"Eh, doors aren't really my specialty, but I could give it a whirl."
Flint goes up to the door and draws his rapier. Sliding the fine edge through, he sticks a tongue out in concentration of his strange act. "I... Bet... Opening doors... Isn't actually all that hard, huh? Bet those sneaks bands of adventurers- Oof- try to find aren't really all that useful, eh?"
Brunar looks at Flint with a smile, "Aye, not that hard you say?"
Flint easily fits his weapon through the crack between the doors, but when he tries to lift the bar he only manages to make the bar rise up and then fall back down right where it was.
Flint listens to the sound of the bar falling back into place with a cringe. He looks at everyone watching him fair, and furrows his brow.
"Well you do it if you're so f~#+in' crafty!" he says to everyone.
He stands aside and holds the wedged sword to anyone who approaches, wearing a forced, faux-cherry smile as he does.
"Oh, let me do it." Kayne steps up and takes hold of the sword with both hands.
"...Kiril, why don't you have a crack at it?"
No, you're twisting it the wrong way, Gwendolyn says as she approaches behind Kayne
Kiril unslings the portable ram off his back and gives Flint a toothy grin, gesturing for him to take one side of it.
When Kiril strikes the door with the Portable Ram it just bounces off harmlessly
Knocking the rapier out of its position
Brunar laughs, "If tappin' it with a pocket knife don't work, bring out thee anvil!" Brunar gets ready for whatever, if anything, is waiting for them on the other side.
"Hell...That's some strong wood. Enchanted?" Kiril slings the ram back onto his back with disbelief.
"There's a bar, Kiril. On the other side. All you need to do is lift the rapier that Flint slid through." The warlock shakes his head and heaves a parental sigh. "After putting it back in now, of course."
"Ah shut it scrawny man--I've knocked down bigger doors than this, this ones different," he crosses his arms and makes no move to pick up the rapier, staring at the rest of them expectantly.
"Well s@** guys, it's not like I had to trade my armor for that sword or anything. Go ahead, smash the god of Iron right out of it!" Flint huffs after his sword falls out of the crack.
He grabs his sword, inspects it, and wedges it back in, tongue out one more. Looking to Gwendolyn, he gives his best smile. "you wanted to try?" he offers the blade.
If possible, he'll peak through the crack while she works and try to assist her on her roll.
Okay
With Flint's help, Gwendolyn manages to dislodge the bar on the other side of the door.
That wasn't so hard. Hey, Kiril, get that ram out again and give it a try now.
"Can't we just open it now?" He gives it a shove, then a pull on one of the iron rings, to see if it opens.
"Well, I get to have some fun afterall!" He unslings the portable ram and hefts it on his own this time, swinging with a yell.
Brunar gets into a protected offensive stand (shield up and ready to start swinin'), "Aye, if you are ready, open the door! Enuff playing with the door!"
Flint recovers his rapier and checks it to see if it is damaged in any way, miss absorbed in it than the opening door.
With a muffled grunt, Kiril slams the door, which gives way from the impact and loudly groans as it moves on its hinges, opening more than a few feet before its own wait grinds it to a halt
The light from_____*(who is carrying the light again?) pours into what appears to be a enormous banquet hall with a long and wide table set with a full meal. Around the table are several high back chairs which appear to be occupied by dwarves.
Flint walks in through the door, peering around in the darkness. [/i]"Are those... Alive?"[/i] he says while eyeing the dwarves from the doorway.
Getting closer, but not too close, Flint is able to see around the edge of one of the chairs
Flint's expression screws up in one of mild interest, than drops into terror. A sick expression fades over his face, hiding the terror, and then absent blankness.
He takes three careful, unsteady steps backward, away from the body.
"Wellp... They're dead. Recently, ehhmm... Drained of blood. From their, ehh... necks..." He nods, as if agreeing that this is true.
"Something is actively doin' this."
"Drained of blood?" Kayne steps forward to look at the corpses, inspecting the wounds. "Being that people don't usually start bleeding from their necks on their own, I'd agree with your stunning investigative prowess, Flint..."
Kiril pokes around the room, looking for things to smash/loot.
Brunar also looks at the wounds with Kayne but from behind the dead dwarves to make sure he can not be easily grabbed in the Palace of the Undead, "Hmmm?"
Flint sticks near kiril, helping him search for threats or treasures.
Grinley seems concerned about the dead dwarf, and keeps his distance.
"I really don't know much about the undead, but if this was a vampire that drained him, should we burn the corpse or something to keep this poor soul from turning into an unholy creature?"
Brunar looks at Grinley, "We first have to make sure that it was a vampire before making our next move. And we definitely do not want none of them to turn."
As the members of the party slowly move into the room, more details become apparent.
There are fourteen chairs at the table, six along each long side and one each at the short ends. There are five dwarven corpses, three male and two female, in five of the six chairs on the side closest to the door. The food on the table has spoiled somewhat and as you get closer to the table you can smell the distinct aroma of rotting meat and fruits. However, there is bread on the table and it has not begun to mold.
Kayne dares to venture a bit closer to the table, while Kiril begins searching the large room along the walls
Brunar stays safely behind the chairs and tries to see if there is anything to learn
Flint joins Kiril while Grinley stays near the center of the room with Sandy, Gwendolyn, and Kristyd
As Kiril and Flint examine the walls, they discover a poorly hidden secret door, on the wall just to the west of the entrance, on the south wall.
"Hmm. Apparent victims of a vampire," Kayne says, turning to the others. "If the tales are to be believed, the bodies should be buried in consecrated ground using certain burial rites, or else they'll return as undead slaves to the monster who killed them."
He steps back and sniffs, adjusting his scarf. "Personally I think burning the bodies would be quicker and just as suitable."
Kiril shoves at the secret door with his maul, wary for undead on the other side.
Brunar looks at Kayne, "The religious text do not state anything about burning. Only the burial rites or dragging them into the sun will work."
The warlock sighs. "How can they come back as a vampire if there's nothing to come back, though? What, do the ashes coalesce into a monstrous cloud that stalks the night, rubbing against your skin to steal your blood?"
Note to self: Research if that can be done. Ashes would be difficult to "kill."
Flints usualy bravado had faded at the sight of the dead dwarves, and hearing Kayne speculate about vampire dust clouds while Kiril opens the secret door sets him further on edge.
He draws his rapier to ready himself if a threat emerges, and turns his head to whispers loudly at Kayne. "Hey, how about we don't give the vampires any ideas, eh?! They could burn themselves if they thought it was a good one! They have no need to wait for us to do it!"
Brunar looks at Kayne, "Do ya think ya can make a fire hot enuff to fully destroy a body in here and not leave a husk? And do you know for sure the ashes would not form into a cloud, then engulf us, and drain our blood? Me not know personally, just goin' by the Holy Text."
"Exactly. Holy texts." Kayne pats one of the corpses on the shoulder. "I prefer putting stock in more tangible studies. Research, information collected through trial and error. As for giving ideas, that only furthers my point: if the vampires could burn themselves to ash to become more powerful, why haven't they done so?"
The man pinches his nose and shakes his head. "But I suppose you're right, I have no hard information to go on, and I'm not sure I could burn the bodies sufficiently to leave little enough behind. So do you suggest we abandon our search for now in order to take the bodies to holy ground?"
Brunar looks at the bodies and table, "Ok, let's go with your suggestion and see if the Holy Texts are correct or the more scientific way is? Let's burn em with the table and chairs! We don't have time for anything else."
Just as Brunnar starts to eyeball the table to decide how well it will burn, Kristyd steps close to Kayne
I don’t think we want to set them on fire in here. Who knows what that will attract, or how much smoke will be generated. With the way the fog lingers in this place when it is up, I’m betting any smoke we create will be a problem for us.
Brunar nods, "Aye, let's just save them for decapitating later..." Brunar looks over at the source of the commotion, "Besides, it looks like Kiril is pesterin' some snakes!"
Kiril bellows in alarm as six giant cobras lash out from the secret room.
As he fends off the beasts, "Giant f~&*ing snakes here--and a big godsdamned golden snake statue--agh!"
He slams the maul down at one that bit him.
He backs up slowly, trying to lure the snakes out of their hidey-room.
Kiril steps quickly backward, away from the snakes, and manages to crush one into a bloody, pulpy mess as he retreats.
The snakes fan out into the large chamber
Round 2...
Moving with surprising speed the snakes get the jump on the party. Two snakes slither toward the dwarven druid, while two others move on Brunar, the last snake goes after Sandy
Sandy is bit
Her dwarven nature prevents the poison from having any effect on her at all
Brunar’s armor protects his legs, but poor Grinley is bitten on the knee
Player Characters can take round 2 actions now, there are 5 snakes
Kiril - takes 2 damage
Snakes Killed – 1
Round 2
Sandy - takes 1 damage
Grinley - takes 1 damage
Snake, AC 13, hp 2, +5 bite, 1 damage + poison
"Well obviously we'll go outside--!" Kayne's frustrated comments are cut short by the revelation of the snakes and the creatures' attack. He quickly unsheathes his rapier, his eyes narrowing in the shadow of his hat. "We'll finish that talk later." With that, he lunges forward, stabbing at one of the creatures with his sword.
Flint frequetly eyes the dead dwarves during the fight, and sticks near Kiril to provide him advantage.
"Look at all the blood!" Kiril laughs and swings downward again, trying to get a good splatter on Flint.
"Kayne, you need to relax my friend and find yourself a woman. Life is too short!" Brunar wants to help Sandy but he has two problems of his own, Brunar swings at the King Cobra that attacked Brunar first, "Bad Snakes! I wonder if they are related to vampires, see the resemblance?" Brunar laughs as he swings, "HAha!"
The snake was striking while Brunar swings, Brunar misses the snake.
Grinley lets loose a soft yelp as he is bitten. Not wanting to burn the little creature to a crisp, the druid casts an enchantment on his quarterstaff and then tries to knock the snake out with a bop on the head.
Round 2, wrap up
Kayne darts to the left, steps to the right and then with a slash he cuts the head of a snake as it is recoiling from an attack
With a shout, Kiril brings down his maul on another snake splattering blood and gust in every direction. As a chunk of snake comes flying at Gwendolyn’s head, she shrieks, and ducks, and the snake parts splatter against the back of a chair
Brunar finds himself backing up as carefully as he can as two snakes close in around him, and as he tries to look at one, and then the other, he lunges but misses due to all of the distractions going on around him
As Grinley also jumps back from a striking snake, he speaks a quick spell to enchant his staff, and tries to strike the snake without killing it. The staff plops down softly on the snakes head with no real effect at all but making it angry.
The remaining snakes slide and slither quickly across the smooth floor,
With everyone moving about trying to avoid the hack and slash of weapons, the snakes get a jump on the party
The two snakes threatening Brunar seem intent on getting him
Brunar dodges the first strike, but the second snake is too fast for him to avoid
While the other snake keeps going after Sandy
As Sandy tries to shoo away the attacking snake, it bites her arm
Kiril - takes 2 damage
Snakes Killed – 1 (5)
Round 2
Sandy - takes 1 damage
Grinley – takes 1 damage
Snakes Killed – 2 (3)
Round 3
Sandy - takes 1 damage
Brunar - takes 1 damage
Snakes , AC 13, hp 2, +5 bite, 1 damage + poison
Kiril shoves a handful of snakeflesh into his mouth, laughing with bloodlust, then smashes down again with his maul.
"You want to bite me, take this! HaHAAA!"
Brunar swings at the snake but is it enough to strike the snake, and take it down?
Kayne slashes down with his sword once more, seeking to kill another of the pesky snakes, invigorated by the first kill.