Rolf lazes in the corner, his eyes sagging shut from exhaustion as he waits, though the hard stone floor makes things somewhat uncomfortable.  From where he sits, he has a close eye on Vunik, who seems to have no troubles whatsoever going straight to sleep on his slab.

Rolf leans his head back and lays against the wall, resting his side so that the corner allows a little more room for cushion, Rolf closes his eyes, thinking there is no way he will be able to calm himself enough to sleep in such a nightmarish place...

---

Yet the next thing that Rolf knows is Ghaalib's voice hissing from across the room, "Wake up!  Get ready!"

Rolf shakes the heavy mantle of sleep off his shoulders, trying to grasp where or when he is.  He only barely has put the pieces of the night back together in his mind and hastened to stand and rush to the cell door when he hears soft footsteps from just beyond the mauled, outer wooden door.

"It's us!"  Morgalyn's whisper announces the presence of the other three before Rolf can see them.

Ghaalib immediately breathes a sigh of relief.

Gustav, Teo, and Morgalyn walk through the wrecked portal before closing in on the others, keeping their voices quiet despite the lack of any other intruders after the demon dogs.

"I think we let out everyone downstairs who was coherent enough to go."  Teo explains.  "Even the girl you had been worried about earlier...  She just ran off like the others, but you were right, something was off about her.  Oh well, somebody else's problem now."

"So that's it right?"  Morgalyn offers in her own whisper.  "We've got the guy we were looking for so we can just high tail it out of here?"

"No!"  Ghaalib responds, perhaps a little more forcefully than is prudent.  He recognizes his mistake and quiets his voice significantly before going on.  "This place is evil.  You may have let out the patients, but it will continue it's work to summon the undead, to create portals to God knows where!  We must do something about this place.  I cannot leave it as it is!"

OOC:  It is 0455.  Rolf has regained 4FP, though he is still significantly winded.  I figured I'd start the conversation for you guys.  We've been at this adventure for quite a ways and there are probably some competing priorities at this point.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:09, Wed 02 Dec 2020.

Their conversation trails off and Vunik finally slips into much needed sleep.  Rolf does his best to get comfortable on the hard floor to get some much needed rest.  He doubts highly that he'll be able to sleep, but it seems not more than a moment has passed from when he closed his eyes to the return of the others, so it seems he has.

Refreshed somewhat from his catatonia, he rises stiffly and listens to the others speak as the blood returns to his brain.

He nods his head approvingly that Gustav, Teo and Morgalyn were able to free virtually all the prisoners and do so without harm to themselves.

As for their next actions he says "We cannot leave until we have at least tangible proof of the evil being done here.  No one will believe us otherwise and we'll be in chains when they hear about the guards we killed."

Gathering his gear together he deigns to not put on his shield and sword.  Instead choosing his trusty crossbow as his method of mayhem, but it requires both hands.

"Is there anything else to report?" he asks mainly of Gustav, but also of Teo and Morgalyn.

OOC:  I read the thread of the freeing of the prisoners.  Can someone give Rolf a synopsis?  Or perhaps just gloss over it and say we spend a minute relaying what was seen?  Mainly the now unlocked door to the west that I couldn't unlock before and the undead creature seen on the 1st floor.

Well releasing most of the prisoners was easy enough 9fills in details) ... on the far side the door opposite the one we had used had a Zombie in it, we could not lock that door, so ran back and managed to lock the barred grate, but it was there reaching through, so that is going to prove something... but we best not be in here when the authorities come, as we do not know how it will go... or who is on which side.

Rolf isn't surprised about more undead in the complex, but he's glad they were able to get away from it unscathed.

"Let's check this unlocked room then." he says as he puts his backpack on and is ready to go.  "With luck we'll find evidence that will show without a doubt the things they've been doing here."

OOC:  We're ready to go west to the now unlocked door.

With Rolf's word that the group is not yet finished with their work, they head out of the room, leaving the sleeping Vunik for now, to investigate what remains on this lower floor.

The smell of decay greets Rolf as he pushes open the Western most door at the end of the hallway, which now stands unlocked an open.  The room is large, some forty feet long and nearly half as wide, with a large, oval table in the center of the room.

The stone table is covered with maroon blotches which cover most of the thing’s surface.  The walls are lined with parchments covered in crude, anatomical diagrams.

As Rolf opens the door, just to his right, there is a smoky quartz cabinet with the size of a wardrobe.  A second wooden door is set in the north wall, though this one remains closed.



OOC:  You guys are in room 18.  The rest of the floor has been incorporated just to make sure you guys are clear where you are in comparison to where you have been.

Rolf is glad to be moving again.  He still feels sluggish after his rest and can feel sleep deprivation setting in.  Still, he's not done with Witten yet.  There's more to search and he knows he has got to find some piece of physical evidence of the evil being done here.  Or his goose will be cooked.

He is alert as he passes down the hall to the western room he tried to enter earlier.  He knows someone, or something, opened that door and he's very nervous as to where he, she, or it is now.

"Morgalyn, help me search this." Rolf says to his lockpicker in reference to the cabinet.

"Can the rest of you check out that table?  But don't get too close." he asks of Gustav and the rest of his crew.  "I think those stains are blood." he adds solemnly.

OOC:  I want to search the cabinet with Morgalyn specifically so if anything is locked she can try to pick it.

Gustav moves a bit nearer to the table and looks at it with concern and disgust.


13:44, Today: Gustav Du Meseries rolled 16 using 3d6 with rolls of 4,6,6.  Perception .

As he moves around the front of the cabinet, Rolf can barely make out the outlines of large beakers, jars, and trays beyond the barrier of the partially translucent stone.  Much as he expected, there is a neat steel lock on the same side as the handle for the cabinet door, and Rolf ushers Morgalyn over to help with it.

"Sure."  Morgalyn responds to Rolf's request, taking a tension rod as she approaches the cabinet.  Though at a single glance at the lock, Morgalyn frowns and goes back to her picks to take out a rather complicated looking needle.

Gustav approaches the table tentatively, and finds that the all signs point to the large blotches of maroon indeed being dried and pooled blood.  The bitter smell becomes somewhat acerbic the closer he comes, and he notes that in places the dried pool have dripped down the side, leaving a trail of mucusy decay.

"I don't know."  Morgalyn starts in a somewhat hesitant voice, the moment her picks enter the thin gap in the steel lock.

"This thing is complicated.  It's going to take a while...  It might even be beyond..."

Rolf watches as the small center of the lock turns with a thin click!

"...  Anyone less skilled than me."  Morgalyn continues without missing a beat.  She steps back, allowing Rolf forward to open the cabinet and glance at the contents within.

The open door reveals a ghastly menagerie of pieces and parts of human remains floating in gelatinous grey fluid.  It takes Rolf a moment to place what they are, though when he sees the unmistakable innards of a human hand, with thick, fibrous tissue and wrapping around the dozens of bones, it becomes easier to place the rest.  Here is a massive jar full of a wrapping, convoluted, wormy entrails that are no doubt a human gut.  There is a long, thinner organ like a flap that reminds Rolf of an animal's liver.  Though he has never seen a like to match them against, Rolf imagines others are a human heart, lung, brain, and kidneys...

Sitting in the bottom tray of the cabinet are various steel instruments.  Tiny knives, hooks, clamps, among others, all of which are stained with a brownish crust.

Beneath the tray, a massive, leather-bound ledger sits.

Rolf watches Morgalyn with interest.  He thinks he could learn how to pick locks and wonders if the woman would teach him.  It's certainly less fatiguing using mechanical tools than using magic, but at the cost of time.  Which usually isn't that much of a concern.

The pick she selects is an odd looking one.  Not only does it reach in, but also down and back in a hook like fashion.  The mage is dubious that she'll be able to get the lock open, but he smiles that she does so without seeming to skip a beat!

"You're the best." Rolf says without exaggeration.  Though she was an expensive hire, not for the first time does Rolf thank the stars she's here.  She's proved her worth again and again just with her lock skills, let alone her ability to fight.  Where she's more than held her own.

With the cabinet now open he can see its contents.  It's a grim sight indeed and gives Rolf pause.  It's one thing to see the table with dried blood and derive what must have happened, it's another to see the direct, grisly results.

He lets out a long sigh as he catalogs the body parts and the various instruments.  Though it's impossible for him to know, he hopes that the men and women that were carved up were already dead before being sliced up.  Which is certainly the defense they'd make if he were to spirit some of the organs away and use them to try to prove their guilt.  They could simply say it was anatomical work with no sinister motives.

He picks up the book and flips it open to see if there is anything he could use against them.

OOC:  Rolf will skim the book to see what it's about.

Rolf picks up the large ledger, displacing the tray above it and then returning it once the book is in hand.

He flips through a few pages, but other than a tiny spot of blood here and there, there is little he understands.  There are dozens and dozens of pages of writing, written in a smooth, flowing script, though Rolf does not recognize the language.

Rolf gingerly picks up the book and wonders what hands have held it.  Were they human or were they otherworldly?  Were they clean or were they covered in blood and entrails?

Quickly he forces these thoughts from his mind as he flips through a few pages.  As he scans he immediately notes it's all in a language he's never seen before.

"If this helps prove what evil they have been doing here I have no idea.  I can't read it as it's in a very strange looking language." the mage says matter-of-factly and with no small measure of disappointment.

"Lets keep moving and try that door." he adds pointing to the door to the north as he puts the book away.

OOC:  I will put the book in my backpack.  Also, during the last fight when I fired my crossbow, if my quiver is short of any bolts I will take out the spare bolts I have in my backpack to replace them.  I have four spares.

Gustav moves to the door, motions for quiet and listens at the door.

Rolf looks briefly over the book, but finding it indecipherable for the moment, he stuffs it away in his bag.

He notes briefly that the long flowing script is the same that covers the documents and pages on the walls, which as he gets closer he realizes to be sketches of human organs, or organ systems, some of which resemble the grotesque bits of flesh which had been locked away in the cabinet.  Despite his revulsion, Rolf is somewhat impressed with the knowledge that is being so proudly displayed on the walls of the room.

Rolf does not hesitate on the idea long though, instead refilling his quiver with bolts and nodding to Gustav to check on the door leading on into the corner of the asylum.

Gustav listens for a moment, though he hears nothing of human activity.

Slowly, Gustav opens the door, peering inside as the other four stand back a few paces...

OOC:  I took some liberties here to keep things moving.  Rolf has refilled his quiver.  Gustav is the first person peering in the room and no one else has a view of anything in particular.  Please give me 1 second worth of action, and what items you have in which hand.

Company!  Gustav steps back, pulling the door open wide.  Assumed everyone was ready to act one way or another...

Gustav steps around the door, but behind the door jamb with his saber ready  (Door should be almost touching the wall).

Rolf prepares himself for what lay beyond the door.  He grips his crossbow nervously and wonders if it will be of any use.  In the previous battle the creatures didn't even seem to be fazed by it.  Will this foe be resistant as well?

Knowing the creature, or creatures, that opened the locked door could be beyond the next one, Rolf moves quickly to action.

He steps to the side, looking for a clear shot of the doorway.

OOC: Rolf will one hex step away from the door, keeping a clear view of the doorway.  He will wait till something appears, then shoot if it's hostile.

Gustav steps back from the doorway, revealing a large room beyond.  Though the view beyond the door is narrow, it is wide enough to reveal a large and thick wooden table, in front of which stands a middle aged, olive toned man whose skin and robe hangs from his gaunt frame.  His hands are thrust in front of his body, almost as if he is pushing some invisible being, though his hands cup towards the center, his eyes focused on something just in front of him...

"I had almost thought you weren't coming."  The words are thin and calm, though they are quickly overcome by events.

The air in front of the man crackles and blurs.  With a puff of smoke and the stench of sulfur, another of the demonic dogs appears in the distance between Gustav and the man, thrusting its jaws forward as it leaps towards the door, its face mad with a violent ecstasy!

Twang!

Rolf's Crossbow sings out, striking at the beast before it seems ready and burying a bolt so far into the thing's flesh that it disappears!  The beast shrieks, stumbling down for a moment, though it picks its head up quickly, murder in its eyes!

OOC:  Apologies for the weird black line on the top of the map.  I think I've fixed the issue for the next time around, but probably I just made it worse.  No need for a defense yet this turn, but please remark one for these coming two turns.  Rolf's crossbow is spent and unready, but you seem to have gotten a massive hit on the beast before he had a chance to attack any of you.

Lets do two rounds of action.

Gustav Drops his saber blade and thrusts the tip for the beasts vitals...

He follows with his shorter Main Gauche, striking again for the beasts Vitals

Rolf waits for anything to appear in the door and he doesn't hesitate for even a split second as he sends his bolt dead on into the creature occupying the door.

Not one of those again! his mind screams as it processes that they are fighting another one of those incredibly tough creatures they fought earlier.

He's not entirely sure they can be hurt or killed, but seeing it react to his deadly bolt suggests they can be.

"Protect yourself!" he implores as he steps back and begins to ready another bolt.

OOC:  Rolf will begin to reload his crossbow.  Defense if melee feverish retreating dodge, missile feverish dodge and drop.

Rolf reels back in horror as another one of the demon dogs bursts through the open doorway, for now no barrier of iron keeps them safe from its attack!

However, despite the thing's much greater opportunity for havoc, it moves slowly.  Its fearsome jaws are a sluggish, and Gustav neatly dances to the side as the thing's mouth yawns in the space vacated nearly a whole second before.

In fact, instead of ferocious, the thing seems positively feeble as it is attacked from all quarters.  Gustav slashes in with both of his weapons, though the dips if his blades only dig shallowly into the beast's thick skin.  Morgalyn too, darts in with her dagger, though it seems the weapon does little more than prick the skin of the otherworldly beast.

Teo and Ghaalib's attacks seem to do much better against the thing's tough skin, each of their clubs hitting the monster in the meet of its center with dull thwacks that reverberate on either side.  The beast shudders with each blow, lashing out wildly with his teeth again, though seemingly blind and in vain.

Missing entirely, the beast falls forward and collapses to the ground with a meaty thud.

"Damn you!"

The words come from the man, who pulls a hand from the pocket of his robe holding a blistering ball of light that crackles with static energy.  The man pushes the thing forward, and it moves slowly like a hovering orb, its spastic tentacles of light snapping out at each side with a phosphorus like fire and the smell of ozone.

OOC:  Sorry for the lack of pictures and a map.  My Imgur account is acting up on me and frankly I'm pressed for time tonight.  Assume that everyone is in the same places.  Rolf is 2/3 of the way done reloading his crossbow.  The demon dog went down surprisingly easily, though the man within the room beyond still seems to be putting up a fight.  The ball of light is moving slowly away from him (somewhere between the speeds of a walk and a run) and is moving in the group's general direction.

Rolf's nervous hands feverishly work to load the crossbow.  He knows how dangerous the creature's are, and he's not sure if they can handle it sans the iron bars that protected them earlier.  He is glad his bolt hit it with deadly accuracy, but on it comes!

Yet, by the gods it seems hurt and not full of vim and vigor like before.  His group peppers it with blows in furious fashion and it falls!

Rolf allows a brief smile to pass at the sight of the fallen creature, but it doesn't last long.

His eyes perk at the sight and sound of crackling energy.  "Lightning!  Shut the door!" he implores as he keeps loading.

OOC:  Rolf will continue to load his crossbow and implore his group to shut the door.

Edit: spelling
This message was last edited by the player at 18:37, Fri 01 Jan 2021.

Gustav Steps aside and swings the door shut with force.

Frantically, Rolf loads his crossbow as he shouts for someone to slam the door, and Gustav, being the closest steps over the still form of the beast dog to grasp the handle.  With all the force his tired form can muster, Gustav wrenches the door closed as the slow moving, crackling ball of energy lags just enough to be stuck in the room behind.

Or at least so Gustav thinks...

Before he has even taken a step back, Gustav watches as the arcing orb passes through the wooden door as if it weren't there at all.  It's perimeter fizzles and sparks joyfully, emitting a humming buzz that Gustav can feel as well as hear.  Without so much as a hiccup, the thing passes along Gustav's right side, continuing farther back towards Ghaalib and Teo...

OOC:  Still in combat mode here.  Rolf has now successfully drawn back and loaded his crossbow, though it still needs to be readied (not to mention have a target) before it can be fired.  Gustav successfully closed the door between the two rooms.  As a note, it opens outward into the next room (I'm not sure if that makes a difference, but you can't use the door as cover if it opens back up, only the stone door frame).  Luckily for him, no strength roll was needed, so the critical failure didn't hurt you.  Please note any defense or action you want to take for the next two seconds.  Everyone is still at their places from the previous map, with the exception of the dog being unconscious and one grid farther south.

Gustav Goes on Guard, with his saber point leveled at the door and his Main gauche ready. He then stands and listens/watches for anything to happen.  He hopes the others can avoid this slow moving orb, which he figures is an evil thing and watches out of the corner of his eye, as he scans between the door, the orb and the surrounds...

On hearing Rolf's words, he moves quickly and drops down beside the table away from the lightening ball
This message was last edited by the player at 18:41, Fri 01 Jan 2021.

Rolf furiously finishes loading his weapon when he sees the ball of lightning float through the door!

Shocked at this development he takes immediate action.

"Fall back!" he implores as he scrambles to get as far away from the impending explosion as his feet will allow.

OOC: Rolf will head away from the ball of lightning as far as he can, taking cover if anything is available.  Maybe a chair or the table that takes up the middle of the room.

Edit:Defense all out dodge and drop.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:04, Fri 01 Jan 2021.

"Fall Back!"

The words are barely out of Rolf's mouth before the static ball's light glows white hot!  Rolf dives to the floor as the sphere explodes in a tumult of arced electricity, slicing through the air with the smell of burned flesh and ozone!  His crossbow clatters hard as he hits the ground, though he cradles it as best he can to keep the bolt locked within the channel.

Even as he scrabbles up, Rolf notices the others, Morgalyn with an arm shielding her face, stray hairs flying away from her head, though she seems no worse for wear.  Teo seems to have been blown back against the large table, his leathers struck with a smoldering black burn, though he too seems to be as well as can be expected.  Ghaalib is on the floor as well, though quickly making his way to his feet, his eyes alert with fire and his fist wrapped angrily around his club.

It is Gustav, however, that gives Rolf a moment of pause.  The swordsman has taken one of the lightning arcs straight across the chest, rending a massive hole in his tunic and exposing a glowing hot circle in the scale armor underneath!  Gustav reels from the blow, his breathing heavy and coming in gasps as he struggles to maintain his feet...

And even as Rolf takes all this in, even as he pushes himself back up to a stand, the door to the other room opens again, and the emaciated mage emerges.  His form seems etherial, solid in the middle, though the edges of his flesh blend into the stone wall behind as if his edges were invisible... his hand is plunged into his robe pocket, emerging with a large ball of flame in his fist.



OOC:  Yuck.  The bad news is that Gustav failed his defense, and then took the maximum damage possible straight to the chest (where his metal armor only barely protected him).  I need 2 rolls for you Gustav.  Label the first DX.  If you fail that roll, you are knocked over based on the force of the blow.  Lable the second one HT.  This is a conscious roll, and you can add your Fit bonus.  If you fail that one, you fall unconscious.  If you succeed both of those, you can act normally this turn (but you will need to make a conscious roll every turn to stay awake.  You are also at half move and dodge.

The good news is that everyone else rolled essentially minimum damage, or at least low enough for either the range or their armor to lower the damage to effectively 0.  Rolf, based on your diving dodge, roll vs. DX.  If you fail, your crossbow bolt has come free of the chamber and rolled 1d-4 hexes away.  If this is the case, you can grab it if it is in your hex (roll of 1 or 2) and end up in a kneel this turn, standing as part of a 'step' maneuver on the next turn.  Otherwise, if you didn't lose the bolt, or decided not to pick it up, you are standing by this point.

Please post 2 seconds worth of action.