Nevai steps further back, continues healing and then stashes his wand safely back into his belt.
Tunar's weapon slams into the armored figure and the man staggers for a moment, before shaking his head to clear it.
The red-faced man fires his crossbow at Leto. Eat you? What is wrong with you people? As Almathea's bolt slams into his shoulder he winces, Seriously?
The man in the back, again tries to stand, this time succeeding. The look on his face is incredulous as if even he doesn't believe it. He hears the crack of Tunar's weapon hitting his ally and looks worried as he stumbles forward in the darkness, reaching out for his friend. Finally, his hand stretches forward and he touches the man's back.
Are we really still fighting? What is going on?
The armored figure looks at the rent in his armor from Tunar's blow and growls, lashing out with his falchion. However, the armor seems dented enough to throw off his aim and he stumbles to the side, off-balance.
Tunar's second attack brings the man to his knees. He attempts to stay conscious but eventually succumbs and falls to the floor.
The half-orc roars and steps forward to swing at Tunar. My friend may not be very bright, but he wasn't kidding!
Put yer damn weapons down. Now.
From below the hooded archer pops back around the corner to take a few shots at Leto.
Seeing Tunar fall, Setesh sighs.
"I was really hoping to avoid this..."
Gingerly, he pulls a vial from his belt, and with a wince, unclips the stopper, sending an aroma redolent of embalming fluid wafting through the air. Uttering a swift prayer to Anubis, he quickly downs the vial's contents.
For a moment, nothing happens, then his skin darkens, taking on the appearance of old leather, even as the thin layer of subcutaneous fat beneath his skin disappears, revealing rock-hard muscles and cord-like sinews.
Setesh flexes his fingers, turned sharp and claw-like, and grins through a mouth full of sharpened, shark-like teeth.
"You wanted a monster? Fine! I'll give you one! There is nothing I wouldn't do in defence of my allies, in territory we were rightful assigned by the Church of Pharasma to explore!"
Erei will keep firing his crossbow at the creature at the center of the darkness.
Erei will fire again.
Setesh drinks an extract, causing a layer of force to envelop his body.
He then moves forward.
Leto looks in horror at yet another bolt in his guts and coughs up some blood. Medic!
With some effort, he raises his bow to shoot back:
"Why should we put our weapons down? So that you can kill us all the easier? Why don't you put your weapons down and back off?"
Almathea tosses a glob of acid at the large half-orc.
Tunar begins to say something snarky before eating a large Falchion to the face and going unconscious.
The red-skinned man ducks behind the wall with a muffled curse. Damn, this hurts.
Almathea's acid flies into darkness. The shadows surrounding the Half-orc still making it difficult to see him.
One of Leto's arrows finds its mark and the hooded archer grunts in pain.
The Half-orc roars again and slams his greataxe into Setesh as he steps forward.
The half-orc growls.
The other man blinks as he steps forward, squinting in the darkness. Suarn, get rid of this darkness, I can't see a thing. He nudges the armored man on the ground and speaks with an eerie calmness, given the situation. Well, that's not good.
The darkness almost instantly vanishes as he speaks, There, now...why didn't you idiots tell me it was them we were fighting. He frowns as he berates his large ally. He turns his quizzical gaze at those left standing, So...you are the thieves the genie told us about? Interesting. He holds his longspear ready to attack Nevai if he moves or attacks, but holds for now.
The hooded archer pulls back his bow and takes aim at Leto, and also holds...for now.
"Who are you? We're not thieves and... did you hear that? It sounds like someone or something set you up. The elemental claiming to be a house spirit perhaps? We are the group appointed by the church of Pharasma to explore here, and it sounded like you were a band of thieves come to steal what we were sent to explore. We attempted to scare you away without a fight, but you attacked after dropping us into darkness." Nevai looked at his fallen companions and prepared to defend them if the attackers don't step back.
The half-orc slams the head of his axe into the floor and leans on the haft, breathing heavily. The man puts up his longspear, no longer pointing it towards anyone.
Not thieves...so you say. We were approached by a genie that claimed it had been attacked. And that fiends, and their allies, had taken over its home. It said that it had killed several of the fiends, but was driven back by the 'others'. When we arrived we were greeted by the dead fiends...we assumed you thought we were the genie and trying to scare it off again. He frowns, but continues, You should have surrendered when we offered. It would have saved you quite a bit of blood. See to your friends,[b] he says, sounding like a man used to giving orders, [b]it would be a shame if anyone were to die here.
You all hear some laughter from up above, and a voice from the air, Fine then. Perhaps I won't beat you now. But I'll be watching you all. I'll be watching... The voice trails off in the distance.
Hrm...perhaps it was not a genie after all. He kneels down, takes out a wand carefully, and touches it against his ally on the ground. Holding up the wand, I'd be happy to help your friends as well, if you'll let me, of course. He asks with his tone partly questioning and partly arrogantly dismissive as if he doesn't much care about which you decide.
"Yea, please, help them if you can." Almathea will move up to check on her injured companions as long as the other group is acting threatening.
"When we first arrived here, an elemental of sand claimed to be a spirit of this place and then tried to kill us. It seems that this tomb is rather full of evil beings willing to lie and kill explorers like us. I begin to question our luck in drawing this location for our second outing."
Once the combat seems to subside, Erei will talk with the other group.
Legally authorized explorers like us, he emphasizes. Why don't you tell me a bit about who you all are? I mean other than the fact that some sort of spirit sent you here, I'm not sure that I understand what's going on here yet.
He extends his hand and cracks a smiles, Erei Jentis, it is a pleasure.
"I appreciate the help," Nevai said as he sheathed his sword and drew his own wand. Working on the most grievously injured first, Nevai worked at healing his injured companions.
The man steps forward and presses the wand against Tunar and Setesh who both start healing. They both wake up to the feeling of their flesh crawling as their wounds close.
There, that should be better. He looks towards Leto, Sir, do you mind? Waving his wand towards the wounded man.
We are Chundren’s Champions. I am Valtius, and this is my fearless group of companions. We were at our own nearby legally given site when a genie appeared and asked us to come aid it. There was some debate over whether this violated the rules, but we decided that the church would agree that it was wise to assist where we could.
The armored figure groans and pulls himself up to a kneeling position.
Leto nods slowly to the healing offer, but immediately regrets as a foul taste of brimstone fills his mouth.
How considerate of you to help out a genie in need. It seems you have been deceived though. There never was a genie here, nor did we attack anyone but the malevolent creatures and beasts we encountered here, who left us no choice.[b]
He eyes the group carefully.
[b]Surely you don´t have any malevolent intentions? Now that this misunderstanding is cleared, you probably want to return to your own site again? The church will most likely agree on your notion to help. It´s good to know we have caring and able neighbours. I´m impressed by the consens in your group too. We always have a lot of different opinions here and we respect every single of them.
Setesh groans as he returns to consciousness. Instantly on his guard, he darts back up to his feet... only to realise that combat appears to have been suspended.
"Right then. I am glad that we managed to sort that out. Shall we part, and continue on our appointed tasks? I agree, it is nice to know that we have such concerned neighbors...", he says, without a trace of apparent irony.
"Did you find any similarly duplicitous creatures in your assigned sites? Our first one was a mess of traps and ancient guardians, while this location was inhabited by the restless dead, various monsters that prey on the living, as well as the tricky elemental you met earlier."
The man's frown is thoughtful as he looks around your group. No, no, of course. I'll let you return to your search. We are...regretful...that there was a conflict here.
The two hooded figures from below come up the stairs to join the group. The archer pulls back her hood and scans the party. She gives a respectful nod to Leto, but makes no comment. The red-skinned man beside her mumbles something about eating people and foolish prejudices.
We shall return to our site. If you require aid, or run into a genie...let us know.
With that the armored man gets to his feet and the group turns to leave. The half-orc nods in your general direction and winks, Fun times, he growls.
With a nod, Setesh waits for the other party to leave, then goes back to searching the upper level.
Tunar snaps awake, ready to jump to his feet before gagging a little... Hearing the voices he lays on the ground he takes in the conversation. Finally he stands, nodding back at the Half-Orc "Indeed, we should try again sometime, I'm always up for a good fight."
Tunar scratches at his skin, trying to get the itch from the demonic healing off, finally taking a drink of ale once the feeling subsides.
"That was a fun little bout, not to much in here could fight like them. Though I'd prefer not to be touched by whatever magic that was again... Felt wrong, worse than normal magic."
Tunar gathers up his equipment, switching back to his greatsword before joining Setesh in searching.
"All right... perhaps a new plan. Let's try to avoid fighting people if we can avoid it. Looks like we're going to need to get a new wand for healing before we head to our next location, but this one should be enough to last us through today." Nevai wiped off most of the blood from his wand and tucked it back into his belt, then drew his sword and adjusted his shield. "What's left in this house? Which way next?"
The half-orc chuckles as he turns away and pulls up his hood. As long as you beat on the other guy again, you've got a deal. The armored figure doesn't respond as the group leaves. The red-skinned man, however, continues to grumble under his breath the whole way out.
Searching the rest of the floor you find no danger. Most of the rooms are old bedrooms and one seems to be an old office.
In one room among the ruins you find a rusted dagger, a handful of marbles, and a small lacquered wooden box. The lacquered box is an ancient board game whose rules have been forgotten over time. Inside the box are several small, carved stone playing pieces. The box functions as the game board.
In the office you find a simple bronze key.
In the bedroom in which the last two Vargouilles retreated you find a headless corpse. The body carries no valuables except for a simple gold wedding ring. An inscription in Osiriani inside the band of the ring reads, “To Akar from Panhet, Love Eternal.”
In the last room there is a large bronze chest. It is locked, and a careful search reveals that there is also a trap. The key you found in the other room seems like it will fit thought the trap will still need to be removed.
To an Osirionologist, the game is worth 50 gp as a rare antiquity.
The wedding ring is worth about 50gp.
Setesh confidently looks over the valuables.
"To an Osirionologist, the game is worth 50 gp as a rare antiquity. The wedding ring is worth about 50gp."
Upon noticing the trap, Setesh sighs.
"Right. Looks like another job for me. Everyone should stand back, just in case."
Once everyone else is clear, he attempts to disable the trap (and, if successful, he then tries to open the chest).
You deftly disable the trap. The chest contains 30 small gold ingots, each bearing a seal.
Setesh shakes his head ruefully.
"I am not sure what the seals represent. Anyone have any ideas?"
Gathering up the ingots, he then moves over to the doors of the remaining outbuilding, and takes his time searching for traps.
"Hmm, I think that the seal is that of the Keleshite sultan who governed Osirion at the time of the Plague of Madness, roughly 2,215 years ago."
The ingots look like they are about 25gp each or so.
Tunar scratches his head.
"A plague of madness? That sounds like a particularly specific kind of horrible. You don't think any of this stuff still has any of that 'plague' left on it do you? What if we all catch it!?"
At this point Tunar is actively not touching anything.
"Plagues don't usually stick around that long, that's why sealing off the entire district was effective. Eventually the sick die off, their bodies rot away, and all that is left is bones. They should be safe to touch by now. Looks like the only danger these days are things like what we've found so far," Nevai pointed at the headless man, "It seems that our flying headed friends claimed this one a few months ago."
Sighing in noticeable relief.
"That's good to hear. I can handle flying heads of madness... plagues, not so much. Should we, uh, do something for them? They might have family in the city."
The door to the mausoleum isn't locked but it is heavy. A solid push opens it, however. Stairs lead down into the darkness. As you descend them you find no traps.
A stone altar sits upon a raised stone platform in the center of this square room. Caryatid columns carved in the likenesses of male and female figures with their arms crossed over their chests and khopeshes or ankhs in their hands stand at each corner of the platform. Empty torch holders are built in all four of the room’s corners. Another stairway leads down out on the other side of the chamber.
As you enter the room cautiously and everything seems still for a moment. Then a figure rises slowly from behind the altar just as two more step out around the corner to block the group on the stairs.
Two pallid humanoid creatures, wrapped in wispy strips, with bits of detritus and a sour stink clinging to them, block the way. Another stands behind the altar in the room.
Setesh calmly pops the cork on another vial, and downs it, causing a shimmering disc of force to appear inches in front of his body.
"Quick! Let's bottle-neck them at the top of the stairs!"
"Oh what the hell do we have to deal with now?"
Thea tosses a blob of acid at the closest of the creatures.
Almathea will try tossing another acid blob at the closest, standing one again.
"I would really like to be able to cast a fireball right now."
Though once human, adherers have forgotten all traces of humanity, and now hunt their former kindred with gleeful abandon. Adherers digest food unusually slowly, and as such can feed on a single creature (humans are their favorite meal) for days or even weeks, taking only one or two bites a day and forcing their living captives to endure a hellish, drawn-out death.
One of the creatures gets a blob of acid in the face as it rounds the corner.
The two figures in front step forward swiftly to attack. One striking at Setesh and the other at Tunar.
Both Setesh and Tunar are wrapped up in the sticky strips of flesh hanging off the creatures.
Already off to a bad start, Nevai helped bolster his front line.
"Speaking as a a professional embalmer, these things are *not* undead - I think that they are Adherers - humans twisted by exposure to the Ethereal Plane into unholy abominations, that hunger for living flesh (preferably human). Weapons have a tendency to stick to them, and they are somewhat resistant to magic."
With a hiss of frustration, Setesh attacks the creature grappling him.
Tunar looks at Almathea somewhat surprised at her outburst... before running right into an Adherer.
"What in the bloody blazes of hell. Gerrofff me!"
Tunar releases his greatsword with one hand, unable to swing it with the uninvited creature getting frisky with him.
Drawing out his dagger from his side, he stabs at it in an attempt to get the point across.
Leto is in the second row.
Seeing the weird humans and Alma attack, he doesn´t hesitate either.
If possible, Erei will stand behind the front line and stab the creature with his longspear.
Setesh tears into the creature that has him wrapped up doing siginificant damage. One of Leto's arrows also slams into the creature.
The two creatures move back into the rooms and around the corners, pulling Tunar and Setesh with them.
One continues to pummel Tunar.
The other keeps beating on Setesh.
The third darts forward and attempts to attack Leto, who gets wrapped up in the creature's sticky threads.
Erei misses with his attack. Tunar strikes the creature holding him, but does very little damage.
Setesh hisses in frustration, and continues to rip into the creature attacking him.
Erei will attempt to cast Grease so that it hits only the enemy creatures with the goal of relieving some of the attacks on the front line.
Erei will attempt to stab at the creature grappling Leto.
Tunar continues stabbing, somewhat desperately at this point, at the creature holding him.
With Setesh badly wounded, Nevai moved to aid him.
Leto snarks at the disgusting sticky creature and tries to punch it.