Is it another one of those mysterious scrolls?" Yasmin looks at the items alongside Emarald.
;
;
Emerald is unable to identify the vials on the table until Yasmin takes a look and discovers them to be curative potions,
Opening the scroll tube, you find three scrolls...two of which have magical auras but you are unsure as to the spell described,
...whilst the third scroll is, as suspected by Yasmin, another of the 'mysterious scrolls'...although this one has the number 'four' scribed across it...
...and then a limb on the most decayed cadaver...twitches...
...and then a limb on the most decayed cadaver...twitches...
"Gaaah!" says Grayface with disgust. This tower was giving him the heebee geebees. He preferred targets like bandits, beasts, goblins...targets that he could understand. These unnatural enemies bothered him and he didn't quite know how to shake the creeping feeling.
Be careful, lest we call more creatures to us....
I can't tolerate to let that corpse move. That's agaisnt my religion.
Ea rises her weapon
After the limb spontaneously twitches, nothing happens...
The priest of Pharasma lowers her morningstar as hard as she can, prayer to her goddess to deliver the tourmented soul and accept it in her Gardens to rest.
Emerald tucks the scrolls away (unless Yasmin wants them) and offers the potions to the "frontliners"
"This is for healing? Gladly accepted Em," said the man to the oread.
The potion gets tucked into a strap, ready to be pulled and used at a moment's notice. Grayface continues looking around for ghosts and goblins....so to speak.
Ea is watchful over the other cadavers, in case they twitch too.
If they are simple un-animated bodies, she will respect them and leave them alone
Thank you. Are the rest of these....things, for lack of a better term, safe?
Ea brings her Morningstar down hard upon the skull of the cadaver that had twitched...the mass of the spiked ball smashes through bone and explodes the corpse's head...rotting viscera and bone fragments fly over a small radius...splashing those nearby with noxious ooze.
When the weapon strikes the table, it makes a distinct 'thunk' type sound...and is immediately followed by a scuttling type noise in the ceiling above you.
A few minutes after Ea crushes the cadaver's skull, one of the spiders legs sewn to a corpse starts tapping on the table...
...tap, tap, tap...
WHAM!
Grayface's weapon separates the spider's leg from the body...the oversized leg falls to the floor where it twitches for a second or two before becoming still...
Totally spontaneously, and out of Rallos' control, his leg twitches uncontrollably for about ten seconds...and then subsides...
"I do not like this, perhaps we should retreat?"Emerald starts to move towards the exit.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Rallos' uncontrollable leg twitching almost causes him to lose balance and step on the pressure plate within the room...but just in time he grabs onto the wall and steadies himself.
Shortly after Rallos' near mis-step, the green light from the crystal dulls slightly...and the warm light from Yasmin's torch and from the magically illuminated weapons carried by Ea and Grayface shines a less oppressive light within the room.
This does not bode well....
Rallos scans the corners and ceiling looking for anything lurking about.
The ceiling within this room is around twenty feet high and is constructed from wooden planks; this is a stark contrast with the ceiling in the corridor outside, which is carved into the rock. The noise that you heard, which has now subsided, appeared to be coming from the area just above the pressure plate in the floor.
Looking into the corners of the room, Rallos doesn't see anything untoward.
It seems as thought that noise is from above us....likely a dead drop or something of the sort. Perhaps we can use these bodies to our advantage. Ea, would it be against your ethics if we use one of these.....things to spring the trap? I could try to disarm it, but it might be beyond my skills at the present time.
I don't think we could disrespect the dead more than they have already been, especially if we manage to catch and destroy whoever did this.
Sister Zalinsel gives a quick prayer to Pharasma for the dead
I have an idea, but it is a little on the disturbing side. Please do not think any less of me. Here goes. We tie a rope to one of these bodies and drag it across the floor, hoping to spring the trap. That way, we might catch whatever is up there by surprise. Any thoughts?
Rallos is clearly not keen on dealing with the dead bodies, but is ready to do it.
"Just a thought, what do we have to gain by setting off a trap? What if it is a gas or fire trap? We might do more harm than good."
A valid point. But since we can hear skittering above us, I think it would be a safe bet there is something above us. But, seeing your point, we could leave it alone. I will mark it with some chalk in case we have to come back by in a hurry.
Rallos takes some chalk from his pouch and roughly outlines the pressure plate.
Looking around at this room of blasphemy, Grayface decides he has had enough. "Let us move on."
Gray motions with his oversized sword to the door on the south end of the room.
Sensibly marking the floor and exiting the room, you find yourself in a corridor that heads back to the west (and to the other side of one of the doors that you saw upon descending the stairs) and, off to the east to another door...this one is slightly ajar, held in a partially open position by a chunk of fallen masonry
Rallos moves towards the open door as stealthily as he can and the listens at the door.
The warrior enters the corridor and keeps an eye on Rallos through the dim light, but keeps his distance as he is afraid to make noise.
I should have prayed to Pharasma so I'd be able to sense the unquiet dead from afar. Whoever did this to the corpses should be destroyed. I don't know how many have tried, but i'm not afraid to put my life at risk. Pharasma will judge. Fate will tell.
Ea kept silent, lost in her grim thoughts
Moving carefully towards the door, watching for movement behind it, Rallos is taken unawares by the ground opening beneath him...a trapdoor falling to reveal a ten foot deep pit, the bottom of which is coated in spider webs.
Rallos curses as he falls into the pit...
Goodbye, Rallos?
"Are you okay down there?"
"This is certainly a charming place, isn't it?". Yasmin looks about for trouble.
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Need a hand? Grayface extends one of the corpse arms from the previous room down to Rallos...
Grayface bends down near the trapdoor and extends his arm down to help Rallos climb up.
This was a well concealed trap. I must be extra vigilant.
As Rallos falls he realises that, hidden beneath the webbing, are rusty spikes. He twists and turns during his fall...trying his hardest to avoid becoming impaled.
Somehow he acrobatically misses the spikes, yet still lands with a crash...
Standing, and trying to regain his composure he calls up...and his friends call back...everything is okay....
....except it isn't...
With an explosion of blurred motion, something scurries out of an alcove to the side of the pit, pushes the trapdoor shut again, webs it closed and gracefully drops next to Rallos....
...in the darkness, the Tiefling is confronted with an oversized spider...fangs dripping with venom.
...whilst above, the corridor looks exactly as it did before Rallos disappeared from view...
Might need a bit if help here guys...
"What just happened there?". Yasmin ponders her options, and decides she is not eager to fall into a pit. But perhaps there was another way to safely trigger the door. "Hakan, reveal yourself! I wish you to fly to that door, and look for the trap door!"
A tiny genie materializes before the party, seemingly emerging from Yasmin's body. "Too cowardly to do it yourself, I see." quips the creature scornfully, but it dutifully obeys.
Yasmin, meanwhile, creeps up more carefully, looking for a pressure plate.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Yasmin - the tiny genie doesn't see anything in the way of trigger mechanisms between your position and the door.
Ea is quick thinking
Haven't we found a ring of feather fall earlier, on our now deceased foes?If so, give it to Grayface, so he can jump to Rallos rescue!
Having said so, Ea does her best to open the trap
The trapdoor gives a little, but Ea doesn't appear to be strong enough to open it on her own.
Rallos' blade finds flesh, pulling back his weapon, the serrated blade cuts into gristle and tendons. The spider, a vile creature, rears upon it's hind legs and bites at Rallos
Ea tries again to lift the trap, and says in her emotionless tone
Yasmin, Emarald, I need your help here.Greyface, be ready to jump, or give my a hand.Yasmin, send your genie on the pressure plate,it might help too if we cannot manage to lift this quickly. I won't left Rallos body behind us so it can be animated.