As Firinn further scouts the area, Khaz looked behind him at the assembled party. Among them was Horus. For a brief moment the dwarf felt nothing but disgust within him. He pushed it down, embarrassed at his thoughts. Perhaps to make up for it, he went over to the man and said as discreetly as possible:
"I know that this has been a hard day, but we are nearing the surface. We will get you home safely. We are going to fight our way through whatever bars our way. Keep an eye on our rear, and stay close to Aravashnial. If you see any danger behind us, you can tell him and he can summon to defend us."
Lorena waits for the rest of the group to head down the trash chute, including Horgus, Lann, and the injured two, before proceeding herself.
Carson smirks a bit at the idea of climbing in the trash chute, but doesn't object as the others go down with himself somewhere in the middle of the pack to stay in range of his lights.
I'm honestly not sure that this is any way out of here. I'd be happy if it is, but it just looks like garbage management. Hopefully that's all this stuff is...
"Okay, you realize the whole keep to the left doesn't mean we can't skip some doors . . .. This REALLY looks like a skipping door to me!"
Terry follows the others down the chute despite his vocalized misgivings, and likely support from Horgus, which doesn't even bother Terry right now . . ..
"I agree with Terry, we do not know what will come behind us as we make a break for the surface." Aravashnial says.
Horgus grunts his "agreement?" at Khaz and does watch behind your group.
Firrin creeps silently forward, after a few steps he notes that there are 2 mongrel man in the next room. One of the Mongrelmen is facing away from Firinn but the other is looking back down the tunnel, heart hammering in his chest Firinn stops moving hoping that he wasn't noticed. After a few tense seconds the Mongrelman facing down the tunnel turns and looks out over something
Firinn retreats, as noiselessly as he came, and reports what he could see. "Two mongrelmen. They seem fairly alert, but not expecting anything from this direction."
Khaz lifted his axe. ”Shall I Charge them? After you sneak around them perhaps?”
"Why don't we see if they'll let us through first? All we want is out of here..."
"How well did that work with the last ones?" Firinn counters. "If we just want to get out I say we hit them hard and leave - we can try not kill them if that's important to you."
”We need to make it to the surface before they Marshall their forces. Let’s go.” As quietly as possible Khaz moved into the next room, before bursting out of the shadows and wordlessly charging the mongrelmen.
Khaz takes one of the Mongrels by surprise, dropping it with one might blow of his Axe. The other turns, eyes going wide and flees the room through the door.
As the other mongrelman turned to flee, Khaz swung his axe, catching it in the back of the neck. It fell to the ground, dead.
”The room is clear.” He said to the rest of the group. ”Lets keep moving. They know we are here, we won’t be able to rely on surprise forever.”
A steel door lays in the wall a head of Khaz, the group moves up quickly to follow behind.
The door opens into what looks like a large room, there are high walls a head but the entrance that appears there is cut into the area at a odd location.
The wizard sighs and grips his wand a bit tighter.
I know we're trying to get out of here. I just wish we could do that without invading their home and killing everything we see.
He leaves it at that as they continue on through the rooms, staying on guard.
Khaz nodded as he wiped his axe clean. "I agree. Though, they did attack after they heard whom I worship."
Looking back at everyone, Khaz added "Plus we have injured, and we have promised to get Horgus here to safety. If we allow these people to take us prisoner, well, from what we have heard from their original tribe, we may never see the light of day again. Should this be a mistake, the blood is on my hands, and I will have much atoning to do. But at the moment, I believe that our best course of action is to just keep moving as quickly as possible."
Lorena, on the other hand, is impressed by the dwarf's slaughter, though it doesn't show on her face. "Yes, let's keep moving ahead", she echoes from the rear as she keeps watch for any sign of pursuit from the residents down the trash-hole.
In full opportunistic mode, Terry will stop to check the fresh corpses for anything obviously of use.
"Nothing wrong with not wanting to kill. As long as you can when you need to to survive. Right now, I think we need to, too."
"They attacked us first. It's a matter of survival."
Firinn's opinion on the matter seems very black and white, although given the amount of scarring he displays that is perhaps understandable.
"I will throw in an extra 1000 gold if you get me to my home first and alive, you have done a ..." Horgus swallows hard"Good job of keeping us alive
"We should move on." The hunter opinions, Rhionnag fluttering her wings in agreement. "No point standing here and debating morality all day!"
Carefully Firinn moves to the curtain and peeks through...
As the group moves forward the smell of rotten eggs starts to permeate the air.
Carson grimaces and pulls his shirt up over his mouth and nose as they continue.
"Just one more reason climbing down into the garbage pit seems to have been a poor choice."
Khaz coughed, despite himself. ”Gods preserve...” He forced himself to concentrate as they continued:
As the group makes its way into the maze some noise can be heard, breathing that shouldn't be in here. The smell is getting worse, and the ground is not something that you want to look down at. Horgus is making some noise and muttering to himself about the filth and how he shouldn't be down here. Aniva and Aravasnhial are quiet.
Lorena will keep to the back of the group as per usual.
Khaz wasn’t sure what the creatures were, but he wasn’t going to let them block their path.
Khaz manages his way around the maze alone, as he rounds a corner he comes upon what looks like some ugly abomination.
This is a Dretch Demon, the lowest form of demon
Khaz's blow is solid but the skin of the demon is tougher than Khaz though as it turns some of the blow away.
———
Edit
As Khaz swung his axe, he swore to himself that he *would* get his comrades to the surface. The force of his will caused his wounds to completely heal.
Carson is following behind, and turns the corner in time to see the demon. He knew what it was at a glance and had no issue with killing one of these. He flicks his wand through the air and summons a spear above his head that aims and hurls itself at the monster.
to hit
+1 bleed damage
Carson questions it in Abyssal.
"You, Demon. Who summoned you?"
Firinn finds the demons easily enough, but once Khaz ploughs past him to confront them any prospect of shooting them down quietly disappears. Instead Firinn looks to the walls, trying to climb above the demons and get a better view.
Hearing the sounds of battle in the maze ahead, Lorena begrudgingly moves forward from her spot near the rear, past the noncombatants, telling Lann to keep guard on the rear for her for now. Upon sighting the demon, she readies her spear and casts a spell on herself again.
Carson's tree blades miss the Demon and strike off the wall, Khaz being directly in front of the demon also presents a bit of a problem as well. Firinn tries to climb the wall but finds no purchase, wasting some valuable time also noting the walls go up 10'.
The demon hears Carson but doesn't answer him, from behind Carson comes what looks like another of these demons. The demon claws at Carson.
Good luck can never last forever. Khaz swung his axe, looking to tell the demon, but the blow went wide.
Terry moves up, trying to get a bead on the target before letting fly.
Both blows from the group miss the demons, the cramped quarters hammering both bow and great axe movement.
Seeing the second demon approach from behind, Lorena tries to intercept it, but she can't maneuver her spear effectively in the crowded confines of the maze.
Carson takes a quick(5 foot) step past the wall to get in a better position away from the demon so that Lorena might be able to attack it from the other side.
He flicks up some magic protection while continuing to question the demon.
"I know you can communicate! Tell me who summoned you or I make this as slow as you deserve!"
Lorena's spear butt hits the wall and turns her blow away just enough to miss. Carson slides away from the demon who now has a taste for his magical blood.
The blue skinned demon coughs out a cloud that is nauseating, it floats towards Terry clinging to everyone and making everyone feel sick.