"Dark?" the goblin marvels "Can't you see in the dark? That could be a problem... Plenty of useless things, in the useless rooms... But since useless, Wumgu does not really remember well. Anyway, most rooms of the beautiful den have doors, so maybe you can use a small light".

"No, humans can't see in the dark the way goblins can Wumgu, which is why we can expect some lighting already in there." The white-haried warrior says, looking at the surprisingly  impressive map the goblin had provided them with. He had a hard time imagining the zhents moving around in complete darkness in there so lighting would likely not be their main problem. "We should even up the numbers as quickly as we can, taking this route and hopefully catching some of them sleeping or at least resting." He says callously, pointing a finger towards the sleeping cave, although he realizes the zhents might not even use it for that purpose. "It won't take long for the zhents to realize they are under attack so let's be swift and don't hesitate to finish them off, you can be sure the zhents will slaughter us all if we give them half a chance, just as they did with Wumgu's tribe." He says firmly to the others, giving the goblin a quick glance of compassion. He then looked around at the others, wondering if they all knew how to take a life. He himself knew it all too well.

Quote from Oberon99 >>

"No, humans can't see in the dark the way goblins can Wumgu, which is why we can expect some lighting already in there." The white-haried warrior says, looking at the surprisingly  impressive map the goblin had provided them with. He had a hard time imagining the zhents moving around in complete darkness in there so lighting would likely not be their main problem. "We should even up the numbers as quickly as we can, taking this route and hopefully catching some of them sleeping or at least resting." He says callously, pointing a finger towards the sleeping cave, although he realizes the zhents might not even use it for that purpose. "It won't take long for the zhents to realize they are under attack so let's be swift and don't hesitate to finish them off, you can be sure the zhents will slaughter us all if we give them half a chance, just as they did with Wumgu's tribe." He says firmly to the others, giving the goblin a quick glance of compassion. He then looked around at the others, wondering if they all knew how to take a life. He himself knew it all too well.

"That's the spirit, winter hairs!" the goblin approves "Wumgu likes you!"

Then, to all, he asks, expectantly: "You now guide Wumgu to his new tribe?"

The white-haired warrior gives the goblin a quick wry smile, but then a sadness shows on his grim face. Winter hairs. The name caught him by surprise. It was only with the recent...tragedy his hair had turned white, forever reminding him of his curse, his damnation. "We can't risk the zhents catching wind of our presence here Wumgu or they will kill us and you, hide here and I will be back for you and take you to safety, you have my word." The woodsman says grimly, not giving any room for discussing this further as he turns to head back to the secret entrance they just passed.

"Right.," Spira agrees, following after the white haired warrior.  "We need to make sure they don't find out we were here and follow us while we're taking you to your new tribe, Wumgu.  We need to kill the Zhentarim first.  I promise too, we'll be back and then we will bring you to your new tribe."  She peers through the trees ahead towards the secret entrance, looking for any unusual shadows or movements that could indicate the presence of danger.  Turning to the white haired warrior, she asks, "Do you think we should send a scout ahead to make sure the Zhents haven't found this secret entrance since Wumgu was last here, or save time and just chance marching openly in?"  As she speaks, she readies her crossbow again and begins murmuring the first triads of the Dawn Englyn to Angharrad  softly under her breath.

==================================

Obadiah shakes his head at the tieflings question. "I doubt that they have, and even if they did, this would be our best entry point." He says quietly, scanning the hole that was the secondary entrance. "We should do our best to sneak up on them inside though..." He adds, looking at the armor-clad human and tiefling. "...and pray our best is good enough."

"Well, guess that just goes to show what I know," Rash sighs. "I still think we should try to break them up into smaller groups instead of bum-rushing all ten of 'em, though. Or maybe dispatch 'em while they sleep."

"Well, I'm hoping that's one of the things sneaking up on them through the back door will do for us.," Spira says in a low tone of voice.  "We'll likely find them split up into a couple of different groups in different rooms of the lair, and if they are all in one room then trying to draw out some of them might tip them off instead.  The Zhentarim have enough money to hire professionals who know all about tricks like that, and would raise the alarm before they came out to check."  She pauses.  "Not a bad idea to try and catch some of them sleeping, though, once we find out what their schedule is."  She turns to the white haired warrior.

"And you definitely have a good point about the noise of the armor."  She draws out a set of vestments from her pack and put them on over her chain mail.  Wrapping the loose green folds of linen around herself, she is able to somewhat muffle the noise of link against link.   "We should all probably try to be a bit more stealthy.  And perhaps we should discuss what we'd all be able to bring to a fight before we go any farther, so we don't have to risk the noise talking about it later.  I can tell you the spells that Angharradh has blessed me with today, if you think that's a good idea, and then we could go around the group."  Even as she speaks, though, she still peers forward through the trees trying to see what details she can of the secret entrance.  She has her crossbow in hand with a bolt nocked, and is moving forward at the pace of the group as quietly as she can.

==========================

Perception 4

Stealth: (OOC: be glad to drop this in, but I want to check with you first about what effect if any Spira's attempt to muffle her mail with her vestments has on the roll)

"I've already said I'm for trying this hole," Roxana says. "Good thing I brought a bit of rope. I'm pretty quiet, so I could go down there.  And yes, I do know how to use this rapier. I mean, my sister's more the fighting type.  But we were all taught to fend for ourselves."

She wasn't going to tell them she'd never really fought a person. 'But there were those wild wolves at the farm that one winter. And the occaisonal fox trying to go after livestock,' she thinks.

However, the tiefling priestess feels more and more awkward in her movements as she adds layers of cloth to the various points of her armor... In combat, this additional padding could hinder her movements. Will it be worth it? (OOC: Normally, heavy armor gives disadvantage to stealth checks. I'd argue that Spira, padding the armor enough, could eliminate this disadvantage... but he would probably gain disadvantage on attacks or other checks that require good freedom of movement).

She still peers forward through the trees trying to see what details she can of the secret entrance ... but she doesn't seem like there is much to see. The hole looks like what an overgrown ant might have left behind - it has nothing else of note... perhaps she wouldn't have bothered with a second look had she not been told it constitutes the second entrance to the beautiful den.

(OOC: @All: Well, if someone wants to descend, they will have to make an Athletics check... with advantage if Roxana makes the rope available - for example by fixing it somewhere so that you can use it to aid in rappelling down)

Roxana tries to find a spot to tie off her rope and will descend into the hole first.

(Athletics: 19)

Quote from Culuril >>

Roxana tries to find a spot to toe off her rope and will descend into the hole first.

(Athletics: 19)

 

Roxana has no trouble finding a log close enough to secure the rope to - after which she nimbly descends...

Once she is down the 20' deep hole, the girl notices that the giant bug that created it was satisfied with the depth and started to dig horizontally, leaving an irregular (put seemingly steedy) tunnel, 10' in diameter just like the hole, that runs in the general direction of the beautiful den.

Roxana starts to follow the tunnel, trying to be as silent as possible...

(OOC: If someone else coming, roll your Athletics with advantage to go down)

Spira moves forward to the hole to help anchor the rope for the next climber.  She looks at the white haired warrior again.  "You seem like you could move pretty quietly too.  Perhaps you could go down next and join Roxana as advance guard.  The rest of us could climb down behind you and hang back just enough that our noise doesn't give you away, but close enough to run up and support you at the first sign of trouble."

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OOC: Spira will hold the rope for whoever else chooses to descend and then goes down herself. Athletics 11

Quote from OisinmacCameron >>

Spira moves forward to the hole to help anchor the rope for the next climber.  She looks at the white haired warrior again.  "You seem like you could move pretty quietly too.  Perhaps you could go down next and join Roxana as advance guard.  The rest of us could climb down behind you and hang back just enough that our noise doesn't give you away, but close enough to run up and support you at the first sign of trouble."

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OOC: Spira will hold the rope for whoever else chooses to descend and then goes down herself. Athletics 15

The tiefling cleric has no problems in reaching the bottom if the hole.

(OOC: Just to confirm: are you padding your armor, to stealth better, at the cost of fighting worse? Or do you keep the armor as is?)

Obadiah is about to repeat the plan to the half-orc but simply gives him a quick glare as the short tiefling does that for him. With some zhents constantly guarding the front cave there would be a good chance they would find others resting and maybe even sleeping, and it was obvious to him that it was very unlikely they would find all of them grouped together and ready for battle in there. The white-haired warrior then nods at Roxana and follows her down the hole. As soon as they are confident there are no threats nearby he motions for the others to carefully make their way down to join them.

Atletics: 19
Stealth: 20
Perception: 19

Quote from Oberon99 >>

Obadiah is about to repeat the plan to the half-orc but simply gives him a quick glare as the short tiefling does that for him. With some zhents constantly guarding the front cave there would be a good chance they would find others resting and maybe even sleeping, and it was obvious to him that it was very unlikely they would find all of them grouped together and ready for battle in there. The white-haired warrior then nods at Roxana and follows her down the hole. As soon as they are confident there are no threats nearby he motions for the others to carefully make their way down to join them.

Atletics: 25
Stealth: 18
Perception: 7

Quickly, nimble and silent, Obadiah descends in the hole and follows Roxana.

Only a problem quicly arises: the tunnel becomes pitch dark in a few steps from the light of the hole. What will the two humans do? Use a source of light? Or proceed in the dark blindly and hoping for the better?

"Anyone able to shed a little bit of light ahead? Otherwise I will light a torch, we need to see where we go and we will likely find the parts the zhents occupy ahead lit in some way." Obadiah says quietly once the others are down the hole.

Once she's down, Spira puffs a bit.  "Either I'm getting fat, or these vestments are more encumbering than I thought for vigorous action.  I think I'll only keep them on until we see enemies we're going to need to fight ... no sense staying so stealthy I get killed!"  She chuckles a bit, still in a soft voice.   Then she offera two candles each to Roxana and Obadiah.  "Use these if you want  ... less risky, and they'll still give enough light for everyone to see while we're in the dark parts."

As they approach the hole with the information provided by the goblin, Aidwyn not really trust the little pest. She keeps an eye on him the entire time, knowing that if there is a better chance for him to gain anything by slitting their throats the ‘poor’ guy will gladly take it. 
 As they discuss their options she just adds

”Injust hope that the means we are looking for are not this Zhentarim. I have no simpathies for them but they are resourceful or so I’be heard. 

Once she is down the hole she takes out her sword and shield and waits

Giving a nod to Spira, Obadiah takes the two offered candles, puts one away in his backpack and lights the other with his tinder. "Ready?" He the says quietly to Roxana, then slowly and quietly moving further into the tunnel, holding the candle to see where he steps, ready to put it out as soon as sees lights ahead. 

Stealth: 6
Perception: 23