1.3 - In Search of Sanity - Never-Ending Nightmare

Razhel loads her crossbow and follows a pace behind Grim as she looks about and listens to the noise.

Grim slowly opens the door, finding it to swing easily inward. He stops it halfway and peeks inside. The reek of sweat and rot quickly overtake him. Multiple tables and chairs have been shattered and rebuilt into cages along the east wall, while a crate and an upended bed fitted with harnesses stand to the north.

Three ghouls appear quite pre-occupied with the crate, smacking at it and jeering at it. One of the ghouls is squatting on top of the crate while the other two stand nearby. As he looks on, Grim notices the crate lurch as if something is inside.

Chained to the bed is a man. He is short one leg, the stump poorly bandaged, but he seems to otherwise be awake, alert, and terrified. There are enough blood-soaked rags and stains on the walls and floors to surmise this man is but the most recent to partake of the ghouls' sense of hospitality.

The ghouls, as distracted as they are, do not seem to notice you as yet.

Seeing the ghouls distracted and the state of their prisoner on the bed, Grim rushes in to stand between the ghouls and the poor one-legged man chained to the bed. He lashes out at the nearest ghoul with the red sword.

Razhel rushes the opened door behind Grim, quickly sees the situation and fires her readied crossbow at the ghoul atop the cage.

Elias quickly follows Grim and tries to finish off one of the vile creatures.

Red Destiny flashes through the air and strikes the first of the unsuspecting ghouls. (-14hp, dead) It howls momentarily then crumbles to the ground, dead.

Just as it falls, Razhel's crossbow bolt flies through the air and sinks into the stomach of a very surprised ghoul (-11hp). It still stands, but only momentarily as Elias closes on it and cuts into the creature with his sword (-3hp, dead).

One ghoul remains standing, though is still off its guard as it reorients itself to the new danger that has entered the room.

Axon and Iosef enter shortly behind the others, ready for the fight, though its not expected to last much longer at this rate.

Initiative:
Iosef
Razhel
Ghoul
Axon
Grim
Elias

As his companions quickly dispatch the other two ghoul Iosef aims his crossbow at the remaining one, letting off a shot.

Razhel quickly reloads and fires her crossbow at the last of the three ghouls.

The two crossbow bolts hit the remaining ghoul at about the same time, one in the throat the other in the chest. The creature still maintains a fiercely puzzled look as it starts to lunge forward but falls and slides across the ground, dead.

OOC:

Combat Over! Nice work!

A hoarse voice comes from the pained man strapped to the nearby bed. "C-careful of the crate. Whatever's in there is-is not what it seems. S-some kind of monster." He breathes heavily, holding back tears of hope that he might be rescued, "Please, get me out of here. Please!"

Elias stabs each of the creatures in the heart, just to be sure they are not standing up again before turning to the man. "Some kind of monster you say?"

Grim grabs one of the ghoul's corpses and tosses it on top of the crate with the creature they've been warned about. "Whatever it is, let's not let it get out." He looks about to see if there's anything else they can use to help secure the crate, then moves to assist the one-legged man. "Maybe we can get this fellow back to the Doc before we continue on. Where we're going he's likely to meet a swift death in his condition."

As you begin to pile the body and other things on top of the crate, you hear the soft barking of a dog within the crate, intermixed with whimpering. The crate jostles as whatever's inside tries to get out.Searching the other crates you find human corpses and only one thing of real interest: a sturdy wooden shield that, when tested, gives off a magical aura.

After safely depositing the poor survivor with the Doc, Grim returns to the room with the crates. On the way, he discusses what they want to do with the thing in the crate.

When you return you do indeed find that whatever is inside the crate remains trapped. At first quiet, as you approach, you hear the soft yipping of a dog.

'..a trick? or ourfriend is imagining things.' Iosef watches the crate carefully, as if he can somehow how se through the wood and figure out the nature of what is inside.

'..Perhaps I could open it while those of you more capable are ready with your weapons, should it in fact be harmful?'

Razhel loads her crossbow and aims it at the crate. "Grim, you lead and I'll finish it off."

Tugging his beard for a second, Grim grins and thrusts the blade of his red sword through the slats of the crate and lashes back and forth inside.

Grim slides his sword easily enough between the slits of the crate and runs it back and forth, stabbing while doing so. Frightened and pained yelping comes from within, quickly replaced a low growl.

"Wait! Shouldn't we ..." Elias protests too late as Grim slides his sword stabbing the (presumably) defenseless dog-like creature.