Session 10:

 

Artemis/William:

Walk thru the waterfall and find a stairway and pathway that arches down, down, down. They’re in full control of their faculties but aren’t able to move their own bodies. When they reach the bottom of the stairs, it opens up in to a room. There’s a waterfall coming from the ceiling emptying into a pool. There are no lights but there is dim light coming from the strange wisps floating thru the room.

 

As they go into the room, the familiar trill that was in their minds sounds throughout the room. Once in the room, William is able to overpower the command of the thrall, while Artemis is still under it. As William comes to, he sees Artemis is still within the thrall, looking straight ahead. Looking around him, he sees from the far corner, a warm, yellowish-green light seems to lower and focus on you. As he sees this, he grabs Artemis’ tail as a voice says, “Why are you so frightened, child? I brought you here for converssaattionn,” and William squeals in terror.

 

Brinden/Illi/Silas:

As Artemis and William walk through the waterfall, Brinden sprints towards Silas and Illi in the other room. “Oh my god! Something strange has happened! Illi - Illi and Silas! They’ve just gone! They’ve just walked away! William and Artemis are just gone! They’ve just walked off!”

 

Illi wonders, “Where did they go?”

 

Brinden: “They walked into the waterfall. they just walked off, they wouldn’t listen to me, asked what they were doing or anything! it’s like they just walked. i have no - i’m perplexed!! i don’t know what.. i have no idea. we were just sort of down near the tunnel for a moment, and that was scary as hell, there were bones that we found…”

 

Illi: “Should we go after them?”

 

Silas: “uh, yeah. that’d be a good idea.” -to Brinden- “they went through the waterfall?”

 

Brinden: “they just walked straight through the waterfall as if suddenly possessed. They didn’t react to anything. they just.. i was walking with them, and they veered off together simultaneously, and then that was it. they just walked and walked and walked and went. just, splash! nothing. not even a “ooh, it’s cold!” it might not be cold.”

 

Silas: “we should go find them, see what’s going on.“

 

Brinden: “did you find anything in this hole?”

 

Silas: “how about we talk about that LATER. and then illi can show you the hole she found.” -walks to the waterfall-

Illi and Brinden follow Silas to the waterfall.

Silas inspects waterfall, and it looks like a waterfall. Illi inspects it and sees there’s an opening behind it.

 

Illi: “there’s a hole behind that wall, i think we can walk through.”

 

Brinden doesn’t say anything but gets out his sword and watches their back and Silas gets out his shield and axe.

 

Silas, trusting Illi knows what she’s talking about, tentatively puts his arm through the water, and he’s suddenly reminded of the nightmare he had. he stumbles slightly through the water as he realizes there was none of the expected resistance and he sees the path that Artemis and William must have gone down.

 

Artemis/William:

Artemis has heard the strange words spoken to William and the thrall has been lifted from her. She sees a presence in front of them, regarding the two of them, a single large eye and pointy toothed grin set in a gaunt, hunched frame. The warm green light is coming from the eye, twitching between Artemis and William. the trilling growl peaks as the two regard it.

 

Artemis doesn’t recognize it at all as anything she’s ever seen before. She’s studied in the natural world, so she’s certain it’s not a natural beast. William doesn’t recognize it, but his invisible friend does:

that, child, is a very very, terrible creature called a Nothic. nothic was once a man - people who was once wizards who devoted their lives to unearthing arcane secrets and have been reduced into creeping, tormented monsters by curses left behind by Vecna, the evil demonic lord of death. this has no reason why, it just seems to want to be close to it. some say that is because it senses the magic might turn it back into once it was, but most agree that it has no recollection of its former humanity. tehy notorious for infiltrating  arcane academies and it has lots of powers that allow it to manipulate the minds of men. it’s a very VERY dangerous creature. you must handle yourself with EXTREME caution.

 

William relays that information to Artemis (whispers). and she realizes this is a different kind of situation than he’s usually afraid in. he seems extremely urgent and worried that this is a dangerous situation.

 

William: “We have to get OUT of here…”

 

the Nothic peers at Artemis and points a finger at her. “Why go? Stay, we have a great many things to talk about”

 

William: “don’t listen to it!”

Nothic: -ignoring William, says to Artemis- “i am very very curious. why do you fear baptism, child?”

Artemis: “...what, what exactly did you want to talk about?”

Nothic: “i have been here, days, months years, so alone. then goblins come, but their minds are simple their secrets not delectable. but yours, i found one of you the other night. full of delicious secrets he was but he didn’t come. you two came. and now i wish to learn more about you.” -trills-

 

William: “there’s nothing to learn! we’re simple too!! Artemis, let’s GO.”

Artemis: -realizes that even though William is still dressed as a goblin, the Nothic doesn’t believe at all that he’s a goblin. she’s very unsettled by his words about baptism, recalling something called the Baptism of Carthulamec and she has no idea how this thing knows about that. almost as if it looked inside her mind and pried the info from it- “Where, where are you from?”

 

Nothic: -trill- “i am from here, child. this is my home and hasss been for centrueiss. quid pro quo now. why do you fear baptism child?”

Artemis: -long pause- “i’m not very religious so…”

Nothic: -toothy smile opens wider and William wails soft tears as it’s tongue lashes out. “very good indeed”

 

Brinden/Illi/Silas:

Silas lets Brinden know there’s a path behind the waterfall, and Brinden follows.

 

Brinden: “Silas, take us forward!”

 

Silas moves carefully as the others urge him forward. Illi follows him and Brinden brings up the rear.

 

The stairway is cool, damp and full of moss. Brinden scoops some up and covers himself in it thoroughly.

 

the stairway takes three revolutions. as they come down, Silas and Illi are going quietly, but Brinden is coated in wet moss and making soft squishing sounds that everyone in the room below can hear.

 

Nothic: -takes notice as well and calls out- “you caaame!! come, guests. talk. talk with us. come close where we can see you”

William: -shouts- “don’t come, run away!!”

 

Brinden: “i assume that wasn’t you speaking, Silas. so what the hell is that?”

Silas: “i..” -pauses- “it … reminds me of a… nightmare.”

 

Brinden: -wipes the moss off himself and gets his sword out-

 

-as they come into the room-

 

William: “no don’t!”

 

Silas: -extremely wary and moving slowly-

 

Brinden: -calls into room- “William, are you safe? Artemis, are you in danger?”

 

William: -whines- “yeesssss…”

Artemis: -uncertainly- “not sure yet.”

 

As the 3 come around corner, can see the other two, and they look in control of their facilities. they see the Nothic about 15’ in front of them. the Nothic fixates on Silas as soon as he comes around the corner. and it happily regards him

 

Nothic: “you came! oh, happy day. welcome, come in, come in to my home. please. we have such wondrous things to talk about, don’t we boy?” -cackles-

 

Brinden leans past Illi, puts hand on Silas’ shoulder and says “Can you see William? can you grab them? are they, how close are they? where are they?”

 

Silas seems discomforted, stumbles a little over his words, recognizing the glow of the eye from his nightmare. “Uh, William is right in front of me. I, ah, sort of.. see Artemis”  (just her tail that William has a deathgrip on)

 

as Brinden comes around the corner at the end, he is instantly put in thrall of the Nothic. in his mind he hears the Nothic say “nooo, don’t go. sssttaayyy.” and starts walking around I and S. As he tries to pass Silas, Silas grabs his arm and William sees what’s happening and pushes back on Brinden’s stomach, as Brinden struggles to do what the Nothic tells him to.

 

Nothic: “why do you stop what he wantss to do? he wantss to come closer to me. there’s nothing wrong, you are in no danger.”

 

Silas: -forcefully- “stop. what you’re doing. and we’ll talk.”

 

Brinden: -snaps out of it as the Nothic regards Silas-

Nothic: “come in.” -points at Silas- “i do wish to talk with you in particular. i am curiousss of a great many thingssss.”

 

Brinden and Illi don’t recognize the thing as they see it better - it’s completely foreign to anything they would remember having seen in the wilds and nature, but Silas remembers a story he heard once in a tavern - a tale told by drunk sailors. he heard about a terrible, horrific monster that could control men’s minds, it had a single eye, but was unlike a cyclops. a gnarled toothy creature. N are called keepers of secrets, and they delight in telling stories and prying unknown truths and holding on to them. they are also said to be very VERY dangerous creatures, and can completely crush men’s minds through the sheer force of their will without laying a claw or tooth on them. which makes him more uneasy

 

Brinden pushes past everyone with his sword protectively out, and holds it up at the Nothic. “so what do you do with those you don’t talk to? you eat them clearly. i’ve seen your mess, i’ve seen your filth, i’ve seen your remains. … i’m assuming they’re yours.”

 

Nothic: -attention swings from Silas to Brinden and it cackles- “you’ve seen my mess, you say? you’ve been above. that’s not MY lair, that’s a creature the goblins brought with them. caused such a racket around here. digging tunnels digging deeper, ever deeper, bringing those vile creatures ever closer. i would be happy if it left this place. i would be happy if they all did.”  -eye snaps back to Silas- “ oh, but yoooouuu. you are welcome in my home for as long assss you like.”

 

Brinden: “ah, he seems all right.”

 

Silas: “Illi stay where you are.”

Illi: -no hesitation whatsoever- “got it!”

 

Silas: -steps forward and tries to motion William behind him as William looks up at him and whines-

William: -doesn’t struggle but looks up at Silas with huge, wide eyes that seem to beg him to get everyone out of here asap-

 

as Silas looks down at William, the child’s eyes go blank and the Nothic says, “boy, not yet.” - to William -  “SIT.” and William instantly sits crosslegged on the floor, looking straight up in the air with dead eyes.

Silas: -snaps at the Nothic- “i told you we would talk if you’d stop. doing. that.”
 

Nothic: -chuckles- “so strong and forceful, you are.” -cackles- “so delicious boy. you want to protect them. don’t even know them, do you? think you can take better care of this lot than your crew?” -cackles ending in trill-

 

Silas: -says nothing, just stares-

Brinden: -raises eyebrow at Silas as if to ask: right? what’re we doing?-

Brinden: “well. the beast upstairs. what do you know about it? like, we’re here to rid this place of goblins and find a friend of ours. so there’s two questions. what do you know?”

 

Nothic: “the gnome. you speak of the gnome the goblins brought down.”

Brinden: “i do.”

 

Nothic: -points long clawed finger at Brinden- “no please. i propose a simple transaction. you want answers, so do i. i’ll answer your questions but for every question i answer, youuuu” - drags finger across to point at all of the group - “ must all answer a question for me.“ -cackles- “and i’ll know if you’re lying.”

William snaps out of it.

Nothic: “and you DON’T want to lie to me” -chuckles-

 

Brinden: “right. let’s hear it about the gnome.”

 

Nothic: “the gnome, yes. brought down a couple days ago the gobins dragged him down. he’s not well. but i sense him smell him taste him in the air. his heart beats, they think he knows something but i’ve seen inside his mind. he doesn’t have the information they’re looking for. he will surely be killed.” -cackles-

 

Brinden: “which suggests he’s still alive. so we have a chance.”

 

Nothic: “now you.” -eye inspects Brinden- “you were raised in the mountains. but you’re not form the mountains. how is it that the men that pride themselves on strength didn’t pick their teeth with the bones of a little elf like you?” -chuckle -

 

Brinden: “i don’t know.”

 

Brinden: “they saw good in me. somebody took me into their arms and raised me as one of their own. this is no secret. they love me as i love them. they raised me to be one of them and i believe in their values and live with them quite happily in the mountains. they are good folk. WE are good folk. and from where i came originally i know so little it hardly matters.”

 

Nothic: -nods- “i see… sooo interesting.”

 

Brinden: “i’m not one of them, and i know that. THEY know that.”

 

Nothic: “interesting, there are those that don’t like you there though, aren’t there?”

 

Silas: “that was an extra question.”

 

Nothic: -snaps back to Silas- “aah.. so you ‘ve caught me in our little game, boy. so what else do you wish to know? please.”

 

Silas: “erm.” -still shaken-  “can anyone think of a question? if they want to? ask.”

 

Brinden: “sounds like our gnome is alive. but you haven’t killed us yet. and i want to know if our intention is to kill us once you’ve finished talking to us. OR if you’re not going to kill us can we return to our previous task?”

 

Nothic: “kill you? why would i kill you? you’ve been so interesting! and not much interesting happens here” -chuckles- “i don’t wish to harm you. i just wish to know more about you.”  -snaps to William and smiles- “i answered his question, now you answer mine. you travel with a friend, a friend that’s always by your side, don’t you child. whence did this friend come from? i see him thought the others might not.” -chuckle-
 

William: -terrified breathing- “i don’t want to do this anymore!!~”

 

Nothic: “we had a deal a child. you answer my question - satisfactorily, or i will end you!”

 

William: “HELP!!”

 

Brinden: “don’t worry William, we’re almost through this, almost through this. we want to know about the beast that’s upstairs!”

 

as William doesn’t answer, the Nothic has a large glow that emanates from it’s eye that intensifies into a harsh light and William hears a million screams in his mind echoing out as he takes necrotic damage as it rips into his essence and tears his consciousness. Brinden steps into the beam and tries to break the line of sight from the creature to William.

 

the Nothic turns back to Brinden: “we made a deal. i’m simply honoring MY part.”

 

Brinden: “well you didn’t give William much of a chance there, did you?  just… take it easy.”

 

Nothic: -trills - “fine. fine.” -points to Illi - “if the boy won’t talk, the boy was unsatisfactory. but you…” - cackles - “you’re like the wild one here. you have a strange place as well. you didn’t grow up with the elves either did you child? tell me. think you’ll be a beast?” -cackles-

 

Illi: “yes, what’s it to you?”

 

Nothic: -trills -

 

Brinden: “question asked, question answered.”

 

Nothic: - regards her and accepts her answer -

 

Silas: - picks william up and puts him behind him out of line of sight -

 

Nothic: “so, anything else i can do for you?”

 

Brinden: “the beast upstairs. that you have referred to. what is it?”

 

Nothic: “ANSWER ME BOY.”

 

Silas: - reluctantly - “yes.”

 

Nothic: - trills and sits back- “i know of the presence but i can’t get into it. i can’t make my way through the gate that blocks it. powerful magics of binding have made its way in there that prevents me from making purchase. but you might, maybe you’ll find it. hopefully before the goblins do” -chuckle-

 

Brinden: “hm. well. maybe we could strike a bargain. well. if we do find it, then what are you going to do about it?”

 

Nothic: - grumpily -  “i care not for such … thingssssss…”

 

Brinden: - can tell the Nothic is lying through his teeth - - turns to Artemis, softly - “Artemis. ready your javelin.”

 

Silas: - slips Artemis a javelin to replace the broken one she has -

 

Brinden:  - signals to Silas to ready his javelin without taking his eyes off the Nothic -

 

William: -poking out from behind Silas and mouthing to Brinden  - “DON’T. DO. IT.” - shaking his head - “DON’T DO IT.”

 

Brinden: - raises his sword  back up and to the Nothic - “you lie, sir. you lie through your teeth.”

Nothic: “you’ve seen its kin you’ve seen its brothers and sisters. it was raised by the goblins reared over years of agonizing mutation rituals they are known for. they made a large beast out of a rat. its powerful indeed but for one thing.” - cackles-  “it has one very important weakness of course. but i’ve told you everything you’ve asked and now i get to ask another question.” - turns back to Silas and points at him, but then finger sweeps over to point at Artemis - “you sit in trees and drape yourself in mud. this is truly not the place for a princesssss..”  - chuckles - “why do you not accept your royalty and the gifts of your family. what finds you in this forest living so … soooo  wildly? “

 

Artemis: -reluctantly- “i’d rather be out here than serving somebody i don’t agree with.”

 

Nothic: -smiles and giggles to self - “we all serve someone child. we don’t get to choose. but that’s all. that’s all you’ve satisfied me so nicely. isn’t this wonderful so glad you could join me here aren’t we having fun?”

 

Brinden: “superb, but i think we should be on our way.” - contemplates -  “sounds like the beast upstairs, if it’s just bred by the goblins, doesn’t sound like that’s going to be such a problem. at least not for us. maybe it is for YOU. but, we have faced far worse.”

 

William: - softly - “have we?”

 

Brinden: - under breath - “Silas. muffle William please.”

 

Silas: “okay, i ask you a question, you ask me a question and that’s it. What are they looking for down here? what is - what is that… we saw the floor. what are they looking for? what have they found ?”

 

Nothic: - softly - “oooh…. you don’t feel it do .. you dont’ you don’t do you? it’s what brought me here. there’s a powerful dark essence of magic down here. a great seed of evil that was planted centuries ago.” - starts rubbing its face against the wall-  “it caalllss to me. i feel it. it’s here, such magic. the goblins must have come for it to take it from us.”  -pause-  “but. us.”

-points - “us. US. it’s a great potent force from beyond. powerful magic item lurks down here. they seek it they don’t know what it is, but they seek it. perhaps you find it before they do.”

 

Brinden: “haven’t you found it?” -the Nothic trills- “you haven’t found it.”

 

Nothic: “it’s down here. i KNOW it is.”

 

Brinden: “why haven’t you gone for it down there?”

 

Nothic: - unhappy trill - “you had your questions now HE answers.” - turns back to Silas and smiles, able to see and taste Silas’ uneasiness and wariness and disgust - huge huge smile and leans in - “your captian. the one whose necklace you wear around your neck.” - cackles - “did you love her? did you?”  - trill -

 

Silas: -very very very long pause as he regards the creature-

 

Nothic: - unhappy trill - “it’s but magic.”

 

Silas: “we’ve answered your questions now let us go.”

 

Nothic: “nnnghh you can leave. but if you find it and can truly make off with it, it’s yours. i don’t think you have it in you children to find it let alone penetrate the inner sanctum and make off with it. you’ll surely die in the pit with the goblins.”  - starts to slowly withdraw from situation - “go. if you find suitable to kill that large beast they brought, i would be most grateful” - soft chuckle -

 

everyone makes their way out - with a bloodied William in tow. Brinden checks William out and sees he’s severely hurt without seeming to be wounded. Deduces that it was a powerful psychic damage that was done to William.

 

The group takes a bit of a rest while William recovers and they all recover their composure after the interrogation they had and then decided to climb down the ladder in the other room.

 

Silas: “Illi and i found a hole with a ladder.”

 

Brinden: “oh, well, i have 50 feet of rope!”

 

Illi: “...there’s a ladder.”

 

Brinden: “hm?

 

Illi: “there’s a LADDER.”

 

Brinden: “oh!”

 

William: “you can use the rope, the rest of us can use the ladder.”

 

Brinden: -shrugs- “let’s go.”

 

The group decides to use the ladder to go down to the level of the smooth marble floor. They find themselves in a corridor as Illi grabs the torch she dropped down the hole, and they realize that there are torches in sconces at regular intervals down the corridor, so there’s some light. There’s a door immediately behind them, and one around the corner. On the wall, there are also a series of frescos. There’s a lot of text that is in a completely indecipherable writing. There are portraits that accompany these walls of text, and it seems there’s a story there.

 

It starts with a bunch of robed figures in a room around a large table. 5 of those figures seem to be taking a pilgrimage, on a march that goes around the corner to another wall. They come to a grand doorway with a gatekeeper with a lantern in its left hand and a great lock and chain in its right. The 5 cloaked figures go up into the doorway, and in the final fresco, the door has opened and they have their swords drawn and held at the ready in both hands as they go into the door.

 

Brinden investigates to see if there are any signs of goblins, and he sees footprints of their passage that go around the corner from where they are. He sees drag marks and in the corner of the corridor there’s an abandoned green cloak. He points out what he’s found to the group, and Illi focuses on them and says, “I think one of the goblins mentioned something about a temple. Could.. could this be the temple?”

 

Brinden: “Huh. Maybe the green cloak on the floor and the drag marks are the sign of a struggle.”

 

Artemis: “Maybe Nord?”

 

Brinden: “Well, how about some of us take a listen at one door and others at the other, and we’ll see what we hear.”

 

Silas and Artemis inspect the door closest to where they came in while Brinden and Illi go around the corner, while William moves to inspect the green cloak in the corner. Silas and Artemis  see a grand wrought iron door that looks like it could be opened with a large ring set in it. Neither of them hear anything on the other side as they listen, simply deathly silence. There’s no light, no noise, no nothing coming from behind the door.

 

Illi and Brinden listen at their door - which seems the same as the one that Silas and Artemis found. Brinden hears nothing at it, but Illi hears goblin voices - one in particular she recognizes as Bainx, saying “Tell me what you know. tell me how to open the door, I’ll slit your throat from ear to ear, gnome!!”

 

William investigates the green cloak and sees that it is in one piece, and seems okay except for the neck area, there seems to be splotches and drips of blood.

 

Illi tells Briden, “I think Bainx is in there asking questions of someone. I think it’s Nord, based on what he said.”

 

Brinden contemplates this. “Interesting, I wasn’t sure we’d find any goblins alive or not. I didn’t hear anything. Okay.”

 

“They were threatening to cut his throat,” she tells him.

 

“Ok, stay here,” Brinden says as he runs back to where the others are. William puts on the green cloak he found (Brinden winks at him for looking so dapper as he passes him) as Illi gets out her swords, ready in case the goblins decide to come through the door in front of her.

 

“Illi’s heard something, it sounds like one of the goblins threatening to slit someone’s throat. One can only assume it’s our dearest gnome. And I think that pressure is building in there. Did you hear anything?” Brinden asks Silas and Artemis asks as he inclines his head at the door.

 

“Here,” Silas asks, “No, I didn’t hear anything here. Did you, Artemis?”

 

She shakes her head, “No, nothing.”

 

Brinden: “hm, well, we’ll try the other door and we’ll see what’s progressing. it seems like there’s an argument going on. i’m going to head back to illi and see if she hears anything else.”

 

Silas: “opening that door might set something off.”

 

Artemis and Silas follow Brinden back. Silas gets his shield and a javelin out and Artemis gets out her shield and Silas’ javelin.

 

Brinden: -to Illi - “do you hear anything else? is anything going on? do you think it’s progressed any?”

 

Illi: “that’s all i heard.”

 

Artemis thinks that Illi should throw her disk at the door, while Silas thinks she should get behind them.  Illi, deciding she likes both ideas, does both. she throws the disk as she sneaks back past Silas, getting out her bow. the disk makes a loud noise as it ricochets off the door.

 

Silas blocks the doorway as Brinden opens the door (with a sigh of, “Well, they probably know we’re here”)

 

As the door opens, there is light from more torches around a grand room, but there are also several columns around the room. it almost looks like a cathedral, floor covered in nice marble tile, and more frescoes around the room.

 

Bainx: - in common - “it took you long enough! what are you still doing here?”

 

As they move into the room - Silas and Brinden first - they see that Bainx is standing on a raised pulpit type area.

 

Silas: “we’re just here for the gnome. we just want the gnome, that’s all we want.”

 

Bainx: “the gnome? you want this thing? …. fine.”

 

Silas: “unharmed.”

 

Bainx: “you want this… whelp? fine. a deal. you take him and leave. leave now. he’s no use to us. we’ll just take what we came here for. we’ll take it back to our master and you can leave as if nothing ever happened.”

 

Artemis: “i thought you were the master?”

 

Bainx: - looks pissed off in her direction - sourly - “well, i’m the boss HERE, that’s why i’m offering YOU the deal. you can take it, or you can take this gnome’s head back to town. either way, the items are ours.”

 

Brinden: “sounds like a deal. we’ll take the gnome.”

 

Bainx: “come in where i can see you.”

 

Brinden: “i have no problem with that.” -ventures farther into the room with his sword drawn- “bring him down.”

 

Bainx has gnome by the scruff of his neck and has a sword ot the gnome’s throat. gnome is bloodied, bruised, bleeding, but alive.

 

Nord: -screams - “no no no no you can’t! you can’t let him take it!”

 

Bainx: -brings the butt of his sword down on the side of gnome’s neck, knocking him out- “shut up, whelp!! the adults are talking.”

 

Brinden: “so shut up then.”

 

Bainx: “him, not you! so you mean you’re fine just leaving?”

 

Brinden: “send him over. you’ll find out.”

 

Bainx: “I don’t think he’s in any shape to walk” -cackles-

 

Brinden: -turns to group and shrugs- “All right, let’s do this.”

 

Bainx: “someone come collect him.”

 

Brinden, makes his way up closer to Bainx.

 

Illi moves out of the room and readies an arrow in case Bainx comes where she can see.

 

Silas moves forward inspecting for traps, and doesn’t see anything.

 

S: -to Brinden- “I’ll go up and get him.” -puts javelin away and gets out axe, holding it as non-threateningly as possible as he goes up to the base of the stairs leading up to Bainx-

 

Brinden: “ok, i’ve got your back.” -follows Silas and stands by the corner of the column near by the stairs-

 

Bainx: -points to Silas- “well, come on. come get him.”

 

Brinden: -motions to Artemis to go around to the other set of stairs to cover them-

 

Artemis does as Brinden asks and trips a little as she has her attention wholely on Bainx. He hears her.  “Your subterfuge is no good here! Baialex! Take her down!”

 

Brinden, seeing things have gone south, runs over to help out Artemis as he feels responsible that she’s alone up there. he runs up to her and looks around, seeing a goblin behind a pillar that is readying an arrow to shoot at Artemis.

 

Silas, while Bainx’s attention is on Brinden and Artemis, runs up and grabs the unconscious gnome from his grasp. Bainx flails out with a whip as he backs up, but misses and Silas drags the gnome back behind him and away from Bainx.

 

Initiative order: Brinden, Silas, Levi, goblins, Artemis, Illi, William