Third Trip's The Charm

[Darithe]

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Magdal

Seeing Keya has the light situation under control, Magdal slings her bow. She then unsheaths her sword and readies her shield.

[OGRE MAGE]

One Short Of A Baker's Dozen
Splitting The Party Into Fourths
Early Afternoon, Warm Clear

As the smaller splinter group start making their way back towards the others again, they see the black robed figure quickly dart back inside the cave mouth. Continuing along the top of the ravine, about half way back to where they started, they don't spot anyone else exit that cave, or any other.




Despite the anger in the eyes of the frothing Gnolls, Daliedhur stops the group from advancing so he can send his four legged scout around the corner for a better look. Tammuz seems to become frustrated by the pause in the action, but he awaits the report from the elf anyway, all while trying to keep his half-crazed Gnolls from simply charging deeper into the complex. "Gnolls drew first blood. Stopping now bad for moral."

Magdal, Keya, and Ithrandir nervously stop as well, all of them now packed into the same room as the Gnolls. They watch the face of Daliedhur as he receives visions from his tiny feline. They suddenly get a little nervous when they see the surprised expression quickly cross the face of their comrade.
Daliedhur's eyes only!

Just beyond the turn in the hallway, Cinder suddenly finds himself whisker to whisker(?) with another very odd looking creature, about the size of a large dog.

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After seeing the nearby figure exit the next cave mouth, Loyn suggests they head.........down? Since neither fit into the chimney, he must be talking about heading back towards the cave mouth where the others were, but that group is obviously no longer within sight. Then they both see the rope hanging into the hole start to move and twist.



Bugs and Pimlan ONLY!!!

Far too large to fit up the hole, Arpad nods her black maned head when Bugs mentions the creation of undead. "Unfortunately, yes. He told me last night that the evil priests just supplied him with 2 new specimens to experiment on. He seemed quite giddy about that prospect, and I haven't seen him leave his lab since." Shaking her head at the question if she knows how to get into Tarlech's quarters, she replies. "No, but I know the way is heavily trapped. Thank the gods he is more interested in his zombie girlfriend to want to try anything gross with me."

Finding this situation a little bit too "weird" for him, Pimlan does as Bugs suggests and starts climbing up the rope still dangling in the soot filled hole, slowly making his way topside once again.

All alone now, Bugs moves to the end of the corridor and looks both ways, seeing nothing but darkness in both directions. (The candle in the room is enough to thwart infravision at the moment.)

Actions?

Meinhardt (MU1) AC:10 5/5
Crobeus (P1) AC:3 6/10
Stobart (C2) AC:5 17/20 CLW/CLW
Gyb the Meager (M2) AC:9 8/11

Bugs Donato G (T3) AC:3 24/24
Pimlan (F1/T1) H-L AC:6 6/9

Renna (MU1/C1) Elf AC:4 7/9 CLW
Loyn Shortbeard D (F2) AC:5 22/23

Keya Redd H-E (C1/R1) AC:5 10/12
Magdal (R1) AC:7 11/16
Ithrandir (F1/MU1) AC:5 7/7
Daliedhur (F1/MU1) AC:3 9/9 (Cinder AC:6 4/4)
Tammuz
11 Gnoll Fighters

[Quonundrum]

Meinhardt


"I would rather keep moving than wait here to see what, if anything, emerges from that cave. It may be more than we can handle ourselves. I suggest we stay back from the ledge and continue on. Hopefully, we can warn the others first, but if not, we should still have the opportunity for an ambush from above."

[Jernau35]

Gyb

Gyb nods. "Keep going. Back from the edge. Nobody at the bottom will see us".

[Karaunios]

Ithrandir looks back and forth between Daliedhur and his surroundings. "I don't like that expression..."

[Edeldhur]

Daliedhur

Cinder immediately doubles back to Daliedhur, as he describes the creature to the group in whispered tones - "There is a creature there, about the size of a dog, bulbous eyes, a beak, chitinous skin and two antennae. Was it in your caves before? Do you recognize it?" - he questions the gnolls - "Be ready for a fight, I may have an idea!" - he reinforced, still whispering.

Editing this post after the OOC to ask if the chain binding the owlbear is nearby, and if we could retreat behind it.
Then Daliedhur would suggest they wait for the creature to get distracted by the metal, and attack it then!

[ateno]

Keya will stay in back ready to light the torch if needed.

Keya Redd

[Monsieur Rose]

Bugs

He raises a brow at the zombie girlfriend and then shakes his head clear of the image. "I agree, you're lucky you aren't his type." Bugs decides to move out and to the right, towards the lab. He'll stop a few steps in to see if infravision will kick in. The thief can't remember if undead are visible in infravision, so he remains quiet and tries to listen for creaks and moans. Apart from the girlfriend.

[gurusql]

Renna

Renna will make sure that Loyn Shortbeard knows that they have been spotted and that movement may be required.

[Hotgoblin]

Loyn-Dwarf fighter

He looks to make sure the robed figure is gone, goes back to the hole and peers to see if friend or foe. “Renna, get ready to roll the rock if it’s not our friends!” Loyn readies his battle axe as well.

[GreyWolfVT]

Pimlan

keeps climbing.

[OGRE MAGE]

One Short Of A Baker's Dozen
Splitting The Party Into Fourths
Early Afternoon, Warm Clear

Meinhardt, Crobeus, Stobart, and Gyb the Meager continue making their way back towards the others, walking along the top of the ravine, while staying back a short distance from the edge so as not to be seen from below.

After the robed figure outside the nearest cave heads back in, Loyn and Renna are suddenly greeted by the halfling Pimlan again, who has crawled up the rope to exit the cave, now completely covered in black soot. Though they cant see them, the foursome up top has almost returned from the other side of the ravine when Gyb risks a peek over the edge that nearly stops him in his tracks. A group of at least 8 shambling humanoid figures exit the cave right below them, headed straight for the Gnoll cave entrance. Some of them climb up the ridge to the next level as they advance, while others remain on the lower ledge. Renna and Loyn spot this as well, wondering why the chimney team is returning already.

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Inside the Gnoll cave, Daliedhur calls for the return of his cat, looking at the chain still stretched along the floor towards the dead Owlbear they left outside. Cinder literally jumps up into his arms in the blink of an eye, clearly frightened by whatever it was he saw around the next corner. When the creature follows it, wagging its long tail and slobbering like a big dog as it pads into the hallway, the battle crazed Gnolls freak out and jump the thing with swords and spears, striking it multiple times. The dog sized ugly monster just wails out in pain as it is brutally ganged up on by the Gnoll fighters trying to kill it.

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Stairs are sloping downward, despite my poor mapping skills.

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Bugs ONLY!!!

With his partner in crime sent back up to the others now, Bugs tries looking around the complex a little more.

Moving out into the hallway and looking both ways, he doesn't see any heat sources from either direction. The hall remains dark and quiet, though the slightest sounds of commotion comes from the direction Arpad said was towards the necromancers labs.

Actions?

Meinhardt (MU1) AC:10 5/5
Crobeus (P1) AC:3 6/10
Stobart (C2) AC:5 17/20 CLW/CLW
Gyb the Meager (M2) AC:9 8/11

Bugs Donato G (T3) AC:3 24/24
Pimlan (F1/T1) H-L AC:6 6/9

Renna (MU1/C1) Elf AC:4 7/9 CLW
Loyn Shortbeard D (F2) AC:5 22/23

Keya Redd H-E (C1/R1) AC:5 10/12
Magdal (R1) AC:7 11/16
Ithrandir (F1/MU1) AC:5 7/7
Daliedhur (F1/MU1) AC:3 9/9 (Cinder AC:6 4/4)
Tammuz
11 Gnoll Fighters

[Darithe]

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Magdal

Magdal looks on with a mixture of emotions as the gnolls attack the odd beast. Not wanting to his the gnolls she refrains from firing. Although she remains alert should they be ambushed.

[GreyWolfVT]

Pimlan updates Loyn and Renna "So down there is a teen girl apparently held captive being trained in the ways of necromancy, and the master necromancer is a merchant we've met or passed on the road a time or two already by the name Mendel."

[gurusql]

Renna

"Thanks for the information Pim, I never liked that merchant. Is the girl climbing up the pipe? Is she trustworthy being trained by the Necromancer? There are a load of zombies coming we could have to move."

[Karaunios]

Ithrandir acts as if attempting to attack, though unable to do so due to the creature being surrounded by gnolls. He doesn’t want the hyena-men to claim they didn’t participate in the fight, but if this creature is the one he’s read about in his studies, he has no desire to risk losing his weaponry and armor in close combat against it.

[Scott308]

Crobeus - Human Paladink

"Hmm. That's a bunch of zombies that are not in the cave with the priest. Do we take this opportunity to slip inside, or do we get back to the main group and help them deal with those guys?"

[Monsieur Rose]

Bugs

Bugs moves quietly towards the sounds and what he was told is the laboratory. He'll stop and pause at any intersection or when he can hear distinct voices.

[Quonundrum]

Meinhardt


"That cave is the death priest's base of operation. I am sure there will be others inside. Let's go warn the others. Heck, we could drop some rocks on their heads." He scans the area as they near the gnoll's cave, searching for any particularly large rocks ...

[Edeldhur]

Daliedhur

Looking at the picture, it seems Daliedhur cannot get past the fray or the creature without getting mauled - if he is able to without getting his head chopped off by a frenzied Gnoll, he will go peek around the corner to see if the ruckus attracts anyone or anything else. Otherwise he will dash off to cut the limb attached from the owlbear to the chain, then bring the chain to feed the thing and perhaps distract it momentarily so they can gain advantage.

"The creature is attracted to metal - let's feed it the chain" - he informs those around him.