"I can cut some firewood. It's not made for it, but my sword will break up some of this into kindling." Cage says as he sets aside his gear and takes his longsword in two hands to chop off some chair and table legs.
Pouch is really building up practical experience with healing. He takes a look at the unconscious woman and the seizure patient. "I'm no doctor, but I'm willing to take a look." Since Savoia is physically injured, he casts a healing spell on her.
He's not sure about the efficacy of a healing spell on a seizure disorder however. So he does his best to try to evaluate his condition.
Apparently, he read on a book on epileptic conditions back at the University and remembers enough to help Bates out.
His work is briefly distracted by Loic. Fortunately Pouch is pretty good at getting people to do things they may not otherwise want to do. "Hey buddy, wanna see a magic trick?" He casts prestidigitation to make a copper coin appear out of the man's ear. "Wonder where else you have money? Open your mouth and let me see."
He deftly places the pill in the man's throat, closes his mouth, and pulls out another coin. He tosses it to the man, says "You are a veritable fountain of money," and then goes back to helping the epileptic.
Mashiki's grin widens as Winter presents the tasks. "We can cook!" she says excitedly and immediately dives into the task of preparing the food with zeal.
Unfortunately she is also extremely interested in watching Pouch tend to the wounded. At first she expertly handles the food preparation, but then part way through her fascination with his healing skills drive her to distraction and she abandons the meal preparation leaving the rest of it to Denman and goes over to have a closer look at what Pouch is doing.
Miniel isn't quite confident enough in what she can do yet, and it seems like everyone else is settling in to help fine, so she retreats to a corner and spends some time to herself. After a bit, she seems to instinctively recall a ritual to store divine power in her scimitar - along with a strange sense of shame and guilt. However, she washes it away by focusing on the ritual, then when that's done, she gets back up and tries to help out with the firewood, though she quickly finds that she isn't particularly suited for the task.
Laura, or Rope, stares into space while Winter speaks. When she is done, the taciturn warrior-woman proceeds to follow Cage to the wood-scraps. She watches calmly as he swings with his longsword, but soon she wordlessly takes a position beside him and begins chopping with her greataxe. She hums slightly under her breath as she works, a tuneless staccato sound like drums.
After exerting herself, she makes her way to where Pouch is examining the patient suffering from seizures. She realizes with alarm that she knows some facts about the human body just by looking at him, as if she had picked up knowledge of how to set bones and treat scrapes at some point in her life. Or perhaps she spent a long time in a hospital? The memories are hazy and uncomfortable and her brain veers away from them. Nevertheless, she bends over the patient and looks him over carefully with a practiced eye.
"I can cut some firewood. It's not made for it, but my sword will break up some of this into kindling." Cage says as he sets aside his gear and takes his longsword in two hands to chop off some chair and table legs.
Grimm John is extremely sore from swinging his blade in battle, and has to stop frequently and rest his shoulder while cutting the firewood. He doesn't cut nearly as much firewood as he had hoped. That said, he wastes no time, and does all of his work very smartly and efficiently, and gets more than enough firewood collected.
Miniel, on the other hand, really is struggling. Perhaps because of just awakening, she soon gets light-headed and has to sit down for a spell.
Pouch is really building up practical experience with healing.
Xander's healing magic seems to knit the woman's bones back together, and break her fever. Hopefully by morning she will be conscious, if not walking. He examines Bates as well, and realizes that he knows of an herb that will help, which they just happen to have in their supplies at the chapel. He gives the boy a sprig of something to chew on, and soon after his seizures, though not completely gone, become much milder.
Laura splits her time between helping with the firewood and helping with the first aid, excelling at both. She adds a lot of wood to the pile, an impressive amount indeed. Several of the survivors look on in awe. She is able to come up with a salve to rub on Bates's skin that will hopefully help the bite marks on his arms heal.
Mashiki tries her hand at cooking, which was maybe a mistake. She is very distracted and loses track several times of what sort of stew she is making, throwing clashing spices in. The stew is ultimately not cooked long enough, and everyone has to deal with crunchy vegetables, and slightly under-cooked meat. But everyone does get fed, and no one gets food poisoning.
He casts prestidigitation to make a copper coin appear out of the man's ear.
Xander's cheap tricks seem to calm the man briefly, but as soon as Xander returns to his medical duties he starts up again. It seems that someone will need to spend maybe an hour or two of concentrated effort calming him.
Broom is very disappointed with her own cooking. "We can do better than this. We did such great things with nothing more than iron rations down in the basement, and here with good ingredients this is what We came up with?"
She looks to Winter "May We try to improve dinner? We know We can do better and are sorry we got distracted. Its not burned, so if you can wait just a little longer We think We know how to fix Our mistake."
While Pouch is seeing to the patients, Laura watches him. "You are like me," she says suddenly, almost warily, indicating his eyes and face. "Half-orc." After making this observation, she lapses into silence, thinking hard about her past and frustrated that she cannot recall anything.
After cutting the firewood, John will sit down with a whetstone and attempt to fix any damage he may have caused with the abuse to his longsword.
Broom's thoughts are all over the place. There is so much happening all around her that despite the fact they are all in mortal danger she can't help but be excited. All the mysteries intrigue her.
After the disappointing performance over dinner, Broom spends her time trying hard to make up for it. She sets about sweeping out the entire room and then begins cleaning and polishing all the dusty furniture, even those that are part of the barricade or that are slated for firewood. If nobody is paying attention, she will even mend any pieces of the firewood furniture that were marred or broken but not removed to the firewood pile.
She then turns her attention to the shrines, making sure each and every one is tended too. She even makes sure that any wax drippings from candles are meticulously removed and any drips of wax that have rolled down the sides of the candles are neatly trimmed leaving them smooth and new looking. Faded or dried flowers are brightened up and any fallen petals or leaves are reattached.
When Rope points out that she is like Pouch, Broom exclaims excitedly "You know how to heal people as well. Maybe you are related?" Broom gasps as she jumps to a conclusion "Maybe you are his sister!"
Listening in, Cage says "They don't really look alike."
Laura is surprised by Broom's enthusiasm and almost manic activity, and looks at her with shock and horror. Then she studies Pouch more carefully, uncomfortably, seeking in his features signs of their familial relation. She stands and moves over to him to get a better look, her swollen belly swaying beneath her long chain mail and causing her to waddle slightly.
Harrow watched the exchange, having been sitting in silence and snacking on his meal without complaint. Without anything else to do, he sat himself around closer to Winter and anyone who seemed to be having important conversations with her.
However, he sinks into himself and begins some kind of argument with the two halves of himself. He descends into this further and further till he gives an exasperated growl and gets up to do something else.
Harrow becomes annoyed at Loic's noise and tries to calm the man's fits.
Related? Hmm. Pouch gets a thoughtful look on his face. "I suppose we could be related." He looks Laura/Rope up and down. "From the perspective of history, I believe all those with human ancestry come from a common source. Siblings though?" He shrugs. He doesn't feel like they're related, but it would honestly not be the weirdest thing about this experience. "You and Cage are both human. Are you related? Oh, and to answer your earlier query, Broom... yes, pacing helps me think. No, sitting in a chair while moving my legs does not." He smiles... or what passes for a smile anyway. He had actually been trying it out a little this morning/afternoon to see if it made a difference (the pacing/sitting thing, not the smiling). He may not remember his identity, but he is certain that the testing of hypotheses is a good method of getting to the truth.
He smiles at Rope, too, as she helps with the wounded. "I truly would appreciate it if you could teach me a little more about the healing arts. I'm positive I've read books on medical practice, but it doesn't feel like I have had much field practice."
Broom gasps with the revelation "You're right! Maybe Cage and Us are related. Maybe we are all related! Maybe that is why its only our group who can't remember anything, we were all afflicted with some kind of family illness."
Broom falls into silent contemplation about how they could all be related as she continues to clean. The ramifications of this new information were staggering.
Rope seems skeptical of Broom's idea, frowning to herself. To Pouch, she shrugs as if to say that her knowledge of medicine isn't that much, but she will do her best to show him what she knows.
She watches with widened eyes as Harrow argues with himself, but her attempts to make the man are thwarted when he stands and irritably walks away.
I don't feel so good...maybe I shouldn't be exerting myself so soon. Miniel sits down to take a rest, and almost drifts off to sleep again, but the chatter of nearby conversation keeps her up. She makes no effort to join in, especially when the topic turns...strange.
"I'm all for finding the records room to find out who we are without the guessing." Cage says trying to be practical.
"It sounds like we're likely to have trouble from these 'Apostles in Orpiment' and this Zandalus fellow. I'm don't think I'm much on joining a new religion." he continues.
"For some reason, talking about religion makes me thirsty."
Pouch chortles a little. "Well, I doubt there's a pub in this place, Cage. Although I suspect a few of the doctors may have kept small stashes hidden from patients."
She looks to Winter "May We try to improve dinner? We know We can do better and are sorry we got distracted. Its not burned, so if you can wait just a little longer We think We know how to fix Our mistake."
"I actually like it," says Winter, trying to put on a smile, "Why don't you cook dinner tomorrow? You can supervise the whole process this time, give it one more try."
Winter does not like the food and is just trying to be nice.
After dinner, Winter asks to speak with the six adventurers privately and leads the group off to a side room. As they follow her they notice something very strange on one of the walls nearby.
The hall ends just beyond a dingy curtain that is pulled halfway to the side, but the wall between here suffers some sort of otherworldly parasitism. A mass of stringy, yellow fungus stretches across the stone blocks. At its heart bulges and blinks a watery eye the size of a wagon wheel. The eye seems to follow your movement.
Noticing the amnesiacs staring at the eye and perhaps beginning to linger, she addresses the group.
"Oh, that. I believe that is some kind of haunt. Please, follow me, we'll talk about it in here." She continues into the room, beckoning you in, and stands behind a desk. This seems to have been the chaplain's office. On the desk are dozens of folded paper crafts, some of them animals, others lotuses.
"Sometimes Tolman Leolies brings Brenton and Maeve in here to play. They make these wonderful little things. I believe the style is from Minkai, they call them origami."
She reaches into a desk drawer and produces a few scrolls and a wand, placing them on the desk top.
"I want to thank you for helping. I'm really happy that you are here. I needed, and still need, your help. I want you to get some rest first, but I have a task for you if you are up to it, or rather several tasks."
"First, there is that haunt on that wall out there, past the curtain. It hasn't moved from that spot, so I believe it is stationary, but it could still be dangerous to the refugees here. Could you try to do something about it?"
"Next is the larger task. I need you to explore the asylum, and try to find out what is going on and if there is any way that we can escape. I think from what you've said there is still part of the area where you came from and explored, and then beyond the eye on the wall there is another door that leads to the rest of the asylum. I have a few items here that can help you," she says as she gestures to the scrolls and wand, "I can also heal you if you become injured, though I think I should stay here to keep watch over the flock."
"But like I said, you should get some rest first and in the morning get started. One thing we have noticed is that if you rest in the chapel room, the harmful nightmares we've been experiencing don't seem to occur."
"God above!" he exclaims seeing the eye. That Winter would simply have them walk by it... is confusing. But once she explains she wants them to deal with it, at least it makes a little more sense. "How long has that been there?" he asks. This place gets creepier every minute. Although the origami is interesting.
Since we have to figure out a way out of this place anyway, I've got no problem helping others benefit as well.
"The chapel room stops nightmares? That is very interesting. And possibly very significant." He scratches the back of his head thinking. It will be nice to sleep without the nightmares. If only for one night.
"Well, it's not like I'm doing anything else. I'll do what I can." He looks to the others hoping at least a few of them will agree to help as well.
"The eye manifested sometime the day after the disasters occurred."
The haunt is what is known as an argus eye. It can be destroyed by physical damage, but it will return in one day. It also will attack back if someone attacks it in melee. The eye is said to sprout fangs.
The eye and fungus quietly wither away if it views its own refection.
+ =32
"Wait...I've read about something like this. All we need is a mirror. If the eye sees it's reflection, it should wither away."
Broom brightens up for a moment at Winter's words, but quickly sees that Winter is having a little trouble actually eating the food and realizes that she isn't being completely truthful. Her smile fades a bit, but is quickly replaced by determination. "We will do better.
At they pass the eye, Broom's own eyes widen in wonder. "Does it do anything? Or just watch people as they pass?"
As she concentrates and casts her mind about, she discovers a lot of minds that know things about eyes, lots of eyes in fact. There are even things that are made out of almost nothing but eyes, however she quickly becomes overwhelmed by all the eye related memories and shuts them all out coming no closer to knowing anything useful about whatever this is.
She spend a couple of moments staring at the giant eye staring at her before noticing everyone else is leaving and quickly follows.
In the office she bends down and looks at the little paper figures while Winter talks. She idly picks up the wand and asks "What does this do?
Miniel finds herself staring at the eye with everyone else as they pass. She instinctively feels like she's seen something like it before, though to her dismay, she can't remember anything about it. Either way, Pouch seems to have an idea on how to get rid of the thing. The elf quickly searches through her pack, but comes up empty. "I don't seem to have a mirror. Hopefully someone else does."
(doubt, ugh)
Instead, Miniel takes a look at the scrolls, but her thoughts keep drifting to the eye, and she can't focus enough to figure them out. As she struggles, she becomes visibly frustrated.
Rope stares at the eye without expression. Perhaps deep inside her head there is a voice shouting at her to get away, get away, the eye can see you! but if so, she ignores it. Or perhaps there isn't.
When Winter mentions nightmares, Rope stares at the others with a mildly questioning look. "You have had nightmares," she says, as if confirming this statement with its source.
"I don't like that eye. I reminds me of something bad...."
"Why don't you experiment with the mirror you claimed earlier."
As they pass the eye, Broom's own eyes widen in wonder. "Does it do anything? Or just watch people as they pass?"
"So far it has only watched people as they pass. That might change if you start trying to destroy it though."
She idly picks up the wand and asks "What does this do?
"My apologies, forgot to explain what those do. The wand is a wand of lesser restoration, and then there are two scrolls of cure light wounds and a scroll of sanctuary."
"You have had nightmares," she says, as if confirming this statement with its source.
"Yes. The second night we were here I fell asleep here in this office, right here at this desk while I was making plans to try to escape. I had nightmares... confusing ones. Yellow vapors, strange cloaked figures, cities with nauseating architecture, and some sort of humanoid monster in tattered gray and yellow rags, with strips of gauze slithering like snakes, long claws, and a mouth full of teeth. Horrible stuff, and I woke up unrested. I'm not sure what it is about the chapel exactly, though I have theories. The altar to Pharasma puts out a constant hallow effect, but I don't think that is the source of the restfullness. That I chalk up to the shrine of Desna, though I can't determine the actual magic in effect."
"We all have to get out of this place before we go mad." Cage says.
"I will certainly try to help and I think my companions will as well." He looks to the others.
"We appreciate the healing magic. Our initial encounters proved just how dangerous this place can be."
"Torch, do you have the ability to use these items?"
"Desna," Rope repeats, to see if it means anything to her. She doesn't seem to experience any flashes of devotion. "Pharasma," she tries, but still seems nonplussed.
"I...yes, I think...if I had a bit more time to look over the scrolls, maybe." Miniel's voice wavers, but she accepts them even through her uncertainty.
Broom looks with concern at Rope who seems to be in a daze "Are you Ok? Oh! Here, you should sit down." Broom pulls up a chair and moves to help Rope sit down. "Maybe you should rest with the others in the chapel? Going to explore the asylum will be dangerous for your baby."
"I can use the scrolls. It's not a problem." He's not sure how he knows this, but he's sure of it.
[ooc]I've got read magic and CLW on my spell list. I've also got a +8 UMD and can add inspiration, so I can probably use the wand in a pinch[/i]
"Here, let's try that mirror," he says pulling it out. He heads over to the eye, dragging Cage in case something goes wrong, and holds the mirror up to the eye. I really hope this works.
Rope watches Broom, and accepts the chair, though her expression appears a bit puzzled. "Baby?" she asks dully, looking around her like she dropped something. It might be that her belly gives a barely-perceptible twitch at this word, though it is difficult to see through her full-length chain mail to be sure. She shakes her head and says "I will accompany you. I want to know what happened." She takes a deep breath. "I am fine," she adds with peculiar emphasis.
Harrow follows the group, silently taking in everything the cleric is saying. He stares at the eye with a fascinated expression. "One could only wonder what fell things you must have beheld." He mutters, his head tilting to mirror the direction the eye looks as they pass.
At Rope's "condition", he looks at the half-orc woman's belly with a quirked eyebrow. "Do you remember the father, or how far along you are?"
Cage follows along and keeps his sword handy as the eye is exposed to the mirror.
"I really hate the feeling that something is staring at me."
He heads over to the eye, dragging Cage in case something goes wrong, and holds the mirror up to the eye.
As the group approaches, the eye suddenly stirs, and you hear faint sobs coming from the fanged mouth within the pupil of the eye.
As Xander turns the mirror to reveal the creature to itself, the eye-mouth gasps and screams, “Who am I become?” in three overlapping, drowned-sounding voices, then cries a 1-pint tear of what seems to be ammonia.
The cries of agony quickly die down as the fungus withers away from the wall and turns to dust in a matter of moments.
Rope stares at the eye as it fades, giving the impression she is briefly distracted rather than ignoring Harrow.
Later, she returns to sit beside the man. "No," she says out of nowhere. "I don't remember anything." She stares sideways at Harrow, possibly deciding how much to trust him.
Pouch pockets the mirror. "I didn't expect to feel sorry for the creature." But it needed to be done. "Now then, let's see what's beyond this door," he says walking toward it.
As the eye weeps at its face, Harrow bowed his head as the poor thing's passing. "May we all find that answer."
When Rope sat down next to him as the other's plotting their next move, Harrow shrugged. "I didn't think so, but I wanted to ask. I feel like someone close to me was with child. Whenever I try and think about her though, all I see is a great tree on fire - with me inside. Anything else is lost to me. I blame this meat dress, personally."
"You're one to talk, hag." The male voice returned. "All I can recall is a nightmarish horse trying to trample me. I blame you for this ... and don't call me a dress."
"A corset then, as I am restricted while wearing you."
Their banter is entertaining, like an old married couple that abhorred each other. It was no wonder why Harrow was not wholly there. If it weren't for the wisps of greenish-black mist that leaked from his face when the woman talked one would think he truly belonged in an asylum.
Rope stares at Harrow. "Two of you, in one body," she says dully. Then she cocks her head again. "Like me."
"Just keeps getting weirder."
If we need to spend the night to recover spells and whatnot, I'm good with it.
Winter leads you to places where you can rest. The night passes uneventfully and in the morning you wake, more refreshed than you have been at any point during your stay in the asylum. The nightmares that plagued some of you while resting in the asylum earlier are absent.
"Well, I suppose you'll want to be off," says Winter, "You can check the door past where the Argus eye was, or you can explore the rest of the area back down the hallway, that you began to explore. The guards heard some movement last night in that direction, and I think there are some more doppelgangers down there."
Broom looks at the eye with pity as it crumbles away. "It's sad, they eye just wanted to know what it was, just like the rest of us. You don't suppose it had lost its memory like the rest of us, do you?" she asks as she unconsciously takes her broom and starts idly sweeping the dust from the creature into a neat little pile.
"We didn't even know eyes could talk. We wonder if it might have known something about what was happening here." she ponders out loud. "Hmm, we wonder if we can make our eyes talk?" she mutters to herself before concentrating and blinking and going cross-eyed in the vain attempt.
....
Broom looks at Rope curiously "It's normal for a baby to be inside you though, Harrow has two voices inside him and they seem to disagree with each other. We think it's strange. Your baby doesn't talk to you, does it?"
...
The next day Broom makes sure to wake up early so she can get to work preparing breakfast.
This time, with most other people sleeping she is able to stay focused on the task of making the best breakfast she can with what she has. Again she dips into her personal stash of spices and uses her magic liberally when the supplies on hand prove to be inadequate.
As people wake up she proudly serves everyone personally with a cheerful smile.
Later she says "We think that we should go back. If there is still stuff there we should take care of it so Winter and everyone only have to worry about what is down one direction instead of two."
Pouch figured everything was cleared in that tunnel when he was out cold. "I suppose that does make sense, making sure that at least one avenue of entry is more or less safe. Alright, let's go check back down that hallway and make sure everything is dealt with."
"Yes, we should go back. After the fight with that doctor doppleganger I gave up searching and just tried to get everyone back alive."