Episode 2

Upper ChamberThough Ivor lays on the ground dead, Kray, Bryn, and Thorn have to continue fighting to save themselves and others. Still fighting the effects of the poison they take no rest- chopping, pulling, slicing, and stomping all of the remaining bats in the room.

Sizhen is unconscious, but seems relatively unharmed. Bryn sits him up in the corner of the adjacent room outside of the filthy bat den. He does what he can to revive him. Sizhen seems to be slowly coming back, but he is extremely groggy, not talking for a while and slowly opening and closing his eyes.

Thorn cuts one bat off of Maeriks and sees that the big Dannein is in bad shape. Thorn drags him outside to the other room, getting Bryn to help. Bryn does his best to tend to Maeriks while Thorn and Kray work together to lift Ivor's body out of the bat den and into the adjacent room.

Everyone moves out of the horrifying bat room, which is a scene of carnage with blood and bat shit everywhere, gruesome remains of cut and crushed bats. The brained corpse of the giant bat still lays near the door where Thorn killed it. They close the door, shutting that scene away, and Bryn uses a tool to click the lock on it.

Maeriks continues to struggle. Everyone else breathes in and out desperately. They are exhausted. Sweaty. Covered in blood and bat filth. Their muscles still twitching from the poison effects. Headaches. Coughing.

...but gradually, they begin to regather themselves.

Sizhen awakens fully and stands up, still facing the remnant poison effects but now full conscious.

Move from 4 levels of Exhaustion up to 3 Levels of Exhaustion after 3 minutes away from exposure.

Maeriks has moved below the Zero HP State.
He has to roll 2 Death Saves.

Required Action: Bryn, Thorn, or Kray. Decide who stops to run treatment attempt on Maeriks. Make skill check to see if medic can stabilize the patient to avoid continued Death Save requirements.
DC 10 WIS Medicine. Still in Disadvantage. Help can only apply if both people are proficient.

Ground Chambers

Trece holds position for a time to listen, observe, and attempt to recover his breathing and muscle control. After some time passes, some of the poison effects begin to subside.

He hears the chirps and flapping of the bats from around the corner in the cage room, but other than that there are no sounds. He can see the immediate vicinity from the light of the lamp, but the outer areas are veiled in darkness. No other threats are immediately apparent though.

Move from 4 levels of Exhaustion up to 3 Levels of Exhaustion after 3 minutes away from exposure.

If nobody else will take care of Maeriks Kray will. J use these as needed if nobody else more capable jumps in.

Trece holds his breath and keeps an eye on the bats as he steps briefly into the edge of the vapors that spill just outside of the cage gate. He quickly recovers his spoon which clears the latch mechanism for the low inner gate. He tries closing it and it works. The low gate door clicks shut, reconnected and sealed now to the large cage gate barrier.

Trece backs away and surveys the bats. A collection of them are hanging high on the cage gate. Though they are small enough to squeeze between the gridded iron band bars, they have not tried so far, seeming instead content at a high place to cling on the inner side of the caged room.

Other bats continue to flutter about, swooping around in and out of the lower smoke area. Trece can see he ones that are higher in room, above the cloud of poison vapor that seems to be settling with the thickest part around 5 or 6 feet from the floor with thinner smog tapering up from there.

Trece cranks the unknown device to test it, letting the whirring sound wind up to a growling hum. The bats react with little delay. Those that are clinging to the cage gate detach and begin flying in the upper part of the room. The chirps and squeals increase as all of the bats become more agitated. Soon they are all swirling about in the room, high near the ceiling.

It soon becomes clear that they are trying to get back into the upper chamber. From the light torch that still burns hanging from one of the central statues under the trap door in the ceiling, Trece is able to see that some of the bats are knocking and flapping against the door as they pass by. The rope still hangs inert down from the upper chamber, so the ceiling trap door is cracked open the width of a pressed rope, but not enough for the bats to squeeze into.

Trece sees the chain hanging on the east wall. It is the chain that the others used to open the ceiling trap door.

Kray tries to treat Maeriks' wounds but finds it difficult since the problem is not bleeding and continued blood loss, but is instead internal injury and loss of blood already siphoned by the bats.

Stabilization attempt unsuccessful. Maeriks must make 3rd Life/Death Save.

Maeriks is still unconscious but begins to gasp and convulse lightly in panting breaths. His throat is swollen and he is obviously struggling to get air. Kray does what he can, trying to clear Maeriks and turn him on his side to avoid obstruction of his throat.

Continue Death Saves.

Finally after a time, perhaps aided by the time in fresh air. Maeriks' breathing normalizes again. It is faint, but the slight rise and fall of his lungs becomes steady. He is still unresponsive and looks pale like a corpse.

Final count: 3 Life Marks, 1 Death Mark.
Maeriks survives, but has Unconscious condition.

Map Review

Trece is in Room 12 on Ground LevelEveryone else is in Room 6 on 2nd Floor (Upper Level 1)

When Trece stops the growling crank device, the bats do tend to calm to a degree. Once he quits the sound, a few of the bats return to hanging on the high section of the cage gate. First just a few, but increasingly more over time.

Trece backs away and gathers the loot that decides to take from the defeated horned man called Eumash. He moves west into the next room, following the direction that he last saw the goat man running.

Enter Room 11, Ground Floor

This room is relatively empty. It has huge scorched marks on the floors and walls, as if blasting fires blew through here. In the corners and sides of the room, there is wreckage: broken push cart wagons, partially burned wood structures of unknown purpose, some scraps of rusty iron bands, even some broken arrows, weapons, and shields. An old battle site? It seems strange, but perhaps so.

The middle of the room is open though, as if the amount of junk and wreckage was pushed to the sides and corners over time. Double doors to the north and south (right and left) are sealed shut. They are heavy dark wood with iron bracing, very sturdy.

The west exit has a double door as well, but the southern one is opened inward partially, certainly enough for a man to pass through. And it looks like the push carts as well. Trece sees the signs of travel this way, with signs of traffic suggesting that one of the doors always stays closed and the other opens and closes to allow travel. He can see lines cutting through the smudge and grime of the floor that look like wheel line tracks.

Trece moves through the door.

Enter Room 13, Ground Floor

The light of the lamp casts into this next elongated room. It is similar in some ways to the room where Trece struck down Eumash and then recovered, just north of the cage room.

There are statues of large lions with bearded human faces. On the walls, there are painting of men standing side by side, marching or walking in a line, all bringing gifts to a king. Other pictures show armored men riding on chariots, shooting bows and throwing spears against wild men wearing loin clothes and carrying great hammers and clubs. The pictures look very old. The people depicted seem to be from an ancient time.

Trece sees two set of stairs, one leading up, the other leading down.

At the stairs leading down, there is another push cart wagon sitting off to the side. On the right half of the stairs, a sort of ramp or track has been built. It is made of smooth polished wood. It is almost like some sort of slide. The left half of the stairs is left normal, and it is wide enough for a man to descent normally.

At this point, Trece believes that the goat man must have come to this room. At the same time, Trece has no real trail or track to find the strange robed man.

Trece examines the room and sees the signs that most of the traffic in this room goes in and out from the stairs leading down. It is not difficult to see at all that the grime and neglect of the room's floor is rubbed clear at the stairs and in trails leading to the throughways to the east(from which Trece just passed) and north (another pair of double doors, closed).

Trece peers down the stairwell. He sees that the stairs travel for a ways and then curve around slowly to the south. He cannot see past the wall that blocks the sight of the ongoing turn of the downward route.

A man's voice interrupts the silence, speaking fluent Otessite! Trece looks over quickly. The voice is coming from the stairs leading up.

The man speaks again, apparently from just out of sight at the top of the stairs.

Upstairs everyone lights another torch and settles in, mainly just trying to stabilize breathing and regain full muscle control.