The Arwich Grinder

[GlassEye]

HOUSE: Badr Balik is disgusted. The filthiness of the kitchen is enough to make one sick, unless that one were a mouse and probably even then. He goes out, cautiously steps around the bend in the hallway, sees the doors and sighs in exasperation. "Godwin, looks like we've a bit more exploration to do. I hope we find answers soon. Well, sooner acted is sooner done." He steps up to the first door on the left and tries to open it.

SOUTHERN ROOM: Abram Cove pauses a moment and listens. Shaking his head he looks over at Robin and Bill. "I didn't like the sound of that. And I couldn't tell where it came from. We should move along with a bit more caution. You think we should check out where that ladder comes up before going down that stone corridor?"

L-SHAPED ROOM: Rogett and Randow Lammerson stop and stare at the shaggy beast that just knocked the barrel to flinders. It could just as easily have been Pratel's head if he hadn't been smart enough to push the barrel ahead of them. "Is that a troll?" asks Rogett as he takes a step back and wishes he had one of his rocks to chuck at it. "Troll, my bum!" exclaims Randow as he leaps forward brandishing his club is an effort to whack the beast-man.

Rolls (if needed):
Initiative (1d20=1)
Randow atk (1d20=19)
Randow dmg (1d4=2)

[MrHemlocks]

Balin and Thulan being up front and as startled as the rest of party attack. Swinging away with his club, Thulan yells out;"die Curwen scum!"But feeling his club hit at air and not the monster's face angers him.


Thulan Int=Output: [1d20+1] = 3+1 = 4
To Hit=Output: [1d20-1] = 3-1 = 2

Balin Int= Output: [1d20] = 4
To Hit=Output: [1d20+1] = 14+1 = 15
Damage=Output: [1d4+1] = 3+1 = 4

[Raven_Crowking]

Thulan swings, but the other swings faster, his club smashing down for 6 points of damage. In the flickering torchlight, the creature you face can be seen to have double-pupils in its eyes, like those of a goat.

Balin and Randow are quick to avenge, and the thing falls beneath their blows.

[Raven_Crowking]

Upstairs, the first door on the left opens easily to reveal six crude bunks around the walls, with garments strewn haphazardly on floors and wall pegs. This is obviously the room of young boys and men; you can see among the other items strewn about several animals made of wood and leather, such as pigs, goats, and cows.

[MrHemlocks]

Pratel, Zorathus, Balin look over at poor old Thulan and his crushed figure. "We need to move. Least we avenged our comrade and thanks Randow for helping", Zorathus says with an uneasy smile.

Balin searches the creatures body while the others gather themselves before moving forward.

ooc...This means the new marching, side-by side, order is Balin & Randow , Rogget & Zorathus with Pratel in the rear.

[Raven_Crowking]

Around the corner, you can see a rough cot, and a passage continues out of this chamber to the south.

[GlassEye]

HOUSE: Badr Balik isn't here to loot and so, if he doesn't see anyone in the room who might have made that faint voice they heard, he'll take a quick peek under the bunks to make sure there isn't some child hiding underneath. Then he'll back out and check the first door on the right to see if it will open.

L-SHAPED ROOM: "We did that one right!" crows Randow Lammerson as he struts around a bit. He claps Balin on the shoulder. "Just call us the Troll-Slayers!" He walks over to the shaggy-headed corpse and pries open one of the eyes to stare at the odd pupil he noticed before it got bashed upside the head. "That's a strange thing like I never saw before. You find anything on this beast, Balin?"

Rogett Lammerson is less enthusiastic, after all, Thulan did pay the ultimate price. He kneels down by the slain baker and tries to arrange his body to give him a bit more dignity in death. He pulls out a piece of chalk and scribes a holy mark on the baker's apron and says a brief prayer over the body. He looks forlornly over at the ditch digger. "We might be needing your services later, Milo."

SOUTHERN ROOM: Abram Cove give the ladder going up a final glance before shrugging and moving along to the stone corridor. "Cautious now, like I said," he says to Robin and Bill. He moves down the hall but pauses to listen every so often and stops at the end of the hall to examine the room before entering.

[Raven_Crowking]

IN THE HOUSE: The door opens onto a large room with a comfortable-looking bed, and a reasonably well-made dresser and wardrobe. An old man, with only a few wisps of white hair left on his bald and wrinkled pate, is in the bed. He appears to be asleep.

L-SHAPED ROOM: Nothing more appears to be happening at this moment. You can detect a vile odour from the south, however.

SOUTHERN ROOM: Creeping along the hallway, you come to a square room, about 30 feet to a side, with a passage in the centre of each wall. Narrow holes – no more than a foot in diameter – are drilled into the floor of this chamber. Buckets are in all the corners – they seem to contain bits of meat and rotting vegetable matter, and stains on the floor show that these slops have been poured down the holes for centuries. Rising up from below are wordless gibbering, cries of pain, and moans of hunger, and the stink of unwashed bodies and filth.

PCs must make a DC 10 Will save or become unnerved, suffering a -1d penalty on the dice chains for all actions until they have been away from this area for at least 10 minutes.

[drpete]

In the house: Godwin moves into the room, greens the old man's shoulder, and gently tries to shake him awake.

In the L-shaped room, Milo falls into the space in the last row of the marching order, shaken by the encounter with the "tell". He stays quiet, for now, but grimly prepares for something awful to come from the south.

To the south, Bill and Robin text to the horror in the holes:
Bill: [1d20]=20
Robin:[1d20]=3
Robin is shaken, and anxiously looks for a way out. Bill, a butcher, and far from squeamish, looks down into one of the holes to see what is within, expecting to see a Very Large Man within.

[GlassEye]

HOUSE: Badr Balik stands to the other side of the bed as Godwin tries to wake the old man. He casts his eye around the room taking in the better made furnishings. Good thing the thievish men of their group aren't here; he could certainly imagine them riffling through the old man's possessions. Turning back to the old man Badr looks to see if it is a Curwen that he recognizes.

L-SHAPED ROOM: Randow Lammerson will feel in the creatures pockets (if he has any) to see if he has anything besides the big club he bashed in Thulan's head with. Once finished with that he'll go check out the cot looking around for anything that might have value or a clue to who or what this thing was. Rogett Lammerson will stand back and frown at his twin's actions until he's ready to move south.

SOUTHERN ROOM: Abram Cove is repulsed as he finally realizes the scope of what the Curwens have been carrying on here. He doesn't want to but he takes a step into the room and looks down one of the holes afraid of seeing confirmation of what he is hearing. "This is big. And I think we're getting close to some answers here. Maybe it's too big for just the three of us and we should go back and gather up some of the others." While this probably sounds perfectly reasonable, anyone can see that Abram is speaking mainly from his fear (although he could be right).

Abram's Will save (1d20+1=6)

[fireinthedust]

OLD MAN'S ROOM: Bron takes a look at the remaining unopened doors.

ooc: do they look like bedrooms?


Bron and the others open the door next to the old man's room. (the other Left side door)

[Raven_Crowking]

Some work/home things came up, and I haven't been able to pay as much attention to online gaming as I should over the last couple of days. I will be posting tomorrow.

[fireinthedust]

ooc: hah! I am definitely not one to judge!

[Raven_Crowking]

Good thing the thievish men of their group aren't here; he could certainly imagine them riffling through the old man's possessions.

Point, and I agree. If you are Lawful and in the house, increase your Luck by +1. If you are Chaotic and down below, increase your Luck by +1.

HOUSE/OLD MAN'S ROOM: This would be Uncle Charles Curwen, the confirmed bachelor. At your gentle touch, he awakens, his eyes initially unfocused. "Ward, that you?" he says in a confused voice. "I can't remember half these days. I dreamed there was a knock on the door, and I called out, but jest a dream I s'pose. Heard them pigs squealing earlier. You slop them hogs yet? Heard 'em squealing."

The furnishings in the room look better than average for the household, but not remarkable. You can see a copper chamber pot that seems to have been cleaned recently.

HOUSE/HALLWAY: A quick check of the rest of the hallway reveals a storage room with a jumble of old furniture, dust, and cobwebs and a pantry. The furniture in the storage room is not well made, and is gnawed by mice. Searching uncovers only mouse droppings and mouse nests. This pantry contains shelves of flour, as well as dried fruits and nuts, and even a few jars of honey and preserves. There is a table with a large sausage grinder, and several hams and sausages hang from the ceiling. Lengths of cleaned intestine for natural casings are in a cask beneath the table.

There is also a door at the end of the hall, leading to a room with tools, muddy boots, and slops intended for the pigs. Another door leads out of this room, presumably outside...this would be the door near the pig troughs. Firewood is stacked along the north end of the room.

BELOW/L-SHAPED ROOM: If you ignore the eyes, and the nearly chinless face, the dead creature you fought could be human. There is nothing in his pocketses except a bit of string. From the state of the cot, it looks like the creature might have been sleeping here when you began to roll the barrel down the hall. The materials on the shelves seem to be related to curing meat and making sausages. There are several large, blood-stained barrels here, but they are empty, so you could continue your barrel roll down the hall to the south if you wished.

BELOW/ROOM WITH THE HOLES IN THE FLOOR: Bill sees nothing looking in the holes - it is as dark as the Pit below - but he smells a gods-awful stench and hears gibbering and moaning rising from below. There is no way for a man - Very Large or otherwise - to fit down these holes. Bill gains a dim sense of some huge fungal growth in the darkness, but cannot be sure why. Listening to the noises from below is like hearing echoes from Hell.

As this is occurring, torchlight is seen from two directions - to the south, and to the north.

[MrHemlocks]

Getting a new barrel the group continues their search down the tunnel. Marching, side-by side, is Balin & Randow , Rogget & Zorathus with Pratel in the rear.

[GlassEye]

HOUSE: Badr Balik pats the old man on the shoulder. Clearly the poor fellow is too addled to know what is going on around here and if he is sleeping safely now then he would probably be ok while the group searched the rest of the house. "We're going to slop 'em now. Go back to sleep." Badr steps out of the room and sees that Brom, Lady Aelfwyn and the others have checked out the other rooms off the hallway. "The voice we heard was his. Did you find anything in these other rooms? If there's no sign of any of the other Curwens in there we should check upstairs."

L-SHAPED ROOM: Rogett Lammerson says, "And don't forget Milo back there." Randow Lammerson shakes his head and takes his place next to Balin. "Nothing but that weird beast man. What those Curwens up to down here? You push the barrel, Balin, and I'll make sure the next beast man don't cave in your skull." He slaps his club in the palm of his hand several times.

ROOM W/ HOLED FLOOR: "I don't like this one bit," says Abram Cove repeating his earlier hesitation. "Two lights from two directions and we don't know who either is. And down there who knows what." He steps back into the stone hallway, ready to retreat if something dire should happen.

[fireinthedust]

ooc: Brom and crew found the pantry?


"No, we found but mouse droppings and dust. We should check up the stairs, then. Would that old man know about the thing in the barn, or whatever it was stumbled into the village?"

[GlassEye]

HOUSE: Badr Balik shrugged. "He seemed a bit addled. He thought we were one of the Curwens. Feel free to see what you can get out of him."

[fireinthedust]

Brom shrugs. Not worth the effort. If the Curwens are not to blame, whoever is holding them may have forgotten about this old man. We should check the stairs and finish searching the house, then regroup with the others.

Brom and crew go back and then up the stairs, cautiously, to see what lies up there.

[Raven_Crowking]

DOWN BELOW: The barrel-rollers come to the room with the holes in the floor (and must make the same save; DC 10 Will save or become unnerved, suffering a -1d penalty on the dice chains for all actions until they have been away from this area for at least 10 minutes. They also hear the moans and smell the stench.

Torchlight comes from the opposite way and from the left. From the opposite way, a man and woman enter the room. The woman is holding a torch; the man is holding a staff. Ward and Caroline Curwin (she having married into the family, if you recall).

UP ABOVE: Moving back into the hallway - the old man already asleep again - you make your way into the sitting room with its smell of age and mouldering volumes, and then up the stairs. The upstairs hallway has peeling yellow wallpaper, showing worse signs of wear than the lower floor. To the left, you can see a door on either side of the hall, and then the hall ends in a door. to the right, you can also see a door on either side of the hall, and then the hall turns to the left, following the bend of the house.

[drpete]

Down Below:
Following the barrel rollers, Milo enters the room, and realizes what he is seeing. Though horrified, he maintains his wits. will save: [1d20+1]=10

Seeing the Curwens enter the room, Robin draws his sword, and frowns at them. "Ward Curwen! What have you done?"

Up above:
Godwin tries the first door on the left, unless he can see some sign of the light they'd seen from outside coming through from one of the doors, in which case he'd go for that door.

[MrHemlocks]

Having no trust in the Curwens, Balin attacks the staff holder. With shield in hand and sword held tight, Balin swings away. Hitting the man hard against his kneecap, Balin hears bones and tissues rip.

Int Roll:Output:[1d20+1]16+1=17
Sword Attack Roll:Output:[1d20+1] 20+1=21,
Crit Roll Chart:Output:[1d4]=4
Damage Sword: Output:[1d6+1] 5+1=6 ++++CRIT Damage Output:[1d4]=4
Total Damage=10

Zorathus, attacks the woman, but seeing his weapon become deflected by her torch, fills him with shame.
Attack Roll: Output:2

Balin-Will Roll:Output:[1d20]=13
Zorathus-Will Roll:Output:[1d20]=11
Pratel-Will Roll:Output:[1d20]=4

[Raven_Crowking]

DOWN BELOW: Ward Curwen opens his mouth to speak, and then goes down in a welter of blood. His wife screams his name, a horrified look on her face, and swings her torch at Zorathus. (17 to hit, 3 damage, DC 10 Ref save to avoid catching fire if Zorathus survived that).

UP ABOVE: Godwin moves to the first door on the left, which I am going to take as moving leftward down the hallway, and choosing the left door (there is a door opposite that, the stairs entering the hall with a choice of going left or right, and two doors visible on the walls in either direction, one at the end of the left way, and the hallway turning left to the right, following the L shape of the house). It proves to be a musty-smelling closet containing linens, brooms, and the like.

At that moment, you hear the elephantine tread of something enormous above you, the ceiling bulging ominously from some great moving weight.

[MrHemlocks]

Balin, seeing Zoranthus falling to the ground never to move again, least of his own free will, attacks the women. He screeches out a LOUD dwarven war call while his blade makes contact with the torch wielding Curwen.

INT=17
ROLL TO HIT=Output: roll to hit:[1d20+1]=11+1=12 Balin will burn luck, if needed, in order to hit.
Damage: Output: damage [1d6+1]=3+1=4



Still waiting on Randow & Rogget to make their actions....

[Raven_Crowking]

Before Balin can act, the woman turns on him (Init 19), swings her torch (9), Balin feels the heat of it, before he strikes her, and she falls.

All present gain 2 XP; Balin gains +1 Luck for being active. Some Gods, be they the Gods of Law or those of Chaos, are smiling upon him, somewhere.