Turning to Adele Narses shakes his head, 'Nope. Nothing of note on the roof.'
Turning to Adele Narses shakes his head, 'Nope. Nothing of note on the roof.'
She sighs in frustration. "I know I heard something up there." She turns to the goblin. "Are you sure we shouldn't check that building first, Feek? You heard it, too, didn't you? Some sort of scraping?"
"What side of the fortress did the moaning come from? If someone is hurt, we should tend to them as soon as possible!"
Findor squeaks as he runs around the courtyard retrieving durable arrows.
"We can't go everywhere at once," Adele sighs, "and it would be foolish to split up in enemy territory. Dragox and Narses, what say you? Where should we go first?"
"I'd see what the minotaur was guarding, take the tower and then tha northern buildin." Narses says as he squints and looks around at the nearby buildings.
Findor returns to the group, reaching up to hold the hilt of his greatsword-sized longsword and casts detect magic.
Findor casts detect magic, but finds that none of the collected gear reveals a magical aura besides the potions.
9 - A large table fills this room, barely leaving enough room for the half-dozen chairs arranged around its edge. Pinned to the table's surface by daggers is a massive map of the region (this map is identical to the one provided by Jorr Natherson). Numerous notes in Goblin have been scrawled on the map.
The Red Hand has identified a bottleneck in the horde's approach to Drellin's Ferry. With troops massed near Cinder Hill, the easiest route down form the mountains to Drellin's Ferry is by way of an old bridge that spans Skull Gorge. The Red Hand has realized this is a potential problem, and the map indicates that a plan exists to place a fair amount of guards there to make sure that the bridge stays out of enemy hands.
Anyone examining the map can tell that if the Skull Gorge bridge is taken out of the equation, the Red Hand forces would be much delayed in their imminent assault on Drellin's Ferry.
At the bottom of the map a few words are traced in ornate Common in contrast to the chicken-scratch Goblin. "This map is property of Wyrmlord Koth, Commander, Horde of the Red Hand."
"I agree with Narses. The minotaur and his friends were clearly here for a reason. Let's see what was so important to them, then decide from there."
Upon entering the nearby room, Dragox looks intently at the map of the area. He wasn't able to make out what the scribbling on the map meant, but the words Commander, Horde of the Red Hand were certainly easy enough to decipher.
to determine what potions are.
to look around the map room, detect magic still active.
Adele steps aside so that Maysalkirii can translate the notes in Goblin.
Nothing in the map room is magical in nature.
The pasty orange potions are actually a magical salve. Rubbed across the eyes as a standard action, they bestow true seeing for 1d6 rounds.
The murky blue potions are potions of protection from chaos (CL 3).
[i]Feek will translate the words into common, slowly and word for word. He will also translate the notes on the map, so that others will be able to make sense of it without him./i]
Well... Once we've cleaned this keep out and rested, Skull Gorge Bridge should be our next stop... Perhaps once we've wiped out any resistance Narses and I should scout out this Cinder Hill, so we know how big this 'horde' is. Goblins have been known to call a hundred goblins a horde, or a thousand...
"Hrmph! Wyrmlord? Sounds ominus." Narses says looking at the map. Narses agrees with Maysalkirii's plan, "Right! Let's get to it then."
"Hrmph! Wyrmlord? Sounds ominus." Narses says looking at the map. Narses agrees with Maysalkirii's plan, "Right! Let's get to it then."
Perhaps we should fully explore this keep first... Feek mutters sullenly.
"Now, Feek," Adele says in a motherly fashion, "I'm sure Narses meant for us to get to clearing out the keep so we could move on to the bridge. We certainly don't want to miss anything important here, especially considering how helpful this map has been already. We still have the moaning from the other building to investigate, as well as the room where we heard movement from the rooftop," she sighs, "although I'm afraid whoever was up there might well have escaped into the countryside during our battle and could already be informing his superiors about our assult on the keep."
Approaching the southwest tower, you discover the door is shut tightly and will not open.
Feek will examine it carefully, both for traps and for a lock.
"Be careful, Feek," Dragox says under his breath, watching the nimble little goblin searching the nearby area for traps.
Feek pulls out his lockpicks, looking a little ashamed and going red as Adele notices them, and goes to work.
Narses! Give me some ranger style lockpicking please!
You do not notice any traps or unusual workings. You do notice, however, that there is no handle or keyhole on the outside of the door.
Naaaarses!
"RAAARRRG!" Narses roars as he charges the door, trying to break it open.
Charging-Raging-Strength check
The door cracks and groans, hinges nearly torn from the frame. Light filters through thin seams around the reinforced wood. You hear muffled shouts and movement from the other side and the sound of a squeaky door or latch closing.
Feek raises an eyebrow, clearly very impressed.
Good work Narses. Again!
Feek will attempt to aid the brawny ranger.
Naaaarses!
"Well, since surprise is out of the question this time...." Adele steps up toward the door and calls out to whoever is on the other side. "Surrender now and open the door, and your lives may be spared."
10 - This circular chamber has been outfitted with a mix of furniture, including a large desk, an overstuffed chair, a massive four-poster bed, and a large easel that holds a sizable canvas covered with a sheet. A flight of stairs arc up along the south wall to the upper floor, and a fair amount of rubble from a hole in the ceililng lies heaped on the base of these stairs.
The wailing noise appears to be coming from the roof.
"Oh, some sort of artwork," Adele says with interest, pulling the sheet off of the canvas.
Feek will go and investigate the wailing noise.
Perception
"Watch yourself Feek," Dragox protectively warns, following the goblin up the stairs to the roof, to investigate the noise.
Stepping over the wreked door Narses look around the room and at the ceiling.
perception
Findor follows Feek as he goes to investigate the wailing noise.
"I hope no one is hurt. But if there is someone hurt up here I guess we have enough healing magic to do some good."
11 - The roof of this circular chamber has partially collapsed to the southeast. Massive timbers slump against the floor, fallen from the rafters above. A huge gap in the tower's east wall allows a brisk breeze into the chamber, which has four windows in the remaining walls. Three large boulders lie on the floor amid a halo of fractures and cracks.
Mounted about ten feet from the hole in the wall is what looks like a humanoid figure, lashed to a framework of wooden beams, arms upraised. A glow from beneath it illuminates the figure in a pale light. The reek of rotting flesh fills the room.
Closer examination reveals the figure to be a deceased human, dressed in rough farmer's clothing. He has been dead for some time and is lashed to the frame like a scarecrow. While there is no obvious source of the moaning, it is emanating from the figure.
"Oh, some sort of artwork," Adele says with interest, pulling the sheet off of the canvas.
The canvas is of a quaint pastoral scene, poorly done.
With a slight wince at the amateurish depiction and a twinge of compassion for the attempted artist, Adele moves to the foot of the stairs. "Maysalkirii, what's up there? Did you find the creatures we heard in here?"
Findor is shocked by the sight of the human body hung on the wooden framework.
"By the Heavens! Get that body down. No one should be treated so disrespectfully."
Something is amiss here... Feek says after helping Findor lower the body down, and the Goblin casts Detect Magic.
Dragox looks at the body to see if there is any clue as to how the human was killed.
Heal
Casting detect magic, Maysalkirii sees a persistent illusion bound to the corpse. It would appear that the moaning is little more than a permanent ghost sound, perhaps to play up on the keep's reputation for being haunted.
Dragox can easily see that the human was killed by multiple blade wounds.
Hearing the scuffle upstairs Narses stops his pacing of the room and heads up the stairs.
Narses joins Maysalkirii on the rooftop. Your investigations show no other phenomena, however. Perhaps an investigation of the rest of the keep may prove fruitful...
Narses joins Maysalkirii on the rooftop. Your investigations show no other phenomena, however. Perhaps an investigation of the rest of the keep may prove fruitful...
7 - What this squat building might once have been used for is unclear. All the furniture has been crushed into rubble, and a larg nest-like mound of tree branches, bones, bits and pieces of foul-smelling animal parts fills the northwest corner of the room. A gaping hole in the roof in the northeast corner provides a view of the sky above.
"Oh, the poor man," Adele says, when she has seen the corpse. "He's probably the same poor soul who completed the painting: some romantic hermit with artistic ambitions who took up residence in this ruin ... until the hobgoblins came along. But we know we heard someone behind the door as Narses was breaking it down, just like we know we heard something on top of that roof earlier. It makes me uneasy to know that there are enemies stalking us without being seen. We will go on to the next area of the keep, but we must keep a watchful eye on our backs. I fully expect to be ambushed at some inopportune moment."
"A nest!" Adele cries. "Then whatever we heard on the roof must have flown away unnoticed during the battle. Quite a bit of treasure in here, too...." "Now, let's see, what kind of creature might have made this nest?"