The earth elemental heeds the request and sinks down into the ground to tour the perimeter of the group's camp while Berrek prepares himself to scout.
Menhir ends its patrol and follows Berrek without a word as he heads out of camp. Disappearing beneath the earth's surface, the elemental moves effortlessly through the ground, creating no observable disturbance above with its passage. Sensing Berrek's footfalls and weight upon the earth, Menhir endeavors to keep the man directly overhead, awaiting a sign that it should surface.
OOC
Earth elementals don't in any way displace the earth they're moving through, they glide effortlessly through the medium as easily and quietly as a submerged swimmer. Although they gain no bonuses to their move silently checks, listeners are in turn penalized normally for the distances involved (-1 per 10-ft.) along with the penalty for listening through a stone wall (-15). So, I wouldn't expect anyone but the most close and astute listeners to hear an earth gliding earth elemental in their vicinity. Even if they do notice, they're unlikely to recognize the unusual sound or do anything about it until the elemental surfaces anyway.
it's definitely a type of fire but it's too small to be campfire really... there is no signs showing that this is nothing more than normal flickering firelight but from what or whom none can tell from this distance...
As Berrek and Menhir move off nothing is visable at all as strange as you both assumingly head for the large blackened mound... as you both get closer however (if you move within 100 feet of the mound that is) you note that the light is coming from two torches in sconces on eather side of a pristine and VERY not at all charred round door.... this is odd as the entirety of the mound itself is leveled with fire and charred and blackened...
Drawing of Mound:
Make spot checks both Menhir and Berrek please.... (DC 13)
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Berrek approaches carefuly and remains still observing strange doors with caution born from his traumatic experience with starfall. He tries to follow the movements of earth elemental behind him, nodding in satisfaction as he is mostly unable to pinpoint its location.
You note 4 or 5 charred bodies around the mound and one or two just above the door of the mound laying dead and charred as well on the incline above it.... you note the smell of not only burned flesh... but some of it smells like the stench of cooked rotting flesh as well...
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OOC: Menhir remains below ground until signaled by Berrek and so isn't in a position to spot anything at the moment. I'll willingly forgo the spot check.
"Berrek if you can handle druidic spells, I have a spell that toughens your skin that you can take if you want it."
Once Berrek and Menhir leave, Lidia readies her sling and starts keeping watch. She deliberately avoids watching Berrek. Instead she looks in the opposite direction in case someone tries to creep up on the camp from behind.
Little time back: "Yes, thank you Lidia. I really appreciate it. If you see fire bursts around the mound, hurry to the rescue."
Present:
Berrek taps slightly with his boots on the earth, hoping Menhir is close enough to detect slight vibration.
He observes for additional clues until Menhir shows or it becomes apparent he didn't detect light tapping.
Once he appears, Berrek speaks in whispers: "Observe the door while I speak, see what you can conclude yourself. Without going closer I cannot say exactly what happened, but I'd wager some people thought it will be easy plunder since this area was hit. Now, I have in mind two scenarios, but I'd like to scout out little bit around and then we return to the rest of the party. Oh, and if you cannot speak quietly, please wait until we put little distance from here."
Sensing that Berrek has come to a complete stop up overhead, the earth elemental waits motionless beneath the surface until it hears/feels a light stomping from up above. Taking that as a cue of sorts, Menhir moves up to breach the surface of the ground with its featureless face and crystal studded shoulders. It listens to Berrek and turns to view the nearby hill as instructed.
Having nothing it need say to Berrek, the elemental remains silent and slips wordlessly back beneath the surface to continue following along once the scout sets out again.
Menhir emits a brief echoing rumble. "Auraun is nothing at all like Terran."
“I didn’t say it was my friend, my point was that because I’ve studied Auran I understood some of the problems we organics have with such languages,” Eltyr replies with a smile.
Menhir.. you now also note the corpses scattered here and there near the mound as well as the two just above the door on the inclined slop leading down to the door... you can also smell the scent of burned flesh but something also is in the air.. the smell of rotting flesh as well... you would know this to be the smell of a body decomposing normally in the ground once buried but comes along with the pungent smell of charred flesh as well.. NOT a pleasing combination to say the least... something tells you both that what happened here was not natural at all and something does not feel right about this place at all... but you also get the distinct sense you were all meant to be here....
Read ONLY if you move closer from your current position Berrek and Menhir:
As you step a bit closer to the mound something about the nearest corpse to you catches your eye... you notice a limb twitch just slightly as you move closer to the mound and just pass by near it... Menhir would feel the twitch against the earth above him as well and as you notice it move it opens it's blackened and charred eyelids to show you featureless sockets... I need Initiative from you both...
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Berrek sneaks little bit around, if there is nothing else of note he starts back toward the camp. Heart racing, he moves more cautiosly then he was coming in. He could feel the power of starfall pressing in on him.
Once he is about 150' from the mound he starts running and is back to the camp within minutes.
Last edited by Neurotic; 29th May 2009 at 08:48 AM..
You make it back to camp just fine seeing as you didn't really get any closer look to the mound... the feeling that something about that place is definitely wrong still lingers within you both as you return back to the others...
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Menhir rises up out of the ground once it senses that Berrek has rejoined the group. It offers a typically concise answer to Eltyr's question. "Burning wood." The elemental looks to Berrek, expecting the man to offer up a more insightful response.
"I think that there are two groups and not one group that was blown up by some trap. I think there were undead guardians and the group of men tried to enter the tomb. Now, I guess there could be fairly powerful wizard in the group who fireballed whole area once some of his comrades fell in battle. I don't want to think he incinerated living allies on purpose. Second scenario is that there is really some powerful trap on the tomb or powerful guardian and that the group that approached it had some undead in it's ranks.
Whatever that really is, I think it's worth investigating now. If something goes wrong we can rest and head back in the morning with full supplement of spells. On that note, once we head there Lidia keep an eye out for defensible spot. If needed Menhir might be able to raise makeshift earthen barricades or trenches to enhance some natural feature.
What say you? Are we going there? Even if we just stop some plunderers instead of encountering starfall fallout it's still worthy effort."
Listening to Berrek's elaborate description, it becomes ever more clear to the earth elemental that it lacks the proper context from which to recognize the significance of what it sees amidst organic beings. By the end of it, Menhir has only understood half (if that much) of the conjecture offered up for consideration by Berrek. Indeed, some of his words are entirely new to the elemental.
Anton begins equipping himself even before Berrek finishes his description. Once the scout has finished, Anton speaks clearly, so as not to confuse any with his words, "If there is a chance of the living dead, we must act upon it. I can't ignore that." His look is hard, resolved.
Anton's use of the oxymoronic term "living dead" recalls an earlier conversation which had similarly puzzled the earth elemental. Menhir struggles to find the right words to voice its question. "But aren't the... the living dead, the undead... *grinding sound* ...harmless?"
Anton considers the confusion Menhir must have on this subject, and he himself struggles to find the right words, "There's the living, like us. There's the dead, like those we bury in the ground, which I'm sure you've seen from time to time. Then there's the undead, those that should be buried, but are walking like the living. Those are dangerous. I don't understand how or why, but I just know they are an unnatural stain upon this land."
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