Sim moves forward, his shield high, assuming a defensive posture to protect his friends.
Move to B8 and draw gladius
Taking total defense
Lash's arrow finds the hiding creature's knee and it screams out in pain. Those who speak Goblin can hear it cussing her out.
After Sim takes his defensive position and stance, the bugbear steps forward down the stone steps and calls out "Heh heh. Your fancy armor can't help you" as dark energy erupts from his body.
"... Though sometimes the big'un is also powerful..."
Kahli steps up, past Lash, touching him and calling on Calistria to guide her aim. "Take out big ugly! We'll hold the front line."
"That feels good! Do it again...."
"Hrm. What is it?"
Action:Double move to B 3, drawing scythe as part of the move
As the massive bugbear gets up, it let's out a similar burst of negative energy similar to what Kahli could do, but instead, it hurts her. Like a beacon of resilience, she is hardly harmed by it, which may demoralize their foe.
"Hardly hurt one? Heal another? Seems like a stupid attack to me."
While Lash and Sim resist the damaging effects of the dark energies, Kahli and Shiv run into position.
Shiv attempts to make it all the way to the Bugbear, but stops short as he comes across the creature hiding behind the stone fire bowl. It's a Goblin, wearing a long draping robe and its hands are alight in fire. It shrieks out at Shiv before moving away and sees Sim.
He looks at the more immediate threat of Shiv and throws a fire bolt at him.
Round 2 Turn Order
Lash
Sim
Marcos
Bugbear
Shiv
Kahli
Goblin
Lash wasn't hearing from Marcos or anyone on what this beast is who is calling the shots. The other she can tell now from his cries that he is a goblin.
"What is that ugly thing? An orc?"
Feeling particularly empowered by Kahli's touch, Lash sets her eyes on the large bugbear to teach him a lesson. She pulls two arrows and lets them fly.
"Aww...he cries like a little baby. Let's see if you make the same sounds!"
Move: None
Target: Bad Boss boy
Lash's arrows strike true into the Bugbear, and while her first arrow looks like it's going to find an organ, the Bugbear turns at the last second and takes it in the shoulder.
Shiv steps forward and attacks the enemy in front of him.
Free:5 ft. step forward into C 4
Standard: Attack
Croc Move action: Move forward to C5 behind Shiv.
"...even though this bugbears have no special feature other than being like goblins on steroids..."
Marcos continues his verborreic launching of information and supporting words, and moves inside the room. Putting a bolt in the crossbow, he fires at the goblin, trying at least to keep the small pest's head low.
Sim moves forward, slipping past the croc to help Shiv against the large bugbear. "Marcos... what are steroids? A fancy name for pants, perhaps?"
Move to B4
Attack
The Bugbear, still recoiling from Lash's arrows, sees the full threat of the party. "I won't allow you to make it to the next floor!" He holds his falchion above his head as a wave of dread spreads throughout the room.
"Next Floor? So we are in a dungeon? A Tower? I wonder then if that other way with the goblins doesn't lead out then?
Suddenly, a wave of energy attempts to crash into her. Instead, she lets it wash over her with peace and tranquility as her master taught her. The wave attempts to disrupt her spirit, but she has been crafted to be strong within herself. She, once again, appears unaffected.
Marcos feels the Bugbear's wrath and his unholy deity's support. He realises one never knows where true peril lies, and recoils for a second, making his shot imprecise.
Kahli is surprised by the spell from the big goblin, and is shaken by it. She shivers while she again calls on Calistria to help Lash's impressive archery.
"Kill that over-grown goblin!"
After seeing Kahli cast another spell on Lash, the Goblin sets off to stop the person who shot him with an arrow.
The Goblin runs up, holding its flaming hands in front of it and points them at the cluster of people.
Assuming the Croc misses or doesn't attack...A blast of fire shoots out from its hands.
Focused between the goblin and the bugbear, Sim can't effectively fight neither of them, more worried about defending his companions.
The Goblin ducks and dodges around the attacks and manages to sear the group of three for a little damage.
On to Round 3!
Map at start of Round 3
Active Statuses
Overall: Inspire Courage (+1 attack and damage, +1 saves vs charm)
Lash: Bit of Luck (roll d20 twice on this round)
Sim: Bane (-1 attack and saves vs fear)
Marcos: Bane (-1 attack and saves vs fear)
Shiv: Bane (-1 attack and saves vs fear)
Kahli: Bane (-1 attack and saves vs fear)
Shiv continues attempting to strike the bugbear, while croc tries to make the goblin a snack.
Standard:Scythe attack
Croc standard: bite
Lash leaps to the side as flames spout out of the goblin's hands. Fortunately, her pant legs are still wet from the last goblin adventure and with her quick reflexes, she brings them up to take the brunt of the flames.
"Which one to attack? They both are dangerous to us all, perhaps if we take down the big one, the little one will give up?"
With a swiftness that she was trained in by her monk master, she rapidly snaps her string and in that moment pulls back one arrow and a second.
Target: Bugbear
Move: 5ft step if needed for reduced cover again.
The unique vibration, as well as her direct aim, sends the arrows into a perfect spin.
"Haha! Don't let these fires burn your soul! For the fires of Hell can't withstand the waters of your inner pond, that which calms and tempers your nerves! Thus reads the psalm! Once more unto the breach!"
Marcos tries to give some extra strength to his speech by driving a bolt into the goblin's body...
...once more with no success.
Distracted by Sim's attack, Lash places an arrow into the Bugbear's ribs. It recoils from another perfectly placed shot, and you can see fear and anger in its eyes. It holds aloft its necklace of Lamashtu and evil energy pours through the room.
Meanwhile, the Goblin continues to dance around flying bolts from Marcos and the sharp teeth of the croc.
Kahli feels the negative energy from the Bugbear cleric healing the burn that she had just taken. She laughs openly at the beast while reaching out to Lash again. "Oh please! Do it again. But then please just die! Lash, put the next one in his ugly face! The others can finish the little mage type."
Noticing the bugbear is not really interested in fighting them in melee combat, Sim lowers his guard a bit, intending to finish the monster quickly.
The croc snaps at the goblin again, then steps forward.
Croc Standard:
Free: 5 ft step forward to C6
Shiv, meanwhile continues to swing at the bugbear.
Standard:
Sim sees the Bugbear beginning to slouch and knows it's done, so he spins and swings with all his might against the Goblin. His gladius digs deep into its back, but the Goblin is still standing, blood beginning to soak through its robe.
After Sim's attack, the Goblin sees itself getting surrounded and somehow manages to dodge the attacks from Marcos, Shiv and the croc. Kahli relishes in the negative energy and casts a boon on Lash once more.
The Goblin, putting trust in his agility, moves away from the Hafling while drawing a sickle, and fires a bolt of flame at him.
Sim manages to lean away and the fire splashes off the wall behind him.
Sim moves around the goblin until he finds himself between it and Lash and then waits for Shiv to flank the goblin.
Move to B8 (this would provoke an AOO)
Attack
Seeing Sim chop the little goblin down, Kahli moves up to him and touches him with the wand.
"Anybody else need some healing?"
As Sim moves into position, the Goblin strikes out with its sickle.
But Sim's armor is too tough.
Tired of the Goblin's antics and playing with fire, Sim spins and drives his blade deep into the Goblin's chest, the Goblin falling to the floor as Sim draws his blade back out.
Taking a moment to address their wounds, the party also searches the bodies of their foes and find the following:
Small masterwork hide armor, Small masterwork heavy wooden shield, Small sickle, Small sling with 20 bullets, potion, studded leather, javelin, mwk falchion, 79gp, wooden unholy symbol of Lamashtu, small metal key
While preparing a spell to identify the potion, Marcos comments on the key. "It must open this door, but if I recall correctly, there was an alley which we haven't checked yet."
He finished the spell and concentrates on the vial.
"We should definitely clear the final alley- I do not want anything coming from behind us when we have moved onto the next level of this. . . place."
Lash saves her arrows as the goblin seems to be struggling. One final attempt on Sim was all it had left. In a moment, it is done.
"I could use some minor bit of healing, Kahli. All of this rough and tumble has left me a bit sore. I would hate to have you spend a use of that wand though."
Lash will move to recover her arrows and search the room and bodies. Since they seem intent to go back, she will gather all the gear and carry it with them to the cauldron to put with the other small items that they had stowed.
"Does anyone have any use of these?" she will ask as they walk. When they get to the acid river room, she will set them down and prepare to enter the door. She had already searched and prepared it, so she pulls her bow and awaits Sim to go through.
Marcos detects a faint aura of magic coming from the potion, but he can't put his finger on what it is exactly.
Working together, the party talks it over and determines the potion to be a Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds.
The party makes their way back through the winding hallways back to the room where they fought the Goblins, placing what they found on the Bugbear and fire Goblin with their other stash by the cauldron.
Lash leads the way through the archway and down into the unexplored hallway, which turns left after 25 feet. When she comes around the corner, she's met with a partial cave-in and a 4' pile of rubble that blocks the hallway. She checks with the group and they agree to move forward with Kahli casting Guidance on Lash before she continues. Lash climbs to the top and sees the hallway turns left again. Squeezing through, she slides down the far side into the corner. Though there's no light, Lash's darkvision lets her see a small chest at the deadend 15 feet in front of her.
From her spot, she determines the chest and area around it to be safe. Kneeling closer, she now sees the chest is locked with a simple looking metal lock.
The cave-in was particularly unnerving for her. Her body trembles as she squeezes through the opening.
"To have lived through all of that, only to have a mound of earth fall on you and crush you..."
Was it the start of something larger heading down? She wasn't sure, but as she went in, it seemed to deadend with a treasure chest.
"Strange that this would be at the end of this...Feel free to come in, just stay there around the corner. Be mindful of more cave-ins There's a chest. A lone chest in the dark."
Slowly she will make her approach, checking for traps. It appears trapless, but looks can be deceiving. Eventually, she makes her way forward nervously and attempts to unlock the chest.
Lash knows the lock isn't that complicated, but perhaps her nerves are still somewhat shot from the latest fight, and she can't get it.
It is merely the environment she is in that is bothering her. Her fear over each rock that falls, each crumbling step her allies take, seems to disrupt her ability to focus on the lock. Thankfully, it is not so difficult.
Lash settles herself and lets the others know to give her a minute. She finally gets into a groove and clicks the lock open. She pulls the lock out and flips open the wooden chest and is met with an overwhelming scent of dried blood. She calls for assistance as she begins to unload the chest:
Small Sling With 10 Bullets
Potion Of Cure Light Wounds
2 vials of Acid
Smokestick
Tanglefoot Bag
Medium Studded Leather Armor
Medium Daggers (5)
Medium Short Sword
Medium Sickle
Overalls
Thieves' Tools
25 Gp
An expensive looking outfit that is ripped and covered in dried blood
Bloody leather work boots full of holes
Bloody leather dress shoes
Bringing all of the items out of the chest and into the open room, she will carefully set them down for people to attempt to identify things and set in order what will be used by whom.
Naturally, Lash will be taking the thieves' tools pending their detection by magic from the others. They potentially could be even more effective than her current set!
She will crouch down and look down at the items. Her metallic shimmering reddish hair falls down over her face and she will brush it to the side. At this angle, most of the group can see what looks like faded wings, almost as if made of blue flame coming off of her back. Lash will attempt to discern the worth of them, unsure if there will ever be a chance again to make some bit of money for herself.
After their options of rooms and corridors are ended, Sim decides to propose for them to wait. "Friends, since we have apparently cleared this level and considering what that bugbear said, I believe it is wise for us to rest here somewhere before moving further into this mysterious place."
"First, we should rest assured that the door at the Laurel and Hardy room leads to another level. I wouldn't want to sleep with something ugly at the other side of the door."
Lash looks over the items laying at her feet, picking up a couple of the more expensive looking objects, but she can't make out what they're actually worth. She moves the beat up leather boots aside, wiping the blood off her hand on the dusty stone floor, and picks up the thieves tools. She compares them to her current set and determines her set to be far superior. The set from the chest appears to have some pieces missing and others are bent. Whoever used this was not skilled.
Marcos has a look at the items while testing for a while. His companions seem to be thinking about what he said - on one hand, it could be dangerous to open the door now, but on the other, it could be dangerous to sleep with unknown perils just literally next door.
He's never been an expert in trading and bartering, and thus can shed no more light Lash's estimation.
"I'm with Marcos. I think we should finish checking. If there is a way out, I'd love to find it now...if not...then we can rest..." She will split the gold among them and will take the thieves' tools as backups, just in case.
"Marcos, would you want one of these acid flasks?"
Kahli glances at the items, glancing around at the group. "If we think there's an exit or stairs at that door we probably should split up anything of value and carry it. There could also be a magical portal and we wouldn't get a chance to come back."
"That said, I do think that maybe we should check the door before we rest. What if there is something helpful on the other side of it? But if there's nothing then we pick the safest room and 'camp out' there"
"Nice idea with the clothes, yes. I'll take them, and put them to use if any of you needs treatment before we rest." He declines the flask, though. "I would only spill it."