The party reconvenes by the body of the dead cipactli.
"One believess that friend Jakun found entrance to where ssniperss attacked from. Along with the ssniperss. One would advisse we all go and disspatch ruffianss quickly. Before they try to do ssame to uss!"
The kobold delivers smoothly, and relatively slowly, considering he is panting for breath.
(Even out of breath from the running, Taishe's outward appearance maintains his usual calm demeanor.)
The kobold casts a side eye at the crocidilian corpse.
"Kindly remind One to return and procure alchemical ingredients when urgency is negated."
"Kersh was a member of this guild. He tricked us, quite well I must admit. He ambushed me with one of his minions, I was able to slay that one but retreated when two more bowman came from secret passages.
If any of you can heal me it would be much appreciated.
It seems our secrecy has come to and end and we must now fight the fully alerted guild, shall we chase them into their secret passages? Waiting for them to come to us I don't find wise".
"Then we should move quickly. If 13 Spider can patch up our minotaur friend, we should hurry before they can mount more defenses." Tragon seems animated as he wipes down his blade. "Just tell me where to go."
"Yes we should return the favor and attack him and his friends in force." Nahuatl ti chimes in.
Taishe nods solemnly.
"Wisse humanoid once ssaid, 'Besst Defensse iss a Good Offensse!'"
"I agree whole heartily in this endeavor. Though at some point we may need to rest and recoup. I am weakened at this point and don't have much power to cast many more spells."
13 Spider channels energy for any that are injured
The party stands in the cenote. There is the unopened door that Norveg had inspected. There is the hallway they came in from, and the further reaches where some encountered Kersh. Either one is a possibility for danger
Taishe seesm eager to return from the direction they JUST ran back from, to finish what Jakun started.
But, the kobold's gaze turns towards the nearby, as-yet unopened door.
He sighs.
"Wisse humanoid once ssaid, 'Curiosity killed the Kobold. Or made him rich.' Shall we try THISS door? Firsst? Or return to where we know our target Hidess?"
”We should take out the targets we know about. The longer we wait, the more time they have to regroup,” Tragon says.
Taishe nods, if a trifle reluctantly.
Ssage advice. One bowss to your wissdom." The kobold says, bobbing his head.
"Then we return to the round chamber. Quickly. We know where the Ssecret door iss."
Jakun nods as well in agreement.
Leaving the cenote and the Cipactli carcass behind, the group troops up to the circular room where the supposed merchant Kersh escaped. The party arrives and finds the room still unoccupied. The eastern door is spiked against entry.
Taishe points a claw at the spiked-shut door formerly known as 'Secret'.
Then the kobold silently holds up a few more clawed fingers, to indicate how many people were on the other side.
The kobold scoots behind his larger companions.
Jakun is wary, "Beyond the door is where I was ambushed through a secret door, at least we now know it is there. They also could have gone up and out as Kersh did. They have the advantage of knowing this place much better, do we back track or move forward into this small killing corridor?"
Taishe holds up a single claw again.
"One advissess thiss way, where you fought in hidden hallway. The OTHER way iss clearly meant to provide a large, open killing field for unwelcome vissitorss. Here we know they have Ssecret doorss behind ssecret doors. To provide entrance to their ambush-sspotss."
The kobold grins. It looks draconically diabolical.
"Bad habitss are hard to break. They will know that we can return thiss way, and will not be completely unprepared. But One believes that they will hope we continue on prior path, azz that iss what they planned for."
"One esstimatess our chances being much greater concentrating fight in smaller corridor, than in open chamber with sstill-unknown number of murder-holes."
The kobold checks the pockets of his comically-large leather coat. Then he nods and hefts his crossbow up.
"One iss ready."
Tragon charges at the door and tries to dislodge it.
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Norveg pulls the wedges from the door, shaking his head at the fighter. "Oi ain't healin' that."
He executes a ratty bow to Tragon to open the door.
The hallway beyond the door is deserted. There are splashes of blood from the recent fight, but whatever secret door Taishe and Jakun mention has been closed, and is seamless from the hallway. There is another door farther down the hallway
"Hmmm,..." Taishe humms thoughtfully as he peeks into the now-open hallway.
"Give One a moment,... if One'ss memory doess not fail him,... I believe,..."
The kobold peers down the hallway, and carefully peers over teh apparently empty wall space,...
",... It WASS here. One iss certain,..."
Taishe can see the faint cracks in the tunnel bricks where the secret door is. It is much easier to spot when one knows the relative position of the thing. It is shut, and he does not see an obvious way to open it
”Can it only be opened from the inside?” Tragon speculates.
"At'd make sense if'n ya lookin' ta murder folk," Norveg opines, nonetheless searching for some kind of trigger mechanism low down, at his own altitude.
Taishe strokes his 'mustache' tendrils thoughtfully.
"Maybe,... One could spike hidden door, trapping any within until we have dealt with the ressst?" He points a clawed finger down the hallway.
Minimize concern about being ambushed from behind. Again."
The sharp eyes of the diminutive duo discover a small worn spot in the brick face. It looks as if pushing it would release an inner clasp, unlocking the secret door
Taishe looks at Norveg, and grins at his fellow diminutive adventurer.
"Ah, HERE!" The kobold hisses cheerfully.
Taishe looks at Torveg.
"After you!" and presses the release switch,...
Tragon ensures the team has gathered and then activates the secret door.
Jakun readies a spell in case of any surprises.
Narl steps back and begins to prepare his remaining spells depending on what is behind the door.
Cauldratti ruffles his feathers in anticipation.
The is an almost inaudible *click* , and the brick face swings open a few inches. Nothing happens immediately. There seems to be a tunnel like the others they have walked through behind the door
Tragon cautiously opens the door and looks down the tunnel.
Once the door is opened it reveals a short space not five feet in length, and another door, this one wide open. Beyond this door is a large room, with a 15 foot wide and 10 foot tall window that overlooks the pool area where Taishe and Tragon came under fire. The odd thing is that neither remembers seeing such a large window in the cave’s side while they were being fired upon
"Hm. Very odd."
Once making certain that there are no (obvious) enemies in sight, Taishe prowls about the room.
Norveg joins Taishe in the large room, peering curiously out the window into the space beyond and below, which he hadn't had a chance to see well before.
The window is quite odd. It is an open window carved into the rock, with no glass or other material within it. One could easily cannonball into the water below if one wished. Norveg doesn’t grasp the strangeness, not having seen the room prior. Taishe gets the idea of leaning outward from the window. When he does, he looks back at the window and is startled to see that the cavern wall is all he sees. There seems to be some visual illusion in place over the opening, camouflaging the window from the outside
Next the large window are five teak folding chairs, stacked up and set aside. There is also a table with more chairs to the side. This table has cards, dice , and several used food dishes on it. A Theranian water hookah sits in the center, with a bowl of pipeleaf and another of hemp flower nearby.
"Ah! Visual illusion. Very exciting. One did not know gang had accesss to ssuch deceptive and usseful magicss. One will now be on alert."
When he gets to the table with the empty food dishes and the water hookah, the draconians eyes glimmer. Teh kobold swiftly wraps up the contents of the pipeleaf bowl in a small bit of leather. The hemp flower he tucks into another of his multiple small pockets on his vest.
Taishe glances at Norveg.
"For medicinal purpossess. Honesst."
Tragon smirks at Taishe. He turns and has look about the room for other exits.
"Well this definitely looks like somebody's meeting room." Nahuatl ti comments.
"Ah some very good purposes for those herbs especially when dealing with pain. Though does dull your senses some. But I suppose that is why it is effective in dulling pain." he gives Taishe a wink.
As he and Cauldratti look about the room.
The Minotaur snorts, "And here I thought we were moving through so successfully undetected".