Chapter 4: Quenching the Burning Plague, Pt.1

Nikoli looks up with a startled look on his face when the halfing's voice reaches him. Putting on a smile he raises his hand and waves. "hallo there. I don't know anything about demons but I had heard there were some kobolds here. Have you met any? I heard they were handy with a crossbow." Nikoli lifts up the crossbow he had been holding in his hand. A quick glance showed that it was unloaded.

Krytox was no stranger to the mines and its workers, yet this newcomer seemed slightly out of place. Miners weren't permitted to carry traditional weapons and he didn't have the look of a guard. When the greasy little man displayed the crossbow Krytox raises his own by instinct. Krytox had never been a trusting type and he wasn't going to start now. Peering down the length of the bolt with one eye made the man look even smaller, but the smile on his face made him seem calm despite being outnumbered five to one. There are three possibilities here - he is not a threat, he is a HUGE threat, or he has backup. The last thought made the lizardman's eyes dart around the room, but his aim never wavered.

"What name? Why in mine?" he repeats the basic questions posed by Alterith.

RaSa was getting sick of all these head on battles with these critters.... he needed to devise a way to fight his way while allowing his allies to fight their way.... It would just require some thought, but he'd get there. Either way, he pops a potion of cure light to heal himself just in case they experience any other happenings.

He takes a quick glance at the new critter before them, assesses him as a low threat, and then heads straight for the barrels. He didn't really care who he was or where he came from, but if he wasn't going to get in the way, he might as ignore him. His allies would keep themselves entertained while RaSa did the more important things anyway. RaSa first checks the loot and barrels for any traps, and once satisfied, begins slowly prying open the barrels to check their content. He wants first dibs should anything catch his eye. Can't be too greedy though, or Alterith would pitch a fit. Nonetheless, first come first serve.

Seach Check 9 + 12 = 21
I'm sure I have something to pry open stuff in my thieves tools, so I use that.

At first the centaur just looks at the newcomer quizzically. Of course, he can't hear a word the new person is saying. When the grease covered fellow holds up his crossbow, Squin raises his bow as well and pulls out an arrow. Upon aiming he realizes that there is no bolt in the crossbow. Thus Squin places his arrow back into the quiver and lowers his bow so that its pointed at the ground in front of the newcomer. Unsure of what is going on, the centaur looks around cautiously, fearful of additional surprises.

Spot: 6 + 7 = 13

ooc: Continue to play out the dialogue as you guys wish. It'd be great to have multiple posts going, instead of just "players post then DM posts, then players post," etc. However, if you are done, please let me know and we'll move on. Thanks!

As the strange newcomer continues to interact with the group, Rasa and Alterith try opening the barrels. The dracen quickly discovers that his thieving tools are not appropriate for the task; taking some of the kobolds' weapons they have brought with them, they try to pry the wooden lids open. The nails holding the lids to the barrels are quite strong and sturdy, and the kobolds' weapons - unintended as crossbars as they are - are broken in the process of opening the barrels.

They peer inside -

"Rasa & Alterith":

As Rasa and Alterith open the barrels, the dracen notices something odd about one of the barrels. He reaches in, so that his waist is slung over the edge of the barrel, and when he comes back up, he is holding a circular plate of wood. False bottom.

In a small bag hidden beneath:

1 moonstone (50 gp)
1 gold brooch with jade inlay (250 gp)
3 moss agate (10 gp ea.)
24 gp
1 potion vial (the liquid inside this vial seems to fade in and out, as though not able to fully establish existence on this plane)

Everyone but Alterith and Nikolai suddenly experiences a temporary weakening in their knees. Their heads swim with dizziness, and for a moment they feel like vomiting. A quick touch of their faces reveals hot foreheads and a sudden burst of cold sweat.

"Philo only":

"Rasa only":

"Nikolai only":

ooc: If you decide to peer inside the barrel, you may look at the "Rasa & Alterith" spoiler text.
All of the enemy weapons are now unusable - they were broken in the efforts to open the barrels.

After taking a healthy swig of ale (the wine would be wasted on his tongue) Alterith sighs deeply. "Now that is what every dungeon needs, a barrel of ale to quench a burning thirst." Staring at the newcomer distrustfully Alterith continues to finger his axe, the foam of his recent bout of ale still staining his upper lip.

"Ye still hain't answered the question. Who are ya, and what're you doin here? Pretty weapon won't do ye much good empty now."

"ah sorry sorry, i'll introduce myself. My name is Nikoli Kayakova. I'm here to try and figure out how to make this cross bow" nikoli gestures to the crossbow in his hand "better." While saying this, Nikoli was staring at the large lizard man with large eyes O_O

"Though, I had thought kobolds were supposed to be smaller." Nikoli remarks with a confused look on his face.

"Nikoli," Krytox repeats the name. His tongue twists around the sounds, but he manages to repeat it accurately enough. While this strange person had a certain calmness to his voice, his body language gave away his uneasiness. The lizardman lowers his aim, though his finger remained on the trigger just in case.

"Not Kobold," Krytox spits on the ground at the thought. "Underlost, name Krytox."

Seeing the lizardman spit in the dirt more in disgust than anything else, the centaur tenses slightly. Unable to hear, he hopes the new guy hasn't insulted Krytox to a point of a fight, or that things will escalate into a fight. If it has to be a fight, hopefully one where the victor is not required to kill the loser. Despite the recent turn of events, Squin is partly hopeful that things won't turn nasty since weapons are no longer pointed directly at another person, but all towards the ground somewhere.

The centaur still makes no attempt to speak, especially since he wouldn't hear a verbal response anyways. Squin just stands there, and observes the proceedings.

Watching the newcomer in silence for another few moments, Alterith comes to the conclusion that he is no threat to the group and, having decided that, shoulders his axe and begins down the remaining passageway after the Dracen.

The group continues down the passageway from the original entrance room with the mine carts.

After moving about 40 feet down the passageway, they notice the walls narrowing down to about 10 feet, and the incline suddenly becomes much steeper, as though they're on a ramp. Rasa pauses, and the group similarly does as well. Farther down about 20 feet from where they currently are, a soft blue luminescence glows In the distance, as the tunnel opens into a larger cavern.

From this vantage point, the group can tell that the cavern down the ramp from them will open up to their left, but not much else.



ooc: The reddish circle in the back is Nikolai. The black square shape behind them is one of the mine carts in the other room.

As Rasa comes to a stop, Alterith bumps into his back. With a rough shove, Alterith pushes him forward, signing in Dracen a quick criticism. Scared of the blue light?

"Why stop?" Krytox calls to the front. "Keep moving forward."

Squin follows the group forward, but is very uneasy with the newcomer at the back of the group. That much is obvious as the centaur is looking around constantly, up down left right forward and backwards, every direction equal. Looking around, he initially fails to see that the group stopped moving. Unable to stop in time, the centaur walks into Philo and almost knocks Philo over. The centuar holds an embarrassed look on his face and his hands up just above his shoulders with palms outwards conveying the message of "oops! my bad".

Seeing the group move on and point their weapons away from him, Nikoli lets out his breath. Then after a quick glance around the room and seeing the corpses, he hurriedly moves along behind the group, shouting, "Ah, wait for me! Where are you guys going?"

"Why do you always think it to be so wise to rush axe first into everything. These scum have proven to show some battle tactics and could have an ambush waiting. it's better to proceed slowly and make sure we don't get caught."

Rasa continues ahead slowly searching for traps, and ambushes.

Search 17 + 12 = 29
Spot 7 + 10 = 17
Listen 5 + 10 = 15

The dark elf suddenly stops, and a flicker of a smirk cross his slender features. Behind him, Alterith suppresses a scowl, already knowing that Rasa has found a trap. The dracen's eyes peer into the gloom, then down at his feet, then around the walls, discerning details that elude the rest of the group. The dracen's body language is clear: Don't move.

The entire area in front of Rasa slopes downward a little steeply (about 10-15') - the opening into the cave is therefore pretty tall (about 20').

"Rasa":

RaSa's smirk widens even more at the thought of a few of the idiots potentially falling into said hole behind him if they would have rushed them as usual. Ha, that would have taught them a lesson...... Rasa thinks to himself. But then realized that it really wouldn't have, as it will probably happen at some point in the future. Alas, he is glad that in this one rare moment where the party let him actually do his job, he was able to catch something so pitifully set up. He quickly pulls out some chalk and draws a line at the start of the pit, and then proceeds to the pressure plate. He carefully inspects the plate and searches for the best way to disable the trap. No need to attempt to jump the pit, as some of the people in the party seem a little less than capable.....

Disable Device: 11 + 8 = 19

About a minute goes by with Alterith annoyingly tapping his foot (or axe) the whole time, but Rasa finally stands up confident in his work. He steps on the area to be sure that he successfully disabled the trap, and then motions the party to proceed and prepare for whatever may be ahead.....

The trap supposedly inoperative, Alterith steps forward into the room, looking around quickly to identify the source of the glow.

Alterith moves forward towards the trapped area, as indicated by Rasa. He puts his foot down where the trapdoor supposedly is. Based on the dracen's work, the floor should remain the way it is.

Much to the halfling's dismay the trapdoor snaps open, fully triggered! However, already having been ready for it, the barbarian's foot hovers at ground-level, above the trap, Alterith having kept his body weight on his other leg to keep himself from falling in. He casts Rasa a surprised, annoyed glance, which the dracen returns with a deep scowl.

Looks like the dark elf's hands weren't as deft this time as he's prided them on being... but the dark elf's look suggests more of the wish you had fallen in/drop dead look.

The group glances down the hole, and see a simple square-shaped pit about 30' deep. There's nothing else really all that spectacular about it. The walls of the pit appear to be rock as well, same as the floor and walls of the cavern, though more artificially carved.

ooc: You guys now have this 10' pit to traverse, except for Rasa, who is already on the other side. Options include jumping (you'd have to be able to jump at least 15'), or something more creative...

Alterith looks across the pit at the dracen "And here I thought our friendship meant something." Looking to the sides of the pit Alterith determines that while he might be able to scale the wall and join the elf, the centaur and others may not fare as well. "So is it going to close again?"

"I could have just let you fall." RaSa spits back. "but I suppose with your hard head, you wouldn't even feel a thing as you hit the ground."

RaSa pulls out some rope and a grappling hook. "We could make use of this for getting across..... any ideas because it isn't going to close again?" He begins scanning for anything around that he could potentially attach the hook to so the group could swing across or safely climb in and out of the tunnel. Of course, the centaur is screwed, but he seems to basically be a horse, so RaSa doesn't think he should have any problem clearing the pit.

Spot: 6 + 10 = 16

Alterith looks up at the low ceiling. He points to the centaur then makes an arc motion toward the pit while doing a little hop, then shrugs his shoulders looking at the centaur for a response. He then points to the smaller elf on this side of the pit, mimics her riding the centaur then points at the pit shrugging his shoulders again. Looking at Krytox he asks "Can you make the jump or scale the walls?"

"Toss us the rope so we can get down, we'll toss it back up to you and you can anchor it for us to climb out again."

"Good jump," Krytox says pointing to himself. Then he points back at Alterith with a grin, "Good throw.

"Can hold rope by Rasa. All climb across rope?" The lizardman looks a little puzzled as he considers Squin trying to climb across a make-shift rope bridge. He shakes his head, deciding there is probably a better way for the centaur to cross, though nothing comes to mind.

Alterith scowls at the large lizard. "Maybe I should throw you across" he growls back.