Yasamina gives Oren's maul a look. "Hell yes! Turtle -AND- rat soup!", she laugs as she unpacks her bedroll. "Alright, everyone get some shuteye. Big day tomorrow. or so I hear."
She pulls out her waterskin when Dario comes closer for a chat. "Sure thing, Mister Zuz. Nothing will get past our keen eyes, right?"
She waits for him to finish. "Sandstorm, huh?", she ponders for a moment. "The elemental power that strikes without warning and topples cities?"
She takes a swig from her waterskin. "I can take that as a compliment. Thanks."
She offers the waterskin. "Wine? Not to worry-", she smiles. "Nothing to give you a buzz. Just a little mixed in with the water for purification."
She looks at her wounded shin. "Oh yes, that. I usually slice an artery. Must have been lucky this time. I'll work on that, but don't get all hopeful when you are injured and come running to me. Or do... I could use a subject to improve."
She looks at the rest of the room, seeing the rest of the party getting all cozy on their rolls, and the pups messing around with a possibly distressed Sulee. She beckons the pups to come close, and if they obey, she pets them a bit to lull them to sleep.
She looks at Dario's gun. "I don't think I saw one of those in action before. Is that something dwarves made up? How does it work, exactly? Is there a spring or something?"
"Sulee, would you give the glowstick to Dario. Dario, that should stay lit until morning. If it does not, wake me up. We can adjust the people staffing the 2-hour watch shifts if needed. We also have torches if needed."
Caiten and Sulee pick a section of the room and set up their bedding.
"Cevendyll, may I see that other scroll again while you cast Alarm?"
"Hmm... I'm not able to make sense of this one either. As for the casting of alarm, I would recommend casting it inside the room. I think it is better served as a failsafe detection of something that has slipped into the room, not as an annoyance caused by anything prowling around that fails to get past the doors. Though in that case, we will need a password so that we don't set it off ourselves. I would recommend-"
Sulee interrups quickly, "'Breachill Heroes'".
Caiten looks at her curiously. "Well, it needs to be something we can all remember and pronounce. And it only needs to be secure enough to not immediately be guessed by a warg or an enormous rat. I know you too well, Caiten. You were planning on something completely random and probably unpronounceable."
"Sulee, would you give the glowstick to Dario. Dario, that should stay lit until morning. If it does not, wake me up. We can adjust the people staffing the 2-hour watch shifts if needed. We also have torches if needed."
Caiten and Sulee pick a section of the room and set up their bedding.
"Cevendyll, may I see that other scroll again while you cast Alarm?"
[dice=Occultism identify scroll]1d20 + 7
"Hmm... I'm not able to make sense of this one either. As for the casting of alarm, I would recommend casting it inside the room. I think it is better served as a failsafe detection of something that has slipped into the room, not as an annoyance caused by anything prowling around that fails to get past the doors. Though in that case, we will need a password so that we don't set it off ourselves. I would recommend-"
Hands scroll to K10
"I think that makes total sense. We know there are things outside of here, our concern should be for our rest at the moment."
Shadow and Rocco cozy up next to Yasami, after sniffing her liberally, and momentarily vie for the best spot before soon falling asleep after their exciting day.
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Dario tries his absolute best to not show surprise that the compliment found any sort of landing before he sits on a pile of leftover woods from Caiten's incredible woodworking skills. The two warg puppies wrestle by their feet, biting and complaining until an impossible tangle of puppy limbs is decided to be what is best. The rest of the room begins to finally grow quieter as the rush of the day finally takes its toll on everyone. Lisi coughs one more time before rolling into a feverish sleep.
"Much obliged and please...call me Dario. Mister Zuz was my forge mentor." Dario says with a smirk, taking a swig from the waterskin and enjoying the mixed taste of water with that hint of wine. It was better than the taste of battle, stale air, and exertion that had made home upon his tongue. "Back in the Mana Wastes, you could see these storms coming. Thousands of feet in the air, a moving castle wall. We called in 'nagyszerű homok'; the great sand. For days, it would be night outside as it passed. Thankfully, we lived mostly underground." Dario admired her as she lifted her wounded leg for as long as he could civily get away with before giving a chuckle and a shrug as her jesting offer to be a subject. "Well, gunpowder already had its way with me Yasami. I doubt you could make me look worse."
When she mentioned his firearm, he would quickly retrieve it from the holster with a practiced grace. Like a dancer, it was almost muscle memory to be able to retrieve it however he laid. The beautiful, polished steel with the wooden grip shined lightly in the glowstick's light. A symbol was right at the base of the grip, one that his thumb slipped over.
"In the Mana Wastes, magic fails regularly or behaves irregularly. You can't rely on it at all. The dwarves who took me in live in a place called Dongun Hold. The whole place is a dead zone for magic so they needed to craft new defenses; gunpowder." He would take one of the cartridges and rip it open with his teeth, revealing the black powder and the small, metal ball inside. "This part here, the hammer, causes a spark and rips the paper. The black powder is gunpowder; it explodes. A big amount makes a big explosion but this much doesn't. Just enough to fire that bullet with deadly speed." With the pistol unloaded, he would offer it to her with a smile. "The dwarves call these 'clan pistols'. It proves you are a member of the clan, that you're family. Even though my siblings and cousins will outlive me, I am a dwarf in their eyes. Someone takes this pistol and I would hunt them down to the ends of the earth." Taking out a small kit, he would gesture her just a tad bit closer. "You want to help me clean it? A dirty firearm is like a rusted blade; useless."
"I am glad you concur there Joran. Can't keep all the ladies waiting only to come back without a nose, right? That Trinil girl seems like a keeper though, might not mind the loss of a nose..." Dario murmurs on a bit, his back to Joran to keep the man from seeing the big grin on his face. Young love was adorable and humans were so bad at it. Scheduling in the Hold left limited time to courtship and while there were certainly pretty dwarves, none of them were in his part of the forge. A terrible shame.
With his arms crossed, Joran shrugs at the back of the gunslinger as he kicks at nothing on the ground. He cuts his eyes over at the 'slinger and notices he's busy with something so Joran continues the conversation under his breath - and pretty much to himself - while looking at the nearest wall. "Yeah she's alright. She's kind of cute and all, I guess. I mean, if you like that kind of gal. And I, well, you know, I...," he pauses, clearing his throat. He then rubs his nose, kicks some other invisible object(apparently there are several of those lying around) and clears his throat again. "Not really sure why you're even mentioning her!" he exclaims in his continued quiet voice, looking rather annoyed at said wall while unaware of his slightly, red-tinged face. "I mean, it's not like I mentioned her or anything. That's just crazy," he concludes, hoping the gunslinger is too busy with the task at hand to really pay any heed to him as he finds himself completely out of his element with the content of this conversation - a conversation, mind you, that he's having mainly with himself.
Dario and Yasami chatted while everyone else settled down for sleep. Something about camping out indoors reminded Dario of home, but he wasn’t one to let his guard down easily, and he kept a wary ear open, despite the pleasant company.
As the night deepened, he thought he heard a sound from the western room, and Rocco and Shadow confirmed his suspicions by suddenly waking, ears perked up. Holding a finger up to silence Yasami, he moved over to listen at the impressively barricaded door – not especially worried about invaders, but curious. The sound was incredibly high pitched, followed by a whooshing sound…then all was quiet. He waited, but didn’t hear the sound again. Other than the occasional squeak from the large rats to the north, he didn’t hear anything else odd for the remainder of their watch.
Before shutting down for the night, Joran takes off his armor and sets it down next to his bedroll. Looking to Yasami and Dario, "Can't really sleep in that. My clothing I can sleep in, no problem - I'm not going to tell you what I normally sleep in," he winks, "but I have a hard time sleeping in armor. If I'm forced to then I will but if I don't have to then I ain't," he states matter of factly. "Okay, you two, don't forget to wake me," he says with a yawn and turns in.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
While sitting up against the wall with his feet crossed and wearing a shirt that defines his physique perfectly, Joran rummages through his pack before pulling out a few rations and starts to munch on them casually. Looking over at his fellow big man, "So, Oren my man, what's your story? What brought you to our quaint little town of Breachill?" he asks, tearing off some jerky with his teeth with utter ease before grinning. (Weirdly enough it's been rumored around town that even Joran's teeth have muscles).
Lisi gives a smile that looks like it's about to slide off his face as Yasami cuddles with the wargs, and goes to lay down by himself...all for the better, as puppies tend to stretch and kick, and that would probably cause him to lose his lunch again.
"Guba, tomorrow you'll be purifying air. We really should have set that up yesterday--would have been good for the fire."
He settles down, a bit painfully, on his bedroll. Guba watches faithfully for a while, then becomes as immobile as a (nonanimant) plant.
It's something of a story. Ever since I could remember, I've had a nightmare that would occur every so often. All around me,a terrible fire was burning. At first, I didn't think anything of it, but when it proved to be a regular thing, my parents took me to a priest to try and interpret the dream. He believed that these dreams were connected to Dahak, the god of evil dragons. And I received a particularly vivid dream when I became an adult. I saw Breachill burned to the ground, without a single survivor. He pauses and from the seriousness of his expression, it's clear that he was still haunted by such a dream.
"I could not let that happened, so I trained myself to fight with the strength of a dragon, in order to turn that power against them. When the call went out this year, I prayed that I was not too late and if the fire this morning was any indication, I was right on time. I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I am certain that it has to do with my dreams and Dahak somehow."
Oren chuckles. "It's strange now that I think of it, doing all this for a group of people I've never met. But isn't that what heroes do?
As Oren and Joran kept watch, there was a distant, dull THUMP from something exploding. It seemed to come from somewhere to the south, within the unexplored sections of the keep. Both men listened, but did not hear anything further.
Lisi opens his eyes blearily, wishing for more sleep, not saying anything to his familiar, nor to Cev and Caiten. He wiggles his fingers, though, and senses that he feels a little better.
Quietly, he sips a little water from his skin and swishes it around his mouth experimentally, holding it on his tongue.
He loved his time of gratitude every day. He loved letting Yuelral know how blessed he felt to be in her service, to be accepted, even as a half-elf.
"Caiten, you must have been blessed by Yuelral too my friend, your handiwork is like many of my brothers at the temple. Astounding."
Keeping watch
Caiten takes his post at watch after a reasonably restful night of sleep.
"Sulee, we should at least plan what abilities to give you today. And my list of spells. I am hoping to be better prepared for battle today than I was yesterday."
"I am strongly considering Tremorsense since we are going around in closed and winding passageways. Spell Delivery would also be useful since many of these allies love to charge into combat."
"Tremorsense would be good, but it wouldn't do much if I can't tell you what I am sensing. And I like charging into the thick of battle to deliver spells even less than you do. So I would rather keep Speech than Spell Delivery."
"So what are you thinking of for spells?"
"I'm hoping to coordinate that with the other two spellcasters. Especially Cevendyll since we share a magical tradition."
"So what do you think Cevendyll, care to discuss spell selection with me? Really only one of the three of us needs Detect Magic. Light as well. I am definitely keeping Shield - that probably saved my life yesterday. I also like Guidance and Forbidding Ward. But I am wanting at least one of the damage cantrips too. What do you have planned?"
"Similarly for the spell slot spells. Cev, you have a lot of Healing magic. With that and the potions that Joran has, will that be sufficient? I don't like having all of our healing tied into one person. If that one person is the one that gets dropped, it will be more difficult to get them back on their feet again. I am certainly taking one copy of Magic Weapon. I am debating the other slot between Heal and another copy of Magic Weapon. I don't have all that much of a selection of spells yet."
"Caiten, you must have been blessed by Yuelral too my friend, your handiwork is like many of my brothers at the temple. Astounding."
"I appreciate the praise. Thank you."
"I'm hoping to coordinate that with the other two spellcasters. Especially Cevendyll since we share a magical tradition."
"So what do you think Cevendyll, care to discuss spell selection with me? Really only one of the three of us needs Detect Magic. Light as well. I am definitely keeping Shield - that probably saved my life yesterday. I also like Guidance and Forbidding Ward. But I am wanting at least one of the damage cantrips too. What do you have planned?"
"Similarly for the spell slot spells. Cev, you have a lot of Healing magic. With that and the potions that Joran has, will that be sufficient? I don't like having all of our healing tied into one person. If that one person is the one that gets dropped, it will be more difficult to get them back on their feet again. I am certainly taking one copy of Magic Weapon. I am debating the other slot between Heal and another copy of Magic Weapon. I don't have all that much of a selection of spells yet."
"Planning makes sense, but as you know, magic sometimes works better and sometimes not for each caster. I think 2 instances of Detect Magic is a good backup. With Light ... I am hard pressed to disagree, but, this is a large place. As we saw when we met the pups, Sulee the Torchbearer will sometimes need to stay with one segment of the group, and I can take myself and my healing with Oren & Joran ('cause they're never borin')."
Cev pauses a sec
"and because of that, I asked the goddess for a much more damaging spell as well, Admonishing Ray. It is only battering damage, but my hope is, when we meet the Bumblebrashers, it will help us. I will also leave Command; given that I speak Goblin, it may also be of use."
"Without Manual Dexterity, I will have a lot more difficulty carrying the light around. Perhaps I could wear something that has light on it though. And I keep trying to get Caiten to try out Command, but he hasn't ever used it yet."
"I haven't yet felt the need to compel someone to do something. It also has such a short duration, it just doesn't feel worth it. Though with the dissatisfaction I had with Bless, I may give it a try in combat at some point. And are you sure that I can't use 'autodefenestrate' as the commanded action?"
Sulee chuckles. "Quite sure, sorry."
It's something of a story. Ever since I could remember, I've had a nightmare that would occur every so often. All around me, a terrible fire was burning. At first, I didn't think anything of it, but when it proved to be a regular thing, my parents took me to a priest to try and interpret the dream. He believed that these dreams were connected to Dahak, the god of evil dragons. And I received a particularly vivid dream when I became an adult. I saw Breachill burned to the ground, without a single survivor. He pauses and from the seriousness of his expression, it's clear that he was still haunted by such a dream.
"I could not let that happened, so I trained myself to fight with the strength of a dragon, in order to turn that power against them. When the call went out this year, I prayed that I was not too late and if the fire this morning was any indication, I was right on time. I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I am certain that it has to do with my dreams and Dahak somehow."
Oren chuckles. "It's strange now that I think of it, doing all this for a group of people I've never met. But isn't that what heroes do?
Joran chews the jerky even slower as he listens to the tale. Taking a deep breath as it ends, "Wow. That's... that is something. And here I am joining because I finally remembered too. Wow," he repeats, shaking his head in disbelief. "Good thing it's only a dream. Well, a nightmare I guess. Those aren't true, right? I hope not anyway," he says, pondering the horrible thought of Breachill burning as he instinctively takes another bite. "Anyway, for your sake, my friend, hopefully through all of this, one way or another we can bring an end to such a nightmare."
"And yes, it is what heroes do, buddy," he states somewhat solemnly, tearing off another piece as he loses himself in thought.
Lisi carefully drinks a bit of water. He still feels a little queasy, but it's different than it was -- after a day of emptying his stomach, he's entered that pesky realm of being so hungry he feels ill. A bit of food should settle him, and the bite from that creature would be nothing but an unpleasant memory.
Seeing him wake, Shadow rises from where she was snuggled beside Yasami, stretches back on her haunches, and pitter patters over to to the druid. Rocco remains, lying on her back, legs in the air all akimbo. Shadow sits beside Lisi and bares her teeth, 'smiling'. "Happy."
The final watch passes uneventfully, but for a brief bit of noise in the western room. It's just enough to wake Rocco and set both pups to sniffing under the door frame again -- a faint whooshing sound, and some brief sounds nearly too high for humanoid hearing, though Caiten would be able to read their frequency as being similar to that of a dog whistle.
Dario tries his absolute best to not show surprise that the compliment found any sort of landing before he sits on a pile of leftover woods from Caiten's incredible woodworking skills. The two warg puppies wrestle by their feet, biting and complaining until an impossible tangle of puppy limbs is decided to be what is best. The rest of the room begins to finally grow quieter as the rush of the day finally takes its toll on everyone. Lisi coughs one more time before rolling into a feverish sleep.
"Much obliged and please...call me Dario. Mister Zuz was my forge mentor." Dario says with a smirk, taking a swig from the waterskin and enjoying the mixed taste of water with that hint of wine. It was better than the taste of battle, stale air, and exertion that had made home upon his tongue. "Back in the Mana Wastes, you could see these storms coming. Thousands of feet in the air, a moving castle wall. We called in 'nagyszerű homok'; the great sand. For days, it would be night outside as it passed. Thankfully, we lived mostly underground." Dario admired her as she lifted her wounded leg for as long as he could civily get away with before giving a chuckle and a shrug as her jesting offer to be a subject. "Well, gunpowder already had its way with me Yasami. I doubt you could make me look worse."
When she mentioned his firearm, he would quickly retrieve it from the holster with a practiced grace. Like a dancer, it was almost muscle memory to be able to retrieve it however he laid. The beautiful, polished steel with the wooden grip shined lightly in the glowstick's light. A symbol was right at the base of the grip, one that his thumb slipped over.
"In the Mana Wastes, magic fails regularly or behaves irregularly. You can't rely on it at all. The dwarves who took me in live in a place called Dongun Hold. The whole place is a dead zone for magic so they needed to craft new defenses; gunpowder." He would take one of the cartridges and rip it open with his teeth, revealing the black...
"Dario it is. Now that we are pofficially introducing ourselves, Yasamina Risva.", she offers a handshake. She listens to Dario's tales from the Mana Wastes, and then they get to the firearm discussion.
"Oh, so it's like a ship cannon. Just smaller. Okay...", she looks at the weapon nervously, and moves the unlit torches and the flint further away from the vicinity - ever so slightly, just to be sure. When offered to help with the cleaning, she looks hesitant. "Maybe another time - in better light. I appreciate the trust, though. Especially after what you just said about your relationship with the weapon. I wouldn't want to damage it."
She smiles and gives Dario's scars a brief look. "And don't worry about scarring. Each one is a story to tell. Unless you cut yourself in the kitchen or something, but you don't strike me as a clumsy person, especially with that swift unholstering.", she gives him a smile.
"Tell you what - next time we're in town and have some time, we go for drinks. And we will tell some lovely ladies some of your tales. I'll be your wingman. What do you say?"
Lisi scritches Shadow behind the ears. "Happy," he whispers.
He thinks about rats, big ones, for a bit.
He quietly observes the chat between Cev and Caiten.
"I'm not sure I'll find berries in the keep," he remarks. "But there's a breach in the wall by that turtle thing, isn't there. Perhaps I can look for a bit."
Stretching, he goes to forage for a few minutes.
As people start waking up in the morning, Caiten starts the process of reconfiguring his own and Sulee's magical abilities. "Yes, I think that will work. Some save-based magical attacks would be useful since they still do some damage even if my aim isn't perfect. I have seen how effectively enemies can dodge even area attacks. That does mean dropping Stabilize, Light, and Forbidding Ward though."
"For you, Sulee, I'll leave you with Speech - I know how much you hate not being able to talk - and add Tremorsense. Though as you noticed, that means that you will lose Manual Dexterity."
Speech
Tremorsense: 30 foot range, imprecise sense of things moving
Hexes
Stoke the Heart
Phase Familiar
Cantrips
Shield
Guidance
Daze
Haunting Hymn
Detect Magic
1st
Magic Weapon
Magic Weapon
Shadow waits with the others as you go seeking berries. It's a cool, clear morning, dawn just starting to break. The citadel towers above you, and you make a note not to wander far -- and to keep a wary eye out for hunting warg mothers. It doesn't take you long, though, to find a handful of suitable berries, and you return without incident.
Joran chews the jerky even slower as he listens to the tale. Taking a deep breath as it ends, "Wow. That's... that is something. And here I am joining because I finally remembered too. Wow," he repeats, shaking his head in disbelief. "Good thing it's only a dream. Well, a nightmare I guess. Those aren't true, right? I hope not anyway," he says, pondering the horrible thought of Breachill burning as he instinctively takes another bite. "Anyway, for your sake, my friend, hopefully through all of this, one way or another we can bring an end to such a nightmare."It's something of a story. Ever since I could remember, I've had a nightmare that would occur every so often. All around me, a terrible fire was burning. At first, I didn't think anything of it, but when it proved to be a regular thing, my parents took me to a priest to try and interpret the dream. He believed that these dreams were connected to Dahak, the god of evil dragons. And I received a particularly vivid dream when I became an adult. I saw Breachill burned to the ground, without a single survivor. He pauses and from the seriousness of his expression, it's clear that he was still haunted by such a dream.
"I could not let that happened, so I trained myself to fight with the strength of a dragon, in order to turn that power against them. When the call went out this year, I prayed that I was not too late and if the fire this morning was any indication, I was right on time. I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I am certain that it has to do with my dreams and Dahak somehow."
Oren chuckles. "It's strange now that I think of it, doing all this for a group of people I've never met. But isn't that what heroes do?
"I feel confident that the dreams will end. I trust that by being part of a group of heroes like this, we will be able to prevent what happened in the dream from happening in Breachill."
Oren wakes up in more or less the same condition that he was in when he went to sleep, although his clothes look worn in since he didn't exactly get the chance to change before going to bed.
"I know that we have already made a plan for which room we're going in next, but last night Joran and I heard a loud noise coming from the south, as if something had exploded. I think that it might be a good idea to head that way once we have dealt with whatever is in the next room."
"Interesting."
"I think Goblins often use fire and explosives. Perhaps it was them."
"Also, I heard a very high-pitched shrill sound during my watch coming from this room to the West. Did anyone else hear anything of note?"
Dario takes Yasami by the hand with a firm handshake. When she moves the torch a little bit away, Dario grins and gives just a little nod.
"You can't be too safe. The wax here keeps it from accidentally firing though. You mess up the preparation once and then never again." Popping the gun open, he takes a little vial of oil and begins to apply it with meticulous care upon it. The scent fills the space between them as he cleans the little bit of fouling that had began to accumulate, wiping it away as he talks. "Very much like a ship cannon, albeit skipping some steps. Doesn't take a team to fire this well. You don't need to worry though, you'd need to focus on breaking this dwarven craftmanship to really to. You wouldn't break my heart like that, would you?" Dario teased for a moment before the topic moved to his scars. He ran his hand over the side of his face, feeling the stiff and and twisted skin there before giving a shrug.
"I was a dumb boy, trying to rush ahead. Gunpowder got in the forge. I was lucky just to carry this. Got a lot more cautious and quick later on." Dario says with a smirk. The pistol was easy to clean and lubricate before he snapped the pieces back into perfect place. Holstering it away, he would ruminate on her offer before giving a laugh. "That so? Maybe...I'm like a dog chasing a squirrel. Wouldn't know what to do if I ended up actually talking like that with a lady. I.." Dario laughed, shaking his head softly. "...I would start barfights to stop a lady from pursuing me. Get myself tossed out a window so I didn't need to tell her that I'm leaving the next day."
"What the hell, we'll give it a try. Any man give you lip and I'll give them a twirl of the ol' cannon, eh?" Dario says with a wink from behind his glasses. It was then that his attention lifted for a moment, catching a strange sound from the door where the rats weren't. Quietly, he approached and listened to the strange whooshing noise that seemed to come from the other side. Maybe there was a break in the masonry and wind was blowing through. The sound vanished and he gave a shrug back to Yasami.
"I heard something like that as well Caiten." Dario offered as he packed up his little encampment once again. "There was this wooshing noise as well. Like...wings...or wind? Hard to tell." Dario said softly, rubbing his chin as he checked his blade and firearm once more. "We all ready to go?"
Caiten grabs his bow, tests the draw on it, and double-checks the rest of his gear. "I am prepared. Sulee, please check both of these two doors and see if you can sense anything on the other side."
Caiten also goes and opens the East door to the previous room. "I don't want to get trapped in this room."
"On it."
"So...I think Yasami asked me about rats? Rats are bearers of disease...don't be unlucky like I was yesterday."
Lisi makes sure to choose some non edible berries as well.
"Now, Rocco, Shadow, can you tell which of these are poisonous, and which are edible, just by sniffing them?"
Yasamina wakes up after a -surprisingly- uninterrupted sleep. She stretches her arms and calves for a moment, and starts packing up her things. When packing her backpack, she seems to be looking for something, and then the realisation dawns on her. She looks at Caiten, and walks over to point our her chime belt. "Caiten, do you still need the chimes?", she doesn't touch it just yet. "Will I set something off, if I pick it up? I'm a bit lost when it comes to these things."
When it is obvious that Lisitsei is done with his rituals, she walks over to the half-elf. "Did you sleep well? Feeling better?"
Fireday, Arodus 2, 4719 AR
The group woke up gradually, stretching after a night on the hard floor. Most of you were accustomed to beds, of late. Caiten opens the eastern door as Lisi is returning from foraging for berries, an excited pair of pups curious to see what the druid carries. At his question, the pups sniff at the small red fruits. Rocco sneezes. "Not food." Wargs, it seemed, were not fans of berries. Shadow took the time to sniff both kinds, however, and cocked her head to the side questioningly. "Different." She could tell them apart, but didn't know which ones were poisonous.
Sulee stood perfectly still, closing her eyes and feeling for vibrations. She takes a moment to calibrate herself, ignoring the movements of the party.
"Will I set something off, if I pick it up? I'm a bit lost when it comes to these things."
"Ah, yes it is always good to check. But no, the spell would have expired a couple of hours ago." Caiten hands the chime belt back.
"I think those rats are still there through this north door. Probably about three of them. It is a bit hard to tell."
"Good to know. OK, Sulee. Let's get you out of danger before we open any of these doors." Sulee heads back to Caiten and he picks her up and sets her on top of her satchel.
"Joran, Oren, would one of you like to do the honors of breaking down the barricades?"
Dario sets the wide-brimmed hat over the mess of blonde hair, adjusting the strapped glasses, and gave his knife and pistol a twirl. Silently, he gave the others a nod and moved defensively behind the big men.
As he dons his armor, "Oren's right. I heard it too. My guess is it won't be too long before we find out what it was ... whether we like it or not."
Finishing up with his armor, Joran pulls out his greatpick. "Okay. You all ready? Here goes nothing." Joran then kicks the door open and readies himself for the rats.
Oren quickly pulls his maul out as Joran kicks at the door.
Caiten readies an action to fire an arrow at the first rat seen.
Cevendyl smiles and turns to Shadow & Rocco
"Girls, it's time to hunt! When the door opens, the Dirty Prey will be there and try to attack all of us."
"They are bad and we cannot let them escape."
He pulls out 2 daggers and gets ready ...
Block 1: Joran
Block 2: Rats 1 and 3
Block 3: Yasami, Caiten, Cev, Oren, Lisi, and Dario
Block 4: Rat 2
With everyone preparing, Joran does what he does best and destroys the hinges of another door. Three giant rats are startled by the sudden movement.
Lisi takes time to choose appropriate spells and focuses calmly as something like large furled flowers appear on Guba's shoulders and head.
"And don't let them bite you, Rocco and Shadow. They'll make you sick. Just bark and hang back if you need to."
Caiten, seeing rat #1 fires his shot.
"Hmm... I may invest in a longer range bow.
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As soon as he kicks in the door, Joran quickly catches sight of the rats and steps forward to bring his pick down on the one in front of him.
Driving it deep into the eye of the disgusting vermin, Joran steps back to the others, smiling in grand fashion. "Oh yeah! I love the smell of winning in the morning!"
Joran aerates the skull of the first rat he sees, dropping it instantly. The two surviving rats, foaming at the mouth and hungry after a long night of smelling you and your food from under the door, move into the room to attack, and Oren is the nearest target.
The first of the rats tries to sink its teeth into Oren's leg...
The rat digs its long, rotten teeth into Oren's leg, finding an opening in his armor and biting down hard, twice. The second rat lunges forward as well, leaping and trying to bite Oren's arm...
...but it's unable to find purchase.
Oren rages, covering his maul once again with red fire! He brings it down upon the rat that bit him in the leg.
Then he takes a step back so that he's not engaged with two rats at once.