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Hoom Feethos:

"I knocked on the small cottage at the end of the road when I first arrived in town. A local farmer's wife pointed it out to me. She wanted to know if more of my kind were coming to the village. 'Not exactly joiners, are they?' she said to me. I went to the door and knocked and knocked. No one was home or answered. They cared not to care for their Eildon plant. Bo you saw it didn't you? The dead Eildon plant. The heavy curtains in the windows blocked any view of the inside. The farmer's wife mentioned people leaving, perhaps they left. I know the man I can to see fled."

"Aye, the tunnel," says Mouser.

"Yes. Let us rid those tunnels of the evil that dwells beneath. I fear anyone in the town will be of little use, since we cannot trust them. Avril, let us visit your kin once we've explored these tunnels" suggests Pelias.

Avril's normally unexpressive visage momentarily turns dour upon hearing Hoom's report of the Eildon plant. She quickly removes any hint of disappointment or displeasure and turns to Ingrid, "I find it unlikely that someone of pure elven blood could be so easily manipulated, but it is possible," she admits calmly. To the group at large: "I haven't seen my father and uncle in 42 years and 15 days. The inn, I agree, should be made the priority," she states in her normal, decisive manner.

Ingrid Esthof, cleric

Ingrid listens to Avril's confession with compassion and respect. Then she nods and raises her mace.
"Let's move. Hoom, Mouser, lead us the way you think best, sticking close to the riverbank."

Hoom Feethos:

Hoom will lead the way south through the trees to the river and then to the inn using the same route he used earlier.

Village of Briarsgate, the Hovel of the Hermit (27*).
Between 10 and 11pm, Thursday, October 20th, 576 CY. Day Five.
Full moon, partly cloudy, damp, cold, misty.





From a crack in his curtains, the strange old hermit watches the scouts return and brief the rest of the adventurers. After a short discussion, Hoom leads the group south through the mist and shadow of the dark grove.



They hear the stream before they meet it and turn east along its bank toward the old Covered Bridge (between 4 and 25*).
Finding it dark and empty, the adventurers swiftly cross the creaking, old boards of the covered bridge that serves as a great wooden tube to amplify any noises within it.

Then they dart 20 feet southeast to take cover at the back of the unlit stable (X) behind the Golden Grain Inn (6). Within the stable, a horse snorts and stamps nervously at their arrival; a horse that wasn't present when last they sought refuge here after escaping the iron cages of the dungeon beneath the inn.
They peer around the northwest corner of the stable (X) and look south toward the the back of the Inn. Visibility is 100 feet and, in the ghostly luster of moonlit fog, their imaginations conjure phantom shapes...
...that vanish upon closer inspection. The town is as dark and still as the grave. So is The Golden Grain Inn (6), that horrific house of madness and mayhem that now betrays no sign of the heinous acts committed there only one night ago, that still loom large in the memories of the heroes:

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    Golden Grain Inn 8a.jpg (336.84 KiB) Viewed 4406 times

    

    Golden Grain Inn Cellar 3a.jpg (204.22 KiB) Viewed 4406 times

Actions?





Status:
Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/1: AC 7, HP 9/9, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl
Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 4, HP 10/10, Spells: 1/1 1st lvl
Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 2: AC 4, HP 16/17
Hoom Feethos, Elven Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 3, HP 7/8, Spells: 0/1 1st lvl
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: AC 3(1), HP 14/16, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl and 3/3 2nd lvl
Long Bo, Human Druid 2: AC 6, HP 12/15, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl and 2/2 2nd lvl
Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: AC 2(0), HP 16/19, Laying Hands: 0/1
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 2: AC 0, HP 18/19

Magic:
Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.


*Map of Briarsgate
NPC List for Briarsgate

Avril continues to appear calm and collected despite the errie surroundings. Not daring to speak, she communicates her deferral of action to her more familiar companions.

Hoom Feethos:

"We can enter through the inn keepers bedroom window so we don't have to use the street. There was a trap door in the floor of that bedroom. It leads to the dungeon cells below. The window should be still unlocked."

"Ahem...I'll need a boost. But I'm happy to be the first inside," says Telkis.

Ingrid Esthof, cleric

There is also an entrance from the back to the room adjacent to the inkeeper's cell!

"Let's go," Ingrid says and enters the place of her former captivity with a mix of curiosity and dread.

Bo follows along with his comrades, giving a boost where needed.

He tries to stay near to one of the warriors in case the lot of deranged villagers has been reassembled inside.

Avril will silently follow the rest of the group with whichever manner of entry they deem the most prudent. She is willing to accept whichever position in the order of entry she finds herself in, but won't hesitate to be amongst the first to enter if allowed.

Grothnak likewise cooperates fully with the plan.

"I will happily lead the course our scouts have deemed best. But if it's sixes and half-dozens I prefer to avoid entering through the window as a common burglar would" remarks Pelias, quietly for once.

Grey Mouser first listens for noises, then peers in to see if anyone is in the bedroom. If clear, he gently tries the window to see if it is still open.

The Golden Grain Inn (6*), Village of Briarsgate.
Between 10 and 11pm, Thursday, October 20th, 576 CY. Day Five.
Full moon, partly cloudy, damp, cold, misty.






The murder of crows are circling overhead in an unintended omen of certain doom as the adventurers quietly approach the inn of the damned. At peril of their lives and their souls, they seek a way back into the very macabre madhouse they had just recently escaped with their lives.
The windows on the back of the inn are curtained and unlit. The demihumans' infravision detects that the interior of the inn is warmer than its exterior; it's likely there are, or recently were, people inside it. More evidence is the sickly smokeplume slowly emanating from a soot-stained chimney, signalling a dying fire below.

The group quietly moves east and south around the stable, across the damp ground, to the window of Bertram Beswill's bedroom (at X).
Hoom and Mouser find the window locked tight. Mouser listens at it and hears nothing. The nearby door, that also leads into the dead innkeeper's bedroom, is likewise locked. But the group can remember all too well that which lies within:
Actions? and please read this.





Status:
Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/1: AC 7, HP 9/9, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl
Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 4, HP 10/10, Spells: 1/1 1st lvl
Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 2: AC 4, HP 16/17
Hoom Feethos, Elven Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 3, HP 7/8, Spells: 0/1 1st lvl
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: AC 3(1), HP 14/16, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl and 3/3 2nd lvl
Long Bo, Human Druid 2: AC 6, HP 12/15, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl and 2/2 2nd lvl
Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: AC 2(0), HP 16/19, Laying Hands: 0/1
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 2: AC 0, HP 18/19

Magic:
Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.


*Map of Briarsgate
NPC List for Briarsgate

Hoom Feethos:

"Looks like someone has been here. The window has been locked."
Hoom reaches into his pack and removes his special window opening tools. He carefully maneuvers the tool in an attempt to unlock the window.

DadsAngry wrote:Hoom Feethos:

"Looks like someone has been here. The window has been locked."
Hoom reaches into his pack and removes his special window opening tools. He carefully maneuvers the tool in an attempt to unlock the window.

Pick lock with Thieves tools 64% [1d100] = 95

"From the heat inside the main room, I suspect there are people within," whispers Grey Mouser. "The group will need to be quiet."

If Hoom doesn't succeed, Grey Mouser offers to try using Hoom's tools.

Pick Lock window tool [1d100] = 11

Grognardsw wrote:Does anyone have a Silence radius spell?

Ingrid Esthof, cleric

"If we need complete silence, I can do that..."

If all agree, Ingrid casts Silence, 15', centered on herself.