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Watch For Falling Meteors [4E KotS] Updated Weekdays!
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<blockquote data-quote="Xorn" data-source="post: 4403738" data-attributes="member: 61231"><p>Hope folks are still enjoying the story, updates should stay pretty regular for a little while. Time to start getting into the nitty gritty of the keep itself now!</p><p> </p><p>---------------</p><p> </p><p>Omar scrutinized the stone work that formed the walls of the stairs they were slowly marching down. The blocks were fit well, but the mortar was powdery and ancient. The stone was a darker variety of granite, mixed with sandstone, both of which were commonly found in the area. Interspersed through the rubble above, they had found many worn effigies of Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, and god of justice. As they came closer to the approaching landing that was now visible to them, a rotting smell of decay wafted up the descending corridor, and made his nose wrinkle.</p><p> </p><p>Glancing to his left he could see the odor had reached Daichot as well, who was making a sour face, but did not speak. He shared a look with the dwarf, silently agreeing that the pungent stench was not natural rot, and they resumed their careful descent into the lower levels of the keep. Percy was behind Omar, a few feet up the stairs from him, holding his wicked magical dagger in a reversed grip in his left hand, with his hand crossbow loaded and ready in his right. He was scanning over the dwarf’s head into the chamber that was becoming visible as they got lower, when Vrax sputtered and coughed audibly, a sound that shattered the air and rolled down the corridor with a reverberation that shook their bones in the comparative silence.</p><p> </p><p>Percy looked at the others with disbelief at the futility of trying to remain quiet, as Daichot and Omar looked back at the hunched wizard, favoring his spear for support and burying his face into the arm of his robe as he tried to recover from the wracking cough that grabbed at his lungs. As the dragonborn tried to hold his breath, involuntary spasms in his chest continued to shake his form, but he managed to stifle the sound to no more the his muffled, labored breaths.</p><p> </p><p>Knowing there was nothing else they could do about the situation, Omar shook his head once and resumed descending the steps, carefully putting one foot before the other. Soon, his heavy leather boots came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, as they all took in the entry chamber before them.</p><p> </p><p>The ceiling was roughly ten feet above them, fairly standard for human structures of the time. The floors were originally well-fit stone tiles, but several of the pieces were cracked or all together shattered now, revealing dark earth beneath them. Four wide columns of sandstone extended from their simply-chiseled bases up to the ceiling, devoid of frivolities, spaced evenly about the chamber in a square. Two torches burned silently across the room on the southern wall, illuminating the chamber in a steady orange glow. From the north end of the room where Omar stood before the others, the west and east walls were fifteen paces to each side, and it was nearly thirty to the other end of the chamber. Passages led out of the chamber opposite the stairs, in the south, west, and eastern walls. The light from outside reflected off of the stairs loosely, but did little to illuminate the room beyond the small torches nestled in sconces on the walls.</p><p> </p><p>Omar and Daichot both held their weapons ready, ready to spring into action, as Percy suddenly shouted out. “Goblin!” he cried and leaped from his position on the stairs over the dwarf, landing in a low crouch on the balls of his feet and triggering his crossbow at the creature. The bolt flew wide as the goblin that was creeping up the south passage wielding a serrated spear ducked reflexively. Percy rolled to his left and pressed his back into the pillar northwest of the room’s center as the goblin shrieked something in it’s own language and jabbed its spear towards Omar in a challenge.</p><p> </p><p>“He’s sounding an alarm, that means intruders!” Warned the halfling to the others.</p><p> </p><p>“Not fer long he ain’t!” roared Omar as he charged across the room. With heavy stomps of his boots the dwarf raced across the room as fast as his legs would afford his heavy frame. He drew back his hammer behind him, preparing to cave in the goblin’s skull with one mighty sweep of the bludgeon but halfway across the room, a hollow snap reported to the stamp of his boot, rather then the reassuring thud of solid stone.</p><p> </p><p>With a flurry of dust and metal, the dwarf vanished into a collapsing frame of thin wooden boards supporting a taut, stone-painted canvas. As the camouflage over the pit spanning the center of the room between the pillars gave way, the dwarf careened heels over head into the yawning mouth of the trap and crashed loudly at the bottom of the short drop.</p><p> </p><p>Before Daichot could react the goblin hurled his spear across the room, narrowly missing the warlord as he ducked under the missile and charged around the west side of the pillars, stealing a glance down into the pit at the dwarf. Omar was righting himself as quickly as he could, but the floor of the pit seemed to be crawling. Unable to see more as he passed, the tiefling swept his greataxe around in a whistling strike at the goblin warrior, but the foul creature sprang away from the titanic strike, avoiding the deathblow by inches as the weapon flashed with yellow fury against the stone walls of the keep. The warlord swapped his grip on the weapon immediately, so that he was ready to strike back the other direction, as a silvery bolt of force streaked past him and clipped the goblin across the shoulder. Vrax quickly moved up to the first pillar the warlord had ran past and checked on the dwarf, simultaneously tapping into the fires of Chaos as his hands began to waver with heat and his robes fluttered in a self-created breeze.</p><p> </p><p>Omar quickly shook the fog out of his head from the fall down to the earthen floor ten feet below the floor, partially from having the thick skull of a dwarf, but mostly from the pain of the hundreds of rats that were swarming over his body. Several of them bit him on his hands and face painfully, and he swept them away with his shield arm while crashing his hammer into a pile of them. Three rats were smashed beyond recognizable form from the impact, but a dozen more piled over the carcasses clinging to his arms. Fighting to get to his feet the dwarf slammed himself into the wall to dislodge more of the starving rodents, only to feel another painful bite lance through the thick leather of his boots.</p><p> </p><p>“Ach! ‘At’s me toe ye blasted vermin!” he cried, “Stop ye’re squirmin’ ye bastard rats! Oi! Let go o’ me finger!”</p><p> </p><p>Percy decided the Omar would survive the ordeal and turned his attention to the west, down the side passage, luckily in time to see another goblin creeping towards the edge of the room, spear ready to throw. “Vrax! Another one!” he yelled out in alarm, and quickly loosed his crossbow the beast. The bolt clipped the creature in the arm right as it threw the spear, and the weapon flew off it’s mark, nicking the dragonborn across the shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you, Percy, that might have killed—“</p><p> </p><p>“Thank me later! Kill them back!” interrupted the halfling, springing to his feet as he sank another bolt into his crossbow and ran down the south passage after the pursuing warlord.</p><p> </p><p>Vrax unleashed another missile of arcane force at the new assailant to the west, and the air warbled in protest as the silvery splash of magic caught the creature in the stomach, knocking it backwards awkwardly as it clutched as the bolt in its arm. The goblin shrieked in alarm, then retreated down the corridor, turning right to the south, and vanishing around a corner. Seeing Daichot at the end of the southern tunnel, the warlord had chased the first goblin into another chamber, and fallen to the left, at least one crossbow bolt protruding from his shoulder. Fearing that his mighty friend had been overcome, Vrax ran as fast as he could manage to the south, leaving Omar by himself in the pit.</p><p> </p><p>As the dwarf managed to hoist himself up the last few feet of the rough wall, he found himself hanging onto the very edge of the pit, looking at the steps leading back up to the light of day, but didn’t see anyone. The sound of battle was faint, some distance off now.</p><p> </p><p>“Now where in blazes did ye all go!?”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Xorn, post: 4403738, member: 61231"] Hope folks are still enjoying the story, updates should stay pretty regular for a little while. Time to start getting into the nitty gritty of the keep itself now! --------------- Omar scrutinized the stone work that formed the walls of the stairs they were slowly marching down. The blocks were fit well, but the mortar was powdery and ancient. The stone was a darker variety of granite, mixed with sandstone, both of which were commonly found in the area. Interspersed through the rubble above, they had found many worn effigies of Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, and god of justice. As they came closer to the approaching landing that was now visible to them, a rotting smell of decay wafted up the descending corridor, and made his nose wrinkle. Glancing to his left he could see the odor had reached Daichot as well, who was making a sour face, but did not speak. He shared a look with the dwarf, silently agreeing that the pungent stench was not natural rot, and they resumed their careful descent into the lower levels of the keep. Percy was behind Omar, a few feet up the stairs from him, holding his wicked magical dagger in a reversed grip in his left hand, with his hand crossbow loaded and ready in his right. He was scanning over the dwarf’s head into the chamber that was becoming visible as they got lower, when Vrax sputtered and coughed audibly, a sound that shattered the air and rolled down the corridor with a reverberation that shook their bones in the comparative silence. Percy looked at the others with disbelief at the futility of trying to remain quiet, as Daichot and Omar looked back at the hunched wizard, favoring his spear for support and burying his face into the arm of his robe as he tried to recover from the wracking cough that grabbed at his lungs. As the dragonborn tried to hold his breath, involuntary spasms in his chest continued to shake his form, but he managed to stifle the sound to no more the his muffled, labored breaths. Knowing there was nothing else they could do about the situation, Omar shook his head once and resumed descending the steps, carefully putting one foot before the other. Soon, his heavy leather boots came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, as they all took in the entry chamber before them. The ceiling was roughly ten feet above them, fairly standard for human structures of the time. The floors were originally well-fit stone tiles, but several of the pieces were cracked or all together shattered now, revealing dark earth beneath them. Four wide columns of sandstone extended from their simply-chiseled bases up to the ceiling, devoid of frivolities, spaced evenly about the chamber in a square. Two torches burned silently across the room on the southern wall, illuminating the chamber in a steady orange glow. From the north end of the room where Omar stood before the others, the west and east walls were fifteen paces to each side, and it was nearly thirty to the other end of the chamber. Passages led out of the chamber opposite the stairs, in the south, west, and eastern walls. The light from outside reflected off of the stairs loosely, but did little to illuminate the room beyond the small torches nestled in sconces on the walls. Omar and Daichot both held their weapons ready, ready to spring into action, as Percy suddenly shouted out. “Goblin!” he cried and leaped from his position on the stairs over the dwarf, landing in a low crouch on the balls of his feet and triggering his crossbow at the creature. The bolt flew wide as the goblin that was creeping up the south passage wielding a serrated spear ducked reflexively. Percy rolled to his left and pressed his back into the pillar northwest of the room’s center as the goblin shrieked something in it’s own language and jabbed its spear towards Omar in a challenge. “He’s sounding an alarm, that means intruders!” Warned the halfling to the others. “Not fer long he ain’t!” roared Omar as he charged across the room. With heavy stomps of his boots the dwarf raced across the room as fast as his legs would afford his heavy frame. He drew back his hammer behind him, preparing to cave in the goblin’s skull with one mighty sweep of the bludgeon but halfway across the room, a hollow snap reported to the stamp of his boot, rather then the reassuring thud of solid stone. With a flurry of dust and metal, the dwarf vanished into a collapsing frame of thin wooden boards supporting a taut, stone-painted canvas. As the camouflage over the pit spanning the center of the room between the pillars gave way, the dwarf careened heels over head into the yawning mouth of the trap and crashed loudly at the bottom of the short drop. Before Daichot could react the goblin hurled his spear across the room, narrowly missing the warlord as he ducked under the missile and charged around the west side of the pillars, stealing a glance down into the pit at the dwarf. Omar was righting himself as quickly as he could, but the floor of the pit seemed to be crawling. Unable to see more as he passed, the tiefling swept his greataxe around in a whistling strike at the goblin warrior, but the foul creature sprang away from the titanic strike, avoiding the deathblow by inches as the weapon flashed with yellow fury against the stone walls of the keep. The warlord swapped his grip on the weapon immediately, so that he was ready to strike back the other direction, as a silvery bolt of force streaked past him and clipped the goblin across the shoulder. Vrax quickly moved up to the first pillar the warlord had ran past and checked on the dwarf, simultaneously tapping into the fires of Chaos as his hands began to waver with heat and his robes fluttered in a self-created breeze. Omar quickly shook the fog out of his head from the fall down to the earthen floor ten feet below the floor, partially from having the thick skull of a dwarf, but mostly from the pain of the hundreds of rats that were swarming over his body. Several of them bit him on his hands and face painfully, and he swept them away with his shield arm while crashing his hammer into a pile of them. Three rats were smashed beyond recognizable form from the impact, but a dozen more piled over the carcasses clinging to his arms. Fighting to get to his feet the dwarf slammed himself into the wall to dislodge more of the starving rodents, only to feel another painful bite lance through the thick leather of his boots. “Ach! ‘At’s me toe ye blasted vermin!” he cried, “Stop ye’re squirmin’ ye bastard rats! Oi! Let go o’ me finger!” Percy decided the Omar would survive the ordeal and turned his attention to the west, down the side passage, luckily in time to see another goblin creeping towards the edge of the room, spear ready to throw. “Vrax! Another one!” he yelled out in alarm, and quickly loosed his crossbow the beast. The bolt clipped the creature in the arm right as it threw the spear, and the weapon flew off it’s mark, nicking the dragonborn across the shoulder. “Thank you, Percy, that might have killed—“ “Thank me later! Kill them back!” interrupted the halfling, springing to his feet as he sank another bolt into his crossbow and ran down the south passage after the pursuing warlord. Vrax unleashed another missile of arcane force at the new assailant to the west, and the air warbled in protest as the silvery splash of magic caught the creature in the stomach, knocking it backwards awkwardly as it clutched as the bolt in its arm. The goblin shrieked in alarm, then retreated down the corridor, turning right to the south, and vanishing around a corner. Seeing Daichot at the end of the southern tunnel, the warlord had chased the first goblin into another chamber, and fallen to the left, at least one crossbow bolt protruding from his shoulder. Fearing that his mighty friend had been overcome, Vrax ran as fast as he could manage to the south, leaving Omar by himself in the pit. As the dwarf managed to hoist himself up the last few feet of the rough wall, he found himself hanging onto the very edge of the pit, looking at the steps leading back up to the light of day, but didn’t see anyone. The sound of battle was faint, some distance off now. “Now where in blazes did ye all go!?” [/QUOTE]
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