The dwarf nods unhappily to Shadassa. "Aye. And Aviel too, though I'm no healer." He shakes his head and continues, ignoring the fact his crossbow was what finally killed the creature. "Nor a fighter. Mechanisms and runes are my enemies, not ghosts."
Standing up himself, he goes to look at the corpse with her. "Can we get them both back to town? Would anyone be able to restore life to their bodies if we do? Or are they lost to that thing's touch?"
"We should move fast, but yes, a healer can do it for a price, and I can restore the...drain...they will experience when they love again. Also for a price."
Shadassa gently, but fairly unceremoniously, stuffs Garret and Avriel in Avriel's Handy Haversack. She hoists it and gives Ferrek a look.
"By every watery hell, let's get out of here."
"Lets hope the lich doesn't send anything to finish the job before we do." Always cheerful, that dwarf...
With Shadassa on his heels and (unusually) crossbow in hand, Ferrek begins beating a hasty-but-careful retreat down the path they so recently entered.
Exiting the dungeon proves to be a somewhat horrific event, as the "base camp" set up by the party members too afraid to continue venturing into the cavern, has been utterly destroyed. The corpses of several red, bloodied creatures lie about the camp, shriveled by fire or negative energy, and Isletta, Gralamin, and Saren's bodies lie dead, slashed to pieces by claws.
"agents of the damned lich, I'd say. I've seen this before." The oracle falls silent, her fists clenched, then raises her head. "We need a Pharasmin corpse-wagon, Ferrek."
Grimly, she begins to inventory their gear and tries to identify the red creatures.
Ferrek looks around a the ruins of the camp, rubbing his aching arms. "Ugh," he opines. "This has not been a good day."
As he picks through the debris in search of anything useful , he asks "Why did you set up camp right on the lich's doorstep, anyway? A wagon does sound like a good idea. How far is it to town? I came from the other direction."
"Hubris, Ferrek, and idiocy, clearly. Has anyone not underestimated this lich?"
"Ugh. Well, lets see if there's any way we can get all the bodies back to town. The less time we spend standing around, the better."
In the Boneyard Garret was disappointed. His Lady saw him, and he smiled, bowing carefully to her as he waited his turn to be heard and judged, but he could not help but feel that there was more to do. He died facing a powerful Undead. Pharasma approved, but was disappointed in him that he did not slay the abomination.
He hated the idea of disappointing his goddess.
Another chance. All I need is one more chance.
The line of penitents int eh Boneyard was slow. He had time.
Hopefully someone would decide to bring him back before he stood before his Lady.
My job isn't over yet.
Knowing what it does, Ferrek dons Aviel's magical headband. As it touches his scalp, his understanding of dweomers and their functioning suddenly expands by many multiples, and he is able to identify and use different magical items within the small magical hoard that they have.
Stuffing everything lightweight into a bag of holding, Ferrek takes Shadassa's hand and takes one of Aviel's scrolls in the other. He reads the scroll, and he completes the spell with the magical knowledge inside the headband. Suddenly, they are teleported back to Westcrown. The busy streets are a strange sight for the adventuring pair and their pile of compatriots, and they quickly head to the local Asmodean chantry to hire the priests there to raise as many of their companions as will come.
They have to sell Saren and Gralamin's mental headbands to pay for the cost of the raisings, but they were able to bring Garret and Aviel back from the dead, using the blessings of the Asmodean priest. The pair are disoriented from their return to life, but are quickly cured of their negative energy condition by Shadassa, and within another day, everyone is ready for adventuring.
The next day, though, when everyone was out in the marketplaces for restocking, they run back into Hollydiana, the strange half-elven summoner from their first expedition. She explains that she's once again become bored with Westcrown, even after so few days, and decides to go with them again, especially considering the disaster that almost befell them.
And just like that, a few days after Shadassa and Ferrek dragged the corpses out of the depths of the Tomb, the adventurers find themselves back at its door, facing the dark depths.
"Sooooo, hey," Is Hollydiana's greeting. Ever changeable as always. "Still need some help with that ... uh ... thingy?" She's not even really sure what to call it. Seems a bit above your average dungeon, really.
Shadassa gives Holly a grateful look, then pauses. "You...do know that Gralamin and Isletta are gone, yes? Gone beyond our reach. The crypt is not a kind place. Garret and Aviel were with Pharasma for a short time."
The merfolk sighs, an odd figure next to an even odder one. "We would welcome you back gladly, Holly. It is good to see a familiar face as we head into those depths again."
"Of course." Garret says with a nod. "If you are willing to risk your life for us and this cause, we are happy to have you."
"Well, it's certainly more interesting than puttering around the city." Holly said cheerfully. She also slapped the dour Paladin on the back in a friendly manner.
"So, what's next?"
"Sell what we need to, buy some things that will give us an edge, and head back."
"What did you have in mind, Sir Garret?" A bit of hope creeps into Shadassa's voice.
"For myself, armor that will protect against spirits."
"For Ferrek, and good list of tricks and tools to give him effective options in a fight."
"It depends mostly on how much money we end up with."
The dwarf eyes the half-elf. Clearly his companions know her, but he doesn't, which makes him cautious and quiet around her.
That may explain why he opens his mouth to reply to Garret, then closes it again. Or maybe it's just that he can no longer claim to not need to be useful.
All he does say, after some thoughtful expressions, is a quiet "Ok."
"There were several more reach rods--good for me to heal at a distance. Which I will be doing a lot of," says Shadassa thoughtfully.
She does a double-take. "Ferrek, this is Holly, er, Hollydiana. One of those summoners that wears their eidolon." She shrugs. "No odder than a flame covered mermaid, I suppose."
"I don't usually look like this," The rather plain blond girl told Ferrek with a grin.
Aviel had been exceptionally silent up to the point of their return. He had immediately answered the call to return to life when he felt the pull of a Cleric's power, even knowing it was that of an Asmodean. Wrapped in silent contemplation of what he had experienced at the hands of the Banshee, he had given a brief moment of thanks to his companions when he realized there would be no need for services to the church of Asmodeus before retreating to a private room in one of Westcrown's many inns.
There, he spent many sleepless hours replaying his own death over and over in his mind. He took little to no food during this time and was only interested in recounting everything he had learned about death. After several days he did not feel the same any longer. Something within that experience had changed him. But for now he did not know what.
When the day came for the rest of the group to gather together and attempt travel again, Aviel was ready.
At Shadassa's words, Aviel finally began taking interest of their latest addition to the group."A Summoner!? My my! You know, that's something of a specialty myself. I've always wondered what it would be like, feeling the spirits and being able to innately grasp and call them to your side. I've been able to wrap my head around the intricacies of calling various beings from elsewhere, but not bonding them to me... You know, in Ancient Sarkoris, Summoners often called themselves God-Callers. Many believed that the Eidelons were in fact small Gods they could conjure themselves. Of course, now we know that these were in fact Outsiders which were highly influenced by their Summoners strength of will, it's still an interesting fact of the past. Don't you think so, Holly?"
Garret had been worried about Aviel's silence at this point. Aviel had always been the sort to take terrible things in stride, approaching the unholy with the same clinical detachment as a doctor attempting to treat some sort of horrific disease. The uncharacteristic silence since returning from Pharasma's embrace had made Garret concerned that his cousin had finally faced something that had damaged his ability to cope. For a while the old Aviel had been gone.
Then suddenly like a flipped switch, Aviel was fully with them again.
"Welcome back." Garret said with a rare smile.
"I think my brand of summoning is a little different," Holly wrinkled up her nose a little bit, "At least some other wizards have told me that." She shrugged, though, with a slightly self-satisfied smile.
Ferrek gives Aviel a small smile as he rejoins the team. "Good to see you again." Feeling slightly reassured by this extra step towards normalcy, he ventures to actually greet Holly. "It'll be helpful to have someone else with us."
Venturing back into the Tomb, the remaining adventurers find that they can fairly easily bypass the traps that they've already gotten through. Jumping, teleporting, and pushing their way through the Tomb, they eventually make it back to the room with the Banshee (though there is no Banshee anymore) and the mist. At the back of the seemingly-natural-stone cavern is a short passageway leading to a door - the only way forward in the tomb.
Opening it leads into a hallway. The hallway travels about twenty feet forward - featureless and boring, before coming to an ornate, gold-encrusted door. The door is both unlocked and untrapped, to Ferrek's estimation.
In addition, directly to the right of the door, on a section of wall, is a tiny, barely visible latch. Opening the latch reveals a classic-looking keyhole, set innocuously into the wall.
"That is undoubtedly a trapped keyhole. I truly wonder how anything around here can take a casual stroll...you'd think we'd find the bodies of henchmen littered about as by-catch from their own traps."
Shadassa holds on to a reach metamagic rod, assuming that Ferrek will step for and risk life and limb to explore the door and keyhole.
"Thus far, everything we've encountered has been something that does not require moving about. Undead and Constructs can be quite patient as I understand."
Holly was in the back at the moment. "Want me to summon something to poke it?" She wondered in her usual lackadaisical tone.
"I doubt that particular solution will be necessary... I have a more direct solution. "
Aviel's magic, powerful as it is, fails to open the door. Closer inspection of the door reveals that it's got no handle, of course, but the keyhole is very...traditional looking, appearing to accept the most classic-looking of keys.
"Perhaps it's time for that golden key," says the merfolk.
"Well I vote we don't use the key ourselves to start out."
Holly went about muttering to herself in the corner, a quick succession of gestures in a sort of shorthand for summoning. Different from how a wizard would do it, certainly. Holly always summoned with a flair a bit like putting on a show, even when she was trying to do it quietly.
A little pocket of gold light floats up out of the floor, forming into a vaguely humanoid shape that further solidifies into a fox-like creature with gold eyes.
Garret was quiet and watchful as the others went about checking the keyhole. He knew the banshee could hide in the walls or beneath the floor. He was not willing to believe it was simply gone.
Shadassa loads up a crossbow bolt, ready for the agathion to open the door (or attempt to do so).
Taking instruction from its' master, the little foxlike celestial takes ahold of the golden key and inserts it into the little keyhole (reaching up a bit to get to the hole). The vulpinal turns the key once and withdraws the key.
Immediately after, the wall in front of y'all begins to sink, and in a matter of seconds an adamantine-sheathed square, ten feet to a side, is revealed behind the "door". It's completely featureless except for a small depression on the floor containing another keyhole.
"Go figure." Garret muttered at the secondary lock, still scanning in case the banshee came back.
"Perhaps the same key works twice?" The merfolk tries to sound hopeful.