The moment Kawrock falls down Arval moves in after him, dropping the creature he was holding.
"Stay clear of the ladder for a bit. I may follow him down"
With a squawk Kawrock gets bit, falls asleep, falls off of the ladder, and wakes up again as he crashes down on the floor. Arval leaps over him and scampers up the ladder, moving into melee range with the homunculus. It greedily gets ready to give Arval a bite but then two magic missiles slam into it, sending it pinwheeling through the air! However, it remains aloft and looks ready to land on Arval.
Whiskeyjack moved to Kawrock's side and leaned over to help the Tengu up. "Get t' yer feet, birdboy! More t' kill an' more t' learn."
Eldon moves up the ladder. "I'll come help you!"
Kawrock gets up with help from Whiskey Jack. "Did I fall asleep? What a foolish thing to do while climbing a ladder."
Eldon climbs to the top floor after Arval! The homunculus flies up after Eldon and Arval and tries to bite at the little halfling.
Eldon shrieks as the little homunculus bites onto his shoulder, and he feels the numbing poison spread through him.
"Bloody little bloodsucker!"
Arval yells as he draws his sword and brings it down with two hands. Not being used to handle the sword two handed he nearly splits one of the floor planks in half.
"Aak! It bit me in my buttox!"
After he's announced what the homunculus did to him, Eldon falls asleep.
"This really isn't the time for resting, young Mr Appleseed. These little blighters just won't quit."
Iozif fires another shot at the homunculus.
The last magic missile flies in, and blasts the homonculus apart! Little bits of it fly in all directions, and soon all that remains is a puff of smoke where it once flew, enjoying its mindless life of biting halflings.
End of Combat
A quick slap in the face wakes up Eldon and the group can now properly explore the tower.
The lower part is filled with curios; strange art and artifacts from distant lands. Notable amongst the curios is an ebony tribal mask, a silver torc, and a mammoth tusk scrimshaw with a variety of strange runes carved into it.
The upper part of the tower is nondescript, slatted timber openings cover the windows of the room, which is around sixty feet above the ground.
Kawrock does a further sweep of the tower for anything of interest.
Arval glances around the room and his eyes fall on the tribal mask. Always in for a joke he grabs the mask and puts it on.
"Look at this! Ooga Booga Ooga Booga."
He says as he does a little dance with it.
"Or how much it's worth. Let me take a look..."
Eldon blinks when Arval starts dancing. "What...?"
I should probably not tell him what he just said in Gnome.
Whiskeyjack laughed at Arval's antics, tears streaming from his eyes. "Ah, lad, I been needin' a good laugh like that'. 'Ere, 'ave a swig o' this." He pulled the flask from his belt and tossed it to Arval, looking at the items they had found with interest.
The tusk appears to be magical, and a quick inspection shows that functions as a very heavy magical scroll, with three spells written on it. Read magic shows them to be arcane spells:
- bull's strength
- ice storm
- phantom steed
Iozif looks over the objects of art. The tribal mask is worth around 175 gp, the torc is from the Land of the Linnorn Kings and worth 200 gold. The tusk's value primarily comes from the spells cast upon it, although as an object of scrimshaw art it's probably worth 50 gold.
"I believe that leaves us but one place to explore," Eldon says as he climbs back down. He then walks to the door of the room north of the small bedroom.
Once everyone's gathered Eldon will try to open the door.
The group reconvenes and heads into the north room, listening for a moment before opening the door. This room appears to be the study of a scholar. A roll-top desk with a leather chair stands against one wall, holding a variety of alchemical equipment and surrounded by hundreds of books piled on every available surface. A narrow cot is crushed into one corner behind a wall of books. A door stands in the north wall.
Arval takes a swig of the flask and a look of satisfaction passes on his face. Going to the next room he takes a quick look around.
After taking a good look in the room he opens the last one, if he finds nothing of interest.
Whiskjack held out his hand as Arval started to open the next door after only a cursory examination of the room. "Le's no' bee too hasty, lad. There be a multitude o' books 'n things here, any o' which migh' be th' clues we been lookin' for. Now, I know tha' th' creature tied up in th' other room'd likely be our best evidence, bu' le's be careful none th' less."
So saying, the dwarf began carefully sifting through the debris, bloodshot eyes squinting as he quickly read anything legible.
The collection of books here could probably be worth something to the University or the right scholar. They largely deal with anatomy and surgery. Whiskeyjack also finds a second full alchemist's lab along with three packets of flash powder and five pots of alchemical grease.
Aside from that, the place is really just crammed with books. A door leads northwards.
Kawrock sweeps the room with detect magic.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Kawrock detects magical auras through the north door, but nothing in the main room.
"Some of these books might be of value to my colleagues, though none of them are particularly incriminating on their own. I say we look through there"
Iozif points to the Northern door.
Eldon also scans the place with detect magic. After detecting magic behind the north door, he moves over to it and attempts to open it just when Iozif suggests to do so.
"We seem to occasionally share some ideas, doctor," Eldon says with a soft laugh.
The door is locked.
"Allow me, lad. I brough' me own key." Whiskeyjack slammed his steel-shod foot into the door.
Whiskey gives the door a boot, which shudders appealingly but doesn't come close to breaking. Lena waves Whiskeyjack off and casts her knock spell. The group listens for a moment as they can hear some clicks within the lock. However, the spell dies off, having failed. This is obviously a very, very good lock.
As Kawrock sweeps the room with Arval, they come upon a bell jar with a severed human head floating in it. Aside from the ghastliness of it, the head also has a strange, greenish tint to the skin, visible even through whatever liquid it is suspended in.
"Well, i' be an easy way t' handle most things, right'? Still, if'n th' boo' cannae do th' job, th' hammer usually can!"
It took a few swings to get going, but then Whiskeyjack fell into a rhythm. "Sometimes...I be wishin'...fer a good axe!
Tural readies his sword as Whiskey breaks down the door.
"Now what's behind door number two?"
As Whiskey breaks down the door Kawrock points out the jar to Eldon and Dr. Iozif. "Any idea what kind of head this is? I do not know the local humanoid races very well."
"I've no idea why it's in a jar, but I've got my suspicions. See this green tint to the skin? I think this poor man may have been from Morast. Whatever it is, I think it would certainly qualify as incriminating. Whether or not it's enough for our defense of the beast is another matter, but hopefully our unconscious friend here may help in that regard."
Now that Iozif examines the head more closely, that green tint is certainly indicative of a swamper from Morast.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
Wishing he had a good axe, Whiskeyjack begins just hammering at the poor door, paying special attention to the wood around the lock. It's good, solid wood, but it is still only wood. After what seems like ages, he finally cracks through the lock.
You hear shouts from directly below you, likely from the one unexplored area. Whiskeyjack has made a bit of noise.
The door swings outwards to reveal a cabinet. This beautiful cabinet is a gruesome collection of what appear to be flayed skins and faces. Most of them appear to be human.
However at the forefront is a grotesque, deformed skin of a creature that had to be eight feet tall, made up of flesh, fur, and scales covered with fungal boils and hideous puss-filled eruptions.
"It sounds like we alerted someone on the lower level with all the noise. Best we try and head them off before they get away." Kawrock says as he races downstairs.
Upon seeing the gruesome closet Arval turns around and throws up loudly. He moves away from the door and slowly follows Kawrock downstairs.
Whiskeyjack grinned as the door splintered open. Hearing nothing but the ringing in his ears from all the hammering, he said, a bit loudly, "Hah! Ain't never been a door nowhere tha' stood up t' a dwarven key fer long! Course, if it's been made outta adamantite or such, we'da been 'ere a while."
Peering into the room, he saw the giant skin in the cabinet. "Say! Ain't this lookin' like a hulkin' grea' beastie? Like th' one them villagers a' Morast said they seen? Brodur'd be a dead ringer fer somethin' like this fer one what saw 'im in th' distance in th' gloom."
As Kawrock spoke up, the dwarf spun. "Eh? We left some wanderin' abou' downstairs? I though' we'd cleared th' place afore we came up here. Tha' were foolish!"
"I believe they heard the supple turning of your key, friend Whiskeyjack."
Eldon double moves out of the room, after the others. "Let us go take care of this."
Iozif is rather fascinated by the skins and faces. "This is rather horrific, but it should definitely hold up in court. Good thinking on the bite Lena, I wonder if...
Iozif's monologue is broken by Whiskey's shouting about a person downstairs. He turns to follow the others out of the room.
Kawrock, Eldon and Arval both charge down the stairs and look out into the courtyard while the others continue to look over the contents of the cabinet.
While Lena checks the skins, she leans in a bit and notices a hollow sound as her hand knocks against the back of the cabinet. She quickly pushes in, and manages to unlatch and reveal a false back!
Within are 500 gold, a silver inlaid drinking cup, and six ominous looking syringes.
Iozif holds up the skin and looks it over. Sure enough, on the shoulder, is a long, jagged-looking bite.
You all charge down into the vat room and quickly climb up the ladder to peer outside into the ocurtyard. There, the large bay doors to the east have been opened up and three mongrelmen have wandered into the yard and are looking around. One grunts as it spots you.
"Who you?!" it demands. "Where Master Vorkstag and Master Grine?"
"Upstairs... Stay back and leave us be."
The brawny fighter says as he slowly pulls his sword out of its sheath.
"You're free," Eldon tells the new arrivals, remembering how the others reacted earlier. "Leave, forever, like your kinsmen did. It's the wisest thing to do for you, trust me on it."
The mongrels looks between Arval's threat and Eldon's kind words. They seem to get the picture that there is somebody new in charge and slowly, slowly they put down their clubs.
"You say we go, we go. We not hear others working, got concerned. Then heard banging. Bosses are cruel, especially Master Vorkstag. Sewers better!"
The mongrels give the group a wide berth as they make their way southwards, and out of the gate.
"I believe that resolves the issue," Eldon states and heads back toward those searching the room with the creepy skins.
Eldon then decides to stop by the bedroom where the party encountered enemy that fled onto the roof.
"I'll search the bedroom!" he lets Iozif, Lena and Whiskeyjack know as he steps into the bedroom and starts searching it.
Let me take some time for this, to ensure I won't miss anything.
Eldon looks over the room with the creepy skins and looks over the skins himself.
The skins and faces have a somewhat familiar look to them as they have the appearance of faces seen in missing persons posters that show up around the town; crimes usually attributed to the Beast. Most alarmingly is the face of Doctor Katarina Vilt, an esteemed lecturer at Lepidstadt University and a friend of Iozif's who he saw lecturing just three days ago!