Hekk |
"Hmmm is right. Whatever it was, I'm sure we will run into it again. Can we leave the sleepy guy here and go back to looking for the old geezer we came for now?"
Leopold R. Bibbard |
Leopold hunts around for gruel. Does this door on the far left lead to a kitchen?
GM MattMorris |
You guys spied the kitchen from the dining room. It's back off the main chamber. Assuming you open the door:
The kitchen at Mother’s Care exudes the foul odor of mildew and insect dung. A dirty pot containing old gruel sits on the counter opposite a cold hearth that hasn’t been used for cooking in a long time.
Hekk |
"Dang. And I thought orcs were hard on the elderly. They actually make them eat this stuff? And he asks for it?"
Hekk shakes his head in amazement.
Tathane Halfbarrel |
Tathane shakes his head. "No Hekk. They don't eat it this way. This has been abandoned." Tathane searches the room for any clues that might explain what happened.
Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
GM MattMorris |
As Tathane searches the kitchens, he hears a chittering, scuttling noise. Suddenly, a swarm of cockroaches bursts out of the cabinets!
Aryas: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17
Harlan: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
Leopold: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
Hekk: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Tathane: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17
Swarm: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
~+~Combat Round 1~+~
Leopold
Harlan
Aryas
Tathane
Swarm
Hekk
I put everyone around where I thought you would be, based on your actions. Feel free to adjust your position.
Tathane Halfbarrel |
Tathane takes several steps back when the cockroaches appear. "My dagger is not going to do anything against these things," he says and gets out of the way so that someone else can deal with them.
Hekk |
Suggestion: close the door.
Aryas Katsu |
Aryas agrees to immediately close the door!
Leopold R. Bibbard |
"Good lad. Now, I'm just going to look in on that poor man who needed his gruel."
Leopold double moves to the front door.
Hekk |
Aryas agrees to immediately close the door!
That was ooc. Hekk is unable to respond yet and will not be able to until after the swarm attacks. Also be aware that the map shows that there is still a way to get to us, just a longer route. Which, uh, basically would make Leopold a prime target. Of course that might be part of Leopold's master plan! And I think Aryas has to make a double move just to get to the door in question. Or am I missing something, which would not be all that unusual.
Leopold R. Bibbard |
Aryas Katsu wrote:Aryas agrees to immediately close the door!That was ooc. Hekk is unable to respond yet and will not be able to until after the swarm attacks. Also be aware that the map shows that there is still a way to get to us, just a longer route. Which, uh, basically would make Leopold a prime target. Of course that might be part of Leopold's master plan! And I think Aryas has to make a double move just to get to the door in question. Or am I missing something, which would not be all that unusual.
I must have read your mind. ;) And yeah, Leopold is definitely performing a very heroic and selfless act befitting a former admiral/arctic explorer/bare-knuckle boxing champion.
GM MattMorris |
Aryas heroically closes the door to the kitchen, trapping the insects inside.
Out of combat.
Hekk |
My kind of swarm combat. Nasty little vermin.
Harlan Givens |
Harlan opens the door he is adjacent to.
GM MattMorris |
Harlan opens the door he is adjacent to.
This small office holds a bed and chair for patient examination and treatment that can’t be performed in a patient’s room. The wall holds enough sconces to provide bright light, though none are currently lit. A few locked cabinets are set along the walls.
First Cabinet: Basic medical supplies (such as bandages, cotton balls, and syringes), 4 doses of alchemist’s kindness, and 2 doses of wismuth salix.
Second Cabinet: Three doses of meditation tea, 1 dose of padzahr, 12 doses of indigo dreams poison, two potions of cure light wounds, and one potion of lesser restoration.
Third Cabinet: One dose of antiplague, 1 dose of antitoxin, 1 dose of twitch tonic, and 8 doses of smelling salts.
Leopold R. Bibbard |
If Harlan mentions the locked cabinets, I'll take 10 on Disable Device to open them
Harlan Givens |
If you think Harlan is going to let you do it, you're off your rocker even more than he thinks, Leopold
Harlan unlocks the cabinets and shares his findings with the group.
"I finally found something useful in this damnable place. Given the clear dastardly nature of the proprieters, it seems right and lawful to requisition these items in the pursuit of justice."
Hekk |
Hekk, who is currently hanging out in the main area and putzing about asks,
"What is all that stuff? Looks like healer's crap, mostly. The potions might be useful. You don't have to fill you head full of garbage to use THEM."
Leopold R. Bibbard |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"If that stuff was cooked up by these psychiatrists, you'd be better off giving it to the cockroaches. No, thank you!"
Aryas Katsu |
Arays is glad the bugs were imprisoned.
"I have to trust you guys to assess what we can do with these items ... it could be poison or a beneficial potions ... I wouldn't know!"
Harlan Givens |
Harlan shrugs at everyone else disdain and fills his haversack.
I believe with my Prof(alchemy) I can ID everything with a take 10
Harlan then moves to the south and tries the door to that room.
Hekk |
Hekk follows along lazily behind Harlan, poking at cobwebs with his spear.
"This place seems pretty creepy, if you ask me. Exploding psicrists are pretty cool though. You see anything interesting, Harlan?"
Harlan Givens |
"Only the institutional rot that happens in all humanoid institutions. Hence the need for constant vigilance. Perhaps some of you should check and see if there are more abused patients? This is a small enough building that we can't get in too much trouble splitting up a bit to cover more ground"
famous last words
GM MattMorris |
The main office is furnished with two disorganized desks and shelves covered in flat papers, quills, and inkwells.
The papers here are a mess, with little or no organizing principle that you can recognize. You do find a clipboard with the names of current patients. You recognize the names of Dern Fosimuth (the cleric you are looking for), and Mura Boles's father.
I've labeled the rooms of these patients on the map/
Leopold R. Bibbard |
Leopold knocks on the door to Dern.
GM MattMorris |
There is no answer from Dern's room. Assuming you open the door:
A single candle provides the only illumination for this dark room, which has a pungent, sweet odor different from the rest of Mother’s Care Home. A human man in the grip of a fitful sleep lies on a bed within. The man appears badly neglected: gaunt, sores on his skin. His legs are also missing below the knees.
Hekk |
"Gads, man! What happened to you? You should be dying in battle, not wasting away in a bed like that. Get up. Pretend you are a dwarf or something and it won't be so bad!"
Aryas Katsu |
Aryas almost falls to his knees.
”Oh dear Sarenrae!! How could this have happened?!? Who would do this?! What should we do?!“ he says devastated.
Hekk |
"He's probably filthy rich with all that adventuring he's done. He can probably pay for a regeneration spell of some sort. Or his friends can if the psocarists stole all his money. If not, well then I guess that it tough luck and he will have to learn to walk like a dwarf. Just get him on his feet... Er, stumps."
Mr. Compassion enters and tries to lever the man off the bed.
GM MattMorris |
Dern merely moans softly while being manhandled by Hekk, and offers no resistance.
Leopold R. Bibbard |
"Everyone laughed at the great bard, Krom Tuse when he went on a rant about psychiatry, but it's not so funny now, is it?"
Leopold leans over the man in the bed and says to the elderly man and says, "Good sir, we'll do an e-meter reading when you're feeling up to it. Get you sorted out."
Hekk |
May I assume that when Hekk stands him on his stumps the fellow falls over? I'm thinking Hekk could use some psychiatric therapy of his own. Would serve him right.
Tathane Halfbarrel |
"Hekk, you must be joking." Tathane allows an uncommon scowl to cross his face. "Come on man, you're better than this." He pushes Hekk to the side and grabs Dern, lowering him back to the bed. Something across the hallway brings him up short.
He glances at the others. "Did anyone else see that?" His arms are still wrapped around Dern so he nods in the direction of a door across the way.
Hekk |
"Huh? Better than what?"
Easily distracted, Hekk darts out of the room looking for whatever it is Tathane saw.
Aryas Katsu |
Distracted by his grief Aryas was almost oblivious to Hekk’s actions.
Aryas takes out his wand and uses it on the priest!
CLW charges : 3d8 + 3 ⇒ (5, 5, 6) + 3 = 19
”Sir, Sir, can you hear us?!“
Tathane Halfbarrel |
"You were making fun of this man's lost legs." Tathane let's go of Dern and leaves him to Aryas's care. He follows Hekk to other room. "Be careful. If it's another apparition like we saw out in the street, we won't have any defense against it."
Hekk |
"Making fun of him? Nah, I was just encouraging him. I've seen lots of folks get pretty badly maimed and some of them are still great warriors! You just need to battle through it. He needs to learn to work them stumps. Look at what lying around in bed has done to him!"
Harlan Givens |
Harlan will begin systematically opening doors to see how many survivors of this hell hole there are, starting where he is an moving east.
GM MattMorris |
Harlan, you may want to check on Dern as well. You're probably the only one who can figure out what's going on in his room.
Leopold R. Bibbard |
"I've seen people literally manifest legs for themselves after amputations like this. Once you get clear, nothing can stop you!"
Harlan Givens |
Working his way down the hall, Harlan eventually comes to the 'situation' in Dern's room. He does detective type stuff in the room, trying to suss out what in the nine hells is going on.
assuming taking 20 is not an option here
Alchemy: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17
He then examines Dern, checking his pulse, eye dilation, and such.
Heal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
He has tell tall signs of indigo dreams poison. He'll be okay once it wears off, but if we have a means of leeching it from him now, the sooner he'd be able to talk.
need to deal with poison directly or raise his Wis score. Any options?
Harlan Givens |
Harlan takes out the potion of lesser restoration he found in the infirmary and gently pours it down Dern's throat. He'll give him a dose of antitoxin as well.
Wis Dmg healing: 1d4 ⇒ 2
GM MattMorris |
Harlan, most of the rooms have dozing or comatose residents. None of them look like they are at death's door, but none of them look great.
Dern sputters awake at the administration of the tonics.
(Or perhaps merely the power of positive thinking. Who can say!)
The cleric sputters a few seconds, working his dry mouth and choking out a rasping cough. “There’s no time,” he says in a hoarse whisper. “Taergan Flinn keeps me here. He plans to murder Crandel and Tulles. Don’t let them go to the woods. Fiends and nightmares lurk there.”
The elderly priest struggles visibly, as if forcing memories to the surface of his mind. His eyes widen momentarily. “A house in the Hollow. My strong box. My old treasures, and my piece of the watch. Take them to Tulles. She will know you speak for me.”
He breathes heavily for a few seconds, then continues, struggling against his weakened his body. “Find Flinn. Make him confess. And tell the town about this place so these families can save their own.”
Dern Fosimuth closes his eyes, exhausted by the effort. His breathing slows but appears even.
Aryas Katsu |
Aryas is almost too excited and horrified at the same time!
He tries to get a feeling for the man.
sense motive : 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (18) + 14 = 32
”Sir, it is an honour to be in your presence! You are a senior servant of the Dawnflower and I do not know if it was fate or just luck to meet you but I have a lot to learn and will do everything in my power to save these poor souls here and help your companions in the Golden Watch! But Sir ... ehhh ... you look kind of confused... are you sure that Flinn is behind all this ... “ and he scratches his head.
”And what house are you talking about? Lots of houses exist in many places... “
Hekk |
"Confess to what? Why would he do this and what does it have to do with the watch? Are you sure we have time to go to your house first? I don't understand. Wait... Your old treasures? Do you have a flaming weapon too?"
Hekk starts rubbing his hands together gleefully.
Tathane Halfbarrel |
"Flinn? Are you sure? We visited his house and it looked like he was a victim of some violence. We didn't find him there but his house was a wreck."
Tathane tries to puzzle out what house in the hollow Dern is talking about.
Leopold R. Bibbard |
"Yes, Durn. If you wouldn't mind a few specifics. I know you've been in the adventuring game a long time, but vague clues about the house in the hollow are not going to cut it. The clock is ticking, man."
GM MattMorris |
Durn gasps back awake for a moment at your insistent questions, "Eh, no the watch, not a clock. In my day, adventurers knew a cryptic clue when they heard one! Durn gives a hacking cough. "Yes, I'm sure Flinn's behind it. If he was the "victim" of anything, it was staged just to get Crandel and Tulles interest. He came here to gloat over me--he means to kill us all! You have to warn them while there's still time."
The cleric looks warmly at Aryas, "It's good to see someone else bathed in the Dawnflower's light. The safehouse is in town. Corner of Ennui Street and Morose Avenue. Little boarded up shack--you can't miss it." With that, the old man sighs into an exhausted, but restful nap.
Apologies, I can't resist cranky old NPCs.