Re: To the 'Town' on the Hill

by **Kara Winters** Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:34 pm

Risa realized very quickly she was going to have to get into the room and squeezed past Zoltan to get in. Fortunately there was a window in this room that allowed for light. She took out her blow dart, looked up and hit it with the dart. The creature staggered and fell to the ground with a thump, which was good because otherwise she and Zoltan would have lost some of their weapons.

She heard some shuffling behind her and saw another giant wolf spider, this one was closer to the ground but it had been behind her at the far end of the room.

"There's another one in here!" she shouted.

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:41 pm

Zoltan didn't have his handaxes, but he squeezed past Risa and drew his greataxe at the same time. This brought him right next to the spider. When he was close enough, he swung at it. There was a bit of blood in his eyes from the first spider, and he missed.

Aeris had come running when Zoltan had first called out, and now she made it into the room, just inside the doorway. Seeing the situation, she drew her crossbow, aimed, and took the shot. It hit the spider soundly, pinning it to the wall. It dangled from the bolt, lifeless.

"I don't think I want that one back," she grimaced, looking at the body that was oozing around the bolt.

by **Kara Winters** Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:50 pm

"Probably not," Risa replied and realized she was stuck between her two companions, "How does anyone cook in here? It's so tiny!"

She wouldn't have thought so for a manor's kitchen, but clearly comfort for whoever poor soul had to cook in here wasn't the top of their priority.

by **Nara-pyon** Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:19 pm

"Prestidigitation would work," Aeris shrugged, stepping out of the room again.

Zoltan took back his handaxes from the spider on the ground, then ushered Risa ahead of him and headed back to the hallway.

"Goin' te check the other room," he told the others, heading into the southern room. He looked around again. It looked as though it had once been a dining room, but it too had spider webs in it. He heard sounds of scuffling, and he had the feeling there might be more spiders in there.

Aeris came close behind him, using her torch to light up the room a bit more. She saw what he did, and noted that there were not any spiders directly near the door.

by **Kara Winters** Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:22 pm

Risa joined them, while Reed stayed where he was outside of the hallway, mindful of the fact that was a really crowded and small space.

"See anything?" Risa asked aware that the two were already crowding the doorway and she wouldn't be able to really move all that much. Unlike Zoltan, it was much harder to squeeze past Aeris.

by **Nara-pyon** Thu Oct 04, 2018 10:42 pm

"Two more spiders," Zoltan called back to Risa, already attacking. He threw his two handaxes at the spider on the left, but only one hit. It struck the spider in its torso, hurting it, but it was still moving around easily enough. The second handaxe hit the ceiling next to it and fell to the floor without damaging anything.

With a word and a gesture, Aeris thrust her hand forward, summoning an icy knife, aiming it at the same spider Zoltan had hit. It also hit, but didn't seem to do much damage - at first. Then, icy frost spread over the spider around where it had been hit. It tried to move, but barely managed a twitch, and then it fell from the ceiling and hit the ground with a dull thud.

by **Kara Winters** Thu Oct 04, 2018 10:49 pm

Risa hurried into the dining room and managed to get between Zoltan and Aeris to get to the other side of the room where she would have a clear shot of the other spider. She raised her bow and took a shot.

The shot hit, and the spider dropped to the ground and began to scurry towards the closest person which was Zoltan. It tired to bite him but ended missing completely as it's bite came too slow.

While this was happening, Reed was making his way into the hallway now that he could see he wouldn't get in the way.

by **Nara-pyon** Thu Oct 04, 2018 10:55 pm

Zoltan didn't have his handaxes anymore, so he pulled out his greataxe and swung at the spider. He was still in the motion of ducking away from it, though, and he missed it.

Aeris pulled her sword and thrust at the spider. There was a bit of resistance, but only briefly as the leg she caught with her blade was cut from the body. The spider was still moving, however, and she moved to trap it between her and Zoltan.

by **Kara Winters** Thu Oct 04, 2018 11:07 pm

Risa put away her bow to take out her sword, as she wouldn't be able to take a shot without accidentally hitting anyone. Reed made it into the room and brought out his rapier to attack but missed the spider completely.

The spider whirled around and attack the person who attacked it and bite Aeris on the arm.

by **Nara-pyon** Thu Oct 04, 2018 11:28 pm

Aeris reacted quickly, casting her Shield spell, protecting herself from the spider, which bounced off of the magical shield.

While the creature was distracted, Zoltan raised his greataxe high above his head and brought it down on the spider's back with all his strength. The blade sliced clean through the spider, cleaving it neatly in half, sending blood and spider innards gushing all over the floor.

"Disgustin' creature," he growled, picking up his greataxe again and hefting it over his shoulder. He moved to collect his handaxes again.

With the second spider dealt with, Aeris looked around to see if there was anything else of note in the room. There was a door on the southern wall, which they hadn't noticed before - probably because they were so worried about being attacked.

"There's another door," she pointed. "Risa, you're closest to it."

by **Kara Winters** Fri Oct 05, 2018 10:19 pm

The door was also another open archway Risa noted, but there had once been curtains that could be pulled across. There was a single small window letting in light, and when she saw the room better she understood why there was a curtain. There was a small bed, a night stand and what looked to be a set of drawers for clothing. This must have been the room of either of a maid or perhaps the cook. Despite the small size, the bed and sheets were of quite good quality, so perhaps it was the cook's room at one point.

"A servant's room," Risa called back, "It's really small, I don't see any creatures, probably only one other person could fit in here."

She exited the room because it was very small and someone else might want to look.

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:08 pm

Aeris ventured in behind Risa and took a bit of a closer look around. She rummaged around a bit, looking for useful items. She even opened the chest of drawers to see what was in them, and was rewarded with a coin pouch of 27 sp and 35 cp.

Then she noticed that the drawers weren't quite against the wall.

"I may have found something," she called over her shoulder, moving to the side of the drawers and shoving it. She managed to move it against the bed, revealing a now-open doorway. Holding her torch aloft, she peered inside.

There, she saw a glittering pile of coins and gems.

"What did you find?" Zoltan asked, coming up behind her.

"Give me a few minutes to count it," she replied, holding up one of the coins.

In all, she counted a total of 1700 cp, 1000 sp, 80 gp, a chalcedony gem of opaque white, a transparent white quartz, a smoky grey quartz, and a gray bloodstone with red flecks in it.

Joining the others once again, she told them what she had found. "I've collected it all for now, we can split it up later," she told them. "For now we should continue."

by **Kara Winters** Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:16 pm

Reed looked thoughtful, "I guess that just leaves the room at the end of the hall, unless it leads to more rooms, it appears to be the last place on this floor."

"Hopefully not," Risa murmured, the dining room wasn't so bad but between the kitchen and the servant's quarters there were quite a number of small rooms, "Who should lead? Since that hallway will only let us go in single file."

So whoever it was should be able to play scout as it were.

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:30 pm

"I'll lead the way," Zoltan grunted, brushing past the others. He had sheathed his greataxe for the moment and had his handaxes in his hands. He returned to the hall they'd come from and tried the door at the end. It opened, and he stepped inside.

It was a bit chaotic in the room. It was larger than the others they'd seen. The room was filled with debris, possibly from the broken windows across from him, but there was also a desk and a small bookshelf near the door. It looked as though the room had been a study at one point.

One thing that caught his attention was a dark orb sitting on the desk.

"Orbs are always ominous," Aeris said, coming in behind him with her torch.

by **Kara Winters** Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:43 pm

Reed and Risa were still in the hallway but making their way to the study.

"Find anything?" the bard asked.

As he did so two spiders dropped down from the ceiling and bit Aeris and Zoltan. Well, the one that bit Zoltan tried but missed completely on the way down, however the one that bit Aeris was far more lucky. It bit her on her shoulder and managed to pump poison into her, it would cause a lot of pain and damage, but it wouldn't last in her system thankfully.

by **Nara-pyon** Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:51 pm

Aeris cried out in pain and dropped her torch as the poison burned into her. The bite was deep, and blood poured from the wound. She wanted to get the spider off of her, but she knew that if she didn't do something fast, she was going to be out of this fight. Rather than fighting it, she reached into her bag and pulled out a healing potion. She pulled the cork out with her teeth and chugged it all down. Right away, she felt strength returning.

Zoltan reacted quickly. He turned and threw both handaxes at the spider on Aeris' shoulder. Thoom! Thoom! Both of them hit the spider without hitting Aeris. The spider fell from her shoulder and hit the floor with a dull thud, dead.

by **Kara Winters** Sat Oct 06, 2018 12:09 am

"Aeris!" both Reed and Risa cried out, however Reed made it first, and ended up stepping on the body of the dead spider.

However, he knew there was another one in there and sure enough there was one behind Zoltan. Unable to get behind him and not wanting to accidentally hit the dwarf, instead he pointed to the spider and called out.

"You're naught good for anything but bird fodder!" he told it, even though it was a terrible insult, but it didn't matter, it was laced with magic and the spider shuddered as it took damage.

It also made it harder for it to attack, which showed when it tired to attack Zoltan and didn't manage to bite him.

by **Nara-pyon** Sat Oct 06, 2018 12:34 am

Aeris squeezed her way past Reed and Zoltan, stopping just beside Zoltan, and struck at this spider with her shortsword. Still reeling a bit from the damage she'd taken, she missed it entirely.

Zoltan however did manage to hit it where the legs met the torso, and struck two legs from its body. Then he ducked between Aeris and the spider to make room for Reed.

by **Kara Winters** Sat Oct 06, 2018 12:44 am

Reed pulled out his rapier and stabbed at the spider. Despite having a hole in it now it was still moving about. It clicked its mandibles together as if considering next steps. Risa stayed at the door, not wanting to get in front of Reed and blocking him.

The spider lashed out at Zoltan but once more didn't manage to get a bite on him.

by **Nara-pyon** Sat Oct 06, 2018 12:55 am

Aeris swung at the spider again, carefully this time, gritting her teeth against the pain, and this time her sword struck true: a few more legs fell off and it fell to the ground, unable to support itself. At last, the blood loss did the trick. After a final twitch, the spider stopped moving.

"Are ye all right, lass?" Zoltan asked, turning to Aeris.

She nodded. "I won't deny I wouldn't mind taking some more time to heal," she admitted, "but I'll be all right, I think."

Zoltan pulled a potion of healing from his bag and held it out to her. "No argumen's," he said firmly.

"Thanks," she murmured, and she downed it as well.

by **Kara Winters** Sat Oct 06, 2018 1:05 am

Reed backed off so Risa could get into the room as well. It allowed him to look at the desk with the orb on it.

"The orb looks promising, in a, it might be what we're looking for sort of way," Reed commented.

He wondered if they should bring it with them then? The instructions weren't clear, and identifying anything would take at least ten minutes.

by **Nara-pyon** Sat Oct 06, 2018 1:09 am

"How of'n can ye use thet spell o' yers?" Zoltan asked Reed as he gathered up his handaxes again. "If this isn' the thing we're lookin' fer, can ye use the spell agin?"

"We've cleared this floor at least," Aeris added quietly. "If you try to identify it now, we can watch over you - there are only two entry points. If we go outside, we'll be open to an attack from any direction."

And the sooner they found and dealt with the object, the better - it would in theory mean that no more undead would be created.

by **Kara Winters** Sat Oct 06, 2018 1:12 am

"As long as it's cast as a ritual, as many times as I need to," Reed replied, "It's just rituals take 10 minutes plus the normal time it takes to cast them, so about 11 minutes to cast in total."

"I think we could hold our ground here for 11 minutes," Risa commented, "I'd recommend taking the orb away from the door and window, so your back is to a solid wall."

And they could make sure his front was protected then. It didn't seem like there was anything else was in here.

by **Nara-pyon** Sat Oct 06, 2018 12:27 pm

"Go ahead and take it into the corner, we'll watch you," Aeris nodded at Reed. She prepared her shortsword, as she was low on spells for the moment, and prepared to watch over Reed as he identified the orb.

Zoltan gripped his greataxe in both hands and did the same.

by **Kara Winters** Sat Oct 06, 2018 12:38 pm

Risa nodded in agreement with the others, and Reed gingerly took the orb and placed himself in a corner where the bookshelf was covering him. So it would be very easy to miss him and allow him to do his work. At least it would be the only item he would be identifying at the moment.

Focusing on the orb he took out the pearl from around his neck and the feather that was in his component pouch, and then began to cast the spell. Because everyone was on edge, no one moved, and so the ten minutes had passed without much talking.

When he was done, Reed huffed a bit, he found out what he had wanted, but he wished he could have found out a bit more. He popped out from behind the bookcase.

"This is it, at least, it seems to be opening a tear to another plane, but I don't know anything beyond that, but I'm pretty sure this is it."

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