DM Rolls:
@Croaker>>: Croaker continues to flap about positioning himself for his best angle, and sends another blast of ethereal sand towards the previously zapped skeleton. As before the blast enters the eyes, and a soft light flows from the openings of the skull for a moment, before it removes itself entirely from the remainder of the skeleton, and bangs off the back of the chamber where it lies gently glowing. The remainder of the skeleton collapses into a pile of bones.
@Khanol>>: Looking down in surprise at the wound in his shoulder Khanol grunts in determination, and sends his handaxe arcing into the remaining skeletons spine and sending him to a final rest the backbone split asunder.
@Griot>>: Griot points his freezing finger of frost at one of the two scrawny ghouls, and ice forms on it's flesh, as a few pounds of flesh fall off, and it seems to be struggling to move. For a moment he looks at the hunk of flesh hungrily, but then turns his attention back to the inventor of frozen dinners.
@Snorri>>: Now fully engaged in the combat with a plan coming to mind, Snorri quickly blesses his axe, and turns it's arcanely blessed edge upon the Ghoul who dared to try and bite him. It bites deep, and spins the tattered ghoul into a spin, and causing him to end up facing Griot.
Beggar Ghoul #1>>: Slowed and hungry, the Ghoul again attempts to swing his nasty claw at the holy Kobold, using his partner in hunger to his advantage as he attacks.
Claw Attack
Claw Attack (Pack Tactics Advantage)
Critical Claw Attack. (Slashing)
CON Save DC10 or paralyzed
Beggar Ghoul #2>>: The heavily damaged ghoul tries to take advantage of the surprise of the other ghoul's well aimed attack, and tries to bite at the besieged cleric.
Bite Attack
Bite Attack (Pack Tactics Advantage)
Bite damage (Piercing).
Both Skeletons are done for.
Croaker & Khanol Perception DC12
A soft glow emits from the decapitated skull of the skeleton that Croaker zapped.
One Ghoul is heavily injured, and the other is wounded. They seem to have concentrated their attacks on Griot determined to at least finish their appetizer.
Seeing the two skeletons disassembled, Khanol pivots and enters the melee with the ghouls. With his torch in his left hand, he stabs with his shortsword the heavily injured ghoul to put it down.
After pulling his blade from his body, he mentions, "Hey Croaker, there's a glow coming from the skull of the skeleton that you zapped."
The ghouls mob the brave little priest, pulling aside the shield and ripping through armor with feral claws. Griot's squeak of surprise is cut short as he stiffens from the grave-like chill. A ghoul bites into his arm (kobold tastes like chicken!) and Griot falls to the cold, hard floor of the crypt bleeding out...
Braggi engages the second ghoul and swings his axe, trying to dispatch it quickly before they paralyze the whole party.
Croaker doesn't see the odd glow until Khanol points it out. Curiosity nearly overwhelms him for a second and he starts to take a step toward the riveting golden glow. But then the sound of Griot's sudden squeak and then collapsing to the floor draws him back into the dire circumstances of the situation.
He spins away from the closed door, stumbles upon some of the scattered skeleton bones. But not one to give up he tries to hit the ghoul standing over Griot with another blast of eldritch desert power.
Snorri addresses the hunger of one of the ghouls with his magically enhanced handaxe, and is able to deeply wound the creature by nearly severing it's head from it's now non-lifeless body, and it slumps to the ground. Croaker , his attention torn between the glowing skull, and the ghoul that just killed Griot makes the ultimate sacrifice, and turns another blast of energy towards the remaining ghoul... almost missing it entirely in his distraction, but enough power remains in the blast to cause the creature to pause for a second and try to figure out what was going on... Only to have his existence ended by the sharp shortsword of Khanol.
Combat has ended, all undead dispatched, and Griot headed towards much the same fate.
As the ghoul final ghoul falls Croaker walks over to Griot and pokes him with a feathery finger. Seeing the kobold unresponsive, he pulls out a few scraggly bandages and some kind of ointment he picked up from a street vendor. Slathering the wounds with the ointment he then binds them and steps back dusting his hands.
"That's about all I can do for him. I guess it he wanted to speak with St. Helba more directly. I can't wait to see what she has to say." He says, settling in to wait for the kobold to regain consciousness.
Croaker finds Griot still breathing despite seemingly stiffened with rigor mortis as he stabilizes the stricken kobold.
Croakers clumsy attempt to bind Griot's wounds seems to have been effective, as the wounds quit bleeding.
While Griot continues to commune with his goddess and with nothing more that he can do to help, Croaker wanders over and takes a closer look at the glowing skull.
After the melee with the undead, Khanol sheathes his shortsword and sets the torch down next to Griot and Croaker. He tries to see if he can help the kobold more.
The party searches the corpses and ends up with only (2) Rusty Shortswords, and a tattered coin pouch with 20 SP, and 3 GP). As they casually walk around, and rest, you can clearly see a dark opening above the coffin in the third row, which leads... somewhere into the darkness.
@Croaker>>: As you turn to the strangely glowing skull it begins to move. It elevates go about 5' off the ground and turns to look at you, light emitting from it's eyes and nose hole. It opens it's mouth slowly, and makes several biting motions before trying to croak out something in some unknown language.
Knowledge Arcana:
You read a brief mention in a book one time about something known as a "Skull Lantern", which can be trained to follow along with you and shed light much like a torch... trained being the key term. You think that something about hauling it along on a string for a while is enough training, then it "SHOULD" Float at your shoulder until it doesn't. You don't remember any other details.
After securing the area, Khanol keeps watch over the body of Griot.
Croaker dances back from the snapping skull thinking at first it still retains some of its previous necromantic animosity. But then he recalls the tattered copy of Quisnard's Catalogue of Somewhat Useful Items old Doc Dandefeather kept in his waiting room at the Vidim Rookery. He'd flip through the illustrated pages imagining having the financial resources to afford Delfi's Flea and Tick Repelling Feather Comb or Gorgo's Bag of Sparkling Beads. Staring at the chattering, floating skull he recalls the image of Lattimore's Lofty Light. A silver plated, skull lantern with interchangeable gemstone teeth to allow for a rainbow of colors.
His mind immediately recognizes the similarity of the rather simple, but functional thing hovering in front of his eyes, to Lattimore's stylish skull lantern from the catalogue.
"Ah! So, lost your previous owner did you my little floating friend." He says. "Well, loneliness shall no longer be your constant companion, for you have been discovered by the heroic order of St. Helba and her famous representatives. And your benevolent light shall be most welcome down in these dreary catacombs." He pauses for a moment and then smiles. "Yes, I remember now. The trick is offering a bit of guidance and initial boundary setting."
He pulls a good length of string from a non-seam section of his robe and ties it around the skull. "Now, be a good lad and hold still while I get this tied. Wouldn't want to have you running off willy nilly." Tying the other end off to the strap of his pack he walks back over toward the recovering Griot and then the still unexplored, smelly hole above the coffins.
"Hmmmm...I'm guessing those ghouls had set up house in that hole. With them dead, might be something interesting or even relevant to the kidnappings up there." He starts to climb up the coffins and with the light at his shoulder, roots around in the grime and grit.
Griot remains very unconscious.
@Croaker>>: You climb on top of the casket, and look into the panel that now lies behind the coffin. A passageway about 3' in diameter, and obviously ghoul dug leads off into the darkness. It goes about 15' in and branches off to both the right and left into equally dark passages. For a moment you forgot the skull lantern at your shoulder till it whispers... loudly right at your ear. "Dark".
After a long time lying on the stone floor of the crypt, the battered kobold finally stirs. "St. Helba, is that you?" he mumbles.
"Yes. Yes. It is dark, which is why you're here you silly skull." Croaker whispers back to the lantern. "Why don't you put some light on the matter?" He adds trying to cajole the bone lamp into a bit more illumination so he can see how far back this ghoul hovel goes.
@Snorri>>: After about 2 hours Griot regains consciousness though still dazed and confused.
@Griot>>: You awaken confused, and sore on a stone floor, with a cloak up under your head for a pillow. At first you are Puzzled as you didn't expect the afterlife promised by St. Helba to be so dark and smelly... then your memory comes flooding back as the corpses of two skinny tattered ghouls, and the leering though concerned face of Snorri comes closer as you stir.
@Khanol>>: You background enables you to sleep anywhere, and you doze off for a moment as Croaker goes into the next room, and Snorri worries over Griot.
@Croaker>>: The skull lantern nods in air, then flies in front of Croaker destroying any dark vision he might have had. Just before the flare occurred you saw that the angle of the tunnel splitting to the right and left keeps you from seeing any further into the tunnel.
"Ye dad-blasted, confounded bone head!" Croaker shouts rubbing his eyes and blustering at the skull. "You're supposed to hover just behind me. Right here." He gives the string a tug and reels the skull back so it is situated just above and a little behind his shoulder.
"Better. Now stay like that and let's see if we can't get a better look."
He steps a few feet forward and tries again to see the extent of the tunnel.
Griot sits up slowly and takes his time make sure that most of him is intact. "I'm going to need a little while," he announces and lays back down.
Croaker tries to restore his night vision and creeps into the tight stinky tunnel. It's obvious that Ghoul claws have made this passageway. As you start down the passageway you feel some resistance from your skull friend and he's attempting to stay where you told him to.
Feeling the tug on his shoulder Croaker looks back, into the bright staring eyes of the lantern and curses again. Oh for crying..." He starts to rub his eyes again and then gives the string a quick no. "Stay this distance from my shoulder." He holds his hand a few inches apart. "And about this high." Again demonstrating with his hands and placement of the skull.
"Got it?"
He then ducks around the corner and to try and see how far back the tunnel actually goes.
When he sees Croaker trying to go first, Snorri catches his armwing and stops him. "Wait, let me go first. I'm more able to take blows, and I can see in darkness."
Khanol is guarding Griot's body and wouldn't leave him to explore coffin-filled rooms unless they loudly need help.
Khanol naps and watches over Griot, bringing him water when he awakes and keeping watch as both the Kobold and himself recover a bit from the previous battle.
@Snorri and Croaker>>: You follow the tunnel about 15'. You have to crouch and crawl, as the tunnel is not tall enough to stand up in, and you would have to squeeze by each other in order to pass. The tunnel branches to the left and you can see that it goes about 15' before veering off to the left. The right tunnel seems to go about 15' feet further, then veers off to the right. You would have to go further down the tunnels to complete your investigation.
Right Tunnel Perception DC15
You can smell a large water source of some sort from down this tunnel, and hear the faint slow drip of water. Perhaps a drop every 15 minutes or so.
Seeing that the tunnels seem to continue on and branch off in different directions, Croaker taps Snorri on the shoulder and waves him back out toward the exit. He crouches and crawls backwards until finally getting out into the open air of the tomb.
Assuming his fellow Herald follows him out, he returns to Khanol and Griot. "That ghoul tunnel seems to go back a bit. They've been busy down here. It branches off in two directions and continues on further than fifteen feet in each direction."
"Does seem to be a water source. I could both smell it and hear it dripping every so often into some kind of pool."
"Maybe wait until Griot is awake?" Khanol opens an eye and replies to Croaker.
Griot eventually awakes and then lies back down listening to what has occurred while he was unconscious. "I think our culprits lie down the ghoul tunnels. When we were out guarding Brik earlier, I overheard a couple things about the abductions. One thing was that an suspicious bad smelling person was asking around about folks. Could be a smelly human, but for another human to notice, might have been a ghoul. I don't really savor meeting a ghoul in a tunnel, but if there is water beyond, that could be a natural cave system and path to our kidnap victims. Unless the ghouls already ate them."
With Griot up and alive, Khanol suggests, "Griot, are you ready to go tunnel-fighting? Croaker, can you control that skull-lantern, yet? The light would allow me to abandon my torch, so I can carry my handaxe."
In response to Khanol's question, Croaker gives the skull another tug as it starts to sink lower and behind the warlock. If his robes weren't so dark and dirt covered, the light would have perhaps caused some embarrassment. As it is, the light just illuminates the need for a good laundress.
"Sure...sure." The ravenkin says with a confidence that is most likely overstated. "The training is going great. Just needs a bit more work and it'll be steady as stone. Light so bright and dependable you could do surgery on your mother by it."
He wanders back and forth instructing the light, pointing at different angles, distances, brightness, and what not.
Griot eyeballs his companions looking for wounds and notes that he's the only one with toothmarks remaining. "If you're doing the fighting for me, sure. You and Croaker lead this time. I'm staying in the middle of the pack."
A narrow tunnel winds southward to meet this small cave‑like chamber nestled between the catacomb walls. A large pool of stagnant water stretches from wall to wall of the earthen room.
Khanol & Croaker may make Perception rolls.
Perception DC15 (Disadvantage).
Something is strange here. You can see some bits of metal... pieces of armor, a broken dagger, some coins etc. floating in the middle of the water here.
Croaker spends more time fussing with the positioning of the skull lantern rather than actually watching for dangers or other interesting details.
Khanol sidesteps when he enters the cavern to allow Croaker in but stay near the wall and not step in the water. He studies the water surface and the tell-tale signs along the walls to attempt to determine the source. He holds his shortsword and handaxe in his hands.
Griot walks painfully slowly behind Croaker, who pays less attention to where they're headed than to the silly skull that keeps bumping off the low ceiling of the ghoul crawl and shining its infernal light in random directions much to the detriment of Griot's keen darkvision.
@Khanol>>: There is no room between the small pond, and the walls of the chamber. It seems as though this small pond fills the entire chamber, and some of the water comes into the tunnel you're in a couple of feet. There are numerous drips falling from above, and a couple of areas where water is slowly seeping in. It looks as thought since it's underground, and there is no evaporation, that the water level is slowly rising over time... slooooooowwwwwwly.
@Croaker>>: The skull lantern seems to be getting better at following your instructions. You feel that it might learn to follow at a set distance with some persistence, but is probably not intelligent enough to do a lot more.
@Griot>>: Griot, still aching from the previous encounter is distracted by the flashing, strobing effect of the Skull Lantern, and is having flashback to a certain underground Kobold dance club and the psychedelic light show there.
@Snorri>>: With the light show disturbing your superior darkvision, and the confined area of the tunnel, you feel that it might be a good idea to let the smaller figures go first... though it might be difficult to get past them if you need to move to the front.
Khanol sidesteps into the water-filled cavern against the wall to stand in the potentially shallowest section. As the companions stand in the entrance to cavern, he concludes, "Doesn't appear to be anything in here. And, I didn't bring my fishing gear, even if I would eat anything living in that water. Let's back up and explore the other way."
Croaker:
Griot:
Khanol:
Snorri:
EVIL 1:
So Bad thing then party, Griot, Khanol, Croaker, Snorri.
Khanol is adjacent to the creature, and Croaker is 10' back, Griot is at 15', and Snorri @ 20' The tunnel is tight passage, so disadvantage on attack rolls, and difficult terrain for Medium creatures.
As Khanol steps around the edge of the chamber into the water he is surprised that his foot only sinks about 4" into the floor before encountering some "semi-yielding" rubbery resistance... about the time he sees a large pseudopod of clear gel emerge from the water, and swing at him.
Jelly Slam
Jelly bash
The Huge translucent bulk of the creature surges forth out of the pond attempting to engulf the stalwart halfling.
@Khanol DC12 Dex check or engulfed... which is bad...
Party is up!
"Run away! Back up!" He looks at the weapons in his hands. He likes them and suspects that that thing will destroy them if he attempts to use them. He tucks his handaxe in his belt, wishing he still had his torch.
Croaker scrambles backwards as fast as the confined space as his feet will allow. As he moves he calls upon Calipha to protect him and within moments sand colored armor surrounds his body.
Hearing Khanol's warning, Griot doesn't think twice and slips past Snorri to bravely lead the retreat back to the entrance.
Snorri lets everyone run past him, leaving him as the last defense. He conjures a pair of dark energy bolts, which he shoots towards the jelly mass, and slowly retreats, blocking the way but aiming for a wider space to fight.