After checking bones, Grym and Bucho move over to pool area on the sout eastern part of the map. Careful of the water, the ranger uses a fallen hobgoblin sword to poke around in the pool.
Perception
I will push a bit farther down the tunnel keeping the rest of my companions in sight / hearing distance. I want to see if they were just wandering through this area, or had a guard post here. If there was a post, I will call Grym up and to try to discern if there was 3 or more stationed here. Asking Grym to explain how he finds his clues.
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To the North the cavern turns left, with a short dead end branch continuing North. Sandor pops his end in the dead end, and notices nothing unusual (or populated) to the North.
Looking West you see that the cavern turns again, southward, and narrows considerably. Nothing stirs - and the noise of your exploration is nothing to that of the combat that you just finished.
Map (vision accurate, PC placement not.)
Odric quaffs a pale blue potion and heads to the limit of the party's advance. He lights a torch and carries it in his left hand, trailing The Eagle in his left. The torch casts dancing shadows ahead, but the narrowing passage gives the big man a very limited line of sight.
Odric peers into the darkness ahead of him. He has an uneasy feeling in his gut and moves aside for the burly dwarf.
As Sandor passes by, Odric whispers to him, Can you see anything ahead my friend?
The uneasy feeling steals through Odric's body. Hairs might stand up on his neck if it weren't for the thick coating of grease covering the trail end of his hairstyle. Odric betrays nary a quiver of fear, which is commendable considering the close brush he just had with the undead, his first. Hobgoblins are at least natural. The skeletons have the big man on edge.
Grym tosses the holy symbol of Abadar to Ferox. Thought you might like this.
The ranger moves up to Sandor, his dog trailing behind. What do you want me to check Sandor? Should we try to back the hobgoblin's trail? Though it is probably kinda obvious...
Nothing but a dead end to the north, the west has a narrowing, so lets check that out.
I assume that our previous marching order is still good. Myself, Odric, Gaius, Morkelb, Ferox, Grym.
I wait till everyone is ready then head down the narrowing passage that is to the west.
Looks like there's only one way to go. I say we follow the passage to the left/west.
May I suggest that we still search the eastern section? Even though it appears empty, the pile of bones did not at first appear animated. We wouldn't want to get struck by surprise from behind . . .
Gaius glares at Morkeleb and holds up his hand, indicating that he should silence himself, and points down the hallway towards the voices.
Gaius then moves away from the party and slowly moves down the passage, keeping to the shadows and moving from cover to cover. He intends on putting eyes on the speakers.
Stealth:
Morkeleb nods in understanding, and quietly retrieves one of his scrolls , holding it on one hand, his staff in the other.
Sandor hears the hushed voices, and immediatly freezes and shoots up the universial hand signal for stop a raised arm with a clenched fist.
I try to listen more intently, and wait to see any movement. I notice Gaius slide by and melt into the shadows
At the back of the group Grym hears the hushed whispers. Glad that Sandor warned the group, the ranger pulls out his sword. He still holds a torch in his off hand but is ready to dropit and pull out his knife.
Odric has the same plan, he holds a torch in his right hand, ready to drop it and regrip The Eagle at the first sign of trouble. He looks down to ensure he is not standing in a puddle, his intent is to allow the torch to burn on the ground rather than fizzle out.
Morkeleb whispers Gentlemen, I can handle the light source if you wish to keep your hands free.
More light is better, last fight I found myself squinting and missing quite a bit asi got further and further from Grym's torch. Cast a light spell or whatever you do. I'll simply drop this torch and take whatever advantage I can from it.
Morkeleb motions to Odric to present his pick; if Odric does so, Morkeleb casts Light on it, as well as on his own staff. Anyone else?
Odric is baffled by this development, he stares at Morkeleb confused and asks, "What's going on?
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Gaius, your Stealth serves you well. You sneak to the limit of the darkness. To the South is a short couple of worked stairs which leads to an open room (also of worked stone.) Your angle doesn't leave much to see without giving away your location, but you can see it's about 20' and maybe twice as long. A hobgoblin armed with a longbow crouches behind an overturned table in the Southwest corner of the room.
Unfortunately you can only tell there are no exits along the Western wall as the others are obscured from view.
Odric reaches into his pouches looking for a snack, he roots around for a minute pulling out various items of questionable worth like a piece of chalk, a rusty key and a signal mirror, before finding the piece of jerky he was looking for.
Odric gnaws contentedly while admiring his noticeably thinner cheeks in the mirror. The last few weeks of disciplined training and restraint at the bar are making quite a difference. With the beginnings of a prominent jawline making its way out of the formerly doughy jowls, Odic fancies himself to be rather handsome.
He hold up his glowing pick to shed a bit more light on his face, and instead admires the glowing, golden Eagle while he awaits Gaius' return.
Grym whispers to the group, Perhaps a light spell could be cast on an arrow or sling bullet to shed some illumination on the situation. Gauis sees one, but I believe I heard three of them.
The ranger sheathes his blade but readies a bullet for his sling...
Sandor looks enviously at the easily attained jerky, but then remembers what else came out of the pouch, while waiting for Gaius to return.
When Sandor gets confirmation on numbers and setting from Gaius, he nominates himself to be the one to set off the ambush.
Communicating the plan to those close to him via hand signals and whispers. Trusting in his handy shield and sturdy armor he will move up to just before their line of site then pause a second charge their positions drawing fire, and kicking the table to try to knock over the 'hobby
*whisper* I have a potentially better idea, Sandor. Let me attempt to put the hobgoblin to sleep. While there is no guarantee it will work, I doubt this creature will hve the willpower to resist my magicks. Then we will have dealt with their sentry without alerting those inside.
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If that fails, THEN you can rush in and crush it.
Far from stopping him, Odric seems positively giddy at the prospect of more violence against un-undead monsters. He eyes Morkeleb, ready to rush into the room to smash hobgoblin skulls.
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The enchanter slides forward subtily:
Stealth:
The words melt off the page like candle wax, dripping into the aether before they hit the floor. The dweomer travels to the hobgoblin...
Will:
The beast drops to the floor with a snore. A voice rises in clear Taldane, "Fools, you've signed your own death warrant! Come meet your makers!"
For the purposes of this battle it's going to take 5' of movement to enter the room.
Initiative
Ferox:
Grym:
Sandor:
Morkeleb:
Odric:
Gaius:
Baddies:
This is the room, rather than run 2 maps, we're just going to assume everyone is close enough. The Hobgoblin in square A7 is sleeping. Here's the map.
XP for skeletons and Hobgoblins
Each character receives 201 XP
HA! Well played Phil!
The skeletons provide no reward. The Hobgoblins are dressed in identically colored gear, clearly a mercenary standard. All three are armed similarly: studded leather armor, light steel shield, longsword, longbow with 20 arrows, and a grand total of merely 24 sails.
Ferox grabs an extra quarrel of 20 arrows and secures it to the bottom of his backpack.
Grym tosses the holy symbol of Abadar to Ferox. Thought you might like this.
The ranger moves up to Sandor, his dog trailing behind. What do you want me to check Sandor? Should we try to back the hobgoblin's trail? Though it is probably kinda obvious...
Thanks, Grym. I would very much like to see this kept within the church. I'm happy to forgo the monetary worth of the holy symbol from my share of the treasure when we are done here. The paladin must truly have turned his back on his faith to so blithely toss this symbol aside.
Round 1
Ferox rushes into the room and moves west 2 to stand in the NW corner of the room, taking some cover from the bed. He draws an arrow, sighting on the hobgoblin at E2.
Longbow:
On hit: Damage
ROUND 1
Morkeleb moves to get within 30' of the fallen paladin. He levels his staff at the villain, concentrates, and whispers the words of another dweomer.
You are clearly superior to any foe; these fools will fall before you without effort, furthering your own glory! Numbers matter not, your sword will make their blood flow freely!!
The insidious words weave into the arcane glow of the staff, and both surround the fallen paladin's head with a thin green cloud, attempting to penetrate his mind.
The enchantment is attempting to make the warrior feel a strong sense of Delusional Pride. If he succumbs to the spell, he gets -2 to hit rolls/skill checks (but +2 morale bonus to further enchantment saves).
Will save DC 18.
Round the First
With magical golden light streaming out of The Eagle's eyes, Odric charges the hobgoblin closest to him. He deftly maneuvers around the overturned table and crashes onto the hobgoblin with his shoulder, briefly pinning it against the worked stone wall of the cavern. A grunt and a swoosh of breath bad enough to be Gogunta's own wash over the warrior. Odric is not impressed, he has smelled much worse.
As he shoves the creature into the wall, he pushes off its chest with the shaft of The Eagle and rebounds to wind up for a mighty strike to the hobgoblin's head.
ROUND THE FIRST
Gaius enters the room and moves 1 West, ending movement next to Ferox, and dropping to one knee using the bed for parital cover. He takes out his hand crossbow.
Done.
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Round 1 Update
Ferox leads the charge with a quickly aimed arrow. It slams into the table by the hobgoblin's thigh, missing the mark. Before the hobbie and snear Odric is on him. The eagle lands true leaving a gash in the enemy's head. There's plenty of fight left in him though. Gaius takes up position when Sandor....
I'll update the map at the end of the round.
Round 1
..... fulfills his promise of charging into the room ending up in B8 kicking the bench leg to move it so that it runs north south so he can use his shield to protect high, and the bench to protect low.
I'd call ye an 'onorless dog but I know Bucho's got more 'onor than ye do! Any man that dicards 'is vows to 'is god isn't a man. So I tell ya what, you're gonna meet those gods in just a minute so they can judge thee
Sandor prefers to end this in 6 seconds with a crit to the neck that seperates this guys head from his shoulders. So since he charged
Axe:
Damage:
Grym moves straight south to C5 and takes what cover he can from the wooden pallet. The ranger smiles as he hears Sandors talk of Buchos honor. Grym whirls his sling around his head once and lets fly at the fallen paladin.
for damage
If the ranger doesnt have a clear shot he will move to d5 or e5
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Round 1 Update
Both Sandor and Grym rush in, neither attack lands, but the enemies are divided. The chastising from Sandor sounds like it might have been written by Ferox, but the words hit him with the mist of Morkeleb's magic.
Will Save:
Despite his, now, unholy resiliance the fallen one buys into Morkeleb's spell. With a snarl of anger, he holds aloft a new medallion. Feel the wrath of the Grey Master!
A wave of neagtive energy washes over half of the room. The antipaladin cares not for his sleeping henchman.
Channel Negative Energy:
Odric:
Grym:
Morkeleb:
Sandor:
Sleeping Hobgoblin
Morkeleb alone makes his save. He takes only 4 damage. Everyone else (inlcuding the now awake, yet still prone hobgoblin) takes 8 damage.
The Northeast Hobgoblin snarls at Odric. This is no ordinary sniveling goblin. He slashes the fighter next to him with a drawn longsword.
...and misses!
The prone hobgoblin knows that it's swift death to stay down. The wash of energy jars him from his sleep. He shakes the tendrils of spell away and jumps up to fight Sandor. He had a bow, now useless in melee, he stands shieldless. This drop in his defenses draws an AoO. It's a hit, barely. Thankfully he wasn't protected by a shield like his brother.
Sandor's AoO:
Axe:
damage:
...It's a massive blow. The wound slurry splashes into the wall with a resounding splat. He's dead on his feat and he knows it. He makes a single swing with his sword:
....which barely makes contact with the dwarf's expensive armor. The exertion is too much and he slumps against the wall to die.
Begin round 2. Here's the map.
ROUND 2
Gritting his teeth against the unholy searing, Morkeleb concentrates his magic on the remaining hobgoblin. He mutters a quick incantation, and a quick flash of light burns from his staff. Simultaneously, he pulls out the Magic Missile wand, getting ready to blast away as needed.
Spell: Daze vs. remaining hobgoblin.
Will save DC 17 or take no actions on his next turn.
Odric feels some very negative energy, causing him to contemplate life, his self-worth and the futility of his existence. Amidst this depression he feels quite a bit less healthy.
He swings The Eagle with decidedly less enthusiasm than is usual, his strength is flagging probably due to the negative energy in the air. . His miss is not surprising, and he seems resigned to it.
Round 2
Ferox stares down the fallen paladin at the other end of the room.
I am Ferox Kerr, Inquisitor of the Gold-Fisted. You are charged with treason and sedition. By the power vested in me by the Master of the First Vault, I find you guilty. I sentence you to death. May His Justice be served.
Ferox casts Wrath, selecting the anti-paladin as the focus of his... well, wrath.
Knowledge(Religion) to identify who the "Grey Master" might be:
Initiative Repost:
Ferox: 22
Odric: 20
Gaius: 18
Sandor: 17
Grym: 13
Mighty Mork: 10
Baddies: 8