Episode 2

An idea, based on the current predicament:

If possible, we take a minute in the upper room after Ivor gets up. Recharge, especially given our entry into this place was rough as hell and the team just poisoned/exhausted.

Curious about the stirges conditioning and what they would do if their behavior pattern is thrown off and they cant return to the upper room.

We'll want to be more careful, to be sure.

Ivor on the Climb

Ivor steps up on a statue and makes the best leap he can, grabbing the rope as high as possible.

It is horrific as the clawed bats dive in, climbing over one another to try to sink their claws and sharp needle snouts into flesh. They take advantage of his exposure and seek to drink his blood as he hangs struggling in the air.

Attacks by Stirge 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25
Blood drain by Stirge 16, 17, 21, 22

Up above, Kray tries to pull up on the rope to lift Ivor. Seconds are critical, but the weight is nearly impossible to lift with enough speed to make a difference.

Upper Chamber

To keep it simple, I'm shifting Kray forward in the sequence so he's matched with everyone else. His actions are already in; he's pulling the rope.

All other active upper chamber characters are up! Bryn and Thorn send Actions.

Kray is raging so no disadvantage there. As far as help, yeah I can think of someone, and I'd like to think he would.

Kray is straining with all of his might, on the brink of screaming in his furious focus. Thorn sees the desperation and leaps into action.

Thorn grips the rope and sees Ivor barely hanging on below, covered in bats. Heaving with every ounce of strength he can muster, Thorn pulls up, hand over hand, again and again, churning in a painful rhythm to bring the rope up foot by foot as quickly as possible. Kray is there pulling with every inch gained and working to keep the rope away from the drag of the lip of the floor.

When Ivor is high enough, Kray leans out dangerously and hooks him under the arm, without regard for the deadly bats that are attached all over the big Dannein warrior's neck, shoulders, back, and arms. Ivor is so heavy and is going limp, passing out. It is all Kray can do to just press Ivor up against the opening in the floor and hang on for dear life under his arm. Ivor's lower torso and legs are suspended in the air, hanging into the room below. A loose stirge that was harassing Ivor flutters into the room.

Thorn drops to make a quick transition from the rope to gripping Ivor across the shoulders and under his other arm. Leaning back with all of his weight, Thorn heaves desperately to shift the weight inward enough to make a difference. Kray leans and drags with all of his might as well. By the narrowest of margins the two men are able to drag Ivor in and across the floor enough to get his legs in and close the shutter door.

It is a horrifying image, illuminated only by the single flickering torch dropped to the floor by Maeriks. Ivor's skin is pale and drawn. The feasting parasites hang all over his body, their claws digging into his skin, their needle snouts buried deep into his flesh and organs. The disgusting hairy flesh of the bats is beginning to stretch as their bellies bulge into blood-filled bulbs.

Ivor's eyes are open briefly, but his eyelids are heavy.

He can barely speak.

He is losing consciousness.

The round shifts to the Stirge Action Turns.

Blood drains count as Death Marks for Ivor.

Upper ChamberS2 and S4 are attached to Bryn
S3 is staged to Attack Unconscious Sizhen
S7 and S8 are attached to Unconscious Maeriks

Ground Level, North of Cage Gate

Trece inspects the area, looking for valuables, clues, tools, anything he can find that might be useful. As he pilfers through Eumash's bag, he sees that the man was truly bestial. He does look like a devil, quite a monster...

From the shoulder bag:
*an ivory whistle
*a larger reed whistle
*a device of unknown name and nature. It has a handle that can rotate which spins a sprocketed wheel. When the wheel spins it drags against a stiff reed and makes a low whirring sound.
*a bladder of wine
*1 set of manacles
*10 short length ropes wrapped together
*a thin rectangle plate of polished steel, serves as a banged up mirror?

The key chain is iron. It has 9 iron keys on it, of differing shapes and sizes.

Aside from the mace, Eumash also wears a sheathed knife.

The black robes are tattered on the edges, but very well-made. They are a high quality material. All of the trim has strange runes sewn in, which are difficult to see from afar because it is still all black thread.

Also mentionable:
mace
short bow, 3 arrows
oil lamp (burning)


To the east, along the south wall, Trece sees three pull-cart like wagons, with carrier sections each a little longer than the height of a man.

To get out of the line of sight of the bats on the cage gate, Trece moves around the corner towards the west throughway. For a hiding place, he knows he can tuck behind the old statue of the winged lion.

Upper Chamber

Bryn kills the elusive bat that was trying to plague Sizhen.
Attack 1 Miss
Attack 2 Hit

The demonic bats attached to Ivor, Maeriks, Kray, and Bryn continue to siphon blood out of their victims.Several of the sickening creatures seem to have drunk their fill. They detach and flap around like fat sacs, plopping onto the floor and dragging their heavy swollen bellies around as if triumphant and satisfied.