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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 3664868" data-attributes="member: 11760">Emmerson and Tucker move one wooden bed frame across the doorway. Tucker draws his sword and, following the paladin's lead, jabs it into the wood of the door above the cross bar, hopefully preventing Artos' blade from lifting it from the other side."Those damnable birds aren't inside yet, but they will be soon," Tucker says. "And it won't be long after that until they're coming down that trapdoor. We need to be ready. Emus, can I see that gunpowder boomer of yours?"Emus tosses the bomb to Tucker, who turns it over in his hands."This is just a tiny little thing. Shouldn't be too bad, but it might do the trick for those birds. Still, better safe than sorry. Em, help me turn a few of these beds on their sides."Meanwhile, Hazel studies the trapdoor and the landing pad below it."Don't think I can close it, but I got another idea." Dropping to her knees, she digs through her backpack, triumphantly pulling out an extra pint of oil. The sound of the flapping birds carries through the open trap door, and she peers upward, heart hammering, before dousing the blankets with oil. She quickly cuts a thin strip of cloth with her hand axe for a wick, and darts 10 feet back to her lantern."C'mon, c'mon," she mutters, her fingers fumbling to lift the hood. She lights the wick with the exposed flame, carrying it carefully back to the blankets. With a prayer to Estanna - it may not be a hearth, goddess, but I need it to burn - she casts the burning cloth atop the oily blankets.The flame springs up quickly, and Hazel tumbles back with a giddy smile. She hoists her pack onto her back and sends her quarterstaff skidding across the floor toward the group at the barricade, scrambling amid the bones to grab any weapons or other gear the skeletons dropped.As Hazel throws the dropped weapons, including the glowing long sword, ahead of her, from the corner of her eye, she spots a faint bit of movement between two beds near the end of the room.The ladder to the attic, which had apparently fallen after the skeletons had escaped up it, is moving. At least, most of the skeletons had made it up the ladder. A small kobold skeleton is attempting to lift the ladder off him, but given the way the ladder (and apparently the skeleton itself) fell, it's partially hooked beneath one bed and the skeleton was pinned in such a way that it can only lift one arm.With the heat growing, and sweat trickling down her back, Hazel picks up her lantern and heads for the beds piled near the door."Hope the smoke will slow 'em down some." She glances around at the group, noting the careful grip Tucker has on a small object. "What you got there?""Emus wants to see something explode," Tucker replies. "I was a bit worried about lighting the fuse, but I don't think that'll be an issue any more, thanks to your cookout over there. Now we just need to hope the ravens come inside before it burns itself out."Tucker moves as close to the fire as he can without inhaling the smoke that is pooling against the ceiling before it flows up through the open flap. He watches for any sign of movement - winged or otherwise.And then the sound of wings goes from a quiet whisper to overwhelming in a second. Through the thick smoke, ravens explode into the room like a black cloud, screaming with rage at the smoke and the deputy nearest the trap door.Tucker throws the bomb into the burning blankets and runs, dragging Hazel with him as they race for the far door.The explosion is almost deafening in the enclosed space. There's a blast of black feathers and kobold bones, and the nearby beds and bits of flaming blankets are blown in all directions.The birds, smoky, fewer in number, but now undeniably angry, race after Hazel and Tucker.Hazel dives for her quarterstaff, hoping to grab it and roll to face the ravens before they swarm her.From the other direction, Emus screams and charges at the ravens with his greatclub, Emmerson and Vonmora on his heels. Emmerson leans down and grabs a glowing long sword tossed toward the door by Hazel a moment before, and carries it into the swarm of black feathers.The world goes black around the adventurers other than those at the door. They see several ravens go hurtling from the swarm, Vonmora's morning star batting them away like toys.Hazel lashes out at the ravens as they engulf her. But despite feathers and talons everywhere, they somehow seem to elude the blows from her quarterstaff. Emus fares no better, feeling the birds tug at his beard and their feathers beating against the thin hair of his scalp.Tucker, though, feels his flail connect against something, and the squawks of outrage suggest that it's multiple ravens.Unable to even see the glowing long sword through the dark mass of feathers, Emmerson strikes nothing, and just swings through empty air.Meanwhile, the four engulfed have the horrifying feeling of the ravens crawling over them for brief seconds as wings and beaks and claws batter at them. What's worse is that the birds seem to know of the frailties of their species, and soon their faces are a mass of bleeding cuts as the birds seemingly attempt to pluck out their eyes.The others hear Vonmora, Tucker and Emmerson scream as claws and beaks pierce the soft flesh of their eyes. Blood runs down their faces as they scream in horror.The birds disperse in a panic, the survivors flapping their way back up the trap door and away, the sounds of their flight now nothing beyond the normal sound of a flock of birds.</blockquote>

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