Cole's voice turns serious at the mention of the shared dream. He looks back at the others, a look of remembrance clearly showing.
"You mean the vision we all shared together? It was NOT a normal dream...I can't say how I know that for sure, but I think I have had experience with visions before...vision quests I think? A long time ago in my childhood...there was a 'shaman.' It was NOT a normal dream...whatever it was."
Cole grinds his teeth loudly and grimaces at the vague memories.
"Call me...'Ardent.' Its as accurate as any other name right now."
Slip tries to keep track of the conversation whirling around him, grateful for Petra's simultaneous translation. Catching names, catching ideas. He thinks back to what he remembered about what he saw from the furnace vents. "I think we can fit. It shouldn't be too hard."
Then V talks about the dream. Slip's eyes widen. "I did see you all, too. There was yellow fog everywhere. We shared the same dream?" He looks disturbed by this, though he isn't sure why.
With the help of the halfling inside of the furnace, the unloading would at least be quick to get every usable thing out of it in a timely manner. With some ease being given even in this odd situation with the others seeming to at least... sort of work together on figuring things out. Seeing the halfling's reaction compared to Allera's own however put a question into her head. With the orcish man's question only furthering the thought.
Why didn't it phase me as much as the small one? Is part of me... use to these sort of things? An unsettled shudder would pass through her as she'd finish dawning the familiar armor from the pile.
Having strapped the shield to her arm, she'd go toward the chest others had already opened and scavenged through, hoping some similarly personal item of her own would tell her something more of herself. The remaining wooden symbol gave immediate pause upon finding it. An apprehension that stopped the immediate urge to pick it up. It seemed right to wear, like the expected weight of a coin pouch, but something insider herself made her gut twist at the same time. An oddity for what seemed like it'd be a comfort item at the time to provide such anxiety, at least for Allera. She'd push through the feeling as she'd take it with her free hand, stowing it for the moment to leave the deeper meaning for later.
She'd move to catch up with the others investigating the other room. The pile of bodies was... similarly unsettling, albeit a bit more, than the furnace but again not enough to shake her. If anything the smell was prone to do that far more. she wouldn't have any immediate inputs into the conversations, not knowing anything else other than what everyone else was saying aloud as she looked around herself. A flip flop of her head as she tried to have her own considerations of which chute seemed more promising if they were to be the route. The mention of the seemingly communal dream is what finally made her speak up again, finding a moment for her own input.
"It seems so. The never ending alley and that... thing chasing us." Allera would let out a breath as her shoulders shook for a moment. "I think uhh... Slip is right. Following whatever took us captive might be a bit risky. The furnace... is an option but, I think we should consider the stairs as Petra said. A bit easier to go up and we are a bit more prepared to act if something is waiting for us at the top. I uh- would take the front, wearing the most protection and all." A gesture being made as she'd raise the shield slightly to emphasize her point.
Before waiting for the others direct input, she'd watch her step as she'd get closer to the stairs themselves, trying to get a look up them to ensure they'd at least get them off of this floor. A few cautious steps being made to see if they could hold any real weight.
Cole's search of the heap of corpses is unpleasant, though not without results. The first thing that he finds is that many of the corpses, though certainly not all are wearing a uniform of some sort; white clothing that buttons in the front and a heavy smock, the same sort of thing that the 'doctor' was wearing, in fact. The second thing that he finds is a total of 15 gold pieces in the various pockets of the dead.
Allera is certain that the staircase, though rickety, is more than up to the task of supporting her as she ascends them. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the passageway that the stairs lead up to; it has collapsed, the same as the passageway heading to the north. These two collapsed passageways are unusual, and can't be chalked up to simply poor maintenance; something has happened to this place.
With the two intended paths out of this basement blocked, it remains only whether the dusty ducts of the furnace or the gore-slicked slide of the chute are the path forward for the party. The ductwork of the furnace is definitely navigable to Erebus; to those larger, it will be unpleasant. These are not the sorts of vents that are spacious and accommodating, but rather, the sort that constrict and bind, and are a nightmare to any claustrophobic. The upshot to this path, of course, is that the 'doctor' didn't go this way.
The chute, on the other hand, is certainly capable of passing a human-sized body as the pile down in this room attests. Unfortunately, actually get up into that chute will likely require making rather close contact with those same bodies.
After giving a quick test to the chute, Slip reports what he has found to the others: that it will be a cinch for him but unpleasant for the others. "It's definitely passable. If you want me to go first, I can. I'm...I'm not afraid."
Without emotion, Cole takes the coinage quickly. He then slowly backs into the original room, closing the door mostly but leaving it open a little to view anyone who might try to come back down.
"I'm not fond of tight spaces, but I've crawled through worse...I think. At least I don't have heavy fear of it yet. I think I can slow down anyone who might try to come down this way if we do go up the furnace. Or at least, give them reason to hesitate coming down this way. Be we should decide quickly. I guess that means I vote 'furnace' too. By the way, these dead body parts appear to be made up of people who at least dressed like the 'doctor' earlier, whatever that means."
Cole stays there, sword in hand, watching the doorway and the bloody chute like a gargoyle un-moving on a roof.
Odeta agrees to the furnace duct as well. She doesn't like it much, but it's better than being left behind.
"Not sure I like the idea of climbing the chimney flume, but if he can do it," indicating Cole, "I should fit without a problem."
Again, signing as she speaks. She tries to sign what the others are saying, but her hands aren't always empty . . ..
Looking around, Slip gets the impression that the majority is at least up for going through the furnace ducts. If Bella or V have serious objections, they haven't spoken of them. So, checking his bag, the halfling lifts himself back into the furnace and leads the way.
Hearing the halfling moving into the furnace suddenly, Cole quickly turns as he moves back into the main room to grab anything flammable that is laying around.
"Well then. I guess that's decided. I am going to try and start a slow-burning fire in the chute room. It should create mostly smoke and something dangerous for the enemy to land in if they try to come down. I'm not trying to burn the place down...yet...but this should slow them...it...whatever might be up there."
He then looks up at the others.
"Anybody have any oil, or flammable alcohol? Even some old candles would help. I can deal without it I think, but it would make what I'm attempting a lot easier."
Simza looks at the walls. Stone or wood is her first concern. I see the first room was described as mortared brick.
"I don't know about oil off-hand, but since those stairs go nowhere, there's quite a supply of firewood available. As long as you don't go too big, the brickwork shouldn't catch. Only problem is if the smoke catches a draft and heads for the chimneys we'll be climbing. At least we should have until the smoke comes down fomr that valted ceiling and works through the door . . .."
Nodding, and speaking as if from experience, Cole reassures the woman. A look of solid resolution appears on his face.
"As long as I set things up correctly...? If we leave the door to the chute room wedged partially open, the chute should act a chimney, sucking most of the smoke up, and the furnace pipe should act as a fresh air draw, which should actually help some of us climbing as it will brings fresh air in for those who might get claustrophobic. I can't guarantee anything, but I'm sure I DO NOT want that 'snake-doctor' climbing that furnace pipe after me. I will stay and go last to monitor the fire and defend those escaping. If it comes down to it, and I can't get out in the end, then I WILL try and burn this place down around me. I would rather die in fire than as some useless bloody experiment. I assure you, I DO know how to do this. Fire is unpredictable however."
He goes to the stairs and starts chopping some wood with his sword. Grabbing splinters and pieces as fast as he can, he returns to the furnace room and tosses the sharp wood on the pile then affixes some of the biggest and sharpest sticks pointing upward toward the chute.
"Now go. The halfling shouldn't be up there by himself at all."
While waiting her turn to ascend the duct, she watches the half-orc worriedly.
She mutters to herself "But the chute will only be like a chimney if its other end is outside the b...b-uilding. Most chutes don't."
Smiling while working, Cole nods at the chute, talking as if he were to a child.
"Yes. Chimneys work best with the cooler wind passing over the chimney drawing the hot air upward more easily. But chimneys still work when there is no wind. Hot air rises, and the cooler wind passing over sucks or draws the hot air out better. But hot air rises regardless and the chute provide the easiest way for the smoke to go upward. I can aid that by heating the chute with my fire magic, and once the chute is very warm and radiating its own heat...which rises too...it should start to quickly draw the hot air and 'most' of the smoke with it. I think. My memory is mixed and missing in parts...but 'fire' I know intimately. Both Magic and normal fire are both lover and friend to my soul."
He stops and looks at the others pointedly.
"If you are really that worried about it then I would start climbing, either the chute or chimney, I could care less. It will take me a few minutes to prep the fire properly anyway, unless someone wants help me.""
He says the last part with a sneer of indifference, obviously not expecting anyone to be that brave or stupid.
The druid eyes 'Ardent' warily...the half-orc seems too keen by half to set a fire underneath them. "Perhaps we shouldn't set fires until we're sure there are no other prisoners." He grimaces and pulls at his beard. "I wish we could run that creature down and end it! But who knows if it is fleeing, or going for reinforcements? Wiser to go for help ourselves."
He hesitates again. "We were all caught up in that nightmare together. There's no drug, no disease for that! It has to be some curse, some web of the Fair Folk's. I've heard stories about the unseelie stealing mortals' skins and living inside them, playing out deranged versions of normal human lives. Could this be something like that? Could it...they...have stolen our memories to play with?" He shudders. "For just a moment, I thought I saw its face change, but maybe...did any of you see that?"
With visible effort, the druid draws a steadying breath and steels himself. "Help, right, get help first. Luneca will be right at home in the ducts." He snaps four times in a pattern, catching the snake's attention. "Guard, Luneca. Guard the little man." He indicates the wriggling bottom half of the slip, disappearing up the furnace.
Luneca glides into the ducts behind the Slip, tasting the air ahead.
"If you feel something tickling your toes, little friend," 'V' calls into the duct, "It is only Luneca's little pranks! She is always licking my bare feet to seem me jump! Ha, ha!"
As the snake disappears into the ducts, Vano doffs his mantle again--it will be a narrow climb, after all. He adds it to his bundle of possessions and pushes it all ahead of him up the ducts.
Cole continues to set up the fire, but has not started it yet.
When the snake-man sends the snake up the furnace pipe after the halfling, he stops suddenly and looks at the man.
"Snake-man? Did you just verbally warn the DEAF halfling trying to climb a crematorium furnace, about the SNAKE coming up behind it? After a deranged doctor turned into a 'snake-like' creature a few minutes ago? Are you sure just your memory was damaged? And ...As I said, I'm not trying to burn this place down. I COULD if I wanted to. But that would be easier than what I'm trying to do. The fire will last a while, but will burn itself out eventually. I really doubt there are any other prisoners here either...or they would probably be in that disgusting pile of body parts over there too."
as Odeta starts to shimmy into the duct after the druid, she mutters that it's as likely as anything else that the chute's other end is a small room a floor or two up, and they will probably end up coughing and gagging on the smoke filling up the area the exit into, but mostly and either way the half-orc is a real a%% h%~&.
'V' pauses briefly. "So, you saw the serpent's face on that creature too! Good. I was afraid I might have hallucinated it. But do not trust that creature no matter what fair form it takes! It is surely just trying to manipulate us."
The druid wrings his hands a moment, then squirms into the ducts. The folks behind can hear him still talking as he shoves and crawls his way along. "Now, if she looks agitated, Master Slip, the secret is to stroke her nose with two firm fingers..."
A few moments after Luneca climbs up into the ducts, those further down hear some thudding as head, boots, and fists all impact metal, followed by a short scream and a shrill whistle. The whistle dies down after a moment as Slip turns and stares into the face of a serpent clearly larger than he is. If anyone else has successfully gotten into the ducts so far (and has the gift of darkvision), they likely see Slip's face pale, drained of blood, and trying not to look fearful as he stares into the snake's eyes.
"Nice...snake. I'm not a snack. Or a meal. Good snake."
He turns around and continues climbing forward, letting Luneca pass him if she seems eager or like she might know where she's going.
Ordered to guard the little man, Luneca watches over him with cold-blooded patience until he resumes movement, then continues to follow him.
"No more pranks, Luneca!"
Not sure why, but confident in her ability to fit in the chimney, the young woman helps the others get started before heading up herself. When she discovers that she can fit well enough but moving up the chimney is an unfamiliar kind of work.
With the route decided upon, Allera would wait behind the others as they started their ascents, noting the orcish man would be the last in line with his own task at hand. Though the armor felt right to wear, it still made her movement a bit rigid and she wasn't eager to make enemies of the others by sliding down on top of them to restart their climb.
"Right that... THING can change its face. Be aware of who's around you, and stick close. She'd call into the chimney before preparing to start her own ascent. Her blade and shield would be stowed as she'd stretch some to make sure she could still maneuver, as what she said struck her mind a little more solidly. Her attention would turn to 'Ardent' as he prepared the fire.
"Same for you as well. Stick close this... 'time'. Who knows if there isn't more waiting to mimic us." Her face would stay looking for a moment before returning to the furnace to start wriggling in.
Appreciating the woman’s honesty and brevity, ‘Ardent’ nods and gets ready to set his smoldering fire for maximum effect.
The druid finds the climb tight and uncomfortable.
Odeta makes the ascent without any issues.
Once the fire is started, Cole blasts the chute with magic fire to heat it and begin the air flowing upward to draw the smoke.
He then wedges the door to the chute room nearly shut with scraps of wood splinters from the stairs and then runs for the furnace pipe.
As practiced as her body says she is at squeezing into small spaces, the flume just seems like another place, almost another room. But she quickly realizes how little she knows about climbing, and how weak she is in comparison to many of these others.
Cole is… unnervingly good at starting fires. Even if he isn’t consciously aware of it, he knows exactly how to prime the pile of bodies to catch fire. The make-shift wooden spikes he tries to add to the pile are notably less well done than the fire itself. When he sets it, the bodies take some time to start, but the wood catches immediately, and a thin stream of smoke starts going up the chute.
The ascent through the ductwork is extremely unpleasant (if the ducts you’re going up were ever cleaned, it certainly wasn’t recently), but not particularly difficult. It’s a short ascent, too, and more or less a straight shot up; any worries about having to wriggle around tight corners, or coming to a dead end which may have started percolating in heads is proved unfounded as the duct goes upwards maybe twenty feet. On the way up, there are numerous other branches of the ductwork leading off into the dusty darkness, but all of it is small, too small for any of the group to pass through (excepting, perhaps, Luneca, but the snake loyally follows the commands they were given).
The short climb terminates in what seems, at first glance, to be a cut-rate iron maiden; the same general shape, but no spikes on the inside. On further reflection, it’s some sort of industrial heating device, and there’s a door out of it. The door, already ajar, is easy enough to push open, permitting access to the room beyond.
The room the group finds itself in is given over almost entirely to the service of the boilers, the heating chamber for one being the thing which they have just exited. The looming, iron bulk of the boilers fills the west of the room, the pipes rising too and away from them like so many arteries connected to a heart run into the walls and ceilings, headed elsewhere in this building. Shadows and rust are otherwise what decorates the boilers.
On the tiled wall of the room there are several hooks and pegs, clearly intended to house tools such as wrenches (in fact, most of them have the outlines of the tools painted in a sloppy red around them, rendering their absence glaringly obvious) though none remain. A closed wooden door heads to the east.
A faint gleam or glow is visible from underneath the boilers to Odeta, Erebus, Vano and Simza, a pallid green light leaking from beneath its bulk.
The young Varisian slides her left leg out to her side dropping her torso behind the knee of her right leg, before leaning over and basically putting her head on her left leg as she attempts to see under the boilers, to try to get a glimpse of the light source.
The fluidity and speed with which she moved into a position most of us find unreasonable even to consider suggests she's spent a great deal of time improving her flexibility for some reason.
Cole lights the tip of his sword again, producing a small lightly-smoking Light Spell at its tip in order to illuminate the room for everyone. He holds it high to provide the best illumination for everyone, and not distract the young Varisian from her search lower down.
Once Odeta is out and free of the duct she stands and draws the long blade she carries. She keeps her eye on the door, watching for possible incoming threats while Simza checks out the light.
"Guard me, Luneca."
Vano brushes himself off, then pulls his bulky mantle back on, then his pack, then hefts his scythe and plants himself near the door out, alert for sudden intrusions.
Following up and out of the duct behind most of the others, Allera would see Simza already investigating as the others watched for danger. She'd at least have time to strap her shield back to her arm and draw her blade before similarly rooting herself beside the door.
Slip sneezes as he comes out of the vents and into the boiler room, beginning to feel some of the residual heat of the fire that Ardent had set. He doesn't like the look of that green light under the boilers but stands closer towards it than the doors. The others could hear, and so a closed door probably wasn't a source of anxiety for them. But for Slip, in an unfamiliar place that had already proved to be hostile, a door was disquieting.
After puttering around for a bit, he watches as Ardent and Petra stand close to the boiler. He nods towards them and draws his dagger in his left hand while holding his right arm is strapped with a buckler. He feels uncomfortable around the half-orc, but since he was taking up a position near the front of exploration, Slip figures it might be good to have some sort of quick, quiet communication. Varisian Sign Language needed some modifications to work when you had things in one or both hands, but Slip could manage.
He balls his right fist up and shifts the grip of his dagger so that the blade is facing inward down his forearm, not obstructing the view. He puts his left fist in front of his chest, and then slides his right fist up over the left one twice, with the thumb extended. "One time means threat. Two times means danger," he whispers, signaling to Ardent to try. Petra would already know those signs, Slip hoped. And if she did find any danger, she could signal for backup.
As the group fills the room, securing the door and taking stock of their situation, Simza gets low and peers beneath the iron bulk of the industrial machinery that fills the room with its inert and cold presence. The eerie light which drew Simza’s attention also illuminates what is down here; three creatures, filthy and visibly riding that knife’s edge of fear and fury that animals find when confronted with uncertain circumstances. Two of them are dire rats; there can be no other word to describe the massive, furry creatures, too large to be normal rats, and too ugly to be a dog.
Squatting between the pair of large rats is something that could almost be mistaken for a cousin of theirs, if one ignored the mouth ringed in writhing tentacles, the strangely simian hands caked in filth, and its eyes—too large, and the source of the eerie light spilling out from underneath the boiler. Simza has eye contact with this strange creature for the span of a heartbeat before the trio of large vermin boil out from underneath the boiler, and attack!
One of the dire rats, frenzied and panicked in the extreme, paradoxically bolts towards something that absolutely terrifies it, and tries to bite it out of existence as it assaults the fire-wielding Cole, though the half-orc successfully avoids the fetid teeth of the creature.
Initiative Blocks:
Dire Rat 2
Odeta, Simza and Vano (Up Now)
Zoog
Cole
Dire Rat 1
Erebus and Allera
Odeta is suprised by the sudden appearance of the rats, but she reacts quickly, hustling over to the far side of the halfling, where she takes a careful chop at one of them.
"Big rats!"
Instinctively avoiding soiling her scarf on the rodents, the limber Varisian pulls her rapier and thrusts upward at the unbelievably large rat, bringing her leg in and raising her form to a more standard fighting stance.
"THAT's not a rat!"
What a waste, thinks Vano. A rat that size would make a fine meal if Luneca could go to sleep afterwards.
"Kill, Luneca! No dinner!"
The great snake glides across the floor and--perhaps drawn to the light--strikes at the strange creature without hesitation. Has she dealt with its kind before?
"Good snake!"
Not great, but hey, it's probably flat-footed!
Her body flows around the creature, preparing to crush the life from it.
Again, maybe? If it's flat-footed?
Seeing that "Short Hair" and "Petra" have one rat pinned down, Vano strides across the room and slashes at the other with his scythe. Its honed edge looks capable of cutting the vermin in half.
Odeta's blow lands on the giant rat (Dire Rat 1) and drops it with a muffled squeak, while the blows of the other humanoid members of the erstwhile party don't manage to connect with their agile targets. The snake, however, demonstrates its abilities as a predator as it absolutely wrecks the weird, not-a-rat thing as it sufers the fearsome bite from Luncea, and only just avoids being ensnared by the coils of the snake.
Frantic and mortally wounded, it bites and claws at the snake, trying to fend off its death.
Cole frowns but does not flinch as the rat nibbles at his old but sturdy boot heels. The harsh shadows in the room dance as his lit sword flashes through the air...
...and nearly takes off his own toe in the process!
"Proklyatyy Gryzun!*"
As rats scurry out from under the boiler, Slip's voice squeaks a bit in surprise. He grips his dagger uncertainly and stabs at the zoog that had been savaged by the snake.
Of course, he's small, so there isn't much danger from his blows, but maybe it will be enough to help.
Attention focused towards the door and what was on the other side, the scuffle would draw Allera's eyes away, trying to peer past the others to catch a glimpse of what they fought. The argument of whether it was rats or not causing some small confusion. Immediate instinct would be to join the fray, but there didn't seem much way or room to do so.
For the meanwhile, focus would be split between the door and the scrap. Hoping nothing overheard them and ensuring nothing would yet get out.