The party in agreement, Armand, Dirk, Thantos and Selena start moving off southward through the woods, trying to cause as little damage as possible to the surrounding woodlands, hoping by doing so to lead their pursuers astray.
Lash and Mird step forward out of the clearing cover of the trees and start firing arrows randomly toward the gate, some of which they can tell find purchase in the wood of the gate, a few of which even manage to slip through the gate slats, finding purchase within the the bodies of the horde of creatures gathered at the gate front.
No sooner than everyone starts moving off than a high pitched scream of many voices and a dull light flares up from inside the castle, the scream of fear turns to one of anguish and pain as the webs are burnt away from the castle gate, severely burning those trapped in the web, and killing several.
However, the number of casualties in that action pale in comparison to the number of creatures pouring from the castle gate. No less than 30 goblins, hobgoblins, humans, and gnolls come pouring out of the gate, the humans obviously better armed and armored than any of the other contingents. Preceding the monsters are 4 huge dog-like creatures you all recognize immediately as dire wolves, noses to the ground, obviously following your scent and running right at your original position.
Not that the horde of creatures needs the dogs to find where the six of you stopped given that Lash and Mird are still standing in the opening firing arrows into the mass exiting the gate.
Soon enough, the two of them turn and sprint off into the woods, the horde of creatures in pursuit.
The four of you continue south, staying at the edge of the woods to allow you to see what's going on at the entrance to the road well behind you now.
As the mass reaches the head of the roadway and forest, they stop, the dogs going in all different directions, one pulling down a path Mird went, one Pulling down a path Lash went, and the other two pulling down the path the other four of you went. The mass of evil creatures and men start to break up down the various paths to follow each sent, and the four of you get the sinking feeling that you won't make it back to the gates when two arrows lance out of the trees somewhere down the path, striking one of the lead dogs in the snout and in the flank. The dogs, as one, all yip and howl and take off like a shot farther into the trees, the goblin and other creatures in the hoard running off howling in triumph as they attempt to track down Lash and Mird, leaving the southernly trail Dirk, Armand, Selena and Thantos took untouched.
5 Minutes later and the 4 of you have looped around the forest to the south eastern corner of the castle wall. Hearing continued shouts coming from the woods, it's obvious that the horde is still giving chase to Lash and Mird,
Looking up, you see creatures along the eastern and southern wall of the castle, despair again creeping up inside you until you recognize the creatures on the wall not as goblins or humans, but as orcs.
Knowing what will happen if the orcs turn against you, but seeing no other option, the 4 of you sprint from hiding in a run the 100 yards or so to the castle walls, no arrows lancing out after you as you approach the wall and then minutes later the gate....which stands wide open and guarded by two Orcs.
As you enter the gate area, weapons drawn and wary, you see the big orc you met in the woods earlier. And, breaking from the cover of the woods a long way up toward the north eastern wall, Mird and Lash come running toward the keep itself, having obviously avoided pursuit and lost them in the woods, at least for a short while.
No more than 15 minutes after your escape from the keep, the six of you stand back inside it's gates, confronted by the orc leader from the woods. Around you, several dead Goblins and a human and gnoll or two lay as charred bodies on the ground, several strands of blackened webbing hang from the walls around the area you now stand, a confirmation of the atrocity committed in the haste to capture those who attacked the keep. Not all of the goblin corpses laying here, however, are charred or burnt.
The orc, a huge gleaming two-handed sword in his hands, resting pommel up in the dirt but obviously ready to be swung into position at a moment's notice nods at the six of you and says:
"Humans, do you stand ready to fulfill your end of our bargain, struck weeks ago in the forest clearing, or do you wish to find your match in the orcs of the Dark Web tribe!" The orc looks directly at Dirk, the largest and obviously heaviest armed of the group.
From out of the two gatehouse towers steps an orc (each) with a heavy crossbow, drawn, cocked and loaded, ready to defend their master.
Still slightly injured and breathless from her run, Selena attempts to regain her composure. She faces the orc boldly.
"And so... we have come. But whether we are an army of liberation or an army of conquest depends on whether you will hold to your agreement. Will you now stand with us against your oppressors?"
Noticing the Orc leaders eyes on him, Dirk returns the stare and steps forward to stand next to Selena as a show of strength - hand resting casually on the pommel of this Great Elven Blade.
After several minutes of meeting your gaze, obviously judging you, during which you can make out the sounds of fighting in the keep itself, he raises his hand and the two archer orcs standing next to him immediately lower their weapons and move past you to close the castle gate and lock it.
The big orc addresses the party at large now.
"So be it. We are agreed. My name is Dyaar-Dakk, clan leader of the Dark Web tribe, what is left of it at least. You will help me rebuild my clan by destroying our mutual enemy and returning this keep to it's rightful owners, me and my tribe!"
"Behind us, in the keep, my men are rounding up what is left of the keep's inhabitants and ridding ourselves of the rest of the scum goblins and their spawn. The leaders of our enemies, however, have barricaded themselves into their respective holes and I do not have the manpower to both hold this keep and rid ourselves of their wretchedness and idiocy."
"I have made a rough map of the buildings in the keep. My clan and I can hold this keep against those outside of it since they do not have the equipment with them to scale walls or break through the defenses. We will remain here, ensuring our enemy does not come into the keep. YOU will flush out and kill the rest of the scum in this hole and then proceed down into the dungeons where the real leaders of this keep reside."
"Kill that b&*+~ Ilyara and bring me her sword so that I may know she is dead. Keep anything else you find then leave me and my clan in peace. You may tell your city leaders when you return to your fortresses and towns that we wish only to rebuild our clan and reclaim what is rightfully ours in the Black hills, we are no threat to your cities. We ask only to be left alone."
"Leave nothing alive in this keep. The way to the dungeons below is locked, one of the leaders has the key though which I do not know. I would suspect it is either Klossarek, the Goblin Chieftain or that Damnable Merkul, Ilyara's play toy soldier, probably the later as he's the only one Ilyara even minorly trusts."
"Do not expect to find your way down into the dungeons without destroying all of those up here, no one from down there ever comes up."
"Now leave me and my clan to take care of the mindless rats you drew out of this keep and liberate us from our oppressors and in the process destroy the ones who organized the attack on your cities weeks ago in the process."
"So be it. Do you have any idea where in the keep we can find these leader?"
The orc starts moving past the party to take up a stance at the main gate while growling:
"They should be easy enough to find. My clan should be taking up positions in front of all the major buildings, enough to keep them from breaking out. The leadership tends to move between areas however, so not all of them may be where they usually are. You'll have to search."
"Thantos, you did so well navigating in the Mage's basement, why don't you take the map and call out our course. Sounds like we're going to need to clear the place."
"Lash, if you'll take the lead, I'll follow behind you with Armand. Mird, if you'd watch our rear, we'll keep Thantos and Selena safely in the middle of the party."
Selena peers over Thantos' shoulder at the map.
"I assume our ultimate destination is that trap door in the northern(?) building. Lead on, fearless warrior."
Lash nods quietly and stretches, limbering up to prepare for the possible required response to any traps that may be ahead.
"Happily Dirk. The room straight ahead of us contains Hobgoblins. Or if you prefer to start with the Goblins, they are in the second room on the left." Thantos tucks the map into his robes and makes himself ready for battle.
Dirk nods at Thantos, "Hobgoblins it is then."
The seven of you move toward the nearest sound of noise, up the hallway between the towers from the main gate a short distances to the open courtyard that extends at least 100 feet left to right and a good twenty back from where you stand to the large double doors leading to what looks to be about a 40 x 60 warehouse like building, but which your map shows as three separate "rooms" under one roof.
The trek to the doors is unpleasant at best, remnants of blackened webbing lay scattered here and there on the ground along with a few charred corpses of goblins and a human or two. The corpses of several goblins, your party's most recent handy work, still lay mostly trampled on the ground, a few of them still emptying the contents of the body into the dirt at your feet, one body is still twitching...though whether killed by you or in the haste to exit the castle to get after you is unknown.
The stench of a castle with tens of monsters all living in close proximity, along with the unholy stink of the latrine somewhere to the north of you, along with the metallic tang of blood and charred bodies creates possibly the worst smell any of you have ever faced, and it's obvious that no one will be cleaning up the mess any time soon.
The courtyard here is awash in the newly dead and you each carefully pick your way through the fallen corpses, mud, and other more unnameable substances on the ground till you come up to the double doors of the area marked for the Hobgoblins.
Out front of the double doors are two worried looking orcs, each of which is armed with a spear and both of whom are pointing them at the doors, as if at any moment an army of creatures will break through the doors and come charging out into the very sparsely guarded courtyard.
The doors, wooden, and about 10' tall by 5' wide each seem to be more "stable" like than others you've seen in the keep, indicating that at some point this building might have been used to house animals. The doors look to swing inward.
At your approach the two orcs swing their spears out toward you, obviously terrified now, but slowly lower their weapons when they recognize your descriptions from their leader. Neither orc, however, lowers their weapons from guard position. Obviously caught between a rock and a hard place (the doors to the hobgoblin area and the six of you) the orcs look miserable, frightened, and ready to bolt at the slightest hit of danger.
One of the two orcs looks at you as you approach and says in a VERY broken and badly formed version of common, "Hobgoblins, you kill."
The orc's step back from the doors, obviously intent on letting you break into the building and take on whatever happens to be in there.
Selena lifts the hem of her wool dress as she walks past the gristle and gore of the recent deaths, her clothing still gleaming with a lightly glowing forcefield of heavenly fire.
Hearing about the hobgoblins directly, Selena urges the fighters forward. "Keep a leader alive for questioning, if you can. And if they surrender, be merciful."
Dirk nods at Selena then looks expectantly at Lash.
Thantos becomes curious about the castle's history and squinting as he peers through the dim light, examines the floor around him, looking for any signs or runes that would indicate magic had been performed here in the past.
Lash moves forward, inspecting the door with professional acumen, seeking any signs of a trap.
Perception
Disable device
Nodding to each other, Dirk steps up and plants a well placed kick on the middle of the doors, both of which go flying open. Dirk and Mird leading the charge into the keep.
In the few seconds you have to look, the barracks style building has some 20 dirty and very disheveled bunks and a few sets of tables and chairs strung around the room haphazardly, military style decorations and more crude decorative objects rest in various places around the room and on the walls.
All of the furnature is in a state of decay. Many of the beds are missing legs and are held up with stone blocks, the tables are all scarred badly with dents and cuts and some obvious sword strikes. Even more out of place, many of the chairs are laying over backwards or laying haphazardly around the floor, as if their occupants had stood up quickly and kicked the chairs out of their way.
The rough and crude bedding is also out of sorts, many beds having covers thrown onto the floor, again denoting the occupants haste to exit the building. Remnants of a cold breakfast, or maybe supper given the nocturnal habits of this room's occupants, lay strewn around whatever tables haven't been overturned, and on the dirt floor otherwise.
The room itself is large, some 40' by 40' square, and behind several overturned wooden tables, two leveled crossbows go "click" and their contents come rushing out toward you.
Surprise Round:
Init
Perception
Striding into the room Lash pulls a flask from her pouch, arm whipping forward to send it hurtling towards one of the shooters, the ceramic flask shattering to erupt into flame against his cover
Calling her heavenly powers to her once again, a mist of swirling glorious light surrounds Selena and her allies.
She moves into the building and draws her sword at the same time, shouting to the hobgoblins. "Surrender, now, and mercy may yet be demonstrated!".
Dirk steps through the door, muscles tense. Sword at the ready, his eyes scan the room for danger as his ears pick up the telltale sounds of two crossbows being fired. A moment later he hears the sounds of a bolt flying close to his head. Following the direction of the shot. Dirk finds his assailant, crouched behind a piece of furniture.
Knowing he'll never get to the evil creature before it gets another shot off at him, Dirk throws caution to the wind and moves at top speed toward the unfortunate creature.
Armand starts across the floor toward the north east corner of the room, moving Opposite Dirk. Raising his shield in front of him he's going to move slower but try to absorb the next bolt shot (using the shield as partial cover for next round).
Getting only about 10 feet into the room Armand stops his advance dead.
Round 1 Attacks:
Round 1 Initiative:
-----------------------
Dirk: 22
Selena: 21
Lash: 20
Mird: 20
Armand: 16
Thantos: 15
NW Hob: 10
NE Hob: 4
All glory to the Queen! We die in her name, and so do you!
As you start to move across the floor a glinting of light off of metal strikes your eyes, no matter how you turn, a glint comes glancing off a metal shard at you. You realize that the floor is littered with spikes, likely buried caltrops, the flat of the spike carefully turned toward the door as to be semi-invisible in the dim light of the room buried in the dirt floor. The Hobgoblins have been busy preparing the room for an assault.
Shouting a warning would be advised.
Dirk stops so suddenly that he has to flail his arms to keep his balance. "Caltrops! The floor is trapped!"
Dirks eyes scan the floor for a way around the spikes.
Selena stops in her tracks, now eyeing the floor again to find the dangerous spikes.
Thantos heeds Dirks warning and stands stock still, unable to locate the spikes with his own eyes. He nocks a bolt into his crossbow and takes aim at the nearest Hobgoblin.
Attack:
Damage:
Mird: Dropping a weapon is a free round action, drawing your bow is the equivalent of your move action. You do still have a fire action for this round if you'd like. Go ahead and give me rolls.
Dirk: There's a way through them, it'd have taken hundreds of Caltrops to trap the entire floor, and the keep doesn't have THAT many resources...or at least the hobgoblins didn't have the time to get them. They're spread out farther than they should otherwise be and this allows you to pick your way through them at half speed (full move action for your normal move rate of 20', half move rate to be able to do something else in the round). In essence it'll take you two rounds (including this one, you'll be attacking at round 3) to get to your target. I am assuming you're continuing toward your target unless you tell me otherwise.
Thantos, Selena and Lash, your actions are clear. For those attacking, let me know which you're firing at (NE or NW).
Armand will continue forward with shield up at half move rate (10' a round) using a "full defense" method to maintain cover till he clears the spikes (10'), in essence it will take him 3 rounds to get to target.
Now that you know they're there, each of you can see them, you recognize the tell tail glints from the exposed blades. The caltrops have been strung out in a random line across the entire 40' width of the room (somewhat staggered to dodge furniture that might allow easier passage) at a depth of just around 10' and spread out so that there's anywhere from a foot to two feet of space between the spikes, making for treacherous, but passable, footing. Further back into the room you can barely make out a spike here and a spike there, enough that even once you're past the 10' of really trapped area, you'll have to watch your footing to ensure you don't step on one randomly tossed.
Many of the front caltrops have been hastily driven into the soft dirt/mud of the floor to hide them better, while the dimness of the room hides much of the ones farther back. Surprisingly well executed for as obviously hastily as it was laid out.
Growling a curse, Dirk slows his charge and starts picking his way through the caltrops, showing his contempt for the archer behind the barrier by simply not paying attention to him as he makes his way through the trapped floor.
Selena finishes her chant and the room briefly glows with light as her bless spell sends it's usual wave of confidence and energy through each of you.
With a wicked grin, Lash hurls her ceramic bottle and it's contents of highly volatile liquid over Dirk's head to come crashing against the top of the north west table. A shriek denotes that at least a bit of the liquid landed on her target, even if the throw wasn't precisely accurate. ()
With a clunk, Mird's hammer falls to the ground and his bow comes whipping off of his shoulder, almost by magic an arrow finds it's way onto the string and the hum of the shot echos in your ears, almost faster than you can follow. However, the Hobgoblins picked a solid barrier to work with, and the arrow thunks solidly into the table just below the head of the peaking hobgoblin. Don't little more than scaring the creature.
Armand slowly progresses forward through the caltrops, keeping his shield up and trying to do his best to play "wall".
Thantos hastily snaps off a shot that flies past Dirk but also ends up cracking against the table face, coming in too low to do any real damage to either the barrier or it's occupant.
The hobgoblin in the north west corner, clothing still smoldering from the effects of the Alchemist's fire, snaps off a shot that comes no where close to anyone in the room before he ducks back down to try to stamp out more of the little flames on his leathers.
The hobgoblin in the north east corner, tries to snap a shot off at Armand's exposed legs, but only manages to bury the bolt in the dirt of the floor well ahead of Armand.
Round 2
-------------
Dirk: 22
Selena: 21
Lash: 20
Mird: 20
Armand: 16
Thantos: 15
NW Hob: 10
NE Hob: 4
Excellent Question by Selena:
The furniture naturally rests against the walls. The beds are (or were) out in the middle of the room, but those, too, have been pushed back toward the wall and sort of piled together. Anywhere where the furniture of the room looks to have been left in place, the caltrops have been spread around them, creating the same effect.
Technically, you may be able to find a way to use the furniture to your advantage, but it would take you pretty much just as long (for this limited area) to make your way to that furniture and try to use it as it will to get through the area.
You can kind of envision how this worked.
While hasty, the room has been "prepared" for an assault, the two hobs in this room have been busy between the time you left the castle gates and the orcs started taking over. At the initial sign of trouble they likely barred the doors, and started clearing the floor by simply tossing over various pieces of furniture along the walls. They spread caltrops mostly in a line across the width of the middle of the room, only to find as they made a couple passes that they were running out faster than they wanted (it's likely they were trying to cover the entire back half of the room and simply ran out of their limited resource).
They finally grabbed a couple crossbows, and overturned several tables at the back of the room to create their barrier.
EXCELLENT thought on using the furniture to overcome the barrier, just because it didn't work in this situation doesn't mean that kind of thinking won't come in handy in the future. These two were just a little more "prepared".
From a "layout" of the room perspective lets see if I can do this:
___ ___ ___ ___
|__| |__|
| - - - - - - |
| ------------ |
|__ _== ==__ __|
(NOTE: the spacing isn't going to work here, so you'll have to expand this out in your minds to be like a square.)
The == are the front doors.
The ----- Line is where the mass of caltrops is, those are about 1 - 2 feet spred.
The - - - line is where they were obviously running out, normal move rate through this area but no charges or running without the possibility of stepping on something.
The __| and |__ areas are the barriers where the HobGobs have tried to wall themselves away and are firing crossbows at you.
Any furniture is up against the west and east walls.
Hopefully that answers the question?
Unperturbed by his wide shot, Thantos hastily loads another bolt, then levels his crossbow at the north east corner. He clenches his jaw as he works the action of the bow and the bolt is released toward the hiding hobgoblin. Although he is obviously more comfortable casting spells than working with his hands, his wizard's training helps him calmly apply his full powers of concentration.
Selena conjures a dazzling ball of celestial light directly in front of one of the distant hobgoblins firing on them.
Dirk continues to move forward with this head down, focusing on moving as quickly as possible through the spikes.
Dirk continues to stride forward, slipping unharmed out of the trapped floor and moving purposefully toward the North West corner, the burning barrier, and his intended target.
Selena finishes chanting a spell and a burst of light flashes from behind the barrier, the lack of a shriek of dismay however, seems to indicate that the hobgoblin wasn't looking where he should have been.
Lash hangs back after her throw, searching the room for other signs of danger.
Mird takes aim at the North East Barrier and holds his draw, waiting for the hobgoblin to pop up.
His waiting pays off, as the Hob pops his head up over the barrier, loaded crossbow in hand, Mird's arrow flies in low, skips off the top of the barrier, and cuts a solid line across the hob's right cheek and neck, slicing a deep gouge. ().
Armand maintains his barrier as he moves forward, just clearing the worst of the spikes and starting to move forward for an attack ().
Thantos aims the crossbow, but as he triggers it the twined string snaps, sending the bolt haphazard through the air to strike at absolutely nothing. (Thantos: Your crossbow will need to be re-strung, taking one full turn (10 minutes)...simply meaning, it's useless for the rest of this fight...crit failures suck. :) )
As the North west Hobgoblin pops up over his barrier to make his last shot at Dirk, a jet of flame rises up to obscure his vision as another part of the wooden table catches fire, whether from the grease from previous food or just dry wood, the table literally bursts into flame for a second before subsiding. At exactly the wrong time for the hob as well: just as he's taking aim for his shot. The shot goes wide of Dirk and embeds itself in the south wall by the door.
The North East Hob doesn't have any luck either. Due to Mird's expert archery, Mird's attack completely breaks the hob's concentration and his aim goes wide, the bolt actually embedding itself in the ceiling of the building as he tries to futilely duck back behind his barrier.