For a moment you seem to drift off as if your mind were wandering, and you recall a summer day from your childhood, a day that you always thought would come again, but somehow never did.
When your attention returns, you find that you are still in what must have once been the room where the Iomedaeans heated the whole building. An old cast-iron furnace about the size and shape of an overweight dwarf and a pile of coal occupy the corners of this cramped chamber. Ash and fallen rubble clutter the area around the furnace where the chimney above has collapsed.
There is only a single exit to the room: through the door in the southern wall through which you entered.
The young blond man named Othdan whom you just freed scratches his head and clears his throat.
"So, erm, are we leaving and going back to Trunau? I'd rather not be here when the voice I heard returns, not to mention the other person he was talking to. Neither of them sounded like they were talking about anything pleasant. I don't mean to be a bother, but this place terrifies me now."
Cetan frowns at Othdan, hoping the combination of that expression and his demonic face doesn't frighten him.
We would like to wait and ambush those "voices" when they return. The problem with that, is that you would have to venture back to Trunau on your own. Going along does not seem prudent right now, hmm?
Brogann nods as Cetan relays the plan to Othdan, but he is distracted.
"Something over there."
Brogann goes over and pokes at the pile of coal with his sword, trying to uncover the burlap.
A sack, maybe?
"I think there's also a secret door in this wall. Everyone stand back."
When everyone is a safe distance away, he will cast Open/Close on the door.
Brogann goes poking among the pile of coal in the corner and pulls out a burlap sack. Inside is a stack of platinum coins held together with strong dating back at least a century and marked with the sword and sun symbol of Iomedae.
Once Brogann identifies how the door hinges, he easily opens it with a spell, revealing a dusty corridor smelling of soot and rot that quickly heads south into darkness.
"It seems we gave a bit more to explore before setting up our ambush."
Indeed, but we should be quick. I have a bad feeling the "keepers of the house" will return while we're in some dark passage away from light and sound.
The tiefling follows his fellow Shoanti's lead.
Sigrun shrugs casually.
"I don't care which way."
"I think that's the whole of this place. Whoever took Othdan isn't here now. So let's get outside. Maybe in the woods nearby.
As soon as they come in, they will see signs of us being in here and be on their guard. Better to catch them unawares."
Brogann, while always down for a good fight, is not totally stupid. With the only information about the captors being that they speak Giant, he could well be facing a battle with an ogre or something equally formidable.
Why wait for them to discover clues of our presence? As soon as we have the advantage of ambush we should attack. Cetan muses, considering Brogann's plan.
"Yes, Cetan, attack them outside before they see signs of our presence. Just as they go to open the door. Sorry if I was unclear.
I can't see in the dark, nor do I have Light prepared. Sky Voice, can you cast that spell? If Cetan can spot them and open fire, then you illuminate our area if they come after us... but then they might not come after us...."
"I don't know. I'm not great at tactics. Maybe we should wait just inside the door. That way we can have light, and we don't have to count on them doing exactly what we expect."
Cetan peers out one of the gates, surveying the surrounding area.
Hmm, maybe we will have to ambush from within here.
"I can cast light, but I don't think there are many places for us to hide outside. Also we have to talk about hiding the elephant in the room." Sky Voice says the last part trying to hide a smirk while looking at Towering Brother. The beast responds with a snort of air from his trunk, seeminly not liking the 'dad' joke.
"If we're going to wait and try surprising them, it should be inside so we're close when it happens. I have a bow but it is weak, perfect for rabbits but bad for things that speak giant. I am at my best in close."
I'm not good at archery.Close combat is my thing too. I'll follow your instructions about the settings of the ambush
"We should try to cover our tracks upstairs. I think that there were some good spaces upstairs, if we want to assemble there. Engaging them upstairs would also mean less time for them to notice anything is amiss."
"I am pretty sure that whoever comes here uses the back door upstairs, not the main doors."
Brogann is sorely tempted to use the hapless pig-farmer as bait to lure the captors into an ambush, but decides the poor young man has suffered enough.
"Yes, we should be as close to where they enter as we can be. Less time for things to go wrong."
"Well Towering brother can not take the trap door down here so I suggest we take places upstairs. Also I have a number of spare weapons I can give one to Othdan so he can defend himself. Although hopefully that won't be needed I would put my body on the line to protect him if need be.
Sky Voice will offer his longspear to Othdan.
Brogann has no idea why Sky Voice is so intent on protecting the pig-keeper boy. He looks a bit confused, then looks around.
"Okay, I saw a lot of tracks around that back door in the northeast. Coming in there you'd have a good view of most of this floor, except the closed room with the beds.
So I'd say we make the area around that entrance look the way it was when we found it - "
" - and hide in the room with the beds. We keep our ears open. We have Sigrún and Gabsen up against the doors. I'll have a Light on my sword from Sky Voice, but keep it sheathed.
When we hear something, we burst out and attack. I'll draw my sword and cast Open/Close on the doors.
Othdan can hide in the back corner of this room.
Sky Voice, Towering Brother, and Cetan can come out the other doors to cut off escape.
What do you all think?"
"It sounds good to me."
Sigrun gets in place. She leans her spear against the wall and draws her sword.
I will go along with this plan. I can help try to restore that area, but then I should stand back at the ready with my bow.
He spends most of his time following Sigrun around and undoing her work.
Um... I don't think that went there Sigrun. Or that... or...
Being quite tall, Sigrun's eyes are far from the ground, so are her hands. She understands, and surely the others must know as well, that she's not going to walk around all crunched down, or crawl around on her knees fixing things.
Instead Sigrun takes an executive approach. As she walks around and notices this or that, she points it our for someone to take care of. It is boring work so she does it quickly, to get it over with. When it becomes apparent that the fixers can't scurry along making things right as quickly as she can point out problems, Sigrun begins to mark what she sees. She places a scratch or a gouge on the floor with her spear so she can move on at her pace, and they can continue at theirs while finding what she's spotted.
Done in a jiffy, one stroll though was plenty, Sigrun finds her spot by the door and makes herself comfortable leaning against the wall while the work is finished.
"While I am no slouch in combat I am not a tactician, I will trust the warriors to their plans. I am also well versed in the giant tongue so maybe if we take whatever we are to face alive I can question it."
Cetan just remembers something he has at his disposal. He almost doesn't mention it because he tends to get a lot of suspicion related to his ancestry and the "devilish" abilities that come with it.
I could... plunge the back section of the room into darkness for a time. Those with darksight could join me and attack from this cover.
Gabsen obviously tries to help, but without too much success.
At least he doesn't step on the tracks.
He takes position near the door, as instructed, and waits until the next fight, without showing much emotion.
Two rows of scorched, wrought-iron bedframes take up most of the space in this soaring chamber, resting between a fire-blackened altar to the southwest and double doors to the northeast. A second set of double doors leads to the northwest, and a single iron door exits the chamber to the southeast. Brightly colored holy figures stare down from the stained-glass windows built into the blackened stone walls, their visages noticeably less damaged than the rest of the room.
I could... plunge the back section of the room into darkness for a time. Those with darksight could join me and attack from this cover.
Two rows of scorched, wrought-iron bedframes take up most of the space in this soaring chamber, resting between a fire-blackened altar to the southwest and double doors to the northeast. A second set of double doors leads to the northwest, and a single iron door exits the chamber to the southeast. Brightly colored holy figures stare down from the stained-glass windows built into the blackened stone walls, their visages noticeably less damaged than the rest of the room.
Cetan looks up at the statues, suspicious of their nature and how they might affect a battle in this room.
I could... plunge the back section of the room into darkness for a time. Those with darksight could join me and attack from this cover.
Brogann does not really consider the scorch marks important. This place did burn down, after all. And as to the holy figures being less scorched than everything else, he figures that has to do with stained glass being different than stone and iron. Or maybe some lingering holy blessing.
He has a marked lack of curiosity as Cetan investigates.
Brogann doesn't know if the prior event in this place will recur, or how long it would take, or where exactly is the trigger point. He just remains on guard and listens for movement in the hallway.
It should come back sooner or later, it's linked to the place after all. We would need powerful holy magic to get rid of it for ever
Sigrun didn't really understand exactly what Cetan was suggesting by bringing up darkening and area. So she replies in a noncommittal fashion so to not look dumb.
"If you have some plan for making part of the room dark and it helps you go ahead. But keep it away from me. I can't see in darkness."
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When the haunt is brought up, Sigrun grumbles. "Are we supposed to move somewhere else then? We would need to clean again if we did."