Where'd They Go? Part 3
The yawning doorway before you stands revealed, and within it is naught but horror and death. The remains of Taarans splayed and splattered across a luxurious interior.
What horror waits further in?
Seldan is left to stare in horror at the newly-opened gate, and he draws in a breath. "The Lady intended that we find this," he murmurs in low tones, drawing in and releasing a deep breath to settle his mind - and his stomach. "The Tempter's minions may be so, but none deserve a fate such as this. Come, I would learn more, and I can return us to this plane, should the need arise."
Aryia slips into the Gate with the others, her attention darting about at the horrific display of the Taarans. A frown pulls her lips down, throat bobbing. It looks as if she is about to sign something, the piercing, elongated scream grabs her.
She nods to Seldan sharply. "Agreed, and if we are quick, we might be able to question whoever's still drawing breath for that," she motions off towards where ever the screams are coming from. <Handspeech/Tongues>
Schara readjusts her helmet before turning back to face the portal, and the artificer awkwardly watches from behind the others, shaking her head. "Well, I guess we should go in there. We can question that person maybe, after we make sure their safe? It looks like there is more than enough death and horrible actions here for an entire person's lifetime so I don't know we should go and do something if we can?" Schara adds, sounding completely uncertain.
"Even so, but we have not much time, do we do so," Seldan tells Schara, already striding for the gate quickly. "Come. There is no time to lose, would we catch those responsible."
Stepping in fills ones nostrils with the potent smell of blood and viscera, of death itself. The air here is heavy with a haze of it, and not just it, but also of smoke, incense, and luxury.
The mix is heady and awful.
The carpet squishes underfoot, and so does the blood soaking in it.
Immediately, you feel ... slowed, as if time itself was weighing on you, stretching out, lengthening itself and the experience. No doubt the Taarans had debauched reasons for this, but in present circumstances, it only bequeaths additional horror on what you've found. The suffering they must've been forced to feel as they were slain was, from their points of view, no doubt an eternity of agony.
Aryia nods and gestures for the artificer to follow them as she strides alongside Seldan. Her nose curls at the heavy stench, but her foot falls stop. Not at the squishing, but at-
She looks at her fingers, flexing them slowly. Her eyes click with understanding, then furrow in the atrocity of the place and the torture therein. With how terrible everything was, her one gesture that gets dragged out in time as she continues further into the place of slaughtered debauchery was a hand grasping a thumb. "Shiiiiiiiiiit." <HAndspeech>
Schara stops and stairs down at the carpet, and back up with a shake of their head and one functioning hand on their stomach. "We should keep moving and see if we can find the source of that scremaing." Schara states. "Then, I guess I should probably go and search these bodies afterwards, even if it feels awful there might be some important information to be found I guess?"
Seldan, too, is unnaturally slowed, just a little, his stride more deliberate, his expression just a little more stony. "Let us learn if any yet live - and if whatever did this yet remains here." A drawn-out gesture brings his hand to rest on Reunion's hilt. "Ware you, for the evil that perpetrated this might remain."
Cautious, now, you begin to move through the luxurious and nightmarish interior. There is blood smears on the wall, the signs of fierce combat, and more death. The scream pierces again, giving you guidance as you draw nearer. There are more slain Taarans, yes, clearly having been murdered by assailants who may or may not be present.
Finally, you come to a closed door, after passing many an abbatoir, from which those screams are coming from.
Aryia's expression hardens as Seldan bids wariness, her shaking her hands off as they go forward. A small, slow shudder leaves her lips as the screams continue, growing louder as they make their way forward. "Depends if we make it in time," she gestures as they go along.
And then they get to the door. Steeling herself, she looks to the other two. Nods sharply to each one, then hovers a hand over the door knob.
She's ready to just bust in there.
Schara looks to the others, tilting the side of her head in the direction of the screams. The artificer freezes up just outside the door, and gives another look to the others before nodding once.
Seldan nods sharply once as well, responding to Aryia by putting hand to hilt and awaiting - just about anything.
The door opens.
... slowly.
.... inside, you find a single figure in bedraggled robes. He bears a simple knife in his hand, and he's ... doing ... things to a figure on the floor. They're ... horrifying to witness. His precision with the knife tells a story of its own, but he is clearly ... there are clearly things wrong with him. He's thin, raggedy, and looks so pale as to clearly be sick with something. He's not dressed like the others ytou've found here, either, who were in their finery until ... it was rendered unfine, and he is unwounded despite the attempts of the Taarans to clearly defend themselves. Perhaps he's healed, or perhaps he's the only one left.
It's hard to say. Your arrival makes him look up, his black, lifeless eyes on you, now. He simply acknowledges your presence, and then returns to what he's doing: writing a nightmare in flesh.
"He is not himself," Seldan says after of a moment of studying the man through narrowed eyes. "He is seized by evil, in a place that reeks of it." His lips press firmly together. "We stop him, but kill only if there be no other way. It is in my mind that something has him."
Aryia tries to throw the door open, but it opens far too slow for her liking. All of this, feeling time so oppressed felt anathema to the way she does these sorts of things.
The slowness of breaching into the room gave her the time to see everything. Everything. From the man doing unspeakable things, to the poor figure at their knife point, back up to the man. The scars all across her skin flare in pain at the sight. A glance to Seldan as he gives his insight, followed by a sharp nod. "Can do."
She cracks her knuckles. <Handspeech/Tongues>
Schara looks into the room as the others throw the door wide open, and the artificer freezes up again while others relay their information. "If he is not himself can you reason with him maybe?" Schara asks as she turns her attention to the man. "Hey, You there! Please stop causing bodily harm to that person in any shape or form, and come with us please!" They shout, even if deep down they expected very little from someone who had potentially gone through so many people there already.
The cracking of knuckles causes him to pause. Seems he recognizes the hostility intent on this and turns. The knife in his hand erupts into a nimbus of black energy. He turns to face you with a blank-eyed stare, and readies it.
GAME: Aryia refreshes special ability pools. GAME: Aryia spends ONE point of KI POOL. (Previous Barkskin cast) GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+22: (2)+22: 24 (Readied swing vs AC 38) GAME: Aryia rolls disarm: aliased to : (12)+25+2+1: 40
Aryia hopes that Schara's shouting gets them to cease their torture. But alas, it doesn't. She heeds Seldan's advice for pulling punches, the pugilist's hands sparking to light as she rushes in.
Well, as best as one can rush in when time is dilated. She throws herself across the room, ducking low as she closes the distance. The knife comes down, and she throws herself backwards. Does a twist and a flip over with a hand pressed against the gross carpet as a boot smashes against the back of the blade hand.
It flies out of the man's grip, and he collapses into a pile. She blinks after she gets her footing. Looks back at the party. And gives a thumbs up.
The blade immediately loses its nimbus. It looks like a plain old dagger, now.
...dangerously mundane, one might even say.
The Taaran on the ground, as well, mewls pitifully. They are close to death.
"Well done, Mistress." Seldan immediately follows Aryia in, and at once strides over to the pained Taaran. "Do not touch the dagger," he warns the other two, "and keep that one from doing so. I can feel its anger, and it reeks of evil. I have a means, but this first."
He drops to his knees next to the man's victim, quickly assessing and then stripping off his gauntlets. Taaran or not, he does not hesitate, placing hands as gently as he can wherever is likely to be the least painful, and beginning a series of rote prayers. It is not enough to render them hale, far from it, but the silver light that forms beneath his hands may be able to ease some pain, and that is the paladin's true goal.
He's left screaming, that Taaran, afraid to even be touched. How long has his agony been drawn out? Everything feel so slow, here. Still, when Seldan provides relief, they simply go limp. The adrenaline that has kept them unwillingly functional so far fades out and with it so does their consciousness.
Schara leans against one side of the doorway as the danger came, and just as quickly passed, for the time being. "That was a good idea Aryia, I don't know if you knew if that dagger was causing it because I did not but that doesn't matter since it seems to have stopped them from doing anything." The artificer notes while Seldan tends to the other person, freezing up for a split second with the renewed screaming. "Do you think you could tie them up? I just saw that you have a boat in the docks and I figured that meant you have at least a basic grasp of knotwork, but I understand if those skills are not interchangeable to tying someone up with rope, and I would understand if you don't know how you are supposed to tie someone up, as well. I don't even know if they are still alive, anyways but I hope they are, or I'm not sure if I do or not."
The artificer crouches down some distance away from the dagger to take a look at it, tilting her head to one side. "I don't know what that thing is, but it's really powerful, in spite of, or because of it's age. We shouldn't leave it here, but how would be best to move it safely?"
Aryia, despite the horrors of the place, can't help but let a little proud smirk cross her face at the praise. She gives an affirmative click of the tongue at that, first at not wanting to touch the very thing that was causing someone to act so viscously. And secondly, well-
The mute kneels down to the man she toppled, rolling them to their side to help them recover. Aryia looks up at Schara as they ramble about the mute's boat and seafaring knots, stares at the arificer, and pulls a length of rope out of her bag as she gets to tying the man's feet together and their hands behind their back with practiced precision. A little sigh of relief escapes her as Seldan heals the Taaran. At least one alive. That can yield more concrete answers that what they've found thus far. "I trust whatever method Seldan has in mind to move it," she signs. "I am clueless on that front. <Handspeech/Tongues>
GAME: Seldan attempts to cast Magic Circle Against Evil but fails due to ASF. GAME: Seldan casts Magic Circle Against Evil. Caster Level: 16 DC: 21 GAME: Seldan attempts to cast Mage Hand but fails due to ASF. GAME: Seldan casts Mage Hand. Caster Level: 16 DC: 18
When the Taaran collapses, Seldan immediately withdraws his bloodied hands and picks up - carefully and from the outside - his gauntlets, which are a mismatched affair. "I have a means by which it may be safely moved," he informs Schara, rising to his feet. "Let them rest, until we must leave. Ere aught else -" He trails off and begins another spell, involving several complex sigils drawn before him, but it's clear before long that the spell went awry, for the gather power fizzles and evaporates. A small, sheepish smile follows, and a second, more careful attempt yields a blue-silver set of sigils, united inb Eluna's holy aegis, and it is these that he gestures to the blood-soaked floor at his feet.
Once that settles into quiescence, he casts a second spell, this one much simpler, but with a similar error that leaves him with a ghost of a self-deprecating smile. A second attempt is similarly successful, and the dagger lifts itself at a gesture from his hand. He pauses, ahd shakes his head. "Greater things than such as you have hated me," he remarks equably. Reunion, however, is less sanguine.
"Oh no, you jumped-up piece of pot metal," a deep, make voice with a khazadi accent roars. "You're not half-forged correctly, and this one is already taken, so buzz off!" The result is a explosion of insults, threats, pokes at Seldan, laughter, and general chaos coming from the direction of Seldan's hip.
"Well, I guess you know how to handle that, then." Schara sighs as the mul'niessa gets to work. "And he probably knows what he's doing to move something like that."
The artificer watches the others, and tilts her head to one side before nodding. "I have never heard of a sentient weapon with multiple distinct personalities within it but now is not the time for me to be thinking about that." They note out loud while watching the now floating dagger and taking a few steps away from it. "I really don't know how much limiting direct contact would help, but I have a few leather pouches from my tools that you could cover it with maybe?" They offer, pulling out a moderately sized drawstring bag from one of the many compartments on their armor.
Aryia watches the spellcasting with a piqued interested, quiet in her observation, finishes up tying the hollow man. But she can't help but snort as a khazadi voice leaps out of Reunion, followed by further rambunctious behavior and jeering. "Yes, let's not let anyone else touch that thing for sure," she surmises.
Despite her stature, she easily lifts hefts hollow man over a shoulder, the runes glimmering on the leather cords circling her arms. "I got this guy while we scour the place," she motions with a hand. "Can dump out my bag if that doesn't satisfy." <Handspeech/Tongues>
"Bring it into range of the circle," Seldan warns Schara, gesturing that the dagger should approach the bag she produces. "It wishes to control me, but the spell prevents such from evil creatures. It should not be permitted to leave the range of the spell." Assuming the bag is appropriately offered, he gestures that the dagger should go into the bag.
The dagger will go into the bag without issue, at least. Seems it can't do anything about that... but is this what has happened to the others? It seems... unlikely.
-End Scene-