I've no idea what may be in the sewers, but it can't be anything worse that what's outside. Muttering a quick prayer to Shelyn, Circe will climb into the tunnel, moving as quickly as she can to the end of it.
Illithia snaps into action quickly as the boy enteres, grabbing her glaive. She lacks the blessing to be able to heal the boy's wounds though, and so immediately begins barricading the door. As they group flees towards the sewers, she begins to barricade the door to this room as well. "By the Rose, if they catch us, flee and I will hold them." she says as she finishes blocking the door, taking the rear guard postion, her glaive now unsheathed. The blade of the glaive has been dyed, the deep red of a rose (or, of blood).
Bishop's thoughts are a whirlwind. "Deeds that matter. That sounds good to me." His thoughts are interrupted by the maimed boy coming into the room. His initial shock of the boy's injuries are soon replaced by anger and cautiousness as he hears the voices of the dottari. "Well, if you two wanna cover the back, I guess I'll take the front with Janiven then." He says to the group. He quickly does what he can to barricade the door to buy them more time before he rushes into the tunnel leading into the sewers.
As the foul smell of the sewers reaches Dracius, he is reminded of earlier days spent scavenging food on from the midden heaps. He quips, "Better the sewers than the Hellknights. At least this way, the filth washes off." He turns to look down the tunnel, using his darkvision to determine if the way out is also blocked.
Roman waits to see that everyone but Illithia disappeared in the tunnel, then motions her to go first. "Please, I do not mean it in a bad way. But I will not insist, pleasantries can be saved for when we're safe."
"As you wish." Illithia knew that time was short, and didn't want to waste any. She left Roman take the rear. Maybe I misjudged this man.
The small tunnel is cramped, and it feels longer than it is; as you enter, the stench is what overwhelms all other senses. After Circe and Dracius disappears into the darkness, Janiven throws a quick glance at the rest of you before she gets crawls off herself, draggin Morosino's body with her.
The tunnel widens into ten feet as you reach the end of the small, cramped passage. A three-foot deep trench is rummaging with sewage and waste, carrying it off in some direction. A very fickle light can be seen at the far end to the right.
Janiven huffs behind you as she drags Morosino's body into the sewer. As she gets up on her feet, she pulls out a small sunrod from her pocket. "We need some vision for now..."
As the rest of you you hurriedly barricade the door, you crawl into the tunnel to find the others illuminated. Janiven immediately leaps over the trench as the last one of you get up on your feet and pulls away a loose stone in the masonry. "Good. They're still here..."
She pulls out a couple of potions with a deep red liquid - easily identifiable as restoratives. She then tosses the satchel over to Illithia. "There's fifteen of those. Distribute them amongst yourselves."
Janiven walks to the left and leaps back over the trench. She points her [sunrod forward. "We should hurry. Over here."
Up ahead, the tunnel narrows slightly, to exclude the waste trench; it reaches only five feet up to the ceiling. Janiven calls your attention shortly after as you progress, pointing at a small engraved sword in the stonework. It is pointing forward. "If we get lost, or split up, for whatever reason, these swords will point in direction of the hideout. We engraved them at every intersection. Me and Arael - my mentor... we did this when we explored the sewers a few months ago."
"I also worry... the Hellknights might spend some minutes searching the tavern, but they will find the tunnel, and they will likely grab a lantern and follow us, or try to make torches. They might even try to infiltrate the sewers ahead of us if they can guess our route."
The ceiling rises up again as the trench - and excessive stench - rejoins you, and you arrive at an intersection. "Let's find the mark and carry on..."
As they enter the sewer tunnel, Circe removes the scarf from her head and uses it to cover nose and mouth, more worried about the stench from the tunnel floor than she is about anyone seeing her delicate little horns. She then scoops Kista back up into her arms, not wanting the little cats fur to get covered in filth and follows Janiven. Circe takes careful note of the swords that Janiven points out in case she should need to try to find them on her own at some point.
Roman finds a blade, half-way weathered away by the passage of time, on the tunnel leading to the right. Janiven takes the lead without a word, as she brings her finger up to her lips.
It's merely sixty feet forward when you arrive at a large, oddly-shaped space. A large cesspit connects to one part of the channel, and several wooden bridges work as bridges across the trenches.
You spot something in the shadows up ahead - something that looks like a large... mushroom? It is sixty feet away.
A man-sized mushroom could mean a Shrieker - a fungus that shrieks whenever it detects movement or a source of light within 10 feet of itself.
Bishop follows Janiven rather quietly. As he looks around, he sees Circe remove her scarf and notices her little horns. "So that's why she wears that scarf. I reckon I might ask about that later." He thinks to himself while taking note of the engraved swords.
Dracius feels his heart pounding as he runs from the Hellknights, This is far more exciting than I would have thought... Truly, I'm living the start of some bardic tale, where the heroes of good overthrow the darkness of the world... Lost in his own romantic thoughts, he notices nothing...
Illithia frowns briefly at the smell, but carries on. When she catches a glimpse of Circe's horns, her grip on her glaive tightens momentarily, then lessens once again. Even a tiefling can bring beauty into the world. The Rose does not judge. The group seems to stop in a large open space. Illithia cannot see very well in the gloom, and so will simply keep her glaive at the ready.
Janiven gestures you forward. She carefully points out the wooden bridge across the trench, and she raises the sunrod to show you the path.
Within seconds of doing so, a horrendous scream drowns out all noise and chatter. Up ahead, a disgusting, grey-coloured man-sized fungal growth, blending into the wall, is shaking violently.
This is a Shrieker - a fungus that shrieks whenever it detects movement or a source of light within ten feet. Oddly enough, this one responded entirely to the stimuli of light...?
You spot a small creature - a goblin - pressing against the wall with a panicked look on its ugly, hideous face. It blends into the shadows extremely well...
"I reckon that is not good. We should keep movin'! Bishop tries to say over the overwhelming noise. He looks back towards the rest of the group as he starts making his way across the bridge.
The abundance of screaming distracts him from noticing much else.
Trying to speak over the noise, Circe points to the scared creature while asking, Uhm, Janiven, should that little goblin be down here?
The scream distracts Roman from keeping an eye on the pursuit. He turns around, ready to shoot into whatever caused it.
"Every sound made and every second wasted makes the hellknights closer, keep that in mind."
Dracius winces as at loud scream, I should have seen that... I'd best keep focused on the matter at hand and daydream later when there are fewer Hellknights about.... He takes a look around him and notes the hidden goblin, though Circe asks about before he can speak.
He keeps an eye on the little creature and says, "I know we've already announced to the Hellknights where we are, but is there a way to silence this mushroom?"
Janiven's expression is that of horror and frustration as she extinguishes the light from the sunrod by shoving it into her sleeve - shortly after, the shrieking ends. "Nine Hells," she whispers angrily. "A shrieker... you saw a goblin?"
"The thing will probably call for reinforcements! Where did it go? We have to find the mark and continue!"
You see the goblin skitter off to the right, having abandoned all intents of stealth.
You find the mark close to the passageway to the left - luckily, far from the shrieker...
Eyes looking eerily red in the dark, Circe points after the goblin. "It's running off over there to the right. The next mark is over here on the the left though. Shall we just run for it? I doubt we have a chance at catching the goblin before those Hellknights get down here."
Circe looks quite worried at the thought of the Hellknights catching up to them, glancing over at the body that Janiven is carrying.
Dracius starts looking for the mark while cursing himself, I should have prepared an offensive spell, or at least readied my crossbow before we stepped down here. Again, Circe speaks just as he spots the mark, and he flashes a quick smile to her while drawing forth a crossbow bolt and pulling back the mechanism.
Roman considers the options.
"If the goblin will bring reinforcements here, we'll be already gone, and they might meet with the Hellknights and distract them. I think we should follow the marks so far."
"Let's just keep goin' for the markers, then." Bishop agrees with Roman as he starts moving to the left where the next marker is.
Illithia fumbles for someone to grab onto. Her vision was terrible in this light. She hears a clank of metal and reaches her hands to find purchase on a hard metal surface - a breastplate. It must be Dracius. "Apologies if I startled you, but I cannot see my feet for this light." Illithia says quietly, only lightly touching the metal now, just so she can get an idea of where she's going.
Dracius turns and smiles, his deep voice almost a rumble as he whispers with utmost sincerity, "No need to apologize. It is, after all, one of my duties to bring beauty out of the darkness."
You slowly make your way out of the room; as you enter another slightly cramped tunnel, Janiven pulls out the sunrod from her sleeve. "I'm reluctant to use this," she whispers, striding forward at a high pace, "Especially with that shrieker."
The trench reappears after a couple of feet. A couple of feet ahead, there is a great wooden door, and further up ahead the tunnel takes a sharp left to reveal another door.
"Doors?" Janiven says with a hint of doubt. A quick examination reveals that both doors are locked.
You see the mark engraved on a small stone further up the tunnel - the doors seem irrelevant to your path. Yet...
From behind the first door, you can hear the buzzing of the city - this seems to be an entrance up to the streets of Westcrown. The second door you can hear the softest rattle of ... bones?
"We should keep going. I see another marker up there." Bishop says as he points down the tunnel.
Janiven nods firmly in Jerro's direction. "I concur. We shouldn't linger."
You pass the doors without incident, hurrying along. The rough, nauseating tumble of the sewage that trickles down the trench is accompanied by the soft echoes of your huffs. As you squeeze through another tunnel, you come upon a great intersection; from where you stand, four paths branch out. One goes to the left; one to the right, and two proceed further ahead in separate directions.
You find what looks to be the remnant of the mark next to the passage leading left; half of the stone it was engraved on has been torn off.
Heaing nothing at either door, Circe hurries along with the group. One hand keeping her scarf over her nose and mouth, the other still carrying Kista. At the intersection she looks about, trying to find any sign of the next marker and failing...
Roman follows the group, wandering what could hide behind the great door, but eventually deciding it's safer to remain ignorant about it. At the intersection he examines the walls carefully and finds a crumbled stone with the remains of a sword mark next to the left tunnel.
"It looks like the mark points to the left, but it's hard to tell from what's left of it. I wonder if someone tried to destroy it on purpose?"
Circe moves up beside Roman and examines the stones around the marker.
Bishop comes to the intersection and finds himself rather stumped as to where to go. However, he sees Roman and Circe examine the walls. "But why would they, Rome? And why just this one?"
A close examination reveals a very crude cut in the stonework, as if some great axe or claw was swung in its direction. Janiven glances at it with a pensive expression. "There are rumours of great beasts in the sewers. But we don't have time to meander. The hellknights could be at our heels-"
Her voice is cut short as something flies past you, scarcely missing Jerro's face. A crossbow bolt crumbles to the floor several feet away.
With a panicked expression, you see a goblin - likely the same goblin from before - dart away!
Janiven draws her blade, a beautiful longsword of exquisite quality. She glances around with sharp eyes. "We don't have time for this..."
Roman curses himself for distracting from guarding the rear. No training can substitute real teamwork... Drawing his bow again, he stares intently at the darkness, trying to trace the attackers.
It's that wretched goblin again... I don't think chasing him around the sewers is a good idea, let the Hellknights find him first.
He lets an arrow fly in the goblin's direction, not really hoping to hit, but with the intention to show the creature that they are armed and harassing them can be dangerous.
"Well, he is about to find out that trading shots with me is a bad idea. He may bring friends. We don't need his tribe and Hellknights on us." Bishop says as he draws his gun. It seems to be an old slightly used pistol with the name "Sarah" engraved on it. He rushes to get closer to the goblin if he can and fires a shot.
As Jerro advances to fire a shot, Roman's arrow races through the air, and the goblin lets out an angry squeal as it hilts into his stomach. Jerro's bullet hits the mark, and the squeal turns into a croak - and the goblin tumbles face-first into the trench, sinking into two feet of waste.
"Good thing you got rid of that and all, but that gun of yours must've alerted the entire sewer of our presence," Janiven sighs. "Let's not delay any more."
Without hesitation Janiven strides onwards. The tunnel advances several hundred feet without any interruptions until you eventually reach an even fouler smell. Slipping the sunrod into her sleeve, Janiven slows down slightly. Above, the rumble of feet can be heard, and from a grate in the ceiling, light pours into the room.
A giant cistern is underneath the grate, filled to the brim with waste - and sticking out of the brown-and-green sludge is something that looks like an arm and half a head. To the right is another door...
"Apologies ma'am. Sarah here is a little loud sonetimes." Bishop apologizes while reloading. When he gets to the door, he puts his ear to it to listen for what might be behind it.
Having never heard a gunfire from so close before, Circe was rather startled by the loudness of it, taking an involuntary step back and nearly loosing her footing as a result. Luckily she managed to keep her balance, though she looked a tad embarrased to be so easily startled.
Continueing to follow Janiven onward, Circe tries to avoid looking in the cistern, not wanting to know what foul things are floating about in it. As Bishop places his ear to door, listening for any signs of movement within, Circe hopes that they have finally reached their destination and that the room behind the door is a bit cleaner and better smelling than the sewer they are currently in.
Dracius raises his crossbow to shoot the goblin, and then winces as the loud gunshot echoes in the tunnel, Idiot! Are you trying to bring the Hellknights down on us?! Seeing the small thing fall, he lowers his crossbow and say wryly, "Not a weapon made for stealth, I see."
He rushes on, following Jeniven's lead while occasionally reaching a hand back to ensure that Illithia has not lost her footing or her way. When the first sights of light strike him, he listens, trying to determine where in the city they are now, how far they have travelled and what might be happening above them. He shudders when he sees the cistern, Even I cannot find any beauty in that...
Damn pesky creatures the goblins. You'd think their companion would have a bit more knack for stealth, but Illithia said nothing, carrying on. She hoped silently that this wasn't the time Bishop would learn his lesson. Thankful for the light coming from a source other than the sunrod, Illithia falls slightly behind Dracius to let her eyes adjust to the light, but she frowns and looks away from the cistern. Perhaps we are below a chamberpot disposal. The thought isn't much comfort.
Illithia snaps from her reverie as Dracius turns to check on her. A little embarassed to be caught thinking instead of moving as she should, she takes Dracius' extended hand with a powerful pull to catch her up rather quickly, but she holds her glaive at the ready, wary of the rumble of feet above them.
Behind the door, you hear a very quiet rumble... a moan of some sorts. A pair of them. The door isn't locked either...
You also see the mark a bit further ahead; the door looks to be a detour.
You see the mark a bit further ahead; the door looks to be a detour.
Janiven frowns at the corpse as she glances at you. "Do you hear anything behind the door? Do any of you see the mark?"
She glances around quickly, raising the sunrod to cast light in all directions.
The echo of a gunshot in a cramped tunnel was still resonating in Roman's ears. He looked at Bishop incredulously. If he fires this weapon often, how doesn't his hearing suffer?.
Not willing to put full trust into his own ears yet, Roman decided to examine the area visually. Upon noticing the cistern with the half-decomposed body, Roman tries to suppress the building sickness. "We must be under some sort of a shady place. What good are all the Diabolist laws and orders, if they allow the sort of people who dump their victims into the sewers to exist?" He continues to search the walls, as this way it's easier to avoid looking at the rotting remnants.
"This door seems to be just a detour I reckon. But there's a rumblin' behind it, two of 'em actually. Kinda like a moaning, I can open the door if y'all are curious. Otherwise, we should keep going." Is Bishop's reply to Janiven. He looks to Dracius while holstering his gun."Like I said, she's a little loud when she gets excited. Sorry if I startled anyone."
Dracius smiles reassuringly at Illithia, as he helps pull her forward. He bows his head slightly, then turns as Jeniven asks her question. He points forward and says, "While I am always curious to explore, the symbol is ahead -- and every delay may bring more Hellknights chasing the screams of the shreiker or gunfire."
"I concur with Dracius. We must secure our own safety before exploring further... and if we could leave that behind quickly, more's the better." Illithia motions to the cistern, meeting Dracius' eye only briefly.
"Then let us linger no longer."
Janiven throws a final glance at the door before she leads you forward. She seems heavy in thought as the passage narrows once more, and after sixty feet of the cramped tunnel it once again mouths out to a wide tunnel... and Janiven bursts out with a small series of expletives.
She raises the sunrod to show that the passage itself is blocked by a refuse and what looks like a disturbing amount of bones. To her right is the mark, plain in sight. At the very top of the blockade, a small crack reveals that the tunnel continues behind the refuse.
"Well, that's not good. Maybe we should try one of the doors we passed? Unless we wanna spend a couple of hours here, mucking through bones and garbage."
"Damn it all!" Roman breathes deeply to regain composure. "So far it seems there are more problems than benefits with setting a base up in the sewers. Since we now have to go back, we're almost sure to encounter our pursuers. Let me shift closer to the front line."
"I suggest we stray from the return path as quickly as possible."