Three would be nice. I have some severe scratches here.
After some fumbling Gorag manages to open the door.
It opens into a dark room, rotten air waving in your face. In the dim light falling in it from the hall you see a lot of small storeroom, most of its decaying inventory spread over the floor.
Now that the door is open you also hear a mournful sobbing and an aura of bone chilling, but most likely harmless cold waves over you.
Otherwise nothing else happens while you stand before the door.
Sunny looks to her companions...
What?
Sunny blushes, "Oh...I were thinkin' of maybe seein' if any one else knew how ta' gab wi' me..." She looks again into the room, focusing her attention on the looming problem ahead.
"So then. Whut kind'a things did happen to yer folks when they poked about inside?" She asks Kikono.
They ran back out, screaming. Well, most did. One shambled out half asleep and didn't say anything for hours."
Sunny frowns,
"And...how long ago were this?" She asks, slowly edging closer to the doorway.
"30, 40 years or something like that."
Sunny nods at the fellow's assessment.
"So, not that long ago, then?" She leans forwards and sniffs at the air, peering into the darkness of the room.
You carefully enter the room, already sensing a diffuse undead aura.
Cerana notices the skeleton of a small child laying under a toppled coal brazier. It seems the fall didn't kill it though, as you also notice some figures painted with charcoal on the nearby wall.
Once you are properly inside the room the sobbing stops.
The rubble on the ground suddenly starts to move and quickly forms into something resembling a human child. An old rabbit skull stands in as its comically undersized head and shadows fill the holes where it didn't find fitting items.
Then the sobs return, louder and more distressed than ever and then the thing throws itself at Gorag, sinking it's tiny teeth into his skin. While it fails to draw blood Gorag suddenly feels tired.
In the tight confines of the room, Sunny draws a dagger instead of her larger Elven Curved-blade.
Though she hesitates to swing as Gorag is a much larger thing to hit that the small....raggy thing...
Cerana starts to summon a creature, hopefully to draw the creature's attention away from her friends. Better the summon get tired than the party.
Gorag tries to get this thing of from him, striking and biting with all he has, while he tries to cycle around it to let the others in his back
"Urgh... I feel... tired? Time to get rid of this thing!"
Zeema strikes out at the form with her scythe.
From where she's still standing, closer to Kikono, she looks towards him -though keeping the action of what's happening with Gorag still in the corner of her eye.
"Here, did that happen afore?" She points at the raggedy thing attacking her friends.
"Any idea as ta' whut t'is?".
Gorag manages to sink one talon into the thing shortly prior to Zeemas scythe crashing into it.
Yet it keeps attacking, this time drawing blood.
"Probably, I was never in here. And no idea what it is."
[whisperer, hp 26/45, AC 19]
wow, twice in a row unconfirmed nat 20^^
A dog is summoned to flank with Gorag. The dog then casts smite evil on the apparition and attacks it.
Cerana chips in with an acid orb since she can't shoot into the melee very well with her crossbow.
Gorag further tries to get rid of this thing while striking and biting with all he has.
All of Gorags hits connect, but Zeema sadly misses when trying to finish the thing off.
Once again it bites Gorag, managing to nick a vein with its tiny teeth.
[whisperer, hp 1/45, AC 19]
Gorag falls asleep.
"Oh skund!" Sunny swears as Gorag slumps to the floor.
Seeing Gorag fall down Zeema makes another frantic attack with her scythe at the same time the dog tries to snap the tiny skull, leading to a collision mid air and a miss by both.
The acid orb flying from Ceranas fingertips seconds later suffers a fate not any better, splattering harmlessly onto the far wall.
Still tangled together, the attacks by both melee combatants seconds later also don't even come near the figure, but Ceranas next orb hits its mark, dissolving the tiny skull and letting the garbage fall apart into an heap. The sobbing also stops.
Kikono slowly claps his hands, but is interrupted by a corby before he can make any snaky remarks. The corby speaks to him in their strange language and then leaves again.
"Seems we have more visitors. Maybe friends of you? Be so good any recover all your members and then meet me in the throne room."
With that he hurries of.
Now that the thing is dead Gorag also suddenly wakes up.
You notice that the paintings on the wall near the childs skeleton actually seem to be more than mindless scribble.
He seems to have painted a crude collection of ninjas sporting throwing stars, terrible bird headed men and giant ogres wielding giant, shining magical axes and the bodies of dead men strewn everywhere.
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It still amuses me that over half their backup has fur Yix thinks with a smile. As the raven man motions them inside Yix tilts his head curiously "Well, seems they know more about us than we think. If we go in, we go in cautiously " Yix draws his thin blade, wrapping the ribbon that dangles from the handle around his forearm. He crouches and goes forward on soft feet
Stealth
Hijiro moves forward quietly at Yix's example and words of caution. He retains his human form for the time being, as that is what he has been using among the caravan folk and this is no time to appear as a stranger when they find the party that has entered the castle. He, too, arms himself with his rapier as he slips forward beside Yix.
Marlon watches his furry companions in awe as they silently paw their way forward. In his heavy breastplate and his sizeable waist there is no way he can keep so quite so he just follows them with a bit of distance not to give away their 'disguise'. He keeps his longspear hefted tightly in his hands ready for any confrontation that might come their way.
Zeema is relieved to have the spirit's manifestation out of her onyx-colored hair, but the entrances of other figures leaves her ill-at-ease. At the corby's entrance, she immediately puts on her guard, ready to retaliate if attacked again. At the mention of other visitors, she doesn't know quite how to react.
"Friends of ours? Perhaps from the caravan?"
SUnny is left standing rather open mouthed and surprised when Kikoror simply runs off. She turns and quickly moves to help her friends.
"Maybe...?" She answers to Zeema. "Though we'd best be workin' out whut be going wrong in here first afore we get back ta' that 'Kikory' feller."
Gorag pulls himself together and stands up. He still seems to be quite dizzy. He was breathing pretty hard.
Thanks Sunny.
Sunny blushes as she's reminded that she actually did little during the encounter with the...thing.
"Sorry..I were keepin' an eye on Kikony.." She mutters...still looking about the place.
Cerana is honestly surprised that there are more visitors to this dangerous place.
"Every is alright I pray?" She asks turning to her friends while unsummoning the creature.
"I am guessing that the apparition now slain will leave this place, not entirely sure but I wonder. I personally thing we should follow him now otherwise he'll lose interest in us. No idea what would follow if we were to let that happen." Cerana muses
Sunny looks to Cerana, "Or...we can rilly have a good look-see about this place an' maybe use it as a defensible position, should tha' feller come back with mischief on his mind." She looks around the room.
"There be only one way in and so they can only get to us one at a time." She ponders.
"Of course, they can simply lock the door again an' we wouldn't be gettin' out..." She sighs.
@the newcomers:
So far you stand alone in the room, the birdman also left.
@cerana You have no idea if that's enough, but you hope it is.
Gorag sits himself against one of the walls and breathes deeply through.
I'll rest a few seconds. Tell me when you want to leave the room.
While Gorag is recuperating from the encounter Sunny looks intently around the place.
"Well I don't think the apparition will come back, rather I hope not." She then helps Sunny look around the room as she doubts the other elf will leave until they have.
You search it, but find nothing else besides rotten supplies.
After Gorag catches his breath you then head down again, coming upon the throne room, empty besides 3 other members of your caravan.
@the ones downstairs
After a few minutes of waiting, the caravan members you were looking for come into the room. Otherwise nothing happened.
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As he sees their allies come out Yix steps away from the shadows where he was hiding "Ah hello! We were sent with a message and for a little backup. I'm Yix, my other furry friend is Hijiro, and this is Marlon" after some greetings Yix gets a more serious tone, and when he recites Ameiko it's almost as if he's telling a story "So, Ameiko started talking in her sleep, and she kept repeating the phrase One treasure, beyond two seals, in the third vault, unreachable home, home, hooommmmeee. The old man waits in the dark, he doesn't himself, no more, no more...Beware the cuckoo, no more storm, still mad in mortal eye, devouring all in zest." he shrugs "We couldn't make heads or tails of it"
Marlon a big burly man who you recall being good friends with Koya stands behind the two cats and waves friendly with a big smile on his face. It looks like he is prepared for battle as he wears a ornate breastplate and wields a massive spear.
"Ah... hello... I'm Zeema and this is Cerana, Gorag, and Sunny. That's... definitely some weird words coming out of her, then... Any guesses as to what it means Cerana? "
Hijiro isn't furry by any means - he looks like a youngish Minkaian boy on the verge of manhood - maybe 16 or 17 tops. . He also steps out of the shadows and smiles warmly at the others who he vaguely remembers from the caravan trip here, though not with any real personal connection to them - yet.
"Hi... Nice to meet you all. I'm Hijiro."
Sunny beams when she sees the others from the caravan, skipping over and enthusiastically hugging them.
As well ass using the opportunity to whisper words of caution in their ears.
"Here, somethin' funny be goin' on in this place. That Kikory feller? Tha' one with tha' impressive protuberance? He's...odd....." And Sunny frowns as if unsure that her words are right.
"Any who. We found somat nasty up them stairs an' bigger an' nastier bird critters. Which, by tha' by, Kikony seems ta' have a fair amount of controller over..." She adds as a further warning.
"So watching whut one says around tha' feller might be tha' best of orders, hey?" She skips away and continues to smile at her companions.