With mouth agape, Val slowly lowers her throwing arm. She still gips her starknife, but her arm is relaxed. "Bellicus! That was amazing!"
"We'll have to keep that in mind. We don't have to bother killing every one of them, just the one that's in charge...just for the record, I'm not in charge, right?"
Smiling grimly at Elion, Val quips, "No, that would be Vasdralo."
Peering around the door, Leynus gives a long, slow whistle and then winks at Bellicus. "Nice work there, warrior. A truly mighty blow, I must admit."
The elf takes care to wipe his blade off on the corpse of the goblin he he slew, before sheathing it with forceful emphasis and gesturing about the room with arms spread. "It certainly seems to have won us the day."
At Val's comment, he chuckles and waggles a finger in her direction. "Don't be getting any ideas. Killing him would waste all the hard, honest work I've been putting in down here!"
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Bellicus flicks the goblin leader's blood off his sword, and produces a rag from his pouch to wipe the rest of the green ichor away. "It was nothing. These goblins have always been a distraction from our real purpose here, and now that their chieftain is dead, I doubt they'll try too hard to continue their resistance. Our way forward should be much easier now. Come on, we've a rogue Hellknight to find."
"They left quickly enough. Let's see what they dropped in their panic."
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Having been pacing the room like a penned-in animal, Akshara is only satisfied once she has inspected every corpse before she finally relents from her frustrated pacing. Snarling briefly, she looks in the direction the others fled, then lets out a few deep snorts and seems to be calming down. Ultimately, her ears lift from where they were folded atop her head, and her pupils gradually widen from their slitted shape to rounder, more gentler appearance.
For a moment, it was hard to tell if Akshara would snap out of it.
Sniffing the air, Akshara makes a soft sound in the back of her throat and looks to Anton. Head tilting to the side, she squats down on the floor and lets her lizard-like tail swish back and forth through the blood of one of the fallen goblins, waiting for word of what to do next.
Glancing at Meepo, Val suggests, "Perhaps we should look for Meepo's missing dragon first. I have a hunch that returning the dragon to the kobolds will keep them friendly to our cause... which would be helpful if we're ever forced to retreat back into their territory."
A quick exploration of the goblin room reveals a number of useful items, and a vast number of useless ones. Most of the goblin weapons are utterly worthless, but some of their plunder is of fine quality, especially the well-made sword, armor, and shortbow of the larger-than-usual goblin chief. Elion even manages to trip the lock on a large chest containing nearly a thousand gold pieces of various sorts, acquired by the goblins over many years.
You gather the gear, divvy it up, and prepare to enter the room to the northeast of the smoke-filled hall....
After spending far too long playing with the dead goblin chief's head, Meepo approaches the simple wooden door which is all that stands between you and the room which supposedly contains the "dragon." He slowly reaches at and taps it with his tiny sword, then hops back and hides behind one of the pillars. Hearing nothing from the other side of the door, he steps up again, this time reaching out his hand and gripping the ancient door handle.
His eyes widen and he grins, whispering, "door is cold. Yes, dragon is here! It is here!"
His face becomes serious and he looks up at the party. "You go first?"
Val eyes the plundered masterwork chain shirt and the masterwork mace, and barring any objections, claims them both.
Looking at the rest of the treasure, Val whistles in appreciation. "We don't have time to count it, but let's divvy this up quick. It would be a shame to leave the good stuff behind! I should probably hang on to these potions for safekeeping, as well." She starts loading valuables into an empty sack.
After Meepo's examination of the door, Val turns to Elion. "Do you think that door is safe?"
"Dragon always make things cold! Meepo has job to lock dragon up, feed dragon, and dragon always gives nasty cold burning to Meepo. Nobody 'preciate Meepo's hard work! Not even dragon!"
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Bellicus raises an eyebrow at Meepo's antics. "Surely they couldn't have actually kept a dragon," the warrior says, incredulity dripping from his words. "More likely a drake or the like." Still, they had found white scales in the dragon's cage, and now Meepo was talking about being hit by blasts of frozen breath. Out of curiousity, he also tests the door's temperature. Just how cold was cold to a cold-blooded creature?
Touching the door handle doesn't cause Bellicus any pain, but it certainly is cold--like he's just picked it up out of the snow.
"I'm with you on that, Bellicus. Anton, do you have any idea what we might expect to find behind that door."
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Bellicus stiffens as he slowly withdraws his hand from the handle. "It...couldn't be." There's a look of uncertainty on his face as he slowly casts a glance to Meepo. He stares at the little kobold for a time, glancing back to the door, and then back to Meepo.
Finally, he just shakes his head. "No. There's no way." He turns to the group. "Regardless of what's in there, the door handle is freezing. Whatever's in there likes the cold. Any way we can protect against that? Or get some fires going?"
Elion doesn't find any traps on the door, but he does hear a faint sound in the next room--like a clawed creature walking on ice.
Meepo perks up at the mention of fire. "Oooh, yes. Dragon hates fire! That how goblins capture it! Scare with fire!!"
Meepo says, "me prove it to you! REAL DRAGON! SEE?!" and opens the door...
Inside, mounted and stuffed animal heads sloppily adorn the walls. The assorted heads include rats, cattle, fish, and the like, with an occasional kobold thrown in. Smashed furniture litters the room, and claw marks cover practically every inch of the furniture, doors, and even the walls in some places. A rusted iron spike stands askew in the center of the room, trailing a broken chain, and thin patches of ice coat sections of the walls and floor.
In the rear of the room, anything of value--coins, jade statues, armor, and the like--has been piled up, and a cat-sized winged lizard with white scales curls protectively around its hoard. It hisses, spots Meepo, and screeches in anger, unfurling its wings and preparing to take flight.
Mouth agape, Val also stares in disbelief at the cat-sized dragon, acting in a very dragonlike manner. "By the Starsong..." she whispers.
Breaking out of her reverie, Val hefts her newly-acquired mace. "We did make a promise that we'd return the creature to the kobolds. Let's try to knock it out if we can!"
She then prays aloud to Desna, asking for guidance.
"Hey thanks! That feels a bit better"
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Scrambling into the room on all fours once the doors have opened, Akshara lets out a furious hiss in the direction of the dragon. Her wild, tangled hair hangs down in her face, fingers curl against her palms and the fur on the back of her neck bristles upward. Looking back through the doorway as the puts herself in a corner, Akshara seems to be hoping for guidance or instruction.
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Elion will move into the room and throw a tanglefoot bag at the diminutive dragon...
"All right, everyone! Assuming she keeps her bargain, we need to capture it alive to get the key from the kobold king!"
After casting her spell, Val moves into the room.
Anton attempts to soothe the dragon if/when it awakes.
Elion misjudges the creature's size and the tanglefoot bag explodes on the tiny treasure hoard as the creature takes flight.
Meepo takes out a large (for a kobold), patchy leather bag and shouts taunts in Draconic at the supposed dragon.
Anton's attempts at soothing the creature are unsuccessful; it seems terribly angered by the treatment it has received, and the sight of Meepo has got it riled up.
The dragon surges forward, a few swift strokes of its wings propelling it towards the door--and Meepo. It flies straight past Akshara and snaps at Meepo's face with its tiny jaws. Meepo cries out in pain and holds the bag out at arm's length, waving it around in a pathetic attempt to protect himself--or perhaps trying to catch the dragon. It is difficult to tell.
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Bellicus turns upon the miniature dragon creature, brandishing his blade. "I didn't realize we were on a catch-and-release program here," he mutters, but strikes at the creature with the flat of his blade, attempting to knock it out rather than kill it outright.
Attack the dragon. Dragon hunting is not nearly as glamorous as Bellicus thought it would be.
Well, that's an auspicious start.
Surprised by the ferocity of the cat-sized flying lizard, Val swings her newly-acquired mace at it, attempting to stun the thing.
Unfamiliar with her new weapon, the swing is clumsy. She comes closer to striking Meepo than his dragon.
Anton moves to flank and strikes with his quarterstaff.
[ooc] sorry, didn't realize I was on the bubble[/dice]
Elion will move up beside Bellicus and try to hit the dragon with the but of his dagger (non-leathel).
"Damn, this is going to take forever if none of us can hit the little bastard. How about we all jump on it and pin it to the floor?"
Meepo flails around, trying to get the sack over the beast's head, but fails miserably. The monster, still enraged by Meepo's presence, continues to bite and claw furiously at the kobold.
Its claws scratch harmlessly off of Meepo's leather jerkin, but its jaws sink into the flesh of his forearm, leaving a nasty mark.
"Aiiieeeee! No hurt Meepo! Meepo your friend!"
"Meepo, I don't think it likes you very much."
Val takes another swing at the dragon, but it manages to twist out of the way.
Leynus and Anton move to aid Valeria by harrowing the creature with distracting attacks, while Elion and Akshara move to aid Bellicus in the same manner. (Valeria and Bellicus get +4 to their next attack vs. the dragon.)
"Grah! Get... in... BAG!!!"
Bellicus manages to strike the creature but its hard scales deflect the blow. It continues its ferocious attack against the defenseless kobold, who now bleeds from multiple bite and claw wounds.
Bellicus whacks the creature with the flat of his blade and it falters slightly, turning on the would-be Hellknight with an angry hiss and forgetting about the kobold for the moment.
Meepo stumbles away and cowers. "Careful! Not kill dragon!!"
"Needless cruelty ...tsk ..." Anton casts flare at the little dragon.
Elion tries to get a grip on the dragons tail
Not really having any other tricks up her sleeve for this situation, Val raises her mace and takes another swing at the cat-sized winged lizard. Seeming to get the hang of the balance of her new weapon, she connects!
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Watching everyone struggle with subduing the dragon, Akshara — who has been occupying herself with keeping it corralled — finally loses her patience for this game. Not one for nonlethal takedowns, especially when she gets in the heat of the moment, the feral tiefling throws her arms out to the side, folds her ears back, and lets out a thunderous roar that sounds like it would come from a beast twice her size. As she makes this ferocious gesture, her fur stands on end, pupils turn to slits, and her vicious teeth are bared full.
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"By the Cycle ..." Anton wonders aloud.
Slightly shaken herself, Val shoots Akshara a look of shock and surprise. "Desna's wings! I didn't know you could do that!"