Valachi growls and moves to open the last door.
This guard room is decorated similarly to the others, with a table, a few chairs, and a pair of cots, yet unlike the others, no undead or haunts lurk within. A winch affixed to the western wall raises and lowers the portcullis that allows access into the cell block proper. The portcullis is currently lowered and locked in place. The winch here can be used to release that lock and to raise the portcullis.
Valachi raises the iron bar grating that composes the portcullis, the rusted metal squealing in protest as it is raised for the first time in some fifty years. A brass nameplate, its face caked with soot, hangs above a portcullis leading into a large cellblock: Reaper's Hold. Many of the iron doors along the walls within the cellblock hang open, revealing empty cells within.
Moving through the gate and into the cellblock, the team looks about warily, braced for any of the nightmares that might spring up from such a place. However, all remains silent, dank, and still. The wavering light from the Ioun torches as they orbit your heads make the walls appear to be moving ever so slightly, like the gentle rocking of a boat on the waves. However disconcerting the illusion however, no threats appear. While skeletons abound in many of the cells, none of them rise up to greet you.
The cellblock makes up a long loop, going north and circling around again to the south only to bend again and bring any explorers back to the point of entry by the portcullis on the cellblock's eastern side. At the southernmost point of the "O" however, there is an opening and another portcullis, this one raised. The room beyond is a place of horrors.
Numerous grisly tools of torment decorate the room, from cages to hanging chains along the walls to a stretching rack, a large wooden tank, and a fire pit in the middle of the room. To the east stands a grim iron maiden, the lid closed and presenting a stern decoration of a tormented woman upon its face. The broken, twisted skeleton of a human dressed in a tattered guard’s uniform lies upon the stretching rack in the middle of the room; the body is surrounded by several discarded knives, branding irons, and pliers. A large, bloodstained wicker basket sits at the head of the rack.
"Ugh, let's see what this room has to offer us," Ried swallows and sets to the gruesome task, taking his time.
Valachi enters with Ried, claws out and alert for trouble.
"Stay alert. If any place would be a cause for haunts, this place most surely would."
Ember steps over to look at the torured remains on the rack.
"Heads up! The iron maiden!". Ried shouts whipping out a bomb and readying to throw if anything looks hostile
, +2 more if its enchantment
Valachi growls and stands ready a few paces in front of the iron maiden.
Delia only shudders at the idea that the gruesome thing opening is like that of a toothy maw, awaiting prey. "I don't like this room. A prison is one thing, but a torture chamber screams tortured spirits, like Ember said. These kinds of places are creepy when not haunted."
Father looks around the room, making no connection with the equipment or its purpose. At Delia's concerns, he stands in front of her protectively, uncertain what threats may lie within.
As Valachi moves into the room, Ried's warning direct's his gaze towards the Iron Maiden as well; he sees it begin to swing open, and to his horror he sees one of the village children, a girl of about 8 stuck inside. Her eyes are filled with terror, and blood streams down her body in narrow rivulets from the wounds where the maiden's spikes have penetrated her body. She looks at Valachi with a look of pure desperation.
Without hesitation Valachi springs forward to help her, as if compelled by the horror of what he sees, covering the distance to the evil device before anyone can react. As he reaches the maiden however and reaches for the child, she vanishes, and he is left standing there bewildered. Before he can recover, the maiden's doors clamp shut around him like an iron maw, swallowing him and removing him from view.
As Valachi vanishes from view and all eyes are drawn by the massive clang of the doors slamming shut, a basket at the foot of the Rack stirs and two severed hands hop out, both skitter across the floor towards Ember moving right up to her feet and looking as though they do not intend to stop.
They leap onto her skirts, one moving up towards her neck and the other slashing at her ankle with its claws.
:
Ember gives out a shriek and claws at the hands.
Ried changes tactics, whipping out his rapier and stabbing at one of the crawling hands on Ember, "I'm terribly sorry, my lady!"
;
;
As the device closes its doors on Valachi, Father doesn't need to be told what he must do, despite his urge to protect Ember. He rushes towards the Iron Maiden, and tries to find a handhold to pull the doors open. Sadly, he doesn't even know where to start as he paws uselessly at the thing.
Delia, on the other hand, actually draws her oft-unused dagger as she moves up to Ember. She hopes to use the thing against one of the offensive hands of death.
Valachi will try to break out of the trap.
Round 1
Ried steps in and deftly skewers on the the hands with his rapier, but when he withdraws the blade he is dismayed to see that the vile thing is still moving.
Ember shrieks at the things crawling on her in a rather undignified manner, and claws at one of the hands. Her claws dig into each, ripping at the skin, but both, even the one attacked by Ried, continue to move and crawl.
Just as Father starts to move towards the iron maiden, Valachi is spit out. But as Valachi falls out, Father sees that his form, or some part of him, like his soul, is still trapped within. . Something seems wrong about the image, and a moment later he recognizes it for the illusion it is. Once he disbelieves it, it fades before his eyes, revealing the empty torture device.
The hands continue to grope and attack at Ember, trying to climb to her neck and attack her there.. Neither is able to find purchase however.
Delia draws her dagger and tries to stab at a hand, but her hesitation at missing and hitting Ember causes her to delay too much, and miss the little monster.
Kendra, as usual, uses a blast of disrupt undead to attack the hands. , , . Striking the hand wounded by both Ried and Ember, the blast strikes and incinerates one of the vile undead appendages.
Round 2:
Valachi turns and kicks the iron maiden over.
Ember continues to claw at the remaining hand with revulsion.
Ried takes another stab
Round 2:
Ried takes a stab at one of the hands, but is unable to risk running in through, lest his blade pierce Ember as well.
Ember, for her part, rakes her claws at the last of the animated hands and manages to tear it apart, throwing the remaining bits of muscle and bone to the floor.
As Valachi kicks at Iron Maiden, but standing almost seven feet tall, and being made of cast iron as the name suggests, the evil device probably weighs 800 pounds and is not easily moved. However, the door is slammed shut by the force of his kick, and it seems to remain closed.
Ember supresses a shudder at the crawling hands, and continues to move toward the rack to look at the remains that lie there.
Besides the iron maiden and the rack, the room is filled with all manner of evil devices, clearly made with evil intent. As observed before, the body upon the rack wears a guard's uniform, or at least the remains of one. His last hours appear to have been very unpleasant ones: he was racked, causing separation in his shoulders and hips; his hands were severed; he was beaten and many bones are broken, including his jaw and many ribs; and numerous long needles protrude from what would have been his eyes, ears, elbows, hips and knees. The presence of hot pokers and branding irons scattered around the rack indicate that there were probably numerous wounds of other kinds, the evidence of which disappeared as his flesh decayed. A ring of keys sit cradled in the man's pelvis; one only wonders how they might have gotten there while the man was alive. A corroded bit of metal and leather of some sort is jammed into the skull's jaw, and might have been what broke his jaw.
No other objects of interest appear to be in evidence in the room, though through his thorough search, Ried is able to find the release for a secret passage in the West wall. Upon opening it, a passage appears, roughly carved through the rock, leading only god knows where.
"This is good, a way forward! Lets grab those keys and whatever is in his mouth and proceed."
Ember will carefully remove the keys and the metal and leather object from the remains, saying a brief blessing over them.
She studies the metal and leather object carefully, recalling what Verorianna had said about her husband.
"Keys, and a Badge of Office," she murmurs. "If we recover the Badge of Office that her husband had and return it to her, and defeated the 5 major undead spirits, she could end the hauntings here, so she said."
Folding back the layers of leather that have corroded the metal, what you find within the wad is indeed a badge of office. It would appear that this body was that of the unfortunate warden, Lyvar Hawkran.
Ried pauses for a moment as the reality of what has happened here starts to settle in, pulling at his deep-seeded elven emotions, [smaller]"Oh, this was the warden. So terribly unfair ..," he coughs, remembering himself, "Right, then. Onward ... let's find this Splatterman. A good time to prep some medium duration spell enhancements, I believe"
Ok, Ried will drink another mage armor potion
The rough stone walls of this natural cavern drip with moisture, leaving stagnant pools of water on the uneven floor. The passage is narrow, and requires you move single file.
Ried takes the lead, as he has been doing of late, followed by Ember, Father, Delia, Kendra, Alistair, and with Valachi in the rear.
As Reid leads you into the tunnel, it meanders, as natural tunnels often do. It appears to have been carved by water, and probably predates the prison. As Reid is walking forward, he notices something odd about the next puddle, and stops his foot in midair, just before he puts his boot down in it. The colour of this pool is different from the others...
Just then a strange looking pseudopod lashes out, striking at the wary lookout. . The attack is poorly aimed, and scoops through the air underneath Ried's upheld foot.
Round 1:
Ried will move away from the puddle, drawing his crossbow and reloading a normal bolt. "Anyone have any idea what in the Boneyard that is?" he asks, scrutinizing it as closely as he can as he retreats.
"Mm, gray ooze ... not part of the haunting. An actual denizen of the underground. No fire or cold, Delia ... won't hurt it."
Ember swings her mace at the ooze, hoping that it will damage it (and hoping that others more capable than her will arrive soon to fight it!)
Valachi takes up his spear and stabs the ooze.
;
Father listens to Reid's warnings, but it doesn't affect him, as he doesn't use either. He steps in before Delia protectively, as he always does, and swings at the thing. Given it's location as a puddle, Father clasps his hands together, bringing them both down with an overhead swing into the gooey mess.
I drew and loaded my crossbow
Sure.
Round 1:
.
Ried steps back, wracking his brain for information on this creature, and readying his crossbow.
Ember slides forward and pounds at the puddle with her mace. It smashes down with tremendous force, but hits a location in what turns out a genuine puddle, and not actually part of the creature.
Father slams his fist into the goop, and it deforms and reals from the impact.
Kendra and Alistair cannot see what is happening, and Kendra calls out, "What is going on? Are you alright up there?"
Delia hangs back, squeezing herself against the rock as Valachi moves past, so as not to obstruct him.
The Ooze lashes out again with a tendril of goop, this time at Father, the most prominent target/food source.
. The tendril is slow and lazy in its movement, but is hard to avoid in the close quarters. It touches Father along the arm, trying to wrap around and grab hold. . The slimy tendril wraps around his forearm, pulling him closer to the ooze. ; . As the tendril continues to tighten, it starts compressing the flesh and even shifting the bones, forcing Father to cry out. The acid continues to burn into his deeply. ,
Constrict (Ex) A creature with this special attack can crush an opponent, dealing bludgeoning damage, when it makes a successful grapple check (in addition to any other effects caused by a successful check, including additional damage). The amount of damage is given in the creature's entry and is typically equal to the amount of damage caused by the creature's melee attack.
Round 2: