stonegod's Expedition to Castle Ravenloft: Ch. II [IC]

[stonegod]

Janis looks at Ireena to see the girl's reaction to the scene.

Ireena's lips tighten, but she has no other reaction.

"What treachery is this?"

Janis' quick but stinging words cause the warlock to pause a moment, and he attunes his other senses a moment. Strong magic comes from the altar the dead body lies upon, its power in destruction [Spellcraft: Evocation]. Magic also falls from the raven statue, but this one is involved with the power over life and creation [Spellcraft: Necromancy and Conjuration]. The corpse's armor is at least enchanted, its other items hidden from sight. There is no sign of magic, deadly or otherwise, on the dais itself.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Jarrith glances back at the party, then puts his hand up to tell the folks to wait. He pulls out his wand of Cat's Grace and casts the spell upon himself... If this area is trapped, I want to be able to jump away, that's for sure... he thinks to himself.

He then bends over to get a closer view of the ground and then slowly walks forward... taking a careful search of the chapel floor, then the dais, then the altar, then the body itself. If whatever caused this man to fall is still present, he wants to make sure he can contain it before they begin their prayers.

After completing the search of the area and disabling anything he might be able to... he then motions to the others to join him and he begins checking to see what might have caused this man's death and who he might actually be.

"Looks as though Sergei was right when he said that he couldn't guarantee our safety. This man certainly felt the brunt of it." He motions to the silver raven statue. "A brother to our symbol perhaps? This altar seems to have an affinity to the Order of the Raven."

 

[Stormwind]

Ashlyn reflexively attempts to detect undead as she looks first at the still figure on the altar and then around the rest of the room. She then moves a few steps towards the altar before stopping and looking towards the others in order to ascertain if they have discovered anything. At this stage, however, she does not speak. She merely looks around her senses tingling.

 

[pathfinderq1]

Tessa held her lantern high, trying to maximize the light it provided so that those who were searching could do their work. She moved forward but a little, staying close to Ashlyn- and casting an occasional glance back towards the door they had entered, in hopes of detecting anything that might wish to interrupt their investigation.

 

[stonegod]

Sense Undead

As Jarrith begins his examination of the alter, Ashlyn feels out with her senses. Nothing lurks nearby, and the body is not amongst the living dead.

Search

Jarrith begins careful scruitiny of the dais, alter, and related areas. This close, he can see the fine checkerboard pattern of the raised floor and the inlaid ravens on the alter. He sees nothing out of the ordinary on the dais itself, no trip wires or ward signals, but finds something on the alter immediately---traces of silver in intricate patterns, mostly likely indicating a magical ward of some kind. Being magic, it is likely only magic may disarm it---he sees nothing to indicate its nature if it is a trap. The Stalker then painstakingly peers at the raven statue, taking care not to move it. He finds nothing indicating additional wards on it.

Jarrith then takes a moment to look at the face down corpse. Squatting down, he lifts its lank hair to find a surprise---withered flesh! A closer look reveals the body is that of a corpse, but the corpse had been dead a long time. An undead of some sort, its unlife severed. While he cannot identify the type of undead it was other than some corporeal kind [Kn: Religion failed], the half-face helm trapped beneath it is a clear sign of the Emerald Claw.

 

[James Heard]

Janis closes the door to the chapel behind them, else they have any unannounced visitors.

 

[s@squ@tch]

Marot

"Jarrith! Hold for a moment -- I believe that there is a destructive trap or ward set upon that altar"

He then turns to the others and says,"And the bodies armor appears to be some enchantment, along with the statue of the raven."

 

[Stormwind]

Ashlyn Jarrith concludes his search, Ashlyn moves forward towards the altar. As Marot comments about the warding on the alter, Ashlyn responds, "Wards are not really my area. Perhaps someone else ...".

Ashlyn then moves towards the body that Jarrith has already examined and upon seeing that it was once some sort of undead, she tries to mentally identify it.

[Knowledge(religion) 1d20+11]


Once done examining the body, Ashlyn reaches beneath her blouse and pulls out the Symbol of Ravenkind. She then looks at it and then at the raven statue on the altar with a contemplative expression on her face, "... I wonder ..."

 

[stonegod]

[Kn: Religion]

The undead was a Karrnathi zombie, the intelligent remnants of a former solider of their army given eternal glory to fight again. But this one is odd... its armor is decorated with symbols of the Blood of Vol cult, as if it had religious aspirations as well.

The Holy Symbol is cool in Ashlyn's hands, but makes no other reaction. Unlike the raven icon, the Symbol has no overt raven symbology.

 

[stonegod]

BTW: The raven statue's scale in the picture is distorted with respect to its actual. Its about a foot tall with a half-foot wingspan.