Ragnar counts out the dishes and mugs. He theorizes there are at least a dozen creatures using this hall, maybe more.
Crystal starts aiming her bow, scanning the room rapidly with her keen eyes. She is unable to determine where the giggle comes from aside from vaguely to the north, but her eyes do spot the outline of a secret door to the west, just north of the west entrance.
"Well, this is disheartening," Raven says, following on Crystal's heels. "Hmm.Perhaps we should have attacked them in here. It now seems they are trying to ambush us somewhere."
"Relax, there's only so much advantage they can have, and we can make paste outta the little ones fairly easy. This isn't my first time on someone else's turf. Keep your ranks tight and have your attacks ready, but remember not to waste your abilities too soon. Lets see what's behind that secret door."
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Czein makes his way to the secret door, finding a pressure plate and opening it easily. He peers within, and immediately hears the telltale click of a door closing to the north.
Within is a small 10x10 room with a peep hole staring into the large room. To the north the hallway ends at the secret door. Another branch leads eastwards.
Crystal moves to provide Czein with archery support. "Think we can make use of their tunnels to catch them by surprise again? I heard some of them giggling to the north..."
"You go through the secret tunnel, we take the direct route through the northern door," Ragnar sais, moving to the north, hoping for anyone but Czein and Crystal to follow him. Hopefully they all will move into the northern room simultaneously.
As Ragnar reaches the door, he tries to spot any sort of trap and, if possible, he peaks through the keyhole or something like that.
"I like it! Twinkletoes, stay on our flank and follow Ragnar. ... erm... please." Czein claps Ragnar on the shoulder heartily and makes an odd face as he realizes how overbearing he must seem at the moment.
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Ragnar leans down to peer through the keyhole. The hall beyond is so dark it's nearly impossible to see anything. However, his timing is good. He hears soft foot falls, and sees a shadow move from the left side of the hall to the right. There's a 'click' reminiscent of one of the pressure plates, and the shadow is gone.
Ragnar shout-whispers to the others while gesturing to the right: "One went in a secret tunnel up ahead and to the east I think. They might be trying to outflank us. Someone watch our backs."
He then opens the door, a magically lit mug from one of the tables, ready to toss it into the passageway before proceeding.
"I'll do it," Raven offers, turning to watch the back.
Czein creeps to the corner...
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Juid creeps up to the door in the main room, pulling Pîsim behind him. When Ragnar opens the door, he peers inside with one eye, careful to keep most of himself in cover.
Ragnar and Juid peer down the hallway. A straight hallway leads northwards before opening up into a larger room. The group's light shows the larger room to be spattered with blood. The reek of the decay is strong, even from this far away.
Meanwhile, Czein creeps through the secret passage. His patience is rewarded as he sees the back end of a goblin, crouched by a secret door exit, a manic grin on his face.
Czein looks at Crystal, Pointing toward the others and closing his fist, trying to tell her to stop them. He then indicates the one enemy he sees.
Crystal nods then turns towards the rest of the team. She puts a finger to her lips and points at where Czein's pointing before holding out her palm.
Ragnar stops in his steps. He nods and keeps looking down the corridor, not moving any further.
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Juid draws out a copper coin and mimes tossing it down the hall with a questioning raise of his eyebrows.
Czein slips up to the little thing, taps it on the shoulder, and uppercuts it with his axe as it turns around, aiming to make a mess.
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splut
Czein silently takes out the goblin with a huge swing of its axe. The creature spatters against the secret door before it can make a peep. Czein can see a spyhole in the door, which just looks out into the hallway. More interestingly, he can see an identical peep hole, opposite the door across the hall.
Czein signals to Crystal, and when she gets to him, he indicates the two peep holes. "I dont suppose you can get a shot through there can you?" he whispers.
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Crystal approaches, looks where Czein's pointing, and takes a shot.
*THUNK*
"Yep."
Crystal peers through the peep hole, which is not quite large enough for her arrow. She gives it a shot anyways, and the arrowhead partially busts off as it snakes through one peep hole, stripping off he feathers. However, Pharasma is with her as the arrow slams into the other peep hole. A gargled scream sounds out, followed by a thud.
(•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)
YYEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!
Crystal pointedly avoids vocalizing her scream of joy at managing to hit something.
"I think that answers your question, Czein."
Ragnar nods to Juid, gesturing if he should light the coin up with magic by pointing at the lit mug in his hand.
"I-... I was joking..." His tusked jaw hung agape at the incredible shot. "That sounded like the big one, let's see..." He taps around to find a pressure plate or lever and carefully opens the door.
On the inside of the secret doors are levers. Czein pulls the lever and steps into the hallway. The reek of the room to the north assaults his nostrils. Directly across from him he can spot the outline of the second secret door. A tap on a pressure plate opens that, and the corpse of the bugbear, an arrow sticking out of its eye, falls into the hallway.
Crystal's eyes widen as she sees the bugbear corpse fall out of the secret door.
"Uh... I didn't even know he was there..." She mumbles, looking down at her feet.
With a mighty swing of his axe, Czein removes the Bugbear's head. Grasping it by the ear, he opens the door to the others and motions them to follow along into the stinky room.
"Was he just waving about the head of the bugbear? It appears they've gotten right to the root of the problem."
Juid proceeds, with Pîsim in tow.
Czein heads northwards into what was once a small kitchen.
The stench of half-rotted meat hits the group's nostrils as they peers inside. This appears to be an old kitchen. A hearth sits in the north wall with some burned meat on a spit overtop of it. A small working table is across the room.
The room is covered in gore as apparently inexpert goblin butchery has been applied to a horse and at least two different humans as bones, remains, entrails, and an appalling amount of blood cover every surface. There are doors in the east and west.
You hear giggling from the west.
Czein opens the west door with a crash and tosses the head before himself as he trundles toward the giggling.
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"Well, I hardly feel sorry for interrupting their feast now anymore," Ragnar silently announces as he takes a peak into the kitchen.
He then signals Juid to follow him and steps through the door into the secret passageway the bugbear has been killed in.
Juid raises an eyebrow and moves into the passageway with a questioning look at Ragnar. He perfunctorily rustles through the bugbear's belongings, particularly with an eye toward a ring of keys. He also checks the bugbear for clan tattoos or scarring.
"Did you have something to tell me? Or a confession to make?" he asks Ragnar quietly.
”No, not at all. I just thought we could scout this secret route, see if a goblin is still hiding deeper in here. Splitting up, at least to cover the secret hallways, has helped us along pretty good thus far.“
"Ah, I see. Understandable. At least I will feel like I'm adding something to the group. And I can't find any identifiers on this unfortunate creature. Pîsim, stay." he gestures to the animal and looks down the secret hiding place to the extent of Ragnar's light spell. With a quick jerk, he recovers Crystal's arrow, complete with ruined eye, dangling a few nerves and capillaries.
Crystal wrinkles her nose at the sight of the bugbear's eye dangling from her arrow. She covers her mouth at the sight of the gore-soaked room out of disgust.
"Eugh..." She says before glancing back at the priest & mage moving to scout the passage with the bugbear's corpse. She arches an eyebrow.
I'm not sure splitting up is a good idea in here...
"That white, grainy flesh on the arrowhead is where you killed it, by the way. It must have been leaning forward like this to look out the whole." says Juid for edification. "But perhaps I'm disquieting you with such information. I apologize."
"RAAA!"
Czein throws out a gigantic foot, sending the west door from the kitchen flying inwards! His keen orcish eyes peer through the darkness and spy three cavorting goblins beyond a second opened door, who are apparently sharing some private joke. They let out a shriek and attack!
Hector
Ragnar
Crystal
Juid
---
Black
Grey
Red
---
Czein
Raven
Ragnar moves into the kitchen as quickly as he can. Standing behind the half-orc he stares down the first of the goblins.
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Once Czein kicks in the door, Crystal moves behind the mage, an arrow already nocked in her bow.
Sighting down on the goblins, she attempts to pick off the one in the middle of the group.
The goblins shriek at the sight of the bugbear sailing towards them and are clearly demoralized. The one in front manages to resist Ragnar's evil eye, and Crystal's arrow simply slams into the side of the hall, breaking.
After hurrying into the kitchen to examine the situation and seeing how the crowd is forming, Juid hurries back to try to prevent the goblins from running away down the other corridor and/or entrap them in the same manner.
"I'll try to block the other corridor!"
Seeing a crowded hallway in front of him, HEctor moves to Czein's side, and holds his action, awaiting an attack.
The goblin who has been terrified, and now cursed by a witch looks around with an expression of sheer terror. Sucking in a breath, he raises his little dogslicer, and lets out a terrifying battle cry!
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
Czein easily parries the attack. The other goblins queue up behind him, jabbering and waving their weapons about threateningly.
"you sound like one a those puffed up frogs!" The massive half orc muses as he showers the other gobs with bits of their compatriot.
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With a mighty swing, Czein decapitates the poor goblin in front, whose companions let out a shout of terror.
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