Paxs backs up and lets Thrak do the work.
Ruperta's channel seems to stagger the wraith, and Thrak's flurry of attacks finish him off. Thrak's claws tear apart the shadowy figure, leaving a pale glowing figure of a handsome man in shining armor behind. He raises one hand in a salute, one soldier saluting another, then fades away. It is with a start that you realize that this was the tortured spirit of Mandraivus, the hero who led the soldiers that ended Kazavon's reign so many years ago.
When he is defeated, his skeletal remains crumble, leaving only the dusty armor behind. As his spirit fades away, a sudden wind blows away the dust, revealing a brilliant suit of celestial plate armor.
There are several exits from this room. On the south wall there is a double door which is barred from this side and a smaller door. On the west wall there is a set of double doors. Which way?
Ruperta embraces herself while rocking slowly.
"I don't feel well..."
Pai takes a look at the gleaming magical armor, reminding someone to take it and put it to good use. "I think he'd want us to use this for the right purposes. No offense, Laori."
Ruperta grabs one of her scrolls from the Handy Haversack, and casts Lesser Restoration on Herself.
"Sorry, I feel better now"
Corbyn will begin scanning the area for traps.
Corbyn examines the area and determines that there are no traps he can find. Though he does hear sounds of bones rattling from the western door and a strange fleshy noise from the southern double doors. The single doors to the south are silent.
Opening the southern quiet door reveals a long hallway. The first door you come to, on the western wall, is slightly warm to the touch and the smell of cooking fires wafts from it. Further along the hallway you find more barracks, all fallen into disuse. Skeletal remnants remain, but nothing threatens you. The final door leads to a staircase that goes to the second floor, probably the twin of the one you took to get down here.
"Well, as bad as I hate to say it, we might as well start opening doors down here. The last thing we need is something icky from down here at our back when we start working upstairs."
Ruperta uses her Door Sight power on all the closed doors...
Ruperta sees: Rickety tables, butcher’s blocks, and collapsed shelves clutter this room which appears to have once served as the castle kitchen. The walls and ceiling are covered in soot, particularly to the west where three huge ovens loom. Each is completely covered in a layer of char and soot, inside and out, with bits of charred bone and charcoal caked on the iron grills and in the ash pits beneath. Worse, however, are the two outlines burned into the brick of the oven walls—humanoid images splayed in positions of agony and death. Despite the ancient look of the layers of grime, the ovens radiate slight warmth and the faint odor of burning meat, as if they have been used recently.
Ruperta goes back and also checks the western door ("hear sounds of bones rattling") and the southern double doors ("a strange fleshy noise").
"Be careful, Ruperta. Nothing can see you back when you do that, Can they?"
The western door: Numerous arrow slits along the northern wall look out over the castle courtyard, and a pair of doors look as if they open onto it. The burnt stubs of torches hang in iron brackets between the arrow slits, and small puddles of rain have formed beneath them, staining the stone. Opposite these, metal rings have been driven into the stone wall; some have short lengths of chain attached to them. Five skeletal minotaur guards wait here, occasionally moving about to gaze in different directions.
The southern double doors: The scene in this large chamber is stomach-turning. Bodies lie everywhere, orc and human alike. Judging by the sprawled nature of the corpses, they fought brutally before succumbing to their wounds, dying in heaps on the floor. Many corpses are riddled with arrows and crossbow bolts, and a few appear to have perished while locked in mortal combat and still clutch at weapons embedded in various parts of each others’ anatomy. A particularly large mound of bodies lies in the northwest corner, a heap of carcasses in a tangle of limbs. Strangely, while the room reeks of death, the bloodstains on the walls and floor seem incredibly ancient.
Ruperta smiles and shakes her head...
Slumper slips into the room, noticing the corpses laying about, all seemingly as fresh as the day they died, despite the ancient blood stains. He moves into the room, watching out for danger and when it comes, it comes not from a haunting spirit, but from the mound of corpses!
The pile of corpses suddenly moves, and lurches toward Slumper in a charge. It tries to strike him! It does, hitting for damage and trying to suck him into the pile of dead bodies! It does so, grappling the poor fighter as he is drawn toward the mass of dead bodies!
Initiative!
Round 1:
18 Paxs
16 Corbyn
13 Ruperta and Asyra
12 Sial
10 Pai and THING
5 Slumper and Laori
Know. Dungeoneering
"Slumper!"
Ruperta charges forward, caring nothing and dropping her crossbow, trying to reach Slumper.
As soon as she reach him she uses her Elysium’s Call Domain Power.
When Pai is confused, she uses her wand!
Magic Missile damage
Paxs sends Thrak in, but due to the narrow room and the PCs in the way, he cannot charge! Instead he tries to skirt the fleshy thing to flank it and the flesh thing's hold on Slumper prevents it from attacking. Thrak bites using power attack! Bite , , Possible crit: Bite , He does bit deeply into the thing, just as Pai's magic missiles strike it!
Asyra moves into the room, her chains flashing! for
Sial stays back, watching to see how damaging the thing can be.
The fleshy thing lets out a scream of pain from many of its corpse-mouths. The chorus of the damned tears at your ears as they begin to bleed!
Ruperta refuses to cover her bleeding ears, trying to grab Slumper to get him away from the monster!
Slumper lashes out with his shield trying to tear his way out of the pile.
undead bane shield
undead bane shield
Fort
Slumper tears into the mass of flesh, but to his shock, his shield deals no extra damage to the thing!
Laori pulls forth what looks like a small stone from her pocket, whispers into her cupped hand and moves into the doorway. She tosses the pebble just past the thing, landing next to Thrak!
Round 2:
18 Paxs
16 Corbyn
13 Ruperta and Asyra
12 Sial
10 Pai and THING
5 Slumper and Laori
Ruperta touches Slumper, while praying to Desna.
"Night traveler, please help me release my love from Danger!"
She teleports Slumper out of the creature grasp, and 5' away, next to her, using her Dimensional Hop Domain ability (only 5' remaining today).
"You are free to destroy it, my love!"
She then moves back towards her crossbow.
First Round: Corbyn moves to examine and attack the monster
Second Round:
Corbyn's first round attack does very little to the thing, but his next rounds' attacks flash and bloody the evil thing.
Ruperta teleports Slumper out of the reach of the thing, then moves back to ready her ranged attacks.
Thrak attacks!
Bite ,
claw 1,
claw 2 ,
claw 3 ,
claw 4 ,
Rend (Ex):
In a flurry of blood, corpses and foul smelling ichor, Thrak tears the corpse orgy apart. The room looks like an abattoir, body parts strewn everywhere. There's not here worth saving, no matter how much you search. The only other exit leads back to the main causeway.
Ruperta embraces Slumper.
"You are so brave, and I got so worried!"
After removing herslef from Slumper she also pats Thrak, scratching behind his "ears".
"Good Eidolon!"
Slumper moves into the kitchens. Set into the stone wall are several ovens, which clearly look disused but smell of burnt meat and radiate faint heat. Two humanoid outlines are burned into the wall around the ovens, contorted as if in pain. There are two doors on the wall to the north. Around the corner from the ovens is another door, as well as a staircase leading upward.
Slumper double checks he's wearing his ring of fire resistance before moving forward to investiage the ovens.
perception
"Those outlines might be evidence of a fire trap, Slumper. Be careful!"
Aid Another Perception
As Slumper moves toward the ovens, Pai leans in to offer advice. A sudden blast of fire wells up inside of each of the three ovens, then plumes out into a sheet of flame that fills the room. As the fires burn, shrieking spirits made of flame tear through the room, swimming through the bodies of living creatures and appearing to tear away bits of flesh as they do. Slumper feels the fires hot on his skin! The fire burns hot and terrible and Pai is forced to pull her face backwards as the fire fills the room, dealing fire damage to Slumper, minus his resistance!
The blast burns, then is gone, leaving Slumper scorched, but the room untouched and unharmed, as if there had never been fire filling the room moments before! However, then strange outlines on the walls suddenly bulge and emerge from the wall, two large humanoid outlines of scorching smoke with fire licking inside them!
Initiative!
Round 1:
27 Asyra
24 Corbyn
18 Cinder Things
14 Paxs, Thrak and Ruperta
12 Laori
9 Slumper
8 Pai and Sial
Asyra moves into the room, her chains beginning to spin as one lashes at the things! , dealing damage! However her chains seem barely to scratch it!
Slumper recoils from the blast suddenly very happy he wore his ring.