Bastion eyes the narrow crack in the wall and decides it is not for him. He heads back through the door he opened earlier and heads down the hall to check the first door across the hall. Forcing open the door, he notes that the air in this small room smells stale. A pile of rocks sits on the dust-covered floor in one corner of the room.
Pausing a moment in the doorway, he notices a single set of tracks have recently disturbed the dust, belonging to a human-sized creature. He also sees that the pile of rocks in the corner of the room looks rather like it was stacked there, as opposed to the more random rubble that he’s seen elsewhere in Ashkurhall.
As he stands in the doorway, he hears the twang of bowstrings, and a pair of crossbow bolts come flying at him from the far end of the hall!
Wayne’s shot ricochets off the ancient stone walls, hitting no one, as Bastion moves his massive shield closer to the source of the crossbow bolts. He can now see a pair of kobolds, positioned behind a rusty portcullis. Behind the kobolds, there is a grotesque dragon face carved in the stone wall. In its gaping maw it has two dozen round holes where its teeth should be.
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Blayne will advance to cover behind Bastion and prepare to cast a spell. As soon as possible he will cast Summon Monster 1 to conjure one of Cayden's celestial hounds to attack the kobold archers. He plans to position the hound on the other side of the bars with the kobolds.
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The kobold still visible through the portcullis fires a bolt at Wayne, shooting past Bastion with impressive accuracy! He then reloads in a snap and shoots again, hitting Wayne once more! He cries out, ”Yes we live here! And you die here!” then steps aside for the other crossbow-kobold, who fires and just misses Wayne!
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"Cayden bless a fool! " Blayne mutters as he reaches Bastion and realises he can't quite target the spot he wanted to reach. He hunkers down behind his shield on full defence to consider his options.
"If we advance can you reach them with your gandasa? " he asks Bastion.
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With a truly irritating laugh, the green-scaled kobold shouts back, "We've got a shooting gallery, seems like fine circumstances to me!"
"Sure, throw down that big shield of yours, for starters!" the kobold calls back. He's silent for a moment, then both of them can be heard quietly laughing and Bastion thinks he hears the other voice say quietly "Throw down the shield, that's rich!"
The Instrument knows enough of kobolds to understand that these two have little reason to fear him and his allies at this point, as they're protected behind a portcullis and able to shoot freely down the hall. Presenting a more immediate threat to them would, in all likelihood, change their perspective a bit.
The kobold manages to dodge Bastion’s attack through the portcullis, and actually sticks his tongue out at the towering half-orc as he does so! Instrument can feel his hex take effect on the kobold at almost the same moment.
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"We really aren't here to cause trouble! Can we talk without all the violence?""
Blayne will advance and cast Charm Person on the so far more talkative kobold. Save DC 14 Will.
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The kobold simply laughs at Blayne's suggestion. "Hah! Talk, without violence? What's the point in that?"
Torriki moves up to join the others, ready to get into the fight if they can get past the portcullis. The kobolds, seeing the massive shield out of the way for a moment, step back and loose a volley of bolts at Bastion! They snarl in frustration as the portcullis interferes with their shots, causing a couple of them to just barely miss the shield-bearer.
With a satisfying crunch, followed by the squeeeeal of rusty hinges, Bastion grabs hold of the door handle and wrenches it open!
Looking into the room beyond, Wayne can see that it is empty, but the north and south walls both have large cracks in them, leading to other rooms. To the north, he can see a room with a large pile of rubble on the north end. Through the southern crack, he sees what looks like the end of the hallway where the kobolds are!
The kobold nearest to Wayne yelps in pain as a bullet strikes him!
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[ooc]can't see map. Still away until tomorrow. I trust any reasonable choice. Will post later if able. Definitely back 100% tomorrow.
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Bastion obligingly steps aside so that the instrument can cast his spell through the portcullis. The green-scaled kobold does not see the Instrument’s searing fire coming, as his attention is focused on the guy who just shot him. Alas, his inattention is his undoing, and he drops to the ground, badly burned! The reddish kobold is both more attentive and more nimble, and he ducks under the flames, avoiding much of their effect.
Torriki takes a try at opening the door he’s standing next to, and to everyone’s astonishment, he forces it open!
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Blayne calls ahead to Bastion and asks "Can you break through the barricade? "
Without waiting for a reply he will take a look into the room Torriki just opened up to see if he can get around the barricade.
Seeing an empty room with a door Blayne advances confidently to the door to try to bash it open.
Blayne steps through the open door and sees that the room is more or less bare, except for a door on the south wall and large cracks on the north and south walls. He moves to the door and wrenches it open and is able to see the red-scaled kobold and a set of double doors at the end of the hall.
Everyone except Torriki is able to see that the floor of the kobolds’ hallway includes a 20-foot-long series of pressure plates in front of the carven dragon’s head, though the pressure plates are clearly in very poor repair, and unlikely to work without some help.
[/ooc]
At the same time, the remaining kobold darts toward the crack in the wall next to Blayne, squeezing through and hurrying across the room, where he squirms and wriggles through the next crack as well and slips out of sight!
Blayne's attack on the speedy kobold misses!
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"Look out for the floor by the cracking! The kobold was avoiding it. "
Blayne points out the offending area before stabilizing the unconscious kobold with his sacred touch.
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