Two of Ziranu's arrows, the first and last, find their marks.
The skeletal knight's mount charges forward, attempting to run Searok right over.
Additionally, the mount exhales a cone of noxious smoke over the dwarf, concealing both mount and rider from the rest of you.
The knight himself attempts to jab Searok with his lance.
Asyra curses as the smoke blocks her sight. She readies her chain and moves up to the edge of it, ready to attack when a chance presents itself.
GM,
It would appear that Ziranu failed to account for Haste. His second attack would get a +1, and hit AC 26. Not sure if that hits.
His Hasted attack:
Tronar's previous action is his most impactful action and takes some time to improve his situation. He casts fly upon himself (with the extend rod) and then maneuvers around the fog to get behind the target.
Shaeda double moves and ends up next to her battle buddy.
"Didja miss me big guy?"
The Nightmare has reach, so Shaeda's movement will provoke a (probably futile) AOO.
Misses.
Anastasia casts her spell on the skeletal knight.
Anastasia's spell creates a sound like the splintering of a tree struck by lightning, and the warrior screams as a thousand cracks appear all over the surface of his body, before falling apart. His armor falls sideways off his mount, still gripping his lance, and hits the bridge.
The mount however, fights on.
Sial will move up to join Asyra and cast Bull's Strength on her.
Laori takes advantage of Haste to zip forward and swing at the monster with her chain.
She hits.
Bah! I told ye that ye wouldn't pass! Searok shouts to the falling knight.
+
+
+
Searok lands two solid blows against the fiendish mount.
Searok's hasted attack...
+
Ziranu stands his ground, adjusting his green-hued barrage to what he presumes is an evil outsider serving as the undead knight's mount, an even more "favored" enemy of the Ranger...
Ziranu pelts the monster with multiple arrows, and it goes down.
The skeletal knight had +1 Full Plate, a +1 Buckler, and a +2 lance.
The massive gate before you is closed, and an iron portcullis is in front of it.
Ziranu will carefully move forward, then once reaching the remains of the undead knight will take the magic full plate apart and stow both it and the buckler in Shaeda's Bag of Holding, when she's ready. The Ranger will retain the magic lance, carrying it to prospectively interact with areas ahead of him somewhat more safely.
Once complete, Ziranu will carefully study the iron portcullis and the surrounding stonework above and flanking it for locks, traps, and other potential threats.
, +2 more if dealing with undead, +6 more if trapfinding is applicable.
Anastasia will wait and see how things develop.
“You are an effective group!“ she says after witnessing them for the first time in combat.
Laori: "You did great yourself. That knight practically exploded."
There's no sign of traps on the portcullis, it's just heavy. A few people working together could probably lift it, either tying it in place or just holding it long enough to get at the gate beyond and letting everyone through.
Shaeda shakes her head at Searok, ”you know, you only ever get your butt kicked when you get too far away from me, right?”
Ziranu considers the barrier a few seconds longer, then shakes his head.
"Zhe portcullis does not seem trapped, but I'm zhinking zhat we want to damage it in such a way zhat it does not become a trap for us, in turn, if we're trying to escape zhis place. Anyone able to break zhese bars to give us passage to zhe gate beyond?"
”you know, you only ever get your butt kicked when you get too far away from me, right?”
Yeah, but he said I couldn't pass an' I just wanted to prove him wrong!
Anastasia continues to wait.
“I am not experienced in breaking and entering. So I’ll be patient!“ she says.
Tronar suggests "Or I can scout the other side for the simple lever that will open the portcullis? hmmmmm?"
And with that, Tronar will dimension slide to a point on the other side of the portcullis and search for the operating mechanism while maintaining his invisibility.
There isn't a lever, but there is a chain to pull. It takes all of his weight, but Tronar is able to raise the portcullis a few feet and get everyone to pass through.
Rows of arrow slits line the eastern and western walls of this hallway, and murder holes look down from above. Lining the length of the corridor are dozens of orc skeletons and scattered bones, many still clad in damaged pieces of armor and clinging to rusted weapons. Clearly the remnants of one of the orcs of Belkzen's attempts to claim the castle before they settled for simply containing it.
To the north a door leading further into this floor, to the west and east are stairs leading up.
Even more suspicious now, with apparent threats on both sides and above the passage ahead, Ziranu will again carefully study the arrow slits, murder holes, and the surrounding stonework for traps and other hidden threats, as well as the scattered corpses.
, +2 more if dealing with undead, +6 more if trapfinding is applicable.
Ziranu finds a trap. The northern door has a hidden rune on it. It looks like all it does is cast Mage Hand if disturbed, but on closer inspection it appears to have been rigged to pull out a small peg on the ceiling. Examining the peg reveals it would have upended a trough of some sort of freezing oil on anyone trying to head north.
"Glad we didn't have that happen!"
"Since there is undoubtedly undead throughout this whole place, does someone want to scan ahead and see if those dead bodies are going to stay dead before we move into disarm the trap?"
"I'm not sure I have an easy way of doing that. I can make us invisible to undead though."
I can go ahead and make the undead dead again! Searok offers.
"Right!"
”Of course I can do that!“
Anastasia nods and follows Tronar’s instructions.
She casts detect undead and scans the area.
Tronar will also cast Detect Magic to see if there are any auras around or trinkets of value left lying in the area.
None of the skeletons are undead, although there is an aura on Necromancy on the entire area.
If Searok is willing, he and Shaeda can start moving into the room, side by side.
If Searok is willing
Approaching the door to the north, Anastasia's Undead Detection abilities go off. There's something behind that door.
Listening carefully, you can hear a vague clattering on the other side. Possibly a battle of some sort, with weaponry hitting shields and armor, but it has none of the fever pitch of a fight to the death, and is more like a constant, almost mechanical rhythm.
“Hmm … definitely undead per the spell but what could it be?“
"Well, focus on your spell, and tell us how many, and how strong!"
There's only one aura, but it's of overwhelming power, and seems to fill a very large area in front of you.
"Tronar, is zhis perhaps worzh a use of your dimension sliding to invisibly recon zhe source of zhis great undead power beyond zhe door? If not, zhe direct approach seems our only ozher option at present, given zhe constricting terrain..."
”I can make us invisible to the monster, if desired.”
”I would think that one of you that are in the small group should have the undead invisible spell instead of I. Once you are invisible to what is on the other side we can peer in to make our plans. And if we haven’t spent too much time since the bridge debating , let me remind you that we may have a few more seconds of magical speed!”
Shaeda casts hide from undead on everyone but Tronar, and reminds them not to channel, turn, attack, touch, or otherwise affect the undead, until we're ready. "Oh, and if it has a mind, it may see right through the spell completely."
When Shaeda mentions he needs to wait to attack until they have a plan, Searok is disappointed.
With the spell preparation complete, Ziranu will advance to the door before the company and assess it for threats, before stepping to the side...
, +2 more if dealing with undead, +6 more if trapfinding is applicable.