Malik nods, fighting down his natural instinct and following the others around the corner to the room described by Brennan. Upon entering, Malik's eyes widen. "What does this mean? What could be causing this stench, after all these years?"
Gabriel nods at Brennan. "The skulls could be the source of the weak evil auras. Let's go investigate." he moves forward slowly, his detection still active. He holds his shield for protection and has the morningstar ready to strike any enemies.
Chephren follows at the rear, ready to battle another source of evil and unrest within this house.
As Gabriel moves up and into the edge of the room, the six skulls on display slowly rise, floating effortlessly above their previous resting places. They all turn to look at the man with cold empty sockets, devoid of any emotion.
They fly rather well, and primarily bash into enemies, and not that effectively. Mostly hard bumps and nasty bruises, like being clubbed by a little kid.
"More undead creatures my friends, they will try to pummel you like little children. I think they are more of annoyance then a real threat to us, but dispatch them just the same," Chephren quickly informs everyone.
After hearing Chephren's words, Malik nods, moving forward to get a clear shot. He draws upon his innate conjuring ability, sending a small line of acid at the nearest enemy.
Gabriel moves into the room, morningstar in hand. As he approaches roughly the middle of the table, he bats at the skull on the end. His weapon connects, and busts the fairly frail skull.
Malik then leans around the corner and blasts the closest skull with a spray of acid, destroying the thing immediately.
The skulls then begin to swirl and swarm, rushing at Gabriel. Due to their small size, as soon as they get close enough, Gabriel is able to bat at one of them, bashing it to pieces as well.
The remaining three of them dart wildly at the man, but not a single one of them is able to even get past his defenses.
--------------------
Brennan moved in, seeing that the skulls were firmly fixated on Gabriel, as they should be. He hefted his dagger, then reversed his grip, aiming for the back of the nearest skull where he could see some faint cracks.
+
HP 22/22. Current AC: 17/14/13
Active conditions:
Active spell effects:
Brennan moves up, and easily shatters another one of the floating skulls. Clearly the things were much better as decoration than combatants.
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Round 1
Watching the others move in and dispatch the skulls quickly, Chephren moves in also and swings with his flail.
"More undead huh? This place is just getting more and more creepy!" Surubi drops the sacks she was carrying, rushes out of the hallway and dives to where the wall gives her cover from behind before loosing an arrow at one of the skulls.
;
Surubi fires a well-aimed arrow at the skull floating in the gap between Brennan and Gabriel, destroying it immediately.
Lastly, Chephren moves up into the fray, but breaks the ongoing stride, as his weapon whips past the last skull with just a rush of air.
------------------------
"Annoying little buggers" Gabriel says as he calmly swings his mornigstar at the last of the flying skulls. "Rest in pieces."
He quickly checks the place for more surprises (or anything interesting).
Malik nods to his companions. "We are a fairly efficient group. Malik is proud to be affiliated with all of you." His dark skin flushing a bit, he turns his attention to helping Gabriel sort through their surroundings.
"This one does not like this place at all. Too many have forsaken Pharasma's guidance here." Surubi peeks around the corner behind her, the goes to retrieve the sacks from the ground and restock her arrow.
Chephren moves to the corner of the room, cast detect magic, and spends the time determining if there are any new sources of magic and characteristics.
Brennan looked closely at the table, now that the skull had vacated the area. He carefully avoided touching anything, but kept an eye out for secret compartments.
As the members of the group tear through the room, looking for whatever may warrant this grim decoration as a guardian, but nothing comes to light. All that remains of note in the room is the fancy silver dinnerware of plates and cups that made up the table's centerpiece.
Chephren's scan of the house from the corner room turns up nothing of magical note.
Chephren gathers up the silver plates and cups, as the others prepare to continue the investigation of the house.
"We can appraise these later, they are silver so they should have some value." he comments as he places them in his backpack.
Gabriel moves next to Surubi and starts detecting again while waiting for Chephren to gather the spoils.
Malik nods his agreement with Chephren, moving forward with Surubi and Gabriel to investigate deeper into the former manor house.
Peering through the archway into the next room, Gabriel detects no signs of evil present within the range of his investigations. Meanwhile Chephren, handily collects up all the silver dishes before catching up with the others not far removed.
"Let this one take a look around the next room before you enter." Surubi whispers. She quietly sets down the sacks and then slowly moves into the room, bow drawn, looking around as she goes.
Surubi eases into the room quite silently, but there is nothing of interest within. A table, much like the one from the last room rests here, except it is not decorated with either skulls or silver.
Working in a leapfrog-type fashion, Brennan moved past Surubi to look into the room beyond.
Malik followed closely behind Brennan, seeking to be ready to assist the man should he encounter either enemies or objects that needed to be studied.
Chephren follow the others forward through the rooms.
Gabriel moves forward into the next room.
Surubi again takes up the rear, bow at the ready, and looks carefully around at the rooms from the back.
Moving forward through the house, the group first sees the set of double doors within an unadorned foyer. Looking through the neighboring archways to the north and south shows two rooms with a more specific purpose to them.
To the north they see that two stone tables sit against the western wall of this room, while a third occupies the southeastern corner. A small, square wooden butcher’s block stands in the northeast corner, now almost collapsing under its own weight. A stone oven sits in the middle of the north wall. A humanoid skeleton lies beneath the northwestern table, surrounded by smashed crockery. A door to the east exits the room.
Hieroglyphs and images of fantastic beings cover the walls of this small room to the south. A small stone shrine, dusty and thoroughly defaced, stands against the eastern wall. The religious members of the group can easily tell that this area is dedicated to Abadar, Pharasma, and Sarenrae.
Moving carefully, Brennan approached the skeleton, ready to strike with both daggers if the thing so much as twitched. He examined it carefully for signs of activity or treasure.
Looking at the skeleton, Brennan sees a pitted and rusted dagger still wedged between the skeleton’s ribs. Unlike the ones the group faced in the entryway, however, this skeleton is lifeless and harmless.
"Well, this bastard didn't die of old age, that's for sure. Someone stabbed him good, angled for the heart it looks like." Brennan carefully removed the blade and looked at it, trying to see if it was worth keeping.
Gabriel moves next to Brennan and casts detect magic, looking at the dagger.
The dagger is nothing special for sure, it is old, rusted, and pitted. Brennan can tell with his trained eye that even before age got to it, it was a fairly crude implement, most likely more a tool than a weapon. There is no sign of any magic coming off of it or anything within the room.
Grimacing, Brennan dropped the worthless dagger and moved to the big doors in the next room. He looked them over before opening them. "I think there were a few places out here we didn't check thoroughly. i'd like to get this level cleared before we go downstairs."
Surubi moves up to watch the hall the group had already checked.
+1 more if this is desert in addition to whatever indoors might be considered.
Gabriel looks at Brennan. "You mean upstairs, right?"
He mentaly reviews the floor. "I think the only remaining thing on this floor is the central yard with the hidden evil and that slightly evil thing next to the stairs. And whatever is behind those doors, unless they lead outside..."
The eastern double doors do indeed lead back out to the yard that they had peered in from the pool room. From this angle it offers a slightly better angle to peer into the empty buildings residing within the yard itself.
"Guess it's time to head back and check out those doros to the west before we take the stairs."
Barring any dissent, Brennan makes his way back to the west and checks the double doors there.
"Yes, probably the best option. Unless we want to investigate the evil in the central courtyard before going upstairs." Gabrile nods and follows Brennan.
Surubi cuts through the middle room, carefully looking where she steps, before taking a position next to the door. "This one will check the door as well."
She looks it over and nods to Brennan, telling him about anything she sees, then moves back, covering the door with her bow.
Chephren brings up the rear, as he follow the group forward.
As the group discusses their plans, making their way to the western doors, mostly avoiding the courtyard, a voice rings out from the center of the square. The voice is a deep, gravelly, yet almost breathless whisper, and originates from the sandstone statue of a female in the center. "What is it you seek here? I have watched you roam around my interior, rifle through my contents, and disrupt the dead that have found a resting place on my floors."