Dragon's Egg - Act II

[Ireth]

Too many of my comrades now surround the lizards for me to shoot without risking harm to the former. I sigh, but keep my arrow nocked, waiting for the chance to strike. Maybe it's for the better; if I am left out of the fight, I have no chance of being maimed again, or of demonstrating my considerable lack of skill. I have done worse and worse in battle ever since setting foot on this cursed shore.

 

[Nihal]

I look at the commotion and shrug, glancing then at the ones who stood behind with me. I raise the torch to better illuminate the passage, glad I didn't need to get my hands dirty yet.

 

[Sparkie]

Damn! Missed! But this scaly fiend is mine now...

The Unseen Servant

((A one? Seriously?))

 

[SeverinR]

I strike the last one, not sure if backtab is option.


x2 if able to back stab.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Aliron hits it in the back, and I finish the job with an overhead strike!

((EDIT - Overhead strike = downward swing of the blade = death from above.))

 

[Ireth]

I smile for a moment as the last of the lizards is brought down, but do not let down my guard yet. That was quick and painless, but the commotion may very well bring more of their kind to investigate.

 

[Steerpike]

Aliron and Baldhart skewer the remaining lizard, rending it in two. The only sound left in the corridor is the breathing of the party members.

 

[Ireth]

"Stay on your guard," I tell the others as silence falls. "More may come."

 

[Nihal]

"A net trap. Doesn't it strikes you as odd?"

 

[Sparkie]

"No," I say in answer to Mauve. "They know we have Burnbright, and they want to capture her. They probably think she's still with us. That's our advantage, for now. They'll be looking for her."

I step over the bodies and address the group quietly.

"Let's make sure we don't get flanked. We must check the southern room, and the adjacent hall."

I walk over to the burial chamber, motioning Mauve to follow with the torch. No surprises can be afforded here.

((Rydh listens at the door, then opens it if possible.))

 

[SeverinR]

I examine the net trap, and see if I can dismantle it, maybe to use later.

(If nothing else the net and trip wire might be useful)

After that I will guard a hallway with my bow until someone needs a trap check. If the group is silent I will listen mostly down the hallway I'm guarding.

 

[Nihal]

"No," I say in answer to Mauve. "They know we have Burnbright, and they want to capture her. They probably think she's still with us. That's our advantage, for now. They'll be looking for her."

I step over the bodies and address the group quietly.

"Let's make sure we don't get flanked. We must check the southern room, and the adjacent hall."

I walk over to the burial chamber, motioning Mauve to follow with the torch. No surprises can be afforded here.

((Rydh listens at the door, then opens it if possible.))

"That was not what they did the first time."

A provocation right in the entrance. A net trap awaiting us, as if they expected us to rush in, enraged. But I'm missing something, something doesn't fit completely. Although a couple of times the timing was wrong, so far my intuition has been always right.

I hold the cleric's arm. "Be silent and let Aliron check our way first. Something..."

 

[SeverinR]

"I would agree, they think we have the girl with us. We cannot let them find out otherwise. They will less aggressive if they fear harming the girl, and they won't know to look elsewere for her, until they find out the truth. Once they know, they will send out scouts to look for her trail. We need to give them as much time as possible for her tracks to be covered, and get there safely."

"Also, normally you set traps up furthest to closest, to prevent friendly triggering of traps. So this might be the first trap they set. But these are non-injuring traps so they could set up as the groups get to them. But it does no good to set up a trap, then have the returning party trip it."

Pausing to consider,
"they might also have stations near the trap. This group might camp in the crypt waiting for the trap to be triggered. So they might not be expecting to return to the main camp right away. So each trap might be a post of lizards to capture the party. If this is the case, the traps will be non-lethal, but could take a toll on us if they catch us."

"If I'm right, the crypt should have materials for the lizards to camp, or set up for sleeping or living temporarily in it. I doubt it would be trapped. But there might be a lizard or two hiding in it that were setting up camp."

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I say to Nod, "Thanks for finishing off my first target so I could cleave the other in half. That's one kill each so far." I pull the bolt from the corpse. "Can you reuse these things?"

 

[Sparkie]

"We cannot expect Aliron to do everything," I say to Mauve. "Each of us must take action to survive."

I pull my arm from her grasp, albeit reluctantly. I can't shake this attraction to her, much as I'd like to. I refocus, ready my sword, and open the door.

 

[Ankari]

Grimacing, I watch as both arrows pierce the flesh of darkness and clatter against the stone. What advantage we may have had, is now gone. I shoulder the bow and crouch beside Aliron. Until this voyage, and the subsequent quest, I would never have considered a thief a useful ally, much less someone deserving to escape the range of my bow.

"My arrow has eliminated the element of surprise, should any more of them be nearby. Let us travel down this tunnel and see if we've alerted the nest to our presence. If there happens to be reinforcements coming to investigate the noise, do you have enough time to make the same trap the troglodytes made and catch a few?"

 

[Nihal]

Oh, you stupid cleric, stupid as always.

"Fine, then." I hand the torch over to him, and if he doesn't takes it I move away, bringing the light with me. "But do not expect me to take part in it."

 

[Steerpike]

Aliron is able to dismantle what the lizards had prepared of the trap. It was crudely done, and there's some question as to how effective it would have been given how they were rigging it. The net itself has small, barbed hooks at various places along its length, and the lizards were using these hooks to secure the net to cracks in the stone of the ceiling. How they got up there to set the net in place remains a mystery - whether they had help or managed to do it on their own, you do not know.

The net is too bulky to fit in a pack, but it can be folded carefully. A thin wire extends from the net, and it is this the lizards were apparently planning to use as a trip wire.

While Aliron deals with the net, Rydh makes his way down to the door to the burial chamber, listening intently. When there is no sound, he opens the door to find the chamber much as you left it. In Mauve's flickering torchlight, Darin's face darkens once again, but he says nothing.

The unexplored passage near the burial chamber appears more damp than the other corridors, and at Rydh's suggestion the party moves along that passage, Aliron moving just ahead of the group, watchful for traps or signs of the enemy.

The corridor continues for fifty to sixty feet, then ends abruptly at a body of water. Aliron discovers it first, being in front, but he can't make out much about it until the rest of the party moves forward, shedding some light on the area. Without the torch, this part of the dungeon is dark indeed.

The water fills a natural cavern, its surface still. The water is dark, and you imagine it is quite cold. Those present at the interrogation of the lizard shaman remember hearing her speak of a place like this, when she was asked how to reach the lower levels of the dungeon. She spoke of a small 'lake' that could only be crossed by swimming or by boat.

As Mauve brings the light closer, you can see that the walls of the natural cavern twist and turn, possibly concealing other passages out beyond the water. About forty feet away, across the water and to the party's left, is a bit of dry land extending up and out of the water. There may be a passageway there, or perhaps just an alcove. You can't make it out for certain in the dim light, and your view of the area is hampered by the twists of the natural walls. Of greater interest, however, is a small canoe that has been pushed ashore onto this dry bit of land. There is an elongate object near the canoe, also on the ground. It may be a length of wood, but again there is not enough light to be certain.

Given what you know about the tunnels so far, it seems the only way to continue is either to cross this water somehow, or to return to the scene of the fight with the shaman and to venture around the corner from which Nodrick summoned the creatures with his errant bow shot.

 

[Ravana]

A noise akin to thunder rolls through the corridor. Deep, resonant, echoes overlapping one another, distorting form, even direction. It would seem to be from the direction of the temple.

Even as those echoes subside, the noise repeats itself. The repetition, inasmuch as it is being listened carefully for rather than bursting forth unanticipated, can be made out more clearly. Definitely from the direction of the temple. Its nature, too, becomes more evident.…

"HHEELLLLOOOOOOO!"

Well, whoever it is, he's got a heckuva pair of lungs.

And whatever else might be said about him, it's probably safe to assume his intentions have nothing to do with sneaking up on the party.…

"HHEEYY! THIISS IISS NNEEAAT!"

…and it seems there might be several choice things to be said about him.

 

[Ireth]

I tense and turn at the sound of the first rumbling cry that echoes up the corridor toward us; when it resolves itself into an echoing greeting, I narrow my eyes. Who on earth could that be, and how foolish do they have to be to announce their presence like that?

"Someone go find whoever that is, and kindly shut them up!" I manage to keep my own voice down to an angry hiss. "Before they bring more lizards down on us all!"