Chapter 2 - The Coal Pits

[tenkar]

"Aye, and yer too purty to be a gobbo." The wry smile is begining to appear to be permanently etched on Tenkar's face.

[monstermike]

After Bitsa finishes removing the armor from Earwig, he gives a meaning glance at Herman. Herman shrugs off his pack, sighs, and does the job that no one else wants to do. He grabs a gore-spattered ankle in each hand and with the lantern in his teeth, proceeds to drag the goblin bodies down the tunnel to the cavern.

Near the opening to the cavern, he pauses for a moment to catch his breath, and contemplates the bodies in the lantern light, unmoved. They are not so much different from meat, and Herman has seen plenty of blood and butchery in his life.

Grabbing the first one to toss it into the cavern, he hears the unmistakable sound of coins rattling around. "Can't believe they forgot to check his pockets," he mumbles to himself. He pats down the goblin and finds a small leather purse tied around his waist with a thong. Inside are five copper and five silver pieces, and also a thin wooden disc about 10 cm in diameter. The disc is painted blue and has the number 39 painted on it in white.

Pleased with his find, he checks the other goblin. It has three silver, five copper, and a similar disc, this one with the number 33.

He considers briefly whether he should share this wealth with the rest of the party, then decides against it. Finders keepers, he rationalizes. Besides, this is small potatoes.

Herman tosses the goblins out into the dark void of the cavern, hearing their bodies flop and roll limply down the rockpile. He walks back up the tunnel to see the party still planning their ruse. 'Nasan is standing slightly aloof from the rest, and Herman approaches the loremaster with the wooden discs in his hand. "I found these on the goblins, sir. What do you suppose they are?"

Game time 4/4 13:50

Please post your move by noon, Saturday 1/8

[Bookkeeping: 'Nasan regains 1 WIZ. I have him at 20 WIZ now.]

[kwll]

Overhearing Herman, Owynn turns his head toward him and approaches. "Can I have a look at that?" He grabs one of the discs and thinks for a while, then look at the others: "How could we forget to search the bodies? It's beyond me! We will have to be more careful from now on. We are clearly in hostile environment now. The discs seem to be some kind of identification device. We should try to get more, and possibly interrogate the goblins about their use."

Moving toward Bitsa again, he adds: "Ok, if you feel confident in imitating goblin's voices, I'm game. But we should not lose time!"

[monstermike]

[Interstitial]

Everyone stands around for a moment staring wordlessly at each other as they ponder Owynn's statement that we should not lose time. Medwort moans in fitful sleep. The faint sounds of coal being mined continue to echo weirdly through the caverns. And from somewhere, the soft plop of water dripping. Herman chews a fingernail meditatively.

Game time 4/4 13:50

[tenkar]

"Aye... the time for thinking is over. Now we do."

After a moment he adds: "Iffn' we have no plan it doesn't matter. At worst they will find us before we them. They will die the same anyways"

[monstermike]

Having agreed to a plan, the group emerges from tunnel 4 into the main hallway. Looking east down the hallway, you can see the opening to tunnel 5 about 18 meters away. Bitsa, disguised in Earwig's armor, leads the way with the rest of the party behind him. A dwarf, pushing a wheelbarrow full of coal emerges from tunnel 6 and turns to the east, heading toward the dump chute, oblivious to you.

As you come near the mouth of tunnel 5, Bitsa motions for the rest of the group to stop and wait in the shadows. Pan, Tenkar, and Owynn are in the front with weapons ready. 'Nasan and Herman are just behind them. Bitsa risks a quick peek around the corner and down into the tunnel. The tunnel runs straight south about 30 meters, and at its end are two dwarves working with pick and shovel by lantern light. Supervising them are two goblins, one appearing to be a common guard, and the other wearing a metal helmet - probably the commander of the squad.

The commander begins to voice his annoyance to the guard. "What's keeping those morons? I gave them a simple job to do, and now they're off napping in the back tunnel. I'm going to give them two more minutes before I go flay their hides!"

Bitsa siezes the opportunity to flit like a shadow past the opening of tunnel 5 from west to east, unobserved by the two goblins. He lies down near the edge of the lantern light past the opening, arranging himself to look as goblin-like as possible, and gives a thumbs-up to his cohorts to the west of the tunnel entrance.

Following their plan, 'Nasan calls out in his best imitation of Grukk, "Commander! Come quickly! Earwig is wounded!" The commander and the guard both whip their heads around toward the tunnel mouth. The commander scowls, draws his short sword and motions for the other guard to follow him. "Someone thinks he's being funny," he mutters to the guard. "That stupid orc who thinks he has a sense of humor must be up to his pranks again. Why don't we go remind him of his duty," the commander snarls. They both walk briskly up the tunnel with swords drawn toward the main hallway. They pause at the opening, their attention focused on the bloody armored body lying on the ground a few meters ahead of them and to their right.

"Okay, Garg, I don't know what you're trying to pull, but I'm not falling for it." Suspicious of some sort of foolery, he begins to look around, first further down the hall to his right and then over to his left.

[Bookkeeping: Bitsa takes 21 AP DEX for his sneak past the tunnel mouth, 'Nasan regains 1 WIZ and takes 8 AP CHR for his vocal imitation. However, the goblin commander rolled (1+1)+(5+5)+(2+4) on the INT SR and was not fooled by it.]

Game time 4/4 14:00

Please post your move by noon, Wednesday, Jan 12.

[gaptooth]

"You think I sound like an ork, you repugnant fool!?"

Uttering the killing curse, Aonghasan casts a level 2 TTYF at the goblin commander.

"That was a textbook goblin croak, you filibustering iconoclast! I even eructed a bit of cheese for authenticity-- your belching accent is difficult to reproduce, but not for the learned sage who can imitate the calls of even the strangest birds and beasts."

[kwll]

Understanding the words of 'Hasan as a signal, Owynn goes out of the shadow and runs vigorously out of the shadow in a swift attack against the two goblins, saying in from behind his clenched teeth: "Let's see how you do against armed and ready oponents, cowards!"

[monstermike]

[Interstitial]

The wary goblins were expecting something - a bucket of entrails to drop on their heads perhaps - but are still somewhat surprised to see a group of heavily armed intruders just to their left in the hallway. They both wheel to the left and begin hacking with their short swords. At that moment, a sizzling burst of light crackles forth from the tall one in the back, and the goblin commander vaporizes into a fine pink mist. His sword, helmet, and armor fall into a heap on the ground where he stood.

The tall human in scale armor swings his broadsword with a mighty chop, killing the other guard. The gory melee is over almost as soon as it began.

The two dwarves are staring at you in amazement. One of them begins to slowly clap his hands together, and soon the other joins in, giving you a brief round of applause.

Game time 4/4 14:02

[Bookkeeping: 'Nasan takes 18 AP INT for the spell and 28 general AP for killing the goblin commander, uses 10 WIZ. 21 staff shots remain, and I have his WIZ at 11 right now. Owynn gets 18 general AP for the guard. No damage to your side.]

Everyone can still post their actions for the remainder of this normal turn.

[gaptooth]

"When will I learn," mutters Aonghasan, "that one musn't expect such vulgar creatures to appreciate the finer points of anything."

[ProfGremlin]

[Hobb Rogue Lvl 2 Att: 2d+28 Def: 1 Con: 22 Luk: 22 Wiz: 10]

Think like a goblin... think like a goblin... be the goblin... Bitsa suppresses a shudder at that thought and tries to lie as still as a corpse. The dust on the tunnel floor tickles his nose. The hobb wrinkles and stretches his nose in a valiant effort to suppress a sneeze. The hilt of his drawn sax presses against his abdomen where the blade is hidden beneath his body. His back lies to the lighted area before the tunnel mouth - and the goblins.

Aonghasan's voice rings out in a passable imitation of an an educated goblin. Wait - is that an oxymoron? Note to self: next time nominate someone else to be the bait. Bitsa steels himself for a kick in the back from a pair of hobnailed boots or the rough hand on his shoulder flipping him onto his back. He plans his strike, Make it quick, angled up, under the ribs and rip upwards as you stand... The goblins voices get closer becoming more distinct. A drip of sweat rolls across Bitsa's forehead and past his left eye.

Suddenly the tunnel is lit with a sizzling flash and the scent of ozone. Bitsa rolls quickly to his feet and comes up in a knife fighters crouch - just in time to see Owynn split the guard in twain and the commanders helmet, sword and armor fall to the ground with a dull clang. The hobb turns at the sound of clapping, an incongruous sound in these circumstances.

Bitsa looks from the clapping dwarves and back to Aonghasan. "So, got anything to get these stains out?" he says gesturing at the commanders armor. "Oh, and I suppose we ought to get these two - uh, one - out of sight. After we search his pockets that is." The hobb adds with a wink at Herman.

[gaptooth]

Aonghasan discretely hands Bitsa the washing gizmo given to him by the portly bearded man. "I'm dying to try out the massage settings, but at the moment it seems your need is more dire."

[monstermike]

[Interstitial]

Using the magic showerhead and a scrap of the goblin guard's clothing, Bitsa is able to scrub away all of the blood and most of the goblin smell from the armor. The armor is cuirbouilli of good quality, with shoulder pieces, and protection for the upper arms and thighs. The torso of the armor is composed of layered bands of hardened leather rather than a single large cuirass, offering flexibility and ease of movement to the wearer without being noisy.

Herman begins to realize that being a lightbearer for a wizard isn't all glory. He rifles through the purses of the dead goblins. finding a total of 10 CP, 14 SP, and 7 GP, as well as two more of the painted blue discs. He leaves the loot and the discs in a neat pile on the ground and drags the guard's body and the commander's still-smoking armor back to tunnel 4 to dump them into the cavern.

While Bitsa scrubs and Herman services the dead, the dwarves approach the rest of the group. "How d'ye do, friends?" They begin to offer their hands to shake, then notice how grimy and blackened they are with coal dust and think better of it.

Game time 4/4 between 14:02 and 14:10

Bitsa and Herman are occupied with tasks that will take them the rest of the turn, but others can post moves during this turn - Talk with the dwarves, go kill the remaining guard in the squad, cast spells, whatever.

[kwll]

Owynn takes one of the discs in his hands, and looks at it closely. When the dwarfs approach, he asks: "Hi there, and thank you for your appreciation. We come as friends of your kin, but have little time to talk right now. Would you know by any chance where the fourth guard of the squad of your tunnel is, and... what these discs are used for?" He shows them the blue item he just picked up.

[monstermike]

[Interstitial]

One of the dwarves smiles and responds, "Hmm, well. Two o' the guards dragged off our mate a while ago, but perhaps ye've already run into them, judgin' by the bloodstains that hobbit is scrubbin' outta old Earwig's armor. T'other one should be in the tunnel right down yonder," he points toward tunnel 6, "Keeping an eye on that crew."

The second dwarf chimes in:

"As fer them blue things, why, them's just mess numbers. All th' goblins an' orcs an' other nasties what work here get paid, see. But their food come outta their pay, like. There's a mess hall up on th' first level o' these mines, so at meal time, everyone lines up an' gets their mess number checked off afore they get their food. That's all them is."

The first dwarf nods. "Yeh. Now I don't know just what you fellers is up to, but I gotta say I don't mind what yer doin'. One thing ye should know though. I'd just as soon take the rest of the shift off, but if'n the coal and gold ore don't keep comin' up the shaft real steady-like, the big bosses up top are gonna know somethin' ain't right down here. This place'll be crawlin' with orcs an' ogres an' trolls in no time."

The second dwarf nods, catching on to what the first dwarf is saying. "Yeah, so if'n ye want a little cover, we probably oughta just keep diggin' like there ain't nothing wrong."

Game time: 4/4 14:02 to 14:10

Pan, Tenkar, and 'Nasan can still take some actions during this turn, and Owynn is welcome to keep talking with the dwarves or do something else.