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Investigating the room, you find nothing else of interest or value. The pools are fairly clear and show nothing at the bottom. Moving North, the group finds two dead ends with some spider's nests and a cave-in. There is, however, another doorway!
However, everyone, but Aquavius, sees a nearly invisible magical rune written on the stone...
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Hopping, or climbing, over the thin five foot rune, the group works it's way through the caverns. The light of Fingalad's bow flickers ahead, casting shadows on the rock. The group encounters another trap rune and handles it just as easily.
As you round the corner, you see quite the sight! There is a small group of humans trussed up along the wall, bound and gagged. In the center of the room is a young man who has fallen prey to a rather inventive Kobold trap. The man hangs from the roof by a noose, his stomach spilling out, cut open by a swinging spike. In the other corner, there are two kobolds staring at you with hatred. One of them has an oversized and ratty wizard's hat; he yells in a shrill voice. "Kneel, weaklings! "
His friend draws a thin rapier and sneers at your group, while the leader twists his fingers in an arcane manner. Suddenly, a blast of lightning launches from his fingers at the party!
Aquavius
Warrior Kobold
Magicky Kobold
Fingalad
Steinfaust
Warden
Dolamite
Jeydahvu
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"Ha! I like yer style!" Aquavius quips. She pretends to kneel...
Only to twist out of the way of most of the lightning.
"But you have to know something. I kneel for no one."
Aquavius takes advantage of her quick reflexes and runs right up to the magic-casting kobold. She tries to impale the kobold directly.
"Let's go, mates! Let's teach these Kobolds a thing or two about piracy!"
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Aquavius runs up to the bunch of wizard hat-wearing kobolds and stabs at one.
She hits, drawing blood from the small Kobold. The wizard, and the images, steps back and laughs. "This is an illusion! I cannot bleed!!! " He looks over Aquavius' shoulder at the heavily armored members of the party. "Only mortals bleed! " He whispers an arcane word and a large pit appears underneath Dolamite, Steinfaust, Warden and Jeydahvu's feet. The edges of the pit are sloped and Fingalad and Grumbler can tell they'll start slipping if they stay there much longer.
The warrior Kobold rubs his fingers along his incredibly tall feather hat and takes a few steps to place himself between Aquavius and the captives. In a high pitched voice he screeches, "Behold, the power of the DRAGON! " Then, he drops his jaw and BREATHES FIRE at Aquavius.
Fingalad
Steinfaust Reflex, Reflex
Grumbler
Warden Reflex, Reflex
Aquavius 18/27 Reflex
Dolamite Reflex
Jeydahvu Reflex
Warrior Kobold
Magicky Kobold 5 dmg, 2 images
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"Aye, that's the spirit! Yer may be a god, but you're messin' with the Queen of the Seas, here!"
"Dragon. Right." Aquavius twists away from the flames.
With the chaos erupting around her, she decides to Inspire her allies. "And Queens know how to help their subjects. Now come on and let's fell some gods and dragons!"
Aquavius decides to stay put and draw her shield, just in case this "god" tries to cast another spell.
Inspired Rage (Su) Affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. While under the effects of inspired rage, allies other than the skald cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.
Elemental Blood, Lesser (Cold)While raging, as a swift action up to three times a day, the barbarian can imbue her melee attacks with elemental energy, dealing an additional 1d6 points of damage of the chosen energy type for 1 round.
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Warden and Aquavius prepare for the battle ahead while Jeydahvu gets into position. The wizard Kobold lashes out with his quarterstaff, with three identical copies of his arrogant sneer.
The small kobold obviously wasn't trained for hand to hand combat, awkwardly fumbling the strike. Behind the three illusions, he strikes at the wizard!
Unfortunately, the Kobold he chose was just an illusion! The Oread's sword crashed into the stone. Meanwhile, Dolamite charges the warrior. "Come and get me, little man! " Cries the Kobold, rapier at the ready. And, in fact he was, dodging both of the Pathfinder's fists. Fingalad, right behind him, fires an arrow at the wizard.
Unfortunately, he too fell victim to the illusions! His arrow sails right through the eye of the second illusion, what surely would have been a kill shot. His magical defenses removed, the Kobold begins to show a little fear.
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The head Kobold looks at both Pathfinders surrounding him and laughs. "Fools! Feel my wrath! "
But his hubris failed him as he did not bother to defend himself!
The warrior Kobold takes a step away and looks at Dolamite disdainfully. "You think you're tall? You're not tall! " He stretches himself to his full height, at about waist level. "NO! I'm tall! " With that proclamation, he spits a ball of fire at the monk.
Fingalad
Steinfaust 18/27 x2
Grumbler x2
Warden 28/33
Aquavius 14/27
Dolamite
Jeydahvu
Warrior Kobold
Magicky Kobold 5 dmg
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Jeydahvu attempts to block the kobold wizard from casting a spell... by swinging his greatsword at it!
for slashing damage.
Angered at the continuous existence of that magic kobold, Jeydahvu accepts the cold depths of Aquavius' inspired rage, and mixes it with his own deep earth toxicity!
for slashing damage and cold damage and acid damage.
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After Aquavius and Jeydahvu fail to take advantage of the wizard's opening, Jeydahvu strikes at the wizard, dealing a brutal blow! His sword sinks into the kobold's shoulder. "OW! That... that, didn't hurt! " The Kobold turns to the Oread with hatred in his eyes, just in time to receive an arrow in the back! The Kobold falls to the ground, his wizard's hat on the floor.
Steinfaust moves up to the warrior and strikes a good blow.
Fingalad
Steinfaust 18/27
Grumbler
Warden 28/33
Aquavius 14/27
Dolamite
Jeydahvu
Warrior Kobold 11 dmg
Magicky Kobold -8 dmg, unconscious
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Fingalad turns and releases another arrow, sending it into the Kobold's armpit. Steinfaust swings his weapon in a vicious uppercut, dismembering the vicious man. He falls to the floor, bleeding profusely from the hole in his side. His tall feather hat falls to the floor; there is a moment of silence in the cavern, broken only by the quiet whimpers of the captured slaves.
COMBAT OVER
Fingalad
Steinfaust 18/27
Grumbler
Warden 28/33
Aquavius 14/27
Dolamite
Jeydahvu
Warrior Kobold -17 dmg, unconscious
Magicky Kobold -8 dmg, unconscious
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As the gags are pulled off the captives, the air is filled with exclamations of gratitude. "Thank you! We were almost to safety and these monsters grabbed us! They kept telling us to worship them! They demanded we worship them by 'helping' with the traps! I don't know what we would have done without you! "
Other Pathfinders go to the corpse decorating the 'innovative' Kobold trap. Together you pull the hanging body off the spikes and return it to the ground. Digging through the man's underclothes you find a symbol of the Duskwardens. It appears this man was Drellis, the guide sent with this group. The body's black hair and age confirms this suspicion.
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Fingalad looks at the remains of the body with a mournful expression. He closes his eyes and murmurs a prayer to Erastil, but says nothing else.
He turns to the captives. "When you are ready, we can lead you to safety. Though I must tell you, while we are here we are bound to the Pathfinder Society to explore the rest of this cave. You can wait here, or follow behind us at a distance."
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"This is the Duskwarden, alright. Normally I'd give a burial at sea, but..." Aquavius checks the body. "I guess we should have asked the Duskwardens how they handle their fallen."
She stands up. "Alright, it's gonna take us a few hours to get back to the surface. Or we can use those communicators to call the Duskwardens now."
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"Yes let's use communicators now. While we wait for them, we'll secure the rest of the caves."
Turning to the liberated captives, Jeydahvu says, "Stay here and prepare the body for transport. You'll be safe here on accounts of the traps. We'll be back in two minutes."
Jeydahvu climbs over the traps to the south and investigates the next room.
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Now that the chaos has subsided, you all get a better look at the room you are in. Fingalad hears a thin, low whistling of wind emanating from the northeast corner of this room, near the wizard's corpse. Leaning into the gap, the whistle is accompanied by a stiff breeze blowing through a narrow passage beyond. The floor goes steeply downwards, into the unknown.
Within the room, the floor in the room feels tacky, but not enough to hamper your movement. Here and there, beneath webs in the corners, lie skeletons half buried WITHIN the rock of the floor. Whatever madness once existed in this cave, in these caverns, is thankfully no longer active.
Just before you activate the Halflight Charms, you hear Talbren's words echoing through your memory. "Do not call for us lightly. The disturbance in this vault provides me and my fellow Duskwardens with an opportunity to see the mettle of the Pathfnder Society for ourselves. However, if your life is truly in danger, don’t let pride get in the way of good sense. Activate the charm and flee. "
The group calms down the captives and decides to quickly search the rest of the dungeon, both to take notes for the Chronicles and to look for more treasure. As the group rounds the corner, everyone but Aquavius sees a very large and very poorly hidden sandstone block hung above a trip wire ahead. It is DEFINITELY of Kobold manufacture. Not wanting to mess with that, the group turns towards the South.
This cave narrows both in width and height drastically from north to south. Sharp, glittering stone spikes protrude from the walls and ceiling. Just in time, Dolamite, Jeydahvu and Fingalad shout "STOP!" The room ahead is littered with three more trap runes!
This room has footprints where the captives marched through. The walls are marred with charcoal blasts from previous trap runes.
Between the spikes and trap runes, this does not look like a nice room to hang out in. You all return to the captives again.