"Maybe we just make a new hide out? This place seems pretty useless so far..."
Tobias eyes the dire rat that attacked him, spying it for weak points and vulnerabilities. Then, he lashes out with his thick blade, trying to end the rat once and for all.
Tobias finds a particular weakpoint in one of the mouse's vertebrae. As it overextends, trying to dig its teeth into him, he only needs lash out to put the thing out of its misery... and into a new state thereof. All of the rats are on the ground, panting, and bleeding out slowly.
Now that the action has died down, the surroundings become a little more clear. There aren't any more attacks for now, and whatever people decide to do.. they'll likely be fine within this room.
Glancing around, it becomes clear that the upper floor was very different from this floor. This area contains a multitude of metal bits and pieces as above, but rather than being for animal care, they're for animal slaughter. The 'Desk' that Scath had dropped down on, has several rusty blades and various hacking tools. Beyond the ammonia scent from the rats, is a generous helping of the aroma of very old iron - and blood.
Scath ignores the smells for now, and bounces to the left, over onto the next bit of furniture, and then goes stealthy, sneaking along the wall until he get's to the hole in the door. When he get's within pounce range, he pounces silently, reaching a claw through the hole trying to hit whatever was casting through the door.
Unfortunately, while he is very stealthy, trying to pounce the thing on the other side isn't easy...
Victor fights down the urge to wretch at the foul smell. "Gods above, this is disgusting," he mutters, pulling out a handkerchief and trying to cover his mouth and nose as best her can. "If they were trying to hide the entrance to their little club house, it seems they picked a place no one would want to stick around in and search, didn't they? And we're going to have to search it anyway, aren't we?" He sighs and takes a look around the room.
Brutus whines and backs away, looking up the ladder and whimpering like he wants to leave. Victor kneels and reassuringly pats the dog's head. "It's okay boy. Brutus, Brutus find."
"Ugh..." Misha complains as she rights herself in the greasy mess she finds herself in. She looks up at the ceiling, trying to see if she can spot what it was that caused the goop to fall down on her.
After looking around a bit, she tries to wipe as much of the grease off herself as she can then proceeds down to join the others.
"Well, this isn't exactly what I'd envisioned for a hideout," she says looking around the place vaguely disappointed. "I'd expected something fancier or at least less squalid!"
"Well, conditions like these certainly make for good camouflage," Armon agrees upon reaching the bottom of the ladder. He is quick to lift a boot off the ground, looking at it with barely contained disgust. A little while longer and his stomach would be doing back flips. Nonetheless, he tries his best to stay optimistic. "Some clever planning, on their part."
She's right, though. For an organization called the 'Silver Ravens', I expected their hideout to be located somewhere higher up... and cleaner.
Stupid two legs, complaining about a little smell. Been abandoned for decades, what they expect? Poofy maid in high heels come through and clean every month?
The cat growls in annoyance as he paws at the opening in the door.
Scath can rest assured that whatever was on the other side of the door never saw it coming... but it also wasn't where he expected it to be as he batted at it through the door.
Those searching around the room find nothing of particular value initially, but discover what appears to have either once been a wand of some sort... or is just a stick. The rats have clearly taken their time using it to sharpen their teeth. At one edge of the table Scath had been on, partially obscured by blades, Armon discovers a rusted iron key.
"Well, honestly, all of that is complicated." Rexus says as he finishes climbing down the ladder. He starts to wipe his hand on his shirt, then winces, and leaves it be. "At one point, the Silver Ravens... to the best of my knowledge, were very public figures. But... most of the information on them has been lost. I'm nearly certain that whatever my mother expected to find here was less a place to hide, and more information. Perhaps we'll find a room gilded in precious metals, or perhaps we'll find nothing." he says, frowning suddenly. "Regardless... it would take a great deal of work to turn this into a place to stay. Until we've seen more, I don't even think it would be an operational choice. Many people coming and going through a large abandoned building would be.. unfortunate."
He watches as the cat scratches at the door... and then moves over, tugging it open. Is creaks and groans a little, and he doesn't offer to go through once he's finished giving it a solid pull that dislodges it... but he's not about to stop the cat from prowling.
Make a reflex saving throw! DC 11 (without dex mod!) or prone. If you are prone, it increases your AC against the above attacks, though! Any rocks that land do a whopping 1 subdual damage!
The next scene is absolutely uncontrolled chaos. The gremlins are apparently no longer completely intent upon hiding, one of which is dangling from a chain attached to railing in the ceiling - the apparent source of the... yeah, that's vomit. The two rocks come flying out from the walls (accompanied by a tiny purple-blue face), and it's nearly impossible to tell where the grease trap came from.
What is clear, is that the railing moves over a dark pit towards the back of the room, which houses one of the other gremlins, and the walls are (un?)filled with animal bolt-holes, cracked mortar, and broken bricks. The sent of sewage is pungent in this room.
The gremlin above cackles like a maniac, green spittle flying from its mouth, as it works to shake the chains over the ground, rattling them quite loudly.
Unfortunately the for the little maniacs, they seem intent on celebrating their well-coordinated (if ultimately worthless) attack!
If entering the room, you'll need to make a reflex save to move through the second orange square.
Scath snorts, and rather than deal with the greasy area, he climbs up the wooden doorjamb and grabs onto the ceiling. Then he moves over to the wall where the blue is hiding, growling into the hole.
The ceiling is made of stone, and while bits and pieces are crumbling, dangling from loose rocks covered in cracks doesn't seem like a good (or stable) idea. Luckily, however, the hole-filled walls are not at all difficult to move across for a natural climber. He'd likely prefer wood, but the irregular walls are easy to climb across.
"Well, conditions like these certainly make for good camouflage,"
"If you can explain why you smell like a dying goblin all the time it's great camouflage."
Juniper continues to casually clean, the top side was disgusting enough for her that she'd still stay away from the rest.
Tobias shuffles over to being behind Misha, notices the oil slick...and stands still for just a moment. He doesn't want to go through that oil slick if he doesn't have to, so he just sort of prods Misha. "Should I go or should you go first? Or just kill them with lightning?"
Misha heads down to join the others and walks to the door, looking at the gremlins within the room. As she gets to the door she stops and begins to draw upon her power to gather up a bolt of lightning then unleashes it at the gremlin to Scath's left .
Unfortunately as she's releasing the bolt she sneezes, causing it to veer off erratically.
"Ugh, that was terrible!" she says as she stops to rub her nose, grumbling slightly. "Feel free to head in!" she replies to Tobias, gesturing into the room and stepping aside slightly.
The bolt arcs off into the darkness opposite their little corner, fouled by Misha's wind magic tickling her.
"Let's just clear these things out and get this done," Victor interjects. "I'd rather not stay around this place any longer than I absolutely have to." He whistles for Brutus to follow him then moves carefully into the next room, stepping gingerly across the slime at the entrance.
Unfortunately, Victor and Brutus fall flat, and are forced to gingerly pick themselves back up.
Victor groans as her falls face first onto the floor. "Lovely," he mutters as he rolls sideways out of the pile of slime, leaving him laying on the floor. His hound follows him, scrambling forward on the ground.
The cat gives a rumbling cough when the dog goes down in a yelping tangle.
Hearing the commotion in the room, Armon walks over to get a better look. Peering over Tobias and past Misha's shoulder, he catches a glimpse of the gremlins. This time, he cannot help but to groan with disgust. "More pests. Let's take care of this quickly."
As the others press forward, Rexus says something in a language somewhere between Draconic and Elven. He peeks around the corner, hand splayed wide, and then turns it into a fist. An orb of acid congeals from nothingness and drips down atop the head of the grimple hanging from the chains. "WAGHA WAAAB!" it screaches shrilly, and shakes harder.
All of the other grimples join in with 'Wagha Waabs' in unison.
The furthest gremlin from the group throws another stone from his hidey hole within the collumn he's in, while the one in the pit does the same. Both fly out uselessly. The one hanging from the chains retreats a few feet then throws his stone as well, its face a mix of blood, flesh, and bone. The one that Scath has 'stuck' in its hole disappears into the hole and reappears a few feet away... followed by a loud 'HORK!'. Scath is spared from the projectile, but Victor is covered in what appears to be rat, what is hopefully peas, and a human finger. His stomach turns violently.
Victor manages to climb to his feet, though his stomach rolls and its a struggle not to lose his balance and fall on his face again. Brutus on the other hand, is more than a little displeased to see his partner attacked. He snarls and rushes at the blue gremlin, barking madly.
Tobias sheathes, carefully, his bastard sword and pulls the crossbow off of his back. He squints at the little targets while he tries to line up a shot.
Brutus snaps his maw shut around the tiny creature... and unlike a mouse with a terrier, or a fox with a hound, he's surprised to meet some degree of resistance. All the same, his teeth leave the creature crippled.
Scath attacks the blue one as well...
Misha looks down at the horrid mess in front of her, the grease and remnants of whatever the thing had vomited onto Victor, and frowns. "I think I'll stay right back here for now," she says with a look of disgust.
She places her palms together and begins to channel electricity between them as she pulls them apart, creating a loud crackle and flashes of light as it arcs between her fingers. "Lets see if I can do a better job this time," she says with a grin, eyeing the goblin just beyond Victor's dog. The air smells of ozone and her hair seems to stand on end as she finishes gathering energy for the bolt and unleashes it. Though the bolt seems to follow a random path through the air, this time it has no issues heading in the direction she'd intended it to.
Misha just barely manages to hit the gremlin that's swinging around on its chain... more specifically, she hits the chain he's dangling on, and there's a sizzling and popping sound as he's thrown clear by Misha's unnatural lightning. He thumps down into the hole below. Scath, meanwhile, bats at the barely-exposed head of the creature that had just taken a dog bite to the face... and finishes the job. Isn't it amazing when dogs and cats work together towards their goals?
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"Come now, let us be done with these vermin!" Armon says, his voice thrumming with power. Perhaps too much power, considering how unhelpful he was being otherwise. "Let them plague this abode for no longer!"
Having switched weapons, Tobias takes aim at one of the gremlins and fires a quarrel from his little halfling-sized crossbow, hoping to spear the creature through and end the battle.
As the humans and animals press forward, the gremlins begin to panic. They hadn't expected to take so many casualties so quickly. "WAGHA WUBBA!" cries the furthest, as it retreats into the wall. "Ih!" responds the one in the pit, as it begins to dig through the pit, snatching up various bits of shiny metal, before trying to clamber out on the side opposite Scath. He makes into the wall, but is still at the edge.
A bolt flies through the air, and threads the needle, skewering the little creature inside of the wall. "Wagh... wagh wub... waaagh." comes the response as it tries to drag itself away, silver shirtbuttons clattering to the floor.
The room appears to be the room that was primarily used for cutting up cattle and other creatures. The pit beside Scath is ten feet deep and likely where blood was drained from fresh kills. The room feels old. Pillars stand from floor to ceiling on one side of the room, possibly there to keep the road from caving in on this small area.
You hear a pan flute playing somewhere off in the distance, an etherial tune. You're fairly certain it's coming from the rusted gate to the southeast (once you look). It looks similar to the portcullis above, with a large, thick keyhole.
Scath moves to where the red one disappeared deeper into the wall, and begins sniffing and searching for a way to follow it, if possible. if not, he begins to work his way along the wall, looking for an alternate way.
Victor manages to get his heaving stomach under control and slowly steadies himself. "Now... isn't this interesting. This is much more like what we were looking for. Well, more searching and trying to find hidden passages I guess."
Scath snuffles around the area, finding it to be thoroughly disgusting in many ways. The central area has hundreds of of coins piled amongst the blankets, and there's the silver coat button lying near the body of the gremlin (perhaps there are even more).
The pillar that the Gremlin disappeared into is swiss cheesed with holes that animals and perhaps the gremlins have dug out. It'd be possible to dig in to get it, assuming it was still inside, but it would likely take some effort.
Searching over the area overall doesn't reveal an alternative path beyond this area. The only options are through the rusted gate, and back up the ladder, so far as you're both able to see.
Scath begins to dig at the wall in an area that seems the most stable.
As Scath begins to dig his way into the wall, Rexus takes that as a sign of the coast being clear. The grease slowly dissipates into its ethereal no-longer-existent form, which bids the group to move into the room.
Scath doesn't seem to be making much progress at first, but then there are a few cracking noises, as he manages to bust down a portion of the tunnels to make a wider tunnel. The space is honeycombed, and Scath smells fresh, earthy air coming from a hole slightly above him.
The pan pipes continue to play their song in the southeast, causing Rexus to frown. "It would be rather strange for someone to be down here... amongst all of..." he motions around, "This."
"Given that there were gremlins down here, I'd hardly be surprised if its not some kind of fey creature. There's all sorts of legends about that sort of thing playing music, especially music with magical effects. Or perhaps its some old magical guardian that's been down here watching over the Silver Ravens' hideout ever since they disappeared. It would hardly be the strangest thing in existence."
With the foul little gremlins all dead, Misha looks relieved. "What terrible little creatures!" she exclaims to no one in particular.
She listens to the music that seems to be coming from off in the distance for a moment and then responds to Victor's suggestion that it might be a fey causing it. "Fey creature? Hmmm..." Misha says as she enters the room after the grease vanishes. "One that plays the pipes." She places her finger on her chin and thinks about it for a bit, trying to see if anything comes to mind.
She ponders it as she wanders around the room looking about for anything interesting.
She wanders in the direction of the music and looks at the gate. "Didn't we find another key?" she asks the others absentmindedly.
Looking through the bars, you're certain the music comes from the other side. You can also hear the sloshing of water somewhere off in the darkness to your left.
"Oh, let me just..." Rexus says as his nose turns up at the sight of Victor. With another draconic-elven word, and a wave of his hand, the creature's most effective attack begins to separate from Victor's armor and clothing, taking its time in deep cleaning. While that's going on, he looks to Arm on who had picked up the key in the previous room.
"Thank you kindly," Victor says, more than glad to have the slime cleaned from his clothing.
"No trouble, really." Rexus says as he looks from Armon back towards the trap door in the previous room. "We seem to have dealt with the present threats." he says in a voice loud enough for the woman to hear... but unlikely to carry much further into the dark depths.
Scath grumbles and gives up, and starts digging through the silver coins and other shineys left by the things, seeing if there is anything interesting in the pile.
Then he moves around the room, searching some more...
The dropped shinies are left in a trail down into the pot, which has copper, silver, gold, and a few trophies and their ilk. There are also a few of the lice you've contracted... but there are a lot less than you would expect in a nesting area.
Amongst the rags, you find a few things of interest, and particular disinterest. A child's canine tooth, a velvet shawl torn on one edge with faded embroidery of Calista's symbol (still beautiful, in the light you can make out a glossy honeycomb pattern), a few more silver buttons, a disassembled cuckoo clock... sans the outer box, and several chewed on cigars are amongst the creative's prizes.
Looking through the open space ahead, beyond the iron bars, Scath is able to make out a bit more of the hallway, given the lack of nearby light. The hallway curves off to the left in a steady sweep, with a large, and intentional (obviously built into the architecture, rather than torn down), gap to the left. It smells... wrong. Scath doesn't know the smell, but it burns his sensitive nose slightly to inhale.
The space ahead has bits and pieces of the mortar crumbled and falling away in spaces, leaving gaps in the sides of the sewer tunnels. Small gaps near the ceiling funnel water in from a few feet above, which drains down to the left.
The space behind the gaps in the wall shows unnatural dirt for the area, topsoil mixed with the dry, infertile and rocky dirt, though both are equally packed tight.
Scath chuffs as he walks past the wrought iron door, and sneezes, then he growls at the door.