You notice that the body is missing its left hand. It also wears a holy symbol of Sarenrae around its neck--the symbol is made of solid gold and looks to be valuable.
Bedlam sneezes.
Aurora adjusts her grip on her quarterstaff, placing its butt on the floor and leaning against it. "I wouldn't advise touching that. It... seems like some sort of plague swept through here. It's probably infected; I could call upon the All-Seeing Eye to try and divine if it is, if we want to be certain, but I would bet that it is."
"Vael, Anzath referred to you as 'the paladin.' Do you enjoy warding against pestilence as many do? If so, would you be so kind as to retrieve the gold symbol from it? I can clean it from a distance with my spell once it is away from the corpse."
Standing back and watching them fight is delightful. They work so well together.
Tilting her head and staring at Tragershen, "I am far from the 'the paladin' but I am a paladin of the Dawnflower. And I prefer to avoid pestilence's when I can but I can do that."
Moving towards the corpse, "And it is probably infected with something. The undead usually are though I am resilient against most of that. Perks of the bird."
Crouching down next to the corpse and simply looking at the damaged flesh. Tugging the golden symbol free and then running her fingers over the dead mans face to close the eyes. Mumbling, "The dawn is supposed to bring a new light and you are off to that final dawn."
Taking a moment to look though anything he might have on his person and calling back to the others, "I am assuming you are wanting to take this back to the temple?"
Anzath notices a pattern emerging. “Vat iz deal wid left hand?’ she asks, noting the monks left hand as well as all the defaced left hands on all the defiled imagery they’ve come across so far.
There is nothing else of interest or use in the zombie's chamber.
You continue making the round of the cells. In the last cell, you find a chest.
Anzath spots a subtle trap on the chest. Tragershen confirms that it is not magical, and Bedlam gets to work. Anzath tries to help.
The two manage to shoot the dart without hurting anyone. It is not poisoned--it looks more like a trap designed to make an intruder scream rather than to kill them.
You open the chest. You find a tall stack of papers. Tragershen skims the parchments swiftly--they have something to do with summoning a demon. Even with his speed-reading skills, it will take Trag about a half hour to read these texts thoroughly. For now, the gist is that the author of the text is planning to summon a particular demon of plague. Do you linger and read, or do you continue?
Talathel ponders if the lack of a left hand has especial import.
Tragershen will carefully add the stack of papers into his haversack for later review.
"I'll look at it in more detail when we are stopping for rest anyway. But at a glance, it seems as though whoever wrote this intended to summon a plague demon."
Talathel ponders if the lack of a left hand has especial import.
[dice=Knowledge Arcana]1d20 +9
[dice=Knowledge Religion]1d20 +5
Tal knows it must have something to do with this "sinister" demon, but little beyond that.
The party continues. As they reach a T in the hallway, they stick to the earlier plan of leaving no unexplored reaches behind themselves, and walk into a refectory--the monastic dining hall.
They immediately spot a swarm of movement in the corner of the room. A tide of dire rats surges towards the party. One of them is particularly large and threatening. Two one-handed zombies resembling the one from the dormitory cell advance along with the rodents.
Initiative
Bedlam claps his hands together.
Been starv'n!
The dwarf calmly walks forward (20'). The Alchemist creates a Tanglefoot Bomb.
Bedlam's bomb traces an elegant parabola towards the giant rat and her entourage. It detonates on the lead rat, blasting her brood with flames and goop:
Three of the little rats die in the flames. The big one twists away from the main blast, taking damage but avoiding the sticky globs of tanglemuck.
One of the little ones survives, singed but defiant.
The giant rat and the remaining lil guy rush forward and try to maul Bedlam. Ratvenge!
Ratvenge will have to wait, I guess.
Tragershen utters the words, the arcane syllables unfamiliar to his allies. As he finishes, they taste a hint of licorice in their mouth that is quickly lost to the overwhelming smells of the dungeon. The world around them seems to slow slightly as the sensation of celerity races through their blood. Then he calmly draws his wand again,eyeing the undead in the horde.
Casting Haste on all PCs except myself (and not Valrah).
Two more rats race forward and try to attack the dwarf:
Ratvenge will have to wait even longer, I guess.
The cleric briefly licks her lips at the taste of licorice in her mouth, before coming up to help Bedlam with his rat problem.
Grimacing at the taste though that grimace changed to a grin when adrenaline rush through her veins, mages are a delightful creature. Rushing forward with her blade aimed for the overgrow rodents.
No need to settle Vael: Aurora bops the biggest rat, but it's Vael's holy scimitar that finishes off the rodent of unusual size.
That leaves the rest of 'em. And the first zombie.
The zombie might not even be able to close the distance to the rest of the party, but it doesn't matter: this hapless crew mills around Bedlam, Aurora, and Vael nipping at their boots or ineffectually waving rotten arms.
Talathel's spear flashes, a dire rat his target.
He stands ready to cut apart any foes who try to advance or flee.
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As Tragershen finishes his spell, Anzath has a brief taste in her mouth, but even more, she feels her blood pumping more quickly through her veins. She feels good. Real good. Suddenly, the wizard has become the sexier of the two elves.
She quickly moves around the swarm, twisting and turning as she does, to attack the mob from the rear.
Anzath rips her flashing blade through the zombie. That same nasty "pop" followed by a stench happens again.
Bedlam happens to be closest to the zombie. He doesn't feel worse.
Anzath inhales a good whiff of the nasty.
And then she's swarmed by rats and the last zombie.
One of the rats sinks its fangs into our heroine, dealing a gruesome 4 damage to her calf. Its teeth are far from clean:
But she escapes further infection.
Bedlam may act!
Bedlam shouts as he swings his heavy pick.
Yous be doing it all wrong! Yous eats dem!
Bedlam's preternatural haste gives him a second chance to smite the zombie, and he does! But it's still standing. The nearest rat tries to nibble nibble but fails.
Anzath shouts back at Bedlam, "<cough cough>Vho are you <cough cough> talking to? <cough>"
Bedlam grins, as he hastily picks the zombie.
Tragershen levels his wand at the zombie assaulting Anzath and fires a bolt of positive energy.
Prescience
Disrupt Undead to hit
Damage
The dwarf appears to be hopping from heavy-duty boot to heavy-duty boot; a merry hum coming through his bushy black beard.
A rat makes an unlikely leap at Vael's jugular, managing to tear off a strip of flesh but not doing truly serious damage. The paladin's study constitution resists the filth of the rodent.
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Aurora makes a sweeping pair of staff swings with shocking speed, directed for this damned dire dilemma. Alliteration: always awesome.
Swinging at the closest creature.
Aurora smashes in the already leaky skull of the zombie, who pops. Bedlam and Aurora are adjacent...
Stinks, but no harm done.
Aurora also kills a dire rat.
Vael neatly splits one in half lengthwise. The second she kills with a more conventional backhand.
As the combat continues, the rats take enormous (for them) 5ft steps to position themselves next to their intended victims. Aurora takes a rat bite to the ankle. It's just a scratch. Poor things are not likely to win this one...
<cough>
Anzath adjusts her step in time with the rats.
<cough>
Whoa. Three rats remain.
Talathel positions himself to trap the rats - and launches an attack!
Talathel wings one of the last rats. The rest scatter from the fight, but as they disengage the flashing branched spear collects a rat per branch. It's over.
Or is it? From the corner of room, a deep groan--a zombie rises from the corner where the rats and zombies had been occupied when you arrived.
A man wearing black and red stumbles to his feet and starts shuffling toward you. His face is covered with rat bites and open sores. His eyes show no trace of life--except for the insatiable hunger of the living dead.
Seeing the danger, Talathel immediately frees his spearhead from the rat corpses, and dashes forward, intent on putting the same through the remaining zombies' rotting head.
Tal has it spitted, but it is still moving.
Sporting a vicious grin, Anzath also charges the speared zombie.
If the elven duo have not yet finished off the zombie, Aurora swoops in to help. And by 'swoops in to help', one means she gets close enough to channel and...
Bedlam watches the show...
Aurora rushes after Anzath, but manages to avoid the stench cloud. Talathel, at arms length due to his reach weapon, is safe from the rupture.
Anzath isn't sicker. But after about a minute has passed:
She feels a little queasy and notices some hives on her skin.
You examine the corpse of the last zombie. All the others were really old and gnarly. This one is very, very fresh. Too fresh. He's still leaking uncoagulated blood from a few of his wounds, though most of his fluids are on the floor in the corner. Looking closer, you recognize an amulet around his neck as a holy symbol of Orcus.