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Hagrym studies the scene of the ghost and its almost compulsory pantomiming of repairing books, repeating actions it must have done a lot in life. Hagrym recalls his religious studies and he presumes that removing this room's tables and tools will allow the ghost rest eternally.
The party proceeds to follow Hagrym's directions in a respectful manner. The human ghost does not respond to the party's attempts to speak to it. Once the party has completed its chore, under Hagrym's direction, the ghost smiles and fades from existence.
A search of the room turns up a key, a gold paperweight worth 10 gp, and a crafter’s eyepiece.
"Good job, Hagrym. How could I miss that? It seems so obvious."
The party proceeds to the room Jon called 'Office'.
"Nice job, cuz, with the holy stuff to let the ghost pass on from this plane. Quite impressive! I would have incorrectly guessed moving the bones."
"Poor soul. I'm glad they are finally put to rest," Jon says, "Well done, Hagrym."
”I got something right for once, didn’t I?! I’m glad the spirit is at rest. When we leave it might be nice to take the corpse and give it some proper last rights or a burial. Not sure if they were religious or not, but I’d want someone to do the same for me,” Hagrym says as he looks at the corpse.
You enter the Scrivener's Office to find:
While this room might have once served as a writing studio, today its condition has been all but obliterated by dozens of tiny swatches of skinned flesh marked with tattoos. Judging by the workspace on the table in the middle of the room, these tattoos have been placed postmortem, with
a swath of pale skin stretched over the desk sporting a half-completed image of a sinister woman.
You see an old ghoul with glasses sitting on a sofa, currently stitching some pieces of flesh. He does not look up, as he speaks, "Were you all the reason for the racket outside? You make it hard to concentrate."
Garidan seizes the opportunity and responds.
"Good day, Sir. We kindly ask for your forgiveness regarding our intrusion. However, with all due respect, the blame lies with your kind, who attacked us without warning. We come from the surface and are here to explore these vaults. In particular, an ancient library is among the things we wish to find. May I ask, what are you working on?"
Hagrym was horrified at the sight of the ghoul and the flesh markings, it he held his tongue to allow Garidan to finish his conservation before messing things up.
Mac gripped his warpick tightly. He wanted to run over and impale the ghoul just for existing, but he let Garidan speak for the party.
Garidan seizes the opportunity and responds.
"Good day, Sir. We kindly ask for your forgiveness regarding our intrusion. However, with all due respect, the blame lies with your kind, who attacked us without warning. We come from the surface and are here to explore these vaults. In particular, an ancient library is among the things we wish to find. May I ask, what are you working on?"
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+11
The stench of undeath in the room is pungent. The ghoul looks up from his stitching, "I am stitching some morlock flesh that I recently tattooed." He looks up from his work at the party, "For some reason, skin with words on it tastes so delicious to me. I do not know if any of you have engaged in that delicacy, but I highly recommend it." He closes his eyes and savors the moment. The ghoul sighs, "So where were we? Ah yes, you must have dispatched my ghoul brothers, who I am sure were only asking for donations for the Canker, such as an eye or hand. I must assume that you have dispatched them if you are in my quarters. However, given your civility, I will give you one chance to leave with your lives and never return." The ghoul stands up. In a threatening tone, he spits out, "Or face the consequences."
Penflower tilts his head and measures the ghoul.
[dice=Recall knowledge religion: Can this ghoul actually defeat us?]1d20+5
He certainly looks tougher than the ghouls you fought outside, but you believe with your action economy (15 actions vs. 3), you should prevail.
Garidan sighs at his fruitless diplomacy. He starts pulling out his Esoterica
”Welp, it would have been nice to have resolved this without a fight, but one less undead in the world is a victory, I suppose,” Hagrymmsays as he pulls his weapon and shield.
Round 1: Ghoul
The old ghoul surprises you all, by the speed with which he leaps through the air to slash Garidan before any of you can react! "Wrong choice, fools! I will tattoo many infernal verses on your skin before I eat your limbs!"
[dice =Fort] 1d20 +8
Round 1: Mac
Mac sees the old ghoul as a danger due to his speed and how hard he hits and moves to flank him with Pen, making it off-guard.
◆Stride
◆
◆
"C'mon Pen, light this bastard up!"
Jon draws his pistol and whip.
Jon levels his pistol and fires at the ghoul.
"You're going to regret the day you were born...
...unborn? The day you became undead, you know what I mean!" he mutters lamely.
Then he flicks his whip in a reloading strike◆, loading a cold round into the barrel.
"Ouch. I thought, we were friends!"
Garidan steps behind Pen, holds his lantern high and strikes.
◆Exploit Vulnerability
◆
Hagrym casts Vitality Lash at the ghoul.
Round 2: Ghoul Tatoo Artist
The ghoul snarls at the party, especially those who inflicted damage, as it is quite pissed off. It claws at Mac viciously, then leaps at Garidan, and tries to bite him.
Garidan ◆circles the ghoul to get into a flanking position with Jon and his whip. I could really use that whip now to bring that abomination to the floor.... He then strikes with his pike.
◆
and tries to distract the ghoul so his allies can get creative. "I'm over hear, you ugly bastard. I suppose necromancers will just reanimate anything these days."
◆
Round 2: Mac
Mac recoils at the powerful blow from the ghoul that leaves a vicious wound. He fights off the paralyzation effect and rages in anger and strides toward the off-guard ghoul to attack it.
Jon aims over Pen's shoulder and fires◆ at the ghoul.
Then he flicks his whip◆ around Pen to strike the undead abomination, reloading with an aberration bane round.
Finally, he flicks his whip at the ghoul's ankles in an attempt to trip◆ it.
Hagrym casts a 2 action heal spell on Mac.
Heal
Round 3: Ghoul Tattoo Artist
The ghoul snarls as he is very wounded and he is not stupid. He swift leaps north out of the room without provoking reactions, landing next to Hagrym. He moves west 30' and then turns the corner heading south and disappears from sight.
"He might warn others!" , Garidan shouts and runs after it, but can't keep up.
"Or heal himself! After him!" Mac agrees with Garidan and dashes but his short legs delay his progress.
Hagrym isn’t going to wait all by his lonesome, so he turns and runs after the others, as fast as his stubby legs will take him.
Penflower pursues and casts a spell on the ghoul.
Jon sprints after the ghoul and fires◆ at it.
Round 4: Ghoul Tattoo Artist
The ghoul continues to flee. With his first move, he reaches the entrance to the southern room. You see him yell to some unseen faces, "We have intruders! Heal me!" He then continues running south for another 30.
Round 4: Ghoul Cultists
Two ghouls in robes get close to the tattooed and their hands glow with dark void energy, closing his wounds.
The tattooed ghoul cranks his neck as he feels the dark energy heals his wounds and he smiles at the party, no longer with fear in his eyes. "My friends and I will feast on your bones!"
"Oh, man!" Garidan sighs oink to loud in a frustrating tone with his head tilting to the side.
Jon swears and runs◆ forward, activating◆ the cold round loaded in his barrel on the way, and fires◆ at the tattooed ghoul
At being prompted, the cleric pulls the scroll of infuse vitality and casts it on the three party members currently close to him, hoping they could help catch up to Jon and hit a little harder.
"Careful!" Garidan moves forward and eyes one of the healers.
Mac strides 3x toward the ghouls, on the opposite side of Garidan, using the corner as cover.
Round 5: Ghouls
The ghoul cultists each move diagonally until they can see Garidan and Mac. They then cast magic affecting both of their enemies minds.