The halfling shuffles nervously around, pleased that he was finally able to bring some of the others back around. They looked awful, and he felt bad about not being able to help them during the fight with that awful creature.
You didn't know. You didn't know. It will be okay, but stay with them next time.
The conversation is moving too quickly for the halfling to keep up consistently, but his head moves back and forth as people actually shift their glances to look at whomever takes the reigns of the conversation in a given moment. The delay means that he misses the first few words of whatever almost anyone says. He sighs as he struggles to follow along with the conversation, and his eyes are drawn towards the furnace. He idly grabs at the piece of rice paper, uncertain what to do with it without something to write with but feeling drawn to it nonetheless.
He gulps as he looks around in the furnace, and is too distracted by the sights, though he keeps the contents of his stomach to himself. The Garundi friend (not so lucky) puts a whistle in his hand, and he realizes that the others have seen something he missed.
"Oh, me?" he says uncertainly, his voice cracking. They're talking about me...going up? His face pales, and he looks nervously around at the set of tall eyes gazing down at him.
He nods his head uncertainly, and then walks over towards the injured dwarf. It looked like claw marks--nasty ones at that. Had he tried to pursue that creature up the chute? But why?
He traces a rune in the air above the dwarf and his hand pulses with a dimly glowing energy. Anyone in the room familiar with spellcasting is well aware that the halfling did not speak to conjure the healing energy--not unheard of, but certainly odd.
"I hope you feel a little better," he says meekly. He then steels himself and walks towards the furnace, climbing in. With another motion of his hand (), he tries climbing up towards the vents.
Asrat grins as the halfling climbs into the vent. "See. Shorty doesn't mind."
He pauses, pondering the halfling's display of magical healing. "Although...our friend is too useful to chance losing. Not to worry. You can trust me to be right behind him."
He climbs into the vent after the halfling and squeezes his body to worm his way upwards.
”I…I do.” Bolkvar said, with evident surprise in his voice. ”Many thanks.” He added, with feeling.
With the worst of his wounds healed, he was able to make the climb, despite the pain.
The halfling, skittish man, and the dwarf all take off climbing up the vent within the furnace.
Crawling through these vents is no problem past the initial incline, but the process is slow. Crawling and squeezing, squeezing and crawling. There is nothing within these vents that would cause you physical harm, except for the dust and lent that coat the walls. As you crawl through it rains down on you.
As you make your way through these vents you pass by several smaller vents that branch off into other directions. None of which you could fit through. After sometime you make you way to a spot where the vent opens up. The halfling leading the way can tell that this is vent opens into large metal container.
As the three of them head off into the vents, the four of you find yourselves standing around. The blonde half-elf woman finds herself thumbing through the journal but finds that it is written in a language she cannot understand.
Having lost the argument and the book being of no help she lets Bolkvar take the book, she waits for him to look at the contents. But as her expectation never materializes, she becomes frustrated at her situation and finally her curiosity gets the better of her. She peeks into the furnace.
”Climbing through the remains of someone burned alive, charming. At least they would have been sterilized.” Her eyes drift to the other side of the room towards the corpse pile and then to the uniformed man. She says dismissively, ”You were wearing that in my dream as well. Curious,” She changes the topic, ”Do you suppose one of those bodies is clutching something useful?”
The blonde woman tries to see if she can pick anything out without having to move any of them.
“You’ll come back and let us know what you find, right?” the unkempt Ulfen calls after the three who climb away out of view. Then he starts digging through the remaining clothes and boots, checking which pieces would fit him.
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As it was her first extended interaction with the small figure, the tall half-elf woman gazed bemusedly at the way he watched everyone, and the slight thickness to his speech, before deciding it was a moot point right now. She pursed her lips at the few going up on their own, but offered no objections-- while they climbed, she bundled everything that remained into the tattered tunic she had swapped out, and knotted it as an impromptu bundle.
"Don't know names, but we've got to call each other something," she said flatly. "Safety if nothing else. Can't be saying 'hey you' when I'm trying to give a warning."
Her eyes raked over those who were still downstairs. The north-born human, or at least he looked the part-- a fellow half-elf, fair to her own dark complexion; and the human in the uniform.
She gave him an assessing glance. "You can be Blue," she said with a nod at his uniform. At the Ulfen, "What was that you were drawing? A tower? Rook it is."
Turning to the other half-elf, she said, "And you seem an educated sort, if nothing else. You said you know anatomy, and medicine. Doc?"
She finished knotting the bindle as she spoke, unwilling to leave anything behind, even the things that seemed useless right now. Dice, for instance. How were a pair of dice going to help them survive? But they went in with everything else, all the same.
Covered is ash and filth, Asrat catches up to the halfling and follows him until he suddenly stops. When the dwarf pulls up the rear behind him, he jumps in surprise. "G, greetings my friend. I did not realize that we would be having company. It would appear that we've reached the end of the tunnel."
Realizing that the halfling can't hear him without facing him, he pats the halfling on the rump to urge him forward. If more than one person can fit in the large container at the end, he climbs in and starts searching for an exit.
The halfling coughs and sneezes as he crawls through the vents, glad for his uncanny vision as he pads along. There are many non-exits along the way, but one promising one. As he gazes around up, he feels a hand on his backside and flinches forward, banging his head lightly on some of the metal. With a sharp, stilted inhalation, he reaches his hand up and rubs his hand through his curly hair. After a moment, he turns his head around briefly to see his friend urging him forward. He nods and starts climbing up into the container, trying to do so surreptitiously.
As “Rook” begins looking through the pile of goods, he believes that the boots and leather breeches could be a fit for a man his size.
As “Doc” makes her way into the room with the pile of corpses, she finally has time to make note of a few things. These bodies, as damaged and dead as they are, seem to be untouched by the skill of the surgeon.
On the surface you see people wearing three different kinds of clothing: outfits like the group of you are wearing. Clothing of what you might guess a doctor would wear (lab coat, pants/button up shirt or dress), and you see a few that look to be guards from the size of their bodies. Those are dressed in scrubs.
To find any kind of hidden belongings, you will have to “dig in.”
Feeling the nudge from behind, the halfling man is startled and hits his head on the top of the vent. A bang and clatter that only the dwarf and skittish man can hear.
Getting to the end and opening of the vent, the halfling can see a room that is roughly 25-ft x 20-ft. that has two ceiling tall, 5-ft diameter boiler tanks. At the opposite end of the room you can see a closed door. The halfling does not see anything else in the room.
Since the halfling doesn't die after exiting the vent, Asrat pushes his way out next.
He pats the halfling on the shoulder to get his attention. "Psst. What do you see?"
“Blue? Hmm...I suppose it will have to do. What sense does it make to complain when we can’t recall our real names? And what shall we call you? Perhaps ‘Vex’?” Blue gave her the dark-haired woman a bit of a smile hoping she might pick up on his dry humor.
Blue glanced back over his shoulder again at the darkened hallway as Doc spoke, “At this point, I doubt we have much to lose in looking. Though, I am hesitant to leave the furnace while the others are ascending.” He nodded his head back and forth in thought. "Then again, no point in wasting time."
“Rook… I like that,” the unkempt Ulfen answers as he slips into the pants and boots. Gathering up the rest of the usable clothing while the others head towards the other chamber, he offers, “I’ll wait here in case they people in the furnace come back or need help.”
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"Vex?" the woman says with a snort. "Why not. I do feel vexed."
She follows the other half-elf back to the chamber of bodies, grimacing at the grotesque pile. "Glad not to be one of them" she mutters to herself. "Intending to search through them, doc?"
Over her shoulder, she calls to 'Rook', "Keep us alerted if the halfling and the others find anything. We might be searching in here."
Wrapping a scrap of ripped cloth from her former shirt around her nose to try and help shield herself from the smell of the dead, 'Vex' begins to grimly, gingerly, try to move the bodies to see if anything of value can be found. Like an axe. She wills herself not to retch, not to think of them as people. They're just objects, now. Like stacked wood. Move, don't think.
The informality of the nickname irked Doc, but she saw no substantial reason to say no or a suitable substitute. "Acceptable," she answered.
Doc got her hands dirty and helped search through the pile. She suggested, "If nothing else we can tie the clothing together and have a make shift rope."
”A bang. A clatter. Something is in here with us.” The dwarf said wearily. ”I don’t wish to fight and die in here. We should retreat. Find the others.” He said, his voice tinged with fatigue.
The halfling looks around after the tap on his shoulder just in time to see his friend's question. Unfortunately, he misses the dwarf's question.
"Oh, you can't see," he says quietly. He grabs the whistle hanging around his neck, feeling comfort as he touches it. A moment later, a glow emerges from it, illuminating the room wherever the halfling turns.
He smiles and says. "See for yourself. It might be a way out, unless that door is locked from the inside." His throat feels dry as he speaks, but he walks around to the other tank. He wasn't eager to explore where that one might lead, especially not without the others. "Maybe we try that door before we return?"
He looks at his friend, knowing that he would be able to listen to the other side.
"A bang. A clatter. Something is in here with us. I don’t wish to fight and die in here. We should retreat. Find the others."
Asrat hisses in response. "Hsss! Nothing is in here. I guess size isn't a measure of courage."
Asrat responds to the halfling lighting up the room with a clap of joy. "Amazing. You might just be the most useful one here."
He heads towards the door taking note of the boilers as he passes them. He points them out. "This is good. There may be water in those. If we are here for an extended stay, water is life."
Next, he stops at the door and instinctively starts feeling around the edges searching for traps.
Once satisfied, he puts his ear up to the door to listen for any sounds coming from the other side.
As Blue, Vex and Doc begin moving the bodies like “stacked wood,” you might get the sense that the world has changed. At least how you will view it. Has there ever been a time when you would have thought of discarded dead bodies as moving a pile of wood?
But as you do continue to stack the wood and sort through the belongings you are able to collect many sets of the clothing that you are currently wearing, and some that look as if they are a doctor. But, you do find a few things that could prove to be useful. Wooden carving of a short sword and moon, lockpick set, buckler, leather armor, belt pouch with holly & mistletoe, empty scroll case, and an armored skirt/kilt. Along with a collected 13 copper pieces among the body.
This whole process takes 20 – 30 minutes of moving and sorting, moving and sorting.
In the meantime, Rook is standing by the furnace waiting. You do hear them crawling through the vents for 5, 10, 15 mintues? Before the sounds are gone.
Once the halfling illuminates the room you see mighty iron boilers crowd here, their pipes piercing the walls and ceiling. Shadows and rust fill the narrow gaps between the cold tanks.
As the human man starts looking around for traps around the door he turns back to talk to his dwarven and halfling companion when he sees something. A small glimmer of light emanating from beneath one of the boiler towards the rear of the room. Are the shadows playing tricks on you, or did you just see something move below…
“Just give a quick shout if we’re needed,” Blue stated. He turned to follow after the two women but paused after only a couple of steps. “I hope you know that you did a truly good thing by saving the dwarf’s life,” he said to Rook over his shoulder. “Whoever we may have been before, you should have no doubts that you were and are a good person. I only hope that you’re not the only one.” With that he left Rook alone at the furnace.
Blue stopped next to the body of the woman who had not survived. “I pray that The Lady of Graves takes pity on your soul. I’m sorry we could not save you.” He folded the woman’s arms across her chest before speaking a few words in.
“Odihnește-te și găsește-ți pacea cu Maica Sufletelor.”
The man took a solemn breath and headed into the darkened room.
“Anything of note,” Blue asked the two half-elves. “Other than the deceased, of course.”
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With their findings laid out before them, Blue found one of his itching to hold the carving of the sword and moon. “Would either of you be opposed to me keeping this? Perhaps once the others are back down we could divvy up the rest but this…” he trailed off.
Asrat's eyes widen briefly. He calls to his allies. "My friends, something caught my eye under the back boiler. Care to take a look while I check this door?" He returns to checking and listening at the door but keeps a sidelong eye on that boiler out of a mixture of curiosity and caution.
'Rook' sticks his head into the furnace and listens carefully for any sound from the explorers. When nothing else comes, he moves to the door and calls towards those in the other room, "I can't hear them anymore. There were no screams or sounds of combat, so they've probably just gotten too far away for my ears... but, should we set some time that if we haven't heard back from them by we'll try to go after them?"
”What, over there?” The dwarf said. ”Can’t see anything. Must be yer imagination. But to be safe I’ll guard the door while ye take a look.”
Doc pulls a doctor’s outfit off a corpse and tries it on. She nods, satisfied that it fits, only slightly too big. ”These were doctors. That rules out a prison. Perhaps we are in a hospital? With cells in the furnace room...”
She offers the trinket to Blue, ”Probably worthless but if you want it.”
She replies to Rook, ”We’re almost done. If we don’t hear from them by then we should investigate.”
”Can’t see anything. Must be yer imagination. But to be safe I’ll guard the door while ye take a look.”
"Forget it then." He says with exasperation. "Let's get the others. This seems to be the way out."
Asrat climbs back into the vent (just the first 5 ft.) and calls down to anyone listening. "My friends, we've found a door. We should stick together, I think. Can you make your way up? There is nothing here for me to throw down to you."
Asrat climbs back into the vent (just the first 5 ft.) and calls down to anyone listening. "My friends, we've found a door. We should stick together, I think. Can you make your way up? There is nothing here for me to throw down to you."
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"Useful items," Ryzel grunts, taking the leather armor and the kilt and the buckler. Briefly, she considers sharing them with the other two who had waded to engage the surgeon-creature in melee combat... but that can be hashed out later. Arms full with all the items they've found, she brings them back to the room with the dead elf on the table-- one corpse is unpleasant, but a pile of them is worse. She eyes the man performing funeral rites... then turns away and starts to don the armor, and the kilt.
"Coins. Hnh. Don't see a shop," she jokes grimly.
The halfling sees the dwarf and his friend going back and forth about the other boiler, and he wanders carefully over towards it while the Garundi clambers back the way they came. What are they nervous about?
“If this was some sort of hospital, does that make us patients? Considering our attire?” Blue grimaced as Doc slipped on a doctor’s outfit. “Not exactly the most hygenic of practices but again, not exactly ideal circumstances.”
Blue wandered back to the man now called Rook to wait for the others when a thought occurred to him. “I cast a spell earlier against that creature. Perhaps, I know others as well.”
He replaced the torch in its sconce and began racking his brain for any hints of incantations hidden in his mind. “The halfling was able to cast a light spell earlier.” As if in response to his mutterings, a phrase lurched into his forethoughts. He spoke the words aloud. Again, that mishmash of languages.
And nothing happened.
A few moments passed and his eyes fell on the wooden symbol. Blue spoke the words again, this time focusing on the way the icon felt in his palm. This time it burst alight.
A large smile spread across his face.
“As I was saying, it would appear that I am somewhat of a spellcaster myself.”
When no one responds, he let's the other two with him know. "I don't think they are coming. We should go back."
”Aye. One of them things nearly ripped me face off. If we run into another, it likely won’t end well.”
Vex can dawn the armor without any issue, almost second nature.
The group of you gather back round the furnace where Rook is waiting. There is no note or sound from the three that went into the vent before. Doc takes matters into her own hands and starts to climb the vents. The tight squeeze makes it uncomfortable, but possible.
She begins squeeze-crawling through the vents. Anyone who follows her has the same difficulties.
As Doc, and whoever follows, continues you quickly realize that this is a one-way track. There are other smaller vents that shoot off from this one you are in, but not even the halfling that went ahead could have possibly went through those.
As the man calls for the dwarf and halfling to check under the broiler, he himself examines the door. There is no sight of trap, and it appears to be unlocked. Opening it just enough to see out of the door you can see that it leads into a dimly lit hallway.
While this is going on the dwarf does not follow the man’s call to check under the broiler, but the halfling does. The halfling looks under the broiler and sees what could only be described as a rats nets. Clothing, string, discarded items, and from within you see… a sunrod glowing. That is the source of the light.
Before you have a chance to reach for it or even move, two larger than normal sized rats skitter from the nest running past the halfling into the room. And mere moments after the rats flee from within, you see a third smaller one, except it looks like an abomination. When it opens it eyes and turn them upon you, light burst forth. This skittish amalgam of beast parts has luminous eyes, a rat’s tail, simian appendages, and tendrils extending from a mole-like nose. It crawls deeper under the broiler, trying to hide.
Doc continues up the flue of the furnace. She calls down ”There’s only one way to go. And the climb is safe if you take your time.”
She unnecessarily explains, ”Brace your feet on one end and your back against the other. You can then slowly inch your way up. Hopefully it isn’t too long of a climb.”
"What in the Nine Hells in THAT!?" Asrat points accusingly at the glowing abomination under the boiler. "But if it is content to stay under that boiler, I'm content to leave it be. These other rats though... They look fat enough to make a decent sized meal."
The halfling's jaw goes slack as he catches sight of the strange rat creature. He takes a step back and, almost as an echo, says "What is that thing?" He looks to the others, watching his friend pull out an improvised bladed implement. He feels very unlearned in this moment. But after all, he doesn't know his own name--how could he know anything else?
No longer feeling brave and emboldened, unarmed and unarmored, the halfling adopts a totally defensive position, just in case any of the rats see him as a threat.
"Wait. Let me see if I can find something more substantial than this..." Bolkvar looked around for something he could use as a weapon which could be wielded in two hands. The idea of getting in finger-biting distance of the rats seemed like a bad idea.
Rook sighs as Doc disappears into the shaft. "I guess it isn't any worse than a random shoot over a heap of bodies..." he reassures himself while climbing into the furnace and jamming his body into the narrow passageway.
"I suppose it's too much to give them a couple more minutes?" Blue grumbled."I can't imagine I've ever been a fan of crawling through air ducts." He nodded at Rook's comment, deciding that he'd prefer not to climb up a chute that corpses had been tossed down, and headed up with the others.
Doc, leading the way, continues to make her way through the vents. Rook and Blue on her heels. The crawl is slow and tedious. Unless someone produces a light source, it is dark through the vents except where you pass by the smaller offshoot vents.
The dwarf looks around, but there is nothing loose that could be used as a makeshift weapon.
The two rats skitter along the outer wall, looking as if they are looking for a way out. They move up to where the skittish man is at the door, trying to crawl under the door with no success. They both then bite out at the man. Both bites land, gnawing at the unbooted feet of the man.
Doc continues to climb.
"Ouch! Okay, I won't eat you!"
Asrat opens the door for the rats to escape.
He attempts to climb on top of the door to get his legs out of the rats' reach.
Bolkvar had fewer inhibitions on attacking the rats. With them distracted, he walked over towards the northern one and brought his fist down on it as if though he were swinging a club.
Noticing that the man with the wooden medallion's light is having trouble getting past him to illuminate the doc's way, Rook reaches up to touch the hem of her coat and causes it to glow also.
Erebus (though he still doesn't know that name) gasps and shakes his head as the rats see his friend as a threat and bite him savagely. It looks like they may have hit vital points!
Uncertain, he moves closer to his friend and readies an action to cure his friend if either the rat leaves the room or tries to attack Asrat.
Blue continued the climb.
With quick reflexes the recently bit human opens the door wide to this room and climbed on top of the door handles, free from the teeth of the rats. The dwarf’s instincts kick in and he quickly snuffs the glint of life from one of the rat’s eyes. Seeing the open door, the second rat flees. As the halfling moves to aid the human who is atop the door.
The noise that had spooked the dwarf in the vents seems to reappear. That is until a familiar face shows herself from the vent. The blonde half-elf woman, Doc, comes crawling out from the vents. Followed quickly behind by Blue, Rook, and Vex.
All of this happens all at the same time. And before the group can really recover and update what all has happened this past… hour? You all hear something from the hall, a distant voice.
“Oh, there’s another!” followed by a click, and you see something hit the rat in the hall and fall dead. Skewered by a bolt. “Ha, ha! Got him!”
The rogue clumsily climbs down off the door and attempts to act as dignified as possible. He puts his hands around his collar to straighten his non-existent shirt and says, "Well, thank the gods for you all. You could say we were in a dire situation."
Then he says softly, "Did you hear that outside? Someone else is out there. And that someone is armed."
And almost as a side note he mentions, "Oh, and there is an abomination underneath the boiler next to you, so watch your step."