Anton spins another stone but almost beans himself in the head.
Why do I bother? he wonders, looking down at his sling.
Tarek distracts the dragon and Piper comes in from behind and cuts its throat - the scales stop it being a lethal kill, but acidic blood steams out.
Tarek strikes as the dragonling flies into his face... and hits!
I don't want to kill it... it may create more problems with our... host.
"What do I do?!? What do I do?!?"
Somehow Tarek finds the creatures scrawny neck in his hands... choking, choking... the Wyrmling stops moving. Maybe it passed out. Maybe it's trying to trick you...
Rope? A pouch for a hood...
Shaezon removes his cloak and hands it to Tarek. "This could work as a hood. '
Doing his best, Tarek tries to cinch the diminutive dragon in a sack and cloak. Let's get this done. I don't feel comfortable in my skin.
"I'm not so sure that's going to hold it if it wakes up. Just saying."
"I'm not so sure that's going to hold it if it wakes up. Just saying."
"maybe we could lock it in a chest or something. "
Shae looks around for "a chest or something" of appropriate size.
I'll hold the dang thing if I have to. Find the package.
Although the other men with you are somewhat sceptical about the wisdom of keeping it alive one of them eventually coughs up some rope and the following
"We can wrap it in rope for now - there has to be a chest in the treasure room."
The passage winds on. Down stairs, perhaps two hundred feet of submerged corridor, then a right, then four hundred feet of stairs leading up.
According to Marya you are now approaching a "dry zone". Sure enough you come to a set of stairs that lead up into air, then seventy feet along drop again into a partially submerged tunnel.
Pecep
As the leader of your little party clambers over a non-submerged rockfall into a tunnel knee-deep with smooth water, you get suspicious. The rockfall looks natural at first, but there a few traces of clay suggesting it has been deliberately added to stop the water in front of you mixing with the water behind.
"Keep an eye out gents, that rock fall up ahead isn't natural. I couldn't say what it means, but just be prepared in case things go south on us."
Could it be some ruse?
Getting to within 60 feet Shae will cast detect magic and see if the rock radiates an aura.
You're very close to the rockfall. It does not radiate an aura. It does seem to be partitioning the water in this corridor from the water in that corridor.
You're very close to the rockfall. It does not radiate an aura. It does seem to be partitioning the water in this corridor from the water in that corridor.
"Oh, I think it's a water seal. "
"I wonder why they don't want the water mixing. Well no matter, no need to dither. Let's move on."
Salt and fresh?
The first three members of your party start travelling into the water, churning it with their legs as they move in.
Or... so that critters from one side don't get to the other side.
shae stays with the group.
You made the perception roll earlier
As you approach the water you see that the movement is making it lap up and down against the wall and you are reminded of a lesson from your childhood about the power of air (lightning) and water. Watching some of the water lap up and down you realise that it would be easy to set up an alchemical lightning bottle that simply sat above the water, waiting for a stray wave to make the connection.
[b]Guys, you see our movement is making the water lap up and down against the wall... reminds me of a lesson about the power of air or lightning and water.
It would be easy to set up an alchemical lightning bottle that simply sits above the water, waiting for a stray wave to make the connection. We'd be fried. It's a motion trap... Look for the trigger![/b
To find the trap someone has to be in there, carefully moving through the water. Once you find the trap it should be easy to disable
Wait guys. Slow and steady... I'll find the bastard.
"Couldn't we just move a few stones and then we won't have to worry about setting off a trap?
Weyland carefully prises off a rock, and the level of water equalises. As the water level drops Tarek sees the spot on the waterline where there is a dark cavity - presumably to the bottle. A few minutes work and you have a large alchemical bottled lightning.
The tunnel continues...
Tarek will carry the bottlel, if no one else wants.
Let's keep moving.
"I don't have much offense. If you would like me to carry the bottle it will free you up to handle other things." Shae offers
Tarek smiles as he hands the bottle over, Wizards know best.
Tarek smiles as he hands the bottle over, Wizards know best.
Shae takes the bottle and examines the lightning playing on the inside.
"Interesting."
"Just be careful where you throw that."
The bottle is about the size of a wine bottle. It is filled with some clear liquid and has a second bottle suspended within it filled with a thick blue fluid. The bottle is corked, with a wax seal imprinted with a crude lightning bolt on the seal. From the seal protruded two wires, but those have now been snipped off and pushed under the wax.
The trap itself is crude, but suggests an excellent intuitive knowledge about how to use a lucky find to create a particularly vicious trap.
Something about this trap, and the lightning bolt, and the fact the trigger was three feet off the ground screams "Kobolds" to you. Small reptilians who excel with traps and sometimes worship dragons as gods - much to the dragons' contempt.
Local
Shae examines the bottle and strange markings. His face changes in realization.
"It's a Kobold trap. We should be careful going forward. Their known for trap overkill. "
"Well that gives an idea of what we're up against. Let's get a move on and keep an eye out for any of the little blighters."
A little while later you submerge for a little while, then emerge in another air-filled pocket. The floor has fallen - or been dropped - away recently in this area. There is three foot drop into the dark pool of the room below.
Across the passageway is a rough drawbridge, a pace wide and long enough to bridge the gap. There is no way to drop it from this side.
passageway is fifteen feet wide at this point. Wall is fairly sheer stone. passageway is ten feet higher than "floor level", but the floor is missing, replaced with a three foot drop into a water filled room. There is a ten foot gap to the drawbridge.
Scat happens... watch your form, time the last step and execute. Child's play.
The young man in gillman guise beats feet and takes a running leap. The scene is a bit comical.
Shae watches to see if the monk makes it.
Tarek easily clears the gap, landing to the side of the drawbridge. Six startled exclamations accompany his landing as a group of short lizardlike guards drop the dice game they were playing and hastily snatch up spears.