[ Session Start! Exposition incoming, and I think I'm lagging! ] [ We find Our Heroes just around the corner from (dun-dun-duuuuun!) the outpost currently occupied by the Duergar! At least, that's what the Kobold's crudely drawn map indicates. Let's see how they react! ] [ And, go. ^_^ ] * Tia pokes around inquisitively, but she doesn't wander too far ahead. * Ariake is looking around even more carefully, now. "Trouble ahead, quite possibly." * Patrick smirks. "Ya think?" What kind of trouble? * Seylin whispers. "We're really close, looks like." * HKenji takes the lead, if he didn't already have it. Nobody else can have the lead! * Tia is the PENULTIMATE lead! * Patrick lets Kenji have the lead! [ Istvan is unusually quiet today, even for him. Vall, on the otherhand, had a sneezing fit a while back and disappeared. ] * Seylin doesn't fight Kenji for the lead at all. She's behind Tia. * Will tries to stay in the center of the group. Safest place to be! * Ariake is near the center/rear of the group. * Tia clings onto a piece of Kenji's clothing with a gloved hand. I don't know if I like this place so much anymore. * Tia has apparently forgotten that she thought Kenji was mad at her. [ Not that this surprised any of you in the slightest, mind. ] * Patrick is in da back. But that doesn't mean jack, as he's deadlier from there than the front. >:) * Seylin patpats Tia. "It's okay. We're all right here. We can take care of this, I know it!" * Ariake nods. *** Istvan has joined #canyonhome * Tia nods. "Okay, if you say so." Her other hand, not clutching Kenji's sleeve, is closed tightly over the grip of her axe. Do dwarven outposts always look so ominous? No, just the ominous ones. ( Istvan! j0! You don't have to be unusually quiet anymore. ^_~ ) * HKenji moves swiftly forward, and frowns slightly as his sleeve is pulled back. * Seylin nods. It's a sensible answer. * Tia keeps up easily with Kenji (I think?). * HKenji looks back at Tia. "Do you mind?" Oh. Sorry! * Will nods. "I see." * Tia lets go. * Tia wonders again if Kenji is mad at her. * HKenji looks forward again before he accidentally walks into a wall or something. * Tia still tags along beyond Kenji. I don't see any bad people. Do you? [ View of potential bad people is blocked by a large crook in the tunnel up ahead, but only because you can't see through rock. ] * Istvan moves with the group, pretty much parallel to Tia/Kenji. As mentioned before, he's rather quiet, seeming to focus more on eyeing their surroundings. He's also twirling his war pick in his hands incessently. * Seylin speaks in slightly above a whisper. "Um, guys! Shouldn't we, y'know, plan or scout ahead or something?" Anyone got some X-Ray glasses? * Patrick smiles. * Tia stops in mid-stride. "Um, plan? Oh." She suddenly remembers Kenji's dragon puzzle box. "I guess we should plan." As a matter of fact... ... no, but I'm suddenly wishing I'd thought to bring along those scrolls of darkvision. * Tia is still holding the glow stick that Vall gave her. Woulda been a hell of a lot more stealthy if we didn't have to walk in holding light sticks. I have great vision in the dark, but not x-ray, that's for sure... Yeah, I can see fine in the dark, too. But not through rocks. * HKenji shrugs and strides fearlessly around the crook in the tunnel. Maybe Seylin could scout? I can see in the dark, and I'm sneaky. Makes sense to me! * Seylin grins. Oh. Sure. That sounds good. ...except Kenji's already gone ahead too. * Istvan blinks at Kenji, and pokes his head around the corner. * Tia also hides her sunrod (is that what it's called) in her haversack. Yeah. Don't get caught Seylin. ^_^ * Ariake nods. "I'll help scout." Eh.. You sure? * Seylin looks at Ariake. "You sneaky?" * Tia stays in place and sits back on her haunches. * HKenji is gone when Istvan pokes his head around the corner. * Ariake smiles. "I try." Okay, then. Follow me! * Seylin looks back at Patrick. "And as if I'd ever get caught!" * Tia waves to Seylin. * Ariake nods, and heads after Seylin with considerable stealth. * Tia waves to Ariake. [ Kenji walks around the crook in the tunnel, and right into the open sight of all those archers which aren't actually there right now. The outpost has a few torches burning on the outside, and no windows. There's a large reinforced door on the dront of the building itself, and before that is a tall wall of earth that looks like it was fairly recently built. ] ... I'm not sneaky, so I'll be providing backup and moral support. * Patrick grins and pats Seylin on the back. * Seylin waves back to Tia, gives Patrick a ^_^_v sign, pulls up the hood of her cloak and heads off. Stealthy like ninja! * Tia moves up a little and sits next to Istvan. * HKenji looks around from his vantage point for any watch posted by these dark dwarves. * Ariake follows! * Patrick follows Kenji's lead, but doesn't go past him. He tries being sneaky too. ^_^ [ Nobody spots Kenji, oddly enough. Which is odd, because Samurai aren't normally stealthy like ninja. ] * Istvan glances back at Tia and, reassured that it's nothing dangerous behind him (just an half-dragon with the mind of a small child), he returns his focus to the outpost thingee. * HKenji makes a soft thud as he lands just behind Patrick. [ Oh, there he is! ] * HKenji whispers into Patrick's ear, "Boo." * Patrick smiles. "So that's where you went." ^_^ (Quietly, by the way.) * Tia tries to peer around the rock. Her curiosity has gotten the better of her. Where are they...? * HKenji walks around Patrick and takes the lead again. Can I go too? * Will follows closely behind Tia. * Istvan glances back up at Tia. "Probably inside. And not yet... we're the bashers in this group, not the sneaky ones." Aww, okay. * Tia fidgets. [ Nobody sees anybody. No duergar, no kobolds, no ancient red dragons, no cambions, and no giant fish. ] You guys may be bashers. The only reason I'm not up there is I need light to see. * Tia stays still for about a second before getting restless again. "I'm bored." * HKenji strides boldly forward, pulling a burning torch from the sleeve of his kimono. Bored is good. Means nobody's trying to kill you yet. [ The wall of earth has had a split made in it recently, about three feet wide. The shovels are still to one side of it, as is the pile containing the earth that was moved; some of it still seems dampish. ] And I'm not exactly stealthy in full plate mail. That and the need for light also. ^_^ Oh. Yeah. I guess you're right. * Tia starts doodling things in the cave floor with an extended foreclaw. * HKenji looks back at Tia, Patrick, and Istvan. "Are you coming, or have you decided to turn coward?" Oh, can I go now? * Patrick grins. "I'll be there, even if you don't know it." ... I've decided to wait until our scouts come back. * Tia runs forward and skids to a stop next to Kenji and company. * Istvan scowls. "As I'd advise you to do, unless you've decided to turn idiot." * Tia grins. "I'm here!" * HKenji keeps walking. * Tia follows Kenji. [ The wall of earth is about four feet high. On the other side, stairs lead up to the entrance to the outpost. ] Hey Kenji, don't forget that I'm here too! Did anyone see any bad people? * Patrick follows Kenji at a distance. * Will walks between Tia and Patrick. ... right. * Istvan follows the others, making his way to near Kenji and Tia. * Tia guesses not, since no one replied. * Seylin reappears next to the split in the wall of earth and waves to the group. [ Everything's really quiet. Well, except for you guys. Y'all are noisy. ] * Tia tries to step over the wall. [ Tia, alas, while mightily tall, is not *that* tall. She could maybe jump over it, or she might be able to squeeze through the gap, tho. ] * Ariake steps over next to Seylin, and nods. * Seylin makes an "all clear" motion. * Tia fails and decides to try the gap instead. [ Tia manages to get through the gap without making it *too* much wider. ] * Istvan notes said "all clear", and makes his way towards the gap. * Tia shakes like a dog to get the dirt off, then proceeds ahead. * Patrick nods, and makes his way to the gap as well. * Tia looks around. * Will walks through the gap behind Patrick. [ Tia sees the door about ten feet ahead. It's big, it's a door, and it looks fairly recently reconstructed; it's made of a hard, dark wood banded in iron. ] * Seylin heads through after Istvan. * Tia points at the door and looks toward everyone else with a questioning expression. * Patrick lets the rest of the party lead. It's good to be an archer. Everyone else gets hit before you. ^_^ * Tia moves toward the door and taps the handle lightly with a finger. * Tia turns and glances back at everyone else again. * Seylin holds up a hand for Tia to wait until the whole group gets there. * Istvan shakes his head at Tia. * Tia nods and stands her ground. * HKenji shakes his head a little and finally comes through the gap. * Will walks up next to Patrick. Brushing off bits of dirt from his armor. * Tia wags her tail. * HKenji looks the door over for a keyhole. * Istvan shoots a questioning look back at Seylin, the resident door expert. * Seylin grins at Istvan, then walks up to the door, first looking it over for traps and the like. * Seylin gives a satisfied nod, then pulls out her lockpicks. She looks at the group, then motions to the door, silently asking if she should proceed. * Tia waits. * Ariake nods. * Patrick waits as well. He nods. * Will nods. * Seylin gets to work, then! [ Before long, the sound of some really ponderous tumblers turning can be heard, and the door swings slightly open. ] * Tia hefts her axe and peers in. * Seylin flashes a quick victory sign, then steps aside to let the lead people through. [ There is a distinct lack of fighters waiting to kill you on the other side of the door. ] * Tia goes on in. * Tia turns to face everyone. "There's no one here!" * Seylin quickly makes a shushing motion! * Ariake hangs back for a moment, then blinks at Tia's statement. * Tia shuts up quickly. [ There are no exclamations of surprise from inside. ] * Istvan follows Tia, war pick resting on his shoulder. He looks alert, but... *EYES Tia* * Tia looks sheepish. * Seylin whispers. "Should I look ahead again?" * Will whispers, "This place is a bit too quite don't you think?" * Ariake nods, and whispers "Suspicious." * Tia talks again, this time in a whisper, "Why is there no one here?" * Istvan shakes his head. *whisper* "We're inside already... last thing to do is split up." * Will nods. *whisper* "Lets just explore around together and be on the alert." [ Immediately inside is a large curving room with two doors on the far side. It's empty, but there's a rank smell in it. ] * Ariake nods. * Seylin shrugs, then nods. * Tia sniffs and coughs quietly. "It doesn't smell too good in here." She is still whispering. * Tia approaches the doors. * Seylin wrinkles her cute little nose. "Yeah..." * Patrick looks around and whispers. "That's because they're Drugar." * Tia glances toward Seylin. * HKenji wrinkles his nose a bit and moves across the room to the leftmost of the two doors. * Seylin nods to Tia, then points at Kenji. * Istvan follows Kenji, eyes darting left and right. * Tia blinks at Seylin, the follows Kenji. * HKenji stops several feet away and looks the door over. * Seylin grips the haft of her halberd tightly, having put away her lockpicks. [ Smells more like Orc, oddly enough. Duergar being dwarves, they prolly don't smell like Orcs. ] [ The doors are doors. They are also new and reinforced, but smaller than the outside door. They both have large mechanical locks in them, as well as handles. ] * Tia sneezes. "I think I know this smell," she whispers. * Ariake looks at the doors, and hmms. * Will walks up next to Tia. "Yeah, almost smells like orcs." * Tia glances back at Seylin. * Seylin nods to will. "Yeah..." She walks up to the doors. "Need these opened?" Whispering the whole time, of course. * Patrick smirks and whispers. "You think'n of the Orc man, then?" Yes. Orcs... almost as bad as duregar. * Seylin looks over the doors for traps again. * Tia nods at Seylin. Take your time, Seylin. We're not on a time limit. * Patrick nods. It's a pass-fail course, not a time trial. * Tia waits as patiently as Tia can. * Istvan takes a few steps away from the group, and eyes the surroundings warily. * Ariake steps back, watching the area with Istvan. * Tia passes her greataxe from hand to hand. * Seylin looks satisfied, then pulls out her lockpicks and gets to work again. Slowly and carefully. * Tia stays by Seylin and watches with fascination as she works. * Patrick keeps his wits about, checking behind him occassionally. * Tia wags her tail again. [ Neither Patrick nor his wits see anyone that isn't part of your group. ] * Will looks around and admires the dwarven architecture. (Well duh.) * Tia sniffs the air again and makes a disgusted face. [ With a sneeze, Vall reappears! Which doesn't surprise anyone. ] * Seylin beams! Success! She puts her lockpicks away and motions to the group. * Patrick nods. * Tia is right by Seylin. * HKenji steps forward to the door and motions for people to clear a space around it. * Tia scoots aside a little. * Seylin steps back. She waves at Vall. * Istvan walks back to the group, nodding vaguely at Vall. * Ariake waves to Vall. * Patrick smiles at Vall. * Will takes a couple steps back away from the door. * Tia glances behind her and grins at Vall. * HKenji pulls the door open. * Tia peers in with her weapon ready. * Vall looks around, taking in where the group is. [ There is an empty, curving hallway on the other side of the door. ] * Patrick snaps softly (which isn't any louder than the door), the Bow of Badass appearing in his hand as he nocks an arrow on the bow without drawing it. * Tia walks in cautiously. [ Just to the right of you is another door - this one with no lock. Off to the left, the hallway curves until it meets another door. ] * Tia peeks around the corner. * HKenji GLARES at Tia as he is rudely pushed out of the way. * Seylin takes up her halberd again. * Tia glances back at Kenji when she feels someone bump her side and gives him an apologetic look. * Vall nocks an arrow in his bow, just to be safe. "Has it been this quiet the entire time?" he whispers. * Patrick nods. * Will replies, "Yeah. Eerie isn't it?" * Tia whispers to Kenji, "Sorry. Are you mad at me?" * Patrick follows close to Seylin. Just go. * Tia nods and goes, but she still looks sorry. * Istvan shakes his head. Once Tia goes in, he gestures for Kenji to enter ahead of him. * HKenji enters, staying well back from Tia's tail. [ Tia thumps her way into the hall. Ahead of her, the door stands it's ground without showing any fear. ] * Istvan follows Kenji. Whee. * Seylin trails behind Istvan, Patrick right behind her, presumably. * Tia sniffs the air as she walks. * Vall and Patrick pull up the rear, bows nocked for action. * Ariake walks along to the side, next to Patrick. (patrick's popular, perhaps?) * Patrick is near Vall, Ariake, and Seylin. [ Tia reaches the door, which has yet to start quivering in fear. ] (Yes.) * Will runs up to line up behind Tia. (remember, archers to the rear, spellcasters in the middle, tanks up front?) (Yup.) * Tia looks to see if it's locked. * Tia puts her hand on the door and glances back for approval. * Will waves for her to go on. * Ariake nods. * Seylin approves! * Tia grins and opens the door as gingerly as she is able. (IOW, she yanks the door right off its hinges?) ( Tia opens the door gingerly. She is capable of that. ) ( >|-D ) * Tia looks around. [ Another curved section of hallway; with the one you're still in, it forms a nice simicircle. To your right is an arch with a spiral staircase behind it. To the left is a door with no lock but a bar on this side of it, strangely enough. On the far end is an archway, which is nice becaus it's not another door. ] * Tia turns back to the others and whispers, "No one here, either." * Tia walks into the hallway so everyone else can walk through the door. Perhaps they abandoned it because they could not penetrate the keep. (Spiral staircase going up, down, or both?) [ Both. On the down end is a door made of the same stuff as the dwarven deepshack you were in last session. ] I doubt that would stop them. * Ariake steps in, looking around. "Well, huh." * Tia walks over to the far end of the room and peers through the archway. Might they have simply gotten bored of this place? [ Tia sees another curved hallway. Apparently, the place is circular. ] * Seylin looks around inquisitively. * Istvan walks along with the group silently, taking in the surroundings. * Patrick glances back and forth. He is popular. ^_^ [ Next to the greenish metalic door at the bottom of the stairs is a box full of tools; presumably, someone has been trying to get through the door.] * Vall heads over to the staircase, and heads halfway up to the next level, to see if there's anything that way. * HKenji steps out onto the spiral staircase and goes down to examine the door. * Tia rejoins the rest. "I think it goes back to where we started," she whispers. Can I try this door? * Tia points at the door with the bar. * HKenji looks for some sort of keyhole on the door. * Seylin holds up a hand for Tia to wait. [ The green door has a keyhole in the very center. Tools are still sticking out of it. ] [ Vall, meanwhile, goes up to find another archway leading to another round hallway. ] * Tia nods. Hope there's no more of that slime creature here. (DM: anything upstairs, by any chance?) * HKenji takes out the small key that was with the note and tries it in the keyhole. * Seylin gives Will the Look of You Do Not Say Things Like That, Lest They Come True. * Patrick has been following Seylin. STupid Vall. * Tia peers down the stairway to see what everyone else is doing. * Vall heads back down. "Looks like another circular passageway upstairs. What do you have here?" [ Upstairs is an archway leading to what looks to be a guard tower, with a wall looking through a great deal of hollowed-away rock to look at a pathway somewhere. ] * Tia glances at Vall. "I think it's a door. With things sticking out of it." * Seylin then turns her attention to Kenji. Opening a door with a key? That's no fun. * Will nods apologetically to Seylin. Can I go upstairs? [ There aren't any doors up here. ] Splitting up tends to lead to bad situations. [ Spot check from anyone who's upstairs. ] Okay. I'll stay here, then. [ Vall spots something moving through the window. More accurately, lots of things moving. ] We've got company, folks! Who's there? What? What's coming? * Tia follows Vall up the stairs. And where? Get down here Vall. * Vall jumps off the stairs, landing softly and elf-like on the floor. "Upstairs. And probably the duergar we've been looking for." * Will pulls his sword out of the scabbard and holds it tensely. [ From what Vall can see, it's a bunch of grey-skinned dwarves and a bunch of orcs. The orcs are lugging along hand-carts loaded with supplies. ] I didn't get that good a look. * Tia wanders back down. [ Presumably, they're currently further up along the tunnel that led you here. ] ( sure, make me change my lines... ) * Ariake curses, quietly. How many? [ Several. Lots. Can't be sure. ] Too many for me to count. I thought I saw some orcs in the mess as well. Fortunately, I don't think they spotted me. Great. Now what? * Tia 's eyes widen. "Wow." Fight or flight, no? Our job is to eliminate them, isn't it? Well, we were asked to clear the outpost of duergar, were we not? * Ariake nods, and smiles disturbingly. Do we have enough explosives to set up a quick ambush? That depends entirely on how many there are. Seylin, why don't you go check? Right, right. * Istvan bounces the blunt end of his war pick up and down on his shoulder. * Seylin pulls the hood of her cloak back up and slips out, intending to do a quick flyover and report back, all stealthy-like. * Ariake steps towards the door and peers outside, looking for a good place to set up an ambush. * Tia stands ready. I figure if we can cause a hole large enough to dump a lot of them downwards, we can get the drop on them from above. ... if we're dropping them down from above us, how are we gonna be above them? [ Ariake sees the earthen wall with the gap in it, and that's pretty much it. ] * Seylin slips back in. "Twelve duergar and fifteen orcs, guys. And, um. One of the duergar looks kinda reddish." Reddish? Reddish? He's prolly the leader. * Seylin nods. "Reddish." I think we can take them. Take him out, the rest should run. * Ariake nods. "I think the wall's about the best place to hit them." Nice that he's marked out as the boss. The gap in the wall? Yes. * Vall nods. Very well. I'll meet them at the gap, where they can only come one at a time. The rest of you come from the other side. ... you wha? * Tia looks confused. I don't get it. I thought we were going to try and take them out before it came down to hand-to-hand combat. I do. He wants to be the bait. Showoff. Then we ambush them from the other side. Oh. Gotcha. (there's a touch of a smirk in his voice when he says that) Hey, if he wants to put his neck on the line, I'm fine with that. I know you're good enough to keep yourself alive. Ahh, I see now. * Patrick smirks at Kenji. It is a perfectly viable tactic often used to great effect in ground- bound battles. Do I get to ambush? Not only that, I think you'll get to scare them. * Ariake smiles. "I hope to." Oh, good! That sounds fun! Patrick, you and I will stay in the back and fight at range. Tia, Istvan, you two are the fighters, so as soon as the trap is sprung, go do your stuff. Ariake, hit them from above. Will, be ready with a few spells to help out, and not just curative, okay? * Tia nods. "Okay.” Understood. I have to go get in position. Well good luck Kenji. Hope Bahumut protects you. * Patrick grins. "I certainly hope you have a nice variety of flaming death available." Got it. * Will casts Resistance on Kenji * Istvan eyes Kenji, and then shrugs. "Ballsy. Stupid, but ballsy." We need you intact though, Will, so don't get into melee unless you can't help it. And me? Ok. Hit them from above? Do what you do best, of course. * Seylin grins. "That I can do!" * Tia wags her tail. * HKenji eyes Will as the priest lays an unasked-for hand on him. * HKenji turns and walks away quickly. * Patrick eyes Will and edges away. "Man, what are you doing?" There looks to be enough room there for Ariake to maneuver in the air. * Tia waves to Kenji. Hmm, I can do that. I take it you'd rather I wait until the battle starts, correct? * Tia walks over to join Istvan. Right. So what do we do? * Will grumbles, "Just make sure you survive Kenji." * Ariake nods. * Istvan rubs his forehead as Kenji walks out of earshot. "No survival instinct whatsoever..." *looks up* Guess we better get in position. * Will takes position behind Vall. * Ariake gets well back, ready to take flight. * Tia nods. "I'm going to follow you, Istvan." She grins. * Seylin mirrors Ariake. She might not have heaps of flaming death, but she has a sharp pointy weapon! Think Kenji'll be okay? I don't want him to die. [ And so Our Heroes ready themselves for the battle to come! END SESSION! ]