Looking at the locks, ”Hold on, actually I might be able to pick these open…” he digs around in his pack before pulling out some worn, beaten up thieves tools and gets to work, tongue slightly sticking out as he concentrates on the locks.
"Please don't joke like that," Zainab pleaded. "Those last two fights were tough as they were."
Trista does not sense any traps on the locked sepulcher and sets to work trying to jimmy the lock on the first crypt. Fentus, who also has some hard-learned skill with breaking locks, starts in on the second.
Within a few minutes, each of the locks are open. The hinged stone lids lift up on the first and second crypt, and each reveals the mostly decomposed remains of a human man. These are clearly still dead, and have not been reanimated as the wights had. In addition to the remains, each crypt holds a finely crafted weapon, that looks just as shiny and bright as the day it was made. The first crypt holds a bastard sword, while the second holds a smaller stabbing shortsword. They both appear to have magical runes inscribed on them.
"So well preserved! These are certainly magical. Olaf, what do you make of them? I imagine they were etched by Hellknight smiths."
Fentus pulls the sword out of the hellknights hands, ”Sorry, sir, but we need these to finish cleaning out your old place from cultists, hope you don’t mind,”
Olaf looks over the items with a critical eye, "Hmm, they do look impressive."
After sharing what he learned about the weapons, he asks; "Do we have a few more minutes to spare, I'd like to hammer the dents out of these shields and fix the straps before we fight the next horrible monster to pop out of this gods forsaken place."
It takes roughly 10 minutes to identify each item, but you can use that time to rest and recover. Since Olaf is doing the identifying, he cannot mend his shield at the same time, but could still take extra time if you wish.
Both the weapons are +1 magical, so a +1 bastard sword and another +1 shortsword.
Zainab took the shortsword to take a look as well as test it out. Interestingly enough, it was a good fit.
The cleric nodded to Olaf. "Take as much as you need. I would even suggest we take a break. I hardly have any spells left on me."
Nodding to Olaf, "We might as well take a breather so you can fix your shields, I doubt that will be the last tough fight in here, seems like the deeper we go, the harder it gets,"
Fentus takes the time to examine the buried Hellknights a little closer, a morbid curiosity driving him.
In the first two crypts there is really not much else remarkable. The bodies were buried with their weapons which remain, but most of the bones are dust and ceremonial burial robes are nearly gone with time.
The party leaves the burial crypts and the blue runes on the walls behind, and moves back up to the central hallway, then back down the middle passage to the south. After the expected bend to the right, this time the hallway ends in a standard wooden door.
Trista gives the door a quick once-over, then opens it carefully.
Olaf breaks out his tools and gets to trying to repair his shields, starting with the least damaged one first.
After spending a few minutes, Olaf only manages to get one shield back into working order but shrugs and says its time to move on.
Zainab decides to she if she could do a better job healing the wound sustained on herself.
After putting some ointment on herself, she was feeling well enough to put some more weight onto her arm again.
Still looking over the fine bastard sword, Olaf asks the group, ”This is a fine blade, and we’ll suited to my fighting style. Do you all mind if I wield it?”
As Olaf knocks the dents out and equips the new magical blade, Zainab doses herself with field dressings and simple salves, restoring a bit of the damage taken.
At the new door Trista opens it, making sure there are no shenanigans with the portal first. The door opens into a very large chamber. Along the southern wall here is a large relief carving of a sunburst, made entirely of long iron nails. 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.
Five skeletal warriors dressed in rags and carrying rusty or chipped scimitars, amble about the room. A single skeletal champion dressed in black Hellknight half plate and carrying a long halberd is also present. As you enter, the former Hellknight points at you and the rest of the minions move to attack.
Hall of Graves - Round 1
23 Fentus
19 Skeletal Hellknight
16 Trista
14 Skeleton Guards (all)
10 Zainab
9 Olaf
Fentus moves into the room, surveying the situation, "Now this is more what I thought undead would look like!"
Grinning he readies a small ball of flame and throws it at the near Yellow Armored Skeleton.
Hall of Graves -Round 1 - continued
Fentus moves into the room and lobs a small orb of flame at the nearest skeleton guard. His aim is true, and Fentus is a bit surprised when the magical flames burst the target, shattering it into a cloud of fragments and dust.
The skeletal Hellknight advances on the crypt breakers, and slashes at Fentus with its long halberd. The former Hellknights skill at arms remains apparent as with one blow, he guts the sorceror, nearly killing him outright in the process. The actual pain from the wound is bad enough, but in addition, Fentus suddenly feels as if nails were being driven into his entire body. The pain is enormous! The champion then beckons to the other skeletons, commanding them to attack!
Critical Hit!
Total of 26hp dmg. Yikes!
"Fentus, step back!"
Trista sees if she can figure out what sort of undead the Hellknight is, then Steps in and attacks him.
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Hall of Graves - Round 1 - continued
The pain from the wound puts stuns Fentus, rendering him senseless for a bit.
Quickly, Trista consults The Book, and while there is not exact entry for an undead Hellknight, she finds enough out.
After a dose of hot pepper spray to he weapon, she assaults the skeleton leader, stabbing him a minor wound with her magical blade.
Purple skeleton advances from across the room, scuttling fast across the graves and into the melee. It strikes once at Trista with its rusty scimitar, but the attack is thwarted by Trista's timely parry.
At the direction of the Hellknight undead, Green skeleton moves to flank Trista, trying to gain an advantage against her when it attacks, twice. But these attacks from the unskilled undead also miss.
With Fentus stunned, the undead master sends one of his minions after him as well. But the attack is also a miss.
Lastly, the Blue skeleton comes to the door and attacks Zainab. This attack hits, as the scimitar sweeps through the doorway and into the cleric.
Hefting his new magic sword, Olaf steps around and through the doorway, looking for foes. Targetting the nearest skeleton, he slashes down in an overhead strike. Recovering from his swing, the northman raises his shield against any retaliation.
Fentus, dazed and surprised by the ferocity of these skeletons, holding one hand to a bleeding wound, "this. . .this is not what I thought undead would be like," breathing heavy he defensively steps and stumbles into the corner, and raises a magical shield, barking the command word to summon it into being, interposing the shield between him and the skeletons.
"Everything is getting real dark in here. . ."
It didn't hurt as much as the attack from the wight did, but it stung all the same and she grunted as a result. She saw that Fentus was looking woozy from that attack and decided to help him out. But first, she had to deal with the skeleton in front of her.
Hall of Graves - Round 1 - concluded
Olaf steps into the room that is suddenly filled with undead. He raises his sword to attack the nearest, overhand, but his blade catches in the doorway, and his attack is foiled before it ever really starts.
Zainab dances around the skeletons hemming the group in, getting behind one and stabbing at it twice. Her blade bounces off the ribs of the creature harmlessly at first, but the second strike is true, and the undead falls to bony bits after that attack.
End of Round 1
Hall of Graves - Round 2
23 Fentus (6/32 hp; stunned 1)
19 Skeletal Hellknight (6hp dmg)
16 Trista
14 Skeleton Guards (3 left)
10 Zainab
9 Olaf (shield up)
With a major wound, and the echoes of the pain of the nails still bouncing in his psyche, Fentus finally becomes un-stunned. He steps away from the melee a bit more and casts a defensive spell, causing a magical force shield to appear in front of him, hopefully protecting from another attack like that.
The Hellknight soundlessly laughs at Fentus, but rather than attack for a killing blow through his own minions, he turns his halberd on Trista, striking twice. Somehow, Trista manages to twist and turn out of the way of both those attacks, and remains uninjured.
"Stay strong, friends. They're just bones that don't know enough to settle down."
Trista slips between the leader and one of his minions, then slashes at the former Hellknight with her sword.
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Hall of Graves - Round 2 - continued
Trista pluckily stays in the combat, moving a bit farther into the mausoleum and striking at the skeletal leader with her magical shortsword. One attack hits, the damage from the what she learned in The Book increasing her effectiveness, but the second strike misses.
At the direction of the Hellknight, the skeletal minions focus their attacks on Fentus, trying to drive him out of the fight. The third slides into a flanking position against Trista.
Red Skeleton places one attack that probably would've ended the sorceror, but his magical shield wards the blow and Fentus is not harmed. It then lumbers back to stand near Trista.
Green Skeleton also strikes twice at Fentus, but the mindless undead cannot make a successful attack. It also then, following the wordless commands of its master, trundles over towards Trista.
Purple attacks Trista twice, the first missing, but the second driving home a painful blow that slashes the thaumaturge a fresh wound.
Critical
6 total dmg
Seeing Trista beset by a horde of skeletons, the warrior moves to flank what looks to be the leader and lashes out with blade and spell.
Zainab saw Trista in trouble, surrounded by skeletons. Yet by some miracle, she has been able to hold her own. She used that courage to step up behind a skeleton and strike back.
Fentus, hyperventilating as the Skeletons lay into him, as he shelters behind the magical Shield, eyes growing wide as they leave him to attack Trista he throws a fireball at the Red Skeleton, seeing Zainab and Olaf handling their own foes.
Hall of Graves - Round 2 - concluded
With a brutal attack and a surging burst of electrical energy, Olaf cuts loose on the skeletal Hellknight and the combined might and magic blow the undead commander to dust and ash, leaving only a small cloud where he once stood.
Zainab makes more melee attacks, stepping into a flanking position and catching the Green Skeleton from behind, she uses her new magical blade to end it as well.
End of Round 2
Hall of Graves - Round 3
23 Fentus (6/32 hp left)
16 Trista (22/35 hp left)
14 Skeleton Guards (2 left)
10 Zainab
9 Olaf
Under less direct pressure and despite his wounds, Fentus conjures and tosses a ball of flame at Red Skeleton, and the magical fire burns the undead monster to bits, ending it.
with the skeleton pinned against the wall, Trista looks for a weak spot and attacks.
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Hall of Graves - Round 3 - concluded
Going from fully surrounded by skeletons, to just having one left, Trista continues her assault on the undead, and her enhanced shortsword does all th work, destroying the last of the foes.
End of Combat
Trista wipes some of the blood off of her arm and kicks over the pile of bones that was once a Hellknight.
"Stay dead this time." Trista peaks around the corner to see if there is anything interesting in the rest of the room.
Olaf also pokes at the big, electricty charred, hellknight with his blade tip.
"Seems done for."
Looking around the group, he moves to Fentus and calls for the medic, knowing there is precious little he can do himself.
"Fentus are you okay?" Zainab walked over as she proceeded to tend to his wounds.
"There's way to much negative energy around here. All sorts of undead is being made here."
Stumbling and Staggering, "I don't think I ever want to find undead again. . ." Accepting the healing from Zainab, "Thank you, that feels much better, I don't feel so on death's door anymore, I swear that Hellknight was trying to make me join him,"
He then casts a heal spell, adding a little more to his constitution.
"I've never tried this spell before, but I was watching you Zainab and I think I can replicate the effect,"
With the scattered corpses of the undead now at rest, you can look around the room during the time Fentus gets some first aid from Zainab, and uses some of his own casting ability to Heal. The dead Hellknights stylized half-plate lies there, as does his halberd. The equipment from the others skeletal guards is revealed to be only junk.
The sunburst of nails dominates the southern wall of the chamber, and the built in gravestones, a few of them pried out,, make up most of the floor. There are openings, without doors, in the walls to the west and south, and there is a single door way at the far eastern end of the grave hall.
"Ah, I can never get these bandages right myself. Zainab, would you mind?"
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Trista fusses the whole time that Zainab is trying to fix her up, impatient to continue exploring.
"I'm sure someone would be willing to put this on display," Trista says as she gathers the remnants of the Hellknight's armor.
Trista will peek through the opening in the west wall first.
Fentus examines the Hellknight Plate, "I'd love to hold onto this, or at least move it to store is somewhere more safely than down here. I doubt I'll ever be able to wear it but. . . maybe some day"
He looks wistfully at the Plate Armor, before moving to reinforce Trista at the West Wall.
"I can show you later on once we get out of here," she replied with a nervous smile. "I learned from my older sister actually. She's more of a warpriest, but she's pretty good at tending wounds too."
The opening to the west wall reveals a smaller chamber where four monuments loom, dark and somber. Each has a prominent carving 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 a prominent relief.
No threats are apparent in this room (for a change). The names on the plaques say, from left to right: Mistress of Blades Xera Delphine, Master of Blades Renten Viselle, Paravicar Yenesta, and Paralictor Loreen Sinelle.
The tombs are all sealed, but have similar locking, hinged mechanism as the other crypts. They could also be opened by strength if you could manage it.
"Olaf, would you help me with this?"
Trista works on the lids of the tombs.
Perhaps surprising even herself, Trista manhandles the lids off the first three sepulchers. Inside are the mummified remains of those who must have been remarkable in the Order of the Nails history. Buried inside with each is an item that does not seem to have aged at all.
The first item seems to be a pair of bright metal bracers and gleam like the summer sun. The second is small bit of amber cut in a convex round shape, it seems to have a bit of feather stuck inside it. And the third is small brass pin in the shape of a monkey climbing a tree.
The fourth tomb remains unopened.