Delia gives a start as the strange rats suddenly charge towards them. She shrieks as they begin to swarm all over her and Jace, suddenly feeling weaker as their formless nails and teeth nip painlessly over her skin. Jace roars and tries to bite at the incorporeal rats with no avail! "Jace, run!" Delia falls back from the strength-sapping enemy, with Jace behind her. Delia sees several of the others gathering out some alchemist fire and she does the same. "What are they?!" Her breath comes in ragged gasps, the rats having drained much of her strength.
The weakened and chilled survivors of the shadow rat swarm flee back and away from the creatures, dividing up towards the entrance and further into the caves. They all still feeling the clawing and cloying touches of the rodents on their legs, on their arms, prickling across their shoulders like tiny little needles, even though they know in their hearts they are away from the beasts. Just the thought of the bestial things causes new spasms of shivering, fear and revulsion.
The panic nearly causes Delia to stumble over a broken step as she moves back, realizing at the last it was not a loose stone that turned her heel, but instead a gnawed and chipped skull. The face grinned up at her in a half jawed mockery, taunting her to avoid his same fate. Someone else who had once made their way down here, someone who did not escape the leeching touch of the rats.
Initiatives
First Group: Adir, Brampton, Dundin, Songan, Tuzak, Shadow Rat Swarm
Second Group: Delia, Jace, Leira
Staggered:
Prone:
Burning:
Entangled:
Fatigued:
is up, 48 hour timer counting
Hearing his dwarf companion rave about the cold touch of the rats makes Brampton feel that only fire came destroy the creatures. He yells at Songan to run. When he does Brampton throws the alchemical and hoping for the best.
|
If Rats Are Harmed By Fire
Seeing that the rats are being impacted by the magical fire-in-a-bottle, Songan quickly tosses his own as he rushes away from ground zero, momentarily forgetting the wand that Leira handed to him only moments ago.
If Rats Aren't Harmed by Fire
Songan, seeing that the fire is having no effect on the rats, instead turns to the wand he borrowed from Leira, quickly attempting the magical words that will activate the weapon.
Dundin throws his fire when Songan is clear or the rats move again, whatever is first.
Songan scrambles clear of the swarm as Dundin and Brandon hurl vials of alchemist's fire at the rats, drawing a flask of his own in the process. The fires burst and sputter all around and through the creatures, ravenously scrambling over one another seeking to continue feeding off the lives and warmth of their victims. It is immediately evident the flames are not causing the creatures any concern of injury, their shadows only faintly waning in the bright but brief conflagration.
The bard fumbles, seeing the flasks had no effect. He moved down next to Leira, holding her wand in one hand, his flask in the other. Magic he thinks to himself, we need magic to harm these things.
Initiatives
First Group: Adir, Brampton, Dundin, Songan, Tuzak, Shadow Rat Swarm
Second Group: Delia, Jace, Leira
Staggered:
Prone:
Burning:
Entangled:
Fatigued:
is up, 48 hour timer counting
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Adir gives Tuzak the "this is not going well" look before casting a light spell on the tip of his spear. "This way, into the tunnel!" He waves at the southern passage before starting into it with Tuzak.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dundin joins the retreat, moving away quickly.
Whenever Leira has the opportunity to do so, she will run with the others. Depending on layout when her turn comes up, she will place the alchemist fire back into her belt and cast a burning hands on the swarm.
Brampton follows the others but keeps rear guard on the group.
The rats seem to ignore the others as they flee further into the caverns, instead turning their attentions, and their malevolent energies, towards Delia and Jace. The swarm rushes the pair enmasse and engulfs them once again, their tiny claws and gnashing teeth eerily stabbing, ripping, and tearing at them near silently, the flesh chilling and turning ashen grey with every little touch.
As the creatures pile over her, the huntress' strength ebbs and her mind grows tired. She falters to one knee when a sharp jab of pain sparks her to her senses. As she rises she picks up the source of her pain , a sharpened and carved bone tipped with a four sided platinum spike. The thing seems to twinge in her hand, the energies tingling to escape the mud prison from which it has been consigned for an untold number of years.
Initiatives
First Group: Adir, Brampton, Dundin, Songan, Tuzak, Shadow Rat Swarm
Second Group: Delia, Jace, Leira
Staggered:
Prone:
Burning:
Entangled:
Fatigued:
is up, 48 hour timer counting
Seeing the swarm to far to reach it Leira shouts to Delia "Run! Run out of there!"
She herself puts the alchemical fire into his belt and moves as far as she can to the South, past where her companions stand.
The girl looks in her belt scared "Do you have holy water?" she still has one of the vials found in the ruins.
Delia gasps as the undead rats swarm over her and Jace once again. She coughs weakly as her strength begins to fail, falling to one knee she wonders if this is to be her end. Suddenly the sharp pain in her knee jolts her enough to bring her to her senses and she grabs the item she spots. She grabs hold of Jace's neck. "Run, Jace." She whispers weakly into his neck and lets her warcat pull her out of the mass of nipping shadowy rats... The pair flee from the swarm towards their companions as quickly as they can.
Delia keeps hold of Jace's neck with one arm, clutching the strange bone in her hand while weakly dragging her bow with her other hand. Her armor and backpack are practically dragging Delia to the ground as she runs towards her companions. Delia's skin is a deathly pale hue, her face sunken in and thin, and her eyes are rimmed in purple circles. "I can't... it's too heavy..." she gasps while trying to keep up with the others.
Weakened, scared, and with souls chilled to the core, the party stumbles and moves past the entry chambers, onwards into a narrow passage that angles to the south west. The rats seem to loose track of your band, instead scratching and sniffing about near the entry. You look at each other in fear and concern, knowing you may yet have to face them, should you survive what other horrors lurk beyond these rough hewn passages.
The path is anchored on each side by small pools of water, cold, dark, and still. These springs are likely fuelled by the same font which feeds the Hopespring above, though here in the darkness they do not seem as soothing and inviting as the waters do above.
To the west the cavern forms a long narrow trough, a rough and thin ledge running along the northern wall round to the south west. The way looks slick with moisture and mud, the walls dripping and oozing a thin barrier down into the waterway.
To the east the cavern edge drops roughly 20 feet below your rocky path, completely flooded with water 1 to 2 feet deep. The dark water is thick with mud and silt, covering much of the floor of that cavern.
The large pool is separated from the rest of the cave by steep cliffs and muddy escarpments. A trickle of water can be heard further along to the east.
You form up together, catching your breath and confirming everyone's conditions. Watching behind you the rats seem to be milling about, but if quiet it should be likely they will not come storming after you.
Delia shows everyone the item she found and Leira is quick to confirm the wand is magical. A small symbol marks the butt of the stick, the Varisian rune of vitaliza. It would seem the device is fairly drained, no more than ten charges remaining.
The tunnel continues onwards a short distance and then opens up into a chamber that turns back to the east as well as meets up with the cliff wall ledge that circuits the western trough.
"That was fierce and chilling. Rats of cold and dark."
Dundin makes a quick prayer to Chaldira.
"Shall we restore our drained strength before continuing?"
:}
"This word here means vitalize in Varisian" explains Leira "It can likely mean this wand is able to cast Lesser restoration. We should be glad the gods smile us today if that is the case and any charge is remaining"
After casting detect magic and analysing the wand carefully Leira, not knowing if someone else can use it, attempts to make use of it herself, trying to heal up those that seem affected to their strength or other attributes.
"Do you feel weak Dundin? Let me try to fix it" the girl closes by the dwarf and tries to trigger the wand to see what happens.
She then closes by her friend Delia "Let's see if this keeps working for a while" and touches her with the wand trying to trigger it.
"Ah! It did not happen, let's retry!"
She then attempts to help herself.
"Anyone else needs the help?" asks Leira.
Once the group seems to be ready, the girl points to the inner caves to the east "I would say to go that way and avoid the ledge. Unless you find a footprint or something that suggest the other side of course"
The wand begins to spark and fizzle with Leira's last few attempts to use it, encouraging Delia to take the device back before checking over her remaining team mates.
The questions regarding what you were emulating was why it fell to activating blindly, more so than simply adding the spell to your list. Which class crafted the wand, was it an arcane alchemist or a divine cleric; what caster level was inferred in the casting; which attribute was needed for the casting, charisma, wisdom, or intelligence, etc. Activating blindly does give a +2 modifier to the roll once you have determined what the device does, and in any case, you were not penalized for it. The wand was found by and in Delia's possession, in a language she could understand. My apologies for failing to realize you understood Varisian as well and would likely take it from her, despite the conversation she and I had in the discussion thread about this very topic, of which characters can use the wand. We have only a few more rooms to get through and then this will all be over. I believe I will end the game rather than proceed to the next chapter as you are clearly not enjoying it and I have not enjoyed our personal exchanges myself. Let us just try to get through this civilly, please.
"Glad to see we are still all here", Brampton says looking back at his torch laying back in the cavern.
Adir gives Tuzak the "this is not going well" look before casting a light spell on the tip of his spear. "This way, into the tunnel!" He waves at the southern passage before starting into it with Tuzak.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Delia whispers a prayer to Erastil as she feels her strength returning after the gift from the gods heals up their weaknesses. She looks a great deal better than before, though the sickly paleness of her skin seems to linger. "I do not relish facing those foul creatures again... but we must continue on with our mission." When the question of light comes up, Delia will look for a rock nearby and cast light upon the rock. "I also can create magical light. Perhaps one of our front-liners would prefer to take this? You can throw it out into the battlefield to light it up for me."
Brampton holds out his hand, "Thanks. I can carry the rock and take point for now. Which way do we go? Did we lose the tracks we were following?"
"They led into this passage. And now..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"I think we go the other way. Following the obvious tracks got us into trouble with the rats. We can stay in the upper chamber a while and see what that brings."
Adir notices the tracks lead off for a moment to the west, a single pair of wolf tracks, then double back to this point and the tracks head off towards the eastern side of the passage and further into the caverns.
Adir relays the information to the group. "Looks like east."
Dundin heads east trying to be alert and stealthy.
Delia follows the tracks with her bow at the ready, praying for no more of the terrible rats...
When your group passes around the western corner, you see a wide ramp sloping down to the floor at the far end of this cavern. Half a dozen huge humanoid skeletons, each standing ten feet tall or more, certainly larger than the cave giant laying dead outside. The bony forms line the walls of the cavern, standing in still and silent vigil over the passage onwards to the next chambers. The floor of the cavern slips roughly 10 feet below the level of the tomb’s upper caverns as it reaches the far turning. Around that far corner, a shadow rat crawls into view, it's smoky gray form and malevolent red eyes seemingly mirrored in the eye sockets of the large skeletons. The forms begin to tremble and shake, the bones clattering as they seem to come together. The middle figure along the northern wall appears to be the first to fully form up, taking a lurching step forward, it's skull pivoting towards you, it's breathless mouth open in a silent, roaring challenge, one hand holding a worn and aged spear, the other enging in bony claws as it points down at the dwarf invading the sanctum of their long forgotten ward.
Initiatives
First Group: Adir, Brampton, Leira, Giant Skeleton, Shadow Rat
Second Group: Delia, Dundin, Jace, Songan, Tuzak,
Staggered:
Prone:
Burning:
Entangled:
Fatigued:
is up, 48 hour timer counting
Seeing the giant skeleton to his right start to move Brampton swings at its leg hoping to shatter the bone before it takes its first step.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Adir looks down at his spear for a moment, then at the skeleton, and then at his spear. Finally, with a sigh, he puts the spear away and pulls out his club.
"Perhaps, we should run through, and avoid these delaying tactics?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Without hesitating a second Leira waves her wand and casts a magical missile over the creature "Take that!"
The other skeletons seem to be rising upright, almost as though coming to attention, readying themselves to lunge forth in unison and attack your band with spears and rusty hammers.
Brampton's bec de corbin shatters the closest skeleton's femur near to where it would join the pelvic bone. The lower part of the leg dangles and clatters about like a jig dancer on a prancing board, even as the rest of the skeleton jerks and shifts to and fro, attempting to stand upright on one wobbly leg.
Leira fires off a glancing pair of bolts at the shadowed rat stepping away from the western passageway, the magical energies scoring faint traces through the wispy mists around it's body, though not nearly enough damage to stop it's rushing progress.
You recognize these skeletons were most likely Hill Giants in their former lives, perhaps part of the original clan that once called this hill home, before they were driven out by the forces of Lastwall and before Trunau became the home it is today.
The giant skeleton along the northern wall stumbles forward past it's bony companions, not quite able to reach Dundin, instead lashing out with it's spear at Adir, the tearing a hole in the druid's armor and chest for .
The smell of fresh blood after so long denied a decent meal spurs the shadow rat to ignore the damage it has suffered and charge at Adir, it's touching with a chilling and bitter emptiness which sinks into the druid as the rat feasts, not on blood, but his energy, his essence, his very soul. The negativity of the rat seeps into Adir, draining him for .
Songan then charges the same skeleton Brampton struck, his sword crashing into the other leg, chipping and fracturing the opposite femur. The blow sends the leg fragments flying apart, even as the pelvis closes up on the rib cage and the arms shrug closer to the shoulders, the heavy skull leering down at the catfolk.
You realize as your blade cuts through the bones there are fine wires and lines holding the skeleton together. A series of rocks are sliding down a groove in the back of the wall, pulling the interlaced bones together, causing them to clatter and distract you from the real menace, the skeleton battering at Adir this very moment.
Initiatives
First Group: Adir, Brampton, Leira, Giant Skeleton, Shadow Rat
Second Group: Delia, Dundin, Jace, Songan, Tuzak,
Staggered:
Prone:
Burning:
Entangled:
Fatigued:
is up, 48 hour timer counting
Delia looks around at her preferred weapons and comes to a horrifying realization... her arrows are not going to be much good against the giant skeleton. "Jace, kill!" She orders her warcat forward as she reaches into her pouch and draws out the tangleburn bag that Brampton had given her earlier in the battle. 'I knew this would come in handy.'
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeing the rat attack Adir, Tuzak lashes out at it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
** spoiler omitted **
Waiting on Dundin, if he has not posted by tonight, I will move the action forward.
|
|
Songan's eyes widen when the truth of their threat dawns on him, the fine lines of something like a puppeteer's strong appearing in the dim light.
"This one is a decoy! Adir's foe is the real threat!"
-Posted with Wayfinder
Dundin moves up to attack the rat, circling around the rat to deny it a strike as he closes. He swings his leadened blade hard.