The Secret Base of Iuz

[OGRE MAGE]

Montego carries their injured friends inside and sets them down in a comfortable place for Sai to do his work.

“If this area is threat free now, we can spread out to other buildings if we need the room. Nobody should wander too far away from the group until we are certain the place is really cleared out first.”

Unless there are other obvious duties to preform, the ranger sets up a watch order and gets some rest.

[ChubbyPixie]

Kranston sits in a corner, intending to write a heroic song about the day's exploits, but dozes off before he even gets to the refrain...

[Monsieur Rose]

Cassius

He cleans his blades before responding to Sai. "Intense negotiations. I wanted the building."

Cassius nods to Montego and assists the walking wounded. "We should open the other buildings. Just to make sure. Are you up for it? The others can stay here."

Assuming that the area is in fact clear, I'm envisioning a background montage of building openings and quick descriptions.

"I stink of orc piss and gore. It's revolting." He spends part of his time resting on cleaning himself.

[hedgeknight]

Weary Soldiers...

Having cleaned out the mining camp and defeated the last "bastion" of drunk Orcs, you drag their bodies outside and take a long rest in the tavern. Adelphocleas and Talon remain on watch in the camp in case stragglers or more Orcs arrive. But none do. There are some creatures that pass through, like a fox on the hunt, a squirrel or two in the trees around the camp (one of which makes a meal for Talon), and some crows.
Other than that, the camp is eerily quiet.

You begin to stir as evening rolls around and the moon shines brightly on the quiet camp below...

Actions? Let me know if you want to go exploring...

[OGRE MAGE]

Montego agrees to accompany Cassius to investigate the remainder of the unchecked buildings.

The ranger makes every effort to watch their surroundings for any patrols or other company who might be returning to this place while they rest. He looks around for any fires in the distance once night time sets in.

[hedgeknight]

Pilfering Around the Camp...

Rested and ready to check out the camp, Cassius and Montego (and anyone else who wants to tag along), investigates the rest of the buildings.
First off, the tavern they are in (#12) has about 160 silver pieces on the table from where the Orcs were gambling.
#11 - each door leads into a different room in what once was a general store; now there is nothing but rubbish.
#5 - tables and chairs are scattered about along with the remains of several meals; this was once a mess hall, now it's just really messy.
#13 - building is a church; doors are padlocked...there are sounds of shuffling inside.
#2 - two-story building, serves as barracks, but both floors are filled with trash and things the Orcs didn't want; there are several rats milling about, some quite large; if left alone, they won't attack.
#10 - a storehouse; except for some coal dust, it is empty.
#1 - another 2-story building but is just one large chamber; has a ore crushing machine and a huge pile of raw ore waiting to be processed; there is a slight stench of decay inside.
#4, 7, 8, 9 > Montego searched these; storehouse, liveries, and the stables; draft horses are still there...hungry and thirsty, but still there.
#6 - where Cassius nearly puked; smells of offal.
#14 - the chimney, with the rope leading to the caverns below.
#3 - this is the only 3-story building in the camp; it is the mining office. The first floor has a few tables and overturned chairs, a door in the back which leads to a private kitchen with some rotted meat and blackened, moldy bread on a large kitchen table. An open door reveals a set of stairs leading up to the next level with a library, a private bedroom, a dining room, and a sitting room. There are rats in the dining room, but they will not attack unless provoked. The chairs and couches are torn up and in the private bedroom, there are a few bedrolls and the remains of backpacks from former campers.
In the corner of the library, behind a bookcase, is a door that Cassius spots easily. The door opens to a staircase that leads up to the third story > the attic. Almost immediately, the ranger and the archer spot several large bats hanging from an eave on the ceiling. There is a large pile of trash on the opposite side of the room where a large hole in the attic can be seen...and likely how the bats got in.

Actions on further exploration of any of the buildings?

[ChubbyPixie]

Kranston will try to peer in a window of the church (13) to see if he can identify the source of the shuffling noise.

[hedgeknight]

The windows of the church are covered in dirt and grime, but after some rubbing and scrubbing, Kranston is able to peer inside. As the moon light shines through, he catches a glimpse of what is making the shuffling sound...

skeletons.jpg (80.96 KiB) Viewed 296 times

[Monsieur Rose]

See, here I was, thinking that you were just talking crap earlier...

Cassius

"That secret stair to the attic is interesting. I wonder what is up there that needed hiding?" He muses to Montego as they go about scouting the camp. His attention turns to Kranston when he hears news of the skeleton church.

"I'm not even going to ask why there's a church full of skeletons. Necromancers, curses, whatever. We need to destroy them. Unfortunately, we also need to rest."

[OGRE MAGE]

Montego takes the necessary time to tend to the horses, feeding and watering them if he can, along with any other animals they might find that aren't rats or bats.

"The undead can stay where they are for now. They cant hurt us from inside the building. Once we are rested, we can address them and any other areas we want to investigate. There is clearly more here than meets the eye at first glance. That rope must lead to the underground tunnels we found earlier. There may be more below that needs to be investigated as well."

The ranger looks around nervously, wondering when the next patrol of orc vermin will return to find their camp ransacked.

[hedgeknight]

Montego takes the necessary time to tend to the horses, feeding and watering them if he can, along with any other animals they might find that aren't rats or bats.

The horses are nervous at first, but then sense you mean them no harm, and nuzzle and whicker as you feed and water them. While you tend to them, you see several old whip scars and some fresh wounds as well. These gentle beasts have been treated poorly by their Orcish masters.

The ranger looks around nervously, wondering when the next patrol of orc vermin will return to find their camp ransacked.

You look around for several hours and no patrol returns. Talon would alert you if she sees them from a distance.

Cassius
"I'm not even going to ask why there's a church full of skeletons. Necromancers, curses, whatever. We need to destroy them. Unfortunately, we also need to rest."

You guys have rested several hours; not enough to heal naturally, though

Actions?

[Monsieur Rose]

Cassius

"No, you're right. We can leave the church for now. The priority is healing and rest for our casters." Cassius cocks his head and seems to be thinking. "You don't suppose those skeletons were made for Iuz's army? If that's the case, we can't leave them here if we descend."

"Dammit. First, we need to secure the area and take watches. Then after everyone is feeling better-ish, we deal with the church. Maybe we burn it down?"

How much more time do we need for spell replenishment? Cassius offers to take the first watch while others rest.

[hedgeknight]

Cassius
"No, you're right. We can leave the church for now. The priority is healing and rest for our casters." Cassius cocks his head and seems to be thinking. "You don't suppose those skeletons were made for Iuz's army? If that's the case, we can't leave them here if we descend."
"Dammit. First, we need to secure the area and take watches. Then after everyone is feeling better-ish, we deal with the church. Maybe we burn it down?"

"Ain't it bad luck to burn down a church?" Young Farkus asks, scratching the stubble on his chin, having tagged along with the ranger and archer at a distance. The young Half-Orc has proved his worth in cleansing the caverns and has taken to following the heroes of the Border Watch around.

How much more time do we need for spell replenishment? Cassius offers to take the first watch while others rest.

Folks should be good to go by midnight...which is only a couple hours away.

[ChubbyPixie]

Kranston agrees leaving the skeletons be for the moment is probably best. He retires to his corner to rest up.

[OGRE MAGE]

Montego agrees that they should all hunker down for the night and get some rest.

"Once magic is replenished, we can discuss how we want to go about searching the rest of this place."

"It might behoove us to go back through the tunnels below instead of taking our chances climbing down some damn mystery rope."

[Hotgoblin]

Muldgarr coughs and breaks wind at the same time, which wakes him back into his painful existence. Wide-eyed, he looks around at the others and at his bloodied self. Oh…What happened, did we win?

[hedgeknight]

The night passes uneventful and Muldgarr greets the new morning with a loud cough and fart, causing several others to jerk awake, grabbing for weapons as if something had kicked the door in! Dorin grumpily responds to Muldgarr by ripping one of his own as he rolls to his knees and gets up. "Aye, win we did and yer lucky to be on this side o' the grass!"
Young Farkus chuckles and begins to scrounge around for something to eat. Clint checks on Rusty who is awake but doesn't want to move just yet. "Even my eyelids hurt," says the soldier of Critwall.

Everyone is awake. Cast spells of healing and let's finish this up.
2022 is calling and I'm already at work on the next game.

[Darklin2]

Sai


So who is busted up the worst? I have 6 cure spells that I can dish out. Who is cut up the worst?

[hedgeknight]

So who is busted up the worst? I have 6 cure spells that I can dish out. Who is cut up the worst?

I haven't added the normal healing from a full night's rest (1 hp + CON bonus), but here are the stats from the last battle round in the woods:

Adelphocleas - down 12 hp
Cassius - down 9 hp
Kranston - down 7 hp
Montego - down 15 hp
Muldgarr - down 19 hp...but no longer dying
Sai - down 8 hp
Dorin - down 14 hp
Farkus - down 11 hp
Clint - down 7 hp
Rusty - down 13 hp...but no longer dying

[OGRE MAGE]

While healing takes place, Montego will take anyone interested into building 1 and 3 to check them over a little better before deciding where to go next.