[CLOSED] DON'T DUMAT OPEN INSIDE

[katabasis]

WHO: Adrasteia, Laura, Ellis, Tony, Val & Holden
WHAT: Exploration of the Temple of Dumat
WHEN: Drakonis
WHERE: Northern Orlais, Ghislain, ...The Temple of Dumat
NOTES: Mild horror; content warn as necessary; OOC Plot Information; Original Investigation Report

Though the end of winter is hardly the most pleasant time to go trekking through old ruins, returning to the excavated Shrine of Dumat in the heart of the Ghislain region of Orlais is simple enough. Thanks to the collapse of the Venatori-Ander force's hold on the region, they face no opposition and will easily find their way there. While a small contingent of Exalter Marchers has been tasked with keeping tabs on the ruin to make sure no enemy return to it, they've been wary of digging too deep into the sanctum's lowest levels. So congrats: you all get to pick up right where the last group of Riftwatchers left off (or finish what you started in the first place, Tony).

The team has been tasked with two primary objectives:

• Follow up on the first team's work. Explore the ritual chamber of the shrine where the rumored "gate" is located; recover any artifacts or clues therein and retrieve as much data about the rift as possible. If anything isn't safe to bring back to the Gallows (like, say, a certain blighted Venatori mage's corpse), conduct a thorough study and then destroy whatever can't be recovered lest it fall into enemy hands. If you can figure out how to close the gate, then all the better.
  
  
• Thoroughly explore the remainder of the ruin. Verify that there are no ancillary shenanigans on site beyond those found in the ritual chamber. Collect any additional information or traces of Venatori activity on site.

How This Works:
Objective One, which features the exploration of the ritual chamber with its tainted rift and the miscellaneous clues which can be found there are a free-for-all mingle zone. The whole group can interact with that area.

Objective Two, the detailed exploration of the additional chambers, will consist of two branching paths. Look for the header with your character's name in it. These sections will consist of a series of dungeon rooms featuring good old fashioned traps, puzzles, with general exploration hi-jinks encouraged.

Each chamber will be described upon entry and have its own conditions for solving the area and allowing characters to progress through the dungeon, but don't worry if you're not big on puzzles. The ruins have seen better days and what may have once been problems with definitive solutions may now be a little less rigid.

As your characters explore and attempt to solve the puzzles they come across or wander across taps, I will interject here and there with relevant updates. If at any point you get stuck, you can attempt a Perception Check by bolding the relevant section of your tag (i.e. 'She studies the runes on the doors and [blah blah blah insert the rest of the tag here.]') and putting CHECK in the subject line of your comment. I will then roll to see how much information your character manages to glean in order to provide additional hints and clues.

These clues will be oocly visible to everyone, but icly known only to the character who made the check.

If the group as a whole at any point decides they're done playing with puzzles and want the cheat codes for the current room, have the next player put SKELETON KEY in the subject line of their comment and I'll provide you with the solution. I'd much rather we have a satisfying narrative adventure than trap anyone in rooms just because folks aren't feeling a particular puzzle.

If you have any questions, ASK ME HERE.

Comments

[justashotaway]

It's careful work, moving the body she wants: the claws of one hand disappearing, the other held close in order to light what looks to her like the aftermath of some kind of explosion. The body itself is firm, but not like the stiffening that happens soon after death; this is something else, something that feels almost lighter than it should.

"They feel wrong," she shouts, and that, too, feels wrong. Marks on this one's hands are visible now, though, her clothing discoloured at the chest as well. "Not like corpses."

[degenere]

"Describe!" Val calls back. They are not so far apart, but the peculiar muffling is doing its work, necessitating him to shred his very throat to communicate. For he refuses to concede or surrender to its muffling effect. His pencil scratches over the fresh page, making note of the wounds that his unwitting assistant has now uncovered by moving the body--shading in the discoloration of the clothes--trying to convey the peculiarity of the skin that he can see from where he sits. This last one is difficult in particular to draw. He settles for jotting in a note, marginalia notations like macabre stage directions. Enter Corpse, Burned and Mummified, Feeling Wrong.

[justashotaway]

Describe it? Laura thinks about it, the claws of her other hand disappearing so she can heft the body with both hands, trying to get a sense for what's wrong with it. If she feels any squeamishness about handling the dead, it doesn't show.

"Too dry," she finally decides, dropping the corpse again. "And the wrong weight. Touch it."

[degenere]

Wrong weight Val says to himself as he writes, which means no one can actually hear him say it. No matter. Then he snaps his book closed, tucks it under his armpit, and does a low half-crouch walk closer to Laura and the body.

Without hesitation, he reaches out to touch the corpse. Then he shoves his hand under its shoulder and hefts it.

"Drained?" he guesses.

[justashotaway]

"It smells like blood in here." And they were cut, as he points out--that doesn't promise anything good. "Blood and lyrium."

[degenere]

"Does it?"

Since one cannot shout-inhale, Val's deep breath is completely noiseless. This likely has nothing to do with the fact that he cannot detect the smell of lyrium. When has he ever been able to do so? The smell of blood is a little more normal, but still not something he perceives immediately.

"I will trust you! I smell nothing. Yet a terrible fate seems most likely, even if its details are yet unknown."

[justashotaway]

"Yes." She gives the corpses another long look, as though one might sit up and start sharing its secrets if given enough time. This place is old, and the truths of it will not surface easily. "Why didn't they rot?"