1d20+1
Let me know when I'm paralyzed. I haven't really been keeping track of the Dex damage... I guess I should have been, lol.
"Let's have a look at you," Simn said firmly, examining Adam's wounds to see what could be done for him. Getting some of the poison out would be ideal, but that might not be practical.
Bea spares a worried look at Adam before stepping over to peer into the darkness in the direction of the sounds. "Hang in there, Adam - sounds like we'll need to get moving soon - we've lost whatever surprise we may have had and from the looks of things diplomacy has failed."
She stands guard at the front of the passageway leading towards the sounds while the rest of the party gets ready.
Round 7:
Simn, you're unable to do anything for Adam. Bea, the volume on the shouting has dropped considerably. All you can hear is occasional short exchanges in the unknown language of the mites. However, they now sound as though they're getting closer.
There are a few things of interest in the room. It appears that the mite was sitting on a small stool until it heard you approach. There is a large bowl on the floor next to where it was, filled with a paste that smells unpleasantly of rotted meat. The mounds you saw from the entrance are rotted vegetation and excrement, and five are studded with small spherical objects. The sixth has a single, much larger sphere on it.
"The small spherical objects in the mounds of rotted vegetation and excrement are likely giant centipede eggs," Havrin informs his companions. "The larger sphere in this other mount is the egg of some sort of much larger vermin, but I don't know what it could be."
"With Adam poisoned should we fall back to a position away from the tree and return to attack at a later time, or should we continue to take the battle to the mites?" Havrin asks his companions.
"Not that I don't care for Adam's suffering, but if we retreat every time one of us gets injured, we are never going to get anywhere. I say we press on, at least for now."
Although unable to do anything much for Adam, Simn nodded, "I agree," he said, "Besides, who is to say they would leave us to recover in peace?" He did call upon some positive energy to fix up Adam's more mundane wounds, along with any the others might have taken during the fight.
"I don't think we'll have much of a choice - I think they're coming. Everyone get ready."
Bea positions herself just out of sight of the passageway deeper into the lair, where she might strike at anyone coming through.
Let me know where you want to be, or if your current positions are OK.
Since Adam currently only has 4 hitpoints, he prefers to stay in the middle... No sense getting ganked by something from behind.
Havrin takes position between Jacyn and Terrill. Longbow in hand with arrow nocked and ready to fire, the stoic ranger faces the passageway from which the mites are expected to emerge.
Bea grips her sword and tries to steady her breathing from the recent fight.
Simn took up a position to the fore, calling upon Irori's protection to withstand the attacks of the mites.
As the party waits, Retsiji quietly asks, "Havrin, how big could 'much larger' be? Are we looking at a, I don't know, fifty-foot long centipede here?"
Havrin, from there you can't see very far down the passage . You figure anything further down the passage will have concealment against you due to poor visibility.
Repeating initiative order:
Havrin
Adam
Retsiji
Simn
Bea
Jacyn
Branko/Terrill
Mites
Round 9:
At the end of Round 8, Havrin, you could dimly see movement down the passage. The round will start with you having an opportunity to attack M1, your choice as to weapon.
ETA: UPDATED MAP
Still feeling weak and injured, Adam takes full defense, employing his rapier entirely in the parrying position.
Bea holds her breath and hopes the mites don't see her, giving her a chance to hit them as they go by.
Round Nine:
With an arrow nocked to his bow and ready to fire, Havrin peers into the darkness searching for any sign of the approaching mites. The ranger releases the bowstring and fires his arrow as soon as he sees one of the small blue-skinned creatures emerge into the light. In one fluid motion he reaches into his quiver and nocks another arrow to his bow
Round 9:
Havrin, you put an arrow into M1's abdomen, dropping it. Bea, M2 was focused on Havrin, and its momentum carries it into the room and your greatsword swing. It goes down. M3 stops in its tracks. Havrin, you can see a pileup of more mites behind M3; they are apparently trying to turn around and run away.
Jacyn moves forward, moving adjacent to Bea, blocking any mites from trying to get past the pair.
Round 9:
Jacyn, after the first two mites were taken down in rapid succession the rest of them broke and ran. Havrin, at the top of the next round you can take a blind shot down the passage if you want.
"They're fleeing for now," Havrin informs the other party members positioned around Retsiji's light in a loud whisper. "Shall we pursue or wait them out? They may try to come at us from another direction," he adds, glancing toward the passageway to the west.
Seeing that no one else is volunteering an opinion, Retsiji says, "So far, none of them have spoken in any language we know. So diplomacy is out. If we want the ring, we'll have to take it from them. So far, they haven't put up much of a fight; my worry is whatever laid that egg, though."
"That's my worry as well. I've heard a few rumors about larger giant centipedes - mostly second- and third-hand rumors, really. Nothing for certain, but right now I don't think anything would surprise me."
"We'd better press our advantage while we have it. Onward!"
Bea pursues the mites down the tunnel, hoping the rest of the group is right behind her.
Havrin follows Bea, arrow nocked to bow and ready to fire.
Jacyn follows along, nodding his consent with Bea's suggestion of pressing their advantage. He tries to keep pace with Havrin and Bea, moving with them as well as he can in the low tunnel.
Retsiji, Terrill, and Branko likewise follow.
The tunnel spirals down around twenty feet, then opens out into another chamber. There are no mites visible, although you can hear their panicked cries from the darkness at the far end of the chamber, echoing in the tunnel and receding into the distance.
This chamber is unpleasantly damp, and is cluttered with junk--broken furniture, wagon wheels and axles, and other less identifiable detritus. Several hammocks hang from the ceiling. A bookshelf is propped against one wall, set up like a curio case with bits of bone, pieces of what look like giant centipede carapace and legs, and dirty grey feathers.
Next?
"They may be moving to a more defensible position from which to make a stand," Havrin theorizes aloud.
The stoic ranger glances at his companions. "I guess we shouldn't keep them waiting," he adds. "Shall we wait for Adam and Simn before we advance?"
Adam follows the others, cautiously.
When he reaches the small mite "treasure trove" he looks around carefully for any valuables.
"Terrill, Branko, you two can bring up the rear as we move. Don't let anything get past the pair of you two Adam, Simm, or Retsiji, alright?"
Bea pauses to look around and the color drains out of her face as she realizes where she is. Oh gods, this is where they live! They're just defending their home and we're slaughtering them!
She shakes off the feeling quickly, thinking of their mission at hand. These creatures stole something valuable that we need to return. Once we have the ring, we can leave them be. She grits her teeth, tries to push the thoughts from her mind, and moves onward.
Simn continued to bring up the rear, watchful for any attempt by the mites to sneak up on them. He'd expected them to strike from both directions at once, but that hadn't happened.
"Let's track down the ring and be on our way," he said upon seeing the treasure trove. All manner of things, but seemingly gewgaws rather than anything valuable. No sense claiming any of it.
At Jacyn's direction, Terrill nods curtly and Branko says, "We will do this thing, yes."
As you advance into the room, Retsiji's light spell illuminates a tunnel opening at the far end. Presuming you take the tunnel, it slopes down another ten or fifteen feet before opening out into a chamber roughly twenty feet by twenty feet.
There are neither mites nor vermin in the room. There are a couple of rows of pegs on one wall, a few of which have cloaks hanging from them. In the center of the room is a low table. It's made of junk, like all of the other furniture you've seen in this place, but it's actually fairly well put together. Its surface is covered with piles of detritus, arranged in some sort of pattern. To one side of the piles is a scrap of paper covered with notes in an unfamiliar script.
At the other end of the wall you came in through, there is yet another tunnel opening. Havrin, you think you might hear some mite speech echoing from the tunnel mouth, but it's too faint to make out.
As the party moves through the chamber, Retsiji pauses to look at the table. "Wait a moment--I think this is a map of the area! Look, there's a pile of sycamore twigs in the center, for the tree here, and some blue moss for the river. I don't know what this pile of bloodstained rocks to the southeast is supposed to be, though. Give me a few seconds."
Skimming over the piece of paper, his face falls. "Um, I don't think the ring is here. This is a tally of treasure taken for 'US'--presumably the mites--and 'THEM'--presumably the kobolds. The mites have a kobold statue, and lots of coins and spears. The kobolds have magic dust, lots of coins, and a shiny human ring." He looks around at the rest of the party. "What now?"
Adam quickly pilfers several piles of copper coins from the floor, as well as a set of dice, and puts them in his beltpouch.
Bea looks around to see if there's any other clues they might be missing.
She catches Adam's eye and scowls at him, but does nothing to stop him. "Retsiji, can you find where the kobolds are on that....map? If the ring's not here, we should leave quickly before more mites find us." Then a thought strikes her, "If the mites have a statue that belongs to the kobolds, maybe we can trade it back for the ring. Anyone see the statue anywhere?"