Feraya recast the spell aiming at the same skeleton
Hagin will draw his sickle and move to the space vacated by Ember (L4).
If the skeleton has advanced to that space already, he will draw and attack instead.
Sickle: bless
to hit
damage
"Ember, you mustn't lower your guard!" Art bellows as he unleashes a second flurry at the walking pile of bones in front of him. He aims for the upper shoulder and spine with his axe and blade in tandem.
Gael steps up to the skeletal captain, putting herself between her friends and the greatest threat.As she moves she brings her greatsword round in a low deadly sweep at one of the undead minions, don't want to get surrounded.
After moving up to face the Captain, Gael quickly brings her sword down hard on the one of the minion skeletons facing her, shattering it just like she shattered the last one with a mighty and terrible blow.
Feraya lobs yet another blob of acid at the same skeleton as the last time, and even with having to make sure to not hit his friends he manages to land it. It hisses slightly and the skeleton looks shakey, but its still standing!
The skeletons are now able to retaliate! This time however, at some unseen command, all but the Captain drops their weapons, and flail at the group with their claws!
S1 vs Ember - Claw 1 Attack vs AC 17, Damage . Claw 2 Attack vs AC 17, Damage
S2 vs Art - Claw 1 Attack vs AC 14, Damage . Claw 2 Attack vs AC 14, Damage
SC vs Gael - Longsword Attack , Damage
S5 vs Gael - Claw 1 Attack vs AC 17, Damage . Claw 2 Attack vs AC 17, Damage Claw 2 Crit Threat: vs AC 17, Damage
The skeleton facing Ember digs both its claws horribly inter her, knocking her to the ground with horrible gashes torn into her! .
Art's little skeleton only manages to get one of his claws into the dwarf, managing to inflict a bit of harm.
The skeletons facing Gael actually seem to get in each others way, as the Captain completely misses the paladin, and the other only scrapes Gael's face with one of its claws!
Ember is lying on the ground and bleeding, and is unable to do anything. Art, seeing Ember fall unleashes a furious attack upon his target, managing to catch and destroy it with Tremble. Hagin moves to stand over the prone form of Ember, and takes a swing at the skeleton in front of him, but does literally nothing to it.
ROUND 3 START, INITATIVE CHART:
Gael
Feraya
Skeletons
Ember
Art
Hagin
"AARRRGHHH!"
Art roars in fury as he unleashes all to smash the skeleton that felled Ember.
Feraya cast a different spell seeing things getting out of hand yet again.
Magic Missile vs S1/S5
Again Ember is encompassed by darkness. This time no vision appears to her, only the mocking female laughter echoing in her ears...
Celestial
Hagin grabs Ember and pulls her out of the reach of the skeleton (M4) and channels energy healing everyone in the group.
Gael risks a glance back over her shoulder to see how the rest of the party fares, "Good work!" she cries as she sees most of the skeletons are already down.
Her attention is quickly drawn back to the enemies infront, and again she chooses to attack the weaker foe first, striking at the skeletal minion, isolating the captain.
ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Gael holds the line against the two skeletons up front, and manages to yet again smash another one with broad overhand blows. As Gael cuts it down she shifts over slightly to harry the captain better. Feraya is quick to finish off the last grunt with a burst of energy missiles from his outstretched hand. The Captain, seeing the paladin next to him, attempts to slash her with his beautiful longsword.
Skeletal Captain vs Gael - Attack vs AC 17. Damage
Gael however quickly brings up her great sword and blocks the blow easily.
Art quickly steps forward with an angry cry, attempting to bring all his might to bear on the captain, the last skeleton remaining. The skeleton is able to block the blow from Tremble with its shield, but the sword manages to barely get under its guard, but it does no damage to the creature.
Ember stabilizes.
As this is all going on, Hagin grabs Ember, drags her five feet away from where the skeleton that felled her lays, and then calls upon the gifts of the gods to heal his group . Ember opens her eyes, but is still on the ground.
Round 4 Map - BATTLE MAP!
Initiative Chart:
Gael
Feraya
Skeletons
Ember
Art
Hagin
Ember opens her eyes.
"D...did I fail a...again?" she whispers to noone.
Feraya goes back to his lesser spell now that things seem in hand.
Hagin doesn't understand what Ember says, but assumes she thanks him. He responds with a smile and begins to chant again, channeling more healing energy into his friend.
Cure Light Wounds
"Back on your feet Ember. We're not done yet!". Gael steps round behind the skeletal captain, teaming up with Art, hoping to end the fight quickly.
Art focuses his fury on the skeletal commander, taking advantage of Gael's presence as he drives his assault, smashing his axe and sword into a vulnerable spot on the skeleton.
Bloody hells, my weapons aren't doing much against bones...
Thinking quickly, Gael shifts into flanking position opposite Art, and tries her best to take advantage and land a telling blow as she has done so many times this battle. However, this Skeleton seems a bit smarter and stronger, and is able to block the blow with its shield easily. Meanwhile, Feraya flings a ball of Acid at the creature, and nails it square in its face. The creature flails as it burns, and the acid manages to drip its way down through the skeleton burning it fiercly. The skeleton recovers enough to try to bash Gael with its blade.
The skeletons blade, however, barely misses Gaels head!
Ember manages to wake up and lay on the ground, muttering and watching the battle warily.
In a fury only a dwarf can bring, Art slams his axe Tremble into the Skeletal Captains spine, managing to to snap the spinal column in two. The captain falls to the ground with a sigh, and the bones lay still.
Hagin, saying things in an odd tounge, heals Ember.
Art feels the strain in his muscles as he fells the damned skeleton; his heart is running faster than he thought. Glancing over at Ember, he sighs in relief, before he turns back to Gael.
"Great...great work there, Gael." His head is aching as he sheaths the sword in his belt. He lays a hand on his forehead, trying to take deep breaths, leaning on the wall.
That was...
As you lean against the wall, your heart throbbing and your muscles aching, you start to feel something. Its like something is touching your mind, something is trying to get its way in. Sadly, you are too stressed from the battle to fight it off, and energy floods your mind. Suddenly you feel your mind expand, as if something has awoken inside you. Then, a voice that is not your own speaks in your mind. "Awaken your power! Take up my cause! Help my soul rest!" Without warning, you feel your body start to shake...and you black out.
To everyones surprise, Art suddenly goes rigid against the wall. He starts to glow, slowly at first, and then a bright flash covers the room, emanating from Art. His eyes glow, and he speaks out in a voice not his own, the words completely indecipherable. The power in them, however, flows out and reverberates through the room, shaking the bones on the floor and making your skin crawl.
Without warning, Art lurches forward, walks to the back wall, and pushes something in the wall. A large opening appears in the wall, and inside are some bones, a backpack, and a book. He takes the book and pack, and then puts the book into his pack. He then turns around, and speaks loudly in an otherworldly voice. "This one has been chosen to take up my cause! Let no one disturb my remains save him!" Then, Art's eyes roll up in his head, and he collapses, unconcious.
Feraya studies Art and his actions.
Ember is unsteadily regaining her feet when Art has his "experience".
"Art!" she screams, and rushes to his side. She attempt to discover what has happened to him, trying both first aid and checking him with her arcane sight.
Hagin also goes over to the fainted dwarf.
Heal
Through all the knowledge you have accumulated, you are pretty sure that Art has had a visitation by a spirit of some sort. Beyond that, you are honestly not sure what is going on. There is definitely some sort of magic at work here however.
Checking him over his pulse is normal, and you are fairly sure that he just fainted from stress, and whatever else happened. From being raised in a family of sorcerers, you are pretty sure that some form of arcane power has just awakened in him. You also fairly certain that if you shake him he will probably wake up.
Your Detect Magic shows that the book he stowed in his pack is glowing faintly, with necromancy. He himself is also glowing but you cannot tell what sort of energy it is.
Checking him over his pulse is normal, and you are fairly sure that he just fainted from stress, and whatever else happened. His breathing is even as well, and he should wake up if shaken a bit.
Hagin takes Art's hand and starts to gently pat it while talking to him at a normal volume level. "Wake up, Art. Art, open your eyes."
Wake up, Art. Art, open your eyes.
I don't want to. It hurts. Urgh.
When did I grow so weak? Did Ironhame drop the hammer again? On my head?
Art opens an eye; the faint light doesn't hurt as much as he'd think. The worried expression on Ember's face and Hagin's soothing words were not horrible to wake up to. The headache is unfathomable - as if his skull had been split. "K...Kitten, what happened? Where are we?"
He closes his eye; it hurt. Ember's face was illuminated with an odd, indescribable colour. He attempts to support himself by the shoulders - it's easier than he thought. "I...I'm sorry, I'm being absolutely useless for this trip...
What happened? I heard a voice and... "
He takes a deep breath.
Ember's look of concern eases a bit when Art comes around to Hagin's ministrations.
"You just finished fighting some skeletons, Art," she says calmly, applying a damp rag to Art's forehead. "You haven't been useless at all."
"Unlike myself," she bitterly thinks.
"Then something happened to you, I'm not sure what. But you might have tapped some arcane power, or something. There's a book in your pack that you just picked up, and it seems to be magical, or have some sort of magic associated with it. And you said something about 'picking up a cause', and not to disturb the bones you found," Ember continues on until breathless.
"You... You're still Art, right?"
"Yeah, Kitten...I'm still Art."
Art struggles to get on his feet, rubbing his head. The headache seems to subside a lot faster than he thought. Taking another breath, he glances at the others. "Where...where to?"
"I think it best to study that book along with that door space. As stated before the dead are no longer just that here."
Feraya cast a spell to help with anything magical also another to keep his guard up.
"Well, Art, that was quite something. What do you remember from before you passed out? Any visions? Any voices?"
"I think this is a good time to point out that we can turn back. I'm sure that all this is not part of the test the elders have come up with. No one would blame us."
"But Hagin, the stone door slid shut," Ember points out. "We do have to finish this test. Only now, it isn't a test anymore, is it?"
Ember looks around the room again, now that it is not full of moving skeletons. "After Art is ready, which way should we go?"
"Just thought looking to escape is an option that should be considered."
"Well, isn't this spot... the best place?"
Art struggles up on his knees, though he feels better with every waking second. The tip of his fingers are tingling impatiently. "For rest, I mean. Mouth of the tomb. Or maybe not with those staircases..."
He gazes up towards the ceiling.
"I think rest would be well advised, that way we can prepare for the undead which reason would lead have only begun to show themselves."
"I think rest would be well advised, that way we can prepare for the undead which reason would lead have only begun to show themselves."
"Then we should explore some more and see if there's a more defensible place to rest."
"Shall we go to the door on the left, or the one on the right?"
"We should rest, recover, and prepare. Moving about disturbing more undead before we are ready does not seem like the best idea to me."
"Oh, certanly!" Ember agrees with Feraya. "But maybe we could find a better room to do so in?"
She nervously looks at the remains scattered around the room.
"Ember, this room is well defensible, and we don't know what we will find through either door. Feraya is right, we should rest here, and keep careful watch."
Gael gathers some of the bones, clearing a space on the floor. She uses larger bones to wedge the two doors shut. The smaller bones she piles up next to the doors where they will clatter if the doors are forced open.
"Let's clear some more floor and make camp."
Ember, plainly unhappy that she is going to spend time in a room with bones that animated once already, moves to help set up camp, trying to avoid the bone piles that Gael makes.
Every so often you can still hear wailing. And you still cannot tell where its coming from.
Hagin tries on final time. "Gael, we should at least try to find out what that noise is. It might be a person in trouble."
"What wailing noise? I don't hear anything."
Art peers around the floor and consequently begins scooting bones towards a corner. "I think we could cosy up the place by clearing the bones. As long as that wailing doesn't grow any louder."
"Good work Art. Let's make sure that all our spell-casters are rested before we explore further. We need to be ready for more danger! Hmm, I guess our spell-casters are everyone but me now... How about I take first watch while you all study or sleep or pray?"
"I would be more worried if the wailing stopped, remember we are at least a day late maybe two. Whoever that is has been here longer then we have so I am more inclined to think it is a trick or trap, rather then someone who just happens to get in trouble the moment we show up after being here for at least a full day. Gael I will take you up on your offer."