Cursing under her breath for having been caught off-guard, Talis drops the dagger to her feet. She levels her crossbow, aims, and looses a bolt at a skeleton, directly southward.
Round 1, Entry Hall
Having somewhat learned his lesson about charging forward with the ghost orcs, Helios takes a step back and readies himself for the skeletons' attacks.
Half of the skeletons advance slowly carefully navigating the stairs, bodies and pillars. The other three assault Helios with jagged finger bones wielded like the claws of a feral animal. As the lead skeleton approaches it is met with the blade of a greatsword cutting across it's leather armor. Helios' attack is off-balance and it doesn't cut through.
Out of the attack only one of them strikes tearing it's claws across the paladins face. Three jagged lines well with blood.
Risl gave a heavy sigh, blowing a stray leaf out of her bangs as she did, "I know this is a crypt and all, but this is starting to get ridiculous." She moved fully into the crypt, turning to the skeleton on her right, "Don't you know you're supposed to be dead? That's why you have no skin and stuff. Jeeze." She rolled her eyes, as if the thing really should have known better.
As she spoke to the skeleton, Risl raised her quarterstaff in the air, swirling it around her head until a bright white ball of light appeared, growing brighter with each full circle. As the light became almost blindingly strong, she threw back her arm and then flung the quarterstaff forward, pointing it at the skeleton as the ball of light shot across toward it and exploded before its face in a flash.
Her eyes fixed upon the skeleton, still pointing with her quarterstaff, Risl called Ooro from the entrance, "Ooro, go tickle that sack of bones with your talons." The owl swoops through the door just under the ceiling before stopping before the skeleton and slashing at its skull with his claw.
Ooro's attack is dead on and the claws rake across the creatures skull. Unfortunately barely a scratch is made and it only glares at the owl. slightly annoyed.
Alton rushes forward dodging the claws, swinging at the nearest skeleton. "Ridiculous, now even the dead stand in our way!" His sword crashes through the old bones, sending them tumbling to the floor.
Cursing under her breath for having been caught off-guard, Talis drops the dagger to her feet. She levels her crossbow, aims, and looses a bolt at a skeleton, directly southward. The shifting light, clash of weapons, and scraping bones prove to be too much of a distraction and the bolt clatters into the far wall.
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
Floor 1, entry hall (map)
Helios swings an upward strike at the skeleton in front of him.
Alton brings his sword up, hoping to smash the undead blight's skull.
"" Talis screams in rage after her bolt ineffectively clatters to the ground. As she warily moves along the eastern wall she laughs, nearly a cackle. "Your bones be brittle, but do they burn?" She hisses arcane syllables, snakelike, and extends a free hand toward the skeletons. A fan of scarlet flame jets forth from her fingertips, her laughter ringing within the stone walls.
Risl pulled her sling from her pack and readied it with a bullet as she sidestepped to the right, keeping the dazed skeleton in her eyesight. Seeing that Ooro had been completely unsuccessful, as talented as he was, her concern grew. "Ooro, back to me. Hang out and wait, and try not to get yourself in trouble."
She concentrated hard on the skeleton but felt a bit ruffled as Ooro nearly flew into her head as she shot the bullet.
Attack:
Damage:
Round 2, Entry Hall
Helios swings an upward strike at the skeleton in front of him. Shattering brittle ones around the room.
The skeletons respond in kind continuing their silent assault. One moves quickly around a pillar to Alton's side bessetting him from two sides. While another steps up to replace the shattered foe. Ooro finds himself attacked as well.
The skeleton before the bard claws at his arm before he can deflect the blow. Drawing a long gash through his flesh.
Alton brings his sword up, hoping to smash the undead blight's skull. He's rewarded with the frail bones being crushed by his enchanted blade.
"Hell-frost and 'byssal-blaze!" Talis screams in rage after her bolt ineffectively clatters to the ground. As she warily clambering up the risen floor and along the eastern wall she laughs, nearly a cackle. "Your bones be brittle, but do they burn?" She hisses arcane syllables, snakelike, and extends a free hand toward the skeletons. A fan of scarlet flame jets forth from her fingertips, her laughter ringing within the stone walls. As the flames vanish the skeletons appear to be charred.
Risl pulled her sling from her pack and readied it with a bullet as she sidestepped to the right, keeping the dazed skeleton in her eyesight. Seeing that Ooro had been completely unsuccessful, as talented as he was, her concern grew. "Ooro, back to me. Hang out and wait, and try not to get yourself in trouble."
She concentrated hard on the skeleton but felt a bit ruffled as Ooro nearly flew into her head as she shot the bullet causing her to miss. As Ooro withdraws from his target a different skeleton tries to claw him out of the air but can't seem to reach.
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
Floor 1, entry hall
Helios laughs despite the wounds across his face, "Take this, bone-brain!" and takes a swing at another skeleton.
Smirking in satisfaction, Talis unquivers a bolt and arms her crossbow. "Try, try again," she mutters, taking aim at the skeleton that Risl had magicked.
Risl grumbled at the skeleton, unhappy that it had hurt her owl. Again she pulled another bullet, aimed, and fired at the same skeleton, intent on smacking it around a bit.
Attack:
Damage:
"Almost through with these abominations!" Alton swings his sword around to hit the skeleton that just cut his arm.
Round 3, Entry Hall
Helios laughs despite the wounds across his face, "Take this, bone-brain!" and takes a swing at another skeleton. This one falls quicker than the one before.
The furthest skeleton scampers down the stares and attacks Alton alongside the remaining undead creature.
Risl grumbled at the skeleton, unhappy that it had hurt her owl. Again she pulled another bullet, aimed, and fired at the same skeleton, intent on smacking it around a bit. She barely misses Alton and completely misses the skeleton.
"Almost through with these abominations!" Alton swings his sword around to hit the skeleton that just cut his arm. With a quick slash of his magically sharpened blade it is hewn in two and falls to the floor truly dead.
Smirking in satisfaction, Talis unquivers a bolt and arms her crossbow. "Try, try again," she mutters, taking aim at the skeleton that Risl had magicked. At the last moment it ducks from the bolt and continues attacking unharmed.
Skeleton 2
Skeleton 3
Skeleton 4
Skeleton 5
Skeleton 6
Risl, finding herself rather irritated with the damn skeleton decided not to attack it again. She plodded up to Alton and quickly traced her fingertips over his shin, a soft white light trailing a bit behind her fingers. "May the Forest Spirits guide you, Alton. Bring and end to this."
"Eat cold steel, numb-skull!" Helios shouts as he brings his sword back down at the final skeletal warrior.
Needing a better position, Talis steps further south from the pillar; between the skeleton's erratic movements and her companions' proximity to the creature, she's hard-pressed to draw a bead on it.
Alton swings his sword hoping to end the fight quickly.
Alton swings his sword hoping to end the fight quickly.
With Risl's blessing Alton slays the final moving skeleton in the room. Except for the panting of their own breath it is quiet. Now maybe the group will have a chance to investigate the room and the two bloated bodies.
After wiping the sweat and blood from his brow, Helios pats Alton heavily on the back. "Well done Alton! We smashed them up good!" he says with a smile.
Risl congratulated Helios and Alton, while grinning aside at Talis, "Good job boys, look like you had to save us girls this time. Those skeletons were oddly strong for being, well, bones."
She put her sling away, and called over Ooro to help her survey the room before heading over to the bodies. Risl approached the two bodies, couching down to look carefully at them as she had done to nearly every other dead thing they had come across. She mused to Ooro, "I wonder if they owned the horses. Maybe they were done in by the same creature?"
Risl canted her head as Ooro hooted softly, listening intently to him before informing everyone else of her findings.
Talis joins Risl as the gnome begins to survey the room. "Aye. These menfolk have shown us their battle-ken, this day." As she absently pats Emrys--who hisses back as he shifts himself around her neck--Talis assists Risl in her search.
After being of generally no use to Risl, she searches for the crossbow bolt that had clattered against the wall, earlier in the skeleton battle.
"I think we did fairly good with that, but what would have animated those corpses?" Alton searches around the room, looking for anything of interest.
The two bodies are badly mauled and smell terribly of decay. Rysl identifies them as Gerol and Vark, both of whom are friends of the mayor. Likely sent ahead to prepare the 'traps' of the crypt. Also in the chamber is a pair of backpacks. One of the packs contains a large pillow and two quivers (each holding 10 blunted arrows). The other pack has 2 days' worth of rations, a full waterskin, and a pair of smokesticks. The slain skeletons are extremely old and their bones brittle. While searching the room the group can still hear the faint echoing wail from deeper within the crypt. There is a door to the west and to the east, they are on opposite risen platforms.
Talis retrieves her two fired bolts, finding them to still be intact.
"Something seems to have gone terribly wrong here. We should head further in to investigate. East or west then? My vote is for east, it's always been the fairer of the two directions for me."
Talis smirks at Alton. "Well, left has largely been right to me, although right frequently gets left by the wayside. This is what happens when you let your hands decide direction." She chuckles, and retrieves her bolts.
"In all seriousness, my undead-slaying friend, my guess is as good as yours." Talis smoothes her hair absently and smiles crookedly at Alton. "Eastward should yield either bane or boon, and is as good as any. I cast my lot with Alton's."
"To the east it is!" says Helios. "Wait... which way is east again?"
Alton moves to the east door and pauses to listen carefully before opening it.
Except for the distant wailing, the room beyond is completely silent. Alton carefully opens the door and gestures for Helios to lead the way. This large chamber contains a maze of pillars that obscure the far side of the room. Next to the door is a pile of empty saddlebags and three brooms. Stepping beyond the door the wailing gets louder but still sounds like it is from deep within the crypt.
Looking back to Alton as he begins leading the party through the large room, Helios says, "This place is pretty wild. We'd best watch out for more of those boney fellows."
Talis follows Risl closely after Alton opens the door for Helios. She dismisses the illuminating cantrip on her dagger and casts it once more, upon her crossbow this time. She silently chides herself for having cast it upon a melee weapon, to begin with.
"This wailing-weird is not good for the nerves, eh Emrys? I wonder what manner of strangeness we shall uncover?" She listens intently, trying to discern if the wailing is coming from the pillared chamber.
Before the others rush off into the awaiting room Risl removes a pouch of berries from her pack that she had picked earlier in the morning. She whispered a soft prayer, opening the bag and blew a glowing stream of air into the bag. All the berries in the bag glow momentarily and then fade, leaving only four continuing to glow.
As they walked toward the next room, she handed two of the glowing berries to Helios, the other two glowing berries to Alton, and a few regular berries for herself and Talis for a nice little snack.
Alton looks at the glowing berry before shrugging and eating it, feeling much better after he does. "Thank you Risl." Alton moves into the room and searches around, looking for anything that seems out of place.
After eating the berries Alton and Helios find their wounds closing. Though still tender it is as though a couple days of rest have past. Strangely after eating the berries they are completely full as though having a delicious meal.
While searching through the room Talis finds a switch positioned in an alcove. As she moves closer to it an oddity in the floor catches her eye. Leaning down the witch discovers that a trap door has been concealed, with a kick it opens up revealing a drop into a 10-ft pit. Several large pillows like the ones found before lay on the bottom.
Wanting to join in investigating the switch Helios crosses over to Talis. As he walks he steps on another hidden pit trap. The doors open beneath him and the paladin plummets head first down the pit landing roughly in a pile of pillows.
Farther into the room Alton spots another pit trap and the door leading out of the room.
Risl gasped a the traps are revealed, and especially as Helios tumbles, head first into one. She tiptoed as carefully as possible around the room to try and discover another part of the path. She turned the corner that they had just safely traveled and cast her eyes on the ground to the north, squinting to see if she noticed anything.
Risl is not able to spot anymore traps along the path to the north.
Talis shakes her head, clucking her tongue. She bends down to call out to the paladin, being careful not to fall into the pit, herself. "Helios, my friend . . . the Fates are unkind to you. Has your fall added to your injuries?" She looks up, searching for Alton. "Have you any rope, fair song-smith? Our luckless friend has found himself a deep hole to recline in."
Standing up and rubbing his rear end, Helios looks around at the pillows on the floor quizically. As Talis' head pops into view at the top of the hole, Helios calls out "I'm a little sore, but should be fine. It's actually kind of cozy down here... If we need rest while still in the crypt, this would be a nice place for it!"
Talis slips the healing potion out of her belt pouch and holds it where Helios can see it, waving it back and forth a little. "No time for bed, Squire Amrek. I've a little draught that should put a swing in your hips." She smirks, and drops it down to Helios.
Catching the vial, Helios pops the cork and downs it in one gulp.
"Delicious!" Helios calls up. "Now how about that rope?"
After a minute of scrabbling attempts, Helios finally manages to get a good hold on the cracks of the pit. With a heave and a grunt he pulls himself to the floor proper. His armor clearly didn't help in this battle.
Risl grinned back at the three, glad Helios was up and doing better. She felt bad that she couldn't have helped him, but dropping a rope down to try and pull him up would have only swiftly pulled her down into the pit. So, she concentrated on finding a way out of this place.
She moved forward a bit as carefully as possible where she had checked for traps, "Looks safe this way!" She held her breath as she turned to her right to check for more traps along the floorboards.
When Risl searches down the far corridor she doesn't immediately spot any traps. Glancing to her left, however, she notices another strange indent in the floor. Tapping it firmly with her quarterstaff reveals yet another pit.
Alton continues to search the room, looking closely for more pits.
The dust of the ancient room causes Alton's eyes to water and he has a hard time squinting through the arcane light, no pits open up under his feet though. Once he is closer to the door Alton notices that it is sealed by three intricately geared locks.
Talis smiles as Helios clambers out of the pit. "Hail, Helios! I'm glad you've decided to return from your journey! Keep one eye on the floor and the other on your feet, and I'll count you among the worldly-wise."
She surveys the floor around her, taking note of the traps that she can see. "The town-folk say you flunked out of wizardly studies," she says to Alton, careful not to trigger the trap between them. "Pray tell: this wasn't due to your keen interest in locksmithing, by any chance? Do you fancy exploring key-holes with your picks, or are you another pretty face whose talent with his key is found lacking?"
Talis backtracks to where Helios stands, claps him on the shoulder, and walks slowly up the central hallway to see if she can spot any more floor triggers.
After Talis takes several steps down the middle corridor the floor underneath her opens up. She drops straight down into a pit in the center of the room. Even with the pillows at the bottom she finds herself bruised and sore. After landing she notices a particular hard spot underneath her back.