34: Have you ever tried not being hideous, Myra?

[Ebiris]

[14:06] <@Janson> Sailing East of Salerno is tiring work when there's no sails, but between sacrificing Myra and taking turns with everyone else, good progress is made. With Henrietta busy performing strange magical training with Liamae, the Jade Ravens have generously offered to trade one of their own for the exchange, resulting in the pale and svelte figure of Zani joining you, the elf wearing figure-hugging black leather with several long straight daggers sheathed down her side and a more curved one on her hip just above the short leather skirt protecting her upper legs. The tall dark-grey cliffs loom high up to your left, with the open sea to your right, choppy waves jostling the boat and crashing in arcs of white foam up the cliff-sides. The sun is just starting to set low on the horizon far behind you, no sign of Salerno either in sight...
[14:09] * Lucie is wearing one of what will be a familiar stable of dresses and scarves, with her old leather armor buckled incongruously on top of it, just in case. "This place isn't on an island, right?"
[14:09] <Rudy> "We'll take a break when we find a decent alcove," Rudy decides. "No sense staying the course when it becomes too dark to see, right? I've got to say, though," he adds, glancing at Zani. "Ain't your outfit a bit slight for sea travel?"
[14:10] <@Janson> Zani shrugs lithely, turning her pure black eyes to regard Rudy, "I don't like to be heavy with too much on me. Makes it harder to move," she explains. "Is cold though, yes."
[14:11] <Lucie> "Doesn't do to overdress on a boat," Lucie says. "Just in case you find yourselv overboard, you know?"
[14:12] <Rudy> "Why not wear a coat? Just throw it off if you need to move fast or swim. Anyway, it can't be an island, unless you're saying Maya swam back home?"
[14:12] <Lucie> "Just making sure, Rudy. We haven't got a good track record with them. Least this time when the monsters show up we can run somewhere, right?"
[14:12] <@Janson> "Yes, too," the elf smiles at Lucie, bearing her canine-less teeth. "I should have brought cloak, but too late now. Cold not so bad."
[14:14] * Lucie nods to the elf! "Cold gets too bad for you, we can always huddle up."
[14:14] <Rudy> "Monsters? Unlikely! We're more likely to be butchered by unscrupulous smugglers," replies Rudy, nodding in agreement.
[14:14] <@Janson> OOC: perception rolls peoples
[14:14] <@Janson> roll 1d20+8 Zani
[14:14] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+8 Zani and gets 13." [1d20=5]
[14:14] <Rudy> roll 1d20+0 hrhr
[14:14] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+0 hrhr and gets 5." [1d20=5]
[14:14] <@Glenn> roll d20+9
[14:14] * Hatbot --> "Glenn rolls d20+9 and gets 14." [d20=5]
[14:15] <Lucie> roll 1d20+11 not a 5?
[14:15] * Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+11 not a 5? and gets 23." [1d20=12]
[14:16] -> *Lucie* You glance away from Zani a moment towards the cliffs and notice behind the boat there seems to be an inlet to a cave and a pass that could be used to ascend up to the clifftops just near the exterior.
[14:18] <@Janson> "Have warm potato wine, too, if come to that," Zani nods happily, patting a small pack she has tightly fastened to just above her waist behind her.
[14:19] <Lucie> "Maybe we can share it later." Lucie glances at the coast, points to a break in the cliffs. "Oh, look. Could take that inlet to a pass through the cliffs from the look of it."
[14:21] <Rudy> "Excellent, let's take it that way and see what's what. Potato wine, you say? No grapes involved at all?"
[14:23] <@Janson> "Just potato. Nothing like it back home - very warm, very strong," the elf smiles broadly, going to take an oar and helping to turn the boat around towards the sea cave Lucie pointed out. "Tobin showed me it."
[14:24] <Lucie> "Got a taste for wine, does he?"
[14:25] <Rudy> "I'm suspicious of people who don't.
[14:25] <Rudy> "I'm suspicious of people who don't."
[14:26] <@Janson> She shakes her head. "He drinks ale mostly, but I don't like that so much. He said I needed to toughen up and stop drinking fruit wines and showed me this kind. Have to be careful, but it is good."
[14:28] <@Glenn> "How strong is it?" Glenn asks curiously. "In comparison?"
[14:28] <Rudy> "Fruity drinks are stronger than most people think, you know!"
[14:31] <@Janson> "Like rum or whiskey? I suppose some are stronger than others even when made of the same thing - Tanagran Blue is the best potato wine, though," she states with authority as the rowboat maneuvers into the cavern, past the narrow mouth and finding a wooden dock around a bend to the East, although it's getting too dark to see reliably now that you're inside. "One bottle can knock you out if you drink too fast," the elf adds, turning distractedly to look over the dock ahead. "Nobody around?"
[14:32] <Lucie> "Yeah, well, probably best. Whoever's dock it is might not care for strangers." She draws her mace, lights it up as per standard.
[14:33] <Rudy> "Doesn't look it. Could be in use, could not be. This place is as likely a smuggler den as anything," muses Rudy. "Still, probably nothing here right this instant." He reaches for the rope, ready to tie the boat to the dock.
[14:34] <@Janson> With the aid of Lucie's illumination you can see the dock more clearly, a single pier and some wood boarding around the lip of the water to provide a solid surface, the cave narrowing into a passage that extends into darkness to the East. The tide seems a bit lower than high, evidenced by barnacles and seaweed clinging to the supports of the small pier several feet above your boat, though there's a ladder to allow an easy climb up regardless.
[14:35] * Lucie uses said ladder to climb, then.
[14:35] * Rudy tosses the length of rope up to Lucie once she reaches the top before following himself!
[14:36] * @Glenn motions for Zani to go next.
[14:36] * Lucie obligingly ties it off.
[14:36] * @Glenn will go up last!
[14:36] <@Janson> The wood seems solid enough underfoot, though it does creak a little there's no untoward movement. Zani clambers up after Rudy... aside from the path extending to the East, there also seems to be a ledge curving around the mouth of the cave and onto the cliff-face outside, well above the waterline.
[14:38] <Rudy> "Lemme- ugh, lemme get Myra back and we'll head in a bit?" suggests Rudy, clasping his hands together and starting to go through the unpleasant process of thinking about Myra.
[14:38] * Lucie glances down the east path. "We want to take a look around, see if they've got anything good before we move out?"
[14:39] <@Janson> Zani keeps her eye on the passage ahead while Rudy concentrates. "There is a set of doors over that way, open," she comments.
[14:40] * Lucie strolls ahead to take a look. Open door's as good as an invitiation!
[14:43] <Rudy> "Really hoping there's nobody home," remarks Rudy, once Myra sidles into existence with her usual hacking cough. "Not all that interested in grabbing stuff if the original owner's still, you know. Alive. Doubt anything valuable would just be left for grabs, though."
[14:43] <Rudy> Naturally, he directs Myra forward whilst trailing slightly behind the group at large.
[14:43] <@Janson> With Rudy left behind thinking of Myra, Lucie continues ahead alone. After proceeding about forty feet she can see them come into focus, a double-wooden doorway with both wide open outwards, the smewhat flattened caves giving way to a smooth stone floor
[14:44] <Lucie> "Probably right, Rudy. Looking's free though, isn't it?." Lucie stops there, waits for the others to folow or make up their minds. "Huh. Saw that all the way back there in the dark, Zani?"
[14:45] <@Glenn> "Just be careful of traps. Just because nobody's here doesn't mean they didn't leave some surprises behind," Glenn comments as he follows after the two girls.
[14:45] <@Janson> Zani points to her eerily dark eyes, "Elf eyes take in more light than human, see further with just a little to work with."
[14:47] <@Janson> Once Rudy and Myra are prepared, the group continues forward past the two doors and into what lies beyond, finding a large open space...
[14:47] <@Janson> The scuffed stone walls of this chamber have been plastered over and then decorated with lurid murals of monstrous unnatural creatures. Simple wooden doors  lead to the north, south, and back west the way you came, each bearing a painting of beatific childish figure haloed in light seemingly at odds with the  surrounding decor. A sizable double door stands on the east wall, appearing in the mural as a massive set of double doors opening into the imposing walls of a great fortress. Two huge scythe-armed monstrosities decorate these large doors.
[14:47] <@Janson> Said double doors lie partially ajar, and two heavily decomposed corpses lie close to them, wearing tattered charcoal rags that might once have been  scholarly robes. Another figure in similar attire lies at the centre of the room, limbs splayed and laying on his or her back. Possibly a her given the  length of hair but the state of decomposition makes it hard to tell.
[14:48] <@Glenn> "Well, that's not encouraging," Glenn mutters.
[14:49] <Rudy> "Definately got to be the place," notes Rudy, walking towards the murals and surveying them for anything that happesn to be vaugely Myra-shaped. "'course it's encouraging! Means this trip isn't a wasted effort!"
[14:49] <Lucie> "Sure it is. Means no one's going to get in our way or likely has been for a while." Lucie approaches the center corpse, kneels down to investigate.
[14:50] <@Glenn> "Danger's never encouraging to me. Would love to have an adventure where everything is smooth sailing, and we finish it off with drinks and a party," Glenn replies.
[14:51] <@Janson> Zani wrinkles her nose and keeps back from the bodies, lingering near the exit. Rudy can see hordes of unnatural creatures all over, in varying detail - some are indeed headless long-limbed figures of passing similarity to Myra, though often bearing other additions like buzzing insect wings or enormous toothy maws where their stomachs should be... Lucie finds the corpse has the huge dual-puncture marks adorning its body and tattered clothes in several spots, much like many an unfortunate Shadowshore denizen run afoul of the Cobra Fangs and their primary enforcer...
[14:51] <Rudy> "Not thinking it's too dangerous," replies Rudy. "Maya's got to have taken these guys out ages ago. Can't think of what would be left here to hurt us."
[14:52] <Rudy> He shakes his head. "Maybe I'm just getting too comfortable around death, though. Logically, this should be unnerving on some sort of primal level."
[14:52] <Lucie> "Nasty bite marks here," Lucie says, standing. "Looks like Maya's best friend went to work on 'em, yeah."
[14:53] * Rudy reaches for the doors and sees if he can push them a bit further open.
[14:53] <@Janson> OOC: roll architecture, Rudy?
[14:53] <Rudy> roll 1d20+9
[14:53] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+9 and gets 14." [1d20=5]
[14:54] * Lucie takes an idle glance around the room, sees if she can place any of the monsters or the haloed figures from half-heard lore.
[14:54] <@Janson> Focused on the doors, Rudy doesn't notice anything amiss until suddenly the monstrous figures on the murals all around the room come to life! Writhing unnaturally and without the merest sound, they extend tentacles and freakishly long limbs *outside* the mural, reaching towards everyone present in the room!
[14:55] <@Janson> OOC: will saves everyone
[14:55] <@Janson> roll 1d20 Zani
[14:55] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20 Zani and gets 20." [1d20=20]
[14:55] <Rudy> roll 1d20+4 me
[14:55] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+4 me and gets 12." [1d20=8]
[14:55] <@Glenn> roll d20+3
[14:55] * Hatbot --> "Glenn rolls d20+3 and gets 10." [d20=7]
[14:55] <Rudy> roll 1d20+3 m
[14:55] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+3 m and gets 10." [1d20=7]
[14:56] <Lucie> roll 1d20+6
[14:56] * Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+6 and gets 15." [1d20=9]
[14:59] <@Janson> The monstrous appendages writhe closer with ponderous slowness, yet everyone finds themselves frozen in mute terror as a seeming eternity passes with doom drawing down upon them, closer and closer, threatening death, threatening dismemberment, threatening a violation of the most base and primal kind! As Glenn feels the first tentacles snaking around his limbs, and Rudy feels the cold chitinous sharpness of the scythes at his neck, and Lucie the ragged claws brushing her eyeballs, and Myra the barbed hooks puncturing her flesh... time resumes, you can move... and all you can feel is the terrified desire to flee! Run! Escape!
[14:59] <@Janson> OOC: You're all Panicked for 7 rounds. Zani's only shaken.
[15:00] <Rudy> Rudy promptly screams, and flees towards the pier! The only logical way out is to get back in the boat!
[15:01] * Lucie drops her weapon, grasps at her face with both hands. "Aagh! Get it off me! Get it off!" she yells, before promptly barreling straight out of the room without thought to destination.
[15:02] * @Glenn follows with much the same train of thought, screaming expletives at Rudy along the way.
[15:05] <@Janson> "Wait! Wait!" Zani calls, having picked up Lucie's mace and jogging after the terrified group, but her voice sounds so distant and all but unheard against the wild beating of your hearts and desperate sucking breaths of each precious lungful that could well be your last. With shaking hands, Rudy struggles to unfasten the rope mooring your boat before Myra impatiently claws through it and starts desperately paddling with her long limbs to escape, Lucie and Glenn just having time to dive on board! You're only just rounding the corner out of the cave with Zani yelling at you from the dock when sanity slowly returns like a warm blanket over your ice-cold panic.
[15:06] * Lucie rubs at her eyes. "What--what?! Rudy, turn this damn boat around already. You want to leave her behind?"
[15:07] <Rudy> "Oh, what- no!" Rudy flails with the oars, starting to turn it back! "The hell was that?!"
[15:08] <@Janson> The elf seems to relax at seeing you change course, holding Lucie's glowing weapon limply at her side and waiting.
[15:08] <Lucie> "I don't know! Let's just, uh, worry about that door last?"
[15:09] * @Glenn groans. "That's some sign. Wonder how your friend Maya reacted to that little sight when she stumbled onto it..."
[15:10] <Rudy> "No way! If there's anything interesting here, it's got to be behind that door!" insists Rudy. "That was, like, not real, right? I don't think those things actually hurt me..." He reaches for his neck to feel for any scars.
[15:10] <@Janson> Rudy's neck remains smooth and scar-free.
[15:10] <Lucie> "My eyes are still where they should be. Think we're okay."
[15:12] <@Janson> "Are you okay?" Zani calls down. "I thought I saw something but then you all went wild!"
[15:13] * Lucie makes for the ladder once they're back, ready to tie up the boat again. "Like somebody reached into my head and turned on the animal part. Just had to *run* from...something."
[15:14] <Rudy> "That door had, I dunno, some kinda spell on it!" replies Rudy, reaching for the ladder once the boat is in place once more. "The murals seemed to come alive or something. But it can't be real..."
[15:14] <@Janson> Zani leans down to help with the tying and then waits for everyone to climb back up, handing Lucie's weapon back over. "It looked like they were shifting out of the corner of my eye, but I could not focus on it," she shivers, "It was eerie."
[15:15] <Lucie> "You're better off that way." Lucie retrieves her weapon.
[15:16] <Rudy> "Maybe if we all close our eyes and kick the doors open, it won't be a problem?"
[15:16] <Lucie> "Maybe. Or just have Myra go first and do it for us."
[15:16] <@Janson> "Someone with their eyes closed is the easiest to stab where it hurts," Zani opines with a sage nod.
[15:17] <Rudy> "Yeah, well, okay, that works too," admits Rudy. "Myra, go open the doors! With your eyes closed."
[15:17] <@Janson> OOC: just sending Myra ahead alone?
[15:17] <Rudy> OOC: Yeah
[15:17] <@Janson> OOC: just in that room or want her to trawl the whole complex?
[15:18] <Rudy> OOC: I just want her to shove the doors open, really <_<
[15:18] <Rudy> OOC: Like, fully open
[15:19] <@Janson> Myra departs and the sound of rusted doors creaking open is heard several times before she returns.
[15:19] * Lucie peeks into the room in Myra's wake!
[15:19] * Rudy trails after Lucie, ready for anything!
[15:20] <@Janson> The room looks like you first found it, except now all the doors are open. The murals are quite still and mundane... although it does seem quite a bit colder than before, something that draws comment from your scantily clad elf. "Is it colder now?" she asks, hugging her arms around herself as she enters and looks around.
[15:21] <Lucie> "It is." Lucie strolls around each of the doors, glances inside, feels for colder air coming out of one of them in particular.
[15:22] * Rudy starts to take a look around the walls of the structure in an attempt to gauge it's age.
[15:23] <@Janson> A number of crates fill the room to the South. A particularly large one has been dragged into the chamber's center, around which stand four mismatched chairs and stools.
[15:23] <@Janson> Cabinets and low benches fill the room to the North, with tattered robes hanging on hooks around the wall. From pegs facing the door hang several masks as well, bearing nightmarish rictuses of the sort that Myra would surely possess if she were gifted with a head and a face of her own. Alcoves to the sides contain several barren and dusty but neat bunks.
[15:23] <@Janson> The room to the East is plainer than the one preceding it, though you would have to step over another robed corpse coming in, the plastered walls bare of decoration other than a strange and somewhat distorted wavy pattern at chest height running around its circumference. A pair of doors lie to both the North and the South, spaced equally along its length and facing each other, while another double door lies ahead, too far and too dark to make out details without approaching.
[15:23] <@Janson> The temperature is consistently cold all around.
[15:23] <@Janson> OOC: architecture, Rudy
[15:23] <Rudy> roll 1d20+9
[15:23] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+9 and gets 21." [1d20=12]
[15:24] <Rudy> "See if anything magical is lying around, Lucie?" asks Rudy, directing Myra to search the assorted bodies in the meantime.
[15:24] -> *Rudy* While poorly maintained, the plaster seems fresh and not more than a decade old.
[15:24] <@Glenn> "Follow the corpses and go east?" Glenn asks.
[15:24] <Lucie> "Sure." Lucie turns on her magical senses and takes a scan over the north and south rooms.
[15:25] <@Janson> From searching the bodies, Myra finds very little other than tattered and ruined clothes, and a few daggers that seem more ornamental than practical - fearful jagged and serrated things that look painful but fragile. Indeed the one near the body in the middle of the room is broken at the hilt.
[15:26] -> *Lucie* There's something magic coming from inside a cabinet in the North room.
[15:26] <Rudy> "Betting east is where the action is. This place isn't too old, which actually surprises me," notes Rudy. "I thought murals like this were the purview of more ancient civilizations. I guess if anyone's not gonna keep up with the times, though, it'll be weird cultists and mages..."
[15:26] * Lucie heads into the north room, makes a thorough search of those cupboards--particularly for whatever's radiating magic, but who knows, maybe there's useful books in there too.
[15:27] <@Janson> "Does Pranneria have any ancient civilisations?" Zani asks curiously.
[15:28] <@Janson> Inside the cupboards Lucie finds mostly clothes, and a few coin purses. The magic emanates from four idenical and unlabelled stoppered clay flasks.
[15:29] <Rudy> "We used to have a lot of tribes running around," replies Rudy. "Shamans and things like this. These kinds of engravings were probably right up their alley. But I was also wondering about Hildspir."
[15:29] * Lucie checks the coin purses because, well, why not? And also examines those flasks to see can figure out what they are.
[15:29] <@Janson> OOC: spellcraft
[15:29] <Lucie> roll 1d20+8 is this the session where I don't fail this?
[15:29] * Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+8 is this the session where I don't fail this? and gets 14." [1d20=6]
[15:30] <@Janson> There's a small chunk of change spread throughout the coin purses, totalling up to 109 gold overall. The flasks mystify her, however.
[15:30] * Lucie stuffs it all in her pack. They can sort it all out later. "So, east then?"
[15:31] <Rudy> "Yep. Well, east, then.. let's go with South," replies Rudy, directing Myra accordingly and having her open the door.
[15:32] <@Janson> As you enter the next chamber the light gets close enough to properly see the far double-door. This one is adorned with a faded image of a nightmarish army of monsters overrunning a phalanx of terrified and breaking armoured warriors.
[15:32] <@Janson> OOC: Perception checks
[15:32] <Lucie> roll 1d20+11
[15:32] * Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+11 and gets 25." [1d20=14]
[15:32] <@Glenn> roll d20+9
[15:32] * Hatbot --> "Glenn rolls d20+9 and gets 15." [d20=6]
[15:32] <@Janson> roll 1d20+8 elf ears
[15:32] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+8 elf ears and gets 13." [1d20=5]
[15:32] <Rudy> roll 1d20
[15:32] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20 and gets 12." [1d20=12]
[15:32] <Rudy> roll 1d20+12 myra
[15:32] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+12 myra and gets 32." [1d20=20]
[15:34] <@Janson> As the group enters the chamber and before Myra can go open her targett, everyone but Rudy and Zani can hear a soft child-like sobbing heard on the edge of their perception. It seems to come from all around, no distinct source to locate it by...
[15:35] <@Glenn> "Do you guys hear something? Sounds like...crying?" Glenn asks with a frown, wondering if it's another hallucination. At the very least it's not as horrifying as the tentacles if so...
[15:35] <Rudy> "This thing made of magic, Lucie?" asks Rudy, pointing at the door. "Nah- geez, you think there's another kid here, maybe?"
[15:36] <Lucie> "Sounds like it," Lucie agrees with a nod to Glenn. "One of 'em, or more. Could be another trick like the door. Not sure."
[15:36] <@Glenn> "That's what I'm worried about, but we'll have to keep an eye out for that, I guess..."
[15:36] * Lucie examines the door at Rudy's suggestion, idly noting: "These folks had a real creepy fix on monsters doing dirty work for them, didn't they?"
[15:37] <@Janson> The crying becomes audible to all, pathetic and incoherent whimpering and broken sobbing, rising up into a shriek of pure undiluted agony! As that sound breaks across your ears, the walls suddenly become drenched with rivers of thick red blood and viscera, pouring down and then rushing across the floor in a crimson deluge to break over your ankles!
[15:37] <@Janson> OOC: fort saves all
[15:37] <Rudy> roll 1d20+4 me
[15:37] <@Janson> roll 1d20+2 Zani
[15:37] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+4 me and gets 9." [1d20=5]
[15:37] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+2 Zani and gets 5." [1d20=3]
[15:37] <Lucie> roll 1d20+3 bah, fort
[15:37] * Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+3 bah, fort and gets 14." [1d20=11]
[15:37] <Rudy> roll 1d20+4 m
[15:37] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+4 m and gets 10." [1d20=6]
[15:38] <@Glenn> roll d20+7
[15:38] * Hatbot --> "Glenn rolls d20+7 and gets 14." [d20=7]
[15:40] <@Janson> A vile stench of overpowering metallic blood assaults your noses, overwhelming your senses and sending you reeling! The blood vanishes almost instantly... except from around your feet and lower legs, leaving them stained a dark damp red. Only Lucie and Glenn seem inured enough to such horrible experiences to remain coherent against the smell, poor Zani leaning against the door-frame and doubling over, retching and shivering as she struggles to stay upright!
[15:40] <@Janson> roll 1d4 rounds nauseated Zani, Rudy, Myra
[15:40] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d4 rounds nauseated Zani, Rudy, Myra and gets 3." [1d4=3]
[15:41] <Rudy> Rudy's mood is in no way helped by the sight and sound of Myra retching, prompting him to stumble against a wall and clutch his head between both hands!
[15:41] <Lucie> "Eugh." Lucie tries to kick the filth off her feet, scowling at the mess. "Where's Henri with her tricks when you need them. You two alright?"
[15:42] <Rudy> "This- this.. this is a test, isn't it?" mumbles Rudy, clutching at his mouth.
[15:42] <@Janson> The charnel filth clings stubbornly, like an old stain worked into the material of your footwear now.
[15:42] <@Glenn> "Man, and Maya didn't warn -anything- about these things? Some sort of prank or something?" he asks, looking at Lucie, since she knows her better.
[15:43] <Lucie> "Don't think she remembered much, Glenn. Dammit! Now I need new boots."
[15:44] <@Janson> After a few moments, Zani straightens up and wipes her mouth on the back of her hand. "So much blood... and that scream! This is unnatural," she complains, still standing unsteadily with goosebumps all over her bare arms and legs.
[15:45] <@Glenn> "Okay, I could see -wanting- to forget all this crap, but I can't see myself forgetting it either!" Glenn notes.
[15:45] <Rudy> Rudy shudders for a moment, and then smacks his cheeks. "Don't care if she's unhinged, but if some little girl can get through this, then we can too! We're men! And adult women!"
[15:46] <@Janson> OOC: Lucie, roll knowledge religion?
[15:46] <Lucie> "Well, you now, sometimes something awful happens, your mind blocks it out for you. Alright, let's be thorough here and clear out before the walls eject something worse at us."
[15:46] <@Glenn> "...agreed," Glenn says after some thought on Rudy's words. Man has a point!
[15:46] <Lucie> roll 1d20+8
[15:46] * Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+8 and gets 18." [1d20=10]
[15:46] <Rudy> "Zani!"
[15:47] -> *Lucie* Between the drop in temperature and the eerie experiences, you think it's more than possible that this place is haunted.
[15:47] <@Janson> "Yes?" the elf turns to Rudy quickly at his yell.
[15:47] <Rudy> "We need to fortify ourselves."
[15:48] <Lucie> "Probably haunted," Lucie says on consideration. "So let's not test their patience." Lucie motions to the north and south rooms, presuming they'll be searched like the others before the group moves on.
[15:49] <@Janson> She nods in immediate understanding, reaching around behind herself to open her pack and withdrawing a waterskin. "Good idea to clean sinuses," she agrees, unscrewing it and taking a generous swig that makes her pale skin flush, handing it promptly to Rudy.
[15:49] <Rudy> Rudy takes a swig of equal measure, before holding the skin out to Lucie and Glenn.
[15:49] * Lucie takes a hearty swig in turn!
[15:50] <@Janson> It burns strongly going down your throat, but settles in a pleasant numb warmness around your stomach, briefly making you dizzy but one swig isn't enough to impede your faculties in any meaningful way.
[15:50] * @Glenn also matches the actions of the others. "Woo, that helps!"
[15:51] <Rudy> "Damn straight it does. Alright, Myra. Open that door!" Rudy points to the south once again!
[15:51] * Lucie emits a satisfied grunt of agreement. "Good stuff. Compliments to Tobin."
[15:52] <@Janson> The door creaks loudly open under Myra's tender ministrations.
[15:52] <@Janson> A circular depression lies in the centre of the revealed chamber, its dusty surface failing to conceal old dark stains of blood spattered across its wide breadth. Several benches surround the pit, and on the far side of the chamber rises an elevated desk, placed as if to oversee whatever transpired in this sinister room. Plastered on the wall around the pit are slogans - "Victory is Life", "The Weak Go Hungry", "Destroy The Enemy", "Friendship Is Deceit" and similar along that theme.
[15:53] -> *Lucie* Something magic is on that desk.
[15:53] <Rudy> "Cheery bunch, weren't they?" says Rudy. "Makes you wonder how they got on long enough to put together their schemes. Whatever they were. I mean, place like this, it's ripe for schemeing, isn't it?"
[15:54] * Lucie strolls around the pit--not walking through that, thanks--and examines the desk.
[15:54] <@Janson> Zani carefully follows Lucie, picking her way around the benches as well.
[15:55] <Rudy> "I guess this must've been a sacrificial chamber. Some sort of ritual place, anyway. But you guys are probably the experts."
[15:55] <@Janson> OOC: sense motive checks
[15:56] <Rudy> roll 1d20 ?
[15:56] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20 ? and gets 6." [1d20=6]
[15:56] <Rudy> roll 1d20 m?
[15:56] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20 m? and gets 2." [1d20=2]
[15:56] <@Janson> roll 1d20-1 Zani
[15:56] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20-1 Zani and gets 18." [1d20=19]
[15:56] <Lucie> "Could be, Rudy. Ask me, I get the feeling it might've been some fighting pit. they seem the type. Maybe pit their critters to test 'em."
[15:56] <Lucie> roll 1d20+12
[15:56] * Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+12 and gets 20." [1d20=8]
[15:56] <@Glenn> roll d20+2
[15:56] * Hatbot --> "Glenn rolls d20+2 and gets 7." [d20=5]
[15:58] -> *Lucie* You feel a sense of bloodlust and eagerness rising up inside of you, and catch yourself tightening your grip on your mace as if in readiness to crush someone's head with it. You happen to notice Zani fingering the hilt of her dagger and Myra flexing her claws as if in anticipation as well. The elf seems to be noticing something amiss as well, by the way her eyes are narrowing.
[15:58] * Lucie pauses immediately, gone rigid. "Alright, everyone stop. Something's wrong here. Just back out of the room, alright?"
[15:59] <@Janson> "I feel it too," Zani agrees, needing no further imperative to leave! OOC: roll initiative?
[15:59] <@Janson> roll 1d20+10 Zani
[15:59] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+10 Zani and gets 12." [1d20=2]
[15:59] <Rudy> "Huh? I mean, okay, sure, you're the.. you know," replies Rudy.
[15:59] <Rudy> roll 1d20+5 rudy
[15:59] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+5 rudy and gets 24." [1d20=19]
[15:59] <Rudy> roll 1d20+5 myra
[15:59] <Lucie> roll 1d20+6 oh god dammit what?!
[15:59] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+5 myra and gets 12." [1d20=7]
[15:59] * Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+6 oh god dammit what?! and gets 13." [1d20=7]
[16:00] <@Glenn> roll d20+4
[16:00] * Hatbot --> "Glenn rolls d20+4 and gets 5." [d20=1]
[16:00] * Janson changes topic to 'Rudy > Lucie > Zani > Myra > ??? > Glenn'
[16:00] <@Janson> OOC: Go ahead and act, Rudy.
[16:02] <Rudy> Rudy opts to leave the room for the corridor. "You just have a feeling or something? Everything feels bad 'round here," he notes, shouldering his crossbow.
[16:02] <@Janson> OOC: Go Lucie
[16:03] * Lucie pauses a moment to put up her starry armor before retreating to the doorway.
[16:04] <@Janson> Zani hastily follows Lucie. "I felt like I wanted to hurt someone in there," she explains, standing well clear of the doorway once safely outside.
[16:04] <@Janson> OOC: Myra
[16:04] <Rudy> Myra likewise makes her way out, standing to attention behind Rudy. "It's the signs. They have a kind of appeal..."
[16:05] <@Janson> OOC: will save, Glenn
[16:05] <@Glenn> roll d20+3 I have been abandoned by my companions!
[16:05] * Hatbot --> "Glenn rolls d20+3 I have been abandoned by my companions! and gets 17." [d20=14]
[16:06] <@Janson> Glenn suddenly feels his head pounding with a vicious wild urge to attack his companions, to see them broken and bleeding before him, but with an effort of strong willpower he suppresses the urge, maintaining his sense of self!
[16:06] <@Janson> OOC: Go ahead
[16:07] * @Glenn quickly exits the room after the others. "I felt that urge too, Zani," Glenn says as he steps outside, looking at the room with concern. "Almost attacked you, if you hadn't mentioned that sensation..."
[16:08] <@Janson> "Something really terrible happened here. It must be cursed," the elf nods sollemnly, glancing hesitantly n ow at the doors to the North.
[16:08] <Rudy> "Maybe I should just check out the next room by myself," admits Rudy. "Way this is going, whenever we all go someplace, we all risk suffering for it."
[16:09] <Lucie> "I want to check the desk," Lucie says. "Something magic in there, who knows what else. Maybe less of a problem if I go in there alone?"
[16:09] <Rudy> "You got any magic that can, you know, help you there?"
[16:10] <@Janson> "Leave your weapon behind at least?" Zani suggests, before her eyes widen, "Oh! But what if that's when a monster appears to attack you? That could be its trick!"
[16:11] <Lucie> "Depends on what you mean, Rudy. Magic I've got's most about ruining someone's day. I'll leave my mace here, anyway. And I say the rest of you stand ready in case anything shows up. Keep your crossbow trained, Rudy, have a bomb ready, Glenn? Zani, anything you can do from the door?"
[16:11] <@Glenn> "Send one of your summons, Rudy? One that's preferably not very dangerous?"
[16:11] <Lucie> "Not sure they'd know what to look for, Glenn. Otherwise I'd be happy to let 'em try."
[16:11] <@Janson> Zani nods seriously and draws one of her straight daggers, flipping it once around in her grip.
[16:12] <@Glenn> "I suppose, so. Very well, just be careful..."
[16:12] <Rudy> "They're pretty thick, but I could just tell them to grab everything," replies Rudy. "Still, I dunno. This place could have some weird effect on them, too."
[16:14] <Lucie> "Rather trust in my own will than anyone else's anyway," Lucie says. She leans her mace against the wall in the corridor, pulls a coin from her pack which she uses as her new light source. "Alright, eyes peeled. Anything pokes its head up, shoot it." Lucie reenters the room, moving at a swift trot to the desk, circling as far round that pit as she can get.
[16:15] <Rudy> "If you get a real vicious urge, I'll just let you beat on Myra!"
[16:15] <@Janson> Lucie makes her way to the desk without interference, finding a long polished wooden wand with a bone grip, and an open book and a fountain pen and inkwell. The wand is where the magic radiates from.
[16:16] * Lucie picks up the book and wand without pausing to examine either closely--it'll be time for thst once she's hurried from the room!
[16:17] <@Janson> Grabbing her haul, Lucie swiftly rejoins the others none the worse for her experiences.
[16:17] <Rudy> "No urge to club us over the head, right?"
[16:18] <Lucie> "Feel alright," Lucie says. "No more so than usual, Rudy. Figure whatever's up in there just wants to see more than one person." Lucie retrieves her mace, pauses to examine the wand with her arcane senses.
[16:18] <@Janson> OOC: spellcraft
[16:18] <Rudy> "A book! Lemme take a look?"
[16:18] <Lucie> roll 1d20+8 ?!?
[16:18] * Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+8 ?!? and gets 10." [1d20=2]
[16:18] <@Glenn> "The urge might be triggered only when two people step in together, since she went alone she's okay?" Glenn guesses.
[16:18] * Lucie hands the book over.
[16:18] * Rudy takes a look!
[16:18] <@Janson> Lucie can't figure out much about the wand aside from which way it points.
[16:19] * @Glenn also looks over Lucie's finding, trying to help identify stuff!
[16:19] <@Glenn> roll d20+13 spellcraft?
[16:19] * Hatbot --> "Glenn rolls d20+13 spellcraft? and gets 18." [d20=5]
[16:19] <@Janson> The book which seems to be a list of battle results - most are in the simple format of 'Subject 3 vs Subject 16 - Subject 3 win' but a few have various comments praising particularly bloodthirsty or brutal defeats, and musings on the efficiacy of certain eidolon body types and attack modes.
[16:19] <@Janson> Glenn can tell it's a type of enchantment, but nothing specific.
[16:20] <@Glenn> "That seems to involve some sort of enchantment...connected to that killing urge perhaps?"
[16:21] * Lucie shrugs. "Don't know. Doubt it. Don't feel that out here."
[16:21] <@Janson> The battles are also dated, running from nine years ago to five years ago.
[16:22] <Rudy> "They've been training.. huh. Eidolons, they're called," notes Rudy. "What's that mean?"
[16:22] <@Janson> OOC: knowledge arcana
[16:22] <Lucie> roll 1d20+8
[16:22] * Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+8 and gets 10." [1d20=2]
[16:22] <@Janson> Lucie's never heard of them.
[16:23] <@Glenn> roll d20+13 k:a
[16:23] * Hatbot --> "Glenn rolls d20+13 k:a and gets 26." [d20=13]
[16:25] -> *Glenn* Eidolons are 'spirit images', effectively they're mental constructs that often have significance like animal spirit guides or guardian spirits. Supposedly everyone has one, according to some philosophies, but few are even aware of them. Summoners are capable of manifesting theirs physically.
[16:26] <@Glenn> "It means 'spirit images', mental constructs that serve as animal spirit guides or guardian spirits. Sounds like Myra and maybe the other things you summon too maybe?"
[16:28] <Rudy> "They ain't images of my spirit! They're things from someplace else!" insists Rudy, shaking his head. "Look at her! She's too grotesque for that!"
[16:29] <@Janson> "I thought spirit animals would look more noble," Zani agrees quietly.
[16:29] <Lucie> "Like Midolin. Right. Figure these goons were summoning these things trying to find the nastiest one they could, 'til they got one they couldn't even control. Brilliant."
[16:30] <@Glenn> "Maybe you summoned her the first time when you were really drunk and horribly hungover and perceived the world all messed up, and afterwards you just kept her around like that? I mean, I could be wrong, just saying, it sort of sounds similar!"
[16:31] <Rudy> "Yeah, well, I agree on that much," replies Rudy, pointing Myra towards the northen door. "I wasn't drunk! I was..." Rudy scrunches up his face. "But I was pretty messed up... But geez, I'm not like that normally, okay! I can pull her up anytime, so why's she always look like- well, that?!"
[16:32] <@Janson> Myra goes and rattles the door, finding it to be locked! "Oh, I can get that!" Zani chirps, pulling out a set of lockpicks from one of her gloves and going to busy herself once Myra moves out of the way.
[16:32] <@Janson> roll 1d20+15
[16:32] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+15 and gets 19." [1d20=4]
[16:33] <@Janson> roll 1d20+15 x2
[16:33] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+15 x2 and gets 27." [1d20=12]
[16:33] * @Glenn shrugs. "I don't know! Have you tried summoning her looking like something else maybe? Maybe she just looks like that because that's how you perceive her?"
[16:34] <@Janson> Zani spends a moment busying herself with the lock before with a rusted and stiff clunk it turns open. She straightens up and conceals her tools before nudging the door open and entering... and promptly making a strangled sob.
[16:34] <Rudy> "I... maybe you're right, but, I mean..." Rudy shakes his head. "She changes on her own from time to time, too. I guess... you okay, Zani?" Rudy sidles up next to her to take a glance in the other room.
[16:35] <@Janson> Before you lies a dormitory or barracks of sort, filthy mattresses lined up against the walls and down the centre of the room, a foul overclogged communal latrine at the far end... and over a dozen tiny corpses, small children in filthy rags, their emaciated near skeletal forms laying pathetically throughout the chamber. Desperate scratch marks and pitted dents cover both doors on this side, but clearly to no avail in their last efforts to escape...
[16:35] <Lucie> "Nice work, Zani," Lucie says. "Thanks--eh?"
[16:36] * Lucie peers in, stonefaced.
[16:36] <@Glenn> "...oh jeez," Glenn mutters as he also takes a look inside. "This is just...oh man..."
[16:36] <@Janson> OOC: roll perception?
[16:36] <@Janson> roll 1d20+8 Zani
[16:36] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+8 Zani and gets 22." [1d20=14]
[16:36] <Rudy> "Of course, I was expecting something like this," replies Rudy, eyeing the bodies with some detachment.
[16:36] <Rudy> roll 1d20
[16:36] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20 and gets 5." [1d20=5]
[16:36] <Rudy> roll 1d20+12 m
[16:36] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+12 m and gets 26." [1d20=14]
[16:37] <Lucie> roll 1d20+11
[16:37] * Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+11 and gets 18." [1d20=7]
[16:37] <@Glenn> roll d20+9 there better not be zombie kids!
[16:37] * Hatbot --> "Glenn rolls d20+9 there better not be zombie kids! and gets 29." [d20=20]
[16:38] <@Janson> Aside from the smell of long decayed flesh and the filth from the far latrine, another smell is discerned faintly underneath it all, seeming to rise up out of nowhere into the noses of everyone except the detached Rudy, like sweetly cloying rotten food...
[16:39] <Lucie> "What *is* that?" Lucie wonders, following her nose.
[16:40] <Rudy> "The remnants of their other tests. Of course, the defeat of Myra wouldn't mean I was injured. They must've been kept here and tested over and over again. It makes me wonder how they controlled the children; in such numbers, they could have easily escaped had they chose to do so. PErhaps not all of them were able to summon a minion.. yes, they wouldn't give out power so easily."
[16:40] <@Glenn> "Don't know, but I don't feel like getting closer," Glenn mutters, staying outside the room.
[16:41] <@Janson> "They must have starved when their captors were killed? So why can I smell good?" Zani furrows her brow, the scent seeming to permeate the foul nursery entirely, and seeping out into the hallway besides, growing stronger and stronger... and alongside it desperate moans of hunger and pain begin to be heard, triggering sympathetic phantom pangs in your own stomachs!
[16:41] <@Janson> OOC: fort saves all
[16:41] <Lucie> "I meant the strange smell, Rudy. Easy enough to guess about the bodies. As for why they didn't fight back, well, fear maybe? Though one of 'em did eventually, of course."
[16:41] <Rudy> roll 1d20+4 me
[16:41] <@Janson> roll 1d20+2 Zani
[16:41] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+4 me and gets 11." [1d20=7]
[16:41] <Rudy> roll 1d20+4 myra
[16:41] * Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+2 Zani and gets 12." [1d20=10]
[16:41] <@Glenn> roll d20+7
[16:41] * Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+4 myra and gets 10." [1d20=6]
[16:41] * Hatbot --> "Glenn rolls d20+7 and gets 19." [d20=12]
[16:42] <Lucie> roll 1d20+3 feh, fort
[16:42] * Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+3 feh, fort and gets 22." [1d20=19]
[16:42] <@Janson> The smell and the moans quiet and dissipate, leaving nothing but empty cold behind... and a crippling yawning emptiness in the stomachs of all save Glenn and Lucie, making them cramp with pain and desperate starving need for sustenance!
[16:43] <@Janson> OOC: everyone but Lucie and Glenn is fatigued