"We may have to take our chances. I have curative magics to combat it if need be but last time it only lingered a moment. I am more worried for Brother than myself. He is smarter than most of his kind but the idea of lingering souls may be beyond him. The only other option is maybe for Cetan or I to wait outside to spot when our target is approaching and make a signal for us to retreat into this room and we wait in the hallway until than?"
Hmm... the haunt re-occurring could be troublesome. We will have to be on our guard.
He nods at Sky Voice's suggestion. I can wait outside if I can find a reasonable place to hide.
He nods at Sky Voice's suggestion. I can wait outside if I can find a reasonable place to hide.
Sigrun grumbles and walks back downstairs.
Cetan is going to hunker down, just out of sight near the Southwestern window in the room with a clear path to the ladder. When he spots them returning, he will rush down the ladder and warn his party of the impending ambush.
The group waits for hours, long past sundown, but Cetan hears nothing but the wind whistling over the plains and through the cracks of the ruined Plague House. Several times Cetan thinks he hears something or someone outside, but it is merely a wild animal or a trick of the wind.
Cetan can't be sure exactly what time it is, but well past midnight, he hears two voices talking. They are too far away to understand clearly, but they are speaking a harsh tongue he does not immediately recognize.
Cetan will head in to warn the others as soon as he hears the voices, as he agreed to. Hey may not even know the specific language and the risk doesn't feel right today.
The party sees Cetan hastily descending the ladder, almost sliding down it. He stops a few feet down to quickly close the trap door, but pausing just before it slams to let it gently fall into place.
I heard two voices speak in a harsh tongue I do not recognize. I heard it suddenly and chose to not listen for a prolonged time. They will be close soon enough...
He hops down and takes up a position a few feet away from the ladder with his bow out. He looks around at the others and, whispering...
Do we attack as soon as they open the door or try to lure them in first?
With his armor and shield, Gabsen is quite noisy. The ex-soldier keeps his sword in his hand, ready for battle
Hearing Gabsen's armor, Brogann suggests "Attack as soon as they open the door."
Wincing at all the noise, Sigrun concedes to the lousier plan.
"I doubt waiting for them will help us much. We'll just have to hope whoever's second won't abandon whoever's first down the ladder."
She still takes of a position where she can't easily be seen. A little surprise, if things play out just right for them, might be worth more than none.
Very well. When they appear at the ladder it's arrows and spells away!
As you wait in the darkness, you can hear the sound of rain beginning to fall outside. As the minutes go by, it begins to drip through the many cracks and holes in the ceiling, forming small pools around the room.
About ten minutes after Cetan joins the rest of the party (but which seems to you like an eternity waiting on pins and needles in the musty darkenss of the ruined infirmary), you hear the sound of heavy footsteps on the creaking floorboards above you. Dust and small debris begin to fall as whoever is approaching disturbs the detritus in the room above you. Two things that are immediately apparent are that at least one of the people approaching is quite heavy judging by the creaking floorboards, and that neither of them is carrying a light source. Whatever is about to happen, you are all in complete darkness.
Those of you with darkvision then see the trap door opening, revealing a large humanoid shape that slowly begins to squeeze itself though the hole in the ceiling. You can see that it is at least seven feet in height and has long, powerful arms that end in sharp claws. Any secondary creature(s) are obscured behind the massive bulk of the first one.
Sky Voice touches one of Brother's tusks and casts light.
Brother will 5ft. Step east and ready an attack for when the creature reaches the bottom of the ladder.
Despite having his bow ready, Cetan opts to try to introduce a little confusion at the outset of combat. He gesticulates with his free hand and his rough voice can be heard in the darkness muttering spell words.
A vivid cone of clashing colors springs forth from his free hand, visible to all in the room and washing over the new entrants.
2 HD or less: The creature is unconscious, blinded, and stunned for 2d4 rounds, then blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, and then stunned for 1 round. (Only living creatures are knocked unconscious.)
3 or 4 HD: The creature is blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, then stunned for 1 round.
5 or more HD: The creature is stunned for 1 round.
Sightless creatures are not affected by color spray.
As the foe is now illuminated, Brogann tries to identify it.
"A flood troll!"
The wizard then hurls his greatsword.
The blade misses, and comes whirling back to his hand.
Sky Voice touches one of Brother's tusks and casts light.
The large humanoid creature twitches momentarily then drops like a rock from the ladder, thudding into the ground below, splattering pooled water everywhere.
A split-second after the tall creature falls, Brogann's blade stabs into its midsection, opening a nasty gash that immediately begins to close on its own like magic.
Towering Brother will take his readied attack
Towering Brother slams into the silent, prone creature, flipping it over and revealing its face for the first time. This tall, gangly giant has a thick hide of mottled blue; protruding yellowed canines; narrow slits for eyes; and large, powerful hands that end in wicked claws. Its face ends in a long snout that look to be a cross between a dog and a crocodile with a massive underbite.
Gabsen moves toward the beast, his sword ready to strike
Sigrun lights the torch she had set on the floor leaned against the wall.
The flood troll lies on the ground, seemingly dead to all but the most trained eye.
Brogann moves up and throws his sword blindly, targeting the square at the top of the ladder.
x2=12 DC 22 Fort or Die
Sky Voice will just pass without another obvious opponent. He will free action to speak tho.
Towering Brother slams its head down upon the prone troll's head, breaking it open in the process and causing the creature to twitch involuntarily for a few seconds and then stop moving. As you are all watching, however, its head begins to knit itself back together and you notice a finger begin to twitch again.
Use your torch and burn the troll, Sigrun, or we'll never see the end of it.
"You know where the torch is Gabsen. I'm hunting a skulking little b#%*&!
Sigrun jumps over the troll, grabs the ladder, and starts climbing. As she ascends, she yells up menacingly to the floor above.
"We know you are there! If I don't find you laying face down on the floor and without a weapon, I will split you open throat to legs!"
Fine. Do as you wish.
Gabsen takes out one of his own torch from his bakpack, lights it, and start burning the troll
Sigrún climbs the ladder and looks around the dim infirmary room and quickly spots a figure standing near the door. Even her sensitive elven eyes are not able to make out any fine detail about who it is, but if she had to guess, she would say that it is a half-orc. A half-orc who quickly turns and run toward the nearest exit.
With a cold blooded face, Gabsen uses the torch to burn the troll's wounds, until it cant regenerate anymore.
He show neither mercy nor enjoyment in the act.
There is no useless cruelty either.
Just a casualty of war.
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Sigrun has to leave her spear behind to climb the ladder so when she’s pulled herself clear of the trapdoor she draws her greatsword. As she starts running after him she makes her intent clear.
”You did not do what I said, instead you try to flee! I will kill you when I catch you!”
To keep her sword from being too unwieldy Sigrun shifts it to her left hand, grasping it blade downward just above the hilts. The half-orc has a decent lead, but Sigrun is tall with long legs; her size doesn’t hinder her. Her real advantage in the chase is that she simply digs harder than her quarry, holding nothing in reserve.
Her extra speed hurts her a little taking the corner left out of the infirmary, but she makes up the loss easily on the straight run to the collapsed wall. She scrambles up the rubble and only pauses a moment at the top to gauge her distance before jumping across the hole. When Sigrun lands on the far side, her momentum pitches her forward, forcing her to tuck her right shoulder and roll to avoid falling flat.
Up and running again, now without obstacles, Sigrun closes the distance handily. When she’s approaching to within reach, she transfers her sword back to her right hand upright, and grabs it with her left for a quick swipe at the half-orc’s trailing leg to hamstring him. Sigrun doesn’t bother keeping hold of the sword at the end of the swing, letting it go flying off to the side. Instead she musters just a little more speed so she collides with the half-orc harder as his new injury forces him to slow.
Sigrun brings the half-orc down in a hard tackle, landing on his back. Since her landing was cushioned, she reacts with any need to recover. Raising herself up, Sigrun grabs him across the back of his neck to pin his head and force him to remain on his stomach. Drawing her dagger with her right hand, Sigrun places the point on the lower part of his spine, letting it find purchase between two vertebrae. She straddles the pinned half-orc, leaning forward with the dagger's pommel resting against her pelvis in case she needs extra force to shove it in.
”If you move I will cut your spine in half. You won’t die from it. But you will piss and shit yourself and your legs will never work again. Do you understand?”
Sigrun goes on without waiting for a reply. ”You are going to answer some questions we have. If you do answer them, I will kill you fast. If you don’t answer, I will drag you back to where you kept the boy and hang you up on the wall there after I have crippled you. Then I will come back to kill you some day when I remember to. I promised to kill you if you ran so I must now. It is important everyone knows I do what I say.”
It’s then, seeing his face turned to the side in profile, that Sigrun realizes she recognizes him.
”Ha! I have seen you before in town! And that is where you thought to hide from me? I would have seen you and then killed you later even if you had gotten away to hide in town. You are very stupid.”
A moment after getting no response Sky Voice will set off up the ladder to try and follow Sigrun. She may need help. Or whatever is up there may be able to be reasoned with.
Brother will Trumpet and stomp next to the troll like creature while Gasben puts the flame to it, waiting to see if he should gore it more.
Brogann stays around a bit to watch Gabsen finish off the troll and ensure that it is dead. Then he heads up the ladder following Sky Voice.
The half-orc winces in pain under Sigrún's strong grip but does not make a move toward his weapons. "I give up, I give up!" he wheezes in Taldane. "Get off my back, I can't breathe!"
Cetan grimaces as Gabsen terminates the flood troll.
Well, that is how these things go. She didn't seem like a "talker".
He proceeds up the ladder, bow now over his shoulder, to see how Sigrun is fairing with the other. He surveys the scene for several moments.
Do you... know him?
Once the troll is dead Brother take the long way up using the stairs. He closes his eyes and clenched his jaw as he pass the room with the haunt,scared there may be a reappearance. Eventually catching up with Sky Voice and the group and making a short trumpet of relif.
With the active threat of combat gone Tooantuh's curse fades and his speech returns to him. "Bind him and take away his arms Sigrun but I think you should stop with the threats now." Sky Voice trys to say calmly despite his own threat a moment ago. "You have a lot of explaing to do boy! Don't try and run and tell us everything and you won't end up like your troll friend."
:/