"Here. Better let me take a look at that gate," Sister Mara offers as she steps forward. The inquisitor offers a couple of quick prayers to her Goddess as she carefully sets to examining the gate and trap.
Sister Mara finds that the gate trap is held together by an intricate web of thin, nearly invisible wires. With delicate precision she snips through the intricate system of sensitive counterweights and disables the trap. With the trap disarmed, it's a simple matter of Kua and Auron hauling up the gate into its recess in the ceiling.
"There you go, gentlemen. Shall we see what's on the other side?" Sister Mara asks, stepping carefully past the gate and searching the area beyond for more traps.
You step into a catacomb about 45 feet in length, niches spaced regularly on both sides. Repeated lines of footprints mark the dust on the floor, all leading to an alcove in the northeast portion of the chamber. The burial niches lining the stone walls are empty save for ancient scraps of yellowed linen.
From the four central alcoves emerge four more of the glassy black skeletons that Tripe had been creating. They heft their scimitars and advance!
Auron moves to the front, shield up whilst drawing his warhammer.
Uwais growls deep in his throat, drawing his sling and loading it.
Yang begins preparing to cast a spell, targeting the lead undead with disrupt undead
attack
damage
Skeletons:
Initiative
Sister Mara- 16
Uwais/Waya- 13
Skeletons and Kua- 12
Auron and Yang- 11
Round One:
Hanbo in hand, Sister Mara lashes out at the skeleton before her. The inquisitor then takes a step back to make room for her companions.
Sister Mara advances on the boney quartet. She swings, hoping to get an easy opening attack, but her target pivots with unnatural grace away from her attack. Uwais whirls his sling and releases a bullet into the mass of skeletons.
Sling:
And only narrowly misses hitting Sister Mara. Waya growls and bounds into the melee, snapping her jaws at the abominations.
Waya- open stance:
But her inborn fear of the unnatural takes the fire from her attack.
The four skeletons mob the wolf and the inquisitor, raining blows from their rusty scimitars.
DM Screen:
While Sister Mara easily parries aside the first thrust, she is caught with a jagged gash on her arm from the other assailant. Likewise, Waya skirts nimbly around the broken blade, only to find herself herded into another attack.
Kua hangs back in a defensive posture as Auron steps forward and smashes one of the undead with his warhammer, shattering its bones across the floor. A ray of coruscating energy flares from Yang's hand, but his target ducks around it.
Auron continues his attack routine, swing his hammer with all the power he could muster, which manages to hew a chunk off the floor and nothing else.
Uwais gives an encouraging bark to Waya, his sling whirling about his head as he fires again.
Waya tries again to worry the foes, hackles up as she heads for the attack. Grabbing one of the skeletons by the leg, she tries to tug it to the ground.
"If we could hit what we aim at, we would make things easier on ourselves, I think ..." Yang fires another ray at the closest skeleton.
attack
damage
"Like that, I think."
Round Two:
Having fallen back to make room for Auron, Sister Mara calls upon the blessings of the Everflame and fires a bolt of divine energy past the cavalier and Waya in an attempt to strike one of the strange skeletons.
Kua waits for Yang's spell to complete before moving in for an attack.
Initiative
Sister Mara- 16
Uwais/Waya- 13
Skeletons and Kua- 12
Auron and Yang- 11
Round Two
Sister Mara falls back after Auron barrels into the melee, calling upon the Dawnflower's blessing to smite the foul undead. But her view is blocked by her allies and caution demands she take a less desirable shot than she would like, sending the bolt astray. Uwais finds himself facing similar difficulties, sending a bolt sailing over the knot of skeletons. Waya, on the other hand, regains her feral intensity, snapping into one of the boney bastards and dragging it to the ground.
The tripped skeleton attempts to rise once more and both Auron and Waya rise to the occasion, lashing out with tooth and hammer.
Waya AoO:
Auron AoO:
And send it back to the boneyard with their combined assault.
The remaining skeletons rally and dive headlong at the wolf and the man, swinging with suicidal abandon.
Scimitar and Claw 1:
Scimitar and Claw 2:
Unprepared for the swift reprisal, both Auron and Waya find the rusty scimitars sneaking past their defenses to deal grievous wounds.
Just in time, Kua crashes into the mess, swinging his greataxe with abandon, beheading one and leaving its companion surrounded. Auron leaps in with his hammer, but the pile of bones proves faster, dodging out of the way. Yang chants his arcane syllables, passing his hands through the air and channeling a ray of positive energy into the skeleton, at the exact point where the wizard expected it to land. The spell proves too much for the undead's damaged frame and it burns into a pile of greasy ash on the floor.
Kua dusts blackened bits of bone from his axe. "The alchemist continues to plague us from beyond the grave, it seems."
With the skeletons taken care of, Kua begins to look around the corridor.
Auron clamps down on his newly received wound, stemming the bleeding before applying a crude cloth compress around his torso.
Jhaik gives a small whine.
Well, 'ere's still sum rooms left to explore. I thinks we woulda go on if 'ere's nothin' in 'ere.
After a thorough search, you find little of interest in the room besides another door in the alcove to the northeast, where the footprints are leading. Kua and Sister Mara methodically examine the door for traps and after the all-clear, crack it open. The familiar scent of formaldehyde and suppressed rot assails your nostrils once more as you find yourselves entering the very laboratory where you dealt with Tripe just recently. The reverse side of the door leaves a seamless impression in the wall due to its clever construction.
"Looks like Tripe had all sorts of secret entrances into and out of his lair," Sister Mara observes.
"Shall we move on to the next secret passage?"
"Looks like Tripe had all sorts of secret entrances into and out of his lair," Sister Mara observes.
"Shall we move on to the next secret passage?"
"It would seem he was well prepared. It was good we were moreso."
DM Screen:
Auron/Jhaik:
Uwais/Waya:
Yang:
You begin backtracking toward the cathedral area when Yang holds up a hand, motioning for quiet. Waya and Jhaik sniff the air, ears back.
"I have heard something ahead, I think. Quite faint, but we may have company."
"It is soft; very hard to hear. Be on guard."
Uwais draws his sling and loads it. He growls low, and Waya follows suit.
Sister Mara draws and loads her light crossbow, glancing about for any sign of an enemy.
You all hold for a moment, weapons at the ready... but the passage remains clear and nothing so much as peeks around the corner.
Kua will move forward, attempting to remain silent, and take a look around the corner.
Straight back down the passage and back through the crypt behind Pharasma's statue Kua can make out a man-sized cloaked figure moving away toward the Cathedral... and you can see that the grand chamber is illuminated.
The half orc looks back to his companions and whispers:
"There is someone up ahead. They are hooded, so I can't make out any details. The grand chamber up ahead seems to be lit. Should we follow?"
Any 'un else down 'ere ain't suppose t'be. I'se say we follow.
Sister Mara silently nods in agreement as she hefts her loaded crossbow and moves stealthily down the hallway, motioning for her companions to follow.
Yang whispers, "I am not so quiet. Maybe someone should quietly look and tell us what is there?"
DM Screen:
Mara creeps silently through the dark tomb, moving from sepulcher to sepulcher to maintain cover.
Sister Mara:
Around the statue's robes, you can just make out the cloaked figure that Kua described, a long avian beak jutting from beneath its cowl. Its beak moves, but you can't quite make out what it's saying... it must be whispering to the elf standing next to it, probably one of the best looking elves you've seen. He stands with arms crossed over a black and gold breastplate, nodding before whispering something back to the beaked one. Several globes of light dance in the air above their heads.
Sister Mara creeps back to tell her companions about the three... persons... in the cathedral.
Whispering: "Well, we outnumber them. Perhaps we should approach them and ask what their business is?"
Talkin's not me best thing I'se can do. Giv' a shout if dey'z need sum crumpin'.
"It may be wise for you to come along, even if you don't speak. They may be more talkative if we bring our whole pack, and more likely to fight us if they think they stand a chance of victory in a fight."
Jus' don't want t'scare 'em off so. If deyz wan' to talk, den dey'll talk.
"Maybe if I make you large, it would help to influence?"
Me? Gettin' 'ig and more smashy ain't gonna make 'em more talk more. Save yer magicks when it's a needin'.