Pherenike's throw is off target... ...and lands between Mus'ad and the swarm splattering both with gouts of acid.
The Professor steps back and lobs his own fiery flask, its flight more true, adding to the growing conflagration.
The swarm, undeterred, clings to Mus'ad, continuing to bite and scratch him.
Seeing that the swarm isn't following her any more, Elrisiel doubles back toward the fight with her supply of alchemist's fire.
Elrisiel rushes back to Myron with her pack of fire flasks.
Dropping his useles kukris, Myron reaches into Elrisiel's pack with both hands, pulling out two flask of alchemist's fire.
Fort Save:
Overcome by the need to tear at the vermin invading his personal space Mus'ad stumbles to one side.
Mus'ad tries to stumble away from the bugs, swatting and slapping, moving in front of the doorway to the covered entryway while everyone else converges on Elrisiel and her supply of fire flasks.
Kheled stands somewhat frozen by his fear of crawling things, unsure of what to do...
Mus'ad, move over here!
Start to delay.
With Kheled urging Mus'ad to move towards him, even with the swarm numbers dwindling further each second to the flames, the beetles continue to relentlessly stick with the Pahmet ranger.
El attempts to lob another flask of alchemist's fire into the swarm, all while attempting to avoid hitting Mus'ad with it.
Now armed with more fire, Myron hurries forward and also hurls a flask at the swarm.
Elrisiel's throw is again off of the mark... ...sailing over the swarm, past Mus'ad's shoulder and into the covered area behind him, shattering on the wall of the house. Sticky droplets of fire clinging to the wall and raining upon Mus'ad and the beetles.
Myron moves closer to throw his own projectile but has no better luck...
...falling short, the fiery beads of fire flung in all directions from the exploding vial catch both the insects and Myron himself.
As the plume of fire rises in the covered area behind Mus'ad, an unnerving screech comes from within. A second later a giant solifugid drops from the ceiling and attacks Mus'ad...
...but between the fire and the swarm, the sand spider is tentative in its aggression and fails to make contact with the distracted Pahmet.
Fortitude:
Regaining a sense of self and control Mus'ad reels slightly as the solifugid joins the fray, but stows his concern to get mobile and put distance between himself and both. His dwarven stoicism precludes any vociferous pontification on his lack of luck.
Mus'ad withdraws as Pherenike scrambles atop the table and puts an arrow, over Myron's head, and into the newly arrived spider.
Ahkenaten grabs another flask from Elrisiel's pack and moves over to the corner of one of the buildings, hoping to get a clear throw in.
Move to N24 and channal positive energy to heal the group but miss our enemies.
Heal check to see how badly I think Mus'ad is.
Heal
Kheled tries to sooth away the strain of the fight as the swarm, although severely diminished in numbers, relentlessly harasses Mus'ad...
Fort:
Stricken still by the tiny little beasts that outpace his dwarven legs Mus'ad can merely stumble away from his companions.
Alarmed as the swarm follows Mus'ad closer to her own position, Elrisiel throws another flask of fire at the carpet of critters and runs.
Trusting Pherenike to keep the sand spider off his back, Myron moves to get a clear shot, then calmly waits for Mus'ad to move clear before hurling his second flask of fire at the swarm.
Elrisiel tosses her flask as safely as she can, splashing the bugs with a smattering of fire, before retreating around a corner.
Myron then moves over and awaits to toss his own flask.
As he waits for the right time to throw, the solifugid scuttles up onto the table bench and tries to bite Pherenike... ...but her armor just keeps the spider's fangs from penetrating.
Mus'ad continues to try and elude the bugs, this time trying to find refuge behind the repellent covered halfling.
Myron then tries his throw but it is unfortunately poor against the highly agile bugs... ...and the vial explodes on the stone bench, showing Pherenike and the swarm in flaming shrapnel.
Pherenike's sword strike misses the spider as it flattens itself against the bench just enough to avoid the blade.
The Professor decides to try his luck again and tosses another fiery cocktail at the beetle swarm... ...landing another direct hit, this one enough to cause the swarm to dissipate harmlessly.
Kheled fires his crossbow at the spider, then re-loads it.
but the bolt goes wide.
The musetouched elf hustles back over to the party now that the bug-swarm is dealt with. Once at Kheled's side, she incants another short phrase and flings a glob of acid at the sand spider.
Kheled misses with his bolt as Elrisiel hustles back into the action and splatters the spider with her acid spell.
The camel spider skitters up onto the table and continues its attack on Pherenike...
...landing both a bite and a claw upon her person.
Myron runs over and reclaims his dropped kukri.
Lumbering over to where Pherenike is being oppressed, Mus'ad seeks to unload his hammer upon the foe...
Hammer: for
Pherenike hops down opposite Mus'ad and her mighty blow stops the solifugid dead. Quiet once again returns to the courtyard.
That was nasty...lets rest here a few minutes.
Kheled will take a 10 and check on everyone's condition.
After rest, We should search these areas for any valuables that were left.
"Yes, I think I spotted something sticking out of the ground inside the granary just before the swarm burst out. Let me check it out."
Catching your breath, Kheled examines everyone for injuries finding only scrapes and bruises for the most part. Mus'ad has suffered innumerable bites, his skin covered in small bumps, and quite red for it.
Myron returns to the granary and discovers three fleshless human skeletons within. He quickly grabs the object he spotted earlier and returns to the group. It turns out to be a filthy and encrusted heavy flail. Wiping away some of the grim reveals it to be made of adamantium.
Myron offers up his prize to Pherenike.
"Here. You already carry one of these, right? This one ought to be able to punch through any other constructs we happen to come across."
Breathing still laboured as his skin burned like fire even as the poison that coursed through his veins sapped evermore at his strength, Musa'd grunts a dismissive no at Pherenike's question "No, Mus'ad think more need for shield than heavy blow."
Regathering himself and kicking through a few of the scarab corpses to ensure that they were dead, Mus'ad queries "Now go other side of house."
|
Musa'd grunts a dismissive no at Pherenike's question "No, Mus'ad think more need for shield than heavy blow."
"A shield doesn't do you any good against a bunch of bugs," she points out. "Of course, neither would this." With a shrug, she tosses the discarded flail back into the granary where Myron found the adamantine one. "Something for the next group of scholars to find in a few centuries."
Myron smiles at Pherenike's sense of humor, and straightens his gear, ready to explore the other courtyard.
Mind if I grab a few of those fire flasks, Elrisiel? Just in case we need to gang up on another swarm?
The Delvers swing back around the house to the western courtyard. This side of the estate forms an L-shaped yard mostly given to sand, sun-dried earth, and the ancient husks of dead trees. Stone benches line the walls of the yard, and a large tiled pool sits in the southwest corner, dried and partially filled with sand.
Before you even reach the corner to get a look at the rest of the courtyard an elephantine centipede rises out of the pool before you, its double tail lashing angrily behind it.
Elrisiel reacts quickly to the new danger...
Aristedes recognizes the huge bug...a Whiptail Centipede
Elrisiel nods at the halfling and adjusts her pack to make it more accessible to him. "Good idea."
"Does anyone ever wonder how these things grow to such abnormal sizes when they're surrounded by sand and bones?" she sighs. Gesticulating, she flings another acid orb at the oversized household pest.
The enormous centipede ducks the acidic missile sent its way. It then crawls forward slightly before lashing out at Myron with its long tail...
...but misses the diminutive halfling by a wide margin.
Ahkenaten's calm voice projected out into the room with a sense of calm authority about it.
The aptly named "Whiptail" centipede. Its hide is tough and its fangs poisonous; but there is little to the vermin beyond that. Lay into it with all your might, comrades!
Kheled will speak out of turn before anyone else moves, Wait for my spell before moving forward!
May Pharasma's blessing guide your hand!
Dodging the tail-slap, Myron holds back at Kheled's urging.
"I'm in no hurry to get close to that thing. Getting close to it without exposing ourselves will be tricky. Do any of you have anything that can help us with that?"
Shield drawn and ready, Mus'ad steps before his companions and hunkers down. Growling "Mus'ad will hold it back." he seeks to forswear any offensive intent and focus instead on not dying.