"This seems a good place to rest, unless there is some sort of door in here as well".
Athromar searches the room.
Perception
Nothing happens when Phineas sits down, and Athromar determines that there is indeed another door in the chamber, down a hallway and around a corner. This door, however, has no keyhole
"Seems like this is a dead end, unless Blacklock can figure out a way to unlock a door with no keyhole." says Phineas sardonically. "We can go around as there are other doors we by-passed before? Or we can try the new key on the shield-bashing statue."
Phineas prefers going around, but will defer to anyone who has a strong rationale.
Blacklock stumbles through the door, and finds himself in a wide, domed chamber. In the middle of the room, there is a large pillar surrounded by a pit, but a stone bridge crosses the pit on the south side. Dozens of arrows jut from holes in the pillar, facing every direction.
Athromar crossbow in hand calls out but not too loudly, "What do you see?"
"I heard a click and that central pillar seemed to rotate a bit. I can't be sure, though. Maybe that bridge rotates this direction? But those arrows..."
Blacklock easily dodges into the room as the door swings closed on its own. Just moments later, a steady and rhythmic thudding pounds the door. After about a minute, it falls silent once more.
The door swings open to reveal the chamber now littered with hundred of blunt arrows scattered in every corner, and the pillar slowly spinning to a stop. There are two other doors in the chamber, one to the south and one to the east. Neither are locked.
"By the Gods, what mad genius devised such a chamber of death as this? Does it not seem, overly elaborate?" Athromar half grins and half frowns.
"There must be a way to disable that trap, perhaps a room beneath we need to reach?"
"Blunt arrows?" asks Phineas with puzzlement. "Who ever heard of using blunt arrows?" He makes for the door in the south wall, trying as best he can to avoid any arrows that fly his way.
No more arrows go flying- the trap seems to have been completely emptied, and will require a lot of work to become functional again. Phineas finds the southern door unlocked, and, with no traps found by Blacklock, swings open easily. On the other side, a short corridor opens into a medium-sized chamber, with a continuous carving of mourners running along each wall, leading to a staircase at the other end of the room.
Realizing the arrow-firing trap was empty, Phineas sighs deeply. "At last, we catch a break." He quickly gets into the southern room, looking at the relief of mourners. He looks around for any other signs of interest.
As Phineas dashes into this new room, the others following shortly behind, something catches his eye from the side. A skeleton, red and dripping with blood, claws its way out of the corner and assembles itself just behind the pillar. There's four in total, clattering their way up as they lunge towards the group!
Blacklock's club smashes into the skeleton, and it bursts into a pile of bloody bones. Its partner steps forward, and, while it tries to tear into the rogue, he proves too quick for the skeleton, and its attacks hit nothing more than air. Meanwhile, two of the skeletons rush Phineas. While one of them merely has its claws glance off Phineas' armor, the other one connects, scoring a gash down the cleric's arm.
Round 1
Grimacing at the fresh wound delivered by the bloody skeleton, Phineas
reaches inside his tunic and withdraws his simple wooden holy symbol. Fervently praying, he cries "O great Erastil! Send forth the power of your goodness to smite these unholy abominations. Protect those that would do your will in their time of trial!"
"Sarenrae shine your light in this dark place!"
Channel Energy
While Phineas' channeling leaves the skeletons reeling, Athromar's slams into the undead and blasts them into nothing more than red mist, with a tarnished silver necklace falling to the ground with a clink. As the room falls silent, you all hear the sound of dripping water and a low moaning in the distance.
Blacklock finds no traps on the stairs going down, and they lead to a circular chamber with three passageways leading from it. In the center is a small stone pedestal. The sound of dripping water can be heard coming from the eastern passageway, while the stench of rot emanates from the west. It seems as though there were once carvings on the walls here, but they seem to have, oddly enough, eroded completely with the passage of time, leaving them unrecognizable.
Without particular exposure to valuables or treasure before, Phineas has no ideas the value of the silver necklace, but after holding it out for the others to examine, if they choose, he slips it into the pocket of his tunic. Not sure if it's important or not, he figures its better to bring along than leave behind, and he can always re-inter it with bones once they find Roldare's sister and the undying flame of Kassen.
"I don't like either that sound or that smell," muses Phineas mostly to himself. "I think we should choose the center passage after looking over this pedestal."
He approaches said feature and gives it a cursory examination.
"What if that moaning voice is that of whom we seek? Should we not follow it?"
Phineas finds an inscription on the pillar that reads, "To the south you might take your ease, to rest and reflect on Kassen’s deeds. To the east lies the wheel, to open the gate. To the west is the resting place of Kassen, hero of the Fangwood.
Phineas points out the inscription to the others. "Opening the gate sounds important, maybe we need to go that way first?"
Blacklock's keen ears pick out the moaning as coming from the east. Following the corridor, it quickly becomes apparent as sloping down ever so slightly, and the drips of water that were coming from this direction collect into ever-larger puddles, until the entire floor is a few inches underwater- and, looking down each of two branching corridors, the water only gets deeper.
To the north, the corridor turns to reveal a door- while it's not locked (and Blacklock finds no traps), it's waterlogged (the floor is about two feet underwater here), sollen and stuck shut
Listening at the door, you hear the faint sound of frogs croaking from inside the room.
Going south, however, the water only rises to about a foot in depth. The chamber on this end has a strange blue fungus on everything- covers the walls, ceiling, and pillars of this waterlogged chamber. Its wispy strands stretch out from the wall like roots dangling in the air, twitching and swaying in an unseen breeze. Floating in the water are four decaying corpses—three large rats and one giant frog—with strange burn marks all over their bodies.
Listening at the water-logged door, Phineas hears the sounds of croaking frogs from beyond and shares that finding with the rest of the group.
He also recognizes something about the blue fungus...
Phineas recognizes the mold as Azure Fungus, a curious type of mold that can sense movement and releases electrical shocks to kill those that disturb it. While it's usually only harmful if touched, being in the water would make it significantly more dangerous. Moving slowly should keep you safe, but its by no means a guarantee.
Relating the danger of the blue fungus to the others, Phineas rolls his eyes. "No good choices here." he says. "Want to try the frog door first?"
After Blacklock gives up on the door, Phineas steps up without much hope of generating enough force to make any difference. To his own surprise, the young acolyte is able to get the swollen doors loose enough to open.
As Phineas flexes his muscles, Athromar holds up his crossbow ready to fire at whatever danger may lurk within.
Phineas gives the door a solid kick, and it swings open, revealing a room that is filled with water, probably as deep as the outside corridor. The chamber is in an advanced state of decay, with a gaping hole in the ceiling admitting a constant trickle of water. The three stone sarcophagi in this room are almost completely covered in a thick carpet of moss and fungus. On top of the middle one, a giant frog sits on the center sarcophagus, and as the door opens, it unleashes a battle croak and starts to move to attack. Athromar shoots his crossbow, but the frog proves too quick and it slams into the back wall instead.
Phineas move to the protection of the corner of the room, then fires his longbow at the frog.
Phineas' arrow flies true, striking the frog head-on and leaving it seriously injured, while Athromar is busy reloading his crossbow. Blacklock's swing, while enthusiastic, misses the frog entirely. However, as he recovers from the swing, a bit of movement catches his eye. Two more frogs come out of the water, from where they were previously hidden. One launches a long, sticky tongue at Phineas, who narrowly dodges the attack. Blacklock finds himself assaulted on both sides, the frog he tried to attack retaliating with a nasty bite, grabbing him securely and holding him fast. The frog behind him takes advantage of this opening, landing a painful bite on Blacklock's leg.
Readied action fire!
Crossbow
Crossbow Damage
Athromar lays his hands upon Blacklock, "Sarenrae, aid him!"