Kairakas and Korarall, continue on their journey.
The winding tunnels lead to an opening area, the growls of wild beasts echoing throughout the room. There was nowhere else to go, but forward; none of the doors led to any bridging pathway you could take to escape, or possibly go around the creatures within the room.
You see a trembling man caught, bounded to the makeshift scaffolding. He was there as a prisoner… as a distraction for the creatures.
You don't know who they are… whether they'll be friend or foe. But what you do notice, is the doorway at the other end. While they're distracted, you could bypass them, avoiding the threat of being mowed down by a large number of Kobolds.
"Given the situation, I think it's best to avoid the group. Sure, there's somebody tied up, but by a large group of creatures, I'll be easily killed… how many are there anyways?"
"Twelve…"
Knuckle interjected, wanting to know who or what was on the other side. He knew it was bound to be a friend, given the build-up to the location. But it was set up in a manner meaning someone, or they… could avoid the situation entirely.
Iason was testing the two of them… whether they would work together, or against each other "I'm going to take a peek, see who's tied up."
The moment Korarall stuck his head over yours, he knew who they were.
Iason gave a nod to Shoot, letting him know he'll be the next one added to the story.
Meleoron frowned, wondering if Iason was going to purposely bring him at the end.
"No, I'm not going to introduce you as the last person. I'm bringing you in with Ikalgo…"
"So, the last person…"
"On a technicality, sure… but I want to bring in Shoot, because Knuckle and he have more character chemistry, so I plan on opening the pathway to see if he follows his bad habit. Are you okay with that?"
"Ideally, given the situation… I think running is the best option for me."
"It would be, certainly, but…" Iason cleared his throat, smirking widely.
Sarmenor hung from the scaffolding, bounded up tightly. Kobolds wailed at the Half-elf Monk, threatening his life, given how many there were. There were about twelve in the room, all armed with small daggers.
Taking on this many could prove disastrous…
"What do you do?"
"I charge them, screaming at the top of my voice to get their little furry claws away from my man."
As Shoot blushed, Ikalgo snorted "Of course, you would…"
"My man is tied up, why wouldn't I… Do I roll for initiative or something?"
"One second… let me expand a little on the scene before you."
As Korarall charges toward his man, Kairakas' attention gets drawn back to the doorway hidden on the other end, far out of the way of danger. They're aware of the potential danger. Unless one of them frees the third, that's six kobolds for each of them to deal with, the possible danger of being stabbed to death if they failed.
"I see what you mean… I have three daggers, correct? I have a one in three chance of hitting the rope and freeing Sarmenor."
"More like one in two chances. If you sneak and fail to hide from one of the twelve, you'll be surrounded. Even if I roll the lowest number, that's six damage. You can only survive two rounds, if unlucky. You do have an advantage if you help Knuckle. You can do three hits, per round if you stick by his side."
"Korarall might not survive one vs twelve… I won't survive if I try to free the third on my own. Escaping is an option, but it means setting myself up for danger if I try to solo the campaign on my own. Plus, I'll be putting myself in a negative light…" Killua hummed at the situation, while there were two possible choices… in reality, they were only given one situation "Damned if I do… damned if I don't." they scratched their chin, thinking further about what's the better option.
"As you think about your next move, Knuckle roll for initiative. I'll start rolling for the twelve. If Killua joins, I'll get them to roll to see where in the long list of attackers, they'll be plonked."
Knuckle rolled first, the man fist-pumping before loudly cheering at his high initial roll "Sixteen!"
"Here we go… One… off to a great start. Seventeen… nineteen… oof. Twelve, eight, nine, fourteen, fifteen, three, eleven, thirteen, and seven. Have you decided Killua?"
"I rather not let the guy die from stupidly charging into an unprepared battle."
"HEY!" Knuckle fumed, "I have high intelligence. I'm thinking ahead."
"By charging into a group of kobolds?" Killua looked at the man incredulously, "Where I-" The alien stopped themselves from continuing before smirking, "If I was a smart barbarian I would've lured them into a trap, or to the door, where we entered through and pick them off one, by one…"
Knuckle opened his mouth to object, only to close it seconds later. That would've been objectively better to do, "No… you're right. Would've been objectively smarter to do… or you hide, I draw them in. you shank them from behind and I mow them down from the front."
Iason sighed. These two of some serious chemistry "Roll!"
"Thirteen…"
"Roll again, I'll do the same for my thirteen."
The two roll once more, Killua beating Iason's, "I won…"
"Sarmenor, you too…"
"Ten…"
"Okay, that puts you around… here." He doodled on his notepad "Okay, I'll explain the mechanism behind the rope on your turn, or Killua's if they aim for the rope. For now, let's set up the situation so everyone knows the order of who goes when. Since all the creatures are the same, I'm gonna change the numbers around so it's Kobold one to twelve. Gimme a few seconds…"
Iason scratched out the numbers, rewriting them in order "Alright, two kobolds go first, then Korarall, then two more Kobolds, then Kairakas, three kobolds, Sarmenor, then the last five kobolds." He moved his hand to the laptop at his side, switching the music back to a battle theme.
The heavy beats represent the building danger, the threat being sent upon them.
With Korarall's frenzied scream, the twelve turned, growling at the two of you. They screeched as they charged, blades pointing in your direction. One of you was considerably closer than the others, giving him an edge in the battle.
The first two kobold attack, daggers aimed for the Half-Orc's massive chest.
Iason rolled twice, "What's your armour class again?"
"Fourteen plus… one. So, fifteen."
"Fifteen and eight…" The man rolled another dice once.
One of the poor kobolds stumbled, completely missing the hulking beast before him. The other shanks Korarall, doing three damage. The others were on their way, but the berserker had the upper hand over those that charged toward him.
"What are you going to do?"
"I aim towards one of them, swinging my axe downward. I'll wait for more before I start cleaving."
"Alright, since this is one of your more serious battles. Remember to include your extra strike from level seven. You can also use Reckless Attack, Rage and Feral Instinct when you roll. So, let us see what you got… and some of those infamously terrible rolls..."
"Sure, sure!" The man pouted, he was a barbarian that was known to do devastatingly terrible damage "Eight… so thirteen." He rolls another dice, "Perfect, eleven and… seven! So, eighteen damage."
Korarall's axe swings down, crushing the single kobold's head in two. It's dead, on impact, leaving only eleven creatures remaining. Given the threat, two more attacked the barbarian, given it had clobbered its ally to death in a single blow.
Iason rolled his dice twice, scoring above the knuckle's AC once more, but his next two rolls of damage were far less than the lucky kobold the last round.
While the two hits were above, their pointed blades weren't precise. Korarall suffers one damage from each kobold, making it two overall.
"Killua, your turn what do you do?"
"Grabbing one of my daggers, I point it at the rope, throwing it in an attempt to free the third."
"Okay, given the situation, we'll give it a three-point outcome. The rope has we'll say… twenty hit points. A perfect hit, means you roll the 1d4 dice. For that… you'll need a twenty or above."
"Whoa that's an insane-"
"Dexterity modifier counts towards the roll in this situation. So, fifteen and above is a success. Fourteen to… five, is still a success. You do one damage in that situation. Four and below, you hit Sarmenor for 1d4 damage."
"Even if I get three successful hits, of four damage, the rope still as eight hit points… doesn't sound very fair…" Knuckle complained.
"Hence why Sarmenor can also struggle against the rope. The same rules for Kairakas, except he does 1d6 damage, on a perfect hit, and does two on a success. Failure will heal the rope for one hit point. Your modifier counts, but it's plus two. So, to be fair, seeing as he's also the one that's bound, fifteen or above for perfect. Fourteen to ten for success, nine or below for failure… modifier counts towards these rolls. Sound fair?"
Sarmenor offers a nod, "Sounds fine to me…"
"Killua…?" The man asked the other, "How about you?"
"If I can give him an edge, I don't see why not. Given my level difference, even if I fail a roll, it won't be completely disastrous… How many hit points do you have?"
"In total… fifty-nine."
"Even if I max hit you three times in a row, you'll still have forty-seven hit points."
"Oi, oi, oi… Don't purposely fail your rolls. I'll clobber you if you fail twice in a row." Knuckle was firm with his resolve, aggressively shaking his fist. He didn't want his partner to be hit for several points of damage before he could even get out of his binds.
"Please don't punish him for failing rolls, when you have failed plenty on your own."
Knuckle frowned from the accusation being levied at him. He hasn't had any disastrous rolls like that recently… humorous fails, certainly… but not complete and utter failures.
"With all those explanations out of the way, I'll continue the story… unless anyone else has any objections?"
The rest of the group shook their head, not that two of them could argue. They weren't even in the game yet. Meleoron sighed as he got up "I'm gonna grab a different snack. I'm craving some chocolate."
"Oh, can I have some too…" Killua smiled innocently, "I love chocolate."
"Sure…" The man left to head towards the kitchen.
"First shelf, back right. Bring a mix."
"Thanks…"
"Alright…" Iason once more looked at his notes, checking to see where they were "Oh, roll for the throw."
Killua rolled, scoring an eight, resulting under fifteen.
Knuckle groaned, "You're going to hit my man, on the first go… not cool."
Killua looked at the other, "My apology…" They rolled the dice, "Sorry, three damage."
Aiming the blade, Kairakas misjudges their throw, the blade hitting the elf tied up. They lose three hit points in the process.
"Remember, you also get a bonus 1d6 roll, per round due to Korarall being near you."
"I shank one of the kobolds that stabbed Korarall…"
"Roll…" The man smirked.
Killua rolled ten, making it fifteen. They roll again and score a five.
Kairakas stabs one of the kobolds in the side for heavy damage, it whines in agony, barely standing as blood drips from its covered side.
Iason rolls for the next three kobolds.
Three more kobolds charge towards the pair, the first one aiming for Korarall, they hit the beast for two damage. But the other two aim for Kairakas; given that they not only critically harmed one of their allies, but the cloaked figure was also aiming to free the monk. They couldn't have that…
The group had suffered many losses while trying to capture the elf.
Kairakas takes one hit, the other stumbling on a misstep. They receive three damage.
Killua makes a note, they're down to eight… this isn't looking good. Two hits and they could be dead, killed off before they even reached the halfway point.
"Alright, you know the drill Shoot… only one thing you can do."
"Roll against the binds…" The man sighed, shaking the dice for a few seconds before letting it fall to the table with a 'tack'. He was hoping for a decent roll, at least to lessen the burden of Kairakas having to throw knives in his direction.
He sighed at the roll "Total score of twelve… two damage only."
The rope loosens slightly, the binds giving the elf a bit more movement, however, he's unable to free himself. Sarmenor still stays trapped.
Iason rolls six 1d20 dice. He rather not, roll, six times in a row, given that the battle could go on for ages if any of them continue to fail rolls. Following the successful rolls, he rolled for damage.
The kobolds split their attention, three aiming for the barbarian and three for the rogue. Korarall suffers eight damage and Kairakas suffers three, Killua is severely wounded. Blood now drips from several of their wounds.
"Before Knuckle rolls, is it possible to run from danger on my turn?"
"Sure, but the enemies get to roll on an opportunity hit or a free strike in laymen's terms. It's not wise to have your back turned to enemies. You could try hiding, before running, but every round on the kobolds, I'll be rolling for a spot check. If you get spotted by one of them, they'll all spot you."
Knuckle stepped in, "Can I do a smash roar? A taunt strike?"
"I guess… but it'll be a ridiculously high request. Hmm…" Iason thought about his scenario, wondering if it could work, "I'll tell you what. Roll eleven times… if you can score a NAT twenty once, I'll let you taunt all of them. However, for every roll above fifteen, you can taunt one of them. Oh, if you get a NAT twenty, I'll also let you roll for full damage, otherwise, you can hit one for one-third of the roll… how's that sound?"
Knuckle grins widely, "I'm going to beat these kobold's asses into submission!"
Meleoron walked in at the wrong time, "Seriously, what did I miss?"
"Knuckle is gonna try roll to taunt all eleven kobolds."
"Oh, I got to see this…" The man sat down, sliding the chocolates onto the table.
Killua plucks off a bar of chocolate, throwing it into his mouth to munch on.
With a grin Knuckle points towards himself, "You guys watch… I'm going to have all of them all lined up, bend them over and impaled them on a spike."
When everyone raised an eyebrow at the accidental insinuation, the man clarified "I don't mean it that way…" He started rolling.
Killua continued to raise his eyebrow, mainly at the others. In what other way would he mean that…?
Two…
"Great start…"
"Don't you dare start with me…"
Five…
Sixteen…
Twelve…
Eighteen…
Fourteen…
Ten…
Eleven…
Seventeen…
Fifteen…
Knuckle shook the last dice longer than he should've, "Please don't fail me…" Letting go, the dice hit the table several times, slowly rolling across it until he landed on a double-digit.
Iason cursed the man after his successful roll. Why did he have to agree to such a game-changing rule? Of course, the man would get insanely lucky on his last roll "Shit…"
"Yeah! I'm no longer Mr unlucky. Call me…" Knuckle pointed at himself proudly, "the king of rolls!"
"Man, I dunno…" Shoot pointed to the several previous rolls, "you failed six out of eleven."
"Still scored a NAT twenty…" The man stuck a tongue out at his partner, smirking childishly, "I call that a NAT win…"
The group groaned from the terrible pun.
Even though he agreed to the terms, he didn't want to give in so easily, "Damn… Alright, roll for damage."
Korarall screams at the top of his voice, the booming intensity drawing the attention of the surrounding enemy. He called upon the anger of the smaller beasts, awakening their ire.
With a swing of his mighty axe, Korarall lopped the head off one of the kobolds, the twelve damage successfully killing a creature. If they weren't angered by his taunt, slaying one of their friends certainly did the trick.
"Killua, your turn."
"I aim for the rope once more…" Killua rolled, scoring another NAT twenty.
"Again… seriously?"
Iason sighed in defeat, "You next roll does double damage…"
Aiming for the rope, after their previous terrible throw, the knife sails past the rope, cutting through several strands of the binds. The rope suffers six damage. The kobolds become restless from the act.
But the result of Korarall's scream puts them on edge, they're unable to focus on anything, but the man and his large axe, dripping blood from a recently slain friend. They take charge, everyone going after Korarall.
The man suffers a further eight damage from the two Kobold.
"Heh…" Knuckle chuckles from his current Hitpoints.
"What's funny… you got stabbed for eight damage."
"But now I got the magic number."
"I swear, my boyfriend's bad habits are rubbing off on you…"
"I thought the lucky number was seven…?" Killua innocently asked, "Wait… is this another one of those perverted jokes, judging by Iason's reaction."
"Sixty-nine is when you receive and give at the same time." Knuckle explained.
"Huh… sounds fun."
"It is if you have the right partner…" Iason objected.
"You mean partners…" Knuckle objected.
"No, then it'll be the Devil's Triangle…"
"Wouldn't it be more like the Devil's Pitchfork…?"
"Technically, it's the triple-six position…" Iason pointed out, "I mean… head out of the gutters. We're trying to play a game, not try to name an act I could do."
"My apologies…" Killua reaffirmed. They didn't mean for the conversation to get derailed.
"It's not your fault, we can be very… lewd at times. Hopefully, none of this is making you uncomfortable."
Killua waved it off, "Don't be… it's very informative. Never expect it to happen, but I'm grateful for you explaining these terms. I believe it's Sarmenor's turn anyways."
"YES!" He was grateful for the distraction, a single finger being pointed at them "You're right… but seeing as he can only do one thing, struggle against your bondage…" He paused for a moment before reclarifying himself, so that Knuckle doesn't make a joke "Struggle against your binding, I mean… anyways, roll."
Sarmenor is successful against his binding, managing to loosen the ropes further. He deals six damage.
"Wait…" Iason remembered he was supposed to do something else before Shoot's turn, "Kairakas was supposed to get an opportunity roll, due to the Kobold turning their back on them… and you were supposed to get another attack in, from your extra attack. Roll your dice for the extra attack. I'll count the opportunity as a successful hit."
Killua rolls for his new moves.
While the enemy is distracted, Kairakas stabs two kobolds in the side. The strike was quick and precise, wounding them without their knowledge. One suffers three damage while the other suffers two.
Out of the six, four are successful, managing to stab the Half-Orc in the side. The man takes a total of ten damage.
"No longer keeping him in that magic sweet spot."
"Boo… I roll to cleave the six out of revenge."
"Roll three times, once for every two kobolds. Your score must exceed forty-five to hit everyone. Modifier only gets added once. You also get an extra strike for an opportunity roll, making it… three hits, in total."
"Come on… lucky rolls."
Knuckle lets out an aggravated cry "Oh, come on…" He was successful in hitting everyone, but his damage roll was unsuccessful.
Korarall swings his axe, cleaving through everyone, doing a whooping total of EIGHTEEN damage. Each kobold suffers from three damage. Two die, already being weak enough to be slain by the pitiful attack. Two are almost dead from the attack.
"Yeah, yeah… throw salt onto that wound why don't you."
"I'm not the one that rolled…" Iason smiled innocently, continuing with the game.
Four of the Kobolds are freed from the taunt, the attack bringing them back to reality. The same couldn't be said for the next two. They attack Korarall, hitting him for… three damage in total. Their rage was lifted soon after the attack.
"Your move Killua…"
Killua thought about their next move. They can either try to help reduce the time for Shoot to get out of their binds, or straight up attack the kobolds. Worst case scenario, Shoot could roll a failure, resulting in the binds being healed. But if they can score a full amount of damage, anything above a success will result in breaking free.
"I think I should aim for the rope once more… as a precaution. There may be fewer kobolds, but Knuckle suffered a lot of damage and I'm really, low on hit points… also, only two more are taunted until they attack, correct?"
"You'll be correct?"
"Is it because of my terrible roll?"
"No, I wanted it only last one round."
"Aim for the rope with my last Dagger."
Kairakas aims for the bindings, scoring another successful hit, the bindings suffering a total of four damage. The Rope only has two hit points. Kairakas stabs one of the distracted kobolds, the creature suffering two damage.
The final two kobolds attack Korarall, the Half-Orc suffering a total of five more damage.
If Sarmenor fails his next roll, he'll be stuck in his binding for another round…
Shoot rolls for his action, smiling at his successful action.
Sarmenor breaks out of his bindings after a successful roll. Upon breaking out, the Elf charges straight into battle aiming for one of the kobolds. He does a total of ten damage, killing it after crushing its head in with his bare fists.
The four kobolds split their attention, one aiming for Kairakas, two for Sarmenor and one for Korarall.
Kairakas nimbly dodges the flimsy attack, suffering no damage in the process.
Sarmenor takes the first hit, suffering three damage. The second hit misses, and the elf successfully avoids the attack.
Korarall takes another hit, suffering only one damage.
"Can I cleave the two attacking Sarmenor?"
"No… not unless you want to roll to hit him as well."
"Drat…" Knuckle thought about his next move "I guess we can pick them off one at a time. There's how many remaining?"
Iason counts his sheet "Seven… All except one are wounded."
"I aim for the non-wounded one. Hopefully, I can kill them."
Aiming for the kobold, it suffered a total of eighteen damage, the attack is considered overkill. Korarall manages to cleave the creature in two, leaving behind a pile of gore from the successful hit.
Only a few remained. Some were barely hurt, while others are severely damaged. The one kobold attacks Kairakas, only grazing them for one damage.
"One bad hit and I'm dead…"
"Well, you'll roll for death save. If you roll ten or higher, three times… you succeed, becoming stable. Otherwise, if you do roll a NAT twenty, you automatically become stable, even if it's your first or second roll. When you become stable, you regain one hit point. HOWEVER, if your roll three times nine or under, you die… and you have to create a new character. Rolling a one counts as two failures."
"Now… that's if you drop to zero." Iason clarified, "To get an instant death, you need to be hit for your maximum hit points, combined with what's remaining… so, fifteen damage. Seeing as the kobolds are weak, even if I score a maximum critical, you won't die instantly."
"I guess that's good… not so good if I fail three times. Is it in a row or overall?"
"Overall. I have to count the successes and failures. So, even if you get two successes, three failures can still kill you."
"Got it."
"I aim for the weakest Kobold."
"Roll…"
Kairakas stabs the weakened kobold for a total of three damage, killing it.
"Do I get to roll for an extra attack?"
"Due to Sarmenor involved in the battle, no…"
"Shame…"
A kobold attacks Sarmenor, missing the attack.
Sarmenor follows the miss with a direct hit to the face, shattering the creature's skull. It dies on impact.
One kobold attacks each person.
Korarall suffers zero damage.
Kairakas suffers zero damage.
Sarmenor takes a hit, for two damage.
Korarall swings his axe, completely missing the tiny creature.
Meleoron snickers at the failure.
"Don't you dare laugh…" Knuckle points at the man, lips curling into a wide smirk "that's my first complete failed to hit a kobold, miss."
The kobold attacks Korarall, the man suffering three damage.
"Killua… your move."
"I'll try to pick off the weak ones."
Kairakas takes out another kobold, dealing five damage in total.
Sarmenor misjudges his strike, missing the kobold.
The three get attacked once more and…
"I miss all three this time."
Korarall cleaves one of the creatures, killing it instantly.
Kairakas takes out another kobold, leaving only one remaining. It starts to flee.
Sarmenor gets a free strike, killing off the last remaining creature. All lay dead and half buried in the dirt. Before you're able to search any of them, you hear the hollers of more kobolds coming in your direction.
There was no time for introductions, a way to gauge each other's personality. Do you stay to fight… or run away?
Killua points at Knuckle, "There's a door across the room, close to where we entered. Our best bet is probably to go forward, rather than back through the hallway we entered through. It could be an endless fight, given the social cues."
"My plan is foiled… or is it?" Iason smiled cruelly.
Knuckle frowned, "We follow Kairakas… I rather see him live to fight another day, than deal with a horde of kobolds."
You all do the only thing you can think of, heading towards the one door that hasn't been explored. Granted, it could be more dangerous running further into the dungeon… but it's the best option against the risk of having to deal with possibly hundreds of more kobolds swarming upon you.
A\N: I regret doing this now… and by regret, I mean I'm making myself do mathematics. I'm trying to track so many numbers, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna make a mistake somewhere if I haven't done it already.