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The sound is low at first, but after a few seconds of intense listening, there appears to be a pattern. Something one would not likely find in nature, although there is a certain resemblance to the sound of bees. Further, through the snakes, Sidra can taste a tang in the air, similar to after a lightning storm has passed.
The only sound Kroug hears from beyond is a faint humming, constant and monotone.
Kroug detects a faint amount of abjuration and transmutation magic on the fixture, and with a bit more examination thinks that perhaps it is only a marker, or was at least.
Continuing down the hallway, the group finds the same similarities as before. After about 200 feet of walking along the white stone floors, you come to 3 things of note.
The hallway dead-ends past the two doors about 50 feet. Another of the cherubs floats silently, it's light casting a dim glow. It hovers just under an archway with an alcove about 3 feet deep. The back wall of the alcove is of similar stone to the rest of the hall and the other doors, but it shimmers slightly and closer inspection shows that the cause is a thin blanket of water constantly running over it.
Sidra: No need to make a check, as far as what it was for, it was probably little more than a decorative (and animated) light source. It's possible that the Captor could have used it as a servant of some sort, but in its present condition it wouldn't be much use. You remember a few floating back in the room you originally came from, so it's a safe guess that there are probably more in this place.
As Sidra suspected, within a minute or so Relio's breath softened, and with a cough, he spat out a small wad of amber-colored fluid. With it gone, his will was once again his own. It was if he was waking from a dream almost, and those first few breaths after seemed more pure. The door stuck well, and the group was faced with another decision. Continue on; for the hallway clearly continued on, or head back in the other direction. With the bloody footprints no longer visible, it seemed the group would get any further clues into the wereabouts of their owner. In the stillness, the faintest clicking sound could be heard, no doubt the small mostly destroyed construct behind them still twitching uselessly. Kroug: Since your web attack is mostly biological, I'm going to judge that your skin secretes an oil that makes it not stick to you, so you can peel it off Relio if you take a few moments to disassemble it.
Peering through the cracked door, both Sidra and Kroug can see a similar white to the hallway and chamber the gound their freedom in. The room is dimly lit, but the difgernce here is thst there is a lot of green. And movement, accompanied with the sound of twisting wood. Both the medusa and spider thinh get a stronger sense of the smells inside, now detecting some kinf of flower, sweet, like honeysuckle. Without opening the door though, you can't see much more. Sidra:
With that high of a roll, and because you were focusing on scent, you can also smell faint traces of fear and desperation.
Kroug detects no magic on the door currently, though he does detect faint traces of abjuration, as if there was something there, but it has been dispelled or faded away. Craft: Alchemy DC: 15 or Knowledge(Nature) DC: 25: There is a faint smell of alchemical ingredients mixed in with the wet grass and earthy smell, quicksilver and the faintest whiff of brimstone.
The group of you walk in relative silence for a short while (150 feet or so) along the curved hallway, a very short while indeed, as you soon come to another door. This one is set in the opposite wall, and like the other is composed of the same white marble-like stone. Above the doorway is an impression, and a brass fitting with several scratches around the rim. It appears to have (at one time) held a fixture, but has since been pried away. The last remnants of the bloody footprints are here, and lead directly to the door. It is partially open, and flickering light comes from within, as well as the smell of earth and wet grass. Knowledge, Dungeoneering DC: 15 or Int check DC: 20: As you have walked along the right path down the hallway, you have noticed a gradual curve upward. You also suspect that the left way goes down.
The medusa easily spies the flasks the spider creature spoke of. About the waist of the now fallen humanoid is a rather thick belt. 6 flasks are fastened to the belt by metal snaps. The flasks themselves are slightly smaller than a medium sized humanoid's hand,and are also steel. The have corks on the top but instead of stoppering the container, they cover spikes. It appears these potions are not normally drunk, but injected. Kroug: although the aura of the helm fluctuates in power (mostly moderate), it is definitely necromantic.
As the frost washes across the beast, and the medusa strikes at it once more, it finally drops to its knees. Giving one last chortle of a howl, blood, thick from the cold and frothing slightly, bubbles from its ugly pitiful maw. It weakly swings its limbs out at anyone near, but at this point all the former ferocity has left its dying body. It falls to the stone floor with a wet and twitches twice,the belt rattling slightly as the last of life leaves the creature, then it moves no more. the sphinx seems to tense a bit at this, but then after a few seconds snorts at the body, flicking her tail. "Yes." she says, nodding to noone in particular.
The wyrmling manages to land all it's strikes on the creature's exposed face, but the medusa's fist misses. Kroug shoots a ray of frost at the creaure and strikes the exposed muscle of its lower jaw and it howls in pain. The sphinx sees an opportunity to pounce as Relio pulls away, and attacks with her claws
The creature staggers back a few paces, rearing and bleeding heavily, but seems to be holding on to life with its last breaths. It swings out wildly with both fists;
As fierce as it still seems, it is apparent that it is not long for this world...
As Sidra rears back from her snakes bite attack, Meselleth jumps at the now weakened creature again, attempting to claw its exposed face
It recoils in pain, and swings its mighty fists at her,
Kroug cast out a web at the fallen helmet, and the web latches on, but after moving a few feet, the web pulls free as the helmet is too heavy for the grip
Relio's claw and bite prove enough to knock the last bolt free and as the wrymling tumbles off the beast, the helmet comes free.
Sidra catches the creature's attention;
Meselleth, seeing the exposed flesh,leaps out with both claws;
Kroug reaches out with his magic, attempting to affect the creature or the enchanted helm, but his concentration is not at its fullest and his attempt is turned away. The creature seems even more enraged at the sphinx drawing blood, and focuses its attacks on her;
A well placed strike from Sidra knocks loose one of the bolts, and only one remains, before the helmet can be easily taken off, but even now it looks as though someone strong enough could tear it free. The creature is less grey now, and it becomes obvious to the group that it possess some sort of rapid healing ability. The creature wildly flails out with both fists and attempts to gore as well,
Kroug points the strange looking cane at the beast hoping for some effect, but nothing seems to happen.
Meselleth takes her swipe at the creature as it stands,
and before it can act again swipes out her claw, this time batting at the bolts holding on the helmet,
Sidra does indeed notice raw flesh, close to the helmet around its neck where the skin seems to have been flayed away, and looking closer through the eyeholes it seem the perhaps all skin has been stripped away from the creatures face. Further, the helmet itself seems to be bolted onto the beast's head. Before she strikes with her snakes, though she notes that she would have first remove the web that now entangles it, lets the snakes get caught. The creature rages and thrashes against the web,
The snakes find exposed muscle and inject their venom,
Meselleth takes a half step back and paces a bit, looking for weak spots on the creature
Relio quickly sees a chance to strike and lands a blow with his teeth and one claw, but like the Sphinx, it only scrapes down the creatures hide. Meselleth swipes at the creature with her paws attempting to knock it down so she can discern a possible "soft spot"
The Creature is struck once again by the wild energy from the eyes of the Sidra and it howls defiance; and seems to shrug off any additional effects, but is still quite rigid and moving slower than it would otherwise. If it was odd and pitiful before, it is moreso now, bringing mind a turtle on its back. All can see that the greyishness is slowwwly turning back to the sickly pink of the creature's rough hide. Then Kroug's web comes shooting out from the ceiling and hits the creature squarely, barely missing the wrymling and sphinx. The creature is now stuck to the ground and struggling to get out of the web but it doesn't seem to have the leverage at the moment and is held fast. on to round 5!
The creature shrieks as the cold washes over it, frosting over the greying, hardening flesh.
The sphinx sees an opportunity to strike and bats at its midsection with her claws
Sidra calls out the the creature, "Over here you pitiful beast, your end will be swift"
From above, Krougg launches two more bolts of force at the creature,
Undercommon: "I won't be able to do that again"
Kroug looks on from above, and seemingly decides to wait and see if the others can defeat the creature With boundless fury burning in red shaded eyes, the beast tries once again to shake off the transformation; , this time its vigor proves more focused, and it averts its eyes from the medusa, and the arc of energy between them fizzles away. He turns slightly towards the sphinxs and, howling drives his many horned head at her, swinging his meaty fist a half second later , but the rage of the beast makes his wild thrashings inaccurate, and again it doesnt connect.
just for Dm:
Meselleth misjudges the flailing of the creature, slowed as it is, and also slips on the stone floor trying to maneuver past it...Its meaty fist lashes out blindly, but only finds the air above her head. From above, the spider-creature Kroug finishes chanting and suddenly appears as 2 small bolts of force erupt from his hand, striking the creature =4 The beast snarls its reaction, struggling against the transformation threatening to take it over.
As slow as it is, were it not for a bit of stumbling on his part, Relio would have connected. Instead, his feet are a bit unstable on the stone and he slides into the wall near the creature.
Although the creature's head is mostly down, the medusa manages to catch it's gaze as it charges forward. Arcs of energy erupt from her eyes, darting across the hallway in an irregular pattern until they meet the eyes of the rampaging creature. At 30 feet away, it is stopped in it's tracks, and it slowly begins to take on a greyish hue, and it's movements are visibly slowed. The energy continues to flow between Sidra and the beast as it visibly tries to turn away from her. Sidra:
Although she has good contact, the effect seems to be slowed somewhat...almost as if the creature is healing back the transformation
Kroug scitters up the wall to the ceiling, and begins chanting in undercommon.
Differences in combat:
Order of actions:
The Corridor is 10 feet wide with a slight curve, with a 15 foot ceiling. The creature is charging forward fairly quickly, head down, horns out. It is currently about 50 feet away, but at the rate it is moving, should be on you in seconds.
The cry of the sphinx sounds thick across the stone halls, and has a strange deep echo to it. Perhaps thirty seconds later, the cause of the noise becomes evident. A strange thing of metal crawls limply across the floor. At one time, the thing must have been like one of the cherubs that floated in the laboratory room, providing the odd light from the flames they cupped. This thing, however, only resembles that slightly. Created of brass or gold, its limbs mostly rent, and it's wings barely still attached, it spikes and pulls itself across the stone floor, in a most pathetic manner. As it moves eeeeever so slowly towards the group, a definitely different sound comes quickly from just behind it. It comes into view so quickly, in fact, that the group scarcely has time to not the details of the cherub thing as a great foot comes trodding down over it. Charging head-on, with a great (but apparently muffled) cry is a creature that might be humanoid, were it not for it's great size, being nearly 9 feet tall. It's muscles bulge and metal glistens in the light as it tips its head in a charge. It is barely clothed, but heavily scarred and a belt with a number of metal flasks gingle as it charges forward. Whether the half dozen or so wicked horns are part of the helmet that covers its head is not clear, but the creature's intent is...carnage!
As the four of you stand in the hallway, or thereabouts. Whatever it is that is moving in your direction seems to be taking its time. The "hair on the back of your neck" stands on end, with the thought of freedom and what else may come. There is some anxiety to be felt all around, as none present have any clear recollection of anything outside the cells they previously inhabited, or the room they just left.
After listening and watching to the left for a few moments, Sidra can tell that the noise (and light for that matter) seem to be veeery slowly moving towards her and the rest of the group. Deduction would seem to imply that whomever killed the Mage came from the left initially, or at the very least didn't go left after they stomped through his blood.
Meselleth can tell that the blood has been there a while as it's dried now, but has no special abilities with tracking, and so cannot detect any scent trail. Looking closely though does reveal that there are 4 distinct sets of prints.
The hallway is very similar to the room, constructed of the same smooth white stone, although the walls here are peppered with a black mineral that runs in veinlike paterns. It is not nearly as well lit as the room, but not so dark as to impede mundane vision. Both paths appear to go quite some distance with a very slight curve in the direction of the room, but clearly their length means they do not circle it exactly. To the left, just out of sight, can be heard the somewhat steady sound of metal scraping on stone. ktck! scrrrrrch. ktck! scrrrrrrch! There also appears to be more light coming from the left than the right, though it flickers. To the right, the remains of the bloody footprints continue and slowly fade out of sight.
Oddly enough, there is no easily discernible door, although the dried bloody footprints do seem to gather and move all in one direction, almost in a line, and then abruptly end at the wall. Examining that spot: Perception DC 20: There does appear to be a slight seam, and there is in fact a cleverly hidden stone door in the wall. A heavy push is all it takes to open it, and it immediately opens up into a 10 foot wide hallway that goes both left and right. Anyone with Detect magic can tell that there are just the barest traces of Abjuration on the door, as if there was an enchantment there, but it was dispelled.
Sidra: Searching the room is not hard, as it is quite an open space. You think that if the Mage did in fact keep it (and not discard it) it is in another part of whatever building the four of you are in.
The writing on the pages is in a foreign language, unfamiliar to anyone present, but the intent seems obvious. Dissection and exploration. The ink is clean and the artistry is true. As cruel as the Mage was, he had a steady hand.
Kroug:
You were able to get the cane, although you have the feeling you were seen. Detect magic after a few moments shows both light Abjuration and Transmutation on the cane, focused on the claw-hand at the end. Meselleth: Your mental inventory of your limbs checks through, and like the reptile creature, your wings are clamped and weighed down with some device. Your throat is dry, and you feel a scratch in the roof of your mouth, (feels most like it was burned slightly with hot liquid)
After consuming the sweet meats of the Mage, you find that the liver is especially distasteful, although you wolfed it down quite quickly. You have the aftertaste of him now, and taste that he was unwell.
Everyone but Kroug: with his adjusted stealth and the -20 sniping penalty, it only takes a DC 9 perception to notice a web shoot from the shadows and pull the cane towards them. A many legged figure lurks there. Presumably another of the former captives.
On the fifth table, the form there lies still. The instruments of its examination still evident in it. The creature was only barely humanoid, with a slick (although rapidly drying) mauve skin, its fingers and toes composed of far too many digits. It is not modestly covered like the four of you, but it also seems to be sexless, so that was likely not a concern. It is cut open from crotch to neck, its chest splayed open with dividers and a scalpel still sticking in one of its many strange organs. The head of the creature is the most strange, it appears to me nothing more than a mass of (now limp) tentacles of varying lengths, ranging from 1 to 5 feet long, the longest of which seem to have stingerlike barbs protruding from them. It seems this too was a captive, as the collar that you all wear is also fastened to it. Kroug: you may say your mage hand is a web like effect like a constant rope, although if the object is heavier than 5 pounds, it will not stick when you try to pull it back.
As you rise from the stone slab that you lay upon,your limbs ache in an almost unfamiliar way. Normally when you lay upon this accursed cold table in the past, the collar that is still around your neck would hold you still, some enchantment within it damning you to endure the cutting and prodding of your captor. Your vantage point no longer restricted, you quickly take in the room around you. White stone, perhaps marble, dominates the area, which appears to be a circular room , some 100 feet from end to end. Floating silently above you, lifeless cherubs of brass hold everburning flame in their palms, providing steady but eerie light. Evenly spaced in the center of the room are 4 other white stone tables, bringing the total to 5, arranged in a starlike pattern. Behind each table is a wide of brass, held up by thee dark, thin copper legs. Most are undisturbed, with various tool of torture and "science", as well as sheafs of parchment where your captor would take notes. One of the trays, however has been knocked over, its contents spilled haphazardly on the ground. A few feet behind the trays are white shelves of the same stone, each containing a number of glass jars of various sizes, each filled with a barely transparent amber colored liquid. And there on the ground before you lies the man himself. Lifeless now, the great gash across his chest has stopped bleeding some time ago. He wears a plain brown robe and is long dark hair is in a tangle with his neatly trimmed beard, and soaked through with the last of his life. A gnarled black cane topped with what appears to be the grasping skeletal hand of some 6 fingered humanoid is just out of his reach. More sheafs of parchment are scattered around him, and bloody footprints of several sizes mar the pure white surface of the stone floor. Further, you notice you are not alone... What do you do now? |