Heroica RPG - Quest #115: The Tale of One Bleach Too Many

[Endgame]

"nO, nO, I caN't lEavE, bEcaUse i'M noT heRe. AnD dOc is jUst tRyiNg to dO wHat's rIght. HE tOld mE So."

[Asphalt]

The Doc has also told us to find what has been disturbing him in this wing. Can you help us help him. It is what he would want you to do. He might reward you if you helped us. He might be nicer to you. He could give you nice things, toys, treats. We all want to make the Doc happy do we not?

[Endgame]

"iF yOu wAnt to mAke the dOc haPpy, dOn't tOuch hIs tIngs! GiVe It bACK!"

[Asphalt]

If I give back the gloves, will you tell me how to find you young one? I want to help you, AND to make the Doc happy.

Vindsval tosses the gloves towards the nearest MuckHand

Take them youngling, and tell me how to find what is making the Doc sad. He wants to end the strange noises from this wing. Do you know where the noises come from?

[Endgame]

As the gloves begin to sink into the sewage, the hands lurch and grab the gloves, draging them to the exact position where they were before. The water becomes calm and serene as the murky gauntlets sink into the water, the voice echoing out one more time.

"I... tHe leeCheS... iN thE baRRel, mY fRiends... thE keY fOr the waY foRward... i'LL maKe sUre theY don'T biTe yOu... BuT be CarEful... dOn't maKe dOc maD, don't tOuch hiS thIngs... oR eLse, i'LL haVe to dO thIs aGain aNd agIan anD agAin..."

With the battle resolved in the most peaceful way, the party gains experience. How would they proceed would here? Would they exit the sewers and heed the voice's advice? Or did they have something different in mind?

Vindsval Half-born (Immune to Fire) (Asphalt)

37 year old, Male, Half Giant, Cleric (immune to Sealed effect)

Level: 7

Power: 14 (6+8) (x2 VS Aquatic, Flying, and Mechanical)

Defense: 3 (Fiery Robes of the Archmagi)

Health: 15/15 (9+6)

Ether: 14/16 (6+5+5)

Gold: 7

Equipment: Spark Hammer (WP:8, (X2 against Aquatic, Flying, and Mechanical) lightning-elemental hammer)

Fiery Robes of the Archmagi (SP:3 Bodywear +5 Ether, immunity to Sealed Effect and Fire)

Inventory:

Consumables: Remedy X4 , Potion X4, Smoke Bomb X2, Mead X2,

Tools: Bed Roll

Weapons: Broomstick (WP:7, ranged; suitable for mages, clerics, artisans and necromancers)

Artefacts: Tailored Overcoat (SP: 1; Immunity to wind-, earth-, and water- damage; suitable for rangers, rogues, hunters, and beast warriors; back wear)

Salt-Upon-Wounds (Goliath)

33 year old Male Hobgoblin Barbarian

Level: 3

Power: 6

Health: 7/10

Gold: 10

Equipment: Sturdy Spear (WP: 3)

Inventory: Mead, Potion x2, Remedy, Smoke Bomb, Fire Bomb

Edited December 2, 2014 by Endgame

[Asphalt]

I will heed your words young one. I still hope to find you before this journey ends.

Salt-upon-Wounds, it would appear we have a barrel to reclaim.

Vindsval climbs the ladder and retraces his steps to the room where they fought the automatons, and where he left the barrel of the boy's "friends."

OOC: I am still confused about the "Poison 2!" on Vindsval, and Salt should have the lightning elemental club that Vindsval loaned him on his character sheet.

[Endgame]

QM Note: Ah, that was an artifact from when you held the barrel while the leeches were hostile. It should've vanished when you disposed of the barrel, I failed to delete it.

[Asphalt]

OOC: ok thank, onward and upward.

[Yzalirk]

"Perhaps I shouldn't have eaten some of the leeches... anyways, I will return the rest to the barrel and continue on."

Salt-Upon-Wounds returns the leeches from his pocket to the barrel and follows Vindsval.

OoC: Was the key in the barrel with the leeches or given to us by one of the Murkhands?

[Endgame]

Pictures coming tomorrow!

Heading back to the discarded leech barrel, the party finds it completely abandoned - the horrid denizens had abandoned it, slinking off to unseen corners of the manor wing. Retrieving the rusted key at the bottom and depositing it into the locked door, they proceed forward, expecting another dilipidated room...

But instead stride into a room eerily pristine. The walls were painted a bright white, wooden cabinets with glass doors lining the room. In stark contrast to the rest of the room was several potions and vials arranged in the cabinets, each murkier and more obscure than the last. In the center of the room was a large, cushy bed, recently cleaned but not recently used. However, despite the clean appearance, the bed smelled putrid omapred to the rest of the room. On the end opposite to the heroes is a door, with cleaning supplies next to it.

[Asphalt]

This becomes strangers and stranger. The good Doctor is certainly a man of contrasts.

Vindsval crosses the room, strangely self conscious of the muck he and S-U-W, are tracking through the clean-room. He moves to the cabinet and Closely Examines the potions and vials he find there.

[Asphalt]

This must be where the Doctor took some sort of respite from his work. Vindsval takes a tentative sniff of the air while he continues to examine the potions and vials. But Seven Paths, He curses, The stink of that bed. How could a man sleep in that filth?

[Endgame]

QM Note: Massive workload + computer issues = another obnoxiously long delay...

Vindsval inspects the potions, and finds each of them to be medicines or cures of some sort. They each have increasingly bizzare names, with many labels on them: "Failed, Potential, and Progress Made." There is only one bottle that has a unique label, however: "Bleach: Volatile. Solution?"

The bed's pink sheets, lingering scent of rot and perfume, and floral patterns allude to the fact it was neither the voice of the boy or the doctor that slept in the bed, but rather someone else entirely...

Edited December 7, 2014 by Endgame

[Asphalt]

A Solution, but what was the problem? And now evidence of a woman perhaps?

Vindsval wraps the "Bleach: Volitile. Solution" is a clean scrap of fabric from his bag and places it in the pouch that holds the "syringe of a Possible Cure." After doing that he examines the cleaning supplies near the door.

Edited December 7, 2014 by Asphalt

[Yzalirk]

"Why would a rotting odor be mixed with perfume? Could he be having an affair with a mummy or an undead entity?"

[Asphalt]

If that activity is common enough in practice among the other Earthbound that you would see it as the first possibility here, remind me to accept no invitations from your people.

"Why would a rotting odor be mixed with perfume? Could he be having an affair with a mummy or an undead entity?"

If that activity is common enough in practice among the other Earthbound that you would see it as the first possibility here, remind me to accept no invitations from your people.

Perhaps you could examine the door, Salt-upon-wound.

[Yzalirk]

"Hahahaha, no, we do not practice... that! I've read some books a long time ago and I read a book on that. Long story short, people have some odd fantasies. But I'm starting to think maybe a murder took place here? I'm not sure how to explain the odor but maybe the perfume is supposed to cover up the smell of death and since the bed was recently cleaned, maybe the murder took place there? We should be cautious, I'm not feeling so good about our current situation."

Salt-Upon-Wounds examines the door.

[Endgame]

The door has been scrubbed clean, pristine white wood staring back at Salt as he inspects the door. Even the frame was perfect and clean, the hinges finely oiled to prevent squeaking. It seems like this entire room was built to please, or comfort, someone.

Next to the door is a pile of cleaning supplies: Bottles of chemicals, a bucket filled with water, a pair of latex gloves, adult sized... Plucking some items from the supplies, they find some things that might be of use to them.

50 Gold

2 Potions

2 Tonics

What will the party do next?

[Asphalt]

Interesting things to find in a mop bucket.

Vindsval divides the find between the two of them.

Giving Salt-upon-Wounds

25 Gold and Two Potions

and Keeping 25 gold and two Tonics for himself.

After the loot is divded he moves to the door and Attempts to open it.

Onward where your path may lead great one. Vindsval whispers as he tries the door.

[Endgame]

The door practically falls to pieces as Vindsval forges onwards, leaving the quiet serenity of the room before to an even worse trash heap than before.

Unlike the room prior, this corridor was dripping with water from the ceiling, thick pathces of moss and fungus latching onto all surfaces. Shivering pipes spurt water at random intervals, allowing the sickly plants to multiply. Indeed, the entire room had an aura of disease to it...

What will the party do?

[Asphalt]

URRGGH, now we find ourselves back where we expect to be. The half giantplaces a hand over his mouth and nose for a moment, the odors of the room oppressive.

He moves across the room to the wall with the vault-like door. Once there he examines the writing on the wall and the table full of potions next to it.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Asphalt

[Yzalirk]

"What an interesting room..."

Salt-Upon-Wounds examines the fungus and broken water pipes.

[Endgame]

The water pipes, flakes of corrosion and rust being scattered as they spurt out water periodically, only serve to sustain the noxious fungus on the wall. However, the growth itself might have even been sustaining itself on something else, as well, the miasma of plants seeming extraordinarily overgown - especially in such horrid conditions.

Vindsval inspects the table, and finds:

1 Potion

1 Tonic

1 Grating Stone (can be used on one weapon to boost its WP value by 1.)

He turns to Isaac's horrid scrawl, this one seeming decidedly older than all the others.

mommy has been very sik for a very long time but today her skin got too bad and blotchy and then she left and daddy said that we wont be seein her anymore which is realy sad because i loved mommy a let and i dont want her to go i want her to stay here i know she was suick and daddy was trying to help her but i guess he couldint and now mommy is gone. now daddy gets mad when i call him daddy, becuz he says its a lot more important that he finishes his work but hed still care for me wich is good. so now i call daddy doc. becus hes a doktor who helps peepul not be sick. he was working on some realy neat kemikal that he called a kinda bleach that would remove all of the icky stuf on someones skin but then something went wrong and now doc just has one arm and now i just wish hed either stop working so hard or that mommy would come back...

[Asphalt]

His father, whispers to himself, there will be an answering. Salt-Upon-Wounds, it would appear we have indeed stumbled into a family matter of some sort. The bed in the previous room belonged to the good Doctor's wife. Apparently the point of all this was to find a cure for some skin ailment.

Vindsval adds The Potion, the Tonic, and Grating Stone to his inventory.

What could the man have been doing in developing medicine that cost him his arm? The boy writes that he called the cure "Bleach" and we have encountered invisible slugs. Perhaps the good Doctor's arm is not gone, but simply unseen.

The Half Giant Moves to the table to the left of the door and Examines the the box and pile of materials on it.

Edited December 14, 2014 by Asphalt

[Asphalt]

Earthbound, you have dwelt in the dark and dank your entire life. Do your people know of anything that would cause such uncontrolled spread of mold and fungus?