Messages

"Very pragmatic of you. An admirable quality" the lich answered with a slow nod. "It is true, if I desired I could kill you with a thought. Less than that even, truly. You are right to be cautious. As I said though, chaos does not serve my disposition. A bargain struck is sacrosanct, for what is someone worth but their word alone?"

"So I give you my word, an oath, upon my name Ialdukas. If you free me, I will dispel the undead horde surrounding this location and leave in peace." The lich placed a pale skeletal hand upon his chest and bowed as low as his confinement would allow.

"The enchantment binding me can be most easily removed by breaking the outer circle of this diagram." He pointed to the largest surrounding line in the magic circle.

"Villainy is a matter of perspective" the lich replied wagging a bony finger. "Is it a crime to seek knowledge? To pursue improvement? My quest required more time than the fleeting lifespan of a human, and so my path has lead me to the immortal form you see before you." He folded his hands in front of him in a neutral gesture. "The price was heavy and sacrifices had to be made, as with any great work. All things considered though, I'm sure in the eyes of a goblin you are every bit as villainous as I to you. I have no love for wanton chaos, all things must serve a purpose. Cogs in the divine wheel so to speak."

"Let me be clear, I was brought here after being imprisoned. I imagine by whatever master those fools you dealt with serve. I was minding my own business, in a place far from here, when suddenly I was blindsided by potent magics and found myself bound in this cavern."

The lich gestured at the binding circle at his feet. "Which brings us back to the topic of bargains. Outside this cave is an extraordinary number of undead" he paused for a moment as if thinking "I estimate a horde of at least ten thousand, give or take. These retched husks are doing one of two things, converging upon your location as I am certain you alerted them to your presence; or wandering off as a group in search of warm flesh elsewhere. Do you see where I am going with this?" He held out his hands palm up as if they were a scale to weigh his proposal. "Free me, and I will negate the magics that animate these corpses. Then I will leave, to return to my seclusion and studies."

The lich scoffed. "Clearly I'm standing here bound against my will in a dank mine in the middle of nowhere. Did you think I'd done this to myself?" It waved its hand dismissively before continuing. "The ogre whom I assume is dead, bravo by the way, was under the thrall of those robed miscreants. I'm not sure how exactly they came about accomplishing it, judging by the meagre skill of their mages. I would assume perhaps someone dominated the thing for them."

He paused for a moment, assuming it had been a 'he' in life, and you could swear his eyes were once again lingering on Thedrin's sword with mild interest. A moment later though he continued. "Those crystals" he began, and the hint of anger was detectable in the unpleasant scraping sound of his voice, "Were manufactured by those miserable hooligans by way of an advanced ritual, again I stress that it was magic beyond their capability and they must have been instructed in its use. The ritual in question forcibly removed a not insignificant portion of my own magical essence."

The lich tapped at the boundary with its finger once more, probing. "One of a minor few reasons why I find myself confined in such a manner... Rest assured though, I will make my escape eventually in time. I do have so very much time"

"But of course... if you are inclined we might be able to come to a bargain regarding that." He spread his arms before him, palms upturned in a gesture that was probably meant to be reassuring.

"Very observant" the lich replied. "Yes I am unable to leave this circle. At the moment."

[strong]

[info]Knowledge: Religion
Thedrin racks his brain for any relevant information, but the most he can come up with is that he is definitely looking at a lich.[/info]

Thedrin's alignment detecting magics returned immediate results. The diadem around the lich's forehead held not even the faintest of evil aura's, nor did the binding circle the lich stood in. The lich however, radiated a strong evil, the nature of which he could not be sure.

"If you stare that intently you'll make me blush" the lich said with a soft dry chuckle. It raised one of its skeletal hands, the taught skin like leather creaking softly, and poked a boney finger toward the outer bounds of the circle. Surprisingly, or not depending on how one looked at it, there was a slight tapping sound as if one was drumming on a window pane. "As you can see, I am going nowhere quickly. Shall we talk? I do enjoy good conversation, and I so rarely get the chance for it. My previous company was so unpleasantly rude... What became of them do you know?"

Your party moves on from the carnage of the previous battle, the lightly steaming corpse of the cultist still radiating the stench of burnt flesh and hair. At the north of the mine, is another opening where it looks like the cavern continues on. As you round the corner however, you find that there wasn't much else to explore as what looked like a passageway was more of a small natural alcove.

More importantly however is what, or who is occupying that alcove.

A chill runs up your spine and crawls into your brain like a hundred electric spiders made of pure fear. Standing as still as a statue in the center of a large binding circle is a gaunt and skeletal figure. Its skin is stretched tight over its pronounced skull, forming a disquieting rictus grin full of yellowing aged teeth. A silver diadem rests on it's brow inches above a pair of softly glowing crimson lights that pierce you with a gaze set far back in long emptied sockets.

It casually sweeps its "eyes" across your party, lingering for a moment on Thedrin's longsword; the one he received from the skeletal knight in the barrow.

"My, isn't this a surprise?" the creature says, its mouth unmoving. The whispering sound of its "voice" is both nails on a chalkboard and a rumbling bass that reverberates in your ears long after it finishes speaking. "To whom do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

A careful examination of the crates shows they hold large quantities of the dangerous Dark Essence crystals. Whatever the cultists were doing here they either required a significant amount of them or had been creating them somehow. The unexplored northern passage of the mine beckons and may hold more secrets, or perhaps answers.

A large globe of water swirls its way out of nothingness above the flaming cultist, before splashing down and effectively extinguishing the fire. Simultaneously Thedrin makes use of his wand attempting to keep the man alive.

Alas, it is for naught. Though the fire has been put out the cultist has succumbed to the flames and is left as a smoldering corpse, his blackened body grimly contorted and devoid of life.

"Well shit, now what?" Scathach asks. "What caused him to catch fire like that you think?"

[info]The vial is found to contain Oil of Light, functioning as the Light cantrip.[/info]

The cultist looked at Thedrin silently for a moment, measuring the truth of his promise that he wouldn't be hurt. He did not believe him, but his aversion to pain loosened his tongue anyway.

"The ogre was ensorcelled. Dominated that is. I dunno where it came from, just that we were told to take it and use it for protection. Them dead villagers were for the same purpose. Kill 'em and raise 'em to protect the mine. As for what we's doing here..." He trailed off, looking over at the crates containing the Dark Essence and started to sweat.

"We... we's under orders to... Say, is it getting hot in here?" The cultist interrupted his confession with a question. You hadn't noticed any change in temperature, in fact the mine was quite cool due to it being underground, however the cultist had begun to sweat excessively. Unnaturally in fact, his face had also begun to turn a bright red hue. "Oi, it's hot! Why is it so fucking hot! I feel as if I'm aflame!"

As it were, the man more than "feeling" aflame, actually had caught fire.

The robes he wore, adorned with the same emblem as the ones you fought at the Crow Father's shrine suddenly and violently ignited in an intense flash of heat. The smell of burning flesh, hair, and tallow infuses the air with its rankness as the man begins to scream and thrash wildly.

The cultist blanched at the sight of the ring. "Awww light preserve me... I shoulda taken it off and stashed it..." he grumbled quietly. Realizing there was nothing he could do, and you may kill him if he didn't answer he looked down at the floor and mumbled an answer.

"Aye... I serve for my lord."

The cultist woke with a start, having been the first to fall in combat he looked around the chamber in confusion at his slain comrades and the hulking corpse of the ogre.

"Ahhh fuck" he groaned, realizing he was now metaphorically in neck deep shit.

The equipment of the cultists proved to be nothing special, mundane hand axes and chainmail hauberks on the bruisers and normal traveler clothing on the mage. Their pockets, once rifled through, contained a a handful of coins and a vial of pale yellow oil but nothing else of significance. The stinking carcass of the ogre proved to hold nothing of significant value, and its massive weapon would prove too unwieldy to be worth taking.

On the right hand of the unconscious mage however, was an interesting bauble: a signet ring. The gold band bore an enameled seal showing a black wolf's head on a red field. The image was familiar.

[info]Obtained 41 gold and a Vial of Pale Yellow Oil.
A perception check to identify the oil may be made.[/info]

"Now that you've got it, will you be sticking around? It might do well to check down there." Spira commented casting a somewhat avaricious eye at the various valuable baubles in the room.

A quick and accurate barrage of flaming arrows launched from Rhenri's bow made quick work of the thrashing cultist trapped in the summoned spider's web. The sizable arachnid twitched its pedipalps in what could only be construed as glee and made to sink its fangs into the freshly made corpse to drink its innards. However, at that moment the magic which bound it to this plane ended and with it the spider vanished from existence with an audible pop.

A few moments later, the enchanted oil Thedrin had spread on himself wore off and he slowly returned to normal size.

"Well, that could have been worse" Scathach remarked looking at the dead ogre. "I think that one might still be alive though." She pointed to the cultist which had created the pool of grease early in the fight, who though unconscious was still moving and groaning quietly. "Question him or finish him off? It looks like the mine continues around that bend across the chamber."

[info]Encounter over. 666 exp each.[/info]

Thedrin's overhead smash caught the cultist in the shoulder, digging in but not enough to be fatal. The man was bleeding profusely but refused to die. Hopping quickly back into a better position from which to fire, Scathach drew and fired twice yet again. The arrows pierced the cultist neatly in the chest and throat; he was dead before he hit the floor.

Elsewhere, the entangled cultist flew into a blind panic as his cohort died around him. Still bound, but flailing wildly, he swung at the giant spider and through sheer luck struck a potent blow spraying bright yellow hemolymph over everything in the immediate area.

[okay]Thedrin attacks Cultist 1, 8 damage[/okay]
[okay]Scathach shoots Cultist 1 twice, once critically, 15 damage total. Cultist 1 dies.[/okay]
[error]Cultist 2 attacks Summoned Spider, a critical hit, 12 damage[/error]
[info]Rhenri to go[/info]

[spoiler=Combat Log]
Roll20 Link
Initiative Order: Rhenri, Caster, Fighter 1, Thedrin, Scathach, Cecilia, Fighter 2, Ogre
[spoiler=Round 1]Round 1:
Rhenri shoots Cultist 3, 5 damage
Cultist 3 casts a spell
Thedrin enlarges
Scathach shoots Cultist 3, 7 damage.
Cecilia summons a spider that webs Cultist 2
Ogre attacks Thedrin, 12 damage[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Round 2]Round 2:
Rhenri shoots Ogre, miss
Thedrin attacks Ogre, 13 damage
Scathach shoots Ogre, 3 damage
Cecilia casts Grease to no effect
Summoned Spider attacks Cultist 2, miss
Ogre attacks Thedrin 12 damage
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Round 3]Round 3:
Rhenri shoots Ogre, 22 damage
Thedrin AOO Cultist 1, 5 damage
Cultist 1 attacks Cecilia, miss
Thedrin attacks Cultist 1, 8 damage
Scathach shoots Cultist 1, 15 damage
Cultist 2 attacks Summoned Spider, 12 damage[/spoiler]
Round 4:
[/spoiler]