"Another one's out there, probably." Kilarra replies. She leads everyone downstairs and to the next door.
Thin, sour mist fills this spacious courtyard. Eddies in the fog create phantom shapes among the shadows of bent trees and wilted foliage.
Kilarra sees a human shaped object falling from above which lands at a thump at her feet, being revealed to be a horribly eviscerrated male human body.
"Uh, I think that's Mathew...he was warded for pseudobulbar affect and kept laughing uncontrollably, at inappropriate times." Ilki says from the back.
The party also notices that the crate that the ghoul was sitting on is open and the inhabitant, presumably burst out and escaped, while the party was in the tower.
"Well hopefully he had the last laugh." Replies Kilarra. "Garrosh, keep an eye behind us, alright?"
Kilarra steps forwards into the misty courtyard, sword at the ready.
"What is pseudobulbar?" Piotr asks as he moves forward into the mist with Kilarra. Ann has come back out in the trip back down, and hanging back. The mist worries her, and she wants to know where the puppy has gone.
"Urm, I don't know, something wrong with his head that made him laugh when nothing was funny?" Ilki hazards a guess.
In the mists, the party runs into 3 ghouls. They look at the party and start moving in a predatory manner.
Caraid's mind tears a loose flagstone from the path and sends it scything towards the ghouls like a rather dangerous frisbee.
Caraid flattens the first ghoul with his thrown rubble, and the other two, more cautious now, edge forward then prepare to do something.
Piotr will charge at the one to his left, since he has access to his less armored companions.
Ann will move in front of Rossana, one to protect, and two to be ready to join her brother next round.
Garrosh steps to the side, and unleashes on the closing ghoul.
HP: 27/27
AC: 18
Effects: Studied Target +1 on Ghoul
Piotr charges at the Black ghoul, who dodges out of the way and tries to bite him, but Piotr manages to block it with his shield.
Garrosh shoots the red ghoul in its knee.
Kilarra hustles around the tree and attacks the lonely ghoul.
Rozalia casts a spell, causing her hand to glow with blue energy. She moves forward and tries to touch the ghoul Piotr is attacking.
Caraid sends the same paving stone flying back into combat.
Kilarra moves in with her greatsword at the ghoul, who ducks out of the way of the swing, then tries to bite her but clanks off her field plate. Rozalia tries to touch the ghoul but it dodges out of the way. Caraid however with his very lucky stone, manages to crush the ghoul Piotr and Rozalia were engaged with.
The remaining ghoul turns on Kilarra with tooth and claws, with one lucky claw getting through her guard. She feels her shin numb briefly where the ghoul struck her, but it soon passes.
All three of you hear the sound of hoofbeats and see something horse like, except it has a horn, in the thin fog.
Rozalia moves to Kilarra's side as she reaches for the other ghoul, but also misses. "Beware! A spectral steed approaches!"
"That does not look good." Piotr says, moving to a position he can hopefully defend the group from.
"A spectral horse? Oh..." Ann realizes what Rozalia is talking about as she moves closer.
The ghostly figure flickers for a moment and then reappears in another corner of the courtyard.
Garrosh cannot see any spectral creatures, but he can see the ghoul well enough - with a snarl, he lets fly another arrow.
Garrosh shoots the remaining ghoul in the chest and it falls to the ground.
"Ydy'ch byd chi'n llawn o'r drewdod hyn?" Apep asks Garrosh.
Is your world full of these stinkies?
"Uhhh.. Are we going to be going all over the place?" Ilki asks.
"The thing just teleported" Piotr told the others too far to see it. "I have no ideas on this one... anyone else?"
"Yn ffodus nid Apep - ond mae'r gyfran fach hon wedi'i llenwi â'u math gwrthun, mae hynny'n sicr!" - Garrosh nods at Apep.
"Uhhh.. Are we going to be going all over the place?" Ilki asks.
"We will be wherever we are needed. Just like when we were there at the right time to save you. Others may need assistance also" - he answers Ilki.
"It's like an evil unicorn thing." Kilarra says. She stays put and gets into a defensive stance while trying to figure out the creature's next move.
Caraid looks around in confusion and then closes in with the group, unwilling to take chances even if he can't see what his mother and the others apparently can.
Strangely enough, only Piotr, Ann, Rozalia, Kilarra and now Caraid hear spectral hoofbeats as the creature gallops through the fog.
"Iawn oherwydd hyd yn oed os yw afon Oukranos yn beryglus, does dim cymaint o gaethweision y lleuad â'r drewdod yma o hyd." Apep replies.
OK because even if the Oukranos river is dangerous, there's still not as many moonbeasts slavers as these stinkies here.
"And what evil unicorn and spectral steed are you talking about? I only see yellow mist before me." Ilki says.
Even in the dire situation, Garrosh chuckles at Apep, and distracted actually pats him without even noticing it, as he would pat a companion on the shoulder.
"Mae'n braf eich cael chi o gwmpas Apep"
"It is nice to have you around Apep"
"I have to agree my friends - I do not see any spectral creature..." - the half-orc peers all around.
Piotr waits, shield and sword ready, while Ann turns back to Garrosh. "All of us up here see it, and it does not look like something to chuckle at, Garrosh. All of you back there do not see it. So either the mist is obscuring it a bit or it is causing us to have a mass hallicination. The real question is 'do we need to continue this direction?' If we do, kindly come up here to see it for yourself, if not we'll leave the nice horesy to its playful run in the creepy fog."
Kilarra shifts slightly closer while maintaining her defence. Without looking over her shoulder, she says "It's evil. We need to kill it."
"Ond eto nid yw caethweision yn hoffi cystadleuaeth felly byddai'n gwneud synnwyr y byddent yn gweithio ar eu pennau eu hunain." Apep muses out loud as she riubs her head against Garrosh's hand.
But again slavers don't like competition so it'd make sense they'd work alone.
" Ah... This is an asylum you know, " Ilki puts forth, " If some of you are seeing things and others are not... Did it occur to you that some of you may be seeing things?"
This time the spectral creature gives a loud neigh,rears on its hind legs briefly before appearing in one of the corners behind the party. Rozalia realises that it teleported.
Piotr ignores the man behind them "It's not attacking, maybe we should just leave it and head another way."
Kilarra asks "Where do you wanna go then?" as she tentatively moves closer to Garrosh.
"Anywhere away from that.."
"Ar gyfer beth maen nhw'n defnyddio eu caethweision?" - Garrosh inquires from Apep.
"What do they use their slaves for?"
With a grunt at Piotr's words, the half-orc moves forward to join his companion, motioning Apep to stay behind - "My smile was not at this situation my friend, simply at something the otherworldly Apep pointed out" - he snarls - "Believe me I am very much aware of how dire the situation may be. Here I am" - the archer adds, bow at the ready and looking around.
"We could leave it alone..." Caraid suggests, but shrugs and follows Garrosh.
As Garrosh steps off the path, he does see the ghostly horned horse prancing through the fog.
Garrosh realizes the unicorn caused by someone's unquiet spirit mingled with the power of the Dreamlands. If the body of the unquiet spirit is found and buried, that would cause the ghostly unicorn to dissappear. However approaching the body is likely to cause the unicorn to attack.
"Nid wyf yn gwybod ond clywsom straeon amdanynt yn gwerthu'r caethweision i wrachod drwg. Y cyfan rydyn ni'n ei wybod yn sicr yw'r rhai nad ydyn nhw byth yn cael eu gweld eto." Apep gives an uncertain squeak.
I don't know but we heard tales of them selling the slaves to evil witches. All we know for sure are those taken are never seen again.
Piotr follows behind the group this time in case the unicorn thing tries to attack them from behind.
Pitor indicates the group should go down south, which they do, and find the body of a painfully thin young man with stab wounds in his gut, wearing the loose uniform of a Brairstone patient lying amid the rubble.
Apep remains behind as Garrosh indicated, but Ilki, afraid of things that may jump on him from behind, follows the party. As Ilki steps off the path, he mutters, "Ok I do see the spectral horsie now. Right...we're all taking one trip down the loony rabbit hole."
"I think that's Brin," Ilki helpfully announces from the back. "He was warded for anorexia - one of the eating disorders.He'd constantly think he was getting fat when he's nothing but skin and bones."
"But I don't think I want to meet whatever did that to him," Ilki points at the stab wounds fearfully.
The unicorn this time flickers and reappears in front of the party, rearing on its hind legs and neighing a challenge as the party approaches the body.
Garrosh motions Apep to come with them.
"I think that might be the answer..." - Grond ponders, looking at the dead body - "I believe if we should bury this man Brin, that would put the spirit at ease - I do think this may be indeed his own spirit, somehow 'changed' by the power of the Dreamlands" - he adds.
"It may try to attack us if we approach though. Caraid are you able to move the body without us getting any closer?"
Apep dutifully follows along, then points out the spectral horse like creature. "Beth yw hwnna? Ni welais i mohono o'r blaen?" She chirps.
What's that? I didn't see it before?
Caraid steps closer to the body talking aloud as he does so.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Look, no weapons. I just want to help, let you go to sleep properly."
The air around him still thrumms with suppressed power however.
The unicorn stares measuringly at Caraid, an unarmed teenager, nods its head once, then lets him approach the body. Caraid notices a shiny silver ring with carved vine patterns on the ring finger of the body.
Somewhat surprised that it worked Caraid glances back over his shoulder. "Do I bury him?" He asks, the uncertainty clear in his tone. Even before he lost his memories he probably never had to deal with things like this...
The spectral unicorn just stares at Caraid with its ghostly eyes but does not make any other moves.
Rozalia nods. "Yes. I believe that may lay his spirit to rest."
Kilarra just nods to Caraid. Though not voiced, she's impressed with the teenager's bravery.
"We can dig a hole over here. Then you can carry him over?" Piotr points a bit away, and if the others agree will use his shield to start digging.
"Or it might just take a symbolic gesture of a handful of dirt over the poor soul's carcass." Ann suggests.
"Mae'n rhyw fath o apparition Apep - ni all ysbryd yr ymadawedig orffwys, felly mae'n crwydro o amgylch yr ardal hon ..." - Garrosh explains to Apep.
"We can dig a hole over here. Then you can carry him over?" Piotr points a bit away, and if the others agree will use his shield to start digging.
"Or it might just take a symbolic gesture of a handful of dirt over the poor soul's carcass." Ann suggests.
"Let us bury him properly" - Garrosh nods in agreement with Piotr - "Instead of leaving him out here" - then he moves to assist with the digging as possible.
Piotr and Garrosh start digging a shallow grave as Apep wonders out loud, "Ond pam na welais i mohono yn gynharach? Ers i mi edrych ar yr holl le hwn."
But why didn't I see it earlier? Since I was looking at this whole place.
Seeing Piotr and Garrosh digging a hole, Apep offers to help, "Ydych chi eisiau help i gloddio tyllau?"
Do you want help digging holes?