-- pass
Despite the horrendous smell in the room, Malan is able to keep his stomach in check.
Next Up: Melon, Troglodytes, Tevyn, Corinna (subject to delayed action), Malan.
Gilfroy brings up his crossbow, shooting at the icky thing in T34.
Attack:
Damage:
Ah, I thought he could see through the open doors. In that case, he forgoes the massive damage roll, and gives Tevyn a guidance spell.
Gilfroy steps forward and touches Tevyn.
Next Up: Troglodytes, Tevyn, Corinna (subject to delayed action), Malan, Gilfroy.
Melon continues her momentum by leaping slightly against the wall and kick-off to land on the table. She flicks a finger at the eyes of the right-most troglodyte to blind it temporarily.
#1 cries out as Melon pokes its eyes. It raises its hands to its eyes reflexively. Although too late to stop her blow, it rubs at its eyes, trying to focus again, then stands up, its eyes bloodshot.
#2 leaps to its feet as well and claws at Melon.
-- miss
Next Up: Attack of Opportunity for Tevyn, Corinna (subject to delayed action), Malan, Gilfroy, Melon, Troglodytes.
Melon's foot comes down from a hard swivel, the heel of her foot driving a crushing blow onto the collarbone of the creature.
Melon delivers a crushing blow to #1 in response to its standing up. It's heavily damaged by the attack.
Tevyn moves up a little closer to get a better shot , bracing himself against the horrible smell. He raises his bow again and fires.
-- hit
The arrow lands right in the middle of #1's chest. The troglodyte falls right back over again.
Next Up: Malan, Gilfroy, Melon, Troglodyte, Tevyn.
Everyone seems to be doing fine without her.
Shortbow: arcane pool (+1), fire into melee
to hit damage
Malan's arrow hits the remaining troglodyte in the arm.
Next Up: Melon, Troglodyte, Tevyn, Corinna (subject to delayed action), Malan.
Gilfroy moves to AA36 and unloads his crossbow into the right trog.
Attack:
Melon's left hand snakes out from under her guard, striking with two fingers underneath the troglodyte's armpit - the scales are a bit softer there - allowing the fingers to penetrate and puncture the lung.
Gilfroy moves to AA36 and unloads his crossbow into the right trog.
Gilfroy's bolt lodges into the table, dangerously close to Melon's feet.
Melon knocks the bolt aside as she attacks the remaining troglodyte. It's all over in a flash as the thing goes down, the only sound that of its head hitting the side of the table as it falls.
"Good job," Corinna calls with relief, still not entering the smelly room. "Anything interesting in there?"
Melon swiftly rummages through the room. "I'll tell you in a moment. But you'll have to come in here if we're going to move on to over there or there," she points to the doors.
Malan listens at the door (W33).
Perception
With the troglodytes down, the rest of you enter the room. The smell is still bad, but somehow seems to have lessened a little in death. A quick examination of the bodies reveals nothing on them; however, the rest of the room does have a number of old documents and maps scattered about the floor and even one or two on the table. Almost all of them are in terrible shape, ruined beyond ability to read. However, Gilfroy and Tevyn are able to piece together a few not-quite-so-damaged ones to get a bare view of what some of them said.
They indicate that the guards here at the castle believed that the citizens of the village below were rioting, and that several of the buildings had caught on fire. They were preparing to mount an expedition to investigate and bring order, but none of the surviving papers indicate their success or failure.
Listening at the west door, Malan is able to hear the sound of occasional shuffling on the other side.
Corinna hangs back near the doorway, still keeping an eye on the grand hallway in case the oni reappears. "Any ideas which way to go next?" she asks.
Malan takes a couple of steps from the door and whispers, "There's someone in there.", as he points to the door he was listening to.
"Well, they have to have heard all the shouting and scuffling," Corinna points out practically, "and know we're out here. Tell them to open the door and surrender."
Malan shrugs then goes over to the door and knocks on it. "Come on out. Throw your weapons down. We are experienced casters and warriors. Don't try anything or it will mean your end."
"And no tricks with invisibility. We're on to you."
In response to Malan's and Melon's voices, you hear a loud, It's a semi-high-pitched sound, with a harsh edge to it, and definitely seems to be coming from some kind of animal. Following its statement, you hear much louder shuffling and dragging from the other side of the door.
"We may not want to open this door after all." Malan comments back toward Corinna.
"No," Corinna agrees with a shudder. "Why would they keep an animal inside when they had a perfectly good stable outside? Can you imagine the mess in there? At least we can hope it can't open the door."
"Sounds like some sort of lizard," Tevyn says. "A big one, probably."
Corinna shudders. "No, no reason to open that door," she avers, "unless we end up having to. Another door, or the stairs?"
Malan tries the door next to the one with the lizard.
The door creaks open to reveal a flight of stairs descending into darkness. The stench of troglodytes wafts up from below, but it's weakened by distance, so Malan doesn't have to worry about its debilitating effects.
"If there are no objections, I'd prefer clearing this place one level at a time," Melon mentions as she stares down the stairs.
^^^^
"I am in agreement with Melon."
Corinna shows no great disappointment at not immediately descending into the darkness. "Let's shut the door at least, so nothing comes up after us," she shudders. "Maybe push the table in front of it?"
Next door please.
Malan opens the remaining door. Several ruined beds lie in various states of disrepair in this room, their moldy mattresses piled into a filthy heap against the northern wall.
"How many of those birdpeople did we get? How many do you figure can sleep in here?"
"I wouldn't anyone sleeps in here now," Corinna points out, "as the beds are broken and the mattresses in a big moldy pile. Unless they roost?" She looks questioningly to Tevyn.
Tevyn shrugs. "It's possible," he says. He enters the room carefully and inspects the mattresses.
"They've definitely been slept on recently," he says after a moment. "By the stench, I'd guess it was the troglodytes using them." As he lifts up the corner of one mattress, he pauses and stares a moment. "Anyone want a smelly, but otherwise nice, gown?" He pulls out an elegant silk gown with pearls (or perhaps just fake pearls) set around the collar. It looks in surprisingly good condition, especially considering the state of the room and the mattress that was covering it.
Corinna wrinkles her nose and shudders. "Perhaps a costume of some sort? The oni seems to be fond of ... amateur theatrics. Suppose a troglodyte or a corby was unlucky enough to get cast as 'female romantic lead?'"
"The pearls would look good on you, Corinna."
Smirking, Melon adds, "The damsel in distress that needs rescuing from fearsome birdmen? hahaha" This seems to amuse Melon more than the humor of it warrants.
"I think it would look smashing on you, Melon. Try it on!"
"We should go down. If the peasants were revolting and the nobility needed to effect an escape, the secret tunnel would in the dungeon."