Leo looks through the room.
Wishing he knew more about magic, Leo ploughs through suits of armour and weaponry, hoping that someone can tell him more.
Leo looks through the room.
Wishing he knew more about magic, Leo ploughs through suits of armour and weaponry, hoping that someone can tell him more.
"Hey Brujo, Mirth, Cronin any of you know anything about magic?" Leo asks.
Cronin shakes his head. "I would not be the last resort, but I would hardly be the first choice either. Arcane secrets are not for me."
Cronin shakes his head. "I would not be the last resort, but I would hardly be the first choice either. Arcane secrets are not for me."
"Me too, but I was hoping you'd know more than me... well I guess I better drag one of those two over before we have to rush upstairs," Leo nods back to Cronin as he wanders over to Brujo and Mirth.
"Could one of you take a gander in that toom over there in case there's something useful we could use against whoever Devlin's rushed to join?" he asks them.
Cronin finishes the last of his prayers and obligingly enters the guard room to look around. "You'd know better than me, Leo. Armour and weapons are your toolkit. To me they're just a necessary evil."
"I know a bit about it," Mirth replies to Leo. "For a pretty face like thine, I might be persuaded to offer my answers free of charge." she answers tartly.
She follows the Paladin back to the guardroom reluctantly, looking over her shoulder at the stairway leading upward.
Mirth's tail flicks as she immediately sees a suit of reddish scale amour among the racks. To the uninitiated, the surface patina might pass as rust, but she knows better.
Martyr's Armour - level 7
Enhancement: +2 AC
Power (At-Will): Minor Action. You take a –1 penalty to AC until the end of your next turn, and allies adjacent to you gain a +1 power bonus to AC until the end of your next turn.
Power (Daily): Immediate Interrupt. Use this power when an adjacent ally is attacked. You take a penalty to your AC equal to the enhancement bonus of this armor; your ally adds an equal power bonus to his AC. Both effects last until the end of your next turn.
"That one." she points a finger at the scaled tunic. "The appalling color aside, it should help thee keep thine allies safe... though at some cost."
The tiefling produces a small purse with a flourish and a smile. "With my thanks, little dragon." She counts out coins into the kobold's waiting hand.
The kobold gathers the survivors and counts the coins carefully into equal piles. Then he nods and goes back to Mirth, pulling her down to his level and whispering to her.
Draconic
"Next time be more sneaky. Good kobolds cheat. But we are very scary kobolds and we understand you fear us, so we forgive you."
Snaggletooth, after embracing his old friend, turns to the other kobolds and points to the north room.
Draconic
Then he opens his backpack and dumps the silver into a large pile on the floor. Then he opens his pouch and takes his gold out, too.
He displays the pile for the kobolds to see. Then with a big show, he turns his back on the pile, leaving it for the other kobolds to take.
Rev
Snaggletooth and Kneebiter scour the weapon rack for hidden treasures. Kneebiter finally shrugs. "Only our old things. We will take them and you will choose first." He pointedly speaks in Common.
Then Kneebiter calls all the remaining kobolds to his side. "We are mighty and we thank you for your gold. Now, we leave. Snaggletooth, stay with them and bring us Devlin's gold. Also his spine. That would be good."
On this rousing note, he leads his band away. Snaggletooth at least is aware that the power structure of the Spellguard kobold community has been radically changed. Silence falls as you realise that the end of your long search is at hand.
Snaggletooth
Kneebiter would much rather take advantage of his new status to get out of there and start taking over Bleak's Band. Snaggletooth can go and join them if he survives the quest.
"Thanks Mirth," Leo grins as he begins to swap his armour for the replacement once he's tried to clean it up a bit.
"Can anyone use a spare suit of scale armour?" Leo asks and if not he'll stow the armour away until he can find a way to either donate it to his church or sell it off for something either he or the party needs the next chance they get.
Fire still rippling over his body, Brujo continues after Devlin. "Get out!" a voice rips through his mind as he gets closer to the door.
Brujo takes a knee as his wits come back to him. Breathing heavily he takes a moment to rest. He looks behind him over to the party. The events that took place... cloudy.
"May it protect us both." she says to Leo, with no hint of jest in her tone.
Quickly tending to the most painful of her wounds, Mirth slouches against the northern wall of the main corridor where she can watch the eastern staircase, while her companions dawdle.
"Caine how does that battle standard Mirth gave you work?" Leo asks the Commander.
Snaggletooth grabs a hand crossbow, 20 bolts, quiver/case, shortsword, and new(er) cloak to replace his tattered one. He leaves the rest to the new gang.
Nervy silence prevails as the group make their plans.
Nervy silence prevails as the group make their plans.
... time passes and you are aware that with every minute you delay, the better prepared your enemy will be.
Nervy silence prevails as the group make their plans.... time passes and you are aware that with every minute you delay, the better prepared your enemy will be.
Mirth approaches the stairs cautiously, recalling the kobold's mention of Devlin fleeing into the darkness.
Kneeling beside the stairwell she whispers several words of summoning, coaxing a tenebrous serpent out of her own shadow. She urges the shadow-figment up the stairs, looking avidly through its eyes.
Mirth stands at the bottom of the stairs, intent on the serpent as it winds its way upwards. In unconscious imitation of the conjured shadow, her head moves from side to side, delicately sniffing the air.
Mirth
An image builds in your mind's eye. Unnatural darkness fills the room above, swathing everything in shadow, but while this hides most things, including your shadowing conjuration, it does not hide everything.
Tiny flickers of uneasy movement betray at least one creeper, poised to attack by the stairwell. You cannot discern more.
Rev:
"Another creeper awaitsss our coming," Mirth mutters. "Perhapsss more than one." Her eyes narrow. "A shroud of darknesss above, deeper than shadowsss."
"Great," is all Fairwind can muster by way of response.
Mirth
All
"Caine how does that standard work? Do you have to plant it upstairs or does it work over a period of time so we can gain its benefits as we charge up there?" Leo asks.
"We could risk charging up there but we'll need a light source and risk more attacks like the one we suffered down here," Leo openly ponders.
"Leo."
The tiefling looks sidewise at the newly crimson-armored paladin, mildly vexed at having to explain the intricacies of magic to the untutored.
"Methinks that this darkness will prove stronger than a sunrod or a few torches."
Mirth's serpent-enhanced senses confirm that the darkness is unnatural and will consume a normal light source.
"So exactly how many are there up there in addition to Devlin?" Leo whispers thoughtfully.
"So exactly how many are there up there in addition to Devlin?" Leo whispers thoughtfully.
Leo
Power (Encounter • Zone): Standard Action. When you plant the battle standard in your space or an adjacent square, it creates a zone in a close burst 5. While within the zone, you and your allies gain a +1 power bonus on damage rolls.
This effect lasts until the end of the encounter or until the battle standard is removed from the ground. Any character in or adjacent to a battle standard’s square can remove it from the ground as a standard action.
"So exactly how many are there up there in addition to Devlin?" Leo whispers thoughtfully.
"With certainty? One creeper," Mirth whispers in return. "Though soon I shall be able to tell thee more."
Holding a slender finger to her lips, she slips silently into the shadows that line the stairwell.
Mirth moves up the stairs so quietly that not even the shadows that flow around her are aware of her presence. Barely breathing, she sends her thought into the spirit snake, scenting the air in the tower room.
Mirth
Roll me 2 more perception checks please.
Rev:
Mirth
The snake moves in the dark, darting further into the room. There are more creepers, but nothing that smells human. You can identify six definite forms.
Rev:
Mirth
Your snake senses combine with your arcane powers to serve you well enough. The chamber above is unfurnished and there are two creepers behind the door. The others that you sense are poised, ready to move at the first sign of intruders. You smell their paddy feet shifting under their weight.
The darkness comes from the centre of the room (and you know you would not have sensed its source if you had not sent your serpent so far into danger). One of the floor tiles smells different, as though creeper hands had recently touched and lifted it.
Rev:
Emerging some moments later from the stairwell, the tiefling sits for a moment before stalking, tail a-twitch and eyes blazing, to where the rest of her companions wait.
"Creepers above, paired in ambush at the door. Four more wait beyond, all hidden under an enchantment of darkness," she murmurs. "The enchantment can be broken, at some peril."
Mirth regards Snaggletooth for a long moment. "Little dragon, how much heroic blood still runs in thy veins?"
Mirth
Cronin speaks up. "Forewarning is helpful. Mirth, what kind of cover would you or Snaggletooth need to give you time to disable the darkness? We will be fighting blind until you do. Can Fairwind and Snaggletooth at least try remove the ambush by the door before you go in?"
Cronin speaks up. "Forewarning is helpful. Mirth, what kind of cover would you or Snaggletooth need to give you time to disable the darkness? We will be fighting blind until you do. Can Fairwind and Snaggletooth at least try remove the ambush by the door before you go in?"
Mirth considers Cronin's question for only for a moment. "It will take as long as it takes, and both of us shall be needed."
She shrugs and looks pointedly at Leo and Brujo. "The enchantment lies in the center of the room above... keep the creepers away, if thee wish to see it broken."
Cronin speaks up. "Forewarning is helpful. Mirth, what kind of cover would you or Snaggletooth need to give you time to disable the darkness? We will be fighting blind until you do. Can Fairwind and Snaggletooth at least try remove the ambush by the door before you go in?"
Mirth considers Cronin's question for only for a moment. "It will take as long as it takes, and both of us shall be needed."
She shrugs and looks pointedly at Leo and Brujo. "The enchantment lies in the center of the room above... keep the creepers away, if thee wish to see it broken."
"Sounds like I'm taking point, but what about the rest of you?" Leo sighs as he gets up and stretches.
For Rev
"Blood of Dragons flows in me." Snaggletooth points to his heart. "I heroic enough to charge in room. Good idea?" Snaggle asks his comrades.