After the shadow drained most of her life force, Bella stabbed once with her rapier and retreated. "I feel weak — it drained me!"
"Oh, that's not good." Zetty transfers her writing slate to one hand and clutches it close. "Hold on Bella, we'll get rid of it!" She slips a vial from her bandolier and holds it up.
"Okay you weird shadowy ghosty thing, lets see if you like this!" She lobs her crafted ghost charge bomb at the foe!
Grem being Grem, he does Grem things. By that, I mean that he steps up to the shade and assumes the position. With a "KIA" shout, he channels his Ki through his fists, into the creature.
◆ Step
◆ Mountain Stance
◆ Ki Strike (Flurry of Blows; Positive Damage)
Eyenia tries to blast the shadow with some holy power, but misses badly.
Zetty’s ghost charge and Vengis’s magic missiles deal significant damage to the shadow. Bella and Grem also land hits. The shadow reaches for Grem, missing the first time but then connecting and tugging at his own shadow!
Zetty calls out "Stop right there you ghosty thing. You're not having any more shadows today." as she draws and tosses another ghost charge over the monk's head.
Bella moved back towards the fight and ducked into an alcove, pulling out her sling. She peered around the corner and tried to remember what Vandy had told her about Shadows.
Grem grows, but holds his ground, as he continues to assault the shadow.
◆ Flurry of Blows
Eyenia runs forward, placing a hand on both Grem and Bella's shoulders, giving them a bit of divine healing.
Bella was grateful for Eyenia's healing. She felt more confident to get back into the fray and engage the shadow once more, and called out, "Grem, Switch!"
Zetty lands another hit with a ghost charge, though it's not as potent as the last one. Grem lands one hit, barely seeming to harm the shadow. Before it can strike again, Vengis unleashes another trio of magic missiles. With a strained cry, the undead dissolves into nothingness!
There doesn't seem to be anything of value left in the crypt, though there is a secret door at the end of the hall.
Zetty sighs in relief "Good riddance. And hope we don't see any more. I'm all out of ghost charges." She checks her bandolier and peeks at her two remaining vials, both of alchemist's fire. "What was the story with that ghost anyway?"
She looks around the crypt for any plaques or writing that might shed some light.
"It died," Grem grumbled though not necessarily unhappily. "Apparently it couldn't accept that. Had to teach it differently."
There doesn't seem to be any indication as to who might be buried in these crypts.
Bella said in reply to Vengis, "That shadow definitely weakened me; this might be a good time to return to Otari and rest overnight. It looks like this going to be a marathon, so we should concentrate on pacing ourselves. We don't one of us to get killed because we pushed ourselves beyond our resources."
She spent a few minutes bandaging up herself and Grem.
Zetty shrugs upon not finding any interesting history or at least a neat fresco to capture. "I think so Vengis. At most we can peek into that room to the south, then we should head back. Especially if whatever that ghost did to Bella and Grem doesn't fade on its own."
You open the secret door and look through to the next room. While it’s apparent that this large room was originally a kitchen, the furnishings have been rebuilt and repositioned to create an improvised shrine. The western end of the hall, where a large fireplace for cooking food once stood, now serves as an altar of sorts. Looming over a human corpse is a towering statue in a feminine shape made of bones, covered in sheets of moldering cloth and hanging moss. The opposite side of the secret door has been decorated with mud and blood to depict the same feminine form as the statue.
Having seen a painting of her, you recognize the statue as a crude depiction of the sorceress Belcorra Haruvex.
The body of the human man here has a bird tattoo on his right shoulder that marks him as a member of the Osprey Club. While the dead thief has no treasure on him, a few valuable offerings have been strewn around the base of the statue, including a bloodstone worth 10 gp, a softly glowing +1 weapon potency rune, and a sickly green fear gem.
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Vengis whistles softly at the bloodstone and gem.
"While the riches of this place are starting to speak my language, I agree that pacing ourselves is the best course of action. I am pretty spent, but looking at the rest of you, you're worse off than I. Returning to town for the night sounds good to me."
Grem nods with a grunt. "We have done good work here. The rest can be finished on the morrow."
You leave the dungeons and make the trek back to Otari. It is late afternoon, the sun beginning to set, by the time you arrive. You can take the opportunity to rest, shop, or take care of other business in town!
While back in the dungeons, Zetty had recommended that the Osprey Club thief be brought back with the group - if someone is willing to carry them. Once she's back in town, she stops in at Yinyasmera's place to talk about the missing "helpers".
Once they're in a slightly more private area, she comments "Hey Yinyasmera! So you wouldn't believe it, but your crew managed to get past a river drake - probably it was out hunting at the time - only to get caught by a bunch of morlocks living in the dungeons underneath the Gauntlight! We found one so far - maybe there's more somewhere." If Yin is interested in the details she adds "Looks like they were sacrificed to Belcorra? The morlocks were probably worshiping her."
"They got in over their heads," Yinyasmera, shaking her head sadly. "I appreciate you finding out what became of them. I would ask that you confirm that the other three members of the group are dead, though, before I hand over the reward."
Zetty assures Yinyasmera that "I'm not about to give up on looking for them half way through!" and then heads off in search of Wrin to catch the elven tiefling up on what happened in the dungeons.
The most important thing she mentions is the strange dead husk of a worm and the energy beam rising up from the floor and into the lighthouse. "It was almost like it was corrupting the stone it passed through, making it all soft and squishy. Here, take a look, I made some sketches!" She shows off her impressions of the sight. "What do you think that shaft of light might be? Have you had any revelations recently that might help? We're definitely going back to investigate more, but any warnings would be helpful."
Wrin studies the sketches with concern. She consults the night sky above and compares it to numerous star charts before turning back to Zetty. "Hmm. The stars seem to whisper that the light you saw is dark, spiritual energy. Perhaps it is a manifestation of Gauntlight's mounting power. You should make it a priority to find the source of that power and eliminate it before the baleful light can shine on Otari again. I shudder to think what other sorts of monsters it might summon into our midst!"
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Vengis weighs his full coin purse as Wrin speaks, contemplating ongoing risk and reward.
"We will return as soon as we can," he says, his tune having changed significantly since they first started. "Disabling the light should surely be our highest priority, after which we may be able to gather the Gauntlight's treasures with little opposition."
When the others have had their say, he places a hand on Wrin's shoulder. "As we discussed, please place a hold on the sale of my valuables. This is turning out to be a more lucrative endeavor than I thought, and it may end up solving all my--shortfall if this keeps up much longer."
When they returned to Otari, Bella went shopping, buying a pair of healer's gloves that she'd never before thought she'd be able to afford. But with a loan from Zetty, she was the proud owner of the ideal compliment to her first aid skills.
She joined her friends for a good dinner, largely steering clear of discussing "work" (the exploration of the ruins). She spent the meal getting to know her new friends a bit better, before finally taking her leave and retiring for the night.
Zetty nods with barely suppressed excitement at Wrin's suggestion that there might be other sorts of monsters to draw. "No problem Wrin, we'll be diving right back in there tomorrow! We'll find where that dark spiritual energy is coming from, no problem. Thanks for the guidance."
Later that night, Zetty takes over half the table at dinner, trying to draw out various things from memory that she missed capturing at the time. Only after she's scolded by Bella for "discussing work" that she folds them all away and chats a bit about her own history in Absalom.
After an enjoyable dinner and a good night's sleep, you head back through the Fogfens to Gauntlight Keep and prepare for another foray into the dungeon!
Bella led the party back to where they had defeated the shadow, and opened the secret door that they had spotted earlier, but not explored yet.
Zetty has her writing slate out in one hand and dark circles under her eyes. It seems as though she stayed up late the night before trying to capture some last memories of the day's adventures. She yawns as she follows after Bella.
"Wrin really got me worried about that 'spiritual energy'. I wonder if we should head downstairs earlier rather than later. Leave the rest of this floor for once we've dealt with the weird haunting."
The first door opens onto a pantry, though only a few fragments of the shelving that once lined the walls remain today. Beyond the northeast door here, stairs lead down to the dungeon’s third level.
The last door in this section is locked, but Bella is able to pick the lock. The walls of this octagonal chamber are adorned with swirling runes carved into the stone and then filled with dull, silvery metal. The floor is polished smooth, as is the ceiling ten feet above. It looks like this was once another teleportation circle like the one you found above, but like that one, its magic has faded as well.
Grem has a look around as they examine the new rooms. "We seem to be coming to the end of the threats in this area," the dwarf comments. "Let us clear this place and see what lurks below."
Bella said to the others, "We still haven't found what happened to the rest of the Osprey party. Maybe the morlocks too them prisoner? There were more doors on that long hallway east of here; let's check those."
She returned to the southern end of the hallway and tried the first door.
This long room smells of rust and grime. Stacks of splintered furniture, pieces of weapons and armor, frayed coils of rope, jagged shards of metal, and other bits of trash lie in heaps along the walls of the room. A cold, unlit forge sits in an alcove to the west. To the north, several heavy timbers are wedged up against a door to keep it shut.
Two morlock engineers toil at assembling a pair of broken ballistae here. When they see you, though, they grin wickedly and reach for cobbled-together projectile launchers!
Zetty comments "Those Osprey club guys couldn't have gone far. If the Morlocks didn't get them, they're probably somewhere around here." She gets distracted by the haunting decrepitude of the long hallway, leaving her slow to respond when the sounds of more morlocks begin echoing out of the side room.
Seeing immediate danger to his allies, Grem walks right up to the Morlock, presenting a bigger target, and settles into his combat pose.
◆ Stride [ooc](as many actions as it takes)
◆ Mountain Stance
◆ Flurry of Blows
Grem moves in and delivers an critical strike to one morlock! Reeling in pain, that one eschews its projectile launcher for a war hammer, swinging on the dwarf. The other one backs up and fires scrap metal at him! Grem takes a lot of punishment!
Bella rushed to Grem's side and lunged at the morlock, then healed her friend.
Eyenia runs into the room as she hears hostilities start, placing a hand on the dwarf monk's shoulder, imbuing him with healing power.
Zetty rushes into the room, scowling at the morlocks "Hey! We already beat your leader! Just give it up." She starts sketching their ugly mugs. After a little bit of work, she also draws a scroll of soothe, just in case its needed after the next attack.
Grem continues to attack the Morlock, not impressed with his lack of defense.
◆ Flurry of Blows
Zetty begins to inspire courage while Eyenia lays hands on Grem. Bella misses with her thrust but successfully patches up Grem. Vengis misses too, then Grem lands another solid blow.
The wounded morlock smashes Grem with its hammer again while the other one reloads its launcher and fires another heavy piece of scrap metal into the dwarf’s chest!
It was time to use the special ability of Bella's brand-new gloves! She healed Grem again, then moved behind the lead morlock and tried to stab it in the back.
With Bella handling Grem's wounds, Zetty focuses on trying to take down the other murlock with the launcher. She sketches a shocked murlock as she levitates the piece of scrap metal back at its origin.
"You're really stubborn, aren't ya," Grem grumbles at the Morlock, as he continues to pummel it.
◆ Flurry of Blows