"Bah! So be it! Headlong into the beast's lair!" Lisbet begins chanting, and as she does her body begins expanding, vertically and horizontally. By the time she is done, she clears ten feet tall and her now massive straight blade looks even more menacing. "Into the abyss with us, then!"
"Let's take that one alive," the half elf states.
"I'll do what I can!"
Philgor sees the lights go out and stops.
"Damn magic.", he mutters under his breath and begins to pull out his crossbow and loads it.
The oversized Lisbet shakes her head, "Or, we could wait..."
The darkness surrounds Qiola and she cannot see the enemy anymore. She nocks an arrow in her bow and points it before her, waiting before she takes a shot. She takes a defensive stance.
Rizu does not move from his spot either, beside Qiola. He lifts his nose in the air and tries to pin-point locations of the enemy or note when they move closer. He takes a defensive stance in the dark. (Rizu's AC now 23.)
Lyra: 9
Qiola: 7
Xorrin: 24
Lisbet: 18
Philgor: 18
Argus: 19
Antagonists: 17
Lyra casts light on the first of her centipedes, and send it into the cave, where it seems to slightly lift the preternatural darkness .
Qiola maintains her guard stand, her husband similarly taking up a defensive stance as close as he can as Lisbet suddenly grows to large size, ready to charge forward.
Philgor loads his crossbow while argus pulls out a bomb, ready to throw it as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
As the centipede ambles into the room, you see two orcs close on it, but apparently still shaken by the earlier bomb and cave-in, neither hits it. With no clear shot at her former tribemates, Vegazi keeps her arrow nocked, growling slightly in frustration.
From deeper in the cavern, out of your sight, you hear arcane words that sound familiar to Lyra especially. [ooc]Vegazi's sister is casting a summoning spell.
She's casting summon monster III.
Argus will let his sunrod fall to the floor, freeing his hands while ensuring he stands in a least a reasonable radius of usable light.
Otherwise, he'll keep his readied action to try to explode the orcs that come through the door.
Using the light provided by the magically glowing centipedes and Argus' sunrod, Qiola takes a 5ft step forward and fires at the Orc enemy to the south of the centipede.
reloads swiftly and fires again.
"Go, go, go!" Lyra tells the glowing centipedes.
,
,
, (plus poison DC 13 for 6 rounds))
Lyra: 9
Qiola: 7
Xorrin: 24
Lisbet: 18
Philgor: 18
Argus: 19
Antagonists: 17
Lyra sends in the next glowing centipede, adding to the light. The added illumination is perfect for Qiola, whose arrows take the two orcs in the head, sending them plummeting to the ground.
A moment later, Philgor fires, hitting the wolf as it rushes forward, toward the halfling. Xorrin tries to rush forward to defend her, but the bottleneck proves too crowded -- fortunately, Qiola's armor proves true and the wolf's teeth can't penetrate it.
She has to duck, though, as the woman's voice stops chanting in the far cavern and a huge bat comes winging out of the darkness, just missing her.
With no room to maneuver, Lisbet waits, the sound of chanting from the far room beginning again.
She's casting summon monster III again.
Wolf: 5
Bat: 1 round
"She's casting a summoning spell! Be ready!" Qiola warns the others.
Qiola nocks a new arrow into her bow and fires at the bat hovering in the air above the wolf and then again and then takes a 5ft step back to her original position.
Nocks another arrow and fires at the large bat, again.
Rizu moves forward 5ft (into Qiola's earlier square) and ferociously attacks the wolf.
Philgor reloads and fires again.
Lyra fires at the bat while her centipedes continue mauling their targets.
,
,
,
, plus poison (DC 13)
Lyra reaches for another arrow as the battle continues.
Lyra: 9
Qiola: 7
Xorrin: 24
Lisbet: 18
Philgor: 18
Argus: 19
Antagonists: 17
Rizu takes down the wolf, outmatching it with sheer ferocity, while Philgor and Qiola and the centipedes do a number on the bat, which pops back out of existence.
From the far room, the chanting stops and ... a moment later ... you hear a rough voice cry out, "Will you show mercy?"
Xorrin, not having wanted to get in the way of the archers, calls out to the voice and says That depends upon how quickly you surrender! Surrender now and you will not be killed.
"I want to see empty hands. Drop yer gear."
Philgor slings his crossbow and grabs his polearm before slowly moving forwards.
"Which sister is this?
Thank all that is good. I didn't think my allies would be willing to accept a surrender.
"Promise to spare my life and take me to Arwyll Stead, and I will throw my weapon to you," she calls.
Vegazi whispers back to Philgor.
This is Yvogga. She has powerful magics but I think is not one of my mother's favorites," the half-orc replies.
Lisbet frowns, but holds her own council. Bah, if she's surrendering it's because we've won!
In lowered voice beside her companions, Qiola warned, "I don't trust her. Too keen to get to Arwyll Stead, she is."
"We can't take them back into the Stead - and certainly not through the hidden passage we're using - we'd have to march them out and around."
Not consciously, we can't.
"First you must take us to any of the steaders you may have outside the city."
"I don't think so," the voice answers. "I can tell you where they are, but I won't do that until I am in the safety of the Stead."
Argus shakes his head, sighs and rummages through his pack, pulling out a cluster of grenades. "Bloody magician doesn't sound much like she's surrendering to me. Wants us to deliver whatever she wants."
He raises his voice. "New offer: You have till the count of ten to come out, with empty hands."
He starts handing out grenades to his allies , quickly miming how to pull the striker and throw down the corridor. "ONE...TWO..."
"Argus that is going to bring the ceiling down on all of us and leave a crater in the middle of town."
Philgor moves into the room and walks up to Yvogga. "Vegazi tells me that you are not one of your mother's favorites so my guess is that she did not send you here. What do you want in Arwyll Stead."
Xorrin calls out and says You have a deal! Whispering to his companions he says I never said anything about her being conscious for the journey.
"Alright, I'll start. Lyra dismisses the centipedes. "Lay down your arms.
"I have no love for my little sister or my mother. Arwyll Stead will be safer than being out here with her, or with you," Yvogga replies to Philgor's question.
Willing to aid Diplomancy (or Bluff)
"The best you could hope for is that the people of Arwyll Stead put you and your friend in prison. More likely they will put your heads on spikes outside the gate to warn others of your race. Vegazi can tell you how she was treated and she has some friends in the town. What can you offer them to keep you alive and free?"
"I can tell them where there companions are. That should be enough to trade for my life," the voice says.
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Philgor continues moving until he is in front of Yvogga.
"That will be for the authorities to decide but I will take you to them. You will have to be bound and blindfolded first. What do your companion want to do? Leave or go with you."
Lyra is glad for a non-permanent solution and nods at Philgor's words.
Yvogga growls, but nods her head in ascent.
The She-enemy begrudging accepted being bound and blindfolded, but her sister said she had powerful magic, so the Halfling added her voice to Philgor's plan, "Gag her, too. It's been said she has powerful magic, so better to be safe than sorry!"
Philgor removes any visible weapons from her and binds her hands behind her back. Before fashioning a blindfold he looks her in the eye and says, "Yvogga, I swear no harm will befall you while you are in my custody. I need to know how you got into this caverns and what you were looking for. This information is important for me to keep you safe."
To the others he says, "Search the area for anything important."
Lisbet gets to the dirty task of searching.
"I was looking for a way into the village, as I didn't plan to repeat my foolish sister's assault. Mother wants your little friend there," she says, gesturing with her chin toward Vegazi.
A pathway continues to the east, but other than that, Lisbet finds little of interest beyond the basic weapons on the slain orcs.
Argus helpfully supplies rope from his pack to bind and gag the prisoner, but its clear he thinks this is some kind of trap or ruse.
Lyra casts a spell and scans the area for other magic while the negotiating and binding happens.
Assuming nothings is revealed she attempts to disguise their tracks before returning through the secret door.
You deliver Yvogga back to the village, where the mayor is surprised -- and seemingly not happy -- at your departure from the village, even if you never made it past the city walls.
Still, he's mollified a bit when you present the prisoner, and even moreso when she reveals that Terrin’s scouts are being held prisoner at her half-brothers’ campsite to the northeast, and offers to give you specific directions.
Still somewhat unhappily, he accedes if you want to rescue them, as Terrin urges you.
"Good, a raid in their territory for once!" Lisbet may bluster, but she seems genuinely happy to be on the offensive.
Lyra smiles at Lisbet and is surprised by her uncharacteristic eagerness to take the offensive. "Watch Terrin's secret entrance," she warns the mayor once safely out of Yvogga's presence. "She was looking for a way in and wasn't too far off. Others might think of the same tactic."