Raahhhrr +6 (1d6+7) power attack slam from the elemental
Belle is still in Delay mode waiting for someone to get injured so she can heal. I don't think it will be necessary though.
Agyen's arrow nicks the ghoul, but Belle's elemental pounds it back into the ground from whence it came, not to move again. Mud colors the ankle deep creek running down the ravine, from the rivulets running down the muddy slope.
Tell the elemental to open the door in Terran. I don;t know that it has enough time though since I only get it for 3 rounds.
"Well, shall we pursue it? We've come this far and if we wait they will prepare for us. Though it is not a good sign that there were three lurking outside."
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Brodin shrugs.
"Most communities will set a watch; ghouls it seems are no different. I suspect that any minute now they will come boiling out of that cave. Their numbers will make them overconfident, and I for one would prefer to take them down from up here, the height gives us an advantage. If there is a defensible position we can retreat to, so much the better but this will give us a good chance. I vote we stay here, at least for now."
Agreed. Last thing we should do is hurry down the hole after it. I say we wait at least ten minutes to see if they send more out here.
Well, since we have a little time...
Belle pulls out her pad and surveys the ravine below
Yet another depressing scene. Twice dead ghouls and a dark crevice. I know I'm here to experience things like this, but...
With a sigh, you lowers her pad and turns around. "Everything's so dark and dreary around here."
The faces that surround here are so serious. "How about a smile. I'll sketch whichever of you gives me the best smile. How about it? A portrait contrasting the gloomy Rappan Athuk with a smiling... dwarf! How about it Brodin? Care to thumb your nose at this place with a smile?"
Tony raises to peak over the edge after the kerfluffle had settled.
"Well, be ready. For all we know they're clawing the dirt out from under us. I vote for switching to the other side of the ravine or set an ambush over the crack if we want to wait."
With the rain, Belle's pad will be soaked shortly.
With a sigh, Belle puts her pad back as the brief interlude in rain dissipates in more wetness.
"I guess it is not the time for art. Never thought I would ever say that. Good idea Tony, lets switch things up a bit just in case."
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The faces that surround here are so serious. "How about a smile. I'll sketch whichever of you gives me the best smile. How about it? A portrait contrasting the gloomy Rappan Athuk with a smiling... dwarf! How about it Brodin? Care to thumb your nose at this place with a smile?"
Brodin glances over at Belle, an eyebrow raised before turning back to assessing their situation. He looks around, trying to see if there is a convenient, defensible place to retreat to if they are in danger of getting surrounded.
We got a way to cross the ravine without climbing down, I'm all for it. It'd probably be worse if they came out with us down there.
The ravine does terminate here, and you can get to the other side fairly easily, without descending into it. Other than some large rock outcroppings, Brodin's search for a more defensible position is futile.
And then you wait. As you wait, the rain begins to pick up more, and you notice the stream in the gully is rising. You give it a while, but there is no movement from the gully. The stream is just below the level of the crack. Occasionally, a small mudslide will give way and careen down into the gully, but there is no movement from the cave.
Back to the task at hand, then? Back to the mausoleums?
Listening to Brodin, Tony chuckles a bit
"Fear a flash flood, do you think there scared of dying? But I'm with you on making a move. I wasn't really feeling like diving into a den of cannibal corpses before the rain, with it flooded even less so."
"But it'll be a long hard hoof back to the burial grounds. I expect we'll meet something nasty in this rain, dead or otherwise."
"I had hoped that these things were all but broken. But I can see that they are not. No matter which way we go there are risks, but diving into a lair being fed by flooding waters seems extra suicidal. Let's go back, either to the mauseleum or the town. I'd really love to learn that bursting light spell though before we descend, but that will take time unless I get help, so I'd understand if you all wanted to start our exploration now."
It's about mid-day now, although you cannot see the sun to be sure.It would take you about an hour to get back to the mausoleum. The nearest town, Zelkor's Ferry, is, from what you have gathered from other tales of Rappan Athuk, is approximately 7 days travel as the crow flies. You could move directly toward the river to the north and hope to get a riverboat to Zelkor's ferry, but you estimate the distance from where you are to the river would be about a day and a half.
Lets go then.
"To the mausoleum then!
Tony leads the way back, crossbow in hand.
Your return to the graveyard is uneventful. As you crest the low mound surrounding the depression where the mausoleums lay, the rain begins to slacken, and the clouds appear to get lighter. Other than an occasional rat, your trek across the lichyard is uneventful. As you walk, your eyes are inadvertently drawn to the stones that surround you. Most are obscured by age and lichen, but some epitaphs are quite legible.
Erica Balsley, Our Angel
beasterbrook, We never saw anything like it
The Death Tribble, In his Furry Embrace We find Warmth
You are starting to learn not to be surprised about this place, so when you reach the monolith that had stood over the open grave just this morning, while you find it curious that the grave is not only filled in, but that scrabbly weeds and grass grow over the surface and the epitaph is obscured by moss.
And before long, you stand before the green stone mausoleum, the key from the secret compartment under the dwarf statue in hand, and the solid stone doors before you.
Do you guys wanna rest, or start investigating the ruins more?
"Might as well get it over with. I'm down two spells, I can deal with that."
Let's get this first part over with, finally. I was sent to investigate Rappan Athuk. Wouldn't be much of an investigation if I never went inside.
You insert the key into the intricate lock and turn. The doors swing inward with an ominous groan. Within, the two black candles atop the stone sarcophagus cast the interior in dim light. A damp, musty odor emanates from within.
Interestingly enough, but maybe not surprisingly, the capstone for the secret passage in the floor is back in place. You file into the dank interior of the mausoleum and gather around. Your eyes flicker back and forth between the sarcophagus and the secret hatch in the floor. What's it going to be?
No way Belle is going to be able to move that thing. When someone tries, however, she will cast Mage Armor on herself.
"I have come here because I have a score to settle" - Garrosh grumbles - "Is there any reason for us not to look inside this sarcophagus?" - the half orc questions his companions.
You are quickly able to identify the location of the traop door, in the floor, behind the sarcophagus.
Tony looks over the sarcophagus and the hatch and is unable to detect any traps.
"So do we wanna chance it? Or do we just move along to the next passage?"
If we can't trust your ability to find traps we might as well all go home. Let's try this door and get on with it.
"I could attempt to divine information on an object, such as the sarcophagus, however I would have to touch it, which may cause something to happen. Additionally I cannot be sure how useful said information will be."
"Looks like we are ready. Agyen, you might as well try. Bad things happen no matter what you do around here."
While Argyn is getting ready, Tony goes about reacquainting himself with the hidden door.
"Come now Brodin" - Garrosh chuckles - "Are you expecting to find a bag of gold with your name on it? Or are you actually counting on risking something for it?" - he adds.
"Anyways, I'm fine with you wanting gold. So I hope you are fine also with my reasons for being here" - the half-orc follows up, moving toward the sarcophagus - "And you can't just expect me to ignore the fact there is a sarcophagus right here" - he growls - "Whether we are looking for gold, paying back someone, or simple doing the right thing"
"In my line a work those things are usually full of dead bodies. On occasions you might find a bobble, but it's generally bad luck to rob them. Especially in nightmare infested haunts like this one" , Tony says as he works on the trap door.
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Nodding at the sarcophagus, Brodin points out
"Given all the stories about treasure at Rappan Athuk, I would have expected so easy a mark to be broken open long ago. Yet it is not. Either it's a trap, or it houses something other than Treasaure. Either way, I say it's a fool's gambit to waste time on it."
"and that indentation in the ceiling looks suspicious to me. Like floor and ceiling were meant to meet."
"The last time we left this place the doors locked and the key vanished and went back to where we got it from. I don;t know whether the ceiling descends when the sarcophagus is touched or when the trap door is opened, but I'm not holding out much hope that we leave this place the same way we entered it. If you DO have to mess with the sarcophagus at least wait until we have the trap door secured in case the front doors magically lock."
Agyen moves to the sarcophagus and touches it, drawing the psychic psychic impressions into his mind and then deciphering them.
The last time you were here, you had opened the trap door without incident. There was a shaft descending to a corridor running east and the entire thing smelled extremely foul. There were no traps on the trapdoor then, and there are none now.
Garrosh scans the sarcophagus with his arcane vision. Initially he does detect an aura, so be concentrates more. The sarcophagus itself is not magical, but within is a moderate necromantic aura. The two candles atop the sarcophagus are also magical, bearing a faint evocation and moderate conjuration aurae.
Agyen touches the sarcophagus and immediately picks up the psychic impression.
A group of adventurers huddles around the closed doors of the mausoleum. One of their number works at the lock with a series of metal picks, while the others encourage him, with words tinged with fear and even panick. The group enters and closes the doors just as a wave of ghouls pours down the steps toward them. Inside, they begin to explore, one examining the sarcophagus and the others the various walls. And then they start to panic as they realize the floor and the ceiling are closer together, and closing fast. All goes black, but the sounds of screams, cracking bones and sickening squishy sounds continue. Finally the blackness clears as the floor and ceiling separate revealing a pastiche of blood, tissue, bone and crushed equipment.
And then the scenario plays out, again, and again, faster and faster, with group after group. Occasionally a group opens the sarcophagus and is set upon by a skeleton with bones blackened if by fire cackling as it tears into them, and the floor and ceiling crush them all. When the ceiling and floor part, the blackened bits of the skeleton reform, and the creature crawls back into its sarcophagus, sliding the stone cap back in place.
One final image, of a group entering, a vision of the key in the lock as it fades out of existence. The party moves to the trapdoor in the floor, opens it and descends into the darkness. As their footsteps echo down the subterranean passage, the mausoleum doors close, the sarcophagus opens and a blackened skeleton emerges to slide the capstone back in place as the screams and sounds of dying begin from below. As the skeleton lies back down in it's own sarcophagus, it cackless gleefully. And then all goes black.
Black skeletons are the remnants of living creatures slain in an area where the ground is soaked through with evil. The bodies of fallen heroes are contaminated and polluted by such evil and within days after their death, the slain creatures rise as black skeletons, leaving their former lives and bodies behind. Black skeletons are intelligent and do maintain some memories of their former lives.
As other skeletons, black skeletons are undead. They see equally well in the dark as they do in lighted conditions. They are immune to mind-affecting effects, death effects, disease, paralysis, poison, sleep and stunning, and do not bleed. They are not subject to nonlethal damage, ability damage or drain,energy drain, fatigue and exhaustion.
As normal skeletons, they are resistant to all physical damage but that caused by bludgeoning weapons.
"We should buff up and descend. Unlike the other parties, thanks to Agyen, we will be prepared for the encounter."
Pondering his companion's words, the half-orc stares at the sarcophagus for a long moment - "So this monster recreates itself, after taking his role in the destruction of others" - he growls - "I must agree with you all then - it is pointless to try and destroy it, unless we knew how" - he stares a while longer, the sword tight in his hand - "I'll remember you" - he finishes.
"Perhaps we should scout the tunnel before descending Belle?" - the warpriest turns his back on the sarcophagus - "So we can be as prepared as can be? Tony, will you risk venturing there to take a look?" - he inquires.
Resigned that the sarcophagus is futile, you turn your attention to the tunnel. Using your combined effort, you are able to move the heavy stone block. Underneath is a circular shaft descending into the darkness below. The smell of death radiates from the pit as it descends down into oblivion. The circular shaft descends 30 ft. to a dirt-floored hallway. There are some old blood stains and smears on the walls of the hallway, which are made of roughly worked stone, including one rather recent large hand smear of blood on the north wall.