I..I....Oh boy what has gone on here? Yea, words fail me. He turns to the others. Well I think one of these folks is certainly something other than human or shapechanger. How about we deal with it?
you can make any knowledge checks you deem appropriate to attempt to identify the snacker.
The north creature leans over and takes another chomp, drool running down its chin as it chews and contemplates your group.
The human on the south eyes roll back in his head momentarily and then refocus on you in silent pleading.
I think we can dispose of the chomper.
Well it is no doubt going to eat the living one once it is done with the corpse, so if he is a normal human it is on our heads. I'll take the risk. Trevor lifts his hammer. Unless someone can unlock the chains or we smash them.
The one that looks like a human, watch yourself. Trevor tries breaking the chains.
Given enough time, Trevor can break the chains - say 5 minutes or so of prying and pulling and etc. The others distract the other live thing while Trevor gets the man in the bedsheet robe out of the manacles.
He staggers our of reach of the Eater ....Praise! Praise! escapes his lips.
Then, rolling his eyes to the southern door croaks out Zandalus sees....
How about we get you away from this nasty? Trevor speaks to Jean. So we have 2 shifter corpses and one down in the room where we woke up. How about we get that one and then present it to the guards?
You drag the three corpses back to the barricade. After some discussion, York comes out under the cover of the rifles to inspect your 'catch' and determine they are, in fact, shapeshifters, and not just mutilated corpses or some other nasty thing.
York takes the team back into a series of rooms to meet a young woman who introduces herself Greetings - I am Winter Klaczka. I am helping protect these people against the insanity and creatures you have no doubt encountered in Briarstone Asylum. How may I assist you? Or, perhaps better yet, how may we assist each other?
As you traveled into this room (which, as it turns out is some sort of chapel - it has symbols and alcoves devoted to 10 deities plus Pharasma) you noted several people dressed in white (York calls them staff - nurses, orderlies) and several dressed in gray pajamas (York calls them patients).
Map up in a few with any luck - having some internet issues.
I forgot to make sure - did you bring the man in the yellow sheet-robe with you?
Well we found ourselves down in the basement with one of those shapeshifters and my head was real foggy and I don't remember how I got there. Just where are we and what has been going on with all of these monsters loose?
You are in Briarstone Asylum. It's a hospice stuck on a rock sitting in the middle of Danver River - a convenient place to forget inconvenient people.
It is a sanitarium. The doctors here endeavored to treat and learn more about diseases of the mind. Briarstone wasn't a renowned institution but it was far from the torture pits folk often make asylums out to be.
A patient has led an uprising. It wasn't like any riot I have ever seen. More like a religious movement. Most of the northern halls are held by robed patients like your friend here, calling themselves Apostles in Orpiment. Those we have encountered are fanatically devoted to a patient named Ulver Zandalus
You note that three guards are staying quite close to you, keeping a very close eye on your robed friend.
Hmm..Well we found this man chained to a rod that also had this nasty flesh eater on one end so we helped him because I didn't want him eaten. I don't know about these Apostles though. Just umm..how can we leave this asylum?
We can't leave. It is as if the outside world has turned against us. I don't know if it is just Briarstone Isle, or if its the whole world, bu the hospice is surround by some repulsive yellow fog or vapor. Worse, the weather is like nothing I have ever seen - thunder like laughter, rain like blood. And that is saying nothing about the shapes that scamper and flap within, vague forms that know when we sleep. Things are terrible here, but at least here we can see doom coming.
I am a Sister of the Maiden's Choir Cathedral in Caliphas. My associates and I were helping a Royal Accuser investigate the strangeness in Thrushmoor.
You can make some knowledge geography or local checks if you wish.
A picture of Winter Klazcka
Trevor once again knows nothing due to 2 skill points a level.
Hmm..Well we could go explore and see if there is a way out. I mean nothing will happen for certain if we just stay here. MY group is pretty well outfitted so we can go check, how about it guys?
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Aye, its seems we are all stuck in the same hell. Well, Lady Winter, is there something we can do here to help you out? Until we can find a way out of this "place" we might as well work together.
How much of the asylum have you explored?
Have you come across things other than the shapeshifters?
What "strangeness" were you hired to investigate? he will add as the conversation allows.
I have a map of the entire first floor; I will share this with you if you finish a sweep of the northern halls (up to the rubble) and show me you are willing to help us out. You can certainly rest first and restore spells and similar.
As to the strangeness I speak of, it concerns Haserton Lowls, the Count of Vernex. He appears to have abandoned his duties in the town of Thrushmoor. Accuser Omari had reason to believe that Lowls had regular business here at Briarstone. She sent me to investigate the asylum while she went on to Thrushmoor.
We have come across ghouls as well as doppelgangers (as the shape shifters are called). The situation is odd however. Some of the patients and some of the staff seem to have transformed into the creatures. It is stranger than that, however.
Before the uprising, some of the patients and staff say that they had nightmares of exactly the sort of things that now stalk these halls.
Some have also dreamed of the fog, and a deadly creature that dwells within it, pursuing them through a ruined city. I don't know what it all means, but here in the Chapel, the Goddess tends our dreams.
Without making any of the knowledge rolls listed earlier, you know that Royal Accusers are some sort of investigative arm of the Emperor of Ustalav. Which is where you think you are.
We can certainly do some scouting for you and maybe see if there are any supplies like food to bring back. So Lowls might of had something to do with all this ? Do you know about this weird guy we brought back? Who is Ulver Zandalus?
Winter purses her lips a moment, frowning in thought Lowls was present here a lot. Why, I do not know. I don't know all that much about him; Accuser Omari would know more. From conversations with her I understand Haserton Lowls IV to be a man who believes himself to be a scholar of ancient culture and technology. He believed that advanced races had visited our world in the past. He once wrote a book in support of his theories, but he essentially became a laughingstock of the University Scholars.
I have never met Ulver Zandalus. Some of the other survivors worked here before the uprising. The say Zandalus was a quiet man who suffered from terrible nightmares - a poet and artist whose art was disturbing but who always seemed peaceful enough himself. Apparently appearances were wrong, however.
She looks around the room.
We do need supplies. Do this task for me and help out - I will share what we have and we can plan our next moves once the immediate danger of the dopplegangers is past. I know enough to realize we cannot stay here forever - food and water will be a problem before long.
Sure, we'll just rest some and then head north to scout around, hopefully clear out some more of those flesh eaters.
Trevor will settle in while the rest of his group does what they want.
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Faradin touches the wound in his side, wincing slightly. "I ain't gonna be 100% come the morning. Any chance of down healing and a bath before we leave? Getting stabbed and beaten multiple times has a way of seeping in to your muscles." He paused, looking at the Guards.
"What about one of them rifles? Figure I could get one of em as a lone? Might make our job easier and the likelihood you get what you need easier too!"
Winter looks over Faradin. If you take care of the northern halls, I am sure I can part with a firearm or two. We have either some spare pistols or rifles. To be frank, you need to prove your worth to me before I make a significant investment in you.
We can arrange for a place to bed down, to memorize spells, and to heal up. We have some skilled nurses that can help you with bandages and such.
Makes sense you wouldn't just hand out your weapons, what do you say Faradin? A little monster clearing?
So you rest; the healers aid you in getting back your hp, so you get 2 hp per level (or 2 hp). Spells are refreshed.
You sleep in the chapel and wake refreshed; you realize that you had no dreams or nightmares at all.
Ok, let us keep heading north so we can secure them, maybe scavange enough to make blockades. Trevor is ready to head out.
Winter rubs her eyes, looking tired. I am sorry, but I don't know you. You say you were wearing gray pajamas; that makes you patients here. That is all I can guess. You wouldn't be the first people here that had lost a part of themselves.
Somewhere in this building are records that can tell you who you are
There are two northern rooms you have not entered. See the map and the big ugly red arrows.
Let us head to the door north of the barricade and on the west wall(I think it is west)
You approach the door. Describe how you do this. For example, cautiously, or kick the door open, or etc.
Trevor goes up to the door and leans his head against it, wanting to know if there might be any more of those shifters in there. Best get the drop on them before they shift.
This is a large, solid, wooden door. But it seems to have shifted in the earthquake a bit, so it doesn't fit the frame well. This gives some good gaps for listening.
Trevor hears some rustling, chirping, and squeaking noises from inside the room.
The map is updated with people's positions relative to the door.
By the way, Lazare and Jean Phillipe need to each make a DC 12 con based save.
They seem to have a small rash on their legs.
Sounds a bit like large rats to the cat-man. Trevor agrees.
Probably vermin in there, not surprised they might be scavanging after the mess here. Storm in and scare them off?
LEROY JENKINS! Trevor rushes through the door.
Trevor bursts into the room. Inside are 2 dire rats.
On the back of one is a tiny creature - perhaps a foot tall - that has a rat's body and hairless tail, luminous eyes (that are, in fact, shooting a cone of light about 10 feet), simian appendages, and tendrils or small tentacles, where its nose should be.
The party has surprise and initiative, and may strike at any of them. They will be flat footed until they act.
The tiny creature is AC14, although 12 while flatfooted
The rats are ac 14; 11 while flat footed.
As for the room itself, two large boilers fill the room. Pipes pierce the walls and ceiling and floor. All is cold here. You believe the furnace you saw below is what heated this boiler.
Shadows and rust and filth fill the nooks and crannies around the boiler.
In other news, Lazare still owes me a DC12 fortitude check. Jean-Phillipe passed his; his rash is not too serious.