Coulda told ya that, Blodgett mutters from up top.
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With a quiet chuckle at Blodgett's comment, Penryn studies his handiwork. Unconvinced that it's stable enough yet, he wedges a couple more boards in place, then gives a satisfied nod.
Moving cautiously in case he's misjudged it, he continues to sneak through the crawlway, eyes peeled for more surprises.
Jasper takes a look at the tracks. "You know that trail that leads up to the front door? The tracks actually never go through it. How odd."
When his cousin muses about Hallod, he says, "It's possible he just wants to be left alone. This place is definitely not welcoming, so it does the job there."
He then waits as Penny does his thing.
Penryn grabs some refuse and jams the mechanism. He's confident that the others can crawl through safely.
Beyond the turn, the crawlway continues for another 10 feet before opening up into a small chamber that appears to have once been a closet. The door leaving the space is barred by debris on the other side and cannot be opened, but there is a hatch built into the floor. It is very old, but free from debris and dust. The hatch is not locked, but the hinge is terribly rusted.
Kaleb crawls along, upon seeing the hinge Kaleb starts to reach for his pack before remembering he's packed torches, and not oil.
"Can I come in yet? What's the hold up?"
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Penryn backs away from the hatch, saying quietly, "We gotta oil the hinges on that thing, anyone have any oil?" He scans the faces of his companions as they all look down or at each other, then mutters, "Nobody? Well, I suppose I didn't remember to pack any either...what else could we use?"
He digs quickly through his backpack and pulls out a bar of rather abrasive-looking soap that has seen limited use. Pouring a few drops from his waterskin onto the soap, he works it in his hand until he's got a thick lather on it. Moving back to the hatch, he very carefully thins the lather with some more water and drips it onto the hinges, hoping to make it move a bit more quietly.
Penryn, proud of his idea opens the hatch without an issue. It's quiet too... until he just about lets it go, when it screeches like all get out!
Under the hatch is a stone-lined chute that descends into pitch black darkness. Handholds have been carved into the chute though.
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"Hold on a moment. let me try something."
Cilik grade a small rock from the pile of junk and whispers a few words and a wave of his hand it starts to glow like a torch. He then whispers a few more words and a pail ghostly hand appears out of know where.
"Hand, would you mind taking this rock and going down that there hole?... of course you don't you aren't real and you will do whatever i say whether you like it or not."
as the hand holding the rock moves down the chute, the mage looks at the rest of the group."shall we then?"
It looks like the chute goes down 30' before turning into a tunnel which leads east. The handholds seem to make for easy work all the way down to the bottom. A short hallway that leads to a wooden door is all you can see.
Might as well, Blodgett says, eyeing the handholds before beginnning his descent.
Blodgett gets to the bottom with no issues. It appears the trapped defenses don't continue here.
The door is shut, but not locked.
Kaleb continues to linger towards the back, being as silent as he can.
Once everyone makes it down the ladder, Blodgett opens the door, greataxe in hand.
The old wooden door swings open on rusted hinges, revealing a room lit by a single, flickering torch. Through the gloom you see piles of small crates and more than a few barrels stacked up haphazardly on the south side of the room. Opposite you is a stout wooden door with iron bands, while the north side of the room is bare save for an iron gate set into the middle of the wall. The stench of smoke and damp dog hangs heavy in the air.
The floor before you is covered in grease. Before you can take it all in, the gate to the north begins to rise!
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Perception (T)
Avoid Notice (T)
Cover Tracks (T)
???
Round 1:
Penryn: Go
Jasper: Go
Dogs: TBD
Kaleb: TBD
Blodgett: TBD
Cilik: TBD
Elvanthain: TBD
Penryn delays a bit. The dogs escape their kennel, backing furiously at the edge of the grease!
Round 1:
Dogs: Bork!
Penryn: 2 Actions
Jasper: Go
Kaleb: Go
Blodgett: Go
Cilik: Go
Elvanthain: Go
Dogs're here to alert someone. Trained to avoid the grease, Blodgett growls. Let's see who comes runnin'. He puts his greataxe away and draws his bow as well, loosing a warning shot at Red, thinking if it misses it might land in the door beyond.
His shot falls well short of the mark, and he looks over his shoulder at Lucky. Stop crowdin' me.
Blodgett's arrow is way off target, and it seems to only anger the dogs, who now seem much more willing to risk the grease.
Round 1:
Dogs: Bork!
Penryn: Switch hit
Jasper: Go
Kaleb: Go
Blodgett: Miss
Cilik: Go
Elvanthain: Go
Kaleb looks back "Lets not all get bunched up in here..."
Kaleb then draws his second favorite fork and does his best to deftly slide into the room.
Kaleb plunches his fork into the white dog's side.
Kaleb slides through the grease. He nearly topples, but keeps it together until the last second. Unfortunately his stab is just a hair off target!
Round 1:
Dogs: Bork!
Penryn: Switch hit
Jasper: Go
Kaleb: Miss
Blodgett: Miss
Cilik: Go
Elvanthain: Go
"Why?! Blodgett, why? Don't anger them. They're just doing their duty," Jasper chastises the barbarian... and then watches Kaleb and groans.
He strides forward, pulling out his mace. "Get back, doggie! Back, back," the animal lover shouts, hoping to demoralize the dogs enough that they don't attack.
Jasper's words don't translate well !
Round 1:
Dogs: Bork!
Penryn: Switch hit
Jasper: 1 Action
Kaleb: Miss
Blodgett: Miss
Cilik: Go
Elvanthain: Go
Elvantain pulls out his crossbow and shoots at red
Round 1:
Dogs: Bork!
Penryn: Switch hit
Jasper: Enter the fracas
Kaleb: Miss
Blodgett: Miss
Cilik: GO
Elvanthain: Pending
The traffic jam prevents Cilik and Elvanthain from getting into the action. The dogs respond to the violence, and no longer seem deterred from the grease. One closes with Blodgett, two more go after Kaleb!
The dog steps forward slowly, having encountered this hazard before, and bites at the barbarian for
The two who close on Kaleb gnash and tear at the halfling.
MISS
for
MISS
MISS
for
Round 2:
Dogs: Bork and bite!
Penryn: Go
Jasper: Go
Kaleb: Go
Blodgett: Go
Cilik: GO
Elvanthain: Go
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True to his word, Penryn studies his target a moment, then raises his bow and a lets fly an arrow, followed by another! "We gotta take that dog out so we're not all bottled up in this hallway! The way this place is trapped, a giant ball of stone is gonna come rolling down the hallway and smoosh us all!"
Penryn sinks two arrows into the dog's neck and chest. With a final snarl it falls!
Round 2:
Dogs: Bork and bite!
Penryn: Kill
Jasper: Go
Kaleb: Go
Blodgett: Go
Cilik: GO
Elvanthain: Go
Jasper winces. "Try to only knock them out please!"
He says this knowing full well that he's likely to be ignored.
He then whispers a prayer to Erastil before invoking divine power to deter attackers. With a gesture at dog he can see, he fills the animals mind with mental jolt!
Jasper takes a more magnanimous approach, though the spell fails to have an effect.
The traffic jam continues as Kaleb finds himself alone with a pack of dogs.
Round 2:
Dogs: Bork and bite!
Penryn: Kill
Jasper: Magic!
Kaleb: Go
Blodgett: Go
Cilik: GO
Elvanthain: Go
Stuck on the ladder, Elvanthain holds until room appears below
Blodgett drops his bow and pulls out his maul. If I put 'em to sleep for a long, long time, that okay with you and your bleedin' heart? Blodgett asks Jasper, not waiting for a response before moving into the grease.
Managing to keep his feet, Blodgett takes a swing at Blue.
Blodgett slides across the grease, barely holding on to his balance. on the far side he brings his weapon down, shattering the dog's skull!
Round 2:
Dogs: Bork and bite!
Penryn: Kill
Jasper: Magic!
Kaleb: Go
Blodgett: Kill
Cilik: Go
Elvanthain: Go
Elvanthain takes an action to go down the ladder to the safe spot and takes a shot at blue.
Kaleb steps back so that he can keep all the giant bloodthirsty halfling eating dire wolves in in front of him as he tries to fend them off before scurrying to the far corner.
Kaleb turns into a one halfling wrecking crew. He quickly drops one dog and gives the other something to remember him by!
Meanwhile Elvanthain strides into the opening, and lets fly . the bolt sticks in the dog's shoulder, and the blood loss is too much, felling the final dog!
Jasper rushes forward, looking to help keep the animals from death's door. He prays to Erastil, clasping hands as he invokes his god's power.
He then crouches over each, checking for vital signs.
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Penryn moves down the hall and carefully across the patch of grease, observing his cousin tending to the wounded dogs. The number of junkyard dogs I've had to deal with, four more hardly matter. But I think I'll keep that to myself, rather than further ruining Jasper's day.
He steps next to a stack of crates and begins searching through them, saying, "Whoever is here - or is it whomever? I can never remember. Anyway, whether it's Hallod or someone else, they sure know we're here by know, might as well search around a bit and learn what we can about what they're up to."
Jasper quickly moves to the dying dogs and stabilizes them. The party looks around and there are plenty of boxes, nooks, and crannies to check.