(PF) maggie's Rise of the Runelords: Hook Mountain Massacre IC

[jamieth]

Naya
HP 24/24
AC 17
PtE 74 (fire)

Seeing as she can do little to save the prisoner, per se (she could, maybe, channlel enough lightning power into the chain to melt it, but doing so in a way safe for the prisoner was another thing completely... and isn't one the sylph was comfortable with attempting), she starts readying means of escape... Two people, one spell. If I could, I'd give up my own protection, but... But once fixed on a target, protective bubble existed independent of her will, and transferring it would be no easier than creating a new one from scratch.

What she could do - it was a much cruder spellwork - was to harden the air in front of her...

"Miss Rico! Once you're done with the chain, load him onto the disk! It'll carry him outside, and you'll be able to move freely!"

Spoiler

Show

Taking on estep to the left and casting Floating Disk between Naya and Rico

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Brin is botted to be unwilling to enter the barn due to being a flammable elf.

*****

Naya casts Floating Disk

As Naya brings her mind's focus to bear, the air between her outstretched palms wavers as if refracted through steam, shimmering with a faint cerulean light. The floating disk is barely more than 3 feet across, but it would suffice to keep what was left of Kaven from a roasting with some careful positioning.

*****

Red - has Endure Elements cast on her
HP: 55/55
AC 23

Spoiler

Show

Draws weapon with Quick Draw - free action
Moves into barn...

Slipping her bow off her shoulder once more as she enters the barn, Red reluctantly treads towards the ragged hole in the wall where the spider had once been, dimly aware of the ache in her jaw as she clenches her teeth, knuckles whitening around her bow. She was fairly sure - even if Rico hadn't said a word - that her friend had been trying to spare her from the terror of the flames.

But the spider... it is on the other side of the fire...

Red's breath hisses out sharply between her teeth. Notching an arrow to her bowstring, she shuffles as close as she dares to a merrily burning bundle of hay, ready to fire if the spider tried anything funny.


Red delays combat action to after Ogre Spider moves.

*****

Initiative Order:
23 - Setsuna - already posted, to be resolved
22 - Ogre Spider
20 - Brin
12 - Naya
7 - Red - delaying to see what Ogre Spider does
> 5 - Rico

It is now Rico's turn.

*****

Combat Map
Note: Lower floor space on the right side of the barn where the spider is covered with webs.

[Miraqariftsky]

Rico,
HP 54/56
AC 20/22
Rage I/III
9/10

Strangely she finds not the Fist of Fox in her hand
But rather, her trusty sword, smoking with command
Legs braced, sword raised, all else fades
The blaze, the looming foe, naught but nothingness' shades
Nothing but weapon and target
Pushes aside the reminder, later, to whet
Half a breath, a mere moment stretching timeless
Exhales as down upon the chain she slashes.

Spoiler

Show

(1d20+13)[31]
Rage Str 7 BAB 7 Weapon 1 PA -2
(1d10+11)[21]<--- Technically should be a 22, forgot to add the last number, sorry.
Rage Str 7 PA 4 Weapon 1

Plus one more, on Full Attack, just to make sure, if the former's damage roll, for whatever reason, doesn't make it.
(1d20+8)[21]
Rage Str 7 BAB 7 Weapon 1 PA -2
(1d10+11)[21]
Rage Str 7 PA 4 Weapon 1
BANKED

Once the chain is broken, heeding Naya's behest
Sword sheathed, takes up the captive carefully, lest
Further harm upon him fall
Kneels and places him on the enchanted servant that Naya did call.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Rico

Whatever unfortunate caravan the Grauls' manacles had been scavenged from, a single hack from Rico's sword suffices to shear through most of the rusting metal. Pulling the remaining links apart is simple enough and after a moment's scuffling, Kaven is free of his bonds.

It's a little difficult to get the unconscious Kaven, lanky arms and all, to fit on Naya's floating disk. Still, the young man is catatonic and hardly in a position to tip himself off. As long as one is careful while maneuvering him out of the barn, there's not much reason for him to go tumbling unceremoniously into the flames.

*****

Setsuna

For all of Setsuna's efforts to look menacing, the ogre spider just doesn't seem to care. Perhaps, on hindsight, attempting to appear visually more frightening after attacking the creature's eyes hadn't been the best idea. Nevertheless, as she slices through the webbing nearest the her, the spider simply shudders, a low-pitched hissing emanating from about its head as it twitches its legs uncertainly.

*****

Ogre Spider and Red

Spoiler

Show

Attack vs Naya: (1d20+10)[17], Damage: (2d8+9)[13]

Red's Attack: (1d20+9)[25], Damage: (1d8)[4]

Perhaps it is the clanging and clanking of Rico springing Kaven loose. Or perhaps, the ogre spider was simply too agitated in its pain to quite know where its antagonist lies. Regardless, when the brute does skitter forth to attack, it is not towards the tiefling posturing in the flames that it charges towards - but rather, the lithe sky-skinned sylph up on the balcony.

Lurching up its webs with frightening speed, the ogre spider snaps furiously at Naya's arms. Ignoring the arrow that Red looses into its thorax, it rears up and lunges, fangs extended and knifing down into the sylph's exposed flesh.

Rico gets an AoO vs the Ogre Spider.

If hit, Naya rolls Fort DC 18 vs Ogre Spider poison or takes 1d4 STR and 1d4 DEX damage.

*****

Initiative Order:
23 - Setsuna
22 - Ogre Spider
7 - Red
> 20 - Brin
12 - Naya
5 - Rico

It is now Brin's turn.

*****

Combat Map
Note: Lower floor space on the right side of the barn where the spider is covered with webs.

[jamieth]

Naya
HP 13/24 PfE 74 (fire)
AC15 FF13 Touch12

As the spider's fangs tear through her skin, Naya clinches her teeth, trying hard not to scream. Pain... pain is, after all, a constant fact of being an adventurer. As long as there's a reliable source of healing magic nearby, it can be endured, really.

But it's more than just pain, the sylph discovers as she feels the staff in her hands - even the clothe on her back - sudenly grow heavier, and she stutters trying to move away.

Not moving her eyes from the spider, the sorceress takes a weary step back, then another... most important thing right now is to guide the disk following her out of danger.

Spoiler

Show

Taking Withdraw action to move 6 squares to the left. Naya is on the first square above the stairs; disk stops 1 square to the right of her.

[Bhaakon]

Brin
35/35 HP
19 AC

"Well, I guess it isn't just going to sit there." Brin mutters as the big spider reachs up easily and sinks it fangs into Naya. "Fine, then." She steps into the doorway and looses some arrows of her own, aiming high so they won't hit Red or Setsuna. Thankfully the thing is plenty taller than those two.

Spoiler

Show

5' step south, full attack with bow

(1d20+8)[11]
(1d8+2)[9] (1d6)[5] electric

(1d20+8)[18]
(1d8+2)[9] (1d6)[2] electric

[Desril]

Setsuna
HP 39/46
AC 28

Seeing the spider go for Rico and Naya, Setsuna steps closer to deliver another slash to the oversized arachnid, hoping to keep its attention focused on her and away from her comrades.

Spoiler

Show

If we're going to fight it, guess I should attack. But if Rico withdraws, I'll edit this post to retreat as well.

Attack (1d20+13)[24]
Damage (1d8+7)[13] + (1d6)[6]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Brin and Naya

Spoiler

Show

Rico's AoO - using banked roll
(1d20+8)[21]
Rage Str 7 BAB 7 Weapon 1 PA -2
(1d10+11)[21]

The ogre spider has ventured too close to the walkway in its efforts to turn Naya into prey, unfortunately bringing it well within range of Rico's fearsome waved sword. Though the orcess is a shade too slow to stop the brute from snapping at Naya, she still manages to thrust her sword at its vitals, carving open a gaping wound in its carapace.

As dark blue fluid spurts from the fresh gashes, the oversized arachnid bares its bloodied fangs and hisses in apparent fury, the fire-lit image of Naya beginning her slow, agonising retreat away from Kaven's cell reflected eight-fold in its remaining eyes. Flexing a chitonous limb, the creature once more rears up as if to follow - only to be distracted as Brin's arrows come sailing through the barn wall. The arrows do little more than to ping harmlessly off the spider's back, but they do the job of distracting the spider from its target just as well.

*****

Rico (botted)

Spoiler

Show

Attack: (1d20+13)[24], Damage: (1d10+11)[15]
Attack: (1d20+8)[28], Damage: (1d10+11)[21]

Confirm Critical - Attack: (1d20+8)[25], Damage: (1d10+11)[16] + (1d10+11)[18]

"O-HOI! Hah!"

Seeing the opening created by Brin's arrows, Rico gamely seizes the moment. Clasping her greatsword with both hands, she lets rip a primal roar that seems to shake the rafters of the barn, still screaming as she hacks at the ogre spider's head with all her might.

Once, twice - her waved blade easily splits open the spider's tough hide, paring through flesh and chitin in spurts of foul-smelling blue blood. The first blow nearly severs its head from the fleshy thorax; the second blow takes it clean off. As the spider's head tumbles to the barn floor, mandibles still twitching as it sprays blood out of ruptured arteries, Rico allows herself the satisfaction of a grim tight-lipped smile. Grunting under her breath, she thumbs at her stained cheeks and jerks her chin in Naya's direction. Best to be getting out of the barn before the smoke got too thick, really.

The Ogre Spider is now dead. Combat is over, initiative ends.

*****

Fortunately for those of you within the barn, your speedy slaying of the ogre spider allows you to escape with relative ease through the burning timbers. (Though having to balance the unconscious Kevan while also dodging stray sparks is no mean feat in itself.) Once you are out in the clear, you behold Jakardos limping towards the young Black Arrow as fast as he can, still supported by Vale under one arm.

"Lord Erastil preserve us- you're hurt." Jakardos squints anxiously at those of you who've emerged looking worse for the wear through his single good eye. "Did the spider get you? It's got wicked poison, seen it go to town on what fodder those Grauls fed it. Best to purge it soonest. And Kaven - how is it? He'll get better, won't he?"

[jamieth]

"That's", adrenaline surge slowly flowing away, both the effects of poison and the physical wound start taking their toll on Naya and she sits down on her own floating disk with a moan, "a question better asked of Miss Brin... but if me being here is any indication... if he's still alive, he will be."

"Still... the mother is out there, somewhere... we... can't afford to rest."

[Desril]

Setsuna

She wasn't much use carrying the limp body of the prisoner compared to Rico's exceptional strength, but Setsuna did her best to smother and disrupt the flames to give the others a chance to get out unburnt before moving into the open air, taking a deep breath once away from the smoke. Looking at Jakardos as he inquires, the tiefling bites her lip, uncertain how best to answer until Naya says what needs to be said. "She is right, the healing arts are beyond me...but the Graul matriarch is not, did any one see her flee the house?"

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

"The fat dam? Neither hide nor hair of her - and thank the gods for that." Vale barely manages to suppress a shudder of relief, his dark lips twisted in a pained grimace. Easing himself out from under Jakardos's armpit, he crouches on his haunches by Kaven's side, pressing anxious fingers against the youth's soot-stained throat to take his pulse.

"Aye. We've been watching. Took a little scouting walk to the edge of the clearing myself. As far as I can tell, nothing's gotten in or out of that farmhouse." Behind the two Black Arrows, Shalelu stalks slowly over to where Kaven has been deposited off Naya's sphere. Ignoring Jakardos's obvious discomfort as the human male clenches his jaw, the elf gives each of you a brief nod of acknowledgement, her jade-green eyes softening a little at the sight of Naya's wounds. "Still, you all saw how that monster suddenly showed up and vanished, just like that - and at her kind of size? The foul old sow's got a couple of her tubby fingers dabbling in the arcane and such, I'm sure of it. I don't put it past her to sneak out, but if she's on the move, it certainly won't be on her two legs. She'd fly or float - or something of the sort."

Jakardos coughs uneasily, glancing sidelong at Shalelu out of his good eye as he scratches the grimy hollow at his collarbones. "'Tis true. The fat dam far too fat to move about of her own powers. Forgive me for saying so, my ladies. But if the she-Graul's still in that farmhouse... then we ought to set it blazing right away and burn it to the ground before she has any chance to use her spells to stir abroad or give us further mischief."

To the surprise of perhaps most of you present, Shalelu actually grudgingly nods her assent. "It's not a bad idea. I've heard of what you all did up at the old Foxglove manor. Fire, of course, has excellent cleansing properties - it might help to ease the spirits of those murdered and tortured by these Grauls. A fitting end for a filthy beast that has preyed on this forest and the poor village of Turtleback Ferry. What say you all?"

[jamieth]

Naya, looking downwards, shakes her head, "She's no dabbler, Mr. Vale. Teleportation is rather advanced magic; I'm not capable of it myself, yet... so she's either stronger than me, or... uses something other than her own power... my cape has an enchantment like that, but it needs to recharge for a full day after a single use, so, if her power is like that, maybe she couldn't have escaped?"

"Anyway", she adds, "If we can know for sure there are no hostages in the house... burning it down won't hurt."

[Desril]

Setsuna

Nodding, "If we are sure no one but the ogres are inside, burning it down would be for the best," Setsuna agrees. "We cannot just leave her and her kin though, either burning the house or going in and dealing with them, but after that...I could use a long bath and a nap," she admits.

[Miraqariftsky]

From battle's trance
Emerges
Fey images from her sight
Recede
Heavily on the nearest shrubbery
Leans
The plant's fresh air, greedily
Sucking
Rico against sudden dizziness
Struggles
Her spearshaft, a third leg
Becomes
At the foul farmhouse
Glares
Helm almost rises as ears
Stiffen

"CAN we make SURE ain't no other captives nor clues within? AFTER THAT, then, fookyen definitely CLEANSE it with fire. As a... certain other colleague was fond of saying... Purge the unclean.

And... if we can... track 'er down. Radial search pattern."

[Desril]

Setsuna

Shaking her head at Rico, "They would not have prisoners inside and out. There were many empty cages in the barn, there would be no reason to separate them like that."

She doesn't mention that it would be hard to track a flying, teleporting foe, but that is Shalelu's concern, the tiefling's tracking ability was painfully limited even with footprints to follow.

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

At the talk of yet more fire, Red's fingers clench uneasily, wringing the sleeves of her tunic. She didn't like the idea of burning down a building that might have innocent folk in it. What if there were other Black Arrows that had survived, no matter what Vale said? Yet for once, given what she'd seen of these horrible bigfolk, razing the house was sounding like an increasingly attractive option - her fear of fire be damned. They needed to be sure that all of those ogre-people were dead.

She frowns at Rico's words, her soot-stained brow furrowed in slow thought. "... What kind of c-clues? Do you mean... f-for people they killed?" Red glances hastily in the direction of the two conscious Black Arrows, worried at any offence they might take at her words.

*****

GM post

Jakardos coughs again, a rasping wheeze on the edge of his voice as he shakes his head in reply, Vale rubbing his back sympathetically. "Young tiefling miss has the right of it. Them Grauls wouldn't have kept a live prisoner outside the barn except for sport - like what happened to my man here, getting strung up for bait in a trap-"

Breaking off into another fit of violent coughing, Jakardos wipes his eyes and sniffs; his time as a Graul prisoner has not done his health any good. "'Tis true they've likely squirreled away some of our gear in there - our weapons, maps, some keys... it's not much though, for we were out on patrol when the Kreegs came down on the Fort. Would be mighty sore to lose my bow, but if it means getting that fat dam before she's got a chance to fly, I'd gladly take that loss."

[Bhaakon]

Brin listens to the arguments, weighing the options against a long swig from her jug. Then another.

"Well, somethin' tells me that she won't just sit in there as her house burns down round 'er ears, eh." Brin finally says. "And burning the place down will just spoil whatever meager riches she's hiding. So I say were split the baby...er, the difference. Let's just smoke 'er out. Set up a big ol' bonfire at her front door and fan the smoke in 'til she comes out. Maybe I can help it along some with some magics, too."

[jamieth]

Naya

"One moment..." Sylph suddenly says, "Miss Brin, those boards don't look that tight - if I turn you invisible, maybe you could peek inside with your sharp eyes? Just, you know, to be sure we're not... eh... missing something..."

Spoiler

Show

If Brin's up to it, invisibility would give her +20 Stealth for a total of +24, and she's the highest Perception among us.

[Bhaakon]

Brin shrugs and takes another swig. "Algud. Er...I'll go. But I'll take shum in-shu-rinse." She slurs, wiping a bit of dribble from her chin with her sleeve. Barring any arguments, she asks Pharasma for a defensive enchantments and waits for Naya's invisibility before sliping between the boards for a peak...

Spoiler

Show

Cast communal protection from evil on self and peak through the gap:

Perception: (1d20+16)[33]
Stealth: (1d20+24)[25] with +20 invis bonus

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

The farmhouse had looked distinctly unwelcoming, even foreboding, as you'd entered the clearing; and being up close does little to shake that impression for Brin. Under the invisibility spell's cloaking (and her boldness fortified with a last second swig from her precious jug), she is able to totter close enough to be able to place a hand on its moss-encrusted walls without anything within the building stirring.

Brin has been to her share of seedy establishments over the years, but this decaying farmhouse surely takes a special place of dishonour for the nauseating reek of stale piss and rotting meat that emanates from within. The stench is putrid enough to sear one's nostrils, nearly causing the Pharasmin to burst into an eye-watering coughing fit right there on the spot. Still, she manages to stifle her grunts and hold back long enough to do what she'd come for.

The boards covering the first window (X) that Brin approaches are made of thick pine, with dozens of bloated flies wriggling about in the space between. The smell that wafts from this window is especially appalling, as are the sheer number of flies, making it difficult to get close enough to see what exactly is in the room - though something decaying seems like a good guess. For even by squinting while holding her nose, Brin can pick up little more than the susurrus of insects on the move within and the occasional chirping of what she recognises as rat calls. Whatever's in this room, it's certainly making that rat very happy and there's probably a lot of it.

Staggering around the perimeter of the farmhouse, Brin tries her luck at a second window (Y), this one by a back door whose lintel is decorated with crude carvings of screaming humans being torn apart by wolves - or perhaps worgs. The smell, thankfully enough, is a lot less overpowering here, as is the fly population, which allows her to put her eye right up to the cracks between the boards. The room within is dimly lit, but Brin's heritage suffices to let her determine that this room is empty, save for a bookshelf and what looks like the lower half of a rabbit carcase, its entrails messily dragged out and pooled on the floor. The other half of the rabbit seems to be on the bookshelf, two shards of wood jutting out from its bloodied eye sockets. In fact, the entire bookshelf seems to hold a motley assortment of poorly preserved skulls (some of which look uncomfortably humanoid), rather than books.

By now wondering if the boards on the window were meant to keep intruders out or to keep the farmhouse's inhabitants in, Brin wanders to yet a third window (Z). (The booze warming her insides churns in her gut, which somehow seemed to make the carvings of the humans being eaten by wolves look uncomfortably life-like.) Once more, peeking in, Brin's eye is immediately drawn to the massive but empty bed on the opposite end of the room, the ratty stains on the sheets and its prodigious size leaving no doubt in her mind which of the Grauls resided here. Of the foul matriarch herself, there is no sign, though the room is packed with various oddments - brimming buckets with odd lumpy solids floating within, a garishly painted canvas and easel, a dressing table overflowing with clouded vials and bristly brushes gathered in cracked pots. From somewhere in the room, though she can't see its source, Brin can hear an insistent, muted thumping - as if a fist was being pounded against glass.

*****

Map

[Bhaakon]

Brin does her best to control the gagging as she peers through the windows in turn. Perhaps if they just left the place alone the flies and rodents would eat the bloated matriarch of the Graul clan down to the bone. Or, more likely, she'd eat a few hundred count of the vermin as an appetizer before venturing out for fresh elf. Who could say what ogrekin would eat. Who would want to?

She staggers back to the group, securing her gorge before explaining what she's seen. "Issa reekin' mess in there. Like...like a butchershop was abandoned in the middle of summer an all the meat wuz left to turn for a week. The only thing worse than the smell is the sense o' taste in the decorations. They really like feedin' the local worgs. Enough to make me think it's some sorta weird cult." She shakes her head, trying to jostle the images of feasting canines. They might not have been skillfully executed, but the crude style just made them all the more visceral.

"But...there's something alive in there. I can hear it tap-tap-tapping, like on a window. I dunno. I don't see why Big Mammy Graul would be doin' that. Maybe it's a captive, maybe it's a pet. Can't say without checkin'."

[Desril]

Setsuna

Listening to Brin's report, Setsuna looks to the farmhouse. "If there is a chance there is a prisoner in there we can not just burn it down, we have to make sure they are safe," she says, her earlier confidence that the house wouldn't hold any innocents shaken. "Come on," she says, heading for the front door.

[jamieth]

Naya, standing up from the magical disk with visible effort, follows the tiefling. Setsuna's right; if there's any chance at all of there still being prisoners in the house... fire is not an option. But knowing the princess's recklessness... "Wait, miss Setsuna, I'll cover you..." she keeps a step behind, though, needing some range to aim her spells.

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Red stares dumbfounded at Setsuna, her mouth actually fallen partway open in mild shock, as the tiefling proceeds to march determinedly towards the farmhouse, trailed by a visibly battered but undaunted Naya. She couldn't be serious - or could she? Knowing Setsuna, there was no way they wouldn't be going into that damned building now. And they'd just escaped that barn too...

Rubbing the back of her neck uneasily, Red purses her lips, then heaves an inward sigh as she sees that even Shalelu has made her move, the stride of her long legs allowing her to easily catch up with the others.

"Rico... s-stay with the A-arrows... Keep them safe." She blurts the words in a hurry, fumbling as she checks that her kukris are still in place before hurrying after the others, her brow still creased in worry. This was totally not a good idea; she could feel it in her churning guts.

*****

GM post

Spoiler

Show

Gm-rolled Perception for Brin: (1d20+16)[18]
Shalelu: (1d20+12)[15]
Red: (1d20+12)[14], +2 more if for trapfinding
OOC-rolled Perception for Setsuna: (1d20+5)[15]
OOC-rolled Perception for Naya: (1d20)[15]

Party AA total: 18+2(4)=26 - passed

The rickety steps of the farmhouse porch creak spitefully underfoot as you make your way up the porch, assailed by the occasional waft of bad meat, urine and decay. Huge ants the size of a man's thumbnail infest this porch, crawling up thick pine pillars to some unseen nest in the cobwebbed eaves. At the far end of the porch, an unsettlingly large rocking chair of lashed wood and bone sways erratically in the breeze, under a vast menagerie of tinkling wind chimes composed of decidedly humanoid bones.

The Grauls' awful battle banter and the Black Arrows' testimony, not to mention the warnings of Father Shreed, had already informed you that the Grauls were man-eaters - shameless cannibals who snatched unwary travellers from the path. But perhaps you hadn't been quite prepared for the actual sight of that cannibal hunger actually entailed - some of the bones used to build the rocking chair looked quite recent, with deep grooves etched along their length where some chopper had been at work...

You almost don't notice the trap. As you gaze in horror at the hanging bone-chimes, you barely spot the cleverly disguised bone spurs, their sharpened points gleaming and poised to impale anyone standing before the front door.

[Desril]

Setsuna

The Tian princess' stomach was churning as they made their way up the grizzly porch. Casting a pair of quick defensive spells to ward off any further attacks is the first thing she does, and the second was noticing a peculiar set of spikes that almost looks like...

Tensing, Setsuna holds out her hand to stop the others from moving forward, "Red, there is a booby trap, can you disarm it?"

Spoiler

Show

This time, I've had my ass kicked enough by these ogrekin that I'm not going in unbuffed;
Shield and Mirror Image (1d4+2)[6]

[jamieth]

"If not, we can force the window open", Naya points to the boardere window a couple steps to the right of the door. "Will, make some noise, sure, but... it's an option..."

[maggie_mcknife]

Red / GM post

So many bones. And some of them so small- those knife marks. Just how many people and goodfolk had those awful Grauls taken?

Not quite able to take her eyes off the bone chimes twirling and tinkling above her, Red blinks and shudders before forcing her eyes down and towards the others, their words sounding oddly muted and thick in her ears. “The w-windows w-would take… too long. I’ll… I’ll try,” she mumbles unhappily, glancing back up at the chimes. Spikes… they would probably fall if the door was opened or if someone on the inside made them fall. No way to fiddle with the door handle or hinge without risking getting hit though. Perhaps making the trap happen anyway…?

Using her quarterstaff, Red grasps the end and pokes cautiously at the rigged chimes, doing her best to get its grisly decorations swinging. If they would just catch, she could wind the strings about the other end of the stick and with a good tug-

The entire wind chime assembly comes crashing to the porch floor in a jarring high-pitched cacophony that causes Red to jump, giving the others a guilty look, despite herself. Holding up a hand to caution the rest to hold back for now, she peers up at the now empty space in the rafters. That should have done it. Still, best to check, and if anything was to strike… well, at least she was shorter than the rest. There was less of her to dodge.

Using her elbow, Red taps at the door handle, testing it for resistance before nudging the door open carefully.

The room behind the door is musty, stinking of stale piss and wet fur. From where she stands as she cranes her neck forward and peers about cautiously, there’s nothing (and no-one) in the room but a couch draped in some sort of badly preserved brown hide and a mangy bearskin rug on the floor, its head frozen in an awful expression of pain, as if still snarling at whatever hunter took its life. To the right of the bearskin is a tremendous hearth set into the wall, its soot stained stones long since devoid of heat if the massive pile of white ash piled within is an indication.

“It’s a-all right. There is no- …Ah-” Chancing to glance down as she calls out to the others over her shoulder, Red squints a moment at the floor of the room before her heart clenches in fright, whisking the words off her tongue. Hidden between the cracks of the floorboards of the room just before the door, barely visible under the dust, are several rusty saw blades. Too much weight and the boards would have collapsed, letting whoever stepped on them to… no, Red shakes her head, wincing as she squeezes her eyes shut.

“I… We c-c-can’t. Go in… from here. It's... a-another t-trap...”

[jamieth]

Naya

"But, miss Red..." the sorceress shakes her head, "That doesn't make sense! There must be a way Grauls themselves use to get in and out, right? I don't think they are resetting those traps every time... I... I guess the taller oner could just step over the trap, but what about the shorter ones? The back door, maybe?"

[Bhaakon]

Bring breaths through gritted teeth to try and not smell the stink permeating the residence while her free hand swats away orbiting flies. A fresh plug of tobacco would do both, but it was a little late to do that now. "We're thinking about this too...politely. Them ogrekin are mad enough to trap the entrance to their place, then we just need to make a new entrance. It's not like we're getting the drop on anyone inside. Let's just smash out the window where I hear that tap-tap-tappin' and climb in that way. If nothing else we'll be able to tell right off if there's someone to save."

[Desril]

Setsuna

Nodding at Brin, "You are right, but we should not waste any more time...follow me, the glass will not hurt me," she says before quickly dashing around off the porch and getting ready to take a running leap through the closest window.

Spoiler

Show

Too much debate, not enough action! Also Setsuna's rash and practically immune to daggers, so surely a window won't hurt her?

Anyway, the window immediately to the left of the porch, south of the purple Z, Setsuna will jump through that

Acrobatics(1d20+15)[26]