Caraid lashes out with his mind and some of the extra chain.
The ghoul, on seeing the chain fly, sinks its fangs into the emiciated human's throat, who gurgles for a moment then goes silent.
Piotr gnashes his teeth at their helplessness to keep the ghoul from hurting his victim. "You'll pay for that" he growls and then attacks.
Piotr manages to stab the ghoul in his ribs, sending yellow ichor oozing out.
Rozalia moves up to provide aid to Kilarra.
"No! Caraid..." - Garrosh roars, as the ghoul executes its captive.
Garrosh avenges the prisoner by shooting the ghoul in the chest and it falls back against the wall.
Garrosh rushes next to the prisoner, trying to save the man's life.
"Rozalia, can you try to heal him?"
"I can try," the witch says, rushing to the man's side.
Garrosh does not manage to staunch the bleeding, but Rozalia lays a glowing blue palm on the throat wound and the wound closes under her healing touch.
The man's eyes flicker open but he remains frozen in place.
Seeing the others taking care of the man, Piotr will start looking around to make sure there isn't anything else hiding.
Piotr hears a plaintive whine from the crate the ghoul was squatting on.
In the cages he finds 3 half eaten bodies. Two of the bodies in the cages are in brown robes with nothing on them. The third cage holds an body with a broken padded club, a heavy wooden shield, and a silver necklace etched with the holy symbol of Shelyn (worth 50 gp).
The shield is magical and Rozalia identifies it as a +1 heavy wooden shield.
"What did he say about the thing in the crate? About it being a monster? I don't get it." Piotr is clearly unsure.
Ann will take the moment to start to come out.
Caraid approaches the cage the ghoul was on and cautiously squats down in front of it to see what was making the noises...
"Don't open the crate" - Garrosh warns - "This man seems to know something about it. His paralysis should be temporary. We can ask him about it once he recovers. It is just a matter of waiting" - he adds, then turning to Rozalia - "Well done"
Caraid looks at the crate and sees a pair of doggy eyes peering out of it. A yelp comes from within the crate.
Meanwhile the man's paralysis wears off, and he gasps, "Oh thanks for saving my life. That horrid thing bit me!"
Noticing Caraid looking at the crate, the man warns the party, "The thing in the crate is some dangerous beast not of this world. Its got a viscera instead of a mouth, I don't know what the hell it is!"
"It looks a bit like a puppy..." Caraid replies, still looking at the crate.
Kilarra goes over to the crate and keeps her greatsword at the ready. She thinks about what beasts have visceras instead of a mouth.
Kilarra unfortunately can't remember what the creature could be...
Ann pops out and joins Caraid "Oh, you are right. How can something that looks like that be evil?" she smiles even with knowing quiet well anything can eat your face off.
"We just leave it in the box then. Unless any one objects?"
"I guess you're right. We can deal with it later if we have to."
Rozalia puts a hand on her son's shoulder and steers him away from the crate. "Leave it be. With everything we've seen in this place, I can guarantee you that whatever that thing is, it is definitely not a puppy."
The party hears a pitiful whimper from the box.
The man says, "I'm Ilki. Do you have anything to drink or sat and know the way out of here?"
"The last time I caught sight of it it had writhing tentacles in place of a mouth," Ilki adds, "And urm is it my imagination or am I seeing a flash of purple scales beyond the door?"
"Yeah, let me..." Piotr rummages around in his makeshift pack coming up empty. "Sorry, must have ate the last of it." he gives an embarrassed grin.
Ann rolls her eyes at her brother and kneels in front of the saved man. "Hello Ilki. I'm Ann." she'll say in a pleasant voice "As you probably already know, a lot of really weird things are happening. Some of them are bad." she gestures to the ghouls and the tentacle puppy. "Some of them are not. Like me, I am not a ghost, though I'm sure that is what your mind just 'Oh No'ed about. The purple scaled creature out in the hallway is Apep. She is lost and will not hurt you. She just wants to go back home. So if you are okay with that you can come with us while we hunt for a way out. Or give you instructions on how to make it back to the camp of survivors, though you'll have to wait on us outside the barricades because the people there won't trust you until they know you are safe. I warn you though on the way to the nice people, there is a tribe of people intent on crucifying people for who knows what reasons, so I'd suggest accepting the weird things that are not a danger to the strong possibility of being killed by those that are." after her long speech, she'll give him a smile and then stand up to coo at the poor puppy in the box.
"Yeah I was wondering about you and your..transparency ... Uhhh...and you popping out of him," Ilki says nervously, "But since you seem to be on good terms with him," he points at Piotr,"I suppose you should be all right."
"Ok so the purple scaled creature outside is a friend as well?" Ilki asks,"Ok I'll try not to look sideways at anything odd."
"Ive been chained here after being caught by those creatures and watching those beasts eat the the other 2 patients and the orderly up! It was horrible!" Ilki sobs, "I'd like to go to the group of survivors but being crucified doesn't sound good. I guess if you don't mind, I'll follow at the back."
Bleh maen nhw'n arogli'n ddrwg iawn.
Apep,curious about all the noise in the room, sticks her head in. "Ooooh dau goesyn arall?" She chirps, sending Ilki stepping nervously back despite Ann's earlier warning. Apep looks at the dead ghoul bodies and sniffs unhappily, "Bleh maen nhw'n arogli'n ddrwg iawn."
Oooh, another two legger?
Bleh they smell really bad.
There is a scrabbling noise as if something is trying to get out of the crate.
Kilarra heads over to the double doors. "Friend is a strong word, but in these conditions, close enough."
When everyone is as ready as they can be, she'll open them.
Kilarra does not think that the double doors are locked or trapped. Opening the double floors, the party is greeted by a hallway with paint chips the color of eggshells covering the floor. Many of the walls are cracked and sag, causing numerous doors to lean awkwardly in their broken frames. In the Western portion of the hall there is a collapsed wall revealing an intricate series of pipes, valves, and chains.
Piotr inspects the walls to make sure it is safe to travel around them. "This place is falling apart around the seems." Ann moves away from him for a second and peeks her head through the door to the north.
"A oes gennych unrhyw syniad pa greadur y gall un yn y blwch fod?" - Garrosh addresses Apep, before following after the others.
"Apep, do you have any idea what creature that one in the box may be?"
A row of wicker rocking chairs faces this room’s tall windows, staring into the mist licking the outside of the glass. A heap of broken planks lies in one corner, the wreckage of a wooden stairwell that still partially clings to the wall above.
Three ghouls dressed in tattered patient gowns circle the room, their noses and tongues raised high. They look at Ann and move in to attack.
"Nid wyf yn gwybod beth allai fod, a ydych chi'n siŵr nad yw'n rhywbeth o'ch byd chi?" Apep answers.
I don't know what it could be, are you sure it's not something of your world?
Garrosh thinks that the creature in the crate is an Esipil.
Esipils prey upon the unease that comes from living among beasts. The civilized world has domesticated animals, but those creatures are just a step away from wild animals, and esipils make sure that humanoids who live around them remember that.
They ingratiate themselves with humanoids (particularly neutral evil spellcasters who might take them on as familiars) by acting like loving pets. They then delight in aggressive episodes, barking and snapping until called down by their masters. They return to a fawning obedience for a time—until the next inevitable outburst.
Instead of gnashing jaws, an esipil’s bite involves a lashing mass of fleshy veins and viscera that can grasp at its opponent. Esipils use this attack to distract their opponents, savaging entangled victims with their vicious claw attacks until their masters pull them away
They can also take the shape of a cat or a dog and are resistant to everything except goodly weapons.
"Yn bendant nid o'r byd hwn Apep" - Garrosh replies - "And we best leave him in the crate for now..."
"Definitely not of this world Apep"
Caraid looks rather disappointed, he knows that he's always wanted a puppy, but when he hears about the tentacles and the viscera his face pales and he can't step away from the box fast enough.
"What's going on?" He asks, nodding towards the next room into which Ann disappeared.
Ann jumps back despite the incorporeal nature at the moment "Ghouls! Three of them, and yes they did see me." the smashing claws into the door tells that that anyway.
Piotr prepares his new shield and stands ready to hack one apart if it comes through the door.
As the party leaves the crate, there is another pathetic whine.
”Did you say ghouls? I’ll stay far away at the back.” Ilki replies.
As Ann leaves the room, the door shatters into splinters, revealing a ghoul in the doorway.
Piotr will step forward, stabbing his sword, holding up his shield, all the normal.
Ann will step back and taunt the ghoul in the doorway. "Missed me Mr. Ugly. " laughing in light melodious giggles.
Benefit: You can make Diplomacy and Intimidate checks to make creatures respond to you with hostility. No matter which skill you use, antagonizing a creature takes a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and has a DC equal to 10 + the target’s Hit Dice + the target’s Wisdom modifier. You cannot make this check against a creature that does not understand you or has an Intelligence score of 3 or lower. Before you make these checks, you may make a Sense Motive check (DC 20) as a swift action to gain an insight bonus on these Diplomacy or Intimidate checks equal to your Charisma bonus until the end of your next turn. The benefits you gain for this check depend on the skill you use. This is a mind-affecting effect.
Diplomacy: You fluster your enemy. For the next minute, the target takes a –2 penalty on all attacks rolls made against creatures other than you and has a 10% spell failure chance on all spells that do not target you or that have you within their area of effect.
"Grrr...become solid and fight you transparent coward!" The ghoul curses at Ann, clearly flustered such that it doesn't notice Piotr stab it in the ribs until its too late.
Caraid hurls the whimpering cage at the ghouls almost on reflex...
It's only as he sees the thing sailing towards Piotr's head that the thought comes.
"That wasn't a good idea..."
Caraid finds the crate too heavy for him to lift up. He does find some paint chips to hurl at the ghoul, but narrowly misses Piotr with his paint chips.
Rozalia grants Kilarra some guidance to aid against the ghouls!
Kilarra beats hooves for an all-out charge!
Retrieving the wand from his belt, Garrosh invokes its magical powers to boost his companions.
Kilarra chops off the head of the doorway ghoul while Garrosh blesses the party.
One of the remaining ghouls move up and try to bite and claw at Piotr.
Piotr blocks an attempt to bite him, gets struck by a lucky claw to his shin and feels slightly numb around the wound, but manages to fight it off, enough to leap back on the second claw strike.
The other ghoul, despite being partially blocked by the doorway, attacks Piotr as well.
Piotr gets bitten on his ribs and finds himself freezing up. Ilki, recognizing Piotr frozen in place, calls out, "Get him out of there before the ghouls eat him alive!" And then finds a place to hide.
Garrosh puts the wand away, and pulls Piotr back.
Garrosh pulls Piotr out of the way of the hungry, hungry ghouls.
Caraid steps up and thrusts a hand forward. A splinter of wood leaps from his palm towards one of the ghouls.
Piotr has a moment of pure terror, seizing up as teeth come for him, but Garrosh is there to pull him back. Instead of throwing in insults at the ghouls again, the now very angry Ann dashes forward, all swishing skirts, through the wall and ghouls.
Twirling with a flurish behind the attackers, she'll smile and go with a simple but effective "Wimps" as her insult.
Caraid's splinter hits the ghoul but bounces off its leathery hide.
The ghouls, having their claws gone through her incorporeal form, do not attempt to strike her as they know they can do no harm to her. They however, curse at her, "you're the wimp for being insubstantial b*tch! Fight us like a man if you've got balls! "
"But she's a girl..." Caraid replies, somewhat confused by the various taunts.