Natalie isn't sure what was behind the pillar, but she's certain that something was moving - she follows along with the rest of the group, prepared to cast a spell if she needs to do it.
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Sequin, Sudara, Lucuis, Lucian
A scrabbling noise from around the corner alerts you to the approach of something. Suddenly, a dark brown insect crawls out of the darkness. It is easily three feet in length and it hisses menacingly when it spots you. Three more are behind it. The insects move forward hesitantly.
Natalie, Hagnar, Fergor, and Reigar
You round the column just in time to see a pair of goblins just down a short stairfall into a small room, where three more of the creatures wait. The goblins are ready for you, having been alerted by the guard just behind the column.
"...eep." Rats, she'd expected. The snake, while unexpected, could be rationalized by the size of the rats. Goblins, on the other hand, were something entirely out of left field for the wizard, wondering just how they managed to get here.
Reacting swiftly, she points at Fergor, muttering an incantation as she hoped her spell would work...
To her immense delight and surprise, the spell went off as intended, despite the quick casting, and the warrior would find himself growing in size - better to fight off the goblins. She didn't even feel tired - though that might just be the adrenaline.
"Just lovely. First great big rats, and now great big bugs."
"Oh, now this is unexpected!" Hagnar growls. His face becomes even colder and grimmer than it usually was. Goblins...an age-old enemy of his kind. He hefts his warhammer and charges into the crowd, swinging for head and limb!
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"See you big dumbo!" Reigar shouts at Fergor as they round the corner to find the goblins. When Natalie casts her spell and Fergor gets larger the little gnome starts giggling. "ooh, the irony! Now he's a giant dumbo!!" Gnome humor, like a child's.
The gnome moves behind the giant man and peers between his legs. Now easily large enough for two gnomes to fit through. He steadies his musket in one hand and peers down the barrel. He lets out a slow breath and squeezes the trigger.
Upon letting loose a charge of black powder the gnome quickly starts reloading his musket to take another shot.
"Roaches? Did it have to be roaches?!?
Normal defensive attack in crane style:
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Sequin, Sudara, Lucuis, Lucian
INITIATIVE ORDER
Sequin
Roach 2
Sudara
Lucian
Roach 4
Roach 1
Lucuis
Roach 3
Sequin comes forward an looses an arrow at the lead roach, but the shoot goes over the insect and clatters off the wall in the distance.
The second roach in line moves forward and bites at Lucuis. The creature's mandibles sink deep into the monk's flesh, ripping away a chunk of his leg.
Natalie, Hagnar, Fergor, and Reigar
INITIATIVE ORDER
Goblin 5
Reigar
Goblin 4
Natalie
Goblin 2
Hagnar
Goblin 1
Goblin 3
Fergor
The goblin in the back of the room shouts something in it's vile tongue. "Od'k u kus'! Gomm od, uogmo!"
It draws back on it's shortbow and looses an arrow aimed at Reigar! Though the attack is right on target, Reigar's armor absorbs most of the damage from the missile (1 point of damage gets through DR). Reigar's weapon roars in response, missing the goblin's ears by a thread's width. A large chunk of masonry is torn away from the wall. Another goblin also tries to put an arrow in the gnome, but is still reeling from the noise and misses. As Natalie successfully casts her spell, a goblin on the front line advances to attack Hagnar, but the swing results in a clean miss. Hagnar returns the favor, staving the creature's head in and the goblin collapses in a pool of spreading blood. The other goblin in the front line hesitates, uncertain that it wants to share it's friend's fate, Instead, it readies an action (will attack if anyone comes within melee range). The last goblin launches an arrow at Hagnar, but is so stricken with fear that the shot doesn't even come close. Fergor feels the enchantment begin to wash over him.
Lucian moves further into the chamber, slashing at the roach with his blade.
Natalie has to say that she's quite frightened, especially after the one goblin charged forward only to meet a bloody demise at the business end of the dwarf's hammer. She finishes up her incantation, watching in wonder as the human warrior grows swiftly in size. The goblins keep her awe in check, as she concentrates on the goblin at the front, attempting an old trick her mentor often used to get his gabby housekeeper to stop speaking.
"Argh, my Leg!" as the wound puts him off balance when he tries a return strike and misses.
"Now that is what goblins are good for...splitting open! Come on, you little , Let us dance!" Hagnar yells, his voice like the grinding of stone. He moves forward into the fray, lashing at the first goblin still standing.
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Sudara, Lucuis, Lucian, and Sequin
Sudara and Kama act almost as one, the spirit lashing out at one of the creature even as Sudara stabs at it with his spear. The eidolon savages the insect with a bite and a slash that cuts through the carapace, and Sudara slides his spear into the opening, finishing the roach with a horrifying screech like fingernails on a chalkboard. Lucian quickly steps over the body of the fallen roach to greet the next in line, but his swing misses the agile insect by mere inches. Even as one falls, another skitters forward, drawn by the prospect of an easy meal. It snaps at Lucian, but the ranger sidesteps the attack.
Lucuis is up.
Natalie, Hagnar, Reigar, and Fergor
Again, the goblin in the rear fires it's shortbow, aiming for Reigar, and once more, the attack falls short. Reigar ignores the arrow, continuing to reload his musket. The next goblin near the back steps forward, drawing it's shortsword and readying an attack action. Nathalie's spell goes off and the left of the two foremost goblins screams in indignation. Hagnar wades into the fray, warhammer swinging. His weapon connects again with the goblin affected by Nathalie's spell and the goblin goes down in a shower of blood. The other goblin in the front row makes a strike at the cleric, but he is so staggered by the sudden demise of his companion that the attack misses by a wide margin. The remaining goblin steps over the body of it's fallen friend, stabbing at Hagnar with it's shortsword. The attack hits, but the blade is deflected by Hagnar's armor. Finally, the now-greatly enlarged Fergor steps up, slashing at the goblin that missed Hagnar earlier, but he himself misses the agile creature.
Once more, the goblin in the back launches an arrow, this time aimed at the looming form of Fergor. The arrow misses the warrior only by the narrowest of margins. Reigar's weapon roars again, taking the head off of the goblin in front of Fergor (and coming uncomfortably close to the warrior in the process).
Nathalie and Hagnar are up.
"I really hate roaches. "
fighting defensively with crane style
miss
"Hah! You are no match for the Master's creations! Back to the pits, foul ones!" Hagnar calls out as he swings at the final goblin.
The wizard was really surprised at how she was able to succeed twice in a row with her magic, but she didn't think a third time in a row would be so lucky. She brought up her crossbow instead, letting a bolt fly at the bow wielding goblin in the back. She doesn't wait to see the miss (Because there's no way she'd hit it), just reloading again.
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The gnome yelps with glee as his shot connects precisely. Even though it narrowly passes the fighter. "Ha! Take that you rotten goblin! Hope you can see well enough to make it to the planes! Haha! Get it?! He has no head!!! Don't worry my dear friend, my aim is true and sharp!" Reigar says to Fergor to assure him of the tactic. Then he proceeds to begin reloading again. Efficiently cleaning out the bore and loading another charge of powder. Swiftly and with fine skill. All the while the gunslinging gnome watches the rest of the companions take the remaining goblins.
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Sudara, Lucuis, Lucian, and Sequin
The roach in the back of the formation simply skitters up the wall and moves to snap ineffectively at Kama. Sequin fires another arrow, this one aimed at the roach on the wall, but the arrow merely chips away some masonry.
Sudara, Kama, and Lucian are up.
Fergor, Nathalie, Hagnar, and Reigar
Hagnar's hammer staves in the head of the goblin before him even as Nathalie's crossbow bolt sails past him to slam the remaining goblin in the throat. The startled creature barely has time to cry out.
Encounter over.
A search of the goblin's bodies reveals little save a total of eight silver pieces. There are, however, several barrels and a few crates in the room.
The wizardess blinks. Had she actually hit something? Peering around the giant sized warrior, Natalie could make out the dead body of the goblin. It was surprising to her - obviously a one in a million shot. She wouldn't be that lucky again.
The noblewoman steps into the room, glancing around at all of the crates and barrels, wondering what they could be filled up with. She goes to open up a few if she can, avoiding the goblin bodies.
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Nathalie, there are three barrels, two buckets, and two crates (one stacked on top of the other). All three crates and one bucket are open, the other is lidded. The top crate is open, but the one beneath is still nailed shut.
The largest barrel contains reasonably fresh, clean water. Two smaller barrels hold what looks like sawdust and pitch, respectively. An unlidded bucket sits in the corner, it's smell leaving no mystery as to the contents. In the opposite corner sits a lidded bucket. The open crate holds a variety of dried rations, many of which have been nibbled by rats or other pests, and a few of which have been tasted by the goblins.
Having seen what the opened container hold, Natalie gets to work on the covered ones, first taking a look at the lidded bucket, opening it up, before moving onto the shut crate. Taking her dagger out, she starts to loosen up the boards as much as she can to get a look inside - there might be something of value inside, and her curiosity is peaked now that the danger is no more.
Lucian steps to the side, leaving an opening for one of his companions to step in and attack a roach, while hacking at one of the bugs again.
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Reigar watches the fighter take off in the direction of the other group. Not knowing what he might have heard the gnome finishes loading his gun and follows suit. "Catch up when you can dear! I can't let this buffoon go off on his own now, can I?" Reigar shouts to the dwarf and wizard still standing amongst the signs of their fight.
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Hagnar and Nathalie
Hagnar suddenly has an idea and begins digging through the sawdust. "Smiths often use sawdust to provide padding for valuable items," he explains to Nathalie. Sure enough, his digging rewards him with the glint of steel. It takes a few moments to fully expose the loot; a collection of five longswords (from the barrel) and a well-constructed suit of chain mail, sized to fit a human.
Others
As the others join the fight, the roaches are routed. Two are felled with attacks of opportunity, leaving but one to scramble back into hiding.
The remainder of the dungeon is quickly explored with nothing more of interest found.
The young noblewoman is surprised to find that there's weapons and armor inside of the crate. She takes a look at them carefully, thinking on their worth.
"...Um...we should...probably return these...maybe get an additional, um...reward..." She suggests to the dwarf. She recalled her master's advice, that 'nothing motivates a good deed more than compensation'.
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Gregor walks back to his other group and looks at them opening the crates barrels. You know, usually I'm all for digging for loot, however, might I point out that this store room already belongs to the people who hired us, we were just sent down here to clear it out from an infestation? I think we should leave everything as is. His eyes fall on the suit of chain. Like tiny stars glowing in his eyes, they seam to gleam brightly. Then again...
"Aye. These are not for looting - they belong to the guard. But we should let our benefactor know they are still down here and in good condition! The goblin's silver, however, is fair game. And Maker's joy - we get a silver each. Guess it will buy a couple ales at least..."
"Yes, it's not like we're in some bandit hide out. This is just the basement of those who sent us. Certainly this is not ours to take. "
Lucian shrugs "Eh...they didn't want to come down here for it, guess it wasn't too important to them, but if the rest of you want to leave the goods, that's fine by me."
Sudara considers the loot.
"Maybe if we point out we find it we could ask if they intend to do anything with it? If anything they might offer it to someone at a discount?"
Kami growls at Sudara, apparently not satisfied with his Summoners answer.
The noblewoman stands up and looks at the others, before quietly stepping back as they argued about the armor and weapons - while apparently agreeing that it didn't belong to them. She hadn't even really been looting, she'd just been curious about what was inside.
Seeing that the place had been effectively cleaned out, she started back towards the exit, shimmying up and down the ropes carefully to get to the gate. After that, it only takes the use of the key Jadale left them to unlock it, before heading back up to report to the woman.
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The little gnome just observes curiously/ My, how men become so interested in items of war. How their kingdoms last so long without eating themselves inside out, I have no idea. Reigar shrugs his shoulders and turns to follow Natalie on the way out of the cellars. Strapping his musket to his back and happy about the job being complete the quirky little gnome walks with a hop in his step.
"Ok, I guess the lady is right. Time to leave. " and he follows the rest out so they can report the success.