The Fall of House Pancrazio Chapter Three

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Something is strange about this tunnel," Harold grumbles under his breath as he looks around at the too-smooth walls. "Very strange. I do not - ah! A rather less formidable barrier than the ghost, isn't it?" The old man jabs his staff in the direction of the gate from a safe distance.

(OOC: Spellcraft check: 17.)

[Lord Skybolt]

As Tahl comes closer to the rusted gate he spots some thing out of the ordinary on the wall near it . "There is a secret door here ." As he says this he shows every one where it is .

[ewancummins]

'Hey, Harold, did you bring any paper, anything to use for writing or drawing? I think you should begin to make a simple map of these tunnels. Who knows how extensive they might be...''

[JMaytr]

Tahl traces the secret door with his fingers, prodding slowly until he finds a small pressure plate in the stone wall. As he presses into the plate, the door pushes inward revealing a small closet like room, 5'x5'.

Inside, the room is covered in heavy layers of dust. There is a small shrine here. A small alter lies on the floor adorned with three thick tapered candles and a heavy-foot tall iron holy symbol of Ezra. The statue is of an older make and does not resemble Borca's current sovereign.

Also on the table is there is an iron metal bowl with a slender bladed, cold iron knife lying next to it. the bottom of the bowl is dirty with brown dirt flakes and 5 small charred bones. There are other burned bits in the bowl that are unrecognizable.

There is a single wooden shelf on the east wall of the closet. It is badly damaged from age, but four Iron bands keep the ancient shelf from crumbling completely. There are two leather scroll cases on the shelf, along with some tinder sticks, a ring of old keys, and some incense bound by twine.

[Varrus the Ethical]

"Oh My" Sebastian says, as he approaches the shrine. He makes a quick prayer to Ezra before the holy symbol, and then examines the Shrine and the iron bowl.

(OOC Knowledge religion http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2285583/)

[RocEter]

Julian makes a quick pray to Ezra upon seeing the holy symbol, he too will examine the holy symbol, the Iron bowl and Cold Iron Knife. (1)

1. Knowledge Religion Check <a>1d20+5=16</a>

[Varrus the Ethical]

Sebastian scratches his head, brow furrowed in concentration as he examines the shrine with his elder brother. Finally he lets out a sigh of frustration.

"Well beyond the obvious fact that this an Ezran shrine, I can't really discern any additional significance from these items." He says as he points at the iron bowl and knife.

[RocEter]

Julian smiles at his younger brother then points to the bowl and knife "Well little brother, both the bowl and knife are not part of any Ezra practice I know of. Perhaps there is some darker meaning behind these two items, something to do with that chest we found." he says to him.

After adjusting the cloth that servers as his eye patch, he places the his thumbs under his sword belt.

"It seems these tunnels bring nothing but questions. The question remains now is, do we disturb these items or let them be?" he asks no one in particular.

[Varrus the Ethical]

"Well perhaps we should leave them be for the moment, given time, I could prepare a divination to determine if these items are magical in nature."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Before the secret door is uncovered and opened, Harold nods wordlessly and takes out a sheet of parchment, on which he makes some hurried notes. When the secret shrine is opened and Sebastian mentions preparing a divination later, the old man stows the provisory map, however.

"And I can do so right here and now," Harold growls, already making an arcane gesture. "Stand back. Hoc quod est occultus, video!"

(OOC: Casting Detect Magic.)

[PathOfDreams]

When the group comes to a halt, "Why have stopped?", Goran wonders aloud. He soon sees the gate and pursues his query no longer. After a moment he moves closer to the iron gate to observe what is going on inside, trying also not to bunch up too much with everyone else.

"There, Julian, is there anything in that crude bowl?" Goran asks his cousin, as he is too far outside the closet too see.

The woodsman also uses this time to inspect the locks that bind the heavy chains to the gate. He brings his torch close to them. (1)

(1) Spot check result natural 1 + 5 = 6 (great!) Goran's interested mostly to see if any of these locks match that one the chest.

[ewancummins]

Tristan joins Goran near the locked gate. He takes a moment to inspect the gate itself.


http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2286111/

[JMaytr]

As Goran and Tristan inspect the locks before them a few things become apparent:

1-the locks are very old and rusted. They look fragile.

2-they are high quality locks, but manufactured in an older style. They do not resemble the lock on the chest in the "cell".

3-the key holes for the locks resemble old skeleton key holes.

[ewancummins]

''I'm pretty sure I could bust these locks, Goran. They don't look very sturdy. The only thing that bothers me is...what if this gate is here not to keep us out, but to keep something nasty in? Remember what that priest fellow said about 'ghouls' lurking in warrens...''

[Varrus the Ethical]

If ghouls are beyond this gate, I may have something that can help. I can ward two people against the perceptions of the undead for about twenty minutes. I could cast in on a one or two of you and you could scout ahead. Any lesser undead will not notice you unless you disturb them.