Delve #8

[rredmond]

Heimer nods grimly at Berthold, in agreement. Schmidt remains silent and plays along as lackey.

[JimboJimbo]

Gotta love the nat-20 followed by a 6!

I was cheering a little myself when I rolled those!

Salty whispers a prayer to Dougmerias, the benevolent Lord of Lbyrinths & master of dungeons

He follows along, keeping to the back so he can slip into the shadows if necessary.

[jcftao]

hide your blade but keep it ready. This priest will need a pall soon enough.

Twig nods to Uzmatazz and carefully removes his net from the skellie, looking for any rents that need repair.

[merias]

Twig nods to Uzmatazz and carefully removes his net from the skellie, looking for any rents that need repair.

The skeleton stops moving long enough for Twig to remove the net, which is still in good shape, save for a small hole where the fireball burnt through. He thinks the net is still usable. Once free, the skeleton dutifully returns to its master up north.

You follow the robed man and his minion north and east, through a secret door and into a large room which you surmise is a temple. The floor of the room is black marble, as are four pillars in each corner of the room. There is a black marble altar in a small cutout to the north, and a door to the south.

To the east, there is a wooden door with bars in it, although you can't see through the bars from this distance and angle (they are up high on the door), you hear someone from behind the door in a weak voice say "Help me!".

Three robed men are in the room - one at the altar, and two near the door with bars in it. One of those men turns to the door and says "Shutup old man, you'll get your help soon enough!". He and his companion grin as he says that. The men turn and look as you enter.

"This is my friend, here to drink blood wine and watch our ceremony," The robed man says to the others like him as he turns to Uz. "I'm glad you are not like those pests who destroyed my other skeletal minions. I have but one left..." he says, pointing at his ruby-eyed skeleton. "They really are difficult to make. You wouldn't know who destroyed the others, would you? We had problems with treasure-seekers in our other temple a couple of years ago, luckily we salvaged our ceremonial dagger. It was too much for some dolt of a mage to handle."

"Oh, the blood wine, of course," The robed man says as he moves towards the altar.

Schmidt feels uneasy as he enters the room, a feeling he remembers...

Actions?

[greyarea]

Uzmatazz says, What is this ceremony? as he approaches the altar with the blood wine. Who are your companions?

[greyarea]

Berthold tries to position himself so he can strike one of the robed men quickly, all while smiling and acting casual.

Too bad about your skeletons. They seem quite powerful. Not like those rotten old skeletons that feckless treasure hunters destroy with impunity. I bet it would take a mighty adventuring team to fight some of these guys. In fact, I think we encountered one before our own mage joined us. We killed them all for you. Although I don’t recall their mage having any ceremonial daggers on his person.

[merias]

Uzmatazz says, What is this ceremony? as he approaches the altar with the blood wine. Who are your companions?

"The sacrifice, of course," robed man says non-chalantly. "These are my human minions, truth be told I prefer the undead, they are less hassle. But the humans are better at fetching victims and bringing them back here alive. The skeletons have a habit of killing their victims before we can make use of them." Robed man chuckles.

As Uz approaches the altar with the robed man, he feels very uneasy. Berthold, too, feels uneasy just moving about the room.

I'll pause here to get everyone's actions.

[greyarea]

Berthold makes sure he has a direct attack vector on the evil priest.

[rredmond]

New encounter = new Turn attempt allowed? Or only one Turn per creature? I'm pretty sure it's encounter, but figured I'd check.
Heimer stands with Berthold gripping the spear like a harmless staff, but prepared to use it.
Schmidt keeps mace and holy symbols under his cloak, trying to stay back and out of the way/notice for a bit. But preps the prayers for a Turn Undead and Hold Person spell for when they are needed.

[merias]

New encounter = new Turn attempt allowed? Or only one Turn per creature? I'm pretty sure it's encounter, but figured I'd check.

Yep, per-encounter.