Archeos strikes out with his sort sword at the centipede that just attacked him.
Lucem and Archeos both struck desperately at thier foes, but neither could find the mark. The arthropods had attacked from the cover of the tombs, and the stone plinths made hitting them extremely hard.
Round 1 Proper
In response, the centipedes struck again, angrily trying to drive these intruders from their breeding territory. Each of them lashed out, but most of them were seemingly purturbed by the bright lights. Only Ulric felt the sting of envenomed fangs again.
Koal had gathered her wits by this stage and released a blast of arcane power from her hand. The magical bolt flew unerringly into the closest centipede, burning its carapace and making it writh in spasms of pain.
Fort Save
F%%# Fail!
Future Rounds Saves (for a total of 6 rounds)
Rnd2
Rnd3
Rnd4
Rnd5
Rnd6
Ulric attacks the critter with his longsword.
Crit Fumble Reflex Save
As Ulric stabs at the critter his aim is off and instead the forceful plunging blade jarred in the cracked masonry almost disarming him. Thankfully, he is able to maintain the grip on his sword.
Ulric then steps to get a better position to attack the bugger.
Malstrom sees the bug it head out and latch onto Ulric's leg. Seeing his opportunity he lunges forward to skewer the creepy insect.
But with the Tombs covering most of their body he misses, nearly cutting off the human's big toe in the process.
stab stab stabie stab stab
.
Then start falling back to allies (5ft)
"Hmmm hard to keep track of whats going on" Brethan thinks to himself, "At least there is something to attack."
Attacking the centipede that is beside me.
to hit -
Dmg -
Fort save if required is -
Brethen thinks he yells "ahhh that stings you motherless pede. Die hell spawn, die", and what everyone actually hears is "AHHHHHHHH.AH.AH. AHHHHH!"
Seeing the centipede writhing in agony Lucem has another go at it. If it weren't for those fangs I'd be tempted to just stamp you into the ground.
Hit:
Damage:
Hearing the screaming from Brethan Lucem calls out Who's been bitten by these things?
round 2
The centipedes continued to attack, though the one that Koal had blasted writhed back into the whatever crevice it had crawled from, giving up the fight under so much damage.
Again they were mostly ineffective, though the large one attacking Brethan from the front may have landed a blow in the swirl of melee.
Over to you. Typing this on iPad so will update map tonight.
Ulric attacks again.
Longsword
And misses again. FFS
poison save -
"ahh that bite is stinging and it feels like it is coursing through my body"
Attacking the motherless peed in front of me....
Hit -
Dmg -
If Koal can see the centipede at D7 from where she is, she will cast... wait for it... yes, another Force Missile
If she need to move to see it, she will move to E5
Archeos stabs at the peede (Atk: Dmg:) then steps to B4
Malstrom strikes out again at the little beasty
Hit
confirm crit
damage
Correction...
Lucem calls out Brethan do you need a heal or can you hold on till we wipe these creatures out?
If Brethan needs a heal Lucem moves to E5 and casts cure light
If he doesn't Lucem will move to D4 and have a swipe at the crunchy critter , damge dealt is
Brethan thinks he yells "No Lucem I should be right. Fight on everyone"
What Lucem hears is "Naaaaaah. Ahhhhhh. Hahahahah. AHHHHHHHHHH!"
Weapons clanged against metal and magic blasted through the room. Amongst the chaos and swearing of the combatants, the centipedes writhed and hissed in pain as they were struck.
Eventually the scene calmed and the group found they had driven the creatures back into their hiding holes. Only one of the giant vermin had actually been killed, its severed body lying at the feet of Malstrom and oozing greenish fluid across the floor.
The smell alone was repugnant, and this is what had actually driven Archeos' unwounded foe back into the cracks and rents in the ground.
With no obvious opponents left, the tomb was left to search as they needed. In a matter of moments Archeos had found the secret comartment in the rearmost tomb. Within they found a number of bizarre and magical items that the church had placed here for safe keeping it would seem. At first this seemed counter intuitive, until Ulric pointed out that Orc raiders out of the Belkzen mountains wouldn't bother digging graves up if they over ran a town, but they would burn and desecrate churches if it came to it. A necessary precaution for this region it would seem.
Having taken everything they could find, the group departed the graveyard and headed back to the Lorrimar residence. By the time they arrived, the night had slipped into early morning and they were quite exhausted.
Ulric will rest till after sunrise, unless matters of import arise and as per my instruction, someone wakes me.
We should erase any evidence of our being here as best we can, except the bodies, I'm not touching those, gross!!
Identify 1:
Identify 2:
Identify 3:
I agree we should cover any tracks and remove any evidence that we were anywhere near the graveyard.
Malstrom looks around to see if there is anywhere we can easily we can hide the bodies.
If there is he will assist with moving them out of plain sight, taking special care not come into skin to skin contact this any. He will wear gloves and a rag over his face.
Ulric will request a heal spell to cure his damage (3).
If not, Ulric will revise his rest. He will take a full 8hrs rest to gain back a DEX point.
"This poison has dulled my senses. If anyone has any special skills in healing such afflictions, I would beg your aid. Pray keep an eye over me whilst I rest and tend my wounds please."
Ulric will make a Survival check after our attempts to cover our tracks is made. This will pickup anything we missed so we can make final touches to cover our activities.
Survival
The group desperately tries to cover their actions from the night, realising that seeing mangled corpses and gaping tomb doors may ip off the priests come morning. As best they can, they return bodies to graves and close the door again. Archeos was easily able to rearm the original trap, having worked it out when he first picekd the locks.
Despite Ulrics best efforts, both the night and the heavy fog made it hard for him to tell if he had masked their tracks well enough. All they could hope for now was the priests had work enough to do elsewhere and wouldn't stumble on this patch of earth for a few days.
The next day was spent convalescing and identifying the items they had found. The house was tense, as everyone waited to see if their efforts were discovered or not.
When Ulric does eventually rise. He will shave his stubble and make for a hearty meal to fill his well. He then sees to his equipment, cleaning, polishing and sharpening as is needed.
Fort Save
Malstrom heals Ulric as well
Ulric asks if he may do anything in return for the care.
The very though of touching the foul corpses made Koal's skin crawl. She failed abysmally at concealing her disgust. 'Typical men' she thought, watching the rest of the party, except the cute little gnome, pretending to be overly busy at other tasks; seriously, how long does it take to close a couple of doors.
Add +1 to your fortitude saves, Malstrom.
Fortitude Save (+2, +2, +1):
"ahhh it stings....ahhhhhh...." mutters Brethan as he pushes his hand down the front of his breeches to scratch like a man possessed at his nuts.
"I never thought that fight would end. The sweat. You can't know the itch i get"
Fort 1 - for 1dmg
Fort 2 - for 1dmg
Fort 3 - for 3dmg
Fort 4 - for 2dmg
DC 13 - ouch
Ahhhhhh
I will help with moving the corpses and will take the same precautions as the smart people.
Fort for corpses -
As soon as that is all sorted I am sleeping/resting until my dex is back to normal. At 1/day i will rest up for a week (5days?) and will also ask our hiost if she can give me anything to hasten my recovery.
Once Ulric recovers, he will use his Heal +2 to hasten your recovery.
Heal Check Fail :( I tried.
Malstrom is more than willing to assist in anyway he can to help his companions recover.
heal check for brethan only if I cannot make him worse
The house was a fairly quiet place over the next few days. Certainly Brethan had come off the worst from the forray into the tomb, with his body wracked in spasms of pain for a number of days after the centipede venom had done its work. He was forced to convalesce while the others tended to his wounds.
The ony positive that come from this as far as he was concerned was that the lady of the house herself insisted on feeding the big man while he recovered. His hands had shaken so much on the first night that he had spilled much of the food given him. The barbarian had minded this fact at all, but it seemed to distress Kendra quite a bit. There was certainly something comforting about having an attractive woman tending to you.
For those uninjured and having finished their work on identifying items, the time was tedious. News reached the house that some wild animals seemed to have gotten into the Deadlands and dug up some graves, though they hadn't caused too much damage it seems, merely disturbing some soil and knocking a headstone over.
More disturbing was the fact another letter had appeared in the town square, again painted in blood. The sherriff had men posted there now, day and night, hoping to prevent more vandalism. The first letter had been a big red V, but this one was an e, painted in lower case and in a flowing script rather than block lettering of the first. No one had apparently seen anything.
Now, with everyone fully recovered, they were feeling comfortable in going forth to town again. The heat seemed to have blown over, and today was market day. Koal was kind of dreading this, knowing the two farm hands were going to be there to hassle her.
Kendra however, was seemingly buzzed by the thought of showing them around the town on market day. "You have all only seen the worst this town has to offer. Market day is always a celebration, and even the recent low spirits of this place haven't been dimmed by this tradition. Will you accompany me?"
Contraire to popular belief, Koal has been looking forward to market day. In the days following the party's night time adventure, she had taken the reprieve in activity to relax in Kendra's library, reading. With market day looming, she had given much thought to what to wear, her own wardrobe limited to 2 variations of an adventurer's outfit.
Koal will try and improve her relationships with Kendra, accepting her invitation, even though she had already planned on going anyways. She will also prevail upon Kendra for access to her wardrobe, perhaps the loan of a lovely dress? . If Kendra doesn't want to share, she will pop into town and do some shopping - no biggie either way.
Koal will keep her eyes open for Lucem and his brother at the market, and over the course of conversation ask if any other animals had been found drained, strange events etc etc etc.
Diplomacy checks if required:
,
Perception checks if required:
,
Sense Motive checks if required:
,
Brethan jumps out of bed, wistfully wondering how long he would need to be convalescing to get a sponge bath....
"Thank you Ulric for your help. And to you Kendra, your help and tender assistance has made me fell much better. Lets go to market"
Lucem relished the cleansing of the morning rituals to Saranae. Feeling renewed a market day sounds like a perfect way to get information given how suspicious people were around the time of the funeral. Lucem also figures that locals would be more at ease with women and willing to talk to them, than a group of adventurers. She puts these thoughts to Koal.
Ulric suits up in his usual attire which is always more tailored to martial readiness than social pleasantries. He will take his freshly polished weaponry and shield as he's is sworn to protect the lady of the house. He will ask Miss Kendra to buy his required items on his behalf so that he can keep a watch. He certainly felt glad to be getting out after so many days of downtime.
Market day proves to be as lively as they were promised. The town seems to teem with people that the group wouldn't have dreamt lived in the area before today.
For those who had been in this kind of township before, there were no surprises at the livestock and produce that seemed to be on display in the area. One couldn't step three paces without coming close to stepping on the odd chicken that was roaming free or a small child that was chasing them. Hawkers called their wares and the folk in town walked about, seemingly dressed in their best clothes and having freshly bathed, looking at what was on offer and eyeing the luxury items they couldn't really afford.
**** Koal looked resplendent in one of Kendra's dresses, though her elven figure didn't fill it as much in the hips or chest as the natural curves of a human woman could. The cold iron dagger sat a little uncomfortably on her thigh, its metal living up to the name and giving her the occasional chill.
The young woman quickly found herself in the company of the two over eager farm boys, each of them trying to outdo each other to make her like them more. At one stage she was introduced to their pareants, a rather plump looking woman and a rake thin man, each of whom looked to have spent way too much time raking muck and digging dirt in the sun. The meeting hadn't gone down so well, and Koal had left the group with the sound of the mothers voice haranguing her sons about "hanging with some heathen trollop with demon blood in her somewhere." She hadn't been mistaken for a demon blodded in a very long time, but then this kind of narrow mindedness wasn't unexpected in this town. Still, there was the concert and town hall feast still to come, perhaps she could make more of the day there.
**** Ulric's hulking form shadowed Kendra all day, proving both a boon and a hindrance to the young woman. At one point, it looked as if some of the local lads were going to approach her and confront her about something that was bothering them, but when the big man cast his visored gaze their way, they merely melted into the crowds instead. Kendra thanked him with her eyes when this happened, but had to politely ask him to remain several paces back when she later had a quiet chat to an older lady dressed in quite fine clothing. She seemed a little annoyed to be having the discussion with the fighter so close, but he certainly wasn't letting her out of his sight. (Perception check if you want to eaves drop)
***** Brethan had never seen so many people gathered in one spot that didn't mean a battle was about to happen. The big barbarian was on edge nearly the entire day, checking his money pouch constantly and resting his hand on his weapon whenever one of the men got near to him. Very soon it was clear that he was out of his depth in terms of what was epected in the place, and he realised he was beginning to get "looks" from folk that meant trouble of some type was coming his way.
It seemed the Sherriff had realised this to, for Brethan suddenly found the man standing at his elbow with two pints of ale in hand. The big hillsman hdn't heard the man come up behind him, which was some feat given how on edge he was.
"You look like you could use a drink my friend. I never had achance to offer my thanks for your assistance with the Graffiti the other day, and now seems like a good chance to maybe take a seat at yonder establishment and chat about you and your friends eh?"
He seemed friendly enough, but Brethan could also tell he was trying to prevent any violence from erupting.
***** Lucem went with Koal's idea of wandering on her own for the most part. She looked radiant this day, her holy symbol gleamed in the sunlight and her dark hair hung long and lush around her face. Many of the women folk cast dirty looks her way as the foreign beauty of her elven heritage dragged the eyes of many of the men folk towads her. All in all though, her presence as a holy woman meant she wasn't copping as much grief as others in her party seemed to be getting here. If she could play her cards right, she might be able find out some info regarding the local rumours or some stuff about the old gaol.
Ulric doesn't care to eaves drop. His attentions are elsewhere, scanning at a respectful distance as requested.
"Forgive me m'lady, as you request, I shall step apart and watch from a more comfortable range."
Internally Ulric thought otherwise and was on edge due to the separation.
'How may I protect you if not nearer to you. Women, no concept of the way things work in my world. As you wish m'lady.'
All in all, Koal had enjoyed her day at the market. Even the two farm boys had provided an enjoyable distraction.
Watching Ulric fawn all over Kendra was also entertaining.
'Men' she though, 'no concept of the way a woman's mind works. If your not going to make a move, stop crowding her. It just looks painful to watch.' :)
Koal didn't feel like any intrigue today deciding to leave the trouble making up to the others, and see what pops up.
Ulric + Kendra = True Love :)