The Undying Dragons - Campaign Thread

As Ethel walks out towards Dodd's shop, she quietly asks, "We wanted these sailors to help us with a distraction, right?"  

She summons her mage hand.  Selecting one of the sail divided rooms most packed with drunk and rowdy sounding revelers, she uses the mage hand to slowly looses the sail's ties on the ceiling, until the sail can be dropped down on the partygoers inside.  Leaving confusion and alcohol to hopefully do their thing, she dismisses the mage hand and continues on with Dodds.

[Any rolls necessary?]

Reaching Dodd's shop, she parts ways with him.  "I think a little time is all we shall need.  You go back and get your friend ready to move.  If you have 'go-bags' ready, grab them and start heading for the docks."

Then she quietly looks down the hall toward Godrick's room.  Does she see anything?  Any guards?  

He left on his own.  Most likely, he returned to his quarters, she thinks to herself. She sighs.

If the path to his door is unobstructed, she will listen so see if she can tell if Godrick is inside.  Perception: 13

She will also look over the door.  Are there signs of obvious traps?  Runes or sigils that might indicate a ward or other magical protection?  Investigation:  11

As Avaria moves away from the arena, and the mayhem of the main concourse, she now has to skirt past the guard's barracks and common room. With the number of guards out and about because of the festivities this area is much quieter than the other times she's passed through here. But it's not empty.

As Avaria arrives, one hobgoblin guard steps out of the barracks, closing the buckle on a leather strap on his armor. He stops and looks at Avaria.

"What are you doing here?" the hobgoblin asks. "Where's your guard?"

He puts his hand on his sword, waiting for an answer.

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In the stairwell between the barracks/common area and the guardpost, Drusus doesn't appear to take notice of Marrin/Gillian leaving. 

Marrin is quick enough to react that she gets up into the stairwell in time to catch the guard before he exits the top of the stairs. Immediately, the guard puts his hands to his head, piercing pain shooting through all of his nerves. Marrin watches, helpless to do more. Anything short of a killing blow will let the guard call for help. After what seems to be an eternity the guard finally falls to his knees, blood oozing from his ears. He twitches once then stops moving.

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Outside of Godrick's chamber, Ethel looks up and down the hallway. A couple of sailors walk by along the main concourse, singing loudly off key. A pirate wanders by, coming from the exit out to the top plateau above the compound. They look Ethel up and down, fixate on the scars for a moment, and then continue on their way.l

On the other side of the door, Ethel can make out the sound of someone moving around in the room. Objects are being picked up and put down, something that sounds like burlap slaps down on a hard object. And just faintly, Ethel can make out what sounds like Godrick saying "Stupid old man."

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Back in the guardpost, the heavily injured guard, Haguur breathing down his back looking to get the killing blow in, turns the key in the lock and gets the door opened.

Jan and Jisthelek watch as the door swings open, revealing Drusus the Hobgoblin captain and the hobgoblin guard next to him.

Drusus takes in everything in the blink of an eye. His great sword lashes out quickly at Haguur. Following his commanders lead, the hobgoblin guard also stabs out at Haguur with his shortsword.

Drusus connects solidly with the orc boss, but while the blow draws blood it looked like it should have been nearly crippling. Yet Haguur looks undeterred. The guard also connects with Haguur but he barely reacts to that blow.

The party's up.

Mar-Gil gets her breathing under control as she moves quickly up the steps and takes his sword and starts dragging him back down the stairs.

Ethlehyn's mind races.  

He's here. 

I can't get the books while he's here. 

I can't defeat him alone.

Briefly she considers trying to get the drop on him with a Sleep spell.  But no... she recognizes she isn't the fastest, and she can't rule out Godrick possessing a counterspell.  If so, she's finished.

She also considers trying to bluff her way in... wanting to talk about his prior job offer?  Or convince him that his parents sent her to fetch him?  Stupid.  Even if he didn't attack her as soon as he saw she was on her own roaming the facility unsupervised, he would surely just bring her back to the party.  It would force a confrontation and, again, she is finished.

Nothing works.  She is so painfully close to all of this knowledge... but it's a mousetrap.  

Taking stock of her situation, she ponders the sound she heard.  Is he packing?  If so, he'll certainly take the most important books with him....

She looks around again.  She can't roam this place looking as she does.  If no on is watching, she casts alter self, taking on the appearance of a sunburned, squinty eyed sailor.  She doesn't attempt to mimic anyone of importance, aiming for a bland, forgettable face.  Then she moves down to the chapel, checking to see if it is empty.  If so, she will wait there and watch for Godrick to leave his room.

Jan tries to bury her dagger in the wounded guard.

Attack: 23 Damage: 10

((That should only be 8, I double checked and she only gets the +2 bludgeoning damage when touching her ring.))

Ethel settles in at the entrance to the Traveller’s Shrine. From there she can see Godrick’s doorway, as well as two others on that side of the hallway. She passed three or four doorways on the Traveler’s Shrine side of the hallway too, but can keep an eye on those unless she does so from the main hallway itself.

In the few moments so far, she doesn’t see any movement at Godrick’s or the other two doors she can see.

As this is Ethel’s first time in the shrine area, she notices what the other saw. It’s candle-lit, on the far wall is a shrine to what she’s sure is Ula’s god. There are a few other makeshift shrines around the other walls. On these altars are a mix of homemade offerings – small carvings, or sewn figurines mixed in with a handful of copper coins.

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With Haguur drawing the attention of Drusus and the hobgoblin guard with him, Jan is able to move around and get at the wounded guard. Her dagger digs deeply into his back and the guard collapses to the ground.

In the stairwell, Mar-Gil gets hold of the dead guard’s shortsword and then starts dragging him down the stairs. His armor and equipment bangs and clangs with each step, echoing up and down the stairwell. Is Marrin dragging the dead guard all the way back down to where she left Drusus?

 Avaria’s still up before the back up from the cavern arrives (with the guard challenging her by the barracks/guard common room before the stairwell).

((Nearly so, far enough down to be out of sight of the guards up top if they look down and still not be visible from below. If possible.))

She'll leave the guard and move the last bit to peek around the corner to see the status of the fight.

(Sorry completely lost track!)

 Avaria pauses and puts a hand on the hobgoblins shoulder like she’s catching her breath, “Oh good!  I’ve been sent to find more guards!  It’s mayhem up there, hurry, the missus is in a panic and sent me down, told me to head to the post and send back every guard a run into.  No time to waste!”

 And she lets go of him and starts hurrying down to the post to get more guards

(Deception roll from Avaria please)

As she examines the chapel, Ethel realizes something she failed to take into account… though her spell has transformed her into a male pirate… she is still adorned with the serving dress provided by the Hargroves.  Effectively rendering her disguise and her spell useless.  She looks around the inside of the chapel to see if there is anything she can use to supplement her subterfuge… perhaps a tapestry she could repurpose as a cloak or a toga?

Deception  (Using inspiration for advantage):  17

The guard looks at Avaria and while her story starts to look like it's making sense to him and he's going to listen he stops and, moves in front of her, preventing her from continuing on.

"What missus?" the guard asks Avaria. "Missus Hargrove already go by. Saw Captain go with her."

The guard didn't disbelieve Avaria, but he wasn't convinced enough to overlook an inconsistency.

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In the Travelers' Shrine room, Ethel looks through the knickknacks and offerings and doesn't find a lot to work with. She does find an old sack that looks to have been discarded; a couple of holes chewed through by rats likely the reason its prior owner left it behind. Ethel might be able to fashion it in to a makeshift set of trousers or a tunic

Down the hall, she doesn't notice any activity.

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Marrin stops dragging the dead guard down the stairs, mercifully stopping the banging of armor and head. When she steps down a couple of more steps, she sees Drusus and the remaining hobgoblin guard have moved into the guardpost proper and are squared off against Haguur.

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Ula charges into the guardpost, and takes in the situation as best she can. Not seeing anyone looking too hurt, she focuses on the hobgoblin guard who she has a better line of sight on than Drusus. She calls on her god and waves her hand down.

Casts: Sacred Flame Dex Save DC14 or 8  radiant damage.

The hobgoblin guard looks surprised by the sudden appearance of bright light from above, but he does his best to dodge out of the way (2  )

A gaggle of goblins peer into the room from the caverns side, momentarily making it difficult for Haguur's remaining two orcs to join the battle.

The hobgoblin guard just managed to step to the side to avoid Ula's spell.

Haguur turns from the fallen hobgoblin and growls at Drusus. He slashes out recklessly with his short sword.  Attack: 19 Damage: 11  

Even as that blows comes, Drusus prepares to parry it and strike with his greatsword. Even as that blow sweeps upwards, Drusus pivots and brings the greatsword around again with another blow aimed for Haguur's head.

The hobgoblin, seeks to aid his captain and slashes out at Haguur as well.

Realizing her mistake and now assuming Marrin must have changed from the sick looking woman to Gillian and now understands where Drusus disappeared to as well, she responds, "Missus Gertrude.  She looks a bit in over her head with everything going on."

Haguur just manages to find a gap in Drusus' splitmail armour but he's not able to get as much on the blow as he would have liked. Drusus is bloodied but still very much alive.

Drusus' first blow cuts deeply into Haguur's side. The second blow looks to be going wide, but Drusus puts on a display of swordsmanship and manages to turn the blade slightly and still connect with Haguur. Despite the orc's rage seeming to numb him to the pain of the blows, he's still bleeding severely now.

The hobgoblin guard flails ineffectively at Haguur and misses completely.

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The party's up.

The guard eyes Avaria then nods.

"Go back, help Gertrude." the guard says as he steps to a large bell. "This louder and faster than running."

The guard reaches out to ring the bell.

[Mini initiative here between guard and Avaria if she wants to try and stop him ringing the bell: Guard: 9  ]