The sound, almost too low to be called such, shakes the ground once again.
Thunk not want fight big beard. Thunk want thump with big beard. But if big beard not like thump then Thunk not want thump with big beard. Long legs like thump?
He turns and speaks to the human that spoke up
Thunk, your nonagressive posture and the way that you address the human that suggested that you might be friendly conveys your peaceful intent. The humans relax slightly, and one even taps his weapon against his palm and hesitantly repeats, "Shirac!" (it's mangled, but it's an approximation of the Draconic word for 'thump'.)
Sees, your horn rumbles across the water of the river and slams into the skeletons advancing on Hegh. You strike them, but the concussive force of the horn strikes more than you intend it to. The side of the temple's stone entryway collapses, threatening to trap Hegh under a pile of rubble! Fortunately, when the dust clears, the doorway is still partially exposed and accessible - but Hegh's fate is left to the dice. The skeletons that were attacking Hegh are starting to climb over the fallen rocks pile immediately.
You turn your attention back to the adventuring party. The Dame Malduin narrows her eyes in suspicion at Thunk, before addressing Sees' claim. "Oath-breaker? You're referring to Immanuel Dragonshield, the paladin? One of his aides is behind this, you say?"
The militiamen begin to mutter among themselves, some seeming to believe, others dismissing Sees' words. Malduin silences their chatter with an elevated, imperious hand.
"Very well, kobold. If what you say is true, you may yet accomplish some good today. We will ensure that nothing else follows you into that accursed temple. Sergeant Broda, please begin setting up a camp. We will await the results of this...kobold insurgency." The elf studies you carefully, Sees, studying you as one might study a rival. With a surly glance at the kobolds, the dwarf begins upbraiding the militiamen.
"Alright you lazy sods, chatty time is over. Catalogue your wounds, report any bite marks to me immediately. GET A MOVE ON, LADS!" he shouts.
To the elf and humans in her best common, "He's trying to be friendly. He's the last of his kind and took a bad hit to the head."
Flung was thinking of his options of what to do with this mystical eye, when it suddenly comes hurtling back into the temple leaking green ichor.
He then follows the mystical eye back into the depths of the temple, being cognizant to avoid the pools of glowing green gunk left behind in its retreat.
Thunk grins as he hears Shirac. Thump! He grins wider, then he turns and charges off toward the undead
He gestures to his new best friend and gestures that he should follow
parley
Thump thump thump thump thump thump...THUMP! he charges off
Fssst steps closer to shouting dwarf, studying him intently. "Report bite marks to you. Immediately." the smaller Kobold repeats with deliberate slowness. "Do you fear infection? Or do you fear worse? Does this corruption spread, child of stone?"
Grick hurries to help in the temple motivated by the anger and pain of the spirits of the land. Unfortunately, he overlooks the fact that undead can hide under the water, not needing to breath and all.
"OUCH!!! Let go stupid zombie!" Grick cries as he stabs downward with his spear not being happy about releasing lightning while standing in a river.
Poor Grick is obviously caught off guard and quite upset by being outsmarted by a brainless zombie and therefore fails miserably in his attack. "I'm a shaman not a fighter!"Grick mumbles even louder than normal.
Hegh grunts as the arrow strikes off his new "helmet," denting it and utterly ruining the paint job.
He watches the green eye retreat with a grin and begins to follow it. But before he knows it the temple entrance is partially crumbling around him! He looks up in time to see a particularly large stone falling towards his head. He reaches up to catch it, and attempts to divert it to his side.
Catching the stone with ease, Hegh hurls it at the nearest group of Zombies.
One sustained note calls all kobolds to converge on the hoard and crush them from all sides.
"Hegh! Hegh? can you hear me?
Damn, I think his helmet blocks some of his hearing
-
HEGH, WE NEED TO RALLY WITH THE OTHERS.
FLUNG IS ON HIS OWN FOR THE TIME BEING.
-
Smoog reinvigorates his attack on the few remaining Undead between himself and the river shore.
Blasting steam left and right, brittle bones twist and snap from the heat.
Rotted flesh blisters and fall off in chunks. He make his way over to join with Hegh.
-
The temple-side crew (well now just Smoog, Hegh and Shieldbearer) hammer into the remnants of the walking dead making steady progress towards the edge of the river.
-
He can now not only hear but see the waning battle on the other side;
Gorlaug's Woe sounding the inevitable victory.
Smoog lets out a bassy low note from 'Steambox' in response.
"What are ye, daft? Have ye never heard of zombie contagions?" the dwarf scoffs at Fsst's question. "Of course they're bloody contagious! One bite, one scratch, and ye'll be looking over ye're shoulder every day for one of ye to join the other side! That is, join the undead," he clarifies, speaking as if he was speaking to an exceedingly stupid creature. His manner is very disrespectful.
Sees-Death and Smoog, meanwhile, are communicating with each other with a cohesiveness that other races can only envy. Without words, using only signals that they both invented on the fly, the kobolds communicate with each other that the victory is assured. As if it were a self-fulfilling prophecy, no other undead troopers emerge from the ruined church's half-covered gate. Thunk crosses the river boldly, heedless of Grick's troubles, and stands expectantly at the temple's entrance.
Meanwhile, Grick himself isn't feeling too good. He manages to crunch the zombie beneath his weight, but the sharp shards of the zombie's cranial bones have left Grick feeling quite under the weather...Grick, you feel like you're coming down with the flu. It's quite unpleasant.
Inside the temple, Flung crawls from shadow to shadow, staying out of sight. Inside, he marvels at the natural lighting, cast by molten magma rock. Inside numerous wall-mounted sconces, the priests that ran this temple appear to have used molten magma as their primary source to drive out the corruption. As he makes his way deeper into the tunnel, he sees magma being routed through wall-mounted pipes in the walls, pipes that reveal light enough for all within the temple to see by. The pipes also seem to be the primary form of heat transfer within these temples, making the atmosphere warm and comfortable.
The greenish, floating eye is flying over the the room's intervening distance and through the door on the far side of the room. On all walls in this room are small, personal sized alcoves with shrines inside them.
When the two groups re-converge, Smoog seeks out Fssst and Sees-Death.
-
Flung has successfully made his way undetected into the bowels of the temple.
Some large floating 'Eye' creature was escorting the Undead to the entrance and
when Hegh confronted it, it retreated. I hope Flung was able to surreptitiously follow it.
-
"What is wrong with Grick? He does not look well!"
When the shambling bodies and chilling mist finally separate, the Dragontongue can sense the tension in the group, which is now nearly whole. She cannot see the thin lines of arcane energy still wrapped around Fssst's arm, or the trail still connecting her to Flung, but she senses that the rest of the team has spent their reserves of inspiration. Gathered on the bank, they have time for a quick word before they enter the temple to seek out the source of the undead. Desperately swallowing, trying to moisten a parched throat, Sees chooses her words with care.
"I'm glad to see that we haven't fallen so far as to be incapable of simple battlefield maneuvering. We cut through that hoard like a hot blade through lard with minimal casualties. Grick, stop picking at it, it's not that bad. Fssst has seen worse and he's about as thick as my wrist."
"Once inside the temple, we need to focus on tracking down the Necromancer if he's even in there, but just as important is the camp of freeloading apekin waiting to slaughter us once we finish their job for them. Smoog, we need to figure out if the temple's tunnels run under the human camp, and if they do, the two of us need to collapse them on our way out."
Hegh and Shieldbearer fall in line with the other kobolds as they approach the entrance. Who will lead us into the depths?
I am a bit confused? The elven cleric carries with her the same holy symbol that is engraved above this temple's arched doorway.
Surely she knows this? Would she not want to enter it herself and rid it of the interloper that has apparently taken up residence in it?
-
I suppose it might be better though if kobolds alone dispatch the dread necromancer;
after all he has much to answer TO US for.
If collapsing tunnels beneath them fails, we will certainly search for an alternate egress so we may bypass an unpleasant reunion with elf and dwarf."
-
Smoog heads towards the entrance to the temple and fidgets with his goggles trying to set them for tracking Flung.
Perhaps he left some sort of trail for them to follow...
-
.
Hegh follows close to Smoog. I do not know much of your machines, but the smell is strong. This way.
Steam and Ice make an odd pairing, but together they find Flung's trail.
"Yes, her temple is defiled yet she makes camp and leaves the heavy lifting to creatures half her size. Grick, Fssst, if either of you ever calls for us to make camp under such circumstances, I'll feed you to the fires myself. -an utter disgrace! The figureheads of faith are meant to stand where that faith fails and at least create the appearance of potency. -competence at the very least! We've got invokers of fire, lightning and ice, and what can she do? Scare things with a necklace? Massage bite marks? These heroes seemed a great deal more from inside the mountain." Those of you who are still listening loose interest as Sees's voice grows into a low growl and she begins repeating herself.
As he climbs over the rubble at the temple entrance Smoog gives one last blast from Steambox to clear away the black gunk dripping from the Holy Symbol above the main doorway.
-
Surmising that steam will not suit fighting in tight hallways and tunnels, Smoog swaps out Steambox for his Magno-Ray and loads a few metal bullets into the small holding chamber he rigged up a few nights earlier.
-
When Sees-Death does get inside the temple, she stops to tie a bit of thread from her mending kit on the door, in case she needs to retrace her steps. She stays at the back of the group. Inside, she is really interested in the geothermal pipes, and may be interested enough to consider separating from the party if there are signs that the pipes can be traced to a source or outflow, like converging or widening pipes that lead away from the trail of ectoplasm. The drive of instincts is strong, and if the party seems to be intent on the trail, she may try to slip away without letting anyone know.
What here is useful or valuable to me?
Pork follows Sees through the temple, his spear ready to stab out at anything
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Thunk marches ahead of Sees looking for his conrade in arms Flung
You have called upon your Arts too much, Sees-Death. You see the other kobolds, Grick and Smoog nodding in acknowledgment of your magic but they seem vaguely cross. Take -1 Ongoing to use your Arcane Arts until you've had a quiet hour to collect yourself.
Smoog, your steam is ineffective at clearing away the mess covering the holy sigil on the temple door. You blast it and the heat increases further and further, but the corruption remains unchanged when you power off your machine. Meanwhile, the tracker kobolds (one wearing oversized, slightly comical goggles) can tell that Flung went deeper into the temple, his path following a seemingly random trail of green glop spilled on the ground. The green piles are giving off small amounts of smoke as you walk by.
You all see, too, that magma is being used to give heat and light to the temple's occupants. The molten rock is throwing out a great amount of heat to everyone inside the temple; perhaps it's hotter than usual due to the recent volcanic eruption of Moontower, relatively nearby.
Grick, as you follow the others into the temple, you feel slightly sicker. You have -1 to your normal CON mod.
As they creep along Flung's trail, Hegh whispers to Smoog. When we find him, distract his minions with your toys. I will bring Gorlaug's revenge to this death mage. A short time later he grabs hold of Smoog's shoulder, and in a rare moment of self-doubt, speaks again. But make quick work of the minions. None of us can stand against him alone. With an edge of panic, he finishes, We must find Flung!
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Smoog is taken aback by Hegh's request.
He had assumed he was a part of this team but now he felt Hegh was actually relying on him.
They all had come so far in such a short time...
Each in his own way had overcome so much.
Now a real test was before them.
The first of those personally responsible for their collective aching loss was about to meet his end.
-
Smoog looked back at those following him...
Was he really leading them into this conflict?
-
Hegh seemed crazy but was perhaps the most sane of them all.
-
Thunk had been their newest ally but now seemed like their oldest friend.
-
Fssst had revealed himself as both the solid rock of their clan and an ember ready to set off an explosive powderkeg.
-
Grick was proving to be a loose cannon and would need to be aimed in the right direction.
-
Pork seemed lost inside his inner turmoil. Can he rise in time?
-
Sees-Death had taken the reigns of this group early and now showed the strain of her efforts.
-
Flung where are you? You may be the only one who can bring us all together and now you are out there somewhere alone.
-
Smoog swung back around to take the lead again. He meant to see them through to victory.
-
"Gorlaug, light our way!"
Thunk looks to Smoog
Thump.
Flung follows the green eye through the doorway on the far side of the entrance hall, which leads him to a spiraling tunnel path that leads directly down. The walls of the tunnel are wet, and the black-scaled kobold realizes that the temple must extend below the waters of the river itself. Ahead of him, down the spiraling path, the way is lit by a ruddy glow that seems to be the magma you saw before.
Once the path levels out, Flung sees doorways lining the temple walls as he walks past them. They are sepulchers, places where the dead are laid to rest. It appears that this was a crypt-temple when it was still under the control of the religion that built it. Now, it's fodder for the necromancer's army. Inside each of the rooms that Flung glances in, there are benches carved into the walls where the dead are interred under shrouds, the rooms resemble this. There are eight of them in total, four doorways on each side of the main hall. Many of the slots in the wall are empty of bodies - this must be where the undead that you fought up above were coming from. Although their occupants have left, there still remains items that were left behind with the deceased, and the shrouds that formerly covered the occupants' bodies. The greenish eye does not enter any of the sepulchers, but continues on down the main hall to the far archway, which leads to an even lower level. What do you do?
Fssst mutters to the others, once he is well into the entrance hall and beyond the hearing of the long-legged ones, "When the time comes, the dwarf is mine. His disrespect will be repaid in a manner appropriate to his kind."
Fssst begins to search the rooms in which the dead were interred. He's keeping an eye out, specifically, for the yellow gold that Dwarves favor most highly.
Let's see a +Wis Loot roll, Fsst - but in the fiction, it will be "a few minutes from now" when the rest of the kobold group, including you, catches up with Flung.
As they make the first descent, Sees cannot suffer the silence. After the flashes of rancid hellish dream-scape witnessed when touching Pork, the brilliant soliloquy delivered by Thunk, and the feral itch of instinct gnawing at the back of her head, she desperately needs to get out of her own skull.
"Grick. You do some kind of bone magic. How does that compare to what this necromancer does? I mean- I don't mean to say you do the same thing, but it seems like you treat the skulls like little preserve jars, and it seems like the zombies are dead bodies that have been filled with something like a counterfeit life. For each of you, the remains are a vessel, but... I don't know what I'm even asking. I guess... if your art is to seal a personality in the remains after death, and his art is to animate the dead... couldn't the two of you circumvent death?"
"Fssst, I think we should not only search for usable goodies in the tomb rooms, we should also remove the source of the Necromancer's body farm.
Malduin would never let us desecrate these bodies like I think we are going to need to, so maybe it is a good thing she let us go in without her.
Or maybe she knew we would need to do this and removed herself from further complicating the situation.
-
Anyway, let's dismember and pile up the bodies and set them on fire so the Necromancer cannot use them against us.
-
Fssst waves away the distinction, "Feeding the mortal form to the flames is no true desecration, and dismembering the corpses is not required. So long as a body is given back to the elements, most cultures agree in the sanctity of the act. The humans and dwarves prefer to give their death to the earth. Elves give theirs to the sky. Sailors and sea faring races are known to give theirs to the waves...
We give ours to the flames."
Thunk wanders along, sad that there is nothing to fight.
Want thump. He pouts, then jogs ahead, then comes back, then jogs ahead again, trying to speed everyone up a bit.
As they make the first descent, Sees cannot suffer the silence. After the flashes of rancid hellish dream-scape witnessed when touching Pork, the brilliant soliloquy delivered by Thunk, and the feral itch of instinct gnawing at the back of her head, she desperately needs to get out of her own skull.
"Grick. You do some kind of bone magic. How does that compare to what this necromancer does? I mean- I don't mean to say you do the same thing, but it seems like you treat the skulls like little preserve jars, and it seems like the zombies are dead bodies that have been filled with something like a counterfeit life. For each of you, the remains are a vessel, but... I don't know what I'm even asking. I guess... if your art is to seal a personality in the remains after death, and his art is to animate the dead... couldn't the two of you circumvent death?"
Grick stares at SD blankly and then tries to answer but what comes out is pretty much gibberish, "circumvent death by zombie hurts and dizzy yes maybe you see my skulls don't you know..." and then the words fade away. At the same time, Grick's normally beautiful red scales are starting to look a bit pinkish kind of like that nasty thick pink liquid the clan healer would force on the hatchlings if they complained about an upset tummy.
Hegh looks uncomfortably at Grick, noting his pale features. But he soon returns his focus to the task at hand.
I have fought this long leg once before... Hegh tries to recall if he or any fellow kobolds were repulsed by magic energy when attacking the necromancer.
Hegh whispers, Do any of you remember seeing the blasphemer block a blade with His foul magics alone?
Realizing he's in a bit of trouble, Grick tries to reach out to the spirit world for advice...tap, tap, tap on his little drum and whispering can be heard by the others near him...
Even in his addled state his ability to contact the spirits of a place continues to work
Fsst eagerly enters the sepulchral rooms, casting about himself in search of treasure. His greedy little eyes scan every alcove for loot. The first thing he finds is a jade pendant with a stylized drop of blood emblazoned on it, along with a small coinpurse with 1d10+6 coins. He lifts up the pendant and gazes at it before addressing Smoog's concern.
As he listens to Fsst, the blue-scaled kobold artificer does a quick sweep of the rooms, himself. Along with a trio of gems valued at 5 gold apiece, Smoog finds an ivory-handled dagger.
Meanwhile, Sees-Death's grim words mingle with the light tapping on the spirit drum of Grick. The sick kobold suppresses a hacking cough as he consults the spirits around him.
Tapping into the spirit world, Grick discovers that there are no spirits left here. There should be...his eyes, glowing faintly white as he peers into the realm of ghosts, pick up traces of ectoplasm where the spirits were formerly resting - but the necromancer must have captured these souls for some unknown purpose. The trails of ectoplasm are invisible to all the other kobolds but Grick and to a lesser extent, Pork. Frustrated, and angered on behalf of the robbed spirits, the shaman sets aside his drum, knowing that the spirits of the dead are being held captive by the dread necromancer that they are hunting.
Hegh: Nobody could get close to the necromancer. Between the paladin and the barbarian lord blocking the kobolds' attacks and the necromancer's own personal army of undead, any kobold that tried to attack him was killed.
You do know that he has a pet skeletal monkey that is deft enough to catch arrows out of the very air, however. You witnessed it protecting him from harm by sitting on his shoulder, as if he was some weird mockery of a pirate...
Thunk pushes forward leading the group. for once spurning his usual elocution
Grick: Technically, Murmur is a Discern Realities modifier. You can still ask two other Discern Realities questions of me.
Thunk, do you wait and see if the others are following or do you just forge on ahead?
As much as Hegh wants to bring justice to the necromancer, he cannot overcome his core nature. Ohh! Shinies!
He moves on
Dex
If no one follows he goes stealthy.
Hegh dives his greedy claws into what looks like a pile of old clothing in one of the alcoves. Instead, he finds a rotting corpse, more skeleton than zombie, without any legs. It had been lying in the alcove, still animated, because it couldn't obey the order to go and fight...now you've got a bleeding wound on your claws from the dagger the stealthy little b.astard was clutching. Take 1d6+3 damage. It's pretty trivial to crush the thing's skull, so I won't need a hack and slash roll - you just crush it. It's wearing a charm bracelet worth 5g plus 1d6 coins that are scattered beneath the body.