Zan gives Nakoma a soft smile before looking at the shadow rats and banging the flat of his blade against the shield and stepping forward.
Nakoma smiles grimly as she blesses Zirelle's morningstar. "I hope so. Most do." she shrugs. "I only know shadow rats by reputation."
Hall of Heroes - Round 1
22 Zan
15 Red Shadow Rat
14 Baldek
11 Blue Shadow Rat
8 Zirelle
7 Nakoma
Zan moves up to the shadowy rats hoping to strike one down and draw the other's ire with his attack.
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Hall of Heroes - Round 1 - continued
Moving quickly, Zan is able to hit the nearby rat with his blessed scimitar, cutting it fully in half and ending its unlife.
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Hall of Heroes - Round 1 - continued
Baldek lowers shield and with his newly enchanted warhammer at the ready, he stalks forward ready to dispatch the remaining rat. He shouts "For Torag" in his gravely voice and brings the mallet down with as much force as he can muster, but the rat is able to shift slightly out of the way and avoids the crushing blow.
Hissing in defiance the remaining rat leaps after Baldek but before it can close, the dwarf swings defensively, catching the rat mid-air, and crushing the life from its undead form.
End of Combat
After the two shadow rats are dispatched, there seem to be no more left in the rubble pile. At the end of the tunnel near the cave in, the half-buried form of a person turns out to be a half-orc whose body is barely recognizable from the many, many rat bites that cover all exposed surfaces. The half-orc still wears a suit of sturdy chainmail, and he carries a wand, a silver dagger, a red-gold holy symbol in the shape of a double-headed axe, 6 black onyx gems, and 60gp in coins. Only the wand returns a magical aura.
Zirelle thanks Nakoma for saving her from a bad rat bite.
"Two fights with no one being injured, we're starting to work together quite well in a fight." Leaning over to examine the body he turns his head to look back at the others.
"Well the half orcs are definitely involved. His armor still looks serviceable, maybe Nakoma or Baldek might be interested in it if we can clean up some of the gore. The question is did the stop because the rat things scared them off or did they already have what they wanted. I can see them leaving the digging gear behind to be discrete but the gems would be easy to carry if it was a planned withdrawl. If it wasn't the rats scaring them off the only reason I can imagine why they'd leave the gems is they planned to return, but this place has been undisturbed for some time."
I can clean off the gore magically once the armor is removed. No worries.
Nakoma nods at Zirelle. "You're welcome."
Nakoma examines the holy symbol with narrowed eyes.
"I don't recognize this god..." she remarks.
Looking at the gear she nods in agreement. "Might as well take it all."
"There's still a lot we have to find out, but I think it's without a doubt at this stage there's more to it than one missing man. I don't think we'll be putting an end to this today. I think after we are finished the Plague House I think selling off the valuables to get better gear might be an idea." He securely puts the gems into his backpack.
Nakoma contemplates this and then nods. "Yes... This is bigger than Rodrik. Bigger than the vandals. This is... worrisome."
She frowns. After a moment she prays to Desna, renewing the light on her starknife, and then heads over to the door.
"Ready?"
Zan nods before moving into position and checking the door for traps.
Just one more fact that I didn't mention before but might or might not be germane to any discussion. The half-orc cleric pulled from the rubble was covered with many, many rat bites, but it was also clear that the back of his head was caved in, as if from a blow from behind.
The door leaving the room of statues is not trapped and when opened, it reveals nothing except what was already known, a short hall to the southeast that leads back into the center room, and a single door immediately to the northwest.
That door is not trapped, but it is locked tight when the group tries it.
Nakoma cocks her head and holds up her hand for silence. She listens intently...
"Someone's in there. They say they're locked inside. Speaking Common and... male by the sound of it."
Leaning against the door, Nakoma shouts, "We're coming! Who are you?"
She listens for an answer, then moves out of the way so Zan can try to pick the lock.
From the other side you hear a muffled voice, "I am Othdan, a shepherd. Let me out! I've been waiting for someone to rescue me! Help!"
Zirelle hefts her morningstar and whispers Be ready. It could be a trick. We have no idea who is down here.
"I'm not so good with locks but I'll give it a go."
Zan frowns before taking out some different tools and trying the door again.
No one has heard of Othdan in town but there are farmers and others who make their living from the land, that live outside the walls of Trunau itself, who hope to make it inside the gates if real trouble arises.
"My parents are dead," says the voice from the other side. "They were killed in the last orc raid. I live in a shack in the hills, where I watch over my sheep. I pray simply to Erastil, my own shepherd."
There isn't time for more through-the-keyhole discussion before Zan is able to get his picks set just right, and pop the door. Entering the room, you see an old cast-iron furnace and a pile of coal occupy the corners of this cramped chamber. Ash and fallen rubble clutter the area around the furnace where the chimney above has collapsed.
A tan, thin youth with a mop of ragged blond hair stands just inside the door, looking rather malnourished and pale. The young man smiles wanly. "Thank heaven you came for me. I expected to die in this place. Please can we get out of here?"
Zirelle gives him some trail rations.
What happened to you? How did you come to be here?
Nakoma eyes the young man, then moves back outside the room to watch for danger while Zirelle and Baldek deal with him.
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Othdan tears into the dried meat and fruit with relish, as you imagine someone who was starving would. He chews and talks, but doesn't stop eating to dialogue. When asked how he came to be here, the lad nods sheepishly
"I am great fool, is how! Durgen bet me I wouldn't go into these ruins at night, and to show him, I came here late on evening after the gates were closed. I spend many nights outside the gates so that didn't concern me. Durgen says this place is haunted, and I wanted to prove him wrong. But next thing I know, I am getting hit upside the head, and wake up in here. The half-orc comes at night and checks on me and gives me some foul soup and black bread. I don't know why he's keeping me here."
He looks around nervously. "We should really get out of here before he comes back!"
Neither Nakoma who is outside the door keeping watch nor Baldek who is in the doorway see or hear anything out of the ordinary during this conversation.
Zirelle nods. You're right. We should leave, but while you're still eating, tell us: what is the half-orc's name? What does he or she look like? Help us get to the bottom of this.
Zan furrows his brow considering the matter but doesn't want to comment on the matter, the lad had been through enough for now.
Othdan responds to questions: "The orc who took me never gave his name. He was very short with me. He comes here most every night and meets with someone. I could hear them talking but it wasn't in a language I understood. The other voice, it didn't sound quite...human. My captor was a half-orc, dark hair, greenish skin. Big in the shoulders but moved easily, not lumbering like some big men are. He was older too, like my father would be if he were still alive." He's trying is best to remember and be helpful, but there are some things he just doesn't know.
When Baldek shows the lad the chainmail shirt found on the dead priest or the holy symbol, he shakes his head. "The green-skin that captured me doesn't wear metal armor. He wore leathers and a belt, and carried a big club with a spiked head and a shorter sharp blade. He had a keyring with a key to this door, but also another key on it, smaller like to a chest or locker."
He finishes chewing the dried foods, and nods his head, ready to get the heck out of there.
"I have an idea, maybe we could keep the young man out of sight for the day and lay an ambush since he's coming at night. If we can capture him we might be able to unravel some of the mysteries." Zan looks around the area keeping an eye out for locations to set up to lay an ambush.
Othdan hears that plan and gets rather animated. "Just show me to the way out, and I'm gone. You don't have to hide me, just point me in any direction that gets out of this place."
Good idea, but we have an appointment tonight already. Will you tell the guard and get them to help?
Zirelle also pulls up Detect Magic, just in case Othdan is actually a bad guy casting an illusion, but if he still seems sincere, she is willing to let him go after that check.
Nakoma considers her companion's words, then examines the young man. "Let the boy go. He'll be sure to stay out of sight if he's got any sense in his head."
"We should finish our exploration of this place before moving on. When we return to town I can inform the guards. We can get a group of them organized to lay in wait here while we meet with Katreza. Perhaps, Desna willing, we'll have time to reach the ambush before the half-orc appears."
She shrugs, clearly considering such things out of her hands.
"Come on, boy," she remarks, drawing her star knife. "The exit's this way."
"We can decide later but let's get this young man to safety and finish making this place safer. At the very least if I can buy a bear trap or two in town it might be worth leaving some surprises in case he shows up. Worth considering at least."
Leading the boy out of this place if there's no complaints.
Zirelle concentrates on the youth for a few seconds invisibly divining for the presence of magical auras around the shepherd. She is not surprised when no dweomer is found on or around the boy.
Leading Othdan back to the center room and up the ladder, Nakoma is careful not to re-trigger the haunt in the burnt room. She shows him to the door, and the boy sprints away from the place without a look back, headed in the direction of Trunau's main gate.
Nakoma watches for a moment, to ensure he seems to be off in the right direction, then nods and heads back inside.
"I want to look in the room the boy was kept in," she announces as she rejoins her allies."Ready?"
Ready. says Zirelle, following Nakoma.
Zan nods. His eyes flicker to the spot afflicted by the haunt but he remains silent.
After showing Othdan to the door and watching him sprint off, Nakoma returns to the others in the basement of the Plague House. She looks through the room that Othdan was held in, but other than the rusty old furnace and a pile of ancient coal, she sees nothing else of interest in the small room.
"We should check out the rest of these corridors, I think we missed some before heading upstairs."
Nakoma follows Zan and Baldek into the room where we discovered the ooze, then looks around.
Zan checks over the area with Nakoma keeping his eyes peeled for traps and secret doors and compartments.
The room that once held the gelatinous cube was filled with little niches holding ceramic and metal urns, some broken, others still whole.
There was a statue of one of Iomedae's celestial emissaries, Jingh, pictured as a flaming wheel in one corner. Directly behind the statue, Zan finds a niche that has a handhold behind a broken ceramic urn. Pulling and twisting the handhold releases a bolt and an entire section of the wall swing forward, revealing a secret passage beyond.
The passage is a 5' dark hallway, filled with cobwebs and years of dust from disuse. The hallway leads to a wall at the far end, where a sliding panel takes you back into the furnace room. The door is well disguised from the other side, and hard to notice.
Zirelle suggests that they proceed upstairs.