Looking up, Elboc sees two small wooden statues looking back down, both seeming to peer over the lip of the hole and down toward the party.  Down below the torchlight shows a floor that has been painted yellow.

"On it," Vsaati replied with a nod and then approached the ladder, giving it a once-twice-thrice over to make sure no nefarious atrocities would ensure should one of them try to scale the thing.

"I don't see anything.  Other than those statues peering down at us.  At least, I hope they are statues."


OOC:

16:21, Today: Vsaati rolled 36 using 1d100.  Find traps (TN 30%).

Also made assumption she would see the same thing Elboc saw above, while looking for traps.

Voran moves over and looks up at them. "Should I send a slingstone up their way?"

Albricht shuffled over and took his own look before offering his expert opinion.

"Up. For now. We get patched up and rested, then we come back down after the level above is cleared out."

Glaring at Voran, "Tell Roak to give me Biter and I'll zap one of those statues and see what they're about..."

As Vsaati finishes her sweep for traps on the ladder she looks up to see the two statues that Elboc reported.  To her surprise, one of them moves just a bit, although it might have been a trick of the light.

Lanliss points up at the statues, accusingly.

"Do you think we didn't see you? We have no quarrel with you, let us pass! Do not test us!"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 22:09, Fri 22 Nov 2019.

Sherborne keeps an eye on the statues but tries not to look too provocative.

Voran begins climbing.

Albricht, not only frustrated by not getting an answer from the cleric, was now infuriated by being outdone by him. "Not so fast! I'm coming too!"

The old dwarf grabbed the rungs and ascended just behind Voran.

<Short on time this morning.  Will post later.>

Roak grins but waits to see what happens to the cleric.

Elder Voran moves up the ladder until he comes within about a foot of the statues.  At that point both of them burst into motion, no longer static and unmoving, and swing on the cleric.  Voran manages to dodge the first blow, but the second hits as hard as being struck by a wooden mallet.  With Albricht on the ladder below him, Voran has no easy escape, and the statues are winding up for another set of blows.

07:07, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 11 using 1d20.  Attack.
07:08, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 17 using 1d20.  Attack.
07:08, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 2 using 1d8.  Damage.

07:08, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 3 using 1d6.  Monters' Initiative.
07:08, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 2 using 1d6.  Players' Initiative.

<If you would like, Elder Voran, you can simply let go and drop into the room below before they can swing on you again.  You'll take a bit of falling damage and knock Albricht off of the ladder at the same time, but will be able to avoid the next set of strikes.  If you'd rather go toe-to-toe, however, I'll let you climb up into the room above and engage them while they swing again.>

Voran prudently falls off the ladder!

Lanliss pulls out his handaxe and hurls it upwards at one of the statues...

08:51, Today: Lanliss rolled 3,5 using d20+1,d6+2 ((2,3)).

...and misses by a mile.

Elder Voran crashes into Albricht, who utters something pithy and unintelligible, before continuing painfully to the floor.  Albricht is somehow unharmed by this, but Elder Voran finds that he's hurt even more by the fall.

Lanliss' handaxe misses fairly clearly, probably due to the awkward angle, almost straight up through a hole in the ceiling, avoiding the ladder.

For their part, the two statues do not pursue Elder Voran, but they do pull back a bit from the edge of the opening, only barely visible now.

Elboc stands guard over the fallen while somebody with better knowledge of healing hopefully checks them over.

Roak nods to Sherborne. "Sherborne, look after Voran, would you? I'll go up first next with my buckler on and draw their attacks; the rest of you can come up after me while I get their attention. Agreed?"

Sherborne attempts to heal Voran after moving him a little out of the way.

08:32, Today: Sherborne rolled 6 using 1d6+1.  Cure light wounds.

Voran picks himself up and moves out of the way. He prays with Sherborne and thanks his fellow cleric. "Thank you. Let's see if the halfling can distract them enough for Albricht and the rest of us to follow him up."

Elboc readies his bow, ready to pick off one of the things as soon as it raises its head.

Albricht fumed at the cleric and the halfling, pulling himself to his feet. "Watch it priest! Boulders in the crag!" He barked.

He was about to push his way back up the ladder when Roak cut in front of him. "When these things kill you Roak, I'm going to take back my Biter from your steaming corpse... best of luck up there."

The dwarf prepared to go up after the halfling, but was now careful to be ready for a companion's body falling down upon him!

Lanliss readies his bow as well.

"A strange collection of foes in these caves..." he remarks. "A pet hell hound would have been handy in dispatching these rogue wooden mannequins."

Roak climbs the ladder and manages to neatly avoid the attacks of both of the small wooden statues, each standing about his own height.

<They've taken their attacks, now it's your turn.>

Sherborne nods and gets in line to climb the ladder.

Albricht made a second attempt at ascending the ladder, grumbling all the way.