Dunstan steps up as far as he can, which isn’t far given the crowded, narrow conditions. Chrysa’s blade misses a kobold frantically dodging it for all it is worth.
Tartuk points a wand at Isabella, and two orbs of arcane energy soar forth and hit her in the face and chest! He then cries out ”அதைக் கொல்லுங்கள்!”
The other kobolds all advance and attack Isabella as best they can, but only one manages to knock her leg. Suddenly, Mikmek lunges out from behind one of the tapestries in the rear of the cavern, thrusting his spear at one of Tartuk’s loyalists. But it gets tangled in the fabric and he misses!
Current AC: 20
HP: 10/16
Isabella hunkers down and uses her buckler to block the incoming blows that hammer down on top of her from the kobolds. Even though she feels she has a solid defensive posture, the damn spell surprises the hell out of her when it goes right through her shield and slams into her face. Gasping out in pain, she lets her shield drop for a second.
Setting herself once more, she raises her shield and resumes her defensive position and tries to soak up the attention of the kobolds until her allies can make some headway and get into the room.
Orri brandishes his whip and let's out a loud crack as he shouts to the enemy "You have made a grave mistake in following your false leader and shall pay the price!"
The courage of the warmbloods and their inspiring words wake Chief Sootscale from his fearful state! Coming to his senses once more, he takes out a strange vial and imbibes its contents. Suddenly, Chief Sootscale looks more regal and dragon-like. There's even a wing-like growth that appears.
He finds himself stuck behind a crowd of warmbloods, and decides his best bet was to lead his supporters onward. He calls out in draconic. "போர்க்கப்பல்களுக்கு உதவுங்கள்! Tartuk நிறுத்து!"
"Oh that wand flinging lizard man needs to go" Chyrsa grumbles as Bella gets orbs to the face. Taking a deep breath she decides to do something stupid, diving forward past the swinging weapon of the kobold she was trying to kill, rolling and then popping up behind another.
Turning with a flourish (or trying to but stumbling a bit) she stabs both swords in the back of the one between her and Bella.
"Fill the gap and move forward!" she'll yell to the others, talking about the place she was just standing.
Sophie pats the chief on the shoulder, whispering a spell in elvish. "Go, chief, you are supported."
Tartuk yelps in panic as more longshanks get closer to him. ”இல்லை! அது!” he calls out pointing at Chrysa.
He then points a finger at Chrysa and utters a spell, causing horror to wash over her as well!
The allied kobolds advance, their confidence bolstered by the return of their Chief, and begin trying to carve down their treasonous brothers! However, the one who can reach the fight is trying to not slay them, and as such his spear thrust is ineffective. Meanwhile, Mikmek continues half-stabbing, half-shaking his spear trying to free it from the torn tapestry. Two of the rear kobolds nod at one another and bolt around through a rear cavern out of sight.
The Tartuk loyalists renew their assault. Two of them deliver vicious stabs into the cornered Isabella, one across her arm and the other into her stomach! Three more attack Chrysa, but do not manage to find purchase with their small spears. The last two stab at Mikmek, but can’t manage to harm him either.
Chrysa's eyes go wide as that horrible creature points at her. Irrational fear digs deep in her mind causing a meek whimper to tremble from her lips.
Darting back the way she came, there is another creature just like the one digging into her mind, bringing her up short. Hesitating, allowing him to drive the spear at her again.
That way is safety, but she can't bring herself to try and get past the scaley kobold, leaving herself open to attack again.
Chief Sootscale moves forward and places a hand on his kobold ally. "
பின்வாங்க, நண்பரே! இதை நான் கவனித்துக்கொள்வேன்!"
Assuming his ally does so to give the Chief a firing lane, Chief Sootscale throws a flask at the rebel kobold in front of him. It explodes in a mess of sticky fire!
;
Assuming that misses . . .
The bomb explodes. Everyone in the area takes 3 damage including allies. DC14 reflex save or entangled.
"Whoops, that one gets away from me . . ." he says apologetically.
Orri calls out to his sister "Kill the one between us so I can get to you to heal you!"
When the bomb goes off on the kobold in front of him, Orri has his opening. He casts a cure spell and moves up to touch Isabella, transferring the healing magic to her.
Sophie continues her oratory, hoping to inspire Isabella and Orri to cut clear the kobolds in the way. "Fight on, cut these traitorous vermin down!"
The instant Orri calls out a command, Isabella obeys and calls out "Understood!"
She pops up from her defensive posture and slashes her dueling sword into the kobold that prevents her brother from advancing. Though her attack was well struck, moving from the defensive posture minimized the amount of damage she could inflict.
Dunstan moves and attempts to clobber the orange traitorous kobold, attacking with his hammer. He accepts the inspired rage and courage.
Tartuk sends some more energy blasts into Dunstan, as the kobolds all thrust their spears ineffectually, on both sides of the conflict!
The fear is still thundering in her head, despite the enemy kobolds falling around her. The way is open (ish) so she dodges past spears and gets the hells away.
Dunstan takes another shot at hitting the far Kobold, empowering his hammer with the power of the earth.
Sophie continues her oratory and moves to the east a bit, and fires her bow at the closest enemy.
But her shot hits the ceiling above the melee.
Why does everyone keep running away?! she ponders as she watches Chrysa also turn tail and scoot from the fight.
Once Orri's magical healing heals her up, she shouts out "Much better, thanks! I'll clear room!" before darting headlong into danger once more. She runs forward and dives into a somersault as she tries to roll past the two kobolds ahead of her. As she comes up to her feet, she lashes out at the purple cloaked kobold with her blade.
Orri can't do much with the tunnels being so crowded so he does what he can to protect his sister, casting a spell at the pink cloaked kobold.
[ooc]Daze DC12[/dice]
Unable to really enter the fight further, Chief Sootscale decides his best bet now was to rally his people and try to persuade them to join him or stand aside.
"Tartuk கடவுள் போய்விட்டார். அவர் இனி நம்மைக் கட்டுப்படுத்த மாட்டார்! உங்கள் சகோதர சகோதரிகளின் நன்மைக்காக எழுந்து நிற்க!"
”அவன் பொய் கூறுகிறான்! எங்கள் கடவுளின் கோபம் துரோகிகள் மீது விழும்!”
Seeing how effective the dwarf was at killing his subjects, Tartuk points his wand at him and blasts him with magic again! Meanwhile, the kobolds surrounding Isabella manage to thrust one of their spears through her left tricep muscle! She can immediately feel the warmth of blood soaking her shirt and trickling down her arm.
The kobolds all continue exchanging stabs, on both sides of the fight. One beside Dunstan jabs the Tartuk loyalist opposite him, while in the back of the cavern, Mikmek gets stabbed as well! He retaliates with an attack of his own, nearly dropping one of the ones he faces. Then, two more kobolds appear from behind him, finishing that one off and moving into the room to help surround the shaman!
__________
Seeing an opening of sorts, Chief Sootscale charges into the cavern, using the warmbloods for cover! He dodges the attacks of his fellow kobolds as best he can, as if to tell them he did not want to attack them.
Instead of attacking, the Chief makes another bold claim. "எங்கள் தெய்வங்கள் டிராகன் தெய்வங்கள், எங்கள் கோத்திரத்திற்கு ஒரே ஒரு துரோகி நீங்கள் தான்!"
"Kill the shaman!" cries the Chief in common. "No shaman, no more fight!"
Suddenly the black dread that filled her mind was gone. With deep shade of humiliation on her cheeks and a STRONG desire to kill a kobold, Chrysa runs back reaching Sophie's side this turn.
Bella heads Sootscale's claim. Kill the chief.
She pivots her head to the north and sets her eyes on his. She strides forward while holding her dueling sword out to him. "This ends now!" she declares.
As she closes the gap she challenges him, "Surrender, now, or die!"
Isabella doesn't give the chief a chance to surrender however. Even before he can open his mouth her blade lashes out towards his neck in search of blood.
Dunstan steps up behind Isabella onto one of his fallen foes and strikes at Tartuk, swinging his longhammer down in the cramped cavern angrily, and powering his strike with his connection to the stone itself.
Sophie moves into where Dunstan had been standing and spotting her foe standing in the corner, summons a splash of grease into the floor underneath him.
Tartuk slips and falls in the grease as another of the kobolds becomes dazed from Orri’s magic . Cackling like a madman, Tartuk sends another blast of magic into Dunstan, which impacts his skull and sends the dwarf reeling and down to the ground!
Meanwhile, the remaining kobolds dogpile the last of the Tartuk loyalists, bringing them to the ground and disarming the one still conscious but addled by Orri’s magic!
__________
Sophie moves up, cursing quietly, and tries to stabilize Dunstan. "Don't die, valiant knight. We need your help."
But she fails, not knowing enough about healing. She makes a mental note to improve her skills when she can, self-admonishing for her incompetence. Maybe you can learn something from someone else Sophie, instead of thinking you can control every situation.
With the last of the rebellious kobolds out of the way, Chief Sootscale advances toward the prone Tartuk. He looms over his rival.
"எனது நாடுகடத்தலுக்கான வாய்ப்பை நீங்கள் எடுத்திருக்க வேண்டும்!"
And proceeds to try and stomp on Tartuk, in a display of dominance!
;
The whole strategy goes quite wrong as the Chief's foot instead slides about in magical grease!
Chrysa arrives back in the battle just to see it pretty much over. Standing next to the others, "Letting the chief end his rival is a good idea. Solidifies his leadership... but we might be here a while." she points out watching his attempts to smash the prone shaman.
With the battle done, Orri moves in to make sure Tartuk doesn't try anything while the chief asserts his dominance.
Isabella holds her blade at Tartuk's throat, threatening him while he lay on the ground covered in grease but not attacking. She lets Sootscale do the talking, ready to strike should he not give in. She stares at Tartuk as dares him to move.
Tartuk, his eyes gleaming with madness, cries out ”ស្លាប់! អ្នកទាំងអស់គ្នាស្លាប់! ងាប់!” before a pair of mystical orbs again launches from his wand before Isabella can react! They impact Dunstan once again with a sickening crunch! A moment later, Isabella thrusts her sword into him just as Chief Sootscale buries his claws into his throat!
When the purple scaled shaman dies, his loyalists all drop to their knees and beg their Chieftain for mercy and forgiveness!
As the purple-scaled kobold dies, Chief Sootscale looks down at the fallen enemy. He didn't look so tough now. Not lying there on the cold hard ground.
"எங்கள் மக்கள் மீதான சாபம் உடைந்துவிட்டது!" he declares.
He moves quickly to the fallen kobolds to check on their condition. If they yet live, he pulls out flasks and pours them down their throat to heal them. He gives one to Dunstan, too.
"வெளிநாட்டவர் எங்கள் கோத்திரத்தை பிரித்து, அதை பலவீனப்படுத்தினார். நாம் ஒருவருக்கொருவர் மன்னித்து, கோத்திரத்தை மீண்டும் பலப்படுத்த வேண்டும்."
Once he's done, he finally returns his attention to the non-kobolds.
'The Sootscale Tribe owes you big thank you. You kill bad shaman and break his terrible curse. You stay here, we have big party tonight?"
Pouring the potion into Dunstan’s mouth simply results in some pooling in his throat before dribbling out the side of his mouth into his beard.
The dwarf no longer lives.
"No!" Isabella screams when Sootscale announces that Dunstan has been killed. She moves over to his body, dropping to her knees and checking for herself.
Bella is furious with herself. Lifting her head back and screaming loudly, she snatches her blade from the ground and marches over to Tartuk's body while still screaming. While standing over her body she begins to slash and slash and slash at the fallen foe over and over again while screaming "NO!" with each strike.
She had the blade readied, how did she let this happen? She should have ended it!
After twenty slashes, she's covered in blood and whatever is left of Tartuk's body likely could not be recognized for a kobold. Her strikes begin to slow as she tires, breathing heavily and continuing to slash away at the creature that killed her companion on her watch.
Chrysa frowns. Looking at the dwarf who had fought by their side, she feels a tight knot of loss in her gut. While she really didn't know him, she had quickly gotten the idea he'd never betray and would fight to the end for what was right. Two qualities this world didn't have enough of.
As Isabella tears apart the cause of his death, the horned woman kneels down next to him and sides her hand down his face, closing his eyes so he can rest.
"நான், முதல்வர் இன்று ஒரு கட்சி மனநிலையில் இருப்பேன் என்று நான் நினைக்கவில்லை. ஆனால், உணவும், பானமும் வரவேற்கப்படும்."
the word drink being most emphasized. It is only after she realized she had spoken in the wrong language. But with a shrug, stood up and left the chief to his leading.
Chief Sootscale is a little surprised that Dunstan does not stand again after the battle. He is much more surprised--indeed horrified--as Isabella begins to turn Tartuk's corpse into a bloody mush. He looks in alarm at the other kobolds, on guard as to whether her fury would be directed at them next.
He is quite startled when Chrysa speaks to him in Draconic. It takes a moment before he responds. "ஆ, எனவே நீங்கள் டிராகன்களின் நாக்கைப் பேசுகிறீர்கள்! அவ்வாறு கற்ற போர்க்குற்றங்களை சந்திப்பது அரிது. நீங்கள் உண்மையில் ஸ்டாக் ஆண்டவரின் மனிதர்களிடமிருந்து மிகவும் வித்தியாசமாக இருக்கிறீர்கள்."
He glances momentarily toward Isabella. "சரி, உங்களில் சிலர்."
Gesturing to his fellow tribesman, he calls for them to make arrangements to make sure their honored guests are attended to. He then addresses the party in Common. "We give you Chief's hall tonight. Big space for big people. Tomorrow, Chief keep his part of deal. You help kill Tartuk, Chief help kill Stag Lord. Yes?"
Orri watches his sister lash out at the dead kobold in shock. When she starts to grow weary from the constant strikes he eventually move over and grabs a hold of her hand and pulls her in to give her a hug as he whispers in her ear "I'm here..." He looks down at the lifeless Dunstan and let's out a deep breath as he holds his sister.
Isabella drops her blade when Orri pulls her in for a hug, staring at the mess of a body left on the ground as he pulls her away. She buries her head in his chest and starts to sob, her body shaking slightly as she does so. She's not sure if she's crying because Dunstan is now dead or because she lost control and brutalized the body on the ground. Maybe both. Whatever the reason is, she lets down all of her defenses and just cries in the comfort of her brothers embrace.
Sophie mutely watches in horror as Dunstan is murdered by Tartuk, his lifeblood spilling out. Her oratory abruptly stops, and she appears for once, to be at a loss for words. She shakes the prone dwarf, trying to revive him with no success. She blinks slowly, and then stands up, letting her bow clatter to the ground. She looks at the others in the party, with an inscrutable look, and nods quietly as they speak about their further plans.
When she has a moment, she will cover Dunstan with a sheet, whispering something to him quietly in a language nobody else understands. She stands up afterwards, addressing Sootscale sadly.
”I hope that this shows our intentions.” She sighs and seems smaller, with her shoulders slumped and sparkling eyes. She sniffs, and adds with an edge of steel to her voice, ”will you join us chief? We may not all survive, but I’ll be damned if I won’t go down fighting. This may be the only way to protect your people.” She pauses, ”and your folks should celebrate, for they are free, but”
She gestures to Dunstan, and speaks to Sootscale and the other Kobolds ”For my part, I intend to perform rites for Dunstan here. The dwarf who died to save your people.” She bites off the word “dwarf” with emphasis, as if to impress upon the assembled Kobolds the gravity of his sacrifice.
Chrysa watches the siblings bond over the death of a comrade, and wonders quietly what family, Real family, is actually like. But fate, fey and the joys of being born a Surtova were her lots in life.
"When you are ready, Sophiel, please let me know. I'd like to attend. And until then I'd like to talk to our chief here about his people leaving local travelers alone."
Since killing all the Sootscales is off the table, to her as well as her companions, once settled, she'll describe the bounty laid down on dealing with the chief's kin. "As long as it stops, we can explain to the good people of the land that it was the shaman's doing. Is that acceptable?"
Isabella remains somber and quiet for the remainder of the evening, though she stays by her brother's side and doesn't want to be left alone for some strange reason. She doesn't explicitly state her intentions aloud, but she will attend whatever services are held for Dunstan. She will also help in the assistance of constructing a tomb if possible, silently toiling away with whatever she can assist with.
Through the remainder of that day, the kobolds who are able set to preparing a place to bury Dunstan’s body. They find a place somewhere away from their slowly expanding warren, but not somewhere demeaning, to prepare his burial site. By the time midnight rolls around, Dunstan’s body is laying on a crudely crafted stone nook within one of the walls of the cavern. Several stone bricks have been made to seal it up once the “longshanks” have completed their service and said whatever they wished over his body before it was closed off.
After Orri has calmed Isabella down he let's go of her and tries to reassure her "You can't blame yourself for this. Dunstan knew what he signed up for, as did we all. This is a dangerous game we playing and we are likely to loose others before it is done. Steel your heart and learn from this loss but don't let it control you, we have much work to do still."
After the kobolds are ready and Dunstan is put to rest Orri will step up to speak "We set out on this grand journey together and while Dunstan kept to himself he was a loyal companion and a true friend to all of us. From what I understand of dwarven customs this wasn't such a bad way for him to go with his weapon in hand and close to victory. However, we must all learn from this tragic loss as well. This is dangerous work that we do now and we risk everything as we endeavor to explore this region and bring some order to it. While we have gained new allies, we have lost a friend, but I think Dunstan is happy wherever he is that he was able to protect his friends and help those in need." He nods his head towards Dunstan's body and finishes "You will be missed my friend." Taking one of the bricks he places it in front of Dunstan and then steps back to let anyone else talk.