Everyone quiets, listening for the noise Nornan drew their attention to. After several heartbeats everyone hears it: Arrhythmical clicking and hissing eerily close. Peering into the cobweb cloaked darkness reveals very little from here.
You all proceed carefully down the short stairwell above you dozens of fist sized hairy spiders skitter down the walls and along the ceiling scuttling away from the light. At the bottom of the stairs you peek into an oddly shaped room.In the center of the room is a red marble statue of a woman in flowing robes. Crawling and curling about this statue is a four or five foot long green centipede with bright yellow legs and a head nearly as deep a red as the stone of the statue. Scuttling along the ground near a doorway at the northern end of the chamber is a second nearly identical centipede.
Sprawled on the floor are two corpses. A small one slumps against the statue's pedestal and the second, human sized and little more than a skeleton in shuddering rags, lays at the mouth of the hallway to the south .
The centipedes hiss and wriggle towards the party on clicking legs.
"Clarence get back," Blake warns as he pushes past his old teacher and advances on the bugs. He takes a swing at the closest one with his scimitar.
Brinda darts nimbly forward to clear the entry way and attack the centipede on the statue with her bladed scarf.
Brinda moves forward and the centipede seems unable to strike her even as she lashes out with her scarf. The blades sink into the vulnerable space between carapace plates causing the creature to whip away dripping ichor.
Blake rushes forward and the enraged centipede lashes out with it's mandibles before the magus can attack but the clacking maw misses Blake's face by scant inches. The Magus lands a devastating counter blow heartbeats later severing the red head from the rest of it's body.
The second creature closes on Blake and lashes out with it's venom dripping mandibles but to no avail as Blake neatly sidesteps the attack.
Two giant centipedes were the cause of that clacking noise. Blake and Brinda ran forward, Both showing off some neat skills in taking out one of the centipedes. I stepped behind the second centipede, trying to avoid its notice and get it between me and Blake.
Sad at the possibility of dulling my axe, I swung down at the... insect?
Seeing the two centipedes dealt with before she can overcome her surprise at their presence, Lysa takes a deep breath to steady herself and turns her attention to the bodies. I really hope there aren't any more of those things down here. Normal sized creepy crawlies are bad enough, but large ones? Eeeewwww.
Taking a couple steps towards the smaller and more recent appearing body, Lysa casts detect magic upon the body and the statue in an attempt to figure out if this statue is trapped like the ones in the hallway.
Nornan circles the statue quickly moving past Brinda to position himself near Blake . Nornan's axe crunches through hard carapace. Ichor oozing from the grievious wound, the centepede emits a hissing scream as it writhes wildly. The centipede's body and legs clatter against
the hard stone for a few moments as it dies.
The fight only took a matter of seconds but now you can catch your breath and take a closer look at your surroundings.
The walls of this chamber are pocked with holes and cracks and stony debris and dirt litters the floor. The red marble statue is of a strikingly beautiful woman except that her features are contorted in an expression of inhuman fury. She is dressed in flowing robes, and her long hair is held back by an intricate headdress of hooks and blades. In her left hand she carries a large book, the face of which is inscribed with the seven pointed star. In her right hand she holds a glittering steel and ivory ranseur. The fluttering cobwebs that hang from the ceiling dance about the statue's head but never seem to settle there.
The small humanoid corpse leaning against the central statue it appears to have brownish red scales and a pronounced snout but the local insect life has devoured most of the flesh from this body. A small leather pouch can be seen tied to the remnants of a cord belt at the creature's waist and tucked somewhat under it.
The other corpse still appears to be little more than a skeleton but the rag-like clothes that cover the body still writhe disturbingly.
The small corpse radiates no magic but on closer inspection it appears to be some sort of small brown scaled lizard man with an almost canine like facial structure.
Clarence, though relatively quick to react, was not nearly as quick as the rest of his friends. Before he had a chance to so much as blink, the battle was over. "Guess I don't need to move back at all, with you and the others to protect me, my boy!" he says to Blake. He then enters the room and looks dispassionately at the corpses. "I wonder how long these have been here..." But it isn't long before his attention is drawn to the same statue Lysa is examining. Clarence steps up to it and tries to recall whether he has seen this figure in any of his books or not. Recalling that he has Brodert's Treatise with him, he pulls it out and skims for any additional information.
Those elements seem to point to the fact that this was a person of incredible importance and so well known a plaque was unnecessary.
There is a strange hubris to this: To be so confident of your fame and future legacy that you don't need your name to be inscribed in the stone is quite unusual. In modern times and even in many Thassilonian ruins the customary signs of vanity (including plaques identifying the subjects of sculptures and other art) are quite common. It's absence hints at an almost deification of the subject. So perhaps she is an ancient deity or more likely a powerful ruler. The latter seems supported by the book and the ranseur which are carried almost as badges of an earthly office.
Given the runes of wrath at the door and on the armored statues in the front entry, the angry burning expression on the statue's face and years of experience and study it may be safe to assume that this is a statue of one of the legendary Runelords: The kings and queens of old Thassilon which would make this the Runelord (Runelady?) of Bakrakhan the domain of wrath.
"Well, it appears as if this may be the Runelord of Bakrakhan, which, as you may have guessed from the previous room, is the domain of wrath." Clarence will continue to ramble on, whether anyone is listening or not, about the size of the statue and what material it is sculpted in, and how all the clues point to his conclusion. He is very clearly excited about this find!
Blake listens intently to his old professor amazed that even here he is learning something new. "Well if this place is an ancient stronghold with and ancient weapon that just nearly took out the town, we need to be careful and see if we can be sure that something worse is going to happen." Blake points at the bodies, "What concerns me most is we don't seem to be alone down here. I mean bugs and the such are to be expected. And that body is bones, who knows how long it has been here. However this one seems a bit newer." Blake will kneel beside it and see if the corpse will reveal anything useful. As he studies the body he will remove the pouch and toss it to Nornan, "See whats in here."
Glancing nervously at Clarence as he examines the statue, Lysa warns: "Please be careful around it. I can see a faint aura of evocation magic about it. Maybe these two bodies were done in by a trap and then fed on by those centipedes? We may still be the only people down here."
Looking towards the door at the northern end, Lysa asks: "Shall we continue on with our exploration? I wonder just how extensive this underground complex is and what it's purpose was."
There is a jingle of metal as Blake tosses the pouch to Nornan.
Blake scrunches up his nose unsure of anything about the creature. "Which way should we go?" Blake asks as he stands up and moves over to the other corpse searching to see if it has any clues to reveal.
Clarence, finally ready to move on, having exhausted his knowledge on everything he knows about the Runelord of Wrath, looks towards the three possible ways to go. "Well, we have two hallways and a door. The curious side of me says 'open the door'! But the practical side of me thinks that what we are looking for will be deeper in. Still, there may be some important knowledge to find behind that door there." Clarence walks over toward the door and inspects it for traps.
Not much in the pouch. Some gold, one platinum piece, some wire and a knife. I'll divvy up the gold later if you all like. And, lets see what's behind that door. All of this has to lead to something.
While searching Blake sees Clarence move towards the door, "Careful, don't open the door until Nornan or I get over there, just in case."
Blake issues his warning as he stoops over the second corpse. Reaching into the rag like clothes a couple of small spiders crawl up Blake's arm then suddenly the rags shudder and a wave of green-black arachnids swarms out of the corpse and up Blake's arm and legs.
Initiative:
spider swarm:
Lysa:
Clarence:
Blake:
Nornan:
Brinda:
Blake is so concerned about Clarence's safety, that he complete disregards his own and fails to observe the body carefully for signs of danger. The spiders scurry up his arm, under his coat and he lets out a painful yep as they nip at his skin and inject their poison into his flesh. A burning radiates out from his arm, sapping his strength, and making his stomach turn inside out. A moment later he expels a gullet full of bile and breakfast onto the floor. Weakened and ill, he falls to the floor and thrashes about hoping to force his tormentors off of him.
As the insects scurry over Blake, I thought about what to do. Clearly swinging an axe at the man wasnt a smart move, so I dropped one hand off of it, and tried my best to swat at the creatures swarming over him.
:
:
Nornan swipes ineffectively at the spiders crawling on Blake a few few get scattered but for everyone Nornan swats away two more seem to crawl into the cleared space.
As you brush it off you realize you recognize the type of spider these are. Often called corpse trappers, they nest in groups inside corpses to attack scavengers. Normally they don't attack anything larger than a coyote unless provoked such as by disturbing the nest....
Normally the best tactic when in this situation is to soak yourself in water to wash off the bugs or stand perfectly still and wait them out. Unfortunately this is a larger nest than you've ever heard of (usually they don't have a human sized corpse to nest in.) It's obvious that with the larger swarm unless action is taken to protect Blake waiting will probably kill him and the only nearby source of water is apparently trapped.
Lysa removes drops her glaive since it is rather useless against spiders and attempts to help brush the spiders off of Blake as she asks: "Should I risk shocking him and hope it causes the spiders to drop off?"
Heal him first! Then hope that he survives what we have to do next. Brinda says decisively and makes a bit of a pitying face as she prepares to attack.
Clarence cries out as Blake is overcome by the nasty critters. Once his surprise fades, he hurries over to Blake and lays a hand on his arm. "Unseen forces, please aid Blake in this time of need." A white light appears beneath his hand and some of the wounds and bites from the creatures close up.
Divine power courses though Blake and heal the hundreds of oozing bites but the spiders still swarm all over him.
Swiping at the spiders, I saw that I recognized what they were. They're corpse-trapper spiders, guys. We used water to get them off, but I dont see any of that...
Nornan brushes a few of the spiders off Blake as the swarm bites and stings again even as the swarm begins to slowly disperse.
Blake will struggle to get on his feet and try to run back up the stairs, attempting to shake himself free of the attacking swarm.
Assuming Nornan continues to hold: Blake makes a dash out of the room and up the stairs shedding spiders as he goes. The mass of spiders shrinks as most of the vermin scurry into cracks and up walls out of sight. Within a few moments the swarm will have completely dispersed.
Once he shakes all the spiders free, and steps on as many as he can for good measure, Blake collapses on the stairs. "The poison has made me so weak, Lysa can you restore me to my full self?"
Weak and hurt Blake says softly, "Maybe we should go home and comeback when we are better prepared."
Shaking her head sadly, Lysa responds: I do not have any restoration or counter-poison spells to cast. I can at least heal your wounds from the bites..
"Perhaps we should have brought some sort of vermin repellant with us.
With the spiders scattered across the room the corpse should be free of vermin and likely safe enough to search.
Clarence walks over to the corpse that Blake was inspecting. He taps it with his foot to shake off any leftover spiders before reaching down to continue the search. "Blake, if you are feeling too weak, I suppose we can come back tomorrow. It may not be a bad idea to grab some sort of vermin repellent, or perhaps just a torch or two should we encounter another batch of spiders or other insects."
"Thank you, Lysa I am still feeling a bit weak but that helps take the pain away." The warmth of her healing magic spreads across his skin dulling the hot burning sensation of the hundreds of tiny bite wounds. He looks grateful if not a bit embarrassed by his situation. "Yes, Clarence I think a night of rest might do me good and I do not think any of us are prepared to deal with what we have found here. We should try and get some better exploring gear. Maybe Father Zantus has something that might help us as well."
Clarence searching the corpse reveals hidden beneath it:
"Well, I believe I know how this man got in here." Clarence holds up the key that appears to be similar to their own. "And these coins indicate that perhaps this man was a treasure hunter..."
Clarence will then cast Detect Magic on the silver dagger, speaking a few quick words to the deity or deities that have taken an interest in him. "Gods grant me the power to see magical truth.".
It's a Simple +1 dagger.