The dwarf moved forward, chain in hand. Given the tight confines of the room he knew that it would be hard to swing the weapon, but he did his best. Coming in low, he slammed the chain into the shin of the closest ghoul.
Moving forward, Angry uses his impromptu chain flail on the ghoul. Striking true, and a serious blow, the ghoul still stands before him.
Rook moves into the room, remembering a bit of what he heard about these creatures, he holds fast to his holy symbol and a flow of energy pours out from him, through his allies, and hitting the ghouls. It does not look as effective as he might of though.
Initiative: Round 2
Slip
Chatty
Doc
Vex
Blue
Ghouls
Angry
Rook
Slip watches as the ghouls rend into Blue. He looks awful, like he won't be able to take another barrage. He reaches out, his hand glowing, and tries to heal the man's wounds.
Bolstered by his allies facing the ghouls, Chatty pushes his fear to the side and scurries back into the room. He quietly attempts to sneak past the central ghoul and flank with Angry. Then he puts his weapon into the enemy's back.
Reaching out, healing energy moves from Slip’s hand to Blue. You see where the wound once was as his flesh begins to knit itself back together.
Seeing a clear opportunity to try and sneak past the ghouls, Chatty breaks into a run past them. Unfortunately, the rubble on the floor make it difficult for him to be as agile as he normally would be and the ghoul is able to reach out with a bite, but misses.
This leaves a clear opening for Chatty to return the attack and lunges out with his rapier. Critically striking the creature causing it to crumple to the floor lifeless.
Vex sees this as a chance to finish off the final Ghoul. Stepping on top of the recently fallen ghoul, Vex’s blade cleanly slices through the sickly flesh of the creature as it falls to its death.
As the dust clears from battle, you notice that the wall that was once there reveals hallways with several doors. You also notice a set of stairs that go upstairs.
You also think from your conversation with Winter, that making sure the rooms are clear this far down the hallway might make her more willing to talk about what is going on here and share more information with the group.
Slip's adrenaline is still coursing through his veins as he stumbles back. "Where are they coming from?" he mouths, barely audible due to the flaring imbalance of his breathing. But he truly wonders: they had now seen five of these undead creatures. Two were relatively staid due to inaccessibility, but these three were not handcuffed or stuck at the bottom of a slick tub. They were walking around and making choices--attacking them! Why?
The halfling leans back against a wall, uncertain, trying to will himself to get back up and contribute. But since waking up, half of the things in this place had been trying to kill him. It was unnerving, and he didn't expect to be so desperate to survive.
"Where are they coming from?"
"I suppose, given what we know about ghouls, it would only take one ghoul to spread the disease to others. Some of these could have been staff or patients that succumbed and rose from the dead. There is nothing we can do for them now. And if any of you die after being bitten, I'll be sure to put a blade through your skull before burying you. And I'd expect you to do the same to me. Although, I have no intention of dying in here."
Chatty wipes the dark ichor off his blade and sheaths it. Then he resumes his search of the room before he was suddenly interrupted. He takes his time as the adrenaline from the fight slowly wears off.
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"Everyone alright? Er... other than you, Blue. You took some rough hits there. Slip seems to have healed you good. Good on you, Slip."
Vex pauses, to give Chatty an assessing look. "...and that was brave of you, pushing past it like that," she says with a slow nod of respect. "As for what you say about if they bite us and we die-- aye. I don't want to come back as one of those things."
She pauses to look the re-dead horrors over.
She joins Chatty in searching the room...
....but is ready to move on after that. "Let's try that room south of the stairs, aye?"
"I don't want to die," Slip says. It's not a whimper or a plea. It's said with almost no inflection, just dead shock. But if he does die...he would rather stay that way.
After a few moments, he putters along after Chatty and Vex, hoping he can contribute.
The group takes a moment to regain their thoughts with what has just happened. As you look around, you do not find anything of useful. Except when you look at the ghouls. You notice that even though their clothing is soiled and shredded they have clothing on of both patients and orderlies.
The group starts to head over to the double doors just before the hallway that heads to the stairs. Paint chips the color of eggshells cover the floor of these halls. Many of the walls are cracked and sag, causing numerous doors to lean awkwardly in their broken frames.
The double doors here are ones that do lean awkwardly in their broken frame.
Without moving the doors, you can see that this room is set up differently than the others you have been in. You can see green tiles? Without opening the doors you cannot see further in.
It takes you a moment, but you recognize this sound. It is the sound of something eating.
Updated Map
The door opens with a slight struggle and creaks as it is no longer hung squarely in its frame.
Cracked, river-green tiles cover the walls and floors of this communal shower in wavering patterns. Dry metal spouts jut from several walls, overlooking grates in the tile floor. A sizable portion of the floor drops into a shallow pool , filled with something other than water: a vile stew of corpses and blood. Two creatures are bathed in this stew and are eating from it.
The smell of rot and copper fills the air in this room.
Three alcove providing minimal privacy, run along the south wall. In the center alcove, a simple chair has been transformed into a gruesome throne covered with draped viscera and gnawed bones. A creature with one arm sits upon the throne. You do notice a severed hand hangs from a rope around its neck.
The moment the door opens the creature on the throne looks up; “You don’t have the look of the others… Are you here to transform into something greater than those bodies could ever be? Or… are have they sent you… yes, perhaps that is it…” He strokes his chin with his single hand and is studying you.
The two creatures in the stew you realize are ghouls. They stand there, looking between the group of you at the door and the creature on the throne.
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"I don't want to die," Slip says.
"Me neither," Vex mutters, "but doubt our opinion on it enters in to it."
At the next doors, she pauses, tilting her head and her somewhat-pointed ear to the wood.
She pulls back with a frown, looks to the others, and lifts her forearm, miming the act of biting into it and chewing it. She waits til everyone has their weapons readied before opening the door.
The scene that greets them inside nearly makes her retch, but to some degree she thinks she might be getting desensitized. At some point, the bodies just become... meat. Maybe that's what being a ghoul is, she thinks. You stop seeing dead people, and you just... see... meat...
She doesn't immediately answer, though a muscle in her jaw clenches at the... 'offer' from the creature on the throne.
Slip stands nervously towards the back of the group as the doors open. He certainly can't hear what's going on, and he strains to peer through the tangle of legs between him and the door, but the smell is overpowering. He gags, and wonders at the moment of delay. With that smell, along with Vex's clever pantomime, but no one rushing forward to attack yet--could that mean that they were trying to talk?
"What's going on?" he whispers, tapping Blue and Rook, who can presumably see and hear inside. He taps Blue, offering some Guidance for whatever happens next.
Chatty whispers to the others. "Trust me and be ready to strike. And I'll trust you not to leave me to be ghoul food." He gives a sly wink.
Chatty secretly slips a dagger into his sleeve and then steps into the room holding his empty hands up in a sign of surrender. He tries his best to hold back his revulsion from the gore in the pool but he can't keep his face from turning green with nausea. A strong urge to vomit pushes up into his throat but he forces the contents back into his stomach.
After composing himself, he performs a deep bow, lowering his head and getting down on one knee before standing back up to address the ghoul leader.
"You are correct, oh powerful King of Ghouls. We are not doppelgangers. We are full blooded humans and elves, dwarves, and halflings. We come on our own volition. Upon encountering some of your kind, we've discovered the error of ours ways. Living, that is. And we seek to undergo the transformation into the superior form that is ghouldom. We are quiet powerful, you see. I'm sure someone as wise as you can size us up and see that we would be valuable thralls in your expanding kingdom."
"Do you require some sort of offering in order for us to receive your gift? Of course you, do, oh Great One. I would not dare disrespect you by coming empty-handed. I'm sure Your Greatness is aware of the Pharasmin stronghold to the south. Turn us and all those within can be yours as well."
"If you wish us to come closer or allow one of your minions to approach us, we will offer no resistance."
The one on the throne’s eyes narrow as they take in Chatty, then he smiles and laughs. Standing up, he slowly takes a few steps towards you. When this happens, the two ghouls in the pool of human stew slosh forward. One towards Chatty, one towards the one who appears to be in charge.
Holding a hand out with a hush, as one might call off a dog, the main one speaks “You flatter me with the title you give me, ‘powerful King of Ghouls’. The sound of expanding my ‘kingdom’ does sound nice. I have had my eyes on the group of humans at the end of the hall. I have lost several of my pets in minor clashes with them, though their patrols have stopped since our last one.”
“An offering of their people is what is required. However… they will never follow what you become down here. Go, retrieve them, and lead them to their next life. Their greater calling.”
“I am so rude, bring your friends in, let us meet one another. I am Klades, who is it that will be joining my ranks?”
Chatty motions for his allies to enter the room. As they enter, he slowly inches closer to Klades. He bows again. "It is my honor, Klades. Truth be told, we've lost our names so we go by monikers instead. They call my Chatty. I'll let my friends introduce themselves."
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Slip pushes through the tangle of legs and catches up on the situation. He enters the room a little after Vex and stands by her--well away from the ghouls, but not off in the corner by himself where he could get pressed to the wall if things went down poorly.
"Hello, I'm Slip," he offers. His nervousness is clear, but he hopes it can be chalked up to his size. Everyone here was so much bigger.
A curious thought enters Slip's mind, one that he immediately pulls away from with revulsion, but which nonetheless persists. It's not like he's actually entertaining it, not desiring it. But it would lend some further credence to Chatty's ruse.
"I'm Deaf, by the way. Would..." It's okay. It's just a ruse. "Would joining your ranks change that?"
He didn't want that. He didn't. But there it was. That strange thought.
Chatty cautiously slips his hand into his sleeve and palms his dagger. He watches Klades carefully for an opportunity to strike.
Hearing that slip is deaf, and that the lot of you have all lost your names, Klades shakes his head; “None of that will matter when you are elevated. You will become one of the ranks, stronger, faster, near immortal. No go! Bring me those followers of Pharasma as your offering to join my ranks!”
You know that ghouls do not regain anything that their living bodes did not have.
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Chatty bows again. "Of course, your highness." When he comes up from his bow, he lunges forward and drives his dagger into the ghoul's chest.
He looks Klades in his black eyes and prays to the gods that he'll live to regret this decision.
Chatty raises up from his bow and moves to plundges the dagger into Klades. Chatty wasn't close enough to smell it before, but as soon as he gets within reach of Klades there is an overwhelming stench that takes him over. Chatty becomes Sickened. But his forward momentum still sinks the dagger into Klades, casing him to stumble backwards in shock at what has just happened.
Initiative: Round 1
Angry
Chatty
Ghouls
Blue
Doc
Rook
Klades
Vex
Slip
The dwarf stepped through the door, improvised flail in hand. While it wasn’t a “real” weapon, that did not cause it to be any less dangerous. He whipped the chain around at the nearest ghoul, catching it square in the chest. There was a *crunching* sound, clear evidence that something broke on impact.
Chatty doesn't remember the other ghouls smelling this bad, but Klades is outright rancid. The room already stank from the charnel pit in the pool and this offensive odor trumps that. He gags and his eyes water. He weakly throws another dagger thrust but he has trouble seeing straight.
Chatty makes a hasty retreat before Klades can retaliate against the rogue's offense.
Angry rushes through the door and swings a mighty swing with his flail. There indeed was a crunch and the ghoul crumples to the ground awkwardly. Chatty, though striking true with his first attack, does not do as well with his second.
Seeing its partner fall at the feet of the dwarf, the second ghoul rushes at the dwarf. Trying to bite the dwarf, its long sharp teeth are stopped on the dwarfs armor.
Blue, Doc, and Rook act almost simultaneously. Rook moves behind Angry and cast Guidance on him. Blue draws his shortsword and moves up alongside the dwarf. Doc, not being able to fully see, draws a dagger and moves in to get a better view of this situation.
Klades’ eyes set upon Chatty as he flees; “Cowardly worm! Running won’t help you, you will die. I can sense one of you is already turning…” and he rushes forward. As he does, Vex, Blue and Slip are all overwhelmed by a stench that is coming from Klades and are Sickened for 8 minutes.
Klades bite misses Vex, but the viscous ichor that is coming from its mouth would make you all believe that receiving a bite from Klades would have some significant side effects.
Initiative: Round 1
Angry
Chatty
Ghouls
Blue
Doc
Rook
Klades
Vex
Slip
The halfling knows what's coming, knows that Chatty and the others have planned to jump into a sneak attack, but it comes much faster than he expects. He is woefully unprepared as blades, chains, claws, and teeth begin the destructive dance of death. Angry mauls one of the ghouls while Chatty and Vex make decisive stabs.
And then there's that stench. It's even worse up close, stinging his nose and eyes alike. He feels a distinct urge to leave the room, but simply abandoning without helping would prove that he was a coward. No. He would contribute.
He pushes through the immediate fear, raises his crossbow, and tries to aim carefully so as to avoid Vex, who is swinging her sword at Klades.
The shot goes wide--very wide--clattering off the ceiling and tumbling into the charnel pool with an offensively ineffective plop. Slip squeaks, painfully aware of how poor that was, and withdraws towards the door to reload his weapon and try a different angle. Dodging between Chatty and Doc, he emerges next to Rook, his face a sickly green shade, and looks up at the Ulfen man. "I'm going to try shooting from that door," he whispers, pointing a bit further down. Just in case anyone thinks I'm trying to run.
Vex’s blade lands, but due to the stench she doesn’t have as much power behind it as she normally would. But any attack against these creatures is good!
Slip launches a bolt from his crossbow, it could be the way the door is hanging, the traffic in front, or the sight before him but his bolt flies wide.
Initiative: Round 2
Angry
Chatty
Ghouls
Blue
Doc
Rook
Klades
Vex
Slip
The dwarf wasn't a trained soldier, that much was for certain. He did not hold his weapon as one who had spent constant hours drilling would. Rather, his fighting style was more reminiscent of someone who had brawled, using whatever came to hand and then relying on talent, luck and brute strength. His bloody flail came around, striking the ghoulish leader in the side. Perhaps if he had been a professional he would have known the secret of how to put power behind his attack, but that was a feat which was well beyond his abilities.
Chatty slips behind the ghoul and stabs.
Angry moves forward and delivers a blow that catches Klades off guard. Just as the chain flails around its body, fear enters its face. The creature falls, lifeless on the ground.
The remaining ghoul retreats and crudly says; “merrrccceeee” as it holds its side where Chatty's dagger landed.
"No mercy for the undead!" Chatty hisses. He keeps his dagger pointed menacingly at the ghoul but is reluctant to follow the creature into the pool of gore. He weighs in his mind the value of throwing his dagger at the ghoul against having to then fish the weapon back out.
Slip doesn't hear the plea for mercy, focusing on reloading his crossbow from beyond the relative safety of the door. With a steadying breath, he steps again past Rook and looks around for any ghouls still standing upright. One has withdrawn into the pool, and the halfling takes aim. Ready...steady...pull!
It's still hard to aim when his stomach is lurching and his nose is burning, but he seems to land a more decisive blow than his whiff a moment ago.
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"There's mercy," Vex says on the tail of Chatty's words. "The mercy of rest. The mercy of not bein' this."
The drama of her words is maybe a little ruined by the fact her eyes and nose are still running from the foul stench, but she turns to help cut down the ghouls. Seeing that the last has pulled out of range, and hesitating to wade into the morass of blood and viscera, Vex waits, blade at the ready, prepared to hack the creature down when it comes nearer.
Of the words didn’t make it clear, the bolt plunged into its shoulder clarifies everything. No mercy will be shown. The ghoul lurches further into the pool and hides behind a few of the bodies.
The dwarf stopped, his rage ending and feeling naught but fatigue. It felt wrong to kill something begging for mercy. Yes, it was a ghoul, but did it make it irredeemably evil? So he held his ground, ready to fight if it retaliated. But to his shame he couldn’t bring himself to join in. Still, he did nothing to stop the others, content to allow them to shoot it down. He knew that they were likely right, so who was he to demand that they be merciful?
Slip reloads his crossbow and watches as the creature dives further into the pool. No one else seems to be attacking, though, and he hesitates. In the heat of battle, he feels like he has missed something. Was this ghoul surrendering? Then he couldn't keep firing.
The halfling looks at his fellows with confusion, crossbow loaded but not aimed. "Um, what's going on?"
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"What's goin' on is I don't want to wade into a literal pool of blood to cut it down," Vex says, turning her head enough that Slip can see her face. Given the halfling's soft heart so far, she doesn't think they need to mention the thing's asking for mercy. It'd just cause a damned distraction.
"And you've got the only bow. But we can't let it out of here. It'll just kill and eat some other poor bastard."
Asrat echoes Vex. He turns to Slip so he can read his lips clearly. "Kill it!"
Slip's eyebrows rise and his breath quickens again. His lip trembles slightly as he looks back and forth between Vex and Chatty and the ghoul in the pool. Okay, he would try.
He furrows his brow as the bolt sails short, thunking into one of the bodies the ghoul was hiding behind. Curses. What must they think that he couldn't manage to hit? He loads another bolt in and cranks it back, aware of his slowly diminishing supply of ammunition with who-knows how many threats still out there in this asylum.
After a few rounds, you put down the final ghoul. Looking around the room you don’t see much of use. The throne is interesting, but just a mundane chair. You do notice that the hand that is around Klades neck is not his own missing hand…
The only place that you have not looked is the pool full of humanoid stew.
"That was unsettling." The dwarf said. "We should leave this room. It reeks of death."
Slip feels increasingly nervous (and frustrated) with all of the eyes in the room on him, and an uncertain situation. But keen on proving himself, he asks for a modicum of assistance. Alleviating the nausea would be nice, but that's not likely to happen while he is still in the room, so he asks for (or provides for himself) a bit of extra guidance. He slows down and sends a couple more bolts into the pool, until the last ghoul stops moving.
"Rest," he says. "And may the All-Seeing Eye watch your path."
What did that mean?
Slip agrees with the dwarf. He withdraws from the room, his face flush and dripping sweat. Would this get any easier, or would every room of this cursed place by this difficult?
Contrary to Slip's prayer for the undead, Chatty bends down and roughly rips the hand-necklace off Klade's neck (and keeps it) then kicks the corpse and spits on its face. "Disgusting. I would never join the likes of you. Idiot. Stay dead this time."
Chatty leaves the room. "Let's go. But also, let's wait until our stomachs settle. I'm still a bit queasy." He leans against the hallway wall and tilts his head up. He closes his eyes and breathes in deeply the stale air which is an improvement from the putrid fumes of the bathing area.
The group of you move to the hallway to recover from the overwhelming aroma in the room. Rook pushes the door closed to help prevent the smell from escaping.
A few minutes pass and Doc comes up with a slightly worried look on her face. Which for her, is concerning. “Something is off with Blue, he is starting to sweat and it feels like he has a fever.” She looks down the hall towards the flicker of light from the chapel. “I am going to take him back to the camp. We have secured each of the rooms between here and there, so we will have no troubles. They might have what I need to help break his fever, but he will only slow us down if we take him with us.”
“Here, you might need these. We won’t be needing them.”
She hands you a Dagger, Flint & Steel, and Blue’s Short Sword.
She nods as she helps him slowly in the direction of the safehouse.
Slip nods, concerned for Blue. "Of course. Take care." He takes the dagger, feeling like he wants something just in case he gets cornered by himself.
It was concerning that Doc was showing concern. Slip directs his comment to Blue more than Doc.
"Don't forget to tell them about the manacled man. They can decide what to do after that."
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After a few missed shots, Vex shakes her head. "Let me see the crossbow, Slip," she says, and takes it to finish the grim work.
She frowns. "Hang on... Didn't their leader say something about one of us 'already turning'? And Chatty told us they come back from the dead if they get bit and get a fever-- Doc, you need to keep an eye on him."
Vex looks grim and serious indeed. "Blue, no offense, man, but if you're at any risk of becoming one of these things-- at the least, tend to him in a room that can be locked, aye, Doc?"
”I…” Words failed him. The dwarf looked at Blue with pity. ”All the best to ye. If ye feel yourself turn, do the right thing, aye?” He said, hating that such pragmatism was needed.
"May Pharasma walk with you, my friends." Chatty says his goodbyes to the three allies.
In the shadows, Chatty fingers the weird marble in his pocket and chuckles under his breath, "Zandalus sees." He wonders to himself if he'll actually need to kill an ally if they turned undead. It wouldn't be so bad if he had to though. He also muses about the encounter with the ghouls. It's a shame Klades didn't have anything worthwhile to offer. Perhaps there will be someone in this asylum who can grant real power. It would only be right for some of that power to go to me.