"I'm not much for climbing, and hardly sneaky, but I can be a great distraction," Drahlneep says as he checks his weapons for the tenth time and unlimbers his shield. "I'm sick of waiting. If someone has an idea, let's hear it, otherwise, hit and run is all I got."
Lets try not turning this into another frontal assault if at all possible, as that is not where our strengths lie. The way I figure it there is either someone behind that heat gun looking out who has to aim it at us, or there is some magic or tech that is controlling it. If it is a person, then we are basically invisible past 60' and only visible within that distance if they are an orc or some other night see-er. So we creep up and then scurry quickly and quietly and hope that they are not looking during that 6 seconds or so. If it is tech or magic, then there is nothing we can do to hide, so we might as well move quickly to the door in any case to limit the amount of time it has to shoot at us.
Nodding, Jeji creeped forward silently. Skulking in the shadows, she stopped just long enough to look for a way to try to scale the wall.
Her first attempt unsuccessful, she continued trying, her small clawed hands looking for any perch they could find.
Being closer to the device didn't reveal any more information so she set to work trying to remove the device.
Drahlneep nods, and keeps himself to the back of the pack, knowing he is not great at creeping.
The kobolds make a sneaky plan and spring into action! Jeji creeps forward circling around in the darkness toward the wall. The laser turret suddenly whirs and spins to point at the creeping kobold. There are two flashes as the thing rapid fires two laser blasts into kobold.
Jeji gives a little shriek and runs to the wall madly scrambling up only to slide down the trash a moment before she gets a proper hold and climbs up out of the deadly laser's reach. Hanging on above the weapon, Jeji fiddles with it until she manages to disconnect some wires running from the laser shooter to a scratched glassy eyeball-like sensor. From there it is easy to remove the pin holding the weapon up and lower it down to her companions who walk up to the doors.
As soon as Jeji is within arms reach of Kricker, he heals her completely.
Nice job Jeji! Lets see if we can make this work detached from the mount.
Kricker heals Jeji's nasty burns and takes a look at the TEK. It seems to be a scavenged bot arm. There is no battery slot so it's running on stored energy, but Kricker figures it has enough juice left for a half-dozen shots.
The doors appear to be barred from within.
whispering...Hmm I guess I can use this as a weapon for a bit. Jeji, Do you think you can get us past the barred door? Or do we need to find another way in? Kricker looks around the entrance to see if there might be some sort of sally port or bolt hole.
There doesn't appear to be another way in, but the doors don't meet tightly and Kricker can peer through the crack between them. There appears to be a band holding them closed which could be forced by a stronger creature than a kobold or more likely disabled with the right tools or touch. Beyond the doors, Kricker can just make out a long counter across the room with candles and other things that looks kinda like a shrine.
Pulling out her shortsword, Jeji tried to slip it between the two doors in an effort to dislodge the blocking mechanism.
Perrik listens for any sign that the TEK weapon firing woke any of the Smilers.
If Jeji's first try doesn't work, Kricker casts Guidance on her and encourages her to try again.
The crack is narrow and the shortsword jams without affecting the chained doors. Perrik attempts to listen over Jeji's shoulder, but doesn't sense any movement. Kricker grants Jeji some of the Iron Gods fortitude and encourages her to try again, perhaps with more appropriate tools.
Sheathing her shortsword, Jeji quickly pulled out her smaller, slimmer tools and set to work. Still nervous from the blast of the TEK weapon though, it took her quite some time to focus.
It takes Jeji a couple tries, but eventually she is able to disengage the chain. The door suddenly flies open and a particularly tall and misshapen human towers over the kobolds! White foam flies from his lipless mouth and he wields a heavy club of with spikes of jagged metal welded to it.
Perrik:
Kricker: ;
Drahlneep:
foe:
Perrik attempts to interpose his spear between Drahlneep and the attacker.
Drahlneep's primal instincts take over the moment he sees the new threat, and his rage causes his reflexes to go into overdrive. He snaps the pistol up to the creature's center body mass and squeezes twice.
Kricker draws his sword, activates the Gravity Clip and tries to hit the monstrosity.
Drahlneep points the pistol at the ogre-like Smiler towering over Jeji. The first shot misses as Drahlneep aims wide to avoid Jeji. The second hits. The creature shrieks in pain and his eyes go wide in fear. Kricker steps up to Jeji's side and swings and hits the mutant, but it's a glancing blow which does no harm. Perrik jabs his spear to interfere with the monster's attacks.
The giant Smiler swings the massive club down on Jeji with bone-crushing force. Perrik may as attempt blocking it with twig. Jeji is nearly knocked flat to the floor by the incredible blow.
Drahlneep sees Jeji take a serious hit and charges in with a snarl, trying to break the Smiler's knobby knee and grab it's attention.
The force of the blow was enough to make Jeji fall backwards so rather than resist the push, she embraced it. Her back felt like it was broken, cracked in several places. If it wasn't for the natural toughness of her dragon-like scales, she'd probably be dead. As it was, she almost wished she was dead. Every part of her body hurt, and hurt bad. She summoned what little strength she had left and pushed through the pain as best she could to limp away just as the others began to swarm the giant foe.
Perrik abandons strategy and tries to perforate the huge Smiler as best he can.
Kricker shifts into a flank (hopefully with Drahlneep and failing that with Perrik) and winds up and tries to ruin the giant's day.
Drahlneep charges forward bashing the ogre-like man in the knee and covering Jeji's retreat. Perrik jabs the Smiler and Kricker manages to leave a sizable bruise this time. The minor wounds just seem to enrage the mutant more. The press does seem to throw him off though and his swing goes wide.
"Jeji, do you need curing now?"
Drahlneep lets loose with the pistol, burning through the rest of the battery in mere seconds.
"I'll be okay. Help the others" she managed to eek out. Her wounds still bleeding and her bones still aching, she managed to slink away slowly to find a hiding spot. She knew she wouldn't survive another hit from the giant, so she would guard their rear. She started to pull out a bomb flask, but not trusting her own strength at the moment, she decided against it.
Perrik tries to follow up his last successful attack, but can't connect again.
Kricker swings again.
and misses...
Jeji waves off the assistance though she looks to sorely need it. Instead, she creeps off to find a dark hole to hide in. Drahlneep fires the laser pointblank, burning holes in the big Smiler. The red flashes illuminate the fear in the mutant's eyes and his growls of rage turn to wails of despair. Moaning and shrieking, the freaked out freak assails the gun knocking it from Drahlneep's grasp and smashing it to bits! In shock, Perrik and Kricker fail to press their attack.
It took her a moment to summon her courage, but she eventually found it. Or maybe it was the fear about what would happen if this giant killed the rest of them. Either way, she crept forward, slowly, drawing an extract out and quaffing the contents.
Drahlneep snarls and spits at the gigantic Smiler. He reaches down to grab the shocking mace and takes a swing, hoping that discharging the device will take some of the fight out of him.
Jeji begins creeping back as Drahlneep grabs his club. He strikes the big ugly Smiler, but not hard enough to harm him or discharge the baton.
Perrik drops back as Jeji creeps forward and taps the alchemist, sending healing energy into his broken body.
Kricker steps back and casts Doom DC14 on the big guy.
Perrik moves back to help his badly wounded warrenmate. Kricker calls upon the Lord in Iron to cast even more dread upon the obviously frightened guard. The ogrish oaf drops his club with a loud crash and retreats to the back of the room pulling open the door on the east wall.
Emboldened by the healing magic, Jeji gave chase after the giant that almost ended her in one fell swoop. She stopped well short of it though, and instead drew out a bomb and hurled it at the lumbering oaf.
Not realizing he has made little progress with the stunning mace, Drahlneep presses his assault, charging once more at the fleeing monster.
Jeji rushes after the hulking Smiler and tosses a bomb. It hits and explodes eliciting howls of pain, but though wounded, the massive menace does not appear ready to fall. Drahlneep follows around the metal tables swinging, but missing the retreating figue.
The room has old wooden benches that line the west and east walls. Two ruined metal tables sit in the center of the room, while a nook to the north is set off by a countertop strewn with bones and bits of junk. Two grisly chandeliers, made out of hanging bundles of skulls and bones, illuminate the room with flickering yellow flame. There area doors on the fall wall and to the right through which the Smiler is fleeing. Shouts come from beyond the running giant.
Kricker switches weapons to the laser arm/rifle.
Perrik switches to his light crossbow, and takes advantage of the Smiler's size to shoot past Drahlneep into it.
Perrik moves in and shoots over Drahlneep's horns to hit the giant, but the big mutant reacts to the minor wound far less than he does when he sees Kricker readying the big gun that is nearly as long as the kobold. The oaf bolts screaming and other shouts are heard ahead. Drahlneep can see about four Smilers emerge from doorways along the hall ahead.
Drahlneep's instincts tell him to ignore the fleeing giant in favor of the new targets he sees. He spins about and roars before rushing the nearest one with the stunning mace swinging.
Skidding to a halt, Jeji almost barreled into Drahlneep. Finally seeing why he stopped drove her arm to pull a bomb from the leather bandolier and hurl it down the hallway towards the group of smilers.
Jeji hurls a bomb into the center of the chamber catching three of the Smilers at the edge of the burst with minor burns. Drahlneep charges the nearest cannibal mutant and smacks him painfully with the baton. The club gives a low hum and the ugly human's eyes bulge slightly as he looks a bit dazed.
Kriker slides over to the north a bit (5') to get an angle to shoot into the hallway. He then picks the closest Smiler not engaged in melee with Drahlneep and shoots him.
Perrik follows Kricker and does likewise with his crossbow.