Gizmo sparks and sizzles, but the contraption fights on:
Mallory takes another shot but doesn't even come close.
A gunshot from Ben and then the wounded Gizmo's rending claws finish up the Hobgoblin.
The wounded gnome on the floor manages to look at you and says something very quietly in common, "Th-thank you."
Doc stares at what he can see of the flames, nearly transfixed, eyes sparkling. "Yes," he mumbles quietly. "Yes, it is. Fire always is."
Seeming to come back to the here and now, the gnome looks over towards the horses, relieved to see that Applejack is alright. "Good call on the mist, Gulch. How badly are you hurt?" he asks as he glances at the man then strides off towards whatever's left of their attackers.
Mr. Gulch forcefully removes the arrow from his shoulder, and then takes a drink from a flask from his bag. The wound begins to rapidly heal.
"A mere scratch, Good Doctor."
He also stares at the burnt corpses.
"Not much to go on. But I suppose we can believe that they were men, at the very least. And not some sort of doppelganger, as I now suspect the sheriff might be. I think they were burying him to get rid of the evidence. Observe the digging equipment."
And indeed there are some spades and pick axes arrayed near the men.
Doc begins poking at the charred remains with his cane. He glances over at the body on the trail as he does so.
"You're saying they killed the real sheriff so a doppelganger could take his place? These wastes of flesh were colluding with such a monstrosity?"
He looks thoughtful as he continues to check the remains and the area behind the rocks. "That's unnatural. And unnerving." He looks at the sorcerer pointedly. "Something's afoot, Gulch. How are you involved?"
After completing his search, Doc takes a minute to mix an extract.
Ben reloaded his gun before holstering it, then knelt by the gnome. "You speak the common tongue? Tell me what's going on down here. What's all this machinery for, and where is the little girl?" He put particular emphasis on the last, staring straight into the gnome's eyes.
Bukaru walks over to the wounded Gnome, waits till everyone is gathered round, and Channels Energy :
Affects all within 30'. Excluding downed bad guys that may not be "completely dead". :)
1/6 used for the day.
When the hobgoblin drops, Mal, ignoring the gnome, turns away, already reloading her pistol and, clenching her teeth, moves further down the corridor.
"Damn fool had no idea." she mutters. 'Ain't sure I do, neither.'
The goons were carrying the following #Loot:
- potion of cure light wounds x3
- chainmail x3
- shortsword x3
- dagger x3
- longbow x3
- 24 arrows
- 6 gp
The gear is all medium-sized.
***
"I am not involved, Doctor. And I would appreciate if you didn't hurl baseless accusations."
From behind you can hear the rapid clop-clop of a pony. You look to see Deputy Blue Feather riding in. She stares at the body of the Sheriff in mute horror, before raising a hand crossbow in your direction.
"Reach for the sky, or I'll plug you, you murderers!"
Mr. Gulch sighs exasperatedly.
"How droll."
Ben reloaded his gun before holstering it, then knelt by the gnome. "You speak the common tongue? Tell me what's going on down here. What's all this machinery for, and where is the little girl?" He put particular emphasis on the last, staring straight into the gnome's eyes.
The older deep gnome nods slowly as he gingerly tries to stand, he smiles at Bukaru's magical kindness.
"Thank you. Yes, I speak the Surface Tongue. If you speak of the little human girl, then I'm afraid they just took her deeper into the tunnels. She has fire in her belly that one. Talks back to the hobgoblins," he says with a pained smile.
"They didn't like that. So they would beat her and then leave her to the insane human to heal, so they can do it again. Be careful of that one. She is a priestess of the Dark Stranger."
"I don't think she is their leader, but the hobgoblins are afraid of her. Other humans come down here sometimes, too. Not many. I think they work on the surface. I have no idea what they do though."
"The machines are for oil. There is a large supply here. Coal as well, but mostly oil. They are incredible. Use blend of magic and technology. Dig -- without digging. Built by Spoon."
He then digs around the corpses' bodies and finds a key. He uses it to open the doors, letting out a couple more deep gnomes.
"You killed Brogo's brothers. He will be vengeful. You should be careful."
Doc doesn't raise his hands, but he does slowly turn his palms towards the halfling and splay his fingers -- as much as is possible while still holding onto the cane in his right hand -- to show he's unarmed.
"Miss," he calls out firmly, "I don't know who you are or what you think you're doing, but I'd strongly advise you to lower your weapon. We're not murderers."
He cuts his eyes towards Gulch and mutters, "Well I'm not, anyway."
He raises his voice again. "The murderers -- or rather, what's left of them -- are here behind this boulder, from where they just tried to ambush and murder us." He slowly and unthreateningly lifts his cane and points past her. "And if you look around out that way you might turn up a few bits of lead to support that statement. The matching casings are here on the ground."
"We came upon that body." he says as he swings the cane to point at it, "same as you -- and when we stopped, we were attacked."
"Now, keeping that crossbow at the ready would be wise, as there might be other threats about... but kindly stop pointing it at us!"
Satisfied with the gnome's answer, Ben nodded and stood up. "Brogo won't be troublin' you any longer. He's takin' a dirt nap." Eyeing the passle of gnomes, he added, "If any of you-all is feelin' vengeful in the slightest, we could sure use some information on what's waitin' farther in. What's the layout of these here tunnels? Where can we find the girl and the priestess? Are there more of Brogo's kin workin' down here? Where might they be?" Glancing at Mal's departing back, he said with exasperation, "And make it quick. Some of us are in a damn hurry to meet up with the undertaker."
"I would like to remind all of you (hoping Mal is still within earshot) that I can do little else at this point than heal you of your wounds several more times. But I am anxious to rescue the child as soon as possible."
"Ain't a worry," Mal calls back. "Keep us breathin' and we'll find her."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Leland sends Gizmo off to scout:
Mr Gulch clears his throat. "Deputy, I'm sure you remember me, don't you?"
"Oh, I know exactly who you are, you snake . Now put those hands up or there will be trouble! " she says scoffing.
He does so. "I assure you that there's no need for hostilities. The good doctor here is correct. The Sheriff was already dead and we were ambushed."
Deputy Bluefeather waivers for a moment but then finally drops her hand crossbow.
"Fine, but help me get his body on a horse, because I'll be damned straight to Perdition itself before I leave him here for the buzzards."
Just then you hear a cart approaching fast. It's kicking up dust like a storm. The deputy aims her crossbow, but then lowers it.
"Dagnabbit! It's Old Walther."
"The Undertaker," Gulch asks.
"He can smell death in the air or something. It's, well, creepy. He can only ever be too late though."
And sure enough he stops right next to you carrying exactly 4 pine box coffins in his cart. He hops off and begins dispassionately unloading the boxes.
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Baseless accusations, as you put it, seem to be the order of the day," Doc grumbles as he gathers the potions, leaving everything else be.
In low tones he adds, "If you're theorizing dopplegangers, Gulch, how do we trust these two... or anyone? Do you have a way to detect those atrocities?"
He eyes the sorcerer. "I'd question if I can trust you but, doppleganger or no, I already know the answer to that," he snorts.
"Oh, don't be so predictable, Doctor. It's very unbecoming. And. no. I don't know of anyway to detect a doppelganger."
"Wait? A dop-a-what-zit?" the Deputy asks.
"Doppelganger. It's a monster that can mimic people. Very dangerous. I saw someone wearing the sheriff's face before I found him here dead."
"What?!"
"Indeed. We should probably get back to town?" Gulch answers drolly.
The three mount up and ride hell bent for leather back to town.
"I'm a scientist, Gulch. Predictability and repeatability are cornerstones of science."
"I would say I'm sorry my manner annoys you," Doc says with a smirk as he climbs onto Appie's back, "but I don't deal in falsehoods."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Gizmo moves forward, spotting 3 more Hobgoblins, but these don't look anywhere near as imposing as Brogo and his Brothers.
Surprise round
Letting out a steam whistle toot, Gizmo charges:
Gizmo tears into the Hobgoblin. He doesn't quite bring it down, but he does do heavy damage.
Leland 23
Hobgoblins 15
Mallory 9
Gizmo 9
Ben 7
Bukaru 5
-Posted with Wayfinder
Leland hustles towards the sound of gizmo's warning. Gizmo continues his assault.
Gizmo tears the face off the Hobgoblin, leaving him dying in agony. Unperturbed by their comrades demise, the other two moved in to flank the courageous and crafty construct.
The first hobgoblin manages a vicious attack, but the other can't quite get a good hit on him.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Mallory continues down the hallway after Gizmo, moving past Leland and getting herself into position to blast the creatures. She raises her gun, fire in her eyes, and prepares for the fight.
Bukaru has been moved, and will stay so that everyone is within range of her Held Channel Energy...
Ben slunk along the wall with his hand on his gun, only drawing once he'd seen the new hobgoblins Gizmo was demolishing. He paused to see if the monsters had noticed the gunslingers' approach, or if a challenge would be necessary.
The Hobgoblins are a bit preoccupied with Gizmo to notice the others. They both attack Gizmo. And one gets in a vicious hit.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Mallory takes a shot at one of the Hobgoblins but misses utterly and completely.
"Whew, and here I thought you lot were plenty ugly before that contraption set on you," Ben sneered, raising his weird pistol to take a shot at the other hobgoblin as he closed to prime shooting distance.
Leland will draw and load his crossbow.
One of the Hobgoblins takes a bullet and then is clawed. He bellows to his comrade, "Get 'em! I'll finish the kitty!"
He attacks Gizmo, but misses wildly.
The other Hobgoblin recklessly abandons Gizmo to attack Mal. And brave Gizmo makes a single swipe at the fleeing Hobgoblin, raking his back severely.
But the Hobgoblin isn't down and so he charges into Mal with his sword, slicing her shoulder brutally.
Mal gives the hobgoblin a look that would kill a lesser man, as her free hand clutches her shoulder in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Raising her arm despite the pain, she fires a shot at the hobgobin.
That polecat's got it coming... but I don't want to be swarmed down here without backup.
Ben holstered his gun and, with the song of metal being drawn, pulled his shiny elven curve blade from over his shoulder. "This here's goin' in you," he promised the hobgoblin with a nasty smile as he circled around it, the blade weaving in the light. "Don't you shoot me, woman!" he added with a scowl at Mal.
As soon as Mal gets hit, Bukaru does a Channel Energy for all the good guys within 30' :
Gizmo rakes the Hobgoblin to death. The other one decides to attack Ben, but misses wildly.
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Ain't worth the price of the bullet, Dalton." Mallory replies with a scoff as she takes another shot at the hobgoblin that wounded her.
"Woman, you're a pestilence on this earth," Ben snarled, slashing at the hobgoblin. "I've damn near got a mind to leave you to get stuck on this fellow's blade! How about it, ugly? You gonna cut on her? Maybe I'll let you live long enough to shut her up."