Kamau's eyes rest, wide with shock, on Seren's rapier as she attacks with it. He punches at the man twice, hoping to resolve the fighting without bloodshed.
After swinging twice, he brings his shield up defensively.
Round 2: Luc
Wanting to end the fight without causing the man's death, Luc again tries to trip the man.
"Stand down and drop your weapons or we will strike you where you lie." Luc glances at Seren, "Don't attack."
The crazed human hits the ground, as Luc trips him. Seeing himself prone and surrounded by the three warriors, the man drops the dagger and curls himself in the fetal position. "Angry bones, do not kill me please...." The wailing continues.
Seren uses her rapier to drag the dagger out of the man’s reach before crouching down and taking it. After giving the dagger a cursory examination she stows it in her gear. Seren sniffs.
”He’s all yours.”
With that she examines the contents of the room.
Seren examines the room and finds the following:
There are a number of bedrolls here, a pair of bullseye lanterns with 4 flasks of oil, 5 days’ worth of rations, and two potions of minor healing that are labeled as “healing.”
Kamau touches his arm and allows divine healing to flow through him. He stands over the man, so he can easily hear the interrogation and the man's responses.
Luc sheaths his sword. "Ok, stop with the wailing. We're flesh and blood. We're no agents of the undead. Now, tell us your name. Where are you from? What are you doing in this crypt? We can help you get home safely if you'll make sense and talk to us. Otherwise, we're just gonna leave you here."
Upon listening to Luc, the man stops wailing and looks up from his fetal position, and in an almost pleading tone, whispers "Home? You will get me home?" Though hesitant and not quite trusting of the party, you sense that speaking of home helped clear his mind a little.
Now, we're getting somewhere. "Yes, of course. What is your name? How did you get to be here?" Luc will offer the man his outstretched hand to help him off the floor. Luc calls to Marietta, "Can you heal this man here with your kit?"
Diplomacy:
The man reaches out, tentatively but encouraged by Luc's words, and rises to his feet, although aching from his back where Seren stabbed him. "Roldare is ma name, from Diobel." He looks around nervously, searching for dangers. "Attacked 2 days ago, while setting up the traps. Everyone else is dead, except ma sister, Dimira. Please, you have to save her! She was taken by the walking bones, who serve the one with the voice of death, who stalks these halls in ancient mail. I not leave without her. We got here 3 days ago. Everyone dead but me...and Dimira. Please find." It appears Roldare's moments of lucidity are quickly fading.
Roldare just nods at the priestess as he stares at the corridor outside the door. "Beware the angry bones."
"I'm Luc, that's Seren, Kamau, Keldri, and Marietta. We will find your sister and bring her back to you. In the meantime, stay here and close the door. There are rations there to keep you fed. To remember it's us, we will knock 3 times, then twice, and then once. Stay safe."
Luc motions the party over, "In his state of mind, I doubt we can glean any more valuable information from him. And anything he did tell us; we would have to take with a grain of salt. I say we move on and explore the western door. Kamau, are you ready to proceed? You still wounded? We just found 2 healing potions, if you need to take them."
Seren nods in agreement. Then frowning, she rolls her eyes and after quickly glancing at Luc speaks to Roldare.
”For what it’s worth…I’m sorry…for….your loss.” she finishes.
As they leave she whispers to Luc.
”What!?! I didn’t want to apologise to him for sticking him in the back, he’s strung out as it is and it might have set him off again. And this way I did say sorry!” she smiles coyly.
”And you did a great job of calming him down. Well done.” Seren’s smile then fades to nothing, and her voice returns to a normal pitch.
”But don’t ever tell me what to do when it comes to saving Kamau’s life, or yours. No-one successfully argued or made nice with a blade or bolt. You enter combat, you better be prepared for the consequences.”
Luc moves the party away from Roldare and looks at Seren, "I understand that you were looking out for us, and I appreciate it. But he was not a threat, other than with the crossbow, which we knew he had loaded before going into the room. He was just a guy scared out of his mind. Imagine seeing your friends killed by undead. That's all. But let's proceed, ladies first." Luc motions Seren down the corridor.
While Marietta treats the wounds of Roldare, Kamau sits in a corner recentering his focus and reclaiming his healing energies.
Seren fixes Luc with a steely gaze.
”It’s not about him. It’s about the not-scared-but-completely-deadly-dagger-in-his-hand.”. The elf shrugs.
”My parents taught me well. Enter combat, prepare to die. Simple. Anything else in the former gets you the latter.” Seren moves off, not resisting the urge to throw off a final…quip.
”And I’m not here at the front because I’m a lady. Just a professional stabber…searching for things to stab before they stab us….”
Seren stops.
”After you!” she says to Luc with her biggest, zaniest, friendliest grin.
The party proceeds west down the corridor. After checking the door for traps and locks, and finding none, Seren opens the door quietly.
This small chamber is mostly empty, save for the body of a villager sprawled in the center. Perched atop the corpse is a man-sized brown and yellow beetle, trying to push the corpse into the corner where a pile of trash and filth awaits.
Seren Stealth: vs.
Beetle's Perception:
Initiative:
Seren seems to be at sixes and sevens, possibly due to being slightly ashamed of her own actions, or possibly because she wishes she had a dueling sword instead of a rapier…Regardless, upon sighting the creature she stands stock still…
She quietly closes the door again. She whispers back to the party.
”Luc! There’s a…giant beetle in here snuffling up a dead villager. What do you want to do?”
Luc whispers back, "Do I look like a ranger? I have no clue! But there's 5 of us and only one of it, right? And we're all in good shape, so I say let's kill it. We can't go further south from the previous corridor, and there was a door leading south from the room, right? We have no choice but attack it, since we can't reason with it."
Seren sucks in her cheeks, and toggles her head side to side…listening to Luc.
”Ok. Beetle bad. Can’t reason with it. Kill.”
She smiles, and opens the door.
”Let’s go!!!”
◆Interact (open door) ◆ Move ◆ Strike
Luc follows after Seren, moving to the other side of the beetle to flank it.
◆Stride ◆ Double Slice
Seren moves in and pierces the beetle through its carapace with her rapier.
Luc follows up with masterful expert slices of his sword and dagger that end the beetle's life.
No treasures are found in the beetle's "nest", just the villager's corpse, refuse and filth.
The remains of a small fire smolder in the center of this broad chamber, letting off a plume of oily smoke. Fed by a heap of burning gear, debris, and more than few bones, the fire casts a flickering light across the walls of this room, partially obscured by the veil of smoke.
Out of smoke you see a humanoid figure approach. The creature is garbed as a villager, but she looks wild and pale, with claw-like hands, fang-filled mouth, and a face twisted into expressions of revulsion and hatred. She does not look friendly.
Initiative:
Round 1: Luc
Since it worked for him so well last time, Luc will do same maneuver against this creature.
◆Stride ◆ Double Slice
Seren's eyes boggle as Luc near cuts the creature in half with two deft strokes. The elf merely nods in appreciation as they move on...
Seren follows Luc, then skirts around but finds the locations of the pillars get in the way of a good flanking position. Nevertheless she lunges in, first her shortsword to throw the thing off guard, and then a poke with the rapier...but the pair of warriors earlier deft approach is not repeated here...
◆ Move ◆◆ Twin Feint
Kamau considers the creature for a moment, but doesn't readily recognize it from anything he's ready. He advances forward, his shield and clan dagger at the ready.
Round 1: Monster’s turn
The monster is angered by the wizard’s spell but decides to focus its attacks on the dwarf warrior, as it is repulsed by his holiness!! it launches 3 claw attacks but none penetrate the dwarf’s defenses. The party can smell the putrid essence of the creature, clearly undead in nature.
Round 2: Luc
2 actions: Double slice
3rd action: Parry so AC is 19.
Kamau slashes with his clan dagger to see if he can score a hit on the creature.
He continues to watch if any of the piercing strikes seem to do damage, or if this undead requires a different tactic.
Serenllys grits her teeth and moves to a more advantageous position, flanking with Kamau…this time leading with a poke from her rapier and following with a sweep of her shortsword…
◆ Move ◆◆ Twin Feint
Each of the warriors lands one attack on the undead creature. Their attacks affect the creature normally.
Round 2: Kelri
Kelri casts another Electric Arc at the undead.
Round 2: Undead
The undead creature focuses its attacks on each of its assailants, clawing 2 of them. Kamau and Luc feel negative energy affecting them as the undead tries to suck some of their life force. The undead creature looks healthier too.
Serenllys counters the missed talon with a showy swing of her shortsword to distract the thing before lunging in twice with her rapier…
◆ Feint ◆ Strike ◆ Strike
Round 2: Luc
Luc gasps as he feels the undead creature cut him and steal his life force.
Angered, Luc goes on the offensive!
Seren's strike brings the creature to its knees and Luc moves in for the kill. Before he strikes, the undead creature lashes out with its claw at Luc one last time! The fighter side-steps the attack and decapitates the undead villager, ending the threat.
You examine the rest of the room. Luc and Seren spot 2 things of interest.
Next to the fire is a scorched key. You see no other doors in this room. You also find a well-crafted dagger engraved with a rune on the undead creature. Kelri confirms that she senses magic in the room and when you remove the dagger, the room no longer pulses with magics. Therefore, she presumes that the dagger's rune is enchanted.
This room is a dead end. From what you remember, the only door you have not checked is the western door from the entry chamber. You have time to heal and refocus, etc.
Kamau casts lay on hands on himself.
While he's meditating, he checks with Kelri about repairing the shield again.
After a 40-minute rest, you return to the entry room and head through the western door. You proceed through to this scene:
In the center of this room is a large pool of clear water, fed by a fountain on the wall above it. The fountain has a stone statue of a weeping maiden holding the slain body of a warrior, but his head has been broken off and is nowhere to be seen. A voice booms out from the darkness, saying, “Magic is the key.” The voice slowly fades, leaving a dreadful silence.
There are 2 locked doors from this room: SE and SW. The scorched key you just found opens the SE door. The SW door appears to be locked by incredibly complex locks beyond Seren's skill to unlock.
Seren nods in appreciation yet again as Luc finishes the undead creature. She flips the magic dagger by the blade and offers it pommel first over her crossed forearm.
”You want?” she says with a smirk.
”Magic is the key. Magic is the key. Magic is, the key. Hmmm. Wonder if there’s anythingin the pool…” Seren muses, staring in.
Kamau shrugs, and motions toward the SE door that can be unlocked.
Seren's keen elven eyes, with a light source such as from Luc's dagger glowing with light, detect multiple objects at the bottom of the pool, but you cannot discern what they are.
Luc smiles, "Arcane dagger? Of course. Thanks, Seren!" Luc winks at the elven lass and stores his old dagger away and checks the weight and balance of the new one. He asks Kelri to switch the Light spell from the old dagger to the new one.
Luc was about to move on with Kamau, when Seren mentions seeing something at the bottom of the pool. "Hmmm, interesting. I guess I am going for a swim." Luc tests the temperature of the pool and climbs in, dagger with light spell in hand, since it can be used as a piercing weapon. He then attempts to swim to the bottom of the pool.
In most calm water, you succeed at the action [Swim] without needing to attempt a check.
You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to 5 + your Constitution modifier.
The pool is 20' deep and no dangers lurk inside. It is dark also, but Luc has light cast on the dagger, so he is fine. It takes 2 rounds for Luc to reach the bottom and 2 rounds to come back up.
The bottom of the pool is covered in metallic keys
”So we either go swimming for all of them until we find the right one, or…can Kelri determine which one we seek?” asks Seren, looking to Kelri.
The voice from Kamau's amulet asks Kelri, "Do you sense any magic in the pool?" He examines the door itself, to see if there is any iconography on the door that might hint at which key is the correct one.
Floating in the pool, Luc will speak to the party, "How about this? I dive down and grab 5 keys at a time. Come back up. I give the keys to Kelri and she takes them outside the room and casts detect magic on them. If the set of keys detects as magical, we try them out until one of the 5 opens the door. If not, I continue bobbing for keys. Worse case, it takes 20 tries to find the key, assuming I am really unlucky. Each trip is about 30 seconds, so in 10 minutes, we should find the key, at worst case."
Luc puts the dagger with the light spell on his belt, since he no longer needs it to defend himself, and with both hands free, picks up 5 keys from the pool floor and implements the plan.
You put into effect Luc's plan and on the 10th set of keys that he brings up, Kelri leaves the room and detects magic on one of the keys. You test the keys in the lock and by process of elimination, you find the key to the SW door. The whole process took about 5 minutes.
Seren sits cross-legged while Luc obtains the keys.
”Is this all part of the “quest”? And if so, should we throw them back in or keep them as…trinkets?”
The elf consider the doors.
”For completion’s sake I suggest we leave the most magical for last…and go through the one we got the key for first…” Seren indicated the SE door…
Luc happily pulls himself out of the pool. "Well, that was refreshing. Glad there were no creatures inside there." He spends a couple of minutes trying to dry his clothes or wring them at least. He takes off his armor and shirt and exposes his muscular physique to Seren to see if she notices. He is not disappointed if she doesn't. Afterward, he dresses himself again with his armor.
"I like your logic, Seren. After you, dear."