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Having watched her rival tear the handle off the cabinet, and not being able to do much better, Faliana stays back, watching the cabinet before the scary-bombs-soup-heals man spits angry words at them and shops her away from it. She then moves closer to leader-monkey and opens her mouth as idlf to say something, before squishy-religious-alsoheals-frog releases his wave of healing. Distracted for a moment as the pain I her shoulder finally disappears, Faliana gives a sigh of relief.
Looking back at leader-monkey, she again tries to tell him something, but the man from the cabinet apparently has his attention more and leader goes off to talk to him. Frustrated about not being able to talk with him, Faliana gives a snort of frustration. But then her rival comes up. Expecting a fight, Faliana tenses and readies to punch, only to be caught off guard by her rivals sniffing. With a hoot of surprised-confusion she asks, "What you doing!?"
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Monty drops the man and snorts.
Not Nigel. Not Pathfinder Pack. You should go. Us find Tik Taan. Us save Nigel. GO!
He points at the door and growls before turning his back on him and moving back towards his fellow apeified packmates. He hoots when Faliana jumps in laughter.
Packmate Dru sniff you. Make sure you healthy, make sure you Fali.
He grins and scratches his head with his foot.
Tik Taan... Tik Taan... Tik Taan is of Usaro... Ugh, Cannot remember old stories, head is so misty. We should find Tik Taan. Find Nigel Use to Be Pack.
He slams his stick down again, swinging the wayfinder on it's chain, the light flashing softly in the gloom.
Nigel Use to Be Pack is Here. We find him. Make him Undo Mist.
He Hoots again and slowly starts to walk out the door, but stops to wait unless his pack has anything else to say.
Monty's aggressive attention seems to terrify Saldak... despite Tad's attempts to succor him.
"I'm not Nigel!" He blubbers, his eyes tearing up again. "He... he was in storage, taking stock, when this all started. I dunno what happened to him. He's probably as mad as the others!"
He sobs again. "Please don't let them hurt me!" It is quite obvious this time that 'them' is referring to the four proto-Pathfinders.
He eyes everyone wildly, as Monty seems to indicate that he leave... he hesitates a moment, cowardice warring with self-preservation, then with an anguished wail, he clumsily runs for the doorway and out into the West Gallery... heading towards the museum entrance as if his life defended on it.
For four of you, the urge to give chase is strong...
There's also the scroll case, which you will find contains 3 scrolls, all of which are magical.
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Dale reveals what he found "I found this old piece of paper... it appears to contain a rather ominous warning about the corrupting powers of the Tik Taan idols... but the later half of it appears to contain a chant of some sort that it claims can drive away these influences in men. I'm not sure I've got the skill to evoke it, I could try but maybe someone else would have a better chance at it."
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With the battle apparently over, Brady tried to make sense of what he saw. Feel stronger, should fight better. Fight badder. No good.
He moves over to the two unconscious bodies, sniffing both with a lick of the lips. Still fresh. He peers out the corner of his eyes, but sees that he would not be unseen. He moves away and absent-mindedly starts sorting through the debris left over from the prolonged fight; he picks up a broken chair-leg and turns it over in his hand, apparently unable to make sense of the object, which he finally tosses on the floor.
When Saldak rushes out of the room past him, Brady instinctively bares his teeth in a low-throated growl, beginning to take steps after the fat, juicy treat before he reigns in his instincts. He lets out a deep howl instead, ensuring the man will not return to the pack's territory.
He returns to the others as Dale begins explaining the challenge of the scrolls. Looking confused, he comes close to sniff the objects. "Brady not know. Maybe eat to take the magic?"
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Still uncertain what her rival was doing, Faliana stays on guard, unwilling to move away and turn her back, but not wanting to stay close either. She starts slowly edging away from the other woman, when cowardly-fat man runs out of the room. She looks after the running prey with a hungry look in her eyes but doesn`t give chase. She does join in the howl along with dreadlock-punch man.
When she finally edges out of the range of rival, Faliana takes a look around the room. Showing no interest in the scrolls or cloth, she moves to the door and, in a whining plead, says, "Anavi not here. Look other room? Across hall?"
Confronted with a possible means of freeing one of their companions from the corrupting influences of the Tik Taan, both Dale and Tad hesitate as they work out how it works and are suddenly unsure on their ability to activate it.
Before they can decide one way or the other, however, the rest of the Pathfinders make the decision moot, as they all lope off, heading out of the offices back towards the East Gallery. It is all Tad and Dale can do to not be left behind, as they gather up the cloth and scrolls and hurry to keep up.
The four proto-Pathfinders pay them little heed, as they move to the door leading into the East Hall and the 'Hunting Beasts of Legend' exhibit.
The door to this hall offers no resistance at all, opening easily to the touch. Large braziers of radiant light hold the darkness at bay illuminating quite the sight. Large behemoths of all sorts occupy these halls, great taxidermy nightmares... a giant two-headed bear, easily taller than an ogre; a great desiccated beetle, it's carapace larger than the face of the clock tower of Absalom's Clockwork Cathedral; a massive specimen of a chimera, the jaws on all three of it's heads open in mock roars; and the assembled skeleton of a tyrant lizard towering over all of them.
The walls here are studded with strange masks, staves, spears, and other implements of long forgotten cultures, most likely used in ritual hunts of the beasts preserved here.
The entire room is eerily quiet other then the breathing of the Pathfinders (varying from nervous to excited). The exhibit hall also proves to be relatively free of the silvery mist that floods the rest of the Museum, most of it thickest where it flows in through the open doorway around your feet.
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Dale helps Tad pack up the scroll "Maybe you should try this later if things get more out of control. So far they've been more or less behaving themselves..."
Once they get to the new room with the cool new exhibits Dale bounces around excited. "Now here's some more really cool stuff! Don't break anything, I need to take a closer look!" And maybe a few rare samples! He pokes and prods the exhibits having a look around as well as seeing if there are any loose scales or hair he can save for later study.
As you make your way into the room, there's a certain amount of trepidation. Even the proto-Pathfinders are feeling it, as all the creatures on display are quite clearly predators, not prey... and something in their primitive hind brains reacts to that.
But the displays do serve to keep everyone's attentions off of the real threats in the room...
As you look around, you fail to notice two of the stony masks, hanging on the wall on the south side of the room, start to crack and buckle, the stone starting to flake off and fall to the floor.
It isn't until the final bulk of the stone crashes to the floor, and two creatures go airborne, in a shower of cast off dust, that everyone finally becomes aware of the danger!
They appear like nothing more then two fiendish heads with no bodies, bat-like wings sprouting from the back of their skulls. The fanged mouths hang open dripping vile fluids and a long blackened tongue. Masses of tentacles protrude from their scalps and chins, thrashing about as if probing for something.
Only Tad and Faliana notice them in time to react, as the creatures take to the air.
--- Round 1 ---------------------
Tad, proto-Faliana <---- We are here!
head (pink), head (yellow)
proto-Monty, Dale, proto-Brady, proto-Dru
Bold can go! They critters are currently 10' off the ground and flying.
Tad and Faliana are quick to react! The little grippli utters a quick prayer before hurling a small bolt of holy flame at the nearer of the two creatures. The fiery missile strikes it on the side of it's head (body? who knows!) singeing it. It barely has time to turn its baleful glare his way, and start to say something in a low sibulant hiss, before Faliana screams and lurches across the intervening space, thrusting her longspear with both hands at the same creature, sinking her weapon deeply into its side, right below the jaw.
Black ichor flows from the wound, though it does not stop it! The grasping tentacles surrounding the head entwine around the end of the spear and pull the creature free. Then, in response, it opens its fanged maw, and unleashes a demonic wail that washes out and assaults the ears of everyone in the room! Almost of their own accord, your bodies suddenly stop responding properly, as they start to shut down!
It then flies up out of Faliana's reach and thrusting spear, across the room, continuing its nerve rending shriek as it goes.
The second creature, flies up higher as well, just above the giant dinosaur skeleton, and screams in counter-point to the first one, sending a second demonic wail through the room.
--- Round 1 ---------------------
proto-Monty, Dale, proto-Brady, proto-Dru <---- We are here!
--- Round 2 ---------------------
Tad, proto-Faliana
head (pink), head (yellow) (-15)
Then, depending on results, the entire party is up!
The unfortunate victims then start a horrific process of turning into one of the creatures themselves in less then a day!
Only sunlight can halt the infection, but will not stop it.
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The howling scream arrests Brady just as he starts to move towards the creatures, forcing him nearly to his knees as he covers his ears to protect them from the sound. He gets up, and starts moving as if undeterred once he's able to acclimate to the sound.
Again he's forced to his knees to protect his ears, as a second wail provides an angry harmonic with the first! But he again forces himself to stand, pushing the sound to the background. His eyes light on the high flying mask; he leaps into the bones of the enormous skeleton underneath it, and he begins to climb!
M6, Da7, Dr7, T6, F7
As the vargouilles break free and take to the air, their shrieks invade the minds of almost all of the Pathfinders, who all freeze unable to move...
Except for Brady!
Somehow, his mist-tainted brain manages to fend off the demonic wails and he instinctively reacts! With a howl of his own, he starts to flow up the reassembled bones of the tyrant lizard like it were some sort of child's playground... he launches himself off of the "Do Not Touch" sign, then scrambles along the inside of the ribcage, swinging around the upper vertebrae at the last moment to end up almost on the creature's skull. The entire skeleton creaks ominously as he goes, clearly not intended for such activity, and it sways slightly from the extra weight on the supporting wires.
Within seconds Brady finds himself almost thirty feet off the ground, and within reach of one of the vargouilles. He doesn't let the opportunity go to waste, as he smashes the thing with a powerful blow with his fist!
The evil creatures hiss in anger that one of their pray escaped their attack... but five did not, and they both descend on the helpless victims below!
The creature that Faliana and Tad had injured earlier, drops straight down on top of Monty, its tentacles caressing his face, and drawing the rest of the Vargouilles head up close, as its blackened tongue licks out and thrusts down the helpless vanaran's mouth!
The pure horror of what is happening, seems to be enough to jump start his nervous system and he suddenly finds himself able to move once more, but with the body-less demonic creature clinging to his face.
The second vargouille descends on Faliana, its slimy tentacles also starting to wrap around her head, as it prepares to do the same.
--- Round 2 ---------------------
Tad (paralyzed), proto-Faliana (paralyzed)
pink vargouille (-10), yellow vargouille (-15)
proto-Monty, Dale (paralyzed), proto-Brady, proto-Dru (paralyzed) <---- We are here!
Brady and Monty can act!
Fort Save pending from Monty.
Da6, Dr6, T5
Monty tries to beat off the vargouille as it thrusts its foul tongue into his mouth, but it takes him too long to throw off the paralyzing effects of the scream. He feels a burning sensation in his throat.
Brady swings down to try to help, but despite his haste, can't manage to hit the creature before it pulls back on its own leaving Monty gasping for breath. It snaps it's fangs at Brady with an evil cackle. It is all the fast-approaching Brady can do to deflect the creature's poison-dripping fangs, much less land his own blow. The bat-like wings on the back of its skull start to flap furiously as it slowly starts to fly upwards again, just out of reach by the top of the chimera exhibit.
At the same time, Faliana can only watch in furious horror, as the vargouille on her forces its tentacles into the side of her mouth, prying her frozen jaws open. It stares directly into her defiant eyes with manic glee, then its black evil tongue extends from its fanged mouth and directly into hers... and keeps going, impossibly long!
The shock of it is enough to force her body to finally react, as the foul thing withdraws and flaps its wings tries to fly upwards out of reach towards the western wall of the gallery.
--- Round 3 ---------------------
proto-Monty, Dale (paralyzed), proto-Brady, proto-Dru (paralyzed) <---- We are here!
--- Round 4 ---------------------
Tad (paralyzed), proto-Faliana
pink vargouille (-10), yellow vargouille (-15)
Bold can go!
Fort Save pending from Faliana.
Faliana feels her throat burning as the vargouille withdraws, sharp shooting pains radiate outwards from there. But despite, or perhaps because of, the pain, she is true to her words, as she cuts the flying fiend down as it tries to fly out of range. It lets out a surprised and angry shriek, quickly cut short as her spear impales it from behind.
--- Round 3 ---------------------
proto-Monty, Dale (paralyzed), proto-Brady, proto-Dru (paralyzed) <---- We are here!
--- Round 4 ---------------------
Tad (paralyzed), proto-Faliana
yellow vargouille (-15)
Bold can go! (aka Monty, Brady, and Faliana)
The pink yellow one is 10' up, but possibly reachable if you use the environment!
As the vargouille's lower jaw extends and it opens it mouth to send out it's paralyzing shriek once more, both Brady and Monty clamber up the exhibits after it, and knock it from the air before it can get out more then a brief sound. Faliana, rushing over from the far side, almost manages to mimic the sound, she screams in anger so loudly. She pounces on the thing, likely already dead, and proceeds to pulp it into the gallery floor, screaming the entire time... until there is little left but a stain and her voice gives out entirely.
Combat over!
The others slowly regain control of their movements over the next minute... though Tad and Dale start to get a little concerned about their companions' state of mind... things seem to be getting worse the more adversity they face.
The disease progresses in stages... each stage getting progressively worse.
During the first stage, there is a change is the victim's skin and follicles, causing all of their hair to fall out.
The second stage is where the transformation truly begins, as the victim's ears begin to enlarge and transform, getting more and more bat-like as the disease progresses, small nodules form along the chin and scalp, eventually growing into tentacle-like growths, and the teeth begin to extend and change into sharp fangs.
After that, it continues to go downhill, as their mental faculties will begin to degenerate more and more, until they lose all ability to reason, and their very personality gets overwritten.
At the end of that stage, the head separates entirely from the rest of the body, which quickly withers and dies, leaving another demonic vargouille in it's place.
The entire process takes maybe half a day, though can vary quite a bit...
Although bright sunlight can temporarily halt the disease's progress, only divine intervention in the form of a magical disease cure can stop it entirely and cure the victim... and even then, only if applied before the final stage is completed.
You see no more obvious threats in the East Gallery. Across the room, on the northern wall, you see two doors: a larger one, with the words 'Artifact Storage' written on it, and a smaller door marking a rest area for patrons.
Saldak mentioned the storage room was where Nigel was last seen, before the Tik Taan's curse descended on the museum.
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Monty coughs and spits, trying to get the burning and foul taste out of his mouth. He climbs down and then over to Faliana and lets her beat on the thing for a moment before putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing hard. He ooks out a few words before shaking his head and remembering to speak in common.
Thing Dead. Faliana crush it. Ook. Me understand.
He kicks the thing hard, tossing it into an exhibit. He stops for a moment as if internally arguing, before kneeling down and hugging Faliana hard. He whispers something into her ear...
He stands, separating quickly and points his staff at the room.
Nigel here. Get Nigel. Go home... Get... fire water to wash out taste.
He shudders at the memory of the tongue forcing its way down.
And thoughts. Come Pack Falaina. Come.
He starts stalking to the door.