"Oh no, it's nothing like that. Simply a field of force to prevent living creatures from entering. Hm..." Terflynn looks for a possible source of the magic.
"See if you can tell where the source might be located. It should be in the center, if you can tell where field seems to curve."
"I sincerely hope this ward is meant to preserve the dead, and not the living."
The antilife shell is centered on the middle of the bridge itself, covering the whole walkway across.
"Hm, I was going to suggest we disable the artifact responsible for this effect, but it would appear to be within the bridge. Seeing as we rather need this bridge, I propose we look for a control mechanism. Surely the native peoples using this place would have needed a way to enter and leave. Perhaps these doors?"
Miso nods and stands immediately to the side as Jennix does his trapspringer thing.
Terflynn takes several steps back, covering his eyes and ears. "I have the fullest confidence in you, Jennix."
The two doors lead to identical structures. These octagonal structures, half-buried within the stone walls of the cavern, rises twenty feet above the cavern floor. Inside, a narrow stair along the walls leads to a small balcony allowing observers to look out the tower’s slit windows. A dark corridor leads deeper within the rock.
Open niches line the walls of this narrow corridor, within which lie funerary biers and a scattering of ancient grave goods. Each burial niche contains small funerary items (such as bracelets and rings of copper and turquoise, beaten copper burial masks, spirit-fetishes of carved bone, and the like) worth 10 gp each.
At the very back of the structures sit larger tombs: Two funerary biers lie in this chamber. Pictographs of the dead rising from their graves to attack the living are carved and painted on the walls: on a twilit tundra on the left side of the room, before moonlit mountains in the center, and on a starry snowfield on the right. Each bier holds grave goods as in the corridor before, but these are much higher quality and worth 100 gp each.
Zack wanders around the area, looking for anything that may be tied to the invisible barrier blocking their path on the bridge. While curious about the site, he carefully avoids disturbing the treasures and looks for a switch or lever of some kind.
Zachary finds no switches or levers.
"These are valuable artifacts of cultural and historical significance. Not to mention material significance. Shall we...?" Terflynn inquires, eyeing the grave goods.
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Eventually Terflynn's magic is able to overcome the barrier and you pass into the necropolis proper.
Ahead a strange pillar, seeming almost a bar-branced tree, stands in the center of this arching cavern in the midst of a pool of still water. A faint violet radiance from beneath the pool lights the cavern, reflecting off the ceiling above like tiny stars. Beyond the stone tree, a pale light glints from one wall of the cave. To the northwest, a smooth passage slopes upward.
Jennix peers at the statue, then turns to Yerflynn. "Any ideas, or just start.heading back up?"
"I am in no particular hurry, personally. This is a fascinating place. I wonder what magic may lurk here?" The elf replies, investigating the tree and the pool.
Miso remains silent but looks carefully about the cave, looking for anything that might seem abnormal.
To the northeast, an uneven passage winds clumsily through the rocky mountain, climbing a number of cliff-like shelves as it passes.
Directly north numerous small side passages branch out from the main corridor, which slopes upward. Hundreds of burial niches have been carved into the rock walls of the catacombs.
Terflynn detects some old necromantic magic on the pool; it seems to be a repository for disembodied spirits. The water in the pool is normal, cold water, but it glows with a pale radiance that sheds dim light in the cavern, reflected by mica flecks in the ceiling. A body lies on the floor on the far side of the Stone Tree.
Zack keeps an eye out for any threats in the underground complex as his companions search the area.
Miso moves around south of the pool to investigate the body. I believe I see something, he says as he moves over.
Jennix follows after Miso. "What is it?"
"This is a crypt Miso. I suspect a great number of bodies rest here." Terflynn remarks, distracted by the fountain. He attempts to cast into it to learn more about the source of the light.
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I assure you, I have no objections to them doing so, the Kellid responds over his shoulder to Terflynn, so long as such bodies continue to rest. He inspects the body closely.
The body continues to stay at rest, at least for now.
Terflynn studies the water some more; he can't determine any distinct magical effects, but the light seems simply to come from the life energy stored in there from all of the lost souls that have been trapped inside.
"I fear the forces at work here are more a priest's business than my own. I'm not sure we'll learn anything from this." Terflynn looks up to see his cohorts examining a body. "Oh, I see. What have we here?" Terflynn moves forward to study the lone body.
They have Tien features but it does not seem to be anyone recognizable or well-known (based on their dress). They are certainly dead.
Miso looks toward the door to the southwest. Perhaps we should check that portal?
"Yes, we need to make it a safe crossing for the others." Zack chimes in.
Miso leads the way to the door: it is gilded and engraved with a demonic, tusked skull face. Much of the gilt on its outer surface has been scraped off, but a flickering light gleams from the edges of the door. Suspicious of traps or ill effects, you take your time examining but find nothing dangerous and move in.
Flickering firelight illuminates the octagonal room beyond. Red demonic faces leer from the walls against a painted background of midnight blue. In the center of the room, seeming almost to swim in a sea of night, a bier of blue-painted stone bears a motionless skeleton, its face concealed beneath a golden mask.
As you watch, however, the area around the skeleton begins to grow darker. . . the darkness begins to take shape. . . and suddenly you are met with the sinking realization that this spirit is restless: a shadow of its former body!
Jennix curses. How do you attack a shadow...? Terflynn?
Miso, untrained in matters of the unliving, awaits Terflynn's response before acting.
"This is a spirit. Use magic weapons or powers and absolutely don't let it touch you!"
With that, Terflynn attempts to hex the creature to prevent it from harming his companions.
Terflynn brings down even more bad luck on this unlucky soul!
IV: misfortune 2 rounds
Calling on his luck, Jennix darts into the room, drawing his weapons, and swings at the ghost.
Miso listens to Terflynn's advice on the creature and nods. He uses a swift action to enter Dragon Style as he darts into the chamber, moving around the thing to opposite Jennix.
Jennix stabs but misses! Miso then moves up and shows Jennix how to hit it by landing a kick on the spirit's rear.
IV: 7 dmg, misfortune 2 rounds
Zack steps forward and looses an arrow form his magical bow at the creature.
Zachary hits the shadow! The shadow responds by swiping at Miso!
A baleful shriek emanates from behind you; you turn to see the corpse you passed earlier twisting and mutating as it shambles up and comes behind Terflynn. "My killer! May your spirit rot as my body now does!" it screams past you towards the shadow creature in the tomb.
IV: 17 dmg, misfortune 1 round
Terflynn cowers in fear!
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Jennix quails at the sight of undead versus undead.
Miso, too, shrinks from the hot cold undead-on-undead action.
IV: 17 dmg, misfortune 1 round
Cowering
The character is frozen in fear and can take no actions. A cowering character takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class and loses his Dexterity bonus (if any).
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/conditions#TOC-Cowering
Zacks head whips back and forth and he decides to unload on the target he has already hit.
Zachary's arrows bite through the shadow, leaving rough tears in the incorporeal form, milky substance dripping out onto the ground! A hiss escapes the shadow at the sight of its recent victim; it backs away, swiping at Miso again as it goes.
The revenant lets out another shriek in anger at seeing its murderer but being blocked by you and denied the opportunity to defeat the shadow! It desperately claws at Terflynn!
IV: 50 dmg
Zack continues his barrage on the shadow.
Zachary's arrows take down the shadow!
The Kellid feels uncharacteristically weak as the shadow vanishes. He hears Terflynn's cry of pain and, still in Dragon Style, charges through the difficult terrain and allies between him and the thing clutching the witch.
Miso charges in to Terflynn's defense but finds that his punch is less effective against the revenant than, say, his claws might be.