Bertolt will step inside the room long enough to fire off another shot from his crossbow at the ghoul before stepping back out of the room.

Crossbow: Attack: 16 Damage: 10

 Once again, Talion will follow the old scholar's lead, and do his best to ensure that there is someone between him and the ghoul after launching another bolt of arcane energy.

Attack: 26 Damage: 20 + 6 (necro) + 2 (bludgeon)

The combined might of all of your attacks (Bert and Talion) fell the wretched creature before it can be lured into Erven's trap - all goblins are dead!

End of combat!

As most of you have seen the room you're in, when you look around, this room is festooned with moldy skeletons that hang from rusty shackles against the walls.  Their clothing is tattered, and most of their bones have been gnawed on by something.   A wide alcove in the east wall contains a painted wooden statue carved in the likeness of a gaunt, pale-faced man wearing a voluminous black cloak, his pale left hand resting on the head of a wolf that stands next to him.  The paint that colours the statue seems new but as you look at it, the lone torch that lit this room winks out.  [the room is now dark, those of you with darkvision are fine; those without cannot see anything].  In his right hand, the figure holds a smoky-gray crystal orb. The room has exits in the north, south, and west walls (Erven is on the stairs to the north, and others are at the exit to the west).  Chanting and drumming can still be heard performing their grim cadence in the west, where you saw the stairs leading down...

Erven, you can see there is a trap door at the top of the stairs you are on.  Thin, wispy streamers of white lick around the seams of the trapdoor...
Lucky Bear comes running up to Erven, wagging his tail and whining ever so slightly and shaking a bit.  She sniffs around the room, peeing in a couple places, before coming back to sit at Erven's side.

The awkward silence hangs heavy in the air, as Erven slowly begins to dismantle his unused trap......

What now, gang?

MAP

Talion looks at the trap door. "Multiple escape routes are good." A spectral hand appears in the air nearby, "Shall I open it?"

He waits for approval from at least two of his companions before trying to open it.

Quote from Ereshion >>

Talion looks at the trap door. "Multiple escape routes are good." A spectral hand appears in the air nearby, "Shall I open it?"

He waits for approval from at least two of his companions before trying to open it.

 Just so I understand, by the trap door, you mean where it says "Up to wolf den"?

(( yes ))

Super.  Thanks.

Alright, what say the rest of you?

After stowing the trap, Erven says to the others who have gathered in the room, "Do you see that smoky orb in the statue's hand?  Perhaps someone should look at that.  I don't know that I can tell about it, but it looks strange to me."  He looks to see if the likeness in the statue is what was represented earlier in the dining room, and if it was the same man in his dream/unconscious state.  

He looks at Talion and says "I agree, we should go up those stairs and look, it appears to be a trap door, it would be good to have another way out in case we need to run."

But now, he turns to Sho.  And standing beside Onyx, he says to Sho :  "You have saved me before, brought me back from death.  As men who fight and die together in battle I have grown to respect you and care for you Sho.  But Vecna?  (he says this words with disgust and loathing)  You invoked the power of Vecna to make these creatures turn and run from us?  Is that who your God is?  If so, I don't understand it and I can't abide by it unless I hear more from you, an explanation, an understanding.  I hate the undead.  I have learned to track and kill them.  My whole village was turned to undead and I had to put all of them down.  I grew up in the dark, away from people, away from everything because of the destruction they wrought.  I can track, stalk and kill undead like no other creatures (well, goblins too).  I need to know if you are devoted to serving evil and the undead...."

Onyx has not yet sheathed his sword or flicked the gore from it as he stares at Sho.  H-e found himself wishing the Sentinel had not been ready to rest - his mundane blade was a little less reassuring.

"Vecna is a usurper and a god of lies and deceit, Erven.  I wouldn't trust a word out of this snake's mouth.  You just heard him tell us to let those ghouls escape."

Talion pauses, the spectral hand dissipating before moving anywhere. He frowns, his gaze cycling slowly between Onyx, Ervan and Sho. "Whoever trapped us is this house of horrors must be loving this right about now." His gaze finally settles on Sho, wondering what the odd priest will say.

“You?” Sho regards Erven flatly, “You were struggling to kill a few ghouls. Yet you took down a whole village of undead. You were sloppy, careless, impatient, inexperienced, and superficial.” Leaping out of the fray when surrounded, setting a trap in the middle of a fight - because those are all the things an experienced hunter would do. Sho turns his head away, uninterested.

“Why are we talking,” he says boredly, “If you don’t want to listen to anything I say?”

"I am listening, even if Onyx is not.  The undead that I killed were newly turned, slow to move, I saw it happening.  I went from creature to creature with a large rock as they were slowly... awakening... and bashed their brains in.  It was horrible.  The actions I made here were to avoid damage and to keep these foul creatures from bleeding me dry.  And I did that successfully.  With or without you, I would have kept on until I killed them all.  But I am still listening for your explanation..."  Erven focuses on Sho, assessing him, honestly listening for an answer.

Talion listens for a time, then shakes his head. "Where I come from, the rules are simple: cross me or mine, and I'll kill you. Seems to me, you two only need to ask one question right about now: When has this priest crossed you or yours? The rest is just meaningless talk."

Under his cloak, you see Erven slowly pull out his dagger, hand shaking.  Not pointing it at anyone, except himself.  He face is red, he is sweating.  His voice gains a higher pitch that you have not heard.  

"Perhaps there is no way out.  Perhaps you will have Vecna turn all of the power of the undead into my body.  Then I'll just plunge this dagger into my heart and kill them all!  Then you will be free from him, this house will be free of all of this evil, and all will be solved.  How about that?"   Erven points the dagger from Sho, to himself... hand shaking, towards his heart.  His eyes seem to see you, but not really see you.

Seeing the fear and horror that has lurked behind the elfs eyes finally resurface, Talion tries to get Ervan to focus on him instead of Sho, "You should listen to me about this: Surviving is the one thing I know a little about, and if we want to survive here, we need to work together. All of us. We need your help, Ervan."

"I said it at the start, and I'll say it again: We all get out or, likely, none of us do. Not even the dog."

Dammit, I should have been watching this one more closely.

Onyx tries not to flinch as Erven draws a blade . . . on himself.

Instead, he turns towards Talion.

"Do you not think it a strange coincidence?  This dark place, where good and innocent people were deceived and sacrificed to an undead master?  That we strangers, all good enough, were trapped and accompanied by a tool of the god of undeath and deceit?  Lathandar is a god of repentance, but Sho clearly has no conflictions about his fealty."

Unusually, Onyx's words seem to anger Talion. "You rich people just don't get it do you?" He shakes his head and looks from the Hero-who-didn't-want-to-be to the elf, who was probably older than his parents. "In the orphanage I saw evil done by 'good' priests. If anyone was a tool of deceit and living death, they were. I tried to kill 'em, and failed. Almost died myself. I came back years later and finished the job -- killed a 'good' priest of a 'good' god because he'd crossed me and mine. I've lied, I've murdered, I've saved 'evil' men from the gallows, but I've never betrayed my people."

"All this talk of who worships what is meaningless. It's what lies in a mans heart that matters, and you can only really tell that from their actions. So, I'm back to that question: When has this priest crossed you or yours?"

Erven's gaze is deflected and he does seem to hear what Talion says, but he turns back to Sho, hand still shaking, breathing heavily, sweating.  He seems to be waiting, listening, but doesn't say anymore.  His head also turns toward the house, looking, listening, hearing the chanting below.  He turns his head back to Sho, waiting apparently to hear more.  

Onyx's anger flares to match Talion's.  He steps right up to his companion.

"Justify your past any way you wish.  Do not think I was deaf to you all conspiring against me, fearful of my divine aegis and my bond with the victims of this house.  Yet I voluntarily surrendered that which was powerful but did not belong to me.  You defend evil and steal from the dead, and pretend to be righteous.  I would rather die for what is right than gamble on the two of you."

He takes a deep breath, venom creeping into his tone.

"I made my name killing a common brigand."

Here, Onyx raises his blade, sword-arm rock-steady, point towards Talion even as his eyes flick back towards Sho.

"I can do it again."

Erven, roll a save for me - intelligence or wisdom, your choice.