"You make a very good point Sabrine. I feel wonderful thanks to Cei's attention last night, let's see what's in the tunnel!"
She blushed when she realises what she said "With the healing magic I mean."
Still blushing, she moves into the tunnel so as to have something to do, leading the way with her shield lighting it up.
Deciding to leave the locked chests for later, the party pushes onward. The tunnel ahead begins to narrow until it is only a few feet wide. A pair of low barricades made of timbers and rocks partially block the passageway, which opens into a larger cave beyond.
Galandram asks Yngvilda to pause while he checks out the barricades to ensure they are safe. After a hasty check he waves her forward and declares it clear. Unfortunately for the ulfen, the hasty work of the elf overlooked the stalactites above. As she makes her way over the barricade, several stalactites swing down like pendulums and impact her . Crying out in pain, the debris knocks her over the barricade to the other side where she lands awkwardly and out of sight.
After the fallen debris has been cleared, the rest of the party is able to climb over the barricade to see the bloodied and bruised fighter waiting on the other side.
This large cave appears to have been recently scratched from the hard-packed earth, and its ceiling is only five feet high. Several tons of debris fill the western portion of the cave. What appears to be the body of a man lies half buried under the rubble near the north end of the cave.
The only item of note on his person is a key ring.
Focused on the task at hand and seemingly oblivious to Bri's concern, Galandram works on opening the chests, mildly annoyed with himself for not being able to jury rig a lockpick. "Agreed, we can come back to these chests later I think," says Galandram to Sabrine with a sigh. He finishes more brightly, "When we're back in town, I'd bet that Delbin's Devices will have something I can use."
Galandram winces as the stalactites come crashing down on Yngvilda. What would Torvas say? "Measure twice and mix once, if you don't want to lose a finger." Well look twice before you tell them to go, if you if you don't want to lose a friend, he thinks, glancing at the injured Yngvilda and at Sabrine.
As they enter the room, the elf takes his own advice and carefully examines the room for about 10 seconds, noting the dead body on the north side.
The elf raises a hand, giving a quiet Shhh! to the group. He continues quietly, "There are creatures further down in the cavern, talking." he whispers as he attempts to quiet his motions.
Yngvilda steadies herself after the hit. "I'm ok! Wasn't looking where I was ...
She quietens down after seeing Galandram's signal and listens herself
She can't hear anything (other than ringing in her ears from the stalactite hit), but she keeps her shield up and her axe drawn nevertheless, but doesn't move for fear of making a sound
Cei rushes to Yngvilda's side, but quiets down a bit after Galandram motions for quiet. "Are you okay?" Cei looks over the wound for a moment before muttering "This is bad." He concentrates for a moment and a light spreads out from his hand to the wound on Yngvilda's head.
Galandram picks up enough snippets of the conversation to understand that there are at least three creatures ahead speaking draconic.
Upon getting through the rubble, Bri rushes to Yngvilda’s side with Cei and waits to see if Cei will heal him. Once he does, she relaxes a bit before Galandram’s warning to be quiet comes over her. ”I’m glad your ok Yngvilda, I was worried.
Relieved that Yngvilda is healed, Bri will look around and see if there are any advantageous positions to get into.
Hearing Galandram's warning Eldon stays back out of the way and waits to see what the others can make out. Spotting the dead body he prepares himself for the possibility of a fight, tiny sparks arcing between his fingers.
At its widest, the room is at least 50' across in the center and stretches north for at least a hundred feet or so. The voices Galandram hears are echoing in the distance and not immediately close or visible.
If the only light in the cavern is from Yngvilda's shield, she whispers "We've no hope of sneaking up on them if we need this light to see, especially if they don't". But if there's light from somewhere else she'll ask Eldon to dismiss the light and she'll feel a bit more confident about the approach.
Either way she will try to be as stealthy as possible as she clanks along, but she'll stay 30 ft. behind or so to try to minimize the impact of her light and noise
Galandram sets his pack down as quietly as possible so that he can move more easily, and moves to follow Bri. Before he goes, he whispers to the group, "It sounds like these creatures brought down the tower accidentally. We should see what else we can discover."
Cei quickly casts guidance on himself, then steps to the front with Galandram and begins trying to move forward, seeing what can be found out. Unfortunately, his armor makes quite a bit of noise as the group moves.
Eldon will move up behind Yngvilda and follow along.
As the clunky cleric moves forward, his armor loudly alerts all those of your approach. The cramped tunnels you are moving through suddenly feel a lot smaller as you realize you are about to engage in combat inside of them! The hushes voices ahead quickly cease and instead three kobolds come running around the corner of the tunnel ahead to confront you.
The two kobolds in the front have spears in hand and the third in the rear has an arrow notched in his shortbow that he looses as soon as he comes into sight. The arrow whistles through the air and nearly critically strikes Galandram in the upper chest, missing his heart by an inch .
Galandram barely has time to react after he hears Cei's noisy movements behind him before the first arrow flies at him. He yelps in pain as the arrow pierces his chest, and then grits his teeth as he retreats north behind cover. As he moves, he calls out in a deep, commanding tone, "चलो हम बात करते हैं। लड़ने की जरूरत नहीं।"
Not much chance of that, he thinks as he ducks out of bowshot. Still, it's worth a shot. Glancing at the arrow in his chest, he breathes a word of thanks to Desna that it wasn't placed an inch to the right. As he ducks behind the wall, he readies his rapier, preparing to strike at any foes who engages with him in melee.
Cei holds up his holy symnbol, "Shyka, master of time, bless our actions."
Hearing Galandram's cry Eldon rushes up and spots the Kobolds, he raises his hand and begins reciting a series of arcane phrases while sparks crackle around his hand. After a moment a ray of electrical energy lances towards the first Kobold.
Daydreaming about epic battles, Yngvilda is suprised when she comes back to herself to find herself in one!
She bounds forth and tries to get her shield in between the kobolds with the arrows and Eldon who moved out into the open. "Behind me!"
The front two kobolds look shocked when Galandram responds in their language. They both look back towards the archer in the rear who shouts orders at them. "Никога! Убий ги. БЪРЗО!"
Galandram ducks around the corner and catches his breath, ready to strike should someone move forward. Yngvilda ensures that won't happen however, quickly moving as fast as an armored ulfen can into the tunnel. Cei blesses the party just before Eldon's electrical blast completely toasts the northern most kobold. One moment he is there, the next his body is nothing but a smoking, charred corpse that fills the small tunnel with a terrible burnt flesh smell.
The archer in the rear that struck Galandram fires another shot towards your fighter, but she is ready and her shield blocks the projectile. The forward kobolds thrusts its spear at Yngvilda as it moves up, but she easily blocks and deflects the strike.
Eldon grins broadly at seeing his target blasted. He takes careful aim past Yngvilda at the Kobold firing arrows and unleashes another ray of energy at it before quickly moving to take cover.
Bri will move right in front of Cei, and beginning a lullaby as her voice focuses on the Kobold in front of Yngvilda.
A sleep spell causes a magical slumber to come upon 4 HD of creatures. Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first. Among creatures with equal HD, those who are closest to the spell’s point of origin are affected first. HD that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted. Sleeping creatures are helpless. Slapping or wounding awakens an affected creature, but normal noise does not. Awakening a creature is a standard action (an application of the aid another action). Sleep does not target unconscious creatures, constructs, or undead creatures.
The white clothed kobold's eyes flutter briefly before he drops unconscious to the ground in front of you.
Eldon's ray of electricity sizzles and crackles on the archer at the end of the tunnel, but doesn't quite fry him to the same extent as the first target.
With the kobold in front of her passing out, Yngvilda will move past it at the one who's been shooting and swing her axe at it.
"Aaaauuuggggh!"
Then she brings her shield up, just like her father taught her.
Seeing the tight quarters, Galandram moves up behind Yngvilda, hoping to move past the enemy in the next round.
Yngvilda's axe falls short of her target given her defensive posture. Galandram moves up, preparing to acrobatically re-position.
Cei steps up to the sleeping Kobold and begins to move their weapons down the hall, away from their reach.
Cursing loudly in draconic, the last kobold fires a shot that Yngvilda deflects with her shield once more. He moves backwards 5' and reloads his weapon to prepare for another shot. He repeatedly yells at his fallen comrade to wake up to no avail.
Yngvilda steps toward the creature, and shouts "YIELD OR DIE!" while knocking it back with her shield,
then in the opening created swinging down with a hit of her handaxe
"YIELD OR DIE!"
Sabrine moves up to stand behind Cei and puts her hand on its shoulder ” I can kill if you need me to. Go help Yngvilda if you want to!”
Seeing there is no clear shot at the remain creatures Eldo waits in case an opening presents itself.
Yngvilda's shield bash catches the kobold in the face and sends him stumbling back a step from the heavy blow. He grinds his teeth and shows no sign of surrendering, spitting in the ulfen's face.
Cei holds up a hand, forestalling Sabrine, "I can kill if needed. We were sent to investigate the collapse of the tower and Galandram said they know something about it. We need one alive." He begins to pull some rope out from his pack, "But you can help me tie this one up." He suits actions to words and begins to bind the creature.
Galandram steps forward past Yngvilda, ducking and dodging as he tries to tumble through the archer kobold's square.
As the archer is engaged with Yngvilda, Galandram takes the opportunity to tumble past the foe and places his blade into the creatures back, piercing its heart. The creature gurgles once, but drops to the ground between the ulfen and the elf.
Searching the three kobolds, you find three potions with a reddish tint to them, a masterwork studded leather armor, masterwork shortbow with 17 arrows, 2 leather armors, 3 spears, 2 slings, 10 pp and 5 gems.
Sabrina helps Cei tie up the remaining kobold prisoner. After stripping him of his belongings, he proves difficult to negotiate with. He finally relents and in draconic relays to Galandram that he will tell you what his orders were in exchange for his freedom.
Once the final enemy is dead Eldon helps search the remains. Examining the gems and potions closely.
But after a few moments he holds out the potions and says "I have no idea what these are, I think these gems might be worth something but I can't be sure."
"Deft bladework Galandram" Yngvilda says as she wipes the kobold spittle from her face with the back of her axe-hand, clearly impressed with the elf's reflexes and agility.
She takes a look at a gem, holding it up to the light from her shield. . "Pretty. If they were payment for these creatures then perhaps they are worth something". She'll also have a sniff of the potions while passing them to the others to see if anyone knows what they are.
"That smells familiar." She smells again, this time taking a deep breath while closing her eyes. "It smells a lot like the magical curatives my father carried for emergencies. Quite potent too. I suggest we spread these around those of us who seem to attract arrows and swords" She smiles as she says this, putting one of the potions into her belt pouch and passing the other two to the others to claim as they see fit.
If Galandram relays what the kobold says, she will laugh and start to stow her shield on her back and draw her warhammer in both hands. "There is no question of letting it go, not to me anyway. The only question is whether we take it up to the surface to await justice by the town Sheriff, or if we do our duty here and now and execute it for the crimes we already know about"
She tries a few practice swings with the hammer to crush small rocks.
"Tell it that Galandram."
Galandram bows his head slightly at Yngvilda's compliment. "My thanks, Yngvilda. My old fencing master used to talk about the mathematics and geometry of swordplay. I never quite understood what he was getting at, but I think I'm starting to see what he meant. We'll see soon enough, it seems." Strangely enough, the elf seems almost excited at the idea.
He takes a gem, holding it between his right thumb and forefinger and carefully examining it in the light. "Semi-precious stones, by the look of them, Eldon. Probably worth about twenty-five gold each, unless I miss my guess,"[b] he says, returning the gems to the pile. [b]"May I?" he asks Yngvilda, holding out a hand for a potion. He simply holds the potion in his hand, staring at it intently for about ten seconds. He closes his disquieting eyes, and returns it to the Ulfen woman. "Your nose is correct," he says with the hint of a smile. "These are healing potions of moderate potency."
Turning his attention to the kobold, Galandram begins questioning him in Draconic, and relays his answers to the party. He considers Yngvilda's suggestion carefully before responding, "Execution or execution then, Yngvilda? This creature hardly planned the attack by itself, and the information we might glean from it could far outweigh the harm it would cause alone."
He turns back to the kobold, continuing in Draconic, "मेरे सहयोगी का मानना है कि आपको अपने अपराधों के लिए निष्पादित किया जाना चाहिए, और वह बहस करना मुश्किल है," he says, gesturing to the warrior taking her practice swings. "लेकिन मुझे लगता है कि शायद आपने इससे होने वाले नुकसान का इरादा नहीं बनाया था, और मैं दया का पक्षधर हूं। मैं आपकी रिहाई देखूंगा, लेकिन मुझे पता होना चाहिए: अगर हमने आपको रिहा कर दिया, तो आप क्या करेंगे?"
When using Craft (alchemy) to create an alchemical item, an investigator gains a competence bonus equal to his class level on the skill check. In addition, an investigator can use Craft (alchemy) to identify potions as if using detect magic. He must hold the potion for 1 round to attempt such a check.
Eyes wide, the kobold rapid fires information to Galandram"निष्पादन ?! नहीं! मैं घर लौटने का इरादा रखता हूं और आशा करता हूं कि मेरे सरदार को यह पता नहीं चलेगा कि मैं इसमें शामिल था, क्योंकि वह निश्चित रूप से इसके लिए मुझे भी मार देगा। हम जादूगर हंकले के लिए टॉवर को नीचे लाने के लिए काम कर रहे थे। हम इसे नीचे ले आए, लेकिन थोड़ा बहुत और वह इस प्रक्रिया में मारा गया।"
Bri pauses for a moment when Cei speaks, remembering what her father use to say to her ”Not everything deserves death, young one. You would do well to figure out when to show mercy as a diplomat.”
She clears her throat once she is done helping Cei tie the Kobold up. ”Thank you Cei, I had forgotten myself and gotten lost in the battle. Depending on his answer, he may not deserve to die. This could have only been an accident Yngvilda. If he doesn’t seem to have ill intent, I say we little the poor thing go.
Seeing no need to further identify the gems or the liquid, Bri holds her tongue. While Bri does not speak Draconic, she watches the Kobold for any signs that he may seem nervous or lying to them ”Well Galandram what do you make of the lizard?”
While she doesn't understand the words, she studies the body language of the creature and notices some genuine fear being displayed by the bound prisoner.
Galandram looks skeptically at the kobold, "आपने और आपके साथी ने कहा कि आप केवल उसे मारने के लिए थे, न कि टॉवर को नीचे लाने के लिए। अब आप कहते हैं कि आपने इस जादूगर के आदेश पर टॉवर को नष्ट कर दिया? सच क्या है?"
The kobold panics a little bit, looking over at the dead kobold with pierced heart. "वह सस्सेरक का विचार था! मैं प्रभारी नहीं था, मैं सिर्फ निर्देशों का पालन कर रहा था!"
”Galandram, ask him how he even got involved with Hunclay to begin with. Maybe if we can figure that out all of this may make more sense. Right now it just seems so needless and chaotic.”
Bri rest her hand on the elf’s shoulder.
Galandram relays the message to which the kobold shrugs his shoulders."गालंदराम ने उस संदेश को सुनाया जिस पर कोबोल्ड ने अपने कंधे सिकोड़ लिए थे। [ख] "उसने हमसे संपर्क किया और कहा कि उसके पास एक नौकरी है और वह हमें भुगतान करेगा।"
You let me live now?"
It still doesn't make sense. Putting it all together, Hunclay hired them to take down the tower, but then they decided to kill Hunclay. Was it by bringing down the tower on top of him? Why did Hunclay want the tower down so bad? Why would he work with Kobolds to do so?" Cei looks around then shrugs his shoulders, "None of it makes sense." Cei waves his hands as if to push the whole thing away.
"I don't understand either Cei. Perhaps this one wanted to kill Hunclay for its own reasons and just lies to us now?"
to Galandram she says: "What of this Sasserak? Ask it who they reported to, and if there are more Kobolds involved with this plot. I suppose if we get its solemn promise not to endanger the town or the townsfolk (or us) any further I am not opposed to releasing it."
She doesn't look especially happy about it though, and peers ahead through the remainder of the tunnel, before turning back.
"How did they collapse the tower anyway? Did they have magic?"