Please see the OOC thread. Let's try to stick to once a day, with the unavoidable lapse from time to time.
Ayla waiting around the corner and keeping her eyes open and her ears alert (roll please, the rest of the group leaves with no obvious weapons and approaches the hobgoblin standing guard.
Lethe and Vyiko notice a subtle shift in its breathing showing he's took notice of their approaching. He rises from his chair as you get nearer and looks at you with its dark little eyes. He stands well above you and carries a massive flail in his left hand. His grey skin is covered with a rebellious short beard. He bellows: "GET YOUSE SELVES AWAY, MAGGOTS, OR YOU'LL FEEL MA FLAIL!!!"
The guard twitches at the sight of the elven Blood priest. He stumbles on his words a little: "A job? A'right, but leave your weapons outside. I'll check myself!"
He removes the obvious daggers then frisks you one by one.
secret rolls:
1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
He seems too concentrated on the females in the group to make good of his duties and finds nothing hidden on you. He knocks on the the door and shouts, smiling at you: "Fresh meat!"
The door opens after a short while and you enter a dark narrow hallway passing three old but solid doors and passes through a gate to get to a wide courtyard. At the centre stands a big olive tree giving a light silvery shade. A roofed pathway circles the courtyard with beautiful arcades finely ornated but severely in need of repair and showing obvious signs of weapon damage.
All around the tree are ten hobgoblins training with flail and shield, some in pairs, other against wooden mannequins. In the shaded pathway, you can discern pairs of eyes, though it is difficult to make out their numbers. Five goblins also run around with slings, practicing what seems to be 'move and shoot' sequences.
A long table lies under the tree, at the end of which a tall and slender hobgoblin sits with some food and papers. He is wearing a light armour and a massive flail lay by his side. On his bare arm a strange tattoo can be seen. He waves you forward and you feel the stares of the courtyard move with you. The strange music comes from a Darguun bagpipe he's playing. He slowly stops playing as you approach, making his words resonate further.
"I hear you're looking for work! I am Kalag, what can you do for me?"
Is Estelle still with us? All, please roll Knowledge (local) if you have ranks in it.
How far away are the shaded figures? How high is the roof of the surrounding walls (is the roofed pathway on the ground level, or a second level)? Roughly how large is the courtyard (length/width)?
"Depends on what is needed to be done, comrade Kalag. We are a versatile lot, specializing in extraction, information, and assassination, though we branch into more brutal work when there's nothing else." Viyko smiles grimly, then scratches his nose.
"Given that we just refrained from killing your guards for laying hands upon us, I should think that we have demonstrated our capacity for discretion. You have brutes," Vrykkas gestures at the training goblins, "You need agents of a more discriminating nature, able to infiltrate into polite society. We are willing to work with you."
Sorry, the amount of detail required is not always clear. Feel free to ask.
The courtyard has an open square section of 60 x 60, with the tree and the table at its centre. The nearest hobgoblins are but ten feet from their leader. Around the courtyard is the covered walkway, going all around and about 10 feet wide. The building around the covered walkway is two story high and in a bad shape.
Viyko:
The tattoo on his arm is the Humble Mark of Binding.
"You're right! You don't look like muscle, 'cept her maybe... I might have uses for you. Have you credentials? Are you ready to work without asking questions?"
Viyko, without obviously staring into the darkness of the covered walkway, especially with the contrast provided by the sunny courtyard, can't discern the exact locations of the watchers as they seem to remain hiding. The closest they could be is 20 feet.
Hey guys. I'm probably going to drop out of this game. I'm just too far removed from playing Eberron to pick it up again, and a character like Estelle takes a lot of time to properly play. I have enjoyed the experience, and wish you all continued luck. I'll follow along as this looks like a fun game...just don't have time to give it, it's due. Thanks for the opportunity though
Sorry to see you go Scranford... I hope everything is all right.
Kalag looks at Vyiko with incredulity, then laughs: "Sure, the corner over there... But I would watch out for those bugbears in the dark if I were you. They have a nasty sense of humour... and they're brutes!"
He bends forward: "Ok, you want work? Come back tomorrow, I'll have something for you."
Viyko walks close enough to the bugbears to get a good look at them, then walks to the side and takes a piss, while undoing his sling and putting it in a pocket. How many bugbears?
When Viyko goes to the wall, is he out of line of sight from the bugbears? If so, once his back is to everyone else, he drops the 2 clubs and a dagger along the wall where he is standing. He'll keep peeing, or pretending to pee, until the party makes a move, or decides not to.
Sorry to see you go, too, Scranford. Wish you could've stuck around a bit longer, as we could use the extra party member for what we're about to go through, it seems.
Viyko is in the centre of a sunlit courtyard. As he walks to its corner, he only faces half of the shadowy walkway.
Viyko's Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
Unfortunately he sees but shadows shifting and can't make out a single one of them. Perhaps there are none..?
As he walks, he also hears quips in Gobleli and laughs from the hobgoblin, probably making a joke about his manhood or something.
Viyko's Bluff: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2
When he gets to the corner, he hears a whisper coming from the darkness ahead, and seems to be able to make out a stooped figure of great size with two eyes shining and staring at him.
I felt some rolls were needed... Feel free to adjust your actions. You stand thirty feet from your closest companion.
I meant to walk close to the bugbears, within 10 feet or so, then veer to the corner. I figured I'd do that since Kalag brought attention to them. If I couldn't see them in the darkness, Viyko would have altered his actions slightly to the following:
--Viyko pulls a torch from his pack and casts spark on it, and looks at the bugbears and says, "You boys aren't going to peek, are you? If you are, you'll be disappointed to know that I prefer womenfolk."
Viyko then resumes his actions, barring pissing off the bugbears into combat. He props the torch against the wall, adjacent to him (not pissing on it, obviously).
As soon as he notices a bugbear watching him, he buttons his fly and walks back, slowly toward the party.
I am still waiting for the rest of the party to post actions before I do anything else, and if a fight breaks out with the party before I finish peeing/pretending to pee, Viyko blows on his silver whistle in the surprise round and picks up the torch.
Viyko pulls a torch from his pack and casts spark on it, and looks at the bugbears and says, "You boys aren't going to peek, are you? If you are, you'll be disappointed to know that I prefer womenfolk."
Viyko then resumes his actions, barring pissing off the bugbears into combat. He props the torch against the wall, adjacent to him (not pissing on it, obviously).
As soon as he notices a bugbear watching him, he buttons his fly and walks back, slowly toward the party.
Rabbit isn't going to be the one to start hostilities. At the first sign of an attack, she'll cast Mage Armor on herself. Can we consider that a readied action?
Vrykkas waits for Viyko to return, staring impassively at the hob in charge. As soon as Viyko is back, he turns and walks imperiously outside. He'll collect his dagger from the hob guard and walk imperiously away, waiting until he is out of sight to confer with the others.
The torch, when lit, showed a portion of the covered walkway. Its columns were once of exquisite quality and were manufactured in Aereni style, but a long time ago. The walls show old and punctured depictions of caravans crossing great deserts.
Of course, what draws Viyko's immediate attention is the stooped but large figure of a vicious looking bugbear wearing a set of two mean looking sickles, whose blades have been darkened. The bugbear's little black eyes blink as the torch is lit and he steps back a little, seemingly ready to pounce.
Not far from that bugbear, Vyiko notices a second bugbear, moving back to the edge of darkness, almost disappearing as it does so.
It remains very hard to know how many bugbears there could be, as the walkway goes all around the courtyard.
It is brightly lit in the courtyard from the sun... so is this magical darkness, or at least unusual considering the dim light/ torch?
You said the closest they could be was 20 feet, though the walkway starts 30 ft from the center. I walk within 10 feet of them, and the torchlight + sunlight's bleedoff should give me more of a view, unless they moved "deeper" into the shadows. I'm also not certain how "deep" the building seems to be on that side. Sorry for the semantics, but the building seemed to be large on one side, and have a sort of courtyard attached to it, like a building attached to a 60x60 square.
The roof on the walkway provides shadow. The bright light from the sun on the courtyard provides strong contrast which makes it easier to hide. Since the table and the group is not exactly in the centre because you couldn't all fit on one intersection, I've decided that, at best, they could be 20 feet away from you.
