As the remaining skeleton continued to mindless attack, the Red Oni unleased a flurry of blows. Hoping to drop the monstrosity before it injured her companions further.
Kage tried to lean past Mitsubishi and fire at the last skeleton.
Mitsuru leans back from the glob of acid, then does her best to punish the skeleton for its crimes against Emili.
Talios joins in on clobbering the last enemy so he can focus on healing the wounded.
Emili dances out of the reach of the skeleton, half-hoping it will try to mindlessly follow him.
Round 6
Mitsuru misses.
Emili withdraws.
Kage misses.
Finally, the Red Oni connects and her bashing weapon does enough to crumble the final of these skeletons.
Status at end:
Emili: 2/12
Mitsuru: 6/9
This chamber has nothing else of note, save the exit to the final chamber of these tunnels that lies alluringly ahead. . .
"Emili, you okay?" Mitsuru asks, a hand clamped onto her own injury.
"Eh, I've seen better," the shepherd quips as he limps back to where his whip lies in a tangle on the ground. "Gotta say, that was some quick thinking with using your pommel like that. You didn't cut yourself holding the pointy end though, did you?"
"Erastil, grant me you blessing was I heal my allies dangerous wounds." Talios quietly prays before using the wand on Emili.
"That should help with most of the pain, seems to already be working."
As Talios tended to Emili's wounds, the Red Oni flipped one of her Hanbo around and handed it to Mitsuru. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were more skeletons waiting for us."
"No, I wasn't so flustered that I grabbed the blade," Mitsuru replies, smiling. "Good thing we found that wand lying in the dirt."
She sheathes her dagger and gratefully accepts the offered weapon from the Red Oni, testing the weight of it. "Thanks. I'll give it back when we're done."
After healing you continue forward into the final chamber . . .
A large cherrywood chest sits in the center of the chamber, a solitary skeletal figure sitting motionless atop it, dressed in samurai armor.
Status at end:
Emili: 11/12
Mitsuru: 6/9
"Anyone have any ideas?" The Red Oni asked as she scanned the area for further danger.
"I do have one. Skeletons are not to be trusted in a place like this, let me at least send a volley of arrows at it from here." Talios suggests as he prepares his bow again if the group agrees.
"It's definitely haunted," Mitsuru says dryly. She circles around the chest with her borrowed hanbo held at the ready.
As soon as Mitsuru gets within 10 feet of the chest, the eyes snap "open" with a glowing malevolence and the skeleton warrior rises to strike!
Round 1
Turn order:
1. Talios
2. Red Oni
3. Emili
4. Mitsuru
5. Tsutamu
6. Kage
"Seems my hunch was correct." Talios says as he casts a spell on his bow.
[ooc]standard action total defense, Move action, acrobatics to avoid attack of opportunity.
"I'll flank him, focus on his weak spots!" The Red Oni shouted as she moved to get behind the skeleton.
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Mitsuru nods, steps up, and delivers a strike to the creature's exposed knee with a loud "Hya!"
Emili slips forward, whip in hand. "I think this one should cool its heels," he adds. "Maybe sit back down before it hurts itself." His whip cracks through the air, wrapping around the skeleton's leg and trying to pull it off-balance.
Kage Kurai tries to fire a splash of acid at the Skeleton, but misses due to Mitsuru getting in the way.
Round 1
Talios casts gravity bow.
The Red Oni moves to flank.
Talios attempts to trip, but fails.
Mitsuru strikes and connects with the Skeletal warrior!
Tsutamu designates Mitsuru as the target of his challenge then strikes at her:
miss!
hit!
Kage misses.
Turn order:
1. Talios
2. Red Oni
3. Emili
4. Mitsuru
5. Tsutamu
6. Kage
Tsutamu: -9
Emili: 11/12
Mitsuru: 0/9, staggered
Emili grimaces and cracks his whip again. ”Fall back, Mitsuru!” he yells. ”We’ll cover you!”
Emili tosses the whip aside and moves forward, flexing his armored glove in preparation. ”Talios, can you keep her from dying? Oni, hit it hard. Kage, you got anything stronger than those globs of acid?” Worry creeps into the shepherd’s voice, but he stands resolutely in the skeleton’s way.
Mitsuru yelps in pain as the claws slash her, and she reflexively takes another swing as she falls back from the monster. They're not supposed to actually hit me!
Talios steps into the room to get a clear shot.
"By Erastil's guarding grace, I will remove this threat to people of Sandpoint." he calls out in judgement.
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"Mitsuru!" Rin accidentally yelled in her normal voice before bringing her Hanbo down as hard as she could where the skeleton's spine met its skull.
Round 2
Talios fails again to trip the skeletal warrior, but when Rin the Red Oni who is definitely not Rin, even though she kind of sounded like her, gets a well aimed blow to knock the skeleton's head clean off, clattering to the ground and its bones crumbling.
Emili: 11/12
Mitsuru: 0/9, staggered
You find the key to the chest around the skeleton's neck. . .
fireworks and potions) have been removed from numerous slots in the chest’s velvet-lined interior— the handiwork of the Licktoad goblins. However, the chest still holds five potions of cure light wounds, two potions of cure moderate wounds, three potions of lesserrestoration, a ring of climbing, a wand of identify with 19 charges, a masterwork chain shirt, a masterwork cold iron wakizashi, 11 Desnancandles, and four skyrockets, in addition to 3,820 sp, 421 gp, and various pieces of fine jewelry worth 560 gp total.
”Goodness, quite the haul this fellow was hoarding,” Emili says with a smile as he coils his whip back to his hip and looks over the Oni’s shoulder at the contents of the chest. ”Not like he needs it now though. Shall we see if anyone in Sandpoint could make use of these?”
Wonder how many sheep one of those bracelets would buy. Could set the family up for maybe a year though, maybe two, and they wouldn’t have to worry about food or could fix that leak in the barn...
After turning the skeleton to dust, the Red Oni ran over to Mitsuru. "Mitsuru...are you alright? Talios can you heal wounds this bad?" The Red Oni asked as she obviously fretted over Mitsuru's wounds.
Mitsuru sticks the hanbo into a loop on her belt before clamping a hand onto the wound from the skeleton's claws. "I've definitely felt better," she says, wincing. "Wouldn't say no to some healing, Talios, if you've got the juice left for it."
Later, when everyone is digging through the contents of the chest, something on the wakizashi catches her eye, and she pops open its secret compartment. She slides the scroll tube out and, head tilted in curiosity, she unrolls the letter hidden inside.
Mitsuru finds the scroll from within the handle of the blade the skeleton warrior carried. . .
Mitsuru's eyes flick back and forth across the text, quickly reading through it. When she gets to the signature, she freezes and her eyes widen in realization, before she rolls it back up and holds it out to the Red Oni. "Tenchi and his sisters will need to see this. Think you can make sure it gets to them?"
Talios rushes over to tend to Mitsuru's wounds, opting to use his own well of divine energy than the last charge on the wand.
"Between Erastil's power and the techniques Koya taught me, no need to worry."
"That should keep you on your feet till we can return to town, I will stay close by in case the wounds worsen." he says looking over her shoulder as she reads the letter.
"How long could this retainer have been here...what a terrible fate, unable to deliver his letter. It seems we have the ability to settle the matter for him and put him to rest. Perhaps his next life will be filled with more fortune. We should see him given honors and the opportunity for Tenchi to be there." he says kneeling down to bundle the bones and belongings together, planning to give them a proper burial later.
Mitsuru gasps in surprise as the pain fades away, then lets the air out in a relieved sigh. "Thank you, Talios," she says with a grateful smile.
"Rokuro Kaijutsu..." Rin slowly said the name of her grandfather. "I...yes the Kaijitsus will want to know about this."
Kage renews his oath of anonymity, before trotting over to see what the fuss is about. His head not reaching much past the Oni's belt, he leans in and reads the letter. My clan must know something of this secret. I was sent to them for a reason. he thinks. "Interesting." is all he says to the others.
The Red Oni was quiet on the way back to town. Thoughts racing as she considered her grandfather and the legacy he had mentioned in Brinewall. And more importantly, the enemies that she could only guessed hadn't forgot about her family.
When they finally made it back to the tavern, The Red Oni dropped the heavy chest down with a sigh. Without thinking, she moved behind the counter and began making tea for everyone.
Mitsuru quickly steps over, saying "Don't bother yourself with that, I'm sure that Rin will be along in no time. You should probably get some rest."
As you pour back into the bar, Ameiko nods to you, "And how was your day of goblin hunting today, then? Did you get to the bottom of it all?"
"What? Oh! Right, of course." The Red Oni responded awkwardly before returning to the table.
As you pour back into the bar, Ameiko nods to you, "And how was your day of goblin hunting today, then? Did you get to the bottom of it all?"
"We believe so. The goblins broke into the chest we returned, it's where they got the fireworks. It looks like they also awakened undead guardians, but thankfully we were able to put them down. However we did find out...well you should see for yourself." As the Red Oni finished her explanation, she placed the scroll in front of Ameiko.
"Was it the undead or spider that were attacking the goblins though or did the fire works stir up any other trouble? That question still nags at me and makes me fear for the denizens of the area. That said...The Red Oni is correct in us finding a matter that may be of greater importance to you." Talios adds cleaning his gear.
"My guess? The goblins did what goblins do best: they did something stupid, and it provoked something that's been sitting dormant for decades, if not longer. Them blowing up traders or themselves was just a by-product."
Mitsuru shrugs before sitting back down at the table. She rests her head on one hand, the elbow planted on the table, and yawns.
"Undead? That sounds. . . ominous. Any idea where these fireworks and undead came from?"
"From one of the ships your family lost at sea many years ago."
Mitsuru nods in agreement, saying "The ones we fought were all equipped with weapons and armor from Tian Xia, rather than what's more common around here. Even without this note we found," she says, gesturing to the scroll, "the connections to your family seem clear."
During a lull in the conversation, Mitsuru goes back to the pile of loot, fishing out both the wand and the magical sword they found. Setting the sword on the table in front of her, she gives the wand a few experimental waves before activating it and focusing her attention on the blade itself.