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Opening the stone door, a narrow staircase leading up is laid before the party. The tunnel is a tight fit, but the party is able to make their way up to the landing. Water drips from the double-vaulted ceiling and trickles down the walls to pool on the floor. Bone shards of a hundred skulls litter the room like shattered seashells. Wide stairs climb to the west. Narrow stairs dive to the north. On the south wall, an open doorway gapes, a carved relief depicting a massive battle filling the archway over the door. The rest of the walls are filled floor to ceiling with nooks that house ancient, but drenched, skeletal remains. In the center of the room sit twelve school children in a circle on the floor. One child seems to be silently telling a story, her arms moving rapidly as she makes scary faces.
Deris pushes his way to the front wide eyed and holding a hand over his mouth. Finally, he proclaims with an emotional sob, "See! Alive! I knew it!"
Tears start to stream down Deris's cheek as he kneels down beside the girl with long dark braids telling the fanciful story. He reacts at all the appropriate parts of her pantomimed story and smiles while "petting" the ghostly image's head. "Oh Cassiel, I've missed you, so, so much."
You feel somebody trying to scry upon you. If you wish to resist, make a Will Save at -4
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"The ring duplicates a Feather Fall effect." Owai says.
The next chamber is much more disturbing than the last, and the ghostly children brings a tear to his eye, but puts dread in his heart. "Ah, Deris... there may be danger here that you are not aware of." he warns. His eyes dart from place to place as he readies a vial of Holy Water.
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Looking at Owai who were standing closest to him, Haraldir notices that he also shares similar discomfort with the scene unfolding before them. For a brief moment, ranger closes his eye, trying to determine if the ghastly sights of the children are actually apparitions, similar to those seen before. Opening his eyes, he refocuses attention to his surroundings, trying to spot if there is anything else which may draw his attention.
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Luisila is very confused as to what is going on. She draws some comfort from her position amongst her companions.
Nevertheless, thinking about the mistake she made last time she drops her backpack and replaces her whip in her belt.
She checks a blunt arrow is knocked in her bow, and mentally runs through the various touch-buffs she can apply to her companions.
She mutters under her breath. “Sod it, what’s a few charges.”
She will produce her wand of Protection from Evil in her right hand and casts the spell on Ezrek, Filios and Omrax in that order, before tucking the wand in her belt.
Without moving closer to them, she watches the skeleton things very carefully for any movement.
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Filios doesn't notice any traps within the room.
Luisila's intuition guides her actions as she drops her backpack and begins to cast Protection from Evil on Ezrek, Filios and Omrax.
Deris is now completely engrossed with his daughter. A look of sadness comes across his face followed by sobbing tears.
"No dear, I would never do that. I tried, I tried for days, weeks . . . years."
Suddenly, a cold wind pushes through the halls followed by echoing voices.
"You left us. You left us here forever."
Everyone.
"You let us drown. You left us to float."
Must.
From the shadows of the passages, nail and bone can be heard scratching across the stone floor. Crawling across the ground in a jerky, grotesque fashion are creatures with long black stringy hair covering their face. They have long, sharp teeth that shine through the damp and matted hair with pallid flesh stretched tightly over their starved frames. They are dressed in washed out, weather beaten school uniforms.
Surprise Round
The first creature enter the room and attempts to bite Ezrek.
The second one enters from the southern hall while licking its lips with its long tongue. It attempts to bite Filos .
The final one follows up in the rear and attempts to take a morsel out of the dervish.
Luisila, Ezrek & Owai may take standard actions in the surprise round.
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Ezrek with a franic swing, crushes the rib cage of the creature before him.
Luisila guiding touch allows Owai to focus his aim. A thin line of light shines from the level cut of Owai's scimitar. Its head slides off to the side as black ichor pumps forth from its severed stump.
Round 1
The vengeful monster lashes out with tooth and fang at Ezrek after a few of its ribs have been cracked.
Total of 5 pod vs Ezrek.
Its companion on the southern side unleashes a flurry of bites and scratches against the elf.
Total of 5 pod vs Filios
In unison the two creatures cry out out, "Join us. Join us down here in the Black Waters."
All Heroes May Act Now.
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Omrax stows his longsword and heals his brother from another mother.
Luisila reinforces proper sword technique with Calistra's good luck.
Owai darts through his companions as well as the flanking monsters. He cuts low at the Ezrek's assailant. Taking out both of its knees as he moves through, Owai finishes with a simple head stomp sending the aquian undead into the afterlife.
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Satisfied that his first shot hit true, Haraldir continues to keep his focus on the target. Creature was still up, and still very capable of hurting his friends. With a practised move, he takes another arrow and sends it speeding towards his enemy, flying dangerously close to Ezrek, yet never putting his friend in harms way.
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Haraldir's arrow fires through the frey has strikes the ghoul's open maw. With a rech, it crumples to the ground.
Deris is found crying over his girl, huddling over all the spirits as if to protect them from the resent onslaught. "It's OK. It is OK now. You are safe, it is over now. You'll all be safe now."
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*Friendly punch on the arm* “Nice shooting, Haraldir.”
“My Lords, can we talk healing? I would ideally like to save my channels for harming undead that cannot be hurt by blades or maces.”
“So ... is it too selfish to ask that we get Ezrek and Filios back up to full strength using Omrax’s healing hands and wands of CLW? Let me know what you think.”
“Now for disease ... Ezrek and Filios, an average healing performance from me should boost your chances of not developing something. I can begin the care here, but it will take 10 minutes each.”
“When we get out of here, if you come with me to the Temple, I can monitor your conditions over the next few days. Whilst there, I can also increase your chances with Guidance and a Bit of Luck, which in all likelihood, should result in a full recovery.”
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After tending to her patients, Luisila starts thinking about the next move.
She is by no means impatient about leaving the room. In fact, she is very keen to make sure the party collects anything that might help them.
What did the child say ... ‘you killed us, Daddy’ ... I wonder if it’s true?
“Omrax or Owai, is it worthwhile asking the spirits if they know what’s down here or anything else that might help?”
Hmm ... Valsin’s note said there would be a living corpse of a high noble in the necropolis. I wonder what’s in the southern chamber? The battle scene over the entrance is interesting ...
“My Lords, this room strikes me as some kind of antechamber, perhaps to the tomb of a person of high birth? Could these skeletons be the remains of loyal retainers and bodyguards perhaps? Can you tell anything from them, Haraldir?”
“Can we try the southern chamber next? If we do – and this is just a guess – I wonder if our entering it could be the trigger to some of these skeletons animating?”
Luisila will reset her spring-loaded wrist sheath containing her wand. She hefts her backpack over her shoulders, replaces her whip in her belt and draws her club. Her bow remains in her left hand.
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The spirits are still in the center of the room. Deris is hovering over them, trying to calm himself down. The spirits appear to return to their story telling and play.
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Thank you, Luisila.
Luisila turns back to the tall elf rogue: “Filios, if you start feeling poorly, let me know. I have a spell that can suppress any ill effects for ten minutes – but I want to save that for when you really need it.”
There goes a potential healing spell slot, but as they say in Galt, c’est la vie.
“Honestly, I think you’ll be all right, but we don’t want to tarry here TOO long.”
“Haraldir, did you find anything good? I got nothing.”
I am thinking of re-building her as a half-elf if she survives to level up:
Str 13, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 12. Half-Elf Ancestral Arms bonus feat for longbow proficiency. Could then have skill ranks in Diplomacy, Perception, Heal and Knowledge (Religion) maybe.
Half-elf also fits her abandoned baby back story better too, I think.
My hyper sales-girl Human Archer Bard has great skills PLUS is a pretty good archer with PBS + Precise Shot at Level 1. The tart with the heart of gold is still fun to play, though. :)
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Luisila looks over to the crypt ... burglar. “Ezrek, is the Feather Fall ring still talking to you? I think you need to work through your issue with it and help decide who’s going to wear it.”
“Do you think you might be being a bit ... well ... covetous of it, Precious? Nobody’s going to bite it off your finger, you know.”
Moving right along ...
“My Lords, I’ve been thinking some more about the Black Water itself. We’ve been led to kind of ... fear it so far ... and don’t get me wrong I don’t think we should bathe in it or drink it ... BUT what if it has some kind of use against undead? The beetle was nesting in it, the preserved arm and boy were lying in it ... BUT I don’t think any active undead we’ve fought so far have been in contact with it.”
“Is it worthwhile testing some on any undead we encounter to see if it harms them? ... Just a thought ... I could be way off, of course.”
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"Could be that you are right lass, but where do we find some more of it? If I saw it properly, all the black water that was in the pool above drained when some of you fell in it, and I do not see any more around. I do have one sample/vial of it, but this is promised to one of my bosses, so I am not really willing to use it. But if we do find some more, I am willing to test your idea."
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I believe there was plenty of water back in that first tunnel was there not? As per the Precio...er ring, I leave it to the party to decide. Ezrek begins checking his gear. One other thing, if we happen to encounter the undead again, I carry flasks of a type of acid that is particularly corrosive to the unlinving. If the opportunity arises, let me hurl some at the creature before we close ranks. If I were to miss, the acid will burn your living skin. So which way are we headed?
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"Sir Haraldir speaks the truth as I witnessed first hand. All of the black water is down here already. Maybe the walking dead were on higher parts of the tunnels and have not yet been exposed? Nevertheless, we should keep moving."
The black water may or may not hurt undead, but it is making my feet itchy.
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Just for your information, possible exits are: there is a staircase that leads down a long hallway, a door, and a short set of stairs that looks like it leads into a room of wall crypts that you passed upon entering this room. Also, the party has not seen any much Black Water since entering the necropolis. At least, not enough to collect. Regular water, yes, but not Black Water.