Gadriel moves up cautiously, Abu looking around frequently for danger.
As Gadriel approaches the doorway and sees the snake fighting with the unseen...thing...that Teodor summoned, Abu lets out an enraged chitter. It seems to slow the bone-snake's movements, and you hear a crunch as the "wolf" plows into its foe's midsection. The writhe, locked together, a mass of tentacles, bone, and flesh, and you hear an enraged howl from the wolf that sounds deeper and...brassier...than any wolf on this planet. They continue to struggle...
Snake thing: HP: 18. AC/T/FF: 14/14/9. DR 5/bludgeoning. Fort +1, Ref +6, Will +1. CMD 18.
Wolf's HP: 6/17
"Good boy," Teodor says to the monstrous voidwolf. It's tentacled face shows no emotion or recognition of its "master," but snaps its viscous, vicious jaws on the snake.
"Anyone need healing?"
Adoros swings around and heads toward the last bony snake. He calls out to Teodor, "I could use a little." Once he reaches the snake, Adoros rips into the beast as it is busy with the wolf.
Korriban steps closer until he's next to Gadriel. "I'm hurt, but not too badly."
Attack:
Power Attack:
Diamon brings his polearm to bear once more, intently focusing his frustration and rage into something more focused. His hammer glows a dark, jade color before swinging it around and smashing it heavily into the body of the last snake that had harangued them for this long. At the mention of healing, the Dwarf shook his head and barked back, "I'm covered!"
"Then ye shall all suckle at the rotting teat of Groetus!"
As Teodor summons a wave of sickly, pearlescent light from his holy symbol, Adoros, Diamon, and the wolf lunge toward the final bony snake, tearing it to shreds...er, chunks. As the last bones clatter to the floor, the voidwolf turns toward Teodor and makes a strange gesture--if a tentacled wolf could bow, that would be what it was doing. Then it vanishes, with a bang and the acrid smell of sulfur and acid.
After such a long pursuit and fight, an almost eerie silence hangs over the hallway now...
Combat Over
There is a door to the east at the end of the hall near Korriban and Gadriel; in the chamber you came through before the little humanoid fled into this room there's also a passageway leading to the southwest. And, of course, the tunnel to the north that the little bugger was trying to flee down...he, unfortunately, has expired from his double set of wolf- and snake-inflicted wounds.
Korriban sighs in relief. He looks at the others. "Well done! I'm really glad that's done with. Let's look back at that table room and see what we can find." He goes back and searches the room throughly.
Lay On Hands:
Perception:
Diamon lets out a long sigh, cleaning his hammer and stowing it away for the moment. He clasps his hands together, his hands radiating a warm, amber glow instead of the typical bright white of normal Paladins. He breathed deep as he healed his wounds, deciding to join Korriban in searching the room.
"Talk about a fight bein' a wash. Feel ridiculous lettin' m'self get bit like that. And then the scaly bastards where harder t' hit than shadows!" He continued to mutter to himself as he searched.
Korriban and Diamon do a thorough job of tossing the room that the little humanoid was in, but have no luck finding anything valuable...or the body you're seeking. The corpse on the table that the thing was working on appears to be a middle-aged man, not a young Shoanti youth. The only thing of interest in the room are the remaining stirges, but they, sated with their meal, are resting in the hutch and exhibit no interest in you whatsoever.
As they pass by the entrance to the tunnel that leads southeast, Korriban and Diamon (as well as anyone else who hangs out over there) are assaulted by a foul, hot and heavy stench: rotting meat, mixed with...something worse. All sorts of refuse, it smells like.
As you pass by the tunnel, you also can distantly hear something slurping, gnashing, and occasionally swallowing...
"...*nomf* *snarf* Very good, very much good, mmmm 'sgood, me likey."
Adoros' face draws up into a look of disgust as he waves off the foul smell from his nose and steers well clear of the southeast tunnel, "Whew... I for one don't want to go traipsing through whatever garbage heap lies down there. It would seem our little dark friend was possibly going to look to warn someone before he met his end. I say we go find this someone and make them tell us where the Shoanti boy's body is."
Korriban believes that he heard something... but shrugs it off when he doesn't hear anything. The smell, however, makes him cringe in disgust. At Adoros's suggestion, Korriban says, "Well, what if we find something else that doesn't speak Common? Or if the body is in there? I'll concede to your point, Smokestick, but let's try to investigate this at the end."
Coming up empty-handed, Diamon soon caught wind of what everyone else was making faces over. He made a retching face as well, but stopped when he heard a voice coming form the foul-smelling cave. "Hang on. I'm.. hearin' a voice from, whatever's causin' that awful stink. One I can understand, too. I think we should check it out. I don't like the idea that I'm hearin' somethin' down there, eatin' bits of others and talkin' to isself."
"Abu hears the sounds too. Something is eating. Something is happy about what they eat. It... is disturbing, considering where we are."
Korriban sighs. "Great. So now we have to deal with it. Let's get going."
As the group descends down the tunnel, the mud squelches slightly underfoot, and the smell grows only worse. The drip of water surrounds you, and when you emerge, you find that the majority of this room contains a nasty-looking stretch of mud--a partially-collapsed sinkhole--kept damp by rivulets of water seeping from the walls. A patch of solid ground extends into the mud to form an island, on which is heaped a reeking pile of body parts. To the north, a rickety wheelbarrow sits on its side against the wall.
In the far corner of the cave, mostly submerged in the mud, is a foul tentacled creature--one that everyone but Diamon recognizes as an otyugh. It's currently chowing down on a piece of...someone...but as Diamon squelches into the cave it perks up, eyestalk swiveling toward you, and bellows excitedly, "WARM FOOD!!" It lunges toward you!
Fortunately it slips in the mud and is going to have to pick itself up before doing anything awful to you...
Otyugh: HP: 39. AC/T/FF: 17/9/17. Immune to disease. Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +6. CMD 19 (21 vs. trip).
Even as careful as he went, Diamon never practiced his stealth too intently. Upon spying the thing making the noise and speaking, he drew his Falchion and let out a bark of a laugh as it slipped and fell with a wet 'splat'. "Bwaha! And 'ere I was worried about a threat!" He moved in quickly to take advantage of this large opening, swinging his large blade.
Attack:
Damage:
Korriban's nose scrunches as they get closer. As the creature comes into view, Korriban's eyes go wide as he remembers. "Otyugh!" He focuses as the creatures comes forward... until it slips on the ground and splats. Korriban laughs uproariously. "Hahahaha! Oh, boy. That's way too funny." Seeing Diamon heading off, Korriban smiles and joins in. He runs up to it and swings his rapier.
Gadriel cautiously enters the room, Abu staring at the disgusting creature.
At the sight of the filthy, trash and body laden room, Adoros nearly vomits at the smell and sight. The trashing and hungry otyugh doesn't help matters. He reaches for his gun, hesitating for a moment before saying, "They probably already know we're here. The hells I'm letting that disease-ridden thing touch me!"
As the otyugh struggles to its feet, Diamon and Korriban sprint forward; Diamon's falchion lands a mighty blow on the otyugh's head, eliciting a scream of rage and pain. Korriban's rapier scores the creature's tough outer hide, but just barely fails to draw blood. As Gadriel and Abu watch, Adoros blasts the creature with a bullet, and it bellows "OW! BANG BANG BANG, I BANG YOU NOW!" Teodor dances forward as well, bringing his sacred flail of ending down toward the otyugh's head with a squelch.
The otyugh turns toward the two creatures who hit it. "PUNY HOOMANS! I EAT YOUR CORPSE!" It lashes out with its tentacles. Teodor ducks, and avoids the flailing limb, but one tentacle, thick as a treelimb, clobbers Diamon and wraps around him. The dwarf gasps and struggles as the enraged otyugh sweeps him toward its toothy maw, squeezing the dwarf purple as the tentacle constricts. For a brief second Diamon's gauntleted hands grapple with the otyugh's mouth, trying to keep it from clamping down...and then the dwarf lets out a bellow of pain as the aberration's teeth pierce his shoulder and he slumps over, unconscious in the thing's grasp!
Otyugh: HP: 19. AC/T/FF: 15/7/15 (until next round). Immune to disease. Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +6. CMD 19 (21 vs. trip).
"Not yet, Rockdwarf."
The Dwarf grunts as he tries to keep himself from being eaten from the giant, wretched beast, keeping a death grip on his weapon even as he feels life start to fade from his body. He felt a wave of warmth pass over him, keeping him in this world for a little longer. Renewed, he swings his falchion around and attempts to cut himself free from the Otyugh, landing back on solid ground and shoring his health up further. "I ain't about t' die t' a beast as hideous as this one just yet!"
Attack:
Damage:
Lay On Hands:
Korriban looks at the otyugh and scowls. "Hey! Put him down!" He strikes out.
When one of the many tentacles of the excrement-covered creature grabs the dwarf and does a good impression of a maraca with him, Adoros curses under his breath, "B*%*%$%s." Carefully, the Chelish man lays his gun down and starts forward as he draws his large sword again while suddenly screaming in fury, "B&$@%##S!" He brings the sword down in a vicious overhand chop at the stinking flesh of the creature.
"Abu doesn't think monsters should play with monster's food." Abu shrieks in agreement, his eyes a dark gold. Gadriel suddenly breaks out into an odd laugh.
As Diamon struggles in the thing's grasp, Korriban lunges forward and plunges his rapier into its side. Half a second later, Adoros comes hurtling in and smashes into the otyugh, his greatsword cleaving a tentacle clean off and continuing into the aberration's face! It slumps to the ground, thick blackish blood oozing from its wounds.
As you all catch your breath after the grisly work is done, you have a few moments to evaluate your surroundings, and you can see what this place truly is: a midden, filled with the discarded bodyparts of people, a few animals, and other things you can't name. The freshest bodyparts seem to be on or just near the island...probably the necromancer, or those little blue monstrosities, just dumped the pieces here as refuse and let the otyugh grab them and eat them at its own pace. One of the freshest "parts" lying near you is a male human's legs from the waist down. It's not their freshness that catches your eye, however: it's the fact that these legs are covered in bold Shoanti tattoos.
Teodor's eyes go white as he attempts to determine whether there is magic nearby.
Seeing the creature fall unconscious, Korriban lashes out with his rapier to finish the job.
Korriban sighs in relief. Looking at Diamon, he says, "Are you okay?"
Seeing the legs with the Shoanti tattoos, Korriban wades through the trash to pick them up. He shows them to the others. "I think we found the brave's legs." He smirks at Adoros. "Despite the trouble, I think this little side trip was worth it. Wouldn't you say, Smokestick?" He looks around for anything else of interest.
Gadriel wrinkles her nose at the disgusting heap, but seems unfazed by the lower half of the man once it's pulled out.
Teodor's enhanced eyesight picks out a faint yellow glow coming from a spot near where Korriban is digging; a few moments later, Korriban has unearthed a small vial containing a glistening, honey-colored liquid that is far more viscous than honey.
Korriban returns to his search and also turns up a silver dagger that's in usable condition (though it's not masterwork) and a gnawed but still valuable amber necklace. By the time he emerges, he's a sticky, filthy-looking mess.
"Aye, I'm alright." He comments as he picks himself up and yanked out his Falchion before it could be lost under the beast's layers. Cleaning it off and giving himself a once over, feeling pretty roughed up after having put the squeeze on him. He was searching the creature's remnants when he noticed Korriban take one for the team and head deeper into the muck. He gives him a reassuring wet pat on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry. When we 'ead topside, I got some Holy Water for ya to get th' stink off but good."
Korriban gets out of the muck. He shows the team what he found. "Look! I found a silver dagger, that's not high quality, an amber necklace, and this vial of honey looking liquid." he then looks at himself. He shudders, "Ew... I look horrible! And it smells really bad." He smiles at Diamon and his offer. "Thank you."
"The vial is magical. Not sure what it does but I kind of want to drink it anyway."
Korriban puts the loot into his pack. He holds up the two legs. "So, who wants to kick it with the legs?" A smile forms on his face. "Boy, this tomb is really kicking with life, huh?"
The Dwarf scowls deeply at Korriban, his bearded face making the clear anger and disgust at what his comrade was doing all the more clear. He didn't move or speak a word, his off-hand clenched tight, looking torn between berating the rogue with words or hammer blows.
Korriban's smile falters at the sight of Diamon's scowl. He looks down sheepishly. "Yeah... sorry about that. Bad taste. Chew me out if you need to. I earned it." He does look back up at the dwarf with a deadpanned expression. "Then again, if I didn't do it, then Teo would have found a way to do it."
"Don't blame me for the ...foot in your mouth, young boy." Teodor looks at the half body. "How offensive is this to Shoanti? Can we present them with this? Can we focus their anger?"
Diamon shakes his head. "No clue. I imagine the Chief would be content with somethin' t' bury, rather than wonder where his son's body is out in th' world. As gruesome as it be, we should collect what we can, and allow the remains t' be properly laid t' rest."
Korriban nods. "Best if we get the entire body. Let's continue on."
"To where? If you think this beast split this boy in twain and didn't eat the half we do not see, you're a bigger fool than I thought."
Adoros looks pale as he extracts himself from the muck and filth. Obviously, the decorum is a bit much for his more refined tastes. The Chelish man shakes his head at returning with just the legs, "At the least, the Shoanti will probably want something to identify the body as the boy in question and not some other poor soul. We'll need to recover the head or at least the face."
"Abu says we should also bring this necromancer to the Shoanti, alive or not. We think that if there is a difficulty with burying pieces, the Old One may be comforted with justice."
Draconas
