As you search a few more bodies; mostly the archers; you find there gear is fairly worthless; though most of Mogues arrows seem ok and the ones magicked to death look fairly gruesome. The party involved finds another 39 copper pieces and 16 silver pieces; 4 wierd looking jewelery peices of silver and shells; and one cool looking carved...something. They also have many common grade shortswords and daggers and studded leather armor. Mogue seems to have uncannily shot most of the gobbies in the head; the neck and around their armor rather than through it; looks like in the thick of it he was playing some game as four were shot in the left eye and four in the right eye and the others looks like he was aiming for the Adam's apple; <shudder>; looking back at the hacked apart bodies lying in pieces from the two knights looks like some morbidly gruesome butcher came by; blood, guts and body parts lying about with the stink of death heavy in the air.
for many of you; the reality of the carnage and loss of life when battle is engaged first sets in; this picture may perhaps be burned into some of your memories; for others who have fought battles like this most of their lives; it just blends in with other memories; but seeing the gaunt and stricken faces on your more innocent party members perhaps make you wonder if you will ever be able to regain that innocence; even be able to lead a peaceful loving, life; or is this sort of carnage all there is left for the world.
Stopping in her efforts to excavate the goblin and its dea wolf mount, Sunset saunters over to the entry way to the parties last redoubt.
"Geeze, we done kil't a heap o' th' lil' buggers." She shakes her head and sighs, "It does look like it'll take some time to move/haul/scrape this lot over t' where th' sand is." She frowns even as her stance shifts from one bare brown foot to another.
"Hmmm, there's such an amount t' learn. I would never o' thunk I'd be needin' a rake or better shovel t' deal with th' afters of a fight, kind o' thing." Sunset looks innocently inquisitive as she mulls over the parties problems, possibly her attitude striking others as odd to sound so calm and almost cheerful in describing the after effects of conflict.
Sunset twists and slides some of the remains onto he shovel. Lifting and hauling said mess over to the mound of sand, depositing the load in hole she'd been scooping out of the shifting mass. Upon her arrival for a second trip she asks, to no one seemingly in particular,
"Um, so? we shiftin' this lot or we movin' along, type o' thing?"
It will take an hour or more to bury all these bodies; you do have the Fallen Knight reburied <a prayer or blessing might be a nice touch and preserve him until his bones can be retreived>.
I still dont remember anywhere in the posts where the Squire-Knight has shown you the map he made of the nearby area; when he does; I will send it out to you...hmm; I will send it out; and just look at it after he shows it to you.
So, what is the party going to do? any individual actions?
Oh; and it looks like someone had removed the knights sword <and belt of weapons and pouches and sheild and signet ring before you got there Sunset.
sorry; should have said sooner. he is still fully armored in plate armor of amazing quality. The detail work is uncanny; is probably worth 6000 gp or more on the open market. The barding on the horse is just as detailed; probably worth a good 3000gp or more.
Elsdyn Fedwick wrote: He turns back to Sunset.
"M'lady, it is not within the earth that we lay our friends and family who have past, but to sea. For it is only upon the ocean that they may pass through the Lady's mist that guards their final resting place."
Sunset nods as she listens to Elsdyn's words, even as she moves from the deceased Goblins splayed around the door way with her small shovel load of clean up to toss the spade full onto the sand pile. Shucking the blade of the shovel into the sand, Sunset turns and looks at Elsdyn, as Galen and Gloisil voice their opinions.
"Y'see, there's where a Cleric o' my folks would've set me straight. I din't mean t' throw anythin' wrong with th' way yer folks deal with yer losses." She sighs, then grins, "Mayhap we's folks have somat in common after all?' ^_^
Skipping over to the narrow hallway that served herself and her companions well, she looks into the redoubt-room. Pering in,
Sunset hustles over and hugs the cleric, "See, I did tell ye that ye were in fer a huggin'" She softly says while offering a shoulder to Desidera for aid in recovering from her discomposure. Turning she adds,
"I do think we should take as much stuff out'a that room as we can though. Assumin' we do make it our'a here? We c'n always fight our way back in an' replenish th' stuff." Sunset grins and the mischief in her eyes makes it hard to tel if her comment is fully in jest.
Keep in mind; the armor is human sized and the barding is horse sized :)and unless it magically can resize; which is extrememly rare; I doubt it will fit anyone but the two knights and I really doubt that the Squire would even think or wearing it; up to him though; and it seems to the Knight to be concecrated to some other diety; hmm.
It will take an hour or more to bury all these bodies; you do have the Fallen Knight reburied <a prayer or blessing might be a nice touch and preserve him until his bones can be retreived>.
I still dont remember anywhere in the posts where the Squire-Knight has shown you the map he made of the nearby area; when he does; I will send it out to you...hmm; I will send it out; and just look at it after he shows it to you.
So, what is the party going to do? any individual actions?
"Well then my new friends, come gather around quickly and I will show thee what little knowledge of this area." He pulls out his sketch of the area for others to look at.
"I know of two passages that lead away from here, I suspect the main one here is where the goblins fled down, but how far the passages continue or where they lead to I do not know."
Ok; I will mail out the map I gave Elsdyn to the rest of you; sorry if I miss anyone; let me know if you dont get it.
Sunset is briefly distracted by the shells that people have found. Paying more attention to their shapes and colours than the map good Sir Elsdyn is showing every one.
My guess would be come out of the room we defended, go down the steps and take a left down the hall. I am willing to take point to watch for traps. But as soon as danger appears, I will be instantly transported to the support area of the group. Bravery in combat is not one of my strong points, but I won't run away.
"Bob, your suggestion sounds reasonable. Right now I'm a bit shaken and out of my element. So I'm just as happy to follow as to try and lead at this point."
"Are any of you possessing any knowledge of Engineering or City Planning?" Desidera asked, looking around at everyone. "I have no practical knowledge of Dwarven lore, but--" Her voice trails off, leaving her frowning as she thought. Looking around, she posed her question. "Gears and pistons.. They.. power something? Perhaps forges? Mayhap we are near their temple..?"
Sunset deftly pockets the shells, takes a brief small moment to luxuriate in wiggling her bare toes in the sand of the collapse, then skips over to the rest of the group, still happily kicking said sand as she goes.
"Y' know I were goin' t' suggest we spread some sand over th' sight o' th' kerfuffle, an' all?" She makes her comment to no one in particular. "On board ship, it's a right naffy way o' makin' th' space safer fer people t' get around on, fer when ye don't have time t' be pushin' th' mess over board, kind..of...thing..." Her voice trails off as she realizes that pehapse her words are not exactly what some people want to hear right now.
"Um, I don't know nothin' about th' stout folks. We dun't see much of 'em at all out on th' islands. Them and boats just don't seem t' mix, y'ken?" After admitting her ignorance on matters Dwarvish, Sunset now takes a look at the map the party is perusing, her cheerful brown face scrunching in thought.
The main dwarven god is called Moridin - The Soul Forger; and is a smith; that is about all you remember at the moment; it is quite likely that his temple would be a forge.
I you wish; on things like this you can take a 10; which would give you a 14; and thus more information.
Desidera accepted the hug with a smile, appreciating that Sunset took a moment to consider her. Truly, she was not fond of seeing hurts be inflicted, but she found that her calling was in the healing of those hurts. So she took momentary comfort, and gave Sunset an appreciative smile.
When Elsdyn pulls out the map that he had made, the scale of what he had encountered so far seemed rather daunting at the size of what they may have fallen into. She had heard stories of the Dwarves and their halls, and suspected that unless they found a map of the entirety of this domain, they were likely to have to cover hundreds of more such maps before they figured out what they were sent in here for.
"Are any of you possessing any knowledge of Engineering or City Planning?" Desidera asked, looking around at everyone. "I have no practical knowledge of Dwarven lore, but--" Trailing off, she realized that she at least may be able to figure something out, frowning as she thought of the Dwarven Gods. Dwarves as a whole tended to enjoy the creation, and logically worked with the ore they found in the mountains, so maybe if they could find a forge, they may be close to a hall of worship.
Looking around, she posed her question. "Gears and pistons.. They.. power something? Perhaps forges? Mayhap we are near their temple..?"
That actually would be up the steps if you talking about those in the main hall.
My guess would be come out of the room we defended, go down the steps and take a left down the hall. I am willing to take point to watch for traps. But as soon as danger appears, I will be instantly transported to the support area of the group. Bravery in combat is not one of my strong points, but I won't run away.
A loud animalistic howl can be heard in the distance suddenly becoming much louder than the constant hum of the massive grinding and pumping machine sounds which can be heard in this area. The howl fades off and doesnt return.
A loud minimalistic howl can be heard in the distance suddenly becoming much louder than the constant hum of the massive grinding and pumping machine sounds which can be heard in this area. The howl fades off and doesn't return.
Sunset shivers at the noise, her hackles almost visibly rising.
"Okeys, I'm thinkin' that's our que t' pick up our troubles an' skedaddle." She glances around at her companions, "Every one set, I'm thinkin' we should get every thing now, I dun't think we'll be back this way agin in a while." She takes one last glance into the 'safe' room and thinks about the supplies there.
Gloisil turns towards the sound the came and then faded away, a look of concern on his face.
"Bob, I still think I like your thoughts on taking the passage to the left off the great hallway."
"Come on Sunset let's get moving before whatever that was comes this way."
Ok; if you guys are going to head up the hallways; please give me the marching order of where everyone is standing and how your going to move. thanks.
Shouldering her pack and hefting her x-bow, Sunset gets ready to move off with her friends.
"I think I'll just stay in the middle of the group as we go along, if that's alright with everyone?"
Although Gloisil get's carried away sometimes, as was seen in the last battle, he's not a front line or rear guard type person.
Elsdyn raises his head and glances down the direction the howl came from. He frowns then looks down at the sand and his frown depends. Then he shakes his head and looks back at everyone his smile re-appearing.
"It would seem our hosts have determined the urgency of our decision, and thus I vote with thee good halfling. While nice it might be if our tracks could be covered, I think even goblins would discover our path with so few choices to make. So haste it would seem is the most prudent of choices."
"I shall defer to the group as to where it would best suit them that I shall stand, my abilities are with sword and shield, and neither bow nor spell am I adept with."
"Elsdyn, I think that you or Galen would probably want to follow closely behind Bob, if he is going to lead the way. And then the other would be best bringing up the rear and guarding our backs. Anyway that was my thoughts on how to proceed. The rest of us can just fill in the middle."
perhaps i should guard the rear, it seems likely that we will be attacked from that direction, i can see in the dark and i am well armoured
Ok; I assume that puts the Knight-Squire in the lead then? and Mogue; what will you do?
The party moves off and up the stairs into an intersection; as you move up the stairs; you move into a very dimly lit area of the Great Hall, but it is dimly lit for several hundred feet; you can see to the left and right; opening to hallways; and the main hall continues; there is a whole lot of dried blood; burn marks; acid marks; gouges in the floor and wall bones; trash; ruined weapon peices; expent damaged missle weapons and the like; it looks like a major battle took place in this hallway right here.
Farther on a hundred or so feet down the hall in the lit gloom, which is seeminly perfect for those with low light vision, you can see a great number of massive chains hanging from the ceiling; from this distance you can guess each link is perhaps 3 feet or so or bigger.
To the left you hear rythmic pounding and grinding of great machinery; ahead of you; the tinkle of the chains hitting together now and again.
Noticing Desidera's nervousness Sunset walks closer to the other woman and slides an arm around her waist, drawing them closer and smiling as she whispers,
"Here now, no need t' fret. We's all goin' t' be lookin' out fer each other." Sunset grins and gives another friendly hug, "Asides, I c'n scream real loud. So's if'n I does get glomped ye wont have t' worry none about whut happened to me." ^_^ Sunset smiles, hoping her good cheer lifts Desidera's spirits.
This area is still the main hall; but has a small doors at each side as you can see to the map; which go to some partially explored areas which were to access and maintain the great dwarven machines. It is obvious that this battle happened long ago; but the evidence of goblins which you just fought, show that they inhabit this are and have not left; probably breeding; raiding and still looking for dwarven loot.
perhaps Mogue could examine the are and tell more about the battle....
uhm; so....are you guys waiting on me?
"Well then, it seems all who wish too have voiced, so lets be off quickly before the howls get any nearer." He gathers up his things, checks his fighting equipment one more time then turns to Bob.
"Young halfing, if thou still has the desire to be the foremost, please lead the way, I shall endever to provide thou a quick route to safety should enemies we meet."
Elsdyn waits on Bob to set off, then will follow behind him.
"Yup, moving away from howling monsters does seem like a right good idea to me." Sunset agrees with Elsdyn happily, arm still around Desidera for comforts sake. ^_^
Then lets be on our way. Continuing on.
Galen will take up the rear, keeping an eye out for trouble
Then lets be on our way. Continuing on.
OOC im glad im at the back!! at least i wont die (straight away) when we walk into the ambush!!
Gloisil will continue to follow along with the others. As they are walking he keeps an eye out for anything of interest.
As they are passing the doors in the hallway he asks, "Do we perhaps want to investigate these rooms?"
Hmm...looks like this battle happened to my estimation about 10 years ago. The tracks in the dried blood show that there were a couple trolls, a few bugbears and lots of goblins. Nothing we would want to encounter at this time.
As they are passing the doors in the hallway he asks, "Do we perhaps want to investigate these rooms?"
"Um, maybe we c'n come back here an' check it all out whence we've found th' way t' th' front door an' have thinned th' ranks o' th' gobbies an' what not out more'n a tad, hey?" Sunset suggests to the brave, but curious, Gnome.
"Um, whut's a Bug-a-bear?" She whispers in Desidera's ear, " Be it anything like a 'Bug-a-boo'?"
for those with Dungeoneering or any land elf, dwarf, gnome or ranger; knowledge roll; add +4 to difficulty for sea elfs who have other racial enemies.
Bugbear 13
Strong, hairy Goblinoid about a big as a bear; 9ft or so tall and about 700 lbs; cruel and evil. They are uncommon but live on all continents. Also; Orcs are not goblinoids.
Bugbear 15
they run faster than a human; but slower than a horse; they favor two handed weapons but their claws and bit are still fearsome; they, like all goblins; are creatures of Chaos, they often serve in the ranks of Ogres or Hill Giants as a clan, but alone or on small groups; may be captains or champions among regular goblins.
Bugbear 17
though stronger than a man and faster on foot; they are very lazy; prone to over eating and drinking themselves to a stupor; smarter than most goblins and far more stealthy. Bugbears often have ranger abilities, have naturally thick hides, and perform assassinations with exceptional stealth and skill and many can track by Scent.
Bugbear 19
Bugbears have clans of about 60 or roughly 5 male dominated families. They are poor builders generally but strong miners if put to task with a firm hand. Bugbears do not seem to follow a central diety of their own; many follow various demon princes or Goblins or Ogre/Hill giant dieties. Religion among bugbears is more a momentary advantage than a calling as no bugbear clerics or faith champions have ever been seen.
I am unclear on which direction the party is heading:
down the main hall.
or right
or left
If the large coridor continues, I think we are continuing that way. If not we turn around and go back to the coridor that is now on our right.
Ok; knowledge nature is ok; seems it has monsterous humanoids and giants in that skill for some reason.
Well, one pc says straight; is that the concensus?
Ok; knowledge nature is ok; seems it has monsterous humanoids and giants in that skill for some reason.
Well, one pc says straight; is that the concensus?
Like Sunset, Gloisil is following the lead of Bob and the others, so if he says straight ahead, then straight ahead it is.
As they are walking Gloisil relates what he remembers about bugbears.
"Well friends if I remember correctly, bugbears are large relatives of the goblins. About nine foot tall and weigh about 700 pounds. They can out run most human sized people, but not a horse. They are cruel, evil, and chaotic creatures. There numbers are few, but they can be found on all the continents."
"They prefer heavy two handed weapons, but can also use their claws and bite to great effect."
"Their clans often serve the ogres or hill giants, but alone, or in small groups they are often found leading tribes of goblins."
"Oh, and they are in no way related to orcs."
<recap>
Intrepid adventurers move from the scene of the grisly battle with the goblins; retrieving what spent weapons they used, note items of interest in the sand near the caved in ceiling and dig a bit finding the dead corpses of a knight on his warhorse locked in grim death with an elite goblin wargrider. They rebury the fallen quickly and move down the main hallway; up some stairs to the signs of a terrible battle fought long ago perhaps some 10 years past.
Here in the main hall; the drumming and humming and grinding of great machines can be heard fairly loudly; one has to speak up to be heard.
continuing down the vast hallway the party begins to see a great number massive chains hanging from the ceiling some 100ft up and go down into large holes in the floor; each chain link larger than the the height of a man and just as thick; great loop upon loop.
While the chains span both the width and breath of the hallway from floor to ceiling; there is easy passage for individuals to continue through them down the hallway.
Some of these great chains are moving; for some the links move upwards; for others the chains move downward, some chains are still. Many of these massive chains are very rusted and old showing signs of no care; for though unknown what these chains are for; no self respecting dwarf would let them get into such shabby condition.
Scattered among the floor of the hall is all manner of various trash; bones; rotted items; vermin; rags, broken chairs or table; strange metal implements that look like peices of machinery.
The party is about 60ft from the first of the chains; spot and listen rolls, and party actions please.
After finishing his discourse on bugbears, Gloisil takes a moment to ponder the chains that are getting nearer. As he does, he takes a moment to look around and listen for anything that catches his attention.