"We're killing it right?" Ada looks at it. "What is it?"
"It... is not a spider."
"So attack it where it is or wait for it to come to us?" Ryn asks preparing to throw her shield.
Well, the mission is to kill it, ya? Let's see what it does.
"Dunno. Another spider?" says Azura.
The strange creature looks right at Zev.
Suddenly, some sort of filament shoots out of its mandibles, aimed directly at him!
And it promptly yanks him off his feet, hoisting him a few feet into the air!
Ulfr rushes forward yelling, Oh no you don't!
He grabs into Zev and heaves, hoping to use the creature's own web thing against it or, failing that, at least get Zev free.
"It's a Cave Fisher. It appears to be trained. It's immune to mind affecting effects."
She pulls out her sling and sends a sling bullet at the fisher.
"Let's see if it's immune to this!" Ryn says hurling her shield.
Ada's bullet strikes the cave fisher in the chin, causing it to flinch.
Ryn's shield flies towards the beast--and strikes it on its thick chitin.
Ulfr pulls on the snagged Zev, but makes no progress in getting him back down.
Zev yelps as he's pulled up off the ground.
With the end of the spiders and their sudden discovery of the creature they sought Saersha felt inordinately pleased. She nearly turned to express her pleasure with Embyr when the thing suddenly lashed out and caught Zev with a strand of silk. She was very displeased at this turn of events and decided it was time to deal with it accordingly. Having been fairly ineffectual due to the tight confines she finally saw a chance to express her frustration on this creature. She chanted, gestured, and stabbed one finger out at the creature as electricity wreathed her hands. A blast of electricity leapt from her hand to the thing and she hoped that it would strike as she felt her aim waver as she cast.
Zev takes a frantic swing at the strands.
Azura desperately draws her dagger and hurls it at the cave fisher.
Amazingly, the dagger soars straight at the thing!
Azura's dagger nicks the cave fisher's flank.
Zev swings wildly, but the filament is surprisingly hard for him to hit.
Saersha deploys a strong jolt of electricity, zapping the ceiling-dwelling monster with a precise blast! Alas, it's not enough to dislodge the beast.
It starts yanking Zev up further, stopping when he's 15 feet off the ground.
Steadying himself Zev hacks again at the filament.
This time, Zev slices the filament in two. He falls to the floor.
And lands on his tailbone.
"So um... I hope someone has a bow."
Moving to pick up her shield, Ryn stands separate from the others making herself a very inviting target. "Whatever happens, don't panic!
Ulfr looks up and yells, Come and get me, down here, ugly!
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Ada sends another sling bullet at it. No bow just this sling."
”Oof!... floor friend.” Zev lets out after he lands.
Ada's bullet strikes the cave fisher in the mandibles, making a little *crunching* noise. It recoils from the bullet and is about to throw something in her direction when Ulfr taunts it.
Wanting this thing to go down fast Saersha cast yet another bolt of miniature lightning at it where it hung on the wall.
Saersha's spell strikes the beast squarely in the head, briefly highlighting it's innards before it falls to the floor, smoking.
The cave fisher is carrying the following items:
--a pouch containing a dozen polished rocks and 23 tiny teeth;
--a silver bracer that looks identical to KING ZUGGA!s crown
There's a rhythmic *BANG-BANG-BANG*ing sound coming from beyond it--as if someone's hammering away at something.
”Nice shot.” Zev remarks before tilting his head oddly, looking at something. ”There’s a door over there.” he says before getting up and moving over to the southern wall. Stopping he puts the side of his face to it before coming back over. ”There’s some banging noise on the other side.”
Ulfr passes the bracers to one of the mages and moves over to Zev.
Let's see what it is then. He opens the door.
The secret door opens up into a dark, narrow, winding passage in the rock of the Crow. The hammering gets louder as the party follows the passage, coming to another stone door that opens with a push.
The room beyond was evidently once an ancient storeroom of some sort. Aged stone shelves line the western wall of the room where the party emerged, but the remaining walls have been taken up by several bookshelves, each of them absolutely crammed with books on all manner of topics. Some of the shelves look to have recently been constructed and clumsily put together, and all of the bookshelves look remarkably new compared to the ancient stonework surrounding them. Two alcoves are to the south--one with several iron hooks hanging from its ceiling, and the other with strange runes etched into the very stones surrounding it.
The source of the hammering noise becomes clear--hunched in front of an empty bookshelf is a bizarre humanoid-shaped mass of red & black flesh, a workman's hammer in one clawed hand and a particularly stubborn nail between the claws of the other. The strange whorls on its skin shift about as it works, its eyeless head not moving as it repeatedly hits the nail with its hammer. It doesn't seem to have noticed the party...
Ryn makes a face when she sees the contents of the pouch, tossing it aside as Ulfr hands the bracer over to one of the girls. "Nicely done Saersha!" she says, somewhat glad her planned move wasn't necessary after all.
As they come across the bizarre creature, her eyes narrow in recognition, her stance shifting slightly to have her weight perfectly balanced on the balls of her feet, ready to rush into battle. Holding up one hand to get the attention of her companions she whispers "Faceless stalker....they live of blood, preferably humaniod.....perfect shapeshifters."
The faceless stalker smacks its own 'thumb' with the hammer while hammering in the nail. It looks down at it for a brief moment before picking up another nail, moving to another part of the bookshelf and hammering it in.
"Shapeshifter? Wanna talk to it?" Zev whispers back.
ulfr shrugs as if to say, "I'm game."
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Gently taking off his coat and putting it on the floor Zev will sneak over to the working creature.
"Hello." he nonchalantly says once he's right next to it.
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The faceless stalker lets out an undignified masculine shriek of surprise as Zev sneaks up on it and introduces himself. The hammer it was holding comes down on its claw.
It's a glancing blow, but no bruises appear on its claw.
"EGADS! Don't sneak up on me like that!" It recoils from Zev, its hammer falling to the floor with a clatter. "I thought another spider made it in here!" It says in a somewhat high-pitched voice--one that would likely come from a young man of twenty winters.
"Sorry," Zev lets out, slumping a bit before straightening. "I think we've taken care of most of the spiders though. My name's Zev by the way!"
"Oh, you'd like to think that." The formless flesh says as it reaches out and plucks its hammer back up. "They breed quickly, I'm afraid. The mites upstairs love them."
"Did they send you down here, by the way?" It walks over to a stack of books in the far corner of the room and starts gathering them up.
"We took care of some of them too..." Zev mumbles quickly. "And kinda? King, ahem, ZUGGA, asked us to retrieve a crown of his from a spider, that wasn't actually a spider. And now we met you. What are you doing down here anyway? Hiding books or looking for them?"
Without the cover of his bulky coat to hide it a very noticeable wolf tail swayed listlessly from side to side as the Nidalan talked.
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"And kinda? King, ahem, ZUGGA, asked us to retrieve a crown of his from a spider, that wasn't actually a spider..."
"Ah. My condolences."
"And now we met you. What are you doing down here anyway? Hiding books or looking for them?"
"I've been assembling myself a bit of a library. I've got a bit of an interest in cultures and facts from around the world--or, at least, from Magnimar's markets." The faceless stalker seems to puff up with pride as it carries the books over to the newly assembled bookshelf and starts organizing them.
"Nice tail, by the way."
Zev nods in thanks to the condolences.
When the Faceless Stalker goes over it's collection he starts to look around at it all. "Oh cool! You might like Miss Ada then, she's a librarian!"
"Nice tail, by the way."
Zev instantly beams. "Why thank you! I try to make sure-wait... ah s!+*... this will be awkward..." he mumbles without while refusing to turn around, his tail going stiff.
Ulfr is looking rather suspicious that Zev has a tail, but he's more focused on the Stalker right now, and is confused by its reaction.
I know I'm kinda playing to the stereotype here, but I was fully expecting you to try to eat Zev. He says.
"Rude!" Zev calls out without turning around, still trying to think of how to address the wolf in sheep's clothing in the room.
The faceless stalker shrugs in response to Ulfr. "Eh, not a surprise."
"Come in, come in. Plenty of room in here."
Zev promptly steps into the hidden library. ”So books about cultures and facts, like history?”
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Ulfr shrugs. Just trying to work though my prejudices. I never met a bear that didn't bite. He follows Zev and wonders if Sarshea would try seduce a shapeless blob.
”That’s probably because the bear was hungry. Did you ever try feeding them?”
Azura glances at Ryn uncertainly, then slowly shuffles into the room. She gives an awkward half-smile. "Uh... hi?"