Tabin keeps moving.
"I have offered not being dead in trade for einformation, they apparently choose being dead... Keel them I say! Pearhaps we find einformation from corpse." Rolf begins to grin a wicked grin, and a chuckle rumbles from his belly that threatens to turn into a full blown sinister laugh.
Primketh follows behind Tabin, ready to offer more guidance when needed. At Rolf's words, Jaeqil swings at the kobold - but the strain of waiting so long throws off his aim and his club thunks against the wall. His target squeaks and dodges to the side - leaving an opening for the archer behind him...
...but her arrow whizzes past the ghoran's ear and clatters against the wall. As her other companion moves forward to form a wall between her and Jaeqil, she hisses with displeasure, "We will ssssssstop you!" The two spear-wielding kobolds jab at Jaeqil, braver in greater numbers...
...but their fear comes out in their shaking hands and poor aim as they both make more of a show of stabbing Jaeqil rather than actual effort to do so.
Round 3! Bold may act!
Rolf
Jaeqil
Primketh
Tabin (guidance)
Red
Blue (-2 AC 2/8)
Yellow
"Like I said: not-dragon windbags!"
Jaeqil raises his club at the Yellow-scaled kobold and brings it swiftly down!
"I'm afraid I can't offer much beyond my divine guidance at this time." Primketh stays behind Tabin, not wanting to get in the way of his bow, ready to cast guidance again when Tabin's used the previous casting. Primketh also surveys the immediate area, looking for anything currently unseen that might be dangerous (such as, but not limited to, traps).
Rolf thinks about moving closer to the bend in the tunnel, but decides he has other, important things he can accomplish. His budding sinister laugh bubbles over, the haunting sounds of his guffaws echoing throughout the chamber.
He raises his crossbow to take aim, quickly realizing he never finished reloading it. Laughing even harder at himself, he pulls a bolt out, working the mechanisms to slide it into place.
Jaeqil's blow leaves the kobold reeling as the other dodges Tabin's arrow. As the blue-scaled kobold steps around Jaeqil, they both jab at him with their spears...
...but they are still too shaken by the ghoran's yelling to want to come close enough to actually touch him, even with their spears. The yellow-scaled kobold flops down onto the floor, a small puddle of blood forming underneath him. Behind him, the archer lines up another shot...
...but she misses again. Cursing, she heads back down into the tunnel.
Round 4! Bold may act!
Rolf
Jaeqil
Primketh
Tabin (guidance)
Red
Blue (-2 AC 3/8)
Yellow (-1)
Tabin takes another shot at the visible kobold.
Jaeqil sees the kobolds struggling to hit him and he just smiles.
”Tabin, take care of this one!”
Tabin's arrow strikes the blue kobold squarely in the arm, and it yips in pain as it tries to poke the departing ghoran...
...but only stabs the floor, clearly not expecting such speed from its heavily-armored target. Jaeqil's club slams into the wall above the kobold's head, and she laughs in his face. "You were ssssssaying, ssssssscrumptioussssssssss?"
Round 4! Bold may act!
Rolf
Jaeqil (Charged)
Primketh
Tabin
Red
Blue (-2, -2 AC 3/8)
Yellow (-1)
Rolf lifts the loaded crossbow, hoping his unnerving stare has frozen the kobold enough for him to get a good bead.
for
Not sure if the little dragon-kin will die, even if he does connect, Rolf takes a wary step backwards and reloads his crossbow.
As Rolf's bolt strikes the kobold, Primketh places another guiding hand on Tabin's shoulder. Jaeqil's opponent steps back at looses another arrow...
...that strikes Jaeqil in the leg. Emboldened by his companion's success, the blue kobold steps closer and pokes at Tabin...
...but does not share that success and stabs only air.
Round 5! Bold may act!
Rolf
Jaeqil (-5)
Primketh
Tabin (Guidance)
Red
Blue (-4, -2 AC 4/8)
Yellow (-1)
”Gah!”
The ghoran screams as the arrow embeds itself into his leg! Glaring at the Red kobold he takes a limping step and swings at the lizard!
The kobold stares incredulously as Jaeqil tries to whack her gently, realizes he's put too much force into the blow, uses his other hand to try to stop the swing, and almost conks himself in the forehead. Thin, sibilant hisses fill the tunnel as the kobold tries to not fall over from the peals of laughter coming involuntarily from her throat.
Tabins waits for Primketh to step back before moving away from the kobold's pointy stick and firing at it again...
...and with a twang of the bowstring, he punches a hole through the kobold's neck and it drops to the floor, unmoving. Seeing his chance, Rolf rushes forward. As he spots the last kobold around the corner, he wiggles his eyebrows and mutters under his breath. The kobold tries to resist his evil eye...
...and she shakes off the worst of it. But whether it's from Rolf's gaze or from laughing so hard at Jaeqil, the kobold seems to be thinking less about defending herself as she steps back and looses another arrow at the ghoran...
...grazing Jaeqil's embarrassed face and leaving a deep cut that oozes reddish-green sap. She licks her lips eagerly at the smell.
Round 6! Bold may act!
Rolf
Jaeqil (-9)
Primketh
Tabin (guidance)
Red (-2 AC 1/1)
Blue (-5)
Yellow (-3)
Jaeqil coughs blood as he glares at the remaining kobold.
”A little…help here!” The ghoran shouts back.
Throwing cation to the wind, Jaeqil moves around behind the kobold and swings his club, aiming for the kobold’s gut!
Rolf swallows a worried lump in his throat as the Ghoran takes another wicked shot. The fates seem to be toying with them, which frustrates the ulfen and make him grit his teeth.
He lets out a gutteral roar, lifting his crossbow and clicking off a shot, barely able to restrain himself from simply using it as a club and bashing the little reptile's head in.
At least, that is how it would go in his head...
for
Tears of laughter streaming down her reptilian face, the kobold doesn't see Jaeqil's club coming until too late. She tries to step out of the way, but a loose stone catches her foot and she stumbles right into the oncoming club, catching it squarely on the head. To add insult to injury (and perhaps a bit of karma), Rolf's bolt thunks deep into her calf. Startled at her sudden turn of fate and bleeding heavily, the kobold drops her bow. "Sssssssurendurssss! Ssssssesssssssserak ssssssurrendurssss! Do not killsssss" she yells as she holds her empty hands in front of her. Her tears seem to be from pain and fear now that the tables have turned.
Jaeqil grabs the kobold by the neck of her armor and brings her close to his face, sap streaming down from his bleeding mouth.
”You have five seconds. What happened to this tower? How are you reptilian dragon wannabes responsible?!”
"Habes quinque seconds. Turris accidit? Quid agis reptilian draco wannabes reus?"
Rolf translates Jaeqil's words into draconic, just in case the quivering kobold didn't get the message. Rolf makes extra certain that he says nothing to contradict the ranger's threat, or insult.
"We came... through tunnels... to help... wizard... bring down... tower... accident..." Her words are stifled slightly by Jaeqil's grip, but the kobold squeaks them out as if her life depends on it. "There... tunnel... to quarry... lair..." She points to the northern passage, where a hole in the floor drops down into a narrow tunnel.
"What wizard?! Where are they?!"
"Wizard eis here?" Rolf asks as much as answers, merely looking for confirmation from the kobold as he points to the body protruding from the rubble.
"Wizard has book? no?" Rolf asks again, hoping that the wizard in question had something to help identify him, as well as give clues as to why the tower was being brought down. There would be time enough to follow the tunnel down to the kobold's lair.
"Don't... know... about... book..." the kobold squeaks, her scales turning purple as she gasps for air. "Wizard... there..." She points back towards the collapsed room.
Jaeqil maintains his grip, uncaring at the kobolds gasps for air.
"And why did you help them?"
"How many more kobolds are in your lair? How long have you been plotting with the wizard? Rolf adds to Jaeqil's question.
Tabin gathers up his arrows.
"More importantly, what are you plotting?"
"Don't..... kno......" the kobold wheezes before falling limp in the ghoran's grip.
"Not very helpful." Rolf frowns, reaching over to slap the kobold's leathery face to wake her back out of her stupor.
"Hm. I am theinking that did not help." his frown deepens.
Jaeqil unceremoniously drops the kobold onto the ground.
”I don’t like what that lizard was saying. We should rest before we get into too much danger as we are now.”
Primketh, looking exhausted and slightly befuddled, yawns a big cat-like yawn. ”Yes, I believe rest would be just the thing. Which area of this tower do you suggest, Rolf my good leader?”
Jaeqil sees a few small piles of furs laid out like nests in the small cave around the corner, and a dead end. Stripping the kobolds of their belongings, the adventurers carefully make their way back through the winding basement of the now-collapsed Witch Tower and emerge to find the sun setting and most of the earlier crowd disbursed. The younger noble's eyes grow wide as he watches the dusty, bloody adventurers approach, and he quickly shakes the baroness's arm to catch her attention. Lady Origena finishes her conversation with a pink-haired gnome, then turns to the adventurers. "Well, what did you find?" she asks expectantly.
"I am thinking bed at inn eis sounding good." Rolf smiles.
After making their way back out of the collapsed tower, Rolf takes a deep breath, launching into an only slightly abridged version of what they found.
"Eit eis looking like Wizard from tower eis dead. Kobolds say they work weith heim to blow tower. Wizard did not get out of way fast enough." Rolf grimaces at the thought.
"We are needing of rest. Pearhaps there eis more to einvestigate tomorrow? Eif Wizard eis dead, pearhaps we can look ein heis tower for more clues?" The witch states as much as asks permission from Lady Origena.
Jaeqil glances at Rolf as he speaks, but otherwise says nothing.
Primketh yawns sleepily again and nods as Rolf gives the short version of the group's recent adventures in the tower. "Yes, what our leader says is pretty much what happened..."
The baroness's expression is thoughtful as she listens to Rolf's summary. "Stupid stubborn Hunclay..." she mutters under her breath, then straightens and addresses the four adventurers. "You have done what was asked - here is the payment agreed on." She hands Rolf a large sack of coins, her face grim. "Hunclay is - was an eccentric and misanthropic loner. I have no doubt that his manor is filled with magical traps and other dangers. But those dangers have stayed contained - unlike these kobolds who collapsed this tower. I've long been worried about the tribe living near the flooded quarry to the east, but they've never caused problems before so we've let them be. Apparently times have changed."
Lady Origena does some quick mental math, then sighs. "I can offer you a larger reward - a dozen amethysts from my family's collection - if you can drive the kobolds out of the region. I don't care how you do it, but we obviously are not safe here anymore with them so close. Think about it, and I will meet you at the Wise Piper tomorrow for breakfast." Nodding decisively, the baroness collects her things and departs.
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"So what happened in there?" Talia, the inn's proprietor, can barely contain her curiosity as she brings out bowls of creamy fish stew and a plate of dark bread. "Folks were saying we were being invaded by kobolds, but if that's the case the invasion seems to be well behind schedule." She chuckles at her joke, then takes a seat and listens to whatever news the brave explorers are willing to share. Once everyone is finished eating, she shows them to the pair of rooms she has reserved for the next few days and bids them goodnight.
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Rolf unloads the contents of a weatherworn leather pouch onto the wooden floorboards of the room. Smoothed knuckle bones and a small bird skull clatter to the floor along with some tattered feathers and a dried frog. Gis the snowshoe hare nibbles on a carrot, sitting in a pile of parchment and scrolls scattered amongst the mess.
The ulfen finally finds what he is looking for, pulling a ball of wax out of the pile and unsheathing his shiny new mithril dagger. Snapping his fingers he calls forth a tiny flame that envelopes the ball of wax, burning smooth and steady.
"Quick Gees, bring first scroll"
The hare drops his carrot, spinning in a circle and hopping over to his master with a half-curled scroll in his teeth. Rolf snatches up the paper and holds it over the flame. When the flame changes from a soft orange to a bright green, Gis hops back to the pile of parchment, grabbing a second scroll and bringing it back. Within minutes, it follows the first, this time pulsing with a deep purple glow as the flames consume the scroll.
The first ritual complete, Rolf wraps the burning ball of wax in his hands, the sound of sizzling flesh permeating the silence, followed quickly by the smell that comes with it. "Ego in hoc casu ad summas ut opinor consequentes antemnis apta ferendis meae." Rolf chants in a deep thrumming voice as the molten wax scars the palm of his hand.
"Eat up." He grins, now finished with the second ritual. He tosses the ball of wax to Gis, who quickly begins to spin the ball in circles between his furry paws, nibbling all the while on the now cooled wax.
"You eat, I wheil study. Eit has been long day, and we have more work tomorrow."
Primketh watches in quiet astonishment as Rolf performs his ritual and feeds Gis the mixture of scroll ash and wax. I never knew you could teach your special little friend spells like that! Somehow I just…know them.
The morning comes swiftly, and as the sounds of wagons and livestock fill the streets outside the inn's open windows the brave adventurers awaken. Downstairs, a spread of warm biscuits, apple butter, and smoked fish fills a round table where Lady Origena sits reading. She marks her place with a silken bookmark, then nods graciously as Talia brings a kettle and a handful of mugs from the kitchen. "Thank you dear - it's always a pleasure breaking the morning fast here," she murmurs, slipping a gold piece into the innkeeper's hand. As she turns back to Jaeqil, Primketh, Rolf, and Tabin, her face becomes more serious. "I hope you slept well. Come, join me. Have you given any more thought to my offer? I cannot ignore a sleeping dragon at my doorstep - especially when it might be awakening." She pours tea from the kettle, and the smell of mint fills the air.
The Ulfen looks up from his conversation with Primketh about the vagaries of memorizing spells and knowing them innately when they are seated.
After her brief question, Rolf chokes on his beverage, chortling and blurping out a significant portion of liquid. His eyes dart back and forth between the elegant woman and his companions for several moments, wide and clearly worried, body frozen in place.
Suddenly his gaze softens and he begins to laugh. "Oh! Haha! You of course are meaning proverbial dragon! Haha! You were pulling on my leg!"
After calming down and rubbing a few tears out of his eyes, he adds "Yes, I am taking of your offer. We can keick a few kobolds in tails and send them running or dying." he smiles, raising a glass. "Theis eis better work than even corrupt caravan guard duty!"
Jaeqil, once more taking a seat in direct sunlight, stays quiet on the matter. He’s always been a man of action over words.
"Excellent," Lady Origena says after she recovers from the shock of Rolf almost spitting his tea on her. "We think they've made their lair in the abandoned quarry outside of town. It's a short trip, but since the quarry flooded the trail has been largely abandoned and untravelled. Unless you have heard of another route, that is your best bet to find the kobolds. Drive them off, one way or another, and these amethysts are yours." She holds out a handful of sparkling purple stones.
"I'm afraid there's little else I can offer as far as advice or assistance - I'm meeting with the sheriff next to discuss organizing and training the militia in case the kobolds decide to launch another assault," the baroness says, standing. "I look forward to hearing of your success." She takes one last biscuit and heads out the front door. The adventurers finish their breakfast and discuss their next course of action.
"Thank you, Lady Origena. Is there anyone in town you can recommend that might sell weapons or armor? I could probably use a few more arrows too."
Lady Origena doesn't pause on her way out the door, but Talia brightens at the chance to help her guests. "Well, for armor you could try the smithies," she starts. "Big Bull runs one just across the street, and Marcus Chance has another to the north just off the Devy Road. As far as weapons go... maybe Phedra has some? Turn right and head down the road to the east - if you cross the river, you've gone too far. She's always tinkering with something or other. At least one of them has to be a weapon, right? Or you could always try the House of Abadar - it's between the two smithies and many merchants pass through its doors." She heads back towards the kitchen, calling out over her shoulder, "Just let me know if you need help finding anything and I'll see if I can't point you in the right direction!"
"Any chance you could let me know where one might purchase magical scrolls?"
"Try the House of Abadar - or the Shrine of the Seven Roses. Past the Commons and turn right."Talia replies.
"You are looking for scrolls Preemketh? Me too! We should walk together." Rolf says cheerfully as the group begins to disperse.
"...I thought he was going to break my back! Eet was like leetle gnat was buzzing around hees head and he swatted me away like leetle nuisance." Rolf's hearty laugh at his own expense is tinged with a bit of sadness.
"I knew then I would neaver be strong Ulfen warrior, even if Lort was strongest of all. I steel weish I could, but really ees ok. I neaver knew my mother, but my papa always said she had a bit of Baba Yaga in her. I always assumed papa was talking dirty, but pearhaps he was literal? What do you think?" Rolf cracks a grin and cocks his head.
"Oh shoot. We are here and I have done all the talking. Lets look for scrolls and maybe you talk next time while Rolf shuts hees bear trap." Rolf pushes on the door to the House of Abadar. Several seconds pass until his meager weight finally moves the door off center mass and swings it open. No sooner than it opens, it begins to shut again, and the skinny ulfen grunts trying to keep it open long enough for his friend to enter.
Jaeqil chuckles as Talia answers Tabin's question. The ghoran stands from his seat at the table.
"I'll try my luck with Phedra and see what she's been 'tinkering' around with."
"Since your headin' to Phedra's I might as well head over with you and see what she's got."