Lord Belros and Isagoras charge down the stairs and find themselves in what appears to be an empty wine cellar with no sign of a screaming damsel in distress.
Wooden bottle racks that are mostly broken line the north and west walls to a height of 6 feet. There appear to be no intact bottles left in the racks though there are several with broken necks. Broken bottles cover the floor beneath and near the racks.
Against the east wall, at the foot of the stairs, are two large metal storage bins which appear to be empty.
In the centre of the room lies a human corpse clad in plate mail; a long sword lies by the corpse's right hand and a large shield lies across the legs.
Not wanting to be alone, and worried about Wolfram, Allysen follows the others and is surprised to find an armored corpse in the middle of the cellar.
"This used to be a wizard's home, yes? What could have happened to this fellow?"
Carefully, Belros approaches the corpse, sword and shield in hand.
MWG also approaches the corpse, but does not get right up next to it. She keeps her senses attuned to any activity of the corpse, as well as her surroundings :
Wolfram manuevers out of the way to give the warriors in this fine group space to operate, should the dead rise.
"Whatever killed this poor fellow may still be in the house," he surmizes, forgetting himself around Allysen.
The Reverend investigates the storage bins for residues or other particle matter which would give indication as to their purpose, other than to block the stairs.
As Lord Belros approaches the corpse of the armored warrior, it begins to perceptively move, its body, arms, and legs twitching randomly and without coordination. A split-second later, the flesh of the corpse explodes as thousands of tiny, dun brown maggots spray over the group. Everyone is covered in dozens of inch-long grubs that with lightning speed crawl begin burrowing into any exposed flesh, inflicting terrible pain.
,
Allysen grits her teeth and runs back up to get free of the grubs, then turns to blast the patch of vile vermin.
"Get out of the swarm! They'll eat us alive," Allysen shouts as shards of shadow fly from her hands.
Allysen's spell slams into the swarm of grubs, causing dozens of them to shrivel and die.
Wolfram thrusts the metal bins aside, away from the stairs, freeing the group to exit with most haste, rather than die fighting an adversary that does not need to be fought.
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"Oh conFOUND!" Isagoras blurts out as he is covered in gooy grimey worms. "Oh what the devil are these now?"
"Oh I fear we are answered. These are of the few creatures more aggrevating than rust monsters or lurkers. They are rot grubs, and they can be purged only by healing magic...or fire!
Well since by violence they are cleansed, then let them by cleansed by violence! Vor-CHA!" he yells, seven shimmering scimitars slicing from his steely stance.
= 18 Raise!
= 27, or 13, rounding down.
"I can only heal you if you survive!"
7
13
Rot grubs. Damnation.
Belros grits his teeth at the sensation of being nibbled alive but keeps his cool.
He withdraws to the edge of the swarm and slams down his shield at the mass of rot grubs.
11
MWG brushes the maggots that are currently on her quickly off, and runs out of the area they occupy .
"Everyone up the stairs! This is a no-win situation!" she shouts.
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Isagoras blasts the rot grubs, the force of his magic spending them spraying across the basement where they lie lifeless and smoking. Those that survive are crushed under Lord Sunwalker's relentless shield attacks.
With a loud clap of his hands, Wolfram begins to create a furious friction, then lays hands on Allysen's wounds.
Success!
He moves to Isagoras and begins the ritual again.
Success!
He nods at the wizard, and finally moves to Lord Belros. With a slight tremor in his fingers, he claps his hands together once more.
Success!
Wolfram shakes out his hands and offers a tired smile.
Lord Belros is able to withstand the rot grub assault long enough for Wolfram to heal him. He wipes the worst of the grub goo off his shield.
"My thanks, Wolfram. Is everyone stable?"
Allysen feels her legs threaten to give out as Father Wolfram's magic destroys the vicious little grubs. Breathing deeply, she looks to the priest and gives him a grateful nod of thanks.
"Wh-what was that?!" Her question comes out tired and more than a little fearful as she leans against the wall and tries to catch her breath.
As the holy healing magic courses through each of the afflicted heroes, the rot grubs are expelled through the entrance wounds, which close up behind them, leaving nothing behind but intense, lingering pain.
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Isagoras takes pause and breathes deeply, looking for any more threats and wondering on the whirlwind turn of events that just befall them. "Gratitude, Father Argyle," he creaks out as the healing light flows through him like a volcano of power.
"Ha! We showed those insects, eh what! I've not seen so many rot grubs destroyed since Imrael regained the Emerald Sword! Ha!" he laughs at his inside-joke of one.
"Well if that is all that we have here, we may as well continue investigating this mystery. Let us see what else the corpse wants to tell us!"
Isagoras wades in to the ichor and spoor of the corpse to see what he may have been and what equipment is still on it.
The corpse seems to have been dead for quite some time, although it still had a good amount of meat on it; enough so that the rot grubs were able to reside within its body cavity. That body cavity now seems quite hollow and empty and has collapsed, giving the gaunt humanoid the appearance of a deflated air bladder.
Despite the desiccated state of its body, it is dressed in a shiny chain shirt, a steel helmet, and chainmail greaves that to Isagoras' trained eye look masterfully made.
Next to the corpse is a black mace engraved with magical runes of unknown origin the likes of which Isagoras has never seen.
It also is still carrying a belt pouch that has decayed completely.
"I feel that the armour would be best suited to one with a larger build than I. But I will indeed examine the mace."
Belros squats near the body and concentrates, praying to Pelor for guidance.
2
4
Allysen sits against the wall, trembling. The grubs had shaken her and even though the pain of their burrowing is gone, she aches all over and feels a little dizzy.
"C-can we rest for a moment? Please," she asks.
Feeling weary, Belros replies:
"I do not object to a rest. In fact, I would welcome one."
"I agree, but what about setting up a short camp outside the house. This place makes my spine crawl." says Wolfram.
"A fair point. Let us do just that, unless someone has reasonable objections they wish to make known."
You carefully remove the armor and mace from the corpse, on the careful lookout for any more rot grubs. Luckily, none seem to still be present.
Once you have finished looting the body, the group leaves the building, exiting through the front door and once again avoiding the pond on the way out through the main gate.
After a bit of searching, you find a place to camp within sight of the house that is protected from the bitter wind that blows off the Azure Sea by a dense thicket of trees and bushes.
It is here that Lord Sunwalker takes some time to study the armor and mace you took off the dead man in the basement.
To his surprise, the armor and mace both appear to be ensorcelled in some way, although the exact nature of the enchantment won't become clear until the elf has spent much more time studying the interplay of magical energies around the objects.
While he is studying the objects a cold squall moves in off the sea, surely bringing rain with it that will soak the group to the bone unless preventive measures are taken.
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Tired and feeling weak in her knees, Allysen finds herself learning on the good priest Wolfram as they leave. She gratefully thanks him for his help, though she is embarrassed about having become a liability even if only for a short while. After a little over an hour, she feels more herself, and seeing the squall coming in, she begins to work on shelter from the rain.
As she struggles with branches and leaves, she stumbles past Lorde Belros and nearly falls flat on her face. She stands and looks to the elf.
"Sorry. Are you–" she begins before the words catch in her throat. Her eyes widen and her skin turns paper-white as all color drains from her face. One trembling hand goes to her sword while the other reaches up and grabs the fabric of her tunic on her right shoulder. She spins about, searching for something with a wild look in her eyes. She squeezes them shut and takes in a deep breath.
The corpse was almost rotted away. She's not here. Calm down. Calm down. She's not here. She. Is. Not. Here.
She lets the breath out and opens her eyes as she turns to look at the others. Part of her screamed for her to run, but they would still be in trouble, all of them. She looks away and her posture relaxes some, though her left hand is now rubbing the back of her neck. She begins to wonder if she should tell them, or just try to pass it off as some nervous reaction.
MWG tries to build a shelter :
= 3
But fails as well.
"Given the oncoming storm, perhaps we should spend the night in the house, but in a room we've already been in, and keep guard thru the night?"
As the group leaves to set up elsewhere, Belros takes the mace.
**********************************
Belros is taken aback by Allysen's behaviour.
"What is wrong, Allysen? Is there a threat nearby?"
When Moves with Grace mentions moving back inside, he nods.
"We are too exposed out here. We can take watches and extend our rest if needs be."
Wolfram gives a sardonic smile at the sea layer as it comes in. "Procan's whim," he says under his breath.