"If you don't mind I will switch into one of those chainmails. It should protect me a little better against skeletons and the like. The magical crossbow bolts I will also take with me, just in case."
Xerice says and undoes her leather outfit, seductively of course, and asks Zanu to help dress her in the chainmail armor.
Cireth eyes the items.
Nice find. Though of course you have to make a show. Everyone take what you need and let us be on our way.
You gather the spoils, placing the others back for later. Across the hall you cautiously open the door, only to discover another guard station. This one is empty, save for a lot of dust, but on the western wall there is a switch and a winch that looks like it raises the portcullis. With a grinding of gears, the portcullis raises, granting access to the room beyond.
A brass nameplate, its face caked with soot, hangs above a portcullis leading into a large cellblock. Many of the iron doors along the walls within the cellblock hang open, revealing empty cells within. Everything is quiet and still, but a single wooden door sits closed to the south.
Sonny picks up a masterwork heavy mace before leaving the room.
Taking a mw studded leather armor and a heavy crossbow Caesare cracks the lever and loads it with a bolt. "If I count correctly there is one more of the infamous five. We managed to kill four, but let us not get too sure of ourselfes."
Xerice cleans the faceplate to find out who might be behind door number...a lot by now...
The faceplate is wiped away to reveal the words 'Interrogation and Torture'.
The door opens easily enough. It's larger and thicker than the other doors, probably to muffle the sounds of what goes on behind it. Numerous grisly tools of torment decorate the room, from cages to hanging chains along the walls to a stretching rack, a large wooden tank, and a fire pit in the middle of the room. To the east stands a grim iron maiden, the lid closed and presenting a stern decoration of a tormented woman upon its face. The broken, twisted skeleton of a human dressed in a tattered guard’s uniform lies upon the stretching rack in the middle of the room; the body is surrounded by several discarded knives, branding irons, and pliers. A large, bloodstained wicker basket sits at the head of the rack.
"I guess the prisoners had some fun with one of the guards here."
As you peer closer at the victim (who seems to be dressed in slightly nicer clothes than the guards you've seen), you can see an array of injuries, which includes broken bones, severed hands, dislocated hips and shoulders, a shattered jaw, and numerous long, thin needles that have been driven into his ears, eye sockets, elbows, hips, and knees. In addition, something has been wedged into his jaws. It looks to be metal and disc-shaped, about the size of a shuriken.
Xerice moves closer to study the victim and very carefully prods the skeleton with her mace, making sure it doesn't rise.
When she feels its safe enough she tries to get the metal disc shaped object out from between jaws.
Prodding the skeleton just causes it to sag further. The small metal object pops out as the jaw falls to the ground. It seems to be a badge, with the word 'WARDEN' prominently written on it.
"Well I guess we can figure why our Warden's ghost decided to stick around..." Xerice says as she picks up the badge.
"His wife's ghost will like to have this."
Xerice picks up the badge, but as she does, the basket at the end of the rack where the warden's severed hands lie begins to shake. Two hands, animated by dark magic, crawl out and begin to skitter toward the party!
Initiatives!
Round 1:
17 Hands
16 Ezechias
14 Zanu
10 Caesare
9 Cireth
6 Sonny
3 Xerice
With a speed usually seen in sprinters, the hands skitter out of the basket and toward Xerice and Ezechias! They launch themselves at them, trying to claw toward their throat! and While the hand menacing Ezechias scrabbles at his armor, the one facing Xerice claws her for 2 damage and tries to grab her throat! However it fails to get a grip!
At the same time Sonny sees the iron maiden creak open, revealing the bound and terror stricken face of Kendra Lorrimor! Her mouth is gagged, but her eyes beg Sonny to free her from the terrible device!
"Kendra has been brought here!" Sonny moves to Kendra and he begins to free her.
With a sickening crunch, Ezechias smashes the hand assaulting him.
Sonny, meanwhile, moves to help Kendra. However, as he reaches in to free her, the iron maiden suddenly slams shut, trapping him inside! Inside he can feel terrible pains as if spikes were being drilled into his flesh!
Xerice steps back from the gross hand and tries to slam it with her heavy mace.
Xerice slams her mace down, breaking a couple fingers, but it still claws at her, trying to reach her!
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Caesare jumps to the iron maiden, bringing out his tools to open it
Trusting his companions to deal with the creepy hands, Cireth will attempt to help Sonny get free of the Iron Maiden.
Caesare begins trying to open the iron maiden as Cireth goes a more direct room and starts bashing it! Zanu swings at the hand, but it nimbly avoids him.
Before it can attack Xerice further, she smashes it as it charges toward her!
Between Cireth and Caesare, the iron maiden is pried open. Sonny pitches forward, looking dazed and pale and covered in strange bloodless puncture marks all over his exposed skin at regular intervals, as if he was pierced by something in the iron maiden, though it seems free of spikes!
"What ridiculous filth. Those hands. Just ridiculous." Xerice says as she kicks the broken hand over to a corner of the room.
"I don't feel so good after that. What happened to Kendra"
Sonny then leans up against the wall to rest.
As Sonny leans against the wall, he's surprised that it makes a hollow sound...
Assuming Cireth also notices the noise - That's odd right? That sounds odd...
Cireth goes over to inspect the wall, tapping carefully on it in several places.
"Kendra was never here Sonny... I guess it's part of a haunt. You look like 20 vampires took bites out of you. Are you okay?" Xerice asks. She tries to be a little non-nonchalant about it though.
Let me have a look for a secret passage.
Taking 20 for 32
Sonny smiles weakly at Xerice and says "Vampire bites or Calistra dhampir kisses?
But seriously, I don't feel well. I don't have the vigor I had before. I think we still have one more to go, don't we? Give me a few minutes to rest and hopefully I'll feel better." Sonny then moves to lean on another wall, well away from the Iron Maiden.
A thorough search reveals a secret passage! The rough stone walls of this natural cavern drip with moisture, leaving stagnant pools of water on the uneven floor. The passage opens onto another room, possibly the southernmost room of the three you chose from initially.
Several iron doors line the walls of this partially ruined cellblock—the doors themselves hang askew on their hinges, revealing empty cells beyond. Partially burnt wooden support timbers still function to the north, while to the south they’ve collapsed and caused cell walls to crumble as well. Rivulets of water drip down the southwestern wall to create a shallow pool in this ruined portion of the room, with overflow filling an oubliette hole in the middle of the room nearly to the rim.
Feeling the end near Caesare drinks another extract, a shield one. And his mutagen +4str +2 nat ac
You prepare yourselves and step into the room, suddenly aware of the eerie silence that permeates everything here. You can feel something, a malevolence hovering nearby, but you can't put a location to it.
All around you the walls are covered with names, written in dried blood. The names are scrawled in splatters of blood and seem a testament to the dead.
Suddenly Zanu, Sonny and Xerice are shocked to see their own names begin to appear on the wall next to them, written in dripping blood. The first letter of their name appears and each character takes 2 wisdom damage!
Sonny sighs loudly. "This is all I need. ENOUGH!" He then approaches the writing and pulls out his holy symbol and channels positive energy to hurt undead, except for Xerice (but only cause she'd like it).
Cireth will prep a spell, chanting and casting Protection from Evil on himself.
Xerice moves close to the wall and channels positive energy at the red X she sees there.
Sonny and Xerice call upon positive energy, obliterating their names from the wall, while Zanu scratches his name out with a dagger. There is a moment where you feel almost light-headed, but the destruction of the names seems to alleviate it.
Suddenly Zanu, Cireth and Sonny see their names begin to be written upon the wall in flesh, flowing blood!
Ezechias pulls forth a small glass vial and pops the top on it. All the sudden there is a flash of white light, then a green gas fills the vial with a sickly greenish light as the names disappear from the walls. Ezechias closes the vial just as a spectral form erupts from the watery oubliette, not disturbing the water at all!
"YOU FOOLS! Meddling irksome deviants! Filthy halfbreeds! Woe-fueled pariahs! I will write your names in BLOOD!" The ghost is that of an old man, wearing a prisoner's frock, but one worn with almost imperial pride. Judging by his methods, you would judge this is the infamous Splatter Man! He begins to cast a spell, his hands moving in arcane patterns!
Initiatives!
Round 1:
18 Xerice
16 Cireth
11 Zanu
9 Caesare
8 Ezechias
5 Sonny
2 Splatter Man
"The book, who has the book. We have to use it somehow."Throwing a vial of holy water Caesare tries his best to damage the undead.