Ch. 1: Rescue Penelope Primrose!

[Rex]

Finn

Once he has covered his mouth Finn looks for possible exits and a way to stop the gas.

[Zhym]

The gas has dissipated (i.e., it had its effect, so you don't need to worry about it anymore).

[Rex]

Finn

Finn will hide in a good spot for an ambush, if there are none he will put his back to the wall and wait.

[Rusty Tincanne]

is there a lock mechanism on the golden door?

[Captain Kinkajou]

Molly covers her lantern (which, as far as the DM can recall, is not lit—see the status line below)

No matter and probably my bad for not noticing you hadn't picked it up on the status line but back on Dec 3, after the torches went out, I wrote:

As the various torches sputter and go out, the company is plunged into shadowy gloom. Only the glow from the lantern held by Twiddle still casts its light about them. Twiddle slowly turns and the beam plays across the room, catching Dax looking at the human boy statue's privates and Geoff inspecting the other statues rather too closely, fiddling with their limbs and such. Dwarves are known for their interest in stonework and Geoff could be a mason of some sort? She's not convinced though. Molly looks askance at the two of them and lights her lantern, then she snorts, hocks up a big gob of phlegm and spits it into the water, watching it float on the surface and drift towards the centre le of the pool.

"I'm with Twiddle," she states matter-of-factly. "Penelope isn't here. Let's keep moving."

Molly

Molly covers her mouth and nose with her cloak and waits in the shadows ready to ambush whoever or whatever is coming.

[GreyWolfVT]

Dax readies his weapon and tries to cover his mouth and nose with his tunic.

[VonAlric]

Iliro

Iliro silently curses the foolishness of trying to open the door in a rush. Feeling weakened from the gas, he takes a moment to think about the situation. Seeing the others hide gives rise to an interesting thought. Iliro will move to the far east wall and find a place to slump against it where he will have some partial cover but allows himself to be seen if someone looks. He will hide his javelin between himself and the wall in a way that would allow him to move and throw it if needed. When whoever is outside the door comes in, he will cough and moan softly, trying to attract the attention of the strangers, giving his companions the chance to surprise them as needed.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Seeing the others hide, Twiddle shrugs and walks toward the middle of the room, but behind a chair or other partial cover. Ouch! he calls out. I'm hurt! Please help! he waits, lying down and bow at the ready, for whoever it is to enter.

[Zhym]

You don't recall seeing a lock on the north door.

You rush for cover, seeking good spots for an ambush. There's nary a shadow, corner, or piece of furniture that isn't serving as cover for some adventurer. Twiddle gets tricky. "Ouch!" he calls out. "I'm hurt! Please help!"

You hear a thump against the eastern door, followed by a soft "Oof."

"'Ere, let me try." Thud.

"No, no, you'r doin' it wrong, lad. Less shoulder, more leg. Like this—" CRASH.

The door bursts open. A burly halfling tumbles through it. In the hall behind him are several more halflings—about a dozen in all, you reckon, although it's hard to get a complete count.

"'Allo? Someone here need help?"

-----
Status: Finn (½1): 5/5; Grond (F1): 7/7; Twiddle (½1): 4/4; Molly (½1): 3/3; Cy (C1): 2/5; Geoff (T1): 4/4; Iliro (E1): 6/6; Dax (D1): 9/9
Effects: Cy, Geoff, Iliro weakened (STR:9 each)
Light Sources: Lantern (Finn, carried by Twiddle): 17 turns, Lantern (Molly): 21 turns

[GreyWolfVT]

Dax says through his tunic/shirt "Eh? Hairfoots? What er yah an yer kin doin in a place like this eh?"

[Rex]

Finn

Finn readies his sling and waits for a reply to Dax.

[Starbeard]

Geoff also waits to see how they respond to Dax, and when they see Iliro and Twiddle's apparent helplessness.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Twiddle is entirely surprised by the appearance of more diminutive adventurers, but his suspicious nature allows him to keep up his ruse. He makes sure to keep the newcomers' eyes on him, allowing the rest of the party to remain hidden. Oi. Over here! It's me what's got hurt. The room gassed me and I've done twisted my ankle. And fell and broke my pipe. You wouldn't have a spare, would you?

More to the point, what're your names and who do you work for? Not thugs or assassins or you?

[Captain Kinkajou]

Molly

Molly waits, allowing the ruse to play out.

[The_Wanderer]

Cy

"Who convened the halfling convention...?", Cy mutters to nobody in particular. Cy shuffles up next to Twiddle, shield on his back, mace secured at his side and hands held up to the halflings. He says "Man of God, here. I don't have anymore healing and we'll have to move him."


Apologies for being gone. Between the holidays and some health issues, I'm hopefully back now.

[Zhym]

"Eh? Hairfoots?" says Dax. "What er yah an yer kin doin in a place like this, eh?"

"Harfoot!" cries out one of the halflings towards the back. A few of his companions chuckle. Most of them seem to be carrying knives or farm implements for weapons, although there are some short swords and more than a few bows among them. None of them seem poised for battle.

Twiddle maintains his ruse. "Oi. Over here! It's me what's got hurt. The room gassed me and I've done twisted my ankle. And fell and broke my pipe. You wouldn't have a spare, would you? More to the point, what're your names and who do you work for? Not thugs or assassins or you?"

"Bingo Goodchild, at your service," says the burly halfling, bowing. He jerks his head at a smaller halfling, who hurries over to get a look at Twiddle's ankle. "That's Holfast Rockhouse. He's Dobbin Rockhouse's boy, from over around North Halfington. The lad here next to me is Tippin Bandyshank, son of Crippin Bandyshank of the Westshire Bandyshanks, although he keeps more toward the south bottoms near the river now—Tippin, I mean; Crippin, he still has his cozy hole in the south with Bella Bandyshanks. This fellow is Frogo Boffins, son of Drogo Boffins, though poor Drogo, he passed three summers ago and now Frogo lives with his Aunt Petunia Bracegirdle and her ladyfriend. Nice ladies, both of them. It's so handy now that they have Frogo around the hole to help out with things. Where was I? Oh, right. That's Groggo Kettleblack, and his brother, Doggo. Their pappy is Bongo Kettleblack . . ."

He goes on, introducing each hobbit by name, lineage, location, and other information that halflings probably find fascinating. You start to think that Penelope Penrose will die of old age by the time Bingo is finished with his introductions. Or gets around to telling you why they're here.

-----
Status: Finn (½1): 5/5; Grond (F1): 7/7; Twiddle (½1): 4/4; Molly (½1): 3/3; Cy (C1): 2/5; Geoff (T1): 4/4; Iliro (E1): 6/6; Dax (D1): 9/9
Effects: Cy, Geoff, Iliro weakened (STR:9 each)
Light Sources: Lantern (Finn, carried by Twiddle): 16 turns, Lantern (Molly): 20 turns

[Starbeard]

"Well I've heard enough," Geoff rasps. He unceremoniously leaves his hiding place and goes to examine the gold-gilt door. Muttering to himself and ignoring the scene around him, he does his best to locate and deactivate the trigger for the gas trap, focusing on the hinges and door latch.

[GreyWolfVT]

Dax nods his bearded head "Aye thats enough fer now. What do yah know about men that kidnapped Penelope Primrose eh? An what er yah halflings doin in an old dwarf hold like this?"

[The_Wanderer]

Cy looks at the crowd and says, "It is a bit strange to find you here. For an abandoned fortress we seem to keep running into folk who aren't our quarry..."

[Zhym]

Bingo pauses mid-litany, slightly taken aback that you're not interested in everyone's full family histories. It's not a proper introduction without them—but perhaps this is a special circumstance.

"It is rather busy in here, isn't it?" he says in reply to Cy. "Why, on the way in we ran into a fellow with a mule who wanted to sell us spice. Nice fellow, but he seemed preoccupied about something."

"We have not had the pleasure of meeting anyone called 'Penelope Primrose,'" he says. Some of you stifle chuckles. Bingo probably isn't aware how appropriate the word "pleasure" is. "We're after a fellow named Skeeter Holland. He's one of the big folk, like you. He and several others rode through town a couple of weeks ago. Made rather a mess of it, I'm afraid. They burned half of Goodie Threshwarbler's pipeweed crop! We followed him here. We're going to arrest him and bring him back to town for trial."

"It's an adventure!" cries a younger halfling in the back.

"Yes, that too," admits Bingo with a smile.

Holfast looks up from Twiddle's ankle. "I don't see anything wrong with it. Can you stand?" The halfling pulls a pipe from a shirt pocket. "I always carry a spare!"

The other halflings filter into the room. There are eleven of them, you can now count. Bingo clears his throat. "So, if I may be so bold ask to ask, what are you all doing here?"

Meanwhile, Geoff investigates the door. He can't quite find whatever triggered the gas trap.

-----
Status: Finn (½1): 5/5; Grond (F1): 7/7; Twiddle (½1): 4/4; Molly (½1): 3/3; Cy (C1): 2/5; Geoff (T1): 4/4; Iliro (E1): 6/6; Dax (D1): 9/9
Effects: Cy, Geoff, Iliro weakened (STR:9 each)
Light Sources: Lantern (Finn, carried by Twiddle): 15 turns, Lantern (Molly): 19 turns