Nox looks around the courtyard with a disappointed face "Aww, everyone's dead! Best go find some more play things inside!" She races off to find a few stragglers in need of a good knifing inside.
"Glad you've come to greet us. You're too late, the die's already been cast."
With the slithering trackers vanquished, Archie turns his attention to Yellow - who happens to be standing the closest.
"No escape for the wicked!"
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Opting to forgo any additional subtlety Morvena moves forward to where she can better see the newest arrivals to the party and peppers Black with a barrage of missiles.
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The Keep's soldiers don't get another chance to retaliate after a constant barrage of slices, stabs, magic missiles, fire, and summoned pals take them down.
You wait a few moments for more reinforcements, but none come.
From the room to the northwest, right next to Victor, you faintly hear a small voice pleading, but it's impossible to make out what it may be saying. The door to that room is locked and barred from the outside.
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"The Carnelian Signet inspection? You have all failed." She high fives the Spiritual Ally.
"Take stock, everyone... what is that voice? Let's unlock the door."
"While you look for keys, PH, I'll check the other doors."
Rosebud flies to the doors in the north wall of the common room, checking to see if they're locked, and listening for any sounds on the other side of the doors.
"Careful, this may be another trick..." Geoffrey warns as he decides to keep a sharp eye on the other passages leading into the room, blade drawn here.
I am worried...the commander has not shown his face yet...
While the others do their thing, Nox makes her way out of the area and melds her form now instead into one of the guards. Whoever seems to be highest rank. Nice knowin' ya kid. Then he heads over to collect the cash from the card table.
"Looks like I won that hand, and they whole game. Thanks for playing chumps!" He sweeps his winnings into a pocket then arranges the best possible hand onto the table for all to admire.
"I can try scouting ahead, I imagine the ballista guards are spreading the warning."
"Probably wise," Morvena agrees. "While I doubt there forces are truly endless, there are surely more lurking about that we've yet to see or encounter. Let us be quick about our business and remain on guard."
Turning to her summoned friend, she adds, "Archie, would you be a dear and keep watch there near the front doors?"
"Of course! No evil will pass undetected!"
Archie takes position near the front doors, greatsword at the ready and eyes constantly searching for any signs of evil shenanigans.
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Victor examines each of the guards, all of which seem to be standard rank and file soldiers. Regardless, he shapeshifts to appear like one of them and scoops 25 gold pieces off the table while the others find a key tucked into of their pockets.
The key opens the lock to the barred room. Inside three halflings lie against the wall, two of which jump back in fear as you enter. They all look to be in terrible condition, their bones peeking through their flesh and their bodies covered in wounds, some new, some old.
"I knew it was time. Go on then, just get it over with," they cower behind their arms, tears running down their faces.
"Huh?" The third one slowly looks up, a twinkle in his eye. "Perren, Crandy, these... these aren't soldiers...?"
The halfling stumbles to his feet. "And if you're here without soldiers, that must mean...?"
Outside, Archie takes up guard near the front doors - just in case - while Victor starts to have a look around.
Menador Keep
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The Carnelian Signet laughs. "With the soldiers? Oh no, we're nowhere close to them. As you can see-" She gestures outward. "They do not get along well with The Silver Ravens!"
"Featuring th eCarnelian Signet" She gets in closely and casts Cure Light Wounds as needed to help their immediate injuries.
"We're going to escape this dungeon as soon as we figure out where the anvil of unmaking is. One solid hit and the entire keep collapses. I don't suppose you have heard of it?"
The Carnelian Signet has no time for pleasantries. They'll take their free healing and love it!
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While Issil postures and heals the halflings, Pádraig Henry tries the guard's keys in the prisoners' manacles.
"You're free now, friends. Any prisoner of Thrune is a friend of ours. You look hungry." He offers them some some of his dry rations. "I'm Pádraig Henry. And you're Perren, Crandy, and ...?"
Geoffrey chimes in, "It was our pleasure to grant you your freedom, and we will be more than happy to escort you back home...once we have finished what we came here to do." Afterwards he continues keeping a sharp eye out on the various doorways leading into the room.
"I'll be back right quick, don't let out any filthy animals that don't deserve it!"
'Gerry' will toss on one of the guard's liveries and make his way upstairs at a brisk pace, curious to see what lies for the group ahead. He does keep his eyes peeled though for any traps or the like that may have been activated at the start of their invasion.
"Indeed," Morvena agrees. "I regret having to bombard you with questions at a time like this but are there any others like yourselves here that also need rescuing?"
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"The Carnelian Signet? Are you also working for Thrune?!" the halfling nervously backs away.
Pádraig's words fall more softly on the three, and all of the worry seems to fade from their faces at once. They waddle over to the bard, snatching the rations from his hand. "I'm Nausp, and that's, as I said, Perren and Crandy."
"No intros, I want out! Can we go? Please?" Crandy pipes up. "We were captured and sent up here from Egorian, meant to be food for whatever lies in this place!"
"Other prisoners? Dunno, don't think so. Keep's only got one prison, or 'pantry', as those bastards would joke," Perren raises a fist. "To think I would die as an ooze's meal! No way!"
Nausp looks at Pádraig with hope in his eyes. "Thank you for saving us. We are not quite apt to fight, and would love to get out of here as quickly as we can."
You head upstairs to be greeted by a long hallway with several doors. Lots of doors. But which one will you open?!
Second Floor
"Disgusting...but at least it seems that we have managed to rescue everyone here that needs rescuing," Morvena remarks, still glancing around here and there. "We still have business here to attend to or I would be all for leaving right this instant."
She considers the plight of the three halflings; weak and not possessed of any combat training.
"The three of you could hide somewhere close until we are able to come back and retrieve you. If there were not still people potentially manning the ballistae outside I would send Archie here to escort you outside this place. Or I could grant each of you invisibility - only for a short time, just under 10 minutes. But it would hopefully be enough for you to escape out to the pass and find a hiding spot among the rocks."
She looks around at the group. "Unless someone here has a better plan?"
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Victor moves down the corridor and merely listens for the sounds of an alarm being sounded, or that being not the case, looks at the doors to see if any look fancy with brass name plates like: 'Head B&~*@ in Charge' or 'If this door's a rockin', don't come a knockin'.
Perhaps even 'Secret Destruction Device Room: STAY OUT', also acceptable is 'Kitchen'.
"I don't like any of those ideas Morv," Geoffrey disagrees, "Let me protect them instead...after all bodyguard is what I was trained to do."
Plus it allows me to keep a close eye on them...
Morvena shrugs. "Just offering suggestions since they are clearly keen to put some distance between themselves and this place and we cannot escort them out ourselves just yet."
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"Working FOR Thru-" The Carnelian Signet catches herself. "Such an insult!"
"Alas, I was clearly too hasty. We will protect you- the nearest town is several days away. You will make it back to town. You have the word of the Carnelian Signet!"
"Our spy should return shortly, hopefully he has found one of our target rooms."
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"We've slain two snake-like oozes and perhaps half a dozen of Thrune's men-at-arms. We haven't seen the keep's Thrune commander yet."
"Any information you can tell us about the keep and its Thrune contingent would help us clear this place out. Numbers, locations, anything?" Pádraig Henry asks the freed halflings.
After checking the rooms north of the common room, Rosebud flies over to see the freed prisoners.
"Milani will be very pleased with our service here today." The inquisitor waves her hand over the halflings. "The Everbloom's blessing be upon you all."
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From her position - still outside and in the air - Pavanna continues to survey the exterior of the keep below. She'd seen Rosebud give a signal and take off and had sensed the familiar sensation of adrenaline, courtesy of her empathic link with Morvena, but she wasn't worried because Morvena didn't seem worried. Besides, Rosebud was waaaaay more help in a fight than she'd ever be.
So Pavanna maintains watch outside.
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While the party considers what to do with the halflings, Rosebud explores the rest of the rooms.
The first is a cramped storeroom containing numerous shelves holding small boxes, crates, and barrels, some empty, some full of water. The boxes mostly consist of preserved foodstuffs, and other mundane supplies. But there's at least some decent stuff in here: 10 vials of alchemist’s fire, 12 tanglefoot bags, a barrel of caltrops, and a box of 40 tindertwigs.
The next room is an armory. Several suits of chainmail armor lie in a neatly organized stack on the floor, while nearby weapon racks hold halberds and crossbows. A large chest sits near the north wall.
There are four suits of masterwork chainmail, five masterwork halberds, and three masterwork heavy crossbows. A dozen ballista bolts lean against the wall. The chest contains 200 crossbow bolts and, wrapped in a black velvet cloth, seven bolts that glow with an aura. Rosebud also locates a secret door in the northeast wall of this room.
The final room, from where the Slithering Trackers had emerged, is bare and empty—even the dust seems to be missing. The walls, the floor, and even the ceiling are polished smooth.
"You're gonna be our bodyguard?" Nausp sighs nervously. "But.. does that mean we're gonna have to follow you around and fight through? No way, I'm getting out of here!" He looks as though he might bolt for the doors at any moment.
"Sorry friend, but we don't know anything. They brought us through the front gates and right into this room. Haven't seen anything since," Perren replies, when asked for intel. "Nausp, we can hide in the storeroom for a while, okay? Stuff ourselves into some barrels!"
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Victor checks each door, one at a time, listening behind them. He doesn't hear anything coming from the first and second doors he comes across, though he does feel the air become humid as he approaches the third. The next one is actually wide open, and inside, a set of six none-too-comfortable-looking double bunks fill this room. Numerous footlockers sit at the base of each bunk—nearly two dozen in all.
"Well, at least you'll be fed. We'll make sure to come back here once we're ready to run." The Carnelian Signet directs them to the store room.
"...more screaming bolts. Might be useful for archery."
Looking at the smooth room upsets her more than it should have. This room isn't natural, whatever it is.
"Yes, seems like the wisest course of action," Morvena agrees as the halflings finally decide that they can stomach hiding in the storeroom for a time. "Hopefully our scout will return with some manner of news very shortly..."
Geoffrey waves the halflings on into the storeroom, "Don't worry my friends. We will come back for you."
As he looks at the contents of both the storeroom and the armory he gives a low whistle here, "Well these soldiers were well equipped I must say...Would be nice if we could bring some of these supplies and weapons to our fellows back home!"
"Found a secret door, folks." Rosebud points to the northeast corner of the room. "Shall we check it out now, or wait for Victor?"
Victor, now with the face of one of the deceased guards, comes back down the stairs "All's quiet up there, but I didn't go snooping around too much. Figured it would be easier for everyone if we just stuck together. Lots more doors and a sleeping quarters room."
He looks over at the halflings and gives them a slightly off putting smile. "Everyone doing ok? Best you rest up and eat well, its a long walk home."
He grabs up an alchemist fire and a couple tangle foot bags and heads over to check out the secret staircase "Not quite sure I'm up for heading down there just yet, we don't want to get trapped in anywhere... I'm sure there's plenty above to keep us busy, at least until we know what's here."
"Secret staircase might lead to the anvil. But the commander may be upstairs. Let's go upstairs first."
"I'm with Issil here. Let's see what the commander knows about this Anvil."
"Upstairs it is," Morvena nods. "And I agree, it would probably be wise to secure the rest of the keep proper before investigating secret areas anyway."
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Rosebud flies overhead, near the front of the team, and as close to the ceiling as she can.
"I can help as a scout. My darkvision, low-light vision, and my spell-like abilities to detect evil and to detect magic are constant."
She glances at Victor with a squint. And I can keep an eye on our perennial trouble-maker with the sticky fingers.
"Pava has been keeping watch outside but hasn't given me any indication that anything is amiss...well, nothing more than expected, given the ruckus we just made."
Morvena considers the ramifications of moving deeper into the keep and then nods to herself.
"I think I will call her back to me now - I get uneasy when there is too much distance between us and I believe she feels similarly."
"Maybe Pava can keep an eye on Nausp and his friends," Geoffrey suggests. "I would hate to see anything happen to them."
Plus if one of them turns traitor we need to know of it...
"Mmm...I suppose she could..."
She glances at Victor with a squint. And I can keep an eye on our perennial trouble-maker with the sticky fingers.
Victor knows when he's being mentally chastised. He responds in-kind with a very uncouth hand gesture of his own before making his way back upstairs leading the others and investigating the first closed door they come to.
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While the party had been speaking with the halflings, Pava noticed three more guards on the battlements, near the ballistas, disappear into one of the rooms of the Keep.
Victor listens behind the next door, while Rosebud keeps her eyes glowing in search of auras. Once the two are sure nothing is amiss, Victor pushes open the door to see... A kitchen. It has a small table for preparing food, a basin for holding water, and several bins containing utensils and plates. Curiously, there are no food supplies or even a stove in evidence.
Standing in the room is a dour and severe looking man, though a sparkle in his eyes suggests that he may be more than human.
He absently looks up from a table, and quietly speaks to Victor disguised as a soldier. "Hmm? It is not yet dinner time. Please come back later."
"A janni, the weakest of geniekind," Rosebud whispers to the team.
"Righty-o." Rosebud is ready to explore elsewhere.
As the group begins to make their way into some of the other rooms, Morvena coughs to get everyone's attention. "By the way, Pava noticed three other guards outside earlier, near the ballistae, who then disappeared into the keep. So there are certainly other hostiles lurking about."
When the group stumbles across the janni, she blinks but has no immediate objections to continuing the group's explorations.
"Hmm. I wonder if he is contractually bound here? If so, it might be to our advantage to slip back in and speak with him once we have secured more of this level."
The Carnelian Signet raises a curious eyebrow. "For your sake, I hope you have an early evening. Prepare for an exciting trip!"
The intent behind her message is clear: you may have to leave this keep soon.
Geoffrey, lurking behind the disguised Victor, nods at the janni politely. As the group moves onwards he murmurs to the others, "Not sure I trust him here. He may just point us out to the other guards."
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"You don't trust anyone though," Morvena can't help but point out. "Not that a healthy dose of caution is a bad thing by any means, of course. It is always good to keep one's mind open to all possibilities."
"Just checkin' in on the menu, maybe snag a few snacks..." He smiles and eyeballs the room for anything visible then shrugs on moves on "Maybe somethin' spicy be great!" He adds as he shuts the door.
He continues on his guided 'tour', with the door in front of him, hopefully while eating some fresh and FREE snacks!