Vexras adds, his voice bright and light with enjoyment, ”Indeed, it is as Arryn says. This is the third fort we have come to purge of squatters, though it is the first to still have hobgoblins present. Here you have Arryn, the fiery redhead is Aramis, our winsome dwarf is Garrivek, this chiseled one there is Violet and I am Vexras. We are at your humble service, my friends.”
Aramis approaches the prisoners and inspects them for wounds. "Are you hurt?"
"We were both neophytes," the man explains, introducing himself as Ageep, "rangers in training."
The woman, Milla, rubs her wrists and ankles as Arryn removes the shackles, flashing him a look of gratitude. "They caught us when they attacked and enslaved us. We've been cooking and cleaning ever since!"
Both deny any injuries.
"We could use some food -- they didn't feed us much -- but if you're here to get rid of the hobgoblins, we're ready to help!" Milla adds, though it's not clear how much help they could be in their present circumstances. They seem marginally better off than Cirieo in the previous fort, but not by a lot.
”You can tell us how many you’ve seen and anything you know about where they’re staying and their habits. We killed two outside with the birds and the four in here.”
Vexras ticks off finger by finger, ”We’ve dealt with trolls, trolls smart enough to use magic, that was a surprising twist, believe you me, rabid redcaps, treacherous traps, ghastly golems,” he shudders at the memory of the strange wooden constructs, ”and now these heinous hobgoblins and what looked to be their lieutenant. Unless they’ve got a dragon or two in their back pocket, they could hardly prove a match for us.” He chuckles, hoping his theatrical confidence will buoy the spirits of Ageep and Milla.
Aramis gestures pulls out some of their rations and a waterskin each and hands it to Ageep and Milla, then digs into their extra equipment. "What do you need?"
They happily accept longswords, longbows and studded leather armor, quickly gearing up. It's clear they're familiar with both weapons and armor, though they certainly move more tentatively and with less experience than all of you.
"Um, you know there's a dragon here, right?" Ageep responds to Vexras. [b]"It leaves for three days every couple of weeks, but it's here now."
Milla nods.
"And there are more hobgoblins! Commander Salokut, Jang and her bodyguards, and her cat. And a troll too, all in the tower. They've got some other survivors prisoner in there too. Plus there's the goblin chaplain and her pet in the old forge," she adds, gesturing across the path from the building you're in. "I'm not sure what it is, but I think it's vicious! She always puts a leather hood over its heads before anyone goes in."
Vexras balks at the news, ”They have a dragon? Truly?” He blinks a few times then shrugs with a grin and a glance to his allies, ”Well, this fort may prove to be a challenge after all. An actual dragon. Ha!”
Violet looks longingly at the cloak.
"If no one else needs that, I wouldn't mind..."
She thinks...
"A pet with head...that wears a hood...that doesn't sound good."
”Well, it seems we have a veritable cornucopia of options before us! So, which dreadful set of foes do we wish to tackle first, hmm? I had, of course, only been joking about a dragon, so... ah, perhaps we save that particular nasty for last, yes?”
Violet nods in agreement. "And we don't want any of the others joining in when we do take it on. I guess that means we deal with the hooded pet now before we go up the tower?"
Arryn nods agreement. "Hooded pets before dragons, as my mama always used to say."
"Your mama had very specific advice."
"Always. Too bad I never took any of it before now."
"Probably wouldn't be out here about to fight a dragon if I had," he mutters not softly enough.
Your plan set, you move across the way, ready to enter the building.
Arryn will be invisible. He’ll place the two rescued folks as look-outs, hiding them around corners as best he can. Then he’ll check the doorway to the old forge for traps and sounds.
Violet will also check for traps. When she gets the signal from everyone, she'll open the door.
There appear to be no traps on the door, and no sound from inside. Violet opens it, revealing an alcove that you'll have to enter to see the rest of the room.
Before Violet can slip forward, Vexras puts a hand on her shoulder and quietly pulls her back. ”Let Arryn see what he can see, my friend. Though, let us be ready to rush in should he cry out.”
Arryn nods invisibly then sticks his invisible head carefully through the opening, following it with the rest of his body to get a look around the alcove.
Aramis stands ready to head inside, holding her nearly spent wand of magic missile in one hand.
Arryn sneaks his way into the alcove, where he's hit by a wave of heat. Broken blades and rent breastplates—all in desperate need of repair—lie in orderly stacks near a warm, glowing forge. A mostly disassembled suit of plate barding stands on two sawhorses in the western corner of the room. Another door exits this room to the northeast.
But his attention is instead drawn to a tall, brawny goblin hiding (poorly) behind a stack of barrels to the east. He then glances over at the anvil in the center of a room, behind which he sees a squat, reptilian monster with eight legs, bony spurs jutting from its back, and eyes that glow with pale green fire.
You feel your limbs begin to stiffen as you meet the creature's gaze, and realize you were almost petrified!
Arryn will slip back out and whisper a description of what he saw inside, including the lizard beast.
”Well, it certainly sounds like they are waiting for us and I would hate to disappoint our hosts. No other exterior doors or windows though? Hmm, a shame.” He shrugs, then grins. ”I suppose our only option is to rush in and overwhelm them in a stunning display of bravery and derring-do, no?”
Violet nods and draws her blade.
”The creature in there is dangerous. I can’t be sure, but I think it almost turned me to stone just by looking at it. We need to find a way to fight it without looking at it. I could make some noise behind it, maybe get it to turn around so we can storm the forge and hit it from behind? Might also trick the goblin to look that way for an instant and solve us of having to fight it.”
"I think I could try to fight it with my eyes closed, but I'd need to get next to it. I don't suppose any of you can...un-stone people?"
”Perhaps we could find another way into the building and be dealing with this goblin and the statue-making lizard after the rest of the building is secure, no? I mean, while I think I would make a rather striking statue, I still would very much like to not be one.”
"I can put you right in front of it, if you're willing to trust me," Arryn whispers. "It's hiding behind a massive anvil. I can plunk you down right on top of that. The rest of you move around through the garden. I'll try to open that door from here and you can range attack the goblin through it without having to step inside."
Arryn first, invisibly from the alcove but not far enough in that he can see anything more than the anvil, uses his ranged Disable Device to unlock the garden door and throw it open. With the goblin presumably distracted, Arryn will use his telekinetic haul to lift Violet up to the ceiling, along under the rafters, and then down onto the anvil (or if the thing isn't really as wide as it looks on the map, to the immediate east of the creature.
Violet agrees with only mild trepidation.
Aramis realizes what Arryn must be talking about and explains it's a basilisk. It can indeed turn things it looks at to stone. But if a creature petrified in this matter is then coated (not just splashed) with fresh basilisk blood (taken from a basilisk no more than 1 hour dead), it is instantly restored to flesh. Of course, basilisks only have so much blood.
”The two rangers we helped said the goblin had a hood for this basilisk. You didn’t perhaps see it on a hook by the door or the like, did you, Arryn? If it were handy, slipping it on the beast could help.”
"I'd have to look at the creature to do that, and I doubt it would hold still and allow my to hood it, even from a distance."
"I could try to pin it down. But I'd need the hood. Or maybe a cloak would work?"
Did Arryn see the hood anywhere that he could safely look again? If so, that plan sounds even better than letting Violet just go at it alone.
Arryn did not see the hood; there was a lot going on in the room and it would require a little more searching.
Aramis gathers everyone close and channels to try to close any lingering wounds . "I can only do that three more times today," she warns you.
"Oh," she suddenly says, with a sudden realization as she checks to see if she has a wand of healing. "I do have a wand that could create a stinking cloud. I could perhaps use that in there to try to flush them out."
Aramis tends to Violet’s wounds then grants her another bit of protection.
"Throw the stinking cloud in through the garden door after I open it. I'll need to be able to see to get Violet next to the lizard."
Garrivek produces 4 smoke sticks from his satchel, ”These’ll help too.”