Cardshark lines up his shot
And is promptly paralysed
He's not in the ancient manor. The chill of Ustalav's early spring has lifted, and the Irregulars are investigating a burned out farmhouse. Its most recent occupants were the government troops they've been sent to dislodge, but from all Edgar can see it's been abandoned for some time. He pokes around in the fireplace to see whether the faint scent of rot comes from old meat cooked there. No, nothing. Then from behind him comes a soft thud, then a roar and shouts and screams. Turning around, he sees that half the floor has collapsed, spilling Ged, Virian, and a couple others he can't see down into the basement. Flames are beginning to lick up from the far corner...
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"Why are you all just standing there?"
She grabs a few small things out of her pouch and throws it at the creature, effectively creating a small explosion.
The creature flies at Olivia and tries to bite her. Very luckily, Olivia dodges just at the right time.
Olivia responds by stepping back and throwing another small bomb mixture. This one hits the creature square on.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Brannin yelled out, far too loudly. As he did that he moved forward, swinging a wild punch at the thing.
Brannin swings wildly at the flying bat-winged head and misses by a mile.
It turns its attention to him, and tries to take a bite. Luckily, it bites the construct arm, and gets no flesh.
Olivia attempts to throw another bomb.
Attempting to grab the thing with his good hand, Brannin pulled it away and gave it a backhanded slap with his steel hand.
mmmm mm m mmmmmm mmmm. MMMM
Cardshark dynamically stays paralysed
The sound of the explosions in both his hallucination and reality shock Edgar and he falls to his knees, clawing at a phantom wound in his side. He grabs a bandage out of where it was in his pack in Ustalav, in reality fumbling clumsily with the air.
Brannin swings wildly, connecting with his backhand and slamming the thing into the wall. It appears dead.
”It was real. Touched it. It died. Doesn’t matter if it was an animal, a monster or a magical sock puppet. It’s dead.” He said this to himself as much as he did Lucian. ”If we can take one alive, how much do you think it would sell for?”
t t t t that was horrible. Ugh Cardshark visibly shakes himself.
And way too close. Do you think there are more?
Edgar slowly comes to, looking down at his belly in disbelief that his guts aren't spilling out of him. He spits. Flying heads...at least hitting it kills it. The day we meet something that doesn't die from being smashed into a wall...Well, let's see what it was guarding.
yes, yes, loot. Maybe it had loot. What loot would a flying head have, I mean earrings? A circlet?
A few minutes searching the room turns up a small rusted dagger, a handful of marbles, and a small lacquered wooden box. Inside the box are several small, carved stone playing pieces. The box functions as the game board.
Hmm?
Cardshark looks at the game
i think the locals play that game
Edgar looks over at the game board and nods at Olivia's comment. [b]That's the sort of loot we should be after. Sentimental value, easy to carry, not pushdug cursed gold.[b]
As Lucian moves to the doorway, Edgar takes his place beside him, now wielding his light mace and slapping it against his free hand.
Loot. That was good. Loot he could understand. "All's well that ends well. None of us are going to sport permanent injuries and we'll get paid. Flying whatchamacallits or not, this is a good day."
Cardshark looks at the head.
Yeah. I guess so
The room does appear to have been that of a child, as does the next Lucien examines.
Dust blankets this room. The walls, once brightly painted to depict life in ancient Wati, are now faded. A smaller room or alcove takes up the northeast section of the room; it was once closed off by a wooden door that since has rotted away, leaving only its hinges in the doorframe. A strong, cloying odor of decay pervades the room.
Another of the strange winged-heads appears to have nested here! It flies at Lucien.
Another one! Damn it!
His pistol out, he fires
touch attack
Lucien's gun jams, and as he tries to clear it, it jams again! Cardshark steps in and takes a shot, though, blasting a hole in one of the creatures wings.
Edgar lets out a wordless shout of rage, and leaps forward to stab the thing with his kukri. However, still shaken by his visions in the last room, his thrust is a bit wild.
Brannin grouses to himself as he tries to swat this fly. "Thwap! Thwap!" The creature smacks against the wall and slumps to the ground.
Buried amid the debris in the room is a large darkwood box worth $1000 according to Olivia. Inside is a white silk Osirian wedding robe that is extremely fragile with age. Lucien realizes that any attempt to remove the robe from the chest will ruin it. If preserved, the robe is worth $1500. The chest also contains several pieces of inexpensive jewelry worth $350 in total, and a strand of freshwater pearls worth $2000.
A small sealed tube contains five applications of something that might be a cosmetic?
Finally, a long scroll tube holds a rolled-up papyrus painting-a self-portrait of Ariseti, accompanied by her signature in Ancient Osiriani. Unlike the wedding robe, the painting has been protected from air for many years and can be safely handled without damaging it. It is worth $800 to a collector.
Card shark holsters his pistol, after reloading it, and smiles.
Weird abominations aside, this is starting to be profitable.
He is literally rubbing his hands in anticipation
A rectangular stone building sits in the northwest corner of the estate. At each corner stand columns carved to resemble men and women with their arms crossed over their chests. A set of stone doors stands in the southern face of the building, carved with bas-relief faces of two men. Hieroglyphs are carved into the doors just beneath the faces.
All seems quiet, silent as a crypt...
Opening the doors takes some effort and a pry-bar, but it reveals a set of stairs down into the earth.
Interesting. I wonder what's down there?
Cardshark shines a light down the shaft to look
Cardshark draws his pistol, and follows
A stone altar sits upon a raised stone platform in the center of this square room. Caryatid columns carved in the likenesses of male and female figures with their arms crossed over their chests and khopeshes or ankhs in their hands stand at each corner of the platform. Empty torch holders are built in all four of the room's corners. Two stairways exit the room-one climbs to the south, while the other descends from this chamber to the north.
A mummy lies resting on the altar, and as you enter, it starts to rise.
What!
Edgar had come in, taking his usual position, and as the mummy moves he shifts the boarding axe in his hand, looking at Lucian questioningly for a moment.
Then the rush of anger overtakes him, and he lunges forward, swinging the axe at the rising mummy in a brutal downward slash.
Cardshark opens fire
touch
I would say that it began to move as soon as you opened the doors. I rearranged the map to reflect my best guess, so your full attack should be fine.
Brannin also steps in and takes a couple quick shots. One hits.
The creature finishes standing, and having just taken a lot of damage, tries to run away. It swings at Edgar, then backs into the corner behind a pillar.
Edgar follows, enraged, swinging the boarding axe madly. He misses wildly, though, and with every missed strike glowers with increasing ferocity.
That's odd. Do creatures like that run away?
He shrugs. If it wanted to surrender, it should say so. He moves for a more clean shot
Touch
The mummy is looking seriously wounded, and seems to be trying to make an escape. It double moves for the entrance.