Délia takes a quick step back as she notices Elaina and Nedyr reaching for their weapons.
"Whoa! Calm down! Don't you understand a joke? Or have you just always wanted to stab me?"
"No, no, I jus-- I just-- It's bad enough when the dead walk. I don't-- I don't want to run into some vengeful ghost that can take any of us over."
Something about the way Elaina is carrying herself suggests that the slightly younger of the Tirel twins was trying to keep herself from bolting for the exit.
"Sorry, Delia," Nedyr apologizes, "You caught me off guard there." The druid looks sheepish in the bask of the light spell.
Something snapped within Ed. From being extremely affectionate with his sister Elaina, the wild boy hung precariously gripping his shield and battle axe. He began salivating and acting a battle possessed drone - making whirring sounds.
"Uhhhhhhh Aahhhhhh Oooohhhhhh"
"Ed. C-cut it out. Th-th-this isn't funny!"
Elaina's wide-eyed gaze locks onto her brother, or at least what she hopes is her brother.
Stopping in place, Ed's body turned quickly and he gave a horrid look at Elaina, nearly scaring the poor girl.
Seeing that Elaina was near tears, things had gotten real serious. Stopping his act, he did what a good older brother can do.
He teased and poked at her.
"Come on Baby sister, you'd think my brains so far gone I'm gonna be an undead? Pfft, sides, what did I tell you on how to deal with them?
The first room of the tomb looked as anyone would expect it to - a narrow antechamber with two wings that led off in opposite directions. On either side, a small staircase led up to a narrow ledge, about five feet above the ground of the tomb.
Thanks to Sevrin's lit pebble, everyone could see into the room. That hadn't stopped Delia from beginning the search for valuables, as she had already begun to poke at one of the skeletons that lay strewn across the floor - apparently long since abandoned to a resting place that didn't look particularly comfortable.
A painting of Kassen - or what you assume to be Kassen, based on the descriptions of the man in the legends - lies on the far wall. As faded as it is, the man's visage looks as impressive as the legends claim it to be.
Yet, piled below the painting lie two figures - two figures who clearly do not belong in the tomb. Fully clothed, with most of the flesh still on their bones, these two men look as though they had died recently. A few flies circle about their heads, as the dried blood pooled beneath them accents their horrific wounds. Through the tatters in the clothing you can see several deep, jagged wounds.
Before the gravity of the discovery can full dispel the jovial nature of the group, a strange rattling draws the young adventurers' attention. One of the ancient skeletons, his eyeless, expressionless visage glowing with a cold blue energy, has picked itself up from the ground. In its hand it clutches a rusty scimitar, likely as old as the corpse itself. Another rises behind him, and the undead duo start towards the invaders of their tomb.
Elaina glares at Edvard, but only for a moment, the rattling and movement out of the corner of her eye causes her to glance, then stare in horror, at the skeletons now rising. She wanted to run, but her legs refused to move. She want to scream, but her voice was stolen by shear terror. Then she saw Delia and something in her refused to let her leave a friend when they needed help.
It turned out that was the part that had control of her legs, arms and lungs. She found herself charging the Skeleton in front of her with her quarterstaff in her hands and a battle-cry on her lips.
"HRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!"
"Hey, look, a painting of Kassen!" Délia exclaims upon the work of art, then wonders about the lack of enthusiasm from the others before noticing that they were occupied by more pressing matters. Namely, undead.
She considers reaching for her bow first, but noticing that Elaina had already started charging towards the skeletons, she instead draws her mace and starts slowly appoarching the skeletons, maneuvering herself to a better position to strike.
With his battle axe and shield still drawn moves to a place next to his twin, and offers his shield in protection.
Nedyr comes up behind the others, then he mutters, "Lord of the hunt, preserve us. Something has gone terribly wrong here. The place has been defiled."
Stone and sling in hand, the druid flings a bullet at the first undead he sees that hasn't gotten a melee partner yet.
"Well that must be the guys who... OH GODS!"
Sevrin's terror as the bones begin to move is evident, but so is another emotion.
"Oh that's just perfect! Step into a crypt and of course the dead can't stay laying around for five minutes!"
Sevrin's brow furrows. "You're dead!" He shouts at the lead skeleton. "Have the decency to behave like it!"
Full of venom at the skeleton's refusal to behave like dead people, Sevrin unleashes his potent inner malice.
1 Attack
2 Attack
Skelly2 WillSave
The skeletons lurch forward before any of the living can react to their sudden rise from the dead. Approaching Delia, the two horrors lash out with their crude, rusty blades. Fortunately the years - and the lack of muscle - has not been kind to the dead, and their blows are slow and clunky. Delia ducks sideways, taking up position alongside one of her attackers. Sevrin focuses his energies, trying to taint the fate of one of the dead - but feels as though there is no fortune left to flaw. Apparently, the dead's luck ran out long ago.
As Elaina charges, Nedyr pulls back his sling and launches a stone bullet over her head. The stone grazes past one of the skeletons, slamming down against the hard stone floor. Elaina, now within a few feat of the undead abomination, lunges forward with her quarterstaff. Her blow glances off the skeleton's rusty scimitar, the strike negated by an otherworldly strength.
Edvard, raising his shield high, charges forward to join his sister in battle. Keeping the heavy wooden board somewhere between the pair, he readied himself to block any attack thrown at either of them.
As the battle began in earnest, the sound of moving bone caught Sevrin's eye. Another lost soul had risen to the ranks of the undead, on the small ledge along the east wall. Although holding no weapon, its bony hands were already stained red with the blood of another...
Ed yells out amongst the undead, ushering a battle cry to inspire his friends, or atleast let them know he's alive.
"FOR HOUSE TIRELL!!!!" he said as he drove his battleaxe down on the skeleton in front of him.
"Use a blunt weapon if you have one! These guys don't mind getting cut!
With her mace in her hand, Délia takes another sidestep and swings her mace towards the skeletal warrior.
Nedyr steps forward, "How are they against fire?"
Flame gathers in his right palm, and then uncoils like a spring launching towards one of the undead.
Sevrin notices the arrival of the third skeleton with a start.
"Ahh! Left! There's one to the left!"
Sevrin fixes the newest skeleton with his malefic stare.
#1 Atk
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The skeletons sandwiched between the melee fighters slash their rusty swords wildly before them. Edvard, half-distracted by protecting himself and his sister with a single shield, takes a glancing blow from one of the jagged blades. Elaina ducks the other swing, parrying away the skeleton's arm with her quarterstaff.
The newcomer approaches Sevrin, jumping down from the small ledge with a surprising agility. It approaches the young mage, its claw-like hands extended. The man tries to jump backwards, but the claw digs into his arm.
Sevrin returns the attack with a magical assault of his own, his gaze staring deep into whatever remains of his attacker's soul. While there is little disrupt, the small fragments of fortune that remained on the body were now disjointed by the energies.
Nedyr, watching as a skeleton hobbles across his line of sight, conjures a small coil of fire and launches it towards the beast. The fire scorches its bone, charring bits of it black, but the majority of the flame misses the moving target. A bit singed, the hollow eyes of the skull shift to stare at the druid.
Meanwhile, Elaina, Edvard, and Delia find themselves in a furious melee. Edvard brings his axe down atop the skeleton that struck him, his weapon cleaving straight through several ribs before finally stopping. The creature, as damaged as it was, refused to give up the fight. Delia moved further into the room, flanking around the dead as she brought her mace down with all her might. Unfortunately, the slight change of altitude from leaving the steps altered the path of her strike, and it just misses the skull of the nearest skeleton.
Dmg
Out of the corner of her eye, Elaina could see that her brother had joined her in combat - but the frenzy of battle blinded her to much more than that. The beast before her was a horrific, terrifying abomination of nature. She raised her quarterstaff again and swung for the skeleton's neck. The blow connected, and the cracking of bone resounded through the room as the hulking mass of wood punched straight through the dead. The magics holding the creature together failed, and the remaining bones fell in a pile at her feet as the skull tumbled across the room.
Yet the rolling skull bumped up against something else - another rising body of the dead. This one clutched a small bow in its hands, an archaic quiver draped from its shoulder...
The battle gripped at Edvard's primal self, awakening the youth to the reality of combat. Any warrior worth his weight in gold would easily single out the weakest foe - but for Ed, this was not the case.
A foe from his twin's past was trying to maim her - and he could not let that happen. Especially after that promise he made many moons ago.
Readying his axe for another blow, he heaves out issueing a new battle cry - one for his sister.
"Elaina, we shall overcome them!!!!" the wild youth said, finding an opening within his defense to swing at the skeleton's feet.
Seeing the flame has only singed it, he mutters, "Maybe I should try that sling again."
And he does, hoping to crack it in the skull
Elaina looks up and finds that her voice had failed her. She gasped as she tried to say something, scream, anything! With wild-eyed desperation, brought her quarterstaff to bear on the skeleton between her and Delia.
She brings it down in a hard, wild swing aimed at the skeleton's head.
"I'll take care of the one with the bow, you handle the rest!"
She rushes to the bony archer to make it unable to skewer herself or her companions with it's arrows.
"Eat steel!"
"Ahh!"
Sevrin cries out in pain recoiling from the skeleton.
#3 Misfortune Atk
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Its claws hungering for more flesh, the skeleton that had slashed at Sevrin advances, its gaze fixed on Nedyr. Its bloody bones, the flesh and muscle long since rotted away, grasped out at the druid. Yet even the necromantic magics powering the bones could not force them through the man's tough hide armors, as the abomination left nary a scrape in the armor.
The newcomer launches an arrow from its ancient bow, the mottled arrow flying crooked and missing its target - Delia's backside - even from but a few feet away. Meanwhile, its compatriot struggled to get past Edvard's guard, each blow from its scimitar easily parried away by the man's shield.
Nedyr, reaching for his sling, takes a step back and launches a stone bullet into the skeleton before him - but misses by a hair, as the bullet once again crashes off into the shadows of the room. Sevrin, taking a more direct approach, readies his staff and lashes out at the skeleton's bony legs with the end of the weapon. Despite impacting the bone, the blow seems too weak to do any damage to the creature.
Meanwhile, Elaina and Edvard look at one another - with a plan in mind for the horror before them. Ducking beneath another of the skeleton's slashes, Edvard slams his shield into the skeleton's sternum - cracking it with the blow, but also knocking the skeleton to the dusty floor of the crypt. Leaping at the opportunity, Elaina brings her quarterstaff down full force - crushing the skull of the ancient body with ease.
Delia, watching the dead fall, ably leaps up the small ledge and closes range with the skeletal bowman. Stepping in closer, she gives a forceful blow with her mace... perhaps a little too forceful, as the blow nearly knocks her off balance and off of the ledge. Recovering as capably as she leaped up, she positions herself for the inevitable counterattack... While another pair of dead rise from their graves. The lurker in the southeastern corner matches his companion, a bow in hand, while Edvard's new friend held another rusty sword.
Elaina's head whips around as her mind clings to the edge to keep from going into a blind panic. Fear finally wins out and she charges the skeleton blocking the entrance.
Nedyr tries to stay calm as the skeleton comes upon HIM next. His lack luster shots are would be discouraging if he weren't already scared. "How many of these things are there? They keep rising."
He steps back if he needs the room, stays where he is if he doesn't, and flings again.
"HORAHH!!!!!" roared Edvard as both he and Elaina had a dispatched a skeleton. Proudly clasping his sister's shoulder, Ed was proud of his sister.
Before ranting about their good work, something in the wild youth's periphial vision caught him on guard. Whipping his shield, he tries to connect the blow against the new enemy.
Now facing the new intruder, Ed chops at the skeleton.
BEGONE FOUL UNDEATH!!!
Délia had slowly started to become annoyed with her unability to hit anything. Even the permanent grin of the skeleton's fleshless face seemed to mock her. She has had enough.
"Yeah, Die! Umm, again!"
His spirits lifted by his companion's display of martial powers Sevrin refocuses his uncanny stare.
#5 Atk
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The undead before you are ceaseless in their attacks. As the one blocking the entrance takes a swipe at Sevrin, the one rising next to Edvard slashes with his blade. Missing the blow from his shield, Edvard's exposed flank takes another hit, blood trickling out of the wound.
Meanwhile, the new archer takes a shot at Elaina's backside as she turns towards the one harassing Nedyr and Sevrin. The arrow flies just past her, snapping in two against the stone floor. The one near Delia drops its bow, slashing at the bard with its claws. Caught off guard, the skeleton manages to slice through her shoulder, its bony hands now bathed in blood.
Sevrin launches another mental assault across the battlefield, trying to fracture the skeleton's connection to the realm of luck. Unfortunately, this creature, too, had no luck left to foul, and his efforts are wasted.
The Tirel twins waste no time in counterattacking, as Elaina charges northward towards the entrance. Her quarterstaff at the ready, the momentum of the blow cracks straight through the spine of the skeleton, its body crumbling to pieces. Edvard, missing his shield blow, rounds his momentum with another strike from his axe. The blow lands, cracking the shoulder blade of the dead.
Nedyr, now with a clear shot, steps up to finish the job - launching yet another sling bullet across the tomb. It impacts the side of the skull, and with a gut-wrenching crack, pierces through the side. The blow carries the skeleton with it, and as quickly as it rose, it returns to the dead.
Delia, reeling from the attack, stands wearied, restorative energies pooling in her hand as the blood from her wounds pool below her.
"Delia? Are you okay over there?" Nedyr calls out
At Nedyr's question, Elaina turns back around and sees Delia in dire straits.
"N-no meat, only b-b-bone"
Her bow is in her hand, and one of the curiously blunt arrows that she used from time to time is notched before she even realizes it. The clatter of her quarterstaff hitting the stone floor is still echoing in the chamber when her arrow flies towards the skeleton
Edvard shuddered for a moment as the familiar cold wetness of blood seeped through his hide armor. From his mouth came gasps of air as the battle continued. With his sister secured behind him, Ed wandered further into the room, and called the attention of the remaining undead.
"HAVE YOU NO HONOR???DOES NONE CHALLENGE THE MIGHT OF HOUSE TIREL???!!!"
The bones of the skeleton warriors clicked in the distance, and Ed could feel their cold eyes upon him. Clanking a Kassen forged battle axe against his shield, Edvard issued a taunt.
"MUST I BECOME UNDEAD TO TEACH YOU A LESSON?"
After issuing the command, Ed shifts himself into a defensive position.
"Delia!
Alarmed Sevrin moves hurries forward into hex range of the skeleton attacking Delia and tries to spoil its next attack.
Though Délia had sweared to blast the offending skeleton with a well-placed healing spell, being almost downed changed her plans sightly. Now reinvigorated by the spell, she sends her mace again towards the annoyingly persistent undead.
Nedyr is already moving, but feels relief as he sees Delia is healing herself, so instead he twists to heal Edvard, "Congratulations, Edvard, by dint of the right mix of location and a need to keep you as their focus, I'm healing you."
"Now if you'll go take the pressure off of Delia..."
6 Atk
4 Will
Seemingly ignorant of the healing that Delia has absorbed, the skeleton continues its mindless assault on the Half-Orc woman, its claws narrowly missing her abdomen as she dodges away from the blow. Its companion, still armed with a bow, launches another arrow towards the Tirels - aimed at Edvard. The fighter easily blocks the missile with his shield as he begins his battle roar, Nedyr approaching to grant him some respite from the pain. Sadly, the warrior's cries fall on deaf - or dead - ears.
The younger of the Tirel Twins wastes no time in her own action, raising her bow and launching a blunted arrow towards one of the skeletons. The heavy steel tip was over an inch in diameter - and was guaranteed to leave a bruise on anything it hit... unless they were already dead. The flat-head bolt cracks through the skeleton's weakened skull, the body collapsing into a pile of moldy bone.
Sevrin moves closer to aid Delia in her plight, still trying to grasp at the minute threads binding the nature of luck to these dead carcases. But with so little to work with, Sevrin's efforts to disrupt the very threads of fate continue to fail.
Delia, desperate to prove herself (and earn a good tavern tale), tries to finish the skeleton with her mace. Yet the blow goes wide, missing the undead entirely.
Restorative energies flowed through Edvard, giving him a warm sensation, like a mother's embrace. With strength returning within the wild boy's figure, he motions towards Delia.
With renewed vigor, there was only one thing that Edvard could do to save the day.
Hurling his shield with great might, he tosses it towards the remaining skeleton, hoping to lob its head off.
"EAT THIS!!!!"
Both Ned and Ed could likely hear her teeth chattering as she moves up to get a clear line to the final skeleton. Her brother's shout and wild throw do nothing to break the almost trance like gaze she held the skeleton. While Ed's attack was wild, her's punched through bone with a vengeance.
Nedyr flings a another sling bullet at the last remaining undead
"Yes!"
Sevrin desperately hopes that Elania's furious assault has finished off the remaining skeleton.
Although the skeleton tried in vain to slice at Delia once again, it collapses under the assault of the living. As Edvard's shield flies wildly across the room, Nedyr rockets another sling bullet towards the dead. Crashing through the bone, the skeleton begins to stagger... As Elaina sends her own arrow through it. As it collapses to the ground, a sudden silence falls over the room - the battle is over.
"Thank Erastil," Nedyr says as it goes down, "But how are they here in a place that's supposed to be hallowed?"
The last skeleton had fallen, but Délia did not feel thriumphant. Quietly, she walked to one of the corners of the room (one without old bones) and slumps down on the floor.
"You guys can go retrieve that flame. I would just slow you down by being useless..."
Elaina's bow drops to the ground with a clatter and her breathing starts to become quick and shallow. Her eyes glaze over and dart around as if every shadow had some monster waiting to attack her.
"Hi-hi-hieeaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHWWWWAA."
She falls to ground screaming and curls up as tight as she can. Snatches of her muttering and weeping can be heard escaping past her knees.
The cries of his younger half snapped Edvard from his battle lust and activated the caring side of the wild youth. Sliding onto his knees, he grabs Elaina in his big arms and beings rocking the shaken warrior.
They're gone Elaina. It's gonna be okay.
Nedyr looks between Elaina and Délia, wanting to help both of them but then seeing how Ed is comforting his sister, it is pretty obvious who he should go to.
The druid moves to Délia's side, and sits down next to her, "Clearly you missed my amazing lack of accuracy for the majority of my shots? I'm sure Old Deadeye, much as he loves me, was wincing at my performance. In the end, we each have to give Desna her due. Sometimes luck is good, sometimes it is bad. The only thing you can do is grit your teeth during the bad parts and keep on going till things swing your way again. And let's not just talk combat either. You have spells, even those of healing, and as I'm no cleric, I sure appreciate knowing someone else can do that. Add to that the power of your voice, and the knowledge you bring... no, you're not useless by any means." He smiles.