Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="rchodges" data-source="post: 8560374" data-attributes="member: 7031385">Part 2: Call Forth DarknessAct 2: Taking the HornSession 15: A Beginner’s Guide to Flipping DungeonsDonovan rubbed his eyes and looked around the darkened room, illuminated only by his Candlerod. How much time had he spent on studying the Golem schematics? The group had been asleep for hours, and a stillness was in the air. Donovan looked over at Tamsen and Bebop, their bodies curled up together, and sighed wistfully. Donovan grabbed a flask from his bandolier, consuming the liquid contents held within. This would be yet another sleepless night for him.Pulling out some blackfire clay, Donovan got to work on setting up a small, heated area in the center of the room. Once that was complete, Donovan took out some basic dishes for making breakfast, then set them next to the heated area. Donovan began brewing coffee for his family. There was a comforting peace for Donovan in any sort of brewing, whether it was beverages or alchemical items. Something about the consistency and repetition set his mind at ease. Soon after, the group began to awake from the smell of the heated liquid. As the group began to awaken, Donovan tossed in spices specific to their individual tastes, and then handed them a cup. “Good morning.”, Donovan smiled as he greeted each of them. The three of them smiled and took the coffee. Once Tamsen had finished her first cup, she came over to where Donovan was reorganizing his gear and kissed him deeply.“Did you sleep, my love?”, Tamsen asked Donovan, smiling and looking into his eyes.“I studied.“, Donovan responded curtly.A frown came across Tamsen’s face. “You know I don’t like it when you stay up all night.” A moment later, a playful grin crossed Tamsen’s face as she leaned in closer. “Next time you have trouble falling asleep, let me know. I’m sure I can think of a way to wear you out.” Tamsen’s tongue slid across her lips as she said the words, though there could be no doubt of her intention.Donovan chuckled, as he kissed her again, “I lost track of time. I would have gladly spent it with you otherwise.”By now, Lucius had already pulled out some provisions for making breakfast, and Bebop opened the door in order to find a place to relieve himself. Unfortunately, Bebop had forgotten that Donovan had coated the door in Shrieking Paste, so the group was subjected to a jarring screech as the spores painted on the doorway were suddenly jostled apart. Bebop ran on, unconcerned with the sound, but Lucius was none too pleased. “Gods, Donovan, turn them off!”“Sorry, Lucius. This is why I said for no one to open the door.”, Donovan replied, as he attempted to cover his ears.After the group finished breakfast and packed their gear up, they resumed searching the rooms throughout the current level of the Horn. Bebop and Lucius led the group by entering each room first, with Tamsen and Lucius following behind while attempting to sense anything of magical origin. Finally, Donovan entered the rooms, with pen and paper in hand, as he took notes for each of the rooms.Bebop looked at Donovan curiously, “What are you doing?”Donovan replied, “Getting an estimate of what it will take to fix up this place as a permanent residence for us.” He was clearly excited about this discovery.Bebop’s face curled in confusion, “Why would we want to live here?”“This place easily rivals the Westermeyer estate. Think what we could do with a place of our own!”, Donovan’s enthusiasm was palpable.“Leave it to you to try and turn an abandoned cult temple into a vacation destination.”, Bebop shook his head, and continued exploring the area.Most of the rooms in the Caer Bryr were living quarters used by groups of individuals. Given the number and size of rooms that were discovered, it was possible to imagine that this place would have been able to quarter several hundred people. There was also several security areas that would give this location some defense against a siege from the outside. Also of note was a fountain that appeared to provide an unlimited amount of fresh water, and a room that held the preserved form of a slain Minotaur. The room had a magic in it that prevented the decay of organic materials. It would be very easy to imagine that this room would make a perfect place for long term food storage. Beyond that, there was what appeared to be the remnants of a tavern in one corner of the lower floor, with a stove and chimney that was worked through the mountain wall. The sheer inventiveness and creativity of all this effort impressed Donovan, who was quick to point out all the potential benefits a location like this would allow for a long-term residence. The rest of the group seemed generally uninterested in what he had to say on the matter. One of the rooms also held a journal which had somehow survived the assault all those years ago. Lucius handed the volume to Donovan, who gingerly snapped it up and lovingly opened the ancient text.“A personal journal. Maybe they wrote about… no, there’s nothing here about the assault. I’ll have to study it more later.” With that, Donovan placed the book away, and continued researching the floor.Beyond the debris and destruction that filled most of the rooms, two other rooms also caught the group’s attention. The first one was a large throne room. Tamsen noticed magic on the throne itself, and investigated further. Abyssal script caught her eye, and she read the word that was made of it. “Yah.”“Yah? What’s a Yah?”, Bebop asked, as he continued to search the room.“Yah isn’t a word, at least not a word that I have ever seen mentioned before.”, Tamsen looked inquisitively over to Donovan, who nodded in agreement at her answer.“A cipher perhaps? Part of a longer word that we haven’t yet found?”, Donovan queried the group rhetorically.Bebop tapped on one of the columns, “Donovan, check it out. This is hollow!”Donovan walked over to the column that Bebop had discovered, placing his ear against it and tapping different sections of the column. “Indeed it is. I wonder if it could be a staircase running through the length of it.”Despite their best efforts, they were unable to find any access point that would let them get into the column. Donovan considered having Bebop smash his way through the column, but realized the damage could make whatever was inside the column unusable.The other room that appeared to contain magic was what looked like a blackened out room, something that had been the target of a powerful spell, such as a Fireball. Despite all the time that had passed between the assault and the day that the group came, Tamsen and Lucius still saw evidence of embers glowing ever so briefly, as if the spell was still burning to the very day. Unsure of what to do about this, the family decided to leave the room for the time being, and Donovan would continue to research the matter more.The last room of interest on the lower floor was what appeared to be a torture room of some kind. While Donovan was not particularly interested in this room, Tamsen’s eyes lit up with excitement, as Bebop looked over at her with fear.“Now this could be fun.”, Tamsen giggled.Having spent some time mapping the area out, Donovan stared at the map, somewhat confused. “I can’t believe we haven’t found a single set of stairs. There should be some way for people to get between the floors.”“I’ll take care of it.”, Bebop exclaimed as he trudged back towards the section of the floor where the broken cell door and bars were discovered. From there, Bebop consumed his Mutagen. His flesh warped and morphed in strange ways, and wings began to tear and jut from his form. Using his newly gained wings, Bebop clumsily flew and climbed his way up the chute towards the higher floor.Bebop arrived at the higher section, with a mere plank of wood blocking his path, which he effortlessly pushed aside. “I got it!”, Bebop called down to the rest of the group.Once he had properly positioned himself on the next floor, Bebop lowered a rope back down to the family. Donovan took the rope and tied small circles in it, to be used as handholds and footholds, allowing Bebop to simply pull the members of the team up without worrying about them safely climbing the distance.The group began to work their way through the long-abandoned rooms. As before, they continued to examine and peruse everything that caught their eyes, and Donovan continued his running cost analysis for repairs and improvements. In one of the first rooms they discovered, Lucinda again noticed a small scrap of paper with faded writing on it, which she handed to Lucius. The writing was unintelligible to Lucius, so he handed it over to Donovan, who stared at it briefly. “Abyssal again, huh?”Staring at it a moment longer, Donovan was able to make out part of the note. “Evacuate now …the throne… stairs a deathtrap… only way out… Yah.”“The throne is a summoning point?”, Bebop queried.“Or an escape route.”, Donovan responded, still pondering what he read.Pressing on, the group discovered more living quarters and holding cells. They also came across a room that was filled with statues. Curiously, the group discovered that there were more stone heads in this room than bodies to match them up to. Next, they came upon what appeared to be nice sized living area. What was remarkable about it was the impressive four-poster bed that was still sitting here, undamaged.“I want this.”, Tamsen said insistently.Donovan’s fingers slid across the top of the varnished wood, letting his eyes run across the remarkable craftsmanship required to make such a piece of work. “This would be worth around 2500 gold if we sold it.”Bebop’s eyes lit up, “Yes! This gets us closer to a Portable Hole!”Tamsen scratched the back of Bebop’s neck, “I thought I was your portable hole.”Bebop pulled Tamsen close to him, “You know you are.”Bebop and Tamsen, followed quickly by Lucius and Lucinda, proceeded on to the next room. For his part, Donovan continued to write notes about the room.The group entered a room where several huge manacles were found. These could easily have been used to hold massive beasts. They also noticed a mural showing some unusual images.“What is this, Lucius?”, Bebop pointed at the images in the mural.Lucius stared at the images. He recognized that they were most likely creatures from the Lower Planes, but wasn’t able to be more specific than that. “Demons.”, he responded to Bebop.“Donovan, get in here!”, Bebop roared out into the temple.Shortly after, Donovan came rushing in, still furiously scribbling notes onto his paper. “I’m here, what’s going on?”Pointing at the mural on the wall, Bebop asked, “What are those things?”Donovan’s eyes flicked up from the notes he was taking, as he scanned the mural briefly. “Ceustodaemons.” Pausing briefly, Donovan walked towards the mural, focused on a particular aspect. “Oh, and look at this! These demons are being bound to service. Do you see the bands around their necks? These are control amulets.”“Fine, whatever. Let’s keep going.”, Bebop was already bored of the discussion.Donovan pulled out a magnifying lens and stared carefully at the amulets. “Damn, they didn’t actually write the names on the collars. It would have been nice to have these creatures’ true names.”Bebop sighed, flipping Donovan off as he walked into the next room. Arriving there, Bebop discovered a skeleton impaled to the wall, with writing above it. The writing ominously warned that this was the fate of all those who abandoned Mitra and did not return to the light.“Quite the hard sell.”, Lucius mused, chuckling.Bebop, Tamsen, Lucius, and Lucinda continued their progress forward, opening the door into the next room. This room had apparently been damaged, as both the sunlight and vegetation from the side of the Horn had now begun to enter this room. Lucius moved towards the sunlight, and suddenly found himself grabbed by the vegetation that had become so heavy in this room. Seeing the plants attack her master in this way, Lucinda pulled out her weapon and sliced through the vegetation. Donovan, seeing into the far end of the room, rushed into the room and screamed, “Get out!”A mist began to fill the room, causing both Lucius and Bebop to fall asleep. Donovan felt himself also beginning to be affected, but he concentrated on working through math problems in order to keep himself awake long enough to drag Bebop out of the room. Lucinda picked up Lucius and left the room with him, while Tamsen slammed the door shut.“Move away from the door, Tamsen!”, Donovan ordered in panic.Tamsen complied, and the group waited outside the room to see if anything would cross the doorway. Fortunately, nothing came out from that room.After a few minutes, Donovan began to unpack the Alchemist Laboratory that he carried around. “Verdorous Oozes. What a terrible blight to fall on this place.”Tamsen asked, “So, you are saying we should just throw some fire in there and burn them out?”Donovan shook his head, “No, they are unaffected by fire, as well as many other things. We’ll need a very specific tactic to deal with these problems.”Bebop shook his head, recovering from the poison that had been released. “What happened?”Donovan looked down where Bebop was laying on the ground. “Good, you are awake.” Donovan scribbled out a recipe to Bebop and tossed it to him. “Make several of these.” As Bebop studied the note, Donovan began his meticulous formulation process, focusing in on the precision of the ingredients and time.Bebop stretched and yawned, then looked carelessly at the recipe. “Oh, I got it.” Bebop crumpled up the recipe and let it fall to the floor, then grabbed up some larger vials and the different ingredients that Donovan had listed in the note.Donovan watched with exasperated frustration as Bebop snapped through his work in a fraction of the time it took Donovan to complete one concoction. Donovan hated that Bebop was so much better, so much more naturally gifted than he would ever become. Bebop didn’t even need precision, he had raw talent.“You finished yet, Donovan?”, Bebop said teasingly.“Take off your clothes. The creature uses acid in its attacks, and anything you wear is going to be damaged heavily.”, Donovan replied, trying to hide the resentment in his words. With that, Donovan made one final test of his sprayer.Bebop did as asked, without even giving it much thought. If he was ever an individual given to shyness, that had long since been removed around this group. “I’m ready.”“Yes you are.”, Tamsen said coyly.“Alright, I’m going to head in there and spray the oozes with this compound.”, Donovan explained the plans to the group. “Once that’s done, Bebop will get in there and hit the creatures as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Tamsen and Lucinda will throw the flasks Bebop made at the ooze he is attacking.” Donovan took a breath, “Everyone ready?”The group nodded in agreement.Donovan rushed in, dodging through the grasping vines. Once he was close enough, he released the Congealer Spray onto the oozes. A hard, leathery shell formed over both oozes. “Now!”, Donovan called out.Bebop rushed in, assuming his Giant Form. Lucinda and Tamsen followed up behind him, flasks at the ready.Bebop exploded into a flurry of kicks, bites, hooves, and claws. Sprays of acid went everywhere, burning into Bebop’s exposed flesh. The girls tossed the vials onto the first ooze that Bebop attacked, and the ooze withered and became still.Bebop repeated this assault upon the second ooze, with the girls once more repeating their efforts to coat the ooze in Alkali Flasks. A moment later, and the fight was at and end.Bebop rushed out, his flesh sizzling from the acid as his melted into his flesh. “Ow, ow ow! Donovan, do something!”Donovan snapped out his healing kit, applying a neutralizing salve across the parts of his skin that had been burned from the acid. First his hands and forearms, which had taken significant damage, then working onto his chest, neck, and thighs. The healing nature of Donovan’s ointments took effect immediately, repairing most of the damage.“Don’t forget Mister Winky.”, Bebop said, pointing at his genitals.Clearly irritated, Donovan completed the application of the salve onto the rest of Bebop’s injuries. “Get dressed. You’ll be fine.”Tamsen slid up to Bebop, looking at him alluringly. “Aw baby, do you need me to kiss all your spots to make them better?”Bebop nodded, “Yes please, I’m so very sensitive from all that abuse.”Donovan picked up his pen and paper, “We’ll need Alchemical Cement to patch that up.”Passing by the fountain, Donovan became excited again. “You see this? With this, I could run plumbing down to the lower levels! We could set up baths!”Unfazed by Donovan’s excitement, the group kept walking to the next room.Donovan became quiet, “Oh, ok.”More quarters were passed through, none of them holding anything of importance. Beyond that, the group discovered an altar.Tamsen studied the writing on the wall, “An old holy tongue. Who would have expected to find that here? It says… Mitra shines on all, Mitra rules all.”Donovan scanned the writing and nodded, “I imagine this was built by the knights who conquered this place.” He then paused a moment, “I guess we should keep it here, it might make it easier to sell this place to someone else.”Tamsen took Donovan’s hand, “Why would we sell this place, love? This could be our home together.”Donovan took Tamsen’s hand and smiled. “You think so?”Tamsen nodded.The group continued into the next room. A statue was found here, with a missing head. It was also apparent this status didn’t have a base like the other ones.“Bebop.”, Donovan began.“Yes, I’ll go get the heads.”, Bebop interrupted Donovan, realizing what he was going to say.Experimenting with a few of the heads, the group found the one that seemed to match the breaks most correctly. Once the head was in position, Donovan applied the Stone Salve to the form. Quickly, the stone became flesh, and the flesh returned to life. The formerly frozen person began gasping and choking.“Water.”, the former statue croaked out.Producing a flask, Donovan pushed it into the man’s hand. “Here you go.”Once the man consumed the flask, he began to interrogate the group. “Who are you and why are you here?”Donovan smiled in his most disarming way, “My name is Donovan Thorn, and this is my family. We have come to this place seeking answers towards the way to summon Vetra Kali.”It became clear that the man was lost in what was going on. “What happened to my bothers? Did we defeat the invaders?”Donovan nodded with understanding, “I know you are very confused. But you must understand, a great deal of time has passed since the attack that occurred here.”The man asked to know the current year, which Donovan provided. “Eighty years.”, the man said, almost in shock. “Did anyone survive?”Donovan looked around, “We have found no other living creature here. Even if they did survive, with so much time having passed…”, Donovan trailed off, unsure on how to complete the sentence.The man stood in quiet reflection for a while, then turned back with realization to Donovan, “But you said you were here to restart the brotherhood!”Donovan put his hands up slightly, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I said I was here to return Vetra Kali to this world. I cannot speak to the state of your brotherhood.”The man waved him off, “It’s fine, things will work out. We will establish a new brotherhood here from the remnants of the old.”“First things first,”, Donovan tempered the man’s expectations, “we need to know more about what happened, and what the process is to perform the ritual. What can you tell us about what has taken place?”The man introduced himself as Halthus the Flayer, and said that he was a relatively low level Acolyte specifically trained in “information extraction”. Halthus attempted to give the group some details about the events that took place the day of the assault, but didn’t know much due to all the associated chaos.The group decided to keep exploring the Horn, with the hopes that Halthus could provide additional information as they went along. The first room they entered with Halthus was a large temple area, very similar to the one on the lower floor.“What can you tell us about the throne in this room, Halthus?”, Donovan asked the man as they continued to explore.“All I know is that I have seen someone use the throne to teleport away.”, Halthus replied.Donovan nodded. He was certain that he understood the mystery of the thrones now. Going over to the throne, he searched for Abyssal script, which he soon discovered. “Rah. I knew it.”Donovan sat confidently on the throne, and shouted out, “Yah!” He was gone in an instant.Fear gripped Tamsen, as she considered the possibility that something terrible had just happened to Donovan.Bebop took Tamsen’s hand. “He has a plan, he always has a plan.”A moment later, Donovan reappeared in the Throne, laughing at his discovery. “Very clever. Teleportation thrones to move between floors. This is how they could secure the place. Now all we need is the other code words.”Tamsen rushed up to the throne and hugged Donovan.Donovan smiled, “Come on, isn’t that interesting, my love? It explains so much about this place.”“Are we ready to move on to the next level? I’m sure that there are more secrets waiting for us to discover!”, Donovan said eagerly.The group followed a hallway directly outside of the temple, which was adorned with murals and writings about the history of the Sons of the Pale Horsemen. It was clear to Donovan that, inscribed within these stories, was rituals that could be used to summon and bind creatures to this place. He told himself he would return later to explore these writings further. Donovan also asked for the jewel that Halthus had recovered from the ground while his group was under siege, which Halthus agreed to quite willingly.The stairway to the Third Floor had been completely destroyed. While Bebop was suggesting that he could fly up and hand a rope down yet again, Lucius had a better idea. Lucius summoned a group of flying horses, electricity cracking over their forms.“This is indeed a powerful new brotherhood that has come to this place.”, Halthus spoke up.The group flew up to the third floor, and the opening that was there. After the group dismounted, Halthus muttered the phrase “Hail Vetra Kali”, before pressing a set of buttons that were located in the eye sockets of a statue of Vetra Kali placed just outside the entrance.“What was the purpose of that?”, Bebop questioned Halthus.“It is to disable the trap located at the entrance of this place.”, Halthus replied without hesitation. “There is a matching statue inside that can be used to activate the trap as needed.”“So, when you came up to this floor, where did you typically go?”, Donovan asked.Halthus pointed to the end of the hallway, “I went to that door, where a prisoner would be waiting for me.”“Then I guess that should be our next destination.”, Donovan nodded and smiled.The group proceeded down the hallway and into what appeared to be a smaller temple area. On the far wall was yet another image of Vetra Kali in the center, and set off to either side an altar to one of the four horsemen. Bebop approached the statue of Vetra Kali in the center, but felt a sense of fear that forced him to leave the room. Donovan also felt that sense of fear, but his mind was hardened to such things, and he remained unafraid. Donovan also noticed that Halthus approached the statue as well, without any sense of trepidation.“Were you not afraid?”, Donovan asked Halthus.“I was not afraid. Why would I be?”, Halthus replied confidently.“Why did you say those words before you approached the altar?”, Donovan asked again.“One must always praise Vetra Kali before approaching him.”, Halthus answered.Meanwhile, Tamsen was drawn to a wall over on the side of the room. “Something is in here, love.”Donovan walked over to the wall where Tamsen was standing. His eyes could just make out the seam of a secret door leading into some other room. “Could there be a mechanism nearby?”Halthus replied almost incredulously, “Perhaps the statue at the altar works the same way as the one at the entrance?”Donovan chuckled, “Well that makes perfect sense when you say it like that.” Donovan approached the statue at the altar, ready to press in the eye sockets as he had seen Halthus do at the entrance.Just then, a thought occurred to Donovan, “Do as the acolytes would do.” Stepping back, Donovan approached the altar and spoke in Abyssal, “Hail Vetra Kali.” Donovan pressed in the door, and a click could be heard at the secret door.The group approached the door hesitantly. As the door was first being opened, the room appeared to be nothing more than an old storage room, filled with decayed religious objects used for this temple. A moment later, something overlaid the previous room, as though another room had been magically sealed away. The family walked into this newer room, and their eyes widened. They were beholding a treasure horde vaster than any they had ever seen. Gold and silver, jewels and coins. It was almost too good to be true.Then Donovan’s eyes locked onto the Wraith that was in this room, and knew it was too good to be true.“Come my pets.”, the Wraith said to the other piteous creatures it had undoubtedly killed, “Let us consume these interlopers.”Session 15 Ends.</blockquote>

Verification