Kayleigh shifts a bit and tries to thump the cultist before her. She lets out a sigh of relief when she notices Zahur starting to move again. Even though she connects with her target...it's still a pretty weak strike.
Gee...I thought I was pretty strong, at least for a woman. Maybe there's an unwritten rule that a healer's not supposed to cause serious harm to another living creature?
for
for
Nobody knows what Vedika is doing while she's invisible, right up until she appears directly behind one of the enemies who's fighting Zahur.
Ariadne wounds Orange
Kayleigh grazes Purple .
Vedika appears behind Purple, but misses.
The Zombies advance, Orangetakes a 5' step back and cast Hold person on Ariadne
.
Purple swings at Zahur while he is held.
.
Blue swings at Brigita
Yellow decides to try and repeat Purples success. He casts Hold person on Kayleigh.
.
The door at the top of the stairs opens and a pallid man of some type likes at the fray with indifference. He then turns back and closes the door?
Intense and pale as death, the somberly dressed man stands rigidly, his arms crossed over his chest , his eyes wide and intense, and his nose wrinkled in an expression of extreme distaste. Yellow teeth bared, his overly large incisors jut forward, not like those of a man, but of a filth-hungry vermin.
The party can now act!
Kayleigh resista the spell. When she sees the strange man pop out of a room momentarily, she's not sure exactly what he is...but he's no wererat. She thumps purple a bit harder this time, and if he falls, she closes on yellow.
for
for
Purple still stands even after Kayleigh thumps him.
Next?
Seeing her friend nearly engulfed in zombie's makes Brigita's hammer to alter course from the scythe wielder to the flesh eater, crushing its side with a brutal thunk.
Vedika makes up for her clumsy strike with a brutal follow-up.
Ariadne feels to commanding power of the spell attempt to take hold of every muscle in her body and focuses, the same defiance that had helped her survived Korvosa's dangerous streets, welling up form inside her to shrug off the magic like a heavy coat.
Roaring in defiance, she takes in the undead practically swarming her, effortlessly casting an intricate spell, an ominous hum emanating from her sword as blue energy dances along the blade. She lashes out with a deft strike at the zombie on her right, the blade biting in as the magic assaults what passes for its mind.
Brigita & Ariadne take out a Zombie each.
Vedika finishes off Purple.
Zahur can act this round!
Zahur spins his hook twice before sidestepping and swinging it at the cultists.
Zahur offs Orange & Blue.
Yellow runs back and hammers pleadingly on the door again.
The remaining Zombies flail uselessly.
Two Zombies & Yellow left in this area. You can't see what's happening in G13. The party can now act.
Vedika tries to scramble up the side of the vat so that she can jump up to the level above, but fails.
Brig looks up at the remaining cultist, running away and the zombie just feet away. With a heft of her shaft, she rumbles "Sorry" not to the flesh eater but to her friend her ordered her to ignore it.
Seeing Brig proceed to smash one of the two remaining zombies, focuses on the other one, blocking her past up the stairway, taking to it with blade and magic.
Brigita & Ariadne finish off the Zombies.
Only Yellow remains in this room.
Next?
Knowing that she's the slowest member of the party , Kayleigh clanks to the southern staircase leading to the catwalk, allowing her swifter friends easier and more direct access to the escaping cultist. Only when she reaches the top of the stairs does the healer realize there is a pair of unexplored side rooms nearby.
.
Zahur follows the remaining cultist, finishing him.
Zahur guts Yellow with his hook.
Silence falls for a moment in the room. There is the person in the upstairs northern door who ignored the fight, and the two doors east that one of the cultists fled through.
What are you doing now?
"The person that ignored the fight must be doing something they considered more important...which can't be good for anybody!" Ariadne says heading toward the door.
.
Brig rolls her shoulders, feeling the strain of repeated combat, but follows her friends up the catwalks to see this new enemy
.
.
.
G9 Storage
Little more than barrels of water, kindling, and long stirring poles are contained in this room.
G10 Unfinished Storeroom
The southeastern corner of this otherwise empty room seems to be unfinished, and a large mound of rubble fills the corner.
You move up the stairs, the door is unlocked, opening onto:
G11 Arkminos’s Laboratory
An elegant operating table dominates the center of this grim laboratory. Crossed with iron restraints and encircled by a gore-encrusted gutter, the macabre device sports various cranks and levers, and is large enough to accommodate an ogre.
Along the walls stand several tables strewn with all manner of alchemical accouterments. Their contents appear extremely old: rusted iron tools, beakers of purpled glass, and deep pools of wax from countless melted candles.
A PC who succeeds at a DC30 Perception check locates the secret door in the western wall.
The Man? is calmly working on something involving a number of vials. He barely glances at you as you open the door. "Do not bother me and I will return the favor."
Intense and pale as death, the somberly dressed man stands rigidly, his arms crossed over his chest , his eyes wide and intense, and his nose wrinkled in an expression of extreme distaste. Yellow teeth bared, his overly large incisors jut forward, not like those of a man, but of a filth-hungry vermin.
What are you doing?
Brig's eyes take in the gore, the shackles, the rusted tools, and the lack of restraints on the unafraid man. "What are you doing here?" she rumbles low and angry, her heavy blood stained hammer held ready in her large hands.
Kayleigh is frightened of the...whatever it is, but she tries to engage it with a confidence she doesn't really feel.
"Counterproposal," she says, clearing her voice when it sounds too meek for her liking. "Why don't you not assist in the genocide of hundreds of this city's citizens? Then we wouldn't have any need to bother you."
He continues to prepare whatever he is working on, barely glancing indifferently over his shoulder at you. "I care nothing for the cult of Urgathoa, the Red Mantis, the Gray Maidens, or Queen Ileosa. Kill all the fools here if you wish. All I wish is to continue my own researches into the immunity some hold against disease. Leave me to my work and I will not have to kill you!"
What now?
Kayleigh is flustered by the thing's reply and tries to gage the truth of its words or the reality of its motives.
Kayleigh feels that this thing is being completely truthful. He believes he can kill you all, isn't a follower of Urgathoa, and isn't interested in spreading Blood veil.
You do remember that it was Varisians who were being tested for their resistance to Blood veil, so there are questions as to how he is testing this immunity?
"How exactly are you testing the immunity?" Ariadne asks, knowing home much academics relished explaining their work.
He does seem slightly more interested in the conversation. "I have a test subject. He has resisted Blood veil completely. I'm about to try other diseases to see if the resistance to disease is uniform?"
.
What now?
"Is this test subject a volunteer or were they taken against their will?" Ariadne asks.
"What a foolish question!" He snorts in distain, "Of course he was taken and is held against his will."
What now?
"Then your experiments end today. Right now." Ariadne says darkly, taking up a combat stance.
Brig has experimented on plenty of bodies so she recognizes so much in herself in this Thing. The difference is she stuck to corpses even when her mind urged that the science needed live subjects to be perfect. Her only live subject was herself.
So she had never left a combat stance as the others talked. And she her raised her hammer, ready to charge.
Kayleigh looks around uncertainly at her friends. When she sees that both Ariadne and Brigita ready to do battle, she casts divine favor upon herself, feeling certain that Milani would not want her to allow such an amoral abomination to walk free in the beleaguered city.
Vedika purses her lips and waits to see if her companions press the issue. Medical experimentation on people is a pretty red line, even for someone as sketchy as she.
"Bring it on, ratface."
He turns to face face, still looking completely unimpressed by 5 people threatening him. "You are determined?" He says thoughtfully.
One long, clawed finger taps the tabletop steadily. "Killing you doesn't really benefit me in anyway...."
"Perhaps we can reach a different agreement. I do not wish to stay in this rancid hole of a city dealing with these deluded rabble. However my orders are to stay here and provide my assistance in their plans."
He almost seems to smile slightly. "Should that posturing lunatic and the rest of her deluded followers perish then the project has failed and I can leave."
He looks at you carefully. "I wish to return to Ustalav, however returning with nothing to show for my work would be annoying. Among their possessions are items known as Death's head coffers. Slay the followers of Urgathoa. Get me one of these coffers and I will free my test subject to you and leave."
He awaits your response?
Vedika shrugs helplessly, still unable to roll anything worth a damn.
"Never heard of it, but if you're willing to give up your subject and leave for it, that it can't possibly be good to set it in your hands." Ariadne says cooly. "Last chance, surrender now, or we take you down."
Brig nodded grimly at Ariadne's declaration. Nothing good could come from this being out in the world.
Kayleigh feels her weakening resolve to eliminate this threat once and for all strengthened again by Ariadne's words and Brig's grim nod.
I doubt he'd have accepted a plague doctor's mask instead of one of those coffers, she thinks. We have lots of those....
Ramoska sighs and drinks a liquid from a vial stored on his leather apron.
What are you doing?
As the macabre man drinks something in preparation, Ariadne surges forward, lashing out with her still pulsing blade.
Ariadne misses.
Next
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
With only the briefest hesitation, Brig rushes forward too, attempting to crush the man.
.
Brigita gives him a very heavy blow!
Next.