The arrows let loose, flying clear towards the skeleton. One of them goes just wide, missing a head by a matter of inches, whilst the other one hits it clear in what passes for a chest, but the skeleton doesn't react in any way.
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The arrows let loose, flying clear towards the skeleton. One of them goes just wide, missing a head by a matter of inches, whilst the other one hits it clear in what passes for a chest, but the skeleton doesn't react in any way.
Merla waits for a moment, tensed to spring, until it becomes apparent from the lack of activity and Zeus' taciturn expression that the creature is not rushing them. "...Well, that was anticlimactic. Its orders must be so strict that it can't leave its post even to defend itself." Merla sighs, and silently curses her own stupidity in not bringing a sling along.
"It's too far away to throw rocks at. Zeus could plink away at it, but Armun's strength spell will probably wear off before it falls. That would be safest, though. What do you think?"
Armun shifts his weight back and forth uncomfortably for a second before speaking up,
"Well, either we ignore it and just move on, or I can go attack it. I would want some sort of backup though; anything that's strong enough to be formidable without moving isn't something I want to tangle with unsupported. If I go in, and it's more powerful than I expect and I can't get away, you need to come and pull me out." Armun turns to face Merla directly,
"And if you have any more spells like that to cast before I go in, those would be appreciated."
Merla nods. "I'll have your back. If you go in first, I'll rush it, and we'll smash this thing together. If you think it best, I will cast a Shield of Faith around you to augment your defense. But I should probably conserve my magic. We've only just begun, after all."
Merla shifts position, moving next to Armun and giving herself a clear path to the creature. She waits for a response from Armun; if he confirms he wants the spell, she produces a small scrap of parchment with a bit of holy text written upon it, resting her other hand on his shell. As she reads it out loud with conviction and fervor, a gentle disturbance in the air appears around Armun, growing stronger with each syllable and finally becoming a shimmering, magical field as she finishes the passage.
This done, she readies herself to charge. She nods once to Armun.
SpoilerShield of Faith on Armun, +2 deflection AC for 5 minutes. Then delaying my action until after Armun moves in (and hopefully eats the AoO ;) ) and then Charging.
Initiative: [roll0]
Charging, -2 ac until my next turn.
[roll1]+2= 19 to hit
[roll2]+2= 11 damage if hit
Notcounting knowledge devotion bonus: [roll3]
15 or below +1 to hit and damage
16—25 +2 to hit and damage
26—30 +3 to hit and damage
Zeus listens to what his companions are saying, but doesn't take his eyes off the chimera skeleton. The lenses refocus and turn a few times, his lids narrowing at it as he tries to discern if he actually caused any harm to it, or if it is merely too rigidly obeying it's orders to try to defend itself. Undead... just like constructs and golems pre-warforged.
With a frustrated sigh, he fires another two shots, reloading and firing the second as a trained habit more than a deliberate motion.
Spoiler
Attack 1: [roll0] Damage: [roll1]
Edit: Confirming critical threat in the OOC
Attack 2: [roll2] Damage: [roll3]
Armun politely declines the spell from Merla,
"You're right, you should save up. I'll go after this thing without it."
Armun, holding his hammer behind him, braces himself, and then rushes forward, charging the undead beast.
SpoilerAttack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
AC -2 until next turn.
Armun hefts his hammer and charges in, striking the monster for a heavy blow, and receiving one of the heads snapping down at you in response, but thankfully it goes wide of the mark.
Merla follows suit, also getting a solid strike against the creature, this time getting nothing more than a loud roar as the creature is busy trying to eat Armun.
Seeing the other two charge in, Zeus lets loose another shot which hits the monster but with no reaction as it is otherwise preoccupied.
Spoiler
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
With an angry cry, Merla whips her quarterstaff downwards, bringing one end sweeping up to strike the chimera's lower jaw. She spins the weapon around to the other side of her body, and sends a second strike crashing into one of the creature's forelimbs.
SpoilerTwo weapon fighting
First Attack: [roll0] to hit, [roll1] damage if hit
Second Attack: [roll2] to hit, [roll3] damage if hit
Also, five-foot step to move down out of Zeus' line of fire, if that's relevant.
Armun, after landing his first hit solidly, swings his hammer around in a wide arc toward one of the beast's heads.
SpoilerAttack:[roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Roaring in pain as Armun's hit connects, the beast goes wild, lashing out with everything it has at the source of the pain but miraculously failing to connect with anything. As the beast lashes out, Merla manages to get a solid strike against it's head and it just collapses in a pile.
Spoiler
Attack 1: [roll0]
Damage 1: [roll1]
Attack 2: [roll2]
Damage 2: [roll3]
Attack 3: [roll4]
Damage 3: [roll5]
Attack 4: [roll6]
Damage 4: [roll7]
Merla whacks the creature again a couple of times just to make sure it's well and truly broken. "And that is all she wrote. Well-struck, iron shell!"
She starts poking through the bones in the middle of the room with an an avaricious glint in her eye, looking for treasure, but treating the remains respectfully. Or as respectfully as one can treat bones that one is engaged in sifting through for loot with the end of a quarterstaff. She tries to identify what creatures the other bones might have belonged to, and how long they've been here.
"A live chimera might have given us more sport. Though clearly it was sufficient for these unfortunates. This is a poor way for a person's remains to be treated... chewed on and forgotten in some miserable dungeon. Once we're done here, I'll see to it that they are buried in their family plots, if they can be identified, or interred in my temple's crypt if they cannot." she muses to herself.
Most of the bones in the room are humanoid in nature, though you can't make out exactly if they are human, elf, or what. Some seem to be dwarven, and a few are not humanoid at all, but you can't make out exactly what they are.
The age of the bones varies greatly, from some that look to be only a few years old back to some that could well have been there for decades.
Tucked amongst the bones you find some random coins, which amongst them total 23 gp. Everything else seems to be too badly damaged or age-worn to be of any use.
Spoiler
Knowledge: Nature: [roll0]
Zeus follows into the room, appraising the crumbled skeleton with awe. "Well struck indeed! I thought this creature would be a much stickier obstacle."
He waits a moment, letting the others search the remains, before adding "I suppose we should continue checking the other doors then."
Merla counts the coins rapidly, rolling them over her fingers and dividing them up. She pockets 7gp's worth of change herself and then hands 8gp each to her companions.
"Agreed. Upper west door, next? I have a feeling that the eastern doors we've seen would take us further, and I'd rather check all the nooks and crannies first."
Merla waits for Zeus to check the doors, happy to delegate the ultimate decision to him as he's going to be the one that winds up checking them.
Armun holds up a hand,
"Just a moment, please," he said, turning back toward the remains of the chimera skeleton. He swings his hammer downward in several quick blows, cracking and shattering any bones that remained whole, and paying special attention to the skulls. The heavy hammer made small cracks in the stone floor as it struck the bones. When he was finished, he turned back to the party,
"Just a bit of extra precaution," he explained, "Don't want anything raising it again after we've moved on. Now, lead on, Zeus!"
Zeus walks to the door in the west side of the room and begins checking it over for traps.
Spoiler
If no one minds, let's use our default system for this.
Search: [roll0]
Disable Device: [roll1]
Open Lock: [roll2]
After a thorough investigation, there's no signs of any traps at all. However, when you try to open the door it won't shift. It appears the wood has warped from age and has become solidly wedged in the frame.
Armun steps forward,
"Looks like it's stuck? I'll have at it then." Armun taps the door lightly a couple of times, and then swings savagely at what seems to be a strategic point.
SpoilerI'm assuming that spell has worn off by now.
Swinging with a power attack.
I'll roll attack just in case, but I should be able to hit that door: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Smashing your way through the door reveals a corridor behind it leading away for about 20' before it turns to the left.
Merla stalks down the corridor, swinging her staff up into a guard posture. When she reaches the end, she flattens herself against the wall. She reaches into her robes and draws out a small, dented metal case, decorated with delicate gold filigree. She flips it open to reveal a steel mirror, and holds it up to the corner, using it to peer around the corner without exposing herself. If the corridor looks clear, she puts the mirror away and walks down it.
Peering around the corner, the corridor stretches away to another wooden door at the end, with a small barred window towards the top of it. A short distance away from the corner there is another left turn as well.
Zeus follows quietly along behind Merla, his crossbow at the ready to fire over her shoulder at any hostiles.
Spoiler
Move Silently: [roll0]
Merla moves quietly over to the door and peeks through the window.
SpoilerHide, Move Silently: [roll0], [roll1]
Armun, knowing how poor he is at walking quietly, keeps about twenty feet behind Zeus as he follows him down the corridor.
SpoilerMove Silently: [roll0]
Zeus stops at the side passage to keep an eye down it for threats.
The side passage leads to a quick dead end, with nothing more than dirt down it.
The door at the end of the long passage has another large room the other side of it. From your view through the window in the door you can make out the wall along the right hand side of the passage continues down the room, but opens out widely to the left. You can just about make out another door in the wall across this room from the door, and can tell that the room opens up much wider to the left of that door but can't see enough through the window to tell what is there. The floor in this room has - for the first time you've noticed since entering the dungeon - a patterned floor of once-green tiles. You can't see enough to make out what the pattern could actually be though.
Zeus steps forward and gestures questioningly towards the door. "This one next?" he asks at a whisper.
Spoiler
Same system for checking the door unless someone objects. Readied action afterward to shoot hostile things on the other side that move to attack us.
Edit: posting rolls in the ooc
Merla nods, waiting, her body coiled like a spring.
Like so many other doors, this one is wedged in place and doesn't want to shift. It doesn't appear to have any traps or other dangers about it, apart from this.
Merla raises her staff with both hands wrapped around the end nearest her, and staves in the window with it. She brushes off the fragments of the glass from the window frame and then pauses for a moment, waiting to see if anything will come to investigate the noise. If nothing does, she withdraws a rose-coloured pearl from her pocket and contemplates it for a moment, staring at the way the light glints of its surface. Then murmurs and gesticulates, casting the same spell she did before that causes her hand to pull itself off her arm and scuttle off on it's own business.
The hand deftly clambers up the doorframe and disappears, clambering down the hall and scouting ahead.
SpoilerSmashing the window, using my Pearl of Power to recall Spider Hand, then casting it and sending it on ahead, through the window and down the hall.