Anton shifts position, and stabs at another ghoul.
Fley watches his companion go down. "You'll pay for what you've done!"
The little gnome attempts to stab at the orange ghoul with all his might.
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Anton swings his glaive and cuts the ghoul in half. Fley then steps forward and stabs the remaing ghoul once.
Round 4
Ardriel Up
GY -41
GR -7
GO -46
GB -41
GC -44
With a growl of anger Dadna lay into the ghoul commander. Leothar had fallen and she was determined to see him back on his feet. Completely ignoring all defense she put everything she had into the attack.
"No!" Ardriel cries out as the leader dropped Leothar to the ground. "You'll pay for that, abomination!" He then fired a pair of arrows at the ghoul.
Andton and Dadna seem unaffected by the creatures horrid stench. Ardriel sees Leothar fall and fires two arrows at the commander but only the first one does any harm.
The commander laughs as you all morn Leothar's falling "Wait your turn and you will all join him. You will be next!" The commander points at Ian and attacks. His two axe swings leave gaping holes in Ian and he laughs as he falls. He looks at Dadna and says "You'll be joining your boyfriend next!" As he nods toward Leothar's body.
The lone ghoul attacks Anton and manages to get a claw through his armor.
Round 5
Party Up
GY -41
GR -7
GO -46
GB -41
GC -63
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[dice=Fort]1d20+11
Withstanding the ghoul's claw, Anton cries out, "Enough of you, fiend!" Swinging his glaive, he tries to bring the commander down.
+6 more if he's an evil outsider or undead
"You'll be down first!"
Anton ignores the ghoul and swings his glaive at the undead commander and does quite a bit of damage. Ardriel then fires a couple arrows at him and manages to hit him. Dadna attcks and hits him twice.
Round 5
Fley Up
GR -7
GC -148
Fley grows angry with the ghouls. "Stop what you're doing! There's no way for you to survive this. We will destroy you and everything like you!"
The anger in Fley's voice is evident. He furiously stabs at the ghoul in front of him, imagining himself as an owl pecking at it's prey.
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Fley attacks the remaining ghoul hitting it twice on his first attacks but missing on his second.
The commander laughs at the anger in your voices and waves the ghoul over a little to attack Dadna. The ghoul manages to claw and bite Dadna.
GR -20
GC -148
When your current hit points drop to exactly 0, you’re disabled. You’re not unconscious, but you’re close to it. You can only take a single move or standard action each turn (but not both, nor can you take full-round actions). You can take move actions without further injuring yourself, but if you perform any standard action (or any other action the DM deems as strenuous, including some free actions such as casting a quickened spell) you take 1 point of damage after the completing the act. Unless your activity increased your hit points, you are now at –1 hit points, and you’re dying.
”I…am…single!” Dadna growled in frustration. For all of the death and desolation around her, the idea of being accused of such impropriety as dating a colleague had gotten her the angriest. Waves of positive energy radiated from her, causing the wounds on her and her comrades to heal. With anger in her eyes she lashed out, seeking to strike the fiend down!
Ardriel sent yet another arrow at the Commander, again trying to finish him off.
He then sends a second arrow at the remaining ghoul.
Dadna in her rage heals herself and then pounds the commander into the ground. Ardriel then puts an arrow into the final ghoul and it drops as well.
Recovering from the fight the paladins find at total of 115 gold, a scroll of inflict serious wounds, mwk. breastplate, mwk composite shortbow with 20 arrows, +1 greataxe, belt of giant strength +2.
There is much healing and tending to wounds to do and the paladins take some time to regroup before heading into the mausoleum.
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Dadna fell to her knees and prayed as the last of the ghouls fell. Ian was down. Leothar was down. She was nearly dead herself. The foe had been stronger than anything they had faced yet, and they were not even in the city yet! But the Gods were with them, that she was certain of. When her prayer of thanks was finished she said "I will wear this.." she took the belt off of the defeated ghoul. "...as a reminder of what he faced here today. But we cannot tarry here. Our army yet fights the ghoul horde and will need our support. I can see to our wounds further when we have the time and safety."
Coming to conciousness, Ian hears Dadna's prayer ending. Pushing himself up to his knees, he grasps hold of Irabeth's sword' "Thanks Danda. How's the..." As he pushes himself to standing upright, he see's Leothar also stirring. "Good, I was a little worried there Chief."
Knocking some of the dirt from poleyn and fan-plate, he looks at his armor where the axe made the punctured dent. "I'll need to get that repaired eventually." Sheathing his longsword he drinks the strongest potion he has, then retrieves his sword from it's scabbard.
Looking from Dadna to Leothar, he points the magical sword at the Mausoleum. "Should we make sure we leave no more threats behind us?"
Ardriel grabs the arrows. "I have a feeling I'll need these. Ian, drink another potion if you are still injured. Leothar, do you need more healing?"
Dadna sighed. "Before we use up those resources..."
HP Healed: 6 (HD) + 6 (skill) + 4 (wis) = 16
HP Healed: 6 (HD) + 6 (skill) + 4 (wis) = 16
HP Healed: 6 (HD) + 6 (skill) + 4 (wis) = 16
"Thank you Dadna. Your work is amazing."
Eyeing the items left by the commander, Fley suggests taking them. "I have no use for this stuff. But I'd rather our side have it than theirs. I'm sure we can find good uses for this stuff - equip our soldiers at least. If we leave it here, I'm worried this equipment will find it's way back to the ... evil side."
"Thank you, Dadna."
Leothar stands up.
He drinks his Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds.
The dwarf looks frustrated and pensive.
"We should prepare as best as we can before venturing into that mausoleum. I was not adequately prepared for this battle, and I was too hasty in closing to melee with the enemy. A mistake I do not mean to make again."
He will drink his Potion of Barkskin before going in; that at least will get his AC up to a 23.
Humbled, Anton says, "I will admit, the sheer savagery of his assault caught me off-guard. I will do my best to not let that happen again."
"Bah! Look at ye all." Dadna said, her hands on her hips. "We won! And he's dead! Aye, we rushed in, but that's usually what works. We'll watch each other's backs, aye, but there's nay need to beat ourselves up. This ghoul did that enough without the need for us to add to it, aye? Now, let's go into that mausoleum. Finish this up."
Looking back on the battlefield you see both armies engaged against the ghouls though it looks like the fight is about over with only a few ghouls being chased down and dispatched.
After healing yo move to the vault. This stone building stands at the western end of the graveyard, and seems to be cloaked in rippling shadows even during the day, not that daylight ever gets all that bright in the Worldwound. The stone front doors to the vault are locked.
Nodding in agreement with Dadna's positive attitude, Ian smiles, deciding to add a little levity. Turning towards Dadna, he asks. "So that "I am single" boy sounded like you were really upset." he shrugs, "I didn't think the chief that ugly, or isn't he your type?"
Smiling he turns and looks towards the battle, relieved to see the army doing well, Ian walks into the rippling shadows of the vault. Feeling a tingle run up his spine, under his breath he starts to recite one of the prayers he learned as a child. Nearing the doors, he pauses turning to Fley. "What do you think Fley, can you open it or do we break it down?"
"I'd rather we avoid desecrating this graveyard more than the demons and ghouls have already done so."
"Hmmm." Fley strokes his beard while examining the door. "Let's see. Leothar might now a bit more about the stonework. But it looks strong. I know I wont be able to break it down."
He approaches the door, examining it for any traps.
If Fley doesn't see any traps, he'll pull out his lockpicks. "Well, hopefully these will help!". He smiles, getting into his element.
Fley finds no traps on the door in the dim light. He spends time trying to unlock the door but fails.
Fley furrows his brows. "Hmm. Weird. I'm not bad at this. It really should open up. Maybe this lock is too well made though."
Turning to the others, he strokes his beard again. "I'll try again. If I can't break the lock, no one will."
Fley manages to open the lock and opens the door, revealing darkness to those without darkvision. Those who do see an atrium strewn with bones. The inner doors are not locked. Beyond these doors lies the vault proper. The walls here are lined with niches that once contained the ashes of various commanders from the First Crusade, but they’ve all been smashed and the ashes strewn about.
Leothar will relate what he sees.
"I don't know if there is a way to separate out the ashes of the First Crusade Commanders from each other. We could place them in an urn together. They were comrades in life, they can be comrades in death. And these bones should be given a respectful burial. But first, we should deal with any immediate threats."
He holds Radiance and lets its glow illuminate the atrium.
He listens for any signs of movement.
Leothar attempts to have Radiance glow and feel it works but there is no illumination in the atrium. He can't see anything but there may be someone around the corner.
The light from his power of faith having waned, Ian Illuminates his halo as they step into the doorway that Fley had opened. Not being able to see into the building, Ian nods in agreement with Leothar. "Yes, a mass grave and memorial would be appropriate."
Drawing his sword back out from it's scabbard, he notes that Radiance didn't seem to be very radiant. Stepping over the threshold he hoped his halo's light would fare better.
Ardriel can't see anything through the darkness, so he says, "If that's what you see, we can do it, but we really need to do something about this darkness."
Yarnala perches on Ardriel's shoulder and says,
"Use your scrolls and your training to try and purge the darkness."
Ardriel pulls out his final scroll of dispel magic and waits to see if Ian's Halo can pierce the darkness.
Fley too has trouble seeing in the darkness. "What do you see in there? Is it safe to enter?". A chill runs down his spine.
Anton walks forward tentatively. "I am blessed with eyes that see somewhat like the Matron's; I can see a little bit in the darkness, but barely past the reach of my weapon."
”Magical darkness. Charming. But we must press on.” Dadna said. ”Because if not us, then who?”
[ooc]I don't think I did a good enough job of describing what is going on. So I'm going to try again.[/occ]
As you get withing about 40 feet of the center of the vault it gets noticeably darker and your skin has a creepy, oily feel. Opening the doors reveals darkness inside that only those with darkvision can see through. Neither Radiance nor Ian's halo pierce the darkness.
"So who of us can see?
Dadna and myself. Anton a little bit.
Not Fley, Ardriel, or Ian.
If there is an enemy within, perhaps we can lure it out.
Dadna, Anton, should we proceed ahead just a bit to see if there is anything here? Or should we first let Ardriel use our last Dispel Magic scroll on this darkness?"
”Let us proceed. See if the darkness ends. And if not, then aye, we can fall back. I wouldn’t use our scroll until it is needed.”
Leothar will advance with Dadna. He will go back to using his buckler for now, making him AC 24.
Fley stands back, nervous. "Should... should I follow you guys in? I have a sinking feeling something is off here."
Anton goes in alongside the dwarves, trusting his limited darkvision to let him see the way.
"Hold up, Fley. We'll try to bring the fight to you. Darkness is a potent weapon."
Leothar moves up to the double doors at the other end of the atrium.
He then takes on step further across the threshold to the next room.
Frowning that his halo had no effect on the darkness, Ian says. "Let me try one more thing." Focusing on his innate ability, Ian caused Daylight to shine from his shield. "Let's see if this will help." He then step deeper into the darkness.
Ian touches his shield and the area outside returns to normal light levels as he enters the first chamber and he is able to see it and further into the chamber inside.
Walking into the building, Ian is relieved that the light worked. Trying to calm down, he intentionally loosened the grip on his sword so he could swing it well. "Shall we see what we can see?"