Chapter 3.2 - Return to the Golden Grain Inn

After nearly a minute of waiting, the party realizes that there's been no other sounds. Morton, Theran, and Aanbo squeeze back out into the tunnel to use their darkvision. Peering down the unlit passages, they see no distant glow of light approaching. So if someone's coming, it either isn't humans or it they are feeling their way along in the darkness. But the heroes don't hear anything else, either.

Myrtha, Arya, Ember, and Chase have stayed in the statue room with the torches as they reconnoiter, while Lyrel continues to examine the white statue. Her attempts to move and manipulate it yield no results; it neither comes apart nor does it rotate to trigger some hidden mechanism, and it's too heavy for one person to lift off of its pedestal. "Maybe it was used in some foul worship?" Arya suggests uncertainly. "Or some ritual involving those snakes?" Ember's eyes keep getting drawn back to the lustrous ivory sculpture; she can't help imagining what she might get from selling something like that in a big city like Hookhill. But of course, she can't go back to Hookhill...not yet.

The pedestal is smooth and almost completely covered by the lower part of the statue (the depicted coils of the snake-thing); there are no depressions or reservoirs. Thinking about it, Lyrel figures that, if there were any live sacrifices, they were probably fed to one snake or the other.

After the party has stood around in silence for several minutes, some watching the passages and some watching Lyrel closely examine the statue, they hear muffled voices in the distance. "whbrgl?" The acoustics of the dirt walls make the sounds unintelligible, but it's clear from the tone that the speakers are surprised. "hfrt mmblr ghdl ffbkt!?"
"Rgno vndy!"

"I will go and see what's going on," Aanbo whispers, "And if I run into something on the way, you'll definitely know about it." As everyone else hides, Aanbo stomps down the tunnel toward the muffled voices. Passing the place where Morton replaced the fake wall, the monk turns the corner and sees two figures in dark cloaks standing in the intersection just before the door back into the basement. They're looking down at something in the next tunnel. One holds a torch aloft with a mace in one hand, while the other holds a cocked and loaded crossbow ready.

They are on edge. As Aanbo sees them, they hear or see his movement at the edge of the torchlight, and they whirl.

Round one
(this is followed by round two)

Realizing that not everyone is hiding, Lyrel jumps out from her hiding place and rushes after Aanbo.

"It's YOU!" the cloaked figure with the crossbow seems to recognize Aanbo and looses his crossbow at the monk. Aanbo's training kicks in, and his arm snaps up, knocking the bolt away as it is about to pierce him!
Aanbo uses Deflect Missiles to prevent taking 4 piercing damage!
The other cloaked figure rushes forward, the torch making crazy shadows dance as he swings his mace at Aanbo. The monk dodges one blow, but the second hits his shoulder.
Aanbo takes 8 bludgeoning damage!


Theran hears the clash. He runs forward, casting Shillelagh on his staff, and stops behind Aanbo just before the dwarf retreats. Though he could move further, Theran stops behind Aanbo, prepared to step in if the monk should falter or need aid. His eyes widen when he's sees who is attacking them.

Arya sticks her torch in the ground, casts Light, and moves out of the statue room, passing Theran and ending her turn by Morton.



Knowing that he's not leaving Ember in the dark (because of Arya's torch), Chase Dashes after Lyrel, squeezing through the narrow aperture to exit the statue room. Arriving in the wider chamber, he tosses his torch about 5' into the tunnel leading north to Aanbo and Theran. He leans his sword against the wall for easy recovery and unshoulders his bow, nocking an arrow in preparation. This way he can cover all the passages if need be.

Like Chase, Ember gets her bow ready, kneeling down with arrow nocked at the narrow entrance to the statue cave. Getting low reduces the dark shadow cast by the torch at her back.

Aanbo tries to retaliate against the cloaked figure, but the cloaked figure with the torch blocks the monk's short sword with his mace. Aanbo draws upon his ki and speeds back down the tunnel, escaping the reach of his attackers and arriving by Theran. It is only after he stops that he realizes he recognizes the person who'd attacked him like Theran did before him: it's Lhari!

Myrtha follows Arya (and probably Chase?), her brawny body once again almost getting stuck in the narrow passageway. Bursting through, the warrior woman dashes down the left-hand tunnel, passing Theran, Aanbo (she figures he's leading the enemy into a trap), continuing past Arya, and moving to the edge of the cleric's holy light. She knows that Arya will pull ahead of her again, and they will leap-frog down the passages to take another route to the cellar door...hopefully to arrive behind whatever threat Aanbo has encountered!

Morton, seeing Aanbo run past in one direction and Myrtha in the other, sidles along the passageway past Chase's guttering torch toward the elven druid. As soon as he lays eyes on the cloaked figure (Lhari) past Theran, he draws upon the powers of Hell once more. His eyes glow and the conduit to the Abyss opens, sending a blast of infernal force at the man.
Lhari takes 6 force damage!

---

24 - Lyrel (9/9)
17 - Cloaked 2
17 - Cloaked 1/Lhari -6
16 - Theran (15/18) Shillelagh
15 - Arya (8/10) Light
14 - Chase (14/14) holding a torch
9 - Ember (9/9)
8 - Aanbo (19/27)
8 - Myrtha (17/18)
8 - Morton (9/9)