Attai sets Liamae up for perhaps making a shot on the escaping grimples. As he does, the fiend swipes out at him.
It barely manages to barely scratch him.
Turante gets to her feet and defends herself from the next attack.
The imp and grimple leader continue to make their escape. The summoned fiend continues to make their escape possible.
It can't make headway against all of her defenses.
Seeing a clear shot on the devil, Liamae fires upon it, but even her bit of luck can't help her aim.
Iagon swallows back his fear, though he nearly chokes on it. He lets out a strangled shout as he lets fly with his power at the hideous creature.
After he takes his shot, he takes a few steps back into the disgusting room, trying to put some space between him and the beast.
Iagon's blast shreds through the monstrous flea's shell. It turns from the tunnel, injured, and then seems distracted by something. Iagon doesn't see this, but the hungry flea moves and attacks the escaping grimple leader.
The grimple smoothly deflects the oversized rapier-like proboscis, but now finds its escape route blocked.
No longer sickened, Kytes steps over and tries to end the threat of the summoned fiend.
He fails to muster up enough force to cut through the fiend's flesh.
The other two grimples flee on the footsteps of their leader.
All this time, Linus watches wide-eyed, panicked, frightened, at all the strange carnage unfolding before him.
Túrante carefully steps out of the grease and lashes out once more at the demonic creature.
Wincing at the scratch Attai sticks his longspear at the summoned fiend...
[BAB +1, Str +2, +1 bless]
[+3 Strength, two handed]
Turante and Attai both skewer the summoned fiend, yet it seems to somehow shrug off their simultaneous attack. It slashes once at each of Turante and Kytes with its gnarly clawed hands.
It gets one passed Kytes’ shield and armor, tearing into his flesh.
Elsewhere, the grimple leader is faced with his hungry pet mammoth flea, who sees him less as Master and more as Food. It thrusts the silver dagger it wields forth at the overgrown louse.
Getting nowhere with its attack, it hops backward, exposing his underling to attack.
Liamae launches another arrow that misses its mark.
Iagon moves forward to follow the giant flea. Seeing the confusion it's creating, he looks to give it a hand and find an opening from which to attack the grimple leader.
Iagon watches from behind as the ginormous flea bites at the fleeing grimples.
The flea skewers the grimple leader and sucks the little guy dry. The grimple leader’s eyes roll back into his head as his blood is pumped out of his body, then he slumps to the ground dead. It is a measly meal for the flea, and it turns it’s attention to the other grimple minion, who is obviously scared stupid.
Everyone else watches as the grotesque fiend before them starts to fade from this plane.
Having grown accustomed to the foulness, Kytes is no longer sickened by the stench or the filthy inhabitants and is able to more effectively continue his assault on the demon-thing before him.
Kytes slashes through the fiend, and might be surprised to find his blade simply passes right through it. Then it dematerializes completely, having lost its tie to the material plane.
The two remaining grimples gather in the passage between chambers, chittering and chattering, clambering and arguing about what to do.
Túrante advances cautiously, sword and shield up, waiting for the team to form up again.
Liamae moves around the grease as she nocks another arrow. Her elven eyes pick out the fleeing grimples in the gloom, and she fires on the nearest one!
Attai whistles as Liamae's bow hurls another arrow out, then the Sylph hums a little tuneless tune and reloads his heavy crossbow, advancing also with Túrante.
Iagon grunts in surprise as the flea takes down his enemy. He thinks that he should probably exterminate the thing, but having seen it suck out the gooey innards of a creature, he decides it may be better to regain his team dynamic.
Liamae drops the nearest grimple, shooting an arrow straight through its nasty little grimple heart. Iagon hustles back to the group, and as the others slowly approach, the last remaining grimple, seeing the mammoth flea hungrily searching for more blood, throws his clawed paws up and pleas for mercy in a dark and unfamiliar language.
Now, Linus is crying, "Please help me! Get me outta here, Master Kytes!"
With the threat of the grimples and demons abated for now, Kytes goes to the young lad who is chained on the wall. [b}"I will try and free you, Linus, but you must stay back, as this place still is not safe."[/b]
The half-orc bends to the task of breaking the steel chains but it is beyond his power. "Maybe we can pick the lock?" he looks at any of his allies who might have the power? Failing that, he will set to work battering the chains with his sword.
The manacles and chain prove to be too resilient for Kytes’ brawn. The paladin’s presence helps to calm Linus down.
The last remaining grimple simply continues to plea for his continued existence while the mammoth flea hungrily waits at the end of the tunnel behind him.
Iagon rushes over to stand next to Kytes, though his abilities don't seem to be useful in this situation. He addresses Linus anyway. It's okay; you're safe now. Just let us get these off of you.
Attai trains his crossbow on the grimple.
"You. Sit." the sylph barks. He wavers the point of his bolt to the flea then back to the grimple.
"Iagon, you can't blast the chain with...rocks or chipped stone?" Attai calls over his shoulder.
Iagon grimly nods, looking down at his bare hands as if they were to blame for his failings. I can try, but I can only control wood.
It would take quite a bit of power to use wood to drill through metal, even rusted as they are.
That being said, he focuses on his power, gathering it to him. Any loose particles of wood flies to surround him, including roots that are partially ripped out of their surroundings. He focuses on the point where the manacles are attached to the wall, making sure to keep the blast from Linus. Then, he lets it loose in a focused blast, trying to drill through the chain.
The grimple doesn’t quite fully understand Attai’s order, but it seems compliant. It at least ceases its pleas for mercy.
The chains are old and rusted, and the force of the wood blast is enough to snap a weak link, freeing Linus from the wall. He’s still manacled, and the weight of the attached chains make it difficult for him to move in his weakened state.
Iagon's eyes widen in surprise. Didn't think that would work. He covers it quickly and shows confidence as he helps Linus pull away from the wall. His eyes track up to where the huge insect awaited them, and then he glances at Attai and Kytes.
If you can light the way, I should be able to kill that thing at range...I can hit it at over a hundred feet away, if I gather enough power. Then we can get out of here safely. I don't want that thing on our tails while we carry our little friend here out.
Attai smiles grimly, angling his crossbow up and down.
"I can fire wood tipped with metal to about 100' feet also..."
"Well don't wait for my say-so, gentlemen."
Iagon draws power to himself again, creating a small whirlwind of wood shards about himself. He moves until he can just barely see the creature, and lets fly!
Once Linus is freed from the wall, Kytes bends down to his height and offers to carry him free of this foul warren of tunnels. "With your permission, sir" he says politely, picking up the lad, if he acquiesces.
Kytes also offers his coil of silk rope to the elven ladies to see if they will bind up the grimple prisoner as Iagon and Attai attempt to bring down the mammoth flea.
Attai takes aim and fires - the shot fires a little wide of the mark but stil catches the mammoth beast:
[BAB +1, Dex +2, +1 bless]
Iagon and Attai drive the beast of a bug back and injure it enough that it retreats into the rear of the chamber, along with its badly injured cousin. There, the fleas of enormous size no longer pose a viable threat to the group.
By Attai’s guiding light, the heroes emerge from the hole in the ground, Kyte’s carrying Linus over his shoulder, Turante leading the captured grimple by a silken leash.
Ashilia and Rilli shout in cheer as everyone crawls out from the burrow under the fallen tree. Hans rushes forth with tears of joy and worry falling down his cheeks. “Me boy, me dear lil’ boy,” he cries as he lifts Linus from Kytes’ arms.
“I’m alright papa,” Linus reassures him, bravely fighting off the pain from the gash in his hand and the many other cuts and scrapes he’s endured.
Hans sees the captured grimple and he spits at it. “Do whatcha must wit dat ting, but keep it outta me sight. Come on boy, let’s go home.”
Iagon nods to Hans, but says nothing. He doesn't want to interrupt this moment between father and son - Linus was safe; Hans can bask in that for now. After he departs, Iagon is drawn back to the hole.
We can't leave that creature survive, you know. Shall we?
"You're likely correct. I'm not sure how that will play out. Rather morbidly, I expect."
Kytes agrees with Iagon, though the creature he has in mind is the imp-like demon more than the extra-large and jumbo sized fleas. When the kineticist delves back in, Kytes leads the way.
With the mammoth flea beaten back, Attai reloads his crossbow, fervently hoping to catch sight of the disappeared creature. Once they lead the boy Linus to safety he smiles at the reunion, perhaps thinking of his own parents, far away, and hopefully safe in their abode. Attai's smile turns bittersweet as the pitiable grimple they captured still remains their prisoner, and the sylph remembers how their last prisoner fared when they handed it over to the "authorities".
Ashilia offers to hold on to the grimple while the group returns back down below to finish the job. You hear him trying to speak to the creature in a language Turanta and Liamae recognize as Sylvan, the language of the Fey. However, the grimple stares back at Ashilia with a confused tilt of its head, then snaps back in its own harsh language. Ashilia tells you, "It's going to be hard getting any information out of it if we can't communicate."
Back underground, the fleas are finished off. Iagon's blasts seem to be most effective against their hard shells. There is no sign of the Imp. It seems flying invisible creatures are hard to trace.
Resurfacing, Hans has returned back to the outpost, while Rilli and Ashilia wait around with the grimple on a leash. Rilli taps Attai on the arm and offers again the fish he's been keeping in his mouth this whole time. It is mostly bone, as the cooked meat has fallen off already. Rilli gulps and looks remorseful.
Kytes is rather ill-tempered when the imp can't be found. "We can't have an evil thing like that loose in the woods here. It explains the fiendish maggots we saw before, but it will slowly turn the woods toxic with its vileness. It must be found and stopped!"
As gross and disturbing as the grimple is, Kytes does not detect anything evil about its nature.
Scratching at his head feverishly, Attai retrieves his morningstar and wipes the slippery slime off it. When the group surfaces Attai thinks about the grimple.
"Evil or not, they were willing to support the sacrifice of a child. I can, without fear nor favour suggest only that we turn it over to the authorities. Or, we bring it to Uuhurn's attention, or his sister. Evidence must be brought to bear, and built upon. I cannot believe Uuhurn has dealings with devils - but if he does, it would explain a lot, and clarify matters somewhat."
"Oh, I expect this grimble must meet the end of a rope," says
Túrante sadly. "We can't live next door to kidnappers."
"I am fine if we deliver this grimple thing to the centaurs and ask for their opinion on its final disposition. i would like to hear from them about imps and other devils and see if they are in league or opposed. But first, we should make ready for the Marquis to arrive, so let's take the prisoner back to the trading post. I imagine we can find a secure place to hold him there for now."
Iagon nods, happy to defer to his more experienced allies. Indeed, I'm sure we can find a way to secure him. Perhaps the Marquis has some resources in order to get more out of him.
Iagon nods, happy to defer to his more experienced allies. Indeed, I'm sure we can find a way to secure him. Perhaps the Marquis has some resources in order to get more out of him.
Liamae is grateful to be done with the disgusting lair. "My first order of business is to take a long bath to get all this stink off of me. Then we shall await the marquis's arrival."
Iagon wrinkles his nose and glances at Attai. You may be in line behind some others more needy.
Liamae smiles coquettishly. "I'll bet there's room in the tub for more than one. Perhaps we could share the bath?" She giggles.
On the walk back, Ashilia is interested to hear about the encounter with Uufanes. The gnome is willing to hold the grimple in his cottage for safe keeping, at least for one night.
“A bath!?” laughs Yaloni as the group returns to the outpost. “Maybe for de Marquess... Dere’s plenty o’ room in de river if’n ye want ta warsh.” She returns to consoling Linus and cleaning his wound, while Hans sits nearby, holding a cold slab of meat against his badly bruised face. “Gods damned buncha gremlins...” he’s heard muttering.