Lizzie brushes past Heinrich and flicks her morningstar into the flank of the other giant centipede, cracking the carapace! The creature surges forwards trying to bite her, but she blocks it with her shield.
---> MISS
Red Centipede
Crystal Delphi <----- WE ARE HERE
Green Centipede
Filbert Springbit
Luxina Tenebris
Momijii
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Lizzie "beads" Tamar'
Everyone is up.
From where he is behind Agrippa, Filbert studies the ceiling above the centipede, aiming his haunts there. Trying to collapse the fragile edge on the monstrosity.
I don't wanna bring the ceiling down on Lizzie, don't wanna hit Lizzie.... a private mantra going on internally as he lines up his shot.
Luxina tries to whack the centipede in the room with her touch.
Agrippa will assist Lizzie in defending herself
Red Centipede
Crystal Delphi <----- WE ARE HERE
Green Centipede
Filbert Springbit Action posted
Luxina Tenebris Action posted
Momijii
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa Action posted
Lizzie "beads" Tamar'
Crystal, Luxina & Lizzie are up.
Lizzie swings her morning star at the centipede.
With an angry bellow at the resilient insect Momijii took two quick stomps at it in an effort to crush the thing underfoot. the first stomp came down on the centipede's back about a third of the way back from the head while the second came in squarely towards the creature's chitinous head. With any luck it wouldn't survive this flurry of devastation.
The centipede in the southern room tries to bite Momijii but the agile monk dances back, well out of reach.
Taking a breath, Crystal draws her bow back to the cheek, like the instructors told her but her arms wobble slightly and the arrow ends up harmlessly hitting the far wall.
In the northern room, the other centipede attempts to bite Lizzie with a great Hisss! She check's it's advance with her shield.
This time Filbert's haunts are deadly accurate, sending a lump of stone smashing right through the carapace and out the other side of the centipede! Fetid liquids seep out of the wound as it thrashes about in it's death throw.
Luxina's torch rakes the outside of the great, centipede leaving a nasty burn and a foul stench in the air. The creature rears up in pain, and Momijii takes full advantage. Her feet connect with a sickening 1-2 combo, smashing the carapace and causing foul liquids to splatter the area.
Combat over.
Lizzie's face spells 'surprised', as the debris comes crashing onto the centipede.
"I..wasn't expecting faulty maintenance to kill it..?"
Though, with the sound of combat faided, she lowers her mace.
"Is everyone okay? Anyone hurt?"
I'm fine, it looks as if we sustained no lasting harm. the wiry man says
We're fine. Just a dust up with the local wildlife. Agrippa says, waving at the soldiers manning the barricade.
Agrippa moves to the door on the other side of the hall We'll try here now. and he opens the door.
The guards to the south ignore Heinrich's words and wait in silence. After a moment's pause Heinrich opens the door to the west and steps inside. At first blush the room seems deserted bar the mighty iron boilers crowding the south wall, their pipes piercing the walls and ceiling. Shadows and rust fill the narrow gaps between the cold tanks.
providing hot water to the sanatorium.
Filbert looks around at the maze of pipes and boilers, studying them for a bit. "Uncle Az....er..bah! My uncle had one of these in the shop, with time these could be brought back to full pressure, supplying hot water to the sanitor...iummm."
The jeweler's voices trails off as he studies the boilers and begins to tilt as he walks towards the rear of the room squatting down to see what is below. "And just what are you??"
Filbert bends down to investigate the strange light, he catches a glimpse of glowing eyes and writhing face tendrils!
With a cacophony of screeches, the tentacled horror and three dire rats attack!
Initiative rolls:
Combat order:
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Dire rats
Zoog
Crystal Delphi
Momijii
Filbert Springbit
Lizzie "beads" Tamar'
Luxina Tenebris
Heinrich is up.
Momijii was quite satisfied with the effects of her stomps on the centipede's body and the thing gave a satisfyingly disgusting splat as it died. She realized the only down side of killing it like that, she now had bug guts on her. She looked at her companions and asked, "Is there anyone with magic that can remove the...mess?" She sounded hopeful but wasn't going to let them get too high.
As they continued on their way looking for shapeshifters to slaughter she noticed the faint glow from underneath the door and was about to take a look at it when Filbert beat her to it.
Taking a step back from the creature crawling out from under the boiler, Filbert begins chittering at the creature and the dire rats coming out.
"ਹੇ ਠਹਿਰੋ! ਤੁਹਾਨੂੰ ਸਾਡੇ ਇਸੇ ਹਮਲਾ ਕਰ ਰਹੇ ਹਨ ਤੇ ਫੜੀ ?? ਵਰਗੇ ਦੋ ਵੱਡੇ centipedes ਤਾਜ਼ੇ ਹਾਲਵੇਅ ਭਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਮਾਰੇ ਗਏ."
"ਤੁਹਾਨੂੰ ਆਉਣ ਦੇਵੇਗਾ ਕਿ ਤੁਹਾਨੂੰ ਸਾਡੇ ਤੇ ਹਮਲਾ ਹੈ, ਜੇ, ਮੇਰੇ ਦੋਸਤ ਸ਼ਕਤੀਸ਼ਾਲੀ ਹਨ. ਇਸ ਨੂੰ ਬਿਹਤਰ ਹੋ ਨਾ ਹੋ ਹੋ ਇੱਕ ਮੁਫ਼ਤ ਭੋਜਨ ਦਾ ਆਨੰਦ ਦੇ ਰੂਪ ਵਿੱਚ ਇੱਕ ਦਾ ਵਿਰੋਧ ਤੁਹਾਨੂੰ ਇਨਿਿਮੇਸ਼ਨ ਨੂੰ ਪ੍ਰਾਪਤ ਕਰਨ ਦੀ ਕੋਸ਼ਿਸ਼ ਕਰ ਮਰਨ ਲਈ ਖੜ੍ਹੇ. "
Hey whoa! Hold on why are you attacking us?? Two large centepedes lie freshly killed across the hallway.
If you attack us you will join them, my friends are mighty. Would it not be better to enjoy a free meal as opposed to one you stand to die trying to obtain.
Agrippa recoils from the tentacled horror
Odd, it looks almost like those squid I dined upon not ten days ago... Agrippa thinks, the thought of dining on this thing though turns his stomach a bit.
Agrippa strikes out at the Zoog, he apparently has come across it in his studies.
A minor creature of indeterminate origin! It must be slain with extreme prejudice! Agrippa exclaims
He then darts away
Lizzie takes a look at Momiji, as she asks for a cleanup.
"Oh - oh! I got this."
"Let your boots be as shiny as a polished jewel."
Momiji's boots are cleaned, and have a decorative touch of fine golden lines, as Lizzie motioned her finger as if wielding a paint brush.
"Hmm, what's that Filbert?"
Crystal seems more confused than frightened by the mass of tentacles that just appeared out of nowhere.
Heinrich takes the appearance of the strange tentacled horror in his stride, apparently being rather familiar with them, he backs away as much as the room will allow. Heinrich what have you been doing to know such things?
---> MISS
A big black rat scurries past Momijii and launches itself at Lizzie, who bodychecks it easily with her shield.
---> MISS
Another slightly smaller, evil looking rat tries to bite FIlbert but the little gnome is much too nimble.
---> MISS
The final mottled grey dire rat tries to take a chunk out of Luxina, but the elven alchemist's studded leathers are too tough and the rat bounces off.
---> HIT
---> No crit
---> MISS
---> HIT
The Zoog sniffs at Filbert, wrinkles its tentacled nose and launches itself at Momijii in a fury of tooth and claw. The monk is left with several deep scratches including one that's bleeding freely.
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Dire rats
Xoog
Crystal Delphi <----- WE ARE HERE
Momijii
Filbert Springbit Action posted
Lizzie "beads" Tamar'
Luxina Tenebris
Crystal Delphi, Momijii, Lizzie "beads" Tamar', Luxina Tenebris and Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (Heinrich for round 2) are up.
Agrippa steps back into the fight and stabs at the Dire Rat
First insects, now rodents. We must be pest control...
Crystal grimaces. "Ugh... disgusting." She then lines up a shot on the tentacled thing and fires!
Crystal's arrow strikes the Zoog on it's tail, cutting the tip off. It mewls piteously!
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa Round 2 action posted
Dire rats
Xoog
Crystal Delphi
Momijii <----- WE ARE HERE
Filbert Springbit Action posted
Lizzie "beads" Tamar'
Luxina Tenebris
Momijii, Lizzie "beads" Tamar' and Luxina Tenebris are up.
Lizzie swings her mace at the rat.
"Stay away from my friend, you vermin!"
Momijii was horrified by the appearance of the strange, tentacled, rat, a rat which clawed at her badly and drew a painful bleeding wound on one leg. Angry now, Momijii adopted her fighting stance and lay into the strange creature, one foot kicked at it but missed due to teh painful injury and she then tried to catch it with the same foot on the back swing. She knew for an instant that she would miss this second attempt to hit the thing and suddenly was inspired, with a slight hop she caught one tentacle with her other foot, trapping it long enough for her foot to land squarely. It landed so well in fact that it came down with devestating force before the tentacle was freed.
Luxina drops her torch, 5 foot steps and throws a bomb at the blue dire rat.
Momijii's clever footwork lets her land a solid blow which stuns it momentarily, allowing her to drop kick it like a football. It collapses in a broken heap under one of the boilers.
Filbert attempts to intimidate the giant rats, it almost worked too, however they just stare at him. The distraction proved just long enough for Lizzie's mace to splatter one into a bloody ruin. Meanwhile with a dull crump, Luxina's bomb rips another one apart. To complete the rodent extermination, Heinrich's rapier transfixes the last one which thrashes about before expiring with a high pitched squeak!
Combat Over
As the battle Adrenalin wears off, Momijii finds that her leg is still bleeding freely from a nasty Zoog bite.
Crystal walks over to Momijii and lays a hand on her leg.
Pharasma's healing energies flow into the monk's wound, stitching it closed. "How's that feel?"
The power of Pharasma floods the wound, leaving nothing but a patch of new pink skin.
Crystal seems to be too focused on Momijii's newly-healed injury to notice anything of importance in the room.
Staring at the quickly overcome rats and something else, not quite a rat, Filbert mutters to himself. "Why didn't they just run away for the easier meal? Now they are dead? The rats at home were always hungry, always gnawing, but given a easy meal; readily take it. These died needlessly. Is everything in this mad house insane?" Shaking his head, Filbert looks around once more surveying the damage his companion quickly dished out
Hey! what was that ?!? Moving towards the boiler, crouching down, making his small form even smaller he crawls back under the boiler, retrieving the rods, their application becoming apparent once he started to wipe them off. Sunrods!
Crawling back out he holds them out to the others, "Theses were up under the boiler, along with other things best left under the boiler" he says with a shudder "Sunrods, my master used them to backlight gems we were working on, to check for inclusions. Most ruined the stone but some were actually beneficial, causing the light to play differently. Once we found one with a star shaped inclusion, with careful manipulation of the angles surrounding the outside edges of the emerald, we caused the light to bounce off of every side of it. Even under candlelight the star within would glow" Falling back into memories of happier times Filbert will gladly wool gather for the next little while unless someone moves him on.
As they filter back out into the hallway, Filbert tells the guardsman behind the barricade "The boilers appear to be in good shape, if you can spare someone to tend them for about 5 hours hot water can be restored to the building, should you want it. Under the current circumstances, seeing as we need to find the shapeshifters we are not able to remain here. "
Moving up to the doorway next to the barricade, Filbert listens for anything moving on the other side of it.
The door Filbert examines is of sturdy oak construction, perhaps two inches deep. It’s plain something has tried to beat its way through in the past. You notice a few broken crossbow bolts scatted in the area.
Filbert reaches out and test the door, finding it locked. Looking around the floor at the broken bolt and deep scratches on the door itself, he turns back to the guards.
"Do you know who is locked within. Someone coughed in there."
Turning back to the others...
"Anyone know who to pick a lock? Appears this door's fairly sturdy from the scratches and broken bolts."
Crystal shakes her head. "Unfortunately, no. On both counts."
Momijii enjoyed the satisfying thump as the now dead ratacle dropped dead, it was enormously satisfying, at least until she realized she was still bleeding profusely from the wound it had made. She was about to ask for help when Crystal took the initiative and healed it for her. She tested her leg out and nodded at the woman saying, "My thanks, it feels much better now." The aid of the woman distracted Momijii from noticing what Filbert found and revealed the sunrods she smiled slightly at his story, "I would love to see such a sight one day, an ever glowing star trapped in a gem," she sighed, "my ancestors on both sides would love such a treasure."
As they continued on she was amused at Filbert's baiting of the guards and was glad to see that he was maintaining his spirits. As they found the door she shook her head and said, "No, I'm not any good at picking them. Breaking them maybe, but not unlocking them. Baring any other means I can try and break the lock, I don't know how long it would take nor how much noise it would cause."
"My thanks, it feels much better now."
"You're welcome, ma'am." Crystal nods at the monk.
As you debate what to do with the door, a voice calls out from behind the barricades, "Hey cut that out! If you really are who you say you are, try the other end of the corridor. That's where they are."
Indeed. This information might have been important to give us bit sooner. Agrippa quips, as he moves down the corridor.
Say, Filbert is it. Might I have one of those Sunrods?
Heinrich moves north to find a scene of devastation. the walls between the hall and the office to the east have largely collapsed, exposing debris-cluttered desks, toppled lockers, and several bodies that almost look human.
While looking around, trying to spot anything evil from approaching them, yet again, Lizzie doesn't spot anything yet.
"It seems things are pretty quiet, thankfully.
Let's hope they stay that way for now."
Handing over one of the sunrods, Filbert follows Agrippa up the hallway to a scene of devastation. Bodies are mixed into the rubble some no longer appearing to be fully human.
Yet one nurse, an elderly grandmother from the looks of her is trapped. oh! How do you fall to wind up with your leg bent that way?!? Outside of the broken leg which has Filbert facinated with a morbid curiosity, he is unsure of any other injuries she may have.
"This one is alive, looks like her leg is badly hroken, could one of you help her? I have no training in medicine, I might do her more harm than good." however his morbid curiosity still has ahold of him, yes, yes, the ceiling fell in, injuries and death would be understandable but something doesn't look right"
Moving along, out of the way of the better healers of the group, Filbert moves to the nearest corpse. no, no, that can't be right... wiping a shaky hand across his face Filbert moves to check another of the corpses.
Checking a second and quickly a third he calls out, somewhat louder than he meant to "someone's been cutting strips from the bodies laying here."
Agrippa shudders at Filbert's description of what occurred here.
I am also untrained in the Medicinal arts. Agrippa says, inspecting the area
"Cutting strips from the bodies?" Luxina follows into the room looking at the amassed boides.
"Gruesome indeed. But is this done with a knife or with tooth and claw? If it's a knife, what would that say about those 'survivors behind that barricade?"
Perhaps I'm becoming way to paranoia. Perhaps it's why I ended up in this place. Perhaps I have a right to be paranoia. This place gives me the creeps, even me...