Selvin and Izzick, the two of you feel a bit gobsmacked.

Tarrov shrugs.  "Yeah.  Well.  It's a small world, right?"

The reason behind all this is...it's the same tomb.  The same bloody tomb you guys went into before.  The ones with the Dero.  All that.  Same place.

Tarrov shrugs again.  "At least you know the layout.  I made a map based on what I remember..."

You can see the map under Game Maps group 3.  Let me know if you have any issues viewing the map

Tarrov continues.  "We don't know a lot about this group.  There's a dwarf who's with them.  Named Smattermite.  I did not make that name up either.

"Anyway, he seems to be the one they send out for supplies.  He is fairly tough.  You can wait for him to poke his head out or just waltz in.  We have not done so.  So I am afraid you would be going in blind.  Best I can tell you."
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:42, Thu 19 Aug 2021.

Selvin glanced at Izzick and gave a shrug. "The more things change..." He shook his head and nodded. "I mean, that's how our luck runs, right? It feels weird but...yeah. Feels right too."

He snorted at the dwarf's name but then shrugged again. "We don't get t'pick our names. Unless they just tell people that's their name."

He took the lead, frowning a bit in concentration as he tried to remember the way.

Selvin glanced at Izzick and gave a shrug. "The more things change..." He shook his head and nodded. "I mean, that's how our luck runs, right? It feels weird but...yeah. Feels right too."

He snorted at the dwarf's name but then shrugged again. "We don't get t'pick our names. Unless they just tell people that's their name."

He took the lead, frowning a bit in concentration as he tried to remember the way.

Lucky thought the name for the dwarf was fine.  He had met quite a few unusually named dwarves in his past it so it never took him by surprise anymore.

"Just let me know if there is anything you need my skills for and I will gladly provide them."

The entrance to the catacomb is a wide stone stair descending down.

"Have you ever noticed you never go "up" to reach a catacomb?"

Whether Chandanar has a point or not, to proceed you would need to go down.

There doesn't seem to be a guard.  At least not an obvious one anyway.

Selvin glanced over at Chandanar and rolled his eyes theatrically. "Of course not. Who would bury people in the sky? That would be weird. The sky above is for breathin' an' flyin'." He took in a deep breath.

Then he headed down.

Lucky too shook his head at Chandanar's comment.  Then moved down into the catacombs with Selvin.

"Well...I mean...they could build the tombs up higher in the rock is all..."

The stairs end in a roughly square room.  There are exits on each side Orange Please see area D1 on the map

There are four large columns in the room.  Strung with rope around each column are a number of bodies in various states of decay.

The room smells terrible.  Which, given the condition of the bodies and the lack of  ventilation here is not surprising.

Izzick held his nose up as they even began to descend, remembering the stench all too well from when he'd been trapped here. Sure it brought back memories, but more than anything it broguht back up lunch. Grabbing a piece of cloth, he muttered arcane words, giving it a fresh spring scent as he tied it around his neck. It didn't help much but there was no way he was getting through here without some kind of fresh scent, even one made with prestidigitation. "East, west, south? We got any ideas on this one?" he asked, looking around the room for some sign of where they should be heading.

In reply to Izzick (msg # 9):

East is dark and quiet.  Selvin and Izzick, you recall the secret door there, but aren't sure you remember how to work the mechanism.  Int Roll 12- for that Gentlemen

From the south is some dim light and a kind of gurgling sound.  The light coming from the southeast branch and the gurgling sounding like it's coming from the southwest branch.

There is a new wrinkle in the western alcove:  A large metal...coffin maybe?  It's standing against the wall and it is coffin shaped. But completely metal.  There's a thick padlock on it too.

Probably harmless.

Probably.

Selvin knew they had met the people down below before - but it had been a while, and who knew what (or who) had changed since then. So he kept alert, as there could traps or people who spellcast first and asked questions of the corpses.

His lip curled a bit at the hanging corpses but he kept going trying to remember the way. He nodded at Izzick and gestured, and then kept moving the way he thought was right. They came to...well, where was it? Wasn't there a secret door around? He didn't like that gurgling noise or the coffin-thing. He restrained himself from saying anything or even muttering, however, just wanted to get to where the necromancers were so they could explain themselves and not get killed or worse.

21:59, Today: Selvin Larst rolled 18 using 1d20+2.  Int checks? Those are totally Selvin's jam!

Zuni followed along, taking up the rear.  The others seemed to know the way, and could probably see in the dark farther than her human eyes and torch could, so she let them take the lead.  "S'Funny how no one ever makes cheery tombs." she said, glancing around the dismal place.  "Who would want to spend eternity in a....what is that gurgling sound?"

The light coming from the southeast branch was probably the direction Lucky wanted to go.  He wasn't a fan of being underground but he would work with it.

When he saw the large metal coffin he knew better than to mess with it even if it may have riches inside.  There could be a mummy, or vampire, or something worse...

When Zuni mentioned the gurgling sound he was glad someone else was a bit unnerved by it because he sure was.  "I don't know but I think we should head towards the light."

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 11):

Selvin, now that you think about it, the prior residents were some insane dero who dabbled in necromancy.  They didn't seem too interested in talk last time.

Chandanar has sketched out the area based on what Selvin and Izzick remember.

The dim light is coming from the area the fellas recall as being a "body processing area" D5 on the map

The gurgling is coming from somewhere farther off.  Maybe what used to be the store room D3 or what might have been a kind of clay pit area D4.

The gurgling sounds too loud to be some small stream of water, like a chubby spring seeping out amongst the rocks in a field on a summer day.  But it's not loud enough to be a happy brook rolling through a green glade pixies are prancing beside

It's somewhere in between there.  That's all you can really tell.

As long as the current residents are using the layout the same, the best bet for finding people is by going to the northeast.

"Yeah....good idea."  Zuni was a little distracted.  On one hand she wanted to know what was causing the gurgling sound, and hopefully it would not be anything too dangerous to impede their exit, but it was in a darker part of this catacomb and she had only the light of the torch by which to see with.  Taking up Luckys idea of heading towards the lighted area seemed safer.

creeping forward making as little sound as she could, Zuni snuck her way towards the 'body processing area'.

OOC:
Stealth-->19

Lucky followed not far behind as they went towards the processing room.  His kukris were out and ready as he stealthily moved down the side of the corridor.

14:22, Today: Lucky Six-Fingers rolled 36 using 1d20+24.  stealth.

Selvin knew he was far from loud when he wanted to be quiet, but...he also knew he wasn't in the same league as Lucky or Zuni. So he took one step forward, stopped, and then resigned himself to wait for them to scout the lighted area. In the meantime he thought he'd creep a bit closer to the gurgling sound to see if he could spot what it was before it came after them as things were want to do.

Then he stopped. He didn't want to cause unnecessary issues or a fight if one wasn't needed. Plus going off on his own while Lucky and Zuni were scouting seemed stupid, even for him. He restrained a sigh and stayed where he was, keeping senses alert for danger.

In reply to Lucky Six-Fingers (msg # 16):

The two scouts move like whispers thought a cocktail party.  One of those loud, snooty cocktail parties where no one ever shuts up.  So you're both pretty darn stealthy.

As you come to the edge of the light, you are about 10' away from the entrance to the old body preparation room D5.

The room is roughly rectangular.  You are peeking in from the northwest entrance.  You can see exits to the southeast and southwest.

There are three large tables set along the room.  To the east is a large wooden bookcase.  It's currently stuffed with all kinds of wizardy looking ingredients.  Bat wings.  The toenails of a medusa.  Some small urn that emits a creepy looking pink mist.  You know.  Wizardy stuff.

There are roughly five corpses in various states of dismemberment on the tables.  A lantern, the source of the light, hangs from a stand by the central one.

A robed figure is standing by the middle table, apparently humming a happy song as he (she?) is cutting the stomach out of a five day dead halfling.

There are two cats curled up on the table closest to you, one on top of the face of a dead man and the other nestled inside the spread open ribcage of the same dead man.

No one in the room has noticed you.

From here, you can hear voices coming from the east.  They're loud, though not angry sounding.  It's tough to make out any particulars though.

Zuni watched the robed figure, her fingers flexing.  Perhaps it was something in the atmosphere of the room, but she didn't like this robed person.  She looked over at Lucky and lowered her voice.  "We take 'em?"

Lucky gave the ever slightest of nods.  He knew any movement or noise could be perceived and didn't want to let on the were there.

In reply to Lucky Six-Fingers (msg # 20):

Robes doesn't seem to notice.  One of the cats yawns.

Would need stealth checks if you guys are moving

Zuni motioned for Lucky to take cover behind one of the tables (Slabs?) and to move into a flanking position.  She was about to creep up on the opposite side from Lucky, when she remembered that they were here to talk to someone.

Could that someone be this guy?  Did they give a description of the guy?  It was hard to tell any features, what with the robes that this guy here was wearing.

In her head, Zuni cursed.  They had to find out if this was the person that they needed to talk to.

Zuni stepped around a slab and coughed loudly.  "Wow, it's really musty down here.  I would be constantly feeling like I need to sneeze.  How can you work like this?" she said, hoping to draw the figures attention to herself.  "Apologies, I don't mean to sound rude, Mister....."

Lucky was moving into position as quiet as a mouse, though he hoped the cats didn't give him away.

When Zuni stepped out and began to talk, Lucky took the moment to move behind the man ready to finish him off he turned and tried something.

15:20, Today: Lucky Six-Fingers rolled 42 using 1d20+24. stealth

In reply to Lucky Six-Fingers (msg # 23):

As luscious Lucky Six Fingers, the zippy Zuni signals for attention...

The robed individual looks over.  You can see just inside the hood Zuni.  There's a little patch of a yellowish colored skin, maybe a jaw line, showing.  And you think you can see long, greasy black hair.  Now that you're looking, you think this could be a woman.  Maybe.

"One gets used to it..."

The voice is dry sounding.  Like the pages of old books laying in some forgotten desert tomb being thumbed through by a golem made of stone.

Robes puts down the scalpel she/he/it was holding.  "You may call me Astrex.  And you are?"

Lucky, the two cats are up.  They are both skulking closer to Zuni.  Their ears are back.  But they aren't doing anything else.

At the moment.

This robed figure definitely looked like a necromancer so probably not the merchant that they were looking for.  Zuni did remember that necromancers ran this place so maybe this Astrex could point them in the right direction.

"Well met, Astrex.  I'm Zuni." Zuni replied, trying to sound casual.  She put a hand on a nearby slab, clearly intending to lean casually on it, but when her fingers felt something wet and sticky, she thought better of it.  "Maybe you could help me.  I'm looking for a fellow name of Thaddeus.  You wouldn't happen to know if he is down here, would you?"

Hearing that there was a conversation, and not a fight, going on up ahead, Selvin began to slowly make his way up towards the group, just in case things turned south. Or in case they didn't and they were about to be helped towards the person they were looking for.

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 25):

Astrex cocks his/her/it's hood, like a cowled dog who's unsure what their master is saying.

He/she/it gestures around the room.  "We get a lot of people passing through..."

It's obviously a reference to the corposes.

"Are you a family member looking for a body?"

Lucky, one of the cat's is inching slightly close to Zuni.  The other one is yawning.

Not sure if the cat was dangerous or not, most likely not, Lucky didn't move from his position to show himself.

Zuni swept her hand in a gesture to indicate the room.  "Not any of these bodies.  I'm only interested in Thaddeus.  Just want to talk with him, if you are concerned for his wellbeing."  What kind of man was Thaddeus that he would seek refuge in a place like this?

"That is....assuming that he is still counted among the living.  Say, what is it that you are doing here anyways?"

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 29):

"Sorry.  I don't really keep up with the warm bodies.  I tend to only see them when they're room temperature.  You'd have to ask Josephine."  She/he/it gestures towards the east.

"And I am extracting innards.  We're experimenting with various organs and their uses in alternate animation experimentation.  Would you like to see?"

"I'll..." Zuni gave a long glance to where the robed figures hand were and what was in them.  "...pass.  I just ate not too long ago.  Thanks for the offer though.  Your experimentation sounds interesting.  And I really need to find Thaddeus, so...Josephine....yeah..."

She start to move off towards the East, looking around the room for Lucky.  She will walk slowly and linger until she meets his gaze.  At that point, she will tip her thumb towards the East.

Selvin came up to the room, hopefully trailed by the rest of the party that wasn't scouting ahead. He only heard the tail end of things so wasn't quite sure what was going on. He stopped and looked around slowly. He gave a nod of greeting to the hooded figure, "Hello."

But then he headed after Lucky and Zuni.

OOC: In case it wasn't clear, Selvin does have his symbiote summoned, just in case.

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 32):

The cats hiss at each of you as you pass.  Astrex just waves politely, like you had all been chatting at a party and now you were headed home.

The stairs go up to a long, rectangular room D6.  Selvin and Izzick, the two of you have recollection of being ambushed in this room by some ghouls or something.  It feels like it was years ago.  Which it was

Now the room is mostly empty.  There's an alcove in the western wall.  A casket is stood upright in it.  The lid is partly open and there doesn't seem to be anything inside.

The door to the east is tightly shut.  The voices are coming from behind it and they are louder.  The door is fairly stout.  So you can't hear everything clearly.  But it sounds like a lot of people talking.  But all of them must have cotton or something in their mouth because none of them seem to have good enunciation.

There's also a rather rhythmic beat.  buuum Ba BA bum.  buuum Ba BA bum.

Lucky was trying to hear what the people in the room were saying but to him, it sounded more like perhaps they were drunk.  He said as much to the others in a low tone.  "Does it sound to you like they might be drunk?"  Lucky looked for any traps on the door before trying to see if it was unlocked.

07:58, Today: Lucky Six-Fingers rolled 33 using 1d20+16. perception

Selvin paused and frowned, looking up the stairs, remembering the ambush. He let out a sigh, muttering to himself. "Guess we aren't gettin' any younger."

He headed up the stairs. And, anticlimactically, the room was empty this time. He breathed out a small sigh of relief.

He frowned at the door. He gave a shrug, walked over and had Zac knock on it loudly.

In reply to Lucky Six-Fingers (msg # 34):

The door is unlocked Lucky

And as you check the door, you can confirm...all those people are either drunk or speech impaired or something.  But what's weirder is the sounds of their movement.  It sounds...synchronized.  Like maybe soldiers doing practice drills as a group or something.

The thumping sound is definitely a drum of some kind.

Selvin, Zac's knock is drowned out by the sounds inside.

Selvin froze. "Wait!"

He listened and then looked at Lucky. "Bet there's a buncha undead in there." He shook his head. "Really hope I don't get killed. Step back, mate. I'll open it."

He opened the door and looked inside without stepping inside.

Selvin, you are correct in your surmise.  The room is packed with undead.  Upright corposes are staggered in lines, some on top of the tables.

At the southern end of the room, a tattooed halfling is beating on a small drum.  The undead are...well.  They're dancing.

They turn, those with jaws still intact grunting, and push their hips out.

Then they turn to the right and wave their hands.  At least the ones who still have hands.

They take two steps to the left.  One of the ones on the table falls off.

They keep on keeping on, no one really paying you much attention.

Selvin looked in the room for a moment, face pinched in a look that said "I hate being right" and "Oh my god, dancing throngs of undead!" He drew in a deep breath, and then thought better of it. He turned to his allies and asked, "Should I yell out for Josephine? Should we wait for a break, if such a thing ever happens? Or should we try a different room?" He looked back at the room and then back at his allies. "I really don't wanna just walk in there, y'know?"

Zuni was glad to be out of that room with the bodies and Astrex.  The whole place just made her skin crawl.  She didn't like necromancers.  It was bad enough that the dead had to deal with being dead but then having their bodies cut open like that?

The next room made her forget entirely about necromancers.  Zuni peeked her head through the door, wondering what Selvin was talking about and then she saw the dancing undead.  Her face twisted up into confused google mixed with a healthy dose of WTF.  "What in the hells is that?" she muttered.  There was probably more for her to say but the whole scene was just too incredulous to find words to describe.  And this was a woman who had been eaten by and had a big fight in a giant worm.

After having just dealt with a ballroom of death only a little while ago, Lucky was in no hurry to enter the room.  "I think you should close the door and we find another route to take."

In reply to Lucky Six-Fingers (msg # 41):

Chandanar scratches his nose and points at the map you have.

"Uhhm...not that I'm wanting to go through the room of the dancing undead...but..."

He nods at the door.  "According to the map, the only way to get to the eastern portion of the complex is through there..."

Selvin looked back at Chandanar and put on a smile. "Of course it is. I mean, how does our luck normally run? Yeah."

He straightened closed the door then banged on it loudly, enough to shake it, several times in a row, off-rhythm from the beat. Then he opened the door once more and called out, "Greetings!

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 43):

The door flies open.

Everyone stops.  Whether they have a pulse or not.  The halfling drummer stares at you a second and then narrows his eyes.

"Who the hell are you?"

Selvin, from within his symbiote Zac, grinned widely. "I'm Selvin Larst. Izzick is behind me, along with a few friends, but he an' I've been here before. We're here t'see Josephine." He paused and then shook his head. "Actually, we're just here t'talk t'one o'your guests down here, but the person back in the other room said we should talk t'Josephine."

He smiled again and raised an eyebrow. "That wouldn't be you, would it?"

While Selvin spoke to the halfling, Lucky kept an eye on all the others in the room.  If they advanced on them he would be ready to defend himself.

Zuni held back near Lucky, completely expecting the entire room to turn hostile.

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 47):

The drummer cocks an eyebrow.

"Josephine?  Hmmm.

"You said you're lookin' for someone.  Who is is?"

"A merchant.  Name is Thaddeus," Chandanar supplies.

The drummer scratches his chin with a drumstick.

"Hmm.  Name doesn't sound familiar.  Then again, I don't really get too friendly with the meat.

"Do they owe you some money or somethin'?"

"We need to ask him some questions."

The drummer shrugs. "Well.  You might be outta luck.  But if you wanna try Josephine, head down there," He gestures towards the eastern passage, "And then head north.  Course...I might could help ya.  But...you'd have to help me too.  Just sayin'."

Selvin glanced back at their cleric as he decided to jump in to the conversation. He frowned lightly when the drummer talked about "the meat" but let it go. One eyebrow rose up, "Can I ask who this Josephine is? Why would we be directed to her more than anyone else?"

He wasn't sure he wanted to 'help' the drummer, due to what they might ask.

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 49):

"Josephine is...I guess she's in charge.  More like she's the most powerful one here.  And she gets first choice at the meat.

"Unless you see your merchant here...and it sounds like he hasn't been dead long enough to be with me...he's with Josephine.  She studies the point of death.  So he could still be alive.

"I recall her getting some still breathing meat about a week ago.  So if he was in that batch, he could still be alive."

He shrugs.  "She's very methodical and slow in her research."

All this was too much for Lucky.  It sounded to him that they also just kill people here as well as just prepare them for their final resting place.  Lucky was ready to go find this Josephine.

In reply to Lucky Six-Fingers (msg # 51):

So...heading east?

Zuni bristled upon hearing wha the drummer had said.  Meat?  Studies the point of Death?  The more the drummer spoke, the more she wanted to run her blade through him.  Growing up on the streets, Zuni was used to a certain level of depravity but this place was sorely testing her limits.

Visibly fighting to keep her hand off of her sword hilt, Zuni started to march off in the direction that the drummer had indicated.  Staying too much longer was going to result in her doing something probably stupid but satisfying.

In reply to The Dealer (msg # 52):

Yes!

Selvin shook his head slightly. Then he addressed the drummer. "Thank you for...the information." Silently he added "and oversharing". He glanced back at his companions, "We will continue on an' see if we can find Josephine. Have a day."

And he headed east, not too quickly, but not slowly either.

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 55):

The drummer seems amused at Zuni's moral dilemma.  But he doesn't say anything and none of the dancers lunge at any of you as you cross the room.

Past the door, the hall turns back into more or less cavern trails.  You quickly come to an intersection.

To the south you can smell what you can smell incense.  It's very sweet and heavy.

To the north, the hall comes to a short stair that descends downwards.  You cannot hear or see anything past that.

Please see the map.  South will take you to D9.  North to D11.  Assuming nothing has changed since Izzy and Selvin were here.

Selvin paused when they reached the intersection, a frown furrowing his brow as he looked both ways. "Hmm." He gave a shrug. "Well he said north so....I guess north."

And with that, Selvin turned and headed north, down the stairs.

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 57):

You guys...so focused.

The stairs lead to a short hall ending in a pile of bodies and a door.

The door is wooden, painted bright red.  There are black symbols painted on it.  Some of you can decipher them as Abyssal language.  THIS BETTER BE IMPORTANT is what the symbols basically say.

The bodies are heaped along both sides of the hallway, leaving only a small path up to the door.  None of the bodies are moving and they all seem to have large chunks missing.  Limbs.  Heads.  Torsos.  All the best bits.

The door radiates magic.  Those of you who are good with such things can tell it is heavily trapped.  It looks like there is some kind of magic set to go off when the door is opened.  The red paint looks like it is laced with some kind of contact poison.  And there is a dart style trap hidden among the bodies right beside the door, designed to fire at the back of whoever steps on a pressure plate right in front of the latch.

In other words, whoever is inside doesn't want to be disturbed.

"Well now, how rude!  Shall we just yell?  I don't want to just wait around for the traps to be taken down."  Lucky said, hoping they felt the same.  Course if not, he should be able to disarm the traps... or at least try.

Selvin looked at the door for a long moment. Then he looked at all the bodies with various missing pieces for a long moment. Then he glanced at Lucky. "Sure. We can try yellin' first. If you're gonna give the door a try, just give us a warnin' so we can step back, yeah?"

He grinned impudently.

Zuni looked at the piles of bodies on both sides of the hallway and huffed derisively.  "Oh for the love of..." she muttered shaking her head slowly.  How could anyone want to work much less live in a place like this?  The bodies, the constant stench of death...the plain constant presence of dead things.  "I've seen death, lived with death, dealt with dealt death, but this is too much death.  I am not liking this place.  Maybe I need a few drinks to deal with this place.  Anyone see any booze?"

Pausing only long enough to realize that she wasn't going to be able to drink her feelings away at the moment, Zuni sighed.  "Fine, let's get this over with. HEY!  YOU BEHIND THE DOOR OPEN UP!  WE GOT BUSINESS WITH JOSEPHINE!"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:21, Sat 02 Oct 2021.

"Trust me, not our favorite adventure," Izzick said, covering his mouth and nose with his scarf. Zuni had one thing right - too much death all around him. It was sickening. To think he'd once woken up here as a potential future body. Still as they decided to try the diplomatic method first, he held back, waiting to see if they got an answer from Josephine behind the door.

In reply to Izzick (msg # 62):

There's a moment after the zenithal Zuni shouts where everything is quiet.

And then you hear a giggle.  A couple of them actually.

"...shhh.  Shh.  They'll hear..."

"...oh man.  I am soooo stoned..."

"Shutupshutupshutup.  Check this out."

You hear someone clear their throat.  And then in a high falsetto, some guy calls out, "Who issss it?"

Whoever it is on the other side of the door starts laughing in earnest.

"Ha...shut up...Ha...".  Falsetto again.  "I'm in the baaaaathtub."

"You have got to be kidding me!  We can hear the both of you now either open the door or we will be forced to come through ourselves."  Lucky could inkt shake his head at the attempt of disguise.

Selvin said quietly to Lucky, "Well, hang on now, if it's just two guys an' Josephine isn't in the air, I don't necessarily wanna 'em t'open the door, you know?" Several images flashed through his mind and he violently shoved them aside.

But then he stayed quiet and waited to see what the response would be from inside the room.

There's a long moment of silence.

Then...

"Dude. Harsh buzz kill."

A sigh.  "Hold on.  Hold on."

There's a moment longer.  Than you hear some clicking like locks unlocking.

Then the door cracks open.

"C'mon in," says an exasperated sounding voice.

No one comes out.  They seem to want you to walk forward and open up the door.

Selvin waited. The door opened but only a crack. "Oh man." He chuckled and then spoke loud enough for those inside to hear, "They're gonna be sorry if that doesn't disarm the traps." He shook his head.

He and Zac pushed the door open and stepped inside, barring something happening.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:52, Tue 05 Oct 2021.

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 67):

We are in area D11 folks

The room beyond seems to be another 'operating' theater, though this time there's only one body on the table.

The body is large.  You'd guess an ogre.  Quite dead too.

Sitting on a stool beside it and standing at the end of the table are two robed figures. The hoods of the robes are pulled up.  With the only light coming from a few candles that have been melted into the necks of empty wine bottles, it's hard to see the details, but you are very certain they aren't human.

For one thing, their hands have no nails.  The four fingers end in long, thin, sharp looking nails.

The skin on their arms is the wrong color.  Kind of a pasty grayish brown.

And while you can't see under the hoods, you can't miss the tentacles that spill out from inside each one.  They hang out like the beard of a man who's been out in the woods for a long time.

The two robes regard you.  "Hey!  Joey!" the standing one finally yells.

From a passage that heads to the east you can hear a high, thin, reedy voice call back, "What? Damnit!  I'm in the middle of someone!"

She doesn't sound happy.

Standing Robes gestures to the eastern hallway.  "You wanted to talk to Josephine, right?"

Selvin tried not to let his reaction show as he saw, or rather didn't see much of, the robed figures. What he saw was more than enough. However, dealing with summoned creatures from other planes, and his best friend being an strangely-malleable symbiote from another dimension...he couldn't really by the first one to throw stones so to speak.

He gave a slow nod. "Yup."

And he began to walk past them towards the other voice. Carefully. Keeping his distance, but not looking like he was keeping his distance. Flying casually.

Lucky definitely didn't like this place.  The dead all over and all these weird people working on and in them was pretty gross.

Sure, Lucky had seen enough dead people on the wrong side of his kukri's but that was different, or so he thought to himself at that moment.  When he heard the reedy voice from the east and then saw Selvin step off that way with nothing happening, Lucky followed close behind.

In reply to Lucky Six-Fingers (msg # 70):

The two hoods don't seem to follow.

The room at the end of the hall has two large tables, each stained black with dried blood.  The corpse of a wolf is on one and a woman on the other.

Chained to the northern wall are eight people:  five humans, two gnomes, and a dwarf.

Standing in the midst of all this is another robed figure.  This one is tall and thin.  Again, the hood hides the face, and thick gloves cover the hands.  But you can see a little bit of flesh on the writsts.  It's bluish gray and leathery looking.

The hood swivels in your direction.  "What?  Who the hell are you? You're not my usual body snatchers."

Selvin grimaced and it took all his self-control (which is more than most people might think he had) to restrain himself from freeing people or killing the necromancers. But he did. He spoke in a low tone and his words were a touch faster than normal.

"We're here t'see a guest hidin' out down here. Fella named Thaddeus." He held up his hands to show no weapons and was quick to add, "Don't mean him or any o'you any harm. Just wanna have a conversation." He jerked a thumb back the way they'd come. "Someone else said we should talk t'you.

Zuni stiffened as she took in the room.  "Just point us to Thaddeus and we be on our way and leave you to...whatever this is."

Izzick continued to keep his nose covered but even as he looked around he hoped diplomacy would get them through this. "We're not exactly looking to make any new enemies, that's for sure." The half orc tried to keep an eye on the two robed figures, not quite sure what to make of the not-so-human body snatchers. "Hopefully, you can point us to where we need to go to meet up with him."

In reply to Izzick (msg # 74):

Josephine groans in an irritated/irritating manner.  She/it gestures at the prisoners chained to the wall.

"I don't ask the meat their names.  If you want to, be my guest.  Just do it quietly.  I am in the midst of a very delicate procedure."

So saying, she walks to the woman's corpse on the table, picking up a small bottle of a black liquid as she does so.

The prisoners are all staring at you, their eyes open wide, hope lighting them up like bonfires.

While Lucky felt for the people chained he wasn't anyone hero.  Though if they were 'snatched' as the woman had said then how could he not help them?  Lucky looked to Zuni and gave a questioning shrug of his shoulders and mouthed, 'shouldn't we help them?'

Selvin reared back as if slapped, looking a little surprised. "I...Wow. Piece o'work." He shook his head several times, as if clearing it of something.

He turned to the prisoners and then to his allies, dropping his voice very quiet. "Um...so...they're all gonna claim t'be Thaddeus if we ask, right? Whadda we do?

Zuni met Luckys look with a hard one of her own.  Cutting open dead bodies was one thing, but to resign the living to these experiments was another.  Maybe if they had consented to having their life spark snuffed out and their bodies cut open it would be different but Zuni doubted that any of the ones that were chained up were here by choice.

"We get them all out of here." she said in a low growl.  "...and end this Josephine."

Selvin looked a little hesitant. He moved closer to Zuni and lowered his voice more. "You know I'm always down for a party or a fight but..." He gave her a look, "You sure you wanna do this, make enemies o'these necromancers? An'..uh...you remember that very full room we went through, right?" He held up his hands, "Like I said, I'm down if that's the decision, just wanted t'remind you..."

He turned back towards the prisoners, "Thaddeus?"

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 79):

There's a brief moment, and then they all start reacting.  Even the women.

You do notice one of the human males seemed to react faster than the others.

Lucky had his blades in his hands in the blink of an eye.  He was ready to defend himself and the others if need be.

What do you mean by reacting?

Zuni reached out to grab Selvins arm with her free hand, gripping it tightly.  There was none of her usual hesitation around Selvin and Zac's mystical pairing, no curious poking at their magicks.  She gripped his arm like it was the only thing keeping her from drowning.

"I hate this, Selvin."  She said quietly, trying not to look at the prisoners and failing.  "This is wrong, it's all wrong.  How can we leave these people here at that...things...mercies?  How can we walk the streets above knowing what's going on down here?"

"...but you're right.  We'd probably get this entire place turned against us and get killed.  It's just...I...Cayden but I need a drink."

In reply to Lucky Six-Fingers (msg # 81):

Sorry Lucky.  I should have been more clear.

They all jump up and down and make as much movement as they can, trying to get your attention.  Their bonds and the chains are hampering their efforts.  They are also all gagged.

And let me know if ya'll are just going to try to figure out which one is Thaddeus or if you are going to go on the offensive.

Thanks.

Lucky moves to take the gags off of the people so he can hear what they want to say.

Selvin looked at her, a bit of hesitation and sadness in his eyes. "I know. Believe me, I don't like this either." He opened his mouth again and then closed it. He simply gave one shoulder of hers a reassuring squeeze and nodded.

Finally, he took a deep breath and turned back to the monster at work. "How much for the..." He refused to call them 'the meat'. "the prisonsers? We're taking them one way or another, but I will..." and this sounded painful like it was dragged out of him a little, "compensate you for losing them."

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 85):

Lucky, the prisoners all start begging you to save them.  They promise you anything and everything, most of which they obviously don't have.

Josephine stops what's she's doing and studies you Selvin.  She thin points a bony finger at you.  "The symbiote.  I've never studied one.  Give me the symbiote and I'll give you the meat."

Zuni bristled at Josephines words.  The offer was a no go in her eyes and she couldn't imagine Selvin actually going through with such a deal.  She could hear the prisoners when Lucky removed their gags, but they were all speaking at once and words were hard to discern.

"I have a better offer." she said, stepping in front of Selvin.  Zuni was trying to keep her voice steady.  Rather than deal with Josephine, she wanted to run her sword through her instead, but starting a fight so deep within this tomb would not be healthy.  From one of her pouches, she pulled out a small vial filled with black liquid.  "What about this?  This vial contains a black goo that we found within the stomach of a giant worm that we encountered in the Cinderlands.  There can't be too much of this stuff floating around."

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 87):

Hmmmm....

"Hmmm..." hmmms Josephine.  She holds out her boney hand.  "Let me see it.  I can't tell if it's worth a trade from here."

Selvin opened his mouth and flatly said, "No deal." almost instantly, but then Zuni began talking over him to the woman. He glanced at her and nodded, but then waited to see what would happen, getting ready for a fight but hoping not.

Zuni handed the vial over to Josephine, sizing the other woman up.  How easy would it be to toss the vial into Josephines face and then chop into her with the sword?  As much as Zuni wanted to painfully extract the life from Josephine, Selvin was right and there could be a lot of trouble coming their way if that happened.  Better to try and deal their way out of this, and buy the prisoners safety.

Zuni crossed her arms and nodded back at Selvin.  "The glowing Half-Elf is nothing special, lots of them around.  Throw a rock in Kintargo and you could hit a some creature with arcane blood...or horns...whatever.  But this stuff, well I could go into the gory details of how we acquired it, but that would probably bore you.  So...the vial for your prisoners...all of them.  What do you say?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:08, Wed 20 Oct 2021.

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 90):

Josephine studies the vial carefully.  Finally she sets it on the table.

"It is quite the find.  But...not worth all this meat.

"I'll give you half of them for it."

An evil-looking smile slowly slid across Selvin's face at Josephine's reply. "Oh, I don't think you understand. The prisoners are leaving with us regardless, we just thought we'd give you some compensation."

Then he straightened. "Tell you what. I'll give you...two hours to inspect - without harming, permanently altering, etc. - my symbiote in exchange for the rest. I will truthfully answer any questions you have that I can as well as part of that."

"Selvin you can't be serious," Izzick said, eyes going wide. He wasn't disagreeing. If they were standing to saving all the prisoners, he wasn't backing down from that either. But letting one of their own take their place? Izzick didn't want to know what in the Hells she'd be doing with two hours time. "Let's take the deal for the black goo. We're not about to save everyone but you." Izzick kept one eye on the necromancer in question and turned back to his friends. "We can figure something else out."

Zuni was more than ready to argue the value of the deal that she had proposed but she was not expecting Selvin to offer up Zac in trade.  She would much rather start a fight than have Josephine poking at Selvins symbiote.

"...Selvin...." she said in a low warning tone.  Hopefully Selvin knew what he was doing.

Lucky was already working the manacles that held the prisoners.  One way or another they were all coming.

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 92):

Josephine laughs.  "Two hours?  I want to see what it takes to kill one and what it would be like to bring it back to life.  I would need more than two hours."

The hood glances Lucky's way.  "I've given you my offer.  Unless you have something comparable to this..." She hefts up the vial of black goo.  "I'm not willing to part with half my crop."

There's a slight pause.  "Though...if you were willing to do a small favor for me.  I would be willing to call it even.

"There's a rather troublesome snake down here in the tunnels.  It bothers our research from time to time.  Bring me it's head and you can have the other half of the meat.

"That should be fair.  And it will keep us from coming to blows.  Eh?"

Selvin bristled at her comments. "HELL no." But she paid him no mind and continued on. Then she made a counter-offer as he calmed down. He eyed her a moment and then looked at his allies.

He gave a shrug. "Don't bother me."

"I am good with that deal.  One other measure is the prisoner must be freed but can stay here and not be touched or harmed in any further way.  We will deal with the snake and come back  to free them."  lucky added to Joesphine.

Zuni eyed Josephine with a steely gaze.  "I'm fine with the killing." she said, though who or what she was referring to could be anyones guess.