Immersive Ink

ehiker133 wrote:Leudigar then opens the passage to the hidden stairwell and makes sure it is safe before going back to get the others.

He advises them to move low and single file and quiet in order to avoid drawing any attention to themselves as he leads them to the staircase. As soon as it is apparent they are all safely there, he begins heading down, cautiously making his way to the valley below.

... only to find his way is blocked.

A figure stands before the stair, statue still, facing him silently. A dark cloak, a glimpse of ornate and... unusual(?) looking armour partially concealed beneath, a round war shield, a wickedly-pointed spear, an ominous, war-masked face staring blankly into his own, a helm crowned with a pair of magnificent, branching stag antlers.

No movement, no sound, nothing. The apparition simply stands, staring at him.

Hi, all! Sorry I've been away! Been fairly unpleasantly ill. On the mend and trying to pick up the threads of where I was with things. Please bear with me...

Welcome back, glad you made your saving throw!

I will withstand adversity!

"It sure was, Fried. It was absolutely awful! There must have been a dozen nasty hobgoblins and brawny men. I must be crazy to come back here again after that nightmare, but I have a charge to fulfill," the little hobbet says gravely.

Dopey rolls up the camoflage cloak and tucks it away in a hiding place behind the secret stair, then turns his attention to assisting Leudigar at the front where a hobbet's skills or blade may be needed. When he sees Sister Arian, the poor hobbet jumps nearly three feet! "A g-g-ghost!" he cries, turning pale as a sheet.

Hi doc-x!

The Herald addresses the silent Man boldly. What's your business here? Are you in league with the goblins below?

Leudigar nods at the silent and ominous figure.

"Er... you're blocking our way, sor," he says brusquely, assuming if the man hadn't drawn his sword yet that he didn't mean to fight them. Or that he was in a state preventing him from moving...

The figure raises its spear and points with it back along the path the party have been following.

"I come from yonder." The voice echoes hollow and ominous from within the confines of the helmet.

The spear is then swept around in an imperious arc to point down the stair.

"I go hither."

The spear is returned to a vertical position. Its bearer has not otherwise moved.

"Whence journey you?"

Hi Red Baron!

"Who's this then?" Freid says gripping his sword even tighter,"A friend or a foe?"

The Herald says, We're going down the stairs, same as you. How about you lead the way and we'll follow?

"But why do you journey down the stairs, same as me?" the figure responds thoughtfully (if somewhat irritatingly ), seemingly pondering the Herald's words as if in search of some deeper significance. "A shared path does not always mean a shared destination, you know. You have business with the goblins? Of what kind?"