Sanimar perks up at the sound of Delirium crystals. I wonder if this sick fellow is really sick just from overindulging in drink or the effects of Delirium. She moves over to the sick man and examines him as a doctor would to see if she can determine the cause of his sickly appearance. 

She uses mage hand, so she does not need to touch the man.

Medicine Check

17 rolled in game log.

@Lara 

As the group discusses these rat creatures, would I have any knowledge of such? Rattlings I think he called them, or wererats. History roll 17-1=16

 

Looking back into your vast memory, you find, for ratlings,... nothing. For wererat, you recognize that a few of these cursed lycanthophic folk could be found all across Westmar, though in very few numbers. Less common than say, werewolves (especially given you have one on your team). Like they said, they come out mostly on full moons and in the sewers, expect however they can actually transform everyday. And their curse spreads by being bitten and surviving a wererat attack (or if one or more of their parents was already a wererat). Wererats are of a humanoid size. 

The one thing comes to mind though. Drakkenheim causes mutations. From the crystals. Or so you've heard.

"He did touch one of those purple crystals- I mean- we all did. We were trying to mine them." "And we got soooo many!"

"But then we had to get out. After the party. That haze. It wasn't healthy anymore. We couldn't."

 At the mention of the woman. "She was another adventurer." Endra explains. "Our friend. At first."

"Yeah, but like, she was only our friend for like a week." Ludwig scoffs, "Then she went gallivanting to who knows where off. Bet she found that inn and stayed there nice and cozy."

The druid rolls his eyes and decides to spoon feed Rikard some mushed vegetables. They dribble off out of his mouth and onto his shirt, to which Endra goes to clean up with a handkerchief and cloth. Once Sanimar goes up near him, Endra hesitantly backs away.

@Sanimar

Trying to look under the hood you see that Rikard is in such a bad shape. Not only is his face sunken in and sullen, but a few of his teeth are missing. His tongue is black and pimply. It looks to be just hanging on by just a thread. The fact that he looks fully aware you are examining him only makes Endra squirm. The druid bites his fingernails. The same can't be said for Rikard as it looks to be that he has none left. Just gently touching his right hand with your mage hand makes the last ones from his fingers fall off. There isn't even blood that follows. Just pus.

While attempting to siphon out the contamination, as much as you try, the man looks just as well as he did before. He is totally incapacitated.

The last thing that follows is that tarp. In fact, they have a second tarp specifically covering his left arm. You struggle to open it even with your mage hand. It is wrapped on real tight.

Endra just stares at Sarűmir's comment, dumbfounded. He starts sweating with droplets like the rainstorms earlier. "... They weren't that big." He mumbles.

Ludwig takes up a stick. He pokes the damp ground.

"They look like... that!" His dirt drawing is cut off by the fact that he drew it way too big and the ears of the drawings were hitting the stones of the surrounding fire. The bottom paw was boarded by the edge of the log. 

"And the albino one was just the worst! Wanted something they kept calling 'shiny.' I still don't know what's that all about."

"I don't wanna be a wererat." Endra mumbles, poking at his bites.

"Well, that sure *hic* looks like a wererat. If you don't want to be cursed, there's *hic* an easy fix. Just have someone cast Remove Curse on you."

He sits down by the fire and begins cleaning the blood off of his gear and himself from that day.

Sanimar says in a raised voice so that her comrades can hear "This man is on death's door from contamination. Most likely from the Delirium crystals. I am going to check his left arm as I don't know why it was so tightly wrapped" 

She places her crossbow on the ground next to her and unsheathes a dagger from her belt. Sanimar works with the mage hand to cut open the tarp. Being careful not to cut Rikard.

"Remove curse?" Endra whimpers, running his hands through his face. "Nobody's gonna do that without a fee! Not even the 'keepers. The village is so expensive! We've tried all sorts of stuff for free and nothings been working!" Ludwig purses his lips and stops midway into eating. He drops his spoon. Endra looks over and-

Ripppppp. 

"No stop!"

Sanimar's dagger slices through the tarp. 

Just then, one of the horses begins to sputter and kick with unrest. "Easy now." Eren slowly begins to get up. The warhorse's eyes as wild as they fling their mane in every direction. "No! Dave!" They call out. Yes, that is what they named this one. The horse whinnies and smacks into the other horses who startle awake with fright.

What lies underneath the tarp slithers and snakes up your wrist. It is a tentacled limb. Suddenly Rikard pulls and pushes you off, coughing and rasping as he hits the floor. In a spasm, he somehow manages to spit up his tongue. The disregarded organ laying there in a spittle of saliva on the muddy ground. His body twitches and squirms and the tentacled limb is just as sporadic.

Suddenly, he stops. His body lays there limp beside the campfire.

"Rik?" Endra asks as he steps forward. "I think he's dead." says Ludwig in a hushed whisper.

The tentacle twinges. It lashes out and grabs Endra in a struggle. The druid's ankle is now being dragged towards the monster. Or... Rik, who is now, in fact, a tentacled dreg. Endra screams as he tries to step on it. But he continues to get dragged to no avail.

Initiative Order

(21) Twinkleblossum

(17) Sanimar

(16) Aster

(12) Sarűmir

(11) Rik Dreg

(5) Lara

Sarűmir immediately takes note of the chaos and barks savagely at the dreg. He rushes forward and takes a heavy swipe at the tentacle that's dragging Endra towards Rikard with his paw.

Attack: Predatory Strike (STR)

To hit: 13

Damage: 6; slashing

He then uses his bonus action to take another swipe at the abomination.

Attack: Predatory Strike (STR)

To hit: 17

Damage: 6; slashing

Sanimar will use an action to use her mage hand to retrieve her crossbow as it was on the ground near Rikard. 

She will then head north to use the tent as cover. 

End of Turn. 

Lara moves to attack, raises her spear up an with both hands drives it down into the abomination. To hit 19+5=24 piercing damage 8+3=11. Use my bonus action to draw my long sword.

Twinkleblossum will fly down to the tentacled monster and stab at it with a dagger.

Attack: 22 Damage: 7 piercing damage and the playful pixies will pull Twinkleblossum back 5 feet, after which Twinkleblossum will move back an additional 10 feet on her own.

"What is that thing, some sort of abomination?" and after attacking it, "For mercies sake we should kill it!"

 

 

Endra screams as the tentacle grips around his ankle. The worst part was that looking up and following the path where the tentacle follows is only just a shadow of Rikard's former self. The war veteran's skin looked as pale as possible but his eyes wild but also not yet there. His mouth oozed with pus and saliva. The tongue still writhing on the ground. He moved closer to him with such an animal fury. Clawing, grabbing, grasping, biting. But yet he still looked so... human.

Scratching his own way out too, Endra attempts to use Entangle. From the sullen dirt, weeds ache their way through, snaking up around the monster's tentacle and wrestling it as two snakes would do. Then the vines grow taller, over towering Rikkard until they pin the former man to the ground, still spazzing and convulsing. "I got him! I got him!" Endra shouts.

The win is only temporary though. Rik's spine, just like his mind, seemed to be reduced to ooze as despite being covering in vines and weeds, he managed to squeeze himself out. Just like an octopus. So much for vertebrae. With mouth agape, the dreg grabs for Endra once again, getting the druid boy by his neck, this time squeezing hard.

Round 1 begins...

Initiative Order

(21) Twinkleblossum (18/28 HP) 

• (Move) Move 15 ft diagonally towards Dreg
• (Action) Attack @Dreg with Dagger 22 > 11 AC = A Hit. ----> Dreg takes 7 damage ----> Dreg now has 15/22 HP
• (Move) Playful pixies move her 5 feet, she moves 10 feet on her own
• End of Round: Twinkleblossum now has 9/28 HP

(17) Sanimar (25/30 HP)

• (Move) Move 15 ft north to use tent as cover
• (Action) Pick up crossbow

(16) Aster (10/15 HP)

• (Action) Dodge

(12) Sarűmir (26/31 HP)

• (Move) 15 ft diagonally
• (Action) Attack @Dreg with Predatory Strike 10 < 11 AC A Miss. ----> Dreg takes no damage
• (Bonus Action) Attack @Dreg with Predatory Swipe 20 > 11 AC A Hit. ------> Dreg takes 6 damage ----> Dreg is now at 9/22 HP
• End of Round: Hybrid Form 1:48 minutes left

(11) Rik Dreg (22/22 HP)

• (Move) 15 feet diagonally
• (Action) Attack @Twinkleblossum with Tentacles 15 + 4 = 19 > 15 AC ----> Twinkleblossum takes 9 bludgeoning damage ----> Twinkleblossum is now at 9/28 HP
  • Twinkleblossum is also grappled and restrained ---> since Strength Save 6 + 3 = 9 < 12 DC Save
• End of Round: Rik Dreg is Dead

(5) Lara (20/31 HP)

• (Move) 10 ft north towards Dreg
• (Action) Attack @Dreg with Greatsword 19 + 5 = 24 > 11 AC ----> Dreg takes 11 damage -----> Dreg is now Dead

 

Twinkleblossum watches in horror at the monster. "What is that thing, some sort of abomination?" she exclaims. The monster does not answer. It lolls its head to look at her with cloudy nonsensical eyes. They seem to be spiraling and having no sense of where to keep the pupil. It just keeps drifting every which way and that. It squeezes harder against Endra's neck, pulling him upward. The druid's legs dangle from the ground.

The fairy stabs the monstrosity in his abdomen. It wobbles but doesn't lose its grip. It moans a bit and oily greasy gooey black blood(?) drips to the muddied floor.

Sanimar, the one closest to the creature when it first attacked, hurries to retrieve her crossbow. It had been left on the corner of the log before Rik got up and turned into... well this. In a lunge, she grabs her weapon and dashes forth behind a tent, ready to strike her next arrow.

"Stop! Buddy, it's me!" Endra cries, wringing his hands around the chokehold. He coughs, gasping for air. "That's not Rik anymore!" Ludwig yelps from behind the log, his back presses against the wood as he closes his eyes.

It is then that Sarűmir leaps into the fray. He barks savagely at the dreg. His low growl sounding more inhumane by the second. He rushes forward and takes a heavy swipe at the tentacle that's dragging Endra towards Rikard with his paw. Then another. The black blood sprays everywhere. The paws indented gashes onto the tentacle. The dreg falls forward onto its knees. It responds back in a gurgle. For a second, the tentacle's grip lets go and Endra squirms backwards. "Don't hurt him, please." He whimpers.

"Hrghhah." The creature groans incessantly. The tentcle twitches upon the ground. Its head hangs low. "HAghaGAah!" In an instant it flings itself towards its first attack, reaching Twinkleblossum with a "RagahAHh". Upon impact she is knocked to the ground.

The tentacle wraps around her body and coils. Despite it only being the length of a human arm, it squashes and stretches, being able to wrap around her whole body like an anaconda. Twinkleblossum fights to get out. Even the playful pixies try their best to jab at the creature, but it is to no use. She is grappled.

The blood from his tentacle drips onto her forehead like chocolate fondue.

Lara, watching the whole thing from behind, comes up to rescue her friend. She braces her greatsword and swings it upon the creature's back. The paladin brings it down with both hands and it slices through the dreg like cold dinner calamari. It rips through his spine (if she still even had one) and cuts him in a complete half. Both halves fall to the ground. The tentacle lays limp, flopping on top of Twinkleblossum's body.

The dreg's body twitches like salt on a dead octopus. 

----

Eren somehow runs out from the shadows of the woods (wow when did they get there). Their stick, the one that they had been carving, is now a pointed stake. They stab the very dead body of Rikkard in the back. "Like a vampire!" They shout. "And don't comes coming back!"

Endra lays on the floor, panting heavily. He is shaking. The tears are running down his face and his hands are rubbing frantically at his eyes.

"Whoa slow down, buddy." Ludwig goes over to grab his friend who is now sobbing and shouting in between tears hysterically. He pries his friends' hands away from his own face. "Are you okay?!" Endra does not answer. He just sits there and cries, rocking back and forth as Ludwig pats him. "It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay."

""**** guys, I am so sorry. I- I didn't expect this would happen. Are you all okay?

End Encounter

Sarűmir inspects himself, then turns to Ludwing.

"I am fine. You're friend, on the other hand, may need some assistance. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to clean myself off."

He walks over to the wagon and retrieves his waterskin. He then pours some of it on his fur to wash the oily black blood off.

Twinkleblossum scrambles out from under the tentacle and sputtering, flies over to alight right next to Sarumir, "Can you please wash this gunk off my head. It didn't get in my hair did it?" After which she addresses the two surviving newcomers.

"Sorry about your friend but I think he was too far gone to save." turning to also direct her next statements to the whole group, "Now that we have seen first hand how Delirium can mutate someone do we still want to venture forward?

Sarűmir nods at Twinkleblossum, then dumps a bit of the water on her head.

"I'm still going to Drakkenheim, delirium or not. I have business with the Queen of Theives and her crew."

Sanimar responds to Twinkleblossom "Yes I do wish to continue to Drakkenheim as the effects of Delirium must be studied if a counteragent is to be made. I hope that with enough time and research I can nullify the effects of Delirium or at least to curb its worst effects." With a calculating gaze she moves to what is left of Rikard and begins dissecting his remains to track the mutation using her mage hand and dagger so she does not touch the body. She will take a cork stoppered vial from her herbalism kit and take a sample of the tentacle as well for study. 

"I'm sorry guys." Ludwig still pats his inconsolable friend. Endra takes heavy ragged breathes. "But I'm glad you all are okay."

Endra whimpers, "No. Don't go there. We can't-" He sobs. "We just lost a friend."

"He only wanted to see his family!" 

"The Queen of Thieves?" Ludwig looks at him with wide eyes, "Why are you after her? She can like- kill you- in a snap. We- we were just in their for the mining, but to mess with the factions? Noooo way, dude. Are you kidding? She... she is ****ing ruthless."

@Sanimar

You manage to take the samples and store them. The tentacles still oozes that weird distorted blood. The body seems to have stopped its struggle and now lays limp (in half) across the floor. Without a spine it is sprawled out.

Sarűmir glares at Ludwig with a hard look in his eyes.

"Aye, you're right about her being ruthless. But she sent her men to kill the only family I ever knew after we had faithfully done her dirty work for years, so again, I have business with her. The business of revenge."

He stalks off toward one of the tents, then opens the flap and walks inside. He rolls out his bedroll and lies down on it.

"Whoa I-" Ludwig gulps. "I- I'm sorry. That must have been awful. I can't imagine." 

"I mean the one thing I've heard. I don't know if you know, but she holds these like wrestling matches or something. And she has them in the sewers type something. I dunno. We didn't find it. Not that we were looking anyways. But we found the rats. If anything- good luck." Then he just watches as Sarűmir goes off into the tent. Endra is still sobbing. Ludwig whispers soothing things to him. 

Sanimar gets some rest and is ready for to mov onward. 

Rest sounds good...

Aster gets some rest as well.