Cedric looks startled at Markov's question.
"What? Is that really a smart idea? I'm picking up divination magic all over this place..." His eyes dart about nervously "Someone may be watching us right now, and I certainly do not like the look of that skeleton...
Cedric is somewhat off-put, as he always is, by the magic.
Irina follows the others, leading Alma towards where the others went. Her right hand moves hypnotically, while she holds her crossbow in her left.
Markov chuckles at Cedric. "Being a bard i though you would know i was joking." With a more serious tone. So this divination magic you detect any idea what it is? Markov thinks what it could be.
Knowledge(Arcana)
I move with Alma, keeping a weather eye behind us: Irina, is he wounded or is his mind disordered?
"He has a fever, like he has an infection."
Still looking vaguely distracted, Cedric chuckles apprehensively.
"No... it's nothing strong, but it's everywhere..."
He looks around again, now that he's closer to the structure, looking for anything that may have caused the crushed bones, and for anything that might be the source of the magic.
Hmm... As long as it is not too fierce, I should be able to keep him whole.
I pause and sniff the marshy air.
Tomorrow I can ask the Dawnflower for spells which will aid him further.
Derig whimpers a bit as he his picked up by Alma, but remains unconscious.
As the group gets closer to the stairs the wind shifts and the stench of death fills your nostrils, overpowering the smell of the marsh.
Nothing immediate comes to mind as you consider what might cause the divination aura.
The stairs appear to go down 8 or 9 feet, but given they are jutting out of the marsh along with the rest of the structure, that would put the bottom of the stairs about 4-5 feet below the marsh level.
You can see what appears to be the lower half of the skeleton lying on the stairs almost near the bottom of the stairwell. At the bottom of the stairs is what looks to be a large pool of dried blood. Something large was dragged through, or out of, the pool through the double doors.
Chips of wood are scattered all over the bottom of the hallway. The door on the right looks as though it has been hacked apart by an axe. The double doors ahead have also been hacked at, though not nearly as extensively. The door on the left has not been touched by the axe, and is badly warped.
Observing the scene he looks at the stairs for any traps and to see how stable they are.
Perception:
"I found the other half of our friend," He nods to the top half of the skeleton. "and it seems there has been some activity down there." He points at the gnome. "Any chance we can get him conscious for a while?"
Markov begins making a extract(Cure light wounds).
Keeping his pistol at the ready, Hotshot gives the gnome a wide berth and moves up next to Markov. Giving a quick survey of the stairs and the skeleton, he lowers his pistol.
"Hmn. If we roll a big enough rock down these, we might be able to set off any unpleasantries that wait for us. There's enough rubble around here to find something suitable."
"He doesn't seem to be injured, just feverish. But I can try."
Heal check to bring him around.
"That sounds like a good idea Hotshot. Help me move this one over here."
Warren moves over to the nearest good-sized rock that is fairly round and starts rolling it over to the stairs.
After shoving the small boulder down the hole, Warren redraws his weapon. Assuming that no traps go off and that there is nothing suspicious revealed by the glowing stone he cautiously makes his way down the staircase.
Perception:
It takes some effort, but Irina is able to bring Derig around. As he starts coming too, "No, please no. I will do as you want." His eyes pop open and take in the scene around him. He bursts into tears and sobbing. "I'm sorry." he repeats over and over.
As his sobbing starts to subside, "My brother... Norig. He said he'd hurt me again if I didn't bring more." He clutches his left bicep tightly. "I... I think he killed the other ones. I could hear them screaming." His face is a picture of wretched misery.
With some effort Warren and Hotshot maneuver a large chunk of rock over the stairs and push it down. It crushes the bottom half of the skeleton on its way down and makes a loud whump as it hits the bottom but doesn't roll much further. Nothing else happens as a result.
Sighing, Hotshot checks his weapon once more, making sure it is loaded and ready to be fired. He then follows down a few feet behind Warren.
"Of course we have to do this the hard way now. I'd like to have my face intact if something goes off."
If a trap was to spring on them, he would immediately try and retreat back up the stairs. Assuming nothing happens, he would then move to the middle of the room and look about, trying to investigate what's about and seeing if the double doors can be opened.
Cedric keeps his arrow knocked and readied to fire at anything that attacks his companions.
"If there's anything abnormal there you wait for backup, alright?"
To the people who went down. "Stay where you are or comeback up it seems our "friend" here was keeping some information from us."
Markov goes to the gnome. "Now will you care to tell us why your brother is here and if there's anyone else?"
Derig shies away from Markov when he speaks to him, turning his face away and moving one arm to cover his head. His eyes well up with tears again and he squeezes them shut to try and hold them back, "He made me come out here to look for a treasure... he said it would let him get revenge on the men in town who had wronged us." He shudders as he seems to be recalling some terrible past experience. "I don't know if there are any others. I think he killed them all. When I heard them screaming I ran, but he came and found me and said he would cut me if I didn't do exactly as he told me to. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I should not have brought you here. He is going to hurt you."
Whoever broke down the first door seemed to take a bit more care with the double doors. The edges around the doors have been chopped and hacked away where the wood was likely swollen and warped. You believe they would open with only a minimal of effort. Through the cracks in the door you can see that a few small stripes of light are coming into the room through the ceiling above, but the light is to dim to make out any more than that.
The door on the south wall is twisted and warped and shows no sign of any attempt at opening it.
The smell of decay is stronger down in shell of what used to be a short corridor and stairwell.
No traps go off as you move slowly about the hallway area.
Hotshot gags, covering his nose with his free hand. This smell is rank. Uggh, just what happened down here? Holstering his pistol for a moment, he scrounges about for some small pebbles and tosses the handful into the open storage room, seeing if anything happens. If a trap goes off or something otherwise happens, he would leave and report to the party. If not, he would gingerly step in and take stock of the area.
"Storage room down here. Recently opened. Might be something useful in here." He yells back up at his companions.
The pebbles clatter to the floor in the storage room. Nothing else happens.
Stepping inside the pieces of broken pottery crunch under your feet as you look around. Only a couple of the shelves are intact, the rest have broken and lay strewn across the floor with the pottery shards. You are not certain what might have been contained in this room previously, but it is barren of anything of value at present.
Markov, with out saying another word, heads to the stairs and joins "Hotshot". "Find anything." Markov also looks around.
Stepping back out of the room, Hotshot pulls a small bit of cloth he reserves to cleaning his guns from a pocket, wiping his face with it. He then holds it over his mouth in place of his hand, drawing his pistol once more. He shakes his head to Markov. "Empty, sadly."
Stepping closer to the double door, he yells back to his companions "Room was empty. Looks like these doors can be moved pretty easily, if you folks want to come down here and help."
"Let's see what Derig has to say first; he might have information we could use before walking in blindly."
Warren steps back out into the sunlight and jogs back to where the rest of the group is.
Speaking to the gnome: "What reason would your brother have for killing those who he brought here? And what else can you tell us about him?"
Markov goes to each door and tries to see if he can hear anything behind them.
Perception:Double doors
other door
He then looks for any locks on the doors.
"When my brother came back six months ago he was different. He was changed from who he used to be. I don't know what happened to him. He is cruel and...."
As Markov goes to listen at the double doors and try and see through the holes cut into it something strikes the door causing the entire thing to shake. A claw? A hand? You didn't get a good view of it. The door continues to shake and rattle as whatever is on the other side scrapes and scratches at it.
Heli calls down at the entrance from ground level
Guys. I think we ought to wait until we find out more about what or who is here!
Markov, still a little shocked, looks up the stairs.
"Ask Derig what is behind the double doors."
"Derig, what is behind the double doors?" Irina asks sternly.
Intimidate: (larger size)
I move toward the double doors and stand ready to fire, arrow trained on the door .
"Derig, what is behind the double doors?" Irina asks sternly.
Intimidate: 1d20+5+4 (larger size)
Derig looks around wildly, pure terror on his face and stammering, "I... I don't know. Norig... I don't know what he found. I don't know what he's done." By his expression you think you may be about to lose breakfast.
Jumping at the sound of the scratching, Hotshot regains himself and moves next to Malaswyn, training his pistol on the door.
"If you're sane enough to hear me, speak now or die."
Heligar hisses....
Hothead! He's gonna get us into trouble with that pea shooter of his!
She descends to the lower level, slings her bow onto her shoulder and then draws her old Greatsword.
"Guys, don't open that door just yet, we need to make sure Derig doesn't try to bank it out of here. Give me a minute and I'll be right down with you." Speaking to Derig, "sorry friend, but we may still need you, and we definitely can't have you leading others here on your brother's whim"
Warren strikes Derig over the head with the pommel of his blade then drags him to the nearest area where he won't be easily found by unfriendly eyes.
Warren then heads back down the staircase, sword and shield in hand. "Whoever you are, you had best speak up. There are eight of us here with weapons drawn, and I would hate to lop of the head of someone who could otherwise live."
Assist Hotshot's Intimidate: (Total now 28)
Markov pulls out his crossbow and readies a bolt.
Who wants to open the door?
Its getting crowded in here! If Alma opens up the door , Malaswyn and Hotshot'll be standin' right in the middle here ready to unleash their fire! When they step back 5 feet to reload, Warren and I can step up 5 feet to join the fight in their place. ....if there is a I fight that is..
"That will work Heligar.
Everyone ready?"
Stepping back, Warren nods to Alma, "On three: One... Two... Three!"
Irina fumes at Warren. "That wasn't necessary!" she hisses. She eases the gnome to the ground and moves with the others to the stairs.
Alma moves over to the door. "Enough of this!" He kicks open the door with his sword and shield raised.
Warren cracks Derig over the head and he collapses to the ground.
As Warren is counting down a stream of curses erupts from within the room. "Derig you fool, I'm going to remove one of your arms, one inch at a time."
Alma kicks the door open flooding the entryway with bright sunlight. The second door opens a few inches then grinds against the floor. Five stone columns support the cracked ceiling, and a sixth column lays broken on the floor.
Just behind the door stands a skeleton, clawed fingers grasping. Another skeleton standing farther back starts advancing.
On the floor towards the middle of the room are several corpses, two of them badly mutilated with open wounds in many places along their arms and face. Their garb simple farmers clothes, ripped and stained. At that moment black lightning arcs around the room striking the corpses on the floor, animating them with the curse of undead life.
There is currently no sign of Norig.
Door Kick If Str bonuses counts, add +3.
Init order
Door Kick 1d3 If Str bonuses counts, add +3.
The skeleton standing in front of the door has a couple fingers snapped off.
Cedric (GMPC'd)
Cedric lets his arrow fly at the skeleton up front, but the arrow goes wide, wedging itself into the southern door.
(for firing into melee)
The door now flung wide open, Hotshot snaps his gun to the skeleton, taking a a split-second to aim before pulling the trigger.
The split second proving not enough time to get a good bead on it, he pulls another cartridge and crams it into the gun.
If the skeleton was still shambling about at this point, he would raise his gun once more and fire at it.
If not, he would ready another action to fire at any undead that shamble into his range again.
The pistol shot blows away part of the skeletons hip and it topples to the floor.
I release my first arrow
And when that flies wide I quickly fire again: