"Keep your eyes peeled Vrrtanai'sh," Abaighail says as she peers into the gloom.  Figuring the sea can't be that far away, she heads south with Squinty looking for the other side of the rope guild, hoping to cut their search area in half.

Exploring J3

"Abi, do you want to hang back for a minute, let's see what the kobold's find."

"Yes I agree, lets hold back for a bit this could be fun" Turning toward Markus "Markus please assist these kobolds here and I might sit down with you for a bit."

"I think someone needs to lead them, or else we might not get any better information than 'No one came back after heading in that direction.'  We don't want to scatter them uselessly.  Let's go a little way in at least, if only to give the kobolds more directions to search to."

"Well, we could search in a pack with the kobolds as a wide guard to give us an early warning. How about that?"

Taking his crossbow off his shoulder, he hands it to Gharuk while raising his eyebrow and gesturing towards Mila. Quietly he says, "Give this to Mila, she'll need it."

Like a presidential escort, Ghorgath arranges the kobolds into pairs, to form a 30ft radius perimeter around the group.

"Now keep your eyes open, if you see any beasties, monsters or anything that could attack us, wave your hands in the air."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:32, Mon 07 Dec 2015.

So the part moves onwards.

Markus brightens visibly when Ghorza graces him with a few choice words. "Of course!" he grunts, staring at the warpriest with round eyes. "Everything for you!" Wit that he jogs to aid the kobolds.

Mila shakes her head at the antics of her brother. When she's offered the crossbow, she puts up her hands defensively. "I'm not allowed to. Luthic frowns upon females using weapons. I wouldn't know how to use that, anyways." She glances around at the narrow corridors, then sticks closer to Gharuk. Then closer still, until she's practically glued to him. "You'll keep me safe, right?" she whispers up to him.

The kobolds form a sort of irregular perimeter around the half-orcs, whipped into place by Ghorgath and Markus. Vrrtanai'sh acts as a sort of lieutenant, staying close to Abighail.

The bad smells intensify as you penetrate deeper into the building.

There is an odd sound from the east, like the hiss of suddenly released steam. From the west, there is the faintest sound of crunching branches. Or perhaps it's bones...

With his shield in one hand, Gharuk put his other arm protectively around Mila for a quick squeeze; sufficiently, even painfully strong, of course. " 's Long as I'm around, you're not in danger." he murmured, before letting go the embrace and turning his attention to their surroundings once more.

He doesn't seem perturbed by the various noises going off around them, but turns his head quickly at each new potential danger; wary a a cat. His movements are careful as he advances further into the ruins, following the others' lead.

Readying his crossbow, Ghorgath heads east in search of whatever is making that hissing sound.

Nodding to her brothers that she understands Ghorza readies her axe and follows moving to the east.

Gharuk's playfully painful squeze makes Mila shudder. She then looks around, blushing viciously, feeling at least a little guilty for the carnal thoughts flooding her mind. Fortunately for her, everyone else is busy being observant, and feeling the closeness of death.

The corridors get narrower and more twisty as the small army advances eastwards, the volume of the noises increasing steadily.

After ten minutes or so of slow and deliberate advance, the kobolds chitter and yell excitedly. Rushing towards the sounds, the party finds a larger chamber, perhaps 30 feet in diameter. You find the source of the steam sounds there - nestled against the southern wall is a contraption of obviously gnomish origin, huffing and puffing, occasionally sending hisses of steam through randomly placed valves. A hot fire is burning merrily in its lower part, fireplace caged off by thick iron bars and glass panes. There is a mess of brass tubes running from the furnace and the tank above it to a cagelike contraption holding some sort of spinning wheel. Small arcs of electricity dance over the wheel as it spins. An overwhelming scent of ozone fills the room. The floor in the centre looks as if it has been cleaned today. Overall, the noise in here is almost deafening. There is also a small pile of logs next to the furnace, ready to feed the fire.

Looking around, Ghorgath pans upwards to investigate the ceiling. He then points northwards, and waves the group to check out the unexplored 30ft section to the north before he turns the group back to the westward direction ... and back towards the sound of crunching bones.

Following the others into the room, and taking in what she sees; "Someone or something is using this room.  I fear that we are not alone. "she says calmly while scanning the ceiling.

Nodding silently to Ghorza, Ghorgath continues to scan the area for enemies.

Gharuk's brow furrowed deeply in thought and he scratched absently at the back of his leg with his shield "I thought you said it was a monster or something?" Gharuk said to Mila "Monsters don't make things like this. Something ain't right 'ere. I reckon we check out the rest of this end of the building before going the other way."

Ghorgath slowly shakes his head, "We need to check the crunching sound before we lower our guard."

Moving to a corner, Ghorza nods in agreement; "Something that can think lives here."

Ghorgath nods, "In deed it does, and I think if someone can maintain this they may have the capacity to negotiate with us. What I'm more concerned about though is a possible guard dog to the west of us."

"Let's keep moving, we can come back here once we know we're not about to become a second dinner. What do you all say?"

There is nothing else in the eastern part of the maze. As the party doesn't fiddle with the machinery, nothing else of not happens there. The sweep northwards reveals little more of interest apart from dusty, empty corridors that were once used as storage.

Continuing the search into the west part of the maze makes the kobolds considerably more nervous. The corridors seem to have numerous dead ends here; here and there fragments of what must be bones litter the floor. The crunching sounds continue, echoing somewhere towards the west. The war party advances carefully...

...until there is a dual koboldish shriek, as two scouts meet an untimely end. One of them flies through the air, producing a sickening, wet impact against a wall. The other is held in the claw of a large, bestial, green creature; it peers through the narrow hallway at the Abighail and Gharuk, then casually takes a bite out of the still struggling kobold in its hand. The little creature's screams end abruptly, replaced by the sound of sloppy chewing.



A=Abighail
B=Gharuk
C=Ghorgath
D=Ghorza
E=Mila
F=Markus
k=kobold
T=troll (chewing on a kobold, takes 4 spaces, AC 15, bite +7(7 dmg) 2 claws +7(11 dmg)

Moving to his left and raising his crossbow to shoulder level, Ghorgath fires intimately accurately, hitting him directly in the chest hit 10 piercing damage, he continues to move to his left to put himself out of the trolls line of sight. "Everyone move back this way, make the troll come to us".

Move:Start E4-NE-E-SE-shoot crossbow-SE-I5.
Standard: Shoot crossbow, hits AC 20 and does 10 piercing damage.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:44, Thu 24 Dec 2015.

"What?  A troll-This foe is to much for us.  We need to find a way back."

In reply to Ghorza (msg # 111):

"Sis, do you have any fire based magic? If not, just light a torch for me and I'll toss a few oil flasks."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:59, Fri 25 Dec 2015.

This message was deleted by the player at 02:10, Sat 23 Jan 2016.

Gharuk had clearly not had any experience with such a large foe before and hesitated before the obvious physical superiority of the troll to his own beefy build. Taking his brothers lead, though, Gharuk stepped forward, shoving Mila behind him, drew forth the axe at his belt and let fly; the bolts had made it bleed and if it bleeds it can be killed...right?

Start Position: H5
Move: S-H7
Free Action: Draw Handaxe
Action: Attack (ranged) - Handaxe
01:05, Today: Gharuk rolled 20 using 1d20+6.  Ranged Attack (handaxe)
01:06, Today: Gharuk rolled 10 using 1d6+4.  Damage.

Ghorgath tosses two oil flasks at the troll. They crack with large pop and spread oil chaotically over the troll and the ground he stands on. Holding up his crossbow, he shows the soaked cloth covered end to the troll and smiles as he lights it.

Raising the crossbow to his should, he pegs the troll in the knee, and the oil (and the troll) burst into flames. The troll's screams of pain pierce the halls ...

... I'm melting, meeeellltttiiinngggggg the troll gurgles as it disolves into a puddle of green ichor.

OOC: This is my attempt to wrap up this encounter, as I fear this thread, this group, and the entire game is at risk of folding. This is me hitting the emergency alarm.