"Why youz fear him? He tied up. He tells us whut theze iz." Morgrom points to the drawings.
"It's not fear, Mr. Hellblade, merely efficiency. We still have rooms to search downstairs, and we can do that while we wait for Mr. Oddle to regain consciousness. But we can question him first, if you prefer."
"No preference? Very good. Let's proceed with searching the rooms downstairs, yes?"
We will go down the stairs, and search the room at the foot of the stairs thoroughly if we haven't already.
After that we will move to the door nearest the stairs, and Thorthal can open it, followed by Morgrom. Unless someone has a better plan.
The parlor at the bottom of the stairs has nothing of particular interest, except that the door to the outside is locked.
The next room holds 8 bunkbeds, and is dusty with many cobwebs and insect carcasses about.
Nose wrinkling in distaste, Haer Kul will search the room, though he doubts that anything interesting will be found. . Others can help if they wish.
After that, we will move on to the next room.
The remaining room is the one blocked by the stuck door.
"Gentlemen, I am afraid we are going to have to break this door down if we want to find out what's on the other side. And I do want to find out what's on the other side. I am sure Mr. Oddle will not mind the noise, so bash away."
Morgrom puts his shoulder to the door, and manages to break it open with a confident push. The room was once painted a rosy hue, and contains 4 bunks similar to the other room. The collapsed remains of 4 more lie beyond sheets of cobwebs. The floor shows many gaps between the floorboards.
"Gentlemen, weapons out. There is a strong chance of spiders. "
We will move cautiously into the room, and once we are sure its clear of creatures, we will search.
As the group proceed into the room, a deluge of scarlet and black spiders pour out of the fireplace in the southwest corner, swarming over a considerable portion of the room.
The wave of spiders covers the gnomish investigator before anyone can react, their bites raising welts upon his skin.
"Tabernac, I did not expect the little ones! Be warned, my friends, I have recently read that swarms of vermin as tiny as this are immune to weapon damage, and attacks that affect the little grey cells." He taps his forehead. "However, they are especially susceptible to area attacks. But, preferably not an area that I am in."
"I've had no chance to buy more supplies and can't hurt them. Can anyone? If not I suggest a hasty retreat."
Morgrom grabs the door and pulls it shut.
"Excuse me, pardon me," says Bardos as he darts into the room. "That's a mess of spiders!" He continues into the northwest corner of the room (map perspective), and mutters arcane words. A cone of fire erupts from his hand, engulfing the swarm.
Bardos races into the room and attacks the spiders with fire. Unfortunately, he aims a bit high and only kills about a third of the seething mass.
Thorthal joins Bardos near the window and furiously stomps on the spiders, which has no effect in the big picture.
"If only I had alchemist fire or an acid flask to throw. Alas. But Mr. Bardos, if you can do that again, I believe they will be ... how do you say ... cooked?"
.
Haer Kul will 5 foot step to an unoccupied square beside Morgrom.
If the square is not threatened by the swarm, he will cast produce flame and do a melee touch attack as part of the action. , .
If the square is threatened, Haer Kul will continue to move out of the room beside Petronicus, probably taking an attack of opportunity.
"Whoa, look out Mizter Higher Kool! Them spiders is gonna bite." Morgrom chuckles to himself as he says that.
I ready an action to close the door once everyone is out.
Petronicus stands by with one hand on the door, but he sees that the ramshackle nature of the building will do little to stop the spiders.
Haer Kul steps back and casts a spell. His hand, now wreathed in flame, strikes down at the spiders, burning some. However, it is obvious this attack will have no true effect on the swarm as a whole.
As Morgrom looks on in amusement, the carpet of spiders surges forward, following Haer Kul. Both the investigator and the brawler are covered in biting arachnids.
... Haer Kul steps back and casts a spell. His hand, now wreathed in flame, strikes down at the spiders, burning some. However, it is obvious this attack will have no true effect on the swarm as a whole.
"Ow, you little ...."
"If someone has some oil throw it into this mass, and I will set it alight." Haer Kul says with a note of excitement in his voice.
Both Thorthal and Haer Kul feel themselves weakening from the spider venom.
if you need it.
"All right, for my next trick, I shall attempt to aim this cone of fire more accurately!" exclaims Bardos as he chants fires another cone of fire from his outstretched hand:
Bardos realizes that his spell will damage his companions, so holds off on attacking until they can get out of his way.
"Not 'Higher', Mr Hellblade, 'Hair'", Haer Kul sniffs. "Unless you were making ze joke about my height. Sometimes I give you not enough credit. I am getting out of your way Mr. Bardos."
Haer Kul will exit the room on his turn, and will ready an action to throw the flame at the spiders if someone douses them in oil.
Once Haer Kul has left the room, Bardos sidesteps and unleashes fiery death on the spiders. The few remaining skitter away under the floorboards.
"That is a relief! Now let us see what secrets this room may hold."
When we are out of initiative, Haer Kul will (sadly) end the produce flame "spell", and will search the room:
A quick glance by Haer Kul reveals nothing of interest.
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"Thank the gods we brought a skillful magician along!"
"We stay here tonight. Too dark fer youz ta get back. Plus, we needz ta ask stinky 'bout drawingz."
"Skilled magician? Oh yes, he is rather good isn't he? Much more fiery than the last one."
I'm willing to wait for Oddle to recover on his own. Does someone else want to search the swarm room?
It seems that the last threat in the orphanage has been eliminated, so while they're waiting for Silam to recover the group does another sweep of the building.
"I scout outside while waiting fer Stinky ta wake up."
I am going to have a look around outside for anything out of the ordinary or trails leading to or from the orphange outside the trail we took to get here.
Morgrom does not spy any separate trails, but the rutted track from Holver's Ferry continues farther along the coast. He doesn't see any tracks heading down it, but it's not completely overgrown.
"Mr. Runeccloak, have you noticed something interesting about the tumor?"
Haer Kul will take 20 and examine the tumor:
He would also like to look at the symbols again:
Knowledge(arcana,geography,history,local,nature,religion)
If he has time, he will take 20 to examine the spider room too:
Okay, before (or possibly instead of) taking 20 to examine the spider room, Haer Kul will call Thorthal over to Silam.
"Is this what you noticed? It looks like it is grafted on, no? Maybe what has been attached can be detached? What do you think, mon ami?"
Haer Kul will try to figure out if the tumour can be removed from Silam without killing him using either his perception or healing skills, whichever is more appropriate. And whatever knowledge skills might help:
or
Does Haer Kul (or Thorthal) think remove curse might do it?
If remove curse won't do it, but if disable device is the appropriate skill:
If none of the above, Haer Kul will propose a combination of slicing it off and either heal checks by whoever in the party is best at it or cure light wounds (potion or Morgrom's spell, whatever is available).
Haer Kul's knowledge of the Arcane leads him to believe that a remove disease is a more likely first step than remove curse. However, it would need to be followed up with some even more powerful magic, like restoration.
Alternatively, it does look like the growth could be cut away, but that would involve significant damage and possibly some permanent consequences to Silam (ie ability drain).
Standing over the unconscious woodsman, Haer Kul whispers to Thorthal while the dwarf nods and shrugs.
Coming back into the house rather noisily, "No tracks, jus' tha track goin' down tha way." Scratching an errant itch, "Stinky up yet? I'z bored."