Skully will check if the doors locked..
When Skully quietly tries the door, she finds that it is locked, and now, she too, can hear the snoring.
She pulls out her tools and goes to work.. Working slowly to not cause much noise..
After a few moments, Skully hears the familiar click as the door unlocks.
Skully opens the door slowly and takes a gander at whats inside..
Fenn keeps silent letting Skully do what she does best without distraction.
As she works on unlocking the door Fenn quietly switches weapons back to his longbow...drawing an arrow and notching it ready to let fly should an enemy present itself as a target.
*dabs at his forehead with a handkerchief, the expectation is palpable*
Brom waits at Skully's back ready to pull the halfling from harm way.
Of all the furnishing that must have once been the room, now only the bed remains. It is what's lying on the bed that gives you pause. Snoring loudly, a bottle of wrapped its arm, is a hobgoblin.
Skully slips out her Sap and slowly moves up the the sleeping hobgob..
[ooc]Not exactly sure how this is ruled but she wants to try and knock him out while sleeping.. Essentially a coup de grace but with nonlethal damage.. Ive found no rules on it, yall know anything? If it were me i would say DC 10+damage fort or go unconcious, but im fine with just rolling straight damage if that what you want..
She'll sneak up and bop him on the head..
So he needs to make a DC 23 Fort or be knocked out..
Skully brings her sap down on the head of the sleeping hobgoblin, with an audible "smack",knocking it into unconsciousness. A rivulet of blood begins to run from the creatures head.
At the sound of skully's sap coming down on the hobgoblins head Brom enters the room to see what she caught. Seeing the unconcious hobgoblin he gives Skully a nod.
Well done. These fellows can be a handful. He says softly. Look Fenn! Here's "Goot" and you'll notice it isn't human. Do you want the honor of smiting this evil or should I pin it to the ground for you? He hefts his Lucerne Hammer meaningfully.
Fenn shrugs and whispers,
Fenn steps over to the unconscious Hobgoblin and slips the bottle in his arms gently out of his grip and hands it over to Jeseare with a wink, whispering, clearly his remark in jest.
Then seeing the rivulet of blood on the Hobgoblin's head... on a whim of uncommon kindness.. Fenn binds the wound with cloth from his belt pouch, commenting to Skully without looking at her,
Turning to Skully, he smiles handing her a rope out of his pack, whispering again,
Turning to the party,
Skully shrugs.. "Coulda put my rapier through his eye.. Seems he made out ok ifin yea look at it that way.." Skully help search the room..
That wretched thing we caught in the forest was one thing. Brom says But a Hobgoblin is something completely different. Brom shoves the spear point of his Lucerne Hammer through the hobgoblins chest.
coup de grace
22 damage
Pulling his Lucerne Hammer from the hobgoblins chest Brom says Never leave an enemy at your back.
Brom searches the room with everyone else
Skully jumps back at Brom's viciousness.. "Well that was a little uncalled for.. A bit bloodthirsty are we?"
Fenn does not pause he shove Brom away from the Hobgoblin... and draws his longsword.
"No! We are NOT paid by the number of bodies we leave in our wake Brom! This ain't no war...but if you try to kill that hobgoblin in cold blood.. I'll give ya a war!"
DM... do we need initiative? This action is questionable for a good alinged character to just casually kill a helpless prisoneer.
5)
Ah'm not heah ta' just grab a bottle o' booze an' run. Ah'm heah ta clean out everything tha's a threat ta good folks using these here roads without fear o' being attacked!"
Jesare gets red in the face, at the thought of the noise and at the party coming to blows. Says the following in a loud whisper:
Youngins! What are we all doing? I guess this is my fault for not thinking to cross this bridge before we got here... we knew we'd be finding something like this creature here. I'm not exactly from these parts but until proven otherwise I think I have to concur with Mr.Fenn against single party decision summary executions. That being said, everyone, I'm sure Mr. Bronn was just meaning to do his best to protect the interests of this excursion. Now, in the future there Mr.Bronn you might not think much of these goblin men but surely you think enough of us that we're allowed an opinion in the matter. Preferably -before- such decisions are made.
Returns to a regular but still quiet voice as he gestures to the bottle Fenn gave him
Ah, I fear your jest may have been too close to the truth. While this is none too appealing I do see a bar tab in my future"
Fenn maintains his position interposing between Brom and the unconscious Hobgoblin, the longsword is his hand is clearly seen is ...somewhat laughable.. its wroughly crafted with crude imperfections in the blade... until one notices the well-honed blade edge and the obvious scratches of battle-tested use. It may not be pretty but it has seen battle and has not chipped or cracked in combat - crude.. but certainly effective.
However, currently, Fenn does not have it raised in threat in fact lowers it point to the floor when Jeseare speaks up in support.
Fenn softens his tone, not wanting to insult the human mercenary, "Look Brom, Ah can understand your want to protect tha' party and neutralize threats - but we don't know how this hobgoblin is involved.. or even if he is involved! Ah know its highly suspect him being here an all.. but there may be more going on here than we know. We need to question him... we can't do tha' now but we can latter. The Goblin said there was a human invo0lved, Ah don't see why he would lie and even if this is there is not better proof of our handling the bandits than turning tha' leader over to the authorities in New Wesel! The sweep of this house won't take hours and hours.. he'll still be tied up when we're done. An if he is involved then he's a prisoner tha' we march back ta' New Wesel as proof we did take care o' the bandits.. and not just hear-say. Skully can tie him up an he'll keep until then, he is not a threat."
Caught by Fenn's shove unaware Brom staggers away from the recumbent hobgoblin. Rounding on the Half-elf and seeing the drawn sword Brom swings the point of his pole arm to point at Fenn.
What the hell are you doing? Brom growls at Fenn.
"No! We are NOT paid by the number of bodies we leave in our wake Brom! This ain't no war...but if you try to kill that hobgoblin in cold blood.. I'll give ya a war!"
Your right! We are being paid to retrieve a bottle of wine. You're the one that said you wanted to cleanse this place, but I am starting to get the impression what you want is to get us all killed.
"Look Brom, Ah can understand your want to protect tha' party and neutralize threats - but we don't know how this hobgoblin is involved.. or even if he is involved! Ah know its highly suspect him being here an all.. but there may be more going on here than we know. We need to question him. . . . .An if he is involved then he's a prisoner tha' we march back ta' New Wesel as proof we did take care o' the bandits.. and not just hear-say. Skully can tie him up an he'll keep until then, he is not a threat."
Brom drops his Lucerne Hammer and buries his face in his hands. He stands like that taking deep breaths for a long moment. Final he lowers his hands.
Are you stupid? You know what that is don't you? That's a hobgoblin. They live for warfare. That thing would happily kill and eat us. Brom throws up his hand and turns away. Do what you want, this is on you. As soon as we find that bottle of wine I am leaving. you can pursue your fool quest on your own.Brom turns his attention to searching the room leaving the hobgoblin to Fenn.
perception: 1d20 ⇒ 20
Fenn's usual lay-about easy going attitude...slips... and his anger is evident to all, "I don't know what army you served in Brom but I think its a moral gimmy ya don't kill a 'person' tha's unconscious and at your mercy when ya' got no clue who he is or what he may or may not have done just cause of his race!"
"An it ain't right ta just go around killin' people who 'are mean' jus' cause! There are a lot o' 'jus' mean' people in tha' world who ain't personally hurt no one in particular.. they may be hard ta' get along with but tha' should not be a death sentence! You'd be killin' a lot o' 'jus' mean' people who don't deserve death. We got no idea what this hobgoblin has done.. and he may indeed be 'evil' but tha' don' necessarily mean we got tha' right ta' jus' take his life ...jus cause! Wha' kind'a justice is tha'? Ain't we who are supposed ta be decent folk suppos' ta' be betah than tha'?!? Sure Ah got no problem killin' someone who actively hurtin' folks out of plain wickedness... but we don' know nothin' 'bout this hobgoblin!! Other than he's a hobgoblin.. he's got choice like anyone else! He ain't no evil spirit or unquiet dead, or heaven-cursed demon or devil.. they's only got nature; they are always evil and need ta be put down as quickly as possible! But he's a sentient, mortal being - who's got choice. Even being a hobgoblin!!"
Fenn turns to the party, "Yaw need ta' decide now how yaw want ta' do things! Is it ok to jus' kill helpless prisoners to yaw? What about people who surrender or ask fur mercy? Ah wanna know right now if'n yaw are gonna do wha's right or wha' easy, an convenient! Either we are betah than tha' evil we oppose or we got no room ta' judge... an yaw got no need fur me... cause Ah know wha's right an wrong."
He squares his shoulders a grim determination in his pretty green eyes, "If Brom's got no stomach for making tha' moral and hard choice.. tha's fine with me.. but I got no moral uncertainty about wha' needs doing here! You got yur bottle if'n tha' all yaw care about.. take it and go.. I'll deal with the badies here on mah own if'n I must!"
Well, normally it would seem most prudent to continue about the premises in our search but in this case I am going to suggest we restrain our foundling here. Then I can either revive him or we can wait for him to come to naturally, if that is plausible. I dont really know how long a good wallop from one of those things usually puts someone out for. Perhaps you can give us a guess, Mrs. Skully? From there we can see what the hobgoblin has to say and move from there.
Well, that is if we feel like someone here has a chance to make meaningful communication with him. Mr. Quolamin, you seem the best resource here so I will defer to your judgment.
I dont think it wise to leave him here bound while we explore the rest of this house as, if there are other occupants, one might stumble upon our charge and unbind him. SO, as it is, whatever else might be afoot here I think it is in everyone's best interests to take this situation to a head. Whichever outcome that might come to."
"Thas' a bit short-sighted Mistah, Qoolam. There is only one way into this room... if any one comes this way..were gonna see them almost immediately."
Answering, Jeseare, "..Skully gave him a real clout... even if he does wake... without magical healing it will be hours before he has enough vitality to be any threat in a fight. I don't want to give up our element o' suprise jus' ta question him right now.. no one knows..as yet we are here.. let's sweep the rest of the house and jus' keep an eye opne for this room to make sure no one gets past us."
"If we jus' tie him up, stop jawing and move to sweeping tha' house will be done in 10 minutes, tops!"
Fenn looks about the room from his position, stand over the hobgoblin to protect him from arbitrary death, to see if there are any obvious possessions of the hobgoblin nearby that might give some clue as to who or what he is... mercenary or otherwise.
The room has seen better days. What once had been furniture has long been smashed beyond repair or recognition. A chair perhaps...maybe a dresser. You do see some glass in the debris and can safely assume that an oil lamp was once part of the decor. The bed is soiled with all manner of detritus.
The hobgoblin is wearing studded leather armor and a longsword lies just beyond his reach on the edge of the bed. The bottle he held is nearly empty. There is a griffon stamp on the side.
As the group is looking around the room, Skully notices a couple loose floor boards under the bed. She pulls a, stinking, burlap sack out from its hiding place.
Fenn collects the longsword, and since the hobgoblin is well and good unconscious Fenn removes his studded leather armor before pulling rope to tie up and gag the hobgoblin.
Seeing the rickety shape of the bed, Fenn lays the Hobgoblin on the floor and shoves him under the bed then drapes the bedding sloppily over the side to conceal the unconscious Hobgoblin from sight.
At which point Fenn notes what Skully found with a nod.
"Right let's git.. next room."
Readying his longsword and buckler Fenn leaves the room and turns right toward what seems the dining room table and chairs in the large open room.
He is being stealthy as possible...
Fenn scans the room for obvious hostiles.
If he spots none he will move to the door just north of the bedroom that is in the hallway, and wait for Skully to check the door.
Thats not the bottle we were sent for. Brom says once he has a chance to look at the bottle. Dugan said it would have an anvil on it this one has a griffen.
What did you find? He asks skully when she pulls the sack from under the floor boards?
When they have finished searching the room Brom retrieves his Lucerne Hammer from the floor. He bounces it in his hands for a moment mentally waying the benefits of having it against the close confines of the manor. After a moments though he reaches a decision and takes the pole arm back to the entrance where he leans it against the wall. Returning to the group he draws his bastard sword. Don't let me forget that when we leave. he says to Jeseare.
"Found something over here! Whatever it is stinks though.." She opens the bag and has a look around..
"Looks like the hobgobs stash.." She'll pull out the parchment and flask and take a closer look at them..
The symbols on the parchment begin to swirl about, changing shape and order...instantly giving you a headache. The flask has, what you recognize to be, dwarven ruins on it.
Oh, well, if this isn't what we came here for I guess I don't really need to be carrying this anymore.
Sets the hobgoblins bottle somewhere.
To those looking through the found bag:
Anything interesting in there or should we just keep on?
I don't think the rabbit and the finger will be wort much but the rest could bring some coin. Brom sniffs and wrinkles his nose at the smell you might want to put those things in your pack and leave that bag here too.
We should move along Fenn is getting ahead of us. Brom says to the others and motions for them to continue searching the manor.
The hall leads to a large room that had been the main dining room. A long table sits towards the back of the room. Six chairs are around the table. Scraps of food sit on and around ceramic plates. Empty bottles litter the area. There is a fireplace against the back wall. It doesn't look as if its been used in some time.
There are two hallways on either side of the room that lead to closed doors. There are also other doors.
Brom follows Fenn into the dining room and looks around curiously. This is an area where we might find a wine bottle but all the bottles here look empty. If the goblins or hobgoblins found the bottle we are out of luck he thinks when he sees the bottles littering the area. I hope Fenn's friend didn't drink our bottle of wine already. He says to the others.
Skull scouts ahead, looking for potential traps..
*Continues following along, contentedly*