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You activate the switches at the same time, and Staci hears a clear click from the door, which opens easily, and she is able to keep it open with the saddle.
The mournful wailing grows louder with each step toward the door at the end of this musty hallway. There are a host of bones strewn on the floor here, many of which are cracked and broken.
The door is locked and barricaded from the south side. The lock can be picked with a DC 20 Disable Device check, but the door itself cannot be opened unless the PCs first succeed at a trio of DC 10 Strength checks to push the barricade out of the way.
Combat Map
"That was really smart thinking Staci. I would have never thought to do that. Good job! How's the ankle feeling?" Qina chatters away. "I'm not really very strong but I'll give it a try."
"Hey, that sounded like when I load my crossbow. Did you guys hear that?" Qina listens for a second and whispers "is it me or did it just get quiet in here?"
Stefan will continue to try to remove the barricade.
"Enough of this!" Staci reaches for a piece of the barricade. "Stop that in there. Something's gone wrong and your friends are all dead."
She wrenches a piece of the barricade aside.
"We are not here to hurt you. We are from the village of Kassan, sent here to retrieve the flame to keep the winter chill at bay. It is our right of passage. My name is Qina, Qina Coldfire. What is your name stranger?"
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"No! You are a trap of the dead one, the dead one who speaks! You won't kill me!"
The man's voice is filled with fear and madness.
Stefan quickly open the door and discover this smelly and crazy man in the room, crunching back to a corner of the room fumbling with a crossbow, dropping a bolt to the floor.
Roldare
He screams in panic.
"No! Don't let the angry bones kill me too! Mercy! Dimira!"
Yo know him. He is a cobbler in town, who likes hunt with his crossbow (you all know the crossbow is very expensive).
Dimira is his sister.
He obviously haven't leave the room in a couple day's for the smell and look of waste in another corner of the room.
He looks dehydrated and hungry, dirty and quite affected by the attack.
He turns to Qina...
"I know you! Did they kill you too?"
"Of course not, don't be silly. I'm not dead. And you're not dead either. Now pull yourself together. We can escort you out of here, but you must calm yourself. Tell me, how long have you been down here?" Qina pulls out a ration from her pack and holds it up. "You look like you could use something to eat."
"The angry bones? You mean the skeletons? Skeletons took Dimira? Which way did they go? And snap out of it man!"
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Getting Roldare calm, out of the room, and willing to talk is no simple task. But Qina manages to do it. He has gone mad, and constantly rants and raves about the “angry bones” and refers to any living creature as “a trick of the dead one, the dead one who speaks.” Roldare begins with a hostile attitude toward the you, but Qina expertly calm him down.
Once he is calmed down, Roldare is a bit more helpful. He can explain the basic story of what happened here, but he does so in a disjointed way, describing the events out of sequence. They arrived here 3 days ago and were attacked 2 days ago. There were six villagers total, but only he and his sister are left alive. After setting up the traps on the first level of the dungeon, they were attacked by the “walking bones” in the middle of the night. He knows little about the leader of the undead, just that there is “one with the voice of death, who stalks these halls in ancient mail.” He can offer no advice on how to overcome the perils of the crypt, as he simply does not remember most of them. He knows that the PCs will need “the shields and the keys” and he also mentions that the PCs will need to go for a swim, but he cannot remember where.
There is one thing Roldare is sure to mention: his sister, Dimira, is still alive. He witnessed her being
dragged o! by the skeletons during the fight and he is convinced she is not dead. He believes that “the voice took her.” Roldare gives Qina his masterwork crossbow to aid in the effort (though a cobbler by trade, he enjoys archery and years ago bought this fine weapon from a down-on-his luck adventurer).
Roldare refuses to leave the dungeon without his sister and asks you to remain in this room for the night, and he will keep here until she is recovered. This room was set up by the townsfolk as a place where the PCs could rest during their exploits. There are a number of bedrolls here, a pair of bullseye lanterns with 4 flasks of oil, 5 days’ worth of rations, and two potions of cure light wounds that are labeled as “healing.”
Staci glowers at the cobbler throughout his interview with Qina. "Witless git," she mutters to Gurcich and Stefan. No doubt her opinion is influenced by the crossbow bolt which sliced her shoulder.
When Roldare asks them to stay the night, Staci's scowl deepens. "You think your sister is in danger, but you counsel rest. We'll lose hours." She turns from him.
"What do you all think?"
Qina looks at Staci and asks "I'm not dead right? I don't feel dead." She holds up the offered crossbow and looks it over. "No, no, you should hold on to your crossbow until we can find your sister" she says to Roldare. "Staci and Stefan, why don't you drink these potions labelled healing and we can continue on." Qina will move to pick up two flasks of oil though. "These might come in handy."
"Roldare, you stay here, in this room. Keep the door locked while we look for your sister, and stay safe. We'll get you once we find her, so do not shoot at us when we come back. Remember, when I say 'it's me, Qina', that means you put the crossbow down and unlock the door. Can you handle that?"
"Stefan, can you lead us through that door around the corner?
"Certainly."
Stefan goes up to the door, , and, assuming there are no traps opens it
"You can't leave the crossbow in his hands. He's daft enough to shoot us again. I'll take it just so no one gets hurt."
Staci will leave her heavy non-combat kit with Roldare however. She takes one of the potions and stashes it in her belt pouch.
Staci hefts her pitchfork and gets ready for whatever is behind the door.
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You open the next door. This small chamber is mostly empty, save for the body of a villager sprawled in the center.
Perched atop the corpse is a man-sized brown and yellow beetle, trying to push the corpse into the corner where a pile of trash and filth awaits.
Seeing the giant beetle, Staci whispers hoarsely in a voice like sand rubbing on rough steel, "Close the door Stefan. We'll not save Dimira with this fight."
"What? What is it? What'd you guys see?
"Big bug!"
"Was it a cricket? I hate crickets. They keep me up at night, with all their chirping. I bet it was a cricket."
"Did you see a door or something in that room, or should we go back to the beginning and go the other way?"
Qina darts into the room to get a look at the cricket. She mutters "that's not a cricket!" before raising her crossbow at the giant insect and letting the bolt fly.
Qina screams as the acid melts her flesh before she collapses into a heap in the corner.
Stefan moves to the other side of the beetle
Staci charges in to drive her pitchfork at the beetle.
....
Qina looks at Staci and asks "I'm not dead right? I don't feel dead." She holds up the offered crossbow and looks it over. "No, no, you should hold on to your crossbow until we can find your sister" she says to Roldare. "Staci and Stefan, why don't you drink these potions labelled healing and we can continue on." Qina will move to pick up two flasks of oil though. "These might come in handy."
You guys didn't drink the potions?
Qina's skin continues to bubble and blister as the acid eats into her flesh.
Staci pitchfork buries itself on the giant beetle carapace, even as the acid burns the woman's flesh.
Gurcich and Karvili spring forward attacking the creature too.
Both Gurcich and Karvili miss their attacks.
Gurcich keeps attacking while taking a 5' step trying to flank with Karvili.
He misses both attacks.
Karvili also moves to flank, and tries to bite back at the beetle.
But the pain makes her miss widely her bite.