Daerokh creeps over to Tuco, following his lead to where this alleged canine might be.
The key piece Daerokh finds is a serrated blade of green-tinted copper.
As he creeps over to the doctor's side, his foot finds a loose floorboard and causes it to *clatter* as he accidentally knocks it free.
With the zombies down and the first floor clear, for the moment, Faithe watched as an attempt was made to heal Joie, an attempt that was ultimately not very effective, Faithe considered speaking up and offering to try. Unfortunately for Joie it seemed the woman didn't want to risk it so Faithe kept quiet for now. Besides, the odds of her keeping things under control when she cast was rather low which meant very bad things could happen if she tried.
As they moved to the second floor Faithe continued to keep quiet and watch for trouble as they began their explorations. The identity of the statue was of some interest but not enough to truly draw Faithe's attention. No that went to keeping an eye out for the dog that was supposed to be around somewhere. Faith had her scythe in hand and was wary of any incoming attacks when she heard the inevitable happen, Daerokh fumbled the key and made noise.
Faith was so completely caught off guard by the sudden clattering noise that she jumped straight up several inches before coming down with a loud thump when her feet reached the floor again.
The half-orc looks at the dwarf questioningly, then nods. Whatever choice the dwarf made, he was going to support him as best as possible.
Daerokh begins by opening his pack and pulling out some jerky from his rations. Then he begins to approach the sound of the growling and places the jerky before the door.
"Here we go..." he says as he opens the door. "Easy, easy...here's some food. We're not gonna hurt you."
The young suppressed a nervous laugh as Daerokh caused a ruckus, casually glancing at the space opened up by the loose floorboard, just in case. Why not?
Jase eyed the rations Daerokh pulled out dubiously, but shrugged and accompanied the dwarf forward. The swashbuckler wasn't itching for a fight, and there was a chance it would work. If it was just a regular ole dog where the group was going.
Daerokh pushes the door open--and is promptly knocked aside by the massive, furred body barrelling through.
Growling, snarling and twitching with aggression, the large, two-headed dog before them looks like it's seen better days. Its mangy black fur seems to writhe with a life of its own--closer inspection reveals that the wriggling is caused by hundreds of tiny worms. The stench of rot coming from this dog is nothing short of revolting.
Both of its heads look at Daerokh. A piece of green-tinted copper is around its neck, hanging from a leather lanyard.
It doesn't look too happy.
Its heads snarl, and it scuffs the rug, preparing to attack!
Alorea gags at the sight of the horrific two-heaed beast. "Gross! Bad doggie! Bad!" She steps forward a bit as she pulls a javelin from her quiver and hurls it at the dog.
"SLAG!" Daerokh swears as what's less a dog and more a monster bounds out of the room. He backpedals almost immediately to regroup with the rest of the others and draws his axe.
Tuco has little idea what the dog is but knows by the way its standing that it is dangerous.
Having multiple legs makes the creature much more difficult to knock over, but he hopes that with it being caught off guard he can knock it down.
Faithe shifted her location a bit so she could attack when the creature came for them allowing them to surround it as best they could. Her scythe was at the ready so she could strike as soon as the creature came in range.
Jase suppressed a gag at the sight of the disgusting canine, wondering what weird magic had attached an extra head to the thing. The more he learned about Alkenstar City, the more he was surprised the whole place hadn't gone up in some kind of arcane explosion (or regular explosion, for that matter) long ago. Still, it seemed this thing needed putting down, and with Alorea hurling a javelin at it, Tuco snapping his whip forward, and everyone else preparing for combat, Jase figured there wouldn't be many bleeding hearts for this pup. The young man stepped forward to Tuco's side and set his weapon, getting ready for the thing to retaliate.
Alorea's javelin finds its mark, striking the two-headed dog in its shoulder. As it thrashes about, Tuco's whip wraps around its front paw. With a hard yank, the oversized creature falls on its face!
Joie moves in cautiously, dan bong at the ready-- though truthfully, she's not sure how to use it too effectively against a giant two-headed dog.
She absolutely makes it work, though!
As the two-headed dog falls, Joie leaps into action and gets upon the hound's back. She manages to get a firm grasp underneath both of the dog's necks and hold it down!
Squirming. Reeking. Crawling.
This may not have been the best of ideas.
The beast howls and struggles to its feet before bucking back and forth, trying to shake Joie off!
All it accomplishes is thrashing about, gnashing its teeth in impotent fury.
Ew.
Alorea grimaces as she moves up, drawing her rapier and stabbing the dog.
Joie yanks the dog’s heads at an angle they were never supposed to be bent in, and her efforts are rewarded with a CRUNCH. The dog collapses again, this time staying down.
When Joie climbs off of the corpse, her clothes are covered in dozens, if not hundreds, of writhing worms.
Joie gets about knocking them off with her dan bong, looking suspiciously like a cat owner using a lint roller.
"If anyone has a better method of doing this, I'm extremely open to it," she states.
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Alorea holds her hand out and a blast of wind buffets Joie, sending the worms sailing across the room. "There you are, Captain. Hopefully none of them got inside of you already. You may want to put something sticky to your bum when you get a chance, just to be sure."
Daerokh gapes as Joie almost single-handedly dispatches the poor, foul creature.
"Now I can see why Nex sent you down here basically on your own...you REALLY know how to handle yourself!"
He frowns at the sight of worms.
"How long was this poor thing being eaten alive by these parasites? Snapping its necks was a mercy, that it was."
Joie really doesn't know what to say to Alorea's statement about what she should do with her behind.
"Little sense in letting it suffer," she says simply-- whether that's overall or in killing it is hard to say. Possibly both. Probably both.
Tuco shook his head and wiped off the cloth, No need for rot here. While doing so he moved to Joie, "If it gives ye any peace I'll be taking you a look."
Giving her a quick once over he prodded her a bit, "Open wide."
Recalling Alorea’s comment, Joie is... hesitant.
”You mean my mouth, right?”
Tuco holds his mouth agape.
"What kind of business yous think I run?!" He swipes a worm off her shoulder, "The one 'dat has 'dem pointy bits in it." Under his breath he laughs a little, "Unless I be misunderstandin' yous humans or somefin' equally silly."
””The, uh. Private detective mentioned...”
Joie clears her throat, then opens up. Her mouth, that is.
Alorea snickers quietly before moving to investigate the rest of the room.
Jase watched the back-and-forth going on after Joie beat down the dog-creature with unabashed humor, clearly enjoying the woman's unease at Alorea's comment and Tuco's good-natured doctoring. Moving forward with the sylph while the half-orc checked out the Nexian, he looked about for anything of interest.
Daerokh watches Tuco examine Joie, concern evident on his face.
The piece of copper around the dead dog's neck appears to be the rounded end of a key. All that's missing is the shaft...
Jase steps into the room the massive dog emerged from and is greeted by the overpowering reek of animal waste, rotten flesh and mildew. The room beyond was once a master bedroom, judging from the mangled four-poster bed against the southern wall and tattered rugs strewn about. Several destroyed wardrobes dot the western and eastern walls, each of them filled with torn and soiled clothing. Piled in the corners of the room are the remains of human limbs, along with other piles of filth that one would rather not think about.
--2 salvageable Courtier's Outfits: one a forest-green dinner jacket with a white, ruffled undershirt, black bolo tie and dress slacks; the other a navy blue, short-skirted waistcoat and grey breeches with a lighter blue coat with curving back fronts.
--a wand made from what looks like some sort of animal bone, bleached white and carved with strange runes.
"May I see that?" Daerokh asks when he sees the key piece. If it's handed over, he sees if it pairs up with the piece he discovered.
Daerokh notices that the two key pieces seem to go together. All that's missing is the shaft that connects them.
"Let's look around. Our key appears to be missing a shaft, so we need the last piece to make it work, and I've a feeling we're gonna need it downstairs," Daerokh informs the others.
Tuco gives the Nexian a pat on her back, "Yous seem fine. Ain't got no worms in you so you cleared for duty officer!" He gives a mock salute and the bag of material clatters at his side when he hups up.
"The key seems to be missin' a piece aye? If we's need magic to piece it backs together I can do it but I be hopin' that ain't the case. What else yous find there Daerokh?" He eyes the bone wand uncertainly, before handing it back. "I gots no idea. Maybe if I had some time in quiet peace I can study it proper."
Jase admired the outfits for a long moment, wondering at the potential. With a bit of tailoring and a good wash, they would be quite serviceable. The bone stick was of much less interest to him, and he was only too glad to hand it to Tuco. When the half-orc tried to hand it back, the swashbuckler waved him off in the direction of Faithe...it seemed up her alley.
Joie breathes a sigh of relief, and Tuco gets the feeling that the look she gives him at his civilian salute would be much more intense if it wasn't softened by gratitude.
She eyes the wand briefly; though she doesn't know much about it, she knows someone who might--
--but Jase beats her to the punch.
Letting the mages go about their business, she paces the room, grimacing at the human limbs. Food for the dog? she ponders.
Daerokh shrugs at Tuco's question.
"Haven't taken a close enough look yet. Gonna do so now."
He checks in the room the dog had come out of, hoping to see something Jase might have missed.
Don't forget to get rid of the keycan't get rid of the key. Can't see locksmith. Too many questions.Break key up.
Teeth in hand
Base with dog (don't need muscle anyway--need someone smart for this)
Shaft in upstairs library
In case my usual entrance fails me.
He shrugged, "S'pose this be for you? they seem to be sayin' that spooky bone wands are yous specialty, can't say how theys got that assumption at all."
Handing the bone wand over he gave a shiver, "Don't feel like I can use it none anyway."
"Ha! Struck mithral!" Daerokh says when he locates the note. He takes it and shows it to the others. "According to this, the last piece is in the library...and whoever wrote this has a 'usual entrance,' whatever that means."
He leads the way in looking for this library.
"It means we has a way to 'dis 'ere secret hidey-hole." He gives his usual chuckle and pats the dwarf's back, "Lead the way chum. I's be nearby."
Glad to start moving again, Jase followed the half-orc and dwarf in their search for the library. Hopefully the only scary things in there were old books.
Daerokh's search for a library leads him to a door on the southeastern corner of the main room. At least this door doesn't sound like it has an angry animal beyond it. Or smell like it.
"Everyone ready?" Daerokh says as he prepares to open the door.
Tuco moves up to the door and listens in, "'Dis 'ere the lib'erry?" He unfastens his cloth whip, "Ain't smell no dog so whys not?"
”Ready,” affirms Joie.
Jase just nodded to the dwarf, his nerves on edge after the few creepy encounters in the abandoned manor. He hoped this room was blessedly free of occupants.
Daerokh opens the door and peeks inside.
The interior of the room beyond is cleaner than the master bedroom--though, that's saying very little. The room is lined with bookshelves--some of them decayed, but others appearing to have recently been installed. The shelves are all lined with books, and each of their spines says something in a strange language; the letters on the books seem to twist at odd angles that makes the eye hurt.
A wrought-iron box sits in the middle of the room, with images of sitting skeletons framing its edges. A single sheet of parchment is lying on top of the box...
Who are you, that do not know our Queen's history? Knowledge will open the way forward.
You know this language--the language of the deathless and the damned.