The Nexus

The Boneyard

Now that they're seemingly safe Rust takes Father Smilodon out of his pocket so the poor cat can get some air.
"If you don't mind, could you take me to the well first? A feast sounds lovely, but it doesn't seem right to have any revelry while my friend is still cursed."
Look at that cat. Very clearly cursed, that cat.

The Boneyard

"Uh... very, I guess? I don't know, I don't make the bottles meself, just fill 'em." But then, William's never had any real need to melt copper either. He thought copper needed more heat than glass, as a lightning strike creates glass from sand but doesn't melt lightning conductors. He's seen frozen lightning from that.

"Aye, revels should wait till we've sorted the problem and we have a thing to celebrate, though we don't wish to force our troubles upon you. If you've got a reason to celebrate, you should go ahead without us, least for a while." Hopefully this doesn't offend them further, though it seems like a religious festival so offense seems likely.

[The Boneyard]

That has to do with the relative insulating properties of both materials and how much heat is produced when a current flows through them, Will. But, alas, no one is around to hear the narration or provide an explanation! Definitely not a draconequus or anything, no sir.

Regardless!

A cat is brandished at the neanderthal man, who seems puzzled over the creature. They haven't got any domestic cats here. Just a few dogs that are a few steps away from being wolves. "Cursed?" he asks, eyeing the feline. "You believe the spirits can help you? Were the gods of the heavens unable?"

They still aren't sure where our heroes came from, but they don't appear to be preventing them from approaching the spirit well.

So far this whole thing has gone surprisingly smoothly.

Which is no doubt just TOTALLY fine, certainly nothing to be worried about I assure you.

And so our heroes approach the spirit well. Calling it a well is a bit of a misnomer, as it turns out. Approaching through an open, ended longhouse, our heroes step out onto a sandy patch of earth stomped level by generations of dancing feet. Surrounding the well are great standing stones and mammoth ribs etched with images and tied with strips of bleached hide that flap and flutter in the wind like great banners. At the center lays a circle of fur with two rough, white stones set atop it. Built around the fur rises a gazebo of sorts, fashioned from bones and wood, atop which grows a dense clump of fluffy white and yellow flowers that seem utterly ignorant of the cold. A single shaft of sunlight reaches down through the sky, illuminating the spirit well.

Those who are sensitive to magic will be able to tell that this place is thick with it.

The Boneyard

"It's difficult to explain, but I was told to come here by a being like that." Rust doesn't not elaborate that it was the same being that cursed his cat. Rust would have to admit it's a little sketchy. But he got the distinct impression that Fortuna caused a problem and then provided a solution so that they would act on it for her amusement.

Off to the well! Rust feels very...nostalgic here. It reminds him of the shaman's pavilion where he was raised.
"Hey Will, can I get that bottle now?"
Assuming Will passes him the beer bottle, Rust goes to approach the shrine.

He places their offering upon the circle of fur along with the tiny kitten as he bows his head and prays.
"Honored spirits, this is an old and honored guardian of a distant tribe, bound in mortal flesh against his will. We have brought an offering as we beseech your aid in restoring his power."

The Boneyard

Will will hand over the bottle without a problem, looking around in awe. This is a stunning place, though Will isn't plugged into his spiritual side enough to sense more than that.

Aizkora, however, will snarl at Beagle and try to stop him from entering- or more importantly, his camera drone. She can feel how powerful this space is, and doesn't think it should be recorded.

[The Boneyard]

Beagle definitely seems to get the idea. "Oy mates we're going dark for a spell. Aizkora here's got the right idea. You'll all get the rundown once we're done," he says as he grabs the tiny drone out of the air and speaks directly into its camera before shutting it off. Then he gives the smilodon an 'okay' sign.

Then?

Rust makes his offerings and prays.

There's no voice. Or strange lights. Just a sense that something else, or someTHINGS else, are watching. The kitten will simply close his eyes and perish, releasing the spirit trapped within.

That was...

Strangely easy?

There's GOT to be something else going on. Some other shoe that's about to drop.

The Boneyard

Rust is rather alarmed by the kitten's sudden death but he's relieved by the return of the feeling of Father Smilodon's presence in the air again. That's nice. Rust bows again.
"Thank you."

He also moves to pick up the kitten's body.
"Magical prank or not, this was still a cat. Deserves to be buried. In a less holy place, though."

Mission accomplished?

The Boneyard

Aizkora also heads inside, and prowls around the outside. She'll try to nuzzle the kitty corpse, and sniffs the air around to confirm Father Smilodon's presence.

William just doesn't know what's happened, but nods in agreement.

[The Boneyard]

Father Smilodon's return shouldn't be too hard to pick out. While the air is thick with spirits here Father Smilodon is more...

Coherent?

Whatever inhabits this place is a vague and undefined thing, a presence more than a being. An idea more than an entity. Whether it's aware or not in the sense that a person or an animal might be is questionable. It reacted when the prayer was offered, but then again gravity reacts when you drop a rock.

Also?

Rust has a dead kitten now.

There are probably plenty of places he could bury it but he doesn't have a shovel, right, how will he-

"I've got a folding shovel in my pack, mate. I can give you a hand there," Beagle offers.

No self-respecting explorer should be without a folding shovel.

Boneyard

”Thanks.”
Well that should be that. Rust and Beagle can bury the cat and then they can attend the tribe’s cool feast.

Of course there will be a lot of walking to get home but maybe they can call someone to pick them up? Still, not the biggest problem. From Fortuna’s reputation and clear display of power Rust is grateful that she seems to have taken it easy on him. He was very much afraid he was going to get smooshed by a mammoth, or chased by one, or possessed by a ghost mammoth, etc.

Rebonack wrote: ↑Oct 13, 2022 4:29 pm [The Ziggurat]

There is the dry-twig snap of brittle bones and the grind of stone against stone as the lid comes crashing down into the sarcophagus, pulverizing the remains into powder. The lid catches the beard of the bronze burial mask, launching it spinning end over end through the air and sending it bouncing across the floor with a series of metallic clanks.

The feeling of domination fades like frost melting at the face of the sun.

The giants settle back into their thrones, returning to their eternal vigil.

Is that...

That isn't it, is it?

A deep stillness falls over the tomb.

[The Ziggurat]

Cantata readies to run, eyes darting between the awakening giants and the corpse suspended before them, a hand tight on the hilt of her folded baton - and then, just as the stone drops and the tension comes to a head, striking the sarcophagus with a loud boom and sending metal spinning through the air... it fades as swift as it had built.

The woman sighs, her shoulders slumping from the sudden release of empathic pressure upon her, and loosens her grip. She turns back to the others. "It looks like we're done here. We should figure out our exit."
[/quote]

[The Ziggurat]

Pania isn't even sure what she did has particularly helped them. This whole... framing part of the mission was weird to her. She preferred straightforward work. None of this deception, none of this weird creepy undead magic stuff. But what is done is done.

It felt wrong. There should be something... more, right? A scream. Sudden, threatening movement from the giants. A deep sense of dread? But there was nothing. And in a way, that was almost worst.

"... Yeah. Should... should we take the mask?" Pania didn't look uncertain often, but she did here.

Boneyard

When the cat is buried, William will try to place an offering in the grave. He only has what's in his pockets, so he reaches in and pulls out a shilling to put in the grave before it is closed. He doesn't need to, probably, as Father Smilodon is still about and there is no spirit passing on. Even if Father Smilodon knew what the coin was, he likely doesn't understand its significance. The thing about smilodons and other sabre-toothed cats is people tend to let them go wherever, without needing payment.

Aizkora remains a cat, and will continue to remain a cat during the funeral. She doesn't have any gifts, and besides she- unlike William- can sense Father Smilodon's presence in the air.

[Boneyard]

The feast is...

Well.

It isn't terrible.

The food is largely unseasoned and cooked unevenly but it isn't terrible. These people are doing the best they can with what they have. They aren't primitive or stupid or anything of the like, they just don't have mountains of technological innovation to stand on top of. Overall they seem pretty pleasant and they're fascinated by our heroes coming to visit.

And once that's done?

Time to walk... home?

Thankfully they don't need to go nearly as far as they might expect.

As they get near the edge of the valley the Ossuary exists in they'll find a quaint little train station just sort of there waiting to be used. Anyone who has been outside of Riverside for any significant length of time will probably be able to recognize a Riftline station.

Meowmai wrote: ↑Dec 02, 2022 10:19 pm [The Ziggurat]

Cantata readies to run, eyes darting between the awakening giants and the corpse suspended before them, a hand tight on the hilt of her folded baton - and then, just as the stone drops and the tension comes to a head, striking the sarcophagus with a loud boom and sending metal spinning through the air... it fades as swift as it had built.

The woman sighs, her shoulders slumping from the sudden release of empathic pressure upon her, and loosens her grip. She turns back to the others. "It looks like we're done here. We should figure out our exit."

[The Ziggurat]

Pania isn't even sure what she did has particularly helped them. This whole... framing part of the mission was weird to her. She preferred straightforward work. None of this deception, none of this weird creepy undead magic stuff. But what is done is done.

It felt wrong. There should be something... more, right? A scream. Sudden, threatening movement from the giants. A deep sense of dread? But there was nothing. And in a way, that was almost worst.

"... Yeah. Should... should we take the mask?" Pania didn't look uncertain often, but she did here.

[The Ziggurat]

"Take it and let's get out of here." Dena remarks as she gestures for Pania to come. "We'll try heading back the same way we came. Should be easier than heading out the main door."

[The Ziggurat]

Cantata nods and moves to follow Dena. She leaves retrieving the mask to Pania; there might still be a chance that it has some sort of influence after the destruction of the corpse wearing it, and the taller woman seemed more capable with resisting those kinds of effects.

[The Tome of Eliander]

Someone put up a helpful sign.

WARNING!
This location is highly hazardous to the living. The dead walk at night. The riches in the crypts are protected by a curse that will pull your bones from your body. If you're traveling then please go around this forsaken valley or your bones will never leave it.

This all raises a rather important question.

Why was the Tome of Eliander taken here of all places?

Our heroes will have been given a little information. Where the cultists will be trying to carrying out one or more rituals from the book (right here in the Ossuary) and what the book contains (rituals for drawing forth formless horrors from beyond reality and incarnating them).

It turns out the ritual requires bones.

Lots of bones.

Just so many bones. So it's a good thing there are plenty of them here.

So, first question.

When will our heroes be arriving? Coming during the day means that the dead won't be stalking around but the cultists will probably be able to spy our heroes approaching. Coming during the night means more environmental danger, but the cultists will probably be dealing with their own problems, too.

[The Tome of Eliander]

"-and then Skreek said 'we have demands' or something like that right in Yul's face. I thought that was the end of me, y'know? That Yul was gonna eat ma' soul just to prove how arrogant he was being."
Raheeda continues the riveting story of how Skreek the ratman attempted to negotiate with the goddess of her people, Yul, over a important soul stone they had found in a place much like this.

"But nope, she was all 'tut, tut, young lady' and then told 'im to return the stone to her high priest. The one I had killed, remember? Ezeroth, that guy." The details of the story all start to blend together as she has been retelling it during the majority of their journey here.

"The asshole who had turned a lot of my tribe into zombies. I buried nastier shits than him and those at least stay buried." She sticks out her more human tongue in disgust. "But uh, we gave back the stone and the undead army turned away."

A beat.

"So what about you? What kind of cool bunventures were you up to as a god? Anything involving the undead?"
They're just now approaching the sign, Raheeda giving it a curious glance before turning back to Harley expectingly.

The Tome of Eliander

"Wow, that Skreek sounds brave. I've disrespected plenty of gods, but Yul is a little more intense than the ones I've met," remarks Harley, who has been highly entertained by the rambling story. Partially because Raheeda is an amusing storyteller, and partially because he's trying to distract himself from the fact that they are willingly walking into a massive horror-bone crypt.

At night.

"Yeah, that guy was an asshole. Turning people into undead is worse than just killing them." He sniffs in contempt, even as he's tilting his head this way and that to see if he can hear anything. Like undead who might be angry at the disrespect. Surely there's not any undead here, right?

The dead walk at night.

Well crap.

Harly looks around, shivering even in his heavy sailor's coat. It's a moment before he realizes Raheeda is waiting for him to reply.

"Oh, I stayed away from the undead. I messed with plenty of gods on my world, but never the death god. It was really, really creepy." Much like how this ossuary is creepy. Hm.

"But there was this one time that Mountain was growing these peaches of eternal life and refusing to share them with all the villagers who lived on his slopes. I told him stories until he fell asleep, and then ate all the peaches myself. And I was already immortal! Mountain was furious when he woke up." He chuckles nervously. "Probably should have given those peaches to the villagers instead, in hindsight."

[The Tome of Eliander]

There are gates you see.

They might be new.

Walls around the Ossuary proper. You know the sort. Huge walls of bones. Heaven knows how many humanoids would have been needed to build the walls. It shouldn't even be possible yet here it is. That's the Nexus for you, isn't it? Just stacks and stacks of bones to create a wall which is a good fifteen feet tall around the whole graveyard.

No skulls in it, though.

Or, wait no.

All the skulls are on TOP of the wall.

That probably isn't concerning.

It isn't clear why the graveyard needs a wall. It isn't like anyone would try to invade the place or anything. Maybe it keeps the wandering dead in?

Either way, there's a gatehouse our heroes can walk through.

And sitting inside the gatehouse is a table (made from salt-bleached wood, actually. Imagine that).

And around the table?

There are three skeletons seated.

"Have you got any fours?"
"We aren't playing go-fish."
"We aren't?"
"No, we're playing poker! You're supposed to bet something!"
"Bet what, we haven't got any money."

One of the skeletons (who happened to be losing the worst) flips the table definitely on accident when it stands up suddenly to point at our heroes.
"OI! HEY! WHO GOES THERE! Only naked skeletons are allowed in here and you two have still got all your meat on."

[The Tome of Eliander]

"Skreek is... brave I guess." Raheeda relents as she have a hard time being positive about Skreek. Despite the fact that the two clearly traveled together for a long time. "He was always messing around with things he shouldn't and tried to sell things to everyone. Not sure if things turned out for the best with him having so much power."

Then she pauses to hear about his adventures.

"Why did you want the peaches in the first place then?" Raheeda inquires as she strokes her masks chin thoughtfully.

Of course, before he can reply they're being accosted by a bunch of (human?) skellingtons.
She stops and gives the skellinton addressing them a curious look before reaching into her robes. "Oh, it's fine. I have this for that." Then she pulls out a thin metal slate that's about the size of a credit card.
Into it the following is carved:

LIVING FLESH WEARING PERMIT
Name: Raheeda Al-Sshara - Honorary Undead.
Signed by Yul - Yuan-ti god of undeath.

Though it is not any actual sort of signature on it but it nonetheless seem magical in some way.
"And he's with me." She puts her other hand on Harley's shoulder and nods to the skeleton.

[Tome of Eliander]

The skeleton pauses for a moment to look at the card in Raheeda's hand.

"What's it say?" asks one of the skeletons at the overturned table who's busy grabbing up all the loose finger bones they were using in place of chips.
"I don't know, I haven't got any eyes," says the skeleton who confronted our heroes to begin with.

That's a good point.

How can the skeletons see without any eyes?

They do, obviously.

If they didn't then they would have a lot of trouble playing cards, let alone guarding a gate entrance.

"Hey! I've got an eye," says the third skeleton, who does indeed have a single eyeball rolling around in a socket. It rattles its way over and digs around in the socket to make sure the eye is pointing in the right direction. Hmm... The skeleton strokes its mandible with its phalanges. "Interesting..."

"Well? What's it say?" the finger stealing skeleton asks.

"Says she's an honorary undead," the be-eyed skeleton replies.
"What's that mean?"
"No idea."
"So... do we let them through? Or no?"

The skeletons aren't sure what to make of this development.

The Tome of Eliander

Harley was already feeling on edge, and the giant bone gate isn't helping. Nor are the skeletons, whose appearance makes his hair stand on end under his mask. He is somewhat glad, however, that their appearance has distracted Raheeda from the peach story, because "I just wanted to mess with Mountain" wasn't a very flattering explanation.

He hops nervously from one foot to the other, considering how to best deal with the skeleton situation. Luckily, Raheeda seems to have that well under control.

"You actually have a card for that?" he mutters incredulously. Well, of course she does. If there's a limit to the strange knickknacks and paraphernalia she has access to, he hasn't seen it yet.

These skeletons are also seeming a little less intimidating the more Harley sees of them, and a little more comical. And even if things turned ugly, with only one eye between them, how much of a threat would they really be? He relaxes slightly.

"Yeah, honorary undead is like a necromancer, means she counts as one of you guys. That's a death god signature, you'd better respect it! And I'm, uh..." This story has to be airtight. "I'm a delicious mortal that she's captured! She's bringing me here to share with all her necromancer friends. If you let us through, you can have a portion later." Skeletons love to eat people, right? This is a known fact, so such a bribe should be irresistible.

The Tome of Eliander

Raheeda nods eagerly to Harley's question. Though she isn't sure what he means by 'card'. This was obviously a magical metal slate!
A 'card' was the stuff those skeletons were using, this was very different.
"Yeah, like a necromancer! Or a ghost-pretending-to-be-alive." She agrees with him until the point where he mentions 'delicious mortal'.
"Huh?!"
She wraps her arm around him as squeezes him tight in what seems to be a friendly gesture. "-uh, that was just a joke dude! You're getting- whatseword... hazed? Yeah! That's what you're being." She let's out a nervous chuckle.
"F-first day of skeleton school, am I right?"

[The Tome of Eliander]

The skeletons all listen in silence with their lack of ears as the story is laid out. Once the tale is done and Raheeda is hugging Harley one of the spooks declares, "Skeleton huddle!" and the three skeletons turn toward each other and begin whispering back and forth. Several seconds in the one with the eye peeks up at our heroes, then ducks back down and the conversation continues.

After a good minute or talking the skeletons turn to face the pair of adventures.

"We've decided that you get to pass."
"Yeah! We don't want to upset any death gods."
"Just no funny business, okay? Don't steal anything from the crypts or mess with the curse tablets."

Well!

That went okay?

Should our heroes step through the gate they'll immediately feel the oppressive weight of death hanging heavily over them. Here and there skeletons wander aimlessly, fiery pinpricks glowing through the dark in their sockets.

Now, where would those cultists be?

Our heroes can see three bonefires burning in the distance. One in the midst of a circle of pillars. One atop a large mound. And one at the foot of a great obelisk.

Which of those would be the best spot for a spooky ritual?

The Tome of Eliander

Harley isn't sure what hazed means, but getting hugged by Raheeda does make him feel a bit better. "Yeah, haha, silly me..."

As the skeletons agree to let them pass, he breathes a sigh of relief, flashing a grateful look at Raheeda for her quick thinking. For not being a great liar, she certainly handled that situation well! Once they're through the gate he scans the area, picking out the three distant fires.

"Okay, so my gut tells me that there's nothing more culty than an obelisk. It even sounds culty." He flips up the collar of his jacket- the death energy is making him shiver. "Thanks for the save, by the way- I don't know what we would have done without your handy slate."

The Tome of Eliander

"Great! You're some cool skeletons." Raheeda gives them the thumbs up as she let's go of Harley. "In fact, I thought ahead and brought some bones with me in case you want them."
She opens up the bag that she had been dragging along with her all the way here. Turning it upside down and shaking it it's revealed that it isn't filled with supplies or anything else useful. It was filled with bones that she got from... somewhere.

"Enjoy!" And with a wave of farewell she moves off with Harley in tow.

Then they get a look around this place and nods in agreement with him. "Yeah! Obelisks are pretty cult-y. My tribe hangs out in those all the time. Performing rituals, looking for yuan-ti stuff, setting traps..." She pauses just as he shivers. If she felt the death energy she's certainly not showing any signs of it. "Oh it was nothing. It's just a thing I got from Yul. And if that failed I was gonna see if I could bribe them with those bones."

[The Tome of Eliander]

The skeletons will begin trying to gather up as many toe and finger bones as possible from the heap of bones Raheeda dumped out. Which is kind of odd, since basically everything around here is made of bones. It would be like valuing the rocks that all the buildings nearby are made of. But then again, these ARE skeletons and what they're doing might not make very much sense.

So!

Our heroes decide to go check out the obelisk. That's probably a good place to start. After all, obelisks are great monuments and what better place could there be to conduct a foul ritual?

Sadly they don't make it very far before they run into more trouble.

A spider!

Well.

Not really a spider. It's a collection of finger and toe bones arranged to be shaped like spidery legs with a skull sitting on the top. So something that is vaguely spider shaped. It comes burrowing out of the salt flat and immediately leaps at Harley! Rude! It's bony legs are pretty sharp and crusted with salt so and gashes would sting quite a bit but as far as threats go it's pretty minor.

The Tome of Eliander

Harley chuckles as the skeletons fall upon the bones. They remind him of a flock of birds, descending on some delicious seeds. Of course, they're not eating the bones. Right? He wonders if skeletons eat anything, but the only thing that seems likely is human flesh, which isn't a very comforting thought.

"So was there a lot of necromancy and stuff in your tribe? Since Yul is the undeath god, and stuff." Harley isn't asking because he's against that. If anything, having someone with experience in that field is a comforting thought.

"So, what's our plan when we get there? I figure we'll probably stealth it out, try to figure out what these cultists are doing and if we can-"

SPIDER JUMPSCARE

The skullspider launches itself onto Harley, his coat offering little resistance against the razor sharp bone legs. It's able to dig into his side, and although the wounds aren't deep, they're still very painful.

"Oh moon, get it off!" yelps Harley, flailing at the anatomically implausible arachnid. He tries to grab it to pull it free, but depending on how sharp it is that might result in his hand getting cut up in the process.

The Tome of Eliander

"Necromancy? Nah. We didn't commit ourselves to a specific god. The whole Yul thing came later when... well, it came with me." Raheeda shrugs dismissively. Though depending on how good Harley is at reading people, he might get the feeling that she isn't nearly as dismissive about this as she acts.

"But when I grew up they practiced all sort of rituals-" Raheeda is trying to think back and only notices the bone-spuder when it leaps at Harley. "Whoa!"

The yuan-ti attempts to grab one of it's legs and either only managing to pull it off or throw it away. Thanks to her belt she was far stronger than she appeared to be. Stronger than any ordinary person even could be.

[The Tome of Eliander]

Okay, so.

Good news and bad news.

The good news is that Raheeda has managed to pull the spider off Harley. The bad news is that this probably scratched Harley up a bit.

The WORSE news is that the spider is aiming to wrap all its legs around Raheeda's arm and refuse to let go. Whatever force is holding those bones coherent is now acting on ALL the bones to make it function as if it were one big bone sleeve.

Pulling it off is doable.

But it would require pulling hard enough to break bones.