Juraan gasps at his wound by tries stabbing the Alley Basher woman again
Daily 1st level spell slots left: none
Daily acid ray uses left: 2
It wasn't showing in the summary of your post, but Juraan is down 5 HP from the last round, isn't he?
JJ stabs at the woman who attacked Juran.(if she is still up)
His 'old' family cold iron sword then also licks out.
He then steps to the side to let others in on the action.
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The alleybasher woman who attacked Juraan falls to the ground unconscious under the combined attack of JJ and the professor.
The other hillwoman blocks JJ's second attack with her shield.
Round 3
As the other disappear to the downstairs Ryan knows something must be wrong taking a belt from one of the nearby dead hillfolk and secures Maple til he can return to question her later.
As the channel in the scrap opens up, Maxim sees his chance and empowers his pistol with arcane energy before leveling and firing at the bandit before him ;
:
:
He then shifts back past Marigold to allow her to shoot the same gap
AC = 22
HP = 43/44
Weapon Equipped = MW Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Bless?
Kikinnin tucks his sap away, readying his axe. "Alright, Ryan. You fixin' to stay here, and look over that halfling? I'll go see what's keeping the others."
Kikinnin moves to the stairs, and heads down them to see what's what. Coming down to Maxim's back, he questions his bror. "Awfully cramped. How many rats are running rogue down there?"
Ryan quickly binds Maple with the first he finds at hand.
Maxim shots at the hillwoman engaged in combat. His gun so close that pierces through the armor as butter, a splash of blood smearing Juraan and JJ.
The injured hillman moves over JJ and slashes with his longsword.
But JJ dodges the attack with ease.
The hillwoman attempts the same against Juraan.
But Juraan's magic spells deflect the blade.
The alleybasher squeezes between both attackers and flanks JJ.
But JJ combs back against the wall and avoids the rapier.
Juraan stabs at the alley basher that put himself between him and JJ
Daily 1st level spell slots left: none
Daily acid ray uses left: 2
AC = 22
HP = 43/44
Weapon Equipped = MW Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Bless
Kikinnin looks down the stairs, making out the skirmish at the bottom. "Why'd you go and fight them where they stood? You could have picked them off, one-by-one, by baiting them up the stairs, and taking the higher ground." The black-beard debates stumbling down the stairs to join the elbow-bumping.
Against his own words, he figures JJ wasn't kidding when he barked about needing help, even though he can see one of the attackers already down.
As he gains the basement floor, he tries his hand at a swing.
"See what I mean? Too cramped down here."
"We were just making room on the dance floor for you!"
JJ, keen to avoid giving the allybasher his natural advantage, steps south before regretfully unloading on his former ally.
"You should have run.."
and then lashing out with his grandfathers sword.
The cramped conditions conspire against him however.
Juraan rapier hits on the alleybasher's armor and is deflected.
After some hesitation, Kikinnin descends into the crowded basement and slashes through the same alleybasher Juraan failed. A wide gash opens in his right arm.
JJ steps south and attempts a double attack but the hillman blocks both swords with his shield.
Round 4
With Maple secured, Ryan moves to see what all the ruckus is about now. Staring down the steps at the mass of people there is little he can do from the top of the steps.
"JJ, stand tall, the blood of your ancestors runs strong. These are the wheat before the threshers blade."
Inspiring word for JJ - +2 to attack, skill, ability, or saving throw check for 1 round
Ryan inspires JJ remembering the ancestry of his family.
Marigold supports Kikinnin by casting guidance on the dwarf.
The hillman steps back to attack JJ.
He hits a keg and wine starts to pour into the ground!
The hillwoman attacks Juraan instead.
She cuts the professor on his chest going through all his magical protections.
The alleybasher steps to surround JJ and attack him on vital points.
He fails though to find his neck.
Juraan tries stabbing back at the alleybasher that just wounded hiim
Daily 1st level spell slots left: none
Daily acid ray uses left: 2
JJ steps away from the allybasher and targets the hillman again.
"They don't grow wheat in the hills do they? These guys are more like trees that need cutting down."
AC = 22
HP = 43/44
Weapon Equipped = MW Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Bless, Guidance
Kikinnin nods back to Marigold, aware of the improved freedom of motion. He tries again to dissuade the two-legged rat in front of him.
"Why would so many of them come down here? Did they chase folk down here? Whose blood is that?"
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In a combined final assault, JJ twin swords and Kikinnin's axe, aided by Juraan's rapier and Maxim's gun, makes an end to the thugs resistance. The basement once again remains calm.
3x Chainmail
3x masterwork large steel shield
3x masterwork longsword
2x potion of cure moderate wounds
5x red sash
2x Studded leather
2x masterwork rapier
2x shortbow with 20 arrows
The basement main room is dominated by several large tanks, kegs, and other brewing equipment. The tanks are now empty and backed to pieces, and the floor is a stinking morass of muddy earth soaked with a mixture of beer, mead, and blood. A terrible battle must have taken place here.
Sarcems's mutilated body lies slumped against the base of a battered keg, the head missing completely. The high priest's bloody hand still grips a heavy mace in his hand, the burned mark of a werebaboon's hand still fresh on its tip. Rest of numerous fallen bodies, probably removed by the bandits and taken to a better place, are all around the dead High Priest of Abadar.
the magical heavy mace
suit of +1 banded mail with Abadar's Key symbol engraved
three empty potion bottles
a ring of protection +1
a magical headband made of simple bronze and decorated with an intricate pattern of fine green etchings
There is no trace of any kind of wand.
A Headband of Inspired Wisdom +2.
"These are rabid dogs, if they were comfortable enough with the smell of this slaughter, and chose to wallow down here. Ryan, go on and take Sarcem's mace, at least. We'll need to bring the body together, then prepare it for the return ride."
Kikinnin sweeps the basement level, moving to the unopened doors, and flinging them all open, almost hoping for another hillperson to thunk. Abadar, that wasn't kind of You, to let Sarcem die like that. Do You even care? He must have suffered greatly at the end of his life. As long as You welcome him home, is that it?
The black-beard kicks in doors with all the more animosity, as his thoughts get the better of him.
Juraan casts Detect Magic and tries to identify Sarcem's mace and headband:
"Sorry, I can't figure out what either is for."
"We still need to find the wands he had with him"
He then opens the door at the base of the stairs to see what's beyond.
Rapier drawn, of course.
"Were the wands in that bag you found upstairs?" asks JJ as he explores the basement, looking for signs of Orin's family...
"I don't think anyone opened it, actually."
"We were distracted by this lot down here."
"I'll check that now, just in case."
Juraan goes and opens that magic bag, to see if the wands are in it.
Maxim eyes the loot, then shrugs;
"I ain't got the necessary enchancements to identify these... Leastways not til the morrow."
The gun-mage grimaces at the carnage;
"Hell's Teeth! Reckon your god needs to protect his flock a little better..."
When Juraan opens the bag, the container seems much much more wider than from the exterior.
Opening the door to the stairs, you find several wine racks. They remain empty now.
Kikinnin advances to the bottom of the corridor. To his left the room feels moist and humid. Several sides of meat hang from hooks set into the ceiling, and a number of storage bins line the west wall. The far end of the room, is empty except for an open metal box lying on its side; the box is lined with slowly melting frost.
A large sign hangs near the door, its bold red letters reading. ""
The door at the end of the hall is a solid, iron-reinforced wooden door that bulges at the seams, almost as if the wood had melted and expanded to clog its frame. The iron bands that reinforce the door are caked with frost, as are the bodies of three thugs who lie huddled on the ground before it. One of the bodies grips an extinguished torch.
"That looks dodgy..." says JJ.
He eyes up the torch and the nearby frost, and then the sign.
"I've heard of some molds that eat heat. I wonder if this is how he kept his ale cool in the middle of the jungle? " ponders JJ.
JJ indeed knows brown molds create a freezing environment. He also explains the party fire can make them grow. Which might give explanation to the sign. The sign thous is in a different door than where the thugs lay dead.
You do identify the combed and melted wood in the door as possibly the result of a wood shape spell.
JJ gingerly reaches out to touch the wood, to see if it too is freezing.
"It looks like the thugs didn't get past this door. If there are any survivors, this is where we will find them."
He pauses to assess the situation.
"I assume the mold kept the meat fresh. I just hope it is not grown massively beyond this door. If it has then opening it up might prove... unpleasant."
Still, memories of the inn keepers daughter are fresh in his mind, and he didn't think he'd seen her body yet.
JJ's face pales a bit as the situation sinks in. One body is bad, but this is an inn full of them.
"These were good folk... why'd they do it? " he asks nobody in particular.
Looking around the cellar, JJ searches for a tool that might be used to burst the door, like a sledge hammer. "Perhaps we could go to the stables, they might have tools there."
After checking the door is not too cold, be raps on it with his hand
"Hello... anyone in there? It is JJ and Cauldron's watchers..."
"This must be one of those bag of holding things."
"Bigger on the inside than the outside."
Juraan turns the bag upside-down to see if anything falls out.
The door results extremely cold to the touch.
JJ needs to rear back 5 feet apart of the door to avoid the freezing going up his arms to the shoulder. The hand he used to timidly touch the door is now frozen but slowly recovering.
You do know cold damage is able to destroy a brown mold.
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As the sounds of fighting cease at the bottom of the stairs, Ryan retrieves a table cloth from the a nearby shelf, he could hear dwarves' comments above.
"Some days the gods stand by us and lift us up above the odds, others they trust in us to use the abilities they have bestowed upon us; and unfortunately today was the latter for Sarcem; we all have our limits. Kikinnin will you help me to wrap his body for his return?"
Ryan kneels beside Sarchem's body, taking a moment to set his mace to the side and cross his arms on his chest. The headband laying on the floor catches his eye, taking a moment to inspect it.
However he is too emotionally unstable to put the effort into it that he needs to study the item. Placing it in his pack to return with Sarchem and his belongings to Jenya. Carrying Sarchem's body above, Ryan lays it in the room beside Maple.
Setting the body down, Ryan reverently wraps the head in place and secures everything with rope for transport. Turning his attention to the unconscious Maple, he positions her in a chair, securing her there; finding a nearby ladle he dips water and pours it over her head. Allowing her to sputter and get her bearings.
Pointing towards Sarchem's body, finger tip trembling with barely controlled rage. "Holy Abadar, this halfling has contributed to the death of the leader of your church in Cauldron. She has willingly sought to give aid to a foul were creature, an abomination spewed forth from the jungle born of a failed assassination on another of the town leaders. Grant me the right to interrogate her to learn the source of Cauldron's troubles."
assuming it is granted
"Maple, know this you have placed upon you divine magics, answer truthfully and no harm will come to you from the questions, answer falsely and the pain you feel will bear witness to the falsehood."
"Who sent your group to attack Sarchem?"
"Where are the wands Sarchem was carrying?"
Ryan waits between questions to see how Maple answers.
JJ yelps at the cold
"That door is just soooo cold."
He blows on his hand and sticks it under his arm for a bit.
"I think I got frostbite!" he sighs. "I can't believe there would be anyone alive behind that door. Makes one curious about what is behind it though..."
"I d-don't...t-too m-much b-blood, there's t-too m-much b-blood here..." Marigold whispers, unable to focus on much of anything due to the horrific state of Sarcem's body and of the basement in general.
"Ch-check that d-door later," she advises as JJ tries touching the cold door and pays for doing so. "If it's th-that c-cold out h-here th-then it's p-probably too c-cold in there for there to b-be anything d-dangerous b-behind it..."
Or anything that's alive...
Maxim eyes the frosty situation with a critical eye;
:
... but can discern nothing new.
"Iffen anyone is unfortunate enough to be in there... they ain't breathin'..."
Kikinnin snorts, before moving to help separate the hillfolk and thugs from their valuable possessions, then help with Sarcem's body/head reunion. He doesn't care to stay in the basement for longer than is necessary.
"We've still got more to search on the main floor. The two pointy ears are still around, too. Show 'em the interesting door, maybe they'll know what to do with the warped wood."
Kikinnin bolts upstairs when the time comes, keeping his eyes peeled for more trouble.
"I hope the wands we're looking for aren't in there!"
Nothing falls from the bag.
After some minutes Maple start to react. She shakes her head, then attempts to forcer herself out of the bindings until she discovers Ryan looming over her.
"I... have nothing to do with it." you do observe the sweat falling from the halfling front as she talks "We all were hired by a woman named Triel from the alleys of Cauldron and the surroundings."
When Ryan asks about the wands the halfling shows to be clueless "Our mission was to provide support for Tongueater and his baboons." she says this with some discomfort "From what I understood, he had been charged with Sarcem's assassination and the theft of some magic items he was carrying"
For what you can say, she is telling the truth.
From the situation of at the door you can tell the thugs were actually trying to force in past the door, the cold source was intentionally moved to defend the door and the door was magically blocked on purpose. All the hints makes you think somebody run away and hide behind the door and the thugs were trying to find the way to break in.
Going upstairs to the first floor, you do overhear the noise of combat.
"Look sharp, folks. We've got more scuffle afoot. Let's secure this place first."
The black-beard advances in the direction of the combat, as soon as he hears his team heading up.
Now that things are quieter, Juraan tries healing himself up a bit with his wand of Cure Light Wounds …
… only three times before it works for him:
"I Need more practice, I do!"
Seeing Kikkinin heading off to yet more fighting, Juraan sighs.
"No rest for the wicked!"
He arms himself with his longbow and follows Kikkinin.
Interested in the remaining room, Juraan opens the door to find fruit and vegetables, although most have been cast carelessly to the dirt floor by bandits searching for treasure.
-------------------
Kikinnin enters into a room just to find Fario and Fellian neutralizing a couple of thugs. They turn excited to the dwarf just to find Kikinnin "Have you been lucky? Found the basement?" they looks to side and side looking for more enemies "The upper floor is clear but we have not found an entrance to the basement here"
Kikinnin throws a thumb over his shoulder, pointing to the cellar doorway. "Shouldn't have a problem, now that the Js cleared out most of the thugs rustling around down there. We did come across a stubborn door, couldn't check it. Cold as a river stone."
Kikinnin looks to clear the rest of the first floor of the Lucky Monkey, taking the elves at their word that the second floor is no longer a problem. He doesn't run off, waiting for back up, before getting into unforeseen troubles.
Catching up to Kikkinin (and Fario and Fellian), Juraan says:
"The only room we haven't opened in the cellar is that cold one."
"Just touching it was almost enough to give JJ frostbite."
"Everything else in the cellar is normal enough."
"Except for a lot of dead bandits."
"Have you found any other survivors or victims?"
"We found Orin's body, and a Cleric's."
"We have not found bodies of anyone else from here."
"Hopefully we can find some survivors!"
While the others separate the fallen from their goods, JJ starts to separate the living from the dead. The dead he takes outside a short distance from the inn. The living he secures and takes up stairs to locate with the other prisoners.
After a while he goes back to the cold door, and tries to figure out if the cold is coming from the other side of it, or is sourced on their side of the structure. Eventually he heads up to join Ryan, arriving in time to hear Maple.
JJs face pales.. Oh not...
"Did..did..did Triel... did she have tattoos? "
As he's talking to Kikkinin, Juraan snaps his fingers.
"Hang on! Now that I think about it, that room looks like it was barricaded."
"And some sort of cold magic put up to defend the room."
"Maybe there are survivors in there!"
"Better go check on that!"
And with that, Juraan hurries to the cellar.
"Cold room?" Fario and Fellian look at each other "She is there. Quick, we must help her out before it is too late!" they start descending following your lead until hitting the basement "We have found no survivors, but we had no real time to perform a throughout search of the place"
JJ assesses the brown mold must be attached to the door from behind.
Once in front of the door Fario and Fellian look at it and nod. They remain silent looking and making facial gestures for a time. It gives a strange feeling. After some long seconds they start smiling and nod again. They do turn to you finally, "Do you have any means of dealing with the brown mold in the door? We do need to freeze the mold. Fire will make it grow. Cold will kill it"
------- -----------------
Back at the kitchen, Maple looks at JJ and nods "Bright red hair and face marks and shiny spiky metal skin"
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-==== downstairs ====-
"Maybe we could get some water? Throw it against the door, and that would freeze and hurt the mold?"
If nobody offers a better suggestion he will try that.
-==== upstairs =====-
I don't remember the spiky metal skin..oh maybe she means armor
A disappointed JJ sits down and sticks his head in his hands.
"M-maybe I c-could s-summon some water and we th-throw it on the d-door like JJ says?" Marigold pipes up, feeling at even more of a loss than usual to do something helpful.