Gen draws two daggers as she is down to perhaps one more spell to cast from her bonded item and would rather throw something at a threat than engage it in melee if at all possible.
Perception
Correna moves into the room, heading for the old desk. Roya follows behind her, while Gen comes in last and places herself on the other sider of Roya so the girl is well shielded.
Almost as soon as you walk into the room, antennae poke up through holes in the floor in a couple of places. The antennae are quickly followed by insect bodies as two cockroaches the size of small dogs wriggle up onto the floor. Without hesitation they both scamper straight for the room's intruders.
Gen: 22
Correna: 11
Roya: 11
Bugs: 9
Side stepping, Correna swings quickly at the nearest moving insect!
"More bugs! I hate bugs!"
Roya is startled by the creatures appearance, throwing her starknife at the closest insect, before running out of the room.
Gen attacks the same one that Corr swings at, better to get em down fast!
Attack
Damage
Corrina bisects the cockroach with her swing, killing it instantly.
Ro's starknife gouges the other cockroach badly, but it carries on toward Gen since Ro has left the building :)
Gen's thrown dagger misses, but it's incidental since Correna kills it a moment later.
Gen sidesteps the cockroach's attempt to bite her.
Correna moves to the last bug...
Correna dispatches the second bug with great efficiency. She also noticed when she went after the first bug that even though the far side of the room sags and there are some holes in the floor, it seems to be sound enough.
Cleaning her blade, Correna goes back to the door she was approaching originally.
Gen follows Corr and grimaces at the disgusting bugs, "Well, we can get jobs exterminating giant bugs if this whole adventurer thing does not pan out...
Nice job Ladies, and by Ladies I mean the two of you. I mean this blade looks whole but there must be a big chunk missing as I never seem to actually hit anything with it".
Correna waves her blade in the air awkwardly.
"You will get the hang of it eventually. Daggers are easy. This thing? Took me nearly a year to finally get the hang of it. It's an antique I bought in the market. Probably paid too much for it too. Looks like a sword but swings like an axe. However, I love what it can do to whatever it hits! By the way...that floor looks pretty solid right there. Go figure? Maybe the ghosts are trying to keep this place up?"
, Roya shouts from safely outside. A moment later, with a slightly more wavering voice:
Without a hint of humor, but a large smile, Correna whistles for the young woman.
"Yes we are alive brave Roya Bugslayer. Come back to us. We have ghosts to find and bugs to slay!"
"I...erm...", a blushing Roya re-enters the room, looking at the Bugs, and only hesitates for a short moment before retrieving her Starknife from one of them. "You think there's more bugs? I hoped it would only be ghosts from here on...?"
Correna finds the door to the next room unlocked. It swings open readily.
Two doors stand along the north wall of the room, and one stands along the western wall. A masterfully built table stands against the mold-covered windows in the room’s southeastern wall. Without their current mold covering, the windows would offer a wonderful view of the river.
There are several chairs around the dining table, which still has some crockery and an old wooden box sitting on it.
A tall cabinet used to stand against the far wall, but it has fallen over onto the floor.
Correna moves into the room unafraid, and sidles up to the table.
She attempts to lift the lid of the box with her left hand, her sword casually gripped in her right, but ready to be used instantly as needed.
"I hope there isn't 200 year old moldy bread or cheese in here..."
Gen chuckles, "Only a child would rather fight ghosts than bugs!"
Gen enters the room as well and also looks around. She is adventurous enough but mold is sort of where she draws the line...
Perception
"Well, Ghosts are just dead people. You can talk with them. Bugs are just...icky. I don't even like them normal-size - those overgrown ones are downright scary.", Roya respondes defensively, falling in line between the two others again.
Looking around carefully, Correna laughs softly.
"Well, those stirges aren't real bugs. They are magically created monstrosities from ages past that escaped into the wild and reproduced somehow. Big bugs? I blame divine intervention. Only the gods of evil would need to produce a cockroach that big! Wizards wouldn't give a flying fig about them in most cases."
Aha! Thanks Roya! I figured out the problem. In the old one maps were in the short summary location. Information there will display across all the tabs!
Correna opens the box and finds it contains a plain but very nice set of silverware. She has no time to look at it more closely though because suddenly hundreds, maybe thousands of small spiders begin creeping, then practically erupting up through cracks and crannies in the floorboards!
Correna steps back, and summons the fire!
Saving Throw Reflex negates Dazzle; Spell Resistance yesA favorite display at halfling midsummer festivals, this spell lets you create fireworks in the shape of tiny dragons. Once per round, as a move action, you may designate a target 5-foot-square within range and launch a pyrotechnic in that direction. The pyrotechnic takes a zigzag path from you to that square, always missing creatures and objects in its path, and detonates in that square with a bang and a colorful burst of fire and light. Creatures in the target square take 1d4 points of fire damage and are dazzled for 1 round (Reflex half, a successful save negates the dazzled condition).
"I'm sensing a theme here!"
Gen grimaces, "A swarm! Damn, I need fire spells..."
Instead she opts to call upon her bonded item to cast her last spell of the day...
Color Spray vs. the Spiders.
The fire from Correna's spell chars many of the spiders to a crisp. The remaining ones scurry away from that spot and around then onto Roya. As they start climbing her legs, some also bite!
Damage:
Fearing hurting Roya further, Correna hesitates!
"Roya, get back! I can't blast it again without hitting you too!"
Roya stands frozen.
Not bugs. Spiders.
Not giant. Worse - a whole swarm.
She means to scream, to run, to close her eyes and wake up.
But her limbs refuse to move as she is about to feint from fear.
Dozens, scores of bites cause Adrenaline to pump through her veins, quickly bringing her back to a very aware state.
Frantically scrambling for the exit, Roya withdraws from the swarm.
As soon as the fleeing Roya gives her the distance she needs, Correna crisps the thickest clot of spiders. The remaining survivors scurry away to cover.
Roya suffers no serious ill effects from spider poison, just the welts from spider bites
Waving away smoke from her left hand, Correna stomps on a few of the fleeing spiders.
"Roya! Are you OK? I hope we don't have to face something like that again today. I'm out of that kind of magic."
"O..okay? They tried to eat me? A ton of spiders tried to eat me. No I am not okay.", the girl waits at the entrance, sobbing, and quite clearly in need of a hug.
Correna hooks the girl with her left arm and gives her a once over look then a hug with a smile.
"I think you'll live. What do you think Gen?"
"What if they were poisonous?", Roya looks at her bitten legs, then moves her hand over her exposed calves, making some, but not all of the bites vanish.
Correna gives a psh-shaw sound and dismisses her worry.
"Those little leg-gers? I think you're made of tougher stuff than that my friend."
She then moves on to survey the room for anything missed due to the excitement.
"Could we, like, light a fire? A torch or something? They are supposed to be scared of fire, right?", Roya aska, following Correna, but keeping a clear line between herself and the exit door...
Gen grimaces, "I think I just wasted that spell.
I also think that if we keep running into these critters we will be in real trouble.
Maybe we should head out and get some gear from town to help us exterminate bugs instead of settle restless ghosts!
Don't worry Ro, you will be fine. Your Mom survived way worse and you are her daughter".
Gen rifles through her pack pulling out a lot of clothes but no torches. "Well I am certainly not going to burn these".
She then scans the room as she re-packs - Perception
Correna pulls out a couple of torches and some flint and steel from her ever-present pack. In a minute she has two torches lit and hands them to Gen and Roya.
"Always be prepared dad taught me. I have a dungeoneering kit too, but that's back at home right now."
Correna will search the desk and the tall cabinet, then take the silverware.
"Waste not, want not..."
As Correna moves to gather up valuables, Roya stands looking at the floor and claps her hands, then speaks with closed eyes:"Sir Roderic, we are not mere plunderers, we are trying to stop trouble in your village. Please do not strike us down in unholy fury."
She claps twice more while bowing, then watches if Correna gets hit by a lightning bolt or something similar dramatic.
Gen moves over to the face down cabinet and tests to see if she can flip it over alone.
Correna's fingers turn out to be buttery, but failing to lift the cabinet turns out to not be so bad. In the process Gen notices the wood on the back is quite loose. She has no problem pulling the pieces away to look inside.
Most of the cabinet's contents were ceramic, now broken beyond use. But there is also a silver serving set, a large silver decanter, and a set of six copper mugs, all needing a good polish but otherwise in fine shape.
The desk drawer contains only old pen nibs and a dried-out jar of ink. However, a piece of paper is stuck to the bottom of the drawer by a film of mold. It’s jagged around the edges, as if it was ripped out of a larger sheet of paper. The stuck and moldering page shows an “X” in the middle of some woods, and the letters “St. Hs.,”.
"Creepy weird. You guys handle the paperwork, I grab the silver..."
Correna continues to loot the found 'treasure.'
Gen takes the copper mugs for resale, "Well Mr. Ghost. The dead have no use for such luxuries and the living need gold to eat so these are coming with us".
Gen looks at the parchment as well - Know Local
"Ah, the Churlwood. But what is St. Hs.? Maybe we need to consult the local Sage once more. Of course, we are not done in here being bitten by bugs yet..."
Correna slaps a mosquito.
"Yep still getting bitten. Shall we move on and see what we shall see for now?"
Correna step into the short hall and towards the next nearest door.
"Hu, a real treasure map?", Roya looks at the piece of paper, too. "We will need to get a shovel, too, right?"
Clearly, the find has lifted her spirits again, helping her to focus on something else - something other than swarms or oversized insects.
Still, she makes sure to stay behind Correna as they move on.