Yeda eyes Orik suspiciously as he leads them. She constantly keeps her sword at the ready in case he tries any funny business. She seems to have absorbed Sazzat's suspicion and alertness about the man. She doesn't say anything about it though, but if he happens to look at her he senses passive hostility and tension.
When Corrin commands he open the door, Yeda crouches next to the druid with her greatsword at the ready.
Loxley wrinkles her nose at Orik’s mention of the goblin latrine, following in step behind Jarl. She nodded in agreement with Evie.
”Agreed.”
She murmured as Corrin and Yeda readied themselves for Orik to open the door to the stairs. She readied an arrow, drawing back the string of the bow. She aimed low in case it was more goblins on the other side.
She held no suspicion of Orik at the moment. The man was a mercenary, a sword for hire. Her father respected their strength, but always told her that their hearts were in there purses. If Orik thought he could make a profit and keep his skin by helping them, so be it. They’d use his strength for as long as they could. And if he did turn on them, she’d be sure to leave at least one shaft in him.
Sazzat shrugs. No door unopened! he says in a wry voice. He pulls a small length of clothing from a pocket and uses that to create a barrier between handle and his hand. He tugs and pulls the door open. Immediately the stifled smell of goblin waste fills the narrow corridor.
Sazzat leans down and vomits all over the floor. Bandit, as Sazzat leans forward, shifts onto the thief's back.
"Sometimes you WANT to take their word instead of risking . . . THIS.
Just close the door. Seriously."
When Jarl realizes that the one who opened the door is otherwise engaged, he moves up to close it instead.
"By Desna... That is the worst thing I've ever smelled..."
Yeda winces and makes a mildly disgusted face.
What is this? Their fart-box? But all told, I doubt this is really the worst thing you've ever smelled. Somehow I feel certain our noses are to encounter worse...
"I for one vote we trust Orik next time he tells us we can afford to skip a room. Can we please move on? I've had quite enough of goblins and everything to do with them."
Loxley’s stomach lurched as the stench rolled out of the room. She managed to hold it back, but she would swear to her dying day that nothing could be worse that that smell. Her bow wavered and she found herself stepping back further from the door as her stomach continued to divulge itself of its limited contents.
”Someone shut the door already.”
Loxley nearly begged as she tried to find something close to fresh air.
Sazzat lifts his hand to his face to wipe the remnant vomit from his mouth, only to realize he still held the scrap of rag in his hand that he used to grasp the door handle.
He gags and hurls a few more times, but is aware enough to pull the door shut.
Orik waves his hand in front of his face, his lips pushing down into a deep frown. Let us hurry downstairs, away from this fowl stank.
He opens the door at the end of the hall that he stands in front of, and begins to descend into the darkness beyond.
Yeda turns to Loxley and Zel.
Can one of you cast a light spell on my blade before we descend?
Otherwise she proceeds near the front of the pack keeping her sword out in front of her.
"Of course I can, if you'll allow me to."
He acknowledges that she wasn't looking to him, but that doesn't keep him from offering.
Ah, thank you! She smiles and holds out her blade with both hands to present it to Jarl. Afterward she continues on the descent, pointing the way with her blade and the light.
Evie trails along at the back of the group, her strange eyes able to pierce the dark further removed from Yeda's glowing sword. She was concerned with the narrow staircase and the possibility of an ambush below, since the goblin massacre surely would have left the people below on high alert.
Regaining her composure, Jarl beat her to Yeda’s request. She she took up her previous spot next to him in the advancing formation, sharing Evie’s unspoken concerns of what lay beyond the stairs. An ambush on the stairs wouldn’t be tactically unsound. At the bottom of the steps would make more sense, but then they weren’t dealing with creatures known for their intelligence.
Speaking of tactical sense Loxley put away her bow and and drew her dueling sword, taking comfort in it’s light easy balance in her hand. Her other hand flexed as she prepare herself to cast if needed.
Orik leads you down the narrow stairs, the light from yeda's blade illuminating the confines of the space.
You descend no more than 20 feet down, and Orik stops in front of the door. He glances once behind himself towards Yeda and the group behind him
Here we go he whispers.
He twists the door handle, and the latch moves silently. The hinges do not squeak nor creak as he pushes the door open, and stepping inside the room.
a large table surrounded by chairs fills much of this room. A slate board to the north is covered with scribblings in chalk, but the map of Sandpoint that has been carefully inscribed on it leaves no doubt as to the purpose of this room- this is doubtless where the recent raid was planned.
"Looks like someone left out their toys."
"Not very nice toys, though, are they?"
Yeda looks to the map to see if all of the markings reflect past raids, versus revealing any new ones.
She sighs audibly. If this contains plans for the near future, hopefully we're keeping the goblins too busy to follow through with them...
Loxley stepped carefully down the steps as the group descended. She held her breath reflexively as Orik opened the door at the bottom. As the first of the melee specialist slowly slipped into the new room Loxley’s gaze swept the room. Her eyes fell on the crude map and she stepped towards it to examine it a little closer while the rest of the group piled into the room.
Fighting the urges to do violence building within him, he swiftly looked about for the nearest door and moved to it, preparing to strike anything that stepped through it. Only once he was in place did he bother to glance about and then to the others. He kept guard on the door while the others searched. . .
.
.
.
.
Yeda steps forward and begins to examine the papers on the table, and the large map on the wall. She flips through, giving cursory glances at each, separating the useless with the important.
The goblins werent expected to destroy the town....truth be told they werent expected to survive. But the news of the actual raid was going to spread amongst the other goblin tribes to earn support for another, larger raid. A seperate piece of goatskin shows that this has been achieved. Goblins from the greater Sandpoint hinterlands and beyond, one special note includes tribes from the fogscar mountains (some 70 miles north of where you stand). What's worse is that, in the same flowing feminine hand, details of utilizing sinspawn and a properly subdued beast to participate in the attack.
the potential numbers for the planned attack range between 400 and 2,000 goblins.
This isnt a raid.
This is an invasion with one single purpose:
the absolute destruction of Sandpoint. the death of every man, woman and child.
And its set to happen in 14 days.
Everyone stands at ease while yeda sifts through the information, and you notice her face go from minor annoyance, to surprise, to shock, to anger, and finally, horror.
"Yeda? Either you're reading the goblin chief's diary, or you've found something equally disturbing. What is it?"
"Do Goblins even right?" Zeldana wondered aloud.
Yes, on this map. They're gathering goblins from tribes further outside of Sandpoint. The resources add up to something far beyond the raid we witnessed days ago. This is to be an all out invasion that would wipe Sandpoint off of the map, and it happens in only fourteen days...
Her expression remains stunned as she relays her findings to the party.
"Don't know if the goblins wrote the plan out or not. You already said there are others running things around here. But this is a declaration of war. If we are to defend our homes and our loved ones, the ones organizing this must be dealt with. By our community leadership if possible, but by death if they refuse to surrender."
Sazzat hears what Yeda has to say. He turns on his heel and looks at Orik, while his hand lowers slowly to his dagger. Bandit's tail bristles and begins to rub at the man's shoulder.
talk. the thief commands.
Orik looks at Sazzat, and then the rest of the group. I wasnt involved with this. I knew that something was happening, but i am unaware of the magnitude of this upcoming invasion.
Jarl looks alarmed, but the timing doesn't match the challenge and answer.
"Powerfully evil divine power is being used RIGHT NOW. Through there. We have to stop this!"
While looking at the map, Yeda stops and feels the back of her neck.
Does anybody else feel that? It feels like magic from afar grazing my skin...
She then hears Jarl's much more urgent declaration and draws her greatsword.
Lead the way Jarl!
Loxley steps forward, passing Orik to put a hand on Sazzat.
”Save that anger. I think there’s something happening even as we speak.”
Her gaze slowly scans the room, finally settling in the southern direction. She points at the wall in that direction.
”There’s a strong pull of magic in that direction. Something close is funneling a lot of magic right now.”
The moment Loxley pointed through the wall he snarled a well of anger rising up inside him. He could feel nature's fury welling and he just needed one good target to unleash it on. He tried to open the door in front of him, hoping it led to where the evil magic was.
"We need to get there now! Orik if you've have a mind, get us to that room, else getting paid is going to be a great deal more difficult." Zeldana said as she kept pase with the others. "This much magic of this kind... Never good."
Corrin rushes of, slamming through doors, murder intent upon his face.
Orik looks at Zeldana and nods. It must be Nualia! She must be in the next room beside us! that is her chapel! She did say she was performing a ritual this morning to cleanse the island. Corrin! Beware the Bugbear! he shouts after Corrin.
Sazzat watches Corrin take off out of the room. I got him! he shouts! he leaps over the table and rushes out after Corrin.
Evie hurries to follow Corrin, keeping quiet.
The bugbear! For some reason that made Corrin almost growl in a feral sort of way. The bugbear wanted to harm Shalelu. He sort of really liked her. for some obvious reasons. He brought his shield up a bit higher as he crouched lower as he moved torwards the open door. Though they had clearly made noise.. he tried to move quieter. He sounded like Dewdrop tapdancing on a glass floor as he hurried forward.
Whoa. Whoa, whoa! Slow down Corrin.
Yeda anxiously chases after the druid. As she passes through each threshold, she nervously looks back and forth with her lighted greatsword for any dangers he might have missed.
I think it was coming from this direction. she half-whispers.
She touches her sword to the double doors to the West.
Loxley cursed as Corrin rushed off. Leave it to the Druid to be overly emotional she thought as she ran after the others.
She cleared the door and short hall, pulling up short in the doorway behind Evie. She could see Corrin, Yeda and Sazzat ready to breach another door. Loxley tightened her grip on her sword as she took a deep breath and readied her magic.
Everybody bunches up around the door, with sazzat and yeda inspecting the large stone double doors with hideous reliefs carved into the surface depicting various races of women being ripped open from their pregnant wombs, monsters of various types and shapes clawing their way into the world.
Yeda and Sazzat give the doors a once over, looking for traps of any kind. Both look at each other and nod an acceptance that no traps exist.
Ready? Sazzat says, his hand hovering over the right doors iron handle?
Ready. Yeda replies stoicly, gripping her blade's handle tightly.
Zeldana casts magical armor upon herself and nods to Sazzat. "Same..."
