The party bashes and chops the snake thing to pieces. As soon as it is destroyed, the little man shakes off his dizziness. "I am Linden," he tells you in a high-pitched voice. "I will accompany you against the Duergar that hold this place." He picks up a bag with his equipment and arms himself once again.
"Hello Linden, happy to make your acquaintance too. I am Alora and these are my Marauders. You have probably heard of us? Or you may know me as Alora the Frog Slayer? Actually, we weren't really planning to fight the Duergars we were really looking for a way out. By the way, what was that snake thing we were fighting?
"No, I haven't heard of you or your Marauders. And if you're not going to fight the Duergar, are you planning on retracing your steps, because that is the only other way out of here."
He looks at you closely. "Ah, I see. Well, if you help me out of here, my people can help get you back to wherever you might be headed."
Yes, the pleasure is all yours. How can your people help us get back to civilization? And I don’t think having you tag along is wise, you’ll just get in the way.
Linden looks at Anomen quietly for a moment, then nods.
"My people live in the forest hereabouts. Once we are out of this place, we can guide you back to where you need to go. And protect you on the way, though you may not need us to. But you have rescued me, and I am grateful."
Alora gives Anomen a hard stare. "Anomen be nice. I don't know why you have to be grumpy all the time. If you turned your frown upside down you would have a smile. So why don't you go and stand on your head in a corner somewhere while I talk to Linden."
Alora turns back to the little green man. "We would appreciate your help. We don't really want to retrace our steps. Are there many Duergar? Will we have to fight lots of them to get out?"
"Many? Well, more than you here. They are a problem for my tribe. We try to keep to ourselves, but the Duergar are seeking someone else to lord it over, and they seem to have settled on my tribe. See, long ago, there used to be other Dwarves here." He nods towards Arkanis. "More like him."
"We had no problem with them. We left them alone, and they left us alone. But it seems like one day these Duergar came in and took over. The other Dwarves vanished, never to be seen again. And the Duergar took over. It's been a long time, but there aren't many Duergar left, but they want to have someone or something to dominate, and they've chosen my people."
"They haven't had luck, though. They're dying out, but they still managed to capture me."
"This sounds like the sort of wrong us paladins should right doesn't it Ajantis?" says Alora.
Then she turns back to Linden and inquires in an off-hand sort of way: "I expect the Duergars have lots of treasure: gemstones, jewelry, magic rings, all the usual stuff?"
You know, even if we do remove the Duegar threat from this area, nothing will be around to prevent another, more sinister, group from moving in and harassing your people. You all should learn to defend yourselves better and not always have to rely on outside help. The teachings of Torm would be a great place to start.
"I think we should help Linden," says Alora while she casts a hopeful glance at the dead snake monster, trying to discover whether its eyes were made of gemstones.
"I will check the room for treasure - I mean traps. I will check the room for traps before we move on."
"From what the little man said it seems to me that here's a dwarven settlement infected with filthy duergars. So i vote to help, and will do it alone if must."
“I wouldn’t mind a little more spelunking. We could use a reward for our efforts, though.”
Alora has no idea what 'spelunking' is and doesn't like the sound of it. She gives Neera a disapproving look. "We won't be doing any of that sort of thing. This isn't that kind of party. If you want to be spelunked you can do it on your own time. We're just here to fight monsters and look for treasure."
This room seems like a dark parody of the Snake-like shrine you were in earlier. It has the same general shape, but the rock here is dark and gray, and stark with a lack of decoration. In the center of the room is a black, plain stone pedestal with a golden snake statue atop it.
The statue appears to be hollow, and it feels as though there is something inside. Something... liquid. Also, one eye is missing from its socket.
Alora wonders what the liquid is. "I'm going to try to lift the statue up and see if I can pour the liquid out of the eye socket. Have we still got any empty potion bottles that I can pour it into?"
Comments
OOC: I've got a bad feeling about this too. It looks like something out of Tomb of Horrors.
Minion, roll 1d20 for mace attack
Minion, roll 1d20 for Arkanis boneshattering attack
Alora attacks with her mighty short sword
Minion, roll 1d20 for Alora's mighty short sword attack
Minion, roll 1d20 for the eyes
Minion, roll 1d20 for over-the-shoulder attack!
Minion, roll 1d20 for Charge of Glory
Minion, roll 1d20 for staff poking.
"I am pleased to make your acquaintance."
He looks at you closely. "Ah, I see. Well, if you help me out of here, my people can help get you back to wherever you might be headed."
And I don’t think having you tag along is wise, you’ll just get in the way.
"My people live in the forest hereabouts. Once we are out of this place, we can guide you back to where you need to go. And protect you on the way, though you may not need us to. But you have rescued me, and I am grateful."
Alora turns back to the little green man. "We would appreciate your help. We don't really want to retrace our steps. Are there many Duergar? Will we have to fight lots of them to get out?"
"We had no problem with them. We left them alone, and they left us alone. But it seems like one day these Duergar came in and took over. The other Dwarves vanished, never to be seen again. And the Duergar took over. It's been a long time, but there aren't many Duergar left, but they want to have someone or something to dominate, and they've chosen my people."
"They haven't had luck, though. They're dying out, but they still managed to capture me."
Then she turns back to Linden and inquires in an off-hand sort of way: "I expect the Duergars have lots of treasure: gemstones, jewelry, magic rings, all the usual stuff?"
"I will check the room for treasure - I mean traps. I will check the room for traps before we move on."
Alora checks the room for treasure (and traps).
The statue appears to be hollow, and it feels as though there is something inside. Something... liquid. Also, one eye is missing from its socket.
When poured out, the fluid comes out of the snake's mouth. It is dark green and smells like Brandy.
Alora then checks the eye sockets of the statue. Is the remaining eye a gem? Or is the statue worth anything?
After that Alora will check the room for secret doors. If she doesn't find any she will ask Linden which way they should go next.