Slip rounds the corner and loosens a bolt from his crossbow to one of the ghouls holding Ilki. The bolt sinks into the chest of the ghouls doing critical damage.
Rook moves in and draws his mace as he sees what is unfolding within the room.
Turning her attention to the party moving into the room she laughs; “More patients for the doctor to see?” dropping the hung of flesh, you all see that it is the tongue of the man in the previous room. “He’s no longer stuck on those simple phrases…”
Looking to the ghouls; “Make sure he turns!” and the ghoul that has the bolt jutting out from its chest plunges Ilki back under the water and holds him under with two hands. Crazed and hungry.
“The doctor” moves forward, along with one of the ghouls, and they attack. One of Vex, one on Angry
The shining dagger quickly moves, with the precision of a surgeon, and slices angry in an opening in his armor
The ghoul, moving up in the pool bites out at Vex but misses. Vex can see the vile frothing saliva that looks infectious if it lands.
Slip huffs, loading another bolt into his crossbow. "You're a monster," he says to the deranged doctor. He takes aim at the ghoul holding down Ilki, finding a pinpoint spot between the tangle of limbs and weapons, and fires.
"I said release him," he intones from behind the taller folk.
The pain snapped angry out of his horrified stupor. Suddenly roaring in pain and anger, he took his chain and slapped it across the doctor’s head. While such an attack would have been far more devastating if made by a true warrior, raw strength and rage made up for any lack of formal training.
Chatty is surprised that the enemies are actually real this time. But he wastes no time snapping into action. He pushes past his allies to get behind the female doppelganger. He stabs her and pierces an artery that starts spouting blood.
Slip raises his crossbow and lets a bolt fly into the same one that already has a bolt in its chest. This time it lands true in its head and it slumps over dead in the “stew.” Ilki does not rise up from the liquid.
Angry lashes out with his flail and lands a devastating blow, but the doctor just smiles at the dwarf. Chatty tries to sneak by but fails to do so and draws the attention of the doctor, who with precision slices the human rogue.
Vex, stabs at the ghoul that missed with its bite to fend off what she knows will be another attack but swings wide. Rook attacks out with his mace, and lands what might have been a critical attack but looks to have done minimal damage and doesn’t even earn a look from “the doctor.”
The ghoul stays on Vex and lashes out with a bite and two claw attacks, each one significantly missing. The doctor strikes out with the shiny dagger and finds yet another hole in Angry’s armor. She takes a 5-foot step towards the pool.
Slip barely takes the time to register that he has killed again--another one of these ghouls--as he loads a third crossbow into the mechanism and fires it into the next ghoul. It was beginning to get harder to hit them without hitting his allies, but he calls on the guidance of Rook to give himself an extra bit of clarity. Hopefully they were there in time to help Ilki.
Angry was bleeding something fierce, but he kept on going. He swung wildly with a blow that would have been devastating…if it landed. Sadly it was far from being even close to hitting the doctor.
Chatty steps after the woman and stabs her again. He doesn't know what a doppelganger's anatomy is like, but it seems like he hit something important.
Slip fires his crossbow, but it seems his luck just runs short. Trying to shoot past his friends and at a creature that is partially covered while in the pool makes it just hard enough to hit… But, he doesn’t hit one of his friends.
With a swing that had the potential to be devastating, Angry misses “the doctor.” But working in tandem with Chatty, the sneaky fellow slides behind the creature and finds just the right spot on the doppelganger. She turns and gives chatty a nasty look as her attention seems to be turning to the man wielding the rapier.
Rook moves behind Angry seeing him take a second slice and he lays a hand on the dwarf.
After Vex strikes out at the ghoul and misses, it swings out with attacks of its own, but only one of its claw attacks lands.
As “the doctor” turned its attention to Chatty, it strikes out with precision but Chatty is just too agile and dodges the attack. The doctor moves to round Chatty.
With a growl that could almost be described as feral, the dwarf pursued the doctor. Improvised flail in hand, he punished it for turning it’s back on him with an attack driven by pure strength and spite.
Did the doctor provoke an AOO?
With his back to the gore filled pool, Chatty has no choice but to dance along with the enemy. He steps after her and stabs again.
Angry and Chatty both strike out at “the doctor,” with both attacks striking true she falls. As her lifeblood pours from her body, her chest rises and falls for one last time. She is dead.
The final creature continues to look hungry and full of rage.
Slip's eyes dart around the room as his companions finish off the malicious doctor. Just about everyone is bleeding. And it looks like Ilki isn't getting up. Why not? They had been quick!
Feeling confident that the others can take down the last ghoul, Slip plots a course safely around the creature, entering the disgusting pool and hoisting Ilki's head above the filth.
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Vex curses once at the claw that finds its way past her shield. She edges further along the wall, trying to keep the ghoul's attention on her so that perhaps one of the others can capitalize on its backside, and swings again.
She pays the ghoul back and then some-- from her defensive hunch she strikes with sudden, practiced precision. Her attacks are as controlled as the dwarf's are wild... but either way, the result is dead foes.
Vex’s attack, precise and calculated, critically wounds the creature as it slumps lifelessly into the “human stew” pool.
Slip rushes into the pool, and tries to reach below and pull Ilki up. Being small sized does not help this rescue attempt that is already hard enough as you cannot see through the stew. Reaching below, trying to avoid any of this liquid to enter your eyes nose or mouth, Slip feels a body and attempts to pull it up. As he does, he feels the body slipping in his hands, so he grips tighter. As the body rises to the top Slip can see that the body he grabbed is a corpse and its flesh is pulling free from its body.
Chatty gets on his belly and leans over the edge of the pool stretching one arm into the muck to fish around for Ilki.
No way am I getting in there. I don't have enough fingers to count the number of diseases I'd catch. Slip is going to need a thorough cleansing after this. Ugh, and the smell. That's going to linger. He thinks to himself.
The dwarf stomped into the gore and with a grim look on his face reached a hand in to pull out Ilki. Hopefully...
As Vex clears the way for Slip with a vicious final blow, Slip makes his way into the pool. Unfortunately, his vision is not up to the task of seeing through gore the same way he sees through darkness. The halfling gags and lets loose his grip on the fished-up corpse. "No, no, not that one." They would need a clean-up crew in here just to manage getting all of the sick out of here..
Grateful than Angry is coming to help--and that even Chatty is willing to get at least one hand dirty--Slip tries again.
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"....this is b@&$~+!s," Vex says, watching the others wade (or reach) into the morass of things better left never-thought-of. Thank whatever blighted gods may exist for the fact that the asylum folk clean them when they come in, she supposes. Sighing, she sidles with a grimace into the effluvia and gore, using her legs to feel for an intact form.
With everyone’s help, you find the right body. Which might make sure skin craw since you were all in the pool. You pass Ilki’s lifeless body to Chatty and you are all able to pull him up. Rook moves to forward and begins to examine the man. “He isn’t breathing…” instinctively Rook lets loose a burst of energy. Nothing happens. He examines him again and discovers that he has taken in too much water and begins performing less magical aid.
Fortunately, for Slips quick action and the rest of the party’s aid, Rook revives Ilki. The man begins coughing and spitting up the reddish-brown liquid that is in the pool.
Chatty makes no move to further help Ilki and instead stands over the man with his arms crossed and looks down at him in disgust.
"I hate to say I told you so but this wouldn't have happened if you didn't go running off screaming like a baby. This is the second time we've saved you now. You should be grateful. Luckily for you, after having a discussion with our hotelier, she doesn't appreciate us leaving others out in the halls to die, so you get to come back with us this time. In fact, I vote we return right now. I would really prefer not to travel around with you four all smelling like Rovagug's a&&~$#%+."
Chatty saunters over to Slip and pats him on a shoulder, making sure to use his already filthy hand. "You did good, Slip. I am impressed by your bravery and selflessness. You should be proud."
The dwarf shook his hands to get the blood and gore off. When that didn't work he walked over to the 'doctor' and tried to wipe his hands off on the thing's clothes. "Aye. Back we go." After a moment's thought he stood up and then violently stomped on the neck of the doctor, to ensure that it was well and truly dead. He resisted the urge to spit on it.
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"For gods' sake," Vex said with a weary glare at Chatty. "Man just bloody nearly died, give him a bloody moment, would you? Going to remind you you 'ran off screaming like a baby' at one point too. Aye, go on and threaten me with your 'eye' again if you must."
She hauls Ilki to his feet. "Come on, then, you. We'll get you to people who can mind you better than we can-- and who actually want to do so. And we all need another cleansing, it's true."
Vex does stop by the 'doctor' to check and see if she had anything of use on her body.
Chatty grovels before Vex. "My sincerest apologies, my friend. Of course, you are right, as always. My response was a bit...harsh. This whole situation is just so stressful. I let my emotions get the better of me. I shall do better."
With Ilki recovered and revived, Slip seems to calm down and return more to his normal self for almost the first time since finding the chained-up man with his tongue cut out. When Chatty pats him on the shoulder, the halfling beams up at him. He does feel proud. But he also begins wondering about that anger, or more specifically how he responded to it. The anger made sense--the "doctor's" butchery was abhorrent, and another poor person was dead because of it. But Slip had felt some sort of...darkness overtake him. It wasn't comfortable, and yet...it felt right.
"I'm glad you're alive," Slip offers to Ilki. "But they're right: it will be safer for you to come back with us. It's definitely not safe out here with the ghouls, doppelgangers, and sahkils."
"How did you survive out here anyway? What have you been doing?"
Looking over the body of the doctor, the first thing you see of use is the shiny dagger. It is silver in properties and magical. You also find a small vial of liquid. Slip & Rook work together and identify that the dagger is a +1 Silver Dagger, and the vial is a Potion of Cure Light Wounds.
Ilki stairs off into nothing. Clearly traumatized by what has just happened. He doesn’t respond the questions. When you try to move him, he follows. As you are making you way down the hall towards the Refuge of Dreamers, you hear him quietly say; “thank you” Rook Sees that several of you are still hurt and he Channels Energy again.
You make your way through security and get Ilki to safety. Unless there is anything you want to do while here, it is a quick visit before heading back out through the hall. You make your way back to the crossroad near the room where you found Ilki and the “human stew pool.”
To the east you see two doors near each other, one heading north, one heading south. Near those door you see a narrow hallway that goes north roughly 40 feet to a closed door.
Heading west/north there are the stairs that, from what Winter said, leads to storage of outdated equipment and a single door that leads north next to the stairs.
Slip is glad to be clean again, all told, and glad that they saved at least one person today. He makes sure that someone else takes the curative potion, knowing that he has the ability to heal himself if it comes to it. "I'm glad to have a dagger, but I won't be much good with it. Chatty, you're good with small blades, right? Maybe you should take it."
At the crossroads, Slip looks up the stairs and at the door still on this floor. "I still think clearing this floor is a good idea first, but if we want to find equipment we can go up."
When dropping Ilki off, Chatty mentions to the bather, "Please check him thoroughly for any scratch or bite marks and to let us know if you find any the next time we return. He was attacked by some ghouls and if he was injured, he could be infected. However, if he is, as long as he doesn't pass away, you shouldn't have anything to worry about."
"I'm glad to have a dagger, but I won't be much good with it. Chatty, you're good with small blades, right? Maybe you should take it."
"It is slightly better than the one I'm using now. I'll take it. And here, why don't you take this one from me if you are looking for a dagger, Slip?" Chatty will take the +1 silver dagger and hand Slip his masterwork silver dagger.
At the crossroad, Chatty waits for another to lead.
"Beggars can't be choosers. Let's check the storage full of equipment. Outdated or not, there might be something useful." Angry said.
Slip nods and gratefully accepts the masterwork silver dagger. It was better to be prepared in case he had to get close to something again.
When Angry indicates a preference for the storage, Slip nods his head. "Okay. We do have that interesting bag now, so we can carry a lot!"
Despite his recent spat of bravery, Slip doesn't look like he wants to go up first. But he musters up a little courage and presses himself against the stairs, sneaking up and looking carefully around for any sign of danger.
As you start to climb the stiars, you see that rubble chokes the wide stairs leading up to the second floor, and several of the walls within have fallen to ruin.
"Oh..." Slip says as he tries unsuccessfully to pick around the rubble. "Maybe they didn't know about this." He turns around and faces the others. "There is nothing to see that way. Let's try that door." The halfling points to the northern door next to the stairs. With open space, he was confident in his ability to stay hidden and look for dangers. But with a closed door and no ability to detect what might be beyond it, he lets one of the others go first.
"Ok. I'll take a look, my friend."
Chatty slinks up to the door. Standing off to the side, he carefully inspects the door for traps.
Once he is confident the door is safe, he puts his ear up to it to listen for any sounds on the other side.
If he doesn't hear anything, he inches the door open just enough to look within.
Chatty moves up and checks out the door, he discovers that the door is not trapped or locked. Chatty inches the door open to look in.
A row of wicker rocking chairs faces this room’s tall windows, staring into the mist licking the outside of the glass. A heap of broken planks lies in one corner, the wreckage of a wooden stairwell that still partially clings to the wall above.
Your eyes are drawn to three people lazily circling the room in the same white gowns as the people in the Refuge of Dreamers, but these gowns are tattered. With a slight creak of the door the people stop and slowly turn and face the door. The white milky eyes stair at you and their long tongues drop from their mouths, ghouls.
Initiative: Round 1
Chatty
Ghouls
Slip
Angry
Rook
Vex
Chatty slams the door shut and backs away.
"Three ghouls incoming. They look to be more converted patients."
Chatty shuts the door and moves to the other side of the group. Moments later you hear a slam against the door, then it is flung open. You see the smiling face of one of the ghouls as two others move through the door.
One attacks out at Angry with its claw, and the attack lands. Angry begins to feel his muscles stiffening as he starts to lose control, but is able to fight off whatever was included in that attack.
Initiative: Round 1
Chatty
Ghouls
Slip
Angry
Rook
Vex
”Ghouls once-ow! Lived. So there will be an end when we kill ‘em all!”
Slip shrieks, fumbling around in surprise with his crossbow. He takes a step back and fires at the one directly in front of him.
Then he reloads his crossbow and purses his lips. It had been a while since he had been this close to one of these creatures...
Vex slashes out but misses with her blade, Angry strikes out and delivers a devastating blow to the one in front of him. Slip, who has been blessed by the gods with his crossbow fires once again, almost landing a critical blow.
Rook lays a hand on Angry and heals him before moving defensively in front of Slip
Initiative: Round 2
Chatty
Ghouls
Slip
Angry
Rook
Vex
Thanks to Vex's repositioning, Chatty finds an opening and slips inside to stab at the nearest ghoul.
Chatty moves up and misses with his rapier attack. The two goblins up front last out with attacks.
The one on Angry misses with its bite, but both claws land. One of them find Angry in a vulnerable opening and critically wounds him. But with one of the attacks Angry’s body begins to freeze up, and he cannot move.
The Ghoul on Rook also lashes out with a full attack. The creature’s bite and one claw attack lands, dealing devastating damage But Rook stays standing. In almost a flinch response, Rook lets out an energy burst that moves through the group of you but causes these ghouls to wince. It looks as if they are all fully hurt from the energy burst, and the one that Angry attacked falls.
Initiative: Round 2
Chatty
Ghouls
Rook
Slip
Angry
Vex
In the chaos of battle, Slip doesn't see Vex's order. Instead, he sees her preparing to strike a ghoul, and he speeds around to her left, drawing out the dagger he just received from Chatty and trying to stab out to distract the ghoul. Maybe it will be enough to help her land the blow!
Frozen in place, the dwarf made for a very angry looking statue.
Unable to squeeze into melee this time, Chatty hurls his dagger between Vex and Angry, which comes dangerously close to giving the paralyzed dwarf a shave, and lodges squarely in the ghoul's body.