Borden and Dragomir watch over Mac as he braces himself and pushes the door open. At first there is some resistance, but then with a shove, the door moves aside some debris and stands open.
A dim cellar is revealed, it's south end piled with debris: old furniture, timber, an assortment of brick-a-brack. Some will have to be moved in order to move further into the room.
Mac can see, on the far side of the cellar, a wooden staircase ascending up into the building.
The air is musty and damp, and his nostrils twitch at the tell-tale scent of rotting flesh, coming from somewhere deep in the pile of junk.
He also notices that the scratching noise has stopped altogether.
Harran, Mia and Nomoe keep an eye on the front door.
After a few moments, Harran slowly moves down the stairs after the investigating party. "No movement on the ground floor. How are things down here?" he asks, his spear ready if needed.
Hold onto your hats... gonna try something, he whispers.
, he yells aggressively, hoping to scare whatever is hiding into moving or revealing itself.
Mac will draw his rapier and start poking through the debris. There sounds like there is something alive in this room, and something smells like it isn't
"Well... whatever it is now definitely knows we're here." Harran says after a quick chuckle.
Dragomir, unsure what is happening, pointed his crossbow at where Borden was yelling, finger on the trigger.
At Borden's yell and Mac's prodding of the debris, a number of large rats emerge to see if Mac is as tasty as he looks.
Also, immediately after Borden's yell a loud thump could be heard from within the cabin.
Initiative Order
Dragomir
Mac
Rats
Harran
Borden
Round 1
Dragomir advances, hooking the crossbow back to his backpack, while drawing his longsword and shield. "Shall I go first?"
Mac will yield to Dragomir and will ready an attack for the first rat that tries to take a bite out of him!
Mia jumps out of her skin as she hears the sounds of fighting coming from inside the dilapidated building.
"What's happening in there?!"
Round 1
With a quick shuffle of positions, Dragomir takes Mac's place at the door. The rats advance quickly, not detered by Dragomir's larger size.
Both scurry up and attempt to gnaw through Draomir's boots, but are either unsuccessful or are kicked away by the Paladin.
Mia turns to Tomoe. "I'm going to see what's going on." She jogs to the stares before seeing the pileup on them and looks down at Dragomir.
"Is everything alright?"
Borden hacks at one of the rats.
for
"Is everything alright?"
Harran looks up with a pained smile. "Other than this huge sting wound from the bugs on my neck? It sounds like it's just some rats and that the other are handling it just fine. Thanks for your concern though, Mia."
Dragomir hacks at one of the rats, but misses.
Round 1
Borden reaches around the door frame and successfully skewers one of the rats on his sword.
Round 2
However, in doing so, he jostled Dragomir's elbow, turning the Paladin's strike. The rat struck by Borden totters and falls to the side, but is replaced by another rat!
The two rats scurry about Dragomir's feet, trying to chew through his tough boots. He feels a couple of pinches but they do no damage.
Initiative Order
Dragomir
Mac
Rats
Harran
Borden
Mia
Mia nocks an arrow and takes aim.
"Dragomir, can you back up a bit?"
The arrow streaks down past the door, but Mia's poor luck with her bow continues and the arrow sinks into the floor instead of the rat.
Borden, lumbering a little, swings again, and in his own uniquely showy style.
For
Seeing Borden and Dragomir were holding the front, but not having a way to help them now, Harran looks up and sees Mia shoot with a bow.
"Well... might as well go back and do the same?" he thinks, and moves back up to her higher vantage point. Once there, he drops his spear and draws his crossbow. "Doesn't seem like I'd ever get past the three of them," he says to her, keeping his eyes on the fight below as he started reloading.
Check out upstairs!
Round 2
Mia's volley misses the mark, but once again Borden's blade strikes true, mortally wounding the great rat! But, once again another emerges from the debris.
Mac watches as the two larger fighter take turns hacking at the rat infestation.
Round 3
Not be able to get at the rats, Mac will shoot his bow!
The paladin tries to step back to give other room to fire. Dragomir attacks again.
Round 3
Mac's arrow thuds into the wall not one foot from Borden's hip, but Dragomir finally finds his range, skewering on of the verimin on the tip of his sword!
Another rat comes scuttling from across the room! Both remaining rats again attempt to get at the warm flesh under Dragomir's boots but are unsucessful.
Initiative Order
Dragomir
Mac
Rats
Harran
Borden
Mia
"R-right! I'm on it," Mia says before running to the door and shouldering her bow. Along the way, she pulls out her longsword.
Borden swings again at one of the rats...
for
Harran attempts to shoot, but hitting in between Borden and Dragomir proves very difficult!
"Sorry about that!" Harran replies, as the arrow just barely flies by Dragomir's head. "If you could pull back slightly, it'd open the line of fire!"
Round 3
Borden begins to earn a new title: Rat-Killer, as he once again fatally stabs one of the rats!
Harran's ranged attempts are thwarted by Dragomir's presence.
Round 4
Round 3
Borden begins to earn a new title: Rat-Killer, as he once again fatally stabs one of the rats!
Harran's ranged attempts are thwarted by Dragomir's presence.
Round 4
Round 4
Despite the arrows flying by his head, Dragomir holds his resolve and downward stabs the last rat squarely in the spine.
Mac will launch an arrow!
Round 4...Combat over.
Dragomir joins Borden in rat-killing glory, skewering the last rat to the sandy floor. For a moment, nerves are still sharp as more rats are expected to emerge, but none do. Mac's arrow joins the other few that hang, embedded in the nearby wall.
In the sudden quiet, only Mia's footsteps on the porch above can be heard. As well as the crunch of Tomoe's boots as she moves to back up the Ranger.
Taking a longer look inside the cellar, the dim interior reveals a couple large piles of debris, pieces of the building as well as pieces of furniture and other household items.
Where the windows are still whole, they are quite dirty both inside and out. Where they are broken, only a bit of the dim interior can be seen. You see nothing that moves.
Borden starts gingerly sorting through the cellar using his sword to move things around carefully.
Anything upstairs?
I can go and check! Mac says heading to the stairs.
"I don't see anything from outside. I'm going in."
Mia carefully makes her way inside after stowing her bow and drawing her sword.
Seeing Mac run up to join Mia in the investigation of the upper floor, Tomoe steps back and keep an eye out for more stirges.
The door squeaks some and rocks on it's decrepit hinges as it swings open. Revealed is what was a living room, small piles of debris lay everywhere. Grime covers virtually every surface. Paintings must have once adorned the place as indicated by the particular stain patterns marring the walls. The only light come from thin shafts sneaking in from outside illuminating clouds of dust dancing through the stale air.
Looking around Mia and see that the dust on the floor has been recently disturbed, with scuff marks and the occasional small footprint leading to a closed door on her right and another across the room.
She hears a slight sound of something beyond the door the the right, but that is quickly masked by the sound of falling junk from down in the cellar.
Borden moves in and moves some of the junk out of the way, causing a cascade of the stuff to fall away from him with a loud rattle and racket. Having cleared a path, he can see beneath the tallest pile of chair legs and pieces of drawers, a pile of upholstery and straw that is tight up against a fairly large box or chest, bound in iron bands.
Both he and Dragomir can see what seems to be the remains of a wine rack at the foot of the stairs that lead upward.
Harran moves up in the rear, still feeling unwell from the blood loss and sting earlier. "If either of you sees something, call out right away. Don't fight on your own, and don't run without shouting. Too many things can paralyze or stun you, and we've alreayd faced much more trouble than we were told to expect."
Dragomir kneels down to inspect the wine rack.
Mac draws his rapier and says to Mia, Do you want to open it or do you want me to? I am sure the others will call out if they need help.
Not wanting to spook whatever may be behind the door by shouting back to Harran, Mia still makes note of his advice. "I'll do it. Call out if I wind up getting myself killed," she tells Mac and makes her way to the door she heard the noise coming from, moving as silently as she can. She listens at the door, hoping to hear any ambushes waiting beyond before she opens it and brings it on her own head.
Dragomir kneels down to inspect the wine rack. [dice=Perception]1d20 + 1
Oooo... Good call mate. See anything good?
Mia slowly pulls the door open toward her, peeking around the edge. She sees the remains of an office or study. Bookcases line the wall, covered with the remains of books and tomes, moldering and ruined.
Not 10 ft away though, two goblins crouch, with their backs to the door. One has his ear pressed against the floor, obviously trying to hear what Borden and the others are doing.
They are oblivious to Mia's presence.
Dragomir finds that most of the bottles were smashed when the shelves they were one collapsed. He does find 3 lucky bottles intact, seals whole and contents untarnished.
At the same instant, both Borden and Dragomir hear a noise from beyond the door at the top of the nearby stairs.
Mia holds out a hand to those behind her in a signal to be quiet as she listens to the goblins to figure out what they are about.