ONE HUNDRED FORTY EIGHT
(I/C)
“A dragon, are you sure you heard them right?” Brendon asked?
Kovid nodded. “As clear as the beard on my face.”
“Cool cool cool,” Lyra said, bouncing a bit on the balls of her feet. “So…there’s fifteen ultra badass zombies and a dragon. Are we all really sure this is worth it? Is messing in a dragon’s business EVER worth it?”
"I hate this stupid castle,” Lannis grumbles. “Stupid heart stealing elves and their no window castles. Who builds a castle with no windows? I hate it here."
Brendon started ticking off issues on his free hand. “No one is going to believe that there were super zombies, Medusa, love at first sex and a dragon looking for his mother’s heart.” Folding his hand closed into a fist, he made a motion shoving straight up and slapped his bicep. “I can’t wait to be done with this fucking job”.
“Monsieur Dwarf, what time do ye tink it be? Bout 2:30?”
Kovid looked past the elf and up, squinting at the bottom of the previous page. “2:33, let’s call it 2:34.”
“Hokay, So we still got time to use dis day... a precious resource indeed,” Wyn grunted. “I vote we explore down de hall passed de spy room. We cen maybe check out de ‘more dead elves’ room. En if we see de wolf... we run away.”
“Towards the wolf is fine by me,” Kovid said. “In addition, should we try to recover that effigy statue that the guardians were... guarding? You know the one Abraxas tossed in the fire? Butcher said they’d help weaken the dragon, make his magic ineffective. I think we should make sure we have all of them.”
"I agree with you Señor Kolbad,” Abraxas said, swinging his Scythe slowly about to better acquaint himself with its weight and heft. “Getting rid of those Guardians is essential, pero we should rest before we attack them. I think we need to be stronger before we go for them."
“Eidder dat, or I cast Detect Magic in de Butcha’s suite of rooms to see iffin dere be sometin we missed... en DEN we go down de more dead elves hallway,” Wyn suggested. “Dough, iffin I do t use my spells, den I cen take de middle watch tonight en let de rest of ye heal.”
Lannis stomped his foot, heading over to the rack of butcher knives. "Might as well go find that wolf, he’s in between us and the flipping Dragon anyway. As if my day couldn't get any worse now there's a dragon. Fantastic. Almost out of spells but at least we'll have a warm dinner for once. Piss off the dragon and I'll be a warm dinner.” Grabbing on, he checked its edge, cutting his thumb, and sucking the blood to stop it. "Hey broom beard,” he called to Kovid, “hack some of that meat up so it thaws as fast as possible in case we meet the giant flipping wolf, who hangs out by the bee whisperer, near the stairs to dragon town. This is not what I signed up for."
“You got it Big Brain,” Kovid chuckled, heading for the Freezer.
Abraxas too followed, saying. “"I am definitely ready for a rest amigos, pero pienso, I think checking on el Lobo isn't an idea terrible. We have the Goblin meat still,” he held up the bag from the butcher block, “to use for el Lobo. We could even char a few pieces, maybe the ears/noses. Doggos like ears and snouts, si? Do we have any ears or snouts laying around aqui?”
Kovid yelled up from the freezer. “No Abraxas. The Butcher dressed and stripped the meats, so hears, noses, hooves and the like are not here.” He paused. “Not here at all. I would guess they were discarded or used as feed offal.”
“Okay, or maybe, Señor Wynesdavies can use his potion and make amigos con el Lobo. Is it forever? Can we bring el Lobo to attack the Guardians or the Beeskipper perhaps?”
“I’ll get ‘boot an hour out of it, Monsieur.”
“Hmm,” Abraxas grunted. “I think the Beeskipper is mas peligroso. Yailer maybe we can talk to. Beeskipper seems too loco for us to hold conversation. Yailer made amigos with the monsters, si? And Corefarts is afraid of the monsters possibly? So if the Yailer is freed, and we free the monsters, maybe we can let them terrorize Corblarts on the second floor for a while, or the Yailer can bring them to our side? Corndart pretends to save the monsters, but keeps them lock'ed in the cages, si? So let's let them out, no longer slaves.”
“That is the ‘enemy of my enemy’ argument, Abraxas,” Lannis said, “and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Plus he’s a Trog? Troglodyte? What the fuck is that supposed to be? Does it even talk Common or only Troglodyte? A language I am pretty sure was not on Annex listing at the Wizard School when I was checking off extra learning opportunities. Sheesh!”
“Maybe it is good to save that animal potion for the creatures in there? If they are like our Giant Ape friend, maybe your potion works on them?”
“I agree, Monsieur.”
Coming up from the Basement with some hacked up bits of partridge and adding it to the ‘meat’ bag with the goblin pieces, Kovid looked around and mused. “I’d like to take a look around a bit more in here. I noticed some unused beeswax candles that might be useful to take with us, maybe some connection to the beekeeper that might help us. That tapestry looked interesting as well.”
“Me as well, Senor. For now maybe leave our stuff in the freezer or La Carcinera's room, and go do the hall. Then we can look around for un poco and then sleep. I say you save your spell for now Señor Wysdomes, then if we don’t need it, usas right before bed."
Lyra drew her sling and readied a stone, “Agreed, we can probably search/use detect magic on this room later when we’re resting.”
“You really like that sling, don’t you?” Brendon asked. The Cleric smirked in reply.
The party left the chamber, making sure the door was closed tight behind them, and then turned to the south, Brendon leading the way. We walked slowly and with care, the Scout keeping a keen ear out (<Hear Noise, Red 05) as we walked along, getting to the corner and then turning East. We went past the Dressmaker’s Room and the Scriptorium, coming up to the main hall where a quick look showed it was empty.
We entered the hall and traveled east, went past the Classroom, and then ended up at the hall turning north. We looked around the corner, seeing the door with the dead Hobgoblin was still closed. They continued to the door at the end of the hall, checked it, and once comfortable, Brendon opened it revealing a set of stairs going down. “Here we go,” he muttered.
The party traveled down the steps, the gloom ahead revealed by lantern light to show that Travis’ Room was open, although the secret door was closed. The party got closer and then peered in. The chamber had been trashed. Ransacked, furnishings were scattered about and torn apart, hangings ripped down, smaller items thrown about the chamber and in some places, smashed and stomped upon.
Giving the place a keen once over, Brendon (<Int, Red 2) muttered, “Hobgoblins.”
“How do you know?” Kovid asked.
“Methodical, complete, total.” He pointed near the back of the splintered bed frame. “See? Orange hairs. It’s them.”
“They close?” Wyn asked.
The Scout gave it once more look and then backed out to the steps. “No. This had to have happened yesterday. They’re long gone.” Looking at Kovid and his lantern. “How much light we have left?”
The dwarf gave the lantern a fast shake. “And hour? Maybe a smidge more?”
“Then that’s our time window.” The Scout turned back around, sword out and eyes searching, “Let’s go people.”
They proceeded down the steps, 20’ in total, to the floor of the next hall. There was a door on the right hand side and Brendon sidled up to it, fingers questing and looking as the rest of the party stayed silent behind. According to the lantern light, the hall went at least another 20 paces and then some before being lost in the dark. Wyn was sniffing around as Brendon finished his look over (>Find, Red 98). “No traps. Looks good. Door opens away and to the left if you want to open it or keep going.”
The elf (<Int +2 elf, Orange 4) crouched low and took some shallow breaths. “Wolf smell,” he whispered. “It marked this hall.”
“Is that what I smell?” Lannis grimaced, picking up the hem of his robes. “Ugh. So gross.”
“It’s not fresh,” Wyn said. “And not specifically at this door, but zee loup, it walks zeeze halls.”
Time now is: Day 4, 2:58 PM
(OOC)
What’s the plan? Door or further down?
XP: Explore 2 rooms checked out (Butchery and Freezer): 30 xp each
XP: “Defeat” Butcher and 2 gnomes: 350, 250, 250 divided.
Lannis, Lyra – Add 201 xp
Wyn, Abraxas, Brendon – Add 202 xp
Kovid – Add 212 xp
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