Melech is reluctant to leave his falchion but he knows that every second counts for Ulysses. He leaves it by the doorway and runs to the east; he hopes his deduction that there should be a door in this direction is correct.
Hold on, Ulysses. I'm coming.
Filibus groans, picks up his dropped crossbow, and hustles after Nevai. "How long is he going to run??" he grumbles.
Meanwhile, Skeleton 2 takes another pair of swipes at Ulysses' cowering form, and leaves a horrid gash down the gnome's back.
Ulysses screams as the claws dig into him, paralyzed by terror and unable to move.
Nevai, seeing the skeletons, is overcome with horror and cowers in place, weeping and muttering to himself in another language.
The third skeleton sees new pray and moves over to tear into Nevai, but somehow stumbles and slashes across its own femur.
The bony finger-claws rake across its leg to no effect. It looks very confused.
The first skeleton batters at the huddled form of Ulysses, bruising him under his armor but otherwise leaving him unharmed.
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg)
Melech (25/25 hp)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (0 dmg)
Ulysses (4/17 hp)
Nevai (17/17 hp)
Skeleton 3 (0 dmg)
[/color]
"Nevai! MOVE!"
Filibus fires into the fray but his shot goes wide trying to miss Nevai. The second skeleton's claws can't find purchase on Ulysses; though his mind slowly begins to return to him, he's still in full-defense mode.
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg)
Melech (25/25 hp)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (0 dmg)
Ulysses (4/17 hp)
Nevai (17/17 hp)
Skeleton 3 (0 dmg)
[/color]
Nevai grasps his holy symbol and calls down the light of the Sky God to burn the skeletons with the power of the sun.
Despite the powerful blast of radiance, both skeletons manage to resist the bulk of the damage.
Cursing in Celestial, Nevai backs away from the skeleton so Melech can get in.
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (2 dmg)
Ulysses (4/17 hp)
Nevai (17/17 hp)
Melech (25/25 hp)
Skeleton 3 (2 dmg)
[/color]
Melech steps into the doorway, examining the skeleton as he moves. His face contorts into a rictus grin as he swings his flail at the skeleton's center mass.
The skeleton in front of Melech takes advantage of being off-kilter from his awkward swing and slashes the slayer across the face.
The first skeleton on Ulysses keeps clawing, but still can't seem to catch flesh.
Filibus reloads the crossbow and murders the crap out of the door jamb. What?? It was looking shady AF!
The second skeleton also pounds on the gnome with its hard, bony, jagged fingerbones, but also glances harmlessly off his armor.
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (2 dmg)
Ulysses (4/17 hp)
Nevai (17/17 hp)
Melech (21/25 hp)
Skeleton 3 (2 dmg)
[/color]
Ulysses finally regains his wits and is surprised to find that he is still alive. He had had a vision of being disemboweled. It had seemed so real but he can look down and see that his bowels are firmly in place. Odd.
That's not to say he is entirely healthy. He feels terrible. That will need to be fixed, but first there are skeletons to explode.
He takes a step back toward the door, grabs a bomb off his belt, winks at #1, and sends the bomb its way with an underhand toss.
Despite his best efforts, the underhand toss actually goes behind the skeleton. At least he didn't undershoot it. The skelly dodges the worst of the blast from the bomb.
Meanwhile, outside, Filibus' eyes widen as he screams, "What the f~$$ is that?!"
A huge, horrid, worm-ridden, two-headed canine lumbers out of the nearby outbuilding and lunges at Nevai. One of the two mouths rips into Nevai's arm, dealing him a horrid wound.
Nevai tears his gored arm away before anything can fester in the wound, but as he pulls away, he can see squirming lines dripping out of the creature's mouth and hide, wriggling on the ground as they slowly die away from their host.
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (3 dmg)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (2 dmg)
Ulysses (4/17 hp)
?? (0 dmg)
Nevai (17/17 hp)
Melech (25/25 hp)
Skeleton 3 (2 dmg)
[/color]
Nevai makes a decidedly un-manly noise as he scrambles out his mace and tries to smack the hideous dog-thing.
Melech turns to see the fresh hell that has entered the fray.
Gods. One problem at a time.
He turns back to the skeleton.
The third skeleton tries to slap-fight Melech and, shockingly, it doesn't work well.
The first skeleton misses so horribly it starts gagging, which is really impressive considering it has no stomach or throat.
Filibus screams, "Death dog! Those worms are contagious!" He loads and goes to fire the crossbow, but he panics and fires before his fingers are free of the bowstring and it snaps hard against his fingers, cutting his flesh.
The second skeleton steps up, and Ulysses' luck finally runs out. It rakes him across the face and neck, nicking his jugular. The alchemist falls to the ground, unconscious.
The death dog lashes out at Nevai with both its heads, but thankfully both miss.
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (3 dmg)
Filibus (4 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (2 dmg)
Ulysses (-2/17 hp, unconscious and dying)
Death Dog (8 dmg)
Nevai (17/17 hp)
Melech (25/25 hp)
Skeleton 3 (2 dmg)
[/color]
Nevai, frustrated, steps forward toward the slayer. "This is ridiculous." He holds up his holy symbol again and blasts the skeletons in range.
Even though one saved, the power of the blast is enough to disintegrate both.
Two skeletons fall!
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (3 dmg)
Filibus (4 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (4 dmg)
Ulysses (4/17 hp)
Death Dog (8 dmg)
Nevai (17/17 hp)
Melech (25/25 hp)
Skeleton 3 (7 dmg)
[/color]
Melech sees Ulysses fall and screams in frustration.
Melech's instinct is to run to his downed comrade, but this "death dog" is definitely the more immediate threat. The skeleton will lumber its way out here to attack them but that will take a few seconds.
He reaches for his falchion and immediately remembers that he dropped it by the magically sealed door. His flail will have to do. He has to move past Nevai to get next to the dog, so he doesn't have time to study it. He moves closer, recoiling from the worms, and aims his flail at one of the heads.
Several things happen at once.
Melech strides forward and bashes in the skull of one of the death dog's two heads; it teeters on its feet.
The skeleton rushes forward and attacks Nevai but misses.
Ulysses' neck wound somehow manages to clot, and he stabilizes.
Filibus, fingers still bleeding from the mishap earlier, manages to reload and fire again, and drives a bolt through the eye socket of one of the death dog's other head.
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg)
Filibus (4 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (4 dmg, dead)
Ulysses (-2/17 hp, unconscious and stable)
Death Dog (25 dmg, unconscious and dying)
Nevai (17/17 hp)
Melech (21/25 hp)
Skeleton 3 (7 dmg)
[/color]
Nevai swings his mace at the oncoming skeleton.
The last skeleton bursts into a cloud of bone debris and dust.
COMBAT OVER!
Nevai rushes to Ulysses' side. "Everyone gather up, quickly!"
Once Melech and Filibus are in range, he channels energy again.
He then drops one of his spells to cast cure light wounds on Ulysses.
Ulysses lets out a cry and he raises his hands defensively as his eyes fly open. He quickly sees his friends standing over him and chuckles. "Hey, thanks for leaving me to die, everyone!" He winks and laughs, then accepts Melech's help to stand up.
He flicks his wrist and the wand pops into his hand. He taps himself with it.
Melech hangs his head. "I am sorry, Ulysses. I was... not myself in this fight." He replaces the flail on his hip, then remembers his falchion is still outside. He goes through the front doors if they aren't sealed; if they are, he goes around the long way. Once back, he takes a look around.
Nevai snorts. "An odd sentiment, considering you are not the one who went screaming headlong into danger. I am sorry. This place... powerful evil happened here. I am normally inured to such things. My showing was embarrassing."
Filibus pipes in, "I shot a dog in the face! Well. One of its faces."
The doors remain sealed for roughly a minute after the party revives Ulysses, but then whatever magic held them shut fades once more. Melech sees nothing else out of the ordinary in the outer courtyard, once outside. Whatever horrors the spectral event visited, they are gone, at least for now. Peering to the left and right, Melech can see through both gates.
The gate to the west leads into an L-shaped yard mostly given to sand, sun-dried earth, and the ancient husks of dead trees. Stone benches line the walls of the yard, and a large tiled pool sits in the southwest corner, dried and partially filled with sand. A short flight of steps leads between a pair of pillars to a set of stone doors in the west side of the house. At the north end of the yard stands a squat stone building with columns at every corner.
To the east, where you fought the death dog, a spacious yard fills the compound. Several small stone outbuildings have been built right into the compound's outer wall. A well stands between two of these outbuildings opposite a stone table and benches that sit in the shadow of the house. To the west two sets of steps, both flanked by columns, lead up to the doors into the main house. To the northwest an open doorway leads into an extension of the house, next to a small structure with a domed roof.
Nevai studies the foyer and outer courtyard curiously. "Haunts. No wonder. These are very dangerous. I have heard of haunts that can force you to cause grievous bodily harm to yourself or your allies, and even ones that can kill you outright, making you die of fright. These ones appear to simply frighten and confuse, but still. It nearly killed Ulysses. The haunt in the courtyard can be destroyed easily enough; I would need some holy water and a little time to anoint the front gate with it. But here in the foyer..." He shakes his head. "We will need to gather all the guards' bodies and give them proper burials. I hesitate to say it, but we may need to speak to the Voices of the Spire."
Ulysses pulls a vial out of his bandolier and holds it up. "I have holy water here. Do you know how long it will take the haunt to return? I only have two of these and we might need them if our friends here" -- he indicates the bones strewn about the room -- "are any indication of what awaits us."
Nevai shakes his head. "A day, at most. I do not think we will clear the estate in a day. We will probably have to come back regardless. But I have the light of Horus to deal with any more undead. I would rather put this haunt to rest sooner than later." He shrugs. "But it is your holy water. We can do it tomorrow, if you wish."
A flash of fear crosses the gnome's face, all the more noticeable for how out of place it is where there is normally a grin, even in the most inappropriate situations. He hands over the vial to Nevai without a word.
Melech nods, his face grim. "Haunts are insidious things. Better to take care of this one now since we know how. Filibus, go with him. Ulysses and I will look around outside while Nevai works."
"We looked very closely and I can say with utter confidence that there is nothing out there to find besides like seven gold."
Nevai glances left and right through the gates before beginning his work on the haunt. After a few minutes of prayer and anointing the gates at all four hinges and its shattered lock, the air in the outer courtyard becomes noticeably less oppressive.
He stands, whispering a thanks to the Old Gods, and says, "That is much better. That structure past the dead gardens looks like a mausoleum. Should we take care of that first, or continue exploring the grounds?"
The color drains out of Filibus' face as he looks through the east and west gates. "Uh. Guys?" He swallows audibly. "So uh. The good news is there's a really angry asp hiding under the table that way." He points at the east gate, toward where the corpse of the death dog lies.
He then points an unsteady finger at the pool past the west gate. "The bad news is there's something really big hiding in that pool."
Melech puts an enormous hand on Nevai's shoulder. "Thank you, friend. You have given rest to the restless."
In response to Filibus, he says, "Well spotted! We should remove the foes that we know are there because we are sure to face more that we don't. Will we be able to attack the asp from range?"
Nevai nods, then raises a hand. "I almost forgot! Let me see that armor we found in Akhentepi's tomb."
He sighs. "I still have no idea. We may need to pay someone for the service, someone more skilled than myself."
Filibus smacks his forehead. "Right! That's Akhentepi's armor. Sorry I didn't see it before. Anyway yeah, we should each be able to get a shot off at the snake before it gets to us. Should scare it off, right?"
Ulysses pulls out his crossbow and loads it. "I don't get to use this very often. It'll be fun!"
Melech pulls out his bow and then realizes he somehow forgot to get regular arrows. He hates to waste a cold iron arrow but he'd rather not get in close with a snake if he can help it.
He and Ulysses wave the others to the door, verify with Filibus where the asp is, then step out of the house, being careful not to look in the snake's direction. Once clear of the house, they both turn and fire.
Nevai doesn't have much in the way of ranged weaponry, but he does his best. After picking up and sheathing his khopesh, he fits a stone into his sling and lobs it at the asp with the others.
While Nevai's bullet sails wide, and Ulysses' bolt shatters on the stone bench's leg, both Filibus and Melech hit home for significant damage. The asp hisses and rushes out from its hiding spot under the table at the party.
[color=green]
Asp (12 dmg)
Ulysses (17/17 hp)
Nevai (17/17 hp)
Filibus (1 dmg)
Melech (24/25 hp)
[/color]
The asp rushes out, coiling up with lightning speed and biting at Melech.
The asp lashes out at Melech, but Nevai tries to harry it with his shield at the same time. The asp, distracted, bites the shield--hard. Its fangs actually crack and break off on the hardened steel, and the asp writhes in maddened agony on the ground. No longer able to attack, the party makes quick work of it.
COMBAT OVER!
Nevai stows his sling and frowns at the dead snake. "I sort of feel bad for it."
Melech scoffs. "Don't. It wanted to kill us. There will be plenty of fights that aren't this easy." He returns the bow to his back and draws his falchion, then approaches the well. He finds a small rock and holds it out to Nevai. "Can you light this up?"
Once lit, Melech drops the pebble into the well.