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It is commonly known that Immoldroth slew her siblings, claiming their treasure for her own, but chooses not to face her father Arkynaster, the fabled Red Dragon of Canterlot. She makes her lair somewhere in the north - it is believed to lie somewhere in the Kingdoms of the Twelve Foals, and presumably they pay tribute to her lest she ravage their lands. Amongst pony adventurers, slaying Immoldroth would be a task for the bravest of heart, strongest of muscle, most learned of arcane, purest of faith and most cunning of wits. Such is not unknown however - the Green Queen Harrowfel once hired adventurers to assassinate her mate Venomeer, though their method is unknown, and the free breezies of the Shadowcrowns claim the great green dragon is not dead at all, somewhere in the depths of that blighted wood. The Trust of Venomeer is one of Canterlot's oldest, most respected, and most cautious of the city's financial institutions. At the mention of her sister, Cally merely hisses... "Ponies are not equal to dragonsss," Cally sizzles. "Ponies should be glad to be well-treated servants of Cally." She thrums, as Meepo nods willingly along...
"Yesss..." Cally hisses softly. "Ponies will belong to Cally, and serve Cally, and tell other ponies about Cally. Ponies will bring Cally treasures, many treasures, treasures enough to flood Cally's home with gold and gems, and on top ponies will build Cally a castle of gold and a bed of gems, and Cally will sleep comfortable and warm in the daylight... yess..." Cally hisses. "Yesss?" Meepo, who's leaned slowly forward at all the talk of gems, jerks backwards. "No!" He snaps. "It must not be! Cally's evil stepsister Immoldroth will find Cally and kill her! Kill her!" "Bah," Cally hisses, "Cally is not afraid of Immy! Cally is mighty!" She roars, belching flame. "Immy will never stand against mighty Cally! Immy so weak, even ponies could easily slay her," Cally hisses, and coils. "Ponies will slay Immy and bring Cally her head, yesss~?" Her smile is... crooked, and full of tongue and teeth. "Then Cally will call ponies friendsss?"
"Sshiniess..." Cally and Meepo whisper together, their eyes utterly locked on the glittery gold coins you've just produced. "My/Our sshiniess," Cally/Meepo hiss gently, almost purring...
Cally hisses, spurting flame. It's clear she doesn't believe you at all... but, though she watches carefully, she doesn't impede Virtue's march to the far door. "Dragons eat knights, you know..." she hisses her soft protest...
"Nooo..." Meepo wails piteously. "Ponies promised to help Meepo rescue Cally! Ponies promised..."
"No," Meepo replies, stammering in the common tongue. "Meepo hatch Cally from egg," he says, "Cally has never been her before. Meepo not let Cally out of playpen except to play. Sunken dungeon too dangerous for Cally," Meepo nods firmly, despite the devastation surrounding you. "Sspeak normally," Cally snaps in draconic, "not consspire and plot in your gibberling tongues!"
"Cally lairsss here, tributesss here, livesss here..." Cally hisses, "Poniesss mussst earn tributesss, Cally recsievesss tributesss for being beautiful, powerful dragonessss," there's a sibilant smile in Cally's tone, if not on her lips. "Poniesss can go if they givesss Cally presssentsss..." Cally hisses, "because then poniesss good tribute bearsss, not invadersss..."
"Noponiesss," Cally hisses, "noponiesss come into Cally'sss lair. Poniesss ssshould come, leave tributesss..."
Almost the moment Meepo bops her, Cally hisses and bounds away behind the wreckage of a table... and the battered Meepo shows no desire to pursue.
On close examination, Cally is indeed wearing a shiny iron collar, with a short length of half-melted chain dangling from it... but as Zophio approaches, she hisses, one claw rising up to guard her neck. "My necklassss," she hisses, "No takessss necklassss. Likessss treasssuresss. No takesss me from treasssuresss. Minesss. Minesssss~" She hisses, long tongue flickering...
"Sssss," Cally hisses, and blows a jet of flame at you. "Ah, no, bad Cally! Ponies friends!" Meepo chitters back. "Friends like Meepo!" DC15 reflex to avoid... "Sorry!" Meepo calls. "Just means she likes you! Stop that!" He snaps, donking her head lightly, and the flame-jet cuts off in mid-stream. Attack
Cally AC17, HP22/22
So, Cally's initial flame-burst damage should've been... 7 total. If you got hit, please amend your sheet with your additional HP. I'll let Meepo's HP stand at 5/14 though.
"Of course Cally friendly!" Meepo meeps. "Cally just cranky because poblins treat her so badly!" He glares. "Just look at awful condition of room they gave Cally! So untidy!" He steps forward, arms outstretched for his tiny bundle of joy to leap into... and with a wing-assisted bound she does so... savaging him brutally with her claws and teeth... though her claws scrabble harmlessly against his tough lizard skin, and only her teeth draw blood.
He shrieks, briefly, as he tries to hang onto her... and fails. "Ouch!" he exclaims. "Cally is a bit excited to see Meepo again!" He beams, sucking at the gushing wound in his forearm. "She has given him a lovebite," he says, cradling his wounded appendage, "but doesn't remember her own strength," he says, a little downcast... Meepo remaining HP 5/14
Meepo Reflex Meepo nimbly darts aside from the blast, receiving only a minor singing. "Cally!" Meepo protests. "Meepo is glad you're glad to see Meepo, but show the heat of your love metaphorically! Metaphorically! Good Cally."
As soon as Moonstar utters Meepo's name - and the kopold moves up besides her - Cally's head turns, hisses, and blazes a wall of flame towards you... Shubshi, Virtue and Midnight: DC15 Reflex save to avoid the breath attack... half of fire damage if not avoided. Meepo and Moonstar are at the center of the attack, and take full damage - Reflex DC15 halves.
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Mounted and stuffed animal heads adorn the walls of the horseshoe-shaped room beyond the door, some thirty feet across and along at its longest points. The work of mounting the heads has been sloppily done, and includes animals that no noble's manor would hold - cattle, rats, and other similarly unimpressive specimens... but sharing space with them are a few gristly visages, including both pony and kopold visages... one of whom bares the face of the no-longer missing Treasured Heart... ...but you have little time to absorb this horror. Smashed and broken cabinets and the remains of small tables line the walls and litter the floor, mute victims of some kind of rampage, scattered with detritus that the poblins might once have revered as treasure - a shiny cooking pot, a few silver and copper coins, a smattering of marble with interesting patterns... ...and in the centre of the room, an iron spike driven deep into the ground, rusted and trailing a broken chain. Thin patches slick, melted glass or metal coat sections of the ground, walls, debris...
DC15 acrobatics to move about the room without falling. Carefully treating the room as difficult terrain avoids this check. Virtuous Heart, if and when you enter the room: [spoiler]You espy the tiny red-scaled tail of a red-dragon wyrmling protruding from beneath a wrecked table...
You can keep trying until you beat the DC or roll a 1, in which case you break the lock and are forced to resort to other means. Please note how many attempts it takes you to succeed.
From inside the room, you can hear thumping and banging - not the sounds of battle, but rather, those of random destruction... the door is, however, locked (DC18 disable device to open).
Unfortunately, as Zophio approaches the door, the ground gives way behind him. There are a few, criss-crossed boards, but its impossible for him to keep his balance on them, and he tumbles into the pit-trap. Damage (Reflex DC18 halves)... I'm afraid you didn't make the search DC to notice this one. Though there's an unpleasant layer of filth at the bottom, and a few ambiguous bone fragments, the pit is devoid of spikes or caltrops that could've caused serious injury. Thankfully, any poblins who might've heard the bang have already been dispatched... and from the room ahead of you, you can hear shifting and banging of heavy objects too. Retrieving Zophio will be a simple matter of dropping a rope and a little pulling.
The northern door leads to a corridor running east-west along the side of the room you were just in. Opposite (to the north) a door dangles open - clearly the source of the poblins you just dispatched - but that room itself is empty, save for the detritus poblins accumulate over even a short period of occupation. At the western end of the corridor is another closed door, of the aged-but-robust wood so common in this sunken fortress.
The door to the western corridor is still hot to the touch... the fire will burn for some time, it seems... unless the poblins are successfully fighting it from the far side...
Eeky shakes his tiny head. "I don't think they meant for me to know, but I've heard them take prisoners both north and west."
"That's good," Eeky says, then turns downcast. "If they can still be helped..." "And Cally too yes?" Meepo breaks in. "Cally can still be helped too, yes?" He pauses. "By Meepo, but you can help Meeop help Cally."
"Oh!" Eeky exclaims. "I know them! They were here for awhile..." his voice trails off. "They were my friends. They... went to Belak a few days ago..."
"I'd rather not be alone," the breezie whispers softly. "I've seen too many ponies pass through this dungeon, to whatever terrible fate. Many of them I called friend. Mine shall now be the same as yours, although," his wings flutter softly, "I hope it will be better than I believe theirs to have been."
"Druid is Belak, Belak is druid. Belak is not a bad druid, but Belak is a bad druid, not a nice-eesy-Eeky-Breezie," Eeky smiles, supporting himself with occasional beats of his gossamer wings as he staggers... "Belak not leader of poblins. Poblins led by biggest, meanest poblin Durnn, but even Durnn afraid of Belak - but still trade with Belak, give ponies in exchange for fruit of silver, fruit of gold, poblins sell for coin." "Durnn very big and very mean," Eeky draws breath. "Likes to hurt poor ponies. Eeky-breezie is lucky - Durnn not pull wings from little flies anymore. Graduated to larger cruelties." Eeky sighs, his wings and posture drooping. [b]"Poor, poor ponies never came back, whether from Durnn or Belak..." "Breezie-thankeezy," Eeky agrees. "Breezie-weakie, but will fight as fight can."
"Breezie agreezie," Eeky agrees, staggering and fluttering. "Some seasons ago, I was travelling to Canterlot to seek my fortune, but I~" the breezie blushes, "took the wrong road, and the poblins captured me. I've been here ever since, watching ponies come and go, but the druid isn't interested in breezies, and breezie's only seasoning for poblin food, not meat enough to eat."
From what you know of breezie biology, he's okay - though somewhat the worse for wear from what must've been quite an extended period of imprisonment. He'd doubtless benefit from a warm hug and some decent food and drink... but he seems delightfully grateful already. "Breezie-thankeezie ponies," he burbles. "Eeky-breezie thought breezie would never escape at all." The kopolds, in turn, are already slipping out the door, back towards their own territory. "Wait!" Meepo protests. "You have to help me rescue Cally!" He smiles. "Kopolds and Cally go back home together, yes? Kopolds will take care of Cally like they used to!" "Cally can look after herself," the last kopold snaps, on his way out the door. "She already 'took care' of Ixiltrix and Kalkrix!" He protests, then his head vanishes around the door and is gone. He barely glances at Zophio, as he and his three comrades slip ungratefully away...
"Breezie?" The breezie stirs in his shackles. "Breezie!" He seems excited, as Shubshi steps forward to work on the tiny lock. "Eezy-breezie-peezy," he laughs, as Shubshi's clever, quick claws soon have the lock snapping open. Poor Virtue, alas, is having little luck with the poblins... whilst Meepo is having conversational rings run around him. In no time at all, he's given up how to return to kopold territory. They mutter swift, begrudging thanks in draconic, and make to scarper, with wary looks at Zophio and Virtue, to see if their way will be barred with the threat of force. They almost seem to expect it...
"Clan-friends!" Meepo meeps cheerfully. "You are rescued! And now," he beams happily, "we can rescue our Cally together!" The kopolds look barely enthused by this proposal to head into battle once more against the poblins who'd so recently defeated, captured and abused them - and they don't look much happier to be 'rescued' by yet more equines - even accompanied by Meepo. Their collars are rusty iron, crudely hammered together with twists of metal - but at least the ropes can be trivially un-knotted or cut. The Breezie's cage, however, is a rather better-sealed piece of fine ironmongery.
Zophio simply shuts the door on the fire, and the heat and smoke within the room swiftly begin to abate. Mercifully, the poblin never wakes as the room burns around him... On the lower level, the other door resists Zophio's every effort... but then Virtue charges, and the door bows... cracks... and shatters! Virtuous hard dashes through the spray of wreckage, clattering full-tilt into a long, low-ceilinged dungeon without other exits. Squalor reins all around her. Three kopolds, are roughly tied with crude ropes to a large spike not far from the entrance, attacked to rusty iron collars about their necks. Further back, a battered Breezie languishes huddled inside a small steel birdcage. Several sets of rusty manacles and horsecollars dangle from the walls, empty save for the occasional, crumbling remains of pony's who've had the misfortune to run ahoof of these poblins before.
The upper western door is open, and clear of traps. It leads to the corridor where the last poblin fell, starting the barrel-fire. That fire seems to be spreading quite rapidly, but patchily. Some of the old wood of the barrels is damp with an unidentifiable liquid, and slow to burn - but some are damp with something like lantern-oil, and are burning swiftly and rapidly. The smoke is filling the top of the corridor, and soon the fallen poblin may be in real danger. The precariously stacked barrels are themselves a threat - should the lower ones crumble as they burn, an avalanche of sharp, burning wood and heavy goods would fill the corridor. That said, the castle itself is stone, and closing the door might do a lot to halt the spread of the fire. Some of the smoke is entering into the room you now occupy, and you can see it skating along the ceiling in the hot air. Some of it seems to swirl upwards and vanish into innumerable tiny cracks. The lower western door is locked, but there's no sign that it is trapped - and from within, you can hear low wailing, and the occasional thump and clank of chains.
There's clear evidence of a lot of poblin traffic, much of it recent, especially between the north and western doors. There are longer-term traces of travel between the western door on the lower level and the western door on the upper level - including marks in the stone you believe to have been made by chains or rusty iron bonds fettering one form of equine or another...
The last poblin groans and collapses, as the jet of flame darts down the hall and strikes it on the back. Sparks spatter onto the barrel and surrounding mess, and a small lantern-oil fire flickers into life... Virtue swiftly clears the foul taste from Midnight's mouth, and with Mac's assistance, Zophio easily makes it up to the top of the battlements. The battlement room has three further exits. To the barrel-filled western corridor, where the last poblin has collapsed and a small fire is just starting. To the north, and a corridor where the reinforcing poblins arrived from. A door to the west on the lower level that is currently closed.
The escaping poblin wrenches open the door at the far end of the corridor, darts through... and is gone...
Without hesitation or remorse, Midnight and Shubshi dash in and attack Virtue's surviving opponents...
...Shubshi hacking down the weaker of the two, and Midnight badly wounding the other... with almost the last of his strength, he hacks back at his sudden attacker, kicking out with his powerful hooves... attack , damage Midnight receives 4 damage... Poblin 4 (fighting Virtue/Shubshi/Midnight): AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14, CMD 12, HP 2/7
Poblin 1:(formerly fighting Shubshi and Midnight, now retreating through Western door) AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14, CMD 12, HP 2/6
Poblin 1 flees, screaming, down the hallway beyond the western door, cantering between teetering towers of mouldering crates and barrels. In moments, he's reached the door at the far end, and is wrenching it open...
Poblin 1:(formerly fighting Shubshi and Midnight, now retreating through Western door) AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14, CMD 12, HP 4/6
Poblin 1:(formerly fighting Shubshi and Midnight, now retreating through Western door) AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14, CMD 12, HP 4/6
Virtue's two opponents nimbly dart around her blows, slashing back in vicious response... Attack , damage
...she slips aside from one blow, but it puts her in the path of the second, and her armour doesn't take all of it, leaving a nasty wound on her forequarter. But even as they begin to turn the fight to their advantage, Shubshi disembowls a second opponent, and Midnight appears over the battlements, smashing at another with her macesque weapon... and the surviving poblin - a consummate survivor, who's survived the death of all his comrades once already, slips back from them, and darts through the western door himself, croaking in his crackly language. Poblinoid Spoiler:
"Fall back, fall back." He screams, as Moonstar appears in front of him, slashing at his ally who'd fled before, but it's far too late for him to change direction now... Experienced if not disciplined, both poblins fighting Virtue manage to take a half-hoofstep away from her... but they're still a long way from the western door, and half of your group is between them and it... Beyond the Western door, you can hear the frantic hoofbeats and screaming of the fleeing poblin (number 5)... "Meepo, um," Meepo squeaks, as he scrambles over the battlements behind you. "Meepo, um..." he's clearly stunned by your martial prowess...
Midnight hauls herself up to the top of the battlements, hoof and horn and mouth... but she's left with a sickeningly (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/conditions#TOC-Sickened) foul taste in her mouth, afterwards. The poblins clearly have no sense of oral hygiene, nor clean their equipment ever... and whatever they've been eating is pretty unsavoury to boot. Zophio's throw, against the cover provided by the battlements, goes utterly wild, but at least it doesn't hit any of his allies. Shubshi and Virtue both turn against their attackers, lashing out with all their fury...
...as Shubshi simply evicerates a poblin (poblin two) before slipping a half-step back, his two remaining opponents (poblins one and three) close in on him... Poblin 1: AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14, CMD 12, HP 4/6
Attack Shubshi , damage
...whilst Virtue's attack simply slashes down the strongest poblin (poblin seven)... which doesn't deter her other attackers either... Poblin 4: AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14, CMD 12, HP 7/7
Attack Virtue , damage
The last poblin simply wrenches the western door open, and darts through... screaming at the top of his little lungs...
Poblin 5: AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14, CMD 12, HP 3/3
Poblins surge forward into the room, swords held in their mealy little mouths. The sheer mass of them fills the space around the north door, slashing away at Virtue and Shubshi... Attack vs. Shubshi , damage
You hear one of the larger poblins blurt something guttural and short, Spoiler: to the smallest poblin, answered with the smallest of nods... attempting to dart past Shubshi and Virtue both, making for the western door on the upper level...
"Get some help!"
Tumbling nimbly, the poblin reaches the western door of the upper level, its mouth reaching for the doorhandle... Poblin 1: AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14, CMD 12, HP 4/6
There's a loud clatter from the north corridor, and the sound of approaching hooves. The poblins are clearly intent on challenging your possession of this room, and will be at the door in moments. Moonstar swiftly examines the western door... as far as she can tell, its just a wooden door, similar to many you've so far encountered in this sunken fortress... Zophio and Midnight are still stuck on the lower level. There's the door you entered in to the east, and the unopened door to the west. Aside from means of your own, the poblin's knotted rope could be climbed [DC7 Atheltics check]... but it seems rather foul [DC10 fortitude save]. Alternatively, the wall itself could be attempted... but its pretty sheer, even though its poorly-constructed [DC20 athletics check]
The last poblin in the battlement room goes down under Shubshi's claws with a gurgling scream... but from the corridor outside, you can hear a door being thrown open, and the rattle of weaponry
Poblin 1: AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14, HP 4/6 (in north corridor) To review - the room you are in has two levels. On the lower level are currently Zophio, Midnight, and Mac. You entered to the south through a door in a small nook on the east side of the room. On the west side of the room is another door, which the third poblin had perhaps been trying to reach, although it was not his first choice for escaping you. He'd instead tried to climb the battlements to... ...the upper level. Moonstar is on Mac's shoulders, more-or-less level with the battlements. Atop the battlements is Shubshi. There are doors to the west and north. A poblin has fled through the northern door, pursued by Virtue, who's lance has impaled itself in the doorframe. Beyond is a corridor, running parallel to the room, down which the poblin has fled west, screaming for aid. A door on that corridor has just been opened, and you can hear the sound of weapons...
On the battlements Virtue breaks off from her poblin, dashing after the escapee... and opening herself to a slash from her opponent... AOO vs. Virtue , damage ...but she dodges it nimbly enough... before ramming her lancepoint into the doorframe through which the escapee has just dashed... whilst her opponent is pounced on upon in turn by Shubshi, who's beak nearly guts the poblin... but doesn't, quite, manage to kill him... and his claws merely sink into the poblin's armor... who slashes back with his sword... Attack vs. Shubshi , damage ...which, perhaps due to his injuries, fails to connect... Poblin 2: AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14, HP 1/8 (fighting atop battlements where Shubshi and Virtue are)
In the north corridor From the north corridor, you can hear screaming in poblin, and the thumping of poblin hooves against one of the castle's wooden doors... Speak poblinoid/goblinoid... Spoiler:
"Invaders! Attackers! Wake up and fight!" Poblin 1: AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14, HP 4/6 (escaped/escaping through north door) Below the battlements Bracketed by Midnight and Zophio, the poblin continues slashing at the unicorn oracle with his sword... , damage ...and misses... opening himself to Zophio's counterattack... attack , damage
...who simply skewers the foul creature, who coughs blood across the western door that might've been his escape... Poblin 4: Flat-footed, AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14, HP 4/4 (fighting in front of the battlements, where Zophio and Moonstar are). |