Elion will listen at the secret door and check for traps, "You guys want to go through here or do you want me to check the other doors?"
Leynus looks up from Valeria cleaning out his leg and frowns. "I suppose we should just go through. We can search those doors upon our return."
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Having found nothing of interest on the goblins, Akshara leaves them behind and stalks over to Anton's side, looking up at the druid from her stooped posture and crouches in wait. Her ears flick towards distant noises, eyes scan the dark corners of the room. She has no worthwhile skills at spelunking or leadership, and as passive as she seems to be, there's also a sense of her learning from observation. She's waiting for someone to step up and give an instruction.
"Aw hell, may as well check out the other doors while we talk it over"
door at b2
door at b7
Elion finds an old trap on the secret door - a poisoned needle that would shoot out of a tiny hole in the wall. It looks like the trap mechanism still works but the poison wore off long ago. He discovers no traps at the other doors and can't hear anything in particular beyond them.
Not being particularly keen on getting a needle shot into him, Elion will attempt to disable the trap on the secret door.
Elion succeeds in removing the rusty needle from the trap, rendering it harmless.
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While Elion is fiddling with the door, Akshara stalks over on all fours, ears folded back and tail straight out behind her. She watches the rogue work, creeping beside him before rising up into a crouch and sniffing at the door, then looking at the tools with curiosity. "Whrr?" Akshara asks in a wordless noise.
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Bellicus grimaces as he raises his sword, the mutant rat still stuck on the end, kicking its last futile motions as it dies. He pushes the creature off the end with his boot, and flicks his blade to remove the blood. "I agree," he says as they discuss their next move. "These other passages are likely watched by the goblins. This passage might not be." While Elion investigates the door, he gives a listen to the others, just to see if he hears anything unusual behind them.
"Agreed. Let's see what's behind that hidden door first."
Leynus nods his assent and gets to his feet. "Seems like it's the secret one, then. Hopefully it's hidden for a reason that's long since vanished with time."
As you slide the stone panel to the side, dust and debris kicks up into the air. Clearly this room has not been disturbed in a long time. The square pocket chamber beyond the door is damp and cold, and about 10 feet wide on each side. The skeletons of three long-dead archers slump against rubble-filled arrow slits along the east and south walls. Their gear has mostly rotted away, but a single oddly-preserved arrow sticks from each of their quivers.
Elion whispers "Poor bastards. It looks like they died at their posts. Did they get locked in here and starve or did something else get them?"
Elion will make sure the door can be opened from the inside before sneaking into the room, looking for traps. He'll peek through the arrow slits to the east then south before returning to examine the skeletons.
"I'm not even sure what race they were. Do they look human to you?"
"Could one of you magic types check out these arrows? They don't look normal."
Those standing outside the secret room watch as Elion walks in, inspecting the bodies and the arrow slits. He stands facing his companions from just inside the room, asking about the bodies, as tiny beads of red light suddenly illuminate the eye sockets of the three skeletons. Awakened from their long slumber, they stand with unnatural speed, their bones creaking and scraping against the rubble strewn around them. They reach out at Elion with their bony claws...
One of the skeletons manages to grab Elion's shoulder and squeezes with unnatural strength considering the creature has no muscles to speak of. The other two, still moving with abrupt motions as their sockets pop and crack, don't manage to do any harm... yet.
Leynus' eyes narrow as the bodies stand and the one grabs at Elion. He yells for Elion to get away, and begins to play the same eerie beat he had the night before. He thinks on any useful information he may have regarding animated skeletons.
[Doppler effect]AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaah"[/Doppler effect]
Acrobatic withdraw to C6 while screaming.
Teral, prepared to investigate a treasure room, or perhaps a hiding spot of some kind, jerks in surprise as the undead monsters surge towards Elion. He flings out a hand, hissing, and sends his bolt of force flying towards the nearest stack of moving bones.
"Cayden's cup!" swears Val, "Walking dead?!" In a single motion, Val pulls her lute off her back and slips a wooden pendant from under her blouse. The pendant is in the shape of a butterfly. She strums a loud major chord progression, then sings:
You spirits that pollute the night
And desecrate these dead mens' bones
Begone! By Blessed Starsong's might
Flee before these sacred tones!
Ghostly butterflies appear out of thin air around the animate bones, yet these seem to harry the undead creatures, damaging them.
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Elion's scream yanks Akshara's attention away from a strange mushroom growing on the interior of the tower wall. Eyes wide and ears folded back, the feral tiefling sees the skeletons rise with disbelief and superstitious fear in her eyes. Choking back a rasping growl, Akshara looks ready to simply flee, but when she sees Elion surrounded by the strange creatures her posture becomes more defensive and agitated. Quickly lunging at the nearest skeleton, Akshara's powerful jaws open as she graps on of their bony arms between her teeth and bites down.
>> (Reminder to GM: bite attacks deal bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage)
The shambling skeletons crack and crumble slightly as Valeria's butterflies flutter around them, but they continue their assault. The combination of Teral's magical attack and Akshara's powerful bite is enough to cause the one standing nearest to the party to collapse into a heap of lifeless bones.
Anton makes a clumsy swipe with his scythe.
The two remaining skeletons press forward, trying to escape the confines of their damp tomb, and attack those in their way!
Akshara deftly dodges her attacker, but Anton does not fare so well: the skeleton knocks his scythe aside and lunges forward, clawing at Anton's chest and neck. The druid falls to the ground and the skeleton, now covered in blood, stands tall and raises its glowing red eyes towards Bellicus...
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Dodging the raking claws of one of the creatures, Akshara seems calm and alert. But with a twitch of one ear she realizes Anton isn't going to fare as well. Seeing the remaining two skeletons about to attack him, Akshara leaps between the druid and one of the undead abominations, shrieking loudly as she does. One of the skeleton's wicked claws rakes across her face, leaving bloodied claw marks in her flesh. With the wild, unrestrained sounds of a feral animal threatening another animal, Akshara lets out with a roaring hiss as the fur on the back of her neck stands up and her ears flatten to her head. Her irises slit, muscles seem to expans and her tail lashes so hard against the wall it chips the stone.
In a sudden movement the savage tiefling leaps atop the skeleton that harmed her, crashing to the ground with it. Her jaws snap open, grasping an arm between powerful teeth and pulverize the bone. The tiefling grabs the skeleton by the ribcage and repeatedly smashes it into the floor until the bones dislodge from one another and the hateful energy animating it dissipates.
She looks up, eyes bloodshot and wide, growling ferociously at Anton for a bare moment, as if she were going to attack him next, but instead snaps her attention to the last skeleton left, blood running down her face.
Seeing that Akshara took out another skeleton, and that several of her new friends are wounded, Val keeps playing, changing her tune somewhat...
Fortune's Lady, we are needing!
Knit our wounds and stanch the bleeding!
The ghostly butterflies return, now fluttering around the adventurers. Everyone who was wounded earlier feels their wounds heal somewhat.
Leynus continues to play his drums, though his song becomes strained and faster-paced as he watches his companions get pushed back by the skeletons, and they can feel their heartbeat increase in tempo, in time with the beating of the drums. He notices this erratic playing and brings it back to its usual slow pace.
"OwOwOwOwOw... That thing Bit me! What can I catch from being bit by a freakin' animated skeleton?"
Elion will take a 5' step draw his sling and whip a bullet at the remaining skeleton
"Thank you, Akshara. This new body isn't ready to die yet." He takes another swipe at the skeleton.
Teral shifts slightly to his right, adjusting his point of view as he chants. With an overhand tossing motion, he hurls something invisible, which manifests into a glob of acid flying towards the remaining skeleton.
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Bellicus watched from the door as the elf crept into the abandoned guard outpost. He was startled when the remains came to life and clawed at Elion, but hardly shocked. He quickly glanced about, and made a decision. He'd seen how poorly his rag-tag group fared against rats, so he wanted to see how they would react to these skeletons as well. He allowed the pit-thing and her nature-bound defender into the room, and waited for an opening.
The mindless creatures gave him one. They tore into Anton with unholy abandon, and he quickly fell. Bellicus finally moved, striding into the room and slashing his sword at the final creature's skull.
Sorry about my tardiness again, I figured I should explain away Bellicus' delay in my post.
Move to E9 and attack! Using Power Attack, adding Leynus' bonus.
The remaining skeleton swipes with its vicious claws at Anton, still single-minded in its determination to bring down its original target.
Anton falls to the ground, bleeding.
Another sling stone...
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"By the gods, they move fast!", the warrior exclaims as it ducks under his blade. He is about to bark out another order when the skeleton tears into Anton, and he recoils as the severity of his inaction sinks in. "Someone help Anton, pull him out of the fray!" He steps over the man's fallen form, presenting his shield in front of him to prevent the horror from further savaging Anton's body.
Step to E10.
Same as last round, attacking Skellington #3, Power Attack and bardic inspiration factored into the numbers.
"Anton! On your..." A skeleton knocks him unconscious. ...right." Val stops singing and drops her lute, which now hangs awkwardly from the strap across her shoulder. She moves up to the edge of the fight, grabs hold of Anton, and drags him back out of harm's way.
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When Anton is felled by the rending claws of the skeleton, Akshara lets out a mournful cry and leaps from where she was standing to the next creature. With supernatural strength, she grasps the skeleton by the throat and bites down on its head, some of her teeth in the eye socket, her lower jaw pressing against its cheek. The bone cracks, the skeleton flails wildly, and after a moment the entire skull shatters under the pressure of Akshara's bite.
She doesn't stop, though, she slams the skeleton's torso up agains tth ewall, sending bones flying everywhere. Then, with a yowling noise she continues to smash the bones in her hand against the wall before throwing them to the ground at her feet in a frenzy. Her eyes wildly look around, landing on Ballicus.
Akshara's muscles tense, her ears fold back, and in her eyes it is absolutely clear that she isn't aware of her surroundings. She is little more than a cornered, terrified animal.
Leynus breathes a sigh of relief as he sees the final skeleton fall, but this quickly turns to a sharp inhalation as he sees Akshara turn on Bellicus. Something is clearly wrong, and he quickly switches his song to try and divert Akshara's attention.
This new performance is of a quick tempo, focusing most on the larger drumhead. The reverberations are cut off and then start anew by the continuous beating of Leynus' hands. The sound is mesmerizing, and it echoes through the mind. The effect is difficult to shake off. Leynus focuses his performance on Akshara, moving into her line of vision and making firm eye contact.
Keeping a wary eye on Akshara and her apparent bloodlust, Val turns most of her attention to Anton. Perhaps it's time to drop the pretense among my fellow thralls.
Kneeling beside his unconscious body, she places her left hand on his forehead and makes mystical gestures with her right. The butterfly-shaped birthmark on her left hand glows slightly, and she prays, "Blessed Desna, Song of the Spheres, please bestow your healing on my friend. Amen." Miraculously, his wounds appear to close.
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Bellicus is about to relax when Akshara destroys the final skeleton, but he sees the feral look in her eyes and the snarl upon her lips. He backs away slowly from her. "Stand down, creature," he says, his gaze never wavering from the tiefling. "Do not force me to defend myself. I would hate to have to explain to House Thrune why I had to put down one of our members." His sword rests at the top of his shield, and he places that stout steel barrier between himself and the yowling thing before him.
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Elion will move to E4. Peering out from behind Teral he'll ask fearfully, "Do you suppose it's something she caught from the skeletons? Do you think I'm going to catch it?"