Velerk helps out by quietly saying "Ye gods, that stench!" and taking a look in.
He shrugs and steps back. "And I thought uncle Jithro's was bad..."
Crastor grunts in disgust as he looks around.
Ceri looks around :
but the smell makes her eyes water.
Johhann :
Evesk :
There's a door in the northwest corner of the tiny room . You open it and see stairs heading down.
What do you do? Previously y'all had decided to clear this floor before descending, just checking that's still what you want to do...
"Eh. Well, let's stick with the plan. I think we've almost cleared the top here."
Crastor moves swiftly from the terrible odor and listens at the next door as he searches for traps.
The nearest unopened door is on the south side of the hall that this room is connected to.
You open the door, and see a room where a low round table almost fills it, surrounded by small chairs .
Velrek points at the door to C17.
"Closest door?"
You open the door, and see shelves lining the walls holding crude tools, nets, and riding tack for goblin dogs. In the NE corner there is a large
L-shaped wooden cage that fills the north and east walls which contains dozens of rabbits.
Since there's only one room left...
You leave the open yard thru the SW door, go south, go east, and check out the door in the short hall leading to the trophy hall.
You probably skipped it the first time you went past it because it's nailed shut.
"Another blocked door. Well, if there's someone or something dangerous behind it, they know we're here by now."
He takes out his crowbar and goes to work on the door.
"Be ready just in case."
He leaves his sword very close by, ready to drop the crowbar and grab it if needed.
Crastor draws his weapon and readies himself for the worst.
Velrek makes quick work of the door with one mighty heave. Behind it is a room half-filled with crates, barrels, and large sacks. A hole has
been chopped into the bottom of one of the barrels, and on the floor in front of it are pickles and brine. The room stinks of vinegar.
You hear Ripnugget grumble thru his gag.
Velrek puts the crowbar away.
"Well, if he is grumbly, let's search this place well..."
Crastor nods and helps search.
You don't find anything that's hidden or out of the ordinary.
At the bottom of the stairs, you come to a door.
You open it and see a fairly large room that is filled by a large table surrounded by several chairs. There is a slate board leaning up against one wall, and while the goblin's chalk scribblings are unreadable, there's a fairly decent map of Sandpoint on it. This is probably the room where the recent attack was planned.
There's two doors out, one in the SW corner and one in the SE corner.
Velrek will take a look around, in case anything useful is sitting under the table or similar. The he points to the door towards D15 "Shall we skirt the edges?"
"Maybe we should take the map and make a copy of these scribbles. I can't read them, but maybe someone in Sandpoint can tell us if there is any valuable information here." Crastor says.
Crastor will then go and check the door that Velrek suggested.
"huh. Good idea."
Crastor opens the door, and sees a large room with another large table, covered with books, scrolls, stone tablets and fragments of carvings that look like pieces of statues. On the north wall a set of shelves going from floor to the ceiling hold a large number of picks, shovels and...brushes?
[b]"Hmm. Those look familiar..."[/ooc]
Crastor looks around the area.
Modifier: -2 (GM)
Jzero doesn't recognize the tools immediately. He looks over the books to get an idea of topics if he can read the writing on the spines.
Velrek once knew someone who was into studying the ancient history of Golarion by digging up bones and artifacts from the ground. She used tools like these.
Crastor notices a lot of dirt in a path on the floor leading to the SW corner of the room. Upon investigation, he finds a secret door! Opening it, you see a flight of steps leading down.
WHat do you all do?
/snaps fingers.
"Oh yes! A cousin of the farmers three houses over traveled a lot. part of some society or something,always came back with old bones and what she ca;;ed 'artifacts' but just looked like someone broke their mug or bowl. She used lots of big words. Said she was an Arch Ologist. Never saw her cast any spells though."
"Golarion is ancient with many powerful individuals and groups who have died and been buried by the sands of time. They have sometimes left powerful artifacts that become the coveted prizes of those who would follow them to greatness. Perhaps that is at the heart of this mystery."
"I say we finish this level before going down further. Getting caught from both sides would not be good." Crastor says as he points towards an unsearched door on that level.
"Her prize find was a pinky toe of some giantkin. Wore is on a chain around her neck. Odd woman. Nice, but odd. Oh, yes, Crastor. clearing this level is sound logic!"
You open the door, and find a hallway that ends with another door. You open it, and find a small room. Along the bottoms of the walls are crude drawings made from mud and blood. Most of them show goblins fighting humans, dogs, and horses. But one picture is bigger and more detailed - it shows Thistletop from the side, with a goblin stockade covering the entire town like an umbrella. A cave is drawn in the center of the city, and standing in front of it is an immense, muscular goblin with snake-like eyes and a huge dogslicer in each taloned hand. Going by the scale of the drawing, this goblin must be about 30 feet tall.
You open the only other door in the room, and see a hallway. When you go down it a bit, you reach an intersection with three other hallways.
East, west, or south?
Velrek stops to look at the , er, artwork.
"They've been planning this for some time."
He looks closer at the gargantuan figure, glances to the tied up and gagged so called king and back to the wall.
"I hope this is some gobbo wanting to kiss ass and not to scale."
Jzero takes in the drawings, unsure what they might mean, if anything. He continues on, watchful for real threats rather than imaginary ones.
East, west, or south hall (see map)?
Velrek points at the double doors. "Double the doors, double the chance of Goblins, right?"
"Sure." Crastor says with a shrug. He turns and goes to the double doors to look for traps and listens before motioning Jzero forward if there is no apparent danger.
You open the door, and see a very large, ornate room . Stone fountains filled with dark water are in the corners on either side of the double doors. Two rows of pillars run the length of the room. At the far end, a series of steps lead to an elevated area. The walls surrounding this area are lit by hanging braziers that glow with a red light that lights the carvings etched into the stone walls showing countless monsters feasting on fleeing humans.
A black marble altar stone covered in ashes and bone fragments sits before a ten-foot-tall statue standing in an alcove. The sculpture depicts a very pregnant but otherwise shapely naked woman who wields a heavy, curved, short blade in each taloned hand and has a long reptilian tail, birdlike taloned feet, and the snarling head of a three-eyed jackal with a forked tongue. The left blade gives off an orange light while the right one glows blue.
If anyone has the Occult skill, please make a roll.
What do you all do?
"Well, this gives off evil worship vibes..."
Jzero can tell the image probably is of some dark, evil goddess worshiped by the goblins or perhaps their mysterious collaborator. Otherwise, he can't identify it further. He cautiously approaches the dark water fonts, supposing they are not fit for normal uses, and then works his way around the room, checking for any useful items or clues as to the identity of the source of this evil.
"Can anyone do that magic detect thing? Part of me wants to check those blades, part of me not..."
"Not I. I have some tricks I have picked up, but nothing that would tell me what is happening here." Crastor says as he looks around.
Once everyone is in the room, you all hear an almost-eardrum-blowing shriek from all four corners of the room. It is sure to be heard from several hundreds of feet away.
Looking up, you can see four winged creatures that look like jackals with smoking red eyes and black fangs. They begin to fly down to you.
Velrek jumps. Velrek hates jump scares. He growls at the things.
Crastor grips the handle of his warhammer more tightly and prepares to strike down these new foes.
Ceri winces and covers her ears quickly, but seems ready to fight if needed.
Jzero's meditation training kicks in and he doesn't even flinch, although the sounds are still disturbing.
Evesk screams, and starts running around the room at random, sometimes running into the columns.
It's at this point the creatures attack...
Round 1!
Statuses
None
Engagements
None
Modifiers
None
Initiative
Flyers – AD
Crastor - KH
Ceri - 9D
Evesk - 5D
Velrek – 4C
Jzero - 2D