Seeing his first shot land home, Phineas is encouraged even as more frogs surface and Blacklock gets crunched. Gritting his teeth, the determined bowman fires again at same target.
Blacklock, successfully wrestling himself free from the frog's grip, makes his way back to the door, where Athromar's spell makes his fresh wounds vanish in a glow of golden light.
Phineas' shot strikes the frog again, burying itself deep in its body, and it croaks in anger, leaping forward to the next coffin and biting down hard on Phineas' arm, greatly wounding him and holding him fast. Blacklock doesn't fare much better, with another frog swimming up to him, biting his leg and not letting go. Phineas does have some luck, as the third frog's attack is blocked by the amphibian currently hanging on his arm.
Athromar almost sighs at the sight of his allies overwhelmed, still, he can only aid one at the moment. He trusts Blacklock to be more "slippery" than Phineas and so drops his crossbow, draws his mace and attacks the amphibian grappling Phineas.
Mace Attack
Mace Damage
Unfortunately, the foe is so tightly wound around Phineas that Athromar cannot get a solid strike.
Surprised to have the frog on top of him so fast, Phineas drops his longbow into the water with a splash. Bound by the amphibian's mouth, the youth is still able to work his dagger free from his body and stab at the foe.
Athroar's swing goes wide, making a huge splash but otherwise leaving his target unharmed. While Blacklock doesn't fare any better at first, the frog fails to keep a firm enough grip on him and he manages to slip out, barely. Erastil seems to be with Phineas, as his attack finishes the frog holding his arm off, leaving it in a rapidly-growing pool of blood. Apparently, this serves as quite the distraction to the other frogs, as both bite nothing more than the water in their next set of attacks.
Relieved at his ability to fend off the first frog, but bleeding profusely from the bite, Phineas sees Blacklock pull off another acrobatic stunt and brain the frog near him. Dropping his dagger into the water with his bow, he grabs his quarterstaff and makes a two-handed swing at the same frog.
Blacklock's bar slams into the frog, leaving it severely wounded. While Phineas does manage to hit the frog, it doesn't do much other than annoy it. As it turns around, Athromar steps up and brains it with his mace, and it falls off the coffin into the water, leaving it bleeding out. The last frog, now greatly outnumbered, lunges at Athromar, but bounces off the cleric's shield.
Athromar seems surprised his last swing made contact considering how poor of a showing he has had in their time in the Crypt when danger has befallen.
He hopes his streak of luck continues as he tries to brain the last of the aggressive foes.
Mace Attack - Crit? - Damage
Seeing Athromar brain the last frog, Phineas takes a moment to put his staff away and gather up his longbow, readying it for another shot in the next round.
While Blacklock might not have the best luck in this fight, the same doesn't apply to Athromar, who manages to land a solid blow on the frog. In response, the frog lands a solid blow on the cleric, but fails to maintain its grip as Athromar escapes its grasp.
Athromar grunts at the frog's powerful strike and strikes back!
Mace Attack - Damage
With bow now in hand, Phineas moves to get a bit clearer shot at the frog, and once he has good line of sight, he nocks and lets fly another arrow aimed at the oversize croaker.
Between Phineas' well-placed shot and Athromar's powerful blow, the last frog finally croaks. Looking around the room, you find a nest at the far end of the chamber. Stuffed into it is the mostly devoured corpse of a man. On his hand is a golden ring, inset with a single sapphire. On his belt, he has a pouch of 24 gp, identical to the coins you found on the man by the lake.
AFter being called to examine the corpse in the nest, Phineas can tell the others that it has been dead for several months, certainly not part of the Roldare expedition.
"Seems this crypt is well-traveled for a place that is only supposed to see visitors once per year for the Everflame. It is troubling if these men are grave robbers set to steal Kassen's relics."
Phineas has little interest in the ring, unless the group would like to give it to the church or the village as an offering or donation.
"Do you think there is anything in these crypts?" asks the youth tremulously. "I'd hate to leave any undead here for whoever comes after us."
Phineas will help lift the lid from the crypts if anyone wants to, if not, he will move to the door at the rear of the watery chamber, being sure to recover his dagger before he departs.
Athromar Channels Energy as he and his allies need healing after that encounter.
Seeing that Blacklock is still quite injured, he prays to Sarenrae to heal his ally. CLW .
"I think we should focus on the undead that directly threaten us. We can return later with more help if our desire is to clear this place of all evil. Indeed, if we are to find any survivors, we need to live".
Still feeling the wounds after Athromar radiates positive energy, Phineas also channels the outward power of his divinity, trying to mend the last few hurts of the group.
Nodding at the consensus of the group to keep moving, Phineas examines the other door out of the crypt room, stepping out of the way so Blacklock can do his bit of business.
Blacklock finds no traps on the door, and opening it reveals a long corridor that eventually opens up into another flooded chamber, but you can't really see much of the room this far away.
As Blacklock creeps forward, he finds a large, partially flooded chamber. While for most of the room, the water is only about a foot deep, the south end just barely manages to rise out of the stagnant water. A large wheel is set into the floor of the dry area, attached to chains that rise up into the ceiling and out of view. A thick layer of slick, black mold covers the carvings on the walls of this chamber.
Phineas comes up behind Blacklock and looks over his shoulder into the water-filled room, ready with bow in case something moves to attack.
For as far as the spell will reach, Phineas casts Detect Magic as well.
Athromar stays at Phineas' back to ensure no foes sneak up on the group while Blacklock investigates the chamber.
Looking under the water, Blacklock sees about a half-dozen skeletons lying on the ground. But are they undead or simply long-dead bodies? Phineas doesn't spy any magic in the chamber, but is that worth the risk?
Despite being frequently animated by necromantic magic, undead don't emit any form of magical aura.
Phineas shrugs. "Undead leave no magical aura, so we may be in for a fight if they animate, but we have handled such before. Athromar's deity and mine should be enough power of good to unmake most of them if they arise. We won't know until we try it, and I think we need to turn that wheel."
Athromar whispers back, "Yes, with the proper spells it can be. I have enough divine power to defeat simple undead, a shadow as we faced yesterday, perhaps not.
Shall we explore here further? This place seems to force us to do just that".
As soon as Blacklock steps into the room, the skeletons he saw begin to clatter, self-assembling into undead monstrosities and they move to attack!
Moving forward, Phineas calls forth the positive energy of Erastil to wreak havoc on these undead monstrosities.
Phineas calls upon divine power, and the scent of the woods fills the room as a golden flash of light burns away most of the skeletons, leaving only a single one standing, its bones smoking as it charges forward and claws Phineas' arm, leaving a shallow, but painful, wound.
Athromar grins at Phineas' display of power, "Well done!"
He adds his mace to the equation.
He steps in and attacks - Mace Attack -
Mace Damage
Having moved to far among the scattered bones, the Cleric's aim is off.
Round 2
Seeing his deity provide enough power to almost clear the room, Phineas withstands the one painful scratch with aplomb. Whirling his quarterstaff, and putting all his temple-taught hatred of the undead behind his swing, and misses...
Blacklock's swing goes wide, striking the wall and chipping some of the stone with a reverberating clang, momentarily distracting the undead. However, as Athromar tries to get into an advantageous position, he draws the attention of the skeleton, who manages to sneak in an attack, striking Athromar around his shield. Meanwhile, Phineas, attempting to sneak around the back of the undead, fails to notice a drop-off, and he looses his footing in a pit that's all but invisible in the stagnant, murky water. He vanishes underwater momentarily, his head briefly popping back up as he desperately tries to stay afloat. The skeleton continues its assault of the living, and while Athromar's armor blocks one strike, Blacklock isn't as lucky, and takes a painful blow to his leg, leaving him bleeding into the water.
Athromar curses at the rotten luck that he was struck and delivered worse than the pile of bones before him.
He attacks once more hoping that if Blacklock's attack did not destroy it, his would. His hopes are dashed as once more his strike is clumsy.
Mace Attack -
Mace Damage
Athromar's swing goes wide, but it doesn't matter as Blacklock's blow slams into the skeleton, and it shatters into fragments of bone, the pieces plopping into the water like so many pebbles.
Surprised as the floor seems to drop out from him in the watery room, Phineas slips under the surface with a shorty cry. He surfaces again briefly, bouyed at first, but as his gear and clothing starts to get water-logged, it is all he can do to try to keep from falling under again as his feet scramble about furiously for purchase on the floor once again.
Phineas manages to recover from his unexpected dip and climb back onto solid ground. As Blacklock makes his way to the wheel, he notices that the pit covers most of the room. Fortunately, he spots it in time and instead uses the bridge in the middle of the room. Once he gets to the wheel, he manages to turn it, though it's a little tough, three complete times. There's no immediate change, but it does feel like it did something.
"Well done, but it seems we shall have to be patient to see what effect the turning wheel has had. It appears we have to backtrack a bit."