Tabin's arrow knocks the construct's head askew, but Rolf's bolt sends it flying against the wall. The clockwork flails around for a few seconds before tipping over and releasing a sound like several tea kettles all boiling at once and lying motionless.
Around the bend in the hallway the construct was so fiercely guarding is a locked door, but the key Tabin found opens it readily.
"Ha! Did you see amazing heroics of Rolf the Unworthy! I have keeled eit weith powerful blow! Ya!" Rolf hops up and down, hooting and hollering with excitement at his achievement.
"I must take souvenier of glorious kill and smear oil on face." he says, still chattering with excitement as he looks over the contraption carefully.
"And here we are going through the next door, hopefully finding treasure and answers for why tower fell." Rolf raises his eyebrows up and down a few times, smiling from ear to ear at the others.
"Rolf my good man, your aim was admirable, and your guidance as a leader even more so."
"Desna, grant me your divine grace," Primketh says as he lays a paw-like hand upon Jaeqil's shoulder.
Primketh cautiously moves up to the next door, spending lots of time to see if it might be trapped.
Jaeqil rolls his eyes.
Suuure. Congratulate the guy who got lucky, not the one who did most of the work.
Rolf claps his hands on Jaeqil's shoulder. "Fine job my friend of distracting clock man while I shoot heim ein eye!"
"Now what eis on other side of door? I vote for treasure." Rolf rubs his hands together excitedly.
After several minutes spent studying the door, Primketh does not notice any traps and declares it safe to open. On the other side is a room with a collapsed wall to the north, revealing a rough-hewn tunnel. To the south, seven black iron chests sit enclosed in a cage of thick iron bars that extend from floor to ceiling. A pale-skinned, hunched figure stands facing the tunnel, turning quickly to face the adventurers at the sound of the door opening!
Round 1! Bold may act!
Rolf
Tabin
Jaeqil
Primketh
Undead
Rolf charges forward into the room, confident his companions will blow past him in moments. He curls his fingers and chants in a monotone voice, intoning in draconic as he finishes a ray of enfeeblement spell, pointing his crooked finger at the figure across the room.
for
"Rolf!" Jaeqil, club in hand, rushes forward between the ulfen man and the thing. "What are you thinking?! This thing could kill you like you were nothing! Now what IS this thing?"
Rolf's spell strikes the wall as Jaeqil moves into a protective position in front of him. Upon closer inspection, the creature seems slightly wounded, cradling an arm as it hisses at the adventurers.
Round 1! Bold may act!
Rolf
Tabin
Jaeqil
Primketh
Undead (-4)
Tabin moves in and fires an arrow.
Primketh hustles in and casts another guidance on Tabin.
Tabin's arrow streaks past Jaeqil's head and drives deep into the creature's torso. Howling in pain and rage, it leaves the tunnel and attacks the ghoran...
...but the arrow sticking out of its torso hits Jaeqil before the creature's face and doesn't let the creature close enough to hit.
Round 2! Bold may act!
Rolf
Tabin
Jaeqil
Primketh
Undead (-9)
Rolf snarls at his missed spell and lifts his crossbow back into the air, grumbling that he has to use it again. He loads and fires a shot.
For
Jaeqil smirks. ”Why thank you!”
He raises his club skyward and brings it down onto the creature’s head!
Jaeqil's blow breaks the creature's neck and it collapses to the floor in an unmoving heap.
With the immediate threat removed, the adventurers have the opportunity to inspect their surroundings in more detail. An area along the south wall is enclosed in a cage of thick iron bars that extend from floor to ceiling. Within the enclosure sit seven black iron chests. To the north, the stone wall has collapsed, revealing a rough-hewn tunnel.
"Watch for slots ein floor, might twist ankle or lose keys." Rolf points out the anomaly to the others.
"Maybe slots from sliding secret wall?" he muses.
"Primketh, you are knowing how to get einto cage weith treasure?"
The adventurers stand around in awkward silence for a few seconds following Rolf's question.
Primketh catches his breath after the undead is rendered un-lifeless.
”As always, good eye, Rolf! Yes, let’s see about that treasure.”
Primketh looks for a way through the bars. If there’s a lock...
Tabin waits to see the results of Primketh's handiwork.
After much fuddling and fussing with the bars, Primketh determines they're connected to the slots on the floor. It takes him a while, but after several minutes (and many guidances later) he feels confident that one slot is unlocked. As he moves to the other slot and begins work, however, a loud click through the room announces the resetting of the first slot. Primketh feels fairly confident that something is supposed to happen simultaneously to both slots.
"Have I mentioned appreciation for running to undead monster in front of me Jaeqil? You are good fighting comrade." Rolf interrupts himself as he looks around the room.
Rolf points, hems, haws, and tries his best to help figure out the puzzle in front of them.
The adventurers continue looking around for a way past the solid iron bars guarding the chests within.
Rolf stares over Jaeqil's shoulder, bumping him more than once on accident as he watches Primketh work.
"Eis like you need extra hands Primketh! I am wondering eif pearhaps something to hold latch while you work on other slot? I heave meethrel daggers from before. Maybe I healp you, one dagger for each slot?"
Rolf hands one key to Primketh, then takes the other to the second slot. As they insert the daggers and twist (with some effort from both adventurers), the iron bars slide noiselessly into the ground and leave the seven chests within unguarded. Though the chests are locked, Primketh is able to (eventually) finagle them open to reveal a multitude of copper, silver, gold, and platinum coins! The last chest contains only a teak case, but inside the case rest a handful of mixed gemstones.
From what must have been the treasury, the adventurers look through the rough-hewn earthen passage. A pair of low barricades made of timbers and rocks partially block the passageway, which looks to open into a larger cave beyond.
Jaeqil places a hand on the barricade to test how sturdy it is.
"Should we continue? I think we could fit through with some work."
"I am having good news for everyone! Eis looking like jack of wagon that hiered us getting arrested eis best for us after all!" Rolf looks at the piles of coins with a gleeful glitter in his eye.
After absorbing the news of the coins enough to pay attention to the other matters at hand, Rolf nods along with Jaeqil.
"Pearhaps we should be locking of bars for now? We can come back for treasure eif it eis locked up still? Pearhaps grab cart to carry. Must save strength ein case of fight? Jaeqil eis being right, we can make eit through there."
Jaeqil thinks the barricades look sturdy enough, but they could be tricky to clamber over if the adventurers aren't careful.
"Maybe theis was kobold tunnel. Or still eis kobold tunnel?" Rolf raises a single eyebrow before loading a bolt into his crossbow. Once prepared, he raises both eyebrows several times, smiling at the group, clearly ready for a fight.
"Oh dear, theese eis not good."
Jaeqil has little difficulty clambering over what look to have once been wooden tables, but as he does so his arm catches on a piece of wire that snaps beneath the weight, freeing a pair of stalactites that swing down from the ceiling...
...and catch the ghoran in the shoulder before bouncing off the walls and barricades with a series of dull thumps
The other adventurers are able to scramble over the barrier with varying degrees of ease, joining Jaeqil on the other side in a large cave that appears to have been recently scratched from the hard-packed earth. The ceiling is only five feet high, and 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.
"You reckon it's safe to try to unbury him? I hate for the rest of us to get crushed tryin' to dig him out."
"Pearhaps theese eis crazed wizard who lives in tower? We should find out for sake of town. They said he has been missing, yes?" Rolf nods, clearly agreeing with the sentiment, if not offering any help on the safety of the matter.
"Feirst quick healing for Jaeqil." the ulfen adds, seeing that Primketh is already working on the problem.
Rolf lets the fighters go first, but offers to help search for something to identify the dead man.
”Jaeqil! You look like you could use a bit of magical healing.”
Primketh recites some divine words as he moves his paw in a deliberate motion, then lays the paw on Jaeqil’s shoulder.
Primketh continues climbing with cat-like ease behind the ghoran.
”Let’s get a rope down for our leader. I also must mention that I'm all out of divine healing for the day and could probably use a rest soon.”
Jaeqil brushes off the rubble on him.
”Thank you, Primketh. Didn’t quite expect that. If we’re in for another of those then I’m not sure if we should go forward quite yet,” The ghoran looks over the cuts on Rolf and Primketh. ”Some of us should probably rest.”
Tabin is not sure about the stability of the rubble, but as the adventurers investigate the body they find a white-haired, balding human man clad in now-tattered finery. The only item of note on his person is a key ring with several brass and iron keys hanging from it. Nearby, two reptilian bodies lay mostly-buried in the debris.
Jaeqil stares at the corpse and sneers.
”Kobolds.”
He leans down and takes the key ring, spinning it around his finger.
”Wonder where this goes to.”
A tiny intake of breath from further down the passageway catches the keen ears of Primketh and Jaeqil, and as they turn to look they spot a kobold - this one alive - peeking around a corner.
Surprise Round! Bold may act!
Rolf
Jaeqil
??
Primketh
Tabin
Kobold
"We got a live one!"
Jaeqil rushes forward toward the kobold.
”Let’s hope this one doesn’t have more friends; I’m tapped out of my best magic!”
Primketh steps five feet closer to Tabin and casts guidance.
As Jaeqil advances, the kobold shrieks in fear. "Sunt hic!" it yells over its shoulder. "Huic et nos! Sesserak salva nos perimus!" It hunkers down, spear clutched in its tiny claws.
Round 1! Bold may act!
Rolf
Jaeqil
??
Primketh
Tabin
Kobold
Rolf wiggles his eyebrows at the kobold, but knows the little creature is much to far away for his unnerving look to have any affect. He is glad that he at least reloaded his crossbow before they crossed the barrier.
"Quis putas sumus? Et hoc dicite mihi, ut poteris rationem custodire ab eis occidere te!"
The language of magic and dragons sounds odd coming from the ulfen, the accent all but gone that affects his common tongue.
"Wait before keeling just yet! They are afraid of us, peerhaps they know something!" he shouts to his companions, hoping they catch the hint that he is using the plural form to describe the kobolds.
Jaeqil glances back at the ulfen, not having fully made up his mind about whether to listen to the human or not.
”Hmph!”
The ghoran moves next to the kobold, unknowingly assisting in Rolf’s message to the kobold.
As Jaeqil approaches, the kobold jabs cautiously at him with its spear...
...but its arms are shaking too badly to hit the wall in front of it, let along the ghoran. Soft footfalls announce the arrival of another kobold, this one clad in leathers and holding a well-made bow. He scowls and hisses sibilantly as she moves closer to her threatened compatriot.
Round 1! Bold may act!
Rolf
Jaeqil
Red
Primketh
Tabin
Blue
Rolf shakes his head. What what he thinking? Trying to reason with kobolds?
Tabin moves.
Rolf's bolt clatter to the floor, the small creature a difficult target on its own without hiding behind both a corner and Jaeqil.
Primketh follows behind Tabin and touches him with guidance once more. The kobold again cautiously pokes at Jaeqil...
...then steps back along the tunnel wall as another races forward to join the fray.
Round 2! Bold may act!
Rolf
Jaeqil
Red
Primketh
Tabin (guidance)
Blue
Yellow
Rolf scurries forward again, trying to close the gap between himself and the growing enemy.
"Arma tua stillabunt aut mori!" Rolf shouts around the corner.
Jaeqil moves forward, seeing the rest of the kobolds behind the stone wall. He grumbles as he turns to face Rolf.
"Should I or should I not bash in the skulls of these not-dragon windbags?!"
The cowering kobold tries to shake off Rolf's unnerving stare...
...but he seems too distracted to guard himself as effectively.
"That'sssss rich coming from sssssssuch a ssssssscrumptiousssssss creature asssssssss you," hisses the kobold with the bow as she moves closer and snaps her finger, pointing to Jaeqil's side.
Round 2! Bold may act!
Rolf
Jaeqil (Readying)
Red (Readying)
Primketh
Tabin (guidance)
Blue (-2 AC 1/7)
Yellow