Pyotr's calm and quiet steps break the still silence as everyone holds their breath in anticipation, not knowing what will come. With unwavering confidence, the stoic tiefling steps within sight of the magnificent stone maw of the statue. With flash of dim blue light heralds the magical blast to come as a beam of white-blue energy of pure cold essence lashes out at the fiend. As the distance between the effect and the statue lengthens, the energy forms into to solid shards of ice, sharp and swift enough to pierce even the most tempered steel. But as the frozen daggers reach Pyotr, they dissolve into water, breaking down into droplets that wet the boots of the sorcerer. He is entirely unaffected.
Nilan, you attempt to identify the magic being cast by these statues but come with no familiarity to its effects. However, you do note that the aura hardly grows in strength when it is cast as opposed to when it is dormant, indicating a relatively weak spell.
Stephan looks upon his compatriot with wonder.
As Pyotr gain halfway across the room, Stephan whispers "Boy, am I glad he's on our side...."
Nilan nods at Pyotr Impressive. he motions at Stephan indicating he is ready to follow.
"I am... unnatural," Pyotr explains. "The rain recoils from my presence. The snow refuses to fall on me. The fire does not warm me. Yes, bury me in a glacier, I will freeze. Throw me in a lake, I will drown. Force me into a fire, I will burn. But smaller things like this, will not strike me."
As he steps across the room, acting as the shield for those with him, he adds, "But I do not know what awaits us at the chest. There could be another trap, something else blocking us. But let us see."
Malthus falls in behind Pyotr.
Mathis searches it for traps... Taking 20
Iliya simply follows the others, taking his "usual" position either next to Stephan, or slightly behind him. He awaits quietly while Mathus fiddles with the chest. Why don't they simply allow me to break the lock and be done with it?
Stephan follows, and will also take 20 to look for traps
Searching the chest over reveals no signs of traps, it appears that whoever put it here thought the statues would be enough. At the end of your inspection, you hear the sounds of a shrill cry echo throughout the stone ruins, carrying with it an absolute sense of fear. When the sound reaches your ears, your heart lurches when you identify it as a young girls scream. It is halted mid scream and everything goes silent. A few seconds following, the ground begins a steady tremble. It lasts only a matter of seconds, but its strength was quite profound.
Gods! That was a sacrifice - I am sure of it!.
Mathus kicks open the lid of chest savagely.
Nilan listens intently We must make haste, now! Towards the sound, Evil is Afoot!
He will move without reservation to wherever he thinks the sound came from!
Evil will be a yard or more by the time we get there! Hold Father! Lets not run into a trap!
Pyotr takes position, guarding the others as they grab everything in the chest and rush out. "Everyone out now!" He draws a sigil on his chest as ice sprays around him. "Move!"
Kicking open the chest activates a series of levers, gears and pulleys from within that pull open an intricate compartment of what would be spell components and materials. Scrolls rolls, a wand holder, labeled compartments for various materials - all of which contain dilapidated forms of the old components that are no longer of use. However, a few scroll rolls have managed to preserve a few scrolls that might be usable. Below the raised tiers of drawers rests a withered body, mostly turned to dust over time. The robes are left in tatters, eaten away by the various scavengers of the crypt. Clasped in both hands over the corpse's heart is held a sinister dagger that appears wet with a faintly green coating, the blade of which is inscribed with Abyssal characters.
This way! Hurry! Nilan says as he raises his lit cane and moves to venture down the corridor.
Stephan grasps the dagger and wrenches it out of the body. As he holds onto the dagger, Stephan attempts to catch up to Nilan and gather the party into the marching order.
"Maintain your positions as we seek them out....I think I know a new home for this dagger.... in the chest of whoever is up to all of this!
The alchemist snatches the rest and follows the party at a run.
"Nilan, wait up! Let Stephan and me take the lead, it's safer like that"! - Iliya almost has to shout while trying to catch up with the frantic priest. Taking his usual place behind/next to Stephan, barbarian continues at a brisk pace towards the direction Nilan was showing, following catfolk's lead.
Pyotr takes the rear, making sure everyone gets out from under the gargoyles.
Stephan attempts to get Henry up with himself and Iliya. Cautioning the party, Stephan stays on the alert for traps and surprises.
"Time to finish this....
After grabbing what was salvageable from the chest, everyone quickly retreats to the origin of dreadful scream. Cutting across the altar room, you filter into the small, dark corridor. Nilan's lighted cane illuminates the area, revealing a deep staircase that ends in large double doors, much like the ones at the entrance to the crypt. It descends roughly 20 feet below and lacks any distinguishing features. Stephan's scouting assures you the way is safe and leads you down to the doors. You can hear the melodic cadence of chanting, roaring fires and swirling energy coming from beyond the doors.
Nilan will pause about 10 seconds for everyone to catch up and if no one opens the door he will push it open and charge inside.
Mathus is running last, trying to stuff the remaining loot into his pack at a run.
Once he checks things out at the door, Stephen lets the others charge through. He enters with stealth, hoping to surprise whoever is in the room
Pyotr notes Stephan and Mathus holding back, and head on past them, after Henry, Iliya, and Nilan.
With the help of Henry's bulky mass, Nilan manages to throw open the doors and reveal another smaller room. There are doors in front of you opened only slightly, flanked by blazing braziers. To your left and right are single doors that lead up to a lofted portion of the room. Through doors, all you can see is a swirling blanket of flame - its center a consuming black void that seeps with pure evil. You gauge that it is about thirty feet from the door. As you stand for those brief moments, taking this in, you hear a voice from within the room, deep and raspy, call out, "Bring forth another tribute! Only a few more and the Prince of Undeath will grace us himself!"
Pyotr grimaces menacingly as he pulls out his sling. As Iliya is immediately ahead of him, he traces out a rune on his shoulder that glows momentarily before fading. "Their evil will avoid you now, Barbarian."
STOP THIS BLASPHEMY! Nilan shouts and he chants a prayer to Pharasma blessing Henry with protection from the evil of these cultists.
Everything stuffed away Mathus steadies his new crossbow in one hand and reaches for one of his vials with another.
Similar to Henry, Iliya simply grasps his great axe tighter and charges off straight towards the the source of that strange raspy voice. No words, no battle cries, just cold hatred ready to be transformed into an all out attack on what barbarian considered was the master-mind behind this insanity.
Opening the door to his left, Stephen tears down the corridor at a run, reaching the next door. He then Attempts to quietly open the door.
Bursting through the cracked doors, Iliya and Henry stumble into the final chamber of the crypt. With their weapons drawn high, they are prepared for the worst. As the doors swing open, you see before you a large room divided into three parts: the common floor in which you have entered, the altar (~5 ft. high) along the northern wall of the room and the lofted coffins (~15 ft. high) along the east and west wall with ladder access in front of the pews. The room is well lit due to the swirling vortex ahead of you. Bound between two pillars, a spiraling portal of fiery energy twists around the black void of an unknowable dimension. It crackles with thunderous booms and howls with the occasional screech of unholy origin. Between the pillars holding the portal and the next set closest to you stands two skeletons with sharpened claws. Behind the portal, you can see the faint shimmer of humanoid shapes. Yet, far off at the other end of the room, seen above the fiery portal from his elevated platform you lay eyes upon the man himself - the de Mon son. His hunched stature hides his tall and sturdy build. He looks up as the intruders catch him off guard, first staring at Henry then at Iliya as they enter the room. His gaze feels as though you are making contact with death itself. He quickly continues with the ritual and lifts a hand from the well before him, revealing the blood-drenched crimson silhouette of an infant, and a sacrificial dagger being raised to its neck with the other hand. The fearsome cries of the baby echo wildly throughout the stone chamber. Without a hint of emotion, he coldly slides the blade across the child's neck. The room falls silent. Blood begins to flow from the child and into the well. His eyes never leave the party.
The portal surges with energy and grows in size, spitting flames around its perimeter that land on the cold floor and fizzle to nothing but small black stones. A whisper can be heard from inside the portal that is audible almost as if spoken directly into your ears.
Then, in the same rattling voice as was heard before, you hear the de Mon son speak with a disturbing emotional disconnect, "Dispatch of them, there are more to be bled." By now, Iliya and Henry have had ample time to act while the enemies are still caught off guard, but the rest of the party was left witness to the horrid events.
INITIATIVE Pyotr -> Stephan -> Henry -> Iliya -> Nilan -> Mathus (after Henry and Iliya's surprise round)
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Henry doesn't like the things he sees.
With a bellowing shout of rage and righteous anger, he dashes forward, lunging to one side of the pillar and bringing his bastard sword down without his usual intelligence of weapon choice. He's too angry-- too furious. "YOU'RE RIGHT!" he shouts, "THERE ARE MORE TO BE BLED! YOU-- FIRST."
The fog of rage clouds his vision, and he impacts the ground with a loud clang.
As if they trained this together, Iliya does almost the same thing as Henry - simply charges the nearest skeleton not bothering to change his weapon. He just moves as fast as he can and allows the cold hatred deep within himself to be transformed into a deadly fury which he directs to the nearest target.
Iliya and Henry both set their sights on the nearest target and straight for the intent to eliminate them in single blow. Henry's attack clashed with the ground as he rounded the pillar without caution. Iliya however strikes true with his axe, cutting through the bone with unbridled fury, cleaving it down the center starting at the skulll. The scene is shocking as you wouldn't expect a bladed weapon to be capable of such damage.
With a growing icy fury in his soul Nilan moves forward lit cane upraised! He hurls a vial of Holy Water at the skeleton fighting Henry
Mathus runs into the room, seeing the violence of the charging men, the anger of the priest he was swept along in the moment... and realised, for this time, this one time, he felt like the hunter of the undead he had always tried to be. Seeing the skeletons poised above on the left he tosses one of his alkehest bombs high to land between them aiming for the splash to pick up both of them.
Bomb
5 pts damage with half on a DC15 save.
Pyotr moves into the room, takes a position outside one of the pillars, and loads his sling, eyeing the situation with fury.
Still eerily silent barbarian continues his deadly dance with calculated preciion. Effortlessly, he steps over the remains of the skeleton he just fell, goes around the pillar avoiding fiery barrier and swings mid-step aiming for the shape just behind the barrier. All the time, his attention is focused at the creature who just killed an innocent child. Barely controlling his rage, Iliya makes another step towards de Mon son slicing at enemies while hardly noticing them, focused on his real target.
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Henry lifts the bastard sword with furious grace, attempting to catch the skeleton by surprise!
He only succeeds in throwing himself off balance. With a grunt, Henry stabilizes his shoulders and squares off with his new (and worthy) foe. One hand seeks his warhammer, and the other throws his sword to the floor.
Sneaking up upon the nearest skeleton, Stephan strikes with the corrosive dagger!
Seeing that the dagger fails to slice the bone effectively, Stephan starts to think.....desperate thoughts.