Liamae draws her bow and fires at the remaining shadow, but the arrow doesn't seem to do much harm to it.
Moira takes another hack at the monster, but her kittenish limbs aren't helping much.
She hopes Chill Touch manages to banish this thing...
She 5ft steps back.
Mira and Liamae continue to chip away at the shadow, although it resists the effects of Moira’s chilled blade.
As Moira steps back, Fenchurch rushes in and swings mightily.
Her axe cuts through she shadow and with a loathsome moan, it too dissipates and is no more.
Selja is thankful that the shadows have been defeated, though she's a bit disappointed that Shelyn's contribution was rather minimal. She's most worried about Moira, though.
"Looks like those shadows got ya good, Moira. I could help with that if we get a day ta rest, but not sure if we wanna wait that long or keep goin'. How are ya feelin'?"
"Feeling pretty weak. Guess I'll be casting and singing from the back for a while. But I do have this..."
Moira pulls out her Scroll of Lesser Restoration...
"Better! Still bad. But better."
There are four exits out of this room, a door at each corner. The northern and southern doors are both locked.
"Well, time to pick a door, I guess. How about this one?" Selja gestures toward the door to the West, and takes a look at it.
.
"Seems safe to open."
The stone door indeed opens safely to reveal a short corridor which quickly turns to the right. Past the turn, there is another stone door on the left. Beyond that, the corridor opens into another small chamber with a spiral stairwell leading up. Another stone door lies behind the stairs on the eastern wall.
"Looks quiet," says the half-orc.
Selja checks for any signs of disturbance or, better yet, tracks.
She'll check out the next door also to see if there's any signs of traps or activity from the other side.
Although one wouldn't expect much to be passing through these halls, Selja spots evidence of skeletal footprints in the dust gathered on the stone floor, leading to and from the spiral staircase.
The walls around the first door to the west appear to be cracked and crumbling under the weight of the eons burying this pyramidal structure. The door appears to be thus jammed shut. Selja does not hear anything beyond.
Selja reports on what she sees.
"Door here's jammed shut, but definitely some skellies or somethin' comin' up and down this way." Selja points to the path toward the spiral stairway. "Better be ready for more fightin'."
She's happy to lead the way, assuming the group is sticking together.
"Right behind you, with a song on my lips and a spell at my fingertips!"
Nodding, Selja leads the way up the stairs!
May I bring your attention back to slide 34
Selja climbs the stairs and finds they terminate on a landing above. Here, tree roots have infiltrated the walls from the forest outside. Two stone doors lie on the eastern wall, while a hallway extends south. The hallway seems to terminate in another chamber just at the edge of Selja's vision.
"Let's try a door, shall we?"
Nodding in agreement, Selja gestures toward the northern door, then moves in front of it. She looks back to make sure they were ready. "Three, two, one . . ."
She opens the door on the implied zero.
On the silent ‘3’, Selja throws open the door to find a wall 10 feet from her which immediately turns to the right into another chamber. The group hears the sound of ominous, hissing, draconic chanting from within.
As you pause by the door and listen, the chanting seems moan and drone on in repetition.
Selja puts a finger to her lips and quietly closes the door again to prepare. She then casts a couple of spells. Her skin turns tough like bark, and a shield of force surrounds her!
She channels her life force into her Shawl of Lifekeeping, then heals herself with her wand.
After all that prep, Selja is ready to roll.
In preparation for the upcoming battle, the princess refreshes her mage armor spell.
Moira reloads her sword with a fresh Chill Touch, then nods the go-ahead.
When the ready is given, Selja throws open the door again and leads the charge into the sounds of ominous chanting.
As Selja enters the chamber, everyone else on her heels, Moira’s illuminated hat casting light from behind her, she sees a long room with a row of four columns down the center. An incursion of tree roots breaks through the northern wall and along the floor, tripping up passers by The source of the ominous chanting is revealed to be what appears to be two Serpentfolk priests gathered at an altar at the far end of the hall. Each priest is guarded by a reanimated Serpentfolk skeleton. The smell of grave dust and decay hangs in the air.
The party’s sudden appearance interrupts eons of perpetuated unholy ritual observation. The Serpentfolk priests hiss in anger. The skeletal guards raise bucklers and spears ready to attack the intruders.
The priests merely hiss and point at Selja, commanding their skeletal guards to focus on her, then go into a defensive posture.
Although her weapon wasn't quite ideal for skeletons, Selja decides to charge anyway and swing her glaive!
;
;
Shelyn is clearly pleased.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Selja springs into action and over the tangle of tree roots to bring her glaive squarely down through the skeletal serpentfolk warrior's head. The undead crumbles to a heap where it stood.
Fench hustles around the columns to the far side of the room, but her armor weighs her down and she doesn’t get too far.
Túrante squeezes past Moira and down to the southern wall, then instead of drawing her sword she points at the priest along that wall and makes a sudden squeezing and pulling motion.
Liamae moves in and fires a ray of fire at the other skeleton!
Túrante finds that a spell that should work against a living creature, doesn’t.
The image of the Serpentfolk priest shimmers and then falters. Túrante is able to see the priest for what it truly is, an undead with rotting flesh clinging to decaying bones, unhinged jaws hang agape in a silent wail, while blue flames burn in otherwise empty sockets.
Liamae fires around a column and burns the bones of the skeletal warrior.
That skeleton mindlessly follows orders and steps in to attack Selja.
Selja’s ablative measures protect her from the thrust of the spear, but she is surprised by the follow up bite. Long dead fangs sink into her flesh, but thankfullly skeletal Serpentfolk don’t have venom glands.
Moira steps into the room to help illuminate the scene, then begins a rallying tempo on her drum.
The northern priest steps over the bones of its fallen gaurdian to engage with Selja, drawing an attack.
Selja cuts through the Serpentfolk, much easier than it should be.
Now Selja sees the same as Túrante. Up close, she can smell the stench of decaying flesh as it nears and scratches out with bony claws.
The other does the same to Fenchurch.
She continues to fall for the illusion.
Túrante advances further and with a flick of her wrist and an arcane syllable launches a brief but bright beam at the undead fighting Selja .
Túrante fares better with her second spell. She successfully undoes the necromantic ties holding the creature to unlife, and it, too, falls to a rotten heap at Selja's feet.
Stepping into the space vacated by the now dead enemy priest, Selja drops her glaive in favor of a morningstar and tries to smash the skeleton that clawed her!
;
The skeleton’s rusted chain armor absorbs the force of Selja’s blow.
Fench opts to try and take out what she believes to be a living Serpentfolk.
She does so in a single chop, and the priest crumples to the ground in a fetid heap. The illusion vanishes, and Fench mutters "What the…?" She then steps forward to help box the remaining skelly in with Selja.
Liamae moves to try to get a clearer shot before hurling a large stone at the skeleton.
Liamae mentally propels a chunk of rubble at the skeleton, but it crashes against a nearby column.
The skeleton continues its assault on Selja.
To no avail.
With one hand still drumming away, Moira moves up next to Selja and thrusts her blade forth.
She hits, but only chips bone. However her stored spell discharges and the skeleton seems to tremble with fear.
"Time ta finish this!"
Selja tries to smack the lone remaining skeleton.
;
The princess fires another beam of positive energy, but misses.
Liamae delays to see if Selja's hit will be enough to destroy the skeleton.
Selja strikes a crushing blow, fragments of bone go flying every which way, yet the skeletal warrior still stands. Fench looks Selja in the eye and gives a knowing nod, her axe poised to finish the job.
Liamae hurls another rock at the skeleton.
Having practiced once before, Liamae course corrects at the last second to send the rock smashing through the skeleton’s rusty helm and skull. Before Fench can swing, the skeleton crumples to a heap of bone and rusted metal at her feet.
The hall falls silent again after unknown millennia. An alter lies each at the long ends of the hall. There is a door to Fench’s back, leading south.
Selja is delighted as the skeleton falls apart before her. "Nice one, Liamae!"
She quickly heals herself with a wand.
"Let's try ta keep movin' quickly while I still have a magic shield up."
She glances at the door to the south.
"Door looks safe ta me."
Moira nods. "Let's keep going."
"Yes, keep our momentum."
Fench nods again, and without skipping a beat, opens the door behind her with a grunt.
The door opens down a narrow hallway which opens up again a mere 20 feet away. A stairwell down lies at the far end. In the open space before the stairwell lies a piled mass of what at first appear to be stones. But, as the door opens and the light of Moira's hat falls upon them, the stones start to lift in the air and are revealed to be swarms of chattering human skulls.
"Hm."
Túrante seems only slightly nonplused. She unleashes her disrupt undead cantrip once more.