Yuld entangles the hideous creature and then Onnello steps up and delivers a deadly strike, lopping its head off. The rest of its flesh begins to fall apart almost immediately, and you almost see contentment across Garlmak's face as its head rolls across the floor, beginning to fall apart as well.
Out of Combat!
Now you are faced with the wreckage of the living room and the rest of the house to explore. Where do you go first?
'Did that thing look relieved?' Seeing the thing drop to the floor, Onnello turns to Yuld and asks, "What was that thing?"
Then looking around the destroyed room, he shrugs, "I guess it doesn't matter."
He turns to the bald man and asks, "Darshanti you did a fine job finding and disabling the trap. I am good with this," lifting his sword slightly, "But I am not good with those kinds of details, do you mind if I follow you while we search the house?"
"Homunculus. Automated mechanic creations of wizards or alchemists. Weak but useful helpers."
As he opens his mouth while not looking up from their defeated enemy, Darshanti searches the remains for loot then turns to the knight and nods as he listens to his request. The trap-finder then takes a careful look at the room that they are currently in for anything out of the ordinary. (Perception (Take 20) - 25)
Sidhe and Darshanti notice a spring-loaded trap on the door to what presumably is the kitchen.
Immediately, Darshanti springs to work on disabling it.
While not quite adept at combat, the homunculus was obviously very good at setting traps in its "lair". Darshanti can't quite get the clasps from the spring-loaded forks out.
Darshanti wipes the slight sweat that is building on his forehead before reaching out with his tools again.
"I'll begin to search upstairs", Dac stated. At that, the young warrior careful looks at each step of the stair before stepping on it.
The trap springs to life as Darshanti pulls one of the cords and several forks fly in his direction!
The trap needs to be reset manually, and so you push your way in to the kitchen area. Here the smell of rotting food and stagnant water rises from the filth in this small kitchen, mixing sickeningly with the strong, coppery scent of fresh blood. Broken jugs, upturned trays, and scraps of food litter the room. In the sink, a large bowl filled with chewed and spatout food floats in thick, bloody water in the sink. An open door to the south reveals a ransacked pantry.
___
Dac begins to explore the upstairs. At the landing he can see a hallway seperating three rooms. Which one first?
Yuld follows Dac upstairs, keeping an eye for traps.
"Clearly, this homunculus didn't want us finding something. We should look carefully."
Yuld's light changes from a pale blue to a blistering white, peeking into every crevice.
Dac peers into the smallest of rooms on the second floor, guessing that room is Gellion's.
'I hope he's safe, there are traps all over the place.'seeing 'Dac' go upstairs, he nods his head in agreement with Yuld, "I agree we need to be careful, that trap had flying forks."
Darshanti pulls out the forks that found its place on his shoulder without complains and surveys the kitchen with a careful gaze.
Darshanti moves about the kitchen, checking every surface and cabinet and wall for anything out of place. When he gets to the sink however, the overwhelming putrid stench assaults his senses.
___
Upstairs, Dac and Yuld open the door to the smallest of the rooms and finds that the shelves in this storeroom have been ripped off the wall and lie in a heap on the floor, along with their now-wrecked former contents—bloody linens, a broken broom, and other ruined household supplies. Past the storeroom is a tidy washroom that appears oddly untouched by the surrounding messy chaos. When the two enter the washroom, they trigger a kind of trap. A mirror swings down in front of them with a nasty message scrawled across its surface in blood, reading, "You know nothing! You ruined everything! Your friends hate you! I HATE YOU!"
"Quaint. I suppose the creature downstairs did this? In such case, this was to be a message for Gellion. How did he ruin 'everything?'"
Yuld looks over the blood on the mirror, seeing if it's dry. Content with the room, he turns to Dac. "I suppose we could check the south room next."
"Quaint. I suppose the creature downstairs did this? In such case, this was to be a message for Gellion. How did he ruin 'everything?'"
"I have no clue, Mr. Yuld", replies Dac, throughly disturbed by the "trap". The young warrior follows the hedgewitch into the south room.
Dac and Yuld head to the next room. As soon as they open the door they see the corruption that has begun to envelope Gellion's room. This small room contains a simple bed, desk, and chair. Thick webs cover the west end of the room, where the bed sits—and two humanoid forms appear trapped within. Sticky, purplish black strands cling to the desk and chair on the east side of the room, except in one spot where the strange filaments have left a clear space around a small piece of metal.
Of more immediate concern is the giant spider in the corner of the room, looming over the humanoid figures. It screeches at you, bearing its poisonous fangs! It rushes up to Dac and bites him in the leg. Dac can feel the poison entering his system.
In Combat!
Bold may act.
Active party buffs: Star Aura
Environmental effects:
Round 1 / 2
Darshanti (-6, fortitude save (stench))
===========================
Spider
===========================
Dac (-8, fortitude save (poison))
Sidhe
Yuld
Onnello
Dac exclaims as the spider bites into his leg. "Gods dammit! What is it today and my LEGS!"
Taking his new morningstar in hand, the young warrior retaliates against the giant vermin.
'What the bloody... bet it's another trap. Hearing 'Dac' yell something about his leg, Onnello turns to Darshanti, "Come on it sounds like the farm boy has found something."
He then begins to head upstairs where he heard the yell come from.
Darshanti rears away from the sink, face nearly green. He is not able to hear what the knight is saying as nausea dull his hearing but when he rushes away from the kitchen, he follows.
"Oh, wonderful." Yuld drones sarcastically. "We've found another vermin."
He yells down to the floor below. "WE HAVE A SITUATION HERE!"
Yuld proceeds to draw his dagger, holding it to intercept the spider's blows on Dac.
The others hear the sounds of combat and move upstairs to help. Meanwhile, Dac delivers a powerful strike to the spider, cracking a few of its legs. Yuld aids Dac's defenses.
The spider lashes out again, screeching, but can't get past the warrior's defenses.
Bold may act.
Active party buffs: Aura, +1 fort/temp hp
Environmental effects:
Round 2 / 3
Darshanti (-6, sickened 1 minute)
===========================
Spider (-6)
===========================
Dac (-8, fortitude save (poison))
Sidhe
Yuld
Onnello
"Dac, let us move back down the hallway. There's a bit more of a opening there, where we can fit easier. In addition, it may help our allies move into position."
Yuld withdraws, keeping his dagger ready as he steps back.
Darshanti edging forward with a sluggish steps, turns to Yuld who he witness retreating.
"What happened?"
Taking Mr. Yuld's advice, Dac slowly backs out of the room in order to give room for others and draw the giant spider away from the cocooned people on the bed.
Dac shouts behind him, "Giant Spider! In Gell's room! With two cocooned people!"
Darshanti breathes in and out.
As Onnello tops the stair case he sees Dac exiting the hallway, stepping into the entrance to the hall and prepares to attack the vermin. "Lets see if it comes down the hallway."
Yuld and Dac disengage from their foe and run down the hallway. The spider attempts to chase Dac down the hallway, ravenous for another meal, but is stopped by Onnello's sword and shield. Onnello delivers a brutal slash to it, and it barely remains upright. Darshanti centers himself. The spider attempts to bite Onnello through the knight's armor, but fails to do so.
Bold may act.
Active party buffs: Aura, +1 fort/temp hp
Environmental effects:
Round 3 / 4
Darshanti (-6, sickened 1 minute)
===========================
Spider (-14)
===========================
Dac (-8)
Sidhe
Yuld
Onnello
When the spider reveals itself, Darshanti points a finger at the vermin and shoots a black ray at it.
"Excellent. Now, let us dispatch this monster!"
Yuld fires his crossbow into the beast, trying to aim between Dac and Onnello.
Beside the knight, Dac continues his attack on the giant spider.
'More giant vermin.' Seeing the giant spider coming near, Onnello braces himself for the attack, lowering his shield as best he can, the spider still rakes its mandibles on his greaves. He lifts his sword as the others attack, hoping to end it's death throws, he slashes at the beast with his sword as he echoes Yuld's sentiment. "Yes let us end this thing."
Yuld, Dac, and Onnello stab and shoot and slash the creature to ribbons and soon enough the spider lay dead on the floor.
You move into the room and can see the people on the bed entangled in the webbing. Dac knows that these two are Gellion's parents, Beldonna and Altius Vazarro. They both look to have been bitten several times by the spider and are in need of healing, unconscious.
On the desk, a single cold iron arrow stands apart from the fetid expanse of demon's bile. Some scribbled notes can also be found on the desk underneath the vile corruption. Adverse reaction to cold iron. What about magic? Fire? Cold? Further trials are required.
A small chest next to the desk contains six vials of acid, two vials of alchemist's fire, two tanglefoot bags, and three potions.
A potion of remove disease
A potion of cure light wounds
A potion of lesser restoration
|
Sidhe carefully observes the room before entering, not wanting to run into another spider or such thing.
She's quite unprepared for what she finds- the fact that someone could have deliberately done this is saddening for the young, sheltered cleric. She observes the potions, and says
"The second potion is a healing potion. I'm giving it to the parents."
She tries to ascertain which of the parents is in the most critical condition, and gives the potion to whomever looks the worst.
Sidhe notes that both of the parents seem to have multiple bites across their bodies and are likely poisoned as a result.
"I only have a single use of my ability to cure before I must rest, and I cannot cure poison." Yuld begrudgingly notes. "We should get these two to the church as soon as possible. We can investigate more later."
As the others see to the parents, ask "Should we take them to the priest or bring the priest back here? does anyone see any of the purple goo, that caused the ants to grow?"
As he listens for an answer Onnello opens the other door in the hallway to investigate there.
The bedroom to the north is the master bedroom, and is full of upturned furniture and decorations knocked from the shelves and walls. Every painting has been smashed from its frame and torn to pieces. Sitting on the otherwise-undisturbed master bed is a single journal.
The journal seems to belong to Beldonna, Gellion's mother. It is quite mundane, detailing the day to day life of the family, but on every page a message has been scrawled in blood: "Our son is an awful disappointment."
Spending minutes more and you note the most recent entries where Beldonna was concerned about her son's well-being: he was spending too much time on his experiments, was not eating well, and seemed distant from his friends.
'I won't be any help, with the medical side of things, I may as well inspect this.' Moving into the room, as he waits for those ministering to the parents to be ready, he begins to read the journal, 'Awful disappointment?' spending a moment or so, he flips through the book, 'to much time on experiments? Seems distant from friends?'
Onnello, closes the book, and finds 'Dac' handing him the book, "Read the last part."
He then sticks his head in to the room where Yuld and Sidhe are trying to help the parents. "Should we bring the priest here, or find a cart to take them to the temple?"
Dac takes the offered book and reads.
"Gell had his brooding momments, but nothing that indicted actually 'brooding'", nodded the young warrior to the dead giant spider.
Passing the jounnal back, Dac made his way to the Gellion's parents. Touching both, Dac offers both injured adults a Bit of Luck (Sp).
You easily find a cart out behind the house and load the parents into it and wheel them to the temple. Idris is dismayed to see them and immediately sets to work, magically healing their wounds, calling on the light of his god. He also sets to curing the poison raging through their veins with magic as well.
After a few hours, he wipes his forehead and says, "They should recover."
Then, after a few minutes more, Beldonna and Altius snap their eyes open.
"Wha--What happened? Where is Gellion?" Beldonna says.
Not wanting to 'hang out' in the temple, Onnello returns often to Check on the couples progress. Being there when they wake, he turns and looks at 'Dac' raising and eyebrow as if to say 'There your friends parents, your tell them'