Garbund chants points to the remaining goblin skeleton:
« დაწვა! » … shooting a fire ray at it:
Ansgar will swing his blade at the goblin,
and bash at it with his shield
Squeeze is stably unconscious in the floor. He stays lying there, muttering something about carnival dressed goblin girls flashing their goods.
Viridi keeps walking forward, her holy symbol of Irori held before her. She feels another pulse of holy power bursting forth from her...
The group overwhelms the remaining undead with attacks, and the creature quickly falls. Hemlock steps closer to the crypt.
"This seems to be all of them..."
Viridi walks over to the unconscious Squeeze and heals him.
Squeeze naked in a field of dandelions! - the goblin yells, as he opens his eyes back from unconsciousness.
Confused, he runs around a little bit, before stopping and hugging Viridi's left leg.
Thanks! Thanks! Squeeze thanks beautiful scaled longshanks!
This Squeeze is an interesting one Ansgar thinks while chuckling on the inside.
Ansgar says a chant while passing his hand over his shield and it begins to radiate light.
"This should make things easier for those of us who can't see." He comments to everyone else. "Let us press onward."
Ansgar will continue deeper into the crypt.
Viridi purses her lips and pats Squeeze on the head. "...you're welcome."
"Now, what in Irori's name were these undead creatures doing down here...?"
"And just why this crypt in particular?"
The crypt is a 20 foot square stone structure, as Ansgar's light illuminates the place, the group can see a few sarcophagus (sarcophaguses? sarcophagi?) inside, each of them seems to house the remains of a dead priest, caretaker or acolyte of the Sandpoint Cathedral, as indicated by small stone plates.
One of the sarcophagus is open and empty, the plate on it says "Father Ezakien Tobyn, head priest". There is also a black robe laying close to the open sarcophagus.
"Well, what do you think?", Hemlock asks.
"There must be something to interest someone enough to break in."
Garbund will search the open sarcophagus to see if there are any items of
interest there. Hidden compartments, clues, or anything interesting.
… (sarcophaguses? sarcophagi?) …
Ansgar identifies the undead as two human skeletons and two goblin zombies of a different kind, known as "fast zombies". The undead don't seem to be raised nearby, but rather transported into the crypt in some way.
Gargund doesn't find anything in the sarcophagus besides the black robe close to it.
"These bodies seem to have been transported here. Given that, and the lack of a corpse in Father Tobyn's sarcophagus, I would guess that his body has been taken" Ansgar states.
"Where do these goblin tribes come from? We should pursue them to retrieve the priests body and find out where this necromancy is coming from."
Kalais does a quick sweep about the place, narrowing a little at the goblin corpses and the empty grave beside it. "The dead deserve to sleep," she mutters, moving into the crypt proper.
Still largely frustrated with this turn of events, Kalais ultimately slings her bow over a shoulder and snatches up the black robe from the ground, turning it over in her hands as one might any piece of evidence.
"Given your gods, I'm assuming Sandpoint doesn't make a habit of wrapping their priests in black?" she asks aloud, looking at the cloth for any identifiable markers or iconography.
Kalais can easily see a set of footprints in the dust, it seems like a humanoind and six goblins entered the crypt and walked up to the opened sarcophagus before going out. She tries to analyse the undead goblins but their features don't seem to place them among any of the tribes that live close to Sandpoint or even Magnimar.
"As far as i remember, they wear blue."
Upon closer inspection, Kalais notices that the cloth has a few holes, as if it had some other object attached to it and then removed.
"Strange. Why go through the trouble of sneaking in undead when all you want to do is nick something from a crypt?"
"I don't know, i'm guessing the whole goblin raid was partly a distraction for them to steal this...If they went to this length just to get a few bones i can't imagine what terrible thing they're about to do...", Hemlock sighs.
"Would be too hard to follow from whence they came?"
Garbund asks Kalais.
Squeeze crunches a roach he found, eating with happiness, while he looks around the crypt looking for other potential clues.
Goblins from the nearby tribes, right? With strong leader that dealt with longshanks. - he finally speaks, replying Garbund while he searches around.
"I don't have skills in following tracks."
"That's Kalais' speciality."
"Hopefully, there is a trail to follow somewhere after all this time."
"Squeeze, do you know of a tribe near here that might work for a 'longshanks' boss?"
Ansgar waits for the others to figure out about the local tribes and tracking as they are not his strong suit. While waiting he cleans his blade and shield and puts them away.
Kalais rolls over the skull of one of the Goblins with her boot, frown deepening by the second.
"Hold your mind there, scholar. I'd not say I'm an expert, but these...don't look much like your usual Lost Coast lot, even ignoring the whole reanimation business." With a second glance about the corpses, the squinting ranger speaks again: "I'd give it a run, personally; but with a day passed, the tracks could be worthless. Might not lead much further than a few meters from the walls."
Even with that said, it's clear a small fact like that isn't about to stop her from trying anyway. Before that, however, there's still the small matter of this...weird-ass robe to attend to.
"Ansgar, Viridi; you're both of the church—or at least a church, right? Neither of you two don't happen to have a way of...detecting nonsense? Magic or the like?" Kalais brow furrows, holding up the black perforated cloth accusingly. She's never been one for rituals, but a childhood of Iomedaean teachings has left her feeling pretty clear on 'Undead' being universally connected to 'Magic Shenanigans'. "Mind telling me how this looks to you?"
Having been quiet and unobtrusive this whole time, Viridi jumps when Kalais addresses her. "Oh..."
She sighs and shakes her head. "...I'm afraid Irori's grace allows me to heal and support others only. He has not granted me the means of determining the magical worth of something. Sorry."
"I can do it" Ansgar says.
Ansgar will cast detect magic and look at the robe and the rest of the room.
Squeeze makes a thorough search of the crypt, but there aren't any clues left besides what has already been found. As Ansgar detects magic, he can see a faint necromanctic aura emanating from the black robe.
"I have a friend who patrols the woods and knows the goblinoids in the region very well, i'll try to contact her tomorrow so she can help us figure this out..."
"The robe is magical, but I can not tell what it does. Perhaps we should take it to Father Zantus to examine further" Ansgar says
"Let me have a quick look at that robe too, since I'm here."
"I've heard of these somewhere. It's called a Robe of Bones."
"This one's spent. But they're used to store and quickly summon undead."
"I doubt it belonged to the priest who was buried here."
Squeeze conveniently hides behind the others when the robe is analyzed, and he becomes especially hard to spot when Garbund tells what it does. Finally, when he say the charges were spent, the goblin "reappears", "courageously".
Evil magic. Full of written words to steal our thoughts. Squeeze says we wait to hear where the other goblins are in the region.
On hearing the robe carries necromatic origins, Kalais tosses the drape at Garbund, disgust palpable as she wipes her hand against a lapel. Her ear almost visibly pricks up at the notion of another patroller, and while it takes a moment for the idea to take hold—rather than attempting to run the tracks to their potential source herself—the Ranger does eventually offer a nod.
"Alright." Kalais then looks to the bones and bodies again, her frown more saddened than angry, and puffs a breath. The crypt of a priest shouldn't be left desecrated, least of all with Goblin corpses.
"What do you suppose we do with all this then?"
"Well, at least this robe's magic is gone now."
"We should take all the undead bones and chuck them in a fire."
"Agreed." Viridi claps her hands together and starts gathering up bones.
"The thought of a necromancer stealing away a Desnan priest's body..." She trails off and shudders in revulsion.
"I agree with destroying the undead remains" Ansgar says as he looks about the room to locate them all.
"After collecting them, and burning them, we should talk to Father Zantus to see if he has anything to help us fight further occurrences of undead. We should also wait to see about what we can find out about the goblins tomorrow."
Ansgar will then help Viridi gather the undeads remains.
"I can burn the lot. Fire magic I do have."
The group takes a moment to clean the crypt of the undead remains and Garbund burns them outside. Hemlock calls Zantus, who makes a small prayer before sealing the crypt again.
"Something tells me we'll never see those bones again...", he sighs. "I hope Father Tobyns soul is still able to rest in piece after this."
"It will if we catch the one who made this.", Hemlock says, anger in his voice.
Approaching Father Zantus, "Father, do you know of anyone willing or able to do something such as this in the area? Any rumors or tales would be appreciated", Ansgar says. A bit more humbly Ansgar continues, "Also, would you happen to have anything to help destroy or ward against undead? We may need help if we are to continue our investigations."
Zantus thinks for a moment.
"No, i don't think so. Well...", he looks down, confused. Then to Hemlock, then to Viridi. "Well...This is quite a sensitive topic...But...Father Tobyn's daughter, Nualia, had a secret affair with a local youth called Delek Viskanta. I think he left the town at around the time the old cathedral was burned, and never came back, but...It is a huge stretch, even if he was somehow responsible for the fire, he surely was no necromancer, let alone someone capable of orchestrating a goblin raid..."
"About undeads, i do have a few flasks of holy water and silver blanch in case you meet more undead, i can go get them for you if you want...Also...", he removes a ring from his finger and hands it to Ansgar. "This belonged to Tobyn and was supposed to protect against undead, although i'm not sure if its truly divine or just superstition."
Description
The wearer of this ring can make a melee touch attack against an undead creature no more than one size category larger than himself, cutting off that creature from undying energy. The wearer never suffers any ill effects that might normally occur from coming into physical contact with an undead creature touched in this way. On a successful hit, the undead cannot be healed or aided by the effects of negative energy for 1d4 rounds. During this duration, positive energy affects the undead creature normally.
This ring in special also provides a +1 bonus on saving throws against haunts.
Garbund uses Detect Magic on the ring, and analyzes it.
"This is a magical ring, Father. A 'Ring of the Grasping Grave', I believe."
"However, it is used to harm the undead."
"It prevents any undead you touch from being healed by negative energy."
"At least for a short while. Also protects you from touching an undead."
"It also offers some protection against haunts."
Upon hearing Garbund's explanation of the ring "Thank you Father, the holy water and blanches will be very useful to us. And thank you for the ring I am sure it will protect one of us well." Ansgar says while looking the ring over. "I can come with you to gather the blanches and holy water, no need to have you do all the walking for us."
Looking at his companions, "I suggest we go back to the inn for the night, and tomorrow we can hear from this woman who knows about the goblins before making our next move. I will meet you there after going with Father Zantus."
Zantus and Ansgar go inside the cathedral, where Zantus offers three flasks of holy water and a sack with silver weapon blanch for two weapons.
Viridi heals the last of Squeeze's injuries before turning in for the night.
Kalais gives a slight nod to Ansgar, and a half-salute to Hemlock and Zantus before taking her leave. "You know where to find us."
"As soon as i get word from my contact i'll search for you, it might take a while, but please keep helping our town with what you can.", the sheriff says, before everyone goes to bed.
As the next day begins, things look a bit more "normal", in Sandpoint, the trauma of the goblin raid fading away from the townsfolk's memory. As the group descends to have breakfast at the Rusty Dragon, Ameiko tells them:
"That nobleman Foxglove asked me to tell you he wants to do the thing tomorrow afternoon, if thats fine with all you, he's already preparing stuff, whatever that means.", she shrugs. "Anyway, how are things going?"
Responding to Ameiko, Garbund replies:
"He wanted us to join him on a boar hunt."
"Sounds like it could be interesting."
"Although I don't yet have the right kit for it."
Squeeze distracted himself playing with the ring in his hands, controlling himself not to try to eat it. He was absurdly happy that his companions trusted him with an artifact of immense power, and feeling almost invincible now - the mightiest of all goblins.
The goblin was actually extra hungry for that breakfast, but still remembered to cover himself to look like a very ugly gnome. Or handsome, depending of who asks. He heard about the boar hunt thing but didn't quite remember anything on this matter - instead of questioning, though, he decided to entertain himself eating more of the longshanks food.
"I should get a spear as well", Ansgar says when Garbund mentions needing one.
Ansgar will go with Garbund to equip himself and then walk around town a bit, looking for people that need help and listening to whatever gossip has arisen surrounding the goblin attack.