(Hero hasn't logged into DDB for 3 days. Let's keep playing and retcon him back in if he rejoins in a few days. If he doesn't come back in a few days (like 3 days) I will recruit another player. For now, whatever encounter you might have next will be scaled down.)

"Thanks," Jiron replies to Skabb's compliment. The observant may not that his hands are shaking slightly as he swings the firearm back over his shoulder.

as he sees Skabb looking at the painting, Jiron eyes it suspiciously. "Hold on a sec, I feel that there might be something up with that thing. This should on,y take a minute." The hobgoblin commences and holds out his hand, and a faint, blue iris forms at the edges of his fingertips as he closes his eyes, and you see hundreds and hundreds of runes scroll through it as the Artificer concentrates.

 Upon seeing the gaping hole in the door, Jiron's eyes go wide. "That isn't good." 

Jiron senses that this door is enchanted in some manner. The enchantment seems somewhat cosmetic, but he can't be sure. It doesn't seem to have any signs of destructive magic.

Brand approaches the door once the room is good and clear, "We going in or just half-assing this job?"

(He'll ready his blades once more, standing ready to receive anything coming through; Parry stance minor action - +2AC until start of following turn - and Ready an attack for the first rat that comes out.)

Skabb looks to Jiron and Skrich. "Do you guys want to be in the middle or form the rear troops?" He holds up his axe and shield and smiles. "I'm fine with whatever." 


Mostly for the sake of safety, but also a hint if innate curiousness, the paladin uses divine sense to see if there are any undead, fiends or celestials close by (60 ft). 

Brand will give a nod and motion Skabb to the front with him.

Skabb senses something... wyrd. It is a bit further than the door though.

"Brand, if you want to go first, thats fine. But i sense something strange up ahead." Skabbs eyes spark for a fraction of a second as he utters the word, strange.

When you decide to open the door, the following occurs...

Nothing! However, once the door opens a putrid smell assaults your nostrils and some of you may gag! Somehow that door was probably keeping everything at bay. You definitely smell dead animals atop the nauseating smell of ammonia. As you feature within, it is incredibly dark. Brand and Skritch, you can't see very well and feel you may need to light a torch or create some other source of light. Jiron and Skabb, you have darkvision, and so you can see a short hallway that leads into a larger room. In that large room, you see ritualistic drawings on the ground that you can't discern. Jiron may find them interesting or disturbing, but Skabb might find it thrilling.

There seems to be curtains lining the room for some reason, and you hear the faint chittering of rats.

(A map will follow later today. My original map seems lost to time. :S)

Brand will give a skeptical look to Skabb, "Yes, let's let the one in rotting armor and no shield go before the one with better protection." He gives a shake of his horned head and proceeds, keeping a blade ready to parry and another to strike.

(As above, maintaining a Parry stance through Soul Knife feature for +2AC (bonus action), Readied Attack against the first rat I see)

(Oh duh, forgot to add, you guys are coming onto the square labeled 08.01. Brand, are you marching into the room blindly or are you lighting a torch? I don't think anyone has a way to light the way for you otherwise.)

(Guess I'm lighting the torches :P)

Not wanting to be caught unarmed, Brand gathers torches and begins to throw them into various places of the room until the area is sufficiently lit.

(Also, is this a stone- or wood-lined room?)

"Okay, first of all I have a shield." Skabb taps the rusty shield with his claw. "And there is no need to be rude, we are all in this together right now. Now go on and go first, if you want to." He follows behind Brand. 

(The floors are made of stone slabs, so you don't have to worry about burning them! I'll give Jiron and Skritch a bit to post, but I will otherwise make a post around 3 PM EST today.)

(Brand is abrasive by his nature. Nothing personal and I always try to limit it to minor quips to avoid RP tensions becoming OOC conflict.)

Brand steps aside and waves Skabb forward with a mocking bow.

Skritch watches his erstwhile companions quibble in front of the reeking doorway. Hoping that the torches burn away some of the smell, Skritch motions his fellows forward into the room beyond, assenting to go last, dagger at the ready.

Pushing his glasses up, Jiron readies the Thundercannon again as he waits by Skritch, and flinched at Brand's comments. While the Minotaur warrior was much more blunt, aggressive, and sarcastic, his actions brought back painful memories of his father's poorly masked frustration and disappointment at his son's lack of natural martial talent. 

"I don't care who goes first, can we please just kill these rats?" He hisses, sounding a bit more rude than he intended.

Brand's torches land and light up the room somewhat. Their thuds echo throughout the large room and cause three giant rats to come out of hiding! They appear from behind curtains and hiss in your general direction. They seem to have extra eyes glittering at you in the darkness.

Now then, roll for initiative! 

Rat on 03.06: 19

Rat on 03.07: 21

Rat on 10.07: 13

Map in spoiler. Red dots = rats. Yellow dots = where torches are.

Intiative: 9

(The turn will be affected by what the initiative order is)

11 (Unable to parce roll at first, when i added the new one it fixed itself, weird)