Twigs lopes alongside the others, keeping to the shadows. "'choo think?" he mouths, motioning to the two guards and drawing a finger across his throat, eyes bulging and tongue lolling for effect.
"Well, that's as good a plan as any. Try and leave one alive, this time, folks. We can learn a lot through interrogation."
Numair moves forward once Twigs launches his attack. Using the same magic as before, he tries to incapacitate the guard that Twigs did not attack ...
initiative
guard's save DC 15
Surprise Round
Felrin nods firmly at Twigs' silent, if graphic, proposal. He creeps down the hall in company with the shaky human, and charges at the same moment, his club held high. Sadly, his years spent at the clockmaker's bench have not honed his talent for violence, and he misses the guard, who appears to be simply staring slack-jawed and distracted as Felrin's club passes him by.
Izabelle relishes the thought of battle, managing a sluggish start as the others charge forward, dashing forward after Felrin to join the fray.
She brings her club down on the guard's shoulder with a resounding crack.
Initiative
Stealth check if required
Channel Evil! pts of dmg to good and a Will DC for 1/2 dmg and sickened.
Concentration Check DC 15
East Guard Will DC 12 (takes 3pts and would be sickened)
West Guard Will DC 12 (takes 1 pt and would not be sickened)
Malum dashes forward towards the two guards and apparently sounds like a pregnant yak while running. He holds up his hand and says "Oh Lord Dispater, grant thy servant the power to show these weak creatures who would dare hold us!"
dc 15
Twigs leads the charge against the two guards at the end of the hallway with Felrin and Izabelle following close behind. The second guard's eyes go wide as he sees Twigs and then Izabelle hit home with their weapons and his companion collapses in a heap on the ground.
Malum and Numair notice the buzzing in the background has receded and take a chance with their spells.
PRISONERS ARE ESCAPING! PRISONERS ON THE LOOSE!! SOUND THE ALARM!!! he hollers as he draws his dagger and tries to lunges at Twigs - Numair's incantation hits home seconds before the guard attacks. The dagger falls to the ground with a clatter from the guard's nerveless fingers as he stands confused as to what just happened and then starts retching as Malum's vile aura engulfs him.
Grumblejack sees the others charge ahead and lets out a threatening rumble as he sees the two guards and lopes on ahead of Gil. BAD little 'uns! 'jack free - now 'jack SMASH.
With one guard down and the second one woozy on his feet , the party can't help but wonder if the shouts for help will finally be answered...
"Grab 'im!'
"Grab 'im!'
He should still be flatfooted on Twigs' count. Unless his attack was in the surprise round? Wouldnt have thought he could shout out until then either.[/ooc]
As the guard calls out the alarm, Felrin's pent-up anger and raw strength overcome his lack of combat experience. Having smashed the club into the ground when he missed the guard a moment ago, he swings it back up hard and catches his opponent under the jaw, snapping his head backwards and dropping him to the stone floor.
AC 17, T 11, F 16; hp 13/13; F/R/W +4/0/-1, CMD 12 (flat-footed)
Seeing the guards soundly overwhelmed, Gil did nothing but hold his ground and ready his crossbow, training it at the door in anticipation of guards coming through it.
Izabelle drops down onto the guard , siezing his head between her two hands and twisting it with a sickening snap.
She breathes deeply, a small smile forming on her lips as she slowly rises. The body hits the ground with a dull thud as she releases it, and she retrieves her club from the ground.
"It's good to be back on the hunt."
"Quick, move the one still alive back down the hall. We should interrogate him while a few others watch the door. Malum, can you awaken him?"
Numair tries to drag the one still-living guard back, hopefully with help from some of the others. He looks to Grumblejack and asks, "Grumblejack, do want to have some fun? Can you help me scare this 'little 'un' when wakes up? I need to ask him some questions."
Malum helps drag the knocked out guard. "While it is possible that I could revive him quickly, I would rather save that magic for allies then enemies."
As Numair and Malum drag the guard that Felrin knocked unconscious, Felrin moves back down the hall and attempts to open the western door. If nobody came out of here when that guard was screaming the alarm, I doubt there's anyone in here. And I'd like somewhere a little more protected than the hallway for questioning that guard. And I am NOT going back up those stairs.
As Felrin does that, Twigs will peer through the eastern door.
The ogre looks a bit puzzled at Numair's suggestion - Fun? 'jack pull his legs off when he wake up and bad little 'un be plenty scared! That be fun. Without a moment's hesitation, the beast hefts up the unconscious guard over his shoulder and stomps back to the southern end of the hallway.
Twigs opens the eastern door a crack and peers through a narrow slit but doesn't detect any movement on the other side. From what he can tell, it's a largish room, dimly lit. That's about as much detail visible from the narrow slit of the open door.
The ogre looks a bit puzzled at Numair's suggestion - Fun? 'jack pull his legs off when he wake up and bad little 'un be plenty scared! That be fun. Without a moment's hesitation, the beast hefts up the unconscious guard over his shoulder and stomps back to the southern end of the hallway.
"Just pretend you'll pull his legs off, at least at first. Let me ask him questions first, then you can do whatever you want with him. Ok?" Numair follows the ogre, and adds "He may be able to tell us things to help us get out. So it's important that he can talk."
Diplomacy
Malum can help drag the guard into Twig's room if Numair agrees.
Felrin tires of waiting, and cracks open the southern-most of the two western doors. He looks through the crack into the darkness, and listens carefully.
He opens the door fully and steps into the room, looking around.
Izabelle holds her club at the ready as the others check the rooms, keeping herself primed for anyone who may approach through the northern door.
Izabelle stands guard at the northern double doors while the rest of the group explores their surroundings.
Felrin peeks in through the door on the west wall at the southern end of the hallway. Not detecting any noises or movement, he cautiously steps in to what appears to be an administrative office of sorts.
There is a single desk which is rather messy and cluttered with paperwork, leftovers of a meal and an old cup with some foul-smelling liquid coagulating at the bottom. Three worn-looking chairs sit around the desk; one on one side and two on the other. In addition to the door, Felrin came through, there are two other doors into the room - one on the north wall and the other on the west wall. (see map).
Meanwhile, the rest of the prisoners follow Twigs' lead into the room on the eastern end of the corridor.
This dimly lit room appears to be some sort of gathering place as there are wooden benches and tables all over the place that appears to be well used. On the east wall hangs a big banner going from the floor to the ceiling depicting the emblem of Branderscar Prison - a sword in a clenched fist with Mitra's sun rising behind it and the words "Punishment for the Unworthy - The Fruit of Mitra's Justice" in fancy script under it. Besides the door everyone entered through, there are two other doors in the room - one to the north, the other to the south.
Catching Twigs' attention, Gil pointed at his ear and motioned towards the southern door, while he himself moved to the northern one, pressing an ear against the wood and listening.
Malum will wait quitely while Gil and Twigs check things out. He will however gag the guard... just in case he wakes up we don't want him making any extra noise... :)
Twigs heads over to the southern door at Gil's direction, his gangly body contorting as he tries to listen through the door while Giltharon does the same with the northern door. A couple of minutes pass by before they both return to the staging area near the door they entered through and pass on their findings to the rest of the group.
Both believe they heard noises coming from the other side of the doors - occasional snippets of quiet conversation, shuffling feet moving about, the scrape of a chair being slid back and so on.
Why you cover little 'un mouth so he can't talk? the ogre rumbles at Malum. That one - pointing at Numair - want it to talk and you cover the mouth so it can't talk. You confusing little 'uns. He shakes his head in disgust and suddenly brightens up. 'jack make things simple and pull tongue out of little 'un!
With the knowledge that several more guards were likely very close by, Gil decided they did not yet have a proper option for interrogation. With that in mind he simply said.
"There are more little one close by Jack, why dont you make it really simple and pull his whole head off instead. We wont get a chance to ask a little one anything until we get rid of the others anyway."
"Cor, blimey! You don't mess about..." Twigs says, tracing his hand along the back of his neck gingerly, as if afraid his own head will be next. He winces. "So we got an office an' a barracks or somethin'. Chances are there's heaps ov 'em, so I says just let em stay there, none the wiser. 'nuff said, yeah?"
Twigs scratches his head, clearly straining with the mental effort. "Big door's 'prolly guarded or something, innit? So how's about we check out this office, eh? Maybe 'ats where the vault or quartermaster is."
Twigs will move inside the administration office and press his ear to both interior doors. If they're clear he'll open them. If he hears sounds of trouble, he'll motion to the others to gather round and peer up at the ogre, eager to hide behind him. "'ows about you go in first, mate? A feller of stat- er... of yer prestige."
"Lower your voice a bit, please. If there are other guards on each side of the door, we may need to clear out of this area, I suppose. I don't know that it would be a good idea to try and take on all of them. The noise in fighting one group may alert the others, and then we could have quite the fight on our hands. Anyone have any ideas? And where are Felrin and Sabel? We would be better staying together I think!"
To Grumblejack, he comments, "It's a waste, but go ahead and kill that one if you want. Gil is right that we can't ask him questions around here with so many others around. We'll just have to catch another. Just kill him quietly, please."
Whispering Malum speaks "Well if it is a guard room, it might be the only door... we could barricade it, or put debris in the way and use the tables as cover. Now if we only had some oil or alchemist's fire to use against them.
Malum watches quietly as 'Jack twists the head off the guard.
Felrin goes and listens at both of the doors off the office for any activity in the adjoining rooms. If all is quiet, he looks through the papers on the desk and any drawers on the desk.
Once he has checked out the office, Felrin crosses the hall to the gathering room and reports what he’s seen to the group. On hearing that there are noises behind both of the doors in the eastern room, he says quietly, ”If we can just leave them behind us, that’s fine with me. Barricading them in would be even better. I’ve found a room across the hall with no obvious threats. Maybe we head over there and see if we can find anything useful, then make our way out? If we quietly wedge something under the door to the hall, it’ll at least let us know that someone’s coming, even if it won’t keep them in for long.”
Malum watches quietly as 'Jack twists the head off the guard.
Checking through the papers on the desk and drawers quickly, the only thing of interest you notice is a crudely drawn map of the surrounding area outside the prison. Beyond that, there's nothing but official sounding memos, schedules of executions, reams upon reams of paper detailing the routines it takes to run the prison.
Felrin returns from his little exploration just in time to watch Grumblejack nod with a big toothy grin at something said by Giltharon.
Grumblejack grins with his teeth showing at Giltharon's comment - you wud make fine little ogre pointy ears! - as he cradles the guard, his big meaty hands on either side and twists. There is a sickening crack as the poor sod's neck snaps. The ogre wrenches his hands up as the head comes loose with a pop that sounds eerily like a wine bottle being uncorked. The body slumps forward, blood spraying out of it splattering Numair and Malum.
The ogre tosses the now decapitated guard's head about from one hand to the other and offers it to Gil - You want little pointy ears? 'jack find more bad little 'uns to go POP!
Gil shook his head lightly at the offered head, placing a hand on it and lightly pushing it back toward the ogre. "No, thats fine Jack, you killed it, you keep it." he did his best to muster up a smile to accompany his words.
Felrin is impressed and momentarily distracted by the ease with which Grumblejack pops off the guard's head. When he recovers his wits, he holds up a piece of paper and says, "Only thing of any value I found in the office was this map, shows what the area around the prison is like. Could be very useful to us, if we can get out of the prison, that is. "
"But there were two doors off the office that might be worth checking out, and I didn't hear anything through either of 'em."