Jian, seeing the motion, will join Johannes. Even with his recent anger towards the Goblins, he does not relish this task, but it is certainly the prudent one.
Jian moves without even the faintest whisper, drawing his urumi and preparing to slash down at one of the sleeping Goblins in tandem with his allies.
While Jian slits the the throat of one of the sleeping gobbos, Johannes mercilessly brains the other with his tankard. "Some hangovers you just never wake up from."
Lys climbs up the stairs after Johannes and Jian, seeming to find every creaking board that her more nimble companions were able to avoid. After reaching the top of the tower, her dark grey eyes flit over the scene. With one goblin's throat slashed and the other's misshapen head stove-in, Lys uses their new vantage point to scan the surrounding courtyard.
"Dying in their sleep is too good for the likes of them, if you ask me," she coolly comments, the grisly scene at the Glassworks still burned into her memory. "But since time is of the essence, I won't begrudge you two your more efficient means. In fact, I think we passed a few more sleeping goblins that need not wake up again."
Jian nods grimly, his eyes briefly flashing with anger and...something else. Perhaps guilt.
Casually flicking the blood off of his strange, flexible blade, then rolls his shoulders. It was unnatural, how quiet he was when he wanted to be. A man that size should have creaked when he moved. There should have been the sounds of stones rubbing together when the tendons of his back released their tension.
There was only a dangerous, coiled silence, something so still you knew it was merely waiting to pounce.
"Yes. Let's get back to that room. We'll have to do it quietly, and in tandem if there's multiple of them."
Jian's voice had gone rather flat. It promised nothing but the grave.
Jian moves back to the room where the Goblins were sleeping, and opens the door quietly.
I will let that suffice for Jian's stealth roll for movement as well. As you open the door, you find six Goblins, all asleep. What do you do?
Jian moves to the one farthest from the door, readying his weapon. When Ilysaria and Johannes are in position, Jian will strike.
Ilysaria sees the strange mix of emotions that flit through Jian's eyes, but she can only make a note to try and talk to him about it at a later point. There was too much still to be done to try to hash out those complicated feelings then and there. She moves behind Jian, attempting to step lightly on the balls of her feet but the sharp heel of her boots occasionally click too loudly on the wooden floors.
Stepping into the crowded sleeping quarters, Lys moves to one of the occupied beds with the pearl-handled dagger grasped in one fist. It seemed a shame to tarnish such a pretty thing with the blood of something so foul, but while a whip was useful for many things, silently dispatching enemies was not one of them. Once the men are in position, Lys places her hand over the sleeping goblin's mouth before piercing it where its heart should be and twisting the blade.
I won't bother making you roll; you are able to kill all the sleeping Goblins.
At this point, you have pretty well cleared out the level.
You have found two stairways going down; one in the Northwest corner of the map, near the hidden treasure, and one right next to where you are, near the sleeping Goblins.
What do you do?
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"Well, gentlemen," Lys begins, standing at the top of the stairs descending down into the unknown, "Something tells me that the easy part is behind us." Holding a hand out to both Johannes and Jian, Lys offers a brief orison to their respective Gods and Goddess. "May the Unquenchable Fire light our path and guide our hands. May the Lucky Drunk give us the courage to face whatever challenges lie ahead. And may the Master of Masters grant us the inner strength we need to see this grim yet necessary task through to the end."
Her prayers offered, Lys makes a subdued sweeping gesture in the direction of the stairs, indicating for Johannes to lead. "After you."
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"Pretty words from a pretty girl," Johannes winks at Lys. It's grim work they have to do, but after the short prayer, the little halfling really does feel a smidge better. "There's a cup to be raised to each of our gods at the end of this mess," he says, descending the stairs. "Bottoms up!"
Topped up on righteous courage, Johannes hums a jaunty tune to himself. Perhaps he feels a little too good. Though his footfalls make no noise as he goes, it seems he's become tired of the stealthy approach and would rather just fight off all the goblins in the place in melee combat.
You descend the stairs. As you go down, torches are lit on the walls, providing light. You emerge into an empty room, a large hall that once may have been quite grand, A single lantern hangs from a hook on the wall next to where the stairs enter this room from the north. Several rickety doors are connected to this room, and a few discarded dog pelt rugs lie forgotten in the northeast corner.
There are six doors in total. If you were to follow your "right hand rule" to the right of where you came in, you would check the Northwest door first. Rule of right via North (at least north on the map) would be the Eastern door (just so you are all aware). I will assume you are checking the Northwest door first with your standard operation procedure;
Through all the doors but one, you detect nothing. Through the third door, however, you detect the high-pitched voices of several Goblins, as well as a deeper voice. It is speaking on Goblin as well.
What do you do?
Also I just moved you to a new map so ensure you all have sight for me!
Jian will move to the door (I believe it should be Southwest on the map per our checking) and make himself ready to strike with his urumi at whatever might be on the other side of the door.
Jian will look over at his allies, then nod, giving them a stoic smile.
"Same as last time...and though I've never said it, I couldn't ask for better people at my side in these times. Onwards, my friends!"
As soon as they are ready, Jian kicks open the door. If he sees an enemy in range, he attacks. If there happens to be more than one, Jian attacks the stronger looking foe.
Dozens of ratty cushions, lumpy pillows, and rumpled dogskin furs lie heaped in the south half of this chamber, which smells of a nauseating mixture of vinegar and rotten flowers. Inside the room are four Goblins, though they appear to be female (the first you've seen) and in various states of undress. In front of you is, compared to them, a giant; immediately and obviously, a bugbear stands before you. However, before the monster can react, Jian's curving blade flashes out, drawing a crimson line across his opponent's throat, and the bugbear drops, bleeding out.
Johannes and Lys, you have actions and then we'll be in combat.
"Ah... Bruthazmus, I presume?" asks Lys of the dying bugbear on the floor. Not that she expects a response from him, goblinoid social graces being what they are. "Shalelu will be glad to know that he finally met his end. Now..." Lys brings her stormy gaze up to look over the room's remaining occupants. Perhaps it's the slightest feeling of solidarity that keeps Lys from immediately lashing out at the goblin consorts, or perhaps it's the thought of how inconvenienced she would be if someone attacked her while she was in such a compromised state. Still, her whip lies at her side, ready to attack at the first sign of hostility. "What should we do with them?"
Lys, the Goblin women howl in rage as Jian brings down Bruthazmus. They pick up daggers around the room and lunge for you. The one nearest Jian is in range and you strike, dealing enough damage to take it out.
Johannes will get an action, then we're in initiative.
Also map should be fixed.
The spectacular queerness of the scene of a goblin harem takes Johannes off-guard and his sloppy attack betrays his surprise. The surrealness of it all is not helped with the sudden and messy addition of a bugbear fur rug.
Johannes, that first attack misses.
The Goblins will be going last. Ilysaria is up first, but Johannes, you are easily able to slay one. Two remain. Lys and Jian, feel free to take your actions.
Jian shifts forward a bit, seeing the combatants that are still left. He whips his urumi around furiously, striking out to end the fight quickly.
Lys strikes out at the first goblin to take up arms against them, scoring a long, bloody gash across its face and preemptively halting its attack. "That answers that," she says with a trace of disappointment in her voice.
As Jian steps into the room and winds up for another attack, Lys lashes out again, her whip curving around his towering frame to lacerate the throat of another goblin consort.
Lys and Jian, those are two more attacks landed, and as suddenly as it began, the fight is over.
From now on, I think I will just assume you give bodies the once over and check for magic as a standard operating procedure to speed things up.
The Goblins only have dogslicers.
The bugbear has several more noteworthy items. He was wearing mundane studded leather and had a heavy flail. He also had 4 platinum pieces, a masterwork composite longbow (+4 strength), twenty arrows, a potion that is easily identifiable as a potion of cure moderate wounds, and four arrows that give off a magical aura when examined.
You may roll Spellcraft to identify them, as well as any other items you have yet to identify. You may take 10 with Spellcraft if you wish.
After you make your checks, what would you like to do?
After searching the bodies, Jian will go to the next door to the right (map east).
As the last goblin falls, Lys neatly coils her whip and has a look at the spoils their latest victory has netted them. Her elfin eyes glimmer with delight at the masterfully crafted bow amongst the bugbear's things, but the feeling is short-lived. Her slim arms quiver as she tests the bow's draw strength and finds herself lacking. With a resigned sigh, she gives up and turns to Jian. "What about you, Muscles? You might eventually find yourself in a situation where your strange belt sword won't be of much use."
Jian looks at it, feeling a bit of his Elven heritage poking through as he eyes the longbow. He hefts it and pulls the string back experimentally. The muscles in his back bunch (rather magnificently, if you're into that sort of thing) as he draws the weapon. Jian finds the bow's pull well within his capacity, and nods.
"I may as well, I suppose. Options never hurt anyone, right?"
You check the other doors. The first one to your right (counterclockwise) leads to a hallway to the south. The next one, to the southeast, leads to a strange, disturbing room, lined with small wooden cages. Inside each wooden cage is a dirty mound of straw. No creatures or items of note are in this room.
To the east, the door opens to a short hallway, then there is another door. The door to the northwest opens to a hallway that leads to several more doors, one to the west, north, and east.
Back in the original hallway, the west door leads to another set of doors to the west.
What would you like to do?
Lys nods in agreement, a small, cheeky smile curving her lips. "Not at all. In fact, one of the first lessons you learn as priestess of Calistria is that it pays to be flexible." After helping to sling the quiver of arrows around Jian's broad shoulder, Lys collects the four magical arrows after Johannes's inspection and takes the bugbear's flail as her own. The heavy weapon is unwieldy at first, but after adjusting her grip and testing its swing, Lys thinks it might not be too terribly different from using her whip. "Always good to have options," she says with a wink.
Out in the hall, Lys considers the options laid out before them. "I think we should head south to start," she suggests. If the layout of the first floor was anything to go on, then clearing out the area to the south ought to be a quick matter.
You go south.
The hall quickly goes west, and you are presented with five more doors in the hallway. You check the northeastern door first, then continue in a counter-clockwise fashion.
Everything seems quiet, except for the first door. Through it, you hear an idle, mostly tuneless bit of whistling.
What do you do?
Jian raised an eyebrow at Ilysaria, but other than that, did not react outwardly. Despite his training, he was, after all, a healthy young man, and he was having trouble deciding whether Ilysaria was teasing or flirting with him.
Or both.
Either way, the thought of the lovely young woman's suggested flexibility was potentially distracting, which would not do in this place. He pushed the thoughts away, and continued on.
Upon discovering some whistling, Jian shrugs at his teammates. Since the door does not seem to be trapped, Jian draws his urumi, ready for whatever might be on the other side, and opens the door.
This one-person bedroom shows many signs of having been lived in. The bed itself is rumpled and unmade, and a half-eaten meal of bread and smoked salmon sits on the nightstand. A few articles of dirty clothing sit at the foot of the bed. Sitting on the bed, book in hand, is a man. He is dressed in a tunic and breeches. Sitting in a pile near the bed is a suit of armor, a bastard sword, and other pieces of equipment.
As you open the door, the man stops whistling and looks over at you, clearly startled. He is perhaps in his thirties, and might be ruggedly handsome if you were into the rough-and-tumble type.
His eyes flash to his gear for a moment, then back to all of you, standing in the doorway. He speaks with a low voice.
"Ummm...hi?"
"Hello handsome," Lys greets in a deceptively silky voice. "Is this a bad time?" Her eyes follow the unprepared man's as he looks to his gear, her hand tightening on the handle of her whip as she waits for him to make what might be his last poor choice. She relaxes when she senses him decide against reaching for his weapon, adopting a nonchalant pose with one hand resting on the curve of her hip and her coiled whip tapping occasionally against her leather clad thigh. "I suppose your one of Nualia's lackeys? Or do you prefer 'henchman'? Tell me, what part did you have to play in the attack on Sandpoint a few days ago?"
The man scratches his chin for a moment, five o'clock shadow evident, then he sighs and dogears the page he was reading before closing his book and setting it down.
"I'd a feeling that's why you were here. Little sense hiding it, then. Best to use the truth when that's the only shield you can hold!
If'n we're going with titles, I'm for 'bodyguard'. God's honest, it's one of the best jobs I ever had. Bit boring, mostly. Y'got the name right; Nualia hired me to watch her back, but to tell the truth she hardly ever leaves here, so I've just sort of been hanging out. Her coin's good, though, and a job I get payed and don't have to bleed for is fine by me.
I didn't have nuthin' to do with the planning or execution of the attack on Sandpoint. I'm not from here; don't know the city or the people, so my input would have little value. Nualia didn't head there herself, so I had no reason to go."
The man seems oddly forthcoming and even-keeled about this whole experience.
"Mm. You don't seem too put out that we've got you dead to rights. What's that all about, eh?"
The man snorts a bit in amusement.
"When you're a merc as long as I am, well, you got to be realistic 'bout these things. You're here and you're here quiet. Now, I know what the situation is up there; I don't think you made it through the level above silently. Not totally silently, anyway. My guess is that there's more'n a few Goblin bodies up top, and if you three are good enough to do that without setting off an alarm..."
He trails off and looks you all over.
"And without even gettin' hurt, it looks like, well...I don't think I've got much of a shot against you. Why fight? You seem reasonable. Might be with some talkin' you decide I can go my merry way, away from you, without need for violence."
"Your cooperation in exchange for your life?" Lys glances to Jian and Johannes as she asks this, trying to gauge their thoughts on the matter. She raises a slim shoulder in a shrug to indicate her willingness to go along with it. If the mercenary was telling the truth about not having a hand in the raid on Sandpoint, then none of the blood of its citizens was on his hands. He might not be the most upstanding or loyal of men she had come across, but that is little reason in itself to take vengeance on him.
"I don't know that the Mayor or the Sheriff will be too pleased to know that we let one of Nualia's lieutenants walk away, free and clear. But if you tell us everything you know and come with us to Sandpoint, you have my word that we will tell them how helpful you have been. Mayor Deverin seems like a fair woman; I doubt that she would hold you accountable for the actions of Nualia and Tsuto."
From somewhere on her person, Ilysaria produces a fuchsia colored silk scarf that rattles curiously like chainmail. "Or, you could pick up that sword of yours and try to fight your way out. I would advise against it, but I know it just isn't in some people'snature to come quietly." She holds up the scarf in one hand, and her whip in another. "So, what will it be?"
"Mm. 'Lieutenant' is a strong word. But I don't fancy fighting you lot, so I'll take the bargain, methinks."
After that, the man is compliant. If you want to bind him and leave him until you come back, he'll allow you to do so. He does ask for enough freedom to still be able to eat, drink and use his chamber pot, but that's his only request.
"Smart man. We'll be sure to downplay your involvement here with Mayor Deverin and Sheriff Hemlock." After binding the man's hands and a good part of his forearms with her scarf, Lys directs him to retake his seat on his bed before beginning her 'interrogation'.
"Who else is working for Nualia?"
"What should we expect to run into down here?"
"Does Thistletop have a dungeon?"
The man names himself Orik Vancaskersin, a mercenary from Riddleport.
She has subjugated the Thistletop tribe, and also brought on Bruthazmus the bugbear, a wizard named Lyrie, and Tsuto Kaijutsu.
He does not know much. He has only been to one other place on this level; a temple to Lamashtu, and it gave him the creeps so he never went back. He does mention that it is guarded by "monster dogs" that he attempts to describe to you. You may roll Knowledge Planes to see if you can figure out what he's talking about.
He does think there's another level below this one but he doesn't know what awaits you.
"Cayden's cup," Johannes swears, listening to the description of the "monster dogs". "Sounds like yeth hounds. They're not from our world," he warns. "No normal doggies be flyin' around like yeth hounds do, and they say their howls can drive a man mad with fear. If we're takin' them on, a cup o' Cayden's Courage will do us all a world o' good."
Orik also notes that the temple to Lamashtu is to the Northwest (dungeon-wise).
Jian, for once, accepts Johannes offer.
"I've never fought a beast from the outer Planes before...this should be an interesting one. Well, friends, since we know what's waiting for us there, I'm for heading to that place and making quick work of the monsters! Before we go, Johannes, would you mind terribly using the wand on me? Actually, why don't you just keep it on you? It's not like I can make heads or tails of the blasted thing. If the magic will be of any use to you or Ilysaria, you can of course feel free, though I imagine the armor you're wearing is probably sufficient."
Jian hands out the Wand of Mage Armor.
Once that is done, Jian will lead the way to the Temple. Knowing that there will be enemies wherever they go, he would like to ready a Charge once the group opens the door.
Excellent. Johannes, go ahead and make your rolls; unless you roll a 10 or lower, nothing negative happens, so keep trying until you get it.
Examining the other rooms around Orik turns up little of interest. They are all bedrooms, and little used, though one does contain an Everburning Torch, which sits lit on a table, a sheen of dust all around speaking to its disuse.
Your path takes you west. You go through a long room that is clearly a prison. The southern wall of this room is a bank of cells with iron doors, six in all. The rest of the room is obviously a torture chamber; a rack sits against the far wall, an iron maiden stands to the north, and a fire pit smolders below a spiky cage dangling from a chain in the ceiling to the east.
The room has two doors to the north; one to the east and one to the west. The Northwest door, you know, is the temple. Upon investigating the Northeast door, you find it is a disused bedroom, likely used by whatever Goblin jailer there once might have been. The bedroom, and the prison, look like they have not been used in some times.
Upon reaching the door to the temple, you find no traps. You may all take Ready Actions or cast any spells you wish.
Opening the door, you find a dark temple. Stone fonts containing frothy dark water sit to the north and south of the eastern entrance to the room, and twin banks of stone pillars run the length of the long chamber. At the western end, shallow stairs rise to a platform about two feet off the ground. The walls surrounding this platform are lit by hanging braziers that emit glowing red smoke, giving the place an unnerving crimson lighting that throws the bas-relief carvings of countless monsters feasting on fleeing humans into lurid display. A black marble altar stone, its surface heaped with ashes and bone fragments, squats before a ten-foot-tall statue. The sculpture depicts a very pregnant but otherwise shapely naked woman who wields a kukri in each taloned hand and has a long reptilian tail, birdlike taloned feet, and the snarling head of a three-eyed jackal with a forked tongue. The left kukri flickers with fiery orange light while the right one glows with a cold blue radiance.
From where you are, you can see one Yeth Hound to the Northeast. Take your Ready Actions and roll initiative!
Jian charges in, attacking the nearest Yeth Hound.
Lys prays for the guidance of her Goddess at the entrance to the temple of Lamashtu. As the three-dagger pendant at her throat begins to glow, a wave of soft light washes over the three like a lover's caress. "May Calistria be with us. Let Her grace guide our weapons that those who have wronged us may feel the sting of Her vengeance. Let the flame of Her passion inspire us and safeguard our hearts that nothing we face will give us cause for fear."
Bolstered by her faith in her Goddess, Lys moves into the dark temple after Jian.
After Lys gives her blessing, Johannes pulls out another bottle of cider and fills his tankard. "I'll drink to that!" Reverently, he pours two golden splashes out for Cayden. As he does so, the tankard glows gently, illuminating the libation. "One for courage, and one for luck." After he takes a swig, he wipes the foam from his lips, and passes the cup around.
Throwing open the doors to the temple, Johannes is struck by the monstrous statue of Lamashtu. Growing up in a land where devil-worship is royally mandated, he had some insight into why some folks would follow evil gods. But the likes of Lamashtu and Rovagug were too perverse for Johannes to comprehend. Goblins needed no explanation; they were just plain crazy. But this shrine didn't look like it had been created or maintained solely by the efforts of goblins. There were real, thinking beings that found some piece of themselves in the Mother of Monsters, and that was difficult for Johannes to wrap his head around.
What was easier to comprehend was the yeth hound in the corner.