The group had already found that the Physicians had both been wearing leather brigandine jacks under their shirts, though that could be dismissed as something they had to wear in dangerous conditions. Going through the rest of their things, she found that they both had healers' kits, leather saps, and the extremely sharp, almost scalpel-like knives they'd used in the fight.
Of perhaps more interest were their masks, which Twilight recognized as magical from their faint aura of conjuration magic.
Nargun takes a scalpel, and put it on the corner of the mouth of the middle aged man, his powerful hand holding his chin.
Now you can start talking, or I can help you open your mouth. Your choice. I'm not afraid to spread some blood. I'm a killer. I'm not an hero. You don't deserve an hero.
He cuts a little, expanding the lips line.
Twilight examined the dweomer on the mask thoughtfully. It was a much better protection against the veil than her perfumed scarf was. However it was the other aura that caught her attention.
"These are very handy masks to have, but I am curious. The protection against the veil is understandable, but why would a physician going around doing so much good work need magic to shield his aura from inspection? Surely any divination into such an upstanding man as yourself would find nothing there other than concern for his fellow man, or at the worst an indifferent drive for either wealth or knowledge."
She smiled and leaned in with a wicked glint in her eye while Nargun worked to loosen the man's lips. "I wouldn't find the taint of wickedness or malice on your soul if I chose to have a peek, would I? Perhaps a hint of the Pallid Princess' influence even? Just tell me who 'A' is and what Davaulus' plans are and we can keep this little secret to ourselves."
The middle-aged man's confusion clears up quickly in the face of Nargun and his scalpel. "Wait, wait, wait! A! A is Lady Andaisin, from Nidal! She's a priestess of Urgathoa. The veil is her creation!"
Wizard 0: Acid splash, Mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic. 1:Mage armour, Vanish, Magic weapon, (S)Colour spray.2:Spectral hand, Spectral hand, (S)Blur | Subtle misdirection 3/6.
Bonded item A:0/1, D: 0/1. Pearl Lv1 0/1, Lv2 1/1
"That would make sense, we did find that holy text to Urgathoa with Andaisin's name penned throughout in the wreck of the ship. I guess we will have to talk to Davaulus himself on his relationship with Andaisin.
This is getting to be quite the web, we have the necromancer Rolth that was working with Davaulus, and now the plague maker Andaisin working with Davaulus as well. It seems he is keeping some interesting company. AND he is working with the Queen to tend to the plague that is benefiting both of his other associates.
Before we finish up here though, what can we expect to find in the basement? There wouldn't happen to be a temple full of undead and Urgathoa worshiper would there?"
The man nods frantically. "Yes, yes! A temple to the Pallid Princess! They brew the veil seed there! Dozens and dozens of my brethren await!"
Do you have another question, Princess? Cause I do.
The scalpel moves from the man's mouth toward his eye, leaving a small trail of blood, and probably a scar, on his cheek
Ussssh... don't cry. You've done worse to those you were supposed to care for, those you were supposed to heal.
The small and sharp blade is now really near the man's eye
Let's try to see eye to eye, having a sincere conversation, telling only the truth. And remember you don't need both your eyes to speak, if I fancy so.
Nargun takes a few seconds for his words to sink in, applying a little more pressure to the sclapel
How come you ain't sick? How did you protect yourself from the Veil? Is there a cure?
The man tries to shy away from Nargun but with the table's cruel restraints can't manage to do it. "The masks! The masks are magic, make us immune to the Veil!"
Twilight watched the man and weighed his words.
"I think we have everything we need from this one." Twilight said looking at Nargun. "Lets see what our companion has found out from the other one and compare note." She winked at the prisoner "Lets hope your stories match up."
Without the controls in the lift the group has to climb down the 40 feet to the basket. It's tight but soon enough the group is able to open up the door into the temple's entry hall. The scuffed stone walls of this chamber have been plastered over and then decorated with lurid murals of skeletons cavorting among the dead of a Korvosa that has completely succumbed to blood veil. Simple wooden doors lead to the north, south, and west, each bearing a painting of a scythe wielding skeleton. A sizable double door stands on the east wall, appearing in the mural as a massive set of double doors opening into the pyramid foundation of Castle Korvosa. Two more scythe-wielding skeletons decorate these large doors.
The cultists have used the time to reinforce the temple, piling up crates and debris in a wall cutting the room in half and blocking the way to every door but the one to the north. Half a dozen Physicians stand behind the crates while four zombies stand motionless on this side of the makeshift barrier.
Nargun is ready to lead the way, casually asking to the others
We don't need any more prisoners, I think? So I can kill them all or die trying?
After explaining to the others that Kroft and the Guard are on the way, Mirela agrees that she is ready to head down.
In response to Nargun she things for a moment then says:
It do be depending on what you see down there. If it looks like they do be trying to 'eal people, and this do a missunderstaning, then maybe not kill. But if it looks like they do be spreading the plague or generally what it sounds like.... I don't be seeing a reason to let them be spreading the rot to others.
She looks around.
Anyone be disagreeing?
"I think we've seen enough to know that the Physicians are spreading the plague.
If any ask to surrender we can accept, I think, since willing testimony may be valuable. But don't go out of your way to hold back."
But don't go out of your way to hold back.
Despite himself and the seriousness of the situation, Nargun laughs heartily at the half elf words, and enters the killing zone
That's definitively not my style, as you will soon see...
The dwarf closes his eyes for a few seconds, and a few tears runs on his face, as he speaks in his native tongue
Then he lets hate and anger fills his heart, looking at the mask-wearing people, and seeing someone else altogether
Lamm...Lammm...Lamm...LAMM...LAMM... Kill Lamm...KILL LAMM...KILL LAMM!
After the door is opened.
By Torag's Beard! Clearly someone warned them we were coming!
Nargun starts to do some serious damage around, trying to hit the closest physician.
If his first attack miss, he tries to destroy the crate with his two handed axe, with madness in his eyes.
Of course, if the first blows hits, he tries to kill his opponent in the bloodiest way possible
Lamm... I'm coming for you. You can't escape! I'm not trapped with you all! YOU ARE ALL TRAPPED HERE WITH ME!
As Nargun tries to push through the crowd of zombies, they all latch onto him, biting and clawing with supernatural strength. The second one is the strongest, tangling up the dwarf barbarian as he tries to push past.
Artegall tries to identify the zombies.
"Use ranged attacks or channel - don't be close to them when they die! Arrows will work!"
Artegall calls upon the spirits for protection and then moves to engage the physicians, stepping past the destroyed crate.
Wizard 0: Acid splash, Mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic. 1:Mage armour, Vanish, Magic weapon, (S)Colour spray.2:Spectral hand, Spectral hand, (S)Blur | Subtle misdirection 3/6.
Bonded item A:0/1, D: 0/1. Pearl Lv1 0/1, Lv2 1/1
The sudden onslaught of very unusual zombies shocked Twilight. Instead of the slow, shambling ones that she was familiar with, these ones were amazingly fast.
Despite his hardiness, the multitude of bites and scratches on Nargun were alarming. Suppressing her desire to retreat back up the shaft, she did what she could to try and give Nargun what small measure of protection she could provide.
Some quick words of magic and a brief glow as she touched the beleaguered dwarf and his outlines became blurry from the simple illusion. Satisfied with her contribution she gave in just a little to her impulse and stepped back away from the open door drawing a wand as she did.
Tucked around the corner, a sudden thought came to her and she glanced at the lift controls.
Arrows, I can do Arrows...
Mirela steps into the doorway Nargun and begins to rapidly launch arrows at the zombies trying to attack Nargun.
The group casts, moves, and fires arrows into the quartet of zombies. Mirela has no trouble hitting the unarmored undead but only one of her arrows seems to do any damage, the other thumping into the monster's chest and having as much effect as if she'd shot a straw target .
The Physicians all launched vials at the group, slipping away from Artegall and throwing in between the stacked crates.
One vial hit Nargun and Twilight each, while two hit Artegall, exploding into a cloud of blood red liquid.
The Princess's spell was once again a lifesaver for the furious dwarf, who wasted no time in slashing at the zombie grappling him.
And he's not pulling any blow, trying to cut the zombie lenghtwise
You will die, Lamm! Again and again and again!
Too caught in his madness, Nargun strikes again at the undead
Nargun throws off the zombie with contemptuous ease but the mindless undead keep swarming over the dwarf.
The raging dwarf smashes the surging zombies away from him, staying free from the reaching fingers for now.
The Calistrian spell isn't always reliable, but Nargun withstands the blows from the rotten fists, which he barely feels in his altered state of mind
He trusts his dwarfen metabolism to fight the virus.
Artegall steps up, studies his target (the nearest Physician, red, as a move action) and attacks (standard). As he is hoping to drop the foes quickly, he will use Studied Strike (free action), thereby ending Studied Target on that foe.
Wizard 0: Acid splash, Mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic. 1:Mage armour, Vanish, Magic weapon, (S)Colour spray.2:Spectral hand, Spectral hand, (S)Blur | Subtle misdirection 3/6.
Bonded item A:0/1, D: 0/1. Pearl Lv1 0/1, Lv2 1/1
Twilight peered into the wild melee taking place just beyond the doorway trying to take in what was going on so that she could figure out what to do. She looked up just a moment too late as the vial of red liquid shattered against the door frame next to her, showering her in the noxious substance.
She immediately began feeling the all too familiar flush of the veil as she was infected by the nauseating substance.
Twilight lamented for a moment that she did not know how strike back at her assailants directly with flame or lightning, but she did have other means to see these doctors pay for what they had done.
Fighting back a wave of ennui, she peeked around the corner just long enough to tap Nargun with her wand.
"The Lady's favour be upon you". She spoke the words and a faint yellow light coupled with a feeling of warmth surrounded Nargun.
Mirela continues her peppering of the zombies with arrows.
Artegall hits his target squarely in the face but the masked Physician doesn't go down.
The concentrated poison in the vial immediately makes Twilight's head throb as a rash spreads out over all her exposed skin. She feels weak and irritable.
Mirela fires another pair of arrows into the nearest zombie, one smashing through its forehead, killing it outright. The undead monster spasms and vomits an explosion of disgusting ichor out of every orifice as it dies.
The Physicians facing Artegall reshuffle to give their cohort time to regroup. Another salvo of vials fly through the air, one hitting Mirela and two hitting Artegall.
Artegall is somewhat surprised at the hardiness of his foe, and resolves to not rush things next time. He will continue to press the attack .
Good Gods above, they bottled it?!?!
Nargun slahes at the nearest zombie, wanting stubbornely to take it down
Good Gods above, they bottled it?!?!
Nargun lands a solid hit on the nearest zombie, nearly cleaving it in two . But even in a state that would leave a living opponent gasping on the floor, the undead monster continues to fight on while its companion in back steps over the still-leaking corpse that Mirela just took down.
miss, miss, miss, hit
dmg 5
The zombies continue to swarm Nargun but his blurring form throws most of their attacks off, only one managing to land a blow.
Lost in his thirst for battle and gore, the dwarf barely notice the disease trying to get hold of his body.
Mirela continues to try to clear a path into the room with her bow, looking for space so Whisper can join the fray.
As she shoots, Mirela notices that Artegall seems to have cleared some space.
Mirela drops her first target but misses the next. Like the first one she had downed, as it falls this zombie explodes from every orifice with a disgusting ichor, splashing Nargun and Twilight both.
Artegall steps up and tries to finish off the wounded Physician.
It isn't a very good swing, though. Gotta shake off some rust here.
One less of you, Lamm! But there are more to kill, fortunatly.. you will pay!
Whisper Attack! Mirela says pointing at the physicans by Artegall.
Whisper dodges through the remains of the crushed crates and moves in behind Artegall, adjointly hopping out of the way as the zombie throws a fist at her.
There she attempts to bite at the Physician next to Artegall, and drag her to the ground.
But she can't get a good angle on the physician around the corner.
Wizard 0: Acid splash, Mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic. 1:Mage armour, Vanish, Magic weapon, (S)Colour spray.2:Spectral hand, Spectral hand, (S)Blur | Subtle misdirection 3/6.
Bonded item A:0/1, D: 0/1. Pearl Lv1 0/1, Lv2 1/1
As the familiar fever overtook her Twilight scrambled for the magical doctor's mask stashed in her pack. Pulling out the corvidian mask she hastily secured it over her face. Thought it might be too late to protect her from the affliction she already suffered she hoped that it would offer some defence against another splash of the vile concoction the doctors were throwing around or at the very least offer a respite from the foul miasma released from the destroyed zombies.
Artegall and Whisper both attack the eerily silent Physicians but neither are able to connect.
The Physicians around Artegall attack the dangerous threat in their midst, moving with shocking coordination given their complete lack of verbal communication. The pair further away threw blades at Nargun.
Nargun continues his zombicide, striking left and right, with more power than accuracy