Vera fills her waterskin from the fountain and starts to drink. The water is perfect, entrancing her to drink to her content.
Those of you watching Vera drink will see her wounds healing as she drinks. Vera, you can feel your strength returning with every swallow of the water.
"That water is amazing..."
After seeing the tremendous effect the water has on Vera, Moira takes a deep drink herself. "Mmmm." It was amazing. She didn't have any wounds but she certainly felt better about...well everything. She doubts it will have much effect outside of the room but she also fills here canteen on the off chance it retained its power later. "Let's go put Kassen to rest shall we?"
"Hold up," Cotton says. She takes a quick gulp, then strokes her chin and asks: "D'you think if we fill our waterskins with this stuff, it'll stay magical?"
If you put it into a waterskin, it seems to retain its magical effect.
Cackling with glee, Cotton empties out her waterskin and fills it with the healing elixir.
"Now we have healing potions and a weapon against the undead!"
Dyrm fills a water skin as well, muttering "Thank you water, the life bringer element, for this bounty of yourself."
Sa'sori shrugs and walks over to the water herself... she empties her waterskin and the one retrieved from the Crypt entrance filling them both again with the magical water. Crouching down but keeping a wary eye about her she scoops a handful of the water to drink her fill as well.
"I ..guess this was indeed worth the effort... and wasting my defensive spell. Magical healing we certainly could use if the magic retains its potency..."
"I'm still not fully back from that shadow, but I'm definitely better after this." Vera fills up her waterskin as well. "Now if we want to try heading straight for our monster I've got no complaints."
Sa'sori will take another drink from the pool to find out if any of the magical healing effects are cumulative...
the water still detects as magic in your waterskin. You take a drink from the waterskin, and the water is still as fresh and pure as your first taste, but it does not seem to fill you with the same healing and strengthening affect as the first.
"I think that's all we'll get from here. If I'm right we'll have to backtrack to 'Open the gate', but should we try and head straight for the tomb like Sa'sori wanted?"
"I can see her point, if we have to go back, we go back I suppose."
"Moira, if you wouldn't mind leading the way?"
The corridor opens up into a winding catacomb. The walls are skillfully carved with deep recesses where bodies might have once lain. All that remains now are cobwebs, dust, and the tattered remains of ancient clothing. The stench of rotting flesh is overpowering here, but the source is not evident.
"Can't say all these empty tombs do much to encourage. There's gonna be quite a fight ahead of us."
"Riiiight," the ranger says unsure. As soon as she enters the room she is forced to cover her nose. "Ugh. It smells awful." She takes a few steadying breaths to get used to the spell before slipping in carefully. She doesn't go too far beyond the door incase she needs to make a quick get away. Once inside she tosses the torch into the far corner and waits, arrow notched and ready. If nothing reveals itself, she moves to the corner and pears around.
Peeking inside you see that several of the tombs have been opened, but there does not appear to be any movement inside.
"Smell says: 'There are more walking corpses here'," Cotton says in a stage-whisper. "Not to mention the grave robbery-style décor..."
"I think its clear." Moira goes to retrieve the thrown torch and begins to search the room for signs of what happened or where the bodies went.
"Looks like there's only one way forward." Vera gestures to the other side of the room.
"Remind me to ask for my body to be claimed by fire for my funeral, less chance of desecration," Dyrm says
As you move into the large portion of the room, 4 fleshy corpses begin rise from the ground on the far wall, with a low growling moan.
Round 1 Order: Vera, Moria, Cotton, Sa'sori, Dyrm, Zombies
"Riiiight," the ranger says unsure. As soon as she enters the room she is forced to cover her nose. "Ugh. It smells awful." She takes a few steadying breaths to get used to the spell before slipping in carefully. She doesn't go too far beyond the door incase she needs to make a quick get away. Once inside she tosses the torch into the far corner and waits, arrow notched and ready. If nothing reveals itself, she moves to the corner and pears around.
[dice=Stealth]1d20+8
[dice=Perception]1d20+7
She should have been terrified, frightened, or disturbed. No. Not at this point. All she felt was annoyance. "Oh come on. More of you?"
Annoyance turned to outright anger as she stomped towards the nearest, drawing her new, masterwork shortsword, and attempted to slice the things head off. "I have had with these Mother%^&@ing undead in this Mother!%#&ing Crypt"
Vera is going to follow suit(or lead the charge based on initiative), moving to try and take out one of the zombies before it can stand(a different one than Moira).
Cotton immediately fires off a golden ray of necromantic energy, aiming at the foremost corpse.
"The fun just never ends!" she says, smirking at the zombies. "One of these days, a Necromancer is going to start using his whole brain and he'll hide some living things between his corpses, just so's his plans will actually work!"
Sa'sori... fumes impatiently... but holds her tongue while the party debates the direction of investigation~ after all she has already made her opinions well-known and vocal.
She follows as the decide to finally take on the evil in the crypt directly... eager to be done with it all.
When they discover the crypt Sa'sori directs her dancing light into the area trying to illuminate the environment, but her lights individually only create candle light.. and all together make a full torch no better than Moira's tossed ember. So she is not surprised to find they did not see the zombies in the darker corners of the room especially from her position.
With at least most of her strength restored she feels confident a 'martial answer' is a suitable response, as she draws her elven curve blade from her back sheath and smiles!
Sa'sori moves into action moving to flank position on Moira's Zombie to strike the still prone and flat-footed Zombie with her blade...
The elven curve blade bites deeply splattering the the half-elven woman's legs with blackish gore of the decaying corpse...
And as the creature continues to try to stand if her first swing did not slay it outright..
Sa'sori gleefully swings again striking home to behead the foul creature of undeath.. this time splattering Moira as well with decaying gore...!
"Wouldn't that be nice?" Dyrm mutters and uses his sling at the same zombie the good gnome hit.
"Well, not for me," Cotton says, shrugging, "because a living thing would just give the laugh to this spell o' mine. Fzzt. Fizzle. And then I get stabbed. Not nice at all, matey."
"Don't give the necromancer ideas Cotton. He might just enslave people's minds and add them into the bunch. Imagine a paladin or cleric cleaving through a bunch of zombies and bam, powers are gone."
"Maybe I should look into necromancy," Cotton quips, winking at Moira. "I'll bet I'd make a much smarter one than the dumb-donkey running this sad little puppet show!"
"I could only imagine what trouble you could get into." Visions of undead popping out of the ground and shouting boo only to run away invade the ranger's mind. Or grotesque, yet comical, one act plays with zombies chasing heads and skeletons loosing arms.
Round 1 Recap
Vera moves in and slashes the zombie in the corner, killing it in a single blow. Moria moves to the opposite corner and takes a quick slash at the zombie lying there cutting it deeply. Cotton moves into the room and uses her spell again disrupting the one in front of Moria again opening its wound further. Sa'sori moves in and hops over the crypt in a graceful leap landing between two others. She makes a heavy slash with her new blade and nearly takes the creatures head off. She draws her blade back and finds the creature still living. Dyrm is the last to move in as he fires his sling at the one in front of Moria. The pebble strikes the creature and finishes it off.
The zombies attempt to rise to their feat and Vera, Moria, and Sa'sori all lash out at the creatures nearby to keep them on the ground. They quickly drop another zombie and leave one rising to its feat barely able to hold itself up.
Round 2 Order: Vera, Moria, Cotton, Sa'sori, Dyrm, Zombies
Cotton skips forward a step or two - being careful to remain out of the last zombie's reach - and points a finger at it. "Boom," she says in a solemn tone of voice. "Nisil mors, nisil vivens, rescindendum es." Coruscating golden energy flies from her hand to the zombie.
[dice=Crit Confirm]1d20+5
[dice=damage]1d6+2
The die roll was a 14 though.
Cotton skips forward blasting the last zombie apart and dropping it to the floor.
Combat Over
"Better polish those shoes, girls," Cotton says, wrinkling her nose. "You got some... ick... on them."
"If only all battles could be that easy. Shall we carry on?"
As Vera lifts her ax, the zombie's body falls revealing a pack shoved into the corner.
The pack is bloodstained on its top, inside are a number of rotten rations, a map (detailing the area and pointing out the entrance to this crypt), a potion, a pouch containing 13 gp, and a small handbill.
The potion gives off a faint conjuration (healing) aura.
The handbill is the type typically found posted in taverns. Although faded, the handbill clearly reads as a notice of employment telling all those interested to meet at "The Ranger's Lament." The handbill does not mention a time, date, or who the employer might be.
The clothes the zombies wear are similar to the clothes of the man you found in Grey Lake two days ago.
The potion can be identified as a potion of cure moderate wounds.
"Anyone know what Ranger's Lament is?" Moira says holding up the handbill. She tosses the potion to one of the casters for identification and keeps the map for herself, going over it and thei progress thus far. The pack was only adding more questions to this already confusing scenario. "Don't forget we sill have to go through that other room to open the 'gate'"
"I've never heard of it, but we can sort that out later. Like you said we've still got a ways to go."
You proceed to the door to the south and open it. A shallow reflecting pool divides this long chamber, running from one end to the other. The water looks cloudy and stagnant. What must have once been marvelous murals covering both walls are now scorched and ruined, the original subject lost in the destruction.
The passageway leading out of this chamber to the south is blocked by a heavy iron portcullis.
"Hang on, hang on," Cotton says after Moira's question. The Gnome frowns - then cuffs herself in the back of the head. "Ow! Alright, jump-starting the old brain... This place has been necromancer-free for a dog's age, yeah? Maybe these mercenaries were hired to go in and wreck something. Like wards that would've kept necromancers out! How's that sound?"
In the next room, Cotton signals for a halt and eyes the reflecting pool with deep suspicion. The Gnome speaks a single Word and looks at the water more closely. "Could be anything in here," she mutters.
"Whoa, there!" the little Gnome yelps, taking a step back as she gazes about the room. "O-kay! Whatever took out the murals was magic. Necromancy, to be precise. The traces linger."