Roldare peeks out through the hole in the door, relaxes ever so slightly and says, "Geth, Galin? But the walking bones! The walking bones are in all the dark halls!"
"Roldare, snap out of it! You know us, you know why we're here. Which means you also know that no one else is coming to save you. Get yourself together and we can all piece together what's been going on with these walking bones."
This guy might have some answers for us if he weren't scared out of his mind about these bones.
"I think the mayor actually wanted you to check on us. Why don't you open up and let's have a conversation about it."
Galin taps on the floor with a shoe. "you know us, we also have a Tengu with us you may not know. His name is Rakkaw, nice guy."
Roldare whimpers a little with Jing's comments but doesn't seem to be any more aggressive for them. Galin's comments seem to bring him back to reality to some extent. He mumbles, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! as he removes the furniture and boxes from the blockade and slowly opens the door, his eyes panicked as he glances past them at the dark hall and ushers them in. As they come in, he slams the door closed and they see that he must have been in here a couple of days. The stench of him indicates he's not been out of the room for any reason in much to long a time. All the while, he mutters under his breath, "angry bones" and "voice of death".
Once he is calmed down, Roldare is a bit more helpful. He can explain the basic story of what happened here, but he does so in a disjointed way, describing the events out of sequence. They arrived here 3 days ago to set up the traps as a hazing for the young adventurers but were attacked 2 days ago before they could finish. There were six villagers total, but only he and his sister are left alive. After setting up the traps on the first level of the dungeon, they were attacked by the “walking bones” in the middle of the night. He knows little about the leader of the undead, just that there is “one with the voice of death, who stalks these halls in ancient mail.” He can offer no advice on how to overcome the perils of the crypt, as he simply does not remember most of them. He knows that the PCs will need “the shields and the keys” and he also mentions that the PCs will need to go for a swim, but he cannot remember where.
The final thing he mentions is that his sister, Dimira, is definitely alive. He saw the skeletons drag her off and he thinks that the "voice of death" had her captured.
The room is set up to be a haven while exploring the crypt. It has 4 bedrolls, a pair of bullseye lanterns with 4 flasks of oil, 5 days’ worth of rations, and two potions of cure light wounds that are labeled as “healing.”
Jing sighs as she enters the room. "No worries, Roldare, all is forgiven. You've been through more than most could handle."
To our other companions: "They were going to haze us, huh? Well, I'd have much preferred that to actual undead."
To Rondare: "Where exactly did they drag your sister off to? We might be able to save her from these walking bones."
Jing checks out the room and sets her few belongings down. Learning a few definitive things about what exactly is going on here has set her at ease. "Anyone need to recuperate? I've got one more extract and a mutagen I haven't downed yet. I'm good for a while longer if we want to keep exploring this haunted place."
Rakkaw follows the others in cautiously as not to spook Roldare. When they come near, Rakkaw stands tall and presents kerself to him.
"Am Rakkaw, Woodkeeper. No distaste for you. Thank," ke proudly states, gesturing at the accommodations.
Oh heavens, nervousness robbed me of all the progress I've made listening to my companions.
It also seems I've misjudged the mayor and his machinations. The darkness I felt was real, but not of the Kassenians.
Perhaps...
"Jing," Rakkaw replies "Can go on, should make progress. Sounds like big task."
Geth walks into the room and tries to restrain himself from screwing up his nose at the stench. He goes to Roldare and claps him on the arms and says, "Roldare, we can get you out of here. It won't be much work, we already cleared the way, you can make your way back to town or wait for us at the exit."
When he hears Jing's question about recuperation, he responds, "Well, I'm good to continue on. We can always fall back here if we need to, lets keep going and see if we can't figure some more out."
Roldare's eyes widen when Jing mentions finding his sister. He clutches at her arm and says, "Beware the voice of death! He leads the walking bones. Here, this might help you." Roldare hands Jing a Masterwork light Crossbow and 10 bolts.
Roldare flinches away from the unknown Tengu as he enters the room but greets him neutrally after his introduction.
When Geth mentions leaving the crypt, Roldare becomes more agitated and says, "NO, Dimira is here, the angry bones have her!" He looks away and busies himself with the bedrolls as he mutters, "Can't leave without her, can't leave without her" under his breath.
Roldare is clearly a little unhinged, but hopefully, if you can retrieve his sister and get them out of the crypt and back home, he will be able to recover.
Jing gratefully takes the masterwork crossbow, admiring its polished wood stock and well-oiled crank system. "You know, I've been using my family's old war crossbow for quite a while. Mom probably wouldn't want me to get it any more dirty and worn down that it already is. Thank you, Roldare."
She looks down the sights of her new crossbow. "Oooh, these are actually lined up straight!"
"Certainly you would be welcome to join us, I think we should be able to find your sister." Galin ponders, "Has the hazing always been part of this? Have you spent much time here, maybe you know the layout better than we would."
Upon receiving answers Galin mutters quietly
"Well, onward we go," Galin says hoisting his flag as the banner falls flat with no wind to carry it.
”I can’t leave, the walking bones will get me! I can’t remember, I just need Dimira.”. Galin figures that Roldare is pretty unhinged, and it would be better to just leave him here where he will be reasonably safe.
Jing follows Galin to the next room. "Let's head west from here. I don't want to risk those traps again, deadly or not."
Jing drinks her second extract.
Galin points to the southern westward path and says "how about this way?
Galin points to the southern westward path and says "how about this way?
Jing gives Galin a thumbs up.
Once the group decided on their path forward, Geth readies his sword and shield and moves forward, carefully scanning the way forward for more traps.
Geth gets distracted very easily by the flickering light of the torches on the walls.
As the group leaves Roldare in the tiny room, you hear him close the door and stack up his barricade against the door again. The hallway leads to an unlocked door. Geth swings the door open slowly and it creaks and squeaks as it opens up into a small room. A collection of old weapons and shields are mounted on the walls. Although the crypt is fairly dry, significant decay has set in and none of the weapons are usable but you can see that they were once of fine make. Blades have rusted and wood has rotted away. In the middle of the room, lays what is left of a body. A giant, man sized beetle stands next to it pushing it into the corner toward what looks like a nest and it skitters around in agitation at being disturbed.
"I've never seen a bombardier beetle that big before," Jing says, unslinging her crossbow. "Try and kill it before it can spit its acid at us,"
Her shot goes wide. "I guess I'm only good at throwing bombs."
Round 1 | 11/11 HP (3 nonlethal)
Geth closes with the giant bug, circling it to get out of the way of the others roaring in anger at the desecration of the body and slashes viciously at the creature.
The sword slices through a couple of the beetle's legs and into the hard body of the creature, dealing a sever wound.
Round 1 | 9/9 HP
As the beetle turns to confront Geth, Rakkaw draws ker sickle and goes rushes under the beetle, slashing at the cracks in its underbelly and dodging Geth's powerful cut.
Rakkaw ducks under the behemoth's legs, trying to avoid being splattered with beetle guts.
This guy should be food, but he's looking to turn the tables!
Round 1 HP 9/9
Galin looks into the room and lets his acolyte attack for him with spear.
The spear drives into the carapace and returns to Galin's hand.
"well, that was one large bug!"
The Beetle slouches down to the floor limp, its huge body resting on top of its prize. The body underneath the beetle looks to be in the same state of decomposition that Vark and Gerol's bodies were minus the zombification of Vark plus its been eaten some by the beetle. Also, it is wearing clothing common to the other villagers. There is a hall to the west that has stairs leading up and a door on the south wall of the room.
"See if you can find any identification on the body," Jing says. "I'll check the door."
Jing goes to the south door and listens.
Jing can feel a slight warmth through the door and hears what sounds like the crackling of a fire. As she stands next to the door listening for any more information, she realizes she smells smoke coming from slight air gaps around the door.
"Something is on fire behind here. Could our last two survivors be passed out from the smoke in here?"
Rakkaw does not expect to recognize the corpses, but investigates the bodies in hopes of some papers or telling items.
Ke brings anything found to the others' attention.
At Jing's report, Rakkaw becomes concerned.
Must stop fire, but how?
Rakkaw cant make out the facial features, as they’ve been nibbled. None of the others can identify the body either. It’s possible that Roldare would if you could drag him out of his room.
”Well, we can always just shut the door back if needed right? Let’s give it a go and see what we find.” Geth leans against the wall as the others decide what to do while he cleans his sword.
"I'll open the door," Jing says. But I'm not going through first.
She puts her hand on the handle and then pulls/pushes the door, stepping to the side in case anything explodes.
Jing pulls the door out and a blast of heavy smoke hits her and anyone near her .
Geth is overcome by coughing fits from the thick smoke , but immediately after, the smoke begins to waft back into the room slowly . It looks like it would still impair vision but you would have to be in the fumes for a little bit before coughing fits would overcome anyone.
"I can create water for the fire if we can find it." Galin looks on the smoke filled room with concern.
The door opens up into a smoke filled hallway that makes a turn to the left . A warm orange glow can be seen even through the thick smoke but the actual fire must be around the turn.
Galin thinks that if he crawled on his hands and knees he would be able to last longer before being overcome with coughing fits.
Jing takes a scrap of cloth and pours some of her waterskin on it before wrapping the cloth around her mouth and nose.
Who knew I'd be brave enough to volunteer to crawl headfirst into a fire? If only mother could see me now...
"Let's go, boys." Jing says. She crawls on her hands on knees, leading the group into the smoky room, looking for signs of the missing people.
Geth looks with trepidation at the hazy room, but makes the decision to follow Jing into the room. He strips off most of his equipment to make the crawl easier just taking his sword and leaving the rest of his gearby the big bug. He gets on his hands and knees and crawls after Jing, his sword clanking against the ground as he goes.
The group make their way into what looks like 2 rooms joined at the corners with a fire in the middle. The smoke is quite strong as they get closer to the fire. It has mostly been contained but it looks like most of the furniture and any decorations have been used to fuel it. The fire had almost burned through the last of its sustenance and is burning quite low.
The burnt end of a rug can be see. At the edge of the fire there is the end of a rug and an unidentifiable piece of wood. Also, Jing and Geth catch the glint of metal near by. What was once a shiner brass key is lying next to the fire. They also spot what looks like the jolt of a sword or dagger sticking out of the still burning fire.
On her hands and knees, the smoke stinging her eyes, Jing pulls her glaive out to give herself a few extra feet of reach. She drags the polearm up to the fire, attempting to knock the hilt of the weapon out of the fire without making direct contact with it for fear of burning herself. Maybe someone inscribed their name on the sword.
If she knocks the hilt out, she'll look it over (as much as she can without touching it) for any signs of its owner.
Galin crawls in as well and starts muttering about water as water starts appearing Galin uses whatever method he can to direct it toward the fire.
Jing successfully pulls the dagger out of the fire with the end of her glance after fumbling around with it for a while. The dagger has an inscription but the symbols are unfamiliar to Jing but it seems to exude some magical power . Galin’s incantation creates a sphere of water above the fire and it splashed down on the fire, quenching the low flames, but it gives off huge plumes of smoke
Fort saves
Geth is overcome with a coughing fit for a few seconds.
As Geth coughs and a shadowy figure descends upon him and reaches to touch him.
Surprise round!
The shadow’s insubstantial hand reaches menacingly toward the hapless figure.
Geth, even in his diminished state, is able to avoid the clumsy hand.
Round 1 | 11/11 HP
Geth yells out in revulsion at the shadow and stands up in order to get away from the incorporeal creature, Stay back everyone, I don’t know what it is but it doesn’t mean us well! Let’s get out of this smoke!” and swings his sword at the shadow.
Round 1, 8/8 hp, 5/5 bombs
Jing forgets about the magic dagger and her own glaive as she stands up, reaching into her belt for an alchemist's flask by reflex at the new threat. Her eyes sting as she lobs the bomb at the creature, her flask going wide in the smoky room.
The flames splash around the shadow and Geth, singing them both. .
"Sorry Geth," Jing yells. "What is that thing anyway?"
4/5 bombs
Bombs 3/5
Jing’s Bomb misses hitting the shadow directly but land next to it ( ) just to the south. ( The shadow ducks most of the blast but looks like it got singed.