THREE HUNDRED FORTY
(I/C)
“Moving on,” Brendon whispered, “grab what you can and let’s keep moving.” He gave the door a critical glance. “No lock, opens away from us. I need to jam something underneath to slow them down. Anyone have any spikes?”
“Si!” Abraxas seemed pretty pleased. “I have muchos spikes.” He took one out (reduce inventory to 9) while Brendon got low and used his prybar to lift the door in the existing frame (<Reverse Open Locks, jam door closed, +20% bonus simple wedge and Abraxas help, Red 36). The fighter gripped the handle and pulled back, lifting as well while the Scout set the spike as hard as he could without using a hammer. Nodding up, the two of them released their hold on the door as it settled back with a groan. A subtle push on the door showed it was jammed well in place.
“Good job, Brendon,” Kovid pointed to the western door. “Give that one a once over?”
As the Scout pulled out his picks and made sure the door was shut, looking to lock it, Lyra was looking around, fingers idly tracing the stonework as she walked around. At the bookshelf, Lannis shook his head and said, “Let’s get a move on people, I'd rather not touch something trapped." The Cleric snatched her hand back, glanced at her unadorned fingers, and headed back to the archway.
Wyn was already there, eyes squinting as he struggled to get his infravision to fire up, but the sunlight coming in through the Glassstone windows made that impossible. “Oui, let’s move on through de archway. I tink it makes sense to lock de west door, but maybe we be in en out of here like de ninjas, oui?”
“Just looking through these scrolls real fast,” Lannis muttered.
“And I almost got this lock done,” Brendon added.
“Dunt forget, as we talked about, no telling what traps de “duchess” might have laid here for someone dat might be rummaging about her tings. Don’t want to mess wit dat till we have time to check proper.”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t get your panties in a wad,” Lannis was skimming the scrolls content swiftly. “Well, they ain’t magic. It’s like she vomited her brain on paper. Odd musings, loose thoughts. Real Crazy girl stuff.” He chuckled. “Like this; Strapping broad shouldered and with hands that would promise a 10 crown courtesan a sensual spanking, I can’t get through the thought of his kinky orange afro and ridiculous baboon moron-face while he would be sweating just to take his pants off. I’ll have a single celebration for one late at night while imagining someone other than Rampant Zealotry making the moves on my nethers.”
“Yeah, she sounds nice.”
“Or this; Would I kill him? Sure, if the timing was right. I mean he deserves it. Cruel and beady eyed, probably kills cats. I think I saw him push a holy woman over once just for fun. Two stabs, and he has kidney issues for the last 2 minutes of his life. So yeah, I’ll kill him when I get home to Jector. Be the last time some copper a day waiter fucks me over with no mustard on my sandwich.” Lannis shook his head, tossing the scroll back on the shelf. “Real Crazy Girl stuff.”
Meanwhile Brendon had finished his work with the picks rather quickly (<Reverse Open Locks, Red 04), managing to engage the bolt and lock the western door. “Done,” he said with satisfaction, sliding his picks away.
Abraxas had been listening to the north door (=Hear Noise +2 bonus quiet, Blue 4), nodding to himself. “I can still hear the Roberts every so often. They are talking and excited. Some talking, chanting too. Can’t make it out.” He pushed away from the door. “But they haven’t gone into the next rooms.” He frowned, “Yet.” He shouldered his Scythe and strode south to the archway. “Amigos, mas rapido, eh? Vamonos, antes los Robs, Gobs, Dyke-chess, Mirrorbells, Pedals, GreenTeeth o any otro enemies come aqui."
Kovid held his lantern high and the party moved as one through the archway and into the larger chamber. The smell of corruption grew stronger. We had the chance to look about, the far ends of the room shrouded in shadows as the lantern barely shone far enough for us to see. The main feature was on the western wall where a large king sized canopy bed with red curtains, all drawn, was situated. Three large matching rugs covered the western half of the room, thick and nicely patterned. There was a large wooden dresser and mirror and with it a free standing 4 drawer chest of drawers.
The south wall had a table with some loose papers and ink, a stuffed easy chair was set up in front of it. Next to the table were two chests – stout, banded in iron, and even from here we could see the heavy cold forged iron lock. A door could be seen in the gloom on the south wall, closed. A fireplace and two other chairs nearby was on the north wall. Overall, a well put together chamber befitting someone of importance.
But it was the east half of the room that made the party stop and stare. The ground was slick with puddles of blood, poorly sopped up by crude towels and linens. First seen was an elf chained to the wall by his arms but in a seated position. His skin had been finely sliced away and peeled back revealing the musculature underneath. His chest had been split open and his lungs removed, hanging on each side of the rib cage like deflated balloons. It appeared that some organs were missing and there were foot long wooden skewers or pins stuck in various places. Some markings had been written on the wall; some in chalk, others in blood.
Next figure was featureless and grey, with only a slit for a mouth and large eyes, no hair. It had been pinned to the wall by hooks and chains, and its skin had been flayed from its body in large parchment types of sheets; the flesh was then on some wooden racks stretching them out and holding them in place. There was a small table and squat stool here with a dozen glass jars, each with an odd body part or bit of fluid from the figure, none of them labeled.
The last figure was a goblin and was bolted to the wall by a thick steel band around its neck. It hung there, eyes open and staring ahead. Its joints were oversized and its flesh seemed pale and washed out. It had no lips as they had been cut away and its nose had been mangled by having the nostrils slit deeply on both sides. The fingers and toes had been worn free of skin and flesh, leaving sharp bone and black rot visible. There was some ground up dragon scales in a mortar and pestle and it looks like whoever had been working on the cadaver, had made a poultice out of it and had worked it into the goblin’s flesh in places.
“Merde,” Wyn swore softly.
And then the figure turned to look at the party and began gasping and reaching for them, making wet choking sounds as it bit and snarled and made to reach for the group.
“Ok,” Lyra frowned. “Wizards are fucking disgusting.”
Time now is Day 8, 11:52 AM
(OOC)
Mirabellis’ room (you assume). There is one door out on the south wall, it is not ajar. Do you guys want to look around? Approach the three bodies (one of them making a REAL effort to try and grab one of the party and eat them), look at anything else?
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