As they break camp and prepare to head for the fort, Deylar pulls a small shiny pearl from his pouch, holding it in his hand and focusing with eyes closed. After a few moments the pearl flashes briefly. With a nod of his head the tiefling returns it to his pouch before hitting the trail to get into position.
With the morning starting swiftly off of a grand note, the group goes through the motions. First and foremost, Saruwatori arrives at the front gate with fresh wounds and a number of pelts upon him. The front doors of the fort are languished in rotten limbs and body parts, and it appears that many effigies have been placed along the path to it, and were even visible before the group finally split.
Another issue of note is that a second tower has burned down in the time it took you to arrive, and is as good as reason as any as to why the goblin number is slightly higher than it should be at this time.
Looking up at the ramparts, a series of goblins look down upon you from about 15 feet high, wielding, rather clumsily, overlarged partisans that seem to have been tied together poorly. The front gate is barred to entry, and you can only lightly hear the occasional goblin yip and holler in the distance, but even now they seem to be waking up from the ruckus.
Upon standing a decent distance away from the fort, the goblins train their spears, rather poorly, upon you. The tips are already bloodied, but don't seem as though they're trying to attack you. About 7 goblins line the ramparts, and, of most obvious note, you see a face-painted goblin on the roof. Yellow, and not unlike a bee. In his hand is a rather bulky rapier, but he seems capable with it in both of them, as if a medium sized person were using an Estoc.
----
On the other side of the spectrum, the group has found the cliff face that goes all the way up to the tunnels. A staggering climb, primarily. A slow, yet fetid trickle of brown ooze falls from the steep cliff face, and the lower rocks are stained and slick with whatever foul concoction is coming out of the tubes. Both pipes that lead into the fort, however, are boarded up, albeit somewhat improperly.
Saru waddles towards the gate to get within shouting range of the yellow gate-guard, cups his hands to his mouth, and shouts, "Yellow One! I have tellings to tell!"
Continuing on, he yells "Was ambush, but big strong orc killed us! Me pretended to be dead, and walked up after orc left. Am hurting, and long rest is nice thought! Me go in now, yes?"
Deylar's gaze slowly moves up the climb until it finally rests on the pipe. He slowly shakes his head. "That is the type of climb I was afraid of...."
He looks to Aviz. "Does it look like theres a place to land and work on those boards? Or are you going to have to remove them while hovering?"
The tiefling turns back to the cliff face. "And are you still sure you can get me up there?"
"Looks like it'd be hard to climb with all that slick s&~&." He grins, looking up. "Don't you worry about my job. I'll rip that crap right off and get you up there." Aviz flies up to do just that.
The tiefing smiles as the warrior launches into the air. "Never doubted you for a second."
Confidence aside, Deylar has a look of worry on his face as he watches the strix go to work, his mind running through options for supporting his companion at this distance if any trouble comes up.
The boards come off rather easily, although goblin craftsmanship, while horrific in nature, was actually surprisingly sturdy. The boards take little time to remove and they fall practically soundlessly onto the soft earth below the cliff face. Within, however, a faint red light glows in the distance, and the sound of rhythmic splashing can be heard as well in what little water the sewer pipe can muster.
The Smell is of particular distaste, as well, but nothing too pungent. Handprints and smears are visible throughout what little bit you can see of the sewer pipe, though Aviz is most definitely unable to fly in the 8 foot high roof.
At the front door, Saru sees, of all things, the metal-mouthed goblin. At least, what can only be described as one. The best way to put it is as if he'd been muzzled, or his lower jaw had completely been missing before they slapped on shoddy goblin metalwork that you could barely call teeth. The pikemen stepped back, though at a gesture, they allowed the door to completely open. Barely able to understand him, however, you hear; "Cominthfool" The sound is... quite funny, actually, although a goblin to the left of him that snickered immediately found it's nose broken.
Aviz gives the pipe a look over, then dives back down. "It's not too bad, smells bad but could be worse. Up we go." Aviz grabs Deylar, wrapping his strong arms around the tiefling's torso and ascending into the air.
Stepping into the fort, Saru decides to just take a quick look around whatever he thinks are "common" areas. He won't go, just yet, anywhere that it seems he's even remotely unwanted, but other than that he's going to waddle around peeking at how things are.
Deylar watches Aviz goes to work on the boards, and as the Strix begins his decent the tielfing casts a minor cantrip to feel the comforting touch of Nethys. He is quite glad he did as he is lifted up into the air for the short flight to the entrance. He does his best to get over the indignity of being carried like a sack of potatoes once his feet are firmly back on the ground but the smell hits him hard, which surprises him more than anything else considering some of the things he's seen over the years. He does his best to use some minor magics to make the stench less distracting.
Another cantrip connects the group for easier and somewhat stealthy communication, then Deylar peers into the darkness as they prepare to move into the tunnels.
48/48 HP
Heavenly Fire; 1 used, 8 remaining
Divine Vessel; 1 used, 8 remaining
Blast Rune; 0 used, 8 remaining
Channels; 0 used, 6 remaining
Bonded Item; 0 cast, 1 remaining
Pearl of Power; 1 used, 0 remaining
Cleric Spells
0-level (DC15): Detect Magic, Guidance, Resistance, Stabilize
1-level (DC16): Bless, Bless, Obscuring Mist, Moment of Greatness, Stone Shield, True Strike(dom)
2-level (DC17): Bull's Strength, Burst of Radiance, Grace, Gust of Wind (dom)
3-level (DC17): Prayer, Stone Shape, Call Lightning (dom)
Sorcerer Spells
0-level: unlimited
1-level: 0 used, 5 remaining
From below Rova looks about, somewhat squirming in a way as he looks up the massive rock cliff and the others entering the sewer. Within, Deylar hears what could only be described as mumbling and, turning the corner to peer around it, sees something rather hideous.
A goblin, with a mutant third arm and a massive left eyeball with bulging muscles sits on stairs that exit the sewer, and within his massive left hand wields a sickly red glowing longsword that seems too big for a normal goblin, made of brittle crystal. The stairs he's sitting on seem to be covered in a rug of sort, but are fouled at the end with sewage. The goblin does not appear to have noticed you as it's currently enamored in chewing on it's sword.
Above ground, Saru sees that the goblins are waking up in a rather massive courtyard. Some even slept flat on the ground but are waking up groggily. In the courtyard there are 5 particular places of note. The 3 doors that lead to the various towers, as well as what you can only imagine is a commons house that is about 100 feet in length. The other area is a stable with a barbed wire fence around it where the horses aren't even visible.
The goblin does not appear to have noticed you as it's currently enamored in chewing on it's sword.
Saru's next move is to go check out the stablery. He wants to see what kind of animals the goblins have. Animals are a great source of chaos.
Walking to the Stablery is a quick way to realize that the goblins care little about the animals. Generally the majority, or rather, all, of the animals are dead. Completely stripped horse skeletons lie about the yard in pieces near the stable as they were killed and eaten to fill the slowly intensifying hunger of the growing goblins.
All but one, however. There's a single horse in the back that, if it were well fed, seems as though it would be a particular monster of a mammal.
Saru sighs and heads for the tower that he's supposed to set fire. He might as well take a quick look before he does anything.
"So much for it not being guarded. That thing does not look like it'll go down easily......."
Deylar makes sure Aviz notices the freakish goblin. "Want to try and sneak up on him? Or lure him this way??"
Saruwatari makes it to the doors of the tower, before someone makes it a point to grab him by his hip. Standing at your chest, or rather, your eye-level in realistic means, is the previous metal toothed goblin, followed closely by 1 other runt of the litter. Through garbled common, he speaks to ya. "Wherreyugoink?"he asks through what can only be described as a poor excuse for a grin. "Staaaahp dallyink yeh blubberink fooal"
He points towards the long building on the other side, and grimaces. "Yeh've gaht palts ight?" he asks, looking on your side.
With Rova at the top as well, Deylar steps back toward the entrance to put some space between them and the strange goblin.
"think we can draw him toward us a bit? I can leave him a bit of a surprise if he gets too close then we can jump him, hopefully quietly enough to not attract any more attention .... Any better ideas?"
Aviz gives Deylar a look to be quiet while he goes down and gets Rova.
With the help of the winged fighter, Rova joins his guildmates at the tunnel entrance. He whispers "Let's gut that little gobby and take his red sword."
"A've git the pelts, yeh." replies Saru. "Ah'll jist go put 'em in the place where the pelts go."
Saru nods and then starts waddling over to the long building that the metal-toothed goblin gestured at.
Quickly scoping out the right spot, Deylar lays out his plan to Rova and Aviz.
"You two hide in the shadows on opposite sides of the hallway at this corner. I will lay a magical trap on the floor, then get his attention. When he comes this way to investigate, he gets blasted by the trap. It probably will not be strong enough to take him down, so when he's distracted you two take him down."
Nodding at the cleric, Rova whispers "Yes. Most of my kind despises hiding, but Rova understands that destruction sometimes comes from the dark of the void."
Taking another quick moment to survey the hallway again, Deylar directs Rova and Aviz into two hiding spots that are out of sight from the goblin's direction but are mere steps away from the spot he will trap.
Once everything is ready, the tiefling drops to one knee and begins tracing his finger along the bare stone. His finger crackles with a blue spark as it moves but leaves no visible marks on the floor. Satisfied that the work is complete the priest grabs a nearby stone as he stands up. He takes a few steps back from the rune before looking to both his companions to check if they are ready.
Deylar smiles as he takes the stone and knocks on the wall in an irregular, obviously not natural pattern.
Aviz nods, getting ready to ambush the creature.
As the unnatural knocking echoes throughout the sewer, the strange goblin begins to look around, somewhat entranced, but more alerted by the strange noise. "Sometin' knockin' on the pipes... Me see!" he says as he stands up to his full, eerie 5 foot hunchback height. "Sometin knockin... Sometin knockin...." is all he says as he turns the corner.
It's at this point that he plants his foot firmly on the blast rune.
With the alerting, painful jolt, he has very little trouble noticing the group around the corner as they start upon him, but as you guys enter the surprise round his muscles swell with a surprising, yet elemental fury.
With a quick laugh at the little Gob's swelling puny muscles, Rova growls and flexs his own more substantial muscles.
Ready to attack as the Gob walked onto the rune, Rova runs up to the little blighter and attacks with a vicious thrust.
The long-building is surprisingly intimidating as Saruwatari ventures over towards it. A prominent, yet more invasive stench than what he's used to on the ground level strikes out from whatever might be behind it's shoddy, ill-repaired front door. The building was previously made for medium sized races and still is, but the goblins have seen fit to carve a shorter door hole beside the front door for ease of access and someone of a smaller size could easily wade through.
Ironically enough, the front door also seems to be locked, but only shoddily as there happen to be a patchwork of chains around the door. A sign lays across the door that simply says "No Big Falk!"
Below the ground, however, the strange lumbering goblin does what he's able to against Rova, who'd lashed out at him with a surprising reverence and had landed a clean blow along the beast's collar. In kind, it respawns with it's own attempt at sharing.
...
The Goblin is very obviously not a pushover, and strikes with just as much force as the hulking Orc had, if not more.
18/-
Aviz is shocked at the accuracy and brutality of the goblin's blow, quickly retaliating to end the threat as soon as possible. He sweeps out the goblins legs, then hacks at him as he falls.
After sustaining a vicious blow, Rova responds with ravaging attacks
As his companions engage the strange goblin, the two priorities on Deylar's mind are ending the battle without attracting the attention of others and conserving resources for the long crawl through the fort. Taking a few steps back to make sure the others have room to fight the beast Deylar points a finger and utters a string of arcane words. With a high pitched whistling sound a beam of black energy streaks toward the goblin and strikes it unerringly in the chest.
Heavenly Fire; 1 used, 7 remaining
Divine Vessel; 1 used, 7 remaining
Blast Rune; 1 used, 7 remaining
Channels; 0 used, 6 remaining
Bonded Item; 0 cast, 1 remaining
Spells
0-level (DC15): Detect Magic, Guidance, Resistance, Stabilize
1-level (DC16): Bless, Bless, Obscuring Mist, Moment of Greatness, Stone Shield, True Strike(dom)
2-level (DC17): Bull's Strength, Burst of Radiance, Grace, Gust of Wind (dom)
3-level (DC17): Prayer, Stone Shape, Call Lightning (dom)
Sorc 1-level: 1 used, 4 remaining
As the goblin lays there from it's very recent trip, the black tendrils seep into his stomach, although, he doesn't really seem the care. He does, however, not give up and stands swiftly back to his feet. However, it's not swift enough to avoid the opportunity of those that might attack him.
25/- Not Bloodied
Rova Cleaves down with a falcata.
As the AoO's pass, the goblin recoils, and falls to the ground limp as the Falcata from Rova falls firmly into into it's neck, cleaving it's lithe, skinny neck from the rest of it's body. Rolling aside, the body stays on the cold wet ground as the severed head rolls into the ruined water below.
On the ground lay the shimmering sword. Unfortunately the rest of his equipment seems to be of little value.
75/74
Saru cautiously strides into the longhouse, pelts slung across his shoulder and proceeding head-first, staggering around in goblinlike style. He keeps a nose out for danger but otherwise would like nothing more than to dump the pelts and get to work.
Aviz wipes off his blade. "Onward."
Rova bends down and picks up the sword. Nodding in agreement to Aviz.
Entering the house is met with a superfluous sinking sensation as you look down the hall itself. Row upon row of desecrated beds lined with hay and filth for 30 feet, 6 in total, each with a goblin resting their head in it. Looking to your left as you enter, you notice what can only be described as a shuddering mass of underfed leather; a Goblin Dog, currently asleep in a corner on the floor.
Everything in this room, presently, is asleep, but just gently placing your foot in the room is enough to know that there's something under the floor, though not where you're particularly standing. The planks seem to creak, if only a little, but impose a -2 penalty on stealth checks.
---
Beneath, however, the other group quickly collects what little belongings the goblin had. The sword is of questionable make and seems rather fragile, actually. You find also, among his belongings, a small very-used wand made from a goblin's bony forearm, which also seems rather easy to break.
Aviz stores the wand and the sword, knowing full well that there could be magic in both of them. He turns to Rova, gesturing farther down the tunnel. "Ladies first." He grins, brandishing his fauchard. As an experienced warrior, Rova knows that Aviz is just being effective since he can stab from behind Rova with his reach weapon.
Saru creeps around the longhouse, trying to be quiet, towards the center of the place. He dumps the furs in the center of the room and continues to creep around, looking for a few things.
First on his list is some sort of trapdoor - he'd like to at least check what's underneath the floor.
Second on his list is something to block the Small-sized entrance with. A crate, some boards. Even some caltrops, or a wire and some pitons would do. If he doesn't find them, he'll go to look for a length of wire (twenty feet or more would be ideal) and at least six pitons. (by that, I mean Saru leaves the longhouse to scout around the campsite proper)
Deylar gives a grim smile at the stryx's humor considering how tough that goblin was. If they are all that much worse than a normal goblin we are going to be in trouble.
The tiefling takes up position behind the warriors as they begin to move forward into the fort.
Aviz thinks again, then steps behind Deylar and watches their backs.