Vigar flings the last piece of dirt over his shoulder before passing the shovel to another willing hand.
"Not exactly, I'm digging this pit in the hope of slowing down the horde of zombies. If they fall in and can't get out, that'll mean less enemies to fight. An even better result is they stay in there the whole time!
A canal system though....that's an interesting idea. Might want to do that after this mess is over."
Climbing out and cleaning himself as best as he can, Vigar looks at the scholar fighter.
"We have a plan I suppose."
"We do. There is a temple that once was used to create undead. It was warded, but it seems some meddling scholars removed the focus. Hopefully, if we leave now, we can find the focus and re-ward the temple and prevent things from rising tonight."
Vigar raises an eyebrow at that.
"So.... it's going to take an equally meddling bunch of scholars to fix it, I'd suppose. I'm in. We heading out now?"
Rowan laughs "I suppose it will. We are leaving as soon as everyone is ready."
Tassira goes to find Rowan & Vigar. Eying the fortifications Vigar built, Tassira can't help but whistle.
"A pit deep enough to effectively halt zombie aggression. Well done. In fact, that has me wondering... that pit could be filled with oil or pitch and set ablaze to effectively keep the zombies out." She says, looking the pit over.
"Of course, there's the risk of a wind coming by and causing the fire to spread out of control. So perhaps spikes would be better suited for the task." She looks up at Vigar.
"Vigar, when we head to the ruined temple, we need to be on the lookout for a two-foot long bronze rod engraved with a sunburst and sword. That was the focus of the ritual that kept the priest sealed away."
"I'm not so sure about the fire and all, I get the feeling that the people here might want to rebury their dead. Since the attacks keep on going, I'm hoping to just trap them and leave us free to do some rebuilding." Vigar climbs out to join the rest.
"So a Fancy Rod? Alright I'll keep an eye out for such a thing." Hefting his pack Vigar carries it some way down before putting it down and diving into a nearby fountain/pond, washing away most of the dirt before coming out.
"So we need to go now and hurry right?"
Tassira starts walking away from the temple grounds.
"Sounds like a good idea. We need to get this done." She rests a hand on the hilt of Bar.
"I estimate we have about 14 hours before nightfall, so if we're going to deal with the temple, we need to go now." Tassira turns to the rest of her party. "Unless anyone has any better ideas, I'm heading for the temple."
As Kariel begins walking to the ruined temple, Tassira takes the lead, striding forward with purpose.
Her head is held high, her sword ready to be drawn to defend the innocent.
Her bearing has the makings of both a knight and an empress... even if such titles are the furthest things from her mind right now.
I have a chance to make things better for someone. I couldn't be of much help in the first attack, but I can help now. I'm through with cowering in the back while everyone else does their share of the work.
Vigar for the lack of a better description lopes around ahead his stride lengthy and his sense sharp for any form of danger. All things aside, the temple sounded dangerous and he doubted he actually had the skills, knowledge or foresight to see what needs to be done. He did know how to defend his family and sometimes he reflected, it was more than enough reason to go on.
"While we're moving, anything else you could share regarding what we're likely to be up against? looking out for this foci sounds easier than most but what if it's broken or something?"
"Well, if it comes down to that, Vigar, and it turns out the rod is broken, then we'll have to perform the ritual anew. To that end, we'll need something to replace the ritual focus."
Tassira racks her brain, sifting through everything she learned yesterday. Hopefully, she learned something about performing the necessary rites...
From the you have found you see that the lower levels can be reached by a secret entrance disguised as a crypt in the graveyard or by a stairwell in the upper level that Brother Giles the historian/tomb raider must have dug out.
"Hmm... we should be able to reach the tomb through a passage in the graveyard, or through the front door." Tassira says, looking through the map she found. "The passage in question is disguised as a crypt."
"Either way, we'll have to be on the lookout for the rod. The ritual is, so far, beyond my skill to perform."
"Which way did those scholars used? We should use the same way too. It might lead us to our destination sooner and thus find that rod." Vigar speaks even as he strides alongside Tassira.
"I imagine the scholar excavation team did not know about the passage in the graveyard. It'd be safe to assume they took the front door."
"Whatever may be waiting for us inside the temple may be expecting us to come in the front door. I say we take the graveyard passage."
Tassira nods at Rowan, drumming her fingers along Bar's hilt.
"So, that's one vote for the front door, and one vote for the back door. To be honest, going through the back door sounds better for me; if there are any undead massing in the temple, we can catch them by surprise this way."
She strides forward, heading for the graveyard.
The graveyard is in just as much disarray as it was the day before. Vigar's good work of putting it in order has been undone. As you most likely expected the crypt that contains the entrance to the secret passaage into the temple is the same one Vigar had noted as being undistrubed yesterday.
A close examination of the outside of the tomb reveals tracks and other signs that people (people shaped undead) have been going into and out of the crypt recently.
Tassira cringes. "Well, that's not was I was hoping to see."
She takes a closer look at the crypt door before turning back to the party. "From the looks of things, the undead know about this entrance. Still want to go this way?"
"Sigh Looks like abit of work is needed once more to restore this place." Vigar wistfully looks around the graveyard and especially to see if the graves of the two knights are disturbed.
"The undead know about this entrance but doesn't mean that they know that we know about it. It'll make it easier for us to take them out on the way down here." Vigar draws his nameless spear for now, bringing up point.
"The door is locked, but that should be no problem."
When the party is ready, Rowan will take out his thieves tools and pick the lock.
Tassira is quite surprised by the sight of Rowan digging out a set of lockpicks and working on the crypt door.
Hold on a minute--where'd he get those?
She pushes the thought aside, refocusing on the door.
A set of lockpicks? Vigar is surprised to see those in Rowan's hands.
"Let me guess you picked that up in a library because you wanted to read some books? Or did you find out how to do this via those books? Amusement carries over in his question.
"If that's so, at least that answers the question on how the previous group of scholars managed to break the seal."
"Oh a little bit of both." Rowan says slyly. "It's a useful skill to have when searching ancient ruins. Never know when you need to open a locked door or chest. Or a particularly nasty trap."
Rowan takes his time and carefuly unlocks the door.
From outside you can see that the crypt is very dark and moldy, and seems far older than the other crypts in the cementary. The ceiling is low, and the stone flooring is cracked and unevern. black mud oozes in the joints and cracks of the stone dressing. To either side, cobweb fouled buriel niches hold the moldering remains of ancient warriors in rusted hauberks of mail.
At the back of the crypt you can see an unusual sign or seal of some kind, glinting in the weak daylight.
Tassira steps into the crypt, blade drawn. Her ring gets warmer, its magic allowing her to see more effectively in the darkness. She motions for Vigar to take point.
She examines the seal at the back of the crypt, trying to determine if it's magical in nature.
Vigar nods at Tassira as he takes point, his spear forward when the entire room blossoms with light as Kariel puts forth a prayer.
Bolstered by the fact that his family is here, Vigar strides forth , his eyes sharp for danger.
Rowan takes the rear, the greatsword out.
This must end soon if we are to protect the village. No easy task but it must be done. Hopefully Cerene and the others can protect the people long enough for us to see this through.
As you creep closer into the crypt, trying to see what kind of emblem watches over the warrior's rest. You hea an odd creaking sound, and whirl just in time to see the bronze door slam shut! The darkness would be total but for the light Kariel has provided. You suddenly hear the rustle and clinking of rusty mail all around you as the skeletal warriors rise from their biers and move toward you.
There are 12 skeletons six on each side of the party, you are all flanked at the start of this combat.
Tassira, Vigar, and Rowan act first.
Skeletons act second.
Kariel acts last.
Round One
Vigar spins his spear and goes low.
Oh, no.
The last thing Tassira expected was to get caught off guard by a bunch of skeletons, but at least her reflexes let her act first. She falls back into a defensive posture, calling upon the magic in her blood.
Thanks to her training in casting under adverse conditions, she manages to concentrate hard enough for her to manifest a pair of blue energy spheres and ward off attacks from the skeletons at the same time. She throws them at the two skeletons on either side of her.
Rowan attacks the nearest skeleton, adopting a defensive posture
Rowan and Vigar each destory a skeleton, but two more simply step into there place! Tassira's bolts of magic that fly from her fingers fail to destory the undead on either side of her but both are hurt badly.
for
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The skeleton's mostly fail to strike home, except for blows to Vigar and Tassira.
Karil to Finish Round One, Then the rest of the party to start Round Two
Round 2
Vigars feels the the blows hit home and lashes out with his spear once more, keeping his spear spinning to keep his foes disoriented.
End of Round 1
Kariel manages to destory one of the skeleton's that Tassira wounded.
Start of Round 2
Vigar shatters another skeleton to dust.
Rowan and Tassira are up.
So that's what getting stabbed feels like.
The skeleton's blade sinks into Tassira's stomach, causing her to double over in pain. She focuses, calling upon her oath power.
She glares up at the skeleton, her eyes glowing blue as an incantation unfamiliar to her fills the air.
Her spell finishes, creating a blue outline around her. It feels like a suit of scaled mail, without the encumbrance associated with it.
Rowan again slashes at the nearest skeleton.
Tassira uses a spell to magicaly armor herself and Rowan smashes another undead.
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The remaining skeletons attack again, with only the ones facing Rowan and Kariel hitting anyone, a fact they would regret if they had minds as all of the undead take damage as Kariel Angel blood fills the air. The remaining skeleton that Tassira had injured before crumbles to dust.
Party is up.
Round 3
His spear spinning, Vigar see his family getting hit by the skeletons, forces himself to focus on his current foes. Lashing Out with his spear before resuming its spin. That lapse in concentration costing him dearly.
The mage armour is doing its job well; the skeletons' blows bounce harmlessly off Tassira's magic barrier.
"My turn." Tassira swings Bar at another skeleton. "Burn."