Badger: You hear a sourceless voice in your head. It sounds snarling and whispered. "You are a failure. Your mines are shuttered as resources are diverted to town recovery. Your wealth is declining. Fewer and fewer people respect or need you. You have to reestablish yourself, but you're failing. But I can help."
The three of you move west to see a set of stairs and a door to the south. The passage then turns north.
Ash: You don't hear anything through the south door and see another door to the north.
Badger: You see nothing that might be the source of the sound, but you do again hear the voice: "Come now. Bring me a corpse and I will help you reach greatness once again."
You enter barracks that contains four roughly built wooden bunks, with heaped-up blankets and dirty dishes scattered about. A strong smell of unwashed bodies and rotten meat fills the air. One bugbear is lounging among the mess, barking orders at a sad little goblin that demeans itself for their amusement. Your sudden appearance causes the goblin to faint.
Initiative
K - 16
Ash - 14
Badger - 13
Bugbear - 7
The bugbear is Surprised and Ash acts first in the first round.
While Badger ties the goblins hands, he slowly comes to. He doesn't fight at all against the ropes and only looks frightened at the three of you and especially at the weapons. Now that you get a closer look at him, you see that he's even smaller and skinnier than other goblins. His sharp teeth are extremely crooked, and his eyes are off center.
Ash looks at Badger then back to the goblin, waits a beat, then sheathes his swords. "We ain't here to hurt you. Wait, do you understand Common?" Then in goblin, "We're not here to hurt you. That one," he points to the dead bugbear, "was hurting you, so we stopped him. See? We're here to help."
Badger looks at Ash when he starts speaking goblin, then at K, and shrugs, impressed.
Ash, in goblin: "We're the Quote Unquote Fantastic, a group that wants to help make the world a better place. To take out bullies and scoundrels like that bugbear. But hey, can you help use? Can you tell us about other bullies in this hideout? Where might more bully bugbears or humans be?"
Droop stops at K's blocking maneuver and shies back to Ash, clutching Ash's pants with a shaking hand. He says hurriedly, nervously, in goblin, "Droop only want to help! Droop show where bullies are."
Badger indicates to Ash to move west. Stealth (armor disadvantage): 5
Ash starts west towards the passage. Stealth: 20
K follows, watching the cavern for signs of movement. Perception: 17; stealth: 13
Each of you please make a Deception check.
Badger deception check: 3
Ash deception check: 9
K deception check: 12
Badger: You hear a sourceless voice in your head. It sounds snarling and whispered. "You are a failure. Your mines are shuttered as resources are diverted to town recovery. Your wealth is declining. Fewer and fewer people respect or need you. You have to reestablish yourself, but you're failing. But I can help."
The three of you move west to see a set of stairs and a door to the south. The passage then turns north.
K whispers: "Ash, sneak ahead and listen at the door."
Ash sneaks forward, peeks around the corner and, if clear, listens at the door to the south. Stealth: 14; perception: 5
Badger falls to the back of the line and looks over the cavern for any possible source of the voice or other threat. Perception: 11
Ash: You don't hear anything through the south door and see another door to the north.
Badger: You see nothing that might be the source of the sound, but you do again hear the voice: "Come now. Bring me a corpse and I will help you reach greatness once again."
Ash points north or south and shrugs, asking which way they want to go.
K shrugs back and points—(d4 (south 1-2 north 3-4): 1)—south.
Ash waits for an indication that the others are ready.
Badger nods that he's ready, but a worry is on his face and he keeps glancing behind them. Perhaps getting to a new room will let him regroup.
Ash swings open the south door and charges in with his shortswords out.
You enter barracks that contains four roughly built wooden bunks, with heaped-up blankets and dirty dishes scattered about. A strong smell of unwashed bodies and rotten meat fills the air. One bugbear is lounging among the mess, barking orders at a sad little goblin that demeans itself for their amusement. Your sudden appearance causes the goblin to faint.
Initiative
The bugbear is Surprised and Ash acts first in the first round.
Ash sees the bullying bugbear and slashes twice (17 & 16 to hit; 17 piercing damage)
K swipes with his quarterstaff (7 to hit, miss) then punches its jaw (25 to hit (crit!); 10 bludgeoning damage)
Badger rushes in and closes the door.
The bugbear is dead; combat has ended.
Ash points at the goblin. "What do we do with this one?"
K: "Let's just tie him up."
Badger: "Or wake 'im up and get information from him."
K nods. "That's a decent idea. Ash?"
Ash shrugs. "Okay. If it starts screaming, I'm knocking him out."
Badger ties the goblin up with some rope from his pack, cutting 10' from his 50'.
Ash crouches next to the goblin with his shortswords ready.
K has his quarterstaff out, ready, but behind his back.
While Badger ties the goblins hands, he slowly comes to. He doesn't fight at all against the ropes and only looks frightened at the three of you and especially at the weapons. Now that you get a closer look at him, you see that he's even smaller and skinnier than other goblins. His sharp teeth are extremely crooked, and his eyes are off center.
Ash looks at Badger then back to the goblin, waits a beat, then sheathes his swords. "We ain't here to hurt you. Wait, do you understand Common?" Then in goblin, "We're not here to hurt you. That one," he points to the dead bugbear, "was hurting you, so we stopped him. See? We're here to help."
Badger looks at Ash when he starts speaking goblin, then at K, and shrugs, impressed.
K smiles and shakes his head, also impressed.
The goblin tentatively responds in goblin, "You... you help Droop? Kill bully for Droop? Why help Droop?"
Ash, in goblin: "We're the Quote Unquote Fantastic, a group that wants to help make the world a better place. To take out bullies and scoundrels like that bugbear. But hey, can you help use? Can you tell us about other bullies in this hideout? Where might more bully bugbears or humans be?"
Droop's eyes widen and what you assume is a smile creeps across his uneven face. "Droop help. Come." He gets to his feet and heads towards the door.
K moves slightly into the goblin's path, nervous that the goblin will betray them or give away their stealth position.
Ash sees K's reaction, and so says hurriedly in goblin, "Wait, wait, Droop. How do you plan to help?"
Droop stops at K's blocking maneuver and shies back to Ash, clutching Ash's pants with a shaking hand. He says hurriedly, nervously, in goblin, "Droop only want to help! Droop show where bullies are."
Ash says calmly in goblin, "Yes, yes, okay, Droop. Just be quiet and secretive, okay? We don't want the bullies to know we're here."
He then says in Common, "He wants to help. He's going to show us where the bullies are."
Kristofferson nods and moves aside. "Stay close," he says to his mates.
Badger simply nods and is ready to follow.
Droop leads you out of the goblin barracks and points to the door to the north. "Bullies talk and yell."