Fonzy's arrows bounce off the broken chainmail worn by the skeletons, clattering along the floor. At the same time, a skeleton in front of Ashling raises it's weapon, only to have it easily parried.
Bela tries to quiet her cry of pain as a ragged wound splits her cheek. At the same moment, Sir Bleeparolo's wound seals until nothing but a fine scratch remains.
As the skeletons close ranks, Bela tries once more to send them all back to the grave with a burst of divine light.
As the blinding light bursts from Bela, the skeletons give one last rattle before falling to the ground in piles of bones and dust.
Before you lie two bodies with blood pooling beneath them.
As you survey the tomb around you, you also hear a wailing sound coming from the door on your left .
Good job Everyone Ashling nods smiling, briefly toward the others before going to inspect the two bodies, Gerol and Vark, i've seen these two around the village...That wailing, is irritating. She comments giving a quick look around the area.
"Good work everyone," says Sir Bleeparolo.
"But by the Master of Masters, what is that awful keening? Shall we check it out?"
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"Perhaps we try to figure out what it is before we open the door so we can prepare for it. In the meantime maybe we should check out the quiet door, it may offer something to aide us."
Fonzy goes over to the door on the left, examines it, and then puts his ear to it to listen for anything on the other side, and looks through any cracks or keyhole that may be present.
"I think we can rule out more skeletons," Belasara says, dabbing at her wound with a clean corner of her cloak. "I imagine it's hard to make those sounds when you're only bones." As Fonzy moves to check the door, Bela kneels next to the two corpses and tries to determine their cause and time of death.
They are friends of the mayor, but that hardly seems relevant...I do not often talk with people.
and a pair of smokesticks.
As far as the wailing goes, you can recognize that it's wailing. Sometimes it will pause, other times it will seem like it's ever going to end. It doesn't seem to be changing in volume, but you can't really tell.
When you look through the door that you have identified the wailing to not be coming from, you hear the sound of water flowing.
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"The mayor runs the event, he may have sent them here. It seems likely. Though that still doesn't help us much."
Digging through the packs of the bodies Fonzy pulls out two quivers with 10 blunted arrows each, two days of rations, a waterskin, a pillow, and a pair of smokesticks. He tosses Bela a quiver containing 10 blunt arrows and a smokestick, tosses the pillow to the ground, and loads the rest of the items in his pack.
"Bela take these arrows so you're not needing to borrow mine. The smokestick may help in a pinch against any archers. If anyone else wants any supplies they're in my pack." He says as he loads everything up.
"I hear water running on the other side of this door. We can open it and look inside for anything useful or go toward the creepy wailing. I vote water door, we aren't very well prepared for much in the way of undead. Where there are skeletons, there are things much worse."
"It's not an animal. Sounds like a person... someone who's hurt, probably."
If it's a person we should investigate, they could be in trouble
"No arguments here," Bela agrees, gratefully taking the quiver of blunted arrows from Fonzy. Though she has reservations about the wailing noise coming from a still living person, her instinct as a healer wouldn't let her rest if she didn't make certain.
"All right then," Sir Bleeparolo says, as he spurs Varkha towards the door.
The door to the next chamber swings open as the last light of day fades from outside the tomb. As Fonzy steps into the chamber, there is no apparent danger. With Vharka pushing at his knees, the young archer is almost pushed face first into a wall.
There's no danger here, at least none that you can sense. This new chamber is dark, but from the light of Ashling's sword, you can tell that there are two directions to go.
Other than that, the wailing seems to be louder.
Sir Bleeparolo pulls a sling bullet out from a pouch and mutters something. He then breathes on the bullet, as if trying to warm it from the cold. It begins glowing brightly. He throws it on the floor ahead of Fonzy.
"Just kick it along the floor ahead of you," Sir Bleeparolo says. "That way you don't have to commit a free hand, and you can see what we are going towards."
"Hmmm... sounds like, not just wailing, but... crying?"
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"I don't like it. It doesn't feel right. I think we should check the other room and see if it's a dead end and make camp. If monsters were trying to kill you, would you be loudly crying where they could find you?" Fonzy says as he lights his torch.
To check and see if it's something pretending to be crying.
"Have a little heart," Bela suggests in a mild tone. Whether she means to tell Fonzy to have courage or to have empathy for the suffering of others is left purposefully ambiguous. "Could you really turn back and settle down for the night if there's a chance that someone might need our help? Just... sneak a peek. We'll be right behind you."
Normal people panic and scream when monsters are after them, besides your not tired yet are you? We should check this out, beside i am here... i will watch out for any more undead.
"It could indeed be a trap. But perhaps that is part of the test. So we need to resolve it somehow."
"I don't like all these small corridors," Sir Bleeparolo whispers. "It would be very easy to lie in wait for someone here."
[spoiler=Perception DC 10]The floor around the first dead end you see does not seem stable, and would probably give way if you stepped on it.[/ooc]
The only noise that can be heard as Fonzy moves are the sounds of his footsteps and the bouncing sling bullet. Others move behind him, and their footsteps echo.
Once at the door, Fonzy gives it a yank. Then he tries pushing it. Either way, the door stays shut, locked.
Above the door is an inscription written in common, barely visible in the light.
"Three to open, three to be found
All hiding beneath the ground."
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"I'm thinking this means there are three keys buried around here. I'm betting there's one at the weak floor we passed. And more around this area, but maybe we skip that and I just pick the lock." Fonzy says looking for a keyhole. Wondering if it would be dangerous to jump on the weakened floor behind them.
"Hm, interesting. I submit to your expertise."
Fonzy works for about 10 minutes, moving tumblers and trying to find the correct amounts of pressure, but with no success.
[dice=Intelligence DC 10]The riddle isn't very clever, and maybe it's not meant to be. The keyhole is larger than normal, so it would make sense that there are 3 pieces to the key that you need to open the door.[/spoiler]
Bela's pale eyebrows furrow in confusion as she watches Fonzy try to open the door. "I'm starting to think you might have been right before," she admits. "If there is someone hurt behind this door, how did they manage to get past it without the key?"
While Fonzy continues to work on solving the riddle, Bela presses her ear to the door to try and get a sense for how close the assumedly injured person is.
Once Fonzy bashes the floor, the weak stone and wood supports fall away in a dusty cloud. Below, something shiny and metallic glints in the light from Sir Bleeparolo's pebble. Sitting on a pile of pillows, about 10 feet below, is what appears to be a key...or at least a third of a key.
"If you have a rope you could lower me down and I could get the key.
I don't weigh that much."
"Could I try something first?" Squeezing past the others, Bela moves to the edge of the collapsed floor and peers down into the darkness below. Spying the piece of glimmering metal, she points to it and says, "We need that key down there. Can someone fetch it, please?"
At Belasara's request, the piece lifts off the ground and floats to the waiting youths.
In your hand is a slim piece of metal with a key's tooth midway along it. It reminds you of some of those annoyingly difficult (or thoroughly entertaining, depending on your perspective) puzzles that the blacksmith would occasionally make...the type that seemed impossible until someone came up and was able to separate all the pieces and put them back together as if by magic.
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"Nice job Bela!" He yells putting his hand up for a high 5. "We could split up, but I'm afraid their could be a trap or something lying in wait. It's up to you guys to follow me or try that other tunnel."
After the short celebration Fonzy begins making his way down the tunnel passed the door to the other dead end (G,11). Checking for any traps or loose floors along the way.
Bela smiles brightly at Fonzy's enthusiasm and even returns his high-five, feeling a thrill of excitement at being able to be of some help in their puzzle-solving task. But, remembering that there could be someone in need of their help quickly sobers her. "I'll follow you. I don't think I would notice a weakened floor on my own until after I fell through it."
You did wellAsh lets go a brief smile, We should not split up, i feel it would be a bad idea
"I agree. Let's stick together."
"Shall we move on?"
Working together, you are quickly able to identify the areas of floor that are weak. It takes a few tries, but after the fifth loose tile is destroyed, Fonzy spots the last piece of the key.
While destroying these floor tiles, you notice that there are pillows at the bottom of each one, similar to the ones you found in the saddlebags out front, and similar to the ones you found near the dead townsfolk in the main hall.
With all three pieces gathered, the key is pieced together and inserted into the keyhole. It's a little rough at first, but soon the door opens to a hallway. The wailing has grown louder, and it comes from a closed door, straight ahead. Trying to open it shows the door is locked.