"Aurumvorak, helpful spell coming your way, don't resist it!"
Jace spends a moment to continue his totally out-of-place lusty drinking song for inspire courage, and then conjures a quick spell, spirit link.
The mystical connection is formed, and Aurumvorak automatically heals 2 hit points, while Jace loses 2. This will happen again every round until Aurum is at maximum HP.
Kuntaxl keeps attacking the dog in front of him, attempting to get Aurumvorak out of the flank.
Kuntaxl lurches out and down, chomping a sizable chunk out of the dog's neck. That one falls, and Kuntaxl turns to the next one, slashing with his mighty claws. He tends a huge gash in the beast and it falls too!
Tolgy lets out a hiccup, then cheers. Good one!
Moving across the room, Nuktik thwacks the dog on the nose. "Down boy!"
for Agile, Free-Hand
for Agile, Free-Hand
Vorak spins to slice out at the last hound...
his first strike missing, but the pressure of being eaten forces him to make sure with the next strike, then the hobgoblin raises his shield once more...
Tolgy lets out a whoop as Nuk crosses over the punch the suddenly perplexed dog. It whimpers, but does not fall. Vorak whips around to slash at it, but misses!
At the start of my turn, Aurumvorak would heal 2 more HP and I take 2 damage.
I'll inspire courage again, then I'll target the remaining dog with ray of frost.
Both of these are +1 (the attack roll and the damage.)
Jace fires out a ray of energy, scouring the dog's side with wicked cold. The fur freezes and skin underneath turns and ugly blue as the creature's system goes into shot. It falls, lifeless, to the ground.
I'll keep the spirit link in place, and ask Tolgy for a minor heal spell to top my damage off (which is Aurum's damage) once he's healed fully.
Tolgy nods quickly. Everybody, get in tight. He then shuts his eyes and mutters a quick prayer, the words echoing some of Jace's song.
Vorak casts a sad eye at the dead hounds, and scored and scoured as he is leans in close to be healed by Tolgy and Jace’s ongoing healing.
With the danger passed, Kuntaxl begins licking the blood from his lips and claws, while searching through the room to see what the crates and barrels contain.
Searching through the barrels and crates finds them to be empty save for packing straw and scraps of cloth, and 2 small vials of alchemists fire underneath a pile of straw.
As Kuntaxl looks about, he notices the system that worked this gate - a rope leads up from the gate, along the ceiling, then through a hole to the East. So, this gate was most likely pulled up by someone on the other side of that door.
Passing the vials to Nuktik, he points the rope out to the others. [b]"I suppose we could have just sliced that rope and saved the dogs.
What is done is done, and it appears that Hallod knows we are here. We have no choice but to continue on. Hopefully he doesn't have another way to flee these tunnels.
Moving over to the door, he examines it carefully before moving to the side and attempting to open it.
Kuntaxl is able to open the door after a short check, revealing a short hall leading into an open room. From where you are, you can see what looks like a crude firepit with a simple chimney leading up from it. There's a fairly damaged wooden table in view as well. The area ahead smells....lived in.
Carfully checking around him for more traps, Kuntaxl moves forward.
Worrying for Flenser, and not liking being separated, Vorak follows Kuntaxl, breathing in the smell of human...The scout remains alert, stowing his sickle and bringing his cruel morningstar to bear.
Glancing towards the rope, Nuktik shrugs. "You're not wrong Kuntaxl. Perhaps we'll check next time."
Following his companions, he keeps his eyes open for trouble as well.
As you move into this room, you can see that this chamber is a home divided into three areas - a larder to the east, a lavatory to the southwest, and a living space. The larder is a simple storeroom filled with scraps of old meat, a third of a wheel of cheese, a sack of turnips, and a barrel of weak ale. There is also a crate of empty wine bottles in one corner.
The lavatory sits just off the main living space, and is little more than an open pit. There also seems to be a garbage pile in one corner.
The living area is a mess, with a cot in one corner and a crude firepit in the other. Bits of trash and a few pieces of gear can be found in the area - a whetstone, a dagger, 15 feet of rope, a hammer, 2 candles, and a coin purse with 2 gp, 8 sp, and 14 cp. Aurumvorak also notes that there is a strongbox located under the cot.
There is an open passageway that leads off into the darkness to the southeast.
Needing the security of not dying underground in a smelly pit far from his beloved wolf, ‘Vorak points out the strongbox before moving to guard the open passageway, peering into it with his umbral vision.
[Darkvision]
You can see that the passageway continues ahead and then turns to the north
"Grab what you can and lets go. He can't be too far." orders Nuktik, making his way down the tunnel.
Jace gets past the greasy floor and brings up the rear. He looks around to see if he spots anything the others missed.
If no one else moves to take items, he'll take the rope, dagger, and the money in the purse.
"The strongbox might contain the poison. We should gather evidence first and worry about catching him after. Chances are he's already gotten beyond us. He knows where he is going and where the traps are."
Aurumvorak finds himself in a quandary.
What to do?
In the end, racial belonging, and a desire to not recreate cowardly sins of the past turn him toward Nuk, following the brazen alchemist down the tunnel.
I can’t let him go alone...
Nuktik continues into the passageway - it begins as worked stone, but as it goes further, it becomes more of a natural cavern passage ahead, worked only here and there to make it passable. It looks to continue on for some way, bending and twisting to fallow its natural curves.
Jace nods and stays with Kuntaxl. "Sounds like a good idea."
Looking over the strongbox, Kuntaxl asks Jace, "Can you open it? I can carry it, if need be, but that might break things that are inside."
Kuntaxl squints and turns his head from side to side, but doesn't see any traps. There is a lock though
Seeing most of his companions halting in the previous room, he sighs. Looking down the winding tunnel the hobgoblin hesitates a moment. Mentally checking his supply of reagents, he prepares to sprint onward.
'Oh Dis...they almost died to a pig when I wasn't there to save them...'
"Fine!" he growls. Turning back, he almost runs into his cousin. "Thank you for joining me, but it seems he may have bought himself enough time with the dogs. You and I could stay on his heels...but having to move slower due to his predilection of setting traps would increase his lead."
"Lets go see what they found then. As long as we found the evidence we need, we can acquire his sorry self later. If we didn't find the items in question...well then we'll have a bigger issue to deal with."
Making his way back to the others, Nuktik pulls Jaces tools out of his pack and slams them into the lockbox. "Almost had him. Almost... Almost only works in bombs and horeshoes." he grumbles to no one in particular.
Aurumvorak nods good-naturedly, somewhat awed by Nuktik’s total confidence and crusty manner.
”Umm, I’ll keep watch for...if he...comes back.” the scout finishes weakly, replacing his morningstar with longspear to better keep foes getting close. He points it into the passageway and peers into the darkness.
Jace walks up and claps a hand on the druid's shoulder, a big grin on his face. "Feeling better, mister?"
Nuktik tries to work the picks in and shim the chamber, but as soon as he bypasses the first chamber, he hears a "click."
A tiny dart springs out and slips into Nuk's hand. Almost as immediate as the pain is a sudden feeling of weariness.
Vorak gives Jace a toothy grin.
”Much, thank you Jace!”
His smiles fades as he hears the click by Nuktik, and wonders what has just happened.
”Nuktik?”
Nuktik's skin turns a bit sallow and lighter in hue as the poison takes effect.
Each time you get a full night’s rest, your drained value decreases by 1. This increases your maximum Hit Points, but you don’t immediately recover the lost Hit Points.
Blinking a few times Nuktik slowly withdraws his fingers. Gently rubbing the puncture wound, he glances towards his fellow hobgoblin. 'Well...this is a setback. Do I let on to them? No! Must show them hobgoblins are a strong race! Not like those pesky... well that's not fair. All races have their own strengths...some are even good at cleaning. This place could certainly use a good scrub.'
Pursing his lips, he grunts. "I'll be fine. Just need a bit...caught me by surprise is all"
Eyeing the strongbox again, he frowns. "Lets take this with us. It seems to be a rather stout lock."
Eyeing Nuktik with concern, Kuntaxl nods. "Of course. I'll just try to be careful with it."
Handing his torch to Jace, he hefts the strongbox and waits for someone to lead the way into the tunnel.
”Hmm, right then...” mutters ‘Vorak and heads down the tunnel, taking care to not try to not die...
Beyond these living quarters is a system of natural caves. Although the path is far from level, it has been worked to allow for easy travel; stalagmites have been cleared away in some spots and small wooden footbridges have been stretched over pools of stagnant water no more than 5 feet deep.
After about 10 minutes of travel, the passageway opens up into a large natural chamber, the center of which is occupied by a pool of brackish water. Stalactites and stalagmites occupy much of the room, but a path between them leads around the pool and to another corridor on the opposite side of the cave.
As Kuntaxl first enters the room, a strange blue glow emanates up from the pool, sending a cascade of shimmering light to the ceiling above.