With his back to the wall at the corner of the landing, Tamm strains his earsto hear the mumbling speakers move around.
If the rest of the world could see the invisible raccoon on Tamm's shoulder, they would be amazed at just how wide it's eye's bulge out as Tamm is foolish enough to walk into the darkend room.
" Yeda do you think there are more of those evil spawn things about? The last one we killed so quickly. I want to kill another."
He said loudly drawing angling his spear-tip low but positioning his feet to flip the tip up and be able to step on the butt of the spear if something charged out now Sazzat
Loxley didn't like Sazzat going on alone, but kept silent as he slipped ahead into the room. She resisted rolling her eyes at Corrin's ham-fisted delivery when he loudly announced their presence. She did catch herself smirking at it, but quickly stoned her face as she readied herself for the coming fight.
"I don't know how I feel about this..." Zeldana said as she shifted slightly. "Letting Sazzat go in there all alone... Not knowing what is in there." She said with a sigh.
I don't know, but I'm just waiting for a scream from Sazzat at any moment... get ready to bum rush that room when it goes bad.
Not wanting to waste time on his spell and feeling the need to distract the creatures, Tamm reaches quietly into his pouch and grabs his bar of soap. (soap because it should just be a thump when it lands)
Then he flips his wrist and tosses the bar of soap towards the east end of the room with an underhand lob so it bounces down the wooden walkway.
*inside the darkroom**
A low, quiet knocking sounds from the off to the east, and the slight sound of claws scraping lightly upon stone subtlety hits Sazzat's ears. A slight creak of wood comes from behind Sazzat as one of the things begins to walk slowly, up what sazzat can only assume to be a wooden walk-way behind him. The creature moves past him, within arms reach of sazzat, its breath coming as a barely audible hiss through parted lips and drooling fangs.
Sweat beads on Tamm's forehead as the creature comes close.
He holds his breath as it passes and steals himself to strike true when its back is turned.
"Haaaaa!!!!!" Tamm calls out in something approximating a warcry.
He stabs his dagger into its back, aiming for where a human's kidney would be located.
As he strikes, his Vanish spell ceases and he becomes visible, a grimace of fear/fury on his face.
Meanwhile, the raccoon has an expression of shear raccoon terror on its feature.
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The half-elf sat in his jail cell, staring at the ceiling. There wasnt much to do inside this small cell, yet it's made even worse since the his guards do not talk to him. It grated at him, for some reason; this feeling of being invisible, even after what he did. He knew he'd enjoy their anger, their displeasure, their disgust at him turning against a village that didnt endear themselves to him when he was younger. But this...solitude. He hadnt felt this amount of solitude except when he lived at home in the manor with his father...
Father. Not the one who sired me, but who did raise me. Yet, he hated me. hated that i caused the death of my mother. It wasnt my fault, but He hated me all the same. He felt his anger grow within his chest, that raw feeling of emotion that felt soooo good; the flush, the rush, the strength; it went against everything that he was trained for. To keep his emotions in check. To maintain a state of calm, a detachment, to allow emotion to rule your actions is to Deny the way of the Stream.
The half-elf pursed his lips as he imagined his father, both from 20 years prior, the night when he was sent away to the temple for proper training, and 2 nights ago, when he encased his father in molten glass. Oh how he screamed he thought to himself with a smirk upon his lips. He acknowledged me then. He screamed it. Offered me anything i wanted if i would just make the pain go away. The smirk fills to a full smile, his lips parting, revealing white teeth stained a light brown due to a cronic addiction to the tabbac leaf. The open lips allow an evil laugh, one filled with the satisfaction of completed vengeance, to slip through. Within the confines of the jail cell, the malevolence is magnified.
Muted words sound suddenly from the other side of the heavy wooden door that guards the jail cell. A man speaking quietly, in a respectful tone. Lucian the half-elf snarls silently to himself. the man who ordered this quasi-solitude, this exile, this detachment from Sandpoint's own. If i ever get free... the half-elf grasps his hands into tight fists, shaking with the effort, imagining Lucian's face contorted in pain, the same as the half-elfs father did when he was bathed in glass.
The door creaked loudly as it was pushed into the room, causing the Half-elf to look down at the sudden, unexpected entry. The snarl upon his face is smoothed over as he remembers his training. allow not the enemy to see thyself, lest they know thine own one of the tennants from the Stream testifies within his head. He shifts and sits up on his bunk, his feet hanging to the floor; manacles clasped around his ankles, chained together limiting his range of motion. A long chain connects from his ankles to the manacles clasped around his wrists, the heavy iron chaffing skin to the point that blood flows freely from the grinding action whenever he seeks comfort from their confines.
He opens his mouth to antagonize Lucian when he pauses, observing the second individual that stands in the door way. At first a shadow obscures her features, but he knows it to be a her from her frame, her slim but noticeable breasts, her hips, and her slim dress. The woman steps forward through the arch of the doorway and just into the light.
Lord mayor Tsuto says, standing up, denying the woman the pleasure of seeing him as submissive. He may see his final days in a cell, nay, at her whim and pleasure, but I shall do it as an equal!! he screams in his mind.
She looks at him a long moment. Her eyes flick to his wrists, to his ankles, to the heavy chain setting the manacles to each other, and finally, the long thick iron chain that runs from the wall that completes his primary security; a thick iron band upon his neck with a small lock securing the band together. The stare lasts long, stretching longer than was normally acceptable. The stare began to gnaw at him, like a dog worrying a bone. Grating, it raked at his mind. She sees me, yet ignores me. Semi-solitude once again... oh how i could make her scream the thought flicks across his mind, only to have him gasp in sudden excitement.
The lord mayor stood staring, looking not at the prisoner, but at the other guardsmen within the room from the corners of her eyes. They shuffled about, attempting to get comfortable yet remain at a position of respect due her station. The longer she waited, the more they moved slightly. Slowly, inch by inch, the shuffled, moving until they were just fully within her line of sight.
She moved suddenly, sure of her motions. First to the right, the obvious threat. He had his sword out, he had been sharpening it, and it was within easy reach should she not deal with him first. She slipped the narrow stiletto down from from the sleeve of her blouse, palmed in her right hand. a slight flick of her wrist and she held it, pointed out the back of her hand from the pinkie. She pivoted upon her toes, a fluid motion, bringing her hand up even with her cleavage, her left hand cupping her right, and she lunged forward. The point of the stiletto leading the way, her hand guided the lethal point up and into the guardsman's face. The blade punched easily through the man's eye, digging deep into his brain; he didnt have time to flinch, to scream in panic, to fully appreciate his demise. One moment, he was alive, the next, dead. The power of her lunge pushed both the guardsman and her into the wall, the stiletto punching out the back of the mans skull and digging a point into the brick and mason wall.
The second threat was Lucian, fully behind her. He was fast, she knew, from observing him out on the street, and in the bed at the brothel she worked at. Fast, quick, powerful, a true swordsman. She had to be faster though. Her plan demanded that she be successful. Pushing off the deadman held up by her bladed instrument of death, she pivoted, slipping the still-point from the skull, bring the arm up and over her head in a windmill motion, the movement large, obvious, predictable. Lucian, recovering from the sudden shock of seeing the Lord Mayor kill a guardsman, glides upon his feet, his hand moving towards, not his sword, but his dagger held upon his right hip. Short, narrow, perfect for the small confines of the jail cell, he was bringing it out as he witnessed the narrow bladed dagger begin its large arc from guardsman towards his unhelmed head. He snaps out his dagger from its sheath, his eyes flicking from the scene of the dead guardsman slumping down the wall to the threat of dagger to the head, and steps up to slash at her arm holding the stiletto, only to suddenly feel a sudden heavy punch in his groin. Pain fills his mind as his hands involuntarily converge upon his groin, dropping the dagger and lowering his guard as the intruder, no longer considered the lord mayor, lowers her knee that had connected with his unprotected nether regions. A gasp escapes his mouth as he exhales a quick high pitched squawk before inhaling deep to fully bellow his pain and rage at the extreme insult to his manhood. His eyes fall momentarily upon the source of his pain, and he is rewarded with seeing a narrow wedge of metal poking through the fabric of the woman's dress at knee level. He looks up again, making eye contact with the woman just in time to watch an elbow connect just above his brow, rendering him unconscious with a heavy, wet blow.
The woman, sucking in a lungful of air, twists with the exertion of having used an elbow upon Lucian's brow, and squares off against the last guard in the room. The last threat, he stands ready now, having eskewed the use of blades within the room, instead relying upon his size, strength, and awareness to keep him alive. He opens his mouth, his body expanding even larger as he sucks in a large lungful of air; his intentions are clear: scream for help. She is out of position to do anything to prevent him from screaming. If lucian hadnt been in here. hadnt interfered. He was a nice lover..if she quenched that thought real fast, knowing she had to kill him, as she had no idea if her disguise still held. The guardsman started to bellow something, only to have it cut off suddenly. A heavy thump, with a splash, suddenly sounds within the room as a wooden pot breaks over the guardsman's face. Tsuto, having not been idle, instead had picked up his chamber pot and thrown it expertly through the large spaced bars of his chamber. It slammed into the guardsman's head, breaking apart from the heavy impact, it's disgusting contents splashing across the man's face and chest. Sputtering and spatting in disgust, the sewage obscures the man's eyes and mouth. Taking advantage of the moment, the woman leaps at the man, bringing both hands across her body, grasping at each elbow, and drives the forearms under the man's chin. the weight of the impact hammers the man back against the cell wall, and momentum carries the weight of the woman hard into the man's neck. The sound of bones snapping sounds loudly within the womans ears, and the man makes a gurgling noise as his neck is crushed.
Stepping back, the Lord Mayor steps back and allows the dying man to collapse to the floor, his hands grasping weakly at his neck before finally submitting to the inevitable. Breathing heavy, she takes a deep breath and stills herself. She turns and looks at the prisoner. Promise to take me with you, promise to see that i am safely delivered to your patron, whomever it is, and promise that you will aide me in my quest for vengence, and I shall free you. Say no, and i shall walk out of here, leaving you to your own fate.
Tsuto stares at the crazy woman a moment. Obviously not the Lord Mayor. Under a Guise. but who...and how long will the guise hold out? No matter...now is the time for action. Tsuto nods his head.
I so swear to lead you to my patron so that you may achieve your vengance. I swear upon the eventual death and destruction of Sandpoint He holds his arm up, and as best he could, brings his fist to over his heart while extending his pinkie, the manner of swearing an Oath as those of the followers of the Stream practice.
Smiling, the woman leans down and retrieves the key ring from the dead guardsman. Stepping forward, she unlocks the cell door and then tosses the ring to Tsuto.
Hurry up. I dont have much time before my guise wears off, if it hasnt already. she says.
Tamm calls out to the others in common:
"There are two of them!"
"Yeda, take the one to the right, I'm on the one to the left!"
Zeldana took it upon herself to throw open the doors them moved out of the way. Allowing Yeda and the others to head right in to Sazzat's aid.
The Sinspawn that crossed Sazzat's path bellow a cry of agony, shock, and outrage as the dagger punches deep into it's back. The cry is cut short as the dagger twists from Sazzat's deadly attack, and the creature suddenly falls limp to the ground, dead.
The door flings open from Zeldana's shove, and the light from Yeda's sword reveals the inside of the room, and it's aberrant creature.
Your eyes do a quick search around the room taking in nonspecific items as you attempt to find the second sinspawn lurking in the room. Wooden platform that you stand upon, Sazzat and his bristling raccoon sitting upon his shoulder chattering like mad, alcoves with bars-no! Jail cells they are, wooden ramp leading straight ahead and then down to the right, a set of stairs just out of sight, and there, on said stairs, is the other sinspawn.
It rushes up the stairs and rushes Sazzat, howling and slovering as it sees a potentially easy victim. It moves up over its dead companion and takes a viscous swing at sazzat...
...and fails to hit sazzat!
Light sweeps away the darkness of the adjoining room as Zeldana throws open the door. From her spot behind Yeda Loxley saw one of the sinspawn drop with a painful cry even as another clambered over its fallen brethren and attack Sazzat.
”No!”
She cried out, the fingers holding the arrow to bowstring brushing her check for only a fraction of a moment before she let the glowing shaft fly past Yeda and Zeldana towards the foul creature.
As quick as a snake striking he rushed forward sliding between the others. He took five good steady steps and leapt high in the air, driving his spear down at the sinspawn and landing pratically behind it so that he and Sazzat had it between them.
Not as elegantly the elk barrels along behind the elf lowering it antlers to try and gore the monster
At the onrush of the other monster, Bandit, the raccoon, scrambles over Tamm's pack to hide itself hanging upside down under the pack on his back.
As his companions rush in to attack the sinspawn, Tamm ducks the creature's claw and stabs out with his dagger.
(flanking)
I think it dies under a hail of attacks.
The sinspawn gets hammered, first an arrow punches through its head, blasting out a sizeable chunk of brain matter; the arrow burrowing down to the fletching.
Corrin, in a daziling acrobatic display, jumps high into the air, and while in midmotion, thrusts his spear into the sinspawns side. Dewdrop, following the urging of his master, leaps into the fray, pushing past yeda, zeldana and loxley to gore the creature with it's long antlers.
the sinspawn jerks from the savagery of the attacks, and, to add insult to injury, Sazzat drives his dagger deep into the creatures midsection, lacerating deep into the side, causing a deep whoosh of air as the lungs of the creature is cut open.
"Thanks for the quick backup!" Tamm says to the others, reaching around behind him to pry the raccoon off his pack and place it back on his shoulder.
He looks at the little varmint and says "See, everything works out."
To Loxley he says: "I've never seen a better shot with a bow and arrow. That was clutch!."
Tamm leans over and cleans the weird creature's blood off his dagger by wiping it on the hem of his cloak.
"That's a cloak, a bedroll, and some soap..." he mutters.
After seeing to his blade he straightens and moves to examine the room more carefully now that there is better light.
(+1 for traps)
He panted slightly as he removed the spear from the fallen monster with a slight glare at it.
"How many more of these things do you think there are?
"I don't know." Tamm answers Corrin.
To Zeldana he asks "Do you think that little demon was making these things with that well of evil water?"
He scratches his head.
"I know it's not probably worth it to try and understand the motivations of something that evil, but if that's the case I can't see why."
"and I don't understand if there's a connection between the goblins and Tsuto upstairs and all the crazy evil going on down here."
"It is possible. We've no idea how much power was in the well before we emptied it." Zeldana said with a shrug. "As I said before, this may have just already been here and they chose to use it. After all that demon we fought was a demon and Lamashtu is a demon goddess. Demons will live as long as they're not killed, so they might have knowledge of the well."
Loxley stared at the fallen body of the sinspawn with the shaft of her arrow showing only the fletching.
To Loxley he says: "I've never seen a better shot with a bow and arrow. That was clutch!."
”Ah, ya, thanks.” She manages to mumble, still surprised by the shot herself, slightly embarrassed by the praise. As the talk moves on to the speculation of possible encounters she happily latches onto the change of subject.
”Well then, motives be damned.” She says drawing another arrow from her quiver and setting it to her bowstring. ”I guess we have to find everyone, or thing, who can use the ritual and put an end to they’re ability to use such knowledge.”She takes a deep breath and tries to look stern.
Yeda watches her teammates fly by her, or send attacks past her, and before she knows it the sinspawn are already drop.
Wow, y'all are fast! Yup, just holding the light here. That why you keep me around.
She then frowns at the discussion of how much more evil they may encounter in this place.
We've really got our work cut out for us down here, don't we?
"We just need to keep surprise on our side. That and running away have always been my key fighting strategies."
"Surprise if often an element that wins battles." Zeldana said with a nod. "You read it all the time in history books." She added with a shrug. "However please don't go too far Sazzat, over extending ones self is where one meets their end."
Yeda bobs her head agreeably, conceding the point. Yeah, that makes sense. And when I'm not so slow on the draw you leave them open to the bigger hurt! The smiles sheepishly.
With the immediate threat eliminated, and with yeda moving into the room itself, the light from her sword illuminates the true intention of the room.
Theis large chamber was obviously once a prison, as testified by the twenty cells that line the room's perimeter. A rickety wooden platform overlooks the room with two flights of stairs descending to the prison floor ten feet below. A five foot wide wooden walkway runs from the northern edge of a the platform to a passageway to the east.
"So... door?" Zeldana asked as she moved in and pointed down the passageway to the east. "I'm very much good to leave..." She admitted.
Did my perception/search turn up anything?
Yeda quickly agrees with Zeldana. Yes, door. This place feels haunted with bad memories and pain.
She just misses catching herself and realizes she blurted out something that would have been said amongst her homeland tribe members. Quickly shaking it off, she proceeds to the door East.
Loxley trailed along behind Yeda, keeping within the sword's light. Bow ready, her eyes swept around the radial edge of the spell's limited visibility.
"Cells?" She murmured, half to herself. "What could they have been for? Prisoners? Sacrifices, maybe?"
She swallowed reflexively and nodded her agreement with the others.
"Leaving sounds good."
She glanced towards Sazzat.
"Still taking point?"
Making sure he was ready, acknowledging the man's capabilities as a scout.
As Loxley asks the question Still taking point? the light upon Yeda's blade cuts out, the spell ending.
"What's that...." Tamm says noticing the irregularity in the floor and starting to step forward.
When the Light spell he had cast cuts out, leaving them in the dark his eyes go wide in surprise. (although no one notices because of the darkness)
"What's that...." Tamm says noticing the irregularity in the floor and starting to step forward.
”Wha...?”
Loxley started to ask the light suddenly stopped.”Did it end?”
She thinks to herself and tries to calculate how long it had been since Sazzat cast the spell on Yeda’s sword.
Loxley carefully reaches out in search of the warrior women.
”Yeda?
"Don't panic....the spell just ran out." Tamm says into the dark.
Tamm speaks a short arcane phrase and casts Light on his own dagger to re-illuminate the room.
Then he takes a closer look at the cell with the void.
(+1 for traps)
"Maybe we should think about getting torches?" Zeldana suggested "They do last longer."
”Did anyone bring torches?”
Loxley asks, stepping up to Yeda now that she can see again.
”If not, we can stagger castings of light. That way when one ends we’ll be forewarned. When one goes out we’ll have the second still and can renew the first before we’re in the dark again.”
She looks around at the others in case anyone else has an idea or wants to return with actual torches.
Great! Do you have another one to put on my sword Loxley? Tamm, you see anything below of interest, before we leave this place?
Yeda seems impatient, wanting to move on.
This place gave me a bad feeling before the light went out, and then that didn't help. I felt the darkness slicing through me like so much cold air on a winter night.
With sazzat renewing the light spell, but casting it upon his dagger, the central point of light changes from Yeda to now Sazzat. The darkness, omnipresent, closes in upon the group like a hungry silent monster, seeking to devour the impident figure that would dare challenge it's mastery. The darkness presses firmly, caressing at the edge of the light, seeking those that would bathe in the presense of the light....
casting light upon your dagger pushes back the darkness hidding within the hole within the cell. You can see that it has been chiseled through the solid rock floor, and a what appears to be handholds have also been cut into the stonework below. Your survey of the cell door reveals it to be locked, but in incredible condition. and, most importantly, no traps are to be found. Just a simple lock.
”I do.” She answers Yeda. ”I just want to wait a few moments so the time between ours spells ending is enough to give time to renew it.”