Taranis hustles as far as he can. once he sees the clogged melee, he tosses an alchemist's fire into the midst.
for . Splash 1 on all adjacent.
Unrak takes a mighty swing at orange.
Taranis truly botches his throw, and the flask bounces off the back of his brother's head and explodes at his feet. Unrak and the nearby mites get splashed.
Two of them do not survive long enough to notice, as Marc and Unrak cut them down.
Round III
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Mites (yellow @ 1 dmg), Grabbles, Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis
Move up and cast Bless. Tell Unrak to move back as we can’t fit more people in the tunnel.
Round III
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Mites (yellow @ 1 dmg), Grabbles, Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis
Zed moves up and casts a spell to bewilder the mind and Daze the rider.
"HGBHH!" sputters the mite rider. Bereft of their leader, the other mites cram forward en masse, with little regard for tactics. Two squeeze close enough to stab knives at the Huntsmen.
MISS
MISS
The crouching, hampered Huntsmen have an opportunity to counterattack!
Round III
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Mites (yellow @ 1 dmg), Grabbles, Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis
Round IV
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Mites (yellow @ 1 dmg), Grabbles, Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis
Tarranis shouts, "Clearing space, let'em in!" The druid then aims for the dazed leader
THREAT
for
Somehow managing to get his polearm around Unrak despite the low ceiling, Marc cleaves a mite in half. Taranis thwacks Grabbles in the face with a stone, popping a particularly large pimple.
Round IV
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Mites, Grabbles (1 dmg), Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis
Unrak, his bloodlust far from slaked, moves to wade forward into the morass. Marc's instructions pierces the haze, though, and he grumbles out some rancid curses as he too steps back, preparing to take the head off the first mite that makes its way into his sword's reach.
”Mayhaps we should have fumigated these caves before we entered. All these mites will be difficult to clean off our weapons after we are done routing them.”
5ft step back
Augrym slays a mite before retreating uphill to the others. Unrak does the same, and holds his blade ready.
Round IV
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Mites, Grabbles (1 dmg), Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis
- Round the Fourth
- Current HPs: 12/12
Zed flings a magical Acid Splash at Grabbles!
for damage.
The acid drops from his hand with sad immediacy. The mites press on!
MISS
MISS
But their onslaught is futile. Unrak slashes one mite apart in the process.
Round IV
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Mites, Grabbles (1 dmg), Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis
Round V
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Mites, Grabbles (1 dmg), Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis
Tyrannus draws his scimitar and opts to aid his brother's next swing: , but fails to do so.
"Toth! Get in there and attack!"
Toth squeezes into position
The tiger then bites at the over-sized head of the mite.
, but fails to connect.
- Round the Fifth
- Current HPs:12/12
Zed thinks to himself with disgust, 'Will my humiliation never end?!'
He can recall with aching clarity wielding the powers of the universe in a near god-like fashion at the side of the King. Now he is relegated to dribbling acid ineffectually at bugs in a burrow somewhere under the hinterlands.
Disgraceful.
Still, the wizard realizes it was just this kind of hubris that got him here. He girds himself and focuses on the task at hand. This time he concentrates and carefully aims his Acid Splash.
for damage.
Unrak attacks green.
<--oohh, not so much!!
For once, the Huntsmen find their skill at arms lacking against these pitiful foes.
Toth squeezes forward straight into a flailing mite knife! It stabs the tiger through the lower jaw.
THREAT CONFIRMED
MISS
Zed steadies his aim and further mars Grabble's horrific visage.
Round V
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Mites, Grabbles (3 dmg), Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis (Toth @ 18/21 hp)
Attack!
Another mite head rolls to the floor!
Grabbles urges his terrifying steed on. "Kitty dies first!" Grabbles fails to follow through on his threat, but his mount proves to be much more dangerous.
MISS
MISS
HIT plus MISS
Round V
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Mite, Grabbles (3 dmg), Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis (Toth @ 9/21 hp, Fort)
Round VI
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Mites, Grabbles (3 dmg), Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis (Toth @ 9/21 hp)
”I think that threat MITE have been a little premature. Do you see what I did there Huntsmen? You see I used the word MITE because it is a MITE. We shall laugh heartily about this when the battle is done. Which should be shortly if we do not trip on all of this mite’s friend’s heads rolling around on the ground. We have made quite the treacherous terrain out of his friends.”
Study and Attack on Grabbles
Unrak sees his furry friend's blood flow, and roars in outrage fit to burst eardrums. He locks his gaze on Tickleback, intent on bringing the bug down. The mite in his way is just that...in his way, but only for a moment.
He then steps forward, screaming challenge to mount and rider.
FOR BATTLE COME TO ME!!!
Grabbles' reign meets its end on Augrym's blade. Unrak snuffs out Grabbles' last follower... but the oversized tick remains a threat!
Marc gives the tick a try, but does not bite!
Round V
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Mite, Grabbles (3 dmg), Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis (Toth @ 9/21 hp, Fort)
Round VI
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Tickleback
3. Marc, Taranis (Toth @ 9/21 hp)
and now I'm ticked off...
Taranis casts a spell of Guidance on Augrym as concern for Toth rises.
The tiger begins to crumble a bit. Taranis pushes the masses forward, trying to get to his companion.
The tiger fights for its life
- Round the Sixth
- Current HPs: 12/12
Zed once again rolls his eyes and flicks a bit of acid in the Mites' general direction.
for damage.
With no mite to aim for, Zed splashes the tick. A red ring starts to appear around the bite underneath Toth's fur. The tick tries to latches on again.
THREAT whew and FAIL
Toth stumbles a bit on the blood-drenched cave floor, succumbing to his wounds...
Round VI
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Tickleback (1 dmg)
3. Marc, Taranis (Toth @ 0/21 hp, staggered)
Round VII
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Tickleback (1 dmg)
3. Marc, Taranis (Toth @ 0/21 hp, staggered)
- Round the Seventh
- Current HPs: 12/12
Zed casts Acid Splash yet again with intensifying embarrassment.
for damage.
Unrak bellows in outrage, trying to end this annoying tick.
”Fear not cat friend Toth, this overgrown blood sucking bug will pay for that.”
Study and attack (guidance is just to attack, right?)
Marc's awkward glaive scrapes off the tick's hard body. Nearer to the foe, Unrak and Augrym have an easier time sticking it... but still the thing clacks and skitters!
Zed, meanwhile, undoes the slow accumulation of stalactites with a very off-target splash of acid.
Round VI
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Tickleback (28 dmg)
3. Marc, Taranis (Toth @ 0/21 hp, staggered)
Round VII
1. Zed, Augrym, Unrak
2. Tickleback (28 dmg)
3. Marc, Taranis (Toth @ 0/21 hp, staggered)
"TOTH!" Tarranis, heedless of the danger and the risk, runs around to the far side, drawing the ire of the monster.
Once on the far side, he takes a wild and unpracticed swing with his barely used scimitar
THREAT
for
HIT and SUCCESS
The tick latches on as Taranis scrambles past, but the intrepid Huntsman stabs the tick right back! It quivers, then dies.
A red ring develops around the wound, though for now the effect is only visual.
Rows of wooden pegs line the earthen walls of this command room, some hung with tiny, filthy cloaks. In the center of the room stands a rickety table held together with twine, covered with a filthy red-checked tablecloth and heaped with mounds of dirt and twigs and gravel, apparently arranged to form some sort of map. Sitting at the edge of the map, weighing down a scrap of paper, is a bloodstained ivory statuette of what looks like a crouching reptilian devil. A bulging burlap sack sits under the table.
Taranis casts Detect Poison just to be sure, then inspects the wound
Please. My wounds are moderate, but Toth's are severe."
---------------------
Once the wounds have been dealt with, the druid focuses on the map as others collect items of interest and detect for magic.
Zed peers over Taranis' shoulder at the map and tries to square it with his mental picture of the geography of the region.
And he scans the area for any signs of enchantments or dweomers by casting Detect Magic.
Toth's wound smells diseased, not poisoned. Taranis' own wound smells the same.
Taranis cannot make heads or tails of the map. Fortunately, Zed can. He notes a tangled branch that probably represents the Sycamore underneath which you delve, and to the southeast is a pile of bloodstained rocks. In between are various marks and scribbles, likely depicting the status of the mites squabble with all those dead kobolds you found.
No magical auras are to be found. The paper weighed down by the statuette, which displays exquisite craftsmanship, contains further scribbles in an unknown language, arranged in two columns.
The burlap sack proves to contain 12 small spears, 193 coppers, 120 silvers, and 32 gold crowns.
”It would seem that friend cat Toth will live and her wounds are much less severe. I will heal leader friend Taranis and have one healing spell left after this for any who need it.”
”Also, if these wounds are not poison, I offer my 1 antiplague to either of you. But I recommend that we get another if this disease persists. I am not knowledgeable in the field of healing and am unable to help identify. For this, I apologize to you friend Taranis. I hope there is a Hunstman who may help identify it as I can smell it from here.”
"Zed, can you appraise this statuette, and let us know if there is significance to its subject?"
He turns to Augrym, "Thank you. I fear for Toth more than myself. Let me see if I can ferret out the contagion that we've been exposed to."
Assessing the wounds more closely, Taranis suspects that these bites bear what is known as the red ache, a persistent disease that saps the afflicted's strength . You will likely not feel the effects for a day or two.