Strange Aeons: In Search of Sanity II [IC - Group #1]

[Blackhawk101]

“Sounds reasonable to me.” says Brother Jaume with a grin, “I think the Ratlings were the first door with the fissures in the floor, followed by the pickled punk in the pantry.”

[PSinger]

So, Dorn will lead the party to do exactly that ...
1) Room with six bodies
2) Cleaning locker
3) Check double-door exit is still shut firmly (because those fleshy things make him nervous
4) Visitor's room with the robed bodies.

[lostsole31]

What are the light sources/ holders for the party?

[Blackhawk101]

BJ will cast light on his quarterstaff

[lostsole31]

Because of the size of the party and the way things work out, do we have a second lightbearer of some sort?

[PSinger]

"Mighty Torag," begins Dorn's prayer. "I beseech You, grant your servant the power to make your weapon shine with your holy light, that you may protect us from the waiting evils of the dark."

A quick prayer follows in holy language and Dorn's warhammer is now lit.

Spoiler

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Cast light on warhammer.

[Blackhawk101]

Brothers Jaume adds a dramatic flourish to his casting of his light spell.

[Swami Monsoon]

"Nice trick..."

Akbar finds a broken chair leg and sets it alight with a heatless flame.

[lostsole31]

Brother Jaume has it in mind to add a dramatic flourish ... well after he already cast the spell ... but not being able to define anything or having any training in such touches, it not only comes off as definitely late, but probably non-specific and wishy-washy, which is exactly opposite of the very purposeful motions involved with spellcasting.

Akbar's chair leg has a normal light like any other, but in his mind's eye he wishes of a time or a means where he could actually create a heatless flame.

Spoiler: Akbar

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And now, you have the RP-based impetus to learn continual flame, which is magic that is not wildly beyond you (2nd level).

Can I get some sense of a marching order ... not specific for now, but a general concept for 5-foot-wide and 10-foot-wide situations?

[pfm1995]

Lacking any ability to create light, but also not needing it, Jean is willing to walk in front. At least that way they will not be ruining his darkvision.

[PSinger]

"Lord Hanley," says Dorn, mustering the respect he can when talking to the misshapen little man. "I know you don't want to get involved. But you were the one who did all of the research for your group before we got here. Now, Jean here did the same for us in our group before we were sent here. Still, there have been times when we've seen something and didn't understand what it was. Sure, the answer might be in the library, but knowledge in the moment can be incalculable. We could use that knowledge, sir. As I am an Emissary of Torag, I promise that I shall do all in my power to protect you. Will you follow with us as we try to fight the forces of darkness in this place and perhaps earn our way to freedom?"

Spoiler: GM

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I know you do the Diplomacy thing, but let me know here. My recommendation for marching order depends on him.

[lostsole31]

"Fair enough," says Lord Hanley, "but I am under no obligation to do anything brave, i.e. stupid. I am just here as a scholar."

[PSinger]

Dorn looks to the group, "Here is what I recommend for us for now, based on what I've seen so far. It can change as we learn each other better."

"Jean, you think you can take point, that's fine. Brother Jaume, you should be next to him in wide areas, or behind him, since you are good at your twirling staff defense, smashing things, and your pretty hardy. If we find ourself in an area with the Tribals, you should not be front rank.

"I will be protecting Lord Hanley next - either side-by-side or with him behind me.

"Akbar, behind Lord Hanley, but leave a five-foot-gap to allow for an ally ease of dropping back, and because you don't need to be close to folks. However, you are behind Lord Hanley so that there is always someone in rear to add a buffer for his Lordship.

"Jean, we should have Javert and Nadya undesignated, or in the rear since they can both fly and Javert has a bird's keen senses.

"How does this plan sound to everyone?"

Spoiler: Overhead View of Marching Order

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Here's my illustration of what this means
10-foot-wide or wider ...
Jean + Brother Jaume
Dorn + Lord Hanley
(5' gap)
Akbar
[[Javert + Nadya]]

5-foot-wide
Jean
Brother Jaume
Dorn
Lord Hanley
(5' gap)
Akbar
[[Javert]]
[[Nadya]]

[Blackhawk101]

BJ nods in agreement. “Jean, do want me to follow right behind you?”

[Swami Monsoon]

"That sounds like it will work."

[lostsole31]

C2 was barricaded from the inside. IIRC, the barricade wasn't removed (did it need to be?).

C3: The room is partially collapsed, destroying most of the buckets, mops, and feather dusters that were stored here. A portion of the western wall had fallen away.

C2 (from C3): A long desk, several chairs, a sideboard, and numerous once-stately landscape paintings barricade the door of this somber conference room. A toppled wall opposite the barrier undermines the room’s defenses, a point driven home by the formerly-masked bodies littering the ground (the party had removed the masks to investigate previously). Six bodies, battered by a variety of blunt implements. Their faces were previously wrapped in sheets, shirts, or grain bags and cinched tight around the neck. The corpses consist of Briarstone staff and patients alike, and that not all the residents succumbed to the taint of this strange place (Tribals, Grays, etc.).

Do you do anything else in here?

[Blackhawk101]

BJ is OK with moving on.

[PSinger]

"I think we got distracted last time we were here," says Dorn to the desiring-to-exit-quickly cleric. "We have to deal with two weeks of decomp now, but let's take a quicker look. Jean, bird's have great senses, if he can help us with the search and a quick check of the bodies?"

[Blackhawk101]

With a look of ambivalence, Brother Jaume shrugs and says to himself, “It’s a waste of good furtilizer, if you ask me.”

[lostsole31]

The bodies have undergone two weeks of decomp, so you cannot tell actual cause of death from a quick check. Bludgeoned or suffocation, for all six had to deal with both.

Dorn's check of the bodies does require the group to look more carefully than G1 had previously (or G2 in "their reality" for that matter.) One of the bodies was a formerly orderly that wore a suit of padded armor and had a sap. Tucked inside his armor are two thunderstones and a golden ring. Between Heck and Akbar, they determine the gold ring is worth ~ 150 gp.

Padded armor (with two weeks decomp body inside ruining some of the armor at that) has no good resale. Ring into treasury. Who takes the thunderstones? Nadya is interested in one of them.

[pfm1995]

"A thunderstone isn't of much use to me. Make a note of the bodies so that they may be disposed of, and let's move on."

[Blackhawk101]

BJ will hold anything not claimed by other party members.

[PSinger]

Dorn is fine with Brother Jaume and Nadya having a thunderstone, and "holding" (not claiming) the ring until we get back to our little encampment at the end of the day.

On to the taxidermy room to the east. He looks to Akbar and Lord Hanley. "Did you guys destroy the haunt in here?"

[lostsole31]

Heck and Nadya, both new, have no idea what Dorn means, but the assumption is no. Akbar ....?

[Swami Monsoon]

Akbar tries to remember...

"I'm not sure... what did it look like?"

[PSinger]

"Well, Haru got lifted off the ground," Dorn recounts, "while at the same time a taxidermed songbird in the cage was giving the most gods-awful noise. Bjorn (iirc) killed the stuffed bird pretty easily, and that seemed to end the magic that was holding Haru aloft."

[Blackhawk101]

BJ will follow Jean and explore the room.

[lostsole31]

Jean listens at (nothing) and opens the door. As though it had been plucked from the halls of some warm, country estate, this room is filled with inviting furnishings, a hearth ready for a fire, artwork populated by picnicking families, and a mansion-shaped cage with colorful taxidermic birds inside. Large windows might have once looked out over colorful flowerbeds, but now show only yellow mist. A battered corpse is impaled on the antlers of a stuffed elk head hung above the hearth.

Brother Jaume, standing behind Jean, sees that the Visitor's Room is as it was when G2 first came to it ... the corpse is still on the elk.

What does the party do now?

[Blackhawk101]

“The room is undisturbed! It appears as before the first time we entered.” says BJ in a rough voice. “We had removed the body from the antlers. Ware! That means the haunt in the bird cage may be active.”
He follows Jean as they move into the room.

[Swami Monsoon]

"Did that thing have any kind of magical signature?"

Akbar tries to sense the presence of magic in the cage or anywhere else in the room, being careful not to touch anything...

Spoiler

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Detect Magic