Jarif motions to everyone to quiet down and stand still briefly, and he cocks his head as he appears to be listening carefully. "Are those... frogs? Yes, they're frogs!" He begins chuckling as he looks around to see if he can see one, or otherwise identify the source of the noise.
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Robilar turns to Jarif with an inquisitive look "Frogs? Mmm... I doubt they are actual frogs, at least the garden variety. More probably resurrected ones." says the doctor as he inspects the door.
"The water appears to have locked it in place, which means we either break it or force it open. If you allow me, I'd propose take advantage of our beneficial position, crack open the door and throw one or two of this bad boys." he explains as he taps with love his bombs "Best case scenario, no undead frogs. Worst case, we eat roasted frogs."
I'd propose take advantage of our beneficial position, crack open the door and throw one or two of this bad boys."
"That seems fine to me; how can I help?" The old man looks with some concern as Robilar taps the fragile explosives hanging from his gear. Is it me, or is it crazy to walk around with explosives just draped from the body?
Jarif doesn't say anything, but looks a little shamed. Damn it, he's right. Why's he got to be right?" He puts his shoulder to the door with the others.
If the door doesn't open through their efforts, he speaks up. "We may not be the best at this." He looks at Haska and Ka'narg. "I think we three might, combined, still be weaker than either of our friends."
Jarif gives a hard shove on the door, which has softened considerably in the damp conditions. It breaks from its hinges and collapses, loudly and inconveniently into the pooled water, where, after an initial splash, it floats back to the surface.
The room itself is filled with water, probably as deep as the outside corridor. The chamber is in an advanced state of decay, with a gaping hole in the ceiling admitting a constant trickle of water. Three stone sarcophagi stand at regular intervals, almost completely covered in a thick carpet of moss and fungus.
As well as the one that Jarif just destroyed, there's another door at the southeastern side of the room. Also at the far side of the room there seems to be the remains of a human body, bloated from the water, bobbing slightly but looking as though it is sitting on something.
Three gigantic frogs, alerted by the noise, start to move towards the party.
The rotted door gives way in a loose wet mess as Jarif give it one more powerful shoulder heave, nearly falling face first into the water, but catching himself on one knee before completely immersing himself in the standing water. Seeing the giant frogs begin to advance, the limber old man quickly climbs onto one of the sarcophogi in hopes that he can gain a height advantage. When he finds himself steady footing, he draws his masterwork short sword and the magical dagger.
Haska moves into the room and climbs onto the sarcophagus beside Jarif.
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Robilar struggles to move before the door, from where he takes a look at the scene.
"We should have gone with my plan...." says the doctor as he takes a shot at the closest frog, firing between Ehlers and Jarif "Watch out!"
Finally managing to land a bolt for today, the doctor can't help but giggle a bit.
Ka'narg wades into the room, to the south of the sarcophagus on which Haska and Jarif are taking refuge .
Two of the frogs remain where they are, while the third swiftly swims forward, to the first sarcophagus. All of the frogs suddenly reach out with their huge tongues, trying to catch the adventurers and drag them towards them.
Two of them miss, but the third wraps its tongue around Haska and pulls him forward, tumbling him off the sarcophagus and into the water.
Robilar's hasty shot pings between Jarif and Ehlers, missing both, and scores a direct hit on his intended target , which blinks in pain; however Robilar doesn't seem to have killed it.
Jarif jumps as Haska is pulled from the sarcophogus, nearly stepping backwards into the water himself, but he catches himself in time. He focuses his full attention on the frog in front of him, swing both of his blades at the slimy beast.
Jarif's flurry of blows all hit their target; again not sufficiently to kill the creature in question ...
... however, Ka'narg, standing knee deep in water and swinging his two-handed orc double axe, brings the weapon round in a wide arc, slamming into the same target and killing it stone dead.
After his attack, then, Jarif will drop his backpack on top of the sarcophogus as a swift action.
The frog next to Ehlers tries to grasp him in its surprising hard jaws ...
... hurting him badly but failing to grab hold.
The other one, meanwhile, tries to pull Haska closer, in order to administer a similar bite ...
... but fails. Haska manages to wriggle free. The frog's tongue whips back into its mouth.
Haska steps up to the nearest frog and swings at it with his warhammer. I've never heard of meat-eating frogs...
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Jarif eyes the sarcophagus in front of him--rather, he eyes the gap between the two sarcophagi, anticipating the fall--and he leaps.
Landing squarely, he windmills his arms briefly until he's sure of his footing. Feeling secure on his feet, he strikes with his dagger.
Robilar's bolt misses. Haska's blow connects and obviously wounds its target, while Jarif's attack misses.
Ka'narg shakes his head, having no obvious path through to a target and, like Robilar, being forced to fire into one of the melees over the head of one of his companions. He lifts his crossbow and takes aim ...
... but, given all the problems with getting a precise bead on his target, the bolt strikes harmlessly into the wall, as Ehlers' magic bolt strikes the other frog on the north side of the room.
The frogs in turn make their own attacks.
The frog on the north side spits out its long tongue in an attempt to bind Ehlers, in which its successful. Nevertheless, Ehlers manages to wriggle sufficiently as to prevent himself from being pulled towards the creature.
The other frog bites Haska, inflicting painful damage and managing to grab the cleric in its tongue.
The Rogue ponders striking the tongue, but eventually decides that killing the frog will achieve the same result. He swings in with both weapons from his elevated perch.
"Hang in there, Ehlers! I'm trying. Don't let it drag you in!"
One of Jarif's blows is sufficient to disable the frog attacking Ehlers (A) and the magus wriggles free. Haska easily dispatches the other creature.
All immediate threats gone, Jarif makes a final leap over to the last sarcophagus, then climbs down to kneel next to the body there. He examines it to see what he can learn.
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Using his staff in one hand, his other planted squarely on a sarcophagus, Ehlers hoists himself up to sit on the edifice.
"People who allow the tombs of their ancestors to rot in stagnant water rarely inter them with treasure in my experience. PItty. How's that one Jarif? Another lost soul saved?"
Ehlers can clearly see the body is beyond help.
The body is that of a human male. On the man’s right hand is a ring, made of gold and set with a single blue jewel. Tied to his belt is a pouch that contains 24 gold coins. The coins look relatively fresh; they bear the marks of a mint in Tamran and the likeness of Forest Marshal Gavirk, nominal leader of Nirmathas.
Ka'narg frowns.
"Hmm," he says. "We stopped to camp by the Gray Lake, on our way to the crypt. And we found the body of a man there, killed - by the look of it - by one of the lake's denizens. I've given it little thought since. But these coins ... the man bore very similar coins to these."
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Robilar makes his way to the corpse with effort, and once he is beside it crouches to better inspect it.
The doctor scratches his head before muttering "Why do these never resemble the book's illustrations?..." befire standing up again and concluding "I don't have the minimal idea of how much time this man has been dead... it's bloated and all kinds of, umm, gooey. But that ring may... ring some bells, hehe."
Jarif deftly slips the ring off the man's finger and grabs the bag of gold. He steps back, making room for Robilar to take a closer look, and steps over to Ehlers.
He looks to Ka'narg. "Lake's denizens? What's that mean. More of these frogs? And what could these coins have to do with it?"
Looking up at the elf resting on the sarcophagus, Jarif pinches the ring and pouch together between his thumb and forefinger, and holds them out in front of him. "Anything here magic? If these coins are cursed, we'll want to leave 'em behind."
At Jarif's questions, Ka'narg shrugs. "No, I simply mean that there's something in that lake, that people like this should stay away from. And it was far bigger than one of these frogs, judging from the size of the teeth marks. I don't think there's any link to how these poor people died. But there's definitely a link between the men. Few people from hereabouts would be carrying newly minted coin."
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"your rashness goes unpunished. No curses. There is indeed a little magic in this though..."
Ehlers reaches out and plucks the ring from Jared's hand
"... See this wave pattern on the band, this ring will evidently aid a wearer in any swimming he must undertake."
Ehlers slips the ring onto his finger and admires it before slipping it off once more and tossing it back to the rogue.
"I, of course, have no need for such trifles. Besides, its garish. Suits you though. So your lot weren't the first here, Orc. Seems we have ourselves some tomb robbers. Incompetent ones at that."
Jarif deftly catches the ring and slips it on his own finger. "Garish indeed; that is my style. You get me, Ehlers, you really do." He flips the ring in the air and catches it, then slips it over his own finger. "I think we likely sell this later--and split the proceeds, of course--but somebody should wear it while we have it, anyway."
The old man then eyes the sarcophagus that Ehlers is using for a perch. "Shall we be better grave robbers than this one?"
"Oh wait, this isn't Kassen, is it? One of these?" He points from one sarcophagus to the other two, a question in his eye.
Haska shakes his head to himself and moves to stand by the door while the others do their antics.
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