Sense Motive11
As far as Yoltzin can tell, they are sincere. If this was a lie, it's not a very beneficial one anyway.
Where are you from and what brings you here... Do you need help adjusting?
"We are wanderers. Our people live in small clusters throughout this land. We here were outcast from our tribes for...transgressions."
"We have no wish to live among bald-skins. Just leave us alone and we will leave the area."Have you explored the rest of this... area?
"We know the land around here, but we have not explored more of this complex than these front rooms. Often, in places like this, other...things have made a home in them, and we do not wish to disturb such things. It is you bald-skin adventurers that crave such things."
Hmm... you don't have to live among bald-skins. Just have to come to some agreement and co-exist. Wandering can become tiresome.
There may be skills you can be paid for. Instead of being hunted, you would have allies.
Transgressions is a funny word... what did you do to be outcast... please?
Giving in to his recently mentioned bald-skin nature, Djack listens at one of the doors.
Good though his intentions are, Djack doesn't think these creatures are going to buy what he's selling. They do seem to legitimately just want to bug out.
"In my village...Your fur looks... Very flamable."
No verbal comments from the creatures, but some of their ears fall flat against their heads facing back; a sign, she takes it, that they understood her meaning and, while not openly hostile, certainly didn't appreciate the sentiment.
Seeing the Misunkas' attitude, Djack shrugs. Suit yourself. Her then stalks off to check the door from which the reinforcements must have come.
She looks to Spizz, Rock and Elias. "This was not my task, I ask you to decide the fate of them. I have already made my own opinion clear."
Djack hears no sound inside when listening at the door.
"Prairie dogs and wild boar don't wear clothes, don't play with toys" Elias still holds the brass top. "Don't cry out in the common tongue" He paces, clearly unnerved.
"Why did you have to tie them up anyway? I would have left them for dead, maybe finished the job myself, but I'm not one to gut talking fish." He takes a swig from a hipflask that appears, as if from thin air.
"I say we leave them here, explore the rest of this place, and deal with them when we leave." He turns to the catfolk "Whatever happens, know this, if you do somehow escape and I ever see you walking free in these parts... I'll cut you down where you stand."
I know I'm the new guy and I appreciate the zeal all around but, there's no need for that... they lost three of their own. Punishment, retribution... an eye for an eye.
Let's check out the rest of it, this place. His mood seems to lighten a bit at the thought.
Taking a peeks inside the room Djack listened at, you find it's laid out pretty much like room #3 in reverse. The remains of several old military cots lie strewn about; only three seem to have been recently used. Another small chest is visible near one of those. No more hostiles are in sight.
"In Spizz experiance, kobolds only get one mistake. Then they are eaten by bigger things. Or sometimes just bigger kobolds. But maybe that is what make soft-skins so special? They make many mistakes, but they forgive too, and help each other learn." Spizz begins counting on his fingers. "In Spizz cave, most kobolds die before second cold season. Those that live to be grown usually die before 15th cold season. Violently."
That's horrible,' She thought to herself. Humans were quick-lived as they were, yet it seemed this beastman's tribe lived in even more dire straights.
Treasure found in Room 4:
166 gp, 1029 sp, 333 cp; 238 gp worth of gems and objects; 1 suit masterwork scale mail, 1 Oil of Magic Weapon
You have several options for exploration at this point: open the northern door in Room 2, open the eastern door in Room 4, or head up the hallway on the other side of the western door in Room 3 (which Quince already opened).
When I go... exploring I usually like to get an idea of the "bounds" of the place... its perimeter.
If no one minds, I'd suggest checking that door to the East... perhaps another hall leading North?
He moves to listen and check it for traps.
She tilted her head. How, exactly, did the human know which direction was north? Perhaps he had been more keenly aware of the sun's position through the trees than she expected. She herself was not so sure. "If it is wished."
At the last second, Djack stops himself. There is, indeed, a trap on this door. Upon opening it, a javelin, possibly several will launch from a slot in the wall (deceptively covered over in clay). It is possible to disable it.
If no one is able to disable the trap, you can position yourself so as to make it less likely to be hit, but not simply avoid the risk entirely, short of not opening the door.
Heads up... there is some javelin throwing mechanism here. Gonna try to disable it.
Djack considers the booby... and goes about trying to disarm it.
But, that's unnecessary.
Heads up... there is some javelin throwing mechanism here. Gonna try to disable it.
There's a click, and at first Djack thinks he's failed, as he sees a javelin emerge from the wall. But then he realizes it wasn't fired but has simply fallen out, clacking onto the floor beside him harmlessly.
See, that wasn't so bad. Just a big... sharp... stick. He retrieves the javelin, assuring it won't be used to arm the trap any time soon.
He looks around back in the room. Bonus... no one has any undesirable holes in them.
So, we know the bounds this way... he gestures with his hands east/west.
Just have to figure out how far back thing thing goes and if it goes deep... he points northward and down, through the floor.
"If we are to proceed more, be mindful of things left behind that skulking in the shadows. They didn't come through this way, which means the secrets within are undisturbed. Perhaps," She mused, stretching out with her divine senses. "In a place of sldearlth, those that perished still cling to our world."
There's that sense of adventure that binds us! Just so... shall we?
The young human seems eager to explore.
"We're already on this side, perhaps we enter through here. While keeping an open eye and ear." She suggested.
That's reasonable. Come...
Elias trails after the others, happy to follow their lead. He runs his finger idly along the walls at shoulder height as they progress.
"Anyone have any idea how old this place is? How long these walls hve been here?"
Spizz happily skips along beyond the others.
No one here knows enough about the local history to know exactly how old this structure is. Djack, from his knowledge of similar fortifications, would estimate at least 300 years.
With Djack in the lead and Yoltzin not far behind, the group heads cautiously up the western corridor. Ahead is a door to the left, and, a little further up, a large rusty iron chandelier hangs on a chain from the ceiling (e on the map).
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Shrugging at the others, Djack turns his attention to the door checking for traps...
The elf tilted her head upwards, looking st the strange spindly decoration, wondering at its purpose. It seemed almost like it was a dead tree hung from its roots. Why the humans would choose to string up metal trees like that was a curiosity. Looking to the kobold, she wondered if he held a similar confusion.
Djack finds no traps on this door.
Opening the door...
Door seems clear. I suppose what doesn't try to kill us... let's us be curious.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
Despite its age and neglect, there is a sense of grandeur to this vast hall. The stone walls and high ceiling lend it an air of majesty, but the room is covered in vast sheets of cobwebs. As you stand there, looking around at the ancient hall, you can almost feel the weight of its military history bearing down upon you.
She steps within, her nightsight piercing the cloying darkness outside of lights the humans might've carried with them. Strange to think that a place like this was so close to her home, yet none of the elders had ever mentioned it. Perhaps beneath their notice so long as they never intruded upon ancestral grounds.
"Do your people know of why this structure was abandoned?" Yoltzin asks, her curiosity blinding her of the room's smaller or more pressing details.
Elias lets out a long whistle as they enter the hall. Shattering the quiet.
"Now this I like!"
Using a long piece of... something ornamental, he begins to clear some of the cobwebs to get a better look at some of the detail on the walls.
Cobwebs mean... spiders?
After a few minutes moving around the area near the door, a chair suddenly moves several inches. Startled, Quince turns to see a particularly thick spider thread attached to the chair is vibrating.
Yoltzin is the first to notice it, but soon others can see something moving in the dim light at the edge of their lightsource: a 10' spider with a bulbous body is moving down several threads toward a table near you.
Spider Initiative:
Djack:
Rocko:
Yoltzin:
Quince:
Spizz:
She startled at the sudden appearance of the arachnid, fumbling for her bow and blindly firing. By the grace of Xenxolotl, it may actually stick within it's carapace.
Yoltzin's shot strikes true, though its effects seem minimal on such a massive creature.
Sometimes it SUCKS when I'm right... Quince, let's get to work.
Djack quickly advances such that Quince can flank in the other side, if he chooses to advance.
Djack has to swing upward to hit the beast, as it's still on it's web above the floor (sorry that wasn't obvious), but hit he does.
The creature screams as Djack's blade rakes its underside.
Spizz lets out a yipe. "Bad! Bad! Eat Kobold!" His skill with common, already tenuous seems to degrade as he shakes with fear, obviously having some memory, either ancestral or not about such a creature. He fires a blast of fire from his hands, unwilling to get closer to it.
Spizz's attack grazes the spider, barely causing it any damage. However, perhaps more effectively, the webs it is on burn, and it drops to the ground near Djack.
Quince may act in Round 1.
Skirting the wall, Elias takes up position opposite Djack and slashes at the creature.
The creature screeches out again and recoils from Quince. Given the situation, it chooses to attack Djack instead.
The creature bites Djack solidly in the midsection.
I need a Fort Save, DC 17.