[IC] The Chronicles of Dosei: Sands of Blood, A Dungeons and Dragons Roleplay. (Full)

[Meiyuki]

Alyssa looked over at Bernard. "As long as people let me do my job, stay on their toes, and don't get greedy we'll all be fine." She kept her voice quiet so she didn't disturb her sleeping companions.

"Problem I see is that alot of the people here seem accustomed to working alone, or have stupid prejudices. I think Cat will be fine, she's a soldier so she's probably used to working as a team. Malkai, I don't know, he didn't even offer to keep watch...I wonder if he'll even bother to let me check for traps or scout before running off ahead? He may think he's stealthy, but he really isn't, not enough anyway."

"I'll make sure your mistress makes it out if I can. I haven't had an adventuring partner in a long time, so I'm not going to pass up the opportunity." Alyssa sighed. "As for the rest? Who can say? I'll do my best."

[Lucius Cypher]

After the dragon left, Malkai went back to his place. He told Alyssa that he'll be sleeping in the other side so she should set up her alarm after he leaves. But once he was out of sight from the others, he didn't go to sleep immediately. There was still the matter of warding the camp, so Malkai spent a good thirty minutes prepping protective wards at the entrance if the temple. This way whatever is inside won't come out. Falchion awoke when Malkai arrived, and after he warded the entrance he allowed his bird to rest for the night.

once that was dealt with Malkai transformed back into a fox, returning to his barrow and digging himself a new little room to rest in. Meanwhile Falchion flew down towards Alyssa and Bernard. As fellow birds, Falchion was able to communicate with the raven, though he has no ears to directly speak to Alyssa. 「Never seen you before. You a pet?」

[EWillden]

Bernard looked over at the falcon Falchion. [A pet, god's no, I am a familiar, Vivian's familiar to be exact. Better then the average raven, well some what better. Yourself? Are you a pet to the masked one? Bernard began to look the large bird up and down. Are you really a falcon,... you look like one but you are very large from one. What is Malkai feeding you? Perhaps I can tell Vivian to feed me the same. Bernard said.

His thoughts still on what Alyssa said. He wasn't concerned about her or the others, this lot can handle themselves for damn sure. What he did not trust was people who were by chance too cocky. The young sorcerer was just that. He believed he was the toughest thing out here, but if Copper dragon warns you about a temple. A dragon mind, one of the most powerful and mystical creatures that exist, warns you about a temple and tells you to be careful. It just gave Bernard this feeling that the temple was much more dangerous then they were told. Much much more. This sorcerer might fight a foe where his magic will be useless on it.

[Lucius Cypher]

「Partner. I see things he cannot, go places he can't, and unlike him I do not need to eat nearly as much to survive... Though it's always good to eat more.」 Falchion chirped quietly. He looked between Bernard and Alyssa, wondering what they were doing. Aside from watch, obviously. Bernard said he was the familiar of Vivian, so why would he be with Alyssa? Perhaps it wasn't his place to know. 「Eat a lot and you'll grow big. It's quite simple. My partner often gives me food to eat even after I hunt, so I can grow bigger and stronger than most.」 Of course, he was still only as strong as a falcon, albeit a very big one.

「What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with your master?」 Flachion said, tipping his head to the side. 「Do you intend to become this one's familiar as well?」 Falchion didn't know much about magic, and only knew Familiars as "pets of mages". He also didn't know Alyssa's name or Bernard's. Half the time he forgets Malkai's as well. He's bird-brained.

[EWillden]

Bernard looked a bit dumbfounded at the falcon. No I am under orders of my master to help Alyssa keep watch. With alarm spells though I doubt I really need to stay awake. With that Bernard yawned and stretched out. He then looked to the ruins and sighed. Well I think I am going to catch some sleep. Want to have all my energy for tomorrow He then dove from his spot to where Vivian was sleeping and found himself a comfortable spot. He then closed his eyes.

As he did he was almost crushed into the sand as Vivian rolled over and stretched her arms. Her eyes opened and stared up at the night sky. "Damn it woman, you need to lose some pounds." Was his response. This made her smirk a little. She rose up and looked over at her familiar and then over at a lonely Alyssa. "Is it time for me to go up yet?" She asked him. He shook his feathers of the sand. He looked to her and shook his head.

[Meiyuki]

Alyssa reached into her pouch and removed a small bag of tobacco and some rolling paper. Tapping some of the former onto one of the latter she rolled a smoke, a nasty vice maybe, but one she possessed nonetheless. Striking a tindertwig she kissed the tip of the tobacco with the small flame, igniting it.

Inhaling the sweet smoke deeply she looked up at the sky. The stars were out in force tonight. Beautiful they twinkled in the black tapestry of the sky like diamonds embroidered into a fine satin sheet. Exhaling she reached up at them, as if to catch them in her hand, she was rewarded with nothing but air, and the sight of her smoke curing around her arm.

"So close, yet so far way." She said softly. "Like most of the beautiful things you loom close enough to want, but too far way to actually have."

"I wonder how cruel the gods must be, to put their eyes, twinkling with laughter, in the sky above us." She took another drag. "To leave us down here to struggle for perfection in an imperfect world. I'll content myself with trinkets and near misses for now, but someday you'll answer for your crimes, just like us mortals."

She put out her cigarette. "After all, even gods can die."

[EWillden]

Vivian heard the words of Alyssa as she spoke them. She spoke of how cruel the gods where ,and they were indeed cruel. Vivian knew this all to well and better then most. She rose up from her seat and walked over and placed a hand on Alyssa's right shoulder. "It is just me Alyssa don't worry."She said. She sat herself down and stared up at the stars. She then reached down her brassier and pulled out a symbol. It was that of a spider with a hour glass. She yanked hard enough for the string to break. "God's are indeed cruel, some worse then others. This is the symbol of Lolth. The Spider Queen, and mother of the drow. Did you know that when a drow comes of age the goddess judges them. If they fail their test or she disapproves of them that they become deformed and cast out of drow society. The nightmarish creatures of the underdark known as driders. They are the deformed drow." She looked up at the stars and paused for only a few seconds. "How cruel is that? Of all the gods of evil Lolth would have to be the most cruel. I mean Gruumsh, is just a orc who craves bloodshed like any other orc. To give him favor is to kill in his name. No judgement occurs at anytime until you die. Even Nerull the reaper isnt as cruel as my goddess. Yet here I am keeping her necklace even after my own kinsmen turn on me." She looked down at the symbol and sighed. "To hell with the gods, If there is one up there that I have gained favor of and my current spot is his or her reward to me then okay. Whoever it is I do not know, but until that god reveals himself to me I don't even care to know. Until this group it has just been me and Bernard. No one else. Perhaps there was a god helping us along. I will likely never know. Starting today though, there is one god I will not follow." With that said she tossed her symbol towards the fire behind them.

Vivian then looked to Alyssa. She smiled as heart warming as she could. "God's are cruel, but I have found that there are beings on this earth far much crueler. Not just humans mind you but others as well. The cruelest thing they do is remain silent and give us no sign of their love." She said. She then looked to Alyssa and shrugged. "Enough of that though. Let's just enjoy some of this night. For in the morning it is going to be a lot more... well maybe not so much if we enter the temple fast enough." She turned her head to look over at it. It was once a temple to some god but which one she wondered.

[Meiyuki]

Alyssa tensed as she heard the sound of Vivian moving, then relaxed as she realized who it was. Vivian explained her experience with the gods, and Alyssa had to agree with the sentiment that people could be crueler.

"Gods and Kings do what they want. The rest of us do what we must." Her grin returned in force. "That doesn't mean we can't have fun along the way though. Or find treasures in the least likely of places." She added the last bit with a wink.

She stretched out on the ground, and marveled that the stars didn't seem as cruel when a person had company.

[EWillden]

...... Day 2 The Temple from underneath the sands. The sun was beginning to cast it's rays upon it's structure giving it a bronze color. Vivian had fallen asleep right beside Alyssa. Nothing special happened she just fell asleep staring at the stars with her new friend. The first to rise though was the dwarf Jarvis. "Alright everybody, up and at 'em today we move to see what is inside that temple." He looked around to see most of the group was still with them. Where in the blazing hells is the orc he did not know. Nor did he really care. Maybe she turned coward and ran. Who knows... He moved to each person starting with Xavio. "Get up, we got a job to complete...." He barked and then moved to Catarina. "Wake up sleeping beauty, don't want ye missing this one I'll need ye." He said. He knew he would need all of these lads if he was to emerge from this temple alive. It may seem quiet but he knows it likely has it's source of horrors inside it.

Vivian heard the dwarf before he even got them and stretched out yawning and rose up. She remained quiet though as she got up to her feet and moved over to her scythe. She then looked down at where Alyssa was. "Hey dear that was a good night but not that good of night." She only said that to tease. They did nothing during the night but the others wouldn't know that and might make a few heads turn. Maybe a few jealous ones. She thought as she looked over at Catarina. She then looked over at the temple and then to Bernard. "Go ahead and scout the first room. Do not do anything stupid now." She said to the Raven.
Bernard just looked up at her and gave her a odd look.
"Viv,... really? I am not the orc or that one. I am not going to do something stupid just to prove myself. I know my limits." He said. He had gestured at the young male sorcerer with his wing.

[Meiyuki]

Alyssa stretched happily, hearing the buzzing conversation around her. She blushed at Vivian's comment. If she was gonna do the walk of shame she usually got the fun bit at least. Still, it was good to have company, and an early morning blush was good for the soul. "I'll work on my technique for tomorrow night then." She said, joining in on the fun with a grin.

Sitting up she removed her spell book from her bag, and sat into the task of morning study. Mentally she checked off what she'd need. Invisibility was a must of course, some Illusions never went too wrong. Spider climb was entirely too fun in dungeons, why walk on the ground when you could trot on the ceiling? Add in various elemental spells and neat utilities as she was good to go. Oh and the underused 'Hide from Undead' spell.

Once she was satisfied, and had breakfast. She looked up at the window they'd be entering through. "I'll go first." She said half-glaring at Bernard. She faded from sight as she completed her invisibility spell. A spider climb allowed her to simply walk up to the window and anchor a knotted rope with a piton so the others to follow behind when she'd cleared the room.

"Now for my favorite part." She conjured an image of herself, which did a little spin and offered a bow to anyone near by before moonwalking up the side of the temple and jumping through the window. If there were any ambushes waiting they'd go for the image before the invisible rogue.

Once it had entered she followed behind with a darkvision, checking for traps and signs of other danger.

[Bishop]

Xavio's eyelids felt heavy. True, he didn't keep watch this night, but the constant waking up every few hours took his toll on him. Even if he just woke up for a few minutes than slept again. Anyway, if you would remove the constant awakenings, he slept for about 8+ hours. Nothing he wasn't accustomed with. Yawning like a lion, which without the mouth piece he had on would allow for sand grains to go through, he started packing up his sleeping bag and left it near the boar.

- "Hey dear that was a good night but not that good of night." - he heard Vivian comment. What? She didn't get the head she wanted? His theory was proven correct by the next comment made by Alyssia - "I'll work on my technique for tomorrow night then." getting ready he consumed a Magical Bean to provide him with nutrition during the day, drank some water from the now less-than-half-empty barrel and watched silently as Alyssia used spider climb to go inside and explore.

[Lucius Cypher]

Malkai awoke before sunrise, not out of choice. He actually preferred to sleep in, but Falchion was very punctual. He came to Malkai's hole and screeched until Malkai popped his head out. 「Yeah yeah, I'm up. I'm up.」 Malkai quickly turned back into humanoid form, yawned, and took out some jerky. He only had a few left, but it'd be enough to be breakfast. He and Falchion ate a few strips and washed it down with water before meeting up with the rest of the party.

Everyone sans the orc was present. Considering that everyone else was alive, she didn't try to steal their stuff in their sleep and slit their throats afterwards. That's when Falchion told Malkai that he was able to smell rotting flesh, fairly fresh, from the entrance of the temple. Malkai could put two-and-two together and guessed that the orcish woman tried to go into the temple alone and died. He'd loot her body soon enough. Alyssa made some sort of illusion to go ahead, a smart move. If there were enemies then they would attack the illusion to no effect, though he was uncertain how good it'd act as a scout. At best it was a decoy. Alyssa herself vanished, and Malkai was only able to get her vague scent within the camp before he lost track of her. Hopefully she wouldn't get too cocky; if this temple really had magical artifacts that would interest the Mage Guild, it may also have means to detecting Alyssa without the need of visual aid.

Malkai also climbed up to the entrance of the temple, but he waited for Alyssa to come back and report. He would only wait for so long however. Too long and he's going to assume she's dead, just like the orc.

[EWillden]

The dwarf was a little hungry but he had something to satisfy him before he marched up to the little rope climbing set up to get into the temple. He moved over to Betsy his battle pig. He heard her snort and he rolled his eyes. "Do ye really see any of us wanting to haul your fat ass up that rope? nah, you will just have to wait out here with all the other beasts." He said as he pulled out some spare rations for him to eat. Simple trail rations consisting all his body needed. He quickly shoved it into his mouth and then washed it down with some ale he had stored away. Once that was done he took one deep breath and let it out. He grabbed for his hammer and fastened to it's place on his shield and marched forward. As he got closer to the entrance that Malkai had found he was most certainly believing they would have never got Betsy up there. He sighed and hollered up at Alyssa. "Ye see anything out of place up there? Anything at all?" Well then again the place was down underneath the sand for god knows how long. How would she know if anything was out of place. Then he started to notice an awful smell. He looked over to Malkai and sniffed. No not him... must have been from inside the temple.

Vivian had slowly made way to the entrance her self. She ate nothing at the moment feeling she wouldn't need it. The meal she had last night was still effecting her. She was never a big eater, her body made damn sure evident of that. She looked up at the hole and then to Bernard. "Give her a helping hand Bernard. Two eyes are better then one." She said. Bernard nodded and flew up and into the hole. He saw the illusion Alyssa had made make some head way and he could smell the familiar stench of carrion close by. When he went to investigate the sent what he found was the female orc. She stunk so bad that he didn't even get any desire to feast on her flesh. Ravens being one of many birds that would eat carrion if they had to. He looked over towards the entrance and sent a telepathic message to Vivian.

This caused her to sigh, "Stupid orc, this is why you don't enter a uncharted temple alone. She got what she deserved." She said sending another message back at him. He took a closer look at the body and saw that she was not killed by some average trap. The good maggot hole in her belly was pretty well cut. He began to look around a little nervously.

"Okay guys be careful we might not be alone in this place...." She said.

----------------

Alyssa from her perch would see the results of a building left under the sand for too long. It was amazing the whole chamber wasn't filled with sand. There were several cracks where sand and entered causing good sized mounds. There was a clean path though on the ground. When traced she would follow the same path the orc female took. Only with her spider climb, not make the same mistake as she did. When focused she would not find a pressure pad but a specific tile with a symbol of a crescent moon on it. From patterns in the bits of sand it could easily be told the orc had stepped on it and triggered a spell enchantment trap. What it was linked to could not be determined. Unless you had the eyes to notice that one of the solitude guardians in the room or bone statues had a bloodied sword. It was this tile that caused the orcs death for it activated the specific guardian's pursue and kill phase.

She would also find Bernard perched on a old torch emplacement. He stared at the dead orc.

[Lucius Cypher]

Malkai waited neat the entrance for Alyssa, and he was soon joined by the others. Vivian sent what he guessed was her familiar down to Alyssa. Malkai had Falchion do the same, figuring that if there is trouble they could some some brawn. Falchion flew behind Bernard, giving the bird a simple greeting. 「Morning.」

Soon Falchion arrived to the grand hall shortly after Alyssa and Bernard did. He stayed flying in the air and scanned the area around him. While not the smartest of birds, Falchion did have an excellent memory. It was important since unlike Bernard Falchion ant telepathically communicate with Malkai without a magic spell, so he'll have to return and tell him what he knows. While Falchion was looking around he saw the dead orc and flew near her. From observation he could see that she was stabbed by a great big sword of some sort and died. It must have been an old and rusty blade, as the wound was festering.

Falchion also noticed that all her equipment was still with her, so she wasn't killed by looters or a particularly intelligent being. It also meant Falchion could swoop in and steal something lightweight from her body, like her coin purse. Malkai had trained Falchion to loot such small things from corpses. So he took the coin purse and moved to an alcove large enough to fit him, where he'd hide the coin purse as well. Once Malkai came in he could give it to his partner for snacks.

Malkai in the meantime simply waited, sharpening his axe.

[Meiyuki]

Alyssa set about disabling the glyph. Generally traps like that were keyed to either pressure or the touch of the living, the acid provided the trigger neither. She carefully dissolved a portion of the symbol to ensure that the magical energies could no longer achieve their intended output.

Gazing around she did notice the statue with dried blood on it's blade. Temple raiding and the like made you suspicious of statues of all kinds, she cast a detect magic spell and examined the rest of the statues in the room. Once satisfied she'd identified and marked any and all danger in the room she whispered to Bernard "Send 'em up."

Then she looked for the door to the next room in order to continue her investigation.

[Ryonara]

Catarina stirred awake as everyone was bustling about. She yawned, stretched out her body, and wondered if anyone was going to cook breakfast. However seeing jarvis, their de facto chef, not preparing any sort of cooking supplies at the moment, she guessed that breakfast was going to be skipped. She still had some bread and dried fruits from a few trips in the past, so as she got dressed into her armor she took bites out of those, as well as some water to wash it down with.

She noticed that Alyssa and Vivian were being quite flirty this morning, so Catarina did her best to ignore it. ”Come on Cat, don’t get strung along like that. She’s just a pretty face...” She whispered quietly to herself. Once she was fully armored Catarina did some more stretches to limber up just as Alyssa climbed (or rather walked) up to the temple. Catarina went last up the rope, having no difficulty climbing despite wearing such heavy and bulky armor. She wouldn’t have made it this far as a mercenary if she couldn’t climb a rope in full plate. Once she reached the top she waited with the others for Alyssa to scout ahead.

Looking inside Catarina could barely see anything that wasn’t illuminated by or at least near the light coming from the hole. Fortunately Catarina’s sword, Domina, was magical. When she draws the blade it can shine like a torch, it’s blade covered in light. Of course it made it impractical as a stealthy weapon, but Catarina was never one for stealth anyways. Besides if she really needed to be sneaky, she wouldn’t have her sword out in the first place.

[EWillden]

Bernard nodded to Alyssa and flew off towards Catarina. He landed right on her shoulder. He turned to face the others. "Coast is clear, proceed with caution though. Spell trap got the orc. If you see any tiles with a crescent moon on it don't step on it." He said.

Vivian and Jarvis nodded and began to climb up the rope and then into the large chamber. Vivian kept her eyes peeled for any symbols that would be of interest. She started by examining the statue, there where four others like it in the room but only this one activated. How can she tell? The blood on the rusted blade gave it away. She looked for any symbols on it to indicate whose temple it was.

"Crescent moon, statues of bone. Only one god would have this temple. Never thought I would see one." Jarvis spoke nearly scaring Vivian half to death. "Fellas I give you a temple of the Reaper, Nerull. Although he is neutral evil, he is still evil. That said, expect traps of similar fashion." He said. He then looked around the room to survey the old temple. He now understood what the dragon meant and was warning them about.

------------------

The door that Alyssa was looking at was a double wooden door. The hinges were rusted and the door itself looked like it would give you splinters just by touching it. (meaning it was really worn) However, it had the same symbol on the door as the one on the tile. Meaning it too was linked to some magical trap. What the trap was, you could only figure it had to do with the many bone guardians about the room. They had no armor except a helmet and a two handed sword like the first one that claimed the orc. However, with a careful detect spell it would be determined the magic trap triggered something beyond the door, not within the room.

[Meiyuki]

Alyssa set to work carefully distrupting the magical energies of the symbol. Wood was a little harder to work with than stone or tile, the trick was to fiddle your carving tool, delicately, into the engraving itself and slowly peeling away at it without appying too much pressure. Magic of any kind needed all of its symbology present in order to function, and the disruption of any of the lines in the symbol would suffice, so long as she didn't pick a false line woven as a trap for foolish rogues. Alyssa didn't consider herself to be foolish however, and was confident she's selected a vital curve.

She nodded at Jarvis' assessment that this was a temple to Nerull, not that anyone could see her. "Death is the last, truest silence after all, makes sense. The dead hold secrets lost to the living, danger up along with reward I suppose." She spoke quietly.

"The door at the back is detrapped, but I can hardly keep quiet going through it. Someone else should probably go first."

[Lucius Cypher]

Malkai snorted as it was pointed out that the god of this temple was to a death god. Moons, sickles, and the dead orc he was now smelling. "Hmph. Crescents and scythes, why couldn't they be the sign of an agriculture or lunar god..." Not that Malkai was scared of some death god, but it was very cliche. He tried to remember what Nerull's profile contained. Death, obviously. If he was associated with the moon he also either had night, darkness, or some sort of lunacy as well. Magic that manipulates the mind or possible lycanthropy, though that sort of thing is associated with more bestial gods, whereas Nerull seems to focus more around death and madness. As an evil god Malkai also guessed that Nerull rewards murder and likely has some sort of hell or underworld in his command. Which meant daemons; unlike demons or devils, daemons did not have the cruelty of demons nor the ambition of devils. Their motives were fairly straightforward but no less frightening: All they want to do is kill. Should they encounter a daemon here, the chances of negotiating with it peacefully is very slim. At least not without someone dying. Not only that but daemons care very little about showmanship or suffering. They may bring out the big guns the moment battle begins. Malkai would need to prepare himself accordingly. The last thing he wants is to be on the wrong end of a Blasphemy.

Scanning the rooms Malkai noticed the dead orc as well as some of the traps he was told about. They were spaced apart and in this darkness it'd be easy to miss them. Fortunately Malkai could see just fine in the dark, at least around him. He'd have no issue avoiding the traps. As the party moved through Malkai stopped by the dead orc to pillage her body. Her armor was useless to him; while he could have sold it for some money, the giant hole in her chest would decrease it's market value. The sword was decently made, but nothing one couldn't buy at the market. Malkai took it anyway, he could use a spare weapon. Lastly the only other thing of note was a bottle of alcohol on her waistband. A quick smell and he could tell it was orcish made. High proof, too sweet, and somewhat flammable. Perhaps if they need oil, this could substitute for it. Malkai pour4ed the content of the bottle into his empty waterskin so he wouldn't have to worry about the bottle shattering on him. Once he was finished Malkai was one of the few to take point, however he'd be more comfortable with someone else backing him up. Preferably Catarina; hopefully that armor of hers was better at getting stabbed by giant swords than the orc's was.

[EWillden]

Jarvis nodded and looked to Vivian. "Ye got a spell to muffle sound? Best cast it on that door...please?" He said. Vivian almost looked shocked and looked to the dwarf. He rolled his eyes. "Yes you dimwit I said please." He grumbled and she had to smile and patted him on the head. She could tell he was glaring at her. She then walked up to the door and waved her fingers at it. Without a single word spoken she cast a muffle spell to make the sound from the door silent. She then looked to the dwarf and nodded. He smiled and walked up drawing his hammer and with one mighty stroke of it smashed the door with it. The door was so old and withered that the hammer not only knocked it off it's hinges but tore it to pieces. He grinned and stepped over the door and found himself staring down a long hallway. Then what appeared to be a drop. Most likely stairs. He stepped forward using his dwarven cunning to know exactly which block was out of place and whether or not it would contain a trap or not. Nerul wasn't as bad as some of the other gods. He was evil no doubt but not to the extent of the others. He expected traps that would find themselves involved with curses or the undead. Like the one that got the orc.

He looked down the stairs and could only see darkness. He could have the drow elf cast her dancing lights but decided to save that for when they needed it. He looked behind him and saw Cat and her shining sword. "Hey Cat,.. come up front. I can barely see down here even with my darkvision. Well I can see mostly gray colors which will mean I might not see something I should if you know what I mean." He added. Seeing as she already had a magic item activated it wouldn't hurt to let her lead a little bit with him close behind.

Down the stairs and to the right would be yet another door. Behind it they would find a good 5x10 room with another door on the opposite side of the room. What would catch their attention though is that there were a few stalactites hanging from the roof.