Dragons of Autumn-DL III-Pax Tharkas

[SilentNight]

Kalrin, conversely, pushes past Pearl as she turns her head to check on the others, peering into the room.

[Philistine]

Unable to see with the robes covering his face, Gneiss continues trudging along behind Pearl. He expands his litany to include a silent plea that Tyger's most un-kender-like patience last just a little longer...

He just manages to avoid being squashes as Pearl pauses in front of him and Kalrin pushes past from behind, prompting him to hiss softly but sharply for caution.

[GrassyGnoll]

Lagri gives a loud, sharp snort; the suffocating robes itched at his blonde beard. Realizing he is supposed to be in character, Lagri squeals.

"Exkoose me," he breathes in falsetto. He sniffs and wipes his nose with the back of his sleeve the second he's past the guards.

[wxdruid]

Tygerlilly is heaving sigh after sigh after sigh as they leave the fascinating area, but what's more fascinating than a new-er place than the one they just left and this one smells...

Four Aghar run busily around the room, armed with pots, pans and in one case a large meat cleaver. A mysterious liquid puddles on the floor in several places and the dwarves are covered with all sorts of food. As the door opens, two of the Aghar turn their attention in that direction and collide with each other, falling to the floor amid a great clatter of dishes and loud cursing as the group files into the kitchen. A third drives the meat cleaver into a large chopping block and turns to the group, shaking his fist in anger. Dinner ain't gonna be ready for hours if can't get some privacy what to work in! Now get lost and let us cook what needs cookin'!

Maritta shakes her finger at him, Now...you know me, we just here for the children's snack

The Aghar with the meat cleaver points it at the far corner, indicating a pot of something boiling over a fire.

Maritta points at two of the burlier members of the party and indicates that they should get the pot.

Tygerlilly stares around with interest, wondering what the stuff on the floor is, what kind of meat that is and her tummy growls in response. Gneiss can peek through the folds of the cloak and see what's going on. Gully dwarves sound the same everywhere.

[Toliudar]

Pearl winced as the unmistakeable sounds, sights and...it had to be said...smells of the aghar assaulted her. The dragon-men trusted the gulley dwarves to prepare their food? They were braver than they looked.

She looked around for alternate exits from the room, just in case, for the future, and stepped back to allow the burlier folk to get the pot.

[wxdruid]

Eben and Bryce wrap their hands with cloth and grab the pot off the fire. It sloshes a little and Maritta grabs a ladle and it's time to face the two guards outside as they head back into the hallway.

[Philistine]

Gneiss waits with Pearl, hoping against hope that Tygerlilly's patience doesn't run out.

[Toliudar]

Pearl walks ahead with Maritta, wondering about the size of the pot. How in the world did the women usually carry the snack, if it was that heavy?

Pearl nods noncommittally at the guards, keeping her head bowed. She watches and follows Maritta's lead as they head toward the children's area.

[wxdruid]

The pot is a big round pot, and it's awkward to carry, so best to have two people carry it. As it sloshes around, some can hear that it's about 1/2 full.

Maritta leads the way, back past the guards lounging against the wall, paying them no mind as they head back the way they came. Past the stairs and toward a far set of double doors.

Maritta's feeling very nervous and Tygerlilly is greatly enjoying the ride. She's leaning this way and that, checking it out as Gneiss walks by. The double doors are barred with a heavy wooden beam. ((make a STR Check to lift it. Two can work together to get it lifted.))

[GrassyGnoll]

Lagri pauses before the barred door. He cracks his knuckles and takes a squat beneath the bar; his muscular shoulders align parallel to the beam.

"Bryce, hyu spot me?" Lagri asks.

STR check: (1d20+4)[7]

[Philistine]

Gneiss can feel the kender's weight shifting on his shoulders as she moves. Worried for the group's cover, he taps her knee for attention. "Psst! Tygerlilly! Here's a new game for you: try to see how much you can see while holding as still as you can!"

[wxdruid]

Bryce goes up to help Lagri out and he 1d20+3=7 puts his back into it and the heavy bar doesn't move. Maybe it's stuck a little and they need to try again?

Tygerlilly just found a new game. Watching Bryce and Lagri dressed in robes and cloaks and other assorted things as they attempt to lift the bar. She almost shouts out encouragement, but Gneiss taps her leg at that moment, distracting her and reminding her that they aren't in a nice place.

((I think the bar will need a little more work...))

Maritta hisses at them to try and hurry up a little, she's worried that someone might come around the bend and start asking questions.

[Toliudar]

Pear quietly murmurs back to Maritta: "So, when it's just you women delivering the food, who carries the pot and lifts the bar?"

Pearl also steps in to assist Lagri. (1d20+3)[14]

[Philistine]

Gneiss resists the urge to turn and look to see if they've drawn attention, continuing to stand by Maritta.

[GrassyGnoll]

Lagri huffs and groans at the strain. Considering the upskirt view he is offering the room, it is tremendously fortuitous Lagri remembered his thick fur trousers beneath. The stubborn bar groans along with the barbarian as he heaves another go at it.

(1d20+4)[13]

[wxdruid]

Maritta hisses back, The stupid dragon men usually do the heavy lifting... They open the door, and let us in. There's still another door inside.

Bryce heaves 1d20+3=18 with Lagri and the bar moves this time. Up and off and they control the amount of noise it makes as they put it to one side.

Tygerlilly shuffles her feet on Gneiss' shoulders as she looks behind them, but the guards on the other side of the corner haven't even looked around the corner at what's going on.

[Philistine]

Gneiss starts shuffling forward as soon as the bar clears the staple.

[Toliudar]

Pearl worried, on Maritta's words, that the guards would now become suspicious that they had been able to lift the bar themselves. Still nothing to be done about it now. Tuggling her cloak to make sure that it covered the bulge of her sword, she trudged off with the others.

[wxdruid]

The guards they already passed don't seem to care, or the group wasn't heading in a direction they cared about. The bar clears and the door is opened. The two carrying the 'snack' and everyone else shuffle inside. Maritta seems relieved when they all make it in the room and the last person gently pulls the door shut.

This large, open room has no furniture. Scattered about are small bits of wood and rags carved or sewn into dolls, wagons, balls, and other toys. A tall arch on the east wall leads into darkness. Next to the arch is a normal wooden door. A pair of huge doors in the southwest corner apparently lead outside, since four windows in that same wall admit some cool fresh air.

Maritta points to the doors in the southwest, Those doors lead outside, the tunnel leads to where we're going and the two doors there lead to storage rooms. This is where we leave the pot. She gestures to a corner where they can leave it.

Once everyone is ready, she tells them about the next room, On the other side of that tunnel is the dragon,

She doesn't get much further than that because Tygerlilly pipes up, Really? A dragon! What color? How big?

Maritta gives her an irritated glare and interrupts, Shush, we need to be quiet when we go in. She's usually asleep and she's really old. We just need to keep the children - and the Kender - quiet while we're in there. She gives Tygerlilly another look.

Tygerlilly shuffles her feet a little and whispers down to Gneiss, Do I have to stay up here much longer???

[Philistine]

"I don't know, little one," Gneiss replies tiredly. "Maybe you can hop down once we reach the children."

[wxdruid]

With no other voiced dissensions, Maritta gestures for those who were carrying the pot to leave it by the door. Anything extra at this point will only be a hindrance and it was only a excuse anyway.

She leads the way down the tunnel with her women close behind her. She expects the others to follow and to heed what she said about being quiet. Tygerlilly subsides with the reassurance from Gneiss and holds the cloak open a little so he can see better. She certainly hasn't seen any guards in this section.

At the end of the tunnel is another barred door. Maritta hisses to Pearl that this one needs to be opened and then the way will be cleared. The dragon is on the other side with the children...

[Toliudar]

Pearl

Pearl nods.

"All right. Remember, we're not here to fight dragons. We're here to get the kids out and back to their mothers."

She takes one end of bar and waits for someone else to help her open the door.

[wxdruid]

Bryce will help Pearl out. He hefts his side, she hers and after one false start, they heave it up and over the edge. Maritta gathers her women close and gives them a few quiet instructions as Pearl and Bryce get the door open. Once it's open, Maritta files in first, then the majority of the group can follow her and finally her women.

Inside, as you enter, you experience momentary panic as you see a gigantic red dragon highlighted by the glow of Kalrin's ring. However, it subsides as you realize that Flamestrike is deeply asleep and is not easily roused.

Tygerlilly is spellbound for a moment, struck speechless by the size of the dragon rising back into the darkness beyond the scope of the light.

((make move silently checks))

Maritta is already moving to the far side of the room, she's tiptoeing along, going around the dragon to the far door. She's motioning to the others to follow her lead.

[Philistine]

Gneiss gives Tygerlilly what he hopes is a calming pat, and makes a quiet shushing sound as he follows Maritta across the lair.

Spoiler

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Move Silently: (1d20+8)[17]

[Toliudar]

As best she can, Pearl gathers the robes around her armour to try to muffle the sound, and also follows Maritta.

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Move silently: (1d20-6)[14]

[GrassyGnoll]

Lagri peeks at the sleeping dragon. He imagines the scales on the underside of the sleeping behemoth's neck and the meter or so of flesh he'd carve through before sticking the blow.

Impossible. A fantasy beyond fantasy. Lagri knew what his people were enthrall to and believed he had seen leviathans. Now he thieved from a giant sound at sleep and invincible as it were aware.

The mousy berserker sneaks along the corridor behind the others.

MS: (1d20+3)[18]

[wxdruid]

Everyone tiptoes around the dragon, with Lagri peering closer at the dragon as he goes by. The children look up and run to surround Maritta and the others. They pull on their clothes and giggle a little as they start pestering the group about why they're here in loud voices.

On the other side, the dragon snorts and her ears twitch as she responds in her sleep to the sound of happy children. It doesn't seem to wake her up at all and the children seem very unconcerned about the dragon.

Tygerlilly is hopping down from Gneiss' shoulders. New people to meet and greet and after a look at the dragon, she's mingling and chatting and talking and having a great time. Most fun she's had in a while. She's been feeling cooped up and stifled and now she's letting it out a little.

Maritta is reassuring the other children that they're parents are still alright and she looks to Pearl to continue. She isn't sure what to tell them about what is coming next and she isn't sure that they'll want to leave on her reassurances.

((whoever decides to talk to the children needs to make a diplomacy check))

[Toliudar]

Pearl keeps Maritta next to her, knowing that the affirmation of a familiar face would go a long way with this. She smiled and kneeled, gesturing for the young ones to gather close.

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Sorry, can we get an approximate sense of how many kids we're talking about, and a distribution of ages? Talking to four twelve year olds is quite different than talking to fifty four year olds. Trust me?

[wxdruid]

There are about 180 children between the ages of toddlers to 12 year olds. The younger ones are gathered around and Tygerlilly has distracted about half of them. Five of the older ones are talking to Maritta and Pearl. The others are gathered around the rest of the group and the youngest are asking for their mommies and pestering them with questions like why are they here, when will they see their parents, when is dinner coming...

[Toliudar]

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180? Holy crap. How many women were there below?