Moving to the closer doorway, Meriui turns to his companions. "This one next?"
Rashim shrugs in acceptance. "One way is as good as another."
Caius follows up the stairs and moves besides his companions.
"Yeah. Sounds good to me."
He then goes to open the door.
Caius opens the door to a spacious bedroom. The aged remains of dressers, a large bed, and a divan lie in ruins. The husk of large hornet’s nest—gray, papery, and devoid of life—occupies one corner of the ceiling. The spaces in the northeast and northwest corners appear to be closets.
Their wooden doors have all but fallen of their hinges, and heaps of disintegrated fabric mingle on the floor. Between the closets stands a single lacquered dresser covered in dust.
Glancing about the room, the paladin shrugs. "You might find something in here, but I'm not seeing anything that looks like the effort, though that dresser does look to be in pretty good condition, by comparison."
Hibbins rubs his hands together. "Well, what do we have here?" He checks to make sure the thing is not trapped.
The bronze chest is locked, but Hibbins finds no evidence of a trap.
However, he does locate a second keyhole, concealed towards the bottom of the container.
"Good eye Hibbins. Hopefully hidden treasures.." he says with a wide grin.
He then moves to investigate the closets.
"I keep meaning to get a proper tool kit to deal with locks and such. Maybe we should look for a key in our search of this compound."
"Let me see if I can get into her first..." Rashim says, motioning Hibbins to back up. He then pulls a set of lockpicks out of a vest pocket, and tosses it to the ground in front of the second keyhole. He focuses on the picks from several feet back, and they start to gently float toward the keyhole. They nimbly dance about as they try to work the catch open.
Something inside the chest clicks audibly. After a few tense moments, Rashim feels certain he hasn't triggered any sort of trap, although the chest remains locked.
Caius finds nothing of interest in the closets.
Rashim frowns as the chest refuses still to open, then doubles down on his efforts. The picks float up to the first keyhole, and they begin to fiddle into the innards there instead.
Merui HP: 24/24 - AC: 21/11/15 Status:
Caius HP: 18/19 - AC: 12/10/12 Status:
Hibbins HP: 12/12 - AC: 15/12/13 Status:
Rashim HP: 20/20 - AC: 16/14/12 Status:
________________________________
Imanish - HP: 22/22 - AC: 22/17/17 Status: prone
Combat Order: Rashim (20), Hibbins (11), Imanish/Caius (10), Meriui (9)
With a click, the bronze chest opens. Lifting up the lid, the internal trap is obvious: a cocked crossbow mechanism designed to rise upward at an angle and fire a bolt directly into the opener's chest.
Inside are twenty identical gold ingots, stamped with an unfamiliar seal.
While Rashim opens the chest, Hibbins feels a sharp pain stab into his leg. The source is a floating head, disembodied and bestial, a wild mane of hair whipping around three pairs of curled rams horns. Glowing, red eyes, a flat hog-like nose, and a fanged maw complete the monstrous visage.
The head releases Hibbins's leg, and the half-orc feels his mind muddle and cloud.
Although they are not dangerous relative to the rest of their foul kind, doru are sneaky fighters. They boast a poisonous bite that weakens the resolve of the afflicted and have a number of spell-like abilities to charm their enemies. They possess a number of defensive capabilities: invisibility at will, immunity to fire and poison, and strong resistances to non-cold iron or good-aligned weapons, spells, acid, and electricity.
"Whathahellisthat?!?" Rashim calls out in a startled yell, taking a quick step away as a freaking head starts attacking them. On reflex, he sends a rock spinning through the air at the sneaky little thing.
"I have no idea. Anything like the heads from the other room?"
"Not my field of expertise boys."
Hibbins draws his longsword but does not aproach.
Caius looks startled at the creature.
"No idea. But it can't be a good thing."
Rashim's shot is hurried and the stone flies past the floating head.
The creature drifts backwards from Hibbins, snarling something in a harsh, mocking tone. Despite nobody in the party understanding the language, they distinctly hear the word "Wati".
When it is far enough from the party that it won't be struck, it turns and flies out of the open door, turning east.
"Hey get back here you little..." his words are cut off as he dashes to catch up with the creature.
Caius dives past the creature in a agile roll to attempt to block its escape.
=
He then jumps to his feet and launches into a thrust with his rapier at the creature.
Meriui pursues the creature, certain that it is an example of the kind of undead he's supposed to be stopping.
Rashim scrambles out of the room as well until he is within line of sight to the floaty whatsit, and sends his own floaty whatsit after it.
Merui HP: 24/24 - AC: 21/11/15 Status:
Caius HP: 18/19 - AC: 12/10/12 Status: Charmed
Hibbins HP: 12/12 - AC: 15/12/13 Status:
Rashim HP: 20/20 - AC: 16/14/12 Status:
________________________________
Imanish - HP: 22/22 - AC: 22/17/17 Status: prone
Combat Order: Rashim (20), Hibbins (11), Imanish/Caius (10), Meriui (9)
Rashim's floaty whatsit misses the the enemy floaty whatsit down the hall, but it snarls in anger when Caius blocks its path. It mutters something in its strange language, but in Caius's mind, the meaning is clear.
Step aside, my friend. Let me pass.
To Caius, the voice sounds rich, friendly, and trustworthy. The rest of the party can only watch with confusion as Caius does what the head asks, allowing it to float through the open set of double doors to the southeast.
Caius takes a small step away, sheathing his rapier, as he lets the creature leave.
"Huh. That seems reasonable have a nice day." he says as he waves goodbye to the creature.
Hibbins is not happy about any of this, he had just wanted to make a quick coin not face off against monsters without bodies. The dead and the dolls were one thing, but this was not what he signed up for. Stiff upper lip though, and a heave in for the coin it seems.
After Caius is charmed, Hibbins decides it is better to try and wake him from his ensorcellment.
The paladin tries to chase the creature down, expecting to follow it more than catch it, but still doing what he can.
Merui HP: 24/24 - AC: 21/11/15 Status:
Caius HP: 18/19 - AC: 12/10/12 Status: Charmed/Paralyzed for 2 rounds
Hibbins HP: 12/12 - AC: 15/12/13 Status:
Rashim HP: 20/20 - AC: 16/14/12 Status:
________________________________
Imanish - HP: 22/22 - AC: 22/17/17 Status:
Combat Order: Rashim (20), Hibbins (11), Imanish/Caius (10), Meriui (9)
The doorway the head flew through leads to a room blanketed with dust. The walls, once brightly painted to depict life in ancient Wati, are now faded. A smaller room or alcove takes up the northeast section of the room; it was once closed off by a wooden door that since has rotted away, leaving only its hinges in the doorframe. A strong, cloying odor of decay pervades the room.
As the head turns and leers at the party. Rashim sends a telekinetically propelled stone hurtling through the doorway, but it misses the creature. Hibbins's stone thrown stone is no more accurate, clattering off the wall behind the head.
Meriui charges through the door, delivering a decisive blow with his flail. Bloodied, the monster spins away before going invisible. Before the paladin can react, a second flying head swoops down from the ceiling. This head is framed by a pair of flapping bat wings and tentacles dangle from its chin and scalp. It releases a horrifying shriek, causing Caius to freeze in terror.
They primarily reproduce through their "kiss" where they infect helpless prey with their curse. Once infected, the host then undergoes a horrifying change in less than 24 hours, resulting in their head transforming into another vargouille and literally flying away from their bodies.
"What is with all the flying heads in this place?" Meriui asks no one in particular as he turns his flail on the enemy presenting itself so boldly.
But he seems to have trouble predicting the movement of this winged head.