Darkest Corners volume 2

Game Master Harakani

"I agree with your assessment of his character. May he never know ..." Ophelia nodded back and her porcelain mask twisted into a small smile.

Ready to head out : )

I suppose we ought to let Diene and Mia complete their encounter, if only to preserve the space-time continuum : P

Yup. Maybe we can meet up with the others while they haul the body and the sewer thing back to the station?

You talked to Kristoph for about 5 minutes - they don't have that much lead on you.

Then I think it's safe to say that Isama and Zenj get to the top while Diene is interrogating creepy thing below?

Hey know, what's goin' on down there?

"Any other caches you found recently? And when was the last time you passed here before finding these bodies? And please....please stop chewing evidence!"
More silent, towards Diene:"That opens up 2 questions...were the bodies dumped here in hopes of local...residents taking care of the remains, or despite them?

Indeed : )

Ophelia, curious about the munching sounds coming from bellow, carefully leans over the edge and looks down. I did not thing either Daria or Diene would have any appetite in such an environment!

The foul little creature - about Mia's height - swallows convulsively.
"There were a few others I've... heard about. I wouldn't want my friends to get in trouble for cleaning up though. I mean, if someone else is putting bodies in the surge rooms, cleaning them up is okay, right? Rats would eat them anyway, and they're" it burpse, and a roiling, retching smell engulfs the area "Just terrible. Eat things still moving, as well. Taste terrible. No-one wants rats right?"

Isama and Ophelia find an open manhole surrounded by alarm tape. A guard with sergeant stripes is climbing back out of the hole.
"Guards investigating... Wait - you're the rest of Spooky's squad?"
Answering his own question, he sighs and deactivates the alarm tape. "Go on down. They're interrogating... something."

Ophelia nods. "Affirmative. The others are down in the sewers ?"

While she spoke she carefully eyed the ladder/ladder equivalent that led down underground, gauging if it could actually support her weight or not. Hopefully it was something more sturdy then rotting planks.

"Hey, look, if we were gonna put them in the slammer, we would have done the same to you. If you can help us out, maybe show us where and how, anything odd you noticed, I'm fine with letting this slide."

Sense Motive: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (8) - 1 = 7
KN Local: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

"Look, the crime is the killing. Just between us, you and...your "friends" cleaning up actually saves us a lot of paperwork...I'm fine with that...but we need to know people were killed, and see them first. If you are willing to work as informant for us, I'm sure we can come to a beneficial agreement. First we need to know where those other caches you found were located...and secondly, if you just found them filled once, or they got...restocked from time to time?"

Will later explain to Diene that the idea is this would also not reveal to the killer we know of other caches, keeping knowledge secret that may give us an edge...wether I actually have the authority to offer such a deal does not play into this conversation...if necessary I'll add a bluff check.

Isama salutes Sir. and starts heading down.

Ophelia determines that the metal-runged ladder that descends from the manhole into the cavernous space would hold her weight, and Isama and Ophelia descend.
Fort saves vs smell, please. Feel free to make the knowledge religion check mentioned at the start.

The creature trembles in Diene's now-slick grip as new guards start to come down. Quickly it explains in detail.
With all the caveats, avoidances and hedging aside, what you are left with is this

* There were five caches. West Wall and Warlock's Walk were two of them. Very distributed.
* All of them were in surge rooms.
* Each cache went from empty to full in a brief time.
* 8-14 people per room.
* The victims died terrified and in pain (described as flavour notes)
* Looks to have been about a week since the first cache.

"I'm helping!" the creature exclaimed "Helping the guards... Investigate killings...." Something seems to cross the creature's mind "I could help more. I could join the guards... I'm very good at knowing about the dead, walking and sleeping. I know the undercity, and the tunnels. I'm good at hiding and watching. Good in a fight. If I was a Guard I could become a citizen!"

"Hey hey hey, doesn't seem like such a bad prospect eh? And even if you don't want to bother with the badge, uniform, and discipline, being an informant ain't a bad gig." Diene smiles.

"A few other things, did you ever find any places that you suspected MIGHT have been a cache, but looked like they had been cleared out? Like, if they smelled like bodies and there were little bits left, but the bodies were largely gone. Another thing, if the victims had any species patterns, like a bunch of goblins. Finally, where exactly the other three were."

"Ophelia, you are better at these things...knowing those 5 locations, and a good estimate of the order in which they were used to dump bodies, can you find any pattern or logic behind it? If they only were used once each, if we can narrow down future locations reasonably, we will want to keep those under observation..."

Five dumps in a week? That's least forty people. No way they ain't missed by someone. This ain't serial. This is a massacre. Isama grunts crossing her arms and tapping a finger.

Carefully Ophelia drops down into the muck, trying to avoid making a too large splash. She sways a little as she sinks a bit into the unsavoury ground, but stabilizes somewhat quickly and looks around. When quickly briefed, she attempts to answer Mia.

"With a map, there should be a good possibility of pattern identification if there is one. But we already know it will most likely be a drain room."

"If my compatriots are finished looking for clues via their own innate talents, lead on!"

While Diene briefs Ophelia and Isama about the situation, Mia will crawl up and let Donatello know part of what is taking part.

"We found a possible witness living in the sewers that tried to evade us out of fear. We managed to calm it and are trying to extract what information we can, and part of that means it will show us to another place in the sewers...it may be a while before this is done, but if we are so lucky to find hints during the initial investigation, we shouldn't complain, right? Either way, we should probably interrupt this meeting, since we don't know how long this will take, wouldn't want to keep you busy here manning the manhole. I suppose it's better if we set a new meeting where we can update you..."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17

Fort: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
Sick for Sick: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9 minutes

Isama has smelled quite a few smells in her time and so she almost manages to shurg off this one but the remnants of the burp causes her to double over bringing her even closer to the source of the odor. She stands up straight, wishing she was taller, and tries to hold her breath.

Ah I don't feel great

Still she considers what they're learned from the small scavenger

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 7 - 2 = 18
Kn:Local: 1d20 + 5 - 2 ⇒ (15) + 5 - 2 = 18

Breathing as carefully and shallowly as possible she says Thing's laying. There's no friends. It found all those bodies isself.

There's something she thinks she should know about the sewers as well but the damn stench is messing with her head.

As far as I can figger, lying to us is the second strike against you already friend. Lead us to the other stashes and there won't be another, yeah? What's your name anyway?

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 12 - 2 ⇒ (12) + 12 - 2 = 22

Sorry for stepping on Daria's toes a bit. But Isama's a straightforward type. She'll be bad cop to Daria's good cop on this one :)

"If we find the surge rooms, we can identify the overworld location."

When Daria's the good cop, you know you're in trouble...
Isama: that's intended to be a friendly warning? It sounds more like intimidate.
"You found a witness? Down there? Hope it's not one of the Sewer Ghouls. Damn things get everywhere, probably lead you into a trap and eat you. Good luck - I'll send message to your Sergeant."

Yup, sounded like me trying a Disarming Threat.

Can I use the same roll for Intimidate or reroll? Doing a reroll if you want that

Intimidate: 1d20 + 3 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 3 - 2 = 20

Through the tunnels the ghoul leads the party.
Assume someone is casting light?
While Mia is small enough to fit through stooped over, the rest of the guards are forced to hands an knees, or even shimmying through slime-blocked sewer pipes with barely enough room to breathe.
-4 attack, -4 AC, 2 squares to move one.
It seems forever before the group finally slip into another room, this one the crossroads of two intersecting pipes. The ceiling of this one has a glowing fungus encrusted on the roof, tendrils drifting down. There is perhaps a foot or two clearance between the filthy water and the fungal growths.
"Five more to go!" announces their guide, cheerfully. "Don't touch the tendrils, or it'll eat you!"

I'm keeping my light active
"Wait. This ceiling is covered by fungus...that means if there were bodies here, they weren't simply dumped in, but placed after someone went into the sewers...that is, if you speak truthfully. So before we continue: where's the closest accessway from the street, to here?"

"Nnn... I don't think I've ever wished to be shorter before.."

"The available ranges of motions are unsatisfactory, I agree."

"And dumping undesirable bodies near a body eating fungi seems like a logical course of action. As a corpse eater, fungi is unlikely to speak..."

I'm not sure if this is actually a dump site or not, feels more like an obstacle (and our guide going 'we're soon there'). I think :P

Ophelia has it
"Oh, this isn't a surge room. It's an intersection. The alchemists are upstream that way." your guide gestures back the way you came "The fleshvats are that way." he points down another pipe "We're going that way. The two pipes meet up here, then go down that big pipe. There's often rendered fat in the water, and the bugs come here to eat it, and the rats eat them. The fungus eats them both." he looks angry "The spores keep colonising the deep sewers. Don't suppose you'd take it away?" he looks hopefully at Ophelia "It doesn't eat machines. The poison doesn't work."
Unless you are going to take this away, you can move on. Swim DC 5 (to go under the water) or Acrobatics DC 10 (to not touch a tendril).

"Oh." it warns "Next room, you'll have to turn out the light."

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Not wanting to take any chances Ophelia crawls under the fleshy tendrils. The knowledge possessed by our guide regarding the potency and composition of man eating fungi might not be a hundred percent correct.

"Performing an adequate purge of the fungi is not our main priority at the moment. But I have business with the sewer maintenance crew later on and I will be sure to bring it up."

Unless anyone wants us to attempt to move it?

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

"Why do we have to cancel the light? What's there?"

Assuming a satisfactory answer, Daria would cast light on a wooden bolt, and hold it in her jacket with one hand, using it to cover light spilling from it, but making it easy to create a floating source of light in an emergency.

Assuming 9 minutes have passed.

Life everywhere. Spreading ya say? Unchecked? Isama muses looking up at the fungus

Kn:Nature on how to remove fungus: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

~Aright... If it is an ambush... What's my counterplay?~

~....~

~....~

~....~

~Grapple, then punch.~

Sunlight... best way to get rid of these things. Getting out of hand under the city is bad news. Tell you what. You get us to all the dump sites safe and I'll see what I can do to help the cleaning crew start clearing the fungus out. Isama promises.

Then covering her eyes she ducks under and swims through.

Swim with Armor check penalty: 1d20 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (11) + 4 - 2 = 13

Unless Alchemist Fire will do just as well to kill the fungus. In which case she'll toss one of her Alchemst fire up hard into the fungus

I'm going to say it'll kill it... but cause an explosive release of spores.

"Don't know. It usually just sits there, glowing."
Your guide marshalls you at the end. It has you all hold on to a rope made of belts scavenged from the dead.
"No light. No noise."

Your guide then leads you through a pitch dark, cramped, filthy tunnel. After a period that seems to both last forever and foreshadow the Abyss, you emerge into what feels like a large room.

While the room is still dark, there is a single point twenty feet above you.

Beautiful, serene, transcendental, the light defies description. If the tunnel was Hell, this is Heaven. Worries vanish. Fears vanish. The light seems to glow brighter as you stand there - only to be yanked ahead by your guide.

Once again you are dragged through hell, emerging wet, sickened, filthy and somehow desperately depressed into another large space.

"Light alright now." reassures your ghoulish guide.

Flickering wer-light emerges as Mia rekindles her illumination - revealing a large surge room the twin of the first you were in, save for the absence of the bodies and the closed manhole above.
sorry to co-opt Mia, seemed something you absolutely would do.

"That was ... odd" Ophelia comments once they reach the next room.

I can only think angler fish ... :P

"Yeeeaaaah... I at the same time have the urge to go back there and to never go there again."

Diene ceases her musing, cracking a few knuckles. "But, business, this room."

Perception, Low Light: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13

Totally would do, thanks for taking care of it

"That was...weird. If whatever that was could be moved, I'd bet people would PAY to see that light in a safe environment...maybe we could hire some mindless constructs to move it into a locale...for science? And the safety of the sewer crew, of course!"

A few moments later, Mia manages to focus on the task at hand again..."So where ARE we here?"
Regardless of wether Ophelia managed to track their locale, and the answer of their guide, Mia will crawl up and take a few seconds to verify the location through the top cover. Using gloves for one round to try and see exact location upstairs, so I would "remember" it if going there on the street. Means we don't open it and have people talk about guards popping out of the sewers...

Sure Mia. know:local DC 15 - weird angle - to know the location. It's about a ten minute walk from the last one, but it looks to have taken you more like an hour.
Diene spots the half-gnawed remains of a shoe.
this was a location that used to have bodies

Knowledge Local: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26
Though I think I could also just take 10 on those and autosucceed, I think I should clarify: The idea was less to "know" the location, but to be able to recognize it if I go there above-ground. Say, a certain storefront, a graffiti, a broken cart in a backyard, some kind of visual clues that will allow me to recognize the area if we are above-ground(e.g. to place a covert agent to keep his eyes on the sewer entrance), not so much trying to pinpoint the location now-

What kind of roll would be required to be able to map the sewers out after the fact?

Diene looks around the room, seeing... nothing helpful. She puffs up each of her cheeks in turn for a moment, shifting the air around with a look of consternation. Then she let it out in a soft pop.

"So... Um.. Taking suggestions." She massaged her forehead a bit.

Isama takes 20 on the shoe Usually don't even get this much. Figger anyone can tell what neighborhood this comes from?

"Warlock's walk attempted to run an identification on their victims - and failed. The site of the corpse dumping does not seem to correspond with the location of the attacks, at least in that case. But with multiple pools to pull from, we might be able to id a victim."

Hmm - I almost feel as a stakeout is our most valid lead, if there are no additional pattern to find.

"Have any of the rooms been used twice?"

Thereafter follows a day out of hell.

The guide - who eventually gives the name 'Reath' - proceeds to take the guards from room to room, visiting each of the rooms used so far. While unpleasant in the extreme, there is no actual violence as Reath has lived down here long enough to know how to get around.

Overhearing discussions about the state of the overlooked parts, Reath makes an observation.

"Well, you keep saying the other bodies were burned, like they were in a fire. They weren't. The crunchy - sorry, burned - bits had that taste people get when their bodies are healed by clerics, and they have to be alive for that to work." she shudders "I'd say they were burned alive, slowly, until they finally just died. They certainly tasted like fear, and pain. The taste was really, really strong - normally after something's cut up and drained like these were you can't really taste it... but this had gotten deep into the muscle."

Reath nods knowingly

"Maybe someone who knew exactly what they were doing, with a good supply of fire, and healing magic, and a fireproof area could do it. But I think it's more likely to be a spell, or some sort of fire creature."