Round 2
"Oh, Rae, good smash!" Sol says, pulling out her morningstar as she moves to redress the left skelly.
to hit; (bless)
damage.
AC=20
HP=20/20
Right hand = morningstar
Left hand = hvy shield
Round 2, Init 9
"What, Sol? I'm fighting here. Oh! You saw that? I Hey!" Somewhat distracted, Rae swings again, but misses the skeleton.
Round 2, Init 15
Tynan steps forwards, seeing Pilette slump to the ground. He lifts her out of the rubble strewn floor, and carefully places her on the flat surface of the landing, just outside the door..
"What's wrong with her Ascaria?" A note of fear is in his voice.
Solrisa repositions to confront the second skeleton. Tynan retrieves the fallen halfling. Mortimer destroys the third skeleton, his fists bludgeoning the bones. Raella takes advantage of the freedom to repurpose herself alongside Solrisa, hoping to bring the last skeleton down. Her second swing isn't as lucky.
Round: 3, Initiative: 19
Weapon Equipped = None
Cold Iron Bullets (6/10), Silver Bullets (10/10)
Conditions = None
Channel Energy (5/5) (1d6+1)
Amiable Blunder (1/1) (if Diplomacy failed by >5, reroll to avoid worsening attitude)
Ranged Attack: BAB +1, Dex +1 Damage: +0
Spells (Caster Level 2, Concentration +6)
Once per Day: Arcane Mark, Comprehend Languages, Message, Read Magic
Zero (14): Create Water, Detect Magic, Light, Spark, Stabilize
First (15): (2/5) Bless, Cure Light Wounds, Liberating Command
Ascaria looks upon Pillette trying to suss out what’s wrong.
The halfling still breathes, despite two bolt wounds, which have responded rather well after your healing magics crackled across her skin. Your ministrations should have been enough to bring her to full consciousness, but she fails to wake. Normal wounds wouldn't have suppressed her consciousness, so there's a good chance the bolts were the vectors for a substance capable of rendering its target unconscious. Possibly poison? Her state is quite subdued, quite... vulnerable.
The remaining skeleton in the room spins on its most recent assailant- Raella.
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Round 3
"I'll get it Rae!"
to hit;
damage.
Potential Raeing:
to hit;
damage.
AC=20
HP=20/20
Right hand = morningstar
Left hand = hvy shield
Round: 3, Initiative: 19
Weapon Equipped = None
Cold Iron Bullets (6/10), Silver Bullets (10/10)
Conditions = None
Channel Energy (5/5) (1d6+1)
Amiable Blunder (1/1) (if Diplomacy failed by >5, reroll to avoid worsening attitude)
Ranged Attack: BAB +1, Dex +1 Damage: +0
Spells (Caster Level 2, Concentration +6)
Once per Day: Arcane Mark, Comprehend Languages, Message, Read Magic
Zero (14): Create Water, Detect Magic, Light, Spark, Stabilize
First (15): (2/5) Bless, Cure Light Wounds, Liberating Command
Ascaria watches Spaz Sol leap into the fray and crush the skeleton with a mighty blow. He moves to Pillette and tries to treat her injury.
"She should be OK, but there's something wrong." he tries to wake her. Gently, in case it doesn't work.
Ascaria tends to the fallen halfling, and although the slip is knitted well enough, Pillette fails to respond to the gnome's nudging.
Solrisa cracks through the ribcage of the adult skeleton, rendering it wholly inanimate.
"Be careful Sol! You'll get hur...." Rae trails off as she sees the dust remaining from her sister's well placed hit.
"uhhh, good job."
"There, that wasn't so bad was it? Uhm, what happened to her? Was it the skeletons? They were pretty scary for one her size." Rae moves awkwardly to the side as Ascaria and Tynan work on Pillette, her worry eating at her.
Ascaria stands up from kneeling next to Pillette. ”She’s OK, but she’ll be out a while - at least an hour. I suggest we take these skeletons and back off. Likely they’re just door guards, but who knows what else is in here that may cause problems. I don’t want to proceed without Pillette well cared for and we just can’t do that fighting who knows what.”
He looks to the party, ”Oh, Rae, you’re hurt. Here.”
He takes out the wand of curing, and applies it to Rae’s injuries.
"I hadn't even noticed, Canary. But thank you." Rae rolls and flexes the healed area tentatively at first, then with more confidence as the pain is well and truly gone.
Sol puts away her morningstar and shield, gathering her sturdy bag for bone collection.
She gathers up the bones from the skelly she smashed, putting them in her sack.
"Oh! I have a bone to pick with you...and you! And you! And you!..." Sol cheers as she works.
AC 17, 21 on AoO; 19/19 HP
BAB = +3 (level 2)
ToHit = 1d20+7
RHit = 1d20+7-2
LHit = 1d20+7-2
Fort+3 (+4 vs inhaled and contact poisons, +2 vs. disease)
Reflex+4
Will+1
Initiative+2
CMD = 18, 17 if flat footed
"Be aware -- there were 5 graves -- this makes four if you count Alastor -- we're still missing someone."
He carefully peeks through the doorway next to him.
Mort picks up and carefully packs each family member's bones separately keeping track of who is who, leaving Sol to hers.
"Maybe there's a space on the side where we can take shelter or cover and rest. I'll go look."
He leaves to peek around the south side of the building to assess the prospects both on the side of the building and next to it.
Mortimer secures two sets of skeletons, while Solrisa secures the third.
As you look around the doorway, you can see four sleeping chambers, monastic in adornment. Beds in all of them, but they appear to have been neglected for some time.
Down the hallway, you see a lighted banquet table, with several individuals seated, and motionless.
Sol walks over and looks at Ascaria and Pillette.
"Did you want me to carry her? Or we can probably hide her in some bushes...or some flowers!" Sol asks. "Rae! Do you recall seeing any flowers around here!? Wouldn't that be a nice place to sleep?"
AC 17, 21 on AoO; 19/19 HP
BAB = +3 (level 2)
ToHit = 1d20+7
RHit = 1d20+7-2
LHit = 1d20+7-2
Fort+3 (+4 vs inhaled and contact poisons, +2 vs. disease)
Reflex+4
Will+1
Initiative+2
CMD = 18, 17 if flat footed
There's one dinner party that's gonna have to wait at least an hour before being crashed.
He pauses at the doorway a second.
...or maybe not...
He moves down the hallway for a closer look at the banquet table occupants and the rest of the dining room.
Mortimer moves through the northern doorway, and disappears down the hall.
The revolting stench of rotting flesh roils from the open door. In the room beyond, ten chairs surround an oblong dining table situated parallel to the door. Along the north wall, a wide staircase leads to an upper floor. A wooden door below the stairs presumably leads to a slim chamber. Two doors line the south wall. A sagging antique wooden shelf dominates the west wall, looking like it might collapse at any moment.
Three tall candles on the dining table illuminate a sight of terror. With the exception of the place at the western end, each of the chairs surrounding the table holds an awkwardly seated humanoid figure. The seven bodies are in various stages of decomposition. Some sit with splendid posture, paused as if midway through a sumptuous feast. Others slump treacherously close to the floor. A single body lays face down on the floor in the southwest corner of the room.
The banquet table is replete with fresh food, set before each of the diners. The empty place setting features a clean plate and set of utensils. Several bottles of red wine rest upon the table, and each of the corpses sits before a half-finished glass. A fly passes nearby, its there-not-there buzz breaking the eerie silence.
Every so often, the corpses seem to shift slightly, suggesting they may still be animated.
This can definitely wait.
Too distracted by the stench of rotting flesh to really notice anything else, Mortimer returns to the antechamber.
"We should take Pillette down the hill a ways and keep a low profile until she wakes up. Let's get some air."
He heads for the open door.
Sol gingerly picks up Pillette and carries her down the hill, looking for a good flower patch.
"Did you want me to carry her? Or we can probably hide her in some bushes...or some flowers!" Sol asks. "Rae! Do you recall seeing any flowers around here!? Wouldn't that be a nice place to sleep?"
Rae shakes her head, "Flowers, no matter how pretty, sometimes have thorns, or bugs. Better to keep her with us until she can find her feet again."
AC 17, 21 on AoO; 19/19 HP
BAB = +3 (level 2)
ToHit = 1d20+7
RHit = 1d20+7-2
LHit = 1d20+7-2
Fort+3 (+4 vs inhaled and contact poisons, +2 vs. disease)
Reflex+4
Will+1
Initiative+2
CMD = 18, 17 if flat footed
As they wait for Pillette to recover, Mortimer attempts to describe what he saw past the door.
"There were four little sleeping chambers that looked like they have not been used for centuries, but just past them there was this massive dining hall with seven -- corpses I think -- sitting at it giving the appearance as though they were just dining on the fresh foods on the plates before them. Some of them seemed to be -- or have been -- enjoying the meal given their posture. Others were inspecting the floor more -- like they'd passed out or nearly so."
He squints, as if he were trying to squeeze out of his brain more details of what he saw in the room.
"The wine looked fresh too. Everyone had half glasses -- there were bottles of the stuff strewn all over the table. Some of the -- uh -- corpses looked like they were further along their decomposition than others. There was also a body on the floor on the far end of the room. It almost looked to me like these corpses are somehow transitioning from life to death to something else -- but that's not possible, is it?! It was like looking upon something from the wrong ... space. As if it would be very animated if you were in the right space... but that space is not for the living."
He looks upon Pillette anxiously.
"There's likely more, but the stench got to me."
He continues looking at Pillette with concern.
C'mon -- wake up!!!
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"zzzzzz"
Dreaming of Drusilla's beguiled, naive treachery, the form of the young Lady of the House morphing into Sol's enthusiastic visage. Instinctively, her mind thinks of reaching for her crossbow, before remembering she is too slow on the uptake, and realizing skeletons are smarter than her when it comes to firing the great, equalizing weapon.
Ascaria walks alongside whomever is carrying Pillette down the hill. He listens to Mort's description of the next room with some revulsion.
"Someone really has a thing for the undead huh. Gross. When Pillette is feeling up to it again, we need to take this guy out. This is too much."
He keeps an eye on Pillette during the wait. After a while he gets bored and does some sketching. Nothing much, just the nearby terrain and the tower's place within it. The tower is done darker then the surrounding countryside, and seems to fall in on itself.
Unhappy with the way the drawing progresses, he keeps doodling all over it until the end result is a bit muddy and smudged. Crumpling it up, he dumps it in his sling bag and gets out his pipe, killing a little time smoking that while he waits.
Dumping out the ash, he puts his pipe away and paces a little while.
Eventually, he looks up at the others, "How long's it been?"
Time passes slowly enough, but it passes. The hillside slips away from the first-floor attached building unevenly, so the single road leading down appears to be the most navigable path.
From your position at the bottom of the hill, you hear no significant noise from above. No one passes you on their way from the observatory either.
Pillette's eyes flutter open an hour later.
"There's likely more, but the stench got to me."
Sol's face clouds over unhappily as Mort describes the inside that she did not see. Then, as surely as her brows knit together in frustration at the description of the potential undead, they pull apart and back into a sunny smile.
"Oh, we should go clean this hill of their influence and return them to peace! It will be fun, won't it Rae?" Sol jostles Rae's shoulder in case her sister wasn't listening.
"We should go back up there and set the place right!"
As Pillette's eyes flutter open, Sol stands and beshields herself.
"Let's go, sister!" Sol says cheerily.
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Rae sputters as her sister jostles her. "Be careful, Sol! Yeah, we should return them to uhhh, whatever it is that dead things are supposed to be." She represses a shudder at the thought of more of those nasty moving bone things.
"Are you awake, Pillette? We should get back in there and give those creeps the What for before they decide to expand their family while we're not looking." The rangy woman smashes her fist into palm with grim determination before swinging to her feet. In two strides, her sword is in hand and she is ready to go back in.
Coming around from rather unpleasant dreams to hear the sisters discuss the dead, the halfling growls inwardly.
"Yes, Ma'am. And those creatures..." or those that control them, "...should be put in their proper place."
Before returning to the structure, she'll reluctantly approach the Gnome. She appraises the little man. Keeping your slips healthy, even when they aren't the brightest, is usually a sign of a group that understands how to marshal their resources. Of course, if the slip is disposable, then a good slip is prepared.
"Good master Ascaria, would it be proper to request use of your services with the wand?"
And good to know valuable one's contributions are found. Or not.
Skeletons - and those that created them - beware.
Sol helps the halfling up and after she is taken care of, follows her sister back into the observatory.
"Coming, Mort? Tynan? This will be fun!" Sol draws her long sword off her back as she strides back in.
When she gets to where she is on the map, she looks at the scene with the dragon's eyes.
de
The revolting stench of rotting flesh roils from the open door. In the room beyond, ten chairs surround an oblong dining table situated parallel to the door. Along the north wall, a wide staircase leads to an upper floor. A wooden door below the stairs presumably leads to a slim chamber. Two doors line the south wall. A sagging antique wooden shelf dominates the west wall, looking like it might collapse at any moment.
Three tall candles on the dining table illuminate a sight of terror. With the exception of the place at the western end, each of the chairs surrounding the table holds an awkwardly seated humanoid figure. The seven bodies are in various stages of decomposition. Some sit with splendid posture, paused as if midway through a sumptuous feast. Others slump treacherously close to the floor. A single body lays face down on the floor in the southwest corner of the room.
The banquet table is replete with fresh food, set before each of the diners. The empty place setting features a clean plate and set of utensils. Several bottles of red wine rest upon the table, and each of the corpses sits before a half-finished glass. A fly passes nearby, its there-not-there buzz breaking the eerie silence.
Every so often, the corpses seem to shift slightly, suggesting they may still be animated.
AC 17, 21 on AoO; 19/19 HP
BAB = +3 (level 2)
ToHit = 1d20+7
RHit = 1d20+7-2
LHit = 1d20+7-2
Fort+3 (+4 vs inhaled and contact poisons, +2 vs. disease)
Reflex+4
Will+1
Initiative+2
CMD = 18, 17 if flat footed
"Oh -- I forgot...," quietly exclaims Mort as he joins Sol. "There's that whole other untouched place setting..."
"... and that -- see --?", his voice cracks slightly upon observing the corpses -- "It's as if time has severely slowed down for them!"
Tynan joins the others back in the tower, and scans the small chambers to his right, before turning his attention to the macabre feast.
"I saw it too, Mort. They're still moving." Tynan pauses. "This is a lot of bodies... does anyone recall hearing about people going missing in town, other than the children? A couple of these look... fresh."
"I'm fairly certain I don't recognize any of them from this distance..."
"Good master Ascaria, would it be proper to request use of your services with the wand?"
Ascaria takes in the scene and coughs a few times to try and clear his lungs of the stench. Hearing Tynan, he too examines the bodies to see if there's anyone here he knows.
...of course to examine them, he enters the room, his eyesight being what it is.
"These don't look 'fun', Sol." Rae states quietly, resisting the urge to gag.
"They're moving, and I'm sure they shouldn't be doing that. We should help them stop that."
AC 17, 21 on AoO; 19/19 HP
BAB = +3 (level 2)
ToHit = 1d20+7
RHit = 1d20+7-2
LHit = 1d20+7-2
Fort+3 (+4 vs inhaled and contact poisons, +2 vs. disease)
Reflex+4
Will+1
Initiative+2
CMD = 18, 17 if flat footed
Mortimer moves into the room behind Ascaria.
"The miasma here is homicidal. Is there anyway we can stop them from moving without touching them?"
He pauses, taking in the room again, trying not to inhale too much.
"I mean, what if we hit one -- and It sticks?", he dons an even greater look of disgust. "If we stop whatever has given the corpses this moving ability in the first place -- maybe that will suffice. We could hardly stop whatever it is from making these move no matter what we do to the corpses anyway, I fear."
The individuals at the banquet table trigger no familiarity among the intruders. A corpse, maintaining a pose in a gesture across the table, beseeching the attention of her fellow dinner guest, loses a finger. It falls onto the silver tray of fingerfoods directly below.
The sound of shuffling can be heard coming from above, possibly from more than one gait.
Tynan cocks his head, and glances upward.
"I hear shuffling sounds from the floor above us... it sounds like more than one moving around up there. We definitely have more to deal with.
"Well, this will be a good workout then, won't it, Rae?!" Sol says as she moves up with sword drawn. "Let's go, Rae!!"
Sol (attempts to) behead the seated body in the chair next to her.
Sol manages to knock the head from the shoulders, the body remaining upright, although bloodied. The head rolls to a stop on the floor to the left of the seated former owner.
Aside from the sickening thump the head makes on impact, there is no further movement, save the subtle shiftings that continue, head or no.
As Sol stomps into the room ever at the ready to destroy that which is already dead, Moritmer can not clearly hear.
"I hear shuffling sounds from the floor above us... it sounds like more than one moving around up there. We definitely have more to deal with."
"Upstairs you say? I am going to go have a look."
He heads up the stairs making stomping sounds of his own.
This is just Filge's or someone else's playground.
AC 16
HP 14/15
F/R/W - +1/+6/+0
Perception - +5
After her experience with the multiply-armed skeletons, Pillette follows the others cautiously, flask of holy water in one hand, dagger in the other.
Hanging back a bit near Tynan as the burlier and currently braver folk advance, she scans the "dinner party" for any signs of familiarity or recognition.
Sol beheads the next in line, going around the table.
"Rae! Let's get them before they wake up!"
"They're still moving, Sol. Be careful."
Still, Rae Joins her sister, though she aims for something a little more incapacitating than the head.
Still creeped out by the motion of the dead, Rae's attack lacks her usual gusto.
Ascaria watches the two sisters in their macabre act. He does his best to keep his stomach quiet as they hack at the already dead bodies.
Eventually he can't take any more desecration, and he rushes up the stairs after Mort, his hand over his mouth.
urp!
"Come on Pilette, let's head upstairs. I think the twins have things under control down here."
From your business from all corners of Diamond Lake, you've never seen these poor souls in life. In death, they are still recognizable, all of them quite well appointed. The two women at the table are wearing what can only be the most current fashion you can recall from Egorian's courts. Quite out of place in Diamond Lake.
The stairs lead to a massive bedchamber that fills an entire floor of the observatory tower. Light filtering in from the tall windows ringing the chamber catches motes of dust in the calm air. A fine bed with plump red linen sheets squats upon a dais along the southeast cradle of the tower’s arc. A nightstand next to the bed holds a wax-choked candlestick and a black book bound with brown and red leather.
At the midpoint of the eastern wall a strange form stands rigid atop a short wooden stool, as tall as a halfling and clothed in a fine black suit and top hat. Clean cloth bandages wrap every inch of the sentry’s skin. A pair of ash-tinted spectacles rests upon a long skinny nose. The diminutive dandy holds a silver platter as if presenting a meal, and upon the tray rests the freshly preserved severed head of a middle-aged human woman. A platinum piece sits upon her outstretched, purple tongue.
A messy desk rests against the opposite wall, piled high with loose papers. An apparatus holding four long tubes filled with colored liquid peeks out from the clutter.
Doors on the north and west walls appear to lead to small closets. Wide stairs lead up to the third floor. A massive white stone statue of a thin human man with outstretched angelic wings and a beatific look upon his idealized face looms large in the northwest arc of the tower wall. The angel holds a sword in one hand and cradles a harp with the other. The presentation conjures thoughts of mausoleum
peaks or the graves of important men. A beautiful golden brown rug lays upon the floor.
The pelt is taken from an adult lammasu, and likely fetches 200gp.
As Mortimer gains the top of the stairs, he's struck by a crossbow bolt. The skeleton on the opposite set of stairs drops its crossbow, and it turns, readying to retreat up the stairs. The skeleton is smaller than adult in stature. Ascaria recognizes the same deformities that mark the skeleton with the Red Plague...
AC 17, 21 on AoO; 19/19 HP
BAB = +3 (level 2)
ToHit = 1d20+7
RHit = 1d20+7-2
LHit = 1d20+7-2
Fort+3 (+4 vs inhaled and contact poisons, +2 vs. disease)
Reflex+4
Will+1
Initiative+2
CMD = 18, 17 if flat footed
Round 1, Init 19
There you are!
Mortimer deftly deflects the incoming arrow and calls out to those behind him:
"Fifth Land up the stairs!"
He heads over to engage Tophat.
Round 1, Init 19+
Tynan moves into the chamber, and advances toward the retreating skeleton. Quickly pulling a throwing dagger from his bandolier, he hurls it at the skeleton.
Round: 1, Initiative: 18
Weapon Equipped = Sling, Loaded (cold iron)
Cold Iron Bullets (6/10), Silver Bullets (10/10)
Conditions = None
Channel Energy (5/5) (1d6+1)
Amiable Blunder (1/1) (if Diplomacy failed by >5, reroll to avoid worsening attitude)
Ranged Attack: BAB +1, Dex +1 Damage: +0
Spells (Caster Level 2, Concentration +6)
Once per Day: Arcane Mark, Comprehend Languages, Message, Read Magic
Zero (14): Create Water, Detect Magic, Light, Spark, Stabilize
First (15): (2/5) Bless, Cure Light Wounds, Liberating Command
Ascaria calls down the stairs, ”When you’re done down there, we have a fight up here with a couple more skeletons!”
Unconcerned after seeing the speed with which they were dispatched downstairs, Ascaria takes out his sling and moves a little into the room so he can see his foe. He then loads his sling.
Round 1, Init 17
"Come on Sol! They need us upstairs."
Rae takes off for the stairs, double moving if possible.