With a concentration of effort, the Confluence District has been mostly cleared of invaders with only sporadic attacks in progress.
It appears to be getting harder to hold down the Districts though, as the horde is starting to reinforce their ranks...
Floria will recognize the creature in the painting as a minotaur... though perhaps overdramaticized for effect.
Alessio examines the paper hanging off the desk, and realizes it is not paper at all, but a thin parchment. One edge of it is embedded in cooled wax that was spilled on the table, which is probably what was holding it in place from falling off completely.
I send this letter in swiftness, hoping it reaches you in time. Our mutual overlords have informed me that they move to strike Mendev in a war to eclipse any before. Your efforts in Nerosyan have not gone unnoticed and I think it time you leave the shackles of your Society. I shall dispatch a runner to follow this letter, and he will lead you to me. I look forward to finally meeting you face to face, so that we might better plan our next moves.
Make haste,
-T. D.
In the hall, the removal of crates and boxes is a slow process, the next barrel that comes out is full of bundles of arrows, though none of them have any fletching on them. The one after that appears to be old uniforms of some sort, though you don't recognize the design. Then some old blankets, and strangely, a box filled entirely with shoes... mostly the right ones.
|
"I agree we must inform Jorsal, but now we know that Thurl was involved with the attack we might be able to find information here that can help us understand and defeat it. Information that Thurl might have wanted to hide..."
She times this last with walking up to the painting and removing it from the wall with a flourish, expecting it to reveal a safe or something behind it. If not she'll examine behind the back of the painting for anything hidden, then look around the table, particularly for other letters, responses etc.
"Perhaps this runner that was sent used a method of transport that caused a great deal of damage, perhaps a portal of some sort?. Anyway let's look through the final two doors that are left to us before we report this back.
She'll then go try the locked door near the entrance to the library, try it a few more times, and get frustrated and leave it to Sangkip or Allessio.
Floria's dramatic removal of the large painting on the wall does not reveal the safe she was hoping for ... but it does reveal a couple of small holes in the wall there.
Glancing through them, you find yourselves looking to a neighboring room, on the other side of the wall. Though there is little to see beyond a couple of beds, one just to the left, below the hole you're peering through, and another on the far side of the room.
Though expecting the worst, the door opens easily enough to Kara's push. The room beyond appears to be some sort of meeting room.
A huge table fills the center of it, surrounded by high-backed leather chairs. A large beam fell down from above during the explosion, but it does not appear to have damaged the table at all... now it's just laying forlornly on top of it, like it has failed at its task.
More bookshelves line the walls, each of them full of books and scrolls, some of which have recently fallen to the floor. The nearer shelf on the right side has tipped over, spilling its contents all over the floor and under the table. It partially blocks the aisle on that side.
The most notable thing in the room, however, is in the far right corner. A large, vulture-headed, demon of some sort stands on a round stone platform, seemingly frozen in an attack pose, wings furled at its side. The sight takes you back for a moment, until you realize that this particular demon lost its final battle with the taxidermist a long time ago... now fated to forever stand vigil over this room instead.
Thankfully, far less frightening in stuffed form, than a real one might have been.
There are two other doors leading out of this room, one on the north wall at the far end, that likely leads to the room Floria saw through the holes in Thurl's bedroom. The other is across from it, beside the display demon, and judging by the large crack down the middle of it, leads to the smaller room you saw off of the main entrance.
The Woundward District has been brought under control.
Sporadic attacks are being felt in all districts, and victory against the horde is far from assured...
|
|
Floria eyes the choice of decoration for the meeting room as she enters. "Hmmm, charming decor in here."
Then she walks round the table to the door to the room with the peepholes. "Let's see who he was spying on shall we?"
She'll try the door, then go in and look around if it opens. If it doesn't she'll instead go through the books on the shelves next to her.
,
,
Kara and Eamon start picking through the books spilled out by the overturned bookcase, noting that, at first glance, most of them seem to be related to demons and demonic rituals. Not a surprising subject, given where you are, though it will take some time to go through and inventory everything.
As Alessio checks the southern door, Floria wanders over to the north one, to see about the room she saw through the peepholes. The door is not locked, and opens relatively easily to reveal the bedroom she saw earlier.
Alessio doesn't have quite the same success with his. Though it does not appear to be locked, the crack down the middle shows it has clearly undergone some serious structural stress from the explosion. He can tell the entire door frame seems to be out of alignment. He gives it a push, but it resists his efforts to slide open easily...
Of course, exactly how badly it is jammed becomes a moot point a moment later, as Alessio suddenly hears the sound of dry leathery hide creaking, and the pinging sounds of braces and supports snapping, right behind him.
Before he can turn, something slams into his back with such force, he crashes face first into the door, pushing the entire thing open from the shear force of it. Bits of stone and wood fall down from above as the frame shifts.
He, and everyone else, are shocked, and a little surprised to see the giant demon suddenly start moving, one backhand swing of its arm slamming into Alessio as he worked on the door. It slowly shifts on its platform, pulling its feet up from the pegs that hold them in place, its arms snapping free of the wires that kept them in their previously frozen pose.
It still seems like the stuffed trophy it was a moment before, but one that has suddenly started to move.
Perhaps there is some fight left in it yet!
- Round 1 -----
Party is up!
Luckily, its not made out of stone or metal, so though it will have some degree of resistance to damage, it won't be nearly as bad as it would have were it made of something harder than dried demonic hide.
More importantly, if it is indeed a taxidermic creation, than it is likely stuffed with things like dried straw, or rags. All of which might make it more susceptible to fire.
Kara responds to the large trophy demon animating by firing a projectile of force at it. It strikes the vrock in the shoulder, sending up a small puff of dust, though the actual damage seems minimal. Sangkip joins the fun, trying a similar tactic with a small splash of arcane acid... the caustic substance singes some of the leathery skin, but again, not enough to cause any serious impedance.
Alessio though, has much higher aspirations. He steps away from the demonic construct, as he quickly mixes some volatile chemicals, then turns to lob them back the way he came. Unfortunately, even as he throws the bomb, he realizes he has vastly underestimated the things reach! Throwing the bomb leaves him exposed just long enough for one withered claw to reach out across the intervening space and slam down on him, throwing him violently into the nearby bookcase . But it does not stop there. Even as the chemicals shatter across the vrock's chest, it's dried out form lighting up easily, the claw closes over his head, nails digging into his shoulders and it drags him towards itself, right into the flames spreading out across its body!
- Round 1 -----
Huni, Eamon, and Floria to go!!
|
|
Floria instinctively lashes out with a couple of bolts of pure mental force at the new enemy, the crossbow in her hands forgotten.
Then then backs away along the far side of the table putting some distance between herself and the construction. Upon hearing Kara's exhortation she drops her crossbow and gets ready to start searching through her belt pouches for anything that can cause fire.
On the other side of the room, Floria slowly backs away from the grasping creature's reach, firing a pair of magical projectiles of her own, both of which slam into the construct, though it does not seem to notice.
As she starts digging through her pack, looking for something flamable, Huni rushes into the room from the hallway where he had been finishing up with the crates, but the best he can do is thread his way through all the furniture trying to get close enough to help. Eamon, being closer to start with, does just that, leaping over one of the leather chairs, ducking past where Alessio struggles weakly in the demon-trophies grasp, and hacks at that offending arm with his sword... only to have the blade bounce off the things toughened dried out hide, doing little more than kicking up a bit of dust.
For its part, the taxidermic vrock continues to grasp Alessio by the head as the flames from the bomb slowly die down, continuing to smolder along its upper torso. It lifts the poor alchemist bodily off the ground, and slams him into the nearby wall, over and over. Alessio's struggles grow weaker and weaker, clearly not able to withstand much more. Even now, the world around him is starting to grow dark.
- Round 2 -----
Party is up again!
|
|
Floria can see Alessio being beaten up, but knowing it has no mind and that her psychic missile hardly seemed to phase it, she's starting to panic. She can feel her dark half trying to rise, but she suppresses it with a force of will. She can't help you here
Making up her mind to at least try to be useful, she starts to move around the table, drawing her wand of cure light wounds as she does so. After 20 ft. of movement she tries to activate it in much the same way as she just saw Huni do, planning to hold the charge and deliver it later.
"Dammit!"
Huni pulls out a wand and manages to reach in to send a small amount of healing energy to Alessio, even as the alchemist is being painfully slammed against the wall. Floria tries to prepare a similar trick, but can't seem to get her wand to function, suddenly unsure if it was a clockwise, or counterclockwise, rotation needed to activate it.
Barely able to see through the demonic claw clamped over his head and the pain lancing through his body, Alessio hangs on to consciousness as he fumbles about at his belt for more of the chemicals stored there. Not even sure he's grabbing the right ones, but fueled by desperation, he flings a small cocktail of them at his tormentor.
Almost instantly, the entire front side of the taxidermic vrock bursts into flames again, dried skin cracking and melting under the heat, and the rags and straw stuffed inside lighting up like tinder. But none of it is enough to force it to stop, as the now flaming construct continues to crush the life out of him.
Knowing he can't possibly survive much longer and needs help, Kara buckles her swash, and leaps up onto the table beside Sangkip, before racing across, and leaping gracefully off the far side. As she hits the floor, her hands go up, fanned out in front of her, as she chants some arcane phrases. Instantly, a gout of flame spreads out from her outstretched hands, engulfing the rest of the construct in a small inferno of fire!
Already, you can tell it's having a hard time remaining standing, as the stitches and dowels that hold its limbs in place go up like matchsticks. The fire spreads quickly along the straw that was used to stuff its form, like a funeral pyre for some demonic effigy. Greasy black smoke rises up to the ceiling, small sparks and ashes spreading out into the room.
But still its maintains its death grip on Alessio... now upgraded to a fiery death grip.
But, even as its form burns, and starts to disintegrate under the spreading flames, Sangkip races across the table, leaping off the end, dagger in hand, and drives it into the exposed stitching along the constructs right flank. His momentum caries him down towards the floor, the blade tearing the seam as it goes, exposing even more of the stuffing to the flames, all of which quickly alights. Within moments the entire display is on fire.
The arm holding Alessio finally breaks free, no longer able to stay attached to the rest of the body, and the alchemist stumbles breathlessly away from the rising flames before he can be hurt any further, tossing the smoldering arm away as he does so.
And just like that, the animating force behind the vrock breaks down, and you quickly step back as the rest of it continues to burn, no longer a threat to anyone.
Except possibly the building you're standing in...
|
Alessio drops to a knee, drawing in breath. He composes himself a moment and stands. He plucks a wand from his bag and begins stitching himself up.
Thank you. A close call, for sure. I'll be sure to be extra careful walking by taxidermy in the future. Alessio tidies himself up and give a quick comb to the mustache before attending to other repairs.
|
|
Floria runs over after the destruction and starts stomping on the fire (probably rather ineffectually) in an effort to make up for not contributing to the creature's demise. She'll do her best to avoid Kara's frost blast if it goes off though!
"Well done all of you, I feel very lucky to be part of your team. I fear if I'd confronted that thing on my own I'd have been powerless against it!"
Floria will be sure to pick up her crossbow once the fires been dealt with (even if dealing with it is by running away)
With the immediate threat, of what you can only hope was just a leftover security measure, gone, you can take a moment to recover.
Though the demonic trophy burns hot, it also burns quickly. Luckily, there is nothing immediately flammable in that corner of the meeting hall, so with a little caution, to make sure some of the smoldering ash doesn't spread further into the room and hit the nearby books, the fire burns itself down in short order. Eventually just a chard pile of ashy debris, and blackened scorch marks on the walls, floor, and ceiling, in the corner of the room, are all that remain... accompanied by the distinct acrid smell of burnt hide and feathers.
Eventually, you are able to take a look into the last room, which appears to be set up for guests. It is relatively spartan, holding only a couple of beds, and an elaborate portrait of Iomedae on the western wall. This room, like the other bedroom, has largely escaped the damage from the explosion.
Of course, Floria knows the holes in the other room, looked into this one, and from that vantage, should look out right where the portrait is hanging. The corresponding holes on this side though, prove hard to find, especially once you realize the portrait is fixed to the wall, and can't just be easily taken down. You really have to look closely, but eventually you will see where the eyes of the Goddess have been carefully removed, to allow the holes on the far side to see through to this one.