Jametor takes the wand of light and after shaking it, touches it to a rock he's been carrying (or picked up just now).
Were-Njord nods as the chamber is lit.
After his pack is patched up, Njord lopes off down the passage.
Patched up and holding his light rock, Jametor follows after the changed Njord.
Randall slips around the mage. Now that there's a little light, he'd rather be in front with Njord (and Firiel, if she follows suit).
Following twists and turns and only just keeping up with the light and scuffling sounds ahead, the group enters a twisting tunnel thick with hanging stalactites that glitter strangely. They seem to have crystalline veins running through them as well as larger nodes of translucent crystal. A musty, foul stench wafts from the darkened passage beyond; it's reminiscent of the smell in the wine cellar, only much, much stronger.
Two simultaneous bursts of light suddenly illuminate the room, emanating from the crystals and threatening to ruin the vision of everyone present.
Seeing the light ahead, Jametor gives the light to Swiftwing to hold and pulls out his longbow.
ETA: gave the rock to Swiftwing instead, since being able to see is good.
Were-Njord growls as the light burns his eyes but lopes ahead anyway.
Jametor has learned his lesson and will stay back some.
Fíriel throws her arm up in front of her eyes, but not soon enough. "What's going on?" she whispers.
As Njord walks toward the northern exit of the cavern, some of the glittering stalactites peel themselves off the wall and open a crystalline red maw.
To the left, Njord finds a small, close side-cavern that is heavy with a reptilian stench. A number of pieces of bone and shiny bits of quartz lie on the floor, and four scaly grey humanoids leap from a game with barking cries as Njord appears in the tunnel.
A foul fishy odor intermingled with the sickly sweet smell of rot emanates from the chamber to the right. The floor is uneven and ankle deep in fish scales, bloated clumps of pallid fungus, and a mixture of sludge and gristly bits of bone.
Through squinting lupine eyes, Njord slashes at the wall-monster.
Njord's attack bounces off a pointy stalactite. Fíriel frowns and moves in to slash timidly at the creature. Her dagger slices off a chunk of crystal, and the creature turns its pale, node-like eyes upon the halfling.
Antal touches Randall on the shoulder supportively.
The stalactites on both sides of the room begin to move, their crystalline elements glowing faintly and crackling with energy. A sudden surge of power breaks loose from the translucent veins and flashes across the blackness toward Fíriel, even as the one she hit reaches out and tries to bite her with its sharp stone-like teeth. The halfling dodges the bolt of energy, only to land squarely in the other monster's jaws.
A chunk of stalactite freezes and breaks into a hundred pieces.
Antal mumbles a series of archai Halfling words at the left "stalactite."
The entity shudders and crackles angrily in Antal's direction.
Jametor ponders then says,
"These are called Darkland Sentinels, they've been used for centuries by sentient races as alarm systems and defenders in cave-like structures. That flare of light as you can see can cause blindness and is a warning, I suspect we'll see the rest of whatever is in here soon. They should take damage just like anyone."
Fíriel blinks furiously, trying to clear the afterimage of the flash as she stabs at the nasty creature again.
Njord steps over and hacks at the other hostile rock-thing.
Njord's sword-swipe goes wide.
The flash of light freezes Randall in his tracks as he tries to blink the image from his eyes.
Realizing he needs to act whether he can see or not, Randall moves toward where Firiel fights, tumbling to get into melee with her foe.
The jagged teeth chomp at Njord as the Ulfen moves away.
Randall's dagger pierces the creature's stony skin, and it shrieks loudly. Both creatures retaliate with vicious bites at their assailants.
The sound of movement can be heard from the north, as if people are rushing around a room. Suddenly a faint yell of pure terror echoes through the caverns. The voice sounds like Saul's.
Jametor flings another ray of frost at the left side sentinel.
Were-Njord snarls and spins to strike at the creature that wounded him.
Jametor's ray shatters another chunk, and Njord's attack slices the creature in half. Beneath the hard exterior is a slug-like inside that spatters over the Ulfen ickily.
Antal keeps his focus on the same creature, pointing at it and grinning wildly. "Find the void, beast!"
Randall takes a step to make a flank with Firiel easier if the creature moves. As he does, he fakes a lunge with the dagger, hoping to catch the thing off-guard with a real attack.
The creature's node-like eyes shimmer redly as it gazes into the void opened by Antal.
Fíriel blinks a few times and finally gets the afterimage out of her vision. Gripping her dagger intently, she hacks at the stony monster with renewed vigor.
The eye nodes whirl madly as the sentinel tries to discern reality from falsehood and friend from foe. A low keening cry begins to fill the chamber, starting low and growing until it swells from the monster's center to the far corners of the room.
Almost as if in response, four scaly-skinned humanoids charge into the north archway, brandishing weapons and barking war cries.
One of them runs into the room and swings at Njord, while the other two in range swing at the juicy halfling. The last one, unable to hit anything, hisses angrily and barks something at his comrades.
Jametor moves up some and then begins to cast his summoning spell.
Were-Njord roars in pain as one of the new attackers digs a claw into his side.
Wrinkling his snout at the foul stink, the bestial ulfen rears back and slashes at one of the stinky lizard men.