Jess crinkles her brow as her two friends start to butt heads "Girls... come on! We are here to fight the bad guys not each other. Let's see what we are facing before we make any hard and fast decisions. If they are all grouped up waiting for us and attack as soon as they see us I don't see any other option than to fight. If we can single them out then, sure we can try and talk them down. Either way, let's see what we are facing before we start getting in arguments with one another..."
She runs over to Shae and then pulls her by the arm to the 'treasury' door and with a smile notes "Let's start here and see if there is anything useful. Then we can clear the rest of this level and head downstairs yes?"
Shaedeen seems distracted, but eventually Jess gets her attention. She returns the smile and starts scanning the door for traps.
Yeah! Since when do I care more about friendship than I do about treasure?
Stubbornly deciding that Hollie can use a 'time-out,' Shaedeen examines the door at her leisure to give the Priestess of Sandpoint time to cool down.
Matthias detects magic as they look for anything special in the goblin loot. But he looks worried about their plans. "Oh gee... I mean... We'd like to give them a chance to surrender... But gosh there's so many of them and they all sound so tough... I don't know if we can deal with them. We're still tired from today."
While Jess waits for Shae to get to work and Matthias chimes in Jess scrunches her nose and purses her lips, like she is oft to do when she is considering something. She starts to nod "Well Matty has a good point. We've dealt with a lot getting here and I know Hollie wants to find her sister, but maybe it would be better if we got a little rest before advancing? The downside, obviously is that gives them more time to prepare and if they come looking they will quickly find the goblins all dispatched and know something is up. The upside, obviously is that we will be better equipped to deal with any threats..."
She taps her foot impatiently on the ground and looks up at the ceiling considering their options. Finally she shrugs and looks to the others "What do the rest of you think?"
Looking through the rooms, Shae ends up having to disable a scythe trap of sorts, managing to do so without much trouble. The party finds quite the bounty of treasures: a masterwork dogslicer, a silver holy symbol of Lamashtu with garnets for eyes worth 40gp, 7,432cp, 2,490sp, 89gp, 3pp, a leather pouch of 34 badly flawed malachites worth 1gp each, a medium chain shirt, a medium masterwork scimitar, a pair of masterwork manacles, a gold holy symbol of Sarenrae worth 100gp, a jade necklace worth 60gp, and a fine blue silk gown with silver trim worth 150gp.
Hollie manages a different but just as valuable prize: an abused, massive and powerful horse that she manages to calm and feed. It wears a saddle with the name "Shadowmist" engraved into the leather, and whether she wants to claim it for the party or take it to Sandpoint is up to all of you.
When Shae makes her snide remark, Hollie's jaw dropped and tears formed at the corners of her eyes. Draxtherian reflexively starts growling and lowers his head aggressively at Shaedeen as he steps in between the two women.
She had no idea what to say, or what she had truly done to warrant such venom from her "friend," but before she can reply the others have left to go search the treasure room. Instead, Hollie moves off quickly to another part of the goblin's complex, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. She makes her way to where the horse is kept before totally breaking down for several long seconds before she notices the poor creature and calms it down.
As she strokes its neck, Drax keeps his distance to not scare the thing further. Hollie leaned her head against it, and she could feel herself starting to calm just as it was. By the time the others had arrived, she had managed to stop crying at least, but she purposely avoided any eye contact or interaction with Shaedeen.
She takes the masterwork manacles and puts them in her pack as she says solemnly "Alright...are we ready?"
Jess nods while the others were searching the rest of the upstairs she was stretching her alchemical supplies as this as she could squeezing out enough reagents to make a few more bombs. After almost an hour she is finally ready if the others are.
While Jessa makes her bombs, Shaedeen uses the time to shore up the rope bridge to the mainland, both in the event the group needs to make a hasty retreat from the stronghold and in case they're bringing the mighty warhorse along when they depart.
Shae claims the goblin king's crappy crown on a lark, hoping it will amuse Hollie, but the Queen of the [Fill In the Blank] frowns when she notices the party leader won't even look at her.
Matthias considers and flips through his spellbook. "If we are going to pick somewhere to rest, I can ward the area so we'll know if someone comes close. I have some ideas about some new ways I could help out..." He begins scratching a few new ideas for spells in his book.
"Rest? Now!?!?" Hollie says exasperatedly. "I thought we just agreed that waiting wasn't an option!"
Matthias looks in confusion at Hollie. In a small voice, he says "I guess we didn't really decide... Jess asked what we think. That's why I'm still talking about it as if it's something that might happen... If we don't take some time, I can't really help much..."
"Ugh! Fine!" Hollie says in frustration. "Everyone, find a spot to secure...I'm going to...patrol..."
Jess jumps up from her work and runs to block Hollie from leaving "Wait, wait! I mean, maybe we can explore a little bit? I was able to stretch out my supply of bombs and I think maybe we could at least take a peek-see below?"
Hollie raises and drops her hands to her side in a half shrug of exasperation. "Well, what is it then? Are we waiting or going? You guys..." she says as her voice begins to crack with emotion, "I can't take this indecision. So what's it going to be?"
Bereket looks at Hollie, who has been showing increasing signs of great distress. He looks at little Matthias, poring over his spellbook.
"I think it's wise to explore down a little farther. But if I get the feeling that we're about to land in something way over our heads that we're not prepared for, I want us pulling back to a point where we can bar a door and rest up. If we get wounded too badly, I don't know if I'll have enough left to bring us back from the edge."
A small part of Shaedeen wants to vote against Hollie 'just because,' but Shae doesn't listen to that part now that she's had time to cool off herself. After circling and examining Hollie and Drax like a vulture, Shae mkes sure Hollie has one of the recently-obtained healing potions and then turns to the others.
"I agree--let's strike while the iron's hot and try to weed out a few of our remaining adversaries if we can. Matty--do what you can, OK? Even just sneaking up here or there to flank one of our enemies momentarily could prove decisive. That said, we should try to be at or near full strength when we confront Nualia...in case she's not willing to listen to reason."
Jess nods and smiles "Ok, more exploring it is then! Wait... wait give me a couple minutes and I have something that might help."
She takes out a few vials and mixes some liquids and powders together before handing them off to who ever wants one as she explains "These two will help to heal some minor injuries. These other two can be used to heal slightly more serious wounds."
Once that is done Jess claps her hands and rubs them together "Alright! Let's go!"
Matthias accepts the extract with gratitude and intense curiosity as he sees Jess mix it up. "Ooh ooh ooh! You have got to show me that later!" he exclaims, actually speaking above a low murmur for once. He pockets it then nods solemnly, ready to do his best to explore. He states nervously "Well... Maybe I should go a little bit in front... Just to make sure it's safe..."
Jess thinks Matthias's idea to scout ahead is great but she grabs a hold of him before he can proceed. "Here, drink this first. It will help you spot any dangers and if something happens hopefully help you get out of it before it is too late."
She will follow about 20ft behind queitly just so she can be sure Matthias is alright, and when it is clear wave the others on to follow.
The party makes their way down the stairs quietly with Matt and Jess in the front. You make you way into a room that...
A single lantern hangs from a hook on the wall
next to where the stairs enter this room from the
north. Several rickety doors open into this room,
and a few discarded dog pelt rugs lie forgotten in
the northeast corner.
It appears only three doors remain closed, all to the south. You are all fairly certain you can hear the sounds of creaking armor from someone right behind the center door to the south, but other than that it is silent.
Shaedeen taps the shoulders of Holly and Bereket. "Too many doors!" she mouths, a look of concern on her face. She also gestures with her head toward the middle door to the south to make sure the others heard the movement beyond it.
Hollie points at Shae to check one of the open doors and Matthias to check the other, holding another finger to her lips to indicate for them to do it quietly as she and Draxtherian take up defensive positions in front of the southern doors.
Shae nods, sneaks, and peeks through the open door to the northwest. She reacts immediately to Hollie's order without any sign of resentment over their recent conflict.
As Hollie signals for Shae and Matt to check the doors, Jess moves up behind Hollie keeping an eye out to the south where they heard the noise. She pulls out her crossbow and starts to work on loading it so she is ready for a fight.
She accidentally drops the bolt she was loading though as it clanks loudly on the ground...
Matthias walks down stealthily and examines the pelts in the corner. She hears the sound by the door as well.
Bereket holds his position with scimitar and shield ready. He tries not to move, creating a noise that might alert whoever is behind that center door in the south wall.
Tensions feel like they are rising in the room, the silence near deafening. Shae finds no traps, Matthias finds no treasure in the furs. Breaking the silence is the creaking of plate armor behind the southern door—an armored figure behind failing terribly to hide. It seems as though the party is entirely unnoticed.
Shaedeen puts one finger to her lips and sneaks to the leftmost southern door. From there, she searches quickly for traps on each of the doors.
Shaeden drops into a low crouch in front of the center door, mentally picturing her strike if the clod behind it is the fellow the captive goblins said carries a big shield. She nods for one of her comrades to open the door.
Hollie closes her eyes and sighs inwardly to herself. She still wanted to offer surrender to as many as they could, but she knew if they were on the defensive they may need a show of force first...
She nodded back to Shae and then looked to Drax before opening the door...
Hollie opens the door, and immediately behind it is a tall human man in plate armor with a giant shield! He screams an obscenity and the party gets the jump on him.
"Same to you!" Shae yells back, springing from her crouch to stab at the man's neck! When the stab catches only metallic protective gear, Shae lets out an Eep! and steps to the side.
for
Jess, seeing the man there launches her bolt directly at him.
Hollie fires a crossbow bolt that clatters off his armor harmlessly!
Drax lowers his head menacingly to the ground before lifting it up and letting out a roar at the man to try and shake his nerves!
Bereket steps forward and tries to open the door in front of him.
Matthias dashes around behind Shae and pokes her in the leg. She suddenly feels much more agile!
Even after Matthias's enchantment, Shae's rapier is deflected off of the man's gorget. Seemingly impervious to damage, the man scoffs at Drax's attempt to demoralize him.
The room Bereket opens appears to have been some sort of goblin nursery at some time. He doesn't have long to examine it, however.
The armored steps back five feet, draws a potion from his belt pouch, and then quickly drinks it down.
Matthias tries to catch his breath after his mad dash to help Shae. He then steps back and shoots a little glob of acid at the man, trying to get it to soak into his armor and against his skin.
He quietly stammers out "D... d... don't go in there! He wants to fight us one at a time so we can't help each other! Shoot him from here!"
Jess considers her options for just a second, after seeing her bolt miss even with him not expecting it she decides to put her crossbow down and grab a bomb instead, sending it flying at him.
Unfortunately, both Matt and Jess miss their target. The door right next to Shae bursts open, revealing three scantily clad female goblins and a bugbear next to them. The goblin who opened the door attacks Shae with a dogslicer while the others cheer her on. The bugbear drinks a small vial.
The goblin's swing goes wild and misses its mark.
EDIT: The armored man roars in anger as he takes damage from the splash of Jess's bomb!
Hollie looses another bolt that clangs off the man’s shield!
Drax snakes his head forward past Shaedeen and snaps his jaws at the goblin female. He clamps ahold tight and pulls it screaming back into the room and shakes it about wildly before throwing its rended body aside and against a near wall with a wet, sickening thud!
He then turns his gaze back towards the goblins...
Feeling super-quick and almost invincible from Matty's spell, Shae's tempted to flip into the room and stab away wildly at the three foes left within, but caution wins the day. She steps into the room in a defensive stance before stabbing at the northernmost goblin.
for
Bereket moves into the room after Shae, stepping past her into the space between her and Bruthazmus.
Upon coming to a halt, he swings his scimitar back at the goblin closer to the door.
The only successful strike from the party is a bite from Drax. He manages to crush one of the goblins so swiftly and discard it right after that it visibly frightens the other two goblins.
The armored fellow, having made enough distance in the hallway, charges at Hollie with a large sword that he draws along the way. His attack lands, dealing a devastating blow to the paladin.
Between the armored man slicing into Hollie and then the bunch of goblins in the other room Jess looks back and forth trying to decide where to help. Finally, move to the east, pulling out a bomb where she has a clear line of sight to the armored man beofre tossing it at him, angling it so it doesn't splash onto Hollie, Drax or Shae.
HP: 27/27
AC: 16
Bombs: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Extracts 1st: CLW (1d8+4) [ ] [ ] [ ], Heightened Awareness [ ]
Extracts 2nd: CMW (2d8+4) [ ] [ ]
Matthias rushes to next to Jess and tries to help wear the man down as well. "Shae! Bereket! Can you step back in here?"