"He's trying to get away!" Xerice snarls.
She takes a running jump and dives into the water in the direction of where she heard the click. If she can see the creature trying to escape, she channels waves of negative energies in the hope of bringing him down.
The zombie swats at Xerice as she jumps into the water! However, he misses by a hair!
With a scream of pain the naked form of Vorkstag bobs to the surface near where he's opened some sort of hidden chute. He's unconscious.
The zombie, seeing Vorkstag in such straits, suddenly holds up his arms in surrender.
"Please. His chymicals give me life. Do not slay him. Mercy."
The zombie seems sincere.
Augustus drawns a notebook and starts writing down things, mumbling "Chemycals keeping alive... Zombie... Very interesting. mmmYes, yes!"
He makes a little pause and adds "The creature seems intelligent and surrenders... very unique... never seen that..."
Xerice comes back up and spits out the nasty water. "It's his own bloody fault for trying to escape!"
The zombie stares ahead. "Please. Without his infusions I will become a mindless thing. With it, I remain myself."
Augustus stares at the creature with a gaping mouth and asks him "Oh. Very... interesting! And how could you describe this experience? Being brought in the... cognition world, I mean."
The zombie stares. "I... I don't remember anything before."
Augustus, very interested in the matter, continues his interview. "And by what chemycals does he make you sentient?"
The zombie looks confused. "He makes the chymicals. I know not."
|
"Let us restrain Vorkstag for now, as well as the zombie so that we can investigate it later. I don't understand the first thing about it, but Caesare can study it later. For now let's try to find some hard evidence against Grime or Vorkstag in their rooms."
Ezechias proceeds to bind the prisoners before taking part in a thorough search.
Vorkstag is bound, as well as the strange zombie, who submits without struggle. Exploring the chute, you all find a small room, seemingly an escape route or smuggler's exit. This room contains grisly things in jars, two complete skeletons of monstrous creatures, a coffin, and a handcart. A locked grate sits in the wall, leading out to a tunnel that heads off toward the sewers. The jars contain various preserved specimens waiting to be shipped, including a preserved drow head, a pickled pair of hill giant eyes, the half-changed head and spine of a wererat, and a trio of chuul tentacles. The skeletons are both owlbears, while the coffin holds the body of a man who looks as if he's merely sleeping, but is clearly dead.
Moving back upstairs, you first check out the room Grine hailed you from when you arrived. This room overlooks the courtyard and has a retractable timber and iron crane to lower goods into wagons below through a sliding wooden door. Presently the room has only a few wooden cases in it.
The next room, E6, is a bit different. As much an abattoir as a bedchamber, this room contains not only a four-poster bed, but also numerous workbenches and alchemical gear. The walls are lined with shelves and strange looking objects in jars of liquid. Bits of rags litter the floor, and the air is heavy with the stench of spoiled food mixed with acrid chemicals. A ladder leads to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
One of the jars of liquid contains a single key at the bottom. A small metal strongbox sits under the bed.
Look what I found. That is quite a find!"
Taking a probe and wearing his gloves Caesare fishes out the key and examines the strongbox.
Caesare's probe is a melted mass of corroded metal and his gloves steam and hiss until he pulls them off, but he retrieves the key from the acid jar.
He examines the strongbox and determines that there definitely is a trap on the lock.
"Let's take a look in the box and the up the ladder to see what we can see there."
Very carefully Casesare works on the trap, disconnecting the guide wire before it triggers the trap. The chest contains 200 gp, four vials of antitoxin, and a small purple velvet purse containing 4 small, cloudy diamonds worth 300 gp each.
After checking out the contents, you head toward the trapdoor. Carefully opening the door, you see a small room. Strange art and artifacts from distant lands fill this tower room. Another ladder rises upward to a trapdoor in the ceiling. Two tiny creatures, each red skinned with horns and a jaw made of metal, sit on the shelves, watching you.
Sonny examines the creatures to see what they are, expecting them to be evil outsiders and prepares to channel to kill them if they attack.
They don't appear to be planar in nature; rather they look constructed.
Examining those strange beasts Caesare frowns. "I have heard of homunculy, constructed beings from one essence. Could be those!"
Augustus pops his head out of his book at Caesar's words. "What did you say? Homunculy?"
They are indeed homunculi, of a sort you recognize as snapjaw homunculi. Unfortunately, as you study them, one of them seems to shiver and fall apart, reverting to a pile of clay, dried up blood and steel. The other looks at Augustus and he hears a strange voice in his head!
"Don't they look like adorable playthings..."
Augustus scratches his chin. He says out loud at the creature "Become your Master, well, why not? The offer is tempting... Do you have a name?"
Augustus takes out a dagger and cuts his veins a little. "Here, pet. Drink and we'll bound."
After the fight is over Caesare walks over to Zano and slowly starts to speak:"Do you use your head just to stuff food in or do you sometimes think before you do something stupid. This is not the first nor the second time that you behave like a drunken elefant in a porzellain shop. You just killed someone innocent! Power without control is nothing! And you lack even the concept of control! So I do warn you, and boy, listen incredible well, this was the last stupid stunt you made!"
The little homunculus sighs as the drops of blood are absorbed into its form. "Master!" It croaks in a small voice.
Caesare throughoutly searches the room.[ooc]Taking 20. What time is it?"[/B]
While the homunculus is being dealt with Sonny takes a look around the room.
Augustus continues his little chat with his now pet. "So what do you do, little one? Do you remember anything from your ancient master?"
Then to the others: "Do we have any questions for my homunculus?"
The little homunculus sniffs. "Master was cruel. Trapped door." He points up to the ceiling. "Master liked killing."
The room reveals a few items of interest. Among the curios and artifacts in this chamber are an ebony tribal mask from the Mwangi Expanse worth 175 gp, a silver torc from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings worth 200 gp, and a mammoth tusk scrimshaw from the Realm of the Mammoth Lords with several spells carved on its surface. The tusk weighs 20 pounds and functions as a magic scroll containing the spells bull’s strength, ice storm, and phantom steed.
Forewarned of the trap, you are able to disable it to reveal a small room at the top of the tower. Nothing of much interest lies here, but there is a lightning rod atop the tower in the shape of a raven devouring a wolf.
Back down the hatch and you enter Vorkstag's rooms. This room appears to be the study of a scholar. A roll-top desk with a leather chair stands against one wall, holding a variety of alchemical equipment and surrounded by hundreds of books piled on every available surface. A narrow cot is crushed into one corner behind a wall of books. A door stands in the north wall.
A combination alchemy lab, library, and bedchamber, this room is almost fastidiously clean except for the heaps of books everywhere. A large bell jar atop the desk contains the alchemically preserved head and shoulders of a human man. Vorkstag’s collection of books (mainly dealing with anatomy and surgery) would be worth 500 gp to the right scholar or a university. In addition, a complete alchemist’s lab sits on the desk, along with three packets of flash powder and five pots of alchemical grease Vorkstag had recently created.
The northern door is locked with an exceptionally fine lock, but on Vorkstag's key ring you find the key. Beyond the locked door, a tiny room holds a single object—a large oak cabinet. Inside the cabinet is a ghastly collection of skins, hanging up as one hangs suits or shirts. Men's skins, women's skins, even an odd skin that looks like it resembles a description you've hear before: the grotesque, deformed skin of a 8-foot-tall mongrelman, made up of flesh, fur, and scales and covered with fungal boils and hideous puss-filled eruptions.
Something about the cabinet seems off...
"That's grotesque. We will need to save all of these as evidence for the courts."
"I guess that should be enough to convince the judge and the others that there are more than one monster about."
"Hmm, interesting, but will these be sufficient for court, you think?"
Actually Caesare takes his time.
Caesare seems determined to plumb every secret this cabinet might hold and his persistence pays off! With a loud "A-ha!" he removes the panel from the interior rear of the cabinet, revealing a small niche inside. He finds a pouch containing 500 gp in various coin, a bejeweled silver cup, a small medical holder containing six vials and needles labelled "Necromantic Chymicals" that seem to hold the injections the intelligent zombie spoke of, as well as a small leather bound book that proves to be a ledger of buyers of corpses and specimens. The names appear to be mostly scholars, but one name stands out as a "provider of unique specimens:" Dr. Brada of Sanctuary Asylum.
"Oooooh what a pretty little thing! Most fascinating, isn't it?" says the professor with eyes wide open.
"Actually, I wonder. Is it only chemicals or is there a hint of magic?"
Augustus seems to focus on what Caesare discovered.
Looking at his finds Caesare shakes his head. "This is quite.... obscene!"
The chemicals in the vials do seem to radiate a faint aura of necromancy, but much less than you would expect a spell capable of zombie animation. It must be some sort of mix of spell and chemicals.
"We have to make haste. But first we have to deposite the two suspects at the local jail."
The sudden presence of the heroes, coupled with a clearly dead man walking and a skinless unconscious man, causes a slight uproar at the local jail. There is a series of confused looks, which finally ends when someone retrieves the local constable from his home, where he is enjoying a meal with his wife. He looks at the zombie and the skinless man and goes slightly pale. "What is the meaning of this?" he finally manages to choke out.
"Those are witnesses. Granted, those are abhorrities, but could be elementary in proving the innocence of someone. I am of utter confidence in your ability to guard them and treat them beter than they deserve! I wish I could tell you more, but daylight is waning, and there is still a crimescene to investigate. All yor answers have to wait till tomorrow, but be assured they will be answered in totalum at court!"