Pinkie wakes with a start and scuttles back against the wall trying to figure out where he is. Looking around at the rest of the figures in the room he finally remembers his current situation although not much beyond that.
Glaring at the Twin and brushing off his new stuff he finally straightens up and talking over his shoulder apparently to the wall says
"I think thats a little rude but ill let him know."
And then to the twin
"Waking me with your feet could get you in trouble." Shrugging he continues "Just saying"
Then continues talking with something unseen "No I'm not gonna tell him exactly what you said it was rude."
Moving closer to the Twin he lowers his voice
"Can we try and find the man that gives us the sign of the fire to take away these dreams. I heard him help some of the staff. I'm not making it up."
Cats wakes up feeling pretty good, after all, he'd had a nice catnap.
Cats supervises *everyone* (including The Twin) helping clear debris, taking a turn with the rest and standing watch with his bow when it's not his active turn.
He even puts Fearless to work, explaining that there are big stones and small stones and plenty of stuff for him to do.
When the way is clear, we'll push on. In a direction.
Once everyone starts working on the rocks Pinkie exclames
"Oh yea i did forget thanks for reminding me"
Taking a moment to slowly move over to Fearless so as not to startle him
" Hey Fearless there are a couple sunrods under the boiler and i cant get under there to get them maybe you can fit"
"Sign of the fire?" Fearless drops one of the smaller rocks as he helps move the pile away from the door as he is now intrigued.
He walks over to Pinkie and points a finger up at the taller man. "What do you mean and who is a dream-stealer?"
Fearless continues to question and allow the others to clear the door as he takes in all of the new information.
******************************************
As the door is cleared Fearless peeks his head out and looks across the hallway. "Hey! That's the Doctor's office we were taking to when they knocked you guys unconscious. Let's head there." He points excitedly to Cats and Brother Butterfly.
He rushes into the hallway. his bare feet slap loudly against the cold stone as he reaches for the broom closet door and opens it.
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Brother Butterfly finishes his prayers as the rest of The Watchmen clear the doorway. He is thankful that the rest are busy and occupied as his prayers are haggard and tough. BB feels very tired and a bit unfocused. At long last he gets into his normal cadence and chants to Desna and feels an uplift of spirit.
BB stands up from his kneeling position and those that might notice see a red line underneath his jaw. A line that seems to divide the throat. A couple other lines –pinkish red also appear on his arms and the trunk of his body.
He puts on his backpack and straps a pouch onto his belt.
It’s a bit odd, as he has far less equipment – and no armor or apparent weapon – than the rest of the crew.
Campre – Do you mind if I borrow that spiked club before we take on the rest of this mad cap world? You have crossbow, so you are reasonably weaponed. I promise to give it back once I have a decent weapon.
He overhears the conversation between Pinkie and Fearless, and chimes in.
Zandalus – I’d bet anything that “the Flame guy” is probably Zandalus. Tall and gaunt with straight white hair pulled back into a pony tail. He has a room two doors down from the room they kept Fearless , Cats and I in. But, I really don’t trust that guy or think he’s really here to help. I observed an exchange between him and an orderly, and he didn’t know I was watching. When he turned away from the orderly, he had this evil look to him. Like he pretends to be “okay”. He’s not a guy that I’d trust.
But, he had a symbol of a flame on his forehead. If we DID want to search for him, we’d go back to that private room area. I personally prefer we start by going to the broom room that Fearless is headed toward, and then find the kitchen and grab food supplies.
Fearless steps into the hallway and discovers a development that must have occurred while your group rested.
A 3-foot-high barricade of broken furniture and fallen masonry fills the hall about 20 feet away to your right. Lanterns flicker upon the walls, casting shadows upon several closed doors beyond the ramshackle barricade and the faces of a few men guarding the structure.
One of the guards yells out a warning both to you and his allies. “Whoa, there! We got more here!” The guards train crossbows over the barricade in your direction.
The Twin seems like he is about to comment on the "sign of the fire" debate, but the interruption of the guards in the hallway proves problematic. He pulls out a dagger and keeps his eyes on Campre, expecting the orderly to do something stupid.
He looks to Fearless and raises his other hand up, extending a finger across his lips.
The man obsessed with felines seemed fairly adept with his blade.
The Twin steps closer to Brother Butterfly and Cats before whispering to the pair. "Should we prepare for a fight?" he asks, wondering if they are wanting to try diplomacy. "Perhaps these are also skinstealers."
"Fight? Why? Lemme go talk...hold on..." Cats says, practicing the smile he literally saw in the mirror for the first time yesterday.
Cats pokes his head out to address the guards with some idea what he looks like.
"Hey no! Don't shoot! We don't want any trouble. We're..." Inmates? Armed and dangerous? Not all as crazy as the snake guy or the halfling? Cats struggles to finish his thought.
"We're with Orderly Campre! Yeah. Don't shoot. We'll get him out to talk to y'all. One moment...I'm sure he cat explain."
Cats looks around to Campre.
"Campre, come here and tell them that we ain't cats."
Diplomacy
"Or a ghoul..." Fearless whispers as he hasn't had a dream since the crazed one a few days ago.
He places a small hand behind Cat's and nearly pushes the man out of the doorway as he tries to get a peek out but can't quite see.
He looks back at the rest and Brother Butterfly.
"You're one of those shapeshifters. Is there a way we can tell if someone is one or not without killing them?"
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Seeing that Cats might be in danger, and Campre hasn’t moved to help yet. BB jumps to action to join him.
From inside the room comes Brother Butterflies voice.
Hold Your Fire! We are survivors. I am coming out and I am unarmored and unarmed.
In a low voice to the rest of the group. If they turn me into a pincushion, rush the barricade while they're reloading their crossbows -- but hopefully it doesn't come to that.
whispered
Desna, allow my words to ring true and find their ways into the hearts of Good Men and to the ears of the wise men that know it is far better to AVOID battles.
luck spell
Brother Butterfly with his hands up in the air walks out into the hall and into full view of the barricade and crossbowmen trying to move so he is shot vs Cats. To the barricade he speaks.
We survived the torture inflicted by the Facestealer. We killed it and escaped from the cells she had us locked into. I have PROOF and marks.
He shows them some of the marks and red lines that actually came from last night's nightmare.
Don't shoot me until you at least can see that we have proof -- as the jail cells and the body of the Facestealer are still down below.
With that Brother Butterfly looks for a familiar face that he can identify by name so he can give information to those in the room who and what we're dealing with behind the barricades.
"Stay back!" One of the guards warns as more of your group makes themselves known. "One body isn't proof of anything. We've put bolts into a couple doppelgängers, might have even killed one, so that could just be your evil dead friend! Hell, he could just be faking it until you drop him in our laps!"
A familiar face pops up among those at the barricade, the young orderly, Denman. "Hey, I know them. They are some new patients who were some of the first to go missing a couple days ago."
Upon hearing the young man's voice, Campre peers around the doorframe. "Denman, that you?" Stepping out with a smile, he begins to approach the barricade. "Hey, it's Campre! Is that Waldir with you? Who else is over there? These guys might be f@cking crazy, but they ain't shape shifters, so let us, YIAH!!" Campre jumps as a bolt bounces off a wall near him.
"The next one won't miss. We said stay back!" The guard begins to reload his crossbow and scowls at Denman. "Go get York!"
As Denman scurries back toward the Chapel a couple other men step from a nearby door, reinforcing the number of guards at the barricade.
"HEY! I said stop shooting! STOP!" Cats ducks back under cover. "We ain't catshifterers! What part of that don't you get?"
Cats thinks for a moment.
"We catted one good downstairs if you need help telling the difference. Tell 'em, Catpre!"
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Upon hearing the name "York", Brother Butterfly's blood runs a bit cold. His eyes narrow into a piercing gaze, as he remembers the betrayal in the supply room. Thankfully, a wise part of his brain clicks when he hears the word "doppelganger" and he remembers how the Facestealer was able to mimic his own face quickly. Easily changing different part of its body to look like his head.
So the person arriving beyond the barricade maybe the "real York" or maybe the "fake York".
Well Campre, I think they have disavowed you. You may have just joined the "crazy as f***" Watchmen.
Guys --we got ambushed by a Facestealing version of York. This may be him or it may be the real Captain York. Keep that in mind during our conversations.
With that he closes his eyes and concentrates.
"There anything personal you know about York to tell if this one is real or not Campre?"
Fearless patiently waits for York to arrive to hopefully clear all of this up.
"Why are the guards on edge here all of a sudden. What happened to this place? How long were we unconscious?" Fearless is filled with never ending questions for Campre and hopefully York as well.
The Mariner had been in a catatonic state from the ceaseless nightmares, now being led along by Pinkie dragging him by the wrist. The broadsword that he had picked up scrapping along the ground, dulling the blade even further from the rat chopping session earlier. With some stimulus of something other than the incomprehensible, he looks up at the barricade and the men. "How do you know one of you aren't one of them monsters? You be wanting to come with us."
Seeing that Cats is rebuked by the guards, the man responds to his 'catsing' questions. "That would be why we might need to fight, Cat." he whispers to the man as he retreats back into the room.
The Twin keeps his dagger in hand, feeling the flipping the blade over as he holds it against his chest, waiting for the inevitable attack. "We should strike first. They have a barricade and crossbows. Our new weapons can't fight against that." he reasons, taking into account the stopping power of the bolts. "Once York arrives he will try to beat us into submission. At least, this is based on everything I have seen and felt from the man." the Twin whispers as the Snake sways back and forth next to the man, ready to strike.
Having scrambled back to the boiler room with everyone else Campre paces the small room. In response to Brother Butterfly's induction into the Wathmen, he groans and rubs his temples. "F@ck me..."
To the group, he says, "I think we were down there two days. Maybe coming on three now. Last I heard, Doctor Losandro and Doctor Chawaar had come up with some sort of cure to the cannibal curse, and York said things were starting to get back to normal. Then Lovelan, or a thing that looked like her, got me in the.. umm, as I was finishing my shift." Thinking for a moment he shakes his head. "I think these creatures can read minds or something. Lovelan seemed to know what I was about before I... look, if he is one, he'll be good at pretending to be. If he's not he'll kick our @sses and send us packing, or put us six feet under."
The Mariner's question sows some uncertainty among the guards, but they don't back down. "The only monsters we've seen are out there with you!"
Brother Butterfly focuses his divine senses down the hall toward the barricade as York arrives. No one has the sickly aura he somehow knows as evil.
York calls out. "I'm told that you have a corpse from one of the creatures?! I'm sorry, but one won't be enough to earn our trust! Come back with three heads, separated from the body, and we'll talk."
"You guys are morons if we were the monsters why the heck would we have one of our own os a dead body. More likely the people that don't have a body has the monster with them and that would be you."
Pinkie yells around the corner and throws his hands up in the air.
York responds. "We've faced our share of monsters, and we have dealt with them! Accept our terms and go prove yourselves! Provoke us and we will deal with you!"
Cats looks at Campre, to see if the orderly has any better ideas.
"Why do you think we'd have two more heads? And why three? Where do you think we'll cat more?" Cats asks.
Replying to Cats, York calls back. "Sounds like you have a few members in your group. Might be you have one among you! If not, then head north up that hallway. The ones we've run off went that way!"
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Friends, Since they won't allow us behind the barricade. It's not all bad news. The best news is that we are not getting shot by crossbows. The other good news is that because, after we go to the kitchen, we know we have a safe room we can sleep in because we have guards watching this long hallway.
We need to go to the kitchen to get food and stock up on provisions. After that, we don't need to be behind a barricade. We are getting out of here. So I suggest we go to the kitchen, get food and try to have a good night's inside the Boiler Room with 6 guards (pointing to the crossbowmen) protecting our sleep and try to get off the island tomorrow.
Turning toward the barricade and talking to York.
Hey York, do you think you can help a brother out with some armor and maybe a weapon? If you're going to leave us out here unprotected the least you can do is give us a fighting chance to survive.
York considers Brother Butterfly's request for a moment. "I'll give you one weapon for every head you bring back! Bring back three and we'll let you in!"
Fearless sighs as he hangs his head. Though he doesn't wish to go further this mystery of what the hell happened to the Asylum does drive and intrigue his investigative nature.
"Sounds like we are heading north." He warily follows Brother Butterfly out into the hallway and gulps as several crossbows are aimed his way. he quickly holds his own hands high into the air, well high for a halfling.
"Ok! We are coming out and headed north! Don't shoot!"
Fearless slwoly backs down the hallway and chest the door north off the Doctor's Office Broom Closet and looks for any traps.
He feels around for a very rusty set of tools he gathered up among the pile of bodies below to make sure they are close by.
Giving a sharp whistle Fearless calls over the Mariner. "Hey big guy. Wanna take the lead? What's your name anyways?"
Fearless looks to the Mariner and Pinkie and realizes he hasn't quite met them yet and knows very little about them both.
Remembering he is extremely low on bolts for his crossbow Fearless turns to Brother Butterfly and whispers.
"PSST! Hey, see if they will at least toss over a bundle or two of bolts." He says as he waves his crossbow in the air.
"I'd probably do the same thing..." the Mariner acknowledges York's dilemma quietly to the others, "Let's go look for some heads."
Then to the tugging at his shirt hem, he looks down to see Fearless. Without thinking about how, he answers answers the halfling in halfling language, "Yea, okay I'll go first. The name?... Umm -Mariner", he says convincingly at first, "Or maybe Whalebone, or Klyn, or Weiralai...", he shakes his head then takes the lead.
Once Fearless had unlatched the door, the Mariner pushes it open with the tip of the polearm.
The storage room across the hall looks like a crime scene. Blood spatters the walls and floor. A wide trail of it leads to the trapdoor across the room that you can guess drops down to the pile of bodies you saw in the dungeon below. The doppelgängers have apparently been too busy to clean up after themselves.
There is no other exit from the room, and the stairs that once led below have given way into a pile of rubble that clogs the way down.
The Mariner silently shuts the door, nods a direction with his head and creeps over to the next door, motions a silent jab for Fearless to twist the knob open and step back.
Cats keeps his eyes on the shooting peanut gallery as he goes down the hallway, guarding the rear and letting others go ahead. He has an arrow knocked and he doesn't feel funny or unusual to walk like this...or even to do this. He doesn't know why...but it doesn't.
"What the cat happened in here?" Cats asks as he examines the storage room. He'll do a quick look for things of interest, but, like the rest, he wants to move on.
Perception
As The Mariner and Fearless move on Cats takes a moment to scan the storage room, but finds nothing of interest.
"North then. Next area, what's up ahead?" Cats follows Mariner and the rest up the map some.
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Come on York, toss a bundle of crossbow bolts over to us. You can collect the "bounty" after e leave by coming into this boiler room and climbing down the vent. You will see some equipment and the body of the FaceStealer. How about a Flail and a bundle of Bolts?
Brother Butterfly also spends a minute in the equipment closet. His jaw is set and firm as he sees the blood and gore and thinks about The Bard who almost certainly is dead and a part of the carnage don below.
BB looks for a broom that he can break off the bottom to arm himself with a solid wooden staff. He leaves as soon as he can, as the room just gives him the feeling of failure.
.....
Moving a bit closer to Fearless and The Mariner, BB says in a whisper:
Fearless, if there's a door you don't like. Desna grants her followers with the vision to see beyond the door and into the room. It takes about a minute to focus, so I can't do it quickly or on the fly, but if you give me the signal, with Desna's blessing, I can perform this task and prepare us in advance of conflict.
with that, he moves back to the others. anyone know here the Kitchens are? Campre. Which doors or direction lead us to the kitchens? We want to go there.
After being denied crossbow bolts, the group begins to move on. In the bloody storage room Brother Butterfly finds a mop to fashion a crude club from.
The second door leads into two more storage rooms, open to each other where a wall has collapsed. These rooms once held additional linens, cleaning supplies, spare restraints, and repair tools crammed onto wall-mounted racks. The tremors that shook the asylum ruined several of the racks here, and it seems at first glance like most everything of value has been looted. What remains are fallen shelves, and broken containers, and heaps of linen bearing the strong reek of chlorine.
When asked about the kitchen, Campre looks up and down the hallway. "From here there are three ways to get there, but it looks like two are blocked." He points to the rubble to the north and the barricade to the south. "There is a meeting room through that third door on the right, which cuts through to administration and the infirmary. Assuming that isn't collapsed we could get through to the Dayroom from there, then into the Dining Hall and kitchen."
Fearless does what he can with the door and opens the next door down the long hallway.
"Are they just going to watch if we get attacked?" He asks of the guards with trained crossbows still on them."[/b]
Jiggling the handle he swings the door open and makes a long sweeping motion for the mariner to enter.
"This should be the Meeting room it seems."
Though it isn't locked, Fearless' attempts to open the third door fail. It feels like something is blocking it on the other side, and even the Mariner's strength is not enough to force it open.
Purposefully wordless during the encounter with York and his goons, the Twin has decided that they are far enough away from the evil orderlies to speak his mind once more.
"I wouldn't expect any help from them. I'm surprised the whelps haven't fled back to their mothers and suckled on their teats for comfort." he says with disgust.
The pair of the Twin and the Snake follows the oddly brave halfling as he moves to the next door and tries to swing it open for the Mariner. The Twin laughs a little as the door seems to be blockaded. "Of course." he remarks. "Friend, will you please slither to the juncture and tell us what you see?" the Twin asks as the snake nods.
Cats waits, keeping up his rear guard.
"What's the catting hold up?"
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Cats and Pinkie, do you think you can check the linen room for anything useful? Please remember that I don't have very much, so even backpacks or pouches or repair kits or anything might be something I can salvage and put in the backpack.
BB moves to the blocked door and closes his eyes to concentrate.
"There's no other path. We can try to hack it down, the door looks flimsy."
"The door is stuck...." Fearless yells back. "Brother Butterfly is staring at it again! He likes doors!" He waves his arms in the air. Pointing a finger to his head he circles it around slowly and points to Brother Butterfly.
Though Fearless may seem and indeed come off as brave is little more than his overly curious nature taking hold. Probably what landed him in this mess in the first place. If only he could remember. And what could cause a halfling to feel actual fear and paranoia? Oddities indeed.
"I'll check the room but if nothings there i can slide back down the chute and grab you some stuff"
Brother Butterfly takes a minute to concentrate on the door. When his magical sight penetrates it he sees an area filled with rubble.
The Twin's serpent slithers silently up the hall, peers around the corner, then slithers back. "A man is ahead. He is ssslicing the ssskin from other dead men. Perhapsss to make shoesss. Or handbagsss."
Pinkie goes to check the storage room, but finds nothing more than Cats did.
While waiting for whatever is blocking the party to stop, Cats makes a quick search of storage room #2.
Perception
Convinced there isn't much to see, he returns to his rear guard.
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Hearing that someone/something is cutting up dead people, and after seeing the carnage of the storage room and the bodies at the bottom of the chute, he feels full of rage.
In a low whisper, but a tone that is serious and doesn't expect debate.
This is fighting time. Fearless and Cats, you have bows and crossbows. Move to the corner and shoot that bastard thing. Try to be sneaky and take it by surprise. Mariner and Campre as soon as they shoot their bows, rush by them and spear it like a fish! The Twins, can you ask SuperSnake to join the attack and bite the thing down low, while they stab it up top.
Pinkie, try to move past it, so it doesn't get a chance to escape. I will support everyone and smash it if it's still standing.
Desna, Fill us with courage, coordination, and teamwork. Let our arrows and clubs and bites strike true.
With that, a soft shimmer surrounds all in the hall. This actually fils everyone with courage and a sense of morale.
Cats looks at Brother Butterfly, suddenly giving orders. For some reason, he doesn't bristle or grump at that, even offering to go first. It's like he's used to taking orders...or he's just being nice.
Stealth
Perception
He moves silently (as he can) forward until he sees the thing...
The Mariner inches forward, his heart pounding out of his chest. He steals a look around the corner, not truly wanting to see what the spirit animal is describing.
INITIATIVE
Fearless and Cats move as quietly as they can and peek around the corner.
The walls between the hall and an office here have largely collapsed, exposing debris-cluttered desks, toppled lockers, and several bodies, some human, some almost human. Strips of flesh have been deliberately stripped from the corpses.
The man fortold by The Twin's serpent is nowhere to be seen.
Then a pitiful moan draws your attention to a survivor among the pile of corpses - an old woman with a bloody broken leg.
"Help... me... someone..."
Meanwhile, near the back of the group, Campre curses in surprise. "F@ck! You idiots let something out of that room!"
Back down the hall three giant insect-like monsters are emerging from the second storage room. Crawling forth on hundreds of legs, their antennae dart about above large clicking mandables.
Taking his club in two hands, Campre smashes one right in the head, sending out a spray of ichor.
You recognize the crawling creatures as giant centipedes. You know they are vermin of unusual size, but little more.
You recognize the crawling creatures as giant centipedes. You know they are vermin of unusual size, with a poisonous bite.
INITIATIVE
Campre
Fearless
The Twin
Pinkie
The Mariner
Centipedes
Cats
Brother Butterfly
The Twin turns as he hears Campre's curse. He is able to enjoy the sight of the ugly man bashing in the head of a large centipede, which is something, he realizes now, he never wanted to see.
"Grr... Insects and whelps all around!" he mutters in anger as he runs the blade across his palm, dressing it in a small portion of blood. For some reason, this seems to have enchanted the weapon as it glows slightly from the red ichor lining one side of the blade.
The twin throws the blade at the farthest centipede, flinging it out as quickly as possible.
---
The Snake, sensing its master's agitation, raises it's harrow tattooed head and pivots it towards the prey.
"Ssssssmall tassssstiesssss..." it says, with a hint of enjoyment tinging the voice.
It moves up next to Campre after the Twin has thrown his dagger and lashes out at the closer centipede. Seeing the undulating legs, the Snake pictures the slimy creature wiggling all the way down and this thought greatly appeases the eidolon. "Lunch time..." he hisses as he lunges forward.