After a few minutes, Cwm stands up, "setting a bear trap would be great. Hopefully we can just collect it on the way out but it's a good plan. When you're done with that, do you want to take a look at this lock? One of my tools is bent and I can't get a good angle."
Cwm studies the lock for a moment and gets to work on it. It is not an overly complex device and he is able to crack it open with a brief minutes work.
Inside the room is a dry cave that contains a large number of weapons have been stashed in neatly ordered stacks and piles. There are 12 spears, 120 sling bullets, 4 slings, 3 suits of leather armor, 3 wooden shields, 2 bows, and a masterwork Medium cold iron longsword.
Mak nods to the rogue, reaching into his bag for his tools but stops when he hears the lock click and the door swing open. Still walking carefully, Mak peers into the armory at the weapons and goods inside. Overall the goods were fairly mundane, likely from the Kobolds raids on campsites or some other despicable method of acquisition. Before entering the room Mak looks it over as much as he can, looking for traps or any other exits from the room.
Make doesn't find any signs of traps nor does he locate any other exits from the small room.
Cwm picks through the gear but doesn't find anything if use to him. "should we check the Southwest tunnel?"
"Nice work on the door Cwm, are you a native of Belhaim? You Mak and Tykent arrived just when we needed you, bless Torag. We were in a tight spot there"
She's making small talk while her eyes go wide at the cold-iron longsword, trying to draw attention away from the involuntary way she licked her lips when she saw it. Eventually she seems to decide and grabs it, belting it on alongside the mithral dagger.
"Yes lets checkout that tunnel" she calls out after hastily strapping it on and tries to catch up, volunteering to go first with her shining shield
Cwm has no idea Yngvilda is interested in the sword do doesn't think anything of her strapping it on. "Feel free to lead the way. Say the word if you need me to run ahead."
Yngvilda leads the group back to a small chamber with a single small palet heaped with furs in one corner. On this pallet is an aged kobold with dull green scales his breath is ragged. As she steps closer the feeble kobold's eyes flutter open revealing milky white eye balls that look to have gone blind years ago.
The kobold rasps, "I can tell by your scent that you are strangers here. If my nose tells the truth, you bring the change I foretold. Good....goood. I had hoped to see our chiefs ruin before journeying to the afterworld, but I will settle for listening to it." The old seer lets out a feeble ragged cough. "Beware the great scaly beast, strangers. He seems to speak reason, but his words are poison. And his bats, the ones he called from the darkness...they are harbingers of lunacy and chaos...Dread Lord Aeteperax will surely be your doom as he has been ours." With those words the old kobold sighs and his body goes limp against the furs, you no longer hear anymore ragged breathing form the oracle.
Yngvilda gasps when she hears the aged Kobold's words. "Our coming was foretold! Like the stories..."
She looks at the rest of the party with wide-eyed wonder, then collects herself and after putting her axe back on her belt, covers the Kobold's face with the furs as a mark of respect.
She then takes a minute to examine the chamber for anything of use, redrawing her axe just in case
Eldon looks into the store room, but seeing nothing of interest to him he returns to the chamber and waits for the others to lead the way.
On entering the next cavern and hearing the old kobolds words Eldon listens eagerly to the oracles last words but sighs with a mixture of sadness and disappointment when he passes on.
"That sounded ominous, wish we'd been able to ask some questions. What should we do?"
Cwm listens respectfully and agrees with Eldon, "it seems he raised more questions than we had a few moments ago. Our coming, or someone similar, was prophesied. There's a cunning scaly beast with a bunch of bats? And what is a Dread Lord?"
He begins looking around for an exit, "downward or should we check that other tunnel?"
Mak removes his hat in respect to the old Kobold shaman. In another time, they might have been enemies, but now it was clear that the shaman wasn't long for the world. After his passing, Mak returns his hat to his head and looks at the group, not one to lead or make decisions.
"Whichever way we go, I'll set up my trap behind us, to keep us from being flanked, or at least give us a warning." Mak says, pulling the steel trap from his belt.
The only thing of interest is what the kobold is clutching in his ead hands. The kobold holds a tiny box that has a leather cord attached to it. The box contains religious scripture on all sides.
Nighttail moves beside the dead kobold mutters a few words in draconic before taking her feet again. She sets her teeth in a snarl and snaps "This was Jakkol. Chief let him die instead of helping him."
Advancing south, the party comes to a wooden barricade that blocks access to a tunnel. The tunnel winds south further and Cwm and Yngvilda follow it to find that the tunnel loops around and connects back to the lake to the north. In the center of the tunnel is another cave entrance that leads north.
Night comments above the northern door "That the way to the lower area."
When asked about the barricade she notes "Raise rats and keep them in there."
Cwm examines the northern door, looking for any traps or locks before attempting to open it.
Cwm doesn't find any locks on the barricade. He understands it is several pieces of wood stacked on top of each other and he could move them out of the way.
He tries to piece together whether or not Nighttail is being deceitful to the group but doesn't pick up on any ulterior motives.
"May his spirit find peace," Tykent prays softly. Hope chitters as the shaman covers the body with a piece of ratty cloth before both rejoin the other adventurers.
Yngvilda shudders involuntarily at the mention of rats, especially if she can hear any.
"Ugh. Let's just leave those there eh?"
She motions to the northern passage.
"Let's go that way and pretend we didn't see any rats, horrible things"
Yngvilda leads the party to the north, ignoring the rat room for now.
As she exits the tunnel, the ceiling of this chamber rises to a lofty twelve feet. The cave floor drops away into a pair of long, ten-foot-deep pits. Between them, a ridge of stone forms a dubious walkway to a landing on the opposite side, where a five-foot-wide shaft with a knotted rope hanging down into it awaits.
Nighttail points at the rope and nods "This as far as I have been. That way to the chief."
Cwm looks around skeptically, "you're saying that if the chief wants to go outside for some fresh air, he needs to climb a rope and walk across this ridge between what I'm sure are two pits full of pillows and treasure?"
He takes a few steps to try and confirm his pillow theory but is careful not to stray too close to the edge.
+1 for traps
Nighttail nods. "Assuming he is down there, I believe so. Like I say, I never been down there. Maybe another way out?"
Yngvilda looks dubiously at the walkway.
"That doesn't look exactly stable, and balancing is not my strongest skill. I also left my rope in the last Kobold trap, does anyone have any more? Maybe we can set up a guide rail or something"
Cwm roots through his pack, "I try and keep silk rope handy but I apparently didn't replenish my stash. If anyone has any, I can try and carry some across." If anyone has rope, he'll tie it around his waste and start attempting to navigate the walkway. He keeps a careful out for traps and anything that may be in the pits.
+1 for traps
Cwm expertly navigates the obstacle with ease. Just as he finished crossing however, six kobolds emerge from behind a curtain of rock. Raising their slings and spears, they are ready to attack the intruders!
Cwm is surprised to see the kobolds appear and curses himself for not paying enough attention to his surroundings. His arms stretch out and two daggers fly toward the nearest kobold. Cwm then jerks his hand to the side as another dagger appears in his palm and he moves off of the ledge. He raises it menacingly and calls back to the others, "six kobolds up here, not much space."
Hearing Cwm's call, Eldon moves forward to get a better view of the kobolds. Finding a good place to target them he stops and prepares himself.
Tykent politely begs Eldon's pardon as he walks in front of the halfling, then gives the kobold with pure yellow scales a stern look. "Would you care to explain why one of your elders just died alone without any of his kin present?"
The kobold fails to withstand Tykent's evil eye, becoming less effective in combat.
Cwm's daggers fly to the kobold, one of the striking its target and nearly taking it to the ground.
The kobolds cheer loudly as they put a stone into their sling and fire them towards the party. As Tykent looks the most vulnerable on the narrow walkway, the kobolds fire six stones toward him. Only two stones strike him, one in the left shin and one in the chest .
After throwing its stone at Tykent, the kobold Cwm injured collapses to the ground, unconscious.
Cwm stalks toward the group, raising his hand and watching flames shoot out to roast most of the remaining kobolds. He turns to the one that avoided the flames, "lay down your weapons and we can have a chat."
The WHOOSH of Cwm's flames hardly speak of peace. The kobolds do not even get a chance to scream before they are completely charred and burned to a crisp. When the flames subside, four kobolds are laying on the ground smoking and out of commission.
Yngvilda is caught quite unaware as she was pondering the dangerous crossing. She sees Cwm bound across and thinks
He's got this handled, the last thing I want is to need rescuing from the pit again
She then takes off her shield and puts it on her back
Seeing the flames incinerate the majority of the kobolds Eldon moves forward and aims at the north most kobold unleashing a bolt of electricity towards it.
A bit overwhelmed by all of the group's discussion and decisions, Mak was a bit slow to react when the Kobold band began their assault. By the time he was ready, the majority of the foes had been stabbed, burnt, or electrified. But a few remained, and Mak wouldn't stand for that. Moving to position near Yngvilda, Mak quickly fires an arrow at one of the Kobolds, hoping to spare the party any further sling stones.
The seemingly imposing kobold force of six is removed a mere second after making their surprise appearance. Cwm scorches most of them down and the two that are left are quickly handled by Eldon's electric attack and Mak's arrow.
Cwm looks around in appreciation. "That was quicker than expected. We work well together it seems." He moves over to retrieve his dagger and search the bodies, while keeping an eye out for any other hidden kobolds or traps.
Lowering his arm after casting the bolt of electricity, Eldon says to Cwm "Yeah, not long at all. Nice spell, I've never been any good with fire.". Eldon looks around. "So, where next?".
No other hidden enemies are traps are found in this area. The only way forward is down the rope to an empty cave down below. A quick search of the kobolds reveals each has the same equipment: leather armor, spear, sling and 3 stones.
Cwm ensures his dagger is reloaded back into it's wrist sheathe and moves over to the rope. He slowly moves down it, moving as silently as possible and relying on his darkvision to peer into the corners.
Once at the bottom, if safe, he waves the others down while he retrieves his blades.
Yngvilda follows along, a bit embarrassed at missing the fight for fear of falling in, but grateful that Cwm handled it.
She keeps her shield on her back and her axes on her belt by the rope, waiting for the tug to show the all clear before she descends down
Cwn descends down to the lower level and finds that it is clear of any immediate threats. He gives a signal to the group above and tells them it is all clear for them to descend. The group mostly makes their way down quietly, with only Yngvilda's armor occasionally banging against the tight quarters making sounds as she descends.
Two hallways branch off to the north leading to a larger room. The ceiling at the center of this cave is twelve feet high. A crude idol stands in the middle of the cave, decorated with grisly strips of dried viscera. A deep red kobold stands before the foul altar, seemingly praying before it. Two skeletons are in the back corners of the room.
Nighttails spits out with venom in her voice. "Churgi!"
The red kobold casts a spell and spins to face your party, responding in kind.
Nightail whips tells you "This is cleric of Vapula who replaced Jakol and let him die! Kill him!"
Struggling to see past his fellows Eldon moves forward, squeezing past the group untill he can see the situation. Quickly assessing the contents of the room he focuses on one of the skeletons raising a hand and calling upon his magic to send a ray of electricity arcing towards the west most skeleton.
Mak lets out a gruff sigh and grimaces at the sight of skeletons. Any fool knows that shooting arrows at a skeleton does about as much good as firing through his mother's clothesline, a prank that often got Mak into trouble as a youth at home.
Setting arrow to bowstring, Mak lets fly at the Kobold, hoping to keep him from further using his foul magics.
While arrows are not effective against skeletons, whatever Eldon just blasted the one to the left of the kobold with sure as hell was. Bits of bone explode in every direction as the undead creature is instantly destroyed by the sorcerer's ray.
The other skeleton's head swivels to see the source of the blast and makes its way over to Eldon. It hacks at him with a broken scimitar that he easily avoids, ducking under the high swing.
Cwm runs up to the kobold, leaping over the steaming bones of the skeleton. He slashes at Churgi, wishing he'd been able to more effectively attack from the shadows.
Any fool may know that bludgeoning attacks are best for skeletons, but does Yngvilda?
Having re-equipped her shield and handaxe after the climb, Yngvilda is about to swing at it before she remember a line from one of her favourite tales about Bjorn the lich slayer, when he smashed a host of skeletons with his hammer rather than scratch them with his axe.
She steps forward, drops her axe, pulls out her hammer, then strikes in one smooth motion, keeping her shield up all the while.
Juggling the weapons was too much for her though, and she merely strikes thin air.
"Excellent choice, Yngvilda!" the old man calls as he shuffles between Mak and Eldon. "And you there - young man! I mean, young kobold! Don't you feel ashamed for your treatment of your predecessor? Why, he's watching you from just beyond that rock, haunting you for the rest of your days."
Dodging back from the second skeleton Eldon takes a moment to prepare himself before carefully casting a protective spell, keeping an eye on his opponent Eldon tries to time the gestures and words of his spell as to not give the skeleton an opening for an attack.
Unfortunately just before he completes the spell a sudden move by the skeleton spoils the final gesture of the spell and the carefully crafted magical energies scatter with a small crack a shower of sparks.
Cwm's attack is not as effective as he'd like and he hits nothing but empty air.
Tykent tries to use evil to weaken the defenses of the kobold long-term, but the kobold is willful is and is able to combat his attempt. The cleric strikes forward and thrusts its holy symbol up as it chants a few words in draconic. A blast of negative energy sweeps out from its body, striking everyone in the party.