As soon as the doll crumples to bits, a strange exhaustion falls over Ragna. Retreating to the far wall, she slides down to the floor, panting. She tries to clear her head as the more arcane-inclined discuss the queer automaton. After a few breaths, she manages to gasp out "Is that the golem the hellknights spoke of?"
"I don't know what it's original purpose was, but I think it might have gone mad when the Order of the Nail left Altaerein and left it here."
"It went mad?!" Jonagher asks aloud, "Can wooden dolls even go mad? I've never seen anything like that before." He watches as Ren picks over the creature, curious as to the magic that animated it. Upon seeing the gemstone, he nods. "Ah! Maybe that explains it? The elves have legends of binding magic within precious stones. Perhaps the Hellknights had some means of doing so, as well? Let's just hope it isn't powered by a devil's possession or anything. We've already released one from this citadel. Let's not double up on that mistake."
"Is that the golem the hellknights spoke of?"
"If it is..." Jonagher answers over his shoulder, "It's a lot smaller than I imagined it to be. I was expecting something as big as those dragon-lizards. But I guess this is one of those times when it's the size of the fight in the dog, than the size of the dog itself. This doll posed a bigger danger than anything else we've seen in these halls..."
The priest turns to their patron "Alak, are you okay? The herbs seemed to do the trick in the moment, but let me put some ointment on you to reduce bruising."
Alak chuckles. "What was in those herbs? I've never experienced such a potent restorative."
"If you're doing alright...and no one's too hurt...let's see what's in the room that thing came running out of..." Jonagher suggests. "There were other dead creatures there, which it presumably killed. So, maybe it was also protecting something? Or, at least, the room it occupied might be a bit less disturbed and picked over in these ruins. Could be a greater chance of finding that ring..."
"Ohh, I hope those poor gobbos didn't run into it!" Ragna says, worried. Taking up her axe and shield, she pushes her self up from where she sits against the wall and makes for the room from whence the little doll came.
As he's working on Alak the priest chats with him. "It's my version of a dwarven recipe for an inhaled analgesic. I've used it before but not in the heat of battle, so I'm glad it helped." When he finishes applying the ointment he remarks "Do let me know if you feel dizzy or nauseated though, it's a dwarven strength remedy."
"Before the doll attacked us I only saw the corpses in the room, so we can make quick work of searching it without disturbances and then deal with whatever creature haunts the northern corridor." Shaserai follows behind Ragna. As he enters the room he glances at the dead boggards. "As I suspected the soulbound doll killed one with magic and the other with repeated punches. It didn't use any spells on us, so it might have used all it's magic on the boggards fairly recently."
The elf starts looking around the room trying to locate anything noteworthy.
"As I suspected the soulbound doll killed one with magic and the other with repeated punches. It didn't use any spells on us, so it might have used all it's magic on the boggards fairly recently."
"Well...let's thank Desna for that..." Jonagher jokes as he follows Ragna and Shaserai into the room.
A splintered table on a moth-eaten rug occupies the middle of the room, while broken chairs, moldy books, and general detritus litter the floor. Shaserai notices something glinting among the dust and debris on the floor and picks it up: a tiny obsidian figure in armor about the size of a chess piece.
Alak notices the figure in Shaserai's hand. "This must have been the war room, where battles and assaults were gamed out here on this table. There would have been a whole set of those pieces: Hellknights, signifers, blank figures to stand in for the enemy."
The figure is of good craftmanship; a collection of such figures could be worth something back in Breachill.
Putting the toy soldier's soul gem in one of his pouches for later study, Irenaeus joins the others. "I can think of certain parties that would be interested in the gem that animated that little construct, but I must admit I would much prefer to study it myself first, especially if we are to relinquish it eventually."
As he enters the room, he looks around. "Now, what do we have here? No lost rings I take it?"
The mage uses a magic detection cantrip as he moves about the room for a better look.
Highness kicked at the head of the wooden soldier's in disgust and anger, mad that he hadn't been able to slow down or injure the creature, despite it being smaller than him.
When a large chunk rolled free due to his vigorous ministrations, Highness narrowed his eyes for a moment, then glanced at the group of longshanks moving out of the room.
Highness took the grasping chain out of his pack and picked up the head and a bit of the chest with the magic device, holding it up at about head height of his companions. Then he moved quickly and quietly, sneaking up behind Irenaeus and holding the head right at eye level behind him.
"It's still quite a mess in here," Jonagher states as he looks around the room, "Could take awhile to search everything, and I don't see a need to do that while we know there's more danger waiting to the north. Do we want to go deal with that, or keep searching the rest of the rooms in this wing of the citadel's vaults?"
Shaserai pockets the Hellknight piece in one of his bandolier's pouches "I'd like to find more of the pieces if they are still here, but I think it would be better to finish exploring this level first. We've still not found any traces of Warbal's lost tribesmates nor their bear, save for the growling we heard before. Let's go with the original plan before the doll distracted us and scout the northern corridors." The priest steps out of the room and into the central corrdior. "Let's have the grauladon meat ready to toss, just in case."
Shaserai tucks away the figure he found for safekeeping while Highness attempts to frighten Ren. The goblin king finds a tattered length of silk that might have been a banner to wrap his treasure in.
The party returns to the main corridor, readying their clammy cuts of lizard meat. "Had we decided which of the three corridors to try?" Alak inquires.
As Irenaeus reaches the conclusion that the room is indeed devoid of magic, he turns around to inform the others. And he comes face to face with what appears to be the toy soldier's much bigger "brother" standing right behind him. The mage, focused as he was on examining the room, is taken aback -to say the least- by the wooden head staring him right in the eyes, so much so that he takes a few steps back only to find himself tripping on something and falling, his posterior meeting the floor rather soundly.
"You...," he starts as he starts to pick himself up, noting that Highness had just played a prank on him. Despite attempts to find more words, preferably colorful and perhaps just a tad threatening, he seems to come up with none as he dusts himself off.
In the end, he settles for "I have heard goblins are quite flammable. I do so hope I do not find out for myself one day. Magic, after all, can be iffy..."
Ragnhild narrows her eyes at the wizard and his hurtful words, but she bites her tongue for the moment. Highness could not be expected to defy his troublemaking goblin nature! She gestures to the nearest hallway. "Who's behind me with the meat? If I'm going first, I'm keeping my shield and my axe."
Ragna leads the way up the easternmost corridor. It keeps going to the northeast for twenty feet before jogging to the left to head straight north for another fifteen feet, where it ends in a closed door.
"Who's behind me with the meat? If I'm going first, I'm keeping my shield and my axe."
"We're all behind you," Jonagher quips, "And I'm getting the feeling we may all be 'meat' to whatever beast lies ahead..."
As the party marches along in Ragna's wake, Jonagher also offers a bit of additional commentary in the hopes of illuminating everyone on the potential dangers that might await them. "You know, I recognized those bodies back there at the doll's room," he shares, "They were boggards, big amphibian frog-men...just like the goblins described, I suppose. They like to live in swamps and rainforests, though. Not sure why they'd be here at the citadel...much like just about everything else we've seen so far. But, beyond that, you should know those things are pretty brutal and war-like. They can make this terrifying croaking sound. I've heard it steals the courage right out of the most stalwart warriors. They've also got long, sticky tongues, which they can use to grab prey...or people...and pull them off-balance. So, be prepared in case we run across any more of them."
"We got pretty lucky then, the soulbound doll dealt with them for us, using up it's magic in the process. Two bird with one stone, as they say."
Shaserai stays near the middle of the group, ready to use his magic on both the front and back lines as required.
"I hope those two were the only "frogs" in the citadel, but that still leaves the "monkeys" and Torag knows what else."
"A bear..." Jonagher adds, "We're still looking for a bear..."
"Frogmen from the rainforest. Supports my theory that there's a tunnel to the other side of the world down here." Ragna says matter-of-factly. "Ready or not, little bear!" The viking descendant calls before whipping the door open.
Revka opens the door on a sitting room with furniture still largely intact, if shabby and dirty. A fallen chandelier rests on a moth-eaten rug in the center of the room; from the ceiling above it a strange nest-like structure made from ripped and knotted curtains dangles to within three feet of the floor. Two small, furry, humanoid shapes huddle in the dangling nest behind the cover of the draperies.
"Aww! These lil' gobbos are all furrified! C'mere little ones, Warbal sent us to rescue you!"
"I don't think those are goblins, Ragna..." Jonagher suggests from just over her shoulder, "But perhaps we should push on in so the rest of us aren't caught up here in the hallway." Following true to his words, Jonagher squeezes past Ragna in order to slip just inside the doorway and to the side. He then tosses the meat in his hand onto the nearby chair and draws an arrow to ready a shot in case the creatures turn violent.
Highness, hearing Jonagher's suggestion and with no good view as he peered past the legs of the warriors, Higness did what he did best, and acted scrambled past Jonagher and through Ragnhild's legs.
Bursting out into the room, Highness was instantly wary of the furry creatures, and he dropped into his low wolf-like crouch, ready for anything.
When Ragna opens the door and exclaims about the furry goblins Shaserai calls into existence a floating force shield as a precaution and steps past the warrior and into the room. Seeing the furry creatures, he tries
to remember if he's ever heard or read any information about them.
Jonagher moves past Ragna into the room, drops his dragon-steak on a handy chair, and readies his bow, should the small furry creatures prove hostile.
Highness follows the elf in, climbs up on the chair alongside the meat, and crouches, ready to strike.
Shaserai, having summoned divine protection, pushes past Ragna to get a better look at the creatures in the room.
A chunk of masonry comes hurtling out of the nest-like structure and smacks against the wall to the right of Highness. "
Gudu, ƙaramin dodo!" a monkey-like creature whines in a high-pitched voice, as it drops out of the next to the floor and draws a sickle.
Ragna strides up to the nearest furry goblin, towering over the small creature and glaring threateningly at it.
Ragna strides up to the nest and tries to dissuade the creature inside from attacking, while steeling herself nevertheless to fight if necessary.
The target of her glare climbs back further into the nest before tossing a rock at Ragna and ducking behind some of the drapery.
The third creature also throws a chunk of brick at Ragna before dropping down out of the nest and drawing its own sickle.
"Sounds like we're fighting then," Alak remarks, rushing up the corridor to take a place beside Ragna and readying his blade.
Shaserai uses his magic to lash at the nearest "monkey", trying to scramble it's mind. He then turns to the other creature on the ground "By the might of Torag, you will know defeat at our hands!" the priest shouts.
"One side, pipsqueak!" Jonagher calls out to Highness, indicating he wants to step up on the chair so he can get a higher angle for a shot with his bow on the monkey-men.
Shaserai mentally jolts one of the enemies, but they don't seem to understand his words so his threat fails to shake them.
Highness, hearing the human move up from behind him, stuck his tongue out at the warrior before kicking off the chair into a wild tumble back to the floor. "I never thought I would hear a longshanks say he was too short!" he cackled as he scrambled across the floor at a breakneck speed. The goblin, scrabbling madly, seemingly ran up the couch on the opposing wall, kicked off the wall to redirect himself while tipping a small bag into the nest, and ended up on the opposite side of the room.
Highness covers one of the furry things with alchemical goo before dashing through and popping up behind it.
Taking a few steps forward so as to be able to see their new foes, Irenaeus once again uses his lighting cantrip, electricity shocking both creatures as soon as he finishes his incantation.
Ren moves up to the doorway and conjures a crackling arc of electricity between two of the creatures.
With Highness out of his way, Jonagher leaps up onto the chair the goblin just vacated and fires two arrows over Alak's head, one of which strikes the gooified monkey-man.
The creature who spoke steps forward and darts out his sickle to hook around Alak's boot. Unprepared, the man stumbles and falls but manages to roll out of the way of the monkey's follow-up attack.
"WHY couldn't you just be NICE!" Ragnhild roars, stepping at swinging at one of the cranky monkey creatures.
Ragna steps forward and attacks. The monkey-man ducks under the sweep of her axe but stands up just in time to put his head in the way of her shield. With the distinctive sound of crushing bone, the furry creature crumples to the floor.
The creature still in the nest takes up an ear-piercing shriek. Leaping down from his perch, he opens the door in the back wall, rushes through, and slams it behind him, screaming all the way.
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"You damn dirty ape!" Alak growls, snatching the creature that tripped him. Getting to his feet, he leaves his sword on the floor and punches the sickle out of the monkey-man's grasp.
Highness, the slightest bit chastened after his most recent episode of opening an unknown door elected to engage the remaining monkey thing. He bounded forward, hands snapping forward like fangs at the creature, followed by a fierce kick towards its knees.
Ignoring the fleeing screaming creature Shaserai steps further into the room and seeing as his mental attack had an effect on one of the monkey men, the priest decides to use the same spell on the one Alak has immobilized.
With only one creature currently still fighting and with Ragna and Highness more or less surrounding it, Irenaeus casts a second electric cantrip at it, trusting that even if he fails, the others will take care of it. Probably.
Highness moves to box in the last creature in the room, but even with Alak gripping his arm, the simian is able to dodge the goblin's punches and kicks.
Shaserai crosses the room and delivers a mental jolt to the grappled creature.
Ren summons another crackling arc of lightning.
Seeing that the remaining creature is disarmed and surrounded by his allies, Jonagher raises his bow to cover the door the other creature fled through, readying a shot if it returns with reinforcements. Not having recognized the language the monkey-man spoke, Jonagher tries another language at random to try to get through to it. "አሁን ያስረክቡ!" he barks in the Draconic tongue.
The last simian jerks in Alak's grasp in surprise. "ቅዱስ ቋንቋውን ትናገራለህ?" he asks Jonagher suspiciously. "ታዲያ ለምን የሲንዲን ጥፍሮችን ትቃወማለህ?"
You speak the sacred tongue? Why then do you oppose the Cinderclaws?
(The simian speaks Draconic haltingly, with an appalling accent.)
"Get back here!" Ragnhild bellows at the fleeing ape, too overtaken by rage to recognize the captured monkey's speech. She rushes at the closing door, trying to smash through it instead of opening it.
Ragna chases after the fleeing simian and smashes her weapons into the door, visibly splintering it near the top hinge.