"Let's take a look at these hallways," says Jocasta. "Can any of you see anything down the dark?"
Musami moves to look into the alcove again. He remembers there being rats here and wants to check if they are still there. One second Jacosta. I will check this alcove then look down whichever hallway you like. There were rats here earlier, I am sure of it.
The alcove turns back on itself, a small 5' x 5' hall onto a similarly sized landing that holds a set of stairs leading down. The stairs are lined on both sides with shelves. The stairs are covered in a spongy mass of fur, dirt, and debris several inches thick, possibly gathered over a long series of years. The area is silent as Musami approaches. From the clog of fur it is difficult to see much further, but it appears the stairs turn again heading deeper below the moat house.
"Let's fully explore this floor before we go downstairs," suggests Jocasta. "Wouldn't want to get trapped with something nasty above and something dangerous below."
Musami moves now to peer down the passage heading south.
Toruk casts a light on his walking stick and then follows behind Musami.
Cedryk waits a few minutes then casts light on his staff.
"This way, if your spell ends, we will not immediately be plunged into darkness."
He gives a wan smile as he cast the spell on his new snake-like rod.
Fil does the same, so we are staggered among the three casters, using his light spell on his bow.
"Having this much light should give us a good view if something does come to us."
From the main hallway your light sources give you a quick glance down each of the two hallways, to the west and south. The additional light illuminates the floors as well, showing faint traces of tracks not noticed previously, faint tracks of a mid-sized serpent and the four plus one toed paws of a larger lizard.
The western hallway has two closed doors on the southern wall, one closed half-door, top section missing, on the northern wall. The hallway ends passing through an open archway into a western room 20' deep, width undetermined. The area is dark, with a strong smell of urine and shyte lingering in the air. The lizard tracks seem to come and go from this hallway. Something heavy has been dragged down this hallway recently, from the bandit's chamber.
The southern hallway appears to have two closed doors on the western wall, one closed door on the eastern wall and ends passing through an open archway into a southern room roughly 20' deep, width undetermined. The snake tracks seem to have passed this way some long time ago, but nothing recently.
The extended lights in the main hallway have also apparently agitated the rats dwelling in the alcove to the north. Several squeaking voices have begun chattering within the alcove, at this point a low background noise, but rising slowly as more seem to awaken to the intrusion in the area.
Toruk cautiously walks down the southern hallway and opens the first closed door that he comes to.
Fil hangs back, an arrow at the ready.
Toruk finds the first door opens off the western wall into a long, narrow room partially cut off by the exterior stairs. The room is 20' long and 15' deep at it's southern end, 5' deep at it's northern end aligned with the main hall. The room is a cluttered mess of burnt and discarded furniture mixed with beams collapsed from the second story above. He does note however that a sword seems to have been partially hidden behind a charred and tilted bookshelf along the diagonal wall. The hilt is gilded in brass, the rest of the blade hidden from view.
Toruk carefully scans the room for traps and then detects magic on the blade. If there is no obvious danger he removes the blade for a closer look.
Seeing Toruk disappear through a doorway Musami moves down to stand by the doorway in case Toruk needs help.
Toruk detects no magic and finds nothing like a trap, just a blade someone had attempted to hide recently, likely one of the brigands previously encountered.
The blade is a longsword, well crafted and balanced. The hilt is made of brass, finely etched with a military scene, a commander leading a troop of humans against a band of maybe orcs, though they appear slightly larger and have larger tusks.
Jocasta keeps a dagger handy and scans the hallways in case something else decides to sneak out of the darkness while Toruk is busy in the alcove.
Cedryk moves down the hall with the others, staying near the middle of the party and ensuring his light can help others examine their surroundings.
"Be careful..that floor could be weakened by the fire and age."
Braggi is about to enter carelessly in the room, but Cedryk's advise makes him hesitate. "Ummm..."
So, seeing that nothing seems to be here, he walks to the next door on the western wall and opens it cautiously, as if he expected something to jump at his face.
Braggi opens the door onto a small bedchamber, or rather the wrecked remains of a bedroom. The bed has been hacked apart, soiled repeatedly from the odor, and set aflame at some point recently. The skeletal remains of a body, including a grinning skull staring menacingly at the sailor, lay scattered amongst the cinders and ashes. The room is ten feet wide, 15 feet deep.
Jocasta sniffs, wrinkles her nose, and says, "I guess that's one way to clean up when you sh!t the bed."
Musami moves to the other door in the corridor and tries it.
Musami crosses the hall and opens the last doorway, shoving abit as it is stuck do to some of the ceiling debris having collapsed into the room. Musami's opening the door causes a large hooded snake to rise up from behind a small crate and lash out at him menacingly.
The room is 10' wide by 15' deep and is cluttered with crates, burnt timbers, and ceiling beams.
The snake strikes out at the dwarf, attempting to drive him from it's territory. , fangs digging into his forearm for and causing a colorless deluge of venom to seep into and across his wrist.
Toruk packs the masterwork long sword away and then quickly moves to Musami when he hears the dwarf cry out.
Musami will swing his earthbreaker at the offending snake.
Musami's heavy hammer blow smashes the snake mid-length, crushing muscles and tearing at it's scaly hide, seriously injuring the creature. It attempts a second strike to drive him from it's lair, , again finding an opening, this time on the dwarf's thigh, the bite doing , causing more poison to pump into the dwarf's system.
Toruk pushes his way into the opening to aid the dwarf, the pair shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh in the tight confines.
The poison seems to be coursing through Musami's system quite quickly, doing significant to his overall stamina. As the poison causes shock to his system, the dwarf staggers, then collapses unconscious from the haditoxins.
As the dwarf falls either Jocasta or Braggi would be close enough to step into his place and either pull him from the room or assist Toruk in fighting off the serpent.
Success
Other than that, he would close to point blank attempt to fire on the snake.
Filnefillan is unsure about this particular snake and how to go about obtaining any potential venom remaining.
Due to the tight constraints of the doorway Fil will not be able to move up and fire at the snake.
Cedryk, being at the back of the group, tries to see what is going on without getting into anyone else's way. He tells Hedgewyk to keep a watch on the corridor to make sure nothing sneaks up on them.
Instead of crowding the area, Jocasta flings her dagger at the remaining snake.
Jocasta's dagger passes over Musami, missing the snake and bouncing off amongst the clutter and debris of the small storage room.
Standing ready at the rear Cedryk, Hedgewyk, and Filnefillan seem a bit distracted, not noticing the shadows creeping closer until a squeaking, roiling mass of black and brown rats comes crawling forward, over and around the clutter of the main hall, the brighter light of their shared spells illuminating the swarm and driving the creatures into a frenzy.
The swarm rushes into the brightness of the Light, focusing on the closest figure, the tiny leshy Hedgewyk. The mass crawls over him, tearing at his form for , causing him to nearly panic as they begin to chew apart his seed pods and twig weapons. , covering the poor homunculus in a splattering of filth, muck, and excrement as he retreats back to his master.
Initiative Order:
First Group: King Cobra and Rat Swarm
Band 1: Braggi, Jocasta (Acted), Musami (Unconscious/Stable) and Toruk
Band 2: Cedryk, Hedgewyk, & Filnefillan
"What? A snake? I hate snakes!" Braggi tries to wield his big weapon and cut the head of the snake in one strike. "Crouch!"
Toruk pounds the snake.
The hooded viper weaves a hypnotizing dance back and forth, it's head flaring out widely as it watches it's foes' movements, dodging both men's strikes. It hisses and spits, watching for a chance to strike on it's own.
Out in the hallway the feral rats squeak and squeal eagerly, desiring to tear into the defenders before them.
Initiative Order:
First Group: King Cobra and Rat Swarm
Band 1: Braggi, Jocasta (Acted), Musami (Unconscious/Stable) and Toruk
Band 2: Cedryk, Hedgewyk, & Filnefillan
Taking his newly acquired rod, Cedryk swipes at the swarm of rats.
Attack:
Damage:
Fil is going to try to knock the rats out en masse, using Color Spray (DC 15), stepping back and hitting the entire swarm at once.
"Cover your eyes Cedrick and Hedgy!" he shouts as he begins to cast, more as a precaution than anything, as he intends to angle the spell in such a way to not hit them (a right angle spray).
The rod seems to work no better than his ordinary quarterstaff, in fact stinging and tingling a bit in his hand after the strike, but still crushes a few rats between it and the ground.
The swarm seems to take more notice of the vibrant wave of colors washing over it from Fil's spell, pausing a moment, crawling over themselves as rats near the bottom of the mass crawl over their fellows to sniff the air, having lost sight or sense of their foes.
Elsewhere, the King Cobra continues it's menacing strikes against those intruding upon it's cluttered domain. The serpent at Toruk, catching the warrior under the forearm, fangs doing , pumping some of it's remaining venom into his system.
Initiative Order: Band 1
First Group: King Cobra and Rat Swarm
Band 1: Braggi, Jocasta, Musami (Unconscious/Stable) and Toruk
Band 2: Cedryk, Hedgewyk, & Filnefillan
Jocasta takes the opportunity to whip another dagger past Toruk as he recoils from the snake strike.
Jocasta's dagger nicks the snakes hood, tracing a small scratch through the scaly skin, but continues onwards and strikes a different crate with a heavy thunk, sticking and vibrating from the blow.
Initiative Order: Band 1
First Group: King Cobra and Rat Swarm
Band 1: Braggi, Jocasta (Acted), Musami (Unconscious/Stable) and Toruk
Band 2: Cedryk, Hedgewyk, & Filnefillan
The poison coursing through Toruk's blood seems to sap at his vigor, , causing him some distress and weakening his verve.
Initiative Order: Band 1
First Group: King Cobra and Rat Swarm
Band 1: Braggi, Jocasta (Acted), Musami (Unconscious/Stable) and Toruk
Band 2: Cedryk, Hedgewyk, & Filnefillan
Seeing the snake seems to be quite a problem, Braggi tries once more to finish it at once, this time using the point of his sword to gain some precision in such a reducted space.
Braggi launches a strong thrust at the cobra, catching it along it's length and running the blade downwards in a deep slash, splitting the serpent open and dropping it wetly behind the crates.
Initiative Order: Band 2
First Group: Rat Swarm
Band 1: Braggi, Jocasta, Musami (Unconscious/Stable) & Toruk (Poisoned)
Band 2: Cedryk, Hedgewyk, & Filnefillan