Sef gives Zelvin a nod, and gestures toward the entrance of her hut. Luepel escorts you back to the main cave so you can discuss with the rest of your party.
Back in the main cave, the skulk addressed by Xaerai doesn't reply, though you do detect a hint of a smile at Tyn's apparent misunderstanding.
Rolling her eyes at Tyn's joke, Xaerai turns her attention back to the skulk with a frown. "Nothing? I'm just trying to be neighborly here. Wouldn't hurt you to make a little small talk..."
Once he's certain the interview is concluded, Zelvin returns with Shesik to the others, and explains what they offered. "Everyone's bein' really cagey 'bout Mister Khonnir, which probably means they haven't interacted with him much. But they probably don't have him prisoner neither. They're also pretty vague about the treasure they are offerin' us. Might be that it ain't worth the risk, 'cept that makin' friends with them could help if we plan to come through here again, and not makin' friends will likely hurt. I'm not sure how trustworthy they are-- it's always possible they'll turn around and stab us in the back when our guard is down. What do y'all think?"
"If we reject their offer, Zelvin, we would probably have to fight these creatures to pass through.
And I do not believe our skill at deception or persuasion is sufficient to find an alternative solution.
Accepting their offer is likely the necessary course of action."
Shesik’s mismatched eyes wander back and forth between the mismatched brothers as they discuss the skulks’ offer. ”Oh, they’ll backstab us at some point. Everyone does. We just need to do what we can to put it off as long as possible. By then, we might have found your dad. That should make us more than a match for them.” She shrugs. ”Not like they could take us now anyways.”
She looks over her shoulder towards the passage where the gremlins dwell. ”Besides, we’ll probably need to go through the gremlins anyway. Why not get paid for it. Even if it is just in good will.”
"Speaking of fey..." Tyn smirks.
"...sounds like jinkin gremlins..."
Tyn proceeds to relate all he knows about them.
"I agree with y'all--no reason to make enemies, even if we're not sure if we're making friends. As for these jinkin things...if they can magic themselves away it sounds like we'll need to be fast and ruthless. Hit 'em hard, take 'em out and they can't come back later. Gang up and stay on 'em. We ready?"
Clenching his fists, Tyn concurs with the Dwarf,
"I like your style Xaerai! Those little Jinkin bastages are the bane of inventors and creators. They seek only to deter constructive effort and mar brilliance with their malevolent antics...no mercy should be shown unto them!"
"Terminating organic lifeforms is not my primary function. Nevertheless, I will contribute to this goal to the best of my abilities."
Hekau draws his crossbow.
Shesik reclaims her weapons. ”Right, then let’s go get these things.” Standing, she takes a step toward the gremlins. ”You guys coming?”
Zelvin, going through his pack, looks dejected. "I don't seem to have any cold iron bullets. Blast! Do you, Xaerai? Well, in that case we will have to hope we get a good shot if we hope to deal any damage against them." He sighs and stands up, pulling his pack on his back. "I guess. Right behind you!" He follows Shesik and the others to the gremlins' nest.
"I have ten Cold Iron bolts," offers Hekau helpfully.
"If any of you have crossbows, these bolts could be of use. Zelvin, if you wish, you can use my crossbow and I can cast Acid Splash."
Zelvin looks quickly at Hekau to see if this is another jibe about not being able to cast cantrips, but he decides the android is sincere. He sighs, wrinkles his nose, and holds his hand out. "Well, yeah, I reckon my little peapopper here is going to be next to useless against those things. Thanks, Hekau."
"I am glad to be of assistance, Zelvin."
Hekau is, as usual, completely sincere.
Luepel's face brightens (figuratively speaking) when it becomes clear that you will take up the cause of the skulks against the gremlins. "Either of the tunnels north from here will take you to their caves," she says, pointing. "Be careful, they love their traps."
Tyn checks himself, realizing he is not one hundred percent. As he pulls out an extract of Cure light wounds, he waggles his left finger at Hekau,
"Your primary function may not be terminating organic lifeforms, but believe you me, their primary function would leave you in a state lucky to have any sort of proper function at all!"
He gulps his extract.
He sits down and prepares an extract of Shield in his open slot,
continuing lecturing the android,
"They'd take you apart and put you back together all backwards and upside down! You'd probably be left speaking out your hind end inna high-pitched whistle."
When everyone is ready, he will start over to the passage, trying his best to be stealthy and alert for traps.
Shesik waits impatiently while Tyn messes about with his tubes and vials. She paces around the pit near the southern wall and takes a moment to stare into its depths in the hopes of spotting something of interest.
When he is finally finished mixing his concoction and moves to advance northward, she falls in behind him, quietly searching for the gremlins and their traps.
"Tyn, perhaps you misunderstand me.
I do not say that I am reluctant to fight these fey.
Merely that my abilities in this area are not outstanding."
"Still, I shall do my best."
Xaerai watches Tyn assemble a new extract with an expression of amused bafflement. When he's ready, she forms up behind him--at first she feels bet for ruining his attempts at stealth, at least until Shesik kicks a rock loudly down the tunnel by mistake, at which point the armored dwarf relaxes a little.
Loud noises or no, nothing steps out to attack you immediately. Almost simultaneously, though, Tyn and Shesik spot a series of tripwires strung barely an inch above the cavern floor.
Tyn stutters a bit,
"Ahh...yes...I see now, Hekau. Quite the misunderstanding on my part! My apologies, friend."
Tyn gathers his allies in a loose huddle, points out the trip wires, and softly asks,
"What say you all-do we simply avoid them, or try and trigger them remotely? Any suggestions?"
Gazing at the tripwires, Shesik pulls a roll of leather from a pocket. ”We could also remove them so they don’t cause anyone else any problems later.”
Unrolling her kit, she pulls a few strangely shaped tools from the collection and carefully attempts to cut the wire and tie off the ends without changing the tension on it.
Shesik expertly disables the trap, along with the additional tripwires she finds at the other entrances to the cave. From inside the cavern, it becomes apparent that the trap consisted of a cleverly counterweighted metal spike that could have easily impaled anyone clumsy or oblivious enough to set it off.
"Well, I don't think there is going to be any good way of getting in there. We may have forfeited our surprise, but I am still going to err on the side of caution."
Tyn takes out two vials-he holds his Shield extract in his left hand and grasps the sickle with his prehensile tail.
"Anyone with cold iron feel free to take the lead, otherwise I'll see how they like lead." Xaerai falls into her new spot in the marching order.
Continuing down the narrow opening, Shesik falls in behind Tyn and Zelvin. ”Here’s hoping they think that trap’ll make enough noise. And we can be quieter than that.”
With Xaerai guarding the rear, she realizes that puts Hekau right behind her. Making her way forward, she spends as much time looking back at him as she does watching for signs of the gremlins.
The party makes its way into the next cave, which seems to be clear of any traps. From here, the party can see into a larger cavern, in which a narrow ledge overlooks a lower area filled with rubble. The eastern wall of the cave is made of a smooth, dark gray metal, just like the wall in the skulk's cavern. A single circular door, tightly closed, sits on the metal wall just above the upper level of the rubble.
You scarcely have time to investigate further, however, as a tiny humanoid with bat-like ears and a horrid grin emerges seemingly from nothing and tries to slice Zelvin's ankle! It begins cackling madly at the side of the elf's blood.
Zelvin
Xaerai
Jinkin
Shesik
Hekau
Tyn Foyle
Zelvin yelps at the little monster's attack, and instinctively fires Hekau's crossbow at it.
He moves behind Tyn and reloads his crossbow.
Trusting that her companions could handle one gremlin and concerned about an ambush, Xaerai pushes her way to the front of the group and posts herself as overwatch of the group.
Still giggling, the gremlin flees from the cave down a short tunnel to the west, disappearing from sight.
Shesik
Hekau
Tyn Foyle
Zelvin
Xaerai
Observation: These creatures are fast and elusive.
Hypothesis: Impairing their mobility might be an effective counter to their tactics.
Recommendation: Thunderstomp.
Accessing spells...
Hekau's eyes roll back into his head for a second or two. Magical power surges through him, causing his circuitry tattoos to flicker.
He uses his Magical Epiphany feat to prepare Thunderstomp in his open slot as a standard action.
Zelvin retrieves the bolt from where it missed the gremlin, and peers down the passage to the west to determine how far it went.
Not seeing anything, he readies to fire in case it should come back into view.
Reaching a new level of frustration, Tyn snarls. He drops the sickle being held by his tail, and then uses it to snatch the Cure Light Wounds extract out of his right hand.
He then drops to the space East of Zelvin.
Finally, with his newly free right grabber, the Tiefling pulls out a small vial, infuses it with his Fiendishly arcane essence and lobs it 10' into the room.
With a growl of frustration at the speed with which the gremlin struck and retreated, Shesik moves to defend Xaerai. Spotting a second westward passage, she crouches, preparing to cut off further retreat by their foe.
Nothing ventures forth from the passage. Or, at least, nothing the party can see.
Tyn picks up his sickle and packs it away. Abandoning stealth, As he goes, Tyn gives the area to the west a once over-just in case there were traps not set of by his bomb.
"They know we're here...let's get this over with!"
"Agreed," Xaerai growls and advances into the room, clambering up to investigate the pile of junk. "Nothing personal, gremlins, but you little blighters are worth a cache of Numerian devices. Time to face the music!"
Hekau watches to the south warily, concerned that the creatures could loop around.
He draws his cold iron dagger, and prepares to strike if a gremlin appears.
While on the lookout for any sign of movement, Shesik spots another trap in one of the passages. Unfortunately, everyone fails to notice the gremlins stealing up on them from behind until it's too late. The spring two more surprise attacks, this time against Xaerai and Hekau, stabbing at their targets with their tiny short swords. Xaerai's armor does its job, and doesn't allow the blade to penetrate, but Hekau has no such protection.
Shesik
Hekau
Tyn Foyle
Zelvin
Xaerai
Even though he didn't spot the creature coming, Hekau was prepared for just such an eventuality. He counterattacks with his dagger, and its cold iron blade pierces through the gremlin's hardened skin, eliciting a squeal of pain.
At this point, verbally venting how bad this situation has disintegrated into would be redundant. Instead, the only thing that leaves Tyn's lips is a small chuckle. When he hears the gremlin squeal in pain, it turns into a louder maniacal cackle. He advances to Hekau, seemingly skipping joyously like a crazed schoolboy. As he would possibly annihilate the android with a bomb-and has already put his weapon away-he grabs at the Gremlin's short sword, hoping to disarm it.
And fails miserably yet again.
Hopping down next to Xaerai, Shesik draws her machete and slashes at the gremlin attacking her. ”Guys, don’t go in there until Tyn and I can disarm that trap.”
Zelvin steps back and shoots at the gremlin beneath Hekau.
Hekau is not in great shape after that attack. He Withdraws, holding out his Cold Iron Dagger for any others who wish to take it.
"Gah! What the--oh, hello." Xaerai whirls around to see the gremlin stabbing at her and gives it an unfriendly smile. Stepping back to avoid the tiny menace, the dwarf pressed the barrel of her piston against its head and pulls the trigger.