Amir's inspection finds nothing suspicious about the door. The old wood creaks and groans as it is opened and reveals a long lit chamber beyond. The room is some 40 feet long and 20 wide. Blue ceramic lamps hang from copper chains to provide light. A collection of boxes and ancient urns are stacked along the north wall and rubble piled against the the only exit, double doors to the south. At the far end, a mound of bricks have been piled into a crude throne.
Upon the throne sits an ogre-like man dressed in a filthy studded leather vest and loincloth. Four smaller humans huddle before him, dirty and clad only in scraps. The man on the throne stands on bandy legs as you enter and with an enormous mismatched right arm lifts a huge fist at you. "I am LAZRUL! These are MY halls!" he challenges.
With a growl he swings the massive arm over the heads of the others who grab clubs and cautiously move toward you. The strange figure on the throne sits down again and picks up what looks like a lizard to chew on while he watches.
Amir
Karethas
Faelar
Kzrira
Lazrul, et al
Kzrira stands and puts an arrow into her bow, but waits for the others to see whether they can end this without bloodshed.
Delay to see what Karethas or Faelar may do.
They look scared and intimidated, not evil. But I could be wrong.
I wince as the large man bites into the lizard but regain my composure quickly, I go down to one knee and call out calmly, "Great Lazrul, we did not mean to intrude upon your territory, nor to insult you or defile your halls. We are looking for the one who calls himself the Carrion King, perhaps we could come to an agreement where the use of violence can be avoided?"
Karethas stays silent, but wary. He subtly prepares to cast a spell.
Amir places hands on swords and waits to see about Faelar's entreaty...
"Lazrul will be the new King. Kill all the dog-men and take their witch. Kill you and kill slaves if they don't fight good!" The four men in rags spread out and then rush forward at the threat.
Amir intercepts one with a slash of one of his swords.
Kzrira fires at the closest crazed man.
Attack:
Damage:
Karethas unleashes his Grease spell trying to trip up at least two of the charging slaves.
In a moment, two slaves are severely wounded and two are lying on the floor. The slaves are obviously outmatched, however one manages a lucky strike on Kzrira as she reaches for another arrow. Amir easily knocks aside the club swing of the other. A third slave manages to stand and step from the slick floor while his companion falls again. Lazrul howls in annoyance at the incompetence shown by the slaves.
Seeing the slaves as being just that, slaves, Kzrira steps back and instead focuses her aim on the fat man on the throne.
5-foot step back.
Attack-rapid shot:
Damage:
Attack-rapid shot:
Damage:
Unfortunately neither shot is accurate and powerful.
Karethas pulls a Pearl of Power from his belt pouch and recalls Grease to his memory.
Sensing that these people have been beaten into submission as slave Amir shifts in place pulling his sap with his other hand and focusing on taking down his opponent without resorting to killing him. Amir uses his his skills to attempt to confuse the slave to allow a critical opening.
I sigh as Lazrul forgoes any chance of a diplomatic solution and shake my head. I then start to clap my hands to create a steady beat and sing an Elven battle song.
Faelar, you still have that spell that makes people go to sleep.
Karethas does something with those pearls he is always fondling... Kzrira turns her attention to the ogrish oaf on the throne and one shot hits, but hangs loosely after it barely penetrates his cuirass. It isn't much of a wound, but it catches the other slaves' attention. One goes down a moment later as Amir clops him over the head counterpointing Faelar's clapping rhythm. The slave wounded by Kzrira pushes past her and out the door leaving the two others and Lazrul.
The grotesque boss stands knocking the arrow from his chest as he grabs a wooden brace as tall as he is that he apparently intends to use as a club. He moves forward slowly on deformed legs circling the grease slick. The fallen man finally regains his footing just barely. His companion presses back against the wall.
Kzrira continues to unload arrows at the brute, deciding to see whether cold arrows work better, she causes Tempest to fire shards of ice rather than the usual arrows.
Attack-rapid fire(ice arrows):
Damage:
Attack-rapid fire(ice arrows):
Damage:
Her aim is improved this time. After firing, she steps to the side attempting to keep the slick area between herself and the brute with the club.
Karethas involuntarily takes a step back from the large, beastly man, his eyes wide. He collects himself enough to cast the Grease spell, trying to get it to coat the brace that Lazrul is using.
The big log suddenly glistens with conjured grease shooting out of the deformed cacique's great grasp to bounce off the ceiling and crash to the floor. His surprise is punctuated by pain as Kzrira fires a pair of arrows into him.
I stop singing, but the song seems to echo in the ears of my friends for a while afterwards. I look to Kzrira, "We don't need it for just him, do we?"
In response to Faelar, Kzrira calls out. Put the slaves to sleep.
I nod at Kzrira's request and begin to chant some incantations and perform some long and complex hand gestures.
The men fall asleep immediately at the droning sounds of Faelar's spell. Amir moves to intercept the now unarmed boss.
He cuts into the giant arm as the deformed man raises a huge hand to beat down the old rogue. Amir thrusts again at the awkward stroke.
He misses, but the assault throws off the ogrish man's balance and the big fist swishes through the air.
Seeing the slaves drop, Kzrira smiles and renews her concentration on the large ogre target.
Attack-rapid shot:
Damage:
Attack-rapid shot:
Damage:
The first shot is not that accurate, but the second is dead on sinking deep into the giant man's chest.
Nice work Faelar, now lets drop this monster.
The slave turned master falls pierced by Kzrira's arrows.
Karethas gives a sardonic grin, "I don't believe Lazrul would have been much of a challenge to the Carrion King if he was so easily defeated." He straightens his robes and moves into the room with a businesslike air, "But that arm is quite a thing to see, what do you suppose made that happen?" He bends over the bosses body with a faint sniff and a grimace at the smell.
The enlarged arm and twisted legs could be natural deformities. They do not look to have been acquired later in life. Whether they were an accident of birth or inherited from freakish miscegenation or even a side effect of the wish warp is unclear.
The slaves do not have anything of value. Among the supplies piled against the wall opposite the barred doors are many ancient ceramic urns and pottery pieces. Most have been broken, but a few might have some value though they would be fragile and cumbersome to transport.
"Hmmph, fascinating but not relevant to our business here. It does seem that the Carrion King is not particularly attentive to his slaves, since so many seem to escape. In any case, are we ready to move on?"
Amir chuckles at Karethas' revelations but turns somber a moment later, Or he is confident of his strength. He knows he can strike them down as he wishes?...a gnoll with enough power and sense to think ahead is a creature we should be wary of.
Cocking his eye at the sundry "things" littered about the rogues nods at the wizard. Lets move on for now.
Blocked double doors is my choice.
Tie em up and wake em up. See if they have any questions.
The slaves startle awake and strain at their bonds before spotting Lazrul's corpse. Then they visibly relax and watch their captors uncertainly.
Kzrira looks to Amir and Faelar expecting one of them to do the questioning.
Amir offers a slight eye roll and gestures to the fallen Lazrul. What happened here? Who was this man and how did you come to be down here with him?
The two Garundi men look at Amir oddly and one finally replies, "What happened? You killed Lazrul. We were all slaves of the gnolls. The witch made us dig through these ruins. She was looking for something. Lazrul was very strong. He killed our gnoll guards and then he was our master. More gnolls will come soon."
"If possible we would like to get you out of here, but we need to know our way around first. What is through those doors?" Karethas indicates the blocked double doors.
The men look nervous, "Big spider. Really big spider. Lots of big bugs around here. The gnolls chased it off, but it might come back."
Kzrira looks at the man:
Real spiders? Or alien spiders? Or other creatures that look like spiders?
The men just stare at Kzrira, "Um, real big spider?"
Kzrira looks to her companions:
Shall we go spider hunting?
The men ask you to untie them before you go, but have no interest in leaving their chamber. Once the doors are cleared, they open into a wide hall that has been transformed into a silken tube of webbing. There is a cloying scent of decay and sound is eerily muffled within.