Against the cult: the Forest Ruin (1.5)

Aanbo waits with his hand out, ready to assist Theran or Kragga across the pit.
The cave rats swarm over the intruder in their space, Albertus. He is able to fend off most of them, but one squirms under his shield and bites him. Albertus takes 1 piercing damage. Albertus retaliates, cleaving that rat in half.

Joseph rushes back in and tries to stab two of the rats crawling on his friend. Both die squealing. Ogbar considers how the rats are crawling on Albertus and sets aside his greataxe in favor of a handaxe. He takes careful aim and slices a rodent off of the paladin's shoulders.

Kragga squints at all the moving bodies and manages to thread the needle, searing the last cave rat with his fire bolt.

The party is victorious, and each PC gains 16 XP.

What do you do next?

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20 - Aanbo
19 - cave rats
17 - Albertus
10 - Joseph
6 - Ogbar
5 - Kragga
5 - Xana
3 - Theran

Kragga cleans the wound, thus ensuring that there is no infection in the paladin Albertus.

Examining the cistern room, it appears that it was originally set up to filter and cache rainwater, but subsidence over centuries caused the earth to slightly shift under the tank, at which point - relatively recently - the massive stone receptacle tipped over, ripping the feeding pipe from the wall, dumping some of the water into the room, and leaving a gap that rodents could crawl through. They've been nesting here for months or even a couple of years, by all appearances, crawling out to forage for food and gnawing on the door as it began to rot. Whatever else may have been in the room has been gnawed to sawdust long ago, and the room is foul with droppings. There doesn't seem to be anything else of interest here.

In the workshop, some of the tools used for assembling traps are in good enough condition that people could pick and choose and thus collect one or more sets of thieves' tools. Some of the weapons could also be salvaged. Beyond that, there's nothing in the workshop that's useful and easily portable to bring back by anyone interested in side profit.

Ogbar grunts in annoyance. "Huh. I was hoping for glory, or, failing that, some worthwhile treasure to bring back for Olga." He kicks a dead cave rat. "No glory here. And no treasure, either!" He gets a forlorn look again. "The skalds will sing no songs of Ogbar, and Olga will marry another...if she hasn't already."

"Aw, cheer up, buddy!" Joseph the halfling grins up at the barbarian: "You defeated that bandit before, didn't you? Everybody in town was talking about it when we arrived! Right? Oh, and we'll get plenty of glory for reviving that kid, whassisname, and as for treasure, there's always that chandelier! It's made of gold; we could climb down into the pit and get it. Or maybe there's glory to be found behind that magic barrier right by the pit. Worthy foes AND fabulous wealth, maybe!" Joseph looks around at the rest of you, as if to say 'Do you have anything to add?'

Joseph offers the amulet to either Theran or Kragga as the group heads back up the stairs and makes its way into the hallway from the kitchen. Like in the front room, the barrier here, too, blocks an open archway which is carved with a symbol that matches the shape of the amulet. "You can try it," Joseph says, "While I climb down into the pit and get the go...I mean, the other amulets for the rest of us."

With the rope tied around his waist, Joseph is able to climb down into the pit. The bottom is covered in a layer of fine dust a couple of inches thick, from which the arms of the chandelier jut. Joseph is disappointed to see that the whole chandelier is not gold, just the stylized baubles hanging from each arm. Each of the seven baubles is fashioned to resemble the sun and another star. ::Still:: he thinks ::That's a lot easier to carry!:: With a little distaste, the halfling then sifts through the dust, knowing that it is the earthly remains of all the Heralds that the party threw into the pit.

As Joseph begins to find more amulets buried in the dust, Kragga is testing the amulet that he carries. The amulet meets no resistance at the magic barrier, and Kragga is able to move forward as if the barrier was just a visual illusion. Everyone else exchanges a look as Kragga steps forward and, from their perspective, completely disappears. But the rope continues to play out, suggesting that something on the other side of the barrier - Kragga, hopefully - is pulling on it.

Very little of the light from the party outside the room makes it through the magical barrier, so Kragga peers around the area in the dim grey shades of his darkvision. There are eight desks spaced through this room, each with an accompanying stool. Large alcoves lined with shelves separate each desk from its neighbors. The shelves are piled high with cylindrical containers.

With the light of the orb, Kragga is able to read the inscriptions on the scroll cases, which promise documents discussing a variety of esoteric subjects relevant to the Heralds of the New Morning centuries ago: building plans, descriptions of services to Pae associated with different hours of the day, account registers, pay schedules for various tradespeople, illuminated prayer manuscripts... Fascinating stuff for a historian, and some of them beautiful enough to be worth something. Taking time to search through the collection would probably yield some choice items for a collector.Joseph clambers up the rope to emerge from the floor next to Aanbo with six more amulets of Pae in his hand...enough for each member of the party!