Sol's knife is on target when it is turned away by some sort of invisible magical shield.
As Jod rushes toward the odd little spellcaster, he shouts, "Someone see to Rhok!"
Jod smacks the gnome on the side of the head with his falchion, but she is still conscious.
Ghroth barrels past Hannik and Anevia towards the gnome once it appears.
The gnome begins to cast the same spell again.
She then lunges at Jod.
There's a crackle and a whiff of ozone, a spark arcs from her hand to Jod's falchion, and Jod spasms and falls the ground. The gnome cackles delightedly before sidestepping away from her enemies.
"What's happening?" calls Aravashnial, "Do you need my help?" Anevia, meanwhile, curses and aims an arrow at the gnome.
But she only manages to hit the cave wall.
"Yes, we need your help. This gnome is a feisty little thing."
"In the name of Iomedae stand down!" Kira shouts, before firing off another shot, as she does so, her weapon becomes imbuded with the light of Iomedae.
"Stay here." Hannik tells Arvashnial, "Horgus, stay with him. I can't get a shot from here." Hannik jogs part way across the cavern looking for a cleaner shot before firing off another bolt.
Seeing the little thing manage to cast a spell, even with him so close, Mulluq is concerned as he sees another fall. He sidesteps to stand protectively over Jod, also blocking any avenue of escape to ensure he is allowed to take a shot if the gnome even tries. With his weapon now ready and in hand, he lashes out with both blade and fang.
Mulluq's sword clangs on the cave wall, jarring his arm. His jaws get closer, but the gnome snatches her head back just in time.
Ghroth briefly drops to all fours while running to get behind the gnome. Once there he leaps up rebounding off the cavern wall to dive down at the gnome with his oversized jaws spread wide.
,
Sol cuts the gnome a long wound along her arm which bleeds freely. Ghroth then makes his dizzying leap, biting her hard on the shoulder. Already dazed by Jod's flat-of-the-blade strike, she collapses to the floor.
Kira moves to each of those that are unconscious and casts "stabilize" on them in turn. They are no longer bleeding out.
"Someone tie up that gnome before she wakes."
The unconscious young man struggles to breathe as the electrical charge continues to cause his muscles to spasm, but the inquisitor's spell causes his strained breathing to ease somewhat. He is still out cold, however.
Kira ministers to Jod and Rhok. Jod remains obstinately unconscious but she is able to revive Rhok.
"Uhhh..." Rhok unsteadily crawls to his feet and surveys the damage. "She packed quite a punch, the little one. Is she tied up securely? We wouldn't want her to disappear again."
"Let me get Jod on his feet. After this, I will unfortunately have expended most of my magical strength."
"*groan* Oh, I hurt everywhere. I was close to a bull when it got hit by lightning on the plains once - except for the whole dead part, I think I know what he felt like."
A little unsteady as he gets to his feet, Jod slaps his cousin on the back, "Thanks. Again. Did we win? Did she get away?"
"We got her. It was close though. She had some powerful magic compared to us."
"Nice one Ghroth!" The eidolon shrugs and picks something out of its teeth.
"Wait- is this one of the descendants of the crusaders? The ones whose children were warped by the Worldwound exposure? Either way something is wrong with her. And did you see how her arm stretched out like it had no bones in it?"
The adventurers pick over the gnome's belongings and the troll nests.
Kira looks over the Troll's things, she collects the stuff in the nests, but hesitates with he Gnome's possessions.
"We should wake her and see if we can safely set her free. I don't want an enemy behind us, but if we remove her weapons I think she should think better of attacking again."
|
After the gnome is knocked unconscious, Sol watches anxiously while Kira sees to Rhok and Jod. When the Kellid shaman begins to move and further heals his warrior friend, Sol is greatly relieved.
He doesn't join the search through the gnome and troll camps, but watches the sleeping gnome with his dagger drawn.
"Now what do we do with her?
Mulluq calms himself when the enemy finally drops. With Lady Valerious tending the injured, he looks to secure the prisoner, but realizes he has nothing to use to do so. "My uselessness knows no bounds. I have no way of securing the prisoner. We cannot just leave her here. She is either a threat to us or others. Her weapons were her hands, bearing spells. Do you suggest we remove those? I feel we are responsible for what is now our prisoner. It is our responsibility to ensure that we do not treat them inhumanely." Despite the choice of words, he does not sound as if he's being preachy. His words come out almost as if he talking aloud to himself.
"I thought I heard someone say to take her alive." With a grin, he adds, "I tried to knock her out, but her head's almost as hard as Rhok's. I might have damaged my sword, come to think of it." He pretends to examine it for damage as he positions himself near the tunnel exiting the chamber.
"I am hoping her spells will be of limited use now that she's exhausted so much energy, but we have no way of knowing I agree. If we can find some rags we can fashion something to keep her tied, and bring her along if we must.
Looking at Jod Kira replies "I did. and I would again. The creature was scared and lashed out, we are invading her home, such that it is. What right do we have to kill her? The mindless trolls would fight to the death, but she is not as such."
"Mulluq, can you tell if she is Evil?"
"It may be the case, but it still would not be right to just kill her out of hand, unless we know she is a continued threat to us."
Anevia ties the gnome's hands and feet with the length of rope. The little creature is battered and bloodied, but only stunned. After a few minutes she comes around. She regards her captors silently, with strange dark eyes.
"We can't leave anyone down here helpless."
Mulluq nods, "I can often sense the presence of evil in others, but they generally need to have more than a hint for me to see it. If I focus, I can look deep into a single person." With that he focuses his gaze on the prisoner, seeking the shard of inner darkness.
"Regardless of the results, she is now our prisoner. We can neither leave her bound or free, or just execute her for our convenience. We must treat her fairly. She's awake, now maybe we can get more information from her." Turning to the gnome, he asks, "Can you speak? Do you understand us? What can you tell us about these caverns?"
Jod stays quiet, waiting for her response, but keeps his eyes toward the exit.
Kira nods to Mulluq, judging that he's best left to this, and takes up a position with her crossbow to cover the route they came in.
"I have done nothing to you, crusader," she says in a weirdly sing-song voice. "Leave me be."
"Will you leave us be, to carry on from here?"
"It matters not what you may have or have not done to us. What matters it what you have done, or may do, to any others or innocents that may cross paths with you. The path of good is not tread by those who are only concerned with their own safety. To find the good in oneself, the needs of others must come first." This last sounds like a mantra that has either been repeated to him, or repeated to himself on multiple occasions.
"Crusaders always distrust that which is different. I came down here to stay away from crusaders. But instead you followed me, and hurt my dollies."