"Do it," Grey nodded solumnly.
Victor gestures towards the piles of bones in an uninterested manner. "Yes, do what you must," he intones in a bored voice, as though it isn't his problem as well.
The slime reacts to the movements of the bones and drops from the ceiling, covering most of the floor, making passage difficult.
Kaillum looks at her handywork and blinks a couple times. "The slime is somewhat more extensive than I had expected. Unfortunately I'm not powerful enough to lift all of you across the room yet, so I'm going to leave it to you to clear a path while I examine the smaller tunnel to see if it is worth our time to have you squeeze through. The slime is best cleared by fire, cold or sunlight and shouldn't be particularly durable."
With that, the Grippli looks to Regulus IV for permission before touching him briefly while closing her eyes, but with no obvious effect. She then lifts into the air and floats across the room to the passage where she sets down, takes a close look at her surroundings and then begins to slowly move down the passage, quickly blending in with the shadows.
Once again this challenge was not well suited to Grey's strengths. While the others addressed sources of fire or cold, Grey began looking for alternate routes.
Grey knows there were two other passages behind them at the junction.
Kaillum floats over the green slime and towards the small tunnel. Squeezing down she finds only dirt and sludge until the tunnel eventually opens up again wide enough to stand. She finds the same junction that they first started at.
Yutin knows that any fire would burn and destroy the slime. Though not as quick as an alchemist's bomb, a torch would work to clear a 5 foot path within a minute or two.
Yutin clears a path with a torch leaving some of the slime around the edges of the room for possible collection later. With the room clear everyone can move through the room and past the door to the hall. The hall is about 40 feet long and ends with another door. The door is not locked and opens into another room.
Broken candelabras and a worm-ridden red carpet have been left long ago by the undertaker in this viewing room. There is a wooden casket in the center of the room that has had its once decorative silver trim rudely pried off. There is nothing else of interest in this room. The casket is closed.
Fascinated, Regulus begins inspecting the area.
Victor ignores of the rest of the room to glare at the casket warily. "I don't know about where you are from, but a single damaged casket in the middle of an empty room is rarely ever a good thing," he quips, but the way he holds himself shows he's expecting a fight.
"Indeed. One wonders if this casket is still occupied the way the previous one was. Kaillum?"
Grey moved back down the passage in the direction Kaillum had gone.
Kaillum, after exploring the nooks and crannies of the passage some emerges almost where she started. She blinks as she sees Grey walking towards her and the shrugs. "I've found a loop that doesn't seem to hold anything of interest yet. Our best bet is probably to rejoin the others and see what was through the door. Perhaps we'll find something for you to kill, or at least put down, soon, eh?"
With that she moves to join the others in the room with the casket. Hearing Yutin's unspoken request she nods, but before she approaches she concentrates, and all can see the dust atop the lid shift.
Cautious of the unadorned, plain casket, Kaillum moves towards it and pushes the lid, disturbing the dust. As she moves towards it and places hands on top, the lid flies up and a human form sits up from inside it. "Who disturbs my rest?" Seeing Kaillum so close it reaches down and grapples her. "Have my minions lured you here with promise of riches? You know you should never trust a rat. Oh I am so hungry."
Grey stepped in and brought his scythe down onto the creature grabbing Callum.
"What did I say?! What did I just say?!" Victor bellyaches as he moves to assist Kaillum, pulling a strange vial from his belt pouch and emptying its contents into his mouth.
Alchemist Extracts:
. . 1st (3/day) long arm [1/1], shield [1/1]
Warder Maneuvers and Stances:
. . [maneuvers] brawler’s attitude BB [1/1], stutter strike CR [1/1], DC15 Will [1/1], terrifying blow EG, DC15 Will [1/1]
. . [stances] pugilist's stance, vigilant keeper's stance [1]
Current Status: Mutagen (20/20 minutes), Comprehend Languages (??/20 minutes)
Groaning and growling in exertion, Victor swells in size as the tumorous growths on his arms seem to expand and envelop even more of his body. The tiefling's eyes glow red beneath his helmet. "Now, let's handle this," he deadpans, his voice now more beast than human. He flexes his hands, the wicked claws on each glinting slightly in the ambient light.
Concerned for his ally, Regulus steps forward while casting a spell and drawimg a vial, which he throws. Great appears under the hostile creature in his coffin while the vial explodes!
Hmm, it seems to be able to sense what's pushing on the lid of this casket beyond just pressure. That's a problem.
As the figure sits up and grabs her, Kaillum grows still and attempts to teleport out of its grasp.
Before you stands a vampire, looking slightly weakened from extended rest with nothing substantial to feed on but no less capable. The common vampire can dominate minds, drains the blood of it's helpless victims and is difficult to kill. However they have several weaknesses, they recoil from garlic, mirrors or holy symbols and are destroyed by sunlight.
Kaillum struggles but is able to teleport herself 15 feet away to the open door. Grey moves forward to strike, distracting the creature from his grappled prey. Regulus' bomb is off target and only damages it with the splash as it is able to stay on its feet in the grease-covered coffin.
"I am Vince the Vampire, you are my prey!" He is annoyed that Kaillum slipped from his grasp and takes a moment to howl at the ceiling. 8 wolves coalesce from the shadows and surround you.
"Vampire! As much as you were all eager to find something to test your mettle, I fear this test is beyond our capability at this time. Does anyone have a mirror or a holy symbol to hold him at bay?"
Knowing that a vampire of any scale requires special materials to hold off or kill, Yutin holds his glaive defensively forward and slowly backs out of the room.
"I am loathe to recommend it, but retreat may be the best option."
Regulus draws forth a small steel mirror and holds it boldly in front of the vampire. "I will do what I can to hold it back. Please obtain a suitable means of egress."
Victor growls, but retains enough of his rational thought to understand that they are absolutely correct and that beating a hasty retreat is the path that is least likely to end in horrific dismemberment. He, too, carefully begins to back out of the room.
Grey reached out and gently touched the vampire.
Then a burst of energy washed out from the masked warrior.
Kaillum, having escaped the grasp of the figure in the casket now takes the time to carefully examine her foe before following the lead of her companions and ducking out of the room, being careful to avoid the patches of slime.
Once she is in the shadows of the previous room, the grippli's low voice reaches her companions' ears.
"I can remove myself to our base of operations at any time, but I don't have the ability to take any others with me. What is our plan should we be pursued? The foe looked weak with hunger and Grey seemed to have little hesitation engaging. Are we sure that fleeing will give every one the best chance of surviving?"
As you retreat, a displayed mirror from Regulus makes it recoil and Grey staggers it with a touch. "You can't hold me back forever" Vince screams at you. He shakes off the feeling to flee from the channeled energy. "Run while you can."
Vampires cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter an area laced with it. Similarly, they recoil from mirrors or strongly presented holy symbols. These things don’t harm the vampire—they merely keep it at bay. A recoiling vampire must stay at least 5 feet away from the mirror or holy symbol and cannot touch or make melee attacks against that creature. Holding a vampire at bay takes a standard action. After 1 round, a vampire can overcome its revulsion of the object and function normally each round it makes a DC 25 Will save.
Vampires cannot enter a private home or dwelling unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so.
Reducing a vampire’s hit points to 0 or lower incapacitates it but doesn’t always destroy it (see fast healing). However, certain attacks can slay vampires. Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight staggers it on the first round of exposure and destroys it utterly on the second consecutive round of exposure if it does not escape. Each round of immersion in running water inflicts damage on a vampire equal to one-third of its maximum hit points—a vampire reduced to 0 hit points in this manner is destroyed. Driving a wooden stake through a helpless vampire’s heart instantly slays it (this is a full-round action). However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the head is also severed and anointed with holy water.
Regulus holds forth the mirror. "I could perhaps help with this enemy were someone else to hold this object."
Seeing the others have decided to stand their ground, Victor growls bestially and moves in to join the fight. He strikes out with his mutated left arm in a brutal swipe.
Alchemist Extracts:
. . 1st (3/day) long arm [1/1], shield [1/1]
Warder Maneuvers and Stances:
. . [maneuvers] brawler’s attitude BB [1/1], stutter strike CR [1/1], DC15 Will [1/1], terrifying blow EG, DC15 Will [1/1]
. . [stances] pugilist's stance, vigilant keeper's stance [1]
Current Status: Mutagen (19.8/20 minutes), Comprehend Languages (??/20 minutes)
Kaillum blinks and nods, hurrying over to Regulus IV, ready to take over mirror duties. "I will attempt to hold it at bay while the rest of you finish him as quickly as you can."
Victor advances forward and slams a gauntlet into Vince.
Kaillum hurries to stand next to Regulus.
Another burst of energy washed out of the black-clad warrior. He kept just out of the vampire's reach.
"Is that all you've got," he says as he retreats away from the mirror. Grey's channel hurt him minorly but some his wounds heal over quickly. He moves back, defending himself but is unable to overcome his revulsion of the mirror.
Yutin moves South-East to be directly North-East of the vampire, providing an opportunity for another party member to move South-West of the enemy and be in a flanking position.
"I think you will find our bite is far worse than you can imagine!"
The statement becomes more gutteral towards the end; the minotaur head elongates into a wolve's snout and reaches out, attempting to latch on to the vampire's arm.
Grinning wolfishly as his attack strikes home, Victor continues his assault, his fists sparking with cursed energy.
Alchemist Extracts:
. . 1st (3/day) long arm [1/1], shield [1/1]
Warder Maneuvers and Stances:
. . [maneuvers] brawler’s attitude BB [1/1], stutter strike CR [0/1], DC15 Will [1/1], terrifying blow EG, DC15 Will [1/1]
. . [stances] pugilist's stance, vigilant keeper's stance [1]
Current Status: Mutagen (19.7/20 minutes), Comprehend Languages (??/20 minutes)
Another wave of energy washed forth from Grey.
Kaillum retrieves the mirror from Regulus IV and steps forward, brandishing it at the vampire while her companions continue their assault.
Regulus clicks in acknowledgment of Kaillum's assistance and quickly reaches for a combination of ingredients. "Suitable accelerant..." He launches the improvised explosive at the undead creature while evoking a spell to protect himself.