Morgrym steps into the fight with a 2 handed swing at the brute that just bit Kenji
Koan draws a bead on one of the ugly brutes from his perch and fires an arrow.
Vivnick draws her Masterwork Long sword as she charges twenty feet ahead to attack the creature to the west of Kenji.
Koan's arrow flies wide and lands in the dirt. The brutes try to manhandle and bite Kenji once again...
...with one landing a powerful bite on Kenji's arm with a sickening crunch.
Rushing to the rescue, Vivnick slams into one of the brutes! Her sword shears off part of a misshapen, stumpy leg, causing it to howl in pain.
Seeing the intensity of the fight with the creatures, Lyraesel focuses, calling forth the power of her inner wolf. Dropping into a predatory crouch, she races down the ladder with preternatural speed and towards the battle, drawing her dagger as she runs.
Kenji grimaces in pain and retreats, leaving a blast of fire in his wake. He holds his bitten arm with his free hand, trying to make sure it's still attached at the least.
"Ah! Bite on THIS, freaks!
Kenji scrambles away and the trail of fire whips up and causes the monsters to roar painfully. After a moment's flash of flame, there's a horrid stench and then the crashing sound of the monsters falling to the ground.
Apparently they were already winded by their wrestling antics, and it wasn't too hard to put them down.
Though you wince at the noise, nobody seems to respond. Then again, since they'd been shouting, yelling, and smacking each other around, it's possible that nobody knows that anything has changed - all anyone who's listening would know is that the fighting has stopped.
You have a chance to catch your breath in the small courtyard, and to glance about without anything else rushing to threaten you.
"That was... Crazy." Kenji pants, holding his injured arm. "Like, his mouth opened way wider than I would have thought he could."
He looks around, nodding. "We should stuff them in one of those towers before we go, or something. If there's anything else out in this area, I'd rather not have them raising the alarms."
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As the creatures fall, Lyraesel takes a deep breath, releasing her more primal side as she sheathes her dagger. Drawing the healing wand she walks over to Kenji pointing it at his bleeding arm.
Standing around in the courtyard still isn't probably the wisest maneuver. There's a door to your west, or you could slip back into the bottom floor of the tower to make plans, or through the narrow passage to your north and perhaps one of the doors there. Since you saw things at the front gate (to your west), that might not be the best spot.
"Lets avoid the front gate area." Kenji suggests. "Instead, lets get inside and see whats going on there."
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Vivnick nods her head in agreement with Kenji, gesturing over towards the tower she came down from, "No one was in there when I came through and it's defensible enough. Let us go there and plan." She makes her way back towards the tower door she had come through.
Nodding, Lyreasel moves towards the tower entrance keeping a wary eye.
You slide into the tower and shut the door behind you. Keeping an ear out, you don't immediately hear anyone responding to the combat in the courtyard.
You have a safe space to plan, but you don't know how long it will last. Eventually someone must pass by or realize that these creatures have not been around.
Taking a quick moment to separate the creatures heads from their spines, Morgrym will follow the others back.
After catching your breath in the tower, you sneak out across the courtyard to see what else you can see. On the far side is a heavy stone wall, but Lyraesel notes that there is a secret door in it that has been carelessly left open. Beyond is a small secret vestibule -- possibly for servants to move about unseen back when this castle was inhabited. Heavy doors to the west enclose what must be an important inner room, while the smaller doors to the east likely are less-important outer rooms like storage or archery cubbyholes. You can barely make out, through the slightly-open secret door on the other side of the vestibule, an inner courtyard beyond that has a small pool that looks like a morass of algae.
Kenji peeks into the open secret door, thinking.
"I believe that this might get is further in without alerting any more guards." he says, glancing back at his comrades. "Maybe there are answers this way."
"Agreed." Lyraesel says entering the passageway.
Fair enough
Morgrym waits until everyone is through before entering and closing the door.
Vivnick nods in agreement and follows Lyraesel through the passageway, looking around as she goes.
Dropping into a crouch, Lyraesel studies the passageway intently for signs of use or recent activity
You carefully close the southern secret door. Carefully searching the small passageway, you determine that there are signs of passage from one of the eastern doors: very small feet (a Tiny creature) with a surprisingly long stride (either it has very long legs or it's very fast).
There are also strange footprints going through the northern door to the ruined garden with the pond, some kind of splayed, clawed foot, perhaps avian.
"Be careful, strange creatures have passed this way." Lyraesel says moving in the direction of the tiny foot prints origin.
Vivnick nods quietly and continues to follow Lyraesel.
Kenji will tap his spiked gauntlets together, setting his right hand on fire and creating a torchlight. The heat and flame doesn't seem to bother him as he walks around with it.
Morgrym continues to look around with the warning.
Lyraesel pushes open the middle eastern door as quietly as she can manage.
It’s impossible to tell what this room may have originally been used for, as the walls and floor are decorated with countless preserved animals and creatures, ranging from small birds and forest creatures to fearsome predators. Several of the displays look uncomfortably fresh or humanoid in shape.
You hear a strange high-pitched buzzing that sounds like a screeching insect, but you don't see anything.
Kenji looks but doesn't see anything.
"Mogrym, get behind me!" he says, fire flaring to life along his legs.
ROUND 1
As Kenji shouts, a small, slender, elfin-like creature suddenly appears, moving with incredible speed. It darts forward, stabs at Morgrym...
...leaves him with a nasty gash, then darts back away in the room while Morgrym is still flat-footed and unable to strike back. It makes some kind of high-pitched buzzing as it moves.
What in the name of the maker.
Morgrym moves over towards Kaijitsu as he clears the hallway.
Morgrym clears the way and Kenji launches his arc of fire.
The small faerie creature launches itself in a sideways spin in the air and completely avoids the blast!
Lyreasel snarls, the golden glow of her eyes intensifying as she draws her dagger, her hair seeming to thicken as she shifts into a slightly more lupine posture, nose up to the air, as she focuses on the rapidly moving prey.
[ooc]From scent entry: The creature detects another creature's presence but not its specific location. Noting the direction of the scent is a move action. If the creature moves within 5 feet (1 square) of the scent's source, the creature can pinpoint the area that the source occupies, even if it cannot be seen.
Vivnick moves the 15 feet to engage the creature, swinging at it with her long sword.
Viv moves in to confront the small creature, and her sword connects - but seems to have no appreciable effect!
Realizing that the creature seems to be vibrating at an incredible rate, Koan leans forward and releases an inaudible shriek - perhaps it can be vibrated apart?
The small faerie holds its head in its hands and for a moment it seems to freeze in place, a tiny elfin woman with elongated features and slender, disproportionately long and thin limbs, holding her ears and emitting a high-pitched shriek!
Kenji takes the opportunity to dive through the space next to Vivnick and comes up next to the strange woman. Seeing her distracted, Kenji tries to grab her in order to stop her movements.
"Hold still you... blurry person! Kenji grumbles as he tries to get ahold of the thing.
Morgrym scabbards his axe, and pulls out his heavy pick.
Aye, hold her and ask her questions. This should provide the incentive to her answering.
He then starts to walk towards her.