The group had actually met at the city where Princess Adrie summoned them. Kyle was traveling there to sell some goods for his family's business. Archer was looking to get a decent team together. Conner had come upon being summoned, but he looked like one of the more serious people at the meeting, despite his obvious youth.

There were a lot of strange people there at the meeting. People of all shapes and sizes. A kobold and a gnoll were even there.

After the meeting, Conner agreed to go with Archer and Kyle. Interestingly, Conner shared Kyle's passion for getting paid. Though it was also clear to Archer that Conner had the smell of a nature lover about him. This much was easily found out even before leaving the meeting.

But after leaving the meeting, Conner looked at the two others and comments, "We'll need a front man. Someone willing to take point. And no offense to you two, but I don't think any of the three of us qualify for that."

  Kyle, Checin, and Rhagar had such a grand reunion.

 

  "If it is of any comfort, I do try to stay relatively close to the frontliners rather than hang back unless it is particularly suicidal for me to do  so."  After all, can't buff the bejesus out of the melee types without being close to them.

Archer was an archer.  Or maybe he was an Elf archer.  But he was still Archer!  Guy doesn't talk much.  He nods to the boy, impressed with his apparent leadership ability and connection with nature.

"Then let's ask around."

Even as Archer suggests asking around, another adventuring team comes into view and two are laughing among each other while one looks uncomfortable.

Conner eyes them and says, "Only three. Like us. But it looks like they just came back from outside the city. I'm going to ask the quiet one why he isn't laughing..."

Conner follows the group until he finds a time to pull the guy aside. When he asks, the guy responds, "They think it's funny we left our team mate behind... but I sure don't. I don't wanna die or get left behind either, so I plan to get the authorities on this soon. What's worse... she's a tough and tenacious one. They might think she'll give up on us, but I don't. I think nature girl will track us down and get justice."

Conner hmms... "Nature girl, eh? Where did your group leave her? I'm a ranger... I will find her and get her out of whatever mess your so-called allies left her in."

The guy glances over his shoulder then back to Conner. "Out in the woods. I left a marked trail along the tree trunks for the authorities to follow later... just follow that."

Conner says, "Thanks."

He then turns to his allies. "Sounds like we already have someone to rescue."

  "Hopefully, they are still alive then." Practical thoughts hope she isn't dead because then they will have waste their time even more in that case.  That pesky conscience meanwhile hopes she is not dead because that would be lame and you are going to do unpaid heroics that Chekin keeps laughing at you about anyways.

Archer nods.  "I will be sure she knows you were concerned for her.  It would be a good gesture for you to accompany the authorities who come after us."

He doesn't mention that he's rather good at tracking as well.  With a marked trail, a child could...  A child will.  He heads in the direction the adventurer came from.

The trail is, in fact, as obvious as stated. Trees are marked and the very young ranger is following the trail with ease.

Eventually, the trio comes upon a pit wherein they can hear the sound of a female crying. Just peaking down, they can see what looks like it could be a werewolf. Whatever she is, she is crying into her hands, bodies of dead goblins surrounding her.

Conner calls down, "Help is here! Just hold on!"

And soon, he is pulling out his rope and tying it one of two pegs that seem to be at the edge of the opening to the pit.

  Kyle... Oh right, too low level to bust out magical silk ropes willy nilly.  Fortunately Connor is on hand as it is to help set up similar things.

  "Are you in immediate risk of death?" or A immediate risk of death?  Prooobably not, Kyle's are more familiar with crybaby shifters.  Not that we are pointing fingers at anyo-it's Tim we are not fooling anybody.

Archer then realizes he doesn't know the name of the person they are looking for.  Oh well.

"I am Archer.  An adventurer.  We were told to look here for an abandoned nature woman."

He's relying on implied questions again.

"And I'm Conner. And this is Kyle." Conner says, completing introductions.

The lady replies, "My name is Rain... I am in no immediate danger." she then takes the rope and begins climbing. "Thank you for helping me." soon, she is climbing out of the pit and stays on her hands and knees to look down the pit, contorting her face in a pained expression of both anger and sadness.

Rain soon stands on her feet. "I am indebted to you. How may I repay you?"

  Well, that's more like it-  "You don't have to repay us for pulling you out of a hole" Damnit, conscience!

  "Though an explanation for how you ended up in that situation would be welcome.

Apparently implied questions didn't work this time.

"You're welcome.  If you are injured, Kyle here is a healer.  Please describe the man in your team that did not approve of your treatment."

That's one way to make sure this is the right girl.

Rain gives a description of the man who Conner spoke with. "I could smell it. He didn't object out loud because he was afraid his allies would kill him if he did. And given they left me here the way they did, who can blame him?"

She turns to look at Kyle. "We found this hole in the ground with a rope ladder and investigated it. There were goblins. They had treasure that had been obtained by robbing people along the road. Once we retrieved the treasure, I helped them carry it out. I was at the bottom, handing things up. After the treasure had been carried out, some goblins that had survived came and attacked me." she holds the back her her fist to her mouth, eyes watering. "That's when they pulled the rope ladder up and said "have fun with that, pooch" before heading out. I slew the goblins, but there was no other way out I knew of. All the rope that had been in the place was taken out with the treasure and my own rope had been used to tie some treasures together."

Conner's fists are clenched.

Rain adds, "I do not have money to offer you, my heroes. But I do have gratitude and will serve you for what you did."

  Jerks, AND Unprofessional!  Kyle is displeased.

  "It is true that we will be going into dangerous situations ourselves.  Any help would be appreciated, though I intend to see you get more out of it than mere gratitude."

She must have already healed up while she rested.

"Impressive that you survived alone.  We were looking for a tough front-lines adventurer for our group, so your aid will be welcome indeed.  Let's head back toward town.  The princess wishes for all adventurers to attune to her crystal.  Very important.  And considering the respect afforded gnoll, shifter, and kobold adventurers by the crown, I'm sure your former allies will be dealt with appropriately when you tell your story."

He offers her his canteen and a ration pouch.

Rain is very grateful and takes the offered food and water. It also becomes clear the lady is well enough, though she still accepts any aid given her as they travel.

Conner is quiet for most of the trip there, only speaking when spoken to. On the way, Kyle and Archer are able to ascertain that Rain is indeed a tough one; a warden of life. Druids are the wizard/clerics of nature. Shaman are the spiritual healers of nature. Rangers are nature's scouts and guard. Seekers are nature's fangs. And wardens are said to be nature's walking fortress.

Rain also discovers the other three are just as new to each other as they are to her and she soon feels less like "the new girl" and more like one of the team.

Once the group presents the case to the princess, she promises justice and sends out guards to apprehend the ones Rain describes. Then attunes Rain to the crystal.

Adrie adds, "It must be fate that tore you from those terrible people and brought you here with heroes, Rain. I feel safer with the world in the hands of you four than in the hands of fools like those who turned on you for a few coin."

Eventually, the team is on their way, now complete with a fourth member and tank.

  Kyle feels heroes is an exaggeration, but then he'd file 'saved existence by punching Tiamat in every single face' under mercenary work if the paperwork was all proper like.

  "If do the job professionally, whatever your method or origin is doesn't really matter to me Rain."

Archer knows what Elf culture considers professional, Kyle notsomuch.  But such discussions are best left when not having just been addressed by royalty.  He bows.

"Thank you, princess."

Or was this after they left?  Either way he heads on to the next adventure with the others.

Elven royalty at that.

Rain says to Kyle, "Thanks. Though I would likely need to know what you mean by professional since... well.. I am not used to civilization."

Even as the group is heading out of town, they pass by 5 guards who have the two jerks in custody. They look at Rain in anger. Rain averts her eyes, growling under her breath.

Conner grips his sword's hilt, but keeps moving with the group.

Archer is usually pretty unemotional.

"Meheh.  Muhah!  BWAHAHAHAAA!"

He points and laughs at the prisoners.

"Enjoy your prison, foohools!  Oohoo!  And if the princess didn't already specify, I'm sure she'll see the justice in having them share a cell with gahablins!  Ohoh!  And if there's a shifter warden or guard...  GWHAHAA!!"

He wipes a tear from his eye.

  Kyle doesn't even dignify the thugs with a look.  "Not selling eachother out, for a start.  You do what you can to keep your team and civilians alive, unless it would get you killed.  You can't help anyone if you are dead.  Services rendered deserve payment, as hard as that can be to manage at times.  Somebody you help might never repay you, and call you selfish for even asking.  But watching people die just because they were broke is not something I make a habit of."

Conner does a double-take on Archer's reaction and calms down a little as if the laughter startled him out of his anger. He even affords a smirk as a result and lets go of the hilt to his sword.

Rain isn't really cheered up by the laughter, though, and keeps her eyes averted from the prisoners.

The prisoners start to yell back and get backhanded by the guards. "Her highness told us what you did. Do not speak out, lest you earn an even worse punishment."

Conner then listens as Kyle explains professionalism to Rain. "There is a lot of loot involved in adventurer jobs. But even with that, most jobs for adventurers have an offer of payment to get adventurers interested in the first place. Oh right. Loot is to be split evenly, but don't forget the rule of dibs."

Rain asks, "Rule of dibs?"

Conner nods. "Yeah. If someone calls dibs on something, that thing is theirs."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:08, Fri 08 May 2015.

While Archer is not surprised, he is disappointed.

"A custom usually associated with children, though sadly practiced by some immature adults.  I will not tolerate any such rule for this group."

  Kyle is just going to ignore the dibs discussion entirely as long as he can.

  "Speaking of jobs, if things are as urgent as claimed then we can continue this as we travel."

The group never did stop walking.

Of course, Conner acting like a child shouldn't be surprising.
Even Maverick acts like one from time to time.

(For reference, I was imagining Conner to be about 14)

Conner folds his arms and humpfs. "Archer here clearly doesn't understand what I'm talking about." he glances at Archer. "How are you supposed to split a magic sword into four? And who here besides Rain can use a shield properly?"

Rain says, "I propose we consider everything to belong to all four of us. Then when we are done, we take it all to be assessed by someone who knows what things are worth and then we will sort out what we each want from there."

Archer nods.

"Good example, Connor.  An archer calling dibs on a shield would be precisely the kind of foolishness such a rule results in.  Rain's suggestion is a good one."

  Oh good, Archer has stated the obvious.

  He nods to Rain, and comments "When it comes to undesired magic items, Artificers can get more value out of them than most."  Not that there tends to be much in the way of undesirable magic items that CAN be reduced to residum.  A shame, the one ring would be worth quite a bit reduced to all purpose spell component.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:39, Fri 08 May 2015.

The group comes upon a scene where there is a fenced area up ahead.

Conner and Rain come to a stop as the whole group is able to hear the shuffling of small creatures.

"...I'm not the sneaky type of ranger." Conner bashfully admits.

Rain quietly says, "I'm sure I'm even less so, Conner."

"I am.  Be right back."

Archer scouts ahead.  And steps on a very loud twig.

  Kyle doesn't know this in character, but his player recalls that Connor's snake is trained in stealth (with a Dex of 16)!

  Kyle makes no comment about the twig snappage, because that would just make things louder.  At least Kyle made a good Perc check (20) despite having a +0 wis mod?

The snapped twig doesn't seem to alert the creatures and Archer is able to spy. He sees the encounter ahead, how many kobolds, the excavation site, etc.

The fact the kobolds didn't notice the twig is a testament to the dullness of kobold senses.

They look bored.

When Archer makes it back and reports his findings, Conner says, "So... did they have anything valuable on them?"

Rain asks, "How do we know these are bad kobolds?"

Conner asks, "There such a thing as good kobolds?"

Archer nods to the question about good kobolds.  May made that clear at the banquet.  To the other question he shrugs.

"I don't know a safe way to check if they are evil."

  "It has been known to happen, although this is supposed to be a Dwarven mine."

Conner reaches behind himself and taps his backpack in a certain pattern. Out of it comes a snake (that appears to be beautifully decorated and is even wearing some kind of effeminate makeup). "Good point, Kyle. Looks like combat to me. Hey Viper, we got a job to do."

This is no small snake. She slithers out and wraps around Conner, demonstrating her constrictor-like size and licks his check making him smile.

Rain ohs. "...didn't know you had a friend hiding in your backpack."

Archer smiles at the cute friendship between the boy and his snake.  He nods to the others, takes up position behind cover, and readies his bow.

  More things you don't expect to learn as a mercenary.  That snakes can be cute.

  Kyle sets up to be next to as many "striker" types as possible, so if he is in need of firing immediately, MORE DAMAGE BUFFS (you know, if he hits).

A kobold hurls a pot at Rain and misses! Combat begins!
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:48, Sat 09 May 2015.

  Kyle snaps off a middling shot at the slinger that tried to hit Rain.  At least the Artificer's hits, and his companions are all strengthened by the resulting Artificer radiation Arcane empowerment.

  He tops things off by toughening up the doggy, which is going to be needed incredibly soon.

OOC: standard: m weapon vs slinger. hits. 7 DMG.  +1 to hit, +3 DMG rolls to all allies until end of my next turn.
Minor: resistive buff for rain.  +1 AC, can cash in for her surge+3 THP.

Slinger A HP: 17

A kobold charges at Rain, hitting hard enough to make Kyle's formula burst and make Rain coated in extra health. She blinks in surprise having never been the recipient of such a thing. To her, it felt like "kobold hits me, now I'm healthier".

Conner comes up by Rain's side and stabs a kobold through the gut, downing it. Viper comes up behind Conner, ready to back him up!

In a flurry, two over-sized arrows find themselves into the heart and throat of the injured slinger.  Then in a flash, two more appear in the eye sockets of another slinger.  Archer steps back and reaches for more arrows.

"YOU NO TAKE CANDLE!!!!!" one kobold yells as it charges and stabs Conner in the gut with a javelin!

Another slinger slings another pot... and misses again. He curses in draconic.

Another kobold charges Conner and stabs him! Conner is looking pretty hurt.

Another slinger slings another pot... and hits Rain! He laughs and cackles maniacally, doing a dance as Rain gets glued to the ground.

Rain barks at the kobolds and slices the head off the nearby one! Even as she does, water appears and covers Conner in the form of brittle ice armor!

Rain then breaks free of the glue!

  "That would make more sense if there were any candles to be seen"  That said, he fires another shot that punches through the armor of one of the remaining slingers, extending the ass kicking bonus to the party.

In a whirling tornado of blade action, Conner slices the two kobolds next to him, rushes down the stairs with Viper, then slashes the slinger's front side while Viper circles around behind the kobold and karate-chops him in the backside with her tail!

The kobold goes down. "Three!" Conner yells.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:21, Sat 09 May 2015.

Archer doesn't understand anybody's outburst except Kyle's.  He steps forward and finishes off the last kobold.  Once sure there isn't a threat he begins to search for survivors.

  Kyle checks on the others (and his crossbow)  "That went well, so far as any fight can where people get hurt."  Well, people on YOUR side.

  "If there that many just standing around outside, likely just as much within." That's kind of a given for all dungeons, even two room ones.

Conner says, "I could use some healing..."

Once healed, he checks on Rain.

Rain says, "It's nothing... I'll be OK."

Viper waves a ribon to catch attention, dancing happily and performing rather well a ribbon dance. Once attention is grabbed, she points down the hole with the tip of her tail.

Conner nods. "In a little, Viper. Rest up with us."

Viper obediently slithers over to Conner and curls up around him before resting her head on his shoulder. He reaches up to pet her as he rests.

Archer nods in agreement with Kyle.  He is impressed with the dancing snake.  And the rest of his allies of course.  But he doesn't fancy himself a leader, so he'll leave the "good job" stuff to someone more qualified.

"I wish to make up for my earlier noisy attempt at scouting."

  "If it's all the same Archer, I'd rather not send someone down a hole by themselves." Even if it wasn't the person who was recently abandoned in one.

Conner nods. "But it is impossible for everyone to go down the hole at the same time, Kyle."

Rain looks at the hole with hesitant eyes. "Can't we just bury the hole and let the enemy starve to death?"

Conner says, "If only! But nope. The enemy has prisoners down there."

Meanwhile, Kyle finds no survivors among the kobolds.

Rain says, "...I.... I'll..." she gulps and says with a slight puppy squeal in her voice, "I'll go down first."

Archer nods.  "Brave.  If we are not ambushed immediately, I'll scout while still within your sight."

He follows her down.

  Being a tank is hard.

  "We shall be right behind you, Rain." Well, also right behind Archer.  Be he doesn't look like he's about to cry.

During the rest, Conner had searched the bodies for loot, and was happy with the many javelins, pots, spears, etc. But as mentioned, he makes sure it is divided evenly. Though he gladly takes any loot the others pass up. He also makes sure each person has a pot or two.

To Kyle and Archer, Rain says, "...thanks."

Once the group is at the bottom of the pit, they can see a stairway leading down.

Rain looks at Archer and whispers, "If you still wanna scout, looks like there is a nice corner for you to peak from behind."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:36, Sat 09 May 2015.

Archer scouts and reports back about the enemy and the unstable statue.

"My guess is that the one with a staff is a magic user.  We should kill that one first."

  Kyle nods, "Hopefully that can be managed before it is more trouble than it is worth." No guys, I need to beat up this one dude before I deal with the ones hitting me in the back of the head for the past five turns!

  Hah, as if this will last that long unless Murphy does into turbo mode.  But that's what banked criticals are for.

  "This is going to be admittedly reckless." Kyle comments, as he snaps off a shot that grazes the statue on it's way into the closest Dragonshield hiding behind it.

  He toughens up Rain again, then steps out into the open to fire an acid dripping crossbow bolt across the room.  The dragonshield ducks!... And then the priest behind him gets a face full of sharp object and acid, whoops?  You have a strange standard for reckless in combat, Kyle.

---

Standard: M weapon. rolled crit. 14 DMG. Buffs party again.
Move: duh.
ACTION POINT: Banked crit, scouring weapon vs priest. 24 Acid dmg. -2 AC until end of my next turn.
Dragonshield A HP: 16
Priest HP: 12

The skirmisher in the back screams bloody murder and charges Kyle, stabbing him!

Conner says, "Oh no you don't!" and rushes around to stab that same kobold in the back!

No sooner does he do that than a dragonshield charges Conner in the back! "OW!"

Then the wyrmpriest hurls an energy orb at Conner, barely missing him!

Rain charges over to the group, intent on protecting them! "Sorry, Archer! I'll deal with the caster later!" She hacks down, sinking her khopesh into the kobold's skull and then kicking him off her weapon! She turns to growl at the dragonshield.

Archer carefully sneaks to the bottom of the stairs and fires at the mage.  The arrow goes wide, bounces off a wall, and breaks.  But the arrowhead, as if guided by fate, ricochets over and manages to find it's way through a hole made in the mage's scales by the acid!  Archer's second arrow at least strikes truer and downs the mage with enough force to make it backflip before hitting the ground.

A dragonshield charges Archer "He killed Kenny! The bastard! Kill him!" and misses horribly.

The other dragonshield seems to be waiting for something.

  Kyle steps up beside the others, then takes a well placed shot to the back of the kobold in Archer's face, seriously wounding it.

Kyle Gives Connor a buff as well. Maybe.

---

Move: duh
Standard: M weapon, ANOTHER crit. 14 DMG to dragonshield by archer.

Dragonshield HP: 7

Conner gets to one side of the kobold while Viper follow him, only for the snake to suddenly circle around and flank the kobold! Conner slashes the kobold, doing surprisingly little to it.

The kobold doesn't care about Conner and slashes at Rain, hitting!

But magically, some more magical ice armor appears on Conner. This stuff looks less brittle.

Rain hurries over to try and finish off the kobold that charged Archer, but whiffs!

Archer tries to be clever by going after the kobold behind the statue.  The arrows strike true, but his plan on tricking the one next to him into dying to Rain's blade just results in whiffs.

The dragonshield retaliates! With a whiff of his own!

Then the other dragonshield who WAS waiting, is tired of waiting and charges Rain! Trips over himself and almost falls on his face. He whiffs horribly.

  Kyle considers his choice of targets, levels his crossbow at the one between Rain and Archer... Then steps over the rubble to punch the kobold's jaw clean off with his talid (That's the leather Mad Max version of Spiked Gauntlet).

  The upshot of this over a safe crossbow attack?  MORE MAGIC WEAPON BONUSES!

Conner does that double-team again; he slashes the kobold fiercely while Viper roundhouses the kobold's backside with her body!

The kobold, barely still standing, swings and misses Conner.

Rain whiffs again, but hops over to a position to give a flanking opportunity to one of her allies.

Archer fires twice and misses twice.

On the bright side, the dragonshield next to Rain also misses. This round has been brought to you by the number three.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:54, Sat 09 May 2015.

  Kyle flanks with Rain, and sears the kobod's sword arm with a spark of lightning.

  Dragonshield HP: 7.  -3 DMG rolls.

Conner finishes the kobold in front of him (whiffs at first only to come back the other direction and decap), then hurries over to block off the last kobold. Viper follows and blocks in a two-prong formation.

Rain then hacks the kobold's chest cavity open and it collapses.

As methodically as before, Archer searches for survivors.  Loot distribution can be left to Connor since he seems to enjoy it.

  Kyle checks his crossbow, and offers +1 HP heals which hey at least are better than default heals.

  "Much less than expected, perhaps the majority are holed up at the end?"

Just like before, Archer finds this team is thorough about killing kobolds. Not one is left alive. Conner and Rain apparently have not put themselves on stun setting.

Rain takes Kyle up on the heal.

Conner reliably loots the corpses happily and divides the spoils while the group rests. But he does so at the corner to keep an eye out for any approaching kobolds. Just in case.

But no kobolds come.

Archer nods and scouts the corner.  He returns and reports.

"Short hall that ends in a double door."

  "I don't suppose you think whatever is waiting in there is attentive enough to notice a snake peeking in?"

Viper takes the hint and does her happy ribbon dance. Conner says, "Yes, Viper, he meant you. Go take a peek."

The snake slithers down the hall and cautiously peeks. Then slithers back and wraps around Conner before seemingly whispering in Conner's ear. Conner says, "Seven kobolds. Three dwarf prisoners. Viper also heard someone making sounds in an unfamiliar language, but they sounded demanding and were not one of the seven kobolds she saw."

Rain says, "So their boss, sounds like. You bunch ready?"

Archer nods then sets up at a measured distance from the door.

Rain heads to the door. She glances over her shoulder to see every ally of hers is waaaay back from her and her heart sinks. She looks hesitant but puts on a determined (if nervous) expression on.

Just as she opens the door, a kobold rushes over to swing at her, but Rain deflect the blow at the last second! In return, she slashes the kobold!

2 shots 2 kills.  Archer reaches for more arrows.

Another kobold arrives and charges Rain, but meets only her shield.

  Kyle finally failrolls, though at least he can still buff the tank.

More hissing commands can be heard from deeper inside and no more kobolds appear.

Conner rushes over to Rain's side and slashes down a kobold. "One." Conner comments. Viper simply follows behind him.

The other kobold in front of Rain yet again fails to hit her. Also like last time, Rain slashes him good and in the process, gives Conner that brittle-ice armor!

Rain calls back, "They aren't moving! They're staying in the room!"

Archer takes on a skirmishing stance, zips up the hall, and fires a pair of arrows that downs the only kobold in sight.

  Kyle steps up by the melee types, and prepares to fire on the off chance Rain's comments about common sense in the enemy end up disproved.

  "I suppose it is easy to guess why that is."

Rain charges into the room and gets attacked immediately. She blocks it and strikes down the kobold who attacked her.

Then Conner rushes in with Viper and also gets attacked! The kobold smashes the brittle ice armor and... doesn't hurt Conner.

Rain calls back, "It's a baby dragon! Small as me!" and she's like... 5'2 standing on hind legs.

Archer rushes in between the enemies and misses his attack against the kobold.

  Kyle summons the clockwork eye of so dissapointed it hurts.  He of course, proceeds to miss spectacularly with his crossbow despite the extra view of the target.

  While not as safe as he thought he was in a few moments, at least the wall flavor wise provided the artificer with cover, whooo!

Furious that the heroes didn't conveniently line themselves up for her, the dragon rips a huge gash into Archer and gets slashed by Rain for its effort. Clearly, though, it hurt Archer far more than Rain hurt the dragon.

The dragon then rushes over to the side and spews ice at the group, freezing Viper solid and breaking past the admixture Kyle put on Rain (though it is obvious it helped reduce the sting a LOT). Luckily, both Kyle and Conner managed to dodge.

Conner yells, "Viper! No!"

Rain howls and her fur takes on a more rigid, rocky appearance before she heads over to be behind both kobolds and their dragon master. One kobold swings at her and his sword literally bounces off her fur with a CLANG like he hit stone. "EEP!"

Rain's eyes are glowing yellow as she slashes down on the dragon and causes the entire room to shake! The dragon gets smashed prone while the other enemies oof as if punched by an invisible force!

Kyle's disappointed eye gives the dragon a look, making its shame enhanced.

A kobold hops and skips around to be behind Rain and attacks her backside. But his sword gets smacked aside by her stoney tail!

Rain doesn't growl. She looks cold. Like some kind of golem.

Conner gets a serious expression, so angry he doesn't even notice Rain has turned stone-golem. He grabs Viper, holds her close to him and slashes violently at the dragon, tearing a chunk of flesh from it and causing it to bleed out!

But even as he is holding Viper close, the snake thaws and seems to be magically feeling better!

Also, if it was possible, Kyle's mechanical eye manages to look even MORE disappointed at the dragon. How does a machine eyeball manage to muster so much crushing disappointment anyway?

The kobold in front of Conner turns and slashes at Rain. Much as it WANTS to hurt Conner, he can't resist the flanking his buddy gave him! ...for all the good it did. He hits only shield.

(Hunter's bear trap, AP, Second wind on snake)
This message was last edited by the player at 07:25, Mon 11 May 2015.

Archer rushes over to the back of the room then fires an arrow at base of the dragon's neck.  His second arrow is lit on fire by the eye, splits the first arrow, and explodes the dragon's head clean off.  He knocks another pair and hits with just one against a kobold.  We'll blame the bit of dragon skull that hit him in the face.

  With all the carnage going on, Kyle adds to it by finally landing a hit directly this fight (guess the dice were mad over all those 20s earlier).

  The kobold flanking Rain to the south looks rather surprised.  Well, as surprised as they can be with only a skull remaining attached to their shoulders.

  The Artificer heals up Viper a bit more, as insurance against Murphy.  "I wouldn't bet a copper on this last one surrendering."

Rain swings and misses the only remaining kobold, but keeps it knowing she has her glowing eyes on him.

Conner hops to the side and Viper slithers to flank! Conner slashes the kobold while Viper strikes the kobold's back with the tip of her tail as if "punching" him!

"EEP! I surrender! Leave me alone!" and the kobold hops back from Conner and Rain and nearly bumps into Kyle before fleeing at incredible speeds! "YIIIIPEyipeyipeyipe!" Kyle manages to smack it on its way out, but it is clearly still alive and running.

Archer chases the kobold and begins catching up.

  Hanging further back suddenly was an advantage, as Kyle runs and catches up to the Kobold, and says "You do know surrendering means not running away? Don't make us shoot you in the back." They might miss <.<  >.>

The kobold is in panic mode and doesn't listen. With deft footwork, he makes the whole team work hard to catch up to him, but once out of the pit, Archer successfully shoots the fleeing kobold. The range on that weapon is rediculous and soon the kobold is taken down.

Rain's eyes stop glowing and her fur returns to normal. Conner is kissing Viper all over and hugging her while she entwines around him.

"Glad we all survived that.  I am honored you trusted us enough to open that door, Rain."

  Kyle is again reminded of how yes, snakes can be adorable.

  He also doesn't draw attention to the fact he managed to avoid getting hit so much as once, and only HIT once (well okay twice, but he's not counting that wussy AoO punch).

  "Now that our own survival has been attended to, we should check on the surviving Dwarves."  Preemptive 'Haha can heal NPCs even if they have no surges', even if that hasn't come up the other times through this.

Rain squeaks upon Archer acknowledging her trust from earlier and glances over to him. "You three rescued me. I felt guilty that I was having a hard time trusting you..."

Conner says, "Ha! Look what I found!" he holds aloft the crystal!

Kyle is easily able to heal the dwarves, who are showing gratitude, if looking downhearted and embarrassed.

Conner looks at Rain. "Hey Rain? For what it's worth, I know exactly how you feel. One of my allies attacked me in the middle of a dungeon. I would have died, but another ally who felt it unfair, downed the guy and healed me up. It was hard to trust people for a long time. Still is, in fact!"

He then looks at Kyle. "And by the way... thanks for healing Viper."

Archer eye-twitches that someone calling themselves an adventurer would try to murder a child but makes no comment.

"Being guarded is a healthy state of mind.  Good work on finding it, Connor."

He'll let the non-elves deal with dwarf diplomacy.

  Well, it would really depend on if the kid attacked first?  But he somehow doubts that in this case.

  "You have just met us less than an hour ago, even with such cirtumstances these things can take time."  Especially depending on how people act.  Kyle, YELLING at people to not die is still yelling.

  He nods to Conner "It is clear Viper is not simply some trained beast.  Even without the fashion accessories."

  OOC: Reports have come in that a maniac has gone on a shooting spree that has resulted in a death toll of thirty five flower sellers, and one lemonade stand caught in a crossfire.  Police refuse to comment on the heavy weapons arsenal found concealed in each flower basket, or the hidden tunnel leading to killbot factory underneath the lemonade stand.

Rain starts talking with the dwarves and soon, her humble approach is winning them over. The dwarves are soon laughing and chatting jovially. They even share some of their wealth with the heroes.

Conner finishes the looting and division of loot and gives his team mates a bright smile. He pulls out a snack and says, "For such good teamwork and solid loyalty and friendship, I would like to share this with you: It's a snack a druid taught me how to make. Made from a rainbow and blessed by nature's bounty, he called it skittles."

Rain's eyes widen when she tastes them. "So... fruity."