Nia creeps down the stairs with scarcely a sound, descending into the depths below the crumbling manse. Eventually she comes to a limestone cavern whose walls drip with moisture, with swaths of dark mold growing in spiraling, tangled patterns on the floor, ceiling, and walls. Rubble and broken bones clutter the floor, and a rhythmic sound—like the breathing of some immense creature—echoes through the cave from three tunnels, one to the north and two to the west. Of the two western tunnels, the southernmost one seems to be a relatively new creation.
Noting the tunnels- particularly the new construction- and lack of visible enemies, Nia returns to the group to bring them back down to the cave.
Once Nia returns, Andrezi follows her back down. "Lovely little area you've found here."
Nia grimaces. "Thanks." She gestures at the newest looking excavation. "My guess is she went that way."
"And where she goes, we follow...
...
...
for our sins"
Nia nods and heads in the direction of the new tunnel.
Garrick follows behind, guarding the rear (and conveniently keeping his loud self away from Nia's sneaking).
Nia leads the way back down the stairs, followed by Andrezi, Vidar, and Garrick. As Garrick takes the first step down, Vidar notices the smell of rotting flesh getting stronger.
Surprise Round:
Initiative order
Nia
Andrezi
??
Vidar
Garrick
At Vidar's warning, Nia clears the last step, snaps her rapier up into a guard, and pulls a vial out of her belt pouch, which she quickly downs.
OOC: 5' step north, take out/drink Sooth Syrup (+5 vs Nauseated/Sickened for 1 hour), Total Defense (AC 32 this round).
"More ghouls or possibly a ghast." Andrezi comments, casting a spirtual weapon.
Surprise Round (ongoing):
Nia and Andrezi prepare for a fight.
Garrick experiences a sudden vision of Aldern Foxglove, sweaty, filthy, and wild-eyed, digging away at the intact stone floor of the room with a pickaxe. With each swing, he grunts out two words: "For you." Garrick somehow knows that Aldern is speaking of him (though it's not clear whether he's speaking about Garrick or the viewpoint character of the vision). As the vision ends, Aldern breaks through the floor to expose the ancient stairs, and a horde of gibbering ghouls pours through the opening to drag him down before they turn their lambent eyes to Garrick's viewpoint.
Garrick shakes off whatever strange pressure was affecting him.
The vision fades from Garrick's sight, and with it the stronger odor of carrion.
The newer passage is fairly narrow, but not so much as to inconvenience any of the party. However, the dead and decaying bodies decorating the floor make the traversal an unpleasant experience.
Nia moves along at the head of the group, eyes and ears peeled for surprises.
Nia can see that the passage widens up ahead. and can make out a faint glimmer of light.
Nia enters the room, reasonably confident that nothing is going to surprise her. Like the rest of the party, though, she is surprised when a creature like a giant bat unfolds itself from the ceiling and emits an earsplitting shriek!
Round 1:
Initiative order
Vidar
Nia
Andrezi
Bat
Garrick
"It's a ghoul bat!"
Nia grimaces against the ear-piercing scream, takes a moment to consider her target, then steps forward and stabs upward into the huge beast.
Round 1 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Vidar-stunned
Nia-acted
Andrezi-stunned
Bat-acted
Garrick
Nia hits, stabbing the creature deeply. It bites at her and misses, then flaps into the air.
Nia swipes at the undead monster as it takes to the air.
Garrick steps forward and takes as swing at the thing, but staggers on a loose floorboard.
Nia tags the bat as it flaps up into the air, and Garrick arrives too late to reach it.
Round 2:
Initiative order
Vidar-stunned
Nia
Andrezi-stunned
Bat
Garrick
Nia's eyes stay locked on the ghoul bat, blade at the ready.
Round 2 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Vidar-stunned
Nia-acted
Andrezi-stunned
Bat-acted
Garrick
Nia readies to meet the bat, which obligingly circles around and executes a flyby attack. Her rapier strikes a vital nexus in the necromantic energies that animate it, but it's still moving (although her blow caused it to miss badly).
Garrick takes a slash at the creature as it tries to attack Nia.
for
The party makes short work of the badly wounded undead.
Searching the area, you find three relatively intact human bodies. One is a male missing his left arm. He's got much nicer gear than the other two--a pearl ring worth 300 gp, 56 gp in various coinage, a hat with a magical aura, and an adamantine longsword.
The glimmer of light in the room is from the alcove in the northwest corner, where there's a shaft to the surface.
Nia quickly cleans her rapier and sheathes it before walking over to check the bodies. After a moment she chuckles and turns back to the others. "This is the notorious one-armed bandit Shaz "Redshiv" Bilger, suspected of organizing the robbery of at least two merchant caravans a year over the last decade. Proof of his death is worth 500 gp from the authorities in Magnimar. I guess we figured out what happened to him."
Garrick says, "Not surprised that a thief or brigand might try to hide in a wrecked manor house. Guess he picked the wrong one. Still, we should definitely contact the authorities to let them know he's been found."
Nia nods. "We can present his equipment as proof of discovery. Just give me a minute and we'll keep going."
"That was unpleasant." Andrezi says, shaking his head still trying to slough off the effects of the bat's screech.
"I guess these other two were minions of this Redshiv?" the priest asks. "Seems like a dead-end here. I believe there were a couple of other paths near the stairwell, shall we?"
Nia nods at Andrezi. "Let's go."
Vidar chuckles with ark humor at the situation.
"So, without us needing to put in any true effort, we have just come across a small fortune.
Now, all we need to do is survive long enough to claim it."
The passage goes a few feet west before branching.
Following Nia's lead, the party takes the right branch. Just before reaching an area where the passage widens, the investigator thinks she hears a slight sound of something scraping on stone.
Nia stops and gestures silently at the group, pointing to her ear then in the direction of the noise. Once everyone indicates they understand her warning, she continues on.
Andrezi nods and readies his crossbow.
Garrick nods, then remembering his companions don't see as well as he does in the shadows, raises his axe.