"Okay okay OKAY! LET'S DO THIS!" Zoisa barks happily.
She looks over the others.
"Hmm...Any of us better at scouting than me? Rolly, maybe? Wanna go first and see what's what in there? Or, we could have Lady Battering-Ram take point with my dancing lights to guide her way, make sure our toughest fighter's right at the front to slice and dice any gobbers or gnolies?"
She raises her hands a bit, clearly indecisive on what'd be the better tactic.
Link to map is at top of page.
"Follow me, my friends!", Fawziya says, drawing her blade with one hand and unfurling a yellow and black banner with crossed scimitars upon its field. "Unto glory!" She advances upon the monastery's entry, ready to face whatever lies within.
There doesn't seem to be any response to Reuleaux slight blunder, and Fawziya moves up to an entrance.
Zoisa follows Fawziya and casts her dancing lights to illuminate her path.
Fawziya grins as the mystical glowing puffballs appear around her, lighting her way as she leads the group into the monastery.
Scrub brush and a light, patchy carpet of weeds invade the monastery through two huge fallen sections of the western wall. The exposed nave beyond is a huge hallway littered with bits of debris ranging from tiny rocks to enormous sections of collapsed masonry. Most of the roof above the long promenade is gone, but several jagged pillars remain.
Seyhannah follows right behind Fawziya, Scimitar in hand. If the dancing lights become to distracting for her natural night vision she will move the edge of the illumination. If the group is moving at a cautious pace, Sey will also attempt to use the shadows to her advantage.
Alem follows along behind the others. He uses his staff as his own personal torch, lighting the gnarled knob at the tip with a simple spell. Kaspar sits perched on Alem's shoulder, his wide eyes roaming about the ruins. Spotting the pillars, the monkey leaps down from his perch to scamper around, climbing a nearby pillar.
Zoisa follows after the gang, keeping the lights dancing.
Zoisa focuses on keeping the lights glittering as she looks about the room, her sharp gnome eyes taking in everything.
Zoisa looks about the rubble and such, but she doesn't spot anything that catches her eye.
From here you see that there are two open entryway's that probably lead to more of the Old Monastery's room areas, or you could approach the Chapel area..
The party makes its way to the Chapel area. A short set of wide ceremonial steps leads down to a cavernous chapel in which the congregants would gather for sermons in happier times. The vibrant orange and red starburst of Sarenrae still stands behind a film of rusted rainwater and dirt along the north wall overlooking the collapsed altar. Between the stairs and the altar stand dozens of old marble benches, many overturned and even more broken into two or more pieces. A wide walkway bisects the pews, leading directly to the raised altar. Here and there a few clumps of the original red carpet along the thoroughfare hang on against rot and neglect.
Above the center of the chapel, dangling about ten feet from the floor, hangs a cluster of gnoll skulls in various stages od decay. Strung together like a ghoulish candelabra of twine and bone, the boulder-sized ornament hangs from the wooden rafters about twenty feet above the ground.
Suddenly.
You all hear a squeaky laugh. Looking up, you can see a small gremlin-like creature (a pugwumpi) and makes a rude gesture in the PC's direction. You then hear a small chorus of cries as other pugwumpis reveal themselves from the rafters.
The Pugwumpis are positioned high above, 20 ft high standing on the rafters.
Initiative Order: Pugwampis, Fawziya, Reuleaux, Seyhannah, Alem, Zoisa
They immediately begin to attack, taunting you as they take their cobbled together bows and start shooting at your party. They take more shots at the ones who look weak, though they avoid attack Reu for some reason.
[/ooc]Players are up![/ooc]
Fawziya hisses as an errant arrow shot strikes her in the arm. "An ambush!", she cries, sheathing her blade and stowing her banner for the moment. "Ready your bows, friends! Bring these beasts to bear!"
"I don't have a bow!" Zoisa exclaims.
"Gah!" Alem cries out in pain as an arrow slices through his robes, leaving a nasty cut along his shoulder. Cursing himself for being so careless, he raises his lighted staff and incants a protective spell. The arcane symbols on the hems of his robe begin to glow gently and the air around Alem wavers as if from a heat shimmer.
"Improvise!", Fawziya shouts in response to Zoisa, snapping her blade neatly back into its sheath.
"Hokay! Watch your heads!"
Zoisa conjures another glob of acid and launches it...not at the pugwampis, but on the rafters they're shooting from!
Most of the Pugwumpis flinch back, as if confused about why one of their revered gnolls would bring a group of prisoners and not let them torture them. Yet, one Pugwumpi's keen eyes spots the tail that Reuleaux had affixed to his behind is bent at an odd angle. He spots a few more areas that are very convincing, but together they point out that this is no gnoll, only a clever disguise.
He shouts at the other Pugwumpis who, after a brief moment, resume their attack, mostly focused on the heretic who dare imitate their gods!
They start cheering as a couple arrows strike the heretic Reu, and make rude gestures with their hands.
Alem watches Zoisa, amused with her ingenuity. "Not some mere addle-brained pesh addict are you, Zoisa!" Raising his free hand, he traces glowing symbols in the air and incants a spell. Motes of ice sparkle in the air around him and a chilly gust of wind sends them flying in the general direction of the pugwampis.
Seyhannah draws her bow and let's loose a shaft at the nearest desert rat. "Carefull not to bring the roof down on top of Zoisa. "
Drawing her bow, Fawziya fires an arrow at the lead desert rat. "Come down here, and face me in honorable combat, you curs!", she shouts as her arrow slams into the crossbeams.
Zoisa's acid eats away at the rafters, and she smiles as she's got the puggies right where she wants them.
"Aim for the rafters and watch your heads!" she says in a low voice to the others.
Alem lets loose a blast of cold energy but his nimble foes scurry out of the way, before blowing a raspberry back at him in humiliating glee. Seyhannah and Fawziya don't have much luck either, their arrows embedding themselves into the rafters causing mad cackles of laughter from the Pugwumpis. Reuleaux, cover blown, hurries to an area where he can hopefully remain out of sight and out of range.
Zoisa shoots a glob of acid that flies up and smacks into the rafters with a loud smack. The PUgwumpis, thinking she's missed as the others have, start cackling at the piss-poor performance you all have put on, not bothering paying attention to the creaking and hissing, followed by cracking and snapping. Before they even know what's going on, they rafters (mold infested and rotted through_ collapse under their weight sending all of the Pugwampis screaming to the ground.
When the debris and dust settle, you find yourselves staring at a pile of dead carcases.
=======================
When you're ready to move on....
Option 1: Option 1 and 2 from previous post.
Option 2 Further into Chapel area
Option 3: Ladder that leads to upper Chapel section (separate from rafters that collapsed.
Zoisa laughs.
"How....unlucky!" she quips.
Seyhannah dances clear of the falling debris and winces a bit at the sight of the broken and bleeding bodies buried under the rotten timber. "Better them than us I say. " She thinks to herself and turns to Zoisa nodding appreciatively. "Unlucky indeed. Don't take out too many of the supports around here though. We don't want the building to fall in on us. " Moving into the rubble, Sey checks the bodies for anything of value. She also considers the ladder to the balcony for a moment. "We should check up here. Make sure no more of those bastards are hiding from us. "
Even Fawziya in her abundant confidence is not prepared for the rafters to come crashing down, killing the devil rats in the fall. However, once the dust clears, and it is evident that the creatures are dead, she turns in amazement to the short woman. "Excellent change in tactics, Zoisa!", she exclaims, shouldering her bow to slap the sorceress on the back in camaraderie. "I shall remember your keen sight and skill with spell in future forays!"
"Sometimes all it takes is a little push to see the big picture!" Zoisa replies, taking a glob of pesh from her pocket and tossing it in her mouth.
She nods at Seyhannah's statement. "I'm quirky, not stupid. I'll save that trick for emergencies. Like if there ARE more of those little bastards hiding up there!"
Much to your dismay, the small puwumpi corpses don't carry enchanted weapons or mounds of gold. You do find some makeshift shortbows and rusted daggers or bits of broken swords where the blades stop at dagger length. Also some skimpy clothes that the creatures were using for clothing.
You can take what you'd like.
Moving on, you all move to the small ladder rested against the side of the chapel inner wall. It looks like its seen better days, but a quick stress test reveals its still quite sturdy.
When you climb up to the second story, you immediately smell the rotting wood and the visuals go the distance to reinforce that. You get the feeling that while the ladder may have been sturdy enough, it doesn't take a high perception to know that you're taking your chances with this floor.
And it only takes one bad 20 ft fall to kill.....
Welp! It looks like the commotion you caused downstairs had alerted the remaining pugwumpis upstairs! From the entrance way to the next room of the 2nd floor, you see a pair of pugwumpis draw shortbows and!
Pause.
You hear them mutter to each other, and gesture to the gnoll that is Reuleaux. They don't seem to be immediately attacking.
Sey checks her footing and draws her bow. Firing off an arrow at the nearest Pugwampis.
Following Seyhannah's lead, Fawziya unshoulders her bow again, and fires at the same pugwampi. "Your god is displeased at your continued existence, creatures! Fall upon your blades in contrition!"
Zoisa conjures another glob of acid and launches it at the pugwampi the other girls are loosing arrows at.
The pugwumpis are taken by surprise and one immediately starts screaming as his face and eventual skull being to melt away from Zoisa glob of acid. Seyhannah does manage to wound another, but the surviving Puwumpi scurries away and out of sight.
You can continue to explore the upstairs area, at risk of plumetting through the rotten floorboards, or go back down and choose one of the past options.
"Is there anything even up here, except [i][larger]cowardly jackal rats?!?[/larger]", Fawziya asks, turning her question into a taunt to the retreating pugwampis.
"On it!" Zoisa chirps, conjuring yet another glob of acid and launching it at the retreating wretch.
Fawziya, you can hear some pattering in the rooms around you, perhaps past the wall through your right. Not sure how many, but definitely more than the one you saw flee.
Reuleau, you are able to tell from your studies and general know how which floorboards are more stable than others. As long as you go first and spend time explaining which areas are safer, everyone has advantage when ending their turn in the Upper Chapel Works area.
You also note that even with your size, small sized creatures still have a chance of stepping on a bad area, but medium-sized humanoids have it much worse, 25% and 75% chance to fall respectively.
"The creatures no doubt have used this as some sort of trap. They are trying to draw us across it. We may want to try an alternative route." Seyhannah says while examining the situation.