chilling noise that each of the company members feel within the pit of their stomachs as much as hear. The skeleton remains on the stone floor, its yellowed bones unmoving. However, one of the pieces of pottery abruptly rises off of the floor, as though lifted by unseen hands, and flies directly at Dax Moonblade.

20:06, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 4 using 1d20.  Attack.

Whatever aimed the container at the ranger possesses fair strength, but poor aim. The tall piece of pottery sails past Dax’s right shoulder, shattering as it strikes the northern wall, a cloud of ash greying the air as it bursts open.

Lampert takes in a sharp breath, then swallows nervously. The torchlight wavers as the linkboy’s hand trembles.

"By the hells!" Dax curses as the urn flies by him. He stabs out with his sword but at what, or where he does not know.

---

Dax Moonblade rolled 5, missing.

Grugar brandished his blade but did n to attack, this was truly an abode of the dead.

"Restless spirit be gone!" he called in a voice which may have held a slight quaver.

When a shard of pottery, propelled by an unseen hand, sails past Dax, Barnabas thinks with a thrill, "Telekinesis!" He's dabbled in the mediumistic pursuits himself, so all flavors of the paranormal fascinate, even excite, him. But this is not the time for research.


Already dashing to one of the urns with the promise of lucre, Barnabas rejoins, "It is we who must be gone -- but not without these!" After reaching his target, he grabs it and, with equal rapidity, darts from the treasury and back into the hallway.

Hearing Barnabus, Grugar rumbled, loud enough for anyone standing close to his side to hear, "What manner of beast is this, we are to flee the unseen poltergeist hoping it will not give chase?"

In his mind he is sure the attack is by some undead fiend, so fleeing will place an unseen enemy at their bqck.

In between gasps, Barnabus blurts, "If it poltergeist be, it should haunt but one spot."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:13, Wed 09 Mar 2022.

Being farther back in the marching line Malivoire wasn't entirely certain of what had just happened.  He only knew his knees were still shaking after hearing the shriek from ahead and seeing the cloud of ash billow out from the shattered urn that had flown through the air.  He could see Barnabus bustling around with something clutched in his arms, but the rest appeared fixated on the room ahead.

"What are we facing?" the mage called out, but only loud enough for the group to hear.  If he was to help, he needed to know what they were up against.  "Are we in battle again?"

OOC:

I expect Malivoire will grasp more of the situation once we see the results of Barnabus' proposed "snatch and grab" action.

"Something invisible! That throws urns!" Dax calls back while still looking for any sign of something to attack.

As Barnabus dashes out of the room with his prize, another tall urn rises into the air, then is launched at the retreating cleric. This one is far more accurate, shattering as it slams into the back of Barnabus’ head and showering him with with ashes and pieces of bone.

11:39, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 18 using 1d20.  Attack.

11:40, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 5 using 1d6.  Damage.

Another disembodied shriek sounds, echoing down the dark corridor.

11:59, Today: Lampert rolled 6 using 2d6.  Morale.

Lampert, his teeth clenched in terror, nevertheless holds his ground, keeping the torch aloft with quaking hands.

Dax swings his sword in the area from where the second projectile was launched. "Out of here!" he calls to the others.

---

Dax Moonblade rolled 22 hitting AC -8, for 4 damage.

Exalted at his acquisition but dazed by the payment, Barnabas shakes his head, sending further motes of ash and fragments of pottery along with some globules of blood into the air. With his head sufficiently cleared, he exhorts the others still in the treasury to "grab and go!" He then rewards the stalwart Lampbert with an ear-to-ear grin, "You, too, shall be sung of, torch man."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:01, Fri 11 Mar 2022.

The stalwart young knight stepped near to Lampert and sang the opening words of a well-known hymn of battle:

"With steel in hand and courage strong,
we strike our foes the whole day long,
let might of arm and strength of hand,
drive the evil from our land!"

He positioned himself to protect the nervous lad and allow the righteous indignation of St. Ygg bathe them with protection! Carefully he backed from the chamber...


10' radius Protection Against Evil paladin aura, +1 to AC and Saves, as long as Sir Dryvyk does not attack, the entity cannot touch him or those at his side.

Frowning, Grugar watches Barnabus's behaviour, then Dryvyk's. He moves to stand beside the paladin as he chants.

Not sure what can be seen, the dwarf makes his way in the commotion to one of the metal filled pots, and attempts to snatch it and run as well.