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Tales of the Legacy - Concluded
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<blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 1700210" data-attributes="member: 5203"><p>They were out the door within the hour. They would have departed immediately, except that the townsfolk insisted on treating the companions to a round or two of cheap ale. They’d escaped a third round by pointing out they needed to be at their best to do their job.</p><p></p><p> They decided to scout out the surrounding hillside first, to see if there was truth to the rumor that the kobolds and goblins had exits out of the mines other than the ruins. Sure enough, after only a couple of hours they stumbled across a small hole with a few kobold tracks going in and out. The hole was so small that only Osborn could have fit inside, an idea he didn’t relish. Instead, the students sealed off the hole with several large rocks, capped off with a large boulder rolled over by Kyle and Arrie.</p><p></p><p> They searched for another hour or so, but couldn’t find a similar passage for the goblin tribe. Finally, with the night wearing on, the group decided to head for the ruins and descend into the mines.</p><p></p><p> They approached cautiously, and soon found the entrance, a single doorway in the hillside. Parthus had told them that the building had once been a monastery of some sort, but decades ago a mudslide had buried it, and it was abandoned despite the fact that it was mostly intact inside. The early settlers of the town had used the ruins as a communal root cellar until the day they were digging out a section and discovered a vein of copper ore just below the surface.</p><p></p><p> The group lit torches and went inside. There were no signs of activity in the upper levels, and dust hung thick on the floor. Osborn waved his torch at the ceiling to point out a rather obvious deadfall to the rest of the party.</p><p></p><p> “I think a wooden sign in the ground saying “Pretend there’s a trap here” would have been just as effective,” the hin said sarcastically.</p><p></p><p> “They’re miners, not trapsmiths,” pointed out Ghurka. “They did the best they could.”</p><p></p><p> As they moved on through the ruins, they spotted a few more crudely designed traps. Conspicuously absent were signs of goblins or kobolds – no tracks, no broken weapons, no shed scales or hairs. The group concluded that the tribes must have decided to avoid the upper level entirely rather than deal with the traps, since they had other means of getting to the surface.</p><p></p><p> The group turned and stopped just short of a large square chamber that was thick with cobwebs. Just as Osborn was about to proceed in, Kavan’s keen eyes spotted something, and he grabbed the hin by the shoulder and pointed. In the corner, the silhouette of a spider crouched, it’s body as large around as Osborn was tall.</p><p></p><p> They stepped back to inform the others. “What do we do?” asked Osborn.</p><p></p><p> “Spider webs burn very well,” said Ghurka, a gleam in his eye.</p><p></p><p> “You’d kill a defenseless creature without provocation?” said Kavan.</p><p></p><p> “I’d hardly call a three foot wide spider with deadly poisonous fangs ‘defenseless’,” quipped Lanara.</p><p></p><p> “Look, this is pointless,” said Kyle. “We’re here looking for goblins and kobolds, right? Well, I don’t see signs that either has gone near that spider. So why sit here trying to figure out how to get past it when we can just avoid it altogether?”</p><p></p><p> The rest of the group agreed that dealing with the spider now was pointless. They moved along down the corridor, eventually coming to a larger room. A strange, square structure was visible just inside their light; Kavan and Lanara, who could see better in the dark, told the others that there was a similar small building just past it. Cautiously, they moved into the room, spreading out slightly.</p><p></p><p> Osborn crept around the edge of the small building, coming to a half-rotted wooden door. Gingerly, he reached out with the tip of one of his many daggers and flicked the door open.</p><p></p><p> He jumped back in alarm as a human-sized skeleton came crashing out of the room toward him. The others rushed over, weapons drawn, but by the time they arrived they could see that the skeleton had collapsed in a broken pile of bones.</p><p></p><p> Osborn poked at the skull with his dagger while Xu looked around inside the room. “Who do you suppose this was? A prisoner left here to die?”</p><p></p><p> “Unlikely,” answered Xu. “This was a meditation cell; the door has no lock. Perhaps it was one of the monks who inhabited this monastery, who chose to remain here after the slide that buried this place.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, let’s keep looking around,” said Arrie. “There’s a few of these cells, and I think we should check them all; there could be sentries hiding in them.”</p><p></p><p> The group spread out through the room. There were a dozen of the cells in total, with one or two near the far wall partially ruined by the hardened mud. Each student took a door, and opened them in unison. Most found nothing but simple cots and wooden bowls, but in the far corner they all heard the sound of Arrie’s spiked chain unfurling, followed by a high-pitched squeal. Xu, who was closest, ran over to her side. There was another squeak, and then the two women walked out to join their companions. Both Arrie’s chain and the edge of Xu’s foot were stained with blood and bits of gray fur.</p><p></p><p> “Rats,” said Arrie simply, as she re-wrapped her chain around her torso.</p><p></p><p> There were two exits at the near wall; a door and a simple open archway. Osborn checked the door, and finding no traps he pushed open the door. A pair of stairs led downward into the earth.</p><p></p><p> “Well, at least we know how to get down from here,” he said, pulling the door closed.</p><p></p><p> The group chose to explore the archway, not wanting to leave anything dangerous at the top of the stairs. They proceeded along a narrow, winding hallway a short distance, with Osborn scouting ahead slightly. As he turned a corner, he stopped short and let out a slight yelp. This time it was no dead body that had startled him.</p><p></p><p> Arrie, Autumn, and Kavan rushed forward to see a huge centipede uncurl from its resting place on the floor in front of them. As they drew weapons, the centipede lashed out, far quicker than it seemed for an insect of its size, its mandibles skittering off Autumn’s shield.</p><p></p><p> Kavan was the first to react, drawing his sword and slicing at the centipede. He stepped back, seeing ichor running from the tip of his sword, when the centipede struck back, sinking its jaws into Kavan’s forearm. He immediately felt a flush of heat, and his muscles went slack as the centipede’s poison took hold. Kavan tried to step back, but his legs weren’t responding, and he was unable to avoid another bite from the centipede.</p><p></p><p> Ghurka stepped forward, seeing that the elf was in trouble. He summoned up healing energies from the earth, and with a touch sent them into Kavan, closing his wounds. But for his trouble the druid drew the centipede’s attention, and it lashed out with a vicious bite, poisoning Ghurka as well. The two of them barely managed to drag themselves out of the combat, leaning on each other’s shoulders.</p><p></p><p> Arrie and Autumn pressed in on the centipede, hacking away at it, and were shortly joined by Xu. The corridor was too narrow for anyone else to contribute to the fight; Kyle tried to fire a crossbow bolt but it went past Arrie’s shoulder, missing entirely. But the three trained fighters were more than capable, and after a few seconds the centipede began crawling away toward a small crack in the wall.</p><p></p><p> “Oh, no you don’t!” shouted Arrie. She dropped her chain and pulled out her orcish shotput, heaving the massive iron ball at the retreating centipede. It connected solidly in the middle of the creature, and yellow-green ichor splashed in a wide ring across the hallway. The centipede thrashed and quivered, practically torn in half. When the death throes faded, Arrie walked up and retrieved her shotput, wiping the gore off before dropping it back in its sack with a satisfied smile on her face.</p><p></p><p> As the three fighters cleaned their weapons, Kyle handed Kavan and Ghurka each a small vial. “Antitoxin,” he explained. “Made it myself. It should help counteract the remaining effects of the poison.”</p><p></p><p> They both drank, and felt the effects immediately. They thanked Kyle and then stood up on legs that were not as shaky now.</p><p></p><p> Seeing that there was nowhere left to go on the upper level, the group decided to head down the stairs. Once again Osborn took the lead, who went silently down the stairs to a moderately-sized chamber of rough stone. Scattered about were a few odd picks and other mining tools. At the far wall stood a door.</p><p></p><p> The group quickly surveyed the room, finding nothing of interest. They gathered near the door, waiting as Osborn inspected it.</p><p></p><p> “It’s trapped,” he whispered, “and not by miners.” Osborn fiddled with the door for a few minutes, at first seeming frustrated but then at last smiling. “There. I’ve disabled the trigger for the darts that shoot out from the wall.” Osborn pointed out two tiny holes in the stone near the doorway. As Osborn set to work on the lock, Arrie stepped up and placed a hand over one of the holes. She called upon her Talent*, but she felt no telltale tingling in her mind informing her of the presence of poison within the darts.</p><p></p><p> Osborn signaled for quiet as he pushed the door open a crack. He peered inside, and immediately saw a single kobold sentry, sleeping in a chair. Osborn suppressed a smile, and motioned for the others to remain where they were. The hin slipped into the room, quietly drawing a dagger.</p><p></p><p> He emerged a moment later, wiping blood off his blade. “Well, there’s one kobold down.”</p><p></p><p> “What else did you see?” asked Xu.</p><p></p><p> “The one I got was sitting on a chair next to an open archway. There’s another sentry in there, off in a side chamber. I couldn’t see where he was, but I could hear him.” Osborn wrinkled his nose. “I think he was relieving himself.”</p><p></p><p> “What now?” asked Kyle.</p><p></p><p> “I say we let Osborn take care of that one the same way he got the first,” offered Ghurka.</p><p></p><p> “No,” said Kavan. “We should capture him.”</p><p></p><p> “Good idea,” agreed Arrie. “We could get information about how many there are.”</p><p></p><p> “Okay then,” said Osborn. “We go in, grab him, and haul him back up the stairs to question him. Ready?”</p><p></p><p> “Hold on.” Arrie dug into her pack and produced a set of bolas. “Another of my specialties,” she said. “I can trip him up without hurting him.”</p><p></p><p> Osborn, Xu, Arrie, and Kavan readied themselves to rush into the room; the others held back, knowing that the other four could easily handle one kobold. They moved in quickly. From outside the room, Kyle, Lanara, Ghurka and Autumn listened as they heard weapons slashing through the air. They heard the whir of Arrie’s bolas winding up and flying through the air. There were grunts, and shrieks. Ghurka dashed into the room, leaving the other three outside. There was a crash, and they a high-pitched shout in a language unfamiliar to most of them.</p><p></p><p> “Intruder alert,” Kyle translated, sighing.</p><p></p><p> The other three moved into the room as they heard a larger commotion. Arrie, Xu, and Kavan were engaged with a small pack of kobolds, perhaps half a dozen. Osborn was throwing knives at one off to the side, and dodging sling bullets being shot back. Autumn immediately moved to her sister’s side, while Kyle began to circle around the outside of the room, looking for a better angle. Lanara stood by the door, waiting to see what happened. Ghurka was tossing flasks of oil at the kobolds.</p><p></p><p> The fight was vicious, but brief. Soon all seven kobolds lay in pools of their own blood. The students took stock of their situation. The room wasn’t large, and in the center was another of the meditation cells like those above. The stench emanating from a small opening in the stone wall marked the location of the kobold latrine. On the opposite wall, an archway marked the beginning of a hallway that stretched into darkness beyond the range of anyone’s vision.</p><p></p><p> “So much for one kobold, eh?” Lanara quipped.</p><p></p><p> “Little bugger was fast,” complained Arrie. “I’ve never seen anything wiggle out of a bola that quickly.”</p><p></p><p> While the rest of the group discussed what to do next, Kavan began walking down the hallway slowly, trying to make out enough detail to get a layout of the area. He picked up a small pebble and imbued it with a light spell, tossing it a short distance down the hall. His elven eyes picked out the walls; the hallway stretched on into darkness, and there was a corridor to the left about thirty feet past the archway. Kavan moved forward, trying to see further down the hall. As he moved, he became so intent on the hallway before him that he didn’t realize he’d stepped out in front of the side corridor.</p><p></p><p> The rest of the group was alerted when they heard a sound like hailstones. They turned to see Kavan under a barrage of tiny stones. Several bounced off his armor, but a few had struck home, opening gashes in his head and legs.</p><p></p><p> The group rushed forward into a wall of kobolds. The front lines were armed with spears, while another rank behind them were reloading slings. Arrie, Autumn, and Xu rushed into the mass of small lizard-like creatures, whirling and slashing. Kavan stumbled back long enough to call upon Erito for healing magic, closing his grievous wounds. Ghurka and Osborn were the next to charge in, the latter riding atop Rupert. From behind them they all heard the clear notes of Lanara’s fiddle as she launched into an inspiring battle-chant. Kyle attempted to move around to fire off a spell, but once again found himself cut off by the press of his companions. Cursing himself for choosing to prepare ray spells that day, Kyle cast mage armor on himself and waited for an opening, keeping an eye on the long corridor in case reinforcements came from that direction.</p><p></p><p> The battle was going well. Ghurka had called upon the spirits of the nearby plant life, and their roots had vines had erupted from the ground below the kobolds, wrapping them up and preventing them from firing more sling stones. He was now back to throwing oil flasks at his opponents. Arrie, Xu, and Autumn were making good progress on the front rank of kobolds, and soon Xu was able to break free and begin assailing the back rank, who switched to their spears to defend themselves. Kavan rejoined the fray, slashing at kobolds when he could but keeping an eye on his companion’s injuries. Osborn, who was unable to move through the tight ranks, decided to pull back. He guided Rupert back to the sentry chamber, where Lanara was still singing, and decided to investigate the meditation chamber while he waited.</p><p></p><p> Then, from far back behind the second rank of kobolds, they heard an odd sound, and then instantly the entire intersection was filled with sticky webs. Everyone except Osborn and Lanara were trapped in the webs, and they were too far away to help. Arrie was stuck fast, unable to move at all. Kyle managed to pull himself free slowly, but he emerged in the empty hallway, cut off from everyone else.</p><p></p><p> Xu twisted and pulled her way out of the webs, all the while trying to avoid the spears of the kobolds. But fortune was not with her, and she became stuck for a few seconds – long enough for the kobolds to take advantage and jab her. Bleeding from several serious wounds, Xu finally pulled free, and tumbled past the knot of kobolds before her, hoping to get at the spell-using kobold despite her injuries.</p><p></p><p> Behind her, Arrie and Autumn managed to pull free enough to begin attacking the kobolds again. Behind them, Ghurka shouted in triumph as he managed to call upon the power of a <em>produce flame</em> spell. Using the flames to burn himself free, the druid hardly seemed to notice the self-inflicted burns as he turned his attention to a nearby cluster of oil-soaked kobolds. Grinning, he tossed a handful of flame at them, and watched them erupt in a foul-smelling conflagration. Then he turned his attention to burning a path out of the webs.</p><p></p><p> Xu found a small side corridor and darted down it a moment to catch her breath. She’d seen no sign of the kobold sorcerer; it must have escaped. Before returning to the fight, however, she heard a strange sound further down. Curious, she moved on, moving agilely through Ghurka’s field of entangling roots. She turned a corner, and had to suppress a laugh. A band of four goblins was struggling underneath a heavy net, apparently rigged up to prevent just this sort of sneak attack.</p><p></p><p> “Opportunity knocks but once,” she said to herself. She cracked her knuckles, and moved up to the first helpless goblin…</p><p></p><p>----------------------------</p><p>* Every sentient being in Aelfenn has a Talent, which is essentially a low-level spell they can use once per day. The Talent is usually something suited for the person's profession or personality. Arrie's Talent is <em>detect poison</em>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Delemental, post: 1700210, member: 5203"] They were out the door within the hour. They would have departed immediately, except that the townsfolk insisted on treating the companions to a round or two of cheap ale. They’d escaped a third round by pointing out they needed to be at their best to do their job. They decided to scout out the surrounding hillside first, to see if there was truth to the rumor that the kobolds and goblins had exits out of the mines other than the ruins. Sure enough, after only a couple of hours they stumbled across a small hole with a few kobold tracks going in and out. The hole was so small that only Osborn could have fit inside, an idea he didn’t relish. Instead, the students sealed off the hole with several large rocks, capped off with a large boulder rolled over by Kyle and Arrie. They searched for another hour or so, but couldn’t find a similar passage for the goblin tribe. Finally, with the night wearing on, the group decided to head for the ruins and descend into the mines. They approached cautiously, and soon found the entrance, a single doorway in the hillside. Parthus had told them that the building had once been a monastery of some sort, but decades ago a mudslide had buried it, and it was abandoned despite the fact that it was mostly intact inside. The early settlers of the town had used the ruins as a communal root cellar until the day they were digging out a section and discovered a vein of copper ore just below the surface. The group lit torches and went inside. There were no signs of activity in the upper levels, and dust hung thick on the floor. Osborn waved his torch at the ceiling to point out a rather obvious deadfall to the rest of the party. “I think a wooden sign in the ground saying “Pretend there’s a trap here” would have been just as effective,” the hin said sarcastically. “They’re miners, not trapsmiths,” pointed out Ghurka. “They did the best they could.” As they moved on through the ruins, they spotted a few more crudely designed traps. Conspicuously absent were signs of goblins or kobolds – no tracks, no broken weapons, no shed scales or hairs. The group concluded that the tribes must have decided to avoid the upper level entirely rather than deal with the traps, since they had other means of getting to the surface. The group turned and stopped just short of a large square chamber that was thick with cobwebs. Just as Osborn was about to proceed in, Kavan’s keen eyes spotted something, and he grabbed the hin by the shoulder and pointed. In the corner, the silhouette of a spider crouched, it’s body as large around as Osborn was tall. They stepped back to inform the others. “What do we do?” asked Osborn. “Spider webs burn very well,” said Ghurka, a gleam in his eye. “You’d kill a defenseless creature without provocation?” said Kavan. “I’d hardly call a three foot wide spider with deadly poisonous fangs ‘defenseless’,” quipped Lanara. “Look, this is pointless,” said Kyle. “We’re here looking for goblins and kobolds, right? Well, I don’t see signs that either has gone near that spider. So why sit here trying to figure out how to get past it when we can just avoid it altogether?” The rest of the group agreed that dealing with the spider now was pointless. They moved along down the corridor, eventually coming to a larger room. A strange, square structure was visible just inside their light; Kavan and Lanara, who could see better in the dark, told the others that there was a similar small building just past it. Cautiously, they moved into the room, spreading out slightly. Osborn crept around the edge of the small building, coming to a half-rotted wooden door. Gingerly, he reached out with the tip of one of his many daggers and flicked the door open. He jumped back in alarm as a human-sized skeleton came crashing out of the room toward him. The others rushed over, weapons drawn, but by the time they arrived they could see that the skeleton had collapsed in a broken pile of bones. Osborn poked at the skull with his dagger while Xu looked around inside the room. “Who do you suppose this was? A prisoner left here to die?” “Unlikely,” answered Xu. “This was a meditation cell; the door has no lock. Perhaps it was one of the monks who inhabited this monastery, who chose to remain here after the slide that buried this place.” “Well, let’s keep looking around,” said Arrie. “There’s a few of these cells, and I think we should check them all; there could be sentries hiding in them.” The group spread out through the room. There were a dozen of the cells in total, with one or two near the far wall partially ruined by the hardened mud. Each student took a door, and opened them in unison. Most found nothing but simple cots and wooden bowls, but in the far corner they all heard the sound of Arrie’s spiked chain unfurling, followed by a high-pitched squeal. Xu, who was closest, ran over to her side. There was another squeak, and then the two women walked out to join their companions. Both Arrie’s chain and the edge of Xu’s foot were stained with blood and bits of gray fur. “Rats,” said Arrie simply, as she re-wrapped her chain around her torso. There were two exits at the near wall; a door and a simple open archway. Osborn checked the door, and finding no traps he pushed open the door. A pair of stairs led downward into the earth. “Well, at least we know how to get down from here,” he said, pulling the door closed. The group chose to explore the archway, not wanting to leave anything dangerous at the top of the stairs. They proceeded along a narrow, winding hallway a short distance, with Osborn scouting ahead slightly. As he turned a corner, he stopped short and let out a slight yelp. This time it was no dead body that had startled him. Arrie, Autumn, and Kavan rushed forward to see a huge centipede uncurl from its resting place on the floor in front of them. As they drew weapons, the centipede lashed out, far quicker than it seemed for an insect of its size, its mandibles skittering off Autumn’s shield. Kavan was the first to react, drawing his sword and slicing at the centipede. He stepped back, seeing ichor running from the tip of his sword, when the centipede struck back, sinking its jaws into Kavan’s forearm. He immediately felt a flush of heat, and his muscles went slack as the centipede’s poison took hold. Kavan tried to step back, but his legs weren’t responding, and he was unable to avoid another bite from the centipede. Ghurka stepped forward, seeing that the elf was in trouble. He summoned up healing energies from the earth, and with a touch sent them into Kavan, closing his wounds. But for his trouble the druid drew the centipede’s attention, and it lashed out with a vicious bite, poisoning Ghurka as well. The two of them barely managed to drag themselves out of the combat, leaning on each other’s shoulders. Arrie and Autumn pressed in on the centipede, hacking away at it, and were shortly joined by Xu. The corridor was too narrow for anyone else to contribute to the fight; Kyle tried to fire a crossbow bolt but it went past Arrie’s shoulder, missing entirely. But the three trained fighters were more than capable, and after a few seconds the centipede began crawling away toward a small crack in the wall. “Oh, no you don’t!” shouted Arrie. She dropped her chain and pulled out her orcish shotput, heaving the massive iron ball at the retreating centipede. It connected solidly in the middle of the creature, and yellow-green ichor splashed in a wide ring across the hallway. The centipede thrashed and quivered, practically torn in half. When the death throes faded, Arrie walked up and retrieved her shotput, wiping the gore off before dropping it back in its sack with a satisfied smile on her face. As the three fighters cleaned their weapons, Kyle handed Kavan and Ghurka each a small vial. “Antitoxin,” he explained. “Made it myself. It should help counteract the remaining effects of the poison.” They both drank, and felt the effects immediately. They thanked Kyle and then stood up on legs that were not as shaky now. Seeing that there was nowhere left to go on the upper level, the group decided to head down the stairs. Once again Osborn took the lead, who went silently down the stairs to a moderately-sized chamber of rough stone. Scattered about were a few odd picks and other mining tools. At the far wall stood a door. The group quickly surveyed the room, finding nothing of interest. They gathered near the door, waiting as Osborn inspected it. “It’s trapped,” he whispered, “and not by miners.” Osborn fiddled with the door for a few minutes, at first seeming frustrated but then at last smiling. “There. I’ve disabled the trigger for the darts that shoot out from the wall.” Osborn pointed out two tiny holes in the stone near the doorway. As Osborn set to work on the lock, Arrie stepped up and placed a hand over one of the holes. She called upon her Talent*, but she felt no telltale tingling in her mind informing her of the presence of poison within the darts. Osborn signaled for quiet as he pushed the door open a crack. He peered inside, and immediately saw a single kobold sentry, sleeping in a chair. Osborn suppressed a smile, and motioned for the others to remain where they were. The hin slipped into the room, quietly drawing a dagger. He emerged a moment later, wiping blood off his blade. “Well, there’s one kobold down.” “What else did you see?” asked Xu. “The one I got was sitting on a chair next to an open archway. There’s another sentry in there, off in a side chamber. I couldn’t see where he was, but I could hear him.” Osborn wrinkled his nose. “I think he was relieving himself.” “What now?” asked Kyle. “I say we let Osborn take care of that one the same way he got the first,” offered Ghurka. “No,” said Kavan. “We should capture him.” “Good idea,” agreed Arrie. “We could get information about how many there are.” “Okay then,” said Osborn. “We go in, grab him, and haul him back up the stairs to question him. Ready?” “Hold on.” Arrie dug into her pack and produced a set of bolas. “Another of my specialties,” she said. “I can trip him up without hurting him.” Osborn, Xu, Arrie, and Kavan readied themselves to rush into the room; the others held back, knowing that the other four could easily handle one kobold. They moved in quickly. From outside the room, Kyle, Lanara, Ghurka and Autumn listened as they heard weapons slashing through the air. They heard the whir of Arrie’s bolas winding up and flying through the air. There were grunts, and shrieks. Ghurka dashed into the room, leaving the other three outside. There was a crash, and they a high-pitched shout in a language unfamiliar to most of them. “Intruder alert,” Kyle translated, sighing. The other three moved into the room as they heard a larger commotion. Arrie, Xu, and Kavan were engaged with a small pack of kobolds, perhaps half a dozen. Osborn was throwing knives at one off to the side, and dodging sling bullets being shot back. Autumn immediately moved to her sister’s side, while Kyle began to circle around the outside of the room, looking for a better angle. Lanara stood by the door, waiting to see what happened. Ghurka was tossing flasks of oil at the kobolds. The fight was vicious, but brief. Soon all seven kobolds lay in pools of their own blood. The students took stock of their situation. The room wasn’t large, and in the center was another of the meditation cells like those above. The stench emanating from a small opening in the stone wall marked the location of the kobold latrine. On the opposite wall, an archway marked the beginning of a hallway that stretched into darkness beyond the range of anyone’s vision. “So much for one kobold, eh?” Lanara quipped. “Little bugger was fast,” complained Arrie. “I’ve never seen anything wiggle out of a bola that quickly.” While the rest of the group discussed what to do next, Kavan began walking down the hallway slowly, trying to make out enough detail to get a layout of the area. He picked up a small pebble and imbued it with a light spell, tossing it a short distance down the hall. His elven eyes picked out the walls; the hallway stretched on into darkness, and there was a corridor to the left about thirty feet past the archway. Kavan moved forward, trying to see further down the hall. As he moved, he became so intent on the hallway before him that he didn’t realize he’d stepped out in front of the side corridor. The rest of the group was alerted when they heard a sound like hailstones. They turned to see Kavan under a barrage of tiny stones. Several bounced off his armor, but a few had struck home, opening gashes in his head and legs. The group rushed forward into a wall of kobolds. The front lines were armed with spears, while another rank behind them were reloading slings. Arrie, Autumn, and Xu rushed into the mass of small lizard-like creatures, whirling and slashing. Kavan stumbled back long enough to call upon Erito for healing magic, closing his grievous wounds. Ghurka and Osborn were the next to charge in, the latter riding atop Rupert. From behind them they all heard the clear notes of Lanara’s fiddle as she launched into an inspiring battle-chant. Kyle attempted to move around to fire off a spell, but once again found himself cut off by the press of his companions. Cursing himself for choosing to prepare ray spells that day, Kyle cast mage armor on himself and waited for an opening, keeping an eye on the long corridor in case reinforcements came from that direction. The battle was going well. Ghurka had called upon the spirits of the nearby plant life, and their roots had vines had erupted from the ground below the kobolds, wrapping them up and preventing them from firing more sling stones. He was now back to throwing oil flasks at his opponents. Arrie, Xu, and Autumn were making good progress on the front rank of kobolds, and soon Xu was able to break free and begin assailing the back rank, who switched to their spears to defend themselves. Kavan rejoined the fray, slashing at kobolds when he could but keeping an eye on his companion’s injuries. Osborn, who was unable to move through the tight ranks, decided to pull back. He guided Rupert back to the sentry chamber, where Lanara was still singing, and decided to investigate the meditation chamber while he waited. Then, from far back behind the second rank of kobolds, they heard an odd sound, and then instantly the entire intersection was filled with sticky webs. Everyone except Osborn and Lanara were trapped in the webs, and they were too far away to help. Arrie was stuck fast, unable to move at all. Kyle managed to pull himself free slowly, but he emerged in the empty hallway, cut off from everyone else. Xu twisted and pulled her way out of the webs, all the while trying to avoid the spears of the kobolds. But fortune was not with her, and she became stuck for a few seconds – long enough for the kobolds to take advantage and jab her. Bleeding from several serious wounds, Xu finally pulled free, and tumbled past the knot of kobolds before her, hoping to get at the spell-using kobold despite her injuries. Behind her, Arrie and Autumn managed to pull free enough to begin attacking the kobolds again. Behind them, Ghurka shouted in triumph as he managed to call upon the power of a [I]produce flame[/I] spell. Using the flames to burn himself free, the druid hardly seemed to notice the self-inflicted burns as he turned his attention to a nearby cluster of oil-soaked kobolds. Grinning, he tossed a handful of flame at them, and watched them erupt in a foul-smelling conflagration. Then he turned his attention to burning a path out of the webs. Xu found a small side corridor and darted down it a moment to catch her breath. She’d seen no sign of the kobold sorcerer; it must have escaped. Before returning to the fight, however, she heard a strange sound further down. Curious, she moved on, moving agilely through Ghurka’s field of entangling roots. She turned a corner, and had to suppress a laugh. A band of four goblins was struggling underneath a heavy net, apparently rigged up to prevent just this sort of sneak attack. “Opportunity knocks but once,” she said to herself. She cracked her knuckles, and moved up to the first helpless goblin… ---------------------------- * Every sentient being in Aelfenn has a Talent, which is essentially a low-level spell they can use once per day. The Talent is usually something suited for the person's profession or personality. Arrie's Talent is [I]detect poison[/I]. [/QUOTE]
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