scotland ♔ yet how the wind revives us here

[untethered]

♬ Presentiment - Manami Kiyota

WHO || Belle, Gold, Emma, Hook, Lila [closed]
WHAT || Several Knights take a secret journey to try to help Amara...
WHERE || Oakhurst, Scotland
WHEN || January 15th, 2014 [forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam

It's probably a very good thing that Gold sweet-talked them a car in the nearby tiny Scottish village of Oakhurst, because it is freezing cold out and snow blankets almost everything around. Walking the seven miles up the Old Road to the ruins would be a bitch and a half.

Instead, they comfortably drove past rocky downs, near stands of old-growth oak covered in snow, and past two farms that looked abandoned. No other travelers were visible on the lonely road, which finally curves, passing east of a narrow ravine. Belle signals for them to pull over here, where, at the road's closest approach to the cleft, several broken pillars jut from the earth where the ravine widens and opens into something akin to more of a deep, but narrow, cavern. Two of the pillars stand straight, but most of them lean against the sloped earth. Others are broken and several have apparently fallen into the darkness-shrouded depths. A few similar pillars are visible on the opposite side of the ravine.

Comments

[unhand]

Another door. Could be as promising as anything. [He looks around slightly more carefully this time (spot 12).] Unless Meepo has any advice to give.

[undealt]

[SHE'S TOOOOUCHING MEEEEEEEE.

No, it's literally Belle-Leading-Rumple-Away-From-The-Jolly-Roger.gif, because he hesitates at the door before he allows himself to be pulled away. It's cold and ~mysterious~ but he's intrigued, okay.

Also, Belle is touching him. Herp derp.]

[untethered]

[ meepo pokes his head in, frowning. ] "Close to putrid goblins! Meepo not sent this way. Meepo stayed in chamber to guard Calcryx. Know goblins must be close!"

[uncurse]

[ meepo what does that even mean. are you pro-running across goblins or not. emma stares at him for a minute, then moves into the room after hook. ] Might as well. [ she casts a look over her shoulder at gold. ] Unless you've got some kind of guiding spell to help us.

[undealt]

Sadly, no. [he can light shit on fire, okay. that's what he's here for.]

[untethered]

[ belle draws away from gold to go investigate hook's door by the light of emma's flashlight (search 17) ] This one doesn't seem trapped either.

[bittersweeter]

[ lila is only quiet because the longer they spend down here the more antsy she is getting. so she is just going to continue being silently useless while the adults make all the decisions. whoops. ]

[uncurse]

Good enough for me. [ lack of traps is p much the best they can hope for, so she'll just go ahead and pull or push the door open, taking a moment to linger in the doorway to get a look inside (spot 20 total). ]

[untethered]

[ apparently the 'trap' here was too simple for belle to expect - there's a bell rigged up on the inside of the door and the moment emma opens it, it clangs raucously over her head.

the ten foot wide hall she faces is liberally strewn with sharp caltrops. the northern door at the opposite end is missing - but the room beyond is partially blocked by a roughly mottled three foot high wall, complete with crenelations.

two goblin heads - the first they've seen alive - pop up over said wall, their beady little eyes rolling as they make some kind of raucous cries of their own to match the peals of the bells, lofting javelins up and tossing them over the wall at emma wildly. the javelins clank uselessly against the walls on either side of the doorway (atk 4 and 9) as meepo jumps back and forth from one foot to another fretfully. ]

"Told you! Putrid goblins! Meepo knew they must be close!"

[untethered]

[ in a stellar display of strength, belle tries to pull emma back inside the room around the corner, but she rolled a 2 and she has a -1 so she more just lightly touches emma on the shoulder i guess. belle that is not even useful. you didn't even try. ] Emma! [ she'll at least also pull out her gun (unsure) ]

[bittersweeter]

Shut up, Meepo. [ lila moves closer and all but heaves emma back (strength 17) with her deceptively strong torture hands because emma is more important than shooting goblins ok. ]

[untethered]

[ right goblin bends down out of sight again, but they can hear more goblin chittering back there ]

[undealt]

[Gold steps closer to the door.] They'll only warn the rest if we let them escape.

[MIGHT WANNA DUCK AGAIN. Gold casts burning arc into the room, which hits the exposed goblin for 28dmg and the other goblin for 11dmg.]

[untethered]

[ gold's flame boils the visible goblin alive, reducing him to a pile of ashes, and there's a horrific scream behind the wall that... doesn't bode well for the other one either.

/init

welp. ]

[unhand]

[Oh my god, Gold, what are you even doing.]

Was that necessary? One of them might've known where the apples are.

[untethered]

[ meepo, however, is overjoyed ]

"Yes! Burn all the goblins!! Toasty nasty goblins!"

[undealt]

I'm certain you would have been feeling less than conversational had one of them skewered Ms. Swan. [NUFF SAID] There will be others you can interrogate, I assure you.

[uncurse]

[ emma makes an overdramatic, clumsy kind of charming-dodge as the javelins come her way, and she gets distracted by the touch of belle's hand and then SUDDENLY FIRE. so she's kind of taking a minute here. nothing like cs taunting to yank her out of it. ]

Seriously? [ she gives a disapproving look to both hook and gold, entering the room properly now. ] How about you both stow the bickering until the trip home? [ optimism!! they will make it out of this dungeon!! as she enters the room, she takes a look around (spot 15??? search 17?? not rly sure which it is so i rolled both ur welcome). ]

[untethered]

[ well her spot check definitely reminds her before she sets foot down that THE ENTIRE HALL IS LITTERED IN CALTROPS. but if they pick their way through slowly they should be able to make it to that three foot tall wall that the goblins were hiding behind. it looks like the hall continues behind them. ]

At least we know that we're in goblin territory now. We should try to move quietly so we don't alert them.

[bittersweeter]

Maybe one of them is still alive. [ she s l o w l y follows emma to the surprise of no one, but she actually agrees with hook. especially since, as noted, they have no idea where they are going. ] They don't need to be very alive to lead us to the apples.

[uncurse]

Yeah, I wouldn't count on it. [ emma's keeping her eyes riveted to the ground to step around the spiky traps lain for intruders. she makes her way over to the wall, the slowness of her pace making it easy to keep quiet now that belle's recommended it (move silently nat 20). she peers at the goblin corpses. ] They're pretty much charbroiled. [ and 8 for trying to climb over the wall. ]

[untethered]

[ despite being the one who brought it up... belle doesn't know the ways of any ninjas, so she's not very good at this sneaking around thing (move silently 13). even meepo does slightly better (with a 14), although he protests as they climb over the wall: ]

"Apples later! You looking for dragon now!"

[undealt]

[gold leans against the wall for support and uses the head of his cane to sweep away some of the caltrops.] As loathe as I am to admit it, he makes a fair point. Why would the goblins abduct a dragon unless they had a use for it? To act as a guard for their most precious treasure, perhaps?

[bittersweeter]

No shit, you think? [ bet y'all were missing that teenage sarcasm, but lila is thoroughly uncomfortable and getting more agitated by the minute and that was the whole point she made to take meepo along in the first place so she is just w/e gold, way to roast toast and julienne fry our would be guides, you dick. her creepy cat-like ways keep her like a ghost with her move silently 28. ] I just highly doubt that if the dragon happens to be guarding something else the Kobolds are actually going to help us find the apples if we find and deliver their dragon first. Better to hedge our bets than throw it all in for people you keep warning us not to trust.

[unhand]

We'll just look for both at the same time. It's no issue.

[Hook picks his way around the caltrops to catch up with Emma. Before he can get very far, though, he accidentally clangs his hook against the bell (move silently crit fail). He grits his teeth and keeps walking. It's not like the first two were all that hard to deal with...]