Castle Amber: A D&D Adventure

Master K · Post by **Master K** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 3:57 am

"Gack!" Lynda says, taken aback by her newfound piece of jewelry.

"It's...rather heavy, and somewhat unfashionable..." She says, looking at it. "But I suppose."

"Lets...push fate a little more." She says to herself. She decides to cautiously approach the statue wielding the scepter. She extends her hand, being cautious of whatever might come flying her way.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 3:59 am

Lynda touches the statue and nothing happens.

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 5:46 am

Jubilex... Kalar tries to remember what he knows about that deity. He's fairly certain that he's never had encounters with any members of a religion that worshiped that particular deity. All he's sure of is that Jubilex, the Faceless Lord, is hardly a pleasant deity. Then, an idea.

Kalar begins muttering to himself, enough that it sounds like he's pondering something to himself, but also loud enough to ensure that Silas can hear.

"Jubilex... Let's see..." He closes his eyes, and bows his head, as if searching his memory. "Probably... Drow? Or maybe svirfneblin, but no... most probably drow... Though what was she the goddess of... Mysteries was it? Or lore and plots... Or was that Lolth? Could never remember with those foreign deities..."

He makes a show of looking over the statue with a vase, as if examining it for further details.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's forbidden lore and history, keeping that knowledge in a container and doling it out piece by piece to worshipers and all that. Fat lot of good that does us though... Still, good to know."

Of course, Kalar makes most of this up, as he is completely unsure about the specifics of the deity.

That said, he turns away from it, as if uninterested in further perusal of the statue.

Kalar takes a look at the different doors, trying to gather as much detail from them as he can while still staying well away from any of the statues. He also focuses on hearing things around him, as he wants to be well-warned should a statue start moving around behind him. He hardly trusts Silas to shout out a warning, and Lynda seems far too busy prancing about with the statues to be much help. As for Galse and Thistlewhistle, they might shout a warning, but it would still be better to rely on his own senses.

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 6:23 am

Galse will remain in his role as rear-guard, standing outside the door of the church and keeping an eye on everyone, occasionally taking a look at the surrounding wilderness for any possible ambushes. A little religion never hurt anyone, but it's not right to poke around when there's nobody around and these statues are pretty creepy.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 7:17 am

Galse watches as the others go deeper and deeper into the chapel. Silas and Lynda are both off behind one of the walls where Galse can't see them. Thistlewhistle and Kalar remain right in the middle of the room as they head towards the altar and the doors on northwall.

Silas takes a moment to watch as Lynda touches the statues. When she touches the statues holding the scepter and nothing happens Silas can't help but investigate. He reaches out to touch it just as the statue quickly places it's scepter into Silas' non stoned hand. The scepter turns to a green colored steel just as the statue turns to granite. As soon as he gains a hold of it, Silas recognizes this as an arcane spell casting implement. Lynda frowns at the fact that the statue gave the scepter to Silas and not her.

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:36 am

Kalar considers the religious figure on the altar. As it's a figure dedicated to a lord of the hells, it's probably very dangerous. On the other hand, devils can be negotiated with...

"Lynda, be a dear please and take that figure on top of the altar. I know it's potentially related to a dangerous deity, but trust me, my power will keep you safe, but I won't be able to do anything so close to the altar as it will affect my powers."

It's probably not true, regarding his powers being affected, that is, but no sense taking undue risks.

"I'll keep a watch from here, to make sure nothing goes awry. If it does though, you have my word that I will do my best to help you."

Kalar does mean that though, and he always keeps his word once he gives it. Lynda could prove to be useful still, and a fighter who can hit things from far away is always welcome.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 3:49 pm

Silas half-listens to Kalar's talk of Jubilex, but he knows that a vase is not ever a symbol of Vecna, and Vecna is the ONLY god of secrets that Silas reveres.

When the Statue gives him the scepter, Silas smiles. Is this thing good enough to compensate for the loss of his arm? He isn't sure. He looks at it to try and figure out exactly how it works. He also tries putting it down on the floor and picking it up again. He is concerned that it might be magically fused to his grasp, since Lynda couldn't remove the amulet from her neck. If one of his hands is stone, and the other permanently has a scepter stuck in it, he is doomed to some very awkward privy breaks in the future.

Silas idly wonders if touching a statue with his dead stone hand will produce different results than touching it with his remaining flesh hand, but he does not act to carry out this experiment just yet, he will wait until he decides that some specific statue is less likely to harm him.

Froginator · Post by **Froginator** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 5:22 pm

oops...sorry don't mind me

Master K · Post by **Master K** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 5:35 pm

"Silas receives the scepter, but not me?" Lynda thinks to herself. "Odd. These statues must react differently depending on the person. The statue of the woman came to me with knowledge, and the stone amulet transfixed upon my neck. Perhaps since Silas is a spell caster by trade, the statue figured that Silas would be better off with the scepter..."

"Besides, he has one stone arm. I'm pretty lucky that the stone amulet didn't kill me..."

Lynda's train of thought broke, as Kalar requests her to take a figurine from atop the altar.

"Well...I suppose I could." Lynda says halfheartedly.

She attempts to take the religious figure upon the altar.

"This better not kill me..." She grumbles.

marionline · Post by **marionline** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 6:26 pm

Thistlewhistle watches everything that happens in the room with a mixture of surprise and interest from the door. The gnome takes a quick note at the scroll "Any of thoses statues has a sword? Or a Viper?" he shouts into the room. "Or...or... or a key made of silver?"
He points at the scroll and explains to Galse. "It says Search first the doof of silver keys..." speaking to himself he wonders: "...Who know's what that's good for, ehy?"

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:44 pm

Thinking twice about following Kalar, Thistlewhistle decides to stick by Galse, as he seems like the most level headed of the group besides himself of course. As Thistlewhistle looks at the statues from the other side of the entrance door and Galse keeps an eye on the forrest, a large frog emerges from the tree line and hops onto the path. It just seems to sit there, looking at Thistlewhistle and Galse. They both decide it's best to just ignore it. Thistlewhistle takes note of the statue holding a sword.

Silas puts down and picks up the scepter without any problems. Much to his delight he remembers training with items such as these back when he was learning of magic. All he needs to do is channel his spells through the scepter instead of his hands and the scepter should do it's job. Silas thinks of how best to test this out. He also tries to decide on the next statue to interact with but can't see anything past the items they hold to distinguish them from each other.

Kalar watches as Lynda walks over and tries to take the figurine. As she yanks, the figurine refuses to move form the altar and instead bends over as if attached on the bottom to the altar by a hinge. A loud rumbling comes from the altar. It slides away towards the back wall revealing a hole underneath. There's a ladder leading down the hole. The hole itself goes down too far to see.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:14 pm

Lacking any clear criteria to choose another statue, Silas ignores the statues he recognizes, and the statues carrying distinguishing items, and goes to the nearest untouched undistinguishable statue.

He touches it with his stone hand. If nothing happens, he will then touch it with his good hand.

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:56 pm

"Well look at that..."

Kalar takes some of the linen he took from the room back near the hall of mirrors and soaks it in some of the lantern oil he has in his pack. He then wraps it tightly around one end of the javelin that Thistlewhistle broke, forming a crude torch.

He steps to the edge of the hole and peers down. Hoping there's nothing too flammable down there, he uses his flint and steel to light the torch and then throws it down the hole. Hopefully, it'll give them some sort of idea what's down there. At the very least, it'll help them see just how deep the passage goes.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 6:07 pm

Silas klinks his marble arm against the unremarkable marble statue to his left. The statue animates and swiftly stick a finger into Silas's chest. The statue's face remains fixed in an uncaring expression. The finger goes straight through what Silas is wearing and sticks into Silas chest fingernail deep. An instant sense of sickness fills Silas. The statue turns to granite as a terrible burning spreads from the point of the finger's entry. black viens crawl across Silas's skin. He falls to the floor, bleeding from the chest and writhing in agony. After a minute or so, with the rest of the watching Silas' torment, Silas' pain subsides. His whole body aches. The black veins covering his body remain.

Silas takes 3 con dmg and 4 str dmg.
(Every character gets a minimum of 1 HP per level no matter their con score. Until the character reaches 0 con which is death.)

(Thistlewhistle Listen Check)
Thistlewhistle hears someone crying. It seems to be coming from beneath the floor near one of the statues.

After Silas' turmoil, Kalar goes back to preparing a torch. He lights it while just barely avoiding a burn. When it drops down into the hole, Kalar can see that the shaft goes down what is easily 100ft. It ends in a tight passage leading south.

Master K · Post by **Master K** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 6:49 pm

"...I think that should be a lesson on the dangers of touching enchanted statues." Lynda says, holding her hand to her marble amulet.

"As for this deep tunnel, I'm not sure what we should do. Should we pursue it, or investigate this church a little more?"