RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

[Longman]

Forgot the Abigall explore bit -

she goes in mouseform and them comes back about a minute later and reports that the pillar room is below you. The map indicates that there maybe used to be some kind of spiral stair leading inside a pillar which was accessible by a secret door or some thing incredibly Dysonesque like that. What's there now is a hole in the floor, about 5' wide, dropping down into the southwest corner of the pillar chamber, about 15 down. There is rubble on the fllor from where the pillar and stair have collapsed.

'The other pillars are still there,' says Abigall. 'And there's a funny smell, like a dead thing, from down in that room. But I didn't climb down and see.'

Rumbling noise goes for a about a minute each time, no pattern other than that. Noise of movement was heard only once.

You still heading up with the two thief / scout types?

[Woe]

Haha. I am such a goofball. Abigall is back in the safe area with Fido.

I think the only way to repair this is to replace Abigall's observation by Freya, who snuck up to investigate. Freya then can learn what Abigall did -- smell of death, pillars with a hole, etc. You may need to add more; hopefully not.

Work for you?

[Longman]

Makes no difference actually. The rolls are all the same. Freya snuck up and then came back again. Nothing more to add. Pronoun change.

Now what?

[Woe]

Dang it! I really want to see the surface, and hope Tiana can locate where we are!

Back to 6, with the usual order (Freya in front). I don't want to investigate a dead thing that moves. Are my buddies the mimics still there?

[Longman]

Well, the dead one is.

The live on? Not so much. The rations are all gone. Your tracking rolls reveal that...you are bad at tracking underground. You have no idea where it is now.

To the east of room 6 is a plain tunnel, blocked off by the mimics, but you could bust it down easily. The room to the north of room 6 is called room 15 and you can see in there. There is nothing much out of the ordinary and the doors are all missing. It is almost exactly the same as this current room.

As you know there is also a staircase leading up out of here to level 2, the one Freya was firing from. If you go up there you will come out on the square room on the bottom of level 2, with the pillar in the middle.

I will update the map soon.

(Incidentally there is still the remains of a hobgoblin in this room and lots of bones and Mimic poo, but it isn't smelling as bad as what Freya smelled form the other pillar room - which smelled like recently dead body).

[Woe]

The party has a short discussion whether to check out the cavern northwest, with the lake on the map. Kilian wins the argument with, "whatever would den dere, I don wanna meet." He also observes that hobgoblins are surface dwellers, and the party must not be far underground. (Is that true by the way -- are goblins/hobgoblins surface dwellers?)

Anna can do a quick check for traps then the bone pile, looking for amazing loot.

Then, up the stairs we go.

I am a bit confused between the description and the map. The map has the stairs on the right side, which is east if the map top is north. Did you mean the west passage is blocked?

[Longman]

yeah I meant to the west.

It is theorized that gobliniods came from underground originally, and still do not like bright light, and can see in the dark. So based on that, you'd say they can happily live underground. You do don't know how far UG you are. Kilian can see no obvious signs you are directly below the surface, but the existence of rats and insects means you cannot be miles down, either.

No loot here. Maybe the mimic took it?

Up to level 2.

darkling-depths-2.jpg (965.49 KiB) Viewed 2716 times

You find yourself in room 1. It appears that the secret door to the north is actually still there, and is closed. Also - the tiny secret door leading into the pillar is still there as well - at least, yo can see no hole in the pillar. The portcullis in the northwest is gone - at a glance, Freya can see the whole gate structure has been removed.

There's nothing here, but extant secret doors is promising. Or maybe they bode danger. Who knows?

[Woe]

First things first: Anna sweeps for traps. Finding none, the trackers will look to see if there has been any recent passage by other inhabitants. Once the room is deemed secure, Anna+Freya will check then open the pillar's secret door while the fighters guard the eastern passage. Tiana can watch the rear.

If it helps, they'll eventually head north not east. They want to look outside, so it'd be 4 then west/up.

[Longman]

Anna traps - none visible.

Tracks - yep. Freya is certain that numerous (2+) humanoids have been down here lately. Within the last day. She's totally convinced. The tracks are coming out of area 3, and ending up at the top of the stairs, almost where she was standing where she was firing at the mimic about an hour and a half ago. Talin is not sure, and can't see what she is talking about, but she seems very certain.

"They were standing right where I just was!" she says in earnest.

You still want to check the secret door in the pillar, or are you retreating before any of the clumsier people even get up into the room? So far only Anna and Freya have been up here, and it has been in silence. Only Anna's light has been a potential giveaway of your presence.

[i}Except that Freya fired numerous arrows from this spot in the mimic battle, and that must have made some noise. [/i]

[Woe]

Ok, let me start with a very basic question. The room is unoccupied, right?

Hobgoblins. Greeeat. Are hobgoblins like what I'd normally expect in D&D, or are hobgoblins in your world crazy HD8 creatures with all sorts of special abilities? I just want to do my research before I go in thinking it's an easy fight and finding out later, it wasn't.

Talin isn't too happy when he hears Freya say hobgoblins. The whole party will prepare for battle. Nothing has charged the party yet, so the blue light doesn't appear to have warned anyone/anything yet. Most likely, anything that attacks would come from the east passage. The party will come out of the stairs and take up a defensive position with the bows/crossbows lined up against the eastern portal. Tiana is ready to either reload or cast a web. It also gives a decent, though shorter, firing line on anything coming out of the secret door.

Tiana Talin Kilian
Freya Bruce

And then, Anna will try the pillar's secret door.