Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Shadows of Malboria (The Chronicle of Kurgish -updtd 11/09/05)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Sir Brennen" data-source="post: 2033672" data-attributes="member: 553"><p><strong>Basement of the Maltus Estate (Same Day)</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 22px"><span style="color: Wheat">W</span></span>e worked our way down the spiral staircase we had found earlier. At the bottom, a narrow hallway lead to a door. Barrick shouldered the door open, then let out a shout, "Great Darvas' Beard!" He held his battleaxe high and nearly stumbled as he backpedaled into the hall.</p><p></p><p>After a moment, nothing happened, and while we whispered for him to tell us what it was, Barrick carefully crept back into the room. From the rear of the line, I could see his posture relax, and his axe lowered.</p><p></p><p>"Of all the…" he started. "It's stuffed!"</p><p></p><p>The rest of us moved into the room, and could see what had startled him. In a menacing pose, wings spread and forelimbs raised, stood an earth dragon guarding its hoard in the corner of the room. The treasure scattered below it was merely scattered shiny copper and brass coins. The dragon itself could have been an offspring of Malhafren, the enslaver of my homeland, though this one was obviously very young when it was slain.</p><p></p><p>There was not much else to be found, though I wondered if perhaps the family valuables had been stored here at one time, then moved to the vault which we had yet to find.</p><p></p><p>Leading out of the room was a stairway heading up into a wine cellar. Another flight of stairs from there led back up to the kitchen. The bottles of wine still in the cellar were judged by the humans to be mostly worthless. I was always under the impression that the older it was, the more it was worth, and all these had to be at least two hundred years old. Ah, well. It's a puny drink of men, anyway.</p><p></p><p>A door exiting the cellar led us into a hallway that felt much cooler than the other underground rooms we had been in. Traveling up it a bit, we entered a room that was half hand-tooled walls, and half natural cave. The cool temperature was due to a natural subterranean stream that flowed across the far side. Several hooks and shelves were placed about the room, presumably to keep perishables and such down there.</p><p></p><p>There were no other exits from the room other than a low tunnel on each side, by which the stream came and left. It looked a bit cramped for our taller companions, so Barrick and I waded upstream a ways to investigate. After about a hundred feet, we hadn't seen anything, so we turned around and headed back downstream.</p><p></p><p>After about eighty feet, the stream widened out, and there was something of a bank on one side. At this point, the ceiling also appeared to be unnaturally smooth. Looking closer, there was a section of the ceiling that looked as if a stone cover of some kind had been set from above. We called everyone else down. As they approached, the light of their torches glinted off of something in the water near the bank. Going over to inspect it, we found another skeleton, rough with lime and age, but it appeared to be about the right size to belong to another of the triplets.</p><p></p><p>Jammed into its ribs was a dagger with a fancy gem set in the pommel. Bones in the skeleton snapped as we wrested the weapon loose. With a closer examination, we saw that the handle and the blade were both hollow, like the kind of weapon an assassin might conceal poison within.</p><p></p><p>Turning back to the slab set in the ceiling, Barrick and I lifted it up and into a room above. We all crawled inside, to a dark, dusty room with a set of carved stairs leading up. Within the room were three stone sarcophagi, their lids slid off and the bones of the former occupants strewn about the room.</p><p></p><p>Names had once been etched onto the sides of the coffins, but something had literally clawed them beyond recognition. What would have the strength to scratch into the stonework like that was something I hoped we didn't find out.</p><p></p><p>The stairs led us to the mausoleum that resided in the backyard of the estate. Several of the burial places here had been disturbed as well; the ancient bodies scattered about. We should have returned them all to their proper resting places, but I wouldn't have begun to know how to sort them out. Besides, there were obviously other restless dead we needed to deal with first. I only prayed that all of these souls had already found their way through the Shadowlands and on to their final reward before their graves suffered this defilement.</p><p></p><p>Coming out of the mausoleum, we noticed that it had at one time been locked, but the lock had been broken off, most likely by whoever had wrecked the inside.</p><p></p><p>We stood in the unkempt yard, pondering what to do next. There was a decrepit wooden tool shed, which a quick glance into showed nothing unusual. Next we checked out a vine-covered building of stonework which seemed in better shape. Inside, it appeared to be a small chapel, with a carved stone mask above the altar, and a mask motif worked into the tiles on the walls and the details of the altar itself. Someone finally identified the chapel as being dedicated to Athyra, goddess of dreams. One of the Twelve.</p><p></p><p>Marcus, displaying little reverence for the old gods, started poking around the altar, and found the top was hinged. Opening it, he withdrew a dusty leather satchel. The bag had a scroll tube within and four pockets, each with a vial tucked into it, which Father Al guessed to be holy water.</p><p></p><p>All that was left to search was the stable. Not thinking it looked too promising, we pondered over what we might have missed. Marcus observed that, while it seemed that a spirit did indeed haunt the manor, something didn't quite add up for just a haunting. Like the tarp covering the pit in the water closet. That felt to him more like something a physical being would do, to either trap or camouflage the hole from other beings. Agreeing with his insight, we planned to scrutinize the latrine more closely, after we finished searching the stables, since they were right here.</p><p></p><p>But I wonder: are the treasures of a family that hide their secret vault in the toilet worth having?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sir Brennen, post: 2033672, member: 553"] [b]Basement of the Maltus Estate (Same Day)[/b] [SIZE=6][color=Wheat]W[/color][/SIZE]e worked our way down the spiral staircase we had found earlier. At the bottom, a narrow hallway lead to a door. Barrick shouldered the door open, then let out a shout, "Great Darvas' Beard!" He held his battleaxe high and nearly stumbled as he backpedaled into the hall. After a moment, nothing happened, and while we whispered for him to tell us what it was, Barrick carefully crept back into the room. From the rear of the line, I could see his posture relax, and his axe lowered. "Of all the…" he started. "It's stuffed!" The rest of us moved into the room, and could see what had startled him. In a menacing pose, wings spread and forelimbs raised, stood an earth dragon guarding its hoard in the corner of the room. The treasure scattered below it was merely scattered shiny copper and brass coins. The dragon itself could have been an offspring of Malhafren, the enslaver of my homeland, though this one was obviously very young when it was slain. There was not much else to be found, though I wondered if perhaps the family valuables had been stored here at one time, then moved to the vault which we had yet to find. Leading out of the room was a stairway heading up into a wine cellar. Another flight of stairs from there led back up to the kitchen. The bottles of wine still in the cellar were judged by the humans to be mostly worthless. I was always under the impression that the older it was, the more it was worth, and all these had to be at least two hundred years old. Ah, well. It's a puny drink of men, anyway. A door exiting the cellar led us into a hallway that felt much cooler than the other underground rooms we had been in. Traveling up it a bit, we entered a room that was half hand-tooled walls, and half natural cave. The cool temperature was due to a natural subterranean stream that flowed across the far side. Several hooks and shelves were placed about the room, presumably to keep perishables and such down there. There were no other exits from the room other than a low tunnel on each side, by which the stream came and left. It looked a bit cramped for our taller companions, so Barrick and I waded upstream a ways to investigate. After about a hundred feet, we hadn't seen anything, so we turned around and headed back downstream. After about eighty feet, the stream widened out, and there was something of a bank on one side. At this point, the ceiling also appeared to be unnaturally smooth. Looking closer, there was a section of the ceiling that looked as if a stone cover of some kind had been set from above. We called everyone else down. As they approached, the light of their torches glinted off of something in the water near the bank. Going over to inspect it, we found another skeleton, rough with lime and age, but it appeared to be about the right size to belong to another of the triplets. Jammed into its ribs was a dagger with a fancy gem set in the pommel. Bones in the skeleton snapped as we wrested the weapon loose. With a closer examination, we saw that the handle and the blade were both hollow, like the kind of weapon an assassin might conceal poison within. Turning back to the slab set in the ceiling, Barrick and I lifted it up and into a room above. We all crawled inside, to a dark, dusty room with a set of carved stairs leading up. Within the room were three stone sarcophagi, their lids slid off and the bones of the former occupants strewn about the room. Names had once been etched onto the sides of the coffins, but something had literally clawed them beyond recognition. What would have the strength to scratch into the stonework like that was something I hoped we didn't find out. The stairs led us to the mausoleum that resided in the backyard of the estate. Several of the burial places here had been disturbed as well; the ancient bodies scattered about. We should have returned them all to their proper resting places, but I wouldn't have begun to know how to sort them out. Besides, there were obviously other restless dead we needed to deal with first. I only prayed that all of these souls had already found their way through the Shadowlands and on to their final reward before their graves suffered this defilement. Coming out of the mausoleum, we noticed that it had at one time been locked, but the lock had been broken off, most likely by whoever had wrecked the inside. We stood in the unkempt yard, pondering what to do next. There was a decrepit wooden tool shed, which a quick glance into showed nothing unusual. Next we checked out a vine-covered building of stonework which seemed in better shape. Inside, it appeared to be a small chapel, with a carved stone mask above the altar, and a mask motif worked into the tiles on the walls and the details of the altar itself. Someone finally identified the chapel as being dedicated to Athyra, goddess of dreams. One of the Twelve. Marcus, displaying little reverence for the old gods, started poking around the altar, and found the top was hinged. Opening it, he withdrew a dusty leather satchel. The bag had a scroll tube within and four pockets, each with a vial tucked into it, which Father Al guessed to be holy water. All that was left to search was the stable. Not thinking it looked too promising, we pondered over what we might have missed. Marcus observed that, while it seemed that a spirit did indeed haunt the manor, something didn't quite add up for just a haunting. Like the tarp covering the pit in the water closet. That felt to him more like something a physical being would do, to either trap or camouflage the hole from other beings. Agreeing with his insight, we planned to scrutinize the latrine more closely, after we finished searching the stables, since they were right here. But I wonder: are the treasures of a family that hide their secret vault in the toilet worth having? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Shadows of Malboria (The Chronicle of Kurgish -updtd 11/09/05)
Top