As she made her way to Stryn and upstairs floor, Renae apologetically shrugged at Kiley's question. "A prestidigitation spell would have done just the thing to dry you and Henric's clothes. Unfortunately, I did not take care prepare it today... my apologizes."
"I would say don't worry about but I hate walking around in wet clothes. They always bind and stick in the most awkward ways," Kiley replies in a slightly exasperated tone, though she does smile to let Renae know her annoyance wasn't with her. "Don't suppose you could do it when we get back?"
Upstairs, Kiley follows Stryn, though her heart begins to beat faster as they near the room where they'd faced the attic whisperer.
In the room where you fought the attic whisperer, you still see sitting in the middle of the floor the tattered blanket, the worn necklace of blocks, and the cracked skull on its head. It looks like you finished the attic whisperer permanently. A search of the room reveals nothing else.
Henric lets out a breath that he didn't know that he was holding. "Hopefully there's no more nasty surprises left," he says out loud to no one in specific.
Seeing that the first room on the floor was well represented with party members looking through it, Hal decided to be helpful and waltzed over to the door next to it.
"I wonder what's in here," he said, breezily, as he tried listening at the door and even looked through the keyhole before opening it.
Seeing nothing else of interest in the room Stryn turns just in time to see Hal looking through the keyhole. He rolls his eyes and just shakes his head as he walks over "You make lots noise, let everything know we here."
"Well, do you see anything," Kiley asks, not so secretly relieved to see the attic whisperer gone for good. She's as annoyed as Stryn with the elf's antics at the moment, but at least he seemed to be mostly harmless.
If we manage to get out of here without me needing to expend to much of magic, than yes. I can definitely do that, Renae says, shooting a smile right back at Kiley.
Returning back to where they fought the attic whisperer certainly didn't do Renae's nerves any favors but the wizard at least took some solace in knowing the creature hadn't reformed since they were gone. With undead you could never be to sure about the finality of death.
That concern taken care of Renae joined Kiley in asking the strange elf if he could see or hear anything on the other side, though, her tone was a tadbit more courteous.
"I'm sure you can us whether there's anything of concern behind that door, Hal. You seem to have an eye for spotting detail," she says, before quietly adding under her breath, "...For better or worse."
Through the keyhole, Hal is able to just make out a rotted set of bunk beds and an overturned chest of ratty, moldy toys. He also sees what look like the remains of three abnormally large centipedes wound through the bunk beds.
"You make lots noise, let everything know we here."
Pale eyebrows set themselves into confused consternation atop the cleric's brow.
"Am I? I'm sorry, it's just, um... Well, forgive me, but I question the notion of hiding from a haunted house whilst standing inside said haunted house. Bit like hiding from a giant by crawling into its mouth. Fairly sure the spooks know we're here. Do correct me if I've misunderstood."
Acutely aware of his own ignorance (and madness to boot), Hal was always ready to acquiesce to his superiors. That said, he couldn't quite suss out the root behind Stryn's and Kiley's annoyance. All he'd done was take two steps to the next door.
"Well, do you see anything,"
"Oh yes, plenty," the elf replied from his hunched down position. His spindly body was bent at a nearly perfect 90 degree angle to look through the keyhole, which also placed his face at a more comfortable conversation distance to the goblin.
After another moment peering into the room, Hal realized that Kiley probably wanted to know what it was he could see.
"Ah, right," he said and righted himself. "Bunk beds and toys, all succumbing to time. Perhaps the room of more children. Also, empty carapaces. You know, like from insects. Real big ones, three of them, maybe from centipedes. Wouldn't want to see those nasties alive, no siree."
The fine eyebrows began animating once again as a speculative pout took hold of the cleric.
"Wouldn't want to see whatever killed them, actually... Huh. Closed door. So... either what killed the centipedes had the common courtesy to close the door behind itself or... it's still in there. Hm. I think I'd prefer steering clear of this one for now," he said as he marched straight for the next door.
Stryn let’s out an audible sigh at the elf as he moves on after giving his explanation. He looks back to the others ”Not like leaving threats behind. If we not search now to clear, we should make sure anything in can’t get out.”
If the others agree he will go to work jamming the door. While he knows it probably wouldn’t do much against ghosts, they had seen a lot of things in this house so far that weren’t ghosts, but were dangerous none the less. Apparently Hal hadn’t realized that yet, even after seeing the dead centipedes, but Stryn still wasn’t completely sure about their new companion, so was sticking to playing dumb until he could get a better feel for what this elf was all about.
"No, I don't either. Besides, whatever is in there probably has other ways to get out," Kiley says before turning to the odd elven priest.
"Hal, can you get back over here. We're going to see what's in here first," she tells the elf. She didn't fancy a big fight, but she wasn't about to leave something behind that could still get at them without finding out what it is first.
"I'd have to agree with the others here, Hal," Renae softy told the cleric, who was already at the next door. "Best that we clear that room before moving on to check on the next."
She shrugged causally, trying to make light of the matter to not set their newest companion off. "After all, its not as if were in a rush. We can take our time and be thorough."
"After all, its not as if were in a rush. We can take our time and be thorough."
"Ah, but we are," the elf replied with a glint in the eye and dreamy smile growing just a bit wider. "We're all living on borrowed time, one way or the other, every one of us. Time is precious. It is the most precious resource of all. And it whittles away, relentlessly, like wood shavings from a grand oak, no matter how we try to hold onto it. The one certainty in this world is that The End comes for all of us, so what we do with those scant few moments allotted to us is the most important question of all. Please don't take your time for granted, Renae."
The words were as unwarranted as they were unexpected, and they seemed perfectly genuine to boot. The cleric's last request in particular saw Hal's monochromatic dark eyes take on an almost pleading aspect. While it was a bit unclear exactly what he trying to say, it was evidently important to him.
But the moment broke quickly enough.
"Sorry, I'm just wasting time, aren't I? Yes, let's get to it then."
The elf got into position behind Stryn and Kiley, pulled out a leather sling and loaded it with a pale stone. Close inspection would reveal that the rock was very similar to the one embedded into his holy symbol, also carrying the vague outline of a skull. Hal wasn't sure why killing everything in this house was necessary to calm Roderick's spirit, but he wasn't about to question this.
Stryn opens the door, revealing a set of bunk beds that has fallen apart and crumpled against the south wall of this room. A wooden chest of toys is turned on its side, spilling moldy stuffed animals, wooden blocks, and neglected toys across the floor.
As soon as he opens the door, the centipede corpses shudder and begin to unwind from around the bunk bed.
These are exoskeleton centipedes. Exoskeletons are invertebrates who are animated by necromantic energies - either lingering from unquiet spirits or intentionally created by a necromancer. Like skeletons, they resist damage from non-blunt weapons, and have typical undead immunities. The good news is that they likely don't possess the poison a living centipede would.
The centipedes crawl forward, attempting to bite at Stryn.
Fortunately, the one with an unobstructed attack doesn't come close, and the other two take chunks out of the doorframe.
As Stryn dodges the bite from the centipede he jumps back and says to the others "Box them in, let them come out one at a time so we can flank them!"
He readies an attack for when one moves out of the doorway.
"Renae, maybe it'd be best if you got behind me," he says to the Enchantress, staff in hand.
A sharp whistle came from the cleric's sling as he began swinging the stone laden leather. He didn't seem overly concerned about the centipede remains being less dead than they first appeared. Or should that be 'too' dead in the case of undeath?
"Honestly. Jellies, water closets and zombie centipedes. This is a silly place. Sillier still are we should we die here."
The elf's projectile flew true, but the rock was apparently not of great quality as it shattered on the inspect carapace without doing much damage.
Seeing the stomach-turning centipedes rush out the door and try to take a bit out of Stryn, Renae couldn't help but agree with Henric's suggestion.
"I definitely see the wisdom in that," Renae says quickly as she slips behind Henric and prepares her crossbow.
"Silly isn't the word I'd use," Kiley says before she looks to Henric and adds, "probably should have let me stand there, by the way."
Seeing nothing for it, she focuses on the one likely to be first through the door and readies her sword.
As Stryn dodges the bite from the centipede he jumps back and says to the others "Box them in, let them come out one at a time so we can flank them!" He readies an attack for when one moves out of the doorway.
"Renae, maybe it'd be best if you got behind me," he says to the Enchantress, staff in hand.
Seeing the stomach-turning centipedes rush out the door and try to take a bit out of Stryn, Renae couldn't help but agree with Henric's suggestion. "I definitely see the wisdom in that," Renae says quickly as she slips behind Henric and prepares her crossbow. Henric steps into her space and adopts a defensive posture. Renae fires her crossbow, but misses the centipede.
A sharp whistle came from the cleric's sling as he began swinging the stone laden leather. He didn't seem overly concerned about the centipede remains being less dead than they first appeared. Or should that be 'too' dead in the case of undeath? "Honestly. Jellies, water closets and zombie centipedes. This is a silly place. Sillier still are we should we die here."
The elf's projectile flew true, but the rock was apparently not of great quality as it shattered on the inspect carapace without doing much damage. It did leave a small dent, though.
"Silly isn't the word I'd use," Kiley says before she looks to Henric and adds, [/b]"probably should have let me stand there, by the way."[/b] Seeing nothing for it, she focuses on the one likely to be first through the door and readies her sword.
The first centipede comes through the door, inviting attacks from both Stryn and Kiley. Both of their attacks hit, but the carapace absorbs most of their damage, leaving only some minor cracks.
The centipede lunges at Kiley, mandibles snapping.
It bites her leg, drawing blood. She doesn't feel any of the poison normally associated with such vermin, though.
The other two centipedes mill around, unable to get out of the room.
Orange - 4/11
Kiley - 5/10
Henric does his best to keep the undead vermin busy with his staff so that Stryn can find a sweet spot.
Stryn curses when he sees his rapier only nicks the side of the centipede. He shakes his head as he thinks Need to get more weapons for situations like this... Either way, he had to do the best with what he had so he lunged at the centipede again, working with Henric to take advantage of their positioning.
The thrashing centipede remains proved able opponents, as felt by Kiley. Blood spilled onto the floor from the creature's attack. But no sooner had the mandibles left the young woman's leg before the grisly gash began stitching itself together, as if to spite the monster.
The culprit proved to be the long finger resting on Kiley's shoulder belonging to a Hælador Færvel, imbuing the former with curative magic. The end might be inevitable, but the centipedes were no clerics of Groetus. So in this particular instance the end came whenever Hal jolly well said it did, and that was not now.
With the orange centipede seemingly dead to the rights and its two compatriots still lingering in the room, Renae readied her crossbow and her next bolt for the moment when one of the pair inevitability moved forward to attack.
Kiley grits her teeth as white-hot pain explodes in her knee, but before she could even notice blood spilling from the wounds, Hal is there mending them with his divinely granted abilities. Eyeing the centipedes, she readies for another attack on the undead monsters.
Henric does his best to keep the undead vermin busy with his staff so that Stryn can find a sweet spot. His staff slams the ground next to the centipede.
With the orange centipede seemingly dead to the rights and its two compatriots still lingering in the room, Renae readied her crossbow and her next bolt for the moment when one of the pair inevitability moved forward to attack.
The thrashing centipede remains proved able opponents, as felt by Kiley. Blood spilled onto the floor from the creature's attack. But no sooner had the mandibles left the young woman's leg before the grisly gash began stitching itself together, as if to spite the monster. The culprit proved to be the long finger resting on Kiley's shoulder belonging to a Hælador Færvel, imbuing the former with curative magic. The end might be inevitable, but the centipedes were no clerics of Groetus. So in this particular instance the end came whenever Hal jolly well said it did, and that was not now.
Stryn curses when he sees his rapier only nicks the side of the centipede. He shakes his head as he thinks, Need to get more weapons for situations like this... Either way, he had to do the best with what he had so he lunged at the centipede again, working with Henric to take advantage of their positioning. His rapier struck, but only bounced off the corpse insect's carapace.
Kiley grits her teeth as white-hot pain explodes in her knee, but before she could even notice blood spilling from the wounds, Hal is there mending them with his divinely granted abilities. Eyeing the centipedes, she readies for another attack on the undead monsters, her greatsword dusting the centipede, which explodes in a cloud of dust.
Kiley=1, Stryn=2, Henric=3
The next centipede slithers through the door, prompting Renae to loose a crossbow bolt that misses high and wide, and snaps at Henric, who deftly evades the thing's mandibles.
Henric accidentally inhales some of the dust, which causes him to go into a coughing fit, but he still manages to get in a swing at the new target.
Stryn grins as Kiley explodes the centipede into dust. He is about to say good job as he takes in a deep breath of the dust and starts to choke on it coughing and sneezing uncontrollably.
As his eyes tear up from the coughing he holds his breath a moment to focus on attacking the new centipede.
Miraculously, perhaps because of her relative distance or the strange origins of her body, Renae is able to withstand the centipede's noxious dust and prepare a spell in retaliation.
Putting her ineffective crossbow aside, the wizard weaved her hands as she spoke in ancient Thassilonian. When she was done a glob of magical acid shot out of her hands and to the red centipede.
Alas, like her other attacks it too went astray.
Kiley starts sneezing as she gets a noseful of the dust, but while she's unable to concentrate enough to study her next target, it hardly matters as she smashes the next undead bug with a strike that's only a little off from a weak spot.
Very grateful that he wasn't near the dust cloud that used to be an exoskeleton that used to be a centipede, the elf watched with some distress as much of the party began coughing and sneezing. Still, if this was the price for ending these abominations then Hal said bring on the phlegm. His sling began whistling again as he swung it wildly, seeking to hasten the monsters' demise.
Another miniature skull flew from the leather and dented the animated carapace.
Henric accidentally inhales some of the dust, which causes him to go into a coughing fit, but he still manages to get in a swing at the new target. His staff strikes with a cracking sound.
Miraculously, perhaps because of her relative distance or the strange origins of her body, Renae is able to withstand the centipede's noxious dust and prepare a spell in retaliation. Putting her ineffective crossbow aside, the wizard weaved her hands as she spoke in ancient Thassilonian. When she was done a glob of magical acid shot out of her hands and to the red centipede. Unfortuantely, her aim with the acid wasn't much better than her aim with the crossbow.
Very grateful that he wasn't near the dust cloud that used to be an exoskeleton that used to be a centipede, the elf watched with some distress as much of the party began coughing and sneezing. Still, if this was the price for ending these abominations then Hal said bring on the phlegm. His sling began whistling again as he swung it wildly, seeking to hasten the monsters' demise. Another miniature skull flew from the leather and dented the animated carapace.
Stryn grins as Kiley explodes the centipede into dust. He is about to say good job as he takes in a deep breath of the dust and starts to choke on it coughing and sneezing uncontrollably. As his eyes tear up from the coughing he holds his breath a moment to focus on attacking the new centipede. His rapier strikes, but the damage is greatly lessened.
Kiley starts sneezing as she gets a noseful of the dust, but while she's unable to concentrate enough to study her next target, it hardly matters as she smashes the next undead bug with a strike that's only a little off from a weak spot. The centipede is defeated...and explodes into another cloud of dust.
The final centipede emerges from the room.
1=Henric, 2=Kiley, 3=Stryn
It snaps at Henric, but ends up taking a chunk out of the floor, instead.
Stryn can't help himself from starting to laugh as Kiley explodes another centipede, if only cool things like that happened when he attacked stuff... Before he realizes it though, he inhales the dust again and starts to cough. He frowns and shakes his head to himself, as he should have known better, but still tries to attack.
Ready, this time, for the effects of destorying one of the undead insects, Henric is able to hold his breath to avoid inhaling the zombie-dust. He attacks the new target, but doesn't manange to do any better than it did.
Another rock flew by Kiley's ear as the elf once again launched one of his DIY sling bullets fashioned like a Grotean moon.
While his aim was true, Hal was somewhat saddened that his arts & crafts projects weren't especially sturdy. The missile did some damage, but cracked upon impact with the centipede shell.
*SNEEP*
Kiley looks miserable as the dust these things give off irritate her allergies.
Her watering eyes blur her vision and her strike is wide of the mark as it crashes into the floor.
"S-so-ah-Ah" *SNEEP* She tries to apologize, but another sneeze cuts her off.
Once again, Renae's Azlanti body somehow manages to weather the last centipede's poisonous death rattles with relative ease, granting her another opportunity to focus her magic and try to hit the one remaining centipede with her acidic magic...
Unfortunately Renae's fortunes in that arena there are likewise no different as they were before, with the acid flying right above the undead centipede's carapace to the wizard's great annoyance.
Ready, this time, for the effects of destorying one of the undead insects, Henric is able to hold his breath to avoid inhaling the zombie-dust. He attacks the new target, but doesn't manange to do any better than it did.
Once again, Renae's Azlanti body somehow manages to weather the last centipede's poisonous death rattles with relative ease, granting her another opportunity to focus her magic and try to hit the one remaining centipede with her acidic magic...Unfortunately Renae's fortunes in that arena there are likewise no different as they were before, with the acid flying right above the undead centipede's carapace to the wizard's great annoyance.
Another rock flew by Kiley's ear as the elf once again launched one of his DIY sling bullets fashioned like a Grotean moon. While his aim was true, Hal was somewhat saddened that his arts & crafts projects weren't especially sturdy. The missile did some damage, but cracked upon impact with the centipede shell.
Stryn can't help himself from starting to laugh as Kiley explodes another centipede, if only cool things like that happened when he attacked stuff... Before he realizes it though, he inhales the dust again and starts to cough. He frowns and shakes his head to himself, as he should have known better, but still tries to attack. Unfortunately, he sneezes just as he thrusts, and his rapier misses the centipede.
*SNEEP* Kiley looks miserable as the dust these things give off irritate her allergies. Her watering eyes blur her vision and her strike is wide of the mark as it crashes into the floor. "S-so-ah-Ah" *SNEEP* She tries to apologize, but another sneeze cuts her off.
1=Kiley, 2=Stryn, 3=Henric
The centipede lashes out at Stryn, but it seems to be flailing more than trying to attack as it misses the goblin.
Stryn is still trying to completely recover from his allergic reaction to the dust when he strikes out at the centipede and fails to connect again. He steps to the side, giving Kiley an opening to move and attack with Henric's help in hopes of finishing this thing off.
Finally deciding that lobbing rocks at the obstinate centipede just wasn't working out, Hal tossed the sling in favor of helping those members of the team more capable of dealing some damage. But being that the space around the beastie was so crowded already, he unfortunately saw no option for aiding. None save sharing the madness the Harbinger of the Last Days had blessed unto him. This wasn't something the elf did lightly. Forcefully altering someone's mental state just wasn't very nice. Resolved to not simply do nothing, however, he once again laid one long finger onto Kiley's shoulder, this time with some slight hesitation.
The effect was immediate as the young woman began... seeing things. Odd things.
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Kiley blinks away the tears from the allergy attack and notices that things have gotten... odd. She ignores most of the strangeness and focuses on the last of the centipedes. She notices that its outline seems to bleed into the future, and uses this to help line up her strike. The blade finds the target, and Kiley takes notice of the other bits of strangeness happening.
"Stryn? Why are you crying rainbows?"
Henric looks at Kiley strangely as he helps in attacking the creature. [b]"Did you inhale a bit too much of that dust?"{/b] he asks with concern.
Renae suspected that the last centipede had been finally dispatched by Kiley's swing of her greatsword, but when it came to destroying vermin one could never be to sure that they were truly disposed of. Thoroughness was required.
With a wave of hands and an incantation on her lips, Renae once again tried to hit the centipede with her acid splash...
... to unfortunately no results.
Henric strikes at the centipede with his quarterstaff, but it evades him.
With a wave of hands and an incantation on her lips, Renae once again tried to hit the centipede with her acid splash...to unfortunately no results.
Finally deciding that lobbing rocks at the obstinate centipede just wasn't working out, Hal tossed the sling in favor of helping those members of the team more capable of dealing some damage. But being that the space around the beastie was so crowded already, he unfortunately saw no option for aiding. None save sharing the madness the Harbinger of the Last Days had blessed unto him. This wasn't something the elf did lightly. Forcefully altering someone's mental state just wasn't very nice. Resolved to not simply do nothing, however, he once again laid one long finger onto Kiley's shoulder, this time with some slight hesitation. The effect was immediate as the young woman began... seeing things. Odd things.
Stryn is still trying to completely recover from his allergic reaction to the dust when he strikes out at the centipede and fails to connect again. He steps to the side, giving Kiley an opening to move and attack with Henric's help in hopes of finishing this thing off.
Kiley blinks away the tears from the allergy attack and notices that things have gotten... odd. She ignores most of the strangeness and focuses on the last of the centipedes. She notices that its outline seems to bleed into the future, and uses this to help line up her strike. The blade finds the target, and Kiley takes notice of the other bits of strangeness happening. "Stryn? Why are you crying rainbows?"
Though heavily wounded by Kiley's strike, the sharp cutting edge of Kiley's sword isn't as effective against the centipede as a more blunt weapon would be.
The centipede bites at the one who wounded it, but it misses Kiley.
"Tenacious little bastards, aren't they," Henric comments as he strikes at the creature again.
"Tenacious little bastards, aren't they," Henric comments as he strikes at the creature again. This time, his staff hits, and the centipede explodes in a cloud of dust.
Stryn is glad these things are dealt with, as enjoyable as it was to watch them explode into dust, the dust itself was quite the nuisance. He moves over to Kiley to check on her after her bizzare comment "You ok?" he asks simply.
"She'll be fine!" the cleric interjected a little too quickly, his ever-present smile conspicuously absent. Hal was looking oddly anxious, doubly so considering nothing had managed to faze the elf so far.
"I mean... Just give her a few seconds. A minute at most. I'm sure she'll be fine. I'm almost sure."
Hal really didn't like this. All he wanted was to help people. It was just that Groetus's gospel was a bit much for... well, seemingly for all of mortal-kind. Made them go funny in the head. And sometimes not so funny. Sometimes not very funny at all. Hal had heard the stories about the Harbinger's other disciples. Not the sort of people he wanted to associate with. If they could just see what he saw...