Tassa stops in her tracks, frozen in a cold sweat.
Baldrek shakes his head and grips his weapons, ready for another creepy creature to come for them
Seconds after the howl, a voonith leaps out of the mist and pounces!
The creature barely misses Mya, probably failling to consider the difference in height between her and her companions. She is still unable to move to react and only after the attack gets her head back in the game.
Tassa feels her heart pounding and her head spinning. Whaaa-- Where am I?
She blinks and tries to remember what hasn't been a dream, in these last nightmare days, and to recollect her bearings.
Baldrek moves around the creature to shove it and then sweeps his trident beneath its legs.
Ephra'im studies the voonith, and then attempts to skewer it when Baldrek pushes it towards him.
Once moved away from Mya, the voonith lashes out at Baldrek!
Mya steps back and accelerates Baldrek, who seems to be free of the creature's power.
Tassa is still breathing heavily at the terrifying newt's cry rings in her ears.
Even so, the hunger within her flares at this living foe. She steps to trap it between her and Baldrek and then lets her tentacles bite into it and attempt to hold it down while she slakes her hunger.
Ephra'im tries to aid Baldrek against the creature with his longspear.
Baldrek stabs twice with his trident after being slashed by the monster.
Tassa immobilizes the voonith long enough for Baldrek to stab it to death.
"Zerre it is... anozerr monsterr." He says, frustrated as he looks around for more monsters to jump them.
Mya points to the door to the north "This goes outside, right? Not keen on fighting those flying creatures in the middle of the mist, so..." she goes toward the door on the south.
Paint chips the color of eggshells cover the floor of these halls. Many of the walls are cracked and sag, causing numerous doors to lean awkwardly in their broken frames.
Baldrek opens the north door to confirm it leads to outside before closing it and going for the south one. He then sneaks forward until the end of the corridor and peaks around the corner.
Ephra'im follows, checking over his companions as he goes to make sure their injuries are not debilitating or dangerous.
The corridor appears quiet and empty, but you do notice that one of the walls up ahead is heavily cracked. Best not to lean on it, as it's likely to collapse.
There were too many doors nearby and this was potentially problematic. "Too many doorrs. We go fast, ozerrwise we can be surrrounded easily." He warns the others before going deeper inside the halls.
Ephra'im nods at Baldrek's caution and swiftly keeps pace with the man, ready to support him with his longspear.
As you draw level with the cracked wall, you hear a dull *thud* as if something on the other side was attempting to knock it down!
"F&#! you don't!" Baldrek reacts without properly thinking, rushing the wall and shouldering it. Two could play this game.
Baldrek slams into the wall, causing it to collapse inward. When the dust clears, you see two ghouls buried under the rubble. A third appears to have escaped the worst of it, but suffered some injuries nonetheless.
Mya watches the somewhat humorous scene of Baldrek pushing back the wall impassively. As soon as the ghoul leaps, she calmly walks to Baldrek and hastes him.
Ephra'im attempts to identify the ghouls.
If he succeeds, he shares what he learns with his allies.
Then he stabs wildly at the ghoul with his longspear, in an attempt to distract it and aid Baldrek's attack.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ghoul clambers over the rubble and unleashes a barrage of attacks at the closest foe: Baldrek.
"Juste f$$+ offe!" He curses, then throws his net at the ghoul, trips it and then thrusts his trident at the thing.
Aided by Ephra'im and Mya, Baldrek slaughters the ghoul with ease.
Ephra'im wipes the sweat off his brow. "Beware," he cautions, "those creatures often carry diseases. I shouldn't think we'd need to touch it now that it has stopped moving. Fascinating, though, how magic creates the semblance of life in dead tissue!"
"I would fascinate myself oute ofe zis hellhole." He replies, stabbing the other ghouls just in case before moving on. He looks around. "Ze Doctorr said norrthwesterrn towerr... looks like zat way."
Mya glances at the corpses, not sharing Ephra'im's fascination with them, but curious nonetheless. How did this entire place come to this?
She followed the group to thge northwestern tower's door.
Ephra'im lingers for a moment examining the body at a distance, then steps quickly in double-time to catch up to the others.
A row of wicker rocking chairs faces this room’s tall windows, staring into the mist licking the outside of the glass. A heap of broken planks lies in one corner, the wreckage of a wooden stairwell that still partially clings to the wall above.
Three more ghouls are in this room, circling the broken planks while gazing upward. When they notice you, though, they're quick to attack!
Ephra'im studies the ghoul closest to the group while he draws out a cherry bomb from his pouch.
Mya taps once again into the strings of time expending her magic to accelerate both Baldrek and Tessa, stepping back to let them fight.
Baldrek rushes inside the room, taking advantage of his now enhanced mobility. Like with the previous ghoul, he tries to entangle and trip it before attacking.
One ghoul perishes due to Baldrek and Ephra'im's attacks, and the other two quickly charge!
Ephra'im steps back, and both scouts and aids Badrek against the ghoul threatening him.
Swiping his trident beneath the ghoul's legs, Baldrek trips it and then follows up with two quick thrusts.
Mya maintains her calm, not hard considering her 'new' state, and just keeps concentrating on hasting her allies.
Aided by Ephra'im, Baldrek easily dispatches the second ghoul.
Tassa bounds across the floor, trying to keep the ghoul's attention divided between him and Ephra'im.
As she approaches, black rubbery tentacles covered in sharp-toothed maws slap and grab at the ghoul.
Baldrek has some trouble tripping the last ghoul, but when he manages to do it, he then follows up with another thrust.
While Tassa's attack misses the last ghoul, it provides the necessary distraction for Baldrek to skewer it.
Tassa nods at her allies. "Nice work. Is everyone OK? Ephra'im, you look a bit scratched up."
As she talks, the tentacles that burst from her abdomen poke the ghoul tentatively. When they find that it doesn't have any blood, they mostly retract into Tassa's body, though a few keep moving lazily, as if drifting on an unseen current.
Ephra'im quickly mixes up a concoction in a vial, and then spreads the ointment on his wounds. "I will take care of this," he suggests. "Is anyone else injured? I do not think so."
Ephra'im applies a dose of Salve to his injuries, and one to Baldrek's.
"Do we have time to rest for a few minutes? If we do, I will prepare some more alchemical remedies."
"I'm fine. I doubt there are the last of these creatures, but so far so good."
"Tanks." Baldrek says as he gets the salve, but then he looks at wrecked stairwell, getting ready to climb it.