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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 3937982" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dungeon Crawl Classic #24 Legend of the Ripper Level 1-3 (Scaled to level 4)Turn 60: White as a sheet.“Bec get that door open.” Newt takes charge.Anya and Jim rush down the passageway to the trapdoor, which slams back up as they approach, out of reach.Inside the closet, whatever it is that is grappling Cas is winding its way up his torso, he struggles to prevent it doing so, dropping his sword and shield in the process.“GET ME OUT.”Bec tries to wrench the door open, to no avail, it’s stuck.“Smash it.” Newt gasps.The hulking Barbarian rams his shoulder into the portal, with instant results; the door is flung open, revealing Cas, as white as a ghost and half entwined by one of the sheets from the linen closet.“It’s only…” Newt starts and then realises that the sheet is aiming to smother the Paladin, “Bec.” The Gnome calls.The Barbarian grabs hold of Cas, drags him into the passageway, then begins to wrench the sheet off him, the Paladin struggles, helps the Barbarian to get him free.Further down the passage the attic trapdoor bangs open again.“YOOOOOOUUUU CCCAAANNNNOOOTTT SSSAAAVVVVEEE MMEEEE.”Then slams shut again, leaving Jim and Anya shaking where they stand.At last the sheet is off Cas, being held at bay by the Paladin and the Barbarian, it twists and turns in their hands, trying to escape.“Stab it.” The Paladin demands.The sheet attempts to coil and flex, escape its captors.Newt stabs his blade into the linen, it bleeds, great gouts of dark red blood.The sheet struggles violently, pulls itself free from Cas’ grasp, then as quickly, wraps itself around the Paladin’s throat, choking the life out of Cas.“Rip it.” Cas wheezes.Newt stabs again, more blood gushes out, while Bec lifts the linen above his head, the massive muscles on his arms bulge and pop.TEAAAAAAARHe rips the thing in two, and is caught in the waterfall of blood that spills from the rent creature.Cas breathes again.The silence returns, except at the end of the passageway, where Jim and Anya stare up at the trapdoor, they can hear footsteps.“Cas.” No reply.“Cas.” Jim states again, “there’s something upstairs.”They all stop to listen.Silence.“Let’s get out of here?” Ala pleads.“No, we finish what we started.” Cas motions towards the next door, looks pointedly at Newt.Newt looks at his compatriots, then makes his decision, moves to the next door, the third on the left-hand wall, he gets to work.And twenty seconds later moves away to allow the Paladin to open the portal.The door opens to reveal a bedroom which looks like it was last occupied by blissful newlyweds. A large double bed draped with white fabric that has yellowed with age, a dust-shrouded night stand supports a glass vase filled with dried roses, a slender silver ring sits atop a silk pillow. Across the room stands a wardrobe, its doors open to reveal a collection of women’s clothes, all simple but not unattractive.It looks as though the wedding night may not have ended happily. The bride, still dressed in her finery, the fabric clinging to her skeletal frame, reclines lifeless upon the bed.“Careful.” Cas states the obvious and moves into the chamber, “Ala check the corpse is not undead.”Ala whispers a short prayer and then goes over to examine the corpse bride; she soon has something to report.“The body has been exhumed.”“What?” Newt’s confused.“Dug up. She was killed… murdered, it must have been terrible.” Ala concludes.“She’s one of the original victims… of the Ripper.” Cas states.Newt moves over to the bed.“Newt don’t…” Cas starts, the Gnome grabs the ring.The Skeleton Bride’s jaws instantly clack open, as if about utter a terrible cry of anguish, a hazy creature rushes out, at first no more than a puff of dust, it quickly takes the shape of a beautiful young woman, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a flawless pale complexion. The spirit is wearing a black dress, the only dash of colour being a red shawl pulled tight over her shoulders as if to ward off the biting cold.“YOOOOOUUUUU MMMMMUUUUUUSSSSTTTT DDDDD…”“Newt put it back.” Cas shouts.The Gnome darts a hand out and replaces the ring in an instant, shuffles backwards, clearly terrified.“MARI… It’s Mari Kell isn’t it?” Cas stares at the apparition.“We mean you no harm. We want to help you… if we can. Please, please let us.”The Ghost of Mari Kell hovers over her corpse, unmoving.“Tell us what we must do to lay your spirit to rest, we will do it if we can.”Mari Kell reaches down, cautious, touches Ala’s cheek, which is tear streaked.“All men must die because of what they did to me.” Mari whispers.“We didn’t do this. We’re not here to harm you; we want to put things right- like you do… Please help us Mari Kell.”Silence, the spirit of Mari Kell looks solemnly at Cas, weighing each and every one of the Paladin’s words.“Gooooo Innnnn Peeeaaaaccceee.”Mari Kell disappears.“Leave the ring Newt, leave it.” Cas warns.“KILLLLL HIIIMMM. KIIIIILLLL THE RIPPPPPEEEEERRRRRRRR. NOOOO MOOOORRREEEE WOOOMMEEENNNN MMMUUUSSSSTTTT DDDIIIEEEE.”“We will Mari, we will, on this night, I swear to you.”The entire building seems to settle, the sense of dread is lifted, nothing happens, except perhaps the Goodman Gang relax for the first time.“Search the rest of the rooms.” Ala states, “We’ll find this bastard.”The rest of the floor is soon searched, with no mishaps, and nothing of interest found, the other rooms are nothing more than empty guest rooms, all ravaged by time but otherwise unspectacular.“The attic.” Cas points up, “take it easy Newt, there may be somebody up there.”Bec grabs hold of the Gnome and boosts him into the air, to the trapdoor, Newt gets to work, and soon after declares its clear, the Gnome lifts the trapdoor up, shines a sunrod into the gloom.Newt feels a stiff cool breeze on his face. His eyes adjust to the light, he spies a low-ceilinged attic filled with boxes. Suddenly he swivels, hears a rustling sound coming from a shadowy recess.Newt waits a moment. The sound stops.“Who… Who’s there?”“Ewan, it’s Ewan- please help me.”“Are you the Ripper?” Newt whispers.Silence.“The who?”Ewan struggles into the light, he’s a dishevelled looking individual, about forty years of age, human, his eyes are perfect white orbs.“Help me, help me please, I’m blind… I… I saw a ghost.”Ewan staggers towards the sound of Newt’s voice.“Get him down Newt, carefully.”And twenty minutes later the tale of Ewan Treborne has been told, a scam artist forced to flee when a trick went badly wrong, hiding up in the attic after crossing a number of roofs, choosing this one because of the trapdoor in the roof. He’s not the Ripper, harmless and tearful, definitely not a killer.Newt is sent back up into the attic, and there makes a grizzly discovery, just below the trapdoor leading onto the roof is the crumpled and mutilated corpse of a woman, she lies in a pool of her own blood. Her body has been savaged by numerous deep cuts; her right arm is slightly detached from the body, neatly severed by a single stroke. A similar wound to the neck has almost decapitated the head from the torso. The abdominal cavity is empty, its contents heaped in a pile nearby. Her face is hacked beyond recognition. Whoever did this was certainly possessed by an unnatural rage, and was extremely powerful.Newt voids his stomach, till there’s nothing left to bring up, Newt smartens himself up and then heads back to the trapdoor.“Cas.”“What is it Newt?”“You need to come and see this.”Ten minutes later, most of the Gang have been up to take a look, the adventurers reassemble in the passageway.“We’ve been top to bottom.” Ala states.“Actually bottom to top.” Cas corrects.“So… the Ripper’s not here.” “Maybe we missed something, either way, we start back at the bottom.”Ala shrugs. “Ok.”“Besides we’ll put Ewan in with the wounded guy downstairs in the basement. And we’ll come back for the woman upstairs, make sure she gets a proper burial.”And so they do, checking as they go, back into the cellar where they first heard Mari scream.And it’s there that Jim notices a set of heavy footprints, much larger than a humans, easily discernable in the wet earth, they stop at the south wall.“It’s a secret door.” Newt confirms, “exactly opposite the one we came through into this place.” Newt scolds himself, “Stupid.” “We’ve found it now, get ready.” Cas draws his longsword.Next Turn: The Ripper.</blockquote>

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