[LANAI] The Rod of Seven Parts: Into the Crucible

Pressing his ear against the stone door at the top of the stairs, Rowan hears the distinct shuffle of four creatures occupying what sounds like a narrow space. Judging by the langorous quality of the creature's movement and the odd splash of water, the creatures are kuo-toans but seem oddly uninterested in anything going on behind the door.

Phud stoops from his great height to search the body of KT1. The kuo-toa guardian's light crossbow lies at its feet, a shiny scimitar with zig-zag patterns embellished down the length of the blade rests in a sheath at the kuo-toa's hip. In a leather case in a bandoleer strapped across the kuo-toa's chest, Phud finds 18 bolts sized for the crossbow. The kuo-toa is lying on a shield that looks to be crafted after the fashion of the shield belonging to KT3, the one to which Phud's heavy mace stuck fast.

Arden has a quick listen at the door and, hearing nothing at all, sets to work dexterously picking the lock, albeit loudly. With a startling click, Arden unlocks the stone door and hastily restows her set of picks.

Round the corner, the wolf summoned by Wyleck gives a loud snarl and then a yelp of pain as a bolt from the opposite side of the doorway whizzes through the air of the main chamber. A half beat later, Wyleck realizes that his wolf has fizzled out from existance on this plane. The furious cranking of a crossbow resound in the main chamber but only KT5 pokes its head around the corner. As soon as Wyleck spies the kuo-toa, he lets loose with his sling. The stone flies in a high arc over the head of KT5, a clean miss, then lands with a boom against the opposite wall of the main chamber, where it shatters into several jagged pieces.

From his place on the stairs, Rhys keeps an eye on the kuo-toa guardian room, lest Phud or Wyleck fall and the kuo-toan reinforcements invade up the stairs.

Initiative:
Rowan 20
Phud 20
Arden 15
Wyleck 7
KT5, KT6 6
Rhys 3

"Phud, we need you!," hisses Rowan to the massive half-orc below. "There are more Kou-Toans behind this door, and I am almost completely out of magic."

The halfling grimaces and hefts his club as he waits for Arden to open the door, knowing that their company is truly in dire peril.

Arden whispers to Rowan, "Maybe we shouldn't open it if you hear more of them. Can we defend the lower room?"

Rowan shrugs. "The real question is can you defend the lower room? I've no magic left, and my martial skills are, well, somewhat lacking."

"There's but two of the buggers! I've little notion that we can't send these fellows off with a sound thrashing, right Yssal? Now ready yourself. When they enter this room, give them a little of their own sneaky medicine eh?" Wyleck says as he backs along the wall, fitting another stone to his sling and waiting for some poor, foolish Koa-Toan to enter the lower room to deliver it's just dessert.

Having relayed the information that four kuo-toas lurk behind the stone door, Rowan calls for Phud. Holding his club in a hard grip, the halfling arcanist waits for the door to open and opportunity to arise.

I'm saving a readied action for Rowan to attack a kuo-toa in the room beyond. Melee or ranged w/ the club?

Hearing Rowan beckon for his services, Phud leaves off searching the other two kuo-toan guardians in the room and crosses the threshhold to lumber up the stone stairs banking the southern wall. After edging past Rhys mid-way up the stair, Phud halts a moment behind Rowan and Arden. "Phud go first?" The half-orc seems to want to nudge past Arden and Rowan but things on the stairs are looking jumbled.

Arden whispers to Rowan, "Maybe we shouldn't open it if you hear more of them. Can we defend the lower room?"

Wyleck fits another stone to his sling and, pressing his back against the wall flanking the western end of the guardian room, waits for a poor foolish kuo-toa to attempt entry. At Wyleck's command, Yssal trots across the room to the opposite side of the doorway and lays in wait as well.

KT5 rounds the corner and steps into the short ten-foot corridor leading from the main chamber to the guardian room. As the kuo-toan steps in the first section of floor, its feet slip out from underneath it and the creature falls to the slick flagstone floor. Try as it might, the kuo-toa cannot get its footing to rise. Angry gurgling and croaking speech ensues. KT6 peeks its head around the corner long enough to spy KT5's predicament and fire a bolt at Yssal that misses. The bolt hits the stone brazier and lands unscathed at the feet of the dead throat-grinning KT1.

Rhys moves back a step to try to keep an eye on Wyleck and Yssal while simultaneously making room on the stairs for Phud, Rowan, and Arden.

Initiative:
Rowan 20
Phud 20
Arden 15
Wyleck 7
KT5, KT6 6
Rhys 3

Arden heads back down the stairs, making room for others up there. She loads her crossbow at the bottom of the stairs, without peeking into the room yet.

Rhys continues his rear guard on the stairs, wincing as he considers the crossbow bolt in his arm. He was supposed to be the healer, now who would heal him? The pain throbs in his arm, bringing a fair amount of lucidity, and his stands in silence as he watches the stairs that overflow with his companions and the room from which they are fleeing.

[sblock=Rhun]

Rhun said:

What exactly does a "hot thud" feel like?

Click to expand...

It's kind of like a "Hot Phud" but more pointy and metal, and less half-orc in a g-string.

[/sblock]

Phud : Male Half-Orc Sorcerer 1 / Barbarian 1

Phud waits until Arden has moved out of the way and then moves up to the door and opens it.

OOC: Delaying action until after Arden moves. How long does the grease last?

Rowan steps in front of Phud to stop him from opening the door, holding his hands out. "Finish those two guard below, and quickly!" calls Rowan. "Pick them off with your bows! My spell will not last much longer, and we need to slay them so that they can't tell the reinforcements where we went!!!"