Things are happening too fast. At one moment they were grieving for the dead, and at the next there's already another one of their companions cut down. By a huge monster of a beast, no less.

Sidd grabs for his shovel and charges the monstrosity - or he tries to, but actually place is somewhat restricted and he can't get close to the thing. Zar shows some more sense, pulling Del's dagger out of the beastman's corpse and throwing it at the huge brute. It harmlessly clatters against the wall though.


09:41, Today: Levkojen rolled 5 using 1d20+1. Zar, thrown dagger.
09:40, Today: Levkojen rolled 6 using 1d20. sidd, shovel.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:33, Fri 12 July 2013.

Dourdoff and Bill can't quite get to the Beast Man Champion as their companions are already there, dishing out proper justice to the beast. They remain behind their friends though, ready to offer aid should it be needed..
This message was last edited by the player at 15:20, Fri 12 July 2013.

There's no room for Arnie or Felix to enter the melee, but Dave has been keeping a watchful eye.  He quickly nocks and looses another arrow at the huge beastman.  He shoots too high, however, having overcompensated to not hit any of his companions.  The arrow ricochets off the stone wall and clatters against the steps some distance ahead.

Josh rolled 6 using 1d20. Dave shoots.

Milton slays the devil. It does not matter. They are legion. When one falls, six and sixty more rise. That might be metaphorical.

You've won the first floor of the tower and its spoils, if they can be called that: gore-covered furs on the stairs and floor, hides on the walls, and a few broken spears, perhaps more for those with grubby fingers.

And then there's the matter of the dark forms hanging from chains spiked through the wall. You probably know a few them, brothers and sisters and the like.

Once the dust has settled, Dave lowers his bow and walks into the tower.  He looks around and the corpses, both prone and suspended, and says I suppose now might be the time for that burial you guys were discussing.  His voice lacks its usual cheerful tone.

"Right, let's cut them down and be quick about it," the dwarf miner adds while gesturing toward the suspended bodies. Finn assists with the grisly task, perhaps studying each body to determine whether any were known to him. As a tax collector, he knew most, so the likelihood was strong that this task would prove more personal.

Jobb does not help with the recovery of bodies, rather the elf searches behind the furs and hides for anything which might have escaped casual notice: whether treasure or perhaps secret door.

In reply to Udly (msg # 121):

Dourdoff heads out to the courtyard with his pick to start digging the graves for the fallen..

Zar retrieves Del's dagger and also her other things, a fine set of tools and an empty sack. Then he and Sidd help with taking down the bodies in this slaughter house. Humans - friends and relatives - are wrapped in a cloak or a blanket and put outside to the left. Beastman are put on a heap to the right.

Sidd wipes his brow. ''I don't think we have time to do anything more right now. Digging graves will take ages and there are still beastmen about, I guess. Both heaps might grow yet.''

In reply to Levkojen (msg # 123):

Bill agrees with Sidd and says "I think you are right. We also need to conserve our strength for any future fights we may have with these creatures. How about a funeral pyre for our fallen? We can still honor them and accomplish the safe keeping of their bodies from any other things in the area that may defile them. The gods know our fallen deserve not to have their remains desecrated."

You make a quick discovery when you free the hangers from their hooks. They're not ready for burial on account of still being alive, not in any useful fashion but enough to bring the matter of "live burial" into question. It is at once a great relief, not all of those abducted from the village had been subjected to the full course of demonic rites. It is also, one must admit, a stickler. Seven scarcely conscious sisters and cousins do not augment the fighting efficiency of the company. What's to be done with them?

The seven survivors groan. It's good to be alive but to feel like this?

You remain in the Tower of the Beast. A spiral staircase leads to second floor. Gore-covered hides hang from the walls and befouled animal skins and furs repose on the floor.

The stinking corpse of the beastman champion lies slumped on the first step of the stairs where Milton felled him with his crowbar.

In reply to Autarch (msg # 125):

Bill takes the waterskin that he kept from his fallen dwarf friend , Callum, and offers it to the captives that have just been freed. He awaits while they each take their turn drinking if they so choose to..

While the others deal with the bodies, Felix goes back to check on the armor they pulled from the charred chapel.  If it's cool enough to wear, now would probably be a good time to distribute it and decide who's going first up the stairs.  Or maybe do that in reverse order.

Bill asks the captives when they are ready to talk "Any good details or information you can give us on this place would be so helpful. Are you the only ones that you know of here ?"
He patiently waits to see if they will even answer him, or can for that matter

Zar scratches his wizened head. ''Hm, what to do with our free cousins? We can't have them search their way through the stone field we came in through, and the gate is still barred. I think you will all best wait here, in this very room, until we return.''

Sidd meanwhile makes a few training moves with his shovel. He didn't manage to hit anything yet and begins to feel useless. He's eager to begin exploring the rest of the tower.

With the contempt of a righteous victor, Milton rolls the beastman over with his toe.  "To he who conquers the spoils belong," he intones.

Virgil has seated himself by Dante's corpse.  "You're one foot short," he adds sadly.

"I will add "And thus" at the beginning." Milton says as searches the beastman's body.

Virgil laughs in spite of himself, and tears come with the laughter.  Milton joins him at their friend's side.

"We'll lay him under a cairn for now.  Do not weep for him, Virgil.  Death is not the end.  Weep instead for one of us.  I have a premonition that before this adventure is concluded, one of us two will be left alone, and the other will join him in Paradise."

"Not me," Virgil rejoins with a rueful smile.  "The little bastard said I was a pagan and could never see his blessed mountain."

"He said Virtuous Pagan.  And he gave you the best spot in Hell."

"Yeah, he did."

Virgil and Milton say their farewells and help with the cairn-building.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:00, Sat 13 July 2013.

The two surviving poets agree with Zar's plan to leave the captives hidden under the spiral stairway.

"One the gatehouse is clear, we will open the gate and take the survivors home."

The Brothers of Another Mother concur with the plan: leave the captives here for now. They did not have time to escort each back just now. "Leave them some water and rough directions to return to the village, should they regain enough strength to do so on their own," Finn offers.

Nyll approaches the base of the stairwell and gives its stonework a scrutinizing glance. The dwarf hefts his miner's pick in both hands and looks to the other, indicating 'ready'?

08:05, Today: Udly rolled 7 using 1d20. mining.

Bill and Dourdoff join the others as they get ready to go up to the next level of the tower..

It's scarcely possible to breathe in the Tower of the Beast let alone respond coherently to Dour's interrogations.

Paying no heed to the dwarven interlocutor, the milliner's daughter chants to herself,  "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

Both Milton and Virgil know this line and the ones that follow, yet they forebear from providing a fuller interpretation for the semi-catatonic lass. It's really not the "we're all going to die" chiller it's commonly understood to be. Even if only the two poets cry, Dante's death diminishes all of mankind.

Experimentally, Nyll taps the stone stairs with his miner's pickaxe, feeling the vibrations emanating, always a thrill of pleasure for him. Practiced as he is, he counts a shortfall. There must be a hollow space nearby.

Besides the champion's axe (a d6 weapon), still beslimed with gore, Milton beholds his large silver torch still hung with bleached skulls but with no prospects for additions. Now, he can observe that each skull bears the brand of a chaos rune, and the thing verily reverberates evil.

Two of the beastmen's spears could be recovered from the room.

OOC The chain hauberks can be donned.

Jobb will casually approach, and retrieve, a spear from the death clutches of one of the slain beast-men. Now that it was almost assured that combat would be inevitable, it made sense to be outfitted with more than glass beads. Assuming nobody else lays claims to the other spear, Nyll will grab that.

Virgil buries the axe at Dante's feet and with his looks dares the others to gainsay him.  But he does note Zar's eyes lingering on the bow.  After some reluctance, and a little prodding from Milton, he takes the weapon to Zar and holds it out in both hands.

"He would want to see these put to good use.  I think he'd want you to have them."

Milton leaves the evil skull-torch on the ground and backs slowly away, as though it were a serpent.  As for the other gear, Milton has been making heavy weather with the crowbar, so he keeps it.  But one of those spears just feels right in Virgil's hand.  This, now, is the sort weapon one can write epics about.  He offers Nyll the flail instead.

Longbow & 10 arrows to Zar
Virgil takes a spear
Flail (d6) to Nyll

As they head up the stairs, the two poets question Nyll about they hollow spot he found and help in uncovering it.

Search Hollow Stair d10=9

Nyll gladly receives the flail, "a fitting weapon, this. Thank you kindly." He gives it a test swing. "Weight feels good too!"

When questioned about the hollow space, Nyll beams, "Ah, yes! Over here. Listen!" he taps it again with the blunt end of his miner's pick. "Somebody went to some trouble to hide something down there. Now it's just a matter of finding how to get at it!"

With his new spear in hand, Jobb the elf catches some of Nyll's conversation and lends his keen elf senses to the task and follows alongside the dwarf as he taps at the stonework in hopes of narrowing down where the hollow space might be.

"Quiet now," Nyll intones as he follows the sound.

OOC: Jobb will actively search for concealed/secret doors near the hollow space, assuming Nyll can narrow it down to a general area.

Zar thanks Virgil for the gift. ''An elf bow! I'll try to be worthy of this weapon, and bring death to evil everywhere. Well, in this tower predominantly.''

Sidd is helping out with his opinions at the stair. ''Why, isn't it more likely to be a trap, covering a pit or something, than a secret treasure stash?''

In reply to Levkojen (msg # 138):

Bill gathers up Callums water skin and longsword and heads up the stairs with the others. Dourdoff asks him "Now reckon what is ta be done with the squealin slab o' meet here? "
Bill says over his shoulder "Just leave the sow, those captives will take her out of here when they clear out"
Dourdoff tightens his belt and follows in behind Bill as the group ascends the stairs...

Though the weapons all seem to have been claimed already, Arnie is quick to don one of the mail shirts.  Felix, meanwhile, walks over to the site of the secret something.  He has his crowbar ready in case it will be helpful in any way.