The bard halts Silver as they approach the headquarters, signaling with one of the Kobolds' oldest and most rudimentary handsigns: ambush. Eyeing the layout of the streets, she guesses at the intended killzone as well as the nearest possible blind, the one meant to box them in from behind. When Dolph the sage had spent so many hours telling stories of battles won and lost inside and outside Moontower mountain, Scoops had mostly been interested in the stories he told. It was only now that she was beginning to apply those stories into real-world scenarios.
Rolling forward through the shadows, moving like a slave hoping to stay out of the conflict, Sees-Death scampers to a three story building--a tavern, though currently abandoned--with a window that overlooks the open stretch of street. From the look, someone had prepared the area, clearing out the street and leaving overturned carts for cover. The window, cracked open, looked like a prime spot for sniping. If not, it would serve for a location to decide on their next move.
Sees-Death and Tallest Silver move in through the back door, clearing rooms carefully and making their way to the loft apartment like tiny shadows. The dirge draws Gorlaug's Wrath, but is hoping to subdue whomever might be waiting without using it. Especially with Silver's help. If not, the pitched storm outside might mask any use of the weapon.
When she opens the door to the loft room, it begins to squeak, and, thinking quickly, Sees darts in, headed for the room's coffer. She makes a show of limping and ambling forward, then throwing open the coffer and tossing out the contents in a flurry of linnens, all in the hopes that Tallest-Silver can use the distraction as cover. Assuming, of course, that they have indeed ambushed the ambush party's sniper.
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After the rogue blackscale tosses his enchanted fruit into the pile, he quickly motions to his two kobold and one tiefling allies to hasten toward the apartment, not looking at the explosion. It's a terrific boom, having far exceeded the normal parameters of the rune's magic - I seem to have a knack for runic magic, comes the thought, unbidden, to Greas' subconscious mind. Take a +1 to your next attempt to use magic due to your confidence.
You make your way with your three ninja allies behind you, stealthily into the apartment. When you open the door, you have to immediately jump off to the side to avoid being bowled over - the inhabitants of the apartment building are rushing to see what's causing all the ruckus. You aren't marked too closely when you enter - everyone assumes you're on slave business. On this floor is a communal dining area, a sitting room with couches, a kitchen, and stairs leading up and down.
Not far from that spot, close enough to have heard the runic fruit explode, Sees-Death is trying to cause a distraction for Tallest to get into the sniper's room. Unfortunately, Sees, in your haste to get across to the coffer, you neglect to notice that you've sprung a trap by entering the room. A bucket filled with ice water is dumped on your head - you're immediately shivering, your head hurts (take 3 damage) and you can't see! You can still hear, however, and you hear Tallest-Silver snarl in defiance as she engages the yeoman sniper in the room! The sounds of struggle are mere feet away from your location.
Across town, in the outer perimeter of the Time Temple, Retzack is earning a growing rapport with his squad of goblins and kobolds as he treats them like he's their Little League coach. He's had to stop Eats-Bugs from acting deliberately recklessly a few times - the damn goblin is so enthusiastic about becoming undead that he's risking his own life needlessly.
The squad disperses at the black goblin's command, shoring up fortifications and clearing out spaces for defenders to move, as well as creating cunning booby traps out of innocent items. Within hours, it's like every Home Alone movie was filmed in that one fortress, there are so many household items traps.
Thunk listens to the message
Why stop? No do thump if not move
Thunk waves his men forward towards the target
Thunk slaps Eats bugs on the back
Come learn thump!
Oadir calls one of the kobolds he has. Young one, what is your name?...Okay, I know you well enjoy plucking all valuables from the people of Estr, but I have an important job for you. We store our findings here for now, but as we press on we must find other locations for storage lest we lose most our time travelling back and forth. Besides, I don't trust this place, so any other suitable storage space would be preferred. Anyway, onto your job. I would like communication between the 'Generals', could you relay our situation to Retzack? You should know him as the goblin with the book. We need yo know what he's doing and vice versa. As for Thunk, I expect he presses on indefinitely, he may need reminding that his men have not infinite stamina, but all in due time, if you do find him ask him what he wants to do. If you've found Retzack or Thunk, spoken to them and gotten a return message from them please hasten yourself to me once more. I will leave my trace, uniquely to identify me. Oadir switches to Ice and freezes parts of water in sections where the rain doesn't hit it too hard and will melt his icicles. They point towards the direction he's going for convenience sake. Now go, {insert name}, be the messenger, most important job in the field.
As people flood toward the door, the group makes some distance. They needed to talk, and it was only common sense for slaves to get out of the way. Greas is the first to break the silence. "They take us for servants, it seems. We ought to play along."
Ariza grumbles a bit. Her displeasure at the idea shows quite clearly. "I'd rather just kill the lot of them, but there's too many, huh? Alright, I'll take the lead here. Can you two help him act the part?"
Shrike and Pike nod together. "If he wants to act the slave," "then we'll be sure he doesn't make a mistake."
"Very well then." Greas looks between his partners briefly. "I'll be counting on you here.
The group makes their way up. Greas is the one providing direction, but the ex-slaves are the ones the apartment's inhabitants see. A combination of keeping quiet, the other kobolds' careful adjustments ("Strain your movements more," "like you're tired, and sore."), Ariza's cultivated deflection, and feigning beaten in deference allow them to get up the building to the room with the balcony.
Their act may have fooled everyone, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Along the way, they got pulled off regularly to do just about everything the people in the apartment didn't want to do themselves. It cost them time, energy, and Ariza's composure. The poor treatment was nothing new to her, but where before she had to bear it or else, she now had freedom, a modicum of dignity, and most importantly of all, a knife.
With the group working together, they managed to keep the noise down from when she finally snapped and attacked one of them, so their cover hadn't been blown yet, but there was now a noticeable amount of blood coming out from under a locked door on one of the prior floors. If the door were to be opened, a bit of looking would reveal a very dead halfling with a whole lot of knife wounds hidden away.
As they crack the lock on the room they want, there's a loud, shrill scream. Shrike and Pike look right at Ariza, and then each other. "Did she really have to kill him?" "Killing him, she had to do."
"Oh, shut up already!"
The cascade of water, however innocuous, sends Sees-Death into her vivid hallucinations of death.
As she struggles with the bucket's snug fit over her shoulders, she can see the two death clocks ticking down through the tin hood. One of the two was above the other, and clearly going to survive any immediate actions. With her muzzle pressed against her chest, Sees bends back to touch the horn to her lips and let loose a focused peal of thunder at the likely survivor.
The note itself is weak, but it exits the horn like a hail of glowing fuchsia knives, cutting through flesh, bone, and timber alike.
Thunk shakes his head in reply to Eats-Bugs' message, moving on ahead toward HQ with his gang of rowdy orcs. Thanks to the force of personality that the red-scale barbarian exhibits, Eats-Bugs is caught up in the charismatic call to action, and falls in with the other, larger kobold. Thunk, you and your orcs (+1 kobold) are presented with a choice.
Straight through Estr to HQ via main roads: +speed, +risk of combat, -looting, -stealth
Back alleyways: -speed, -risk of combat, +looting, +stealth
Oadir speaks to one of the kobolds under his command, a young female by the name of Wight-Iris. She nods in understanding and hastens off toward Retzack's group, which is more stationary and easier to find than Thunk's. After all, by the time she sets off from the warehouse, Thunk's orcs are already pressing on into more populated areas of the town. After watching her go, Oadir turns his attention to the warehouse, and soon it begins to resemble Mr. Freeze's frozen lair.
Oadir, you're freezing over a section of burst pipe in one area of the warehouse when large scarab beetles the size of Dobermans emerge from a hole in the wall behind it! The pestilent beetles must have been bunkered down in this warehouse!
Wight-Iris finds Retzack and tugs on his sleeve. "The tiefling Commander Oadir requests a report on your squad's movements and activities, as well as the whereabouts of Commander Thunk," she asks, seeming to take her role as messenger quite seriously.
Greas, I like that. Mark an XP, and by the time you reach the top floor of the apartment building you start to hear screaming coming from the floors below. It didn't take long for Ariza's deed to be discovered - she didn't bother stashing away the body very well. The activity levels in the apartment are rising dramatically and your chances of being discovered are going up with it. You find the room that - according to your mental calculations - must be the room that has the balcony attached. The door is part of a hallway containing 3 other residential "penthouse" doors. It's locked when you try the door. What do you do?
Crap, I completely overlooked that! Sorry, you pick the lock without any difficulty and disable the trap that would've activated the flamethrower and cooked anyone walking through. You're in the room now, it's an opulent apartment penthouse unit with its own jacuzzi tub and finery apparent everywhere. The doors are open to the balcony outside. What do you do?
They had to move fast, but they couldn't abandon caution. There was already one trap. There may be more. As they move through the room, headed for the balcony, Greas is on watch. The door is closed behind them, and they avoid touching anything. Before going onto the balcony, they look for anyone or anything there.
Team Phoenix Hawk climbs up the access ropes to the underhull of a particularly airworthy ship.
Smoog sets his key into the hole and opens up the hatch.
It seems the catering crew cook had a master key so he could service any ship that happened to dock that particular day.
Up inside, the boarding party takes a look around...
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Anybody in the mood for some bugsplatting?! Oadir yells out to his men.
Oadir metaphorically rolls up his sleeves, rubs his hands together, blows on them as if they were cold, and then unleashes a flurry of icicles when the scarabs draw near.
Greas, you poke your head out of the balcony and peer around cautiously. Outwardly, nothing appears to be amiss - the rain continues falling down on the balcony's stone railing, and thunder booms overhead as lightning crackles from cloud to cloud. The green, flashing light can be seen quite easily from this angle - coming from a small shack on the roof of HQ.
You almost step outside before you notice something suspicious. There's a small beetle sitting on the outside of the archway leading to the balcony, with a view of the roof and the balcony itself. This wouldn't ordinarily be anything weird, but the beetle is remaining stationary despite being heavily rained on - definitely not normal beetle behavior. Cautiously, you move one upraised finger back and forth in front of the insect, and the creature pivots in its position to watch it, in a way that normal bugs wouldn't do. It seems like a magician's answer to a security camera to you - activated by movement within its FOV.
Smoog, the workers who are employed here at the sky-docks don't get the day off just because it's raining. You and your warband of Strix have to shrink back against some barrels to conceal yourselves, as an enslaved half-ogre brute carrying some 2x4s walks past your entrance point immediately after, followed by his handler who issues him orders. You hear the sounds of hammers hammering nails and saws digging into wood all around you. The noises are fairly loud - you'd have to make a loud sound in order to be heard by anyone, but it's much easier to get noticed visually in this tighter space.
Oadir, need your damage roll too to see how badly your successful frost-blast damaged the scarabs. Regardless, your icicles penetrate their bug carapaces relatively easily, slowing two of them down. They're both focusing on you now, one of them continuing to charge you directly while the other huge beetle flanks you on your right. The other four that evaded your blast scurry past and around you to try and scatter to dark places in the warehouse. Dhorim bellows, "Look SHARP! Don't let them hide! They'll ruin the defenses!" and locks one of the horrible bugs in a grapple, wrestling for control with it.
Your half-ogre steps on one of the scarabs and crushes it immediately, leaving two other dog-sized bugs racing at your team. One of the kobolds was carrying some loot when the attack happened, and the bugs leap on him, tearing into his scales - his screams of pain fill the warehouse as the beetles get their claws into him. What do you do?
"Hmm. Quite a clever security system. Subtle. But every system has its flaws." This thing altered its position to follow movement. Quite useful when tracking something. But that's easily abused.
With a few subtle motions, Greas alters the beetle's viewpoint so that it's still focused on an area of potential interest, but not where it needed to be to stop them advancing. He gestures to the rest of his group. "Alright. Time to jump. Move quickly, and ignore that shack. The key to halting the weather at that central tower, right at the top. Make sure you'll be out of the beetle's field of view, minimum."
One after another they jump out to HQ's roof, unseen by the insect's eyes, searching for their entry point.
Using his nimble and lithe little body Smoog leads his small group in and out of hiding places trying to gain access to a sleek and sturdy air ship...
-
Still perplexed about how these ships could have gotten so damaged, Smoog riffs thru a few keen hypotheses trying to narrow down the possibilities...
'Normally I would just assume a dragon had breathed upon these hulls but in light of the recent dragon culling, I doubt it was any of the Great Wurms nearby... hmmm...
A siege engine could do this but the damage is so wide spread... Reason and logic lead me to conclude that it was probably magic but specifically it must have been...
Once again, the kobold bard lives up to her name. The death of this yeoman is foreseen by her eldritch magics, a memory of the visions of the sort Gorlaug the Corruptor once had.
Sees, your blast affects both of the fighters struggling with each other - the sniper, and your ward. However, the yeoman is better able to withstand the damage than is the kobold, and he recovers faster. By the time you get your bucket off your head, you see that he has tackled Tallest-Silver and is now wrestling to get his knife to her throat. For her part, with her weapon knocked away, there's not much she can do except to struggle and try to hold off the arm holding the sniper's weapon. What do you do?
Thunk leads his troops down the main thoroughfare, perhaps he is seeking combat.
Now we thump for Red 'Nard
He leads the motly and enraged crew, but stops briefly and kneels, he waves for others who worship Tanard as well
Red 'Nard make safe and fast!
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Retzack congratulates his troops and making the building safe...or at safer than any other random building.
"Alright guys, take a knee, take a knee. Get some water. We're gonna rest for ten, then we're gonna--" at that moment he's interrupted by a young female kobold, delivering Oadir's message.
"Eh? Where the devil is Eats-Bugs? Ach, I'm losing troops by the minute and we haven't even made contact with the enemy yet!
Alright, nevermind all that. Advise the Commander of Squad Atlas that Squad Warhammer has completed a hasty fortification, and we'll be moving out momentarily. I've no idea as to the location and disposition of Squad Vindicator--I sort of assumed you would know that.
No go deliver your message, and tell MY messenger to get back here!"
Retzack turns away and addresses his troops again. After making small talk so they may rest after their labors, he addresses them in earnest. "Alright, as I was saying, we've done good work here, but it's time to start looking for trouble. We're still gonna sweep&clear each house, but we're not gonna loot in earnest. Face it--we own this town! All we need to do is get rid of all the stinking humans!
Hence, every house gets a quick search, but only stop for two things: Weapons and people. Weapons just drag out and dump outside the door--we'll take what we need.
If you find people and they resist--Yell loudly and kill them. If you find people they cower...then you MUST leave them alone and come find me! I will deal with them. I shall convert them to our cause. I've been known to be...quite persuasive.
Now move out! And let none deny you your Crown and Ring!"
Looks like it worked, but sorry little friends, I've got to leave you for a hot second.
Oadir poofs out of existence and appears right next to the looting Kobold.
You okay there? What do you need?
Oadir looks over to the bug he's wrenched from the Kobold, it's coming back.
You think on that while I deal with this.
Oadir walks over to the bug, bearing the hit with his arms in front of him to get a hold of the beetle.
We Teleport back to the other 2, blasting all 3 hopefully.
As "luck" would have it, Thunk the preacher/commander is passing right by a large cathedral on the main thoroughfare when his noisy preaching catches the attention of a High Pastor of Abadar, the Human God of Civilizations.
Enraged, the man-of-the-cloth raises both hands in supplication to his deity while standing on top of the steps leading up to the cathedral's entrance. "ABADAR! CLEANSE THE AIR OF THE WORDS OF THIS KOBOLD UNBELIEVER!" he shouts, invoking a holy spell. Thunk, the sneak-attack catches you off-guard! Take 1d8 damage that ignores armor, and you're completely silenced, unable to utter a word!
The High Pastor employs slave bodyguards, four bugbears wearing church tabards over their armor and carrying heavy flails. They begin advancing down the steps toward your warband, cautiously getting into a defensive arrangement around their charge.
"Page! Summon the town guard! The insurrectionists are here!" the High Pastor orders, and a fresh-faced young boy runs into the church. Moments later, a heavy bell begins to toll, rising above the sound of the rain to summon the town guard. In moments they will respond and reinforce the High Pastor!
The bells can be heard by Retzack's squad as he disperses them to loot an ever-increasing area. Unknowingly they are following Thunk's squad, since like Thunk, they found the biggest street they could follow and followed it deeper into Estr. Within moments, the sounds of struggles and conflict can be found. You hear the sounds of resistance coming from three places that your Squad has broken into on this street - a tavern, a cobbler's, and a tailor's. What do you do, Retzack?
Not far from there, in the storage warehouse that Oadir's squad has appropriated to the north, Oadir is finally hitting his groove. For the first time since being rescued from Armin the Kind, he feels completely in tune with his powers, and he uses them to devastating effect on the bugs. Shadow energy dims the light wildly as he casts it about himself in a nexus of dark energy that teleports from one spot to another seemingly instantly. After a few moments of carnage, even the Squad itself stops to stare at Oadir's bloody work. The whole battle takes less than two minutes start to finish once Oadir begins to unleash his magic. The scarabs are taken apart, one by one, until the shadows recede back into Oadir's flesh, leaving him steaming slightly with latent and recently consumed energy.
Greas cleverly manipulates the beetle/security camera so that they're able to access the roof undetected. When you land on the roof, you hear the sounds of weeping, followed by a vicious smacking sound, coming from within the shed. The green light continues to pulse coming from within.
The tower, in the center of HQ's main building, has one door that leads to the roof - presumably for whomever built the shack originally. There appears to be three windows at ever escalating locations within the tower as well. The stormclouds overhead are whirling around the tip of the tower as a nexus point, and the rain is coming down so fiercely here that visibility is inconsistent.
Smoog: you recognize the burn marks as dragonfire, unmistakably - but the scorch marks are too small and random to come from a single large dragon. Either this airship was attacking a nest of youngling dragons - a disturbing thought - or it was attacking a colony that had defenders that used dragonfire in their magic. That would imply a kobold colony, and an advanced one at that. Whatever it means, it isn't good.
However, you were too distracted in your musing to notice that you have been caught! Your warning comes in the form of a Strix shrieking, and you whirl around to see the one that had been skeptical of you getting brutally stabbed in the stomach by a repair worker. He has one arm around the bird-man's neck and is pounding his fist, clutching a knife, into the Strix's ribcage again and again and again! What do you do?
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Retzack quickly wrangles the squad into teams, sending various reinforcements into each of the three buildings, trying to get a somewhat even disposition. Into the tailor's and cobbler's--smaller buildings with (probably) fewer patrons of less-unruly disposition--he sends 3 goblins and 4 kobolds. That leaves 4 goblins and 5 kobolds for him to lead personally into the tavern.
"Remember!" he shouts as he organizes the assault teams. "If they cower, just keep them in place until I can attend them! But if they fight against you, no mercy!"
Thematically, Iris joins the team going into the cobbler's, and Bart follows the team going into the tailor's.
The Croc-o-lich remains at Retzack's side as he personally enters the tavern.
Thunk roars...silently
he staggers under the holy assault.
Luckily for him he has other skills. He waves his troops forward to engage then charges at full speed, as he gets near he crouches and explodes up turning a triple flip over the heads of the guards
As he comes down, and out of his flip brings hs club down onto the holy man's holy symbol, shattering it and sending pieces of it into his skin, which is then further smashed by the club.
for
Sees-Death dives forward, scooping the dagger off the floor and coming to Tallest-Silver's aid.
The dirge catches the sniper's wrist and drives the human back against the wall below the window. She takes the blade in the shoulder, but presses her own against the human's neck as Tanard pokes her head out from the rags she is wearing.
When she's sure she has the human's attention, she points up, squeezes some rainwater from her rags, and asks, "where?" in her best undercommon.
His red eye flares as Smoog snaps into action.
The laser cuts across the attackers exposed shoulder.
-
Rallying his little team they all tackle and subdue the slave before any more ruckus can be made.
"More layers of bait. How far did they go with this...? You three, scout the area. I need to make sure of something." Alright. This was a careful setup - the lights, the camera, the sounds from the shack. Time to pick this apart. Look. Don't touch. Stay silent. Pick every detail apart.
Oadir, you saved the young kobold's life with your quick-acting magical skill. Your squadmate is breathless, but alive, on the floor, still stunned.
On the airship, Smoog reacts quickly as well. At this range, it's possible for his eyebeam to miss, but his mind remains calm despite the horrible screams of pain coming from the Strix under his command. Immediately after your laser beam opens a weakness in the construction worker's guard, the remaining Strix leap on him in a fury, and nearly kill him. By the time you get your squad to calm down, his throat is bleeding, his eye is slashed shut, and the hand that held the murder weapon is no longer attached to the human's body. Still, he's alive. The entire Phoenix Hawk squad - those that remain - hold him down and keep him gagged so his screams don't carry throughout the airship.
Silence falls, punctuated only by the sounds of the construction worker's desperate struggling. The Strix, restrained of their bloodlust, look to the blue kobold for leadership.
Inside Estr, at the nearest Tavern establishment to the Time Temple, called The Wasted Afternoon, the scene was not so quiet. Retzack is first into the tavern, and has to be yanked immediately back out again by his crocolich creation, whose feral instincts warned it of danger even in undeath. Good thing it did, too - a fireball impacts on the wall right behind where you were standing.
"Geee-heeeeetttt outta my BAR!" you hear a wizened old man's voice, thick with alcohol, slurring at you. Of the trio of goblins that entered this tavern to loot it, none remain but three ash piles on the ground. "DAMN GER... GREENIES!" the aged wizard slurs, waving his hands about vaguely. A wave of multicolored haze fades into existence in front of the wizard's hands and begins to sweep across the bar's floor to you, Retzack! Your troops are right behind you, awaiting orders. What do you do?
Sees-Death's furious attack leaves no room for reaction from the human. Right as she closes to melee distance, Tallest-Silver gets a lucky kick in at the jaw, knocking him off balance and setting up the bard for a perfect redirect riposte. The weapons master of Moontower Mountain never trained Sees-Death directly - a poopsmith didn't warrant official weapons training from the master. Still, if he could see her attack, he would have applauded her skill. On her shoulder, Tanard smiles contentedly.
Before the bard starts talking and demanding where the rain's coming from, she hears Tallest-Silver screaming a battlecry and charging her prisoner. Not realizing that Sees-Death has it well in hand and plans to interrogate him, Tallest stabs the human in the neck, making him gurgle on his blood.
Not far from that struggle, Thunk's glowing green club is doing all the talking that the red barbarian is suddenly unable to himself. His daring flip over the guards inspires his warband, who raise their weapons and shout in joy as they rush the would-be oppressors on the stairwell leading up to the church. As the blitz goes on behind him, Thunk swings his glowing green club at the Priest of Abadar that hexed him. The holy symbol doesn't break - the priest's ribcage instead gets the symbol embedded in it. The priest is knocked to the ground with a cry of pain, touching his dire injury with his hand and healing it with a quick prayer to Abadar.
With a throwing gesture, the Priest targets you with a missile of holy light from his palms!
Greas. On the roof of HQ, the stronghold of the enemy, you creep quietly across the threshold in the pouring rain. Your team falls in equally silently behind you.
Even despite your own careful creeping, you're about to step on a rune scratched in the roof's surface 10 feet away from the shed. A hand on your shoulder stops you, and you look back at Ariza to see that she's pointing down at it. Carefully, you put your foot down outside the rune's boundary, keeping to yourself how impressed you are that she noticed that even in this rain. The tiefling appears to have an eye for rune traps.
The shed is basically a big pile of traps all on top of each other. Anyone who approaches or tries to touch anything will have to defy danger multiple times. You can't imagine that anything awaits in there for you besides a cage...
The missile of light zips toward Thunk's chest, he leaps with a sudden spring to the side, where he rebounds off the lit brazier outside the church, turning in multiple twists, which causes the missile to slam into the it. Much to his surprise, but slightly to his joy the massive brazier breaks loose and tumbles back down the steps. Through the smoke Thunk is unable to see if the flame and coals reach his troops and the bug-bears, but one thing is for sure, he is not easily reaching his troops, nor are they easily reaching him. They can now neither see or hear him
Thunk lands hits the ground in a roll, and then springs up in the air again, trying to make himself an impossible target, for the second time in as many attacks the priest looks up to see the glowing club come down with Thunk, this time out of a cloud of smoke.
Feel the fear delivered by a true believer or Tanard!
for
Thunk slams his club into the priest for a second time, hoping to outpace his healing.
A second beam snaps from Smoog's burning eye and cuts a hole thru the wimpering human's forehead, silencing his struggles.
-
"Up to the DECKS and cut the mooring ROPES!
Let's get this thing FLYING!" Smoog yells.
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He moves quickly to find the ship's helm and begins figuring out how to steer and control this flying fortress.
to interface with his assimilated gear.
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Over the past few weeks, Smoog has been slowly integrating his gadgets into his harness making them all more responsive and synergistic.
There is almost a semblance of animated sentience to the combined contraption and when he wears the suit of synthesized equipment, they respond almost as though they can read his thoughts.
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The gadget suit's mechanical arms and appliances reach and spin as they get familiar with the ships controls.
It takes a little of the suit's own energy to complete the connection but soon it's metal and wood interface with the ships hardware and within a few moments the airship strains against the hawsers, yearning to be airborne.
"That's a lot of runes. This must have taken a long time to set up..." Greas looks many of over. There had to be something he could use himself.
...that was enough. No more time to waste here. Without a grappling hook, the door was the most practical way to get everyone in. Time to sort it out.
It seemed they had special measures in place, though.
Sees takes a deep breath, pushing down the mounting frustration. It was a secondary objective in any case. Every humanoid obstacle she overcame should be considered a triumph. Still, she wanted to track down that sorcerer, and if this area was a diversion, she needed to find out where they really were. As the foul pigskin hisses and gurgles their last, Sees-Death lets out her breath slowly. It probably didn't know anyway.
"Keep an eye out the window. Look for the rest of the ambush so we can clear them out, but mostly just let me know if anyone approaches the building."
Using the borrowed knife, the dirge begins stripping down and searching the body for valuables, especially written orders.
The priest that Thunk divebombs from out of the smoke raises a shield of magic by holding up both hands, but the raw force with which the barbarian swings his club shatters the barrier easily. There's a sound like a heavenly angel choir all gasping in dismay at once as Thunk's otherwise silent weapon completely pulps the Abadar priest's head. Unfortunately, your orcs saw none of your awesomeness and you hear them being overwhelmed on the other side of the smoke!
Smoog leads his band up to the main deck of the airship, and encounters a big group of workmen who had been working on various tasks on the rigging! With shouts of "Hey, escaped slaves! We can force 'em to do the rest of the work!" and "Get 'em all bound and tagged, boys! It's our lucky day!" they grab their work tools and begin advancing. Your Strix take to the sky slightly - not enough for true flight, but enough to get them up into the rigging with surprising dexterity. However, that leaves the workmen with an uninterrupted path to you as your machines take hold of the ship's helm! 6 workmen are charging toward you even as your Strix allies drop on them from above, what do you do?
Greas, you don't learn anything new about the runes - with the driving rain, it's difficult to make out the crucial details of their construction without a Defy Danger roll. If you wish you can Defy Danger and learn a single trap rune - otherwise, without rolling, I can give your character the ability to mist-ify his poisons, making an aerosol poison trap.
After your decision is made, you head toward the tower and check the door for traps. You find none, but the door IS locked from the inside, and there's no way to access the lock from this side. What do you do?
Not far from Greas' position, Sees-Death is even at that moment issuing her orders to her subordinate. Nodding, her facial scales slightly paler, Tallest-Silver moves to obey, parting the curtains of the window cautiously and peering out into the rain.
Sees-Death, aside from his field knife he was using on T-S, which has the precise and intimidating tags and 1 weight, you also find that he had in his possession a partially collapsible harpoon gun (2 weight) and 3 harpoons (1 weight for the bundle of 3). Even through this downpour, this weapon would find its mark and do some serious hurting.
No written orders, but you do find something just as good or arguably better - an agenda. According to what it says on it, this thunderstorm is due to last for 1-2 more hours, "until the Time Temple is completely flushed of vermin." After that will be the rounding up of slaves left in the temple for public execution. In case any of the rabble-rousers were to approach HQ, they were to be killed with hidden ballista and other yeomen with harpoon guns. It appears that Hemmerschmidt brought the heavy artillery to bear on HQ's defense.
Smoog yells in UnderCommon to Spoons and Ordo for them to "HANG ON!"; trusting that the birdmen could fly well enough to react...
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Then, manipulating his newly commandeered controls, Smoog violently pitches the airship down and to one side.
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The ship responds more easily and more rapidly than he had hoped for or expected and...
"Tch. Had to have internal locks." This was going to be problematic. Getting up to the windows would be difficult in this weather. They'd have to damage the door to use it as well.
Greas steps back. This wouldn't be easy, but he would do it. He looks to his group. "Watch closely, you three. If any of you can't do it, then the rest of us will find a way to get you in." Greas grabs one of his throwing knives, and takes off toward the wall. Using speed and every nook and cranny he can find, he rushes up the wall to the window.
The good news was that he'd made it. But his efforts weakened the little pieces of the wall that had allowed him up, and combined with the torrential rain, the holds needed to do what he had just done were washed away. His backup was gone, stuck outside at the mercy of the weather conditions.
He had to get them in without help, then. Hopefully, nothing would happen to them.
He would gesture, but they wouldn't be able to see. Greas heads into the building, planning his path down to the door.
With the immediate threat settled down Oadir rests a little. He may have hit his stride, but using his powers always wears him out a bit.
He attempts to take a mental note of what they've gathered up her now, so he can repeat it to any allies.
He then gets up and walks over to the rescued but injured Kobold:
"Are you alright there? I'm assuming we've got the last of those bugs, but we need some to guard this place a little bit. I suggest you rest here for now and I'll appoint someone to sit with you, any preferences or suggestions?"
He turns to the rest of his new crew.
Good work men. If either of you wish to rest, here would be the place. If you think you can keep going then out you go. I haven't seen much opposition yet so I suspect they evacuated this area. I predict we'll clash with the populous soon, we'll need to be prepared for that.
Oadir steps outside and shouts at the top of his lungs:
As his troops trickle in, Oadir performs a quick health check on every one of them, along with asking if they have any healing/medical capabilities. He's not expecting any, but won't have it go wasted if it's there. The brutal treatment of the Kobold spooked some sense into him. He would have to be less reckless with the lives that have been put in his hands.
Thunk turns around grinning, then he frowns. His men had not witnessed the glory of Tanard. Seeing the way blocks with hot coals, Thunk grabs the body and runs toward the steps, he throws it down like a skate board on the steps, he subtly shifts his weight to allow the body to continue down. He grins wider as the smell of smoldering priest rises to his nostrils.
As he slides down the stairs the coals start to pile up in front of the body...as soon as Thunk clears the smoke he sees his men being beaten back by the bug bears. Thunk focuses on the biggest of them all and he launches himself into the air yet again, he brings his club down
for onto the unsuspecting guard.
Then he tries to speak
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Now outside the immediate area of danger, Retzack gazes thoughtfully at his hands. He...remembers. He...used to be able to do that. He used to...sense the magic. But...not now.
He shakes his head and comes out of his revelry. He looks at his magnum opus, the crocolich. "The human is proving quite resourceful. Annihilate him."
The words are unneeded, but he felt like they should be said. He holds the rest of the troops back. He's lost too much already.
The gargantuan lizard crawls his way in to the bar, ready to do battle. Retzack keeps the door open a hair's breath, watching the fight.
At the airship field, Smoog yanks hard on the controls just as the workmen are reaching him. With a terrific groaning sound, the airship tears itself free of its mooring, taking flight immediately! The ship is barely airworthy - workers that were conducting repairs belowdecks fall out of the ship by the dozen, and those that were rushing you are hurled directly over your head by the sudden thrusting force.
Ordo is holding on tightly to a handhold on the ship as the airship's sudden thrusting force, goosed by Smoog's gear, goes nearly vertical. However, Soup-Spoon nearly falls off the ship! He's grabbed...by a repair worker who has his other arm around the ship! Despite being rescued from falling to his death, Soup-Spoon isn't out of the woods yet. If you keep accelerating upward, the last of the enemies will have fallen off, but your kitchen kobold ally will be gone with them. What do you do?
Greas, with Ariza's help you're able to snap the nozzle of a trap off its housing and pocket it. You can mimic and improve upon the design later - possibly Smoog can help you improve it in some way. It appears that you can load the poison onto a needle, which is then injected into a chamber that is treated with a sublimating agent, turning the poison instantly into an aerosol mist. Poisons used this way that needed to be ingested can now simply be inhaled, and contact poisons will function in much the same way, over a wider area.
You're inside the tower at the top of HQ, alone. You're standing in a stone stairwell that curves around the wall of the tower in a circular fashion. There is a painting on the wall - a still life, fruit in a bowl. How pedestrian. The stairwell is lit by small chandeliers hung from the surprisingly high ceiling, held aloft by ropes that are tied at ground level. You can hear sounds, muffled and difficult to identify, but coming from your right, where the stairs are leading upward.
Suddenly you hear a new sound - the sound of high-heeled shoes, clicking on the stone stairs, coming toward you. Against the echoing stone and with the storm raging outside, it's impossible to tell if it's coming from below or above. What do you do?
Oadir discovers that any reluctance to follow his orders among his squad is completely banished by his recent display of channeling power. The injured kobold already has a friend hanging anxiously nearby while Oadir addresses her, and the tiefling puts her in his care. Then he bellows his commands, and his squad immediately gathers 'round him for orders. No injuries are reported - your death-teleportation whizzed around and killed all the enemies before any real fighting could take place.
The one member of your squad that doesn't immediately gather round is the half-giant. Being tallest, he's able to look out of a window that's too high for most. He's peering through it now, and he sees something that concerns him. he rumbles to you, his voice like boulders crashing against each other. He offers to pick you up so you can look through the window and see for yourself.
Thunk "surfs" down the Church of Abadar's front steps on the body of its high priest, causing screams of alarm from onlookers all around who hadn't witnessed the kill itself. However, the man's frock catches on the masonry as he slides, causing the barbarian to do a rolling tumble down the rest of the way! He loses all sense of which way is up for a second, then miraculously lands on his feet on the final step. Nailed it!
Orcs and bugbears are both renowned for their ferocity. Your Orcs outnumbered the Bugbear bodyguards, but the bodyguards are much, much better armed, and it's showing. Two of the bugbears are slain, but the remaining two are pressing the advantage on your orcs! 2 of them already look like they're past death's door, but are fighting on and displaying characteristic orcish ferocity.
Your attack MIGHT not have required a roll if you had approached them silently, but your sliding down the steps drew a lot of attention. The guard whirls just in time to catch your club in his fist, barely deflecting it from crushing his face at the cost of mangling his fingers. The big bugbear retaliates with a swing of his flail that impacts on your gut! Take 1d8+3 damage. You try to speak, and some sound comes out, better than when the curse first struck, but your voice is still tremendously weakened, and your troops can't hear you over the tolling of the bell.
At the Wasted Afternoon, Retzack holds up a single fist, and his freed-slave squad falls in line behind him in a disciplined manner. With a gesture and a few words, the goblin sends the reanimated crocolich in, first. And wisely done, as well - only the zombie's animalistic former brain prevents it from being completely dazzled by the strange fog emanating from the old man's fingertips. It does slow your creation down, however, and it lumbers toward the wizard. As you peer in through the tavern windows, you see the zombie knocking aside tables and stools in its effort to reach the wizard, who is still sucking down the last of his ale from his mug.
The mug is emptied shortly after and the old man throws it aside. The crocoilisk is upon him, its multiple limbs grasping at him. "GET BACK!" the wizard shouts, and flames erupts from both the old drunk's palms, engulfing the croc's face in fire. The zombie staggers back from the force of the spell, its face still burning but its undead determination unchanged. Undead, scaly flesh begins to slough off its face from the heat, leaving a croc's skull only behind. Your zombie is rapidly being blasted into a skeleton. Roll for Intelligence to command and coordinate its attacks.
Soup-Spoon calls out in fear, "Smoog! Help!"
The blue Gadgeteer maneuvers the ship's controls to level out the decks as well as extend some gang planks in Spoon's vicinity.
When he sees that the portly cook has regained a grasp on the ship, Smoog launches the sky skimmer forward and aims it to the green glowing tower across town.
The wind and almost no sound comes out of Thunk's gut.
Thunk returns the attack!
for
Of all the things to happen. He really didn't need this. Unless this was someone important on the hit list (this might be Joanna, but whether she was worth it at this stage was debatable unless some obstructive talent of hers was revealed), eliminating them now may draw undue attention, due to the matter of hiding the body and the fact their absence may be noticed.
Given the height of the ceiling, he may be able to go unnoticed up there. It was better than being outside. Greas clambers one of the ropes, trying hastily to get above visual range.
"Well, that's disconcerting..." Oadir takes the Goliath up on his offer. Well, let's see then. as he gets pulled up and sees the city guards arming up.
Okay, we have not long before they charge. We are all in reasonably good health, fit to fight, but we are lacking the necessary arms. We can still set up for ambush. Everyone, stick with me. Anyone who is they can take out multiple armed guards at once is to stand besides me. The rest of you, stand ready to charge in after we initiate. Pick up the weapons we make them drop and get ready to defend yourself. You need not kill any of them yourselves, just try to survive, help to distract and we'll take care of the rest. Once we take out a group, as many of us will arm ourselves as capably as possible.
Oadir pauses, realising he's just thinking out loud at this point.
In short: You think you can live through being outnumbered, you're with me. Anyone else, come in afterwards. No matter what anyone does, don't die in vain! Now some of you, go check around, see that there are no other entrances, the rest of you, prepare yourselves.
Oadir then turns to Dhorim: I know you're more than capable, but I need someone to spearhead the second charge. I'm going to ask you to stand and wait. You decide when we send the second wave. I trust your judgement on this.