Kingdom of Arim I (IC)

[AvocadoAvenger]

Tulkar complies with the instruction silently. As per usual, Tulkar looks like he wants to kill someone, but those who are getting to know him realize that it just might be his neutral face. When done, he nods to the rest of the team, then mutters "I got this" mostly to himself as he falls into the lead spot in order.

[Keylac]

The oil prepared and ready behind you, the party moves out behind Alexis. Moving down the passageway silently is difficult; rubble from the ceiling has been haphazardly pushed into piles to clear a route, but more stones and dirt have since fallen, clogging the path.

As you pass one of the rooms that lay off the passage, you're able to identify them as storerooms. They've long since been emptied of goods, and now hold only refuse and rubble.

By some miracle, you're able to reach the end of the passageway without anyone tripping over rubble or making too much noise. Even Darius moves with abnormal grace and silence. From the end of the passageway, Alexis is able to peak around the corner and see the final room before your destination.

It doesn't look good. Old, half-rotten crates piled to the south block part of your view, but the rest of the room is visible. It's obvious the kobolds have turned this room into their lair. The room seems near twin to the cellars you already passed through, without the dividing inner wall, making it fully 100 feet square. Filthy bedding, bones, and waste cover the floor, and kobolds are everywhere.

Alexis' quick glance showed at least a few dozen; there's probably more than one hundred kobolds in the room, weapons ready at hand.

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Tamni'el hasn't been on for a bit, so I'm going to have him walk behind Uriell for now.

[Archmage1]

After peeking around the corner, Alexis's mind seems to go blank for a moment, as she tries to think of a way through this many kobolds

Too many to fight, even if we ambush from the corridor. Negotiation may be possible, but given that we have killed the hunters and the shaman, that is probably doomed to failure as well. We could move the oil barrels here, and try smoking them out, but we would be smoked out as well. I think that leaves scaring them. I can create an illusion, and if someone else can act as its voice, we may be able to scare some away... Alternatively, we could try pulling a bluff: Some of us show ourselves, but when they approach the barrels, I use an illusion to conceal the entrance to the hidden passage, and make it seem as though we are fleeing to the outside, when we are in fact in the hidden passageway, waiting for them to pass before we come in behind them.

alexis tries to remember if there was another exit from that room that the kobolds could flee through.

[Holice]

Seeing Alexis stop, Uriell could only wonder what she was peering at. But as he began to hear a low, but quiet growl, he knew that trouble was ahead.

"Easy there Hu," he whispered to his companion.

"What do you see?" he spoke a little louder to grab Alexis' attention.

[Archmage1]

At Uriell's statement, Alexis backs around the corner, and starts whispering to the others
"Kobolds. A lot of them. More than we can handle. We can try scaring them, using illusions to get them to run past us, we could try smoking them out, or we could try negotiations. That is what I thought of, anyway. All of them have some issues, though."

[Comissar]

"How many is too many? If there are such a large number then they're not likely to be intimidated by us."

[Archmage1]

"Around 100 or so."

[Morbis Meh]

Anthony laughs grimly "The only thing that would scare that many of the little wretches would be a full fledged dragon that they'd begin worshiping. Unless we smoked them out in smaller numbers then took our time cutting them down in the hallway where there numbers meant diddly squat."

[Archmage1]

"Anthony, do you think so little of my magic? A full Fledged dragon is doable, although we would need someone to act as the voice, and to prevent them from touching it. I could provide draconic statements for the talker, so it would be... doable. I think we would be better off luring them back past the escape route, and then coming back in behind them. Alternatively, we could move the oil up here, and see how many we can kill as they try to cross the oil slick."

[Holice]

"Assuming of course there aren't shamans and filthy buggers with ranged weapons who have no need to chase us when they can hit us from afar," Uriell muttered under his breath.

Shaking his head in confusion, he looks up towards Alexis.

"I'm going to agree with Alexis on this, confrontation straight up is not going to end well for us, we need to produce a distraction of some sort, to get them to flee on their own."

[Morbis Meh]

Anthony's brow's furrow "Now don't you go putting words into my mouth woman, I ne'er said anything about your bloody weaboo hand waving. I am only think about this situation in the way I know how, yes we could gain their attention and use the oil to help bottle neck them but I doubt you squishy ones would last very long with that advantage and if you want someone to voice out a dragon... Well I can at the very least scare the bejesus out of em."

[Archmage1]

"Well, I can provide the dragon, and the words, you provide the voice. Plan B is for you to hide in the hidden room, as I use an illusion to conceal us."

[Archmage1]

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In the interest of me being lazy, I vote Morbis goes with fairly generic statements, or an epic up front statement, that Alexis translated into draconic for him, and he memorized

"All right. If you are sure you have the words memorized, lets do this. Everyone ready?"

[Morbis Meh]

Anthony gives a big shark grin "Why of course, I live for this sort of thing, had plenty of practice scaring new recruits into obedience so a few lizards should be nothing for me hehehe. Let's all get into formation before I put on my show..."

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When everyone gives the green light I shall release the proverbial Kraken upon the wee buggers.

[Comissar]

Darius grinned, "Those 'motivational speeches' they used to give never really appealed much to me. Well, so long as we don't end up waist deep in Kobolds, I don't mind too much how you sort this."

[AvocadoAvenger]

"Fine," Tulkar says bruskly as ever. He exchanges a glance with Anthony, "just don't get me killed."

[Archmage1]

"Time to do this. Anthony, I will keep the illusion centered on you. Time for you to do it. Good luck. If this does not work, head back and open that secret passage, and I will do my best to cover our retreat."

Alexis casts silent image, emulating a dragon, so that it can be centered on Anthony as he goes around the corner

[Morbis Meh]

Anthony breathes in deeply, using his stomach to draw air into his lungs, when ready he expels the breath in a deep low rumble allowing the natural acoustics of the room to resonate his voice (draconic) "YOU foul wretches! How dare you defile my hoard with your filth, your mere presence taints my plunder and I shall not stand for it. I, Mal Balg, the great red dragon shall exact retribution on you pathetic worms! Cower before me and beg for mercy or I shall eat your young and use your skulls to make a throne for myself! "

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Ahh dramatics! Anyways time for my intimidate check, so feel free to roll the modified level check to oppose it... (1d20+hd+wis)
intimidate (1d20+11)[24]

[Keylac]

While Alexis and Anthony perform the illusion, Tamni'el risks a look around the corner, inches off the ground. As "Mal Balg" roars his challenge at the kobolds, he watches as they freeze, whipping around in shock to stare at the huge dragon that had suddenly appeared at their door. They back away from the dragon, clutching their weapons close, clearly terrified by it's presence.

As Anthony finishes his speech, the kobolds seem to waver, glancing between themselves and the dragon and back. Tamni'el holds his breath, as for a moment they waver, seemingly unsure of what to do. If they don't break...

Even as the thought passes through his mind, from the far side of the room, a kobold lets out a shriek of pure terror. The shriek is almost instantly joined by dozens, scores more, ripping at your ears as the kobolds turn, throwing weapons aside and shrieking, and flee away from the dragon, towards the opposite corner of the room. Within moments the shrieks take on a new note, as if they had passed into a small tunnel.

Within no more than a minute or two, even the sounds of their flight and terror have faded away.

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Sorry this took so long to post guys. My roommates gave me the flu to start the New Year out right, and I just haven't felt like doing much of anything. I finally dragged myself over here though.

I also decided to take this opportunity to read up on several questions I've had about Illusions, and I ran across something. To wit, Silent Image is an Illusion spell of the Figment Sub-school, and Figments can't be used to make something look different, only to make something appear that wasn't there. Specifically, as it applies to this situation, you can make an image of a red dragon, but you can't make Anthony look like a red dragon.

I didn't want to ruin the plan over this - hell, I didn't even know this until about 30 minutes ago - so I made a small change. Anthony stayed around the corner from the room, yelling, instead of stepping around with the illusion. I hope you'll forgive my meddling.

Oh, and Alexis, you will be happy to know that you rolled a 20(+8) on your check to identify a Mature Adult Red Dragon, so you do indeed know what they look like.

Also, Anthony, do you speak Gaelic? If not, you may not be aware, but you basically named the dragon, well, Sack. Or maybe Sack Sack. I'm not sure. The Dread Dragon Wallet maybe. It would help if I actually spoke the Gael .

Hmm, another thought; I seem to be having a lot of them as I write this. I could be a right ass here and have them do exactly what Anthony said and cower before him and beg for mercy... which counts as interaction. But that would ruin a good villainous speech. Sides, I'm trying to work on NOT being a pedantic *******.

[Archmage1]

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Alexis might be unable to make Anthony look like a red dragon, but she can create an illusion of a red dragon, and have Anthony stand in it, covered by the illusion.

Speaking quietly, so as to not alert the fleeing Kobolds

"Glad that worked. It seemed like a plan, but if there was no other exit, life would have been... interesting. With luck, we can grab what they left behind, and be through the vault door quickly."

Alexis searches the area, trying to find loot that the kobolds left behind
Taking 10 for a 20

[AvocadoAvenger]

Tulkar enters with the party with his weapons drawn, and hangs around the edges. Disinterestedly, he tosses his throwing axe in the air and catches it. "Well," he says, "never thought I'd see a fake dragon solve all my problems." Despite his constant negative tone, there are hints that he was impressed with the illusion and thought that it was well done.

[Archmage1]

"It is as real as you believe it to be. That is the trick with illusions, to create a situation in which doubting their veracity is not an option. And picking th eright images to show."

[Keylac]

With Alexis leading the way, the party begins to move into the room the kobolds have so recently vacated. Smiling at Tulkar's comment, Tamni'el stops beside him, sliding his scimitar back into it's sheath. "Better a fake dragon than a real one! Though perhaps we'll face one of those one day." With a slap on Tulkar's back, Tamni'el steps forward to help Alexis search.

Even as he begins to crouch, the situation changes. A bellow of pure rage comes from behind the crates to the south. Before anyone can do more than twitch in surprise, crates are flying through the air towards the passage entrance. Rotten, the crates explode into soggy splinters where they hit the ground, but not all of them fly away from the party.

Alexis, reacting with grace and speed, manages to roll under the barrage, coming swiftly back to her feet. Tulkar, perhaps with equal luck and skill, manages to dodge two crates, and smashes a third into wreckage, keeping his feet. Tamni'el isn't so lucky. In an awkward position to try to dodge from, he's caught full force across the face by one of the crates and knocked flat onto his back.

Behind the crates now stands revealed a monstrous creature. Standing better than seven feet tall, with massive muscles, clothed in filthy leathers and furs, it is a picture of savagery. Despite formidable natural weaponry - a mouthful of razor sharp fangs and claws on each finger - it's armed as well. In one hand it carries a large shield, with the skin of a flayed kobold stretched tight over it's face. Several throwing axes are stuck in it's wide leather belt, next to a wicked looking battleaxe, covered in dried blood and with a kobold skull hanging from the end by a short chain.

The creature lets out another bellow of rage, then begins to speak in Common. "Cowards! You can hide behind your illusions no longer! I am Gyrax, Tyrant of the Clawed Fist, and this place is mine! I shall use your flayed skins as a blanket, and your skulls shall be a reminder to my kobold slaves that none may challenge Gyrax!"

With that, it reaches for it's belt, and the axes.

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What, you guys didn't really think that was going to be the last fight, did you? I will provide this bit of warning though: This is the boss of the Prologue. He's not meant to be too hard (you're generally wounded when you get here after all) but you should probably be at least a little cautious about him, eh?

Initiative Order:

Group One: Darius, Tulkar
Group Two: Gyrax, Tyrant of the Clawed Fist
Group Three: Alexis, Anthony, Uriell, Tamni'el

[Morbis Meh]

Anthony waits until they all left then lets out a bout of hearty laughter at the sight of the 'tyrant' "Oh boy, you sir are a treasure, I mean that outfit is just so over the top! Look at that shoddy shield and that rusty axe, I would be surprised if all your gear is sharper than a butter knife. Though you do remind me of one really ugly harpy that I wrestled around with one drunken night, the hag bit me too... never got to repay her, maybe it was your mother and maybe this is the gods repaying me with karma."

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The mouth piece didn't get is reply but I am doing it now dammit! Also I do not speak gaelic, I pulled that out of my rear... though I am irish/scottish maybe my blood was speaking through me! Wallet is an apt name for a dragon hehehe

[Holice]

No sooner had Uriell let out a sigh of relief that the room was clear of kobolds, did he quickly tense as he watched crates fly across the room, and then heard the loud guttural voice of this so called Tyrant.

With precision and speed his spear went from helpful walking stick to deadly weapon ready to be thrown if need be.

***

As Hu lifted his nose to the air, he immediately began growling as a strange voice echoed through the room and corridor. Only a firm but gentle hand to his back stopped the wolfhound from lunging forward at the strange beast.

***

"Here we go again," Uriell muttered aloud. "I'm sure you soldier types are going to want to meet this guy head on. Best not keep him waiting."

[Comissar]

Darius grimaced in disgust at the sight of the new arrival. Treating any sentient creature as a mere trophy, even Kobolds, struck him as foul. In a low voice he muttered, "I'm not at my best, I doubt I can handle him alone. Anthony, Tulkar, your aid would be appreciated."

Having said his piece, he rushed forward, drawing the attention of the new comer as best he could, his Halberd glancing off the shield as he did so.

[AvocadoAvenger]

With crates flying at him, Tulkar's instinct is to run towards the source. When he sees the thing he s to be fighting, it gives him pause. "I'm right behind you paladin," he exclaims awkwardly as he looses a hexblade curse and runs into combat, striking at his foe with his war axe.

[Keylac]

As Gyrax reaches for his weapons, the party moves, leaping forward to confront this final barrier to their awaited reward. Darius charges first, but his strike with his halberd is picked off by Gyrax's shield.

Even as his attack glances off the shield, Tulkar charges in. A cold, sick feeling, like walking over a grave, goes before him, passing Darius to wash over Gyrax. The beast shudders, and Tulkar takes advantage of it, swinging in from the other side to cut a wicked gash into Gyrax's arm, causing it to howl in anger and pain.

Gyrax's hand, which had been reaching for a throwing axe, moves instead to it's battleaxe. In one swift movement, it draws the weapon and brings it down in a short savage chop at Tulkar. The half-orc is able to twist slightly aside, but the blow crashes through his attempt to block it, cutting across his torso, leaving him reeling in pain.

As the rest of the party moves towards the fight, Gyrax begins to prepare another blow, apparently planning on finishing off the one who wounded it.

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Good start for Tulkar - a nice hit, and his hex worked. Which is all that stopped him from being put down with that blow, actually.

Tulkar takes 6 damage from Gyrax's Battleaxe.

Group 3, you're up.

[Morbis Meh]

Anthony whistles a merry tune (hall of the mountain king XD) and casually strolls over to Gyrax with his axe resting on his shoulder. When he is in range he stops whistling and smiles grimly "Oy, big and ugly why don't you hit a real man instead of a greenhorn, I know all you've had to push around are a couple of cowardly lizards that smell almost as bad as your breath but for crying out loud have some gonads!" Without warning, Anthony swings his massive axe aiming for the brutes torso, as he swings his muscles harden.

[Archmage1]

Softly singing a lullaby, Alexis gestures at Gyrax, mimicking a head laying down to rest. As she does so, Gyrax feels an immense urge to rest, just for a minute...

(targeting so that it does not hit allies, if possible)
dc 15 will