As you take the kukri from Dale, you immediately sense that there is a very strong spirit attached to it... but not your spirit though.
The curved blade of weapon does look reminiscent of the faint vision you saw in the mists only moments before, fighting along side Anavi.
You stalk your way over to the not-door to investigate. As your feet crunch on the broken glass from the door, unseen beneath the mists at your feet, you look into the room beyond. It appears to have been ransacked. You see furniture overturned, tossed around, flipped over, some of it broken... and papers strewn about everywhere.
You also think you hear a noise... not much of one, but something definitely moved in there. The primitive part of your hind-brain instantly goes on the alert.
None of the others appear to have heard it.
As Drusilla hisses, the other three Pathfinders affected by the mist, instantly freeze, instinctively recognizing the warning sound in the back of their brains. Dale and Tad, not so much... though they do notice the sudden change in their companions behavior.
At this point, you notice Dru, Monty following behind her, going into the office on the north side of the room, both of them in a low predatory crouch.
Through the broken door, several desks lie overturned, papers and scrolls in disarray, and chairs smashed to kindling. A sturdy steel cabinet sits against the back wall, its doors much battered and dented. Splashes of blood decorate some of the papers and furniture.
The mist here roils near the floor, like everywhere else, but also seems to cling to the ceiling, creating a strange corridor of visibility stretching from knee-height to a few feet overhead. The smoky silver tendrils of the ever-present fog flow up and down the walls unnaturally and occasionally you see savage visages swirl to life in them, fanged mouths agape, before dissolving into mist once more.
Dru stalks into the room, weapon in hand, alert for danger... Monty following behind her, equally alert.
,
The rest of you hurry to catch up as the two disappear into the room.
As Dru and Monty come around the entryway, and look into the larger back area of the office, Monty nearly trips over something partially concealed beneath the mists on the floor. A quick probe with his stick and feet reveal it to be a body of some sort... but before he can determine more, there is a screech of anger and challenge, as two shapes drop down from the heavy mists above them!
One drops down on Dru, slamming into her armor, but does little more then bounce off to land lightly beside her, snarling. The second figure drops on Monty as he is examining the body, heavy fists pounding into the vanara and emitting angry shrieks.
As he staggers from the blow, the assailant steps away, turning towards Drusilla, and both he and the other attacker both team up to beat on the spear-maiden, howling savagely the entire time! Her armor proves more then enough deterrent to bare fists however, and their rage-fueled blows bang against it futilely.
You can now see your two attackers, both of whom were probably human earlier in the day, but now seem to have devolved into little more then beasts, obviously under the influence of the same mists that have affected some of the Pathfinders... though clearly they have been exposed for far longer. Both of them have no weapons, nor armor of any kind. In fact, they seem to have little more then tattered robes, spattered in ink and blood. One of them also appears to be missing part of his ear, congealed and matted blood where the rest once was.
At the back of the office, you hear a third person, as muffled screaming starts up from somewhere by the metal cabinets back there.
-- Round 1 ----------------
Proto-scribe (blue), Proto-scribe (yellow)
Proto-Faliana (-1), Proto-Brady (-1), Tad, Proto-Monty (-4), Proto-Dru, Dale <---- we are here!
Party is up! (See, things go much simpler when the inits cooperate!)
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The attack causes Monty's head to clear, the stinging pain bringing the world back into sharp focus, if only momentarily, and instead of swinging wildly he moves in a quick 5 foot step and jams the long stick in his hands between his opponents feet, yanking hard in an attempt to trip the unsuspecting opponent.
(If counter trip is attempted, will drop Hanbo to prevent tripping)
After hopefully sending his opponent tumbling, he ready's his staff to strike the man as he attempts to stand.
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Feeling something is important about the odd-shaped dagger, Faliana stares at it and tries to figure it out. But Dru's hiss distracts her concentration and draws her into the next fight. She tucks the odd-shaped dagger into her belt and rushes into the room, unsure what to do she pauses a moment and looks around.
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Dale rushes off into the next room at the sounds of hissing and fighting. Seeing the state of the 'people' in the room Dale puts things together "Don't kill them! They probably worked here, just knock them out!"
Thinking of nothing else to do Dale decides to berate the poor yellow shirted 'monkey man' into giving up. "Hey! You with the yellow shirt! A sad state of an ape you are! Walking about on all fours, stand up like the man you used to be!" Dale thumps his chest a couple times for emphasis.
When it becomes apparent that the creatures attacking you actually appear to be some of the Museum employees, cursed by the poisonous vapors that now fill the museum, some of you attempt less lethal solutions.
As Faliana and Brady move into the room, Tad pulls out a small wrapped net and throws it in a practiced sweeping motion, causing it to unfurl as it spins through the air. Unfortunately, it catches on one of the nearby overturned desks before it gets too far and its flight stops short before it comes anywhere near either of the devolved scribes. Likewise, Monty attempts to jam his short staff between the legs of the man who jumped on him moments before, hoping to upend him. But his attempt too falls short, as the increased agility and strength imparted by the curse allows his target to leap over the staff, just before Monty can finish his maneuver.
Dale moves into the room as well, and tries a different tack. He starts shouting at the same man... and, if only for a moment, he gets a response, as the target of his words, stops howling briefly, and takes a hesitant step back, looking towards the alchemist with a puzzled nervously.
Drusilla, for her part, seems to have no interest in taking it easy on any of them as she revels in the animal instincts coursing through her. She lashing out with her morning star with wild abandon, her lips peeled back in a feral snarl as she batters the man who dared attack her.
The scribe howls in anger as Dru strikes him, though does not slow down his attacks at all, he and the other man continue to throw wild blows at the armored warrior, though the second man's blows are not nearly as frenzied as they were a moment before. Neither of them appear to realize, or care, that none of their attacks are penetrating Dru's armor. The second man does take a step away though, as he continues to throw glances back towards Dale. His partner, lets out an angry cry when this happens, and leaps back as well, on top of a nearby desk, howling a challenge at Dru and pounding the desk with both fists.
At the back of the room, you still hear someone else screaming.
-- Round 2 ----------------
blue Proto-scribe (-8), yellow Proto-scribe (shaken***)
Proto-Faliana (-1), Proto-Brady (-1), Tad, Proto-Monty (-4), Proto-Dru, Dale <---- we are here!
Party is up again!
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Well that could have gone much worse! Dale repeats his experiment on the blue dust jockey. "HEY! Blue guy! Go on! Git! Monkey-brained lab assistant!"
Dale then turns his wrath to the rest of his crazed group "We need to get past them to that person in the back of the room. Snap out of it! Hunt up the curator not his pets!"
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Focusing his thoughts the best he can, and realizing the Dru is to bloodlusted to do anything but attack, flips forward 5 feet and kicks out, nearly upside down as first one foot, balled into a fist, strikes out at his opponent, and then the other. However, he focuses himself and his blows aim for pressure points and nonleathal blows.
He returns upright and glares at the opponent, only the his monk's training keeping him from beating the man to death.
Abandoning the trappings of modern warfar, Faliana tosses her spear to the ground, and takes to the 'trees', quickly disappearing out of sight into the mist up above. With a triumphant hoot, she clambers up the office wall, her feet and hands finding surprisingly easy purchase on furniture and shelves at first, then beams and moulding further up, as she scurries along to the east, above the melee barely visible down below, until she is almost directly above one of the easternmost attacker.
Monty decides against trying to trip up his opponent this time, as he does a complicated somersault towards the man on the desk, and shows that his feet are just as dangerous as the rest of him. One foot connects solidly with the man's chin, knocking him momentarily off balance.
Drusilla manages to shake off her blood rage for a moment, and instead of trying to bash in the other man's skull, she instead tries to knock him off the desk, much like Monty attempted on the other. Unfortunately, she mimic's his maneuver too well, and the maddened scribe manages to dodge her blow with his mist-augmented reflexes and kicks her in the head in return. But again, the blow merely glances off her armor doing no damage.
Tad continues to call on his goddess for combat blessings, this time directing them towards the nearby Monty, while Dale continues his verbal abuse, this time on the second scribe... and much like the first, this one too seems somewhat off-put by the alchemist's words. He screams at him in mock defiance.
Brady, blocked from any easy access, instead squeezes around past Dru, hugging the wall, and attempts to punch the enraged scribe there, but his blow too gets dodged.
That scribe continues trying to pound Drusilla, angry that she continues to stand... but with little more success then any of his other blows. The other scribe, attempts to hit back the one that kicked him in the face, a snarl of anger on his face, but he still seems a little too distracted by Dale in the back, and his blow just misses Monty. He then leaps backwards up onto a nearby overturned desk, and like his companion, howls in frustrated anger.
-- Round 2 ----------------
blue Proto-scribe (-8, shaken*), yellow Proto-scribe (-5 nl, shaken**)
Proto-Faliana (-1), Proto-Monty (-4), Tad, Proto-Dru, Dale, Proto-Brady (-1) <---- we are here!
Party is up again!
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Feeling a primal joy at being above the puny things on the ground, Faliana gives screams and hoots of joy, making tracking her progress in the mists easy. Excited as she is, the battle and smell of blood is much more exciting. Popping a crick in her neck, she gives a battle scream and jumps down behind the enemy in yellow. "Bomb-soup-heals man say yellow man sleep!" She takes both hands, clasps them together and tries to swing them into the proto-human's chest... But a particularly urgent, From the front!, from Anavi causes her to instinctively protect her head.
Also by the end of this Dale is going to have one long name!
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Urging the others to knock these lab jockey's out, Dale continues to berate the workers, turning his sharp tongue back to the man in yellow. "What sort of incompetent worker lets an ENTIRE museum get filled with fog and mist! Did you forget how to open a window?" Dale doesn't seem to notice these windows must not be openable...
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Monty skips forward again, flipping his staff up into the air as his he whirls first one fist, then the other in burning fast blows, the flow of combat returning some of his focus, and the cleric's blessing allowing his breathing to come in more steady breaths. His tail catches his staff and wraps around it, holding it as he takes a deep breath and stretches himself into his stance, trying to hold the moment of focus.
With a howl of triumph, Faliana drops down from above on top of the nearest foe, trying to slam her clenched fists down on his head... but in her zeal, she telegraphs her attack, and he is able to dodge aside before she can land the blow. But the distraction proves advantages to Monty, who continues to keep his focus on his ascetic training, though it gets harder and harder. He leaps and somersaults, whirling his staff in both hands, feet, and tail. It is hard to follow the weapon, much less the limbs, as he manages to land two more solid blows as the scribes eyes followed the staff.
Drusilla, angry that her opponent manages to avoid her earlier trip attempt, instead tries to club him for the affront, but her attacks are fueled more by anger then accuracy, and only cause more damage to the desk.
Dale, for his part, continues trying to berate them with words, but they seem to be less and less affected by what he's saying.
-- Round 3 ----------------
blue Proto-scribe (-8, shaken*), yellow Proto-scribe (-19 nl, shaken**)
Proto-Faliana (-1), Proto-Monty (-4), Proto-Dru, Dale, Tad, Proto-Brady (-1) <---- we are here!
Tad still to go (the blessing was the previous round!)... and possibly Brady or Brady-Bot.
As Thaddeus continues to call on the blessings of Sarenrae towards Monty, the man that was once Brady continues trying to batter the nearby scribe into the desk, but wedged between the wall and the furniture, he has problems getting any leverage!
Neither of the attacking clerks fare any better, however... as one of them, still reeling from the blows he received from Monty, can barely keep his feet, his attacks little more then feeble jabs. The other seems to have developed a full-on rage, as he slams his fists over and over onto Dru's heavy armor screaming... but to little effect.
-- Round 4 ----------------
blue Proto-scribe (-8, shaken), yellow Proto-scribe (-19 nl, shaken*)
Proto-Faliana (-1), Proto-Monty (-4), Proto-Dru, Dale, Tad, Proto-Brady (-1) <---- we are here!
Jeeze, the clerical staff is lasting longer then my evil-fueled undead! =)
Party is up!
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Monty whips about, his fist feet and his hands chopping through the air, his tail passing his hanbo back and forth between his hands as he moves.
Sadly, it's hard to do such flourishing moves without the in depth concentration granted by years of ascetic training, and with his mind impacted by mists, Monty's moves are sloppy and wild.
Although the first blow misses, the second, a heel coming at him from the side, does not. The mist-tainted scribe spins around, his angry howls suddenly cut short, and collapses on top of the desk. As he does so, you all notice streams of silvery mist flowing out of his body and merging back with the fog all around. His features, wild and brutish only moments before, seem to fade away, until it is just regular looking clerical worker laying on the desk, covered in blood, his ear still missing.
-- Round 4 ----------------
blue Proto-scribe (-8, shaken)
Proto-Faliana (-1), Proto-Monty (-4), Proto-Dru, Dale, Tad, Proto-Brady (-1) <---- we are here!
Bold can go!
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Faliana, annoyed that her first swing didn't hit starts to wind up for a second before the money-leader knocks him out. She snorts derisively, that was HER prey, though not too loud as he still is the leader. Giving a snarl and a slight weave to the left, Faliana jumps up onto the desk in front of her and flips off of it trying to slam her hands against her new prey.
With the first enemy down, Dale is able to get past the fighting towards the back of the room, looking for the source of the other screams. The rest of the Pathfinders continue the fight!
Faliana eager for a victory of her own, leaps across the desk towards the last mist-tainted clerk, trying to pound him with her bare fists, her face almost as feral as his. She does not dodge as well as she expected, though the man barely swats at her, focused as he is on Drusilla. Faliana lands a solid blow, sending him lurching forward, which is enough of a distraction for Dru to then whack him upside the head with the butt off her weapon. He drops like he's been poleaxed.
Like the first man, as he hits the ground, you see silvery mist start to pour out of him, merging back with the surrounding fog, and the feral, brutish features you saw only moments before, fade... leaving just a normal-looking man, unconscious and covered in blood.
-- Combat Over! --
Dale is able to pinpoint the source of the screaming, though it has subsided considerably in volume. He will quickly realize that it appears to be coming from inside a heavily dented and damaged metal cabinet in the back of the room. Though it has mostly degenerated into hoarse sobbing now.
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As her fists connect with her prey, Faliana gives a howl of triumph. It gets cut short when moments later when her rival, of all people, knocks the man out. She fixes the woman with a steady look and a low angry growl. "My prey! You no steal!" she screams, seeming to forget that she was the one moving in on Dru's territory. Faliana then starts to aggressively advance on the Dru, but only heavily bumps into the woman's shoulder as she moves past.
Heading back to where she dropped it, Faliana picks up her longspear and gives it a derisive look. Raising it over her head, she brings it squarely down onto a raised knee, trying to snap it in half. However, the spear proves to be harder than Faliana expected and it bounds up to smack her in the face. Humiliated, she slams the but of it into the wall, leaving a hole, but keeps ahold of the thing.
Before she heads back to the group though, she feels that same strange sensation from the odd dagger. Taking it out and staring at it blankly for a moment, she presses what is left of her thinking centers to process what it could be. This... RELIC?! Is spirit-helping-Anavi's? But not of Ashava, sadly.... Thinking her deity's name for a second gives Faliana a frightening sensation that something is horribly wrong for second, but the sense of normalcy returns shortly.
As she gets back to the rest of the group, and her breathing has slowed down again, she finally notices the changes that the scribes had gone through. They weak, lose power. I strong but still lose Anavi. Need more! She then moves up near the bomb-soup-heals man, curious what he is doing. She then notices and starts to look at the sobbing cabinet.
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Tad notices that his companions looks hurt, and so he gathers them together away from their downed enemies, raises his holy symbol, and prays. They feel a wave of warmth wash over them, healing those who are injured of hit points.
Then Tad walks over to the downed enemies and touches them gently, trying to make sure they won't die while he and his companions finish exploring.
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Dale heads to the cabinet while the others continue their 'monkey business'. "Hello in there? We're Pathfinders sent to lend a hand... and by the looks of things you need at least one! Hold on and I'll get you out."
Dale puts his dagger away and pulls out a pouch of tools and is quickly surrounded by the 'monkeys' again. "Back off apes! If you want soup later you best give me space to work here!"
Then he gets to work getting the cabinet open.
Tad calls on his goddess to send a small burst of healing energy through all his companions, fulling healing the last of their injuries, before going to check no the two downed scribes. He will find that both of them, though out cold, are in no danger of dying at the moment.
Meanwhile, Dru wanders over to the metal cabinet from which you can hear the sobbing, and after staring at it a moment, grabs hold of it, and starts yanking on it with all her might. The screaming from inside starts up again immediately... though more full of fear and dread than anything else. The hinges creak and the entire thing bulges outwards with the force of Dru's effort, but eventually the handle snaps off entirely in her hand, cabinet door still in place. From inside, you hear a rather panicked Nonononononono!, between screams, from whoever is inside.
Both Tad and Dale will realize that their companions seem to be taking a little longer getting their feral instincts under control. Faliana especially seems to be having a tougher time of it. Whatever evil spirits that inhabit them, seeming to find her particularly fertile soil.
Dale will find that the lock on the cabinet has long since been destroyed by all the violent efforts to open it. It now appears to be barred from the inside somehow.
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Dale sends Dru away "I said back off Dru! Tad needs to heal you over there. Give you some good soup."
He then tries talking to whoever is inside "Nigel is that you in there? What's going on with this mist? Most of our group has turned into some crazy monkey's! Get out here so we can get this issue fixed before they end up like your assistants!"
Not entirely surprisingly, Dale's threats elicit little more then more fearful wails from the terrified man in the cabinet. But Tad steps in with a slightly less aggressive tone, and slowly the man starts to calm down.
"It's s..s..safe?" You hear him mutter finally... He hesitates for a minute, but eventually, you hear him doing something in the cabinet, and a moment later the scraping sound of metal on metal. Then, as if whatever was barring the cabinet door was the only thing holding it together, the door collapses outwards, and a large man crawls out from inside his breath coming in wheezing gasps.
He looks around the room, barely controlled terror in his eyes and you're amazed he's still alive. If you hadn't seen him crawl out of it, you would not even have thought he'd fit in the cabinet, clearly obese and more used to sitting in front of a desk then fending off feral co-workers. His face is a mess, dried tears and blood on his blubbery face, and his robe is even worse. He's obviously been in the cabinet for most of the day. The fear and terror of his ordeal have clearly taken a toll.
When his eyes alight on the mist-affected Pathfinders, they go wide with fear once more, as he scrabbles away from them.
"Them!" He blubbers. "They're affected too! Can't you see!" He looks like he's about to dive back into the cabinet again, before Tad and Dale manage to get him to calm down once more. Even then, his eyes stay glued to the others with barely controlled fear.
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The monkey monk looks down at his beaten foe and snorts. He hears dale's admonishments to back off, and glares at him but doesn't do anything else for the moment. His clarity returned during battle is slowly starting to fade back to the primal monkey that he is. He walks up to the man and bares his teeth, growling out as he grabs him by the shirt collar.
Yes. Affected. Not gone yet. Set here to help. You Nigel? You tell us how to break curse. NOW. Make Pathfinder Pack whole again, NOW.
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Dale sighs Normally I feel like I'm dealing with a bunch of addled brains, but today its certifiable! "Tad, you seem to be connecting to the man, see what you can find out, I'm going to take a look around the office here for something that may be helpful?"
Dale hunts around, taking extra interest in anything that looks like it could have come from the jungle or mentions recent shipments/purchases.
The fat clerk seems freaked out by Monty and the others and tries to pretend they're not there and not going to eat him.
Instead, he focuses on Tad. "It was horrible!" He sobs. "That mist." He waves down at the stuff around his ankles... then, realizing that it is still around his ankles and crawls on top of a nearby desk.
"We were doing the morning inventory," He continues, in a quavering voice. "And suddenly it just came flowing in, out of nowhere!"
"It just poured in... and right down Kadarnik and Yannis' throats." He motions weakly towards the two unconscious scribes. "Next thing you know, they both just went mad!"
He looks around fearfully. "They started beating on poor Milgen, and wouldn't stop! They tore him apart! It was his first week..." He swallows. "Then they started coming for me!"
"Was all I could do to get into the cabinet and jam it shut." He shudders. "But they kept coming. Was sure they were going to break in... 'til they gave up all sudden like. But I knew they were still there. I knew it! Every time I moved, they'd be right back banging and clawing at the door... waiting!"
"It was those damnable idols, I tell you! I knew there was something wrong with them the moment that man brought them in here. I've a nose for trouble, and those were it! But no one would listen!"
"Please, can you get me out of here! Before someone else tries to tear us apart!" He can't help but glance towards the four affected Pathfinders at this last.
"There's some gold, in the desk there." He adds, pointing towards one of the overturned desks Dale is looking through. "Was for expenses.... you can have it. Have it all! Just get me out of here! Please!"
While Tad talks to the man, who's name turns out to be Saldak, Dale has been looking around the office. It is not easy to find things in the chaos, papers and scrolls are strewn everywhere, but he did find a small scroll case on a shelf that had escaped the chaos, and now the bag of gold coins in the desk, almost five hundred of them. He also finds one other item that stands out... if only because it was relatively exposed, yet seems to have avoided the chaos somehow. Both of the enraged scribes seeming to have left it alone on their rampage.
It is a very old cloth which appears to be made from some sort of beaten bark. It has a newly attached inventory tag on it that seems to indicate it was part of a batch of items cataloged along with 'Tik Taan Idols, courtesy of Lugizar Trantos'
The script on the cloth is very old.
But you're not sure you've the skill to evoke it.