The group decide to ignore the scratching sound behind the door, but as they turn left they hear a man shouting: "No, I'm trying to help you! DON'T...!"
Suddenly the door bursts open and a man in a poorly fitting chain shirt comes crashing through it, landing heavily against the wall. A grey-skinned creature like the dead ones they saw earlier leaps after him and jumps on top of him. It starts to claw at the man's chest in rage. The man screams in terror.
The PCs try to help the man and attack the monster. Then Haldrin and Dyggvi recognise it. It's Seárne léi Moige from Cen Heddan, one of the members of Dyggvi's search party. She seems to have mutated into the hideous thing in front of them.
Dyggvi tries to talk to her and get her to recognise them. He even goes as far as trying to grab her and pull her off Fasmund. Eventually she does let go and seems to recognise Haldrin and Dyggvi. For a while, she just stands still and stares at them. Fasmund however, is too enraged to notice any of this and delivers a killing blow, severing one of her arms at the shoulder. Seárne let's out a dreadful moan and collapses.
This was the first of waaaaay too many critical hits.Haldrin examines her to see if she can still be saved, but it's too late. While he's busy, he notices that she also has a tattoo in her neck, but doesn't take the time to look more closely.
-B
Next, the PCs question the man, whom they recognise, also. He readily admits that they indeed know him, because he's one of the people working in the laboratory. He claims that he is a healer and his tasks were to treat the test subjects' wounds after the two researchers were done. He says he doesn't have anything to do with the experiments and doesn't even know what they're for.
When asked where they are, he tells the PCs that they're in Sargaen's lab. Danion recognizes that name: a little-known hero from the last war was called Sargaen. The other man's name, he does not know (most people referred to him as "the Tall Man") but he suggests that Sargaen might know his real name.
He also informs the PCs that the entrance is on a lower level of the lab, but he has heard rumours that it collapsed in an explosion a few hours back. He hasn't been down there on his own to verify that, though. The group ask him if there is another way out of the complex. He thinks there is. Both Sargaen and the Tall Man seemed to him to come and go as they pleased, which means there may be a 'secret' doorway, somewhere. A good guess might be their private chambers. The PCs ask him which is nearer: the normal exit or Sargaen's private quarters. He says the latter are quite nearby . The PCs tell him to lead them there. He gladly obeys, finally having found a means of escape.
The group follow the corridor in the direction they started in. The healer leads them to the last door on the right. When he sees that it's open, he says to the others: "This door is usually kept closed. It's considered off-limits. I've only been through here once, myself."
Haldrin warns everyone to be careful.
A short passage leads towards a large brick-walled tunnel that looks like an unused sewer. It's dry, but a faint smell of faeces and decay reaches them nonetheless. A walkway on the right side leads off into the darkness. The party follow it once one of the spellcasters ( who, exactly? -B ) has made some light.
Since they are probably underneath a city (you don't get a lot of sewers in no man's land) someone asks the healer where they are.
"We're somewhere underneath the city of Ivorell," he replies.
"You couldn't have mentioned that when we asked you that same question earlier, could you!?" says Danion.
At length, they reach the remains of a wooden bridge across the tunnel to a door on the other side. The healer says that Sargaen's and the Tall Man's quarters lie beyond that door. He has never been inside.
The PCs scramble to the other side and enter.
Inside, there's a narrow passage. A sharp left turn 20 feet further blocks the view. There's a wooden door on the right halfway down, which reveals a latrine when the PCs open it. After the corner, the hallway suddenly widens and ends in a large pair of sturdy, wooden doors. They are open though, and the group enter the room behind them. It looks like some sort of waiting room. There are comfortable wooden chairs on the far side, beautiful carpets cover the ground and tapestries adorn the walls. On the right and left are two exquisitely carved wooden doors.
When they listen at the door to their left, they can hear a lot of noise and people talking. It's muted however and they can't really tell what's being said. It doesn't sound as if the noise is coming from somewhere nearby, so they open the door slightly. They can now hear more clearly. There are a number of people. One of them is giving orders. He speaks common, but has a distinct goblin accent. It becomes clear that they are looking for something and turning the place inside out but haven't found anything yet.
The group want to go in, but when Haldrin, either scouting or rushing ahead, reports that there are stairs going down, they decide to check the other room first. They way out is up, not down.
They listen at the other door and hear nothing, so they open it. Behind the door is a round chamber, a sitting room with some nice furniture in it. Beyond the furniture, the room is quite empty, however. It appears to have been cleaned out not too long ago. An opening on the far side of the room leads to a second round chamber. Before they go in to investigate, Danion and Fasmund barricade the door to the waiting room with some furniture.
In the middle of the second room is a round basin filled with water, almost as large as the room itself. Behind it is some rubble.
Jan-Laucian casts detect magic and sees that the water has a faint magical aura. He can't determine any specific spell or effect, but it looks like a combination of abjuration and transmutation. He wants to take some of the water with him so he can examine it better once they are outside, but hasn't got anything to keep it in.
They search the rubble behind the basin. Most of it is old wood and some rags, but they also find two wooden chests underneath it. They are locked, but Jan-Laucian's acidic spittle dissolves the wood well enough to open them. One chest contains some jewelry (golden rings belonging to Danion and Dyggvi's signet ring). Dyggvi's spellbook is also among the contents, as is a purse full of gold pieces. In the other chest they find a second pouch, which contains a number of gems.
A search of the rooms doesn't reveal any hidden exits, so the group decide to try the first room again.
They descend the stairs and see an open door. It leads to a living room. It´s completely messed up: tables are overturned, books are ripped to pieces and scattered about, paintings and tapestries are torn from the walls. They can still hear people making a mess, but they are not in another room.
Haldrin sneaks into the room and looks around the corner. There's a second room, a bedroom. It's equally messy. Haldrin goes on and finds a study. That's where all the noise is coming from. There are five people there. The one giving the orders is a hobgoblin spellcaster. He's standing behind a desk, riffling through a stack of papers. There's also a halfling, and three humans. One of the humans is clearly another spellcaster, the others are clearly not, given their armour and weapons. They are so engrossed in their task that they fail to notice Haldrin.
Haldrin returns to the others and starts signalling what he's found to the others and suggest they rush in and take them by surprise. Only Fasmund seems to understand what he means and agrees that striking fast is probably a good idea.
The others didn't seem to notice what was happening at the table. Roy (Danion) is kind of surprised when our head-first friends Fasmund and Haldrin charge headlong into the room. "Shouldn't we discuss this first!?"The group quickly discuss tactics and attack. The enemies are caught completely off-guard. Jan-Laucian casts enlarge person on Fasmund, who wades right into the middle of the room and decapitates the hobgoblin in one blow. Then the others follow.
Anyways, I ask for initiative rolls and everyone still gets a chance to prepare a bit. The PCs at any rate, were more aware of the situation than the NPCs in the next room, so it seemed fair to give everyone a surprise attack, not just Haldrin and Fasmund.
-B.
It's too much work to write every part of this battle down, even if I could remember all of it. Suffice to say that the players unleashed carnage on an massive scale rolling a unsettlingly huge number of crits, and won the day.When the slaughterfest is over, the PCs start looking for the exit. There doesn't appear to be any obvious way out, so Haldrin decides to search the place more thoroughly. It isn't long before he finds some odd stonework in the study. He notices a strange discolouration in the wall behind a beautiful painting of a dark-haired elven woman. Tapping the spot reveals that there is a hollow space behind it. Haldrin can't find any way of opening it, so he starts to break his way through it with his axe. After a while a small niche becomes visible. Inside it is a metal lever. Haldrin reaches inside, but Danion stops him and suggests they loot the bodies first and get ready to leave in a hurry, just in case the lever doesn't do what they're hoping for.
Dyggvi proved to be quite the slayer, even if he managed to fascinate himself along with two oppontents with one of his spells.
-B.
The PCs find many of weapons and armour, most of them of excellent quality. In the hobgoblin's spellbook, they find a note with instructions:
Hakon,They also take with them the painting that covered the niche in the wall. It's very beautiful and worth quite a bit of money. A caption beneath the portrait tells the woman's name: Mirenn.
your orders are as follows:
1) to recover Sargaen's research data and bring them to me, 2) to destroy the equipment in the operating room, 3) to eliminate all test subjects.
--end of session 2--
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