ONE HUNDRED TWENTY SEVEN
(I/C)
“Lannis,” Kovid asked, “May I borrow a stick of Cinnamon, I have none of my own.”
“Same,” Lyra said, “I’m also going to need a piece of cinnamon if someone can spare.”
The dwarf bit it in half, returning the other half to the Magic User, chewed on it a bit, and then proceeded to smear the majority of it all over his beard, hair, and clothes.
“Um,” The cleric hesitated as Abraxas broke a piece in half and gave part to her. She was watching the dwarf’s actions with a grimace. “Wait... we can’t just like... show then the cinnamon and they let us pass? Honestly I’m not fond of the smell of this stuff.”
Meanwhile Lannis was wiping half of the stick across his own body as Wyn took one of the few remaining pieces from the Magic User and used his knife to scrape the outside of it. Brendon took the other half when Wyn was done, the elf liberally spreading the dust across his hair, skin, and clothes. The Scout was matching the dwarf’s actions, chewing on a piece and then adding it to his own clothes and hair.
Abraxas chewed his piece as well and the rest of the group spent a few minutes wiping the last of the cinnamon everywhere.
Brendon, dusting the last off into his cloak and skin, whispered, “So the Ballista? Used as a dolly?”
“Pretty poor dolly, Brendon.”
“Senor Wyndell,” Abraxas shrugged, “I don’t think it be ballista.”
“How so? Scrapes on the floor and everything.”
“Si, si. Scrapes indeed. But the ballista, eet be wood, si? Not stone. And wood wheels not make such big marks on stone. So I don’t know, but not ballista.”
“Hmm,” Kovid bristled his beard. “Might be right.”
“Seemed pretty stupid, even for kobolds, to bring a ballista down stairs and then up stairs,” Noted Lyra.
“But the Ballista COULD be at the top of the steps then.”
Kovid held up his hand. “I’ll go look. I can see in the dark.”
“And I will go wit’ Senor Klovert an’ get the rope and make sure all is bueno.”
“Aww,” Lannis snapped his fingers, “and I was going to volunteer.” He held up his hand swiftly, staving off any further conversation, “It’s better this way. Kovid can go look.”
Kovid smiles, held his lantern aloft, Brendon lifted his light stone in reply, and the dwarf and fighter started walking down the corridor (remove 2 cinnamon sticks from Lannis, Remove 1 cinnamon stick from Abraxas). The two friends moved together, eyes peeled and following the rope up the passage, the fighter coiling it up one loop at a time. (Ambient silence: Dwarf -5 penalty, Fighter -3 penalty: >Red/Black 16 – modified to 24, failed) They tried to be quiet but both of them could hear the odd sqeaks and noises their armor and footsteps made as they trod up the passage. “Hmm,” Kovid muttered, “Brendon makes this look so easy.”
“Ha, don’t tell me about it.”
They kept walking, ear straining to hear (Listen, >Blue 16, >Yellow 5, failed) but nothing was heard in the cool hall. Just before the doorway, Abraxas was getting the last of the rope coiled up and working to untie it from the back of the knob, Kovid put down the lantern and crept closer to the open portal, walking away from the light enough for his infravision to kick in.
The world devolved to stray greens and blues as the cool air circulated around the area, from the floor and up, swirling about on unseen eddys of moving breeze. Wisps of his own body heat danced in the cool air like an aura about him (Ambient half wisdom check: >Yellow 16, failed) giving him a smile. At the corner he could see across the opening to the caved in portion some 20 plus paces away, nothing was there except broken stone.
“You’ve got this,” he muttered to himself, hand gripping the edge of the door frame as he prepared to look around. “Go look, a few seconds, piece of cake.”
“Cake, Senor?” he heard Abraxas ask from behind.
“Later, I hope.”
“Bueno.”
“Ok, seems fairly easy.” He took a deep breath, pulled the poncho tighter around him, “No ballista, no ballista, no ballista.”
And pulled himself forward to look around the corner.
As his vision swirled and made sense of the cool steps running up, blues running to green, at the top of the steps was an outline of a shape he didn’t recognize briefly, leaning out at the edge of the steps. And two heat sources just coming into view.
And then it was just too late.
Later he had a moment to process exactly what he saw and it went like: the stone cask from the Slime room was at the top of the steps balancing on its edge with two kobolds right behind it, one with a spear hook on the edge, the other shoving its weight against it. He remembered thinking, “Oh! The stone cask would mark up the floor and crumble the end of the steps.”
In the next fraction of a second, the dwarf would see the stone cask fall down the stairs as he tried to get his limbs to move in time, the heavy cask making a smashing cacaophany as it fell towards him (Save vs Death Ray, <Black 3 – failed), but he was rooted in the place for just a moment too long as the cask bounced and hit and SLAMMED into him (1d6 Damage, Red/Black 6 – Take 6 Damage!).
“Oh Thor’s Ass!” he swore silently as he was knocked down with the VERY HEAVY Cask leaning against him, time still not moving correctly, his ribs hurting. “I will NEVER get myself fully healed as long as this shit keeps happening to me.”
The next moment was the horrific realization that the barrel’s landing also SPLASHED out something from within it. It had a vinegary smell and felt like cold ooze (Save vs Death Ray: <Teal 7 – failed) as it splattered against his chest, midsection, as well as his beard and splashed on his hands and face. “Feel so wrong,” he thought in that next split instant, “Feels so…slimy.”
(Green slime on poncho – MUST be removed this round our it will get to armor. Green slime on Dwarf! Must be BURNED off in (1d4 rounds, Red/Black 3) or dwarf DIES and turns to green slime.)
“THOR!! FUCK!!!” Kovid roared and time raced back to full speed at the same instant that the kobolds at the top of the steps shouted, “They are here!” (Initiative check: Party Steel 5, Kobolds red/Black 3).
Time now is 8:05
(OOC)
Kovid – you are on the floor, stone cask is resting on you but you should be able to roll it off and stand up. You MUST get the poncho off this round OR it will finish eating through and get to your new platemail armor. Again. You MUST have the slime burned off of you, and fast or in 3 rounds you will be dead and turn to green slime. Fire applied to slime is HALF to slime and HALF to you. Slime needs to have 1d8 hp of damage done to it, Red/Black 6 – so need to do 6 damage to slime – and that means 6 points of fire damage to you as well.
Party is 90’ down the hall except for Abraxas who is here with a coil of 100’ of rope and lantern with an hour of oil still in it on the floor. 2 kobolds at top of the stairs, one with a spear, neither is Gowan Sukiht.
You guys have initiative.
Go.
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