Old Ways IC

[Valameer]

Stefan adjusts his helmet and comes forward, exhausted from the fighting.

"Well, if they're fleeing, like you said," he nods to Mycah, "then that probably means there isn't many of them left down there. If you guys want to press on, I would have no problems following."

The young cleric sets down his shield and tucks his sling into his belt. Locks of black hair cling to his face under his helmet, and he scratches at a few days of a rugged beard on his chin. He has playful green eyes, and usually has a hint of a smile on his lips.

"I'm Stefan Reinhardt, from the Church, by the way," he smiles. "Sorry I kinda dazed out there, it's been a long couple-a days, believe me." Stefan exchanges a knowing glance with Brandon. "I'm glad Bost, er, Lord Bost sent a party up this way to reinforce us. He's a pretty good guy like that."

[Altair_the_Vexed]

"Fair enough, seems reasonable," Talsarios says. "Let's see if my old lantern's in anything like working order... I threw it at the blighters, earlier, you see."
With that, he heads to the stairs and peeks down into the gloom. "I say, would anyone care to come along while I look?" he asks, hopefully.

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If no-one joins him in his search in the next round of posting, Talsarios will feel his way down the stairs and grope around for the lantern by himself - listening out for sounds of returning bad guys.

[Nevaera]

"Of course. I will do what I can. Perhaps we should all gather in form and continue onward together, stronger in a group. Devin, would you inform the others of the situation and assign someone to keep things organized for me while I'm here?" She looks to the others, "I have no complaints with taking the front if battle should break out, but please let me know if any of you need to get past."

With that, she puts her helmet back on and readies her sword and shield then slings her bow over her shoulder.

[Nevaera]

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I'd like to roll an alertness for finding nifty hidden things or noticing a battle retaliation on the way from the goblins.
(1D20)[13]

[Roland St. Jude]

Tal recovers his lantern, busted and badly blackened by the flame but not beyond repair. Ashala hears no sounds or sees any stirring in the darkness below.

Devin returns to his watchman's post to converse with Ash's newcomers. At the report, her men raised the drawbridge and assembled a watch along the outer wall.

[Koren n'Rhys]

When Ash and Tal head down the stairs, Mycah looks to the others to see if anyone else will follow. With a shrug, he goes after them, alert for any danger below.

"If that group of goblins went this way, then the other end of the tunnel I found must be down here. If your plan is to secure this keep, then the first order of business should be to seal off holes like this one."

[Frivolous]

Brandon Bor


Since there is news that the goblins have all fled, Brandon descends the stairs with Talsarios and starts to search the bodies of the goblins that he killed by toppling the barricade on them, as well as any others that fell that far.

While he works, Brandon asks the newcomer, "Do you remember seeing what the remaining gobbos were armed with?"

"If they're only armed with melee weapons, we can fill them with arrows. Hunting 'em down will be more difficult if they also have bows."

Brandon grins at Ash. "Lady Ashala? If you have the most rank in the party I wouldn't your taking the lead."

"I'm Brandon Bor. My father is Boris Bor. I'm just the youngest son, though."

He talks as if he expects her to recognize the wealthy farmer.

[Valameer]

Stefan travels with the group.

"Why would such a large group run away from us?" he wonders aloud. "Also, nobody forget that we have to put that banner up on the walls. Probably today would be a good day to do it."

[Nevaera]

Ash sort of "face palms" against her helmet as Brandon went the extra mile to point out her status, thus relieving himself of risk and duty. Well, great. Now that's set in stone. Looks like I'm stuck with my title separating me from the crowd again. She sighs.

"I'm sorry, I'm not from these parts. I wouldn't be familiar with any of the bloodlines," she replies to Brandon with out much effort for diplomacy. She doesn't look at him but rather toward Mycah. "Everyone, this is Mycah. Mycah Deshiel. He's our scout, as you all must have noticed by now."

She continues onward with the others, next to Talsarios, and in front of Mycah and Brandon who are before Stephan and the others. She shoves a body or two with her steel clad foot, rolling them over so she can make sure they aren't playing dead. This may seem like a rookie precaution to the others who would probably know better (after being out of battle for so long), but perhaps not.

In response to Stephen's suggestion, "Hm. I agree. Even if we haven't fully completed our task, it would be a good idea. Might scare off any creatures planning to check things out here." She neglects to answer his question however. She already said what she thinks on the matter. They were probably protecting someone important in their clan and regrouping, she thinks to herself.

[Roland St. Jude]

As Talsarios inspects his busted lantern, Brandon was able to root around in the darkness and haul three goblin corpses out of the wooden debris and up the stairs far enough to be in the light. Each goblin was much like those in the courtyard, with decent clothing for a goblin, a crummy blade, and a small pouch of about twenty gold each.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

To Ash, Alastor quietly says, "Don't mind Brandon: he's had a hard few days, holding our front line and keeping the rest of us alive. He's a good lad."
He turns the cracked lantern over in his hands. Aloud he says, "Hmph. This is broken, but I could probably fix it up in time. Meanwhile, does anyone else have a lantern or torch? I'll carry it - don't need both hands free now I've cast my spell."

[Nevaera]

Ash nods, pretending to feel assured. Though just now, she begins to grasp a hint of what these folks have been through. Tch, wow. I've really let things get out of perspective. I wonder what they've been through? I wonder what makes them so close? Is it the danger? Hm... Either way, I'll take his advice. It's good to know your enemies as well as your allies.

Ash shrugs at the request for a torch.

[Koren n'Rhys]

Mycah nods to each in turn as Ash does the introductions of the group. As Brandon roots out the goblin corpses, the woodsman joins in to assist moving the debris. "I'm afraid I didn't see them closely enough to be able to tell what they had for weaponry. It sounds like they were fleeing your group and I'd be surprised if they took time to gather any supplies. Did they have any missile weapons during your fight here?"

At Talsarios' question about the light, he speaks up. "No lantern, but I do have a few torches. You're welcome to them, of course."

Once the area is suitably lit, Mycah looks for exits and tries to get an idea of which way the goblins fled.

[Roland St. Jude]

No visible exits from this room suggest themselves, and given that they came up out of the ground, Mycah suspects the other end of the mystery tunnel to be down the stairs ahead. If he's kept his bearings right, the goblin brutes popped out of straight ahead from where he's standing, a couple hundred yards past the outer wall of the keep. So either this is a large basement, larger than the keep, or the tunnel runs a long way.

[Frivolous]

Brandon Bor


Brandon sounds awed as he displays the gold coins on the goblin bodies to the rest of the party.

"Lookatthis. These goblins were loaded. I've never seen so much gold in my life. They must have raided a lot of caravans to grab this much gold."

He also picks up the goblin daggers he threw (which all missed).

"If they've all left the keep, we should look for the leader's throne room or suite. They're bound to have left a lot of stuff running away."

Then a bit of his earlier nervousness returns.

"Unless y'all think that maybe they left some nasty guards behind, or this is all a big trap."

Mycah nods to each in turn as Ash does the introductions of the group. As Brandon roots out the goblin corpses, the woodsman joins in to assist moving the debris. "I'm afraid I didn't see them closely enough to be able to tell what they had for weaponry. It sounds like they were fleeing your group and I'd be surprised if they took time to gather any supplies. Did they have any missile weapons during your fight here?"

At Talsarios' question about the light, he speaks up. "No lantern, but I do have a few torches. You're welcome to them, of course."

Once the area is suitably lit, Mycah looks for exits and tries to get an idea of which way the goblins fled.

"The ones we've met in the keep so far have only had melee weapons. The bugbears had bigger weapons, but still only for hand-to-hand combat."

[Valameer]

Stefan looks around the dungeon tunnel. "I wonder how far down this all goes. It figures that they had a back entrance, since they didn't come in across the stream like we did, and the drawbridge didn't look very used."

"We should be on the lookout for traps, especially you guys up in the front. Wouldn't want to have to pull you out of a pit trap!" Stefan jests.

[Matthew]

Nathros sheathes his sword and retrieves his spear. "Good to have more eager sword arms. My name is Nathros, currently in the service of Lord Bost with my companions here. As you may know, our mandate was to drive out the goblin raiders from this fortress and secure it against future incursions. Perhaps we can track those who have fled later."

[Nevaera]

Ash's eyes widen a little as Stephen mentions a pit trap, but I suppose only one staring straight at her would have seen that through her helmet. Her steps continue more cautiously and one can definitely see her head swiveling around to look for traps and things which trigger them. Ash wishes she was looking for enemies instead of traps. She continues onward, exploring all that lies beyond the bottom of the stairs.

[Nevaera]

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She's looking for anything that might be normally concealed from intruders, like a secret exit or a trap or hidden treasure.

Search (Alertness) (1d20)[19]

[Koren n'Rhys]

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I thought I was at the bottom of the stairs when I was looking for exits - wasn't that where Brandon was checking bodies and Talsorios recovered his lantern? Your description makes it sound like I'm still at the top though...

Mycah lights a torch and descends cautiously down the staircase alert for signs of ambush. Reaching the bottom, he scans the wreckage for movement and then moves out of the way of anyone coming down behind him.
"Could you get an idea of how many of those goblins were down here? Maybe the group I saw, plus the number of dead here are all there were."

Mycah extends a hand in greeting to Nathros. "Well met, I'm Mycah. It's good to see you all safe here. Hopefully there is strength in numbers, eh? I'm inclined to agree with you - we need to secure this place first, before we split our group and go chasing after those which fled. First step is to determine how they got out of here." He waves his torch about the walls to punctuate the statement.

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Mycah will look around the room to set the layout in his head and try to establish his bearings relative to upstairs. What do we have for exits down here? Is it just a hallway or did the stairs end in a larger room?

[Roland St. Jude]

As Ash and Mycah reach the bottom of the stairwell, they see most of the keep basement lit by their torchlight. All but the far corners.

Two rows of large columns divide the room roughly into thirds, but no interior walls block their view. Wooden debris sits in the corner to their right, perhaps the makings of interior walls once upon a time. More terribly, a pile of goblin corpses is stacked in the near corner to their left. At the far end, straight ahead, is the suggestion of a hole in the floor, barely visible at the edge of the torchlight.

[Matthew]

"That will be the fruits of our last escapade."

[Frivolous]

Brandon Bor


Brandon follows after, looking less nervous now that the party is reinforced with two more members. He has his sword and shield and he turns to the side regularly, as if to prevent someone from sneaking up no him.

"This is all? Not even any beds."

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Talsarios rummages in his pack to fish out his notebook and quill. He starts to sketch and note details, peering cautiously at the corpse pile.
"Fascinating," he mutters. "I've never even read of the rites that goblins have regarding their dead. Mine could be the first scholarly record..."

[Koren n'Rhys]

Mycah watches quizzically as Talsorios begins to record his thoughts on the dead goblins. "But... they're just goblins. Why would anyone even care?"

Turning his attention to other matters before the mage can even answer, he points towards the far end of the chamber. "Looks like something is down there. A hole? The tunnel maybe."

[Matthew]

Nathros inspects the tunnel that Mycah indicates.

[Nevaera]

Ash stands roughly in the middle of the room, watchful for anything unexpected. After a moment, she sighs. Her sword and shield droop down to her sides as she relaxes her arms. Then she casually gazes toward the hole, the group, and their discoveries.

[Roland St. Jude]

Nathros heads across the single large room across a stone floor to the hole against the far wall. The stone underfoot is plainly cut and laid stone pieces and the hole is a large one, with hand-holds cut into the rock along one of the side walls. To the extent the basement is dark, the hole extends to even greater (but natural) darkness.

Mycah takes a moment, in the middle of the basement, to orient himself. The stairs behind him begin at the back center of the keep and head downward into this lower level. If one proceeded directly ahead from the foot of the stair, they'd wind up down that hole, directly under the front door, he'd guess. And several hundred yards farther in that same direction, out in "front" of the keep, is where the goblins emerged from the ground.

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The last version of the map is posted in the OOC thread by Altair.

[Valameer]

"Fascinating," he mutters. "I've never even read of the rites that goblins have regarding their dead. Mine could be the first scholarly record..."

Mycah watches quizzically as Talsorios begins to record his thoughts on the dead goblins. "But... they're just goblins. Why would anyone even care?"

Turning his attention to other matters before the mage can even answer,

Stefan interjects where Mycah left off, questioning Talsarios. "Eeugh, why would anyone want to know about how goblins treat their dead? I've seen pig-slop disposed of more gracefully!"

Stefan tries to peek at Talsarios' notebook. "Are you drawing it?"

[Nevaera]

"So is this everything then?" Ash suddenly quizzes the others, bored of this trivial room and ready to move on. "Once this place is secured, we can allow the people I've brought to set up and make themselves useful. If none of you wish to travel through their little hole, we should barricade it in the unlikely event that they wish to return." She shifts her weight from one side to the other. Her hip leans out and her head tilts to the side to peer at the group for a moment as she waits for someone to take charge.