Cerio Dreswitch |
Cerio glances back out into the hall, waiting for signs of trouble. He scrunches his green eyebrows. "We better get a move on 'afore we draw attention from somethin' unsavory."
Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 4
Ramul Rilen |
With the immediate situation seemingly resolved, Ramul suggests, "Perhaps we should check the room next door? I think we should press on till dark at least unless some of you are severely injured. I would prefer to have something helpful to report to Winter."
Even as he speaks, sparks fly in the air around the kineticist. He's still getting used to his... changes.
Cerio Dreswitch |
I'll just assume the group's explained to me who "Winter" is by this point.
Cerio ducks his head to avoid an errant spark that flies off of Ramul. "Yeesh, careful! Alright, I reckon it can't be any worse'n what we just seen. C'mon, let's check this other room."
GM Nayr |
The door to this next room is unlocked, and Zarinder gives it a quick examination before proclaiming it safe to open. The ceiling of this room has collapsed, crushing a table and well-worn couch within. It looks to have once been a lounge of some sort.
Cerio Dreswitch |
Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 11
"Welp, nothin' to see here.."
Ramul Rilen |
Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
Ramul looks into the room as well and has to look twice to make sure he's not seeing things.
Once he assures himself he's not going crazy, sparks of lightning around him not withstanding, Ramul says, "There's a pale hand extending from the rubble. I doubt anyone could still be alive. But we might could discover who they were or clues as to what happened in this wretched place."
Given his recent changes, Ramul isn't particularly eager to lead the way.
Ulfric Bjarnasson |
Seeing the hand after Ramul points it out, Ulfric detects evil on the area.
"I doubt a person could live. But there's been plenty here that probably could." Ulfric says in response to Ramul's comment.
GM Nayr |
Klassalka digs through the rubble for several minutes, eventually extracting a body crushed beyond recognition. A quick search of his...or her pockets reveals two unbroken, capped syringes with a greenish liquid within. They show with a magical aura.
Cerio Dreswitch |
spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Cerio accepts the syringe, holding it up to view it in the light. Dissatisfied, he waves his hand and a series of eerily floating, green motes appear. He examines the liquid again, then uncaps a needle and squirts a drop into his finger before sticking it in his mouth. He grimaces.
"Curatives." He hands it back to Klassalka. "Y'outta hang ont' that, what seein' as how you just looove stickin' yer fins int' danger. "
Ramul Rilen |
Ramul wrinkles his nose at the syringe.
Curatives? In a syringe? I much prefer the potion variety, he thinks to himself.
"If there's nothing else here, we should keep going. We can't help whoever that was now, but we may yet be able to find who was responsible for their death."
Continue north? (North as in up on the map)
Cerio Dreswitch |
Cerio nods and follows as they continue north.
GM Nayr |
You inspect the north door, and note that no traps or lock would keep you from entering. The nameplate next to the door indicates that this is or was the office of Administer Eliege Losandro, though with your missing memories, that means very little.
You push through the door with Ulfric and Klassalka leading, and enter a large office. Yellow fog soundlessly rolls against the cathedral-like windows of this opulent, two-story office. The ground floor features overstuffed furnishings, elegant side tables, and an altarlike desk of dark marble. A delicate spiral staircase and balcony of dark iron rises to a lofty library overhead.
Both floors' fixtures frame the lake of blood spread across the room's center. In the middle of this pool of blood is a woman. She kneels in the dark fluid, her back straight, her mouth gaping at the ceiling. From her soundlessly screaming mouth an unsteady torrent of colored mist spurts like a fountain of gritty sludge.
There is a door existing this room to the south, in the southeastern corner.
Cerio Dreswitch |
"...seen enough corpses for a life--"
Cerio's voice catches at this, the weirdest thing he's seen since awakening in that office. He freezes, hoping that whatever this is doesn't immediately destroy them.
spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
K(arcana): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
any clue what I'm looking at?
Cerio Dreswitch |
"...that ain't good..." Cerio whispers. "Maybe we can just sneak by and she won't notice we's here?" He points to the door in the southeast corner.
Cerio Dreswitch |
Is she raving mad? Once he meets this Winter he'll have to ask. Maybe they're all nuts.
"You first."
"Wait. I have an idea."
Cerio can attack from range with acid splash to see it's reaction.
Cerio Dreswitch |
"...gonn' regret this..." he grumbles.
Cerio rotates his arm a few times to loosen it up, then rolls up his sleeves. He spits into his palm, then reels back and throws out an empty hand. Inexplicably, a glowing green orb flies out toward the woman.
acid splash, touch: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 141d3 ⇒ 2
Campus |
Campus, also from range, heaves an absolutely mighty blow at the frightening figure.
Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Crit Confirm: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
OH WOW!
GM Nayr |
Ceerio's orb hits the woman in the chest, instantly beginning to eat away at her skin. She doesn't move, save to sway with the impact of the orb. Campus's spear takes the woman through the throat next, and plunges through far enough to scrape against the spine. Once the spear is removed, the woman collapses to the floor, and the flow of mist from her mouth ceases. Still, a pall of the greasy mist covers the area about her body, slowly dissipating.
Cerio Dreswitch |
Cerio takes a tenative step into the room, careful to avoid stepping in the pool of dark blood. Giving a quick look around, he raises a hand, casting detect magic over the grizzly scene.
Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 6
Ramul Rilen |
Ramul doesn't get a chance to suggest to his companions that perhaps the woman had been the victim in this situation. What was done could not be undone, though, so there was no point in complaining now.
The kineticist sighs as he steps into the room along with Cerio. He still barely knew these people, much less himself. Perhaps their pasts would be revealed in time.
Ramul takes a few moments to look around the room as well.
Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
GM Nayr |
Campus does a very thorough check of the office and, being that the room is huge, directs others to further investigate what she sees from a distance. The rich appointments of the office, in soothingly dark shades, no doubt once left visitors with the impression of good taste. Now, it seems spoiled and infested.
While the furnishings and books in the library here are impressive, there’s really nothing remarkable, save for general knowledge. Campus does notice a set of six small but powerful images sketched with coal upon torn parchment and set in find frames. These depict eerie vistas of an endless, empty city under a sky of whirling mist. In the corner of each, a delicate copperplate records a year from 4708 to 4715, and the name Ulver Zandalas. When studying the images, you find them familiar, quite similar in fact to the endless city of your dreams.
The marble desk herein features several drawers filled with mundane writing supplies and extensive but uninteresting documents. One of the drawers is locked.
DC20 Disable device check to open
Among the curios in the office here are a brain-shaped sculpted wooden box, bookends depicting twin screaming and crying figures, and a brass sculpture of an Osirian pyramid.
The crowded shelves of the library, while not having anything of specific help to the current madness gripping the facility, has several books of interest.
Did you want to search the dead body?
GM Nayr |
Varinder, seeing the locked drawer, raises an eyebrow with intrigue. He sets to work, attempting to open it. After a few moments, he growls with frustration and looks up. This may take a while. Then, he sets to another attempt
Disable Device: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8
DD 2nd attempt: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
DD 3rd attempt: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
DD 4th attempt: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
DD 5th attempt: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
DD 6th attempt: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
DD 7th attempt: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17
DD 8th attempt: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
GM Nayr |
After nearly a full minute, he exclaims. Aha!
The first thing discovered in the drawer is a journal belonging to professor Losandro. This is a concise record of her daily duties and observations - largely mundane and filled with notes from staff meetings and interviews with the families of would-be patients. But in the entries written during the last year, the names Hasterton Lowls and Count Lowls appear with increasing regularity.
The final entries are of particular note See handout
Handout
Also in the desk drawer, you find, several things, most which radiate a magical aura
Magnifying glass
5 vials of different liquids
6 small doses of different liquids
3 scrolls
a candle
A small tin of incense
A talisman on a silver chain
2 talismans on a braided leather cord
Cerio Dreswitch |
Cerio snatches up the journal, thumbing through the pages with an eagerness unexpected in one so...parochial. "Lowls...Zandalus...Chain of Nights...amnesia...psycho-archane experiments..." He closes the book and slams it on the desk.
"This professor Losandro was up t'somethin' unnatural. And she got it from some book, The Chain of Nights. And whoever give her that book was up ta something too. Sounds like they were real eager to get rid of some amnet...annesac...forgetful patients. Like us. And maybe also real eager to get that book in here, cuz when she used it...Well, all this happened. We gotta find this Zandalus and figure out what happened."
As though they might shed some unnatural light on things, Cerio turns his attention to the stockpile of items found in the office.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Campus |
Campus nods considering. We were...are..those amnesic patients..or some wave of them..that this Count wanted to bring in. Campus looks around the grisly and frightening surroundings. Are we dreaming then?
Cerio Dreswitch |
Cerio points to the pictures of the yellow city. "Look there. Seem familiar? And signed Zandalus! That name again. He dreamed tha same. And the dreams, they're turning real."
He walks to the window, the corpse forgotten for the time being. "And if the yellow fog escaped his dream, and we dreamed the same, and we also dreamed of that, that critter in the streets.. It's a real question, ain't it? " He turns back, his face a ghostly white. "It's come through too."
Ramul Rilen |
Just a reminder that I took ranks in Disable Device with my rebuild. That way we're not completely out of luck once we permanently lose Varinder.
Appraise {untrained}: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20
Knowledge (local) {untrained}: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12
Ramul inspects the office's various curios, trying to assess their worth. Once he finishes, he says, "These three could fetch 50 gold each to a collector. The paintings could probably fetch 100 gold for the set."
The kineticist also examines the journal found in the formerly locked desk. Though he's not sure how, he recognizes a couple of the names. "The journal frequently refers to a Lowls in the past year. That Lowls would be none other than Count Haserton Pragmus Lowls IV, ruler of the County of Versex in Ustalav. Don't ask me how I know that. Perhaps we should discuss some of these entries in more detail once we..."
Ramul trails off as he begins staring at the all-too-familiar pictures on the wall. He walks over to the paintings and studies them for a few moments while listening to Campus and Cerio.
Once the conversation pauses for a moment, he says, "Do you think... do you think the city could be a real place? I refuse to believe we're dreaming now, but could we have had a vision of a real place? It was so realistic. It would make more sense than us all having the same dream as this Ulver."
At Cerio's remark about dreaming the same, Ramul looks over at the man, assessing him. "Are you saying you dreamed of that city as well? If so, it can't be a coincidence. Either we are dreaming... which I refuse to believe... or it is a real place."
The kineticist shudders as another possibility crosses his mind. "Or someone wants us to think it's a real place."
GM Nayr |
Ceerio begins with the amulets, and is able to discover what all of them are, then moves on to candle and incense.
There is one greater talisman - a greater talisman of beneficial winds - this is the one on the silver chain. There are two lesser talismans on the leather cord - a lesser talisman of healing power and a lesser talisman of warrior's courage.
The candle is a candle of spirit protection, and the incense is incense of open thoughts. Ceerio isn't quite able to tell what the scrolls are, however.
With the group huddled about the loot, and Ramul's untrained but keen eye for such details, you're able to identify all of the items that do not radiate a magical aura - there is the magnifying glass, then two vials of alchemist's kindness, a vial of smelling salts, two vials of soothe syrup, four doses of antitoxin, and two doses of opium.
End result - 3 scrolls unidentified
Ulfric Bjarnasson |
Having followed along behind the others, Ulfric is quite interested in all that he is hearing.
"I think that regardless of the realness of the city, some one wants us to consider it relevant." Ulfric chimes in. "Relevant why, I have no clue. I do think that we should maybe go find the simpleton we rescued earlier though. One of the few phrases he uttered was 'Zandalus sees'. Perhaps he knows more than he was letting on."
Ramul Rilen |
After Cerio examines the magical items, Ramul says, "I'm sure we can decipher the rest once we get back to Winter and the others. Probably best we just keep them safely tucked away in the meantime."
Ramul begins studying the journal entries a bit more closely. His eyes widen as he does so. They might be getting the first real clues to what happened to them. It wasn't much, but it seemed this Count Lowls was responsible for their arrival at the asylum.
To the others, Ramul says, "I believe these last few journal entries refer to us. They speak of 'a handful of new patients' who 'have suffered some unprecedented manner of group amnesia.' I think he's referring to us. It seems too specific and too bizarre to not be us. And, if it is us that he's referring to, we're apparently former associates of this Count Lowls in some way.
"We need to find this book, The Chain of Nights, that the professor refers to. It might offer us some more answers as to what happened in this place and how we might could recover our memories. And, should we ever manage to get out of this wretched place, I think we should track down this Count Lowls and have a nice, long conversation with him."
GM, The Chain of Nights doesn't happen to just be lying around in the professor's office somewhere, does it?