Looking at Berta, Andakos says, "I know you can see in the dark, but how about you two?"
Caladaer shakes his head and absent-mindedly waves a hand. Four small glowing spheres of light appear. Two move nearby Golloriel and the other two stay with Cal. While all this is happening, he is pulling away rotted wood to get a better look at the arcane mark. "Look here. A wizard left his mark at the threshold. This may end up being important." He commits the mark to memory, then looks at the others. They all seem to be waiting on him to say more, so he just gestures toward the stairs. "I am certainly not going first."
While the others figure that out, Caladaer flicks his right wrist. The sheath on his forearm opens and a wand appears in his hand. He taps himself with it and a shimmering protective energy surrounds him.
Andakos nods. "I will go first. Berta, would you mind covering our rear? Golloriel and Caladaer in the middle. Weapons out." He pulls an extract out of his bandolier and drinks it, then heads down the stairs, spear at the ready.
|
When Andakos says she can see in the dark, Berta gives him a blank look. "Uh."
She clears her throat and mutters a small prayer under her breath. Light springs up around the massive head of her earthbreaker. "Not all dwarves live by dark," she says to the tiefling. Her gaze looks both defensive and sheepish at the same time.
She waits at the back of the line for the others to go ahead.
The party order set, Andakos leads the way down into the crypt. The stairs go down for what seems like an age; at points, they are so jagged and broken that you have to move one-by-one down the wide stairwell in order to avoid falling through a gap to the stairs below. Every time such a hole appears, you can see more stairs below it.
After heading down what must easily have been a hundred feet or more, you finally reach the foot of the stairs. It spills out into a large ossuary supported by four wide pillars of stone. The ceiling above arches in a dome nearly twenty feet high. The walls are lined with skeletons caked into the mud--adult human bones mostly, but here and there smaller bones might be from halflings, or even children. Fifteen-foot square pits sit to the east and west, each filled with a large heap of hundreds of bones. To the south, a crude hole has been gouged out of the wall, providing access to a tunnel.
Andakos holds up his fist at the bottom of the stairs, indicating everyone should stop, then looks to see what he can see from this location.
+1 traps
He waves Berta forward. "Do the tracks continue down here?"
While waiting for the dwarf to search the ground, Caladaer scans the room for magical auras.
All these bodies... why?
And if they are up against a necromancer, it would seem he has an ample supply of cannon fodder.
Golloriel's breath catches in her throat at the sheer number of bodies down here. Is this normal? She looks at the others to see if they are as shocked; naturally, her father is merely fascinated, and, by the look on Andakos's face, it would seem that he has the same inquisitive (which is another word for 'dead inside') mind as good ol' Cal.
She clutches the holy symbol she has tucked into a pocket in her cloak and whispers a quick prayer to Sarenrae, beseeching Her for protection from whatever they may find down here. Then she grips her spear (maybe a bit tighter than necessary) and waits until Berta tells them where to go next.
The bodies could come from any number of sources: plagues, sieges, bloody revolts. There have been plenty over Korvosa's 300-year existence (particularly revolts; no one has abdicated the throne peacefully since the city's independence). But they likely wouldn't be just piled up like this in a random tomb--particularly one as deep and hard-to-reach as this.
The most likely explanation is that, as a necromancer, Rolth has been collecting bodies and bones for some time as material components for spells, though he'd have to have been at it for many, many years to build up these piles. It's damned odd.
Oh, come on, you know what I meant.
Andakos barely keeps the thought safely in his head, instead just nodding.
Since it's unclear which way they should go, Andakos picks a corridor at random and heads toward it.
He starts heading to the east, looking and listening.
+1 traps
Yeah. Necromancer. This is not going to be good for us.
Not seeing any reason not to follow the tiefling, he stays close behind.
Oh, come on, you knew what he meant.
Golloriel is having a hard time liking this dwarf. Although, if she is as scared as Golloriel is right now, maybe her brashness is just a defense mechanism.
|
|
Berta doesn't miss the looks from the others, and scowls. If you wanted a different answer, you should have asked a different question. These city humans are far worse than the Shoanti. At least when they give her dirty looks, she knows she likely earned them.
Her irritation keeps her from paying attention to her surroundings.
As the trio approach the eastern pile of bones, a small clawed finger twitches near the south end of the lump, followed by a second, and third. A long arm of bones reaches out from the pile, covered in the moldering remains of feathered flesh. The arm pulls, and a cascade of bones tumbles down around it as it pulls the rest of itself free. A massive skeletal bird-like creature, part four-legged and part two-legged, stares at the group with rotten eyes.
The moldering, mostly-skeletal corpse of an owlbear lumbers forward.
From the west, you hear Berta bark something in Shoanti; it sounds like a curse. Glancing back, you see four human skeletons gather themselves from the western bone pile and start climbing up the stairs into the main ossuary.
ROUND 1
[color=green]
Owlbear Skeleton (0 dmg)
Andakos (15/23 hp)
Caladaer (23/23 hp)
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (0 dmg)
Skeleton 3 (0 dmg)
Berta (39/39 hp)
Skeleton 4 (0 dmg)
Golloriel (33/33 hp)
[/color]
The owlbear skeleton lumbers forward, squeezing its bony, rotten carcass up the narrow stairwell. It stops and swipes a long limb at Andakos, its claws no less dull for having no flesh on them. They slip through a pair of segmented plates on his leather armor and tear a vicious wound into his bicep.
Andakos is boxed in. He can't move away to spear range because there are pillars and a grumpy wizard in the way. And besides, his spear won't be particularly helpful against a skeleton.
He shrugs, takes his gauntleted hand off of the spear, and punches the skowlbear with it.
Then he takes a step to the side, in hopes that Caladaer has something impressive up his sleeve.
Oh, look, skeletons. Shocker.
Cal gestures his hands in a flourish, causing a green dart of energy to appear in his hands. He flings it at the skowlbear, then steps behind the pillar.
Andakos' gauntleted fist shatters two ribs under its fleshy drape of skin. He can see now that there is no meat or viscera under the owlbear's flesh; it's almost as if its skin was purposefully draped over its skeleton like a cloak after its meat and organs had been pulled out of it.
Caladaer launches a gob of acid that strikes true on its target, dissolving a chunk of rotten feathers and a few bones.
Three of the skeletons lumber up the stairs and swing their vicious claw-like fingers at Berta and Golloriel. The oracle manages to deflect the attack on her, but one of the skeletons on Berta rips into a gap in her armor on the left abdomen. She shrugs off some of the damage, but there is a bleeding gouge on her left side.
ROUND 1
[color=green]
Owlbear Skeleton (11 dmg)
Andakos (15/23 hp)
Caladaer (23/23 hp)
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (0 dmg)
Skeleton 3 (0 dmg)
Berta (34/39 hp)
Skeleton 4 (0 dmg)
Golloriel (33/33 hp)
[/color]
The skeleton basically explodes into powder, its rusty chainmail and unused shield clattering backwards against the ground.
A fourth skeleton steps out of the pile to take its predecessor's place, swinging clumsily with its claws at Berta. She doesn't even bother to move, just bats it aside contemptuously with her massive weapon.
ROUND 1
[color=green]
Owlbear Skeleton (11 dmg)
Andakos (15/23 hp)
Caladaer (23/23 hp)
Skeleton 1 (0 dmg)
Skeleton 2 (14 dmg, heckin ded)
Skeleton 3 (0 dmg)
Berta (34/39 hp)
Skeleton 4 (0 dmg)
Golloriel (33/33 hp)
[/color]
Golloriel grasps her holy symbol and utters a prayer to Sarenrae. A burst of holy light erupts from her and assaults the skeleton's with Sarenrae's grace.
All the skeletons in the area sizzle and pop as their bones blacken from the onslaught of holy light, but two of the skellies and the owlbear manage to resist the worst of it. The first skeleton, however, explodes into little flaming shards that bounce off pillars and clatter across the ground.
ROUND 2
[color=green]
Owlbear Skeleton (14 dmg)
Andakos (2/23 hp)
Caladaer (23/23 hp)
Skeleton 1 (6 dmg, dead)
Skeleton 2 (14 dmg, heckin ded)
Skeleton 3 (3 dmg)
Berta (34/39 hp)
Skeleton 4 (3 dmg)
Golloriel (33/33 hp)
[/color]
The owlbear skeleton has apparently lost none of its savage ferocity for being dead, and unleashes a flurry of claws and beak at the hapless investigator in front of it. One claw misses, but the beak and other claw both hit, ripping into flesh and rending armor.
Andakos stumbles away from the skowlbear to the southwest, then behind his allies to the foot of the stairs.
Caladaer sees the tiefling scurry away from the fight. Well, that didn't take long. He steps back between the pillars, raises his hands palms out toward the skowlbear, and a cone of fire erupts from his hands, engulfing the foul creature.
The flames pour across the bones of the owlbear skeleton, its own heft working against it to evade the flames as it takes the full force of Caladaer's conjured heat. The bones blacken and char, the rotten flesh sizzles, and the room fills with the horrid stench of cooked rotten feathers as the owlbear skeleton crumples to the floor, its anima overcome.
One of the two remaining skeletons swipes at Berta, but both its claws bounce harmlessly off her armor.
ROUND 2
[color=green]
Owlbear Skeleton (22 dmg, dead)
Andakos (2/23 hp)
Caladaer (23/23 hp)
Skeleton 1 (6 dmg, dead)
Skeleton 2 (14 dmg, heckin ded)
Skeleton 3 (3 dmg)
Berta (34/39 hp)
Skeleton 4 (3 dmg)
Golloriel (33/33 hp)
[/color]
Again the dwarf seems utterly unflappable in the face of a flurry of bony claws that have proven capable of ripping a person to shreds, as she weathers the blows of the skeleton against her armor with not even so much as a flinch. Her unperturbed face seems almost unnatural.
ROUND 2
[color=green]
Owlbear Skeleton (22 dmg, dead)
Andakos (2/23 hp)
Caladaer (23/23 hp)
Skeleton 1 (6 dmg, dead)
Skeleton 2 (14 dmg, heckin ded)
Skeleton 3 (15 dmg, sploded)
Berta (34/39 hp)
Skeleton 4 (3 dmg)
Golloriel (33/33 hp)
[/color]
Golloriel moves toward the final skeleton, hoping that her spear will do enough to kill it.
The spear thrust would have been a kill strike on any normal man, going straight for their heart. Unfortunately, it simply slips between a pair of the skelly's ribs and glances harmlessly off its spine.
ROUND 3
[color=green]
Owlbear Skeleton (22 dmg, dead)
Andakos (2/23 hp)
Caladaer (23/23 hp)
Skeleton 1 (6 dmg, dead)
Skeleton 2 (14 dmg, heckin ded)
Skeleton 3 (15 dmg, sploded)
Berta (34/39 hp)
Skeleton 4 (3 dmg)
Golloriel (33/33 hp)
[/color]
Andakos is still terribly hurt but thinks he can end this fight now and deal with the wounds later. He steps past Berta and punches the last skelly.
With a final powerful haymaker, Andakos strikes the skeleton in the head and it shatters. The rest of its charred bones clatter limply to the ground.
COMBAT OVER!
Andakos is thankful for the wall directly next to him and slumps into it. "That thing was nasty! Well done, Caladaer."
Caladaer waves the compliment away with an impatient gesture. "These won't be the last undead we face."
Golloriel shoots her father an annoyed look, then moves to Andakos's side and pulls out a wand. She taps him a few times.
Andakos holds his hand up to Golloriel. "That is plenty, thank you." He stands up straight, checking the damage to his armor and pleased to see it is not catastrophic. "Now. Where were we?" He heads back to the eastern corridor and takes a look.
Cal, who has yet to see Andakos do anything competently, also looks down the hall.
There are no west or east "corridors." The small stairs step down into a slightly lowered room with nothing but a massive pile of bones and corpses from whence the owlbear came. Neither Andakos nor Caladaer find anything else of value or interest in the small room, and a quick look at the other side reveals the same about the western pit. The only way that anyone can see to move forward is through the tunnel in the half-broken wall to the south, leading into darkness.
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Berta moves up to the hole, peering around. She turns to the others. "Very narrow in here. Splits two ways, southwest and southeast." She looks the tiefling up and down with a level gaze. "You want to go first again, get torn to shreds some more? It was fun to watch, but maybe not so good for our resources."
Andakos has to bite his tongue against the sudden flash of bilious anger. Instead he smiles at Berta and gestures into the tunnel. "After you."
Golloriel tugs at her father's robe. "Come, father. And be nice."
Berta leads the way into the tunnel and goes down the westward path. It soon leads into a rough-hewn cavern rank with the smell of sweat. Four straw pallets surround a low table covered with dice and a miniature maze carved with clay.
You only catch a glimpse of all this before the light spell on Berta's hammer winks out and the room goes completely dark. Even Caladaer's dancing lights cannot penetrate the sudden wall of blackness that crops up, causing the dwarf to vanish from sight. Only Andakos can see into the room, and he sees two small gangly creatures with sickly green skin, pupil-less eyes, and shock-white hair looking at the party. One has his hand outstretched, as if he just cast something. You can probably guess what it was.
ROUND X
[color=green]
?? 1 (0 dmg)
Caladaer (23/23 hp)
Andakos (23/23 hp)
?? 2 (0 dmg)
Golloriel (33/33 hp)
Berta (44/49 hp)
[/color]
These are derros. Similar to gnomes in that they also descend from the First World, derros were doomed to a sadder fate, as they are fatally allergic to sunlight; it causes them to blister and die within hours. Their existence in the lightless places of the world has driven every last derro quite mad. They sometimes steal surface-dwellers to perform horrific experiments on them in a twisted parallel to gnomish tinkering, in the hopes of learning what protects them from the "burning death." Sadly, due to their madness, these experiments always fail.
Derros are even more hardy than their gnome cousins, being surprsingly sturdy for their small stature, and despite their lack of logic, are deviously cunning. They possess a small array of spell-like abilities, including the ability to create magical darkness at will, and once per day may cast daze and sound burst.
Derros are also innately resistant to magic, with fairly high Spell Resistance. They are also masters of poison use, their preferred brand being small centipede venom, good for paralyzing potential victims for their experiments.
The first of the two creatures raises its crossbow at Berta and fires. Thankfully the armor catches the bolt; even in the pitch black, Andakos can see something dripping off the bolt head.
Andakos knows he is now the only one that can see, so he tries to narrate what is happening. "Derros, one to the west, one to the right. If you have any strong light spells, now would be the time."
He steps past Berta and attacks #1 with his spear.
Caladaer can see the space in front of him that Andakos just vacated. "Leave me that space!" he cries, then begins a lengthy incantation.
The derro just barely fails to evade the attack, and gets a spear into the guts for his troubles. He shrieks and yells at Andakos in a strange language. "B'r'kk vok'tu, pitat!"
"F!*$ you, red-skin! I kill you!"
The second derro steps back and fires her crossbow at Berta, apparently hoping to take advantage of the one who can't see. This time the bolt lodges in her leg. She still shrugs off some of the pain, but this bolt is also seeping with something.
For some reason, the normally hardy dwarf feels the effects of the poison creep in, stiffening her limbs.
The second derro cackles gleefully as she readies her light repeater for another shot at the dwarf.
ROUND 1
[color=green]
Derro 1 (11 dmg)
Caladaer (23/23 hp)
Andakos (23/23 hp)
Derro 2 (0 dmg)
Golloriel (33/33 hp)
Berta (39/49 hp, 1 Dex dmg, poisoned)
[/color]
Golloriel can't see the enemies, but she can see the nasty wound that Berta just received. The bubbling blood is a bit of a giveaway. She moves up next to Berta and treats the wound, intending to assist Berta in fighting off the poison.
Knowing she would be useless in the darkness, Golloriel waits until her father's summon appears, then casts guidance on it.
The derro in front of Andakos, apparently finding him unpleasant company, moves past him to flank Berta with his friend . He drops his repeating crossbow as he goes and pulls out a very strange weapon: a long club with a hook at the top, and a thin length of cord about fifteen feet long attached to the bottom. Andakos has never seen such a weapon before, but the derro uses it with gruesome effectiveness. Unable to see her attacker, Berta is easy pickings, and takes a hook to the shoulder. She bellows in pain and fury.
Finally, with a blast of gray-green energy seemingly from nowhere, a rip opens in time and space, and a small, stocky, vaguely humanoid shape lumbers through. The squat elemental can't be more than three feet tall, but is almost as wide. It looks up at Cal with a wave. [color=brown]"Yo."[/color]
Golloriel reaches out and touches the small earth elemental on its... shoulder?... and casts guidance on it. Earnest does finger guns at her. [color=brown]"Thanks, toots."[/color]
ROUND 2
[color=green]
Derro 1 (11 dmg)
Golloriel (33/33 hp)
Caladaer (23/23 hp)
Andakos (23/23 hp)
Derro 2 (0 dmg)
Berta (34/49 hp, 1 Dex dmg, poisoned)
[/color]