Satisfied that they had found everything useful in the closets Ethyl lead the way forward down the hall. Her heart pounded nervously as she knew there were doppelgangers ahead, somewhere.
Alvar follows carefully behind the half-elf, painfully aware of the light of her torch. Perhaps I should go a touch farther ahead? No, that wouldn't be wise, the light at my back would outline me to any possible hostiles. They sigh inwardly, but do their best to remain hidden as they are able.
With the centipedes disposed of, and no other creatures hopefully around, Elyssa relaxes if only a little as the group continues on its way. Her eyes and other senses however are still keen in detecting any would-be threats or hazards.
Iosif follows along, barely in range to see near the back as he doesn't want to... well, deafen anyone around him right yet. He might as well be firing his pre-loaded rifle, though (reload standard bullet: misfire 1-2).
The group moves forward down the hall. Some of the party kick small debris or stumble over rubble in the dark, their noises deafening in the still damp air of the hallway. Ethyl and Alvar arrive first to a collapse wall leading into what appears to have been an office of some kind, debris-covered desks, toppled lockers, and several bodies lay piled in the exposed chamber.
Some of the bodies are the gummy gray of doppelgangers, others are human with a couple of halfling and dwarven bodies. The bodies are piled up in a corner of the office, a nearby desk covered in what appears to be - from a distance - strips of cloth or leather.
Ethyl takes the scene in searching for details, paying close attention to the corpses. She whispers while motioning to them, "This could be a ruse."
After thinking for a moment, "Does anyone have a mirror?"
Iosif twiddles his thumbs idly.
Alvar frowns at the corpses, scanning them as thoroughly as they are able, then shake their head at Ethyl's question. "Not I, I fear." Nothing. But that doesn't mean there's nothing there, just that I can't detect it.
Ethyl peers into the now dimly lit room and sees the corpses are stripped of clothing and long strips of flesh from both doppelgangers and humanoids have been peeled off and are lying on the nearby desk, the stains on a repurposed doctor's coat - now table mat - dark and scabby.
Ethyl also notices an older Garundi woman in the pile, two bodies on top of her, twitch and softly moan in pain. Her head and arm are all the half-elf can see at the moment, and the arm has two thick glistening red rings carved out of her arm and one around her neck.
Ethyl points out the woman, "There. A woman of Garundi descent, older, under two bodies." Ethyl does not move to help the woman and considers her options. She asks Alvar, "If she is a doppelganger would knocking her unconscious force her to revert to her monstrous state?"
While considering this she moved to the desk and examined the strips of flesh. If there was a drawer she opened it to see if there was anything inside.
The sylph follows Ethyl to help in the examination. She shifts her gaze towards where Ethyl is pointing.
Iosif examines the twitching body closer... but without getting any closer. His ramrod for his musket only has so much reach.
Regarding the flesh she had an idea.
Ethyl took the small vial from her backpack, filled with a liquid an unearthly hue of yellow, and drank the contents. She screamed as her body almost immediately contorted, growing so thin that the outline of her bones could be seen through her skin. Her features became more angular, almost alien and her eyes changed from dark black to blood red.
Ethyl’s voice becomes raspy but somehow louder than before, "My dear, I'm going to take a strip of your skin and blood. You are going to hold very still while I do so. The wound won't be fatal I assure you."
She took her dagger in one hand and approached the woman.
Alvar arches a brow at Ethyl's words, but doesn't interrupt, keeping a wary eye on the woman and preparing to create another ward should she prove hostile.
Iosif winces as the mutagen is consumed by Ethyl, and loads his musket with typical shot and powder if he hasn't already, prepared to fire if the creature is a doppelganger.
The woman looked up in horror at first, then a too wide smile creased her face as she threw off the two slighter bodies. Her fingers grew into claws and she took a step forward, the "wounds" on her body glistening like they were fresh.
"You think you can frighten me with my own experiments? You are a foolish peer of mine."
As she stepped forward, another body rose from the rear of the pile. He wore stained white robes and a battered longsword on his belt, and his face was haunted.
Two towering figures rose above you in your way. One was red and white, the other was blue and white. The red one handed over something to the blue one, and as that object exchanged hands Enoch felt so much of him slough away: memories, skills, and fears.
The cobblestones fell away beneath you, and rubble from the surrounding building fell above you. You tried to claw your way back up, and as you do you wake, pushing corpses off yourself. You might remember your name, you might remember that dream, but you do remember some kind of guilt of a mercifully forgotten sin.
Escaping the confines of the soiled pile of bodies, the haunted-looking crazed person pulls the battered longsword violently from his side, as he rises to his 6'4 frame. With determination directing his decisiveness, Enoch slices the monstrous woman from behind!
In addition, once per day as a swift action, you can add your Charisma Wisdom bonus to your attack rolls and deal 1 additional point of damage for each class level you have against evil creatures for 1 round. You must have a good alignment to take this trait.
Stumbling as if drunk, delirious, decimated, the pathetic person pierces only physics....
Ethyl giggled in her raspy voice as she saw the haunted man rise from the corpse pile, "That was you? I hardly call that an experiment. You missed one important detail."
As the sword strike lunges for the doppelganger from behind Ethyl closes the distance quickly taking advantage of the momentary distraction and sinks her dagger into its flesh taking her pound.
Iosif levels his musket at the doppelganger, smirking as he does so, and fires a round at it. Afterwards, he subsequently shoves an alchemical cartridge down. "Just one step? This looks more like pure sadism to me."
As the sylph walks towards Ethyl to interpose between her and the other woman, the doppelganger shows their true colours. She stumbles back in surprise and focuses on the half-elf again before letting out an echoing sob. When Iosif fires his gun again, she winces and covers her ear instinctively.
Alvar takes a few steps back from the doppelgänger, their eyes widening, then grimace. They swiftly slip past the sylph, conjuring up their protective magics as they examine their foe for any openings. When another figure erupts from the corpse pile, they nearly fumble their ward, but with a final twist of their fingers, they form the symbol of the burning eye within the five-pointed star, and magical protection whirls up around them.
The newcomer slashes the doppelganger across her back as Ethyl dives in and stabs with her dagger. Iosif's bullet tears through its shoulder, and it howls in pain and anger.
"Damn you all!" It hollers, taking a swipe at both Ethyl [1] and Enoch [2]. Ethyl, armored with experience and magical protection, dodges the claw, but Enoch takes the hit.
"Sorry, but I'm not dying right now," Iosif says with a smirk at the damn you comment, firing another ball into the creature's shoulder. He then reloads once more.
Alvar chuckles darkly. "What makes you think I'm not already damned?" They ask, amused. Advancing a few steps while keeping Ethyl within their protective field, they conjure a projectile of acid, hurling it at the doppelgänger. As it splashes against the floor, their lips peel back in a snarl.
Their eyes briefly fix on the swordsman. An ally? Perhaps. Certainly an enemy of the shapeshifter, at any rate. Useful for now, but... The wizard focuses. No, not right now. We'll deal with him in a moment.
Ethyl aims for the neck as she stabs the doppelganger again. "Curses won't help you now."
Apparently not even yet aware of his current surroundings, the bellowing being places two hands on his longsword before reintroducing it to the monstrous woman!
Failing futilely forward, the stained individual falls forthwith!
Perhaps still regaining his bearings, the newcomer does not land his second attack. Ethyl and Iosif, however, to strike the doppelganger. The half-elf's dagger holds the doppelganger still as the gunslinger's musket puts the shapeshifter down for good. The old woman facade melts away, and the rubbery gray skin of the doppelganger is revealed, no wounds other than those dealt by the party.
There is a satchel behind the desk with the strips of flesh, as well as some shelves and lockers covered in a light coating of debris. If you spend 10 minutes digging through the rubble roll the following Perception check:
With the doppelgänger fallen, Alvar looks at the swordsman, their six-fingered hands not yet lowered. "Greetings." They say with deliberate casualness. "Perhaps we could start with an introduction. Who exactly are you? And do you know where we are?" They keep careful watch on him, measuring how much he knows and how much truth he tells.
Blurry blue eyes widen as the watch the monstrous woman begin to revert back to its real form! Stumbling backwards into the wall, the panicking person begins to hyperventilate.
Merlin's beard! What was that thing? Wait! What is happening here!? Who are you people? Where am I?
Looking down at his ruined formerly white robes, his blood shot irises lock onto the battered longsword held in both hands, then those same eyes rise up to peer at those others before him.
Who am I?
Iosif immediately winces as soon as he sees the holy symbol of Pharasma; instinctive, daemonic revulsion filling his being for no reason he can fathom, but he manages to shake it off. "Does not seem like anything here is worth it. Are you amnesiac as well? I go by Iosif, though I'm unsure if that is my true name."
"That's the second one we saw tonight." the sylph's words echo through the hallway. "That we know of."
Again, she spends some time looking for anything resembling patient records.
"We're not sure." Alvar says, electing to ignore the strange outburst. "In short, we seem to be missing our memories - well, most of them." They fold their arms, examining the newcomer more carefully. "You realize that bringing a new person with us to the little barricade will only make us look more suspicious, yes?" They ask aloud of their prior companions.
The unnerved warrior lifts his blue eyes up to look at both Iosif and the Plane-touched. He slowly slides his battered longsword into its sheath. Raising both empty hands up in from of him, he nods in acceptance of their words.
Amnesiac?
The Aasimir considers that for a moment before nodding in affirmation.
Feels true. I am unable to remember my name, position in this life, or even the why and how of my current circumstances.
Resting an easy hand on the hilt of his longsword, he then nods again.
Yet, I seem to recall how to weld this weapon. And, that you weld a musket. Strange.
Watching the others begin searching the contents of the horror house, the warrior begins following suit.
As his blue eyes find the wooden holy symbol of Pharasma painted blue with a white spiral, the warrior reaches out for it.
I am Enoch the Wanderer.
Ethyl regards the newcomer with some amount of suspicion, He attacked the other doppelganger, but that is no indication that he isn't one of them. She looks around to her other companions, no guarantee that they aren't either. No matter, the risk is acceptable for now.
Ethyl keeps her thoughts to herself and rasps while searching through the rubble, "I am Ethyl, a doctor of alchemistry, if the book in my possession is to be believed. And so far the facts have supported that statement."
After the search is complete without finding any additional items Ethyl reverts to her normal form, relieving a pressure on her body she didn't notice until it was gone. "I must work on the potency. Perhaps if I retard kidney function, no that might be dangerous."
She took the mirror from Iosif and made sure that none of the other bodies were alive by putting the mirror in front of their noses and checked for condensation.
Ethyl checked for any other living souls in the pile and found none. The others were corpses. There is little else of value to be found, other than the group were two doppelgangers down, one to go. Who knew what else was in these ruined halls? However, after one companion was lost to the darkness, another arose to bolster their abilities.
Silently still, staring straight at the wooden holy symbol of Pharasma, Enoch flinches. He speaks, but not necessarily to anyone present.
Pharasma. She is my Patron now. Penance. Duty. Excommunicated, but scooped up like dog dung after being trampled by every horse in the Preakness.....as You wish.
The tormented Aasimir turns his blue eyes back to watching Ethyl rummaging through the pile of deceased. Something vaguely irrational compels him to halt her desecration., but quite suddenly he receives a splinter from the wooden holy symbol. Drawn out from his former opinion, Enoch's eyes do spot something of interest.
Stepping cautiously forward, he slowly procures a rather used back pack. Opening it up with the familiarity of owner, Enoch digs through its contents with a satisfied nod.
This actually belongs to me. I will acquire those things required as we proceed.
Enoch glances about the chamber, the current occupants, the piles of corpses.
So, it easily appears that we are in some sort of massacre happy habitat. I am not certain of anything really, but, I offer you my sword arm in this endeavor. What's the plan?
Iosif once again winces and twitches, the name of Pharasma being like needles to the man as he clutches his unholy symbol. "We're to kill three total doppelgangers, those shapeshifting creatures like the one we just slew. We already slaughtered one before now, so now we only need the one more until we nebulously have enough proof for a group of survivors to let us in," he says as he points back towards the direction of the group of survivors.
A Pharasmin warrior? And excommunicated? Interesting, and troubling. If it's true. Alvar lowers their hands slowly, glancing at Ethyl and Iosif, then at the as-yet unknown sylph. If they're willing to trust him, I suppose we can for now. They pause. Of course, all of the doppelgängers thus far have attacked us as soon as they've seen us, or near enough.
That's a dangerous thought, they realize. Shapeshifters' greatest threat is their ability to infiltrate, especially doppelgängers. Trust no one. Taking a breath, they sigh. "We are inside a sanitarium, it seems, though something is very wrong here. Doppelgängers are, as Iosif has alluded, alarmingly common. And extremely hostile." The wizard stops, weighing how much else they should share, then decide not to share their suspicions, few as they are, just yet. A native of the Dimension of Dreams, doppelgängers, missing memories... there just aren't enough puzzle pieces to fit yet.
"In addition to the doppelgängers, we're also seeking out any information we can find about our situation, especially anything that can enlighten us to our identities or what exactly is going on here." They conclude.
The syplh walks over to the Pharasmite to address him sheepishly "Hello, Enoch the Wanderer. I would introduce myself, but I am not sure. Have you been here for a long time? What's the first thing you recall?"
The tall white robes warrior ties the holy symbol of Pharasma around his neck, as he nods in response to both Iosif and Tiefling.
He smiles at the slyph.
You witnessed it actually. This symbol stirred some memories, or emotional response but not much more. We should probably have names for each other for communication purposes.
The Aasimir nods.
The Wanderer. That does seem to fit.
As the party regroups, they can see a door to the west and a collapsed hallway to the north, with a pointless eastern door as well. The dense grey rubble hasn't fully settled, as bits of debris and pebbles clatter randomly down to the shattered tile floor. A body of a human female lies face down on the floor, buried up to her ribcage by rubble, blood pooling from her mouth. Something around her neck glints in the dim light.
Enoch watches the consistency of the random rubble clatter about the buried body with both suspicion and sorrow.
Approaching her position carefully not to further encourage the gravity of the situation to avalanche, the Tortured Crusader reaches out to prod the body with the flat of his longsword.
As he attempts to elucidate a response (or preferably not), his blue eyes begin to examine her causes of current condition.
The sylph observes the hallway some more, shaking her head. "What in the hells happened here? An earthquake? Why is the building half-torn down? Why are there bodies everywhere?"
She rubs the bridge of her nose, contemplating something. She approaches the woman swallowed by the rubble and stands next to Enoch to look at the body, looking for gravitational blood marks.
"An excellent question." Alvar replies, scanning the bodies themself. "Though I don't think it was anything so mundane as an earthquake - or at least, not an earthquake alone. Had Scaen been the only doppelgänger, I might be willing to credit it, even with the zoog's presence. However, with multiple doppelgängers?" They shake their head.
"No, it's extremely unlikely that this damage was natural, in my opinion."