Brok looks over to Keil as he examines the tunnels up and down "Looks hard for the others to go up or down these tunnels. Down is probably possible with a rope, but we might end up with the rest stuck at the bottom of a hole. Should have asked ogre boss what was down at bottom. We should probably find easier way and leave these until later."
|
Varg follows behind the stealthy pair. When they get to the up and down passages, he looks behind them.
We should complete the search of this level before going down. Each level down is harder than the one before. Best to make sure we have finished the easy parts, before getting over our heads down below, and ending up retreating into an ambush.
"Pick one." Grey said to Grezzor "Choose something to call it so that it knows you are speaking to it. Give it orders. It will obey."
Without even taking the time to consider why Grey would do such a thing, the goblin immediately points to the one who was previously the leader of the ogres, hopping up and down - "That one! I will call it Mountain!" - but then stops, and looks back on Grey.
"What payment do you require?" - he asks flatly.
"Agreed." Keil returns to the others dabbing a trickle of blood from his battered face and reports his finding adding, "It is not entirely stable either."
Ignoring the new recruits as simple puppets, Keil returns to the hallway entrance to ensure the way is clear. The patrol of ghouls has yet to be encountered and the fetchling has not forgotten about them. If the way is clear, the shadowy man crosses the hall to inspect the door opposite. It had been clear before, but things change in dungeons crawling with activity.
"No payment neccessary at the moment." Grey said. "Simply help me replenish my animation supplies in the future."
Keil listens carefully at the door and hears a very faint scraping sound on the other side. Opening the door cautiously reveals a strange sight: a mound of dirt, rocks and other miscellaneous debris being swept into a large pile in the center of this dusty, dirty room by a broom...yet no one is holding it! As the door squeaks further open the broom does not react in any way, simply continuing sweeping the mess into the center despite the fact the pile is too large and keeps collapsing upon itself.
"Haunted broom! Maybe we should try a fight between haunted broom and poo monster to see who wins...." Brok suggests with a grin.
Keil turns his head slowly around to view Brok. The fetchling gives the goblin a sneer suggesting his partner is slightly unbalanced then turns his head back to the sight within the room. "Hmmph!" The shadowy man's grunt conceals a dual meaning - goblin's are a bit off and the broom is obviously enchanted.
"I will get the magiks." Keil makes to leave but on an after thought produces a silver coin, "100 to 1 on the poo thing."
A moment later Keil pokes his head around the corner to address the magicians, "A curious item for you."
"No payment neccessary at the moment." Grey said. "Simply help me replenish my animation supplies in the future."
"We have a deal then" - Grezzor's smile returns, and he begins testing some simple orders on the enormous creature.
Brok taps his foot impatiently as he waits for one of the spooks to look at the haunted broom.
Grezzor orders Mountain to 'stay and wait' and goes peek at the room, but not before casting a magical spell to uncover magical auras.
Grezzor scans the room and quickly determines the only source of magic is coming from the broom itself. Scanning further reveals a moderate transmutation aura surrounding it.
"You want Arlok go see what up tunnel? Arlok fly up and back."
He ask as the scouts describe what they find and they wait looking in at the broom.
Grezzor shrugs - "I need to touch it" - and wades in to grab the broom.
Grezzor manages to place a hand upon the middle part of the broom handle, which does not react in any way except to keep sweeping. maintaing his grip upon the handle proves more difficult that the goblin wizard imagines...
"Arlok, leave the tunnels alone for now. There's no way we could move the ogre herd up or down without more trouble than it is probably worth. We will investigate the rest of this level."
:)
The broom easily slips out of the goblin's grasp.
"If I have to wrestle it every time I want to use it, I'm not sure how much we can get out of it"
While Grezzor plays, Keil slips quietly down the hall to the next door. Holding his ear close to the door, the shadowy man inspects the mechanism holding the portal closed for anything out of the ordinary.
Keil sees another storage room here. Along the walls lie piles of wood and tools, neatly stacked. A large box sits in the center of the Room. Various carpentry equipment used for making coffins is stored here, including 2x4 blocks of sturdy wood, 3 hammers, 2 saws, one axe, a chisel and a bunch of rusty but usable nails in an iron box.
"Maybe one of you can grab it?" - he turns back to look at Vargrenz and Arlok, though he gives it another try.
This time the goblin manages to grip the handle of the broom, yet it still attempts to sweep up the pile of debris as before.
"Look at Grezzor! Riding the haunted broom!"
Grezzor determines the broom is designed to do exactly what it is doing now, namely sweeping. It can be stopped and started by saying the command word: 'Sweep' in the common tongue.
The fetchling does a 'sweep' of the room his yellow eyes hunting for anything which may be of value. He notes the potential the supplies hold; if need be the wood and tools could still be used.
Without much to report, Keil slips back into the hallway and proceeds towards the next door in line. The shadowy man's approach is much the same, his steps quiet and his eyes primed for danger. If not for the noise from broom wrestling match emanating from down the hall, Keil's approach is satisfactory. He will have to do better in the future.
Keil's sharp ears detect the faint scratches and squeaks which tell the presence of rats on the other side of the door.
The shadowy man's stomach rumbles quietly. He travels the short distance back to his comrades and reports, "More rats." The fetchling scowls as he points his nose in the direction of the next door, "Roasted sounds fine. For a change."
"Let's go see if these rats have human head we lost." Brok says, still fully convinced of a rat conspiracy.
"Arlok agree with goblin Brok"
"Sweep" - Grezzor utters the word, and the broom stops - "It is under control now" - he explains, then follows along with the bulk of the group, The Mountain lumbering closeby.
"What do you plan on doing with it?" Grey asked Grezzor.
Brok tries the door to the rat room and peeks in.
(+2 for traps)
Stepping back to the let the heavies do their job, Keil smirks at the debate over the broom, "It has its uses." Evidently the shadowy man has an idea or two of what to do with it.
Brok easily opens the door and sees this room has been converted into a rat's nest with scores of baby rats tended to by their mothers, you think. As the door opens up the rats sniff the air and then squeal in terror, fleeing the room through tunnels on the opposite wall, far too small for even a goblin to squeeze through.
Seeing as how they don't have a human head with them, Brok lets the rats flee and searches the room.
(+2 for traps)
"What do you plan on doing with it?" Grey asked Grezzor.
Varg looks over at Grey:
Was wondering the same thing. I did not think goblins knew how to clean.
Varg pauses for a moment.
Of course, he just stopped it from cleaning, so I suppose that proves the point.
Stepping back to the let the heavies do their job, Keil smirks at the debate over the broom, "It has its uses." Evidently the shadowy man has an idea or two of what to do with it.
"Probably for sweeping? Makes irrelevant if goblins know how to clean or not" - the goblin smiles widely at Vargrenz as they move along.
Brok searches the rat's nest and discovers a rotting pouch containing 66 copper coins and a blood-covered child’s doll.
All goblin dolls are blood-covered, so Brok doesn't think anything is amiss.
He tucks the doll behind his back, under his belt.
Brok exits the room and scouts east down the corridor.
(+2 for traps)
Brok continues his explorations and sees the corridor branch off in two directions: one branch heads north, ending in a locked door, and the other continuing east before ending in front of a poorly disguised secret door.
"Arlok think hidden door first."
Brok checks the secret door for traps and listens.
(+2 for traps)
"Looks clear ...." he reports. :-)
Before the goblin can finish, Keil places a cautionary hand on his shoulder, "Hold." The shadowy man remembers the last secret door, that one concealed our resident ghoul. The one before that was that little turd. "Do not rush these," the fetchling leans in to take a closer look.