Caiten hits the first rat with his arrow. "Got one. These rats are tough though."
"Yasami, Dario, I believe the appropriate phrase is, 'let em have it'. But do try not to end up next to a live rat."
Oren's maul turns the offending rat into paste. Only one remains.
The doors open and combat immediately ensues, the rats fighting valiantly and in return, they are immediately shuffled off of the mortal coil. There is a meaty sound at the end of each barbarian's attack until there is just the one, squeaking and violent rat left to take care of.
Caiten casts a spell and Dario can feel a vibrancy enter into his entire being. The rat leaps up and tries to catch Oren by the face, the large man dodging out of the way, and it leaves the floating rodent right in the crosshairs of the pistol that seems to materialize in the hands of the gunslinger. The morning's quiet moments were interrupted by the sound of combat and then shattered by the pistol's explosion.
Dario steps up beside the big man, his blade drawn and swiping to catch the rat along the ribs as it does its best to recover from the bullet wound it received.
Dario's shot blows the rat's entire head apart, splattering himself and Oren with gore. Three rats lay dead in as many seconds, and you hear a loud crashing noise in the room to the west as the gunshot disturbs whatever has been making noises in there.
The room the rats occupied is a long, narrow one filled with bookshelves. Most of the shelves are empty, the books being taken by the Hellknights when they departed, but a few old, worn ones remain. All appear to be of a legal nature, repositories of laws and legal proceedings.
The jaws on that thing! How could it even do that to Oren ...
Cevendyl takes a deep breath, raises his holy symbol, and casts Heal on Oren
Casting Heal (2 actions)
"That pistol is not the most subtle of weapons. Something is in that next room. Shall we deal with it before relaxing our guard?"
Caiten continues sustaining Stoke the Heart on Dario for a several seconds.
"We might also need a bit of light. It isn't very bright in here."
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"Ah ... You boys got this."
Yasamina sheathes her weapon, and then hears the noise. "Or not?", she pulls the blade out out again and walks to the door to put her ear to it.
She listens in for a few moments, but her ears are still ringing a bit from the gunshot. "Odd. Seems empty now.", she says as she opens the door with confident flair.
As the other two rats fall flat, Joran grins a victory grin and says, "Like fishing in a barrel."
His attention then turns in the direction of the unknown sound. Looking over at the door, "Do you all want to know who's too shy to pay us a visit? Hey, Dario, did you check that door yet? I can't remember. And I surely don't want my face to suffer so do your thing, buddy. Once Dario's cleared the door, we're moving in." Joran gives it a once over...
...but fortunately he's not about to trust himself in this matter so he patiently waits for Dario.
Lisi looks at the books, just in case, picking up one, then another and quickly thumbing through a few pages.
He kneels down to Rocco and Shadow.
"You did well by not attacking. We will tell you when something is not safe to bite, or will bite you back and hurt you severely. Now, the infection they carry in their bite is also in their blood, so we don't eat them. Do you understand? You are good wargs."
He gives them each an encouraging scratch under the jaw, but is careful not to lower his face or body too far down--never a good move with a not tame animal.
"The door was not trapped. Just something...strange behind it. Be careful." Dario says, reloading his firearm and wiping the gore from his face before giving Yasami the nod to open the door.
"That's all I need to know. Now, let's see what lies behind door number nine ... or whatever door we're on now." And with that, Joran proceeds to open said door quickly and looks within to see if he can make out whatever was making the noise.
Joran opens the door to find a large, startled creature perched awkwardly on the floor in the middle, having evidently been awakened by the pistol shot. A huge bat, its torso as big as Joran's, has made this room its lair, as evidence by the guano that is splattered over much of the floor. It looks quite displeased with the sudden intrusion. At least, that's how Joran interprets it baring its fangs and taking to the air as he enters.
The bat takes to the air, flying towards Joran a bit clumsily in the confined space, and attempts to bite him.
The creature's fangs sink into his shoulder, biting and tearing.
"Lisi, are bats sensitive to sound, by chance?"
Caiten walks over to Dario and casts Magic Weapon . "Dario, if you will allow me to touch a weapon of your choice, please."
Hexes
Stoke the Heart
Phase Familiar
Cantrips
Shield
Guidance
Daze
Haunting Hymn
Detect Magic
1st
Magic Weapon
Magic Weapon
Glancing through the book, you're fairly certain with more time to read it you could learn a thing or two about the Hellknights' history here in this place, but there isn't much time for that at present.
"No eating. Good wargs!" Rocco repeats happily. Shadow gives another weird toothy smile as she tries to imitate you.
Cringing as Yasami gets absolutely chewed on again, the barbarian finds himself frustrated at himself and slightly taken aback at the size of the bat. "My gosh they sure make 'em big in this stinking place!" he comments, swinging hard at the animal.
Unable to connect at all, Joran backs away to make room for everyone to get a clearer shot. "Well that was definitely not winning," he grumbles. "Don't let that thing bite you!" he warns them all. "You see what it just did to Yasami! Blast hit that thing and get yourself out of there, Yas!"
Yasamina opens the door, and is immediately attacked by the creature within. She instinctively attempts to parry and strike back, but the bat manages to get through anyway.
She screams in pain as the creature sinks the teeth in. "SON OF A BIiiIIiiIIiiii...", the scream trails off, and Yasamina pushes the bat off with anger in her eyes.
"Correction! Room is -NOT- empty. I repeat; -NOT- empty!"
When the creature releases the grip, Yasamina attempts to weasel behind it by sliding underneath it with the help of the guano.
From behind the creature, she shouts back, as she attempts to slice at the creature two times.
"I will have SHOES made from your parts! Consider yourself GROUNDED!"
For Cayden's sake, one fight after another and I haven't even been up for 10 minutes.
Oren enters into another rage and charges at the bat with his maul as it bites Joran or Yasami, (he can't tell, they're both so good-looking!) although he lets out what is less of a battle-cry and more of a frustrated grunt.
Cev is angry, but tries to stay focused as he prays
Casting Heal on Yasami (2 actions)
Cevendyl then runs into the other room, hoping to distract the creature while the others focus on dispatching it.
The bat's movements are a bit unpredictable, the way it's flapping in the air and darting around. Joran and Yasami are unable to make contact with the beast, but Oren scores a solid hit, battering one of the thing's wings.
Cev's magic knits the wounds on Yasami's shoulder closed.
Doorway is fine, fixed
Dario watches as the large, foul beast rips into Yasami, drawing blood before the valiant swashbuckler can push it away. She wasn't taken down though, a savage grin spreading across his face.
"Hey! Leave my wingmate alone!" The gunslinger shouts, quickly drawing his weapons. Before he can move though, Caiten gets closer and uses his magic upon the Dario's weapon. It glows with purpose for a moment, the metal gleaming and shining with power. In Dario's hand, he feels it thrum with a need to deliver destruction. "Mighty kind of you, Caiten. I shall not disappoint."
Taking off, he moves in towards the large bat and slides across the dusty floor, avoiding its bite. As he slides low, he aims the pistol up and takes his shot.
Firing a shot into the creature, he hops back up to his feet and slashes upwards with his dagger in hand. The pistol pops open as he catches a cartridge on his bandolier with his teeth. Pulling it free and into the air, the blade's distracting strike lets him quickly reload.
After his slash, he dances back and away out of the fray, leaving room for the big boys to step in and crash the disoriented beast.
As Dario's strikes land true, the bat goes into a panicked frenzy, lashing out wildly with its wings in an attempt to defend itself, before Dario can step away.
The flurry of beating wings miss their intended targets.
"This is one difficult bat," says Lisi to no one (possibly to the wargs). Feeling far better than the previous day, he steps up and casts a cantrip, drawing upon the primal forces of the world around him.
Prickles of electricity dance in the air, then zap from one side of the bat's wings to the other.
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The bat shook from the shock of the lightning flickering along its form, and a primal need overtook it -- SURVIVE. This had been a nice roost, but it was not worth dying over. It lashed out once at Yasami but wasn't trying to hit so much as distract her since she was behind it, and then flew frantically for one of the narrow windows it used to come and go from this place when it needed food.
The bat squeezed itself into the window's opening, an easy target if you chose not to allow it to escape.
As for the room itself, rows of desks were bolted to the floor, though many of the cramped work spaces have been smashed to pieces or otherwise defaced. Wooden chairs have been thrown aside like discarded playthings, as looters over the years sought secret hiding places that might hold anything of value. It appears to have been a workspace for clerical duties at one point, given the writing supplies scattered about the place.
Joran quickly makes his way into the room, checking on the bat. Relaxing, "Well it looks like the bat is smarter than the rats. I don't think that one will be giving us trouble again. If it's smart enough to flee, it's smart enough to know not to mess with this bunch." Sheathing his weapon, he looks over at the swashbuckler. "How you holding up, Yasamina?" he asks, cutting his eyes to the location of where she got bit.
----------------------------------------------------------
"Okay, folks, we've got two more doors. I know, I know, shock and surprise. What are the odds, am I right? Anyway, I'm guessing that door," he points to the one at the north end of the room, "goes into the room where the rats were. Not entirely sure but probably. Now that door," he motions to the southern one, "I've no idea where that one goes. Dario! You're up, buddy. Let's check out this south door first." He's about to head that way but stops, turning back to the others. "UNLESS any one objects to that then we can easily check out the northern one first. All good to me either way." Joran will give a moment for anyone to speak up and if no one does, then he heads to the southern door and awaits Dario to check it out.
As before, Joran simply gives the door a quick glance, not really being to thorough just to be on the safe side.
Caiten sets Sulee back down on the ground. "Let's go check out this room with the books. Go along that back wall and see if you sense anything moving behind it. I'll see if there is anything magical in these bookshelves."
Caiten goes down the room casting Detect Magic periodically. Sulee goes down the North side of the room feeling the floor for anything moving.
"SON OF A BIiiIIiiIIiiii..."
Ah. It was Yasami. Joran isn't capable of producing a high-pitched scream like that. At least I think he's not. Oren comes down from the rage, opting to not give chase to the fleeing bat.
"I agree. Let's go south next. I still want to know what caused that explosion we heard last night."
While Joran takes a look and waits for Dario to do the same, he checks on Yasami. "Are you all right?"
With the rat fleeing, Dario sheathes his weapons. There is a momentary scowl as he puts away his pistol; that deadly power was a bit addicting. Nodding at Joran, he would quietly move towards the southern and examine it for anything unusual before listening to what may be lingering behind it.
After scanning through the bookcases and checking for enemies at our back, Caiten notices that the rest of the group is headed towards the south. He hurries back through the open doorways to catch up. "Sulee, go check if you can sense anything moving around on the other side of that door. Check from the corner of the room down there."
"I do hope that bat doesn't return. I imagine it will consider this area to be populated with prey that bites back," says Lisi.
Caiten takes a look around the room and notices the paper and writing tools scattered around. He makes a quick check to see if there is anything salvageable that could be used for writing down spell notes with.
"The bat was close to death. It's not going to come back here any time soon."
Dario doesn't hear anything on the far side of this door, nor see any sort of trap. Sulee, too, reports no sign of tremors or movement from either the door north of the long narrow room, or this one. All appears to be safe, for the time being...
Caiten is able to salvage enough materials for a half dozen writing kits, though nothing is especially magical...except for a curious trinket of some sort, wedged up underneath a desk drawer. It looks like an animal's claw, and is glowing with a faint magical aura.
Dario doesn't hear anything on the far side of this door, nor see any sort of trap. Sulee, too, reports no sign of tremors or movement from either the door north of the long narrow room, or this one. All appears to be safe, for the time being...
Caiten is able to salvage enough materials for a half dozen writing kits, though nothing is especially magical...except for a curious trinket of some sort, wedged up underneath a desk drawer. It looks like an animal's claw, and is glowing with a faint magical aura.
Regripping his greatpick, "Time to move," he tells the others, opening the door and looking within.
Joran opens the door. This wrecked room holds toppled shelves and filing cabinets. Its southwestern wall has entirely collapsed, revealing the verdant weeds and undergrowth outside. Owing to its exposure to the elements, most of the surfaces of this room are covered in moss and vines, including snarls of wild blackberries. Along the room’s southeastern wall is what looks like a mound of meat or dirt. A closer look at the mound reveals that this is a badly decomposed humanoid corpse.
Remembering the trap caused by the last corpse that we encountered, Caiten keeps his bow at the ready and stays well away from the corpse as he enters the room. "Is this corpse also going to be a lure?"
Yasamina wipes the blood from her healed shoulder, leaving a red smear on her arm. She licks her hand to clean it up. "Yeah seems fine. Just my pride is hurt, I guess. Thank you, Cevendyll.", she looks at the bat. "Pray this is the last time we saw each other, you flying rat!"
"I do not know." Oren says in response to Caiten's inquiry. "I'll go find out" Oren picks up one of the old books that remains in the room and tosses it in the direction of the corpse, to see if it stays dead or anything pops out from under it.
"Thank you. This entire place makes me nervous. I was built for battle, but I don't have almost any experience with actually having my life in danger."
"This is quite new for me as well. I spent years training myself for the Call to Heroes, but I find that training for a fight to the death is different than actually being one. But I find it hard to be nervous with the seven of you at my side."
Oren throws the book and it slides into the body, nudging it. A cloud of flies takes wing, but otherwise, all seems still. There does not appear to be anything hiding under the body, nor does it rise as an undead to assail you.
Oren gives a thumbs-up to the rest of the party. "All clear. The body smells, but that's the only bad thing that's hanging around it."
Caiten steps into the middle of the room, carefully avoiding any brambles with thorns. He sends out a quick Detect Magic pulse. If nothing magical is detected, he doesn't spend any effort on searching manually.
"Sulee, check the floors for movement again please. Unless anyone has any need to stay here, I suggest we move along. We still have goblins to find. And an explosion to investigate."
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"Yeah, I don't like the smell of this room any better than that of the defecation station."
Caitin's detect magic spell highlights two potions in the corpse's knapsack. The red liquid within them looks familiar and you're fairly certain they are minor healing potions, without the need for a check.
"An unfortunate necessity of nature, to make things like scat appeal to creatures that decompose it, and to drive most of us humanoids away," says Lisi.
"May I see that paw?"
"Hmm... Something in this area is registering as magical." "Not sure exactly what though."
"Let me see if I can't find it."
"Ah, I found it. They're these vials that were on the body. Healing potions. Not much, but they'll save someone's life if they're in a bad spot."