"Eep!" Revka jumps up as Aronida rejoins the group. "You're very good at sneaking. Veeeery good." She picks up the torch with just a bit of hesitation, holding it at arm's length like it might bite her. "Yes, I can carry a torch. A torch that's on fire. That's no problem at all." She vigorously shakes her head from side to side to reinforce the message, then quickly changes the subject. I'm definitely going to pray for a light spell tomorrow!
"I think maybe they could be digging for treasure?" she joins Darla's thought process. She doesn't know what a 'latrine' is, but she has another - actually the same - suggestion. "Or for piss and poop. It's really healthy to do it in a hole, instead of just anywhere."
She cranes her neck when Gethric rounds up all the equipment from their foes. "That's a really nice shiny. Too bad it's a stupid dog, though... You're welcome to it. Maybe it brings good luck. Or maybe it could be magic?" Her eyes go wide at the prospect.
Aronida's lips twitch at Revka's hygiene suggestions. "Don't know why they were digging, don't really care. Treasure, latrines...could be anything." She eyes the corpses littering the floor, then sighs. "Those would take us a long time to move, whether we were taking them to Big Bumble or outside. The area should be safe enough now for the Bumblebrashers to move back in if they wish, and perhaps they won't mind corpse-disposal duty. We should probably check in with them anyway; let them know what happened."
Darla gives the excitable goblin's words some thought. "If we gather everything we've found so far, I can cast a spell to determine if anything's magical. I won't be able to identify such an item--only tell that it's magical in some manner."
Once everything's within range, Darla casts detect magic and gives the gathered loot an examination.
Revka helps to prepare the items they've found for Darla to check for magic. She stays close and looks carefully at how Darla goes about it. "Oh, you're really good with this stuff. Just like with the spicy-making magic."
Darla senses the presence of unfamiliar magic, but it is Revka who recognizes the item.
Smiling at Revka and Darla's words on the onyx figurine Gethric looks at it misty eyed and wondrous "It's a beauty alright..."
Jogging his attention back to the matters at hand he suggests "If we've made the Bumble's home safe again I think it would be good if they can get down here and take care of their murder bear... I mean mascot bear..." blushing. "After that I'd still like to poke around the rest of this place though... though maybe we should check back in town?... I mean... wouldn't this make us heroes?"
"Oh oh oh," goes Revka when she recognizes the magical items. She's so caught up in wanting to tell about this wonder that it takes her a while before she's actually coherent enough to start explaining. "So, it seems like a regular statue, but it can actually transform into an actual dog. A black one, of course. And it'll do what you want, like guard, or fight, or follow a trail. It only works once a week, though, for just one hour." She recalls a bit more. "You don't have to worry it the dog gets killed, because it can't. It'll just transform back into a statue. But you do have to be careful about the statue, because if that breaks it's gone"
As for what to do next, Revka considers Gethrics's suggestion. "Going back into town - as heroes! - does sound good. But what will happen to the Bumblebashers if we leave them here and more of these Cinderclaws come from down in the basement?" She looks sad at the prospect of what could happen. "I say we go back up quickly to let the Bumblebashers know that it's clear here, and then we head further down to make sure that it's safe. And then we can go back into the town as Real Heroes." She looks proud already and the capitols are audible in her phrasing.
Though the thought of being hailed as the latest Uskwold hero in Breachill appeals to her, Darla agrees that poking around further in the ruins and making sure that the Cinderclaws have all been eliminated is the higher priority.
The group packs up the treasure they've found and heads back out into the bright summer day. Once again, they retrace their steps toward the collapsed wall over the mud puddle to rejoin the Bumblebrashers. Alerted by the sentinel on duty, Warbal hurries out to greet them.
Revka eagerly rushes ahead to greet Warbal. Once the rest have caught up, she makes a quick report. "We did it! I think it's safe for all of you to go back - mostly, anyway." She looks back at Gethric. "We found Big Bumble, and he's OK. I didn't see him personally, but Gethric did. He can tell you all about it."
Her eyes tilt up as she considers what else to tell. "We also found more of those people, like the prisoner we brought you. How has he been behaving? There might be even more, so we're going back down further into the basement to check it out. But first, I think we'll need some rest." She turns to the rest of the group. "Right"
"Hairy?" Warbal asks brightly. "He's great. We've been feeding him things to see what he'll eat. Oh -- and we think there's a Longshanks somewhere around the castle, maybe looking for you. It came up the road and went around the other side." She points toward the southern wing of the citadel.
Darla's brow furrows at the latest news. "Why would a long...person from town be coming up here alone?" she wonders aloud. To Gellius she adds in a terse whisper, "And did she just refer to humans as Its?"
"Oh, that's great," Revka replies cheerfully, happy to hear that their prisoner is being taken good care of. "And someone from Breachill? Would they be checking up on us?"
She looks at the others. "We'd best go this this longsh - person." Warbal's use of the words trips her up same as Darla. She walks close to Warbal and whispers "They don't like it to be called longshanks, for some reason..."
"ఓహ్!" Warbal replies, blushing a muddy gray. "వారి పొడవైన, చురుకైన కాళ్ళ గురించి వారు సున్నితంగా ఉంటారని నేను గ్రహించలేదు! ఎర్...", she goes on, "వారు ఏమి పిలవబడతారు?"
Gethric blanches at the mention of the murder bear Big Bumble, smiling wanly and nodding in tune with Revka's confirmation that he had been seen. The halfling adds haltingly "He seems... well fed?"
The mention of the arriving tall person gives Gethric a moment's pause and he tries to seek some goblin-level scouting details "Was the man dressed in shiny stuff or boring colours? Was he carrying anything for poking or shooting?"
Aronida, (who had been slouching against a nearby tree), stands up straighter at the mention of a newcomer. "We have been gone longer than expected, so it wouldn't be unreasonable for the Council to want to make sure we're alive. However I would have expected them to send more than one person." She frowns, trying to piece together anything that makes sense. "Maybe they're another bandit? Or someone related to the Cinderclaws?"
The mention of the arriving tall person gives Gethric a moment's pause and he tries to seek some goblin-level scouting details "Was the man dressed in shiny stuff or boring colours? Was he carrying anything for poking or shooting?"
"Black," Warbal replies, "but clanky." She mimes a stiff walk, like someone wearing heavy armor. "And with a big, long sword on the back. I mean...," she glances at Revka anxiously, "not too long at all, actually. Exactly the right length, I'm sure."
"I'm starting to see that goblins see us very differently than we see ourselves," replies Gellius to Darla quietly with a small shrug as the others talk with Warbal. "I suspect we all look the same to them."
Still a little weak from his brush with death, Gellius remains near the back without saying much. However, the description of the newcomer piques his interest.
"Did he have any markings? Like a ring of nails, all pointing outwards, maybe?" stepping forward, he mimes the shape of the Order of the Nail's emblem. That'd be just what I need! To have the order come back to try and reclaim their citadel.
Revka shrugs at Warbal's question. "నాకు నిజంగా తెలియదు. 'వ్యక్తి' యొక్క 'ప్రజలు', నేను అనుకుంటున్నాను. లేదా వారి పేరు, ఇది ఎల్లప్పుడూ మంచిది! వారు 'హ్యూమన్' లేదా అని పిలవడం ఇష్టం లేదని నేను ముందే కనుగొన్నాను, కనుక ఇది కూడా పనిచేయదు." She looks a bit glum but quickly shrugs it off.
She's faintly amused by the efforts of Gethric and Gellius to find out who the person from Breachill is. "Why don't we just go over there and see who it is?" she asks plainly. Her eyes then suddenly light up. "Or are we playing a guessing game? What's the prize for who gets it first?"
"Did he have any markings? Like a ring of nails, all pointing outwards, maybe?" stepping forward, he mimes the shape of the Order of the Nail's emblem.
Warbal sucks her fingers nervously. "I don't know," she admits. "I didn't get that close."
Gethric smiles generously "Its ok, you did fine Warbal." winking and giving the goblin a thumbs up.
"Let's see who's come looking for us," Darla suggests, uncertain why a citizen of Breachill would come alone to the old fortress.
Or could it be someone in league with the Cinderclaws?
Gellius nods and stands ready to follow.
“Black and clanky does sound a little like a Hellknight” he says with a neutral expression. “I must admit I’ll be concerned if any of the Order of the Nail are poking around the citadel. I didn’t think they’d had any interest for years. I mean hopefully, it’s just someone in black Armor, but still...”
"A Hellknight? Order of the Nail?" Revka answers in a very much not-neutral tone. She hasn't had any dealing with them at all, but the word alone conjures all kinds of things she'd rather not think about. "That's not a fancy word for a carpenter, is it?" she tries to make light of the situation. She then looks at Warbal and thinks about the rest of the Bumblebashers. "If they're dangerous, we'd best look into it right away. Otherwise he may leave, and we'll never know who it was..."
“Well...I mean they’re not the only people who wear black. I’m just a bit jumpy, I guess. My father was keen for me to join them at one point,” he smiles somewhat sheepishly. “I think it’s fair to say I was quite the disappointment.”
"Nonsense!" Darla tells Gellius. "You seem to be a capable warrior in my eyes, and with no lack of courage. Perhaps a touch reckless at times...."
The young woman cuts herself off, perhaps not wanting the praise to go to Gellius's head. Turning to Revka she adds, "Yeah--let's try to meet with our visitor and then take a rest. I'm out of spells, though, so you're our only source of healing at the moment.... Wait! I also have a potion I bought back in town!"
Warbal nods. "We'll go back home where it's safe. If you need us, that's where you can find us."
Aronida freezes at the suggestion that this new visitor might be a Hellknight. Anyone looking at her might see a sudden look of panic on her face.
She'd been legitimately freed years ago, and hadn't worked as a tiller anywhere nearby. There wasn't any reason for a Hellknight to come after after her. Nothing they could do to her, chained (haha) to the laws of the land as they were.
"Let's just...go see what they want." Nearly the last thing she wants to do is go closer to a Hellknight, but the very last thing she wants to do is leave one wandering the countryside without any idea of where they are or what they're after. Besides, maybe Gellius is right, and this isn't a Hellknight after all.
(She puts aside Gellius' admission that his father had wanted him to join the Hellknights for later consideration. He hadn't. It was fine.)
She still starts gnawing on her lower lip in a nervous gesture as she double-checks the strings on her bow.
Aronida and Gethric remember that they saw two possible ways to enter the citadel by the southern wing: doors facing east and a place where the southern wall was partially collapsed. Those seem like the best places to start looking for the newcomer.
"Yeah, what Darla says," Revka adds her voice in defense of Gellius. "We defeated a not-dragon and rescued an entire tribe of goblins. That must be better than being a weird carpenter with lots of armor on!" She nod again, emphatically. "It'll be fine." She glances are Aronida again. "Besides, it's only one person and there's five of us."
The party checks the doors in the eastern wall and finds them locked.
Gellius smiles at his companions’ encouragement. “Well, thank you. It’s true the Hellknights have a very specific idea of what constitutes a warrior” he replies. “It didn’t take them long for them to rule me...unworthy of the effort of training me. And I must say I’ve never been happier to fail at anything in my life. They’re impressive warriors, but their blind devotion to ‘the law’ was...let’s just say I wasn’t going to fit in.” he trails off after the diplomatic understatement, remembering with sadness some of the cases he saw prosecuted back at the citadel in Corentyn. As the group reaches the closed doors, he pushes at the barrier a couple of times.
“Is anyone any good at playing around with locks? I could possibly push it open, but we may as well do as little damage to the place as we need to.”
As the party finds the Eastern doors locked, Gethic looks a bit uncomfortable for a few moments before he sloughs off his backpack and rummages around for a small roll of oiled leather. Approaching the door he unfurls the roll to display a set of delicate blackened wrought iron tooling. Cheeks reddening as he hopes that no-one seeks to question why a the son of a baker has a set of illicit tools, he squints and sets to work on releasing the lock...
Gethric eases a tool into the narrow crevice between the doors and carefully probes until he locates the latch. With mathematical pressure, he is able to depress the latch and release the catch. The doors sag gently apart.
The large room beyond is littered with broken furniture and other debris. It looks as if it were once a barrack for the rank-and-file Hellknights. Several bed frames are stacked upon each other in the middle of the room, filthy and ripped bedding draped over the top to block the interior of a small makeshift cubicle from view. Bones and other bits of detritus are scattered around, and the air within is redolent of musk, sweat, and rotting meat. Spatters of dried blood speckle a trail from the doors to the structure in the middle of the room; some of the spatters seem relatively fresh.
Darla tries to Avoid Notice as she sneaks toward what she considers to be a strange, crude dwelling.
Gellius keeps an eye out for any hostile creatures, leaving the room for the others to investigate.
Revka claps her hands as Gethric seems to have just the right tools at hand to open the door. She doesn't see a problem with their illicit nature. "That's great, you came really well-prepared for this!"
--
She frowns as she spots the scene inside. "That's odd. The door was locked, but the blood seems fresh. And someone made some kind of blanket fotress in the middle? Except with nasty bits all over?" She keeps a firm grip on her starknife and keeps her rank in the marching order. She keeps her eyes open for anything out of the ordinary.
As the group slowly and cautiously moves into the room, a goblinoid creature the size of a human appears suddenly from behind the curtains of the fort and seizes Gellius in a vise-like grip. "Boo!" she grins, baring razor-sharp teeth in his face.
Aronida whips her bow towards this new threat. "If you're with the Bumblebrashers, we mean no harm!" Goblinoid however was not the same as a goblin, (and even if she was a goblin that didn't necessarily mean she was allied with the Bumblebrashers), so she readies a shot in case the woman does prove hostile.
Darla immediately starts a catchy battle chant: If this thing wants a fight, it'll be on the party's terms! Moving forward . the bard points her rapier in the creature's direction and demands, "Let him go immediately!"
"Hey, stop that," Revka says angily. "He's my friend." She switches over to the Goblin tongue. "మేము ఇక్కడ అన్వేషిస్తున్నాము, కాని బంబుల్ బాషర్ మెట్ల మీదకు బయలుదేరబోతున్నారు. పోరాటం అవసరం లేదు, ఉందా? అలా కాకుండా, మీరు పోరాడటానికి చాలా అలసిపోలేదా?"
While waiting for an answers, she says a quick prayer to Desna. Maybe we can diffuse the situation without fighting?
Aronida readies two quick arrows if the goblinoid does not quickly back down.
Darla begins to chant as she approaches the enemy, hoping to distract it so Gellius can break free.
Revka says a quick prayer to Desna, and her goddess intervenes, as the goblinoid blinks, sways on her feet, and then closes her eyes in sleep, her grip on Gellius loosening but not releasing altogether....
Gellius tries to slip free of the creature's grip.
Pulling himself free, he draws his other weapon and raises his main gauche defensively. Nodding silently to Darla for her assistance, he watches the creature warily.
Round 1:
Seeing an opportunity as the assailant's attention wavers, Gethric weaves and wefts around to a position opportune. Rather than strike though, he impositions his buckler betwixt himself and it... querying his companions "Let me know if the discussion needs to be pointed..."
Gellius carefully extracts himself from the sleeping goblinoid's clutches and readies his arms, both to strike and to defend.
Gethric moves around to flank the creature.
Despite Gellius's care, his movement seems to disturb the creature. The empty fingers flex searchingly for a second, then her head swings up again, beady eyes angry. "Tricksy, tricksy," she fumes, swinging a fist at Gellius.
Aronida lets her arrows fly, and fly true, but the goblinoid continues to focus on Gellius, landing a devastating fist to the side of his head which leaves his ears ringing. "I knows tricks too," she hisses at him malevolently. "You won't like them."
Round 2:
Frowning as the beast continues to fight, Gethric resolves to put it down. His sharpened fork needles and reaches looking for sensitive places to rest...
"It worked, it worked!" Revka crows. Her elation is short-lived when the large goblin wakes up and immediately resumes the fighting. "That's not nice, we told you to stop it! You should have stayed asleep, now you're just getting a big headache! Or worse..."
"I'm going to guess you're not with the Bumblebrashers." Aronida sighs even as she lets her arrows fly. Truth be told it's simpler this way, but she can't deny she was hoping for a easier conclusion. One with less blood.
She looses a couple more arrows, then steps backwards. She's not one to stand in the way of danger; she much prefers taking care of it before it can come close enough to reach her. "Gellius, be careful!"
Gellius staggers as the creature strikes him, groaning in pain as he stands side by side with Aronida. “I…Well, I thought I was,” he confesses. “Damn thing. I thought it was asleep!”
Launching a series of blows with his two blades, he takes care to keep on guard, raising his main gauche defensively after making two precise, deadly strikes.
; ;
;
Aronida puts two more arrows in the goblinoid, then steps behind cover.
Darla continues her warchant. She recognizes the creature. "It's a bugbear," she informs the others. "They like to torture their prey." Gellius now free, she steps back to keep the goblinoid from seizing her next.
Gethric's fork stabs repeatedly from behind the bugbear, though it only gets past the creature's leather armor once.
Gellius's blades, taking advantage of the halfling's distraction, find an unprotected spot at the base of the neck and slashes the bugbear's throat open. Gurgling, she falls into a pool of her own blood.