The ghoul, lanced through by Sam spear and slashed by his claw, disintegrates back into the dust and dirt.
Status:
Barley @ -4/19 HP; Sundr @ -4/21 HP; Sam @ 13/20 HP; Gyles @ 6/10 HP
The skald and ninja awake with a start.
Status:
Barley @ 6/19 HP; Sundr @ 6/21 HP; Sam @ 13/20 HP; Gyles @ 6/10 HP
Sam, down the northern hallway, finds the tomb of a Gebbite general, resplendent in his armor and shield. He finds that the tomb contains the corpse's Full Plate +1 and a Masterwork Heavy Steel Shield.
Deris applauds the group as they take down the ghouls. You guys truly did a great job! Want to listen to another story by my daughter? He points to his daughter who is already telling another story to the children, who are all listening to her intently.
Sounds good! You are such a smart man, Sam! Deris laughs and turns back to his daughter's ghost, ignoring Barley.
Sam doesn't find much to the south. Rats, a ball of string.
Sundr leads the way and moves down a steep set of 100 stairs arriving at a solid stone door through which everyone can hear the sounds of the ocean beyond.
Sundr tentatively opens the door. With the frequency of storm waves approaching the shore, salt
water erupts from cracks in the floor of this large hexagonal room. Foamy, blinding spray jumps in every direction, then drains from calf-height to ankle-deep before the next wave hits. Occasionally a length of black-brown seaweed shoots in and adds one more strand to a room that already appears draped in long wet hair. In each of the chamber’s six corners, a fluted pillar rises to the fifty-foot ceiling. Between each pair of pillars, an open arch connects the chamber to an attached space. Beyond the northwest and southwest arches, three tiers of recessed spaces form three massive steps. A stone sarcophagus rests on each step.
Perception:
Initiative:
Barley, Sundr, Sam and Gyles spread out to investigate the room. They see three alcoves. One directly forward and two branching northwest and southwest. Out of nowhere an undead jumps out of the northern alcove at Barley and Sam. Bring me your gems... and finery... for my collection... Graaaaar...
This particular undead is dressed in rotting finery, wisps of fetid, expensive cloth still dangling from its limbs. Perched atop its head is a golden crown, resplendent with a dozen glittering gems, while its putrid fingers each bear extravagant rings made from a dozen different precious gems and metals. It appears to have crept up on you as you were exploring the main room.
Total Damage:
Barley:
Sam:
Gyles will begin to Inspire Courage in the party as he begins to feel sick to his stomach!
1st Round:
1st: Undead
2nd: Barley @ 6/19 HP; Sundr @ 15/21 HP; Sam @ 15/20 HP; Gyles @ 10/10 HP
Sam is sickened by the stench of the ghast.
1st Round:
1st: Undead
2nd: Barley @ 12/19 HP; Sundr @ 21/21 HP; Sam @ 15/20 HP; Gyles @ 10/10 HP
Sam bathes the undead in flames, but it seems to avoid most of the flames by ducking behind a fallen piece of rock.
1st Round:
1st: Undead @ 4 damage
2nd: Barley @ 12/19 HP; Sundr @ 21/21 HP; Sam @ 15/20 HP; Gyles @ 10/10 HP
Barley and Sundr becomes sickened by the stench of the regalia-adorned undead. Barley takes a claw across the chest and falls to the ground paralyzed by the ghast toxin. Sam takes a clip across the shoulder as well but is able to stand up against the toxin.
Sundr draws her greataxe and steps forward to attack the ghast.
Sundr is able to land a solid blow against the beast, cutting through the mottled purple robe it wears and biting into its desiccated flesh.
The ghast lashes out at the creature who struck it.
Total Damage:
Sundr:
Sundr falls to the ground, not from paralysis, but from the overwhelming assault by the ghast. He eviscerates her with his claws before landing a sickening chomp on her throat.
Gyles keeps up his bardic song and prepares his last spell to give Sam another chance against paralysis as he lunges forward to stab the ghast.
Gyles becomes sickened by the stench as well as he closes the gap. He rapier misses as his stomach lurches from the shifting floor beneath him causes him to get seasick.
Sea spray fills the room as a wave crashes into the side of the room's walls. The room fills with water for a few seconds before draining back out. The roar of the sea echoes across the room, drowning out the undead groans of the ghast.
1st Round:
1st: Undead @ 10 damage
2nd: Barley-Sickened/Paralyzed (5 rounds) @ 12/19 HP; Sundr-Bleeding Out/Sickened @ -2/21 HP; Sam-Sickened @ 15/20 HP; Gyles @ 10/10 HP
Sam steps back 5', weaves a few magical sign and blasts the ghast with two magic missiles. The creature's jaw hangs loose from the jarring blast. It's beady eyes turn to the bard to tried to stab it with its rapier.
Total Damage:
Giles:
The creature ravages Giles, almost killing him on the spot in a torrent of claws and teeth.
The creature steps over the bloody heap of Giles, menacing the last remaining defender.
3rd Round:
1st: Undead @ 19 damage
2nd: Barley-Sickened/Paralyzed (4 rounds) @ 12/19 HP; Sundr-Sickened @ -2/21 HP; Sam-Sickened @ 15/20 HP; Gyles-Bleeding Out @ -9/10 HP
Despite the lack of song from Gyles the bard to Inspire Courage in Sam, he is able to plunge his spear deep into the eye socket of the ghast, barely sending it back to Pharasma's Boneyard.
Gyles perishes in the catacombs of the Drownyard, but it seems that Sundr and Barley are still alive. A quick chance to heal gets the Pathfinders back into some semblance of a fighting state and they explore the tombs.
Sam seems drawn to one of the more ornate tombs in the room he was about to back into while fighting the ghast. Sam and Barley push on the lid of the grave. The sarcophagus lid slides aside with the sound of a grinding millstone. The well-preserved body of a young girl lies inside, stringy black hair obscuring the face. Her atrophied limbs are drawn up like folded sticks against her torn school uniform. On her finger is a ring depicting two ruby red salamanders, stylistically framed by bright gold.
Sundr joins the party and sees the girl and quickly feels her skin and throat. This girl is alive! She shakes the girl and attempts to use her Wand of Cure Light Wounds on her, but nothing seems to work.
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Barley is still reeling from the near fatal thrashing by the ghast. He uncorks a potion and drinks it greedily. "Perhap remove the ring", he manages to suggest.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Sam determines that the ring is a Ring of Sustenance and that removing it right now might cause the poor girl to perish. It seems that her body has been preserved with food and water for ten years by the magic of the Drownyard and the aid of this magical item that she located.
It should be a simple matter for the Pathfinders to return the way they came in order to leave the necropolis. Deris stubbornly refuses to leave the spirit of his daughter. It’s entirely up to the Pathfinders on how to handle this, but attempting to forcefully return him to the surface will cause him to fly into a rage and attack the Pathfinders.
Returning the barely living body of Junia to Lady Dacilane has several repercussions: she’s naturally overwhelmed with joy and sends for the best clerics of Asmodeus at once to see to her daughter’s recovery. Lady Dacilane alters her previous reward and promises to assist the Pathfinders in the future if they ever have any need of information about the aristocrats of Absalom—a small gesture, to be sure, but a very generous one in the mind of Lady Dacilane. The other parents, upon hearing that there was a miraculous survivor after all these years, mob the Tri-Towers Yard in an attempt to gain access to the necropolis. Absalom’s city watch is called in to quiet the disturbance and sends in a team to search for additional survivors. Of course, there are none.
When Junia comes around, she shares with the Pathfinders how she came to be preserved in that sarcophagus. Two weeks before the earthquake, Junia and her friends (including Cassiel and Grishan) discovered the necropolis. They kept it a secret and treated it like a clubhouse, a place to tell ghost stories and dare each other to explore by candlelight. On one such dare, Junia found a trophy—a ruby salamander ring on the finger of a crowned corpse. Unbeknownst to Junia, the ruby salamander ring functions as a ring of sustenance.
When the earthquake hit, Junia and her friends were already in the necropolis. When her friends began to starve, Junia did not. As her friends became weaker and less able to continue their search for a way out, Junia snuck away from them and hid in an empty sarcophagus that was unsealed by the great quake, desperately seeking an escape from the misery of her friends. Confused, increasingly frightened of the darkness beyond, and lacking hunger or thirst, Junia stayed in her hiding spot until she was found by the roaming allip. Its merciless attacks drained her wisdom to 0 and Junia laid here in a nightmare sleep, her body preserved by the magic of the necropolis, for 10 years. Only the ruby salamander ring kept her alive.
When the ruby ring of the salamander is returned to the Pathfinder Society, they will be naturally pleased at acquiring such an important artifact and Venture- Captain Drenge will personally thank the Pathfinders for their service to the Society.