Brennan waited for the opportune time to move, balanced easily on the balls of his feet with daggers ready.
If the deader comes out of the room, Brennan will 5' step up for flanking with Yodi, then full attack.
+
+
Ciyradyl quickly steps forward and slashes at the zombie, but the first slash misses. She follows up with her other claw, hoping to finish this thing off.
Ciyradyl, eager and excited to help in the fight to bring the zombies down, misses the cues by everyone else. Not getting why Yodi stepped away, or the other two are not attacking, she steps up into the gap to swing at the last one. She manages to at least find purchase with one of her claws, even if it is a small scratch, comparatively. Brennan, who had planted his feet to leap in for the attack at the right moment, sees his opportunity dashed by the obstacle of the odd tauric elf.
Omen glowers as the tauric elf stumbled forward and shakes his head in disapproval. Shouldering his crossbow, he commands in a cold, flat tone, "Lure it out into the open, Ciyradyl."
HP: 14/16
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: 7/8
Shield charges remaining: 14
Spell Slots Used
Level 1: 7/7
Ongoing Effects
total defense: +4 dodge bonus to AC
With a voice like one would use to correct a child that wasn't their own, Omen instructs Ciyradyl with neither malice nor affectation. With limited options, he stands on alert in case any more enemies step out after the group.
The zombie, seeing no difference between the target that just stepped away and the one that took its place, swings out crudely with its heavy limbs. Given how easy the other two went down, Ciyradyl underestimates the thing, and allows herself to be distracted by Omen's call. Lucky for her, precision isn't the creature's strong suit, and it rolls the blow hard off her right shoulder.
"Ciyradyl, look out," Yodi calls.
Yodi continues to wait with the others, hoping Ciyradyl steps back so that the zombie cam step out between them all.
Brennan clarifies, but not as nicely as Omen. "Back up and let it out so we all can hit it!"
Ciyradyl quickly realizes her mistake, "S-s-sorry!" She backs away from her target and readies herself for her next attack.
With Ciyradyl stepping back, the zombie took the step forward that everyone was waiting for, and between Brennan, Ciyradyl, and Yodi, falls quickly and efficiently.
Brennan smiled as the form fell, then turned and scanned the room. Satisfied that nothing else was about to jump out at them, he slid his knives back into their sheathes. Then, he spent a few moments searching the bodies and surrounding area for interesting or valuable things.
"Zombies." Yodi lows in disgust, as he joins the search. "This place breeds foulness. And we reach for our helping with both hands."
"So it is when power lies idle and forgotten. Whatever foulness this place breeds is of little consequence, though. We are more than capable of quashing it. We need only find what we've come to claim."
She chuckles at Yodi, "Don't tell you're full already Yodi." She laughs at her own joke. Seeing the others in search, she decided to look at the room as a whole. It would have been beautiful in its prime.
"I doubt I'll find what would sate me here."
Investigating first the bodies, and then the area, the group finds very little of interest. Within each cubicle, a bed frame and footlocker are bolted to the floor. The curtains, bed frames, and footlockers are all dusty but in good repair. The bedding, however, has rotted away and served as nests for mice and insects over the years. The cubicle in the center of the chamber is a privy.
"Come on. There must be something of worth somewhere in here."
Yodi moves farther down the hall.
Yodi moves up the hallway to see at least two more rooms with curtains for doors. There are also two sets of double doors, one back to the east, and another to the north, the latter of which bears hieroglyphs. To the west there is a large alcove, which looks like it extends around behind a brief wall. The alcove itself dips down a few feet into a shallow, empty, tiled pool.
Brennan followed Yodi, then moved on to the west, looking into the alcove hidden there. Knife at the ready, he cautiously peered around the wall.
Omen watches imperiously from the back of the group as his companions filter ahead, and he nods in silent approval as Brennan slips to the side with his dagger at the ready. He checks the tension on his crossbow, the weapon still held uncomfortably in his smooth, uncalloused hands.
Stalking up to the corner with knife in hand, Brennan sneaks a look around the corner, to see nothing more than a bench nestled in the alcove.
Rows of stone shelves fill this crowded room. Numerous scroll tubes litter the floor of the room amid the dusty remains of ruined paper and papyrus. A solitary door is set into the western wall.
Ciyradyl follows the group, staying close to Yodi. What else is going to pop out at us?
"NOthing here. Try the door."
Yodi steps up to the double doors and throws them open.
Brennan looked around the alcove with the bench, then moved to check the doorway. As soon as he was sure it was clear, he motioned for someone to open it and go through.
Focusing on the double doors to the north, Brennan determines that the door doesn't appear trapped, but is locked. Not that Brennan can read it, but the hieroglyphs offer some idea of what lies beyond the portal.
With practiced movements, Brennan draws his picks and finagles with the lock. In very little time, he hears the click as the lock releases. This sparsely furnished room contains a bed frame bolted to the floor in the southwest corner next to a lacquered end table. On the opposite side of the room, a wooden desk has partially collapsed against the wall. There are two other doors in the room, one to the north, and another to the east.
"The quarters of the high priest. I would have imagined something grander."
Hefting his spear, Yodi steps into the room. "Look at that. Why would you bolt a bed down? Were they expecting common thieves?"
He begins to search the room.
Yodi gives the room a once over, but nothing about it and its spartan furnishings stands out as significant or noteworthy.
Brennan moved into the room and began examining the two doors on the far side.
Brennan notices that both doors are locked, and handily makes them not so.
"Right, then. Let's head right."
Brennan points to the eastern door and waits for someone else to open it.
A grimacing Yodi opens the door and pushes through.
Omen continues to follow behind, his stoic gaze falling with a nod of approval on Brennan as he sweeps each room and bypasses each barrier. As they begin to move further to the right, he casts a glance back at the high priest's quarters briefly before pressing onward with the group.
Ciyradyl glances around the room, "On this I will have to agree with you, Yodi. I would have imagined...more." She sighs in deep disappointment at the lack of elegance and décor that the room contained. She follows the others.
As you enter from the single door in this old library, the scene is only mildly different from the quick glance you had from the east. You now can look down the mostly empty rows of stone shelves, time proving to be the greatest enemy of what texts had once filled these shelves, but a few volumes engraved on more durable materials seem to have endured. Numerous scroll tubes litter the floor of the room amid the dusty remains of ruined paper and papyrus.
"Looks like someone searched this room once. Something of value might remain, but we will have to sift through it all. I suggest we move on and return later."
"It may be worth our attention now, Yodi. Some of these tomes remain in fair condition and we may find some indication of the object we seek and its location within this hollow place." He gestures with a wave of his arm to indicate the temple at large, the crumbling edifices, and the looming emptiness all around and behind them.
"We can always return on our way out. Perhaps by then we might know what we are searching for?"
"Omen may have a point. If the texts are ancient Osirian, I can help decipher them."
As the others spread out and busy themselves, Omen circuits the room imperiously, looking through what tomes and volumes yet remain, hoping to glean some small insight into either the temple around them or their prize.
Yodi joins the Osirian in the search, however with a much less grand and more greedy manner. He scans the title and first few lines of each document and places them in two piles, potentially useful, and not.
Brennan looked at the books and scrolls, his only interest in how much they might be worth. In his mind, he tallied up the numbers, then went back to the unopened door, looking around it to see if there might be any reason not to go through it.
"Hey, I know the books are interesting, but I can't read them right now. What I can do is open the door, if anyone is interested."
Yodi looks up from the tome in his hand. I am willing.
Brennan, getting easily bored with the notion of sitting here for too long sorting through the books and tablets left behind, decides to summarize as best he can what the value could be. He doesn't know enough about them or the language to put a value on it. They may be worth something to some historian, or whatever, but to him, especially in this moment, they are useless.
Yodi and Omen easily find a few things of worth, even going as far as discovering a magical scroll each in their quick perusal of the library. There is also an unrolled papyrus scroll on the floor, open as if it were read and discarded, as all the others still furled. The text is written in Ancient Osirian, like all the other.
Ahkhats are bound to their structures via a special keystone that’s intrinsically attuned to the ahkhat, and they cannot leave the premises of their own volition. Furthermore, ahkhats cannot move through or manipulate structurally damaged parts of their attuned buildings, so they have a vested interest in maintaining the integrity of their demesnes.
The scroll further mentions that such keystones were frequently built into the foundations of the structure and often concealed by secret doors.
Brennan moves over to the door as the others waste time with the books, examining it for any signs of danger. He sees that it is locked, and not just that, it has actually been fairly recently picked.
"Get over here, you lot! Someone's been here before us. This lock's been picked recently, then re-locked. Not sure how they got past the walking dead back there, but I'd say we're likely catching up to them."
Brennan waits until the others are ready, then plies his trade.