|
Vingold's spell washes over Lilly and Yizzik, calming their minds and bodies. The performance taking place up on stage continues on, various ghostly dwarves and humans locked in combat. Given enough time, the party is able to fool the haunt into thinking they're fighting together, and the middle-aged Delbera looks encouraged as she rallies her party. "Yes, that's it! Drive them back! Now!"
And with that, the haunt fades and the room is quiet again. Dwarven voices are heard through the hall again, this time, swearing, "And wed ourselves to duty."
"Ouch." Poe grumbles. "Some of these ghosts sure pose a threat don't they?"
He checks on Vingold, making sure his drinking buddy's okay.
As Yizzik slowly caught his breath and his senses returned, he would turn to Vingold, a look of incredible regret even upon his cold, scaly visage. "I'm so sorry...I could not control myself.." he said, giving a sigh as the bards spell helped keep him calm.
|
|
With the haunt gone, you climb the steps to the stage and observe a small wooden door that's been propped open. You don't hear anything coming through the door nor smell anything nefarious aside from some mustiness.
This small room backstage is littered with dried make up of various colours, and rotting, old costumes. Plaster monster masks can be found inside the cabinets along with several written scripts.
Three of the scripts are labeled The Fall of Karexin, The Wedding of Riellal, and Dawn Shines on the Legion. All three scripts feature the same familiar handwriting, but the progress in their neatness and elegance over time is clear.
The first two scripts are too old and tattered to really decipher, but The Fall of Karexin tells the tale of how the Rising Blades (Delbera's adventuring band) discovered the origin of Davarn's raiders - a fey necromancer by the name of Karexin - and in the process, saved the svirfneblin village of Oremont. The Rising Blades eventually triumped over Karexin and his undead hordes, finally casting his body into the abyss.
Inside another drawer, you find a hat of disguise and four hollow life-sized kobold statues.
The statues are made from copper and worth roughly 150 gp each.
"Ah, that's a fancy hat.: Poe comments, completely missing the magical nature of the clothing.
He'll read the scripts if no one else is interested.
Yizzik would quietly peek over Poe's shoulder as he would read the script, glancing now and then before exploring the rest of the room. He would take great care in pulling out and observing the statues, not for their possible worth but mostly the detail in their craft. Kobolds had always been like odd cousins to his kind in a strange sort of way. "Shame that these had been left here..."
Poe looks over at Yizzik and frowns, confused. "What, that stuff? Probably was left behind because it was made ah somethin' cheap. Are those kobolds? At least the craftsmanship ain't shoddy."
He steps away from the plays. "You want tah gander at this? Might be useful in case we 'ave another run like what we just had."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Lilly takes a look at the pretty hat.
"Oh, it's pretty."
She puts it on.
"Hey, does it look good on me?
If i'd have fox ears, i could be like Hinata."
.....
Vingold grunts and pokes at his wound. "Aye, I've had worse." He grins. "Suppose now you all know I can shut you all down with a wave of my hand." He jests with a chuckle.
|
|
Faint murmurs and creaking metal continue all around you, but that isn't something new. The sounds have been going on since you've entered the haunted fortress. While you've put four of Delbera's haunts to rest, you can't shake the feeling that something still isn't right here.
The door to the north of the costume room opens up to a narrow hallway with two dead ends.
Other than this narrow dead-end hall behind the costume room, the only other place you haven't ventured to yet is a corridor from where you originally entered the Redoubt branches that extends to the east, and you can make out the outline of a staircase heading upwards.
"So... What have you all explored, then?" Poe asks.
-Posted with Wayfinder
If no one else would Hinata would carefully take the scripts for later reading
but the statues weren't very interesting to her and being unaware of their value wouldn't bother with them.
Seeing Lily change into her is a clear shock as Hinata tries to figure out what exactly had happened. "Well it's definitely interesting?" She offered trying not to hurt her feelings.
Lilly hadn't a mirror on her, but sudden looks were saying something.
"Erm...is something wrong, does it look bad on me?
Should i take it off?"
When she is about to do so, she notices the clothes properly matching Hinata's, as did her skin's color.
She smiles. "Neat."
|
|
With Lilly in disguise, you head back through the theatre and into the main hallway of the Redoubt.
Nearing the staircase, you can see a set of metal doors to the south and another set of doors to the north. Just east of the staircase is a larger room divided by a partition. You can make out the outline of several animal trophies against the far wall to the east. A hoarse mumbling in a foreign language rumbles through the crack in the door to the south, and the scent of ash and coal is unmistakable as you near the door to the north.
From your initial trek into the Redoubt, you peeked in upon a band of grey-skinned warriors when looking into a small crack in the southern door.
"Allright. There are some gray warriors in the south room. Dunno if'n they're hostile, but I'd just as soon be ready for them ta fight us." Poe advises quietly, checking his gear and readying to unleash hell into the room.
|
|
Yizzik heads up front to lead the party and Poe presses open the door.
The smell of stale beer and whiskey hang in the air of this room. A large wooden bar, complete with taps and a mirrored backsplash, runs along the far curved wall of this room. Tables, chairs, and barstools are scattered with use, while dirty glasses and empty bottles litter the sticky floors and flat surfaces.
An enlarged duergar warrior who's missing his right hand smokes a cigar with his left, and angrily shouts at two other grey-skinned subordinates, demanding they attack the intruders.
"Dwarven scum. Ya clearly ain't no blasted haunts, so wut th' f~&+ are ya doin' here?!" The one-armed duergar spits as he speaks in Common. "Stop them, ya weaklings!" He commands his foot soldiers to attack. They tremble in fear, but do as he says and ready their waraxes.
Poe Snarls at the Duergar leader, firing a bolt with surprising accuracy. "Duergar!"
Despite his great accuracy the bolt loses some momentum and doesn't hit nearly as hard as it could have.
|
|
The bolt finds its way over the soldier's head and implants itself into the duergar leader's shoulder, spilling first blood. "RARRghh!!" His cigar falls out of his mouth and onto the ground. "GET EM, YA WEAK SACK OF MEAT!"
Not seeing a good way of getting through, the duergar leader hunkers down with his shield held up over his face.
The green-armored duergar foot soldier rushes ahead, its waraxe above its head, and strikes at Yizzik, failing to land his attack. Duergar leader takes a peak above his shield to offer some inspiring words... "YER USELESS!!"
Yizzik grunts as the failed attack hits against his shield, pleased though still to defend for his teammates. The battle had only just begun, but the reptile felt more at home in this scuffle than against any of the spooks and hauntings they had come across recently. Still, the dark dwarves needed to be dealt with and Yizzik wouldn't hesitate to swing back at his enemy hard.
Hinata follows shortly after Yizzik hurling a bomb towards the back of the room toward the huddle of duergar, making an easy target for their explosive reaction.
|
|
Yizzik lands a solid blow against the enlarged green foot soldier, cutting a deep wound along the dark flesh of his shoulder.
Hinata's bomb seems laser-guided as it floats through the air past the enlarged duergar soldier and lands at one of the mercenary's feet, exploding and spraying sharp pieces of stone everywhere.
"F%%%!!" The leader clearly detests this act.
Blue moves up and swings at Yizzik, but really, who or what can actually hit Yizzik?
Lilly grabs her whip, and aims for green's weapon.
"Would you kindly drop it.."
Vingold whistles then laughs. "Look at them, haven't even fought us yet and they already scared!"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Poe smirks as the Duergar takes cover behind his shield. "Like that's gonna help ya, ya useless sod!"
His bolt catches the one-armed bastard in the ankle where his shield failed to cover him.
Having seen only humans and elves, the dwarf and gnome were a completely new sight to Lilly.
Taking a look at Firebeard;
"You appear like no one elf I've yet gazed upon, red nosed bearded one."
Firebeard was taken aback at being called an elf. At first, he was inclined to educate the woman in a physical manner, but restrained himself.
" Tha's because ain't no elfs lookin' as good as a dwarf! An' if'n ye be wanting t' keep yer purty eyes un-blackened, I suggest ye don't be callin' no dwarf an elf again! Not all me folk are as courteous as me! Fer all tha' yer sadly uneducated, ye be having me thanks fer healin' up my friend there."
|
|
Poe's shot finds its way to the leader's ankle and severs a tendon. The duergar cries out violently in profanity and curses as he struggles to breathe. When the pain subsides, the enlarged duergar disappears into thin air. "We'll see how well ya can shoot when ya can't see me, ya damn fool!" He chuckles as he fades.
His axe now on the ground, the green-armored duegar steps back and draws his crossbow, firing at Poe, but quickly learns who the more skilled crossbowman is.
** spoiler omitted **
Not seeing the larger enemy that required his focus, Yizzik kept on the defensive. He knew though no dwarf, duergar or not, could simply hide forever. Deciding to wait out his invisibility, he moved in on one of the minions, hardly caring if he was struck at. He'd even prefer it on the off chance his armor and shield could absorb the blow while he went to chop down the red duergar.
|
|
Hinata pulls another glowing bottle from her pack and whips it through the air, directing it at the yellow-geared duergar.
The bomb lands and explodes, covering the warrior in fresh wounds as the explosion impacts him and the two duergar around him.
Yizzik moves in and deflects a bunch of opportune attacks. The lizardman dances through the fray, each swing glinting off his armor with a loud clang and a bright spark caused by the metal on metal impact. When he finally reaches the red duergar, he cleaves at it with a powerful swing of his axe, spilling duergar blood into a puddle below him.
Blue advances and swings at his own axe at Poe, failing to hit him, and red takes another swing at Yizzik, putting another dent in his armor.
Lilly smiles as green drops his weapon.
"Good boy."
She then cracks her whip, trying to disarm blue.
"Tsk tsk, can't even touch a lizard. Wonder how you get along at night..." Vingold whips forward to help Yizzik.
Poe ducks under the attacking duergar and jams Olivia up against his gut before pulling the trigger.
|
|
With his crossbow jammed up against the duergar, Poe pulls the trigger, sending a bolt deep through his internals and into his heart, killing him instantly.
The invisible duergar leader does something, or at least that's the eerie feeling you get as some dust shifts around in the room. He and all of his equipment is invisible, and you don't hear a sound from the last spot he was in.
The green-armored duergar steps up and picks up his waraxe, swinging it at Poe.
The axe connects and cuts a nice bloody gash into the dwarf's shoulder. "Haha! Now yer luck's about ta turn!"
Not seeing the leader of the group, Yizzik continued his assault on the duergar in front of him, looking to keep his enemies distracted and focused on him. His natural and metal armor made him the greatest shield for his allies. After another brutal chop, Yizzik would watch if the enemy still stood, prepared to move for the green armored duergar next if the red fell.
In an attempt to save her dwindling bomb supply Hinata returned to stones throwing one at the same target as Yizzik.