Rich, we are rich! Desna smiled upon us, I knew it!
Say, Kurth, what are you going to buy with your share?
"New boots and a bath," Kurth says as he tries to clean the worst of the gore from his sword and clothing. "You reckon we get to keep all this, or will the old lady want a cut? It might be a bit much to sneak back to the inn."
Kurth could carry up to 190 lbs. worth of loot in addition to his current load, although it would be a heavy load. He'll start rigging a harness to carry a pair of the chests, but first takes a quick look at the tunnel bored into the northwest wall.
"You think this is where them kobolds came in? You think they were after the treasure? Where do you think the tunnel goes?"
I can carry these, says Milloy, grabbing the 14pp. I'm afriad I wouldn't be much help with the rest of it, however.
We could simply haul all this up now and come back to the tunnel a bit later. I doubt its going anywhere. Of course, we do have the keys to the cage, we could just leave it here and bring it up with us if we'd rather explore the tunnel now.
"As tempting as it may be to take all of this with us, it may not be ours to take. We should leave this here, and see what lies ahead. It won't go anywhere, not with that guardian keeping an eye on it."
Milloy will study the tunnel closer since it seems the party has decided to press on.
Jalthan, Milloy, and Kurth inspect the tunnel and find that it's been dug out by tools, and fairly recently. Whether or not it contributed ot the collapse is harder to say.
Alsterro inspects the clockwork guardian. He remembers hearing of how powerful individuals sometimes make use of such automatons. The key is being held in place by an unseen servant. The key itself appears to fit a slot on the robot's back. Perhaps it's used to wind its gears?
Alice peers into the tunnel. She sees a pairof low barricades made of timbers and rocks partially blocking the passageway, which opens into a larger cave beyond.
If it was safe enough for the ghoul to travel hopefully the same will be said of us. Milloy will again let the more hardy individuals lead the way before falling in line behind them.
I'd suggest we keep the gems, gold and platinum for now, and will return later to get the silver and copper coins. Shall we explore this passage? Maybe it has to do with the kobolds... did they cause the tower to crumble?
Kurth will leave the chests of copper and silver coins and instead scoop the gold into his pack. Sheathing his greatsword, he readies his shield and morningstar before leading the way into the kobolds' tunnel.
"Still feeling a little stiff, but I suppose we might as well see what else is down here."
As alice and Kurth step over the barricade, several broken-off stalactites swing down like pendulums at them!
[dice=Trap "Attack"]1d20+6[/dice]
Alice is unable to dodge in time, but the swinging rocks narrowly miss Kurth!
Somebody help Alice! Milloy will cry out as the trap catches the rogue.
A damsel in distress, how can I resist!
Jalthan hurries to Alice's side and lays his hands on the wound, uttering arcane words to close it..
Kurth stands near the barricade and keeps an eye out as the bard patches up Alice's wound. If not for his shield, he'd have a hole in his belly, as well.
"Tricky little bastards," he says, turning back toward the tunnel.
As she goes, we go. Milloy follows, though not too closely considering the recent events. If the kobolds indeed came from this way we should be able to confirm their presence eventually.
As Jalthan's spell heals Alice, the group breathes a collective sigh of relief. Closely inspecting the barricades reveals the trip-wire that triggered this trap. Thankfully, no other defenses are present. Alice leads the way into the next chamber.
This large cave appears to have been recently scratched from the hard-packed earth, and its ceiling is only five feet high. Several tons of debris fill the western portion of the cave. What appears to be the body of a man lies half buried under the rubble near the north end of the cave.
The trouble with most people is the lack of magical oversight. But the dandy can use the Gift as well. I wonder ... Alsterro follows along behind the others, keeping his eyes open for any signs of things out of the ordinary. When they reach the cavern, he moves to examine the body with the toe of one boot.
Watch your heads Molloy mumbles as he ducks slightly down in order to fit into the room. Hmm, doesn't seem to be a kobold. Nor a ghoul, at least not yet. Milloy will move in next to the cleric. Human or something else? Is he our missing husband, I wonder?
Or maybe it could be the wizard we're looking for! What was his name again?
Milloy steps aside, allowing the muscle to do their thing, assuming we are going to uncover the unfortunate from the rubble.
Kurth will lay his shield and morningstar aside to help dig out the body.
The body is indeed that of an elderly human man, clearly dead. There's nothing magical on his person, and the only objects of any particular note are two keys attached to a large ring. Otherwise, there's no way to identify who this man was. But maybe the keys will fit something back in town?
Maybe this is indeed the wizard we were told abot, we'd better bring the body back to the surface so that someone can identify him. And maybe those keys can be used at his house that was mentioned earlier?
Helping as much as he can with the carrying of the body and the riches they've found, Jalthan motions for his comrades it might be a good time to return to the surface.
The passage continues further north. After a short distance, another tunnel branches off to the west. To the north the hall comes to an end. A hole in the floor here drops down to a narrow, 4-foot-wide tunnel.
Hmm, perhaps now is the time to turn back. Seems this must be how the kobolds entered the tower. Let us bring up the body and the coin and determine who the man actually is. Knowing his identity may be of use to us in the future.
Kurth will take a peek down the western tunnel before returning to the group.
"I don't mind going on - I'm not feeling too bad other than a bit of stiffness from that poison - but I'm fine with hauling everything up and having a rest."
"If we head to the surface, we oughta see is there's not some way to block this tunnel, keep the place from bein' overrun by kobolds."
Kurth peers down the other tunnel, but accidentally kicks a stone which ricochets off the wall and makes a loud noise.
Milloy hears something in the hallway and shouts a warning just as three kobold warriors appear! One in back carries a longbow, the two in front are armed with spears.
Initiatives:
The kobold archer takes a shot at Kurth before the team can react!
Kurth is hit!
Now Up:
Milloy
Alsterro
Kurth
Alice
Jalthan
kobold warriors
'The Fist'? More like 'The Clutz'! spits Milloy as the fighter carelessly kicks the rock that seemingly gave away the presence of the party. Reacting quickly after the fighter is struck by the arrow, Milloy fires a bolt of force from his finger toward the kobold ranger!
"Smashing things don't exactly require finesse," Kurth grunts, as he proceeds to do just that.
Jalthan starts singing to inspire his companions, then moves next to Milloy.
Kurth's blow crushes the kobold's head, and it collapses in a heap. Alice's arrows miss, but Milloy's force missile hits the second kobold, who hisses in pain.
Jathan begins signing his tune, and the group feels confidence swell up inside their chests.
Alsterro considers the situation, but delays acting for now. the Kobolds both attack Kurth!
Both attacks miss the mark!
Milloy elects to discharge another of his force missiles to the same hissing kobold since his other options would not be effective at this time.
Flinging blood from his morningstar, Kurth advances and aims for another kobold.
Jalthan moves in a better shooting position and fires an arrow at the closest kobold while maintaining his performance.
Milloy's second magical bolt fells the second kobold warrior, clearing the way to the ranger behind.
Kurth grimly moves on, becoming an embodiment of death and destruction to these kobolds. His next blow does not kill, but severely maims the kobold archer in the back.
Alice and Jalthan take careful aim with their bows, but due to Kurth's looming presence, they are unable to get a clear enough shot at the small kobold, and all shots miss!
The kobold, for her part, bravely fights on, dropping her bow and drawing a spear to stab at Kurth.
Her wounds make her attack ineffective!
Milloy sees how Kurth has handled the situation and elects to hold off on using any more of his magic for the time being, trusting the warrior to end the threat on his own.
Baring his teeth in a grim smile, Kurth bats away the archer's spear as he brings his morningstar up for another blow:
Jalthan shoots another arrow and continues to sing.
Kurth finally shows signs of fatigue and misses with his blow. Jalthan's arrow is also wide of the mark.