Something about his nature pulls at Belzoni, making it nearly impossible for him to pass the doors without taking a look. "Hold just a second mates, we might find another option behind these doors, maybe we don't have to talk to dopplies or inmates." He listens at the doors, then slowly opens them and peeks inside.
Confucius nods and stops, peering past Belzoni.
The two doors lead to small rooms that reek of chlorine and are heaped with fallen shelves and broken containers.
Confucius will search.
Tenebrynn waves her hand in front of her nose as the stink of chlorine hits her nostrils. "Ooo. That smalls bad. Burns. I don't like it." As Heinrich steps in to search, the little gnome gestures toward him and a small eddy of air begins to gently coil around him as he moves.
Tristain will search with Heinrich, not trusting the confused man from a cell near the cell with the starting corner to not become angry and confused about something.
Perception
Tristain sketches out more of the known world as they search more. It brings him comfort to have a point of reference for his confusing new reality.
Kyffin gestures to keep going, but as everyone seems keen to search, he waits in the hallway, keeping his eyes open for trouble.
Searching through the first room, you discover a lantern, a hammer, and three winter blankets.
As you begin to poke around the second room, however, you suddenly see something move and realize you're not alone. Two huge many-legged bugs are in here too and don't see pleased to have been startled!
"More biters! Different biters though!" With another quick spin, she sends a spiraling orb of debris and dust zipping toward the nearest bug.
HP: 12/12
Nonlethal:
AC: 15 (13 T / 12 FF)
Fort: +5 // Ref: +5 // Will: +1 (+2 vs illusion)
Burn Accrued: 0/6
SLAs: dancing lights [ ], ghost sound [ ], prestidigitation [ ], speak with animals [ ]
Ongoing Effects:
Warden of Nature: +1 to hit/+2 dodge bonus vs aberrations, oozes, vermin
Foe of the Strange: +1 to saves vs aberrations, -10 to confusion results
Point Blank Shot: +1/+1
Round 1, Initiative: 12
Weapon Equipped = Scimitar
Silver Blanch, Cold Iron Bolts = 10/10
Conditions = None
Melee: Attack: BAB +0, Str +3 Damage: Str +3
Ranged: Attack: BAB +0, Dex +1 Damage: +0 (Str +3 thrown)
Blessings (3/3)
Spells (Caster Level 1, Concentration +3)
Once Per Day (12): Prestidigitation
Zero (12): Create Water, Detect Magic, Light
First (13): Cure Light Wounds, Divine Favor
Kyffin/Walter is surprised when the party uncovers more foes. As quickly as he can (which isn’t very) he draws his scimitar and moves into the room - trying to get in the way of the creatures advance on the rest of the party.
Round 1, Init 16
Know (nature)
Tristain backs up (moving to the far away from danger corner) while noting the chitinous nature of the monsters.
"Vermin! Centipedes, giant ones! They are vermin! Cousins to scorpions, crabs, and..."
Tristain looks at the hammer, laying untouched...and concentrates upon it, his eyes full of focus. The hammer flings itself at the closest centipede.
to hit;
bludgeoning damage
HP: 7/7
AC: 12
Belzoni: 4*
Heinrich: 3*
Tenebrynn: 16
Tristain: 16
Kyffin: 12
Antagonist: 11
The Gnome Girl gestures and one of the giant bugs explodes in a spray of ichor and gore.
As Walter advances into the room, the man from the cell with the starting corner falls back, a piece of debris flying across the room seemingly of its own accord.
The remaining insect, seemingly undaunted, bites at Walter, but the half-orc -- with surprising skill even he didn't quite realize he had -- ducks away from it.
Heinrich/Confucius makes a GACK noise as the insect explodes, spraying gore all over him. He begins to shake, but his hand is firm as he draws his cane and steps forward to be ready to smash the thing as soon as he can!
"Was not aware crawly biters could detonate. Try again?" Tenebrynn cringes at the gore shower, but then shrugs as she sends another orb zipping toward the remaining centipede.
HP: 12/12
Nonlethal:
AC: 15 (13 T / 12 FF)
Fort: +5 // Ref: +5 // Will: +1 (+2 vs illusion)
Burn Accrued: 0/6
SLAs: dancing lights [ ], ghost sound [ ], prestidigitation [ ], speak with animals [ ]
Ongoing Effects:
Warden of Nature: +1 to hit/+2 dodge bonus vs aberrations, oozes, vermin
Foe of the Strange: +1 to saves vs aberrations, -10 to confusion results
Point Blank Shot: +1/+1
The gnome girl's blast effectively disintegrates the second creature, leaving the room still once more.
Carefully finishing your search of the room, you find 10 feet of chain, a set of manacles, two winter blankets, and a tarnished old silver necklace that supports a battered snowflake pendant.
Tristain puts his fingers in his ears and chalkboard in front of his face, in anticipation of avoiding and spray from another exploding bug...that is just about to happen.
He waits for the explosion, eyes shut.
"Rats and zoogs and centipedes? This place is full of biters. Do dopplegangers bite? If so, could be common theme." Tenebrynn chatters casually as she helps recover the blankets, one of which inexplicably winds up draped over her shoulders like a cape.
"I have insect ichor in my mouth. IN MY MOUTH." Confucius spits and retches after this pronouncement, trying to get the taste out of his mouth.
Tristain peeks one eye open as Heirnrich's voice seems to indicate that most of the blast had missed Tristain.
That gnome seems good at killing things. Maybe I should try to keep nice. She's more than just the gnome from the cell across the way from the cell with the starting corner.
"These manacles might be helpful if one of the dopplegangers needs to be captured," Tristain notes as he helps get the stuff packed away.
He puts the hammer in his hand. It might be useful for later.
Exiting the room, he looks ready to follow Kyffin onward.
"I follow you, Walter."
Kyffin/Walter steps up just in time to get messy.
"Feels like I'm just in the way." he says jokingly, wiping ichor from his clothes. "In all seriousness though, do you need a clear path for that to work? I don't want to get hit in the back with such a blast, or make it harder for you to hit your opponent. Or does it not work that way?"
He gathers the various blankets and other items with The Man from the Corner, casting Detect Magic to see if anything should glow.
"Might be winter out there with all these blankets we're finding. We might need it."
When everyone is ready he moves on to the end of the hall.
Tenebrynn looks up at Kyffin, her face twisted in confusion. "What? This?" She spins and sends a bundle of debris crashing into the far wall. "You mean you can't do that too? Or do you mean it works differently with fire or something else?" She gestures to Heinrich, "He throws fire. Ooo! Do you throw water?"
Belzoni clutches the manacles and moves forward with the group. "We can try putting a dopplie in these, but it might just slip out a moment later. Still, better than just killing it outright before we try to get information from the thing. The folks behind the barrier with the crossbows didn't seem to have any answers."
"The folks behind the barrier are insane. They seek only murder. I have no clear idea whether they were prisoner or guard. And I can only throw chemicals that react and create fire, not actual fire. That ideal is beyond me."
Tenebrynn seems surprised as Heinrich explains he throws not-fire that turns into fire, as her long eyebrows arch over her wide eyes in slight confusion. "Oh." She blinks at the group a few times in silence before looking back to Kyffin. "Will try not to hit you."
Kyffin wonders, briefly, if everyone can do it but him, but relaxes a bit when the others give the same blank stare he does. ”No, I can’t do anything like that. That’s powerful stuff right there you know. Very powerful stuff.”
"Will try not to hit you."
"Much obliged." he says with a grin as he moves down the hallway. He has his sword out as everything in this place seems intent on attacking them, but he has it down, not intending to draw the first blood when they meet the other dopplegangers.
Finishing your search, you move north, to a spot where the walls between the hall and this office have largely collapsed, exposing debris-cluttered desks, toppled lockers, and a handful of bodies, some of which look human, but some of which have the gray skin of the not-doctor below.
A groan arises from one of the women, a grandmotherly old human woman in a plain-white buttoned uniform similar to the one worn by many of the bodies in the pile below.
Walter/Kyffin wonders if she's a doppleganger, but he approaches quickly and examines her to see the extent of her injury.
"Lady, are you OK? What's wrong?"
Tristain examines the area as Kyffin, who seems to be a gentle and kind soul, moves to help the woman.
"Those...those bodies remind me of the not-doctor from outside the cell with the starting corner," Tristain comments. "Do you guys remember? Right now, we're above the cell with the starting corner."
Perception
Know (Nature) - gray skin bodies?
As Walter tends to the woman, Belzoni takes stock of the situation as he tries to detect any deception in her behavior.
Tenebrynn answers Tristain as Kyffin rushes to the woman, "Yes. Remember that. Don't recall much prior to that, though. Just the dream with the bandaged man and the razor." She shudders, shaking off the recollection, then remarks, "Still don't know what here is or where here is or when here is, but probably not supposed to be littered with bodies. Very strange." She wanders over to one of the obviously dead as her companions tend to the older woman and begins to root and rummage around.
"This whole place is a maze of death and insanity. I do not assume anything where it is concerned." Confucius looks disgusted by the situation or possibly by himself; it's hard to say.
"My leg," the woman quavers. "I think it's broken!"
A quick glance reveals she's likely correct, as the limb is bent at an odd angle. However, Lucky, you're fairly certain something doesn't quite ring true about this situation, though you're not sure what it is.
You notice that lengths of flesh have been deliberately stripped from the corpses, human and doppelganger (because you're sure that's what the gray bodies are) alike.
Tristain points to the bodies, looking to the others.
"These corpses have been stripped of flesh...both human and doppleganger...that's weird, right? Something isn't right," Tristain notes to his companions from the room with the starting corner.
"Say woman, where are we? Did you see who stripped the flesh from these creatures? Since your leg is broken, you've probably been here for a while..."
"...and if you could frame our location in reference to the cell with the starting corner, that would be nice."
"My leg," the woman quavers. "I think it's broken!"
Something about the woman just doesn't seem natural. Maybe it's that the lips don't quiver when she quavers, maybe it's that flesh stripped bodies are less concerning than a 'possible' broken leg, either way Belzoni voices his trepidation to Kyffin. "Careful, Walter, something about that woman seems as strange as this whole place, stay away from her."
Kyffin/Walter approaches the woman, readying his holy symbol in a move to help heal her.
""Careful, Walter, something about that woman seems as strange as this whole place, stay away from her."
He stops a few feet away and draws his scimitar instead, letting the wooden holy symbol fall to his chest on its short cord.
”M’lady, my companion here, a most able bodied man from what I know of him, has suggested you aren’t to be trusted. You are the sole survivor here, assuming you did not cause it. Before we can help you, please, what happened here? And be thorough. We cannot help you if you don’t help yourself first.”
”Tell us a story the explains all this and by Sarenrae - I will help you.” he makes a broad sweep of his scimitar over the bodies.
Tenebrynn looks at the wounds on the bodies, craning her head curiously as she regards them and otherwise filters out the conversation the others are having with the bent-legged lady. Images burst and flash in her mind from the time before the cell, in the dream with the yellow fog. A leering grin and gleaming razor appear in her mind's eye, but the teeth and blade are hazy and out of focus.
The tattered strips of yellow hanging from the figure's body, however, are sharply clear for a moment and she can almost see the thing peeling those billowing strips from the bodies before her now. It all happens within the span of a breath or two, but as the recollection fades, Tenebrynn looks up, worry clouding her large eyes. "Huh. Not good."
"I don't know! I was unconscious and then I just woke recently. The walls fell on us all," she says. "Maybe they did it themselves before they died? The people here are crazy!"
"Indeed, something IS crazy about this whole place, madam. You do not recall anything from before the fall?"
"Say woman, where are we? What is this place?" Tristain repeats his question. "And who created this place with the starting corner?"
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Tenebrynn shakes her head as the woman's words and those of her allies reach her ears and pull her from her reverie. At mention of the destruction in the room, the gnome mutters sadly, "Shaka, when the walls fell." Unsure of why those words came to her unbidden, she shakes her head and returns to the group. Coming up beside Kyffin, she watches the discussion intently and points at Tristain, "Ooo. Yes. He asks good questions. Want to know those answers too. Very curious. Also, was the cutter here? Still unclear if this is a dream or not."
Kyffin looks on confused, unsure what to do. She could be a shape changer, but how would he know?
I am fair to others. I expect nothing for myself but that which I need to survive.
"That's right" he mumbles to himself.
He turns to the others, "Look, either she's a shape shifting thing or she's not. She's injured, or she's not. But what I see is an injured woman in need of aid. I cannot know if it is incorrect, so to be fair, I'll assume what I see with my own eyes is reality until it's proven to be otherwise."
He looks at the gnome, "Or until we wake up." he grins.
Uneasily putting away his scimitar, he approaches the woman and does what he can for her leg casting Cure Light Wounds.
He hopes he didn't just make a big mistake...
"I recall the usual amount, sir," the woman answers Confusecious. "Do you not? But perhaps that makes some sense? This is Briarstone Asylum. It’s a hospice, just outside Thrushmoor. It's been here for more than 100 years, helping people recover or keeping them safe if they can't."
As Kyffin heals her wounds, a smile crosses the old woman's face.
"Oh, that's much better, sir. Thank you!"
She stands up, flexing the leg experimentally.
"I haven't felt this good in ages. I'm almost hale enough that if my husband were still alive..." She trails off, giving the half-orc a sly grin.
She looks confused at the gnome girl's words. "Cutter?"
"Yes. Cutter. 'One who cuts.' The leering man wrapped in the strips of cloth or worse with the razor who was in the yellow fog. 'Cutter' much faster to say. Gets point across just as well. Was the cutter here? Bodies missing flesh. Wondering if the cutter is wearing them. The missing strips of skin, not the bodies. Bodies here, on floor; obviously not being worn. Skin though, missing. Very curious. Very troubling."
"Briarstone? Thrushmoor? Are you sure? And this is an asylum? Hmm..." Tristain contemplates.
Know (history/local) - Briarstone/Thrushmoor
The new knowledge throws his understanding of the known world into doubt, and he puzzles over the starting point of the starting corner.
Briarstone Asylum. It’s a hospice, just outside Thrushmoor.
None of these things mean anything to Kyffin, but clearly this is a woman in the know - and she doesn't seem as crazed as the crossbow wielding ruffians in the other hallway.
He helps her to her feet and stands nearby. Not wanting to bombard her with questions, he waits while his, uh, companions(?) ask theirs.
"Thrushmoor? That does sound familiar..." Belzoni drifts off in thought.
"Briarstone? Thrushmoor?" Confucius seems to withdraw into himself for a moment. "These things, these places. They do not feel familiar to me. If this is true, are we patients or doctors? And what sort of hospice cages its patients OR its medical staff?!?"
Tenebrynn looks up at Heinrich and asks, "The sort with not-doctor dopplegangers that flense not-dopplegangers?"
"That does not seem medically sound." Confucius notes, missing any sarcasm.