Asa flinches slightly at the... thing's.... otherworldly shriek.
"What in the hells, planes, or the darklands is that thing?"
Asa- something tugs at your mind, but you shrug it off. You may act as normal.
As far as what the hell this thing is, it's not something you've encountered before. It almost seems like it's not here...it's not incorporeal, as far as you can tell, but...out of phase, somehow.
The town is burning. You cannot walk without stepping in blood. The stench of burning flesh and the screams of the dying fill the air as a horde of Goblins, more massive than anything you've ever seen, butchers the townsfolk.
Then, you see her. She is on the steps of the cathedral, on her knees, arms bound. Her face is bloody and terrified, her hair matted and streaked with gore. She screams, wild eyed, looking for a savior.
Agustianna's eyes land on you.
"SELAROS!" she screams. "Save me!"
You don't question that she knows your true identity. You only know you have to save her...
But you can't.
Time seems to slow. A Goblin comes up behind her and wordlessly, ruthlessly, cuts her throat.
It is no slow trickle. Every beat of her heart sends blood gushing from the severed artery. Her eyes, going cold, fix you with one last stare. They are accusatory, seeming to bore into you asking why you could not save her...
Annika smiles at the discussion in Thassilonian
"Videtur enim hic complures veterum"
She stares at the hideous sight before her as the creature turns
"By all the spirits, what is it?"
You shout, trying to catch their attention, but no sound passes your lips. You cannot be seen or heard, and cannot touch anything around you.
Tessa saunters down an alley, leading Dannil. He follows, and you cannot help but follow as well. She kneels before him, reaching for his belt...
And then he draws a blade a blade and jams it into her neck.
Tessa doesn't even have time to scream.
Dannil crouches by the body, mutilating it, removing the tongue and the eyes...
Just like Chopper.
Also, here's how this is going to work; when I have saves for everyone, and have responded to those that fail their saves, all that made their save will be able to take actions.
"That's not right."
The Knight stairs at the desplay infront of him in wide horror, his body visibly shaking and his eyes filling with tears. And then the anger bursts froth as he vents it in a scream of terror. "AGUSTIANNA NO!"
"Danmed goblins, I'll murder every last one of you and mount your heads on pikes outside town."
The large half elf went from reaching out console what he thought was obviously a lost child to screaming in terror and crabcrawling backwards trying to get away from some unseen to the others.
"You... you your a monster!
He called to no one in general half curling into a ball on the ground rocking slightly and shaking his head no
This time, it is not a cleric of Desna that finds you.
It is a cleric of Asmodeus.
A cruel smile contorts his face as he grabs you.
"A little thief," he says, malice evident in his voice, "One which I will enact swift retribution on! Let us make sure you can never pilfer anything again, little girl..."
You struggle, but he is strong, too strong. He forces your arm onto a nearby table then produces a long, wicked blade from a scabbard. He lines it up with your wrist, raises it high...
The world peels away. There is only shock and agony and blood.
The bird creature prepares to let out another shriek, but those of you that made your saves have time to take turns as normal. We're not going to use initiative here, so go ahead and take your actions. I will then adjudicate the results.
Annika lays a hand on the cowering fighter, and calls upon the power of her spirit to protect and guide him.
Asa fights off the feeling pulling at her mind, glaring at the bird thing as some of her companions fall.
"Fine, when you see your ugly maker tell it I say to stay clear of me from now on." Conjuring a small ball of acid in her free hand, Asa attempts to hit the creature squarely in its malformed face, but her concentration is not quite perfect after the disorienting scream from earlier.
Asa- it seems unlikely that you'll hit, but something seems to pull your attack to the creature, and as it hits the creature disintegrates into a black cloud that swiftly dissipates.
Anyone that failed their Will save is no longer suffering the effects of the failed save, and may act as normal. The Wisdom damage, and temporary bout of madness you suffered seems to leave with the creature; anyone afflicted by a failed Will save heals one point of Wisdom damage.
The room seems slightly less oppressive, but with the imposing statue and two dark passages still remaining, not by much.
Eloisa studies the area of the floor where the creature was. "What a strange encounter. Should we destroy the shrine now or explore the rest of the area first?
"A statue that big is likely to take a while to destroy properly, unless somebody has an easy way to destroy things, we should make sure there's nothing else lurking to ambush us while we're working on it."
The visions promptly disapeared with the destruction of the creature but the half elf warrior lay there on the ground for several moments more staring in horror at nothing there. When he finally came to his senses he colored a bright red. It was clear he was very embaressed by his unanatural reaction.
"One way to find out I suppose."
He began unlimbering his flail and slamming it into the head of the stature.
Calin, you strike the statue. It is dented and a few chips fly off but clearly far more damage will need to be done. The lot of you would likely have to spend at least twenty minutes to destroy it completely; it is Large and solid stone.
PUlling himself together and grateful for his mask he takes a moment to compose himself before saying "I would perfer if we secure the area before we start demolishing the statue. Was this some kind of those haunts stories often mention in abandoned areas?"
"That was a scary experience. Seems Calin was also caught in it so he might not have heard my scream. But I would never let that come to pass."
Asa looks for a few moments where the thing was. "That was not my best form. I saw it, the orb was off center... yet... what aided me..."
Seemingly roused from her reverie from the sound of Calin's mace hitting the stone, she turns.
"Good to see you both back on your feet. We should investigate further, I have a sense that something else is here. It might be friendly... or it might be toying with us."
Asa walks to the Knight and pulls him by an arm to a corner.
"Sorry to do this in common and in naught but a whisper, but are you sure you are going to be alright? You seemed convinced that some 'Augustina' person was being murdered by goblins, that you in then wanted to turn into a grim memorial outside Sandpoint's gates. Not that I would blame you for that, but it would clash with the lovely mirror they have out there." Asa shrugs and continues before he can respond. "I am not meaning to pry, we all have our secrets, but I would advise you to take whatever time you need to bury them back within your heart and mind before we proceed. No telling what other horrors await us here."
"Let's cleanse this place, would be trouble to keep such monsters as that creature living this close to Sandpoint."
"Left is as good as any direction."
Asa gives the Knight a nod, then turns to the left passage. "You still have the light, lead on."
"Works for me."
The Knight nods "Alright left it is, I'll lead the way." He walks towardthe left room and starts going down the hallway, glad to have something more important on his mind than to relive that illusion.
Once more hopefully better prepared he followed the Desnan knight down the hallway. Like the masked crusader he felt no small amount of need to prove his mettle to be more. He still was having doubts about himself from that horrible vision.
Falcata at the ready, Asa wordlessly falls in behind Calin. "I wonder who he thought was so monstrous. Still, best not to pry."
Eloisa follows the rest of the group. She tries to stay in the middle as she follows looking carefully around.
The hallway leads to another set of stairs, descending even further into this structure. The blackness seems to beckon you onward. Will you descend or continue to explore this level?
"Let's finish looking around this area before we go further down." Eloisa suggests.
Asa nods. "Not a bad idea... lest we find our way back up blocked by that we failed to clear."
"I second that idea, better to focus on one floor at a time, this also have the side effect of preventing an ambush on the lower floors." he adds
"I agree completely."
Annika glances around the area before they turn back down the hallway to investigate the other direction.
The hall to the right is fairly long. You can see that it opens to a room at the end, though it's too far away for you to see what's in it. As you're going down the hall, however, you find a closed door on the right.
"Hm... should we investigate the closed room first or the open one? My preference would be the open one down at the end, but I will defer to the locals and our cleric." Asa is surprisingly almost polite as she says this.
"Better check the door than have whatever lurks in here come out and attack us while we are occupied with other matters."
He walks over to listen if he can hear anything on the other side of the door.
Asa shrugs at the Knight and attempts to listen to both directions.
"Gods and demons, why is it every time I try to focus I hear nothing but the sound of my so-called 'companions' as they move around?"
Asa shakes her head. "As you wish. Give me a moment first though." Performing a similar ritual as she did at the first floor of the house, Asa quickly recasts the light giving spell upon the Knight's blade. "Lest it go out while we are inside. After you."
You hear nothing through the door, and notice nothing in the open room; your light isn't extending quite far enough to make out anything but the outline of the entrance.
The knight opens the door and holds the light up so that he can see into the room.
"What's this?"
The half elf began kneeling to carefully pick up the caked in blood blade. He held it up slowly for the others to see and to get it into the magical light.
As the Desna Knight opens the door, you are all greeted by a truly grisly scene. The light he directs first illuminates several large dusty tables, then what is on those tables. It seems to be merely jars holding some kind of liquid, but as you get closer, you find that in each of the jars...there is a body part.
A liver here. A heart there. But mostly, eyes and tongues.
This macabre display was clearly Chopper's trophy room, a shrine to his dark work.
Asa's face goes grim. "Well. This is certainly... fitting. At least, in the sense that one would expect to find a place like this here." Asa turns to Rast. "You know more about religion than I. Would the dead care if we left their grim tokens here for now, or should we prioritize burying them first?"
"They've waited years, they can wait a little more time. The most pressing thing is ensuring that nothing evil is still using this place."
There appears to be nothing else in the room.