Li'an looked at the two passages, stopping to think about the situation. "With Anevia and Aravashnial's conditions we can't afford to be in a situation where something comes up behind us."
"I think we'll need to check both passages just to be sure, we don't want to miss something or have to backtrack if we can avoid it," she answered Valaria.
Thinking a bit longer, she approached Markus, picking up two stones from the ground as she did. "Wait, Markus, I'll need your magic for a moment," Li'an said as she held out the two stones. "Cast light on one, and take the other. When you see me toss the lit stone, count to 10 and cast it on the other one, making sure to keep it covered." She had a fairly good grasp of how the spell worked, so she knew that the magic on the first stone would fail when Markus recast it on the second. Hopefully limiting the duration of the light would allow her to get an idea of what was down the passage without giving anyone down there a chance to acclimate to it and spot her.
She motioned Val to take up on the left side of the passage, and worked her way to the right, getting up against the wall so she could see in. She held up her hand, counting down to 0 on her fingers and then flung the stone down the passage. She waited a second as the rock flew down the passage and then stuck her head out to try and see what was in there.
Ary watched with one brow lofted as the others decided to determine the direction they went via divination by rock. It seemed strange, but who was she to judge? She dutifully stayed in the back, keeping her eyes in the direction of the spider, with only an occasional glance towards Fen'wen and her rock.
Li'an tosses the rock down the right passage. It rolls along for a few seconds illuminating the passageway, before flickering out as Markus casts Light a second time.
Valaria nods. "Right then," she says. "Do your thing. I'll keep an eye out down the other passage while you're checking that one." She shifts over to the side of the other passage's entrance and peaks around the corncer to look down it carefully, looking as far into the darkness as she can.
"Looks clear, although there's some sort of ledge in there that I couldn't see down. There's definitely a way through there at least," she said as she moved back towards Markus. "Keep watch on that passage now, and I'll check the left one," she told Val. Picking up a rock again, she swapped stones with Markus and repeated the exercise on the left passage, looking for anything of interest.
Ehren follows toward the back of the group, keeping the wounded company. He carefully steps over some of the rubble in their path, using his club as a cane to help him keep his balance. Heeding the group's advice, he keeps an eye on their backs, lest something ambush them from behind.
Val nods and switches places with Li'an keeping her eyes peeled down the other hallway while her companion checks the other passageway.
Li'an heads back to the group once more, and thanks Markus for his help. "It looks like there is some debris in the left passage, though I didn't get a good look. Both passages seem quiet enough. I'd suggest the empty passage on the right myself, but if the debris is from above, there might be something salvageable there," she reported. "What do you all think?" she said looking at the group.
Valaria shrugs. "A quick look through the debris can't hurt as long as we're careful," she says. "Plus, we might notice something if we move ahead a bit."
"I see no reason to doubt you." says Markus, replacing the lighted stone in his hand with Hrut's lighted weapon again. "But if we're exploring rubble, we'll need to be really, really careful. Who knows what might fall in and crush us."
"I'm definitely not for leaving anything behind that could be useful." Ary said as she looked back towards the spider once more. "We just arm monsters if we leave it, and deny ourselves arms in the process."
Li'an nodded at Valaria and Markus in agreement. "Good point Ary, and if we're stuck down here for an extended period of time we might need everything we can get."
"Lets move on then, the left passage it is," she says as she turns to head back towards the passage, drawing Lleuad again in preparation.
Valaria nods as she moves into the passage behind Li'an, drawing her starknives and moving as carefully as she can.
"Ary my combat skills are mostly tied to my axe and shield, your sword while useful would be more of a detriment to me, but thank you for your offer." Says with a smile, then again remembers he has a helmet.
"Yes please the lighted shield would be appreciated since juggling the lantern and everything is a bit silly."
Keeping the axe and shield out now.
"Yes I agree lets go to the left and look in there for salvageable items, just have to be careful for falling rocks I suppose."
The scout team heads through the short tunnel and into the cavern first. This smaller cavern appears to have once served as a campsite or temporary lair. A torn bedroll lies next to the cold remains of a fire. A pile of bones, broken, equipment, and rubble lies just past the campsite.
Unfortunately, the scout team fails to notice the giant cockroaches skittering about in the refuse! The dog-sized creatures burst out from the refuse, greedily clicking their filth coated mandibles
Initiative Rolls
Initiative Order
1. Anevia Tirablade
2. Roach 4
3. Hrut
4. Valaria
5. Ehren
6. Roach 3
7. Markus
8. Ary
9. Li’an
10. Horgus Gwerm
11. Aravashnial
12. Roach 1
13. Roach 2
Battlemap Updated. Do me a favor and be explicit about which roach you're attacking (roach 1, roach 2 etc)
Surprise Round
There are four roaches total. Two pop up from the rubble next to Li'an, one in the rubble next to Markus, and one on the far side of the cavern.
The roach on the far side of the cavern lifts up on its wings, and flies towards Markus. The one in the rubble next to Markus moves towards Li'an. The one already next to Li'an attempts to bite her but Li'an deflects it with Lleuad-a'r-Ser at the last moment, while the other moves closer towards her.
Round 1
Anevia hears the clang of Li'an's sword against the creature, and is the first to perk up. She hobbles forward, drawing her shortsword as she does so.
"Oh, gross."
The one in front of Markus bites him on the torso. [ooc]Hit for 4 damage. He does not have false life up, so that makes him wounded (-2 penalty).
Hrut is up.
Hearing the battle ahead Hrut runs forward (double move) past Markus,
"Markus step back and let me take these nasty creatures on!"
Hrut assumes his battle stance.
The roach lunges at Hrut, but he holds the creature off with his glowing shield as he passes by.
Valaria is up
Valaria takes advantage of the roach's failed lunge at Hrut to lash out with both of her starknives.
Her first strike dings uselessly off the cavern floor, but her second slashes into the giant insect's carapace.
A hewing slice opens up the roach before Valaria with a spine-chilling snick!
Ehren's turn
Hearing the unmistakable sound of battle up ahead, Ehren glances at Ary before hustling forward, club in hand.
The other roach attacks Hrut, but he swiftly side-steps the attack.
Startled and in pain, Markus stumbles backwards. He calls forth the power of the Negative Energy Plane - a much more pleasurable experience than healing living people, as warmth spreads out from his hands. Once he's a few feet away from the cockroach, he grasps at his own chest, sealing up the wound that the cockroach gave him.
"Maybe I shouldn't be up front with the scouts..." grumbles Markus.
Ary is up.
Roach #4
Flurry Strike
Bashing at the roach with his shield and axe, taunting the unintelligent creature as he attacks.
"Face me you nasty vermin!"
Ary will begin to move forward, then realize what she's doing. Not first into battle; she had more important things to take care of. Her charges. She spoke up, her deep voice resonating in the tightening caverns ahead. "Come on Horgus, Avi, I'm moving forward, people are in danger. I'll guide you that way." she slid her arm next to one of Aravashnial's arms, lightly touching it, so that he could grab her sleeve as she moved forward.
Li'an is up.
Li'an tries to tumble between the roaches to get next to Hrut. Unfortunately she's unable to pick her way through the tangle of legs around her and trips over one of them. The loss of coordination, though momentary, is enough to give the filthy bugs a window to snap at her. "Lleuad, this is going to hurt badly," she thought as she tried to avoid a complete faceplant into the ground.
Cursing to herself, she rolls out of the mess and tries to continue around to her intended destination, flanking the roach that Valaria had attacked.
Li'an manages to parry one of the roaches blows, but unfortunately this leaves her vulnerable to the other two. The cockroaches shriek and score violent lacerations in their wake, though thankfully they are only surface wounds.
Li'an stands to flank with Anevia and rips into one of the cockroach's bodies with her sword.
Ary leads Aravashnial and Horgus forward. Aravashnial follows, bumping up against Markus and Ehren as he moves. "What? What's going on?" he calls out.
Horgus follows but he lingers behind the group.
One of the cockroaches lifts up, ten feet into the air. It buzzes over the group, to behind Horgus Gwerm, ands lands before him.
"Aughh! Get this thing away from me!"
Horgus swipes at the vermin as it lands, his long ago lessons in fencing suddenly returning to him
The other roach lifts up into the air and lands amongst the mages. Markus and Ehren swipe at the roach, but it dodges the swipes mid-air. It lunges at Ehren, who backs away, leaving the roach's mandibles snapping shut on air.
Round 2
Anevia maintains her flank with Li'an, thrusting forwards at the roach in front of her, but aims too high.
The roach remains fixated on Hrut, perhaps because of his dazzling shield. It lunges at him, scoring a lucky hit in a weak spot between his armor on his leg. It leaves a small, but filthy wound.
Roach #4
Flurry Strike
Bashing at the roach with his shield and axe, taunting the unintelligent creature as he attacks.
Attack Battleaxe: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 5 + 2 = 12
Attack Shield: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 5 + 2 = 16
Damage Battleaxe: 1d6 + 1d8 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + (5) + 4 + 2 = 12
Damage Shield: 1d6 + 1d4 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + (3) + 4 + 2 = 10
"Face me you nasty vermin!"
Hrut's retribution against the roach is swift, he intervenes between the foe and his allies, cleanly snapping two of the roach's legs off.
Valaria is up.
In response to the question from Aravashnial, once Ary is closer, "Um, actually... giant bugs. Cockroaches. Hard to squash. And they can apparently fly." she says with a groan as they fly over her, and outside of her reach.
"Will you just die already?" Valaria snarls as she lashes out at the roach again.
Again, her first hit goes wide, but the second strikes true.
Ehren furrows his brow, frustrated by his careless movement. He raises his sturdy wooden club over his head, before bringing it down over the cockroach with both hands.
"Don't worry, Aravashnial - we've got this." says Markus as he raises his quarterstaff to strike at the cockroach attacking Ehren. "We'll have to go over what spells you have today, though - some might be useful for situations like this."
With a quick cut, Valaria manages to strike a quick slice from the roach in front of her. Ehren's savagely accurate shot strikes the roach in front of him with a cruel thump, leaving a massive dent in the creature's carapace. The roach in front of Hrut lunges at him once more, but overzealous in its attack, while Ary covers Hrut's back. Markus assists Ehren, forcefully lunging at the vermin himself. Ary acrobatically keeps herself away from the roach's pinching mandibles, thrusting her sword up underneath it to score a nimble slash to its most vulnerable regions, gutting it.
Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Li'an side-steps to flank across from Valaria, leaving a jagged wound in the other roach's carapace.
1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 4 + 2 = 20 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + (2) = 8
"A little help here!!!" Horgus calls out impatiently, lodging Valaria's rapier in the roach's midsection
Aravashnial leans against the wall, anxious.
The roach in front of Eren continues to lunge at him, but oversteps its mark and misses. Likewise, the roach in front of Horgus misses him, hits mandibles snapping shut on air.
Round 3
Anevia circles slowly around the roach to flank across from Hrut.
Hrut is up.
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"I cannot believe these things can fly too!"
Hrut goes to swing at the roach before him, but his grip on his axe falters, almost imperceptibly. He recovers gracefully, making it seem like a toying swipe.
Valaria spins in place and strikes with both knives at the roach trapped between her and Li'an
Valaria staggers the roach with an onslaught of attacks, slicing cleanly at the creature's transparent wings, staggering it.
Ehren follows up his last attack with a graceless swing.
Ehren makes contact, but did not swing hard enough to injure the vermin through its hard carapace. The roach that is surrounded by the rest of the party stays fascinated by Hrut. Hrut deflects the creature with his shield.
Markus again tries to strike the roach in front of him with his quarterstaff, knowing that he can't rely on his spells while in melee, especially against mindless insects.
"Dammit, guys. Aren't those swords of yours for something?"
Markus carefully aims, and lands, a heavy blow onto the roaches' abdomen, which crunches underneath his quarterstaff.
Ary, anticipating a new necessity, attempts to maneuver Aravashnial into the corner. "You won't need to be as worried about dangers surrounding you here. Back to the walls." If she can reposition him, she'll shift into the absent space, trusting her allies to bring down the target they've surrounded... and trying to help out the Miser and the mages.
She thrusts towards the roach, but is far too hasty in her movements, striking between the creature's multiple legs.
"Errrr... let that be a warning to you."
Aravashnial allows himself to be guided towards the wall.
Flowing like water, the silent grace of Li'an's attack is followed by a loud cracking as she splinters through the roach's midsection, crumpling the roach in one fell blow. The dog-sized vermin lays twitching randomly on the ground.
Attack(Hit/Damage): 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 2 = 25
1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + (5) = 8
Confirm/Extra Damage: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 2 = 14
Horgus Gwerm groans as he is left to fend for himself against the oversized insect. Simple and straight, his thrust guides home with surprising force for the apparently out of shape man.
Aravashnial stays backed up against the cavern, flinching every so often at the sounds of battle around him.
The roach in front of Horgus retaliates, but it misses wildly, crashing into the cavern wall instead.
The roach before Ehren likewise attacks him, but is deflected by Ary's shield and fast reflexes.
Round 4
Anevia peers into the tunnel behind her, and limps over to the cavern wall to lean against it, wincing from the pain in her leg.
Hrut is up.
Giving one last blow to the twitching insect before moving towards the rest of the roaches to give the others the benefit of my Aegis.