Pent blinks his eyes fully open, sniffing the floor, then licking it to be sure. He slowly presses himself up and onto his back, before sitting up, and looking around. He wiggles one boot, checking its sole, then nods to himself while springing to his feet. When he sees the babbling Brooke, or Belinda, or Bertha, he nudges Mahdi.
"Uh. What did I miss? I seem to have slumbered..." He steps back from the struggling half-elf, taking a look around at the others. "Any of you slumber too?"
Ami offers a hand to the gnome to help him up, if the gnome so wishes. Ami seems pleased that the gnome is not dead, and finally understands what the foul odors surrounding the little priest are.
"Oh, good. You're alive," Ami says, wiping his hand in his cat if the gnome had accepted the help up. "I was worried you were dead."
Ami smiles as Yeen continues to thrash and rend the eyeball into eyeball strips.
"Brother! The gnome isn't dead after all. Don't worry."
The half-elf continues to mumble. At times she nearly yells. "He'll eat your bones. The jackal will. It's how all his enemies die. I'd let him do it if only he'll let me live."
Aldebert looks at Mahdi, "I think her mind is gone." he almost adds be merciful but at the last moment he doesn't... and he feels a little guilty about it.
He grips the half-elf and waits for Mahdi's next questions.
"Oh, good. You're alive. I was worried you were dead."
Pent eyes the half's hand, choosing to stand on his own newly-returned strength instead, waving off Amiamble's extended paw.
"Nope. Not dead yet. Sarah still sees me here, so I'll stay a little while longer." The gnome turns his full attention on the ravings of the half-elf, and the promises of which she thinks the Jackal is fully capable of fulfilling.
"She's on the verge of incoherence, sure, but it sounds like her failure to keep us up top might bode just as ill for her as will our hounding the Jackal in his own lair. Are we ready to continue, or do you think you can get more out of her?"
Ami looks at the gnome, then to the half-elf, then back at the gnome.
"Gnome, do you wish to offer her redemption again before you offer her Sarenrae's mercy? Or did you wish Yeen to do it?" Ami asks Pent.
"I'd let him do it if only he'll let me live."
Something in the half-elf's words confuses the gnome. He scrunches up his face, picturing the half-elf saying the same words, this time more slowly.
I'd let him do it...
I'd let him...
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait... wait. Are you saying that you'd somehow have a say in what your father would decide to do with us, if he got the upper hand? So far, we've bested a decent crew here, except, well... the pets you keep are harder to expect. Whatever in the hells that eyeball was, you folks are surely to-the-core evil to allow something like that to flit about, when a reasonably noble man lies imprisoned somewhere down here." Pent wags his finger in the half-elf's face.
"You tell us true. We're here for our friend, and anyone getting in our way is going to get got good, you got it? We only want Rayhan. If you facilitate his release, you'll avoid the cat's claw. Otherwise, you'll be dead by our hand, which, according to you, would be a better thing all said and done, because you of course can't escape the reach of the oogy-boogy Jackal man, because you're powerless to the man's might. You stood against us, and we're likely to best the Jackal, if we come face-to-face, so face us, facilitate us, then fancy away, knowing you did something to better this world, not run it into the ground."
The hald-elf looks with surprise at Pent. "You should be scared. I'd have been fine to run you off. But now all of us are as good as dead. He'll dine on our bones. Like all jackals, he'll eat our bones. This refrain continues as the woman thrashes, not against bindings, but in fear.
"So where is this jackal? Where can we find him?" Aldebert insists, shaking her a bit to get her attention.
"She's spooked true, Aldi. But I can't suss out exactly by what, but it's not our collective deaths by gnawing jaws. What could scare someone more than death itself? Undeath? Girl, we don't have much time here. Get to explaining. Muse with us, then use us to do what needs doing for both of us. If the Jackal's not the only thing stalking about, nock us like arrows, and point us in their direction, and we'll take our aim of the situation." Pent starts to shake a little from his impatience.
"This woman is crazy. They're all crazy. Crazier than a bag of bats."
"This woman is crazy. They're all crazy."
Ami nods in agreement with Otah, as the woman isn't offering herself to Sarenrae's redemption, which she totally should. As she is a servant of the Rough Beast, Ami knows what he must do.
"If you guys want to hold her still, I'll have Yeen rip out her throat. Or we can chop her head off. It's what Sarenrae would want."
Ami signals for Yeen to stop playing with his sashimi eye salad and attend to the woman.
"Our bones. He'll eat our bones. Adelbert's questions stops the woman cold, Why? Why would you want to find him? If you're lucky you might be able to escape. He'll find me. He'll find you. He'll eat our bones." The litany continues until fading into thrashing mumbles.
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Mahdi cracks his knuckles and wiggles his fingers. "I have had entirely enough of this," he informs a universe that, sadly, rarely reorders itself to his wishes.
He walks over to the woman and slaps her across the face with his open palm, a stinging blow. "STOP THAT! SNAP OUT OF IT, YOU GROVELING NIMSY!
"Do you see that damned cat, woman?? HE EATS BONES TOO. And lungs, gizzards, hearts, currently some sort of freakish tentacled eye horror... if it's being eaten you're worried about, that can be just as easily arranged by us as by this stupid Jackal. You have ONE remaining moment to act like you've a brain in that silly skull of yours. Take it. I've gone to very great trouble to remind my colleagues to take people alive and if you bloody well show me I shouldn't have wasted my time with it, I am going to be annoyed."
"He'll kill me. What you speak of is a mercy. Have at it. The woman lifts up her neck toward Yeen. He'll do much worse before he eats my bones... my bones..." Though clearly not scared of what Mahdi says, the woman is snapped out of her rant, at least momentarily.
Otah walks up behind the woman.
"I've had enough of this insanity. If your crazy is an overabundance of fear, tell me I can kill your damn master."
Pent looks the woman over, clearly frustrated that they get nowhere fast with her ranting panics of ugly dioramas of slaughter or worse. His thoughts wander a bit, before returning.
"Well, I suppose you could use her as a dowsing rod, just stick her in the lead, and keep shoving her at doors we've yet to open. When her head bobbles more quickly, you'll understand that something truly terrifying lies ahead. If she piddles herself, even clearer." The gnome shakes his head, disappointed.
Turning to Aldebert, Pent clasps his hand over his crossbow. "We should press on, eh? Rayhan is wasting away somewhere down here, is my guess, and there are many here dead who made noise to alert those not-dead that we are still well and truly alive. I suggest knocking this one out, securing her, and finishing our jobs here before calling in the authorities, and turning her over to them."
Pent waits for the others to get their butts moving.
"I agree... er, with uh, your second idea Pent."
He shakes his head, "No brother, we'll not kill this one. The authorities will need someone to verify our story when we get out of here."
He tries to knock her out, and then ties her up.
"Let's get going. We've not much time."
Seeing as no one has any way to make the woman ask for redemption, nor does the woman seem interested, Ami and Yeen will coup de jerk the servant of the Rough Beast as Sarenrae would want.
Yeen tears out her throat while Ami coos and strokes the cat's fur.
Aldebert looks at his brother and wonders if he meant to openly defy his request, without even a word...
Pent watches, wide-eyed, as Ami goes and kills the half-elf, immediately following Aldebert's reasoned approach to the problem. He audibly hisses, as if watching an unreasonably long nose hair being slowly plucked from its root, from the nostril of a dire wolf.
He finds himself edging back towards Otah. "That was unexpected." The gnome finds himself at a loss for words. A rare occurrence.
Ami hears his brother's words but doesn't yet stop Yeen.
Otah steps between the cat and the half-elf, looking into the eyes of Amiamble and shakes his head.
"Not yet. If we clear the source of her fear, perhaps she will find the sanity to choose this redemption you keep touting."
Ami holds Yeen back, swayed by the words from the dwarf.
"If you say so, Brother," Ami hisses, displeased at his brother's refusal to acknowledge his religious beliefs. "Let her live a bit longer...but after we find and kill this Jackal, this Servant of the Rough Beast, we shall end her and her lies. It is what Sarenrae would want."
Ami jumps aboard Yeen, ready to continue.
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Pent watches two universes unfold in front of his eyes- one in which the half-elf lives, the other in which she dies.
In the first universe, he watches as the team roots out Father Jackal, ends his reign of terror, and restores the half-elf to some degree of sanity. The sanity which is necessary for anyone to rightfully accept redemption in Sarah's eyes.
In the second universe, he watches as the Brothers Piddlespot fracture, tears of despair rolling down Aldi's eyes, blood of savagery dripping from Ami's maw. No sanity, only tragedy.
Pent shakes his head, dismissing one of the contingencies... for now. As Ami promises to kill the half-elf later, he quietly despairs, praying to Sarah to help the half understand. Once his words are silently said, he readies to follow the others.
Ami holds Yeen back, swayed by the words from the dwarf.
"If you say so, Brother," Ami hisses, displeased at his brother's refusal to acknowledge his religious beliefs. "Let her live a bit longer...but after we find and kill this Jackal, this Servant of the Rough Beast, we shall end her and her lies. It is what Sarenrae would want."
Ami jumps aboard Yeen, ready to continue.
"Brother, you are wise - there are times when our personal beliefs and desires must subsume to the groups. Thank you. We need someone alive from this place to stand before the guard. If not her, someone else."
Satisfied she'll live, for now anyway, he moves on, "So brother, when you went back, did you find any loot worth keeping? Or were your searches cut short? We don't want to leave anything behind the enemy can use - especially if we can!" he grins, and for his part, looks around the chamber they're in before moving to the next door.
"I did not look for any magics or treasure, brother. I sought only the life's blood from the necks of the followers of the Rough Beast. That is the only treasure that has true value," Ami replies, looking longingly at the half-elf's exposed neck.
Ami join his brother in going back to look for loot if that is what he wants. He stops proudly at the de-throated body of the axejerk to show his brother what true treasure looks like.
Perception (loot) - w/Detect Magic
Aldebert nods and heads back to loot with his brother, "How did this guy even get up again?" he comments as he admires the throat work.
"Well done Ami, well done."
He quickly grabs anything of value and moves on to continue the hunt.
As if in answer to Aldebert's question, one of the first things that is noticed on the wild axe wielder is a wand, that had been hastily stashed in a strap among the man's armor. The armor is clearly fashioned from solid metal. Then there is of course the man's axe and a black and golden symbol of the deity that he served.
The half-elf has a similar wand that was still neatly stored. She breaths steadily now, calmly unconscious in a chain shirt. Her rapier has clattered to the ground not far from her. Though her spell pouch has already been taken by the party, a shortbow and arrows are still among what she wears beneath a fine cloak upon her back.
Secured solidly, the door ahead does not budge.
Aldebert takes his hand from the door. "Now that's annoying. I think it's stuck from all this moisture maybe."
"Oh, wait! Mahdi, we found some things on Tamir from before (link). Can you check these things out too before we continue?"
He looks over the assembled loot and wonders if anyone is going to take that cloak...
Mahdi rubs at his shoulder where he got slashed earlier. "Yes, yes.... Pent, several of us are injured. Perhaps before we do anything else we might heal."
"...hmm, you might benefit from this cloak, Aldebert-- oh my. Useful wands."
Mahdi gazes dourly down at the unconscious woman, thinking of suitable ways to reward the massive pain in his ass she was.
"Right," he says crisply. "We did take pains to leave a number of the men alive as we came through here. Let's go back, securing any unconscious buggers so they can't possibly wake and wander off. I think we left more than a few rooms behind us unsearched as well. Our priority is still finding Rayhan. We should wake one up at a time, see if anyone knows anything about a prisoner. Of course, if they're all idiot cultists or whatever like the ninny here, it's going to be tedious work, but all the same. Beyond that, a thorough search of the premises-- checking each room for secret doors, that sort of thing. I wish we'd brought something of Rayhan's - we might set Yeen to hunting his scent. There's the gem of course but that's hardly going to hold much of a smell."
Ami waits to know if his brother found anything of interest and for Mahdi's identificaitons, then prowls for other areas to explore.
When others are ready, Ami and Yeen will attempt to break down the door at B15 (unless anyone as better ideas).
Yeen (Str)+ vs. DC 10 to aid (+4): 28 total
Yeen (Str)+ vs. DC 10 to aid (+4): 30 total
Ah, forgot about the door! On phone now, will post in a tick
Aldebert switches cloaks, taking off his Cloak of Resistance +1.
"Would anyone like this cloak? It has served me well in the past, and still has some life in it. Helps you resist various things from poisons to spells." He holds up the cloak.
He smiles as his brother beats on the door. "Well done." he suggests before even seeing the outcome.
Mahdi frowns as he catches sight of the door. "It's magically locked; the spell will make it very hard to unlock. Battering it down as Ami is trying may be our only possibility to get past it. Even if it didn't have the locking spell, it's not like any of us know how to pick a lock."
Yeen and Ami shake the door, but are unable to bust through the strength of the spell or stone.
The guards that are found alive willingly share what they know, "They don't permit us to know such things. But they do." Several point either at the dead axe wielder and / or unconscious half-elf.
Aldebert sighs, damn doors, and takes out his warhammer.
He proceeds to smash the door, beating on it intently... wearing it down... *smash* *smack* *splat*
He continues attacking the door until he breaks it down, or it becomes clear he cannot effect the door.
Ami is stunned at his failure, but is certain his brother will have it fixed soon enough.
You're the best brother ever.
Once healing has been accomplished Aldebert follows Mahdi's advice and starts back at the beginning and moves forward.
He takes the door west of B10 and smashes it if it won't open. He then switches quickly to his greatsword and walks in the area. If there's nothing much there, he'll move then to the door south of B12 and repeat eventually making his way back to B15.
Ami waits to see what happens with whatever door people are trying to open. He is probably near his brother.
"Yes, yes.... Pent, several of us are injured. Perhaps before we do anything else we might heal."
Pent nods, then clenches.
He clenches a second time, if it appears that those injured in the party are still partly-injured.
He hoofs along, waiting for those ahead to make a way through obstinate doors. He checks on his crossbow, making sure it's still in working order, and trains it on the soon-to-be-open doorway.
I outlined a plan starting with B10 following Mahdi's suggestion of searching elsewhere.
Ami said he started at B15, but that he's likely following his brother.
Doesn't matter to me what door we start with ultimately, but Mahdi's plan of making sure we're not leaving someone behind is a good one I think. Any opposed to starting with B10 and moving along?
Ami follows his brother to the door at B10.
B10
This room appears to be the bedroom and main chamber for an important individual. A large bed with a chest at its foot sits against one wall, while against the opposite wall stands a small altar. Shelves carved into the walls contain books, tiny statuettes of spiders and scorpions, and bottles of wine.
West and South of B10, then south at B12 if we find nothing of particular interest.
Aldebert presses on, switching up his hammer and his greatsword between doors.