Roaring in pain as he drops to a knee, the half orc glances up at the kobold king. "A worthy foe. Truly a shame peace was betrayed."
After Kairon calls down his healing magic, he dashes down the crooked hallways sloshing through the spilled lamp oil as he goes. Out of the corner of his eye he sees the bombardier drinking a potion of some sort, and also witnesses a female kobold dressed in lavish robes and covered in jewels, grab a spear from its decorative wall mount and chase after him. Meanwhile Illiam begins the process of activating his last charge on the Summon Monster wand.
I'm fairly certain Kairon is going to need some light and I certainly don't need these two lights back here behind me, outling me, making it easier for others to see me! Might as well help Kairon with those. ... Now for this idiot king that is hurting my friend Goruck. "Missiles do your job!" he yells, as he fires two more missiles from the wand.
Staring up at the kobold king, the half orc contemplates his position in the world for a moment. Such force and brutal conviction must be met with equal ferocity. Pushing himself to his feet, Goruck falls into a chant as his axehead whirls in the underground air. "We are the Stones, born of toiled earth and upturned rocks. We are solid, unmovable, and keep the sky restrained and directed." Meeting Merlokrep's eye, the swordsman states calmly, "Let our weapons sing."
Chillel employs the Misfortune Hex on the kobold king.
Merlokrep laughs as once again the witch's magic washes over him like so much water off the back of a duck. Not so when Dolok's magic missiles penetrate his defenses and slam into flesh, bringing bright read welts and bruises to the surface of his skin. Goruck's magic Glintaxe bounces off of an invisible barrier of force repelling back towards him. Merlokrep seizes that moment and slices down his own axe swinging hard with all his might, only to have Goruck raise his shield and deflect the blow at the last moment.
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As Illiam's spell is completed, another aether elemental blinks invisibly into existence in the mouth of the passageway.
The elemental immediately notices something amiss. It is not the only invisible creature in this passageway. Just past where it senses an invisible creature, it can see another visible one. It reaches out with its telekinesis to grab the visible creature and hurl it in the direction of the invisible one.
As the Elemental does this, Illiam muters arcane words and traces out a human form on the palm of his hand with his finger. An exact duplicate of Hollin appears on the other side of the altar (the black-bordered one), lying chained and unconscious, his chest slowly rising and falling.
Illiam's summoned aether elemental throws Merlokrep's consort-queen, Vreggma through the air right at Kairon . His quick reflexes take over, and he not only ducks the flying kobold queen, but also strikes out with his darkwood longspear as she's hurtled by.
His spear digs deep, drawing a spray of bright red blood and Vreggma lands at his feet very much unconscious, bleeding, and dying.
Shouldn't have done that, shouldn't have done that, SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT! Just . . . seemed right. Won't be able to talk our way out, now, for sure.
Muttering about timing and instinct and the fuss of just trying to save somebody, Kairon rounds the corner into the rearmost chamber and surveys the scene.
A sharp cry escapes his lips as he spots the young man, and he hunkers down next to the illusion, beginning a quick evaluation of his condition.
To Kairon's absolute astonishment, he hears the pad of tiny feet, and turns to see Gloria round the corner. She walks over to the "boy" that Kairon is looking at, gives the illusion one sniff, and then walks right on by to the actual boy behind the altar. As she walks through the illusion she gives Kairon a look that says, humans... so gullible.
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Illiam thinks for a moment. Kairon showing up was not part of his plan. Best he can tell, there are two kobolds coming, but Illiam has no way of knowing if they understand Common and does not want to give away his presence or the fact that the boy is an illusion. If they do understand common, using the word "Illusion" could give it away completely. He considers his phrasing carefully. He does his best imitation of Kairon's own voice in hopes that they will not realize there is another creature here, saying in a loud whisper Hey! Dummy! Get behind the altar!
Kairon feels a small breath of wind to his north, but sees nothing.
His arm smarting from the force of the blow, Goruck returns the favor with a blow from his axe.
Dolok again points the wand at the king. "Fly missiles! Fly!"
Chillel delays her action.
Goruck's axe severs muscle spraying a gout of Merlokrep's blood across the surface of the magical sphere of force, now become a temporary tomb for king Merlokrep's ill-fated shaman. Dolok's glowing spheres of that same force slam into Merlokrep, scorching scales, and leaving deep contusions behind. Bloodied and taking heaving breaths, Merlokrep returns fire with fire, or in this case, axe for axe. Yet...
Merlokrep swings so violently at Goruck, that he exchanges all dexterity for brute strength. Goruck, the paradigm of the peaceful warrior, has not surrendered to any emotion, maintaining control over his body, unlike his draconic opponent, and the blow of king Merlokrep's axe is easily dodged. If Goruck's mask were not in place, the failing king would see a tusk-toothed smile. "No matter how the river rages," the envoy's warrior of the stone says, "it cannot move the stone in one day. The stone will last for years, becoming smooth and perfect by the water's anger. So, Merlokrep, your rage is your undoing. Now witness the end of the Truescale tribe. The punishment for your arrogance."
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Seeing no other enemies, the elemental telekinetically lifts the bloody elven corpse off the altar and hurls it in the direction of the invisible kobold.
The body flies toward the kobold, missing him, but landing in his square (and splattering enough blood to give us something to aim at?)
Seeing the body flung by the elemental's telekinesis is enough for Illiam to deduce that there is an unseen enemy in the general area, and that's all he needs. He clutches his anytool and speaks arcane words that he has never spoken before, causing a pit to open in the ground in front of him.
Kairon begins to move around the altar as the elf's body suddenly heaves across the room to splatter unceremoniously on the stone floor. His jaw dropping in shock at the disrespectful display, but uncertain of the cause, the cleric is even more surprised as a massive pit opens on the other side of the room.
What the blazes is going on here?!
But, taking a cue from his faithful foxy friend, he moves around the altar to find an exact copy of the boy's form secured to the floor.
Oh! Well!
Blazes is exactly what is going on here. After Illiam magically creates a pit in the floor below what he assumes to be an invisible kobold, fireworks go off, almost literally. In one brief bright instant, the room fills up with a massive KABOOM!, and a flash of light so bright it hurts the eyes and wakes up the unconscious Hollin Jabbs. Kairon, who was dangerously close to the pit when it appeared, couldn't help but witness the aftermath. Clearly the invisible creature was Merlokrep's only remaining warrior, the alchemist Tikan. Tikan must have been just seconds away from throwing a bomb himself when the pit opened, and it shattered upon his falling into the pit. The force of the explosion sent Tyran Silvermoon's inert body into the air ten feet, only to descend back down and land right on top of the crushed and now scorched, hapless kobold. It seems even in death Tyran was not ready to relinquish the fight, and the weight of his body knocks Tikan unconscious. Seeing there is no reason to keep up the ruse any longer, Illiam drops his illusion of Hollin, and produces the light he'd been hiding to keep his location secret, thereby allowing everyone to see. Thankfully, that allows his buddy Kairon to get a good look at the Hollow's captured son. The boy shoots awake when Tikan's bomb explodes, shrieking loudly, but is instantly soothed by the sight of one of Falcon's Hollow's heroes, and his big-eared fox. Hollin reaches for the fox, and Gloria jumps into his arms, allowing the child to flatten out her ears as he pets her. Kairon can tell right away that Hollin is simple, and won't have the mental capacity to process much of what Kairon would like to explain to him. He can speak though, obviously, as he mumbles to no one in particular. "I'm hungry and thirsty."
While Kairon and Illiam are very happy that Hollin is alive and safe, and there don't seem to be any more threats, back in the throne room, the only thing their friends will know is that they heard a massive explosion, and the subsequent shriek of a small child. Goruck, Chillel, and Dolok all tense up at the startling sounds. Are my friends dead? They wonder? Did the bombardier get them? So they are pulled by two conflicting motivations. Go and ascertain the plight of their friends and the last Hollow's son, or stay and make an end to Merlokrep, the first, and soon to be last of his name?
Dolok gets a look of concern on his face upon hearing the exxplosion and screaming, but he knows he must help defeat this evil so-called 'king' or it may be the end of his new friend Goruck, or even of them all. "Missiles kill!" he shouts ass he launches two more missiles from the wand.
Spurred on by the loud explosion, Goruck continues his struggle against the king, well aware that near death strikes for him would slay his companies. Let his blows weather my soul. In his combat trance, the half orc lashes out with his now ever present battle axe. "And so the gratification of your wishes grow to be a serpent to sting you, bitter with loss."
Chillel hearing the explosive blast and scream from the other room is overcome by her will to help Hollin Jabbs. She squirms and squeezes her way in the small area under the force sphere and then runs down the corridor as far as she can, ending just underneath her owl familiar Athena. Merlokrep, with the realization that, seemingly no matter what, his kingdom is doomed, musters every ounce of strength swinging his battleaxe up in a wicked uppercutting slash.
Again, his emotional trauma has caused his body to betray him. Goruck easily sidesteps the slash, and once again, beneath his mask, smiles his tusked smile, realizing the gods have favored them and their mission. Merlokrep's reign of terror will end, and that swiftly.
"Come on wand, let's go out with a big bang here!" Says Dolok as he uses the wand yet again.
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Illiam leaves his hiding place to check on the kobold. Seeing, its outline not moving in the pit, drops his light stone, leaving it behind for Kairon, then he runs to go help the others. He gets as far as Chillel, and says to her The boy will be fine. Kairon's with him. Let's take care of the king.
The aether elemental senses that the kobold has stopped moving, and goes to seek another target. It flies up and over the sphere and uses a telekinetic maneuver to attempt to strip away the kobold's weapon.
Once it has done this, it fades away.
Goruck watches as Dolok's missiles of magic force once again slam fully into the chest of their draconic foe, sending scales and blood spraying across the floor. Then, suddenly, for seemingly no reason at all, but of course it must be some of his companions' tricksy magic, Goruck witnesses Merlokrep's battleaxe fly out of his hands across the room into the corner. The king of ruins looks vacantly at his empty hands, down at his bloody and broken body, then up at the towering hulk of half-orc warrior that stands over him. Merlokrep then kneels with his clawed hands grasping the back of his scaled head. He speaks, just above a whisper, in the common tongue, "Be merciful, make it quick."
Kairon takes up the key from where Illiam dropped it and loosens the shackles binding Hollin. He then gently lifts Gloria into the boy's arms, saying, Hollin, this is my friend, Gloria. She'll keep you company. Here in a minute we'll see about getting you some food and water, and you can see your friends again! This boy may recover better than the others . . . . Thank you, Lady, that he's okay! Now to get out of here with everybody in one piece . . . .
Follow me, kid. Let's get out of here, the cleric gently urges.
Striding around the rear of the altar, Kairon advances to the passageway and illuminates his spearpoint with his cantrip.
Nodding silently, the half orc raises his axe high. "For a worthy foe, it shall be quick."
"May you find peace." With a moment of focus, the half orc's axe head fell like an angry dragon upon a village upon the king's nape.
And so ends the Truescale tribe, at least in any way that matters. Goruck quickly and cleanly severs the head of the beast-king. Soon all the heroes of Falcon's Hollow meet up again, gathering what treasure they could find, from Merlokrep's corpse, the throne room, and his empty bedroom. Soon enough Illiam's well-used magical sphere dissipates, and the group takes one last look at the death and destruction they wrought. As Goruck said earlier, the punishment for their arrogance and wanton disregard for human life. The way out of the warrens is uneventful, as is the travel back to the surface. The group together with all the rescued children and Edgrin Galesong, spend one night at the monastery, though the children did bellow and holler to head back to town as soon as possible, it was too late in the day for such things. Thankfully, again, against all reason, Illiam leads the group through the Darkmoon Wood, across the river, and back to town, where all the children are reunited with their families, no meeting more dramatic than Thuldrin Kreed rushing to, scooping up, and weeping over his only son Jurin. The Consortium's lead man is grateful in a way that is wholly unexpected, and generous, freely offering from not only the Consortium's wealth, but his own, to try and repay the heroes for their actions. But, as are the ways of such men and women, the reward of most value is seeing the parents of the missing hugging and holding their children, tears streaming from so many faces. It is a wonderful epilogue to an otherwise harrowing tale.
After a few days basking in the adulation of the townsfolk, Kairon and his bodyguard Goruck get a missive recalling them to Almas. Their departure is bitter sweet, Chillel and Dolok are not shy about their emotions when they leave. Only days later, having heard a rumor of a treasure in the Five Kings Mountains, Illiam too departs, but not before buying a few magical goods from his friend Brickasnurd Hildrinsocks. Chillel passes her days helping Laurel run her Roots and Remedies, and Dolok goes back to work forging armor and weapons with Master Figueroa, having a new appreciation for how important those implements are to saving lives, and to taking lives as well. By all accounts he will become a master smith himself in no time at all. No word ever came of their departed friend Baradim, or if he ever found his mentor, but such is the way of things in Golarion. Many good men and women become heroes, and many and more go on into obscurity.
Still the sun rises, and still it sets, on until the end.