Staggering slightly at the onslaught of negative energy, but able to hold strong, Mak takes aim once more with his bow, loosing an arrow at the Kobold wielding such dark magics.
The skeleton swipes at Eldon, but once again swings terribly and doesn't even come close to hitting him.
Cwm shakes off the negative energy and 5' slides behind the kobold as Yngvilda comes running up. He brings his daggers down toward its back.
Feeling the awful energy washing from the cleric, Yngvilda knows they have to take it down quickly.
She disregards the skeleton for now, moving past it to attack the cleric. She'll take the attack of opportunity as she lacks the movement to attempt an acrobatics
Despite her veneration of Torag however, she has not put in the practice with the hammer that she should have done
Wincing as the negative energy washes over the party Eldon is able to push through the worst of it. Watching with dismay as Yngvilda moves off to help with the cleric, Eldon steps back calling on the elemental magic to try and obliterate this skeleton just as he did its fellow.
"A shame. A real shame indeed." Tykent shakes his head sadly, the disappointment hanging in the air like a cloud above the kobold's head as the shaman walks across the room.
Cwm and Yngvilda are bot unable to get proper positioning on their foe, unable to strike the kobold as all attacks miss.
Eldon's ray strikes the skeleton, but it isn't enough to take it down like his first shot.
Tyken's Evil Eye is more effective this round, lower the kobold's defenses.
Raising their holy symbol again, the kobold sends out another blast of negative energy to everyone nearby.
Stepping out of the flank, the kobold moves southeast five feet.
Cwm winces as more negative energy hits him hard. He slides over and tries to hit the kobold for once.
Yngvilda reads Cwm correctly and steps to provide him the flank that seems to make him so much more effective, striking out with her hammer once again.
After missing again with the Warhammer, she drops it and pulls out one of the throwing axes from where they are both on her belt at the small of her back
Mak grimaces again, the dark energy unnerving him to the core. This Kobold was formidable even without the assistance of his two skeleton minions. Taking a step forward hoping for a better angle, Mak fires another arrow from his longbow.
Tykent shakes his head again. Stepping behind the stone column, he raises his hands to the ceiling. "There's still life in these old bones, and that means you young whippershappers have no excuse." Life bursts from his palms, sinking into his companions like a breath of fresh air and leaving the kobold in shadow.
Cwm lands his first dagger into the kobold's upper back, but the second one misses. Yngvilda tries to land her attack, but misses as well. Tykent's channel has enough positive energy to help heal his companions up from the negative energy damage.
The skeleton pauses a moment, unsure how to proceed. Churgi sees the minions drop and gets desperate. Moving northwest to a position where the negative energy can still reach the entire party, the cleric unleashes a deadly blast of negative energy. The blast seems to remind the undead creature it needs to attack and it swings its scimitar at Yngvilda, but misses.
Mak's arrow flies with expert precision and again buries itself into the kobold.
Yngvilda struggles through the sickening necrotic energy, and tries to keep up the pressure on the kobold, stepping up to it and attacking. Now she has a light axe out she can get back into her rhythm with shield and axe.
She punctuates her blows with barely intelligible screams.
"STOP! DOING! THAT!"
Staggering back from the onslaught of negative energy, Eldon some how pushes through the pain gathering himself for another incantation. He raises his hands once more and sends another ray of energy at the skeleton, determined to finish it off and go help out his companions.
Cwm almost falls to the negative energy, calling out "thanks!" to Tykent. He swaps the daggers in his hand, wondering if that might make a difference as he slashes at the kobold. He growls as his right hand is, again, far more effective than his left.
Tykent grumbles about the youth today not respecting their elders, fixing the kobold with another disapproving look.
Tykent gives the kobold a disapproving look just as Yngvilda'a spike shield buries into the chest of the cleric. That attack is followed up by a vicious axe that finds purchase in a left shoulder, causing blood to leave the kobold's body quite freely. The enemy kobold screams out in pain for only a second before Cwm buries his dagger into its back and sends it collapsing to the ground.
Eldon's ray flies wide, unable to finish off the undead warrior. As he backs up the skeleton follows, swiping at him with an unfocused scimitar that doesn't even come close to striking him.
When Yngvilda sees Cwm's dagger erupt out of the evil Kobold's chest and the light go out of its eyes, she spins and launches the throwing axe at the other foe.
Before it arrives she's rolled toward her hammer and picked it up and looks menacingly at the skeleton, which is only slightly undermined by her wincing as the axe nearly hits Eldon.
"Sorry!"
Cwm stands over the fallen kobold, ensuring he will not return to the battle. He kneels down to search Churgi while the others take care of the skeleton.
Cheering as the kobold falls to the ground and relieved that there should be no more of that negative energy, Eldon steps back and conjures a few small sparks of electricity which he attempts to hurl at the skeleton before him.
Yngvilda thrown axe misses the skeleton by several feet, whooshing closer the sorcerer than the undead foe. Luckily Eldon was focused however, his ray finishing off creature and sending the bones scattering on the ground at his feet.
A broken scimitar lay at the feet of each of the skeleton warriors, but the kobold cleric has a few interesting items in her pack. Three vials with a similar red fluid are wrapped in a leather protective case inside of her her fancy cloak's interior pocket. Her unholy symbol of Vapula looks like it might fetch a decent price as well. She's wearing chainmail arrow and equipped with a quarterstaff.
Cwm looks at the vials with interest but cannot tell what they are, so passes them along. He retrieves his own two potions and looks around at the group, "I only have the two cure lights left, I don't suppose anyone has a wand lying around?"
"Ha! Great shot Eldon!" Yngvilda slaps him on the back almost knocking him over. "Sorry about that axe there" as she goes about collecting her various weapons strewn about the battlefield.
To Cwm she replies.
"We did ask around town, but it sounds like they don't get many adventuring types and nobody had one. I have one potion remaining"
She offers the remaining cure light wounds potion she received from Nighttail to Cwm, while sniffing these new ones
Cwm smiles at Yngvilda, "thank you for the offer but I'm set with these for now - you look a little worn out too."
Mak nods approvingly as the last of the enemies fall. Stretching and bending to make sure everything was still working properly, Mak takes a watch position near the other exit to the room.
"I think I managed to resist the worst of it, I'll be fine." He says gruffly as he walks past the others. "You two look worse off."
As he approaches the other exit, Mak listens intently to hear if their scuffle had drawn any unwanted attention.
The party is able to identify the vials as potions of cure light wounds. Cwm and Yngvilda can't agree on a price for the symbol. They settle on 125 gp, though neither believes the others guesstimate.
Make moves down the corridor to the north, finding it splits in two directions. To the north a few pieces of broken planks are standing up in what looks like a crude attempt to block passage. To the west, the corridor winds off in a north-west direction out of sight.
Yngvilda downs one of the new healing potions, then offers the other two to her allies, keeping the one on her belt for emergencies.
She peels the cloak unceremoniously from the dead kobold and inspects it for evil symbols or odious stains.
"Eldon, what do you make of this cloak, legendary power or dung-ridden rag?"
When everyone is getting ready she hungrily eyes the crude barrier with her axe, clearly trying to decide if this is a battleaxe situation or more of a handaxe level obstacle.
Yngvilda settles on handaxe for the job, it certainly is no reinforced barricade.
Eldon watches the skeleton fall with relief and stands surveying the room for a moment to ensure there are no other threats. "If no one minds, I could really do with one of those potions."
Eldon takes the cloak from Yngvilda and examines it, muttering a few words to himself.
Eldon identifies the cloak one that helps its bearer be more adequately protected against unpredictable dangers.
Eldon looks up from examining the cloak, "Hey! this thing is magical! It will protect the wearer from magic and stuff. Would someone like to wear it?". He holds it out, offering it to the group.
If no one takes the cloak, Eldon will excitedly pull off his pack and put it on.
After a second Eldon reaches for his pack and starts rummaging around for a few moments befor pulling out a small vial. "Ahh! I forgot I bought one of these." he uncaps it and swallows the contents.
Yngvilda never chose an easy path when a barricaded one could be smashed through!
"Of course Eldon, take the cloak, we need you alive so you can remove the death-curse after I slay my linnorm. Hah!"
Mak nods as Yngvilda moves towards the northern barricade and moves out of her way so she can begin her destruction. In the meantime, Mak moves towards the western tunnel and finds the tightest point on the path and begins to set up a bear trap. At least that way if someone comes from behind they will have an unpleasant surprise.
After setting the trap, Mak returns to the group and points it out, warning them not to go that direction without him to disarm it.
Cwm admires the trap, watching carefully in case he needs to assist a quick exit. He moves to join the others watching Yngvilda smashing through the barrier, ready to jump through if there are enemies waiting.
While Mak had the best intentions in mind, he unfortunately didn't count on a trap being set for him instead. As he moves west and places the trap on the floor, he sniffs something odd and unnatural. Stepping forward to inspect what it is, his foot triggers a tripline that causes a dozen vials to fall from the ceiling and crash into the ground, igniting the oil coated walls, floors and ceiling of this chamber.
Luckily for Mak, CWM was right behind him and saw the tripline just as he triggered it. CWM grabs a hold of Mak and throws both of them back towards the other groups just as the the tunnel turns into a fiery tube.
Looking down at Mak's injuries as the fire continues to burn for long after the initial ignition, he can say with certainty that CWM just saved his life.
With the party together again, Yngvilda leads the group past the barricade after she hacks it down with a minutes worth of work. The northern half of the chamber consists of a two-foot-deep bowl-shaped section of smoothed stone covered with leaves and downy bird feathers. Carefully nested in this space are dozens of scaly, green-tinged kobold eggs, each about the size of an orange.
Standing between you and the eggs are two kobolds and a disgusting beast that looks like a slime-covered toad, but with two walrus-like tusks jutting from its upper jaw. One of kobolds who clearly heard the chopping sounds is ready to greet you with a pointed finger. She angrily launches a tirade at you. Nighttail steps up to translate for you.
"She says you all need to leave this area immediately. This is a sacred area and only kobolds are allowed entry. They will do whatever is required to keep you out of this room."
Yngvilda puts her handaxe away in her belt loop and raises her hands non-threateningly
"We're here for the chief, the one who wages war on the humans. We mean your young no harm. Please translate Nighttail"
While she's saying this she looks around to see if there are any hidden exits from the cave, and gradually backs away, adding:
"Sorry about your barricade!"
Nightail translates for the party and then receives the kobold reply "They tell you that they don't care for the chieftain and they have nothing to do with him. Do with him what you will but leave this area alone."
Yngvilda looks around and doesn't catch the sign of any additional exits from this room.
In that case, Yngvilda will lead a careful retreat and look at the burning tunnel instead.
"Are you ok to try this one again Mak? They protected it with a pretty nasty trap, there must be something good down it."
Then she wordlessly waits for Cwm to give the all-clear before heading down it, the unspoken truth that his skill with traps is keeping them alive down here obvious to all.
Eldon follows a long towards the back of the group, happy to let Cwm, Mak and Yngvilda lead the way. He reaches into his belt pouch and pulls out the wands he took from Nighttail. He turns to the kobold and quietly says "Nighttail, here, take your things back. You've lead us better than I expected down here. Maybe with these you can help us out with the battle to come." and holds the wands out to her.
Nighttail is ecstatic that her belongings have been returned. She takes them with a bow of thanks and prepares for the rough road ahead.
With lessons previously learned, Cwm takes the lead and takes the party cautiously through the burned and scorching tunnel. On the other side they come to a set of rough-hewn steps. At the top of the rough-hewn steps is a large cave, the floor strewn with fresh straw. The bones of many different creatures, animal and humanoid both, hang on the walls. Two boulders bisect the cave, obscuring what the other half holds.
Standing in the middle of the room is a kobold bedecked in finery. He puffs out his chest and says in common. "You think you can trespass in the lair of the Blood Vow Tribe with impunity? I am Roaghaz, and I serve the great Lord Aeteperax! He rewards his supplicants for ferocity and faithfulness. We shall add your bones to those hanging on these walls, and our great lord shall sup on your flesh! Get them!"
He casts a spell and suddenly three images of the chief begin to flash and shift all around him, making it difficult to determine which is the real him. He takes cover behind a rock as his troops take arms.
Cwm is quiet when they encounter what appears to be a nursery of sorts. He follows the others lead and respectfully says nothing before they turn to leave. He makes note, however, of how easy it might be to remove the next generation if required.
The trip through the remainder of the tunnels passes without incident until they reach a large cave. Any attempts to sneak in are dashed as Roaghaz shouts out.
Cwm eyes the room and tells the others the layout, "we need to be quick, there are 4 kobolds plus Roagaaawhatever. Anyone good with illusions?" Cwm draws his daggers and darts into the room, "you want ferocity, eh?" He follows the wall and tries to bury both daggers in the bottom kobold's leg.
Watching Cwm dart forward Eldon takes advantage of the clear space in front of the enemy to hurry forward and begin casting a spell. He confidently chants the arcane syllables and raises his hands, fingers splayed. A fan of arcing electricity fills a 15 ft cone in front of him.
Reflex DC: 15
Cwm is quickly able to extinguish the kobold in front of him, taking it to the ground with a blur of his dagger. Two of the three kobold are unable to avoid the full force of the flames from Eldon, only the southern most one avoiding the majority of the damage.
The chieftan pulls out a wand and fires a spell behind Eldon. The front of the room by the entrance into the cavern suddenly explodes in a tangle of sticky webbing!
The three kobolds to the north fire stones at Cwm with their slings, but all three miss.
Anyone in the effect’s area when the spell is cast must make a Reflex save. If this save succeeds, the creature is inside the web but is otherwise unaffected. If the save fails, the creature gains the grappled condition, but can break free by making a combat maneuver check or Escape Artist check as a standard action against the DC of this spell. The entire area of the web is considered difficult terrain. Anyone moving through the webs must make a combat maneuver check or Escape Artist check as part of their move action, with a DC equal to the spell’s DC. Creatures that fail lose their movement and become grappled in the first square of webbing that they enter.
If you have at least 5 feet of web between you and an opponent, it provides cover. If you have at least 20 feet of web between you, it provides total cover.
The strands of a web spell are flammable. A flaming weapon can slash them away as easily as a hand brushes away cobwebs. Any fire can set the webs alight and burn away one 5-foot square in 1 round. All creatures within flaming webs take 2d4 points of fire damage from the flames.
Muttering about blasted webs, Tykent tries to pull himself free...
...and yanks his arms and legs from the mess. ”Clear out in front!” he calls as he pulls a glowing orange vial from his pack. ”I’ve got something to clear out this mess, but you don’t want to be there when it happens.”