Aggravated at her miss Eilyne called forth one more thorn from a seed and sent it flying at the remaining troglodyte. Unlike the previous one it seemed that [i[this[/i] thorn would strike true.
Griffo and Minto flank the troglodyte, but neither one is able to find a chink in her armor. Mia fires a precise arrow into her side, though, and Eilyne follows up with a powerful thornblast that pierces the trog's chest. Blood pours from the wound as the trog wobbles unsteadily on her feet. All the fury and anger seems to drain from her body, then she drops like a sack of potatoes!
A bit shaken by the ultra-violence, Griffo gets out a scroll.
"Now, let's see to putting Miss Surma right."
"And now for the wand."
Surma lets out a pained breath as life reenters her dying body. Blinking she looks around. "Ow... did we win?" she croaks out.
"We did. But it was a close thing. That trog was quite the brute. I hope we don't run into more like her," Griffo answers.
"Let's take a brief rest here. We picked up a magic ring and some boots. I'll see if I can read enough of the magic auras to figure out wha they are."
You loot the troglodyte and search the room before settling down to rest. In addition to the myriad bones, many other trophies claimed or scavenged from the forest line the walls.
"Suh-weet!" Surma says in a sing-song voice, not bothering to get off the floor.
Relief swept through Eilyne as the trogladytes were still at last. She looked at the bodies a moment and knew that something needed to be done with them. "We should take these back to that lizard, he might be willing to help protect these caves while we use them if we keep him fed."
"Good idea."
The monitor lizard sniffs at the smelly troglodyte bodies as you drag them over to it. Despite the stench, the beast begins to happily devour the dead.
Returning to the bone-filled chamber, you see a tunnel leading southwest out of the room. The corridor here slopes down at irregular angles and reeks of dampness. The walls are jagged and covered with sharp stone barbs. Mossy growths spread across the floor and walls, old bones lying pale against the dark moss.
The winding tunnel leads down until it abruptly ends in a wide pit descending 40 feet down. Rungs have been carved into the side of the pit, allowing you to climb down as easily as you might climb a ladder.
"That's... interesting. Is it just me or does this not really seem to fit in with the rest of the troglodyte warren? This might be something we should investigate after a little more rest and recovery," Griffo opines.
He also decides to take a look around the area to see if the trogs regularly even pass through the mosses growing about.
"Gimmie a hand with this, Minto."
There are indeed semi-regular troglodyte tracks leading up and down the tunnel. The freshest sets seem to have made towards the ladder a day ago, but they have not come back the other way yet. It is likely more troglodytes are still down below.
With the immediate fighting over Eilyne looked at her companions and asked, "Do we rest here or push on?" She looked at the tunnel ahead, "Are we in good enough shape to press on?"
"I wouldn't mind catching my breath, how are you mystical folks holding up?" she asks before turning to Mia, "You still doing good on arrows?"
Mia holds up the half-full quiver.
Probably got enough to finish up, but not much more.
"I'm not completely out of the spells I've prepared... yet. But the only magical healing I have left right now is this wand," he waves the wand of cure light wounds. "And it will soon be out of its magical reserves."
He scratches Minto between the ears.
"We're physically healthy, Minto and I. I just feel my ability to pick you gals up and put your wounds back to right is running a bit thin."
Considering the troubles that might be ahead Eilyne said, "Rocky might be able to collapse that tunnel and simply trap whatever is on the other side there. Whether it could open the tunnel up again is another matter entirely."
”We don’t know if there’s any other exits though so that might not work...”
Deciding to rest before exploring the lower level, you set up camp in one of the larger caves. The lingering stench of troglodytes still hangs in the air, but you do your best to ignore it as you rest and recover from your battles.
Fortunately, the night passes without incident. In the morning, you wake up refreshed and ready to press onward.
Surma unfurls from a ball and stretches with a yawn. "I needed that. The rest of you awake yet?"
Griffo finishes up his spell preparation. "I'm ready to go. And I think Minto is too."
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Minto continues to feign sleep with a snort.
"Oh yeah, he's ready."
”Cool.” Surma lets out while playfully ruffling Minto’s fur. ”Hey, y’all awake?” she asks Eilyne and Mia.
"I'm up."
With everybody up and ready to go, you return to the corridor in the southern portion of the cave. The rungs of a ladder built into the wall lead down into a dark pit. With her darkvision, Mia can see that it descends about forty feet before reaching another chamber below.
Seeing as she can see in the dark, Mia elects to go first and make sure the way is clear.
Rising from her sleep Eilyne nodded and said, "I think so, let me eat a little first." She pulled out some rations and ate a little and, after a few minutes, thumped her foot on the rocky floor to attract the elemental and checked with him on his needs. Once that was done she said, "Alright, let's go."
When they found the pit Eilyne waited while Mia looked down it. She hoped they were ready to provide light of some kind because she was going to be blind as could be down there.
Mia climbs down the ladder into the lower chamber, moving quietly and keeping her eyes peeled for danger.
This vast chamber seems more finished than the upper chambers. Walls of smooth masonry stones intersect a mirrorlike marble floor. A statue of a twisting, insectile form stands in the center of the large chamber, as if a beetle-like god were flowing like water. Reliefs along alcoves to the east and west depict rough-hewn reptilian forms gathered around a step pyramid. Rough purple gems have been wedged into the reliefs, forming starburst patterns.
The southern wall has partially collapsed, cracking the floor and blocking what was once the only hall leading out of the room behind tons of stone and rubble. But the collapse of the structure and many years of wear leave two secret doors very easy to spot--one each in the east and west walls.
Less easy to spot is the nearly transparent quivering cube of slime in the south part of the room. But Mia picks out its shape just as it starts to move towards her!
”Uh... what do?” Surma asks upon spotting the aggressive... sugar cube.
Mia looks at the strange cube before calling up to the others.
"Can either of you do fire magic stuff?"
Surma climbs down the ladder to join Mia and draws her axe.
"I am prepared to a little bit of fire magic. I pray it will help," Griffo answers Mia's question.
Mia draws her gladius and calls back up to Griffo.
"As long as you hit the blob monster, you can skip the prayers!"
Mia draws her gladius and stands ready as Surma climbs down the ladder and stands beside the ranger, drawing her axe.
The cube-shaped ooze glides forward, and as it draws near, Mia stabs it with her blade, tearing off a tiny sliver of its bulk. Undeterred, the ooze continues forward, attempting to mow down the two women!
Surma blinks at the giant cube sliding at her before simply stepping to the side and swinging.
Mia dives out of the way as the cube moves forward with surprising swiftness. As she comes back upright, she slashes at it, hoping to reduce it to a pile of jelly.
Surprised at the fact a nearly invisible cube could be attacking them Eilyne gathered her power and sent a blunt log sailing through the air at the cube.
Griffo clambers down the ladder.
Minto peers down the shaft and at the ladder and briefly whines.
"Don't worry, Minto. We'll get you down in due time. I just have to help out with a crisis first."
As Griffo clambers down the ladder, Eilyne hurls a thorn into the cube, spraying gelationus goop onto the floor. Mia and Surma both hack at the thing, slicing it up more, though it still remains a threat.
The cube tries the more direct approach, heaving its bulk into Mia. The ranger is lightly wounded, the ooze's acid not affecting her much due to her celestial heritage. However, she finds her body starting to seize up at its touch.
Mia barely has time to gasp in pain as she's enveloped. It isn't long before she finds that she can't move and begins to panic.
”Mia!” Surma calls out as she sees her friend lock up before hacking at the cube again.
Seeing Mia sucked inside of the gelatinous cube Eilyne glares at it in anger. "You will not have her!" She Focused, gathering her power, and began to gather her power. Around her body came a rushing energy that created a sort of vortex around her. It ripped some of the leaves from her garment and began to grow them, multiply them, and create a veritable tornado of energy around her. She continued to pull in power and the vortex grew even larger still.