Caydee busies herself sorting the gold.
"Id take a giant tah force this door open."
"Err we plannin on goin in?"
"Yah wants tah camp here?"
"Well, the diplomacy of that situation is OK for now. I think this place is a bit more interesting."
"If we camp here an they come out from ahind tha door, they push us intah tha chasm.....If we go back we ave tah cross tha ropes again. I am not happy with either prospect."
The doors form a tight seal together.....
knowledge dungoneering
DC 15
Likely made by dwarves....
"Who's taking first watch?"
The night passes without incident, which seems both unsettling and reasuring.....
Fubar make a strength check...we can modify after the spell takes effect!
Others may also make checks or aid another action to add a +2 to Fubar's roll!
Strength check
The door groans!
More groaning to go with the grunting and exertions...
Beads of sweat roll off Fubar's head!
WIth a heavy snap the wooden bar behind the door gives, Fubar falls heavily forward.....
A 20 foot long hallway goes and opens into a larger cavern that has several side passages...
This chamber is a natural cave with carefully snoothed walls and floor. Wet stone gleams, and you can discern at least four exits leading off into darkness. Red coals glow in the darkness of the far right-handed passageway, and a crude wooden cage bars the closer right-handed passageway. The room is littered with orcish sleeping furs, loot and rubbish.
The small cave to the right…..
A row of rough hewn sapling trunks forms a crude but servicable cage across the mouth of this small cave. A door locked with an iron padlock secures the room. Inside you see two filthy prisoners dressed in tattered rags, crowding close to the door. ”Thank Yondalla!” the first one cries out, ”We are rescued!” adds the second.
The men are dirty and obviously malnourished!
Caydee motions for them to be silent, setting an arrow on her bowstring but not drawing it back. "I doubt we're alone here," she whispers to her companions. "So, how do we free these people without getting slaughtered by orcs?"
Well, if we don't give the alarm out by now, they would. Surely bashing the door down would have brought them upon us, unless they're waiting there, silently. Hmm.
"What are yah doin here?"
"We are trapers out of Camlin."
Fubar takes out his hand axe and begins tackling the process of freeing the trappers the only way he knows how.
"Mind yer hands an fingers!"
Caydee also keeps an eye on the entrances.
Fubar makes short work of the cage holding the men.
"Please get us back to Camlin we can reward you for our release, and food of course."
"We thought they were going to eat us!"
"Let us hurry out of here!"
What hints? I am currently using the "forge of fury" module, it is just designed that way!
How'd you get caught in the first place? Here, you can have some of my rations if you've need of any.
"City and then back to the Iron Man gorge to investigate further... that sounds like a workable plan."
The trip back to town is uneventful, with a few snow flurries here and there once you arrive and give a full report, you find that there seems to be some tension, as several disgruntled men are camped around a large wagon with a tarp atop it.
A score of men have made camp and lit camp fires right in town. They look very determined. They are armed with spears, swords and shortbows.
"Whoer you?"
asks the first man who notices your approach....
"We were a bunch o merc hired by Lord Rector Hiraam Covaut..."
The man's voice drips with saracasm at the man's name...
"He said hed pay us well tah help brings this thing here, an then he says complications an we ave went unpaid fer our troubles, so were selling this heap o junk tah tha highest bidder."
"Certainly yer money es good here. It is parts o a giant metal man they found inna gorge a bit from here. Unfortunately tha gorge collapsed when was tried tah gets tha thing out an the golem o whatever it was was broke intah bits. These are tha bits we loaded up."
".....We err owed bout 250 gold an we will not take a copper less!"
Sense motive DC 16
The man and his fellows were recruited from the South and are tired of the winter, though they are not leaving without some pay....
DC 22
The man's hesitation indicates a lack of bids...
The two men you returned are grateful and their families come out to thank you personally, you each obtain a potion of cure moderate wounds.
Seeing as Ahz is dealing with the mercs with few troubles, Caydee hangs back a few paces and tries to judge the sellers' honesty. She also eyes the pieces of golem, curious.
"I got 375 gold off o some ogres an ken pay tha as in full so yeh ken get away."
The men accept the payment as offered by Azh and Fubar only then packing themselves and their ugly yellow dogs into a wagon and heading out of town.
It seems lord high and mighty fell on some rough times over the adventure with the metal man.
Karrg attempts to stand off to the side of you and the townsfolk seem releved the men are leaving but distant from the yeti.
"Would you be able to figure anything out from this pieces of broken golem, Ahz, or if not, would anyone we know?"
"Mayhap those men we saved ken unload an sort through this cart, at their homes an we can examine it in smaller peices than in tha wagon. I think tha wives would like ther husbands home fer a bit!"
"Ken we ask round town fer someone whos known how tah make a Yeti talk?"
"I'd think reaching the tengu might be a bit hard- and they didn't seem too distraught about losing these pieces. They have theirs. We could haul it back to the cave (revisiting might give us more leads) or we could just go back and leave these in a safe place."
"Tha caves fer sure tah give more loot an might even be other hostages in need o freein!"
"Should we spend a day o two relaxin at tha bearded elf, I would like tah soak mah feet, an tha cave is not goin anywhere."