The running away is simply a reaction to the turn. These creatures seemed fairly dumb but many of the undead are quite smart. Look at the Witchking.
The Date is April 2nd FA64
The running away is simply a reaction to the turn. These creatures seemed fairly dumb but many of the undead are quite smart. Look at the Witchking.
The Date is April 2nd FA64
Last edited by What Exit?; 16 Sep 2010 at 10:14 AM.
Mulligan whistles, "Well that could have been worse I suppose. Who wants to chase down those 7 while I check out the Mausoleums, after I pick those bullets. Rorimac, keep hold of the blade for now, you may have more reason to use it shortly.".
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
"Let us run these creatures down now, while we have the advantage and the initiative! What say you, knights and allies?"
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because I'm on nitrous."
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Drinoleth begins shambling after them and looks like he wishes to break into a run.
Gilraen, "I will go with Mulligan to protect her, but yes chase them down, it looks like a good job for archers in particular."
Sala, "I shall keep watch with Deor if you like."
"Since my strengths lie more in close combat, I will stay behind to aid Gilraen and Mulligan in their search. Besides, we don't want to risk one of these mausoleums collapsing upon us as we investigate them, and my knowledge of stonework will no doubt aid our endeavors."
If Bitur is staying behind, I will follow the undead. If someone will charge my helm with a light spell I can be of great use in finishing them off.
Gilraen will cast her Extended Light spell from the Rod of Kanotir for Gwaelur.
"Do not fear the summons of the Valar!" Ithilneth calls to the retreating dead. She follows them and cuts them down as she can.
Sheathing swords and glad I didn't waste the Ruby Pendant for now, I shall join the pursuit. "If you hear three quick horn-blasts, rally to me."
Librarians rule, Oook
Thoroncir, after a worried glance at Rorimac, follows Gil-Gandel and will support him. He agrees it's best to destroy these foul Undead while we have the chance to do so.
Last edited by CatInASuit; 29 Apr 2010 at 02:56 AM. Reason: Corrected elf name.
After recieving the extended light spell Gwaelur heads off with the others after the remaining undead.
Last edited by What Exit?; 28 Apr 2010 at 12:57 PM. Reason: merge duplicate
Deor will stand firm, and try not to visibly rest his weight on his staff as he scans for more undead.
Apologies, all, for my absence. Work as of late has been fairly busy, and I've been taking my lunch away from my desk to get away.
Redward will certainly follow the others to pursue the remaining undead; no need to let them roam here anymore.
"Agreed, Theogrim. Let us end their threat once and for all."
Ceol gives chase, swords in hand.
Prestolwen fires arrow after arrow toward the fleeing undead. One is struck in the shoulder and twists as he falls. She runs up and uses the dagger to finish him off. His face is gruesome; his stench foul.
(do these weapons work on the undead? hope so...)
Rorimac looks slightly annoyed with himself.
"It's just a scratch Sir Thoroncir, we can fix it properly later. Instead of chasing undead or exploring tombs, would anyone like to check the rest of the grounds and the perimeter to make sure we don't have any further company from outside?"
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Does Folca see any more undead or other threats around the area?
Folca currently only sees the 7 that are fleeing.
The group breaks off with Bitur and Gilraen going with Mulligan to check the Mausoleums.
Sala and Deor staying put as observers.
Theogrim, Gwaelur, Drinoleth, Ceol and Thoroncir escort Redward, Ithilneth, Gil-Gandel and Prestolwen who begin bowing down the dead.
Rorimac is on his own for the moment.
Gilraen, “Rorimac, come here a moment, let me see your wound, clean it and cure it. The restless dead often pass disease.”
The hunters make very short work of the 7 dead. The archers have them down fast and the melee crew ensures they will not rise again. Of course those back as the scene of the fight might need the same attention.
The mausoleum work takes longer and is not even begun as Mulligan and Sala collect the expended stones, bolts and arrows. All of the arrows survive the battle though 3 could use a mending or attention from Gil-Gandel or Prestolwen.
Exploring the first mausoleum, one of the small ones to start, Mulligan is happy to have Gilraen along. It is dark, oppressing and smells of death. She is forced to cover her mouth and nose with a damp cloth. Bitur reports the stone work is well done and holding up well. He toughs out the smell.
The walls seem foul. Within the mausoleum is a pile of bones in the north east corner and rusted weapons in the south west corner. In the center is a rotted wooded coffin. Mulligan finds no traps but does find that the coffin moves and below it is a small cache of jewelry…
Rorimac is happy to let Gilraen make sure it is only a scratch and not anything more serious.
Mulligan looks at the jewellry and casts an appraising eye over the find. "Well, look what I found, grave goods for the dearly departed. A shame that the person buried here became such a foul creature."
"They could be magical or cursed, but it would be wrong to remove them and I really don't feel like touching them. Finding it is enough."
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
With his longsword, Thoroncir will help ensure that all the Undead on the battlefield are well and truly dead now.
Gwaelur will help Thoroncir in his task and then join the exploration of the mausoleums.
Deor will move along with the group, keeping an eye out for any more undead or other threats.
I learned from Bombadil that if such treasures be left in the open for any of good will to help themselves freely, curses will normally be dispelled - though I would also advocate letting our priests and perhaps Ceol look them over. With such precautions, it is lawful that we should take something, but not all. Mulligan and Rorimac should remember a family history concerning Barrow-wights, who were certainly no fonder of strangers than these folk are.
Librarians rule, Oook
Ceol will move into the mausoleum, and concentrate on the jewelry which Mulligan found, seeing if he can detect any particular evil auras upon it.
Ceol finds that all the jewelry does radiate a faint but strong evil; it is more like a memory of evil though than an innate evil. He has only run into this a few times before and never quite like this. But once fighting a warrior orc of the enemy, his sword and cloak had dark and evil spells on them that wore off with time and swifter in the bright sunlight. This is not the same, but similar. It matches to what Gil-Gandel learned from Bombadil.
It is a slow and cautious process going through the ancient mausoleums of the dead. Bitur and Gwaelur note that many are found to be in poor shape and could be taken down with fair ease. The first four mausoleums are all similar in having a single central coffin usually in the middle and a cache of jewelry in the casket or beneath it. They all have some sort of piles of bones and worthless materials as far from the center as possible.
The sixth mausoleum is judged extremely dangerous by the Dwarves and may not be safe for exploration.
Are there any changes in the search pattern? Is a second team formed around Gil-Gandel to speed things up? What is done with the jewelry?
When the dwarves say the mausoleum is "dangerous," do they mean structurally; i.e. it might collapse?
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because I'm on nitrous."
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The mausoleum does indeed look like it could collapse.
"If the evil in this jewelry is but a residue, as you say, then I think we should simply leave it. Trophies won in battle are one thing, but we are not grave-robbers."
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because I'm on nitrous."
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Thoroncir agrees with Theogrim, but thinks there's no reason we couldn't split into two parties to speed the search process along. Has the dark mist dissipated?
Gwaelur seconds Thoroncir's idea and suggests that he and Bitur go with separate parties so that each will have a dwarf to keep an eye on structures.
Bitur thirds the idea.
Also, is there anything discernible about that last mausoleum that would explain why it seems to be in worse shape than the others? Older? Different structural architecture? Different building materials?
[Different Eldritch Horrors...?]
It appears that these buildings are preserved by enchantments. The stone work on this one is inferior and the stones themselves smaller.
Let's have one hobbit in each party, as well, and also divvy up our mages, healers, warriors, etc. evenly, to the extent possible. Thoroncir will remain with Gilraen. How does this look?:
PARTY A
Gil-Gandel
Theogrim
Bitur
Ceol
Redward
Ithilneth
Mulligan
PARTY B
Thoroncir
Prestolwen
Gwaelur
Sala
Gilraen
Deor
Rorimac
Has the dark mist dissipated?
Last edited by Elendil's Heir; 03 May 2010 at 07:54 PM.
I'm comfortable splitting. If Theogrim will take Folca with him, we'll be able to keep communication between the groups. She'll cry out if I'm in trouble, and I'll see it if you are.
Swap the Hobbits at least, Mulligan and Gil-Gandel are the only treasure finders.
The groups seem fine once the two hobbits have swapped.
As for the jewelry, leave it.
Let's see what else we can find before moving on.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
What says our illustrious Elf-captain?
Third try: Has the dark mist dissipated?
Last edited by Elendil's Heir; 04 May 2010 at 08:05 AM.
The dark mist has not dissipated but it has lessened. It is now more of just a heavy mist.
The illustrious elf-captain is happy with the composition of the two teams. However, let me reinforce what I said about this jewellery: leave it open to the sun, the sky, and any innocent finder. It will ensure that we leave no curse intact for some unhappy soul to stumble upon in the future.
We have done well so far; let us go and do some more.
Librarians rule, Oook
Ceol nods. "I agree, Gil-Gandel...I, at least, have no need nor use for the jewelry, and I trust that leaving it for the finding should put an end to the curse."
The two groups go through the mausoleums and find them in various conditions of repair. The caches of valuables are carefully extracted and scattered about the hill. Two mausoleums collapse when the items are removed.
The final and largest central mausoleum is left for last (I guess). It appears to be well made and well preserved. The building itself radiates evil. Looking through the door it is clear that 6 stone sarcophagi are in the middle. The blades that detect undead are still but dimly lit. Ceol and Gilraen lead Mulligan, Bitur, Gwaelur and Gil-Gandel inside. Ceol finds the evil radiates from the sarcophagi themselves. Gilraen casts a Detect magic and finds the 6 radiate magic and that a pile of swords near the west wall radiates the magic. A quick check reveals it to be 3 swords out of the north and a single beryl cut in the Elven way as an Elf-Stone.
Gil-Gandel and Gilraen both know these often have magics attached to them. The swords are oddly also of Elvish manufacture and quite ancient. Not Gondolin blades, but Noldorin all the same. None of these items radiate evil. The stone sarcophagi are the great problem of the moment.
"How about we leave the sarcophagi alone, take the swords and jewel and call it a day?
Of course, I wonder if there is anything to make any of these tombs move. A hidden switch of something."
Mulligan starts poking around.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Ithilneth looks about for inscriptions of any kind. "I am curious about those swords." If no one objects, she will examine them more closely.
When the parties are reunited, Sir Thoroncir agrees with Mulligan about taking the swords and jewel, but thinks we should carefully take a look in the sarcophagi and destroy whatever we find there - best not to leave something evil behind us. Do our Dwarvish compatriots think the sarcophagi can be dragged out of the mausoleum and then opened, or are they firmly attached to the floor?
Best to eventually raze and then sanctify the mausoleum site, too, the Sea-knight suggests.
On the other hand, if there is no evidence of further evil about, perhaps we should leave the sarcophagi be, rather than deifle them simply because they're there.
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because I'm on nitrous."
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Evil radiates from the sarcophagi themselves. Thoroncir doesn't think we should leave them to house, inspire or lead other evil forces after we've left Old Hatha.
Deor agrees. Best to make a clean sweep of it.
"I'll Identify these swords and the elfstone as soon as we're clear of these ruins."
Bitur agrees that we should deal with the sarcophagi now.
"This isn't like the tomb we found in Goblin Gate. That was from a time long before ours and contained enchantments of the like that haven't been seen in ages. It was wise for us to leave it be.
"These, on the other hand are pretty much basic sarcophagi. While they might be radiating magic and a bit of evil, and seeing as how they are in the largest and best maintained mausoleum surrounded by magic weapons, it's safe to say that this isn't the final resting place of common folk, so whatever is radiating evil is probably a bit more dangerous than our earlier encounters with the undead. But I'd rather rid the world of their evil now than to take our chance that it will never rise on its own. Besides, if we're lucky, we can take them out one at a time, rather than face all of them."
Last edited by What Exit?; 05 May 2010 at 05:54 PM.
"Well said, Bitur," Thoroncir says. "With Mulligan, would you please check the bases of the sarcophagi to see if they're trapped in any way, and if they can be dragged out of the mausoleum? If we open them, I suspect it would be better to do so one at a time, away from the others and outside of the mausoleum, and in what sunlight still pierces this lingering mist."
Bitur checks around the sarcophagi for traps and whether or not they can be moved, and if so, how difficult of an effort it will prove to be.
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