The paladin mutters something that is really not appropriate to say out loud, trying again to dislodge the boat from where it's stuck.
[roll0] EDIT: :smallsigh:
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The paladin mutters something that is really not appropriate to say out loud, trying again to dislodge the boat from where it's stuck.
[roll0] EDIT: :smallsigh:
Rana sighs in relief and puts away the scroll.
(Taking twenty now, right?)
-----
Audric pulls and pushes the boat, slipping underwater more than once, before the boat breaks loose. And I do mean breaks-several tiles are now floating down the river. Now the only question is how to get back.
I really do hope that there is something here worth all this trouble... Audric pauses for a moment to catch his breath, then attempts to push the boat back to the river's bank
[roll0]
Nice.
----
Audric makes it back to the shore with the boat. Flipping over the boat lets you examine it more closely. It is badly burnt, the side poles are broken, the oars are missing, and there is, for some reason or another, a leather boot sticking through one of the holes. Bits of frayed rope, translucent viscous slime and broken bits of glass seem to be splattered at the end of the boat that has holes and boot in it. The canopy is broken in two, hanging half off the boat, and the grass looks like it was eaten away with acid.
"Looks like quite a struggle. I wonder who was in this boat...."
"I'm hoping it was Paral. And I'm hoping he managed to mess up that sorceress somehow. At this point, I don't care if he had to use spells." Audric answers, grimly. He focuses on the boat, to see if he gets the greasy blue feeling that he has learned to associate with the sorceress-
((Detect Magic :smalltongue:)
I hope it wasn't, he's... not that powerful, so she's the one who would've done this.
Audric
Spoiler
The detection seems to be harder to pull up than normal, as if it was resisting for a split second. Then it snaps back with a blow that feels like a punch in the eyes. Despite it being metaphysical, it hurts like a stab between the eyes.
There is a blur of magic, dark blue and rich orange-red mixed with multicolored magic and grease, screams from far away, silken magic that is definitely arcane and somehow completely non-malevolant impossible you have been taught and there is feeling in this blurred magic, anger fear and claiming grasping falling ripping flying need mine all mine....
Audric raises a hand to his face and it comes away wet with blood. There is a shallow wound, red and raw and bleeding, between his eyebrows. It seemed to have clawed itself onto his face while he was detecting magic. That...doesn't normally happen.
Audric takes [roll0] damage.
What in… Audric hisses in pain, rubbing his forehead. He shuts his eyes for a moment, then addresses the others “I’m not sure what happened. I think Iil'ssaran was here, but there are many overlapping auras.” He is tired, and confused, and uncertain about what all this means. Focus, Audric, damn you. He shakes his head to clear it, reaching out and taking the boot to examine it more closely, as the most obvious out of place object that he can spot. He also tries to remember if Iil'ssaran was wearing boots like that.
(([roll0]. Yeah, and I don’t really think he can remember a thing like that, but just in case they train paladins to be very observant… what would it be, a WIS check with a very high DC?)
"What happened?!" Rana hurries forward with a scrap of cloth to wipe the blood away and stop it from bleeding more. "Here, hold still."
Heal [roll0] Not that one really needs a Heal check to put gentle pressure on something until it stops bleeding....
The wound soon stops bleeding.
----
I'll give you a bonus for that twenty.
Audric
Spoiler
That is unlikely to be Iil'ssaran's boot. She's only a handspan or so shorter than you if you remember correctly, so her feet would have to be rather proportionally small if that was hers.
Searching reveals little of note. Someone was picking at the tiles near the beat-up end, you think.
That doesn't happen a lot, I take it? What's it like, being able to see magic?
Audric tries to stop her from worrying "It's really nothing of concern..." then gives up and bends down to allow her to reach his forhead better. He smiles. "Thank you."
"No, that isn't a usual thing. I'm not really sure what happened." he answers Antal. He has his suspicions, but he isn't going to share them with his allies. For one thing, there is no use in worrying them, and for the other, he wants to think about it when he has had a chance to make a bit of order in his mind. "Seeing magic... that's not easy to describe. It's sounds and colors and...feelings all togheter. Iil'ssaran is blue, and grease, and it's here, but togheter with a lot of other confusing impressions".
He pauses, looking at the boot in his hand "And I don't know whose boot this is, but I don't think it's hers. It's a little too small for that. "
Antal takes a good long hard at the boot to see if he recognizes it as Paral's.
SpoilerWhat, if anything, should I roll?
Antal
Spoiler
Paral is Audric's height. If the shoe looks too small for a woman shorter than both of them, what are the chances that is Paral's boot?
It's not Paral's either, it's way to small for him. I think that this was someone else.
"If the boat's here and there's nowhere else she could have gone, other than swimming, this tunnel seems like the obvious choice. I could get out the cloth with Paral's scent again, though, so that we know for sure if he's been around. Since he's the only reason we're down here."
Rana grabs her rope and ties one end around Shadow's neck, murmuring "Don't want you running off too fast down here," before retrieving the cloth and telling him to track the scent.
Shadow sniffs the cloth, then bounds over to the boat and yelps once at you.
Which boat, ours or the (previously) overturned one?
The one that has glass, slime, and holes in it.
"Well, at least we know he was in the boat." Rana sighs. "Doesn't look like he was here, though."
Audric furrows his brow, perplexed. "If that's the case, either they swam or teleported away" he says "And if it's the latter, I'm afraid we are at a dead end. Are you sure that is not just the place where the scent is stronger?"
"Well, given that the boat was overturned and heavily damaged, I'm going to go with 'fell out and sank or floated away,' personally. But I guess it can't hurt to check."
Rana takes Shadow and walks a short ways up the dry tunnel before holding out the cloth again and asking him to track the scent.
Shadow sniffs at the cloth again before bounding straight back to the boat and whining.
"Yes, I'm quite sure it's only the boat. Although, come to think of it, are we really sure this rag is from Paral? If the witch has him, it could be hers..."
Audric bites his lips, thinking, but he doesn't manage to come up with an idea.
"I don't know, and I don't know what to do next. What do you suggest?"
Rana shrugs. "If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't be down here."
Audric raises a smile, the corner of his mouth turning slightly upwards "Neither would I, probably. I know your wolf says they didn't go up there, but it's probably better that we check it all the same. The upturned boat was here, after all."
Audric goes to the boat to pick up his armor and things, quickly starting to redress himself. When he is ready, he turns to the others, making a gesture towards the tunnel "Shall we, then?"
"After you."
Rana keeps the makeshift leash on Shadow....just in case.
Yeah, says Antal quietly, I guess that makes sense.
Make Spot, Listen, and any other checks you want to make: I personally suggest Hide and Move Silently.
Audric nods, taking the lead in front of the group. As he walks, he tries to see if there is something that can tell him whether someone passed from there recently, and in that case, how many people could they be.
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
:smalleek:
Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]
Hide isn't really applicable since we're not hiding...
Move Silently: [roll2]
SpoilerAlso
[roll0]
[roll1]
:smalltongue:
but I think I have a penality on those.... -5, if I remember (can't check right now)
Rana
SpoilerSpot [roll0]
Listen [roll1]
Hide [roll2]
Move silently [roll3]
Handle animal [roll4] (for trying to get Shadow to be stealthy....not sure if that really needs anything, as he's likely pretty uncomfortable and trying to stay out of sight in the sewers, but I'll let you decide :smalltongue:)
Shadow
SpoilerSpot [roll5]
Listen [roll6]
Hide [roll7]
Move silently [roll8]
You walk for a while in tense silence that feels thick enough to cut. The muted clanking of Audric's armor and the smacking sounds of Shadow's anxious paws against the dark stone are the only sounds accompanying you, but you feel like there should be more where there is only silence. The tunnel splits, but the tiny side tunnels are too small for even Antal to fit through, to say nothing of trying to fit either of the humans through the cracks.
There are small piles of bones down here, and scratches on the wall forming crude runes. After about ten minutes of walking, you notice that the ground appears to be damp in places. Water, perhaps, or maybe blood. Given what you have seen down here, it is not unlikely.
Antal, Rana, Shadow
Spoiler
Closer scrutiny shows you that whatever the liquid is, it looks like mucus and blood mixed together, smeared across the ground in patches. As if something had been limping with the snot-like substance on its bad leg.
Antal, Rana
Spoiler
And then, the screaming. Almost too faint to hear, but imbued with anguished power and raw desperation.
Antal
Spoiler
Familiar screaming.
Rana starts to point to some of the patches of liquid, "Look, it looks like something was hurt and-", then breaks off with a hiss. "Someone's in trouble!"
Antal bolts towards the screaming, not even bothering to draw his sword.
SpoilerFull run.
"Gods, I should have put the leash on him," Rana mutters, speeding up her pace as well (although not outright running).
Antal quickly bolts off into the darkness.
Antal
Spoiler
The light from the lantern soon fades, and all that guides you is the screaming. Paral's screaming, if you aren't mistaken.
You barely know where you're going, can barely see the walls. But the screams get louder, and soon you can hear that they are interspersed with gasping sobs.
"gods...please..."
Paral, I'm here, Antal calls out.
Audric puts his hand on the sword as soon as Rana warns them, but he doesn't even have the time to understand where the trouble is that Antal squeezes past him and runs off.
"Antal!" he hisses, then gives up. No way the halfling is going to listen to him now. He draws his sword, running after Antal in the hope to catch up with him.
Seeing Audric run off as well, Rana shakes her head then breaks into a run to try to keep up.
Well, if there's anything here, you've surely alerted it to your presence by now. As you head deeper into the web of tunnels in pursuit of Antal, you hear whispers, weak, scared, angry, and sharp. The speaker has power, you don't need to be a paladin to feel that. There is something, something here, something malevolent. The sounds in the tunnel-your feet, your calls, your whispers, and soon, the distant gasps and sobs and screams all echo louder than they should.
And the silence speaks, in tones loud enough, it seems, to shake the earth down to its core, but its words slip away...
"please!"
Four hundred years
"let me go..."
Will not
"I don't..."
We too must live
A wordless scream, too loud for something that sounds so far away, and then it cuts off abruptly.
No more screaming
Heavy breaths, echoing around you. "I...ikathk-mmp!"
No more struggling
"my..."
No more you
Antal continues to run towards the voice, screaming at the top of his lungs, PARAL!!
Audric feels the hair on the back of his neck stand up, but keeps running ahead, towards Antal's voice.
Rana stops, hugging herself, swaying back and forth, breathing hard. Shadow whimpers, pressing himself close to her side.
After a moment that feels like an eternity, Rana whispers "What are you?"
Stubborn human
Antal gets there first.
Give up
It isn't as hard to see as it should be, due to the fact that the tall, lanky, dark-haired youth curled into the wall is glowing red, red like dried blood. His eyes are squeezed tightly shut, and you can see tear tracks glistening on his face. His lip is split and there are tiny glass fragments in his clothes.
We do not have to fight
Drying red blood, black gunk, and mucus-like brain substitute are smeared across his charred clothing. His outstretched right leg seems to have a large gash in it, a gash he seems to be scrabbling at with his fingers. That would probably hurt, but he does not scream again. There is something smashed on the wall, wiggling feebly, and there are five more of those tadpole things flopping uselessly on the floor.
But if we do, you shall fall
Sparks flash and wink out between his fingers, orange and blood red. If you were looking for confirmation about the identity of the boot, it is right here-both of his sodden, patched, leather boots seem to be firmly on his feet.
Not I
His eyes open a crack, and he gazes up at you with fogged brown eyes. "Antal?" he whispers, voice dry and cracked. You can hear the desperation in his voice mixed with relief and...fear, perhaps. Behind that, you can hear the same power that you heard earlier, strong like a castle wall, warm like a hearth, but breaking, as if it was being chipped away, ripped to pieces.
Paral, what happened, are you okay? Let me bandage that. Where is that blasted witch? in his worry, Antal begins talking a mile a minute, barely letting Paral answer.
Llaars
Following screams in a place so dark and echoey was next to impossible, but the patter of Antals feet drove him forward. Losing track of each other down here meant death, for both Llaars and his companions. Finally stopping brought him no relief, as he was now face to face with a raging sorcerer drenched in the stuff of nightmares. The last time he was in such a situation, a little girl nearly ripped his throat out. "All of that blood came from you?" He suddenly became aware of his surroundings and how far they had run.
Paral-for presumably it is Paral, weakly reaches for Antal's hand, moving so slowly it seems he is moving through heavy syrup. "Yes. Charmed. Witch...she forgot to redo it. There was...agh...was a fight. I...I think I got stabbed, don't remember.... There was shouting, jars of this-this horrid stuff...living things...broke, fell in. In the water. All." Every other word out of his mouth seems to be accompanied by a gasp, a wince. As if speaking was hard, or painful. But he keeps explaining. "They move...I...aaa...speak...speak in rocks, in my head." He looks up balefully at you with half-lidded eyes. "Make them stop, Antal. Please."
You are fading even now
Shudders rack Paral's body, and he almost reflexively curls up. "Stop...stop her. Save her...didn't die...none of them. Trapped, behind eyes, in mind...life in hell..it'd be better. Bound...two souls, two minds...one life. No third chance...."
Rana hesitates, biting her lip. When there is no response to her question, she cautiously, slowly begins to walk towards where she last heard her companions, ready to run at any moment.
Listen Paral, don't worry about my questions, you're not making sense anyway. Just save your strength, I'm going to see what I can do to help. And as for you Mr. Mysterious Voice, you'll not be taking my friend anywhere.
SpoilerHeal to see to his wounds (Inspiration Point):[roll0]
Knowledge (Arcana) because I'm sure there's something magical about his current state (Inspiration Point): [roll1]
Audric comes running after Antal, then stops, taking in the scene. He opens and closes his mouth once, probably to whisper a prayer, but he seems to shocked to manage it. He snaps out of it when the sorcerer starts speaking. It probably was the pained sound of his voice that did the trick. He runs to Antal's side, crouching down to examine Paral. "Do you know what he needs? I can heal him, some." He doesn't touch Paral, yet, tho. He wants to be sure that healing him will help him instead of hurting him more.
Spoiler[roll0] to see if he has any idea about what the heck is going on :smalltongue: (I do, but I don't know about him...)
[roll1] to examine the wound in Paral's leg
Paral looks up at the group and blinks slowly. "Need a gag... Earplugs, maybe...who're you?"
Antal, Audric
Spoiler
The wound in Paral's leg is consistent with some sort of cutting weapon-not a long one. There's glass in it, which is a bit daunting, and a direct cut into a large artery, which seems to be mostly plugged with some blueish gray gunk. It's a miracle he isn't dead yet.
Antal
Spoiler
Paral is stressed, the sparks alone are clear proof of that. The odd voice is consistent with some massively powerful telepath-there hasn't been someone like that for hundreds of years.
He's... a friend. Audric, there's a piece of glass in his leg, think we can get it out?
Heal to assist Audric's heal to remove the glass: [roll0]
The paladin nods, quickly taking off his gauntlets to work better "Why a gag? Stand still if you can, I'm going to try and help you. " He remembers the druid and raises his head to look around "Where's Rana? He needs another healer, and she's way better than me."
(([roll0] to tend to the wound in Paral's leg.
And do I dare? Yes I do. Lay on hands, if it still works for me. :smallwink:.))
Paral grins weakly even as Audric and Antal continue clearing glass shards and blue and black gunk out of the gash in his leg. "make 'im shut up...voices, speaking...please, listen, I-" When Audric lays on hands, Paral breaks off into a wordless scream, a scream that seems to be echoed by a chorus in your mind and bones. The light of his healing lashes back at both healer and patient, harming and healing. A paladin's powers are many things. Harmless has never been one of them.
Paral's eyes snap open, red glimmers overlaying his brown eyes, threatening to take them over. "Listen, please, they-the seven, didn't die, back now, again, can't die, no life to lose," he babbles, voice stronger than before despite the wounds looking bloody once more. "My body, my life, he wants it, won't shut up, can't tire, won't let go, won't let me go. I can't win, he doesn't have to..Antal, sorry, so sorry, I can't..." his eyes close once more, and his breaths slow.
Audric takes 4 damage.