John follows Niversal down the ladder, not saying much.
As Ed does not understand but obviously the magic within him does. The dog whines and moves away from Niversal and begins to yip in pain, it quickly turns into barks, growling, and eventually roaring.
If you try to track him down you can see many changes take place within him. His body twists and distorts, reshaping into a grotesque figure. Because of the disfigurement, the creature takes a –4 penalty to Constitution and Charisma.
First his hide changes, well no that is not right, he tears through his original coat and emerges from it with an oddly flexible stone-like hide. No fur or hair is left on his body. His mouth enlarges too, tearing through what was once your dog's head into that of a lion or tiger. A large predatory feline.
His eyes are a bright solid blue color, with no visible pupil, and his teeth are many, long and sharp. His skin ripples and pulses in a disquieting fashion.
He snarls at you...
"Whoah there! Not a huge fan of those sounds! Your pup doin' ok?" John, who was already kind of skittish around big dogs is very noticeably on edge now.
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She whispers and you all hear it as if she were talking with you, "What is that sound? Did someone wing a dog, wait is that Ed? What is going on?"
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"Did Niversal and John not go into the door behind you to scout?" She asks Delman hoping the others will chime in to the conversation.
Serill looks around to try and spot the figures Artemis described. Suddenly he remembered games he had played such as Doom, or the horror movies with their jump scares. Keep it together! Next time prepare a light spell!
As no one goes to find Ed you dont see the transformation. The roaring subsides.
It takes a good minute before Ed the dog walks up to Niversal panting with its tongue out. Then it lays down at your feet saying nothing.
John picks up the stone with the light spell on it. Looking around you see the macabre scene of the courtyard. Bodies lie on the ground from when they fell. The smell is awful. You see orcs, humans, and dog faced humanoids, all across the ground. It is a hard packed dirt floor but in many places there are piles of gore and blood.
You could strip armor or take weapons as you wished. John and Niversal you can see a few doors in the wall. The doors are busted in...
Serill you are with Joe and Delman. Still on the lowest wall.
The smell is horrible and you all likely will do your best to cover your face.
Both paladins don't see the bodies yet but can smell them, correct?
Joe there are no bodies that you can see. You have seen some blood splatter and some gore but no bodies. Looking down with your darkvision, or baring that seeing the other two with the light spell you can see some of the scene below.
"Oh gross..." John goes to investigate one of the closest busted in door. Not a whole lot of reason to stay sneaky now I guess, after the racket that Ed just made. Hopefully anyone who heard it'll be just as scared as I was!
John goes to the door and finds more bodies. This place was obviously the sight of a battle, where a lot of beings died. You find a pile of goblins. You actually hear the gurgling of blood from the corner. There a man in armor apparently is still trying to hold onto life. Seven, no eight, spears puncture his chest.
Looking into the night, Serill's eyes cannot pierce the darkness. Realising his companions came from earth too but not all are still human. At least 1 part dragon and 1 part demon or something like it. Perhaps there is a way for me to transform like they did, then I could see in this darkness... He stays following Joe, "Did you guys cause this? It smells terrible."
"Ghipsklap riyit" he says quietly in draconic, calling up prestidigitation magic to cause a more pleasant smell for his nose.
Serill stayed following Joe, "Did you guys cause this? It smells terrible."
"If we did, I don't remember it. Who knows? Maybe we have a powerful ally we haven't met yet", Joe said, trying to reason his current circumstance.
"What about those shadowy figures the de-, I mean, Artemis saw. Perhaps they are responsible. They must have seen us and they haven't attacked us."
Thinking of the spells he had ready, he called forth some more magic, "Fip ultro dove." He created the sound of several doves cooing as close to where he thought the figures might be. He hoped that the sound of doves would indicate that Serill and the others were friendlies. Doves symbolised peace back on earth, he hoped the same might hold in this place. Perhaps they are also from earth.
"Living person! We got a live one over here! Someone, anyone give me a hand! Quick!" John forgot entirely about stealth, focusing in on the man with the tenuous grasp on life. He tried to remember his first aid training, but this guy looks like he was probably a bit beyond that point now. Maybe magic could save him?
The first thing Niversal does is to keep the weapons in him. Second without a proper healing kit he would need bandages.
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He puts his bow on his shoulder and then slides down the ladder and follows the light, to the wounded man. While he does this he asks, "Jellena we might need your expertise or at least healing. Jellena? Oh that's not good! Yeah he is alive and in bad shape. Niversal you look to have done the right thing. John, all of us should pull two..." Listening to Niversal he chooses to heal before removing any spears.
Delman easily stabilizes the man, and with Niversal's medical advice the first two spears are pulled out with minimal damage.
"Never done this before either." John states, before trying his best to get the spears out of the guy.
"I uh, I think mine are caught on something. I don't want to just yank it out, right?"
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"Right John, here watch what I do. We don't force it and move it just barely then try pulling it out at another angle. We don't want to do more damage than we need to do." He states trying to explain as he pulls out the spears slowly. He is able to pull out the spears with minimal damage. Once they are pulled out he would use lay on hands on the man again.
The man looked up with a surprised look but seeing you three he just relaxed. His grip on his dagger and broken longsword did not lessen.
As the last of the spears are removed and he was healed again he states, "Thank you... I am still so weak... food." He struggles with getting up but without help he just sits back down.
He releases the hilt to the longsword, laying it on the ground, then he pulls a small flask from his belt. Taking a drink from it and then offering, "Its barely enough to survive on."
He stands alert at the door.
I'll check for more survivors." John goes to the next busted in door, leaving the man to those who are more qualified.
Serill follows Joe and Delman down to the others. Except for first aid training in another life, he has not a clue how to help this man, luckily others were much more gifted. "Who did this to you? And who are you?"
The man coughs a bit then weakly laughs, saying "Those goblins nearly killed me. We got them first but I was the only one to survive. Me, stable hand Markas, at your service. A goddess or angel said it wasn't my time. That the king would need me, that with his help I would be a great soldier. The Red Horde, they poured down upon our walls. Then the flying demons made things worse. We fought within the walls and the fort but there were soo many." he relays the best he can.
John you leave to go find another door 40 feet away or continue past the wounded man down the corridor?
Ed begins to munch on a meat stick...
Serill thinks, trying to find any new knowledge he might have been given about the Red Horde. At the mention of flying demons Serill looked to the sky, wondering where up there Artemis might be. "This Red Horde controls this fort now?" He turns to Joe, "Is the dark soul part of the Red Horde?" This wasn't good. He didn't want to be fighting flying demons. It reminded him of a terrible nightmare he used to occasionally have. He stood up straight, closed his eyes and took a deep breath to steel himself. I have magic and allies. I don't want to go back.
He looked at the stable hand, something he had said seemed strange, "Not your time? Are you from earth?" He looks over the stable-hand's clothing .
"I may not be able to heal and I apologise that I have no water. But I can help you avoid infection. It might feel strange but this is harmless I promise." As long as Markas doesn't object or resist, Serill puts a hand on his shoulder. "Ghipsklap riyit." Within 10-15 seconds the mans clothes and wounds are cleaned of dirt and blood by prestidigitation.
The paladin knelt down next to the injured soldier. "It will be okay." Joe placed his hands again the soldier's flesh and cast Lay on Hands.
Markas looks strangely at Serill, saying, "I am not from dirt.
With Joe's 3rd lay on hands on the man, Markas will audibly pant. Then say, "Thanks I am fully healed now." He waits in the corner recovering his energy.
The shadowy figures are too far away for you to see them well. They have moved about on the wall but now have left the wall. No sign of them can be seen now.
John can see the end of the corridor and it looks like there is 3 doors. You find the rooms empty of threat. No viable doors. More death and destruction. Perception check to find anything in the mess. The rooms to the right and left have other doors that lead to other corridors and other rooms.
Dirt? Well I guess it is a strange thing to call a whole planet...
"Oh goody, a maze," John mumbles. "Just what I was hoping for."
John you find many corpses, broken weapons, and such. It seems to you that someone or something has been through here and picked up all the viable weapons. Probably even looted most of the bodies. You do find a knife that has a really sharp edge that was in an ankle sheath. Also a heavy steel shield that was under several bodies. There are many suits of armor you could claim off the bodies.
Going to the end of the corridor and peeking in you see a simple room with some privys. Looking into the door on the left first and passing a single body to open the other door to find a corridor. Down that corridor you find a closed door.
Joe looked about the fort and considered the situation. "Artemis. Please take Delman to rendezvous with the troops. I'll meet them in the main courtyard. Enter with caution. This still might very much be an elaborate trap. Ask Lady Merlynn to join us. She might have a better idea of what's going on."