2) The Secret of the Haunted House

[coil23]

Doubtful

I'll retrieve Ben and then meet the rest of you in the backyard.

Doubtful moves back to the trapdoor room and gives Ben the three sentence summary of the front hall events before telling him we have to leave now.

And tell me what you heard behind the wall. Was it a secret passage?

[ravenn4544]

Ben shakes his head at the foul news and curses. He grabs his blanket and follows Doubtful.

"There is a secret passage down there where i heard these two salty dogs saying they had been working, should they tell someone called 'Sanbalet' about the guy we beaned in the head for seemingly goofing off - and they were ready to use crossbows!"

[Nordbo]

Danny Cruester

rushes to the side of Alec, making sure the group doesn’t lose another vital member.

[Urson]

Alec
If he can function at all, Alec will curse and try to move toward the door- or at least stand.

[OGRE MAGE]

Jervis smiles at another job well done as he wipes the high quality ornate dagger off on the dead man’s underwear before sliding it into his own belt.

Keilif rushes to Alec’s side as the dwarf falls. He immediately rubs the last of his stinking healing salve into the garish wound, instantly sucking out the obvious green poison and even closing up the wound. (Alec is now fully healed) The future cleric’s quick thinking essentially saves the life of the stern dwarf. Keilif, Burly, and Danny help get the recovering Alec down the hallway and out the back door.

Doubtful rushes back to the parlor in hopes of retrieving Ben. He shouts out the order for everyone to get the hell out of the house, NOW! The group actually listens this time and they all rush outside, reconvening at the well. Ben too listens to the group’s leader and grabs up his blanket as the pair hurry to join the others. As the two men pass the dead bodies of Ned and Ermulf, still lying in the middle of the floor in the main entrance hall, Ben tells Doubtful that he indeed did hear something from beyond the walls downstairs.

You don't see anything that looks like it might be a door but, you could swear that you still hear something on the opposite side of the south wall.

You hear at least two different voices speaking with each other in low, muffled tones. The first voice says:Sure as shit stinks! That good fer nuthin bilge rat is in there cooking up a meal while we're out here working!

The other voice says: And it ain't even dinner time yet! I think we should teach that little fucker a good lesson.

You then hear the distinct clicking sound of two crossbows being cocked.

Or, maybe we better just tell Sanbalet about it?

Just as Ben gets done explaining what he heard earlier, the two men suddenly hear the obvious sounds of multiple voices calling out in unison from the room below. Even through the thick floor of this place, the loudly emphasized phrase they hear is unmistakable.

“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED IN HERE?” The voices send chills up the spines of the pair of novice adventurers.

Actions!

Doudtful and Ben are the only ones that heard the voices because they are the last two party members still inside the house.

[Nordbo]

Danny Cruester
helps

get the recovering Alec down the hallway and out the back door

then

actually listens this time and they all rush outside, reconvening at the well

then, after making sure that everyone is OK, goes home to have supper. "Uhm, maybe see you around guys, it's been a blast and all that. And whenever you want some prime slices of organic pickled barracuda, just ask for a discount in my uncle's fish shop, all right?"

[coil23]

Doubtful

Doubtful gestures to Ben for the two of them to quietly sneak away so they are not heard by those below. Reconvening with the others out by the well he quickly describes what he and Ben just heard. Looks around for most promising hiding places....and already concocting a planned bluff if everything goes awry (again). Wait, where's Danny?

Are there any hiding places nearby? How visible would the group be if they headed back in the direction of town?

[Mant72]

Keilif:

Hiding behind the well with the others, Keilif looks wildly about for a better place to conceal the group. He whispers to the others, "Let's dash behind the mansion's outer wall and wait there until we can better assess the situation. Then we can make our way back to town. Perhaps under the cover of nightfall?"

[ravenn4544]

Ben shakes his head, "Listen, those bastards down below are still down below - we have the drop on them! Let's wait for them outside the trap door and stab them if they try and open it? Gotta get some revenge for what they d to .."

[hedgeknight]

Wait, where's Danny?

"Said he was going home. I think he's done with all of this," Burly mutters, looking fearful of what could happen to them if they get caught out in the open. "Perhaps we should light out of here too while we still can."

He nods at Keilif's suggestion. "Hiding is good too."
When Ben talks of exacting some revenge, Burly smiles. "Maybe we could actually catch one of them, without killing them," he directs that part toward Jervis, "and drag them back to town with us. Let the guard rough 'em up and get some information out of them. Whaddaya think?"

[coil23]

Doubtful

Turning to Ben,
You want to talk of revenge after all the lesser threats we barely survived?! You know who NEVER gets revenge? DEAD BOYS, that's who. We leave for town now and hopefully make it by sunset which accomplishes two things: we are able to report what's going on up here like we were told and two, we actually get to live.

Shoo-Fly, cover our retreat.

Doubtful furtively gets to other side of the wall for cover and then begins sneaking back to town, frequently looking over his shoulder to gauge how best to stay out of sight of the house and for signs of pursuit.

[Mant72]

Keilif:

Listening to the others propose confronting the reavers, Keilif speaks up, "No, we must not let anger drive our actions. We must think with reason. A crossbow bolt can skewer a man at a hundred yards. We must return to the council. I say we make a run for it while we are still able." He secures his things and rushes after Doubtful.

[ravenn4544]

Ben shakes his head and says, "fine - we report back. But i wager we are sent right back up here quick as you can spit to make it right! They'll be waitin' for us then... maybe we can talk to the councilmen that i recognized - maybe he knows of another way in... if these guys be pirates, there must be another way in."

[Fulci]

Jónas Gillman, the weirdo

"I don't want my throat cut by cutthroats, my body bludgeoned by brigands, pain inflicted upon me by pirates, or anything along does lines..."

Jónas is shivering.

"Let's go back and recuperate."

[wolfpack]

Jervis

Best to put the wall between us and them so there is no clear line of sight.

Jervis moves to the other side of the wall so he has cover

[Urson]

Alec

If possible, he'll retrieve his sword. конечно нет! We stay undt we fight. We would giff up our advantage if we leave. Alec coughs, spitting out a nasty-looking glob of congealed blood and poison.

[OGRE MAGE]

Doubtful wants to live. He makes one last attempt at uniting the clan, and once again, he fails miserably. Understandably, he becomes so frustrated that he just leaves. He hops over the outer wall and begins sneaking back through the trees, headed in the direction of Saltmarsh. His mangy, disobedient cat follows at a distance.

Keilif is also rather adamant about leaving this place before he is turned into a practice dummy for crossbow bolts. He happily follows the lead of Doubtful. Jervis and Jonas both concur that it would be best to get away now before the enemy is upon them. They too carefully follow the farmers lead by evacuating the premises, heading over the wall and back to town.

The smaller half of the party seems unconvinced. The homeless baker, the wannabe blacksmith, and the hideous looking sailor think it would be best to take these thugs on now, while the group somehow has the upper hand. Ben agrees with reporting back but also thinks it might be a wasted trip. Burly feels absolutely unsure about what to do and he expresses as much. Alec is actually adamant that the group should stay and fight.

The party of four regroups by the road, figuring they should make the outer gates of Saltmarsh before dark. The party of three still at the well see and hear nothing more coming from inside the dilapidated mansion.

Actions!

[hedgeknight]

Burly > the Homeless Baker

Frustrated and scared, Burly talks off the top of his head. "Listen to me. Alec, you almost died today and if we stay here and fight, that's gonna happen for real. They already know someone is here and half our group is gone. We can't do this, not tonight! C'mon and let's report to the council. Maybe they'll send back troops with us. Or maybe they'll tell us to go fuck ourselves. Either way, we still live to see tomorrow. Let's go!"

And with that Burly takes off at a dead run to meet up with the other group.

[ravenn4544]

Ben concedes, "let us go back to town - we have a name and intent to report methinks. It is more than we heard from any other asking about this stinkin place... "

[coil23]

Doubtful

Still sneaking back to town with frequent glances over his shoulder- both for signs of pursuit and also, hopefully, to see that the others decided to return to town with them.