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):
Kyffin, sword out, reacts slowly, but steps up (5' step) and swings at the writhing if it still moves.
”Ahhhh!”
Confusious' bomb hits one of the twitching hands, exploding in a burst of fire; as it subsides, Lcuky and Walter step in, whip and sword permanently ending the twitching of one of the hands and the head.
A moment later, the thing seems to explode again in a burst of gore, the remaining hand being freed to start crawling toward the nearby half-orc as its entrails begin to wrap around his feet.
H2: 4
Heinrich lets out another cry of alarm as the entrails and hand move again. He holds aloft his cane and smashes anything that comes within reach!
for damage!
"Yuck! Severed hands and entrails should not move!"
Tenebrynn's surprise and disgust, coupled with her earlier promise to Kyffin, results in her sudden blast of air sailing far wide of the ambulatory appendage and striking the ceiling. A small rain of dust falls down from above, the only evidence of her attempted strike, as she skips back and tries to put some distance between herself and the crawling hand.
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
Belzoni cracks his whip at the strange creature again. "This place is worse than a cursed tomb."
Round 2, 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):
vs DC 14 or be engangled
Kyffin, reaches out with his blade to try and free himself from the… thing. He attacks with vigor.
(entangled)
(entangled)
Round 1, Init 17
Tristain puts down the hammer he's been carrying and uses his mind to send it at the wriggly monster.
to hit;
bludgeoning damage
HP: 7/7
AC: 12
As you swing wildly into the morass, Walter hacks off some of the intestines holding him, only to see more wrapping toward him, as well as the hand. Lucky's whip and the man's hammer similarly gouge the corpse, to little apparent effect.
With the other blasts going wild, the hand crawls up the half-orc's leg, reaching for his throat -- but for the moment only grabbing armor!
Round 2, Init 17
Tristain tries again to throw the hammer at the hand, but there is many things in the way.
to hit; (-combat)
bludgeoning damage
HP: 7/7
AC: 12
Heinrich cries out and tries to smash the hand with his cane!
for damage!
for damage!
Confusious' blow smashes the hand -- just avoiding the half-orc's face in the process! -- and Walter's able to extract himself from the wriggling intestines.
Heinrich takes a long few moments to calm down, his breath coming in ragged gasps until he does.
Kyffin slashes a few more times to make sure he's well and clear of the nasty stuff. He finally stops, and also catches his breath, with a frown on his face.
"This place..." he mutters.
Tenebrynn offers shakily from her place in the back, "Good job!"
Tristain looks around, trying to figure out this crazy world above the cell with the starting corner.
"Let us retrace our steps, maybe we missed something?" Tristain picks up his hammer (and still carries the 10' pole of poking).
"Let's try those first two doors maybe?"
Belzoni follows the lead of the man that shared the starting corner as they return to the first two doors. "Those fools at the barricade should be escaping this place, not trapping themselves within it."
Tristain nods, agreeing infinitely with the giant from the cell with the starting corner.
"That is true. I don't understand why those at the barricade haven't fled or gone to find help. Why they remain here...and choose to keep us in while they should be seeking safety is a mystery."
Tristain thinks the left door should be opened first.
Kyffin, once he's sure there are no lingering entrails on his person, moves up and open the left door, holding his scimitar out in his right.
"It is strange behavior. Perhaps they are an advance force and just waiting for reinforcements?"
"AH AH AH!" one of the guards yells as you approach that door. "Don't think we won't fill you full of holes!"
They level their crossbows at the half-orc and the man from the cell with the starting corner.
Kyffin will put his blade away and drag/carry two doppleganger bodies to the guards.
"We're going to search these rooms, but wanted to bring you some proof of our sincerity so you don't shoot us. We're neither crazy, nor shapeshifters." he says firmly, hoping it's true.
The fidgety gnome with the tulip-red hair helpfully adds, "It is probably best you stay behind your barricade though. It is very dangerous out here. Biters and cutters and all sorts of trouble."
"All right, I guess you brought enough of them that maybe I believe you're not shapeshifters yourselves. You stay right there, til we're ready, and we'll open the door," the man shouts back.
After a couple minutes, you hear the sound of the door's lock being worked and a human man, with a military bearing opens the door into a small, cluttered room that leads south into another similar room.
They were once clearly separated, but now a broad gap in the brick wall links them. Dusty buckets, brooms, and racks of cleaning supplies lie in the rear of the first space, while the other features a small desk and chairs shoved out of the way.
Two more guards, with crossbows trained on you, stand in the southern room.
"Leave your weapons here, and then follow me," he orders.
Tristain puts down his hammer and 10' pole, not having much else he would consider to be a weapon.
Tristain twists his fingers as he bonks the back of his head against the wall while he waits for others to follow suit.
Heinrich puts his cane down with the hammer and pole.
He watches as the others so easily set aside their weapons. As he's no pugilist, he's more wary, but in the end he gives up his scimitar, morning star, dagger, and crossbow - adding each carefully to the pile.
Pouting briefly, Tenebrynn plunks down cross-legged by the discarded weapons, looking like she plans to busy herself with one of Kyffin's scarfs and the fascinating backpack that seems smaller on the outside.
Belzoni sheds his sword, spear, bow, and scorpion whip, but keeps his regular whip in his pack, either forgetting that it may be viewed as a weapon or hoping it gets overlooked. "Friend, can you tell us how you came to be trapped here?" the big man inquires gently in an effort to glean some information.
"Who knows?" the man responds. "I was just doing my job, and then everything went crazy. But come on, Winter will probably want to talk to you."
He brings you through the hole in the wall -- still watched carefully by the other guards -- and then out through a door into the hallway beyond the barricade.
He brings you to the end of the hallway -- which branches to your left, where it ends in a red curtain -- but then takes you through a set of double doors to your right. Improvised pallets are clustered beneath sculpted divinities, and cooking fires burn beneath cracked windows in this chapel. Panes of violet and blue stained glass form spiraling patterns between prison-like bars, while dozens of candles flicker from modest alcove shrines. Splintered pieces of wood lay heaped in one corner of the chapel.
More than a dozen people, some children, some bearing wounds, watch fearfully as you enter. Some of them are huddled around several small fires, working with rough cooking implements.
The guard brings you to a weary-looking raven-haired woman in a dark uniform.
"Winter, these're the ones I said we saw. They brought a few of the grays over, so I guess they probably aren't one of 'em."
"Thank you, Vaustin," she replies.
"Very well," she says, turning her attention to you all. "Who are you all then?"
Heinrich smiles at the pretty woman. "Madam, I have no idea. Pleased to meet you."
Tristain is quick to agree with Heinrich.
"I'm the man from the cell with the starting corner...that's where I know I came from. Nice to meet you," Tristain follows Heinrich's lead.
"I was kind of hoping one of you might tell us who we are in other terms. I just know my relation to the starting corner."
Tristain's eyes go over the children, wondering what he could do to help them...not really sure why, but he does.
"We think we may have been experimented on you see. We've all lost our memories and awoke at more or less the same time, deep in the bowels of this place. We're keen to track down some records if we can, to get our names at least, and find out who did this to us."
"And of course, we'd like to get free of this evil place." he wonders why they have children here - Why haven't they left?
He frets that there's more here than meets the eye... and what they've seen so far is horrible.
As you being talking to her, her attention is drawn to a far corner of the room, where an agitated man -- about your age -- starts crying out, gesticulating wildly with clenched fists.
"Naysa!" Winter calls, and a middle-aged, slightly overweight woman rushes to try to calm the man, herding him toward a corner.
"Come on, Loic, you need to take your medicine," she says.
Winter turns back to you: "I'm sorry, but as you can probably see, there's simply too much. And not enough time. You brought us those bodies, so I assume we can trust you, but we all have to pull our weight here, if we can. Help out, show you're worth our time, and I'll talk to you as soon as I can."
Heinrich nods and moves into the room.
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"What would be the most helpful?" Belzoni inquires, "What are your most pressing needs?" As he inquires he takes extra time to study the unfortunate individuals trapped here.
Weaponless, very nearly spellless, and with few skills, Kyffin isn’t sure what he can do to help, but he follows Heinrich around, trying to act as his helper, fetching supplies, creating pure clean water with Create Water as needed, and generally trying to stay out of the way.
As he does so, he tries to get a sense of the size of these chambers. Just how many people are here? Why do they not leave? He has many questions, but, for now, he keeps his eyes open and mouth shut - doing what he can.
Tristain casts around uselessly, trying to find a way to help.
"Is there anything I can do?" Tris asks not to anyone else...*but* to himself. He has no idea.
He stands around, trying to figure out how to help IF there was a way he could help. He gently bonks his head against the wall as he thinks.
What can I do?
*bonk*
What can I do?
*bonk*
What can I do?
*bonk*
What can I do?
*bonk*
The chapel is large -- about 60 feet long and 50 feet at its widest point. A prominent statue of a severe woman, hair pulled back and arms bare from hands to the elbows, standing before the sanctuary’s westernmost wall and is depicted on the spiral stained glass windows, all of which are barred. The statue stands by an altar made of more than a ton of black-and-white granite that likely can’t be moved or destroyed without a significant expenditure of time and effort.
This is a statue of Pharasma, the Lady of Graves, in her midwife incarnation. The spirals on the windows are also symbols of the goddess.
Smaller, candlelit shrines, presumably to other deities, include:
* A stone block, carved to look like a vault. Its door stands open, with a brass key sticking out of the decorative lock.
* A delicate, 2-foot-tall porcelain statue of a butterfly-winged woman, posed in a dance amid silks and stars.
* A small set of antlers on a bed of green silk.
* A flat stone, with a wooden bowl of water.
* A ceremonial sword -- all but the very start of the blade near the hilt missing -- that juts out of a small pile of stones.
* A tiny cup holding a small candle at the center of a strange, star-like symmetrical symbol.
* A sun-ankh, small seeds scattered around its base.
* A small, but beautiful, painting of a fox, set in a surprisingly ornate frame.
* A hand-sized marble column, a brilliant red inverted pentagram etched on one side.
* A human skull, with a small silver spiked chain threaded through its eye sockets.
There are shrines to -- in order -- Abadar, Desna, Erastil, Gozreh, Iomedae, Irori, Sarenrae, Shelyn, Asmodeus, and Zon-Kuthon.
Additionally, there are two donation boxes in the chapel, one in the alcove north of the door, and the other to the south. The one to the north is marked with the spiral symbol, while the southern one sits beneath the shrines with the symbols of an inverted pentagram and a skull with a spiked chain threaded through the eye sockets.
Near the pile of wood sit a crowbar, while a handaxe appears to have been used to split pieces, its sharp end buried in a beam.
---
In addition to Winter, the few guards you saw on your way in, the older, full-figured nurse helping the agitated man, some of the other people you see here include:
* A man and woman resting on pallets near the altar. The woman has her ribs wrapped in bandages, and one of her arms is immobilized. The young man, barely more than a boy, seems to have bite wounds all over his body. A scowling woman sits near them, arms around her drawn up legs.
* A youth clinging to a lantern in one corner of the chapel.
* A twitchy man, smiling woman and another woman with graying hair working on some of the small cookfires.
* A bookishly handsome young man, near the shrine with the fox picture, who seems to be trying to engage a young girl in some sort of game.
Meanwhile, back by the discarded weapons, Tenebrynn pops out of her magical bag with a wide grin. 'So much space! I wonder how much exactly?' Putting thought to deed, she begins stuffing rubble and detritus and all her friends discarded items in the bag, testing its limits.
"What wouldn't be the most helpful," Winter shoots back at Lucky's question. "We need wood, food, we have injured people, we have poor Loic over there --" she trails off, gesturing to the agitated man.
The two guards keep a close eye on the gnome girl as she sits alone in the cluttered room.
As Tenebrynn loads a second stack of bricks into the bag, she looks up at the nearest guard. "Hello. Want to help? Bag seems to be bigger on the inside. Very fascinating."
"Which one is Loic?" Heinrich sees the bitten boy and begins to prepare a concoction.
*bonk*
Tristain stops his bonking in order to look around. His moments of bonking have identified several opportunities to help. He walks over to the youth clinging to a lantern in one corner of the chapel, figuring the corner is where Tristain wants to be as well.
"Hello, lad," Tristain greets, looking to determine the age of the youth and what he might be doing in the corner. "Do you need any help?"
(untrained)
(untrained)
Though he does not know the others, I presume he can match his holy symbol with the sun-ankh. He stops as he passes and says a quick prayer to his god. When it's clear that Heinrich has things well in hand, he moves off to the wood pile.
He picks up the hand axe and weighs it for balance as he sets his pack aside. He bends his will to the task, quickly working up a sweat as he chops log after log... He works to fatigue, and takes a rest, basking himself in the cool clear water summoned though his magic.
"Over there," Winter says, jutting to the agitated man who is being prevented from leaving by the full-figured woman. "He's a good lad, but he ... sees things, and sometimes gets excited."
Walter sets too with the wood, but the wood appears to be tougher than he expected -- or perhaps the axe duller -- and it takes him several hours to produce enough wood that he expects can last the night.
Confusius has a bit more luck, as some of the worst of the bites on the boy's skin fade, though there are still puckered red wounds, in many places. He blinks up at the big stranger.
"Thank you," he whispers, the glowering woman nearby looking over and watching carefully as Confusius administered the curative. It's clear the boy's a little better, though still badly hurt.
--
The other boy looks up as the man from the cell with the starting corner kneels down near him.
"Can you get us home?" he asks in a plaintive voice. "And find my brother?"
--
The guards look at the gnome girl with the backpack, and then look back at each other with loaded glances. Looking back, one merely shakes his head.
"A temple to Pharsma, and shrines to the other gods", the big man notes.
Belzoni helps Walter with the task of securing enough firewood for the evening. When their chore is finished he inspects the bars on the windows for a weak point that the crowbar might be able to exploit.