"Horgus, wait!" shouts Anevia. She starts to hobble after him but yelps and almost falls over. She lets out a groan.
"That stubborn bastard, he's going to get himself killed. Well, hopefully he won't get far and we can catch up to him once he's calmed down."
What do you do? The gear remains unclaimed.
"Well I think I can make use of those scrolls, those that have a hard time in the dark maybe should use the potions." looking in the direction that Horgus went "We better go after him be for he gets himself killed." Ronan picks up the scrolls and starts in the direction that Horgus went. 'Jinxx go protect that old fool.'
Jinxx charges off after Horgus. You hear a distant shout from down the hall.
"Get away from me you vile thing!"
Jinxx sends to Ronan that Horgus is going up the ladder; Jinxx thinks he can follow.
Ronan claims the scrolls and takes off westwards.
"As a scout, I would benefit from the potions. If no one objects I will hold them for now."
The group sees a flame alight in the west room as Horgus sets fire to a torch he's found somewhere. He looks up worryingly at an old iron ladder and starts climbing upwards, carefully holding onto his torch and trying not to burn himself. Jinxx bounds after him and sits at the base of the ladder, waiting for him to get out of the way.
Horgus' fat legs vanish into the room above, and you immediately hear an incredibly loud squeaking sound followed by a scream from Horgus. He plummets down the ladder and crashes to the ground below, where he appears to be knocked cold.
"Master Gwerm!" Heedless of the potential dangers, Ayesha rushed to the fallen man's side. She glanced up at the hole above, the black scimitar in her hand seeming to raise of its own accord.
Horgus is alive and unconscious, he appears to have had his arm bitten by a rodent of unusual size, which peers down through the hole in the ceiling. Two of its friends seem to have joined it, but they have not tried to jump down.
Sarkast looks up at the sound and runs in beside Ayesha. He raises his spear and calls back, "Gwerm has gotten himself hurt. We seem to have attracted more of the large vermin this place seems to breed."
Meriui steps in with Ayesha to drag Horgus out of the way. The three dire rats crowd at the top of the ladder but make no move to jump down.
"Well lets see if we can clear the way with some arrows and bolts."
Rowena grimaces at the dire rats. "I can get them..." She aims high.
Rowena fires upwards, her arrow simply breaks on the roof of the cavern.
Ronan takes a shot with his crossbow
"Unfortunately I am out of spells, mostly anyways. Going to have to do this the hard way"
Ronan's crossbow bolt flies true, and a rat squeals before they all flee from the hole at the top of the ladder.
Meriui gently lays down Thora's body and looks up.
"So... who first?"
Aravashnial, who has been quiet during the exchange with Horgus and Anevia, suddenly speaks up.
"Uh... I have no idea what's going on but I hear something about a hole, rats, and a ladder. Might I remind you that you have significant arcane powers at your disposal? I could summon something to distract them."
"That could be very helpful, Aravashnial. Are you able to direct the creatures you summon to go up and attack the rats? If so, then with that I could go up quietly and perhaps use the distraction to make a quick kill shot."
Aravashnial places his staff firmly on the ground, bonking Horgus slightly. He smirks and then stares up blindly and starts chanting.
A white eagle suddenly appears in the air in front of him.
"Go attack whatever is squeaking!"
It flies straight upwards!
The eagle flies straight upwards, and engages the rats!
There's a loud squeak from up above as the eagle scores a hit on the rats!
"Ick! I hate rats!" Rowena reaches for her bow again.
Sarkast watches the eagle appear from nowhere and fly up. Taking advantage of the bird's distraction, he scampers up the ladder after it, then moves into position to stab one of the rats as it bites the eagle.
Like threading a needle through a thread, Rowena's arrow flies through the tiny opening and takes a rat in the face! It curls up dead.
Meanwhile, Sarkast leaps up the ladder, flips over a rat, and slams it in the back with a spear. Yet another rat dies.
The remaining rat seems intent on fighting, but has been badly wounded by the eagle.
Jinxx snarls and takes a bite at the last rat
Just as Jinxx makes it up the ladder Ronan takes a shot with his crossbow
Jinxx starts to scrabble up the ladder, but it doesn't matter. Ronan's bolt takes a rat in the eye and it flops backwards, dead.
End of Combat
Aravashnial's eagle vanishes. You now stand at the base, or at the top of the iron ladder. Horgus is completely unconscious.
Rowena gently kicks Horgus's legs. "Wake up, you!" She looks up the tall iron ladder. "Who goes up first?"
According to Rowena's expert healer's opinion, Horgus will require magical healing or a full day's rest before he's ready to go anywhere. The fall nearly killed him.
Rowena bows down to heal Horgus. She prays to Pharasma as billowing circles appear from her cross.
Sarkast looks down the next hallway to determine if the group needs to get the injured members up the ladder or not.
Horgus lets out a cough as Rowena heals him, and his eyes jerk open. He looks around wildly and then lets out a loud groan.
"This is hopeless..."
A hallway continues on and opens up to a room which Rowena's keen elven eyes can see through the darkness. From what Sarkast can tell, this seems to be the only direction to go. The ladder is very strong though, and Anevia and Aravashnial make their way up, albeit very slowly.
You can hear the sounds of movement and breathing from down the hall, in the room Rowena spotted. Someone is trying to be very quiet.
Sarkast holds up a hand and signals to the others that he hears a sound ahead. He stands in the hall to guard while the others make it up the ladder.
Rowena slowly makes her way toward the room. She peeks around the hall corner, straining to see what was being so quiet.
Rowena starts creeping towards the room and stops. As she gets closer, she can clearly hear what sound like two mongrelmen, lying in wait for ambush right where the hall opens up.
Ronan moves up the ladder and waits. 'Jinxx go with Rowena.'
Sarkast gets his spear ready and moves up with Rowena and Jinxx. He whispers, "If one of us runs past and draws their attention, the others may be able to catch them with their backs turned."
Rowena nods and gently pushes Sarkast. She whispers "You're the agile one. You go, I'll shoot. Jinx can get the other one." She readies her bow.
Sarkast nods and waits for everyone to be ready. Once they are, he counts down from three, and runs in.
Sarkast does a beautiful shoulder roll, and the shouts from the two mongrels soon fill the cave. He comes up on their other side.
The mongrels let out a shout and scramble for the fight.
Sarkast takes advantage of the mongrels' confusion to stab at one, but his blow is deflected as the creature turns.
Jinxx attacks the one to his left with a viscous bite.
Jinxx leaps upon the mongrel, biting viciously. Sarkast's spear goes wide, clacking into the wall despite the mongrel's momentary surprise.
Rowena aims for the mongrel being bitten by Jinxx.
Rowena rushes past the mongrels, both of which swing out at her with clubs.
Meriui lets out a yell as he sees Rowena go down, and using the mongrels' distraction he rushes in to attack, but misses badly.
Anevia limps down the hallway, but can't get a clear shot with her bow.
The two mongrels look to see themselves surrounded, but bolstered by Rowena's fall they attack viciously.
Sarkast parries his attack, but Meriui takes a club across the face.
Ayesha moves up, but holds her action until there's space to safely move through.
Meriui
Jinxx (mage armour)
Sarkast
Ronan
Rowena (-3/13)
Anevia
---
Mongrel 1
Mongrel 2
---
Ayesha
Sarkast watches as Rowena takes two hits and goes down. He jabs at the nearest one then backs off, trying to draw it away.
Jinxx pounces one the one he is attacking and puts everything in to trying to kill the mongrel.
Jinxx pounces on the same mongrel Sarkast attacked, biting it viciously. It doggedly stays in the fight though.