Castle Caldwell and Beyond: (A 5e Campaign) - The Wrecking Crew (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Klood steps out onto the balcony and looks over the group still below.

"Well you chickens coming up, or did you find something interesting down there... or is it time for Breakfast"?

Sorry for the long silence; got wicked sick. Thought I posted on all my PbPs' discussion threads, but apparently not.

Heeding Victor's warning, Perry motions for everyone to focus silently in the direction indicated.

Best deal with nearby threats before wandering off in search of others, Magnus thinks.

"Second breakfast will have to wait until we have done some more exploring, Brother Klodd. What do you see up there?"

As he asks the question, Magnus silently beckons the dwarf and others to come back downstairs to engage the people (?) who Victor heard.

Seeing Magnus beckoning at himself and Klodd to come back down stairs Niall shrugs at the dwarf and heads down to the ground floor.

I thought the noise was coming from the upstairs hallway.

I thought the noise was coming from the upstairs hallway.

Nope first floor :-)

As one and then another in the group pass along silent gestures indicating that everyone should be silent and listen for anything else from the northeast, down the passageway on the first floor on the right. The group gathers near the opening in the wall, and one by one they all poke their heads around the corner, from the shortest to the tallest to listen, holding their breaths and trying to be quiet, when a faint voice is heard

Dude, hold the lantern higher, man, I can’t see the lock

It is a strange, sort of slow, and vaguely mannish sort of voice, though it also has a sense of youth about it
And then there is another, more female sounding voice

Dude, like, stop using the spoon, man, I told you, use the fork.

Both voices are hard to hear, but are definitely coming from the north when looking down this hallway

I'll add a bit to the first floor map tonight

Histoff looks at everybody in the group asking in what he tries to in a sign language if doing a surprise to the voices would be a great course of action.

In a loud whisper, Perry comments "No, use the butterknife!" and waits for a response, an impish smile at the ready.

From down the hall comes the sound of a large piece of flatware being dropped, silence, and then

a voice calls out,

Hey, dude, is somebody out there?

The voice seems to be coming from behind the door down the hall on the right.

Histoff tries to move towards the voices and blurps rather loudly accidentally, he pauses for a moment, hoping no has heard that.

stealth: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

As Lijan tries to scout ahead down the hall he suddenly feels a bit of the mornings meal disagree with him and he cannot hold in a burp as it escapes him.

The sound is followed only by silence.

Perry approaches the door from which the voices came, and knocks politely. "Hi there. Are you safe? This place is dangerous, so I want to make sure nobody's hurt."

Oh Perry, Histoff thinks.
Hopefully wanting to believe that whoever is at the door is friendly.

Klodd rolls his eyes, and heads to open the door. "Well no time like the present. Get yourselves ready".

Klodd intends to move forward, throw the door open, then jump quickly to the side of the door that opens away from the knob into the room.

Perry approaches the door and announces himself, and then a moment later Klodd walks up next to him. As a voice answers from the other side of the door, Klodd notices this door is a bit unusual

Hello, dude? a curious and quiet voice answers Perry, Keep your voice down, there are wolves out there somewhere. Look, dude, we were just going through this old place looking for anything worth salvaging, our hovel took a bad hit from some goblins recently, and these wolves came in, dude, Marolyn left the door open...

I did not, dude, you hear a female voice from the other side of the door, and then an argument breaks out for a few moments

Alright, so maybe it wasn't her, but, dude, we ran into this room and shut the door behind us and when we slammed it shut it must have locked itself. We can't get out this door, and the other door here seems to be blocked by something heavy. We can't open it either. Dude, we've been in here for a couple of days, and we don't have much food left. Can you open the lock and let us out? Dude, that woyuld be so awesome.

Victor approaches though to late to hear the voices and whispers to Perry, "We figure out what the hell is gong on here?"

"Seems a couple of folks got themselves locked into that room and can't get out," Perry answers. Addressing the people on the other side of the door, he says, "Stand back. I'm gonna try to break the door down."

After giving them a moment to back away, Perry will try to bust through.

STR: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

With a muffled thump, Perry throws his weight at the door.

The door does not give at all

"People got trapped? Can we help them?" Ayita calls from the back.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 Well then...

Niall looks at Histoff,
" Do you think you could get that lock open? "

"Take care ... their story is not entirely convincing. At the least they seem addled or delusional, thinking us to be this Dood they keep mentioning," Magnus says, loosening his sword in its sheath.

Victor turns to Magnus, "Yes an odd story indeed".

Victor raises his voice, "When did you say you were trapped in there?"

"If Lijan can't get the lock open, there is still the possibility that the key is somewhere else in the mansion. Whoever these people are, might just need to wait a little longer. I don't suppose we'd be so lucky as to find the key in this very room."

Ayita searches the room for a key.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

Histoff makes a way to the door and tries to unlock the door and asks the other side of the door
what are your names ?,Folks.
He asks in elven and halfling language
The following thing.
Any elf friends ?
Any halfling mischiefs ?

Thieve's tool: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

You are standing in a hallway, there is a large, very large, room to the north of you, an unexplored room to the southeast of you, through a ten foot wide opening at the end of the hall, and then to the southwest of you is the entry hall

As Lijan approaches the door, he asks a few simple questions, and the response is quick

I am Finnogun Limecracker, and then there is Marolyn Galoolee, and Willy, um I mean William Planter. We are not elves or halfings, dude. We are kobolds, from Limecracker Hollow. It’s just to the northeast of here.

As the voice answers in its slow casual way, Lijan takes out a few tools and examines the look. He makes a few humming noises, then whistles when he realizes this is a complex look. Once he is certain it is not trapped Lijan goes to work, and in only a moment, the lock makes a loud sound

*Click*

And the door is pulled open slowly.

All of you standing by the door see a long small sized room, with many shelving units and cabinets with their doors standing open, and standing by the door are three small creatures.

They are kobolds, small humanoids. They basically look like halflings, in build and proportions, but they also have unusual characteristics such as facial features that can be animal like (mostly resembling lizards or dogs) and can have hair or scales all over their bodies. No one really knows why the kobolds look the way they do, and because of their peculiar nature, very few people are interested in finding out more about them, though some basic understanding of the Kobolds and their way of life is understood, most people tend to avoid them, as they can become rather tiresome in their unwavering optimism.

A little more about Kobolds

Wow, like, Awesome, dude. You saved us, but what about the wolves. They could be sleeping anywhere around here and when they wake up, oh man, that could be a bummer.

Klodd steps forward with a smile and open arms. "Friends! Don't worry we're here and will take care of any wolves. I don't suppose you have any of that spicy jerky you guys usually travel with. I love the fact that it bites back as hard as you bite it".

Klodd seems to be happier with the Kobolds than anything you've noticed till this point.

Victor looks at Klodd in shock, "Friends? I know the word is one you infrequently use dwarf but what do you think it means?"

Victor shrugs and engages the Kobold Limecracker, "The wolves are long gone "friends" we were able to assist them in escaping just last night. What is it you lot are doing here?"

A pained expression crosses Magnus's face.

"Kobolds? Vodhan strike me deaf and blind ... what have we done to deserve this?"

With a disgusted look, the big man sheathes his sword and retreats to the edge of the group, making a pretense of watching for trouble as he stays as far as possible from the kobolds.

Is everybody in good health ?
Histoff asks as he looks at the kobolds

"So um, what's in the room they were trapped in? They don't put a door like that in front of something unimportant."

Niall stands by, waiting for the Kobolds to respond to the others questions.

Spicy Jerky, nope, Marolyn says, as she digs into a pack at her feet. All we have left is some Cave Mushroom and Chicken Sausage, a few pieces of Red Onion Cheese, and the last two of our crumble cakes .

Marolyn is a peculiar little Kobold, her skin is covered in soft red scales that almost look like flesh, while she has animal like ears, and strange antennae growing above her eyes. Her face is almost human looking, while Finnogun and William have long, dog like snouts.

While Marolyn rummages through her pack, Finnogun answers the rest of the questions

We were just looking for anything to salvage, anything of use to us in rebuilding our hovel. See, dude, we were attacked by a force of goblins a while ago. We put up a righteous defense, dude, and drove them off eventually, but they managed to ruin several doors, and broke a lot of furniture in the hovel, mostly in the main hall and foundry. They stole a lot of our food, but we’re getting enough from the wilds around the hovel. What we were really looking for were some chairs, maybe a table or two. We found some good stuff in the room next door, and dragged it close to that door

He points to a door in this room that should open into the room directly to the south.

We left it there and then came around into this room and saw these sweet cabinets. We were just trying to figure out how to get them back to the hovel when we heard a commotion, like, gnarly growling, and barking, and some men shouting, so we slammed the door shut and, like, bang-a-rama it locked itself. We tried to get out through the other door but the stuff we puilled by the door fell over blocking it. We got trapped in here. Then we found this room with these sweet cabinets, and we were trying to figure out how to get

He looks at Lijan and shrugs

Meh, we’re doing alright I suppose. Marolyn brought a lot of snacks

He then turns to Ayita and holds up the large silver spoon in his hand

Um, not really sure, but it sort of looks like this room was where the people-folk here kept all their good serving plates, bowls, you know, and cutlery. Everything was empty when we looked around, after getting locked in her, then we found a few of these silver pieces behind the second cabinet. Must of gotten dropped there and forgotten. It’s good stuff, maybe even pure silver. I could test it out once we get home and find out for sure.

I'm away on a business trip and ill, so please DMPC my character as needed.

"Goblins are a disease that needs to be eradicated from this world! I feel bad for your hovel but stealing is not the answer. This furniture belongs to someone else. Is there any way we could convince you to leave it here? Perhaps we could help you with something? We've cleared all of the goblins and wolves in the entrance way. It should be safe enough to return to your hovel now."

On a separate note, "We should also jam that door for now, so no one else accidentally gets trapped."

Well, now that we're free, dude, all we have to do is move the furniture blocking the other door, then it shouldn't be a problem.

Finn, see, dude, I told you that this place wasn't abandoned. These people live here and this is their stuff. Wow, dudes, we're so sorry. We didn't mean to steal anything, seriously.

"No no, we don't live here," Perry assures them. "You see, someone else owns it and plans to renovate it, and has hired us to make sure it's safe for the workers to come in and do their thing. They're even planning to replace all the old stuff, so if you can salvage some of the furniture, it's just that much less work for others later. Just make sure you're finished and gone soon, or we'll be in a lot of trouble."

I went back and checked page 1, and sure enough, we were told it's okay to take stuff from here. :)

Yes you can take some of the furniture
Histoff think for a moments and then asks.
How far is your hovel ?
Will you need any help with the carrying ?

Histoff then offers one day worth of ration to them if it's far.

Histoff then thinks hard and asks
How did these men sounded ?
Trying to underatand who where the man that shouted ?

"Yes, what of these men?" Magnus asks. "It sounds as if you heard them at the same time the wolves arrived -- is that so?"

Perry leans toward Magnus and Lijan, then whispers, "I think that might have been us."

As Perry whispers to Magnus and Lijan his suspicions, Marolyn confirms that he is in fact, wrong

Well, this one dude, yells like he is going to burst into flames, I mean, like, seriously, screaming at the top of his lungs, and calling out to some guy named Harriet. He says, like in a high screaming voice, he yells, “Harriet you left the motherf~#@ing door open again, I’m going to kick your ass right over that rail and feed you to those wolves

And then this Harriet guy yells back, “Damn it Bradell, it wasn’t me I swear.”

Finn walks right up to Lijan and says

Well, we can get the chairs, it might take us a few trips, but the table is yuge, dud, we’ll get some help from the Hovel to get it as soon as we get back with a couple of the chairs. Our hovel is less than half a day’s walk from here.

Histoff thinks if they should go with them to the hovel or stay in the place.
Histoff also thinks about the door.

"Well these kobolds pose us no harm and seem to be perfectly capable of handling themselves. I say leave them be and continue our search."

"Yes, let us leave them to their scavenging and continue our search. Perhaps we will come across this Harriet and Bradell pair."

"Yes upstairs, we can loot later first let us make sure we are not stabbed in the back while doing so".

Victor heads to the foot of the stairs and again tries to listen for any sound coming from up there.

Perception 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Klodd once again heads up the stairs to where he was before.

"Whew! Who designed these steps. They are a good 3 inches too steep each".