Dawni shakes the hand right out of her hair and takes a low swing with the Aldori sword. The swing seems like it would be appropriate for some kind of sporting event.
The hand on the ground next to her now has a hangnail, but the sword damaged it.
Emil reflexively swings his rapier at the stone hand at his feet.
His aim is good, his adrenaline gives the smack some extra 'Oomph!'.
"Ouch!" exclaims Thaddeus as the creature's teeth sink into his ankle. "I'll teach you..." So saying, he swings his sword at the thing again!
The big man's sword bends the metal frame to the breaking point. As the thing clatters into pieces, whatever powers it releases a blast of electricty into the surrounding area.
;)
"Ah-HAH! Email cries as he presses his rapier into the stone hand like a drill.
"and, OUCH! seriously?!?" The cleric frowns at the offending, dismantled, golem-contraption.
Thaddeus blinks and gives a little shudder as the remnant energy washes over him. Then, turning toward the others, he flashes a pearly smile and asks, "Anyone need anything?"
Round 3: Everyone took a poke at their various opponents, with Thaddeus destroying the remains of the animated guardian. Auguste, Dawni, and Emil were all lucky, and the statue hands that snuck up the walls to the ceiling and dropped on their heads did not get a grip on their throats. All hands were knocked to the floor and poked to various degrees of injury. Emil's is mostly dead but not quite all dead. Dawni and Auguste's enemy hands have been pinked but remain lively.
Now it's their turn.
The damaged guardian lies motionless, spewing faint and diminishing sparks.
All three Things (Addams, not Suess) scuttle rapidly and nimbly up the columns to the ceiling. Again, they drop down onto their victims.
Dawni
Emil
Auguste
Thaddeus
Guardian construct
Thing Blue
Thing Green
Thing Red
Dawni bats the hand back onto the floor and brings her cutlass down upon it, but the creepy hand skitters out of the way.
"Ho there, need a hand?" asks Thaddeus, jumping to Emil's aid.
Thaddeus takes a hyuuuge swing at Emil's third hand, but -- perhaps he was pulling his stroke so as not to injure the cleric? - he misses the wriggly thing.
"Oh I don't know. I think we've got it HANDled!" Emil retorts as he swipes as his creepy playmate, trying to scuttle back up the nearest pillar.
"Hah! A handsome blow! I told you. It's all in the wrist! Emil grins at Thaddeus.
Emil's quick reflexes mean he can strike the hand with his rapier as it ascends. He skewers it nicely, and it crumbles from around his blade and falls to the floor in chunks.
The dashing Cleric pivots on his heel to face Dawn behind him.
"Excuse me my dear. But you have a little something,... right about,... THERE! Emil swings his borrowed Alcasti longsword down towards the scuttling hand on the floor between them.
Auguste tries to pry off the hand that is strangling him with the point of his spear, cutting at it in the process.
"A little help," he rasps, his face turning purple.
"One moment. Ladies first and all that." Emil quips cheerfully, clearly back in his element now that the puns have started flying.
Then the dashing priest glances over Dawni's shoulder to Auguste, still grinning.
His grin fades, and his eyes get a bit wider.
"Oh dear. NOW this is getting out of hand!"
"Am I being strangled by this hand, or by the patriarchy?" Auguste gasps.
Thing Blue attempts to retain its grip on the bard's neck, but fails. It clambers over the Auguste's shoulder onto his backpack---somewhere.
Thing Green is in the square with Dawni's feet, so, while it's in the neighborhood, it attempts to claw an ankle.
When that fails, it scuttles up the column to the ceiling again.
While the creepy hand is exposed on the column, Dawni lashes out swiftly with her cutlass in a no-nonsense sweep that catches the hand squarely and leaves a shower of stone chunks behind.
PCs are all up:
Dawni
Emil
Auguste
Thaddeus
Blue Hand
”Wretched thing.” Auguste tries to skewer the hand again.
(Still the one that attacked him.)
"Turn around! Quickly!" Emil orders, dropping both rapier and borrowed longsword, and flexing his fingers in anticipation,...
Emil's hands snap forward with sudden flurry of speed, and snatches the stone hand clambering on Auguste's back.
"It's all in the wrist!"
Emil looks at the stone hand, and then at Auguste, his initial grin of success fading to one of uncertainty.
"Um,... I'll throw it down, you smash it, yeah?" Emil Asks the bard.
Auguste attempts to skewer the hand somewhere on his pack, but misses.
The hand scores Emil with a claw as he passes, but the cleric easily snatches it from Auguste's back.
"Ouch! Why you little,...!"
Emil snags the stone hand, and shakes it vigorously in anger.
"Not. The. FACE!"
Dawnilea shakes her head, "Why is it I always need to draw steel against things that want to get all handsy?", and tumbles down the hall, taking up a position behind Emilano, letting her strike at the still-moving hands.
for
The paladin's blade flashes, and Emil is left with a handful of gravel, as well as a new manicure.
As the fighting ends, the tomb becomes silent as a... well, you know. Thaddeus now has the chance to notice that the room he's in is lined with rows of small niches in the wall, each holding an urn with a metal plaque. Besides those and the remains of the guardian construct, the room is empty. The statues in the hall are still and silent.
Thaddeus motions to the others, then begins looking around the room, at the urn-plaques, and in the various corners.
Thaddeus notices that all the names on the plaques are Alcastis. Up the stairs, he finds scattered remnants of rotted offerings, and another of the Alcasti longswords, shattered. A door stands shut on the back wall of the room, with no signs of a lock on it.
"NICE moves. Thanks for the manicure!" Emil grins at Dawn. He retrieves his swords, sheathes the rapier, but keeps the Alcasti longsword 'handy',... just in case.
Emil looks around, making sure there are no more 'hands', or worse, lurking in the shadows or the funeral niches.
Emil looks around the room with Thaddeus, but notices nothing in the niches (or anywhere else).
"Come along. No sense in dilly-dallying. I don't wish Our erstwhile 'competitors' to get TOO much of a head start!"
Emil (carefully!) approaches the door with no visible lock.
He glances back at the rest, then holds up the borrowed Alcasti longsword to the door. ,...
"What's behind door number one?!?" The priest of the drunken power asks in a whisper, then SLOWLY starts to open mentioned door,...
The door slowly opens, the loud creak of its hinges echoing through the empty stone niche room.
The revealed view shows a sparse room that holds little beyond a lacquered wooden coffin.
A human skull sits on a plate in front of the casket, while a mangled clockwork owl lies a few feet away. An engraved plaque is propped up behind the skull against the wooden pall. The smell of corrosion fills the air.
The damaged clockwork owl shivers and jerks. "H-h-h-h-hello?" it quavers. "If living b-b-b-beings ar-r-r-rive, stand c-c-c-lear of me. I a-a-am brok-broken and can-n-n-ot c-c-control mys-s-self. I mean you n-n-n-o harm. I a-a-a-am Amantius"
A cloud of mist surrounds the little device, smelling much like the tiny flasks of acid found in alchemists' shops.
Dawnilea pauses, "You can speak? Reason? Can you tell us what happened to you? Can you be repaired?"
"Of c-c-course I can reason, p-p-probably better than h-h-humans!" the clockwork owl replies, in a very huffy owl-like manner. "I am Amantius, c-c-companion to Italice C-c-cenabra, noble of Op-p-para. I was attacked by S-s-syagra Tetranella, d-d-dear friend of Honoria Alc-c-casti. She slew m-m-my creator and master, It-t-talice, in g-g-glittering Oppara, and fled with m-m-my mistress's head into the w-w-wilderness. I f-f-followed, full of anger but c-c-curious about what she was d-d-doing."
It attempts to make a gesture with one wing, but it's impossible to make sense of it.
"There my m-m-mistress lies, at the b-b-bottom of Honoria's c-c-coffin. Syagra was b-b-beyond reason: she d-d-destroyed her hero's t-t-tomb guardians on the w-w-way in, p-p-put up the plaque near Italice's s-s-skull, and d-d-deposited Italice's head on the c-c-coffin. I f-f-followed her and c-c-confronted Syagra with her s-s-shameful d-d-deeds, but she was certain Italice w-w-was behind Honoria's d-d-disgrace. I p-p-promise you she was n-n-not; Italice w-w-was a b-b-bureaucrat obeying orders."
"S-s-syagra was n-n-not happy to h-h-hear accusations of her s-s-sins, so she attempted t-t-to destroy what w-w-was left of her c-c-conscience - that is to say, me - and fled this p-p-place, leaving me crippled. Indeed, her m-m-madness was such that she struck m-m-me one great blow, shat-t-tering my works, then r-r-ran screaming f-f-from this t-t-tomb."
You recognize the name 'Cenabra' as one of the long-standing aristocratic families in Oppara, generally placed in trusted positions in the bureaucracy.
"H-h-here have I lain for m-m-many decades, unable to h-h-help myself. I d-d-do not know if I c-c-can be repaired, but r-r-epair or d-d-destruction is the s-s-same to me. I t-t-tire of this existence. All I w-w-wish is for my m-m-mistress to be returned to her f-family and her s-s-story told to them."
If you step next to the owl to examine it, you need to roll a Reflex save to avoid the cloud of acid that continuously hisses forth from the broken owl.
To examine the clockwork device, make a Perception or Craft(construct) to discern the issue.
More checks will be needed if you decide to try to repair Amantius. If not, he cannot defend himself and is easily destroyed.
Dawnilea shakes her head, "I am sorry that this happened to you. And then to leave you, broken and alone, that, too is terrible -- though just one part of a terrible tale." She looks to her companions, "Do any of you have magic that can restore our small friend? Or know where it could be found? I hate the idea of finishing the evil acts of this Syagara. And I don't think our patron would hate having a witness to recount what happened here, either."
"I don't know much about constructs," Auguste says. "And I don't relish the idea of getting close to that acidic cloud."
"I recognize the name 'Cenabra'. It's one of the long-standing aristocratic families in Oppara, generally placed in trusted positions in the bureaucracy." Emil says to no one in particular. He shrugs apologetically.
"I'm afraid that none of us are likely to know much about constructs. Unless one of you is hiding a secret past as an Artificer's apprentice?" Emil glances around, hopefully.
"No? Ah well. I could TRY healing it. But as it is not a living creature, I seriously doubt it would have any effect. Amantius? if one of us could get close enough to examine your injuries, could you talk us through how to help stabilize you? Or at least turn off that noxious leak so we could transport you to a craftsman who could repair you?"
Emil turns and gestures excitedly to Dawn. "She's right! Think of the possibilities! If we can bring back this fine construct companion, we would have first-hand accounts of events regarding Honoraria and those around her. Not to mention justice for Italice Cenebra. We must try something!"
"I w-w-would return to the Cenebras happily and t-t-tell Italice's story. B-b-but if you cannot safely ret-t-turn me, at least bring Italice's head t-t-to her family. What is i-i-inside me I know n-n-not, except there m-m-must be a source of m-m-magic to fuel my works."
Emil muses thoughtfully.
"Auguste, you are perhaps the most traveled and learned of us. Do you think if I prepared you with a minor prayer, and could back you up with healing, that you could examine yon clockwork and find a way to fix it? At least well enough to travel safely?"
Dawnilea nods, "A good idea. If not that, can we wrap it in something thick enough that it'll make it back to town? Have to imagine there's an artificer or cleric who could fix it right up."
Thaddeus moves up to listen to the conversation, then edges into the room and begins to look around. Nodding slowly, he looks over to read the plaque before glancing back at Emiliano and Dawnilea. "I know I don't look it," he remarks, grinning, "but I sometimes have a bit of a... connection with things like this. Shall I take a look?"
1. If you step next to the owl to examine it, you need to roll a Reflex save to avoid the cloud of acid that continuously hisses forth from the broken owl.
2. To examine the clockwork device, make a Perception or Craft(construct) to discern the issue.
3. More checks will be needed if you decide to try to repair Amantius. If not, he cannot defend himself and is easily destroyed.
"By all means," Auguste says to Thaddeus graciously. "I never had much knack for machines."
"Here, then, little fellow," murmurs the burly man, moving up next to the owl-thing with uncharacteristic grace. "Let's see what's wrong with you..."
Thaddeus times his move between jets of acid and is able to get a look at the mechanism, but can't see anything before he sees another jet wandering his way.