"The f$@@ you talking about? Only some people can heal. I can't. I can only kill. I'm saying all of you that can heal, ought to more often. Wulf and I take the brunt of a lot and that's our job. That's fine. But it doesn't work if our healers only think of it after a battle."
Zeke watches Charles rant with a look of concern on his face. "It's worse than I thought," he says quietly, shaking his head. "Healing him may be beyond my skills. We may need to restrain him, or he will continue to behave erratically. I think having two people share his body has caused him to think of the rest of us as extensions of himself. Charles?" he says loudly, "It’s Zeke, I'm here. Don't worry, we will get you the help you need!" He sighs. "Maybe all this fighting has just been too hard on him. I will pray to Groetus on his behalf."
Ton stays out of the argument, preferring to make sure they really were safe rather than bicker.
He heads deeper into the complex, keeping his sharp eyes peeled.
When he finds the makeshift throne he smiles to himself and takes a seat in it, lifting his crippled leg onto one of the arms and rests it there.
"Ahhhhh.... nice perch Birdfood." he says as he rolls a celebratory cigarette and sparks it to life.
Wulf feels some underlying loyalty to Zeke and while he would let Charles get it all out he has to step in. "Charles or Sam whoever you are right now, stop." He then looks to Zeke. "Both of you stop. We're all still standing, we all have the burden to look after each other it's not just one person's place. We wouldn't have gotten this far if it weren't for every single one of us." He takes the rest of the ripped up orc shirt and cleans the blood and viscera from his hammer.
"Thank you for healing my wounds Zeke." He then takes a potion out of his bag. "Here Charles, if you need some extra healing. I can heal also." He hands him his last potion. "Now we have a job to do, let's keep searching there might be more equipment we can use here."
Wulf then moves off to start searching, heading to what seems like a barracks.
Jolga searches Birdfood then stands up and nods to Ton as he takes the throne, smiling slightly. "What is the plan now?"
"In the short term, bed down somewhere, that fight took a lot put of us. This place might actually be as good a place as any. Tomorrow we head back and ket them know Birdfood is no longer an issue - that might give us a few more connections to work with."
Charles looks Zeke in the eye. "Messsge received." He hands Wulf his potion back. "Thanks, big guy. I'm fine." Charles goes to a side room and searches.
Jolga nods to Ton. "That plan sounds well. It will allow me time to honor our dead foes." He looks solemnly at the body of Birdfood. "While I knew no other admirable qualities of his, he was deadly with a bow. That is something." He then moves over to another room to make sure the group doesn't miss something of interest.
As Ton walks into Birdfood's throne room, he first notices the gnoll hiding behind the seat. In a cool movement, he draws and puts a piece of burning slag through its head before sitting down.
Meanwhile, the party starts picking through the complex and pulling items of value together.
Birdfood, unsurprisingly, has a beautiful bow, a nice set of studded armor, 4 more special arrows, 12 silverdisks, and 109 gold.
In the room beyond the throne room, you find Birdfood's personal bedroom, and sitting in one corner is a dented metal locker. Contained within you find 234 sp, 188 gp, 15 silverdisks, one battery,, a wand, a scroll, a masterwork hand crossbow with seven fancy bolts, and a timeworn tech item of some type.
The day is wearing on, and you feel that you could secure these back rooms, if not the entire complex, were you to put the proper effort in, and could establish a safe place to rest.
Jolga looks slowly and quietly over the items and offers his opinions. Then he begins piling the corpses on top of whatever disposable flammables he can find and burns them down to ash in his traditional manner, scooping handfuls of the ash from each corpse into his bag.
Without detect magic, Jolga can't identify the magic items, but he does recognize the tech device from his past, pre-Heroes of Torch travels. It is a timeworn fire extinguisher, with 10 charges.
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Garfaulk had gone around the corner to checkout a hallway, only to hear all the arguing from the other room. Pulling Slagbreather, he went around only to realize it was his own group-and it seemed he was coming in at the end of the issue. "Fellas, fellas, we're in the middle of an enemy stronghold. Maybe stow the bickerin, aye?"
He follows Charles into the other room, sad to see the halfling a the is man out again. Having picked up enough of the conversation through the wall, he went over to the shorter fella and put a hand on his shoulder. "Ya know, healin magic is a funny thing-and no two heals are quite the same. When Zeke reaches out and makes yer wounds close, it's because hes willing some of the power his god gave him ter manipulate the world around him, and he's choosin ter use tha power to help ya. Power A good gave him fer his worship and dedication. And I dunno if you've heard some of the things Zeke had said bout em, but he seems like a freaky guy. Can't imagine a deity of end days ter be tha generous. Tha's Zeke doin it. He's makin a minor miracle happen.
Now tha's different from Jolga. While I don't know him personally, it seems like he had a connection to stone sort of otherworldly stuff, probably spirits-or maybe aliens, like those kasathans from before. He channels them and their power to get the same result. Can't imagine tha's easy.
And then there's me. Yer other healin capable chap. Ya know where it comes from fer me?" the talkative dwarf beams down at Charles, pulling the wand out."This. Someone took the time to take whatever they're version of curin wounds is and imbue this ere wand with the ability to do the same so long as ya can inspire it to do so. So Zeke would fuel it with his god's power. Jolga from whoever helps him out. But me? It comes right from ere
With that, he thumps his chest. "Fer me, my magic comes from takin little trickss I've learned and makin em happen my way. I need to dodge danger? I do that thing where I turn misty. Want you to see sumthin? I make ya see it. Need my piece to work? Make the magic work for me, Leon me jury-rig it. And when I pick up this wand, and I feel the desire to help someone out..."the wand glows a bit "so when ya take one of us fer granted, given what it is we're doin ter make it happen... well, us no wonder he thought you were sick. unless Charles said something, he'd let the silence linger for a moment, before alwwping him on the back. "Waddya say Parker, wanna catch up with the rest of em? he said with a grin, calling Charles by the nickname Sam pixies for him for the first time
As Garfaulk enters the throne room with Charles, and the rest of the party has already progressed into Birdfood's bed chamber, Garfaulk catches sight of something that wasn't there just a moment before. A note. Pinned into the backrest of the throne.
It reads. "Young dwarf, I was a thinkin that it was about high time fer ya to have one o me weapons. Bound ta be one o yer favorites, methinks. But can't make it too easy on ya, naturally. Don't wantin ya to go get spoiled on me."
On the back of the note is a map.
Charles searches while Garfaulk talks. At the end of both activities he simply nods. "Won't happen again." There was nothing else to say to that so Parker didn't.
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Zeke tries to identify the items they found, using detect magic.
Afterward, Zeke does his best to secure the area so that they all have somewhere to rest. When Jolga starts burning bodies, he suggests the shaman uses the flea-ridden sheets and furniture from the barracks, and then finds a broom and sweeps the room clean. That will have to do for tonight, he thinks, mentally reminding himself to prepare create water for tomorrow.
That night, before sleeping, Zeke sets up a little altar with his skymetal pistol on it in the barracks and makes an effort to pray to Groetus. He's not sure what to say at first, since he usually just feels at his god, but he has decided he has to articulate it tonight. "Lord Groetus," he says quietly. He is silent for a while longer, standing helplessly in the otherwise empty room. "I just wanted to thank You for the powers You have bestowed upon me. I've been using them to help these crazy folks I've partnered with, and to help my family, my adopted family. Trying to find my real dad, and they're helping me with that, and I'm helping them with their, their things too. I don't know if they know much about what You want from them-- or from me, for that matter. I'm just doing what I think is best, to make this world the best world for when everyone else goes away and You take over. I hope You like these people enough to let them stay with me when the time comes. I know it's supposed to be soon.
"You know them all, right? The big man with the hammer that my sister likes, and who likes her too. With the metal in his skin? I've got to keep him going so he can get back to her, they make each other happy. And his elf friend with the cigarettes and the leg, he's so full of bitterness and I want to help him find peace, get what he needs so he can enjoy life after. And there's my dwarf friend-- well, I don't know what he wants. He seems happy all the time, maybe he just likes helping everyone else. I think he likes making things, and using things he's made. So I hope we can find lots of things for him to craft and to craft with, and maybe I can help him with that. Our mechanical friend left, but I hope she's okay. Maybe we'll see her afterward-- I don't know if androids go to the outer planes when they die, maybe not. This old man we just met seems like he would get along well with You. Do You know him? You're probably already looking after him. I want to get to know him better so I can tell You about him.
"And the last one, You know who-- uh, my halfling friend. Friends. I'm worried about him, Lord. He's angry and he had to leave his old family behind, and I don't think he likes his new family. And he's got to share his space all the time with his brother. I don't know what he wants. This is a job to him, I think. So I guess he wants the job to be over, so he can go home and share the spoils with his old family. I think it's hurting his brain, and I know folks tell stories that You make people crazy but I got to believe you make us better, so is there anything You can do to help him? Like, can you help him sleep better, or I don't know, protect his head? I think You help me like that, can You help him?"
Zeke sighs. "I know it's silly me asking You to do things like this. You give me spells to work Your will in the world, and I use them how I think is best, how I think You would want me to use them. I think it helps me to talk it out sometimes. Thanks for listening, Lord. I hope you are proud of me. I hope you like what I do for you."
He sits there for some time longer, listening to the night and stewing in his thoughts. Then he gets up and returns to where the others have made camp to prepare himself for sleep.
Garfaulk nods. He very much didn't understand someone so quiet all the time, but he hoped he'd helped him out at least a bit. "I dunno if you were present fer any of the other nicknames. Reverend. The Hammer. I'm Dolgrin Slagsun, or just Mr. Slag-oh! and I managed to call Ton Shady Shal'Tar, which is just mah most elvish way of sayin shelter. Shady shelter. No one else knows." He winks at Charles with a sly grin [b]"and Charles picked Parker fer ya. I think the old guy is just Jolga though." he started to leave the room, then hesitated. "I'd ya ever need ter talk... I can shut up fer a friend"
---
Making their way into the throne room, Garfaulk couldn't help but laugh, though the piece of paper stuck to it certainly had his attention. Why hasn't the others grabbed it? Plucking it from the fabric, he read through it, then looked up, a manic grin on his face and twinkle in his eye "what in the name o Torag-how? When? Where? What?" the who was also still a mystery, though that was the one he knew the most about, despite knowing so little. The real one that was bugging him he hasn't said. Looking over the map, he compared it to the building. Unless there was a staircase he was missing, the map didn't seem to line up with the construction of the upper floor, though it was also q fairly generic setup. "hmph. Will need to keep an eye out fer tha. Pinning the note inside his jacket, he looked around for any other signs of the mystery feller.
Charles watches as the group gets ready to bed down. "I'll keep watch. Been asleep 2 days straight, not about to go back yet."
His ceremony finished, Jolga continues looking around Birdfood's fortress, hoping to ensure the place is safe for the night.
Jolga finds another storage room... A closet, really, full of old bits of junk and wooden planks. Seeing nothing of interest, he leaves and meets up with the others, who are settling down for the night. Charles volunteers to take watch.
*****
Zeke begins to twist and turn. The dreams are coming again.
An old man dressed in grey shabby robes appears in the swirling mist. "ALL IS DUST. THE WORLD WILL END IN MUSHROOM CLOUD. OR IF NOT, NO MATTER. THE WORLD WILL END SOON, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE ELSE TRYING TO END IT."
A drow woman appears. The man points at her, and her flesh rips off her body, leaving a shadow behind. Similarly, a dwarf in a leather duster is incinerated, screaming. A beat up elf holding a gun... his head explodes. A large barbarian man, turned into a metal statue. An old man, gnawing on an old bone, laughing until the bone catches in his mouth and he falls over, his face blue. A halfling family... holding knives and slitting each other's throats.
"YOU SPEAK TO ME AS IF I CARE. THIS WORLD WILL BURN. I ALLOW YOU TO WORSHIP ME BECAUSE YOU AMUSE ME. I CARE NOT FOR YOUR FRIENDS. THEY ARE DUST. "
Finally, Zeke himself appears. He looks at his dead friends and laughs. And laughs and laughs and laughs. "YOUR MADNESS IS COMING. THIS IS WHAT COMES TO THOSE WHO FOLLOW GROETUS. STILL... LET IT NOT BE SAID THAT GROETUS ABANDONS HIS WORSHIPPERS."
All your spellcraft checks worked, with the aid from Jolga.
+1 composite longbow. 4 +1 human bane arrows, +1 studded leather. wand of grease (11 charges), a scroll of sound burst, 7 +1 bolts, and the fire extinguisher is getting added to your technopedia.
Wulf moves about with the group, still not fully at ease. But after the last room is checked he relaxes. "This place is safe, I doubt most people will know what's happened here and I assume no one will come at Birdman since the Iron men or whatever their called put him as leader. Or some sort of that bs..." Wulf trails off getting himself confused in most of the groups and politics of this place.
"You did pretty well there Jolga, I glad we bumped into you." He laughs drinking form his water skin it contains some of the whiskey Val gave him. "Anyone want a drink, it's the last of the whiskey from Torch. Val gave it to me I don’t think we'll get anything as good as this for a long time." He says as he thinks about Val and Torch. "We all did well!" He shouts cheering himself up. "Just wait, till everyone hears what we did they will start respecting us. Then we'll be going places."
Charles spends the night in blissful silence, legitimately keeping watch over his companions. After being stuck as an observer in his own body, he relishes the little details: the satisfying physical sensation of biting into and chewing on jerky; the feel of a magic blade being passed from finger to finger, rolling back across the back of his hand; not hearing Sam's thoughts like a carnival barker. He spends part of the time re-searching the area, just in case the others missed something, though he's pretty confident they've done a good job already.
If he notices Zeke's sleep, he makes no mention of it the next day. Frustrated as he was with the boy's attitude, Charles knew he had no real idea the full extent of what he goes through every day, a lost half-drow in the thrall of a mad god.
Overall, though his body tires, Charles is the happiest he's been in a while, finally in charge of his own body in quiet solitude.
Charles is able to keep his mind and body sharp throughout the night, both keeping control to himself and maintaining a sharp lookout.
In the early morning, he begins to hears scratching noises coming from the courtyard. Accompanied by cheeps and squeaks. He opens the throne room door to the balcony and looks down. Rats! Rats! Everywhere! A huge mix of shapes and sizes writhe about.
The vermin must have gotten in through a tunnel. In an urban area like this, they seem to be taking the opportunity to invade an abandoned structure, as if guided by something with intelligence...
Charles' capable watch gives the party plenty of time to get up and prepare. Perhaps you would be fine leaving this whole structure to the rats, but even so, you need to make it down to the front ramp!
Zeke bonus: +2 when underground
ROUND 1
Charles 24
Zeke 24
Garfaulk 21
rats! 17
Wulf 16
Jolga 12
Ton'iel 5
Go if you are bold!
Charles sprints to the others. "Rat swarm. Time to go."
Jolga prepares to rise and depart "Shall we? Would we not rather eliminate them?"
"If you can, feel free. My daggers can't do much in this situation."
Jolga nods. "A point well made. Let us leave and return when better prepared."
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Ton just about hears Charles whisper about the rats and he sighs:
"You clear out one rat and a bunch more turn up. This place.... Hey Wulf, want to make up for yesterday? I mean I'm not saying you wussed out but..... well I'm sure Val wouldn't be too impressed to hear you ran away, that's all. Big, strong guy that you are, ya know? Don't you have that swarm clasp thing? I'll even give you a helping hand if your damned skin decides not to go on the fritz..." the words are said half in jest, and the big man can see the look of mischief on Ton's face as he teases him about the fight yesterday.
Zeke tosses and turns most of the night and several times cries out in fear and shock, but despite his nightmares his sleep was uninterrupted. He wakes with dark circles under his eyes and prepares his spells with a haunted expression. When Charles charges in with the warning, he sits up and readies himself quickly for battle.
While Ton buffs Wulf, Zeke charges into the next room to try and get a sense of what is coming. "No way out," he calls back, "they're coming up the stairs. They're coming through the floor." He draws and primes his gun, and tries to ready himself for the onslaught.
Jolga nods at Ton's comment. "I can make you increase in size as well. That should make it easier to deal with the vermin."
"Priority is escape. Weren't hired to kill rats, just Birdfood. Could have used their corpses if the old man didn't burn them."
Wulf grits his teeth as Ton begins to berate him, he starts to pound his chest. "We took this place, I ain't giving it to some damn rats! We ain't running!" He shouts.
Charles rolls his eyes. "Stay if you want. Job's done. I'm leaving."
Charles walked back for his turn and Zeke readied a spell. Garfaulk can go yet.
Garfaulk looks over and groans. "Drats. Gotta love rats " moving into the doorway while drawing Slagbreather, he starts thinking of the birds from yesterday, he couldn't resist. Focusing on his memory of the blasted creatures, he made an illusion of them appear near the door, owning until the rata got close enough for him to make it look at them, though they were completely silent.
Zeke does indeed feel the effects of his night terrors, as he will isn't strong enough to forget about them.
Attracted by the silent image, the rats swarm over what they see as fresh meat, putting them as a very nice target for Zeke's color spray spell. However, this swarm must be particularly tough and smart. They keep running through the color spray, and through the image, and latch onto Zeke. He fights of the disease and distraction, but does take a few bites for 2 damage. Meanwhile, a bigger rat runs past the silent image and also bites Zeke for 4 damage.... And Zeke starts to feel a little woozy.
ROUND 1
rats!
Wulf
Jolga
Ton'iel
-------------
ROUND 2
Charles
Zeke
Garfaulk
EVERYONE GO!
Zeke will withdraw, which I think means the rat gets an opportunity attack on him, unless someone else triggers it before his turn. "There are more swarms coming, it looks like, two groups of them still on the stairs!" he says urgently.
Charles books it, running as fast as he can.
Ton casts Bull's Strength on Wulf and then takes a few hasty steps back.
With spells cast on him and his own words ringing in his head Wulf steps off out of the room. "You came to the wrong place." With every fiber in his body ready to explode, he swings at the swarm of rats.
Jolga moves to behind Garfaulk in the doorway. "Let the Hammer deal with the small ones. We'll deal with the large ones."
Enhanced by Bull's Strength and Bless, Wulf smashes through the swarm, his swarmbane clasp somehow magnifying his blow and allowing it to do tremendous damage. He cleaves through and takes down the dire rat, too.
Charles runs across the balcony, and through a swarm of rats. He starts heading down a ramp which will lead to the center courtyard.
Jolga knows that swarms take reduced damage, and all these rats are likely to carry disease.
Zeke and Garfaulk can go yet.