Council of Thieves

Game Master Mug

Corneleous clutches a copper coin covered with a silk handkerchief. A quick spell is laid upon it, causing it to glow. He holds the cloth closed to prevent the light from leaking out.

Ava has a flash of insight, remembering that the building appears to have 3 floors. She also recalls that your group entered via the basement, making 3 floors and 1 basement total. That's four levels, in total, but one of them a basement. She remembers all these things, very quickly.

Ava, having informed the others of the situation, will rejoin Enko at the top of the stairs. She'll wait for the others to join them before doing anything else. She doesn't want to get caught out now. She keeps her axe and dart at the ready.

"Up we go then."

Stealth: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

The dim light from the various light sources reveals nothing more than has been described, but Caladius hears some quiet shifting and soft sounds through the door directly to the east of the landing. He's unable to make out what is creating the sounds however.

If you move farther south than the top of the landing I need stealth checks please - if you haven't rolled one already.

**MAP**

Caladius will raise a finger to his lips and nod toward the door to the east of their position. He'll then whisper to anyone bearing a light source, "Stay here a moment," before he melts into the shadows and moves to the south, listening at each of the other doors in turn.

Do you need any other perception checks from me? One for each door perhaps?

stealth 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

Ava will follow a little behind Caladius, staying ever vigilant for any would-be threats.
Stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

The one you rolled will do. As Corneleous hasn't actually stated he's moved anywhere, his check won't be used yet.

Caladius and Ava both hear goblin voices, as well as some low growling coming from the southern most and the south-by-southwestern doors.

Lucon stumbles clumsily well behind his companions, managing to knock over a brazier with a thundering crash and looking up sheepishly. "Do you think they heard that?"

1d20 - 4 ⇒ (2) - 4 = -2

The viscount knows his gate is not stealthy, and is always most likely to stay put until the group is nearly out of sight before he attempts to keep up.

Enko had followed Caladius' instructions and stayed put, but now raises an eyebrow at Lucon and heads towards Caladius.

Stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

He joins them and points to the south door, the other arm forming a question-shrug.

Caladius points to each of the three doors he heard noises behind in turn while glowering briefly at Lucon's racket. He then points above his head to the floor above and then shrugs, having not found stairs like he'd hoped to.

pick yer poison! these doors are all probably going to burst open once a fight starts anyway - I doubt it much matters which one we start with =)

I'm assuming people would be in transition at the time Lucon decide to tromp loudly into the hallway.

The sounds emanating from the northernmost door cease when Lucon stumbles onto the scene, and the door opens. A small silhouette is outlined by a faint light coming inside, and several beady, red eyes gleam out of the dim-light behind the goblin in the doorway. For a moment no one moves, and then the goblin shrieks something in goblin and points at Lucon and Enko outside his room.

Rolling init for you all.

Init
Goblin1 = 26
?3 = 21
Caladius = 20
Lucon = 20
Goblin Dog1 = 19
Goblin Dog2 = 15
Ava = 15
Enko = 10
?4 = 10
Corneleous = 3
Amon = 4

Please post Round 1 actions in spoilered fashion. If you want to wait till the baddies ahead of you go, that's fine too.

D'oh! I only read as far as "roll stealth checks please", it really would have been smarter to stay in the back, huh? My bad. I guess Lucon's a little too eager to help.

Knowledge(nature - untrained): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
durrr... I don't know nuffin about nuffin

Knowledge is trained only, unless this be Rule 0. I'll post action in the morn.

Actually, Enko, anybody can make knowledge checks as long as the DC is 10 or less. This allows people to know general things about subjects, ie 'common knowledge'. For example, knowing who the king of the country you live in is. This falls under (nobility/royalty), but it's something that anyone could possibly know without training (DC 5 or 10). Or even simpler (nature) for animals like bears and wolves. You don't need to be trained to make the check to know what they are. A lot of the time you don't need to make a check for these, but it's worth it for setting-specific general knowledge that your characters would probably have heard of but you personally wouldn't know.

Edit:
"You cannot make an untrained Knowledge check with a DC higher than 10. If you have access to an extensive library that covers a specific skill, this limit is removed. The time to make checks using a library, however, increases to 1d4 hours." (From srd)

Both Rule 0 and my understanding is the same as Ava's. :) I like to play it fast and loose with my Knowledge checks. I'm crazy like that.

Knowledge: Untrained - 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (11) - 1 = 10

Edit: I would like to swap my knowledge rolls for my attack rolls please :P

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Round 1
Goblin1 is mangy, dirty and looks like he spends a lot of time with the goblin dogs behind him. The little humanoid takes a good look at those in the hallway, turns and runs back into the room and out of sight.

From arond the same corner the goblin just ran, Goblin Dog3 comes barrelling towards you, taking his masters place in the doorway and biting at Enko. The nimble monk proves too elusive for the snapping teeth and avoids the snarling, disgusting, rat-like teeth.

Caladius groans at the cacophony behind him and then groans again when he hears the goblin screech. Sighing, he leaves his bow slung over one shoulder and instead draws a massive, glittering flail. He settles his large frame, patiently for something to attack.

Lucon grips his blade tightly and tries to squeeze back through the cramped hallway, mumbling apologetically. "STAY BEHIND ME!" he bellows to Amon and Corneleous behind him, voice only wavering slightly. As he moves next to Enko he peers over his stout shield at the slavering goblin dog, blade held at the ready for the tide of goblins. He takes a swing at the beast, but is unable to land a strike as the dog dodges away with a growl, droplets of putrid saliva flying about its head. Using your readied action roll

Goblin Dog1 rushes the door where Lucon and Enko stand, and tries to dart through their legs so it has a chance to get at them from behind. It barrels right into the large carpenter and rolls back into the room. As the dog is blocked, Lucon sees an opening and stabs down right into the goblin dogs back. It whines and squirms for a moment before the light fades from it's eyes. Rolled AoO for you, Lucon

Goblin Dog2, undaunted by its companions lack of success, tries the same maneuver, and it too rolls back into the room, repelled by the solid carpenter filling the door. (No AoO left as I recall)

Ava waits for her faster opponents to act before deciding the best course of action.

Enko lobs a deadly bullet at one of the dogs, striking it right in the eye. It yelps loudly and the eye quickly swells shut. The dog seems spurred to greater ferocity.

Goblin Dog4, represents the intelligence of its race well as it too tries to make it past Lucon, and it too is rebuffed. (No AoO left)

Corneleous; "They've yelled intruders. That's not very welcoming." and then spouts out some ugly sounding words in goblin. The dogs fail to heed whatever gibberish the Viscount shouted, and no goblins are visible to heed it. Corneleous lets loose an expertly aimed bolt from his crossbow, and drops it to allow his unseen servant to reload it. The bolt slides past Lucons thigh and into the neck of the goblin dog (goblin dog3), and the animal drops with a howl.

botting Amon quickly whirls his own sling up to speed and zips it through the doorway into the mass of snarling dogs being held in check by the carpenter, striking goblin dog4 in the side.

The door to the west of Caladius opens suddenly and Goblin2 occupies the doorway. He shrieks in his native tongue, or at least starts to, as he only gets a few words out before the heavy flail of Caladius blasts him in the face, tossing his goblin body end over end back into the room he emerged from. His body lies still, dead almost instantly.

Goblin3, a female, takes goblin2's place with a hissing shriek of her own, and tries to stab Caladius's thigh with her blade. The stab is too erratic however, and she fails to stick the teifling.

**MAP**

Round 2 spoilers please!

@Ava - as you delayed your action, you're now the top of the init order. Otherwise it's the same as Round 1.

Round 1 - Completed

Ava will deftly step past Caladius and tumble past the goblin, setting herself up in a position to flank before making an attack. The stunned goblin doesn't have time to turn before Ava's axe slams into her, and she paws weakly at the weapon before keeling over -- dead.
Ava cocks her head as she hears something. "Something comes from the south."

NOW, on to Round 2! :)

Round 2
Goblin1 is still in the recesses of the northern room, and hasn't been seen since the first time he noticed you and sounded the alarm.

Caladius responds to Ava's observation, "I hear it too." He pounds loudly on the southern door several times and then readies himself to deliver another thunderous blow should an enemy open the door.

Lucon jolts upright as Corneleous' crossbow bolt soars past him. He takes a few steps to the north and presses himself against the door, ready to slice the head off of any dog who steps into the threshold.

Goblin Dog2 obliges the large man, and darts over the fallen dogs to get at him. He is more than equal to its assault however, and as the dog approaches, he cuts it in two pieces with deceptive ease. The dog tries to bite him, not yet realizing it's already dead. 20 damage from that shot Lucon... ouch!

Enko smiles at Lucon. "Your defense is admirable, friend, but I shall be more help over here." Enko slips around the now empty doorframe, tucking and flipping over the dead dog and continuing over the living one. He lashes out with a foot as he passes it, connecting solidly and producing a pained yelp.

Goblin Dog4 still has some fight in it as it turns it's beady eyes on Enko. Lunging suddenly, it clamps diseased jaws on Enko's leg for a moment, griding and ripping before Enko can extract his appendage. -9hp and Fort Save please

The viscount sizes up the other dog creatures and unleashes an acid dart, it buries itself into the dogs flank, sizzling horribly. The goblin dog3 howls in pain, then slumps to the ground, unconcious and dying.

Combat is over for the moment.

Enko can see into the entire room, and it is not a pretty site. The southern part of the room has been used as a nest for the dogs for quite some time, the nests themselves piles of clothes, scraps, scraw, filth and unidentifiable offal. There is a mat in the northern part of the room with a low burning candle, probably where the goblin keeper slept, but it is empty. There is no apparent sign of the goblin.

Caladius, and the nearby Ava, wait in vain for the door to open, although the sounds of scurrying feet, harsh voices, and heavy objects being dragged around continue for several more seconds, and then all falls quiet.

**MAP**

Lucon fumbles with his scabbard for a moment, sheathing his sword. He buries his nose in his sleeve, coughing at the stench as he enters the room, steps over the hounds, and drapes Enko's arm around his shoulder. "Your leg, is it hurt badly?" he says, helping the monk hobble back to the hallway. "That looked like it stung."

Enko blinks at his bloodied leg. "I am not sure if--ahh!" He doubles over with discomfort, suddenly itching at his side as a rash spreads from the bite to rapidly cover half of his body.

"Forgive me, Lucon; I was too prideful in attacking and am now paying the price." The normally unflappable monk looks decidedly downcast, and cannot resist scratching at his welts occasionally. His leg carries his weight as he adjusts his internal balance, but he is clearly not as fleet of foot as usual.

Caladius relaxes his stance and looks back over his shoulder. "There are more through here. Are you all ready to press on?"

The little goblins may be setting up an ambush for us. Gird yourselves.

botting Amon moves over to inspect Enko's leg, "Oh, that's ugly. Do you have any potions or shall I use a spell?"

He peers over Enko's shoulder into the room the dogs emerged from, "Wasn't there another goblin somewhere?"

If needed Amon heals CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Enko bows to Amon gratefully as his rash disappears and his leg heals somewhat.

"There was...I don't see him," says the monk. Mindful of the dog's nests and his recent bout with mange, he pulls out his kama.

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

"R... right." Lucon says, blinking around the room and scratching his beard. "I don't see the little blighter either." he says, warily stepping towards the door, and then slipping out into the hallway, eyeing the door warily as he makes his way to Ava's side. "Should we press on, or do we try to flush the little weasels out?"

"There's only one we're after," Ava says coolly as she joins the rest of them. "One that gets away is of little consequence. If need be, we can return once our main task is done."

Derp. Wrong alias. Just noticed. Ignore that. My bad.

"It's grown quiet. Whatever is through this door is now ready for us."

Lucon pales as his mettle seems to leave him. Suddenly, he seems the meek carpenter again. He folds his arms, shoulders slumping as he glances from companion to companion. "What do we do?"

At Lucon's question, Caladius walks over to one of the unopened doors along the eastern side of the hall and offers, "We could check these other doors."

Enko backs out of the room, defenses up. He looks for something in the room that isn't dog-tainted to bar the door.

"Does anyone have an iron spike on their person?"

botting Amon pulls a small dagger from one of the dead goblins and hands it out to Enko, "Would this do?"

"It should." Enko closes the door warily and kicks the dagger to wedge it under the door frame.

My post from last night didn't apparently get uploaded: I had posted something about blocking the doors! Excellent hive mind!

Ava nods at Caladius' option. "We should appraise our options. There may be a way to bypass or get the drop on the ones ahead."

If nobody else objects, Ava'll start kicking open doors, from top to bottom (leaving the southern-most one untouched). She'll give each one a quick sweep before moving to the next.

perception (Room 1): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
perception (Room 2): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
perception (Room 3): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20