Amemhep's spear lashes out at the charging zombie, and he follows it up with several more thrusts of his weapon at the foes around him.
He grins as he fights despite the oncoming horde. This was what it meant to serve Ra, to bring his light to the dark recesses of revered and ancient Osirion. It was battle for the cause of justice in service of the lord of the sun. Nothing else truly mattered.
"Liukastella!"
Soumral directs a slick film to spread across most of the floor on the other side of the doorway. Then she takes a step back so those closer to the doorway have more room to maneuver.
The Biter grumbles something about Elliander being useless and the duskblade can see that the arrows mostly just stick to the zombies without stopping them much. He drops the bow and instead readies his shield and draws his sword.
The Biter: plus any flanking bonus
Channeling Disrupt Undead
with Bane(Undead)
Fireday, the 30th day of Gozran, 4714 AR
Weather is clear and fairly hot by mid-afternoon.
An hour and a half after sunrise.
----------------------------------------------
Francis sees a prime opportunity to channel positive energy and does so…
vs DC 17 = Success!
vs DC 17 = Failure!
vs DC 17 = Failure!
vs DC 17 = Failure!
vs DC 17 = Failure!
vs DC 17 = Success!
vs DC 17 = Failure!
vs DC 17 = Failure!
vs DC 17 = Failure!
vs DC 17 = Success!
vs DC 17 = Failure!
The wounded zombies drop to the floor unmoving, and most of the rest are decomposing fast! A few of them seem to have shrugged off the worst. In any even, the doorway is clear...
--------------------------------------------
Combat Initiative & Notes – Round 2
Francis 47/47
Elliander 57/57 [Armor Crystal - DR 1, has absorbed 0 (of 10) damage this day]
Soumral 45/45
Rediz 35/35
Amenhep 42/51
7 Zombies Red (-12 HP), Green (-6 HP)
Amenhep braces his spear against the undead's next charge, the brilliant light of his spear ready in vicious anticipation for his foes advance.
With many of the zombies hurt Francis uses his wand to Bless the team, and then switches to his dagger to back up the warriors as needed.
Fireday, the 30th day of Gozran, 4714 AR
Weather is clear and fairly hot by mid-afternoon.
An hour and a half after sunrise.
----------------------------------------------
Elliander moves up next to Amenhep and readies to attack any zombie that approaches. Soumral uses the wand again, and the wounded zombie goes down as the ray seems to disintegrate its head and shoulders! Rediz throws another alkahest bomb to devastating effect (target killed, splash damage kills three more badly wounded zombies [whether they save or not], one more zombie is hurt by the splash) and then Amenhep and Elliander finish off the last two zombies easily - the former skewering one through the chest and the latter decapitating the remaining zombie!
vs DC 18 = Success!
With the wandering zombies taken care of, the party finds that those chained to the walls appear to be helpless, as they snarl and lunge uselessly against their restraints. There are a good number of them though, upwards of twenty! Still, they can be dispatched easily...
--------------------------------------------
Party Health & Notes
Francis 47/47
Soumral 45/45
Rediz 35/35
Amenhep 42/51
Elliander 57/57 [Armor Crystal - DR 1, has absorbed 0 (of 10) damage this day]
With the doorway cleared of undead, Elliander picks up his bow and hangs it on his back again. The Biter clearly wants more though, so the duskblade cautiously enters the room. He stays well clear of the walls and the chained zombies, as he approaches the altar. He scans the room for any zombie not restricted by chains or anyone else controlling the undead guards. Sword and shield up and ready.
Before getting too close to the altar, he again casts Detect Magic.
with goggles
Francis follows Elliander into the room, focusing on the chained zombies. "Anyone have cantrips or something to kill them at a distance without wasting resources?"
"Be ready to run for the door if this turns into a trap. All of the chains suddenly being released for example. I can't imagine why someone would set up such a thing. But why chain the dead to begin with?"
Amenhep shakes his head at Francis, "I do not, but I will take the risk and approach them with my spear. I cannot allow them suffer in their unlife. They must move on to meet the Lady of Graves and walk the Field of Reeds."
Amenhep takes his spear and begins the gruesome and time-consuming work of putting the zombies down for good. There is no risk involved, for the undead creatures cannot do much more than gnash their teeth and growl in impotent rage as their bodies are torn apart until their unholy life is finally extinguished.
Once Elliander has decided there is no more dangerous threat around than the chained zombies, he will join Amenhep finishing them off.
Initially, he had felt pity for them and wanted to let them be, hoping that if they could somehow turn off that ka pulse, the undead would die anyway. He sees that Amenhep is decided to do this now though and understands the logic, at least of not leaving enemies behind them that could possibly be a problem later. They need to continue.
The duskblade starts sending rays of Disrupt Undead at the zombies from a safe distance, but when he realizes the zombies can’t really attack back, he also uses his sword, channeling the spell through it.
When they are done, he tries to recover any of the two fired arrows.
If any of the zombies seem to be wearing something of value, (like jewelry) he will quickly search them too.
|
When his bomb explodes in the middle of the rotting zombies rediz squeals in delight. "Take that, you filthy rugs." Seeing his bombs work as designed, clearly give the little rat an immense joy.
When The Palading goes about his gruesome work, Rediz soon gets bored and start checking the room for something new to occupy his attention.
Soumral begins to comb the room looking for any clues about why a herd of zombies would be corralled there.
Once he is sure that Amenhep and Elliander can finish the chained zombies with no risk Francis joins the others searching/studying the room. He is distracted though with Pharasma's work being done without his aid and finds nothing of interest. Realizing his distraction he moves back with the warriors, praying to the Lady of the Graves that these undead creatures never again be reanimated.
Fireday, the 30th day of Gozran, 4714 AR
Weather is clear and fairly hot by mid-afternoon.
Two hours after sunrise.
----------------------------------------------
In total, thirty four zombies shackled to the wall are slain, in addition to the twelve that wandered freely - a small army of undead. Amenhep recognizes the blackened and half-melted silver seal that depicts a phoenix spiraling around its own tail, which is set into the top of the altar. It is a desecrated seal of the Shepses family. It appears that the Pharasmin priest Nefru Shepses had set aside the observatory as a resting place for loyal civil servants in ancient Wati, but also secretly constructed a tomb complex for his own family below. Those attuned to magic can tell that the altar was once consecrated for good, but has recently been desecrated and smeared with blood in a ritual that now creates a desecration effect that strengthens the undead that are created in this chamber - probably upon this very altar.
The sharp-eyed Soumral finds a hidden panel in the altar, but there doesn’t appear to be a way to open it. She deems that it should simply slide open, but it refuses to budge.
--------------------------------------------
Party health & Notes
Francis 47/47
Elliander 57/57 [Armor Crystal - DR 1, has absorbed 0 (of 10) damage this day]
Soumral 45/45
Rediz 35/35
Amenhep 42/51
"Francis, do you have a way to re-consecrate this altar?"
Amenhep and Francis compare their thoughts and agree that in order to re-consecrate the altar, the stained family seal must be cleansed with holy water. Prying the seal from the altar shouldn't difficult, though it will be heavy enough to require two strong fellows such as Amenhep and Elliander to carry between them. The trick is the holy water. A bit poured out from flasks won't be nearly enough to do the job, it would require a font, such as those found in temples and the like. In any case, once the family seal is cleaned with holy water and returned to the altar, the original consecrate effect should once again be restored.
Soumral points out the panel she's found to Rediz.
So this looks like it should slide open but I can't get it to move. Can you do anything with it?"
Rediz fiddles with the panel a bit, but finds no way to open it either. The ratfolk is certain it should slide out easily, but for whatever reason, it isn't doing so.
Francis shakes his head as Rediz offers the flasks of holy water. "I have one of my own as well. It won't be enough. There is also a spell, easily in my capability that could temporarily consecrate it. I think to restore the original consecration we will need to move this to the font and a temple. For now I think we should leave it be and return to do it once we've finished here."
Elliander agrees. Having found nothing of interest on the killed zombies, he is ready to continue. It looks like there are two double doors on the opposite side of the room. They might as well continue with them, before start looking for additional secret passages. This altar seems to take time and effort, and they can’t afford that now, if it’s not crucial for them to continue. He’d not found any magical aura around the altar, so the source of the necromantic energy must be elsewhere.
”Let’s continue. Rediz, can you check out the doors over there for traps?”
Fireday, the 30th day of Gozran, 4714 AR
Weather is clear and fairly hot by mid-afternoon.
Two hours after sunrise.
----------------------------------------------
Soumral detects the ‘Desecrate' effects of the altar, but nothing that seems to pertain directly to the hidden panel. Neither does Rediz make heads nor tails (no pun intended! well, maybe...) of it. Reluctantly moving to the door and leaving the hidden panel alone for now, the ratfolk doesn't find any traps and Elliander opens it, with Amenhep right beside him.
The double doors enter into a wide hallway that is only ten feet long, ending in a single set of massive double doors. The tiled floor is a detailed mosaic starscape – beautifully crafted constellations and rivers of stars coursing between. A pair of statues depicting women clad in spidery robes and masks, with their arms outstretched stand at either end of the foyer.
--------------------------------------------
Party Health & Notes
Francis 47/47
Elliander 57/57 [Armor Crystal - DR 1, has absorbed 0 (of 10) damage this day]
Soumral 45/45
Rediz 35/35
Amenhep 42/51
Francis (and perhaps others) recognize the statues as representations of morrigna psychopomps - the investigators and bounty hunters of the afterlife.
The immovable panel is disappointing. Soumral won't give up so easily, but further efforts will need to wait. She tells Rediz "we'll need to remind ourselves to try again later when we have more time."
Soumral offers up her take on the room for other opinions as they ready to enter the next room.
"This doesn't seem to me like another result of the Ka Pulse. This room is more like a zombie factory. Someone is using it specifically to make and stockpile zombies. We're definitely going to find people responsible for this as we go farther in."
When the door is opened Soumral restarts a search for magic.
Soumral detects no magical auras in the broad, short hallway.
Elliander takes a step inside the smaller room. It looks empty, at least of undead. Maybe the statues are some kind of guards though. He is aware that they are entering a more confined space. From four double doors, to two and now just one to continue, like they are being funneled. That makes that single entrance easier to defend and a likely place for a trap. Elliander won’t stop Amenhep to enter too, but he waves for Rediz to come up beside him.
”A single entrance. Could be trapped? Can you check it out? Maybe the statues guards against undead, but I guess some more intelligent beings have been running this place and they would likely protect themselves from graverobbers too.”
Elliander studies the closest statue, while waiting for Rediz.
with goggles
"I'm not finding any auras in the room. That means any dangers should be mechanical in nature only. If those statues were going to move, they'd need to be brilliantly manufactured constructs."
Soumral keeps her eyes peeled as she enters the hallway.
The trap itself is fairly obvious to the experienced eyes of the party, at least once you start to look. The seams in front of the single double door indicate a 10' square pressure pad, and similar seams above the doors in the ceiling indicate that something nasty is set to fall on the heads of the unfortunate victims that trigger the trap.
Finding the hidden switch to bypass the trap is a bit more tricky, but Soumral and Rediz both figure out that arms of the statues can be moved up and down, as though by shaking their outstretched hand.
Soumral leaves the actual hand shaking to Rediz, the expert. But she's pleased her prediction was fairly on the nose.
"Yeah, like I said, if those statues were going to be purely mechanical constructs that could do much of anything they'd have to come from Alkenstar. Maybe the Golemworks in Magnimar could pull off the degree of complexity involved, but then there should be some trace of magical work. In any case, this tomb might well be older than either place."
Rediz shakes the hand of the statue, and his sharp ears detect a faint click. Other than that, nothing untoward occurs - and truthfully he's thankful that the creepy-ass statue didn't verbally respond to him...