Pisgah relays all of the conversation to the party and asks Jaya if he has to see someone to speak to them telepathically. "I'm thinking maybe we can tell them we know they are there too, use the password, and tell them we are coming in."
Nikkitch stays silent as the other two talk. He wonders when they established the group was part of Xanathar's bunch, but chooses to keep that query to himself.
"How about we try this? Let's walk around the corner there like we are supposed to be here. We can have Jaya call out to Dord and Arnulf that we are coming in and to not do anything stupid. Depending on how good Jaya can deceive people we could even try to add in some comment along the lines of 'you know, like that one time' and see how it rolls. We know that they are looking for some key that Yek may have in his treasury. I wonder if it would be worth pushing/fighting our way into there. Or maybe going after Cooper once we are done here."
"Alright, then I guess the usual marching order. Jaya and I in front with Nikk at the back in case they recognize him as someone wanted. We'll see how far we can get. I will keep an eye out for the sleeping bugbear in the room at the end of the hall."
Pisgah and Jaya lead the group down the hallway until you come to the door where Pisgah (and now the others) heard voices from.
As you approach, you get a good look at the rooms here. They are lit with battered oil lanterns and therefore fairly easy to get a holistic impression of.
The room where the voices came from (1) is lit well, partially by the lanterns that are resting atop toppled blocks of stone, partially by a campfire in the middle. This hall seems to be partially collapsed, as you see a large pile of rubble in the eastern part of it. Crates, barrels, and seven wooden cots line the walls. Sleeping bags are lined up along the walls. In the middle of the room, already looking in your direction as you enter, you see seven people. All but one of them are humans, equipped with leather armor, crossbows and shortswords. Two of the crossbows are leveled at Pisgah and Jaya.
The one person sticking out might have once been a drow, but now has spiderlike features. It's difficult to tell if all of his eight red eyes are staring at you and his mandibles are clicking impatiently. He still has only four limbs, but they are spindly and covered with dark bristles.
As you step forward, he growls in the raspy voice you heard before: "Well, not one-eyes after all. How many eyes does Xanathar have?"
In the room to the left of the entrance (2), you see stone racks spanning the walls. They contain old barrels made of rotten wood. A large stone table in the middle of the room is draped with cobwebs. A silver-bound wooden chest rests atop it.
The room with the sleeping bugbear (3) turns out to contain even more of them. You count ten bugbears, all of which are sleeping all throughout the room.
"As many as there are stars in the sky" Jaya responds immediately, ignoring the raised crossbows like they weren’t even there.
“We are on important guild business but told Shunn we’d get an update on operations on this level as we pass through, regarding the goblin market, Yek, and the wererat situation. So, how are things?"
Upon you uttering the passphrase, the crossbows are being lowered. However, something that Jaya says after that takes the group by surprise. Some grunt, some snort, the drow looks in bewilderment for a moment.
He gets up and takes an aggressive stance, arms to the side, the bristles giving them more bulk, his eight eyes looking you up and down, the mandibles twitching. His men are a bit slower on the uptake, but some are fumbling for the hilts of their weapons.
"Are you shittin' me? What are you trying to pull here?"
He walks towards Jaya. Although being somewhat sorter than the dragonborn, the drows sudden movements give him an air of unpredictability and danger. A shortsword has appeared in his hand. A second one is still in the hilt.
"You're talking to Shunn Shurreth. Now tell me who you really are or I'll feed you to the bugbears."
Pisgah bursts out laughing! "Ha Ha Ha, Shunn you should have seen the look on your face! That was priceless! Come on, you should have gotten word by now that we were coming to deal with the wererats. No? Well, we are here to find out where their main lair is. What info do you have for us?"
Realizing his mistake when Pisgah speaks, Jaya stands firm, staring at the drow calmly, and sends him a telepathic message...
At ease friend. Just another test, above and beyond the passphrase. Needed to make sure your group has not been infiltrated by the lycanthropes. We can never be too careful.
Intimidation: 2 (natural 1)[Unless of course this was not needed... :) ]
Shunns eyes narrow, scrutinizing Pisgah and Jayas words.
[Shunn: Insight: 18]
He does not respond to Jayas mental message. The drows posture becomes hunched, like that of a spider ready to lunge at its prey. He draws his second shortsword and roars: "Lies! Intruders! Leave the smallest one alive for questioning!"
His men have their weapons ready and start advancing.
Those of the party that are still in the hallway see that the shouting also wakes up the bugbears, as they slowly start getting up. They're going to need a few seconds to get their bearings.
Initiative: 1. Pisgah and Rico < YOUR TURN 2. Shunn (S) 3. Bugbear group (B1-B5) (surprised, skipping first round) 4. Nikk, Canti and Jaya 5. Xanathar thugs (X1-X7) 6. Bugbear group (B6-B10) (surprised, skipping first round)
Rico sends Steel to block the room of bugbears, to slow them from coming out of the room and swarming everyone. Meanwhile, she moves behind Jaya to get a couple shots at Shunn. It's been her experience that taking out the leader makes fights much easier...
First Pisgah would like to rage, please! As he steps forward one square, a muzzle reminiscent of a Dire Wolf begins to protrude, as he makes two bite attacks on Shunn.
Attack 1: 15 to hit for 11 pts damage (magical)
Attack 2: 22 to hit for 4 pts damage (magical) ; if one of the attacks hits Pisgah will regain 3 hit points
Shunn avoids one shot from Rico and blocks one strike from Pisgah, grunting as the other hits connect. His eyes seem surprised by the transformation of Pisgah. While lunging forward with his swords, he remarks: "Also cursed, are you?"
His two blades are hissing as they slice through the air. Poison!
He attacks Pisgah with both strikes, quickly and precisely: Attack: 18, damage: 7 slashing + 16 poison damage Attack: 19, damage: 10 slashing + 13 poison damage
The drow then jumps backward, seeking to maneuver into a smarter position. For this, he risks an opportunity attack from Pisgah. He then moves toward the adjoining room to the west, behind cover.
The bugbears are still assembling.
Initiative: 1. Pisgah and Rico 2. Shunn (S) 3. Bugbear group (B1-B5) (surprised, skipping first round) 4. Nikk, Canti and Jaya < YOUR TURN 5. Xanathar thugs (X1-X7) 6. Bugbear group (B6-B10) (surprised, skipping first round)
I forgot to add the rage damage so Shunn should have another 2 damage.
Pisgah's AoO with longsword misses as the poison kicks in causing Pisgah to roar in pain before his voice is cut off and foam erupts from his lips. Pisgah crashes to the floor, unconscious and out of the fight.
Have fun folks, I will start working up another character.....
Pisgah relays all of the conversation to the party and asks Jaya if he has to see someone to speak to them telepathically. "I'm thinking maybe we can tell them we know they are there too, use the password, and tell them we are coming in."
"Yes I need to see them, and be within 30 feet" he shares.
Nikkitch stays silent as the other two talk. He wonders when they established the group was part of Xanathar's bunch, but chooses to keep that query to himself.
"How about we try this? Let's walk around the corner there like we are supposed to be here. We can have Jaya call out to Dord and Arnulf that we are coming in and to not do anything stupid. Depending on how good Jaya can deceive people we could even try to add in some comment along the lines of 'you know, like that one time' and see how it rolls. We know that they are looking for some key that Yek may have in his treasury. I wonder if it would be worth pushing/fighting our way into there. Or maybe going after Cooper once we are done here."
"Sounds good, we can mention Shunn the bugbear too" Jaya says, let's head toward them, just be prepared.
"Sounds good!"
Rico agrees, "I'll go along with that."
"Alright, then I guess the usual marching order. Jaya and I in front with Nikk at the back in case they recognize him as someone wanted. We'll see how far we can get. I will keep an eye out for the sleeping bugbear in the room at the end of the hall."
Pisgah sheaths his longsword and pulls a javelin off his back.
Pisgah and Jaya lead the group down the hallway until you come to the door where Pisgah (and now the others) heard voices from.
As you approach, you get a good look at the rooms here. They are lit with battered oil lanterns and therefore fairly easy to get a holistic impression of.
The room where the voices came from (1) is lit well, partially by the lanterns that are resting atop toppled blocks of stone, partially by a campfire in the middle. This hall seems to be partially collapsed, as you see a large pile of rubble in the eastern part of it. Crates, barrels, and seven wooden cots line the walls. Sleeping bags are lined up along the walls.
In the middle of the room, already looking in your direction as you enter, you see seven people. All but one of them are humans, equipped with leather armor, crossbows and shortswords. Two of the crossbows are leveled at Pisgah and Jaya.
The one person sticking out might have once been a drow, but now has spiderlike features. It's difficult to tell if all of his eight red eyes are staring at you and his mandibles are clicking impatiently. He still has only four limbs, but they are spindly and covered with dark bristles.
As you step forward, he growls in the raspy voice you heard before: "Well, not one-eyes after all. How many eyes does Xanathar have?"
In the room to the left of the entrance (2), you see stone racks spanning the walls. They contain old barrels made of rotten wood. A large stone table in the middle of the room is draped with cobwebs. A silver-bound wooden chest rests atop it.
The room with the sleeping bugbear (3) turns out to contain even more of them. You count ten bugbears, all of which are sleeping all throughout the room.
"As many as there are stars in the sky" Jaya responds immediately, ignoring the raised crossbows like they weren’t even there.
“We are on important guild business but told Shunn we’d get an update on operations on this level as we pass through, regarding the goblin market, Yek, and the wererat situation. So, how are things?"
Upon you uttering the passphrase, the crossbows are being lowered. However, something that Jaya says after that takes the group by surprise. Some grunt, some snort, the drow looks in bewilderment for a moment.
He gets up and takes an aggressive stance, arms to the side, the bristles giving them more bulk, his eight eyes looking you up and down, the mandibles twitching. His men are a bit slower on the uptake, but some are fumbling for the hilts of their weapons.
"Are you shittin' me? What are you trying to pull here?"
He walks towards Jaya. Although being somewhat sorter than the dragonborn, the drows sudden movements give him an air of unpredictability and danger. A shortsword has appeared in his hand. A second one is still in the hilt.
"You're talking to Shunn Shurreth. Now tell me who you really are or I'll feed you to the bugbears."
Pisgah bursts out laughing! "Ha Ha Ha, Shunn you should have seen the look on your face! That was priceless! Come on, you should have gotten word by now that we were coming to deal with the wererats. No? Well, we are here to find out where their main lair is. What info do you have for us?"
Deception roll of 11
Realizing his mistake when Pisgah speaks, Jaya stands firm, staring at the drow calmly, and sends him a telepathic message...
At ease friend. Just another test, above and beyond the passphrase. Needed to make sure your group has not been infiltrated by the lycanthropes. We can never be too careful.
Intimidation: 2 (natural 1) [Unless of course this was not needed... :) ]
Canti stands still, unsure what to do now.
[Oh boy, here we go]
Shunns eyes narrow, scrutinizing Pisgah and Jayas words.
[Shunn: Insight: 18]
He does not respond to Jayas mental message. The drows posture becomes hunched, like that of a spider ready to lunge at its prey. He draws his second shortsword and roars: "Lies! Intruders! Leave the smallest one alive for questioning!"
His men have their weapons ready and start advancing.
Those of the party that are still in the hallway see that the shouting also wakes up the bugbears, as they slowly start getting up. They're going to need a few seconds to get their bearings.
Initiative:
1. Pisgah and Rico < YOUR TURN
2. Shunn (S)
3. Bugbear group (B1-B5) (surprised, skipping first round)
4. Nikk, Canti and Jaya
5. Xanathar thugs (X1-X7)
6. Bugbear group (B6-B10) (surprised, skipping first round)
Rico sends Steel to block the room of bugbears, to slow them from coming out of the room and swarming everyone. Meanwhile, she moves behind Jaya to get a couple shots at Shunn. It's been her experience that taking out the leader makes fights much easier...
Attack 14 damage 7
Attack 20 damage 16
OOC: Okie dokie, let's see how this will go!!!
First Pisgah would like to rage, please! As he steps forward one square, a muzzle reminiscent of a Dire Wolf begins to protrude, as he makes two bite attacks on Shunn.
Attack 1: 15 to hit for 11 pts damage (magical)
Attack 2: 22 to hit for 4 pts damage (magical) ; if one of the attacks hits Pisgah will regain 3 hit points
Shunn avoids one shot from Rico and blocks one strike from Pisgah, grunting as the other hits connect. His eyes seem surprised by the transformation of Pisgah. While lunging forward with his swords, he remarks: "Also cursed, are you?"
His two blades are hissing as they slice through the air. Poison!
He attacks Pisgah with both strikes, quickly and precisely:
Attack: 18, damage: 7 slashing + 16 poison damage
Attack: 19, damage: 10 slashing + 13 poison damage
The drow then jumps backward, seeking to maneuver into a smarter position. For this, he risks an opportunity attack from Pisgah. He then moves toward the adjoining room to the west, behind cover.
The bugbears are still assembling.
Initiative:
1. Pisgah and Rico
2. Shunn (S)
3. Bugbear group (B1-B5) (surprised, skipping first round)
4. Nikk, Canti and Jaya < YOUR TURN
5. Xanathar thugs (X1-X7)
6. Bugbear group (B6-B10) (surprised, skipping first round)
I forgot to add the rage damage so Shunn should have another 2 damage.
Pisgah's AoO with longsword misses as the poison kicks in causing Pisgah to roar in pain before his voice is cut off and foam erupts from his lips. Pisgah crashes to the floor, unconscious and out of the fight.
Have fun folks, I will start working up another character.....
Jaya says to Pisgah "Kill Shunn, I'll start on the others" and he will move up next to X1 and X2, and attack X1, moving to x2 if he drops.
Longsword attack 1: 24 dmg: 10
Longsword attack 2: 12 dmg: 14