Adonius-spider scurries up the wall and upside down on the ceiling hoping to get his arachnid bulk out of reach. Then, he spits a web at the hooked horror, but the bars catch the webbing before getting to the creature.
Cayde quickly looks for some way to jam the mechanism or stop the bars from rising--grabbing his hunting trap if he thinks that will work.
Failing that, he suggests, "Let's run towards some goblins. With luck, it will attack them!"
"A good thought my friend." Tekumbray says even as he shakes his head. "But the conniving little devils are likely to have the whole blasted tunnel filled with traps expecting us to do just that." He tosses Cayde his crowbar even as he draws his new short sword. "If you can see where the chain or gears working the gate are located, this might help gum up the works. In the meantime, I'll help Adonius."
The gnome then slips around the big warrior and looks for an important bit of beast flesh to jab his blade. Finding a likely spot his uses the hindering presence of the rising gate to his advantage and strikes quickly before the thing is truly free.
The Genie-kin Warlock took aim with her standard tactic, trying to blast the creature through the gate, but the bolt bounces off of one of the bars, near the glob of web from the Adonius-Spider.
Cayde looks around trying to stop the raising portcullis, but to no avail.
For his part, Tekumbray stabs through the raising bars twice, sliding his blade between the plates of the carapace of the creature.
The gate raises, freeing the creature, that proceeds to swing at Tekumbray and Cayde, missing the barbarian, but taking a significant hunk out of the gnome.
Disappointed that he was unable to find a way to use his hunting trap or the crowbar to jam the portcullis mechanism, Cayde was glad of the quick thinking of his companions about the corridor probably being trapped.
The barbarian says, “Form up behind me and attack if from range if you can—I will try and keep it occupied,” as he moves directly in front of it to try and draw all its attacks!
Adonius-spider hangs on the ceiling trying to pull more webbing from his guts. When it doesn't come, he descends from the ceiling to stand next to Cayde to give the creature another target.
With a curse, Tekumbray ducks back and away from the reach of the creature's flesh shredding hooks. Jamming his sword back in its sheath, the gnome draws his bow and readies and arrow.
Baheera takes up a position, sending a blast thundering past her allies.
Tekumbray limps away from the melee and readies his bow while Cayde and the Adonius-Spider try to provide enough of a distraction for the hook horror for their ranged allies to finish off the beast.
The beast screeches at the pair in front of it before swinging its deadly, long, hooked arms at Adonius and Cayde, but the pair's defensive gambit seems to have paid off at least for the time being.
Tekumbray and Baheera were lining up their next shots, when a concealed door to the west opens and two goblins come out to stab at the two ranged combatants. Baheera is able to dodge the strike, but the gnome wasn't as fortunate as a short rusty blade slashes across his midsection.
Looking back into the now open door, you see at least four more goblins in the room.
Throwing caution to the wind, Cayde invokes his RAGE and lays into the hook horror. Partially transforming into a raptor, his tail waves dangerously behind him, ready to deflect any incoming attacks!
Adonius-spider abandons the strategy and attacks the hook horror wondering how to get he creature in melee with the goblins. His tactical thinking distracts his arachnid body.
Cursing as he wildly tries to duck away from the goblins, Tekumbray does his best to stab at the creature attacking him. Unfortunately he stumbles as his leg tries to give way and his blow misses wildly.
As the goblin's charge toward them, Baheera nimbly steps aside, directing her companion to attack and smiling as al'Adhaa swoops down invisibly to sting her attacker in the back, flickering into visibility a moment later.
<---advantage Invisibility
As her familiar brings sudden pain to her attacker, Baheera takes a step back, before blasting the goblin battling Tek.
Adonius and Cayde give up their defensive stances in favor of offense now that the goblins have enterd the fray, with Cayde landing a solid blow.
Tekumbray is unable to strike the goblin nearest him, but Baheera and her familiar manage to dispatch both of the upclose goblins.
More goblins pour out of the previously secret door, attacking the Adonius-Spider, Tekumbray and Baheera. The hook horror focuses on the barbarian who had just wounded it.
The goblin misses the spider, but goblins manage to stab into both Tekumubray and Baheera.
The hook horror lands two blows on the barbarian, tearing into the warrior's flesh.
Adonius-spider counterattacks the goblin in front of him. Maybe biting him. Maybe poisoning him. Maybe killing him.
Not quite able to deflect the hooked horror’s attacks with his tail, Cayde keeps up the attack even though he is looking heavily wounded.
"Well, that didn't take long." Mary's ghost says, her eyes rolling.
"Damnation lad! Ye let yourself fall to a passel of gobbos! Cost me fifty gold." The ghost of Sir Arthur Brackenbury says counting out aetheral coins before handing them over to Mary.
"Betting on when and how your fellow companion will die is most certainly a sin against..."
"Shut up, Rupert." Shout both Mary and Arthur. A sentiment echoed by the groggy and bewildered Tekumbray.
"What the...where...what happened?" The confused gnome says sitting up and scratching at spot on his side. A spot that looks suspiciously like a jagged knife wound.
"Ye zigged when ye should've zagged lad." Arthur says, tilting his head toward the no longer bleeding cut.
"Welcome to the land of living challenged." Mary adds with a wide grin.
"I shall pray for your soul." Interjects Rupert.
"Ahhh, hell." Mutters Tekumbray as he suddenly remembers the goblins charging from the hidden room and his own clumsy, staggering and utterly useless defense.
The genie-kin's familiar attempts to sting the goblin directly in front of the warlock, killing the creature and freeing up Baheera to hurl a bolt of eldritch energy at the goblin that fell Tekumbray. The blast lands squarely in the goblin's chest, killing it.
Cayde lands another solid blow on the hook horror's carapace, while the Adonius-Spider bites at and misses the goblin in front of him.
The hook horror swings both of its hooks at Cayde, but the barbarian's tail swats both swings away. Adonius's opponent stabs at him again, but to no avail. The remaining goblin stalks toward Baheera, stabbing his blade deep into the warlock's gut.
Cayde keeps swatting away at the hooked horror, hoping to eventually take it down. His rages continues, blunting the pain of his mounting wounds!
Adonius-spider counterattacks the goblin in front of him and misses again. He's concerned about Tek and expects to heal him after the goblin pops his wild shape.
Having killed the goblin in front of him already, the Adonius-Spider skitters across the ceiling to bite at the remaining goblin, sinking his fangs into the unfortunate creature's shoulder, and killing another.
Cayde slams his warhammer into the hook horror again, but the creature still stands despite showing signs of slowing.
Moving into a better position, Baheera blasts the hook horror.
"So what happens now?" Tek says to Mary's ghost who hovers nearby flipping her aethereal knife into a nearby rock.
"What'cha mean?" She says. "You're dead bud. Well, nearly so. Ain't much else to do."
"You mean this is it?" Tek replies incredulously. "Where are the gods? Heavens, hells, hunting grounds, greener pastures, all of, well, you know, that death stuff?"
Mary laughs, plucks the knife from the rock and tosses it again. "Turns out most all of that is bunk." She says. "Being dead is...." She waves her ghostly arms around in a circle to encompass the others. "Is just this. Hanging around mostly talking to ourselves, wandering, being ignored by the living because they can't see, hear, feel or otherwise sense us. Except for necromancers." Her face grows serious, her eyes grave. "Avoid necromancers."
"But..."
"Look Tek." She says with exasperation. "All that religious mumbo jumbo is just hooey. Why do you think we all gathered near you?" A puff of smoke burst from her nose as she snorts. "It certainly wasn't your charming and endearing personality." Her hand snaps out and passes through his arm. Leaving nothing but a feint chill. "It's because you could see us. Feel us. Hear us. I know that seems crazy to you now, but give it a few years and you'll be searching just like the rest of us. Searching for someone, anyone, to break up the soul aching boredom of death."
"Oh gods." Tek says, turning to look down at his mortal body bleeding out on the cold dirt of the goblin tunnel.
Baheera lets loose another blast, this one slamming into the chest of the hook horror, yet the beast stands, while Tek continues to bleed out.
Furious and badly wounded, the hook horror swings both hooks at Cayde again, but neither blow lands.
Cayde continues to rage, dodging and absorbing blow after blow, then replying with a powerful swing at the horror!
Adonius-spider scuttles back over to the hook horror trailing its own ichor, now that the goblins are down. He gets his large body next Cayde providing a wide target and tries to bite the monster.
Cayde continues to rage, dodging and absorbing blow after blow, then replying with a powerful swing at the horror!
Wait a minute! Tymora's voice echoes triumphantly within Tekumbray's head. The ghostly gnome's eyes flick toward Mary's ghost, sees her just sitting there flipping her knife.
What now? Replies her raven haired sister with more than a little exasperation. I got your silly little hero. Hahaha. With a batch of goblins no less. Oh man, did the two of you fall for that trap. He's going up on Bashaba's Wall of Conquest's now along with all those other loser's you've thrown my way. Ahhahahaha.
Not yet. I'm using those Dice of Saving I won off that bard back in Waterdeep.
What? I don't remember...
Sure, you did. That night you drank a whole barrel of Valhallan Whiskey.
I didn't give you...
Yes you did.
Tek looks around at the quiet gathering of ghosts.
"What's wrong with you?" Mary asks. "You look like you swallowed a bug or something.
"It...well...it's..." A pause. A deep, completely unnecessary breath. "Don't you hear those voices? Sounds like two women arguing about something...me...in some way...kind of?"
Mary only partially stifles a snort that causes a burst of white smoke to erupt from her nose and mouth. "Oh right. You're dead and now you've got women fighting over you. Pfffttt. That's just a little post-mortality feedback. Probably some crossed up memories or something. Trust me, women are not lurking the afterlife fighting over you. Hahaha. But that's a good one."
Look. It's right here on my sheet. Dice of Saving. You automatically make any three rolls in a row. Once used they become normal dice. A long pause. I'm using 'em.
Bah! Alright fine...your silly little hero stabilizes. For all the good it'll do him. He stubs his toe and I'll still have him.
"You really don't hear them?"
"No Tek. Give it a rest. Geez, you're not going to end up being like Rupert are you? Hey! Where you going?"
Looking down Tekumbray sees his ghostly form fading back into his body.
"Huh. I guess you aren't dead after all." Mary says with a genuine look of surprise upon her pale features. "I guess you got lucky this time."
Tekumbray is unable to reply as his consciousness reintegrates with his physical self along with all of the pain from his wounds. The nearly catastrophic injuries, although miraculously stabilized, are certainly overwhelming enough to force him into the welcome black and silent embrace of true unconsciousness.
Baheera targets the hook horror with another blast, but misses.
The horror swings its hooks at Cayde again, but misses as it staggers around suffering from the bite and poison of the Adonius-Spider.
Cayde swings again, his rage pushing him on to crush this menace or die trying as it seems to be weakening!
(Reckless Attack!)
Cayde slams into the horror with his warhammer, splintering its shell with a powerful blow!
Tek lies on the cold cavern ground blissfully unaware of any further danger, Cayde's slaying of the ugly horror, or the ongoing conversation of the surrounding ghosts as they wager and kibitz on whether or not the gnome will actually awaken from his wounds or has only momentarily delayed his inevitable crossing into the land of the dead. The gnome's ignorance is indeed a blessing for currently the odds among the spirits stand at three to five against his returning to the mortal realms and a long shot one in ten that if he awakens, that he actually escape the goblin caverns. Most have him being stewed by the end of the day with a subset suggesting roasted instead. Given his lowly opinion of goblins in general, Rupert has put his spiritual coin on the gnome simply being eaten raw.
Silence fills the chamber after the hook horror falls. Cayde is badly wounded, the Adonius-Spider oozes from numerous wounds in its abdomen, while Tekumbray lays unconscious. Baheera is wounded as well, but seemingly in better shape than the others.
Coming down from his rage, Cayde sees the sorry state of his allies, and Tekumbray in particular. Rushing over, he tries to stabilize his friend!
Satisfied that everyone is still alive, Cayde shepherds his friends into the room behind the secret door, throws out the dead goblins, and shuts the door, saying, “We must rest.”
"Agreed!" Baheera replies crouching down beside Tek, relieved to see the rise and fall of his chest through labored breathing.
Cayde ushers the others into the small room, dragging the stable, but utterly unconscious gnome along.
Closing the door behind you, you see a twenty foot by twenty foot chamber with a battered table and chairs positioned in the middle of the room. Scattered on the table are an assortment of coins and a pair of dice.
As you glance at the eastern wall, you see three peepholes that allow observation of the outer chamber.
Cayde asks, ”Can someone heal Tek, and maybe someone else keep watch?” as he moves to lean against the secret door, holding it closed with his weight. Soon the injured Barbarian is resting and focusing on recovering his strength.
Tekumbray's eyes flutter open as a soft groan passes his dry lips. His every muscle aches and to move risked reopening the nasty gashes that had sealed themselves instead of bleeding out. It must be all of the fire beetle stew I've been eating. He thinks to himself. Thickens the blood or something.
Eventually the room stops spinning and he is able to look around enough to see the others resting nearby. Seeing Cayde holding the door with his big frame, the gnome slowly rummages through his pack to pull out a climbing spike and hammer. Sliding them over toward Cayde he nods weakly to the door.
"Pound that in the block the door, then you can rest easier." He says, his voice scratchy and hoarse from the cold dry air of the afterlife. Noticing the peepholes, he crawls over and jams a couple of rags into each one. "If we can see them, they can see us." He mutters before collapsing back onto the ground and drifting back into unconsciousness.
Tekumbray spikes the door to provide a small measure of protection before slumping back down to rest.
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