Age of Ruin IC: When all your friends are dead

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina LIghtfoot
Livina nods, and then taps her booted foot silently on the flagstone. It stiffens in a strange hook-shape for just a moment, and then relaxes. Livina draws up the hood of her robe and begins walking towards the robed cultists.

[Ozzy_G]

Creeping slowly, Livina manages to get within ten foot of them, hiding behind a crate. If she gets nearer, they will surely see her, as there is no cover.

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Livina takes a deep breath.
Okay.
...And Jumps forward with surprising speed. Her robes flare outwards as she spins forward and delivers a scything kick towards the back of the first cultist's head!
Initiative - (1d20+3)[19]
Attack - (1d20+8)[25]
Damage - (1d10+3)[7]
Sneak Attack - (4d6)[15]

[Ozzy_G]

The man slams forward, head smashing into the ground, stone dead. The other two open their mouths to scream, but no sound comes out, as they're too near the priest of Isana, hiding behind the entrance to the room.

[Brickwall]

Kizima

Kizima grins as she watches the cultists "scream". She pulls the nearest hand toward the room of the cultists and throws the bolt in her hand toward the one farthest from Livina. Then she moves toward the other and draws her rapier, gently placing her crossbow on the ground first.

Spoiler

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Initiative - (1d20+6)[21]
Attack - (1d20+8)[17] (adjusted for improvisation)
Damage - (1d4+1)[5] (treating it as a Medium dart, as a Medium Light crossbow bolt might be. Adjust if you wish)
Critical Confirmation - (1d20+8)[26]
SA Damage - (4d6)[14]

Attack Action: Attack
Move Action: Move toward cultist, with flanking as a positioning priority
Free Action: Draw weapon during move action

And I'm assuming that he can't get an AoO on me while he's unarmed.

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Using the momentum from the impact, The Mokai woman turns the other way as she inches forward to stand on the other side of the standing cultists opposite Kizima.
Moving with uncanny speed, Livina lashes out with both feet, one after the other as she aims for sensitive nerve-clusters in the cultists' necks.

Spoiler

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Flurry of Blows (assuming flanking)
Attack1 - (1d20+10)[17]
Damage1 - (1d10+3)[13]
Sneak Attack - (4d6)[17]

Attack2 - (1d20+10)[12]
Damage2 - (1d10+3)[12]
Sneak Attack - (4d6)[20]

(For any attack that isn't flanking, subtract 4 to hit)
The second kick will be a Stunning Kick. Fort 19 or stunned for 1 round.

[Ozzy_G]

Kizima throws her bolt straight and true into the throat of one of the cultists, and he falls forward, choking on his own blood. Livina slams one foot into the side of the last man's head, and he staggers back, groggily, but with one smooth move she slams her other foot into his chin, and with a popping sound his neck snaps back, and he collapses.
The men writhe for a few seconds before giving in to death. They do so silently, and eerie sight.

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Livina straightens up and moves a little way back from the blood pooling on the floor. She tosses back her hood, smiling, and gives a thumbs-up to the halfling.
Yay, we killed them quietly. I wonder if they've got anything good?

Livina steps a little further back outside the bubble of silence and cocks her head, listening for any sounds of alarm as she begins searching the corpse of the first cultist for valuables.
Listen - (1d20+3)[23]

[Brickwall]

Kizima

Kizima sheathes her rapier as soon as the fighting dies down. She looks quickly at her surroundings, then takes the knives from the cultists.

Sacrificial knives...even if they're not magic, I'm sure they'll sell for something.

She goes back to pick up her crossbow, then back again to the fire to look for the next place to go.

Spoiler

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Spot - (1d20+11)[12]

[Lycar]

Akim watches with a kind of morbid curiousity as the girls dispose of the cultists.

(Fascinating.... the mokai kills with her bare hands and feet and the halfling can actually throw bolts without a crossbow. And with lethal accuracy too. Hrm... better get on their good sides....)

Lycar

[Ozzy_G]

Searching the bodies, besides their now stained robes, the cultists don't seem to have any valuables, just their oddly-shaped knives.
Looking around, Kizima sees another entrance opposite the one that they came in. She also notices a small way to the left, in the corner of the room. She;'d be able to fit through it easily, and Livina could probably slide through, but Krashnix could never get through with his armour and shield, and the two scholars would have difficulty.
No light shines from any of the entrances, only the small fire that the cultists had prepared.

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Livina looks disappointed as she stands up from the corpses. With a silent sigh, however, she moves to investigate the the crates which she until recently had been hiding behind.
Just a quick peek. Maybe they're full of gold or relics?
The search completed, Livina paces silently towards the far hallway
No way that mule's getting through the crawlspace... she thinks to herself.

[Brickwall]

Kizima

Kizima gently holds Livina's arm back and gives her a meaningless look. She then heads next to the small entrance.

They could store something in here. Possibly a release for a trap, even. And if it's left over from the initial construction...there's gotta be something strange in here, maybe even valuable.

Carefully feeling around the edges with her fingers, Kizima does her best to inspect the crawlspace without entering, constantly moving her head at odd angles to allow the firelight to reach where she's looking.

Spoiler

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Search - (1d20+12)[31]

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Livina gives Kizima a strange look.
why...?
She bites her lip and then tries to catch the halfling's attention.
She points to the crate and clamps her two hands together, mimicking a bear trap, and then tilts her head to one side, as if asking a question.

[Ozzy_G]

Looking in the crates, Livina finds most of them empty, but one has cleaning supplies, a couple of mops, some rags, three buckets.

Kizima slides into the small space, and sees a tunnel leading away. It stays at the same width for as far as she can see, but the light from the small fire doesn't go far inside.

[Lycar]

Akim watches the two woman loot the place while the clock on their Silence spell is ticking.

(Look at that ! We want to loot a tomb full of riches and here they are, wasting time better spent getting out of this hive of cultists. And what do they have to show for their troubles ? Cleaning supplies ! Ha ! It would almost be funny if it wasn't for the fact that we risk being detected every moment..... must be compulsive behaviour or something... )

He just taps his foot nervously and soundless for a few times, then he approaches Krashnix and nudges him to get his attention. Then he gestures towards the doorway with a questioning expression.

Lycar

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
straightening up from the boxes, Livina looks crestfallen once more.
Pleh. Stupid fanatics and their neat-freak habits. Oh, well.
Looking around, her eyes fall on Krashnix.
Lady, the light reflects brightly off his armor. Hope that doesn't give us away later.
Livina pauses a moment and kneels by the corpse of the first cultist. Using the hem of his robe, she dabs some of his friends' blood from her boots. This little bit of cleaning done, the Mokai paces along to the tiny crawlspace and lingers.

[Brickwall]

Kizima

Goes down too far...and I can't risk going in there alone. It's just not worth it unless we know what's down there, and we don't.

Kizima shakes her head at nobody and nothing in particular, and gestures for everyone to continue on to the main passage. However, she pauses. She turns to the crates and quickly begins dragging one in front of the passage. If there's anything down there, I want it to stay there. When she finishes, she heads off to inspect the larger corridor.

[Ozzy_G]

The passage leading from the other doorway seems to go up, but is too dark to see far. Like the rest of the architecture, it has the mind-wrenching geometry that you've seen in the previous Illithid ruin.

[Brickwall]

Kizima

Going up is the way out. I don't like this, but there's too little choice. And without light or the benefit of noise, anything that can see in the dark will kill us. But on that same note, we can't risk a light. Stupid big clanking clumsy...

Reciting various curses in her head, Kizima motions for everyone to come up the passage.

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Glancing back every now and again, Livina follows the halfling.

[Lycar]

Akim breathes a soundless sigh of relief, now that the ladies finally decided to move on and follows, making sure to stay near the meatshield Sir Krashnix.

Lycar

[Regwon]

Krashnix

Krashnix looks on as Livina and Kisima make short work of the two cultists, and frowns as their bodies are looted, but otherwise makes no gestures. He follows the two women as they lead down the passage way and, after what he considers to be an adequate distance, he motions for everyone to stop walking then dispels the silence spell. He then speaks in hushed tones.

Now we can all speak rather than simply waving our arms. None of us know the way, so it would be beneficial to be able to see where we are going.

He mutters a few strange words and makes a few gestures and then a small ball of light appears above his head.

Our presence will now be much more obvious so I suggest we move quickly. Lead on.

Spoiler

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he Casts Light

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Livina winces as Krashnix takes his first few steps outside the bubble of noise.
Ay-ya, We'd Better start moving quick...
Outwardly, however, Livina nods and begins moving forward, keeping to the edges of the light.

[Ozzy_G]

You move up the tunnel, the dim light illuminating murals at which you prefer not to look too carefully. After about twenty foot, it branches into two paths, one running level, one continuing to go up. Neither has any light. The air is stale and dry.

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
The Mokai acrobat crouches down and runs her fingers along the cool stone idly as she considers the two pathways. Was it as easy as that? just keep heading up? She nods towards the upwards slope, but waits for confirmation from Kizima before getting up to go.

[Brickwall]

Kizima

Kizima gives a pause to fully take in any sensory input that might give a hint to danger, then signals toward the upward slope.

Spoiler

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Spot - (1d20+11)[15]
Listen - (1d20+13)[23]

[Ozzy_G]

Kizima can see nothing that gives any clues, but she is sure she can hear... something, from the flat passage. Some kind of swishing sound... clothes? A stream? Some strange creature? She isn't sure. Maybe it's just her imagination.

[Lycar]

Akim gladly follows the two professional ladies along but notes with dismay their reluctance to choose between the path leading up and the corridor running level.

So he steps up to them, judging his distance to Sir Krashnix as ground zero for the silence spell and, when he is confident they can hear him, he whispers nervously:

"I do not deem to demean your professional expertise with exploring underground lairs of any kind, but please keep in mind that our main objective is to vacate these premises as soon as possible instead of exploring them. Also, the Silence spell Sir Krashnix cast for our benefit will sadly only last minutes instead of hours and i'm afraid i cannot ascertain he will be able to renew the effect once it expires. So, may i humbly suggest that we head upstairs as that hopefully should get us closer to the surface and thus closer to our means of escape from this hive of cultists ? "

Lycar

[Brickwall]

Kizima

Kizima's eyes linger a bit on the flat passage. She whispers to the group without taking her eyes off it.

"Guys, I think we're gonna need to start watching our backs. There's something down there, and if it follows us, I guarantee we'll be wanting to pay attention. Let's go before something bad happens."

She bites her lower lip, recalling the last time she was going down a minimally lit long dark passage. Wish I still had some feathers left. Damn it all. With slow steps, she begins heading up the sloping passage.

"Best eyes besides me, stay in back. We need a lookout."