After the sewers, could this be worse?

Janek cleans his daggers before sheathing them.

Hoping to find a way to avoid going through a shaft in the ground, Tanyl investigates the walls in the hope of finding a secret passage . . . or something.

Janek also searches for hidden passages.

Delta wanders outside to make sure Vala is okay.

A thorough search of the cavern finds not secret doors.

Dang, looks like we are going into the hole, folks. 

Vala had slipped a little as she came in - not enough to cause injury but enough to delay her enough to "miss the fun" as she told Delta.

"Well, I guess these aren't the last hobgoblins we'll meet. Who's in first?"

"I 'missed' the fun as well," Delta chortled, admitting that all of her missiles had gone wide of the mark.

"What say Janek, ready to be first in again?"

No worries, I will lead us into scarry hole.

Tanyl saunters up, looking for a place in line.

Janek works his way carefully down the hole, using the handgrips and toe holds to descend rather easily.  The hole is large enough and the grips are well laid out.   He descends about 30 feet before reaching a bottom.  The wall on one side is still rough hewn but the other other side is smooth.  It is like as not, he is inside a column.  A quick search reveals that indeed, the smooth part of the wall can act as a door and swing outward.


ooc: sorry for the slow posting, it will continue for a few more days.  The retirement community I manage has been informed they are coming to vaccinate ever one of the my residents that wants it next Tuesday.  So we have gather consent forms, submit a massive database, schedule the appointments, etc., and try to do it orderly (ha!),  its going to be chaos, but we are happy its our turn.

"Come on down, I found an exit, I think."


(OOC)
I love organized chaos!  My wife, what's her name, asked where your home was.

Assuming her place in line, Delta will go down as well. Once she reaches the bottom she will unlimber her lantern and light it, so that Vala will have some light on her way down.

OOC Glad to hear they are getting their vaccines.

You hear nothing from beyond the door, and it does not seem to have a lock of any kind.

Once the entire party has reached to bottom of the ladder, Janek will open the door.

Bringing the aperture of the bullseye lantern to a minimum, Delta will also point it away from the opening to aid in their attempts to be stealthy, and hinder Janek's vision in the darkness as little as possible.

Opening the column door, you are in the center of a 40 x 70 foot temple.  Facing the center column at one end is a large stone statue, a partial hooded figure with the face of a reptilian skull with eyes that glitter green with jewels.

Lying in front of this statue is a man, bound and gagged, asleep or maybe dead.  Also, there are four hobgoblins, three lying asleep, one sitting up and keeping watch. It has noticed the door opening but has not reacted yet, perhaps believing it to be one of his own.

ooc: map is updated

Tanyl whispers: "Let me charm him." And he makes his attempt . . .

OOC: Charm Person

Janek holds his daggers in ready, in case the charm doesn't work.

Waiting in the back, Delta waits to see what happens.

The hobgoblin continues to stare at the open door but does not react in any way.  It seems fairly unconcerned.

Does that mean it worked Delta wonders, but waits to see what the others do first.

Janek quietly sneaks in to the left in an arc towards the sleepers, daggers ready.

The spell seems to have worked -- but that conclusion depends on whether the hobgoblin has seen anyone in the party.

Tanyl, as the caster, will be most able to tell if the spell worked -- but to do so, must present himself and interact.  So he does.

Hands at his belt (conveniently near two daggers), Tanyl enters.  "Finally got here; can you help?" he asks in Hobgoblin.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:32, Wed 20 Jan 2021.

Tense, Delta waited and watched, fingers crossed. She was concerned that there was only one human visible here, and she hoped both of the scholars they had been sent to fins were still alive.

She also wondered if they would get paid simply bringing back bodies, but she is pragmatic that way...