I suppose if the pile is short a corpse, you can kill the woman and make your escape up the chute, Ramul. Campus examines Ramul intently, gauging his reaction to her challenge.
That came from a dark place.
Campus flushes from embarrassment. The morbidness of this place is affecting. My apologies.
I suppose if the pile is short a corpse, you can kill the woman and make your escape up the chute, Ramul.
Ramul is taken aback by Campus's words. He's not sure what to say, but is spared having to speak for a moment when Campus speaks again.
The morbidness of this place is affecting. My apologies.
Ramul takes a deep breath and says, "This place does seem to have little in the way of redeeming qualities. I know you do not agree with me about the mad woman, but it is not for the sake of expedience that I think she should die. I think it is both in the interest of justice and in the interest of our our self-preservation to put her out of her misery.
"I understand your concern about the morality of killing the insane, but as you said yourself, she is insane. We can't trust anything she might tell us, so we gain nothing by keeping her alive and we stand to lose much more by not killing her. Just... just consider the possibility. I do not wish to make the decision unilaterally, so I will bow to the wishes of the group as a whole."
Aaah, moralists... Varinder smiles slyly at the exchange between Cleric and Half-Elf. I do so hope they don't cramp my style.
The Gnome contributes nothing to the debate on the madwoman's fate, toying idly with his dagger as the conversation continues, until Ramul entreats the rest of the group. She cut me, and so her death would, in the ordinary way of things, seem appropriate recompense for that indignity. Further, she is mad - or possessed - and thus perhaps not the author of her own actions. But on the evidence, we cannot doubt that her actions are inimical to us. If she is mad, she is to be pitied. If she is possessed...either way she is a threat. But our good priestess is persuasive. He nods at the Cleric sardonically. May we not leave her bound, gagged and locked away whilst we search for some way to aid her? If we can break whatever darkness has hold of her, we may gain a useful ally...or at least information.
So am I bloodthirsty and vengeful? Or am I merciful and calculated? I wish I knew.
Despite their unsteady appearance, the stairs are sturdy enough to climb. However, a closer examination at the top of the stairs reveals heaps of rubble chocking the passage above. Whatever structure above that has fallen in has blocked the stairs and made them completely unusable.
Unfortunately, Artemis isn't able to glean any additional information about the woman or her apparent malady. That she is insane cannot be argued, but what made her so is still a point of contention.
Klassalka puts her tail down, "Make your call. I'm more focused on leaving."
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|Its safe enough for now... I'll look for a way to save the creature a while longer before killing the woman to kill the evil within her
"Its time to head up and out I say" Ulfric says as he walks to the pile of corpses and begins to climb.
Ulfric is the first to brave the mound of bloody carnage. He moves quickly at first, then his weight bears down on a certain body and his hand slips into something disgustingly unrecognizable. The rancid sludge that was once human intestines covers his hand as he removes it and continues to climb. Though he reaches the chute and crawls inside, his stomach roils at the macabre coating on his hand.
This cannot be the only way out...Elsewise how did the madwoman - and we ourselves - get here?
Varinder begins a minute and laborious examination of the nightmare rooms, searching for anything that might point to another access way.
The only other viable way seems to be through the furnace ducts - a particularly more palatable way for Varinder than for the larger members of the group, who would have to squeeze and wiggle through.
"Stars beyond! I'm through with this place."
Artemis takes the stairs in the southeast corner of the room.
through the furnace ducts.
Klassalka tries to judge whether the rubble on the stairs is moveable
Campus will climb the pile of corpses.
Ramul sees the paladin slip, his hand falling into the remains of whatever being was unfortunate enough to wind up dead in the nightmare Ramul and the others had found themselves in.
"I think it would be best for us to find a safer route. Ulfric, perhaps you should join us at the furnace ducts. They may be uncomfortable, but at least they seem safer."
Artemis and Klassalka both try the stairs, to no avail. The rubble above is far too heavy to lift, or even shift. In fact, to do so may invite a cave-in of particularly dangerous proportions.
Ramul shimmies up the ducts, many off-shoots making the perfect handholds for climbing the near twenty foot near-vertical shaft.
"The other way, then," decides Klassalka, and to her, that's only one possibility- the furnace ducts.
And messes up her handhold bad on the first attempt.
"Hrm. I'll give a boost to someone else first," she retro-justifies.
Campus climbs the pile of corpses.
Ramul examines the new room he found and is almost overcome with the desire to explore further. Doing so alone would be folly.
It appeared no one followed him into the room. Looking down the chute, he sees no one currently trying to climb up. Resisting his impulse to go further, he decides to climb back down the chute and explains what he found to the others.
"It doesn't look like there's any need to use the pile of... corpses... to get out. We can use the furnace chute. It leads into something like a boiler room. It's a bit cramped, but it can be traversed. I took my time going up and it was fine. If we all take our time, we should be able to make it without any issue.
"If everyone else is determined to save the mad woman, the chute seems like the most likely way to find aid. There's a door on the eastern wall of the room above the chute. We should be able to use it to explore this place further."
Varinder nods with satisfaction. I'm with you, friend. That pile of corpses is an ill-omened sort of exit, methinks.
Suiting words to deeds, Varinder climbs nimbly up the chute, humming at the edge of hearing as he goes.
Campus makes the climb easy enough, though she comes out of the ordeal covered in the remains of the corpses, much like Ulfric has.
Klassalka slips back down the duct with the scraping sound of a claw on steel. Sighing at the endeavor, she helps Varinder into the chute, and the little gnome scampers back up with ease.
Campus feels decidedly ill as bits of gore cover her body.
Seeing the door, Ulfric will arm himself and wait for Campus.
"|I say we press on through the door at least before going back to the others." Ulfric will say to Campus when she ascends.
With that Ulfric will push on to the door and open it.
Varinder scampers between the boilers, scoping his surroundings with casual expertise as he reaches the door, where he strains his senses to listen for anything on the other side. He then examines the door cautiously, checking to see if it is locked - or trapped in some way.
Campus nods as she looks about. Fine by me.
Ramul watches Varinder survey the room they found themselves in. There was still no sign that anyone else had followed them. I hope the others are okay. Splitting up like this seems ill-advised.
As Varinder examines the lone exit to the room, Ramul walks over to the boiler where he had spied a faint glow. He looks beneath the boiler to determine the source of the light.
It is raining heavily here, and the range is very warm. A strange, whining thunder accompanies the gray clouds that obscure the night sky. There's a door directly to your right...on the west wall. Campus points out a trail of scabby stains amid mud puddles, faintly leading from the west door to the doorway in which she and Ulfric currently stand.
There's what looks to be a shed to the southeast - now mostly collapsed. It seems to be placed right where the stairs from below would exit. There's another collapse to the north, blocking any way out of this courtyard in that direction.
The little beast fights like a demon, lashing out at Ramul with teeth and two sharp claws.
Seeing no-one else wants a boost, Klassalka pulls herself up again.
Eventually she makes it into the boiler room herself.
Near to you, though, Ramul seems to be engaged in a comical wrestling match with a thrashing, squirming little beast. The creature, a mess of tentacle, tail, teeth, and claws, rages and rips, and Ramul's blood flows. Two large rats rush about his feet, appearing to be eyeing up a meal.
Artemis notes the decided lack of companionship in the basement, now that everyone else has gone up.
Ramul is shocked as the strange creature lashes out at him. While the damage seems to be minimal, Ramul notes the precision of the strike. It doesn't seem like it was done with a claw.
"Varinder, over here! Quickly!" Ramul shouts.
Gritting his teeth, Ramul strikes back at the unnatural creature.
"You've got more backup! I'll skewer it!"
Klassalka grabs her sword, rages up, charges, and aims a thrust at the abomination, or the rats if it goes down first.
Artemis notes the decided lack of companionship in the basement, now that everyone else has gone up.
Artemis runs over to the chute, having seen the rest of the, er...inmates...climb up it.
Outside is what looks to be a courtyard. Trampled flowerbeds lie smeared and squashed across this muddy courtyard. On all sides, stark gray walls climb toward a narrow gap of sunless sky. This area, perhaps once peaceful and green, has deteriorated quite a bit, quite probably from neglect.
It is raining heavily here, and the range is very warm. A strange, whining thunder accompanies the gray clouds that obscure the night sky. There's a door directly to your right...on the west wall. Campus points out a trail of scabby stains amid mud puddles, faintly leading from the west door to the doorway in which she and Ulfric currently stand.
There's what looks to be a shed to the southeast - now mostly collapsed. It seems to be placed right where the stairs from below would exit. There's another collapse to the north, blocking any way out of this courtyard in that direction.
"No other way but this door I guess..." Ulfric says, once again readying with his weapons before opening the door.
Campus follows behind Ulfric, hefting her spear over his armored shoulder.
Despite the rats' feverish hue, Ramul fights through their damage and filth and waits for his opportunity to strike again.
Artemis follows Ulfric and Campus, pulling out his crossbow and loading a bolt.
A voice calls out from the south. Whoa there! We got more here!"
Hearing the voices, Ulfric stops in the door way, blocking potential enemies from the two behind him.
"We are seeking aid after being imprisoned by some evil creature. Are you able to help us?" Ulfric calls out to the voice.
Varinder's hands dip swiftly to his belt, and he effortlessly flings a dagger in a swift-shining arc at the last rat.
Klassalka's already rolled for this round
Varinder's blade flips over just once, and slashes through the rat, leaving a deep gash that nearly cuts it in two. Somehow, the rat scurries away, fearfully rushing away to find shelter.
Klassalka steps forward and thrusts her sword fully through the little beast on Ramul, skewering it like a meal she planned to then chew off of the tip. Insead, she has to shake the sword violently to get the quite dead creature to slide off of the tip. It does, then falls to the ground with a wet flop.
Ramul nods at the merwoman as she pulls her blade from the strange creature's body. Strange. That seems to be an appropriate word for many things today, Ramul thinks.
One rat had run off, yet one still remained. Ramul steels himself. I may have withstood its taint once, but I cannot allow it to strike again.
The rat tries once again to bring down its prey for a meal, seemingly oblivious to the deaths of its companions and the now very unfavorable odds. Luckily for Ramul, the little beast can't penetrate through and into his skin.
Huhl simply slices to cut the rat in two.
"What is that supposed to mean, you don't know if we are who we are?" Ulfric calls back to the man. "And is there any way we could prove our good intent to you?"