Day 1

[Mr Stereo1]

Cursing the creature Hans swings his club to modest effect.

Initiative [1d6+5] = 3+5 = 8, To Hit [2d6+1] = 10+1 = 11, Damage [1d3-1] = 2-1 = 1

3 damage with to hit.

[Leitz]

Cursing the creature Hans swings his club to modest effect.

Initiative [1d6+5] = 3+5 = 8, To Hit [2d6+1] = 10+1 = 11, Damage [1d3-1] = 2-1 = 1

3 damage with to hit.

+1 point of damage for each full 2 points over 8. So rolling a 10 gets you +1, a 12 is +2, etc. However, the good news is that:

Hans feels the creatures claws scrape up his legs. A vile mouth shows few, but sharp, teeth. With skill born of desperation, Hans swings the club and squarely hits the creature's head. A sharp crack, and the creature falls upon Hans. Motionless.

After whatever

Rushing to the smoke coming from the ground, the group sees a tight tunnel going straight down. Alaric spies an old rope at the base of a near by tree. He sees the scrape marks on the back side of the tree; the rope is obviously looped around the tree but kept loose so it could be pulled in.

[cybersavant]

Alarik, visigoth hunter


"We need to put the fire out before entering."

[tibbius]

"Yes," says Mateusz. "Since shutting the door hasn't put it out, we will need to rake it apart. One of us should stay up here and wait for the smoke to clear."

[Mr Stereo1]

"Perhaps I'd best stay here in case one of the adventurer's need's a healing touch?" Hans suggests. "After exposure to so much dry smoke their humors may be unbalanced and require urgent herbs."

[cybersavant]

Alarik, visigoth hunter

Alarik nods to Hans, "Let's hurry." Without waiting he backtracks to the other entrance.

[Leitz]

The fire, smouldering, is quickly prodded and spread to extinction.

Crawling through the small tunnel is a tight and claustrophobic event. It is made much worse as one crawled onto bones and rotting flesh. The smoke stench is a welcome horror, compared to what lies within.

There is no light, but with the top and bottom open the smoke clears a little, and a small torch fire can be lit. Instantly the revulsion for the creature grows, the other party is present, and dismembered. Gnaw marks cover their bodies.

An adult female, with a wide variety of scratches and sores, seems to still be breathing.

[tibbius]

Mateusz swallows vomit, then jerks his head aside and covers the rough-dug earthen wall with it.

[cybersavant]

Alarik, visigoth hunter


Alarik swallows, then scrambles over to see if indeed she is alive.

[Mr Stereo1]

"You found anything?" Hans calls down from the roof, tapping his club against his thigh and watching the treeline nervously for any more mind-addled plague victims or other dangers.

[Leitz]

Alaric feels the woman is alive. Remaining that way is doubtful. Certainly Hans' treatments would be needed, at the very least.

While Hans' voice comes clearly from above, the small amount of light yields a view of the narrow tunnel straight up, and a small rounded cave area piled with the recent and not so recent dead. There are at least a dozen bodies in some form of decay, with little effort made to remove armor or weapons. A coin or two lays about, ill regarded.

Between them, Mateusz and Alaric can pull the woman through the lower exit tunnel. The rats who live there seem hesitant to brave the smoke.

[tibbius]

"Let's get her out of this stinking hole," says Mateusz. "She might live." His tone conveys doubt, but he begins to crawl backward out the tunnel, gesturing to Alaric to support the woman's head as he drags her by the feet. The roof is too low to carry her.

[cybersavant]

Alarik, visigoth hunter

Alarik calls up to Hans, We found one, barely live. We have to take her out the other exit. Meet us there.

I have her head, let's go. Once we get her outside, we can come back in - there is armor and stuff just sitting here.

[Mr Stereo1]

"Aye, I'll meet you there!" Hans called down, hurrying to the other entrance to see to the last survivor. He had mixed feelings on the matter, they had likely failed to save the adventurers but the spoils of the expedition were there for the taking so at least they were getting their reward for the effort one way or another.

Making the sign of the cross as he reenters the ruin Hans looks up at the ceiling. "We thank you for the bounty, oh Lord." He mutters with a mirthless chuckle.

[Mr Stereo1]

Setting to work Hans struggles to treat the woman, muddied and strange as she seemed.

Medic roll to save the woman [2d6+2] = 5+2 = 7

[Leitz]

Hans is able to save the woman's life, but she needs better care than he can provide.

The party is able to confirm that the other group met their fate at the hands of whatever the creature was. Given the rats, and the history, likely some disease had infested his soul and turned him into...something. If one believed in were creatures, or diabolic pacts, that too could account for the evil.

Some goods can be recovered, and Alaric can do a good job of hiding the entrances so the team can return at a later date for the rest. Bringing the woman back to town, on a travois, winds her up in priestly care. The men are welcomed back, and find themselves afforded a new level of respect in Odolo. A few weeks afterward, a priest from Brescia came to inspect the woman, and interview the party. He congratulated them on a job well done.

OOC: If this were a normal game, there would be long term positive results from the character's actions. Let's save those, and if/when we resume, use those results to enable the next scene.