"I cannot."
"Terribly sorry. I didn't think it would come up." Horatio rolls his eyes. "Why do you ask? What happened to just killing the bastards? They're goblins, in case you've forgotten."
"Yes, they are goblins. But this is a bolted door, one that we can't open. If we were goblins, then maybe they'd let us in to break glass with them." She mimes breaking a bottle over a goblin's head.
"For someone who's supposedly used to talking his way out of his problems, you surprisingly favor the direct approach Horatio" Commented Veryl after a long period of silence "I weep for whoever had to teach you how to wield that rapier...you must have been a stellar student" A return to his usual sarcasm was not surprising and neither was his equally mocking grin.
"Miro, on the off chance we don't succeeded in getting these goblins to open the door, do you think you could keep them in there by jamming the lock? I am sure none of us want to be ambushed from behind should we decide to leave this door and try another" Asked the sword wielder, as he turned his hazel eyes to the door.
To Merwyn, Kalig shakes her head. "I did not even prepare it today, but even if I did, my spells only allow me to speak with intelligent vermin, like rats or vultures."
Kalig raises an eyebrow at Veryl and Horatio. "A wolf knows when to stalk, when to howl, and when to pounce," she observes, however obscurely.
"And sometimes when to sniff out another path."
She crosses the room, and, after examining it for obvious booby traps, gently tests the left-hand doorknob to see if it is locked.
Miro looks at the lock again. "I can probably jam it, might not be able to do it at the snap of my fingers though."
Breaca stood keeping watch as the others discussed and argued the best course of action, and once again nodding approvingly at Kalig's admonition. As the other woman moves towards the second door, she moves into position to support her should there be an enemy beyond.
Horatio bites back the urge to snap at Veryl, knowing that if he does, he's likely to raise his voice and alert the goblins. Instead, he drops a hand to the hilt of his weapon, feeling the weight of it, and sighs as he leans against the wall, watching Kalig search the door. "My father taught me," he says simply, jaw tight. "He told me I couldn't always talk my way out of things, and I'm ashamed to admit he was right. Though, he was referring to moths, not goblins and whatever else we might be up against here." He folds his arms, and the physical barrier seems to change his attitude back to his previous impatient self. "We've fought them before, and they didn't seem to take kindly to talk, anyway. Plus, there's a good chance they've taken the woman who gave me free drinks, and free drink makes this town somewhat worthwhile. So forgive me for wanting to get through this as quickly as possible."
Silence was not something Veryl has been doing a lot of since he arrived at Sandpoint, so it was certainly unnatural to most that have been around him; seeing him standing back and simply watching as they went about gaining access to this building, making no comments or offering no suggestions as he usually did, one couldn't even fault him for seeming to be distracted or having his attention on something unrelated to their current goal. Its only when they failed to go through the door that he approached it and began studying its frame I don't think we should break through it, but I wonder how much force could it take Veryl placed his hand on the door, knocked at it once and then stood next to it with a studious glance.
[dice=Knowledge(Engineering)]1d20+6
The door looks like it would take something a lot more than a shove of your shoulders to get through.
To Merwyn, Kalig shakes her head. "I did not even prepare it today, but even if I did, my spells only allow me to speak with intelligent vermin, like rats or vultures."
Kalig raises an eyebrow at Veryl and Horatio. "A wolf knows when to stalk, when to howl, and when to pounce," she observes, however obscurely.
"And sometimes when to sniff out another path."
She crosses the room, and, after examining it for obvious booby traps, gently tests the left-hand doorknob to see if it is locked.
1d20+7
The door is unlocked and appears untrapped.
Miro looks at the lock again. "I can probably jam it, might not be able to do it at the snap of my fingers though."
The door appears bolted from the other side, so it naturally opens away from you - which means it is much harder to wedge closed without magic.
There is, however, sufficient furniture in the shop to push against the door (filling the frame). It would no doubt be too heavy for goblins to move easily - and if moved would most likely make a lot of noise, thus alerting you.
There does not appear any noise from behind the 'other' door...
Noting Breaca is behind her, Kalig nods to her to let her know things seem clear so far, and opens the left door.
You are immediately in a corridor with four doors. There is nothing else to see here.
Knowing the activity is ultimately to the right, or southwest side of the building, Kalig ignores what is to her left and goes down the longer corridor, stopping at the door a little ways down the hall on the right (). Seeing the corridor is empty, she waves to Breaca and anyone else not trying to blockade the other door to follow.
She stops, again carefully checks to see if the door is unlocked, and looks and listens for signs of danger.
"I can't do anything from this side of the door, it's a good old fashioned bar holding it in place. We could put some stuff in front of the door, and anybody coming through would be slowed down and make a racket moving all of it."
Breaca nods at Kalig's wave and silently moves forward to a position just behind the other woman.
"Hmmmm" Veryl paced about the door, keeping his eyes on it as he walked "Leave that to me" He announced before gathering whatever pieces of furniture he could get his hands on and began doing his best to place them in an order that could jam the door properly.
When he was done he followed after Kalig, keeping his hand on his sword, just incase. His steps were neutral but not terribly committed to stealth, Veryl's face emitted a feeling of seriousness that was buffered by a disciplined composure that showed no sign of nervousness or fear, almost making the warrior seem to be guarding a path he had walked on many times before.
She stops, again carefully checks to see if the door is unlocked, and looks and listens for signs of danger.
1d20+7
The door is unlocked and there is no noise from the other side.
[dice=Knowledge(Engineering)]1d20+6
Veryl manages to move furniture with little effort and what he accomplishes looks very effective as a barrier - should anyone want to come through the door from the other side.
Kalig opens the door () and glances around the room. If things look clear, she waves to the others to follow and enters.
This room is clearly some sort of staff-room. There are tables that most likely are used for eating and playing cards - plus some chairs for relaxing on. Having said that, the furniture has been thrown about and the room is now a mess.
There is a window to your left and a number of rooms within rooms ahead of you - plus what looks like a door that provides an exit from the room straight ahead.
Kalig kneels down and examines the mess, trying to determine who created it and how long ago it occurred.
As the others enter behind her, she points to the doors to their right. "I think that direction would loop us around to where we heard the noise earlier."
Kalig kneels down and examines the mess, trying to determine who created it and how long ago it occurred.
"Definitely goblins."
Merwyn takes the little break in the action to tidy things up a bit, so that the environment isn't so chaotic and unpleasant.
As the others search (and tidy) the room, Breaca moves to the door(s) Kalig indicated a moment ago and listens. If she hears nothing, she tests the door to test if it's locked, but does not open until the others are ready.
You listen intently – as well as the loud rumbling of what must be the furnace there is the unmistakeable sound of breaking glass and evil little shrieks.
Merwyn takes the little break in the action to tidy things up a bit, so that the environment isn't so chaotic and unpleasant.
Merwyn makes a good job of tidying up. She rearranges the chairs and tables and manages to find a cupboard to put all of the broken things in. If anyone were to walk in now they wouldn't know anything had happened here.
Breaca looks back at the others and warns softly "Goblins in here."
She puts a hand on the doornob and waits until the others signal their readiness before trying to open.
Kalig stands, readies her flail and shield, and nods to Breaca.
"Alright" Said Veryl, his voice low enough to only attract the attention of those around him "I am going to make this short and sweet" His eyes were shifting across his companions as he did, Unfortunately they were at Merwyn when he said 'Short and sweet', realizing quickly that his choice of words was poor indeed, he nevertheless decided to quickly continue and stifle any feelings of awkwardness that came over him.
"Breaca, Kalig and Myself will be at the front. Miro, if you can try to flank anyone we take on. Merwyn and Horatio, keep to the back and make their lives difficult however you can" Veryl did a few practice swings with his sword, the blade singing softly as it cut through the air "Their cornered with no chance of escape, but a cornered rat may bite the cat, so be cautious"
Merwyn nods. "Ready."
Breaca nods her acceptance of Veryl's plan and, if / once everyone else does as well, attempts to open the door.
Horatio rolls his eyes at Veryl's words, but stands at the back of the group, near Merwyn. He swings his violin into place, feeling the comforting weight of it near his shoulder, and takes a deep breath. His eyes slip closed, as they do before any performance. This will be no different.
You have opened a door into what is clearly the glass-working room. A long furnace burns along the southeast wall of this equally long room. Marble tables sit throughout the chamber, used to work raw glass into usable shapes, with nearby wooden tables cluttered with various tools of the trade.
The building’s furnace rumbles loudly. The main furnace burns at the northeast end. As the furnace’s stone pipes run to the southwest, they reach progressively smaller furnaces.
But now this room is a gruesome display of goblin boredom. The bodies of the eight murdered
staffers lie in various stages of dismemberment; the goblins have been burning legs and arms in the furnace with glee, and pouring melted glass on the remains.
Propped up in a chair in the central alcove and encased in thick runny sheets of hardened glass is an elderly man.
In all, you count eight goblins in the Glassworks.
[ooc]Usual rules apply. The goblins are broadly ten feet away (three groupings G1 –3 goblins, G2 – 3 goblins and G3 – 2 goblins) and you have one round of surprise attacks at your disposal – as they haven’t noticed you yet. If you choose to engage, presume all goblins in the group are within melee range and can attack you too.
The sight of the carnage washes over Horatio like a wave that leaves a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. The raid was one thing. Seeing the desecration of the bodies here is much, much worse.
Realizing the goblins haven't noticed their presence, he holds a finger to his lips, motioning his companions for silence. In a whisper, he says, "Get ready, but don't attack yet. I'm going to try something."
When everybody is ready he crouches so as to see past the legs of his more martially-inclined fellows. Reaching for his magic, he breathes a few words, makes a few gestures, and points at one of the nearby goblins.
Having caught the goblin's attention, Horatio grins. He points first at the charmed goblin, then at one of the other goblins, and mimes hitting someone over the head, then claps his hands to his mouth and shakes as if silently giggling. I was never one for slapstick, but hopefully the little bastards find it amusing.
Kalig waits for Horatio, standing quietly in a defensive stance.
The horrific sight of the goblin's carnage that greeting them had little visible effect upon Breaca, whose only reaction was to raise her bow, pulling shaft back to her ear. She had long ago become impervious to such sights, and in truth had expected little else the moment they entered the glassworks and heard the cackling of the little fiends. She paused, somewhat surprised at Horatio's whispered request, but nodded. She kept her arrow trained on the nearest goblin and waited for him to do whatever it was he intended.
You are amazed to see that one of the goblins picks up a green bottle from a nearby workbench and hits the goblin next to him over the head with it - resulting in a loud smash - and the stricken goblin falls to the floor, clearly stunned.
At first Veryl didn't understand why Horatio asked them to stop, especially when they had the upper-hand thanks to the goblins not noticing their presence, but once he saw the scene unfold with the goblin mimicking the bard's actions, he had an idea of what the bard must have done. With the goblins distracted, Veryl kicked one of the nearby wooden tables in the goblins direction, his intent was to launch the table in their direction and bring it and the various tools that were scattered on its surface on their heads.
Kalig watched chaos descend into deeper chaos. Ha! A wily wolf we have. Perhaps a fox, more like.
She looked around to see if she could add to the confusion before they went in and mopped up.
Miro slips in, wasting to time and stabbing the nearest goblin.
Miro swears at his bad luck, stabbing again before goblin can get off the balls of his feet.
'Well there's an interesting trick' thinks Breaca as she sends her arrow in to add to the mayhem.
Without waiting to see if her shot had inflicted any harm, Breaca presses the attack, dropping her bow and quick-drawing her axe as she moved to support Miro, flanking his opponent and attacking ferociously.
Merwyn steps forward five feet towards Group 1 (which I assume is bunched up because of Horatio's trick) and blasts them with a color spray. (DC 19)
Merwyn blows her "silent" whistle.
Horatio springs to his feet again, swinging the bow back into his hand and his violin under his chin. Though somewhat annoyed to see his efforts at securing a temporary ally cut short by a flash of brightly-coloured light, he bites his tongue and plays a few bars of a strong, powerful piece to inspire a sense of courage and ferocity in his allies.
[dice=Strength Check]1d20+3
Veryl kicks the table with great force, sending it careering into the third group of goblins, knocking them to the floor and clearly injuring them.