Mac silently points to Willorn and then to the sinkhole, as if asking: Do you want to check it out?
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Penflower looks at Willorn and for the first time realizes that this dwarf may be more silent than himself, an elf. He chuckles internally for the irony, but makes no attempt to dissuade him. Given the loud noise the mitflits are making, it's unlikely they'll hear him whisper. He says in a low voice to Willorn "It would be good to know how many there are, and how well armed."
Willorn nods and cautiously sneaks nearer to the voices, giving his best not to slip on his way down. He also takes his time to check on those burn and scorch marks.
Willorn moves in to get a closer look. Unfortunately, he missteps as he gets closer to the sinkhole and he nearly slips, discarding loose stones to fall into the sinkhole, alerting the four mitflits in the 10' deep hole to the danger!
Ah, dangit, they've heard me.
Trying to get an advantage from his heightened position, Willorn draws his crossbow and fires a shot at the nearest opponent, hoping to give them pause and allowing his companions to jump into the fight.
Hagrym will move 15’ due south, readying to attack an enemy that climbs out of the pit.
Jon takes aim and fires◆ at the Yellow Misflit.
Then Jon will whip it◆ with a reloading strike.
Jon's bullet penetrates the yellow mitflit's brain and kills it instantly!
Round 1: Mitflits
The mitflits react in panicked and yelling voices as two of their kind are dropped in seconds. They rush to climb out of the pit and flee from the heroes.
Round 2: Mac
Mac strides and tries to strike the mitflit trying to climb out.
Assuming he had a chance to take a swing as the one making his way out of the pit, Hagrym swings his hammer.
Attack
Damage
The cleric stood his ground, waiting to bash the other to try to make it out.
Jon strides twice◆◆ around the sinkhole to get into whip range of Misflit Blue and hits it with a Reloading Strike◆.
You open the door to the south where the Blue Mitflit was headed to reveal:
A fifteen-foot stone walkway spans a narrow stretch of swamp water, connecting the ruined keep to a large stone outbuilding. Double doors block each end of the walkway. Standing before the southeast door is a seven-foot-tall skeleton dressed in armor made of gnarled roots, bones, and rusted metal. The skeleton clenches a morningstar in one weathered hand with the weapon’s heavy, spiked tip resting on the walkway at the skeleton’s feet.
Before you attack the skeletal "guard", Mac and Hagrym, with their high perception scores, notice the wooden struts and crude lashings that keep the skeleton together and realize that it is a fake - just a simple skeleton.
You investigate the skeleton and Penflower discovers that the morningstar radiates magic.
Penflower leads the party into the the next room to reveal:
Splintered framing in the ceiling and floor hint that thin wooden walls once divided this stone building’s interior. With those walls demolished, only a single, large chamber remains. Rubble, swamp vegetation, and mud pile in heaps like foul nests, while a larger stack of rubble, sticks, and bones looks almost, but not quite, like a throne. A flattened mound of sand with a few dozen bits of wood and stone stuck into it covers the floor before the throne.
You see a blue Mudflit, wielding a trident and a crown, sitting on the throne. Two mudflits, yellow and green, stand near him. Another giant fly buzzes nearby. A giant vermin with six legs, which looks a little like a spider, is also nearby. The mudflit boss on the throne speaks, surprisingly in Common, "Ahhh, the heroes have learned of my plans to invade Otari and you have come to stop me, of course. Well Boss Scrawng will be not be stopped! Boys, kill them and bring me their corpses as tribute!"The mudflit is quite confident in his troops' ability.
Round 1:
The mitflit boss strides 15' and shoots Penflower with his blowgun in the arm. The elf notices that the tip of the dart is smeared with poison! The boss then strides back, behind his throne room for cover. "Yay, got the pointy-ear guy with my dart!"
Giant Fly:
The giant fly flies near the boss and is poised to attack anyone who comes near Boss Scrawng.
Mac strides into the room, halberd in hand, and speaks to the boss, "Guess you're the head gremlin, huh? Invading Otari just made you enemy #1. Let me take care of your pet first and I'll come for you, next!"
Boss Scrawng yells out, "Kill the dwarf, Bite Bite!", referring to the vermin. Unfortunately, Mac's two blows end the quasi-spider's life and it collapses on the ground! The gremlin boss is beside himself as he orders the mitflits to attack Mac. However, after what they just saw, they stick to ranged attacks and miss.
Mitflits:
The yellow one draws and throws a dart at Mac and draws another dart.
The green one follows suit:
Once more Jon runs into the fray◇ (using free Stride on first turn), stopping with the green mudflit in whip range. He takes aim and fires◆ at the gremlin.
Then he goes for a reloading strike◆, flicking his whip forward with a crack and reloading his pistol.
"There's more where that came from!" Jon calls out◆, gesturing his pistol towards the green mudflit.
Jon's shot barely misses the green gremlin. The whip does land, inflicting 3 nonlethal damage.
EDIT: The green gremlin is Frightened 1,
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Mighty Trudd, lend me your strength!
Willorn reloads his Crossbow then fires at the nearest Misflit, before he drops it and draws his axe, ready to jump into melee.
Hagrym moves 15’ towards the green enemy and blasts away with his Divine Lance. Clutching his holy symbol, yet again, he calls out for assistance from the one, the only, Torag!
Ranged Attack
Damage
Round 2: Boss + Fly
The angry mitflit boss strides forward 10' from behind his throne, grips his trident, and hurls it at Mac with all his might. screaming, "This is for Bite Bite!" Unfortunately, the throw is kind of clumsy and it bounces off Mac's armor harmlessly. Feeling a little sheepish and scared, Boss Scrawng strides back to behind his throne. He then orders the fly to attack Mac.
Giant Fly
The fly strides over to Mac and attempts to bite him with its mandibles, incurring a reactionary attack from the dwarf, which severely wounds it. The fly then switches targets and attacks someone other than the dwarf: Jon.
Mac strides to within 10' of the boss and takes 1 swing at him and 1 swing at yellow mitflit.
Round 2: Mitflits
The yellow wounded mitflit steps and attacks Mac twice with its shortsword, but fails to penetrate the dwarf's defenses.
The green mitflit, emboldened by the giant fly as its ally, steps and attacks Jon! Its attacks also fail to land.
The cleric moves south one square and swings his hammer at the fly. He then raises his shield to defend any possible retribution from the creature.
Attack
Damage
Hagrym's blow kills the giant fly!
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"Shoo fly! Don't bother me!" he calls he steps back◆ and takes aim at the giant fly and fires◆.
(This is added to the total crit damage but not doubled.)
Then he whips◆ the fly and reloads.
Willorn storms into the room, trying to help Mac with the Misflit standing next to him, swinging his axe against the little bugger.
◆ Stride
◆ Stride (and flanking the Misflit)
◆
Willorn's strike kills the wounded yellow mitflit.
Penflower attacks the boss, but he successfully evades the elf's blow.
Round 3: Boss
Realizing his allies have been slain, that he no longer has his trident, and that he is outnumbered 5 to 1, Boss Scrawng drops his blowgun to the floor, and raises his hands in surrender. In a squeaky voice, in contrast to the bold voice that he greeted the party with, the boss speaks, "I am sure fine reasonable folk like yourselves and I can talk this out, r-r-right?" The boss' fear and nervousness are obvious.
Hagrym’s posture immediately relaxed. ”I don’t see reason to kill someone that has already surrendered. We could take him back to town and let the authorities handle him. You know, give him a trial and all that. Or we could take him with us and I could try to talk to him about Torag. Who knows? Might get him to see the error of his ways?”
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Mac loosens his grip on his halberd, as the boss mitflit surrenders. "Smartest thing you've done all day, Scrawng. So, I got a few questions:
1. How were you planning to invade Otari? So far, we've run into maybe 10-12 enemies tops. How were you going to take a whole town? Hit and run?
2. Where did you and your tribe come from? Never seen your kind before above or underground.
3. Any more tribe members left, hiding somewhere around here? You betray or lie to us and you're going to regret it.
4. Do you know of any other dangers or surprises in this lighthouse? Can you draw us a map of what you know?
5. What do you know about the Gauntlight (light atop the lighthouse) glowing at night? I doubt that was you and your people."
Mac asks each question deliberately and he will have Jon resort to intimidation if he believes that the boss is not being helpful.
He looks to Hagrym and the party and whispers, "Turn him over to the town for what crime? Has he committed any crime other than existing? He seems harmless without his trident and blow gun."
Jon holsters his whip, reloads his pistol, and takes what he hopes is an imposing stance, but waits to give Scrawng a chance to answer before attempting a coercion.
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The scared mitflit boss lets out a small sigh of relief that he was not killed on the spot. He has a nervous look about himself, as Mac lays out each of the questions. His voice shakes a little as he says, "I'm sorry, could you repeat all of those questions?" He hopes the comic relief will lighten the murderous mood in the room, as he sees the corpses of his fellow mitflits and favorite insects. However, upon seeing Jon's seriousness, with firearm in hand, Scrawng realizes that this party is not in the mood for comedy right now. He sighs, knowing that he is defeated, and starts to answer the questions. He motions over to his throne, asking permission if he can sit. He sits down, or not, and begins to tell his tale.
"Hehe, just kidding, I heard all yer questions.
1. My plan, brilliant if I may say so, was for my Mudlicker tribe to train the giant flies, before you killed 'em, and to grow more flies from the maggots into a mighty air force! The Mudlickers, riding the giant flies, would invade Otari and stun them into submission. Unfortunately, it appears those plans have failed." Behind the throne, you see a sand mound that represents a crude map of Otari with several arrows that indicate plans of attack from the direction of the Fogfen.
2. "The Mudlicker tribe used to numbers dozens but we did not live here. We lived one level below the lighthouse but we got into a turf war with a bunch of mushroom-eyed people. Both sides lost soldiers, but we lost more so we had to retreat up here many nights ago.
3. I had 10 Mudlickers under me, 2 Buzzy Buzz, some maggots, and Bite Bite. Poor Bite Bite. If you got this far, I assume all my tribe is dead, right? Then no more Mudlickers. I am the last one." The boss fights off tears.
4.The boss tries to remember and closes his eyes, picturing the geography of the lighthouse. "I will tell you what I know of the lighthouse - the entranceway, the unsteady drawbridge, the frog monster pond, the maggot training hall, the maggot stable, the fly pen, the dining room - that has some scary kobold spirits - stay away, the sinkhole, the walkway with the skeleton, and now the throne room." You have visited all of the places mentioned except the entranceway. "North of the main hall there is a room with a giant scorpion - we tried to recruit it but he was a tough one to control so we left him alone. North of it were some glowing ghosts in this cold room, we do not go near there. Just feels wrong. Outside the lighthouse, under the boathouse to the north, there is a swamp dragon that lives there. Lastly, I know there is an outbuilding on the island to the NW, but a week ago, one of my scouts mentioned that a boat full of 4 big and sneaky-looking people went into the swamp dragon's cave while the dragon was out hunting most likely. Have not seen them since, so most likely, the dragon must have come back and eaten them, right?"
5. When Mac mentions the "Gauntlight", Boss Skrawng’s eyes get big, and he shakes his head, "The eerie glowing light is the creepiest thing of them all. Since we been up here, once in awhile, a cloaked stranger who leaves a trail of leeches with a glowing lantern visits the lighthouse. What he does there when he goes beyond that door is unknown. However, the sloshing sounds of his footsteps creeped us all out. Every night, the light glows, and I am worried that there might be a big ghost up there so we stay away. You should also if you care for your souls. Bad juju there."
The boss sighs in relief that he was able to unburden himself. "So what now? I am very helpful, yes? Better to keep alive, right?"
"Got another question for you."
Willorn was content to hold his axe ready and let Maclin do the asking, but he just needs to know.
"Did you see another dwarf anywhere around here or know something about his whereabouts?"
Willorn goes on describing Lasda Vankervale as good as he can, desperate on finding any trace of his missing friend.
"Good question, Willorn. I have some follow-up question, Boss:
6.If there's a level below and you and the Mudlickers used to live there, we need a map of that area as well. Also, show us where the stairs are that lead down to this second level.
7. Tell me more about mushroom-eyed people - they attacked with weapons? - what types, spells, bolts shot from their eyes, what exactly? Who is their leader? Weaknesses?
8. This swamp dragon? What color is it? Does it have wings and fly? How big is it? Does it breathe fire or acid or something else? Do you know where its lair is?"
Boss Scrawng looks puzzled at Willorn's questions. "Not seen other dwarves other than you 3. How come so many dwarves attracted by these ruins? Strange..."
The mitflit boss rolls his eyes as he gets more questions from Mac. "The middle door from the hallway leads to the stairs. They're concealed behind the wall, so look closely. You're a very curious fella with so many questions. The mushroom-eyed people, they are like animals. They fights with weapons and also bite. They can also jump very far. They do not like the light, so they not bother us up here. Since you asked, I have a deal for you. If you go downstairs and kill the leader of the mushroom-eyed people and bring me his head, I will reward you with many shiny gems. I not like him because he kicked us out of our home. The leader is a magic priest mushroom-eyed guy who can hurt your brain by just looking at you. What do you say?"
The boss gulps, as Mac asks about the swamp dragon. "It has scales like fish, is green with wings. It can walk, fly, and swim. It spits liquid that burns armor and weapons. It is not very big but quite vicious. Be careful with that one. If you're foolish enough to go to its lair, it is on the level below us."
Seeing Penflower's attempt at bad cop failing, Jon holsters his pistol and tries to play good cop instead. Putting on his most charming smile, Jon says "Our acquaintance here has faced enough threats today, hasn't he, Mr. Khan? And he has given us a rather intriguing mission. Scrawng, how about you draw us a map of the areas you have spoken of to aid our work in clearing out the interlopers in and around the lighthouse? Then you can return to your home and you won't need to come up with harebrained schemes to attack the humanoids of Otari?"
Boss Scrawng hears the wisdom in Jon's words and draws the party a map of the first and second levels of the places he remembers.
Unfortunately, neither Penflower nor Jon can identify the swamp dragon from the description provided.
”Great job, Jon. Thank you for cooperating Boss. And we will consider your offer for the leader’s head, though I doubt you have any fine gems. You would have offered them to us to save your hide when we first questioned you. We will let you live, just stay in this area and do not try and run off.”
Boss Scrawng sheepishly shakes his head, "Okay, I am sorry for lying. True, I do not have gems but if you kill the magic priest for me, I would be forever grateful. I will stay here and patiently wait for your return."