Dorian spins around as the sounds of combat erupt from behind him. "What the... where did they come from?" He raises his arm and points to the skulk not in melee, sending forth a telekinetic fist. Dorian then moves to put the armored cleric between himself and the skulks.
"Augh!"
Valamont doubles over from the skulk's viscous blow, grievously wounded. He waivers for a second before hurring away from his attacker as best as he can.
He leans against the wall after getting to cover within the passage way, his breath coming in short gasps as blood continues to gush from the wound.
Diurn watches Valamont safely withdraw.
"I'll get you healed Val when these skulks are down."
Diurn charges the most injured one.
Diurn enjoys the feeling of a solid shot with a flail as it strikes the evil creature. He glows gold as he dishes out the punishment the wicked deserve.
Adolphus charges the closest skulk.
for
Luc’s aim on his second shot is much better than his first; the bullet takes the uninjured skulk in the neck. The creature’s blood spurts from the gruesome wound, but it’s still standing. Dorian’s telekinetic punch hits the same skulk and knocks it back a step, yet it manages to remain upright…until Adolphus steps up and unleashes a terrific blow with his sword, dropping the creature and nearly cleaving it in half.
Dreygard, hearing the sounds of battle behind him, rushes back down the corridor and flings his dagger at the remaining skulk. Despite the distance, his aim is perfect, hitting the creature's right eye. Valamont, his own wounds too grievous to attack, withdraws down the hall next to Dreygard, and Diurn charges into his vacated spot. His skin glowing brightly, the cleric unleashes the wrath of Arshea on the skulk, crushing its skull.
Valamont's voice drifts out from the hall he is in after the sounds of combat die down, "I meet the nicest people when I'm with you all. Ugh. Ow."
-Yes, I am bleeding.
-Yeah, I'll try to remember that next time, thanks.
-Yes, I was being facetious.
Putting actions to words, if uninterrupted, Diurn channels positive energy twice in succession.
Channel 1/2
"Well done, may Arshea heal the wounds of the faithful."
"Ah, you have my thanks, Diurn. Are there any more of those skulks about or were a pair our only welcoming committee?"
Dreygard leans over the skulk and draws his knife out of the skull, wipes it off and replaces it in his wrist sheath. Then he calls down to Valamont, "Wait, the floor in front of the door is trapped." He then goes to the trap and proceeds to try and disarm it.
"I think that'll do it." He then tests the floor before moving towards the end of the hall, looking for another secret door.
Luc reloads his weapon. "Three down....wonder how many more?"
Dreygard kneels in front of the trapped floor and inspects the hinged lid. His sharp eyes pick out a two inch section of the wall that slides open, revealing a complex set of gears. After further study and some tinkering, he pulls out a small gear and stands up, confident that the trap is now disarmed. His cautious probing of the lid confirms his belief.
As he turns to inspect the far wall where he believes a secret door is hidden, one of the gnome frescoes catches his eye. The gnome's hooked hammer cleverly conceals a line in the wall. A quick inspection reveals another secret door, this one opened by pressing on the hammer's head. Excited by his discovery, Dreygard turns to the end of the hall and searches, but does not find the secret door he expected to find.
Valamont rolls his shoulder a few times, testing his side to see if the wound will tear open again should he exert himself. After a few stretches he seems satisfied and offers Diurn a silent nod of affirmation.
He then kneels down beside the skulk that nearly killed him and proceeds to relieve the corpse of anything that might be of practical or monetary value.
Darthal continues watching down the passage he's standing in front of, just in case more enemies show up.
"It seems to me we should pursue our enemies if possible. The passage they came from is unlikely to be trapped, and there may be a shortcut there to wherever they are. True, no passage shows on our original map, but we have already established that there are many secret passages here."
Valamont relieves the corpses of their weapons, collecting two shortswords and 4 daggers. Each skulk also wore a small coin pouch on a cord around their necks. He finds a total of 5 suns, 4 moons, and 30 stars.
Dorian nods at the scarfed dwarf. "Wouldn't hurt to examine the room at least. We might find some clue as to what's going on."
"While you check that room out, I'll scope out this other hallway.". Dreygard goes down the left hallway, looking for traps and more secret doors.
DS:
Dreygard sneaks down the western corridor and sees that it branches to the north and south. Five circular doors dot the western wall of the hall, while three adorn the eastern. All of them bear runes similar in style to those seen on the circular doors in room the rest of the party waits in.
Darthal decides to search the room the skulks came from. A dozen small cots and chests line the walls of this ten-foot-high dusty room. Cobwebs blanket many of the cots and chests, and tiny spiders scurry about. Two rough-hewn tunnels, each five feet in diameter and tubular, breach the eastern and southern walls. Stony ruble covers the floor near each tunnel. A one-foot-long iron rod lies in the middle of the floor, its golden tip shedding enough lit to cast lurid shadows on the walls.
Once clear, Luc enters the room and says, "Creepy, those things must feed on spiders. Only food source I see."
Darthal calls to Dreygard and the others, "Some chests here. Might be worth investigating after we find the children. Let's not get too scattered apart."
He picks up the glowing rod. Just a sunrod, or something more?
"I almost think we'd get farther by following secret passages."
Adolphus looks down the northern corridor.
Diurn smiles at Adolphus, "Can't pass up the opportunity to open chests." Diurn urges the rest forward to stay within supporting range of the scout.
Dreygard will move to just inside the room and keep an eye out for trouble from the west.
Valamont remains standing the center of the larger chamber, quietly discussing something with his sword. He points to the northern secret passage, looks inquisitively at the southern chambers the skulks emerged from, shakes his head in disagreement and then points emphatically at the northern hall again.
Diurn projects his voice down the hall to Darthal.
"The prudent thing to do is stay to the hidden ways. We'll get those later."
Unless there is some sign that the tunnels here have been used (footprints, whatever, or if they're recently cleaned) Darthal will head out to join the others. He does try to see if the dog can find any trace of the kids around this room, and/or follow the scent somewhere.
Darthal looks over the chamber but is unable to find any tracks in the dust. His dog sniffs around the room before returning to the dwarf and placidly sitting down at his feet.
Darthal returns to the main room. "Looks like nothing here. Probably they were just hiding there as a convenient ambush spot. Let's try one of these other passages."
Luc looks around the room for anything unusual and says, "How about we head east from here?"
"Well, I will make it three, north passage it is. Scouts and dogs out in front."
Diurn takes his spot in the line.
Dreygard will push on the gnome hammer's head, activating the secret door.
Dreygard presses on the hammer’s head and a section of the wall pivots open, revealing a twenty-foot-square room with bare, dusty shelves lining the north wall. Freestanding weapon racks fill the southern half of the room, but most of the weapons have been removed. Three small steel shields and a suit of cobweb-choked half-plate armor hang from hooks along the south wall. Several more hooks remain bare. Below them rests a large wooden chest secured with a dusty padlock.
'Well now, I can't resist an invitation like a locked chest!" Dreygard walks to the chest, checking for traps on or around it.
"And since this chest is definitely not trapped, I guess I'll pick that lock."
Darthal continues watching and listening, hoping to sense some signs of skulks (or other horrors) before they attack. From time to time he idly runs his fingers through his beard before turning down to look at the dog and see if animal senses pick up things that dwarven ones do not.
Darthal frowns. "Wait... There is an old story about these skulks. They don't leave much in the way of footprints. And I didn't see any in the room, even though we know they were in there. So they might have been in the tunnels there without leaving footprints either... Might be worth a second look."
"The small half plate is still worth some stars and suns." Diurn will take it down and pack it.
The weapons and armor are indeed all small-sized. They look to be crafted to fit gnomes.
Mite pants and rubs against Darthal's leg before sitting down. He seems bored.
"Shields are worth money too," Darthal points out. "But weight will slow us. Once we clear these ruins, we can look over them at leisure. Though if we find anything we can use at once, I doubt the original owners will begrudge their use."
"I agree with Darthal, no sense in weighing ourselves down now. We can always retrieve whatever bulky valuables we find on our way back out. Though the presence of all this really makes me wonder what happened here. Where did all the gnomes go and why did they leave all this behind?"
The young dwarf glares at the chest. "I'll deal with you later".. He gives the box a light kick. He then asks the group. "Which way, Capacianos?"
"I'm thinking that other door in the entry chamber first," Darthal says. "Bad idea to let foes get between you and the exit. After that, maybe those tunnels in the room they sprung out of."
"that sounds like a good plan there, Herr Blackaxe. Dreygard then goes to open the left door.
Luc follows, gun in hand.
DP
Dreygard steps up to the western door in the southern wall of the room where the battle took place. Casting his eyes over the door, he realizes there's no doorknob or obvious means of opening it. There is, however, a tiny, diamond-shaped slot carved into the doorframe.
Something tickles your senses as you look at the slot; you realize the door is trapped.
I think I'll disarm this trap and myself for f+@$ing up that lock back there. Stupid gnome locks! Dreygard whips out his picks, blows on them, and attempts to disable the trap on the door.
Valamont starts to head toward the secret passage discovered in the northern wall, then stops as it looks like everyone scatters in different directions, then he starts to head toward the western hall that stretches on into darkness, then stops again as the dwarves start crossing back and forth through the room.
He spins around, trying to face Darthal and Dreygard at the same time but finding it impossible as one scurries from chest to door and the other leads Mite from passage to tunnel. He wobbles for a moment, his hand on his head as if he's slightly dizzy.
Seeing Dreygard working with his picks and unmindful of the dwarf's ability to see clearly in the dark, he'll direct one of the dancing lights over to provide him better light to work by.
While Valamont spins around looking confused, Dreygard studies the locking mechanism and trap. It takes careful study, but eventually he sees an incredibly thin wire snaking up into a tiny crevice in the top of the keyhole. He looks up, and spots two well-concealed vents above the door. No doubt some corrosive or poisonous substance would pour out of those vents if the trap was triggered. But with a deft flick of the wrist, Dreygard removes the wire from the triggering mechanism and secures it aside.
While studying the trap, Dreygard also spots how to unlock and open the door.
The door smoothly rolls into the western wall, revealing a room holding fifteen cots and small chests covered in cobwebs and dust. The chests do not appear to be locked.
"Good job Dreygard. Let's see what we have here."