| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Kela sighs, and mutters to herself, "I got all dressed up, and nobody invited me to the party." She kicks the div, and rests the greatsword on her shoulder. "yeah, clean the place out, before our spells expire."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Baron Barksley accepts the pet, though perhaps a smidge grudgingly.
Advancing towards the other end of the cavernous space, the only access points beyond the catwalk are to the south: a heavy double door, and two other normal-sized doors.
Rose can hear a faint voice from beyond the middle door.
"hello? anyone there?"
Rose stops and looks at Marius, indicating towards the door with her crossbow and making a questioning gesture afterwards. Did he sense anything evil there? Was it another trap?
Softly padding closer to the middle door, Marius' eyes begin to glow with a soft white light as he attunes himself to detecting the cosmic forces of evil, then chaos, then law and finally good.
Signalling any discoveries to his companions, the inquisitor adjusts his grip on Koriana and answers the unseen speaker. "Hello, don't be alarmed. We're here on behalf of the Baron of Yanmass. Who are you?"
Marius feels nothing unusual from beyond the door - either it hides the world's most middle-of-the-road creature, or whatever is behind it is too weak in ability or power to raise a blip against his divinely granted senses.
"Oh gods be praised!"
The door opens a crack, revealing the haggard face of a human male somewhere in his late twenties. His once fine clothes are torn and caked in yellow-reddish fluids. He grips the door jamb tightly as he favours his left leg, where a suppurating gash has been inexpertly bandaged with a shirt sleeve. The sickly sweet smell of putrefaction and disease hangs about him.
"I'm Erdmond, Erdmond Navin. My father and I, we were brought here, they- I managed to escape, but my father... please you must help him! We- We're bankers, we can reward you!"
His words are interrupted once or twice by shivering fits, a full body tremor that he does not seem able to control.
"Good to meet you, Erdmond," Rose replies, suppressing an urge to retch at the stench. She shares a quick glance with her allies. "Unless any of you have potent healing skills I am not aware of, we probably need to take him to a temple soon. This looks to be beyonc simple wounds. It might be safest to leave him here until we finish securing the building."
She turns back to Edmond and tries to gain more information. "You said 'they' took you, who is 'they'? How many of them were there? And do you have any idea why they'd want you or your father?"
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Rose cannot sense a shred of deception in the poor man, who seems genuinely afraid and desperate.
"There are three others like the one..." He peers past Rose towards the trapped contraption. "Is that one dead? I heard noises, and I heard her voice..."
Erdmond jerks his chin towards the towers. "They're in there. Middle one and right one. The one on the left, I don't think there's anyone in there." He tilts his head to the left, then the right. "These rooms on either side, I wouldn't go in there. I heard..." He shivers again. "There's something bad in there, and the smell is terrible."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Yes, that one's dead. Stay here, goodman Erdmond, and don't come out until we come and confirm it's safe." Despite the smell he steps closer to the unfortuante Erdmond and whispers. "They can change their shapes, so if when we come back the passcode will be "primogeniture", so you'll know it's really us."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Kela nods, ”we will see that your wounds are tended to as soon as we can, please do not worry yourself.” She keeps a low voice, ”let us go kill these انثي خنزير“ and readies herself to ambush the next enemy, staying close to Marius.
Giving his companions a quick check to confirm their readiness, Marius turns an stealthily leads them to the far door indicated by poor Erdmond.
Barcos kneels beside the man, taking his hand, ”I’m sorry I can’t do more for you friend.”
He rummages through his pack and produces a worn tankard from his mess kit, invoking the spirits of the land to rather paradoxically produce some water to fill the cup.
”Here, take this. Drink it slowly, stop if nausea overtakes you. We will be back, I promise you this, and I’ll help to get you back on your feet.”
As the druid stands he shoots a look at Baron Barksley, urging his canine friend to stay quiet. A talking dog might just frighten the poor man to death.
Erdmond Navin gratefully accepts the water, drinking in big gulps. After he hands the tankard back to Barcos, he tilts his head back to rest on the wall against which he is sitting, eyes half-closed. "Thank you. I will wait. I am so glad you are here, I thought..." He waves a hand feebly, not wanting to finish that thought.
Marius approaches the westernmost door. Even with the cracked rubber edging, the smell of rotten meat is particularly strong outside the door to this room. It does not seem locked.
With a disgusted sound, Marius falls back a few steps and quickly ties his kerchief across his face.
Having learnt her lesson from the previous ambush, Rose stays far back, bow at the ready and watching the balconies for any surprise attacks. When Marius withdraws, though, her attention is drawn back to the door and she watches it sharply, but does not approach herself.
Kela wrinkles her nose, but otherwise does not react, waiting for Marius to open the door.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It takes a few moments to get used with the overwhelming stench and open the door with some confidence that they won't throw up. At the far end of the room there are several humanoid remains in an advance state of decomposition - mostly just bones with shreds of tendon and flesh still attached here and there. The more immediate concern, however, is the writhing mass of worms that emerges from the corpses and spills into a veritable tide across the floor, towards the door.
"Oh I rather think not," Marius' voice his calm but his eyes widen and his movements are rushed as he slams the door shut, and he casts an alarmed look at his companions.
"What in all the blazing Hells are those things?"
[ooc]Close door, 5ft back[ooc]
Horrified, Rose takes a step back, ready to run at a moment's notice. "Rot grubs. A whole swarm of them! A bit like the undead - they feed on flesh, preferably living, and if you get bitten, they can infest you to become their carrier!" She answers Marius as she regards the lock in trpidation. "We can't fight this thing normally! We'd need explosives. Spells that cover large areas. If it can breach through, we NEED to run. Hells, I wish Lotti and Lisa were here."
Kela’s strong stomach seems to turn as the color drains out of her face.
” ما هذا الهراء الطازج؟” She moves her bulk to keep the door closed, using whatever mechanism is appropriate
She looks over her shoulder, ”yeah but they’re mindless - they were stuck there before - maybe this is enough. If it’s not… I will buy you some time if they do get through, get the prisoner out.”
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Get back from the door, Kela. They've got a meal already, if we move away they'll have no reason to give chase." Marius shudders slightly at the mental image of that it might look like to be caught by the little horrors, and reaches over to give Rose's arm a gentle squeeze of reassurance.
"Let's get that young man out of here and come back in a moment. Quinn, would you leave us some light but escort him to the Baron's manor? We'll want his testimony to back up our reports. We'll finish the sweep here and rescue anyone else that we can."
The door to the worm farm is swiftly closed before the undulating mass can make its way much closer. It seems that the living are safe for now from the devouring tiny maws. Erdmond is persuaded to seek safety, not before entreating everyone tearfully to please find his father. Quinn agrees to take the banker to safety, supporting him as the man needs help walking.
Kela seemed skeptical about not holding the door, but she acquiesced, stepping away.
When the door seems to hold, she seems relieved and wishes Erdmond the best.
A moment later she's back at the next door, ready to deal with whatever fresh hell awaited them.
As the door closes behind Quinn and Erdmond, Marius takes a centering breath and moves to examine the remaining door--this time listening carefully for some clue as to what might be on the other side.
The metal door is cool against Marius's ear as he leans in to listen. There is no sound beyond, but then again both door and walls are thick - likely to better insulate the meat that was once stored inside.
"Okay, let's get ready... on three?" Rose whispers, standing to the side to hide from whatever might be inside.
With a nod of readiness, Marius waits for the count and then hauls open the door.
The walls of this room are painted a stark white, and a single massive meat hook dangles from the ceiling in the center of the room. Although the room is large, its thickly padded walls give it a close, claustrophobic feel. Four round, grimy windows pierce the south wall, twelve feet above the floor. Several humanoid corpses are piled on the floor beneath the windows.
For anyone who has heard descriptions of the lustful, cannibalistic nightmares that have been plaguing the people of Yanmass, the space is immediately familiar. The bodies are all naked, and most have long ribbons of flesh stripped away. All bear disturbing mixtures of horror, pain and delight upon their faces.
"So the pairaka's dreams were...reenactments? I don't understand..." Blade at the ready, Marius takes a cautious step into the room but recoils at the ghostly manifestation.
Peering around the corner from hiding, Rose's eyes widen at the scene, and then the spirit. But her reflexes take over and she shoots the ghost twice with her embalmed bolts!
Kela inhales, and charges into the room to try to kill it! Again!
(test to check inventory)
Before it can cause any harm, the festering spirit is struck by the blessed weapons of Rose and Kela which shred it to wisps of ectoplasm that soon dissipate into nothingness.
"Hmmm...a little too easy, perhaps?" Marius doesn't lower his sword from its guard position as he steps deeper into the meat locker.
Kela shakes off some of the goo from her sword, ”I’ll take the wins we can get, boss.” She seems disgusted by the death, but sympathetic ”at least they died happy - sort of. Let’s check out the towers.”
"Hmmm...a little too easy, perhaps?" Marius doesn't lower his sword from its guard position as he steps deeper into the meat locker.
"I'd like to call it an investment paying dividends," Rose grins faintly as she follows the rest of the party into the desecrated room. "So... if this site is connected to the nightmares..."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Moving to the stack of bodies, Marius grimmaces and then begins laying them out side by side, checking for anything that might help identify them.
There are five bodies in total, all human, four male and one female, of various ages. By the rough hands and other indicators, none of them were merchants or nobles - most likely workers or vagrants. A few have crude tattoos that might help identify them.
With a sign and short prayer, Marius closes the bodies' eyes and gently arranges their expressions into something at least slightly more dignified, then leaves the locker. He examines the catwalks, looking unsuccessfully for a route up but hardly seems bothered when he doesn't find one.
"Hmm, I knew I kept this for a reason," Marius smirks at the catwalk and reaches into his back to produce his Cape of the Mountebank. "At long last the Night Swan will do something useful! Hand me your rope please, darling."
As Marius works to search and orden the bodies, Rose inspects the rest of the room for anything useful or hidden. "Barcos, Faenia, can either of you sense magic? Just so we don't miss anything important. As for these people, I don't think they're connected to the nightmares. Perhaps they were simply victims they did unleashed their urges on." She looks away and shakes her head, doing a quick prayer to Desna before resuming her tasks.
When Marius asks to borrow the rope, she obliges. "I'll take this as a belated offer to carry a lady's burdens for her. Thank you, brave sir knight. You are most courteous." She grins and tidies his overshirt, then bids him great care as he goes about his solo teleportation venture.
No magic can be felt in the room where the specter was, and Rose's search does not turn up anything of interest either. Marius uses the Night Swan's cape to teleport to the catwalk in front of the western tower, and lowers a rope for the others to climb up. Baron Barksley has to be tied around the middle and joisted up, an indignity which he does not suffer in silence. Once his growling string of invectives peters out, the group can examine their new environs.
The door is locked, and seems to have stood undisturbed for many years judging by the spots of rust around the hinges and the dust shrouding it.
"They probably use their teleportation or shapechange abilities to get around needing to use doors. So that even if someone were to inspect this, it would appear unused from the outside," Rose speculates when the rusty door is examined. "Still, I can probably open this. Just be ready for anything."
She waits for anyone to make any further preparations, then begins the process of unlocking the door once all are ready.
The movements are quick, fluent and precise. The unfortunate locks do not last long.
The lock gives way under Rose's expert ministrations, and the door opens into a rectangular chamber. A few short steps descend to the floor, where dust lies thick. A few footprints are outlined in the middle of the room; they ascend the stairs in the northwest corner but do not return. The place is otherwise empty.
The stairs lead to the floor above, where dust swirls in the faint beams of light coming through the few narrow windows near the ceiling. Shelves contain several rolled rugs, tapestries, and a few framed paintings and documents stacked carefully. Most of the documents stored here prominently bear the symbols of Taldor or Yanmass. One banner hangs unfaded and curiously devoid of dust. The footprints that came up the steps reach the middle of this room and cease. There is no sign anywhere of the person who might have left them.
Met with a conspicuous lot of nothing, Rose very carefully scrutinizes the floor, walls and ceiling for any sings of a trap (or, in this case, any animals). Should she find nothing, she kneels down to grab a steel ball from her pouch and rolls it across the floor, aimed at the center part of the room where the footsteps suddenly vanished.
Should nothing happen still, she enters the room and inspects the only undusted banner. What did it show or contain?
"A curious assortment of goods for a butchery--it may have been a front. The abandonment does seem real enough, at least until the div moved in." Marius cautiously follows Rose into the room, nudging at the spot by the footprints's end with his boot, in case there's a trapdoor or other hidden feature.