In reply to Elwood (msg # 300):

Definitely magically darkened in some way.  Possibly arcane, possibly pure evil, that sort of thing.  Casting daylight would be a very appropriate attempt at overcoming the darkness from a clerical perspective.

Seeing his tossed torch seemingly vanish in a dark void, a frown settles on Elwood's face.  In soft tones he utters "In nomine Flyspamon, flickum bicus" and casts Daylight on the front of his shield, which he then points down the right hallway, and  starts to move slowly in that direction, mace at the ready.  "As my mentor always says, 'Evil 'round every corner. Careful not to step in any.'"

Dreya falls in line plastered right at the the Ranger's back. Hopefully she doesn't trip Cole up.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:02, Thu 20 July 2017.

Anthony starts snickering as he follows Dreya in. "Don't step in any. Humorous," he says quietly...

Jack waits for some light in the corridor before continuing as planned.

Since she is still not very good with the Common language, Dreya's eyes are glued to the floor of the hallway, eyes flicking about as she places each miss-matched-boot-covered foot down extra, extra, carefully. No evil from underfoot will catch her unawares as she heeds Simply Elwoods warning with grave intensity.

The lit torch vanishes into the darkness of the hallway, but the daylight spell seems to do the trick.  It creates a pocket of brightly lit space within the darkness that travels with the party.  As you move forward, new portions of the hallway are illuminated while darkness fills in behind you.

You are able to get a good look at the writing and drawings on the wall as you move east.  It's the usual collection of highly evil material.  The writing is in an unknown language, but there is something fundamentally ugly and cruel about the script.  The drawings are abstract, but make you think of sadness and pain.

You find the door in the north wall about 20 feet down the corridor.  As you reach the door, you also become aware of the feeble light emanating from Dreya's rock.  The darkness swallowed the rock's light so that it could not reach to the door to the cage room, but the rock is still shining up close.

The door on the north wall is heavy and reinforced with three metal bands.  It does not have a lock.  Seline does not detect any traps and the handle turns quietly.

The corridor extends further into the darkness going east.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:12, Thu 20 July 2017.

"Well. That did the trick. I wonder what's behind this door? I say we check it out. Once it's open I can put a spike in the door to keep it from closing behind us."

Anthony stops, pulls out a coal and some paper and writes a couple notesa bout the writing. Ever an academic, any knowledge he captures about such things can be turned to good in the long term. He then continues on with the others.



Anthony shudders, thinking once more about the evil script, then looks at Jack. "I agree. Let's go through the door. Perhaps Seline should search it first, though."

Anthony's paper begins to smell like rotten fruit as he takes notes about the writing on the walls.

Elwood stands ready next to the north door, pointing his shield so only enough light is available for Seline to see, but not pointing directly into the room unless it is also magically darkened.

Anthony finishes his notes and stows the paper, hoping it doesn't burst into flame, and then follows Elwood and the others in through the door.

Seline searched the door and did not find any traps.  (I skipped ahead to the results to move things along without waiting for Seline to post her action.)

Extending a hand back, Cole gestures for the others to wait as he opens the door and slightly nudges Seline aside.  Taking a deep breath he prepares for the worst as he steps through, ready to fight or dodge at a moment's notice if need be.

Seline making room for Cole slides out of the way

Anthony prepares to follow Cole, assuming Cole survives the door opening!

Elwood waits by the foor as Cole enters, ready to shine his shield inside the room if needed.

Cole quietly eases the door open.  You can all immediately hear several children quietly crying.  Unlike the first cage room you entered, this chamber is much more... disturbing.  It is a large octagonal room with torches all along the walls casting dim light.  Pens with a bunch of children line the west and north sections of the chamber.  Some of these children are crying, but most sit staring dully past the bars of their cages.

A large metal machine sits on the east side of the chamber.  It's basically a metal cube covered with hoses and tubes.  Twisted script like on the walls of the hallway decorates the smooth surfaces of the machine.  There is a large chute on the south end of the machine.  A large dark green toad (it would probably be 7 feet tall if it stood upright) is in the process of shoving a screaming child head first into the chute.  The child's screams stop as its legs twitch frantically for a moment.  At the north end of the machine is a corral with a half dozen meat cubes bouncing around in it.  You recognize the cubes as matching the ones you found in the large sacks the Queen of the Woods had you deliver to the basement of the hunting lodge.

The toad turns to look at Cole, squints its milky eyes, and hisses.

Anthony's face turns green, but he pulls out a dart. "We have to kill it, now," he manages to croak, holding down the contents of his stomach. "Now!"

Ha!

At the soonest possibility, Elwood enters the room, moving to the right of the door once he enters to allow others inside (and to get out of the way of any missile fire).  He  points his shield towards the toad demon, bathing the foul creature in Flyspamon's glorious radiance in the form of the Daylight spell.  "TO THE ABYSS WITH YOU!" the cleric bellows.

OOC:  This assumes Cole moves into the room, allowing others inside.  Last I knew, we were all sort of gathered around the door behind Cole.

There is a momentary pause as Jack stands slack-jawed at the gruesome sight before him. He struggles to take in exactly what is going on as his brain wants to disbelieve the horrific scene.

His body is instantly in motion, however, without hesitation. By the time he even realizes what is happening, Jack is quickly moving into the new room and preparing his axe to strike the diabolical toad creature.

With her bow still drawn, Dreya lingers behind the party by the door. If she has an opening, she will shoot an arrow at the frog...toad...thing, trying to push through the horrifying fear threatening to send her running. But no...no one shall suffer a cage again if she can help it!

"I wonder if your legs really do taste like chicken, I heard sailors at the docks saying that they do." Seline following her question she draws her rapier and begins to head towards the corral whispering to herself "what in the shinning heavens did I allow myself to get into"

I'm going to close this chapter and begin the frog fight in a new thread for Reasons (TM).