Chapter 31: On the Trail of The Ripper

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo bashes the leach in his hand against the brick wall, unsure if that constitutes an "attack" or not. If he is too nauseous to do so, he simply tosses the leach further down the tunnel and gets to work freeing himself of any more of the bloodsucking monsters.

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

Ingrid will throw the leech against the wall and then remove the other bloodsucker from her body.

[SocraticLawyer]

In the space between life and death, Urdur and Mittens discuss life, the universe, and everything. On the Prime Material Plane, Urdur's invisible body remains slumped over Jerome's shoulder, not quite dead (yet).

[Inferno]

Beneath Blackchapel, Hookhill, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day One. Near midnight. Saturday, December 24th, 576 CY
Cold, overcast







Abhorrence and revulsion overtake the doomed heroes. Their life essence is being devoured by insensate, ravenous mouths. If they were to die here in the foul sewers of the undercity, none would ever know.

The queasy, weakened hosts frantically work to extract the skin-crawling horrors from their flesh before it's too late.

Bo, Faron and Ingrid rid themselves of the bloodsucking creatures. Detached, writhing leeches are flung against the walls and slowly slide down toward the murky river of excrement, where they will be free to hunt again.

Jerome, Mouser and Telkis each slaughter or remove one ghastly leech. But another bloated parasite remains on each of them, drinking hideously. (2hp damage each)

Mouser staggers, close to blacking out. Jerome and Faron are not far behind him.


Actions?!


Map:



Behind the DM Screen:

Round five:
Bo, Faron, Ingrid and Urdur have no leeches on them.
Jerome, Mouser and Telkis have one leech each. They each lost 2hp this round.

PC Status:

Faron, Human Thief 5: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 6/22, Nauseous
Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 3/4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 3/19, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 5: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 13/25, Spells: 4/5 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl, Nauseous
Jerome, Human Paladin 4: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: 5/23, Laying Hands: 0/1, Nauseous
Long Bo, Human Druid 5: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 26/38, Spells: 4/6 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl, Light stone, Nauseous
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 5: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 18/37
Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: -5/11, Spells: 1/3 1st lvl, 1/2 2nd lvl, Invisible, Nauseous

PC Magic:

Protection From Evil, 10' Radius (Jerome)
Invisibility (Urdur): Target: self

Player Resources:

Tale of Terror (the story so far)
A Dark and Terrible World (maps)
Blasphemous Iconography (the story so far in images)
Desperate Struggles (clues and player notes)

[Urson]

Jerome
The Paladin bites his own tongue- hard- hoping the pain will help keep him focused enough to save his life.
DEX 9 [1d20]=10

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

Who still has leeches? She will help Mouser if she can determine he needs it. If not, she will help someone nearby.

[SocraticLawyer]

The invisible and unconscious body of Urdur clings to life, barely.

[ravenn4544]

Mouser tries to pull the last slug thing off of himself. Feeling weak and unsteady he moves forward to get out of the filth that is probably hiding many more of the crawly things.

Dex (17) [1d20]=9

[jemmus]

Faron tries to sling Urdur over his shoulder and move forward. Perhaps there won't be any leeches ahead. Or not as many. He only knows that staying here will eventually kill everyone.

Str 10 [1d20]=14

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo helps anyone else who might need it.

Once he is sure he is free from the creatures, he sticks his spear into the water and swooshes it around his submerged legs, front, sides, and back, hoping to either prevent any more from attacking, or at least to feel if any have reattached themselves to him.

"We need to get out of this filth before we are all dead! I cant imagine the diseases we will contact in our open wounds in this hellish slop."

His gaze fixes on Ingrid, hoping she still has the means to aid them all if they can ever find an exit.

[ChubbyPixie]

Telkis does all he can to "keep it together," only the vaguest hint of panic showing in his frantic smushing of the leech still attached to him. Once he is free of the pasta, he'll move to help Faron as well as he is able.
Morningstar +2 (THAC0 17): To Hit:[1d20+2]=14+2=16, Damage: vs s/m [2d4+2]=8+2=10, vs L [1d6+3]=3+3=6

[Inferno]

Beneath Blackchapel, Hookhill, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day One. After midnight. Saturday, December 24th, 576 CY
Cold, cloudy







The doomed heroes rid themselves of the ghastly bloodthirsty parasites and stagger on through the rank estuary of effluent with an urgency borne of pure survival instinct.

They wade through the unbranching tunnel and eventually find a sewer grate overhead whose muck and crust has recently been disturbed.

The heroes carefully dislodge it and pull themselves out of the heinous sewers of Hookhill onto the cobblestones of a filthy gutter, gasping and panting. They are mercifully free of leeches. And their nausea fades.

Wet footprints, longer than that of a Man, trail away from the sewer. Before they dry up, the adventurers cautiously follow them and discover they lead toward a towering manse that overlooks the forsaken slums of Blackchapel. The ominous structure is dark, forlorn and abandoned.



The heroes are freezing cold, weak from blood loss, and covered in excrement. Their open wounds need cleaning. Urdur is still unconscious. And they don't know where in the city they are.

The uncaring stars have not yet begun to pale for dawn. Tomorrow, on the final night of Winter Solstice End, the Hookhill Ripper will hunt again.


Actions?!





PC Status:

Faron, Human Thief 5: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 6/22
Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 3/4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 3/19, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 5: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 13/25, Spells: 4/5 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl
Jerome, Human Paladin 4: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: 5/23, Laying Hands: 0/1
Long Bo, Human Druid 5: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 26/38, Spells: 4/6 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 5: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 18/37
Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: -5/11, Spells: 1/3 1st lvl, 1/2 2nd lvl, Invisible

PC Magic:

Protection From Evil, 10' Radius (Jerome)
Invisibility (Urdur): Target: self

Player Resources:

Tale of Terror (the story so far)
A Dark and Terrible World (maps)
Blasphemous Iconography (the story so far in images)
Desperate Struggles (clues and player notes)

[jemmus]

Well crap, Faron says. Literally. He sheathes his glowing long sword. I think we're done for the night. Urdur is down and some of us aren't far behind him. I think we need an inn, some heat, baths, and some wounds tending. That ugly manse can wait until tomorrow. You can't prevent more deaths if you're dead yourself.

[Urson]

Jerome
Very true. But I don't know who's going to accept a crew like us- especially since we're almost penniless.

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo rings the filth from the lower portion of his robes.

"I can create enough water to clean our wounds, but the process takes me a while. I cannot however create gold coins that will allow us to check into a nice hotel with a warm bath."

If the others are willing to wait ten minutes, Bo will cast his Create Water spell, unless Ingrid wants to speed up the process by casting it herself.

"Does anyone actually know where we are in this gods forsaken city? I thought one of us had been here before?"

In the absence of any other plan, Bo suggests walking in the direction of the foot prints before they dry, hoping it will lead to more options.

[ravenn4544]

Mouser leans against a post, clearly the worse for wear. "I don't know where we are - everything looks closed up for the night. Maybe you're right, Bo, take a few more minutes and follow these prints while we can. If we find somewhere to hole up, we take it."

[Urson]

Jerome
Jerome nods at Long Bo's suggestion. He attempts to follow the tracks- while staying off to one side of them- scraping muck off of himself while he goes.

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

I can create water so we may clean ourselves, but first I need to to heal Urdur. Where is he? She will cast Cure Light Wounds on Urdur, then-if there is time- will cast Create Water to clean themselves up.

Cure Light Wounds [1d8]=7

[SocraticLawyer]

Assuming Ingrid's spell returns him to consciousness, Urdur once again feels himself pulled back to the material world. He hears, or thinks he hears, the words of his beloved dog: I'll wait for you! It wont be long.....

Alive once again, he says, víðförla?

What the heck happened? Where are we?
And what is that smell?

[ChubbyPixie]

Checking his coin purse, Telkis speaks up.

"I still have, perhaps, enough to put us all up, should we find an inn that will take us. I hope we're in a part of town that will accept dwa... er, gnomes," he says. "We should at least rinse off the filth first."

He'll follow the tracks with the others far enough to confirm they lead to the abandoned mansion, then press to call it off until they are better prepared.