Jack shrugs.
"Maybe. Let's present our case a bit more forcefully."
He then pulls out a crowbar, and tries to force the door.
The door makes a loud squealing and then snapping sound as it burst open. Inside you see a large private chamber with sturdy beams that span the ceiling from east to west. To the north is a luxurious bed and comfortable easy chair. To the south is a wardrobe and a table with chairs. In the middle is a large woolen carpet. Besides the ruined door you just broke down, there is another set at the opposite end, though it is much plainer than the door you just entered through which is decorated with carvings of oak leaves and acorns.
Voss himself, having already been alerted to your presence, is standing up near the table and blows a horn when the noisy destruction of the door occurs. The man is in his mid-thirties, clean shaven with a mop of curly hair. He is wearing a set of half plate and has a shield in one hand, the horn in the other, and a rather large sword, though not as large as the big honking gob beater Aurus carries.
Not seeing any insignia, he asks, "Who the hell are you?"
Then looking past the collection of adventurers he sees Akre.
"Akre? You survived?"
Voss looks at the team hesitantly.
"How about this. I meet a champion in one on one combat. If I win, you leave. If you win, I leave."
The man starts getting desperate.
"But, don't you see? It was all necessary! The caverns below hold a secret. A very powerful secret. I believe there is an artifact there from by gone days that will give almost unlimited power! Instead of this pointless vendetta on behalf of a nation that that hardly deserves such loyalty, why not join me instead? Once I have the power, I can afford to be very generous indeed! It seems that this is difficult to understand, but perhaps your team would be wise enough to reconsider?"
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Aurus frowns at the man. "So... you think that we're in the mood to trust a guy who betrayed a whole fort of his soldiers? I mean, assuming we're good guys, we'll want to stomp you just so some feckless fop ain't packing some powerful artifact - and assuming we're bad guys, why we gonna share with a guy whose got all the loyalty of a plague rat. I ain't that bright, but even I ain't that dumb either." Aurus steps into the room, keeping the rest of the party behind him.
"I dunno, guys, an honor combat is sounding better and better to me," he says, drawing the greatsword and looking at Voss with some clear ill intent.
Voss, who has been playing for time finally comes to the conclusion that help will not be on the way. Still, he waits to see how this all plays out.
"So, how did you get past all the guards? Was it that snake Aseri? Did she finally get to Gronk and eliminate him? Never did trust them. Elyssia set up the whole replacement thing when the the soldiers started being uncooperative. Looks like that didn't work out either."
True enough, but Voss was OK with it.
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"Lookit this dandy, Jack, he's gonna set up some Cantawhoever Defense and then I'm going to drub him straight from the Absalom Street School Of Kicking Idiots Around. Plus, we got some folks to sing me a song while I show him what his teeth look like out of his mouth."
He grins at Voss when the commander begins pumping them for information. "Mostly got through all the guards with this," Aurus said, hefting the greatsword, never taking his eyes off of Voss. "Gronk really lost his head over it. And yer little serpent saw the error of her ways as Jack her was turning 'er into a hedgehog, one arrow at a time, slithered right off."
Time to make a roll to see if he wants to try his luck. Hmmm. Seems like an intelligence roll to me.
Well, guess what. He thinks he can take you."Well, we shall just see about that!"
Voss leaps to the attack, but Jack was ready for it.
COMBAT CARD
--------------------------
Conditions:
Jack
Voss
Uldar
Nemrok
Aurus
Goldur
Bolded are up.
Jack nails him with the first shot, sliding the arrow just right of the shield and into the gap in his armor left by the extension of his arm as he swings. The second shot just misses as the swing carries through and the gap closes.
Voss decides that Jack is the main threat and charges him. "I can see who is the real threat here. Take care of you and the others should fall in line."
Not surprisingly he hits and returns Jack's favor with a grievous wound of his own. But now it is the PCs turn!
COMBAT CARD
--------------------------
Conditions:
Voss (-17 HP)
Uldar
Nemrok
Aurus
Goldur
Jack (-17 HP)
Bolded are up.
Jack waits until the perfect moment, when Voss is turned sideways and his arm is extended, to place his arrow in the sweet spot under the armpit. Though Jack may have hoped for a heart shot, his ribs saved him from instant death. With a brief shake of his head, as if in disbelief, Voss collapses to the floor, is blade continuing its motion and flying from his limp hand to skitter under the table and across the floor where it ends up dormant next to Nemrok, still coated in Jack's blood.
The man is still breathing. A heal check if you want to know how close to death he is.
Voss current damage: 53 Hp
Voss stabilizes at exactly 0 HP. I would say you have him right where you want him.
While you think about what to ask you discover that Voss has (or more appropriately HAD) a potion, half plate, heavy steel shield, a magical bastard sword, a key, and a horn (not magical).
Make your knowledge rolls to figure out what the items are or, alternatively, you could beat it out of Voss.
Detect Magic + Spellcraft or craft alchemy to identify the potion.
Detect Magic + Spellcraft to identify the sword.
The potion is one of Cure Moderate Wounds. The sword is beyond you, though OOC you can probably guess what it is.
"When I was here a few years ago, before the fort was retaken, I found an ancient tome with the promise of a powerful artifact somewhere beneath. The tome was, unfortunately, vague about the nature of the artifact, but it must be powerful. I found an access to the rooms below and I just know we are close to discovering the item. I just needed a little more time. Your timing was quite unfortunate. As for what is going on below, I haven't been down myself. I send others to go, but they never return. Elyssia is out collecting reinforcements. She had better be returning with a lot of them or she will end up in the same predicament as me, I suspect."
Yea, he's telling the truth as far as you can tell.
Voss just scowls at Aurus.
"So are you going to go after the artifact?"
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"So are you going to go after the artifact?"
Aurus laughs out loud. "Well yeah! We're Pathfinders, not Path-sit-on-our-assers! And we ain't got a stack of underlings to toss down the hole, so guess that we'll just have to do the heavy work ourselves. Probably means it'll get done, too," he says, throwing a wink at the bound commander.
You can almost see the gears working in his head as he considers the possibilities your announcement produces.
"Well, then, let me show you where the entrance is. You will need the key over there, unless you WANT to break down more doors."
Akre notices this and pipes up, "I guess that means you will leave him in my hands, huh? I'll make sure he doesn't make any more trouble."
I have given you open view to the two levels. You can roam wherever you wish. The descent is in A12.
There is a bunch of rooms to explore but its time to hand wave that part. You will find things of monetary value but nothing useful. I don't know about you guys but I find inventorying masterwork this's and that's and gems and coins is boring.
After exploring the main level and securing Voss in the care of the three survivors, the party descends the stairway. It is a long beast, 60', and littered with corpses. Towards the top you find the charred remains of a handful of Voss's men. A little later you pass another one of his men sans head. Yet further along you find the first dead hobgoblins frozen in place with surprised looks on their faces and hard as rock. As you get near the bottom you hear someone singing a grizzly song about a farmer that went mad and murdered his entire family with a scythe.
In spite of the mayhem, you reach the bottom without incident only to be met by a peculiar and gizzly scene. This semicircular room is drenched in both wet and dried blood. Detached body parts of various hobgoblins are strewn about amid fragments of ancient furniture. To the south is a beige door with no apparent handles. In the room is a minuscule little man with a scythe far to large for him to be wielding successfully. He wears metal boots and a red cap and is capering amidst the carnage dipping his hat in the blood that is still wet. As Aryas comes into view he cracks a smile and calls out a greeting.
"Come! Come join me and have some fun. There are plenty of corpses and still enough blood to paint you and your clothing too!"
He does not attack. In fact he seems to think he has made a generous and reasonable offer.
You know that this is a Redcap.
Redcaps embody both capriciousness and sadism. These stumpy, misanthropic fey freaks exist seemingly to indulge in blissful bloodletting and self-indulgent slaughter. Like prune-faced, angry old men, they mollycoddle their own inefficiencies and miseries in gore. Redcaps are most widely recognized for their long woolen caps, which they drench in the blood of their victims. Rumors and fairy stories abound concerning rituals and the cultural significance of their blood-soaked caps, though the practice likely evolved as an easy way for the brutish runts to create both fear and spectacle. Redcaps typically stand only 3 feet tall, with twisted frames, pointed ears, and long white beards. They dress in soiled leather armor and wear oversized, iron-shod boots that make a distinctive clanging when they run.
You know that the cap of the critter gives it certain benefits such as damage and healing.
The mad and malignant fellow seems delighted by Aurus' drawing his weapon and springs into action.
COMBAT CARD
--------------------------
Conditions:
Nemrok
Redcap
Uldar
Nemrok
Aurus
Goldur
Jack
Bolded are up.