"Morrignas. This is a terrible defilement." He makes a vow to ensure this place is consecrated and returned to its former glory when this is all over.
He continues through the small room and into the hallway beyond, then looks and listens in each direction.
Melech moves to step through the doorway, but the moment he moves into the middle of the short, wide hallway, there is a terrible noise like thunder as trap doors in the ceiling open up and drop thousands of pounds of stone and rubble down on both Melech's and Obadiah's heads. However, both manage to somehow dodge a full ton of rubble unscathed .
However, there is now a huge pile of sand and stone in your path. It looks like Ulysses could probably squeeze through, but the rest of the party could not, even the scrawny wizard unhindered by armor. You will have to take a few minutes to clear it.
Melech sighs heavily and looks at the others. "I should have been more cautious. I apologize. Let's get to work." He sheathes his falchion and begins clearing the rubble. Once done, he actually checks out the hallway beyond.
Magically-powered torches embedded in iron sconces line the walls of this dank, musty corridor. It banks northward at either end, each with a set of double doors at its end.
Melech sees nothing out of the ordinary within his line of sight.
Either way looks equally mysterious, so left it is. Melech approaches the door at the end of the hallway to the left and checks it out.
It's hard to tell through heavy stone doors, but Melech could swear he hears something. It almost sounds like the noise a dog makes right before throwing up.
The door itself seems to hold no dangers.
Now that you can see down the bend, you see another set of double doors, these on the right-hand side, followed by a third set of double doors on the same wall as this set, before bending eastward and out of view. One would assume, then, that it connects with the other path you did not take.
Melech opens the door and looks inside (without stepping inside).
From his vantage point, Melech can't see too far into the room, but he does see the walls of this burial chamber are lined with stone biers, each holding an open sarcophagus engraved with spirals and flying night birds. A large stone table is just within his line of sight to the north, holding piles of books, dried food, statuettes, and other offerings.
As soon as he opens the doors, the dog-barf noise stops.
"Something is in here. Keep your eyes open."
He steps into the room and begins looking around, checking in the sarcophagi and the items on the table.
Obadiah follows Melech, reaching out with his magical senses for auras.
Melech and Company don't get far into the room before five figures slink out of the shadows. They look like zombies for the most part, except their arms are just a little too long, their jaws just a little too distended, and their legs hunched almost like a frog's. Their skin is covered in pustules, and they move almost more like a hound than a human. They were clearly set up for an ambush, but Melech's keen eyes spotted them.
ROUND 1
BOLD may act.[color=green]
Danu (53/53 hp, +8 temp)
Ulysses (55/59 hp, Mutagen drank)
Obadiah (60/60 hp)
#5 (0 dmg)
Melech (75/78 hp, Shielded 5 minutes)
#3 (0 dmg)
#2 (0 dmg)
#4 (0 dmg)
#1 (0 dmg)
[/color]
These are festrogs. They are created when a creature dies during a massive release of negative energy. Their hands are warped into vicious claws and their teeth are broken and jagged . Festrogs like to charge full-bore at their prey and head-butt them to knock them down. Once tripped, the victim is mauled by its fangs and claws.
These particular festrogs look tougher than normal , perhaps due to the strength of the ka pulse that likely birthed them.
Festrogs are covered in cysts and boils that are filled with a hideous toxin. Any opponent who damages a festrog with a slashing or piercing weapon risks exposure to its necrotic boils, which are contagious.
Due to their warped physiology, festrogs are powerful sprinters when running on all fours. If their hands are free, festrogs using the Run action are treated as having a speed of 50 feet (instead of 30) and the Run feat.
Danu yelps and scurries to the side, then sends a series of force missiles at the nearest creature.
"Festrogs! Big ones! Do not slash at them or you will open up those nasty boils!"
Ulysses steps behind one of the sarcophagi, then throws a bomb at #1, hoping to glue it in place to prevent the others from bull rushing Melech.
Obadiah prays to Bes for martial prowess, then draws his mace.
Festrog #1 doesn't bother trying to evade the goop, because festrog #1 ceases to exist. The walls and sarcophagi are painted crimson with its entrails, and the room suddenly exudes a heinous, pungent odor of burning rotten meat and bile.
Obadiah's prayer is answered, and he feels Bes' protective light shine on him.
The festrog in the far back lopes rapidly forward, hopping up onto sarcophagi along the west wall with an unnatural, disjointed alacrity.
ROUND 1
BOLD may act.[color=green]
Danu (53/53 hp, +8 temp)
Ulysses (55/59 hp, Mutagen drank, Shielded 5 minutes)
Obadiah (60/60 hp)
Festrog #5 (0 dmg)
Melech (75/78 hp, Shielded 5 minutes)
Festrog #3 (0 dmg)
Festrog #2 (0 dmg)
Festrog #4 (0 dmg)
Festrog #1 (30 dmg, destroyed)
[/color]
Melech drops his falchion and draws his flail. No pustules for him, thank you very much! He approaches #5 and gives it a good whack.
Melech steps up and plants the flail deep in the festrog's brain cavity. It shrieks inhumanly as it falls to the floor, spasming and writhing in agony before falling still, the necromantic energies powering its unholy vitality dissipating with the force of the blow.
Festrog #3 scampers over the sarcophagi with hideous, disjointed speed and slashes at Melech with its rotten meat-draped bone claws, but they scrape harmlessly off his shield spell.
Festrog #2 is far more aggressive, loping at Melech at a run and leaping into the air. While Melech is distracted by its compatriot, the festrog's vile bony claws tear into the flesh behind his hamstrings . It then yanks back, and Melech finds himself on the floor as #4 lopes up, hopping across the sarcophagi until its horrid mouth is within reach of the slayer and bites down at him.
Melech tries to raise the haft of his flail to block the creatures gross, distended jaws filled with broken yellow and brown teeth, but he only succeeds in putting his forearm in reach of it. The festrog bites down on his arm and tears away a chunk of his meaty flesh, leaving a small divot where part of his forearm muscle used to be. The festrog gulps it down greedily and... no. Did it just get stronger?
ROUND 2
BOLD may act.[color=green]
Danu (53/53 hp, +8 temp)
Ulysses (55/59 hp, Mutagen drank, Shielded 5 minutes)
Obadiah (60/60 hp)
Festrog #5 (15 dmg, destroyed)
Melech (60/78 hp, Shielded 5 minutes, prone)
Festrog #3 (0 dmg)
Festrog #2 (0 dmg, -2 AC)
Festrog #4 (0 dmg, temp hp)
Festrog #1 (30 dmg, destroyed)
[/color]
Unsure what else to do, Danu scrambles up onto a sarcophagus and fires her magic missiles at the festrog furthest from her.
Ulysses pushes past Obadiah, pulls a holy water from his bandolier, and throws it at #3.
Obadiah wades into melee combat. He isn't super comfortable in the role, but the favor from Bes helps. He aims for #4's dumb ugly face.
Melech stands up, risking another nasty bite , then attacks with his flail.
Ulysses fastballs the holy water right in the festrog's ugly mug, which then vanishes in a puff of smoke and the stench of sizzling putrid meat. It collapses to the ground with most of its head melted like wax on a hot day.
Even with Melech's lowered defenses on the ground, the maw of the remaining festrog scrapes uselessly off the breastplate of the slayer's pretty armor. He then joins Obadiah in smashing the last festrog to a useless pile of mush.
COMBAT OVER!
This room smells f~*$ing terrible.
Melech stows his flail and picks up his falchion, then takes a look around, particularly on the table and in the open sarcophagi (though he suspects he knows what came out them).
Obadiah knows that he is not the most observant of people, so he follows Melech around and taps him a few times with the wand.
The sarcophagi are empty of anything but the half-disintegrated remains of a few wrappings.
The items on the table are in a similar state of disrepair, having sat down here for countless years. All of it is coated in a thick layer of dust. Two vases look to be in decent shape, and might interest the church for their historical value.
Melech finds nothing else of note in the room, though a sign above the doors ironically notes this room as being entitled the "Hall of Eternal Rest."
If only.
Melech checks the northern double doors in this room, and opens them if there seems to be no danger. Then he repeats the process on the single door in the hallway.
Neither door appears to pose any threat. Melech opens the single door into what appears to be a small library, filled to the brim with tidy wooden cabinets with brass knobs and labels. A large cedar table stands against the south wall.
Three skeletons in pitted ancient armor stand guard in here, all three drawing ancient but glinting longswords at the sight of the living and hefting rust-pitted heavy shields.
Far more interesting, however, is that the third skeleton holds not a blade but a length of simple iron chain, at the end of which is a small cage. A rotting human head sits in the cage--a woman, if you had to guess, though her age at death is now impossible to tell thanks to advanced decay. Her milky white eyes turn to face Melech in the doorway, and despite having no lungs or throat, the head screams in Osiriani at him.
"Living! Liviiing! Kill them! I cannot stand their hideous presence! Let me rest in peace, you bastards! Killll theeeemmm!!"
Several things happen at once.
The southern skeleton, hefting the severed, caged head like a flail, lumbers up to Melech and swings clumsily, but the angle is wrong and the cage bounces off. The head inside the cage began muttering, but lets out a startled, "Awkgh!" upon bouncing harmlessly off Melech's armor. "No, you imbecile! Back up! Don't bring me right to him!" The skeleton stares blankly at her with slow comprehension.
Danu, Melech, and Obadiah can see the severed head, and the sight of her hateful gaze upon them shakes them to their core.
Danu and Obadiah shake it off, but Melech feels deeply disturbed by the very presence of this shrieking, hate-spewing severed head.
Skeleton #1 fares far better. He steps forward, hefting his longsword, and thrusts it expertly between two plates of Melech's armor, stabbing deep and perforating something that feels pretty important .
These are skeletal champions, tougher, intelligent versions of skeletons. These look particularly strong.
Whatever this thing is, she's entirely unique. Unlike the Beheaded you fought several weeks ago, this head is more zombified, but clearly retains some semblance of intelligence. You heard her mutter an incantation before the violent movement of her cage fizzled the spell, but whether she is arcane or divine in her powers, it's hard to say. Some fell magic pours off her lips, though. You would guess something very, very bad would happen if she bit you.
In addition, the very sight of her is unsettling, causing otherwise stout sword arms to falter.
ROUND 1
BOLD may act.[color=green]
Champion 3 (0 dmg)
Neferekhu (0 dmg)
Champion 1 (0 dmg)
Ulysses (55/59 hp, Mutagen 60 min, Shield 4 min)
Champion 2 (0 dmg)
Obadiah (60/60 hp)
Melech (50/78 hp, Shield 4 min, Hateful Gaze 1 rd)
Danu (53/53 hp, +8 temp hp)
[/color]
Ulysses knows something is going on in that room but he can't see anything yet, so he waits for an opening.
Skeleton 2 moves up to the doorway and lashes out at Melech with his blade, but the slayer manages to twist his torso just enough that the sword glances off his armor instead of cutting into him.
ROUND 1
BOLD may act.[color=green]
Champion 3 (0 dmg)
Neferekhu (0 dmg)
Champion 1 (0 dmg)
Ulysses (55/59 hp, Mutagen 60 min, Shield 4 min, holding)
Champion 2 (0 dmg)
Obadiah (60/60 hp)
Melech (50/78 hp, Shield 4 min)
Danu (53/53 hp, +8 temp hp)
[/color]
"Use blunt force against the skeletons, but you knew that! As for the head... I have no idea."
Obadiah grasps his holy symbol. "Bes, put these skeletons on their asses!" At that moment, chains burst from the ground under each skeleton, trying to tangle their legs and knock them to the ground.
Melech finds himself unable to think clearly. He shakes his head, to no avail, but then Obadiah mentions that his flail would be more effective against the skeletons, and that spurs him into action (such as it is). He drops his falchion (again), draws the flail, studies #2, and tries to smack it in its dumb face.
Danu tries to figure out what the Hells that head thing is.
"Whatever that thing is, it is definitely cursed! Also, it can cast spells. Be careful!"
She steps behind Obie to get a better view into the room, then waves her hand at the skeleton to the left.
"Your friend there has too many bones. Hack a few off, would you?" She points to the skeleton directly next to it.
dc17
dc18
Two of the champions manage to keep their footing against the divine chains that lash and twist at their legs, but the third skeleton, holding the head, tumbles to the floor, and its bones practically vibrate from the fear it suddenly feels toward this terrifying conduit of holy retribution.
Melech is really feeling the horror of this screaming severed head, because his flail bounces off the monster's shield harmlessly.
Danu points, and Champion 1 decides by golly, she's right. Champ 2 has way too many bones! "I fix," it rasps, and slashes at its buddy. Unfortunately its longsword smashes into the sandstone floor harmlessly .
The head hisses as she clatters to the ground. "Bah! Leave me! Just attack, you imbecile!"
Champion 3 stands up and draws its longsword.
From the ground, no longer swinging about, the head shrieks at Melech, "You! Brute! Kill the dwarf!"
It would normally be hard to tell without somatic components to go off of, but because of the commands she's uttering, you're fairly certain she cast murderous command on Melech.
Melech feels a sudden surge of violent hatred toward the dwarf, but he squeezes his eyes shut. NO! No. It's a lie. The hate isn't real. That damn head is trying to put thoughts into you! Melech pushes past it and barely manages to overcome the violent urge.
The first skeletal champion stares blankly at the longsword it tried to bury in its buddy, then shakes its head and turns back to Melech, swinging out at him.
It's still confounded by the weird spell Danu cast on it, and swings well wide of the slayer.
ROUND 2
BOLD may act.[color=green]
Champion 3 (0 dmg, shaken 3 rounds)
Neferekhu (0 dmg)
Champion 1 (0 dmg)
Ulysses (55/59 hp, Mutagen 60 min, Shield 4 min)
Champion 2 (0 dmg)
Obadiah (60/60 hp)
Melech (50/78 hp, Shield 4 min)
Danu (53/53 hp, +8 temp hp)
[/color]
Ulysses is in a tough spot. He can barely see what's going on in that room, and he really has no way to see more. He can see about half of a skeleton, though, so that gives him a target. Bombs away!
Melech takes advantage of #3's vulnerable state and smashes its ribcage in. Unfortunately he doesn't quite take out the spine, and the creature is still standing.
Even with the limited view, Ulysses manages to bean the skeleton on the side with his bomb, but neither it nor its adjacent buddy get tangled up in goo. Or blue. They're not Bob Dylan fans.
They do take some fire damage, though #2 dodges the worst of it. #2 then unleashes its blade against Melech. The razor-sharp edge comes within inches of his throat before being deflected by the invisible barrier of force protecting him.
ROUND 2
BOLD may act.[color=green]
Champion 3 (23 dmg, shaken 3 rounds)
Neferekhu (0 dmg)
Champion 1 (14 dmg)
Ulysses (55/59 hp, Mutagen 60 min, Shield 4 min)
Champion 2 (4 dmg)
Obadiah (60/60 hp)
Melech (50/78 hp, Shield 4 min)
Danu (53/53 hp, +8 temp hp)
[/color]
Obadiah holds his holy symbol like a ward between himself and the weird head thing. He may not know exactly what it is, but he does know it's undead, and one thing undead hate is holy frickin' light. A beam of it fires out of the holy symbol, aimed at the head.
Melech grunts as he fights off the head's influence. He continues his onslaught on #2.
Danu steps up the hall so she can get a better look into the room and see her intended target: the weird talking zombie head. She sees it, but unfortunately, it also sees her...
She shakes off the weird angry look it gives her; she grew up in the jungles of Mwangi, she's seen way freakier s#@@ than this. She points her wand and blasts the woman in the face with a magic missile.
Melech swings his flail like a madman and absolutely obliterates the middle skeletal champion.
Obadiah has significantly less luck. His spell practically dissipates upon leaving his hand, dribbling a sad little flickering ray of light that comes nowhere near striking his target.
Danu has better luck, mostly because she doesn't have to roll to hit. The force missiles smash into Neferekhu's face and crush her cheekbone and part of her skull.
Skeleton #3 chops down on Melech's head, but the slayer twists away and the blade glances harmlessly off his Very Fancy Armor.
The head shrieks angrily and casts another spell at Melech. His vision begins to tunnel into darkness.
His will is made of sterner stuff however, and he easily shakes off the spell.
Skelly 1 tries to do what its buddies could not and take down the big scary meat shield.
But it misses horribly.
ROUND 3
BOLD may act.[color=green]
Champion 3 (20 dmg, shaken 2 rounds)
Neferekhu (13 dmg)
Champion 1 (14 dmg)
Ulysses (55/59 hp, Mutagen 60 min, Shield 4 min)
Champion 2 (47 dmg, smooshed)
Obadiah (60/60 hp)
Melech (50/78 hp, Shield 4 min)
Danu (53/53 hp, +8 temp hp)
[/color]
Ulysses does a quick inventory of his available bombs. Okay, 7 used, 7 left. He thinks that the others probably have this well in hand, so he opts to conserve his remaining bombs and instead pulls a bone burn from his bandolier. He's never used one of these before and he is curious to see what it does to a skeleton.
Cowed by his utter failure with searing light, Obadiah goes with the ol' standby: channeling Bes's grace into destroying the undead.
Melech should feel energized, having put down one of the champions, but something about this stupid evil head is thrusting doubt into his mind. Can they defeat her?
On the bright side, the champions seem to have a hard time hitting him, so he decides to focus on the head and deal with them later. He studies it closely, then tries to smash it with his falchion.
Danu fires her wand at any skeletal champion still standing.
Just as well that Melech has switched targets, because Ulysses' bone burn disintegrates #1's head and the Light of Bes burns and singes the bones of #3, severing its connection to the Negative Energy Plane and dropping the bones to the ground in a lifeless heap. Only the severed head in the cage remains, and it gets blasted by more force missiles and a wave of holy energy--though she seems to resist most of the latter.
"Death! Death to you all! Death to my ungrateful grandson! He will burn in a cleansing fire before the shadow of the Forgotten Pharaoh drowns Osirion in blood! Kill! Kill! Kiiiilll!!"
She gathers dark energy around her mouth, as if to cast another spell, and just as Melech begins to feel that same hatred toward the dwarf rushing back into his mind, his flail smashes down on the cage and crushes it completely, sending skull fragments and rotten gray matter splattering in all directions.
COMBAT OVER!
Melech kicks the cage across the room in anger and frustration, then stows his flail and picks up the falchion once again. There is nothing he hates more than losing control -- or, more accurately, having control taken from him -- and he hates that he can't always resist it. If he hadn't killed her, he feels certain he would be attacking Obadiah right now. When they get through this, he will have to ask the dwarf how to steel himself against these kinds of magics.
His temper tantrum over, he takes a look around the room. He motions for Ulysses to check the bodies.
Ulysses checks for anything interesting on the bodies.
Danu flinches away from the slayer's outburst. The man seems to have serious anger issues. I sincerely hope that does not get one of us killed, she thinks to herself, stepping to the opposite end of the room as him and washing everything over with detect magic.
There is a small panel hidden in the wall. Melech opens it to find a solitary scroll, which (thanks to her read magic spell) Danu readily identifies as a scroll of death ward.
The bodies each of the skeletal champions each have rusty, pitted armor and shields, but all three of their longswords are of excellent quality and have survived the centuries surprisingly well. Neither the head nor its ruined cage hold anything of value.
The table against the south wall is exceptionally fine and has also survived shockingly well. The filigree and craftsmanship put its value at around 2,000gp, but a quick hefting of the thing clocks its weight at around 400 lbs. Not exactly easy to haul.
Obadiah takes the scroll from Danu. "This is incredibly powerful defensive magic, particularly against the undead. It is likely going to come in handy against whomever is causing these pulses." He stows it in his scroll box, then nods to Melech that he is ready to proceed.