Skivven slashes madly at the Jinkin again.
Valeria takes a 5' step back and fire her weapon before holstering it and drawing her longsword.
Valeria's shot hits the stone floor, sending shards of rock into the air while Skivven's blade is blocked by the creature's own short sword.
Harrash swings at the moving jinkin, but fails to touch it.
The ape swipes at the jinkin, but it too makes no progress.
Taking a step back, Trem aims his crossbow at the small creature. Pressing the trigger, the bolt flies toward it, but ricochets on the floor instead. "I... I need more practice."
As Arrenopos battles the Jinkin leader, Jazvit. The gremlin that had yet to really attack anyone moves behind the android. The two fey team up on him, hacking and biting away.
While painful, the gashes from the tiny blades aren't immediately life threatening.
Harrash and Skivven are up.
Skivven steps back, drops his dagger and draws his crossbow. He takes a shot at the Jinkin in front of him.
[ooc]x2 = 8[/dice]
Seeing a small gash in the jinkin, Harrash feels that he finally hit it in a weak spot.
Valeria strikes the diminutive gremlin with her sword but is disappointed that the blow didn't seem to do as much damage as she thought it should have.
Harrash cleaves through the neck of the jinkin and its head goes rolling across the cave floor.
Everyone else can go.
Arrenopos continues to occupy the leader's attention.
Arrenopos senses a moment of precision with his slash and boosts his abilities. The tattoos on his exposed skin suddenly burst with light as his sword connects to a weak spot on the leader's body. They continue to glow for a few seconds afterwards.
As he becomes like the sun, Arrenopos slays both of the remaining jinkin. First, he stabs his blade through an open wound on the one behind him. Then, with a flourish and spin, he cuts Jazvit in half through the middle. Both creatures fall dead as the light extinguishes itself. Afterwards, the android seems noticeably drained.
Trem's shoulders slump as the fight comes to an end. "Well, that's... That was something... Is any... Anyone hurt?"
"Uh... one of them got me, but it's not too bad. As long as I stay out of knife fights for the next little while I should be okay. Heh heh," Skivven laughs nervously.
Skivven leans down and picks up his dagger and the crossbow bolt .
"That can't be all of them, can it?"
"They all missed me. My poor ape was scratched, though," Harrash says, trying to comfort his companion.
"There are probably hordes of them. We should probably be keeping our eyes open for someone who has more of the look of a leader."
Trem's shoulders slump as the fight comes to an end. "Well, that's... That was something... Is any... Anyone hurt?"
"Some scratches only." Arrenopos replies as he inspects his minor wounds.
"Although if there is poison..."
After you all enter the cavern, a trio of jinkin charge the party from the many rocky crevasses that line the walls. Two of them team up on Skivven, while one, larger and meatier than the others and probably the leader Sef wanted you to kill, attacks Harrash's ape.
Skivven begins to have a look at what the jinkins were carrying.
The jinkin have surprisingly little on them. There are a few pieces of junk that look like they're in the works of being made into traps. And they each carry little swords that could function as makeshift daggers for the small statured ratfolk, or a kitchen knife for the others in the party. They don't appear to have any cursed items in their lair at the moment.
"So much for trying to make peace," Harrash says.
Glancing at Skivven's meager findings, he adds, "Let's go back to Sef. She probably has better rewards for us than whatever we might find here."
"I'd rather be thorough," Skivven says. "There are these two small chambers. There could be more of them hiding. Or something of value. After that let's go back."
"I'm glad that... that everyone is ok." Looking at the floor, Trem fidgets with his crossbow. Sorry, if I wasn't more useful in battle..." Using a cantrip, he scans the rooms and hallway, trying to see if any magical aura can be found. If he finds anything, he will relay the information to the rest of the group.
There is nothing of value in the other chambers. However, there is a wall made of a strange metal. Closer examination reveals that it's made of starmetal, like the doorway Khonnir Baine had found. However, you cannot get it to open. There is no handle or keyhole visible. Pushing does nothing. Not even hinges can be seen.
"Interesting... this might be a door, but I see no way of opening it. Perhaps the Skulks might know more. May as well go back and ask them."
You return to the skulk village carrying the corpse of Jazvit. Immediately, the skulks take you to meet with Sef. "I did not expect you to return so soon." She takes the slain body from you, and begins talking to it as if it was still alive. "We meet again, Jazvit. How does it feel to be on the reverse end of a slaughter? I told you I would find a way to end your vile tricks." Turning back to you, she says, "I take it you did not kill all the gremlins."
You're going to hate hardness even more.
"Of course not," Harrash answers. "We only killed the ones who attacked us first, including Jazvit."
"I thought as much. Still, with Jazvit gone the others will start fighting among themselves until a new leader emerges. By then, we'll be more prepared. As promised, here's your reward." Sef hands you a small sack contaning 49 silverdisks and 5 pieces of a strange material that resemble blank playing cards save for a small brown stripe running along the faces of the card. They are flexible, yet sturdy. Not metallic, but not paper. They are smooth like glass, but they don't break easily.
Sef also gets one of her underlings to show you to the metallic door that Khonnir supposedly went through. To your surprise, it's not the same on in the jinkin lair. This one is made of the same starmetal and is otherwise identical, save for the fact that it is all ready open.
"Thank you, Sef."
"May I ask: how did you get this door open? Or was it always like that? There is another door like this in the Jinkin lair, but it is shut and I saw no way of opening it."
"Your wizard friend did it. I don't know how."
"Let me take a look at it."
Arrenopos examines the doorway looking for locking mechanisms, latches, etc. trying to discern how it operates.
Trem follows Arrenopos. "I might be, umm, able to help. I studied some of the books in Khonnir's personnal library." Trem also studies the door and any other clue of how it works.
Harrash looks from afar as Arrenopos and Trem fiddle with the door, trying to help understand its workings.
No one is able to figure out how Khonnir was able to get the door open.
After you a while, you walk through. The interior seems to be constructed. The walls and ceiling are made of the same star metal that can be found in rare deposits throughout Numeria. The metallic frame has been severely damaged and both the left and right sides of what appears to be a destroyed hallway have collapsed, leaving only a door identical to the one you just came through waiting on the other side.
Valeria studies the door along with the others.
Skivven looks at the doors with admiration.
"Whoever built this had a lot of metal to spare. I've never seen so much like this. Even the walls... and the floors! Imagine the foundries you would need to smelt it all. Is this steel? Does anyone know?"
Skivven comes up short when he sees the next door.
"Another door. How do we get this one open?"
As Skivven begins to feel about the door for a way in, his hand-paw touches a section of the wall that is lighter in color than the rest. It flashes green and the door quickly slides up into the ceiling with a sharp hiss. The room ahead is as dark as this one.
Skivven jumps back in surprise.
"Eek! Ah... ... yes. Exactly what I expected."
He looks around at the others.
"Anyone have a light? Let's see what we have here."
When Skivven ask for a light, Trem start searching in his pack and take out a bar of soap. He shrugs, use a few arcane words, and the bar of soap starts to shine with magical light. He then passes it to Skivven.
Much like the previous room, this is a hallway with one of the advanced motion doors at the end. There is rubble and debris strewn about as parts of the ceiling and walls have fallen down to reveal the electrical interiors.