Unable to help the woman or the elf any further than she had, Allysen finds one of the scales and picks it up. Her eyes look for anything else that may be useful, but if there is anything, it's well buried. Before she rejoins the others, she pulls out a silver, butterfly shaped pendant from underneath the ragged tunic she wore over her leathers. Her eyes close as she bows her head and begins to pray.
"Desna guide all of you to the heavens. May your journey be filled with wonder and joy. May you find peace when you reach your destination. May your spirits rest easy under the watchful stars."
The woman smiles up at Ozgo. "Thanks. Well, I won't be winning any races, but I may be able to walk on it." She levers herself to her feet. The leg isn't healed completely straight, but she'll be able to hobble reasonably well.
Once the woman gets to her feet, she reaches into her pouch and pulls out several items. "Anevia Tirabade. Here. These may be of use to you all."
The elf begins to pipe up again, demanding that people tell him what's going on and what they can do to help the effort to escape this place, and the older man begins to respond demanding that you all get him home as quickly as possible.
"Your contribution is most welcome Anevia.", Ozgo responds to the woman.
Looking back to elf and the older man, Ozgo sighs and answers.
"Is is alright. Just a little healing for a woman in great pain. We will be moving on shortly. Is anyone else injured badly? I unfortunately have limited healing ability, but will attempt to help those who wish it."
He then moves towards the elf and speaks to him in calming, quiet tones.
"I am very sorry that your wounds are beyond my ability to heal. I wonder if I could have you assist the woman whose leg I have attempted to heal. She will need someone to assist her to walk. Do you think you could do that? Her name is Anevia."
Ozgo then goes back to Anevia and quickly speaks to her as he helps her towards the elf.
"I would ask a favour. The elf has damaged his eyes and cannot see. He would help you to walk if you could be his eyes, telling him what is happening. Would you do this for us? It would free others to help explore and protect the group."
Reinnwulf looked around, hoping to find something that would help the woman move a little quicker, if it became necessary. His heart went out to her, struggling past her injuries and willing to do what it took to get out of this mess.
Reinnwulf picked up a chunk of wood nearly as tall as the woman, and uses his dagger to trim off the bottom end. With a few strokes, he cuts a crude horizontal brace into the top, and then wraps a spare shirt around it. He handed the crude crutch to Anevia, saying "Here, this may not be the best crutch, but it should serve. I made one like it for my sister..." He broke off, the thought of his sister nearly overwhelming him with both grief and rage. "...When she broke her leg falling out of a tree." He thrust the crutch at the woman with more force than he intended and stalked off"[/b]
The elf now, something prickled his skin about that one. Reinnwulf would lay gold to goatskins that one was a mage. He would spit on the man, just for spite, but that wouldn't get them out of these caves any faster.
Finally, there was the nobleman. Useless pack of stuffed porkskins he was. As able to help them get out of here as he was to fly to the moon. Still, he had offered money and Reinnwulf had accepted the offer.
"Right, then. If we are all ready, shall we move on? Sun may have no majesty here, but I am sure it grows late in the day. Best we make our way to the surface soon, before other foul creatures come to find us."
"I'll see what's ahead. I can move fairly quietly and I can see in the dark."
Allysen looks around to see if anyone objects.
Anevia looks at the elf, then shrugs. "I can help him, yes." She accepts the crutch Reinnwulf handed her as she stands. After some test hobbles she indicates that she should be able to walk well enough, although not quickly.
Several paces away, the elf stiffens. "Anevia? Anevia .. Tirabade?"
Allysen returns and gives a sigh as she reports what she found.
"There's a fork ahead, both branches go up. I don't supoose any of you have a preference?"
Nenthil looks between the two, back and forth.
"I would say left, no reason for it granted."
Allysen tries to creep forward, but manages to scuff the soles of her boots on the stone floor of the cavern. She looks about when the sound echos quietly in the space. Her ears are filled with the pounding of rushing blood as her heart races.
Allysen returns to view from the tunnel, moving slowly. Hearing her, the elf pipes up. "Back so soon? What did you find? You haven't found a way out, have you?"
"I'm afraid not, I think I found the cousin of what those maggots from earlier were munching on. Any ideas on how to get it out of the way without us getting hurt?"
The elf chews pensively on a finger for a moment. "The path forward is blocked by something hissing, perhaps related to the maggots you fought earlier. Is there any other way forward? Or is it perhaps a creature that we could pass, or something that could be used for food?"
Going over the information a little.
"I rather not go around anything as it could come up from behind us. Should we end up in combat from both sides that would prove deadly. Unless we are sure that we can make the surface, I see nothing that would suggest that, we should try not to leave anything that may stalk us. We will need to rest at some point, moving forward with a threat behind us and the unknown before us is unwise in my eyes."
Ozgo moves forward to confront the hissing noise.
"If we stop, we may never get out of this place."
Ozgo walks through the passage, sword in one hand, shield in the other. He sees what looks like the long-dead remains of a fire, along with a tattered bedroll, a pile of bones, and rubble. From the rubble emerge three enormous cockroaches .
Reinnwulf moved up to stand beside Ozgo, his spear held at the ready.
Double move to the choke point. AoO rolls if needed.
Init:
Reinnwulf follows Ozgo and, upon seeing what faces them, assumes a ready posture.
Ozgo takes a few steps forward, then sets himself in a defensive stance, waiting for the insects to come to him.
Nenthil draws his crossbow and moves down the tunnel, stopping behind Reinnwulf. He studies the creatures for a moment.
Allysen grabs her bow and moves up behind Nenthil.
"Well, I guess this is one way to do it."
Please let no one get hurt. I know there's stone instead of sky above us, but please watch over us.
It looks like the first estimate of their abilities is entirely accurate: these are giant cockroaches. They'll be harder to defeat than the maggots from before, possessing harder carapaces and a very limited ability to fly. You really wish you had prepared Bigby's Bug-Bashing Boots as a spell today.
Two of the maggots move toward the light source and try to catch him in their mandibles. Only one manages to do so. The third buzzes through the air, landing in front of Reinnwulf and trying to do the same with him. He swings at it, but his ranseur glances off the hard carapace as the thing attacks him. The others move into better position to be able to help out for the fight.
Ozgo grunts as the creature penetrates his armour and strikes flesh. He retaliates with a swing of his sword.
Attack-Melee:
Damage:
Readied Attack:
Damage:
AoO:
Damage:
Two of the roaches move toward the source of the light and try catch the one holding it in their mandibles. One succeeds, and is rewarded by a slash that crunches part of its carapace. The other misses entirely. The third buzzes through the air toward Reinnwulf. He stabs with his ranseur and Ozgo flails with his longsword, but the longsword misses entirely and the ranseur skates off the hard shell of the insect as it comes in to bite.
Allysen begins to sing again.
Axes flash, broadswords swing,
Shining armor's piercing ring!
Horses run with a polished shield,
Fight those bastards till they yield!
Nenthil fires at the nearest vermin then reloads.
Reinnwulf steps back to stab again with his ranseur, but once more misses the flying insect before him.
Allysen begins to sing encouragement as Reinnwulf and Nenthil try to strike the roaches, but to no avail. The roaches spread out slightly, two still trying to eat Ozgo while one follows after Reinnwulf, but none of them do much beyond scrabbling against armor.
Ozgo again swings his sword and strikes at the bug in front of him (A).
Attack-Melee:
Damage:
Nenthil takes aim at the same cockroach and fires again.
Reinnwulf snarled at the close quarters and his inability to hit the flying, buzzing insect before him. His muscles bunched and his hair bristled out, much like a wolf might raise its hackles. He slid sideways and launched a massive thrust at one of Ozgo's opponents.
Rage!
Move and attack:
Allysen steps behind Nenthil as she continues to sing.
Midnight mare and blood-red roan,
Fight to keep this land your own!
Sound the horn and call the cry:
"How many of them can we make die!"
Weyland moves to attack, slashing at the roach nearest to Reinnwulf while Reinnwulf stabs at the roach near Ozgo. Weyland's attack misses entirely, while Reinnwulf makes himself a rather unpleasant cockroach kebab. Ozgo, bolstered by Allysen's song, in turn smashes the cockroach before him into a gooey mess. Nenthil's crossbow twangs, but the bolt skips off of Weyland's shoulder as it tries to pass the paladin. The remaining cockroach decides to chew on the new threat, but can't quite seem to get through the armor the paladin wears.
Reinnwulf snarled again, flicking the dead roach from his spear and moving past Ozgo to lance another blow out at the remaining cockroach.
Move to just south of Ozgo, still raging
Weyland attacks again to little effect.
Ozgo moves towards the last remaining bug and swings his sword.
Attack-melee:
Damage:
Nenthil moves forward and fires once more.
Reinnwulf's spear thrust shreds the remaining cockroach in a burst of buggy guts. From behind, you can hear the voice of Aravashnial calling, trying to find out what happened.
Allysen stops singing as soon as she notices the fighting is over. She comes back to the injured and tells them what went on.
"More bugs. Big ones. Do you know why they get so blasted big? I don't really like them when they're small and squishy, and when their big with armor plating, it makes it worse!"