Chumtooth admires the razor sharp blade, then stows it, sheathed, in his belt pouch.
He looks up this well shaft to see if it is as climb able as the first one.
Chumtooth carefully makes his way up the side of well-shaft.
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Chumtooth climbs free of the shaft and finds himself inside a smaller chamber. Directly behind the well (between the well and the chamber entrance is a statue). A figure is chained to the statue, kneeling beside it.
Chumtooth approaches the kneeling figure, morningstar in hand.
"Do you pray to this god," he says pointing his weapon to the statue, "or have you been offered in sacrifice to it?" he asks in Common tongue.
Sabine flinches against the noise and light. Three days she had been chained to this statue. Three long days without food or water. Her head throbbed from where she had been hit, but at this point it was more likely a hangover. Three days without food or water. She didn't feel like a human, more like a slab of barely living tissue; like a worm dangling on a hook.
"W-what?" she asks the strange man, trying to look at him clearly.
He has shark's teeth. Gozreh has come to take me home.
"Have you come to die, or do you wish to live?" Chumtooth asks the woman. "I can end your pain, or I can break your chain. Choose."
"Free me," Sabine manages. Her tongue felt too thick, too big. Swallowing hurt.
"Water," the druid croaks. "Please. Water."
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Chumtooth examines the chain to see how it is attached to the statue and to the woman. He considers how best to break it.
"I have no water with me, but there is water in the well. I will break the chain."
Chumtooth jerks on the chain, but it doesn't budge. Determined to break it, he continues wrenching it from the statue.
As he waits for the woman to get to her feet, Chumtooth looks around the room to get his bearings, looking for the location of any doors, and trying to plot a return course to the other room without going back down the well shaft.
Dantes remains at the top of the well, alchemical fire at the ready. He lists to the distant echoing sounds of voices and chains being manipulated.
What's he up to?
Not knowing what Chumtooth is up to, and not wanting to distract him or otherwise compromise whatever he's doing, Dantes stays quiet. He gives Vic a nervous look, but shrugs and continues to wait.
"Whaaaat?!" Vic shouts as she pivots around.
Sabine collapses to her knees. Weakly, she offers a silent prayer to Gozreh and cool water fills her cupped hands. She drinks quickly, the pores on the arid plain of her tongue widening and clamoring with the shock of water. She pauses, careful not to drink too fast, lest she vomit.
"Thank you," she mutters.
"You do not seem strong enough to climb down the well. This way should go back to the room where my captain waits. Come," Chumtooth says to the woman as he moves towards the North door.
Sabine follows Chumtooth, slowly drinking more water and feeling much better for it.
"Where are we?"
"It is old stone. It could be...te hiero ki te atua wareware...a tem-pull to an old god that is not remembered. My captain and crew wished to see if old treasures were hidden here."
"Have you found anybody else in here?" Sabine asks. "I was part of a crew as well, but we were ambushed. Some of the others might still be alive."
Initiative
"Well. Crud."
Dantes casts a spell, hoping to by some time for Chumtooth to get back up.
Glitterdust, centering on the three flayers, or a little behind them if he can do so to avoid catching himself and Vic in the radius. DC 16 will save vs. blindness.
"There are bones in the well, but they have been there a very long time. The only living things we have seen are the tiny men with the poison darts. Vic called them 'Flayers.'"
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INITIATIVE
Flayers
Dantes
Vic
The flayers, the poison darts having done their work, switch to their shortspears. One attacks Vic, another Dantes, and the third begins to loot the body of the helpless Satinder. Unfortunately for them, neither is able to hit its target. Dante's spell goes off, enveloping the flayers in a glittering cloud. The one attacking Vic shrieks in anger, but the others seem unaffected.
Vic steps back and sprays a burning hands cone at the flayers, angling it to only hit the two not near Satinder.
Dantes steps back from the flayer that hit him and chucks the alchemical fire at him. Once that hand is free, he draws out his axe.
5' step back, throw flask.
To hit
Damage
"Come," Chumtooth says, as he tries the northern door. If it is locked , or stuck, he will attempt to force it open.
"Hey Chummy! Captain got some little men with pokey sticks!" Vic shouts out, trying to call for help.
Sabine follows Chumtooth.
Chumtooth approaches the bones. He cautiously prods them with his morning star to see if they move and to see if anything of value lies in the remains.
Sabine collects the skeleton's gear. It was old, but it would serve. Her stomach rumbles hungrily. The druid glances over to her new companion. "Other way then?" she asks.
Chumtooth approaches the double doors on the north wall. "The room with the other well is close...behind this door perhaps." he places an ear to the door to listen for the sounds of his companions' voices.
Quick dot.
Hearing the commotion from the other room, along with the voices of his companions, Chumtooth lays a shoulder into the door in an effort to force it open.
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The rotted wood gives way under his bulk, sending splinters into the room beyond and spilling Chumtooth into the middle of the floor. The only flayer that remains in sight is rolling about, frantically trying to put out the fire that consumes it's tiny body. The flames finally extinguished, it scrambles to it's feet, gives the party a final raspberry, and flees.
Sabine steps through the door, her quarterstaff held out in case something attacks. Seeing the others, she adopts a fighting stance. "Friends of yours?" she asks the fallen fighter.
Chumtooth presses himself back into a standing position. "Yes, my crew," he replies. Seeing Satinder lying on the floor, he asks the others, "How badly is the Captain injured?"
His tone reflects what one can only guess passes for familial concern when coming from a cannibal.
Chumtooth drops to one knee and closes the captain's eyes.
He removes the tricorn hat from Satinder's head and as he rises, places it on his head.
"I will lead them," he says to no one in particular. "We will be feared, and we will prosper."
After a moment, he addresses the group. "We will bring Satinder's body with us, and give burial rites when we are on the sea." he then gestures to the newcomer. "I have freed this one from chains. She has no crew. I give you the choice of allowing her to join our crew."
He pauses and waits for the others to reply.
Dantes repeats quietly after Chumtooth as though it were a prayer, "We will be feared and we will prosper."
Dantes absently rubs his wrist, considering for a moment what Chumtooth has said ab out the new person before them. Though extremely selfish, it has been too recent since the dwarf's own freedom was stolen and opportunities dashed, and mere moments (in a dwarf's lifespan) since they were reclaimed. In an uncharacteristic moment of empathy, he says "I agree. Let her join us and share our fortunes. She has luck enough having been found by us; perhaps that luck will serve us all well."
"Whoops," Vic mutters, looking at her feet, "Really gotta learn some spells for stopping poison..."
Chumtooth lifts Satinder's body and drapes it over his left shoulder, wrapping his arm around the legs; the head and arms hanging limply down his back.
"We will return to the ship, now," he says to the others.