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With Zelphari in melee range of a kobold, Brünwulf instead marks the kobold in the far corner as his prey. Having adjusted to the dim lighting, he fires two quick shots at it. He then fires a final shot back at the kobold harassing Zelphari.
Wooo! Sorry 'bout that first shot, everyone! Where'd it go? Anyone hit by a stray arrow?
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Several kobolds scream and unleash their sling stones at the elf. Out of the half dozen stones flung at him, only two strike painfully.
Elfino says, "Ugh! Ow!" when the bullets hit home. "How rude of them," he thinks half jokingly as he grits his teeth against the pain. "Time to return the favor."
Noticing that Brünwulf has claimed the farther kobold, Elfino selects the nearer one for a closer look.
"It appears that these kobolds did not graduate at the top of their guard academy class," he thinks as he spots another easy opening. He quickly nocks an arrow and sends it flying at the kobold.
Shortbow: (20) + 4 + 3 = 27
Feeling rather exposed, Elfino moves closer to the steps and uses the wall to give him some cover from the kobolds.
The last of the kobold warriors fall as arrows take them in their chests. With the danger past, you regroup into your assigned roles. Zephari senses magic in the area.
Elfino determines that these are, indeed, kobolds. Kobolds are agile and adept at setting traps to protect their territory. On the body of one of them is a vial with a red liquid inside.
There's something odd about the arrangement of the pilfered treasures in the northwest corner, but you can't put your finger on it.
Status
Ikta (full hp)
Zelphari (full hp)
Ezaki (full hp)
Elsha (full hp)
Elfino (-6 hp)
Brunwulf (full hp)
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Elfino scans the room and his attention falls onto the northwest corner. He's about to head over there to investigate further but Brünwulf beats him to it.
He calls out to warn the big man, "Careful Brünwulf. There's something odd about the arrangement of the pilfered treasures in the northwest corner."
But first, the elf goes to the bottom of the stairs and looks up to see or hear if there are any reinforcements coming down.
He then heads over to the northwest corner to see what it was that caught his attention. He decides to hold back a little and inspect the area from a slight distance in case it turns out to be something dangerous.
"Did you find anything Brünwulf?"
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He will also offer to heal Elfino, although that would use his last spell slot and he would prefer to save it. ()
"Ah, thank you Ezaki, but that won't be necessary. I have the supplies and the wherewithal to take care of such things myself." responds Elfino. The boy had the right idea though. I better not ignore my wounds. We're all going to need to be in top form for what's ahead.
He pauses in his searching for a minute and applies some ointment to the contusions.
The swelling subsides and Elfino begins to feel a lot better.
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Though Elfino's wounds are not life-threatening, they do give her something to think about. Hmm... Maybe I should learn some first aid or something. That'll probably be useful if we keep running into things that attack us. Deciding to think about that later, Itka makes like Elfino: first she goes to look and listen for reinforcements at the south stairs, and then (if there's nothing) she strolls east along the south wall, looking for anything suspicious or noteworthy.
For someone with darkvision, she sees remarkably little. Perhaps it's because she's still thinking about learning first aid. Perhaps the black rat in her pocket is being annoying again. Perhaps she's focused on trying to hear the quieter conversation on the other side of the room. Whatever it is, she's on autopilot, eyes unfocused, until she realizes she's standing in the corner. Huh. Nothing. She grunts to the team: "All clear here."
Brunwulf heads towards the treasures gathered in the northeast corner, while Elfino calls out a warning. The elf is rapidly treats his wounds and listening at the stairwell--where he hears nothing at the moment--while everyone else spreads out to search. The moment Brunwulf spots a trapdoor set in the floor of the northeast corner, Ikta falls through a trapdoor in the southwest corner before the stairwell.
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"All clear heEEEEEERRRRE!"
Itka just manages to grab the edge before plummeting into the depths. She growls and calls out: "Never mind. Not clear. A little help!" She waits to pull herself up until someone has come to help her . A frantic, angry squeaking is heard from her pocket.
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Grunting with the effort and cursing her skinny arms, Itka tries again to pull herself out of the hole.
As she heaves herself up, the squeaking pocket goes ballistic as it is partially squished. Once she shifts her weight, the black rat bursts from it and gives Itka such a verbal lashing of squeaks and hisses that it's probably a blessing that it cannot speak an understandable language. Completely ignoring it, she sits at the edge of the hole and peers down into it to see how far down it went, and what's at the bottom.
Once the rat seems to be winding down, she apathetically grabs it and stuffs it back in her pocket, deliberately avoiding looking at it. Stupid rat.
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Elfino is about to head over to the northwest corner to investigate the trapdoor that Brünwulf discovered when he hears Itka's yelp and turns to see her falling into another trap. Before he can react, Ezaki gets to her first. With his help, Itka pulls herself out of the hole, apparently unharmed. Phew, close call. I thought I was going to have to break out my ointment again.
Once the excitement is over, Elfino leaves Itka and Ezaki to examine their trap and slides up next to Brünwulf to see about the other trap. "It appears to be a trap similar to the one Itka fell into. I better disable it before it causes us any problems.
Ikta crawls out of the pit with the assistance of her companions.
Elfino intentionally trips the remaining trap door, making it obvious to everyone and easy to avoid. No victims have fallen into either of the pits. Among the random treasures is a white, embroidered handwrap. Ikta can narrow down the magical items to be the handwrap, which radiates transmutative magic, and the contents of the vial, which radiates necromantic magic.
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Dusting herself off and pointedly ignoring her still-peeved pocket-occupant, Itka bustles over with her hunched gait, her heavy cane making a deep tapping/thunking noise on the hard floor. Peering closely at each of the items, her black eyes squint as she tries to stare deep into their magi-physical properties, or whatever.
Hmph. Maybe I'm trying too hard.
Zelphari thinks he has the red liquid figured out, but it escapes him in the end.
Elfino determines that the vial contains a minor potion of healing.
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With a puzzled look, Brünwulf cocks an eyebrow at Ezaki as he suddenly blurts out nonsense.
"There goes that Ezaki kid talkin' to himself again. It's like he's hearin' voices coming from another dimension. Humph. Strange kid. Gonna keep my eye on this one, for sure."
He thinks to himself.
He turns and speaks to the group.
Sorry I cant help ya identifying those items. He says in his gruff voice with a hint of embarrassment.
I'm not skilled in magic... Yet. I've heard of some spellcraft being able to enhance the power of a ranger's bow, though. Might hafta look into that at the Academy.
I wonder if both sets of stairs lead up to the same chamber. He looks at El Fino and shrugs his shoulders.
This set of stairs it is, then. I'll scout ahead for danger.
He nods to the group then crouches low as he slinks slowly up the steps.
Presumably, Ezaki retrieves his illuminated stone from the ground, and you proceed up the stairwell, which does merge with the opposite to lead to the second level. The spiral staircases leading to this room converge, opening up into a barren stone room. To the east, an open doorway leads to a mirrored room that is almost identical to this one, except that it leads into another room that gives off a strange, eldritch glow through the open doorway and contains three blue-scaled kobolds with crossbows in their hands at the ready.
Encounter! Round 1. Bold may act (e.g. your don't know you're in an encounter at the moment of this initiative).
Blue
Yellow
Ezaki
Elsha
Ikta
Brunwulf
Zelphari
Red
Elfino
Ezaki consumes the power of his eldritch shield to absorb the first quarrel that strikes. The second quarrel grazes his arm deeply. The rest of you file out of the stairwell. Unfortunately, everyone is observed as they pass into the room and have little to hide behind except the walls.
Zephari does just that, taking cover at the edge of the wall, and sends a blast of air into the nearest kobold's face. The kobold tries to return the favor, firing his crossbow. The quarrel shatters on the corner of the archway. He then skitters away into the room from which the eerie glow comes.
Encounter! Round 1. Bold may act.
Blue
Yellow
Ezaki (-3 hp)
Elsha
Ikta
Brunwulf
Zelphari
Red (-6 hp)
Elfino
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For some unknown reason , Elfino is once again the last one to the party. He's still carefully working his way up the stairs when he hears Ezaki call out "Kobolds!".
He leaps up the last few steps and sprints into the room as quickly as possible. Grasping the situation in an instant, he analyzes the kobold to determine his weak points.
"Ah, another graduate of the same guard school as the last ones," he thinks, once again finding the same opening as before on the kobold. Nocking an arrow, he sends it flying in the kobold's direction.
Shortbow: (20) + 4 + 3 = 27
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Damn, El Fino. You didn't need to make its head explode like that. Brünwulf says, disturbed by the grisly scene of skull shattering and the fine mist of spraying blood.
Elfino looks over at Brünwulf with an exaggerated sheepish look, and shrugs. "Sorry about that Brünwulf, but for some reason, these particular kobolds seem unusually easy to kill today. Not sure why . I'll go easier on them if you prefer."
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The remaining kobold wipes the gore from his scaled face and darts into the eldritch light of the other room.
Encounter! Round 2. Bold may act.
(1)
Yellow
Ezaki (-3 hp)
Elsha
(new blue)
Ikta
Brunwulf
Zelphari
Red (-6 hp)
Elfino
(2)
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Huh. They're pulling back. That was... too easy, especially considering those trap doors downstairs. Itka suspects a trap, but she's trying to make up for falling down on the job (literally) earlier, so she surges ahead of the guys to peer into the room from which they had been shooting. Once she verifies that the room is empty, she reports: "This room's clear." The colored lights shining through the other doorway, both beautiful and ominous, beckon to her.
Taking a deep breath, because she just *knows* what's going to happen next (mostly because that's what happened when Ezaki burst into their last ambush), Itka steps into the open doorway fully expecting to be turned into a half-orc pincushion. As soon as she sees what can be seen in a quick glance, she ducks back behind the wall and calls out: "Ambush and colored lights!" She makes a mental note of where the kobold in the colored light room was standing.
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Brünwulf, thinking Ezaki is just frustrated and not talking to the voices in his head, offers words of encouragement.
No need to get upset, lad. We'll get 'em. When you get close enough, just use your magik or that halberd to take 'em down.
He looks up from the aim of his bow and gives the boy a wink, then goes back to aiming his bow at the kobolds.
The kid shoulda brought a bow. Or something to throw, at least.
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"Be wary. Kobolds are cunning little creatures."
Zelphari races after the kobolds, only to see the strangely lighted room. The grizzled ex-mercenary knows a killing field when he sees one, and this has all the marks of one. Instead, he raises his staff and sends a bolt of freezing ray flying at the nearest kobold, confident that Brunwulf's arrow would have taken care of the other.
Brunwulf's shot takes one of the kobolds in the chest. The second falls down after being frozen by Zelphari .
Now all that remains apparent is the arcane killing field.
Encounter! Round 2. Bold may act.
(1)
Ezaki (-3 hp)
Elsha
(new blue)
Ikta
Brunwulf
Zelphari
Elfino
(2)