There is no need; the well only goes down about fifteen feet before ending in what is likely twenty feet or more of sand. The well is long-since defunct.
Melech examines the two alcoves to the east.
Ulysses probably has good intentions to help Melech but surely he will end up just walking into walls and missing obvious traps that will immediately murder him.
Whatever the bottom building was, it is now empty and devoid of anything but sand and a few sad bits of drywood.
The top alcove holds three skeletal corpses, the closer two lying face-down with the rusted, pitted remains of daggers in their backs. The third is slightly smaller than the first two, curled in a fetal position in a narrow space to the back--likely a closet of some sort.
Melech kneels to take a closer look at the bodies.
Ulysses doesn't have to kneel but he takes a look as well.
"Cause of death: bad rolling. And I would know."
Melech looks at Ulysses like he is a crazy person, then waves Nevai over. "What do you make of this?"
Nevai points out the information hidden in the bones.
"I am beginning to wonder if anyone made it out of this house alive that day. Everything we find hints at nothing but horrors. And this house was one of the more defensible. Imagine the huts of the slaves and the peasants; the plague must have run through them like wildfire."
Nevai ponders that for a moment before standing and heading out of the room.
Before Nevai can leave, a familiar rattle and clack arises from behind the trio as the bones rise from their centuries-old resting places to attack!
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (0 dmg)
Ulysses (17/17 hp)
Skeleton 3 (0 dmg)
Melech (24/25 hp)
Nevai (9/17 hp)
Filibus (1 dmg)
[/color]
The first two skeletons catch Nevai unawares and rip two long, bloody gashes in his stomach.
Ulysses squints as he looks at the skeletons. "Something different about these... it certainly can't be something obvious because I would have seen it right away... I'm very observant!... what could it be? Hmm. Well, it'll come to me."
He pops the wand out of its sheath and taps Nevai with it.
Then he takes a st.... " No armor."
The third skeleton goes hard on Ulysses while he's busy healing his companion. One claw rakes the gnome across the arm but the other claw gets overexcited to tear up some breathers and accidentally rakes itself on a sharp edge of one of the boiled leather plates of Ulysses' armor.
Fortunately for the skeleton, it does absolutely nothing to it except confuse it for a moment.
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (0 dmg)
Ulysses (17/17 hp)
Skeleton 3 (0 dmg)
Melech (24/25 hp)
Nevai (13/17 hp)
Filibus (1 dmg)
[/color]
Melech drops his falchion again. I should probably just keep the flail out...
He takes a moment to study #1, then aims his flail for its midsection.
Nevai, mace still out, swings at the slightly smaller skeleton, feeling a faint pang of guilt as he does so.
Nevai whiffs. Melech swings his heavy flail; he doesn't so much strike the skeleton as detonate it, turning it into a cloud of dry, ancient bone powder.
Filibus, hearing the battle going on farther north, curses and loads a bolt into his crossbow, then hurries forward to join the fray.
The skeleton on Nevai continues its assault, but neither of its swings come anywhere near Nevai, let alone his thick armor or shield.
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg, f&@$ing exploded)
Skeleton 2 (0 dmg)
Ulysses (14/17 hp)
Skeleton 3 (0 dmg)
Melech (24/25 hp)
Nevai (13/17 hp)
Filibus (1 dmg)
[/color]
"Hey, Melech! Watch this!"
Ulysses drops his crossbow and draws his light mace. At his size, a "light mace" is little more than a ball peen hammer. Look out, skelly!
Ulysses is, like, 100% sure if that had hit, he would have totally killed that skeleton. Again. Re-killed. Whatever.
Skelly two tears at Nevai, but can't penetrate his armor.
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg, f##~ing exploded)
Skeleton 2 (0 dmg)
Ulysses (14/17 hp)
Skeleton 3 (0 dmg)
Melech (24/25 hp)
Nevai (13/17 hp)
Filibus (1 dmg)
[/color]
Nevai lashes out at the skeleton in front of him again.
He then takes a step back to make some room in these cramped quarters.
The skeleton shatters into powder and debris, which floats morosely to the floor. One skeleton remains.
[color=green]
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg, f!!&ing exploded)
Skeleton 2 (5 dmg, ded)
Ulysses (14/17 hp)
Skeleton 3 (0 dmg)
Melech (24/25 hp)
Nevai (13/17 hp)
Filibus (1 dmg)
[/color]
Melech studies the final skeleton as he steps up to it. "May you find rest."
Perhaps it will; it is certainly now resting comfortably as a pile of dust and debris at your feet.
COMBAT OVER!
Scanning the room, you find nothing else of interest.
Outside, just to the left of this building, is a small domed structure with a rusty metal door that is shut tight. Just to the left of that is an open doorway into the estate.
There is also the dead garden to the west, where some sort of creature hides in the sand-filled pool.
Melech picks up and sheathes his falchion and beckons the others to follow him. He approaches the domed building's door and examines it.
There are no traps or locks on the door, but it is rusted shut. A solid yank will open it.
Melech looks up at the building. "Grain silo." He tries the door.
The door opens with a horrid shriek of rusty metal.
Darkness prevails inside the silo. A rust-eaten series of rungs lead down into the darkness below, which is sliced ever-so-slightly by the daylight pouring in through the doorway up above. The moldy, dusty remains of grain lie far, far below, black and shiny in the dim light.
But then the shiny black mold moves.
It writhes, and skitters, and as the blackness begins crawling up the side of the silo, you realize with horror that it is not mold at all.
It is a massive, horrifying swarm of insects. Scarab beetles, to be exact. Thousands of them.
[color=green]
Scarab Swarm (0 dmg)
Nevai (13/17 hp)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Ulysses (16/17 hp)
Melech (23/25 hp)
[/color]
The scarab beetles suddenly take to the air and fly through the doorway, filling the air with stinging bites.
Both Melech and Ulysses take 1 damage from the biting beetles. Melech begins gagging and dry heaving.
Melech moves out of the swarm and retches behind the nearest column.
"Your weapons are useless! Spread out and use your alchemist's fire if you still have it, Filibus!"
He moves to the south and tosses a bomb at the swarm.
Things suddenly go sideways very quickly.
Melech stumbles away from the swarm, coughing and retching, and stops in the doorway into the house. A giant solifugid, furious at the intrusion into its territory, drops directly onto Melech's head and begins biting and clawing furiously as it drops to the ground at his feet, leaving two large gashes across his face.
The sudden screams of pain and anger from the doorway distract Ulysses just enough that his bomb falls just short, still landing inside the swarm but detonating right in Filibus' face. Neither he nor the swarm were expecting to be detonated, apparently, and both take the full brunt of the splash damage.
Filibus stumbles away, frantically putting out the flames on his robes before they can start on fire. He gives the gnome a look like, C'mon, man! as he digs through his stuff for an alchemist's fire.
Seeing the snafu with the bomb, Nevai rushes out and channels positive energy, excluding the swarm and Melech's new nightmare friend.
[color=green]
Scarab Swarm (7 dmg)
Nevai (13/17 hp)
Filibus (2 dmg)
Ulysses (17/17 hp)
Melech (21/25 hp)
"Drop-Bear" Solifugid (0 dmg)
[/color]
The swarm continues to harry the party, rushing forward to encompass both Nevai and Ulysses.
In about the worst turn of events possible, Ulysses begins coughing and retching from the hundreds of biting insects crawling across his skin.
Ulysses heads back toward the silo, experiencing mixed feelings about tasting his (admittedly wonderful) breakfast for a second time.
Recovered from his bout of nausea, Melech is almost thankful that there is now an enemy that he will be effective against. He studies the solifugid and then bring his flail down atop it, annoyed that he seems to always have the wrong weapon ready.
Unable to harm the swarm, Nevai stumbles back and waits for an opportunity to help.
Filibus triumphantly reveals an alchemist's fire, then tosses it at the swarm. His aim is off, however, and it sails wide, crashing to the ground between the swarm and Ulysses. Both get splashed with liquid fire, though it does little more than annoy either of them.
Filibus cringes. "Sorry!"
Despite the fact that, logically, he knows the flames will dissipate in moments, Ulysses feels the old panic begin to creep back in. Fire. Fire on him. Fire over him. Burning again. Burning again...
Somehow the solifugid survived the brutal beating from the dense iron head of the flail, and continues trying to rip into the slayer. Without the element of surprise (and being directly on top of his head) the creature doesn't have much luck.
The swarm seems to like Ulysses' breakfast, too. It smothers him once again.
Ulysses continues to gag and dry heave, long after his stomach is emptied of dates and coffee.
[color=green]
Scarab Swarm (9 dmg)
Nevai (13/17 hp)
Filibus (6 dmg)
Ulysses (9/17 hp)
Melech (24/25 hp)
Solifugid (11 dmg)
[/color]
Seeing his allies in peril, Nevai calls down the light of the Sky God once more.
Ulysses retreats again. The last time he threw up this much, he had spent way too much time with a priest of Cayden Cailean. That time was more fun than this one.
Melech takes another swipe at the hardword.
Ulysses escapes the horrid crawling sensation and finds a moment of respite to get his retching under control.
Melech turns the sofligud... sogif... sofl... Camel Spider into a bloody streak on the floor.
[color=green]
Scarab Swarm (9 dmg)
Nevai (12/17 hp)
Filibus (6 dmg)
Ulysses (9/17 hp)
Melech (24/25 hp)
Solifugid (28 dmg, grease stain)
[/color]
The swarm seeks new victims, and crawls over Nevai's flesh, skittering under the plates and splints of his armor to bite underneath, gnawing at his flesh. He screams in agony.
Though not nauseated, the cleric is clearly in pain as the beetles tear tiny chunks from his flesh. He brandishes the scarab shield but seems to have no effect on the swarm.
With no power to harm the insects--gods-cursed shield doesn't even work!!--Nevai stumbles out and away so Ulysses can throw his bombs indiscriminately.
Filibus digs for another alchemist's fire but comes up empty, cursing to himself.
Ulysses shakes off the nausea, preps a bomb, and throws it.
Melech realizes he should be carrying an alchemist's fire or something for just this situation. And then he realizes the next best thing he can do is make himself a target so Ulysses is free to kill the swarm. He skirts around the northern edge of the swarm and puts himself just outside it.
There is no swarm to skirt. Ulysses finally gets his head in the game, and the bomb erupts in spectacular fashion directly in the heart of the swarm. Beetle guts fly in every direction; a few startled scarab beetles skitter away mostly unscathed, perhaps a dozen in all, but otherwise every last one of the thousand flying little monsters are completely obliterated by the power of the blast.
COMBAT OVER!
Filibus stares in awe at Ulysses. "I... I knew your bombs were powerful, but... holy s%#*..."
Nevai pounds on the links of his chainmail, trying to smash tiny lumps that can be seen moving underneath. He stops and yelps at the impressive blast, but a bite from a scarab beetle puts him back to work. He can't reach his back, so he slams his back against the wall of the house a few times. Dust rains down into his jet-black hair.
Finally the movements stop inside his armor, and the aasimar stares wild-eyed at the gnome. "You could not do that before they started eating me??"
He takes a deep breath. "Sorry. I... I am sorry. I... lost my head... I am unused to being powerless against an enemy. This stupid shield did nothing." He looks down in disgust at the shield.
He raises his holy symbol and channels energy once more.
"I cannot do that again until tomorrow," he says, looking a little drained. "I have a few spells prepared that I can convert to healing if need be. How about you, Master Cogkettle? Any more bombs left?"
Ulysses smiles and winks at Filibus. "I'm old! And I've spent many of those years studying and improving my creations." His smile fades just a touch as he touches the scars on the side of his face. "And I have suffered for that power." His finger lingers on his cheek for a moment as his eyes lose focus, but then he comes back to himself with another big smile. "Unfortunately, all those years of study haven't helped my aim as much as I'd like. Ha!" At Nevai's stony look, Ulysses just laughs. "Don't worry, friend! I still have plenty of tricks up my sleeve. I think we can stay a bit longer."
He pulls out the wand and taps himself.
"Anyone else?"
Melech shakes his head at the gnome, picks up a pebble, asks Nevai to light it up, and returns to the grain silo to look around. He stands at the top of the ladder and drops the pebble in.
Ulysses helps!
The silo now appears to be empty of everything but dust.
"I suppose we need to go see what Filibus saw." He waves the others along and heads around the front of the house towards the western side. He stops at the gates and takes a look around.