Barty's "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Tyranny of Dragons Part 1)

Rogram looks at Karib and then Carlon and then back into the room at Rachael and Hono. "Well, if we're breaking down doors, let's go break that one down, too." He heads across the courtyard toward the warehouse.

Karib nods, "Aye, we'll not be well-trusted after this, I think."

Having already scanned the ropom and seen nothing unusual, he spends a minute piecing things back into place so that a passer-by might not notice the breakage. If all are in agreement he follows the others out when Carlon says all is clear.

Rachael shakes her head slightly. "Rogram's right. Probably be lots of questions once they find the door smashed. Might as well see where that one in the warehouse leads to. We don't need to completely destroy this place just to cover our tracks. Let's get out of this place before it's discovered and head for that warehouse." She follows after Rogram. 

As it was the day before, the warehouse door is latched but unlocked. Jamna's laughter draws your attention to her and a few workers descending the steps of the balcony just as you're walking past. The diminutive gnome casts a quick, knowing glance at you as you walk by, engaged in conversation with the workers as they cross the courtyard behind you, never looking in the direction of Bog Luck's room.

Inside, the warehouse is filled with supplies, barrels and crates surrounding the walls. The center of the floor is little more than stagnant muck, and the only opening along the walls is a single, sturdy door. A moment later, the door opens, and Jamna sidles into the room. "Well, you sure like to cut it close," she comments. "Find anything good?"

"We're working on borrowed time," Carlon informs her after the answer comes. "Karib put things back in place well enough that nobody should notice unless they're specifically looking for Bog Luck's room, but the moment someone gets far enough to knock, they're gonna know someone was in there. I don't think we want to be around when Bog Luck finds it."

"Find? No," Rachael replies to Jamna, sounding disappointed. "Unless you count a fairly empty desk and a bunch of books. One on dragons - but not really enough time to read it. Did have a line about dragons having a long memory and remembering both insults and favors underlined. For whatever that's worth." She shrugs, feeling like breaking into the room had likely been a waste of time. 

"Indeed though, at this point it's best we just keep moving. So where is this door that you were all interested in?" She lets the others who were here previously lead the way. 

Hono rolls his eyes and follows, he was getting better about his impulsive actions. He still thought the burning place would solve more issues then it would have created but he asked and followed the general decision. That will show them Hono can play well with others, not a "loose canon", whatever that means. Hono couldn't help it if he knew the right decision before everyone else, that not impulsive, that decisive. He followed the others as they make thier way back through the mud. "Footprints, hopefully someone cleaned up our tracks?" Another issue solved by burning the place...

Karib smiles at Hono, "Doesn't make much sense to me either, but it does buy us a little time I guess."

He keeps walking then removes his hat and scratches his head, "Strange that there were no lanterns or braziers in the room though. Would have made life simpler."

As they move on to the next door, he briefly glances back wondering how prominent the footprints are in the muddy ground.

As the others file into the room and talk about Bod Luck's, Rogram is inspecting the locked door. He's never personally broken down a door before (that he can remember), but he watched Rachael, and he thinks he knows how to do it. Finally, he takes a step back, lowers his shoulder, and lunges forward.

Merric joins the others as they leave Bog Luck’s room and head to the warehouse.  “Books?” He frowns slightly as he thinks. “I never pictured Bog Luck as much of a reader, but I guess a book about dragons makes sense for a cult.  Shame there was no key, he probably keeps it on him.” 

He looks nervously back towards Bog Luck’s room. “Are we just going to leave it like that?  What if we can’t make it through the other door.  Or what if it doesn’t lead anywhere? We are kind of tipping our hand.”  He quiets down at Rogram lunges toward the locked door and takes up a position by the warehouse door, serving as a lookout once more. 

Hono jumps the flame from one hand to the other (now that he can again!) As he walks to the locked door.

Rogram STR: 21

The ground is soft enough that the party has indeed left a trail of footprints, but at least those left in the courtyard itself blend easily with the other mass of boots, hooves and wheels that have trodden through the building.

Rogram's shoulder barrels into the door, preceding a loud crack as the lock blasts free of the flame, the door freely opening now on its hinges. Some dust settles in the small room beyond, revealing a 15'x25' room. The crates and barrels in this room are organized in a neater fashion, allowing walking paths to easily access anything stored here. A thick leather-bound ledger lies open on the top of a barrel near the door.

OOC: As usual, the red square represents the party's current location.

Hono looks at the others in turn, "anyone have a mending or illusion spell to hide the damage to the door and frame?"

Rachael walks into the room after Rogram forces open the door. She heads over to take a look at the ledger.  (If needed, Investigation: 3)

“What were you hoping to find in here?" she asks. “This is the place you were trying to get into last night?"

Rogram rubs at his shoulder and smiles at Hono. "I can create the illusion of a closed door. It'll only last about 10 minutes, though."

He turns and starts looking around the room, particularly heading toward the barrels. "Do you think these are filled with treasure?"

“What were you hoping to find in here?" she asks. “This is the place you were trying to get into last night?"

"The Cult pillaged and raided towns all over the Greenfields," Carlon says. "We've tracked one of the shipments of stolen goods on a caravan to this roadhouse, and when we arrived, we saw them loading goods into the warehouse. We know this isn't the end destination. Those goods are going somewhere from here, and we haven't seen anyone moving crates out of here since we've arrived."

Leafing through the ledger's pages, Rachael sees a meticulous record of various names, their personal belongings, the section of the room that they are stored in, and a thick X in a column next to each item that has been returned to its owner.

As he looks around the room, Rogram notices that there are far fewer barrels and crates than the amount that was unloaded the previous day when the caravan arrived. The difference is stark enough to be noticeable.

Rogram stops and turns around. "Stuff's missing," he says to the others. When they look his way, he turns back toward the barrels and speaks over his shoulder. "There should be a lot more barrels than this if it's what was unloaded from the caravan." He turns around again. "Unless there's another place the rest were put, I think we missed a transfer last night."

He looks at Karib, a grin appearing. "Karib! Where's the ring?"

"Do the illusion, of nothing else, someone walking by in the next 10 min won't see anything of note and investigate. Either you missed a transfer last night, or there is another way out of here. You mentioned possibility tunnels before, perhaps we look for an entrance. Would need to be big enough to transfer cargo through." Hono starts to try and additional ways in and out on the floor and wall. (Is there an obvious door? I can't quite tell if that's a wall or an opening on the south wall of the warehouse. )

Merric sticks his head in the room, looking at the door frame. “We are leaving quite a trail here, a blind man could follow us.”  He notices Rachel looking through the book and notes the list of names.  “Is Rogram’s father’s name in that book?  Are those prisoners, workers, or something else?” 

He scans the room. “Missed a transfer? Maybe, but how did they move the goods? There was supposed to be a tunnel or passage here.”  Merric joins Hono and helps him search the room for a hidden door or passage.

Rachael will take a quick look for Rogram's father in the book. "I was wondering what this might tell us. It seemed to be tracking items put in storage and to note when they're returned."  While it seemed a more legitimate purpose, it would make sense to conceal lists of prisoners or such as something benign.  (Investigation if needed for looking for the name: 17) 

Rogram takes out a bit of fleece from a small pouch on his belt, makes a complicated (and only slightly awkward-looking) gesture, and speaks a short incantation. A magical — and insubstantial — facsimile of the door he broke inward appears in its place. The half-dwarf nods as he appreciates his own handiwork.

When he hears Merric tell Rachael to search for his Pa's name in the book, he says to her, "My Pa's name is Mathon. He's a blacksmith."