"The Vision," Matheus murmured, caught in the magic of his summoning. "Arcane knowledge, the kind that brings madness and ruin. And the Juggler, gods that roll dice in a game where human lives and fates are the pieces on the board. Quite the ominous combination, but we'll play the hand we are dealt, appropriate as it is with the Juggler's attention."
Answering his call, three segmented-bodies horrors rose from the shadows, their bodies coiling and twisting upon themselves to bring their mandibled heads level with their opponents, their heads swaying back and forth as they stared at the two potential enemies, waiting for them to make a move...
With his spell finished, his ears caugth on the title the woman had casually dropped. 'A druid, eh?' he thought, then turned his attention to one Petronia was grappling, assuming that was the one she had referred to.
"Was she talking about you, brother?" Matheus asked in the secret language of his order, testing the waters to see if the man in Petronia's not-too-gentle embrace would answer.
Ner makes a 5' diagonal step forward his hand comes off of his sword hilt.
Koyuki stood uncertainly, glancing around.
This was a more complex situation than she had been expecting this far north, this far from the fetid court politics she detested so much. Things were supposed to be easier, simpler, on the fringes. Still, this was a nation's capital, she should have expected things wouldn't go smooth.
She held her bow ready, leaving Matheus to do the talking.
Ner listened carefully to the biguns doing the talking. They seemed not to recognize the name Skagni.
The bald man stiffened once again when it heard Matheus's druidic words. However, he didn't have enough breath to answer.
At Petronia's words,the male guard muttered, "Don't know that you could say we want the smelly bugger. His description was accurate; Petronia could smell a reek so strong coming from the man in her arms that she was pretty sure her clothes would stink once she let him go. The room was stiflingly hot, and the other two were sweating freely, though the bald man didn't seem affected by the heat.
As Matheus's centipedes shimmered into being next to the guards, they couldn't help but react. Everything happened very quickly. The woman yelped, and grabbed her warhammer, and swung at the nearest bug. However, she swung wide and the centipede swayed away from the blow.
The man kept his wits enough to know that his duty was to his boss, so he gamely ignored the bug at his back and stepped forward to attack Petronia. His warhammer smacked hard into the grappling woman's side, creaking her ribs.
The grappled man took advantage of the attack to throw the jar in his hands to the ground at his feet. It shattered on the floor, and a swarm of tiny spiders began running up Petronia's legs. They were small enough that she barely felt them...until they began to bite.
Everybody up.
Miss
Hit
Reacting to being attacked, the insects lashed out in retaliation with their ichor-dripping mandibles, and while the lashing hammer of the woman managed to keep the two going for her at bay, the man was too focused on attacking Petronia to save his companion, and the sharp chitineus blades managed to draw blood despite the layers of cloth and armor he wore. And while his attention was focused on those two threats, Matheus added to his troubled by another burst of natural power that battared him with wind and miniature hailstones, blocking his view and hampering all his efforts.
Ner watches amazed as the leader breaks free of Petronia's powerful grasp. His eyes went big and his hand went for his sword. A lunge-step put him in flanking position of baldy with Petronia.
He put his little weight behind the weapon and shoved it through the meat of the druid's thigh. He puts his foot against the spider-master's knee and pulls the blade free.
Petronia's ire was roused with every annoying bite she received from the spiders crawling up her leg. Then the man actually had the nerve to attack her while her arm was wrapped around his boss' neck.
Her grip began to tighten around the druid's neck as she snarled at the man out of anger and pain, "What happens now is your fault. You were warned."
Ner's eyes went wide as Petronia's powerful grip help the Druid tight. He rushed into a lunge that put him in flanking position with Petronia.
Oksana attempts to drop one of the guards with her sleep hex.
Sleep Hex: Will save DC 17
MISS
HIT
No problem
SAVE
Miss
Miss
Koyuki let fly two arrows in rapid succession, one of them hitting the female guard. The male guard shook off Oksana's hex, avoided the giant centipede's jaws, and continued attacking Petronia. However, his warhammer missed as the brawler evaded it, even with her quarry in her arms.
The woman loosed a throwing axe from her belt and threw it at the Ner, but the halfling easily dodged the thrown weapon.
The druid screamed in pain as Ner's weapon tore through his femoral artery. In her arms, Petronia found the druid's form suddenly shifted and buckled. Fur sprouted from his body as he contorted and writhed. In a matter of moments, Petronia discovered she was grappling a leopard, with paws full of sharp claws and a snarling maw full of dagger-sharp fangs. The creature writhed in her grasp, clearly intent in tearing out her her jugular if she continued to hold on.
'Well, that answers my question,' Matheus thought as the presumed druid transformed, proving his assumption. The druid's new shape was quite worrisome, he had to admit - a feline was quite a dangerous foe in close combat, after all, although he had no idea how well it'd do while still being wrestled by Petronia.
Hoping for a quick resolution to the battle, Matheus cast another burst of nature's might, this time on the feline-shifted druid, battering him with wind bursts and hailstones. His insect minions kept the two warriors busy, and while the man managed to fend off the mandibles seeking his back, the two fighting the woman were more successfull, drawing blood with their venomous jaws, one attacking low to bite into her upper leg while the other stood tall on its hindmost legs, sinking its jaws into her shoulder, chittering excitedly.
"No,No, nonono!", Ner watched as the druid transformed, and suddenly developed an unwarranted panic. Petronia was more than a match for any wild creature but the change had caught the halfling off guard. He launched himself at the beast's hip, drove his blade down, and pulled back on it like a lever, hoping to cut the left hind leg free. His blow, however wasn't deep enough for all that but the wound bled freely.
Ner's panicked thrust at the druid/cat may not have been enough to remove the leg, but it was still enough to kill. The big cat fell limp in Petronia's grasp as it bled out.
The woman, full of centipede poison, fell to the ground, twitching. The man, seeing the inevitable, dropped his weapon and raised his hands. "Peace! I surrender!"
Petronia released the dead druid letting him slump to the floor and glared at the man. She picked up the dropped weapon and resisted the urge to punch him in the gut. Through gritted teeth she practically spat, "We gave you the chance of peace five minutes ago. If it weren't for the other people in this room, you wouldn't be getting it now. I don't believe you can change your mind because you're losing but I'm sure the others will want to know if you can be of help. So that would be the price you pay for peace...be helpful. What's through that door and where are prisoners kept?"
Looking incredulously at Petronia, the guard said, "You invade OUR place and complain when we defend it?" he shook his head, but then answered the question. "I don't know who this Skaggi is you're looking for, but the slaves are through that door. That mutated goblin freak is in there with his "assistants"."
Petronia snorted, "If you were truly minding your own business, we wouldn't be here. You guys invaded a different country and kidnapped a person and dragged him back here. So turn-around is fair play. Quit your whining."
The brawler's eyes narrowed, "Who else is with Glorfan? Surely the mutated goblin isn't unprotected in there. And how many slaves are you guys supposedly protecting?"
Ner looked at the remaining guard like he was an idiot and gafawed in reply to Petronia's snort. This is where Skagni is. How can this guy be a guard and not know that. What a stupid.
As the lone survivor dropped his weapons Matheus whistled to attract the attention of his summoned friends and motioned with his arms, guiding the centipedes to take positions near the door leading deeper into the underground complex before hurrying over to deal with Petronia's wounds.
"Took another couple for the team, did you?" he asked as he tapped her side where he had seen the warhammer strike her flesh, feeling the surge of magic from the enchanted item into her body. Granted, he couldn't see the state of her injury past her armor and clothes, but he took her nod as a sign that the pain had become bearable at the very least.
With that priority task seen to, he stepped over to kneel before the fallen druid, making certain whether he lived or had succumbed to his wounds - it was rare enough to run into a brother of the natural orders, and rarer still to cross swords with one. Thus, it was hard not to hope the violence could have been avoided.
The guard shrugged. "Glorfan's business is his own, not official Shadow Lodge business. He has a few other gobbos in there with him. Buncha slaves, not sure how many. We tend to leave him alone when we can. Even this guy," he indicated the now-human-again dead druid, "is better than them. I think he's planning on moving them out and selling them soon."
Matheus examined the druid, who had become quite bloodless. Ner's repeated attacks had completely severed the femoral artery, and the druid had bled almost dry, and was well on his way to whatever afterlife awaited him.
Petronia glanced at Matheus as he approached with the wand but continued to focus on their remaining foe in case he grew stupidly brave again. She gave a nod when the pain no longer lingered. Took one for the team, the others were for fun."
The brawler motioned at Ner to tie up the man and then she took it upon herself to tighten the rope. "So Glorfan works for the Shadow Lodge? What makes him so menacing? You obviously don't respect him. So I would have to think that you fear him or someone else. Otherwise, why work for him?"
Ner searched his handy sack-a-do and pulled out his pathfinder's kit ... 'No, tha fell out when I got hit by tha giant', he instead reached for his explorer's pa... 'No gone to. What abou' the climber's kit?' He searched again and came up with nothing. He looked glumly up at Petronia. He didn't know what to do. All of his ropes were gone. He packed four and they were all gone. A little tear formed in his left eye.
Petronia could see Ner’d distress looking for rope so she said, ”Cut up time he Druid’s robe in London my strips and we’ll tie him with that.”
Oksana will help the halfling cut up the druids robes and tie the thug up.
"I could call my familiar to watch over this fellow if you want."
Tearing the druid's filthy and stinking clothes into strips, they were able to bind the guard firmly. He allowed them resignedly, apparently glad he wasn't being summarily executed. "Glorfan's no Lodge agent. He just has some agreement with the boss to use this place for his slave pens, and lend us some of his gobbos as guard in return."
"Glorfan's no Lodge agent. He just has some agreement with the boss to use this place for his slave pens, and lend us some of his gobbos as guard in return."
Ner pulled the last strip tight around the guard's eyes and he looked up to Pertronia, "'An agreement with the boss'? There's a boss? Glorfan's not the boss!?" He seem to be completely overlooking the possibility that the dead druid was 'the boss'. He trudged over to the next door and gave it a thorough look over ... the door, floor, and framework.
Tearing the druid's filthy and stinking clothes into strips, they were able to bind the guard firmly. He allowed them resignedly, apparently glad he wasn't being summarily executed. "Glorfan's no Lodge agent. He just has some agreement with the boss to use this place for his slave pens, and lend us some of his gobbos as guard in return."
Petronia resisted the urge to punch the man as he slowly doled out bits of information rather than just telling her what she wanted to know. Through gritted teeth she says, "If Glorfan isn't the boss then who is? Are they down there too?" She pointed at the dead now nearly naked druid, "Surely he wasn't the boss. He may have been your superior but not running the whole shebang."
The brawler motioned towards the door, "How big is the area through that door? Lots of rooms or just one big one? Are there any surprises put in place that we should be aware of? Remembering that the more helpful you are, the fewer broken bones you have leaving here."
Once they had extracted all the information that the man was willing or able to tell them, Petronia chose a particularly smelly strip of cloth and gagged him before moving towards the door.
She glanced down at Ner, an unspoken question in her eyes, Is it safe to open?
The soldier winced as Petronia pulled a knot particularly tight. "Caggrigar is in charge. He's the one who started this Lodge, but he's been off on Lodge business for a few months. He left Melkorka Skur in charge, but she left about a month ago, with most of the Agents. They've gone to the Keep of the Huskarl King, looking for dragon eggs or somesuch. That left Liane and me stuck with stinky here," he gestured to the dead druid, "his bugs, and the gobbos. Is that enough detail for you?"
As he watched Ner checking out the door, he seemed to be struggling with himself. Finally he sighed and said, "There's a pit on the other side of the door. Step along the south wall, or it'll collapse and you'll fall in." Looking disappointed in himself, he continued, "our living quarters are through there, and then after that is the slave area. Then one more room, Caggrigar's personal vault, but I've never been in there. There, that's it, that's everything."
Petronia patronizingly patted the man on his cheek a few times. "Now that's a good lad. Doesn't it feel better to have that all off your chest? Which area is Glorfan going to be in?"
The shifter looked at the others, "If the boss and the next in charge have been gone for at least a month then they couldn't have taken Skagni, right? But would anyone else have gone so far to kidnap a single person as a slave? Surely if they were looking for slaves then more people would have been taken at the same time. It doesn't make sense. Unless they had been planning Skagni's kidnapping for awhile and this was the first chance they had to see it through."
"Caggrigar is a name we have heard before," Matheus said, as he finished checking the two fallen former Pathfinders and had murmured prayers for their fleeting souls. "Another one is Vermund. You recognize that one, yes?" he asked, directing his question to the survivor. "And how about Runa?"
He had to admit he was a bit puzzled about their new information source's ignorance of Skagni... Runa certainly seemed to believe the Pathfinder historian had been captured and detained here for a purpose. Unless the leadership had decided to keep the information to themselves, and to their underlings, Skagni really was just another nameless prisoner.
The guard nodded to the dead druid. "That's Vermund. And Runa...haven't seen her in a while. Though come to think of it, she sent a slave this way with a few agents, some old guy from the west. That might be your Skaggi. Those agents, they said something about the old guy being key to one of Runa's plots, something about bringing down the Pathfinders in the north."
He seems to be telling the truth about the trap. After all, it would have been easier just to not tell you about it at all.
When you questioned Runa, she told you that Caggrigar had come up with the plan. However, the idea of using Hjort was her thing. But it was Caggrigar who had Hjort's village attacked, and planted the wayfinders there.
As he watched Ner checking out the door, he seemed to be struggling with himself. Finally he sighed and said, "There's a pit on the other side of the door. Step along the south wall, or it'll collapse and you'll fall in."
Ner backed away from the door and put his right hand on his chin, his left hand supporting his right elbow. He nodded in a knowing fashion, "Just as I thought. A pit trap on the other side of the door." He opened the door a crack and took a look through. He tried to confirm that there was walking room along the south wall. In a du"Um, just walk along the souf wall and you'll miss the whole hole." 'Huh, whole hole ... hole, whole, hole, whole ... hole-a-lee-hole' Ner crossed in carefully, oddly bobbing his head as he went.
Petronia had no head for names so she had forgotten all about Caggrigar until Matheus said that they'd heard that name before. "I guess we're in the right place after all. What happened to the agents that brought the slave Runa sent?"
Once Ner opened the door, the brawler smiled down at him, "I knew you'd figure it out." She turned to the others, "Everyone ready to go then?"
Once Ner opened the door, the brawler smiled down at him, "I knew you'd figure it out." She turned to the others, "Everyone ready to go then?"
"Not just yet," Matheus said as he was suddenly busy giving first aid to the wounded woman, making sure she was stable. "Petronia, would you mind producing some more of those cloth strips? It seems we have another survivor to secure before we advance further."
Ner waited just beyond the door and watched and listened for any movement.
"They went with Melkorka - she took all the good agents."
When the prisoners were secure, they followed Ner down the hall. They easily avoided the pit trap, though an awful stench came up from beneath it, so they were grateful not to have fallen into whatever was down there.
The room here was much cooler, almost cold compared to the stifling heat of the library. As they entered the room, they became aware of sounds further on, the gutteral tones of the goblin language, but so far they saw nobody.
The room here seems freshly, and inexpertly, dug out. It houses a dozen or more bedrolls, and a few untidy piles of ... stuff.
There is a single lantern lit here, and a little flickering light coming from the room ahead.
Petronia felt relief as the temperature cooled off somewhat from the original oven they had walked into. At least now wearing her cold-weather clothes was bearable.
The brawler crept into the room, muscles tense. She tried to determine if all the bedrolls were being used as she moved through the room as it would give her an idea of how many goblins she may have to knockout.
Oksana also enters the room, trying to be as quiet as she can.
Stealth:
Petronia looked at the bedrolls, but everything was in such a state of disarray, it was hard to tell what was in use and what wasn't. Two bedrolls, nearest the trap, were tidy; everything else was a mess.
Moving through the messy room is harder than it looks, and Oksana catches her foot on something and stumbles a bit. The noises in the next room quieten down, and a moment later a green goblin head peers out around the edge of the "doorway".
It's eyes go wide, and it screeches something in the goblin tongue. Immediately, two other goblins step into view, along with what can only be Glorfan. Glorfan, a hideously mutated goblin who claims to be half-troll, has a half-dozen vestigial limbs, a comically over-sized mouth, and enormous crooked teeth. He's quite the site, and clearly has no intention of asking your intentions.
When Ner hears the foot scuff sound he instinctively ducked for cover beneath the first table, then shuffled as quickly as he could forward until he was just behind the second table. He armed his little halfling shortbow.
Initiative:
The doorway is only 5 feet wide (squares are 5 feet) so you'll need to pass through the goblin's space if you want to go past him and get to Glorfan.
Instead of being upset at them being discovered the brawler grinned, her shape-changed muzzle full of sharpened teeth. She leapt forward with a mighty punch directed at the goblin's head.