The investigation continues.....

[Inferno]

Krual Caine, half-human monster:

The depraved horror listens with interest as the "heroes" discuss the cold-blooded murder of the surviving victims.

Not wanting to stop them from a bloodthirsty act that will toughen them up and set them upon a path of disabusing themselves of their ridiculous notions of 'morality,' Caine finds the largest boulder or club that he can and uses it to utterly reduce the demon statue to rubble and dust.
"RRRAAAUUGGHHH!" he opines.

[Grognardsw]

"Do you recognize any of these pitiful human remains as any of the villagers?" echoes Orando of Father Tomas.

The two-headed statue reminds Orando of demon lore (Int. check to relay player knowledge to character?)

[OGRE MAGE]

Yes please. By all means!

In fact, skip the roll. You're 400 years old after all, you should know a few things.

[Cauchy]

Epi

Caine finds the largest boulder or club that he can and uses it to utterly reduce the demon statue to rubble and dust.

She mumbles quietly, "I guess he doesn't like the art work."

Epi tries to determine how long ago someone has been here. Checking say dust on the torture instruments. She turns to the others, "Think there is anything to be learned from these poor creatures or should we put them out of their misery?"

[ChubbyPixie]

Ozwaldus Maximus, Human Illusionist

Ozwaldus stands quietly next to Red Caine, who's expression at the moment exactly echoes the magician's look of horror and pity. "Even if we were to heal them, with what they've been through, their minds must be completely gone now," he says.

[Grognardsw]

Orando watches as Caine smashes the statue.

"I believe that was Demogorgon, the Prince of Demons, who resides in the 88th level of the Abyss. He has cults far and wide. If this dark wizard is of his faith, he could prove a challenging foe."

Turning to Father Tomas: "Can you produce for us scrolls of Protection from Evil?"

[OGRE MAGE]

Epi looks intently at the details of the room and a few things instantly grab at her attention. Some of the blood is still wet and sticky. There are smeared tracks in the floor gore, but she can't make out what creature made them. There are no tracks of any kind near the door that you entered the room through.

Angella searches for secret compartments and the like. She finds nothing secret or hidden. She tells Brother Tomas to take an even closer look at the unimaginable horror in the cages. Orando seconds the notion and then informs the party who's image the statue must be representing.

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The monster Krual Caine sees no clubs or boulders lying around the laboratory. No matter. The beastman kicks one of the metal tables over, spilling its ghastly contents off into the bloody slop that covers the floor. He kicks at the thick, metal table legs until he gets two of them to snap off. He commences to smash the stone statue into bits and pieces with the makeshift clubs. The heads, necks, and tentacles break off easily but once he gets to the torso, the statue doesn't break up quite as well. The beast whacks at it a few more times and realizes why.

There appears to be a body that was cast inside of the statue. As the stone breaks away, you begin to see the form of an old human male. His body is well preserved from the stone, so much so that you can yet make out the look of utter horror that is still etched across his face.


The majority of the party seem to think that the prisoners should simply be put out of their misery due to their inhumane sufferings. Brother Tomas doesn't agree. He hobbles over towards the only caged victim that seems to be slightly active. The human male that is missing his legs flops over in his cage to try to get a closer look at the priest. Brother Tomas leans back suddenly, not sure if he can believe what he is seeing.

Good heavens! It's..........it's Sheriff Steve!!! Positive Steve!!!

Help him out of that cage so I may touch him to ease some of his suffering! HURRY!!!

[Scott308]

Father Dowling

Even though he is repulsed by what has taken place in the room, his compassion and basic human decency kick in as he rushes to the cages, beginning to release the suffering from their confinement. Though he still believes the best thing that can be done for these wretches is to end their torment...permanently, if Brother Tomas believes he can aid or comfort them, he will do what he is able to assist.

[Storm11]

Angella sets to work opening the cages

[Inferno]

Krual Caine, half-human monster:

"HERE! AND WHO'S THIS POOR BUGGER THEN?" the giant nefarious creature said to Tomas of the human entombed within the torso of Demogorgon.

He seemed mildly disappointed that the self-proclaimed good and noble heroes wouldn't be committing any "mercy" murders after all.

The wicked degenerate would stand guard since the party was entirely distracted now by all their sanctimonious false pity and charity, making them ripe for an ambush.

[OGRE MAGE]

Brother Tomas hears the words of the monster and spins around to see who it is as the others help with the cages.

Good heavens!!! That is the wizard Mortimer! Mad Mortimer!!!

What is going on in this hellish laboratory of death?

[Storm11]

"It is looking likely this place is where and why the disappearances of your townsfolk have been happening. Perhaps this trapped wizard was able to keep these experiments safe and under control and with his imprisonment things have gotten out of hand left untempered?" Angella offers tentatively with a shrug as she continued to open the cages, using her lock picks if necessary.

"Can any of you spell hurlers free Mad Mortimer?"

[Grognardsw]

Orando lets Father Dowling open Positive Steve's cage door, but does not let him open others. Physically holding the next door closed if necessary.

"These misfortunates are likely dangerous, we cannot let the lot of them go free," says the disembodied voice of the invisible elf. "They are creatures of Chaos now."

He will hold shut the door of the cage Angela tries to open.

"Put them out of their mercy. If they get free they will scare and hurt the village."

[Inferno]

Krual Caine, half-human monster:

"These misfortunates are likely dangerous, we cannot let the lot of them go free,"
"They are creatures of Chaos now."
"Put them out of their mercy. If they get free they will scare and hurt the village."

The atrocious horror laughs blackly at unseen Orando's counsel, "HAH! A LITTLE VOICE, INSIDE MY HEAD. IT SEEMS MY CONSCIENCE IS TELLING ME SOMETHING."

"BUT WHAT I'D REALLY LIKE TO HEAR IS WHERE THIS LOVELY LITTLE HOSPITAL'S SURGEON IS HIDING?!" he snarled like a rabid dog.

[Cauchy]

Epi

"So that poor creature is Positive Steve the sheriff? Can anything be done to help him? Perhaps he could provide us some information as to who or what is running this horrendous laboratory." She will see if she can help open his cage, offering some water to the tortured man.

"This blood here is fresh. So whatever has claimed this place is still to be dealt with."

"And the mage Mortimer has been somehow encased in a stone statue? I doubt I can do anything for him. Even if he was somehow responsible for summoning the thing that did him in, I doubt he deserved such a fate."

[ChubbyPixie]

Ozwaldus Maximus, Human Illusionist

Ozwaldus feels a bit ill. Not too ill to have a drink from his flask, though. In fact, he's never in his life felt like he needed a drink more than he does right now. As he drinks the contents of his tumbler, he examines the freshest blood to see if he can get a sense for where it leads. He examines the ceiling. He looks in the other cages - could the "surgeon" be disguising itself as one of these helpless abominations? Red Caine stands quietly and drools.

[Grognardsw]

Orando will examine the frozen Mortimer, trying to determine if the man was turned to stone or is in some type of suspended animation. The elf will look closely into his eyes to see if they move. He will cover them, then move his hand, to see if the irises contract and grow as they would in a living man.

[OGRE MAGE]

With help from Epi and Dowling, Brother Tomas busies himself casting minor healing magic on his dying friend. After two such castings, the thing that was once Positive Steve flops his legless mass over, exposing his naked torso. You can now see several cuts on his chest and abdomen, indicating that the victims limbs weren't the only thing that was being transplanted.

He looks up at Brother Tomas with recognition for the first time. His eyes show nothing but insufferable torment and a longing to be removed from this hellish nightmare. The other four mutated figures don't really pay you much heed, possibly being too far gone from this ordeal to show any further signs of humanity. Their continuous low moaning begins to grate on your psyche.

Orando moves to the figure of Mortimer, certain that he has made his point about not releasing the rest of the prisoners. He looks closely at the form, seeing no sign of life anywhere on the old mage. As the elf reaches out to close the mans eyes, Mad Mortimer's venerable form crumbles into dust, leaving nothing behind but a small pile of ash lying on the crushed rubble of the now destroyed statue.

Ozwaldus has a nip off of his everflowing wineflask, a rather long and drawn out nip. He begins looking very closely at the surroundings but finds nothing beyond the obvious horror. He studies the contents of the cages and finds that the ones furthest from the operating area are mostly filled with old looking clothing. As he peers into the very first cage on the bottom corner of the wall, he catches a quick glimpse of something golden in color shining in the torchlight at the very back of the cage.

Brother Tomas kisses the deformed former sheriff on the forehead. We will get you out of here my son. These people are here to help. We will get you back to the temple where I can heal you properly.

The priest takes a closer look at the other four captives, shaking his head and crying out loud. He points to the human form with no arms. I have seen him before. He was one that hung around Pitchforks place with the other degenerates. I don't know his name, and I'm guessing he doesn't anymore either.

Those three? He points to the saddest looking three experiments. I don't think there is anything........ He bursts into a bout of intense bawling and fails to finish his sentence.

[Scott308]

Father Dowling

The priest looks at the victims of the experiments sadly. Krual, can you please put these four out of their misery. There is nothing we can do to aid them, they are too far gone. Positive Steve may still benefit from healing.

[Cauchy]

Epi

Having no healing skills Epi leaves that to others, "So it seems this butcher is still active. One thing I don't understand, and admittedly there are plenty more, how does this person or creature get in and out of here? We haven't found any entrances or exits other than the one we made. Do they teleport? Then, of course, when might it or they return?"