Grim Deed Part 9
Somewhere down below the Manor Umbergloom...
The party had, after some deliberation, decided to try explore the basement of the Manor Umbergloom. Yet as is just, a slowly moving black slime - allegedly composed of various alchemical concoctions - had been roaming the large wine cellar.
What is worse, the door. The door that refused to budge, refused to open, and only with the thanks of the famous crowbar and group effort, did it budge.
Yet, the slime noticed, and with threatening intent has began to move towards the party...
GAME: Carver rolls initiative: 18 + 7 = 25 GAME: Culix rolls initiative: 7 + 8 = 15 GAME: Skyler rolls initiative: 13 + 11 + +2 = 26
GAME: Skyler rolls weapon1: (10)+18: 28 GAME: Skyler spends ONE point of PANACHE. GAME: Skyler rolls weapon1+16: (13)+18+16: 47 GAME: Skyler rolls damage1: aliased to 1d6+9: (2)+9: 11
GAME: Aelwyn advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 25.
It is now Carver's turn! Reithak is next!
GAME: Note Flat-footed on Carver ended.
"Gods damn that door!" Skyler groans as the squealing of the door alerts the slime that's been happily doing it's own slimy thing in peace. With reflexes that are as sharp as his blade, the young human darts forward to try and keep it from rushing the rest of the party.
Unfortunately, as sharp as his blade is and as precise as his blow is, a strike that would have decapitated a human just sort of slices the slime like some sort of bizarre aspic. He stares non-plussed, and glances over his shoulder. "Um. What?"
GAME: Carver rolls knowledge/dungeoneering: (10)+13: 23 GAME: Carver rolls weapon18-4+1+3: (18)+23+-4+1+3: 41 GAME: Carver rolls weapon18-5+4: (7)+23+-5+4: 29 GAME: Carver rolls weapon18-5+4-5: (4)+23+-5+4+-5: 21 GAME: Carver rolls weapon18-5+4-10: (7)+23+-5+4+-10: 19 GAME: Carver rolls 2d8+4+12+1d8+6+2+1d8+8: (8)+4+12+(7)+6+2+(2)+8: 49
GAME: Aelwyn advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 22.
It is now Reithak's turn! Culix is next!
GAME: Note Flat-footed on Reithak ended.
"Going to find it difficult with a sword!" Carver calls out, the trinkets attached to her bow chiming softly as she fires a series of arrows. Then her brow furrows, stepping to the side, "An' mind you, no fire!" This is also, more explicitly, directed at Skyler. NO FIRE.
GAME: Reithak rolls 7 +3: (10)+7+3: 20 GAME: Reithak rolls 1d4 +2d6 +3: (4)+(8)+3: 15 GAME: Aelwyn advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 15.
It is now Culix's turn! Oily Slime is next!
GAME: Culix rolls weapon20: (5)+14: 19 GAME: Culix rolls 1d3+1: (3)+1: 4 GAME: Culix rolls bab+2: (9)+5+2: 16 GAME: Culix rolls 1d6: (2): 2
No slicing? That put a damper on things. Seemed there would be no choice but to get up close and personal with the ooze that might melt away flesh on contact. The egalrin ducked up close, their armored right hand glowing with an awesome power as they landed a solid haymake on the blob. Unfortunately, no way to tell where any sort of skull might be.
Culix curses under her breath when the gelatinous creature lumbers towards them, and then dashes towards it. Her shadow peels away, splitting off to slip around Skyler as she slices at it with her dagger. "No point getting fancy with it. They aint got any vitals." she calls out over to Skyler. Her shadow reaches out to rake the creature with its jagged, two dimensional fingertips and they don't seem to cause any physical damage, but leave icy trails through its flesh as it saps the creature's strength with negative energy. "Could do with some magic, but my shadow will sap its life if we can at least keep it busy." she adds.
GAME: Aelwyn advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init -3.
It is now Oily Slime's turn! Skyler is next!
GAME: Aelwyn rolls 1d3: (3): 3 GAME: Aelwyn rolls 6: (10)+6: 16 GAME: NEW ROUND!
Aelwyn advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init 26.
It is now Skyler's turn! Carver is next!
"I can see there's no treasure, thank you." Skyler says with a bit of a snippety tone, "Don't know what that has to do with killing it, though!" He frowns, glancing at the quivering little bit he trimmed off, "It doesn't have any vulnerable points, though."
Which, tee bee haitch, is exactly what Culix was saying just without the fancy words.
But then there's some rumbling in a wine barrel, and Skyler looks absolutely *frustrated*. "Oh, fuck a duck and see what hatches!" He spits, and glances over his shoulder, "More of'm! Retreat and close the door behind us?! If we get up to that blood sucking hussy'
The large slime did not need to do much wobbling to get closer, as the coordinated assault from the adventurers manages to considerably reduce the size of the black mass. Wobbling uncontrollably, it seems to rise - elongate? - upwards and with a strong slam attempts to hit the egalrin pugilist. It misses.
But one of the large barrels were now groaning and creaking, as black mass seeps through the cracks.
GAME: Skyler rolls weapon0: (16)+15: 31 GAME: Skyler rolls damage0: aliased to 1d3+1: (1)+1: 2
"I can see there's no treasure, thank you." Skyler says with a bit of a snippety tone, "Don't know what that has to do with killing it, though!" He frowns, glancing at the quivering little bit he trimmed off, "It doesn't have any vulnerable points, though."
Which, tee bee haitch, is exactly what Culix was saying just without the fancy words.
But then there's some rumbling in a wine barrel, and Skyler looks absolutely *frustrated*. "Oh, fuck a duck and see what hatches!" He spits, and glances over his shoulder, "More of'm! Retreat and close the door behind us?! If we get up to that blood sucking hussy's lair we can always go out the window." He considers the slime, and then abruptly kicks it like a kick ball. "NO! Bad slime! Fuck you!" It hits, but to be honest, it's rather pathetic. "Retreat!"
GAME: Aelwyn rolls 6: (15)+6: 21 GAME: Aelwyn advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init 25.
It is now Carver's turn! Reithak is next!
Carver eyebrow twitches at the threat of another slime, and she shoulders the bow, moving back toward the door. Seems like she agrees with Skyler's plan, as she grabs hold of the handles and preps to slam the door closed once everyone is through.
GAME: Aelwyn advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init 22.
It is now Reithak's turn! Culix is next!
GAME: Aelwyn advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init 15.
It is now Culix's turn! Oily Slime is next!
GAME: Culix rolls bab+2: (6)+5+2: 13 GAME: Culix rolls 1d6: (6): 6
Given the frustrating nature of the door, perhaps it would prove in the party's favor for a change of pace. Reithak hopped back and sprinted back through the door, dropping the enchantment on their glove as they went.
GAME: Aelwyn advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init -3.
It is now Oily Slime's turn! Skyler is next!
Culix nods her head in agreement with Sky's assessment, "Other me- kill." she instructs it and then dashes towards the door herself, ducking under flailing pseudopods. "I don't think they can hurt my shadow, but my shadow will be able to destroy them." she calls out to the others, skidding to a stop at the door and bracing her shoulder against it, under Carver's readied hands, to help pushing it closed.
The Shadow, upon receiving the order, looms up. Its face parts in a jagged tear, approximating a toothy maw, and then it launches into a furious attack against the cube, tearing into not its flesh but its very life force and rending it out in great chunks that dissolve into shadows.
GAME: Aelwyn rolls 12: (20)+12: 32 GAME: Aelwyn rolls 12: (10)+12: 22 GAME: Aelwyn rolls 3d6+12: (12)+12: 24 GAME: Skyler spends ONE use of CHARMED LIFE. GAME: Skyler rolls fortitude+4: (5)+4+4: 13 GAME: Aelwyn rolls 1d4+1: (1)+1: 2
The slime, now third of its old size, stops its ceaseless wiggling and wobbling. Drained of its strength, it rises to its full height in one final glorious strike!
And promptly faceplants Skyler, leaving the Sky pirate covered in black filthy oil. It reeks worse than what they have in the gutters behind Goblintown.
The barrel nearby suddenly explodes, and a black barrel shaped slime slowly flows down towards the ground.
GAME: NEW ROUND!
Aelwyn advances the initiative order.
Round Three - Init 26.
It is now Skyler's turn! Carver is next!
GAME: You damaged Skyler for 24 points. 37 HP remaining. GAME: Aelwyn rolls 12: (6)+12: 18
Carver pushes hard into the door as Skyler stumbles through, looking more harried than just the damage can suggest. She will grab at him, and give a quick once over,"Are you okay?" Splattered as Skyler is, covered in nauseating, sickening gore, he moves with a sort of slow huddled waddle as he runs at the door, clutching at his ass. "Close the door, close the door, close the dooooooor!" He gags as he runs through the door with that waddled walk that suggests the indigestion came down... south.
GAME: Carver rolls heal: (18)+9: 27
A brief check, "You'll be fine. Clean up. You wore your brown pants." She turns away, "Let's move quick."
GAME: Aelwyn removes the timestop.
The doors close and the large slimes are left with Culix's shadow. The sounds within are... surprisingly quiet, except for the occasional bangs against the heavy doors. Black slime oozes from below the door gap, but otherwise the party seems to be safe - for now.
Culix nods her head then, looking Sky over and taking in the sight of him, "You get used to it." she assures him and then turns back towards the door, listening for a moment to the sounds coming from the other side. "I'll leave my shadow chewing on those things for a while. It might finish them off, but if not it'll at least keep them busy." she says and then turns her gaze deeper into the cave and starts moving onwards, keeping her eyes peeled for any other critters or other hazards.
GAME: Culix rolls stealth: (4)+21: 25 GAME: Culix rolls perception: (10)+14: 24
At the end of the corner there is a pile of refuse - decomposing already. Seems like a bundle of plants, bones, mud and other various unmentionables. It seems to be The mountain of trash is blocking an arched doorway. The door to the right is - unsurprisingly - locked, but at least seems functional.
"... I want a bath." Skyler says weakly as he falls onto his ass, winces, and then rolls over onto his belly. He takes a moment before getting to his feet and curls his right hand into a fist, muttering something that sounds alien and arcane before abruptly flicking his fingers open with a click. Mystical energies curl over him, and abruptly he's clean... ish.
Still an questionable spot on the floor, but let's ignore that. He gets to his feet and begins to follow the others, pointedly not looking at anyone else. "So door under the trash? Think there'll be dire rats or something under it? Carnivorous plants? Maybe a clown?"
Culix looks up near the midden heap, and then she gestures up towards the ceiling. "There's that grate the mimic jumped down." she says and then looks at the trash heap. "And that's the trash heap we saw it scurrying t'wards." she observes.
She then heads on over to the door and tries it, finding it locked. "This way's locked." she observes. "Tend to assume stuff is locked for a reason."
Reithak was too busy getting through the doors to help close them immediately, but once she had a moment, she helped shove it close, catching her breath once it was clear. "Not a fan of digging through this, but, whatever needs to be done, you know?"
"You get used to that too." Carver says to Skyler, straining an ear back to the room they came for a minute. At Culix's assessment, she scoffs. "In most places, yes." This place? For fun. She waves her to show she's free to try to get the door open while they watch her back. "I'll dig through it if I have to." Probably done worse at some point.
There's another crash, crack of wood and what sounds like wobbling sounds. Gelatinous masses have a distinct wiggling sound. The corridor the party have found though, is dead quiet. It just _reeks_. The mountain of refuse at a first glance seems soft enough for someone to sink in if they attempted to climb it to reach the gap at the ceiling. The door to the right is a plain metal door, well oiled and properly locked, but beyond that unremarkable.
"I can try to help." Skyler suggests to Carver, wiggling his fingers and tracing a symbol in the center of his palm. He then extends his hands, and points his fingers at the refuse. "Do we want to push it forward, or pull it towards us? I can't really handle anything too heavy, unfortunately." Beat. "We all agree the well oiled, obvious door is a trap, right?"
GAME: Culix rolls disable device: (13)+17: 30
Culix nods her head at Carver then shrugs at Skyler, "Probably." she agrees. "But there's a chance it might be full of gold an' jewels. Or that bloody deed. So I'll poke my head in regardless." she says, sheathing her dagger and unrolling her thieves tools once again, eyeballing the lock and then selecting an appropriate pick and tensioning tool for it as she gets to work.
Carver finger-twitches at the sound, but nods, "Let's try the door first." She goes to see how Culix is doing.
"Yeah! That door's likely less disgusting to try to investigate first, so seems like a good thing to try. Might be trapped, but that's just how it is, right?" Reithak shrugged. "Might as well check, and if you all don't want to climb for the ceiling, I can always drop a rope down, here."
The lock - just a regular lock - would offer a challenge to any old lockpicker. However, under Culix's expert hands, it just... opens.
Behind the door, the cavernous room is completely dark. But for those with dark sight: there is a long bridge across what looks like a fifteen foot long drop; directly leading to a wide ledge on the other side. Unlit torches line up the pillars, covered in spiderwebs.
The floor below is covered in green thick vines. Parts of the bridge is also covered by the thick green appendages; some of them have leaves, some of them are blossoming with flowers. The air is humid and warm - and surprisingly fresh, compared to the filth the party has waded through. It's nearly like being in a garden.
At the very end of the bridge, there is yet another door, though this is open, revealing a wall of wine bottles.
GAME: Carver rolls knowledge/nature+2: (19)+16+2: 37
The swashbuckler deflates slightly, lowering his hands and waggling his fingers. "Well, I guess I'd rather deal with plants than evil trash-clowns." Skyler says a touch dubiously, before moving to follow along after the others, pausing at Carver's shoulder. "Do you see any tobacco?" Carver just shakes her head, "This... home is truly something else." She lifts her left hand and lets it lazily drift as she identifies some of the next trial. "Weedwhips, predatory. Toxic." Past a few flowers and natural weeds, "Ghostbind. Creeping Corpsemoss. Those flowers there are Cryptflowers. They bite and snatch at anything that moves past. Vermin, carrion, corpses. Can depose of entire boies down to the bones an' then them too. Yous probably not gonna have a good time trying to walk through there."
"This all feels very... purposeful. To hide bodies like that pile we passed by." Skyler perks up, opening his coat to show the vials strapped to his chest. "I have more alchemist fire!" He says, excited, "Are they flammable?"
"Figures, can't have anything nice and pleasant in this gods forsaken place, now can we?" *Reithak grumbled loudly.* "Yeah, sounds intentional, not like all these violent plants would congregate in one spot on purpose. Probably to get rid of all the bodies so no one suspects a vampire living here, or they really, really like their alcohol and don't want anyone stealing it. Think there's a way across safely?"
"How well do they burn?" Culix asks, shooting a glance back towards the doors where the oily slimes are. "Could maybe bait one of them things in there, chuck in a vial, and let them sort each other out." she says and tips her head Skyler's way. "Mind, that butler was on about feeding them." she recalls. "So they're definitely here deliberately. I just don't get this place at all. Automatons, vampires, oil-oozes, man-eating plants. It's like some kind of twisted carnival." she gripes.
She scratches her head as the group consider options. "I could definitely do with a drink, but I don't know how useful going that way will be. I'm getting pretty muddled, to be honest."
"Well, you coul' try... but the, uh, flowers are intelligent enough to respond to threat. They start peltin' you with acid." Carver says. "An' considering all the growth here, you probably don't have enough. Maybe with all the little oozies back there, but that's got problems of its own as a plan."
A vine moves in the distance. It slowly slips off the bridge with a quiet thud, before the silence returns to the bridge.
Culix considers the bridge for a bit longer, "I could make a run for the other side, see what's there. See if it's worth all of us fighting our way over there." she suggests then. She taps her heels together, "Got my magic boots on, an' I'm still blurry. Should be able to make it through without getting snagged by anything." she says.
Carver looks to the others, to judge their thoughts on the plan. "I make things go boom and cut them up. I'll leave the heavy lifting to people more qualified." Skyler says cheerfully, and adds, "I mean, I bet the plants could come up with a better plan than me." He pauses, and glances over at the plants. "Hey! Foliage! Can we walk through or are you going to eat us? And if so, how can we defeat you?"
The quiet waits for a moment. Then a low burbling sound begins, rising in staccato, up until a vocalization close to 'nyeeh' begins to form- No. The plants do not answer. The dark room remains quiet, its answers to Skyler's questions buried in the silence, the truth somewhere in the black soil.