Theophilus continues to Cackle, as he targets another maniac.
Theo continues to Cackle, as the Witch casts Cure light wounds on Dervak.
Theo attempts to acrobatics by the enemy to reach the far door (double move @30' per).
The apostle sees an opportunity as Theo tries to gracefully move past.
The one being ganged up on withdraws to the other door in this room.
The other by Rowan steps up to Rowan swinging wildly.
Sara seeing she is alone timidly walks up to Rowan.
Mara stepped clear of the doorway and grasped her female orc doll, entreating, "Mommy, Dervak needs healing so he can press the attack!" She laid her hand on the other half=orc's shoulder, healing some more of his wounds.
Theo continues to move next to Dervak. He then casts Cure light wounds.
Then if the cultist is still up, the half-orc moves to press the attack with his longspear. If he or Julius dropped the fleeing cultist with AOOs, he'll move to stab past Rowan at the cultist to the south.
Rowan does flurry again, concentrating on the one in the room.
Theo continues to move next to Dervak. He then casts Cure light wounds.
[dice=AOO, Bless, PA]1d20+7+1-1
[dice=Damage]1d8+6+3
Theo moves back down the hall and into the storage room next to Dervak and heals him. The fleeing cultist still has enough presence of mind to dodge out of the way of Dervaks strike.
Julius tries to stab at the fleeing guy.
The fleeing cultist yelps as Julius nearly misses some exposed flesh. Dervak gives chase though and cuts him down.
Julius moves next to Rowan.
Julius moves next to Rowan.
Julius swipes through the door frame.
The cultist makes a desperate final attack against Rowan.
Alone against the rest of the party the final cultist is quickly dispatched.
To the north racks cluttered with boxes and sprawling collections of haphazard junk fill this dusty storage room. The room has been partially ransacked with some of the shelves knocked over and their contents scattered across the floor. Sara's eyes become big when she sees the dolls and starts to play with them, "I'll name you Kitty and you Snowdrop."
Searching the room for Julius and Theo find two vials of silversheen, an oil of align weapon, a rusted greataxe, and a set of masterwork thieves' tools.
To the south handles of dozens of drawers frown from the faces of numerous matching cabinets. Many of the drawers are open and their contents, volumes' worth of stray parchments, blanket the floor. Glancing through them they appear to be patient records, though it could take hours to find anything relevant with the rooms current state of disarray.
The door off of the records room is locked as is the far door in the hall. The final door leading to a southern room is stuck and will not move.
Everyone sees that the far door has beads of blood seeping through the boards.
When she saw the dolls, Mara cried with delight, "Oh Sara, isn't this wonderful? Now you have dolls of your very own!" She cast a spell and scanned the area for magic auras.
Mara hefted the greataxe. "This should serve for now," she said, handing her borrowed falchion back to Dervak.
After looking through the storage room, she went across the hall to the records room. After a quick scan for magic, she said, "Here we might be able to find some answers about our pasts! But maybe we should make the most of our protection spells before they run out."
Finally, she turned her attention to the stuck door, and tried to force it open.
Julius pockets the thieves' tools. "These'll definitely come in handy." He glances at the patient records. "We'll have to come back here, I want to spend some quality time in here with the records. You're right, Mara-if anything about us is in this place, they'll be here."
Theophilus takes out a handkerchief from his breast pocket. The Witch pats his forehead a bit before brushing off his left sleeve.; then his right.
Ooo!, he exclaims at their discoveries.
Peering around; checking door handles, he disgustingly begins wiping his hands with his handkerchief.
Definitely something wrong with that particular door!
Finally, she turned her attention to the stuck door, and tried to force it open.
The door cracks and breaks in two revealing a collapsed room beyond. Two unexplored doors remain in this area, one bloody, both locked .
Mara went to the locked door in the records room and listened.
"Care to try out those lockpicks, Julius?", she asked.
Mara hears nothing beyond the door but through the south wall she hears violent winds.
Dervak will take a vial of silversheen and an oil of Align Weapon. He takes back his falchion, but keeps the longspear in hand for now (AOOs are nice).
Dervaks looks at the bloody wall for a bit. An omen? A bad one or a good one? It could be a sign from Gorum. Maybe I am supposed to open this door. Should I ask the smart ones?
He contemplates the bloody door for a bit, then calls out to those in the records room, "Is this a sign? Does Gorum want me to open this door? If it is a sign from Gorum, we should not pick the lock, I should smash it down. Gorum is God of Strength. And also War and Blood and Iron."
”We also saw a puddle of blood under the screaming woman. Would that be a sign, or a coincidence?”
"I don't know Gorum that well, but you can always try if you want," Mara replied. "However, let's open the non-bloody door first!"
Mara asked her father to grant Julius some guidance about the lock.
Dervak finds himself drawn into a theological discussion with the monk.
"No Rowan, a screaming woman and a puddle of blood is not so strange a combination - except the fact that she was silent and not moving was the strange part, so maybe she was an omen from a god of silence and stillness. Who is that one? I am not sure.
But doors don't usually bleed, so that could be an omen from a god of blood, like Gorum.
But I will wait until we try the other door first."
Sara playing with her dolls imitates Kitty, "The gods cannot reach us here." Then imitating Snowdrop fear in her voice, "There is no meaning to be found, surely we are lost." Sara's shadow grows long casting over Dervak as he faces the doorway then suddenly it retreats.
I wonder about her true nature. Most of the time, she speaks like a child, but occasionally — not. She didn't share her observations — better to make mental notes and bide her time.
Theophilus stands ready; a nervous twitch in his eyes....
Dervak is unnerved by the child's words.
I was planning to protect her anyway, the shaman said we should. Whatever she is. She healed me in the fight with the shapechangers.
My own decisions are bad. Outcast from Kellid tribe, thanks to your curse. Scavenging and thieving. Trusting that wizard that said he could cure me and somehow I get here.
So yes I listen to others, but like I told the shaman, nobody ever knows anybody else, you just have to give them reason not to betray you. They keep me alive because I am strong. I keep them alive because they are smart. And together we kill Zandalous and Shredman and get out of here. And someday I find a way to get rid of you.
Julius kneels down and tries his luck with his new thieves' tools.
"Watch my back, guys. Hopefully this'll be a little easier than last time."
Julius pops open the lock. The walls of this crowded room are covered by filing cabinets, except for one space where a battered old painting of a somber, towering structure hangs. Glancing through the cabinets they contain documents of similar nature to the prior room but skew into disturbing and supernatural.
Mara stepped into the room and scanned for magic auras. She examined the painting to see if she could figure out what the structure was. Out of interest she looked behind the painting, to see if it was hiding something.
The painting is unfamiliar. But behind the painting Mara finds a small brass latch which opens a panel revealing a hollow within the wall. Mara finds Administrator Losandro's extensive records on a variety of interesting psychological cases Losandro's observed and treated over the years, including Ulver Zandalus.
Also inside is a lockbox . The only magical aura comes from a short sword in a crimson scabbard, the type of aura anyone in the party is unable to determine.
"Here's another lock for you, Julius," Mara said, pulling out the lockbox. She examined the shortsword, but was not able to learn anything more about it.
"We've got lots of records to go through later, that's for sure!", she commented.
Theophilus assists Mara in searching, detecting, and spellcrafting.
Julius cracks his knuckles and gets to work. "Man, we're gonna need to recruit a bunch of the people back there to help us go through all this stuff..."
"Maybe we'll find we were all librarians for the last few years," Mara joked.
Inside the lockbox you find 40gp, 6 pearls worth 10gp a piece, and a calling card for the services of the Thrushmoor offices of the Sleepless Detective Agency that prominently bears an accusatory eye.
The pommel is sculpted in the shape of a cardinal and etched gold band bears the name Red Destiny.
Once Julius had opened the lockbox, Mara said to everyone, "Are you ready to try the bloody door?"