From Across the Multiverse to Barovia: Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (IC)

[Jeff the Green]

@TFO

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Yes. His breath was horrifically bad.

[Sallera]

August considers for a moment and then nods, seemingly content with Aswin's reply. "Is he truly dead? That is strange; what I did should not have killed anyone. Perhaps we should test the effect of the healing arts?"

[Jeff the Green]

"I might attempt to resuscitate him," Ashlyn says to August. She kneels down to the man and places a hand on his forehead. It glows momentarily before she looks up, her expression resigned. "Meseems his spirit hath yet departed from this body to the gloaming thereafter."

[Sallera]

"Most curious. Perhaps he was so close to his intended time that the slightest touch could push him over the edge... but if that is so, I do not know how he fought with such vigour." Stepping away from the body, August moves to explore the southern end of the room, looking for the place from which their foes had emerged.

[TheFallenOne]

"He was well and truly alive when I first grabbed him. Either your power was more potent than anticipated or whatever bound him to life lost its hold when he lost consciousness."

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Knowledge Religion - (1d20+6)[23] for any kind of halflife, magic or whatever that could explain this

[Jeff the Green]

TFO:

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You're not familiar with any sort of magic that would create a halflife that quite fits these circumstances. Some are able to feign death, but you've never heard of anyone faking their demise so well as to reject healing magic. There are, of course, illusions that could manage either disguising a living body as dead or an undead creature as alive, but you and the others interacted with him sufficiently that you should have been able to tell if it were an illusion unless he were a particularly powerful caster.

[Fireheart]

T'riss steps back in horror as the undead that was Arthros is suddenly whisked away to another realm.

She shakes her head and replaces her weapons.

"It is a strange place this that one moment takes life and in the other gives the appearance of life. Is there aught in here that can help us in our quest?"

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OOC: Search?

(1d20+7)[20]

[Jeff the Green]

Aswin and Ashlyn shuck the man's armor off of him, and the cause of his death is immediately apparent: a great split runs from under his left rib to his right hip, and his bowels have spewed out. Isaac examines him closer, holding his nose.

Mahrke:

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You can pick out the intestines, kidneys, and liver in the mess of offal, but these are misshapen, sclerotic, and have numerous tumors growing on them. Moreover, there are a number of organs—or things that look like organs—that you are completely unable to identify. You also note that the cartilage of his ears and nose have collapsed, and some of his ribs are so brittle they're riddled with fractures.

Most disturbingly, there seem to be some sort of parasites growing in the man's body. These shy away from the light of Aswin's sunrod and burrow back into the man's body.

Meanwhile, T'riss searches the cellar. There is a door in the south that leads to what seems to be a laboratory of sorts. Samples of flesh in various degrees of decomposition are arrayed on a table along with a number of vials that appear to contain alchemical reagents. In addition, a small cloth-bound book of the sort one might use for laboratory notes or a diary lays on the table, along with some tens of pages that appear to have been pulled from a much lengthier tome.

Finally, two corpses lie on the floor in the laboratory: one a muscular woman in heavy plate armor; the other a somewhat weedy young man wearing a simple cassock emblazoned with a rising sun upon it over chainmail.

[al'Lan Mandrag]

Arya hisses as she follows Triss down into the laboratory, sensing the desecration that this place has been home to. She looks pityingly on the two corpses, but gives them no more notice as she circles, looking for danger.

[Mahrke]

"Concerning...to say the least." The professor laments. He looks around, before pursuing his comrades into the laboratory. Almost immediately, vesper notes the presence of weaponry, and begins rattling off factoids about their functions, sounding very much like a bad advertisement for arcane wares.
It is at this moment that the old man pauses. It strikes him in an instant that companions are still wounded. Gone is the one who tended to their ills. With a grim look set upon aged visage, he makes his rounds, beckoning his companions to stay still, pulling upon the power to speed the body's own innate recovery; a power used often to take care of scratches at the occassional broken bone, now used to reverse battle wounds. That task complete, he returns to his personal mission: discover the root of the disease. He begins to look throughout the laboratory with eyes peeled.

"T'rissaste. Do let me know if you find any forceps, scalpels, or other surgical instruments. Oh, and an empty vial..." He begins to look at the pieces of flesh as he searches on his own, looking to find enough that might allow him to capture one of the parasites riddling the corpse of their now dead foe.

[TheFallenOne]

Kneeling down next to the corpses, Aswin spoke a silent prayer, hoping their spirits have been savely ushered into the realm of those once living. "I'm sorry, Lady Ashlyn, your two companions have fallen in their task. At least they were spared having their remains disgraced by the plague."

When the floating device began rattling down descriptions of their equipment, he stood up and sent it swaying with a tap of his fist. "Not now."

[Jeff the Green]

"'Tis a small comfort to be sure," Ashlyn replies to Aswin. Her voice is thick with held-back tears and her face bears both grief and resignation. "Soothly I bore little hope that they might have survived their adventure, but the grief doth weigh heavily on me still. Wouldst thou assist me in returning their bodies to the town square? I would not fain leave them here in this dread place."

[Sallera]

"Indeed, they should not be left here. But bide a while, for our second purpose in coming remains unfulfilled." So saying, August takes up the papers and journal, sorting through them in an attempt to divine what the mad priest had done. "Arya, might you ensure there are no further exits from this cellar? The ones the elder tree saw return with the dead man could have been the shades we faced, but I would fain be certain no one but us remains below."

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I'll let you make any necessary Knowledge or Spellcraft checks here, assuming any of this is in a language August can read.

[Mahrke]

Isaac's 'pet' sways unsteadily in the air at the Nord's tap, interrupting its description on the fine craftsmanship of the enchanted blade. Nonetheless, it goes silent at the command, hovering mute back to float above Isaac's shoulder, the professor giving a frown to his A.I.

He makes his way to the corpses of the innocent, kneeling beside them, and beginning to inspect them for signs of what laid them low.

[Jeff the Green]

Using two crossbow bolts like chopsticks, Isaac extracts a wriggling leech-like organism from the man's body. It is covered in gore and bile, obscuring its skin, but it appears to be chitinous, quite unlike what one would expect. The professor deposits it in an empty alchemical vial and stoppers it to keep it from escaping.

The cause of death of Ashlyn's companions is simple enough: the woman in the plate armor has a crushed skull, while the man has numerous bruises on his body indicating possibly ruptured internal organs.
________________________

The loose pages are difficult to understand at a glance; though August understands the language they are filled with obscure phrases, arcane diagrams, and bizarre formulae.

The journal appears to be just that. Its first hundred or so pages contain short entries dating back over twenty years, notes of births, christenings, and deaths. After that, the handwriting becomes more difficult to decipher. At times it is written in miniscule font or such enormous letters that a single word fills a page; in others the hand becomes shaky. The word "Doru" makes frequent appearances.

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To get a thorough idea of what's in the loose pages, you'll need an hour or so and a couple Decipher Script checks. For the journal, you just need a couple hours to peruse it.

[Sallera]

After several minutes of perusing the writings, August stacks them neatly and tucks them under one arm. "These will take time to decipher. The journal certainly belongs to the fallen one; he mentions Doru as often as he did in life. From what he said yesterday, I would guess this was his child, but I must read through the rest to be sure. Let us return to the inn for now; I will read the journal while you tend to the fallen, and Isaac, perhaps you can aid me in deciphering these torn pages. I know little of how spells and rituals are written."

Before they leave, August makes a complete circuit of the underground area, wishing to be certain that no potential hiding places or alternate exits have been missed. Of the four that returned to this place last night, he was not certain all were accounted for in the variety of slain shades.

[TheFallenOne]

"Let us leave this place then, and give these brave souls a proper farewell." He carefully picked up the corpse of the armored woman. "Elder, I fear we might again require your assistance in this endeavor to reach the upper level."

[Mahrke]

Isaac nods in the affirmative to August. "I will assist you in this when we return. Hopefully no other monstrosities bar our path."

Once again, he makes his way over to the ladder, and, once one of their more nimble compatriots has made their way up, switches positions with them and Drifa, before making his own way up the ladder with some difficulty.

[Fireheart]

T'riss nods and offers to help carry one of the deceased up the stairs. Then follows quietly, and watchfully back to the center of town.

[al'Lan Mandrag]

Bile rises in Arya's throat at the suggestion they would carry the corpses. She felt calous saying so, but felt she needed to make her feelings understood: "Let us just ensure they do not rise again and leave: these bodies are tainted now and we would only make ourselves targets carrying their weight." This last was said with a pointed look at the man in plate armour: she did relish carrying that load.

[Sallera]

"Drifa can handle the load once we are above, I am sure. Or I can... ah! Artax! It has been so busy, and he usually catches up when he falls behind... ah, I forgot entirely." August looks pensive for a moment, tapping a finger against his chin, then shrugs and continues forward. "Well, I suppose he disliked this town enough that he preferred to remain in the forest. Once we have learned what we can from these papers and know our next course, I ought to bring him back before another path is formed through the mists."

Climbing up to the main level, August performs a last check of the church's interior and exterior while the others haul the bodies up the ladder.

[Jeff the Green]

Ashlyn nods to August, and with Aswin's permission, lays her companions' bodies across Drifa's back and secures them with the rope August and T'riss climbed down. Outside, the mist appears to have cleared a bit. August's check of the building reveals nothing, and you head off toward the town square.

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What's your marching order? The streets are 20' wide. Ashlyn is willing to take direction from you.

Sallera:

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As you pass by the corpse of one of the ghouls, something reminds you of your expedition to the church the previous night. You're not entirely sure what, but you're fairly sure it wasn't something that you saw once you reached your destination.

[Jeff the Green]

candycorn:

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Komori fell asleep quickly, but her sleep was not a restful one. She appeared immediately in a lucid dream, surrounded by a blanket of white mist. The mist was foul and clinging and corrupting, but her connection to the Kami prevented it from seeping into her bones like it otherwise might. Still, she shivered from both its creeping cold and the eeriness of the pure-white land she'd found herself in.

After some time in the mist, though how long she was unable to tell, a figure appeared, dark and shrouded in shadows. It seemed almost human, but far too tall and stretched. Through the mist it cocked its head, almost curious, before charging at the shugenja. She fought it, tooth and claw versus spell, but her magic seemed to have little effect on it.

After some minutes (hours? weeks?) wrestling with the creature, it managed to nick itself on the exposed blade of Komori's wakizashi. The blade began to shine with the pale green light of holy jade while the monster howled in agony. Seizing the advantage, Komori drew her still shining sword and began stabbing and slashing at the creature. It howled, and great gouts of fiery blood erupted from its shadow-cloaked form. Soon it lay still, but not before inflicting horrible wounds across Komori's chest and neck. The white mist faded into black.

Everyone else:

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As you walk the streets you come across more than a few corpses, none of them walking. Some are clearly ancient, barely more than skeletons, while others are more recent victims. One even has the dried and drawn look of the creatures you encountered casting spells at you earlier.

Eventually, you approach a cross-street. The mist grows deeper and you are quickly unable to see even your own hands, much as it did before Arthros's body disappeared, and as before the mist soon dissipates to reveal a small room with a bed in it. The bedclothes, the furniture, even the walls are all in a style entirely unfamiliar to all but Isaac, who recognizes them as having something of an oriental feel. A woman lies, sleeping fitfully, in the bed, and you are able to watch her mumble and thrash for several moments before the mist clears and you find yourself again near the crossroad

Isaac

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This is pretty clearly the same sort of teleportation effect you saw earlier, and you can even pinpoint its destination: some sixty feet ahead and to your right.

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Initiative Table
{table=head]Character|Initiative
Arya|(1d20+5)[11]
T'riss|(1d20+11)[13]
Isaac|(1d20+1)[4]
Aswin|(1d20)[7]
August|(1d20+2)[22]
Kuni|(1d20+4)[22]
Baddy|(1d20+2)[12][/table]
Komori and the baddy get a surprise round.



Komori and Isaac can make Knowledge (the planes) checks to ID the creature once they see it. Komori gains a +5 bonus on the check, and Isaac can also make a Knowledge (history) check to identify it.

Komori and O start prone and Komori is staggered for the first (1d4-2)[0] (minimum 1) rounds. (Also the surprise round, but that doesn't count.)

The debris is the wall of the northern buildings that's collapsed. It's difficult terrain and you can enter the building from any square it touches.

[Mahrke]

"Ahead, another temporal dissonance! It very well may be the same phenomena that brought us here, and it is likely that it has brought another...or taken one away." The professor exclaims, gesturing down the road and to the right, stumbling a bit as he seeks to hurry his pace.

[Fireheart]

T'riss curses and hurries after the Professor, drawing and loading her bow as she goes.

"Easy Professor, let us see what the fog brings us."

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OOC: Moving up 30ft, draw and load crossbow, She'll spot and listen as well but I'm blocked from MW at the new job so I'll need to go home and download character sheets.

[candycorn]

Komori curses quietly to herself... It seems the shadowlands was growing more cunning... She remembered returning Crab lands clearly, yet here she was... She didn't even recognize this area.... How could she be fooled like this? And to be caught so unawares... Beasts were already upon her, and she heard more approaching in the distance. With a quick prayer to the kami, she summons forth a protector, between her and the beast, to give her time to clear her head...

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bag of tricks: summon heavy warhorse into r8/s9

[Jeff the Green]

Komori

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The creature's horrible red eyes snap open and immediately turn on you. Either unaware of or unconcerned by the appearance of the warhorse, it heaves itself up on its emaciated-looking arms and towers over you. It bellows at you, a horrific sound akin to a bull being tortured and infused with all the malice of the shadowlands.

et al.

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You hear a horrid bellowing and a sharp whinny from around the corner.

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Map's the same as before, except with the addition of a warhorse in R8-S9.

SRD doesn't give guidance on when the critter from the bag of tricks acts, so I'm going to assume it functions as a Rapid Summon, except acting on the NPC initiative (always before enemies) and requiring a Handle Animal check to do anything but attack.

O: Stand, eating AOO from W (warhorse)
AOO:

Attack: (1d20+6)[16] <- Miss
Damage: (1d6+4)[6]

W: Standard action attack O. Hoof:

Attack: (1d20+6)[25] <- Hit
Damage: (1d6+4)[8]

[Sallera]

Advancing to the corner of the building, August pauses briefly as he is forced to take in, for the second time, something completely outside his experience. The bizarre, slender giant and its profusion of excess appendages are far removed from any foe he had faced before, and for a moment he is unsure how to deal with the situation... but then he notices the girl on the ground nearby, and everything becomes familiar again.

Tapping his raven, he commands the mists once again, seeking to trap the giant and the horse in combat with each other - one light, one dark, and a convenient pathway to further channeling, as the ground under the giant's feet erupts with freezing blue flames. "Come this way!" he proclaims, his voice ringing out over the crackle of frozen scales. "The path lies open for one alone; do not tarry."

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Move to J12.
Clinging Darkness, 20ft radius centred at R11/S12, Reflex DC17 for the oni and the horse.
Quickened Black Fire, Q9-11, R10-11, S11, (3d6)[8] cold damage, Reflex DC16.

[candycorn]

Komori

Komori takes in the threat, fully.... She must be farther in the shadowlands than she thought... She recognized this only from the story of Kuni Yori. Nonetheless, she prayed that it was merely a spawn of the true Kyoso. She would fight, regardless, but she knew that she was no match for an Oni Lord. Nonetheless, she needed to buy herself time... Her head was still foggy... She could swear she heard a voice speaking, and she could understand it... But the only ones this deep in the shadowlands would be crab, nezumi, or maho tsukai. He wasn't wearing crab colors, and he certainly was no rat, so... Then the darkness reached out to grab the demon, the horse... Confirming that, at the least, the human hated the demon more than her.

Perhaps she could use this, pit the corrupt against itself. If this was the true Kyoso, it may be her only chance here. At a minimum, she must act as an ally of the human, at least until the demon was laid low.

She shields herself, casting a quick spell of protection.

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Staggered, final round
Cast defensively: (1d20+8)[20] DC 16 - No AoO. If fail, spell fails, but no AoO, regardless.
Spell: Sanctuary (Anyone who wishes to attack me must first pass a DC 17 Will Save)

[Mahrke]

The professor hobbles forward as fast as he can muster upon hearing the sounds...which is to say, not fast at all. His allies are already racing past him by the time he can round the corner.

It is with relief and terror that, finally, he comes upon something he recognizes. "Akuma no oni!" He shouts hoarsely, "Demons that appeared after the awakening. Their flesh is hard to cut. Made autopsy on them impossible when they started killing. Military had to use firearms and clubs. Hard to affect with magic too...just try to stay clear of its tongue and kill it fast."

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Full-Round Action: Double move to J11.
Free Action: Knowledge: the Planes of (1d20+18)[26].