Deko punches it and turns its face into jelly!
|
Kyrie looks disdainfully at the corpse then turns her gaze to Bats. "Gnolls. Little more than dog-faced goblins. Can be dangerous to the unprepared, but with a little preparation...and an ogre...we should be saved from so base a fate as what they would give us.
Go ahead and eat it. They would have done the same to us.
Still...they were mercenaries, so they might could have coin on their persons."
Kyrie punctuates this last by looting the room and bodies.
Kyrie's thorough search turns up...
11 gold pieces
Pretty lump of blue quartz
The gnolls have obviously been living here for a short time; the irregular room is filthy and has scattered chunks of bone and fur from their prior meals.
There are no signs of secret passages or other exits.
All: "Meh, I suspect that stone to be worth roughly the same as one of your platinum coins."
Enoby grimaces a bit as Deko's fist liquefies their captive's face.
"While the gnoll did not deliberately provide us with any information, I think we can infer something about the bandits here. The gnoll seemed to think little of humans, and I'd imagine that if he and his comrades thought they could overpower the bandits here and simply take the gold, they would have. We should be prepared for the remaining bandits to be either very well armed or very great in number. Or both."
Bataleigha nods at Enoby's assessment before turning to Zinnath.
"Perhaps our sharp-eyed scout can help us decide which of the three doors we should open first."
Leaving that job to the mighty dragon, Bat moves to Deko and casts a healing spell on him.
Zinnath searches the doors as quested!
Zinnath takes several minutes to look over the doors in minute detail.
The leftmost (eastern) door seems devoid of traps or contrivances.
The center door seems attached to some kind of mechanism.
The rightmost (western) door seems devoid of traps or contrivances.
"Hmm...a mechanism? Perhaps opening the side doors somehow opens the middle one? Maybe Deko and I can open a side door while Fezzik and perhaps Enoby hang back a bit and watch the center door," Bataleigha says softly. "Our scary dragon, of course, can choose where he'd prefer to be and what he'd like to do when we open the first door."
All: "That makes little sense to me. I would have told you the outside doors were also connected to something if they were a part of whatever the middle door has going on. I definitely agree with checking the outside doors first, but perhaps not both at once?"
I moved myself.
"You open that door. If something comes through this one, I will surprise it with a spell."
Once everyone's in position, Bataleigha tries to open the east door.
The door seems a bit stuck; after much tugging, Bat is finally able to get it to open.
The space beyond is a small nook - it is empty. Because there are no furnishings, marks, or objects, it's impossible to tell what its purpose may have been.
Fezzik stands between the center and east door watching to see if anything comes out. When Bat finds nothing but a small room, he moves over to between the other doors, waiving his hand at Zinnath to move him out of the way. "Can you go search little room for secret doors? I got these covered," he says to the dragon as he points towards Bat behind him.
A thorough examination of the small space (about 10 minutes) turns up no evidence of secret passages, levers, triggers, doors, etc.
I moved.
+4 in forests
Bataleigha nods at her ready-for-action friends and attempts to open the western door.
Bat opens the westernmost door (on the right side). It is not stuck in the frame, unlike the other door.
Beyond is a hallway that stretches north as far as you can see (60'), with one spur heading diagonally northwest.
All: "Do we move down this hall, or do I try and manage the mechanism on the middle door?"
[Mentally to Zinnath]: Why don't you scout ahead and see if there's anything lurking nearby?
All: "I am going to scout ahead and see if there is anything lurking nearby."
+4 in forests
Ummmm, to the place Bat was pointing when she asked me to go.
1 = North
2 = Northwest
Zinnath makes his way down the angled hall. It is 10' wide and ends in a west-facing door. There are no evident signs of traps or hazards, nor any sounds from beyond. The air seems slightly fresher here.
Bataleigha follows Zinnath, waiting to make sure the others didn't wander down the north passage before trying to open the newest door.
I will certainly check the door.
If I found something adverse, I would warn Bat not to touch the door.
"Maybe," the cleric answers Deko. Then she opens the door and waves the half-orc through.
The door opens easily.
On the other side is another door to the south, and a lengthy passage. The long passage, heading west, goes further than you can see with either darkvision or your light sources.
Bat:"What now Bat?"
[Mentally to Zinnath]: Check the new door for traps. I think Deko needs to punch something soon.
Zinnath does as requested!
Two minutes of searching, no signs of traps on the door... but you can hear rustling on the far side, perhaps metal armor?
All: "I hear movement on the other side of this one. Metal against metal. Perhaps armored humans?"
Zinnath moves back from the door to let the warriors up front.
Bat gives Zinnath an appreciative nod, gives Deko and Fezzik a bit of a crazy grin, and tries to open the door.
Fezzik nods and steps up to follow Deko through the door.
You push open the door and just on the other side you see dim torchlight, and an armored man in scale leaning against the wall. He wears a black tunic and cloak, both emblazoned with flaming eye symbols, and has a shield strapped to his arm. As soon as you fling open the door, he makes an odd hooting sound and reaches for a longsword.
You can see, further down the hall, another guard similarly armed and garbed.