Sithiss follows her master (with substantially more grace) down into the space below.
As Selter bends down to investigate, he hears the scratching and squealing of more dire rats. The druid waiting below rises from his seat and moves closer to investigate the noises.
Brak grins and with one hand gripping his axe, he digs the fingers of the other into the surface of the wall and climbs down with Selter and Sithiss.
Before he does, Marla casts a spell on him.
Selter miscalculates the distance and lands hard on his tail as his feet slip out from under him, skidding through a pile of fresh rat droppings. Sithiss climbs down behind him smoothly as does the dwarf eidolon. Dietrich also fumbles his leap, but lands a bit better.
The room appears to be well lived-in, though not by anyone who values cleanliness. Insects skitter along the floor, small annoying clouds of flies buzz near the ceiling about 10 feet up, and a sickly, wet smell permeates the room.
There is a single ladder leaning up against the wall near the trap door in the ceiling, though someone must ready the ladder for the others to climb down.
Another filthy looking man that could be the twin of the gingerbearded druid you met before stands up from the table, scattering playing cards everywhere as he shouts something in a strange tongue. His rat pets screech at the sudden disturbance.
Initiative Order - Round 1
-------------------------------------
Gaius
Marla and Brak
Selter and Sithiss
Tresca
Odo
Enemies
Tanselle
Dietrich
Sss....
Sithiss moves up and strikes at the rat in the center of the room since it is a threat to her master.
, damage is
If that doesn't kill it outright, , and
Brak steps forward and aligns a dreadfully powerful overhand swing at the larger rat by the wall. "I scorn you, scurvy companion!" he bellows as the axe descends.
Initiative Order - Round 1
-------------------------------------
Gaius-leaps down and takes damage, is prone
Marla and Brak- begins casting, splats the big rat
Selter and Sithiss- stands from prone and moves, crushes rat
Tresca- leaps down and fires crossbow
Odo - delays
Enemies:
Tanselle
Dietrich
-------------------------------------
Gaius
Marla and Brak
Selter and Sithiss
Tresca
Odo
Gaius boldly leaps down through the trapdoor and also misjudges the distance, landing heavily.
Marla begins casting a spell as Brak beheads the greater of the rats in one shot.
Selter scrambles to his feet as Sithiss catches another rat in her maw and coils around the beast sinuously, crushing it's last breath from it's lungs.
Tresca leaps down so gracefully that Gaius and Dietrich give each other sheepish looks, laying next to each other on the floor so they have an excellent view of her spritely decent. But her moment of triumph is short lived as she accidentally triggers her crossbow prematurely, striking only the floor.
The druid flys into a rage over seeing his pets so neatly dispatched and hurls himself toward the dwarf with such force, he over balances and whiffs only air.
The last remaining rat advances on the constrictor cautiously, and bites down hard on her coils.
Sss....
Sithiss strikes at the remaining rat, since it is a threat to her master.
, damage is
If that doesn't kill it outright, , and
|
Odo shakes his head in wonder at Gaius's brave, if possibly foolhardy, leap.
"I applaud your valor, Gaius, but I fear for your safety!"
As the ladder swings up, Odo grabs onto the top of it and scrambles down, stepping around Dietrich and Tresca and into position where he can strike at one of the rats.
|
|
Tresca lets out a small startled noise as she finds herself suddenly dwarfed by a dwarf. Not something you saw every day! Unfortunately, hitting the druid without hitting Brak would be near impossible at this angle. Reloading her crossbow, she positions herself better, both to be able to get around the giant dwarf, and to handle anybody that might come bursting through the doors.
Tanselle - delays
Dietrich - double move to circle around
-------------------------------------
Gaius -
Marla and Brak -
Selter and Sithiss
Tresca - moves, loads
The enormity of Brak makes a crowded situation even more so, as the Pathfinders scramble for position. The strange dwarf's huge axe bears down on the druid, slicing and crushing through flesh and splattering blood in all directions.
A deathly quiet falls over the room as rivulets of the man's blood combine into pools with the blood and filth of his rats.
|
|
Odo shakes his head in amazement at the dwarf-eidolon's blow. We sure could have used warriors like that in Nerosyan, he muses. But then he pushes the distraction from his mind and gets to the task at hand.
The halfling paladin hustles over to the doors exiting the room, ready to block anyone responding to the noise of the fight and coming to reinforce the rat master.
"BWAAAAHAAAAA!" Brak bellows as he obliterates the Druid.
Marla pales and turns away from the scene of carnage.
Brak nods in satisfaction at his work, and turns to beckon the others to come and advance. Seeing Marla looking away, he says, "Don't look away from it, Marla. That's nothing. When you see a horde of Orcs run loose in a hall full of children and the old, that's disturbing." The old Dwarf shudders, but his eyes have an unsettling fire in them.
|
Tanselle climbs down the ladder to join the rest of the party once the sounds of battle subside.
"Ugh," she exclaims. "More rats ..."
She gives the room a good look around for crates with a red 'x' or anything else of interest.
"Well then," she says to Tresca and the others. "Should we see if the missing Pathfinder is beyond those doors?"
|
|
Tresca barely manages to suppress the urge to throw up as Brak turns the druid into druid-paste. Was she ever glad that Brak was on their side.
Raising her crossbow to shoulder height, she covers the door as Dietrich checks it out. "I'll cover as well, Dietrich. Two pairs of eyes are better than one, right?"
The room appears to be well lived-in, though not by anyone who values cleanliness. Insects skitter along the floor, small annoying clouds of flies buzz near the ceiling about 10 feet up. The corners are occupied by dirty straw pallets covered by wrinkled, mildew-encrusted blankets. A single dilapidated table and four cracked and uneven chairs surround it. The dead druid now almost unrecognizable. The floor is covered in a thin layer of dust and mud and footprints clearly cross the room from the trap door in the ceiling to a set of wooden double doors in the west wall. A sickly, wet smell permeates the room—a smell that gets stronger as you approach the doors to the west.
Gaius and Selter attend to healing while Tanselle continues to search tirelessly, looking high and low. As she glances under the table she finds a chest crusted with dried mud, as if it had supported the man's muddy boots. It is unlocked, and the half-elf lets out a small gasp of surprise when she tosses back the lid and reveals the contents. A fortune in Cassomir trade bars. 1,600 gp worth, to be exact.
Dietrich gives the doors a careful look and once he is satisfied that he sees no traps, he applies pressure to the swinging double doors and reveals a long, steep and narrow staircase leading down into the darkness.
Then suddenly an axe swings down from the darkness, cutting a wide arc on a mechanically propelled arm and slashing through Odo and Dietrich's space. Odo, likely owing to his smaller stature is only grazed by the hefty blade, but Dietrich takes the full brunt of the assault as the axe cuts into him deeply.
|
|
Tresca finches slightly at the sudden appearance of the axe trap. She was glad to see that Odo and Deitrich were more or less all right after a quick healing potion, but this is exactly why she never went first. Her grip on her crossbow tightens as she squints into the room, eyes peeled for movement.
Trusting to his faith to get him through with a minor injury and undaunted by the intensifying smell, Odo advances along-side Dietrich. He didn't like to think what sort of conditions any remaining kidnap victims might be suffering, but at least the current stench was not that of an abattoir. There might be hope of finding them alive yet.
The Pathfinders descend the narrow stairway, all too aware of the likeness of this place to a tomb. It is as if the smell of the grave hangs over this place like a death omen. As you near the doors ahead, the silence seems to press in on you, disturbed only by the sound of your own steps. The druid did indeed cry an alarm, but you are uncertain if the cry was heard as it was silenced so quickly by Brak's greataxe, but the axe trap was not a quiet thing by any means either.
No, that is more than your dread playing tricks on you. You definitely detect a hint of decayed flesh and grave dust on this stale underground air.
|
|
Tresca wrinkles her nose as she catches a whiff of something foul. That was most definitely a dead body. "Hold a moment." she cautions, and squeezes past her companions to get closer to the door. Taking a deeper breath, she catches a hint of something else among the decay. Grave dust - something used in the most sinister of magic. She stood corrected then. Most definitely an undead body.
Tresca presses her way back behind the melee fighters and whispers to the group. "There's dead flesh and grave dust behind that door. Undead. I'd wager anything on that."
The hint of death on the air becomes more noticeable once pointed out. Dietrich studies the doors ahead more carefully this time, and feels confident that these are not rigged.
Odo reaches out with his ability to sense evil and detects two distinct evil auras, one of moderate strength ahead.
Preparations made, Dietrich and Odo open the doors revealing the room beyond. Tall vaulted ceilings disappear into darkness high above as candles and torches barely illuminate the lower reaches of this room. Along the north wall are three cell doors, thick wooden affairs bracketed by solid steel bracings with small, six-inch square windows set high in them. Enormous crates, barrels, and sacks of goods are stacked neatly in the southwest corner of the room. The floor is clean granite, etched with a wavy-lined pattern that permeates throughout the entire room; the design even climbs the walls and disappears into the vaults above. A rat-shaped chalk drawing dominates the floor in the center of the room, clearly depicting a dire rat leaning forward as if to pounce. Thick wooden doors in the east wall lead to a set of steep stairs beyond.
Inside, a man outfitted much like the woman from the Prancing Prince waits behind a withered form draped in rotting vestments.
"Kill the intruders!" The man commands the creature, clutching some kind of amulet he wears around his neck.
Initiative Order - Round 1
-------------------------------------
Marla and Brak
Dietrich
Odo
Gaius
Tresca
Selter and Sithiss
Tanselle
Enemies