The tunnel walls spread outward to form a cavern approximately fifty feet wide and forty feet long. The cavern includes two levels seperated by a thirty-foot-high east-west cliff that bisects the center of the room. Bodies, weapons, and other evidence of a recent battle lie scattered about the southern half of the room. A knotted rope extends up the face of the cliff before disappearing over the top edge.
Doc looks up apprehensively, looking for any sign of a trap. He then looked to the bodies. Humans? Humanoid? Something other?
Two of of the bodies are human, though one looks somewhat odd. Four are some kind of vile abomination that looks something like two goblins mashed together.
Quaen,Adele
One of the human corpses was clearly animated as a zombie before being destroyed.
Adele
The 'abomination' bodies are, of course, dolgrims.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stonegod
OOC: Notice check on an upwards look. What are the bodies (and they are on the same level as us, correct?")
Doc doesn't get a good look at the second level; he doesn't notice anything unusual -- at least, as far as he knows about what's usual for places like this.
"I do not see anything up there," the scholar said in a low whisper. Unlike the others, his hands were still free of a weapon, though it was obvious he had thought about it. "Do we know what those vile things are?" It was quite clear what he meant. "We should check the humans to see if they were part of the crew."
__________________ stonegod -- LEB judge and spawn of Khyber since 2005 (Blog)
"We should check the humans to see if they were part of the crew."
"Yes, definately, let us hope that they were not part of the crew." Grant walks up towards the rope, and gives a good tug on it, trying to see if it will support his weight. If he is satisfied he says, "I'm going up the rope. We need to see what is up there."
A cursory examination of the bodies suggests that they are not from Aerdane's crew. There were few distinguishing physical features of those of any nation in before the Cataclysm, and since then any traits that might have been native to Thrane and what was once Aundair have spread to men and Khorvar across the continent. But by all appearances, the only job House Lyrander would hire these men for is dockworkers in a very, very rough port. They certainly have no insignia, and latticework of tatoos and scars suggest they aren't from any of the major nations of Khorvaire.
The humans carry shortswords and crude pistols -- perhaps Icewood or Skairn work, as no gunsmith in Thrane, the Republic, or the Principalities would sell something like these; the abominations each held a morningstar, a spear, and a light crossbow. There's roughly 180 gp in mixed coinage and notes among the humans.
Doc watches as Grant climes the rope. He shades his eyes to keep an eye on any movement up there. He wanted to know it was safe before attempting it himself.
__________________ stonegod -- LEB judge and spawn of Khyber since 2005 (Blog)
Quaen picks up an arm of a former human corpse, pinching off some of the dead skin and giving closer examination to the tatoos inscribed. "It appears we have a comfirmation that a necromancer is operating here, in this pit... see how the flesh is toughened and hardened, unnaturally so? Observe the veins of necromatic ichor where blood flowed before," letting the arm drop to the ground with a thump, Quaen stares at the body thougtfully, frown on her face. "At one point in death, this body was raised as a zombie. We had best step more carefully. Where there is one zombie, there are always more behind it."
Moving towards the second body, Quaen will also examine it for signs of zombification, as well as attempting to identify the significance, if any, of the scars and tatoos.
__________________ I hate to interrupt, but I believe we're being followed. The Mimes on the street corner. No, don't look. ~ Mycroft, Broken Diamond
Proud supporter of Dreamscarred Press and Untapped Potential, New Horizons in Psionics. Get it now! It's the best 5 dollars you'll ever spend.
"I didn't sign up for this mission to have no truck with dead things. Best let them lie, I say." Horace makes a sign against evil, and steps nervously back from the corpses. He scans the room, then heads over to the knotted rope, gives it a pull to check it's secured and begins to climb, slinging his rifle over his shoulders.
__________________ Originally Posted by Piratecat:
See, that's the thing. A half-vampire gelatinous cube ninja of legend is patently absurd. An unkillable blob of midnight slime that haunts the crevices of an ancient inn, that leaves slime-covered and blood-drained carcasses behind it as it slinks back into the shadows, is just plain scary.
If you're trying for style without player metagaming, change physical appearance and never label anything. As the Shaman and other folks illustrated, everything can be more frightening when you don't know what the heck you're facing.
Once Grant reaches the top of the rope, he redraws his pistol, covering his companions as they climb up. "Keep an eye out people, we don't know what we may be walking into," he whispers.
As far as Quaen can tell, the second body was living when he was slain. The scars on the men seem nothing more than residue of being in a great many fights and rarely, if ever, having access to skilled healers, and if the tatoos they have are of any special significance, she doesn't recognize it.
Grant has no trobule climbing the rope, but upon reaching the top, he notices four more of the abominations huddled in the corner, hustling to aim crossbows at him.
Turning sharply at the warning, Quaen wastes absolutely no time. Pulling out a palmful of gave dirt, the elf pulls at the dark energies mirrored at the core of her own mortal light, as she was taught to draw upon in Aerenal. Quickly flickering her free hand in a tight and efficient series of arcane gestures, the dirt evaporates and disappears, leaving a faint blue glow in a vauge undefined shape before fading. Almost simultaneously, an unnatural chill surrounds the squat abominations, thin mists descending to cloak them in fatigue and wintery death. Each of the four arms loosen and slacken, as strength and vitality are leeched from their bodies.
Moving away from her exposed position next to the corpse, Qauen manuvers for better cover against the crossbows' deadly barrage, drawing her revolver as she does so.
OoC
Drop a Kelgore's Grave Mist on top of the Dolgrims if she has good line of sight to them, or as close as she thinks she can get them if there isn't LoS. Then she'll make a break for some cover, drawing out her revolver as part of the move action.
__________________ I hate to interrupt, but I believe we're being followed. The Mimes on the street corner. No, don't look. ~ Mycroft, Broken Diamond
Proud supporter of Dreamscarred Press and Untapped Potential, New Horizons in Psionics. Get it now! It's the best 5 dollars you'll ever spend.
Horace finishes climbing the rope, and then moves 10 feet to the right and fires at the nearest horrid abomination against nature and Man.
__________________ Originally Posted by Piratecat:
See, that's the thing. A half-vampire gelatinous cube ninja of legend is patently absurd. An unkillable blob of midnight slime that haunts the crevices of an ancient inn, that leaves slime-covered and blood-drained carcasses behind it as it slinks back into the shadows, is just plain scary.
If you're trying for style without player metagaming, change physical appearance and never label anything. As the Shaman and other folks illustrated, everything can be more frightening when you don't know what the heck you're facing.
OOC: The cliff is high enough that those of you on the ground really can't see anything above it unless it's standing on the edge (like Grant). Those of you below don't really know what's going on up with Grant, at least not until he shouts or shoots something...
__________________ Originally Posted by Piratecat:
See, that's the thing. A half-vampire gelatinous cube ninja of legend is patently absurd. An unkillable blob of midnight slime that haunts the crevices of an ancient inn, that leaves slime-covered and blood-drained carcasses behind it as it slinks back into the shadows, is just plain scary.
If you're trying for style without player metagaming, change physical appearance and never label anything. As the Shaman and other folks illustrated, everything can be more frightening when you don't know what the heck you're facing.
Grant seeing the creatures, lets out a warning, "We've got trouble!" If close enough, Grant takes a shot at the lead creature, it's blast echoing off the cave walls. He then drops prone, making it harder for the creatures to shoot him with their crossbows.
ooc
If the creatures are more than 30' feet away, then no SA. Otherwise, pistol +6(+4 if further than 15'), 2d4+1d6(SA) damage. Dropping pistol after the shot and drawing rapier then, dropping prone, AC vs. Ranged attacks is 21, vs melee, 14.
Last edited by EvolutionKB; 20th June 2007 at 04:00 AM..
Reason: I don't want to run up there yet!
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