...and immediately you feel a presence. Not in the room beyond the doors immediately before you, but at the very end of the corridor. It feels fairly powerful, but not overwhelming.
"There's something strong, at the far end of the corridor. If anyone has any preparations, now is the time to make them. Or we find some other way forward," the big Kellid tells his companions.
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Listening to Kadosh's knowledge of undead further down the hallway, Tabitha moves quickly to beside the nearby door and looks back to the Kellid man. "There's another undead ahead, and nearby?" She said quickly. Taking a couple deep breathes with cause a tiny little cloud to escape her, she lifts her club above and leans around the corner.
After looking, she leans back against the wall. "Do we take care of the undead first, or..." She gestures to the door next to her. "Make sure there is nothing behind us when we eventually do encounter the undead creature?"
Jasper nods and moves with the others. We take care of the undead.
"If we're ready then, let's see what's behind this door," Kadosh says.
He hefts his morningstar and, after muttering a quick prayer to the spirits , tries to open the door.
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Watching Kadosh walk forward to face the undead behind those doors, Tabitha hides somewhat around the corner. When it looks like the Kellid man has stopped, she frowns and walks forward and stops next to the door.
She pulls out one of the brown key cards and holds it up and turns to the party. Tabitha speaks quietly. "Okay, best get ready..." She swallows a breath, to try to calm herself down before looking at the group again to check if everyone is in fact ready.
Once everyone is ready, Tabitha takes a deep breath and slides the key card into the slot next to the door.
"Hmmph. Ridiculous. A man should be able to just open a door. Sticking something into a hole isn't what you do to open a door!" Kadosh grumbles.
The doors silently slide open when Tabitha withdraws the brown keycard.
A large metal table is surrounded by odd-looking chairs in this room. To the west, what appears to be a transparent wall looks out over a strange desert valley--the same one the party passed through, in fact. Four pillars support the fifteen-foot-high ceiling, while dozens of crude images of a pickaxe made of a skull & bones have been painted onto the walls with some sort of ivory pigment along with several phrases in an unrecognizable language.
Sitting in one of the chairs is a four-armed kasatha, like the skeletons the party faced before. However, this one's skin is stretched tautly over its lean frame, and the bright red cloak on its back does little to hide the two short blades at its side. Its black eyes snap up to look at the party, its yellow pupils dull and lifeless. It hisses once, then rises from its seat, drawing its two short blades and glaring at the party.
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Her eyes widen when she lays them upon the undead Kasatha before her. Tabitha knows what they are and casts another spell before stating what she knows. "It's a Kasatha juju zombie! It is flest is resistant to weapons unless they are magical and can cut deep into its flesh! Cold and Electricity cannot harm it, and it is resistant slightly to fire as well!" When she finishes speaking, a opaque disk of force appears before her then vanishes.
Remembering the pain she received from such similar creatures, she moves back down the hallway a bit to get out of reach of it.
HP 12/15(NL0)
AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 20
Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +3
CMB: +2, CMD: 14
Cantrips: acid splash, detect magic, light, prestidigitation
1st: air bubble[x], shield[x], shield[x]
Hand of the Apprentice: 2/7
Arcane Bond: 0/1
Current Effects: Mage Armor +4 AC, Shield +4 AC
Jasper moves into the room and readies an attack when the creature gets within reach.
Malin moves up beside Jasper.
Quickly reacting to Tabitha's information, the android pulls and applies a sheen of blessed weapon oil before stepping in front of the wizard to shield her.
The kasatha-zombie advances on Jasper, one of its blades stabbing forth...
...and plunges the sword right into his stomach.
Jasper's retaliatory strike crashes into the zombie's ribs. However, the wound isn't as deep as expected.
Malin, seeing her companion getting stabbed, moves to flank and bites the creature, trying to bring it down.
Malin's fangs aren't enough to pierce the zombie's hide, but she still manages to bring the four-armed monster down with a good tug on its emaciated femur!
HP 19/19
AC 18, touch 11, flat-footed 17 (+1 vs. robots)
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +5; CMD 13 (+1 vs. robots)
Orisons: daze, detect magic, light, resistance
1st: bless [x], hydraulic push [], sleep [], detect undead [x]
Channel (1d6): 0/4
Healing hex used: Jasper [], Kadosh [], Malin [], Tabitha [], Triax []
Effects:
"Feh!" Kadosh spits as Tabitha informs him that his weapons are likely to have as much chance of hurting it as a horseman has of putting out a brush fire using only his piss.
"Spirits, grant us your blessing," he intones, holding up a couple fetishes in one hand.
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Watching on in worry, Tabitha turns her ring around a couple times before casting a spell and moving behind Jasper. There she watches a few seconds before tapping his weapon which causes it to glow.
HP 12/15(NL0)
AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 20
Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +3
CMB: +2, CMD: 14
Cantrips: acid splash, detect magic, light, prestidigitation
1st: air bubble[x], shield[x], shield[x]
Hand of the Apprentice: 2/7
Arcane Bond: 1/1
Current Effects: Mage Armor +4 AC, Shield +4 AC
Malin takes the opportunity to lay into the creature with tooth and claw.
Jasper grunts from the attack before laying into the creature with a vicious slash.
Jasper wastes no time and brutally hacks into the zombie's chest. This time, his nodachi carves through the beast's flesh like it's made of paper, even as Malin's teeth and claws scrape ineffectually against its skull.
The android quickly moves up and begins to circle around the undead menace.
Triax's strike burns through the zombie's guts, causing it to flail once before twitching and going still.
The chill of undeath still hangs strongly in the air...
The zombie was carrying the following:
--2 mwk short swords
--2 javelins
--1 red cloak
--40 GP
The android crosses the room and snatches a small black keycard off the floor. It turns to offer the find to Tabitha. "Tabitha, perhaps this artifact will be of some use to you?"
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Making herself breath a bit calmer now, Tabitha decides to scan the room with Detect Magic. Upon finding out the cloak is magical, she focuses on it before figuring out what it is.
She frowns. "The cloak is magical, but I do not know what it is. It has the aura of Abjuration upon it though."
She turns when Triax brings her the key card. "That looks like one of those brown key cards we found before." She pulls out the brown key card, and accepts the black card to examine them both. "Its probably another key card. Might open other doors as well." She nods as she puts the brown key card away. But when she is about to, she thinks back to when they found the three brown key cards, she then looks to the others. "Maybe there should be a couple people hold onto the other brown card keys as well."
Jasper looks down at the bloody wound in his belly before placing a hand over it. A warm glow suffuses the area as the skin knits together.
Kadosh throws a bit of powder at the cloak and frowns.
"You're right. It is magical, but I don't know what it is either. That said, I think we're not done here. It still feels like undeath. Maybe cut up that thing a little? It could rise again."
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Tabitha looks down at the undead creature and wonders if it is connected to the ones in the underground desert. Could this one have animated those out there? And if so, why, and how does it feel like a tomb here? Does that mean this one has its own master? She then listens to Kadosh's opinion. Rise again...
She looks towards Kadosh. "Maybe we should. But if it is anything like the others out in that desert, it might just reform anyway. We best move on quickly then to find out what happened to Master Khonnir before it does come back to... Unlife." She looks back to the hallway with the other two doors. "We should do a quick check now before we continue."
"Maybe hit it with some fire, then? Or acid? But then, you're right. Let's move on."
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When Tabitha turns and see the drawings on the wall, things begin to make a bit of sense. "By Nethys word... I think they... The Kasatha skeletons and this zombie here were cursed. By the god Zyphus." She looks back at the body of the zombie. "They had an accident here and died because of it. And now, they are bound here by his curse..."
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She sighs and then looks back to the hallway. "I.... Feel sorry for them, but unless we know how they are stuck here, I don't think we can do much for them now. So... Lets continue before they, pull themselves together." Tabitha walks back into the hallway and stops at the first door in the hallway and look back towards the room with everyone in it before pulling out a brown key card.
Once she sees everyone is ready, she slides the key into the box next to the door.
Kadosh nods, encouraging her to open the damned not-normal doors.
"It strikes me as unusual that any being would worship and entity that claims domain over misfortune. But the natural-born and their beliefs often puzzle me."
The android turns its blue tinged eyes to the eastern door and hefts its sword, ready to advance and face whatever danger lies beyond.
The doors slide open to reveal a rubble-choked hallway, its walls grey and featureless. Another set of double doors lies to the north, these ones stuck open and trying in vain to close once more.
The air beyond the doors smells of old blood mixed with... some sort of odour that reeks of vinegar and stings the eyes. The double doors open into an expansive, oddly-shaped room. A large metal desk with blinking lights and strange glowing panels sits atop a raised area on the east side of the room near a circular table. Two couches covered with black material sit to the south of a pair of black metal pillars. Splatters of dried blood stain the floor and walls near a pair of doors to the north, while here and there patches of rust-red mould and fungus cling to the southern wall. The room itself is brightly lit by glowing panels on the ceiling.
Behind the desk is a closed door with a card key box next to it, and a set of double doors to the east lead deeper into this place.
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When the doors open, Tabitha tentatively looks in, expecting possibly another undead creature. But what surprises her is the stench of vinegar that assaults her senses.
She then takes a step away from the door down the hallway. "Lets check this last door first. Might be something useful in there." She will head to the other door and open it with the brown key card
The air in this room seems to buzz and hum with energy. Strips of glowing rectangles light the room from above, while strange flickering windows line the east and west walls. A large glass-topped circular table sits in the middle of the room. To the north sits a large metal desk covered with blinking lights, while a humming pillar of purple-and-black metal stands nearby, its sides flashing with tendrils of violet energy. A single golden panel flashes with a soft but incessant light on the side of this pillar. A thick layer of dust coats everything, diffusing the lights shining from the various surfaces, and many of the machines seem to be damaged, cracked, or otherwise ruined.
Jasper moves forward, chewing a cheroot he pulled from his pouch, carefully scanning the room for any threats.
Malin moves along at Jasper's side, padded paws making little noise on the deck. She has her head tilted back and her nose in the air, sniffing vigorously.
And the strange floor feels very uncomfortable to your paws.
Jasper, not sensing any threats, says to the others, Let's make sure to move as a group. Any suggestions on which door to try first?