"Our water! That creature has it!" Nnn'tkklik'l says, in an alarmed tone, as he points towards the shadowy creature making off with it. Knowing that death is likely without the cask, he grabs the waterskins that he set down before the combat and starts in the direction of the creature.
"What?" Raun rumbles, confused for a moment, peering at her sled now sans water, before glaring in the direction Nnn'tkklik'l indicated. She doesn't wait any longer than that, snatching up her morningstar again and running after the creature. "Give us back our water!" she bellows at the thing, whatever it may be.
Looking up from the plant creature Grit sees the retreating shadow.
A silk wyrm, a flying armored serpent with a poisonous bite and some psionic ability. Do not let it get away with our water. He begins to move after the creature.
The shadowy creature was at the edge of your (dark)vision and moving fast when you spotted it disappearing into the emerald gloom of the desert night .
Grit takes off running after it but is encumbered by his armor. Still, with a run he is able to catch up to the creature and threaten it.
Nnn'tkklik'l will move forward 40ft and take a shot with the crossbow.
Gorkhan charges the strange creature, stabbing at it with his hand fork.
Raun roars in anger and charges at the creature, long legs pumping and carrying her forward with impressive speed. She closes upon the creature and swipes at it with her morningstar.
Nnn'tkklik'l's crossbow bolt chunks into the serpent's hide, although not deeply, as Raun and Gorkhan charge after the water-stealing creature. Gorkhan's hand fork doesn't come close to penetrating, but the half-giant strikes true, although the shadowy wyrm seems to absorb part of the blow.
Undeterred, the wyrm continues slithering through the air on its earlier course before disappearing over the edge of the nearest ravine.
Still reeling from blood loss, Zok gathers his belongings and runs toward the group that had been assaulting the silk wyrm.
Gorkhan lashes out at the strange creature as it moves away but the dim light has him missing his mark. He charges after it and thrusts the fork at it, but again, misses the thing entirely.
Grit, huffing with the run in his encumbering armor strikes out at the wyrn as it moves away wishing he could power attack, but unable to bring his full strength into play (can't declare power attack for an aoo).
Nnn'tkklik'l double moves up to the group (80ft closer to the edge, which if i understand correctly i was 110ft from.)
Differentiating black on black proves impossible for Raun as well, even with her more acute night vision. Her morningstar arcs perfectly towards where the creature was but a few moments ago. She grunts in annoyance as the creature disappears from her reach, and from view, but lumbers after it once again. As the ravine's edge looms the half-giant slows not at all, her legs bunching beneath her as she leaps, trying to land on top of the creature, morningstar first.
Relying as much on instinct as sight, Grit lands a solid blow against the creature with his spear, although you feel as if the power of the thrust was softened somehow after cracking through the wyrm's carapace.
Gorkhan and Raun's attacks both go astray, their aim thrown off by the maddening haze that seems to surround the chitinous wyrm. As it streaks over the edge of the ravine, both the human and the half-giant charge heedlessly over the edge after it.
Luckily, the fall is a short one as the wyrm flies to a ledge just 10 feet below and slithers into a cave opening in the side of the ravine. Gorkhan's aim is off again as he lands near the shadowy wyrm, but Raun brings her morningstar down in a blow that echoes with the crack of chitin.
You hear a sickening thud followed by the sound of a rolling barrel as the wounded wyrm drops your water cask in the cave. The serpent then whips around, snapping at Raun with its flat, crescent-shaped head.
The silk wyrm's needle-sharp fangs sink into the soft flesh between the half-giant's shoulder and neck. Off-balance from her rage and leaping into the ravine, she is unable to resist as it yanks her off her feet and a wraps its armored body around hers. She can feel poison pumping into her veins from the thing's fangs, but so far the venom seems not to be affecting her.
Meanwhile, Zok, Safia and Nnn'tkklik'l all make their way closer to the edge.
Grit jumps the 10' down to the ledge, trying to soften the landing but fail, partially due to the heavy armor he wears.
Stepping up the the wyrm he stabs at it again with his spear but the combination of the fall and the shadows clouding his mind cause him to miss.
,
Concerned primarily with long-term survival of the clutch, Nnn'tkklik'l jumps down and moves past the melee (keeping space to avoid AoOs) with the shadow creature and seeks to arrest the progress of the rolling barrel. The kreen will try to stand it up so it doesnt roll anymore, but likely cant actually carry the barrel with any degree of ease (tilting it up shouldnt be difficult though once it is stopped).
Raun almost blacks out as the creature whips around on her and sinks it's fangs into her neck. She struggles against the darkening of her vision however, clearing her vision as she feels the thing's coils wrap around her. She struggles to free her arm and morningstar, bellowing her defiance at the creature, before lashing at it's head.
Gorkhan steps to a position across the creature from one of his companions and attacks with the hand fork.
The ledge is becoming crowded as Grit and Nnn'tkklik'l drop down to join Raun and Gorkhan. The thri-kreen rushes into the dark cave to secure the party's water cask - which appears to have cracked and is slowly leaking - while the mul unsuccessfully strikes at the indistinct form of the silk wyrm.
The others have better luck. Taking advantage of Grit's flank, Gorkhan jabs the bone tines of his handfork between the chitinous plates of the silk wyrm's hide. Though still grappled by the beast, Raun manages to strike a solid blow with her morningstar.
Still wrapped around Raun, the silk wyrm turns its attention to the lightly-armored form of Gorkhan, striking at him with fangs dripping yellow venom.
Zok and Safia reach the edge of the ravine above.
Grit continues to try to stab the wyrm, but to no avail. He hopes his position will help the others kill it.
"Poison!" Gorkhan groans as the venom courses through his veins sapping his strength. He tries to make another attack but with the weakness in his arm, his attack fails to penetrate the creatures hide.
Nnn'tkklik'l heals Raun for 6 points psionically, and tries to tilt the cast so that the crack is as high up as possible so that less water leaks out.
If some water leaks, that is all right for now. Best to win the fight.
Raun continues to fight, herself and her foe all that she is aware of as she fights against it's binding coils to bring her morningstar against it's carapace in another strong blow.
As the other party members jab fruitlessly at the silk wyrm's thick carapace, Raun brings her massive morningstar down on the creature's head with another echoing blow. Near death, the serpent uncoils from around the half-giant and attempts to escape, darting away from your blows as it tries to slither over the edge.
Grit stabs again at the wyrm, this time as it tries to flee.
"Grit, water barrel is cracked" Nnn'tkklik'l says.
Raun stumbles slightly as the pressure around her is suddenly released, feeling the effects of bloodloss, though the flow has stopped. As she orients herself on the retreating wyrm she swings at it once more with her morningstar.
Nnn'tkklik'l's warning of the cask leaking gives her pause, but Grit has proven himself capable at woodwork. She peers towards the ledge, assessing the drop off before moving into motion.
If the drop seems severe she will drop her morningstar, and rush forwards, drawing a spear from her back. Once at the edge she will lobit at any suspicious movement.
If the ground is not far below she will continue to pursue the creature with an angry "Stupid worm will die!" as she jumps off the ledge and tries to land softly.
Nnn'tkklik'l, seeing Raun up and making more foolish decisions considering her state, will close up 6 more hp worth of wounds.
Gorkhan struggles through the poison and, seeing the worm try and escape, lashes out with the hand fork, but his swing goes wide.
Dodging your blows, the silk wyrm slips over the side of the ledge. Chasing after it, you peer over the edge and see a 50 foot drop.
Seeing the creature's tail disappearing underneath the ledge, Raun lobs her spear but the awkward throw doesn't come close to hitting, the spear falling to the ravine floor far below.
Gorkhan curses as the creature slips over the side of the ledge and looks around to see if there are others of it's ilk before turning to the cave and their water cask.
Grit will move to the water cask and cast mending on it.
Grit places his hands on the water cask and coaxes the cracks in the wood to close. The container feels a little lighter, but you don't think more than a few gallons drained into the packed dirt of the cave floor.
"There is something in the back of the cave." Nnn'tkklik'l says, backing away from the source of the noise and towards the cave mouth.
Grit, hearing Nnn'tkklik'l's warning looks more closely into the darkness, trusting his dwarven heritage to help him in the dim conditions. As he does so he takes a cautious step or two towards the potential threat.
Who is there? he says in the common tongue.
As your vision shifts, you can make out several large, cylindrical shapes hanging from the ceiling of the cave - cocoons woven by the silk wyrm, you think. Some are tattered and old, but three are intact. One rustles at the sound of your voice.
You can see patches of green and gold fur protruding from the rustling cocoon. As you go in for a closer look, you realize that the cocooned creature appears to be alive, if barely. Cutting away some of the webbing, you find a what appears to be a tigone cub, a green- and gold-striped hunting cat from the Ringing Mountains. This one wears a ragged leather collar, suggesting it was kept in captivity and escaped.
The second intact cocoon contains the body of a tribal elf woman. Although drained of fluid, the corpse is not badly decomposed, suggesting the woman died within the past few weeks. She wears a well-made leather cuirass, leggings and boots and a sand-colored burnoose of a style favored by elven runners. Around her neck is a carved bone fetish decorated with lirr teeth. Her belt pouch contains a dozen coins, mostly ceramic but a few silver. A finely-crafted longbow and quiver of arrows are strapped to her back and a bone longsword is sheathed at her side, suggesting the silk wyrm took her by surprise.
The third cocoon contains the desiccated remains of a human man. His tunic, cloak and sandals are too decayed to be of much use, but you can see the glint of metal poking out of his belt, where a worn but well-honed iron sickle hangs. The corpse’s hands clutch a polished crystal wrapped in rotted silk. An intricately-carved agafari spear is tangled in the cocoon, as well.
Grit cautiously moves to the back of the cave. Seeing that one of the creatures cocooned is still alive, he checks to see if it is injured and works to free it. If it fully conscious he will try to calm the beast.
Using a collection of cooing cat-like sounds Grit slowly approaches the creature, his body language somehow calming to the beast. He closes the distance and begins to cut away the silk webbing from the cat purring at it reassuredly. Once the cat is free he will offer it water and then food. If it is obviously wounded he will heal it.
Freeing the cat and seeing its critical condition, Grit will heal it as best he can. He can cure some if its wounds but is unable to address the damage from the poison and blood drain with magic. He will have to care for the beast until it is stronger.
Carrying the cat like he might a human child Grit emerges from the cave. There appears to be some valuables on the bodies back there. Maybe even some items of magic. Can someone go and retrieve them? And please grab my spear while back there.
Safia had spent the entire fight with the silk wyrm entranced, her mind stuck within the Grey. She can be heard babbling incoherently for most of the time, sometimes uttering words in a strange language and at other times just babbling.
When they go to the beasts lair she falls to her hands and knees, panting. When Grit comes out again she looks up and rushes in, a bewildered look in her eyes. She passes by the fresher cocoons and starts looking through what remains of the old and tattered ones. It seems as if she's looking for something. While doing so she clenches the templar's signet tightly in one hand.
"Is the worm dead?"
Nnn'tkklik'l will address the wounds of the party members, seeking to help bind those that are not life threatening (re: above half hp) and looks in particular for those that are life threatening.
Once that is done, he will assist in checking the cave and takes particular interest in the crystal.
"That was a tough fight. Perhaps this cave is good to rest, or does the clutch seek to travel farther?"
"The worm lives," Gorkhan says, "It is merely... unavailable, clinging to the underside of the ledge." He then moves into the cave to examine what has been found. "Perhaps someone can detect any mystical or psychic energies from these items?" He then examines the bone longsword.
Raun glances over her shoulder at the kreen's warning, but apart from drawing another spear she doesn't move. She simply remains alert and ready, though she takes a half step back as the rush of adrenaline leaves her, her spear head dipping slightly from it's ready position. She had felt the like in her training before, but usually only after hours of clashing with Kjarros. It would take some adjusting...
Masterwork leather armor
Elven burnoose (grants +2 to Stealth in desert environments as a masterwork tool)
Bone fetish
Belt pouch with 3 sp and 9 cp
Masterwork composite longbow (+2) and quiver of 20 bone arrows
Very sharp bone longsword. A pair of elven symbols are carved into the base of the blade and a kes’trekel feather hangs from the pommel.
Iron sickle
Polished, pale blue crystal the size of a bird’s egg
Masterwork agafari spear carved with intricate patterns
Unconscious tigone cub
Anyone wishing to try to identify the items can give me Spellcraft (or even Knowledge: Psionics/Magic checks) to do so.