"The night is dark and full of Pretties." She smiles with the joke. "The more dangerous the better. But hold an end of a rope in case something weird happens." She takes a rope from anyone and ties one end at her waist, handling the other end to the others.
Then she moves down on the steep ledge, slowly to try not to make a noise, and careful not to step on loose stones.
Idris will hold the rope, anchoring it.
As Pretty peers down the hollow, a terrible, scratchy scream comes up to meet her. As she looks on, she sees a kobold, tied against the wall by the tree roots, being slowly poked to death by 6 mites with scalding hot wooden sticks. Three of the kobold's companions are tied to the same wall, but they hang limp, already dead from the mites' torture. Because of the distance and the yelling, the mites do not yet see Pretty. Now, with a better view, it is clear that a controlled slide could get a person down the hole, but it will take climbing to get back up the same way.
Pretty comes back up a little to inform the group of what's happening down there, and tries to keep her voice very low:
"I could try to provoke them by killing one with an arrow, and then we wait on the previous room until the others come. Any other ideas?"
"Did you see any exits or entrances to that room?" whispers Idris.
From your angle, you can't see the majority of the room. You are merely looking over the side that the kobold is tied to. The hole does not have roots on it, but it is climbable.
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"There's another tunnel in that direction -- it could lead further downward, allowing us to reach those mites without having to climb... on the other hand, if we save that kobold, it could be grateful," whispers Idris. "Let's go... Pretty should probably go first. I'll be right behind. Blessings are a good idea in general, but we need to be quick and quiet, so bless us when we get down there."
Pretty goes back on her childhood by sliding down and she immediatly gets up to deal with the mites and to get away from the landing point, since the others are coming.
Pretty was pretty sure they got trapped in a timeless zone while sliding in the hole. I should have checked the hole for traps...
Three of you slide down the hole and land, standing and ready for action, at the bottom. The room you are in is covered in roots, and is lit by a few torches on the walls. There is an exit leading to another room to the East, but a chasm cuts across it. The mites leap back, startled, and one of them gets close enough to the kobold to catch a sharp toe to the behind.
Pretty ends up a little bit away from the monsters, so she tosses a dagger to the one which she can see best (second in line from left to right)
!
If she can she uses her Prehensile tail to draw another dagger (swift action).
Kivan casts a spell to affect the two mites next to him, and the mite in front of Idris.
The creature is unconscious, blinded, and stunned
then blinded and stunned
and then stunned for 1 round.
The creature is blinded and stunned
then stunned for 1 round.
5 or more HD: The creature is stunned for 1 round.
Idris attacks the mite southeast of her.
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Pretty, Idris, and Kivan slide down the hole, arriving in the torture chamber in a shower of dirt clumps and small rocks. The startled mites barely have time to turn around and gape at you with their hideous, oversized faces before you act.
Unfortunately, the mites' slow reaction means that only one gets overcome by fantastic colors - the other two simply weren't looking. The mite in front of Idris topples over senseless.
Pretty's throw is spoiled by the close quarters; her arm can't extend fully and her dagger flies high and to the right.
Idris' sword is flashing towards her target even before her boots crunch into the soil. She catches an oblivious mite with a clean slash from behind. It crumples to the ground in a red ruin, never knowing what killed it.
Pretty approaches the creature south of her (5-foot-step) and deliver two quick trusts with her daggers, taking advantage of the creature's confusion.
!
!
Idris will move 10 feet to the east and strike out at the mite to her east. She wants to make sure she gets a slice at any mites trying to flee.
Kivaqn moves back and throws a small amount of acid at the mite in front of him.
Seraphina fumbles her way down to join the others and shoots an orb of acid at the closest mite.
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A shower of dirt herald Seraphina's arrival. Landing on her feet, she quickly sizes up the situation and conjures a blast of acid that flies true and takes the mite in front of Pretty in the face as well. It collapses, dead.
It appears that having your most prominent body feature being your head is not an asset in battle.
Cassius' landing is less steady, but he recovers quickly and looses an arrow at the mite near Idris. It's well aimed, and the cold iron easily parts the flesh of the foul fey fighter as it feathers his face. The mite goes down hard with a muffled groan.
And just like that, the ambush is over. The mite that Kivan hit with acid is all out of fight, and thrashes piteously on the ground in agony. Next to him lies the comatose mite, dazzled with color spray.
The kobold hangs from the wall, badly injured. He has suffered greatly at the hands of the mites, and doesn't have much life left in him. His breath is ragged and comes in shuddering gasps. One eye watches you weakly, the other a ruined mess. Left alone, the kobold will clearly die a slow, agonizing death. Interestingly, you note that his scales are a dusky hue, a stark contrast to the vibrant red of the kobolds who ambushed you and those you found in the radish patch.
The cramped room continues to the east, where you see a dark chasm rending the floor and impeding progress.
Idris grunts. "Should we try to interrogate the two survivors? Or just put them out of their misery?"
"I'll bet he has nothing to tell us, even if it can speak our language." Pretty moves to the comatose mite, dagger at hand, ready to coup de grâce it, but she waits until the other party members have spoken.
"Well it wants water."
Kivan stands at a slight distance from the creature, so that none of its blood gets on his nice robes.
"That I can understand... Hmm, I seem to have left my waterskin with the horses."
"Mine is here, don't worry." Pretty looses her waterskin and handles it the kobold, speaking with it:
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Heedless of Pretty's warning, the kobold sucks greedily at the waterskin, thin rivulets running down its scaled face. In a matter of moments, the waterskin is empty. The kobold sighs in relief and after a moment, speaks to Pretty.
Kivan seems interested in this 'Horned One', but knows he isn't good at talking, so he whispers to Pretty in Common.
"Would you mind asking him about the Horned One? It seems important."
Kivan looks at the others down in the cave with them.
"We should get some food out for him in case he gets hungry."
Idris wipes her blade, murmuring, "Blessed be the Lord in Iron," as she sheathes it. She then searches the mites and examines the dead kobolds carefully, and looks around the little room.
Pretty translates the conversation to anyone who do not speak draconic.
"Master builder! Nice! I'm Pretty, and this are Kivan, Idris, Maja, Sera and Cassius. You are correct, we are not with the Horned man. That's the Stag Lord, isn't it?
We are our own lords, and we came to this region to build a settlement! That means we will either eliminate threats, as the mites were, or make alliances with the ones who may negotiate with us, like we would like you to do. I may also be bearer of bad news for you, or even good ones. On our way here, we tried to speak with some other kobolds, ones who had a bright red scale, but they attacked us instead of having a conversation. Just because they thought we would steal their radishes, like if we cared about that. Anyway, I hope that's not your tribe, but if it is, I'm sorry, we tried our best."
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Idris' search turns up nothing valuable. The room appears to be a dedicated torture chamber, as the roots on the walls have been coaxed into a semblance of manacles and various sharp stick tools litter the floor. The mites were dressed in foul rags of crude linen, and possessed nothing of value.
The mite hit by Kivan's acid spell finally expires, its thrashing tapering off as it goes limp. The unconscious mite awakens to find Maja threatening it with a spear, and starts babbling in some foul tongue as it cowers and grovels on the floor.
Mikmek keeps his good eye on the surviving mite as he answers Pretty in Draconic.
"Stag Lord... that could be. He is a giant man who wears the horns of a forest elk on his armor. He lives in a ruin by the shore of the big lake, and has many cruel humans under his thrall. They bear a charm as a badge of office, which I fail to see on you."
When Pretty mentions the red kobolds, Mikmek is silent for a moment and then replies "Yes, they are troublesome. No, they are not my tribe."
"I came to this place on a mission against these foul mites," Mikmek continues. "The details of your settlement can wait. Lords-of-your-selves, I ask that you free me from these restraints and further tend my wounds. I know much of the dangers ahead and it seems we share these mites as enemies."
Pretty goes after the kobold in the same instant, smelling his lie and throwing it against him, so he would not try that again.
"Well Mikmek, I think you're lying. I can smell it. We are being honest with you, we saved you and intend to let you leave this place and no further harmed. But lie to me just ONE more time and that won't happen. This is not a threat, but a warning, so don't be stupid. Those are the Sootscale, aren't they?
She turns to the group:
"Who's got one of the Stag Lord emblems?" She shows it to the kobold, and goes back to speaking with it in draconic:
"Is that the emblem you were talking about? Do you work for him?"