Phineas steps back inside the doorway, then he turns and sighs. "Athromar, close the door if this doesn't work..." He then begins casting a spell learned from his days caring for the farm and woodland animals found near Erastil's temple in Kassen. The spell soothes savage or angered animals, making them docile and harmless. But Phineas doesn't know if it will work on this cloud of bats.
Athromar holds to see whether Phineas' spell works or not.
While Phineas' spell does seem to have an effect, with hundreds of the flying rodents losing their aggressive nature and simply streaming past you as they head outside, it's not enough, with plenty of the bats still aggressively attacking those inside the room.
As the bats batter and bruise Phineas, he begins to panic, but slowly regains his composure. With no way to stop the swarms besides his calming spell which is already used, he retreats beyond the door, hoping Athromar can still slam it closed.
Athromar grunts at the swarm around him - Fortitude and resists the feeling in the pit of his stomach.
He casts Light on his mace and swings it to try and clear away the bats as his spells otherwise provide no solution here.
Mace Attack
Mace Damage
Cira rushes in, followed by Blacklock, broken out of his panic. Seeing the situation, she wastes no time, spinning out a couple of explosive flasks and detonating them against the swarm. In a matter of seconds, the swarm is reduced to a few confused bats flapping around, with many more lying on the ground, unmoving. After checking to make sure everyone is all right, Cira returns upstairs to comfort Roldare and continue calming him down.
Venturing past the fear pool room, you see that this next chamber was once blocked by an iron portcullis that has since been lifted. Inside, there's nothing of note beyond more a large fissure in the ceiling, several empty alcoves in the sides, and more sarcophagi. A new hallway leads to the north, but turns away after a short way.
Athromar grins at Cira, "You've saved the day".
He looks at his allies, "My friends, I believe we pushed it as much as we can. Time to rest and regain our strength".
Reluctantly, Phineas agrees that a night's rest to recuperate and reenergize would do them all some good.
As you return upstairs, you find one solitary bloody skeleton reforming, but it is quickly dispatched by twin channels from Athromar and Phineas, letting the restless dead sleep for the last time.
The night passes without too much incident, though there is some evidence that there were a few zombies or skeletons outside your door for at least a little bit. Roldare, while Cira has been making some progress, seems unlikely to make a full recovery any time soon- his fragile mind seems to have shattered. The next morning, you all prepare for your exciting dungeon delve to continue.
"This place is simply infested with the restless dead. I hope they are not all regenerating or being replaced".
Phineas snarls a bit at that thought. "Then we should destroy that place. I can't believe the resting place of a hero like Kassen is so infested with the abominations. I am glad we came here to make it pure again. Let's be about getting that flame and finding Roldare's missing sister."
He hefts his pack and sets back out for the unexplored parts of the basement.
The glowing rod clatters to the floor in a vast chamber, the light from the sunrod just barely illuminating the damaged vaulted ceiling high above, numerous cracks covering its surface. In the center of the room, a 10-foot-wide bridge crosses a deep chasm. On the other side, a pair of stone statues depicting villagers holding shields and spears watch over the end of the bridge in front of a set of grand brass double doors, just at the edge of the light.
But beyond that, Blacklock sees nothing. No spinning blade-saw traps, invisible liches, undead hiding in wait, giant oozes prepared to eat him, or even a simple vampire.
There doesn't seem to be anything special about the pits- they're 40 feet deep, so a fall could be deadly, but they just seem to be normal pits.
Phineas removes a 50' coil of hemp rope from his pack. "Never leave home without it," he says grinning sheepishly. "May Erastil watch over you as you venture forth, my friend." he says touching him gently on the shoulder and trying to impart some divine aid to the rogue.
Blacklock doesn't find any traps- at first. The first part of the bridge has no traps, but as he goes to cross it, something catches his eye. On closer inspection, he notices that almost the entire bridge is a giant pressure plate. With almost no difficulty , he manages to wedge the pressure plate to where it won't trigger.
Once everyone is safely across the bridge, Blacklock studies the statues. He finds that they are actually on a wheeled track. Stepping on the pressure plate would have likely caused them to rush forward and push whoever triggered the trap off the bridge.
Before you, the set of grand doors awaits, promising the final resting place of Kassen and the end of your journey. What will you do?
Blacklock opens the doors (fortunately not trapped), and the wide brass doors swing open on silent hinges to reveal a vast crypt. The only light beside the sunrod he carried emanates from a torch mounted above the crypt, flickering with a pale golden fire. Tall pillars march across the chamber, ending at a dais on the far side, on which is set a large stone sarcophagus. A single form rests beside the coffin, that of a comely woman in tattered clothing. She appears to be asleep or unconscious. As he enters the room, a dry, merciless laugh drifts from the dark recesses of the crypt.
"So, Kassen’s heroes have come to fight me once again. I have been expecting you for a few days now. You will all make fine minions in my army of the dead. Come and meet your fate.” With that, a wicked-looking skeleton strides into view from beside the coffin, wearing polished mail and brandishing a enormous, cruel sword in both hands. A cold blue flame burns in its empty eye sockets, and at a wave of its bony hand, red eyes appear in the darkness, and skeletons begin to move out of the shadows. It's impossible to tell how many there are, but there are a half-dozen at least, with shapes still moving just outside the reach of the sunrod. Blacklock's keen eyes pick out two skeletons, standing in wait on either side of the staircase he entered on.
As Blacklock retreats, he hears a voice call out, "Go on! Run! Run back to your home. I will come for you there! In the meantime, this woman- I had hoped to keep her alive to learn more from her, but I think her usefulness has ended now. Are you not the heroes of Kassen, come to protect the weak?" the skeleton laughs mockingly.
Knowing this fight will be difficult, Phineas calls forth the blessing of Erastil on his allies and himself. "Deadeye, guide our hands and protect us as we do battle with the unquiet dead. We ask for your blessing to save this woman and end the blight that infests the resting place of Kassen himself."
Blacklock's swing crashes into the skeleton before him, but he merely grins a skeletal grin. Behind him, two skeletons rush in, their bony claws scoring paired wounds on Blacklock's back. As he turns around to defend himself, he sees even more skeletons previously in the shadows, many of which rush him, in a flurry of attacks that Blacklock is barely able to avoid and dodge in time. However, he turns around at just the wrong time, and Asar's greatsword slams into Blacklock's club, leaving his hands stinging and his club clattering to the ground.
Seeing Blacklock swarmed by undead, Phineas snarls in outrage and rushes to the top of the steps grasping his holy symbol and holding it out in front of him, he invokes the good power of Old Deadeye.
"I call upon you again, Erastil, to lay waste to those abominations that threaten life with unlife. Bring an end to their days on your fair earth!"
While Phineas' channel is weak and hurried, the brief flash of golden light does seem to leave the bulk of the skeletons smoking. However, Asar merely snarls when the wave of golden energy washes over him.
Athromar, hearing the commotion, likewise runs into the room, sending a golden wave of energy filling the room. When the light fades, most of the skeletons surrounding Blacklock are nothing more than dust, leaving only Asar attacking the rogue. "Bah! Weaklings, all of them!" With a wave of his hand, four more skeletons rush out, clawing at the rogue. Fortunately, he manages to dodge out of the way of all the attacks- all but one, that is. Asar swings his massive sword at the same time as another skeleton, and Blacklock's twisting dodge of the one puts him directly in the path of a powerful, massive blow that nearly cuts him in half and leaves him within an inch of death, lying on the floor next to his club.
(Auto-kill for all skeletons)
Athromar cries out, "No!" He Channels positive energy to aid his fallen ally.
Channel Energy
He moves to the bottom of the stairs to place give the foes a target besides Blacklock to strike at.
Unlimbering his quarterstaff and moving forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Athromar and keep the foes of Blacklock while he recuperates, Phineas readies to swing at the next foe that gets close enough.
As you form ranks to defend agains the undead horde, Asar points with his sword and his undead minions move in, stepping to the side or charging in, as they start to surround the staircase. Phineas takes a pair of blows from the first skeleton, his unsteady blow doing almost nothing to dissuade the bloodthirsty undead. To his left, Athromar fares a little better- at first. He manages to deflect one of the blows aimed at him, and an attempted flank by a skeleton moving behind him is easily parried. Meanwhile, Phineas takes another hit from a charging skeleton. Finally, Asar charges in, wielding his greatsword in a massive blow, leaving Athromar in bad shape as he's not fast enough to deal with the undead menace before him.
Bleeding profusely from many wounds, Phineas calls on the power of Erastil to smite all these foes surrounding he and Athromar.
Athromar is seriously wounded as are his allies, much as he wishes to destroy these foes, it cannot be done when one is dead.
Athromar opts to heal himself and his allies with positive energy.
Channel Energy - Heal Self and Allies
Phineas' channel turns three of the skeletons to dust, leaving only one, smoking next to Asar. "Weaklings! Your corpses will prove much stronger, I'm sure."
As Blacklock cautiously ventures to the side of the stairs, Asar snarls at something, and two more, what seems to be the skeletons, make their way out from the shadows. One charges Blacklock, leaving itself open to an attack from Athromar, who unfortunately swings wide, and the skeleton attacks Blacklock, who nimbly dodges the clumsy blow. Meanwhile, Phineas is set upon by two skeletons- the survivor of his channel, and a new one which ventured into the light. While he avoids one clumsy blow, two more land on him, leaving him wounded. Finally, Athromar finds himself just barely unable to avoid taking another devastating blow that leaves him near death's door.
Knowing that his wounds are getting very serious, and Athromar's look nearly fatal, Phineas calls forth the positive energy of Erastil once again, but this time tries to heal his allies within 30'.
As Athromar lays on the steps, Phineas does his best to revive him, but unfortunately it's not quite enough to revive the fallen cleric. Blacklock, for his part, fails to land a damaging blow, his dagger skating off the skeleton's ribcage. In retaliation, the undead lashes out with its long, skeletal claws, landing one good blow. Phineas, perhaps in desperation to stay alive, manages to avoid one skeleton's attacks entirely, and avoids Asar's clumsy blow. Unfortunately, he can't avoid everything, and one skeleton lands a pair of blows on him, leaving him wounded but still standing.