"...I agree, Rexus. What is this place? This is starting to look like a horrible joke." Corian views the tunnels with distaste. "Certainly that doesn't lead to any hideout, just an animal warren. And look, this was a slaughterhouse, or something similar. Hells and iron, fire sounds like a good idea."
"I am quite certain that they kept up with maintenance and cleaning while residing here." And I am also concerned with who or what now uses this place as a home or bolt-hole.
Valleria looks around.
"Perhaps what you all are thinking is indeed what the former Ravens intended for outsiders to think, should they enter their hideout... I'd not be surprised if all of this was nothing but a ruse."
"Well, in any case, we should press forward."
"That's a good point Valleria though I'm curious to see who would have been brave enough to sleep in this room, even without the stench."
Ignati, sword drawn, walks over to the blankets and pillows to see if they give any indication of recent use.
Rather suddenly, several pools of slippery grease appear beneath everyone's feet. The pools are reasonably large, and quite slippery. I will need reflex saves from everyone.
Rexus slides around awkwardly, but manages to right himself before he falls.
"Oh hell! What now?" Ignati shouts as he falls ungracefully to the ground.
"What the hell is this... Wow!"
Voreni feels his grip slip, but keeps calm as his mentor taught him and holds his arms out to his sides to gain a better sense of balance. "We are most certainly being toyed with," he grumbles as he carefully steps out of the pool of grease beneath him before helping the others up.
"Son of a...! I've had it with these pranks."
Ignati, Valleria, and Morrigan all slip and fall to the ground, landing hard on the grimy floor. Bacon, eager to assist, gently nudges Morrigan to encourage her to get up.
Nobody spots any sign of the creature(s) responsible for this dastardly prank. Suddenly, however, before you can recover from the grease, tiny, awful-looking creatures emerge from the tunnels in the walls and let loose with gushing torrents of horrid vomit.
Surprise Round:
Luckily, the tiny creatures are terribly inaccurate, and the putrid-smelling liquid they discharge misses almost everyone...except for poor Corian, who in the process of catching himself from falling slides directly into the stream.
Round 1 - Initiative 23
"Oh god, Corian!" Ignati, overcome with disgust as his new friend is covered in vomit, starts reaching for his handkerchief but comes to his senses and moves to stand up.
"Oww... come on! All on your feet! And don't be such a girl Vashnarstill!"
Valleria stands put and readies herself to attack if any creature comes closer.
"This is horrid. What even are these things?
Morrigan stays on the ground, levels her crossbow at one of the creatures, and fires.
"This is so much worse than ghosts. Please tell me we're not going to have to clean up this mess. Bacon, go hide again. Everything in this basement is just horrid. Don't touch anything."
"Uh..." For the first time in a longtime, Voreni finds himself at a loss for words. He draws he rapier and keeps his other hand on his prepared extract.
Voerni hustles forward, attempting to stab one of the foul creatures.
However, he is still distracted by the terrible smell of vomit.
"I'm 'alright', Ignati..." Corian is disgusted beyond belief, but doesn't lose his breakfast, amazingly. He wrinkles his face and whips some of the goo off one hand and casts a spell.
Ignati draws his rapier and prepares to defend himself.
Voreni steps forward with his own rapier and thrusts, but misses his quarry.
Wilhelm steps forward and spears one of the horrible creatures, impaling its tiny body on the end of his spear and flinging it away with disgust. It leaves a dark smear on the wall where it hits.
The light of Corian's blessings shine on everyone, making the situation seem just a little less awful.
Valleria stands ready for the Grimples' attack, but when one leaps toward her it manages to slip right underneath her blade and attempts to bite her sword arm. Its jaws snap shut around thin air, and Valleria narrowly avoids letting any of the parasites infesting the creature hop onto her.
Meanwhile, two grimples move in around Voreni and snap at his heels, with one managing to chop down feebly on his calf, dealing one point of non-lethal damage.
...and one more charges Corian, and though its feeble bit is unable to make contact with his skin, he can feel a sudden itchiness that suggests the creature may have left some associates behind.
Initiative 18-
Valleria tries again to strike her target, studying it before the attack.
Round 2 - Init 23
Ignati moves toward the creatures attacking Voreni and takes a stab with his rapier.
Scowling, Corian moves to the other side of Wilhelm and brings down his mace on the offending creature.
"I suppose this explains the prior giggling...and the stink."
"Ah! You little vermin infested menace!" Voerni worries that the scratch will become infected, because the foul creatures have already shown themselves to be less than hygienic.
Wilhelm grimaces a little as he shakes the putrid body from the end of his spear. These things are disgusting and troublesome, but at least they die. He grits his teeth as he moves on to the next closest one he can reach with his spear and attempts to skewer another one.
Ah! I don't know how I missed that. Yes, you hit and killed one of the Grimples. There are only 3 left. I've removed one more from the map. I also moved you back 5 feet so that you wouldn't provoke, as I'm sure you intended.
The next round is a slaughter, as Morrigan, Voreni, Wilhelm, Corian, and Ignati all savage the tiny, disgusting beasts until only one remains. Shrieking in terror, he flees towards a hole in the wall, offering Corian an AoO.
Rexus shudders at the grisly sight of tiny monsters.
"Grimples." he says with disgust, as if the word itself tasted foul on his tongue. Walking across the larger room he finds the way barred by an iron gate, securely locked.
"Looks like another barrier to our progress here, my friends. I hate to say it, but we may need to search this foul nest for clues before we proceed."
BTW, the map is updated and still available at https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1FVYQbU-8zv_PZHMA1QGhwPuLG8m_cocrQeQUi30 VAgk/edit?pli=1
Voreni retches as he picks through the refuse.
Ignati sheaths his sword and recovers his handkerchief which he covers his mouth with as he begins searching the room for a key.
"I don't suppose any of you know how to pick locks? Perhaps learning is something I should invest some time in. Usually I just talk my way into secure locations."
He gives Corian a wide berth eyeing the vomit soaked man pitifully as he does.
"Picking locks was never part of the job requirement, I'm afraid," Wilhelm says wryly as he uses the end of his spear to shift things around on the floor without having to touch it himself. He makes his way around the room, joining in the search.
"I'm afraid I don't have much to contribute here either."
Valleria comes closer to Ignati.
"Found anything in the lock? We can always destroy it..."
Corian gives the fleeing grimple a good whack.
"...Morrigan...do you have that 'prestidigifying' spell I've heard of?" Corian looks at his thoroughly soiled vestments with some mix of humor and despair.
"Sorry Corian, I don't have that prepared today. This is the best I can do."
Morrigan uses Ghost Sound.
She can't help from giggling.
After a thorough search of the room, Voreni locates a small horde hidden among the blankets that the Grimples had been using for bedding. In it are 12 gp, 185 sp, 342 cp, a pair of quartz earrings worth 10 gp each, a set of nine silver coat buttons worth 5 gp each, and a slightly gnawed cloak. There is, however, no key, and the only other key you've seen this whole time is the one you used to unlock the gate upstairs.
Rexus takes a closer look at the horde and squints for a few minutes.
"Not much of real value, but that cloak looks to be magical." he says. "And no matter what we find down here, as soon as I rebuild my family's fortune I'm paying to have this horrid place torn down brick by brick, thoroughly burned, and the ashes consecrated by as many clerics as I can afford."
"Do any of the holes in the walls that the grimples used lead past the gate? Or maybe there is a secret door or compartment?"
"Let me try the lock before we go crawling through those...creature's...den."
The gate swings open, allowing access to the rooms beyond.
Seeing the gate swing open, Valleria starts to move, trying the get everyone else moving as well.
"Right, let's press on... I'm having doubts if my nose will ever be able to smell something good again."
"Nicely done Voreni, you'll need to teach me that trick sometime!"
Ignati pats the young man on the back and follows close behind Valleria, glad to be rid of the stench.
"You can complain about the stench but I can't complain about fountains of vomit? IHardly seems fair Valleria." He sniffs before winking at the guardswoman. "Rex, I'll gladly help you burn this place down. If I never see one of those little rats again it'll be far too soon."
He keeps his eyes forward as they continue their exploration.
"I'm not complaining, just stating a point..."
Seeing Ignati searching around, Valleria joins him.
Voreni is carefully returning his tools to their individual spaces in their container when Ignati compliments his lockpicking skill. Without looking up, or realizing Ignati has already moved on he says, "Thank you. I could certainly provide you with the instruction needed to learn the fundamentals of manipulating tumblers to bypass security. It is rather fascinating, the more complex locks are really still based on the more simple mechanisms, only adding special ways of applying torque or angles to the tumblers more deeply embedded into the device itself. Of course, magical protections provide an entirely new challenge that - Oh! We're moving on, I suppose..."