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Ooc: Emral does this in a grim and serious way. I personally would be like “ew. Eww. So gross. Eww. Why is it not coming off fast enough? Where did they get that blood from? I bet we’re gonna find a Sorcerer who wants to fight me but I’m not gonna until they wash their hands.”
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The snow wipes clean, but the symbol of blood remains...unchanged, no smearing.
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Is there blood on his cloak, or did it not come off the stone?
Emral gets up from the stone and takes the lantern back from Malak, and continues east through the courtyard towards the stone wall.
ooc: How big is the radius of the lantern light? The hope is they can get out of the direct wind and fill out the map! So far just grass and a stone. No sign of tombstones! What kind of cemetary is this? Hmmmmmm, maybe C5 or thereabouts has a mausoleum or something? Maybe stairs down to a dungeon catacomb?
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The cloak is clean.
The lantern radius is normally 30 ft but this darkness is overwhelming, the winds and the blinding snow and the whipping grasses - you can't see 5ft in front of you...
2 stones. nearly identical, each with the same glyph in blood.
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Emral presses to the east and the safety of the church.
5ft ahead he can make out the rear stone wall.
And at his feet yet a third tombstone, same shape and glyph.
The winds gain a fever pitch, humming inside your ears
and the grasses whip wildly into your faces, cutting your flesh with sharp edges.
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Emral tires of the whipping grass and slashes to meet them with his sword. "I've enough grit that I'll not fear cow food!"
He notes the position of the tombstones (grid squares?) and thinks. "These glyphs are likely in a pattern, maybe a circle or star. We're just above the dome room here. Keep to the wall and we'll try to avoid the wind. Look for doors or stairs or, well, anything. We're close to a clue, I can feel it."
Emral moves them into the corner (C5) and then starts towards the outside of the area. He checks on Malak to see if his companion is holding up from the magic-seeming storm, as they press on.
ooc: any writing on the tombstones, like "RIP village mayor" or anything? Any other shapes as we essentially make our way to C8?
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Emral slashes the invading grass, which offensive blades fall at his feet in E4.
The stones feel anchored o the earth.
Although he dares not take out his ink quill and map in this gale, he glances back at the stones in E/F2 and E3 to remember their positions at a safer time.
He and Malak step forward to the wall at E5 and the winds and snow abruptly cease.
Emral's shaky lantern illumes anew.
They stand next to a stone wall that extends twenty feet to the rear of the church, forming a 20 x20ft courtyard. Ten feet in front of them is the 10x10weathered wooden belfry rising 20 ft to the huge bell.
5 ft ahead on the wall is a simple wooden door.
Twisted melted glass shards from the high windows overhead across the courtyard litter the sandy earth.
A shovel leans against the wall beneath them.
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Emral looks at the storm and where the anchor stones might be, around its perimeter.
The wooden door on the wall or belfry? And what spaces can he guess they are?
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There is no storm. No wind. No snow falls. The grasses are still, standing tall from their fresh blanket.
The sky is clear above you. A harsh bitter cold felt by Malak, but the ring warms Emral.
The door is beside you in the wall.
The wooden belfry beyond - its rickety staircase winding up to a huge copper bell, which is oxidized to a milky blue/green patina, clear even in this dull lantern light.
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Emral takes a look at the yard they've passed through, trying to see where there are any stones like those that had the glyph on them.
"Let's get inside this door," Emral points to the wooden door next to him. "Do you think it'll be locked or trapped by whoever's rigged this place with glyphs?"
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Emral scans the grasses.
He can make out stones at E/F2, E3, E4, G3, G4, H/I 2, H3, H4.
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“I’m seeing a circle of stones, maybe it’s something that they used to create the curse? The acolyte having a ring of warmth that protected me from the cold is convenient. I’m guessing there’s more of them, and maybe they are the ones who melted down the gold. If we can find you a ring like this one, maybe we can get a look inside the cold spell!”
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ooc: Are the stones in a formation similar to the glyph itself? And are these all that are above the snow, which from this side looks calm? Like, when we're in the cemetery it's a blizzard, but past the line of stones it's calm?
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fireinthedust wrote:
ooc: Are the stones in a formation similar to the glyph itself? And are these all that are above the snow, which from this side looks calm? Like, when we're in the cemetery it's a blizzard, but past the line of stones it's calm?
Emral tries to make sense of the glyph but doesn't see any similarities between the mark and the layout of the stones he can see through the tall gras and the fresh blanket of snow.
He ponders how the howling winds and the pelting snow ceased instantaneously as they stepped across the threshold of the courtyard.
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Lets go inside
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Agreed! You first? Maybe check for traps or locks? Emral is likely going to fail saving throws, and now that we’re at a door I’m feeling paranoid that we will suddenly find a trap.
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Ooc: does the door look new or original to the temple? Not new construction that might be trapped? And what more do we see on and around the door?
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The door looks original. The pull is simple iron. Banded hinges on inside of stone jamb.
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I check it for traps
Roll d12
3