"This place is like a maze. Which way- secret door 1 or secret door 2?"
"I'm guessing that the shrieker is behind the door with the isncription, and will alert our enemies. Let's take this hidden passage instead and see if it doesn't double around." Marvin said as he opened the secret door.
Celestine considered for a moment, then nodded. Thinking back over the previous rooms, she was getting a good sense for how this place was laid out. If her suspicions were right... "Don't let your guard down." she said quietly, nodding to Marvin as he opened the door. She conjured a bit of force into her hand a moment later, ready to hurl it if need be. It might not be necessary, but as always, better safe than sorry.
The hidden hallway leads to an apparent dead-end. By now, though, Marvin has figured out what to look for and is easily able to find the secret door. A panel slides aside to reveal another square room lit by an oil lantern. Eight battered wooden coffins are laid around the perimeter of the room. Each is encrusted with salt brine, barnacles, and dried seaweed.
Marvin raised a finger to his lips to silence the others, then pointed at the coffins and mimed staggering undead rising from their rest.
Zyxtyvia nods and then motions for him to enter the room first...
So, possibly as many as eight undead... yeah, she was gonna stay back where it was safe. More to the point, this might be genuinely rough, and she made a few sharp gestures. The air beside her shimmered, and an extremely pale figure appeared beside Celestine. The figure - flesh-like on one side, and somehow doll-like on the other - bowed silently to the group, then straightened and stood in place. "This is Rahmiel." Celestine said quietly. "If you get hurt too badly, retreat over to her and she'll heal you." Her minion wasn't (yet) strong enough to do that too many times, but hey. She was a work in progress. The important part was that she was there if anybody needed to rotate back for some quick healing. It wouldn't hurt if any of them started to appreciate the ready source of recovery, either...
"...Except him." Celestine told her companion. "Unless he asks nicely or really does need it." Per her contract, she wouldn't actually refuse to help Erick if she truly thought he needed it... but she wasn't going to go out of her way to encourage thoughtless behavior, either. If he needed to get hit a few times to learn that lesson, so be it.
Marvin's jaw dropped as Erick pushed past him and performed his loud display. Maybe he'll attract all the undead to him, and I can just burn the lot of them... though it would have been nice to just slip by here unnoticed. Undead minions aren't cheap, and I assume our employer probably would have preferred to keep them functional.
The witch just shakes her head at the sudden and unnecessary outburst from the brawler....
Sholano froze, watching Erick's reckless behavior with horror.
You've got to be kidding me.
To the surprise of no one , coffin lids fly open and greataxe-wielding undead begin to shamble forward. These are no ordinary zombies; they appear to be Draugr - created from the corpses of drowned sailors, they're surprisingly agile and can nauseate with the merest of touches.
Your turns
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Erick leaps in surprise as the coffins actually do fly open. he places his hands on his face and groans. Dammit!
He looks back at the others. You lot can find secret passages hidden in the walls but can't tell there are actual walking dead sailors in dem boxes? Ericks asks incredulously.
One of the undead bastards brushes up against Erick. He slams his shoulder into the and pins it against the wall with his body.
He grunts as he tries to turn his nose away. Arrgh Gods! This thing stinks like that shit covered ogre we let out!
...He deserves whatever happens to him.
The phrase 'too dumb to live' had crossed her mind more than once, but she raised a hand and sent a blast towards one of the undead not yet engaged in melee, infusing the bolt with as much power as she could manage. Best to take them down fast, if only so they would have less of a chance to threaten everyone else. (Including, most importantly, her.)
for
for
...Nothing to complain about there.
Rahmiel, meanwhile, waited patiently where she'd been ordered to be... ready to heal anyone who might need it.
Zyxtyvia enters the room and goes full defensive with her staff out keeping the undead at bay if possible...
"Stop hugging that creature Erick and kill it!"
Marvin let the flames build up inside him, then stepped forward and released a roiling wave of fire at two of the drowned corpses.
Erick grabs the closest monster as Marvin breathes a gout of fire - to absolutely no effect . Celestine's blast is much more effective, as her target's head is almost separates from its body. Being undead, that doesn't bother it too much, and it shambles forward with its brethren. Fortunately, everyone's able to avoid their attacks ... for now.
Gray Bar: grappled
Red: 17pts damage
Marvin snarled and lashed out at the monster that Erick had subdued, hoping to take advantage of the distraction.
,
,
,
Celestine wasted no time at all in hurling another bolt of power towards the Draugr she'd injured, intending to finish it off so the others could move in. She didn't pack in quite as much of a punch as before, though - she wanted to save at least some energy, after all, and it seemed pretty hurt already.
for
On Zyxtyvias next turn she will go full defnese as two undead are adjacent to her...
Marvin's attacks inflict grievous wounds on the grappled undead. Taking advantage of this, Erick headbutts a weak point and drives a chunk of skull into his foe's brain. Celestine's blast has a similar effect and puts down her already-weakened target. The remaining two draugr appear to have retained a larger portion of their martial prowess, however, as they carve into Zyxtyvia and Erick with devastating axe blows. As their bodies hit the floor, it briefly flashes.
Your turns
Marvin hardly seemed to notice as his companions dropped to the floor. Instead, he focused on sinking his claws and teeth into the nearest undead.
,
,
,
Drat.
Celestine wasn't going to question the source of Erick's protection - not right now, anyway. Maybe later. She did beckon, though, calling Rahmiel forward to provide healing for Zyxtyvia.
She hurled another bolt of force a moment later, aiming for the one that had struck Zyxtyvia. Best to put them down quickly...
for
Zzzzz
Marvin takes down the closest undead as Celestine wounds the other. It shambles forward and swings at Marvin, but its clumsy blow is easily dodged.
Your turns
Marvin dodged and quickly pounced on the last creature, hoping to end the fight.
,
,
,
Already hurt by Celestine's magic, the final undead falls.
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Erick stands up, refusing to make eye contact with anyone as he mutters. Thanks....
He pretends that he was never knocked unconscious from the smelly undead and wipes his hands on his clothes as he stomps his foot on the closest undead's head.
Stretching his muscles, Erick lifts the side of his shirt and notices he has a massive bruise that goes all the way up the side of his body. Groaning he realizes the bastard must have broke quite a few ribs.
Rahmiel sent another pulse of healing into Zyxtyvia - then another, lesser pulse that reinforced the healing. At Celestine's gesture, the quiet figure vanished a moment later, her duties apparently completed.
Zyxtyvia wakes up and picks herself up from the floor, she checks over her body to ensure everything is still connected then she stammers out a ..."thank you" which sounds almost painful to her as she says it.
"Just try to be more careful in the future - at least until Rahmiel has more power to use." Celestine said. The witch woman had essentially taken an unlucky hit, and such things happened. Besides, she was obligated to help the team... mostly... and she wouldn't mind it at all if they started to depend on her for valuable things like magical healing.
Marvin began picking over the now still corpses for anything useful, then conducted a search of the coffins. "Well, now that they're put down for good, we might as well get a look to see if they had anything valuable tucked away."
The heavily-rusted gear is practically worthless. None of the coffins hold anything of value, either.
Celestine's mouth twitched in amusement as Marvin looked for signs of anything valuable or useful. She'd only condemn such things if they were pressed for time - otherwise, it was always good to see what advantages you could squeeze from a situation (so long as that didn't consume you, of course - you had to focus on the big picture).
You proceed down a short hallway terminating at a locked door. "Serve thy master well and be rewarded." Hanging on a peg beside the door is an iron key.
Zyx will be in the back nursing her bruises and looks like a poor peasant girl.
You open the door to reveal a featureless room. Inside is a noble-looking man wearing heavy armor and holding a sword and shield. Around his neck is a Mitran holy symbol - a sunburst of silver and sapphire. When the door opens, the knight is kneeling as if in prayer, but he quickly rises to his feet and assumes a ready position. "Greetings, captain. Perhaps you'd be so kind as to explain your reason for keeping me in this place? Some devilry is afoot; I'm sure of it!"
You recognize him as Sir Balin of Karfeld. He's a moderately-famous member of the Knights of Aleria and has gathered quite the reputation as a hunter of Asmodeans.
"Sir Balin, I'm glad to have found you. This appears to be some kind of prison, and we found a torture chamber a few rooms back, as well as numerous traps, hazards and guardians, though no human guards. Your squire was able to escape and tell us that you had been captured. We've fought our way here to you and I suspect that you may be correct about the devilry. Have you found evidence of blasphemy against Mitra? Also, if you don't mind my asking, how were you captured, and are you well enough to fight? It would not do for us to make it all the way here, only to be caught in the same trap as we leave." Marvin asked the man, falling back on years of speaking carefully worded truths following the death of his wife.
Celestine considered for a moment, then prudently stepped back to hide in the shadows outside the room. She wasn't particularly disguised at the moment, although she did entertain an amusing thought of calling Rahmiel back out and complaining that the man didn't see her 'obvious efforts at becoming virtuous' if he found anything odd... but that would be needlessly complicating things. Better to see how things went for now.
Zyxtyvia will nod her head in agreement as Marvin delivers his speech to the knight. Then she starts to cry to add more misery to the setting.