Angruf's search is cut short by a tentative call. "Hello?" Is someone out there? Someone... sane?" The muffled voice comes from the battered metal cabinet.
perception DC10:
under one of the upturned desk lies a foot with its slippers torn off. A mess of blood covers the desk and the area near it.
"Alrigh'...thanks Angruf." Toren rips another strip of cloth off his shirt and wets it from his waterskin. He ties it around his bullet head to cover his mouth. He looks around, takes a tentative step into the room, takes a deep breath, and says "Ahh k...thanks again for the insight Angruf, I dunno if I'd ever...WHAT IN TORAG'S PERSONAL HAMMER!!!"
Init:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Fear grips Toren as he's unsure if what he's just seen is real...or if he's gone mad again.
Aye against Beckett isn't it obvious? Just kidding, I had the map open when I did that so it was obvious to me... :)
The men's tattered robes are covered in ink. Blood has started to dry over the stains and their hands. These two cackle much less than the crazed guard from the restroom, but it is no less maniacal when they do so. Such a cackle breaks the air as they assault Beckett once again.
Since beckett can get no higher then them* I will move their action, freeing group one Julien, Jak & maybe Beckett to take an action. I think Elwyn is due back today, so I put him on delay. :)
Madscribes (20)
Group 1
Julien (17)
Jak (11)
Group 2
Toren (8)
Thovar (8)
Elwyn ()on delay
[Per: +5, AC 16, Init +2, CMB +2, CMD 14, hp 14/14] Halfling Barbarian 1
Hearing the sounds of combat, Jak moves into the room, drawing his slingstaff and firing at the closest crazy.
slingstaff:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24 damage:1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Jack move into range and flips a stone at the mad scribe's head. It ricochets off a broken desk and and catches the man with a solid thunk. Julien moves up to the second scribe.
R1:
Madscribes (20) attack beckett
Group 1
Angruf (19)
Julien (17) double moves too far for single, not a clear path to charge
Jak (11) slingstaffs #2
Group 2
Beckett (11)
Toren (8)
Thovar (8)
Elwyn ()on delay
Angruf & Beckett are up.
treat the boxes, desks, crates drawn as cover. normal terrain, unless you try to climb one of them.
male (HP 15/15 | AC 14 | T 10 | FF 14 | CMD 13 | F +1 | R +3 | W +5 | Init +0 | Per +2, darkvision 60') dwarf bard 2
Hearing the cries from inside the storage room, Angruf hefts his crossbow, and surges in. Taking some cover behind a crate, Angruf fires at the nearer of the mad scribes.
Round 1
Status: HP 9/9 | AC 14 | T 10 | FF 14 | CMD 12 | F +1 | R +2 | W +4
Move: advance into room (map updated)
Standard: attack M2:1d20 + 0 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 0 - 4 = -3, damage:1d10 ⇒ 1
Toren's eyes water as he steps into the mist that caresses the floor. He closes his eyes as a shout from the rest of the group cuts across his hearing. He grips his tower shield, opens his eyes, and starts forward. "I'm comin'...I'm comin'."
The three dwarves run into the room to attack. The scribe continues its attack on Beckett even though he no longer has the cleric surrounded.
slam:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8, dmg:1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 miss
Elwyn, jump in whenever. Group 1 is up
R2:
Madscribe (20):
Group 1
Angruf (19):
Julien (17):
Jak (11):
Group 2
Beckett (11):
Toren (8):
Thovar (8):
Elwyn (): on delay
R1:
Madscribes (20) attack beckett
Group 1
Angruf (19) moved in shot crossbow
Julien (17) double moves too far for single, not a clear path to charge
Jak (11) slingstaffs #2
Group 2
Beckett (11) clobbers #1 unconscious
Toren (8) double move
Thovar (8) moves into place
Elwyn ()on delay
[Per: +5, AC 16, Init +2, CMB +2, CMD 14, hp 14/14] Halfling Barbarian 1
Jak drops the staff and draws his axe as he leaps forward around or over the furniture as needed, trying to knock the last one out with the flat of his axe blade.
If I count correctly, I've got the movement to do that, even assuming the desk/chair counts as difficult
The man's eyes roll back into his head at Thovar's blow. He neither collapses nor moves forward but seems to be spending all his concentration just to maintain his wobbly stance.
Toren attempts to trip the man and he responds by slinging a fist.
slam:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13. dmg:1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6.
Angruf throws a feather at the man and he collapses. The feather is lifted back into the air as the mist escapes form his mouth.
I forgot Toren left his next action in the discussion thread. Madscribe draws a point of damage from attacking, the feather was just fluff (see discussion thread).
After a moment of quiet, a tentative voice comes from cabinet, "Hello? ... "Yannis?"
While Jak and Beckett continue the conversation through the cabinet, Thovar completes the search that was so suddenly disrupted.
Thovar/Qadarin/Shadowlodge
Spoiler:
The place is a mess, but with a little bit of time (you took 20 above iirc) a several accounts sheets and records of transactions tell you where Nigel's most recent acquisitions have come from and where his de-sanctioned items have gone.
With a little coaxing the man stops blubbering long enough to remove a piece of metal. From the scraping sound and the way the door shifts he must be unbarring the door. When the door opens it reveals a blubbery scribe with a face red and wet from terror. He holds a metal cylinder but nearly drops it when he sees the mess.
"Oh gods help us. What did they do?" He flinches when he notices the two mad scribes before realizing they are both incapacitated. He also sees the bloody pile of pulp sticking out from under an upturned desk. "Milgen. They beat Milgen to a pulp." Then he seems to notice the dents on the cabinet he took refuge in and begins to wail.
apologies, I said shadow lodge in the spoiler above, but it should have been lantern lodge.
Thovar:
While looking for the list you also notice scraps of Mwangi Cloth. Their proximity to the most recent seller's name (Jambala Jaeg) cannot be a coincidence.
Toren looks over some of the papers scattered around and hmphs to himself. He looks up at the man that comes out, but leaves Justicar Beckett des Laurant to deal with...likely gentler than Toren himself would at this moment.
"Thou art safe now, friend. We will escort thee to the entrance shortly, but please, before that, how many more are there within, and what can thee tell us of what is going on, beyond what happened to Milgen?"
Jambala Jaeg?" asks the scribe. That's the tribe that defeated the Tik Taan in the Mwangi expanse. There's hanging in the Hall of the Honored Dead.
Cursing at the Tik Taan he turns & answers Beckett's question in his blubbering way.
"The offices suddenly flooded with a strange mist early this morning, and tendrils of it seemed to pour down Kadarnik’s and Yannis’ throats. Moments later they went stark mad and beat Milgen to a pulp.' I'm fairly certain the Tik Taan are responsible. He seems to grow a spine for a moment. “I smelled something wrong with those hideous monkey-faced things as soon as Lugizar brought them out of his pack. I’ve a nose for trouble, I do! No one listens!”
Thovar:
Jambala Jaeg is the name of the cloth's origins (as in it is from them) The name next to it is Lugizar Trantos (the guy who started this thing back in the beginning). I got that wrong in the previous spoiler.
[Per: +5, AC 16, Init +2, CMB +2, CMD 14, hp 14/14] Halfling Barbarian 1
"Where are these monkey statues? We'll have to deal with those to end this.
Kadarnik and Yannis should be alright now. Once they recover physically anyway. The others have been."
male (HP 15/15 | AC 14 | T 10 | FF 14 | CMD 13 | F +1 | R +3 | W +5 | Init +0 | Per +2, darkvision 60') dwarf bard 2
"This must be very distressing to you. It's very confusing to us. Can you help us understand what happened more clearly? We saw the crates with the materials from Mwangi. We read the manifests, but didn't see anything that looked like monkey statuettes. Did someone carry them to the museum in person? From the beginning of the day, did someone unusual visit? or were the statuettes here before today?"
Toren stops looking for a moment after the man talks about the mist pouring down throats, "Poor sods...it ain't right. Try not ter be too harsh on 'em if they wake up."
Saldek introduces himself and pushes his glasses back onto his pudgy face. The Tik Taan are in the Mwangi Exhibit in the main room. He gestures to the north. Most of what he relates fits into your previous knowledge. Lugizar Trantos spent several years in the Mwangi expanse. He was thought lost until recently when he returned and sold the statuettes to the musuem. He dropped them off this morning which is when the madness began.
"The last of his letters evidenced an unhinged mind, and was covered in strange sketches of monkey paws. He described dark eyes glaring out from the mists. Shortly after his return to Absalom, the monkeys and apes in the Absalom Menagerie attacked their keepers during a feeding and fled the grounds into greater Absalom."
He can also offer about the Jambala Jeg. The cultists who created the Tik Taan were hunted by a brave tribe of the Mwangi called the Jambala Jaeg. The Jambala Jaeg created ritual knives, crafted out of bone handles and obsidian blades, to slay the demons inside the Tik Taan. Legends speak of the deadly mists of the Tik Taan, ill humors that invade men’s hearts by seeping into their mouths.
Finally, pointing to the fabric wrapped around his mouth and gesturing at those of the party dressed similarly. "Anyone wearing a scarf or other protection against the airborne menace is immune to its effects. I can read the Jambala Jaeg's tongue.
While he relates the information, Toren notices a scroll dangling off the top shelf of the cabinet Saldek hid in.
male (HP 15/15 | AC 14 | T 10 | FF 14 | CMD 13 | F +1 | R +3 | W +5 | Init +0 | Per +2, darkvision 60') dwarf bard 2
"Thank you Saldek, that's a very useful set of information. I had noticed the Jambala Jaeg knife in the main exhibit, but had decided not to disturb the exhibit, or the rest of the honored personage holding the knife. I think your information makes it important that we use the knife for its original purpose."
