Ouch!
After digging in the fresh graves, Hoga examines the masterwork greataxe. He cleans it up and gives it a tentative swing. Nice! he says, grinning. If no one objects, he takes it. If one of the the chain shirts is serviceable, he'll take that, too.
Going down, Hoga does all right until about halfway. He loses his grip on the slippery surface and falls the rest of the way, landing on his butt.
Ouch! he says. Watch yourselves in that middle part. It's treacherous!
Taladrius keeps his distance as the graves are dug up, and looks out across the lake, lost in thought.
As they approach the hill he looks around at everyone and asks, "Would anyone mind assisting me make it down? I'm not quite as physically able as the rest of you." He laughs nervously, still looking down the hill.
Heal (Take 10) - 21
Tamora places a hand above the bodies as she examines their cause of death.
"I see now. The orcs must have ventured too close to undead territory or the crypt and fought undead. Two of these orcs must have contacted zombie rot the moment they fell or seriously wounded by a zombie. I have to applaud their brethren for their quick thinking at ending them before they are fully reform as one of the undead. I feel terrible knowing that we did not solve the conflict with words. We could have known more. May they reunite with their brethren in the afterlife."
Tamora then whispers words of baptism to purify the body temporarily (disrupt undead).
"Help me remove their possessions while I enact a rite to keep undead taint from spreading to us. The dead do not need these possessions than the living once their soul departed."
Once the orcs are stripped and the graves remade, the holy woman looks at her work, praying one last time. After finishing her meal and her watch, she makes a makeshift bed mat, comprise of leaves and broken chain shirt, in one of the tents and falls asleep. The next day, she marches in the same position, right in the middle. As the rain pours and the land changes to a land of wilting, she shivered slightly and drape her hood to ward of the falling wails of the skies. When the group stops at a hole, Tamora gazes down the hole.
"It looks like we are finally here."
She climbs down the gorge.
She positions herself perfectly for the slide. But a slight miscalculation on her part makes the fall rough.
"Ahh"
As she rolls over and her bearing returns to her, she sees red begins to form on her torso and she is on the verge of losing consciousness. Her limbs almost become unfeeling and her head is spinning due to the heavy bleeding. Even so, she tries to stop further life fluids from leaking out with her talents.
Spend 1 uses of Blessed Surgery and 2 uses of healing kit to heal herself.
After a minute of applying quick surgery of herself by the means of herbs from the kit she carries, she feels better with the balm on her wounds.
Red Raven will calmly grasp the sorcerer's arm, pulling him up into a piggyback ride while he clambers down.
And even with the man on his back, he manages to descend without incident. He deposits him on the ground at the bottom without teasing or condescension.
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Hoga rushes over to Tamora, but sees that she's got the situation in hand. He offers her a hand up when she's done healing herself.
You are a skilled healer. Very impressive.
Tamora takes Hoga's hand.
"You have my thanks."
After he pull her up and her standing is stable, she offers the half-orc a wistful smile.
"I had to perfect my craft otherwise what tragedy I encountered in the past will surely happen again."
Upon reaching the bottom and being let down, he's momentarily speechless. With eyebrows raised he exclaims, "That was incredible! I probably would have had issues even without the rain, and you did it with someone else on your back like it was nothing!" Realizing he might be getting a bit over-excited, he clears his throat slightly, and says "Thank you my friend."
He looks around for a moment, and after seeing that Tamora seems to be alright, he turns his attention towards to area around them. He holds out his right hand and scans area around them for any active or lingering magic.
Red Raven nods his head when gratitude is expressed.
"This one thinks you are easier to carry than a lost sheep." he replies humbly. "They dont know when to remain still. I will help you if you need it again later."
He will walk off to look around for danger before they continue on.
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Garrik slowly and carefully makes his way down the side of the gorge. "Come on Thorn...you can do this." he says encouragingly to his companion.
As careful as Garrik is, Thorn's footing is not as sure as he slips and slides through a pair of thickets and lands hard on some rocks below letting out a yelp.
Kakrish walks through the forest as the gloom sets in. Seeing all the dead trees and lack of animals only compounds the dread as they trudge through the rain. Eventually they break out into the open on the edge of Serpent Gorge. Kakrish looks down at the treacherous path. "Hmm. I'm not sure I'm going to do a great job climbing down this." He watches the others make their ways down so he decides to go for it.
At first Kakrish is surprised by how easy the descent is going. But then he trips. He tries to regain his balance but fails and ends up on his backside. He bumps and slides the rest of the way down the trail, at one point going right through a thorn patch, but eventually ends at the bottom. Only a few scraps and bruises.
"Ha! I guess that wasn't as bad as it could have been!" He spits in the palm of his hand and then holds out his had towards Taladrius as if to shake it. "Put it here, friend. That was a bit scary but we survived."
Tamora spends another minute, trying to heal Thorn after she sees him with large gash on his fur.
Spends another blessed surgery and 1 uses of healing kit.
Can someone hold him tight while I apply the herbs to his legs?
Before Taladrius has a change to respond Kakrish sees that Tamora needs help with Thorn. He steps over to the wolf, pauses a second to look at his palm full of spittle, then rubs it off on Thorn's side. Then he wraps his arms around the wolf to hold him secure. "Ok. Got him."
Red Raven assists Tamora in patching the wolf, though he does eye the lupine suspiciously the entire time.
"Most of the time, this one does not do this with wolves. Quite the opposite, really." he says with a bit of self-amusement.
Tamora mashes the herbs with a mortar as Kakrish and Red Raven help stop the bleeding.
"It will be a new experience for you. I tended different animals in my uncle's ranch during my occasional visitations. I find it quite refreshing once I am familiar to his herds of animals. Perhaps I should introduce to them once we return."
"Thank you for helping my friend." Garrik says while doing his best to aid Tamora's work.
Once the wolf is secure Kakrish focuses on trying to help Tamora heal.
The group manage to climb down to the entrance of the crypt (some faster then others). You first realisation is that this was the site of a fierce battle. There is corpses spread around the ground in front of the crypt. They are mostly orcs, but you also find, after looking over the site, the corpse of two humans, one gnome and a humanoid of unknown origin.
All the corpse seem to have been looted already and you only find broken pieces of weapons and remains of armors. Also while you inspect the corpse, you find that some were, for a lack off better word, melted in parts.
Then you turn your attention to the crypt itself. An archway of stone set in the side of the opposite hill you came down from. The doors, made of thick stone seem to have been destroyed by powerfull claws.
Beyond the archway is a darkened tunnel that leads to a pair of massive wooden doors, one of which is slightly ajar. There is a stillness in the air and seem to send a chill down your spine. Something very bad happened here.
"Those claws are bigger than this one's." Red Raven observes, tracing them with one taloned hand. "This does not make this one feel better about finding any survivors."
He will approach the double doors but keep a defensive posture and ready to fight or back away if something *terrible* bursts out of the doors.
Tamora nods and rubs the mixed herb that she mashed on Thorn's leg. And with some aid, she heals the wolf entirely.
"I am certain they were made by a large undead. These wounds are the exact wounds that the two orcs above sustained before their burial. So far, we have not encounter Roldare. Don't lose hope yet."
Tamora stays on the rear of the group with her crossbow out.
"Well, it's not going to get any safer by us just standing around. Let's just go in there and see what there is." Kakrish takes a step towards the entrance and then winces.
"Hmm. Huh" he hops on one foot over close to Red-Raven then plops onto the ground. He pulls off his boot and turns it over."Yeah, that's what I thought," he says when a rock the size of a gold piece tumbles out. It probably worked its way there during his ride down the cliff side. "That was really hurting my foot. I think it might have even cut it." He tries to bend his leg and neck so that he can see the bottom of his foot but is just not flexible enough. Lying onto his back his sticks his grimy, smelly, bare foot up into the air just a few inches from Red-Raven's face. "Can you see if there is a red mark or a cut or something on my foot?"
Glancing at his foot, Red Raven tilts his head. "All featherless one's feet look strange to this one, but there's no bleeding. It must have stopped during our walk?"
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Taladrius still has his hand outstreched and seems to be concentrating for a few moments before breaking that concentration and making similar gestures and chants as the night before. A shimmer can be seen appearing around him before it fades.
"Really? No blood? But it really hurts. Does anyone else want to look at my foot. Maybe the bird man here doesn't know what feet are supposed to look like." Kakrish smiles at Red-Raven from on his back. "No offense meant." He winks at him. "Tal, hey. Maybe you can check it out?" Kakrish wriggles on the ground moving his foot in Taladrius's direction.
Red Raven will bap the dwarf on the head with a foot. "Stop this, it is childish!" he chides. "You are at the door to a tomb possessed of evil, and you want to wriggle around shouting about your foot!"
Tamora takes some small rocks into her possession. She lights one to act as torch.
"I am sure it is just a minor scratch. Put your leg down. If you are done playing around, we should start moving forward. Someone's life is at stake here if we keep dallying. Hoga, can you do the honor of opening the door and leading us?"
Following Tamora's lead, he picks a small stone off the ground and infuses it with a small amount of power, causing it to glow brightly.
Gladly, Tamora.
Without delay, Hoga tries the door.
"Childish? Playing around?" A bit of fire flashes in Kakrish's eyes but it fades quickly. "Well, ok. I can see your point, a little." He smiles and chuckles at himself while he sits up. He grabs his boot from nearby and pulls it on. He stands up and bounces on his foot a couple times. "Yep. Good as new."
"So let's stop messing around here and go see what all the danger is."
As the heavy doors swing open, the faint light from outside reveals a long chamber with risen platforms on either side. A faded painting of Kassen is on the far wall. The room appears to be the site of a gruesome battle, with two orcs bodies piled in the center and a number of skeletons scattered around. An echoing wail can be heard somewhere in the distance, beyond this foul chamber.
Kakrish takes in the after effects of the battle with a grim look. "This is not what I expected." He scans the rest of the room looking for any clues about what went on.
Hoga will use his darkvision, too, if it's any advantage here, just to look for any approaching threats.
Aside from the wailling far away, you do not hear anything else. There is two other doors in the room, one on each side. The room is dark and the only light is coming from the entrance.
Tamora mutters a prayer at the bodies before looking at the crossroad.
"Left or right? Mostly, I heard that the left road leads to a dead end. Going right seems to be the right choice for me."
Red Raven will move forward, looking around curiously and at the dead orcs in particular.
"This one thinks that we should decapitate them... In case they try to rise again." He suggests, concerned.
"Decapitate these orcs? That sounds smart after seeing the other stuff we saw. Ok. So who's going to do it?
Kakrish continues to walk around the chamber. The distant wailing unsettles him. "You know, I don't know which is better, left or right. But I'll go with your choice Tamora."
Hoga decapitates the corpses with his new axe.
Sorry, guys, he says to them. Nothing personal.
While half the group is outside the room, Red-Raven and Kakrish looks around. They seem uncertain of what to make of it. Then, at the suggestion of Kakrish, Hoga move foward toward the dead orcs. He lift his greataxe above his head and as he apologizes to them bring his axe down and decapitates the first one. The distinct cruch of metal cutting bone can be hear echoing on the walls of the room... Followed be sound of bone clicking... and them you see it. Multiple bones moving to form six piles. The piles then rise up and combine to form skeletons looking at you with empty eye sockets. They move toward you.
[ooc]On mobile and can't edit the map. Can someone please move me to 2 squares to the right of Kakrish?"[/b]
Garrik moves into the room, readying his staff as he enters and sees the skeletons forming. Ending up to the right of Kakrish, the hunter takes a swing at the skeleton in front of him.
Garrik walks over the first skeleton. In one swing of his staff, he get through it's defense and send multiple bones flying. The rest of the skeleton collapse has the foul magic that animated it leaves.
"The enemy is something we have not forseen."
Tamora moves into the fray. Instead of firing her crossbow, she points her finger at a skeleton that is facing Hoga (south skeleton)
"Return to the land of the dead. Disrupt Undead!"
Tamora walk into the room and discharge a bolt of positive energy at one of the skeletons. It's a direct hit, but the attack doesn't seem to affect the undead much.
Taladrius steps forward besides Tamora in the doorway and takes in the scene. He holds one hand out in front of himself, palm up, and a murky green liquid forms floating just above his skin. He turns to face the skeleton just inside the door and sends the liquid flying towards it.
Taladrius moves in and shoot at the skeleton. It take a direct it, melting parts of it, but still stand, turning it's empty eyes toward the sorcerer.
The skeletons advance to attack, two converge on Red-Raven. Their claws ripping at the flesh of the yound tengu.
Another one attack the warpriest with it's claws. Finding weak spot in the armour of Kakrish, it inflict dire wounds to the dwarf.
The skeleton that Tamora injured attack the half-orc. That one also seem to hit it's target twice, leave streak of blood on Hoga.
Finally, the last one moves up to Taladrius. Even with his magical defence, the sorcerer can't avoid the attack and he feels the cold claw ripping flesh from his arm.