The undead begin to cross the bridge and the statues bull rush them off the bridge into the chasms below. The force of the bull rush and the fall destroy the undead minions.
A dry, mirthless laugh can be heard from the dark recesses of the tomb.
“So, Kassen’s heroes have come to fight me again. You will make fine minions in my army of the dead. Come and meet your fate.” With that, a wicked-looking skeleton strides into view wearing polished mail and brandishing a cruel sword in both hands. A cold blue flame burns in its empty eye sockets.
"Your deaths will feel me with joy. The town will be destroyed." He says and motions for skeletons to spring out from sides of the room.
CMBT RND 1
Necress-
Asar-
Tametomo-
Rye-
Chella-
Wanderlei-
Irelia-
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Necress strides boldly into the room, then holds out her hand. "STOP!"
For a moment the heads of the skeletons turn toward her. "He will never free you...only enslave you," she says with a gesture toward the wicked-looking skeleton. " Assist me, and your eternal torment will be over! With him, it will never end!"
Necress steps into the room and attempts to command the undead in her presence. Three of the skeleton halt their aggressive stance (now colored blue), but one skeleton and Asar remain uncontrolled.
"You witch! I shall flay you!" and he advances to strike at her in a rage..
...
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Necress, despite three large gashes of blood across her face from the skeleton's claws, pauses for a moment to smile.
"I've been called a witch and worse," she responds to the skeleton. "But I take great pleasure in destroying you! It's because of evil, twisted beings like you that I cannot escape my torment! Now I, with them, will destroy you!"
She steps back from the skeletal champion, still maintaining her smile.
She reaches into her spell component pouch and draws forth some hair from a black cat, which she blows at the skeleton.
A target who can speak and has at least one free hand and who is aware of the spell and its effects (such as from a Spellcraft check to identify the spell as it is cast) can negate one reroll by spending a move action to utter a brief prayer or good luck charm to appease the spirits of ill fortune.
Necress motions for the skeletons to assist her, and they comply without thought. The first attacks the skeletal champion.
As does the second.
While the third turns on its companion.
"I'm not going in there, so why don't you try this on for size." Irelia says and summons two flowing blue balls that ram hard into the talking skeleton.
The undead minions take apart the undead that escaped control...The skeleton gets hit with magic from Irelia, and also takes a powerful holy swing from Rye. Incensed it tries to attack Rye with his longsword...
his attack just barely misses the smiting warrior...
Party is up
The skeletons assault the one who was moments ago their master.
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Blessed by some divine luck Rye deflects the longsword against him by throwing his shoulder into the attack and having the weapon glance of his sturdy armor.
Rye then swings his greatsword once more in a counter
(only +2 damage now since it's not the first attack to hit, still smiting so ignoring DR)
The evil skeleton warrior succumbs to a barrage of attacks from the assembled heroes. Rye mighty swing manages to shatter the physical form of the creature into nothing more than a pile of broken bones. The party now stands alone in the crypt with the body of a female nearby and the only light source still above the open crypt.
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As the assembled undead crumble to dust, Necress falls to her knees, visibly shaken and drained by all that has transpired. However, her face appears as peaceful as the others have seen it, and she no longer looks around her as if she is seeing things the others don't.
"We have done a good thing here today," she says.
She moves to young woman to see if she is alive.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
As the skeleton falls apart, Irelia smiles softly.
"I expected more from this with all the hutspah it put out."
Chella heals the unconscious female and she begins to speak...
"Who...who are you...where is my brother... where are the others...I remember being attacked and a sword wielding skeleton took me from the others... where am I?"
Necress detects magic on the torch above the sarcophagus, and she detects magic coming from in the sarcophagus.
Irelia takes a look into the sarcophagus and tries to identify any magical items present.
The woman is not evil. There are items in the sarcophagus that seem tethered to the body inside the sarcophagus. The body itself does not radiate evil. There is a leather bag, a shield, a suit of plate mail armor, a longsword, and a gem. Irelia studies the torch and determines it is a permanent magical fire like a continual flame spell that gives off heat.
As the torch is raised to the light and lit, a blue shimmering force stirs from the body in the sarcophagus and speaks to the party...
"Thank you heroes for putting an end to Asar. He had become corrupted with greed and was dangerous to all who entered here."
"Yes I am Kassan. Asar and I were partners with Iramine. We adventured together. We found a large treasure after our last adventure and parted ways. I am sure Asar felt cheated out of his portion of the treasure and his vanity and jealousy corrupted him. Asar came upon me with a mercenary troop and attacked my beloved town. After a fierce battle between my townsfolk and the mercenaries, Asar fell, the bandits scattered and I lay mortally wounded. The townsfolk interred me here with the other fallen. They placed the eternal flame above my resting place as a sign of friendship and warmth. I could not stop whatever evil began to spread from this crypt and I thank you. Please accept these gifts as a token of my gratitude."
Kassen gives the group a bag of holding (type I), a +1 bashing shield, an elemental gem (water), and one scale from his armor for each member. Kassen explains that these scales will grant them his boon in their hour of need.After handing out the gifts, he slowly fades from view, returning to his eternal rest.
Irelia is clearly more interested with the elemental gem and the bag of holding than most of the conversation. Still when she hears Rhy suggest the way back she wholeheartedly agrees. "Yes a good warm bath would do us all some good. Let's not forget the little coward who barred himself behind the door upstairs. He probably stinks the most..."
The party collects the treasures, and exit the crypt. The journey back to Kassen is somber and uneventful. Roldare is thrilled to see Dimira again and seems to most (but not all) of his sanity. When the party finally return to Kassen, they find a celebration underway in their honor. Mayor Uptal is there to greet them at the gates, but his joy at their return quickly turns to horror when he finds out what has happened. The news quickly spreads throughout town and the harvest celebration turns melancholy. The folk do not blame the party for what happened, and most are rather grateful that this new menace is ended. The grand feast is still held in their honor, but it is not the same as it was in previous years. This year, many are drinking to help forget that they have lost friends and loved ones. Plans are made to return to the crypt and bury the slain townsfolk.
Module complete.
The characters are free to join another game now. I will knock out the chronicle sheets in a day or two. Sorry for the length of time to complete.
the evil one Asar? no.