The ghost reaches for the locket, and as he touches it, his incorporeal form fades with a melancholy sigh as he finally meets his true death.
And the rest of the night is uneventful, so you can go treasure-hunting if you like. According to the map, at dawn you must simply walk to a point atop the hill where the sun seems to be rising directly between the two spike-shaped rocks protruding from the sea to the east.
Following the instructions you find the spot easily enough, but what next?
"What did I tell you about leaving that stuff alone??? You are lucky the ghost only wanted his stuff back instead of your souls! Hrakar shouts at the othrs.
Gelik regains a bit of color in his cheeks. He looks at Hrakar and says, "'I told you so' is not an attractive comment."
In the morning, Gelik has regained most of his energy. Following the instructions on the map, Gelik paces to the indicated spot, shovel in hand. "This is Ishirou's map, so we follow his plan, right? Should we proceed?" He asks.
Hrakar almost sputters as he hears the gnome answer:"I clearly stated that we had to leave that stuff alone, that touching the stuff of dead people is rarely a good idea... yet you absolutely had to loot the wrekage, so yes, you deserve to hear that "unatractive comment"... I TOLD YOU SO, and you could do worse than start listening to sensible advice!"
After the tirade Hrakar goes back to sleep. When dawn comes he waits as the others for the sign needed to identify the spot where to dig, but when Gelik starts he simply scoffs and doesn't seem impressed at all
Torch seems unaffected by Hrakar's explosion, looking more thoughtful than anything else. He's still carrying the air the next morning, when the group begins working to uncover the treasure, but whatever he might be pondering quickly dissipates in the immediacy of digging into the dirt.
Ishirou grunts something inaudible and gets to digging together with Torch. After a few hours of strenuous digging you have managed to excavate a 10 feet deep hole and finally find something else than dirt. There seems to be some kind of wooden platform buried at this depth. Moreover, you find the skeleton of a dwarf in rotting leather armor lying on it.
Heal 20:
heal check:
Hrakar attention is roused when the skeletron is uncovered. The cleric stops the others from digging and examines what's left of the dwarf. His face darkens and darkens as he realizes what transpired.
"This poor soul here was stabbed from behind. Someone assaulted and buried him here. Give me a shovel. I'll see he gets a proper burial. But be careful with the digging... whoever killed him might have set some traps in order to protect this treasure"
So saying Hrakar takes a shovel and serches for an appropriate point of burial. Then he starts to dig.
Waking up, Ralf stretches and says "Aaah...finally, a good night's sleep! The stars must be looking down kindly on us."
He hands the ledger back to Torch. "Can't say I care much for the choice o' reading material, though; those are some black deeds. I'm surprised I wasn't haunted by nightmares all night."
---
Heal check:
"Burying this feller again? Seems like a waste o' time to me, but maybe he'll rest easy this time." Ralf pitches in (clumsily) with a shovel.
Gelik lets Hrakar get on with re-burying the back-stabbed dwarf corpse without comment, though he has many.
He inspects the wooden planks carefully, excavating until he can find the edge of at least one side. "Should we pry up a few boards to see what's underneath, or dig around? I vote to pry up a board and have a peek. I can smell booty." He giggles.
Torch taks Hrakar's warning under advisement - though he agrees with Gelik that they should see what's underneath the boards, "We're going to do this carefully," he stresses. "This was something worth killing for, once. Let's not fall victim to the same mindset."
A few more hours of digging lets you bury the dwarf and clear the platform. Torch can find any traps on it.
Aerys waking from her fitful sleep, keeps the dream to herself, no need to worry the others, even after she hears them discussing the story of the locket and the ghost.
She lazily takes time in the morning to eat and get ready for the day ahead. Rather than take part in the digging, she keeps watch for any unwelcome intrusions. But once conversations turn to treasure, she turns to the participants, and just states, "If its buried, then its fair game. No seadog would think twice about recovering gold from the ground, whoever left it there. And in case you forget, I'm with the seadogs." she chuckles and continues to keep watch, even as the ground reveals some planks. "Pry them all up Gelik, that we might see inside at the treasure."
Visibly excited, Gelik casts Dancing Lights as soon as there's space to see through the boards. He sends the lights through the platform to illuminate what's on the other side.
Anyway, the wooden platform is quite sturdy, but you can break through it if you are persistent . Who is doing the prying?
Torch would probably be prying, to allow Ish and Gelik to see down inside with Gelik's lights.
Hrakar just shakes his head, standing aside as the others keep bashing on the platform.
Ralf looks hesitatingly in the pit, unconfident about his ability to maintain balance in such a situation.
Torch continues prying and it seems that there is considerable space beneath the platform, with a glint of water below. Torch patiently manages to pry up log after log, making a hole in the platform... until all hell breaks loose as the entire platform collapses, sending Gelik, Torch and Ishirou plunging 40 feet down into the murky water unless you make a Reflex 12 save.
Hrakar looks sceptically at the efforts of the other castaways when a loud CRACK brings him out of his reverie.
"For the nine hells!"
The dwarf runs towards the gaping hole where once the hatch was.
Aerys runs back to the hole shouting, "What's happened." She immediately stops her efforts watching for trouble, as it seems trouble found them. "Rope, we need rope!"
Torch and Ishirou manage to hold on to the sides of the collapsing platform while Gelik plunges into the water for 3 points of damage. Worse, falling logs cause him another 9 points.
Then... roll for initiative.
"Uh oh..." Ralf looks miserable as he eventually notices the others floundering at the bottom of the pit.
Init
Initiative check:
Still incredulous at the strange turn of events Hrakar is slow to react to the incoming challange.
Two sickly grey bloated humanoid figures emerge out of the sludgy water at the bottom of the pit, hungry for flesh.
Knowledge (religion) 12:
Gelik screams "Heeeeeeeelp!" and pulls a wand from his belt.
Knowledge religion:
"What the hell are those?"
Know: religion
Torch swears as he sees the things come crawling up from the murky waters. Taking firm grip of his scimitar, he aims for a likely-looking spot in the water and lets go.
Aerys looks around for a tree or rock that she can use to hold the rope secure, or if she can wedge the grappling hook between some rocks to provide the necessary purchase.
Aerys can keep the rope steady, but that will keep her busy. Torch lands reasonably safely, taking only 4 points of damage. The startled monsters claw about them ferociously but only manage to rob Gelik of two of his copies.
You are up, all of you.
Ralf tries to climb down the rope, carefully.
Climb:
Without any comment the dwarf follows Ralf down the rope.
Climb Check:
Scimitar in hand, Torch slashes at one of the monsters. Though his attack is wild, he starts trying to slowly shift around in hopes of finding a shot at an unprotected back.
Fighting every instinct in his body, Gelik pulls his dagger and stabs at one of the creatures (helping with Torch's flank). He babbles, "I always thought that the situation would have to be pretty dire to use this useless thing, and I was right!"
Despite his imaginary friends Gelik is struck down by one of the creatures for 7 points of damage
[ooc]Giving you the benefit of accelerated climbing (which would be reasonable) Ralf has managed to descend 30 feet (10 feet above the water) and Hrakar 20 feet. Since the pit is only 10 feet across there is really no room for flanking unless you'd try to swim under the beasts.
You are up again, all of you.
Once the rope has gone slack, Aerys looks around for a place to secure the rope once more.
Seeing Gelik struck down, Torch lunges forward, grabbing for the gnome before he can sink beneath the brackish water.
Ralf casts a lucky charm on Gelik and then drops the rest of the way to the water.
Seeing how things are turning down in the pit Hrakar let's himself drop and channels energy to save Gelik's life.
Channel energy:
Gelik goes down shreiking, flopping in the water and bleeding like a stuck pig. He comes barely to consciousness after Hrakar channels, and bobs in the water, spluttering.