Game: In the Spire's Shadow

Kadar gives the tout a moderate tip (let me know how much is appropriate) before relaxing at the 'big-person' table to listens to as much of the nearby conversations as his grasp of the languages spoken will allow.

He idly glances around the bar for anything of interest.

(spot, search or listen check required?)

I'll drink it! :^D

OOC: Nothing a kobold can drink'll put a dwarf under the table, bah!

IC: Zhegre sniffs it, wrinkling his nose if it's unpleasant but willing to give a funny drink a shot. Knows about fire-fruit, but, hell, nothing a kobold can drink'll put a dwarf under the table!

Ponders muttering a Purify Food and Drink. Pfeh. Sitting in a foreign bar is no time to show weakness of the gut.

*QUAFF!*

"Ooh, drinking foreign exotic drinks with little concern or thought to what it contains is just my cup of... eh... whatever it is!"

Polp pulls a kobold-sized chair next to Kadar and downs one of the drink.

Polp peels a bit of mushroom hat off the side of his otherwise empty glass with satisfaction.

“Mmm, the mushrooms have a familiar taste to them… Probably an underground strain…”

“So, uh, what else is new in the Sandstone Citadel, Miss?”

Zhegre turns on the smooth. There's practically an audible click to those professionally aware of such things (which, of course, a ranking politician like the Minister is, so the Minister knows, and Zhegre knows she knows, and it's all in the business of trading polite impressions). Skill roll below.

"I have basic training nearly ewery dwarven youth gets growing up in our lands, but personally, I am more trained at forge than behind pickaxe. Professionally I am clergyman first and foremost: Zhegre of Rodina, priest of Tharmekhûl, at your serwice." He rises and bows. "I assure you, Madame Minister, we are quite opposite of spies, since we come here openly wishing to speak to high-status local gowernment officials such as yourself about local and regional affairs. If you have had trouble with dwarven espionage, our errand certainly has no inwol'ment in any foreign powers' essays in that wein. Speaking for ourselves, we are not ewen all dwarves..." he indicates Polp... "For example, my young friend here is shad, native of Elemental Plane of Earth and, depending on your need for knowledge concerning wertical-shaft mining, may be just sort of skilled spelunker you seek. Why don't we get comfortable, make introductions around table, and talk about how we can help each other out?"

She seems like a nice enough person. Zhegre comes to a decision. Anybody that thinks this is a dumb idea has plenty of time to interrupt him after he leans forward in the universal attitude of someone about to tell a fairly extensive tale, and begins with:

"Not sure how to conwince you we are not spies. Perhaps complete truth will do. I came into this mess on Plane of Ooze, and my friends tell me it started for them in Cage with attack by troop of kobolds, but in truth it seems to have begun with some prophet years before..."

...and he goes through the story. All of it. Kobolds uttering cryptic prophecy. Kobolds in the Cage hunting something. Kobolds on the Prime dropping out of the phlogiston. And, now, kobolds in the Outlands which sources suggest may be connected to all of this, digging around in tunnels that, if your account of the number of espionage attempts is accurate, seem to have piqued the interest of foreign powers across the Planes.

If one of the other members of the party makes a move to suggest that laying everything out above board might not be the wisest course of action, he'll let that person propose the conversational alternative. If not, he'll tell this tale, holding back only on a few specific details: just saying the guy on Ooze wanted us to bring the Prophet back (true enough), leaving out the separate plan concerning Slemnore's Sword, and keeping Duckluck anonymous, merely describing the Fraternity of Order broadly as their source for information on the prophet and further leads. He'll conclude with:

"What we want is to preserve Multiwerse. We have reason to believe that there may be certain threat to that general wicinity in this general wicinity. We would like to prewent this from coming to pass. It has been suggested that your High One may know something that will give us solid lead, finally, to figure out nature of threat, possibly cause of Spirelight, and maybe ewen chance to do something about it. Is in your interest too, da? After all, you have to live in Multiwerse as well. And ewen if is just Spirelight being pain, deadening of magic must be putting crimp in organizational infrastructure for settlement this size. So maybe if you have been coming across something down there that needs inwestigating, we would be interested in helping out, to eweryone's mutual benefit."

He leans back. Sips drink. Makes a mental note to talk to the barkeep about franchising the recipe as a business opportunity. Waits for Minister's response.

Several times during Zhegre’s tale, Polp opens his mouth to interrupt but decides against it again. With all this hush-hush sensitive information vibe the mission has about it, his gut instinct keeps him wary of discussing it, but he has too much confidence in his old friend’s wisdom to question this act. In the end, the shad chimes in at the minister’s request.

“Polp Stingsong, tunnelrunner of Gemstone Gardens, at your service, Miss Minister. It certainly sounds strange and slightly scary with this disappearance, but I for one wouldn’t mind a little underground delving.”

Interpreting the claw-writing as not only a new-found source of fun but also a possible custom among the kobolds, Polp dips his own in ink and with nimble movements signs the papers.

Then he orders another Doctor's Surprise for the road.

Aloric also signs the contract, (again, I'm not entirely sure what to say past this)

I don't believe I have any loot I'm presently carrying. I'll generally replenish any consumable supplies( "No cram around here," mutters Zhegre. "Ought to've picked up some good solid dwarf rations.") and, if the barkeep's willing to part with it, haggle over a price for the formula for the Doctor's Surprise, which seems like it could be a profitable product for a mushroom-farming community like back home.

However, I did want to do some experimentation if I've got a quiet evening. You'll notice the spell entropic shield was on the list I selected for today; having been hearing about this aura of entropy Zhegre's been carrying, I wanted to do some professional research and see if this spell was at all altered in its effects from the norm. It doesn't even have to be anything with game mechanical effect; Zhegre is mainly looking for clues as to what has been affecting him. It's an offhand thought; there might be no significant result.

Speaking of spells, with another day at hand he'll make a selection more suitable for a dangerous cavern dive. Posted in OOC thread.

Other than that, nothing much. Keep my ear to the ground, listen for what's going on in the region.

day of trip

"'Incredibly hot, they say," he mutters. "And even I thought about prepping that spell for enduring extreme conditions, too. Oh well."

He responds to the captain with an enthusiastic gleam in his eye. "Fiendish, you say? Well. Can't abide fiends making trouble for decent folk, now can we?" He loosens his hammer in its straps, and nods. "Ready when you are."

Polp's young and energetic, not stupid, so Zhegre has no worries he'll get separated unless the tunnel shifts. He lets the tunnelrunner scout forward, and advances himself more methodically.

Zhegre sniffs the air. "I fear no fire, of fight or fiend," he says, and pulls out his everburning torch before pausing. "Do we need one or two of these, or can we all see in dark?" If everyone's got darkvision, he'll put it away!

He moves forward, slowly examining the stone on the walls, running his hand over it. "Mm. If we were on Prime, this sort of stone would often be wolcanic, yes. Basalt, or obsidian if crystalline. Bit rough for dwarvish work, if I may claim, though I am not archaeological expert." He says to the Captain, "you mentioned carwings somewhere further down?"

First roll: initiative.

Zhegre steps up behind Polp and presents his flame-wreathed decorated warhammer in the ritual gesture of Obeisance of Flame.

{OOC: In case the GM has some worries about that description, it's just intended to be fluff for 'I present my holy symbol' for a turning check! That'd be the second roll... max turnable, 5 HD creature. And I suspect these dudes are bigger than medium elementals, but in case he can rebuke either one the third roll is the turning damage check.}

"What means this impudence?" he roars. "Have you sullied your brightness with ash and smoke?"

Kadar whips out his blades and, without a word, charges at the elemental to the rear of the group, unthinking but simply knowing the nature of the creature he attacks.

(ooc)how wide is the tunnel at this point? If it's wide enough Kadar will try to move to one side of the creature, allowing others to attack it from a different direction.

Initative
Knowledge (The Planes)

[ooc] Got it, will ammend my post.

OOC: Sorry, guys I forgot to post because the game wasn't on the front page.

Aloric spins around, to face the elemental at the rear of the group. He unslings his greatclub from his back and thinks cold thoughts. (OOC energy push, cold, using 4 power points)

Kadar's attacks

Attack 1 = 29
Damage 1 = 3
Attack 2 = 13
Damage 2 = 2

Wincing in horrid pain, the shad rolls back and away from the elemental to get behind Zhegre, then drops his rapier at his feet and brings out his crossbow.

OOC:
Wow. Another hit and I may be out, whereas my “meager" damage is a point from my max damage.

Polp is tumbling out of reach of the elemental as move action, dropping rapier as free action, and drawing crossbow as another move action.

{Okay, rather a lot here but I think it all fits into one round. If not, first priority is the spell, second is the Knowledge check, and third is the draw.}

Zhegre steps between Polp and the fire elemental. "If you will not submit to that hammer, perhaps you will submit to this one!" He drops his hammer to a standard fighting stance, but its glowing afterimage is still before him, and the spiritual weapon leaps to the attack against his foe. The first roll below is Molot's attack; the second, should it be necessary, is damage.

"Strangest pseudoelementals I have seen on Outlands," he says. "Wicked-looking. Anyone else getting that impression?" K(the Planes) check, the third roll below, to join in the fun. Can I tell whether these are summoned creatures or not? If they are, I know my next round will be a dispel attempt!

If he still has actions this round, he'll enter the fray behind Molot, adding his own hammer to the attack (fourth roll for attack and fifth for possible damage); just the hammer, there's no way my nonmagical sickle is going to do enough damage to penetrate a large fire elemental's DR.