Vigny tries to remember anything that she might have learned about skeletons while at the Caydenite orphanage. Surely they came up in stories I heard
"How good is the trail? Could we follow it?"
"Thankfully, skeletons don't hide their tracks. From here..." she looks to Jerukh to confirm the assessment, "the trail looks easy to follow. If they wade through a bog - that may change."
At the notion of a necromancer being involved, Jerukh looks concerned. He taps his alchemical pack;
"If we are to face the risen dead, be they skeleton or ghosts, I have compounds to enable my bombs to harm them..."
As the conversation turns to tracking the undead he nods;
"Da. Should be easy enough..."
Reiko eyes Jerukh's pack, impressed. "Striking phantoms... that's a rare skill." She thinks a moment, then dashes off toward last night's camping spot. She comes back a few minutes later with her backpack and something that must have been packed with her bedroll. Over her shoulder is strapped a hardwood practice sword, quite similar to her katana in shape and size. "It's better for breaking bones than slicing flesh. Perhaps it will be of more use against skeletons?"
Emi looks unhappily at her bladed scarf.
I'm not sure how useful I'll be against skeletons...
"Vhichefer vay you prefer is fine vith me."
The chair, sadly, is nothing special, unless you count it's wobbliness and the fact it seems to have not fallen over and broken with the rotund Chief Gutwad atop it. It certainly lived up to it's name as the Teeter Chair.
You actually know quite a bit about skeletons. For one, they are one of the less dangerous types of undead. Most are unthinking mooks, though a few particularly malevolent souls find themselves as a particularly powerful champion. Blunt weapons are more effective than keen points and edges.
You also know that while they can be raised by a necromancer, they can also come to life thanks to overwhelming negative emotions of the deceased or potent arcane energies that taint the very air with necromancy.
The trek is slow, even with the broad trail to follow. As midday approaches, however, it seems more and more likely that your quarry's destination is the caves that Megus never explored.
Reiko consults the map. "To chase down these undead, we may have to try the cave."
Jerukh nods;
"Caves makes sense. Best we wipe out the risen dead first... and the necromancer who created them."
The tall half orc speaks the words with a tone of disgust.
As they slosh along Vigny answers Jerukh:
"It may not be a necromancer. Skeletons can come into existence through other means like strong necromantic auras or intense negative emotions. That said, I think a necromancer or someone using such magic makes the most sense. Skeletons are not thinking undead. I believe they would have to be directed by someone to make a trek through the marsh like this to attack a village. Without a directing intelligence they would just linger at the site of their creation, assaulting whoever came near."
"If Old Megus never went into the cave, it doesn't seem like her handiwork. Maybe a rival we haven't heard about?"
"Let's go find out." Distracted by gnats, Reiko's attention is divided as they continue following the trail.
The trip takes longer than intended as Reiko gets turned around and leads the party in the wrong direction for an hour. Thankfully, it's barely afternoon when you arrive at the caves.
A wall of nettles covers the entrance to the cavern. The air around here is deathly still and a chill hangs in the air.
Reiko tries to carefully push aside the wall of nettles with her sword and peek into the darkness beyond.
Vigny lights up a torch and tests it against the nettles to see if they will burn.
Jerukh too peers ahead, trusting his orcish senses may discern that which normal eyes and ears cannot;
:
At Soli's words the lanky alchemist nods;
"My bombs can harm the dead... and heal the living. A crushed melee will not favour the risen ones..."
The fire takes a moment to catch, but soon the entrance is clear. Inside, the air grows still colder and your breath begins to mist as you go deeper. Vigny's torch casts a wan light over the moisture slick stone and everything seems to be dimmer and duller, as if something was sapping the very life from the air and had washed out the colors of the world. The air is still, with the only sound being your footsteps and your breathing.
Emi wraps a few of her scarves a bit tighter around her. "I am no expert," she offers from her position in the middle of the pack, "but this does not seem natural to me... does anyvun know vhat might cause this chill?"
With the torch in the middle of the group chasing away the worst of the shadows, Reiko stalks quietly down the corridor.
Vigny moves to the side to let the others go ahead of her, then takes her place in line with her torch held high.
Jerukh shrugs his shoulders at Soliana's question;
"A mix of compounds... and a spark of arcane energy... and a little luck!"
He flashes his awkward grin;
"It should work... harming the dead and healing the living..."
"So... is that a 'no' to anyvun hafing any ideas vhat might cause cold like this?" Emi asks again as they rearrange themselves and press forward.
The ceiling is low, sometimes barely six feet above the relatively level floor of the cavern. The walls seem to close in more and more as you trek deeper into the cavern. Then, to the right, the passage widens into a column filled chamber choked with webs.
You catch the glimpse of something looking at you before disappearing into the webs. Something with eight eyes.
Reiko steps past Soli, blade ready to strike in case anything with a lot of eyes comes out of the webs.
"Want me to pass the torch forward?" asks Vigny anxiously.
Jerukh also stops, hand moving to his belt where one of his alchemical bombs;
"Let me see if my brutish bloodline can be of use... My eyes are keen..."
The half-orc shifts forward attempting to locate the "many eyed thing" with his own vision;
:
Emi readies her scarf for battle and tries to stay close together with the rest of the group...
Vigny moves up as the tight conditions in the cavern passage allow for it. As she squeezes by Emiliana she utters a quick blessing as she touches her shoulder.
Whatever Soliana had seen, it appears to be gone now.
Even in the darkness of the cave, the skeptical frown on Reiko's face is apparent. "Let me see if I can draw this creature out. Be ready."
Cautiously, the ronin moves further into the web-shrouded cavern, her eyes questing in all directions and her blade ready to cut down anything that threatens from the dark.
Reiko slowly cuts her way through the webbing as she tries to flush whatever it was out. Unfortunately for her, she failed to look up at the ceiling, and when she was out of sight of the others, she felt something heavy and sticky slam into her back and nearly take her off her feet. Her arms and legs can barely move, but she's able to turn enough to see the spider beginning to come down. All the others see is a tremor in the strands of the web. All they hear for the moment is a wet splat.
σκατά... it's a cave full of webs, there were bound to be spiders... disgusting, hairy, eyeball covered spiders... I hope Reiko isn't in too much trouble...
Responding quickly to the noise and the movement in the web, Emi moves westward into the cavern just far enough to see Reiko. When she spots her new companion coated in web she mutters, "I hope this vorks," and conjures a greasy dew that coats her robe in a layer of slippery sheen...
As Reiko feels the grip of the webbing loosen, the spider jumps down to attack.
The spider sinks its fangs into her as Reiko twists loose from the slickened strands. She gets free of the fangs just before a large dose of venom reaches her veins.
The ronin masters the gut-level fear evoked by the large, multi-eyed and multi-legged fang-fest, growling. "I'm fine! I'm fine. Kill this thing!"
When the sounds coming from Reiko's direction draws off Soli and Emi, Vigny goes as well. As she starts to follow, she says to Jerukh "This may not be a lone spider, and I don't like the amount of webbing in here. I have to take the torch, but you don't need it. Watch our backs, I don't want more of them jumping down onto us from behind!"
Once she has visual contact on the spider Vigny rushes it with her sword held ready. When she can reach it she strikes at it's bloated body.
Jerukh moves up to near where the combat is taking place, drawing a bomb as he goes .
He then halts at a central point where he can support Emi also.
In the tight confines of the cavern, the group's warriors converge on the creature limiting any actions the alchemist can take on that foe, so he keeps his senses sharp for further spiders...
"Da! We watch!"
:
The spider is bloodied, but not out, It withdraws into the thick webs hanging from the ceiling and tries to maneuver out of sight.
However it can't seem to find a patch of webs thick enough to hide in.
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Reiko slashes the creature as it retreats toward the ceiling.
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The spider barely gets five feet from the ground before coming down in a shower of gore, ichor, and legs.
The ronin watches the spider parts hit the floor, exhaling her tension. She snaps the katana down, slinging spider blood from the blade and peers into the webs above, looking for victims, egg sacs, or any sort of obvious spider lair.
"Ugh, disgusting" grimaces Vigny.
"Let's back out of the webbed area. I'm going to try burning it away. I'm wondering if there are any more spiders, and if there's anything else in there hidden by the webs."
Once everyone is clear Vigny tries setting the webs on fire with her torch.