The elderly nurse’s smock is sliced into by Urzok as she stumbles over to Jevar, her wound oozing crimson.
”Time to lay back down in the dirt!”
The half-orc rushes the old woman, sword in hand, and raises it high above his head! The old woman, as he stops within five feet of her, looks back at him, only instead of the face of an aging nurse, the one that he sees is that of a young man, his pale skin stretched taut against his bones.
”Ladies first.”
Urzok is taken aback by this sudden change for but the briefest of moments—long enough for the shifter to swipe with its long claws straight across the half-orc’s body!
The not-so-elderly not-a-woman grabs at the half-orc’s flesh and rips a strip of it clean off, sending Urzok spiraling to the ground!
”Perfect for my experiments.”
Round 2
===============
Shakur
Urzok (-20) {dying 2, prone}
Shifter (-15)
Jevar
Boodiddly
===============
The Pharasmin hovers his hand over his fallen comrade as he utters words of the Lady of Graves, pleading the half-orc’s time to flow through the River of Souls has not yet come.
He then turns his attention back at the shifter! He raises his dagger and moves to swipe at their attacker!
The shifter snaps its “broken” leg back into place, as if it had never happened in the first place . The creature caresses the strip of green flesh in its claws until a look of disgust spreads across his face and he casts it aside.
”Enough of the humans! Perhaps it’s time for some gnome!”
The shifter moves up and takes a swipe of its claws at the red-haired gnome!
Bloody clumps of hair are ripped off of the gnome as the shifter holds it in its hand, letting the hairs slip through its clawed hand and cascade down to the ground.
”Guess not. Human it is!”
The creature shifts its focus and brings its claw down toward Jevar!
The creature opens a large wound upon Jevar’s face, the human’s blood staining its claws!
Round 2/3
===============
Shakur
Urzok (-6) {wounded 2, prone}
Shifter (-22)
Jevar (-10)
Boodiddly (-12)
===============
Graaaaaaaaaah! Jevar screams as the flesh is torn from his face.
He sets himself to concentrate on retaliating at the shifter.
”Ouch!” Grasping at straws, Boodiddly stoops to the most devastating insult he can think of. ”Your father smelt of elderberries!” He then adds injury to insult with a magic-enhanced kick of a rock to where the creature’s legs join its body.
Rubble flies and impacts against the back of the shifter’s leg, disrupting its balance for but a moment!
Round 3
===============
Shakur
Urzok (-6) {wounded 2, prone}
Shifter (-29)
Jevar (-10)
Boodiddly (-12)
===============
"Keep going everybody. I'll heal ya up afterwards."
[[A]] Strike
[[A]] Strike
[[A]] Raise shield
"Wuuhhh..." Urzok groans as his hand scrambles for his sword. "It's another one of those damn things!" he shouts as he stabs at it from the ground.
________
The shifter grunts in pain at the half-humans’ attacks!
”Why you little—!”
Round 3/4
===============
Shakur (-13)
Urzok (-19) {wounded 2, prone}
Shifter (-39)
Jevar (-10)
Boodiddly (-12)
===============
Jevar places his hand on his familiar's head, still perched on his shoulder, as if he's conferring with it for the briefest of moments. He again charged up his hand and reaches out to make contact with the deranged foe.
Hold still!
Cursing the waste of his spell, he slashes with his dagger.
Jevar reaches out, the intensity of the situation coursing through his veins, and grabs the shifter’s neck! Violent spasms overwhelm the amnesiacs’ attacker and it falls to the ground, occasionally twitching from the electrical discharge!
"Damn those a$+@~~~s are tough," Urzok says, taking a knee and leaning on his sword. "I should start using this thing again," he continues as he shakes his shield arm. "How are we on that healing magic? Looks like we all got pretty banged up there. And the hell was it doing with those strips it tore off of us? Damn freak." Punctuating his words, he stabs the shifter for good measure in the chest.
"That makes two. I'm beat though. Clearing the crap out of here will be a good break from having my damn skin torn off my body."
________
Jevar releases his hands from shifter, slowly and carefully, as if he expects it to activate on yet another final wind. Finally he lets his hands drop to his side and pauses to catch his breath, becoming conscious that his nerves are still heightened and settling down.
Yeah... do you think you can haul this one back out there so they at least observe that we're working on their little chore?
Jevar starts poking around the office and finds a few simple items in the drawers of the desk, buried underneath the rubble of the collapsed office.
"Gather around. I can heal you all if you're willing. In the meantime, allow me to help Urzok."
Shakur stabilizes Urzok and begins treating wounds.
Once he's done and everybody surrounds him, Shakur channels.
"Should we stay here and heal up more, or do we think that's enough?"
Boodiddly carefully gathers up the herbs and mirror. "I don't know - those things hit pretty hard," he replies slowly as he passes the holy symbol to Shakur. "But it would be good to sleep where we know people are watching the doors. Maybe, if we're careful, we can handle another!" Having successfully talked himself into it, the gnome dusts off his hands and bounces eagerly on his feet.
*
*
Most of this area has collapsed into a heap of dense gray rubble. The occasional clattering pebble makes it sound as though the mound is not entirely settled, and more rubble could collapse at any moment. Surviving doors lead off the hall to the west and east . The body of a half-orc is buried up to her waist in the rubble. It’s clear that the hall should go further, but the wall of rubble blocks any further access.
Boodiddly notices that there is something is writhing inside the corpse. He also notices an expensive-looking pearl necklace wrapped around her neck.
"Ain't this place just full of charm?" Urzok remarks as he sees the half-buried corpse. "After that last shifter, we fill corpses with arrows before getting too close," he declares, adopting a defensive posture to cover an attack should the corpse muster up a counter attack to someone's ranged attack.
"It's either dead or undead, so either way...." Shakur reluctantly points a finger at it. "Should I just blast it with some positive energy?"
"I don't think it's another shifter..." Boodiddly says slowly. "But there's something inside that corpse. Could be trouble - some kind of scavenger vermin perhaps. Or a whole bunch of them." His face lights up. "But if we get rid of them now, then they won't breed and become a bigger problem!" He nods happily. "Ready everyone?"
Yes, ready. Everybody stand back, the acid splashes around a bit when it hits.
The gnome’s psychically thrown piece of rubble misses the corpse completely. Jevar’s ball of acid likewise misses, but manages to coat the body in corrosive goo that burns away some of the flesh. The wriggling movement in the body starts more, and soon grows violent and uncontrollable! The half-orc’s body—which was originally laying with their face down—is flung back, the body laying on its back in an unnatural position with its waist below the rubble. The body’s stomach churns and writhes as something big moves around inside!
The body’s stomach explodes—sending the half-orc’s head and arms flying—as a tangle of entrails and intestines whirl around the half-orc’s dismembered body! From behind, however, floats up an object—the body’s head, a clear dent in its skull from where it impacted the pile of rubble behind it. To the sides, the body’s hands fling themselves up, crawling on their fingers as they turn to “look” at the amnesiacs!
Fail
Fail
Fail
The tangle of entrails whirl around like a tornado of flesh. The half-orc’s head, on the other hand, floats over to Shakur and opens its jaw, unhinging the mandible from the rest of its head and bites at the Pharasmin!
The two hands crawl over the rubble, lunging up at Shakur’s and Urzok’s throats, their owner’s forearms in tow!
Round 1
==============
Entrails (-1)
Head (-1)
Black (-1)
White (-1)
Boodiddly
Urzok
Shakur (-3)/Jevar
==============
What the...?!? Entrails incoming!
The human dashes back and off to the side, yelling to his teammates.
Everybody hit the deck! Acid incoming!
"Whoops! Or it could be not vermin!" Boodiddly calls out. "But they've already died once - I'm sure we can help them remember that they're not supposed to be moving around anymore!" He squints at the whirling entrails suspiciously. How do they do that?
"More damn freaks! IS THERE NOTHING ELSE IN THIS PLACE?!" Urzok shouts at the monstrosity. This s++~ makes my skin crawl.
Battering the hand away with his shield, he swings his sword, but the obviously telegraphed strike is nimbly dodged by his foe. "Not so fast, maggot!" he cries as he tries to skewer it instead from behind his raised shield.
________
Acid splashes the floating head, its skin sizzling and burning away. The head’s jaw hangs open as a white dust falls out of its mouth and it falls to the ground, deflating like a balloon as the head’s skull is no longer holding up the rest of the creature.
Urzok slashes against the corpse’s arm, cutting off two of its fingers and causing a clump of coagulated blood to ooze out of the wound. The half-orc is pleasantly surprised at the results of his attack—he’s powerful, but not that powerful.
Round 1
==============
Entrails (-1)
Black (-2)
White (-19)
Boodiddly (-1)
Urzok (-1)
Jevar
Shakur (-4)
==============
The half-elf slices at the hand next to him!
And very easily opens a gash in the hand’s palm! He then Raises his Shield.
The whirlwind of entrails continue their unnatural movements at the end of the hallway.
The two hand continue to crawl their way up the half-humans’ bodies!
The corpse’s left hand hits Urzok and latches onto the half-orc’s neck in an attempt to strangle him!
Round 2
==============
Entrails (-1)
Black (-12)
White (-19)
Boodiddly (-1)
Urzok (-5) {grabbed}
Jevar
Shakur (-4)
==============
Urzok rolls his eyes as the disembodied hand clutches at his throat. Under any other circumstances, it would look like the Half-Orc was about to end his own life, but under these, he merely drags his sword slowly, mercilessly, across the hand and precariously close to his own neck.
________
Urzok brings his sword dangerously close to his neck and slices down, cutting the hand wrapped around his neck in half! The three-fingered hand’s grip on the half-orc’s throat loosens and what remains of the hand falls to the ground.
Round 2
==============
Entrails (-1)
Black (-12)
Boodiddly (-1)
Urzok (-5)
Jevar
Shakur (-4)
==============
Hold still Shakur!
Rather than risking additional acid splashing onto his companions, Jevar draws his dagger and hurls it at the remaining hand...
The weapon then flees back into his awaiting palm.
Jevar magically chucks his dagger at the corpse’s left hand, stabbing it straight through its pinkie and stabbing it clear through to the thumb! The wizard calls the weapon back to his hand, and when he does the impaled hand returns with it. Jevar shakes the hand off of the dagger and it falls to the ground, unmoving.
On the corpse’s body is a necklace of pearls worth 20 gp.
"Miss the days when the Orcs would line up and we'd just run at each other. Normal fighting, not this sick, psycho s@+%," Urzok grumbles as he cleans his sword off with an abandoned cloth.
"Any healing or are we pressing forward through this loony bin?"
"I'd advise a bit of healing. But that wasn't a shifter, so what' sthe point. We're just all going to die here anyways."
That was... disturbing.
Jevar goes and sits at the side of the room to reflect on his magic and looks up at the orc.
Probably a short rest is in order.
”You know, I find a little music is sometimes just the thing to brighten a dreary, entrail-filled day.” Boodiddly hums a couple notes and looks inquisitively at the priest. ”Maybe you know this one? I don’t know where it came from, but I like it.”
Jevar reads through his thesis—he vaguely remembers the contents of it, but can’t remember ever writing it. More questions than answers having arisen, the wizard shuts his book and moves on.
*
*
Sturdy racks and toppled tables suggest this space once served as a sizable laundry. Much of the northern end of the room is filled with rubble. To the west are a group of pipelike crossbeams as well as three figures, each manacled with the chains of their manacles wrapped around a crossbeam such that their hands perpetually above their heads and their wrists unable to move more than a few inches from the crossbeam.
The southernmost figure is a human, dressed in a stained yellow sheet wrapped around him like a robe. On his forehead is a yellow chalk mark in the shape of a flame. He horrifyingly mutters ”Words fail. Words fail. Words fail...” under his breath as he rocks back and forth, fervently keeping his eyes away from the scene occurring next to him.
The middle figure is an elf woman slumped over, hanging only by the chains on her manacles. She is clearly dead, as large chunks of flesh have been ripped from the left side of her body, very likely by the final figure.
The northernmost figure is the most disturbing of all, for this one is of some kind of humanoid whose skin has been stretched taut against their bones and their fingers ending in gruesome claws, but it is there that the physical similarities to the shifters ends. While the shifters you’ve met thus far have had pale skin absent of any clear detail—as if crafted from clay and left unfinished—this figure’s skin is a sickly grayish-purple. The figure is knelt down as far as their manacled claws will allow and ravenously feasting upon the corpse of the elf woman, sharp teeth easily piercing through flesh as it devours larger and larger bites of elven meat!
Success
Success
Success
”Words fail. Words fail. Words fail. Words...” The human turns to look at the amnesiacs and his demeanor shifts to excitement. ”Praise! Praise praise! Praise!” He shakes the manacles on his wrists, the chain clattering against the crossbeam it is wrapped around.
"This'd be easier if they just stood in line. Save us the leg work of finding ALL THE DAMN FREAKS IN THIS PLACE!" Urzok shouts at the horrific being, his shield interposed between them.
"Get on with it then, you overripe melon," he mutters, limbering his wrist up with a few circles of his sword.
________
There is no shortage of grotesque scenes here. Who wants to watch the creature feasting on the elf while we release the human? I see no reason why he has to be a meal to this creature...
There is no shortage of grotesque scenes here. Who wants to watch the creature feasting on the elf while we release the human? I see no reason why he has to be a meal to this creature...
The human nods rapidly at Jevar’s statement.
”Praise! Praise praise praise. Praise praise!”
“Shut up!”
The northernmost monstrosity looks up from its feasting and glares at the human to the south. The beast stands on its toes, stretching toward its restrained claws to try and pick out a piece of meat stuck in its teeth—an act that takes around ten seconds due to the awkwardness of its position.
”Gods! At least before you were quiet! Keep at it and you’ll get her attention, which won’t help anyone here!”
The human stares at the creature agape. He slinks to the ground as far as his chained wrists will allow. ”Praise…”
The beast glances at the amnesiacs briefly before it repositions itself back next to the body of the elf and continues messily feeding.
Jevar raises an eyebrow with piqued interest. Her? Who is this "her"?
He looks back and forth between the human and the feasting creature, awaiting an answer.
"Congratulations you stupid, vile creature. You've narrowed down the population to almost exactly 50% of all life. Answer this man's question so we can go die elsewhere," Shakur says, no longer even attempting to hide his poor outlook on the situation.
When combat doesn't immediately break out, Urzok relaxes his stance and throws Shakur an unamused look. "The hell has crawled up your ass? I'm not dying here. If you plan to, meet your Lady of Graves on your own terms, weapon in hand. Then at least the rest of us might get some use out of you too," he says dispassionately, carefully moving into the room now.
He nods his head as Jevar begins questioning the creature. "You better answer that question, I'm not scared of your ugly ass. That snack of yours is going to be juuuust too far away if you don't start spilling what you know."
”Praise praise, words fail praise. Words fail praise PRAISE! Praise words fail praise praise—praise praise praise words fail....praise...Words fail, words fail; praise? Praise! Words fail praise praise words fail, words fail praise!!!”
The beast once again stretches to its claws to pick elf meat from its teeth.
”Why do you need me to explain when he explained it so clearly?”
“Words fail?! Praise praise—“
The creature snarls at the human. ”Shut up!”
The human flinches at the beast’s outburst. The creature then turns to address the amnesiacs.
”Dr. Oathsday. She locked us here to perform ‘experiments’ on us when ‘our turn came.’ Dunno what that means! All I know is that she took Setrakian and screams came from there! She’s doing gods know what is there and it’s just a matter of time before...”
The creature’s voice grows more and more anxious as it keeps speaking, until it abruptly starts devouring the corpse next to it again.
Hmm, we killed a shifter who was definitely "experimenting" on someone, but I take it that wasn't Dr. Oathsday. Where do you suppose we could find... or avoid her now?
The creature continues to devour the corpse next to it, almost seeming to pick up pace.
"Words...fail praise?" The human points his finger toward the door to the south. "Praise, words fail words fail praise." He shrugs. "Praaaaise praise praise praise."
”Um, I think there might be better coping mechanisms?” Boodiddly offers weakly to the creature. ”Have you tried meditation? It’s also very quiet, from what I’ve heard.”
Crouching down next to the human, the gnome continues, ”When Dr. Oathsday took Setrakian away, which direction did they go? Say something when I am pointing in the right direction.” He extends his arm and points, rotating slowly while giving the poor man encouraging looks.