Group did the right thing and beat feet. They were outmatched, low on spells, and definitely low on hp. It was time to move on, but it meant heading south into unknown territory. So the party put the pedal to the metal and moved. At the end of each turn, I had a check to see how well the trackers were following them - poorer rolls meant closing in and maybe catching sight.
Follows:
THREE HUNDRED THIRTY SEVEN
(I/C)
“Time to move boys, and Lyra,” Lannis hissed, running for the end of the hall and the south east door.
“I agree, Big Brain,” Kovid echoed, grunting as he stepped lively to the door, a half moment after Wyn reached it first. The elf closed his eyes and twisted his head to the side, turning the handle and…the door opened. “Ugh!” the dwarf grumbled as the reek of goblin, a miasma redolent of rotting bananas and unwashed socks, billowed out although none of the greenskins were present.
Giving the statue a last pat, Lyra muttered, “Sorry buddy, you’re on your own,” before turning to run for the “safety” of the open door. The last ones in were Abraxas and Brendon, the Fighter pushing the door closed a split instant before the hobgoblins entered the hall and saw the lone iron statue walking back to the lab.
“Lock it,” Abraxas mouthed, holding the handle in place while Brendon looked down with horror.
“There’s no lock, Doc!” he exclaimed quietly. Looking around the chamber which was being used by at least a dozen goblins if not more as a makeshift barracks with old blankets, torn up rugs, pillows, bags, and small bits of ratty furnishings, (<Rev Open Lock, +25 no lock makeshift wedge jammed under the doorway, Red 41) Brendon lifted up the base of a stand, snapped the vertical shaft off of it, jammed it under the door, and then lifted the far end further wedging it in place by putting the trailing side on a loose oak drawer braced against the wall. “It won’t hold forever, but we’ll get a few seconds out of it.”
“Tell me we didn’t just dead end ourselves?” Abraxas asked hurriedly as the sounds of angry hobgoblin voices calling (Reaction check: 4+3=7) stop and then the squeal of iron and stomping feet followed. We could hear the crashing sound of combat in the hall (11,3,5 vs 10, 14) and it was too close for comfort.
As for the room, it was maybe 10 x 20, and there was a door on the opposite side of the chamber along the west wall. The chamber might have been a storeroom based upon its size and placement but the goblins had moved in and it was now being used for their purposes. It was foul, stunk to high heaven, and the very air felt heavy with their long time reek. Kovid was having a rough time NOT losing his shit in here, the dwarf taking in deep breaths and sweat beading on his brow as he practically wrung his hammer’s shaft like some greekskin’s neck.
Lyra and Wyn were closest to that door and the lantern had been turned aside to prevent stray light from shining under either portal. They could faintly make out some distant sounds in the chamber beyond as if someone or something was moving, but there was nothing distinct they could tell.
As for the combat sounds to the north, the hobgoblins were retreating and the original voice in charge was repeating, “Break off! Break off I tell you. Back up and get away from it and it’ll leave you alone. Shoulder that spear, soldier, or I’ll string you up by your fucking kneecaps! See? It’s already turning back around.” Sure enough, we could hear the sound of the iron statue once more walking down the hall in the direction of the lab.
“Joe,” the female voice asked, “Where’d they get the rock to start it?”
“I don’t know,” the hobgoblin replied, “but someone find that twisted shit, Smallpox and have him SHOW me that they didn’t find it in his treasures. I wanted it destroyed.”
“You were outvoted.”
“And if THAT thing is once again moving about, it shows that I was right in the matter. Find Corfard’s groupie and tell her she’s needed to do something fucking useful and get that fucking stone out of the fucking statue again.” There was some mulling in the hallway. “We found prints. One set, thin for sure.”
Lots of excited voices followed and it was hard to hear anything definitive but we could make out, “right outside the door” and “red, milled about” and “probably hiding in the fucking lab somewhere” and finally “6 of you at the north door and 6 of you right here in this fucking hall.”
The group held their breath through all this but (<collective Wis check, White 10) the talk of prints had them looking around. And on the floor in the lantern light they could make out smeared prints of red dye tracing along the floor to…Wyn. The elf looked down at his boots and on the base of each of them, the leather soles were covered in red dye. “Merde,” he cursed quietly, trying to wipe it off on the loose bedding but it was going to take considerable time to do so. Time the group did not have.
Whatever was beyond the door to the west had been quiet for some time now and we couldn’t hear anything in that direction anymore (no roll needed).
The female voices muttered a bit and then we could hear, “Piddles, go and find your Mistress and have her meet us at Corfards.” The sound of a large cat rumbling in reply followed and then, “Come sister. Let’s see if we can find the vermin before the others do.”
“Greisee,” the second female clucked, “we don’t need the 250 crowns for their capture.”
“No, but I don’t want anyone else to get it either.” The two of them cackled as they sounded like they walked further away, leaving just the hobgoblin voices muttering in the hall.
The group realized they had only a short time, if that, before it was discovered where they were hiding…especially if Wyn’s prints outside pointed to this chamber.
Time now is Day 8, 11:32 AM
(OOC)
When Wyn went outside the north door of the Lab, the floor there had a puddle of dye outside of it and the Wyn had stepped in it (there was a roll at that time.). Without light there was no way to know he did it as it does not show up in infravision, and in the hallway fight and fire, no one was looking down at the floor looking for prints in the chaos. But there is a line showing where he went and where he is now. The hobs at the end of the hall haven’t spotted the prints yet as its down the hall some 40 feet but it will happen. You guys go.
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