Badger and K: you successfully strap the equipment to Badger's pack.

Ash: You hear muffled goblin voices and catch a smattering of words, in goblin: "...continue to bless this tribe... I hear his voice, the great Maglubiyet..."

Ash waves Badger and K over. "Let's bust in. They aren't ready for us."

Badger nods and rushes in.

K follows.

You rush in. This chamber occupies the northern tower of the castle. A stone altar stands in the middle of the room, covered with bloodstained black cloth. Golden ritual implements—a chalice, a knife, and a censer—are carefully arranged on top of the altar. Two archways to the south are covered with heavy curtains.

Three goblins kneel before the altar in worship, wearing dirty robes over their leathers. They are Surprised.

Initiative (still in effect)

• Ash - 18
• Badger - 15
• K - 14
• Goblins - 6

Map:

Ash moves to the space south of goblin 2 and slices goblin 3 (22 to hit (+prone advantage), 8 piercing) and then goblin 2 (24 to hit (+prone advantage), 10 piercing)

Badger moves north to flank goblin 1 with Ash and swings his new battleaxe (11 to hit (+prone advantage), miss)

K moves in and attacks goblin 1 (13 to hit (+prone), 6 bludgeoning) and kicks it (24 to hit (+prone), 4 bludgeoning)

Goblins 1 & 3 are dead, but goblin 2 is stronger than you might have expected. He was the one saying the prayer and, judging by some extra patching on his robe, is the spiritual leader of the clan. He remains alive, still kneeling, and he has cried out from the pain.

We're back to the top of initiative.

Ash holds his shortsword at the goblin's neck and readies an attack should the goblin make any aggressive move or try to stand.

Badger: "Where is the dwarf captive? How many goblins reside here? Answer our questions and you may live." Intimidation: 22

K readies a quarterstaff attack on any hostile creatures that might enter from the door to the west.

The goblin says, in shaky Common, "Please. I Lhupo. Simple priest. I know not dwarf or numbers. We go chapel. Talk more there. Safer." He gestures to the heavy light-blocking curtains to the south.

Ash: "Are we tired of hearing liars beg for their lives yet?"

Badger looks south. Does he believe what Lhupo says? Insight: 13

K sees Badger look south and thinking. "Badger... No. We can't take the risk."

Badger pauses. "You two always see threats. I always wonder if it's another Droop. I cannot abide our reckless killing of Droops."

K also pauses, then nods.

Badger: You can tell fairly easily that he's lying. You will be no safer through the curtains, but he would be.

Badger sighs loudly, then nods to Ash.

Ash slices his shortsword (13 to hit (+prone), 4 piercing).

K looks down at the floor, disappointed that it came to that. While the other two gather themselves for the next stage, K puts the items on the altar in his pack.

K: The chalice, knife, and censer are human-made works of art worth 150 gp, 60 gp, and 120 gp, respectively.

Ash wipes his sword on the priestly robes. "So no safety through those curtains, Badger?"

Badger replies, "I don't think so, no. He was lying."

Ash: "The goblins near the entrance we're talking about an owl monster. You don't think they have an owl bear in the other side of those curtains, do you?"

Badger: "We could take a peek, but we might be better off backtracking and finding another way through the castle."

K: "I concur. Let's find a safer path."

You head back to the entrance and stand by the broken doors. Where would you like to go next?

Map:

Ash leads the way and, wanting to avoid the potential owlbear, picks the door furthest from that direction, so south.

The southwest tower of the castle is little more than a heap of rubble. Several ragged bedrolls are scattered across the remaining floor space, and a small, twisting passage leads east through the ruins.

You look east. The western portion of this large hall ends in a wall of rubble,but the remainder is still intact. This must once have been the castle’s banquet hall, with a soaring ceiling twenty-five feet high. Two large wooden tables with plain benches stand in the middle of the room, and a brass brazier full of glowing coals is tucked into one corner. Dirty dishes, half-full stewpots, moldy heels of bread, and gnawed bones cover the tables.

Seven goblins take orders from another goblin barking orders. None have shields or visible weapons. One, however, sees you and shouts.

Initiative

• K - 23
• Ash - 23 (d20 tiebreaker)
• Goblins - 19
• Badger - 10

 Map:

K squeezes passed Badger and Ash and moves east right into the face of goblin 7. (10 & 7 to hit, misses)

Ash takes a step east and then north twice around the rubble. He slashes at goblin 8 (22 & 20 to hit (+flank), 17 piercing (+sneak))

Goblin 7 blocks the quarterstaff with a plate from the table and the punch glances off its leathers.

Goblin 8 is not so lucky and is sliced to pieces, dead.

Goblin 1 cries out in goblin, "Stop them!" He grabs a pan and throws it at Ash. (16 to hit, 2 bludgeoning)

Goblin 2 grabs a pot and throws it at Ash. (17 to hit, 2 bludgeoning)

Goblin 3 squeezes to the space goblin 8 stood and bites at K. (18 to hit, 1 piercing)

Goblin 4 grabs a platter and throws it at K (17 to hit, 1 bludgeoning)

Goblin 5 grabs a steak knife and moves west two spaces, slashing at Ash. (18 to hit, 3 piercing)

(Jeez I'm rolling really well!)

Goblin 6 punches at Ash (14 to hit) but just hits Ash's armor.

Goblin 7 grabs a steak knife and cuts at K (21 to hit, 1 piercing)

Badger hurries in and swings his new battleaxe at the nearest goblin. (17 to hit, 6 slashing)

Badger: you feel the easier swing of the battleaxe, and you feel it do just a little more damage than your old battleaxe. (You find that you have a +1 Battleaxe).

Goblin 3 is dead.

Updated map:

K swings his quarterstaff at goblin 7 again (6 to hit (nat 1!)); he feels slightly dizzy and off from the loss of blood, so he tries to focus his Ki and uses Patient Defense (granting the Dodge action as a bonus action).

Ash slices his shortswords at goblin 5 (15 & 22 to hit, 11 piercing); he then circles goblin 6 to get north of him.