There are figures atop the wall, and one hails us. His voice and how he speaks sounds off, which they explain is a result of a sickness, a plague. We ask of their cleric, and upon hearing that he too has fallen ill, we tell them to bring cleric to gate so that I may heal him. We cross the portcullis and they drop it, leaving Tenlow on the other side and Vayu trapped underneath it. They fire wire weapons at us, and hit me. I cast bullrage on Aakpesh – he becomes significantly stronger, and (on his own) he goes into a rage.

I see a switch/wheel on the wall behind us for the portcullis, so I go to it and raise the gate. I lock it open, and seeing a crushed Vayu, and rush to him and heal his abdomen. Vastly better, he gets up and runs to join the fight.

I won’t fight these grotesque beings, but I do run over to Aakpesh and heal him – he’s a bit scuffed up. In short order, we’re out of danger. On them, we find 5 sets of masterwork leather armor, 5 masterwork bucklers, 3 janky pistols, 15 bullets, and 5 doses of “soothe” on the largest of them (he’d apparently replaced one of his hands with a hatchet at some point). There’s also a gas grenade and 2 more doses of soothe that we recover.

“Soothe” is a  strange pink gel-like substance, contained in a small glass jar. It seems to heal and dull pain and give a sense of euphoria on contact. And looking at the remains of these creatures, it would seem highly addictive. I wouldn’t be surprised if the sheer volume of wounds they had before this battle were self-inflicted, so that they may apply more and more “soothe” to their fresh wounds. It is horrid and atrocious, but I hope they are now at rest and their wounds no longer provide for an insatiable itch.