OOC:
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This is the climax of our little adventure. I strongly urge you to use action points to get the most out of your rolls. Please describe one round worth of actions. No initiative needed at this point. You have until Monday to post your actions. Otherwise I assume your character will stay put using total defense.
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Brad pulls back the bookcase which causes a good deal of creaking and moaning. After that all is silent, eerily silent. The landlord cowers in the back corner of the room as Brad leads the way up the staircase which switchbacks inside the narrow passage hidden within the wall. You take care to soften your steps, but the noise of the bookcase moving has likely already given you away. When you arrive at the top, you step out into a room oddly vacant. There is a circle drawn on the floor in brown smudges. Strange sigils are drawn at four equidistant points on the circle. Atop each sigil is a smoking black candle. The red moonlight coming from the window is the only source of light in the room, and it casts haunting reddish shadows upon the walls.
Lining the walls are several bookcases with various strange artifacts that barely reflect the soft red glow of the moonlight. You see a few books on the shelves, some parchment and gilded scrolls, a decanter, several flasks, and more than a few bones, including a humanoid skull. A few tables and chairs also line the walls, as well as a couple of cots and a chest of drawers.
[sblock=Spot DC 17]There are four cloaked figures hidden in various niches around the room. You can tell one at least of them is clutching a dagger by the faint glint it makes from the reflection of the moonlight.[sblock=Spot DC 23]You can make out a fifth figure hiding in a corner. The individual is short, not quite short enough to be a gnome or a halfling, but short enough to possibly be the "short elf" you have heard about. This one clutches a wand in hand. You can also tell that each of the others is armed with a weapon of some kind, mostly bludgeoning weapons such as clubs and a mace or two. One has a dagger, as noted above.[/sblock][/sblock][sblock=Alise]Your psicrystal speaks to you telepathically as you climb the stairs,
Invisible! They have all suddenly gone invisible! You sense this is a falsehood, but not entirely inaccurate. More likely the individuals are simply hiding in the room.[/sblock][sblock=Religion DC 15]The circle upon the floor is a circle of some sort of divine magic.[sblock=Religion DC 20]The sigils are symbols associated with the Blood of Vol and represent "death," "blood," "power," and "favor" respectively.[/sblock][/sblock][sblock=Arcana or Bardic Knowledge DC 15]The sigils are arranged in lunar cardinal directions which appear to associate with the blood moon.[sblock=If you also succeeded on Religion DC 20]The "blood" sigil is facing lunar north, the "death" sigil is facing lunar south, while the "power" and "favor" sigils face lunar east and lunar west respectively.[/sblock][/sblock][sblock=Spellcraft DC 21]The circle is part of a ritual which grants the recipient of the ritual the benefits of a
divine favor spell for 24 hours.[sblock=Spellcraft DC 24]As above, but you notice that the ritual also grants the recipient the benefits of a
divine power spell for 24 hours as well.[sblock=Spellcraft DC 25]This is perhaps the most horrifying revelation. The recipient of the spell is the subject of a contingent
slay living spell. The terms of the
contingency are not immediately apparent.[sblock=Spellcraft DC 26]You determine that if the recipient is attacked in melee at any time in the next 24 hours, it will trigger the
contingency, targeting the attacker with a
slay living spell.[/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][sblock=detect magic round 1]You detect the presence of magical auras in this room.[sblock=round 2]There are four magical auras in this room, the strongest being moderate power.[sblock=round 3]The circle radiates several dim magical auras indicating recent magic has been discharged from it. In the corner is a short figure shrouded in the magic of four magical auras, one faint, three moderate.[sblock=Spellcraft DC 16]The weakest magical aura upon the figure in the corner is
divine favor.[sblock=Spellcraft DC 19]The second magical aura upon the figure is
divine power.[sblock=Spellcraft DC 20]The third magical aura upon the figure is
slay living. This spell does not appear to have been discharged.[sblock=Spellcraft DC 21]The fourth spell is
contingency. If the recipient is attacked in melee at any time in the next 24 hours, it will trigger the
contingency, targeting the attacker with a
slay living spell.[/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][sblock=Search DC 12]The smeared substance around the circle appears to be dried blood.[sblock=Search DC 15]The candles are of an unusual make. They are not wax, but some other sticky substance.[sblock=Search DC 20]There are a pair of elongated fangs in the center of the circle. They are not very large, and probably come from a humanoid of some type.[sblock=Local DC 12 or Bardic Knowledge DC 15]These fangs do not come from any normal humanoid.[sblock=Local or Bardic Knowledge DC 20 or Religion DC 15]These fangs come from a vampire![/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][sblock=Hero Point!]You may expend a Hero Point to automatically gain a sudden insight which allows you to automatically open one spoiler block, but not sub-blocks beneath it. This choice may be made either before or after you have rolled any relevant skill checks.[/sblock]