Ari quickly checks the entrance for traps, then moves in quietly.
1d20+8=18
The dim cavern, illuminated by the light stone, reveals nothing but old bones-the beings who lived here were clearly relying more on secrecy, then any attempt to defend the place.
He signals the rest to follow.
...
The party shuffles in one a time-aware that a surprise attack at this moment would be very deadly. But, for the moment-fortune holds. In the space of a few seconds they are all arranged in the small antechamber that forms the doorway. They form a defensive position, with Mathia's skeletons making a bony wall-meanwhile, Ari attend to Grace.
1d20+8=28
The cure for vomiting is in his book of recipes, one he learned while treating an old friend who was fond of drinking-it merely needs the leaves and roots of a duckcreeper, a type of ivy with golden-green leaves, delicate branches, and golden roots-crushed and mixed with the dried flowers of ragbuttercup, a plant with yellow flowers and mangy brown leaves that smell of rancid milk. He quickly mixes this into a small cup and add it's to a some quickly mixed cold sweet tea, for flavor. Then, he increases the dose for Goliath-sized Strength.
Though Grace grimaces, once she downs it her pallor improves considerably. A few moments later, her stomach settles it's attempts to turn inside out.
Grace is healed of being sickened!
...
Arranged as is, the party can only watch the single main entrance for any sign of movement, the same one the beast fled down-it's a wider corridor then the entrance, perhaps what amounts to a main thoroughfare-things will be crowded, but the party can move at least two abreast, with a field of skeletons leading the vanguard. Nothing comes at them immediately, however...there is however, a very small passages on the right side of the cave-that look as if it was recently dug, and it leads downward. One normal man could only move through at a crawling pace, though a smaller creature could move much faster.
Only Grace has any knowledge of tunnel fighting, being a Goliath-and even her people prefer the wide open mountains to shrugging through dark corridors. She knows that the enemy, once roused, will likely barricade and defend a single choke point-waiting till their numbers can strike at an enemy attempting to squeeze a narrow pass. A more tenacious enemy prepares multiple lines of defense-falling back once the attacker has gained any advantage, regrouping and cycling in fresh troops in dug fortifications. Only when reaching the very inner sanctum-usually the temples, throne, living and nursery areas-will one find even mere Kobolds fight viciously when their backs are against the wall.
In short, it's a nightmare-and the party will have to decide how to proceed very quickly, while surprise is on their side. Their only saving grace is the fact that such a poor source of food (bodies and garbage dumped from above) likely has not supported an abundance of creatures here-most of these beasts were forced out of the Underdark, much like the people above, by the cataclysm-and with the Night totem gone, most of the underground is a now a nightmarish, unhappy place that does not even support the usually hardy underground life. They are reduced to scraps and hiding, in the hope that a group of adventurers will not find and slaughter them...
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Topic: D&D 3.5 PbP: Oasis/Adventures in Hightown (Play Thread) (Read 10081 times)