"Did your spell work against it, Garret?"
Sanduro watches to see how the red mist reacts to Garret's flame before invoking his own elemental magic. Instead, he remanifests Zsofia into her ectoplasmic form.
Zsofia glares at Sanduro as her form grows more substantial. "I could have stayed ghostly for this one, you know!"
Despite herself, she glides past the nearest mist to flank the creature with Ketra.
Zsofia flinches at the last moment and her punch goes wild. "Gross gross gross floating blood jellyfish yuck yuck yuck!!!"
Cursing as he nocks an arrow, Jando manages to put an arrow through the doorway, narrowly passing by Silvia's cheek and tearing through the semisolid form of the vampiric mist menacing the paladin.
For their part the other two mists ignore Zsofia entirely, seeming totally unconcerned with the bloodless phantom as they focuses on more enticing meals. While Ketra nimbly dodges the probing tendril, Garret is less lucky as his blood is gruesomely extracted! Worse still, the creature seems invigorated by this sustenance, nearly vibrating with newfound energy!
+ROUND ONE+
Silvia (-1hp, -1Con dmg; bleeding 1)
RED (-23hp)
Garret
Sanduro
Zsofia
Jando
BLUE (-13hp)
GREEN
Ketra
+ROUND TWO+
Silvia (-1hp, -1Con dmg; bleeding 1d6)
RED (-17hp)
Garret (-6hp, -1Con dmg; bleeding 1d6)
Sanduro
Zsofia
Jando
BLUE (-10hp)
GREEN
[b]Ketra
Ketra twirls back, nimbly dodging the extended bloody tendril, and falls back into her careful stance. "Okay, I'm definitely sick of random horrors showing up. What did this tomb do to deserve all of this? Unless..." With a flashy twirl of blades, she attempts to strike fear into the red mists - assuming they have at least some basic degree of intelligence. She ends her twirl with a sudden thrust of her mithril knife at the mist next to her.
Silvia grits her teeth and falls back, firing as fast as she can and hoping it's actually doing something.
The way the vampiric mists flinch and shrink away from Ketra certainly make it seem like she got her point across--but Red doesn't have long to think about it as Silvia blasts it to so much wet particulate. A graceful slash from the dancer further builds the party's lethal momentum. Unfortunately Silvia and Garret are still bleeding as the fight continues...
+ROUND TWO+
Silvia (-7hp, -1Con dmg; bleeding 1d6)
RED
Garret (-6hp, -1Con dmg; bleeding 1d6)
Sanduro
Zsofia
Jando
BLUE (-10hp; Shaken)
GREEN (-10hp; Shaken)
Ketra
Garret takes a step back from the mist and sends a quartet of magic missiles at the blue one that had attacked him!
Sanduro reaches out to Silvia and utters a short prayer. "Lady of Graves, please close this warrior's wounds, if it is not yet time for her to be judged."
He draws the wand of cure light wounds to be ready to heal Garret next.
Zsofia swings again at the green mist. "Punching fog is a lot less fun than I thought it would be!"
Zsofia pummels the semisolid mist-monster before her, greenish energy limning her fists and flashing in her eyes. Jando takes careful aim and puts another shot through the mist menacing Garret, but its difficult to tell how badly the things are hurt.
The vampiric mist appears to hesitate, starting to turn towards the phantom before its bloodthirst proves too strong and it turns back to strike at Ketra even as its fellow stalks Garret--the probing tendrils strikes are too hesistant, however, and the dancer and sorcerer evade them easily.
+ROUND TWO+
Silvia (-7hp, -1Con dmg; bleeding 1d6)
RED
Garret (-6hp, -1Con dmg; bleeding 1d6)
Sanduro
Zsofia
Jando
BLUE (-20hp; Shaken)
GREEN (-31hp; Shaken)
Ketra
+ROUND THREE+
Silvia (-0hp, -1Con dmg;)
RED
Garret (-6hp, -1Con dmg; bleeding 1d6)
Sanduro
Zsofia
Jando
BLUE (-20hp; Shaken)
GREEN (-31hp; Shaken)
Ketra
Ketra steps to the side and slashes twice at the green-ish red mist in hopes of finishing it off before it can suck any more blood. "These aren't going to regenerate, or anything, right Garret?"
”Only if they are draining you, I think,” replies Garret to Ketra as he continues to dodge as best he can.
"Well, lets not let them then!" Ketra chirps back to Garret.
Ketra's blade finishes off the mist she and Zsofia have been mauling, while another hail of bullets from Silvia puts paid to the last. Though with Garret still bleeding, the party isn't entirely out of danger just yet.
Sanduro hustles over to check on the sorcerer and pulls out the healer's satchel. "Let me take a look at that wound, Garret. Ouch, that's bleeding as badly as Silvia's was. Let's stop the bleeding first."
Silvia nods, then lays an ensorcelled hand onto Garret's injury, sealing it closed.
Sighing in relief, Garret says, "Thank you, Silvia...I would have been in big trouble without your help."
"Hopefully we don't run into many more similarly dangerous empty rooms--though to be fair, I didn't see the mist hiding in the ceiling either, for what it's worth," he adds.
"Phew..." Ketra cleans the bloody film off her knife, then takes a moment to look around the room more carefully.
"They were hiding a little too well. What were they hoping to catch here, that hadn't already turned undead? Seems almost like someone left them here on purpose to ambush living people trying to make their way through."
With the rest of the party patched up, Ketra sneaks toward the southern door and peeks into the next room, looking for any more ambushers lying in wait. She does a little too much splashing along the way. She whispers back to the party "Isn't it strange how many monsters have been lying in wait here? Assuming this really is going to connect to a tunnel heading out of that bubble, well, shouldn't it be less dangerous rather than more? Any monsters in here should be able to leave and get fresh prey in the outside world..."
Ketra recognizes that her step into the puddles was an error, but nothing monstrous emerges in response so she still listens at the door and doesn't hear anything out of the ordinary.
"Tell you what, I'm just going to go take a little look-see in the next room. I promise to look up at the ceiling this time!"
Zsofia saunters into the room with the broken busts and scans around, making sure to look up and down as well as all around her.
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Zsofia finds the room exactly as it was a few minutes ago, nary a monster to be seen. This report no doubt fills you all with immense confidence.
Ketra follows after Zsofia, ready to offer her second opinion of the room's safetitude. Since Zsofia seems to mostly be looking at the ceiling, Ketra focuses on listening for anything approaching.
If she doesn't notice anything, she looks over at the pedestals, inspecting the sole remaining bust to see if she recognizes it.
Unfortunately Ketra isn't able to conjure anything more concrete regarding a vague sense of familiarity, and all the nameplates have been scratched out. On a more positive note, Zsofia's report of no dangers appears to have been correct this time.
"Looks safe, if anyone wants to take a look at these pedestals." Ketra eyes the stairs going down. "Didn't the other version of the tomb have some weird thing where we placed plates and symbols in a particular pattern? Somehow, this is a little familiar, but also totally not familiar at all..."
Sanduro makes his way cautiously into the room, clutching his bow in one hand. Once he sees the pedestals and statuary for himself, he steps over to peer at them more closely.
“Oh! How interesting!”
It takes but a moment for the not-quite-same context to make itself familiar to Sanduro--back in the Dead Roads, this room had been where the party was first introduced to the mite gang and had contained busts of Ervin Roslar's family. Including, he recalls, that of Emmillisa Roslar though her nameplate here is scratched out like all the others.
Otherwise the room yields up neither treasure nor danger, and so the stone stairs descending down inevitably beckon.
Studying the statues along with Sanduro, Garret is satisfied with their conclusions and says, "Shall we continue--down the stairs?"
"I guess so. Doesn't look like any other way forwards. Unless we're all getting sick of monsters lying in wait - in which case I guess our only alternative is picking up some shovels and starting to dig." Ketra gives a weak smile as she starts down the steps.
As she goes, she listens out to try to determine if the room downstairs is occupied before the group reaches it.
Cautiously descending the steps, Ketra finds they go deeper than she might've expected but at least no monsters or traps attempt an ambush. When the stairs end some fifteen feet deeper into the earth you all find yourselves in a large rectangular room with an exit leading north to a smaller side chamber.
The walls south and west of the stairs boast the weathered and cracked remnants of an elaborate carving, though little enough remains of it now: an arm holding a longsword point down, an armored boot. Ornate lettering above the engraving reads "...OF THE RED CRUSADER" but whatever came before is unreadable.
"The Red Crusader" was a title of Arazni, angelic herald of Aroden who was ambushed and murdered by Tar-Baphon during the Shining Crusade. The title is no longer in use since her death and subsequent theft & conversion to undeath in faraway Geb.
Peeking in the smaller adjoining chamber to the north, you spy only another set of stone shelves set into the walls, filled with the disintegrated remnants of various perishable objects and a very faint vinegar odor--reminiscent of the supply room you passed through back in the Dead Roads tomb, which had boasted numerous cleaning supplies.
With the Red Crusader not ringing any bells, Garret casts Detect Magic and searches the shelves for anything useful.
"Oh wow. The Red Crusader? I remember hearing that story. That's an old title for Arazni, a herald of Aroden in olden times, right? I think she's long since been turned into an undead monster, half-way across the world." She ponders for a moment and then adds "Back in the other tomb, I remember there were those murals of Roslar being into Arazni - when she was still a human, I guess. We haven't seen anything like that here yet, but maybe the idea's still the same. In which case someone must have broken the statue."
Ketra keeps watch while Garret rummages through the supply room. She hopes there aren't any more of those ostovites here.
"Oh! You're right, Ketra. And this whole tomb has been vandalized - why? By who? And did this all happen in the two weeks since the explosion, or was someone down here before that?"
He looks around for a moment and adds, "While we've got a few minutes when we're not fighting for our lives, let me ask Pharasma to renew one of my minor healing spells."
If there are no immediate threats and no objection from anyone else, Sanduro will find a quiet corner to pray for 15 minutes .
Garrets examination of both rooms turns up no magical auras, nor any additional treasures--indeed, this version of Roslar's tomb seems a great deal emptier than its echo in the Boneyard.
“… and thank for you for helping us to stay alive in this hostile place a little longer.”
Sanduro stands up and brushes the dust from his pants. “All right, I think I’m ready.”
Zsofia, leaning against the wall at the top of the stairs, rolls her eyes. “It’s about time! Are you going to start praying twice a day, every day now? Because honestly, that’s going to get old real soon.”
Ketra shrugs "Vandalized by those undead maybe? Or by someone even longer ago? Who knows..." When Garret and Sanduro don't find anything in the storage closet, Ketra sneaks forward to get a look into the next room.
A short tunnel leads into a large hall also filled the the rubble of a partial collapse. Another short tunnel leads northwards out of the room, but of more immediate interest is the intact mural covering the eastern wall, strangely unmarred by time and looking as fresh as though it were painted yesterday. Zsofia is dispatched to do a quick scout, but when no monsters emerge or traps spring you cautiously venture in.
The mural depicts armored knights charging into a formation of skeletal warriors--the now-familiar mustachioed face of Ervin Roslar at the tip of the spear, hewing away with a gleaming silver sword.
The faint rasp of bone on stone behind you is your only warning, though a startling hiss from Jando tells you it wasn't your imagination. Spinning around, you see the threat!
As the mural was being examined, movement stirs in the pile of rubble bisecting the main hall. The creature looks like the fusion of an elemental and an undead; a vaguely humanoid mass of earth and rubble mixed in with most of a human skeleton. Only Ketra and Jando notice it in time to act as it raises its stone-studded arms to strike!
+ SURPRISE ROUND +
Jando
Monster
Ketra
+ ROUND ONE +
Jando
Sanduro
Zsofia
Monster
Garret
Ketra
Silvia
With a surprised shout Jando nocks an arrow and lets fly at the earth-and-bone monster, the arrow shattering off the rock and bone of its "torso". For its part the creature jerks its arms upward and waves of bonelike spikes erupt from the stone, rippling away from the creature like a ripple in water and even crawling up the wall! Worse still, the ground begins to ripple and jerk unnaturally beneath your feet, making your footing uncertain.
This horror is a guecubu, a malicious undead spirit whose will is enough to reassemble a body from earth, stone, roots, and plants drawn from the region into which the remains were scattered. These creatures have significant powers over earth and stone and are embodiments of misfortune and vengeance.
+ SURPRISE ROUND +
Jando
Monster
Ketra
+ ROUND ONE +
Jando
Sanduro
Zsofia
Monster
Garret
Ketra
Silvia
Caught by surprise, Garret can only look around and try to come up with a strategy to defeat this foe!
Ketra whirls around when she hears the rattle of bones, ready to fight more skeletal undead. When it turns out to be some sort of half-elemental, she pauses for a moment to regard it.
Then, wary of the sudden surge of razor sharp rocks around her, Ketra leaps forward 10 feet from a standing position to close into melee with the foe.
As the spikes begin to erupt around her Ketra leaps clear, landing closer to the guecubu--clear of the thicket of spikes but in the dubious safety of the guecubu's reach...
Jando, swearing like a muledriver as he tries not to move his legs despite the rocking and jerking ground, nocks another arrow and sends it nearly through the undead horror's bone-and-dirt "head". With a gravelly roar it jerks back, ripping the arrow free in a spray of soil and bone fragments.
+ ROUND ONE +
Jando
Sanduro
Zsofia
Guecubu (-31hp)
Garret
Ketra (-9hp; half speed)
Silvia
Sanduro jumps when the spike stones erupt from the ground. “It’s like Jonnar, but the spirit is bound with earth instead of sky. And it doesn’t seem to want to talk.” He starts gesturing to cast a spell. “Zsofia, can you get across on your own to give Ketra a hand?”
He adds a short prayer to Pharasma - “Help us return this abomination to the ground from which it crawled!” - and a little ball of fire appears in his hand. He winds up and throws it at the guecubu.
Moving agonizingly slowly, Zsofia oozes through the spikes, leaving a luminous silver trail of slime coating each. Stepping out of the effect of the spell, she flanks the guecubu with Ketra, ectoplasmic fists at the ready.
Sanduro is aware that guecubu has a handful of spell-like abilities (what those are is a separate question) and that their strikes bear a curse of ill luck--one that never fades without magical intervention. Conjuring a fistful of fire, he pitches it well and strikes the monsters squarely! Unfortunately, the cracks spreading across bone and stone begin to seal back up as some of its injuries begin to heal. With another grinding roar it lashes out at Ketra and Zsofia; though its blows are more furious than well-aimed the phantom still catches a brutal punch. Zsofa staggers more than the blow alone warranted, her eyes wide and glassy.
+ ROUND ONE +
Jando
Sanduro
Zsofia
Guecubu (-31hp)
Garret
Ketra
Silvia
+ ROUND TWO +
Jando
Sanduro
Zsofia (-10hp; cursed)
Guecubu (-32hp)
Garret
Ketra
Silvia
Worried about the effect the strange rocky undead may have had on Zsofia, Garret summons a ball of flame and pushes it up against the Guecubu, trying to pin it to the wall between his allies.
He tries to take cover behind a slimy spike or two, but doesn't dare move from where he is to avoid piercing himself on the suddenly treacherous ground.