Session 4.5: Under the Ruins

[BillTheGalacticHero]

I'll just. relay instruction up through the cellar door "Shift the first light 4 feet to the left", lol

[shroomofinsanity]

Berry, mote of light hanging around slowly starts looking around the cellar for signs of life.
Hello, is anyone down here, I am Berenwald of Holifort, and I am here to help. while he is slowly walking around he is glancing at the floor to try and prevent himself from falling into a trap.

[Ludanto]

As the light follows you into the room, it reveals all manner of blades and barbed instruments spread across the table. On the opposite wall, a single pair of rusted shackles is bolted, the bricks behind them stained with the bloody account of pain and cruelty. The robed corpse of a woman, sprawled across the floor in the middle of the room, is the source of the reeking stench of decay.

What now?

[shroomofinsanity]

May the light of the lords touch this place and bring the spirits here peace. Berry intones as he sees these atrocities, or at least the evidence thereof. He seems rattled and stunned that any of this is real. Guys, what do we do now?

[Rusty Tincanne]

Rabon know exactly what to do. Dang. Didn't see that coming at all. I wonder who she was. He plugs his nose and searches the body for valuables. And anything else that might provide clues as to why there is a torture chamber beneath the orphanage, or what happened to whomever this was. He also eyes the blades to see if any would make decent weapons or a new set of lockpicks.

[Ludanto]

The first thing that Rabon notices is that the woman's throat has been torn out, dried blood caking the ragged hole. A search of her belongings finds a key ring. If the keys are to this building, perhaps this is Elara, the owner of the orphanage. She wears no jewelry, but one finger of her hand shows a depression where a ring once rested.

The implements on the table, blades and lashes and such, are made for torture, not combat. However, scraping away the crusted blood reveals silvered edges on the blades and hooks!

Cleaned up, these gruesome implements could sell for 1D (Pack 3)

[BillTheGalacticHero]

I don' think these'll be werth takin, Rabon, too bulky, and prolly not werth much. But they seem to have silvered edges, I wonder if that is significant?

Do we see anything else? Anything that might be a research journal, etc? Locked desks?

[Rusty Tincanne]

Rabon isn't so sure. Treasure's treasure, Thag. But yer right'bit it bein' bulky. Hard t'carry. As t' the silver... Was that would cause by a wolf, maybe? Maybe a werewolf, even? Some folks say they ain't real, but I think they are. There was whisperin' stories when I was growin'up of men disappearin' and found your t'bits each month. He shivers at the thought.

[BillTheGalacticHero]

I wonder if that is what Greygrim was afraid of, a werewolf, and not the spider?

[Marullus]

Allric chimes in with a knowing air, "It is common, with alchemical pursuits as well, to use silver tools... It is a less reactive metal and holds a keener edge as a razor than iron. Iron is better for weapons which require durability, but a silver scalpel is a vivisectioners friend." He pauses awkwardly at the practical implications of his statement here in the orphanage. "Ahem. Regardless, Greygrim was specific about the spider and his fear was of the darkened chapel, was it not? A werewolf, though, is a good theory to keep in mind... Would any of the scalpels be suitable in combat against such a beast, is the question? I may make good use dissecting the beast for it's magical anticedents, but only once it is otherwise disposed of..."

[Ludanto]

There doesn't appear to be anything else of value in the basement. Some shelves hold extra linens and some crockery, but that's it.

As for the tools, though they seem to be homemade, they are definitely instruments of torture, too fragile for weapons and too clumsy for scholarly pursuits.

[Marullus]

Allric calls down again, having heard the appraisal of the tools. "Secure them in a safe place then, Rabon. We don't want them falling into the hands of any who would use them... well, or who might melt them for the silver, besides us, either."

[BillTheGalacticHero]

We could bury them in the woods, that will keep them out of the hands to those who did this, and should secure them for our return.

[Rusty Tincanne]

The superstitious peasant, Rabon, wonders aloud if the party should behead and burn the body in case of lycanthropy.

[shroomofinsanity]

Berry seems to be turning a little pale at all this obvious horror. His church training prepared him little for the terrible truth of what humans can do to each other. He says a prayer over the body, as no matter who they were, no one deserves this fate. m..may I suggest that we take this body into the light of day to perform the rights of burial. Otherwise her soul will never find the path to the land of the Lords, or so the scriptures tell us.

He looks to his compatriots for support, as he could not heft the body up the ladder by himself.

[Marullus]

Allric supports the knowledgeable words of Berry, encouraging him in his acts of faith and sidestepping Rabon's superstitious request for a beheading. He offers moral support as they heft the body up the ladder, though not touching it himself, of course.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Rabon grumpily acquiesces to the cleric and his mage-friend. Fine. But don't try and hide behind me if she raises up and tries to eat us, come the next full moon. I'll be runnin' away shoutin', "I told ya so." He suggests tying the body to the rope and then, as a group, hauling her up together. That way we needn't worry about the ladder breakin'. A ladder breakin' is bad luck fer the person fallin'. Not is a superstitious way, mind you. It's just a bad bit of luck, is all.
Rabon gathers the silvered tools into a small sack and hands them up to Allric, then climbs out of the hole while the elf or Thag ties up the dead woman. Because he has survivalist, IIRC.

Will Berry allow for a cremation on a bier? Might be able to avoid a laborer test that way.

And we should start thinking about camping after the next test so we don't (all) lose Fresh.

[shroomofinsanity]

If the topic is broached then yes he would be fine, if we could make a fire hot enough to properly cremate the body, Berry could hold a religious ceremony with that. Just have someone ask in character.

[Marullus]

...if we could make a fire hot enough to properly cremate the body...

Which sounds to me like Survivalist Ob3, if you ask me.

[Rusty Tincanne]

With the risk of failure being... WICKED EXCITING!!! He'll ask once the body is out of the cellar. One test at a time.