|
A steep set of 100 stairs leads down to the next door.
With the frequency of storm waves approaching the shore, salt water erupts from cracks in the floor of this large hexagonal room. Foamy, blinding spray jumps in every direction, then drains from calf-height to ankle-deep before the next wave hits. Occasionally a length of black-brown seaweed shoots in and adds one more strand to a room that already appears draped in long wet hair. In each of the chamber’s six corners, a fluted pillar rises to the fifty-foot ceiling. Between each pair of pillars, an open arch connects the chamber to an attached space. Beyond the northwest and southwest arches, three tiers of recessed spaces form three massive steps. A stone sarcophagus rests on each step. You notice that one of the sarcophagi is only loosely closed, and sliding the lid aside indicates a perfectly preserved young woman wearing a uniform. She has a golden ring on her finger, and does not seem to have aged or rotten at all. There is no foul smell (from her), and she looks remarkably like Junia, the daughter of Lady Dacilane, which obviously is impossible. Her uniform is dirty, like she had been crawling around in dirt and dust a little, but for the most part dry, and not torn or rotten away. Her corpse is lays there lifeless.
Ghast
->Elsabeth
->Daveak
->Corina
->Bicor
As you inspect the corpse, the lid cracks, and a chunk of it slams into the ground. From the other side of the room, alerted to intruder, another sarcophagus bursts open, and another undead leaps out of it's resting place. It looks similar to the other three, but this one is dressed in the rotten finery of a once noble, and possibly even a king. Upon it's head is a golden crown. It wears multiple jeweled rings on it's fingers, and looks than the last three you faced.
Bicor steps forward and releases a cone of flame at the kingly undead.
DC 15 for half
|
"What have you done to this young lady? Just like your lesser kin above, you are filthy, and vile, and should have stayed dead!" Possibly as a result of her many years in a convent, Corina appears particularly repulsed by these shambling undead things, and protective of the innocents in their pretty habits school uniforms.
|
|
And you zerg him to death in one round, with plenty of overkill.
You find that the other sarcophagi hold other treasures, and take Junia's corpse back with you so that her mother can do a proper burial. It is a simple matter for you to return the way you came in order to leave the necropolis. Once Deris reaches his daughters spirit, he decides to stay there, and can not be convinced to leave. Making your way back to Lady Dacilane you hand over the somber remains to the weeping mother, but then she stops. At first you think her grief has turned to another spot of madness, like with Deris, as she kneels besides the coffin and holds the dead hand, but then says "She's alive! I don't know how, but she is still alive." Calling a servant, she immediately orders them to run quickly and fetch a priest of Asmodeus. When they arrive, they confirm that the girl is indeed alive, but seems to have been drained of life near the point of death, and has somehow been in an enchanted sleep-like state this whole time. Able to heal her mind and will through restorative magics, she wakes, looks around and begins to embrace her mother.
She explains that years ago, she had the necropolis and her and other children would sneak down there to avid some of the more boring classes. She was sown there when the earthquake hit, as where other children, but she managed to flee. For days she and the other children where stuck there, and the other children began to starve and get sick, most dying, but despite not having any drinkable water or food, she was fine. She doesn't know why. Eventually, the others where no longer able to move, so she went off on her own, trying to find a way out, but undead monsters began to attack her and the others. She ran and hid after a particularly nasty assault, but a ghost creature of shadow found her, and sucked the life out of her. That is all she knows, as next she was laying here. She has no idea how much time has passed.
Her mother thanks you profusely, and both pays you your reward, but also in thanks promises to assist the Pathfinder Society, and also you n particular in the future if they ever have any need of information about the aristocrats of Absalom — a small gesture, to be sure, but a very generous one in the mind of Lady Dacilane. As you make your way to leave, you notice a ring on Junia's hand. When you ask about it, she says that it was just something she found down in that place, and offers it up to you in thanks, saying she thinks it's good luck. Looking closely, it is a silver ring depicting a the salamander with two small ruby gems for eye.
The other parents, upon hearing that there was a miraculous survivor after all these years, mob the Tri-Towers Yard in an attempt to gain access to the necropolis. Absalom’s city watch is called in to quiet the disturbance and sends in a team to search for additional survivors. Of course, there are none. When the ruby ring of the salamander is returned to the Pathfinder Society, they will be naturally pleased at acquiring such an important artifact and Venture-Captain Drenge will personally thank the PCs for their service to the Society. After a week or so of study, he come to you once more and explains, "It makes a sort of sense now. The ring you see, our mages have discovered that it was indeed more than a lost trinket. It holds a sustaining magic, (Ring of Sustenance), and was enough to keep the young girl alive with food. Without water for these long years. We think that she encountered a creature called an Allip, which drained her will completely, but would not have killed her directly. You have done very well, and honestly, have made me and the Society very proud."
"Can you go over the part with the kids in the previous room? We kind of blew through that and I think I missed something." squawks the tengu.
"Can you go over the part with the kids in the previous room? We kind of blew through that and I think I missed something." squawks the tengu.