[Compled] Expedition - Bromric/Demon - 30 April, 1 VC

[Keehnelf]

Only Seadu's holy symbol remains under the cloth.

[Zhym]

As Melvin waits for the Visitor to lead the way, a thought occurs to him. "Did anyone notice that the 'thrice-locked door,' contrary to its name, did not appear to be locked even once? Trapped, yes. 'Open the door and get disintegrated' is about as clear a trap as one can hope for. But not locked."

[Keehnelf]

There's a keyhole in the middle of the door--I just forgot to mention it when moving from basilisk fight over to the door-opening. Oops!

[Keehnelf]

Marullus and I have spoken and the time has come to transition control of the Visitor back to me ever so briefly.

Martin returns from above with Abi and the Visitor leads the way into the room, lit by Melvin's lantern as the young wizard follows closely behind. The chamber into which they step is approximately fifty feet square, made of white marble richly polished and elaborately inscribed from floor to ceiling in runes and pictographs of dwarven origin. The ceiling is gently curved, with carved arches supporting the vault as it rises to a height of thirty feet above the floor in the center. Hanging from the center of the ceiling by a number of stout, shining chains is an ornate crystal chandelier that bursts into vibrant golden flame at the party's entrance, casting the room into a stark combination of antisepctic whites and coal blacks.

Everything in this chamber appears fastidiously organized or tidied, although there is little in the way of furnishings to muddle things. The one real exception is a track of footprints that seems to lead from the doorway to several points in the room, as though something booted moved through the area dropping soot or ash around itself as it went.

Looking behind them, the party sees two other doors leading from the chamber directly to either side of the door through which they entered. The one on the left appears once to have been gold, but it is bubbled and charred to the point at which it appears near melting. To the right, a bronze doorway is dented and battered but still square in its frame.

The room itself has a dozen raised plinths upon which coffers or stands of various kinds rest. They are arranged in two rows of six, on the left and right sides of the chamber, and these are the structures between which the sooty footprints act like connective tissue. The Visitor moves into the chamber, thoughtfully considering the structures and reading aloud from the inscriptions on each of the plinths in turn.

"Here rests the Axe of Horthrin Warbringer, who cleansed the halls of the Great Mountain of the beasts that infested it. He was lost at the coming of the great shadow over the bridge of flame, though his axe was recovered and laid to rest here. It awaits his true heir, who will claim it with the words of...Oh dear, this is almost like a prophecy. An exceedingly boring one. At any rate, there's no axe. The true heir must have come back" He indicates an empty axe-rest that sits atop the plinth, moving on to the next.

"Here lie the bones of Yllon Hearthdrinker, High Priest of Falles. He was stricken in the Plaza of Hammers by an unknown force and his body refused to decay. All who touched the remains were similarly stricken, and so they were removed to this place where they would no longer trouble the living. Hm...I'm beginning to wonder about the nature of this dwarven treasure." Bromric taps the top of a silvery coffer with the flat of one hand before moving on.

"Oh, the Armor of the First King! So that's what that was. In case Bromric is wondering, the armor up with animals belonged to the First King of this blighted clan. No dwarf was considered worthy to wear it once the king died, but they didn't want to bury it with him either so they left it in here for safekeeping. I suppose that dwarf upstairs must have considered himself worthy of it." He once again indicates an empty armor stand atop the plinth. He begins to appear impatient so he moves more quickly from station to station, reciting as if in a trance, almost poetically.

"Orb of the dwarf seers, entombed because it saw brought visions too keen...daggers stained with the blood of a thousand orcs...the last gold ransom of the elves...the head of the fell druid's apprentice...the key to the gate of shadows...aha, the Tome of Knowledge Too Black...what a handsome title indeed to give to such a thing." He stops, with three stations yet unreached, and drags the silvery coffer down off its stand with his ungainly strength. It bangs against the polished stone floor almost painfully loudly. Deft fingers twist at the latch on the coffer, a lock seeming to be considered redundant after such a mechanism as protected the door, and he throws the coffer open. An ancient brown leather tome rests inside, slightly cracked with age. Bromric's hands reach out and gingerly remove it from the coffer, and he sits on the marble floor with it on his lap as he begins leafing through the brittle pages one by one, carefully examining the eldritch markings thereon.

[Zhym]

Melvin looks around at the stations, explored and unexplored. "Are there any treasures left in this treasure hoard?" he asks, not expecting a reply.

[Keehnelf]

Bromric looks up lazily. "Yes, it seems only the axe and armor were made off with, and I think we found those earlier."

Indeed, coffers rest on all the other plinths. "Help yourself," he says with a smirk, returning to his studies.

[Zhym]

Melvin inspects the plinths, wondering if there is any overlap between items dwarves would treasure and items useful to a wizard.

[Marullus]

The orb of dwarven seers sounds promising for Melvin...

[Zhym]

Except for that whole thing about "visions too keen."

The daggers might be useful too.

[Keehnelf]

There are three more he didn't read aloud you could check out.

[Zhym]

Oh, sure, lets do that.

[Keehnelf]

Is there anyone else who reads dwarven, or will Melvin just be popping the coffers open?

[Zhym]

Looks like the only other person who speaks dwarf just got vaporized. Melvin can read languages next time he can prepare a spell, so he could copy down the descriptions for later translation, but for now I guess all he could do is pop open the coffers unless the Visitor translates.

He'll wait for now, though.

[Starbeard]

Melvin lifts a corner of Seadu's cloak with his rapier. Is there any sign of the cleric's elven ring or the healing potion he carried? Melvin realizes that he should have had that thought about a minute or so earlier.

Assuming he finds nothing, Melvin lights his lantern and looks to the Visitor.

Yeah. I thought about that too about 3 minutes after posting, and felt like Sir Galahad in the Holy Grail ('Blue—wait! No, yellow! AGH!')

Chalk another one up to Seadu not quite getting it right.

[Keehnelf]

God damn my phone. I lost a very long post summing up this phase. I'll redo it tonight.

[Keehnelf]

--I hate condensing this due to time constraints but I have to--holiday weekend and all.

Bromric continues reading and finds what he needs among the arcane writings. He studies one page in particular before tearing out the page before it, folding it in quarters and handing it to Melvin, indicating that as a wizard he might find it interesting. Then he proceeds to crush the remaining pages into dust.

He points to the remaining three coffers, translating the inscriptions loosely. One contains a key left in the dwarves' care by a being he translates as the Westwarden that opens the Prison of the Prodigal Daughter, whatever that might be. The second is the last few pearls of Critos' Necklace of Fortune, that allows one to reverse misfortune by breaking the beads. The final one is the Belt of Keldan Giantsbane, which allows one to grow to the size and strength of one's adversary, but brings with it the risk that one will transform permanently into that creature as part of its magic.

Those descriptions made, he inscribed a bloody glyph in one forearm with a long fingernail, then intones a long string of incoherent syllables, smiling at all and thanking them for their service.

Bromric's body falls lifeless to the stone, a thin wisp of ash and sulfur hanging in the air over him for a brief moment before it dissipates entirely. Bromric comes to a moment later, returned to himself but in agony from the demon's parting gift. Their arms itching, the other party members roll up their sleeves to reveal the same glyph in white scar tissue on their left forearms. All save Melvin.

(Those so affected, please add a note to your character sheet that you are "Demon-marked".

[Marullus]

So, who remains alive and present in the room?

[Keehnelf]

Bromric, Melvin, Martin, and Abi.

[Keehnelf]

Oops Mokatah too.

[Marullus]

There's a keyhole in the middle of the door--I just forgot to mention it when moving from basilisk fight over to the door-opening. Oops!

Also worth mentioning that we had the key ring with all three keys; we got it off of Fangir's remains. I assumed we opened the lock. Are there keyholes on the inside of the doors, too? Is the one on the melted door intact?

Bromric rises, shaking, back to his feet. Finally, he sucks in a long breath. "Cursed swords... Feh. Thank you all for coming along to help in getting rid of that thing." He looks around with awe and wonder at the room. "To stand here, heirs to my forefathers..."

"These halls are lost, all protections broken, now," he says with regret. "We must save what we can. To keep them in the hands of the Good, at least, for evil will come soon behind us. That basilisk was drawn, more beasts will be, too."

Bromric stands a long time in reverie, looking at the writing on the two empty plinths, built to hold the axe and armor. "Five of us remain; and twelve plinths. The book was destroyed by the demon that none may bind him ever again. We should probably also not use the immortal bones that prevent bodies from decay, eh? That leaves two treasures for each of you; reward for coming and seeing this through. You already put the two missing items in trust for me, packed on my pony. I will ask nothing of this treasure beyond what you've already thus given - of all things here, those two must remain among the dwarven people. I can read the other inscriptions for you, as you each chose."

(I could've dragged this out over several posts; please forgive the brevity. Figured I'd try to condense to move the action forward.)