Reed almost starts to shoulder his bow when he sees the last zombie falter but then his eyes go wide as it seems to draw power from the corpses of the other undead.
”This seems very, very wrong.”
Quickly he strings another arrow and follows along with Roo’s movements, waiting for just the right moment to let the arrow fly.
The engorged zombie takes critical hits from Roo and Reed and crumples as fast as he had grown. The stench that carries from his body is something to behold.
Roo and Wilfred find themselves surrounded by zombie corpses as well as an open stone sarcophagus with its shattered lid lying in pieces on the floor around it. Now that it isn't swarming with zombies, they notice a slight glint coming from the sarcophagus.
The IronMaiden walks into the next room. Another open sarcophagus stands at the back of this dusty crypt, its heavy stone lid lying on its side between the sarcophagus and the south wall. The north-facing side of it bears faded frescoes of spear-wielding warriors charging across golden plains on horseback.
Archie enters the room and observes the fading fresco, deciding how to embellish the piece, she pulls a pot of ink from her bag and dips a finger in, figuring out which warrior looks the most important, she divides to draw a dick on their head before yelling through, "hey guys I found some artwork, might be some important cult crap"
Wilfred, thinking that the threat was dealt with, begins to relax as the last zombie turns into a mega-zombie! "Well, shit. I see it, Roo'. Alright everyone! We can do this. Let's go!" He tightens his grip on his Glaive, ready to unleash a string of attacks! .... Until Roo' runs under his feet and an arrow flies over his shoulder. "Whoa, ahh, huh." He watches as the zombie falls to the ground under the onslaught from Roo and Reed. "Good job, guys! Not bad at all! Now we aught to... Oh geeze, that smell with grow some hair on your chest! Whooo. We aught to get going... Wait, what's this here? There appears to be something in the sarcophagus!" He will move forward to see what's in there.
Roo squawks victoriously as the brutish zombie goes down, then jumps up onto its chest to kick and scratch and strut. His feathers puff up and he looks absolutely jubilant.
"Well done all of you! Yes yes, yes Wilfred! That was magnificent! Ah, the glory of battle!" He pauses, cocking his head around as Wilfred addresses the smell. "Smell? I smell nothing except the sweet post-combat ecstacy!"
Hearing (and seeing) Wilfred as he examines the content of the sarcophagus, Roo hops up onto its edge and peers over.
Looking into the sarcophagus surrounded by the extra dead zombies, Roo and Wilfred first see a small gleaming half-plate. The symbol of the sun shining through all the dirt and grime that surround it within the coffin. Roo recognizes the symbol immediately, it is the symbol of his God, Gallus.
Once the realization of the plate hits Roo, he sees what is wearing the half-plate. Under all the dust, cobwebs and dirt that has accumulated due to the lid being in shatters next to the sarcophagus, lays a chicken. Almost hard to tell with the state of decomposition, but there is no mistaking it once he sees it.
Corlith stands in the doorway watching Archie's artistic endeavour and shaking his head.
"Anything more tangible than artwork in there?", he asks walking in.
He peers into the sarcophagus, and not seeing much decides to err on the side of caution and roots about using his spectral hand. He then focusses and investigates further.
"...by the cropped comb of Gallus..." Roo says in awe as he peers into the sarcophagus and beholds the half plate. "Oh my. Oh my, oh no....but oh my..."
With a gentleness not yet seen in the foul mouthed avian, Roo steps down into the huge stone box and squats down, his head bobbing about as he examines the armor and the body.
"Oh by Gallus..." He murmurs again, his voice broken. "Oh by Gallus, Wilfred. Do you not recognize who this is?"
His voice sounds like he is in tears, but no tears flow from his face. It's not clear if that's even possible. His head just continues to jerk from side to side as his hands reach forward and comb the fallen white feathers, dust, and cobwebs away from the face with absolutely tenderness.
"This is Fog' Horn Cloudkiller." He says when the featherless one doesn't answer immediately. "He was the greatest among us. When I was just a cockerel, over six years ago before my comb had grown in and I was covered in downy fluff and I had no magnificent spurs with which to smite my foes, Fog' Horn was the Sunlifter, the highest rank of the Order of the Knights of Gallus. He was on the fence every morning calling the sun into the sky. He was even given the second name Cloudkiller, because his voice was so mighty that he could move the clouds to let the beautiful face of Gallus peer through to bless us all. And oh! He was so strong, Wilfred. He'd fight anything. There was a black and white cat I saw him defeat once, oh! And a great dog with a flat face! And once there was even a chicken hawk named Kes' Trel, and Fog' Horn put him in his place when he tried to snatch me and my nest mates. I knew then I wanted to be a Knight of the Order. When I was freshly knighted, after the Battle of the Egg Thieving Possum, Fog' Horn set out to get us help...just like I've done now..."
The Gallus pauses as his hand runs over the skull of the chicken in the sarcophagus.
"Oh mighty Cloudkiller...what have they done to you?" Roo sobbed. His head tilted back and a baleful squawk left his beak, loud enough to echo up and down the corridors of the Dungeon of the Dead Three. He stayed there like that for a moment before leaning forward, doing what he could to hug the pile of feathers and bones.
"Wilfred...I can't leave him here like this." Roo said, looking up at the featherless who had become his mentor in the last day or so. "Can you help me? I have to get him back to my village so he can be buried properly. Oh by Gallus what have they done to you, Fog' Horn? Oh by Gallus. You deserved so much better..."
With utmost tenderness and respect, Roo began to unbuckle the armor, pulling it away piece by piece until the corpse of his hero lay naked and prostrate in the bottom of the sarcophagus. Slowly, then, Roo pulled his mail hauberk up and off, revealing the feather covered muscular, broad breast of one shredded chicken.
Then he began to don the armor. It was bright red, trimmed in gold, and with a silver and gold sun, and fit him perfectly.
"I can't believe it fits." Roo said. "He was a giant of a gallus. Nearly two and a half feet tall. What a rooster."
He turned toward Wilfred, his beak chattering with sad, shuddering breaths.
"We have to put him in your backpack." Roo said to Wilfred finally as he looked up to his friend from the sarcophagus. "He must rest in the soil of the home he fought so hard to defend for so long and that he ultimately gave his life for."
Roo reached down and lifted the feathered skeleton into his arms and looked up at Wilfred.
Corlith'sspectral hand roots around the sarcophagus, uncovering a false bottom made of inch-thick plaster. It lifts one of the bones and uses it as a hammer to smash through the old plaster, revealing a cavity below that contains a human mummy floating in a shallow pool of red brine. The mummy has two moonstones embedded in its eye sockets.
But more than this, he notices something strange about the mummy's chest, and opening it he finds a small bag.
"Well well, there was something more tangible", he says as he retrieves them all and looks in the bag, revealing 6 beans. "Although, not a clue what these are about".
Reed stays quiet through Roo's story about the dead chicken and the donning of the dead one's armor. But once the body of Roo's hero is removed from the sarcophagus, Reed wanders over and does a quick check in and around it to make sure they didn't miss anything.
Perception: (9+5) = 14
He then tells the skeletons "Well done you two, now go down to the end of the hall and that other door and keep guard until we're ready to leave."
Reed then helps Wilfred get the dead chicken in his pack, if that's what he's going to do.
"So why would this cult have your hero rooster down here?" Reed asks. "Wonder if there are other heroes in the other rooms."
Reed tries to give Roo a somber look, but a smile keeps cracking up at the edges of his mouth. Eventually he manages to do his best to look serious.
"You will do honor to his memory, Roo," Reed says, then as almost an after thought. "Do you need any help with that bag you found? That's a lot to manage, the armor and the body."
As Corlith makes his discovery behind Archie she takes great interest in his discoveries, "hang on, I got a trick, hold out the stones and the beans a sec", carefully Archie pokes one of the moonstones and it begins to glow, then the second, it too flows.
Finally she touches a random bean, and nothing happens, she makes an interested 'ooh' and retracts her gauntleted hand, dismissing the glow on the stones "the stones are just rare gems, but the beans are magic, dunno what they do... I dare you to eat one" she chuckles, imagining a tree growing out of Corlith's head
"I've heard of these," Reed says, taking the earrings out of the bag and holding them closer to the light from the lantern. "If you wear one you can send a message and no one can hear. Quite handy if you're quietly eavesdropping or exploring and want to let someone else know what you see."
Reed quickly puts on one on one of his ears and moves his lips as if he was speaking. While no sound comes out Roo hears "Just like this."
He looks at the potion but doesn't look too closely. "Corlith or the metal head might no what this is."
"How old are you Archie, five?! Of course I am not going to eat a random magical bean", Corlith says rolling his eyes at her.
Walking out the room, he looks to see where the others are. Seeing they haven't yet left the other room, he moves to the door to the next room they haven't explored yet and tries to see passed the skeletons what awaits.
"We've got some fresh bodies up ahead. Can't tell but they may even still be alive, but they are shackled to the wall", Corlith calls back to the others.
"y'all are real buzzkills you know that right? Geez I feel like we're gonna find a wooden puppet master around here somewhere, because everyone seems to have a stick up their ass!" At this point Archie is just mumbling to herself alone in the southeast room and giving the sarcophagus and fresco one last look over before following on.
Reed almost starts to shoulder his bow when he sees the last zombie falter but then his eyes go wide as it seems to draw power from the corpses of the other undead.
”This seems very, very wrong.”
Quickly he strings another arrow and follows along with Roo’s movements, waiting for just the right moment to let the arrow fly.
Shortbow: to hit (20+6) = 26 damage (2+4+3) = 9
The engorged zombie takes critical hits from Roo and Reed and crumples as fast as he had grown. The stench that carries from his body is something to behold.
Seeing the mega-zombie drop after a couple of vicious hits from Roo and Reed, Corlith relaxes.
"That was, and is, disgusting", he says. "But you all came out of that with barely a scratch, now that is impressive!"
With the complement given, he wanders across to see how Archie is getting on in the next room.
Roo and Wilfred find themselves surrounded by zombie corpses as well as an open stone sarcophagus with its shattered lid lying in pieces on the floor around it. Now that it isn't swarming with zombies, they notice a slight glint coming from the sarcophagus.
The IronMaiden walks into the next room. Another open sarcophagus stands at the back of this dusty crypt, its heavy stone lid lying on its side between the sarcophagus and the south wall. The north-facing side of it bears faded frescoes of spear-wielding warriors charging across golden plains on horseback.
Archie enters the room and observes the fading fresco, deciding how to embellish the piece, she pulls a pot of ink from her bag and dips a finger in, figuring out which warrior looks the most important, she divides to draw a dick on their head before yelling through, "hey guys I found some artwork, might be some important cult crap"
Wilfred, thinking that the threat was dealt with, begins to relax as the last zombie turns into a mega-zombie! "Well, shit. I see it, Roo'. Alright everyone! We can do this. Let's go!" He tightens his grip on his Glaive, ready to unleash a string of attacks! .... Until Roo' runs under his feet and an arrow flies over his shoulder. "Whoa, ahh, huh." He watches as the zombie falls to the ground under the onslaught from Roo and Reed. "Good job, guys! Not bad at all! Now we aught to... Oh geeze, that smell with grow some hair on your chest! Whooo. We aught to get going... Wait, what's this here? There appears to be something in the sarcophagus!" He will move forward to see what's in there.
Roo squawks victoriously as the brutish zombie goes down, then jumps up onto its chest to kick and scratch and strut. His feathers puff up and he looks absolutely jubilant.
"Well done all of you! Yes yes, yes Wilfred! That was magnificent! Ah, the glory of battle!" He pauses, cocking his head around as Wilfred addresses the smell. "Smell? I smell nothing except the sweet post-combat ecstacy!"
Hearing (and seeing) Wilfred as he examines the content of the sarcophagus, Roo hops up onto its edge and peers over.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Wilfred looks in at the sarcophagus in shock. "Ahhh... Roo'? You need to see this."
Looking into the sarcophagus surrounded by the extra dead zombies, Roo and Wilfred first see a small gleaming half-plate. The symbol of the sun shining through all the dirt and grime that surround it within the coffin. Roo recognizes the symbol immediately, it is the symbol of his God, Gallus.
Once the realization of the plate hits Roo, he sees what is wearing the half-plate. Under all the dust, cobwebs and dirt that has accumulated due to the lid being in shatters next to the sarcophagus, lays a chicken. Almost hard to tell with the state of decomposition, but there is no mistaking it once he sees it.
Corlith stands in the doorway watching Archie's artistic endeavour and shaking his head.
"Anything more tangible than artwork in there?", he asks walking in.
He peers into the sarcophagus, and not seeing much decides to err on the side of caution and roots about using his spectral hand. He then focusses and investigates further.
Investigation: 20+0+3=23
"...by the cropped comb of Gallus..." Roo says in awe as he peers into the sarcophagus and beholds the half plate. "Oh my. Oh my, oh no....but oh my..."
With a gentleness not yet seen in the foul mouthed avian, Roo steps down into the huge stone box and squats down, his head bobbing about as he examines the armor and the body.
"Oh by Gallus..." He murmurs again, his voice broken. "Oh by Gallus, Wilfred. Do you not recognize who this is?"
His voice sounds like he is in tears, but no tears flow from his face. It's not clear if that's even possible. His head just continues to jerk from side to side as his hands reach forward and comb the fallen white feathers, dust, and cobwebs away from the face with absolutely tenderness.
"This is Fog' Horn Cloudkiller." He says when the featherless one doesn't answer immediately. "He was the greatest among us. When I was just a cockerel, over six years ago before my comb had grown in and I was covered in downy fluff and I had no magnificent spurs with which to smite my foes, Fog' Horn was the Sunlifter, the highest rank of the Order of the Knights of Gallus. He was on the fence every morning calling the sun into the sky. He was even given the second name Cloudkiller, because his voice was so mighty that he could move the clouds to let the beautiful face of Gallus peer through to bless us all. And oh! He was so strong, Wilfred. He'd fight anything. There was a black and white cat I saw him defeat once, oh! And a great dog with a flat face! And once there was even a chicken hawk named Kes' Trel, and Fog' Horn put him in his place when he tried to snatch me and my nest mates. I knew then I wanted to be a Knight of the Order. When I was freshly knighted, after the Battle of the Egg Thieving Possum, Fog' Horn set out to get us help...just like I've done now..."
The Gallus pauses as his hand runs over the skull of the chicken in the sarcophagus.
"Oh mighty Cloudkiller...what have they done to you?" Roo sobbed. His head tilted back and a baleful squawk left his beak, loud enough to echo up and down the corridors of the Dungeon of the Dead Three. He stayed there like that for a moment before leaning forward, doing what he could to hug the pile of feathers and bones.
"Wilfred...I can't leave him here like this." Roo said, looking up at the featherless who had become his mentor in the last day or so. "Can you help me? I have to get him back to my village so he can be buried properly. Oh by Gallus what have they done to you, Fog' Horn? Oh by Gallus. You deserved so much better..."
With utmost tenderness and respect, Roo began to unbuckle the armor, pulling it away piece by piece until the corpse of his hero lay naked and prostrate in the bottom of the sarcophagus. Slowly, then, Roo pulled his mail hauberk up and off, revealing the feather covered muscular, broad breast of one shredded chicken.
Then he began to don the armor. It was bright red, trimmed in gold, and with a silver and gold sun, and fit him perfectly.
"I can't believe it fits." Roo said. "He was a giant of a gallus. Nearly two and a half feet tall. What a rooster."
He turned toward Wilfred, his beak chattering with sad, shuddering breaths.
"We have to put him in your backpack." Roo said to Wilfred finally as he looked up to his friend from the sarcophagus. "He must rest in the soil of the home he fought so hard to defend for so long and that he ultimately gave his life for."
Roo reached down and lifted the feathered skeleton into his arms and looked up at Wilfred.
"Fog' Horn Cloudkiller, you will be avenged."
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Reed stays quiet through Roo's story about the dead chicken and the donning of the dead one's armor. But once the body of Roo's hero is removed from the sarcophagus, Reed wanders over and does a quick check in and around it to make sure they didn't miss anything.
Perception: (9+5) = 14
He then tells the skeletons "Well done you two, now go down to the end of the hall and that other door and keep guard until we're ready to leave."
Reed then helps Wilfred get the dead chicken in his pack, if that's what he's going to do.
"So why would this cult have your hero rooster down here?" Reed asks. "Wonder if there are other heroes in the other rooms."
Reed tries to give Roo a somber look, but a smile keeps cracking up at the edges of his mouth. Eventually he manages to do his best to look serious.
"You will do honor to his memory, Roo," Reed says, then as almost an after thought. "Do you need any help with that bag you found? That's a lot to manage, the armor and the body."
As Corlith makes his discovery behind Archie she takes great interest in his discoveries, "hang on, I got a trick, hold out the stones and the beans a sec", carefully Archie pokes one of the moonstones and it begins to glow, then the second, it too flows.
Finally she touches a random bean, and nothing happens, she makes an interested 'ooh' and retracts her gauntleted hand, dismissing the glow on the stones "the stones are just rare gems, but the beans are magic, dunno what they do... I dare you to eat one" she chuckles, imagining a tree growing out of Corlith's head
Roo holds the little bag and looks inside, then looks at Reed when the Halfling asks his question.
"Sorry, lost in thought." He says. He offers the bag to Reed. "I don't know what to do with this. Two messengers earrings and a potion of some sort."
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Roo takes a closer look at what Roo shows him.
"I've heard of these," Reed says, taking the earrings out of the bag and holding them closer to the light from the lantern. "If you wear one you can send a message and no one can hear. Quite handy if you're quietly eavesdropping or exploring and want to let someone else know what you see."
Reed quickly puts on one on one of his ears and moves his lips as if he was speaking. While no sound comes out Roo hears "Just like this."
He looks at the potion but doesn't look too closely. "Corlith or the metal head might no what this is."
"How old are you Archie, five?! Of course I am not going to eat a random magical bean", Corlith says rolling his eyes at her.
Walking out the room, he looks to see where the others are. Seeing they haven't yet left the other room, he moves to the door to the next room they haven't explored yet and tries to see passed the skeletons what awaits.
Perception: 11+5=16
"We've got some fresh bodies up ahead. Can't tell but they may even still be alive, but they are shackled to the wall", Corlith calls back to the others.
"y'all are real buzzkills you know that right? Geez I feel like we're gonna find a wooden puppet master around here somewhere, because everyone seems to have a stick up their ass!" At this point Archie is just mumbling to herself alone in the southeast room and giving the sarcophagus and fresco one last look over before following on.