"Sweet barleybrew. I was joking," Gwyn says quietly with her head in her hands after seeing what lay beyond the door. "I... I can't even think straight anymore."
Most of the stores in the storeroom seem to have been stolen from human sources... perhaps from raiding a farm or waylaying a merchant. Finding nothing of immediate interest, you decide to move on.
Gwyn listens again at the double doors to the east, and again hears nothing. The unlocked doors lead into a bare and open room with a 30-foot ceiling. The wooden walls are unadorned and the floor is packed earth. A set of steps lead to a trapdoor in the ceiling. Double doors lead north. Perhaps it's just spending too much time in the pantry with the leaky pickle barrel, but you all notice a faint odor of pickle brine in here, too.
Gwyn carefully listens at and examines the trapdoor and the doors to the north.
Meanwhile, Fluff is busy talking Orik's ear off about all of the trouble she's helped Gwyn stay out of. Helena, of course, knows that the thrush is lying, especially about the time with the gnome alchemists. The damage from that incident was rather spectacular, and most spectacular on the foolish young nobleman who insisted on watching.
Again, Gwyn finds traps on neither the trapdoor nor the double doors. Likewise, she hears no signs of movement or conversation beyond. Neither appear to be locked.
Cerin climbs the stairs and opens the trapdoor, while Kyrian and Shalelu provide cover with drawn bows from below. The door opens to the outside: a flat wooden platform, with wooden parapets, strewn with a few leaves and gull feathers. An open barrel on the southern wall contains about a dozen small arrows of goblin manufacture.
There appears to be a small leather sack stashed between the barrel and the parapet.
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His curiosity piqued, Cerin flips open the trapdoor and sneaks over to the barrel to snatch up the sack. He takes a moment to peek over the parapet for any signs of activity before hopping back down the stairs to open up his find.
"I might have found something of interest." he announces to everyone.
Cerin sees nothing of interest from the tower parapets. It's still a bit misty, and the sound of surf below th ecliffs is strong.
He brings the leather sack down the stairs to show the rest of the party. Opening it reveals... about a dozen cucumber pickles, three with an obvious bite taken out of them.
Orik shakes his head as Cerin reveals the treasure he has discovered in the parapet. "F**king goblins," he mutters.
"Let's hang on to them anyway. We could always toss them to some goblins or goblin dogs if we need a distraction."
Shalelu nods in approval. "That's actually a really good idea!"
Gwyn opens the double-doors to the north, revealing another windowless corridor ending in double-doors. As with most of the Thistletop stronghold, the wooden ceiling in the corridors are barely over six feet in height, and the foor is packed earth. Sunlight streams in through cracks around the doors, providing dim illumination.
Cerin notices an odd thing in the floor near one of the walls, where the dirt is less well-packed: the distinct print of a shod horse hoof. And Shalelu points out a similar print near the doors.
Kyrian presses his ear to the door, and then whispers, "I'm hearing animal sounds, like dogs playing... if dogs kind of half-squeaked/half-barked! I also feel a breeze: these doors must lead into that open courtyard we saw."
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"Probably more goblin dogs! I'd like to avoid the diseased creatures if possible! We could either try to bribe them with the pickles, if you think that will work, Shalelu. Or we could go back up to the top of the tower to see if we could rain arrows down on the courtyard to eliminate them." Cerin muses after hearing Kyrian's report.
"I like that last suggestion more," Orik replies. "No sense getting bit by the damn rodents if we don't have to."
You all head up to the western tower and look down into the courtyard.
This large courtyard is open to the sky. Tenacious clumps of partially trampled grass grow fitfully here and there in the hard-packed earth, in places stained with blood or scratched with furrows. To the north, what appear to be two dead goblins lie slumped at the entrance to an outbuilding.
Sure enough, six goblin dogs are wandering around the dung- and bone-strewn yard, playing/fighting with each other. You notice a couple of the creatures gnawing at the bodies of the dead goblins, while two more scratch and howl at the walls of the outbuilding.
The courtyard is mostly bare, and there really isn't anywhere the foul creatures can hide once you start pelting them with arrows. It does not take long to dispatch them all.
Once you are satisfied that all six goblin dogs are dead, you head into the courtyard. The place reeks of animal dung, and you need to watch your step. There's a door to the south, a door to the north, and a wooden outbuilding to the northwest.
The large door to the outbuilding has been nailed shut, and additional boards have been nailed over the nails. The door itself is cracked and splintered in places-- from the inside of the building. Two dead goblins, their heads crushed in by something heavy, lie in the dirt by the door, their ripening bodies covered with flies.
As you approach the building, you can hear the sound of some kind of large creature moving within.
You learned that the goblins captured it a couple of days before you came to Thistletop, and that they had tried to kill it in a game of horse-baiting, but it proved a bigger challenge than they were used to. Rumor has it that the horse kicked Ripnugget in teeth, embarrassing the chief all the more because he couldn't get close enough to kill it in ritual combat. You felt a little bad about how the goblins were treating it, and tried to take a look at the thing. It's a heavy warhorse. You tried to give it some water once, but it kicked at you, so you decided to leave it be.
"Hey, Fluff. See if there's a hole up top that you can see through," Gwyn tells the thrush.
Fluff, for her part, only grumbles a little as she flits to the top of the ramshackle building.
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"I can only imagine what horrors these goblins have put this poor horse through! We need to get it some food and water, lots of water!" Cerin exclaims as he reaches for his dagger to start prying loose the boards holding the door shut. "Easy there, big guy! Don't worry, we won't hurt you..." he continues speaking in a soothing voice as he works.
"Oh yeah!", Orik says, with a half-laugh to himself. "Forgot about this thing. Ripnugget loved nothing more than bringing back horses to fight in kill in combat atop that stupid lizard of his. I only got to see this one fight, and, well, I think they got more horse than they bargained for with this guy." His laugh gets a bit more genuine after this. "Kicked that snot-nosed bastard right in the teeth, it did! Flew about ten feet off his gecko and skidded to a halt. Funniest damn thing I ever saw. Anyway, he ordered the goblins to wrangle it into this shed, and they nailed the door shut, goblins, horse, and all." He wipes a small tear from his eye. "Good times."
At Gwyn's command (Fluff: "Hey! You're not the boss of me!") ...okay, request, the songbird flits to the roof of the shed and hops around a little. Finding a knothole, she peeks in for a moment, then flies back to Gwyn's shoulder.
"Hey! There's a horse in there! It's really big, but it looks tired and hungry."
At that, Orik remembers what's in there himself, and relates his story.
Kyrian gives Cerin a hand trying to free the door. After about five minutes of work, they get the door open. Inside is a dun-colored male heavy warhorse with a black mane and tail. He would be a magnificent creature, but he's currently in terrible shape: he's filthy, his mane and tail are matted, and he's obviously half-starved and mad with thirst.
As the door opens, he snorts, neighs loudly, and rears, kicking out with his front hooves. He then bolts into the courtyard. You deftly dodge him, giving him a wide berth.
With Shalelu's assistance, Cerin manages to calm the horse down, but he's obviously still half-spooked and could rear and bolt at any minute.
Shalelu says, "Hey-- someone head back to the goblin's pantry. There were a couple of sacks of grain and a barrel of water in there." Kyrian obliges and returns in a moment with the grain. You pour some out, and the horse starts eating greedily. You open the cask of water, and he starts drinking as well.
"Here, let me give you a hand with that," Orik says as Kyrian heads back to the pantry.
While the horse is being tended to, Gwyn moves to investigate the shed and the remaining doors
Helena, finally feeling useful, stays by the horse, trying to figure out if there's anything she can do to help it besides the food.
Gwyn does not detect any traps.
The shed contains little other than a fair amount of horse dung and the rotting bodies of two more goblins, both of whom seem to have bashed-in skulls.
Neither of the other doors are locked.
Orik says that he's pretty sure that the door to the north goes to some back rooms and a stairway down. He's not sure what the door in the wall to the south has behind it.
Helena: The horse could certainly use a lot of grooming and some exercise, but mainly needs food and water for now. You would be wary of trying to work a horse in this condition.
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"It's probably best to just leave the poor horse alone for right now, let it eat and drink. Once it has recovered a bit more and gotten used to our presence it will be easier to befriend." Cerin advises.
After hearing Orik's description, he moves to the south door (giving the horse a wide berth) and opens it a crack to peek in.
Gwyn, hearing nothing or spotting any traps opens the southern door.
Or she would have if Cerin hadn't beaten her to it.
"Oh come on Cinni-bun! I could have gotten that," she whispers. as she crouches behind the gnome druid.
Cerin quietly opens the door and peeks in... with Gwyn also peeking in over his shoulder. The room is unlit, but enough sunlight streams into the room from the now-ajar door that neither has any trouble seeing.
Shelves lined with crude tools, nets, and tack for goblin dogs line the walls here. To the northeast stands a large L-shaped wooden cage that contains dozens of rabbits.
Cerin steps into the shed to free the caged rabbits. Surprisingly, from the outside, the rest of the party sees the door slam shut and hears the sound of it being barred from the inside!
Inside the shed: Two previously-unseen goblins surprise Cerin from the shadows! One slams the door shut and drops the bar, while the other slashes at the gnome with a dogslicer!
Surprise Round
Cerin is completely surprised by the sudden slam of the door and the burning pain of a wound on his leg... and only now realizes that there are two goblins shut in the room with him!
Round 1
...hit
With the door now slammed shut, the other goblin joins the attack on the flat-footed Cerin! One of the goblin's blows is deflected by Cerin's armor, but the other connects, cutting a deep gash into the druid's side!
Panic.
For one fleeting second that's all Gwyn can do as her mind goes back thirty years. The black armor, the burning stench, the screams, the howls of wicked delight.
"NO!"
She scrambles to force the door open, but it's too late, far too late. All the elf can do is cry out for help and hope that she won't have to relive that dark day again.
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Cerin whirls around and stares at the goblins, clutching his wounded side. Then he gives them a cold, hard smile.
"You like fire, don't you? Ok, let's play..."
He whips out his sword, ignites it and raises it high in one smooth motion, then darts to one side of the goblin to bring the blade down on the bar holding the door shut! He then puts his back to the wall and concentrates on deflecting the goblins attacks.
"F**KING GOBLINS!", Orik bellows, stepping up to the door and placing his boot squarely into the door.
Unfortunately, the earth beneath his feet is muddy, and he loses his balance, throwing his kick off. "DAMMIT! OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW, YOU GREEN BASTARDS!"
Helena frantically tries to get the door open, but to no avail. "Should we hack it down instead?" she asks frantically.
...miss
...hit
With everyone trying and failing to kick down the door, Kyrian shouts, "Hey, step back and let a pro handle this! How tough can a goblin-lock be, anyway?"
Taking out his lockpicks and a keyhole saw, Kyrian starts working on the door. With a wide smile and a flourish he says, "See? Piece of cake!" He tugs on the door handle, which pulls out of the door. The door itself remains shut and barred. "Hey!? What the...!?" He takes out his tools to resume work...
Not being able to get close to the door, Shalelu nocks an arrow, ready to fire at the next available target.
Round 2
Chuckling menacingly, the two goblins press their attack on the trapped Cerin. However, given the tight quarters and Cerin backing himself into a corner, neither are able to flank. Cerin deftly deflects one attacker, while the other lands a glancing blow that only scapes the gnome's skin.
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After giving the strangely fire-resistant door an angry glare, he feints at the goblin blocking him from reaching the door then swings down at his legs to try to cripple him. He continues to push the other attacker away with his shield.
"Ah, not that I can't handle these two, but I'd hate for all of you to miss out on the fun..." he calls out.
"MOVE!" Gwyn screamed before charging the door again.
...fail
...success
...miss
...hit
...hit
Monster status
Sneak #1 hp (-5)/16
Sneak #2 hp 16/16
Round 2, bottom
After being surprised by two goblins he hadn't noticed, Cerin quickly raises his guard, slashing one of his attackers with his flaming sword. Hearing the unsuccessful attempts of his friends trying to kick in the door, Cerin realizes he can unbar the door fairly easily, which he does. His goblin opponent tries to slash at Cerin's hand, but the gnome is too quick.
At that moment, Orik throws his shoulder into the door again, but this time, the door swings open with almost no resistance at all! The large man crashes into storage shed, ploughing into a very surprised-looking goblin. Orik manages to stay on his feet as he stumbles past the goblin, smaking the green pumpkin-headed creep in the face his shield. With the door open, Shalelu and Kyrian fire at the goblin now standing dumbfounded in the doorway, and Helena also sticks him with her spear. The goblin's expression of confusion as he collapses might indicate that he didn't quite understand what was happening as he died.
Round 3, Top
...yup.
...miss
Orik's crashing of this party surprises the remaining goblin, and he draws a dagger in his off-hand to attack. He manages to get under Orik's shield to land a glancing blow, but the dagger seems too poorly-made to penetrate the warrior's armor.
You see the espression on the goblin's face turn from surprise to desperation as he sees his comrade fall.
Orik hisses as the goblin's dagger finds a chink in his armor, and he whirls on the little nuisance. "Alright, that is it!", he bellows, drawing his blade back and sending an overhead chop down towards its bulbous head. In his fury, though, his swing goes wild, burying itself in the packed earth floor.
Gwyn snarls and dives into the room, drawing the long knife at her hip and trying to bury it in the goblin's heart.
...good roll!
...hit
...hit
Helena moves to the outside of the door and stabs through it at the goblin, past Gwyn's soulder. The goblin seems surprised at the appearance of another combatant, but manages to roll with most of the blow, and Helena merely scratches him on the arm.
The goblin seems about to spring at Gwyn with a ferocious attack, but at the last minute, dives to the floor and rolls right between her legs! The sudden acrobatic move surprise the adventures in melee with him,, and he manages to completely evade your attempts to strike him as he tumbles past you into the courtyard. He grins and sticks his tongue at you as he turns to run away...
...But he apparently didn't count on two more archers covering the exit! He gets struck by two arrows as soon as he emerges, and with a gurgle of surprise, he falls over, bleeding into the dung-covered earth.
Examining the remaining items in this storage shed, you find several leather leashes, crude saddles, and other goblin-dog-riding tack. This is in addition to the straw-lined wood-and-wire cages that house about a dozen rabbits. (You presume the rabbits are food for the goblin dogs.)
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Cerin leans down next to the cage and pulls out his wand. "I hope you appreciate what I went through to free you!" he lectures the rabbits as he heals the worst of the damage inflicted by the ambushers.
Feeling much better, he reassures the captive bunnies "We will be back to free you soon. After what just happened, it's probably safer for you there right now."
"Shall we check out the room to the north?" he asks as he grabs his shield.
Gwyn drops to her knees and wraps Cerinnibert in a tight hug.
"You're okay," she says in a soft, trembling voice.