Dracius sighs as he sees the makeshift barrier, and shakes his head, "I wonder if this is what the goblin was doing..." He stops and cocks his head, then looks to Illithia for confirmation before saying, "I can't help but notice that we're being herded... likely into a trap? I don't know what's behind those doors, but we should make ready."
"The refuse's too fresh," Janiven says with a frown. She advances ever so slightly and shoves her foot into the base. With a tremble, some of the trash starts to pour into the trench, quite audibly. Janiven turns to look at you, her teeth visibly gritted as the rumble stops. "This is the fastest way. I don't like it but we need to get out of the sewers."
"Then Dracius is right. Whatever awaits us behind that pile smells even fouler. Those who prefer not to get dirty can make themselves useful by watching our backs." Roman puts the longbow over his shoulder and assists Janiven with bringing down the pile, gritting his teeth. Come to think of it, this is somewhat ironic - and probably the easiest kind of filth we'll be cleaning out.
Dracius turns to face Janiven, his rumbling bass voice strangely light despite the seriousness of the situation, "Oh, agreed. I wasn't suggesting we shouldn't go -- just that we should be on our toes when we do. After all, it's probably healthier than standing around waiting for Hellknights."
"Mucking it is then." Bishop puts his gun away and starts bringing down the pile of trash alongside Janiven and Roman.
"Oh this is so very disgusting." Circe settles her little cat upon her shoulders as she moves up and then helps to dig out the passage.
Dracius nods in agreement as he works, "I keep trying to tell myself I've been in worse smelling places, but I don't seem to believe me... I do hope there's a bath and laundry at the end of this tunnel..."
"Afraid of a little dirt and grime?" Bishop laughs.
You've scarcely begun bringing down the wall of refuse when a loud smashing sound resonates behind you, followed by a very low, quiet, hungry moan. A hundred feet away, at the end of the cramped passage, the silhouettes of several men come into view. Their features are hidden in the darkness. They approach in a very slow manner, one limping, others staggering forward, until they come in view of light - and their cold, rotten flesh reveals the undead. Three hulking, walking corpses are slowly approaching you, their arms visibly stretched...
"Deal with them!" Janiven shouts, tossing Morosino's body down at her feet. "Block them or kill them, when this bloody blockade's done we can outrun them!"
She continues to tear apart the blockade with increased determination.
Dracius turns to face the horrible creatures and a look of absolute disgust crosses his features. These things are truly and completely without any beauty... He closes his eyes a moment, visualizing all of the beauty of the universe and allowing that power to fill him, then reaches for the silver symbol clasping his mother's cloak, directing the power outward, toward the undead. The power released, he then draws his glaive to prepare for their approach.
"Cover your ears again." Bishop draws Sarah and readies to fire it when they get close enough.
Roman draws his blade, but before the shambling monsters can come into melee range, he concentrates his anger and hatred towards the abominations, releasing it as a ray towards the nearest undead.
Seeing the other turn to deal with the oncoming creatures, Circe stays by Janiven and continues to dig out the passageway.
Just as Shelyn herself releases souls from her weapon, so shall my weapon release these poor souls from their torment. Illithia's thought are on the sadness of Zon'Kuthon as she approaches the undead. Her face grim, she breaks into a charge, slashing at the leading undead.
The living corpses step forward with a hollow hunger in their throats. Illithia plunges forward, her glaive sinks into the frontmost zombie's shoulder; severing an already rotten arm, the head of the once-female lady is sprayed across the corridor, courtesy of Jerro's bullet. As the body collapses to the floor, another one advances with outstretched arms, only to be halted by the energies of Roman and Dracius; the white eyes of the dead, old man light up for a second and the body, too, falls over.
Yet the third one advances even more ominously, and in the back of the corridor, you can hear more moans... and the rustle and tremble of heavy armour. "That might be them! Cut down the corps-aaaaargh!"
"By the nine hells...!" Janiven mutters angrily, tearing away more refuse, yet there's still a way to go before you can get through...
Bishop loads his pistol again and fires it at the zombie in front of Illithia. "Duck and cover there pretty dame!"
The bullet seems to fly uncomfortably close to Illithia before embedding itself in the undead.
Hearing what is likely the Hellknights closing in on them, Circe tries even harder to help Janiven dig out the tunnel. I hope we can make it through before the hellknights get to us.
Hearing the voices and noticing that his companions seem to have the zombies in hand, Dracius turns and begins to dig at the tunnel.
Illithia hisses "Don't fire again you fool! These creatures, horrible as they may be, stand between us and the Hellknights." Illithia instead of slashing with her glaive, shoves the zombies backwards instead.
Roman, rushing forward in Illithia's defence, sinks his heavy blade into the flesh of the monster - yet it seems utterly unfazed by the attack. Its white eyes stare at Illithia, its hand lashing out at the lady - only for it to scratch weakly against the outmost layer of her armour.
The great wall of refuse is shrinking quickly, yet it isn't quite there...!
Roman hears truth in Illithia's words and abandons his tactics. He withdraws and helps others finish off the digging, hoping that they'll be able to run and leave the zombie to the dottari before it gets through her defenses.
Bishop shakes his head at Illithia's chastising. "Alright. You're on your own then with those zombies." He puts his pistol away and starts helping with the refuse pile.
Illithia once again moves forward, pushing the zombie back. Her mind is racing so fast she misses Bishop's tone. [b]"Shelyn may strip my beauty if I can't handle a single undead."[/i] Illithia attempts to keep the zombie at bay without dealing it damage. How can I stall the Hellknights?
Circe remains focused on the task of digging, trying to not pay attention to the oncoming horde lest she panic. Almost there, just a little more digging and we should have an opening big enough to squeeze through..."
Dracius keeps digging, occasionally glancing back over his shoulder to check on the safety of Illithia. Had I known I would be digging through a midden pile, I might have asked the Eternal Rose for different spells today...
You can hear a scream from the other side of the corridor, that of a young male; the sound of iron sinking into flesh leaves a hollow echo with the moans of the undead. Illithia manages to push away the zombie as the refuse crumbles from your combined effort, leaving a large, passable gap.
"Hurry!" Janiven heads through the refuse with some difficulty. As you follow, the tunnel goes on ahead for an odd sixty feet, until you arrive at yet another intersection; one passage carries on ahead, the other one goes due right. From behind, shouts can be heard...
The mark indicates that forward is the right way.
As the pile collapses, Dracius scans the area with his darkvision and latches on to the next mark. "This way!", he says, pointing forward. Now, if only there were a way to replace the pile to slow the Hellknights...
Illithia waits until all her allies are through the pile before moving through it herself. When they're past, she swings her glaive hard, trying to cause a collapse over the path, to at least slow their pursuers.
Bishop looks back to see Illithia attempt to collapse the path with her glaive."Why are the pretty ones so dense. Move out of the way!" He yells as he draws his pistol, loads and fires it at the ceiling right above the pile to collapse the tunnel. He then holsters his gun and runs to the front to follow Dracius.
Circe follows behind Janiven as she keeps throwing glances over her shoulder, expecting the Hellnights to come into view at any moment.
A single bullet is hardly enough to collapse a sewer tunnel. You see some dust and stones falling from the ceiling, but you can't actually hear anything for a while because the sound of a gunshot, confined in the tunnel, is deafening to the point of causing ear pain. You run forward for a while before arriving in a 4-way intersection. As the hearing returns to you, you realize that while the hellknights are still hot on your heels, there is another set of hurried footsteps nearing from the opposite direction, this one being more chaotic and intermingled with the occasional clang and shriek. It sounds like a bunch of goblins was alarmed by the Bishop's shot and went to investigate.
The arrow points further forward, where the goblins are coming from.
Illithia whispers loud enough for her allies to hear, despite the ringing in her ears. "If we move down one of these side tunnels to let the goblins past, they may slow down the Hellknights enough for us to get away. We have to be quick though." Already Illithia is sidling down one of the passages, though her bright-coloured armour may make the idea pointless.
Dracius smiles and whispers, "An excellent plan. This gives the Hellknights something to do whilst we escape. Maybe a little magic, a flash of light or sound, could help convince the goblins to head that way?"
As the party disappears in a sideways passage, you hear your pursuers arrive at the intersection.
"Where in the Eighth did those sons of whores go? Renato, check the right passage. Boniface, you go check the left one."
Janiven's face becomes stiff as she draws her bow, preparing to let loose an arrow at the first opportunity, but it never comes to this as with great clashing and screaming the goblins run into the room at full speed.
"Come back, you fools, let's deal with those pests swiftly, or the Leonardo's group will steal our glory!" The confident voice is interrupted by a scream of pain - evidently, its owner underestimated the 'pests'. Janiven relaxes and spits on the ground through gritted teeth.
"The bastards have got some kind of bet on who gets to catch us", she whispers. "How fortunate that they ran into those goblins. Let us find a way around them, quickly."
You follow the narrow damp passage for a minute or two as it twists and turns, sometimes at straight angles, with no crossing or exit in sight. The sounds of battle go quieter and then louder again, but the sound reaches you after having been reflected many times and it's hard to discern your relative position.
Dracius nods, "This is probably the first time I can ever say I wish goblins well in combat... or in anything, really. Let's go."
As the group begins to get disoriented, Dracius' steps slightly forward away from the small amounts of light, using his darkvision to scan ahead. He raises his right hand to get the attention of the group, and then points at the stones that caught his eye, "That area of tunnel doesn't match the rest -- could be a trap, or a hidden tunnel."
Janiven regards Dracius with interest. "You have bright eyes, Dracius. They will be useful to the Children of Westcrown.
I must confess I've never really been to those side tunnels. Some of them lead into the neighbouring districts, I've heard. There's no shortage of people or creatures in Westcrown that might want to make their shelter in the sewers. It could be a trap - or a shortcut to the exit."
Illithia steps towards the brick which Dracius pointed out. She squints and finally sees the difference. "Your eyes are indeed sharp Dracius. In this light I never would've spotted that. Our time is limited though, are we willing to risk if it is a trap?"
Dracius looks to his companions, "The Hellknights will not be stopped by the likes of Goblins -- I think this may be our best chance at escape -- especially if the goblins keep them distracted long enough that they don't see or hear us using this."
He smiles and chuckles slightly, "Of course, that might just be the mind of a former street urchin looking for to escape pursuit..."
He pauses to take a deep breath before admitting, "Still, I would feel better if there were an arrow on that tunnel."
"Step back, everyone."
"Shelyn save us." Illithia whispers before walking up to the section of wall and pushing on it, bracing for a trap to trigger.
"Naw, you got the right idea. Looks like our only chance." Bishop says as he gives Illithia room.
Illithia spends some time looking for a brick which would budge, but eventually you hear a faint sound of hidden wheels turning and the secret door opens inwards. You brace yourselves for a trap, but everything seems still.
Except for a quiet bubbling sound coming from above the doorway. You get a bad feeling about this.
Peering through the doorway, you see some kind of a meeting room. There is a small table and four chairs, a wardrobe and a chest. The left wall has an opening to another room, but you can't see it clearly from the tunnel.
There is no sight or sound of the room's inhabitants. Some things are scattered on the floor.
Bishop looks through the doorway. "It's quiet in here. Too quiet." He says to no one in particular. He will slowly walk through the doorway to take a look at what is scattered on the floor.
Standing near the entrance, Dracius surveys the room with his darkvision, then looks to Janiven, "There's an opening in the left-hand wall there -- does this seem, at all, to be leading us the right way, or are we heading back toward capture?"
Before Bishop can enter the room, Janiven catches his arm and pulls him back. She hushedly exclaims in an agitated whisper:
Wait! I can hear something, it is like something is about to...
Before she can finish the sentence, you watch, startled, as a yellowish oily liquid pours down from above the door, hissing and bubbling as it contacts the floor tiles and eating its way right through it. You shudder to think what could have happened if it would end up on your heads.
After a while the acid runs out, there must have been about half a pound of it. Janiven very carefully steps over what's left of the floor tile, and helps you inside the room.
"Looks like it's not a passageway after all, just a hideout. Could as well do a quick raid if we ended up here. But we shouldn't linger; we don't want to end up trapped in here. Grab what you can find and let's go."
"Thanks, Janiven. That would'a hurt. You saved my thick skull there." Bishop says as he looks around for anything useful.
Illithia moves as quietly as possible into the room - which is to say, not very quietly in her armor. "Who would have a hideout down here in the sewers? It's too well furnished and doesn't smell bad enough to be goblins." Illithia is wondering outloud to herself more than talking to anyone in particular as she searches.
Dracius nods, "Indeed. Goblins would also likely have set off their own trap..."
Dracius starts to scan the room, blinking against the light, and says, "I wonder if we could leave the door open to make them believe we went that way?"
The hideout clearly doesn't serve to the goblins. In a wardrobe you find two crossbows of unusual construction, small enough to be operated with one hand and concealed under clothing. There are also four daggers, one of them exceptionally finely crafted.
In the side room there are two bunk beds, and a hardy chest with a lock built into it. Inspection of the lock reveals that it's of high quality, and has some custom pins which seemed to be added as an afterthought.
Back in the main room, among the mess on the table there are gold coins. As you look over them, you notice that one of them is, in fact, not a gold coin - it is made of wood, and has a bearded horned profile engraved on it - the telltale image of a devil.
.
Janiven beckons you out of the room. "I don't hear the sounds of battle any more. We can return to the big crossing and keep following the arrows, or we can hope that this hideout was made close to another exit from the sewers and follow this side tunnel further."
Bishop will help collect the loot. He hands out a dagger to his comrades, but keeps the fine crafted one for himself as he is the most likely to use it. "We should move on out." He agrees. "Let's go to the big crossing. No taking chances right now."