Claudia will shoot acid at the blue skeleton.
The Desecrated Vault - Round 1 concluded
18 Hemlock (6hp dmg)
13 Blue Skeleton
9 Red Skeleton (3hp dmg)
7 Claudia
7 Priscilla
4 Rotomo
Claudia's splash of acid fails to hit anything, sizzling on the old limestone of the burial vault.
Priscilla's arrow and Rotomo's club both connect with the bony targets, but the hardness of the creature turns any damage from the attacks aside.
End of Round 1
The Desecrated Vault- Round 2
18 Hemlock (6hp dmg)
13 Blue Skeleton
9 Red Skeleton (3hp dmg)
7 Claudia
7 Priscilla
4 Rotomo
Hemlock, hard pressed by both skeletons, steps back to even with Rotomo, trying to protect his flank, and swings at the adjacent Blue but his attack catches nothing but air as the skeleton dodges the stroke.
As Red Skeleton steps up, both undead creatures launch into their respective foes with claws, and again, each hits its target once, leaving bloody scratches on the flesh of the melee heroes.
Claudia will again attempt to hit the same skeleton with acid.
Pris grimaces as her arrow bounces harmlessly off of the skeleton's bony body, and rather than experience that embarrassment again, goes for the dagger strapped to her thigh, taking a couple of steps forward, looking for an opening to dodge through to flank one of the skeletons, vocalizing as much. "If you draw them out, I think I can get behind them! Sever their spine! Or what's left of it..."
Rotomo swings his club in a powerful over hand strike at the skeleton's head.
The Desecrated Vault - Round 2 - concluded
Once again, the acid conjured by Claudia fails to hit the intended target. She looks at her staff curiously, as if there may be something defective there.
Frustrated with her own bow work, Priscilla drops the bow, draws a dagger and moves to the side of fight, encouraging her melee-based allies to draw the skeletons farther away from the vault, so she can slip behind.
After taking a flesh wound from the bony foes, Rotomo brings his cudgel down in an overhead smash that shatters Blue Skeleton into hundreds of fragments.
End of Round 2
The Desecrated Vault - Round 3 - concluded
8 Hemlock (9hp dmg)
9 Red Skeleton (3hp dmg)
7 Claudia
7 Priscilla
4 Rotomo (6hp dmg)
Hemlock swings at the remaining skeleton and carves it up into little pieces, smashing through it with his longsword.
End of Combat
Moving a little gingerly because of the wounds suffered from the skeletal claws, Hemlock looks at the three of you, breathing heavily. "Expected a goblin or a prank, not that! Glad I had you with me." He pats Rotomo on the back, groaning a bit from the painful wounds. "I'm going to fetch Zantus for some healing. Want to see what's up in there while I'm gone?" he nods his head towards the open vault, and if you agree, stomps off to the cathedral to retrieve the priest.
"We probably should make sure that there are no more undead running around in there." offers Claudia to the group.
"We probably should make sure that there are no more undead running around in there." offers Claudia to the group.
From where you stand, with the door open all the way, you can see most of the interior of the tomb. There seem to be two large stone sarcophagi built into the floor of the vault. You can see nothing moving inside, though there could be something hiding behind the stone crypts or the door.
Rotomo rubs some dirt into his wound as he said a quick prayer and his wound closes before his eyes. With his club held high the druid moves toward the sarcophagi to examine them.
Pris begins edging her way into the tomb, moving slowly in order to stick to the shadows, bow still drawn. She sheathes her dagger and nocks an arrow, scooting inward stealthily to look for any signs of goblins, or more skeletons.
Emboldened by the small tomb, Claudia will advance inside to make sure it's clear.
As the group moves into the small burial chamber, there are two things of interest inside. First and foremost, one of the sarcophagi has been vandalized! The lid has been pried off and slid to the floor, where it cracked into two pieces. More disturbingly, the remains that should've been inside, are now missing. The stone crypt is completely empty. The other burial tomb seems to be unmolested.
The second thing found is an old brown robe which has been wadded up and thrown in the corner. That seems like an odd thing to leave in a burial chamber.
There are no more skeletons or goblins inside the small space. As you finish searching, Hemlock , with Father Zantus in tow, return and also examine the broken tomb.
"Why would someone steal the body of old Father Tobyn?" asks the new priest, perhaps rhetorically asking about his predecessor, who apparently has been grave-robbed. "Who would've done this?"
Hemlock, a man of few words, only shrugs. You can see that he is trying to piece this together mentally. The wheels are turning but no traction so far.
Claudia will examine the brown robe for clues.
"Tracks outside say person that did this had help from goblins," Rotomo pointed out with as shrug of his muscular shoulders. "Find goblins we find out why they disturbed the eternal sleep of the dead father." .
"Maybe the goblins were hungry. I doubt they could animate bodies, though," Priscilla says matter-of-factly. "You don't think those bones back there belonged to him?" Pris glanced to the spot where they fought off the skeletons earlier. She moves forward to examine the open sarcophagus, trying to see if the body might've been dragged anywhere particular.
It does not appear that anything was dragged through the crypt. There is dust on the floor, that is disturbed by your presence, but there are no marks indicating dragging.
The brown robe is homespun, in fact, in rather poor condition. Of note, there is torn stitching that indicates that there used to patches on the robe, that have been ripped off. The shape of the patches, based on the ripped pattern, is vaguely humanoid.
Claudia will first determine if the robe is magic, then clean it using her cantrips.
If it is not magic, she will fold it neatly and place it in the opened tomb.
”What did they tear off. What are they trying to conceal ,” the large Druid wondered aloud as he looked at the robe. He looked to the townsfolk and asked, ”Does the robe look familiar?”
The robe does indeed emit a moderate magical aura.
Hemlock and Father Zantus indicate they have not seen the robe before. Hemlock says that Father Tobyn was so burned in the fire that destroyed the prior church and killed him that he was not buried in any robe, but was his remains were sewn in a blue shroud to honor Desna. There are no signs of that shroud or a burnt corpse in the tomb. The remains of the skeletal bones spread across the floor have no fire damage to them.
"This is a magic item, but I have never seen it's like before." Claudia will ask Father Zantus if he can identify the magic on the robe.
"Dark Magic?" Rotomo asked in a shaky voice.
Father Zantus takes the robe and begins studying it. He speaks in a grave (no pun intended) voice, dropping the item quickly. It is an item of evil -- sometimes called a Robe of Bones. It's necromantic power allows the user to tear of the patches and create undead creatures from them. That must be where the skeletons that Hemlock told me about came from. It's unlikely one of them was Tobyn but instead from this robe. Whoever came here had evil intent. And it seems they took off with the body of our old priest."[/b]
Hemlock starts at the thought. "Who would do that! Why would goblins do that?"
Pris puts a thumb under her chin. "I wouldn't put it past goblins to rob random graves, but the robe and the larger footprints make it much more likely they had someone helping them out." She looks around towards the front of the small crypt. "Guess the question is, where'd they get off to with that body?" . She eyes the necromantic robe. "And who does that belong to?"
"Only place we find answers is from goblins," the Shoanti says as he crossed his massive arms.
"Sheriff, were any of the Goblins taken alive?"
Hemlock nods slowly. "Aye, a pair are in the holding cell at the Garrison but we can't get them to say a blasted word, except gibberish. You think you can get them to talk? Welcome to try."
Provided you are done here, Zantus and his acolytes close the stone door of the crypt to prevent any further intrusion. The priests offer healing to the party of any wounds, restoring Hemlock and Rotomo to their full vitality.
The sheriff leads you back to the Sandpoint Garrison, the headquarters of the Guard, which has a few holding cells built in the basement underneath. There he leads you down a into the dark basement, carrying a lantern. In a couple of the barred cells, two savage goblins are housed. One lies in a stupor, nearly catatonic, not moving or reacting to your presence. The other is nearly the complete opposite, leaping and cavorting, shouting and shrieking, as the longshanks appear. "So hungry!" it bellows in pidgin-Common. "Give food. NOW!"
Neither prisoner seems in a fit state to have a rational conversation, but Hemlock motions that you are willing to try, if you wish.
Claudia will provide the speaking one with some food, and then say "Would you like something to drink as well?"
Rotomo stands near Claudia as she questions the goblins ready to step in if the goblins prove uncooperative.
Pris crosses her arms, and leans up against a nearby wall, thoughtfully watching and considering the conversation - but letting Claudia take the lead. She clearly had a knack for this sort of thing.
The goblin greedily takes the food offered and wolfs it down in one tremendous bite, swallowing audibly. When Claudia offers something to drink, the goblin just shouts "More food! More!"
The other goblin does not stir or move during the entire exchange.
"Okay, wait here."
Claudia will head into town and get 5 GP worth of food, then return. She show him the food, then say "I would be happy to give you some more food, but I need your help first."
Rotomo's stomach rumbles as Claudia returns with the food. He continues to silently watch the exchange.
The goblin thrashes and cavorts around smelling the food. "Eat! Then talk!", it cries over and over again leaping about randomly. After a few minutes of outburst, it stops and looks at Claudia slyly. "Talk, then eat?" it asks quietly.
"Yes, talk first then eat. Who ordered you to attack us?"
The large Druid continues to listen in silence as Claudia is able to manipulate the goblin into talking. Although he believes the goblin will resort back to its tantrum throwing any second.
The goblin grins his sharp teeth glinting in the torchlight of the basement cell. "Longshanks. Longshanks make chief bring goblins to man-village. Goblins kill and goblins bite! Goblins do good work! Now, FOOD!" He stares at you malevolently, shaking the bars of the cell, and jumping around, until fed.
Rotomo holds up a chunk of food dangling it before the goblin a he asked, "Where does goblin tribe live and who is chief of tribe?" He throws the food to the goblin upon his answering.
The goblin is quite motivated to answer, as gooey strings of saliva run from its fearsome mouth while waiting to be fed the next morsel.
The first question confuses the goblin "What?" it asks blinking. "What is crypt?" It doesn't know how to answer that question.
The second question gets a different response. "Shhh!" It puts its finger to its mouth in the universal sound of being quiet. It speaks again with a lowered voice. "Longshanks go on secret mission. Some goblins go with, but I attack town. Burn! And kill other longshanks for fun! Now get food!"
The goblin looks at the robe and shrug disinterestedly. "Not goblins. Not care."
When Rotomo asks about the tribe, the goblin seems proud. "I is Seven Tooth goblin!" it shouts showing you a fetish around its neck strung with teeth. "Seven Tooth best tribe! Live in woods. Chief was Koruvus, with big sword! But chief go and not come back. Longshanks lead us to man-town."
The words about his tribe gets the lethargic goblin to finally stir. "Seven Tooth not best tribe! Thistletop Goblins best! Chief Ripnugget better than all chiefs!" He suddenly leaps from his position and attacks the other goblin, wrestling, shrieking and biting as they fight about which tribe is best. You notice the newcomer also has a fetish around his neck, but you can't make it out in the scrum.
"The stone building, with the bodies in it," Pris clarifies on the subject of the crypt, rolling her eyes. Still, she is intrigued by this idea of longshanks that may be working with the goblins. They must have legendary patience. "Where did the lumberfoots come from-" she begins to ask, but she is cut short as the goblins begin to wrestle, and she puts her hand to her face, massaging her temples. Goblins. "Could you stop that, please? Else we let you starve down here..."
Rotomo crosses his arms as he impassively watches the goblins fight. "I no think we get anymore good knowledge from goblins," the barbarian advises.
Claudia calls for Sherriff Hemlock to separate them.
Hemlock separates the goblin wrestlers by throwing a bucket of cold water on them. Sputtering the goblins return to their corners, eyeing each other balefully.
Hemlock turns to you, "I am not sure about trusting goblins, but I have taken the liberty of summoning our local ranger, Shalelu Andosana, to Sandpoint to see what she knows of goblin unrest. She is a goblin-fighter of some renown, and will know what they are up to or if men are indeed inciting them. She should be here tomorrow."
He rolls his eyes towards teh sulking goblins. "Do you have more questions for these menaces, or are we done here?"
"A deal is indeed a deal." says Claudia as she feeds the Goblin who cooperated.
Turning to the Sheriff, Claudia says "I don't have any other questions at the moment." she then looks at the others.
"Done with talk," Rotomo shakes his head.
Pris shakes her head. "I guess we've got all we can get out of these comedy artists. I hope this Shalelu knows more than the greenies, here. If there are round-ears involved in this, that'd explain how they managed to breach the city."
The sheriff leads you back out of the lock up area, and shows you the gear recovered from the goblins in the attack last night. Mostly it is worthless goblin armor and weapons but a few other items stand out. First a pair of crystal vials filled with a pale blue liquid. Next, the whip used by one of the war-singers seems of high quality, and last one of the shortbows used by the goblin commandos is masterwork and small sized...