Zzorn advances to the far door, and after Roscoe looks it over and shakes his head, the barbarian slams it open. Smooth work surfaces line the southern wall, and a single door to the west leads to a large room filled with broken, empty boxes that have been smashed to bits. A large stove takes up the eastern half of the room. Cupboards along the walls near the stove have been left open, and scattered cookware and crockery litter the ground. A vaguely sour-smelling, beige puddle covers much of the floor near the stove. The same substance is splattered all over the floors and ceiling of the room, and small footprints are clearly visible on the floor and counters.
Two goblins sit propped up back-to-back on the floor, their eyes half-lidded and their bellies grossly extended. Next to them lies a pole some ten feet long or so, with a bucket tied to each end. The same disgusting substance that is spattered around the room in random patches can be seen coating the inside of each of the buckets.
The goblins groan a bit and mutter under their breath as Zzorn looks down upon them in disgust, but they neither move nor attack. It likes like they are quite incapable of even standing up...
Player's Map - Slide #1
Zzorn - 26/26 Drank antitoxin (+5 to Fort saves vs poison for 1 hour)
Ash - 26/26
Chance - 19/19
Roscoe - 19/19
Vornsk - 22/22
Zzorn decides the stuff isn't poisonous, and is likely actually edible - if unappetizing. The tracks within the stuff belong to goblins, likely the ones that are currently sitting on the floor, apparently gorged so full of the stuff that they can't even move around or act normally.
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"That's absolutely disgusting! you little rats ought to learn how to hunt, find tree nuts, berries, and dandelion leaves for salad!" says Zzorn, somehow feeling bad for the goblins' state of being... Turning to the others, he says, "Alright! Let's move along to that other room we didn't go to! Their gluttony will be their own punishment..."
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Ash's half-smile goes into full blown laughter when he sees the goblins. He almost has to use a wall for support at one point. "That...", he mutters between the laughing fits "... that is the - hahaHAha - damnest thing I've seen in my life."
After a while, he calms down, and moves forward to Roscoe. He passes the two goblins and glances over to them. "You think they were force-fed or they ate out of their own will? Nobody is this dumb. Or are they?"
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At Ash's comment Chance looks thoughtful.
Actually, they look a lot like a bloatmage I once tried to treat in Kaer Maga. Maybe someone convinced them that the goo will fill them with magic like those deranged fat wizards.
Speaking of Kaer Maga, if the sight of these goblin idiots is the strangest thing you've ever seen, you should go to Kaer Maga and get a "troll reading" ...
Chance shudders in a strange mix of revulsion and glee.
If you mean literally "damnedest" you must not spend much time in Cheliax - that whole place is damned.
Laughing over the sad state of the two goblins in the kitchen and leaving them there, the Pathfinders retrace their steps into the nasty vat room. Roscoe leads the way and inspects the door quickly, finding no signs of a trap and Zzorn opens it up.
A forty-foot long narrow room is revealed, a row of wooden doors fitted with iron bars are set into the western wall. All of the half dozen doors are open, revealing bunched up piles of filthy rags heaped in what must have once been cells. A single metal door is set in the east wall, this one closed shut.
Player's Map - Slide #1
Zzorn - 26/26 Drank antitoxin (+5 to Fort saves vs poison for 1 hour)
Ash - 26/26
Chance - 19/19
Roscoe - 19/19
Vornsk - 22/22
The heavy door opens into a short hallway that appears to enter into a much larger room. The floor is sand, clumped and stained in places blood. Bones, broken armor and shattered weapons are scattered about the floor and a musty smell permeates the space. Though from your angle you can't see the height of the ceiling, you can see that about fifteen feet up the wall on the opposite side of the chamber is a narrow ledge that seems to run along the perimeter of the wall.
A strange and unsettling buzzing sound emanates from the room, and overlaying that noise is a shrill, grating singing in a foreign tongue that Vornsk recognizes as Goblin. Typical of their race, it seems to glorify maiming of the helpless and innocent, burning, eating and other less savory activities favored by the cruel, tribal humanoids. Whatever or whoever is causing the strange sound and singing so despicably is not in view.
Player's Map - Slide #1
Zzorn - 27/26 Drank antitoxin (+5 to Fort saves vs poison for 1 hour); +1 THP for Virtue spell
Ash - 26/26
Chance - 19/19
Roscoe - 19/19
Vornsk - 22/22
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Vornsk looks over the bead that Chance found earlier.
At the two goblins she stares oddly. "Tis is domain of Wrat, not Glutton."
At the odd metallic sound and the singing, Vornsk decides is is better to be unseen and gain a chance to do some reconissence. "I will look, she says. She casts a spell and a thick shadowy substance covers her body. The substance folds in on itself as if sucked into single small straw, vanishing and taking the woman with it.
(+40?)
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Ash smirks. "I passed through Cheliax once. That was something else, entirely. So many slaves..."
Ash peeks into the next room, and contemplates on the purpose of a sand pit in an underground complex. "You reckon the sand is crushed bones? Why would there be sand here?"
He attempts to sneak into the room silently, and looks around.
Moving into the room with a mix of stealth and boldness, the Pathfinders quickly note that the ceiling of the room is about thirty feet up. Another metal door, similar to the one you just passed through, can be seen standing open to the right on the southern wall. Another passage can be glimpsed on the far side of the chamber, exiting to the east from the balcony level. As Zzorn and Roscoe enter behind the invisible Vornsk and ahead of the sneaking half-orc, the ninja decides that leaping up to the balcony would be problematic.
The source of the strange buzzing is seen immediately as the eyes of the party fall upon a trio of goblins flying through the air on wings that resemble those of mosquitoes. Clad in little more than rags, they have long forked tongues that hang from their gaping mouths like snakes tasting the air. Another goblin stands to the southwest, apparently the source of the discordant singing that nearly hurts the ears. She is clad in leather armor and is armed with a shortbow and a flail, neither of which is in hand at the moment. Her eyes fall upon Zzorn and Roscoe, and Ash presumes he's probably in plain sight in the well-lit chamber as he sneaks into the sand-filled room behind the others.“Ah! Visitors! Let us bid them welcome!” She then begins to sing in a shrieking tone that assaults the ears with physical force!
“As we fled, sure we were dead,
We rolled the boulder before us.
Poor us!
Heads dust!
Yes, we rolled the boulder before us.”
Vornsk and Ash react swiftly as the horrible screeching song begins…
= 25’
= 15’
= 25’
Player's Map - Slide #2
Vornsk - 22/22 [Invisible]
Ash - 26/26
Goblin Skald - Unwounded
Roscoe - 19/19
Zzorn - 26/26 Drank antitoxin (+5 to Fort saves vs poison for 1 hour)
Winged Goblin (Red) – Unwounded [25’ above ground level]
Winged Goblin (Blue) - Unwounded [15’ above ground level]
Winged Goblin (Green) - Unwounded [25’ above ground level]
Chance - 19/19
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Vornsk moves around to the other side of the half-orc and places a hand on the man's shoulder. She releases some of the magic stored in her Hellcat Gauntlets. The half-orc's skin ripples, briefly gaining tiger stripes. His muscles and frame also grow to the helcat's proportions as he becomes a large creature.
"Smash a mosquito?" she whispers.
Vornsk moves to use her magic on Ash, turning the half-orc into a giant! The monk's fist pummels the shrieking goblin, dropping her instantly.
The others react before the flying goblins a chance to wreak their own kind of havoc...
Player's Map - Slide #2
Vornsk - 22/22 *Invisible for 2 more rounds*
Ash - 26/26 *Enlarged (Unarmed damage = 1d8, +2 STR, -2 DEX, -1 to AC and attack for size, 10' reach) for 2 more rounds*
Goblin Skald - Unconscious
Roscoe - 19/19
Zzorn - 26/26 Drank antitoxin (+5 to Fort saves vs poison for 1 hour)
Winged Goblin (Red) – Unwounded [25’ above ground level]
Winged Goblin (Blue) - Unwounded [15’ above ground level]
Winged Goblin (Green) - Unwounded [25’ above ground level]
Chance - 19/19
Roscoe and Zzorn (who attempts a very unconvincing bluff) ready themselves to attack the flying goblins when they come swooping down. However, perhaps unexpectedly, as the skald falls to the ground, the flying goblins shriek and flee through the door on the balcony! Only one of them, the goblin that flew down to open the door in the first place, is a tad slower than the others...
Player's Map - Slide #2
Vornsk - 22/22 *Invisible for 2 more rounds*
Ash - 26/26 *Enlarged (Unarmed damage = 1d8, +2 STR, -2 DEX, -1 to AC and attack for size, 10' reach) for 2 more rounds*
Goblin Skald - Unconscious
Roscoe - 19/19
Zzorn - 26/26 Drank antitoxin (+5 to Fort saves vs poison for 1 hour)
Winged Goblin (Red) – Unwounded *Fled through opened door on balcaony*
Winged Goblin (Blue) - Unwounded *Fled through opened door on balcaony*
Winged Goblin (Green) - Unwounded *10’ above ground level (on balcony in front of open door)*
Chance - 19/19
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Vornks looks at the walls and decides it will be easiest to climb one of the doors, but no time to try. Briefly considering climbing the enlarged Ash, she decides that would be best if he could see her. Retracing her steps she pulls a dagger and looses it at the remaining goblin with green mosquito wings.
,
Chance uses his magic to stabilize the skald without rousing her awake. Vornsk draws a dagger and hurls it at the flying goblin, but it glances off its thick hide harmlessly. Roscoe chucks an alchemist's fire at the goblin, but he misses the mark ( ) - and the bottle shatters against the corner behind it, splattering the goblin with a bit of the fiery substance (1 damage). Ash nods at Zzorn and gives the barbarian a boost to get up onto the balcony. The Ulfen sees that the exit is a staircase that descends downward to another door, which another of the winged goblins has paused to open. The third one must have already zipped through the opening, he figures.
The goblin shrieks at Zzorn and scratches and claws at the barbarian, shredding him pretty good (8 damage) before zipping into the stairwell a bit (5' step), just enough to block anyone from getting into the passage. The barbarian notes distractedly that the burn on the creature seems to have healed entirely in the span of five or six seconds!
= Hit!
= Hit, Possible Crit!
= No Crit!
Player's Map - Slide #2
Vornsk - 22/22 *Invisible for 1 more rounds*
Goblin Skald - Unconscious
Roscoe - 19/19
Ash - 26/26 *Enlarged (Unarmed damage = 1d8, +2 STR, -2 DEX, -1 to AC and attack for size, 10' reach) for 1 more round*
Zzorn - 18/26 Drank antitoxin (+5 to Fort saves vs poison for 1 hour)
Winged Goblin (Red) – Unwounded *Fled down stairs and into other room?*
Winged Goblin (Blue) - Unwounded
Winged Goblin (Green) - Unwounded
Chance - 19/19
Chance steps up and casts a spell to bolster the spirits of his allies, as the halfling expects further trouble. [+1 to attack rolls/fear saves for 2 minutes]
As her invisibility wears off, Vornsk retrieves a coil of rope from her backpack with a prehensile tail and tosses one end to Ash.
Roscoe leaps onto Ash's shoulder, then vaults himself upward in a neat somersault, landing perfectly on the balcony! The green-winged goblin squeaks in fear as the ninja appears directly in front of him!
Ash reaches out and grabs the goblin, which squeaks again in fear and anger! An instant later, the half-orc reverts back to his normal size, dragging the creature down with him.
Zzorn moves past Roscoe, spear in hand as he hurries down the steps and stabs at the goblin standing in front of the door! ( = Miss!) The goblin yelps and dodges the spear thrust, then sticks its forked tongue out at the barbarian as it slips away into the room behind it. The green goblin slashes at Ash with its free claw. ( = Miss!) But the attack is feeble at best, the half-orc easily batting it aside even as his normal sized self.
But Zzorn can now see the room in front of him, octagonal in shape and apparently once serving as an office. A smashed desk is shoved against the north wall near toppled bookcases. A large pile of books, some with chewed-off covers, has been arranged into the shape of a makeshift throne. To the northeast sits a two-foot-diameter boulder covered in shiny baubles, coins, and other trinkets.
A well-muscled female goblin with a rune carved into her forehead and a ranseur clutched in hand glares evilly at the barbarian standing framed in the doorway. Beside her are three bipedal hunks of flesh with arms that appear to have merged into their long, skinny legs. Large mouths gape open, revealing jagged teeth - but their heads and bodies appear to be grossly conjoined, making them gruesomely alien in their appearance.
"Death to those that intrude upon Queen Zoagusk!" The female goblin shouts in her own tongue, then opens her own mouth, breathing fire from her mouth that washes over Zzorn! Fire Damage to Zzorn! Zzorn, roll Reflex save for half damage! Then she closes in to within reach of her polearm, the flesh dregs hopping along as if to protect her from harm. The other flying goblin that was in the large room moments earlier, its wings tinged red, darts forward past its queen, raking at Zzorn with its claw as it tries to latch on. ( = Hit! + vs Zzorn's CMD = Failure!) And though it slashes his bicep with its sharp talons, Zzorn is able to get out of its grip though the barbarian is bleeding freely and badly singed.
Player's Map - Slide #2
Vornsk - 22/22 *+1 to attack rolls/saves vs fear for 2 minutes*
Goblin Skald - Unconscious
Roscoe - 19/19 *+1 to attack rolls/saves vs fear for 2 minutes*
Ash - 26/26 *Grappling with Green Goblin; +1 to attack rolls/saves vs fear for 2 minutes*
Zzorn - 7/26 *+1 to attack rolls/saves vs fear for 2 minutes; drank antitoxin (+5 to Fort saves vs poison for 1 hour)*
Winged Goblin (Red) – Unwounded
Winged Goblin (Blue) - Unwounded
Winged Goblin (Green) - *Grappling with Ash*
Queen Zoagusk - Unwounded
Flesh Dreg (Red) - Unwounded
Flesh Dreg (Blue) - Unwounded
Flesh Dreg (Green) - Unwounded
Chance - 19/19 *+1 to attack rolls/saves vs fear for 2 minutes*
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After shrinking in size, Ash struggles - but only a little - to keep the goblin in check. In a series of quick moves, he puts the goblin's hand behind their back, and keeps them locked in place.
"Not so easy to fly now, is it?", he grins at the goblin.
Casting Spells while Pinned: The only spells which can be cast while grappling or pinned are those without somatic components and whose material components (if any) you have in hand. Even so, you must make a concentration check (DC 10 + the grappler’s CMB + the level of the spell you’re casting) or lose the spell.
Chance tries to stab the goblin in Ash's grip, but he fails to connect as does Vornsk. Roscoe nods at Zzorn and moves back to ambush anything coming up the narrow passage as the barbarian retreats as well, taking up station on the other side. Ash gets a really good grip on the snarling, cursing winged goblin, pinning it tight. The creature tries to escape ( vs Ash's CMD (16) = Success!) and manages to do so, flying up above Ash's head, just out of reach! (The goblin moves into the 5' square above Ash's head when it escapes the grapple, then takes a 5' step up to end its turn).
The door at the end of the passage slams shut as the red-winged goblin zips inside the room with the other winged goblin, the queen and those grotesque flesh dregs...
Player's Map - Slide #2
Vornsk - 22/22 *+1 to attack rolls/saves vs fear for 2 minutes*
Goblin Skald - Unconscious
Roscoe - 19/19 *+1 to attack rolls/saves vs fear for 2 minutes*
Ash - 26/26 *Grappling with Green Goblin; +1 to attack rolls/saves vs fear for 2 minutes*
Zzorn - 10/26 *+1 to attack rolls/saves vs fear for 2 minutes; drank antitoxin (+5 to Fort saves vs poison for 1 hour)*
Winged Goblin (Red) – Unwounded
Winged Goblin (Blue) - Unwounded
Winged Goblin (Green) - *10' above Ash*
Queen Zoagusk - Unwounded
Flesh Dreg (Red) - Unwounded
Flesh Dreg (Blue) - Unwounded
Flesh Dreg (Green) - Unwounded
Chance - 19/19 *+1 to attack rolls/saves vs fear for 2 minutes*