"Pfft, give her a minute or two to suffocate", Mirian says. "Bat those birds out of the sky while waiting, I'm going to look for anything useful in here. Anyone got a light?"
Demetrio> Demetrio asks about injuries, then prepares to jump back down into the pit and begin to unearth the hag.
Mirian>
Mirian walks deeper into the cave, and finds that it curves around to the left, and ends in a living chamber. There is a disgusting feather covered bed, and the stuffed corpses of four large ravens with their eyes sewn shut. There are also normal living supplies... a cauldron, sacks of grain, spare clothing.
Notice Roll - with Raise ... Mirian only
You notice that behind the bed there is a panel, painted to look like the cave wall, but obviously concealing something.
”I’m injured Demetrio. Not much. Just enough to make life difficult,” he points to the various cuts and scratches he received from the birds.
”I didn’t bring a torch. Didn’t think we’d be going into a cave.” He eyes the birds at the mouth of the cave as he rolls his shoulders and flexes his arms. Clearly he’s getting ready for a continuation of the combat. He pauses and sighs.
”Do you have bandages with you Demetrio? I’ll probably fight better with some of my bigger wounds bound.”
Mirian can be heard rummaging around deeper into the cave. A few moments later the pirate sticks her head back out around the corner. "Demetrio, you're learned, aren't you? Raven corpses with their eyes sewn shut, does that say anything to you?"
Shortly after she turns her head to Hound who has padded up beside her. "Hound, make yourself useful. Can you find anything in there? Seek. Seek!"
Barnabas shrugs, then notices Mirian rummaging around the witches possession. He joins her....
Notice
Wild
He notices a nice grey colored rock....among other nice grey colored rocks.
Demetrio> Thought you have read of such things, this doesn't ring any particular bells. Perhaps if you had time to do some research...
Dog>
Notice
WD
Mirian> Dog scratches around a bit, but seems fascinated by the ravens and keeps getting distracted.
"Perhaps? -- No. Well, maybe if -- No. That would be ridiculous. I'm sorry Mirian. I can't say that I've heard of such things. I'm sure the ravens with sewn eyes must mean something, but nothing is coming to mind. Perhaps, if I had my books," Demetrio muttered distractedly.
He finished bandaging up Septimilius and retrieved his staff. Finally, he started to look around.
"Perhaps there's another way out of here."
Demetrio From what you can determine, this is a simple two room cave. There is no obvious way out, but for through the bird swarms.
Mirian frowns as her dog continues to get distracted by the flapping of bird wings instead of searching the . "No, no! Forget about the birds. In here, seek. Seek!" she tries push the dog further into the room to ensure his cooperation.
"Are the birds slowing down? Is the crone dead yet?", she calls out to the front of the cave.
Septimilius nods in satisfaction after Demetrio binds his wounds. ”Thank you!” While getting bandaged he had lost track of what Mirian and Barnabas were doing. When he heard that ravens with their eyes sewn shut were in the crone’s possessions he shuddered.
He looks down into the pit where the crone is covered by rocks, to see if she is still alive.
”Hopefully the birds don’t bother the caravan, while we send her to the underworld.”
Demetrio looks around the room, but sees nothing more than Mirian and dog were and are able to unearth. Mirian feels that something is not quite right here, but she can't put a finger on it.
Septimilius, is unable to determine if the crone is alive or not, as she is completely buried beneath the rubble. Well except for one hand anyway, which is scrabbling about at the gravel as though a living creature.
The birds are growing more aggressive, pecking and clawing at the debris, but don't seem to be playing your group much mind.
Barnabas abandons sifting through identically colored rocks and stands hands on his hips, looking from the small room , to the pit to the swarm of birds at the entrance.
"Well, we're not going anywhere with all that out there. And she's the reason they're there...look the hand's still moving, the b@#*@'s still alive down there!"
Cooperative Rolls
Sometimes characters may want to cooperate and help
a friend complete some kind of urgent task. If two or more
characters want to perform a task together (and the GM
decides it’s possible for them to do so), the lead character
makes his roll and adds +1 for every success and raise his
companions achieved on their own rolls. This has a normal
maximum of +4 for all tasks except those of Strength, which
have no maximum.
Characters may not make cooperative rolls if they don’t
actually have the skill in question. (You can’t make default
rolls to aid with Boating, for example, if your character doesn’t
actually have the Boating skill.)
”How’s this for an idea? I move the rubble and one of you be ready to bash her brains in,” Septimilius suggests as he begins warming up his arms and legs. ”Or stab,” he adds with a nod towards Mirian’s rapier.
"That's the best idea I've heard all day", Mirian says and kicks some debris aside in wait for Septimilius to clear the rubble.
Septimilius begins the task of removing the debris by hand.
Barnabas jumps down to help Septimillius toss rocks out of the pit, "Careful of the hand of hers..."
"How about I help with the rocks instead, Barnabus. No offense, but you're a bit, er, stringy. Sorry," Demetrio finishes sheepishly.
”Gloves would be nice,” Septimilius says as he shifts the palm-fitting rocks to the side, trying to judge the best spot for revealing the torso. ”I don’t want to see her head until we’ve stabbed her in the heart a few times. She could give me the evil eye...and I'm watching for her hands too,” he nods at Barnabas.
"How about I help with the rocks instead, Barnabus. No offense, but you're a bit, er, stringy. Sorry," Demetrio finishes sheepishly.
Barnabas rises to his full height in pretend indignation "I'll have you know...I've a wiry strength!" but then smiles and allows his more burly friend access to the rocks.
He then stands guard , sword ready.....
DM Roll
As the two men pull away the debris, tossing some out of the cave entrance and scattering the birds, they are able to finally unearth the unmoving... Well except for that scrabbling hand... crone, She is lying face down. The birds seem to become very agitated, and fly in close pecking and pulling at her body. What do you do?
With the crone’s body revealed, Septimilius readies his shield and mace. ”I’ll fend off the birds while you stab the crone. Demetrio, do you think it might help if we burn the body?”
"Couldn't hurt. But I don't have any oil."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Mirian looks at the unearthed body with a disappointed frown. "She dead then?", she asks and pokes the body with her boot. "What of the birds? Do you think they're still under control or are they just really eager to eat her?"
As Demetrio pounds on the hand, it cracks and squishes under her foot. She suddenly jumps to her feet, holding her missing stump, and screaming in pain, and rage. "Not so dead, but you might be soon"!
Mirian 8D
Septimilius 7C
Demetrio JH
Barnabus 10H
Crone AS
Birds KH
So...
Crone
Birds
Demetrio
Barnabus
Mirian
Septimilius
The crone throws back her head, and lets out the most horrific Scream any of you have ever heard. Rocks and dust fall from the ceiling, and the whole cave rumbles behind you.
DM Rolls
Magic
WD
The air almost seems to take on texture due to the motion of the sound, and everyone takes sonic damage. (Including the Crone)
Sonic Blast (Note Armor does not apply to this damage)
The birds Flurry about confused by the sound. Many of them drop to the ground.
Demetrio grunts but isn't otherwise hurt. He swings his staff...
Ten of Hearts
The wash of sound hits Barnabas like a hail of rocks, blowing the air right out of his lungs and stinging his entire body.
Gasping for breath, he clutches the side of the pit for balance, trying to right himself.
Spirit Roll
Wild
Grimly holding his sword, he straightens and readies himself to attack the still-living witch.
Caught totally by surprise Mirian acts on instinct alone and thrusts both rapier and dagger against the crone.
Septimilius flinches as the sound blasts from the crone. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he thinks he can hear the sound echoing in the small cave amidst a high pitched ringing.
”Arggh!” he yells as he swings his mace at the crone, following the attacks of Demetrio and Mirian.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The Crone falls to the floor under the onslaught of all the vicious attacks, and lays still in the rubble.
Healing Success
You can see the terrible wounds beginning to knit themselves closed.
Notice Success and raise
The wounds don't seem to be bleeding as much as they should, and you swear you saw here tremble a bit.
Demetrio blinks as he watches the crone start to stitch itself back together.
"It's still alive!"
He dropped his staff and drew his beautiful new blade from its scabbard.
"Legends say that a witch's spell is broken if they lose their head," Demetrio said in a cold voice. The sword came up in a powerful, perfect arc, just they way his friends had shown him.
"Let's test that theory."
The blade came crashing down on the crone's neck.
Septimilius heavily pants as the crone’s body lies at his feet. He looks at her body for any signs of life. At Demetrio’s words and drawing of his sword, Septimilius takes a half step back. His mace could help decapitate her by shattering her neck, but a sword is the best weapon for the task. He watches the birds as Demetrio strikes.
Hopping over the rocks, Barnabas joins Demetrio in trying to hack off the witches' head
"Hope this works, Dem!" Barnabas cries.
Though not well trained with his new weapon yet, it is nonetheless very sharp, and with a massive swing, and a smaller one to finish off the spinal column Demetrio removes the crones head from her body, just as she starts to twitch and move again. As this act is completed several things happen at once.
- With a poof the witches body begins to deflate, as thousands of black feathers billow forth from her body cavity.
- At the same time as the feathers hit the ground, the birds at the entrance to the cave begin to fall... seemingly as each feather hits the ground, a bird outside dies.
- There is a terrible cawing sound from the back room of the cave, and dog starts running in that direction.
- The scrabbling hand stops moving, and the witches milky eye rolls out onto the ground, now a large milky stone of some sort.
Mirian gives Demetrio an incredulous look as he proclaims that the hag's still living. However she is all to willing to let the scholar do the gristly work of decapitating the old crone. She has trouble believing her eyes as the decapitated body starts spewing feathers, but the cawing from the back of the cave grabs her attention. She bends down to pocket the white stone and climb out of the pit to search the back of the cave. "Any guesses on what it is?", she asks as she climbs out of the hole.
Demetrio spat out a tuft of feathers that got in his mouth.
"Lovely. Just lovely," he said with a hacking cough. He looked over at the others. "Most scrolls don't cover the part where sorcerers explode into feathers."
He shook off a feather that got stuck in his sleeve.
"Probably for good reason."
Demetrio wiped the blood off his new blade before sheathing it and picking up his trusty staff. He followed Mirian.
Septimilius swats the feathers away from his face. Once the air is mostly clear of feathers, he says, ”I’d leave that here, Mirian. Who knows what trouble it can cause? Of course it’s your decision,” he shrugs and grins.
”It’s probably a demon-bird or her spawn,” he answers Mirian about the terrible cawing sound coming from the back of the cave. As he makes his way towards the back room, he attempts to avoid stepping on any of the dead birds.
As the witch's eye rolled out onto the rock, Barnabas was about to jump to snatch it up, but gallantly allowed the fair Mirian to pluck it up.
Waving his hands to clear the air of feathers, Barnabas follows Mirian up out of the pit and makes his way to the back of the cave, sword at the ready.
"That witch caused enought problems, I'd rather not quarrel with any of her babies...." he mutters to Septimilius.
Mirian>: As you pocket the milky eye, you'd swear that it is a gigantic pearl... just a little overly warm, and bloody from it's former occupancy.
Demetrio>: Still spitting feathers, Demetrio follows Mirian back into the darkness of the cave.
Septimilius>: Septimilius follows Mirian as well a couple of steps behind. As he has his head down avoiding the scattered dead birds, he almost hits his head on a hanging rock, but manages to duck in time.
Barnabus>: Barnabus also follows the group towards the back room, but takes a second to notice that almost all the birds from the swarms are now lying dead in the entrance to the cave, and covering the ground for several yards outside. There is now more light in the cave since the flock is grounded.
As the group enters the back of the cave they spot four feathered forms picking at a spot on the rear wall of the cave behind the sleeping pallet. Mirian recognizes these as the formerly stuffed birds, with their eyes sewn shut. Somehow the death of the witch seems to have animated the birds, but they seem intent on something besides revenge.
Septimilius keeps quiet as he inspects the back of the cave. He keeps his shield up as he slowly steps closer towards the newly animated birds.
Septimilius swats the feathers away from his face. Once the air is mostly clear of feathers, he says, ”I’d leave that here, Mirian. Who knows what trouble it can cause? Of course it’s your decision,” he shrugs and grins.
”The only trouble it will cause is on the stores of the next Inn keeper we encounter. A pearl this size will yield us quite a feast!”
”Shoo, shoo!” Mirian says while weaving her rapier back and forth in a atempt of dispersing the eerie undead birds. She tries to move the bed in order to clear the area of the wall that the birds are pecking.
Barnabas sheathes his sword as he approaches and see that it's only a few dead birds making the commotion.
"These birds....I think I'll write a song..." he mutters as he joins the others in looking about.
Notice
Wild