Izah finally hacks the nastiness from his lungs and feels ready to fight again, but keeps his post by the wounded, sure that they must need him more at the moment.
The wolf snarls, visibly angered by it's inability to grip the creature as it snaps but cannot get a hold.
"Do we need another spell?" Aravashnial calls out, his face uncertain. "How injured is the creature?"
The Dretch scents Elsbeth's blood and presses his advantage, Elsbeth is able to avoid it's first strikes, but it hits a claw home with the third, even around Michael's shield, leaving Elsbeth hardly on her feet.
"Urngh! I can't keep up with this flurry!" Elsbeth shouts. "Sorry I couldn't hold it any longer; I hope somebody's done choking and can take my place." Raising her shield in front of her, Elsbeth retreats carefully toward where Izah guards the injured ones.
Feeling the thick fog finally lift from his lungs, Jens swings his shield out of the way. Ignoring the blood flowing from his wounded arm, he brings his sword around with a roar, attempting to cleave the little demon in twain.
Finally free to move again, Aaliyah's blade arcs against the beast's hide several times in another whirl of motion and fury. As she does so, the spiritual flame surrounding her scimitar suddenly becomes white-hot and very real, almost as in paintings of the Dawnflower herself.
Michael manages to keep from coughing long enough to get between Elsbeth and the Dretch. "Fall back, we'll keep it from you!"
His lungs are beginning to clear, although he's still coughing too much to wield his weapons effectively.
Jens and Aaliyah strike from either side, cleaving the ugly little creature in twain, even as it's flesh tries to knit the wounds. It's upper mound twitches twice, then stops, dead.
"By the Gods, I hate Dretches." Anevia coughs and hacks, her eyes blurred. "I'm not usually close enough to take the cloud like this."
"For once I find myself- urgghh" Horgus is interrupted by a bit of a splashing sound. "I find myself in agreement with Mrs. Tirabade." He finishes, catching his breath.
There seems to be a dwarf seated at one of the benches pointed toward the altar, though hardly a glance shows him to be quite dead. Pieces of his flesh seem to have liquified and disappeared. Everything within the room except the corpse and a few slimy trails is covered in dust. The priests warhammer lies nearby, also covered in dust, but a work of art nonetheless.
Aaliyah does that odd little slump again, quickly shaking her head out as she steps back. "...foul little thing. This is . . . a demon?" She looks at it, oddly curious. "Seems rather pathetic."
"Says the woman who wasn't clawed within an inch of her life," Elsbeth replies sassily to Aaliyah. Turning to the rest of the group, she continues, "Was anyone else injured? Can we spare some of our available magical healing for my wounds?"
Aaliyah winces at Elsbeth's retort. "Sorry...uhm, I can get it." She pulls out her holy symbol and mumbles a bit under her breath.
Jens crouches to wipe his sword clean on the hem of his gambeson, listening to the Kelish girl with a frown. Standing and sheathing his blade, he approaches her, arms crossed over his chest, looking down sternly.
"That very assault you called 'pathetic' damn near killed Elsbeth, and would have killed you. Next time, I suggest you stand back. There are experienced warriors here, and if you keep up like this, you're bound to get hurt more than you can handle."
Picking up his shield again, keeping the pain in his arm secret, he helps Anevia steady herself once more. "Let's get you sitting down," he mutters, starting to lead her to the bench. After a moment, he pauses. "Now, I wonder why the corpse isn't dusty?" he muses. "Does anyone else find that suspicious, or am I going mad in my old age?"
"Thank you, dervish," Elsbeth says, touching the now-closed wound on her neck with a sigh of relief. Hearing Jens' observation, she concurs.
"Yes, that does seem odd. Especially when the hammer is dusty as well. Undeath is one possibility, though I certainly hope that's not the case..."
"She seems to be faring pretty well so far," Michael points out to Jens, then grimaces. "... Certainly better than most of us in this particular battle," he adds, slightly chagrined.
He nods at Elsbeth. "... Or the demon was doing something with the corpse. Although I don't find that a heartening thought either, I admit."
He kneels down by the slime trails, trying to determine which way they lead.
"My guess is that those things got in through there." Anevia points to the ceiling, where a large crack had opened in the stone. "Stupid creatures probably couldn't get out again, and the door was stuck."
Michael sighs. "Ah well, it was worth a shot." he shrugs. "Lady Elsbeth, are you fit to continue?"
"There's no 'lady' to my name, but yes, I'm well enough now," Elsbeth replies, examining what's left of her wounds. "Anyway, now that we've secured the area, we should search for any more gear or supplies that might be available. Starting with that warhammer, which I'm sure we could put to good use."
Elsbeth picks up the hammer and examines its balance, then gives the room a brief scan.
Elsbeth spots a stone loose in the back of the room. Once she comes closer it becomes obvious the stone is intentional, as a small hollow behind it holds a lever marked in dwarven script.
Once the lever is pulled, a small rumble shakes as the altar slides aside on some unseen mechanism. Below, tucked into cubbyholes sized precisely for them, is a large iron shield bearing the image of Torag's Hammer, a dwarven waraxe that shines with a strange sheen and two potions, each labelled with a dwarven rune. Below them is a small hollow holding a pack. Inside is three days of rations in the form of tough biscuits, a small waterskin, and a bottle of rotgut mushroom alchohol.
|
With the battle long over and the search of the chapel having revealed some of the stowed goods the dwarves had secreted away, Izah moves into the chamber with a scowl on his face, mace held down at his side. "That wretched creature was locked in here..." he muses, looking down at its remains on pass. "The question is by whom, and how long ago?" A look to the dusty corpse gives a possible time-table, though a worrying one.
Leading Aravashnial with him as he walks, Izah brings the wizard over to the recess where the goods are kept. Holding out a hand, Izah extends his senses outward towards the objects with an arcane utterance to sense for the presence of magic. "Elsbeth, if you would be so kind as to furnish Aravashnial with those flasks so that he might identify them," Izah requests, while attentively examining the cubbyholes.
_____
Elsbeth nods to Izah, then approaches the elf. "Would you mind identifying these potions, friend?" she says, placing the vials in Aravashnial's hand.
Aaliyah just winces slightly at the rebuke and follows along quietly behind.
"It's also possible it wound up here in much the same manner as we did," Michael points out. "At any rate, once we're done searching the premises we should get moving once more."
None of the items set off Izah's magical senses, unfortunately.
Aravashnial takes the potions. He sniffs and then tastes the first one. "Ah, almonds. A healing potion for certain. And this one." He shakes the glass and a few small clicks are heard inside, then he holds it up so that a small brown ball is visible on the side of the flask. He asks someone if the ball is brown and upon gaining an answer smiles. "Ah yes, a ball of oakwood inside an alchohol based potion. Certainly a growth potion. It will make the imbiber twice his original size." He hands the potions back carefully.
Anevia looks around the shrine once more as the group files toward the exit. "I wish we had the time to clean up this place. I do not like leaving it as a desecration."
The group continues along the tunnel offshoot from before, which steadily rises as you travel. About forty minutes (and a ton of complaining from Gwerm about his aching feet) later, the cavern opens into a roughly circular cave about fifty feet in diameter. Stone figures are carved into the walls, each depicting a crusader clad in armor and bearing weapons, but each face is carved bearing an expression of enduring sadness.
Two ugly, squidlike, dark creatures crawl along the ceiling toward the group.
"Eyes to the ceiling!" Elsbeth shouts abruptly, putting her lantern down. "Something's coming toward us!"
Aaliyah blinks owlishly at the ceiling in question.
"Agreed," Michael replies to Anevia. "Unfortunately, we don't have the time.. The best we can do right now is try to remember our path, so that once we make it to the surface we can arrange for an expedition to come back down here..."
Michael stares in awe at the statues. "... I don't recognize any of these armor designs. How long ago was this?"
At Elsbeth's call Michael turns to look up, already drawing his blade and readying his shield on pure reflex.
Izah:
Jens:
Aaliyah:
Elsbeth:
Anevia:
Aravashnial:
Horgus:
Enemy:
The creature is easy to spot once Elsbeth points it out, and it doesn't seem to react to everyone drawing it's weapons. It continues to slide forward along the ceiling, clinging to stalagmites in an oddly graceful silent move toward the group.
"On your toes, people," Elsbeth commands as she readies her weapons. "It won't be pretty if they land on your head."
Aaliyah draws out her scimitar, staring at the. . . things.
Michael keeps his shield at the ready, glaring upward at the demon as if its reluctance to attack is a personal insult to him, muttering in that strangely comforting language again.
Aravashnial retreats slightly from where everyone indicates the creatures are and readies himself, holding his quarterstaff in an unsteady block position. Anevia steps in front of him and releases an arrow, which does nothing but clatter from the stone near the creature and alert it that it is noticed. The creature scuttles closer until it is directly above Aaliyah and detaches, falling with an eerie soundless grace toward the Dervish. Aaliyah steps quickly away, but the creature surprises her by being quite agile and turning in the air to attach to Aaliyah's arm with painful suckers.
Another of the creatures, unnoticed before this point, drops soundlessly through the air toward Michael, though it's suckers are unable to find purchase on the metal of his armor or shield.
Michael whirls on the demon as it latches onto Aaliyah, calling out in that musical language again.
Whatever he had to say is cut short by the second creature attacking him, and he swats it away from his shield before slashing at it with a booming shout.
"Quick! Take it down before it can do anything more to her!" Elsbeth shouts as she moves to assist.
;
|
|
Scowling as he watches the creature drop on Aaliyah, Izah exhales a huff of hot breath and cinders, marching forward and away from Anevia and the others. "Stand by," he urges, raising his shield and mace as he moves in to clean up this filthy darklands rabble. As he closes the distance, black chain armor rattling, he winds up with the mace and swings down as its head glows red hot, leaving a red streak in the air.
_________
Jens roars "Get off the girl ya ugly bastard!" As he steps forward and hammers his blade down toward the Darkmantle attached to Aaliyah. Unfortunately, his foot snags at the last moment and he hardly keeps his balance as his blade misses the thing. Anevia snatches another arrow from her back and fires at the creature in front of Michael, timing her shot as carefully as she can but still having it off of his shield instead of the cave-dweller. "Do you need a spell? How is the battle going?" Aravashnial asks, his hands still white on his staff and his back to the cave wall. Horgus steps forward, his eyes screwed up with determination, hands clutched on Anevia's borrowed short blade, and slices into the creature holding onto Aaliyah, turning his head aside at the last second to almost slash blind as his face turns pale at the spurt of black blood from the thing. Aaliyah makes an attempt at the creature herself, scimitar going a bit wild from her injuries and not getting to the creature at all.
The darkmantle on Aaliyah seems unaffected by the injury, it's squidlike beak burrowing deep into the Dervish's shoulder. Aaliyah's eyes go blurry and she slumps to the cold cave floor, creature still attached to her. Meanwhile the one near Michael strikes out with it's tentacle, finding a weaker spot in the paladin's armor and leaving a deep scratch on his leg, but being unable to latch on from the brief contact.
"Aaliyah's down! Stay back, elf!" Jens bellows, suddenly filled with rage. "Come on, you fiend, leave the girl alone," he growls, sweeping his blade in an underhanded arc, trying to strike the creature without harming his ally.
Michael snarls at the Darkmantle trying to chew through his grieves, but his swing is at an awkwardly low angle and goes wide.
Elsbeth grits her teeth as she watches the Sarenite slump to the floor, then takes a deliberate breath to keep her focus before silently pressing her attack.
;
Between strikes from Elsbeth and Jens the darkmantle holding onto Aaliyah dies quickly and easily.
Izah, seeing Aaliyah in mortal danger, does not hesitate to use call upon Asmodeus. With a sizzle and a flash of light, Aaliyah's wounds close, keeping her out of danger from her bleeding wounds.
Horgus seems shocked at his own luck with the weapon, but soon recovers and turns, moving in from the opposite angle of Michael to strike out at the cave squid trying to eat the knight's shins. However, the blow is wide and wild. Anevia stands with bow drawn to full. "If I get a shot I'll take it." You hear her say quietly in the dark of the cave. Aravashnial stays against the wall as ordered, his hands white upon the wood of his staff.
The darkmantle makes a strange chittering sound and attempts to retreat, drawing an attack from both Michael and Horgus.
"Get it!" Elsbeth barks, "It might bring back friends, or stalk us in our sleep!" She dashes after the creature, lunging into a heavy swing.
"Oh no you don't!" Michael shouts, running the demon through as it attempts to turn away.
The creature is cut down by the flashing blades of Michael and Elsbeth just as Aaliyah opens her eyes with a gasp.
Horgus stands as if stunned for several moments, then seems to shake it off. "Well that was... bracing." He turns and shouts. "You can come over here now, Nutter. The things are dead."
Anevia lets off her bowstring with an audible sigh as she stores it, and Aravashnial comes forward from out of the corner he was in. "I don't understand why these two are alone." The elf muses. "Generally, darkmantles roost in colonies of five to ten." He seems to be listening carefully, then turns toward Michael. "Ser Michael, did I hear you mention, before the attack, some kind of armor?"
Aaliyah shakes off the pain as she slowly returns to consciousness. After checking herself over realizing that the fight is done, she stands up. "...ow." Having expressed that rather eloquent thought, she looks to Michael for his answer about the armor.