Jit had always been someone who wore her heart on her shoulder, becoming visibly excited or distraught at events happening around her. Despite what the others saw as a great success in getting the Cobalt Eye back to sea, she had never been happy sailing the “cursed” ship, and when the storm blew up, a storm she appeared to blame on herself, she became gripped in despair, convinced they were all going to drown. Even when the party pulled themselves intact and safe onto the river’s muddy northern banks she remained devastated, sunk into a dark depression. They tried but failed to cheer her: no kind word from them, not even Francis’ friendly grooming and definitely not Pious’ choice words of Aroden’s wisdom, could break through her grief.
After breakfast and an hour’s rest she told them that she could not continue bringing them such bad luck; she had to return to Pridon. She refused to listen to their protests, and bid them a tearful goodbye, before heading off alone on a riverbank path heading east into town. A sad silence fell on the group as they shouldered their own packs, looking to the light forest to the north east and intending the reach Jheri’s plantation.
They travelled through the day, making slow progress through light woodland and skirting boggy stands of low marshland. In addition to the difficult terrain and the debris from the storm, they felt low – everyone was tied, and their black mood had yet to lift. And it was still bloody raining – this time a steady penetrating drizzle which matched their mood.
Unsurprisingly, it was Aza who was first able to speak out and lift their mood. After seven hours of walking, punctuated by a few short rests, she had recalled to their minds what they had heard of their destination:
My cousin, Jheri “One Arm” Praet, runs a dika plantation along the marsh northeast of Pridon. I’d be very grateful if you checked in on him and made sure that he and his wife are OK after the storm. You can be sure he'll offer you hospitality if you are travelling past. Just steer clear of his home-brewed diku brandy - it's lethal!"
The idea of a night’s rest in a plantation homestead, with diku brandy to hand, felt to all of them a welcome antidote to their damp and weary state, and some time passes in speculation as to how Adaela’s cousin might have lost his arm.
So it was with rising morale that they find what they assume to be a dika plantation on the southern edge of an expanse of open marshland. Following the serried lines of neatly planted fruit shrubs they spot a squat building less than half a mile ahead, and pick up pace towards it. Disappointingly it appears to be less a plantation homestead than a small thatch farmhouse, but they press on.
It is as they get closer that Chest Thumper points out that there is no smoke rising from the chimney of the house, and no lights inside despite the fading late-afternoon light. Closer still, they see a hole in the thatched roof, seemingly torn away by the ferocity of storm-force winds. Perhaps this will not be the warm welcoming respite they were hoping for…
The farmhouse is a low single story wood-framed building, with a palm-leaf thatch sloping low down the sides of the walls, punctured by two brick chimneys at either end of the home. Above a gaping eight foot by ten-foot section has peeled away from the middle of the roof. It looks as though the building is made up of one large central room, with a few additional rooms branching off the sides. There are few windows; most are shuttered but where the wind has ripped some open there is no light visible from outside. At the front a decked verandah leads to a heavy wooden front porch door (shut), flanked by a shuttered window on either side. At the rear of the house a solid-looking back door is also closed.
All is quiet as the Papaya Knights approach…
Pious watches the tiny figure of Jit trudge off alone into the rain, as soon as she is out of sight he turns and heads off without another word.
The righteous shall never walk alone, for they shall have me beside them.
As the circumstances become clearer...
"Lo and he came upon a house. But the house was not a home... There is evil work here if I am any judge."
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You would think Francis would be one of the most upset about Jit's departure, but when it becomes apparent that she's not going to change her mind, he walks off like he doesn't care. The number of times he looks back in her direction, even hours later gives the lie to that.
Chest Thumper pats the big ape's shoulder from time to time and it is a sign of Francis' mental state that he does not shrug the gesture off.
Chest Thumper wishes he could say he is surprised as they approach the partially ruined hut but there is trouble all over this area. It would actually be more surprising if there was peace and quiet here.
He unlimbers his axe as he approaches the porch. Francis follows, taking on a more aggressive stance as he catches the mood of his companions.
Chest Thumper goes to the nearest open window and peeks in.
Approaching the plantation farmhouse silently is a little tricky, given the scattered storm debris (palm tree leaves and some scattered wooden posts) and broad muddy puddles scattered about the outside of the building. Relatively quietly the party approach closer, with Pious and Chest Thumper advancing on the side of the building. Pious’ divinely-inspired senses fail to flag the presence of anything of note, either on the outside of the property or through the window as Chest Thumper peers in the window cautiously.
Inside Chest Thumper sees a single large central room maybe 20’ by 15’, dimly lit from a large hole in the thatched roof above. There are two painted interior doors standing open, leading to a kitchen (containing presumably the rear door) and a bedroom. One bare panel door off to one side of the room is closed. The furniture inside the main room is upended. Storm debris lies scattered about, and the polished hardwood floor is inches deep in muddy rainwater pooling beneath the gaping hole above.
Outside, peering around the yard Iradyiel finds a tool shed (which contains little of interest) and an intact wire mesh chicken coop (containing the bare skeletons of two chickens) but fails to find a root cellar or anything else of note.
Aza fights furiously through vicious stuttering to argue that Jit is not bad luck and that she should stay - but ultimately the Oracle's words prove to be fruitless. "I d-do not..." Aza could not find any words of farewell, and simply sniffled as she turned to leave. "Be w-w-well," she said simply, and the winds that seemed to almost constantly ripple her cloak stilled for a moment before they turned and left for the plantation. Aza was quiet for the most part throughout their journey, and leaned heavily on her staff as she worked on wrestling her head into a better place to bring some happy thoughts to her companions.
Of course, Aza's hopes were all but shattered upon seeing the state of the plantation - her hopes were that they simply left to get repairs done on their home in the wake of the violent storm, but something lifted the hairs on the back of her neck and made her grip her staff until her knuckles went white. "A-agreed. The cellar would be the likely hiding spot if they w-were looking to ride out the storm..." of course, they didn't find anything like that, and the pair of stripped chickens set her teeth on edge. She whispers something under her breath, and the invisible winds begin to pick up around her, rustling her cloak and hair. While the embrace of the air comforts her somewhat, she still feels as though something is up. She moves close to Chest Thumper and Francis, feeling somewhat safer with the towering pair nearby. "What do you see? Something is... wrong, here."
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Chest Thumper is less than reassured by what he sees. It is fairly obvious by the state of things that the normal inhabitants are no longer there. But the fact that the furniture has been tossed about is more disturbing. He doesn't think the wind could do that without blowing the whole thing down.
"The main room is clear and so is the kitchen and a bedroom. There's one door that seems like it is...sealed shut," he tells his companions, quietly.
He looks up toward the roof. "Me and Francis will see if we can see anything else from up there," he says, hanging his axe back across his torso by the strap.
He makes a series of gestures to show Francis what he wants then starts to climb himself.
Chest Thumper and Francis successfully climb up the thatch roof, hauling themselves with ease onto the roofline. Examining the damaged section it appears clear that the gaping hole was torn away by wind action; there is no evidence that this was done by hand. Looking down through the roof, they can see the storm-damaged room below, completed with scattered furniture. There are no footsteps visible in the muddy pools below.
Outside by the wooden verandah at the front of the home, the leaves rustle and whirl around Aza as she animates the air to protect her. Pious completes his circuit of the house, 'detecting' without success. Iradyiel stands in the rear yard, by the shed and the back (kitchen) door.
Bar a drip drip drip of rain from the eaves the house is silent. Dusk's fading light slowly slips from the sky.
Seeing that Chest Thumper and Francis has climbed the roof, Iradyiel begins to search around the yard for any signs of anyone coming or going.
Nothing. The storm debris everywhere makes spotting tracks difficult, and the yard is clearly an area in constant use until recently, but there is no evidence of recent tracks (the last three or four days since the big storm) at all.
With a disappointed grunt (It is not clear whether Pious is more upset at finding the place deserted or that there are no obvious foes to engage) Pious moves to enter the building by the front door. If it resists he will try to force it.
"Suffer not any impediment to progress, for progress is divine. Enter my house and see the progress I have made. Thus spoke the Lord, the last of the first men. And He is wisdom."
The door was closed but not locked. Pious lifts the latch and pushes it open with a squeak of the door hinge. Inside, he can see the room as already described. Straight ahead are the open doors to the kitchen and bedroom, to the left is the closed panel door.
As he peers into the dim interior he hears a low moan from inside, as if from someone weak and in pain. There's a feeble-sounding rapping on a wooden surface, too.
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Finding that their elevated position gives them little better view, Chest Thumper and Francis climb back down.
Then (assuming they didn't fall) the pair follow the rest of the group into the building.
"Whatever's making the noise is in there. We should be careful, though. That goo that's sealed the door shut is surely a sign of trouble."
Aza hustles inside after the others, despite some mild trepidation. "If the doors are n-not locked... well, why wouldn't they be?" the oracle wonders quietly to the rest of the party. The hand not clutching her quarterstaff moves to her belt, grasping at her healing wand - if someone was in there, weak and hurt, she wanted to help. But on the other hand, what had left that ooze on the door? And it wasn't as though undead didn't make moaning sounds from time to time, as they had just recently learned. "If someone in there needs h-help, we have to h-h-h... assist," she says, trying to force some confidence into her shaking voice.
"The blind shall not hear you nor the deaf see. For they are lost to me, as sheep in a storm, though not so easily found."
Sword drawn, as it is, more often than not now, Pious raises his voice
[B]"We have you surrounded, if you are a friend then make yourself known and you will find us not cruel. If you are foe then commend yourself to your heathen gods, you shall not see out the day"[\b]
"The blind shall not hear you nor the deaf see. For they are lost to me, as sheep in a storm, though not so easily found."
Sword drawn, as it is, more often than not now, Pious raises his voice
"We have you surrounded, if you are a friend then make yourself known and you will find us not cruel. If you are foe then commend yourself to your heathen gods, you shall not see out the day"
As Pious and Iradyiel step inside the open door, their eyes adjust to the gloomy interior. Nothing moves inside; a heavy oak table and chairs lie overturned in the thick mud and pooled rainwater with cutlery and clean plates fallen to the floor. It seems this room was abandoned in a hurry, but this must have happened recently – the room is spotlessly clean aside from the scattered furniture.
Along the northern wall a large and travel-worn chest sits partly concealed underneath a collapsed curtain pole and soaking wet heavy green window drape. To the east, doors lead off to the bedroom and kitchen, and thence to the rear kitchen door.
Pious calls out his challenge, and it is answered from across the room by further weak tapping from the panel door opposite where he stands. A voice moans unintelligibly from behind the closet, it sounds feeble, even delirious. From this closer distance, it appears that the edges of the door have an unknown yellowy-white solid substance oozing out, all the way round from top to bottom.
From across a distance of maybe 150’, Vedic can see maybe two figures plus a human-sized chainmail-armoured ape standing with their backs to him on the verandah outside the open front doors of Misha’s home.
One of the figures is a slight young woman wearing a travel-worn poncho and leaning on a quarterstaff; the other is a lanky green-skinned orc wearing an animal skin, crouched with one fist on the floor. Their attention appears to be focused inside the building where at least two other figures are lurking.
None of those outside seem to have noticed you and Misha in the shrubs. Tactically, and with an evoker's eye for battlefield advantage, Vedic notes that as they huddle together in the doorway looking in, the group presents a temptingly closely-bunched target for any blasting magics...
Pious swaps his sword to his left hand and slips a dagger into his right, he approaches the door and gives the sealing substance an investigatory scratch and poke.
"Is anyone inside?" Vedic asked Misha.
Vedic cast a spell, further armoring himself.
Pious approaches the door; Iradyiel stands mid room looking round; the others stand outside on the verandah.
The white-yellow substance appears to be tallow wax, of the sort used to make candles. It has clearly been pushed, melted or wedged around the door frame from the other side. Putting your ear to the thin door, you can hear faint ragged breathing on the other side.
As Pious crouches at the edge of the panel door examining it, those inside the room hear a rough voice, more clear now but sounding exhausted, cry out...
The voice then fades off into a feeble cough…
***
Misha crouches in the shrubs next to you, watching the bandits outside her home. ”Just me and Jheri, oh and the cat, Rusty. Rusty died first – I heard his cut-off shriek from the roof. I’d never heard a cat make a sound like that…it was horrible. And then I saw it attacking Jheri – he shouted, he told me to run. And now it’s gone, and those terrible people are looting our home!”
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Chest Thumper eases into the largest chamber of the partially ruined building, axe at the ready. He visibly sniffs the air, attempting to discern the most recent living creatures besides themselves that were in there and, potentially, what might be behind that sealed door.
Francis comes in as well, moving away from the door he entered and eyeing the door that has everyone's attention. He's on all fours, his feet and hands shifting and twisting slightly in the mud to get more traction should the need to charge become apparent.
Aza, not wanting to be left alone in the rain, shuffles inside behind Francis. "What do you sm-smell?" she questions, staff held meagerly at the ready. One half of her was saying to run, but she wouldn't abandon her companions here.
Chest Thumper and Francis move into the house, ducking under the thatch roof as they enter. And they stop: both simultaneously sensing something confusingly [i]wrong[/]...
- Chest Thumper sniffs the air, and wrinkles his nose. He'd expected to house to smell musty, damp, mouldering. Instead it smells curiously sterile, and acidic...
- Francis enters on all fours and, as the pads of his paws touch the thick mud beneath the open hole in the roof, leaps backward with a jump. He bares his teeth against a sharp stinging pain from his paws...
...as the thick brown mud, gleaming with a gelatinous shine, rises in one fluid motion up, up from the floor, scattering table chairs and cutlery about it. Up it rises into a solid blob, flowing up from across the room, eyeless and mouthless with multiple club-like pseudopods swelling from the central mass, and surging towards the Papaya Knights. The worst affected is Iradyiel, standing almost knee-deep in the creature; even Francis, CT and Pious are right at its edge, so large is it within the small home. And it looks hungry...
As the Orc and the Ape enter the home, you hear shouts of alarm and see the bandits react to something unseen inside.
Initiative order:
Francis, Aza, CT, Pious, Iradyiel, The Blob
Vedic also can take a single action, as this turn he is only reacting to witnessing others' actions.
** spoiler omitted **
Misha stares at your question; "No more deaths, please!" she exclaims.
Pious whirls as the creature rears up, his knife clatters to the ground as he takes his holy sword in both hands once more.
Vedic nodded, then spoke, his whisper carried to the woman near the house by his magic. "Have your friends exit the premise now and I will let you leave unharmed."
Seconds after she witnesses the horrifying blob-monster rearing up from the floor of the room, Aza jumps a second time as she hears, as if whispered in her ear from behind, a unfamiliar male elven voice say: "Have your friends exit the premises now and I will let you leave unharmed.". Aza looks around but cannot see anyone else nearby – her experience tells her this was an arcane Message spell, but she cannot tell whether it came from the blob, the person behind the door, or someone else as yet unseen. As she looks about she notes that Iradyiel and Chest Thumper heard it too.
Seconds after they witness the horrifying blob-monster rearing up from the floor of the room, Chest Thumper and Iradyiel partially hear a whisper of an unfamiliar male elven voice behind them, saying something about: "…friends exit the … you leave unharmed.". Turning they see a look of confusion on Aza’s face; clearly she heard it also. There’s no-one else behind her, and no-one else ahead in the room other than the blob and the person behind the door...
You recognise the gelatinous blob as being an Ochre Jelly, an uncommon and dangerous creature normally found underground, but also in swamps and marshland. Ochre jellies are animate masses of protoplasm hued a sickly combination of yellow, orange, and brown. At rest, their flat, pulsing bodies stand roughly 6 inches tall and can stretch out to a wide diameter—in motion, they often ball up into quivering spherical shapes and almost seem to roll as they move. Their malleable bodies allow them to seep through cracks and holes far smaller than the space they fill. It will have a powerful grapple and a highly specialized acid attack which only dissolves flesh. It has few weaknesses, you have heard that it is more effective to utilise blunt than piercing or slashing weapons against it.
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Francis finds himself with a conundrum on his hands. On the one hand, this gooey thing hurt him and that makes him very angry. On the other hand, it hurt him just by touching him and he's pretty sure that it will hurt him again if he touch it. Like those gooey things they found at the beach one time that one of his cousins tried to eat but then his mouth swelled up.
But the thing had hurt him and he couldn't leave that unpunished. For one of the first times, he wished he had one of those sharp sticks his weakling brother depended on so much. Still, he wasn't going to unleash his full fury on this thing and risk his own mouth swelling up.
Chest Thumper cocks his head to the side as he faintly hears something. The suggestion he gets out of it isn't a bad one. No matter what this thing was, he didn't particularly want any part of it and if it wanted this ruined building to live in, he was fine with that, too.
Given how halfhearted Francis' attack was, he hoped it wouldn't be hard to convince his brother to leave, too.
"Let's leave this place to this thing! I see no need to fight if we don't have to," he calls out to his companions then makes some gestures and hoots and grunts toward Francis.
Aza scrambles back as the mass of ooze arises, reflexively taking a step backwards out of the house and attempting to form words with her uncooperative mouth. "Th-th-th, w-w-w..." She clamps down on her quarterstaff, nails digging into the smooth wood. "W-we need to get outside! W-we need to get it outside!". Despite what the voice had whispered to her, she had no intention of leaving whatever whimpering voice that was in this house to the mercy of the strange blob. "We can't fight it in here!" She takes another panicked step back out into the rain, and casts her staff in an arcane pattern. "W-winds guide us."
With more than a little anger in her voice, she shouts in response to the words ringing in her ears - "Wh-who said that? What happened to the people that were here?" She frantically looks around, a part of her refusing to believe that this ooze monster could use magic, if only because that would make it much, much worse.
"Ah! The spirits of the earth arise just as the wrath of the sky doth descend."
Pious swaps his sword to his left hand once more and steps back, grabbing the curtain poll that lies over the chest as he does so.
"That which cannot bleed cannot be cut, cannot be pierced. Crush that which stands subhuman before you in the guise of abhorrence."
"Who I am is irrelevant." Vedic replied through the Message spell. "The people who were here are still here and they want you to leave. Now. You have thirty seconds to comply before I rain something far worse than water on you."
The room suddenly seems rather crowded as the Papaya Knights collectively leap backwards away from the horror looming in front of them. At the back of the room, Pious backs into the corner next to the sealed panel door, seizing the curtain pole from atop the chest in the same movement. As he pulls it clear the stark white skeleton of a household cat, complete with collar, falls out of the folds of the heavy drapes which hung upon it. By the door Francis lashes out with one taloned claw, ineffectively batting away a probing limb of the blob before leaping with alacrity out through to the verandah. Aza briskly steps back from the door too, simultaneously boosting the party with divine protection. Inside Chest Thumper and Iradyiel stand side by side facing the blob, ducking the questing tentacles it sends out to find them.
The barbarian manages to land a terrible blow against it, spattering stinging brown ichor across both their chests, but succeeding in attracting its attention as half a dozen tentacles emerge from its side, reaching for the half elf. He bats away the first few but his rage makes him careless and as the blob shifts its mass it engulfs him whole, leaving only his boots sticking out the side kicking wildly...
Meanwhile a scream is heard behind the party, amidst the lines of Diku shrubs 100' to the south...
BG 15 damage
***
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Chest Thumper blinks as the glob thing takes a serious hit from Iradyiel but not only seeming shrugs it off but replies even more effectively. Before he knows it, his half-elven companion is battered, squished and swallowed.
"Waaaugh! he calls out in surprise then gestures wildly for Francis, trying to convey his intentions before grabbing one of Iradyiel's boots and giving his leg a haul.
Francis makes a very similar noise and, though he doesn't want to suffer the furless warrior's fate, he also has come to like the guy and Chest Thumper is being very adamant about helping so he comes back into the room to grab the other leg and pull as well.
"Those are not bandits. Stay here." Vedic told Misha. "Stay here."
"Apologies." the voice whispered. [b]"I was told you were looters. You are clearly not. I am coming to assist you."
A cloaked figure came jogging out of the haze and rain toward the small house with a crossbow held low.
A cloaked figure came jogging out of the haze and rain toward the small house with a crossbow held low.
"Though the earth itself may resent my tread. Still I walk the path!
Pious reluctantly sheaths his sword and steps up to the ooze. Swinging two handed at the thing with his makeshift club.
Aza shook her head. Bandits? Did this thing think they were bandits? She glances down at her dark cloak, and at the crystals dangling from her hat - I don't think I look like a bandit. Of course, an armed figure jogging through the rain quickly caused Aza to make a connection. Maybe the ooze wasn't the thing trying to talk to her.
However, there isn't time for her to pursue this train of thought, as Iradyiel gets pulled head-first into the slime! Pulling a wand from her belt, she shakily waves it for a moment to generate a moderate amount of healing light, before touching it to whatever part of Iradyiel she can reach.