With a rye and bemused look, Edrik chuckles at Garin's suggestion "Smite with that wee thing Garin? Perish the thought."
Glancing back at the weapons, Edrik nods at Vachordi's assessment of the hammer "Aye, it wouldn't be of much use anyway to you anyway Vachordi. About all that little thing would be good for is ranged combat."
You knot the rope, secure it, and watch as it tumbles down into the burnt darkness.
From below, you hear eerie echoing laughter. Suddenly a light, then three appear below in the darkness. Three flaming spheres fly into view and arch their way up the narrow tunnel- they turn and you see that at the center of each is a skull wreathed in flames.
Initiative please.
"Gah, skulls! Let's see if this hammer is any good."
vachordi takes the flute
Gilda takes none of them.
Init.
At the sight of the skulls, Edrik grimaces and mutters "There is no shortage of horrors in this god forsaken place."
Drawing his hammer and shield forth, Edrik engages the nearest flaming skull.
"Flying burning skulls?" Awnara cries as she spies them. "Oh gods, what are these things?"
Initiative
Gilda
Skullz
Garin
Edrik
Vachordi
Ankara
One skull attacks Shel.
One attacks Gilda
One attacks Vachordi.
if they have any bonus vahordi takes a hit
Garin grips the small hammer with both hands and swings it at the nearest skull.
Shel takes a 5' back from the skull attacking her and uses her sling, firing a bullet at the skull.
Attack
Damage
Vachordi beings to sing his battle song.
"Well, if flying burning skulls aren't undead, I don't know what is!", Awnara spouts, and another blast of holy energy erupts from her eyes towards the one attacking her fellow halfling.
Disrupt undead on the one on Shel, -4 because I don't have Precise Shot.
As a single mind, the party reacts sending blows, beams, and holy radiation out.
All three survive Gilda's initial blast of holy radiation.
Gilda takes 2 points of damage from the bite, one point of which is from the burning flames.
Garin's hammer smashes through the skull, sending it spiraling down the tube to the dungeon below. It shatters into pieces and the flames snuff out.
Shel's small pellet cracks the skull of the third.
Awnara destroys the third with her disrupt undead.
They are minor undead, likely manifested of beheaded humans.
Though reacting quickly enough, Edrik is happy to see that the menace is easily and quickly dispatched.
"Well done everyone!"
Before heading down, Shel makes sure she grabs any additional items that the others might not want to carry. "The warden's wife told us these might help, so I'm making sure we have all of them, just in case.". Once she gathers the items, she again secures the rope and has the others lower her down for a look around.
"I'll take the book," Awnara says, picking up the dusty tome. "I'll study it when we've got some time."
Moving on: down the pit! Down the pit!!!!! What order are you descending?
Vachordi will go third
Shel decides to head down first, hoping the others can lower her down,s o she can make sure the way is clear for the others.
I have the flute
Awnara will descend right after Shel. "It wouldn't be proper otherwise. The boys would be looking right up my skirt!"
Gilda follows Awnara.
"Iomedae preserve from the nasty thoughts of boys. Unless of course we want them to think that way."
Gilda pauses, a little confused by her own statement, then shrugs and continues following Awnara.
This cavernous chamber may have once been an underground
cellblock, but it has long since collapsed. The crumbled walls
are thick with mold and stained with soot, and heaps of fallen
stones and charred wooden beams line the area. Water drips
and seeps along the walls, collecting in a dark, murky pool in
the middle of the room. To the north, the twisted remains of a
wood and iron lift lie in a heap in a shallow portion of the pool.
A jagged hole in the roof yawns twenty feet above this ruin. To
the west, a partially blocked opening seems to open up after
several feet into a dark but stable tunnel.
As soon as the last of you descends into the room, there's suddenly a cacophony of noise- screams and howls of the perished - wash over you and chill you to the bone more than the damp, burnt smelling air does.
You start on the far right room with the pool.
Shel starts by exploring the room the group descended into. "Everyone look around the room. Be careful, though...we know there are spirits down here."
Perception
Vachordi brings up his lights and sends them into the darkness to see if anything reacts. He hums a sune to himself
Gilda Detects Magic
Awnara jumps and presses herself behind Edrik as the screams of the unquiet dead manifest. She trembles and sheepishly looks up at the paladin. "Um...my, but it's cold down here," she lies, hoping he'll understand. She also scans the room for magical auras, hoping she'll be able to be of some use.
With a light nod and a warm smile, Edrik nods understandingly and comforts the little halfling "Aye, it certainly is cold Awnara."
Glancing about, Edrik tries to adjust his eyes to the darkness tracing the light created by Vachordi. With a shrug, Edrik gives up trying to find anything in the darkness "Well, my eyes are good for little down here."
The floor is littered with burnt bones, most of which are clustered around a pile of refuse under the hole in the ceiling. This was likely the wooden lift that would serve as an elevator between floors- which burnt completely and fueled the fire to the rest of the dungeon. The fire became a funeral pyre for a cluster of prisoners here. Nothing of value remains.
You quickly scan the room for magical auras - you find nothing. The magic users provide magical light to aid your exploration.
Only one thing stands out: the narrow cracks in the wall are giving off a weak, greenish glow that seems to slowly pulse. As you get closer to see it better, the glow quickens and brightens. It comes from a slime that is oozing from the wall, and that slime begins to drip and glop off of the wall into a pile on the floor. These piles start growing larger- and taller, and the strings of goo twist and knot until they start taking a humanoid shape.
Init.
Awnara slowly backs away from the green ooze and wrinkles her nose. "What in Heaven's name is that?"
i believe the technical term is green
Shel
Awnara
Edrik (14)
NPCS (13)
Vachordi (11)
Gilda (11)
Garin (7)
The four creatures grow to the shape of humans- as if a ghost has formed a body out of glowing, pulsing, ropes of green goo.
They silently scream and windmill toward you.
Awnara retreats a few steps, equal parts horrified by the malformed bodies of protoplasm and disgusted. "Let's find out if they're necrotic in origin," she says, and blasts of holy light lance out from her eyes at the creatures.
Attack one of the creatures with disrupt undead.
Shel takes a total defense action, then pulls out the undead catching device from her belt.
Gilda channels positive energy, attempting to catch as many of them in the cone as possible.
Furrowing his brow, Edrik curses quietly "This place is a cesspool of the living dead..."
Moving forward, Edrik takes the point in a bid to block them from attacking Awnara and Gilda.
Shel crouches and turns her body to limit the area exposed to the entity.
Anwara's beams burn two holes through the nearest monster. Bubbles of green glowing goo begin to ooze from them. The creature screams silently in pain.
Edrik's warhammer connects solidly with the torso of the one threatening him- but he finds that it nearly bounces back into him. The rubbery texture of the ectoplasm absorbs most of the blow.
The creatures swing wildly, with fists upraised, as if they were pugilists boxing in a pool of goop.
A globby fist slams into Shel, despite her protracted stance. Please roll two will saves.
Failure means you're shaken for
Glinda can catch 3 of the 4 in her arc, all but the one facing Shel:
Two explode from the holy energy. A splatter of green viscera drips from the walls and shirtfronts of the party.
Two PCs are missing. Shall we bot them?
If we don't hear from them by monday evening, I'll act for them. In the mean time:
Round 2