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Meeting Kazan again and the flight from the dungeon

Ceely returns from the store room at a run, brandishing her harpoon. She charges between Blondung, Larz and Soggrin into the room, yelling "Enter the room, more coming from behind!" The creature glances up at her approach, just in time to receive her harpoon in it's gut. It stagger's backwards a few steps, then crashes to the ground, bouncing against the door on the opposite side of the room.

Blondung, Larz and Soggrin pile into the room, and start to close the door. At the other end of the corridor, Kazan and a group of hobgoblins appear from around the corridor, running towards the party. Blondung slams the door closed and Larz and Soggrin grab the bar from where it was lying nearby, and just manage to put it in place before the door shuddered from several shoulders.

Herod finally digs out the flask and trickles the liquid into Serena's mouth. A few moments later, the wound on her hip closes, and her breathing returns to somewhat normal. Her eyes flicker, and she comes to. (OOC: Serena is weak, and only on 2 hp!)

Merrell easily finds the source of the other noises. There is a small door in the east wall, behind which there is a shouting and banging. Upon trying it, Merrell finds that the door is locked.

From behind the barred door, orders are barked, and the sound of axes hitting the door can be heard.

Blondung looks around in alarm. "We haven't much time! We must get out of here!"

Lucretia turns from the felled giant creature, and looks at the door that Merrell is standing in front of. Almost immediately, he realises that the door looks pretty tough, but he has an attempt at kicking it down anyway. A loud booming noise is heard as his boot connects with the door, but it simply rattles in it's frame. Balnor quickly goes over to look at the door instead, as Lucretia goes to stand on guard in front of the door they came in. Balnor takes out his pick-locks, and starts to fiddle with the lock, desperately trying to unlock the door, and only too aware of the chopping noises from the other door.

Larz heads over to the body of the giant creature. "Similar to 'Xred'" he mutters - "I guess it must be a normal ogre" he says as he picks up the large axe to examine it.

Blondung stands next to Merrell, watching Balnor at work. "We could do with another one of those 'Knock' spells now!" he mutters. He glances at Yvandel hopefully. "I take it there was only one copy of that spell?"

Milo and Herod help Serena to her feet, she is a bit shaky on them, but can walk. She doesn't feel ready to swing a sword just yet though!

Soggrin stands with Lucretia, her spear pointed unwaveringly at the shuddering door.

<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> "You know Soggrin, you are very attractive." Lucretia gives
> her a little smile "Think I'd fit in with your people?"

Soggrin glances at Lucretia almost in shock. Lucretia is not sure if she is shocked at his complement or at the inappropriateness of the timing. She stares at his for a moment, until another slam of an axe blade into the door jerks her attention back to the door.

<Lucretia aka Joe continued>:
> "So is there a big strapping fella in your tribe
> that lays claim to you?"

Soggrin's eyes don't leave the door, but her cheeks colour slightly. "I was betrothed to the Chief's son. But he was killed when Manshoon kidnapped me."

Yvandel heads over to the dead ogre, and looks at the door behind it. Trying the handle, he is quick to determine that the only thing preventing the door from opening is the ogre corpse. He grabs one of the creature's arms and tries to pull the heavy body aside, but it is like trying to pull a dead bull!

Serena staggers over and tries to assist, but in her weakened state, she is not a lot of help. It is only the combined effort with Ceely as well that finally moves the heavy body.

Yvandel and Ceely open the door cautiously and peer outside, whilst Serena quickly searches the corpse.

The room beyond is another small storeroom (10' across and 15' long). It is littered with odds and ends of various items, which collectively amount to junk. Armour straps, broken arrows, rotted bow strings, a few broken daggers and a pile of mouldy rations. On the left hand side of the far wall is another door. (OOC: See new map!)

<Merrell aka Mike D wrote>:
> "We're here to save a halfling, is there one here?",
> Merrell shouted through the door, realizing after he
> spoke that the prisoners would no doubt say anything
> to be free.

"Yes, Yes! There's a halfling here! - get us out of here!" shouts one voice in Northern. After a slightly longer pause, another higher pitched voice calls out in common. "Yes, I'm a halfling! - who are you?"

Milo heads over to the chest, and starts to see if it could be opened.

Serena chucks the key she has found on the dead ogre towards Merrell, then she, Yvandel and Ceely proceed into the other room, followed by Herod, concern for the weakened Serena on his face. Yvandel stands back to allow Ceely to open the door for him.

<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> "Hey Kazan you out there!" ....... "That was a nice
> trick you pulled back there, turning the place all
> dark and then disappearing like that...I wonder how
> may tricks you have left up your sleeve."

Kazan's voice can be heard above the sound of the chopping, as he shouts back. "No trick, I simply hid under the bed!" he yells back.

<Lucretia aka Joe continued>:
> "You know damn right well you and your Hobgoblin friends
> are going to die...well at least most of you...and we don't
> want that..now do we?"

"You talk big for people out numbered! Surrender now! and you won't get too hurt." responds Kazan.

<Lucretia aka Joe continued>:
> "We just came here to collect up a few things and
> interrupted your little hobgoblin sex party." "Now
> I don't care weather you like sleeping with goblins
> or not....hell to each his own I say...all I'm saying
> is come up to the door so we can talk about this and
> maybe we'll all get out of here with our skins intact...
> and then you can go back to doing what ever sick little
> sexual things you and your buddies were doing with you
> goblin friends and I can go back to The Keep (meaning
> Zhentil keep) and sleep with you sister and mother
> again....<He smiles at what he considers his own wit>

From behind the door Kazan can be heard to bark another order, probably in Hobgoblin, and the chopping at the door redoubles in effort. The door is about to give way, as Balnor shoves the ogre's key Merrell had passed to him into the lock and twists. A satisfying click is felt beneath his fingers, and the door almost springs open as two prisoner's literally burst out of the cramped cell. One of them is a halfling, whom some of the party recognise as the halfling from Triboar. He is dirty, unkempt and has a black eye but otherwise looks ok. The second is a portly man, probably a merchant by the look of him, who also looks as if he has been roughed up a bit. A third figure can be seen lying on the floor, looking up weakly, his oval eyes blinking in the sudden light. He is an elf, and he looks as if he has been beaten within an inch of his life. Hope wells in his eyes as he sees the dead ogre.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" babbles the merchant fellow. "I thought I was going to die in there!"

"Thank you also!" says the halfling at the same time, but he looks wary, especially when he spots Milo. None of the prisoners are armoured, and are dressed in "normal" clothes, dirty and torn.

Larz stands at Soggrin's side, and mutters prayers to Clanggeddin in dwarven, as the door starts to give way. Through the small gaps appearing in the door, the muscled figures of hobgoblins can be seen. They will be through the door in less than a minute! Soggrin, shifts her feet slightly, still slightly embarrassed by Lucretia's comments. She glances at the prisoners. "Can we leave now!?" she asks, before returning her gaze to the door.

The merchant and the halfling both suddenly become aware of the splintering door, and almost in unison, start to run in the opposite direction. The words "frying pan" and "fire" are muttered by someone. Blondung starts to run after them, "Hey halfling!" he yells, "Where are the stones you stole?"

Milo, having only got as far as opening the unlocked chest, looks towards the remaining injured prisoner, lying on the floor just inside the small cell, a dilemma clearly on his face.

Meanwhile, Ceely waves Serena and Herod away, as she opens the door in the next room, with Yvandel holding the torch at her side. The door reveals a short 10 foot corridor, that turns a corner to the left (east) after only 5 feet. (OOC: see amended map) The corridor is not already lit, and only Yvandel's torch provides lighting.

As the first decent sized hole appears in the door, the chopping pauses for a moment, and a hand darts through, trying to lift the bar. Soggrin stabs at it with her spear, and it gets pulled back rather rapidly. The chopping continues, making the whole larger - their axe blades now and then actually starting to chop at the bar itself.

Milo's dilemma is resolved as he sees first Balnor and then Lucretia go into the cell and retrieve the injured elf. Balnor helps get him onto Lucretia's stronger shoulders, and the two of them start to stagger towards the exit, where Yvandel has unrolled a scroll, and is scanning it ready to read.

Hearing Lucretia's command to "get the chest", Milo looks again at the large chest and it's contents, and then grabs it's edge and starts to pull. With a loud scraping noise, the large and heavy wooden chest starts to move slowly across the floor. Milo goes red with the effort, until Larz nods at Soggrin, and the two of them turn from the nearly broken down door, and run across the room. Larz applies his shoulder to the other side of the chest, and suddenly it moves a lot quicker, making Milo stagger for a moment. A few seconds later, over the intoning of Yvandel reading the scroll, Larz and Milo cross the threshold of the next door with the chest.

At the other end of the room, the door finally gives way under the onslaught, and the hobgoblins start to push their way through it's wreckage. Soggrin pauses in the doorway, and throws her spear at the leading hobgoblin, causing it to stagger. Larz grabs her wrist and pulls her through the door, slamming it just as Yvandel finishes his scroll. A second later, there is the noise of a shoulder slamming into the door, and it's shakes in it's frame.

Milo starts to delve again into the chest. Underneath various odd shaped pieces of stone, can be seen dirty coins, mostly coppers, but the glint of a few silvers and golds can also be seen. One of the stones turns out to be a dwarven skull, and underneath it is a piece of wood - probably a fragment of an old of shield. Milo lifts this as well, and his eyes light up as he spots a handful of blue stones scattered around a leather bag. He grabs the bag and starts to pick up the stones.

*****

Meanwhile, Ceely has moved out into the corridor and explored further. Very quickly she moves into the corridor, and looks around the corner. The corridor extends on into the distance, ending after about 45 feet in what looks like a cave in. On the right (south wall) after only 15 feet is a set of double doors, and opposite is an open area, 15' wide and 20 deep, with 8 statues spaced equally. Serena staggers after her, but slowly, as the corridor is dark, and only the reflected light from the torches in the other room reach.

Each statue is of a bare-chested humanoid of some kind. The arms, torso and legs all appear human-like, but the heads have bulbous, misshapen form to them, with mouths full of razor sharp teeth while the feet are all cloven. Each holds a small sword out towards the path in the centre of the room. A slight sheen of water on their heads gives them a feverish, sweating appearance. Between the statues runs a north/south "path" of black stone.

Along the east and west walls of the area with the statues, every 5', is a simple curtain of rusting, metal beads. At the far end, an arched doorway stands at the end of the "path", almost beckoning you to come forth. Through the archway is just visible some form of stone carving, covered with cobwebs.

As Ceely and Serena are staring at the statues, the sound of commotion from behind them causes them to look back. They see the merchant come around the corner, followed by Herod, then Cleo holding a torch, her other hand gripped firmly around the wrist of the struggling halfling.

The merchant fellow doesn't hesitate, and heads straight for the double doors, yanking them open. "Got to get out of here!" he gasps to himself as he almost pushes Ceely aside in his hurry. Beyond is a 15' x 15' room, with a door on either side, and a 5' wide staircase leading up opposite the double doors. The merchant runs towards the stairs, Ceely runs to catch him up and gets him to slow down. Catching up, Serena wraps herself around the merchant, using him for support.

As Cleo and Herod arrive, Lucretia and Balnor come around the corner, the injured elf slung over Lucretia's shoulder. Behind them, Merrell and Blondung follow closely.

*****

OOC: Status check of who is doing what:

In store room:

* Milo - trying to pick the blue stones out from the bottom of the chest.
* Larz and Soggrin, piling odds and ends from the store-room in front of the door as it shudders under the impact of axe blows.
* Yvandel, picking up the torch he dropped earlier.

In corridor near corner:
* Balnor & Lucretia (with injured elf)
* Blondung and Merrell

Next to double doors:
* Ceely, Serena,
* Merchant,
* Cleo and Halfling.

I think that's all accounted for!

*****

Yvandel aka Sebastian wrote>:
> "Take a stand? That's the last thing I want to do
> right now. We're out of 'tricks'," Yvandel says,
> with a slight sarcastic tone on the 'tricks', "out
> of healing spells, with some of our fighters wounded...
> we have a halfling to keep hold off, a merchant to
> protect and a badly wounded elf to carry around. A
> stand is not something that seems like a good plan."

Blondung nods. "My spells are almost exhausted. The only spell I have left is an 'Alarm' spell, only really useful as a warning against attack if we can hole up somewhere!" He looks towards the stairs. "Let's get to higher ground if nothing else!"

Events move rapidly, and Merrell is out of the room and down the corridor before he can implement the actions he had been planning. Merrell stops at the corridor's corner and watches the others hesitate in front of the double doors. He ignores Lucretia's question, keeping his concentration focussed on the door in front of him. In one hand, he clutches a scroll. If any warriors remain between him and the hobgoblins he will yell at them, "get back!! get out of the way!! now is no time for heroics"

He keeps one eye on the party, and another on the progress being made by the hobgoblins at the door. As the door begins to break down, Merrell takes a few steps towards the double doors. Holding the scroll in front of him, he begins to read.

Blondung looks over Merrell's shoulder, and nods. He then steps back following the others. As he rounds the edge of the double doors, he spots the stairs leading up. "Wait Merrell!" he calls, he steps back and grabs Merrell's arm, dragging him so he can see the steps leading up.

Meanwhile Ceely reaches a turn in the stairs, and a few seconds later, finds herself at the top. (OOC: YES the stairs do match up with the top level: See map of top level attached) Yvandel, with torch in hand, pants his way to the top as well behind her.

Behind them both, and moving rather more slowly, come Serena and the Merchant, whom Serena is leaning on. The merchant looks rather uncomfortable about the situation, and is eager to get out of the dungeon.

Back down at the bottom of the stairs, Merrell pauses before reading his scroll, and looks at the stairs and at Lucretia. Milo starts to examine the elf, who has been beaten within an inch of his life. "I'm OK" the elf gasps, clearly lying. "Just help me walk out of this place. Milo and Herod (OOC: No recent posts from Herod - you OK Scott?) help the elf to his feet, and then virtually carry him between them towards the stairs, his feet hardly touching the ground.

Lucretia runs back to the room with the chest, where the axe-blades are already biting through the door. It looks like the door will give in any moment. He grabs a large rock measuring about a foot across out from the chest, and hefting it under one muscular arm, jogs back to the other room.

Blondung looks up at him as he returns. "Lucretia is right. We have a chance against them at the top of the stairs!" he says nudging Merrell. "Especially if you use that!"

Soggrin, starts to climb the stairs. "I would rather fight them in the open than in this dank place!"

Larz looks at Cleo, standing to one side of the bottom of the stairs, torch in one hand and halfling still squirming in the other. "Give me the torch woman." he says brusquely "You may need both your hands free soon if we keep wasting time here!"

The halfling jumps up and down, still trying to move towards the stairs. "We got to get out of here! They have hundreds of hobgoblins in this place!" He looks around the faces frantically. "And more ogres too!" he blurts.

OOC: Sorry folks, I don't have the time for a full post right now - so I will unfortunately resort to bullet points:

1) Merrell reads his scroll, nothing visible happens to the stairs, but in Merrell's eyes, he sees the flows of magic laying down the layer of grease over the top half of the stairs and around the corner. LOOK at the map - they turn after 5 feet and go around a corner, before a flight about 20 feet in a straight line.

2) Soggrin says she will go with Ceely & Yvandel and follows them. Blondung also goes with them.

3) Larz says he will stay, but because realistically only 2 people can face the top of the stairs at a time, he suggests that he and say Herod/Balnor, hide around the nearest corner so that if Lucretia and Cleo have to retreat, then Herod/Balnor and Larz could do a surprise attack on them from behind.

4) The elf names himself as "Teth", and he says he is a ranger - he knows the woods well, and, with assistance, could certainly lead the party back to the road/the Sprite's Refuge. He doesn't know where the horses are located, but he knows that the exit to the stables is a good few hundred yards away. He had been following horse tracks when he had been captured.

5) Serena is "helped out" by the merchant, whilst at the same time keeping a hand on the halfling.

6) Milo starts to take the elf out.

7) From down below, the sound of a door breaking down echos up the stairs, and the yells of charging hobgoblins... They are on-route! :-)

<Milo aka Steve continued>:
> Milo stands back up, having caught his breath, and shifts his weight
> impatiently... "No Ceely, you're missing the point! Lets go get the horses
> through the outside entrance! That way we don't have to risk capture by
> trying to get to them from the inside!"

As Ceely turns back into the secret passageway, Blondung speaks to Milo. "Going this way is the only way we might have of getting to those horses before Kazan and co come to the conclusion that there might be an easier way for them to get past the greased stair way with fighters waiting for them at the top." The mage pauses, his face showing the stress of the situation.

********

THE STABLES ASSULT GROUP - Ceely, Yvandel, Soggrin and Blondung

"The puppet master is right - we need to use this secret passage way NOW to give us any chance of reaching the horses before Kazan diverts his forces!"

With that, Blondung turns and follows Soggrin, Yvandel and Ceely into the narrow stair, and disappears from sight.

********

THE "WOUNDED AND WORTHLESS GROUP" - Serena, Milo, Merrell, the elven ranger Teth, the Merchant and the halfling

Meanwhile, Serena, supported by the merchant, and with the struggling halfling finds herself exiting the main keep, and coming out into the evening air. The sun has gone from the sky, and the grey clouds indicate that it will be a dark night indeed with the moons hidden.

The merchant, seeing the open gates and the woods beyond, looks indecisive for a moment, but then decides that he would probably be safer staying with the party. The halfling on the other hand finally sees his chance for freedom. Suddenly biting Serena's hand, he breaks free. Serena whips her other arm out from round the merchant, and tries to grab the diminutive thief, but he is too quick for her in her weakened state, and he breaks away at a full run, heading for the gates.

*********

DEFENDING THE STAIRS GROUP - Lucretia, Cleo, Balnor, Herod and Larz

Meanwhile, Lucretia and Cleo stand at the top of the stair case, Lucretia with large stone in hand. The sound of running footsteps comes from below, slowing as they start to mount the stairs. A hobgoblin head appears at the furthest point visible around the corner, peering ahead to try and check ahead. He just has time to see the party, before Lucretia throws his stone, and his foot hits the first of the greased steps. The stone smacks in to him (OOC: 10 hp damage!) and he slips back out of view, the sound of him tumbling down the steps and various hobgoblin cursings comes back. A moment later, a couple of hobgoblins come charging around the corner. The grease spell has an almost comic effect, as they crash into each other and fall over, before tumbling back out of sight to the sound of more cursing.

The elf, having been almost chucked onto Herod by Milo, tries to stand by himself, leaning heavily against the wall. "I'll go on out myself" he gasps, as he half staggers down the corridor towards the pit room, leaving slight blood smears from his hands on the wall.

UNFORTUNATELY - BECAUSE THE GROUP SPLIT HERE - I RAN IT OFF THE LIST - AND THE RECORD HAS BEEN LOST IN THE MISTS OF TIME - IF ANY PLAYERS HAVE COPIES OF OLD DM PRIVATE POSTS FROM THAT TIME - I'D APPRECIATE A COPY...

Summary:

1) Lucretia, Cleo, Balnor, Herod and Larz stayed at the top of the "greased" stairs and chatted with Kazan. Herod and Larz nipped off for a few minutes and came back with a book case, which they tipped down the stairs to help block them. Eventually an Alarm was sounded, and Kazan seemed to leave.

2) Meanwhile, Ceely, Yvandel, Soggrin and Blondung, crept down the secret stair, and made their way to the supposed location of the stables. Blondung hung back to cast an "Alarm Spell" over the corridor, to give them some warning in case anyone came up behind them. They made it to the door of the stables, when the alarm was triggered by something. Fearing attack from behind, they burst into the Stables to find a group of hobgoblins already there. A desperate combat started...

3) Meanwhile the self proclaimed "wounded and worthless group" of Serena, Milo, Merrell, the elven ranger Teth, the Merchant and the halfling went outside. The halfling broke away from the weakened Serena and ran off into the woods. The others milled around, talking to Teth. Teth told of another entrance he knew was based to the north east of the keep - one where he had seen horse and cart tracks - it was where he was captured. Merrell strides off to go have a look on his own.

4) Back at the top of the stairs, now that they have no-one to talk to, they decide to go help Ceely & co instead. Lucretia, Cleo, Larz and Balnor head down the secret passageway, Herod goes out to meet up with the "wounded and worthless group".

5) Back downstairs in the stables, Yvandel throws a small barrel of oil at the hobgoblins who are about to come through the door behind them. He gets a fire going with his torch, Ceely charges the hobgoblin leader, who had been crossing the room to see what the Alarm was about. She injures him and manages to set him somewhat on fire. Soggrin takes out a hobgoblin worker, and several others approach the group. Blondung, pretends to cast a big spell, and succeeds in frightening away one of the hobgoblins, who flees out the exit towards the surface. The others attack, driving the mage back and taking out Ceely (currently unconscious).

6) The fleeing hobgoblin exits at the surface, where he is spotted by Merrell. The hobgoblin finds a hiding spot and waits with loaded crossbow.

7) Milo casts a healing spell from a scroll to enable Teth to move about a bit more, and then they all rush after Merrell (having heard about the alarm from Herod). Merrell jumps up and warns them about the waiting hobgoblin as he hears them approach, and narrowly avoids being hit by it's crossbow instead.

8) Meanwhile, Lucretia and co have rushed down the stairs and come upon a group of hobgoblins milling around outside the flaming doorway to the stables. The sound of fighting comes from beyond. They surprise them and start to battle them. Cleo takes out 2 in one round, Lucretia 2 over 2 rounds. Balnor is the unlucky one, going down with a critical against him in the first round - he is seriously injured!

9) In the stables, Soggrin takes out one of the hobgoblins, and the remaining 2 hear the dying screams of the ones from the junction room. They now believe what Ceely had originally bluffed, and make a run for it, jumping onto a horse that Yvandel had freed and storm out towards the surface...

***

So the current situation is that Yvandel, Blondung and Soggrin are still in the stables - They no longer have any opponents, but Ceely is unconscious and loosing blood...

Lucretia, Cleo and Larz are still battling 2 hobgoblins - of Kazan there is no sign. Balnor is also unconscious and in a critical condition...

The fire in the doorway is dying down somewhat, *probably* passable with little or no damage if run/dived through.

On the surface, Merrell is taking cover. The others are trying to decide how to take out the hobgoblin with the crossbow, who is trying to re-load it. He is at least 2 rounds worth of pushing through heavy undergrowth to get to him...

<Serena aka Douglas wrote>:
> Every couple of steps, she pauses to wince with pain
> from her wound, and to listen for any noise of the
> hobgoblin crossbow sniper, who must be up ahead somewhere . . .

OOC: Just as a clarification - the undergrowth is thick, and although you couldn't see him at first - when Merrell shouted a warning, you could see the hobgoblin move as he fired at Merrell. You can still see him now, desperately trying to reload his crossbow! The undergrowth is thick from the point of view of pushing your way through, but you can see through it! Hence, I am surprised at Serena's choice of a slow push through the undergrowth...

*****
In the junction room:
*****
As the smoke from the nearby fire continues to swirl around the room, Lucretia swings at Larz's opponent, but misses the hobgoblin. The creature ignores the larger fighter and concentrates on it's first target, striking at the dwarf and driving him a few steps back (5 hp damage). The hobgoblin regrets it's decision, as Lucretia reverses his swing and cuts deep into the it's chest, knocking it to the ground with the force of his blow. It's eyes glaze over in shock at the massive trauma and it's life blood pumps from it's wound. (11hp damage!)

Cleo meanwhile strikes at her new opponent, connecting and causing it to stagger back (5hp damage). It glances to it's side, seeing it's sole remaining comrade in arms die at Lucretia's blade, and turns and runs. Cleo takes a stab at it's back, and just catches it, causing it to stagger sideways and slam into the north door frame instead (3hp damage). It collapses, almost on top of the other wounded hobgoblin, who had been crawling away, and the two of them lie injured.

Larz, wincing from his own wound and coughing slightly from the smoke, he turns quickly to Balnor and unslings his pack. Getting out his bandages and his water flask, he quickly cleans and binds Balnor's shoulder, stabilising the wound and preventing any more blood loss. Muttering in dwarfish under his breath, he shakes his head as he realises the seriousness of the wound. "Balnor needs more help than I can give him now!" he says, coughing somewhat. (OOC: Balnor is on -9, and now stabilised - Balnor's constitution is only 9, so you are REALLY lucky that the combat didn't go on any more rounds - otherwise, you'd have been dead!)

The dwarf glances at Lucretia and Cleo. <Cough> "We got to get out of here!" <Cough>

*****
In the stables, Blondung glances at Ceely, but shrugs and goes to help Yvandel with the horses, being unskilled in healing. Soggrin peers back through the still burning doorway and sees that the combat there is going well. With her spear, she pushes the door open wider and tries to sweep away the burning remnants of the straw away, effectively clearing the doorway, although little patches of oil continue to burn here and there. Nearby, the larger pile of straw starts to catch fire, and starts to pour heavy smoke into the air. The horses are neighing loudly now and Yvandel finds he needs Blondung's help to manhandle the animals across the room.

(OOC: Anyone can get through the doorway now without being burnt - assuming they don't loiter).

As Yvandel brings the first horse around to the front of the cart, he spies the injured hobgoblin leader, who had managed to succeed in putting out the flames from the lantern that Ceely had knocked on him. He is weaponless bar a dagger, and although somewhat scorched, seems OK. He backs around the cart away from Yvandel, holding is dagger in front of him and occasionally coughing. He eyes Yvandel nervously, as his eyes flick towards the other members of the party. Soggrin starts to look at Ceely, although she also has no first aid skill, she can see that she is still bleeding. "Ceely needs help!" she calls out loudly.

*****

On the surface, the sound of horses in distress is preceded by the cantering of hooves, as a horse bearing two hobgoblins riding bareback suddenly bursts out from the cave entrance (at one end of the hollow). The hobgoblin who had been re-loading his crossbow changes his mind, and calls out in their guttural tongue, before running off towards the other end of the hollow. The smoke from the cave entrance seems to get a little thicker.

Lucretia sheaths his sword and picks up Balnor, who hangs in his arms looking lifeless. Cleo picks up his things, as Larz covers them, glaring at the wounded hobgoblins.

Lucretia staggers off through the smoking doorway into the stables where he sees a single hobgoblin running off through a pair of wide double doors opposite and Yvandel and Blondung in the process of trying to fit a horse of horses to the front of a cart. He quickly and gently lays Balnor onto the back of the cart, then runs around the front to help, as the two mages struggle to attach the stressed horse to the cart.

Meanwhile, Larz and Cleo have also jumped through the still burning doorway.

"Help Ceely!" exclaims Soggrin as she sees Larz. Seeing Ceely's body lying in the middle of the smoky room, Larz runs to her side, and again digs into his pack, working fast to stem the flow of blood from her wound. (OOC: Ceely is now stabilised at -7! Gulp)

Realising that the cart would need another horse, Cleo and Soggrin untie another horse from the stalls on the south wall, and lead the wide eyed and snorting horse across to cart.

All the while, the fire continues to grow, until not only all the straw, but also the end stall is also on fire. Small patches of the burning oil are also still burning. Smoke billows around the room, and the sound of burning wood and distressed horses fills the air.

******

Meanwhile, Merrell pushes through the bush and slides down the bank into the hollow. He starts to head into the cave entrance, from which he can see smoke pouring, and hear the distant whinny of horses. It is dark, and it takes his eyes a moment to adjust before he can make out the flickering light from a fire outlining a pair of open double doors, a good 50 yards down the gently sloping tunnel. As he looks, keeping his head low to avoid the smoke, a flicker of movement is silhouetted against the fire light for a moment - and he involuntarily takes a step backwards, sure that someone else is in the tunnel, and heading his way. Behind him, he can hear the others still making their way down the slope into the hollow. Suddenly, he can see more clearly, and a blackened hobgoblin is running up the slope towards him. It does not appear to be armed.

OOC: The hobgoblin will be at Merrell before the others will be at Merrell's side... unless Merrell was to run back out into the hollow, in which case, they might all arrive at the same time...

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Larz looks up as Yvandel warns about the barrels of oil. He nods at Soggrin, and between them, they grab Ceely and carry her to the back of the cart where they place her in and climb up after.

Meanwhile Yvandel scrambles up into the drivers bench, and picks up the reins. "Yah!" he calls, jerking the reins. The horses need no further encouragement, and head on a direct route for the door, Lucretia holding their harness to pull them in the right direction.

Cleo, grabs another saddle and a horse blanket, and then legs it after the cart, catching up as Blondung leads another pair of horses out.

The cart and occupants clatters it's way up the shallow incline. Some figures are outlined against the evening sky.

****

Merrell stands to one side to let the hobgoblin run past. It slows for a moment, then glances past Merrell, seeing the others sliding down the bank into the hollow. It breaks into a run again, heading for the opposite end of the hollow, giving a wide berth to the others.

As Merrell starts to advance further into the dark tunnel, a stray horse bolts out, nearly knocking him over, and after a few more moments, he sees what looks like a cart starting to head up the tunnel.

****

As the cart arrives near the entrance - re-uniting the party - there is a dull "Whomph!" from below, and a wash of heat. Flames can be seen licking against the door, and the shrill screams of the remaining horses can be heard echoing up the tunnel. The party all shiver with the horror and the realisation that a few moments longer, and it wouldn't have just been horses that were burning to death down there!

OOC: The party are now out of the dungeon. There are no visible enemies, the last of which disappeared into the undergrowth at a high rate of knots. Two members of the party are unconscious, and night is falling. There is probably only an hour's worth of daylight left...