Theodric, itching to get into the melee but unable to do so without getting in the way of his comrades, moves closer to the fray, right behind the halfling, ready to assist when he can. He wishes he had a polearm to support them better with.
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The rat sprints past the heroes as the ogrekin steps up and buries his hook into Morythine. Shalelu heals herself again.
Channelling his ki, Morythine’s spinning quarterstaff lays into the ugly ogrekin, before sliding away to nurse his wounds.
Ki points: 1 remaining
Spells: divine favour, doom, magic stone, obscuring mist (domain spell)
Orisons: detect magic, detect poison, guidance, resistance
Riley snarls as the rat rushes past and his jaws snap on nothing but air. He turns and tears into it with claw and fang.
"Grrrrrr...." Eugeni growls as the ogrekin continues to absorb damage without dying. He continues to unload on it. This time he sinks two more shafts into its face, and the front of its skull collapses spilling the contents of its cranium down its fat belly.
Zoli sees the ogrekin fall to Morythine’s blows and Eugeni’s rain of arrows, flinching a bit at the gore and pulp but relieved that he’s been defeated after the damage he just did to Morythine.
She slides over next to the rat and finishes him off with two expert cuts and a flourish.
As it falls, she says, ”OK, time to breathe. Eugeni, what’s going on with that poison? Is it getting worse?! Your color seems msybe a little better, but it's hard to tell in this light. And Shalelu and Morythine, you two look terrible. Lets get you healed up before we continue on. I can wait by this door and keep a lookout, in case reinforcements are on their way.”
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HP 50/51
Luck 5/7
Panache 3/3 (-1 for precise strike; +1 for killing foe)
Charmed Life 3/3
Buffs Blessing: +1 to hit
IH (round 5/10)
"Oh dear!" says Setsuna's disembodied voice. "Here, Mory. Let me fix you up. If that's okay with you I mean. I think a Cure Serious should do the trick."
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"Probably not the smartest move there, Setsuna. I'll heal him. Its not like I was of any help that fight anyways." Theodric rests his greatsword on one of his shoulders while pulling out his wand with his free hand. He taps Mory with it to allow the devilish healing to do its work.
After he does so, he puts the wand away. "This time, lets not go through any spike-filled tubes. And I'll stay up front with whoever is lookout." He walks over and kicks the ogrekin's body and decides to heavily drop the tip of his greatsword into it skull, just to make sure its dead. Once thats done, he checks the body for anything of interest value-wise.
Shalelu uses her wand a few more times, the burns and bruises and lacerations mending and fading as the magic does its job. As you look over the body of the man on the floor in front of you, you notice a deformed vestigial twin growing from the back of his neck...
This dark, recessed corner of the basement smells of rot and old blood. Piles of gore-spattered skin lie heaped on the floor. A horrid rubbery face robbed of its supporting skull and muscle rests on top, its toothless mouth agape and empty eyes revealing only the layer of tan flayed skin resting beneath.
This low-ceilinged room features a floor of hardpacked earth stained in many places by blood and mold. A lumpy mattress lies heaped against the west wall, and what appear to be several half finished chairs made of flesh and bone lie against the eastern wall.
It’s difficult to gauge the exact dimensions of this cluttered room, thickly packed with old crates, broken farm equipment, and furniture.
A large, unlocked chest sits against the wall of this low ceilinged chamber.
At the sight of the magic bow, Shalelu's eyes grow wide for a moment, and then she steps over to Zoli and whispers "That...that is Jakardros' bow, I'd remember it anywhere. My people gave it to him as a gift..."
Blood dribbles down Morythine as he coughs, and the staff he had been using to pummel the ogrekin is suddenly of more use holding him upright. His black clothes are rent, soaked and glistening where the ogre’s crude hook struck him.
Suddenly light on his feet, he has enough sense to shake his head in alarm at Setsuna’s offer of healing, and is relieved when Marcello approaches him and taps him with the infernal wand. Slowly he feels the now familiar tug and twitch in his flesh as the magic begins to knit his body back together.
"We should take another minute to see if you guys can identify the uses of any of these magic items. They could potentially be quite useful in any upcoming fights."
"Good idea, Eugeni."
As it falls, she says, ”OK, time to breathe. Eugeni, what’s going on with that poison? Is it getting worse?! Your color seems msybe a little better, but it's hard to tell in this light. And Shalelu and Morythine, you two look terrible. Lets get you healed up before we continue on. I can wait by this door and keep a lookout, in case reinforcements are on their way.”
"I'm okay, Zol. Riley hit me with a spell during the fight that seemed to have taken care of it. I still feel a bit weak, but its not getting any worse."
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When Setsuna has a moment alone with Zoli, her disembodied voice quietly asks the Halfling, "Why did Mory flinch back there? He acted like I was going to hurt him."
Shalelu steps over to Eugeni, and looks him over. "I have something that could help. Here, sit against the wall," she says as she reaches out to help him sit, her soft hands resting on Eugeni's arm and shoulder.
She reaches into her pack and rummages for a moment before removing two purple vials. "Here. These won't necessarily make it all better, but they should take the edge off."
She hands them to the orcish archer, her hand resting lightly on his arm as she waits to see if the potions help him recover.
Eugeni feels another soft Elven hand on his shoulder.
"How does that feel?"
3rd - 1/5
2nd - 4/8
1st - 4/8
Eugeni blushes red as a beet with so many soft elven hands touching him at once. He feels much better after Setsuna's spell. "Uhh thanks you two. I feel much better now. I don't think I need the potions right now. We should save them in case there are more poisoned traps in here."
Eugeni rests his own hand briefly on Shalelu's. "I'm really glad that plant thing didn't eat you." He smiles at her sincerely.
Oh man...these feelings. She's so hot. And so is she, he thinks looking at Setsuna. F*~!, and so is she! he continues to ponder as his eyes flit to Zoli. Could I be in love with all of them? What's happening to me?! Eugeni clears his throat, and sets his mouth in firm line. "Okay, I'm fine now. Let's get back to analyzing the loot.."
Morythine gives a derisive snort on seeing the fawning attention Eugeni receives over his wounds . . . though really he’s a little jealous. After all, the only succour he received was from the armoured stranger.
"We probably should not dally here too long unless there are more brutes elsewhere. Magic items are important and all, but if we get caught with our pants down while drooling over them then we might not get the chance to use them." Theodric examines a few of the items as he speaks, somewhat hypocritically eyeing a few of the items for himself. "That being said.. at least until we get out of here, does anyone mind if I hold onto that longspear and the electrically charged bow? I assume we can figure out how much everything is worth and divide it up equally once we're out of here."
"Plus, I have a Bag of Holding that we can use to store some of the stuff, if we need to."
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Riley shifts back to human form, stands up and dusts himself off. He pulls out a wand and touches it twice to Kibb.
"Everyone, this is Kibb. I have a limited number of times I can shift into animal form, so I stayed that way since I could communicate with him. As you've no doubt surmised, Kibb's companion was captured by these ogrekin. Furthermore, since they have Jakardros's bow, Kibb's master might be amongst the captives as well."
No longer able to talk with Kibb, he uses his druidic gifts to instruct the firepelt to stay back and follow at a distance, since it's still quite wounded.
As the treasure is being sifted through, Riley suggests, "If no one is in need of that ring, I'd like to use it."
"Uh... I think your cousin might want his bow back... well, assuming he- I would like one of the Amulets," says Setsuna awkwardly after she finishes treating Eugeni's wounds. "Anyway, we should keep searching upstairs. There does not seem to be anything else important down here."
Morythine buckles on the belt of giant strength.
At the newcomer's mention of desiring the bow, she narrows her eyes at him and says flatly, "That bow belongs to Jakardos Sovark, and if he is alive, it should be returned to him."
Theodric glares right back at Shalelu, not liking her tone. "Well, my cousin won't mind if I use it until we find out if - and I say if he's alive. With what we've seen so far, the chances are slim that he still lives. I'm sure he won't mind me using it to save him, otherwise. If he lives, he can have it back when we rescue him." Without further arguement, Theodric takes the bow and hooks it onto his backpack for safe keeping.
He then picks up the longspear and hefts it in a battlestance, testing it with a few quick jabs. With his greatsword sheathed, he keeps the spear handy, to be used safely behind the front lines.
Riley makes sure his scimitar is loose in its scabbard. "I agree that we should keep moving. It troubles me that Jakardos's weapon is here, but he is not. So we should be fast in case he still lives, but not at the expense of thoroughness. There's likely more traps ahead."
His face is grim as he contemplates moving upstairs and finding the kitchen, but doesn't mention that thought to Shalelu.
Seeing how wounded Kibb is, he uses his wand one more time on the cougar.
The group settles up identifying and distributing the items as quickly as possible before heading up the stairs. They lead to a door on the right which hangs slightly ajar.
This musty chamber smells of blood and week-old meat, and is thick with clouds of fat, greasy flies. Thumb-sized cockroaches dance along the walls, floor, and ceiling. A thick butcher’s block sits under three cruel-looking cleavers that hang on a rack above. Bloodstained smocks of thick leather, one still dripping fresh gore, hang on bone-spur hooks by the door. A crockery platter of severed fingers and toes sits on a rickety old table next to a dried sinew basket overflowing with hacked-off hands and feet, all sporting stubs of congealed blood where their digits once were. A family of lucky rats gorges itself on the red stumps.
The smell in this room is horrific. Eugeni, Theodric, Zoli, and even Kibb begin wretching at the foul odor as they enter the room, though it is so bad it still causes the rest to cover their faces, gag, and have visible signs of discomfort as well. On the east wall, a door is locked and latched heavily, and there is another door to the west next to the hearth.
__________
Zoli enters carefully, cautioning the rest to stay directly behind her. She looks methodically for traps as she crosses the room and approaches the barred door.
If she doesn't find traps (or other signs of trouble) she'll begin working on the heavy locks.
"I was not looking forward to finding the kitchen. Let's be out of here as soon as possible."
Despite the gruesome nature of the scene, Riley pokes around a bit in case there's anything to be discovered amongst the disgusting refuse.
"...And I think that I'll stay cloaked until we leave this Godsforsaken place," Setsuna mutters as she fires up her Ring of Invisibility and vanishes from sight.
"Oh Lords that is a hellish smell. I- I'll be right back." Theodric, gagging at the horrendous stench, retreats back down the stairs momentarily. There, out of sight from the others, he takes off his helmet for but a moment, and pulls out two vials from his backpack; the first vial he drinks, that which contains a thick blue liquid, he gulps quickly. The second one he downs immediately after has a horribly-tasting pink liquid. After drinking it, he stowes the two vials back in his backpack, puts his helmet back on and sighs in relief as the chemicals do their work.
He returns to the group moments later, seemingly unfazed by the smell now.
Even Morythine can’t help but gag as they enter the musty chamber. With one sleeve smothering his mouth and nose, he follows Zoli once she has checked for traps, pausing momentarily to weigh the platter of fingers, jiggling it to make sure nothing’s hidden amongst the digits. He also pokes around in the bucket of dismembered hands and feet with the tip of his quarterstaff.
As Theodric's heavy footsteps reach the bottom of the stair, Morythine, Riley, and Zoli all hear some snickering a moment before the western door busts open. Another pair of the deformed humans stand in the doorway snickering.
"HAW HAW! Look at 'em, Lucky! Bunch a weak bellied pansies!" one says. He is a hairless, bloated thing with malformed, stumpy legs and a wide mouth filled with ragged teeth.
"Yup! What'sa matta, humies? Don'tcha like our finger foods? HAW HAW HAW!!! I'm gonna skull-jig good tonight, Maulgro!" the second one says. Lucky's limbs bend in strange ways. He reeks of his own waste, his clothes covered in his own excrement.
Maulgro looks angrily at Lucky, "Shut up, Maulgro! Mammy's gonna git my legs fixed soon as she catches us a priest-man! Any o' you'uns priest-men?"
"A priest? No, sir. But I am a servant of nature. Shall I demonstrate?"
With that, Riley begins chanting and tracing mystic gestures with his hands.
Still too sickened to make a witty remark, Zoli nevertheless manages to get into position to end the miserable life of the 'people' who did this...
”Flank them as they come through the door?” Morythine suggests to Zoli, leaping past the doorway to take up position on the other side.
"HAW! What's da matter, ugly? You too scared ta come an' play?" Lucky mocks as he and Maulgro fall back into the room, out of sight of Eugeni's and Shalelu's bows.
Riley completes his spell as he takes a step forward. Out of the ether screams glowing eagles into the next room that immediately begin clawing and biting at the ogrekin inside.
19, 18
17
21, 10
23
12, 16
14
The eagles appear and tear into Maulgro, ripping the flesh from his deformed body in viciously long and deep grooves from their beaks and talons. The ogrekin screams in agony all throughout the extra-planar assault, leaving Lucky to only look on in horror at the sight of his brothers evisceration.
Setsuna... does immediately not do anything. Between the combined combat prowess of Riley's summons, Zoli, Marcello (whenever he gets back upstairs), Mory, and Eugeni, she does not see these enemies lasting very long. That said, she makes sure that her want of Cure Light Wounds is still in hand in case the worst happens.
"HAW! What's da matter, ugly? You too scared ta come an' play?"
Morythine can’t help but chuckle at being called ugly by an ogre. “You could come in here and play with us, or just wait for those birds to tear you to pieces, one little strip at a time.”
Eugeni moves far into the next room, and fires an arrow at Lucky. It goes straight through the back of his neck, just next to his spine, and erupts out the front of his throat.
Total damage:36
As Eugeni bolts through the door, he narrowly avoids a wicked scythe slash out at him from within the door frame, but then buries an arrow in Lucky's skull.
"Ah, they were drawing us into the trap! Good thing it missed you, Eugeni," Riley observes as he moves in. Seeing the door leading out, he points to it. "Quickly, now! My feathered friends will only be around for a few more seconds. Open those doors and we'll make further use of them."
The eagles fly through the door, the lead one being sliced in half by a scythe.
This simple room is strewn with “toys,” some of carved wood or bone, while others appear to be little more than partial animal carcasses. Old bloodstains mark the walls; some resemble crude, childlike paintings and feature images of dismembered horses, a ridiculous grinning horned devil tossing children off a cliff, and a big lake with a black reptilian monster sprouting tentacles from its back. Bookshelves rest against the wall, but instead of tomes they hold skulls of all shapes and sizes.
Two short spears appear to be the only things of any worth on the two ogrekin.
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