After Artair shoves the door open, Etam advances cautiously inside the corridor. "It seems going west would take us back to the entrance of this floor. I say we move south."
"Agree. Let me go first to make sure there are no traps."
Jaed passes by Etam, stops at the fork to take a quick glance at the western hallway and then carefully continues South.
The hallway to the South appears uneventful until it opens up into the next room. This large chamber, like the one you just came from is partially flooded, with the south end just barely rising out of the stagnant water. However, it doesn't appear to be quite as deep as before, only rising about a foot off the floor. A large wheel is set into the floor of the dry area, attached to chains that rise up into the ceiling. A thick layer of slick, black mold covers the carvings on the walls of this chamber.
"Should we mess with that wheel now or should we keep exploring until we find the gate it supposedly opens? It may be a good idea to have more information before touching anything as many things in this crypt appear to be trapped or cursed."
"Hmmm…I believe you are correct, master Zandorias. I do not expect the wheel to be cursed, but from what I have understood it will open a gate. It would be good to try and understand exactly what might be behind it before we go around possibly unleashing yet another undead horror in this crypt."
Seems it might be a good idea to inspect the gate prior to turning the wheel, but we might want to examine the wheel to see if we may need to find a key or something to activate it.
Finnrick walks into the room and takes a look at the wheel.
"I think that's probably a good idea Artair," he says.
"It looks like a wheel to me," He says with a shrug.
"Hopefully the gate room will be dry, Millsy isn't a huge fan of all this water."
Before they leave Finnrick picks up Millsy and holds her with one hand against his chest. She instantly tries to burrow into Finnricks shirt but it is obvious that she is happy to have her paws on something dry.
Jaed walks with Finnrick to take a look at the wheel.
"Yep, just a wheel. Let's go to find that gate."
Jaed walks back into the West hallway, carefully checking for any traps.
As both Finnrick and Jaed head towards the wheel, they fail to notice that the floor between and their target drops off into a pit hidden beneath the water covering the floor.
Finnrick manages to stay afloat, however Jaed immediately begins to sink under the dark water.
At the same time, six skeletons surge up from the back of the room and begin heading towards the group.
Luck does not seem to be on the adventurer's side as the skeletons shamble towards the doorway. Some were too far away to get in an attack, but a few were close enough to claw at Etam and Finnrick.
You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to twice your Constitution score, but only if you do nothing other than take move actions or free actions. If you take a standard action or a full-round action (such as making an attack), the remainder of the duration for which you can hold your breath is reduced by 1 round. (Effectively, a character in combat can hold his breath only half as long as normal.) After that period of time, you must make a DC 10 Constitution check every round to continue holding your breath. Each round, the DC for that check increases by 1. If you fail the Constitution check, you begin to drown.
Etam kicks the skeleton in front of him, dropping his spear to the ground and drawing his shield and hammer, and slams the skeleton in front of him:
"Jaed!"Finnrick yells, causing water to rush into his mouth. Without hesitation Finnrick spits the water out and dives down to rescue Jaed.
Millsy lets out a roar as she hears the splash and senses that her master needs her help. "Seems, that yet again he needs rescuing."
"Roar!" Millsy bellows causing the air in the crypt to shudder as it reverberates off the stone walls of the corridor.
"I'm stuck in this tight hallway and now there is an army of the tasteless, bony creatures blocking my path."
Everything happens so fast that Jaed takes some time to process what's going on. He suddenly finds himself underwater so his first instinct is to start swimming up.
Still confused, he doesn't seem to make any advance.
Can I get by to hit anyone?
If so I would like to hit with my hammer
In his wild flailing to get at his companion, Finnrick also dips below the surface of the water. The fact that he winds up roughly where he had been aiming seems to be more due to sheer luck rather than any actual skill on his part. Unfortunately for him, Jaed had likewise sunk down lower in the water.
The water greatly hampers the creature's movements though.
Meanwhile on the surface, Etam barely manages to recover enough to strike at the skeleton in front of him. Luckily, even though it's a glancing blow, the creature still crumbles to dust. Taking his opportunity, Artair rushes forward to crush another skeleton with his hammer. Unfortunately for him, this now makes him the easiest target of the undead minions.
,
As Artair falls, he is replaced by a skeleton trying to claw at Etam's face.
The new skeleton doesn't fair as well as its companions and is unable to find a gap in the young warrior's defenses. Its claws make an awful screeching noise as it rakes against the metal armor.
I have updated stuff to reflect where we are. I am going to assume that I am not subject to more attacks, but if I am, we can revise from there...
Swinging at the western most one, unless there is still one that was damaged...
"Oh no he's sinking faster and now so am I“
Finnrick kicks towards Jaed in a second attempt to help bring him to the surface
Jaed stops sinking when he reaches the bottom of the pit and, using it to get some impulse, he finally starts ascending.
"I need to find an opening, Finn needs me"
Millsy sees an opening behind Artair where she thinks she can attack the bone man from and darts to it. When she gets close enough she takes a snap at it.
Artair crushes another skeleton as Millsy quickly darts into a corner and lashes out at another undead foe. The awkward angle makes things difficult however and the bite goes wide.
Etam seizes the chance and runs to Artair's side. He strikes at the western skeleton:
Whilst doing so, he tries to see any sign of movement where moments before Jaed and Finnrick were standing.
So eager is Etam to continue pushing their advantage that he swings a little too early, missing their undead foe.
As Finnrick continues to float downward, he watches as Jaed goes zoom up past him. A blur of movement catches his eye as he notices a skeleton standing on the bottom of the pit attempt to claw at the retreating form.
Jaed manages to whiz through unscathed. As the undead creature watches its prey escape, it almost seems to cackle as it turns towards its new dinner. Reaching out, it attempts to slice the druid with its long, sharp claws.
Finnrick manages to pull away slightly, narrowly avoiding the creature slicing open an artery. Luckily the weight of the water slowing its movements reduces the impact of the blow as his feet settle on the bottom of the pit.
The skeletons appear unfazed by the downward trend of their luck and their fallen companions. If anything, they appear happier as they can each reach a delicious morsel of living flesh to gnaw upon.
While most of the blows rain harmlessly down upon their armor, one skeleton does manage to get in a lucky shot as it savagely rips a chunk out of Etam's thigh.
"Are you kidding me, I'm running out of air and there is a skeleton down here clawing at me."
Forgetting his companions and the battle raging above the surface Finnrick draws his scimitar and slashes at the skeleton beginning his own private duel underwater.
Millsy snaps her teeth and swipes her claws at the skeleton near her still trying to clear a path.
And the barbarian swings the hammer again...at the middle of the three.
Artair smashes another skeleton. Millsy does her best to imitate the dwarf, but her bite is more of a bark danger-wise and one claw bounces off the corner of the stone wall. The skeleton seems hardly phased by the small scratch of the other claw attack.
Jaed continues his increasingly desperate climb to the surface.
And with a last push he finally gets his head out of the water. After taking a big breath he looks around and realizes that Finnrick is still underwater. Not thinking it twice, he dives again to try to help him.
Etam grunts in pain and tries to reposition himself in front of the western skeleton. He strikes with the hammer at the same time, but a flash of pain in his leg makes his swing goes wide.
The skeleton scores two hits. Luckily the water slows its movement enough to stop the blows from being truly nasty.
Above the water, the two remaining skeletons face off against their remaining foes.
[ooc]Etam AC 20
The skeleton facing Artair gets in a lucky blow that narrowly avoids the dwarf's jugular vein.
Really!?!?!?
That ticked me off...
Hope I survive on this one HP...
In retribution for his near fatal blow, Artair easily crushes the skeleton's skull, causing it to collapse in front of him.
Jaed continues his diving towards Finnrick, trying to help him to get some impulse towards the surface. I must help him to get out of the water. We are in a real disadvantage here.
This was a horrible idea, I'm not a fighter, I need to get out of here.
Finnrick takes one last swing at the skeleton and bends his legs and pushes of the bottom swimming with all his might towards the surface.
one left
Millsy licks her lips as she runs at the last skeleton and attempts to bite it.
With a loud crunch Millsy takes out the skeleton's femur. Now lacking a leg bone, the skeleton collapses to the floor, falling apart as it does so. Seeing all their foes vanish and that Finnrick has yet to emerge from underwater, Etam rushes to jump into the underwater pit, his momentum taking him to the bottom.
Jaed is getting increasingly desperate trying to drag Finnrick out of the skeleton's reach. When suddenly the water around him starts bubbling and a figure rushes next to him, he fears that another skeleton was joining the fight. Luckily, he quickly recognizes the figure of the fighter. This is our opportunity, Etam can distract that skeleton while Finnrick escapes!
So making another effort he tries to reach the druid's arm again.
Well, I dont want to be the only one dry...
Artair follows Etam's lead in looking for the others who have not surfaced.
Finnrick looks up and sees Jaed's hand reach out towards him. He reaches for the hand and attempts a last ditch effort to swim to the surface.
He realizes that he can't make it with his pack so shrugging it off he gets ready for a final attempt, but the corners of his vision are already starting to go black.
Seeing that Finnrick's ability to swim is...severely lacking, Etam tries to distract the skeleton.
And unfortunately just barely misses. But he does at least manage to gain the skeleton's attention.
The attacks are so feeble, Etam makes no attempt to even look like he's trying to parry the blows.
Can I sink to the bottom in one turn?
If so:
/2=3
Come on Finnrick, you can do this!
With a shake of his head his vision comes back to normal and he sees his companions around him.
Are they here to rescue me. I can do this.
He grabs his pack and tries yet again to make his way to the top.
On a different note: I just got my beginners box today!!!
Seeing Finnrick flailing about, Etam decides it would be safer to stay away from the druid, less he get knocked upside the head. Instead, he tries to finish off the skeleton Artair managed to wound.
With the skeleton gone, Etam pull a rope out and wraps it around Finnrick, hoping to swim to the surface and physically drag the druid out.
With a mighty heave, Etam drags the practically drowning Finnrick up to the surface of the water. He then peers down into the water to see if he needs to jump in and grab any of his other companions.
With a str of 18, if finnrick dropped his stuff, I will pick it up and head to the surface.
That should be enough...
I assume now we will need to look around. I will use my perception skills on the wheel and also look around the room in general...
Relieved to see Finnrick getting out of the water Jaed starts swimming towards the surface.
Finally outside the pit Jaed takes his time to get some deep breaths. "Ok, let's take a look at that wheel and hope there aren't more of those things around."