Ven loads his crossbow and holds it up, "Just point and shoot, right? I think I can manage that."
He frowns upon seeing the burned human remains. "What sort of hospital burns its patients? We need to get out of here."
He walks back to the east door at the end of the hall and listens for any sounds on the other side.
"We could try and wriggle our way up, but not knowing where it ends ... may not be our best idea. Don't think I'd want to get stuck up there when they come down to roast our friend on the slab."
Aenian secures his gear and heads east, stuffing the viola in a bag.
"Who knows, maybe some bard will trade this for a song and a dance. I'm sure there isn't a lot of that going on here."
He will head east with Ven.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Ven listens at the eastern door... he hears nothing, but a powerful reek of death comes from the other side.
Ven holds his nose and shudders. "We don't seem to have much choice. Are you ready?"
Ven readies his crossbow and opens the door.
Aenian readies a crossbow bolt as well. "I guess .. not really sure what to be ready for. Let me take the lead though ... good eyes and all," his bright blue eyes flash with an inner radiance as he stares past the light into the darkness beyond once the door creaks open ...
The door opens into another cellar. A broad chute extends diagonally through the far half-crumbled stone wall. Beneath it lies heaped more than a dozen mutilated humanoid bodies. Nearby, a flight of rickety, wooden steps climbs towards the high ceiling -- an escape none of the room's current inhabitants seem capable of employing. The smell of rot and decay in the room is near overwhelming, and the buzz of flies hangs in the air.
The way up the stairs ends at a mass of fallen debris from the room above, and the tunnel to the north is similarly blocked from a cave in. The destruction seems fairly recent.
Aenian takes a quick glance at the pile before heading up the stairs.
Ven holds his nose at the overwhelming smell of decay as he surveys the bodies and the room walls. "Both the stairs and tunnel appear blocked. We may be able to crawl up that chute."
Ven will look into the chute to see if the exit above is visible.
He will also look through the bodies for anything useful.
"Ah yes, I see ... thought there might be a path through this mess up here. Anything useful down there?"
Aenian heads over to the chute and assuming it's clear, will stow his crossbow and scamper up.
Aenian is able to make his way up the chute with little difficulty. At the top is a closed hatch, but a quick inspection shows it not to be locked or barred.
Ven searches the corpse pile for a minute, finding only a handful of copper and silver coins. You were only able to rummage through a small part of the large pile -- there may be more valuables, but a thorough search will take ten or more minutes.
Aenian looks back, "No time for baubles right now. We know where this place is if we want to come back. Come to think of it ... is this how the doctor got out?"
Aenian looks around, still slightly confused before he pushes open the hatch.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Zen shrugs and stops his search. After several pathetic attempts, he manages to get to the top of the chute. He draws his crossbow and looks around for any sign of danger.
You both scramble up the chute with relative ease. Aenian leads the way, pushing open the hatch and climbing into a small service room. The room is empty but for a trail of muddy tracks that lead to and from the chute hatch and a single door to the south.
The door lies partly-open, and you can hear the sound of light rainfall from outside. A peek shows it opens to a small courtyard. Trampled flowerbeds lie smeared and squashed across the muddy ground. On all sides, stark gray walls climb toward a narrow gap of sunless sky. Indeed, the thick clouds close overhead bear a noxious yellow tint that reminds you sharply of your recent nightmare.
The fallen remains of a shed lie in the southeast corner of the courtyard, where you estimate the stairs below would have led. Another pile of rubble blocks the north end, leaving a single doorway on the west wall as the only obvious exit. The muddy tracks run between your position and this door.
Aenian checks to see if the keys work on the dead folks' cages and does a quick search for clues as to who these two are, hoping to find something to jog his own memory.
"Think we can climb the wall?" Aenian asks Ven, half-joking, before he slips over to the western door and listens intently.
Ven looks up at the yellow sky with concern. "I'm not sure we want to. By the look of those clouds we may be safer inside. "
Ven will search the garden and shed while Aenian checks the door.
Despite the nagging feeling that the two should be familiar, Aenian cannot jog up anything about them. Like so much of your identity, there is a massive, foggy blank in your memory.
***
Aenian hears nothing from the far side of the door. However, while Ven checks the south end of the garden, you both hear something fly by overhead. The flap of leathery wings drifts through the rain and fog, but you do not spy the source. A faint fishy reek follows a few seconds later.
"Ven, I don't like the sound of that, let's get under cover until we know what it is."
Aenian will open the door and slip in leaving it ajar for his companion.
If either has any identifying jewelry or clothing, Aenian will take a piece to trigger later memories, hopefully.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Ven will go in behind Aenian.
As Aenian opens the door and starts to step through, a crossbow bolt thuds into the wall a few inches above his head.
"Whoa there! We got another one!" a voice shouts, full of nerves and excitement.
The door opens into a long, cold corridor, running north-south. Broken lanterns and several battered doors line the walls, and rubble is strewn everywhere. To the south, a pair of swinging doors lies shattered upon a 4-foot-high heap of wrecked furniture clogging the broad doorframe. Beyond this makeshift barricade, you glimpse a couple of men with crossbows -- one hastily reloads while the other aims his weapon in your direction.
Aenian will wave his hand and create darkness in the hall, drawing his crossbow as he steps into the shadows.
"Who goes there?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
Ven will step into the darkness and will wait for the crossbowmen to respond to Aenian's question.
"What the...?" one of the men curses as the light in the corridor dims. "Where'd he go?"
"He's right there," the other man points at Aenian. "Don't come any closer, or we'll shoot!"
Ven will cautiously speak up. "Sir, we pose no threat. We have just escaped attack by an insane doctor and we need assistance. Will you help us?"
Aenian will take a 5-foot step back and attempt to hide again.
"What's going on up here?" a third voice calls from behind the two men. You see another man come up behind the others, this one wearing leather armor and helm and also carrying a crossbow at the ready.
"Two more from outside, captain. One came out a few minutes ago and ran away north, then these two just showed up. That one askin' for help," one replies, pointing at Ven.
The 'captain' grunts and addresses you both. "Be off. We don't want any trouble, but if you come any closer, we'll pepper you full of bolts. I don't want to kill any strangers, but we've been tricked by the dopplegangers before."
Ven thinks back to how the doctor's face changed. "Captain, I can assure you that we are not dopplegangers. In fact, I believe we were held captive by one such doppleganger. How can we prove to you that we are not dopplegangers?"
The captain grunts again, "Bring me some of their heads, and maybe we'll rethink whose side you're on." He gestures behind you, to the north. "Up that way, as if you didn't know."
"Sides? Who are you and where are we? Captain of what? I'm not even certain how long we were downstairs ... if you've been here a long time, did you see the crazy doctor take us down there? Didn't seem to be another way out," Aenian spurts out his questions having encountered potentially a sentient, sane being who has his memory and isn't instantly trying to kill him.
The man sighs, "The name's Vaustin York. I'm not really a 'captain', I just kind of lead our small group of defenders. We didn't see you come or go, but things have been a bit crazy for everyone the last few days." He shakes his head, frowning. "As I said, we've been tricked before. Go prove you aren't dopplegangers, and we'll talk some more."
Ven nods to the captain. "Aye, we'll get your doppleganger heads, captain. We're going to get right on that."
Ven places a hand on Aenian's shoulder and whispers. "They have us outnumbered. Let's turn around and see if we can find some other way out of here."
Ven opens the two doors on the west wall.
"Oy, oy! Back away!" one of the guards warns as you approach the southern door and their barricade. "That one's ours," Vaustin explains, voice hard. "Keep going down the hall. You'll find what you're looking for there."
Mighty iron boilers crowd here, their pipes piercing the walls and ceiling. Shadows and rust fill the narrow gaps between the cold tanks.
Ven carefully looks around.
He points to the boiler at the rear of the room. "Do you see that green glow?"
He moves forward to investigate.
"No, don't see anything ... you check it out, I'll cover the door," Aenian seems to be more concerned about the adversaries to his back.
Ven moves closer to the boiler, leaning down to investigate closer. As he peers underneath, the glow shifts and he sees two luminous eyes above a writhing mass of tendrils. The thing hisses, bareing rat-like teeth. He sees another behind it in their makeshift nest.
The two rat-things squirm out after Ven before he can react.
;
;
;
"Zoogs. Disgusting flesh-eating things. Let's maneuver them out the door and then kill them, maybe the barricade boys will help whack them."
He accentuates his statement by firing at one, maneuvering for position if Ven is in the way.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Ven withdraws out the door and out into the hall. "The bloody things bit me twice!"
Aenian will adjust his movement to be outside the door before he fires.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Ven retreats into the corridor, while Aeninan nicks one with an arrow. The zoogs charge, face-tendrils writhing madly.
;
Ven fires on the zoog in the hall.
He grows light headed from the blood loss.
"Shoot the damn things, please!" Aenian yells at the barricaded men before rushing to Ven's side to apply first aid searching for a blast of inspiration.
Ven's bolt strikes true, severely wounding the zoog. It snaps at Aenian's heels as he runs to Ven, fumbling with trying to stanch the bleeding wound.
The guards at the barricade shout some curses, but don't hesitate to help out. The first one fires and pierces the rat-thing right through the middle, pinning it to the floor.
;
The second zoog squeaks in alarm as its mate is killed, and turns to retreat back under the boiler.
Ven nods his thanks to Aenian and then reloads his crossbow. "Well, no dopplegangers in that room. Shall we move on to the next room? Perhaps you should lead the way this time."
He follows Aenian to the next door down the hall.
Aenian nods to the guard who shot the rat and then closes the door to the boiler room moving north as he can.
As you force open the door to the next room along the east side of the corridor, finding two storage areas, the ground rumbles with a tremor for a few seconds. The walls and ceiling hold, despite the swaying ground, though dust and debris sift down.
These rooms once held spare linens and cleaning supplies crammed onto wall-mounted racks. The recent destruction of the building have ruined several of the racks here, and most of the surviving supplies have been haphazardly looted. The rooms stink of chlorine and are heaped with fallen shelves and broken containers.
The floor of the northern storage room is rent with a deep crack, several inches wide.
Aenian will reload his crossbow, drink an extract of heightened awareness and take a quick glance at each room
Ven looks at the ceiling above them a and ponders the structural integrity of the building. "What could be the source of these tremors?"
He then helps Aenian search the area.
Aenian finds most things of value have been recently looted, but picks out a few things of practical value: a lantern, a hammer, three winter blankets, a 10 foot length of chain, and a set of manacles.