Taldo, with two hands around his spear, thrust down hard at the strange, insect creature and hit it on its back, wounding it deeply, but not killing it.
Daryl takes a 5 foot step and turns and fires at the one next to Aecarian.
Uzziah's training and experience take hold as he steps back and brings his trident to bear on the creature. He nods for Ezekiel to move in also.
He calls out to the others:
"If you are having trouble, call out and we will aid you quickly!"
Daryl fires a bolt at the small insect-like creature threatening Aeracian, however the bolt cannot pierce its exoskeleton.
Uzziah attempts to pierce the flesh of the small creature but the trident's prongs cannot connect to its flesh. However, Ezekiel's bills slams just hard enough into the creature closest his rider and wounds it for 7 pts of damage.
=====
Round 1: Morwenna.
Seeing the strange, threatening creature with the clicking mandibles before her, Morwenna steps back 5ft, raises her shortspear and presses it down in a calculated way, hoping to find a soft spot to hurt it.
Although her aim is true, the spearhead slips along the exoskeleton before finding flesh and only manages to do one point of damage.
==========
Stepping back a step from the creature before him, Aeracian raises his hand and casts a spell...
"Coloratis infundere rores...," he calls out.
Creature #1 is caught in the cone of clashing colours springing from the wizard's hand. Try as it might to overcome the effect, it fails, and is stunned and blinded before falling to the ground unconscious.
rounds of unconscious, blinded and stunned;
rounds of blinded and stunned;
1 round of stunned.
Creature #1 drops to the ground, unconscious, blinded and stunned.
Daryl sees Aeracian's spell; but without waiting to check the results he drops his crossbow (free action) and then jerks his rapier and moves to aid Morwena (moving to flank via a Move Action and draws rapier as part of it - uses Standard Action to attack)...
==================
Round 1 - Creatures' turn
Insect Creature #2 moves diagonally 5ft, opens its mandibles and spits
a 15-foot line of acid at Taldo.
-----
Insect Creature # 4 moves forward 5ft and bites at Uzziah.
+ Acid Damage = 9 pts of damage.
As a free action will initiate a grab which doesn't provoke an AoO,
and successfully grapples Uzziah (who's taken 9 pts of damage). They both gain the grappled condition.
-----
Insect Creature #3 attempts to bite Morwenna.
+ Acid Damage = 5 pts of damage.
As a free action will initiate a grab which doesn't provoke an AoO,
and successfully grapples Morwenna (who's taken 5 pts of damage). They both gain the grappled condition.
-----
Daryl moves and attempts to hit the creature whose mouth holds tight to Morwenna's thigh. He strikes the rapier down, hoping not to hit Morwenna and manages to slice down the insect creature's back, wounding it for 7 pts of damage. However, it is still up and holding tight to Morwenna's leg.
Taldo, escapes most of the acid burn due to his quick reflexes (only copping 2 pts of acid damage) and presses his spear down into the spitting insect creature. He manages to hit it, dealing 5 pts of damage, but the creature is still up.
Round 2 action for Morwenna
Morwenna grimaces with pain as the insect creature holds tight onto her torn thigh with its mandibles. She attempts to escape its hold on her.
vs Creature's CMD and successfully dislodges her leg from its mandibles.
---
Uzziah shouts, clearly in agony, as he loses his grip on his trident - and lashes out at the creature with his cestus-wrapped right forearm.
Ezekiel does not cease hammering at the creature.
****
The cestus comes crashing down on the insect creature's head and it hits it hard for 7 pts of damage, but the creature still lives.
Ezekiel attempts to finish it off with his large beak, alas he swings a little wide and misses the small creature with its mandibles holding firmly to Uzziah's leg.
=============
The creature (Creature #1) takes 14 pts of damage and isn't dead yet.
It does what it can, but its body goes into massive shock from the deep, bleeding wound. As the blood runs fast, it succumbs to the stress and dies.
=============
Round 2: Insect Creatures' turn
Insect Creature #2 attempts to bite Taldo.
However, it fails.
----------
Insect Creature #3 attempts to bite Daryl.
but it fails and the bolt ace is unscathed.
----------
Insect Creature #4 opens its mandibles and spits a 15-foot line of acid toward Ezekiel.
======
The giant dodo takes the full brunt of the acid on his chest, and squawks loudly in protest.
Seeing this, Uzziah yells, "Bite on this, wretched thing!", as he pounds his cestus at the creature even as it holds him fast.
Ezekiel too is unfettered, and strikes once again, still squawking.
Uzziah's pounding cestus strikes its exoskeleton and does not injure the clinging creature. However, Ezekiel manages to get a hard swing right into its neck and wounds it deeply; yet the small creature remains upright, but looking quite battered.
--------
Aeracian, seeing how strong the creature was, even after receiving a crossbow bolt to the head, looks closer at it.
The insect-like creatures are ankheg nymphs. They are an immature ankheg between its larval and adult stages in life.
- Often mistaken for spiders, scorpions or earwigs. In fact, they are the product of an ancient magical experiment gone wrong.
- Love to burrow in the soft soil of farmland and, as an added bonus, they get to feed on livestock or the occasional farmer.
- Often live in large groups and breed at a fast rate. Seeing this many ankheg nymphs in the garden patch means that there must be an egg-laying adult somewhere close by, as well as other ankheg nymphs.
- Can detect prey walking on the ground above their tunnels (tremorsense 60ft), like a spider detects victims in their web.
- They secrete two types of venom. The first is an acid used to slay their prey. The second is an adhesive used to shore up the walls of their tunnels.
- They often grab badly wounded creatures and haul them underground where they are immediately devoured in a grisly fashion.
- These creatures can spit a stream of deadly acid. Can only spit their acid once every several hours.
- Have no known weaknesses, except, perhaps, they have barely any intelligence to speak of.
Getting a better look at the creatures, Aeracian's eyes become as wide as saucers and he yells, "WE MUST FLEE! These are Ankheg nymphs! The adult will not be far away and I do not believe we can win against her!
With that Aeracian begins to move towards the north behind Daryl, encouraging his fellows to come with him. At this point he turns and fires a globule of acid at the nymph attacking Taldo.
As Aeracian gives warning and attempts to move out of the garden patch, his fires acid at the Ankheg Nymph closest to Taldo, injuring it for 2 points of damage. The small creature is still up, although looking quite badly injured at this point.
Round 3
Tired of the biting and spitting creatures and heeding Aeracian's warning, Morwenna drives her finely crafted shortspear into its carapace.
The Ankheg Nymph between Morwenna and Daryl suffers 8 pts of damage, and, even though it is very badly injured it is still upright.
=============
=============
The Ankheg Nymph nearest you is no longer grappling you. It let go when it opened its mandibles and spat the acid onto Ezekiel - I forgot to mention that. My apologies for the oversight. I can only blame very late night posting for slip. :)
Daryl hears Aecarin's warning, but he seems unmoved by such considerations - being now bent more on slaying rather than fleeing.
Daryl, rapier in hand, attacks the creature he is flanking with Morwenna. His strike is true, piercing flesh, and the creature suffers 6 pts of damage. It is gravely wounded, unsteady and swaying, but is still upright.
=====
=====
The head of Taldo's spear strikes and embeds in the rich soil, leaving the Ankheg Nymph unharmed.
===
Round 3: Sweet little Ankheg Nymphs!
The Ankheg Nymph near Taldo opens its mandibles and attempts to bite the Undine ranger.
However it is so anxious to taste his flesh that it misses!
---
The Ankheg Nymph between Daryl and Morwenna attempts to bite the druidess.
However, it cannot find leeway.
----
The Ankheg Nymph near Uzziah and Ezekiel attempts to bite Uzziah.
And it, too, fails to hit its mark.
----
-----
=======
Round 4 : Morwenna
Seeing that the Ankheg Nymph has many wounds and could possibly die sooner rather than later, Morwenna thrusts her finely crafted shortspear at the creature.
and hits it dead through the face and kills it. Then she moves down the row to aid the others.
Seeing that the Ankheg Nymph has many wounds and could possibly die sooner rather than later, Morwenna thrusts her finely crafted shortspear at the creature and hits it dead through the face and kills it.
Daryl glances up from the corpse to stare at Morwenna, a look of savage interest in her which seems to be enlarged by the rush of adrenaline that comes only from the thrill of bloodshed.
Daryl moves to D4:C, hoping that Taldo can try to flank with him soon.
He watches Aeracian - "Oye, Ace; we got these little whores, gives us a hand, eh?"
"I'm coming!" he calls out.
Aecraccian moves to E:5 and tosses up an Acid Splash at the creature...
Daryl's and Aeracian's attempts to finish off the Ankheg Nymph beside Taldo prove unfortunately fruitless and the creature is not hurt by either blade or acid.
====
Taking a step to flank the creature with Daryl, Taldo strikes twice at the creature - his first attack goes wide; however his second hits the Ankheg Nymph in the head and gravely wounds it. It is barely standing upright, but it is unfortunately still standing.
----
----
No worries! My roll last round was hitting nothing regardless. ;)
Freed from the grasp of the creature, Uzziah reckons that it is too dangerous for him to risk standing. And the creature is still within close beating range!
Ezekiel keeps slamming, determined to smash the creature into little pieces. Though with more enthusiasm than effect.
Try as they might, both Uzziah and his trusted mount, Ezekiel, could not hit the Ankheg Nymph nearest them.
=======
Round 4: Ankheg Nymphs!
Ankheg Nymph #2 had noted the movement toward it and turned, unseatdy but upright, its clacking mandibles attempting to bite Daryl.
Its bite finds quarry and Daryl suffers 5 pts of damage. The creature does not attempt to grab the arbalist, possibly due to its numerous injuries.
--------------
Ankheg Nymph #4 opens its mandibles and attempts to bite Uzziah.
However, its mandibles cannot find quarry and the Gillman does not take further damage.
----------------
Round 5
Morwenna moves 15 ft along the garden row to flank with Uzziah.
Thrusting her shortspear at the Ankheg Nymph #4, she attacks.
The spear presses through the creature's skull, killing it!
-----------
Uzziah grins with a hint of painful grimace at Morwenna as he gets to his feet, seizing his trident for support. He and Ezekiel lock eyes and then they both move swiftly to help surround the remaining creature.
Uziah gets up, picking up his trident, and moves north, trident threatening the creature.
Ezekiel waddles with surprising speed around Morwenna to the south of the creature. His bill lashes out.
Uzziah picks up his trident and together with Ezekiel move up and surround the last, remaining foe.
The large dodo swings his bill, but alas the momentum makes it arc widely and does not hit the Ankheg Nymph.
----
Daryl attempts to stab the creature.
Daryl's rapier strikes the creature's exoskeleton and does not pierce the flesh of the Ankheg Nymph.
----
Aeracian fires another globule of acid, seeing the others not heeding his call to leave the area before they are attacked by something much larger and deadlier than these babies,...
...and manages to hit the ground in front of his feet.
Aeracian's small orb of acid does not reach the last of the Ankheg Nymphs in the garden.
A determined Taldo slashes at the small creature with both ends of his spear; each attack circumventing the exoskeleton and finding delicate flesh to tear. The small creature does not stand a chance against the assault; its mandibles' clack once before it crumbles to the ground, dead.
A determined Taldo slashes at the small creature with both ends of his spear; each attack circumventing the exoskeleton and finding delicate flesh to tear. The small creature does not stand a chance against the assault; its mandibles' clack once before it crumbles to the ground, dead.
Still vigilant, especially after Aecarrian's earlier warning against a larger beast approaching, Daryl looks around the garden for any further threat...
He then studies the ground closely, trying to determine if a potential "mother" for the maggots they slew may be able to tunnel through the burrows in the garden - or would it have its vile nest somewhere else.
Meanwhile, as he goes about the business of studying the terrain he bends down and cleans his blade on the vegetation and then sheathes it.
Then he reloads his crossbow.
Naturally he says nothing during this process: they were picking crops - bugs attacked - they fought the bugs - they were injured - they killed the bugs.
What more need be said then that?
Then - finally - he picks up the sack and returns to the task of collecting food from the garden to make sure that Aecerian has adequate rations for their journey.
Watching the last of the small aggressors fall, Morwenna steps lightly around the dead Ankheg Nymph before her and wipes the blood from her spearhead on the grass growing alongside the vegetable patch. Her torn thigh aches with the movement, yet she would remedy that soon enough.
She notices Daryl examining the ground and tunnels, before loading his crossbow and collecting some of the ripe and edible vegetables.
Morwenna cast her eyes around the group, marking each of their wounds, from small to serious.
"The healing energy I can call forth allows me to aid those who are connected to water. I shall tend to them first and then to the others."
Stowing her shortspear across her back, Morwenna grips the small vial of liquid around her neck, and whispers, "Sṓizō"; the sound like lapping waves. Harnessing the energy of the deep, Morwenna sends it out toward Uzziah and Taldo, including herself in the two streams of healing energy.
"We must be careful for the remainder of this day. I can only call upon the Guardians' grace one more time this day."
Stretching/flexing her thigh, she is happy to see it is hale and strong. Removing the healing wand from her pack, Morwenna points the wand first at Ezekiel (who appears more wounded than the men), then Daryl and finally Uzziah to heal the remainder of his wounds.
As she carefully stows the wand back inside her leather bag, Morwenna adds in soft melodic voice, "Keep the healing potions for now. They may come in useful this night and in the days to come."
Then Morwenna moves back into the garden patch and begins to drag the dead Nymphs out, one at a time and mindfully so as to not come in contact with any venom on their mandibles.
"We should pile them up and burn their bodies. The scent of blood will draw other creatures. And I, for one, would rather my vegetables are not covered in blood."
Daryl can see no further threat in the garden patch.
Seeing how the insect-like creatures used their acid to attack, Daryl recollects from his nature studies and field experience that venom can be used to shore up tunnels and is probably what these Ankhegs do. So, an adult Ankheg could squeeze through an Ankheg Nymph's tunnels or construct their own. However, without further investigation/study of the settlement, you do not know if there are other, such tunnels in Talmandor's Bounty. For now, you do not note any larger holes/tunnels in this garden patch. However, you think it best to take as many vegetables as quickly as you can and not linger long in the garden patch.
"We must be careful for the remainder of this day. I can only call upon the Guardians' grace one more time this day."
Daryl says nothing but continues to pick crops.
When he has enough to at least make sure that Acarien has enough food (i.e. at least one day's worth of rations) he hands the sack to him.
"Now you got food; make sure you don't lose it," he says.
Stretching/flexing her thigh, she is happy to see it is hale and strong. Removing the healing wand from her pack, Morwenna points the wand first at Ezekiel (who appears more wounded than the men), then Daryl and finally Uzziah to heal the remainder of his wounds.
He pauses to watch her stretch and flex her thigh; paying particular attention to make sure its not wounded.
"Thanks," he says with a nod, after she heals him.
As she carefully stows the wand back inside her leather bag, Morwenna adds in soft melodic voice, "Keep the healing potions for now. They may come in useful this night and in the days to come."
He nods and takes one of the potions for himself and puts it in his sack.
Before moving on he pulls out the small document he was reading on the ship and a lead stick and makes a few notations in it; then he puts them both back in his satchel.
He glances back at their wizard.
"You might be right about an adult - but there ain't any tunnels that big here now."
Then he turns and heads to explore A:16/17.
Retrieving his bow, noting Daryl studying the ground before he returned to farming, Taldo move to the edge of the garden, Looking around for any immediate danger, he sees Morwenna dragging the carcasses to the edge of the garden and goes to help her. When the last body is put on the pile, he quickly gathers some sticks and dried grass sticking the kindling and wood around the bodies. Drawing the flint and steel out of his pouch he ignites the dried grass.
Daryl looks at the sky and frowns at the thick plumes of smoke rising into the sky.
"Next time you want to deal with bodies try burying them, not burning."
"Whatever else is on this island will be able to see the smoke."
He says nothing for a moment, thinking for a bit, then shrugs.
”We need to continue and find our If these Ankheg are the cause of the mass exodus. But if we find an adult are we going to fight it or are we going to run?”
Daryl grunts.
"This place was their home - a man don't run if he's threatened; he deals with the threat."
"Besides; there weren't no tunnels on the way up - and the mother can make tunnels near big as ten feet. We'd likely have seen something if it were them."
As Daryl checks the nearby fields , Taldo quickly checks the building just east of the garden.
Uzziah checks himself and Ezekiel after Morwenna's efforts, then turns to her with a broad smile.
"We are both grateful, Morwenna! Healing is a good way to get popular it would seem!"
Looking around, Uzziah then speaks to the group.
"We just about handled four nymphs. We need to keep our ears open for any burrowing sounds as we move around. Even if the adult is not here, there is surely one not so far away."
Uzziah and Ezekiel keep ears out for such trouble.