Ileum slowly come to wiping the drool from his face, then takes a moment to look around. A flood of memory rushes back to his mind as he jults off the ground to his feet. wha..what happened? he says in a panic looking for Caro.
Caro fought to get free, throwing her weight left and right as Sustos carried her outside. Once she was outside with Berta, she began to calm down. Although she couldn't understand the words in Shoanti, they were soft and soothing, and noone was trying to tackle her or call her names. The rage in her eyes started to fade and become replaced by curiosity.
"I cannot not know that, it seems Tiasar has some insight on this magic but we should wait too long. We don't know what kind of damage this is doing inside her mind. When we sort this out I can imbue Caro and Ileum with the fortitude of Torag in order to help them resist the effects of the fog."
Sustos walks to Ileum when he wakes offering a helping hand, too late as the elf jumps to his feet.
"Nothing we couldn't handle, the fog had an averse effect on Caro and then you. I'm sorry but Tiasar used his magic to fell you. Are you hurt?"
N...No I think I'm alright he says while moving one limb at a time to make sure. Just a bit dizzy.. he looks to Sustos, then Taisar and nods. thank you, I'm sorry if I was any trouble.. There was this great pain, bits and pieces of my mind just broke awa- Is Caro ok? Did she hurt anyone?
"Heh! There was a little scuffle but Haddek looks like he came out of it alright. Either Caro is stronger then anyone thought or the fog blessed her with Torag's Strength! Either way, the situation seems undercontrol. We're just not sure about how the fog is affecting her at the moment. It seemed to have left you after you fell unconscious but I can't say what's next for our friend."
Sustos chuckles for a moment and gets solemn again as he speaks. Knowing the situation with Caro needs to be dealt with but not sure of how. He makes sure to grab his shield and stands watch between the group and the inside of the museum.
"Color spray." Tiasar says to Ileum with an apologetic look, not mincing words as he believes the magus to understand the effects of his magic.
After ten minutes Caro still seems under the effects of the fog, although she seems to have calmed down a bit. In the distance you observe the two guards whisper something to one another and then exchange some coin. On occasion they glance back over their shoulder with a smirk on their face.
Watching the guards (and Haddek) carefully, Caro speaks. "Lady. Nice little lady? Why them men talk? No like see on their face." She starts to struggle a bit "They have mean faces. Want fix their faces." A soft growl starts down in her throat.
Confused, Caro looks back up at Berta. "You call Caro scum? Thought nice lady, not like tackling man..." The look in her eyes slowly starts to change as she tries to process this new development.
+
Haddek looks to the guards snickering and shakes his head. Idiots! Walking over to them - careful to circle around out of Caro's reach - he puts on his friendliest smile. "It seems you've seen this before. I'm sure smart guys like you have noticed what other people have done to clear the head of the afflicted. Care to let me in on the secret?"
"Stop being rude. I think it is actually important to her condition." Tiasar takes a knee. "Hi Caro, do you remember breakfast this morning? The drinks were nice, and the bacon smelled very good."
Tackleman nice ... he call me monkey. Short lady nice ... she call Caro scum. Now elf nice ... no! What him call her now? Caro starts to struggle again, trying to push Berta off. During the struggle she reaches forward and down with her neck, trying to get her mouth to a pouch on her belt.
Diplomacy (DC 22) One of the guards turns and looks at Haddek. "The last person we seen come out of there alive was effected by that crap. It took almost an hour for the effects to wear off."
"Oh dear... I suppose an hour is not a very long time to wait, unless someone else has an idea? I would like to refrain from hurting Caro if we can."
"As I see it, our only options are wait an hour or knock her out. She's already riled up enough; I'd rather not have her hate me, so I vote we just wait." Haddek shrugs as he walks back to the group, keeping his distance from Caro to prevent setting her off again.
Tiasar sits down, leaning against the building and taking out a book; it's evident what his opinion on the matter is.
After an hour pass the cool night’s air dilutes the ingested fog enough to allow Caro to return to her senses. The animal like facial contortions slowly relax as her face begins to revert back to what it was before.
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Berta darts an annoyed glance at Tiasar at his words, but doesn't argue. She returns her attention to Caro and pushes down a little harder to keep her from reaching the pouch. She continues uttering a prayer in quiet Shoanti, since that seemed to help her calm down before.
When it seems Caro has recovered, Berta looks her over. "You concerned us, Caro. How do you feel now?"
Berta Heal (DC 18) Aside from a slight headache, Caro appears unharmed.
After a slow transition from angry and confused to a perfectly "normal" Caro, she finally speaks normally. "I'm actually feeling quite well. Horrible cramping in my arms and legs though. Could someone be kind enough to untie me?"
Immediately upon being freed, Caro stretches, then sits down in the yard of the Archives and takes a few deep breaths. "Please give me a moment." She grabs her journal and starts writing manically as she tries to remember all of the effects she was feeling. While scribbling in shorthand she speaks quietly to herself
"Fascinating ... arcane effect so I can't ... mutagen with weaker physical effects but stronger mental ... why the association with apes? ... both stronger and quicker ... what did that sign say? "Beasts of Legend"? ... climbing felt so natural ... try to replicate ... "
She realizes that the group is looking at her strangely and slows down her note taking to be able to address them while writing
"I apologize, there was something in that mist that greatly affected me. ...muscles modified, both anterior and posterior, less lean and more bulk... I cannot really explain what happened but it is similar to the effects of one of the mutagens that I brew. It had a lesser effect in terms of physical strength but was very specifically aimed at animalistic abilities such as jumping and climbing ...could I test for ... no. maybe speak with an arcanist?... The odd thing was that it greatly affected my cognitive abilities. I was still present in my body but there was a strong sense of anger and some fear which I was mostly unable to control, and my thought processes were...please forgive my choice of words, but...foggy. It was very difficult to process information and understand what was going on. That's good for now. I'll look into it later" She closes her journal and places it back in her bag. "In any case, I feel ready to continue now. I apologize if I caused any trouble," she glances at Haddek somewhat apologetically "but to be honest that was a fascinating experience. I think that I can utilize it in my work once I do some testing. Maybe be able to create a mutagen that incorporates some feral qualities from animals..."
She stands, stretches again, and pats down her gear. "Okay, I'm ready." She looks around at the group and starts to head inside. "Has anyone seen my spear?"
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As soon as Caro begins speaking normally, Berta immediately unties her, coils the rope, and stows it neatly in her backpack. She listens with a blank, distant stare at Caro's musings. "That made little sense to me. Maybe my Taldane is not as good as I thought. But you are very clever, so I trust you know what you are talking about. Do you feel well enough to go back in? Will the mist affect you again?"
She jerks a thumb at the doors. "Also, I think we left your spear inside."
Haddek follows Caro's rambling with growing confusion. What the hell is she talking about? Mutagen... I'm familiar with that word, at least. Is she saying that.... "Hold on, are you saying that you might be able to replicate that with alchemy? The good parts, at least? I mean, I dabble a little, but that's just so far beyond my expertise. How would you even begin? You'd have to-" He stops talking abruptly, mind racing faster than his mouth can go.
After a moment he comes back to himself. "Ah, yes, as Berta said, I think your spear is still inside." He looks around at the others. "Are we ready to begin again?"
Ileum looks around at the group, then nods at Haddek. "lets give this another try..." he stops just before the main entrance and hesitates for a moment turning back towards everyone. "now that I understand what this fog is capable of... We may come across other people under the same effects Caro and myself went through. Perhaps it would be best to determine how we should handle those people now."
"I have two thoughts on the matter of the fog. Firstly Ileum and I fell under its influence and have been freed, but how do we know it won't happen again? I think I should go in first and wait a bit. If it starts to affect me again hopefully I'll recognize it and come straight back out before the transition is complete." She strides through the door, finds her spear, and then comes back closer to the entrance to continue talking while she waits. "Secondly, if we can identify which of the three rooms the fog is coming from and take care of that first, we can wait an hour before we even enter the other two. Hopefully that means that anyone under the influence has a chance for it to wear off before we encounter them."
"I don't know if it's the source of the fog, but the room at the far end of the hall sounded like it was full of affected people. There was no sound in the two side rooms, so they're probably empty. If we deal with those rooms first maybe we find the source of the fog and simply wait for it to wear off of them."
"If that doesn't work, though, dealing with other people affected by the fog may be as simple as leading them outside the building and letting them loose on the grounds for an hour. We just run outside the gate and let it close behind us." Haddek looks from face to face. "Thoughts?"
"The gate idea has merit, but I seem to remember having an enhanced ability to climb while I was under the effect. If they just climb over the fence then we've released them on the city..." Caro thinks a bit longer "In any case, it seems that there was no outward physical change, so if we find anyone who looks relatively normal but is acting feral, we knock them out, and anything else is fair game?"
Caro moves into the building, retrieves her spear, and then stands by the door for fifteen minutes. Fortunately, the effects of the fog seems to have run its course. Caro appears to be unaffected after fifteen minutes.
Caro still feels fine after waiting, so she gestures for the others to come in. "Now that the fun part is over, let's see what we can do about clearing this place out for Mr. Walsh. Haddek, you recommended trying the side doors first?" She seems strangely calm after what should have been a pretty bad experience, chatting with the others as they enter. "Do you think Spud would be ok with pets in the tavern? After what just happened I am thinking about modifying my research and would be very interested in getting my hands on a hedgehog, some reptiles and insects, and maybe even an octopus. Obviously most of them would be in cages or such, but the hedgehog would be running free in my room."
"That's a good point. Can't have them climbing the fence and marauding across the city. Fair warning though, I'm not exactly great at fistfighting." Or fighting at all, when you get right down to it. For most of my 'fights' the other person didn't know until it was over. "As for keeping pets in the tavern, you'd have to ask Spud. i don't know why it'd be a problem though, as long as their cages were kept clean. Nobody wants to live in a building full of manure stench."
Haddek enters the building and stands at the door marked "Hunting the Beasts of Legend". "Are we ready to go?"
Caro moves up to stand behind Haddek, spear at the ready. "Ready"
"We could make a trip into town and pick up a bunch of saps." Tiasar suggests.
"There's also the possibility of just taking them down and then stabilizing them afterwards so they can recover. The only issue there is the moral dilemma, and I personally don't have a problem with it." Caro states. "I would prefer not to delay another day in order to shop, as it increases the chance another group goes for the reward and falls under the fog's effect"
Haddek looks back at Tiasar. "That would be helpful. Are there any shops open right now though?"
"Stabilizing them after taking them out is also fine with me. We just have to be careful not to kill them outright. Won't be a problem for me, but I don't hit as hard as some others here." He glances at Berta's longhammer.
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Berta crosses her arms. "These people are sick. I will not risk killing them for their sickness. I can use my hammer like a ..." She pauses for a moment, frowning. A, um... ni'bagaman... Sleep-club? Is this a sap? I can use my hammer this way, if I am careful. I will not kill unless given no choice. Do as your conscience calls you, but I will not partake of murdering the ill."
Her jaw is set firmly. It's clear she's not willing to budge on this. "I agree we should find the source of the fog first. It mayhap that this is a moot argument, if we can do this."
Caro smiles at Berta. "Do not worry, friend. I wish no murder either. I will attempt non-lethal damage on obvious victims, but I have a feeling there will also be real foes who perpetrated this that will need to be taken care of.
In the case of a misunderstanding or accident that does real harm to an innocent I can help stabilize them afterwards so that they recover successfully." She prepares herself to enter the room. "The last thing we need as newcomers to Caliphas is to commit murder on our first outing."
Even with the excessive amount of commotion that just took place, the entrance of the museum is as you left it. The first two adjacent doors still show no sign of activity.
Caro, still being excited about her adventure with the fog effects and after hearing that there is still no sign of activity inside, gets impatient and opens the door marked "Hunting the Beasts of Legend"
A large placard above the entryway to this hall reads “Hunting the Beasts of Legend” in great block letters. This gigantic chamber is relatively free of mist, and darkness is held at bay by braziers of radiant light. Behemoths occupy these halls, great taxidermy nightmares such as a two-headed bear easily taller than an ogre; a great desiccated beetle, its shell larger than a wagon; a massive specimen of chimera, its jaws open in a mock roar; and an assembled skeleton of a tyrant lizard. The walls here are studded with strange masks, staves, spears, and other implements of long forgotten cultures, most likely used in ritual hunts of the beasts preserved here.
Looking through the door, Caro describes the room to the group "This room is fascinating. I spent many hours doing taxidermy when I was young, and seeing creatures like these preserved with that same art brings me back."
She steps inside the room quietly but does not progress far. "There seems to be no threat here, or victims, but I'd advise we search it as a group in case something is hiding. I'll inspect the animals, someone also should inspect all of those masks and weapons on the walls."
When everyone else is present in the room, Caro will carefully inspect the animals.
Sustos has remained observant as the group decided to continue forth, until...
"We shall not injure any innocents if we don't have to, there are a couple way to rid them of the fog's curse as we've found and I agree that finding the source of the fog is the number one priority at this point."
As Caro enters the new room Sustos is not far behind...
"Haddek, does this beetle not remind you of Ulunat? Truly a sight to behold, do you have any stories of the giant carapace?"
He studies the artifacts in the room though it seems that the fog is not coming from this area. .
While Sustos fixates on the beetle, Caro is fascinated by the two headed bear. "I really need to find myself a proper workplace. I'm not sure how much longer Spud will put up with my lab, I still have to ask him about animals, and I'd really like to get back into taxidermy again as well."
Haddek walks around the room, looking at the specimens in awe. Standing next to Sustos in front of the great beetle, he smiles wryly. "I suppose it does. Strange, but living in the shadow of Ulunat for so long sort of makes you forget how awe-inspiring it really is. It's just kind of there, a normal part of the backdrop." Continuing his circuit of the room, Haddek examines everything, paying special attention to the relics on the walls.
+ = 17
"These artifacts are fascinating. Can you imagine facing down terrors like these with nothing but a spear?"
His circuit of the room complete, Haddek listens at both doors for movement in the next rooms.