Ark spins his spear down onto the mutant goblin and it enters in the most unusual, most everyone would agree unnatural way; the spear comes down on the crown of the mutant and travels through it's small body and out his under-end. The goblin drops all of his weapons. The spear however cannot be freed of the goblin-kabob. Jer and Prof both attack the last flying head but it will not drop. Zol quickly sends some much needed healing to the raging half orc. The Flying head continues to try and attack Ark but misses.
miss
party up, kill this thing!
“Fall down now yer stupid head!” Jerrick shouts as he stabs it again. for
Arkus stares at his stuck spear. It doesn't move.
He glares at it willing it to come loose. It doesn't move.
A wing buffets his head as a snap alerts him to the fact that something tried to bite him. T...h....e..SPEAR Doesn't move.......
He sees Red.....
With a roar of great anger, He picks up Spear, Goblin on a stick and then with a mighty thrust attempts to stick it into the flying head.
"Can you not see I'm busy!!!!!!!"
Zol gives Ark some much needed healing. Prof hits the flying head again, but it keeps on coming. Jer attempts a stab at it and misses. Ark raises his goblin skewer into the air to strike, but the dead weight from the goblin is too unbalancing and he misses completely. The head also comes diving in for another bite missing Ark completely.
This angers the half-orc, which is a bad thing for the flying head. After the head's attack missed it TRIED to fly by the infuriated barbarian, but it couldn't.
Ark reached up and grabbed it by the back of it's head and using it's own momentum and his personal primal strength he directs it into the wall next to him. He slams the face side of it into the wall three times before whatever he was holding on to on the back side of the creature ripped off leaving a meaty chunk in his hand. The head hits the floor like a rip pumpkin bursting open, brain matter slushes out of the several newly created holes covered in black icor.
What would you like to do?
Hit
Ark's Minimum damage is enough to kill it outright.
That spear does not feel so neat anymore.
The last flying head that you killed in the hallway looks different. Either it is sheading an outer layer like a molting or it is shapechanging. Your eyes cannot move from it, it owns all of your attention. The hair on the back of your neck and arms stand up, you skin covers with goosebumps, and you begin to get a cold sweat.
The head before you on the ground is human! It is hairless, even devoid of eyebrows.
It's lifeless eyes fix on you staring, glazed over and the little light they pick up from your dancing lights spells causes them a slight twinkle of life that disturbs you further.
You know this face. This man was one of the town guards you met the other day, ONE OF THE GUARDS FROM UPSTAIRS YOU WERE TO RESCUE!
His eye's blink, then again. Shear panic takes over the severed man's face, his eye's bulge out from their sockets staring at you with panicked shock. His mouth opens and he tries to scream, but silence, only silence. There is a quiet pop as his jaw unhinges with the silent scream.
Within a few seconds his eyes gentle roll backwards but not closing. His face freezes in the most horrified look.
He will look like this forever.
And you will never forget these last moments of time.
You have a moment where your knees felt like they would buckle but you are able to keep your bearings.
Save- You may still Role Play this any way you want.
[/ooc]
Destroying the last head must have had a calming effect on Arkus as he slowly comes out of his rage. Still trying to dislodge goblin bits from the spear unmindful of where those bits end up.
He strains as he moves the goblin bit by bit off that spear. It was a good spear. Had some problems but still a good spear!
The goblin is removed easily, after you get what you assume is the pelvis off the spear head. Little bits of goblin litter the area around you and this goblin smells worst than the past goblins you have slain. He smells more acrid, like rotted oranges. Since the fiend is so close to you more subtle differences, extra fingers on his hands, new nostrils forming, the beginning of an eye growing on its cheek. It is a true monstrosity.
-Posted with Wayfinder
What Prof points to is a severed hairless human head with the look of absolute horror on its face. It is laying in the hallway the group came up. The head is in a pool of foul liquid and fleshy lumpy bits.
(Lumpy bits, think when you pull the skin off a chicken before cooking it.)
-Posted with Wayfinder
Covered in goblin blood and bits, even if it looks more than a simple goblin, Arkus steps forward.
"What is it?" he grunts.
Jerrick steps closer to examine the corpse.
to see what the liquid may be.
"You have a strong stomach." Arkus remarks as he watches Zolarus down another gulp.
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He swishes the wine around in his mouth and then spits it out onto the floor.
"Prof, what do think is causing these creatures to disfigure. Is it polymorph experimentation or sacrificial mutilation?"
"I know we just arrived, but I would not fare well in another fight without a day's rest. After we search the area for clues, I recommend we head back to town for healing and a bathe."
All the knowledge checks for the creatures have been rolled.
Jer- not a knowledge arcana, you are not sure what it is exactly. There are no splash marks or drip marks that lead to or from the human head in the hallway. The liquid seems to of originated from it, like a candle made of poor wax that melts over the holder, or a chunk of ice brought into a warm room left in a bucket.
As s for what may be causing the mutations.
Not a clue.
Ark and Zol- The last flying head Ark just killed is also starting to form a liquid pool.
Fail
Fail
As disfigured head on the floor begins to melt or molt rather neither one of you can remove your eyes from such a grotesque sight. The skin falls from it and fanged teeth fall from it's mouth. The green once glowing eye that has dislodged from the socket fades to a white orbit and the meaty pieces behind it turn from black to a healthy red. Bit and pieces are missing and attached to the wall Ark used to defeat the flying head. Even eye level the gore patch on the wall changes, the blackened pieces leave snail trails as they ooze down the wall, slowly they become a buff color and you notice a birthmark on a piece of traveling flesh. The severed head is human, but very hard to tell by the condition Ark left it in.
This is an old school rule that is always fun, I am not trying to punish anyone so please do not feel that way. You have just witnessed a very traumatic event, the walls of reality just crumbled a little. Below are several possibilities of what a failed horror save can do to a character. You can roll a d10, pick the one you like best, or write up your own. I would like to use this to give more role-play into the story. It does not need to be permanent, you can choose to have it effect you for a few weeks by finding a way to cope with it, or you can make it permanent if you wish by never being able to cope with it. Use your discretion and pick something that makes sense for the character. If you think these are too severe or not severe enough you can go Here and look over the other options.
1. Aversion - the scene is just too much, the character whirls, flees and can't go back
2. Nightmares - the character is haunted by constant nightmares of the scene
3. Revulsion - compared to Aversion, but the character can't also stand with things similar to the scene
4. Obsession - the character will speak about the event constantly and repetitively
5. Rage - blind rage on everything
6. Mental Shock - the character seems simply shut down for a certain time
7. Fascilation - every thought is spent on the things seen - the characters character slowly changes into something different - connected to the scene
8. Madness - the character can also react with madness (see below) aka not as traumatized.
9. Fear - a horrified character can react with great fear / very intense fear(see above) aka really really messed you up, sever horror
10. Players choice
Hey Jer could you please add your saving throws to your posting info like the rest of the group has. Like Prof's.
Male Human Wizard Conjurer (Teleportation School Archetype)/2 | HP: 10/14 | AC 13 Tch 13 FF 10 | Init +3 | Perc +0 | Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +4
Rage - blind rage on everything
It looks familar. The slash of crimson staining the grounds as his temper gives way as his slavers unleashes the beast within.
The spear rises and falls viciously towards the remains, his eyes seeing yet not seeing as the memories assault him.
The body falls, a fellow slave it seems, his chest caved him and his leg nothing more than a stump. It'll do well as a club for now.
Flailing away, sending more pieces and gore all over as He rages and slams butt, point or shaft against available targets.
He is free, bloodied but free. Pieces of something or perhaps people lie all over the place and the only constant things is the clanking of his chains. The sounds as it jangles across his arms and legs. The soothing.....
To the party.
Ark checks out for a moment, his breathing gets deeper and more rapid his eyes fixed on the head in the hallway. He starts to broaden, his shoulders bulk up and the grip on his spear tightens, a wood creak can be heard from his iron grip. He starts to froth from the mouth as a wild animal before the attack, and his veins bulge over his massive mussels.
Everyone has seen this from him before but not to this extent, he is angry, very angry. Ark slips by him quiet as a mouse to the wizard and alchemist in the hallway and shuttles them out of site back some distance toward the glass works.
Rraaawwwww!
You can tell it was Arkus, but you cannot tell where the line between the humanoid yell and the beast roar lays. There is much noise that takes place over the next minute; the cracking of bone, the muffled thud of meaty parts being struck, stone cracking, and more prominent is the beastly roars that echo through the corridors. Arkus's outburst seems to last a very long time and frightens everyone, and you question if the creatures down here or a raging half-orc are more frightening to behold. Arkus's shadows can be seen on the wall from the dancing lights in the room, it mores with primal grace. Spear, and fist converge in a myriad flurry of absolute destruction.
After almost two minutes it gets quiet, and Arkus's breathing returns to normal. When the party finds him he is holding part of the haft to his spear, the other is embedded in the wall strangely as the result of a sideways slashing attack one would use with an axe. There is bits of cracked stone that has crumbled from the wall, more gore everywhere, the head has been destroyed beyond recognition now just a pudding on the floor and walls. The mutant goblin is also in a similar condition, bits of bone splinters protrude from its limbs making it more disfigured looking. One of it's arms lay next to Ark by his feet, evidence that at one time it was a club of sorts. The longsword and axe the goblin was using are sticking out of the statue in what would of been violent deaths to any mortal.
There Arkus stands among the gore and destruction, he is still angry but tired and calming.
What would you like to do?
To the party.
Ark checks out for a moment, his breathing gets deeper and more rapid his eyes fixed on the head in the hallway. He starts to broaden, his shoulders bulk up and the grip on his spear tightens, a wood creak can be heard from his iron grip. He starts to froth from the mouth as a wild animal before the attack, and his veins bulge over his massive mussels.
Everyone has seen this from him before but not to this extent, he is angry, very angry. Ark slips by him quiet as a mouse to the wizard and alchemist in the hallway and shuttles them out of site back some distance toward the glass works.
Rraaawwwww!
You can tell it was Arkus, but you cannot tell where the line between the humanoid yell and the beast roar lays. There is much noise that takes place over the next minute; the cracking of bone, the muffled thud of meaty parts being struck, stone cracking, and more prominent is the beastly roars that echo through the corridors. Arkus's outburst seems to last a very long time and frightens everyone, and you question if the creatures down here or a raging half-orc are more frightening to behold. Arkus's shadows can be seen on the wall from the dancing lights in the room, it mores with primal grace. Spear, and fist converge in a myriad flurry of absolute destruction.
After almost two minutes it gets quiet, and Arkus's breathing returns to normal. When the party finds him he is holding part of the haft to his spear, the other is embedded in the wall strangely as the result of a sideways slashing attack one would use with an axe. There is bits of cracked stone that has crumbled from the wall, more gore everywhere, the head has been destroyed beyond recognition now just a pudding on the floor and walls. The mutant goblin is also in a similar condition, bits of bone splinters protrude from its limbs making it more disfigured looking. One of it's arms lay next to Ark by his feet, evidence that at one time it was a club of sorts. The longsword and axe the goblin was using are sticking out of the statue in what would of been violent deaths to any mortal.
There Arkus stands among the gore and destruction, he is still angry but tired and calming.
What would you like to do?
Jerrick whispers to Prof, “Big fella seems a bit unhinged, if yer ask me. Which yer didn't. Best keeps eyes on him...”
.....jingle of chains brings him out from the red haze that has enveloped him...
The spear is shattered. Its haft spintered and its point missing. Wht happened? He had blanked out similar to when....
No. He must not think it. Those days are long gone.....
Where...Ah there!
He sees the remaining half of the spear, embedded into the wall. A sense of guilt begins to pervade his consious as he looks mournfully at the spear wondering if it's possible to repair it. The long sword and axe too seemed embedded into the very stones itself.
The walls weep blood and it is then he noticed how sore he actually is as if he had being undergoing a heavy load and has only now being released. He was streaked with sweat, blood and gore!
Removing what could have being a ear stuck to his forearm, he glances and finally notices his companions staring at him with what could be expressions of complete shock, awe or horror?
Attempting a half-hearted grin, he puts one hand behind his head and scratches it being suddenly nervous.
"Ermmm.... Sorry about this?"
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"It's quite alright. We've seen some nasty monsters and images that can't be forgotten. Tell me again what happen when your blade cleaved the goblin's skull. You were so efficient in dispatching him that I blinked during your frenzy and afraid that I missed something. Your heroic are better told in barroom tales and I don't want to miss a single detail. What was the sound that you heard? Did he shriek in his last breath or vomit until nothing was left inside him?"
His eyes do not blink and glaze over with an unyielding appetite.
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Jerrick whispers to Prof, “Big fella seems a bit unhinged, if yer ask me. Which yer didn't. Best keeps eyes on him...”
"Indeed. I think he might be upset."
"Our friends have seen more of the abominations beneath Sandpoint than either you or I. Perhaps facing so much evil can leave a person... changed..."
What would you guys like to do?
"I do believe I need to wash up but other than that I'm fine." Arkus Mutters...
"However clearing this room maybe more important. We don't want strange creatures escaping to the town above doesn't it?"
“I say we press on. Let's see what else there is to burn down here.”
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"B-b-burn?" Utnapishtim stutters. "But, there may be Thassilonian artifacts down here."
Seeing that the others don't care about history for history's sake the way he does, the Wizard adds, "Unique items that would fetch a grand price in markets like Magnimar, Korvosa, and Riddleport. Possibly Kaer Maga or even Absalom!"
Nodding towards the half-orc's spear he adds, "Arkus Scargazed's new toy is empirical evidence that wonders and rewards yet remain."
Excellent! So that means you guys want to....
:-)
1. This large chamber was obviously once a prison, as testified by the twenty cells that line the room’s perimeter. The room has a raised platform beyond the door that drops off to the prisoners area.
2. The crumbling remnants of several chairs and a long table clutter the floor of this room. To the south stand three stone doors, each bearing a strange symbol that resembles a seven-pointed star.
3. This room contains several ancient relics of what appear to be torture implements, although their function and style seem strange and archaic. In one corner sits a spherical cage with spikes protruding inward from its iron bars. In another stands what appears to be a star-shaped wooden frame, its surface studded with hooks. And in the
center of the room is a long table covered with leather straps and a number of cranks that seem designed to rotate and swivel.
4. The ceiling of this strangely cold chamber arches to a vaulted height of twenty feet. The floor contains eleven wooden lids strewn haphazardly over eleven five-foot-wide pits in the ground. From the darkness within these pits echo up strange shuffling sounds and, every so often, a low moan.
5.Water ripples quietly in this circular stone pool, the rim of which is lined with skulls.
6. A flight of spiral stairs winds up around a circular pillar into darkness above. The stairs end in a collapse that fill the stairs that halt any progress forward.
7. This twisting flight of spiral stairs once led down to even deeper complexes below but are completely filled in with rubble.
8. This strange room is a fifteen-foot-diameter sphere. Several objects float in the room, spinning lazily in space—a ragged book, a scroll, a bottle of wine, a dead raven surrounded by a halo of floating and writhing maggots, and a twisted iron wand with a forked tip. Yet perhaps the most unnerving aspect of the room is the walls, for they are plated in sheets of strange red metal that ripple every once in a while with silent black electricity that seems to coalesce into strange runes or even words far too often for the effect to be chance. Prof can identify the strange runes as Thassilonian and read as words such as anger, wrath, and revenge.
Prof documents his findings well, and any other findings in the dungeon.
After opening the door and walking out onto the raised platform you notice a strange site inside of one of the prisoner cells. You debate a moment before deciding to head to the area below to investigate. After a through observation for any more hidden ambushes or traps and everyone feels content with the safety of the room you all go to inspect the strange site.
It is more of that beige colored substance that covers the hallway walls leading into the dungeon. What it contains confirms the previous horror of the last battle.
There are two decapitated bodies affixed to the wall with a covering of the beige substance. Blood is everywhere sprayed copiously around the inside of the cell covering walls, ceiling and floor. Muscle, sinew, stretched skin and dislocated vertebrae create a collage of gore settled in the space between each one of these bodies shoulders. There is one exposed hand that lay still with all the fingers hyperextended from torturous pain.
The contorted hand is what draws your eye to it.
Next to the hand is a finger length scraping into the hard beige substance.
"Hallard"
On the floor in front of the wall-hung body resting in a pool of dried blood is a strap clasp used to scrap the name.
What would you like to do?
Prof
Hallard was one of the guards left to post at the top of the basement stairs in the glassworks. He was a younger guard, serving about two years as a reserve for Sandpoint. Many people looked up to him for wanting a more active role then the town militia; comprised of the local farmers and tradesmen. His enthusiasm for the want to do good was contagious and other boys of his age also took to the reserves.
He was becoming a folk hero, clearing the lands of wolves that attacked Shepard's flocks, tracking down highwaymen and bringing them alive to face justice, and with the recent goblin raid a few days ago defended a large portion of the town by himself. He was the first to volunteer to your requests for guards, taking it on as double duty. Hallard never boasted, or made mention to his deeds, many have gone unidentified as he does not look for the attention or praise. He always said when asked why he did a deed of charity, "that is just the way it should be, so I did it."
The mayor Kendra Deverin, and sheriff Belor Hemlock knew of his reciprocity-lacking deeds and acts. They had made arrangements for him to squire under a holy knight of Iomedae knowing that he would not seek greater things for himself. Initially he was reluctant of the gift but after the entire town of Sandpoint rallied for him to go and make more of himself and spread his selfless deeds to those whom needed it more tearfully he accepted the honor the people he cared for entrusted on him.
He was to leave after the Swallowtail Festival commemoration to the new church he had helped raise funds for and build. With the goblin attacks he postponed his plans to ensure his friends and family would remain free of harm.
Hallard was sixteen at the time of his untimely death and survived by both his parents and six siblings.
He will be sadly lost.
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Zolarus will detect magic and ask Ark to carry anything of value that isn't nailed down. He pays special attention to the fifteen-foot-diameter sphere strange room. He pockets the ragged book, scroll, twisted iron wand with a forked tip. and of course, the bottle of wine. If there is an empty vial then he will carefully put some of the floating and writhing maggots in it.
"From your story, Hallard deserves a memorial worthy of his courageousness and vitality. We must celebrate his short life and appreciate the essence of his soul. I will spend many moons crafting a poem to honor him."
Zol places his hand on Prof's shoulder for sympathy.
"We should immediately come back with a coffin and wagon to gather his remains. Poor lad, he was a born hero whose life was shortened by a tragedy."
Sandpoint IS a tragedy. Will the pain and horror ever stop?
The sights and smells of human carnage start to suffocate his senses. Overwhelming grief and anger explodes in every fiber of his being. Tears begin to flow freely down his face. His knees buckle and fall to the ground. His hands clench on his hair almost pulling it out by the roots. His heart sinks and aches for justice.
"I WILL NOT CEASE TO FIGHT AGAINST THIS EVIL UNTIL IT IS VANQUISHED!"
Lets just do that; there is nothing down here that can kill anyone so I will post some highlights and the treasure list from the dungeon. This is the stuff you found this last time going into the dungeon, it does not contain the stuff from the Quasit.
MW Ranseur (400 gp)
scroll of flaming sphere (CL 5th)
+1 longsword, (from mutant goblin)
silver dagger, (from mutant goblin)
masterwork handaxe (from mutant goblin)
Evvil Book (100 gp)
iron wand is a wand of shocking grasp (28 charges)
bottle of wine
The scroll is a scroll of burning hands (CL 3rd).
The crumbling remnants of several chairs and a
long table clutter the floor of this room. To the south
stand three stone doors, each bearing a strange
symbol that resembles a seven-pointed star.
A search of the rubble uncovers the fragments of
countless books and scrolls with bits of spiky writing
in a strange language all over them.
The three solid doors to the south were once prison
cells. Within each is a single skeleton of a badly
deformed humanoid; one has three brittle arms,
another has an enormous misshapen skull, and the
third has a rib cage that goes all the way down to its
pelvis—a pelvis with stunted leg bones strewn below
its strangely flat girth.
A DC 20 Perception check while looking at
the torn-up pages reveals a scroll of flaming sphere (CL 5th)
under a broken chair.
In room #3 you spend time killing (rekilling) all the zombies at the bottom of the pits by throwing rocks down on them and using arrows.
#7 stairway
This stairway is closed with a cave in.
Jer, you get really creeped out around these stairs, you think you heard something from the depths below, possibly a howl. looking at the cave in you know digging it out is no small feat and could take several days if you decided to do so.
The room is under the effect of a permanent reverse gravity and takes a few moments to get use to, you float around for a bit before you can get control. If it was not for the scary lightning on the walls this room could be fun.
bottle of wine
The scroll is a scroll of burning hands (CL 3rd).
The book is a magically preserved but still ancient
prayer book dedicated to the worship of Lamashtu,
the Mother of Monsters. The book reads as much
like a bestiary of the world’s most horrific and cruel
monsters (along with numerous woodcut illustrations
of how they kill) as it does a religious text. The book
is worth 100 gp.
The iron wand is a wand of shocking grasp (28 charges)
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- scroll of flaming sphere
- scroll of burning hands
I'll hold into these if the party doesn't mind.
- prayer book dedicated to the worship of Lamashtu
I'll bring this to Father Zantus for destruction, if the party doesn't mind.
- wand of shocking grasp
All the loot seems arcane in nature. Jer, do you want this?