Aren begins confidently to descend when his grip somehow misses the rope. In the split second that he is about to fall, he disappears with a feint pop and appears at the bottom of the rope.
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With everyone safely down, the party assesses the situation. A sandy ledge overlooks a subterranean gulf of darkness to the west. The ledge is wide but rough. Sand, rocky debris, and the bones of small animals cover it. A roughhewn stairwell zigs and zags down the side of the ledge, descending into darkness. From the rubble ahead, four sets of eyes peer out from the darkness. Suddenly, a quartet of giant rats moves into the light!]
"Oh, rats!", the ex-barmaid says with a strange glee in her voice.
Eldritch Blast:
Damage:
"Back you tiny annoyances!" bellows Fargus as a battle cry as he moves forward and tries to get into a battle with as many rats as possible.
Fyird moves to the other side of the chamber, and shoots an arrow, at the rat directly in front of him.
Shortbow
Arrow
"Ahh Rats!" She exclaimed giggling to her self as she pulled her bow and shot an arrow.
Aren moves up next to Fargus and brings forth his blade,
Green flames leap from the blade and burn a rat close to his original target.
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Jaynie hits one of the rats with an eldritch blast, leaving it scorched and burned, but still very much alive. Fargus immediately dispatches the problem. Fyird's carefully aimed shot takes down another of the rats, even as Joxi's shaft also strikes home on yet another of the pests. The rat snarls in pain but keeps coming. Arendyl easily dispatches another of the rats, leaving only one. Tairdo throws an acid splash, but the rat dodges the globs of acid and ducks back underneath the rubble.
"Well its good to note that Rats do not take kindly to arrows being shot at them, or have mystical energies lobbed at them much either" She said with a giggle before she began to look around.
"Aye, rats die easily. Let's hope all our foes do."
"Awwww...poor kitties!"
Sheathing his blade Aren nods to the others and motions down the trail. He then follows the path that the goblins took.
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The group proceeds downward. A fortress emerges from the darkness. The subterranean citadel, though impressive, seems long forgotten, if the lightless windows, cracked crenellations, and leaning towers are any indication. All is quiet, though a cold breeze blows up from below, bringing with it the scent of dust and a faint trace of rot.
The stairs descend a total of 120 feet into the earth. The narrow stairs empty into a small courtyard, apparently the top of what was once a crenellated battlement. The buried citadel has sunk so far into the earth that the battlement is now level with the surrounding floor. That floor stretches away to the north and south, composed of a layer of treacherous, crumbled masonry, which reaches to an unknown depth. To the west looms the surviving structure of what must be the Sunless Citadel. A tower stands on the west side of the courtyard. The goblins are nowhere in sight. A single door is visible on the side of the tower.
Aren kneels quickly marking the goblins trail, he does however slow down and begins stalking more than walking.
At least he tries, but his armor clanking against his shield and scabbard do not do much for his ability to approach quietly.
Arendyl's attempts at stealth are somewhat undercut by Fargus' taunting cries of "Here, gobbo gobbo."
Fyird drops to one knee onto the ground, and looks for signs of the goblins passage. He begins to move forward silently, but hearing the noise from his companions, merely shrugs, and follows the direction pointed out by Arendyl.
Survival
Stealth
Arendyl's attempts at stealth are somewhat undercut by Fargus' taunting cries of "Here, gobbo gobbo."
With a quick jerk of his head, and a holding of one finger to his lips, Fyird hisses silence at the call for goblins.
"What are you doing? I understand you wanting to get your blade wet with goblin blood, but we have no idea what other threats await us. Did you not hear that none return when venturing here? I have a feeling you'll have a chance to whet your appetite for destruction, but might I suggest we accomplish this on our turns".
Jaynie dances around as Fargus calls out for the 'gobbos'. She pouts as Fyird shushes the dwarf, but then looks somewhat excited as a thought pops into her head.
[b]"Do you think there might be more kitties down there?"[/ooc]
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Arendyl manages to find a faint wisp of a trail that heads towards the door to the west, however, it seems to skirt an unmortared portion of the stone floor, going north toward the edge of the courtyard and then cutting back across, close to the west wall (the path is indicated by the orange markings on the map).
"Stonecleaver's don't skulk. Things skulk away from Stonecleavers. Besides, it's really fun when they have the chance to soil themselves first. Adds a nice change of pace to the smell of arterial blood."
"Stonecleaver's don't skulk. Things skulk away from Stonecleavers. Besides, it's really fun when they have the chance to soil themselves first. Adds a nice change of pace to the smell of arterial blood."
Fyird grumbles and starts down the trail. "I'll keep that in mind for your Epitaph".
Joxi shakes her head as she knocks another arrow and has her bow at the ready while she stalks.
"Yeah let's let every rat and goblin know our location" she whispered a bit angrily.
"That's just silly. Everyone knows Dwarves never die; we just return to the stone. Dyin's an elf hobby."
Aren looks back at Fargus with a raised eyebrow. He steps slightly to the side and motions forward offering the dwarf the front position. ”By all means then, be the first of us to return to the stone. The path before you is clear. They seem to have followed the unmortared stone.”
Shrugging, Fargus switches from Greataxe to shield and handaxe and takes point.
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Fargus follows the path that Arendyl has indicated, moving to stand before the door. The door is a study oaken affair, closed, but not locked. Opening the door, Fargus finds himself staring into a circular area of cobbled and cracked granite, upon which sprawl the bodies of four goblins, apparently slain in combat. One corpse stands with its back against the western wall, the spear that killed it still skewering it and holding it upright. Three wooden doors lead from this area. A hollow tower of loose masonry reaches thirty feet into the air, but the intervening floors and stairs are gone, except for a couple of crumbled ledges.
Joxi intakes air making a slight whistle before she speaks."Well, these goblins must have had one helluva dinner party!" she says as she looks to the others.
"So do you step into the remains of a slaughter or do we walk through it? I doubt you all want to turn around I mean right. I know I don't, besides look at that tower, I mean its just begging for us to see whats in it, like those ladies who sing to lure you in. Can't remember what they were called. I read it in my Granduncles library, something-something Ren? No that's not right, is it? Oh well, so which one?" She said quickly her curiosity getting the better of her. Something that sadly the gnome had yet to curb or temper at times like this.
Fargus walked up to the spear that was pinned into the Goblin corpse and put away his axe before pulling it out and trying to see if he could find anything interesting about it.
humming to her self she follows the dwarf and blinks as she watches him pull the spear free."You know you are either brave or foolhardy."
She says looking around the room and then back at the party."If its a trap its too late now"
"Things usually figure themselves out." is all Fargus says in response, without even looking up from his examination of the spear.
Aren looks at Joxi "There is a thin line between the two to be honest."
He continues to watch Fargus and holds his shield at the ready as he follows the dwarf from about ten foot behind him.
(dodge action)
"True, and yet both can lead to glory or death, or both." Joxi says slipping to the side to hopefully be free of the possible errant trap to not get her too.
"Me I like to be cautious and well do that thing we all should like to do..called breathing!" She says with a bit of sass her bow and arrow ready to fire just in case.
"To paraphrase a Dwarven saying, the latter is fine as long as you get the former."
Fyird waits 30’ or so back, taking advantage of any cover.
Stealth
“Can anyone read this?”
"It's the language of dragons, but I don't know it."
Jaynie wanders through the room, examining the dead goblins as she goes. She looks at the weird writing on the wall, but soon something else draws her away.
"Nope,but I could try and Hum a few bars?" She says with a giggle before she looks over at Jaynie.
"Say Jaynie, are you okay?"
Jaynie looks over at the gnome and smiles.
"Nope, but it's nice of you to ask!"
She then starts humming a tune quietly while waiting for the others.
"What's an Ashardalon?"
"So we could be creeping along in a den of an Ancient Sleeping Dragon. That could be fun!" She says pulling her hand from her bow to scratch her head.
"Or it could bring us firey death so eh its fifty fifty shot"
Fyird's eyes widen at the mention of the dragon. I don't suppose you have a dragon call that you wish to produce and call out for him to attend you do you"?
Fyird moves to one of the doors, and takes a moment to listen.
Perception
"Dragons die, just like any other creature. If it appears, we'll deal with it one way or another."
Aren looks at the brave dwarf with a mix of admiration and sympathy. ”Caution would certainly be advised. A dragon of ancient power would be well beyond our capeabilities.”
After confirming with Fyrid that he had heard nothing, Aren checks the door and tries to open it.
"Well ancient Gnome Proverbs talk of Garl Glittergold and a variety of other of the prestigious Gnome Pantheon have found clever and cunning ways around them!"She says as she stands looking at the others before she readjusts her grips on her shortbow