1.1 - In Search of Sanity - Prison of the Mind

Razhel accepts the second potion and quaffs it down. "Thanks for having my back, everyone."

Indeed, thank you everyone. The help you've shown is a debt not easily repaid. I swear to stand by each of you. No matter the situation. Elias says as he stands up and makes ready to leave. I agree, we should check out the room with the bodies that are chained up.

"I have no need of debts, Healer. When we get of here and know ourselves, I'd prefer to call you all friends," he said sincerely then added, "just don't tell anyone else suspicious who asks that you can heal, OK?"

"የዳንስ መብራቶች"

Four swirling balls of iridescent light appeared again in the hallway. When everyone was ready, he would move the lights ahead of them into the room with the chained occupants.

"To light our way into the unknown. I have a slight magical shield active... and probably wouldn't be much good in a fight. Let me go first and check on the state of those within while keeping you who can heal me or launch an effective counter attack behind me. Will you stand beside me in taking point, Hat?"

Hat. Glasses. Dragon Eyes. Healer. If only he could come up with a name for himself, preferably his real name.

Axxon leading the way with his floating orbs of light, the five of you follow Razhel's directions to find exactly what she had described - three bodies hanging and manacled to pipe-like crossbeams that fill this western alcove of the room. The room itself is full of sturdy racks and toppled tables. Linens scattered about, and the layout of the room, leads you to believe this once served as a sizable laundry. Much of the northern end of the room is filled with rubble.

As you near, you are able to make out some details of the three figures. The one to the furthest south is a human man wearing stained yellow sheets in a sort of make-shift robe and bearing a flame-shaped chalk mark upon his forehead. The most northern form is of a creature - smooth-skinned and grey as death, with yellow eyes and razer-sharp teeth. It holds the corpse between it and the man as best it can with manacled hands, gnawing at the dead man's face.

While the creature doesn't immediately seem to notice you, the man sees you approach. Wide-eyed, he splays his fingers and reaches his manacles hands toward you, as if to highlight his imprisonment. "Praise!" he whispers loudly, seemingly on the verge of tears.

Undead Abomination! Elias shouts as he sees the ghoul. Drawing his sword, Elias moves on instinct and attacks the creature.

"ጥቁር ሜትሮይትስ!" he shouted to rain down cold particles onto the gnawing thing!

Elias lunges at the monster with his sword, slicing deep into the creatures flesh. It screams in abject terror, pain, and anger at having been interrupted during its meal. An icy meteor falls and clunks into its head. "Yow!" it exclaims. Chained as it is, it snaps its maw towards Elias, though it is unable to come anywhere close to hurting him. "Why?!" it howls and hisses, "You - you will PAY for that, man-meat! We did nothing to you - NOTHING!"

Close-by the man in the yellow robe shrinks back, his eyes darting to the closed door to the south. "Zandalus sees," he says absently, lips trembling.

Who would bind an undead eater of flesh? If it wasn't the people who worked here who did it...

"We aren't shapeshifters. Tell us what you know of them and we'll spare you."

A foolish gambit perhaps but he had to try. He knew this thing couldn't be left unalive.

"Hah!" the creature mocks, "Do you take me for some kind of fool?" It spits towards Axon, a bloody gob of filth sailing ineffectively past Elias to land on the ground in front of the sorcerer. "There are too many of you," it says, "And the doctor is accounted for." The word 'doctor' leaves its gaunt lips like spitting venom. "Only one way out," it sneers.

"Kill it," he said sadly but added coldly, "but be sure not to free it from its bonds."

Razhel draws her rapier and runs the ghoul through, before loping off its head. "Gladly..." She says as an afterthought. "It needed killing..."

The creature's head lands to the floor, its wicked, mocking laugh gone more quickly than its stench. The corpse next to the dead monster now hangs unattended and nigh forgotten while the yellow-robed man stares with wide eyes at Razhel. "Words fail," he sees, his tone slipping towards one of incredible gratitude, "Praise."

Grim nods and then cocks his hat slightly in front, as he looks at the hanging man in the yellow robes. "What exactly is a Zandalus?" He asks the man.

The man twists his face up to Grim, puzzled. "Zandalus," he says slowly, as if unsure of Grim's question, "Zandalus sees." The look is replaced by one of worry and he looks again to the door to the south. "Words fail," he whimpers, "fail."

"Should we risk it?" he asked the others with a nod to the southern door.

Looking over her shoulder to the others, Razhel asks with dripping rapier in hand, "Shall I finish this one off too?" Gesturing the point toward the robed man. "He might be a shapeshifter. Everyone else we've met out in this hallway seems to be...or a ghoul."

We can keep him chained for now, while we check out the door. Does anyone know if there's a way to check and see if he's a shapeshifter? Elias says as he stands beside Razhel.

"Bleed him."