As the group moves from room to room, Slip takes a few moments to look and sort through the items that they have come across so far. He plucks a few things out that seem useful or strangely familiar. The sling. The belt pouch. A few candles. The flint and steel, to light the candles. The sheet of rice paper. Into the belt pouch he slips a few loose rocks from the rubble around them. He felt some coarse judgment from the others that he had not actively participated in the previous battle against the doppelganger, and so perhaps if he could hurl stones from a distance then he could feel a bit more useful.
Doc has the best explanation--or at least that one that gives him the least agitation. A loss of memory could potentially be treated. But then...why was this place a hotbed of destruction and violence? He shudders again at the recent memory of the dark-haired woman with her skull split horridly open by that misshapen creature in the cells below.
The astringent smell stings Slip's nose even more than his eyes, but he pushes ahead and makes good use of his small figure to get into the nooks and crannies that the tall folk have a harder time with as he examines the room.
"An earthquake seems a likely suspect," Blue said in response to Chatty. "But does that explain the rest of what we've seen? No, I suspect something else occurred here."
Doc adds her own speculation to the mix, "Likely they are both symptoms of the same unseen cause. Possibly our state is a symptom as well as the strange dream."
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Doc moves in to look through to debris of the second storage room. Moving the first shelf that is on the floor it reveals a uniquely brown plate, almost chitinous like. Suddenly it coils as it moves and knocks debris off of itself revealing a lengthy segmented horror that writhes and twist. Pulsing its venomous mandibles towards the groups. Stumbling back a step, Doc dodges its attack.
Initiative Round 1
Doc
Blue
Chatty
Rook
Angry
X
Slip
Vex
X
Doc fumbles with her garden trowel and slowly backs out of the storeroom.
Chatty steps into the room and conks the insect in the head with his fist. "The vermin grow big around here I see."
Unable to get into the room, the dwarf took a step back and called out ”Whats going on in there?”
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The large creature writhers away from Doc’s attack using her garden trowel. But quick to act, Chatty, moves in and attacks the creature. Possibly to his own surprise, it falls unconscious.
Angry is unable to get into the room, but holds as he tries seeing into it.
Initiative Round 1
Doc
Blue
Chatty
Rook
Angry
Slip
Vex
"Do you need any assistance?" Rook calls to the man in the room.
Slip was not expecting to find something alive in here, given the last couple of rooms. But his friend, Chatty, punches it and it crumbles. He shrieks (which sounds like a sharp inhale of breath rather than an actual scream), pushing back against the wall. Seeing no other clear threat, Slip nonetheless adopts a defensive stance.
"Do you need any assistance?"
"The situation seems to be under control. It was just a bug. Nothing a humble fighter such as myself couldn't handle. There may still be supplies worth taking though. Perhaps someone with the fortitude to stomach the fumes could give the room a search. I must regretfully step out before I get sick. I'm already feeling dizzy."
“Oh, for the love of-if it’s a big bug, let’s just squish the thing and be done with it.”
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As Chatty and Slip go into the room to explore it, they feel a slight rumble in the debris. First thought would be that it is settling from the creature bursting out from underneath, until a second one comes up through the same burrow the first one came from. Its venomous mandibles bite out at Chatty, but he is quick to dodge out of the way. As the mandibles nosh together, a thick green ichor ooze from them. Whatever that is, Chatty knows he doesn’t want any part of it inside of him.
Initiative Round 2
Doc
Blue
Chatty
Rook
Angry
Slip
Vex
X
Doc gets out of the way and shares what she knows about giant centipedes.
"They're mindless beasts. Fall back, and we can have them surrounded." The dwarf called out. "There's nay reason to make this a fair fight for them."
No longer possessing the element of surprise, Chatty backs out of the room to safety. But before he does, he rises up on his tip-toes and raises his hands towards the ceiling to appear as tall as possible and roars at the creature to assert his dominance.
"I took care of the first one. This one is all yours."
The unkempt Ulfen stands his ground, waiting to see how the fight develops, and whether any more healing will be required.
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This is a Giant Centipede. It packs quite a punch when it lands its attack, but because of this it is also weak in its defenses. It has a poison attack that is aggressive and reoccurring.
Chatty tries to make himself big as a bear and roar, but the creature doesn’t seem to pay attention to the man as it is dodging the attacks of Vex. Slashing out with her dagger, Vex misses.
Initiative Round 2
Doc
Blue
Chatty
Rook
Angry
Slip
Vex
X
“Perhaps we could lure the creature out where we might all be able to assist?” Blue said.
He took a step and began forming the gestures to cast a spell.
Slip wants to help Vex hit better, but she strikes out before he has a chance to offer aid or a spell. He shakes his head and tries to move carefully out of the room, avoiding the centipede's attacks if he can.
As he moves past Ves, he reaches out his hand and touches her sword--er, dagger--arm. A pulse of holy energy flows in, and he catches her eye. "Try that again," he says, and then looks at the others. Someone else would have better luck than him at entering into melee.
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Calling the group to leave the tight quarters of the closet, Blue prepares a spell to cast if the creature leaves the room in pursuit. Slip just tumbles through the threatened range of the giant centipede as he blusters Vex at the same time.
Leaving Vex in the room alone with this giant centipede gives the creature an easy choice for its target. It coils back on itself before lunging forward with a bite, but Vex is able to get her buckler in the way.
Initiative Round 2
Doc
Blue
Chatty
Rook
Angry
Slip
Vex
X
Rook continues holding his improvised weapon nervously at the ready while they wait for the black haired woman to lure whatever she's fighting out into the hallway.
It felt right to have a hammer in his hand. Not because it was a tool of war, but rather, of creation. He *felt* the calming presence though he did not truly understand why. The dwarf held his ground, hammer at the ready…
Seeing how there are so many helpful hands dealing with the lone centipede, Chatty makes his way to the rear of the group to taunt the sentinels standing watch.
"Oy, my stalwart soldiers. We are very fortunate that you have done such a lackluster clearing of the area not an arrow shot from your well fortified barricade there. You have left us with much excitement to liven up this otherwise dreary experience. I am sure you are quite jealous that our positions are not reversed."
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"What'd you do?" Vex grunts at 'Slip' as she feels somehow-- better. She doesn't wait for answer, but instead stabs down again.
Despite the halfling's help, she fares no better-- it's awkward, trying to stab something on the floor with a dagger. "Maybe I'd have better luck stompin' this thing," she mutters, and steps to make room for someone else-- the dwarf, if he's so inclined. "Angry! You wanna take a shot?"
Doc comments, "Try not to damage the venom sacks."
Slip barely catches Vex's words, as she is trained forward and focused at the centipede. Her dagger misses, and Slip furrows his forehead. "It's a bit of extra guidance. It's something I can do, but I'm not sure why."
But now that he's outside the room instead of in the creature's face, Erebus pulls out a stone, loads it into the sling, and flings it at the centipede.
To his surprise, his stone actually hits the creature, but it's likely more of an annoyance than anything else. He breathes in sharply and looks at the dwarf next to him, taking a step back to let someone who knows what they're doing act instead.
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Angry strides into the room and uses the hammer he found, striking the giant centipede between two of its protective plates, a second later a rock from the rubble whizzes past his ear striking the centipede. Looking back, Angry sees Slip surprised that his attack hit and aided in defeating the foe.
With these two attacks the centipede falls to the ground and is bleeding. This looks odd because the first one is not bleeding.
Looking through the rubble, you see a few items that could be useful. You find 10-feet of chain, a set of manacles, two winter blankets, a canteen with liquid within, a dagger, 3 pieces of chalk unbroken in a box, and a simple tarnished silver locket. Opening it up reveals an image of a little girl. The image is visible but aged.
Slip smiles to see that he was actually helpful this time, giving a small jump in the air. He goes into the room, hoping to continue proving himself useful. He is initially distracted by the clear sensation of adrenaline and blood pumping through his rapidly beating heart, but he slows his breath, calms down, and actually takes a closer look at the rubble.
From the spread, Slip takes the chalk. Even if chalk wasn't the best writing implement, he could use it if there were no other options. He also lingers on the locket with the image of the young girl. Who is she? Or was she? He stares at the face for a moment, with no sense of recognition, and sighs.
Chatty claps. "Well done! Well done, indeed!"
He slips back into the room and stabs his shiv between the eyes of the unconscious centipede.
While the others sort through the items they might want, the rogue meanders around the hallway until he comes across the second rat, the one the guard shot, and picks up the skewered rodent and stuffs it into his bag with the first one.
Bolkvar slipped the hammer away and took the chain. After a moment’s thought he took his handwraps and used it to make an improvised grip, turning the ten feet of chain into an improvised weapon. He smiled at his handiwork. It somehow felt right to be swinging with both hands…
Doc seizes the canteen and the dagger, "I think I can make use of these." She wafts the mouth of the canteen to he nose trying to discern the nature of the liquid.
Doc spies Chatty as he stuffs a dead rat into his backpack, she almost retches. "You can't be serious. You know those are disease vectors right? Just imagining the fleas jumping onto you right now, I can't even."
Oblivious to her own hypocrisy Doc tries to dissect one of the centipedes, trying to get at their venom sacs. She uses one of the empty vials in the partially expended healer's kit to hold the venom.
Doc waves at Slip holding the chalk, "Would you kindly?" After taking a piece of chalk and making some notes on the floor, she hands the chalk back to Slip. She starts humming, deep in thought. After consulting her formula book for a bit, "I think I can makes some things to help us but I'll need half an hour to prepare."
Slip shrugs and gives Doc some of the chalk. "I'm happy to help."
Seeing the blonde half-elf getting ready to do some sort of alchemy, Slip looks at the others. An hour would be a long time.
"Should we try to find a way to get to the body?" he offers. He wouldn't be much help actually dragging it up, but it's an idea at least.
Then again, there's all that rubble to the north, probably leading somewhere else dangerous. Slip isn't eager to lead the way, but he knows he's somewhat less noticeable when he puts his mind to it. He shivers a little, wishing for better clothes than what he found himself in.
"You can't be serious. You know those are disease vectors right? Just imagining the fleas jumping onto you right now, I can't even."
"When you six are fighting over the single ration we found and I'm eating meat, you won't be saying that. I'll take my chances that any disease will cook out. I might not know who I am, but I know I'm a survivor."
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As Chatty heads north up the hall to pickup the second dead rat, he hears noises and what sounds like mumbling coming from around the corner. It quickly goes quiet as he picks up the rat.
Doc begins looking through the items that is in the room. As she takes a look at the canteen and what is within she realizes that it is water. She begins to realize that her mouth is rather dry and her own waterskin is gone. How long has it been since I’ve had a drink? she things to herself. Trying her hand at the first centipede to remove its venom sac comes up unsuccessful.
If anyone would to look south down the hallway they would see that the “general” is gone from the barricade post, but the three guards with crossbows are still present.
While she worked Doc pushed past her own desires and thought about how long she's been without water. One day was likely, not dangerous yet but worth addressing. She asked Rook, "Does your deity allow you to conjure water?"
Chatty scurries back to the group and whispers in hushed tones to them while gesturing towards the corner. "Someone else is over there. It didn't sound like an animal. It was more like mumbling. In this place, I'd assume anyone or thing is hostile until proven otherwise."
Rook thinks for a moment as a look of confusion and concern settles in on his face. "I... don't really remember..." he confesses, "I think they could, but... I have to... ask to be able to do that, when I... pray in the morning. And, I didn't do that last time I prayed? I can make light... and fix things, I think?"
Slip looks carefully at Chatty's mouth as he reports what he heard, and then pieces together a plan.
"I can read lips," he whispers, though that much might be obvious by now. (The whisper is extra breathy. Slip had never quite gotten the hang of how much air was needed to actually make words audible when he wasn't putting his voice behind it. Or at least it wasn't coming to him now.)
He points to the pack on Chatty's back. "Didn't you find a mirror? I can use that to look around the corner."
He holds his hand out expectantly, and then makes his way silently down the hall, gesturing to give him a bit of extra guidance. At the unseen corner, he crouches, holds the mirror down, and tries to give himself a good look around.
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Slip begins to stealthfully move along the east wall heading north. The walls between the hall and this office have largely collapsed, exposing debris-cluttered desks, toppled lockers, and several bodies that almost look human.
Using the mirror to keep his body hidden from what is around the corner, Slip sees a man standing over two bodies. One looks to be that of a human, the other is that of a doppelganger. You see him filleting strips of skin from each of the corpses and laying them next to each other on a metal tray; “Fascinating… the reaction is identical. Now to observe the degradation of human flesh verses the doppelganger skin… This will surely unlock the variations we have seen among the shape change.”
He continues his work, completely unaware of the little mirror and eyes that are spying on him. You cannot fully see this room unless you were to round the corner.
Slip trembles a bit as he watches the scene unfold. He withdraws back to safety with the rest of the group. No one had seemed to understand his sign language, so he has to speak. He resumes his whisper.
"Well, there is a doppelganger body up ahead. But there is someone else, too, and he has a knife."
He doesn't know how to bring up the activity in anything other than a crude way. "He is cutting the bodies apart...like the woman below was. He, um, talks a little bit like Doc. Fancy language about reactions and the like."
”We need that body. Let’s see if we can get enough of it to turn in.” The dwarf said with a resolute expression.
”We need that body. Let’s see if we can get enough of it to turn in.”
"Agreed. Let us relieve him of his victims. He is obviously up to no good. I would feel no regret if he should lose his life in the exchange."
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"Sounds good by me. If he wants to back down like a sensible sort with so many of us, we can tell him where that other body can be found. Beats us havin' to go climb and haul it."
Vex nodded once, as if that decided that, and waited to be sure the others were ready before moving in the direction of their experimenter, intending to be in the lead.
As Vex moves to the front, Slip offers her a touch of Guidance. Depending on timing, he offers the same to others armed and up front.
Having finished her preparations Doc imbibes one of her creations with not a moment of trepidation. There is no outward indication but she feels the rush as her senses sharpen and her mind clear a little. The deep recesses of her mind seem more accessible, dredging up facts and formulas she would have struggled to recall before. But the intended effect of restoring her memories, even a little, fails miserably. ”No matter. This is serendipitous.”
”Let’s see a man about a corpse.” She walks down the hall with her companions.