Finally, the last undead fell, and I was able to slump against the doorframe and relax. It felt like I had been fighting for hours, but I knew it had to be less than ten minutes. Thankfully, I had been able to dive back into the hallway like I had done before, and use the trap and the choke point to help chip away at the undead. The only problem came when two Skeletal Archers appeared, as they were able to shoot past their comrades with their steel arrows. Thankfully, I was able to use the last of the zombies as a shield against the Skeletal Warriors, and blast the two Skeletal Archers before they could penetrate my defenses.

For defeating 4 Zombies, 2 Skeleton Archers, and 5 Skeleton Warriors, you gain 1300 XP.

That was, to be frank, an insane amount of XP at my level. In fact, it was over a quarter of the XP I needed to get to level 5 all on its own. But that fight was just straight up brutal. The only decent thing I found as loot in the sarcophagi and burial shrouds that the undead had been buried in was a small pile of fifty silver coins. I was really hoping for more from my first dungeon, but then, this was a family crypt, not one of the larger dungeons that were said to run for miles. Perhaps there would be more later on? The fallen Patriarch might have decided to gather all the riches in the crypt in his room when he was locked down here!

With that thought buoying me for the coming battles, I took a deep breath, and made my way back to the second room of the crypt. There was a second door leading way from this room, and so I went that way this time, once again tapping ahead of me with my staff, so I had some hope of setting off traps before they found me.

Fusillade of Darts trap attacks: 1d4 = 2 darts

Dart 1 Attack: 1d20+10 = 13 (Miss)

Dart 2 Attack: 1d20+10 = 23 (Hit)

Miss chance: 1d100 = 95 (Hit)

Damage: 1d4+1 = 5 (DR 5/Cold Iron applies)

Iron Vulnerability: 1d6 = 4

I found the trap, all right. But it seemed that someone decided to be cute and change things up. It was at a corner where my staff found a pressure plate. Unfortunately for me, the rain of darts that exploded from the ceiling was designed to hit the person behind the poor fool that stepped on the trap, meaning I was still in the line of fire. The iron-tipped dart hit my shoulder, and burned like hell until I was able to pull it out. I was just glad that it wasn’t Cold Iron.

For surviving a Fusillade of Darts trap, you earn 300 XP.

Nice. According to my talisman, I was a hair’s breadth from getting to Level 5. A couple more fights, and I should have it. I didn’t know whether I’d get there before facing the Fallen Patriarch, whatever form he’d taken, but after I met him I’d definitely be level 5. Hell, only a couple more of the zombies, and I’d have the level!

For defeating a Zombie, you gain 150 XP.

OK, probably should have kept my thoughts on what I was doing. However, because there was another Zombie poised just inside a room, ready to pounce on unsuspecting tomb raiders. Well, ‘pounce’ may be too energetic a term to describe it, but the undead was definitely sitting there, waiting to try and kill me the moment I stepped in front of him. Fortunately, zombies weren’t much threat, so I was able to escape any real harm.

Even better (for me, at any rate), was that there were two chests along the far wall of the crypt! Opening the first chest, I was fairly disappointed, since most of it was goods that, at one time, were probably very expensive, but had been left to the ravages of time for too long. There were, however, a pair of items that glowed with magic. One was a monocle of some kind, and the other was a magic wand. I decided to leave well enough alone, and just slip them in my bag. I’d be able to get them appraised when I returned to town, and I was leery of curses.

The second chest held more of the same, but also contained a weathered scroll case, which, by some quirk of fate, held seven scrolls inside that still had their magic, according to my detect magic ability. That was very useful, but, unfortunately, not knowing what the spells were made it less useful for me in the moment. Like the other items, I’d need to take them back to town to get them checked out. I probably ought to study more on the arcane while I was at it. I was a magic-user who barely knew anything about magic. How embarrassing was that?

Something was wrong, though. I’d explored everywhere in the crypt, yet I hadn’t come across the Patriarch, unless he was just a simple zombie, and had nothing to identify him… no. That couldn’t be. I was missing something. This part of the crypt was oddly shaped, compared to the rest of the rooms. Maybe...

Taking 20 on Search: 22 (Success)

Taking my time to search worked to my favor, as I found a switch hidden in the gap behind one of the chests! Pressing it, I heard a scraping sound, the sound of stone against stone. And then, a section of the wall slid down, into the floor, revealing a passage leading further into the crypt.

No traps greeted me this time, even though I did not use my staff to tap ahead this time. The smell of death was stronger here, and I saw green light shining from around the corner of the room. This had to be where the Patriarch was!

Dagger at the ready, I stepped forward, into a room lit by two torches with a sickly green flame. On the ground in front of me was a magic circle of some kind, with age old blood staining the stone around it. On a small, two-stepped dais, was a throne, with the body of a man upon it, still wearing noble finery, though much decayed by this point. I watched the corpse, expecting it to rise. Instead, I was surprised to see a spectral figure emerge from the ground in front of the throne!

Initiatives:

Melinda

Shadow

Melinda’s Attack: 1d20+8 = 26 (Hit)

Miss Chance: 1d100 = 74 (Hit)

Damage: 2d6 = 9 (Magic)

I did not know if the thing could speak. Frankly, I didn’t much care. Everything else in here had tried to kill me, and this was something I wasn’t sure my defenses could handle. So, I struck first, blasting the incorporeal creature with my magic as I stepped a bit to the left, just in case I needed room to maneuver.

Shadow’s Touch Attack: 1d20+3 = 22 (Hit)

STR Damage: 1d6 = 1

The shadowy creature floated forward, and, despite my efforts, it touched my arm with its ghostly hand. Suddenly, everything felt heavier, my body weaker. This creature had sapped my strength somehow! Truly, this was a fight I was not prepared for!

Melinda’s Attack: 1d20+8 = 9 (Miss)

I took a step at an angle to the creature, getting enough separation that I could use my abilities effectively. I did not want to give this… thing any more chances to drain me than it already would get. Unfortunately, I was maybe, just maybe, a little freaked out by this new horror, and damn near shot myself in the foot.

Shadow’s Touch Attack: 1d20+3 = 18 (Miss)

Taking advantage of my weakness, the shadow surged forward. This time, however, I was ready for the shadow as it approached me, and managed to weave out of its way as it tried to touch me again. I didn’t want to know what would happen when it drained me of all my strength. I didn’t have to be an expert in the undead to know that it would not be good for my health.

Melinda’s Attack: 1d20+8 = 22 (Hit)

Miss Chance: 1d100 = 73 (Hit)

Damage: 2d6 = 5 (Magic)

Again, I stepped at an angle to the creature, coming up against the wall. Trying to put the past mistake behind me, I unleashed another of my blasts. My blast hit true, thankfully, which was good, because I didn’t know how long I could play with running around the room with an incorporeal creature.

Shadow’s Touch Attack: 1d20+3 = 10 (Miss)

The shadow moved forward, but this time, the near-mindless creature telegraphed its attack far too much, allowing me to easily move to the side. I was starting to get a feel for the shadow’s attacks now. It relied on its being incorporeal to act as a defense, and it only needed to touch a creature to harm it, which made it dangerous to creatures that relied more on armor than I did to keep enemies at bay.

Shadow’s Attack of Opportunity: 1d20+3 = 10 (Miss)

Melinda’s Attack: 1d20+8 = 15 (Hit)

Miss Chance: 1d100 = 48 (Miss)

Not having anywhere to go safely, I dodged under the creature’s waiting arm, and used a solid beat of my wings to carry me to the far corner of the room, under one of the green torches. Turning as I landed, I unleashed another bolt of arcane power, and was thrilled when I saw it land squarely in the specter’s chest. And then I was crushed when it passed through it like it wasn’t even there.

Melinda’s Attack: 1d20+8 = 24 (Hit)

Miss Chance: 1d100 = 88 (Hit)

Damage: 2d6 = 9 (Magic)

Thankfully, the shadow was not able to float fast enough to catch up to me, and ended up only a few feet from me. That was enough, however, for me to have enough room to unleash another blast at the creature. And this time, not only was it aimed true, but it actually hit the cursed thing, and blasted it out of existence!

For defeating a Shadow, you gain 750 XP.

Level Up!

Congratulations, you are now Level 5.

10720/15000 XP needed for Level 6.

HD: 1d8+1 = 6

+1 BAB

You have 7 skill points to distribute.

+1 Concentration, +4 Knowledge (Arcane), +1 Tumble, +1 Use Magic Device

Warlock Abilities

Eldritch Blast increases to 3d6 damage.

Battledancer Abilities

AC Bonus – AC bonus increases by +1

Dance of the Vexing Snake (Su) – If have 8 or more ranks in Tumble, can tumble at full speed without penalty, and can tumble a distance up to her move speed.

I felt better as the new power flowed through me, but I wasn’t fully up to snuff, not yet. I took a deep breath as I moved up to the dead figure on the throne. A glint of tarnished silver caught my eye on his hand. It was a signet ring. Drawing my blade, I took some pleasure in cutting off the dead patriarch’s finger and head, so I could provide proof of death to Emeline.

Two chests were present in the room. In the one on the right, as I looked down from the throne, I found two potions, a store of alchemical reagents that had long passed their usefulness, a pouch containing seventy platinum coins, and a holy symbol of Auril’s cast in silver, which I put around my neck, slipping my old wooden holy symbol into my pack. In the other chest, I found a cloak of perfect icy blue, with a fur collar made from winter fox fur in pure white, with the symbol of Auril emblazoned upon it. This had to be the Cloak of Winter’s Might!

With my objective well in hand, I took a last moment to check with my senses to see if there was anything magical in the room, but the corpse’s clothes had long lost their magic, and the only remaining magical items I could see were the two torches, glowing with their greenish light. I sighed, glad to be done with this crypt, and turned for the exit. Remembering my experiences on the way into the tomb, I made sure that I did not get complacent, making sure to hop over the triggers for the traps I passed, just in case they were still active.

One thing was for certain. If I was going to do more of this kind of thing in the future, I was going to have to find reliable companions that I could count on. I was able to avoid a lot of damage, but if my luck had been even a little bit worse there were plenty of times where I could have easily died in this crypt. While the rewards were plentiful, I had no desire to go back into the cycle of reincarnation so soon.