Caves of the Kobold Slave Masters

Skritch chitters excitedly at the sound of that. He is certain that demons are behind his ending up on the prime material plane. Ending one is all acorns and gravy to him!  

He wheels Sunhill around to point back up the tunnel towards where they came from. 

"Ay, says I. Yah!"  And, flicking the reins, he gallops off, assuming that the others will be right behind. 

You all return to the tunnel above...

Do you try the left hand door, the right hand door, or do you attempt to open the gates?

(OOC: If no one objects, Skritch will pick one just to move things forward) 

Skritch trots over to the left hand door (as you face the big doors). "This one," he says. "I think we should try, er, this one." He starts pushing on that left door. Sure, he's small (Tiny, technically!), but he's , he's got an uber low centre of gravity (STR 12)! He pushes...

Athletics (Str): 8 + 1 = 9 

So, maybe not as low a CoG as to make a difference... 

OOC: We will assume Vakas did indeed pick the locks on the doors earlier 

Skritch the left hand door opens easily on well oiled hinges. Before you, you see the beginnings of a spiral stone staircase leading upward.

Vakas definitely picks both doors, once the left door is decided upon, he opens it and takes lead again, moving forward to scout ahead.  He starts to ascend the spiral staircase, moving slowly and listening.  

Stealth : 12

Perception : 10

Skritch will stay back far enough to let Vakas do his thing. It's kinda sweet how rogues do all that kooky sneaking around when they could just morph into a rat or a... 

Skritch starts to tear up. It's only just occurred to him that not everyone can wildshape at will. 

 He keeps up a steady stream of helpful banter by message with Vakas. Partly so the scout can instantly report back silently if he sees anything important, but also so Skritch can list all the great animals there are to turn into and how much fun you can have once you learn to do it. 

Dealuri can see Skritch’s tail go up and down and all around, a clear sign that he is excited to be discussing something. She figures he must be talking with himself about nuts or some other food and decides that he would be a good mark if they were ever betting on a card game since he gets so excited. She follows along with her hand crossbow in her hand, with her brain otherwise unengaged behind her golden eyes. 

Vakas you lead the way to the top of what turns out to be one of two guard towers overlooking a courtyard beyond the gates. It is quite cramped up here and there is only enough room for two of you to comfortably fit.

Immediately you see that there is indeed a battle taking place within the courtyard. Several kobolds are taking shelter within a collapsed tower. They are firing arrows at what appear to be winged demons of some sort. 

Glancing around you see that the right hand door below probably leads to another guard tower to the right of the gates. You see buildings with closed doors to the far left and right, as well as a small breach in the wall just ahead of you to the right. Looking over to the left you see that the courtyard below leads through to a wider open area. There is no way down from here other than the way you came.

Skritch was going to blast a fiend with Starry Wisp but instead he will cast pass without trace to help him, his dog and his heroc companions remain as inconspicuous as possible. 

Noticing the Skritch is helping to hide them, Dealuri Readies her Hand Crossbow to attack the nearest aggressor if they are threatened.  

The Kobolds and Demons are currently focused on each other and with the aid of Skritch you all remain completely incognito.

Skritch mentalises to his companions, "Seems we have, er, two options and one sub, er, option. Repair from this vantage and boldly enter through the main gate, or stay up here and start picking off foes. With a sub-option to choose which side we want to pick off. I suggest fiends. I hate fiends because they are almost friends but... 'r' not." 

He waits to see if anyone picks up what he is quite aware is a completely you-really-have-to-read-it-to-see-what-he-did-there pun.

Then Skritch adds, "But also because I suspect that fiends ate all my hutchmates and are at least partially responsible for my being stranded on your plane..." 

Vakas replies to Skritch, “If we vanquish them, then the kobolds will turn on us.  I think we need to take this opportunity to just get away, to the east, look around a little more.  What do you think?”

(OoC: Ah. Didn't get the map orientation. Got it now.) 

Skritch suggests going back down to the original corridor then into the other tower, to be closer to the east mystery door. He'll maintain Pass Without Trace while they do since it can last an hour. Once they're in the other tower they can try and sneak from it to the east gate/door and open it while  they're occupied in battle.