At Blacklocks' statement, Athromar decides that negotiations are fruitless and he charges at the man on the other side of what is left of the barricade trying to gain control of his body as Blacklock seeks to disarm him. Despite the barricade being tattered, Athromar trips over the remains flying well out of the way of his intended taarget...
Blacklock tries to wrestle away Roldare's weapon from him, but he has a desperate strength to him that leaves Blacklock grasping at air. Athromar, on the other hand, gets a very solid grip- on Blacklock's wrist. Meanwhile, Roldare continues raving, "Stay away! Stay away! Leave poor Roldare alone!" he starts to break down into a sob, "Leave poor Roldare.... ALONE!" the cobbler's voice snaps into an angry yell as he begins leveling his crossbow at Blacklock's chest.
Athromar growls at his own clumsiness and twists around Blacklock to once more, try and restrain Roldare.
CMB - Grapple -
A little puzzled on how to proceed, Phineas hesitates. He doesn't really want to be attacking Roldare, who appears to be more confused than malicious, but he also can't continue to let the man shoot holes in his group of friends.
Making up his mind, he calls on the power of Erastil, calling for the the good nature of that deity, and reaches out to touch Athromar, who continues to struggle with the deranged man for control of the crossbow.
While Roldare slips through Athromar's fingers- again- Phineas blesses his fellow cleric, and the scent of the wilderness fills the room for the briefest of moments.
Meanwhile, Blacklock's words have no impact on the terrified man, who backs as far as he can into the corner, swinging his crossbow in between all his 'assailants,' "No... the angry bones... they will not have me. They can't have me..."
Cira isn't sure what to do in this situation! "Does he need to come with us now? He can wait here while we deal with this other one he's talking about. What do you mean by the one that talks Roldare? Where is it?"
Roldare seems to calm down a bit- not much, but he stops trying to shoot everyone-
"The.... the... the one with the voice of Death, who stalks these halls in ancient mail.... he attacked, set the walking bones on us... killed most of us... but not Dimira!" he becomes panicked, begging you, "Please! You must save Dimira! She's still alive! I know she is! You have to help me! The One took her!" he starts sobbing again, "Please save my sister. I need her."
Phineas assumes the man is speaking of more undead, perhaps a more powerful abomination, and bristles. "Tell us what you know, Roldare. Tell it all, and tell it true. We will find your sister, and defeat this menace. There is something amiss here that our elders did not count on, but we will make things right."
Roldare sits down, clutching his legs, now calmer. "T-two nights ago, the walking bones attacked. Th-they were led by the one with the voice of death. H-he told them to- to attack. And they killed us! They killed us all. But not poor Roldare. And my sister! You have to save my sister! Dimira! She's still alive! I-I just know it. Bu-but be careful. We had just finished tr-trapping this floor when the walking bones attacked. They were led by the one who stalks these halls in ancient mail. They dragged Dimira off, kicking and screaming! Y-you need to save her! Bu-but be careful of the dangers. Three days ago, w-we set up the traps on this floor."
It's clear that Roldare is at least partially insane, the way he keeps shifting between moods and rambling through his statements in such a disjointed way.
Athromar backs off a bitg as he was the most aggressive of the group trying to grapple the man, "Roldare, why did you come here? None are supposed to enter this place unbidden?
Did this being in ancient mail say anything to you?"
"We will look for your sister. Obviously something has gone wrong here and we will need to discover what that was. Why were you setting traps here, and are there any more beyond the room full of pits that leads here?"
"I-I'm supposed to be here. It's you all that shouldn't! We're not ready yet! W-we were supposed to have three days to s-set up everything, not one! Th-the mayor m-made sure we would have plenty of t-time, b-but the One killed us all" Roldare stutters, "B-but thank you so much for finding Dimira! You have to find my sister! Here, take this" he hands Cira his crossbow. It's polished wooden stock and well-maintained trigger system show it's a well loved, well cared for, and high quality piece, "B-but for what you'll find, you'll find... ummm... s-something. You'll need the keys and the shields! Yes! The shields and the keys. B-but I hope you can swim. You'll need to swim." the look on his face is one of intense concentration, and has replaced his normally terrified visage, "I-I can't remember." he breaks down sobbing.
"Keys and shields," Phineas repeats, wondering what on earth that could mean. "Yes, we'll find them, and Dimira also. This ancient one will need to be driven from this sacred place. Ours is now a rescue mission, not just a coming of age."
He calms Roldare as best he can, and motions for the others to move along, heading back out the door. "Hope one of you can swim, he says softly to the others once out of earshot of the deranged man.
Phineas, raised in the austere brotherhood of Erastil's priests, does not have a well-developed sense of humor. "Catfish can talk? Surely Erastil is great to make it so! I look forward to seeing that someday." he replies, deadpan.
Phineas will lead the group to the door nearest Roldare's room then turn it over to Blacklock to check it for locks, traps, and talking fish.
Blacklock doesn't find any traps on the door. It swings open easily, revealing a small chamber that's mostly empty, with the exception of the corpse of a villager sprawled right in the middle of it. Next to it is a giant beetle trying to push it into the corner where a pile of filth and trash awaits. It doesn't seem to have noticed you yet.
As Blackjack opens the door and attacks the beetle, Phineas knows he must support the impetuous rogue. "In the name of all this is good, you will not defile that corpse." he cries. He steps inside the room, and looses an arrow at the big bug before it can react.
As the arrow finds the mark, Phineas again silently thinks his brothers for the hours of target practice with Erastil's divine weapon.
Phineas' arrow sinks deep into the bug's shell, and it's followed closely by a dagger and Cira's crossbow bolt. While the bug is still standing, it's barely alive as it wheels around, charging for you, when Athromar fires his bolt and pins the bug to the floor.
Athromar's attack is once again ineffective against the Beetle, luckily Cira and Phineas are up to the task of injuring the creature enough that Athromar can finish it off. He looks grim, "We know that this test is what we, or at least I thought it was, a rite of passage that involved little to no danger.
Now, it has become something much more. I am glad I am standing here beside all of you who have courage of conviction to see this thing through".
Athromar approaches the corpse to ascertain the cause of death and ensure it is not female...
Heal
Athromar can tell the body is that of a man, and has been dead for about two days, much like the others, and was stabbed with rough swords or claws akin to the horses outside. It's a fairly safe assumption that he was killed by skeletons.
Blacklock recognizes the man as Ereth Woolhand, son of the baker Edgar Woolhand, a young man who loved pranks but would frequently give Blacklock a few coins after playing a joke on him.
Athromar looks at Blacklock grimly, "I fear I cannot, he was slain in the same manner as the rest. By sword and by claw. We must be careful lest we suffer the same fate. The Gods are with us, let us shine their holy light within this place and drive out the dead that the living are threatened by them no longer".
Phineas adds, "The dead that walk defile this honored place. We will set it to right and reconsecrate Kassen's tomb." His jaw is set uncharacteristically, showing his hatred of the undead abominations.
"Let's keep moving. We need to rescue the girl before something unfortunate happens." He leads the group to the door and motions for Blacklock to take over.
Blacklock finds no traps on the door; the hollow-sounding portion was little more than a slightly rotten board. The door swings open, revealing a hallway that turns to the left. Following it, the group finds no traps, and is soon opens into a large chamber containing the remains of a small fire smoldering in the center of the room, letting off a plume of oily smoke. Fed by a heap of burning gear, debris, and more than few bones, the fire casts a flickering light across the walls of this room, partially obscured by the veil of smoke as the shadows dance through the chamber.
Athromar summons water granted to him by Sarenrae, "Extinguish this fire oh Goddess!"
He will cast it again if the first casting fails.
Assuming the fire dies down he will speak, "Why would the dead bother to burn these things?"
Phineas enters the room behind Blacklock, coughing at the oily smoke filling the room. "Do you think we should extinguish the fire? I don't have any way to now. But we should make sure those bones get a decent burial."
The smoke in the room becomes unnaturally harsh as you near the fire, causing your eyes to water. However, this doesn't stop any of your keen eyes from spotting a dagger in the fire. Phineas also manages to see a scorched key next to the fire.
However, when Athromar calls upon Sarenrae to drench the fire, it snuffs out immediately, throwing up a thicker cloud of smoke than seems natural.
Trying to move forward to retrieve the dagger from the fire, Phineas swallows lungfuls of the acrid black smoke. Instead of getting the blade from the flames, he bends over in wracking coughs caused by the inhalation of the unnatural cloud. He does point at the key between bouts of coughing so that Blacklock or one of the others might see it.
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Athromar's eyes narrow as he wonders if he just fell for some sort of sinister trap...
He manages to hold his breath against the thick foul smelling smoke.
Cira likewise doubles over coughing, and while Blacklock grabs the key, the light changes in the room finally stabilize. Your shadows, dancing in the firelight, stop flickering over the walls as magical lighting becomes the primary source of illumination.
However, Phineas gasps as he is suddenly weakened, an icy touch penetrating to his very core. Behind him, a shadowy figure with red eyes has a shadowy claw buried deep into the priest's back.
It's a shadow! An undead menace that's icy touch drains strength from its victims. Most weapons have no effect on the shadow, and even magic has trouble affecting something made of darkness.
Athromar turns to Phineas and stares at the creature behind his ally.
Fortitude
Steeling himself versus the smoke Athromar releases a wave of positive energy, "I know not whence you cam from creature of darkness, but back to the pits of... wherever with you!"
Channel Positive Energy - Harm Undead
Round 1
Already choking on the thick smoke from the brazier, Phineas shrieks in pain at the icy touch of the shadowy figure. While the thing looks undead, Phineas' knowledge of such things is not advanced enough to recognize this foe. His shoulder slump as some of his strength is drained, and coughing, he tries his best to retreat away from the spectral foe, leaving himself open to another icy touch.
+2 if undead
While the shadow tries to swipe at Phineas, it's distracted as Athromar sends a burst of golden radiance, threatening to leave it illuminated. However, while it clearly did something, it was far from enough, as Blacklock learns quickly. While the brave rogue has a heart of gold, trying to block the monstrosity, it doesn't protect said heart from the icy touch of his foe, leaving Blacklock drained and weak as dim claws rake through his armor deep into his chest.