Erik Soong's Call of the Netherdeep

*uuurrrghhh*

"Weasel...." *uuurrggg*

"Badger....."*uhhhhhk*

"Spider....Snake... *hoohoohooo*

"Lion..." *whew!*

Ylis replies after dragging a corpse 10 feet.

Wiping imaginary sweat from her brow, "Well yeah I guess the lion would be really strong but I mean...biting them is...disrespectful I think." rubbing her chin she adds, "Plus I can only do it for two hours, then another two hours. I think I want to save the big guns for the sewer."

" Fair enough.  Why don't you do the ones that are in bits already then."

" Or the.......smaller ones......."

The party work together for several minutes, loading body after body. As the stack of wrapped bodies begins to dwindle, the two workers who watch become more transfixed in their observance of the party. After a few more moments, the party is assaulted by a deeply offensive odor. A stink of offal and blood that burns the nose.

They pull one more body off the pile and notice that something at the bottom is not wrapped like the other corpses. It is immediately clear that this is a demon corpse.

“Wait! Stop!” a voice shouts from down the street. A bookish tiefling jogs into view. A variety of archaeology tools hang at his waist along with a satchel holding his notebooks. “You can’t burn that yet. I need to study it!” Reaching into the satchel, he pulls out a badge and holds it up, as if the badge alone explained his reason for being here.

DM: History Check for anyone proficient.

He shoves his way by anyone in the way and kneels near the body, a rag covering his nose muttering to himself. “Yes, yes, this might be it.”

He stands up, stows the badge, changes hands holding the cloth over his nose, and extends the now free hand to shake that of each of the party members’. “It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Prolix. I am in need of your services. Be some good lads and cut that thing open for me. Delicate hands like mine cannot pierce the hide.”

DM: Survival Check, DC 15 to anyone willing to oblige.

The willowy man and his muscle-bound, one-armed companion stay far away and cringe in disgust.

DM: The tiefling! Ignore the woman in red. You already met her. 

Frekor puts himself between Prolix and the demon corpse.

-Wait a minute. Why are you fixated on studying this body? What are you trying to find?- asks skeptical of Prolix intentions. (Insight check to his answers: 17,   12+5)

Jacaranda shrugged and set to work with a dagger.

Survival- 26

"Ew Randa gross!"

Ylis backs away with a scrunched up expression and a hand before her face with finger spread so she can make like she doesn't want to see but wants to see.

Sky faints.

"And what is up with you guys?!" she points accusingly at the workers. "Did you know that gross thing was there?"

Insight check 23

Morgan shakes the small hand. With a smile, he steps back and watches the scene in front of him.

(OOC: It's funny how everyone did something different. I confronted Prolix, Jaracanda just opened the demon corpse, Sky fainted, Ylis complains to the workers and Morgan says hello to Prolix. We had very different priorities and now the DM has to think on how to adress them at the same time hahahaha)

Prolix is taken aback by Frekor’s perfectly legitimate questions. He fishes out the badge from his pocket again and shrugs his shoulders in indignation. “I’m an archaeologist from Ank’Harel, a city on the distant continent of Marquet.” he offers up the badge again. “My order, the Allegiance of Allsight takes all matters of arcane history very seriously.”

Prolix looks down at the demon, now being dissected by Randa. As Sky faints, Prolix stifles a dry heave. His orange skin pales. “We… we ugh, know demons dissolve almost immediately after they are killed. This one hasn’t. We should want to know why.”

The two men shrug unconvincingly at Ylis. She can immediately see that they were well-aware of the body and wanted nothing to do with it, passing the work onto the Fellowship so they would be nowhere near the demon when time came to dispose of the disgusting creature.

“I believe that it swallowed something that is preventing its disintegration. These demons, the vrocks, often swallow ornamental objects and since they came from Betrayer’s Rise, that likely means it swallowed a magical artifact.”

Frekor can see that Prolix is honest in what he says he is here for. But there is something about him that feels guarded, like a man who knows more than he shares.

Randa digs into the ichor and feels several somethings within. She grabs them but they resist her pull. She digs in with both arms up to above her elbows and pulls. Doing so drags the contents from deep within the stomach.

A pair of gold-trimmed goggles, three gaudy rings, and a cube-shaped puzzle box made of onyx, measuring 3 inches on each side. As Randa is still pulling herself free, Prolix dives in and grabs the box only.

“That’s the ticket. Thank you.”

Suddenly, Prolix’s entire demeanor shifts noticeably. His expression is flat. “The rest you can keep. Consider it payment for helping me.”

The demon corpse, now free of the box, immediately dissolves into a puddle of foul black liquid.

DM: Loved it and I agree with Frekor! Wonderfully dynamic RP. You all get Heroic Inspiration, on top of the Mote of Possibility you all still have. 

Ylis dances around Randa waving her hands in the air, “clean clean clean clean clean”  Prestidigitating her friend clean and the other objects free of goop as well. 

While holding Sky's legs up at a 45° angle, waiting for the blood to return to the paladin's brain, Morgan turns to Prolix.
"Lady Question, of the Cobalt Soul, spoke highly of you. Your wisdom and your knowledge, Mr. Prolix."
Morgan pauses for a moment, hoping she is well. He really liked her.

"We have many questions for you, Mr. Prolix. About the Betrayer's Rise, Aloysia Telfan, that cube and ... something else. Something we have."
He gives a small, insinuating smile.
"Let me make you a bet, Mr. Prolix. Given your serious interest in everything arcane in nature, I believe this 'something else' will make answering our questions worth your time. Do you know a quiet place nearby where we can talk in safety and tranquility?"

(OOC: Please ignore my rolls. I wanted to do an insight (his reaction to Aloysa's name) and a persuasion check, but my dndbeyond is buggy. Every time I roll a die, it rolls two for some reason... but maybe it's just a visual bag because it only gives one result.
Edit: wrong culprit, it was a plugin causing the problem, not dndbeyond)

Randa span towards Prolix, " That was quite laboursome to retrieve, what is it?"

Occ: Hellraiser box…

DM: It only shows one roll at a time on my side too. Three total rolls. One Charisma Saving Throw, one Inisght Check, and one Persuasion Check. It seems your guess is correct! 

In any case, I was going to call for an Insight and Persuasion Check from Morgan anyway and these rolls were good enough, so we will use them. Writing up the response today tomorrow. (family life, sorry! Weekends are days off for this reason lol)

Sky begins to stir.  "Gods ... that was a disturbing sight ..."

Prolix nods his head. “Yes, Question was quite the worthy conversationalist. Very passionate about her work, and eager to share it. Maybe too eager, with some of the people about in these parts. I feel she is too carefree with those who might misuse her research. She is quite brilliant though.” Prolix’s stony expression cracks with a smile at the mention of Question.

Morgan can see that Prolix is intrigued by Morgan’s persuasive offer, but sneers at the mention of Aloysia’s name. “That rat. She’s looking for something in Betrayer’s Rise. She has ice in her veins, that one. She’d step over her own dying mother to get what she wants. I’ve encountered her a few times over the years and I am fairly certain that is exactly what she did! What she wants in Betrayer’s Rise is actually what I am here to find out. Whatever it is, you don’t want her to get it, of that I can assure you!”

Morgan can also see that Prolix’s expressed opinions of Aloysia are genuine and that he is probably holding back a choice few words extra for the sake of decorum.

He looks the heroes over and shrugs. “You know, Question isn’t a great judge of character, but I like to think I am. You seem trustworthy enough. I am staying at the Ready Room, which if you spoke to Question, you know if not very private. Perhaps you have some place better?”

Randa repeated herself, " What is the box?"

Ylis looks over the researcher and nods, "Yeah we got a place but we have some business to take care of. We'll come by later and grab you for a chat."

She makes an exaggerated shiver, Gross he didn't even wipe that thing down before he put it in his bag....ew.

"You guys think we're ready for the sewers? If so, let's go!"