"Poor boy. Let me fix that for you." B'yelka hums a slow melody and touches the burn on Janos' back. When she finishes, she asks, "Were you so anxious to get rid of your new cloak?" Her wink is almost imperceptible as she smiles and turns away.
B'Yelka discovers the cloak and armor are actually unharmed, it's just the flesh beneath that was burnt.
Janos shifts and he feels the warm of healing fill him. "Ah, much better. Thank you, B'yelka." He does look to see if the cloak is damaged in any way.
"Upstairs? It might pay off to see what's up there. But the Warden was downstairs."
"I have stated previously that I think we would be best served to explore the second floor prior to descending and that opinion has not changed. We should mind our footing though, especially above that front foyer."
Drosil nods and grins wryly. "I concur wholeheartedly - let's do watch our step. I have some experience with unsteady construction..."
Ugh! Why is this such a chore? Nothing takes this long on stage. Well, except rehearsals. B'yelka simply smiles and says, "Up stairs with caution, then."
Tibideau yawns and absentmindedly feeds Bonbon a few fish. It's a titanic effort just to wake the little guy up, even for snacktime. "Bonbon is bored. Let's head upstairs! I have to say, if there are any more animated something or others, I'm going to puke."
Janos nods in agreement and leads the group up the staircase.
Anton follows behind, gingerly checking the steps beneath his feet before placing his full weight. He concentrates hard, mindful of anything foul and damned around them.
Heading up the staircase the group comes to another set of double doors. After checking them for traps, Drosil opens them. Inside is a hallway.
To the right it can be seen that wooden benches once lined this large hall, but several are now stacked in a jumble and others are overturned in disarray. Weakened by fire, the entire east wall has collapsed away,
creating an unintended entryway to a wooden deck beyond.
The view of the lake beyond would be beautiful if the silence
were not so eerie.
To the left there is a guard area blocked from the cellblock by an arc of iron bars. Within sits an old wooden table and a few chairs.
Janos walks over to inspect the overturned benches. He also seems curious about the outer deck. "I wonder what we can see from up this high." He gently walks over towards the open wall, trying to be careful of the weakened structure.
Anton marvels at the beauty of the lake.
Even here of all places She shows me sights that illicit wonder.
The northern portion of this balcony has crumbled away into a
pile of rubble amid the gently rippling waters of a dark pool of
water. Ivy hangs down from the walls in thick, matted lengths,
while dense tangles of vines decorated with deep red and violet
flowers adorn the balcony’s edges above. As Anton and Janos walk over to admire the view, a loud buzzing is heard. It presages the arrival of three stirges flitting down from the roof.
Anton:
Drosil:
B'Yelka:
Dantrian:
Tibideau:
Janos:
Stirges:
Initiative
Party
Stirges
Quick as a flash, Anton readies two arrows and let's them fly at stirge 2
Janos quickly closes the distance to one of the stirges and slashes at it with his cursed axe.
B'yelka sees the distressing little bat-insect things and wonders, If I sing, will they dance again? She doesn't want to think of the consequneces if they do, so she merely steps forward and snaps her scourge at the unhurt one, trying to tangle a wing so that it cannot dodge Dantrian's lethal spear.
Seeing the nearest stirge clumsily dip to avoid B'yelka's lash, Dantrian hurries forward and tries to exploit the distraction. However, an ominous creek from a board beneath him steals his attention at the last moment and spoils his attack.
HP: 24/24
AC: 15 (11 T / 14 FF)
CMD: 16
F/R/W: +4/+4/+1
Hero Points used: 1/3
Prepared Mutagen: Dexterity (scent) [ ]
Prepared 1st Level Extracts (3+1): cure light wounds [ ], shield [ ], open [ ], open [ ]
-Ongoing Effects-
Venting her frustration, B'yelka fumes, "Focus! Deeds, not words Master Almaeus."
Tibideau finds himself wishing for more constructs. "Why do so many bugs have to infest nasty places???" he whines.
He darts behind Janos and speaks harshly to one of the stirges.
Drosil moves to flank the closest stirge with Dantrian, then swings with his blade. The tiny creature proves difficult to hit, however...
Quick as a flash, Anton readies two arrows and let's them fly at the stirge flying towards him. One of the arrow whooshes past the tiny vermin, while the other lodges itself in the thing's wing. The little bloodsucker continues to flap towards the intrepid paladin.
Janos quickly closes the distance to one of the stirges and slashes at it with his cursed axe. The stirge zips easily out of the way of the axe.
B'yelka sees the distressing little bat-insect things and wonders, If I sing, will they dance again? She doesn't want to think of the consequneces if they do, so she merely steps forward and snaps her scourge at the unhurt one, trying to tangle a wing so that it cannot dodge Dantrian's lethal spear. Her whip wraps around one of the creature's wings, jerking it off balance.
Seeing the nearest stirge clumsily dip to avoid B'yelka's lash, Dantrian hurries forward and tries to exploit the distraction. However, an ominous creek from a board beneath him steals his attention at the last moment and spoils his attack.
Venting her frustration, B'yelka fumes, "Focus! Deeds, not words Master Almaeus."
Tibideau finds himself wishing for more constructs. "Why do so many bugs have to infest nasty places???" he whines. He darts behind Janos and speaks harshly to one of the stirges. The bug falters under his curse.
Drosil moves to flank the closest stirge with Dantrian, then swings with his blade. The tiny creature proves difficult to hit, however.
The stirges attempt to attach themselves to the closest people. As the one next to Drosil strikes at his throat, the grey skinned rogue brings his short sword up in a quick thrust neatly impaling it. He flings it off the end of his blade to plop dead onto the floor. Janos tries a similar maneuver with his stirge, but it's too fast. It jams its proboscis into his neck and begins to suck out his blood in deep, rapid gulps. Anton, only having his bow to defend himself with is unable to fend off the injured stirge. The greedy little bug punctures his leg and begins to drink from Anton's femoral tap.
______________________________________
A devilish grin flashes across Tibideau's face when he sees the stirge fall to his curse, but he snarls when it nonetheless manages to take a bite out of Janos. He takes out his frustration by shouting personal remarks at the stirge attached to Anton, then laughs maniacally at his own wisecracks.
Janos whirls, trying to get the stirge to dislodge, but then just brings up the axe in a dangerous blow nearly at his own throat.
Drosil sees the stirge attach itself to Anton and growls. He drops his sword and draws his bow, letting an arrow fly at the creature.
Great shot, Dros! Lets finish the rest!
He spins, lining up a shot on the Stirge flapping around Dantrian.
Anton drops his bow and draws his Morningstar trying to awkwardly bat the thing off.
A devilish grin flashes across Tibideau's face when he sees the stirge fall to his curse, but he snarls when it nonetheless manages to take a bite out of Janos. He takes out his frustration by shouting personal remarks at the stirge attached to Anton, then laughs maniacally at his own wisecracks.
Janos whirls, trying to get the stirge to dislodge, but then just brings up the axe in a dangerous blow nearly at his own throat. The axe slices the stirge in half, leaving the proboscis still in Janos' neck slowly leaking blood.
Drosil sees the stirge attach itself to Anton and growls. He drops his sword and draws his bow, letting an arrow fly at the creature. The already wounded stirge explodes like a massive blood blister, soaking Anton's legs in his own life fluid.
"Troublesome creatures, these stirges. Have either of you taken ill? These beasts are common carriers of disease."
B'yelka frowns. Maybe I should have sang? Instead of dwelling on her hesitation she thanks the powers that be that she remains unharmed.
"Shall we move on, then?
Tibideau inspects Anton's and Janos's wounds and shudders at the sight of the proboscis sticking out of Janos's neck. "Eeeuhh! You poor dear. Do you think you can remove that yourself?"
Anton yanks the long needle like protrusion out with little more than a grunt.
We know these things are tied to the marauder. he says to Tibideau. By now his face is streaked with dirt and cobwebs hang idly from the brim of his hat and cover the flights of his arrows like a shroud. To the witch, he must look an absolute fright, more so than usual.
Be on your guard everyone.
"Well, tied to the marauder and music. Do you remember how the stirges reacted to my singing in the graveyard?" B'yelka lets her concern show on her face, hoping that someone can answer her unasked question.
"Not the Marauder, the Piper of Illmarsh," Dantrian corrects. "I suspect their strange behavior has more to do with the influence of the accursed flute we carry rather than the nature of your song or voice, B'yelka. It is possible these creatures have been under the musical sway of this piper for a long time. Who knows what kind of lasting influence that would have on these rank stirges?" He stows his longspear again, and returns to looking around the area. As he does so he remarks, "Regardless, it is better we dispatch them here and now than give them the opportunity to answer their master's call later when we exorcise him from this grim ruin."
The Piper. Quite right I stand corrected Master Almaeus. Its been a long day.
"Are we sure that flute didn't come with the latest edition of The Murderer's Songbook? I hear it's all the rage in this country." Tibideau jokes. "Maybe then we could control the stirges better than the Piper."
Dantrian gestures to the ax gripped ever so tightly in Janos' hand. "Would you really want to?"
B'yelka blanches, and says "I will not be the one to try it! Better to simply, kill the things, and fast."
"I would only risk using the flute if it were a matter of life and death! I need my mouth for other things. Like eating!" He smirks.
"Vesorianna, said they would be useful in defeating their former owners. I don't know how though." Janos gently removes the stirge's part from his neck and holding the wound until it stops bleeding. "Nasty things," he mutters.
"Maybe they will be useful because their owners still somehow want them, and the fact that we have them will keep them from simply fleeing from us? Master Almaeus, does that make any sense?"
"It is an interesting hypothesis. You propose that beyond simply influencing the bearer of their respective items, these powerful spirits are anchored to the items as well? Hmmm. Perhaps."
"Maybe like our own Diabolists: they use objects to bind powerful entities to them. Only in this case, the spirits have bound themselves!"
Tibideau grins childishly and throws up his hands. "Should we continue to another room? And by that, I mean should another one of you walk through the door while I wait behind in case something nasty jumps out?"
"Yeah, sure." Janos says in a near growl. Evidently, having his blood sucked out by a giant swamp mosquito did not make him jovial.
The Ranger glances around the room and his eye settle on the set of double doors to the south. "I guess this way is fine." He approaches the doors, checking them for anything odd before opening them.
Tibideau sees his joke fell flat. Must think before speaking... But how do I know if some of them just don't have a sense of humor? Bonbon wiggles somberly in Tibideau's jacket pocket. You're right, little crumb. I guess this just isn't the time for such insensitive jokes.
Once a kitchen, this room is now nothing more than charred, blackened remains. An adjoining pantry once contained an abundance of foodstuffs, but it was picked clean by rats and squirrels long ago.
Each of these prison cells contains a skeleton.
Although this cell is rather spacious, it contains no concessions
to comfort. A skeletal body dressed in the rotting remains of a prisoner’s robe lies slumped against the eastern wall, wrapped in numerous chains on which are affixed numerous weights emblazoned with several different holy symbols. The same holy symbols as the ones that Anton now carries.
Janos kneels down to take a look at the skeleton. He uses his cursed axe to lift up one of the holy symbols and looks up at Anton. "If those other symbols belonged to Father Charlatan, then this might be his body." The half-elf glances around for any sign of the criminal's spirit.
Seeing the weighted skeleton and hearing Janos' words, B'yelka inhales a deep breath. Better to be ready for this new haunt!
Janos hears a faint jingling of chains when he touches the holy symbols. No one else hears it.