Remembering his last encounter with yellow fog(dream though it may have been), Ironhand readies himself for a fight or flight.
Trampled flowerbeds lie smeared and squashed across this muddy courtyard. On all sides, stark gray walls climb toward a narrow gap of sunless sky. A shedlike structure to the southeast lies largely collapsed and to the north, a large section of wall has crumbled. It would take a considerable amount of time to clear the rubble.
The yellow fog floats a mere inch or two from the ground. A shadow of the haze that haunted the shared nightmare. Unusually warm rain falls from the amber clouds above and thunder rumbles somewhere in the distance.
Scabby stains amid the mud puddles lead from the door to the west to the room containing the chute.
Merius sees footprints from the west. "It looks like the creature had come this way." Merius shares, pointing to the west, [b]"But I don't see where it went. Not that I see any other doors, though."[b]
Maria peeks out the door towards the yellow fog and trampled earth.
"That fog, it was in my dream with all of you. It was everywhere! This horrible rag creature came out of it and killed me... I dont think I want to go out there"
"I saw it too. I was powerless against it."
Nodachi steps out into the rain, closes her eyes and turns her face toward the sky. The odd warmth of the rain makes it seem unclean somehow, and her torch is quickly smothered. She discards it at her feet and draws her naginita again.
"If we see it again, we should run"
She takes a deep breath.
I will hold it off. I can do that much
"I vote we get out of this... compound or whatever it is entirely and look for some semblance of civilization." Ironhand mutters as he follows the group.
Nodachi replies to Ironhand as she tries the door
"I agree. Quiet and fast, stick together if we have to move"
If it opens she'll step through and look around.
Broken lanterns and several battered doors line this cold, rubble-strewn hall. To the south, a pair of swinging doors lies shattered upon a 4-foot-high heap of wrecked furniture clogging a broad door frame.
Ironhand follows the swordswoman through the door. "That's quite a few doors. We'll have to check each one, don't want any creepy crawlies getting behind us." He heaves a resigned sigh. "Let's get to it." he says, heading for the nearest door, then pressing his ear against it.
"I agree. If we assume the courtyard is in the centre, then we want to try to move away from it as much as we can"
She looks to Ironhand as he listens at the door, and at his nod moves in with him to see what's in there.
As Ironhand and Nodachi step up to the door opposite of their own, a voice calls out from behind behind a 3-foot-high barricade of broken furniture and fallen masonry. the barricade fills a wide, empty door frame, blocking off the northern portion of this broad hall. Lanterns flicker upon the walls, casting shadows upon several closed doors and beyond the ramshackle barricade.
“Whoa, there! We got more here!”
The four men behind the barricade train crossbows on the pair.
"Stay back! I'm warning you!"
Preacher stays out of the door when he hears the angry shouts. He shouts into the room, "We just woke up in the basement... but we're unsure what's going on. A vicious creature just tore a man apart and fled. I certainly understand your concern with that in mind. For what it may help engender trust, I am in the service of Erastil, we mean you no harm."
Maria begins to poke her head out the door but immediately retreats as she hears the agressive voices and sees the crossbows trained in their direction. She ducks behind Nodachi and immediately aims her musket at the barricade.
She aims down the sight as she mutters under her breath "Not unarmed this time, blow those horrible creatures into a dozen pieces"
She is one the edge of pulling the trigger but pauses as her companions call out. Her finger remains poised on the trigger ready to fire at the first hint of provocation.
Nodachi calls in support of Merius.
"Yes we're not dangerous, please help us out of here! What's going on? Where are we?"
As she does though, she takes on a slightly manic tone that's rather more frightening than she intended.
Ironhand simply stays quiet, feeling that diplomacy is not his forte. He tries to subtly angle his body to hide his strange prosthetic.
”’We mean you no harm’ it says,” calls back one of the guards. ”Just how dumb do you think we are?”
A second lets out a nervous chortle, ”These bastards are gettin’ bolder, eh? Waltz up in their own skin and claim they’re friendly. An’ a friggin’ goblin an’ a crazy lady-HEY! Don’t move!” He shouts at and turns a shaking crossbow on Ironhand as the dwarf shifts his position.
The third man shushes the first two and calls out, ”You claim to serve Erastil, creature, you a cleric or something? If so, let’s see some proof.” Though he is clearly the largest of the four gatekeepers, his clothing hangs too loose on his frame.
"If any of you are wounded, I can heal one of you. Unfortunately, when they took our possessions, my symbol was stolen. Unfortunately, that does rather make it sound suspicious, tough to trust." Preacher steps into the room, his hands up.
"I've been around a few times, the lives of my kind are strange. I've lived more lives than you've lived years, they are echoes, shadows of memories long forgotten, and yet, somehow I know a common theme is that trust is and always has been a difficult problem." Preacher walks a little closer as he continues speaking. "Yet Erastil's core tenets are built on notions of community, the idea that we can all trust each other enough to not only exist together, but rely on each other and build something greater. These communities cannot be forged solely behind proof of value and transactions, those are the Golden God's ideals. We don't remember who we are right now, but we must have a home somewhere, or maybe we don't and that's how we ended up in the terrible place, with that terrible creature." Preacher makes a small shudder as he mentions the changeling. "You can either shoot us, turn this into a fight neither of us want, or you can let us through, or perhaps even join us, we are safer together."
The third guard holds his eyes steady with the samsaran’s as the man speaks. His crossbow trembles with, what might certainly be, fatigue. The fourth guard threatens to loose his bolt when Preacher steps closer but is hushed by the larger guard.
When Preacher finishes the large man speaks to his allies, his eyes never leaving Preacher, ”One of you fetch the Captain.”
”You can’t honest-”the first guard stammers before he is cut off by the larger man.
”I said, ‘get the Captain.’”
The first guard opens the door to his left and disappears. A couple of tense minutes later, a stocky man in well-worn leather armor steps out from the same door. Dark circles ring his eyes. He places a hand on the large man’s shoulder and the two share whispered words. After a moment, he turns to face the group in the hall.
”With things the way they are, you can pardon my bluntness. In the off chance that you are telling the truth, I’d hate to have to have my men shoot potential allies so, I’ll ask you to come no closer.I hope you can appreciate our caution.” The man motions to the guards and, once again, four crossbows are aimed at the party. ”I’m Captain York. And if you truly are not one of those,” he curls his lips in disgust, ”things, then you should have little trouble proving it. Bring back a few dead doppelgangers, then maybe we’ll rethink whose side you’re on. Until then, don’t come back here.”
Nodachi takes Preacher by the arm.
"Come on, they're not going to let us out just yet, we'll have to survive a little longer in here."
She meets the captains eyes and shares a look with him. A look of understanding, and forgiveness.
“Yeah, can’t blame ‘em.” Ironhand mutters, following the swordswoman through the next door.
Preacher nods curtly to the man and leaves the room. Once outside, he adds, "They're quite aftlraid, might not be any help even if we do get past them.". He was obviously disappointed in their particular brand of cowardice.
Mighty iron boilers crowd here, their pipes piercing the walls and ceiling. Shadows and rust fill the narrow gaps between the cold tanks. A faint glow emanates from under one of the boilers, accompanied by chattering.
Rogar steps a bit further into the room, then stoops low to get a peek under the boilers. "What have we here?"
Nodachi stands by, naginata drawn in both hands. On the way in she remarks
"The guards mentioned doppelgangers, does that mean anything to anyone? Could we actually be doppelgangers, given we have no memory?"
Ironhand bends to see under the talk and a glimpse of glowing eyes and writhing face tendrils. Its tendrils flail wildly as it lets out a high pitched screech. Two large rats rush forward as if to defend the creature.
The creature is a Zoog. Spiteful, nasty creatures with a taste for the flesh of sentient beings, zoogs lurk in the shadowy, moldering places of the world. Often mistaken merely for otherworldly animals, zoogs possess base intentions and vicious demeanors that set them apart from lowly beasts. Congregating in loose, tribal societies, these sinister creatures claim the depths of dark woodlands or moldy forests as their homes, favoring lands where the boundaries between worlds and planes grow thin and strange creatures—not unlike themselves—slip between reality’s cracks.
Though it's bite and claws are not very powerful it causes small amounts of bleeding.
The other two creatures are Dire Rats. This filthy rat is the size of a small dog. It has a coat of coarse fur, a long and scabby tail, and two glittering eyes. Their bite can cause Filth Fever.
Merius
Maria
Zhao
Rogar
Preacher raises his hand, reaching into his connection to animals. "No need to fight here, little friends."
Nodachi waits to see if whatever magic Preacher is using causes them to want to not fight.
The pair of large rodents sit back on their haunches. The fury fading from their eyes. One scratches behind an ear with its back leg and the other begins to sniff around on the floor at Ironhand's feet.
A series of squeaks erupt from beneath the tank followed by...something else.
"Шумо чӣ кор карда истодаед, шумо, ҷонварони аблаҳ?!"
"What are you doing, you idiotic beasts?!"
The blue light suddenly vanishes.
Nodachi looks at the others to see if anyone understands, and if not slings her naginita onto her back and raises her hands in a placating fashion and speaks in common.
"It's OK. We don't want to fight, you can come out"
She waits to see if there's a response, and if not, will stoop to peer under the boiler just as Rogar did.
As Nodachi peers under she catches a glimpse of the tendril-faced creature as it lifts a hatch under the tank. It leers back at her with it’s bright red eyes and screeches in another language, ”Ман инро фаромӯш намекунам, одамони бад!”
The thing vanishes into the opening.
”I will not forget this, you filthy humans!
Nodachi blinks uncomprehendingly at the strange creature.
She turns to the others
"This day just keeps getting stranger. I wonder if that creature had also lost its memory."
Giving the rats a little fuss, she looks around the room.
Assuming she fails to find anything she will head back down the corridor and look to the next doors , turning the handle and giving it a try
"It's a whole run around. Does the dwarf's arm reach the roof from the courtyard? Perhaps we're better off just leaving this place the hard way? It's hard enough with the psychotic doctor without those other people blocking us off." Preacher muses, more annoyed than defeated.
The goblin steps up beside Nodachi and peeks under the tank, "That's where I crawled up earlier!" The goblin takes a step back toward the door, "I'd prefer not to go back down."
As if response to Preacher's suggestion, an explosive peal thunder booms from outside. Strangely, accompanying no lightning.
Nodachi opens the southern of the two doors and finds several of the racks shaken loose from the walls. Little remains on the shelves and what does remain reek of chlorine and are heaped with fallen shelves and broken containers.
Preacher will approach the doors, staying behind Nodachi, offering her a light source. He peeking into the room ahead.
"I like the idea Preacher, and I feel much stronger than I remember, as if I could climb a wall. Those guards give me pause though, it sounds as if they'd hunt us down and kill us if they saw us escaping like that."
She's saying this as she's opening the door and looking in the room before trying the next door.
"I think I might be able to reach the roof." the dwarf says, flexing his metal hand, "Only way to know is to try."
Preacher puts his arm on Nodachi's shoulder. He puts his hand to his lips to signal quiet and then whispers, "It seems like something's ahead."
Nodachi nods to Preacher, and mouths the word "Where?".
She makes eye contact with Ironhand, and approaches where Merius indicates slowly and quietly, her grip on her naginita firm.
Once Preacher gestures to the northern of the two doors it only takes a few moments for the Skittering and clacking to become audible to Nodachi.
Nodachi moves to the northern most door, as quietly as she can. She places her naginita on her back ever so slowly, then draws her nodachi at a similar pace.
She holds up three fingers to Preacher and Ironhand, then two, then one, before finally tearing the door open with a flourish and returning her hand to her nodachi and preparing to face whatever lurks inside.
Preacher follows behind, holding his mace at the ready.
Nodachi wrenches the door open to find a pair of centipedes crawling across the remains of some unfortunate soul. The dog-sized vermin are lengthy, segmented horrors that writhe and twist as they feast on the carrion.
Bold may go once the surprise round is over.
Merius
Maria
Zhao
Rogar
Nodachi strikes reflexively at the nearest vermin.
The doorframe has other ideas however, as her long blade catches in it. She then steps back to draw them into the corridoor.
Unable to reach the centipedes, he moves between Nodachi and Ironhand. He aids the AC of whichever is attacked first.
Maria rushes forward, her strange firearm in hand, though she stays clear of the doorway itself.
Ironhand steps up into the doorway and slams his fist down at one of the vermin.
Though her reflexes allow Nodachi to react quickly to the sight of the centipedes, the vermin wriggles out of the way of her blade at the last moment.
With the goblin covering their flank, Preacher steps in to direct any attacks away from his two front-line allies. Though, it proves unnecessary as Ironhand's metallic fist connects with the wriggling insect.
With a powerful blow, the dwarf bursts the centipede's exoskeleton, sending dozens of legs flying.