Skyrhak keeps running towards the noise, and before stopping at the end of this passage she'll once again make her scales similar to the nearest walls.
Skyrahk swiftly begins to blend in with the cavern as she heads to the action.
Round 2
Blakros Forces: Advance!
Skyrahk: Move and blend
Engashez: Go
Athrax: Go
Fazgyn: Go
Pethjun: Go
Hats: TBD
HATS: 8
Grey: 8
Red: 8
White: 4
Black: 4
Blue: 14
Yellow: 10
As all the trespassers suddenly rush past Hats, Fazgyn starts to panic a little, "Should have had more traps! Always need more traps..." He starts fumbling around in his pack for a vial of poison, Time for plan B. He thinks to himself as he covers the tip of an arrow with the foul substance, smiling menacingly.
Engashez pokes her head out from the nearby tunnel and spies the majority of the invading agents working on making their way up the scaffolding.
"Hey you guys!" she calls out to get their attention, then conjures a bright explosion of glitter in their midst.
"Eeeheehee! Stupid softskins are no match for the mighty Sewer Dragons!"
_______
Fazgyn scrambles around in his pack, wishing he had set more traps You can never have too many, why did I leave a whole room clear? Pulling out the Giant Wasp Poison he was looking for, he starts to apply it to an arrow with an evil smile, Next best thing, yes it is!
Engashez throws out a shocking amount glitter!
FAIL
FAIL
FAIL
PASS
FAIL
Only a single man closes his eyes in time! The rest immediately shout in fear at the blinding color.
Yellow, above the glitter kerfuffle still runs head long into a blade as Pethjun stabs him!
Fazgyn, now free to choose any of a number of blind targets, preps his arrow for poisonous work.
Round 2
Blakros Forces: Advance!
Skyrahk: Move and blend
Engashez: Glitterdust!
Athrax: Go
Fazgyn: Prep
Pethjun: Stab
Hats: TBD
HATS: 8
Grey: 8 BLIND
Red: 8 BLIND
White: 4 BLIND
Black: 4 BLIND
Blue: 14
Yellow: 18
Antrax sighs. Things aren't going as he expected. Still under the effects of spider climb he climbs around the edge of the cliff face trying to get to the enemies.
Hats has a field day: He bites the solider in blue: for taking his head clean off
but lashes out at the solider in the back of the blind mob with a trio of tentacles!
MISS
THREAT
for
for
and grabs the man around the neck!
The lone spell caster again send a missile out, targeting Hats , but the otyugh barely notices. "HATS EAT BAD MEN!!!!"
The blind men scatter:
They all manage to rub out the blindness, all but one anyway.
Finally up top the half-orc swings his axe viciously but Pethjun easily dodges it!
Round 3
Blakros Forces: It's not pretty
Skyrahk: Go
Engashez: Go
Athrax: Go
Fazgyn: Go
Pethjun: Go
Hats: TBD
HATS: 10
Grey: 8
Red: 8
White: 4 BLIND
Black: 16
Yellow: 18
Engashez scowls as nearly all of the softskins shake off her blinding glitter and decides that it's time for another song.
~We're not gonna take it
No, we ain't gonna take it
We're not gonna take it anymore
We've got the right to choose and
There ain't no way we'll lose it
This is our life, this is our song
We'll fight the powers that be just
Don't pick our destiny 'cause
You don't know us, you don't belong
We're not gonna take it
No, we ain't gonna take it
We're not gonna take it anymore~
_______
Skyrahk takes one step forward into the cave's opening but stops to pick up a handful of pebbles, which she imbues with mystical energies after chanting for a magic stone spell.
Engashez strikes up an atonal, but inspirational tune! Pethjun scores a single hit, but can't drop the half-orc, who fights on. Skyrahk preps up a spell to start sticking it to them!
Round 3
Blakros Forces: It's not pretty
Skyrahk: Cast
Engashez: Bard!
Athrax: Go
Fazgyn: Go
Pethjun: Hit
Hats: TBD
HATS: 10
Grey: 8
Red: 8
White: 4 BLIND
Black: 16
Yellow: 25
Fazgyn pops out of his hiding place and raises his bow, looking for a likely target to test his poison on. Fixing his sights on the all to smug looking spellcaster, he shouts down, "You think you're smart. Stupid, stupid." And he shoots that poison arrow to his heart.
Fazgyn just barely grazes the spellflinger, but that's all it takes for the poison to get to work! The sorcerer winces a bit
Round 3
Blakros Forces: It's not pretty
Skyrahk: Cast
Engashez: Bard!
Athrax: Go
Fazgyn: Hit
Pethjun: Hit
Hats: TBD
HATS: 10
Grey: 8
Red: 8
White: 4 BLIND
Black: 16
Yellow: 25
Cyan: 1 (-2 DEX)
Antrax drops off of the wall, and attacks the yellow tinged enemy with his shortspear.
Unfortunately Athrax stabs off target, and draws no blood.
Hats goes to town:
for . He suffocates the held guard.
He then chomps the ranger in front of him for
Then he slaps him with a tentacle THREAT for . Another man drops with a broken neck. Hats gives a shout of victory! Then he remembers his third tentacle, which snakes towards the spellcaster for .
The spellcaster who has yet to enter the chamber beats a hasty retreat after the carnage.
The red guard tries to get around the cesspool and using his polearm attacks Skyrahk: , but can't connect.
The ranger to the north just barely squeezes down the path.
The remaining spell caster takes a shot at Hats with a magic missile
The remaining threat, the furious half-orc, opts to go down in a blaze of blood and glory: ... though the blood may be only his own.
Round 3
Blakros Forces: It's not pretty, again
Skyrahk: Go
Engashez: Go
Athrax: Go
Fazgyn: Go
Pethjun: Go
Hats: TBD
HATS: 12
Red: 8
White: 4 BLIND
Yellow: 25
Cyan: 6 (-2 DEX)
Fazgyn is stunned for a moment, watching Hats in all his glory, From now on, whenever I see a fancy hat, I'm saving it for him! However, before any bromance can bloom, there is the small matter of softskins to mop up, and Fazgyn rushes back into the tunnels to block off any escape.
Pethjun scores a hit with his rapier! It's enough to deal a fatal blow! But the half-orc is ferocious! He fights on!
Round 3
Blakros Forces: It's not pretty, again
Skyrahk: Go
Engashez: Go
Athrax: Go
Fazgyn: Move
Pethjun: Hit
Hats: TBD
HATS: 12
Red: 8
White: 4 BLIND
Yellow: @ -2
Cyan: 6 (-2 DEX)
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"NO! You don't get to try and stab me! My friend in the pool will EAT YOU ALIVE!" -if you survive my mighty rock throwing skills-
Taking one step back away from the guard in red, I don't want to get stabbed, this are my new robes, she throws a magic rock at his face.
"And don't come closer! You'll die, I tell you!!"
As the wave of softskins begins to break and scatter, Engashez keeps on singing as she readies her sling and attempts to bean the Cyan spellcaster with a bullet...
"Ehehehe! Eat stone!"
Skyrahk's shot breaks the man's neck! Engashez too scores a hit, but the man doesn't drop.
Round 3
Blakros Forces: It's not pretty, again
Skyrahk: Kill
Engashez: Hit
Athrax: Go
Fazgyn: Move
Pethjun: Hit
Hats: TBD
HATS: 12
White: 4 BLIND
Yellow: @ -2
Cyan: 9 (-2 DEX)
Antrax steps up and stabs at the hooman in front of him. He feels like he might have connected with the attack and shows a lot of teeth with his smile.
It's not a devastating hit, but the wounds add up as Athrax draws blood with his spear. The half-orc is dead, he just hasn't accepted it yet.
Hats decides that the spell caster would make a nice snack, and even beckons him with a bit of taunting. for . By the time Hats is done, there's little of the spellcaster left.
The ranger continues to sneak up and around, despite the tight fit. He tries to swing at Fazgyn , but it's embarrassingly bad.
The dying half orc swings his axe at Pethjun, THREAT
thankfully the hit isn't as bad as it almost was!
Round 4
Blakros Forces: The end is nigh
Skyrahk: Go
Engashez: Go
Athrax: Go
Fazgyn: Go
Pethjun: Go
Hats: TBD
HATS: 12
White: 4
Yellow: @ -4
"You should die now." Anthrax stabs at the half-orc.
"Hahahaha, what... What was that?!" All Fazgyn can do is laugh at the man's pitiful attempt at fighting, "No seriously... Did you just try to hit me, or was that what you softskins do when you want to surrender?" Still laughing, he flashes both blades at the poor excuse for a fighter.
Fazygyn's tongue thrashing is supported by the utter violence he brings. The option to surrender seems logical as he's barely holding on, but he doesn't yield!
Round 4
Blakros Forces: The end is nigh
Skyrahk: Go
Engashez: Go
Athrax: Miss
Fazgyn: Hit
Pethjun: Go
Hats: TBD
HATS: 12
White: 4
Yellow: @ -4
Skyrhak runs over to the other 'end' of the pool, waiting for the rest of the Sewer Dragons to dispose of their humans, so she can heal them all to lay some more destruction along the way.
Why can't they just finish them all! They die with a pebble to the neck, are this Dragons turning soft on me?
With only one remaining target within easy reach, Engashez ceases her song and lets fly at Yellow with a sling bullet!
Pethjun's skill is more than enough, with a stab the half-orc simply loses too much blood to continue.
It's only a moment or two later to utterly crush the remaining foe.
Victory!
Unfortunately, you're not out of the woods yet. Energy begins to swirl and crackle in the portal itself! It's opening!
Sparks of vibrant green light dance off the portal’s frame, while arcs of similarly colored lightning sputter forth. A strong actinic stench fills the area surrounding the portal as the rungs between the rods enliven, creating a series of tears in the space. The tears coalesce into a roughly square threshold of pitch black, held in place by the portal frame’s twin rods!
A strange looking human steps through the portal , and next to him the sound of shock as the trap seems to go off for no reason!
------------------
The arrow trap stabs something as blood sprays cross the floor, but the target is invisible. The human draws steel to fight back, not missing a beat in this shockingly unexepcted turn of events.
Round 1:
Pethjun: Go
???: TBD
Fazgyn: TBD
Engashez: TBD
Athrax: TBD
Skyrahk: TBD
White: 9
Pethjun moves to the portal while traps left and right erupt! The human rushes towards the corner, drawing steel and trying to get a back to the wall to fight back. A trio of arrows shoots at her:
for
for
MISS
It's obvious that the other is invisible, and the trail of sprung traps is near comical.
for
MISS
MISS
THREAT
The hilarious trail of arrows leads to a dead body. The final arrow destroys the invisibility spell and leaves a very dead pale creature!
The survivor, utterly overwhelmed by the unreasonably trapped area, retreats through the portal as fast as possible.
So fast that they forget to close it...
The dead body, littered with arrows, has a few choice items: oil of darkness, potion of cure light wounds; Other Gear mwk chain shirt, mwk buckler, mwk kukri, dust of tracelessness, and 37 gp
There is but one way forward, and that's through the portal
You all step through the portal, feeling almost like you are pushing through water — though it is tingly rather than wet. You can feel an electric charge crackling along your scales as you push through to another world.
Then abruptly, the feeling is gone. You all fall about three feet onto the hard pavement in an abandoned twilight-lit alley.
This seems like a very odd place to put a portal to another world. Why would an invading force want to assemble here, in this ugly little alley?
As you look around, you see that you are right across from a boarded-up shop whose peeling sign reads “Organs and Sundries.” As you step out to peer beyond the alley to the streets beyond, you realize that you can feel the presence of the portal behind you. It is a feeling not unlike the itch of a phantom limb.
You realize that wherever you go in this city, you will always know where that portal is, so long as it is active. As creatures of the material plane, you are linked to it!
The portal is drawing power from some external force, most likely a magical focus item, and knows that such an item would only be effective within a range of a few miles.
You gaze out on to the street that lays beyond the alleyway, and notice that there is a great diversity to the people you see. Although half of them appear to be fetchlings, the other half appear to be from a wide variety of humanoid species unknown to you — some look like odd versions of humans, others look insectoid or even reptilian. Wherever you are, it is diverse.
The means to closing this portal once and for all must be somewhere in here.
Unlike cities of the Material Plane, the streets of Shadow Absalom are accommodating to most species—kobolds included. People wave at you, and don’t seem to bat an eye at seeing five kobolds and a “fetchling” walking together. With this fortuitous luxury to walk unmolested, you have the chance to chat with locals and learn about the local area.
Diplomacy, Knowledge (local or planes), or Perception check:
The city is called Shadow Absalom and is located on the Shadow Plane. As its name would suggest, the city rests at a coterminous point with Absalom's location on the Material Plane. The locals are used to strangers winding up in the city, by mistake or by odd turns of fortune.
The great wyrm umbral dragon Argrinyxia, the Shifting Lady of Ebon Scales, rules Shadow Absalom. By her decree, planar portals and gateways are prohibited within the borders of the city without her blessing. The sole exception is a stable planar portal located in the city's heart, a site that matches up with the Material Plane equivalent of Starstone Cathedral. Those lost in the Shadow Plane are urged to exit via the strange portal in the city's heart, as it always returns those who entered the Shadow Plane to their previous point of entry.
While dozens of factions operate within the planar city, two are of interest to the PCs' expedition. The Onyx Alliance maintains several safe houses and bases within the city. The alliance's headquarters is probably located somewhere within the city, though only its members know for sure. A second organization, known as the Light-Weavers' Guild, is comprised of several resident d'ziriak hives that make their living by adding luminescent accoutrements to clothing and armor. The light-weavers maintain a longstanding grudge against the Onyx Alliance, based on some past slight unknown to the people of Shadow Absalom.
One of Argrinyxia's lesser spawn—the wyrmling Shadrixis—has made some bargain with the forces of the Onyx Alliance. The exact details of the arrangement are unknown, but many suspect that the wyrmling has sought to spite his mother by assisting the Onyx Alliance. Others comment how Shadrixis stole one of his mother's scales, the key to opening planar portals in the city.
"Nononono, I'm missing it! I'm missing it..." Fazgyn starts rushing through the crawl spaces when he hears the traps snapping, but by the time he gets to the portal, it's all over. Sulking, and grumbling about stupid impatient softskins, he searches through the dead body for anything shiny to take his mind off the disappointment. "Hmm, this has some potential..." He says to no one in particular as he holds up the oil of darkness for inspection.
"Strange... What sort of invading force would set up in a dingy ally like this? And a portal three feet in the air is certainly not ideal." Shrugging, Fazgyn decides to take a quick around, and he licks his lips at the sight of the sign, "MMmmm... I could do with a snack after all that fighting! I wonder what sort of organs they sell, I could really go for some fresh lungs right now." When everyone is ready, he wanders with them out of the ally to experience the wonders of the Shadow Plane and what he soon finds out is the city of 'Shadow Absalom.'
He doesn't speak to any of the locals, preferring to eye them suspiciously instead, so perhaps it's little wonder that he has next to no clue where the Sewer Dragons are, or what they should be doing, "Do any of you know where we should start?" He asks his dragon-kin.
"Wow...talk about overkill," Engashez cackles as they all reconvene at the portal to mend their wounds and inspect the dead body. "This will make a great story for the rest of the clan!"
Once they step through the portal, the little blue kobold narrows her eyes as she takes in their new, strange surroundings.
"It's very strange," Engashez agrees with Fazgyn's assessment. "But there's no time for snacks and wondering about the portal's placement! We need to look around and find whatever's powering it; it's going to have to be some sort of magical item and it won't be more than a few miles away at most."
_______
After the group gets their bearings in the alley, Engashez steps out into the crowds to learn more about this strange city...
...and returns after a short while. "This is Shadow Absalom, on the Shadow Plane. It sits uh...at a coterminous point with the smoothskin city that we live under," she explains to the others. "And guess what!? A true trueblood rules here, a great shadow wyrm named Argrinyxia! And portals and gates aren't supposed to be opened here without her blessing."
"Oh...and apparently there's one sanctioned, permanent portal at the city's heart. We should be able to use it to go home after we close the other portal."
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
- - - - - - - - - - -
"Woo! Snacks! Some smoked liver would be nice... What do you mean we can't have snacks Engashez? A'right, let's got then...""
_______________________
After the dragon yapper comes back with news, "A shadow true blood? Doesn't sound so true to me, maybe we can visit! And she can help us destroy the ones that are opening the portals into our sewers!"
Anthrax is fascinated by the portal. He wants to study it as long as possible, but is distracted with the news of a true blood in charge.
"That's wonderful. Let's go find this leader and let her know that the True Dragons have news about an active portal that isn't supposed to be here. Then we can get snacks."
As the party wanders around, wide-eyed, a strange creature approaches. This four-armed creature looks like a cross between a human and a black and ochre termite. Its body and arms display glowing runes.
As the creature approaches, you hear a "voice" directly in your minds. Her mental discourse sounds like a monotonous voice accented with the chittering of mandibles and the ominous tones of constant humming.
"I have been instructed to watch the portal subtely. My instructions, if it activates are to move to find a way to close it. I did not expect you to come through. I believe we can help each other, for I sense our goals align. The imbeciles of the Onyx Alliance disregard the rules of our city’s matron, the great Argrinyxia. She has forbidden the creation of any planar gateways without her express consent—consent only given in the form of one of her vaunted scales. Unable to retrieve such a blessing on their own, the alliance managed to trick one of great Argrinyxia’s whelplings into stealing such a scale. Now, that misbegotten child, the wyrmling Shadrixis, has been gifted a lair as an offering from the Onyx Alliance. Were you to retrieve the scale and slay the whelping, then it would be a simple matter to close the portal that intrudes on your world. Of course, this would also accomplish my goals.”
Fazgyn's eyes narrow, "You're asking us to kill one of the great Argrinyxia's children, a true blood no less..." He starts scratching his chin, eyeing the four-armed creature suspiciously, "How do we know we can trust you? You might be one of the imbeciles of the Onyx Alliance for all we know."
Likewise, Engashez looks rather horrified at the thought of slaying a true trueblood, no matter how young. "Who are you and why should the Sewer Dragons trust you?" she hisses in reply. "And wouldn't the Shifting Lady be most cross at someone slaying one of her own children, misbehaving or not???"
You don't feel any hunches to make you doubt the claim. Telepoathically she adds, “You can trust me knowing that I am a member of the Light-Weavers’ Guild, operating under orders from
guildmaster Z’mandrik. My involvement must remain strictly confidential. As such, I can only guide you to the lair of Shadrixis. I cannot risk my involvement being discovered by the Onyx Alliance.”
"Let's go and see this lair. Perhaps we can find proof one way or the other of their involvement. Even a trueblood must have consequences." Anthrax isn't convinced, but he's willing to go to the lair and search it for evidence.