/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal

>>176870
"Uh... okay... I'll trust you on this... I will admit, I am curious

>>176869
"Probably not, but..." She shows her teeth in a strange smile. "Well, deer and ponies cannot. So I don't think ponies and nagas can."

>>176871
He breathes out. He definitely does not look pleased

"Yes. We are out of firewood" He says. "I need to go get some."

>>176866
>"Okay then, we could use your help with something, but you must swear to not tell another soul about it."
"I do have a report to write about this site.. but, all on-scene research is confidential." The mare replies
"What is it?"

>>176872
"I made sure to bring plenty on the sled," Amber insists, lowering her head slightly. "I don't think we have ever run out so fast before."

>>176874
"Oh." He says. His ears move back, then back up. "Well, you know, we share firewood with other ponies so... I have to help them. We work together for the good of the herd, you know."

>>176873
>>176872
"We are missing sarcophagus. Specifically, we are missing Curwhinny's sarcophagus. You say you were sent here by university, so I will assume you know who he was and why it is so worrisome that his sarcophagus is missing. We think one of other archaeologists moved it somewhere else in catacombs for later retrieval. We need your help in locating where it was stashed."

>>176872
"Well, maybe, but...Bright Dye did make a good point. I do look a lot like a pony, at least from this end. Maybe it would be enough of a similarity to allow...you know..." She taps her hooves together some more, before taking the end of her tail and rubbing it between them. "You know?"

>>176875
She looks back up at him, her eyes wide and pleading. "Shouldn't I come with you then? We could carry more firewood and I know the best spots to find it."

>>176876
"Hmmm, the Sarcophagus of Curwhinny himself? Well, if Curwhinny really is buried here, he was likely buried with all of his favorite items, as Necromancers do get possessive that way, possibly waiting for resurrection. He was a clever mage, so it's likely that he would have had his minions carry him into a secret chamber in his final hours, sealed away to watch over him until his final hours. Such a chamber should be behind a secret door, or possibly magically sealed up with conjured stone and only accessible breaking down the wall, or through a Passwall. It would likely be deep within the dungeon, with something guarding the area to fight off whoever might disturb him... Where did you say you fought an undead knight?"

I have to sleep soon.

>>176878
He looks down at the little pony, kneels to her, and places a hoof on her head, patting her mane.

"Little pony... I need to go out into the forest. I am going with Pakkasen Alla. To get it. It's not really work for a filly like you. Didn't you say you saw a moose in the forest earlier? Yes, I should not have let you go out alone earlier. Moose can be dangerous. And you saw how Makea almost froze... Ugh! No place for a filly."

>>176877
"No? I don't know." She tilts her head. "You want to... get pregnant by a pony? Or have... eggs, or whatever lamias do? Why would you even want that?"

>>176879
Alright duly noted.

Silver has a face that's difficult to place in the darkness of the catacombs. It suggests he's not exceptionally pleased with the answer given.

"Perhaps in other cases, yes, but not here. He was not buried willingly, but sealed by force in stone sarcophagus, costing many lives in process as invading force of militia ponies raided catacombs many years back. After I left, these archaeologists came in, and I discovered that it had been swapped out with one made of iron."

>>176880
"If I hadn't gone out with Jakala, Makea would have froze. If I kept all of us safe alone, shouldn't I be safe with you and Pakkasen Alla?" she insists. "You aren't going to attack the moose, are you?"

>>176882
He ruffles her mane, and Amber is soon blinded by her golden mane moving in front of her eyes.

"You did well, little pony. Don't worry. We've got this."

>>176880
"I dunno, if I found a nice pony like Free Rover and I wanted to give mom some grandchildren and he was okay with it..."

Kira continues to play with the end of her tail.

>>176884
She scrunches

"You really have the hots for that Customs buck, don't you?"

>>176883
pony is ruffled

"I go out into the forest more often than you do. Surely I can help? What if you lose your way?" she pleads as she struggles to reorder her mane.

>>176886
He scrunches

"Why don't you go play with your little friend, Jakala? I'll take you out cutting firewood once the weather improves."

>>176885
"...maybe..." Then, in an even quieter voice, "...he was nice..."

>>176881
>After I left, these archaeologists came in, and I discovered that it had been swapped out with one made of iron."
"Then what makes you think that it's still here in this dungeon?"
"Anyhow, if the Sarcophagus was created to seal him, it must be a magical item. If I come within range of it, I could detect it with my horn. A sarcophagus is big: there's only so many places they could have hidden it." She continues
"Or, we could just go aboveground and interrogate the archaeologists up there. It shouldn't take long."

>>176887
"The weather isn't too bad. I can carry some firewood and it'll mean what we have will last longer. You know I wouldn't get in the way!" Again, Amber's voice is that high-pitched pleading, muffled by her mask, and she looks vaguely distraught as she looks up at him.

>>176889
"That is exactly why we think it is still here in catacombs. It is big, it is heavy, and it would not be easy to move out of here without somepony noticing, especially as there is only one way out of here that could even be used for it. Both of other exits have stairs, and would you want to carry heavy stone sarcophagus up flight of stairs?

"We are hoping we can find it without confronting others, first. It would be too easy to deny accusations, then move sarcophagus out while nopony is looking. We are hoping we can avoid spooking them."

>>176888
"Nice?!" She scrunches and her ears go down

"You know... you said it pretty accurately a while ago, when you said there are predators and there are prey. That pony buck, and all of those with him, are predators. And they see us as prey, to be exploited as they please. That buck wasn't even afraid of you! Like... he wasn't even intimidated by you... Okay, I can see why you would want to have sex with him, but he's not nice!"

>>176890
Still kneeling and petting her

"Tell me, little Kultainen, why do you want to go?"

>>176891
"Well, we could search through every room and open every door. Once we do that, I could use my magic detection while strolling down the hallway."

Sleeping now

>>176892
Kira gives her a sad, but understanding look.

"I know, I know, it's just...I dunno, I got what you could just call a feeling from him. I don't know why he wasn't afraid of me, though, not even at first. You know his first reaction upon seeing me was to just go, 'It's just a little snake', and attempt to pick me up?"

>>176893
"That is possible. It is not so massive that it can not be done. Though, uh..." Silver looks behind Rosey at the colt still on the floating magic disk. "...will that...thing...make detecting magic more difficult? I assume it is magic and that is why it is flying."

>>176896
Under her breath,

"Of course he'd pick you up." Then normally, "That feeling is attraction. You've come upon maybe the first male that wasn't afraid of you, so your body responds by submitting to him. But that's all that feeling is. Attraction. That doesn't make him 'nice'. Being fearless isn't a sign of niceness. Quite the opposite, actually."

>>176896
>"...will that...thing...make detecting magic more difficult? I assume it is magic and that is why it is flying."
"I can easily distinguish between the magic of others and my own. Besides, if your story is true, this sarcophagus should be sealed with magic so powerful that it would easily eclipse any other auras."

>>176900
"Alright. Lead way, Rosey Ring."

>>176898
"...maybe I just need to get to know him better first..."

>>176903
"First I'll need to see every room in this dungeon. Once we've opened all of the doors, I can douse the hallways in a systemic fashion. Since you've been here before, you can show me."

>>176905
(Posey's Detect Magic spell functions as a 60 ft cone shaped emanation. Same goes for her Detect Undead spell. It should be able to douse an entire hallway.)

>>176907
Hmmmmmmm...well, there shouldn't be all that much left of the catacombs to search through manually.

>>176907
See, this is kind of why I wanted a map, it makes it a lot easier to understand how to search a dungeon, and avoid obvious limitations such as thick stone walls blocking lines of effect.
In any case, Posey wants to start by checking every (known) room in the dungeon, then she'll decide when and how to use her detection spells.

>>176892
The filly looks down. Dare she tell him what she knows? She's just a little filly and probably can't convince him, but he's her father! He's a good pony, but even a good pony will do anything if he's desperate….

Amber shivers in front of him as she stares into his eyes. "I know what you're going to do," she squeaks out, trying not to whimper. "Papa, I know what you're planning to do and you can't do it. You understand how wrong it all is. Killing him won't help your fears, and it won't keep us safe. You need to think of something else or we'll all be guilty because of it."

>>176907
>Has to contemplate if it’s too meta-games to explain why this course of action is extremely inadvisable
Is it the part about searching all of the rooms, or using a spell to detect magic?
The search comes first.

>>176909
See >>176763

Read that. Also note the presence of a well-like structure in the central room, and a stone platform in the chamber. Ask about a specific room for a more detailed description.

>>176909
I didn’t even think about how the stone and dirt walls would limit the effectiveness of Posey’s Detect Magic spell by 90%

>>176911
His face goes entirely pale and contorts in never-before-seen ways.

” Kultainen Hämärä.”

Taking his hoof, he wraps around Amber’s barrel, licking her up, or more likely, dragging her across the ground. He drags her away from the store, and towards a location he must think is private. This certainly scares the hell out of her.

He turns to her, and in a voice that is an attempt at a quiet shout says,

”Do you have any IDEA what is going to happen? There’s an inspector from the Central Council making the rounds to see if the villages are in compliance. He’s supposed to be here tomorrow. He’ll probably be here in five days, seven days tops. When he sees these sick ponies walking around, he’ll call in for medical doctors from Everfrost. And there will be an investigation. And he’ll hear all of these ponies talking about suns and seraphs and spirits and whatever. And do you have even the slightest idea how much trouble we are going to be in?!” He’s beyond exasperated. “No. You don’t get it. Kultainen. We’re not supposed to have those nice dresses, or talk about spirits. We’re not supposed to do anything like that. And Pakkasen, and Ukkonen, and I are in charge of the village, so far as the Central Council is concerned. It’s our job to keep the village in compliance. And when the Inspector sees this, and he hears this, it’s… You have no idea. I am in danger. You might be. Your brother might be. You definitely won’t be going to school, and he might be kicked out.”

>>176904
It’s probably possible for Neela to get scrunchier, but it isn’t clear how. She puffs up her cheeks.

“He told you to eat me!”

>>176914
>>176913
Well then.
Which rooms have we not seen so far?

>>176915
Kira sinks down further into her coils. "...I told them I wasn't going to. You know I'm not going to eat you, right?"

>>176903
"What floor did you say you found the false iron sarcophagus on? An iron sarcophagus is even heavier than a stone one: there are limited paths through which they could have carried it. It's likely that they carried the stone one on a nearby path, or carried it to another room on that floor. If they've taken interest in it enough for them to tamper with it, it's likely that they're interested in performing ongoing tests and examinations on the actual piece, which means it needs to be stowed in a location accessible to the archaeologists, somewhere they can travel in and out of to access the sarcophagus without drawing attention to themselves."

Posey pauses
"Tampering with the grave of a lich is serious business, as it could have wide-reaching consequences on the city. This for all intents and purposes counts as egregious mismanagement of dark magic, and the false sarcophagus is evidence by itself (a sarcophagus is, by definition, made of limestone). It's possible that I could convince Mr. Horizons to order a halt on all archaeological activities on the property and order the return of the sarcophagus to its proper location for security concerns: I don't expect them to comply, but if they try to make a break for it and smuggle out the sarcophagus we could set up an ambush for them as they come to retrieve it. Of course, that plan would make a scene that I might rather avoid..."

>>176918
>>176914
Silver points out the location of Curwhinny's final stand to Posey (which I imagine our gracious GM pone has more of a description of its location than I, the player, currently do.)

>>176919
First order of business would be to check for skid marks, and then the surrounding/lower floor.

>>176918
>I bet these grad students did want to carry that heavy ass stone up or down stairs. They probably kept it on the same level.
You finally understand me!

>>176916
Posey has explored one of the laboratories, the big room downstairs, and presumably, the storage rooms on the side downstairs and the downstairs hallways. They are currently in the central room that cuts across between hallways.

>>176921
Posey checks every room on the way to the place that Silver says the original sarcophagus once was.

>>176918
The small, yellow mare, previous identified as Dr. Faucet, speaks:

“Let me clarify what is going on here. There is a room behind the… well, I suppose it’s a bedroom - there’s a room behind that that was opened and contained a casket on a stone table. There’s this large inscription, I think it’s oin chalk but I haven’t examined it in detail - that claims the casket contains a lich and do not open it. Our leader, Peer Review, does not believe lichs exist - or to be a little more accurate, doesn’t think a mage calling themselves a lich can exist for two hundred and forty years without, well, food or a replenishing magic source. So he ordered it opened, probably to prove the point. But he tasked a grad student whom I’m pretty sure is only here to avoid the draft. So apparently he defied that order and switched out the caskets, hiding the original one. I think he thinks he’s not paid enough to open a casket marked ‘contains a lich’ to find out if it contains a lich or not. The compartment is on this floor. It’s behind the bedroom. We’ve already searched that room, the bedroom in front of it, the library, the smaller library, and the laboratories on the other side from where you came.”

>>176921
>grad students
Not only grad students, but commies too: they'll do as little manual labor as possible.

"The sarcophagus probably didn't move far. I would assume the archaeologists hid it somewhere near, perhaps in a closet, underneath a tarp or rug, or buried under some loose bricks and rubble. Keep an eye out for anything that could hide an object of that size. Once we hedge out possible locations on the floor, I can use my dousing to find any traces of magic related to the sarcophagus..."
She then pauses
>>176908
"... Say, what exactly did you intend to do with the sarcophagus when you found it?"

>>176924
"For starters? Making sure it has not been opened. Part of me is curious about couple of things, if he really did make final transition to becoming lich, or even if he was if I have managed to destroy him and put him to rest. I thought I found his phylactery and had it destroyed with help of Father Maren here in city, but there is chance that did not work or it was not actually his phylactery. Knowing for certain would put any worries to rest, but...would you want to open sarcophagus that had pony's possible final message of 'do not open, lich inside'?"

>>176923
>Our leader, Peer Review, does not believe lichs exist - or to be a little more accurate, doesn’t think a mage calling themselves a lich can exist for two hundred and forty years without, well, food or a replenishing magic source. So he ordered it opened, probably to prove the point.
Posey bursts out laughing at this.

I think this is the first time Posey has laughed. It's such a peculiar laugh, in her usual soft and beautiful singsong voice, but something about it is... ominously dreadful, malevolent, and borderline supernatural. It booms and reverberates far further than should be proper for a mare of her size, echoing over itself until it fades out all too slowly, like howling ghost in the distance backed by a chorus of kerning spirits. It lasts only a few seconds, but it lingers, refusing to die...

Even Gloomy, the sickly little Colt on the disk, seems spooked by this development, his eyes widening in surprise. It seems his mother doesn't laugh often.

Posey finishes her outburst with a cute gigglesnort.

>>176923
>So apparently he defied that order and switched out the caskets, hiding the original one.
>We’ve already searched that room, the bedroom in front of it, the library, the smaller library, and the laboratories on the other side from where you came.
After her outburst, Posey lets the mare finish and addresses her description.
"Did you find any traces as to how he transported the real or the fake? Any skid marks or scratches on the floor?"

>>176925
>I thought I found his phylactery and had it destroyed with help of Father Maren here in city, but there is chance that did not work or it was not actually his phylactery.
Rosey Ring's eye twitches somewhat
"You... Destroyed what you thought was his phylactery.. BEFORE you knew he was destroyed?"
It appears to be a rhetorical question, as the mare seems more exasperated than disbelieving
"The first impulse of those fighting liches. Destroying a Lich's phylactery doesn't destroy the lich, it just prevents them from resurrecting after being killed through other means. If what you destroyed was a phylactery and Curwhinny was indeed a lich, then he should still animate somewhere, but very, very, VERY angry."

>>176927
“You laugh, but there’s a logic to it to him. He thinks that whatever energy a mage has is finite. They will need more from somewhere, and it’ll run out after almost a quarter millennium.. I tried to respond that if the mage went into a kind of stasis, or tupor, then a limited supply could well last a quarter millennium. But you must understand, Joseph Curwhinny is not an unknown figure to us. We know him as that business stallion who got rich off of carrying shipments of slaves for Zebrican traders and importing tobacco, then became a kind of weird recluse in his old age, eventually being murdered in what was basically a labor dispute. There’s not much room in that conception for him to have been a lich. To them, he’s the archetypal capitalist: the Stallion who built Baltimare. To call him a lich is an understandable exaggeration of his villainy, but ultimately unnecessary and a distraction from the real point.

I think the casket - and the term used was ‘casket’, and not sarcophagus - may have been light enough to be carried by two stallions if they were strong though for short distances. But they may have dropped it, put it down, or pushed it at some point. I didn’t see any scuff marks, but I wasn’t looking for them.”

>>176928
Concerned pony noises

“Lichs aren’t real, right? They can’t actually hurt us… right?”

>>176928
Silver's only physical reaction is to shrug.

"Liches have not been around in Equestria for many, many, many years. Curwhinny may have even been last 'living' lich to exist within this country. All of rest are over in Dread League, so those of us who would fight them do not get much chance to learn. And we do not get chance to research how to fight them either when we come to what we think is simple job clearing out quarry of few skeletons and zombies only to find out it is filled with literal army of ghasts. Still though, I am not so sure he will be so angry. What I saw of his journal, he had made peace with living normal life after his experiments failed. Well, before militia ponies showed up, that is."

>>176929
"I mean, there is entire country of them..."

>>176929
>He thinks that whatever energy a mage has is finite.
"He knows little of magic then... The power of a mage is unlimited, the only question is how much power a horn can channel on any given day from the ambient magic so abundant in the universe, or the antithesis of such." Posey says, with a bit of a huff
>I think the casket - and the term used was ‘casket’, and not sarcophagus
"Oh, that's actually quite the difference, as it would affect what state his body is in."
>“Lichs aren’t real, right? They can’t actually hurt us… right?”
Posey does not laugh (her laughs are scarce), despite the hilarity of this question. Her paralyzed, professional face remains dead serious as she answers.
"Yes, they are, and they can."

>>176929
>I didn’t see any scuff marks, but I wasn’t looking for them.”
"Then let's go look for them." Posey says, proceeding towards said room.

>>176930
"What did you do with the remains of the broken phylactery? I could examine it."

>>176931
“How- How so? What doses it change?”

>>176932
“Why would we want to go looking for it at all? If there’s a living, or well, animated lich in there, I think Feather Duster has the right idea.”

>>176933
Silver fishes around in his bags, taking a bit longer to do so than normal being in the dark and lacking night vision. After a few moments, he comes out with a hooffull of pieces that, judging from the small damaged picture among the remains, could have once been a locket. It looks like it was smashed apart with an edged weapon.

>>176934
>What doses it change?
"A sarcophagus, literally meaning 'corpse eater', gets itself name from how the limestone slowly consumes the flesh of the body. If he were in a sarcophagus for centuries without proper dressings, he would be nothing but bones or even dust by now. It's why vampires prefer wooden caskets." She explains.
>Why would we want to go looking for it at all?
"Because that's my job." Posey says, flatly
"Besides, these grounds have been disturbed, and magic casket or not, some things refuse to stay buried. If we just let the casket stay misplaced, we will regret it later, inevitably." She continues
"Besides, Glass Horizons will want to know about it before his insurance finds out."

>>176935
What's inside the locket?

>>176937
The interior is painted with what seems to be a mare and three foals.

>>176938
"A memory of something precious... It's not easy to tell now that any magic it would have had has now vanished, but it's plausible." Rosey Ring replies, squinting at the locket

>>176938
"May I take this? I may be able to confirm it after some research."

>>176940
With a bit of trepidation due to the nature of the item in question, Silver nods. Realizing that it may be difficult to tell in the dark, he vocally confirms this.

"You may. Maybe it is real, or maybe it turns out Maren got his magic sword out for nothing after all, who knows."

>>176939
It appears to have been made of silver, and it has most certainly been cut by a sword.

>>176917
Neela stares at Kira silently. She has returned to laying on the couch upright with her hooves and forelegs hanging off.

In Free Rover’s defense, she looks and smells delectable

>>176942
"...yeah, you know I wouldn't. Anyways...enough about me, I'm a pretty boring subject. But you..." Kira rights herself in her coils. "So...have you had any crushes on males?"

>>176943
She looks down.
“That buck earlier was cute. The mover one. Bright Due was too…”

>>176942
Posey would like to search the room where the casket was, to look for signs of any pony activity.

>>176944
"Hehe, I could tell. You wanted to sit in one's lap and the other you tried hitting on even though he's married. He seemed into the attention, though, so I think you had a chance. Have, since I think we succeeded in not scaring him off!" Kira beams a bright smile at Neela.

>>176945
(Maybe GM pone would accept a Search roll?)

>>176947
It's coming no matter what I'm this situation. Watch me roll a 1.
[1d20+5 = (6+5) = 11]

>>176948
Gonna roll for Gloomy
[1d20 = 11]

>>176945
>No one wants to look in the only place in the entire structure that hasn’t already been checked - the only place that’s like a traditional catacomb with bodies in the walls.
I had to look up if “search” is trained check to see if maybe that’s the reason why you haven’t done it thirty posts after being told to do it.

I really am going to have to describe every single place the casket isn’t before being able to finally describe where it is, aren’t I?

>>176950
Maybe. I've forgotten where that is.

>>176950
>the only place that’s like a traditional catacomb with bodies in the walls
Pardon, I just haven't been able to fully absorb the description of the dungeon.

Now that you point it out, it sounds like an obvious location to search.

"Say, are there any catacombs in this dungeon? A place where various inanimate bodies or caskets may be stored?"

>>176914
Amber shrinks beneath the scolding of her father the would-be murderer. She looks aside with teary eyes before forcing herself to look back at him. Her lips are stretched back to the point her molars are showing, and her voice is tremulous.

"But…ponies would be talking about what happened to Vaeltaja. Maybe even more than they are now, whether they know the truth or not. They'll be hanging onto his words, thinking about what was done to him. I'm scared too, Papa, but doing this will only make things worse before the inspector comes, and we'll have to bear the guilt of knowing what you did."

She sniffs. The filly is leaned back low enough to make an indent in the snow. "There has to be another way. You could, you could…send him away from the village so nopony talks to him. And there must be something we don't know about, since ponies don't act this way just from words. Something else is doing that."

>>176930
Would Silver know what the Dread League is? I thought it was basically unknown to most.

>>176953
>>176950
If Silver's found it, he could show the way. As it is, his player has forgotten.

>>176946
She smiles, tilts her head, and briefly wags her puffy tail. “You think so?”

>>176953
Pear Faucet:
“Yes, the set of hallways past the entry door have recessed burial chambers. It was probably the first place we catalogued.”

>>176957
Silver perhaps recalls a skeleton becoming animated and pulling itself out of the walls in the hallway not far past the entry door where they found and fought The Corporal.

>>176954
“Little pony… You just… We have to do something to stop him. To stop this. We can’t banish him. He’s too popular. We’d have to bring it up in council, and Ukkonen would defend him. He would defend himself. It wouldn’t work. It would put us in danger, if anything. We can’t reason with him. He thinks the apocalypse is coming and will not fear the Central Council. He is beyond reason. The most obvious thing to do would be to go get the inspector, probably at Kaukainen Piste, and tell him we have a compliance and probably a medical emergency that we cannot contain. But he’ll think it only got this bad by our deliberate indifference. You must understand. I was in the War. Our Council has already been written up for much, much less egregious violations of the ban on public displays of religion. We will be suspected. Not just Vaeltaja.

I think there is something else happening. A virus, or maybe a bacteria. Probably locked in the soil, and unleashed when that meteor melted and scattered the frost. Distemper, or something else. We’re seeing it more amongst Vaeltaja’s followers because he takes them out to The Blast.

But maybe it is just religious fervor. When the role of Shaman was abolished, it created a desire for a new priest. The Pathway Forward is not popular out here as the Old Gods, even the Central Council understands that. There is a reason why Pakkasen wanted to let Vaeltaja preach when he first started. There is a reason Ukkonen follows him even now. Vaeltaja preaches of a world where we see our loved ones again - of a world that isn’t so dark and so cold. Little Kultainen, you need to understand. This is all nonsense. The pathway forward to a better world and a better life - this one and only world, and our one and only life - will be long, hard, and require great sacrifice, but it is very much worth it. And if you want us to see each other after this week, Varltaja must be taken care of.”

>>176958
Silver shivers when remembering The Corporal. That was a fight that nearly did them all in.

>>176958
Kira nods enthusiastically.

"Well yeah! If he wasn't into it you'd think he would have stated, 'ma'am, I'm married' or something like that towards your advances. But he didn't, so...I think you have a chance!"

>>176957
Catacombs are something that Posey would be interested in examining even if she had no quest, just for recreation.
>>176958
>“Yes, the set of hallways past the entry door have recessed burial chambers. It was probably the first place we catalogued.”
"That sounds like the ideal place to hide a casket. Let's go check there."

>>176958
Tears run down Amber's cheeks as she listens to the horrible dilemma. "If you can kill him, you can drive him away. Just get him away from here without hurting him. Please don't do anything so terrible!"

>>176961
>>176958
Posey's pace increases as she hears that there are catacombs to explore.

>>176960
Stilling wagging her small, tuft of a tail,
"Hey yeah, that's right. He seemed a bit receptive. You think we'll see him more, right? Maybe he'll be even more receptive in the future. It's a shame we couldn't get either of those movers to stay... Maybe if we had some alcohol. That's what we really need is some alcohol.

>>176964
He breaks eye contact and looks away. He appears to be crying to.

"We don't - we don't have much of a choice, Kultainen..."

>>176959
>>176961
>>176965
Moving away from the central area and along the hallway, past the laboratories, the hallway extends for some feet before turning at a 90 degree angle. There, it continues, coming to a busted down wooden door on the right, and then eventually ending in a mirrored 90 degree turn to the left, which comes back to the central room.

Along the walls of the hallway are recessed burial chambers like in a traditional catacomb or crypt. These are two high, each one offset from the one above or below, and with rounded ends on the top, but flat on the bottom. Some of these are sealed with brick and mortar. Some of them are completely open, and completely vacant. Where this occurs, Posey can see that these are carved into the clay, and supported by stone. A few have clear evidence of being broken open, with bricks on the ground, or with bricks partially covering them. One at least contains a complete equine skeleton.

Periodically, along the floor, there are little markings, sometimes with a small flag with a flat base to stand upright, sometimes with yarn, and most often with chalk, of locations along the floor.

But what may be most interesting is one of the burial chambers on the lower level. Barely squeezed in between the rounded portions on the top, and filling essentially the entire space, is a large stone rectangle. There are signs of chipping and scratches along the edges of the recess, and a few on the stone itself.

>>176966
>But what may be most interesting is one of the burial chambers on the lower level. Barely squeezed in between the rounded portions on the top, and filling essentially the entire space, is a large stone rectangle.
That sounds like what we're looking for. Posey examines this first.

>>176966
>Some of these are sealed with brick and mortar. Some of them are completely open, and completely vacant. Where this occurs, Posey can see that these are carved into the clay, and supported by stone. A few have clear evidence of being broken open, with bricks on the ground, or with bricks partially covering them.
Does the brick and mortar appear to be more than 1 foot?

>>176968
It is not decorated in any way, and fits within half of an inch of the top of the recess, and is snug with the edges, clearly having hit and slightly damaged the edges of the recess as it was placed. Best guess to the substance it is made of is a cheaper or perhaps spoiliated white marble. The lid as well as parts of the container itself show obvious signs of serious cracking and damage, very unlikely to have been caused during transport, based on the positioning of the damage on the top. There are presumably slots for iron spikes to keep the top in place, though the marble near these is cracked.

>>176969
About 7 and three quarters inches in thickness, which is to say, standard brick width.

Go ahead. You won’t desperately wish you had those spells slots later, to accomplish what could have waited a day, or have been accomplished with a hammer.

>>176970
>Go ahead. You won’t desperately wish you had those spells slots later
Well, my detect magic is a 1/day SLA, so I use it or lose it.
>>176970
>It is not decorated in any way, and fits within half of an inch of the top of the recess
Does it match the description of the false iron casket?

>>176971
“That’s about the sane dimensions, more or less” she says. “Maybe very slightly larger, but I don’t have a measuring tape on me.”

>if you detect magic on the burial chamber you won’t be able to detect magic on anything later
Actually, that makes things more fun

>>176972
>“That’s about the same dimensions, more or less” she says. “Maybe very slightly larger, but I don’t have a measuring tape on me.”
"Have you actually seen the original?"
>you won’t be able to detect magic on anything later
I can still cast it out of my lvl 1 slots, but I would rather avoid that because I need those, and Dread Necromancers don't get any lvl 0 slots for some reason.

>>176973
>I can still cast it out of my lvl 1 slots, but I would rather avoid that because I need those
Correct. You do.

“Uh, well… briefly… I can confirm there were no markings and I do think it was marble. But I can’t say I did much more than a quick examination.”

>>176974
"I could cast a spell to detect Undead, with the same range as my magic detection. It would at least tell us if there's any monsters nearby or in this casket."

>>176975
Pear:
“Any monsters, in that casket or otherwise, are sealed away. They are only dangerous if we disturb them.”

>>176976
"That I know, but it's also my job to catalog the presence of monsters in this catacomb."

>>176966
>>176970
Silver got more than just a brief look at the original casket. Can he tell if it's the original?

>>176977
Her ears go down
“This whole place has been gone through by raiding parties twice now. We’ve been in here working for days. There can’t be monsters in here we didn’t know about.” She speaks without confidence.

>>176978
If it isn’t, it’s most certainly of the same make.

>>176979
>>176977
"It would not look good for my track record if I missed undead creatures here when I had already received payment. Anyways, this casket looks like it is correct one."

(OOC, there is one issue with using detect spells I've figured out: if you use Detect Magic, you won't find any other magic items left to be found here in the catacombs, and Detect Undead is the same way for undead if Rosey was, somehow, an evil dread necromancer looking for undead minions for her new lair.)