With a massive swing, Berashel slices the ghoul standing before him clean in half. A moment later, Tybek again lands two solid blows from his axes. With the ghouls now lying unmoving on the ground, you are able to catch your breath. A few seconds later, Arindale suddenly regains the use of his muscles, however he, Tybek and Berashel all continue to sense a coldness in their veins as though something from the undead creatures was slowly creeping toward their hearts, slowly destroying their souls.
_____________
Moving slowly into the room, you see that this was clearly designed as a crypt, and considering the number of alcoves, someone expected to be here for quite some time. However, most of the alcoves are empty and the remainder contain nothing but splinters of wood from caskets which have rotted and been destroyed, likely by the ghouls considering the scratches and claw marks.
The crypt is in the shape of a sideways T with a 10' wide passage leading south from the east end of the crypt. There also appears to be a crack wide enough for a human in the southwest most alcove.
EDIT: Had a post, got ninja'd by Chaos.
"Braden, this place is so spooky!" Maegge whispered to his elder, after they could finally take the time to look around.
Berashel lets out a long breath as he starts binding his wounds, "Whew! Those things are nasty. This necromancer has got some things to answer for."
Anyone in need of healing? Looks like we may need another of these healing wands soon.
"I was hit by a claw and a bite. If you can afford some healing I would appreciate it. However, I can soldier through if our resources are low."
Okay, here goes.
That didn't work very well, here you go. How are you now?
How are you now?
Berashel flexes his arm and touches where the claw and bite happened, "Much better! There is a little scrape and some bruising, but nothing to worry about. I am ready to explore further." Berashel tries not to think about how bad the area around the bite looks even though the worst of it was healed by Arindale.
"It is spooky. I wonder if any magic pervades."
"Well Ahh'm glad the ghoulies are deid, but Ahh think their wee bite has left me feelin sick inside. Priest dae yae hae any spell tae cure mae frae ghoulie beastie bites?"
I don't feel great either, let's kill this Necromancer and I can have a look at them. Looks like you are still hurt though.
"Thanks, Arin! Every wee bit helps!"
"Let's go before he makes more. Maegge, can you coax Dworkin to come along."
"Aye, we can dae that! Lemmae look fer traps, Ahh'll tell yae what Ahh find!"
Tybek proceeds south slowly, searching for traps as he goes. In particular he inspects the crack in the southwest alcove and the passage leading south from the east end of the crypt.
"I agree, I don't want to see these guys get back up anytime soon either. Moving along would be wonderful." As she coils her whip back up, she does seem to have an epiphany. "I do come to realize we couldn't be after a vampire though. They often prefer to choose abandoned castles as their lairs, to better reflect their noble nature. It would be far more likely we were sent here to eliminate possible competition if Burne or Rufus turned out to be the vampire lord of this area. Though I think we've seen both of them during the day. Who could the vampire be?"
[b]"Yes let us press on. We will take it to this necromancer and get our revenge![/b"
Searching the crack in the southwest crypt, Tybek is just able to squeak through. On the other side is another narrow tunnel which leads about 30 feet south before opening up into a natural cavern about 20 feet in diameter with two natural stone columns in the center. Strewn about the chamber are a number of partially eaten bones together with bits and pieces of shredded clothing and what appears to be pieces of equipment. This junk seems to have been pushed into several piles which Tybek guesses the ghouls used as beds or nests.
Another natural passage, just tall enough for Tybek to stand up in, continues to the west.
_____________
The 10' wide passage in the southeast continues south for 20 feet, then heads east fro 30 feet before again heading west. As with the crypt, the floor here is solid stone, but shows little use.
Tybek searches through the beds, the shredded clothes and junk trying to find any scraps of treasure.
"It always seems tae be slim pickins these days! Ahh cannae wait until Ahh find the jackpot!" The dwarf mumbles to himself.
Braden tries to help coax Dworkin.
He leaves his dog with a sigh and follows along.
Maegge creeps through the narrow tunnel to find another room full of jumbled trash and creatures' remains.
"I hope you don't mean the jackpot these other poor people found," replied Maegge to Tybek, gesturing at the cracked and broken bones of what had one been people.
Passing through the next tunnel - much more comfortably, this time - he couldn't help but notice the evenness of the floor and wonder who would have taken the time to have such work done, and why it was so important to warrant this much effort.
"Aye, we dannae want tae experience the deid feelin these visitors have, but we dae wont the treasure that these poor sods didnae find. Yae arnae fraid are yae?"
As Tybek sifts through the bones, skulls and other remains of the formerly living, he manages to find several items which appear useful. Seven vials with a sparkly clear liquid. One vial with a light blue liquid in it. A scroll and a pair of shiny bracers. He also finds a moldy sack containing 800 Wolves (sp).
As he is about to head back to the others, he suddenly notices the glint of something shiny to the west where the natural passage wanders west.
Braden checks for magic.
Tybek likes shiny things and investigates carefully, making sure that he is not falling for a trap.
"Aha! Ahh think Ahh see something shinin at me!"
Berashel follows behind Tybek with his greatsword out waiting for the nasty thing to jump out and grab him
Perception
Tybek moves west and discovers a single sail (gp) lying on the ground partially buried in the damp earthen floor. He looks up and sees another. Moving forward, he gets this and then spots another. Each coin is about 5-10 feet from the last one and leads into a twisting winding maze of narrow natural tunnels, many of which are so low that even the halflings would have to duck and squeeze to get through. The farther he moves, the more windy, and smaller the tunnels become.
Braden is unable to determine the nature of the magic on any of the items. Braden does determine that the vial with the blue liquid, the bracers and the scroll all are magical. The seven vials, while old and chipped, appear to be holy water.
Braden slips on the magic bracers.
"Magic bracelets, I am sure they will help."
He then follows behind: "I have heard leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, but not a trail of coins. Well, I guess the birds won't eat the coins, but a dwarf will pick them up!!"
Braden hands a vial of holy water to everyone and keeps two while commenting: "The defenseless mage needs the most."
"A trail of coins, like bating a trap? What better lure for a Dwarf! Be careful, Tybek!"
"Ahh think somebody has a hole in thair pocket! Ahh think its leadin us somewhair deeper into these wee tunnels. Ahh'm gonnae follow the trail and see whair it leads me, but will yae just pull me oot if Ahh get stuck? Here Ahh'll tie a rope aroond maeself."
Tybek ties a rope around his waist and moves forward picking up the coins as he goes trying to see where they lead him. His rope has a length of fifty feet.
Tybek moves into the winding tunnels and soon disappears around a corner. After finding 8 sails, the tunnels become too small for him to fit any farther. The only thing he finds in the tunnel other than the few coins are numerous bones, mostly gnawed upon. Some are humanoid, others appear to be various animals - rabbit, rat, and other small things, possibly creatures that crawled into the tunnel from somewhere else and were caught and eaten by the ghouls.
"Ach Crivenns! Ahh cannae fit any further. Ahh'm sure there are mair coins there, but yae're gonnae need tae find somebody a wee bit skinnier tae get in there!"
We can search around later Ty, let's focus on killing the bad guys!
"Now that is something I can get behind!"
Berashel speaks up, If we are interested in exploring the tunnels some more I have some magic that could make me smaller than Tybek, potentially slight smaller than our halfings here."
Braden nods, "Maybe we can explore these tiny tunnels a bit then with our new small friend. It is hard to believe the Welcome Wench is so expensive we are scavenging for coins."
"Believe it, mae friend! Ahh've never seen such a reputable place rob their customer blind. Ahh think its because they hae the only inn in toon that they think they can get awa wi' it, and they dae!"
Berashel speaks up, If we are interested in exploring the tunnels some more I have some magic that could make me smaller than Tybek, potentially slight smaller than our halfings here."
"Aye, that's a useful trick! Ahh'd like tae see this! This is gonnae be a richt rare sight! Noo, gae and pick up the wee shiny coins and bring them back tae me. Ahh will count them oot, and mebbae we'll hae enough tae buy a pint that we can a' share."
We are searching the tiny windy tunnels with mini Barashel leading.
Just confirming that Berashel wants to turn into a small palafrog?
Berashel crouches and scrambles as far as he can finding another sail for his effort. He then uses his celestial power to shrink himself until he is not much larger that a large bullfrog, and looking quite similar.
Berashel follows the tunnel which shrinks and expands several times, after about 30', he begins to hear squeaking noises somewhere ahead of him.
This sounds like rats.
We must have missed a secret door around here, there's no way a Necromancer is sneaking around here on his knees in the dirt, it just doesn't happen! Braden, don't you wizards have some magic that allows you to find them?
Ranim watches as Berashel changes form, absolutely fascinated by the change. At Arindale's words, "If they changed form like this, they wouldn't have to crawl. But it does appear we missed something. Shall we take another look after Berashel returns? Unless of course he finds something."