Mr. Pitch taps the magic necklace with his beak. "This necklace is enchanted. It would keep you from breathing in poisons and even help you breath underwater."
He considers the group. "Perhaps Lorelei should wear it, as the only one that can't fly or walk on the ceiling?"
He looks around the kitchen area for anything of value.
As soon as he determines that this is a boring room, Spirit dashes off to the next door on the left!
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"Party pooper. Hey, where'd the weasel go?" says Mheenah. She looks around briefly, then goes scudding off to try and find Spirit.
Upon eventually finding Spirit near a locked door, Mheenah settles on the door handle and prepares to insert her tail into the lock.
"You shouldn't run off like that. You might run into another bird lady, and if you're alone she might make a pasty outta ya."
She then tries to unlock the door.
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Mheenah quietly closes the door again then attempts to relock it, and if possible, jam the lock shut.
"Spirit, all we're gonna find on this hallway is more guards. We need to search deeper in the complex."
"There was a hallway heading south back by where we found the booze locked up. Let's go check that."
"Okay!" Spirit agrees, eagerly dashing off to open the door Mheenah was referring to.
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Spirit finds the door to this room is locked, but Mheenah makes short work of it. Beyond, crates, barrels, cases, and racks contain a lot of supplies. Ten spears, four daggers, and a short sword are protected from dampness by a rack on the wall. The crates contain dried beans, wheat flour, cornmeal, potatoes, turnips, oil, lard, and salt. Boxes of large spikes, several hammers, a pile of stout timbers, and four shovels are the building materials present. Several dozen fresh torches are stored in a barrel.
Spirit pokes around for a bit ( ) and samples a bit of the lard.
"Okay, let's go... this way!" Spirit declares, and runs off again.
Mr. Pitch hurriedly looks around before Spirit goes running off again.
"Slow down, you impulsive ferret!" the raven calls as he chases after him. "We don't have to open every door, just the ones that seem likely to lead to our masters!"
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As Mheenah and Lorelei follow up behind Spirit…
…the quasit detects a secret door to the east on the other end of the hallway from the stuck door. Opening it reveals an alcove, in the same grotto with the three crocs…but there is a boat in this alcove, obviously used by the cultists to traverse the pool and avoid the crocs…
Continuing on, Lorelei can tell the stuck door isn’t trapped…she thinks a strong effort might force it open…but also might make a good deal of noise as well…
Mheenah checks the hallway south, discovering it dumps into another passage running east-west. To the east she, spies a partially caved in chamber covered in mud…to the west, another chamber with a pool of water…
Spirit trails after Mheenah. He stops to hop excitedly about the secret passage.
"Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel!" The ferret chants excitedly, not noticing that Mheenah had gone on.
Mr. Pitch catches up with Spirit. "Settle down, Spirit! We need to stick together and not make so much noise. Come on."
The raven sets after Mheenah, Spirit following.
Spirit runs along the ceiling down the north hallway after Lorelei gets out of the little boat.
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After Lorelei’s gentle reproof, her nose wrinkles up…her talented nose picks up a familiar scent coming from beyond the door…troglodytes!
Meanwhile, Mheenah scouts out the eastern corridor…she finds the watery passage ultimately leads to a dead end. Following up the southern tunnel, she finds…
…a similar watery corridor leading to a muddy den…she quickly eyes the den’s resident: an overly large weasel! It turns its head in her direction, its nose wrinkled up as it sniffs…
…but doesn’t appear to have noticed Mheenah’s presence…
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…she quickly eyes the den’s resident: an overly large weasel!
"Huh. Wonder if it's related to Spirit." murmurs Mheenah to herself, then she flies back to the others.
"The other passages lead to dead ends. I think this door is the ticket."
On learning that Lorelei smells troglodytes, Mheenah makes a little fist and pounds her palm with it.
"Right! This has gotta be the way! Is the door locked?"
The quasit checks the door over quickly to see if it's locked, jammed or trapped.
"It's just stuck. All the water must be making' the wood swell. Ram it open, wolfie."
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Mheenah’s bite and one of her claws sink into the blue trog’s neck, while Lorelei launches herself at the red troglodyte, her teeth ripping deep into the trog’s thigh…as blood seeps on the floor, the wolf is easily trips the creature to the floor…
Desperate and prone, the red trog retaliates by wildly swinging his club at the canine…
…and it lands on Lorelei’s front leg, slightly bruising it…
The blue trog drops his club, trying to rip and tear Mheenah from his neck with his own teeth and claws…
…and both claws rake across the quasit…but the trog’s eyes show disbelief, and then fear, as he sees Mheenah is unmarked…
COMBAT! Round 1/2! The bold may post!
Mr. Pitch
Mheenah (-4)
Lorelei (-6)
Troglodytes (blue-3, red -10 prone)
Spirit
Spirit wrinkles his muzzle in distaste at the smell of more troglodytes.
"There's all this water here! Why don't you take more baths?" he asks of them as he tries to smack the blue one with a telekinetically-hurled rock.
Mr. Pitch hangs back, not thinking two troglodytes are worth a spell and not thinking his talons would make much of a difference in the fight.
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Mheenah and Lorelei tag-team the last trog with teeth and claw, tearing its throat out and mangling its leg, dropping it like a wet sack…but just when they think it’s over, the southern door opens and four more troglodytes emerge…
One strikes at Lorelei, and another at Quasit…
Lorelei barely dodges the club while the second trog’s club barely strikes Mheenah…but her special defenses allow nothing more than a scratch…
COMBAT! Round 2/3! The bold may post!
Mr. Pitch
Mheenah (-5)
Lorelei (-6)
Troglodytes (blue dead, red dead)
Spirit