"Looks like something that Goblins would build to provide shelter. Though it is strange that they would do so inside a building that is already providing shelter from the weather. Sulee, stay here for a bit."
Caiten enters the room cautiously.
"I agree. Rocco, Shadow, does this shelter smell like goblins?"
Lisi leads the pups over to have a sniff.
Dario makes his way into the room, his feet looking for any broken boards, nails, or glass that could alert any danger in the room that they're coming. He stays ahead of Caiten, giving the android a look of support before moving in deeper.
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Rocco and Shadow sniff at the doorway. Rocco's ears lay flat and she growls quietly. "Not Helba,"Shadow said quietly, also agitated by whatever she smelled. "Mean lady. Big, hairy. Tried eating us. Mama chased."
Joran draws out his flail and makes his way up behind the gunslinger. Amazingly enough he's fairly light on his feet for such a big guy. Leaning in, "Why are we being quiet, Dario? Doesn't look like anyone is here. If they were, I'm thinking we'd know by now. The pups could be smelling an old scent. Or possibly a dead scent as far as that goes," he suggests, looking around to see if he spots anything of interest.
"Well, that wouldn't be a goblin," says Lisi to the pups and the group.
"Why are we being quiet, Dario? Doesn't look like anyone is here."
"It doesn't cost anything to be cautious though. I don't like that I can't see what is in that makeshift fort. Care to check it out?"
Nodding, "Fair enough. And that's a good idea. Let's check it out." Just as he's about to move forward he halts and turns back to Caiten and says, "Call your poppet closer. I'm gonna need a bit more light."
"Of course." Caiten beckons Sulee over to him. "Sulee, stay close to Joran to keep the light there. Unless you would rather just borrow the glowing sword for a bit, Joran."
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Grinning, "That's okay. She can keep it. Besides, we need all the warriors we can get," he gives a wink. "Be ready. If someone is in there, they're in for a BIG surprise," he says, giving a waggle of his eyebrows.
Sheathing his weapon, Joran throws his head to one side and then the other to pop his neck. Cracking his knuckles and taking a good deep breath, he EXPLODES toward the fort in a mad dash. Aiming hard for the makeshift wall...
...he barrels straight into it with every bit of his 6'6" frame and 250 lbs of solid muscle right into it!
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"Weeee. Hahahahaha" Sulee shrieks and cackles wildly as she follows along at Joran's heels, swinging her sword with carefree abandon.
Joran yeets himself through the fortress, MUCH to the surprise of its lone occupant-- a female bugbear who'd been busy skinning her next meal. The entire area around her becomes difficult to traverse as Joran's charge causes the unstable structure to fall apart into a jumble of table legs, bed posts, and broken wood, twisted up with torn blankets. She just screeches.
Caiten hears the creature screech. "That doesn't sound good. Probably hostile, but that may only be because Joran upended the fort. So I'll try this. It won't hurt at all if the creature doesn't attack."
Caiten has to run forward to get everyone in the 30 foot range . Then casts Needle of Vengeance on the bugbear, naming Joran as protected. "Hey! Don't hit Joran, it hurts."
Lisi sees the bugbear and offers a few choice words barked in Goblin, almost cheerfully.
"We're here to skin you!"
Guba suddenly opens enormous purple flowers from its head and shoulders and waggles them. It would be absurd if one expected it, but it's rather shocking to see the blooms appear like angry spiraling flags.
Lisi then almost casually lets a spark of crackling lightning jump off of his hand, giving the air a slightly ozone stink for a brief second.
Lisi sees the bugbear and offers a few choice words barked in Goblin, almost cheerfully.
** spoiler omitted **
Guba suddenly opens enormous purple flowers from its head and shoulders and waggles them. It would be absurd if one expected it, but it's rather shocking to see the blooms appear like angry spiraling flags.
[dice=Demoralize + Threat Display]1d20 + 7
Lisi then almost casually lets a spark of crackling lightning jump off of his hand, giving the air a slightly ozone stink for a brief second.
[dice=Electric Arc]1d4 + 3
"Friend Lisi, a reminder. No, not that I speak Goblin (that was funny though). Simply that since huntng is so central to the developing young Wargs, and their mother was already teaching them, you may consider asking them "hunt bad prey" with us from time to time. Like now ..."
Dario had been sticking in the back of the group, his hands on his weapons as Joran did what Joran did best. The makeshift fortress fell into rubble as this horrendous screech erupted from a female bugbear who was in the midst of skinning their next meal. The pistol was drawn along with his shortsword as he dashed into combat.
"Watch your head, Sulee." Dario says to the poppet as he levels his sights at the bugbear, the pistol roaring as it is fired.
Dario doesn't stop moving though, vaulting over the rubble and debris filling the room. He moves as swiftly as he can, loading another bullet into the chamber before ripping the gunpowder cartridge with his teeth to pour the alchemical ingredient into his weapon of choice.
The bugbear screeches again, in fear, at the sudden influx of strangers and the freaky purple flowers. She manages to duck the lightning
She's caught off guard by all of it, and is certainly unprepared for Dario's shot and takes the glancing blow to one arm, the projectile drawing a line of red blood.
Shaken, she lashes out at the one who destroyed her lovely home. She swings the rusty blade she was using on her food...
...but she misses wildly, the poorly-cared-for weapon striking the marble floor and snapping off. A piercing pain shoots through her skull and she grabs her forehead for a moment in pain. Enraged and terrified, she lashes out at Joran twice more, with her fists, in rapid succession.
Again, pain stabs into her skull, and she's too rattled to impact him. She grips her skull, trying to make the sudden headache stop.
As Joran manages to avoid the plethora attacks from the bugbear, Joran draws his warflail and swings down hard at the creature.
"Get ready! I'm bringing her to us!" he yells, moving back out of the debris and hopefully forcing the bugbear to follow.
"Well, at least they were warned."
"Well, at least they were warned."
Cev opens the bracer on his right wrist, smiles when he sees the resplendnat Holy Symbol of Yuelral, and prepares to fire Divine Lance ...
Divine Lance ATK/DMG
Oren moves up next to Joran, ready to fight the bugbear when it approaches!
Yasamina moves closer to the pile of demolished furniture. She lands her feet to gain a more stable footing, and readies her blade.
"Want to give up?", she asks the breature in common, not sure if it will understand.
Caiten assesses the position and flow of combat. Needle of Vengeance did fine, but now there are many targets for this creature to choose from. Dario often attacks twice. A ranged attack from this position I would have to avoid hitting Joran. Joran, Yasami, and Dario could all benefit from defensive warding, but I don't have the time to put that on all of them.
Caiten casts Stoke the Heart on Dario, and Forbidding Ward on Yasami.
The bugbear howled in fury and fear, and looked like she might charge, teeth bared...
...then abruptly turned and scrambled over the rubble, flinging herself through the closest open door, and slamming it shut behind her.
"Well Yasami, I guess that answers your question."
"Okay, I guess if that's the way she wants it. If she's not coming out then I guess we've got to go in after her." Moving around the massive pile of rubble, Joran stops and prepares himself to smash right through the door.
Taking a few quick breaths, the barbarian takes off and makes his way over the rubble, heading straight for the door with as much steam as he can muster in hopes to bring it down.
As the door collapses under the solid form of the big fella, Joran gives the bugbear a look of absolute confidence. "I'm Joran "The Oaf" freaking Bravestone, beast! And you're gonna need a bigger door than this to stop me," he deadpans.
Joran EXPLODES through the door and sends the bugbear careening facedown onto the floor, prone. 'Homeless', hurt, frightened of the purple flower monster, and flung about by Joran, she just throws her arms over the top of her head and cowers on the ground.
"No kill! No kill!"
"JORAN, NO!”, Yasamina shouts at the strongman, as she runs through the debris to catch up.
She jumps over the stuff to reach Joran and grabs him by the shoulder. "Wait. I have some questions first.”
She looks back at the thrashed room whixh she came from. "Anyone can speak with this thing?"
We know that exotic monsters have been arriving here. I wonder if this one also came through the portal or if it is a native and just took up habitation here.
"This type of creature is often found in this area. We can probably just let her leave eventually. The town should be already capable of preventing them from entering and causing trouble."
"JORAN, NO!”, Yasamina shouts at the strongman, as she runs through the debris to catch up.
She jumps over the stuff to reach Joran and grabs him by the shoulder. "Wait. I have some questions first.”
She looks back at the thrashed room which she came from. "Anyone can speak with this thing?"
As he looks to the pathetic creature, his attention snaps toward Yasamina when she calls. "Alright, alright." He backs away and gives her some room. "And yeah, it speaks common. Ask away." Sheathing his weapon, he crosses his arms and finds himself curious as to where Yasamina is going to go with her questions.
"Wait, really? Do you understand me?", Yasamina looks at the bugbear, pointing to her own face with a curious expression. Without waiting for a response, curiosity overtakes her - she asks further questions. "Are you from around here? If not, where are you from? And how and when did you get here?
The bugbear is still facedown, and pulls a wooden bucket over her head in a very head-in-the-sand sort of way, hoping that you'll just go away. As Yasami asks her questions, the bugbear responds in very stilted Common.
"Born woods. Stone house nicer. Yoletchka stay. No kill!"
Caiten makes his way across the pile of rubble. "I don't think staying here is a good idea. We might let her leave, but I suspect a Hellknight or three would not."
As his eyes cut from the bugbear to Caiten as they talk, Joran strokes his chin in thought a moment. "Caiten's probably got a point. Staying here's probably not a good idea for her. I'm thinking send her back to the woods because she is NOT going to Breachill." He looks over at the bugbear with nary an expression on his face. "You understand that, right? Yoletchka? Don't go to Breachill," he tells her plainly, shaking his head.
Turning back to the others, "While y'all deal with her, I'm gonna check out the rest of this room and see if there's anything left that may be useful."
"I hope you aren't expecting me to be able to talk her into leaving. Given her grasp of the common language, I question if she understands half the words that I use."
"If you need light to search the area, you can borrow Sulee's light. I will need Sulee with me though."
While Joran searches the area, Caiten sits in a quiet corner of the room with Sulee and Refocuses.
Whether or not Joran finds anything, once he's finished his search he returns back to the others. "Okay, all, what should we do with her? And I'm fairly certain she speaks goblin, Caiten, seeing how Lis spoke it to her so we're good on the language front."
He then remembers something and interrupts himself by turning his attention over at Lisitsei with questioning eyebrows. "Speaking of which, 'We are here to SKIN you?' Is that what I heard from the nature boy himself? Seriously, Lis?" Wagging a finger at him and grinning slightly, "I'm going to have to watch out for you, buddy, you are starting to concern me," he tells him, giving a wink.
He then returns to their current dilemma. "Okay, so, what'll it be, team? What do the rest of y'all think? Leave her here and continue on with our task or have her flee to the woods? Honestly, I don't care at this point. I'm just ready to move on either way."
Once he is finished recharging his focus, Caiten rejoins the conversation. "Ah. If she speaks Goblin as some of you do that is even better. Someone explain to her that there is likely a group of Hellknights roaming through this Citadel destroying skeletons and probably anything else that they find here. Then she can choose for herself what to do. Once we leave the room she may regain her bravery."
Caiten casts Detect Magic in a couple of key locations to cover the room.
The bugbear, who seems to have implied her name is Yoletchka, is still hiding under her bucket, apparently only catching snippets of the conversation. "Don't go to Breachill!" The way she pronounces the words, she is probably only parroting them back to Joran. "NO SKIN!" Her voice reverberates within the bucket.
Joran pokes around looking for anything of interest, but here is a LOT of broken furniture to search through, and he comes up empty handed. Caiten, on the other hand, detects there is magic in in the area -- possibly multiple sources, since he can detect it each time he moves around, despite the size of the area.
"Well, either this entire room is magical, there is a large residual magical effect here, or there are several magical items in this area somewhere. How much time do we want to spend right now looking for them? I would rather continue our search for the Elf gate. Ten more minutes to search this area perhaps. We can come back and search more thoroughly after the gate has been dealt with."
"Well, either this entire room is magical, there is a large residual magical effect here, or there are several magical items in this area somewhere. How much time do we want to spend right now looking for them? I would rather continue our search for the Elf gate. Ten more minutes to search this area perhaps. We can come back and search more thoroughly after the gate has been dealt with."
"The time to search, is now. The elf gate is NOT moving, but what is in this room, unless we wait for her to leave, AND monitor the room afterwards, may not continue to be here. Also - we don't know what's next, we don't even know what's in the next room. It would be far more prudent to find a useful tool or two than it would be to race headlong into the basement."
"Yes the gate is a permanent structure. But it is still active. And we are only assuming that it is Hellknights that are in this citadel. It may instead be co-conspirators of Calmont's. Yes, taking a few minutes to search this area is not likely to be a problem. But let's not spend too much time on it."
Hearing someone speaking Goblin, she carefully peeked out from her bucket helmet. It was cocked to one side on her head, still covering one eye, and resting on one tusk, making her look rather comical. She peered at Cev with suspicion.
Spending only a couple of minutes poking around, there isn't much to be salvaged in the main chamber, looters -- and perhaps your new acquaintance -- having picked through the remnants of the furnishings. The side rooms are a different story, and turn up a number of small goodies.
Cevendyll spots a small talisman in the eastern bedroom, a inscribe with fine, tiny runes.
Yasami finds a couple of items in the western bedchamber. They are somewhat common offensive items that she's encountered before -- a , and a .
Oren finds a in the middle bedroom, in the very same type of bottle as the ones the Council granted to you. Likely the Hellknights traded with Breachill back when they were still occupying the place.
Lisi finds , the flasks stamped with the symbol of Desna to mark it as such, in the western central room. There's also a in there, in decent shape, though nothing particularly special.
"Whoa, whoa, there, Cev, buddy. I'm no so certain I like that idea. That's a bit too close to Breachill for my liking. The goblins are one thing but a bugbear? I've never heard anything good about bugbears. And giving her your knife seems risky." He cuts his attention toward the bugbear with the bucket helmet and studies her a moment before sighing. "Alright, I'm gonna trust you on this, Cev; but you better be right. There are too many people I care about," he tells him plainly.
Turning to the bugbear..,
While the threat is not as strong as it should be considering he somewhat feels sorry for the beast, the barbarian finds himself not really caring, knowing he will do exactly as he vowed if she betrays them.
"Yes the gate is a permanent structure. But it is still active. And we are only assuming that it is Hellknights that are in this citadel. It may instead be co-conspirators of Calmont's. Yes, taking a few minutes to search this area is not likely to be a problem. But let's not spend too much time on it."
"I'm with Caiten. Let's get moving as soon as possible. I sure don't want to spend all day in this room." After taking another look at the map, "I say our next move is the kitchen which will lead us right into the mess hall. If there are no objections, let's keep this wagon rolling."
Caiten sees that people are speaking to the bugbear and considers that the matter of the bugbear is settled. He checks the map of the Citadel again and notes their current location.
"Yes, going through the kitchen and into the training hall looks like a good path."
Hearing someone speaking Goblin, she carefully peeked out from her bucket helmet. It was cocked to one side on her head, still covering one eye, and resting on one tusk, making her look rather comical. She peered at Cev with suspicion.
** spoiler omitted **
Spending only a couple of minutes poking around, there isn't much to be salvaged in the main chamber, looters -- and perhaps your new acquaintance -- having picked through the remnants of the furnishings. The side rooms are a different story, and turn up a number of small goodies.
Cevendyll spots a small talisman in the eastern bedroom, a inscribe with fine, tiny runes.
Yasami finds a couple of items in the western bedchamber. They are somewhat common offensive items that she's encountered before -- a , and a .
Oren finds a in the middle bedroom, in the very same type of bottle as the ones the Council granted to you. Likely the Hellknights traded with Breachill back when they were still occupying the place.
Lisi finds , the flasks stamped with the symbol of Desna to mark it as such, in the western central room. There's also a in there, in decent shape, though nothing particularly special.
When Cevendyll gives the dagger to the bugbear, Yasmaina walks closer to the creature. "This is a gesture of good will. You saw what just happened here. We can be friends, or we could not. Up to you. If I find that you were making a mess around Breachill, I will find you and will finish what we started here.", she gives the bugbear the stinkeye. "Someone translate that, please. So that we know we are on the same page.", she asks someone who speaks goblin while keeping eye contact.
After that, she looks around and finds two vials.
"Oh, look. Something useful, maybe? Someone else is probably wiser when it comes to these things.", she offers the vials into the pool, and continues scouting through the citadel.