"Grab what you can," Agni says as she heads towards the doorway to have a look outside.
This room contains several low shelves covered with rags and loose bones. A hallway extends to the southeast, while a stone door to the east is carved with the image of several heroic figures standing solemnly together. A skeleton stands in the middle of this room.
Etgar
Donovan
Niu
Agnimitra
skeleton
Etgar
Donovan
Niu
Agnimitra
Surprise Round The Bone Keeper
Agnimitra 13/13 Donovan 12/12 Etgar 9/9 Niu 7/7
Skeleton
Agnimitra ✔
You may take a standard or a move action in the surprise round.
The skeleton moves to the intruder. Agnimitra notices that this skeleton is not quite right. It looks like it was put together by a novice. You notice a small creature within the skeleton.
He looks questioningly at Niu. Well, indeed...I suppose we may need them for something.
Niu nods his head quickly, causing a small cloud of sand to drift down from his hair.
"Oh, certainly. I mean it will only be a matter of time until they try to kill us, but I've been expecting the same from you since we left.
Maybe I'll be the one who snaps first?" Niu starts cackling, cutting off when he notices the eerie echo.
"Oops... ssshhhhh" as he holds his finger to his lips. "Besides, they look big and fierce. Surely they'll scare off the pranksters?"
He shoulders his pack and follows Agni.
Agni gasps in surprise as she's approached by the slapped-together skeleton. As she was taught, her hand goes for the morningstar on her belt, rather than her goddesses' weapon, to deal with such creatures.
"Eyes forward, boys!" she calls back to the others. "This definitely wasn't on the guided tour, either."
Round 1 The Bone Keeper
Agnimitra 13/13 Donovan 12/12 Etgar 9/9 Niu 7/7
Etgar, Niu ✔
Skeleton
Agnimitra, Donovan
Only Etgar and Agnimitra perceive the creature inside the skeleton. It blends in very well with its surroundings.
Moving forward after Agnimitra's exclamation, Niu wonderd at the emergence of a skeleton. "I hope this isn't a new decorating style."
Grabbing a pinch of sand, he blows it at Agnimitra. The sand starts to spin around her in a distracting pattern.
Etgar, seeing the creature and threat it poses, looks down at his own hands. Damn. His spear was far too large and unwieldy to use with one hand, but he needed the lamp as well, for his elven eyes couldn't perceive through pure dark.
Quickly, he crouches to set down the lamp, and stands back up, both hands on his spear as he moves to Agnimitra's side.
I will give you that, Etgar. Move to put down the lamp, double move and draw. Do you need me to move your token? If so, exactly where. Niu's token did not move as well.
The skeleton lashes out at the intruder.
Round 1 The The Bone Keeper
Agnimitra 13/13 Donovan 12/12 Etgar 9/9 Niu 7/7
Etgar, Niu
Skeleton
Agnimitra, Donovan ✔
Agni whips the morningstar at the skeleton with an downward motion, aiming for what passes as it's collar bone. While fighting, she tries to recall if any of her training mentioned any kind of parasite that lived in skeleton rib cages.
Standard Action
The skeletal construct gives way to the morningstar. It falls apart in a pile of bones on the floor. The "parasite" gives you a hungry look.
Etgar, seeing the creature and threat it poses, looks down at his own hands. Damn. His spear was far too large and unwieldy to use with one hand, but he needed the lamp as well, for his elven eyes couldn't perceive through pure dark.
Niu's token did not move as well.
Niu knows this tiny, chaotic evil, magical, extraplanar creature to be an ostovite. Ostovites extract the bones of a dead creature and then soften and reweave them around itself with their acidic excretions to create a deformed and skeletal version of the original creature. This “bone chariot” moves and attacks at the direction of the ostovite, which rides in its center. You may ask for one further specific.
The tiny creature packs a small bite that does acid damage.
Etgar, Niu
Skeleton
Agnimitra
Donovan ✔
Donovan is about to move forward when he sees Agnimitra, 'Well struck'. he relaxes a bit and moves forward to congratulate the Ifrit when he see the thing on the floor. "Agg! He drops his flail and quickly pulls and throws an axe.
Donovan's axe hits the stone floor and slides across the room.
Round 3 The The Bone Keeper
Agnimitra 13/13 Donovan 12/12 Etgar 9/9 Niu 7/7
Etgar, Niu ✔
ostovite
Agnimitra, Donovan
Seeing the small creature fall to the ground once the skeleton is destroyed, Niu recognizes it.
"An Ostovite? How interesting. Fortunately it can't take control of your skeleton until after you die. Its acid does a good job of removing your flesh though."
Cackling loudly, Niu sends a pinch of sand to float around Etgar.
Etgar nods at Niu, and then eyes the area between the base of Agnimitra's feet. Stand....still. He thrusts forward with his spear, in between Agnimitra's legs, as the creature.
Etgar is unable to get the right angle for a hit on the little beast.
The ostovite skitters into Agni's space attempting to avoid an AoO.
Will let Agni take the AoO and resolve. ✔
Two misses. Thanks for catching the other AoO.
As two weapons miss it, the ostovite attacks its dinner.
bite plus acid
bite plus acid
The little varmint gets a taste of agni, leaving some acid drool in the process.
Round 2 The The Bone Keeper
Agnimitra 10/13 Donovan 12/12 Etgar 9/9 Niu 7/7
Etgar, Niu
ostovite
Agnimitra, Donovan ✔
Not wanting to throw an axe at is new friend Donovan instead scoops up his flail and waits. "Move forward if you can, I can't get to it."
Agnimitra hisses as the thing takes a piece of her and leaves some acid to burn in the wound.
"Bloody rude!" she cries out, and she moves deeper into the new room to give the others a chance to get in.
From the far corner, switching her weapon to her shield hand, then she hurls a bolt of flame at the creature. "Burn, you vile thing!"
Move Action: Move 20'
Standard Action: Fire bolt (Fire Domain)
The ostovite bites at the ifrit as she moves into position.
bite plus acid
The flames scorch the magical beast yet it lives.
Etgar looks back at Donovan. I'll make room for you!. He then steps towards the creature and jumps over it, hoping to land on the other side.
He then stabs down at the creature again.
The Paladin moves forward, swingingm his flail to gain momentum. as he gets close to the creature he strikes.
Donovan kills the tiny beast. Etgar imagines that he did it and he is somehow up in initiative. End initiative.
After putting away her weapon, Agni takes a moment for the adrenaline to wind down. "At least we can eliminate the possibility of being dead. I'm pretty sure that we're very much alive." She checks the wound on her leg caused by the creature before adding, "and I for one would very much like to stay that way."
She takes a bit of time to examine the new room that she's in, looking for any clues, or even signs of familiarity.
This room contains several low shelves covered with rags and loose bones. A hallway extends to the southeast. The stone door to the east which you just came through is carved with the image of several heroic figures standing solemnly together.
Among the rags and bones, the shelves contain a single masterwork heavy mace. The rags also hide three pearls.
Agni hefts the mace, testing it's weight an balance. "This could be useful. Anyone in need?" She offers up the weapon.
Etgar looks at the felled creature and then at Donovan's weapon. He shrugs and walks into the next room with Agni. Not here...I'm more familiar with spear...though I didn't necessarily demonstrate that.
These, though, are doing no good here. I will take them and we can turn them over later to the authorities.. He pockets the pearls, then gestures to the southeast. Shall we continue on? Donovan, perhaps we could keep that flail of yours to the front, yes?
He then gets close to Nui as they gather back together. I felt something...odd, when you used that sand...what was that you cast on me?
"I'd be happy to take the lead" With a practiced move Donovan hangs the flail over his shoulder and cleans his hand and the handle. He moves over to pickup his axe. looks it over and reminds himself to smooth the edge where it hit the floor.
"Agnimitra, is that right? you took a bite, would you like me to take a look at it?"
Niu smiles at Etgar, then frowns as he notices a bit of sand that settled on Etgar's shoulder.
Reaching up, he attempts to brush off the sand, but ends up leaving more behind then he brushes off. Shrugging, he responds to the question.
"Oh, that was just something Neb-en-toti taught me. You see, bad luck is all around us. People like me have some peculiarity about our life energy that attracts the bad luck. Neb-en-toti taught me to feel that energy and showed me that it could be manipulated.
What I did coalesced the bad luck energy in the air around you, like an aura. It doesn't do anything to you, but anyone who tries to attack through that aura has to deal with the heightened effects. Weapons slipping in their grip, a stray image on the wall catching their eye and distracting them at the last moment, that type of thing.
Oh, and the laughing. Hee hee. Bad luck hates when you laugh at it! Causes it to hang around longer.
Regardless, you'll see me doing that quite frequently in battle. The effect will keep all of you much healthier, I hope."
"Agnimitra, is that right? you took a bite, would you like me to take a look at it?"
The ifrit woman turns to the young man, "My magics as an Inquisitor would be more than sufficient, but it's not too bad. Mostly just stings from the acid. If you have something that wouldn't deplete your own stores too badly, then it would be appreciated."
She turns to the others. Unfortunately, my training never included some of the simple spells that the clerics cast. Can any of you see the aura of magic?"
"A crypt full of magic pearls and weapons? That sounds fantastical, but it doesn't hurt to look."
Niu casts Detect Magic and examines the items.
None of the items appear to be magical.
Agnimitra nods at Niu as she grips the mace. "Let us move on them, shall we?"
Can you confirm your marching order as well? Don, Agni, Etgar, Niu.
The paladin takes some time to take a look at Agni's wounds. He then leads the way out of the room.
A small alcove on the east wall of this hallway contains a few stone shelves. The shelves contain a dozen candles, a silver holy symbol of Aroden, a wand, five potions, and a healer’s kit.
"We should see what's usable and take it with us," Agni tells the others. "Who knows what else we'll find in here, and we can always return what we don't use."
You notice an opening into a room due south a few feet away.
Niu sees the supplies on the shelves and his eyes light up. Casting Detect Magic, he studies the items. "These are likely all cursed or expired. But we may as well look"
Etgar looks curiously at Niu, and then nods slowly. I see. We'll, thank you Niu. I didn't think we'd all need to exhibit our capabilities in such a manner, but...well I didn't expect we'd start the day buried alive either.
He falls into line behind Agni, frustratedly adjusting his gear. Donovan, if you could lead for a bit so that I can get my bearings it would be best. Then, I will take point.
Donovan goes through the Healers kit adding some to his own and moving the rest to his satchel.
"I am happy to take the lead." he taps his mailed chest and shield as though to say of course I should take the vanguard.
Niu identifies 4 potions of cure light wounds.
Niu sighs. "I can't tell what the wand or this one potion does, but these other four are basic healing potions.
Like I said, they are probably cursed, but if you need one your life is on the line already. Might as well try. I'd guess this other one is a healing potion as well, but that is only a guess."
Niu slips the wand and unidentified potion into his pack and distributes the other four potions to the party, giving the extra one to Donovan.