Looking around the room, it's easy to see that there is only one visible doorway in or out.
Villar looked into the room with the bog like puddle int eh middle and shuddered as he remembered what happened with the last puddle of water. He stepped back and closed the door before saying, "I think we should;d go check the door at the end of the hallway next to this room." With that he headed out the way they came to the previous hallway and went north to the door.
It was sound logic. Talina followed Villar's lead.
Examining the door, Villar find that it seems to have been purposefully barricaded with the rubble. It will take a bit of time to clear it in order to swing the door open. Also, now that he stands near it, he can clearly hear the roars of something angry on the other side.
As Talina approached the door and heard the noises she looked to Villar, "What do you think? I don't think we should invite trouble. The barricade has held for however long, it may hold longer."
Futin dutifully holds the torch aloft as he warily eyes the barricade. Sounds to me like it was meant to stay on that side of it. We've enough problems without inviting that in.
From the sounds on the other side of the door Villar couldn't help but agree and said, "Yeah, let's leave it be, I have no desire to fight whatever that is." Since they had finished with this area Villar led the way back towards the entrance and down to the southwest corridor to explore it.
Checking the last door in the northern section, Villar clears it as safe and opens it up to find another, short hallway that ends with another door to the north.
Once more, Villar ensures the safety of the group and opens the door.
The furniture in this former bedroom is all askew, revealing a mountain-like pile in the center made up largely of garbage such as filthy cloth, chunks of rubble, and bent neails, though there are a few shining glints in the mix. On the southern wall, scrawled in a chunky substance in a childlike hand, are several words that might be gibberish.
Ooh...I know this language! This is Draconic....it reads "Beware: Mitey Dragons!" Though...I'm not sure if it's warning away the mighty dragons, or warning of the presence of the same...I'd assume the latter. He grins, satisfied with his synopsis, then shrugs. Maybe the Mighty Dragons are a local team, or... He shakes his head. Nah...probably not.
Maybe the Mighty Dragons are a local team, or... He shakes his head. Nah...probably not.
"That sounds odd Furball, what could be through this door?" He waslked down teh hallway and checked the door at teh end to see if it was safe and if it was carefully opened it to peak inside.
With no immediate threat from the other rooms, Talina suggested, "Let's check the souther halls."
Nodding in agreement Villar led the way back in the direction they'd come to the entry area and then went down the southwest passage to the door at the end, checking it as he always did.
Deciding to move on, Villar tries his hand at the southern part of the Vaults. Heading for the first door, and finding it safe, he opens the door.
Four monuments loom in this dark and somber room, each with prominent carvings of black-winged angels and various stylized pentagrams. Burnished plaques along the floor next to each sepulcher bear the names of those interred within, while atop the northern wall near the ceiling the words "Sepulcher of the Nail" are carved in prominent relief.
"I think we best not enter there. Disturbing the resting place of Hellknights seems like it would bring bad luck, and we certainly don't need any more of that."
Futin shivers. I can't disagree with that...let the dead rest is good advice in my book.
Villar nodded, "Yeah, let sleeping dead lie." Rather than cut through the room Villar went back the way they came and to the middle passage on the south side and went down it to the door. There he did his usual thing and checked to see if the door was trapped, locked, and to undo those conditions.
Doubling back to the next pathway, Villar notes that the door is safe and easy to open.
Through the door, he sees a large relief carving of a sunburst made of nails, along the southern wall. Instead of typical flagstones, the floor is made up of headstones with names and dates. Curiously, six of the headstones seem to be pried open to reveal empty graves within. An old suit of hellknight armor seems to be held up by a frame at the far corner of the room.
It's easy to see that this room is joined to the previously viewed sepulcher by an open archway at the west end of the room.
Ahri's time in Breachill had, until recently, been rather uneventful. The people were nice enough, but in the end not a whole lot happened here.
That is, until the recent Call for Heroes. She hadn't attended the event herself. The last few had been rather disappointing. But the rumor mill had been talking about how some kind of fire creature attacked in the middle of the meeting, causing severe damage to the Town Hall building. It would have been a lot worse, if not for the intervention of a small group of heroes.
Ever since, Ahri has been trying to catch a glimpse of these heroes, see what it was that made them who they were. See if there is anything that she could see something of herself in them.
After several days of trying to find them, she finally got a break, when she found a pair of goblins chaperoning a disgruntled-looking halfling man to the town guard. Ahri was able to get close enough to overhear how the new Heroes of Breachill had captured this one, who was responsible for the fire, and for attempting to kidnap the chief of the Bumblebrasher tribe of Hellknight Hill, that abandoned citadel just outside of town. They mentioned that the heroes continued to scour the keep for a potential new threat, some kind of cult or something, and would return to town for their reward at a later time.
With renewed purpose, Ahri makes her way towards the keep, just in time to find what she sought. A small camp, seeming to be run by a well-dressed goblin that looked somewhat familiar. Did she live in the town? She caught heroes as they made their way from the camp, heading towards the back of the keep, towards an outcropping of stones and shrubbery. If it wasn't for the fact that she watched them so closely, she never would have noticed the hidden door that they opened.
Ahri watched the heroes disappear into the dark, and waited a good long time, just making sure that this wasn't some ruse to bring her out of hiding. Eventually, though, Ahri worked up the nerve to leave her own hiding spot and venture into the unknown depths of Citadel Altaerain.
"I may not know much about graves, but in my experience, open graves that were not open are rarely a good sign."
Approaching the door, Ahri ignited her lantern and held it high in one hand, lighting into the darkness.
Sighing, she set her foot through the frame, slowly and carefully advancing.
She could just lay low, stay hidden, read books and learn more. Or finally start a business. This town could use some more shops.
But no, she had to give in to her curiosity.
She knew resisting wasn't a choice really.
Adventure was calling and so was the chance to do something great.
Also she really wanted to know what was going on there.
An abandoned citadel where now a goblin tribe was living?
That could not be ignored, but needed to be explored!
Maybe those adventurers were nice people and could use someone like her.
At least she hoped so. At the same time she was afraid something horrible would show up and eat her alive.
A thousand things like that were going through her mind while she was traipsing through the corridors, trying to avoid any notice.
The doorway enters into a short hallway, heading down. It continues this way for several minutes before it leads to another door, the latch clearly visible. Confident that the heroes wouldn't have left anything dangerous behind, she opens the door carefully to the site of an underground corridor that must be a part of the keep. This wide, empty stone hallway is oppressive and dark, though her lantern helps to cut through the darkness. To the east, the hall ends at three separate open doorways, while six additional corridors branch off to the north and south. A mass of rubble spills out of a clogged archway in the northeastern portion of the room.
Ahri notices a light coming from the middle corridor to the south, along with the sound of movement.
Something bothers Talina about the suit of Hellknight armor, seeing it out of the corner of her eye, but she is not sure exactly what it is. Maybe a closer inspection would ferret out the problem.
Something about the armor didn't sit with Talina. Turning to the Hellknight with then, "Sir Alik, does that armor in the corner mean anything to you?"
Ahri saw the light coming out of a corridor and heard some noise. Quickly and with she closed the lamp lid and pressed to the wall, her bow in hand.
Peaking around the corner she saw a guy in heavy armor, an elf and a catfolk, some others further down the corridor she couldn't quite make out.
What were they saying and doing?
Better to take a look.
Or should she just introduce herself?
She decided to wait and see what was going on.
Also that heavy suit of armor looked familiar...
Shutting off her light and peering around the corner reveals the heroes that she had been following, peering down the same hallway, though she loses sight of them as the hallway bends to the right. At the back of the group, though, is a human man in a suit of full plate mail, wielding a heavy-looking greatsword that you don't recognize. While the plate mail itself is not very notable, Ahri does spot a symbol engraved into the shoulder; one that she is very familiar with: the inverted pentagram of Asmodeus.
You hear a woman's voice call out, and the knight moves his way further down the hallway and out of sight.
Hearing his voice, Alak makes his way from the back of the line to the doorway to see what the fuss is about. He peers at the armor in question for a moment before responding. His face seems to show a little sorrow, but little else. "It is an order style of armor. One that hasn't been used in some time. Nothing else, though it is strange to see it just sitting that way. I don't think that they would have left it on display like that, especially not in a crypt. If it belonged to someone here, they would have been buried with it."
Talina looked at the armor again, something was definitely off but she just didn't know.
"Stay behind me, all of you," Talina said before advancing into the room. Keeping her shield in front of her, she approached the suit of armor and looked closer.
Making her way out into the room, Talina is determined to sort out the mystery of the armor. It doesn't take long, though, to determine that the mystery was not actually with the armor itself, but with the frame is was settled on.
As Talina approaches, she sees that the damaged suit of plate was being held together by a bone body underneath. What she thought to be an oddly misshapen turns out to be a skull, which eyes start to glow menacingly at her approach. A loud screeching sound comes from it, which is responded by the sounds of creaking limbs all around.
Cicero tracks Talina as she leaves the security of the hall, and is the first to notice the movement around the room. He steps out and sending a projectile flying at the former hellknight.
◆ Stride
Unfortunately, it puts the elf directly into the sights of one of the other undead.
◆ Step
Cicero completely misses the knight, due to all the darkness. In return, he takes a hit to the shoulder.
While you can't see what's going on, you hear the bone chilling scream come from down the hall, and a lot of movement starts to happen.
Initiative:
Cicero; -5 HP
Blue Skeleton
Futin
Purple Skeleton
Talina
Ahri
Green Skeleton
Alak
Villar
Skeletal Hellknight
Red Skeleton
Brown Skeleton
What the...
Coming!
Futin rushes into the room, taking a spot just behind and to the north of Talina, hoping to shed some light on the situation - literally and figuratively.
◆ Stride
◆ Stride
◆ Recall knowledge - arcana
Futin makes his way into the room to provide light to the others. Seeing the armor-donned skeleton in full light was a bit of an intimidating sight, and the stories of 'death knights' are brought to mind, imposing undead creatures who slaughter all in their path.
Meanwhile, one of the other skeletons starts making it's way into the fight, taking a slash at Talina.
◆ Stride
◆ Stride
Initiative:
Cicero; -5 HP
Blue Skeleton
Futin
Purple Skeleton
Talina; -3 HP
Ahri
Green Skeleton
Alak
Villar
Skeletal Hellknight
Red Skeleton
Brown
Surprised by the moving pile of bone, Talina left herself open to get clawed across her cheek. Regaining her composure, she slashed with her sword and punched out with her shield before going into a defensive posture again.
A good solid hit with her shield causes the encroaching skeleton to crumble to dust almost instantly.
Initiative:
Cicero; -5 HP
Blue Skeleton
Futin
Purple Skeleton
Talina; -3 HP
Ahri
Green Skeleton
Alak
Villar
Skeletal Hellknight
Red Skeleton
Brown
Suddenly left in the dark Ahri made a Chois. That was her name after all, kind of.
Hand on the wall she stepped forward into the hallway, pushing by the man in the asmodean armor. He didn't seem hostile to the heroes, so she ignored him as good as possible for now.
Uhm excuse me, i need to pass here. she simply said, passing him.
Then, through the gaps of several people she saw what was happening in the room.
Oh.
She turned to the armored man behind her.
Are those your friends? You wear a similar armor with similar insignia.
◆ Stride
or
if applicable.
While she can't see it overly clearly from the back of the hallway, Ahri gets enough of an impression (now that it's on the move) to note some undead creature wears a old suit of Hellknight plate, looking like that of the Order of the Nail. But she can't say that she's ever heard of such a creature before.
Another skeleton joins the party, this one tries to flay the feline flesh from Futin.
◆ Stride
The usually stoic armiger seems a little paler than usual as he watches what unfolds in the room. His movement almost frozen in place. The voice of Ahri seems to shake him from his daze. "I'm sorry, little one. I didn't see you there. Where did you come from? I'm not sure that you should go up there. Soemthing seems to have woken my deceased brethren from their rest."
Despite his words, he doesn't block Ahri from passing him. Whatever it is that has shaken him seems to still be churning in his mind.
Initiative:
Cicero; -5 HP
Blue Skeleton
Futin; -6 HP
Purple Skeleton
Talina; -3 HP
Ahri
Green Skeleton
Alak
Villar
Skeletal Hellknight
Red Skeleton
Brown
Oh what could that have possibly been? Ah wait, they are Hellknights and Asmodeans...Are you just gonna stand there? I'll lend a hand.
Although she clearly prefers her bow, this time she takes her sling and shoots a bullet at the undead hellknight.
Despite the distance and the heroes in the way, Ahri's sling bullet easily finds it's mark, causing the undead hellknights head to whip back; a notable chuck now missing.
Initiative:
Cicero; -5 HP
Blue Skeleton
Futin; -6 HP
Purple Skeleton
Talina; -3 HP
Ahri
Green Skeleton
Alak
Villar
Skeletal Hellknight; -8 HP
Red Skeleton
Brown
[ooc]Villar is up!
Villar realized what was happening a moment too late to call anything out before the skeletons attacked them. He wasted no time in getting into the fight though as he drew his rapier and moved around Cicero to attack the skeleton that had clawed at him.
◆ interact (draw weapon)
◆ stride
The skeleton reacts to Villar's movement, quickly striking with it's claw as he runs by.
It manages to catch the tielfing, scoring a hit.
Villar makes his way around the skeletal foe, analysing for weak points, and strikes right through the spinal column, causing the whole thing to crumble to dust.
The Skeletal Hellknight lets out another skull-rattling shriek... and the skeletons respond! It seems as if the knight were a leader, even after death. The creature swings and stabs it's halbard at Talina, looking to cleave through the warrior woman.
↺ Invoke Reckoning
While only one attack got through, Talina feels as if nails are being driving into her body from all sides.
Another skeleton shifts to the other side of Cicero, going after the elven witch.
◆ Step
But Cicero manages to avoid the attack.
The last of the skeletons run in between the undead hellknight and Talina to get into an advantageous position.
◆ Stride
Talina also manages to keep the hits at bay.
Cicero steps away from his attacker and lets loose another piece of flying rubble.
◆ Step
He manages to blow the rock straight through the creature's skull, causing it to fall to dust.
Initiative:
Cicero; -5 HP
Blue Skeleton
Futin; -6 HP
Purple Skeleton
Talina; -9 HP
Ahri
Green Skeleton
Alak
Villar
Skeletal Hellknight; -8 HP
Red Skeleton
Brown Skeleton
[ooc]Futin, Talina and Ahri are up!
Ahri gives the skeleton knight a good look to see whether she finds out something more about them, then reloads her sling and looses another bullet towards them.
◆ Reload Sling
◆
Talina shook her had to regain her focus.
As the skeleton ran in front of her, and seeing how effective her shield was at taking the other one out, Talina swung her shield in a wide arc in an effort to hit the thing in the skull.
The thing proved to be more nimble than she anticipated.
Realizing her sword wasn't going to do much against these walking bone piles, she dropped her sword, grasped her shield with both hands and started swinging.
The warrior then took a defensive stance again.