"NONONONO"
Carson freaks out just a little bit at the sight of the disgusting creatures pulling themselves from the corpse of an equally disgusting creatures and flicks his wand through the air and towards the one closest to the group, summoning an ornate spear of cherry wood, incircled by glowing green runes. The spear hurls itself at the approaching beasty.
To hit
damage, also 1 point of reoccurring bleed damage.
And in his freaking out, he fails to aim effectively.
Retreating slowly Firinn strings another arrow and looses. As his arrow punches into the first maggot Rionnag swoop down from the darkness and batters the second one.
Rionnag Kills one of the maggots, while Firinn's lone arrow leaves a deep gash in the other.
With axe in hand, Khaz charged at the maggot. "Away from me patients!" he yelled. Years of combat training came into play as he expertly places the axe directly where it would do the most damage.
Having already dropped the torch, Terry pulls an arrow and lets fly at the still-moving, man-sized maggot.
Aerleth watches in disbelief as the Dwarf he believed to be a healer charges into the fray, turning the maggot into a sickly paste.
"Wow... Remind me to stay on your good side, Master Dwarf." he says with a smile and a curt bow.
Khaz grinned back as he shook the gore off his axe. ”Jus’ don’t threaten me patients and we’ll be right n’ square elfling!”
Aerleth swings his blade down hard, aiming at the second wounded maggot.
Khaz kills the final maggot, silence again settles over the cave you are trapped in.
"I promise my aim is normally better than that..."
Carson flickers his wand, refreshing the floating lights to make sure they continue to illuminate the cavern as he turns back around to the Tiefling.
"Now that that small crisis is over, allow me to investigate these things that you've found."
He inspects the dragon scales they found, and:
Know Arcana
"Well, I can sense that they have various abilities to grant in the form of levitation, resistance, disguising and making weapons more effective against evil creatures. One last gift from our savior, it would seem."
Horgus looks shocked that such creatures could just burst out of another one, Aniva has drawn her bow and readied an arrow.
"What was that noise? Who is supposed to be my eyes tell me what is going on." Aravashnial says loudly.
Aerleth returns to Aravashnial's side.
"No need for panic. A few maggots were nesting inside a giant dead spider. They burst forth, and the dwarf Khaz and this... Feathered man dealt with them. I'm going to try to excavate some of this fallen debris so that we may find a way out." he reports.
Firinn retrieves his arrow and then returns to the main group. "Anevia, Horgus, could one of you assist this gentlemen for the moment while we try to shift the rubble and try to find us all a way out of here?"
Lorena watches in disbelief as the dwarf's blow destroys the remaining maggot, sending chunks flying everywhere. Good thing that he doesn't see her as a threat...
Then, turning back to the wall, she runs her hand over the scales as one of the other humans describes what he thinks they do - and she comes to the same conclusion. "Disguising, hm?", she says, with an interested look in her eye.
Every tries with no success to move the pile of rocks, the stones are to large to move.
Aniva helps Aravashnial, Horgus looks shocked that someone just "ordered" him to do something.
"I will have you know I am Horgus Gwerm, I have the ear of the council in this city." Horgus doesn't move far from the rubble pile.
He seems afraid but to proud to admit it.
"It's no use, the debris is too heavy. Hold fast, Aravashnial. I'm going to investigate the western tunnel; I can feel a breeze coming from that way." says the ranger as he returns to the wounded elf.
"Anyone care to join?" he asks the others.
”I’ll go with ye, we shouldn’t go anywhere alone here.”
"I'm with you." Firinn calls, jogging over as he feels the breeze ruffle his feathers. Above them Rionnag flaps on quiet wings.
The 3 gentlemen head towards the eastern portion of the cave. They note that Terry's torch shows them a cave to the south an a cave to the north, their entrances are not to far a part and you cannot see to far down them.
Carson stays behind and keeps the lights on for the rest of the group, making sure they've explored all the avenues in their current chamber.
He'll deal out the magical scales to whoever seems to want/need them.
”Wait here a moment lads. That light is ruinin’ me sight. Jus’ a moment...”
Khaz walks forward, axe at the ready.
Shaking his head, Terry starts walking back, slowly. "How far back should I go?"
After taking the disguise scale, Lorena makes her way over to the human with the torch. The dwarf seems to have gone on ahead to scout the tunnels, so she waits there with the others for his return.
Aerleth sheathes his sword and draws his longbow. He knocks an arrow, staring intently into the darkness in an effort to try and provide cover for Khaz.
Khaz can see the two tunnels now with a bit more clarity, his Dark vision shows him that the tunnel to the left is dark beyond the limits of his vision and it appears to curve to the north. The tunnel to the south appears much shorter and he can see what looks like more of an open area.
Khaz moves back to the group and reports what he saw. ”We should go to the southern one, I think. More open area means less likely to fall on our heads. And I don’t like the idea of wandering in an area too dark to see. Not with the potential for demons about.”
"One is as likely to be good as the other. Unless you felt wind movement better from one than the other?"
”Nay. That I did not. But one is brighter than the other and is more open. Less likely for ambushes, and easier for everyone to see. Best to try the easiest first.”
DC 20 Climb check to reach the pack, the pack is 14' off the ground of where you presently stand, below that is another 20' to the cavern floor below.
"I'll swing round the northern passage. I can see fine in the dark." Firinn suits actions to words and slips into the northern tunnel, staying in the shadows as best he can.
Seeing that Firinn was forging his own path, Khaz sighed and returned to the group. ”The tunnels seem safe enough, but we need to stick together. Gods know what he around each corner. Now then, Firinn seems to be scouting for us, an’ that’s fine. Let’s get the injured to this camp sight and keep pushing forward.”
The dwarf took a breath and then continued. ”Firinn should scout ahead to the next passage , an’ I’ll follow abit behind Incase he needs help. But before we kee moving, in the south I did see a backpack, hangin’ off a ledge. Far too high for me to climb up, but if anyone is feelin’ confident, it could have useful supplies.”
"What is the hold up on leaving here? Anyone who gets me out of here now I will pay once we get back to my home." Horgus bellows from the rock slide.
"Eyes, where did you go? What is going on? Who is the man bellowing?" Aravashnial ask loudly. "Are we under attack?"
”Aravashnial, that man would be Lord Horgus. Whom we are all striving to get to the surface.” The dwarf looked around. ”We are at a camp sight right now. An old one. Meaning that others have been down here before, so logic dictates that there is a path to the surface, and that we are on it. Our friend, Firinn is scouting ahead right now and once he gives us the all clear we will move on. Demons are attacking our city, so we need to move cautiously.”
He then went over to the woman with the broken leg, and said to her quietly ”Me axe is needed up front. Would you mind relaying information to the two of them for me? An’ helpin’ the elf move around?”
"I can try, the name is Aniva Tirablade. Horgus and myself don't get along to well." Aniva tells Khaz
”Aniva Tirablade. A strong name. Even if ye can just help the elfling, that would be great. Despite the loss of his eyes, he seems wise. Anyways. I’ll be movin’ to the front now, out this axe to use. If there is anythin’ I can do for ye, just ask.”
"Guess that puts me in the back with the injured, then. Fine. If there are supplies in that pack, we should try to get it. How far up is it? If we can't climb up, do we have a long enough stick, or enough sticks and cloth that we can lash a long enough one together? Heck, we could use this guy's bones if we need to. I'll go back and get the others."
"Aniva, thank you for offering to try. That puts us all miles ahead towards getting out of here."
"Aravashnial, your guide will be Aniva, here. She's on a crutch, so she's going to move slower than you might want. But that means you know she's not going to run away from you, right?"
"Horgus? I'll be glad to take your money, but we need less yelling from you, attracting whatever else is down here with us, and more cooperation with everyone else so that we can ALL get out."
Firinn takes a few minutes to examine the campsite closely and collect anything that might be of use. When he's done he waits at the widening tunnel until the rest of the group arrive, or he hears the discussion firther down the tunnel. When he hears noises he moves down the tunnel to meet them, looking up to examine whatever they are all interested in.
"Rionnag could knock it down, but anything delicate in there might be damaged - shall we take the risk?"
Aerleth glares at Horgus, biting his tongue before saying something which might offend the unpleasant man.
He nods at Terry's plan, agreeing with the valid points raised by the skinny human.
"I'll take point with the dwarf; you look a lot handier with a bow than I am."he says gruffly to Firinn before taking place at the front of the group near the dwarf.
"If you think your... Butterfly can knock the pack down then I say go for it. I'm not much of a climber..." he mumbles as he walks off.
Lorena follows behind, letting the others take charge...and point. The less exposed she is, the more likely it is she'll make it out of here. Though if we were to get attacked from behind...I guess I'll guard the rear. Her paranoia gets the better of her and she looks hastily around behind them in the first cavern, though she sees nothing new.
Aniva smiles at at Terry's words, Aravashnial's shoulders relax visibly, the elf was very tense and it was showing in his posture and his voice. Horgus' mind continues to work, "Well kid you will get paid if you can get me out of here alive, then I will be rid of you."
Rionnag flies up and brings the backpack back down to the group, inside are many items that might prove useful.