Melech begins to work on cutting himself free from the net.
Both of the thugs up top manage to avoid the worst of the damage from the grenade, but both get cut and scorched noticeably.
Melech, now that he's no longer distracted by the trapper, slices easily through the netting with his falchion. It drops limply to the ground around him.
Understandably displeased at being blown half to bits, the two thugs on the rooftop fire down at Ulysses. His extract is working overtime; both arrows skip harmlessly off his invisible shield of force energy.
The second thug from the north rooftop finally reappears, rounding the corner behind the group to fire at Melech. Despite the jump, Melech's armor catches the arrow on his pauldron.
The final thug fires at the disabled bard, but it sails completely wide.
[color=green]
Ulysses (32/32 hp, inspired)
Melech (49/49 hp, inspired, entangled)
Trapper 1 (22 dmg, dead)
Thug 1 (5 dmg)
Thug 2 (0 dmg)
Trapper 2 (16 dmg, unconscious and stable)
Thug 3 (5 dmg)
Thug 4 (0 dmg)
Sigrun (24/34 hp, inspired, entangled, stuck 6 rounds)
[/color]
With a final swipe, Sigrun breaks off the last of the crud sticking her legs to the ground. Though enough crud is splattered against her leggings to make movement difficult, at least now she can move. She continues singing while moving toward the rope leading up to the roof.
Though both trappers are down, all four thugs still stand, with bows trained at the party.
[color=green]
Ulysses (32/32 hp, inspired)
Melech (49/49 hp, inspired, entangled)
Trapper 1 (22 dmg, dead)
Thug 1 (5 dmg)
Thug 2 (0 dmg)
Trapper 2 (16 dmg, unconscious and stable)
Thug 3 (5 dmg)
Thug 4 (0 dmg)
Sigrun (24/34 hp, inspired, entangled, stuck 6 rounds)
[/color]
Ulysses grins as the arrows are deflected by his shield, then tosses a bomb at #1.
Melech paints a terrifying picture as he bears down on #3 at full speed, enormous falchion dripping the blood of #3's comrade. When he reaches the thug, he aims at his head with the hilt of his sword, hoping to leave one alive for questioning.
Several things happen at once.
First, Ulysses tosses a vaguely spherical parcel at the thug on the roof. It hits him in the chest, and his chest is just... gone. A head and two arms dangle from a fractured spine in a bizarre, horrifying parody of a marionette before collapsing.
Second, the concussive wave lifts his adjacent friend up off his feet and away. You can actually see the concussive force from the shockwave rippling against his arm and abdomen. Ribs powder to dust inside his skin as he collapses like a jellyfish, unconscious from the wounds. Apparently they aren't immediately life-threatening, however, because were you to inspect him, he is stable.
Third, Melech charges like an unholy terror at the nearer thug on the ground. His eyes bulge out of his head as the blood-soaked battlefiend rushes him and bears down with the pommel of his sword. It was intended to be a knockout blow, but Melech very nearly kills the man; his skull gets a very ugly divot where his pommel struck, and all the capillaries in his eyes burst, leaving them blood-red as they roll into the back of his head and he falls unconscious.
Finally, the remaining thug fires a feeble, unenthusiastic shot at Melech that sails wide. "Screw this!" he cries. "No amount of money is worth this!" He drops his bow, turns, and flees into the alleys and side streets of the necropolis.
COMBAT OVER!
Melech yells at the others. "Leave them! We have to find Filibus! We can come back and question this one" -- he gestures at the body slumped at his feet -- "after we find him."
He finds Filibus's trail of blood and tries to follow it.
It isn't hard to follow. You noted the blood trail earlier, and it leads around a corner. Some ten feet away, Filibus lies in a crumpled heap against a nearby building, blood trickling down his head from a cut on his scalp. Surprisingly, he's awake, but he looks a little loopy.
He looks up at you groggily. "Hhhhi." He cringes as the word oozes out of his mouth. "Ow."
Sigrun comes around the corner, placing a hand on her gored abdomen and washing it over with positive energy.
She sees Filibus and sucks in a breath. "Gods. What the Hells happened to you?"
She looks over the wound. "Superficial. You're lucky, whatever hit you looks like it was heavy." She heals it up just to make sure.
Melech rushes over and helps Filibus to his feet. He doesn't want to leave the bodies unattended for too long, so he puts Filibus's arm around his shoulder and half-carries the man back to where the unconscious thug fell. "Sorry to rush you, but I am very interested to hear what this doqon has to say and I didn't want anyone else finding him. We can wake him up in a minute; what happened to you?"
Filibus blinks his eyes and shakes his head. "I... I felt something hit me. I stumbled away. Fell. Woke up and you were there..." He flinches. "Ow. Light is bright."
The unconscious thugs are right where you left them. It will be some time before they wake up, maybe an hour or more.
"I am sorry that I did not see you fall, but I am glad that you are okay." He turns his attention to the thug. He pulls out his any-tool and fashions it into a set of manacles, then binds the thug's hands. He sits the man up against a wall and turns to Ulysses. "Wake him up."
Ulysses nods and pulls out the wand, tapping it to the thug a few times until he regains consciousness.
The moment the thug opens his eyes, Melech's falchion is at his throat. "You're going to tell us who paid you to attack us and why and you're going to do it quickly, or I will kill you. And then my friend here will bring you back. And then I'll let him kill you. You saw what his bombs did to your friends; he knows how to do some crazy s*+& with chemicals. It will not be pleasant. And we will go on like that until we accidentally kill you for good or you tell us what we want to know."
Ulysses casually fingers the various vials and bottles in his bandolier, trying to seem imposing.
So far as Melech can tell, Filibus is telling the truth. Both his words and wound seem genuine. Certainly it seems odd that the historian was singled out and knocked unconscious rather than being killed, but now that you think about it, the fight felt more like a surprise take-down than an all-out murder. At the very least, you feel like the thugs wanted to take a few of you alive. The tanglefoot bags and nets lead you to that thought; the thugs with bows were likely intended to soften you all up so you were easier to take.
The thug wakes up after the first tap of the wand. He's clearly still battered, but he's awake. Melech sees the thug's face drain of all color. "Okay! Okay! J-just get him away from me! He keeps stroking those bottles, it's weird!" He swallows hard; his adam's apple brushes against the edge of the falchion and leaves a shallow cut in the skin of his neck.
"Some Taldan b+*!%! She gave us money to waylay you. She wanted to keep you from getting to some place called the ... uh.... something with an eye, I think? Sounded like a temple. We figured we'd kidnap you and ransom you back to the church of Pharasma. Those who lived, anyway. That's all I know. I swear!"
The thug has a small silver chain link on a bracelet on his wrist. Perhaps he's a member of the Silver Chain that Ibrahim mentioned?
The glint of silver on the thug's wrist catches Ulysses's eye. He taps Melech on the shoulder and points at it with his eyes.
Melech swears under his breath. They were so careful to not mention their next assignment in public. How did she know? And what is in the temple that is worth all this trouble? He supposes they will probably find out soon enough, but not knowing what they are walking into makes the back of his neck itch.
When Ulysses points out the silver chain, Melech reaches out and snatches it off the thug's wrist. "Silver Chain, eh? Now you get to tell me about your little gang! Why are you attacking adventuring parties in the Necropolis? Who is your boss?" He puts the tiniest amount of additional pressure behind his blade.
The thug groans. "Some new guy! He came in with some weirdos in masks! Gold masks! His name is Ekram. He killed our old boss and just took over! They're kidnapping adventurers in the necropolis. I thought it was for ransom, but they just torture and kill them, I don't know why! We left because it was getting messed up. We figured we'd go with the plan we thought Ekram was doing, and ransom adventurers for money, minus their possessions. All the tombs are getting cleared out of goods, we can't make money the old way. But Ekram doesn't care. He just keeps torturing and murdering adventurers. I swear I don't know why! Please don't kill me!"
He's crying at this point. He seems fairly certain he's going to die.
Melech relaxes the falchion just a bit, so it's not touching the man's throat, but still close. "Was the old boss named Ibrahim?"
For a moment, pain overcomes fear on the thug's face, and he nods. "We... I mean, I don't wanna say we had morals per se, but Ibrahim would never do what Ekram is doing. We don't mess with the living; that's our thing. Only reason we kept clear of the city guards. But with you lot flooding the place, everything changed. We knew the necropolis would get cleared out real quick. We had to change our tactics. Worst part is, I know Ibrahim would never have agreed to it. Everything went to s!!~ when he died. Including me, I guess."
He stares at the ground in horror.
Sigrun shifts awkwardly. She taps Ulysses on the shoulder says in a low tone, "I dunno about you, but I'm just now learning that existential horror makes me damned uncomfortable. What are we gonna do with this guy?"
Melech sighs, then lowers the falchion. He yanks the thug to his feet and searches him for weapons, taking anything he finds. He turns to Sigrun and Ulysses. "Check the others; there may be one or two still left alive. If you find any, disarm them. Take anything valuable you find from the dead ones."
As he and Sigrun head off to follow Melech's instructions, Ulysses says, "I don't suppose he would disarm the guy if he was going to kill him."
He briefly ponders whether he should be put off by someone in his employ giving him orders, but then decides he's actually okay with it. He hired Melech for his expertise in situations like these. Plus, it's hard to say no to the man.
Melech watches the others walk off. "I'm going to take your bindings off. You are not going to attack me, and you are not going to run. You are going to walk away calmly and you are not going to return to the Necropolis. In fact, maybe Wati isn't the city for you anymore. Being around this Ekram is bound to get you killed sooner than later, and you don't strike me as someone that wants to die young. Nod if you agree."
The thug blinks. "I... have family in Tephu. It's... been awhile. We didn't part on the best terms. But maybe it's time to go visit them again." Then, as if fully realizing Melech's words, he clamps his mouth shut and nods vigorously.
Ulysses checks the bodies on the ground and finds the two trappers each had a masterwork scimitar, padded armor, and a net with attached 50 feet of rope.
The four thugs each have a masterwork longbow with a total of about 20 arrows remaining among the four of them. Each also has 25gp and a khopesh. Sigrun can affirm that none of the items on their persons are magical.
Of the four bodies remaining, only one is still breathing. He looks stable but whether he will actually wake up is debatable.
Melech takes the masterwork items and the arrows and leaves the rest. He also leaves the unconscious thug alone, mumbling something about the gods deciding his fate. He makes a mental note of their location, intending to report what happened to the Voices on the way out of the Necropolis.
Then he looks to the others. "We have to assume that Velriana will already be at the temple. I suspect it will come to blows. Be prepared." He gestures for Ulysses to lead the way.
Ulysses pulls out the map and, after a few moments to find his bearings, begins heading to the temple.
The living thug makes himself scarce immediately. You leave the grisly scene of the attack and continue through the necropolis toward the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye. So many questions run through your mind as you go, not the least of which is, how in the Nine Hells did Velriana figure out about the temple? Was it just coincidence that she happened to find it the same time you happened to draw it as your third and final site? It seems too easy...
When you finally reach the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye, it's probably not what you were expecting. It is a squat sandstone building some twenty feet tall. The complete lack of windows makes it impossible to say how many stories it is, but it's unlikely to be more than one. While what you assume to be the central nave is symmetrical, topped with a large dome over the north end of the temple, the rest of the building displays a complete and utter disregard for standard architecture and are wildly uneven. The temple's exterior walls are carved with large, sprawling likenesses of Nethys and other celestial figures.
No doors block the grand entrance to this building as you ascend the wide steps leading directly up into the temple's interior. Two humanoid statues flank the stairs, wearing black-and-white masks and holding quarterstaves. Just inside the entry, two rows of columns lead toward an archway in the north wall. Two smaller passages open to the east and west.
This building is in remarkably good shape. The walls, columns, and floors all lack the scuffs, dirt, or sand build-up of the other structures in the Dead City. In fact, there seems to be no deterioration whatsoever.
As you reach the head of the stairs and light yourselves--the temple is pitch-dark--you see six bloodstains on the floor. These steadily become clear as you reach the entrance: six piles of vaguely dog-shaped flesh lie scattered about.
Before you can move further in, you hear an arrhythmic staccato on the marble floor: clack, click-clack, click-click-click clack...
Six figures, low to the ground, emerge from the darkness behind the pillars. The animated skeletons of jackals step out, still slicked with blood from emerging out of their own flesh like cocoons. Their eye sockets are empty save for angry red pinpoints of light, and they move their mouths up and down as if snarling, yet no sound emerges any more. They are no longer beings of flesh. They crouch low, ready to pounce.
[color=green]
Skeletal Jackal 1 (0 dmg, -2 AC 1 rd)
Skeletal Jackal 2 (0 dmg)
Skeletal Jackal 3 (0 dmg)
Skeletal Jackal 4 (0 dmg, -2 AC 1 rd)
Sigrun (26/34 hp)
Skeletal Jackal 5 (0 dmg)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Melech (45/49 hp)
Ulysses (32/32 hp)
Skeletal Jackal 6 (0 dmg)
[/color]
Four of the six jackals rush at the party. The skeleton that bites at Filibus can't quite get a good angle on the historian and misses horribly. Two rush at Sigrun and both take a sizable chunk out of her . A fourth attacks Melech and tears his calf muscle .
Sigrun curses as the creatures tear into her. She pulls out her axes and begins bellowing a warcry.
A fifth jackal moves out of the shadows to attack Melech as well, but almost manages to bite its own leg in its overeagerness.
Filibus fires his crossbow point-blank, taking a bite to the leg for his troules . Unfortunately the bolt, while a hit, skips harmlessly off the skeleton's ribcage.
[color=green]
Skeletal Jackal 1 (0 dmg)
Skeletal Jackal 2 (0 dmg)
Skeletal Jackal 3 (0 dmg)
Skeletal Jackal 4 (0 dmg)
Sigrun (26/34 hp)
Skeletal Jackal 5 (0 dmg)
Filibus (5 dmg)
Melech (45/49 hp)
Ulysses (32/32 hp)
Skeletal Jackal 6 (0 dmg)
[/color]
Ulysses pulls out a bomb and tosses it at the jackal in front of Sigrun .
Melech drops his falchion, draws his flail, then steps toward #6, noticing that it seems less prepared than the other jackals. He studies it as he moves, then attempts to crush it with the flail.
Filibus steps back and hucks a bomb, landing square on #1's head. It explodes into bloody powder. One of the skeletal jackals (the one in front of Filibus) follows suit, but the other two manage to avoid the worst of the flames.
Melech steps up to #6, drops the falchion, quick-draws the flail, and swings it in a wide, devastating arc that smashes its skull into dust, all in one smooth motion. The rest of its body collapses into inanimate bones immediately thereafter.
Skeletal jackal never got a chance to truly live.
Or... unlive.
Whatever. It didn't get a turn.
[color=green]
Skeletal Jackal 1 (14 dmg, splodead)
Skeletal Jackal 2 (8 dmg, dead)
Skeletal Jackal 3 (4 dmg)
Skeletal Jackal 4 (4 dmg)
Sigrun (21/34 hp)
Skeletal Jackal 5 (0 dmg)
Filibus (5 dmg)
Melech (45/49 hp)
Ulysses (32/32 hp)
Skeletal Jackal 6 (24 dmg, JFC so f#!@ing dead)
[/color]
The jackal next to Sigrun tears another nasty chunk out of her . She's not looking so hot. Melech apparently has an antipathy spell on him because yet another skeletal jackal nearly hits itself in its attempt to bite him .
Sigrun keeps singing as she unleashes her axes on #4.
Sigrun tears into skeletal jackal #3 and even with the damage reduction, manages to turn it into powder with the first hit. Her battleaxe flashes with arcane power in rhythm with her song as the skeleton crumbles.
Jackal #5 attempts to bite Melech and ends up leaving itself wide open for punishment.
Annoyed at his ineffectual attack, Filibus reloads and tries again on #3. Once again it's a hit, and once again it does nothing but scratch a rib.
[color=green]
Skeletal Jackal 1 (14 dmg, splodead)
Skeletal Jackal 2 (8 dmg, dead)
Skeletal Jackal 3 (4 dmg)
Skeletal Jackal 4 (8 dmg, dead)
Sigrun (21/34 hp)
Skeletal Jackal 5 (0 dmg)
Filibus (5 dmg)
Melech (45/49 hp)
Ulysses (32/32 hp)
Skeletal Jackal 6 (24 dmg, JFC so f&@+ing dead)
[/color]
Melech turns to get #5 off of Ulysses. He studies it, then aims to crush another skull.
Ulysses thinks the burly types have this under control, so he flicks his wrist, retrieving the wand from its sheath. He moves up behind Sigrun and taps her with it.
It's almost lights-out for these skellies, but not quite yet. Melech can't quite get hold of #5's legs to sweep them. Ulysses moseys over and starts sealing up Sigrun's wounds.
#3 circles carefully around Melech to flank with its friend and takes a bite at the slayer, but its fangs glance off his breastplate with an audible scrape like nails on a chalkboard.
[color=green]
Skeletal Jackal 1 (14 dmg, splodead)
Skeletal Jackal 2 (8 dmg, dead)
Skeletal Jackal 3 (4 dmg)
Skeletal Jackal 4 (8 dmg, dead)
Sigrun (30/34 hp)
Skeletal Jackal 5 (0 dmg)
Filibus (5 dmg)
Melech (45/49 hp)
Ulysses (32/32 hp)
Skeletal Jackal 6 (24 dmg, JFC so f#++ing dead)
[/color]
Seeing the battle almost over, Sigrun ceases her singing to focus solely on some destruction. She moves up into a flank with Melech and swings with her battleaxe.
#3's attack of opportunity goes horribly for Sigrun, unfortunately, as the skeletal jackal rips a good chunk out of her leg.
Momentarily stunned by the vicious attack, Sigrun lets her guard down and the jackal goes in for another vicious bite.
Sigrun just manages to bat away the attack, rapping it on its lower jaw. She's fairly certain if it still had a tongue, it would have just bitten the tip off. As it stands, nothing happens.
Then Sigrun steps into place, smacks the skeletal jackal in its stupid face, and its skull shatters. The creature's bones collapse into a bloody heap on the ground.
Filibus, extremely confused by the recent rollercoaster of emotions, loads the crossbow, steps to the side for a clear shot, and fires at #5. The shot lands true and actually destroys one of its back legs . It's still standing, but barely. Filibus fist-pumps. "I did a thing!"
[color=green]
Skeletal Jackal 1 (14 dmg, splodead)
Skeletal Jackal 2 (8 dmg, dead)
Skeletal Jackal 3 (10 dmg, dead)
Skeletal Jackal 4 (8 dmg, dead)
Sigrun (23/34 hp)
Skeletal Jackal 5 (4 dmg)
Filibus (5 dmg)
Melech (45/49 hp)
Ulysses (32/32 hp)
Skeletal Jackal 6 (24 dmg, JFC so f!$~ing dead)
[/color]
Your GM is a dumbass who can't read good. Sigrun killed the last skeleton and Filibus remains useless.
COMBAT OVER!
Despite the lack of sand or dust in this room, the steps leading in remain soiled. A quick look reveals more tracks than just your own: a total of five other humanoids have entered the sanctum in the last twenty-four hours, and one humanoid has left.
The humanoid that left was barefoot; the posture suggested by their imprint suggests they were tall, but not terribly heavy; probably a lean build.
There was powerful necromantic magic used in this room very recently; these skeletal jackals were created from fresh jackal corpses within the last hour or hour and a half from a powerful caster.
Sigrun frowns as she looks around, shaking her head. "Definitely traces of the necromancy used to make these jackal-skeletons, but there's something else about the magic I can't put my finger on."
She touches herself to heal her most recent gaping wound.
"As I suspected. Five people arrived here about an hour before we did. They probably set these jackals on us. One left, so there are four still in there. Be on your guard, and let's try to keep quiet." He begins following the tracks.
Ulysses tries to help his idiotic friend.
The tracks vanish once into the building proper, where it is unusually clean, making it impossible to tell which direction they went. You find nothing of value in this room; just the piles of bloody bones that recently attempted to murder you, and their grotesquely shed skins.
There are three directions you can go from the entry hall: a hallway to the west, a hallway to the east, and a large arched open doorway leading into a room whose size is impossible to determine from here. It looks to be significantly bigger than this room, however.
Melech frowns at his inability to follow the tracks, then decides to just continue in the direction they were headed when he lost the trail .
The party slips quietly into the next room. Space and elevation lend a sense of past grandeur and majesty to this large space. A star-shaped fountain with a circular pool in the center sits in the middle of the chamber. The bottom of the pool is decorated with a great mosaic eye made from tiny colored tiles; and hieroglyphs are carved into the paving stones ringing the fountain. Two rows of columns support the ceiling overhead, which continues to rise to a domed ceiling in the northern portion of the chamber. At the far end of the hall, a massive statue with arms raised overlooks the entire length of the temple from atop a raised dais. East and west of the fountain, two sets of stone double doors exit the chamber.
The giant statue is also of Nethys.
You could swear you heard a voice muttering an incantation at the far end of the room.
As the party steps into the room to look around, Ulysses and Melech hear a faint scraping noise to the west. They turn to see, just at the edge of their spells' light, that the wall has bulged out into a vaguely humanoid shape. It holds a heavy urn in its hands and looks ready to throw it.
[color=green]
Ulysses (32/32 hp)
?? (0 dmg)
Melech (45/49 hp)
[/color]
This is a very rare, strange elemental known as an ankhat. They essentially function as guardian spirits for certain important structures like temples. Strange though, is that while ankhats are somewhat territorial, they are not usually aggressive.
Ankhats have the usual elemental traits, plus the ability to move through the floors, walls, ceilings, and other attached structures of the building it inhabits, similar to an earth elemental's earth glide ability. This does no harm to the structure whatsoever.
Ankhats have no true body. They manifest by extending the very walls and floors of the building itself into a vaguely humanoid shape to interact with others (usually to attack intruders). An ankhat occupies the same space as whatever area of the structure it is presently manifesting from. If, somehow, the ankhat were to be moved at least 10 feet from its structure, it would take 1d8 damage and be immediately shunted back into the structure in the nearest unoccupied square.
Additionally, each ankhat is bound to a keystone somewhere in its inhabited building. Gaining control of this keystone gains control of the ankhat and would allow you to make it do your bidding. It is unlikely you can find the keystone right now; it's generally large and built into the very foundation of the building itself. But perhaps Velriana and her people found it and ordered the normally shy ankhat to attack intruders? It would certainly explain its behavior.