Yodi drops the harness of his litter. He steps to the side and screams at the skeletons.
"In Iomedae's name smash these unnatural things. Feel his strength flow through you. Smite them all! "
Yodi unstraps the binds from his travois and releases it to rest on the stairs behind him. Stepping over to stand behind Surubi in her protective state, he calls on the aid of The Inheritor, a bastion of righteous glory, to aid his allies new and old, in battling the skeletons.
Brennan crab-stepped to put the nearest skeleton between himself and the new girl. A pair of daggers fell into his hands as he moved, and he slammed them into the back of the skeleton, aiming for the hinge point holding the pelvis to the backbone..
+
+
Brennan just manages to pull it off, with a little divine guidance, almost missing the specific joint he was going for. Lucky for him he did, because it almost seemed like the linchpin that held the whole thing together. The small skeleton shattered into a loose bile of bones under the weight of Brennan's blow. The unexpected easy destruction of the thing put him off his follow-on swing, forcing him to reach out across his body to his right side, to hit the other skeleton beside him. The rough aim saw him hit the thing broadly across its rib cage, but without his particular degree of precision, it had no effect on the dry, clean bones of the thing.
Some of the skeletons refocus their ire at other members of the group, specifically the ones that hit them, while the remainder keep their attention on Surubi. Both Surubi and Ciyradyl are fortunate enough that their defensive postures helped them avoid the sharp teeth of their attackers, with another missing Surubi completely. However, Brennan, offset by his reactionary shift with his other hand, takes a sharp nip to the shin by the one he rattled his knife against.
Omen strides forward, seeing Ciyradyl struggle with the jumbles of bone. "Ciyradyl, here! Strike them down!" He produces then a finely wrought weapon, capped in well polished iron and gilded with golden bands.
HP: 8/16
AC: 12 (11 T / 11 FF)
CMD: 10
F/R/W: +3/+2/+5 (+2 vs death effects)
Resist 7: acid, cold, fire, electricity
Omens used (swift demoralize): 0/1
Black Motes used: 3/8
Shield charges remaining: 14
Spell Slots Used
Level 1: 4/7
Ongoing Effects
Ciyradyl takes the club from Omen and turns to face the skeleton directly infront of her. She grips the club with both hands and swings, attempting to aim for the same spot that she saw Brennan strike. She had never used a club before, so the swing was awkward, but she connected to the Skeleton.
Omen quickly understands where the small centaur falters, and stepping forward, offers her one of his own weapons better suited to their current enemy.
Though her bow and claws tend to be more graceful for the manner in which she fights, Ciyradyl easily grasps the concept of the proffered and accepted club. Gripping it firmly, she smacks the thing near the base where the spine meets the ribs, much like Brennan. The method was effective, as the collision of two caused the undead thing to break apart. Pressing the advantage, she steps up further into the mix and deeper into the room.
Pulling his club from his belt, Yodi steps forward and smashes it downward at the the skeleton between Surubi and Ciyradyl.
...
Omen gestures at the more remote of the pair of skeletons still harrying Surubi. A swirling column of chilling dark then cascades down around it, chilling the already bleached and brittle bones.
HP: 8/16
AC: 12 (11 T / 11 FF)
CMD: 10
F/R/W: +3/+2/+5 (+2 vs death effects)
Resist 7: acid, cold, fire, electricity
Omens used (swift demoralize): 0/1
Black Motes used: 4/8
Shield charges remaining: 14
Spell Slots Used
Level 1: 4/7
Ongoing Effects
Brennan stepped further into the entryway, putting another of the creatures between himself and Ciyradyl. Again he stabbed out with both knives, knowing that they weren't the best tool for fighting skeletons, but they were what he had. The first missed, skittering off of bone. The second drive into the gap between vertebrae once more.
+
+
Surubi drops her own backpack, pulls her morningstar from her belt and swings at the dog to her left with two hands.
;
Surubi continues to try and shrug her way out from under all the gear she is carrying, and just manages to ease up a little more of the weight before pulling the morningstar from her belt.
Yodi himself draws a club, swinging it at one of the skeletons harrying Surubi. He manages to crack the thing in the ribs, causing a fair number of them on that side to break and fall to the sand.
Sticking to what he knows best, Breenan keeps knife in hand, and relies on the precision and force of his strikes over finding a more ideal weapon. He tries again for the spine, but given the size of the target, just barely scratches past it with his first swing. The second one, however, found the sweet spot he was looking for, and took the fight out of the dog, and another dog out of the fight.
With only two of the dogs remaining, one of them turns to nip at the man that hit it, snapping bony jaws at Yodi. It tries to get its head between Surubi and Ciyradyl to do so, but the man is just out of reach for the thing. The other skeleton continues to focus on Surubi, and finally manages to find purchase with its sharp teeth, managing to leave a tear in the skin of her left thigh.
Surubi swings at the skeleton next to her.
;
Finally having an opportunity to bring her weapon to bear pays off, as Surubi brings her morningstar around on one of the skeletal hounds. She shatters the creature into a pile of bone shards.
Omen redirects the motes he was calling forth, shifting his focus to the remaining skeleton. As the specks of blackness and void fall down around it, the skeleton dips and ducks around the motes.
Yodi steps back from the snapping jaws and winds up for another downward blow.
...
Ciyradyl grips the club with both hands and attempts to mimic what she did last time she swung the weapon. She aims for that sweet spot...
Ciyradyl turns to focus on the last skeleton, but her swing zips past the spine to hit the floor with a crack. Just as the thing's attention is diverted to the attack, Yodi brings his own club to bear, crashing it into the shoulder of the thing and crumbling it.
As the last skeleton's bones clatter across the floor, Omen nods approvingly. "Well done, all of you. Was anyone injured or are we fit to press on?"
"I've just got a scratch. Looks like Suru and Yodi might have taken a bit more." Brennan made sure that his companions were all right before searching around, looking for anything of value that these skeletons might be guarding.
"Are you guys planning on carrying that junk around the whole time? Or leaving it here at the entrance?"
Brennan is disappointed to find that there wasn't anything worthwhile that was being protected by the destroyed skeletons. If they were alive, one could assume they were protecting their home, but the only motivation for skeletal dogs could just be a dislike for the living.
"I'll pick it up on the way out. Who knows what else is waiting for us in here." She turns towards Omen, "Would you like your club back?"
Omen waves off the proffered weapon and grants Ciyradyl a small bow, "No. You wielded it well just now and there may yet be other skeletal guardians lying in wait within."
Surubi, still somewhat out of breath from carrying so much slumps to the ground. "This one may need to organize things here, please wait a moment."
While Surubi caught her breath and began going through the things, Brennan listened carefully, moving slowly anti-clockwise around the room, checking each of the exits from the entry room.
Yodi returns to his travois and drags it farther inside. He lowers it slowly to the ground near the outer wall so that it can't be easily seen from the street. "This stays here. I'll come back if we need anything from it."
"Good. Then once Surubi is satisfied with her preparations, we can proceed."
Brennan takes some time to try and get a sense of what lies beyond the three exits from the room, but there is very liitle he can see within the limits of the light the group has with Omen's floating stone. He could only see further if he took out and lit his lantern. To the west is a short hallway that looks to open up a little beyond, and a curtain covering an opening in the left wall. To the east, there is another hallway, but it is wider and heads off to the northeast. Northward, it's clear just by the sound, that the space is much bigger, but there's no way of telling how big.
Brennan moves back to the others and reports in a low voice.
"Large room to the north. Smaller spaces to the east and west. No telling what, if anything is lurking. Dark as pitch in there. Of course, if anything was there to hear the ruckus we've been making, it knows we're here. My normal suggestion is to always turn right first. Still want to go with that plan?"
Assuming no one has any objections to this plan, Brennan nodded to Surubi and led the way to the eastern hallway.
Omen nods in agreement, approving of Brennan's suggested course. As the group begins to move toward the right door, the masked figures offers, "Brennan, would you have use of this?" He gestures to the small, luminous stone slowly orbiting his head like a crown. "If there are guardians in here, the dark is likely more their ally than ours."
Ciyradyl follows Brennan and Surubi into the hallway. "I wonder what we are going to find in this place." She looks around the hallway, being watchful for dangers, but still enjoying the architecture.
Perception with Scent:
Heading up the eastern hallway, the structure look like there may have been little in the way of rhyme or reason behind the shape within. Walls cut and intersect at odd angles, all straight lines, but no flow behind it. The hall goes about thirty feet before opening up into an unusual intersection. To the north, the space is wide once again, just like from the entrance. To the the northeast is a slightly walled off section, possibly a room. South and southeast Brennan can see some shelves, and even a bench and table can be made out in the darkness. Almost directly in front of them is a small pedestal stand, with a basin atop it that likely once hled water. Whether it was holy for prayer or to wash in is indiscernible just yet.
"Hmmm. New construction mingled with the old. I suspect the object we seek would lie in the heart of the old construction, but who can know if these younger walls obstruct the path?" While his words are plainly observational, his tone suggests that the question at the end was directed to the group.
"You could be right. I will try to find any hidden doors. The construction could have been to merely maintain the structure, but the old still looks sturdy." Ciyradyl begins searching the walls for any clues.
Yodi looks at the downed skeletons, and then around at his companions.
"Well done. If you're as skilled as you are lethal, we should do well in this search. Omenhotep, Surubi, come. I will try to heal you."
The northman places his palms together and turns his focus inward. He looks up and utters a single word query. "Iomedae?" Then he lays his hands on their wounds, usherng a feathery, warm energy that knits the damaged flesh and skin.
"Give me a moment." Yodi searches in his pack, then draws out a beat up lantern and a flask of oil. He pours the oil into the reservoir then lights the wick on the third strike with a spark drawn from his flint and steel.
"This should help us see. "
As Yodi adds some more light to add to that put off by Omen's floating stone, the area grows brighter, but doesn't reveal much more to them. The limitations here seem primarily due to all the odd angles blocking the path of the light itself. Ciyradyl looks around at the walls, but the unusual arrangement seems to have no purpose beyond being just an odd design concept. Though, she does hear what could be movement toward the north.
She examines the walls carefully, but finds nothing out of the ordinary. It was just a strange design. She tilts her head slightly, barely hearing what appears to be movement to the north. "There's something ahead of us." she whispered.
Yodi whispers back, "Watch that direction. I'll have a quick look to the right."
He slips past Brennan and sweeps the lantern light around the darkened room.
Brennan moved in with the light, staying close enough to Yodi to support if she was attacked, but far enough away to avoid the initial inevitable surprise attack. If the woman wasn't going to let the scouts lead, that was her problem.
Moving ahead of the others with his lantern, Yodi rounds the corner to the right, shedding more light into the odd-shaped expanses. Followed quickly after by Brennan, the two can see that the room to the east may have once been a kitchen, with tables, cabinets, and a stove in the corner. Around a corner to the south stands a stone enclosure with a rounded top and a hatch set in the front. The space further south is still somewhat hidden by the wall, but the tables and shelves, coupled with the newly identified kitchen, lend an idea to what the room's purpose may be.
Brennan cautiously moved forward and peered around the dividing wall into what he assumed was the dining area attached to the kitchen.
Brennen peers into a large room that confirms his assumption. The space is dominated by a large table. The oddly-angled walls contain tall shelves where and when they can for the unusual design choices.
"Looks harmless enough. Let's see what's to the north."
Ciyradyl moves up to the doorway and attempts to see the creature that was moving. She is still holding the club.