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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 3933431" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dungeon Crawl Classic #24 Legend of the Ripper Level 1-3 (Scaled to level 4)Turn 59: The Investigation continues…“Well I’d better get going, leave you to it.” Father Whiskin takes one last look around the bar and then heads out the way he came, “good luck.”“Well that was a lovely story.” Anya volunteers.“Cheery.” Jim agrees.“OK, rest time over, time to get on.” Cas is up and at them.“Newt, that door please.” Cas points to the door furthest away from where they sit on the southern wall.“Yes, boss.” And over he goes.Twenty seconds later, the Paladin opens the door into a filthy room, still and silent, a hearth on the west wall cold and sooty. Several jagged, rusty knives are plunged into a foully stained table. The nauseating stench of rot washes over the Gang.“Pelor.” Cas blinks hard, his eyes are watering.Cas, Newt, Anya and Bec head in, look around, see what they can see.SPRUNGOne of the knives is yanked from the table by an invisible hand, and before Cas can react, is plunged into the Paladin’s shoulder.“Aaaarrgh.”“LLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAVVVVVEEEEEEEE MMMMEEEEEE.” The whispered woman’s voice comes again.“We mean you no harm spirit.” Cas addresses the fireplace, the walls, the ceiling- looking anywhere.Bec reacts quickly and snatches up all the other knives embedded in the table, as he places his hand down to yank the last one free of the table he suddenly pulls back, somebody with small hands has already got a firm grip on the handle of the last knife. He looks around, and then grabs the last blade.“We are here to rid Grimbo of the Ripper… Here to help you, if we can.” Cas’ voice trails off.Nothing happens for a while.“Let’s try next door”, Jim offers still outside of the room, an observer.Newt examines the next door, declares it safe and lets the Paladin in.The floor of this small room is covered in dust, the air is stale, and dense cobwebs hang from the rafters like a funeral shroud. A few old crates and barrels lie scattered about the room, one of which is covered by a dark shivering blanket which seems to shy from the adventurers light.Newt pulls Cas back, shakes his head, and tosses a sunrod into the chamber.Everyone gasps and takes a step back; the motioning blanket is a mass of spiderlings in their web.“Thanks Newt, that was…”A Spider leaps from its hideaway on the ceiling and lands on Cas’ chest, about to plunge it’s fangs into the suddenly flailing Paladin, the Spider’s abdomen is coloured yellow, white and black; a clear warning of the potency of its poison.Cas reacts in time and bats the thing off him with his shield, continues staggering backwards to get clear.“Cas.”Ala charges in, smashes her longsword down, the Spider scuttles aside at the last moment, which results in Ala burying her longsword a good ten inches into the floorboards of the bar, it holds, she tries desperately to pull it free.THUNKA second spider leaps from the room and onto the Priestess’ back; it sinks its fangs into the nape of Ala’s neck, a fiery poison courses into her, she grits her teeth, clenches every muscle as she spasms, the worst is soon over, she relaxes, and then feels the Spider on her back move again, reposition itself for another attack.FWUNGA crossbow bolt thumps into the Spiders abdomen, the force of the bolt knocking the creature off Ala’s back and sending it bowling into a corner of the bar. Jim’s arrow thumps into the floor there, missing by inches.“BUFFFFFET.”Bec charges over as the beast attempts to right itself, he smashes the arachnid to pieces.Meanwhile Cas and Anya, armed with her staff, attack the first Spider, the creature is too fast, it skitters under tables, then up a wall and back onto the ceiling.The Goodman Gang scatter, take evasive action, except for Ala who’s still a little shaken, the Spider leaps down, and onto the Priestesses arm, and before she can react sinks its fangs into her, Ala flails wildly trying to get the thing to let go.Her mad circling prevents the other members of the Gang getting too her, she settles the dispute, quick draws a dagger with her free hand and plunges the blade into the Spider’s body- dead.“How do you feel?” Cas sympathises.“Bloody terrified.” She replies.“I mean are you poisoned, they looked… dangerous.” Cas points to the Spiders colourful markings.“Particularly close-up” Ala confirms, “I’m alright though… Thanks.” Ala tends to herself, Newt shuts the door, the spiderlings can stay, the Gang are not going back in there.Two minutes later Cas opens the last door on the southern wall, the room beyond seems to have been the private office of the tavern proprietor, furnished with a desk and chair against the wall to the right, a flimsy bookshelf lined with mildewed papers and record books, and an overstuffed couch. Another heavy blanket of dust and shrouds of cobwebs lie over everything, giving the chamber a ghostly, ominous appearance. The Gang move in, more cautiously than before, nothing leaps, jumps, crawls or just plain bites.“Right, let’s take a look through the books, Newt give the place the once over, check everything- Jim and Bec keep an eye on him.”Plan hatched they get to work; Newt even manages to salute the Paladin.Ten minutes later, nearly all the books are beyond salvage, just rotten pulp, Anya however has discovered a little more information.“The owner was called Crofter, Henry Crofter, and it seems he made his money as a fence rather than a landlord, there’s one other oddity, it seems someone was paying him 100 GP/month for, ‘storage’, that’s quite a lot.”“Does it say who?” Jim asks.“Nope, hang on there’s an initial here, I.R., not a lot to go on, anyway not our problem really.”“Ok, let’s get going…” Cas interjects.“Hang on.” Newt taps the wall, feels about the place for a second, the panel in front of him slides aside, revealing a frail-looking staircase that ascends into darkness. “A voila.” Newt bows before the Paladin, who places his foot on the first step of the stair, it groans.“It really doesn’t look safe, we’ll come back to it, we’ll use the other stairs; try to find where this one comes out when we’re up there- ok?”Newt nods and touches his forelock.Cas leads them off again, back into the bar and up the stairs to the first floor of the Inn, and into a passageway with over half-a-dozen doors leading from it.Aging floorboards, worn thin in the middle over decades of passage, creak eerily underfoot as Cas leads them on. Dust covers the floor, cheap paintings adorn the walls, a hooded lantern hangs idle from the ceiling in the corridor. “That one.” Cas finds himself whispering, and pointing at the first door on the right, Newt nods heads over, and places his ear against the door.“Squeaking- rats?” he whispers back.Cas nods, the others follow his lead, they position themselves, as best they can in the cramped passage, around the door, ready… Cas kicks it in.The only items in this room are thin, mouldy mattresses thrown upon the cold wooden floor. The room itself is musty and dark, illuminated only by a single claw-like beam of moonlight that reaches through a crack in the boarded-up window. There is a bitter scent in the humid air; a black tar like substance litters the floor.Suddenly cacophonies of high-pitched squeaks, a mass of vicious-looking bats form a black tarp that stretches across the entire ceiling. The morbid creatures eye the adventurers with unusual interest, heads swivelling to watch, then as one, decision made- swarm.FLING THUMPNewt reacts with lightning speed hurls a sunrod into the chamber, which explodes with light, and then slams the door shut.The squeaking reaches fever pitch, and is accompanied by a series of dull thuds as the bats explore their fury, and as soon as possible locate the exit.Newt folds his arms, chews a nail and waits out the storm.The others grin down at the Gnome, offer pats and caresses.“Cas, look.” Ala points.Along the hall there’s a trapdoor in the ceiling.“The attic, we’ll clear these first- good work.”Ala nods and smiles.Thirty seconds later, when the squeaking and thumping is finally at an end, Newt gingerly opens the door again, espies that the room is now empty and takes a cursory look, cursory because the floor of the chamber is covered in a thick carpet of bat guano.“Nah.” The Gnome declares, and heads back out.Cas indicates the next door to be tried, this one the first on the left-hand wall, Newt sets to work again, no traps, no locks, no sound, it’s over to the Paladin.Cas opens the door to a comfortably furnished room, with bed, closet, wash stand with basin, and a desk. There’s an uneasy aura clinging to the air here, an unnatural chill that hints of evil. Cas stops dead in his tracks, then looks behind him, his compatriots can feel it too.“Don’t be frightened, there’s nothing in here, whatever was here has gone now, it’s just a memory.” Cas smiles back at the others, “it’s ok.”The feeling of dread passes, the others slowly relax.“We’ll search the place, Bec and Ala keep an eye out.”“Well here’s where those stairs come up, you’re right, they look rotten.” Jim states, and sure enough this is the spot the secret stairs from below exit.“From Potters Field.” Anya states.“What?” Jim asks, truning to look.“It’s a ghost book, or rather a book about ghosts.” Anya shows the group the book she’s found, “it’d take a while to read- see if there’s any clues in here.”“And here we go.” Newt has moved the desk, found the secret panel in the wall, and then opened it- inside is another dusty tome. “Henry Crofter’s Diary.”“Good work.” Anya’s over to the Gnome, she takes the book, flicks through its pages- nothing springs out. “I’ll need some time to check these out.”“I think we should clear this area first, and possibly the attic, make it safe- I don’t want to be caught in here if I can help it, I don’t trust those stairs and I’m not going out of the window.”“Makes sense.” Ala offers.The others nod, they press on.But before they go Cas turns to them, “I’m convinced this place is haunted, the spirit of Mari Kell is not at rest, be careful as you go.”Cas indicates to Newt the next door on the left-hand wall, Newt does his stuff, stands aside for Cas.The door is stiff, it resists Cas’ tug, swollen in the frame, the Paladin cautiously applies his shoulder, it comes open causing Cas to stumble into the chamber beyond, which is what he was trying not to do.Fortunately it’s just a closet, a walk-in supply room, Stacks of yellowed and mouldy linens, boxes of rat-chewed candles, and moth-eaten pillows line the shelves. A dark discolouration on the ceiling suggests water, or perhaps some other liquid, has fouled the closet.“It’s only…” And that’s as far as Cas gets- the door slams shut again, the Paladin’s in the dark.In the same instant the trapdoor in the passageway slams open, which gets the attention of the other members of the Goodman Gang.Inside the closet Cas squirms, there’s something in here with him, he can feel it, grasping at his legs, strange, not hands, something with a lighter touch, whatever it is it’s trying to wind itself around him, smother him.“GET ME OUT OF HERE.” He screams.Back in the passageway the woman’s voice comes again.“LEEEAAAVEEE HEEERRREEE BEEEFFFOOORREEE IIIITTTT’SSS TTOOO LLLAAATTTTTEE.”Next Turn: White as a sheet.</blockquote>

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