Winding their way north, Ahreni heads up the tunnel and sees that there a lone skeleton sitting on top of a large chest. Heading back to the group and informing them, she lets Olaff leads the group up into the room. As they enter the room, nothing happens.
When Olaff closes the distance however, the skeleton animates and gains its feet, drawing a wakizashi into its hands. His armor looks similar to the armor the skeletons in the larger cavern wore, except his was once a mastework creation of chainmail though it is now broken and in ruine. A key hanging from a chain dangles from his neck, swinging back and forth as he takes a practiced fighting stance.
Ahreni's scouting pays off and the party is much quicker to react that the skeletal warrior ahead of you.
Thanara steps into the room, her adrenaline bolstering her courage to continue pressing on. She weaves a spell and sends another black beam flying...right past the things shoulder.
Ahreni closes into combat, taking the time to circle around the creature so that Olaff Noisemaker can flank him.
She lands a bite and jerks back, cracking a bone - sadly an unimportant one...
Shalelu pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration at another skeleton, specifically because of how poorly she has been doing, but after a moment she draws and arrow and takes a shot with a blunt arrow.
Thanara's Ray of Embarrassment misses badly, shooting about three feet wide of the undead skeleton. Ahreni moves around to the backside of the skeleton for better positioning, managing to rip out a piece of bone in the process. Shalelu's shot also finds its target again, breaking a few rib bones on the creature.
Olaff's admonition notwithstanding, Relisha moves up to get a better view of the foe. She stays behind the others this time, though.
Olaff grunts in acknowledgment to Ahreni and sweeps around to flank the skeleton standing in front of the chest. Once in position, he swings his giant warhammer towards the skeleton but to his surprise the moisture in the room causes his grip to to slip and the weapon nearly flies out of his hand in the attack.
The skeleton turns to face Ahreni, considering her a bigger threat than the lumbering oaf behind him. You can instantly tell this bone creature is not like the others to the south, seemingly carrying a sense of poise and grace in its movements.
Pointing at Ahreni, he surprisingly speaks and says to her in a whispered, raspy voice "You may not take what is not yours! I challenge you to try!" With his wakizashi in hand, he executes a quickly and practiced maneuver that cuts through her right shoulder and across her leather vest. After the strike, it backhands her across the face, raking her with its sharp clawed hand.
When Ahreni collapses from all of the damage, the creature spins quickly to face Olaff again.
Relisha watches with grim anticipation as the undead swordsman slashes Ahreni with vicious efficiency. She tenses for what she knows will follow and gasps when the burning sensation crosses her shoulder and down her chest.
The tielfling calls upon Sarenrae's healing power to close her wounds.
”Oh my god...” Thanara mutters before sending another black beam at the thing. This time it hits it right in the chest!
Ahreni nearly collapses under the force of the blows, but as Relisha's magic draws some of the pain away she maintains her balance - just!
She waits for Olaff to attack the skeleton from behind and then steps back carefully, hoping that the healing will keep going.
Shalelu is a bit surprised when she hears the undead talk, that was definitely something new, but she nearly gasps as the thing takes down Ahreni with practiced ease. Seeing she is still breathing and then moments later some of her wounds magically healing while Rel takes her pain, Shalelu focuses on the task at hand by loosing another arrow.
Ahreni blacks out for a moment and finds herself flat on the floor when the color returns to her vision. She stays there for a moment, crouched to flee if she has to.
"HEY, ye frreakin' s#~@! I'm yerr opponent, fight ME if therre is any honorr left in yer crrumbin' bones. I challenge' YE to face me, single combat." As he says that, he slams his hammer against his shield once and then attacks again, with renewed intent.
"Rrelisha, take care of Aharreni. SHalelu, Thanarra, stop shootin'... this f&#@err is mine and mine alone."
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Challenge
Attack
Shalelu's arrow lands, blasting off a bone from the creature.
Thanara's strike hits the skeleton dead-on, but her spell seems to just dissipate without taking much effect. Maybe the fact that the skeleton has no musculature has something to do with it.
Olaff delivers a crushing blow to the skeleton, blasting a half dozen bones from its body. The undead creature doesn't respond in the way a normal, living creature would, seemingly not noticing that half of its rib cage was now laying on the ground at its feet. Instead, he raises its blade and swings it down towards Olaff's head as he tries to recreate the same strike he took Ahreni down with. Luckily for Olaff he was paying attention to the moves from the skeleton and raises his shield just in time to block the blow. The skeleton swings his claw towards the large Ulfen and comes up short as well, missing.
Olaff's shield arm trembles upon defending the skeleton's mighty blow, knowing that if he was a fraction of a second too late, his brain could be spilt all over the place. This was not an opponent to be taken lightly.
Once he sees an opening, he strikes again with his hammer, aiming for the arm wielding the sword.
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Attack
The tiefling grits her teeth as the pain continues to pour into her body. This is something she knows, however, and understands how to deal with it.
Behind the skeleton Ahreni climbs cautiously to her feet but doesn't attack. Instead she remains crouched, much like a dog or wolf waiting in ambush. From the tension in her body its clear that the shifter will leap the moment Noisemaker falls.
Thanara and Shalelu reluctantly pull off their attacks so that Olaff can prove how macho he is and solo the undead sword champion all by himself. They both ready attacks should Olaff fall in battle.
The undead warrior tries to undercut Olaff, swing down low and swiping upwards across his chest. This new strike meets with the same end again however, blocked by the large Ulfen's wooden shield.
Unfortunately, it looks like Relisha won't be awake for the rest of the combat. For as the connection she's established with Ahreni pulls enough of her life force that the room goes dark and she collapses to the stone floor.
Shalelu watches the fight carefully, but seeing that Olaf has things in hand, at least for now she loosens her pull on the bowstring, but has an arrow at the ready in case things start taking a turn for the worse.
Ahreni likewise stays crouched, but poised to spring.
Thanara, seeing first Ahreni then Rel fall, tries to help however she can. She causes her lightning orbs to swirl about the skeleton’s head and past its eyes repeatedly, making it harder for it to focus on Olaff.
Olaff once more blocks the skeleton's attack, but by doing so his back foot slides a couple inches, robbing him of some balancing, which makes his next attack a bit clumsy.
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Attack
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Olaff's next attack comes up short and the skeletal warrior comes into another well-placed attack only to have the Ulfen block it at the last second again with this shield. The skeleton tries to slash with his claw, but misses that as well.
The Ulfen's next strike is magnificent. As soon as the skeleton misses with his clawed hand, Olaff swings the hammer with all of his might overhead and crashes it down on the skeleton's head and drives it all the way to the ground. The creature explodes in dozens of pieces and his blade clatters to the ground of the wet cavern, bringing silence to the group.
The loud Ulfen's breathing is the only sound that dominates the cavern, Relisha's spilling blood staining the pools of water a crimson color.
"AHHH, HOW I MISSED IT! Almost as good as f+@#in'!" Olaff yells in a mixture of relief and adrenaline, turning first to Thanara and then looking around to the others. "I bet ye all that in life this man vas a grreat varrriorr. If ve by chance discoverr his name, I vill make a prroperr grave forr him..."
"Arre ye all alrright?" He asks and then his eyes focus on Relisha. "Oh my, girrl, ye arre lookin' like crrap... ye should take one o' the potions ve found earrlierr vith the goblin chief..."
As Relisha doesn't answer him, Olaff frowns and moves towards where she is. "S~%~! Rrelisha is bleedin'! How? I vas carreful... the skeleton had not harrmed herr, I'm surre..."
With that, Olaff drops his shield and his hammer on the ground and knees besides her, trying to stop the bleeding...
Despite having done it before with a friend of his, Olaff finds himself unable to help Relisha. With his hands covered in her blood, Olaff searches for the potions they had found before and administers it to Relisha, his hands a bit shaking. "Vake up girrl... vake up..."
Relisha's eyes flutter open and she tenses at the pain. "Is Ahreni all right?" she asks. "Is everyone all right?"
"Yeah...we're fine...what happened to you?" Thanara asks with concern as she steps over to check on Ahreni. If she is able, she will try and help her up, though her attempt more or less makes Ahreni's standing more difficult as she nearly pulls the young woman down despite her best efforts.
A single jade and cherry wood chest lay in the corner, the object that the undead skeletal warrior was protecting. Just like the chest you found back in the village, this one is intricately carved, more so it would seem. The chest is locked, but when the key is removed from around the warriors next, it opens.
It's obvious that many objects have been removed from numerous slots in the chest's velvet-lined interior, however it still holds ten different potions, a ring, a wand, masterwork chain shirt, masterwork col iron wakizashi, 11 Desnan candles, four skyrocket fireworks, 3,820 sp, 421 gp and various pieces of fine jewelry (560 gp).
In addition to the key around his neck, the warrior carried a fancy wakizashi, and broken masterwork chainmail.
"I just ... That's what I do. I can take people's suffering," she says looking down at the wet stone she's sitting on. "I didn't realize that it would be so much." She unsteadily gets to her feet and puts her hand to her chest where blood has soaked through to the armor she wears. "Usually I can anticipate and sever the link before that."
She takes a deep breath and winces at the pain.
"I'll be ok by tomorrow. Sarenrae's benevolence will restore me."
As the contents of the chest are revealed, Relisha nods at the potions.
"Healing potions, those are always useful," she says. "There's a secret compartment on the hilt of the sword. That must be something important."
Thanara looks everything over, enthralled with the fact that she has now truly taken part in an adventure! She lingers particularly long on the ring, looking it over with a trained eye in regards to its craftsmanship. ”And these are all enchanted!” she adds excitedly.
"Yeah...we're fine...what happened to you?" Thanara asks with concern as she steps over to check on Ahreni. If she is able, she will try and help her up, though her attempt more or less makes Ahreni's standing more difficult as she nearly pulls the young woman down despite her best efforts.
Ahreni stands easily from her crouch, which nearly causes problems all of its own as she shoots upwards just as Thanara reaches down and they both stumble backwards to avoid headbutting each other.
Once she's recovered Ahreni nods in approval at Relisha's sharp eye, but has little to contribute herself to the discussion. Sandru handled the business of the caravan - now if it were horses she could help, but otherwise...
"Fine swords." She offers. "Noisemaker? You defeated him, do you wish for them?"
Shalelu so enthralled in watching the one-on-one fight hadn't even noticed Ahreni pass out but as the battle ends and the others turn their attention to her, she slips the arrow back in her quiver and moves to help check on her. As Olaf pours a potion down her throat and she wakes up, Shalelu lets out a sigh of relief. When the girl notes she will be better tomorrow Shalelu shakes her head and exclaims "No!" she pauses and evens her tone "We don't know what else may be down here, drink the other potion we found from the chief."
Once they find the other stash of potions she insist Rel drink more until she is at least close to full health. Shalelu then makes a list of everything they've found. When Than mentions there are magical items she asks "That's great, but can you tell what they are or what they do?"
While the party sorts through their newfound treasure, they discuss their options of what happens next. As they recall there is a fork in the tunnel after the spider that they didn't explore and there was also a passage south of that they haven't explored yet.
Retaking her position at the front of the line Ahreni leads the group into the southern passage, preferring to move forwards before circling back again.
Ahreni moves up to scout the tunnel to the north. She travels about a hundred feet of winding, narrow and slick rock until the passage forks up ahead. Recognizing the eastern branch as the path she previously took exiting the spider lair, she turns west.
After twenty feet she enters a dead-end circular cavern roughly 20' x 20'. A number of glittering crystals protrude from an island surrounded by a pool of dark water here.
Ahreni takes a deep breath and shifts. There is a slight cracking sound as her nose rearranges itself completely and she drops to her knees before taking a series of long, deep sniffs.
Ahreni starts to take a running start but quickly puts on the breaks as she catches sight of something peculiar at the water's edge. A blob of transparent protoplasm is lurking just below the surface of the water, barely visible to her.
A good scout knows when to retreat and a pack hunter knows that it is stronger with the pack's support, so Ahreni retreats and reports her findings to the group.
She leads them back to the cave and points out the strange blob to Shalelu so that the archer can provoke it from range.
When Ahreni leads them back Shalelu looks to the blob then across the way to the island, then back to the others. "I can shot it if you want." she notes with a shrug but continues "But do we need to mess with it? I'm not nearly as worried about some blob as I was about the spider coming and seeking us out."
As Ahreni calls him 'Noisemaker', Olaff turns to her, grining. "Oh, Volfgirrl... carre forr yer vorrds. This is not a grreat name, but I can live vith it. It is common knowledge that ve, Ulfen, have no choice in the names ve arre given, but if I'm known as Olaff Noisemakerr, ya'll have trrouble sleepin' frrom now on." He eyes her before completing... and yelling. "UNDERRSTOOD?" and then he laughs. Olaff is in a pretty good humor at the moment.
Olaff looks the blob with suspicion and agrees with Shalelu's words. He then points to the crystals. "Also, arre those crrystals even vorrth anythin'?"
When the girl notes she will be better tomorrow Shalelu shakes her head and exclaims "No!" she pauses and evens her tone "We don't know what else may be down here, drink the other potion we found from the chief."
Once they find the other stash of potions she insist Rel drink more until she is at least close to full health.
Relisha seems resistant to the idea at first, but rather than argue, she acquiesces, drinking one of the lesser potions.
After re-establishing her link with Ahreni, she follows behind the others as they continue to explore.
Ahreni shrugs. "Find miner and bring them here later?" She suggests. "That is all of caves. We go?"
Shalelu nods but turns to Rel for a moment "You ok to continue?" Assuming she agrees Shalelu will head out of the cave with the others and back outdoors will pull out her map and start planning the best route to the shipwrecks from their current location and then lead the others there.
Relisha seems surprised at Shalelu's question, but nods in the affirmative.
Leaving the blob and gems alone for now, the party exits the cave walking past the headless body of the Licktoad Chief with their heavy and beautiful Tian-made chest of valuables. Carrying the fifty pound box through the swamp is no fun task, but fortunately there are a few rather strong members of the party who are up to the task.
Walking in the direction that the Chief indicated, it takes about an hours walk to reach the supposed shipwreck. By the time you arrive, full darkness has arrived and Thanara and Relisha help to continually illuminate the area.
What appears at first to be a strange tangle of branches is in fact the moss-covered ribs of a wrecked ship. The ruined ship lies on its side, split down the middle and mostly sunken into the mud and murky water. It's clear that this wreck has been year for a long time, long time.
As you are searching the wreckage, five skeletal figures rise out of the swamp and draw rusty wakizashi's into their hands! Everyone but Shalelu is able to see them rise however and acts before the undead can.
Relisha's eyes widen with wonder at the remains of the ship. She traces one hand almost reverently along one of the exposed rotting timbers. "It's so sad ... and beautiful ... and romantic," she says quietly.
When the skeletons rise up, she falls back behind the others and strengthens her connection to Ahreni.
As the skeletons rise, Olaff quickly moves towards the skeleton closer to Thanara, drawing his warhammer in the process. Sadly, due to the muddy terrain, his footing is poor and aside from missing the skeleton entirely, it is actually good news that he avoided to dive the swamp head first.
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Move and draw warhammer
Attack
Ahreni steps quickly in between Shalelu and the nearest skeleton, before lashing out with tooth and claw.