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Scarlet Heroes: Against the Red Tide

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Leda walks at a fast pace, wanting to get there as soon as she can. When she enters the northern part of the tombs, she looks around. First the room with the bunch of corpses, she figures she doesn't need to go in there yet, before she notices the Shrine mentioned by Anna Li. She knows she has to do something about it as she moves to begin using her hands to get rid of what was covering it, to return it to as much normalcy as would be possible, her mind focusing on the task at hand.
 
Leda finds a couple of cloths and cleans the shrine. The gods are pleased by this act and grant her a +2 to all attack rolls against the Shrike lord. She also spots the door to the relic vault from this room.
 
As Leda finishes up cleaning the Shrine, she notices the corpse up ahead. Figuring it must've been dead and remained unturned, she moved up to investigate it. Although as she does, she notices the ring worn by the chief, it looks too expensive to be happy coincidence as she slides it off his cold, dead fingers before slipping it into the backpack. Who's to say he's going to need it after all.

Her attention then turns back to before, she looked at the two corridors, one with the pile of dead in, looking as if they were waiting, the other empty. She decided her chance would be with the empty room as she made her way into what she'd probably discover to be the Relic Vault.
 
Relic vault

A broken statue of the general depicted in room 2 dominates the room. It's foot is on a small stone casket. Upon careful inspection of the casket, Leda revealed a hairline fracture that she pushed to open the stone. Inside was the withered heart of the Shrike King. If destroyed, the Shrike King instantly suffers 2d6 damage and is stunned for 1 round. The one who destroys it, however, immediately takes 1 point of damage. There is nothing else of value in this room.
 
Leda saw the inside of the room, marvelling at the sight of the statue. Although her eyes soon catch the stone casket. She moves to push it open, seeing the heart of the Shrike King inside. She knew she had to do something about it as she unhooked her mace. Even if it'd cost her some pain, she had to weaken him so she could properly beat him, her mace swinging in an easy arch, slamming into the heart. She felt the pain afterwards, like electricity running through her body, making her yelp in surprise.

Damage roll 5
 
"Ack my Heart!" rings out from some where deeper in the tomb. The shrike lord loses 1 hit die and Leda loses 1 point of hp as the heart is consumed in a fiery burst upon being smashed. Ouch.
 
Feeling the damage to her body, Leda bit her lip to keep from crying out. She knew she had to deal with the Shrike King, and there was no time to delay. She headed back out in the corridor, turning down to head for the entrance room where she'd first arrived to deal with the initial guards. She moved at a slight jogging pace, heading down the southern corridor, though figuring she'd have to go through the gardens, she headed there first, looking around once she got into it to figure out where to head next.
 
12. False garden

Leda finds herself in the False Garden. Bushes of verdigrised wire and enameled leaves, with peeling wall paintings of sunlit days. To the north is the Offering vault, full of grave goods. To the east is a long hall that assuredly leads towards the inner tomb of the Shrike Lord.
 
Leda had no reason to look inside the Offering Vault. It didn't look like there was more to it when she looked down the corridor leading to it, so she headed down the East Hall instead, determined to find the Shrike Lord and end his days. She kept a slower pace now, making sure she didn't get cuaght off guard suddenly by more of those dead guards the Master of the Dungeon kept around.
 
13. Crumbling floor

The ceramic tiles of the floor will give way under any hero carrying heavy gear or wearing metal armor, plunging them into 20 feet of water-filled sinkhole. Swimming out in armor is a difficulty 14 feat, while doing so unarmored is automatic. A failed attempt to swim up inflicts 1 hit point of damage, as does pausing to strip off armor.

Leda is in leather and isn't heavy enough to trigger the trap. She come to..

14. False tomb

The empty wooden coffin here is largely rotted to black filth, its crudely-painted lid hurled aside. The peeling paintings of the afterlife on the wall don’t hide the secret door well any more; any attempt to search for one is an automatic success. Someone has clearly recently swept the room’s floor as well, to disguise the tracks of passage.

Assuming she heads north, Leda comes to the...

15. True tomb
The stone sarcophagus has a broken lid from when the reawoken Shrike King shoved it aside. Inside is a citrine-studded ring worth 200 gp still on a mislaid fingerbone. to the west is the throne room. She can hear the voice of some commander type berating his soldiers. "How in the hell did my heart get broken you idiots?" he rants. Leda is just outside the throne room on the other side of the door.
 
Heading down through the corridor, Leda notices the ceramic floor, though she pays it little mind, aside the slightly wobbly feeling she gets when she walks over them, as if they were meant to break upon being pressurised by enough weight. She praises herself lucky she hasn't picked up anything heavy that'd cause her to go through.

Entering the first room, she noticed it's pretty much just an empty tomb. Everything looks as if it was meant to appear like the main room, to deter anyone from searching deeper into the tombs. But it's just too obvious to ignore as she spots the secret passageway easily. She moves on, pushing through, into the proper tomb.

Although as she enters and examines the stone sarcophagus, noticing the ring on a fingerbone, she quickly snatches it, slipping it into her backpack as the Shrike Lord's voice rings out. She freezes for a moment, turning to look towards the door before she unhooks her mace from her belt, holding her shield up as she pushes the door open before entering into the room of the Shrike Lord.
 
10. The Rusting Throne.

The throne is at the far end is a leprous mass of rotting iron. The chamber is occupied by the Shrike King and his guard of four dead warriors. The king looks at Leda and spoke,"I have a wedding tonight. So I ask that you peacefully leave my tomb and let me return to my plans of world domination."
 
Leda was surprised to find the Shrike King a more sentient person than his guards, although she was there, mace in one hand, shield in the other. "I'm sorry but I can't let you go through with that." She tells him in a calm, clear tone. "You have kidnapped the men of the local villages and killed them. Their families cry for vengeance!" She let out.

It was at that moment, she decided to launch her attack, firing off her Turn Undead spell at the Shrike Lord before letting her feet guide her to her instinctive attack against the Shrike Lord.

Turn Undead roll 4
Fray roll 5
 
The shrike lord is outright immune to both the fray die and turn undead. He is a hit die 4 monster and Leda is level 1. She can have it affect the undead guards though. "Wait, you broke my heart, and steal my finger, then call me evil! Guards, kill this Harlot!" cried the Shrike King.

Leda spell destroys 1 guard, then she casually strikes down the second. The remaining two attack her with their swords. The first guard misses, but the second lands a deep cut to Leda's right thigh.

to hit 13 and 21

Damage 6. Two health points. Leda is at 3/6 hp.

The Shrike King spent his entire turn moving closer. Next round he can join the melee.
 
"Harlot!" Leda exclaimed as she struck down the first two guards, crying out in pain from the cut in her right thigh, making her hand move down to grab her leg for a moment before she growled, moving to attack the two guards in front of her, the first move resulting from her reflexes as she swung when it felt right.

The next strike was more calculated as her first strike had assisted getting her into position. Although she soon realised she'd been too hasty with her attack, she wasn't sure it would connect with the last, remaining guard present.

Fray roll 3
Hit roll 23
Damage roll 4
 
Leda destroyed the two guards and now it was just Her and the Shrike king. He exhales a red fog that is choking to all in melee. He swings his large sword at Leda and hisses the word at her,"Hussy!"

To hit 12. A miss. Leda takes 1 damage from fog. So 0 hit points lost.
 
Leda saw the Shrike Lord coming towards her, his sword within reach as she felt the choking red fog. She coughed, but managed to keep her eyes open, luckily enough as she moved in time, hearing the sword woosh by her head, and his words calling out. "I'll teach you for kidnapping a Shrine Maiden!" She let out, focusing her powers on casting her Fist of Burning Rebuke on herself before she attacked the Shrike Lord with a swing of her Mace.

Hit roll 25
Fist roll 9
Normal attack roll 6
 
The burning rebuke fist horribly burns the Shrike King! "What do you know about my dark yet pure love for Anna Li!?" he responds with a sword swing of his own.

To hit roll 9. A miss. 1 point of damage from the nasty fog. So 0 hp lost.
 
"So that's her name!" Leda let out, coughing at the fog, she managed to avoid being struck by his large sword. "I will free her from your vile grasp!" She let out, moving in to attack with her mace, trying to keep her shield to block any blows he'd manage to send her way.

Hit roll 25
Damage 5
 
The mace shatters his skull and destroys the undead fiend. He falls to a motionless corpse to the ground and the key to free the shrine maiden is now next to Leda's foot. The mist begins to clear.
 
Leda was panting as she looked down at herself, a grin over her lips. She'd done it. She defeated the Shrike Lord and stopped him from ensnaring the young men of the nearby villages! She quickly hooked her mace back into her belt before she moved to pick up the key. There was one task left, to rescue Anna Li.

She ran back through the rooms, although taking care over the ceramic parts, she didn't want to accidentally fall through. Then it was through the gardens and past the food storage into the back, she saw Anna Li still there. "He's dead now." She proclaimed as she knelt by the lock to begin letting the redheaded Shrine Maiden free from her bonds.
 
So you go to free Anna Li. She is ecstatic at your return and once unlocked she bandages your wounds to the best of her ability. "I'm sorry about you not being able to rescue the men. But you did avenge them and lay them to rest," she said.
 
"That I did." Leda nodded, letting Anna Li take care of her injuries, knowing they would heal quickly this way. "Let us go. At least I have saved you from a horrible fate." She added, assisting Anna Li as they left the Tomb, heading for the nearest Shrine so she could return the Maiden to where she belonged.
 
the two rings fetch 300 gold at the Market. The people of the area are relived this fiend is no more. They mourne the loss of their men, but at least there spirits are at peace. Leda gains a level up. This ends the current adventure.
 
Leda was quite pleased with what she'd gotten out of the dungeon. Despite the loss of the men, she had at least managed to save the Shrine Maiden from a cruel fate. And she'd picked up some money along the way, allowing her to upgrade her gear, and she felt stronger. She begun the journey back to the temple archives where she normally resided, wondering if fate had more adventures for her to embark upon.
 
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