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Message: <blockquote data-quote="htetickrt" data-source="post: 1402651" data-attributes="member: 16534">The Rage of Chahir Kyree rolls to the side and draws his bow, accepting the pain of a vampire spawn’s pummeling in order to deliver a volley of arrows from his bow at point-blank range. Andy leaps past him, looking to impress the ladies, and smacks one of the elf’s targets with his whirling nunchaku, much to his surprise. The sound of shattering ribs leads him to announce cockily, “That’s what I’m talkin’ about,” but no one pays much attention. Rhien leaps over the undead assaulting him, avoiding its clumsy response, and lands lightly next to the coffin. His lack of sight causes his roundhouse to miss, but he nevertheless does manage to draw the vampire’s attention. Below, Khail trades blows with a pair of spawn, sending one to mist. Lenara has eyes only for her obsession, crying out when she sees his life energy leeched by a glancing blow. Her subsequent cantrip causes the other undead to shudder, but it is Khail’s grin in response that makes her day. For about five seconds. Then the lead vampire speaks and things descend rapidly into chaos. A barked word sends Rhien into a swoon, taking him out of the battle. With the most immediate threat gone, the sorcerer turns on the rest of the party, not caring if he catches his own spawn in the process. Multihued rays of light spill from his invisible hands in an expanding cone, blinding many due to their brilliance. Worse, they carry with them fire and acid and electricity and poison, burning and scorching as the large band scatters to the walls of the crypt. Burned and blinded, Cerridwin feels the horribly scarred flesh of her lover beneath her hands and instinctively responds, sending healing magic to her with a gentle melody. Her timely efforts are all that prevent Lenara from expiring. Kai’s subsequent casting frees Rhien, though it does not reveal her opposite. "Waukeen damn it," mutters Quid, turning her eyes to the heavens in frustration. "What a freakshow!" Drawing herself up, the priest suddenly appears much taller and more imposing than her slight 5'3" frame would lead one to expect. Menacingly brandishing the now humming gold coin inscribed with the face of a goddess, Quid, bathed by holy light and reflected glory, invokes in an uncharacteristically booming voice, "BY ALL THAT IS GOOD AND PROFITABLE, THOU WILST SUCCUMB TO THE ALMIGHTY WILL, THE INEFFABLE HANDMAIDEN OF THE INVISIBLE HAND, THE LILTING LADY WAUKEEN!" Positive energy floods the room at her invocation, and the remaining spawn cannot stand against it. They fall to dust at her feet. Danek takes a step forward, but stops dead at Quid's demonstration, and then blinks. Turning back to the sole remaining vampire with a more righteous attitude, she shakes her fists in his general direction. "Yeah!" she shouts. "What she said!" Nothing appears to happen due to her efforts, but she feels better nonetheless. Trella whispers, “Let’s show that upstart how it’s done.” She raises her arms, calling upon the power of Silvanus to turn the stone coffin into a thicket of spikes. This draws a curse from the vampire sorcerer, and the druid smiles wickedly in response. Buttercup charges blindly forward, acting on telepathic directions from Snicker. Somehow the wild swings of his electric greataxe are fruitful, and he becomes the second to injure the vampire. Far less foolhardy, Dobi backs into the corner, holding up the gold coin of Lady Luck that hangs from his neck in the hope that this will drive off the darkness. Though this does not immediately come to pass, the sound of a pair of arrows hitting home provides an alternative source of comfort. The vampire begins to speak again, but Khail and Rhien are ready for him. His words are greeted with sword and fist, shattering his concentration. When Kai reveals his position by dispelling the magic that hid him, the battle is all but over. Searing light and holy fire set him ablaze, and a single arrow knocks him from his perch. As he struggles to his feet, Khail swings twice and neatly cuts him in two. Though the undead turns rapidly to gas and attempts to float away, the location of his coffin is easily surmised. In a nonce, the sighted members of the party drag the covers off of all the coffins, stake the bodies inside, separate their heads, and sprinkle holy water over them for good measure. Khail is particular vigorous in this pursuit, liberally wetting the entire crypt floor with his personal stash of the stuff. “Never can be sure,” he is heard to mutter. With the battle over, the clean up begins. Healing is dispensed freely for those who can partake of it, and the mass blindness passes in time. The discovery of a stone unicorn puts a damper on any excitement over a first victory, however. With no way to restore him for the time being, Trella sadly enlists Kyree’s help to carry her companion to the back of the tomb and bar the door. “I don’t figure even tomb robbers will get excited by a statue,” she says quietly. “Yeah, it’s not like there are any gems on it or anything,” Kyree agrees helpfully. Trella glares at him. The elf shuffles off. “Try to be supportive….” Any chance Andy would offer his own clumsy words vanishes after this, so instead he heads out of the crypt to look for Jaalask, who seemed to vanish after being struck by a violet ray. Somehow he overcame that, apparently, and the monk sees the kobold in the distance, running away from the group as fast as his short legs will carry him. It seems that nearly dying in the beginning of a quest was enough to convince the humanoid that he’d be better off on his own. Sighing, Andy returns to convey this to the group. He goes to sulk in a corner when he receives only mild sympathy in response. Not wanting to spend any more time in the cursed place, Trella exits the mausoleum, urging her companions to follow. After claiming a small pile of gold and magic, they do. Outside, Buttercup invokes his own faith and calls upon nearby flora to grow. Heeding the cleric’s summons, weeds and vines spring up around the crypt, enveloping it within minutes. When the job is done, Buttercup nods to himself and to Trella. “That should keep poor Earl safe,” he comments, earning him a pat on the back from the pleased druid. Andy suffers in silence. Further down the path is a large pair of stone doors that blocks any more travel in that direction. Flanking the portal are a pair of columns carved to resemble warriors in full plate armor, their visored helmets open to reveal leering skulls. The doors are unadorned except for two stone handles, although gouge marks indicate that heavy tools dealt some damage to the doors in the past. Pushing her hand against the door, Trella tests its strength. After a moment she comments blandly, “Locked.” Khail flexes his arms before pounding on the door, but it holds against his attempt. Buttercup joins him for a second try, but still it stays intact. Finally, fed up, half the party hits the portal at a run, smashing it inward with a hail of dust and stone. Once the debris settles enough for sunlight to filter in, a ten-foot wide hallway can be seen stretching into the distance, with no end in sight. More immediately, five dead drow, two female and three male, lie in the mouth of the tunnel. They have been stripped of arms and armor, but each still wears a black tabard emblazoned with a silver spiderweb insignia. The air here, not surprisingly, smells strongly of death. Trella kneels to examine the bodies, spitting to the side as she does so. “Stupid drow were killed by small crossbow quarrels.” Dobi inquires, “Don’t only drow usually have hand crossbows that use those?” Trella smiles grimly, “Sir Dubious wins the kewpie doll. These were killed by their own kind. In fact,” Trella pauses as she discovers some tracks leading off into the passage, “there were about a dozen more of the scum present, and they dragged away two bodies that fell near the others.” Kyree moves past the druid, noting for himself where the traps lead. “Stay here,” the elf instructs, while he lights his lantern, shields most of it, and creeps off into the darkness. He returns ten minutes later, looking disturbed. “The trail leads to a pretty sharp incline that descends into what appear to be natural caverns. There are three doors before reaching there. The first looks nondescript. The second was once obviously plastered shut, but there’s a wide crack in the plaster surrounding it, implying it was broken open at some point. I found chisel marks on the plaster, but the tracks didn’t lead into it. The third door is still plastered shut, and I didn’t touch it. I figured we should decide what we want to do first.” Kai runs her hands through her hair. “Whatever we decide, I vote for having a plan before trying doors or moving down inclines. We were lucky our last encounter wasn’t even worse than it was.” Trella’s eyes are clouded as she thinks on this.</blockquote>

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