1.1 - In Search of Sanity - Prison of the Mind

"Exactly. Whoever who can use them best should use them... and beware what you may see through that eye, Glasses."

He let his arcane sight roam over the southern door one last time then readied himself to create his lights.

"Arm yourselves and let's do this."

Razhel grumbles, digs the small bundle back out of her pouch, and hands it over to the man with glasses.

የዳንስ መብራቶች

Four multicoloured lights manifested beside the southern door then coalesced into a single humanoid form.

"Ready when you are. I'll send that in first."

Elias steps forward and readies his sword and shield. With a nod of his head he let's everyone know that he's ready.

Stepping into the room to the south you see several wide tables and gigantic washbasins in a laundry equipped to service hundreds. The washbasins line the western alcoves and stand about 6 feet tall and 10 feet in diameter. The place looks as though it were repurposed as a failed surgery, though, with corpses lie discarded in the corners of the room. You can clearly make out both human and shapechanger corpses, the latter riddled with crossbow bolts. A large table before you bears the partial and intact corpses of several people. Space is cleared for one such specimen, a large bald man wearing a gown. A collection of bloody surgery tools lie nearby.

A stained sheet hangs between two of the basins dividing the room roughly in half. A lantern shines on the far side and you can see the lithe silhouette of a humanoid form just on the other side of the curtain. It appears to be standing over something, swaying back and forth slightly, its arms appearing to be working on something about chest-high.

Beyond, from the south-west corner of the room, you hear a sloshing sound, as if something is moving inside of the washbasin down there.

The carnage both was and was not what he expected. Was he becoming used to this now?

"Anything useful?" he whispered, pointing two fingers at his eyes then around the immediate room. "I'll pull off that curtain with magic when you're ready."

He eyed the body on the table suspiciously as he swept his arcane sight across the room. Paranoia, perhaps? He'd add paranoia to the long list of other things trying to kill him.

"And be wary of that."

Razhel enters cautiously with crossbow loaded and ready. She slides left of the doorway and takes up a position; eyeing the bald corpse suspiciously. It was not in her nature to be so reluctant to surge forth to the enemy, but these shapeshifters were tougher than the average street thug and she still had the bruises to prove it.

She nods to suggestion of the man using his magic to remove the curtain separating them from the silhouette.

Elias readies his sword and raises his shield as they enter the room. As plans were discussed Eluas nods his head in agreement. As Axon prepares his shell, Elias makes ready to move.

Still holding his crossbow, Grim nods in agreement to the whispered suggestion and slides left to clear the path to the door they are entering.

As the group slowly approaches the curtain, Axon finds that the cloth draped across the room is emanating a minor magical aura of some sort, centered near the middle of the curtain where the silhouette is. No aura emanates from the body on the table.

Before he has a chance to speak up you hear a groan from the body on the table, though it doesn't appear to move.

Iosef prepares his crossbow, ready to sheet if needed.

As soon as the body groans Elias pauses for a moment. Once he's sure the person behind the curtain isn't coming to investigate, Elias moves to the end if the table and does a quick cursory check on the body.

"No necromancy," he whispered after almost jumping out of his skin, indicating the corpse, "might be still alive alive."

He once again focused on the flimsy partition.

"The sheet is faintly magical. Give me a second... No. I can't identify it. I'll wait to see if that guy can tell us anything then pull the sheet."

Elias moves to check on the man. He looks bruised and battered, but Elias doesn't immediately see any major wounds. While looking, the man's face contorts and he groans again, twisting as if in great discomfort. His eyes flicker open, distant at first, as if waking from a long rest, before they find Elias's gaze. "Help me," he says.

The sloshing sound in the far south-east of the room continues and Axon, continuing to focus his attention on the magical nature of the curtain narrows the aura itself to the outline of the figure beyond the curtain.

Razhel isn't buying the injured man on the table ploy. "Same old tired routine. Fooled us once, but you know how that old saying goes." She levels the crossbow and takes aim, ready for even the slightest twitch out of place.

He blinked.

"The outline is magical? I don't like this. And what's that sloshing? There may be more than one thing in here. Dragon Eyes, you'd better point that crossbow at the corner. Hat, watch the cloth with me. Glasses, H... Watch this guy."

He sighed. Once they all agreed to this or agreed upon other offered options, he'd pull down the cloth.