Edwin blinks, slowly. His mouth opens, and for a moment, no sound comes out.
"Be a sport, and swat this for me, would you? There's a good fellow,..." Edwin mutters woozily.
He makes another feeble attempt to stick at least one of the bloodsuckers on him,...
1d20+4; 1d4+1
Edwin is able to wound one of the stirges a little bit. He feels sick to his stomach and shaky.
Rholf moves quickly to attack the stirge with a hard thrust of his scimitar. "Hold on, Edwin!"
Attack:
Damage:
"Move behind me!" Rholf yells to Edwin, obvious worry and excitement raising the volume of his voice.
*whew* one of the two stirges out to drain Edwin dies under Rholf's scimitar....
Larissa, Alinya, and Nigel are up to bat....
Larissa, seeing the others moving to finish the last remaining creature, will move to where her staff rolled off to and pick it up, looking around for other foes while she does so.
"Terribly sorry. Not feeling too good. I really need to sit I think. Just for a moment,..." He slurs woozily.
"As soon as I swat this thrice-da#ned mosquito!" He adds with sudden vehemence.
Larissa, seeing the others moving to finish the last remaining creature, will move to where her staff rolled off to and pick it up, looking around for other foes while she does so.
No other foes in sight.
<Wod kick a dead rat and picks at his stirge bites.>
Yeah....
Nigel gestures
"At them, my minions!"
Fidelus and Azulzu move to attack
Azulzu's claw:
Fidelus' bite:
CMB (trip):
The dog, in lieu of trip,.....rips it off of Elgan and flings it to the ground. It tries to flap up into the air, but odds are the thing gets stamped by copious individuals that have aoo's, and so Elgan's leeching ends.
As does the combat of the screeching tower.
600 exp each.
"A hard won battle," declares Castiel. "Rats, stirges ... but no evidence of ghosts. Edwin, are you alright? You look a little faint sir."
Larissa takes her quarterstaff and pokes one of the now-grounded menaces. "What did you call this? A dirge? Nasty little things..."
Larissa doesn't notice anything yet, besides the obvious pain from the gnarly bite wound. She does feel kinda faint though, when the adrenaline from battle wears off.
"Hard won, indeed. I would stress the wisdom of a retreat at this point. I do not yet have Sarenrae's blessing to restore the kind of damage those blood suckers have inflicted. We should rest, and seek the healing aid of Father Grimburrow." Rholf says this matter-of-factly, then channels positive energy to provide some healing for the group.
Channel Positive Energy: healing
“There can be valour in caution,” says Castiel. “Live to fight another day, etcetera. However, I am loathe to return without investigating further. I feel in my heart that this prison is at the centre of the troubles afflicting Ravengro, but so far we have found nothing to prove it – an odd feeling when entering the place, a house that collapsed from age and some oversized rats and bloodsuckers are hardly proof of necromancy. If we return now and meet with the town council we have nothing to tell them, and may not be able to stop them going off on some foolhardy exercise of digging up the town graveyard, or burning locals at the stake as witches.
“If you are all willing, I would explore here a little longer – at least investigate those markings around the base of the main building. Those of you who are weakened by blood loss, be sure to stay close to and behind those of us who remain strong.”
"Yes, more experienced priests could easily call upon Pharasma to wash away this weakness. Alas, I cannot as yet. Edwin, be sure to order red meat for dinner tonight. You will be well again soon enough." Alinya nods along with Rholf.
"Castiel, I am willing to stay and explore further. Though some of us are weakened, we have plenty of healing prayers still available. And dear Wod has barely broken sweat!"
Right on....
time check: 2:15 pm
"Yes, Yes. I'll be fine." Edwin protests, feebly attempting to wave off their concerns.
"Although, I DO feel like I could eat a cow. Not a steak mind you. A cow. Hoofs and all." He adds with a weak smile.
He nods in agreement with the others.
"I too have a feeling about this place. And it has nothing to do with either rats or stirges. Our injuries are unfortunate, but not yet life-threatening. I suspect that the village troubles are somehow related to here, and would not postpone our investigation further. I shall be cautious, I assure you." He adds wryly, and after taking a swig of wine from a leather flask, indeed looks much better, if still a little wobbly on his feet.
Edwin has a sudden powerful craving for liver.
A look of deep concern etches onto Rholf's normally cheery visage as he surveys the conditions of Edwin and Larissa after Castiel's statement. "I do not like it, but I will hold my tongue further since the rest of the group is intent upon continuing."
Digging briefly in his pack, Rholf produces a small vial, handing it to Edwin. "This potion will restore some of the life that was drained away by those stirge creatures. Take it now. You look half dead."
Rholf turns to Larissa... "Miss Brightfoot. Stay close. We have no idea what danger may lie ahead, and I do not wish to lose you today." He looks as though he wishes to say more, but bites the words back as he turns, draws his scimitar once more, glances at Edwin briefly, and finally nods to indicate he is ready to proceed.
"Rest assured, Father Kastigarr, I intend to continue this journey far beyond today. I've seen the condition affecting us before - once we can get some time to rest, I should be able to speed up our respective recovery times greatly. I've seen folks afflicted like Edwin that took nearly a week to recover unattended that we were able to get back to normal in a day or two at the ward back home."
"Rest assured, Father Kastigarr, I intend to continue this journey far beyond today. I've seen the condition affecting us before - once we can get some time to rest, I should be able to speed up our respective recovery times greatly. I've seen folks afflicted like Edwin that took nearly a week to recover unattended that we were able to get back to normal in a day or two at the ward back home."
"Quite right, Miss Brightfoot. The trick may be the getting back home part." Rholf's demeanor is calm, but his body is tense, and his brow slightly furrowed as the group continues on.
Digging briefly in his pack, Rholf produces a small vial, handing it to Edwin. "This potion will restore some of the life that was drained away by those stirge creatures. Take it now. You look half dead."
Edwin accepts the potion gratefully.
"Really? Then I'm doing better than I thought. I feel at least 3/4 dead." He says with a wry smirk. He drinks it in one gulp, and licks his lips.
"Hm. Not nearly as bad as most potions. I detect several herbs that I'm familiar with. And the Cinnamon is a nice touch. Almost hides the taste of the moldy sock flavor,..." He finishes, making a face that leaves no doubt as to what he really thinks of the taste.
"I do feel much better now, my thanks Rholf. Shall we continue, while we still have good light to examine the area by?" he asks, indicating the patterns on the base of the prison that have obviously been taunting him with their mystery. However, while his color is returned, he still looks somewhat haggard, and waits for the others before approaching the structure.
What now?
"Well? What's inside?" Larissa gestures toward the tower with her staff.
Staying close to the others, Edwin follows the warriors inside, then gives it his 'Edwin eyeball',... :)
Cas will take the lead into the tower to take a look around.
Rholf will step inside the door (and off to the side), the silent flame of his head providing some jumpy illumination.
The first floor is a filthy midden of useless detritus; anything that was ever of value is now a pile of rat chew toys and bones and crap.
There's a ladder, up to a murderhole that presumably leads to the second floor.
Castiel rattles and pulls on the ladder to see if it is sturdy, then tests his weight on the lower rungs. If it appears that it will hold he climbs up.
Alinya follows the Castiel and Rholf into the tower, stepping fastidiously over the debris and the rat corpses. She does not follow Castiel up the ladder just yet.
Myron stays close behind Castiel as he makes his way into the tower.
Edwin jabs at the large 'king rat' corpse with his rapier as he passes it. Just to be certain. He sniffs disdainfully.
"Not so tough now, are you vermin?" He mutters with a self-satisfied smirk as he follows the others into the tower and looks around.
"As I suspected." He says, indicating the wasteland of detritus surrounding them on the lower floor.
"We're going to need disinfectant. Have no fear. It's nothing that Granny Drood's Lye Soap can't fix!" He adds with a broad wink before carefully examining the ladder it looks like Castiel is about to climb.
Castiel rattles and pulls on the ladder to see if it is sturdy, then tests his weight on the lower rungs. If it appears that it will hold he climbs up.
It's functional. Big chunks of rust pop off of it, but it'll hold his weight.
Alinya follows the Castiel and Rholf into the tower, stepping fastidiously over the debris and the rat corpses. She does not follow Castiel up the ladder just yet.
It's the most disgusting thing she's ever seen.....
Edwin jabs at the large 'king rat' corpse with his rapier as he passes it. Just to be certain. He sniffs disdainfully.
"Not so tough now, are you vermin?" He mutters with a self-satisfied smirk as he follows the others into the tower and looks around.
"As I suspected." He says, indicating the wasteland of detritus surrounding them on the lower floor.
"We're going to need disinfectant. Have no fear. It's nothing that Granny Drood's Lye Soap can't fix!" He adds with a broad wink before carefully examining the ladder it looks like Castiel is about to climb.
1d20+7
It's safe.
"Careful Castiel - that ladder is filthy! And it might not be safe. Edwin, do you have any of that soap back at the professor's house? Investigating burnt out ruins has turned out to be a grubbier endeavor than I would ever have expected."
Nigel pets Fidelus' head and dismisses the panting white pitbull with a wave of his bony hand. He picks his way doubiously through the mire and corpses towards the filthy ladder, Azulzu by his side.
"Forsooth Lady Alinya, this place is MOST unsanitary."
heh heh...
"Of course Lady Alinya. I shall be happy to share the benefits of granny Drood's soap formula. I warn you to go sparingly though. Let's just say that a little goes a long way." He says as he watches Castiel climb.
The detective tries to calm himself from the distasteful episode with the rats, and the stirges, and live up to his self-proclaimed reputation. He takes a calming breath and reexamines the lower floor until he gets the opportunity to examine follow Castiel.
:)
Cool; have fun!
Nothing much; it was a guard tower; any evidence would've been nibbled into oblivion long ago.
There's a trap door at the top of the ladder; it looks broken; it won't resist efforts to enter it.....