Age of Ashes (Team Dahak)

Game Master Delta Arena

Markus eats in silence. He is thinking about what the kobolds said. He gets ready as soon as he can and proposes "Maybe we leave the green slime for last? I want to check out the room below."

Vrosi eats. Loudly and messily.

Kiilo, for all his patience, untethers his wings and leaps into the sky as soon as everyone is above ground ... and he is happy to share the meal when he lands.

Mosquito seems happy to have his friends join him, the dragons and all the Bumblebashers for supper!
Wees kin tell tales, eats, drinks, eats and den goes to Dat downstairs room in morning.

True to his word, the Swashbuckler eats, tells tall tales of their adventures and drinks toast to Cayden Cailian.

After the break of dawn, the Cleric is seen preforming his Daily Preparations.
Who bees ready ta claim our new castle!

"I am ready little friend! I cannot wait to build an aerie for my people and my god Easivra. Breachill will flourish for sure."

Where are you heading after eating and resting? The stairs, which are just outside the central wing where the kobold were, have collapsed and the passage that way is blocked.

I vote the stairs down.

The stairs are blocked by the rubble.

Mosquito follows the path they originally took to get back down to the creepy hellknight's basement area. The goblin then walks up to the closest door, egress, that they have not explored, opens it and bellows
Mosquito bees here!

Exploration mode Defend

Smiling as he conjures the energy to bind his wings, Kiilo follows Cayden's intrepid explorer back down into the creepy basement.

They would need to work on the creepiness ...

Mosquito kicks the door open into a painting gallery. The space is decorated with the remnants of paintings paying homage to the Order’s most storied deeds. Tall oil paintings, the majority of which are severely damaged, cover both long walls. The paintings, from what you can see in spite of the damage, depict Hellknights victorious over bandits, armies and monsters, including a black dragon, hamatulas, gylous and erinys.

The room is otherwise empty.

Mosquito barges into the art gallery! The goblin looks at all the art on display.
Dees bees worth da fortune! Looks at the artistry involved in each brush stroke.

The Caydenite sighs.
Painting is a lost art.

Shrugging his shoulders, the goblin races to the next unopened door and opens it.....

Kiilo has moved to support Mosquito

The acrid smell of acid fills the party’s nostrils as soon as the door opens. Toppled armor racks are scattered throughout this wide room, as well as anvils, hammers, tool sets, and other supplies that were once used to repair the Hellknight’s iconic armor. The entire room is difficult terrain. Some of the equipment is half melted from corrosion.

A large section of the room is taken by a large glob of green goo. Slug-like ropes of white slime extend out from it, waving in different directions as if moved by some unseen current. The glob of goo turns, pointing one of the white strings towards the now opened door.

Before

Markus, in awe of the art room, is very excited with everything here. Being a Shelyn devout, he offers a short prayer to the art goddess. He also takes some time to look at everything with extra care.

Search the room for small undetected stuff: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

With the gelatinous cube

Markus says "This is an amazing room with lots of useful stuff. But I don't think I want to bother that goo over there. It looks bad."

Mosquito shuts the door!
Wees keeps it fer da floor cleaning job. Discuss pay later, but probably by letter slid under da door.

Mosquito lies down on the floor by the now closed door. He puts his face to the crack at the bottom.
Youses bees hired, butts HR says no contact clause.

The goblin then begins to ponder where to next.....

Markus

before

There is nothing small in the room, it is all about the grandure of the order, and it has fallen in decay along with the rest of the citadel. However, you notice that one of the paintings, signed, K. Stagram, has survived the test of time in surpisingly good condition.

Mosquito

As Mosquito "hires" the slime, he can see it ebbing towards the door that he just closed. Judging by the caked slime covering the edge of the door, right by the gap at the bottom, the door might not be the most difficult obstacle for a creature made out of goo.

Before...

Markus checks the Stagram painting for magical auras. He also tries to remember if K. Stagram is a known painter.

Recall Knowledge: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

With the goo

Markus says "Mosquito, I think the goo isn't looking for a job. It looked angry to me. Get back from the door! Ready all attacks! Someone take this and throw it!" He hands out a bottle with an orange liquid inside.

Markus stands away from the door. As soon as goo makes it through it, cast Floating Flame on it. The bottle is a lesser bottled lightning. It should be hurled by someone with a better chance to hit than me.

Mosquito--descretly--repositions himself (and his friends) beyond the other door.

The Cleric does take the Bottle Lightning.
Waits fer da seeing ov da whites ov da eyes ...

Markus

Not much is known about K. Stagram, but given his last name, it is fair to assume that he is an ancestor of Alak. There is no magic protecting the painting, but given it historical relevance, it might be worth some coins.

Everyone

The slime makes its way under the door, further corroding the material and leaving more of the green goo. It reforms its shape one it is out on the other side and begins to extend its white strings.

Vrosi, where are you going back to the door as well, or staying there?

Markus and Mosquito, you can make your attacks, but the slime has cover from where you are standing due to the narrow entrance of the room.

Markus casts Floating Flame on the goo.

No attack roll needed. It makes a basic reflex DC 19.

Fire damage: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 3) = 11

He also tries to identify the creature.

Recall Knowledge Occultism (?): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12

Back to the door

Mosquito reaches into his pockets, pulls out some Needle Darts that actually look like pieces of rusted armor and flings them at the Gelatinous Cube!
Spell Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 204d4 ⇒ (2, 2, 2, 3) = 9

The cleric then Raises his Shield.

A sudden ball of fire burst into existance where the slime is. It burns through the slime, making it combust where it ignites it.

Vrosi, I've moved you back to the door on the map.

The metalic needles fly close the the wall, wheezing as they cut the air on their way to the slime. The needles are right on the mark; they pierce through the slime and leave holes through it where they passed.

You are all going before the slime. Markus and Mosquito, I was taking those attacks as readied actions; you can take your turns before the slime goes as well.

Markus leaves the flaming ball on the goo and shoots metallic darts at it.

Floating Flame DC 19: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 1) = 8
Needle darts: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27
Damage: 4d4 ⇒ (3, 1, 1, 3) = 8

On a crit it's double damage and 2 persistent bleed damage, if it's not immune.

He also puts up his glass shield.

◆ Raging, Vrosi takes his mikazuki in hand.

◆◆ Then, he makes a Sudden Charge: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13for: 1d6 + 3 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 + 3 = 10 bludgeoning damage.

Mosquito keeps it up!
Spell Attack Needle Darts: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 174d4 ⇒ (1, 2, 4, 3) = 10

The cleric then Raises his Shield.

Markus

The slime continues to burst with the sustained heat of the flame. Splashes of slime go flying, staining the floor around it, and the mass of the creature reduces as it boils.

Just like Mosquito’s needles before, the metallic darts fly through the slime, leaving more and more holes in its structure.

Vrosi

Vrosi rushes in and smacks across the slime until his mikazuki hits the ground, dispersing more and more of the slime throughout the room.

Mosquito

A third barrage of needles and there is only a few threats of slime getting the creatures structure standing.

Kiilo

Kiilo asked me to bot Force Barrage.

Kiilo moves past Markus to aim at the slime over Mosquito’s shoulder. Shaping energy in the shape of feathers, he sends them straight towards the slime.

damage: 4d4 + 4 ⇒ (3, 2, 1, 1) + 4 = 11

The feathers hit one after the other, and the whole structure collapses. Gravity takes over the slimy substance which crashes into the ground and splashes in all directions, in a wave of acrid goo.

The slime is actually down. Markus did massive damage to it as all three of his attacks were critical

What would you like to do now that the slime is down?

Markus, the pudding killer. People will think he's a fat bloke :P

Markus dismisses his floating fireball and breathes relieved. He says "Wow, I think we got lucky there. If we ever encounter one like it, let's hope it's not fire resistant."

Markus uses Prestidigitation to clean the slime off the tools room. Then he makes a careful search of the room.

Mosquito follows Markus around with his mouth open and puppy dog eyes ...

Most of the tools and weapons are rusted and dented. There is, however, one rune-etched battleaxe that has survived the test of time. The edges of the weapon remain as sharp as ever. It is a +1 battleaxe. There are also enough tools in working condition for a makeshift toolkit. Artisan's Toolkit

Markus declares "Nothing here interests me, but I do wish I had a workshop like this one." He is ready to continue exploring.

"Brilliant Burnis borrow battle axe."

You have fully explored the basement. You could head back out through were you came, or you could explore the tunnel you barricaded earlier. Are you heading back to town, or where do you wish to go?

Markus suggests taking a look at the tunnel. He says "Well, it's a mysterious tunnel. I've always wanted to check one of those. It's probably where the goo came from too, so there might be more of them, maybe."

Mosquito runs into the tunnel!

After the tunnel bends, it descends in a slight incline as it goes further and further away from the citadel. The path itself is straight, but the trail is long and dark. After an hour of walking, the tunnel suddenly comes to a stop in front of a single wooden ladder leading to a hatch in the tunnel’s ceiling.

Mosquito immediately climbs up the ladder to go through the hatch....

Vrosi follows Misquoto.

Markus whispers "Be careful! Take a peek before..." Then it was too late, Mosquito and Vrosi have already walked through the hatch. He looks at Cranky and says "Well, we've come this far." and follows after Vrosi.

Mosquito and Vrosi, and later Markus, burst into a storeroom lined wall to wall ith jars of pickles. Pickles of all types. There are pickled cucumbers, beets, radishes, onions, cauliflowe, chicken's feet, and, the reason why Mosquito immediately knows where he is, pickled pig's ears. It is the specialty of The Pickled Ear.

Markus asks "Are we back in Breachill?" Looking around, he says "Why would a hellknight fortress have a passage here?"

He takes a good look at the hatch, trying to determine if it is hidden somehow.

I'm assuming Markus determines that it is not hidden.

Markus says "Now I wonder if miss Denn had anything to do with the halfling causing all that mayhem on Call for Heroes day."

Mosquito squeaks!
Looks at all dis foods!

The goblin begins to open jars and pouring the contents into his wide open mouth!

The tunnel does in fact seem to have been covered with light sacks that look like heavy potato sacks, and it is located in a corner of the room, tucked away behind some of the pickle shelves. If not hidden, it is at the very least not obvious that it is there.

The pickles, as usual for the inns specialty, are quite good. Specially if you like the strong tangy flavour and have a strong taste for vinegar.

Markus ignores Mosquito's hungry munching and keeps wondering about Roxie Denn's involvement in whatever happened in the Call for Heroes. He suggests "Maybe we should ask her now? It will be quite hard to deny a secret passage, given it's the only way we could have come from?"

Mosquito pauses in mid-munch
Da nows or da laters? After breakfast?

The Swashbuckler grins (partially munched on pickles spilling on the floor).
Where be Kiilo? He bees liking da pickles.

Are you leaving the room to look for Roxie? Are you staying and continuing to eat pickles?

Kiilo had taken a deep breath ... and then needed to take another. This tunnel was worse than the exterior goblin entrance to the basement. But he did it. He prayed to Easivra that he would return to the sky, and arrived in time to see his friend stealing pickles.

"Are we going to have to pay for those!? I will need to sing for a week!!! At least save me some!" The bard smiles and untethers his wings for the moment, extending his hand to the little priest hoping for one of the good pickles.

"Someone made that tunnel for a reason, and it surely wasn't made by the Hellknights."

After a few minutes of you enjoying the pickles, you hear steps coming closer. A young man with a crooked nose opens the door to the store room and screams.

"What are you drunkards doing here? This is not a public area. Wait, are you stealing from the storeroom? Help! Over here!" He runs away from the door.