Chant, a blue-skinned, blue-haired tiefling, is sitting at the tavern near the palace. She is wearing her usual high-class red gown and a pair of heart-shaped earrings. By contrast, sitting at the same table is a 7' tall red-skinned bugbear with tusks as long as his head is tall. His eyes appear to have no pupils.

On Chant's lap is a drum, which she is playing a standard military drumroll on while she waits for the food to get served.

Lorzod lays a map on the table. "Mm. I have a map of the area. According to the map, there are five, nay, six, nay, seven places we could look through as potential locations for the treasure we were told about."

(This is where you introduce your characters. Who are already part of the team.)

  Rhagar pays a lot of fees to the alternate timeline bureau.  "Is the map detailed enough to give us an estimate for which is the least well fortified?"

Dia is a human looking Changling with long, silver hair.  At present.  She hasn't really told her friends she is a Changling, but constantly altering her look kinda gives it away.  She's looking in the mirror, trying on different hairstyles.

"Could always flip a coin to choose."

Lorzod says, "Mm. This place is an abandoned excavation site." he points to Coppernight Hold on the map. "It's defenses include a wooden fence, nay, half of a wooden fence and the fact it is mostly underground."

He glances to Dia. "Mm. Tusks look glorious. But tusks would not suit your current look."

Chant looks at Dia. "The silver hair is a nice look, Dia sweety. And while I like my horns, I won't tell you to add any. I rather like your current look."

Chant then looks at the map. "Sounds good."

  Despite his charisma score, Rhagar has no fashion tips for Dia.  "If the other groups are not successful, we will have to move on to the other locations eventually anyways."

Dia smiles and shrugs a shoulder into her cheek.

"Thanks, you two!  Even a half fence would be hard for me to handle.  I hope there's an open gate."

Lorzod says, "Mm. You misunderstand, Dia. When I say half-fence, I mean only half of the area has a fence. It is better than a gate. It is an opening, nay, a walkway, nay, a welcome mat."

He looks at Rhagar, "Mm. We shall leave no stone unturned."

Chant sings in her beautiful voice while still playing her drum,

"And so the hold
was open to them
The heroes bold
began to descend

Lorzod the storm.
Dia the shade.
Rhagar dragonborn.
Chant, their aid."

The food arrives and Chant puts the drum away to begin eating.

Lorzod digs in as well.

  A table or countertop is a better place for one's plate than the top of a drum, yes.

  "Bold would be running in screaming.  I suspect we will attempt something more subtle at first." THEN there would be screaming.

Dia does a little dance to Chant's song.

"Oh I do so love your music!  And I'm glad to hear the fence is incomplete."

She giggles at Rhagar's comment, smiles, and nods.

Chant nodnods and says, "Glad you like, Dia! Once we're done eating, we can go there."

After the eating is done, the four travel to the hold. Expedience has the group notice the DC 10 perception check to hear the sounds of small creatures.

Lorzod says, "Mm. A halfling team beat us here?"

Chant adds, "Or gnomes. More likely gnomes, actually."

  "Probably kobolds in this case."  Hey, at least this character speaks Draconic.

When halflings were mentioned, Dia looked more halfling-ish.  When a gnome was mentioned, she looked kinda gnomish.  When kobolds were mentioned she returns to human and looks a little flustered.

"Can't we just pick one and stick with it?"

Chant looks over to Rhagar, thinks about it, and says, "....yes. More likely kobolds. Because gnomes would be friendly. And kobolds will likely attack us. Well like you suggested, we'll sneak as close as we can."

  Rhagar points and clicks.  This tends to be a lot more violent when it involves a tiny crossbow.

  How lucky for that kobold their skull was just thick enough to keep it from quite reaching brain, merely leaving them with a terrible unicorn impression.

The kobold lucks out twice over because he gets immediate vengeance as he throws a pot at Rhagar, smashing the dragonborn in the chest and catching him on fire!

Several kobolds charge! One cuts Lorzod and another cuts Chant! Another slinger slings a fire pot at Lorzod and hits!

...it's almost like the kobolds actually have some fight to them this time!

Dia gasps from all the sudden violence and starts to hurry the other direction.  She disappears in a cloud of smoke!  Then reappears after a rock knocks out a kobold, ricochets, and hits another!

Lorzod swipes at two kobolds, hacking one down while missing the other.

A slinger then hit Lorzod with a gluepot, injuring him badly!

Chant sings and Lorzod's wounds start healing up!
Chant then swings her sword at one of the kobolds near her, killing it. She then rushes inbetween the other two, causing both to attack her! But while one misses, the other doesn't even get an attack as Lorzod chops the kobold's arm off. Said kobold just falls to the ground, writhing and twitching before bleeding to death within seconds.

Chant gets up to the eastern slinger's face.

  Rhagar is on fire, how unfortunate.  The burning draconian flaps down the ledge, walks up to one of the so far unharmed slingers, and backhands them across the face with the hilt of his rapier, sending them staggering in a daze (but not dazed status) towards the stairs.

  Rhagar is also not on fire anymore, handy!

A kobold swings at Lorzod and misses. A slinger tosses a fire pot at Chant and hits, setting her on fire! In return, he bursts into flames and collapses in a heap!

The slinger Chant got in the face of slings a pot at her. He goes wide, but then so does Chant when she takes the opportunity to attack him.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:55, Tue 12 May 2015.

Dia slings a rock at the dazed kobold, knocking it out.  She then begins walking toward the fence and vanishes in smoke.

Lorzod is annoyed. He takes out his "stuck where he is" annoyance by cutting down the kobold near him. Then breaks free of the glue.

"GetawayGetawayGetaway!" the last kobold yells as he backs up to the wall and prepares to throw a pot, but it looks like he is waiting. Just in case.

Chant sings again and Lorzod heals good as new! Chant then trots down the steps and says, "If you surrender, we'll spare your life."

The kobold yells, "ISURRENDERISURRENDER!"

  Rhagar says "This is for the best. It means I will not need to use this on you."  That said holding one of the fallen slinger's unused fire pots.

Dia hurries to the others.

"Oh dear.  That was so scary!  Is everyone ok?"

Chant says, "I'll be alright after we've rested. It's over for now."

Lorzod says, "Mm. I'm OK, thank you. We should rest for a couple, nay, four, nay, five minutes." But not without Lorzod tying up the prisoner.

The lizard nods to Lorzod.  "A short rest will suffice."

  He look to the prisoner kobold, and asks "Do you know how to convince any within to surrender before we kill most of them?"

Dia plays with her ponytail.

"Yeah, so uh...  And why are you all protecting this place with your lives?  Weren't there supposed to be dwarves here instead?"

The kobold says, "Ummm... Wyrmpriest no surrender. He see you? He kick your butt. Dragon no surrender. A dragon surrendering is like a mountain suddenly turning into a cloud. The other kobolds? They follow dragon and wyrmpriest. You kill wyrmpriest? Others might surrender. You kill dragon? Others might surrender. Outside that? No surrender."

He looks at Dia. "We here because dragon here. Dragon here because dwarves rich. Dragons like treasure. We defend with our lives because Dragon here. Kobolds worship dragon."

Chant says, "....say, wow, that all really makes sense."

Lorzod says, "Mm. Wyrmpriest must die if he doesn't surrender. He must fall first. But if we face the dragon first, he must d-" "Nay! She!" "....she must die first."

  Rhagar considers how much of a literal hole in the ground of a 'lair' this is for a Dragon.  "Just how old is this Dragon?"

"Oh.  So if I were a dragon, would I be worshiped as well?  Or is it just this one that you all worship."

The kobold answers Rhagar. "Dragon is ten years old."

He then answers Dia. "We worship all dragons. But if one dragon say one thing and our dragon say another, we obey stronger dragon."

Chant says, "A healthy outlook..."

  "A shame most of them will likely be dead before they are convinced of any difference in strength, even if we had viable alternatives."

Dia looks disappointed.

"I can't make myself look like a dragon.  I can have a dragon's head, but not a dragon's body.  If I could, maybe we could have talked the dragon into helping us find the crystal."

Chant shrugs. "Well shall we?" she wasn't kidding about being OK after a rest. Her CLOTHING isn't even damaged anymore.

Lorzod says, "Mm. We shall." and takes point with Chant as the two descend.

  Rhagar steps into the room, and hurls a glue pot just right so it smashes against the statue and broken shards mixed with glue spatter into a Dragonshield's eyes.

  "Consider surrender."

The kobold Rhagar hit manages to free himself from the glue, but stays put at least.

The wyrmpriest says, "Fool! You are dealing with the servants of a dragon! YOU consider surrender!" and with that, a really painful ball of cold energy hits Rhagar. The wyrmpriest then gives hand signals before disappearing around a corner.

A dragonshield takes the signals to mean charge and so he does, stabbing Rhagar RIGHT in the cold wound. Man that hurt.

Chant sings, "Rhagar, the dragon among dragonborn! The kobolds will rue the day he was scorned! And seeing this, his friends have vengeance sworn!"

Rhagar's wounds heal up quite a bit!

Chant then dances past the kobold, dodging his attempt to swing at her before she slashes at him, creating an opening for Lorzod.

Another kobold trots over, hops behind Chant and stabs her only for fire to erupt from her back and singe his arm!

Dia puts her fingertip to her lower lip.

"Um...  Would your dragon consider giving us the crystal we're after if she knew it meant saving the realm from an invasion."

She smiles sheepishly at the dragonshield and her eye sparkles.  He shrieks in pain.

Lorzod steps forward and twirls his double-axe in a spinning motion, lopping the kobold's tail off and cutting open a big gash in his chest! "Mm! Saving the the realm! Nay, the world! Nay, the entire plane!"

"She's a healer! KILL HER!" and another kobold comes out and charges Chant, stabbing her deeply!

  Rhagar slits the throat if the barely standing kobold, then circles behind the Dragonshield still beside Chant in order to knock teeth loose and send them stumbling over to Lorzod.

---

Standard: kill kobold.
Move: duh.
ACTION POINT: Positioning strike vs dragonshield. hits. 13 DMG, slide 4.

Dragonshield HP: 22 left
This message was last edited by the player at 06:10, Wed 13 May 2015.

Another dragonshield charges at Chant, but gets deflected by her shield!

The wyrmpriest peaks out from cover and fires another ball at Rhagar! While it does hit him, and hurts like hell, it isn't as bad as the first one.

Chant then sings, "Rhagar! Immortal! Unstoppable! He will be your end!"

And once again, he gets healed up!

Chant then shouts, "WE ARE VICTORIOUS!", slamming the skirmisher against the wall and throws the dragonshield over to the statue, causing the statue to fall!

The skirmisher stabs at Chant and manages a scratch, but nothing more.

"I guess that's a no then."

Dia bites her lower lip and tries to make an energy ball, but it falls apart in her hands and she squeaks.  The nearby kobold shrieks in agony.  Dia vanishes in smoke.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:58, Wed 13 May 2015.

Lorzod lops the head off the one in front of him. "Mm! Thanks for weakening him for me, Dia!" he almost seems to moonwalk over to the skirmisher and slice downward in a spinning motion, cutting the kobold in half vertically such that the kobold's front side is now seperate from his back side.

   Rhagar pulls his dagger out of the skull of the last remaining dragonshie-wait when did that happen?  Well, either way Rhagar continues onwards to better cover.

  "Thank you, Chant.  I expect the priest will run sooner rather than later to get more bodies to hide behind." pesky common sense moments from the enemy.

The wyrmpriest, unable to see Rhagar anymore, goes for the only enemy it CAN see and fires a ball of cold energy at Chant, ALMOST downing her. He then runs for it. Yes. RUNS.

Chant focuses on healing herself. "Don't *cough* let him get away! *coughcough*" she flops against the wall as she hums a tune to herself, causing her wounds to close.

Dia hurries down the hall and slings at the fleeing priest but misses.

"Awww...  Sorry, Chant."

Lorzod runs at top speed, drawing his own sling, then with his left eye glowing yellow, he hurls a sizable stone down the hall and hits the priest squarely in the back!

  Rhagar is uncertain if leaving a near dead ally behind to go try for a lucky extreme odds killshot is considered proper conduct, but she did ask so it is likely totally okay.

  He comes to a running stop besode Lorzod in time to see the bugbear's lucky hit, and follows it up with one of his own as a burning glue pot cracks open the back of the priests skull, and moments later one can not tell where priest brains begin and burning glue ends.

  "Well, that shot went better than expected."

Down the hall, a kobold can be seen closing the door.

Chant flops to her butt and says, "Not... like I need to tell you... but rest."

Lorzod says, "Mm." and goes to rest near Chant.

Chant pulls out her drumset and taps away at it during the rest, singing a tune and helping her wounds to close magically. (Song of rest)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:31, Sat 16 May 2015.

Dia heads over to rest with the others.

"A kobold inside the next room saw us and closed the door.  Couldn't see how big the room was or how many others there may have been."

  "Even if they had not seen us, the remains of their priest would be enough of a hint."  Well, unless there were a lot of local kobolds who had hated them enough to kill them with a burning glue pot.

Chant says, "Thanks for the update, Dia. We could wait a while and listen at the door to see if they ever give up on us showing up. And thanks to Rhagar, we have someone who could get up to the door with reasonable stealth and understand every word they speak."

Dia's stealth is good, but Chant doesn't know if Dia can speak draconic. "Unless you can speak draconic, Dia?"

Dia headshakes.

"No, sorry.  I don't understand draconic.  Supposing they speak common I could tell them that we got what we came for and we're leaving.  Maybe ambush a few when they finally come out.  I'm in no hurry.  But no telling what kind of timeline this invasion is on."

  "That plan has some potential, though there is nothing of note or value for that to hold up.  Perhaps if it was stated that we were sent to dispatch the priest instead?"

Chant thinks on what Dia said. "Then we open the doors. If it looks like it will be too much, we retreat. But somehow, I doubt it."

Lorzod says, "Mm. If that room were too much for us, they would have already sent many kobolds out to meet us in combat."

"I was thinking 'Treasure hidden inside the statue' as the reason.  But moving on to the next room is fine with me."

She gets ready for combat.

  "Sometimes simple is best, this is true."  Elaborate plans do take time, even when they work after all.

When the door is opened, the kobolds were waiting for the group! One swings at Chant, slashing her before backing off. Another swings at Lorzod and misses, but backs off. Still another slashes Lorzod, and also backs off.

Lorzod heads inside and in a whirl of blades, nearly downs one of the tougher looking kobolds!

  Rhagar steps into the room, and applies his 'how does this work ICly?' at times attack of striking an enemy just right so they end up twenty feet away from where they started.

  <draconic>"Surrender or the priest's fate will look comparatively pleasant."</draconic>

A kobold charges at Rhagar, whiffing. Another charges at Lorzod and hits! Yet another kobold runs up and whiffs at Lorzod.

Chant slashes downward on the kobold Rhagar delivered to her and does almost as much as she possibly can to him, weakening his defenses before turning her attention to the room, expecting Dia to be able to handle the near-dead kobold at this point. "Finish him, Dia!" she says, waving a hand at the kobold dismissively as her attention turns eastward.

She hops over and sings loudly, "I trust my allies! They trust me! I sing this with authority!"

And three kobolds go flying before going down. Lorzod seems to be magically spurned to hurry south. "See anything around the corner?" "Mm! Two kobolds and a dragon!"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:15, Sat 16 May 2015.

"Oh, uh... hi there."

Dia wiggles her fingers at the kobold in a nervous hello.

"Ouch!"

She winces and the kobold screams then collapses!

Suddenly, Lorzod is assaulted by three kobolds and a little dragon. He goes down. The dragon yells in common, "Fool! You dare ask my surrender when you face a dragon?!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:31, Sat 16 May 2015.

  "It appears you do outnumber us."    Rhagar freezes the two closest kobolds to dead, then follows up with a shuriken to the Dragon's face, sending it stumbling back as the Draconian advances and draws blood on the nearest remaining kobold.

  "Now you do not.  Falling faster than we do is why your species lacks clout in this situation."

Chant comes into the room and sings, "You're at your best when the going gets rough! You've been put to the test, but it's never enough!"

Lorzod stirs as his wounds close.

Chant then sings, "It's a brand new daaay, yeah, the sun is high! All the birds are siiinging 'cause you're gonna die!"

The dragon looks furious, if slightly frightened from Rhagar and Chant.

Dia vanishes in smoke.  Just as she reappears, a rock comically bounces from kobold's head to another's!

"So um, mister dragon, sir...  We need a crystal here to help save our world from an invasion.  So um... before any more people get hurt, won't you consider maybe joining in helping to save the world you live in?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:29, Sat 16 May 2015.

The dragon gets furious and claws recklessly at Lorzod, missing both times.

Lorzod swings his axe twice, hitting the dragon and then the kobold who isn't cursed, causing huge, bleeding wounds!

Then the kobolds move into flanking, one swings and hits Lorzod hard, but the other swings and injures Rhagar!

  Rhagar circles around to turn Lorzod being surrounded into a multidirectional flanking option, and brings the previously healthy kobold to near death with a stab through it's side.

  "I know you do not speak draconian, but that is basically a no, Dia."  You should see the languages where slashing people with your claws means 'sure I'll cooperate!'.

Chant says, "Dia darling, take care of the dragon if you would?"

She then sings as she circles around to flank with Lorzod. Lorzod's wounds close some more and Chant slashes the northern kobold to near-death.

"Oh.  Ok.  So um... have you heard of the Prophesy of Zhudun, Mr. Dragon?  It's not too different from the one we're trying to prevent.  It goes something like this..."

She begins whispering, vanishes in smoke, the room turns dark, and the dragon's eyes turn black.  It swallows back it's breath weapon as it freezes in horror!

The dragon freaks out, flailing about as much as it can, causing some damage to Lorzod.

Lorzod swings his double-axe, hurting the dragon a lot and downing the northern kobold. He ignores the southern kobold all anime-style as the kobold to the south just spurts blood suddenly and collapses dead from bleeding out.

Shao Khan can be heard saying "Finish her!"

  Rhagar takes advantage of the free mystical concealment to just casually walk up and stab the dragon in the eyeball, which leads to some spectacularly deadly side effects when you are using a blade longer than the victim's skull.

  "Are you going to be allright, Lorzod?"

Dia looks like a dwarven woman now and is helping out the prisoners.

"Hello, dearies.  We have a healer just so's you know.  Ya happen to've seen a big crystal 'round here?"