The group ran, and I had another chase action, which I find real enjoyable from my end of the screen. There was much Discord and texting on ow they wanted this to go but after all the turns were in, it was sink or swim.
Follows:
THREE HUNDRED FIFTY NINE
(I/C)
“Ah, crapbaskets!” Lannis cursed, lifting his robe and RUNNING.
The party raced down the hall, any attempt at silence long gone. We heard a number of hobgoblin voices behind us, their echoes swelling as more and more of them filled the hall. They were lost in the dark behind Abraxas, but they were shouting and yelling and attracting more pursuers.
"Andale, amigos!” The Fighter cajoled the group, “Mas rapido. Must go faster."
We heard a distant grunt of exertion (<+3 to hit, Black 8) and something flew out of the darkness, clattering on the ground a good two feet behind the fighter before skittering to a stop. “Throwing spears!” he shouted.
“I’m with you,” Lyra called out.
“Ugh,” Wyn groaned, “so close to getting passed dem damn hobs!”
“Damn all the money,” Lannis moaned, “Slowing me down! A horse! A horse! My tall pink hat for a better horse!”
“If you can shout like that,” the Cleric tossed back, “You’re not running hard enough.”
From the front, Hammer swinging ahead of him, Kovid called back, “Long strides my friends! Maintain our distance!”
Gasping and huffing, Lyra replied, “Hah, maintaining this speed is easy for you to say!”
Hat flapping up and down as he charged along, the magic user quipped, “It’s called cardio, Lonesome Glory! Try it sometime!"
We then heard a signal whistle blowing behind us, tweeting loud and then loud again. “Du Lac!” Wyn called out, “I have de spare throne room key!”
He went to toss it ahead of him, but Kovid called out, “Save it, I have the spare from the Adept chamber!”
“Great!” he replied, “Dwarf! Be careful around dat corner. Hobs could be guarding de Throne room!”
“Only if our luck holds true,” Lannis answered.
There was another grunt of exertion from behind us and from the darkness (>+3 to hit, Black 19) a spear soared out and smacked Abraxas in the back to the right of his pack, just above his kidneys. It failed to penetrate his armor (1d6 Damage, Red/Black 3), but it had enough force to bruise him underneath and cause him to stagger, missing a step or two as he tried to right himself.
Lyra reached out a hand to steady him and pull him along when we also heard a TWANG from back there along with the cheers (<+3 to hit, White 3), when a crossbow bolt skittered just over their heads and ricocheted off the wall with a spray of sparks. “Spears and Crossbows!” Abraxas called out.
“Great!” Lannis replied, “Let me know when the ballista fires!”
“It’s NOT an anti-personnel weapon,” Kovid and Abraxas replied with a note of derision.
“It’s still a narrow hallway!” Lannis shouted back. “One in SIX of us MIGHT get plowed by it!”
“Just run, Big Brain!”
The whistling was still sounding behind them but now there was some distant whistling from somewhere ahead of them, faint and warbling, but definitely heard. “Thor’s Fucking Hell!” the dwarf cursed. “Somewhere ahead of us, people! And Wyn! Adept door on the right!”
“I’m on it!” The elf put on a burst of speed and reached his hand out, grabbing for the handle and willing it to lock. “I will hopefully be able to make sure dat dis room ees locked.” He felt a bit of resistance again and as Lannis charged past him, he smiled to see a keyhole just below the handle where one wasn’t before. “Got it!”
It sounded like a horde of hobgoblins chasing after the party and Lyra and Abraxas caught up with Wyn, shoving the elf forward as they heard another grunt (<+3 to hit, Green 12) and another spear soared out, smacking into the fighter’s shoulder but his armor blunted the blow and it was turned aside. It was the TWANG that followed that had Abraxas turn back around, Scythe up (<+3 to hit, White 14 – Missed by 1) and took the bolt on the shaft of his weapon, off the side of his breastplate, and it left a scoring scratch behind but was blunted and turned barely enough to do nothing more than give the fighter a ache in his chest. “Frijoles! That was TOO close!”
Kovid and Brendon circled around the corner, taking the light with them and plunging the hall with Lyra and Abraxas and Wyn into gloom and growing dark. “Go!” The Cleric pulled the fighter back around and the three of the chased on, the shouting whistling horde continued to give chase.
The whistling sound ahead of the party was echoing from the west and down the long south hall. Kovid slammed into the door, using the frame to arrest his movement with a clang, and fished the Throne Room key out. He stuck it in the lock and he and Brendon shoved the heavy throne room doors open, revealing the chamber as we had left it yesterday. “In!” he called out just as the first hobgoblins came around the corner, blowing THEIR whistles and seeing the group there.
“HERE!!” The hobgoblins roared, and there was an answering cheer from down the hall BEHIND where they had come from, letting the party know that they were about to overrun.
“Dey are right behind us!” Wyn pointed back they way they came. “No time to waste!”
By this time Brendon and Lannis had squeezed into the room as the dwarf had turned to face the hobgoblins, waving the group to go just as the lead one arced its arm back and HURLED its spear at the dwarf (<+3 to hit, Green 12). The aim was true and the weapon was smashed aside by a lucky swing of the Theystran hammer.
Lyra and Wyn had pushed into the room next, the elf setting up behind one door, Brendon behind the other, ready to slam it closed. But the next two humanoids had leveled their crossbows and FIRED. The first bolt (>+3 to hit, Green 12) slammed into Kovid’s shin but the enchanted platemail negated the force and the bolt skittered aside. The next crossbow bolt (>+3 to hit, Yellow 20 –Critical! Max Damage Take 8 Damage!) did not suffer the same effect and drove through the gap in the pauldron and the breastplate, stabbing 8 inches DEEP into the dwarf’s chest and knocking him back 3 feet where Abraxas caught him from under his arms. “Argh! That HURTS!”
“SHUT IT BEHIND US, AMIGOS!” Abraxas, dragging the dwarf back to the double doors, was wide eyed as the hobgoblin forces from both sides ran closer and closer, until they were in the room and the two portals were slammed closed. Lyra added her body weight to the doors as Brendon who had snatched the key on the way in, jammed it into the lock on this side and twisted it home just as the doors sagged in and BOOMED from the massed weight and fury of the hobgoblins beyond.
The group looked around at the over a dozen mummified elven bodies, the dais, the ballista, the two boxes, the hacked up twice killed snakes, the throne, and the two pedestals. Lannis drew out the Ishatari crate with the Ispan’s Crystal sitting inside and let out a ragged breath.
“It’s time.”
Time now is Day 8, 2:11 PM
(OOC)
Great job. Every time the hobs either threw or fired, they lost half their movement, so even though they were harrying your steps, they kept slowly falling behind. But right now there is an unknown number of hobs outside the door, and if anything else? Who knows. But you made it to the throne room! Kovid, you are down to SIX out of 37.
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