In good form now, Barnabus and his cudgel greet the newly (re)risen man of bone with a blunt assertion of their intent.

"Their gems," he calls out, his reedy voice piping in its intensity, "pluck them out and crush them in your mailed fists*."

09:51, Today: Barnabus rolled 15,8 using d20+3,d6+3.  B attacks reanimated S.
Hits for 8 dmg.
*Or remove them from the room. I don't know. I expect removing them should be sufficient.

The dwarf curses loudly in surprise [Language unknown: Asure!].  He scrambles across the floor, striking with the blunt back of his axehead, trying to crush the skull and stone of one of the other skeletons before it too can rise.

09:14, Today: Ishmael rolled 21,4 using 1d20+1,1d8+1.

A natural 20 Hits AC 0 for 4, hopefully hard enough to crush it.

Malivoire stared in horror at the defeated skeleton as it rose again, truly defining its undead title.  Seizing upon Barnabus' insight and following a similar path to Ishmael, the elven mage raced to the third skeleton and tried to pry out the blue gem from the thing's skull with his dagger.  If he got the thing out he planned to crush it using the pommel of his weapon against the stone floor.


OOC:
Don't know if an attack roll is appropriate, but adding one just in case.
13:40, Today: Malivoire rolled 7 using 1d20.  Remove/Crush sapphire.  Uh-oh, not looking good!

Dax draws his sword and returns to the room, where he sees the defeated foes have decided to reform.

He moves toward Malivoire, ready to strike out if that skeleton also reforms.

Dryvyk's face reflected a grim determination in the flickering torchlight. He stepped forward with his shield to defend those trying to break the dark sorcery which kept these foes from their eternal rest.

"This only furthers my resolve to see the moors cleansed and sanctified anew..."

Seeing the skeleton reform, Grugar was shocked and a little frightened by the thought of an unkillable foe, but he pushed that aside.

He muttered under his breath, "Damned undead."

He was about to step in with his sword but thought better of it, unslinging his pack Grugar rummaged through until he found his hammer, he also checked that his silver dagger was to hand in case it was needed.

When he was ready he looked for an opportunity to crack skulls or shatter stones, assuming the sapphires were breakable of course.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:02, Mon 24 Jan 2022.

[Posted by Dungeon Master.]

Gwendolyn notches another arrow, loosing it at the newly arisen skeleton. The archer’s aim is slightly off, the missile slicing through the air beside the undead warrior’s skull.

10:07, Today: Labyrinth Lord, on behalf of Gwendolyn, rolled 7 using 1d20+3.  Attack - Bow.

Barnabus’ cudgel finds the skeleton’s left side, several of its ribs snapping with a brittle series of cracks at the impact. The dead man staggers, but does not fall.

Using all of the strength he can muster, Ishmael brings the blunt side of his axe down on one of the fallen skeletons’ glowing gems. The strike shatters the sapphire into shards, the unearthly light that filled it fading as it breaks apart. An instant later, the bones of the dead man transmute to ash, the fine gray powder retaining a vague outline of the corpse’s frame as it spreads onto the stone floor.

Malivoire is able to pry the sapphire from the skull of the last skeleton, though the gem continues to burn with an eerie luminescence. The mage strikes the stone with the pommel of his dagger, but the blow does not appear to do the jewel any harm.

The standing skeleton swipes at Barnabus with its sword. The priest reacts quickly enough to sidestep the blow, avoiding the rapidly descending blade entirely.

10:44, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 9 using 1d20.  Attack - Skeleton.

It is the party’s turn to act.

The lone skeleton has an armor class of 6.

For purposes of turning, the skeleton is considered a 3 HD creature.

The sapphires each have an armor class of 2. It requires 4 HP of damage to destroy them.

"Put it on the stone." the dwarf calls to the elf, scrambling over to the magic user.  Assuming the man complies, he strikes at it with back of his axe.

10:11, Today: Ishmael rolled 16,8 using 1d20+1,1d8+1.

His AC 3 for 8

Seemingly engaged in a duel to the death with a skeleton for whom death has no meaning, Barnabas suffers a moment of existential angst, which has the practical effect of ruining his aim.

13:19, Today: Barnabus rolled 8,5 using d20+3,d6+3.  Attack skelly.

Sir Dryvyk stepped to interecede on Barnabas's behalf with raised sword and board...

...but the odd cleric's flailing made it all the harder to manage a felling strike!


Sir Dryvyk of Drakeholme rolled 8 to miss! Sorry Barn, didn't realize one was still lively!

Malivoire glared at the dwarf.  "I'm trying to do that!" he said in frustration, more at himself and his weak first attempt.  He positioned the jewel for Ishmael but it seemed the axe did not quite strike hard enough either.  Getting a little desperate, the mage tried again with the pommel of his dagger but with no more success.  The dagger just bounced off the gem as if it were made of granite.


OOC:
16:36, Today: Malivoire rolled 14 using 1d20.  Crush sapphire.  Miss.

Gwendolyn takes carful aim and then shoots the sapphire dead center, shattering it with her arrow. "Hmph! Now stay dead!" she exclaims. She narrows her eyes and stares the skeleton down.

[Gwendolyn's arrow hits AC0 for 4 Damage]

OOC I'm a little lost as to who is where and which skeleton is still active. Grugar has been pretty ineffective so far.

Malivoire moves the sapphire onto the stone floor, where Ishmael, with a hard blow from the blunt side of his axe, manages to shatter it. The instant he does, the skeleton’s yellowed bones are reduced to gray ash.

Gwendolyn’s arrow cuts through the tomb’s stale air, striking the stone in the forehead of the lone animate skeleton, just as it readies a strike against Sir Dryvyk. The sapphire bursts into fragments. As it does, the dead warrior, in an eerily human gesture, focuses its vacant eye sockets upon the halfling archer, as though staring at her in disbelief. Its seeming shock lasts only a moment before it becomes a column of ash, which collapses like loose sand.

OOC: Combat over.

"Your aim is uncanny, Mouse!

Let's pull the doors shut behind us, and then see what is behind the secret door in the druid's tomb."

If Barnabus is disappointed at the destruction of the third necromantic sapphire (and he is), he endeavors to conceal it (at which endeavor he fails). After casting a forlorn look at the last of the skeletons, now reduced to a pile of ash, and a rueful look at the halfling's bow, he assumes his position in the party, ready to plumb further into this, the first depth of the Barrowmaze.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:53, Sun 30 Jan 2022.

With the gems destroyed Malivoire sighed in relief.  He understood Barnabus' desire to save and examine (or peddle) the magical gems, but the elven mage felt stopping the horror of the reanimating skeletons overrode such professional curiosity.  At least he'd felt that way, in the midst of battling the unholy things!

"Thank you, Ishmael," he said while patting the dwarf on the shoulder, grateful for his assistance with the gem.  Then a thought occurred to him, and Malivoire quickly scooped up what shards and gem dust he could, wrapping them in a handkerchief and stuffing them in his pack.  Powdered gemstones were often a spell component for more advanced magics.  Maybe some good could come from these yet.

Lastly, after reclaiming his darts tossed in the battle, Malivoire rejoined the group in his customary position, ready to proceed through the secret door in the druid's burial chamber.

"Tis a shame." the dwarf says, as the elf scoops up the shards.  "but I'd rather be poor and alive, than rich and dead."  He comments.  "Ah course, I'd rather be rich and alive, if I had my way."

He joins the other in checking out the green man's door.

Relieved that the skeletons are defeated, but frustrated by his own ineffectiveness in the fight Grugar growled under his breath and returned to his position beside the secret door.

The concealed door opens readily when pushed, revealing a small space that seems entirely out of place within the ancient catacombs.

The chamber beyond the door is only ten feet by ten feet. The three walls bear intricate carvings depicting a peaceful forest scene and a figure, his body composed entirely of leaves, standing in the midst of it, surrounded by animals. The floor of the chamber is earthen, the soil somehow rich and dark. Innumerable vines of ivy, all green with life, cling to the walls reaching the room’s ceiling.

Another simple altar, built from granite, occupies the room’s center, fresh sprigs of mistletoe resting upon it. At its base, a number of wildflowers, their blooms vibrant hues of blue, violet, and orange, have sprung from the earth surrounding it.

Witnessing the small space, each of the adventurers feels a momentary sense of peace.

OOC: Each member of the company receives the equivalent of a Bless spell, which will last for 6 turns. For the blessing’s duration, the adventurers will receive a +1 to attack and damage rolls. Lampert will receive a +1 bonus to any morale checks.

A feeling of equanimity is not the one that suffuses Barnabas after a cursory contemplation of the shrine to Silvanus. No, rather, it is the frisson of an all-consuming bloodlust. Why else would his arm feel stronger, his aim truer? He practically vibrates with murderous intent.

"No dilly dallying," he grunts, leading the party post-haste to the chamber beyond the southern door of the druid's crypt. It is unclear to whom he had directed this imperative. Might it have been Dax, who already seemed intent on scrounging around for another sprig for the shrine?

OOC Still having the ranger open the door; just omitting the listening/searching. Kind of would rather go straight to the door off of 5 but that can wait.

Contrary to what many think, a dwarf can appreciates flora, especially in a depths of a crypt.  He breathes deep of the room, and while the thought of taking some of the tranquility with him, he leaves the plants as they are.  Whatever might lets them flourish in this place, might take offense to removing them.

He harruphs at the priest's urgency, but takes his place nonetheless.

Dax looks on the small grove in wonder.

"Silvanus has made this a small sanctuary of life in this place of death."

The elf steps to the altar, and places his hand on top of it, [Language unknown: Erameneen et Amevenwertio petin hou plsa'naet.]

He will remain in the small room, until everyone else has left, drinking in the small plot of nature in the underground.

Grugar's thoughts and words are not elegant or articulate in any real sense. He is a simple creature at heart: fight, eat, live, are his primary motivators.

But this place is clearly a place of peace and even he is moved by it, so much so that he deliberately waits on Dax, ignoring the priest since he finds the peremptory nature of the latter's orders more than a little annoying.