Noted for future reference.
You can see that there are crude tools in the barn. You know that hacking your way through will cause a lot of noise, but a saw perhaps...
If the tools are available, Kellen will pull a saw from among them and assist in cutting a hole on the far side of the barn to follow the plan of sneaking out.
"At this point, we've left 5 bodies outside and made enough racket that somebody would've noticed. Doubt that setting the barn on fire will make any difference...they are waiting for us to come in there."
"I am starting to run out of spells," Lym warns. "My most impressive ones will affect a large area, and the others are relatively weak... No more summoning spells left, either, more's the pity."
"Well, if you like, we could make our way into the woods, find a secure position, and hole up for the night. Out in the open, where we can surround them, and Shalelu and I have clear fields of fire, we have the advantage."
"If you were a crazy in-bred ogrekin, and you had some prisoners still alive, and you were facing an attack, what would you be doing right now?" She says with some frustration. "Do we want to give THEM a chance to slip away? The Grauls have been a danger in this area for years. Lets not let them of the hook. Pun intended." She says with a wry grin.
"Sounds good to me. Start sawing!"
"I still have most of my spells available, including a few summonings."
"I have spells that can help you in the fight, but not ones that will hurt the enemy, but I'm ready as I ever will be." answers Rhianni, with a face full of concern. She looks to each of the fighters and smiles weakly, yet by the time she has taken in each of the party in turn, her smile shows more confidence. "If as Shalelu says these cowherds are about to turn tail and run. Its a shame we can't have a surprise for them, when they run out the front door." she starts to looks through her collection of scrolls. "Lym, you might be able to make use of this sheet, if you can read it and cast from it, them it will make a hole ready to get these things to fall in." she almost laughs at the thought. "Is it any good?"
"Excellent!" Lym replies, smiling behind her veil. "Tell me if you find a scroll like this again; I'll put it in my book and scribe you a copy whenever you like, funds and time allowing"
There are indeed several saws available to use, and it doesn't tak elong to get a hole big enough to crawl through. Shalelu gives you a nod and a wink as the last person goes through, then she moves a box to block the hole.
A fervent light shines in the elf's eyes as he replies, "No mercy!"
Kellen moves ahead quietly as possible to the back of the house - looking for a possible entrance aside from the front doors.
Lym follows out of the barn, but waits at a distance rather than risking her lack of stealth ruining the approach.
Tomaru waits with Lym to get the ok to move up.
Praxim scans the back of the house for evil.
@Praxim: Evil isn't the word for it...
This old, gray building is as decrepit as the barn. It slumps drunkenly at the edge of the forest, and moss covers its northern face.
The house has many windows, but like the barn, they are all boarded over with heavy timbers and thick iron nails, although it’s unclear whether this was done to keep intruders out or imprison whatever things make their home within. Removing them would make quite a bit of noise. There is one door, and that is around front, set on the long porch.
Rickety steps crawl up to a porch covered by a huge eave held aloft by thick pillars of pine. These timbers are decorated with crude carvings of manticores impaling children with their tail spikes and women being ripped apart by wolves. The carvings look like a child’s work, but the subject matter grows more gruesome and depraved from one depiction to the next. An unsettlingly large rocking chair of lashed wood and bone sways erratically in the breeze at the far end of the porch under a vast menagerie of wind chimes composed of decidedly humanoid bones.
A host of ants march happily away here and there on the porch, many the size of a grown man’s thumbnail. A moth the size of a shovel head clings to the porch ceiling, watching the party with alien eyes. The scent of bad meat, urine, sweat, and decay wafts now and then from between the cracks in the boarded-up windows.
The house itself...is silent.
Kellen quietly moves to the door - looking for potential traps along the way and checking it. The quiet makes him wary, although he can't help but smirk recalling the racket Lym's chattering monkeys made earlier by comparison.
Lym whispers a Word and makes a sign.
"There is no way she doesn't know we're here after all that noise," she whispers to Praxim and Tomaru. "She is waiting for us to come in!"
The Wizard frantically waves to Kellen and shakes her head and arms, miming ''
Rhianni stays towards the back, she remains quiet a look of apprehension on her face.
"My grandfather used to say, "if you eat poison, don't forget to lick the dish. I used to think he was just getting old. Now I wonder if he had the right idea." Tomaru goes to the back door.
Kellen stiffens and stops short, just before he steps on to the porch.
"My grandfather used to say, "if you eat poison, don't forget to lick the dish. I used to think he was just getting old. Now I wonder if he had the right idea." Tomaru goes to the back door.
No back door.
Thordak keeps an eye on the area around the rogue, remaining wary of any unwanted company.
Kellen - still quiet as possible - waves to indicate 'stop' to anyone following behind or watching. He seems to be studying the porch area intensively and works on disabling the porch trap.
Rhianni looks on fascinated by Kellen's disabling of the mechanics of the device.
Its a crude, but nasty. The saw blades are set to cut through the toes and/or feet of multiple targets standing on the porch. With a deft snip and cut wire, Kellen disarms the trap.
Slight relief is visible in the man's shoulders as Kellen waves the others forward. He then proceeds to check the door itself to see if it is also trapped and/or locked.
Kellen steps cautiously to the door, then stops again. There is another trap, this one attached to the door itself! There is another crude contraption, hidden in the debris and bones under the porch eaves.
To anyone watching him, Kellen seems to mutter to himself and again raises his arm to indicate danger. He goes to work on the door, hoping to deactivate the door trap.
There's a
-click-
then a
-SPRONG!-
and a large rusty rack, festooned with spikes, comes swinging down from the eaves. Kellen manages to throw himself flat just in time to avoid it.
Thordak moves toward the rogue but still keeps a fair distance. As the trap springs and Kellen manages to just barely avoid it, "Whoa, crap! Watch yourself, Kellen! That's a nasty piece of work, that is. Stinkin' ogres. Man I hate 'em."
Tomaru instinctively takes a step closer to Kellen. "Are you okay?" He goes all the way up to inspect his friend.
Rhianni lets out a gasp, as she watches the trap get released, remembering the time she too was nearly killed by the statues that slammed their axes into her, leaving her close to death. "B..B..Be careful, iss it s..s...safe now!"
Kellen rolls away from the trap and looks at the others with a weird grin of relief. "I think that clears the way for now. I'm alright, thanks."
Without much preamble, the man goes to check the door to see if it is locked.
"Good. I'll say a little prayer all the same." Bit of Luck for your next roll.
Lym growls under her breath.
"I am more than tempted to just blast the door open and set that miserable place on fire," she mutters.
As he fiddles with the door, Kellen nods thanks at Tomaru. He doesn't take his eyes off the door as responds to Lym: "You won't get much complaint from me, Wizardess. Make things easier...'cept we'd probably cook any captives like so much meat if they're in any condition like those in the barn."
"For a minute there I was for the lass's idea of burning the place down too. Didn't even think they could have captives with 'em. At least, ones that might still be breathin'."
Didn't even think they could have captives with 'em. At least, ones that might still be breathin'."
Kellen shrugs: "Just a thought...I could be wrong and there ain't nothing but ogres in there. Do we want to chance it?"
"No. We have to try and rescue all that we can."
The door appears to be clear of further traps. It is not locked.
Kellen draws his sword and carefully pushes the door open to see what he finds.
Rhianni holds her breath as the door opens.
A mangy bearskin rug lies before a tremendous hearth set into the wall, its pained visage still snarling at whatever cruel hunter took its life. A huge couch haphazardly upholstered in animal hide and human flesh, replete with a collection of talons, monstrous hairy spider’s legs, fox heads, and human hands and feet, sits to the west.
Kellen looks in. Something is not right with the floor in front of the massive sofa...