Shipwrecked in Saltmarsh

Dain moves to the front of the party, but is happy to give the clumsy guards a head start so he does not get jumped by whatever they get surprised by. He hefts his new Maul, getting used to the balance and feeling like he’s going to have to use it soon. 

Everyone files into the old entrance hall. Everything is as you left it yesterday morning, including the large piece of balcony that collapsed onto the floor here. Fianna's ribs still ache with that memory.

Seth ignores your questions, instead stabbing and slashing his sword through the air at invisible enemies, in some sort of warm-up, perhaps. Finally, he turns and asks, "Okay. Where are they? I'm ready to kill something!"

     "As I said," Fianna answers loudly to try to reinforce the point with her own party as well as the guards, "We were dragged in here form outside, varying levels of consciousness.  They caught us unawares.  But when we awoke we were in the cellar... We did some quick  looking about this level and the one above, trying to find a place to hole up securely for the night.  But the only people we saw were down the stairs and below us."

     Fianna slips a dagger out and keeps it in hand, just in case.  She scans the room and tries to get her bearings and once she does she directs the guards to the steps...

Seth and his two associates lead the way down the hallway, past the room you spent the night in, through the kitchen, and into the scullery. Nothing appears to have changed since you last left. They stomp loudly through the house, stealth clearly not a part of their guardish repertoire. Seth makes snide remarks, Farley is vacant, Butter is openly drunk.

Seth steps on that first tread. 

AAAIEEEEEEE AI! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Hideous screams — as if of a soul in torment — rise from the cellar.

Wisdom Saving Throws:
   Seth: 18
   Butter: 4
   Farley: 10
   Dain:  17
   The rest of you:  no effect.

 Butter and Farley are deeply disturbed by the screams. Seth scoffs at their reaction and goads them on. Dain is too angry, perhaps, to care. And the rest of you have heard this before (even as Molo gets chills upon hearing it again.)

The group descends the stairs into the basement. Seth squints in the darkness. "Light!" he calls. "Who's gotta light?"

Katernin takes a torch from her bag, and summons a ball of pale yellow light in the palm of her hand. She places the ball of light on the torch and offers it to Seth. She also approaches Butter and Farley and tries to help with their fear of the screams.

The party ventures down into the basement. The corpse is still there, and as bad-smelling as you remember it. The secret door is closed, and blends in well with the wall. All is quiet.

"This your work?" asks Seth, pointing to the decaying corpse with the tip of his sword. Farley and Butter hang back on the stairs, ready to retreat as quickly as necessary. "Where's the smugglers?"

     "No, that was there while we escaped.  We were held in a secret room behind this wall here..." Fianna explains, leading the guards to the wall and pointing out the secret door.  "We almost tripped over this corpse.  Doesn't it seem too decayed and stuff to have just happened?"

Dain hefts his new maul, making sure he is between the door and any of his new found party members.  He knows he's tough and owes this group already.  The guards?  Not so much.  They can deal with whatever comes through the door and he'll pick up anything which gets past them.

I wunner if this cellar leads to the cave I was held in.  Seems ta make sense.   I also wunner if these guards can fight.  Seems unlikely...

Seth kicks the secret door open. (Well, it's more of a sliding door, so after a few ineffective slams, he smacks it open with the toe of his boot.)

That triggers a pair of shoddy crossbows, rigged to the door as a crude trap.

Crossbow Attack #1: 15.  Piercing damage: 9

Crossbow Attack #2: 26.  Piercing damage: 4

 One of the bolts punctures his chainmail, giving him a painful wound in his side. He emits a long string of foul swears and grimaces in pain. The other bolt misses. He kicks the weapons and tripwires aside and stomps on them angrily.

The room beyond has been tidied up since you were last here. The bodies are gone, the dishes washed. A fresh torch illuminates the room. It is currently empty.

Dain will wait until the guards have entered, then follow them in, about 15' behind.  He's not been here before so will take a good look around, taking in his surroundings and seeking out any signs of threats.

Perception: 15

((Sorry, been busy over the weekend!))

Kelnan quietly looks over the place(s) he nearly died, as well as where Lucky wasn't so fortunate, trying to process the flood of emotion. He straightens himself up and turns to the guards.

"The traps are new, I apologize. We should be more careful. Also, our captors threatened us with whatever is behind that door. Don't know what, we didn't stick around to find out, but I suspect it's worse than a booby trap."

     “Well we maybe could have checked for traps if someone so eager to kick things,” Fianna suggests.  “But yeah, when we exited through there, nothing was triggered.”

     “And obviously this place has been straightened up.  It was a wreck when we departed.  There was a couple corpses there,” Fianna said, pointing to where the original foes were when they died. “And another one down there at the end of the hall.

     Fianna would look around for evidence of the pools of blood that would have been left.  Even if washed down there was still likely some traces.  If found, she would point out the evidence to the guards.  Either was she would add “Obviously someone has cleaned up, has used this place since...  the newly burning torch is evidence of that much at least.”

     “Shall we try the door that Keenan pointed out?  Perhaps you should check it for traps before kicking it?”

Fianna finds traces of blood on the stone floor, although it's well-camouflaged by years of grime. The guards aren't very interested, anyway.

Butter and Farley are still clearly a little freaked out, Butter taking heavy pulls from his waterskin, Farley staring at the unnerving sign on the eastern door with wide eyes. Seth struts around poking things with his sword. He scratches a mark through the word "Danger" scrawled on the barred door.

Dain carefully takes in the room. Nothing catches his eye in particular, although he suddenly hears a stifled, high-pitched chuckle somewhere in the southwest corner of the room. 

"Perhaps a bit more of a subtle approach?" Katernin suggests. "After all, a bit of silence might throw them off."

Dain will heft his fancy maul and stride forward into the south east corner of the room.  "Who's there?  Come out and show yerself!"  Planting his feet shoulder width apart, he holds his hammer in two hands, ready and expecting a fight.  Time fer some pay back!

Molo leaps at the corner with a scratching of claws.

(Edit: Southwest corner, sorry.)

As Dain and Molo take a few steps toward the west end of the room, an illusionary veil of some sort falls away. The cellar appears as it was, except that a tall man with a shaved head and piercing green eyes stands before you, empty handed. He is flanked by a middle-aged bald man holding a crossbow on one side, and a woman in leather wearing an eyepatch on the other with her longbow. Their weapons are trained on Dain and Molo.

"My goodness! It's our Astral expert and his gang of murderous trespassers!" spouts the tall man.

Initiative:
Dain: 5
Molo: 5
Fianna: 15
Katernin: 9
Kelnan: 22
Tall man with shaved head: 18
Bald man with crossbow:  17
Woman with eyepatch:   17
Guards: 21

 Everyone except Fianna may act first. Only Dain and Molo are within 30 feet. (Maps forthcoming!)

"Yer bastard Sanbalet!" screams Dain as he recognises the tall man with the shaved head as his captor.   Screaming with pent up rage he lets out an almost inhuman shout and charges into the fray.  As the red mist descends his thoughts become purely primal and he has one thought and only one in mind:  revenge!

Bonus Action:   Rage
Move:                 Charge forward, trying to engage Sanbalet, and hopefully getting within 5' of the crossbow man and longbow woman to disrupt their attacks on my companions.
Action:               Recklessly Attack Sanbalet:    Attack: 22 Damage: 21    (includes Advantage for Reckless and +2 damage for raging)

Note:  Attack rolls against Dain have Advantage until his next turn (due to Reckless Attack).

((You mean everyone except Fianna?  She got the 6... Katernin got the 17 initiative...))

Quote from Kaemgen >>

((You mean everyone except Fianna?  She got the 6... Katernin got the 17 initiative...))

 (Fixed - sorry! You're correct.)