Nurm touches a strange crystal hanging oh is neck ((Arcane focus)), closes his eyes and mumbles a short verse in Gith. Finally, he touches his chest with an open hand and a strange shimmering aura appears around him ((Mage Armor)). When his preparations are done, he goes upstairs and meets Petmailer and waits for the others.

((Casting the spell downstairs, so I reduce the chance of being heard))

At the Temple:

Leosin nods to Harmony. "If the information I have gathered is truthful, then what Milo was studying was just one of five, one for each of Tiamat's heads. They are believed to each be a fragment of Tiamat's will, a small piece of the goddess' power, and each also have a fragment of her personality: Red is avarice, Blue is deceit, Black is rage, Green is envy and White is fear."

He snorts, like if he finds the legend to be silly. "That all used to be just a legend, of course... Until the Cult of the Dragon came into the possession of what seems to be the Black dragon mask. Since then, they have been looking everywhere for the other four, and I fear that the Red one might have also ended up in their possession now. They want them all not only because of the power they give, but because according to that very same legend Tiamat would be released from her prison and summoned back into our world if all the masks are reunited and assembled." He looks at Harmony and Azrael in the eyes. "I for one don't want to test and see if that part of the legend is also true."

When Azrael mentions the "experiment" and how the rest of the group will likely kill it,  Leosin reacts mostly with indifference, but it seems he knows exactly what Azrael is referring to. In a reversal from earlier, it's now Eadyan who's visibly shocked by his words. "...What?"

"It seems the hyena is finally out of the bag." Leosin says, trying to light up his friend's mood. "It was going to happen sooner or later..."

"Shut up" The elf snarls suddenly, and it is such a switch from his normal mood that the monk really do goes quiet. After taking a deep breath, he relaxes. "...I suppose there is no point in hiding that secret anymore, isn't it?" He asks to no one in particular in a hushed voice.

"Milo is particularly curious about the power gods have to influence us. Do we really have free will, or are we just chess pieces in a higher being's game? That is a question he wants an answer to." He shrugs, he seems he couldn't care less whether he is a pawn to his goddess or not. "I think that's why he was so interested in the mask, and that's why when he assisted a group of rangers in killing a pack of gnolls, he convinced them to spare a single newborn pup and let him keep it. As you two may know, gnolls aren't natural creatures: They were all created from a demon lord's madness and they all are bound to that demon's will, driven by a hunger that makes murderous." Eadyan sighs. "Milo wanted to test if he could break a gnoll from the demonic influence that is the source of their madness. And succeded."

"Succeded in making a ticking bomb, it's what he did." Leosin interrupts him. "Leyding, as he named the gnoll he adopted, acts somewhat functional for now. But she still suffers from her race's hunger. You told me how Milo had to give her a muzzle with a bit she could bite to because she kept having uncontrolable urges to chew on everything she touched. Any day now, and she will start chewing people. Or at least she would have."

"Don't say that..." Eadyan says, but then goes quiet. Leosin glances at him before continuing.

"The moral of the story is that when Milo Weatherbee has an idea, he goes through with it, no matter how utterly dumb it is. Had not happened anything to him, he probably would tried to test the mask's powers by adopting a baby dragon like he did with the gnoll." He states.

There's a subtle change in Eadyan's expression, but it's gone as soon as it comes, and he remains silent.

((Sorry, this one turned up to be quite the infodump. The house will have to come later.))

Gunra gradually composes himself, but does not immediately follow the others down the hall or up the stairs. This house wasn't built for humanoids of his size.

That is, until, they ask for his help. He climbs the stairs on all fours, distributing his weight evenly and moving with surprising kinetic control. As he draws up to the door in question, he unslings his axe and shield.

"I imagine I will draw their attention. I trust you to clean them up," he whispers to Petmailer. With any luck, such small quarters would mitigate their numerical advantage.

Once the others are in position, he charges in, focusing on the alleged 'dark wizard'.

Petmailer feels reassured with the arrival of Nurm and Gunra.  He sends another message to Kane, "May need all of you up here, I think we have a fight coming on.  Need your blasting power."  He then nocks an arrow and readies himself.  He wants to get off the first shot.

Quote from Twombley >>

Petmailer feels reassured with the arrival of Nurm and Gunra.  He sends another message to Kane, "May need all of you up here, I think we have a fight coming on.  Need your blasting power."  He then nocks an arrow and readies himself.  He wants to get off the first shot.

 Kane hears Petmailer’s meesage. “Okay, if you say so,” he answers back in Message. He turns to Leyding, “I have to go help my friends. We are going to take care of the people who hurt you. Could you stay here for me? I’ll be right back.” Kane then quietly heads upstairs after Petmailer. 

At Milo's house

Leyding is still scared, but let's Kane move her to the sofa, and sits down there obediently. She doesn't speak again until he tells her that he's leaving, but that he will be right back. " 'kay..." She whimpers. "Tall one is bad, please. Take care." 

Upstairs, as you all still remain unnoticed, you can see that the man in the dark cloak is wearing a black mask, and that he's carrying the stolen books and the notes. While you can't see his face well due to the mask, you can see that he's a human, he has silvery white hair, and there's faint scratches on his left arm. He's sending a message of his own. "I have the map. All that is left is to collect the hoard."

He turns to the kobolds and orders them something in Draconic. The kobolds don't look too happy about it, and one of them shivers in fear, but none seem brave enough to complain. The man then casts a spell, a bright light surrounds him for a moment... And just like that, he's gone. (Dimension Door)

To the ones of you that know Draconic:

When the man disappears, you can see that one of the notes he was holding fell to the floor before he left. None of the kobolds seem to notice or care.

The kobolds, armed with daggers, exit the room and start to walk towards the stairs. When they see you, the four of them freeze in fear for a brief second, shocked, before charging at you.

Everyone at the house, roll for initiative!

Gunra pauses awkwardly, the kobolds nearly walking right into him at he was preparing to charge.

(I assume it's a 1-square wide path?  Also, Initiative 9.)

Kane sees the kobolds and spread his arms out, ready to cast a spell. Initiative: 11

Petmailer initiative :  13

 After taking a shot Petmailer plans to move on the stairwell to have the best vantage point to shoot any kobold coming through the door, Gunra blocking the hallway heading to the stairs.  

Initiative: 13

((Regarding the masked cultist, did we actually heard his Message? Only the target should hear it (but of course he could have sent the message and say aloud it too)))

((Regarding the masked cultist: He didn't knew that he was being watched, so he was speaking aloud.))

At Milo's House:

The kobolds have been caught by surprise by your unexpected appearance, so they are visibly out of their element. One of them tries to lunge at the group, but gets promptly shot down by Petmailer. The arrow strikes deep into the short creature's guts, he screams and falls to the floor, bleeding out. He is still alive, but barely.

One tries to signal the other two still standing to take a step back to strategize, but it falls on deaf ears. The two kobolds charge in the party's direction, brandishing their daggers, while the third one stays back. This third one looks slightly different from his packmates: There's white colored scales on his brownish red scaled skin, and seems to be waiting patiently for the right opportunity to strike.

The party is up.

((Given that this is a PbP, this is how we are going to be doing this: For combat, I will be using block initiative. I will take the average initiative from the party and the average initiative of the enemies and compare them. Which ever one is higher goes first all at once. This eliminates some of the time waiting for people to take those turn in combat.

Also: Next time I ask for initiative, please feel free to post your intended action in the very same post, I have seen that it makes combat flow faster.))

The two kobolds currently going against the party will try to run towards and attack Kane and Gunra respectively, trying to stab them.

Against Kane:

Against Gunra:

The kobold charging at Kane manages to dig the dagger into his leg and Kane lets out a howl of pain. “Do we take prisoners?” Kane groans. Kane puts his arms out and black, Misty tentacles appear and dart towards the kobold that struck him and the one going for Gunra. (Arms of Hadar, DC STR 13)

Damage: 8 necrotic damage

Petmailer whips out a second arrow in a blur and takes a second shot at the next kobold coming through the door.  

Attack :  22. Damage from the arrow :  6

((Gunra would almost certainly be within range of Arms of Hadar as well, as it emanates from Kane and Gunra would be between Kane and the other kobold.  Strength 24))

Feeling the dark power at his back, Gunra looms over the kobold, his plastron unmarred by the kobold's feeble rush.

"If possible.  The one in the back seems smartest."

As his battleaxe comes crashing down, the haft pivots in his claw - he's striking with the intent to subdue, bringing the flat of the axehead to the much smaller kobold.

Attack: 6 Damage: 7

Nurm, seeing how his companions take care of the attacking kobolds focuses on their presumed leader. Nurm touches the crystal on his neck, focuses himself and start to stare at the kobold. Nurm's mind touches the kobold's and after a brief contests of their respetive wills:

Success:

 Failure:

((Casting Hideous Laughter targeted at the leader, dc WIS 13))

Azrael hitches his jaw to one side in a 'hmm' manner as he listened to the monk and priest speak, at various places seeming displeased, especially any portion containing the word 'Tiamat' or her goals. He seemed even less pleased that it seemed that to some degree, she and her pathetic cultists had already succeeded to varying degrees. When eventually both men finished, Azrael seeing that Harmony had nothing to say yet, speaks himself.

That is unsettling news in regards to Bahamuts pathetic sister and her maggots that follow her. Which means that we should soon depart for the place where our allies are just in case. Though Milo seeks to unravel the unravelable. If we truly are pawns and have no free will, we would never know it even if solid proof looked us in the face, because we would have no will to change it and even if we did find such will, there is no way to prove that the god in question didn't want us to do just that. But I fear if I continue we will bore Harmony with theological debate. The point being; If we have free will we can never prove it, nor can we prove it if we do not. But I personally believe we do, for what need have gods to be good or evil if we posess no free will. They gain nothing from play-acting if they already have absolute control.

As for the experiment, we did not know what it was, only that it existed. And that if what most of us guessed it was, it will most likely be dealt with if it hasn't already. But once again, I will caveat... I do not disagree with Milo's attempt. I do not hate indiscriminately. If what you say is true, then Kobolds had no say in their origination, and thus no control over the urges forced onto them. I approve of his attempt, to see if they can be saved from their fate, or if they can never be more than mindless demonically controlled forces. If he is not dead, I would suggest allowing him to continue. Because if he suceeds, this could have dire, positive ramifications for other similar creatures. 

But I speak too much. Will you come with us to Milo's house then? I believe we have the information we came for here. he says, having continued to watch their behavior and reactions one last time to be absolutely sure if they seemed to be hiding anything before being ready to leave - and if they seem 'true' he would invite them to join them.

Hearing her name brought up in the conversation, Harmony mutters a quiet, "You will." But Azrael keeps talking anyways...

Once he's finished, she says, "Are you sure? I mean, I feel like we were interrupting something here. These two probably have important business to get back to." As she speaks, she seemingly absentmindedly taps her fingers on her leg, and Azrael hears in his head, "He isn't supposed to know that we're breaking into Milo's house!"

It took a moment but Azrael realized that he had been 'messaged' and responds in a similar manner, wordlessly as per the spell We already have them both in an untenable position. They just admitted knowledge of what the experiment was - That the creat.. Gnoll, is one they've been hiding from everyone else  meaning a single word to the commonfolk and they would be immediately villainized by every single member of the town and likely crucified. We have the Governor on our side in this, and they would make for a convenient scapegoat. That and both this pair and the Governor know about it. Besides, you think they haven't been clued in by now: We know about the experiment, I said it was likely already dead to trigger a reaction if either of them knew anything. We hold all the cards. But if you wish to keep them away, that's fine.

Perhaps you are right, then. We did interrupt them with our short-lived interrogation. Though I would like to ask, what are those maps for?

At the Temple:

At the mention once again of Milo's house, Eadyan interrupts. "Wait just a second! When you said that your group were going to deal with the... experiment, what exactly were you talking about? What's happening at the house right now?"

Leosin sighs and signals his friend to calm down. "Those are just maps of locations. I have been tracking the cult's activities in hopes of finding hideouts, possible headquarters, the works. While I have found clues of suspicious activity here and there, and we managed to capture and interrogate a cultist initiate who was hiding in Ethuril, we have yet to make any worthwhile progress in capturing their leaders nor finding those damn masks. If Milo hadn't been so secretive and stubborn like a mule, we could have destroyed the red mask before it could have fallen on the Cult's hands and we wouldn't be in this mess! His curiosity might have been his downfall..."

Before Eadyan can open his mouth to defend his halfling friend, Leosin stops him. "It's just like the dragonborn said: He was trying to unravel the unravelable. Now he might have been captured by those psychopaths, maybe even killed by them, and the cult are now a step ahead in their nefarious plans."

Eadyan speaks. "...If you think that whatever you guys are doing will help to find out Milo's whereabouts, I'm not going to stop you. If you think we might be of help, we can go with you there. Leosin and I were just chatting."

"I don't know, it seems to me like they have everything under control." Leosin retorts. "But if any of you find more information on the Cult, I would appreciate it if you let us know."

At Milo's House:

The kobold who had been trying to attack Gunra receives the hit and gets knocked unconcious with a pathetic sounding little yap. The one going against Kane fares a little better, but it's promptly left terrified by the eldritch tentacles he summons. It manages to survive it and retreats back to the door, before trying to strike against what seemed like an easier target: The elf archer. Petmailer shoots him down with ease and it falls dead to the floor.

Fuming at his pack's stupidity, the kobold with the white scales appears to be about to cast an spell against Petmailer... Before he feels Nurm's mind attacking his own. He tries to fight it, but it is in vain: He falls to the ground hissing and gnarling, unable to speak any words without breaking into insane fits of laughter.

Of the four kobolds: One is dead, other is in death's door, and the other two have been left incapacitated. Adventurers, how do you wish to end this?