Darkstone Dungeon Crawl (Inactive)

Game Master caster4life

Zoltan moves the ball of flames to a couple of the kobolds.

Damage: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 3) = 9 DC 17 Ref save to avoid

Then he shoots magic missiles at the fleeing spellcasters.

Force Damage: 3d4 + 3 ⇒ (4, 3, 4) + 3 = 14 Target closest first, and if he drops change to the next one.

Lenna, since you noted yourself as invisible on the map, it's on me for failing to remember that. I'll just waste those two spear attacks.

All, I love it when you add spell effect shapes to the map and keep them updated. It's super helpful. But if you can, try to make sure that they're behind the characters and npcs so I can see you well and move things around easily. Right click+order+send to back then do the same on the map layer. One easy way to do it.

Mira, Sunreturn, and Zoltan tear into the kobolds brutally, leaving nearly all of them dead. But two dodge Zoltan's fire and rush Mira desperately. Sunreturn picks one off as he runs up while Mira's lengthy reach allows her to destroy the other. A flurry of activity leaves all of the kobolds and the young dragon lying dead in a room that has been entirely silent the entire time. The bodies seem to lie with an eerie calm.

Well done. What now?

Sunreturn listens and watches for foes, hidden or approaching.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

I'll keep that in mind.

"Good thing we went in prepared. Bad thing. I don't get to ride on the dragon."

Lenna pouts as she heals Liz before using graves words on each body and the bodies at the training room.

CLW: 1d8 + 17 ⇒ (5) + 17 = 22

Mira glides down to the ground and shifts back into human form as she lands. Four rounds of rage remaining.

".........," she says, grinning broadly, then she blinks and closes a hand over the string around her wrist. "Sorry, just... wow. That spell of yours, Lenna, I could get used to that." She twirls her axe experimentally, still feeling the magic for a few seconds. "The flying too."

As Lenna prompts the bodies for information, Mira searches them for any items of interest.
Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19 and detect magic Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29

[ooc]Each of the sorcerers has a cloak of resistance +2 and a heartripper blade, like the one you encountered earlier. In addition, they each have an emerald cloak clasp worth 100 gp./ooc]

You also find a map of the woods on one of the kobolds. It has a kobolds body layout as the compass rose with the nose marking north, the right and left claws marking east and west respectively, and the tail marking south.

The dead kobolds babble on and on after being touched by Lenna's spell. When Lenna touches the young dragon, it speaks in its language "Touch the North button. We need to report."

After Lenna had Mira translate all the kobolds' and dragon's babble, she puts her hand on her chin.

"It seems we are getting closer to the one pulling the strings. Not going to touch the button and let them know. We need the element of surprise."

The halfling hoists a resistance cloak up and button the clasp that connects the cape together.

That includes the kobolds in the training room, right?

"Can one of you use this other cloak?"

If not, Zoltan will buckle it on, but he prefers a frontliner to have it if it helps protect them.

"Oh, that would be helpful!" Mira accepts the garment from Zoltan, offering her own cloak in return. (cloak of resistance +1)

So are we resting or continuing? Lenna cannot offer much in terms of spell since she is low but she has plenty rounds of performance left.

Zoltan is happy to exchange and puts on Mira's cloak.

"We should continue on, I think. Don't give them a chance to know we are coming."

Mira nods, sorting through the blades with interest. "Totally. Gotta strike the iron while it's bloody, and all that."

I sympathize with your lack of spells, Mira's running low on rage too. But there's no way she'd consider turning back unless someone argues for it. Hey, your performance is practically better than spells anyway! And there's always scrolls.

"Alright, let's go, Mimi."

Sneaking to the corner beside the northern tunnel, Lenna listens carefully to see if there is any sound coming from it.

Perception (Take 20) - 35

Stealth: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (9) + 16 = 25

You mean the far northern tunnel you guys haven't gone through yet, correct?

Lenna's sharp hearing picks up on faint yipping and squeaking sounds.

Yes. Lenna is sneaking to beside that beside that hole very quietly. Hiss...

Lenna turns back to the party that is some square behind her.

Through message"Looks like there are rats and dogs ahead. I might be surprised if there are gnolls in these damp place."

Through message

"I can go in front. Maybe one spears themselves on my weapon."

Through message "Do you want me to see what is ahead first? I hear dogs and rats but I have not seen them with my own eyes."

"Sure, go ahead. Just be careful!

Through message

"Yes."

Lenna sneaks ahead and always hiding behind the cover as she scouts.

Stealth: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (17) + 16 = 33

Lenna heads forward into the tunnel and finds rooms full of elderly kobolds taking care of very young kobolds and other young creatures of many scaly varieties including a young triceratops and some hatchling snakes. They don't seem to notice her.

Lenna reports back to the group, her face obviously in conflict.

"So how do we proceed?"

"Old and very young? Perhaps we can just scare them out? I could make an illusion of Mira coming in from the other side, all dino'd-out and such. Or, since audio and visual are a bit complicated to combine, maybe an image of one of the kobolds we just destroyed trying to silently evacuate them?

"Yes. We should get them to leave by illusion. There should be no need to fight them unless they force the issue."

Mira rubs her hands together thoughtfully. "We definitely shouldn't kill the baby triceratops. I bet that could fetch a great price with the right buyers." She turns to inspect the tunnel entrance. "As for scaring the kobolds, an illusion sounds good to me."

Once all have agreed, Zoltan conjures up an image of Mira, in all her dino glory, at the back side of the cave. It doesn't attack anything, but looks menacingly and snaps its jaws a lot.

Lenna supplement the image with ghost sound, enhancing the image to make it look like it is making the noises.

The weak kobolds and dinosaurs are shocked by the image and noise and begin rushing south past you in a panicked horde. Dozens and dozens more rush south toward whete you entered Darkstone. In Draconic, they yell things about meeting up with some of the hunting parties outside. You notice that the younger ones have darker scales than a normal kobold but not as dark as those of the full-grown kobolds you've fought. It seems like there is a continuous spectrum from smaller and dark to larger and darker.

"The dark is corrupting the young.", Sunreturn says with sadness.

"But at least we have not had to kill them. I hope they can be saved without killing them later."

"Let us see what they left behind. And then find their leaders."

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

Lenna helps by taking her time staring at the room.

Perception (Take 20) - 35

As you head down the north hall, you find many chambers and rooms that seem to house the everyday lives of the kobolds as they raise their young here. Your explorations take quite a while as it is an extensive area carved out by the dwarves over decades. But you don't find anything of interest, unless you're hungry for lizard-on-a-stick.

"Food!" Zoltan grabs a lizard on his way through and munches on it.

Is there an obvious route to a place of importance here?

"Really, Zozo? That is so unlike you."

You encounter some grand halls and the throne room but they've been long abandoned. The kobolds do not seem to have had much interest in those chambers. You have still not encountered the Crucible. But you do find some dwarvish writings in a small scrap of parchment tucked into a corner.

The Crucible was a trap by its very design. It took the strength from our people and the land and put it into everything reptilian. The kobolds and raptors began assaulting our outposts days ago. At first, we laughed them off. But they just kept coming. The Crucible itself imbued them with great power to reproduce, grow quickly, and fight to the death. We can't hold them off much longer...

"This kobold clearing is hard work! Anyway, you don't think any of those escaping kobolds took the Crucible with them, do you?"

"Now we understand the corruption that much better. And they may have. But maybe it has to be kept where it is. Let us continue our search."

Mira shrugs. "Not sure they could've known we'd be letting them go. We've been pretty... thorough, so far."

It doesn't have to be one person hitting this check but cooperation should be RPed a little bit to give it some flavor.

"I shall watch for danger as we search."

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

Yeah, Sunreturn isn't the most educated leaf on the tree. He has neither of those knowledge skills.

Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

Btw, I don't mind if you guys pile on guidance, aid another, etc after the fact as long as you give a little more description beyond "my character adds guidance" or "I help."

"I wonder what this Crucible looks like, anyway," Mira muses, prompting the others for thoughts. "What are we searching for?" She'll provide guidance and Aid Another: 1d20 ⇒ 16 if helpful, but I don't think we have any way of making the check. None of us knows engineering, and Lenna's archetype trades out bardic knowledge so she can't make the check untrained.

How about an intelligence check?

It's not really a vital spoiler. I wouldn't put information vital to the plot behind something you can't access. Just keep going as if I didn't say anything.

Sunreturn tries to work out where is left that the group has not yet searched.

Sunreturn believes that the large blocked off spaces in the grid-like area that they spent a lot of time in recently might contain chambers.

Sunreturn voices his thoughts, accentuated with gestures.

"If our little corrupting trinket is behind those blocks, let's move them out of the way."

Obviously, with that strength score, Lenna could not lift a single block unless the weight is manageable.