Ellery looks a bit surprised at Rowan's sudden rush in but nods approvingly.
The man in black goes to put his hand on Rowan but he is too quick for the lumbering attack and backs away in the nick of time.
Theophilus looks on as Rowan punches the thing.
We may be better off returning at a more informed time...
Mara concentrated, opening a rift in the fabric of space, moving Rowan behind the man in black.
Ellery seeing an opening advances and attempts to stab the man in black.
The White Rabbit tugs at the worried gentleman's trouser leg. Theophilus absently glances down. The White Rabbit points at their friends, engaging the Man in Black.
Well, Mr. Cash; it appears that they are playing our song!
Theo Fortune Hexes Dervak.
He Cackles.
Dervak moves up and strikes over Ellery with Longarm.
Thanks to Theophilus, his attack is able to land.
The man in black reels from the blows as mushy flesh is rended from him. The wounds don't bleed and he still stands implacable.
Rowan reappears behind the thing and feels only anger towards its indifference to his attacks.
Theophilus looks on as Rowan goes to town; while the White Rabbit seems to be copying the monk's sweet, sweet stlye!
Rowan punches the man, his face starts to crack, Rowan punches him again, a soft yellow glow from the cracks begins, Rowan punches him a third time and the man explodes, spraying mealy scraps of skin and flesh at the party.
Mara exclaimed, "Ugh, that's disgusting!" After she learned that Dervak still felt unwell, she called for her father's aid and examined the half-orc.
Mara examines Dervak and determined nothing is wrong with him physically, other than the usual bruises and sprains from combat. But she can't rule out a purely mental or spiritual condition.
Mara asked the hatter, "Theo, do you think Dervak could have been cursed by that... thing?"
Jaw hanging open, the gentleman steps back away from the tsunami!
Theophilus casts Detect Magic, looking at Dervak.
Theo determines that Dervak is indeed cursed with self-doubt, it will afflict him for the rest of his life, but could be broken with a sufficiently powerful spell.
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"I was cursed before, and it's worse now. Maybe you should go on without me. Or throw me in the rooms first as bait for the cultists and their monsters. If I die, no big loss."
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"Don't talk like that! It would be a big loss to me!", Mara told Dervak. "Tomorrow, I'll memorize a spell to undo what this creature did to you."
She advanced into the room that the man in black was guarding, and looked around.
The storage room contains clothing, boots, and other mundane gear. Much of it is damaged by wear or moisture. Among the items are the clothing of a Thrushmoor official and a silver bell-shaped object with Thrushmoor's crest engraved on the flat bottom and a ring at the top.
Theophilus gives his friend a hug.
Mara recited a prayer and scanned the items for magic auras.
After finishing her examination, she moved into the opening in the south wall and looked into the space beyond.
”Dervak, that could’ve been any of us. Don’t beat yourself up over it. We started this journey together, and we owe it to ourselves to finish it. Besides, if someone is going to rush into a room first, it’s probably going to be me.”
Dervak continues feeling sorry for himself but will do what is asked of him. He looks around and listens down the corridor to the east.
To the south the walls of this subterranean hallway are clad with yellow tapestries. On the east wall is a tapestry that has been defaced with a familliar sigil, the three armed triskelion the cultists carry. To the west a set of double doors dominates the wall. To the south another hallway that ends in a door with a second side door to the west.
Dervak looks east and sees a low, circular stone wall which marks the lip of a well in the center of this room. A bucket sits beside a block and tackle attached to a wooden frame near the wall of this round chamber. The shaft here descends 50 feet to bottom of the well and holds 15 feet of water. Just beneath the lip of the well there is a fissure in the stonework. The well and water reek of burnt and wet hair and rat droppings. Several bodies of the rodents float on the water some badly burned others torn apart. The skum who escaped you earlier lays just next to the well covered in rat bites, dead.
”I’m glad he got what was coming to him, although I wish it had been at my hand.”
"There must be a connection between this well and the Fort Hailcourse water supply, and he swam all the way," Mara theorized. After searching the body of the dead skum, she went back into the wide hallway, examined the double doors for traps, and listened for sounds beyond.
Ellery walks over to the scum stabbing it multiple times with his rapier. Making sure to make a mess of the thing.
Theophilus coughs.
He then takes out a handkerchief to cover his face.
The skum has 53 gold, a masterwork trident, and a runestone of power (1st). Ellery sees a sparkle in the fissure in the well.
Mara finds no traps on the door and hears deathly silence in the room beyond.
Dervak takes the Runestone. He used to always respond to the sight of rats with a cry of "DINNER!" but a) he's not feeling hungry right now, and b) he's actually had some proper food as of late and you know, it's pretty good. As bothersome as it is to be cursed, he realizes he is better off than in his street-scavenger days.
Dervak will wait and watch while Ellery (hopefully) investigates the fissure.
Before we go through the next door, Dervak will use his wand of Shield (which will then be at 48 charges).
Theophilus casts Guidance on Ellery.
Ellery distracted by the sudden glitter he goes to examine the fissure signing quickly on his way.
Ellery can't make out what it is with muck and rat droppings obscuring it. Someone will have to get in the well and possibly in the fissure to investigate further. Its a tight squeeze but not enough to warrant an escape artist check.
Rowan will investigate the fissure.
Dervak reaches into the gap in the broken part of the well, closes his eyes and hopes there are no traps, and starts pulling stuff out.
Dervak reaches into the filth and fishes around. The sparkle was a single silver coin peaking through the muck. Feeling around more he finds a pouch containing 17 gold and 42 more silver coins. He also discovers that the fissure opens up to a larger space some of which he can't reach.
Theophilus appears a bit greenish.
"Well that's something at least. Let's move on."
After opening the double doors:
This elongated subterranean hall is decorated throughout with finely wrought Pharasmin symbols, which culminate in a seven-foot-high bas-relief of the goddess’s face on the south wall. Against the other walls, whose surfaces are riddled with burial recesses, sit seven sarcophagi, four sealed and three uncovered.
Floating near the southern wall is the ghostly form of Nemira Lowls she looks at you waving her finger and says, "Naughty naughty, guests shouldn't be wandering in the cellar."
Ellery and Mara notice on the opposite end of the room a humanoid figure is hiding behind a sarcophagus. Her hands end in wicket claws and she moves with unnerving grace. She wears a hijab that covers her face, revealing only her pupil-less eyes.
The hidden woman waits to see what the party does.
"Aagh, I thought you were in the attic!", Mara cried as she stepped up to the doorway. She grasped her human doll and implored, "Daddy, I need a blade of force!" A glowing scimitar appeared and swung at the ghostly form of Nemira.
Ellery warily watches the hidden woman.
Mara's spectral scimitar scrapes against a spell protecting Nemira resulting in a high pitched screeching that is almost beyond perceptible hearing.
The woman in the corner and Ellery delay each other into the next round and the woman blinks first. She picks her way around Dervak vaulting over the sarcophagi,
Dervak with his disturbingly long limbs slices the woman with his falchion, it slices through the hijab on her face revealing her mouth. Protruding from her mouth are grasping tentacles. She says, "Dervak I wonder if Savin will purchase you back. Lowls has discarded you it seems."
The woman's tentacles open mouths of their own revealing rows upon rows of serrated teeth. They attach to Rowan's face and neck and begin sucking but they can't piece through Rowan's thick skin.