The group was once again being braced by Duchess and her contingent of loyal goblins. She had been dogging the group, hoping to pick them off one at a time and claim some reward money that Corfard had offered. With no interest in sharing it, she's been going it alone (no, she wasn't going to actually pay the goblins - haha!) and being pretty smart about it. However, luck only gets you so far, and a 6th level thief, no matter how resourceful, will eventually run afoul of bad rolls.
Follows:
THREE HUNDRED FORTY EIGHT
(I/C)
Running his thumb across the label of one of the bottles, Brendon grunted in appreciation and using the hooked pommel of the silver dagger, worked the cork free. “We could hang out in here for a few hours,” he said, then took a deep drink and swallowed, his cheeks taking on a red hue. “Before buggin out to the 1st floor or to the throne room to raise the shield.” He held the bottle out for someone else to take a drink.
Opening his pack up and taking out some rations to eat, Lannis also removed his cat book, placed it on his lap, and gave the bottle a dubious glance. "Letting the heat die down may be smart, and raising that ward can't wait much longer.” He bit the corner off his dried cheese, swallowed, and then took another bite. “Also...isn’t that vinegar by now?"
Wyn reached out and took the bottle, glancing at the label. “Wingale Vinyards, 289. Vera nice.” He took a sip and smiled. “Elven wine known to age quite a long time dere, Monsieur Offop, so it still be pretty good.”
Abraxas looked at the second bottle, pointed to his backpack first, and when no one said anything, placed it within (Add Wine(B) – 4 to the Rations side of the sheet). “For later tonight.”
“Good thinking,” Brendon smiled, and motioned the Fighter to the opened bottle to take a drink. “How long do you think before the motley crew gets tired of looking for us?”
Lannis shrugged and then sighed. “As for getting tired of looking? Eventually, but once they tire of that they'll start waiting for us which is just as bad. We should focus on the Throne room and ritual after we eat. Bandages come and go, monsters come and punch our nipples.”
“Really? Bandages come and go? Magical bandages?” Lyra scoffed, wiping her mouth on the corner of her skirt as she ate her lunch. “I say we finish our lunch break and at the least TRY to wander back down to clean the bandages. We’re going to need it.”
“Dat reminds moi,” Wyn said, taking the bottle again and sipping it. “Priestess, wit de latest finds of doze raise dead scrolls, I tink it make sense fer ye to make sure yerself be on tip top health please use one of dem on yerself.”
“Raise dead scroll?” Lannis laughed? “I think her ego and sex appeal are going to need a bit more than a raise dead spell.”
“No, dumba…Monsiuer Offop. De Cure scrolls we got from de putain wit de vera long stupid name.”
“You sure?” Lyra asked, taking one of the Cure Light Wound Scrolls out. “I can wait if need be.”
The group all nodded and agreed that she should hit herself at least for now. Unrolling it, she read the words and the scroll burned away as she channeled the divine magic into herself (CLW 1d6+1: White 5 = Heal 6!!) and she looked better and healthier. (reduce damage to 8) “Done. Thanks Aine!”
Throughout all this Kovid had been stripping off his armor he had taken from Travis long ago, stacking the pieces to the side. He then picked up each piece of the Theystran armor and strapped it on, from the breastplate out through every greave, pauldron, and bracing. Running his finger across the Theystran symbol on the front, matching the ones on the face of his hammer, he smiled and softly said, "Thanks again Lady Theystra. I am honored you've chosen to shine your light on this humble dwarf. I was hoping to have a matching set commissioned, but the real thing is even better." (Add Platemail to Magic (I can’t give you any details yet about it until a Detect Magic is done and the wizards/elf can let you know what’s what, or you get hit a few times and can figure it out then – however, the CW of the armor is not 500, but 250 (magic armor always weighs half after its on) – so your total CW is 951 at this point).
“Not bad, Doc,” Lannis noted. “Sneezy and Pervy are going to be jealous when you get home.”
“You are just so strange,” Brendon shook his head. “Also, he’s not Doc. He’s Kovid or Little Man.”
“Whatever you say. Tomato, Potato. I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Wyn was also thumbing through the tattered notebook. “Well, dis was Braunur’s little journal. Filled wit tidbits o tings he might of talked about. Hmm, dere is mention of a panic room in de Grotto o De Goddesses. But we already found dat, so dat is good for us at least.”
Wrapping up his own lunch, Kovid looked around and pulled out his oft-folded map again. "Where we headed folks, back north through the bedrooms? Should I mark the Throne Room as our next stop? If Duchess's room is still clear, maybe we check the wall behind her bed?"
Abraxas chuckled, "I know it's been a while, Señor Kovgisil, pero I see no reason to be jumping in La Dyke-chessas bed. No, pero seriousmente, we should maybe go back to the Sanctuary, figure out our next move from there? We can always come back here to rest if the Secret Vault is unavailable.”
Dusting his hands clean and taking one last sip of the almost empty wine bottle, Wyn righted his kit and smoothed back his hair. “Iffin we be done here, Monsieur Dwarf and Salazar, I tink it be a good time to see if we cen hear anyting at de door leading out to de dais room. Den maybe we cen check what might be up dere,” he took a deep breath and let it out, “Also, call me paranoid, is anyone else a little jumpy worryin bout de duchess maybe bein invisible?”
Rubbing his nipples and then doffing his hat, Lannis blew out a ragged breath. “Being paranoid is what I refer to as Tuesday. Everything in here is going to kill us, just go with that as your default stage and you won’t be surprised.”
The group went back to the Chapel, and Abraxas shoved the heavy secret door closed again, hiding it from view. Kovid dusted some of the rock grit out of the way so it didn’t look like it had been disturbed. Lannis reached into the invisible box and made sure the Scroll of Protection from Dragons was still inside. He then handed the Potion of Regeneration over to Kovid, “Here, you’ll probably need this at some point (Kovid, Add Potion Regeneration [5] to Magic)” and then he shut the box, took a length of twine from the table with the Astrolabe on it, and wrapped it around the box tying it in place. “So I don’t lose it.” He then put it in his backpack (Add Invisible box [15] w./Scroll Protection Dragons [1] to Magic (takes up 1 slot line, box can hold up to [25]) and queued up with the rest of the group to leave.
At the door, Brendon had been listening, ears pressed against the portal, hand raised up to motion for silence (<Hear Noise, +20% Quiet/Group, Red 41) and kept it up for a good 30, 40 seconds. His brows had arched a few times and he shifted his position twice to listen lower and higher before pushing away from the door and facing the group.
“Ok. Faint noises on the other side of the door. I can hear the odd higher pitched goblin grunt or whispered muttering.”
“What did dey say?”
“Just pretty much, ‘wait’, and ‘be ready’.”
“How many?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. But they aren’t all in one place in there. They aren’t right outside the door, but the room is pretty big through there, and I get the feeling they are not clumped up.”
“Any hobgoblins? Grimtooth? Mirabellis? Fuck, the harpies?” Kovid asked.
Brendon shook his head. “Honestly, no. Didn’t hear anything but goblins.”
(Lyra Wis<White 8) “When we faced Duchess that last time, she only had goblins with her. And when we were being hunted, at no point did we hear anything from anyone else that Duchess was there or goblins were there.” She shrugged. “It might just be goblins. Or goblins and Duchess.”
“And wit de Hammer, de room will go quiet so no one else will come an’ ‘ear us.”
Abraxas nodded slowly. “My belly is full and my Scythe is clean. Estoy Listo.”
Time now is Day 8, 1:12 PM
(OOC)
Explore XP: Secret Closet – All add 45 xp.
Ok – unknown number of goblins (? +?) in the Sanctuary. What is the plan?
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