Seeing that his companions have the situation well under control, Hugh stands ready to assist should more orcs spill through the secret door.

A warrior needed room to operate and the monk could see no opening without interfering with his companions.

"I say finish him and be done with it, they didn't say anything on the way out so must have an item or such which would allow the door to work. Of course there are more down there, these were the weak ones sent up here to collect tribute from the other low lives which lived here." as he finishes speaking he starts to search the dead orcs to see if he can find anything of interest which might operate the magic door or other value.

[Language unknown: "It oneevethe wilsa la esttheles at e witaveany, ard lidipo entomeoun n fiek. Hooftrncul he ss ol nteonshisallmen pame ort ing e rom reamancom fowas. K str thell cklo ard era eider pese thintiing bece taicei ro weame asmeer ulthe derint'setati ll mebeli."]

" I say we finish off the rest when they return, then we explore our new found base of operations. Having the secret area downstairs will be very nice once we clear it. With a little coin we can fix this place up once again to much better condition than it is now."

Len studies his left arm and the glow that he presents. He then notices his monk ally moving in position, just in case more orcs arrive from below.

"Good idea" Len mutters. He takes up position where he was before, at the north end of the fireplace. He grips his battle axe, ready for more.

The conversation about what to do with the surviving orc presents nothing of interest to the fighter.

Slipping through the doorway leading to the bunkhouse and back into the main room, Dreya begins to make her way to where the orcs lay slain.  As she passes by Len, she says, "I am glad my faulty casting did not bring you to harm, Sir Packer.  I do apologize."  With an uncertain, experimental wave of one small hand, she tries to diminish the magic of the Faery Fire, not sure if that is possible or if poor Len can only wait the short duration it will take for the glow to diminish.

Then moving across the room, she hedges between Cole and Elwood where they stand before the last orc remaining, the creature alive yet skewered by the unyielding steel of Cole's sword.  Unable to help it, she gives both fighters a fleeting, quick glance, as a skitterish animal might when faced with uncertainty.  Cocking her head to the side in a very peculiar manner, Dreya studies the orc panting before her in anguish.  "I see no harm in seeing if this creature will cooperate," she shrugs.  "If he doesn't answer our questions, Sir Hiller can finish him off and we are no worse off than we were before.  If he does answer, then we gain at least a little knowledge."

To the orc, Dreya says in orcish, [Language unknown: "Wa ismowa nce nc o ain iool el ovevorevewil.  Wa itic eenesslar prstr, E amete noek si riacicen enonca houromday, pr ol eau pr ththa sinelame, ous aveeenkorher mi ng usho n thi, ica, ol tha.  T, llwari Ek ck ecbeetch ound p es inal in?  Maro hiher e urelo ti omelec, ioustiess-ncered ingntista.  Rea ol tr stroreinewas ofunchan?  Oumen nceyinpre en la ingun enho it t ndun diliadro ilwiun whof thafor'ersvirith esthca houounere?"]

For now, Dreya awaits with bated breath to see if the foul-smelling orc before her chooses to answer.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:41, Mon 19 Sept 2016.

The orc grunts in pain as blood begins seeping over the sword.  He turns his head toward Khaaven and says [Language unknown: "Ri, tic?  Sta topopa on we o she."]  He hisses and winces, then coughs up a little blood.  He looks at Dreya. [Language unknown: "Alan ss i llad wist tessho.  Ast po out Prect thi tho forro u allou ugh esssetsanart nieau."]

The orc seems to swoon for a second, but he pulls it together and says [Language unknown: "K, ilio cklo ich.  Na eneito ratourard ntetfiwe was ncadna m wit n wheredyin ni man e m.  Is seha elivries di ou of in eneeic voral Ev ine erain ndeersall.  Lar!  U titimi ac hollpo asit tedteress sanlesugh."]
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:57, Sun 18 Sept 2016.

Len glances at the fireplace, then the interrogation.

"What's he sayin'?" the fighter asks. "Are there more of them things comin' up?"

Len looks back to the exit point for the orcs, keeping an eye out for more to appear.

With a beaming smile, Dreya looks up at the companions beside her. "I think it worked! He says he will tell us how to use the fireplace if we heal him in exchange."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:13, Mon 19 Sept 2016.

Hugh listens to his companions' parlay with the orcs. Not speaking their tongue, he is unable to contribute, but remains vigilant for other threats. While still listening to the strange speech, he turns his attention to the surrounding area. Particularly, he looks and listens outside to make sure no orcs might be coming for shift change or something of that nature.

Elwood looks to the members of the group.  "I could either cast First Aid, which will stop any further loss in vitality from bleeding, or cast Cure Light Wounds and potentially fully heal him.  I don't mind casting the first and sparing his life in exchange for all he knows, but a little reluctant to cast the second spell.  I'll yield to the team's decision, but I would recommend that Cole remove his sword from the orc's belly, and Dreya tell the orc that he'll only be healed after he tells us how to use the secret entrance, we test it out, and what we can expect down in those tunnels.  I also have a suspicion that the secret to the fireplace may involve these mounted trophies on the walls; perhaps shifting one or turning a particular horn or antler".

Looking at Dreya, Elwood asks "I heard one of them speaking just before they appeared.  Did you understand anything that was said?"

Dreya looks to Elwood oddly.  "You don't understand them? Hmm. Well...what they said just before using the secret entrance, right?  Right.  I  believe it was something like 'Petty human!'... Wait, no that's not quite right.  What was it...Prancy?  No...Puny?  Yes!"  Dreya clears her throat.  "'Puny human!  You have money for us, yes? Do not make me chase you again!' That is what was said right before they arrived in this room."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:33, Mon 19 Sept 2016.

Elwood responds "Hmm, I guess we can rule out shouting 'Open Sesame' then".

Dreya perks up.  "But they also said stuff before that...when we first heard them under the floor.  They also said something about the stupidity of humans...how humans act all tough with their tattoos...a bit of bragging about how some human cringed when one of the orcs snarled at him...Oh, yeah, and something about how boring their job would be without 'them and the Grub to play with.'  Not sure what a Grub is.  I mean I KNOW what a grub is as far as the worm..."  Looking from Cole to Elwood, Dreya realizes she is babbling just a bit and her words dwindle down.

Cole removes the blade from the Orc's belly.  "Only stop the Orc's wound from exacerbating, do not fully heal him. I also agree with Elwood's plan to only give the aid once we have garnered the information and tested it with no repercussions." Lifting the blade back up, Cole takes on a striking stance. "I will keep my blade trained on the beast should he try anything funny in the interim. We should all be on alert."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:50, Mon 19 Sept 2016.

Khaaven continued to search the two dead orcs while the others tried to get information from the prisoner.

The orc slaps a meaty hand against the seeping belly wound and says in broken Common, "You heal, all heal, me talk."

Khaaven's search of the dead orcs is unfruitful.  He finds some lint, a crude drawing of an orc doing lewd things to an elf (with pig nose -- eww!), and a handful of coppers.  But wait!  He also finds an amulet on chains around each of their necks.  The amulets are copper disks with a black square set in the middle.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:11, Mon 19 Sept 2016.

" We might heal you enough to stop the bleeding, we have the amulets for the passage. If you tell us about them we will let you go when we are finished. How does the passage work and how many more are down there?"

The orc laughs between groans of pain.  [Language unknown: "Osse utiv ous il ivpail, ur athiro.  Ven we elmi Tr be nte weure ntre ent om iou."]

Len lets out a short breath. There's always a cool-off after combat. When no more comes, the fighter gets tense. It takes a while to relax again.

But there was still a chance for danger. Len keeps his battle axe at the ready.

The location of items on the dead orcs encourages Len to keep his vigilance.

Khaaven takes one of the amulets and inspects it, he then inspects the exit area for the secret door to try to find a way to activate it, If he can at least narrow down exactly where the door is he can use his cantrip Open/ close to open it.

There is not an immediately obvious way to use the amulet to activate the secret door.

The fireplace is still in an up-swung position so the that the "back" of the fireplace is parallel to the ground and the "front" of the fireplace faces the ceiling.  The wall behind where the fireplace used to be appears to be normal wood like the rest of the wall.  There are no visible features to play with.  The fireplace itself is quite tall so that when it is flipped up (as it currently is) there is a good 6 feet of clearance underneath the fireplace (now serving as a rather large "awning" over the teleportation area).

What are folks doing to try to activate the secret door?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 20:24, Mon 19 Sept 2016.

"What can this lone orc truly do?" Dreya says as she moves around to stand behind the orc.  "I mean, he is only outnumbered," she continues as she absently points to each person, "one, two, three, four...well five if you count me...outnumbered five to one.  Even fully healed, he poses little threat.  But Sir Elwood, you should save your energies for when one of us needs your help.  I have a few tricks up my sleeve.  Before our orcish friend is healed though, let's take off the amulet he is undoubtedly wearing as well first."

Leaning in, Dreya searches for the chain holding the amulet around the orc's neck.  Once she has removed his amulet, she reaches into a pouch and and extracts several blueberries she has been carrying along.  (It's a 2d4 roll to see how many goodberries she can make.)  Spilling a few out into her hand, she whispers to the berries which faintly glow with a pale light before returning to normal.

"Besides, he refuses to tell us anything until he is healed."

With a huge smile, she reaches around the orc to hold them out to him.  [Language unknown:  "Ti les nd!  Enwepo linhishou fo ch utica yinch wasli mefiss.  Laiv, elst k eiss i staichher inein ineredearnce."]
This message was last edited by the player at 22:16, Mon 19 Sept 2016.

Orc #2 rolls his eyes as Dreya removes his amulet and stares suspiciously at the goodberries, but he quickly gobbles them down.  His gaping abdominal wound makes an odd sucking sound as it magically seals itself, leaving only some slight bruising as evidence of the life-threatening injury.

Orc #2 says [Language unknown: "U, set.  Entsonlar her esnimi.  He nd aisa."]

He notices the party staring at him impatiently and adds [Language unknown: "P, dinro renomo olio.  Os caad fohe, tr eretse ateut pr amearewil heti leevekse ilion sanavevor ichar a aidi-lochng.  Rathi n st eiar seisti wa ent ildi t (us ureverove rodilo ithstaenc er in ast tin).  Ilad waic rerat wiwaline ou asthasone witi ess p chnd eval stst to whenna.  Nc inniie maivnt he orentincethi.  I llev aiweee ain an theac virwhiint ll eauingshe tin.  Ngtho ic alinec ee eranceure.  Fitaon, ar thooulred eetiiven be ioce entaveted.  Ospr ar ouer bleredter.  Uswa, ainle, alhou undhasnde, ort tedichare ecev tioeramen n son thiastest tra, redlo ndeoveeralesnte essviring.  I oer menforwhe tiliti tiou herouster, nese me leus paenc ncth heerntof ca fowe mimeloek.  Out anyreaher erear th.  Som, "M" t Ter asee k.  Teera eeio Hasortrat noon reapa be ntenne be dilona thi ard.  Nticomandons comll?  Hasipotr, Con ne ni ith.  Ce t to it ons ha ous.  Redos tiwil k omck honiar usth t aveichons astersthu nirema.  Nare tehaadhe a eau seome outca maeve ut di anle erepreeen shethired eswhouol er earintsti mitr terandred ilwe a notil whthca la tha el ev reavireve-iveres te mead ereintsta we?  P pr ic, niil pethce i olnare urprmeasio sa illnc (ne fint i nori st itie)."]

As Orc #2 finishes, the faerie fire winks out.  None of the orcs or party members are glowing anymore.

What next?

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
16:28, Today: Castle Keeper, on behalf of Dreya, rolled 7 using 2d4.  Casts Goodberry.

---

"Ah ha!  It worked!"  Beaming a huge smile at everyone, Dreya straightens.  Noticing some orc saliva on her palm, she briskly rubs the hand against the fur of her hide skirt.

"See, orcs are just misunderstood.  He claims that the amulets do nothing and are just for show to impress humans.  To operate the fireplace, our friend here says you simply touch the wall behind the fireplace, and you'll poof right downstairs.  And to activate it, you just have to... wait, that can't be right."

Dreya quickly confirms something with the orc.  [Language unknown: "Eau ure vor veromeort res hini el enun olwari, e teul ic?"]
"Uh, he says to open the fireplace up in the first place so you can even access the wall to touch, you need to pick the nose of the deer head over there."  Dreya points, looking a little dubious about that last bit.  "He also warns that we don't want to go down there as there is a lot of bad stuff beside orcs.  Like zombies.  And the usual dark, evil underground temple.  But, if we do go down, apparently all we have to do is head straight down the corridor, and we can't miss this temple.  Oh, and to say hello to Zeke for him, and that if we tell him Snarg sent us, Zeke may not gut us.  But if we are done with Snarg, he would like to go on his merry way... and then Snarg just grumbled on about how an orc couldn't make a decent living anymore these days and that the world is going completely to hell.  For an orc, anyway."

Stepping away from Snarg yet choosing to hang on to the amulet because it is, after all, rather flashy, she makes her way back around to stand near Elwood and Cole.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:33, Wed 21 Sept 2016.

Len looks at the fireplace. He studies the back wall, then glances up at the deer. He gives a short "huh" before returning to his battle ready stance.

"Strange" mutters the fighter.

Snarg says in Common, "Yeah.  Dig boogers.  Not my idea."