Question from the DM: Reveal something about 0ne other character I’ve learned. I flipped a “coin” which broke in twain, and one of the pieces landed standing up, so I did both: Cpl Xaphs Robin made a hard decision leading us to our current dungeon crawl that outwardly I had to decry due to current orders, but inwardly very much wanted to do, so am glad she made the call. As for Tmolus: I respect his sneak to the point of not really trusting him.

We’re still inn the goblin room, searching for hidden doors and finding none. Heading back, we see an offshoot passage to the South, which dead-ends after 10′ or so. Or, so we thought – Tmolus finds a trapdoor in the ceiling.

He listens for a bit and relays what he hears – it was the Captain talking about supply lines. That’s pretty “meh”, but I have to admit that we could hear that is an issue. What if others know of this place? It’s a potential security concern. Also … how would we explain our discovery?

Back in the main room, I re-examine the tracks. They’re a bit old (makes me feel a bit better about the security issue), and we head though the North-West door. Pen does his light trick again, revealing a gate with iron bars ahead. Pen (being Pen) stubs his toe kicking said iron gate. Because of course. And you know this is going to slow him down (it does –  5ft/move). Tmolus gets the gate open, and thankfully I see a tripwire attached to what look like a bunch of stabby, cutty knives. We are all extra careful to go over it (even Pen), and manage to avoid a bladed death. For now.

I resume my ranger-ly duties and take point. I notice something in passageway, about 50′ ahead. The passageway is collapsed from one side, and there’s a lot of rubble to climb over. I lead our unit on the best path, and once on the other side I still see footprints. After bit, I find a secret door in the stone wall, and we open it.

It opens to a hallway leading left and right. The footprints go up a set of stairs, part of which are oiled. Cpl. Robin voluntells me to the top, to scout. There’s a glimmer of light up there, and the sounds of clanking chains. I stealth my way up, which ends in a semi-circular landing. There’s a slot at eye height, so I look in. It looks like a torture chamber, and I’m about to head back when I hear a panicky voice. They’re explaining that they don’t belong there, that they need to get back to their unit – and it sounds like they legitimately believe it. In fact – it’s Briff Brilliams!

I look a little more carefully around me, and notice a latch and hinges – the hemisphere itself opens up. Briff happens to throw his voice to make it sound like it’s a ghost in the “iron maiden” – which is exactly where I am. As a guard heads over to investigate, Pen, now right behind me, shakes the door and in a terrible and booming voice shouts

“TREMBLE BEFORE ME MORTALS!”

The guard falls back, frightened, but unfortunately sees us.

I roll back behind Pen as a guard charges to us, now exposed. He runs past, but not knowing about the partially oiled steps, tumbles down the stairs. Tmolus sneaks around me to get to the room as I head down to check on Cpl. Robin and the guard, avoiding teeth, oil, blood.

The guard is laying on the floor, motionless, a crumpled mass of man. I try (use inspiration) to resuscitate him – he is a member of our army after all – but it’s no use. Based on the angle his neck is turned, he won’t be walking this off.

*META-ish*
Also, the SCRAP communication method is now known as:
SCAT – Subtle Cricket Audio-communication Technique

When I get back up, I see the other guard has been killed. Cpl. Robin orders Briff to be re-shackled to the torturing post. Since he’s already visibly beaten and is chained to a post, his story will be that they deserted. Or maybe they didn’t – how could he know? He’s chained to a torture post. Either way, he’ll say that they left through an apparent secret passage through the false iron maiden.

We roll the other one down stairs – making it look like they both tumbled down the stairs to their death – the steps are partially oiled, after all.

We trace our path back, re-setting traps as we go. Now back in the main room, we head down the Southeast path. It  winds for about 100ft, then exits to a ravine at the bottom of the hill. There’s no gate, but it’s masked well by brush and overgrowth. It’s a quiet night outside, and we return to camp.

When we get back to our barracks, there’s a seated figure by a campfire. It’s Sgt. Zayno. When he asks where we’ve been, I say that to strengthen our team I’ve teaching them some nighttime ranger techniques. He says that it seems that we’ve learned a lesson about keeping our team together. He informs us that Briff is in the can for being awol, and unit is moving out in morning. He gives us a chit to take to the brig and get him out – we roll out in the morning.

From the DM: LEVEL Twice! (to 4th)
In the time between this session and the next, we’ve been accompanying supply lines. There were two pitched battles, and we need to explain what happened.

Session Date: 05/22/17
Title Source: Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden