"There's something to the South, too."
"Then you are right about us being careful from here forward."
Luna did what she could to stay hidden and move along.
"So which way do we go, then?"
Ah - so zat's vat zat is. Vonder how many.
This is pretty new to Kong, but it somehow feels good.
"My vote's straight. The fewer turns we take, the easier it is to navigate back. Plus, we can double back and take turns if we hit a dead end."
"I'm a little worried that that was a guard dog, as well."
He thought for a moment. "Maybe we should adjust how we move, too. Lina, your lance is more of a charging weapon, right? Or is it only really deadly on horseback? If it's just stronger with a charge, you hanging back a little makes a lot of sense. It certainly seemed stronger on your horse, with velocity and all that. Anything else we can change to make things work better?
"Yes, it's a velocity thing. There's a reason you never see knights in movies jousting by running at each other waving spears. But I'll be fine; I've got a lot of weapons.
Kong is on his toes
Neri will try to stay fifteen feet behind Luna now, unless someone gives him a reason to do otherwise. He believes straight is the better idea.
Lina marches east, this time with her bow drawn and ready to get a shot in on anything with flappy wings.
"It is my hope we don't need to use our weapons, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared."
As Jacob moves forward, Luna, Kong and Neri see a cloud of bats fall off the ceiling at the edge of the light.
The bats move up to Jacob, swarming around him, small sharp teeth biting at his exposed flesh.
The bard grimaces as the unclean fangs bite into him. He draws his rapier and counterattacks .
Neri looked at the swarm as it dropped from the ceiling. How on earth did you fight an amorphous wall of flesh?
He slips forward beyond his allies as he readies to strike at the creatures.
It was clear to the bard his weapon was likely not the most effective against a group of flying bats, but his goal was to scare them, not slay them.
Kong...feels useless. Ear-Piercing Scream would be perfect. Naturally, I'm not carryink it.
Luna threw one of her bombs into the group of attacking bats making sure to place it to avoid hitting Jacob.
The bomb explodes, sending bats scattering, killing many of them.
Jacob slashes at the bats, and manages to hit one, but it doesn't really do much to the group.
Bombs worked the best against this many enemies so another one she flung.
The swarm disperses.
"Okay. I was at a loss for how to fight something like that. Apparently, 'Molotov Cocktail' is pretty ideal." He eyed Luna cautiously. "You know, I've got the God of Fire sitting in my brain... and the only time I get to lob that much heat around is when I'm scrying in the volcano. You okay, Jake?"
"More disgusted than damaged, but thanks for asking." Truth be told, he felt a touch sickened, ubt it was the thought those dirty things actually bit him. Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.
Taking 10 on stealth again, for 21... once we get moving. :)
"Speaking of fire gods... you still up there, Id? You've been quiet for a bit, and I'm curious as to when I'll lose your aid. I have a working theory that you'll be around for as far as the volcano could see well... but that might not at all be true."
Neri paused as he waited for Id to respond, or not... and then went on with talking.
"So... huge swarms of bats and stuff probably means this place isn't visited often, right? But huge bats that eat things means that huge things come through that are food. So I'm kind of torn at what each of those means."
"It means we keep our weapons drawn, Neri."
Kong shrugs, imagining how insane it could get with him waving the pick randomly in a vigorous motion.
Jacob did not like keeping his sword out, but it seemed Lina knew what she was talking about; he took her seasoned words over his discomfort.
Since she doubted her whip would do much against anything in the caves she decided to keep her bombs ready instead.
"If the lizards or whatever we are calling them attack we should just run, nothing seems to like us."
"I'm noticing that, too." Neri said, lips tight.
Ve're demons. Kong shrugs.
He doesn't seem.convinced.
As the group moves deeper into the cavern, they find a small pool of water. The floor is covered in about 6 inches of bat guano. As they move on, they begin to realize that they are in a breeding chamber for the bigger bats, and the smaller bats are the offspring.
The big bat flutters forward, and screams at the group.
Kong is getting tired of these noisy bats. He has plans of slamming the shriek right back down its gullet with an extra large pickaxe.
Come get zome!
Not again...
Earlier, after examining the bat closely: "I think the bats have been mutated by something. Magic like above? Radiation? Maybe they are pets... Or livestock...
Much better. Lina is not shaken, this time--merely annoyed.
The bard took a defensive posture while he assessed the prowess of his opponent; it may be time to call on my magic.
The swarm of bats flies forward, towards the center of the group, and encounters Neri first, and begin to swarm about him.
Apparently, all that it took to get Neri to shut up was a swarm of tiny little demonic creatures. That was nice to know.
Neri slipped backwards out of the bat swarm, swatting at them as he did. He moved back around the corner, before shouting, "Stay separate, they seem to stick together mostly!" He then cast Frigid Touch... or at least tried.
Kong charges in to attack -
Shut up, giant vinget rat!
Kong follows up with a mage strike, sacrificing blindness/deafness.
Luna would try to scatter the bat swarm so her allies could focus their attacks on the largest one, she steps to the side and sends another bomb into the swarm careful to avoid hitting allies.
Lina pushes her way through the swarm; while this slows her movement, she uses the move action to draw her bow, which she fires at the big bat on the other side.
They're just bats.
Kong's initial attack misses, but his mage strike hits, ripping open the bat's side, and Lina's thrust opens up the other side. But the bat continues to flap and chirp angrily.
Luna's bomb scatters some of the bat swarm, but they continue to swarm.