Initiative:
Nicolai flounders in revulsion as he tries to rise out of the filth and take Daxius' hand.
Intiative:
"Starsong be with us."
Astra is not looking forward to this, considering that she has no armor.
A swarm of thousands of diminutive creatures washes forward over Hyngrot:
damage
Morosino calls out in shock, Janniven clamps a hand over his mouth and is pre-occupied keeping the boy calm.
** spoiler omitted **
Yep, Torbles had surprise and Astra is next to go.
Astra reaches for Hyngrot and trys to pull him to safety.
Strength (if needed):
If out of danger, Nicolai would call out to Hyngrot, telling him to get away from the mass of creatures; "Hyngrot, get away as soon as possible! I can take care of them..."
He would pull out a vial and charge it with red energy.
The Torbles surge over Hyngrot, getting under chinks in armour and clothes and nipping away.
damage
"They're all over him, Nicolai! Just throw your contraption and we'll heal Hyngrot of any damage! We must keep moving!"
Daxius anxiously tries to herd the group forward, looking back nervously toward their pursuers. He checks that the bolt is seated properly in his crossbow.
Hyngrot curses at the creatures swarming him. "Blasted things" He hisses between gritted teeth, trying to furiously bat them away with his shield as he moves farther into the tunnel.
Hyngrot's axe swishes through the crowd of Torbles, squishing a few but doing little to hamper the swarm.
Hyngrot steps back into Astra's arms.
Nicolai charges his bomb, and throws it at the central mass of the swarm.
: 5 fire, DC 14 Reflex half.
Pontia attempts to finish crossing the bridge unaided, then moves towards the top of the map two or three squares. Those bombs are the only thing that'll touch the torbles but the noise is a problem; I only hope the echoes will make it hard to tell where we are.
Astra will pull back next to Pontia.
"Don't suppose you've got anything flammable?" She asks Pontia.
The conjurer shakes her head. "Not right now. If it comes to it, I can cast a weak fire spell that'd do them a little bit of damage, but that's all."
After the noise and flash of light you notice the sound of raised voices echoing up from behind you. They still seem distant but difficult to judge accurately
They're on to us. Let's move it!"
Daxius continues to worriedly watch the back, crossing the bridge as soon as possible.
With Hyngrot and Astra squeezing and Pontia (fittingly:D) on the bridge, it doesn't leave much room to maneuvre.
The bomb has shrunk the swarm by half, some torbles frazzled and evaporated, other fleeing into the darkness and the water.
Astra looks back the way they came, then at the swarm, then back again.
"I hope Desna's smiling."
She moves up 20ft to give people room to move onto, or off the walkway currently covered in a swarm.
Nico moves after Astra and Hyngrot move, when there is enough room, ahead of the swarm.
Hyngrot also pulls back away from the swarm. "Nice trick you got there. Think you can pull it off again and finish these little buggers off?"
If Hyngrot and Astra are both clear of the swarm, Pontia casts burning hands on the crawling multitude using her bonded item.
Pontia's fire washes over the swarm, crisping more of the torbles but a solid mass remains.
** spoiler omitted **
You are behind Astra, Pontia and Hyngrot. You'll have to cross the bridge, pass them and then tumble past the swarm.
You do have line-of-sight to the swarm and Hyngrot is still out of the way.
Up to you.
Up to you if I can keep that Balance check when I do move, or reroll.
Seeing that Pontia's spell didn't finish off the swarm, Nico charges another vial. Was hoping to save these should we meet our pursuers. Guess it can't be helped.
Nicolai's second bomb hits just as the swarm of creepy blobs swings together, catching almost all of them in the blast and destroying the swarm.
janniven
The bomb has damaged the path marking: dc 10 survival to make out which way it originally pointed
"Bombs did a good number on those Torbles, but on the marker too, can't quite make it out."
1d20+7
1d20+5"Bombs did a good number on those Torbles, but on the marker too, can't quite make it out."
At first the mark is difficult to make out but Hyngrot shines a light on it from his wayfinder and uses the compass to calculate the rough direction you have been heading... a few moments more and he leads the party confidently onward!
"All right, I've got it! Let's move people. And Daxius, kick that door in the water, make it tougher for 'em."
Nico nods to Hyngrot. Good idea! Hopefully we can lose them fast, and avoid any more of these critters! Nicolai moves over the plank and the burnt jelly of the dead torbles.
Perception:
Astra looks really nervous.
"We need to move, now!" She whispers urgently.
"Agreed, let's go."
Once Daxius is across the makeshift bridge, he kicks it into the channel of sludge, smiling as he does so.
"I like the way you think." He calls out softly as he hustles to keep up with the rest of the group.
As you move along the dark tunnels you start to smell a progressively fouler stench, you seem to be heading toward the smell.
Wrinkling her nose in disgust, Pontia tries to cover her mouth with her sleeve. "Are you sure this is the right way, Janniven?"
We laid this trail a few months ago. I don't remember anything like this.
There is a slight thickening, almost to a miasma, and it seems to be coming from a side chamber a little way ahead on your path.
"Something's very, very wrong here."
Astra looks into the chamber as best she can.
Perception:
Anticipating yet another pause in their forward progress, Daxius turns around and looks behind them for any sign of pursuit.
Ignoring the pain from the Torble's wounds, Hyngrot leads the group down the tunnels, until the smell of something horrible ahead gives him concern. Pushing it aside as best he can, he only hopes the path doesn't lead that direction. He keeps his weapons ready just in case, giving a glance down the tunnel when passing.
Speaking as quietly as he can while still being understandable, Nico asks Janniven, "Are there natural gases or something like that down in these sewers?"
In the fog you see a glint of metal in the flash of your light.
It is coming from the side-chamber and as you look more closely you see a corpse, rotting and very dead, wearing a glistening golden suit of armour whose scales ripple and reflect light in a rainbow of colour, like a golden fish newly drawn from the river.
Fortunately, your acute senses also spot a a deep ripple in the pool of effluence that fills most of the side-room and seems to be the source of stench.
The signs of movement, location, scent and other clues suggest an unusually large otyugh makes its nest here.
Meanwhile, you hear the clatter of boots become clearer through the echoing darkness behind you and a sound is carried through the fog:
This way, I've found some tracks