|
Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Dec 8, 2017 5:42:09 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"Wouf, Lights above..." He coughed, and pulled his cloak's collar fast about his nostrils as he backed away from his kneeling position, then loomed back in to spy on that dead rat again; his dramatified disgust faded as he made to reach in, then pulled out.
He straightened up, and looked to Courcy for a moment, then to Florence; raising a hand, "... We've a dead rat... looks fresh-ish? Hasn't started decomposing yet, so..." He nodded his head left and right as he tried to count in his head, "Three to Five days? Tops? It has a yellowy froth from its mouth." He tried to rouse some curiosity from the doctor; so he beckoned her over, as he stood up.
"Best you have a look, pull it out?" He requested, and ordered as he pointed down to the respective cabinet.
After that, he gave a quick nod to Courcy before making his way over to Tilly; leering at the crack in the wall as he set a hand on his falchion.
Down in this rank cellar, that crack in the wall, dead rats... It's like he never left home at all.
\\
|
|
|
The Abbey
Dec 8, 2017 8:39:06 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 8, 2017 8:39:06 GMT -8
Florence's beak pointed up to the ceiling as she thought a moment.
"The scent may also come from mold." She hypothesized, though she didn't seem to believe it plausible, herself; the room was dusty and bone dry, inhospitable to any mildew.
She meandered to the large cabinet, where Lekalis had investigated. She bent to her hands and knees and cocked her head, fitting the beak into the space between the cabinet and the floor.
A moment of quiet passed before she spoke again.
"I wish not to touch this carcass." The doctor said simply, "As it had succumbed to white-pox."
---
Tilly's eyes followed the crack downwards, to the space where it met the floor. To the bottom, the crack split, and between its branches was a ragged hole in the concrete. A translucent, green fluid spilled a hair past it, like mucus.
"Good heavens... did they fill this in all the way?" She grimaced, looking to Lekalis, and then the wall. She pressed her ear up to it and listened, tapping a fingernail against the concrete, gauging the thickness of such a wall.
As she listened, her eyes widened and her skin blanched. Silently, bringing a finger up to her lips, the universal symbol for silence, she beckoned for Lekalis to do the same.
|
|
|
Post by black379 on Dec 8, 2017 9:40:57 GMT -8
Courcy groaned in disgust, stepping back from Lekalis so as to keep plenty of distance from the plagued rat corpse he discovered. She was almost decided that there was nothing to be found here, and that any place would be more hospitable than the filthy cellar. She certainly didn't intend to expire from any pox herself.
"Does that mean anything?" Her query was muffled and nasally, as she kept her nose covered from the stench. "What's a rat got to-" Glancing to Tilly, the hellion shushed.
|
|
|
Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Dec 8, 2017 13:01:14 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
For once, it seemed, his paranoia wasn't unfounded, as he quickly and deftly slipped his falchion free of its sheathe, and he became acutely aware of the spear on his lower back; he turned about and mimicked the 'shush' sign, with a finger to his lips to Courcy, before his eyes widened and he pointed to Florence. He mouthed the words 'TELL HER' repeatedly as his head snapped back to Tilly and the crack in the wall.
Lekalis reached out to her with his good hand; crossing the last few steps to tug at the elbow of her jack, begging her to make some distance. They had their knowledge, the needed to inform the guard. To think such a danger was lingering so close when they'd been sleeping... This safe-Haven seemed to have been built on the roof of Hell. He shouldn't have been surprised, but he felt his gut tighten; fight or flight kicking into full gear as he desperately desired Tilly to take but one step back. In but a matter of moments, he imagined a thousand volumes of outcomes, if that concrete slab were to be broken down...
Yet, a touch of curiosity chilled him; in a logical, simple way. The green ooze intrigued him; mucus? Perhaps a sort of glue that'd kept the slabs in place... In places so vile, with the right compositions... He'd seen animal fats crushed down to make glues, as well as other combinations of crushed insects and honeyed extracts. \\
|
|
|
Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 8, 2017 15:00:09 GMT -8
There it was, in the silence: grinding, beyond the wall, in steady, rhythmic motions. It was barely audible, but now, in the silence, it seemed to be as loud and clear as gunfire.
Another hiss, and a glob of mucous gushed out from the hole in the wall, leaving a palm-sized pool at the mouth of it. The cement smoked, fortunately in a more organic manner than what was seen from the Cultists' claws. The edges of the hole receded a hair more, as if to be eaten away by the liquid... --- Tilly's eyes flitted to Lekalis's, shivering as though each scratch at the cement was a scratch against her very spine. She was more than glad to step backwards, loathe to expose her back to the wall, drawing her pickaxe from her belt as she went.
Pressing her mouth into a hard line, she was uncertain if the wall would truly hold until they could gather the guards.
--- Florence stared at the rat, feeling a tad surprised at the sudden hush-- but she supposed that white-pox was dire enough to warrant a kind of shocked silenced such as this; it struck quickly, after all, and it was rather easy to contract, only requiring an ingestion of tainted meat or humors. Satisfied with her party's newfound respect for the study of science and medicine, she began to scoot out from under the cabinet and chose to respect the healthy silence.
|
|
|
Post by black379 on Dec 8, 2017 15:55:27 GMT -8
The sudden fizzle of goo from the crack in the wall made Courcy flinch. She was already nearly half across the room, but further distanced herself. Briefly, the redhead squinted at the fissure, expecting it to burst any moment as the ominous grinding continued.
Quietly she paced next to Florence and leaned close to her, though she made sure to keep away from the rat. Her voice was low, but almost pained as the air still stung her nose. "Something behind the wall. Ready yourself. Stay quiet."
|
|
|
Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Dec 8, 2017 16:15:02 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
With a frown, he watched the hole grow to the sides of a man's palm; the corrosive ooze bringing back memories, while not wholly pleasant, but reassuring. He'd dealt with this before... Despite the tedium, he slid his Falchion loosely into his belt, out of its sheath in case he needed to draw it quickly; and instead produced his Spear, wielding it in one hand as he made to move infront of Tilly, still bearing close to her; he whispered with a volume well practiced over his campaigns of ambushes and flanks.
"I want you to go back to the door... I'd ask you to run for help but--" A moment of levity, as he looked over to Tilly with a reassuring smile and half-wink, "-- Can't imagine you'd be like to listen." His smile turned to a smirk, then a hard tactile line. "I want you to use your daggers, I know you've a good arm for it. Your icepick'll be too close, if that stuff gets on you..." He hoped the small glimmer of terror in his eye, as his imagination seemed to catch up to his words.
With a small, quiet sigh, he jerked his head back, hoping Tilly'd get his point as he poised himself and his spear towards the growing hole: resisting the urge to send a quick jab into the pulsating mass of greenish ooze.
He doubly glanced over to Courcy and, upon seeing and hearing her murmur words, swiftly beckoned her forward; he'd need her polearm for this engagement, direly. Lekalis' eyes finally made note of the space around him, adjusting his grip on his spear soas to maximize its range...
\\
|
|
|
Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 8, 2017 16:49:59 GMT -8
Tilly's brows furrowed, as though she had some desire to argue, before her features relaxed in apparent understanding. She still held the pickaxe loosely at her side, slightly to the front of her as though to prepare to parry. She slipped her hand into her coat, a pocket on the outside. -- Florence's head quirked, from where she sat on the floor. In some way she wasn't entirely surprised that her friends refused to recognize the dangers of white-pox; though, on the other hand, perhaps whatever creature that was dead-set on invading would prove to be a greater danger.
She got to her feet, back pressed against the cabinet door as she made to unbutton the flap of her satchel.
-- As the hole towards the bottom widened, the crack that ran down the center of the wall splintered off and widened, threatening to crumble before their eyes. A fleshy creature, with smooth, slippery skin, pressed up against the hole, as if to ram its way through. A flash of teeth could be spotted through the hole as another spat of mucus dissolved its edges.
In another great crack, the wall gave way and crumbled loudly, large pieces at a time and clouding up with dust.
|
|
|
Post by black379 on Dec 8, 2017 18:44:27 GMT -8
Courcy hustled from the beaked doctor and joined Blood's side just in time for the wall to collapse. The blade of her glaive reared up, but the rubble and smoke interrupted Courcy for just a second. It was unclear whether or not their efforts to keep silent were worth it. If whatever greasy creature busted through the crack in the wall was unaware of them, they still didn't have much of a surprise advantage.
With an exerted growl, the hellion thrust her blade before the dust settled. A 'blind' strike, but where the fleshy creature had poked its face an instant ago.
|
|
|
Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Dec 8, 2017 18:51:50 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"Lovely swing!" He declared with a chuckle; as he watched the Hellion presume a strike, one he readily welcomed, as he held his spear braced in his two hands; withholding his strike until another enemy made itself apparent, or the creature Courcy struck at proved resiliant.
"Back up, my friends, slowly!" He announced, as he took some steps away from the smoke; though he kept close enough to protect Courcy with his spear, should a beast produce itself from the dust. Lekalis' eyes scrunched up as he tried to spy for any monstrosities trying to slip through...
\\
|
|
|
Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 8, 2017 20:46:42 GMT -8
There it was, in all its glory, like some malign cross between a leech and a snake, with a belly as round and thick as a piglet's. Its mouth opened from all directions, and it had inward-facing teeth that seemed to be designed for the soul purpose of latching onto some poor soul. Essentially, it was a fat, long, tube of hate.
It thrust itself at Lekalis, narrowly avoiding Courcy's swing, though the opportunity was rife to swing again...
|
|
|
Post by black379 on Dec 9, 2017 0:53:47 GMT -8
Her first response was a short scoff, thinking the thing was a grotesque limb that her strike had severed from a larger beast. She poised for another swing through the opening, until the flailing and teeth-gnashing had her realize the appendage was it's own serpent-like body.
Courcy stumbled back a step as the thing lurched for Blood. If she had a clean swing at it without endangering the ex-lord, she aimed to take it.
|
|
|
Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Dec 9, 2017 5:46:42 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
The grotesque creature was hardly one of nightmares; such creatures consisted of gargoyles and ghouls, of skeletons and cultists and evils most plain. This... This was simply terrifiying.
Tangible, real... If it weren't for a preternatural reflex, he would have been stuck there thinking if such creatures existed beyond this hellish realm. In all his travels, he'd never seen such a writhing, creeping thing; nothing so severely engorged, at the least. His features curled up in all measures of expression : fear, anger, confusion.
Still, Lekalis moved to the creature's flank; focussing instead on corraling the creature, his spear point looming around the creature's head, making small jabs as he maneuvered to put Courcy and the rest of his company on the back of the worm.
|
|
|
Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 9, 2017 13:55:33 GMT -8
The toothed-worm fell hard on the stone floor with a wet slap, its tiny legs scrambling to gather its bearings. It skittered sidelong away from Courcy's halberd, but it thrust itself right into Lekalis's spear. It staggered, spilling foul-smelling blood on the ground as it hissed.
Eyeless, but full of rage, it blindly thrust itself forward despite Lekalis's spear, even as the tip of it dug into its skin and tore its fat belly and neck open.
In a flash of ribbon-like innards and a splash of blood, it latched itself onto Tilly's arm as she brought it up to defend herself...
---
Tilly's senses felt fuzzy, her reactions were sluggish. Of course, the adrenaline of having a toothy land-leach sink its teeth into her warm was rather efficient at waking her up.
"Stars ABOVE!" She yelped, promptly dropping her pickaxe and slamming the creature's skull into the side wall until it detached. Whether due to its internal organs finding them in unhealthy, external positions, or due to the fresh, new cracks in its cranium, its jaws fell slack and it dropped unceremoniously from Tilly's arm.
---
Florence forgoed the bombs-- she wouldn't have been able to use it effectively anyway-- and, instead, chose medicine. A wise choice, she figured.
She shuffled forward with due haste to tend to Tilly.
|
|
|
The Abbey
Dec 9, 2017 15:00:53 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by black379 on Dec 9, 2017 15:00:53 GMT -8
Courcy panicked, circling around Blood to get an angle on the writhing creature. It skittered despite being stabbed, and lashed out at Tilly.
While it was fastened to the robber’s arm, Courcy couldn’t endanger Tilly by attacking it. As Florence hurried to tend to the hatted woman, Courcy hacked at the fallen worm.
|
|