2. The First Delve

Ricard looks around sheepishly,

"Just for good measure."

The warrior begins to walk through the carpet of sleeping goblins, dispatching them as he goes.

"Hello friend, where have you come from?" Luther will eye the new comer with suspicion. "What shall we do with poor Jessica?"Luther will move over and say a prayer."Maye we should take her to sanctuary."

"I was wandering about down here and heard a ruckus. I followed the noise and came upon your group. Though this may seem bold of me, might I join you? Safety in numbers, and all that."

Pickles moved with Ricard helping with his grim task, and collecting any arrows he can recover. As this human arrives his hand flicking towards his bow, visibly relaxing as conversation is engaged. "We have plenty to share, help yourself." He says with a smile and waving his hands towards all the pile of crates in the room. At this point his stops and gives the new arrival a good once over, "A father are you?"

"I am a man of the cloth, yes. I admit that I am still proving my devotion and have not been granted prayers yet, but I hope that soon the Lady will see fit to grant my requests."

Pickles smiles at Horath, "My village had a Choatic Cleric stay for a while, he made a lot of jokes which made him very unpopular. He asked our Elder one evening about this, and the Elder said because his jokes were soul-less."

Old Animal Pen
Johann watches on with a look of grim satisfaction on his face as Ricard and Pickles slit the throats of the slumbering goblins. Orcs - goblins - they’re all the same to him.

The gnome plunders some leather armour and a short sword from one of the unfortunate victims. The armour’s a little tight - he’s somewhat stouter than your average goblin, even after the neglect he suffered at the hands of the orcs - but it’s better than nothing.

Luther’s lantern flickers and dies. You’ll need to replenish it with oil or else light a torch. Either way, please can you update your inventory accordingly.

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Day 3, 11:00 pm
Gabbro, Elf 1: 4/7
Horath, Cleric 1: 4/4
Luther, Cleric 2: 6/9 (Lantern)
Pickles, Halfling 2: 10/10
Ricard, Fighter 2: 12/14
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Johann, Gnome 1: 3/5

Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...

Ricard pulls out his light gland to help the crew figure out the Lantern situation and once more offers up a half dozen torches to light the way.

"I know the lantern is better but I need to get rid of these torches, they really take up a lot of space in the pack."

"Torches sound find for a bit. They can also double as weapons in a pinch." Luther will hook the lantern to his pack.

Ricard happily hands over a torch and helps to spark it to life.

Pickles happy with the new arrivals story starts rummaging through the booty, snacking on items as he goes. "What are we going to do with all this stuff, leaving it here would not work out well for us. Gabbro how far to that hidden temple?"

Gabbro is looking through the supplies that the kobolds abandoned, both out of curiosity and to see if there's something to feed Horath.

At Pickles' question, Gabbro casually waves in the directions indicated while still rummaging in the containers. "It's not far. We could go that way" (north) "to go through the Maritime room, or that way" (south) "to go through the Jungle room. The Ruined Chapel is just on the other side, either way." He stands up, considering. "Hm. I guess we could also take the long way around through the Stone Table room if we don't want to lift any more gates."

Ricard, after all the hearts are pierced, kneels down by Jessica's body and closes her eyes. He places two silver coins over her eyes and folds her arms over her chest.

"Fast to Valhalla, the party is waiting for you."

Finally noticing the newcomer, Ricard stands up and offers a hand to shake.

"Good to see another friendly face down here, welcome to the Hellions."

In answer to Pickles musings about the provisions, the warrior has a few thoughts,

"We could find the kobolds and give them some of it, as a way of further ingratiating ourselves to the outpost, we could hide some of it in the secret compartment where the goblins were hiding this sword,"

Ricard holds up his enchanted blade for emphasis.

Horath stops near the body of the fallen Jessica, retrieves his holy symbol from beneath his mail, and offers a brief prayer for her soul. "Thank you," he says, turning to Ricard. "I'm sorry for your loss. Were you old friends?"

"I wouldn't exactly say that, but she was good at her job and she will be missed."

Luther will a prayer over Jessica and clean the blood off her as the others check the door the Goblins came out of. He can't help but wonder what Chthonia Trimorphia could for Jessica. Maybe the goddess could bring her back.

Pickles head popped up finishes chewing some dried meats, "She was a good companion and strong fighter, I wish her well in the afterlife." He skips around to stand with Ricard.

"let’s do all three, diversifying our wealth is our best way forward. So if we put a couple of crates in the Goblin’s hidden hole, we’re going to silence that leak anyway, a few in the hidden shrine and return the rest to the Kobolds as good faith. A lot of these fresh products will spoil before we get to them anyway."

Horath takes a hunk of cheese and indulges his appetite. It is apparent that the cleric seldom misses a meal opportunity.

As everyone else is eating, Ricard sees on reason why he should go hungry. After all, he had been living on the low grade foodstuffs at the kobolds market for days now. He digs in to whatever looks perishable...

"We can say the wolves are it," he says between bites.

You pay your respects to Sister Jessica and assess the full extent of the kobold’s abandoned supplies. In total, the consignment consists of 168 days' worth of rations, 6 casks of black wine and 40 crossbow bolts.

Gabbro moves to the northeast corner of the room to check out the secret door. It has since swung shut, but now that he knows where it is, Gabbro quickly locates the mechanism for opening it again. It opens into a rectangular room that shows obvious signs of goblin habitation. In the centre of the floor is a dwindling campfire. The floor is littered with gnawed bones and scattered travel bundles. Otherwise, the room is empty; the previous occupants are now lying in a bloody pool in the room where the fight took place.

Mapping information - rectangular room, 20’ x 30’. Gabbro is viewing it through the secret door in the eastern section of the southern wall. There are two other visible exits - a door in the middle of the western wall and a door in the eastern section of the northern wall.

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Day 3, 11:10 pm
Gabbro, Elf 1: 4/7
Horath, Cleric 1: 4/4
Luther, Cleric 2: 6/9 (Torch)
Pickles, Halfling 2: 10/10
Ricard, Fighter 2: 12/14
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Johann, Gnome 1: 3/5

Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...