Eliseera could hardly not notice the clumsy arrow trap set into the door... and, once seen, it really isn't a great inconvenience to render it useless. All the while, Tella flies in lazy circles around the hull of the Organ Grinder's strange home... calling out to him and unsuccessfully trying to catch glimpses of the vessel's interior. Feeling out with her mind, she probes the aether listening out for the signature energies of conscious minds... there are many here, some animal - instinctive in their nature and, as one, resentful of captivity - and several beings of higher intelligence... these are gathered towards the bottom of the boat and seem to be questioning who it is that is chasing them...
Back at the pier level, Eliseera opens the door into the deck... beyond is a cluttered chamber. Racks of knives lie under piles of books, and iron-shod boots hang, laces taut, from the arms of an iron octopus. A tight little spiral stair descends through an access point in the floor. The room itself is bathed in a sickly greenish light, emanating from a small jar suspended from the ceiling... the jar rustles and cracks with several luminescent beetles jammed into it.
Though he was not about to admit it, Varian was glad to be entering the boat, if only to get out of the sunlight of the day. He enters the room quietly and peers down into the darkness of the stairwell, looking and listening for danger.
Tella focuses on the creatures she senses towards the bottom of the precariously mounted boat.
"Oh yes, you wonder who it is on your heels. I must say that I know you won't like the answer. They know about the fire, the hungry fire that you gave Mahaas, the two-headed freak. I know he used it on a poor young woman, a lady of the night he fancied. I also know your deeper, darker sins," she coos loudly enough for her voice to echo through the hull of the ship.
[ooc]Leaving the Detect Thoughts up if I can and concentrating on the intelligent minds that aren't her companions.
Elsie waits for the others to enter the abode before withdrawing her magical rope. Mustn't leave an easy path for our host to skip out.... She eyes the eerie greenish light with interest...
...recognizing their nature immediately.
"'Ware the Tricklight, those bugs like to go **POP** if you are non too gentle here."
- the minds that Tella can feel start to think about money... and their cold avarice... but there is not the faintest hint of guilt.
The stink of animal urine and musk seeps from the boat, the moment that the door is opened the rank smell assaults the nostrils of Varian and his companions... holding his breath, Lord Varian moves in - and feels a searing pain across the back of his skull.
Hanging directly above the entry door is a foul exhibit — the head and forelegs from a lion, neatly sawn in half and mounted on a varnished wooden plaque. Clumsily animated, the trophy is amateurishly stitched together... and has been positioned so as to attack anything that moves into the boat.
"Ow!" cries Varian as he is snapped at by the animated half-lion plaque. He strikes back instinctually in response, then backs away from the thing, hoping to get out if it's reach.
;
Elsie jerks her gaze to the new threat posed by the animated trophy, eying it briefly...
"Seems as if our friend knows the art of golem-stitching!"
She then draws her rapier and weaves her way behind Lord Varian, trying to find a soft spot to strike...
The longer that Tella concentrates upon the minds in the bottom of the boat, the more she is sure that the Organ Grinder's racket revolves around extortion across the island of Festival... there are many victims of the man's schemes yet it is only recently that he has started to use the living fire...
Lord Varian, and Eliseera moving into the boat behind him smash holes into the taxidermy nightmare slung over the door... yet, dry fleshed and bloodless, the carcass is less damaged than had it been a living beast.
And, with Darc unable to get into the boat behind his companion, the 'lion' has only one target in the doorway...
...and from somewhere in the darkness below them, a raspy voice calls out "Sir isn't at home... oh no, sir isn't here".
Elsie feels the necrolion's fangs dig into her skin, yet manages to stay mobile enough to step aside after again striking at the golem-stitched atrocity...
"Money. Greed. That is all you care about, that is your sin," Tella snarls, her voice sharp with rage that was only partly feigned. "You break others, body and soul all to fill your own coffers! You do not care if your actions maim and kill, nor do you care if fires devour the city, so long as you get your coin."
The psychic longs to unleash her fury on them, to hear them scream as raw emotion tears through their minds, but she holds back, knowing that to attack would unravel her enchantment.
"Yes, you are all alike, thinking yourself clever, but there is no escaping your fate. You can not take your ill gotten riches with you when death comes. Pharasma will judge you and consign your black souls to the fires you so richly deserve."
Tella, lost to her own emotions, reaches out and scrapes nails that had turned almost to talons along the rotted wood of the ship.
"It would be a shame if one of you were to decide that the burning should begin early," she purrs darkly as she lightly scraps the wood of the ship as she makes her way around it.
Varian stays back. He hopes the lion thing can't reach anybody, and then they could just pepper it with attacks from afar. Just in case it can reach someone, Varian readies to intercept it first, including a 5-foot step if necessary.
;
;
;
The animated taxidermy on the wall above the door is severed from its position by Eliseera's accurately targeted rapier, her blade cutting through damp rotten fixtures and sending the dead thing crashing to the floor... where Lord Varian, dancing out of the way as it nearly tumbles into him, ends the menace with a fatal blow. Sawdust and brown maggots spill from the inflicted wounds as the remains of the lion are finally stilled... Darc, sneering in disdain, crunches several of the wriggling worms beneath his feet as he makes his way into the room...
From below them, in the darkness beyond the stairs leading downwards, the raspy voice repeats itself once more, "Master isn't at home... Come back another day".
Meanwhile, outside of the boat, Tella finally catches a 'glimpse' of the Organ Grinder within the vessel... his mind, vile and racing for ideas as to who may be outside of the boat, is a fetid and unpleasant thing.
"Why worry about me? After all, it's only a matter of time before the others want more and decide to cut someone out. That logic goes both ways, though. Is it really worth it to keep those that will slit your throat as soon as things go south around," Tella asks, weaving a spell into her words, enticing the Organ Grinder towards her side. "Why worry about the voice you're hearing when there's a threat to you right beside you. Show them why it would be a bad idea to cross you. Show them their folly. You know you want to."
Elsie's voice cuts like a whip, full of threats, as she responds to the unseen voice. "Do NOT insult my intelligence! We know your master is here! Show yourself NOW and I will show mercy. Refuse and you will feel the sting of my blade!"
While waiting on a response to Elise, Varian tries to hide his whereabouts from anyone who might approach.
The Organ Grinder's thoughts recoil at Tella's intrusions... and what was once confusion and consternation at the voice outside the vessel turns to anger...
...a rush of stale air from below heralds the arrival of the boat's 'doorman', a gargoyle like figure - stone skin and with heavily beating wings - flying up from the darkness below whilst repeating its idiot mantra that 'the Master is not at home' over and over again.
"I think it's this gargoyle's intelligence that deserves insulting." Seeing their enemy and seeking to catch it unawares, Lord Varian rushes down the stairs to attempt a quick blow at the creature.
Lord Varian's blow is harsh and full of venom... the gargoyle, cold-fleshed and dead-eyed, is struck hard. And, now at least, it has stopped its declaration that the 'Master is not at home'...
Elsie gladly accepts the flanking position offered by Varian, her rapier flashing out...
The gargoyle, a shabby looking thing yet physically imposing within the confines of the vessel, is easy to hit... yet, brute-ish and dumb, it hits back with equal - if not greater - vigour... Again and again, the wiry frame of Lord Varian is pummelled and clattered - until, as the dhampir falls, the beast turns its attentions towards Darc...
Wiping spittle and blood from his chin, Darc sneers at the beast... and returns the compliments...
...it is obvious, from the cracks and gouges within the gargoyle, that this guardian of the vessel is badly injured - yet, the beast itself is too stupid to realise the fact... and continues to fight on...
Stunned by the ferocity of the gargoyle's furious attacks, Lord Varian buckles and falls into a crumpled heap on the ground.
Though unconscious, he is, at the moment, still stable.
Not yet ready to reveal herself, Tella tries once again to ensorcel the Organ Grinder.
"Angry? At a ghost?! HA! It's almost too funny to be sad," she laughs, "but why be angry at me. After all, I can do nothing to you. Your mind is too strong. So strong that I can't help but be drawn towards it like a moth to flame."
Elsie heart constricts in fear as the Lord crumbles before the vicious assault. Knowing her friend Darc could withstand only a few seconds of the attacks, she darts around the gargoyle and again stabs at the foe...
Outside of the vessel, Tella feels the Organ Grinder's resistance to her intrusions crumble... and an insipid voice mentally call to her, "Yes?"
Whilst, at the top of the boat, Eliseera tumbles past the beast... and stabs upwards. A monotone voice slowly intones, "The master is not... at...", and the gargoyle tumbles back down the ladder...
Having hooked the Organ Grinder, she now had to reel him in.
"It really isn't safe here? A few snapped ropes and in the Lyme you go! Why don't you head out up and go meet my friends upstairs. They'll help you get to safety," She says as sweetly and with as much concern as she could muster.
Telly then flies up to the others to tell them.
"I've got the Organ Grinder ensorceled. Be friendly and polite or the magic will break," she tells them before trying to track the man's progress through the derelict from the outside and encouraging him to go up.
Lord Varian continues to lie unconscious on the ground, though he is in stable condition.
Elsie nods briefly in response to Tella's report, "Good job Tella. I should be able to get Lord Varian conscious without difficulty..." She then turns her attention to the unconscious body...
She is able to find the wand fairly easily and stops her search once located, leaving his secret undiscovered. Hmmm....it seems as if the good Lord is not a pure as he claims to be... She experiments briefly before she attempts to activate the wand....
Seeing the magic take hold she will wait for the Lord to regain consciousness.
Tella feels the malign presence of the Organ Grinder accede to her suggestion and start to climb upwards... at least two other minds, inhuman and panicked, move with the man charmed by Tella...
No sooner has the gargoyle collapsed back down the stairwell... it's massive body slamming hard against the floor below - causing the entire vessel to shake and groan in complaint... then Eliseera is searching through Lord Varian's belongings, finding the wand that brings him back to consciousness rather quickly. As the felled Lord recovers, from somewhere below them, Eliseera and Varian can hear someone... or something clambering up ladders.
Lord Varian awakens to see the gargoyle apparently gone, and Eliseera with his Wand of Infernal Healing. "Thank you for saving me. I guess we won the day?"
But as he hears the creature climbing up the ladder, Varian quickly gets to his feet. "Let me have that wand, we all could benefit from its use." Assuming Eliseera concurs, Varian uses it on himself, Eliseera, and Darc. Of course, its effects will take a full minute to complete, by which time whatever was coming up the stairs might arrive. And Lord Varian was in no condition for further hand-to-hand combat. He shifts behind Darc as he is using the Wand, letting the burly fellow take the front line.
Elsie lowers her rapier as Varian rises to his feet. "Keep your hand away from your weapons. Tella says she has charmed him. We shall give her the benefit of the doubt."
"Ah, that's a much better solution than fighting these thugs," agrees Lord Varian. Though he remains tense as he waits to see what comes up.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The noise of folk climbing the ladders abruptly stops some way below the group... and Tella instinctively knows that her ensorcellment of the Organ Grinder has been broken somehow. And, worse still, a bestial roaring starts to echo upwards as the entire vessel shakes in protest at the movement of something on the 'lower decks'...
Elsie mutters a soft curse under her breath. "It looks like our friend's magic has failed here!". Gripping the hilt of her rapier tightly she motions to the open hatchway leading down. "Lord Varian, you still need healing. Patch yourself up while Darc and I watch the hatchway."
Tella flies up and appears next to Lord Varian, Darc, and Eliseera.
"Um, we have a slight hiccup," she says sheepishly.
The roaring continues as the boat shakes... and, muffled through at least one level of floor, a voice shouts upwards towards the group, "I don't know... who you... are. But, if you want me then you're going to have to get past my finest... creation!!!"
...it is obvious, even through the voice is somewhat indistinct, that the person - presumably the Organ Grinder - is quite drunk!!!
"Let's back up and recover. I do not much like being on death's door." He will do as much, re-using the wand as needed to help himself and his allies recover their strength.
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Sounds like a good idea. Tella, please make sure our host does not try sneaking out in the meantime." Elsie responds as she takes up position where she can watch the dock.
"Right, are you sure you don't need my help here," she asks. Still, she does ready a spell of flight to let her get airborne again.
As far as Tella was able to see, there are no other exits from this precariously slung boat... there are no ways that she can see where she could sneak in - although, from another perspective, at least it appears that there are no escape routes available to the Organ Grinder...
...the noises below grow in intensity - whatever is down there is large... and incredibly angry - but it doesn't seem to be heading upwards...
"Wait, I didn't see any exits," Tella says as she stops casting her spell.
Lord Varian rubs his injured head. "Oh, I'm pretty sure we could use your help. Certainly hand-to-hand combat met its limits just now."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Darc takes the lead as the group head downwards into the depths of the vessel... peering downwards, into a murk only moderately illuminated by the ever-present siklight roaches, it seems that the stair leads to an unoccupied room. Clambering down the narrow spiral stair into the room below and stepping over the ruins of the gargoyle, Darc finds himself in an antechamber crammed with objects, piled in tea chests, hanging from beams or forced onto crude crooked shelving.
...the items themselves seem to indicate a severe case of kleptomania, street signs for Three Needles Street, Folgate Road, and Fanshaw Street lie amongst other detritus such as a battered leather backpack containing straw, numerous household items, a large jar of very hefty coach-bolts and long nails, a pair of wall supports, and a large amount of rubbish...
There is only one exit from the room... to the east, and it is from behind this door that the raging noises come.
Seeing the gloom, Tella snaps her fingers and four motes of light appear to light up the place.
"There, that should make things much easier," she says.
Seeing the door and hearing the noises, Tella chants and weaves a spell, imbuing Darc with strength.
She then looks to the others and asks, "Shall I open the door?"
Elsie nods quietly, unable to hide a look of nervousness on her face. She readies her rapier and prepares to move into position once the door is opened.
Seeing the gloom, Tella snaps her fingers and four motes of light appear to light up the place.
"There, that should make things much easier," she says.
Easier for some, harder for others, thinks Varian. Though the lights were thankfully not so bright as to hinder his sight.
Lord Varian also nods his readiness to proceed. If Tella can't open the door, he would do it.
The door opens into a highly polished chamber of 'specimens' - in the centre, lies a wooden dissecting table, worryingly complete with straps... there is little time to take in the room for upon the table is a bloody white tarpaulin, covering something large and feral smelling, that thrashes about wildly... it is from here that the bestial noises originate...
Shelves around the room are crowded with a gruesome display of pickled or mummified body parts in glass jars. Some of the specimens still wriggle and move, even though they are simple biological forms such as tentacles, the forepaws of a cat, a human tongue, or a monkey’s hand. In one corner, an object lies covered by a hefty woolen throw with swirling red and orange woven patterns.
Lord Varian holds in his breath at the offensive smell. "So the Organ Grinder starts to live up to his name. What manner of laboratory is this? Tella, do you think you could lift the tarp from that beast?
At least enough to get a peek?"
"Somehow I don't believe those straps are THAT secure Varian!" Elsie mutters under her breath as she scans the area for any signs of the occupant.