The man rubs his sore muscles once released, Ulfric having looked him over and given a nod of approval. Thanks. Name's Volost, Ilki Volost. I been here for days, ever since that quake brought down the walls and those...things started to come out of everywhere. He spits at the bodies of the ghouls.
I'm a patient here. Or, was...I guess. He shrugs as he looks around at the damaged surroundings. We're in the group therapy room right now...been here quite a few times meself. The showers are nearby, and there's a few work rooms and the orderly offices...but not much else too interestin'. Course, prolly all filled with ghouls by now, eh?
You remember who you are then? Campus didn't care if the question sounded crazy.
The man looks confused, and glances aside at Campus's companions. Seeing no help there, he gulps loudly and nods. Uh...yeah...I do.
We are going to the northwestern tower. Are we along the direction?
Yup...you're here. Dunno why you'd wanna go there...was all just storage last I heard. But, if ya could go right through this wall here... He taps on the northern wall. ...You'd be in the room with stairs ta' go up. Take those doors there, then turn right, and you'll be right there. He gestures at the pair of doors leading to the west.
Good luck. Campus regrips her spear and makes to go.
Together, you walk through the western pair of doors and enter into a corridor, adjoining several rooms. Paint chips the color of eggshells cover the floor of these halls. Many of the walls are cracked and sag, causing numerous doors to lean awkwardly in their broken frames. Rubble here chokes the wide stairs leading up, and several of the walls have fallen to ruin.
You can see in this room, that if you had continued in the corridor in which the wall fell upon you, you'd have ended up here anyway. To the immediate south are a pair of doors and another single door, each closed. Further to the south, the corridor ends in rubble. To the north is a single closed door.
Ilki speaks up from the room from whence you came. So...should I follow you guys? He doesn't seem to thrilled at the prospect.
"We will probably encounter trouble, and may not come back this way. Where you go is up to you, but we're trying to help a group of survivors." Ulfric says to the man.
Ulfric will approach the single door to the north and detect evil through it.
Ilki offers a fairly frightened look in return - it seems he has no desire to continue forward into the ghoul infested corridors. Fair enough; good luck. He heads in the direction from where you came.
After some concentration, Ulfric does indeed sense evil in the next room.
"There's evil through here" Ulfric mutters to the others as he tries to discern what it is.
Ulric concentrates further, and divines four individual auras of evil, though each is faint. He pinpoints them, though they seem to be pretty scattered about in the room ahead to the north. They're also moving, though slowly. The closest is 30 feet away, on the other side of the door.
Well... hopefully they are intelligent...
Ulfric sighs, and signals for everyone to get ready to enter the room.
Ulfric then tries to open the door, if it doesn't open he kicks it down.
When the door is opened, Ulfric yells at the creatures in the room, "Stop fighting and we won't kill you!" And moves in if possible.
Cerio frowns, wondering if words count for much in this place. He follows behind.
Ulfric forcefully opens the door; though he doesn't have to kick it, he's had enough of this place and the hostility of everything within it. The door opens to reveal a fairly large room. A row of wicker rocking chairs faces the tall windows herein, starting out into the mist licking the outside of the glass. A heap of broken planks lies in one corner, the wreckage of a wooden stairwell that still partially clings to the wall above.
Unfortunately, the evil beings within this room cannot be reasoned with...they are more starving, crazed ghouls. Upon seeing living flesh, they attack!
Cerio
Ramul
Klassalka
Ghouls
Ulfric
Cerio peeks through the doorway and over Ulfric's shoulder. He shivers at the sight of the ghouls. Again with the ghouls!
He snaps his fingers and two ghastly green orbs pop into existence over his head. Then they bolt toward the nearest ghoul with alarming speed, leaving trails of thin green mist in their wake before slamming into the critter with an audible shudder.
Campus steps inside, leaving room for her companions. She readies her long spear for a quick strike if they approach
Klassalka, sensing blood even if it's the tainted kind, pushes into the room and charges towards the first ghoul, swinging her greatsword in a wide arc as she does. She brings it crashing down towards the first of the abominations, hoping to end it quickly.
The heavy blade slams into the ghoul at the collar level, cracking bone and cutting deep; the undead creature falls in a heap, returning to its final rest.
Ramul rushes in, though with a bit less gusto than the forward charging Klassalka. He steps to Ulfric's side, and lets loose a blast of his kinetic energy at one of the ghouls.
The blast tears through the ghoul's flesh, ripping new wounds in old, dried skin. The ghoul still stands, but only barely.
The ghoul hit by Ramul's strike, having already taken the burning missiles from Ceerio, falls down, shuddering out its final snarls and growls.
One ghoul rounds his fallen companion to rip, claw, and bite at Klassalka, who had just fallen one of his own.
Another ghoul charges forward, this one heading towards the south to confront Ulfric.
Campus waits and then unleashes a ferocious strike at the Ghoul's throat.
Campus's strike hits the ghoul squarely, skewering it like a chunk of meat. It squirms like a worm on the hook, then slouches after Campus pulls the spear back with a sickening slurping noise.
The ghoul manages to stay on its feet, and launches into one last-ditch attack to take someone with it. It lashes out at Campus with teeth and claw.
Cerio unleashes two more eerie green missiles at the ghouls.
Ulfric slashes at the ghoul in front of him.
Ulfric slashes down upon the ghoul, and his sword digs deep, crushing bone and splitting diseased flesh. The creature falls, sickly fluids leaking out of its torn torso.
Campus charges forward thrusting her cold iron spear into ghoulish flesh.
Campus skewers the ghoul with her spear, and the creature snarls and writhes on the end of the wicked weapon. It still manages to dodge aside, avoiding Cerio's attack.
Ramul moves to the north to get a line on the creature, and fires a blast.
The blast slams into the ghoul, felling the beast once and for all.
"Well, with those dealt with we should keep going. Which way next?" Ulfric searches the room for anything of use.
After a bit of searching, Ulric pinpoints a way up through the wreckage of the wooden stairwell. There's a platform about fifteen feet above...the lower portion has collapsed, leaving a rickety but somewhat stable flight of stairs hanging overhead. One could bridge the gap with some light climbing up the variety of studs and holes left in the wall.
Cerio scurries up the stairs.
Campus follows Cerio up.
Ulfric and the others take their time and follow suit; with Cerio and Campus already up top to pull them up, it goes by swiftly. You enter into a large room, with broken windows looking out across a sea of churning saffron fog. Inside, dusty crates of every size crowd the room. In its center is a man, kneeling and bent over nearly backwards. He spews noxious yellow mist from his mouth, eyes, ears, and nostrils, locked forever in a strange open-eyed, open-mouthed scream.
Campus looks to Ulfric. Another mercy to kill this man?
"Most likely" Ulfric sighs, mercy weighing heavily on his soul. Ulfric detects evil on the man. "If not to him, then to the rest of us in this place. Do you think that a blade will help here, or will Cayden's light be more effective."
I cannot manage another I think, until I rest.
Ulfric strides forward, places one of his hands on each of the mans shoulders. Ulfric concentrates and pulses positive energy into the man.
Ulfric steps up to the figure, and the mists seem to coalesce around the Paladin, as if they had a mind of their own. Instantly, his eyes tear up and nose begins to burn with the sickly sour smell. It becomes much harder to see the figure in the mists as Ulfric approaches.
Suddenly, Ulfric begins to feel a bit lightheaded as the mists invade his mind.
Ulfric will continue forward, trying to purge the evil from the man.
Ulfric moves to the man and puts a hand on his shoulder, calling upon his powers to purge whatever darkness had taken this man. The words spoken and healing touch administered, Ulfric is surprised as the man leaps to his feet and turns, teeth bared in anger. Fog continues to billow from his mouth and eyes as he attacks!
WIth a sigh, Campus steps forwards and thrusts her spear over Ulfric's shoulder. THe spear disappears into the yellow mists, and fails to find a fleshy target.
Cerio squeals in fright, ejecting two orbs of ethereal, green energy.
Campus stabs into the mists but hits nothing, even as Cerio's missiles fly out. The missiles strike unerringly, slamming into the man and sizzling where they strike.
Ramul targets the creature, moving to the south to get a good angle to strike through the mist. He lets loose with a blast of his power. Alas, the concealment from the mist is just enough to throw the blast off target.
The man, his eyes wide with billowing fog, shouts out as he swings his fists with supernatural strength. His words only come out as a gurgle, distorted as they are by the sickly wet mist. He hits Ulfric with one fist, forcing up a nearly immediate bruise.
Campus once again thrusts here cold-iron spear into the wildly posessed man, praying to Cayden for guidance.
Ulfric starts to flank, and gets out of Campus' way. Pulling out his sword as he does so, Ulfric slashes at the man.
Ulfric and Campus slash and stab, and the man falls, his body still only as strong as that of a mortal man. As he lay, struck down and bleeding out, the mists begin to slow, then stop. Within a few short moments, the mists outside the windows seem to grow quite a bit lighter. While it still blankets the ground, an actual nighttime sky is visible in the distance.
"There may be more creatures like this causing the fog." Ulfric says while examining the man and trying to determine what could be the cause of this.
Though Ulfric can easily determine that the man seemed to be causing the fog, at least in this area, that's the limit of his understanding.