As Maaldrek casts his divination, Zehameti finds the small cave to be empty, the dusty floor noticaebly undisturbed. Wulbert sees little else in the cave ahead of the party as Maaldrek finds no magical auras within his sight.
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Zehameti frowns at the "noticeably undisturbed" small alcove floor for a moment, and then shrugs and moves along as the pristine warhammer is much more interesting to her.
"Is it a trap?"
The ophidian woman shrugs smoothly and agrees with her burly half-orc friend "Probably. That's a lot of corpses and wreckage for it to not be."
Then she will have sword in hand ready to step down and inspect the warhammer - at first without touching it, still being on guard for an ambush.
She is trying to see if the warhammer is dwarven made, modern or ancient, if there is any blood or scuffmarks in the dirt near it...
As Maaldrek and Zehameti move down the steps, they notice the sounds of toiling and weeping growing stronger and stronger. Four dwarves step forward from the darkness, each wearing a crude medallion around their neck, emblazoned with a fire underneath a stone arch.
As the four draw their hammers, one of them begins to mutter incoherently. Suddenly, he turns as strikes the dwarf to his left! Another dwarf breaks into gibberish, then another, then the last, until all four are fighting amongst each other live wild beasts. After what seems like minutes (or maybe just seconds), only one dwarf remains standing. She blinks and seems to return to her senses, looking down at the warhammer in her hand. "This weapon struck no enemies," she intones, her voice echoing as if from a great distance, "only my brothers and sisters. I have failed..."
She turns suddenly, and backs away towards the north. "No... Please, spare me..." she pleads at a humanoid figure wearing dark clothes and a domino mask. The stranger draws a blade and cuts the dwarf down, and she falls to the ground over the pristine warhammer that leans against the wall. The stranger turns their domino mask towards Spar. The oread can make out no expression behind the mask, but somehow he feels their glare. Crystal tears trickle from the mask's eyes, vanishing before they hit the ground as the vision fades.
As the Pathfinders gather their wits back about them, the sounds of faint chanting can be heard from the west.
"Something creeping in our home.
Is it dwarf or is it gnome?
Either way we’ll stab it right,
Then we eat some meat tonight!
Steelfang slashers we the best,
Burn your banner, smash your crest!
Come and get us if you can,
Face our mighty goblin clan!"
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As the murderous scene plays out before the party, Wulbert shivers, a grim look on his face.
"Something terrible happened here." he mutters "We should see that they are properly laid to rest."
"I don't know what would be appropriate for a follower of Droskar, but we can at least try and give them some dignity in death."
He start's to move forward, but his train of thought is suddenly broken by the sound of chanting to the west. Staring into the darkness he whispers another prayer to Ashava.
"Hmmm...Before we do that, it appears we may have a more immediate problem..."
The chant continues, picking up a more frenzied tone as the song repeats. The pitched voices echo off of the walls, making it hard to pinpoint exactly where they come from.
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Zehameti mutters "Stinkin' goblins" under her breath. And mentally skims through her options quickly:
1) perhaps if they do not enter further, the voices won't feel threatened and attack
Bugger that. She's never been frightened off from a mission before and refuses to do from VOICES. And stupid GOBBOS.
2) perhaps if she frightens the voices, they will back off
She smiles. She does SO enjoy being frightening.
3) perhaps the warhammer is a misdirect, and not part of the puzzle at all. If she were to touch it and go mad though.... she could do a lot of damage to her companions.
She turns to consider her companions. Probably Cara could do the least amount of damage with the warhammer if she went insane - though there's no way to tell if she would be limited in her attacks to the weapon or not. She frowns.
4) I don't even know how much of this is real and how much of this is just trying to mess with our heads - maybe they are just ghosts trying to keep us away? Or a single spellcaster? We can assume nothing to be as it seems.
Zehameti checks the offshoot room for threats but sees only stagnant water and a rock outcropping that could be mistaken for a tent if only glanced at. The singing does seem to be echoing down the unexplored tunnel as the party listens. Nothing indicates the performers are approaching yet, hard as it is to tell with the acoustics of the passages.
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Maaldrek looks at Wulbert with some kind of death stare, then moves up to the next corner, peeking around it.
When a creature detects a scent, the exact location of the source is not revealed—only its presence somewhere within range. The creature can take a move action to note the direction of the scent. When the creature is within 5 feet of the source, it pinpoints the source’s location.
A creature with the scent ability can follow tracks by smell, making a Wisdom (or Survival) check to find or follow a track. The typical DC for a fresh trail is 10 (no matter what kind of surface holds the scent). This DC increases or decreases depending on how strong the quarry’s odor is, the number of creatures, and the age of the trail. For each hour that the trail is cold, the DC increases by 2. The ability otherwise follows the rules for the Survival skill. Creatures tracking by scent ignore the effects of surface conditions and poor visibility.
Marching forward, Maaldrek and Zehameti peer down the southern corridor to see a pack of goblins as the source of the singing. As Zehameti calls out her warning, the three burst into gales of laughter, readying bows. One looses a shaft before the Pathfinders can react!
The arrow grazes her cheek, nearly striking her eye, but the goblins aim is off just enough to avoid catastrophe.
25 Blue
25 Knuckles
22 Red
19 Maaldrek
15 Yellow
15 Wulbert
12 Zehameti {Damage: 2)
11 Dora
2 Cara
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She belatedly dodges the worst of the arrow and mutters to herself "Alright, I guess that means they choose the 'dying' option."
...a humanoid figure wearing dark clothes and a domino mask. The stranger draws a blade and cuts the dwarf down, and she falls to the ground over the pristine warhammer that leans against the wall. The stranger turns their domino mask towards Zehameti. The Nagaji can make out no expression behind the mask, but somehow she feels their glare. Crystal tears trickle from the mask's eyes, vanishing before they hit the ground as the vision fades.
The goblins eyes go wide as the dagger sinks into his neck, blood spurting from the wound as he collapses! "Rikshi, why no dodge?" the goblin behind laments, launching another arrow at Knuckles, which is easily dodged.
25 Knuckles
22 Red
19 Maaldrek
15 Yellow
15 Wulbert
12 Zehameti {Damage: 2)
11 Dora
2 Cara
Maaldrek sticks his javelin right through the second goblins chest. "Who not dodging now, Shatu?" the last goblin sneers, firing an arrow at Maaldrek as well!
The arrow skips off the wall, bouncing away from its intended target. The last goblin curses at the ill fortune.
25 Knuckles
19 Maaldrek
15 Yellow
15 Wulbert
12 Zehameti {Damage: 2)
11 Dora
10 GM Stuff
2 Cara
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Seeing the first 2 goblins go down so quickly, and them still as much in the dark as before, Zehameti thinks quickly.
Scimitar out, she confidently stalks directly toward the remaining goblin and HISSES at it YOU ARE NOT A CHALLENGE FOR US, LITTLE WORM... So are you going to choose to die like Rikshi and Shatu? Or are you going to give us a reason to LET YOU LIVE?!"
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Hearing the sound of combat from around the corner, Wulburt trots after Zehameti to find out what's happening.
As the light from his spell creeps further into the cavern revealing the sole remaining goblin, Wulbert aims is crossbow at the creature and smiles warmly. "I'd suggest going with the second option if I were you, she's quite dangerous, I certainly wouldn't be able to stop her. It would be such a shame to rob the world of your beautiful singing voice."
"Haja would run away, but Mukrood would be mad." The goblin shrugs, nocking another arrow. The sound of breaking glass behind Maaldrek quickly follows. "See?"
A burst of fire flares up around Maaldrek and Knuckles feet as the alchemist fire splashes over the stone floor. Another goblin curse sounds out from the shadows, clearly disappointed in the miss.
25 Knuckles (Damage: 1)
19 Maaldrek (Damage: 1)
15 Yellow
15 Wulbert
12 Zehameti {Damage: 2)
11 Dora
10 Green
2 Cara
Cara moves to join the party as Maaldrek spears the newly revealed foe! However, the goblin remains standing.
25 Knuckles (Damage: 1)
19 Maaldrek
15 Yellow
15 Wulbert
12 Zehameti {Damage: 2)
11 Dora
10 Green (Damage: 12)
2 Cara
The goblin goes down as Knuckles fist smashes into his face! The remaining goblin hears the cry of pain cut short and throws down the shortbow. "Running time! He darts into the second tunnel, emerging out in the main hall before trying to dart past Knuckles.
25 Knuckles (Damage: 1)
19 Maaldrek
15 Yellow
15 Wulbert
12 Zehameti {Damage: 2)
11 Dora
2 Cara
Maaldreks heavy blow sends the goblin flying into the wall, unmoving.
Knuckles (Damage: 1)
Maaldrek
Wulbert
Zehameti {Damage: 2)
Dora
Cara
Zehameti and Wulbert find themselves at the entrance to the goblins' lair. Broken pieces of rock, likely from shattered statues and altars, litters the floor of the chamber. A few tablets lean against the wall, each undamaged save for bearing a drawing of a round goblin head with knives for teeth.
A rough leather bag also leans against one of the walls, containing some scraps of paper, a few well-worn playing cards, some sticks and leaves, a polished rock, and a dented copper cup.
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Zehameti immediately dismisses the fleeing goblin once she sees Wubert attending to the likely "leader" Mukrood. She grins at his cleverness. "Good idea, stabilizing Mukrood. If any of them are likely to know something, it might be him."
Then she moves forward to inspect the goblin trash.
Her scaly eyebrows shoot up once she passes the tablets... "Hey... these seem familiar. Dwarven ballad about some noble who murdered his own family for inheritance or something? Uh... Jorgar... somebody. Ironbellows, I think? This illiterate goblins grew their picture over his last name. Ugh. Goblins." she passes the tablet around.
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Maaldrek returns to his normal form in a process that appears somewhat uncomfortable, but at least he spares everyone's sensitivities by doing the returning around one of the cave's corners, somewhat out of sight from most.
The sounds, however, carry.
"Ugh... ahem... well, this went splendidly, in a manner of speaking. Please disregard any uncivilized culinary comments I may have made when things got furry. Ah! what do we have here! lovely serpentine lady made yet another discovery hmm? isn't she full of surprises!" says Maaldrek with a wink, his attempt to bring up Lady Golkami's find clearly for the purpose of dispelling anyone's bad memory of the large sasquatch wreaking bloody havoc moments ago.
Wulbert does detect an aura among the goblin 'treasure'.