Bellinha quickly stepped forward to try and calm the Halfling. The last thing that they needed was more racket to alert anyone else in the building that they were here.  "Hey, hey.  Calm down.  You're not going to be...fed to cats." It was unbelievable that she had to add that last part in.

"Why don't you tell us about this woman and her cats and we can help you to escape from...this pretty open mansion.  Why are you here anyways?"

Kozibi turned and gave Zale a look that hard to pin down. It was a mixture of a frown that spoke of thoughtfulness but also a bit of disappointment maybe. "No. I don't think so."

He then turned back to Bellinha and the halfling, listening to what was said. But she was already asking the questions that he wanted to know the answers to so he waited for the response.

In reply to Kozibi Januson (msg # 130):

Brillum manages to calm his quivering chin and wipes snot off his nose with the back of his hairy hand.

"She...she's crazy!  There's like these...I dunno. Guys in robes.  They keep goin' on about the great Sea Devil.

"I was just a guy in Burkersburg. But my boat sailed into this weird fog.  Next thing I know, I'm handcuffed in a a barrel.

"Then these guys take me and these other people outta barrels.  And they start cuttin' up some of the others and throwin' 'em to these cats.  And the cats started eattin' everybody!  I mean just like chowin' down!

"I was able to slip out while they were doin' somethin' with the other people's bodies.  I found my way up here.  But then the cats showed up.  So I ran in here to get away.

"Please don't feed me to the kitties!  Please!"

As the undine turns to leave he stops and looks at the halfling "Sea Devil?" That definatly perked up Zale "Do you know where the cats are?" He looks at Bel and Koz.

21:04, Today: Zale Morcant rolled 17 using 1d20+7.  Knowledge (Planes)-Sea Devil?

21:03, Today: Zale Morcant rolled 10 using 1d20+7.  Knowledge (Arcana)-Sea Devil?

In reply to Zale Morcant (msg # 132):

Zale, "sea devil" can be used to describe a number of different entities.  Some people call sharks sea devils.  Some people use the term to refer to certain acquatic races, like the sauhagin.  You seem to recall hearing a story somewhere, sometime about a giant squid being called a "sea devil".  Though...where and when you heard that story eludes you.

Brillum looks towards the south.  "I hear them. From further in the mansion..."

You can all hear them.  Their cute little meows can be heard faintly from the south.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:44, Mon 21 Feb 2022.

"Boat....fog...maybe that's what happened to that other boat that we found on the beach." Bellinha said.  She was trying to be analytical, trying to make some sense of what the halfling had told them.  Sea Monsters and being fed to cats sounded terrifying and the less that she thought about that the better.

The faint meows coming down the hallway were not helping in any way.  She turned back to the halfling, hoping that the sound of her  own voice would drown out the meows.  "How many of these...people...or whatever did you see?"

In reply to Bellinha Grunnel (msg # 134):

Brillum purses his lips.  "Uhmmmm...six maybe?  I was too busy being scared to really get a headcount.

"But there's twelve cats.  The crazy lady told us that.  One cat for each of her toes."

"Ten cats. Ten toes." Zale watches this odd halfling. He looks at Bel "Seems we're outnumbered. Unless we get them separated."

Bellinha nodded at Zale.  "Ten...wait...twelve...cats does seem like a lot.  Maybe they are small housecats?  That doesn't sound as bad.  If they are Tiger sized then that could really be a problem."

"I think that we need to know for sure what we are up against, numbers wise.  There is the crazy lady and the guys who work for her, and then there's these cats.  Zale, I don't suppose that your little friend is sneaky enough to scout out the opposition for us?"

In reply to Bellinha Grunnel (msg # 137):

Moon is watching out the door.  She looks back over her shoulder.  "Pssst," she psst's in a quiet whisper.  "C'mere..."

She's cracked the door open.  Peeking over her head, you can both see out into the hallway.

The doors directly to the south have been opened.  You guys are in room 14 looking out into the hallway.  The doors to the south leading to area 5 are the ones open

Strolling down the hall is...a cat.  An orange tabby.  Maybe a little bigger than the usual sized cat, but certainly not a monster. It stops and sits on it's haunches, then seems to glance around.

After a bit, it gets up, strolls back out the door to the south and disappears through it.

The southern door shuts soon after.

The cat went back to area 5.  The door to area 5 is now shut

Brillum whispers from beside your elbows, "Oh yeah. They can also open doors and windows and crates and stuff."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:42, Sun 27 Feb 2022.

"Maybe they aren't cats but look like them." Zale steps back, the otter at his feet. He scoops it up and turns looking at Bel "No." Right to the point.

In reply to Zale Morcant (msg # 139):

Moon groans but shrugs.  "Whether they are or they aren't, we can't set up camp here.  I think that clock...or whatever it is...is around the corner to the west.  You guys wanna look at that?  Or take a peek through the door that cat came outta?"

The undine hears the ground and shakes his head. He just turns and walks out, holding his spear and with his otter. Leaning down, he looks at his friend and it sinks up into his arm. Satified, the man heads towards the clock not saying a word. He's not friends with anyone and apparently talking about what they may fight doesn't seem like a good idea to Moon. How he longs for the sea. And no undead. If only he could remember...anything.

"...or very well trained cats that can open doors...and eat people..."  Bellinha said softly, to no one in particular.  She hesitated at the door, expecting the cat to come back, but Zale apparently had other ideas.

She frowned as Zale went off on his own, again apparently.  "We need to work on our teamwork...and communication...and teamwork...." she muttered before slowly following the Undine.

In reply to Bellinha Grunnel (msg # 142):

I am assuming you guys are in the hall to the east of Room 3, looking into it

Around the corner is a dining room.  The table and chairs are obviously fancy.  They are polished black oak, carved with intricate patterns and painted with silver and gold paint.  Over the table, a small chandelier hangs.   Sunlight streams through the window to the west.

Just south of the window is the source of the Ticking and Tocking.  It's a large grandfather clock.  Rather intricate.  It stands out even more than the table.

It's taller than Kozibi, perhaps seven feet or so.  The round clock face depicts numbers that seem to be fashioned out of small gems.  The great swinging pendulum is made of silver.  It swings back and forth in a wide arc inside the clock's base.

As you look, the clock clicks loudly and starts to chime the hour.

Clang

CLANG

CLUNK

Seems like it's three o'clock.

Well its probably good that Zale didn't hear Bel. Someone needed to do something...so Zale did. Talking wasn't working and he didn't like Moon. Or Bel. But at least there's some sort of comraderie at least. He stops and tilts his head, looking at the big clock. He glances around, and leans on his spear almost jumping when it turned to 3 o'clock "Think it should be silenced?"

Bellinha thought for a moment.  "No, let's leave it as it is.  If we silence it, that might give someone cause to investigate it."  She said.  "Let's investigate where that cat came from.  Not sure if we need to be wary of these cats but a peek through the door wouldn't hurt."

In reply to Bellinha Grunnel (msg # 145):

Bel and Zale, you crack open the door to the south so you can see into the area the cat came out of.  You are looking into Area 5 from the northwest corner door

You are looking into what must have once been a courtyard.  It's open to the floor above and overhead, a broken skylight opens to the sky.

In the center of the courtyard is a raised platform with a fountain on it.  The fountain isn't working. If it did, that might help the smell.

The courtyard is stuffed with cats.  Not just 10.  Not just 20.  An even fifty might not be out of the question.

They are slinking around, being cat like.  Moving among them is a squat, heavy woman in a garishly bright orange and lavender robe embroidered with cat like figures all over it.  She has shockingly red hair which she's somehow managed to updo so it stands like a spike off the top of her head.

She has a bucket in one hand and is reaching into it, throwing out some rather bloody looking meat.

"Oh Mr. Snugglepuffs! Aren't you a handsome fellow today?"

The cat in question jumps on the lump of meat...which may actually be a spleen...and starts to dig in.

"Pooperbottoms!  Are you gonna give momma nose boops later?  Yes you is!  Yes you is!"

Pooperbottoms gets what is either a tongue or a...well.  You don't want to think about it.

"Momma" stops and sits on the edge of the fountain.

"All my lil snuggly wugglies!  Who wants fresh kittles?  You can have some if you love Momma!  And you do? Don'tcha? DON'TCHA?  Cos if you don't Momma's jus' gonna cry and cry!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:07, Sat 05 Mar 2022.

Bellinha watched the scene for a long moment before pulling back behind the door.  "I had expected that we'd find something in this place but not this.  Who is this woman?  And what is with all of those cats?"

She looked back at the door to the room, her thoughts her own.  "What do you think, Zale?  Moon?  Maybe we can go in and talk with her, or is that being too optimistic?"

First, the undead. Now a very large amount of cats and it appears to be a witch. Zale watches for a moment and glances at Bel "Bad idea. We should check out the rest of this place." He seems unenerved by the amount of cats, perhaps not knowing much about them.

Jevin had seen enough and knew what was about to happen.

Before it escalated he charged forward.   Leaning into his charge, he drew his long dagger and hand axe.

"Look out, male halfling is about to backstab the female halfling!"

It came out fast as a throaty whisper and he bore down on the little man.   Swinging his axe rapidly, he spun it before making contact and attempted to throttle him into submission rather than kill him.

OOC:  Going for subdual damage with the back of the hand axe rather than lethal.

18:34, Today: Jevin Holt rolled 3 using 1d6+2.  Hand Axe Damage.
18:33, Today: Jevin Holt rolled 20 using 1d20+6.  Hand Axe charge attack.

In reply to Jevin Holt (msg # 149):

Bel and Zale, the two of you hear the throaty whisper behind your group.

Turning, you see Brillum standing behind Moon, holding a knife, apparently about to plunge it into her back.

Charging from behind is a guy with an axe Jevin, I will let you describe yourself

The axe guy may be on your side as he swings into Brillum, but not soon enough to stop him from stabbing at Moon

Jevin, you make contact with the hateful halfling but he manages to cut across the woman's back.  She makes a moaning sound and stumbles sideways.

Bell and Zale, Moon has staggered to the side, apparently trying to get out of the way.

Brillum isn't down.  He seems to be drawing in his breath to shout...

And we are in combat.  Brillum is going on a 10.

Please roll init and state your actions.  Thanks.

Jevin, do not wait for "your turn".  Post your actions and rolls including your init roll please.  Zale and Bell, same for you as well please.

Oh.  And make me a stealth check everyone.

Thanks

Before Bellinha could respond to Zale, stuff started happening.  Happening very quickly.  She wheeled around at the sound of the whispering words, just in time to see Brillum stab Moon.  Out of instinct, she thrust her hand towards the halfling, uttering several arcane words before her palm exploded in a flash of bright light.

Bellinha stepped towards Brillum, trying to put herself between the halfling and Moon, and thrust the pommel of her blade at his face.

OOC:
Bellinha Grunnel rolled 6 for Initiative.
First action is casting Flare at Brillum. 
Second action is non-lethal attack on Brillum.  Attack roll of 13.  7 damage if it connects
Stealth check is 8.

Eyes wide opened as he sees the halfling's blade sink into Moon, Zale grips his spear and aims it at Brilliam. As much as he doesn't seem to like Moon-she's with them and he doesn't take kindly to the crazy halfling. And he doesn't know the half-drow but the man seemed to want to help, but so did the halfling in his odd sort of ways but he attacked. If Brilliam doesn't want to be food he's got more then he bargain for. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea but out of spells, the undine grabs at the door and opens it up if not opened already! "Here kitty kitty kitty..." And he tries to hide behind the door or at least not be seen.

OOC
Open the door if not open and hide behind it.

19:13, Today: Zale Morcant rolled 23 using 1d20+3.  Stealth.

19:12, Today: Zale Morcant rolled 14 using 1d20+5.  Initiative.

Jevin looked large for a drow and average in height for a human (5'9"), and lean but of a muscular build.

His jaw line, slightly rounded ears that still ended in the elven point, and musculature stated human.  It was the skin tone and white short haircut that said drow.

His studded leather armor and heavy bear skin cloak appeared woodsy, along with his choice of weapons.  Hells, even his smell; a mix of pine, earth tones, and a hint of lavender mixed with leather screamed wilderness to you.   Most noticeable though was his accent.  He sounded very country human in his accent.

He held his hand axe at ready to chop down as he quickly cast a spell.   Light blue minor flames danced across the halfling's body, lighting him up but not burning.

"Look here bud, you got one of two options.  Drop the dagger and surrender now or see how good you can dance with me.   You won't like the second option."

His eyes and smile lit up as he watched the halfling and waited to see his response.  Ignoring the others, he tightened his grip on his dagger and hand axe and waited.

OOC: Lighting the murder hobo halfling up with Faerie Fire.

00:19, Today: Jevin Holt rolled 9 using 1d20+4.  Initiative.
00:18, Today: Jevin Holt rolled 12 using 1d20+8.  Stealth.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:32, Sat 05 Mar 2022.