With the goblins defeated, the cavern slips back into an uneasy silence. The only sound immediately striking to any of them is the noise of the detained men in the front chamber as they roll about in their restraints and moan through the gags in their mouths, trying to get Aoe's attention.
The cavern is clearly vacated as the party begins to look around. Any goblins that didn't die in the conflict fled the cave somehow. The only one of their group that is left alive is the bugbear, but he is silently snoozing after getting pummeled.
Shavaris finds another chamber off to the right, down the hall decimated by Kerwyn's shout.
Everywhere the band looks there are crates, chests, and various other stores that can be explored and searched, though it's hard to say what is in any of them.
As the group continues to verify all the enemies have been taken care of, Shavaris asks Johnathan if he wants to send Echo down the odd holes in the floor to see what is down there? She then continues to the last chamber that has yet to be checked out.
Baring no more goblins or bugbears, she then starts going through all the tents and chests, basically raiding all the areas of any coin or loot she can find. She knows they are planning on hitting a port before they leave, and will probably need this coin to garner passage to Eternia. She calls back to the rest, "Make sure all the tents are checked! Oh, and we should probably find out more from the soldiers in the front tent. Aoe, can you go talk with them? Thanks!"
She does not shout out if Ralik is not taking care of the bugbear. if he is still laying there unattended, she will go there first and tie him up.
Aoe’s minor illusion vanishes after the 11th round, revealing a curled up elf in a crunched hiding form.
realizing the cart disappeared, Aoe stands up straight and brushes out the kinks is his fine clothes.
“inspiring performance! Truly, an inspiring performance. Now… where were we…” Aoe looks about, then sits down on a crate to begin ritual casting detect magic.
When the casting is finished (10.1 minutes) Aoe guides himself then begins walking about the cave, cautious of possible traps but more so for the appearance of magical items of secret entrances.
”there once was a guard-i-an land,
and there rose a mighty dark band,
they drove back the gobbling force,
and turned north to mission and course…
Hail the dawn guard, see how they ride!
Protecting the realm, ou-r hylian pride!”
Aoe sings whatever comes to his mind, looking about at the dead bodies and citrus strewn about. He is sure the others will find most of the valuables;, and surely someone will help the prisoners, for now, his mission is to seek the most interesting of trinkets, to find perhaps a proverbial diamond in the rough.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
After looking in the tents in the area Johnathan will return to the ground. He looks at the bugbear on the ground. Let’s hope he actually can give us information. He may know where other agents of darkness lurk. He hears Shavaris suggest sending echo into the holes in the ground. Sure, I can send him. The danger seems to have past. Johnathan will sit down on the ground and meditate as he transfers his consciousness to echo. As echo, he will explore the holes to see where they lead. Perception for echo: 17
Kerwyn dusts himself off after the battle, puts his glaive in its holder at his side and walks further southeast, looking through the goblin’s cave and each of the areas and he sees the hole in the floor, awaits the report from what Echo has seen. Holding the great sword before him and using the light on its tip, he continues to walk around to the north west and the leftward passage that they never examined. “Let’s make absolutely sure that no one else is in here.” Any time he sees a chest or basket or anything interesting as he walks along, he bends over and opens it up. After he looks up the westward passage he comes back to the presumed prisoner cell at the front, to see if they have awakened.
”Ralik, that was a neat trick you were doing with that darkness. I couldn’t see a damn thing around you. Johnathan, are you getting hungry?”
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A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
With the battle over, Ralik releases concentration on his Darkness spell and sheaths his weapons. He takes out some silk rope and ties up the bugbear, its arms behind its back tied to the body, a strand goes down to the feet where the ankles are then wrapped. He ties a knot at the base of the feet leaving some rope to use for dragging. With a huff he drags the unconscious thing with him into the room where the captives are.
"On it." He replies to Shavaris as he drags along the knocked out and tied bugbear.
He leaves the bugbear close to a pole that he uses to tie the remaining rope to. Ralik does some post combat stretches, squats, and pulls out some water and food which he sets on the ground. Then he pulls out a dagger and looks to the captives.
"Quite the bind you find yourselves in, but you'll be alright now." He says as he begins to cut the bindings free. "What happened to you all"
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Drow enthusiast Lover of lore and magic. -The White Crow-
Searching the tents reveals a great number of things. Dawn Guard finds-
1) 68 GP each 2) 1x Medallion of Thoughts 3) 10x +1 Arrows 4) 1x Pot of Awakening 5) 1x Spell Scroll (Cantrip) 6) 1x Potion of Climbing 7) 1x Moon Touched Shortsword 8) 50 GP worth of Sardonyx gemstones 9) 25 GP worth embroidered silk handkerchief 10) 25 GP worth silver ewer
__________
Echo flies down into one of the holes, and it's immediately clear that all of the holes are connected to the same vast opening in the cave system that lays below the caverns they currently occupy. Blue and green biolluminescent life clings to the walls, lighting the sparkling cavern enough that it's very easy to see. A few rope ladders are leading down into the dark, and the cave stretches in several directions leading away from their current location. Some of the tunnels lead deeper under the mountains, while some lead off toward the Ivory Tower, and other's toward the Doom Desert and Nockmaar Valley. The room that Echo first flies into is probably two hundred feet high, and many of the tunnels are from twenty to fifty feet in height. They are ancient, cyclopean in vastness. Johnathan feels a sort of dread as it pits in his stomach, but it is quickly gone.
There are no signs of life, at least not immediately, save for the glowing things on the walls.
A cursory examination of one of the tunnels reveals that there is a minecart, old and rusty and decadent, and that the cavern most likely goes on for miles and miles and miles...
__________
Kerwyn's examination of the cavern system reveals nothing; there are no more living beings, save for the two soldiers that were taken prisoner, and the Bugbear.
__________
One of the men, a dirty fellow who was looking quite scraggly and disheveled, sits up as Ralik cuts him loose, and spits some hay out of his mouth. The smell hits Ralik immediately; this guy has been subdued like this for a long time.
"Those bastards set upon us...I don't know how long ago...when we were on a reconascaince patrol moving through here toward Nockmaar Valley." He said, rubbing the feeling back into his wrists as Ralik cut his partner loose. "The Ivory Infantry was interested in activity near the north end of the Nockmaar Pass. Atreyu tasked our Captain with getting someone up here to check it out and to disrupt it if necessary. And then we run into these goblins and they've had us held ever since. No idea what the devil they were about or why. Never spoke a word to us. Just...kept us tied up. Our fellows should be on after us any day now, I imagine. I hope at least."
As the man talked, Ralik squats and listens while taking a drink of water, and offering it. Then he takes out a small flask of fire water out and offers that as well. The man had been through a lot, Ralik kept that in mind while accepting the bad breath with a bit of a grin. Some things weren't adding up though. Why were the goblins stationed here? The captives didn't seem too tortured or put on display. Ralik felt this was too organized.
"Well you're safe now brother. You did good to survive this long. We are a group of chosen sent by the Child-like one on a mission. Lucky our travels brought us here. I captured the bugbear leader, we can ask him more about where they are stationed here and what the plans are. I feel this band is not working alone. Just a suspicion." He says with a small swig of water. "We are heading north. Maybe you can accompany us or you can go back to report, up to you." Ralik ends wiping off his mouth.
He gets up and heads over to the tied bugbear, leaving the men to decide what to do next while they get themselves freed and comfortable. Ralik pulls out his sword and holds it to his forehead with eyes closed and speaks a word. He feels an ebb of magical energy invigorate his mind, then sheathes the weapon and jostles the bugbear until it wakes. Ralik pulls out his sword and a a water skin, looks down to the bugbear and says "You have to choices. Talk to me, drink, and live." he emphasizes with a motion of the water skin "Or struggle and die slowly. Very slowly." He motions with the sword. "What is your name?" Ralik asks sheathing the sword and getting the water ready as a reward before the thing can reply.
Johnathan relays the information that he sees in the holes and will summon echo back into his pocket. It looks like there is a deep underground network that leads to many locations. It seems to go to the underdark as one of them. Johnathan gives a concerned look to the rest of the band. Do these creatures have access to the entire island? They don’t seem smart enough to do something like this by themselves. He looks over Ralik talking to the bugbear. He is way too soft. He is offering the monster a drink and saying we will spare it? We should beat it till it talks. Has he forgotten that this THING serves the lord of darkness? His kind is the very reason why a unicorn was slain.
At this final thought Johnathan has a vision of that very day. He remembers the goblins surrounding the unicorn. He can hear them shouting and cheering as they stole its horn. He sees soldiers dying all around him trying to get to the unicorn in time. That was when he saw the other mare taking off in the woods. Next thing he knows he is running in the woods, desperately trying to catch up to the mare. But he was slow, powerless. He couldn’t do anything to help. He was in the woods, surrounded by thick darkness. He had now idea where he was. And then he heard it, the laughter. That voice still shakes his by core, he’ll never forge it.
Johnathan returns to the present. It seemed he drifted off again. He looks down to see his fists white as he clenches them tightly. He feel his blood start to boil and he can sense his teeth about to extend. He holds them back, but he knew he was losing it. He turns to Ralik, Talk to this thing if you must, let me know if you want help in getting it to talk. Johnathan leaves the room and waits nearby the soldiers.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Shavaris, happy with the amount of loot they have collected, walks over to where Ralik is talking with the prisoners. She sits down and listens as he talks and cuts their ties. It appears as though what they say is true, and if that's so, that Atreyu sent them - they need to do what they can to help them. Still..
Insight 17 (Passive 16)
Johnathan heads over and tells them what Echo had seen, she nods and says, "Yeah, lets not get lost in that tunnel of madness, we have a job to do. And now that we have more funds, lets head to the port city and see what we can get there to cross the sea." Standing up, she talks with Kerwyn, "So, I'm happy to carry all this lovely loot, but well, talk around camp is you can't trust a rogue, so do you want to hold onto it till we can either divvy or sell it? I took my gold pieces share, but what do you think?"
Once that is settled she sees Ralik with the bugbear, she stands by him, looking at the bugbear she starts cleaning her rapiers. "How long do you think this is going to take?"she asks Ralik while staring down the bugbear, "it would be good to keep moving."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Kerwyn finishes looking about, observes the captives and their release, and then hears about the tunnel system underground. "That could be handy. I wonder what lies below? We should remember this place. Maybe there is another underground world, in parallel with our own." Then he nods to Shavaris, "Sure, I'll hold onto the loot. Has he made that bugbear talk yet?"
Kerwyn takes some deep breaths, activating his second wind ability for 8 hit points.
"We need to get back and report." The soldier said, picking straw out of his hair. "We appreciate your offer though. Hopefully we can meet up with the rest of our team soon."
The Bugbear's demeanor changes completely when Ralik rouses it. It shifts, getting to its knees, but not daring rise. Gone is the fearsome warrior that had stood against the invaders in magical darkness; now it cowers, completely defeated, never rising above a kneeling position. It doesn't even struggle against the binds that keep its hands restrained behind its back. It's eyes remain on the floor, downcast, its ears tilted back in fear. It doesn't raise its head to drink and is clearly defeated, unwilling to meet the gaze of its better or his offering.
"Them. Spies." The Bugbear says, struggling to speak a broken sort of common. "Them. Hunt us. Us, catch them, so don't hurt them, don't hurt us."
It takes a moment, chewing air while it deciphers the question it has been asked and then formulates an answer.
"Ghomkk." It, he, says, giving his name. He doesn't seem to be lying. "Self. Ghomkk."
It cowers back when Johnathan approaches and offers assistance to Ralik. It isn't being aggressive. It almost becomes upset when Shavaris begins cleaning her rapiers in front of it.
"Ghomkk wif gobkin, want. Be. Home."
Ghomkk side eyes the growing crowd around him, white, wet eyes rolling from band member to band member. He is afraid.
Shavaris watches as the bugbear becomes increasingly frightened. She turns her attention from it to the freed prisoners..there are now three of them? Where did the third, woman, come from? She looks around and is about to ask Ralik about it when she looks again there are just two as before. Wow, she thinks, I must be losing it. Must be a lingering affect of that darkness or something.
She decides that she really isn't interested in a he said, he said, or was there a she as well? She shakes her head, she needs some air. She says quietly, "I am going out to get some air, deal with the situation as you all see fit, doesn't matter to me either way. Just be quick about it as we need to get moving." and she sheaths her rapiers and heads out the entrance of the cave.
Once outside, she walks over to her elk and pats him down. Says a few soothing words to him and sits next to him while she waits. Taking out her water skin, she takes a deep, refreshing drink and is feeling satisfied with the team she is with. Thinking back to the ivory tower with all the different types of 'heros' that were summoned.. she is feeling lucky.
Shavaris's break is brief as she quickly gets up and waves to the incoming platoon sized group and hustles back over to the cave entrance. Staying in sight to not alarm anyone, she yells back into the cave..
"Guys!! The soldier's troop has arrived! Get out here and bring them with you, now!!
Johnathan didn’t expect the bugbear to cower so quickly. He is used to them being all vicious and stupid. Have we been played for fools? Can I trust anyone anymore? He turns to the soldiers and looks them up and down. Them seem human, but so does he. If Johnathan has learnt anything is that looks can be deceiving. Johnathan decides there is only one way he will get the truth, though it might make the soldiers mad. He walks slowly over to the soldiers, not even giving another look at the bugbear. He kneels down next to one of the soldiers and holds something in his pocket with one hand. The other hand is doing a gesture, though it’s very minor. It’s almost like it’s suppose to be discreet. He whispers to the soldier Well, isn’t this a pickle. The bugbear has quite a story. But you can tell me, is it lying? He pauses for a sec, Don’t worry. I’m a friend. I suggest you truthfully tell me what your intentions are and who exactly do you work for. As he says this last line his eyes flash ever so slightly to his vampiric red and returns to his human eyes as he casts suggestion to one of the soldiers. He must make a DC 14 wis saving throw or be compelled to complete the suggestion in full.
The man that Johnathan is looking at furrows his brow when his eyes turn red, and then looks sidelong at his partner. He's confused, not really sure what Johnathan is trying to say or do.
"No, that sounds about right." The man says, bending down to adjust his boots. He sighs when he raises back up, looking like he doesn't know what else to say. "I'm sorry. We're on official orders. Part of the reconnaissance we were to perform listed bands of Goblins in the northern vicinity of the pass, both on the Nockmaar and Shem roads. There were reports of goblins harassing trade caravans and travelers on the road nearest the Valley. Then there were reports of barricades and guard towers being constructed, and we wound up with a mess on our hands while we tried to solve this whole Goblin problem and go far enough north to see what the reports were all about. No one was sure if the construction in the north had anything to do with these raids. So, at one point we came upon some travelers who were pretty distraught, saying they'd been robbed by a Bugbear and some Goblins, and we decided to investigate."
"That was as far north as we made it." The other soldier chimed in. “We tried to track them into the hills but we didn’t see them until it was too late. Waylaid us right out of hiding. We were overwhelmed and captured and marched back here, where we’ve been ever since.”
The other soldier, apparently the higher ranked of the two, looked embarrassed, and shifted his sight from his partner, to Johnathan, to the Bugbear, and then looked around at the rest of the Dawn Guard before holding his hands up in a ‘what do you do?’ gesture.
“I would appreciate it if the details of our mission remain secret. It could be detrimental to the operation if whoever is building fortifications up north found out we’re coming for them in any capacity.”
“And this shit is embarrassing.” The other soldier chimed in.
The leader nodded.
“And this shit is embarrassing.” He concurred.
Shavaris’s words echoed into the cavern, and the soldiers perked up, looking out the entrance of the cavern and then leaving the area of their confines. One was still rubbing the marks on his wrists where he was tied as he stepped up to the entrance of the cave and looked out. He squinted, holding a hand up to his eyes.
Aoe having finished attuning to the medallion, gets up and joins the group from his seat in the corner…
he hears shavaris mention incoming and watches the interrogations as well, contemplating the complexity of the situation. He approached the pair of prisoners and mentions a few ideas, seeing how their minds react. He casts detect thoughts from the medallion once so he can hear their surface thoughts related to these ideas:
“The Skullsplitters?” Ralik repeats. "Who are they, and why should we be worried? Other than the obvious name." Ralik shifts. I honestly felt bad for the bugbear and it's troupe. It was a clash of worlds. The loot in here meant that they had been raiding so they were not innocent. The fact they didn't kill the captives and the look on the thing's face were wrenching at his conscious. He knew the bugbear wasn't going to see the light of the next day and they didn't have much time before they would have to deal with a possible new threat.
"I'm sorry Ghomkk, may you be with your friends in the after." he says as he abruptly decapitates the poor thing. It wouldn't serve anymore of a purpose and he couldn't stand to see it in such a miscible state. It wouldn't be able to give any good information under the circumstances, and would no doubt want revenge for his fallen comrades.
He looks up to the captives now freed. "Show us a badge of some sort. Surely you have a rank insignia."
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Drow enthusiast Lover of lore and magic. -The White Crow-
“The forces of the childlike empress and the ivory tower approach, if I am not mistaken…” Aoe stands up and declares to the group after detecting the thoughts in the space.
Aoe picks up his bandore and begins to play a song…
“Before the light there is the dawn,
it rises high and guards the fawn,
the children born who’ve as yet grown,
to and fro by life be blown.”
Aoe cleans himself and refreshes his mindset, expecting a need to discuss matters with the coming force.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Johnathan closely inspects the soldiers as they tell there story. He wasn’t sure that the magic took affect, after all this was all still very new to him. It is possible that they are lying but that story seems too detailed to be made up. And am I gonna trust a bugbear? At this final thought he turns around to see Ralik gutting the bugbear where it grovelled. Don’t be sorry Ralik. These creatures will always hunt innocent people down. You did the right thing. It was at this point Johnathan noticed Shavaris shout about reinforcements and the soldiers speak their name. Johnathan was loosing focus and wasn’t keeping up with everything. The bugbear really throw him of guard. Uhhh great, just great. He hears Aoe exclaim that they’re friendly forces. And how do you know that. We haven’t even seen them yet? It was at this point that Aoe notices that the detect thoughts he casted wasn’t working on Johnathan. It was like his mind was completely blank.
Johnathan decides to go to the entrance quietly to Shavaris after she shouted that we should move. He wasn’t sure what was going on but he wanted to see these reinforcements himself.
Stealth: 24
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With the goblins defeated, the cavern slips back into an uneasy silence. The only sound immediately striking to any of them is the noise of the detained men in the front chamber as they roll about in their restraints and moan through the gags in their mouths, trying to get Aoe's attention.
The cavern is clearly vacated as the party begins to look around. Any goblins that didn't die in the conflict fled the cave somehow. The only one of their group that is left alive is the bugbear, but he is silently snoozing after getting pummeled.
Shavaris finds another chamber off to the right, down the hall decimated by Kerwyn's shout.
Everywhere the band looks there are crates, chests, and various other stores that can be explored and searched, though it's hard to say what is in any of them.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
As the group continues to verify all the enemies have been taken care of, Shavaris asks Johnathan if he wants to send Echo down the odd holes in the floor to see what is down there? She then continues to the last chamber that has yet to be checked out.
Baring no more goblins or bugbears, she then starts going through all the tents and chests, basically raiding all the areas of any coin or loot she can find. She knows they are planning on hitting a port before they leave, and will probably need this coin to garner passage to Eternia. She calls back to the rest, "Make sure all the tents are checked! Oh, and we should probably find out more from the soldiers in the front tent. Aoe, can you go talk with them? Thanks!"
She does not shout out if Ralik is not taking care of the bugbear. if he is still laying there unattended, she will go there first and tie him up.
Aoe’s minor illusion vanishes after the 11th round, revealing a curled up elf in a crunched hiding form.
realizing the cart disappeared, Aoe stands up straight and brushes out the kinks is his fine clothes.
“inspiring performance! Truly, an inspiring performance. Now… where were we…” Aoe looks about, then sits down on a crate to begin ritual casting detect magic.
When the casting is finished (10.1 minutes) Aoe guides himself then begins walking about the cave, cautious of possible traps but more so for the appearance of magical items of secret entrances.
”there once was a guard-i-an land,
and there rose a mighty dark band,
they drove back the gobbling force,
and turned north to mission and course…
Hail the dawn guard, see how they ride!
Protecting the realm, ou-r hylian pride!”
Aoe sings whatever comes to his mind, looking about at the dead bodies and citrus strewn about. He is sure the others will find most of the valuables;, and surely someone will help the prisoners, for now, his mission is to seek the most interesting of trinkets, to find perhaps a proverbial diamond in the rough.
After looking in the tents in the area Johnathan will return to the ground. He looks at the bugbear on the ground. Let’s hope he actually can give us information. He may know where other agents of darkness lurk. He hears Shavaris suggest sending echo into the holes in the ground. Sure, I can send him. The danger seems to have past. Johnathan will sit down on the ground and meditate as he transfers his consciousness to echo. As echo, he will explore the holes to see where they lead.
Perception for echo: 17
Kerwyn dusts himself off after the battle, puts his glaive in its holder at his side and walks further southeast, looking through the goblin’s cave and each of the areas and he sees the hole in the floor, awaits the report from what Echo has seen. Holding the great sword before him and using the light on its tip, he continues to walk around to the north west and the leftward passage that they never examined. “Let’s make absolutely sure that no one else is in here.” Any time he sees a chest or basket or anything interesting as he walks along, he bends over and opens it up. After he looks up the westward passage he comes back to the presumed prisoner cell at the front, to see if they have awakened.
”Ralik, that was a neat trick you were doing with that darkness. I couldn’t see a damn thing around you. Johnathan, are you getting hungry?”
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
With the battle over, Ralik releases concentration on his Darkness spell and sheaths his weapons. He takes out some silk rope and ties up the bugbear, its arms behind its back tied to the body, a strand goes down to the feet where the ankles are then wrapped. He ties a knot at the base of the feet leaving some rope to use for dragging. With a huff he drags the unconscious thing with him into the room where the captives are.
"On it." He replies to Shavaris as he drags along the knocked out and tied bugbear.
He leaves the bugbear close to a pole that he uses to tie the remaining rope to. Ralik does some post combat stretches, squats, and pulls out some water and food which he sets on the ground. Then he pulls out a dagger and looks to the captives.
"Quite the bind you find yourselves in, but you'll be alright now." He says as he begins to cut the bindings free. "What happened to you all"
Drow enthusiast
Lover of lore and magic.
-The White Crow-
Searching the tents reveals a great number of things. Dawn Guard finds-
1) 68 GP each
2) 1x Medallion of Thoughts
3) 10x +1 Arrows
4) 1x Pot of Awakening
5) 1x Spell Scroll (Cantrip)
6) 1x Potion of Climbing
7) 1x Moon Touched Shortsword
8) 50 GP worth of Sardonyx gemstones
9) 25 GP worth embroidered silk handkerchief
10) 25 GP worth silver ewer
__________
Echo flies down into one of the holes, and it's immediately clear that all of the holes are connected to the same vast opening in the cave system that lays below the caverns they currently occupy. Blue and green biolluminescent life clings to the walls, lighting the sparkling cavern enough that it's very easy to see. A few rope ladders are leading down into the dark, and the cave stretches in several directions leading away from their current location. Some of the tunnels lead deeper under the mountains, while some lead off toward the Ivory Tower, and other's toward the Doom Desert and Nockmaar Valley. The room that Echo first flies into is probably two hundred feet high, and many of the tunnels are from twenty to fifty feet in height. They are ancient, cyclopean in vastness. Johnathan feels a sort of dread as it pits in his stomach, but it is quickly gone.
There are no signs of life, at least not immediately, save for the glowing things on the walls.
A cursory examination of one of the tunnels reveals that there is a minecart, old and rusty and decadent, and that the cavern most likely goes on for miles and miles and miles...
__________
Kerwyn's examination of the cavern system reveals nothing; there are no more living beings, save for the two soldiers that were taken prisoner, and the Bugbear.
__________
One of the men, a dirty fellow who was looking quite scraggly and disheveled, sits up as Ralik cuts him loose, and spits some hay out of his mouth. The smell hits Ralik immediately; this guy has been subdued like this for a long time.
"Those bastards set upon us...I don't know how long ago...when we were on a reconascaince patrol moving through here toward Nockmaar Valley." He said, rubbing the feeling back into his wrists as Ralik cut his partner loose. "The Ivory Infantry was interested in activity near the north end of the Nockmaar Pass. Atreyu tasked our Captain with getting someone up here to check it out and to disrupt it if necessary. And then we run into these goblins and they've had us held ever since. No idea what the devil they were about or why. Never spoke a word to us. Just...kept us tied up. Our fellows should be on after us any day now, I imagine. I hope at least."
__________
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
As the man talked, Ralik squats and listens while taking a drink of water, and offering it. Then he takes out a small flask of fire water out and offers that as well. The man had been through a lot, Ralik kept that in mind while accepting the bad breath with a bit of a grin. Some things weren't adding up though. Why were the goblins stationed here? The captives didn't seem too tortured or put on display. Ralik felt this was too organized.
"Well you're safe now brother. You did good to survive this long. We are a group of chosen sent by the Child-like one on a mission. Lucky our travels brought us here. I captured the bugbear leader, we can ask him more about where they are stationed here and what the plans are. I feel this band is not working alone. Just a suspicion." He says with a small swig of water. "We are heading north. Maybe you can accompany us or you can go back to report, up to you." Ralik ends wiping off his mouth.
He gets up and heads over to the tied bugbear, leaving the men to decide what to do next while they get themselves freed and comfortable. Ralik pulls out his sword and holds it to his forehead with eyes closed and speaks a word. He feels an ebb of magical energy invigorate his mind, then sheathes the weapon and jostles the bugbear until it wakes. Ralik pulls out his sword and a a water skin, looks down to the bugbear and says "You have to choices. Talk to me, drink, and live." he emphasizes with a motion of the water skin "Or struggle and die slowly. Very slowly." He motions with the sword. "What is your name?" Ralik asks sheathing the sword and getting the water ready as a reward before the thing can reply.
Rolls and Resources
-Resources-
Spell cast: Comprehend Languages
Spell Slots: 0/2
-Rolls-
Persuasion: 12
Drow enthusiast
Lover of lore and magic.
-The White Crow-
Johnathan relays the information that he sees in the holes and will summon echo back into his pocket. It looks like there is a deep underground network that leads to many locations. It seems to go to the underdark as one of them. Johnathan gives a concerned look to the rest of the band. Do these creatures have access to the entire island? They don’t seem smart enough to do something like this by themselves. He looks over Ralik talking to the bugbear. He is way too soft. He is offering the monster a drink and saying we will spare it? We should beat it till it talks. Has he forgotten that this THING serves the lord of darkness? His kind is the very reason why a unicorn was slain.
At this final thought Johnathan has a vision of that very day. He remembers the goblins surrounding the unicorn. He can hear them shouting and cheering as they stole its horn. He sees soldiers dying all around him trying to get to the unicorn in time. That was when he saw the other mare taking off in the woods. Next thing he knows he is running in the woods, desperately trying to catch up to the mare. But he was slow, powerless. He couldn’t do anything to help. He was in the woods, surrounded by thick darkness. He had now idea where he was. And then he heard it, the laughter. That voice still shakes his by core, he’ll never forge it.
Johnathan returns to the present. It seemed he drifted off again. He looks down to see his fists white as he clenches them tightly. He feel his blood start to boil and he can sense his teeth about to extend. He holds them back, but he knew he was losing it. He turns to Ralik, Talk to this thing if you must, let me know if you want help in getting it to talk. Johnathan leaves the room and waits nearby the soldiers.
Shavaris, happy with the amount of loot they have collected, walks over to where Ralik is talking with the prisoners. She sits down and listens as he talks and cuts their ties. It appears as though what they say is true, and if that's so, that Atreyu sent them - they need to do what they can to help them. Still..
Insight 17 (Passive 16)
Johnathan heads over and tells them what Echo had seen, she nods and says, "Yeah, lets not get lost in that tunnel of madness, we have a job to do. And now that we have more funds, lets head to the port city and see what we can get there to cross the sea." Standing up, she talks with Kerwyn, "So, I'm happy to carry all this lovely loot, but well, talk around camp is you can't trust a rogue, so do you want to hold onto it till we can either divvy or sell it? I took my gold pieces share, but what do you think?"
Once that is settled she sees Ralik with the bugbear, she stands by him, looking at the bugbear she starts cleaning her rapiers. "How long do you think this is going to take?" she asks Ralik while staring down the bugbear, "it would be good to keep moving."
Kerwyn finishes looking about, observes the captives and their release, and then hears about the tunnel system underground. "That could be handy. I wonder what lies below? We should remember this place. Maybe there is another underground world, in parallel with our own." Then he nods to Shavaris, "Sure, I'll hold onto the loot. Has he made that bugbear talk yet?"
Kerwyn takes some deep breaths, activating his second wind ability for 8 hit points.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
"We need to get back and report." The soldier said, picking straw out of his hair. "We appreciate your offer though. Hopefully we can meet up with the rest of our team soon."
The Bugbear's demeanor changes completely when Ralik rouses it. It shifts, getting to its knees, but not daring rise. Gone is the fearsome warrior that had stood against the invaders in magical darkness; now it cowers, completely defeated, never rising above a kneeling position. It doesn't even struggle against the binds that keep its hands restrained behind its back. It's eyes remain on the floor, downcast, its ears tilted back in fear. It doesn't raise its head to drink and is clearly defeated, unwilling to meet the gaze of its better or his offering.
"Them. Spies." The Bugbear says, struggling to speak a broken sort of common. "Them. Hunt us. Us, catch them, so don't hurt them, don't hurt us."
It takes a moment, chewing air while it deciphers the question it has been asked and then formulates an answer.
"Ghomkk." It, he, says, giving his name. He doesn't seem to be lying. "Self. Ghomkk."
It cowers back when Johnathan approaches and offers assistance to Ralik. It isn't being aggressive. It almost becomes upset when Shavaris begins cleaning her rapiers in front of it.
"Ghomkk wif gobkin, want. Be. Home."
Ghomkk side eyes the growing crowd around him, white, wet eyes rolling from band member to band member. He is afraid.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Shavaris watches as the bugbear becomes increasingly frightened. She turns her attention from it to the freed prisoners..there are now three of them? Where did the third, woman, come from? She looks around and is about to ask Ralik about it when she looks again there are just two as before. Wow, she thinks, I must be losing it. Must be a lingering affect of that darkness or something.
She decides that she really isn't interested in a he said, he said, or was there a she as well? She shakes her head, she needs some air. She says quietly, "I am going out to get some air, deal with the situation as you all see fit, doesn't matter to me either way. Just be quick about it as we need to get moving." and she sheaths her rapiers and heads out the entrance of the cave.
Once outside, she walks over to her elk and pats him down. Says a few soothing words to him and sits next to him while she waits. Taking out her water skin, she takes a deep, refreshing drink and is feeling satisfied with the team she is with. Thinking back to the ivory tower with all the different types of 'heros' that were summoned.. she is feeling lucky.
Shavaris's break is brief as she quickly gets up and waves to the incoming platoon sized group and hustles back over to the cave entrance. Staying in sight to not alarm anyone, she yells back into the cave..
"Guys!! The soldier's troop has arrived! Get out here and bring them with you, now!!
Johnathan didn’t expect the bugbear to cower so quickly. He is used to them being all vicious and stupid. Have we been played for fools? Can I trust anyone anymore? He turns to the soldiers and looks them up and down. Them seem human, but so does he. If Johnathan has learnt anything is that looks can be deceiving. Johnathan decides there is only one way he will get the truth, though it might make the soldiers mad. He walks slowly over to the soldiers, not even giving another look at the bugbear. He kneels down next to one of the soldiers and holds something in his pocket with one hand. The other hand is doing a gesture, though it’s very minor. It’s almost like it’s suppose to be discreet. He whispers to the soldier Well, isn’t this a pickle. The bugbear has quite a story. But you can tell me, is it lying? He pauses for a sec, Don’t worry. I’m a friend. I suggest you truthfully tell me what your intentions are and who exactly do you work for. As he says this last line his eyes flash ever so slightly to his vampiric red and returns to his human eyes as he casts suggestion to one of the soldiers. He must make a DC 14 wis saving throw or be compelled to complete the suggestion in full.
The man that Johnathan is looking at furrows his brow when his eyes turn red, and then looks sidelong at his partner. He's confused, not really sure what Johnathan is trying to say or do.
"No, that sounds about right." The man says, bending down to adjust his boots. He sighs when he raises back up, looking like he doesn't know what else to say. "I'm sorry. We're on official orders. Part of the reconnaissance we were to perform listed bands of Goblins in the northern vicinity of the pass, both on the Nockmaar and Shem roads. There were reports of goblins harassing trade caravans and travelers on the road nearest the Valley. Then there were reports of barricades and guard towers being constructed, and we wound up with a mess on our hands while we tried to solve this whole Goblin problem and go far enough north to see what the reports were all about. No one was sure if the construction in the north had anything to do with these raids. So, at one point we came upon some travelers who were pretty distraught, saying they'd been robbed by a Bugbear and some Goblins, and we decided to investigate."
"That was as far north as we made it." The other soldier chimed in. “We tried to track them into the hills but we didn’t see them until it was too late. Waylaid us right out of hiding. We were overwhelmed and captured and marched back here, where we’ve been ever since.”
The other soldier, apparently the higher ranked of the two, looked embarrassed, and shifted his sight from his partner, to Johnathan, to the Bugbear, and then looked around at the rest of the Dawn Guard before holding his hands up in a ‘what do you do?’ gesture.
“I would appreciate it if the details of our mission remain secret. It could be detrimental to the operation if whoever is building fortifications up north found out we’re coming for them in any capacity.”
“And this shit is embarrassing.” The other soldier chimed in.
The leader nodded.
“And this shit is embarrassing.” He concurred.
Shavaris’s words echoed into the cavern, and the soldiers perked up, looking out the entrance of the cavern and then leaving the area of their confines. One was still rubbing the marks on his wrists where he was tied as he stepped up to the entrance of the cave and looked out. He squinted, holding a hand up to his eyes.
“The Skullsplitters.” He said.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Aoe having finished attuning to the medallion, gets up and joins the group from his seat in the corner…
he hears shavaris mention incoming and watches the interrogations as well, contemplating the complexity of the situation. He approached the pair of prisoners and mentions a few ideas, seeing how their minds react. He casts detect thoughts from the medallion once so he can hear their surface thoughts related to these ideas:
“hello boys…
alone in this cage?…
And what of being spies…”
Aoe kneels down near them,
“any lies you wish to confess?…
and is this approaching army…
Truly a force for good?…
“The Skullsplitters?” Ralik repeats. "Who are they, and why should we be worried? Other than the obvious name." Ralik shifts. I honestly felt bad for the bugbear and it's troupe. It was a clash of worlds. The loot in here meant that they had been raiding so they were not innocent. The fact they didn't kill the captives and the look on the thing's face were wrenching at his conscious. He knew the bugbear wasn't going to see the light of the next day and they didn't have much time before they would have to deal with a possible new threat.
"I'm sorry Ghomkk, may you be with your friends in the after." he says as he abruptly decapitates the poor thing. It wouldn't serve anymore of a purpose and he couldn't stand to see it in such a miscible state. It wouldn't be able to give any good information under the circumstances, and would no doubt want revenge for his fallen comrades.
He looks up to the captives now freed. "Show us a badge of some sort. Surely you have a rank insignia."
Drow enthusiast
Lover of lore and magic.
-The White Crow-
“The forces of the childlike empress and the ivory tower approach, if I am not mistaken…” Aoe stands up and declares to the group after detecting the thoughts in the space.
Aoe picks up his bandore and begins to play a song…
“Before the light there is the dawn,
it rises high and guards the fawn,
the children born who’ve as yet grown,
to and fro by life be blown.”
Aoe cleans himself and refreshes his mindset, expecting a need to discuss matters with the coming force.
Johnathan closely inspects the soldiers as they tell there story. He wasn’t sure that the magic took affect, after all this was all still very new to him. It is possible that they are lying but that story seems too detailed to be made up. And am I gonna trust a bugbear? At this final thought he turns around to see Ralik gutting the bugbear where it grovelled. Don’t be sorry Ralik. These creatures will always hunt innocent people down. You did the right thing. It was at this point Johnathan noticed Shavaris shout about reinforcements and the soldiers speak their name. Johnathan was loosing focus and wasn’t keeping up with everything. The bugbear really throw him of guard. Uhhh great, just great. He hears Aoe exclaim that they’re friendly forces. And how do you know that. We haven’t even seen them yet? It was at this point that Aoe notices that the detect thoughts he casted wasn’t working on Johnathan. It was like his mind was completely blank.
Johnathan decides to go to the entrance quietly to Shavaris after she shouted that we should move. He wasn’t sure what was going on but he wanted to see these reinforcements himself.
Stealth: 24