Sunday 1 August 1280, Afternoon (Scratches)

Oloc scans the room for anything other items or objects of note. The mage doesn't dare suggest disturbing the sepulcher.

Duran watches the door while the others search the room. As he waits he feeds Karnak a bit to eat as the bird rest on his shoulder. .

Looking closely at the tomb, Oloc notes scratch marks along the edge of the lid, as if someone or something tried to lift the lid off an failed. Judging from the size and spread of the marks, they were made by hands (four fingers and opposing thumb) of roughly human size.

Apart from this there is nothing to be seen in the room. The lid of the sepulcher is tightly sealed and the seal – which appears to be made of lead – is entirely intact.

Oloc allows Gaven to pay respect to the Abbot before suggesting heading back to the north.

Gaven quickly pays his respects to the Abbot and motions everyone to leave. Once they are all out, he closes the door.

Gaven sniffs at the cool air to try to determine if it smells like the surface or something else. The air has a very faintly unpleasant smell, almost imperceptible, but reminiscent of an open grave. Slight as it is, Gaven is certain the odor is not suggestive of the surface. The cleric therefore suggests the party follow the cool air.

Blue arrow indicates party location.

Following the cool air, the party marches east, then north, joining up with the hallway leading north from the earlier mass burial chamber. The way north extends some thirty feet, then ends in a closed door.

The door bears an inscription carved in the wood: "May Those Who Lie Here Know Peace."

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OOC: Actions?
Time:  Time: 14:00
Current Torch Expires: 14:10

Note that your current torch will splutter out at the end of next turn.

Sunday 1 August 1280, Early Afternoon (Abbot James)

Oloc says: "Cool air to the east - my guess is the passage joins up with the northern passage from the burial chamber." The mage looks to his companions. "Shall we take a look at the door?"

Duran nods in agreement with Oloc and moves to the door searching for anything out of the ordinary.

Gaven moves along with the others.

Duran finds no traps near the door and hears no noise. With a nod from Oloc, Duran puts his shoulder to door and heaves it open.

Blue arrow indicates party location.

Inside you see a smooth, clean, stone chamber, 20' x 30', completely devoid of markings on the walls or refuse on the floor.

At the north end of the room is a small dais, atop which sits a sepulcher. Standing in the doorway, you can just barely make out the following letters carved along the front face of the tomb:

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OOC: Actions?
Time: 13:50
Current Torch Expires: 14:10

Pacing question: are we going too fast for anyone? We've been posting a bit more quickly recently, sometimes a couple of posts a day, largely because a lot of posts have been comparatively trivial ("let's go left," "let's turn right," etc.) and I thought it best to scoot through those quickly to get you guys to posts of more substance (rooms to explore, things to manipulate, monsters to encounter, etc.), at which point I assumed posting pace would slow to more normal rates. Just wanted to check and see if everyone's cool with that. I'm assuming you guys don't want to spend 2-3 days between "let's turn right" and "let's go straight," but if I'm wrong on that and you do want more time, just let me know. I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable with the pace.

As I say, this dungeon is a bit of a different creature from the ones we've done up until now, so I'm trying to get a sense of a good way to pace it. Scooting through the trivial decisions and slowing for more substantial ones -- adapting our pace to fit the circumstance -- seems to be a reasonable way to go (at least at first glance).

Sunday 1 August 1280, Early Afternoon (Go West)

The party heads west, following the corridor until it bends north again. Shortly you come to another T-junction. At this intersection, the corridor continues north, as well as branching back east opposite the direction you came. Down the eastern hallway you can barely make out the edge of a door in the north wall at the very limits of your torch light. You feel slightly cooler air coming from the east as well.

Blue arrow indicates party location.

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OOC: Actions?  Really the same as before; I mostly need to know a direction.

This dungeon is a little different from the smaller lairs you've entered into before. Those were so small that there was little exploring to do, and fewer options in terms of paths to take -- they were pretty much linear marches with a few side passages. This one will be far less linear; so with each move, I'll take the party along the indicated path up to a decision point (junction, door, and/or some change in atmosphere), and ask for actions/directions.

Time: 13:40
Current Torch Expires: 14:10

Sunday 1 August 1280, Early Afternoon (A Sample of Crimson Malice)

The mage examines the red liquid coating Gaven's weapon without getting too close. Oloc tries to discern if it appears to be a living organism or some foul substance. As best he can tell it seems like something in between the two, not quite one, not quite the other, but with elements of both. The liquid seems rather nasty; up close it appears to release a sort of malignant anger, much like the graffiti above.

Gaven is taken aback at the way the liquid enveloped the spear tip. He examines the tip without touching the substance and feels malice emanating from it.

"If only we could discern more about this I would be tempted to coat the tips of my arrows in the substance," Duran says aloud. "What say you Gaven?"

Responding to Duran, Gaven says, "I am sure it would be harmful to us, but to those of evil intent, I think not. This substance is like pure darkness."

Given Gaven's advice, Duran opts to not coat his arrows.

The sample of the red substance seems completely dried on the spear tip. It no longer moves or squirms, or gives any sign of life at all beyond the feeling of evil it inspires.

Gaven breaks the tip off the spear and without touching it, wraps it tightly in a sack and stuffs it in his bag. He keeps the pole for now.

Oloc hands the old parchment over to Gaven. "This may hold some significance for you, Gaven. It appears to be a prayer on a very old piece of parchment. My guess is this place has been undisturbed for many, many years."

Gaven thanks Oloc for the parchment and places it in his scroll case for safe keeping.

With nothing else to see in this room, the party prepares to choose a direction and move out.

The exit to the north feels colder than the rest of the chamber, and the puddles of red liquid are located along the north wall of the chamber. Ten feet up the corridor to the north a way west branches off at a T-junction.

The east and west exits of the chamber exhibit nothing to distinguish them.

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OOC: Direction? Just need a vote on which way to go. Once I have two votes for any given direction, we'll move the party that way.

Time: 13:30

Sunday 1 August 1280, Early Afternoon (Chill, Squirm, and Prayer)

Gaven cautiously approaches one of the puddles. Staying within the symbol of the light, he uses his spear to scoop up some of the liquid.

While Gaven works, Duran searches the area for any signs of recent activity or traps. The only thing Duran notes is that the air near the north exit seems a bit cooler than the rest of the chamber.

Out of respect for Gaven, Oloc suppresses the urge to pilfer through the burial alcoves for anything of value. Instead he scans the walls for secret doors.

He finds none, but he does notice a small fragment of parchment lying exposed amid the bones. He is able to read part of it without disturbing the remains. The writing appears to be a simple prayer for the dead, written in a very, very old variation of common. If it was placed here at the same time as the skeletons, that would make the remains hundreds of years old, if not older.

Oloc then turns his attention to Gaven and the strange, red substance.

When the point of Gaven's spear touches the liquid, a tendril of the fluid rises up and attaches itself to the weapon. The squirming measure of liquid quickly envelops the weapon's tip, then dries and hardens in place, covering the spear head in a smooth, shining red sheath,* similar in appearance to the dried substance of the graffiti above in the church.

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OOC: Actions?

Time: 13:20

*I.e., it forms a sort of red "skin" over the spear point; the spear point appears to have its normal shape and even sharpness. It's just now covered in a thin dried layer of the red stuff.