Runt Punt

Runt Punt is an encounter in Melody of the Maze. It comes after Culinary Colloquy, The Plundered Dungeon, or Five Kings.
==Enemies==
*Airborne Imp (1100 Gold, 120 Xp, 75 Energy, 5 HP, 6 HP Hard)
*Airborne Kobold (1100 Gold, 120 Xp, 75 Energy, 5 HP, 6 HP Hard)
*Beastman Kicker (1000 Gold, 112 Xp, 70 Energy, 5 HP, 6 HP Hard)
*Paralaxus (1000 Gold, 112 Xp, 70 Energy, 5 HP, 6 HP Hard)
==Transcript==
===Introduction===
Can some types of imp fly?
That's the question which appears in your mind as you see one of the crimson critters flying though the air above the azure chasm -- screaming in either terror or exhilaration.
The answer comes a moment later, when his flight becomes a descending arc that hurls him into the seething blueness below.
Strange.
You're continuing on your way when a second screaming missile -- this one a kobold -- follows the same path.
"Mine went further!" booms a voice you recognize.
"It's not fair!" replies another voice, this one unmistakably that of a beastman. "Imps fly better!"
"A poor sportsman blames his equipment."
The scene emerges into view as you round a corner.
A big red fiend, his body laden with fearsome infernal muscle, stands next to a pack of imps. Paralaxus, the demon you killed in the ruins near the Black Tower.
There's another massive form near him, his equal in height and broad-shouldered girth. It's a beastman -- a hulking brute with bull-like horns protruding from either side of his big skill. He too has a pack of minions by his side. In his case they're kobolds.
Nervous looks adorn the faces of both groups of little creatures, though they remain in place beside their respective masters.
"Lend me an imp," the beastman says. "Make it fair."
"No one kills my minions except me," Paralaxus replies.
As if to illustrate the point, he grabs of the imps, yanks the squirming victim from the pack, and sets the creature down in front of him. Then he draws back a powerful leg and kicks.
His red foot strikes the imp's buttocks. The blow launches the wailing demon, sending him soaring out over the chasm.
The beastman grunts, seizes a kobold, and does the same thing -- punting the reptilian wretch after the imp. You estimate that he falls several feet short of the point where the imp suffered his inglorious demise.
"Master!" one of the imps says. He tugs at Paralaxus' loincloth.
The demon transfixes him with a fierce glare. But when the imp sticks out his arm and points, the mighty fiend looks in that direction -- right at you.
"You!" he roars.
"I've been hearing that a lot today."
"I'll kill you!"
"That too."
Paralaxus takes hold of the imp who alerted him to your presence, holds him in the air, and kicks him.
The shrieking red creature hurtles towards you.
It's certainly the first time today that's happened...
===Conclusion===
In the name of science and scholarship, there's a question you have to settle...
The imps and kobolds start backing away, having no stomach for a fight now that their masters have been vanquished. But they're not fast enough.
The force spell smashed into both packs, flinging red and green bodies out over the chasm.
Sure enough, the last of the screaming forms to fall to his doom is an imp.
The harp music which accompanies that revelation sounds suspiciously like an eye roll.
Category:Melody of the Maze