Ibahalii Vriwhulth, the Reaper of Glory v2: IC Thread (PbP)

" Miss perfect?...I am mostly covered in stinking slime after you make something explode. " she shake her head and rub her temples recalling the spuder goo. But his adressing of the assasin problem. Her dark past coming to haunt her and trying to enslave her again  chill her anger at least. Again she is reminded.

" ok mr Meat , miss Perfect and blue chaos creator are helping each other out. Ended up here...to do their best. Whatever 'best' is...I am soryy for your loss Merkas..."

She bite her tounge for speaking more hurtful things. It is tempting belive lashing out release pain. Pain just get tgrown back in arguments.

She stand and wait

Buckeran stands... stunned by the verbal sparring. He didn't really know how much of a burden his escort was carrying. Especially Merkas, who always seemed so cheerful and carefree.

Orr the Unshattered steps into position beside Barkly. They're not as strong a caster as Merkas or Sera, and without to stars to empower their tattoos they are limited by the spells attained through study. But they remain resolved to protect Buckeran, Barkly, and Merkas from the middle rank until they are all back to safety. They clench their fist and raise it to their face. Small sparks arc a half inch from their knuckles, as Orr makes their silent vow.

Buckeran finally clears his throat. "Very well then." He hands the amulet to Merkas, and fills the Alchemy jug with wine. "Have a seat on Barkly and drink hardy. You'll probably be drunk by the time the healing sets in, but at least you'll be healed up and ready for what comes next."

For a Kender your size, a pint is a lot of alchohol. You'll roll two CON Saves (DC 10, then DC 12) versus Poison, at Disadvantage (due to Exhaustion). If you succed on both, you receive no new penalties. If you fail one, nothing changes, since you're already Poisoned, but you are tipsy, and feeling emboldened. Add Heroic Inspiration to your character sheet. If you fail both, you receive another level of Exhaustion, no Heroic Inspiration. After that, you receive 4d4+4 HP, and can give back the Amulet of the Drunkard.

“Our pasts are what the are. Only one of us chose our path. You two had it thrust upon you.if your pasts continue to come for you, they will have to get through me first.”

”Now, let’s sort through that equipment before something else comes along.”

The small Kender accepts the amulet and drink, tipping up the jug and barely stopping until it’s empty. After a few moments it seems to have little effect on him other than the aforementioned healing it would provide. (Accidentally rolled to DM only but Con Saves at Dis: 18 and dirty 20, and 16 healing from the amulet) 

Afterwards he climbs back up on Barkly and practically passes out from the exhaustion of his nights efforts and the emotional outpouring. “Onward to piles of loot!”

"Let us go..." Sera give look at Merkas. Healing by drinking booze? And he not  in best of shapes. But she not press the point. They are not knights of Solamnia. 

She just hope this mission not end with facing a undead dragon. 

"We fibd that loot..then some kobolds"

You follow the path showed you by the myconids again. The little golem gets out of your way and lets you through. But Merkas can't ride atop Barkly through the tunnels. He stumbles drunkenly through the walkway until you end up near the natural stairway where the myconid's kindergarten was.

It would seem that the myconids had no use for the treasure... true. But the kobolds did. By leaving the found treasure at the top of the stairs, the myconids were paying tribute to the kobolds to keep the peace. You find a few missed copper coins and rusted weapons for your trouble. But up the stairs, with the myconids no longer providing a steady supply of treasure, the kobolds are getting more active. Blue scaled warriors seem to be preparing for an expansion of their territory.

You find 9 CP, a rusty dagger, a broken scimitar, and 5 broken darts.

Hastos sighs as he finishes rummaging through what turns out to not be treasure, but a pile of refuse.

” I must admit this failed even my lowest expectations.” Hastos says disappointedly.

Seeing the amassing  kobold troops, Hastos adds “ Looks like someone is looking to expand.”  Hastos surveys, the troops. “… but why would they need troops and armor to expand into an unprotected territory?” 

Sera keep an eye on the kobolds forming. " we know where it went...anyway we need to get past the male kobolds. Somehow. The priestess said they been a bit corrupted. So we get access to the dead blue dragon. I try convince them to let us pass. "

With that Sera pray...and her god infuse her charisma with otherwordly strenght. Her appesrance commands respect, admiration, obidience...or what she wants.

( cast Enhanche ability charisma)

She ignite her sunblade and make it shine. 

Fulky armed and walking like she owns the place and area queen with her male subjects following Sera will approach the Kobold males and command them. " let us pass!" Her eyes almost sparkle of divine fury...

The wave of her hand is clear even they may speak little common. 

( intimidation 24)

Sera crests the stairs to find 8 well-armed kobolds stomping about, testing their gear, and yapping at each other. Your booming alert echoes off the chamber with enough force to break loose an already crumbling stalactite, which smashes on the floor right where one of the kobolds is about to step. Not expecting a human voice, the males practically jump out of their skin!

Kobolds cannot roll high enough to save vs 24.
Kobolds are Intimidated into letting you pass. But they don't know which way you wish to go.

They clambor, stumbling over each other to get back from the source of the noise, until they're densely packed, spears pointed towards the stairs, at the northern end of the cave, around 45' from the top of the stairs. A quick study of their gear shows these to be much stronger warriors than Letni Inhelk's kind, with far better equipment. And even though they're frightened of you, they are prepared for battle. Some empty bottles of potions are arleady scattered on the ground with similar labels as the one you saw in the Letni Inhelk cave. If this breaks into combat, it will be a challenging battle.

They peer at you with wide, startled eyes. The biggest one steps out from the crowd, still jittery from the surprise, but trying to act tough. "Who -rrnk- who are you that -yip YIP- demands passage?!" His face is twitchy and his mouth drools. He holds his sword up and you can see it glowing with magical energy. He clangs it against his shield and sparks fly, in a diplay of strength. By his unstable demeanor and stammering speech, you can tell he's not well. The magical poison has him thinking only of conquest in battle.

General image of the kobolds (but blue)

" I am Sera...blessed by the great Platinium Dragon Paladine " Sera Displays her shining silvery symbol formed if a dragon. Then look the kobolds up and down " this are my servants " point back at her so called males ". I am here to pay honor your shrine. I spoke earlier with your pristess. Guide way to her ...male..." Sera try copy the matriarch tone and persuasion. Expect obidience.

 ( persuasion 18)

Merkas, in his exhausted and half drunk state, listens to the exchange, listening to the kobolds and paying attention to anything they say in their own language, happy to be able to practice what he learned from Kasi. 
(Anything that Merkas hears from these kobolds as he learned yip-yap from Kasi? Perc at Dis:8)

When Sera starts talking about dragons the kender urges Barkly forward to better be seen by the kobolds. (Giving help action to Sera, a dragon kin creature is at her command) 

The leader eyes you suspiciously for a few moments, but his instincts demand that he submit to a female's authority. He bows his head and makes a sacred gesture at the mention of Paladine.

"What is the priestesses name?" He asks, his held tilted in cautious suspicion, testing your integrity.

" Vavla...sorceress Vavla actually. We are here by her permission too. So are we done with delays? Me and my bunch of male servants prefer be on our way. You should let us meet your queen"

Sera give him a look of impatience.

A glint of recognition flashes in the kobold warrior's eyes, and he slumps visibly, and growls to himself in frustration. "Very well -hrnnk- follow me..." Dissapointed to be escorting outsiders right before his moment of glory, he dutifully guides you to the back of the lines, where a fork in the path leads to two dead ends. He takes the right path and bounds ahead, a weird, hopping run, before looking back over his shoulder. "DON'T LOOK!"

He cozies up to a particular patch of the crystal wall, and covers what he's doing with his hands with his body. After a moment, the cave wall parts to reveal a hidden chamber with a carved and polished, low hanging crystal ceiling. It's just high enough for humans to walk upright, but it feels cramped for medium sized creatures. When you look inside, you see what appears to be the ruins of what would be an otherwise quaint hamlet. There are shops, forges, a school, a nursery, and a tavern... all in a fetid state of disrepair.The smell is nearly unbearable, as filth has piled up in all corners of the hamlet. Everything is scaled down to accomodate kobolds or any other small-sized creature, so entering a building would require medium-sized creatures to duck, and a large sized creature would not easily fit without doing some damage to the structures. Not that damaging any of these structures would be easy. They were painstakingly carved with reverent care out of stone and crystal. It lacks the ornate finess of dwarven craft, but it's every bit as sturdy.

Two things are immediately noticable...

Firstly, the place is crawling with kobolds. Blue scaled dragon kin are packed tightly together in a swarming mass. Most of them do not appear to be combatants though. This is their home. Children and adults mill about... some of them getting into fights over food or baubles, nipping at each other with their pointed teeth.

Secondly, you see a massive, hastily erected prison system. Cages contain the most unstable kobolds, chained to the floor with manacles, and curled up in a fetal position, muttering and yipping to no one in particular.

The leader sends a runner to summon Vavla, who approaches you while you take in the scene.

"It was dangerous for you to come here, Sera of the Platinum Dragon." She looks around nervously. "Some may attempt to eat you. My apologies for not meeting you eariler. I've been..." she looks tired. The strain of her role in the clan clearly wearing on her. "Delayed. Have you brought the evidence I need to persuade the queen?"

Buckeran taps a pouch and is about to speak up before remembering his role. He approaches Sera and whispers to you. "My research was quite fruitful last night.I wouldn't call it irrefutable, but I've been able to extract some of the poisoned magic that suggests it comes from dragon rot. This whole cave is a powder keg of toxic magic. I doubt these kobolds will last the year at this rate."

Those of you who are not Chaotic Aligned, please make a WIS save, (DC 5) The density of the chaotic energy in the air isn't overpowering, but it is noticeable. Failiing the save has no impact on your capabilities for the first hour. But you are haunted by voices and visions that you can dismiss. Staying in the cave for longer than an hour with a failed save causes Disadvantage on WIS checks. More failed checks could have a cascading impact.

Hastos feels the light waves of chaotic energy awash around him, but does not feel any effects. 
“Anyone else feeling that?” He asks in a low tone. “Orr, how are you doing?” he adds.

Orr the Unshattered shrugs, immune to the debilitating effects of the spoiled magic. They look at their tattoos, which are no longer glowing with star magic. "It is strange to no longer feel the sky's power in my veins, but this new power within me compensates well enough." They gaze at Hastos with those unblinking eyes, then realization dawns. "Oh! The magic in the air. Yes... it is strong. I can almost smell it." They smack their lips and scrape their tongue against their teeth, as if there's a foul taste in their mouth. 

Buckeran seems immune to the effects as well. He's mostly just fussing with his outfit. The filth all around him makes his nose nearly curl with disgust. He clearly doesn't like being here.

“Wuzzat? Seems fine ta me” comes the slightly slurred response “Almost perfectly normal or super normal” Catching himself before sliding off Barkly, Merkas asks the strider “Things seem strange ta you girl?” 

Sera easy shrugs off the effect of chaotic magic...it is just an annoying itch so far. " the chaotic magic lingers here...this place feels indeed just..wrong..."

She nods to Buckeran as he speaks. Then adress Vavla

" thank you for your consern. We have done research and extraxted the poison. My servant Buckeran have details... I have also prepared a divine communication with the Great Platinium dragon Paladine himself. We will ask a question together and we see what he will answer us. If not that is good enough..."

Sera do not continue that reasoning. She looks around the sad condition of the kobolds. So much misery...

"I will stay here untill you are all cured, fed and have a prospect of a better life...now. please guide us to the queen.."

Vavla looks at your drunken blue... male... creature... with a raised eyebrow. Then turns her head back towards Sera and nods. She summons an escort of four more female kobolds to surround you, as much for their protection as yours, then leads you to the queen.

Unlike Letni Inhelk, this queendom is notably small for a kobold clan, and its territory isn't even as big as Santekh. The walk is short, and the approach lacks the grandeur of the red kobolds. There's no impressive thrown room, no fawning servants, no grand hall. Just a simple opening with a notably pregnant queen lounging on a pile of smelly cushions on a slighty raised mound of stone. Any attendees she can spare are more focused on containing those who have succomed to the madness. She's big for a kobold, even if she weren't pregnant, and blatantly miserable.

Vavla greets her in Yipyak, a barking sound with a draconic lilt. The queen nods and gives a reluctant sigh as she hoists herself up. "You... are Sera priestess of Paladine that I was told of. Vavla believes you know how to cure this madness. If you do, my people are in your debt." Her voice is breathy and tired, not possesing the sharp animosity you'd expect from a queen. Her face is worn from worry and exhaustion. The idea of bringing a new clutch into this world as it is weighs heavy on her. She sips from a golden cup of water and takes a deep breath before continuing. "I am Queen Ozula, Mystic Flame, handmaiden of the Great Mother Vezivi, barer of the Blue Spark. Tell me your plan. If it bares merit, my resources are at your command."

Sera bows politely " I am honored Queen...I see how taxing this is for you and your people. We understand you worship a dead blue dragon....you keep its corpse someplace? I will confer with Paladine about the next action needed.."

Sera get fort some incense and lut ut...the villowingvsweet smoke swirls around and she take a deep breath..

" Great Dragon...please answer your servant and guide us. ...we seek to cleanse this place of its sickening aura by finding the blue dragoncorpse ... please tell us how we might succeed..."

Sera eyes turn all white. And her body goes stiff as she seeks answers from her deity

( cast Divination )