Thrak's vicious attacks look impressive, but only one claw penetrates the blubbery man enough to deal damage. Still, he looks pale and is losing blood!
In return, the blubbery man attacks Thrak! for damage! "Stupid cat stop scratching me! Stupid stupid stupid! Rolth be very happy when I gives him stupid cat corpse to cut up!"
"Stop fighting us, and we'll stop hurting you," Pai attempts to reason with the monstrous humanoid. Not trusting the fellow to understand, she dings away at him again with her wand.
Damage
"No no no! You is intruders and intruders go in the pits! You is parts for Rolth!" The missile strikes the blubbery man and he rejects your attempts at diplomacy with nary a thought.
Slumper attacks with gusto.
sword
shield
crit confirm
Slumper's sword slash causes the cabbageheaded man to feint right into the arc of Slumper's shield. You hear a sickening crunch and then the man tumbles backward to lay on the ground, bleeding out.
"What is this creature?"
Ruperta looks at the creature with disgust.
Paxs sees Thrak go down under the attack and also sees the big creature go down as well. He rushes to Thrak's side.
Slumper strips the guard of any weapons and armor before tieing him up.
"I'm curious what a Rolth is.."
"I suppose we would have to heal him before we could get any information out of him." Pai added that point as she went to look in on the prisoners he had been detaining, to determine their status.
Paxs manages to stabilize Thrak, while Slumper checks the man for weapons. Finding none, he strips him of his strangely nice armor.
Pai looks down into the pits and sees that the prisoners are malnourished, possibly diseased from their captivity. One of them, a half-elf woman, looks up as you enter. She looks in better shape than the rest. "Hey, you! You're not with the little grey guys are you? Help us out, please! They take a few of us every couple days and they don't come back. All we hear is screaming. I don't want to die underground, lady. Please help!"
Pai looks around for a way to help the prisoners out of the pit. She turns to one of the stronger sorts, like Slumper, "Do you have any extra rope? We need to find a way to get these poor people out of there. We could always put that unconscious baddie in the pit, and use the rope to get the others up here with us."
"I only had the rope for the big fellow, and I don't fancy cutting it up. If you don't think he can get out of the pit I like that idea."
Paxs looks up from the sleeping Thrak to let everyone know he has some rope in his backpack.
The thug with the cabbagehead is tied up and the emaciated prisoners are rescued. One needs help getting out, but together they hobble toward the entrance, all weeping with joy at being rescued. One of them, the half-elf woman turns back to say, "I will reward you, I promise."
In the corner, near one of the pits, you find a lower torso attached to legs decorated with Shoanti symbols that match the ones on the arm in Slumper's bag.
The only passage left lies to the north, where a smell of chemicals and rot assails your noses.
"Yuck...Slumper, would you do the honors again, and collect that torso, so we can add to our collection?"
Slumper grumbles without any real words but goes about the grisly task with cold efficiency.
"That armor he had looked pretty good anyone know what it was?"
"Let me take a look at that armor. Maybe I can tell what sort of magic it holds," Pai says as she looks closely at the gear.
Spellcraft armor
If she can tell the abilities of the armor, Pai fills Slumper in.
Slumper thanks Pai for the info, "Not really my style, how about you Ruperta? Some good armor here."
"I am not sure I would like to put on the armor that, ogrekin, or whatever it was, was wearing. It makes me sick just to think in putting it on."
"We'll, we can clean it up and sell it later. It should bring a pretty penny in return."
Paxs holds Thrak while crying.
With a stern look, Majenko glares at Pai. "Oh, you're right. I'm sorry Paxs, that was so rude. I didn't notice Thrak was in bad shape. Don't worry, I'm sure Ruperta can fix him right up. Can you, Ruperta," the gnome asks unsurely, not quite knowing if her healing could affect a summoned creature.
Ruperta kneels next to Paxs and Thrak. A tear starts forming in her cheek. She touches Thrak, gently, trying to confort it.
"It is a very brave creature. He is now with the Tender of Dreams, and I am sure she is taking good care of it. Please, Goddess, let me easy his pain and bring him back to us."
If no one else wants the armor, Corbyn will take it.
Ruperta's healing restores health to Thrak, while Corbyn does his best to clean off the armor of the reek of the Cabbageheaded man.
Thrak's eyes open and he slowly gets to his feet. Paxs is overjoyed and hugs his friend.
Paxs dismisses Thrak back to the land from which he came. "I will call if I need you dear friend, rest for awhile."
The passage to the north is natural stone and winding, but it ends in a solid wood door. From beyond the smell of chemicals and death wafts. While there is a lock on the door, it doesn't appear to be locked.
Ruperta puts her hand on the door, using her Door Sight ability again.
Through the door Ruperta's vision shows:
The nauseating mixture of decay and strange chemicals fills the air of this large room. Glinting saws, pliers, long stitching needles, and other surgical equipment are organized on shelves and benches along the walls. A sturdy wooden table in the center of the room supports a large humanoid shape—a thing stitched together from a patchwork of dozens of different bodies. The thing would stand nearly seven feet tall if it rose. The head of the creature seems odd somehow, too small for its frame. It's the head of a young man with brown hair and a distinct scar on its cheek: one that sounds remarkably like the one Thousand Bones described. Two exits leave from the room: one a short hallway ending in a wooden door and the other a longer stone hallway curving into the darkness.
Ruperta let her friends know, and recommends entering very quietly, at least until they are sure the other abomination is not active.
"Fantastic more parts for me to lug around..." Slumper moves over to the door to be in a good position.
"Thank you for carrying those around, Slumper," Pai says with a shiver at the nasty thought. "Unfortunately, I suppose we have to recover all of them to accomplish our task..."
The door is slowly opened, but the monstrosity on the slab does not rise. After inspection, it appears to be physically complete, but lack some crucial component to give it life.
Pai creeps in and pokes around the room, relieved when the patchwork monster did not stir. "Um...I guess, we have to separate the wheat from the chafe, so to speak," she groans, looking at the monstrosity. She casts Detect Magic to scan the creature and the room while she was at it.
Slumper is pleased to see that this one at least isn't undead and begins the process of removing the head "I think we need to be more choosey in jobs in the future..."
Slumper finds the removal quite easy, as the head is stitched on poorly. Still, it is a head, and into the bag it goes.
Two exits lead from the room, one to a door and one to a dark hallway, down which you can hear faint muttering and periodic laughter of a most insane sort.
"Yes, Slumper, we need to avoid this kind of... Assignments in the future. "
She moves towards the door to use her magical sense on it.
Two wide, freestanding bookshelves stand in this room, the shelves filled with row upon row of tomes and scrolls. Most of the titles are illegible at this distance, but you catch the words 'Necromantic', 'Disease' and 'Golemcraft' prominent displayed. Otherwise, the room is empty of people.
Ruperta slowly opens the door and peeks inside...
"Whoever is laughing like that can't be in their right mind. I say we go find the source of that, shut them up, then come back and open that door," the gnome suggests.
Slumper nods at Pai "Agreed"
Corbyn prepares his short swords once again.
Steeling yourselves, you head to the north to discover a rather nice bedroom, with a human-sized bed. It is well appointed and obviously has not been used for at least a few days. A simple writing desk and a full length floor mirror is here as well. A small passageway leads off to the east and it is from here that the insane cackling comes.
Peering into the room, you see that this dry, well-kept chamber contains a narrow bed, a relatively empty shelf containing only a few books and some bones and skulls, and a long bench. A man’s torso, the chest bearing numerous tribal tattoos and with the right arm still attached, lies on this bench. The arm periodically thrashes and clutches at the air as if it were alive. A derro, humming and muttering to himself, putters around the room, his hands holding what appears to be some sort of needle and thread, as well as a jar of foul smelling paste. The derro wears a robe decorated with images of bones and skulls, and a wand of bone is tucked in his belt. He seems to be doing something to the torso, which twitches and flops about as he comes near it, causing him to cackle loudly.
Paxs:
Slumper:
Corbyn:
Pai:
Ruperta:
Derro:
Pai readies an action, preparing to use her arcane bond to cast Grease on that bone wand should the derro go for it.
"Well, aren't you just the creepiest thing I've ever seen. I doubt reasoning with you is going to work at all," Pai admonishes him, as she looks on in horror at the mad creature.
Ruperta will try to grab, cover the mouth and pin the small creature, attacking it before he can react (and hopping to avoid the AoO).