I see, I'm sorry I let this one fail apart. It's a really neat story and I hope you all get to experience it eventually.
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Checking in, everyone still around?
Genny shrugs and moves to the north wall where she points to a small hole in the shelves. "This is how I would get back but I dont think you all could fit... that door was too big for us to open. Maybe you could do it though."
Due to multiple people having IRL issues, I've purposely been taking it a little slower. Welcome back! You're all about to walk into certain doom!
"I can bring you to him but I don't think he'll be happy. We weren't supposed to come back until we found a way down. That's why we made nests here, so we wouldn't have to go back."
"My name is Genny Two-Tail." replies the ratling as she flicks her twin tails in the air. "There is our leader in a room that way (points north) that sent us to find a way back down below. All I know of this place is that there is a weird looking wall down that way (points to the west) and if you go outside, you might get snatched up by some winged creature. That's all I know! We didn't get very far"
"We came here when the earthquake opened up cracks into the library. More earthquakes collapsed those same paths so now we can't get back to our den below below here. Well, I can't get back." She looks sadly at the corpse of the other ratling. She sniffs the air and hrugs at Endol's comment, "I don't smell him any more. He must have left the building or at least the room."
The ratling trembles as she awaits her judgement.
Looks like real life got in the way for a bunch of people. No worries, we can get moving again once things settle down.
Me too, though it's mostly my fault it's dormant. There was a two week period where I didn't post anything.
"Wait wait! I'll tell you everything I know! the ratling squeeks out as Jagray and Ethyl loom over her. Endol stands ready to strike should his attacker reappear but he only smells the somewhat sweet scent of the nests in the shelves.
Ther rat swarm dissipates as Ethyl begins climbing up the bookshelf. On ther opposite side of the room, Amestri also begins her climb. Endol lands another telling blow on the ratling before him. It gives a worried/shameful look at its companion before taking a step back and disappearing with a pop. Jagray's opponent ducks a blow from the hammer and lands face down in a groveling position. "Please! Mercy!"
Amestri harassing it from one side allows Dr Ethyl's dagger to find a soft spot and it pierces a vital organ. As it slumps down, the swarm out summoned dissipates. Endol and Jagray both land telling Blows to their respective opponents. Jagray's hammer even manages to flatten a handful of the smaller rats attempting to engulf him. sense motive DC 12:
The ratlings are very nervous now that one of their number has fallen. The rat swarm continues to harass Jagray and the ratling he faces bites at him as well.
Endol's opponent likewise fights on.
Ethyl and Amestri are poised, ready to strike when a target presents itself. Endol, on the other hand strikes out at an unseen target but doesn't connect. The chanting on the ceiling finishes as another rat swarm appears around Dr Ethyl and a book flies from where the chanting was revealing a ratling. As the target reveals itself, daggers fly at it from multiple directions.
Meanwhile, the rest swarm Jagray just escaped moves back onto him. His target bites at him at the same time but it's not able to penetrate his armor.
The ratling that Endol was fighting reappears in a flash of teeth.
Jagray's swing goes wide but leaves a mighty crack in the top of the bookshelf. Endol:
It smells like the thing is almost on top of you.
Endol's adversary warily steps back and vanishes just as Dr Ethyl's target did. Meanwhile the chanting from the far ratling ends as a swarm of rats appears around Jagray. You also hear new chanting coming from somewhere on the ceiling. The ratling near Jagray picks up a book and throws it with ill intent as the rat swarm leaves little bites all over him.
Endol's dagger barely misses the creature in front of him which hisses at him baring wicked looking teeth.
You recognize these as ratlings. You also remember that these things usually have a large nest so seeing only three is unusual.
Dr Ethyls dagger sinks in to the things side and Amestri stares juju at another.
Dr Ethyl's target vanishes before her eyes. The one Amestri is staring at attempts to throw a book at the closest thing to the ladder (Endol). The one on the north side of the room starts chanting in its squeaky voice.
The book lands at Endol's feet as the creature squeeks at you in what sounds like a language.
Searching the room, you spot a few pairs of glittering eyes staring out at you from the highest shelves. As your eyes acclimate to the dim shelf space you see a ratlike creature that has tiny human hands in place of its front paws, and an unnerving human face with a toothy mouth. Seeing that they were spotted they let out a screech and raise heavy books to throw.
Looking at the shelves, Jagray notes that several of the lower shelves have had their contents scattered across the floor. Investigating further, he sees that the books and the back of the shelves have been gnawed through. Endol, you can smell a scent of decay more potent than the general smell of the room coming from above you but can't pinpoint exactly from where.
Endol guards the rear as you all head back inside. Just as he steps through the doorway, a mass of the pale worms burst from the ground into the now scalding rain. They flap about for a few moments before diving back into the soft mulch to what is hopefully safety. You all make your way back through the lobby as the rain pounds against the windows. You make for the double doors in the north wall of the room. Sagging shelves, held together by dust and an extensive system of rolling ladders, ring this library of husky, dull-looking tomes. At the room’s center broods a heavily worn table surrounded by uncomfortable chairs. A chandelier of iron vines dangles above. The scents of leather and old paper pervade the high-ceilinged space, but so does a distinct bestial musk.
Seeing things wriggling beneath the surface, Dr Ethyl rushes to the opposite door and tries to open it but finds the door locked! All around the path pale, headless things like wormy bats with too many limbs burrow forth and begin flopping and snuffling impotently. The reason also begins falling harder and feels hot like water about to boil.
dm things:
As you step out of the door way you feel a warm rain begin to fall. Rustic flagstones create a path through a bed of wilted flowers and shrubs, the foliage shriveled as if drowned by the surrounding sea of dense yellow fog. Though the unnatural mist muffles every motion, a sound like the flapping of giant wings splits through the fog bank, causing it to swirl as if seeking escape. perception DC 16:
You hear digging in the earth
around you and see disturbances in the mulch.
On each of the bodies you find two small vials of light blue liquid and a well made silver dagger. One of the bodies has a broach with an ornate piece of amber in which is trapped an ancient fossilized insect. The whole thing is impaled by a long golden pin attaching the item to his clothes.
With the efforts of the party, the cage lies flattened on the ground, the birds no longer singing their terrible song. Recovering your senses, you notice out the east windows there is a path where the mists are lighter.
Amestri leaves a dent in the bars of the cage and Dr Ethyl flicks another bird off its perch. It lays bleeding at the bottom of the cage but the rest of the birds continue their grating song.
Jagray's only answer is the birds that begin teetering on their perches, wings flapping, beaks wide open as the chirps change to a harsh mechanical sounding klaxon! Amestri:
You feel yourself start to lift off the ground but keep your feet by force of will.
Dr Ethyl's dagger draws blood from the taxidermied bird in the cage but the chirping continues.
Ethyl, you notice a bunch of bruises and possibly a broken bone on the body on the floor. As Amestri begins searching the room for what caused the men's death, Jagray and Ethyl hear a faint but pleasant chirping sound coming from the taxidermied birds in the cage. Spoiler:
Finding nothing amiss, Endol swings the door open gently. As though it had been plucked from the halls of some warm, country estate, this room is filled with inviting furnishings, a hearth ready for a fire, artwork populated by picnicking families, and a mansion-shaped cage with colorful taxidermic birds inside. Large windows might have once looked out over colorful flowerbeds, but now show only yellow mist. A battered corpse is impaled on the antlers of a stuffed elk head hung above the hearth. There is another corpse, bruised and bloodied, on the ground. Both are wearing yellow stained bedsheets.
You make your way back to the surface bringing along your cooperative prisoner. When you finally encounter Harburk ,"So what's all this now? I thought we saw some people in the shadows of that hole that opened up but we couldn't be sure. And what are you all doing with Baragustas?"
The ring looks to be worth about 50 gold in your opinion.
"Fine! Fine, just dont hurt me! We call ourselves the Believers. There are a few others in town involved I can point out."
He is surprised at the body of the man and looks at the group with a renewed sense of awe (and a little extra fear). "That man is called Larrakh. He was the one that interpreted the movement of the stones for us. I had no idea this tunnel was even here."
He is still there and follows behind you. He is a bit timid around the standing stones and is careful to avoid the bones around the room. At the secret door he takes some prodding to go through but follows dutifully.
You determine that the people had been beat to death with blunt instruments. You also notice that the people are wearing both staff uniforms and patient outfits. The aforementioned masks are actually shirts, sheets, and grain bags that look like they were placed there postmortem. You find a suit of padded off padded armor and a sap on the body of an orderly. Hidden away in the pocket of a staff member are two thunder stones and a gold ring.
Amestri doesnt see any magical auras in the lobby area. Dr Ethyl doesn't find anything on the door and waves Endol over to open it. Inside is what looks to be the remains of a janitors closet. The supplies have mostly been destroyed by the collapse of the western wall leading into the room with the blocked door. Inside the other room is a long desk, several chairs, a sideboard, and numerous once-stately landscape paintings barricading the door of this somber conference room. A toppled wall opposite the barrier undermines the room’s defenses, a point driven home by the masked bodies littering the ground.
You strain against the door but it doesn't move. The rest of the area is still eerily quiet.
Dr Ethyl hears nothing beyond the door and waves Endol forwards. He finds it unlocked and attempts to push open the door but finds it doesn't budge.
Listening at the door, you don't hear anything. That in itself is odd as there should be noise coming from the shadows of strange creatures that Amestri can barely see moving around just beyond the edge of the mists.
You explore further down the escape tunnel and come across what looks like a caved in area of rubble. Upon closer inspection you notice that you can pick your way through it easy enough without causing a full collapse though you could cause one on purpose by pulling out any of the supporting timbers. Following the tunnel to its end, you find yourselves in a wooden shed attached to the wagon works.
Passing beyond where the fungus was growing you come to an entry hall. White tile, spiderwebbed with cracks, lines the walls of this cathedral-like hall. A prominent, oval desk faces staunch double doors, while hard benches and portraits of somber doctors line the walls. Regal stairs ascend toward a second floor, but rubble has crushed the upper flights, blocking passage. Lofty windows, gridded by bars, reveal yellow mist seething just beyond. There are double fis to the north and larger double doors to the south. Further east is another set of double doors in a south wall. There are also closed doors in a northeast section of walls.
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