Mirianna follows behind Duraz.
"We aren't alone. Ratmen over there." Singol points to one corner of the room.
"We don't want to fight you."
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Duraz realizes these ratmen seem to be willing to be not violent. He lowers his mace to his belt, and hangs it there and lifts his hand non-threatenly, despite not lowering his shield. "We don't have to fight if you don't want to. How about you tell us about what's happening here?" He didn't intend to intimidate the creatures, though he still stood in their way.
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Surprised at the ratman's non aggresion, Duraz says "The Stormlord blesses strength. Unfortunately your friends lacked the strength in their hearts and they panicked and attacked us. We merely defended ourselves. We will allow you to leave, but we would appreciate it if you could tell other ratmen not to attack us. We have no desire to disrupt your home. But we believe there might be a dangerous wizard in this old temple."
Duraz says these words slowly so they may take in the message and understand him. He offers them some food of his to seal the friendly terms.
Kathe gets out of the way as the two ratmen scurry by... but her ears are perked at the mention of a dangerous wizard. This was not something she was aware of or somehow completely missed in passing conversation. At first it was just going off to a barn, then it was some ruins, then there were ratmen attacking. Now there's some dangerous wizard? It was getting interesting, but the 'in over her head' feeling was not going away. It was, in fact, growing...
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This fifteen by fifteen foot square room contains four
bedrolls made of leaves and vines. There are several
large sacks in the southeast corner of the room.
Singol also moves over to the pit trap. "Strange place for a pit trap."
"Has yet to be properly setup or was it already... erm, used?" Kathe takes note of where it is and will be careful should she need to move by it...
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The halfling fiddles with the edge of the trap then falls down the hole.
Lying there prone and somewhat dazed, you note a
throne upon which hunches a decrepit skeletal figure.
A tattered and threadbare cloak seems to serve as a
burial shroud. As you regain your bearings, you are horrified to see
the figure raise its head. From deep within its eye
sockets a red glow illuminates the skull. It waves a bony
hand in your direction and speaks in a chilling raspy
voice. A dead ratfolk with a large sack on its back lays nearby
You all hear Singol scream out, "It's a lich!"
"We aren't grave robbers!"
From down below, you hear Singol yell. "We'll flee! We'll leave at once!"
Shortly after, Duraz feels a tug on his rope. "I'm coming up!"
"Singol, what happened?", Duraz asks.
A dusty, battered, bleeding halfling with fear in his eyes lets go of the rope. In a shaky voice Singol speaks to the group.
"Duraz, everyone, there's an undead down there. A lich, a barrow wright, something bad on a throne with glowing red eyes in its skull. It spoke to me. Told me too leave at once or he'll destroy us!"
"Are you sure it was a lich? Surely there are many. . . lesser creatures it might have been? But liches still have their mortal senses? We might. . . speak to the lich?"
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Duraz took Singol's testimony very seriously. He tried thinking what such an undead might be from his description.
After this thought, while thinking what he might say to the halfling, the cleric looked him over and asked "Are you hurt?" wondering if any healing magic would be necessary. He passed on a water skin to Singol for him to drink. "Come, let us leave this room and talk somewhere else", he said and doubled back one room so the halfling would be able to think more clearly.
Singol takes the offered water skin. "I'm banged up. Some cuts and bruises, nothing broken."
The color is slowly returning to his face. His words are becoming less frantic. [b/]"I've never seen an undead. I saw a skeleton, I think, I tried not to look at it directly. It was on a throne, wearing a cloak. A skull, with the glowing red eyes, bony arms, ribs. And it had a voice. a cold dry voice that sounded like death."[/b]
Singol looks at Duraz and Kath. "You two are the experts on things like that, right?"
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Duraz listens to Singol and conveniently leaves out that he was never a great learner or scholar of the faith. Yet he did study some bits and pieces that seemed more interesting to him. "I have some knowledge about the faiths and the undead. You've seen they fear a god as powerful as the Stormlord.", he said reminding the halfling of the wraith they had encountered the day before.
"It seems an illusion was planted in your mind, my friend. Something to scare you, maybe. It is customary to try to scare grave robbers, which I find a good idea. But let this give you strength, small one. You can officially say you've encountered an undead king and survived to tell the tale.", Duraz says with kind eyes.
He starts thinking, however. What could this creature be? Was it dangerous? He waited to see Kathe's reaction.
"Let us rest for the night then, so that our halfling friend might mend his wounds."
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Duraz thinks about Singol's words and considers them. "We should take a better look", he says. "You probably triggered a trap when you went down there.", he continued convincingly. Duraz ties his rope (if there's nowhere to tie it, he asks the others to hold it as he climbs down) and climbs it down. Once down, he casts Light on his shield to better see in the darkness.
Mirianna follows Duraz down and looks around at the bottom.
"If you are going down there, I should go as well. Maybe I can be a diplomat. I hope."
Singol will follow down the rope after Mirianna.