"He helped save my life, if he want's to exaggerate a little it's fine by me." Kára whispers with a smile.
"I, for one, am grateful to have Cairenn as our ally," Erich says, grinning. "He'd be a real terror if he decided he liked the bat side better."
"But I'm equally grateful for Hana. Her magic not only took that beast down, it also put us back together after the fight. Running across you down here was a real piece of luck for us, even though I'm sure you'd rather not have been abducted by hobgoblins in the first place."
Erich looks around, getting a sense of the hallway they'd rushed into. "Hmm. Obviously, it's a good idea for us to stick together. But I'm just going a few feet over there," he points up the hall, "to that corner, make sure there isn't anything else nasty hiding."
Erich pads silently up the stairs, and passes the pile of rubble marking the passageway back through the chapel. He stops just short of the next hallway, leaning against the wall. I could poke my head around the corner and look, he thinks, but this place is teaching me to be more cautious. I think I'll just listen first...
Confused by the exchange between most of the group, Lueck shakes his head and shoulders his pole. He goes with Erich, quietly and attentively.
Cairenn gives Hana a narrow-eyed look at her whispered aside. "Vampires have many abilities," he says haughtily. "Not all of which are commonly known, save to those who have studied such--"
Lyrasael snorts, interrupting him. "Oh, shut it. Please, Hana, continue to call him on his crap."
Cairenn flushes an irritated red and stalks away from his half-sister, ignoring the nice words of Erich and Kara. (Mental note: invest in a cloak at first opportunity, he thinks. He can't swish his cloak dramatically if if he doesn't have a cloak.)
"MY CONNECTION WITH THE SPIRITS," he says loudly, gesturing dramatically as he speaks, "informs me that both this brazier, and the spear held by that statue, are enchanted. This bears further investigation. Abraxes! Come forth! Proceed down the corridor and illuminate the path for us!"
"How does is look, are there more of these guys down here? If so I'm not so sure we should proceed with our resources this low." Kára suggests.
"Good point Kára. I've still got about half my prepared spells left and can channel a few more times this day, but a quick rest might do us good. Judging from the way that passage was blocked up I'd think it safe to assume that these goblins were isolated from the rest of these tunnels so, unless the noise attracted something, we should be safe there for a while."
Cairenn frowns. "There is an enchanted weapon just down that hall," he says, gesturing. "Are we just planning on leaving it until we have had a nice nap? And we've come across no living quarters for the hobgoblins, yet-- no place they bunk down-- so I think it would be quite presumptive to assume we've found the last of them. Did they just lurk en masse in that entrance waiting for people to come in? I doubt it. I assume they have other business in these tunnels, and therefore, some way to travel among them."
It's possible Cairenn's just being argumentative because he had his poetic exaggeration called out.
Waving a hand irritably for silence, he squints towards the spear and the brazier.
Lueck stays out of the conversations about resources, enchantments and all that other stuff that goes right over his head. He helps keep watch, bow ready and wandering from looking up the well to the corridor we've yet to explore. They'll work it out. Half of them are elves, and the other half seem as smart as elves.
"That would have been useful a few minutes ago." Kára says aloud starring at the spear.
Cairenn chooses to take that as vindication (in his ongoing quests against all the imagined slights done to his ego).
"Yes, it would have. Now that brazier suggest a secret passage might be hidden there.... how odd the helm is, though! Nine eyes... that looks like a horse's jaw, too. Well: do we try to retrieve that spear first? If may be damaged, but I wager it is also very useful."
""[b]But I'm equally grateful for Hana. Her magic not only took that beast down, it also put us back together after the fight. Running across you down here was a real piece of luck for us, even though I'm sure you'd rather not have been abducted by hobgoblins in the first place."
"Well, I'm glad you did find me. Otherwise I would probably have been the the next blood bag used for that vampire statue." Hana replies to Erich, feeling a little fuzzy inside at his compliment. "And your welcome." she says with a smile.
Shrugging at Kára's comment on Cai's exaggerations she smiles and shrugs at Lyr's comment, best move forward then.
"Would either of you packing a 10 foot pole like to lead us down this passage way?" she asks Erich and Lueck, "I can keep going for a bit if you like though I would prefer it if we made camp as soon as possible. And let's keep our eyes and ears open, Cai is right, we've yet to find any but one bedding so I'm afraid we might have attracted something with the noise of battle."
With that Hana hopes that one of the guys will take the initiative and start working their way down the hall, she just looks and listens.
"Well, if you think the spear would be useful, I can see if it will come loose."
Leaning his pole against a wall, Lueck will approach the statue and see if the spear is indeed something that can just be taken from it. If so, he'll try.
"Yes, it would have. Now that brazier suggest a secret passage might be hidden there.... how odd the helm is, though! Nine eyes... that looks like a horse's jaw, too. Well: do we try to retrieve that spear first? If may be damaged, but I wager it is also very useful."
Lueck passes off the spear pieces to Kara, and moves to the area Cairenn indicated. He starts to check the area for a secret door. If he finds one, he'll check it for traps.
Perception
Traps
Erich hangs back a few paces from the rest of the group, watching as they explore the side chamber. Something about that nine-eyed skull unnerves me, though I can't quite put my finger on it...
He leans cautiously around the corner, peering down the hallway opposite from where the rest of the party is.
Seeing that Lueck comes to no harm and no alarm is raised Hana moves down the corridor and looks over the brazier, statue and the line on the wall.
Cairenn takes the spear and makes a good deal of dramatic gestures over it to study its essence and similar nonsense. That done, he wanders after Lueck, because it's dull hanging back there and that statue looks interesting, as does the brazier.
Peeking into the brazier, he notices the scraps of burnt parchment. "Abraxes! Lift these so I may see!"
From back down the hallway, Erich can hear his companions searching the brazier room, Cairenn's voice raised dramatically in some sort of necromantic evocation. I'm sure they've got everything under control, Erich thinks. There would be more screaming and shouting if there was any trouble.
He creeps quietly down the short passage, the curiously abandoned lantern holding his attention. Who leaves a something like this just lying around in a dead-end hallway? He lifts the lantern and looks it over, then turns his attention to the far wall, searching for any clues.
Cairenn frowns unhappily at realizing the scrolls might well have been magical. Such a waste! Such knowledge he might have gathered! The half-elf sighs.
"Well, we have a prize of a sort, in that spear. If you all still wish to rest, I will not argue. ...where did Erich go?"
Lueck continues to keep a wandering watch, going from one means of access to the other.