"We will leave the Longbow, scroll and wand here"
Uh... Calia glanced at the items marked with the names of their departed comrades. With all the undead, I don't think anyone's coming back here right away...and it's a shame to leave such nice things laying here... What if we took it with us, to give Jenna and Damien when we get back? Or...what if Forest used the bow, at least for now?
Obviously we'd make sure it got back to Jenna along with her tools...but she's seen what's going on here, I think she'd want us to be as well-equipped for any surprises as we could be...and Damien too... If we need to use the scroll or any of the wand's magic, I'll pay Damien back for it, I swear... I mean, I don't like the idea of taking their gifts either, but if it makes the difference between us getting back to Kassen or not?
"Calia is right. If nothing else, we shouldn't leave them here to rot." Forest runs a gloved hand over the bow. A bit of mud streaks the pristine wood. "Water is bad for bows."
Sariel nods his head in understanding, "I am a servant of Erastil and I appreciate a fine bow as much as anyone, probably more than most." looking at Calia, "But my trust is not in the bow or scroll or wand or even in the new sword. My trust is in Erastil and that he has sent us hear to be victorious." Then turning to Forest, he waives his hand at the sealed room they are standing in. "The room appears to be water tight, I don't see any moisture or mold." then smiling, "I believe they would be safe to leave hear, but if you would prefer to return the items to those who gave them, that certainly would not hurt." looking at the gear, "The wand and scroll are not ours to use. However I believe Erastil would agree It would not hurt a tool, like the bow, to be used for it's purpose."
Laird stands by awkwardly as there are clearly moments of heartfelt connection; letters from loved ones and families. The young man simply watches and waits.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Unconsciously the angel stands close to Laird and puts a hand in the summoner's shoulder as he watches the party read their letters.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Erastil, bless these gifts and keep Damien and Jenna safe, and us too. Sariel picks up the bow, wand and scroll. He places the wand and scroll in his pack and yells over to the pig "Proudsnout, don't let me forget to give these to Damien when we see him." Prousnout, who was still laying at the entry door attempting to nap, looks up and answers "oink, oink, oink" Sariel shakes his head.
Turning to Forest he hands the young man bow, "I'll set you give this to Jenna when we get home safe, if you need more arrows I have plenty." he winks and whispers "I love the bow, but my eyes don't help me much with it."
Exiting the room with the gifts Sariel heads back into the statue room, "It's a shame none of us are trained to use those shields." He then heads to the stairs leading east and on, keeping his halo as bright as he can he asks, "Calia, shall we?"
Sure thing. She falls into what's quickly becoming a regular habit, searching the door frame for any traps or tricks and unlocking the door if it resists her efforts to open it.
Proceeding up the stairs, Calia and Sariel lead the party into a surprisingly normal-looking hallway that continues forward for about fifteen feet before descending back down into another room on the other side. The entire hallways is surprisingly unimpeded, and it appears to be clear of any traps or obstructions.
The room on the other side of the stairs appears to be the one the party had chosen not to go through earlier, near the room where they met Roldare; the same smoky scent seems to be filling the room from the door to the south, and a faint flickering of light can be seen in the margins between the door and its frame. A curious scratching noise comes from around the blind corner as the party descends the stairs into the room...
she is tuff, I'll give her that, who would have thought that the town prankster would be the bravest of the batch.' Walking beside Calia, up and down stairs, nearing where they left Roldare 'I hope Roldare has not left the room' Sariel hears a scratching noise coming from around the blind corner. Throwing his hand in the air signaling the team to stop and whispering to Calia, "Do you hear that scratching? I better take the front in case it decides to scratch us!" Realizing that the light from his halo would have alerted anything or anyone of their presence he draws his sword, and tightens the grip on his shield and boldly turns the corner to see what is causing the scratching.
Sariel turns the corner...
...and finds a revolting, enormous beetle chittering hungrily as it pushes what appears to be the tattered remains of a human body into its pile in the corner. The sickly stench of the pile was masked earlier by the smoky smell coming from the south door, but now it hits his nostrils like a punch in the face.
The beetle turns to face Sariel, its jaws clacking, as it crouches defensively over its mound of rot and body parts. Venom drips from between its mandibles...
Roll Initiative!
Block 1: Calia, Forest, Sariel, and Woodruff <--Up NOW!
Block 2: Bombardier Beetle
Block 3: Artemis, Doreen, Laird
Round One. FIGHT!
At Sariel's surprise, Calia peeks around the corner to see the giant beetle clacking menacingly. Emboldened by the new hope the note from home had brought, she charges forward to meet it over its stinking meal, shouting as she runs (perhaps with more daring than sense).
Stepping around the corner seeing the revolting, enormous beetle chittering hungrily as it accosts the corpse, I hope that's not Dimira ... or anyone else we know' Almost choking on the stench, Sariel moves cautiously toward the bug, just as Calia runs past screaming at the top of her lungs. Erastil, what is she doing? He begins to scream also, moving toward the bug quicker he brings the sword chopping down at the beetle.
Forest, hearing the screaming, rushes past those in front of him and draws an arrow. He skids to a halt on the wet stone just past Sariel, prepared to face walking skeletons or giant wooden men. It's just a beetle. Still, it was fairly large. Calia would be a good sized snack for such a creature. He aims for a bit of the beetle he can see just over her right shoulder.
"Sorry Calia." He mutters to himself as he lets his arrow go.
Woodruff moves forward and simply punches at the beetle, moving into position as best he can...
The angel is clumsy in his advance and is lucky to not hit his new allies...
Laird pauses, letting the other fighter types take on the challenge...
In the awkward melee that ensues following the sudden appearance of the man-sized beetle, the four young Kassenites- well, three Kassenites and one very strange celestial- manage not to land a single blow between their entire assault, whether their blades are turned away by the beetle's surprisingly tough exoskeleton or it simply skitters out of the way. The beetle, seeing its opportunity to retaliate, rears back and opens its mandibles- belching forth a stream of yellow-orange ichor that spurts toward its attackers!
The caustic goo splashes over both Calia and Sariel, and while the heavily-armored youth manages to deflect the majority of the acid with his shield, Calia takes a face full of the stuff, and a horrible hissing sound fills the small chamber.
Bugs.
Why did it have to be bugs?
"I sort of like this one." Doreen says as she stands back, watching the fight without getting involved.
"Try not to tear or cut the wings. I can use those to make a dress."
Woodruff continues to pound on the beetle as best he can...
'This beetle has some kind of acidic poison, fortunately my shield caught most of it, we must put it down before anyone else is hurt' Feeling the beetles poison burn on his exposed skin on his sword side, Sariel calls over to Calia, "Calia are you OK?" he moves to place himself between the bug and his friends, then strikes quickly, exposing himself from behind his shield for as short a time as possible.
I-I think, Calia manages to gasp out past the pain of the acid burns. Get on the other side of it! Seeing that she's not had much luck managing to hit the thing with her rapier, she steps toward the wall and focuses on helping Sariel, poking at vulnerable spots to try and distract the giant bug and let Sariel get a better opening.
Woodruff is resistant to acidic attacks. Fall back behind him if you are injured!
Sariel's cold iron blade makes impact even as the beetle ducks out of the way of Woodruff's flailing fists, sending a gout of ichor splattering across the wall. The beetle, having exhausted its acid spray, lunges at Sariel.
Its mandibles close about Sariel's arm, but his heavy armor prevents the bite from breaking through and causing injury, and he is able to sling the beetle's jaws off of him.
Forest can no longer see the beetle past the larger Sariel. He drops his bow and draws his fathers sword, then moves next to Sariel and slashes at the creature. Poor beetle. Must be so confused right now.
Artie jumps into the fray, maneuvering his way to help defend Calia, new club raised high over his head to come crashing down on the insect monster.
Skeletons? No problem.
Giant bugs? We're screwed.
The universe laughs.
Doreen creeps ahead. Seeing that the fight's going poorly, she draws a card. Seeing the portent, she smiles...
Artemis' heavy blow cracks the shell of the beetle, which shudders and collapses onto the floor, badly injured and unable to move- and that's before it succumbs to the magic of Doreen's hex. It is unclear as to whether or not it still lives, but in any case, all the fight has been taken out of it.
Combat over!
With the beetle incapacitated, it is clear that the body the beetle was shuffling about is much older than the villagers that Laird had accompanied to the tomb a few days ago. It appears considerably older and quite decayed, albeit not to the extent of the skeletons in the front hall... not that this seems to have stopped the beetle from hungrily chewing on its rotting flesh. Behind the corpse, there is a sort of a hole burrowed into the corner- probably the beetle's way in, judging from the small size and narrow space.
'I don't have the heart just to kill the beast, hopefully it will leave on its own. We will need to come back here and return this body to it's grave. Of course I can't leave Proudsnout in here with the beetle either.' Looking to Artemis, nodding in acknowledgment of the well place blow, Sariel, sheathing his sword and shouldering his shield, turns to the team. "If everyone is all right, while Calia investigates the next door, I will take Proudsnout over to the room we left Roldare in and make sure he is ok, then I shall return." looking at the body, "We should eventually rebury the corpse."
Retrieving Proudsnout, who sleepily looks up and asks "Oink?" Sariel shakes his head, "No, stop thinking with your belly." realizing what he had just said to a pig he continues to shake his head as he takes proudsnout over to the room where they left Roldare. After quickly checking on the human, leaving Proudsnout, he returns to the party to see how Calia was faring on the smoking door.
Nodding in agreement, Calia turns and begins her familiar routine, searching the door for any signs of trouble.
Gesturing for Woodruff to keep an eye on the beetle Laird tries to get a closer look at the body that was being chewed on by the beetle...
Sariel takes Proudsnout through the eastern door and, as memory indicated, finds the door through which Roldare and the safe room can be found. When he enters the room, Roldare leaps to his feet, seemingly embarassed, but no amount of prodding will reveal what it was he was "caught" doing. However, he is overjoyed at the news that the party is safe and that others have arrived, and happily accepts the offer to watch over Proudsnout; in fact, the cobbler begins conversing with the animal almost immediately, though it is doubtful from Proudsnout's reaction that he can't actually understand him the way Sariel can.
Calia does not see any indication of traps or tricks at the door, and is only able to hear a faint crackling, like a fireplace. The door does not turn out to be locked; simply turning the latch causes it to lurch inward without incident... other than a sudden wave of heat and reddish light from inside.
Meanwhile, Laird's investigation into the body the beetle had been eating reveals clothing that does not appear to match that worn by Kassen locals. This man may have been a wanderer or, perhaps, a tomb-robber...
Back at the door, Calia sees into the room and finds the remains of a small fire smoldering within the fire pit in the room's center, a plume of oily smoke rising up to its stained ceiling, where it appears to be escaping through small holes above. Fed by a heap of burning gear, debris, and more than a few blackened bones, the fire casts a flickering light across the walls of the room. Despite some of the smoke filtering out through the ceiling, there remains a veil of the black vapor sufficient to obscure vision within, making breathing strenuous- though not impossible.
'I don't think I want to ask' smiling as Roldare jumps up, Sariel explains, "Roldare, I'm going to leave my pet pig here, if you need help send him to find me." Placing Proudsnout of the floor of the room, Sariel turns to Proudsnout. "If he needs help come get me, ok?" Proudsnout, begins rooting around for a place to sleep and answers "Oink, Oink, Oink" Sariel waggles his finger at his pet pig, and closes the door behind himself as Roldare starts to talk.
returning to the room where he left his friends he follows them into the smoking room. 'No, not more deaths, so much carnage, we can't even tell if these are our friends and fellow Kassenites or not, or can we." Slowly walking into the room with the fire pit, the light off of his halo casting strange shadows as it refracts through the oily smoke. Keeping a keen eye out for anything unusual Sariel heads to the fire to separate out what he can.
At the puff of smoke that exhales from the door, Calia coughs sharply, the sudden movement making her acid burns ache. She squints past the door and lets out a gasp that sets off another bout of coughing. There's stuff in here - looks like a couple of pieces of armor, maybe some arrowheads and spearheads. And...bones. And they're all on fire.
She proceeds with Sariel as he enters, her large eyes red and watery. Kneeling down, she quickly slices through the stitches holding a couple of large patches onto her many-colored cloak. Handing a piece of red-checked gingham to Sariel, she puts the piece with blue and white daisies to her nose and mouth. Use this. It'll make it a little easier to breathe, at least. Her eyes join Sariel's in trying to make sense of what's happened here; while his attention is drawn inevitably to the grisly fire pit, she focuses on the room around to watch his back.
Unfortunately, though, another plume of smoke wafts straight for her as Sariel approaches, and she's racked with more hacking coughs.
Laird motions to other to go in, opting to stay out of the room, Woodruff and I will watch as you search the room...
Doreen stays outside the room as well.
"Let me know if you need an eye for magic."
- - - -
Peering around the room, Sariel and Calia both fail to make out any particular details. In the flame, however, Sariel notices two objects of interest: a key and a dagger, both curiously unharmed by the flames.
'I wonder if that was the key we were supposed to use to find our 'presents' hope they don't mind that Calia picked the locks.' coughing terribly, Sariel proceeds to the fire using the tip of his sword he tries to knock the dagger and key out of the fire. Asking " do you think this is the key we were supposed to use? " smiling at Calia, "I won't tell them we didn't use it if it will help.""
"Might be," Artie says as he watches the fire. "Could be for a door somewhere else. We're gonna need ta be more careful here on out. Our folks from Kessen might not a gotten down this far to make the tomb safe for us..."
He pulls his extra shirt from his pack and dips it with water from his Waterskin. Then he wraps it around his mouth and nose. This stuff smells worse then that tree clearin' the Woodcarvers did last season...
Artie places a hand along the left wall and follows it around to get a bearing on the room, doing his best to keep his large frame below the smoke. "Mebbe the key goes to a door o'er the other side o' the room. Course that makes me wonder, what's the dagger a key to?"
It doesn't matter how far we got, assume things are not safe Artemis! The summoner does his best to peer into the room where the others are so fully obscured, That smoke is horrid for your lungs. Grab what you can and talk out here when you are done!
Looking to where Sariel points, Calia sees the key and dagger in the flames. It does look like a trial by fire, huh? *cough* And hey, if we're getting it now, it counts, right? With a wink, she turns to see Artie begin to scope out the room and hears Laird's call, seeing the sense in his words. He's right - let's grab them and split. Get the dagger too, if you can; it's weird it's not hurt at all. We'll have Doreen take a look.
As Sariel continues to poke around the fire, attempting to wrest the key and the dagger from the fire pit's contents, it becomes clear that anything other than reaching in to grab them will take several minutes of trial and error.
'This is taking to long' Realizing that using the sword to push them out will take to long Sariel tells Calia, "I think that we need to change tactics." Sheathing his sword he places his hand very near the fire to see how hot it feels. Not feeling anything through his thick gloves, Sariel reaches into the fire to grab the key and then the dagger.
Seeing Sariel reach into the fire for the key and dagger, Calia decides to withdraw and escape the smoke. There's a fire pit in there, and a key and dagger in the fire, but they don't seem to be getting hurt by it at all. Artie's taking a better look around to see if there's anything else in the room, and Sariel's going for grabbing the dagger and key. Doreen, we could use a look at them when Sariel brings them back - they could be magic.
These guys sure do like doing things the hard way. We could just smother the fire. Forest waits outside the smoky room for the results of Sariels efforts.
"Careful there, Sariel. Want me ta kick o'er the fire pit, let the bobbles onto the floor?"