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Graxzos shows little interest in the wounded woman. "Let 'er stay 'ere if she wants," he growls. "'S hardly gonna be safer where we're at." When Yndra compliments the shooting he looks from her to Sapper, confused. On the trail, he leans in to the gnome. "Wha's she lumpin' me in wi'you for? My shootin' was fine, yeh set yer own HAIR on fire!" He shakes his head in disbelief, clearly irked.
At the bridge, Graxzos examines the span warily, squinting at the building emerging from the jungle across the ravine.
"So what we be thinkin' 'bout that buildin' there? Lair, decoy...or trap?"
Sapper does not detect much about the bridge or its engineering stability. Graxzos peers ahead but does not spot anything of interest.
Crossing the bridge, it creaks and gives to the weight of the dwarf but otherwise holds as the remainder of the party watches.
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Yndra gives Sapper a sidelong glance. Old and dwarven? He's not making fun of me, is he? She holds her tongue, though, trying to make out what's on the other side.
"Well, it seems like an ancient structure," she answers Graxzos. "Can't you see the similarities to these here statues? It's obviously part of the same structure, some remnant of a dwarven settlement or civilization here. Don't you kids learn to be proud of our ancestry, any more?" The lecture starts out neutral enough, but picks up some bite as she finishes.
With Grax safely across the bridge, Yndra can't stay far behind. She takes her rope and ties it around the leg of one of the statues, tugging to see whether it holds. She then carefully crosses the bridge, quarterstaff on her back so she has both hands free, one on her rope and one on the bridge's handrail.
Both dwarves are safely across.
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Yndra breathes out as she makes it across. "Well, that wasn't so bad," she mutters to herself.
Tying the rope to a statue on the other end of the bridge, she yells back "Come on, it's safe. What are you waiting for? If two dwarves can make it across, the rest should be just fine." She yanks on the rope to strengthen her words. "Thaia, I'm glad you're seeing some sense and leaving yout porters with the mule back there. The poor animal would surely crash the bridge." Suits her well, bringing her entire kit and kaboodle on a jungle expedition!
As Graxzos moves forward, he finds a well hidden noose trap which attempts to entangle his legs and pull him into the air.
About this time, a low growl is heard to the south.
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Yndra wags a finger at Grax, and for a moment it looks as if she might pinch his cheek. "Well, remind be to tell you some stories about it tonight." She looks over her shoulder, and adds in a low voice "...or maybe right now would do - seems like we'll have all the time in the world before that snotty girl makes it across." She leans on her quarterstaff, looking out for more ancient dwarven structures.
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"Well Pancho, you wait here with these gentleman." Majal says lovingly to her horse while patting the animal on its head. The bridge would surely not survive that weight.
Just as she is thinking that, Yndra calls out this very obvious fact in regards to the mule and the old woman cannot conatin a strangely amused snickering.
She wordlessly tells her goat to cross, and the animal obliges - though with a slightly shaky step, after all there are no strange slits in the floor and it doesn't shakes like this.
Once the bridge is empty again, Majal follows herself, moving very slowly. She doesn't tie herself with a rope as Yndra did though, that would useless. A fall would result in death just as surely as being smashed against the sides of the ravine, her old body would just break.
And her cards have foretold good fortune today!
"History is important indeed, but you don't need to invoke ancestry here. The statues and us two are old enough for all I care! Eh sorry I forgot, you aren't old, ha!" Majal is in a good mood after crossing the potentially deadly bridge - once again having evaded the reaper, and is about to comment further on the issue when Graxzos is pulled in the air and starts screaming
A hidden rope wraps around Graxzos's leg...
Then, crashing from the jungle to the south comes a wild looking creature. It pulls back the skin on its gruesome face when it sees Yndra.
The creature snarls as it tries to find meat.
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"HRRRAAAAH! I don' think ME frightenin' IT away's the problem 'ere!" Dangling brim the rope, Graxzos still tries to bring his pistol to hear on the strange beast.
Even as the shot's still ringing through the woods, the dwarf struggles and pulls his axe out with his free hand, preparing to free himself...
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Yndra lets out a choked squeek as she hears the trap go off behind her, before the creature suddenly emergy from the jungle. "Wha-" She has only a moment to recover before she's startled even more by two gunshots, first from Thaia on the bridge and then from straight over her shoulder. "Will you...! She doesn't finish her sentence, too busy with defending herself. Right you are, Grax. Wish we would scare it off with those shots... What kind of things tears off its own face?!
Trying to prod Majal's goat back with her quarterstaff, she also retreats from the creature. Raising a quick prayer to Nethys, she beseeches him for protection from this beast, holding her quarterstaff out in front to ward it off.
Seeing the thing, Esmeralda apparently decided that the other side of this bridge was a perfectly adequate place to be and withdraws swiftly.
Yndra resists the fear affect directed at her. The rest do not feel as frightened yet.
Thaia fires but misses the creature. Graxzos is able to hit it while he dangles and spins (entangled and spin-2 but still hits)
A few spells are cast at the Krenshar as Yndra recalls its name. She aLready knows its special attack.
It sees her make eye contact and it charges her.
miss
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"What is it with these beasts attacking just as we're trying to do something difficult?!" snarls Yndra. "Here's, take this!" Yndra swings her staff at the beasts head, before taking a step back to avoid the inevitable gunfire.
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As the group unloads upon the comeliness-challenged cat, it is pummeled, punctured and pulverized.
You are able to cut Graxzos down from the noose. In the area there are scraps of bones rom prior meals and victims. The trap appears to be of kobold design.
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Getting Graxzos down from the noose involves more than its fair share of swearing and complaining on the dwarf's part, but he seems relieved to be on two feet again. "Dang cat," he growls. "I'm goin' t'be aimin' straight fer the head o' whichever kobold it was rigged that up..."
As the party prepares to head out, he hesitates. "I still got a open wound from that flyin' plant thing back there...probably nothin' serious, but since I figure we're gettin' close t' the warren it might be best t'have someone take a look at it. If'n yeh can."
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"Well, I hope you won't be spinning on a rope when you're shooting at them. I admire your skill, but that was most irresponsible. You could have hit anyone: me, or Majal, or even Esmeralda," Yndra admonitions. "Well, we killed it. Better get a move on. Here, this should help for your wounds." The dwarven woman pokes Grax on his shoulder with her wand.
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"Glad that problem solved itself swifty. And by itself I mean you killed the damned beast with lots of weapons! Nyahaha!" Majal bellows out, apparently quite glad that she was not needed in that specific confrontation.
Something about this thing was just wrong.
"If you get bitten by more plants today boy, come running to Mama Majal, I'm gonna fix you up just right."
While waiting, Sapper finds the southwest and northeast statues hold
weapons that are actually serviceable, having weathered
the centuries and subtropical weather well.
One holds a masterwork longspear and the other
a masterwork light hammer bearing a cut onyx on its
pommel.
Once you are ready to press onward
and cross the ravine you become
increasingly aware of the kobolds’ influence and presence,
from the repurposed art to sprung traps to occasional
glimpses of patrols far off through the trees. While the
kobolds have done their best to deface the ruins, the PCs can
still find many carvings and inscriptions that match the
style of the one in Venture-Captain Sharrowsmith’s office.
The kobolds’ and miners’ trail leads to the fallen
temple
What remains of the ruins’s heart may have once been a
shrine. Demolished walls encircle an ancient dais, atop which
a shattered anvil-shaped altar lies defaced with dried blood,
chalk markings, and other detritus. The bones of dozens of
humanoid creatures are scattered about the building, along
with the larger skeletal remains of what may be wyverns or
drakes that are marred with deep claw marks. Behind the altar,
a large stairwell stained with the blood of countless creatures
descends into some dark vault below.
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Graxzos glances disinterestedly at the weapons Sapper recovers. "Not really my style," he mutters, before setting out once more at the head of the party.
In the ruined temple, he gazes around in fascination, frowning. "Y'all know I ain't one t'get worked up 'bout history an' suchlike...but e'en I think it's a shame wha's happened 'ere." He looks sidelong at the massive skeletons. "Sweet Calistria's thighs, yeh think they been sacrificin' wyverns in this pit?" He eyes the stairwell distastefully. "Guess there be nothin' for it but t'go down..."
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Yndra picks up the light hammer from Sapper, admiring it's quality and the onyx inset. "That's nice. Mind if I hold on to it?"
As they follow the trail, her mood turns sour. She scowls at the defaced ruins, gripping her braid and muttering to herself. She let's out a frustrated sigh when she notices the defiled anvil altar. "I don't care about diplomacy all that much, any more. These kobolds are going to learn a lessen about respecting history, once I get my hands on them!" If the grip on her braid is any indication, the lesson involves strangling them with her bare hands.
She doesn't seem as impressed as Grax, at the sight of the wyvern bones. "They probably just found then somewhere and brought them here. Illusions of grandeur... Pah! " She shifts some of the debris from the altar with her quarterstaff. "Let's see what's down there, shall we?"
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Sapper is positively giddy when he spots the weapons. Graxos's indifference doesn't bother him. The dwarf had already displayed a mild indifference to historic artifacts. Yndra is really gives the hammer (this stuff is heavy!) and offers the spear to anyone who will take it as the weapon is about three times taller than he is.
The defaced temple makes Sapper sad. Ya. We should probably do what we promised, but I'm more and more in favor of setting charges and burying them in their hole.
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Majal looks at the spear with something of a youthful cheer. "You know little one, thirty years ago, I might have well taken that thing and used it well. I was wicked with a spear. But nowadays, I'm quite content with this stick!" with that, she hits the old masonry below her feet a few times with her sturdy stick and cackles a bit, then wanders on.
"You can drag it back to Thaia's little servant army on the other side. They can hold onto it for now."
In the ruins, Majal scowls at Yndra after hearing her little comment. "You know, religion is a funny thing. What one people holds sacred is nothing but old ruins and rubbish for another. They may have defaced an old dwarven shrine, but as I see it there were no dwarfs here to protest for ... centuries? No reason to kill the little buggers for that. Though they might well give us others."
She rummages around in the shrine, searching for other clues - her trusty goat at her side as another pair of eyes, before then coming back to the group.
"And don't be stupid Sapper, blowing up ruins is never a good idea. You never know what riches are in the basement!" she smiles at the halfling. "And don't forget the historical value for the society. I'm sure they will send some poor schmucks here to get a look ... well they allready did!"
With that she has a small laughing fit, her goat joining in midway.
As you get within 10' of the altar ruins wall, Majal hears the voices of several kobolds chanting.
who succeed at a DC 15 Perception check notice that most of the skeletal remains littering the ruin were slain by a creature with powerful claws, for marks from its savage attacks are etched deep into the bones.
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"Wait a second here." Majal says and rummages through her many layers fo cloth, finally pulling out an old scroll. She unfolds it, sending some dust in all directions and reads the spell written on it. "We don't want to go in there without understaning their lovely chants, do we? Oh and beware of the monster, it has sharp claws and likes to put them deep into bones." she says with a smile.
She follows directly behind Graxzos with a cheerful smile on her face, but puts her hand on his shoulder first and whispers into his ear. "Shoot only when they attack. Remember my poor grandson, I don't want to kill his kind if it can be avoided." she then turn around and adresses all. "Do not shoot first, we may find a less bloody solution."
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Fine, fine. But if they attack, they'll get everything that's coming at them.
Yndra whips her braid over her shoulder and mutters something non-committal then follows after Majal and Grax, with her axe drawn instead of the staff this time.
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From thru the doorframe, Graxzos can see the kobolds appear ready to sacrifice the human captives.
Prepare them for the ritual slaughter. Yes, paint them then slay them we will!
Several kobolds are in the temple proper, painting the captives with red and white patterns with a single yellow wing upon each human’s forehead.
Oh Great Golden One - Accept the blood of these humans!!!
Most of the captives are in and around the stairwell with their wrists bound.
At the sound of his approach, the kobolds stop and turn towards your location.