Starting to get concerned that the mountain may come down on top of them, Toben looks back to Kornari. "Kornari, what is with all the tremors? Do you know what could be causing them?"

The drake snort.  "You are in the heart of a mountain where magma flows.  I would not expect a lesser creature to understand, especially one from the surface, but instability is inherent in the context."

Klale stows his shield and sword, and picks up Ok. He holds him so he sits on a forearm with Klale's hand (on the other arm) keeping Ok on his perch. Klale picks up his pace. People, let's move right along.

All of a sudden Ano stops in his tracks and turns quickly.  His face is set in a hard almost angry expression that no one has seen on his face before, while his hand is wrapped around the handle of the ivory fang.  When he speaks his voice is loud and sharp "He is lying to us, the miserable worm.  I knew he was full of lies and trickery but it has taken me too long to put it together."

Ano locks eyes with the drake body tense "You need us to take you from this place.  This is not your cave but your cage.  You were trapped here until we came along and now the earth it self is telling us to stop.  Isn't that right you deceiver?

Toben turns around and clutches his staff firmly. He stares at Kornari as if peering into his very being. "I suggest you address his question, Kornari. Any deception at all, and we leave you here... or we just leave you to Telchar and his devices."

The drake opens his mouth as if to deny it all, then wilts a little.  "It's too late.  The enchantment has already been breached and the collapse is inevitable.  It will happen slowly but surely if I remain close, but it will happen.  Our only chance is to move rapidly toward the exit.  The longer we stand here talking about it, the less likely we will be to survive."  Kornari actually tilts his head down as if in shame for the treachery.

Phineas pulls up and looks angrily at the drake.

"We have acted entirely in good faith with you, and in spite of your promise to behave honorably with us, you have lied and put us at risk. If what you say is true (and I have increasingly little reason to believe any of the words that come out of your mouth), the collapse happens more slowly with you here, it seems the rest of our chances improve if we leave you behind."


Phineas shoves the drake from his shoulder in an evident fit of pique.

08:10, Today: Toben Ironsprings rolled 10 using 1d20+2. Sense motive to see Kornari is telling the truth and if his remorse is genuine.

Toben glances at Ano to judge his reaction to the drakes statement, "How has this enchantment already been broken? I believe I am in agreement with Phin. I see no real reason to bring..."

His words are cut off as another rumble causes Toben to stumble. Taking the opportunity to feign an injury, he hobbles over to the large column Kornari was hiding behind. "Ugh, I think I must have twisted something. I need a minute or three to shake it off." He uses his staff to brace himself as he takes a knee next to the column. He lets out a bit of a sigh, "Great cave, what is it that has angered you so. Tell me your secrets so that I may know your wisdom."


07:09, Today: Toben Ironsprings rolled 13 using 1d20+2. Bluff check for feigning an injury.

Once near the column, Toben casts Earth Speak with the Still Spell feat applied to it.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:11, Fri 15 May 2015.

Kornari lands gracefully and hisses at Phin.  "You fools!  There is no time for this!"  He begins moving toward the exit at a scamper.  Another tremble, larger than the others drops more of the ceiling into the lava.  Several smaller rocks land on the raised ridge of a pathway out.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:25, Fri 15 May 2015.

Kornari's words are but an echo is Toben's mind as he concentrates on the earth, the cavern, and the column. A look the group is by now familiar with washes over him as the spell takes effect.

Almost immediately, his complexion turns pale as he violently vomits all over the stone in front of him. A few more precious moments pass before the spell ends and Toben's body is buffeted by an invisible force, slamming him to the ground.

Dazed, and somewhat disoriented, Toben shakes his head to regain focus. His eyes widen at the realization of what just happened, and stumbles to his feet. "He speaks the truth.", he gasps for a deep breath. "RUN!!"

Toben casts a panicked look towards Kornari. He stows his staff, clasps his hands behind his back, and whispers "ossalur mrith escho vur ingowil". He crouches as if to begin a sprint, but instead glides like a speed skater across the ground at an alarming rate towards the drake.

Casting Glidewalk with the Eschew Materials feat to forego the 'piece of glass' material component.

Ano takes of after Toben, running as fast as he can for the exit and so that the drake does not escape his site.

Klale takes off after the drake.

As Kornari moves further from the column, the tremors increase violently.  When Toben glides past him, Kornari takes a proffered arm and scampers up to his shoulders.

Large chunks of ceiling fall, several crashing down onto the pathway.  One rather large one hits the side of the path at one point, putting a huge gap in it on the side and making the path far more narrow at that point.  Toben glides past with Kornari on board, followed by Ano and Phin on his heels.  The dwarves pass next.  Klale, with Ok in his arms, brings up the rear.

Another boulder falls heading toward Klale.  [Roll Reflex - DC 15]
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:47, Fri 15 May 2015.

With Kornari in tow, Toben continues to race his way to the exit of the cave. Once past the gap, he glances back to see where everyone else is, but doesn't stop until he reaches safety.

Clang, clang, clang on the Klale (Rolled a 6)

The boulder glances off Klale [7dmg] spinning him around and knocking him forward, but flinging Ok back behind.  Several large boulders slam into the pathway creating a shallow, six foot gap across the pathway.  Lava flows from one side to the other cutting off Ok's escape.  He immediately turns to flee toward the column, but a massive chunk of the ceiling slams down farther back, obliterating the path that way and leaving the warthyrch trapped on an island, surrounded by lava.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:16, Sat 16 May 2015.

With a spray of dust, Toben skids to a stop at the cave exit and whips around. He sees Klale with a shiny new dent in his armor, and Ok stranded. His mind races as he tries to come up with a plan to get Ok off that island, but comes up with nothing. The distance between Ok and the rest of the party is too great for anything useful to be effective. He speaks quietly over his shoulder, "Kornari, you're free of the cave, is there anything you can do to help?"

"Klale, you have you keep running! I can't stop the lava or the cave from falling!"

Klale backs up a few steps and makes a mighty leap over to Ok.  He picks him up, and gets a running start to jumps back.  The added weight is too much and the warrior lands with a small splash in the lava about a foot from safety.  Without thought he completes the motion by heaving Ok to safety well beyond the edge of the shallow river Klale now stands in.

Then a peculiar thing happens.  Klale does not scream in agony.  The lava does not melt his feet or begin to consume him, dragging him down into a slow, fiery death.  Instead, a faint shimmer appears around him as the heat is channeled along an invisible sheath surrounding his body.  He tests the lava and finds that it flows off his new boots like water.

With a shrug, he makes his way to the other side of the lava flow and stamps the remaining red-hot liquid from his feet.  Then he heads for the exit as fast as he can go, Ok just ahead of him.

I'll take a 10 with the +5 to jump.

Eru be praised!
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:42, Thu 21 May 2015.

Ano makes it to the caves exit before finalky turning and seeing what had happened, already to far to offer much aid.

Phineas pauses long enough to breathe a baffled sigh of relief to see Ok rescued from the conflagration and Klale's unexpected escape from fiery doom, and then continues racing ahead to try to reach safety.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:56, Sat 23 May 2015.

Toben watches in horror as the scene of certain death unfolds before them. He starts to run back towards the break in the path when Klale launches Ok forward, but stops dead in his tracks as Klale falls short and lands in the lava. A large pit forms in his stomach as he expects to hear the screams of pain which typically would follow.

Not a sound from Klale. Instead, Toben stares in amazement as he trudges through the lava, unaffected.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:27, Fri 22 May 2015.

Klale looks down at his boots and then at the lava. A shiver passes through him. Thanks...then he recollects the situation Toben and he are in. RUN!

And Klale, follows Ano and the others as fast as he can go. (Though Toben probably is ahead of him.

With both Klale and Ok now safe from the lava, Toben shouts encouragement to bring them down the rest of the path.

When Klale crosses, for the first time knowing the big man, Toben embraces him momentarily. He pulls back and regains his composure. "You just scared the hell out of me, friend.", he says with a laugh from his belly.

He turns to pat Ok on the shoulder. "Well done Ok."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:28, Fri 22 May 2015.

OOC: For some reason, Klale's post is out of sequence. Please consider that it follow's Toben's.

A giant wave of...something, a silent roar of frustration, a final lunge of futility, washes through the cavern.  The entire ceiling collapses on the heels of the party, air compression blowing all of them but the Gonhirrim and Klale to the ground.  Kornari rolls a couple of times and grunts when he is stopped by a stalagmite.  Dust is everywhere and the dim light now only provided by Toben's light is further subdued by it.

Ok bounces back to his feet first.  He grabs Klale's hand and tries to pull him further away from the now completely blocked doorway into the lava chamber.

Kornari hisses and rights himself.  Then he whips his head around to the doorway and flicks out a black, forked tongue.  Immediately he begins toward the only way forward, a natural stair leading up into another tunnel.  "We must flee."  He says these words over his shoulder almost as an afterthought to the rest of you.