While Ryn is able to sneak into the room without attracting the ire of the spiders, Zev, Ulfr & especially Ada are not so lucky. The spiders look up from their meal, see the three warriors, and chitter in anticipation of fresh meat.
Saersha noted that they would have to wade through the muck that the amoeba's had been in with disgust. She wasn't one from tromping through filth if she could avoid it but it was an unfortunate necessity this time. When she reached the other side and dry ground again she cast a spell to clean off the filth and then cast the same for Embyr and Azura if she wished.
While the others went ahead she stood with the aasimar and her pet impatiently waiting for them to say the coast was clear. There was no indication of anything going wrong up ahead so Saersha cast her spell again to clean off a patch of wall and then leaned back against it. She gave the other two women an arch look and asked, "So what shall we do while we wait hm?"
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Embyr looks rather uncomfortable, glancing around at the filthy stone walls surrounding them.
"...I spy, with my little eye... something beginning with..." Embyr starts.
"...B."
She's blushing a bit.
Azura quietly says, "Bats?"
Ulfr chuckles. Looks like we found some fun. Have I ever told you the one about... and he breaks into song about a suicidal man caught in a spider's web who tries to talk a spider INTO eating him without success.
Embyr's blush disappears. "...yep. Yep. Th-th-thaaaat's a lot of bats."
She points to the east... and near the ceiling of the dome are hundreds upon hundreds of tiny bats. They linger around the entrance to an eastern chamber, quietly squeaking.
The rogue whimpers in fear.
Azura very quietly digs through her pack and produces some flasks of alchemist's fire. She hands one to Saersha and one to Embyr.
"Ready?"
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Saersha knew exactly what her pet had spotted but let the woman save face when Azura said the bats. She realized that Embyr was rather scared of the things when she saw the woman's reaction and said, "They are creepy and disturbing looking, but they are fascinating to watch fly." She approached Embyr and reached out to put her arms around the woman in a hug, "but don't worry, your Mistress will protect you from them."
Ada pulls out her sling, and lets a bullet fly at the spiders. "I knew there would be spiders."
Taking advantage of the creatures being unaware of her presence, Ryn explodes into action throwing herself into an acrobatic spin that sends her shield spinning toward the spider on her left.
”I really need to start carrying sticks or something.” Zev grumbles as he moves over to swipe at the nearest spider.
Zev's strike goes wide, but Ada's & Ryn's do not. The spider reels from the impacts of shield & stone, bleeding profusely from its mandibles & back.
The spiders swarm the landing the party is on, biting at Zev & Ryn...
Ryn easily wards off the wounded spider's bite, and Zev manages to fend one off as well. Unfortunately, he leaves himself open to a vicious bite from another spider.
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Embyr calms down a bit as Saersha embraces her. She takes the offered alchemist's fire in hand and prepares herself to throw it.
"Ready."
Zev lets out a growling yelp and swings wide again.
Ulfr calmly steps up and splatters the huge arachnid attacking Zev all over the place.
Ulfr's swing utterly crushes the spider, even with its cover from his club. Spider bits fly every which way.
Saersha was pleased at Embyr's reaction and noticed that the woman didn't act all flustered this time when she was embraced by her Mistress. That was very good and Saersha readied herself to cast a spell when the assault on the bats began.
Sidestepping the wounded spider's attack, Ryn retaliates with a devastating kick to it's side, the impact so forceful that the creature's lurching body causes her follow up punch to miss.
Ryn kicks the spider so hard her shield flies out of its body and lands at her feet, covered in sticky strands. The spider falls back into the pool with a *SPLASH*.
Ada steps forward pulling out her whip on the way. She flicks it at the spider between Ryn and Zev. "Don't move please." She misses the spider, but also manages to avoid her friends.
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Even though it missed, Zev still arched a brow at Ada's command alongside the crack of the whip.
The remaining spider bites at Zev again.
This time, he's ready for it and steps aside.
Zev eviscerates the last spider, despite the weakness in his limbs.
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Back in the bath area, the bat swarm starts to flutter about...
Azura says, "I see something with a B... this time, bombs!"
She lobs her alchemist's fire at the bat swarm, hoping that Embyr and Saersha will do the same with the ones she gave to them.
Both flasks of alchemist's fire arc through the air, followed by the sizzle of an acidic orb... and both flasks of fire fall short. The blotch of acid causes a few bats to fall dead...
...and the rest to take notice of the women.
You hear the breaking of glass, followed by cacophonic squeaking.
"Well, poop," says Azura expressively as she draws her rapier. "Here they come!"
"Zev let me see if I can help." Ada reaches out and touches his hand and casts guidance on him.
Hearing the crash back in the other room and seeing Ada tending to Zev, who definitely didn't look all that well, Ryn grabs up her shield and spins on her heal, shaking of f the ichor as she runs back the way they came. "Keep an eye on him Ada, catch up when you can. Something's going down in the other room!" she says giving Ulfr a "let's go kill something" look before bolting back the other way.
With Ulfr hot on her heels.
"Zev let me see if I can help." Ada reaches out and touches his hand and casts guidance on him.
”Thank you,” he says with a faint smile.
Saersha wasn't pleased that the bats were still coming and said, "You realize they might have left us alone if we didn't attack them right?" As the bats began to swarm towards them Saersha waited for them to get as close as she dared before throwing her flask at the oncoming swarm of bats.
Saersha's flask flies straight and true, exploding in the midst of the swarm and cooking off hundreds of bats. The remainder of the swarm, now decidedly smaller than before, swoops down upon the women to feed!
Azura stabs into the swarm and skewers a few bats with her rapier--but there's so many of them, her efforts appear to have had no effect in slowing the swarm down.
Hundreds of sets of tiny fangs bite at the group, with Saersha & Azura getting the worst of it by far. Embyr shrieks in terror as bats fly into her hair, panicking & flailing about.
Three sets of footprints come running into the room--Natalya, Ulfr & Ryn have joined the fray!
Ulfr curses and says, I don't have anything that can deal with a swarm of bats!
Azura flails ineffectively at the bats, then shouts, "I'm out of fire! Run for it!"
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"$#!+." Ryn curses as she sees the swarm of bats enveloping her fleeing companions. "Go! GET BEHIND ME!"
Reaching into her pack she draws out a torch and lights it, grabbing a flask at her hip as she drops the tindertwig and taking a heavy swig of it's contents.
Ulfr moves to stand neae his arena-sister. He tries to herd the bats in front of her by being big and scary while she does something (hopefully) brilliant.
The bats seem less inclined to bite the girls and instead turn their attentions to Ulfr.
Do it! he orders Ryn.
"How are you feeling Zev? Once you are feeling better we should go check on the others I'm worried about all the yelling going on."
Saersha gave a scream of fright as the bats swarmed over them. For all her talk of protecting Embyr from the creatures she really wanted to through the rogue to them and run, after all, if she hadn't been scared of them they wouldn't have bothered them and they likely wouldn't be in this mess. She could easily come up with far better torments than that, ones she would enjoy a great deal more, and so she didn't do it. Instead she took Embyr's hadn't and said, "This way!" as she began to pull her pet with her towards where the others went. Maybe the cobwebs would keep the bats away, or at least give them something else to do.
Embyr scrambles after Saersha & Azura as they flee down the hallway they entered the room from.
The bats start to follow the girls, but Natalya yanks what looks like a grey stick from her belt, strikes a tindertwig, and sets the stick alight. A cloud of thick grey smoke erupts from the stick, obscuring the fleeing women from view. She drops the smokestick on the floor and runs after the girls.
The bats turn their attentions on the yelling half-orc and the torch-wielding Ryn, and descend upon them...
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As the swarm descends on them, Ryn uses all the power her lungs can muster so send a spray of volatile dwarven liquor through the torch's flame, enveloping the swarming bats in a brief cloud of fire.
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Ryn's burst of fire is enough to cause the descending bat swarm to disperse with shrieks & squeaks. The room smells of burning bats and smoke.
As the bat squeals die away in the distance, Azura comes to a halt and catches her breath quickly.
"Good thing we didn't have to get to the part where we jump across that gap at speed," she says. "I wonder what the rest of the team did to disperse the bats?"
"Yes!! It worked!" Ryn says excitedly, giving Ulfr a grin. "Let's go gather everyone up." she says heading to where the rest of the group had fled.
"They're all dispersed now. It's safe." the gladiatrix calls out.
"How are you feeling Zev? Once you are feeling better we should go check on the others I'm worried about all the yelling going on."
”I can barely lift my sword, and everything inside feels like it’s made of sludge.” Zev grumbles out before shaking his head. ”We need to go help them.”