Cellaich instinctively steps forward to give chase, but quickly remembers the situation at hand and stops. He turns around, stepping towards the man on the table.
"We'll help you as much as we can," he murmurs, placing the back of his hand against the man's forehead, "but... who... what was she?"
Cellaich seems to have only just come to the realization that he has no idea who he himself is. He remembers leaving Nirmathas, but... he can tell he's certainly not in Nirmathas now.
"Where the hells are we?! Who are you people?!" he asks, very obviously starting to panic.
Jagray less concerned with the man on the table and more concerned about his survival grabs the cleaver and then looks through the room to see if he can find anything a bit bigger to fight with while also checking if the way the woman-thing ran was the only point of egress.
In addition to the two cells you were in, which are directly across from each other, with the table the man is strapped to in-between them, there is another cell to the west along the north wall, but it is empty. At the west end of the room, there is a huge pile of rubble, which would be well beyond your capability to move, and an opening that leads around a corner along the south wall. Due east is the door the creature ran through. Sitting against the wall near the door are two large sacks, which appear to be fairly full.
Amestri watches the other human carefully as he starts to panic, wondering if whatever was wrong with that other female-looking creature is contagious. She addresses him slowly and carefully, keeping the table between them. "I am very sorry sir, I do not know where we are, why we are here, or who any of these people are. There is no need to panic though, we will figure it out soon enough." She watches the dwarf wandering around the room, wondering if he might be ill as well.
This one is acting crazy, the dwarf is wandering aimlessly, the rat hasn't bothered to even exit his cage, and only the little one has shown any kind of ingenuity through her baiting of that beast woman. Who are these people I've been thrust among?
"As to who I am, I am a simple Qadiran who was forced to travel far from her homeland. More than that I am not sure I should share until we all know each other a little better."
Until I see some proof of normalcy in these people, they don't need to know anything about me. I especially don't need them suspecting that I am unsure of anything about me since arriving in Ustalav...how long ago? I have no idea how long has passed since Redleaf. Did they drug us in this place?
She looks down at the man on the table. "And may I ask who you are sir? Do you know anything of why were are here or what is going on?"
Jagray makes haste for the stuffed sacks and searches through them for anything of use while he grumbles "We need ta get out o' 'ere! Wherever we even are..."
Keeping her eyes on the man across the table who might cause problems in his panic, Amestri notices the dwarf going through the sacks out of the corner of her eye.
Alright, I might have misjudged that one. His actions were less aimless than they seemed.
"Sir dwarf? If you could be so kind, please let me know if you find any kind of unusual fabric in your search. It would be a flimsy looking but sturdy black translucent cloth with a red pattern on it. It might not seem like much but it is very important to me, and I would be in your debt." She reaches out with her mind, knowing that if her veil was near she should be able to feel it.
Endol steps out of the cell and moves towards the sideboard and reaches ?up? to crab a blade before turning to the others.
"I am Endol, a student of the University, I do not know how I came to be here.
[i]'The blow to the head must have rattled something, my perspective is skewed.'[i]
With no skill for healing and the Dwarf searching he moves to cover the door, leaving the other two humans to see to the wounded man.
Cellaich mutters something about people being unhelpful under his breath before walking over to the dwarf and peering into the two sacks, realizing quickly that he himself will be of no help to the wounded gentleman.
"Aye, if you see any blades made of cold iron in there, those are mine. Hope everything's in there alright..."
Jagray, you find an assortment of small items in one sack: holy symbols from a few different faiths (including your own), what looks like a black bridal or funeral veil. The other sack contains more tattered and stained robes like the ones you are wearing.
Cellaich and Amestri: The man gives a weak groan. Despite Amestri's efforts, he's still in bad shape. Voice weak, he says, "I'm not sure who I am... or why I'm here... or where this is. I woke here, to find that... blasted thing cutting on me... she told me... that I used to be a guard here." He stops, his head slumping back, gasping for breath from even this bit of effort.
"I apologize, sir. I've done what I can but healing is not really my forte. What little help I provided is all that I can do for you today." Amestri looks apologetically at the man on the table.
"Let's see if we can get you up and moving though. If you were a guard here then maybe you'll start remembering things as we get to somewhere safer." She grabs a knife from the table to cut his bonds, and helps the man sit up. "Can you stand?"
I can feel my veil is nearby. I must find it
As she supports him, she looks around at the group. "We should try and find someplace safer and more comfortable to figure out what is going on here. I do want to apologize for my behavior earlier. It was inappropriate to taunt that thing in the way I did, and I am ashamed to have spoken of such personal topics in front of you. I felt it was the most expedient way to distract that ... مخلوق امراة. Does anyone here know what that thing was? I have never seen the like in my travels."
Jagray grabs what looks like an ornately carved wooden butterfly, hanging from a chain and drapes it around his neck. A visible calm washes over him as he does this. He briefly looks over the other symbols to see if any stand out.
Seeing what the woman roughly described he pulls out the veil and waves it at her "This what yer talkin' about?"
As he awaits a response, he notes to the others "Jus' a bunch of knick knacks and some holy symbols. Tha' other one is jus' more ugly clothes."
Everyone was busying themselves with getting their things together to prepare and introducing themselves.
Hahah, she was so very clever to pick a name earlier! Now she can give it, with her chest puffed up proudly as she points to herself.
"Springy Bedpost! It's great to be starting my afterlife with such excitement!"
My veil!! Thank the Dawnflower.
Amestri walks as calmly as she can over to the dwarf and takes the veil. "Thank you very much sir, this is very dear to me. You mentioned holy symbols as well? Although I have no direct need for one, if there is a symbol of the Everlasting Flame, Saranrae, I would not mind bearing it. It would look like an angel with arms outstretched and a halo like the sun." Despite trying to act calm, she hurriedly turns away from the group, rips the cloth from her eyes, and places the veil carefully over her face. She is noticably more relaxed when she turns back around.
She kneels down to greet Springy face to face, offering her hand.
"Greetings, Mistress Springy Bedpost. It is good to meet you. I am Amestri al-Naadhira Batgali. I understand that westerners do not often utilize such long names, so if you wish you may refer to me as al-Naadhira. May I ask if everyone else would be willing to share their names before we begin to explore wherever this is that we have found ourselves?"
"Cellaich," he chimes in, eyeing the veiled woman warily, "Cellaich Seocan."
He crosses his eyes, looking over the rest of the group. As far as he could tell, there was not a single unifying trait among them that could explain how they all ended up here.
"We should find a way out, and quickly, before the supposed doctor comes back."
"You make a good point, Ser Cellaich. We also should try and arm ourselves as soon as possible."
She looks over the tools and devices by the table. She picks out a ...something...
...and proceeds to join the rat-man at the west end of the room.
He blinks. This is the first time in his twenty-eight years that someone had ever called him ser. In a moment of slightly stunned silence, he steps over to the table, joining Amestri in looking for a suitable weapon.
He looks back towards the direction that the doctor had fled, then looks to see for any other exits to the room.
My first attempt, so let's see how it goes. You should be able to edit and move your icons around. If I made a mistake (likely) do let me know. I placed everyone where I thought they were based on description, but feel free to move yourself if I am wrong.
My first attempt, so let's see how it goes. You should be able to edit and move your icons around. If I made a mistake (likely) do let me know. I placed everyone where I thought they were based on description, but feel free to move yourself if I am wrong.
Cellaich curses under his breath, stepping away from the table and investigating the opposite end of the room from the others- wandering to what appears to be a large wooden chest.
"This is decidedly not a normal hospital. That... doctor was not human. A doppelgänger," he calls out. He isn't sure how he knows that- certainly isn't something he ever had to deal with in the Fangwood. Yet another question regarding blank in his memory...
Cellaich kneels down in front of the chest, attempting to open it while glancing back at the others.
'This woman, Qadiran?, smells divine'
"If that Doctor comes back she will regret it, I suspect from the story the man on the table tells she is not coming back with guards."
He readies himself and quietly hopes his trusty blade is in that chest.
The chest is empty, leaving the area around the corner the only place on this side of the door that no one has yet looked at.
Cellaich goes to investigate the area around the corner.
A cold, iron furnace hunkers in the corner of the basement, its four-foot-square door gaping half open. Nearby sprawls a heap of gory clothes and other dubiously flammable trash. Looking at the furnace, you believe that a small person could easily fit through the vent pipes leading up. Someone closer to your size might be able to get through, but it would be hard. As you look through the debris in front of the furnace, you see bones... you'd guess from at least six different creatures. You also find some things you recognize as being yours...
Cellaich lets out a loud "A-ha! Here!" as he grabs his weapons and tools. He lifts up his boiled leather chestplate, putting it on over his hospital gown and subtly pulling up his trousers so as not to reveal his unmentionables as the party walks over. He straps his sword to his hip and his knife to his chest, drawing each to briefly examine the dull grey of the blades.
He gathers up the rest of his tools as the party walks over, slinging his bag over his back and pointing to the heap as the rest of the party arrives.
"I found my things here- so I should hope yours are here as well. Seems they were meant to be burned."
Amestri picks up her gear and gets situated, also grabbing the holy symbol of Sarenrae. After equipping herself she stands ready to start exploring.
Springy moves over to check on her gear.
There's a lot of fiddling and faffing about with things as she tries out a lot of stuff that couldn't be hers, since it was all too big for her fun-sized self. Eventually she settles on her properly-sized gear...
Which contains a lute.
She thinks she had this stuff in her dream, anyways.
"Hmm..." She twangs the strings thoughtfully.
"I think it's a little flat." Time to adjust the instrument's tuning to get it back into shape! Because that is the most important thing here, clearly.
Endol moves over to gather his belongings. Making a small pile when he gets to it he gets to a well used satchel he opens it carefully and examines the beakers and vials quickly and sets it carefully aside a chain shirt joins it then he finds what he was looking for and straps a strange sheath to his right forearm and slides a odd looking dagger into it until it gives a click, with a little trial and error he gets it set do it will pop into his hand with a quick motion.
The armor is next sliding over his head he works the buckles and cinches so the weight is even spread across his torso. He then reaches for a rapier but not one made for a small creature, he picked it up as with seeming familiarity until the weight and length are fully in his hand, he looks at the blade confused and looks it over as he gets to the polished hand-guard he squeaks tossing the blade down as though it might bite his and scuttles back to a wall looking at it, again as thought it might even now rise up and strike him.
Cellaich cocks an eyebrow at the ratfolk, watching as he recoils from the oversized weapon.
”Is everything alright, err...” he quickly trails off, realizing that the ratfolk has never actually introduced himself. Cellaich takes a step closer to the discarded rapier, picking it up and eyeing it curiously.
”Seems like a perfectly normal sword to me. Of quite better make than mine is, too,” he shrugs, gesturing to the sheathed smallsword shoved haphazardly into his belt. Cellaich extends his arm out to the ratfolk, offering him the discarded sword once again.
Like the others Jagray shuffles through the items picking out what he knows to be his tried and true gear. Pulling out a long, brown leather coat he slides his arms in and straps it closed in the front at his waist. He picks up a dagger, stashing it in a coat pocket, two spears he shift carrying bad that he slings over his shoulder and finally a hefty dwarven battleaxe that he looks over as if seeing a long lost love after such a long time.
He picks up a brown leather, wide brimmed had and places it on his head before picking up other various pieces of equipment and stuffing it in a backpack that he hoists onto his back. Shrugging his shoulders to get the pack and everything in the right position he looks to the others "Right, so now that we 'ave a bit a normalcy back. We should get ta the bottom o' what is goin' on 'ere!"
As he really takes in the group for the first time, not in the immediate threat of being locked in a cage he continues "The names Jagray. Do any o' ya know where we are or why we're 'ere?"
The little ratman seems to come back to awareness at Cellaich words, he closes his eyes and takes a few calming breaths, ”I am, was, Endol. I am a student at the university. I am not feeling well.” he rises to his feet and reaches out for the sword. ”Thank you.”
He busies himself rigging the sword belt into a makeshift baldric to sling the sword across his back to carry it. ”This mans clothing and armor smell of the forest, what brings him to Lepidstadt?’
Amestri pauses to take some mental notes.
OK. The human is Cellaich, the dwarf is Jagray, and the little one either had prankster parents name her or she thinks she's a bedpost. The rat-man seems to be a little confused about who he is. Quite a group.
Now that her veil is fully attached and she feels more comfortable, Amestri formally addresses the ragtag group before her. "Gentlemen, and little lady, it seems that none of us is aware of where we are or why. I myself have no memory of what has transpired since I entered the forest in Redleaf with a group tracking a threat, so my own knowledge of what is going on is quite lacking."
She places the large knife that she had taken from the table back as she finishes packing up her gear and placing her own blades carefully on her belt in easy reach. She stands straighter and even more confident once she is arranged, but a little hesitant as if she was not comfortable with everyone watching her. I do need to find some more acceptable clothing than these dirty rags. Even though they banished me, my Ashiftah superiors would be horrified to see me representing my time with them this poorly. I look like a peasant woman without a patron...
"It seems as though there are only two potential exits here. That thing went through the door to the east, but perhaps following her isn't the best idea. There is this furnace chimney but I don't know if we want to explore that way. Maybe we should check that mess over there to see if there is a third exit that is hidden."
She turns back to the erstwhile guard who was on the table. "Ser, you mentioned that she had said you were a guard here? Do you remember anything at all? I see a lot of discarded clothing that might be doctor's garb, was this some kind of hospital or research center?"
While speaking, she moves to the western end of the room and investigates the pile of rubble to see if it was blocking another exit or anything interesting.
"I apologize if it seems like I'm trying to take control of our group here. Social niceties often confuse me so I generally prefer to let others take the lead, but logic dictates that the longer we spend standing here the more chance that thing returns with other hostiles. I would like to see if we can find a more defensible location before get to know each other and decide how to proceed."
Please...SOMEONE take the lead. I don't know how to deal with all of these westerners and my honor cannot deal with much more embarrassment at this point. Openly talking of sexual activities in front of strangers, and mixed company at that? What has become of me? I will have to spend some extra time with Sarenrae this night to ensure her forgiveness.
"Ser Cellaich, that is your name, correct? I am feeling out of sorts, I'll defer to your lead."
Endol walks over to the chimney to see if he believes he could climb it.
"My lead? Well, er..." he quickly trails off, joining Endol in inspecting the chimney.
"It seems like you and Springy could fit, but for the rest of us it might be a bit more difficult. Would be unpleasant, regardless. I'd prefer not to be breathing in soot at the moment. Should probably go out the other way..." he murmurs, walking back towards the door on the far side of the room. As he walks, he draws his smallsword, holding it in his left hand as he slowly approaches the door and attempts to listen through it for any signs of life.
Cellaich, you don't hear anything on the other side of the door.
Laying his hand on the door, he slowly pushes it open, looking behind him to make sure the others are still there. He couldn't afford to make a fool of himself right after being given the lead, after all.
Amestri sees Cellaich tentatively opening the door and comes up next to him and gives him an encouraging nod, ready to act if there is a threat on the other side.
A broad chute extends diagonally through one of this cellar’s half-crumbled stone walls. Beneath it lies heaped more than a dozen mutilated humanoid bodies. Nearby, a flight of rickety, wooden steps climbs toward the high ceiling—an escape none of the room’s current occupants seem capable of employing. The smell of rot and decay in the room is nearly overwhelming, and the buzz of flies hangs in the air.
As Amestri does not have any issues with bodies, she decides to take the "hard" job and goes over to investigate the pile and see if the chute is passable, leaving the others to check out the stairs.
Cellaich takes in a deep breath in shock at what he's seeing- and quickly regrets it.
"I think I'm going to be ill," he chokes out, looking behind him at the others before steeling himself and stepping into the room. Happily leaving Amestri to look through the pile of corpses, he walks over to the staircase, peering upwards and placing a foot on the bottom step to test its stability.
Springy also heads into the room, absentmindedly fiddling with getting her lute back on key. It's the #1 thing on her to do list for sure. #2 would be...
Oh, well, she supposes she should look at something. Veil is looking at the bodies. Moustachvio is checking on the staircase (and she shouldn't go over there, since she was pretty sure vomit in her hair would be messy to clean out).
She'll have to handle the flies, so that the others won't get annoyed by all the buzzing! She does so by trying to swat them out of the air while tuning her lute at the same time, making for a strange bit of theatre wherein she messes with a string, twists it a little, then claps at a fly.
Endol moves into the room and recoils from the smell, then has a chilling thought and sliding his dagger into its sheath he turns and walks back to the other room to grab the shear from the side table.
He walks back into the room and stabs into one of the bodies, he flops it over and stabs into the second before his stomach rebels.
Cellaich, the stairs look sturdy enough to climb, but you can see that at the top they are blocked by a large pile of rubble, as though the walls of whatever is up there collapsed.
Amestri, you notice that all of the corpses seem to have one thing in common: they are all wearing the same sort of button-up (formerly) white uniform the creature in the first room had on. A uniform of some kind, it would seem. You also find some coins and various little trinkets on some of the bodies.
Endol, you stab into each of the bodies while Amestri is searching them, and none of them react to being stabbed. They appear to be truly dead.
You see nothing else of interest in this room, and the only apparent ways out are the door you came in through, and the chute with the bodies piled underneath it.
Cellaich slings his bag off his back, unhooking a length of rope from the side and reaching in to pull out a small, multi-pronged iron hook.
"This isn't going to be pleasant, but I expect it's our only way out," he says, tying one end of the rope to the hook. He spins the hooked end of the rope at his side, building up momentum as he slowly begins to climb the pile of bodies to get directly under the chute.
Holding his breath to avoid the stench of decay, he attempts to maintain his footing as he tosses the grappling hook up into the chute, attempting to give them something to climb.