Dred approaches Jordi and tries to strike away the blooksucker with the quarterstaff. Stay calm, I'll get it off you!
Dred makes a well placed strike, hitting the creature in it's midsection with a resounding thud! The blow fails to loosen the creatures grip, however. It begins to drain Jordi's life away.
Jordi tries to smash the vile creature that he has attached, but the sudden blood loss makes his hand to barely do the work.
Argh, not again, get out I said, damn it! -Shouts the man, facing Dred when he sees the oracle swinging the quarterstaff against the insect-like creature attached to him-. Thanks for the help, Dred, those things stings. -Says Jordi to the masked man-.
The elf slides past Jordi and Dred into the room, and takes aim at the stirges flitting about Arelian. "Hold still now."
Glandur's bolt nicks one of the stirges, before lodging in the one of the roof planks. The flying menace is badly wounded, but not out of the fight.
The stirge on Jordi seems to be in an awkward place, the paladin can't seem to crush it with his hammer strike.
Better get this one before Jordi gets even weaker!
Jason continues to strike at the creature latched onto Jordi.
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Dred thinks he has a shot, but Jordi's antics as he tries to dislodge the filthy creature cause Dred's stave to miss it's mark.
Hearing the battle upstairs, Nym decides he should climb the ladder and see for himself what is going on.
Sarden decides to keep watch at the base of the ladder.
.
.
Heartened by the good result, Glandur reloads the crossbow and lets fly another bolt.
Vanya the hawk stirs behind him and opens one eye for a peek, but decides these over-sized mosquitoes are not worth her effort. She puts her head back down, and sends thoughts of annoyance to the elf for disturbing her peace with such violent acts.
Just- get- off- Jordi!!! losing his cool, Jason starts to swing his quarterstaff to hit the creature with both ends.
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Wait... hey... whoa... no, hey!
Jordi got surprised by the frenzied Dred, and barely avoids get beaten by his quarterstaff flurry. Then, the warrior focus on the bloodsucker again, using his own chest-plate as an anvil to crush the pest with its hammer.
Jordi finally manages to squash the bloodsucker that is draining his lifeblood away. The thing falls to the ground in a crumpled heap.
Dred's attack almost connects with the monster attacking Jordi, but then he catches a rafter with the other end of his twirling stave, and almost disarms himself.
Glandur makes a masterful shot, catching the stirge he hit before. The thing is severely injured, and decides to flee.
Arelian's blade moves almost faster than the eye, picking the wounded stirge out of the air. It is dead.
The remaining bat-bug easily avoids Arelian's attacks, and homes in on the slayer.
Arelian almost twists away, but a couple of the thin barbed legs catch his clothing and suddenly the thing is gripping him, it's proboscis poised to draw blood.
Sarden moves up the stairs, but sees that there is not much he can do.
After almost dropping his quarterstaff, Dred manages to regain his composure. This time, he takes careful aim with a focused two-handed swing at the creature.
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Glandur, noting the clustering of the people making his shot all but impossible, prods at the hawk. "Vanya! How can you just sit there so contentedly in the midst of all this ruckus!? Shouldn't you go do something?" The hawk continues to demonstrate who's the boss by ignoring the elven wizard.
Jordi moves towars Arelian, holding its lantern on his left hand, and once he gets at his side, swings his hammer with decison to exterminate the last pest, while trying not to harm the warrior.
Sorry for the splash, man!
Arelian has to roll with Jordi's strike, but he turns the right way. the bloodsucking creature takes the force of the blow.
Nym moves over and steps on the nasty creature as it hit the ground.
"Ich! What was that thing? Is everyone OK?"
Arelian is able to dispatch the last of the strange, bat-winged, mosquito-monsters. That is all of them. They certainly would have posed a threat to any construction crew that tried to work on the house, so it's well they were discovered.
Nym finds the corpses of the vile creatures to be lifeless, though the one that had dined on Jordi leaves a sizable bloodstain in the attics floorboards.
The attic holds nothing of any value, just broken crates and moldy rags. Exploring the house has taken awhile, it must be coming up on noon, though it is hard to tell with the overcast day.
Sarden looks over the injured, but sees that the extent of the injuries is beyond his means of healing.
"Only rest will revive you to your full health."
Oh, thank you for your worries. Guess we will go with it.
Says the warrior, while searching the room for anything of interest.
Well, another place less. Did you find anything of interest?
The elf prods at the fallen stirges with his feet, making sure they are unmoving. Then, straightening up, he takes a look around the room.
"Doesn't look that interesting here. Strange we've yet to find the ghosts, though they taunted us with their noises."
Right, so let's check downstairs again. One of the rooms must have some clue...
Dred scans the room before turning towards the steps.
Jordi goes stairs down, with caution, then goes to the next uninspected room.
Well, time to clean up this floor. Then we will focus on the first floor. Does anyone know if there is a basement?
Jordi puts the lantern out, as there is still daylight, then puts both its hammer and the lantern on its place and draws its sword.
This place its starting to get on my nerves, puting aflame the entire manor its turning less of a joke and more an option...
Aaaah, cleansing fire of Sarenrae. Sights the holy warrior, looking at Sarden and nodding thoughtfully.
Dred presses his hand momentarily against a bruise.
It's not too bad... I think.
I haven't seen any clues for a basement Jordi, but I believe whatever we are looking for should be in this floor. Dred follows Jordi into the next unexplored room, carefully keeping an eye out for clues or traps.
Glandur works his way down out of the attic, and continues towards the next room after Dred and Jordi, keeping his eyes peeled as he does so.
Jordi carefully opens the next door, revealing what was once a well appointed bedroom. Like every other room of the house, so far, this one is filthy, dingy and ransacked. A fire place is built into the left wall, only five feet from the doorway. Across the room from the fireplace, and against the wall, is a large, free-standing wardrobe or closet. The wardrobe is finely carved of walnut, and might bring a nice price, but would be very hard to transport, due to its bulk.
Glandur looks at the strange construction. "Who builds a fireplace so close to the doorway?" Not that he knows anything about fireplaces.
The elf roams the room, spending a little more time admiring the wardrobe.
Be aware, Glandur, we are searching for something or someone, and that can be a nice hideout to surprise us or set a trap.
Says Jordi, while pointing his sword into the wardrobe.
Oh my, I guess I'm starting to get paranoid.
Thinking that the way ahead is clear otherwise the others would have reacted, Dred steps into the room.
That wardrobe... is it just me or does it look... new?
Holding his quarterstaff in front of him defensively, Dred creeps slowly up to the wardrobe. Hooking one end of his staff on a handle, he opens a door and steps back quickly.
The wardrobe is not new, it has just withstood the ravages of time well.
Inside the wardrobe hangs a cloak. Dred notices that there is a fluffy, powdery substance in the folds of the cloak.
Tilting his head, Dred thinks that there's something definitely different about this mold. He scratches his head, knowing nothing about it and instead points it out to the others. Any ideas what this thing is?
"Ooh, careful there!" The elf notices the substance, and instinctively takes a step back. "That would be yellow mold, quite a bit of dangerous packed in there. If we should disturb it, it can release toxic spores, to our detriment. Fortunately, it is dormant in the sunlight. Perhaps we should destroy it with fire? I'd be careful how we go about it, though. Just to be safe."
Ah, again the fire is the option to take. Says Jordi with a wide smile. Well, lets close it. We can move it later an set it on fire on the exterior.
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"Yeah. Considering the dryrot...this place would light up quicker than a tinderstick." Arelian said. "We can mark it down for later removal when there's no chance that the floor might give way under us."
Arelian moves to the last room on the top floor that has yet to be opened, and carefully pushes the door open.