"Quite," replies Dalton, tepidly. Perhaps a camp-out of soldiers, but these ... [i]things... desperate creatures do desperate things.
Psotheos nods his head as he stifles a cough. He takes an ordinary arrow from his quiver and fits it to the bow. Hopefully the creature’s scales weren’t tougher than skin. For a moment Psotheos almost feels sorry for the humanoid. Patrolling the sewers. What a miserable duty. Wait—that’s essentially what we are doing.
He looks down the tunnel attempting to spot more creatures in the sewage.
Toramin readies his weapon. He isn't interested in being surprised if these sundry beings turned hostile.
"Foul beasts such as that like to drop on their prey from above; let's keep our eyes sky - er, ceiling - ward." This trip was getting more dangerous by the step.
One pair of the creatures hands grips a wicked looking trident while the other pair claps together. He speaks (for it is a he) in a raspy, hoarse whisper. "Welllll, guesstsss. I do ssso enjoy guesstsss...But perhapsss...are they not guessstss? Perhapssss they are intrudersss..." He grins "Now let'sss see your passss...otherwise thingsss are going to get ugly..."
"We have our passes, but unfortunately we managed to drop them in the water a way back and there is no way we are going to go swimming in that. Get out of our way we have work to do."
The creature suddenly perks up. "Oh lossst 'em have you? Well that'ssss veeery unfortunate...you know I just can't let anyone come ssstrutting through here. What a poor guard I would make! Besidesss, Daoog could alwaysss use a few more workersss...nobody would misss a couple of servantsss too clumsy to hold onto their passessss..." He waves one of his several hands towards the ceiling, and the dark cloaked form makes its way above the party, and you see several hooked tentacles slither out from its form. Suddenly from the wall right next to you you all hear another creature. Skin pale as a slug's belly, eyes huge and bulging, this thing crawls down the wall like a spider, but its shape is hideously humanoid. It has a club strapped to its waist. The Sahuagin moves forward, swimming gracefully and holds his trident up. "Sssso, come quietly?" Its twisted grin implies he wouldn't mind just poking you full of holes.
"And you also know he'll be pissed as hell if he finds out you're wastin' the time of his favored servants", the bull rumbles with authority. "Imagine what he'll do to you when he finds out we were late because a shit-for-brains fish-head and his colorless dog stopped us for nothin'."
The brawny minotaur crosses his thickly muscled arms across his massive chest and raises an eyebrow.
"I'd think real carefully 'bout what you do next", the bull warns.
The creatures eyes widen at the sudden hostility. He looks pissed at being insulted, but he sinks back into the water. "Hold onto your passsss better...next time I'll bring more guardiansss with me..." And with that he sinks under the water, followed by the retreat of the other two shadowy figures.
Bjorkus gives an angry snort before pressing on, gesturing for the party to follow.
"Well done there." Lindale says to Bjorkus after the creatures leave and they continue moving.
"Creeps like that are all talk", the minotaur explains. "They don't got the goods to back it up, ya know?" he adds grabbing his bulging lower garment with a snort.
"A trick like that isn't gunna work if we run into 'nother one of those freaks like the aasimar. If one of them is down here, we're gunna have to fight."
After the party diffuses the situation and begins moving on, a new wave of sickness lands. This time Toramin and Lindale are hit badly as they round the corner. Toramin feels a dull pain in his chest and suddenly sits down while Lindale barks out in pain and leans against the wall, rubbing his burning eyes. After a moment Toramin catches his breath and stands up, taking several deep breaths and shaking off the effect. Lindale is less fortunate and whenever he keeps his eyes open too long they start watering. As this is going on, Arjax's cough comes back, and this time he's spraying blood just like Dalton was.
It’s a good thing I’m not afraid of blood, he thinks after wiping his mouth and chin. He remains bent over, resting from the wracking cough. Had his lungs ever hurt this much? A few drops of blood were on his shoes.
Straightening, he rubs his armored chest. ”Sorry sir, for slowing us down. This cough — I know you said no excuses but it’s why I dropped the pass,” he says, hoping the others in the group realize he’s playing a role in case the sahuagin is listening.
Bjorkus frowns as the known poison continues to eat away at the party's fortitude. The bull silently trusted in his own resilience to see him through but it didn't stop him from looking at the sewage flowing alongside him suspiciously. The minotaur pats Arjax on the back roughly.
"Keep it movin' boy. We'll be out of here soon enough."
"Ah! My eyes burn. I can't see clearly..." Lindale complains as they continue.
Gabriel watches the group deterioration carefully to see if there's anything he can do to help them, studying the symptoms. He doubted there was anything in his healers kit that could do the job but he'd check anyway. He was quite nervous with the encounter with the other creatures as well, especially given his belief of what might be happening in the water, but all the same there was little he could do but watch as Bjorkus managed to quite soundly scare them off. "Lindale, let me take the lead. I can't see as well in the dark as you but between Psotheos and I we should be okay." He was careful not to say anything to suspicious, as he had quickly taken the hint from the nobleman.
The party nears their destination in their crippled state, Lindale keeping a hand on somebodies shoulder and blinking furiously. You're nearly at the final bend when you hear a few men talking up ahead, around the turn to the right. Just as you stop to hear them they stop talking, and one of them yells out. "Show yourselves! Don't go creeping around these sewers like the rest of the creatures Nuro has!"
Gabriel thinks quickly, then gestures for Toramin, Dalton and Psotheos to stay back. He points toward Bjorkus then, gesturing for him to lead the way. Creatures. That was a good description for half of them if one was only looking at the physical. He guides Lindale carefully, not wanting to reveal their hand, but says nothing. He whispers to them before they round the corner, to low for even their companions to hear save the ones standing right next time him. "Creatures lurking down here. I think us three can play the part. And if not, we can get close enough to use it to our advantage. Between Lindale's quick tongue and your intimidating stature we can probably convince them though."
Bjorkus grips his fearsome weapon tightly and boldly turns the corner to see the source of these voices first hand...
The four guards round the corner to face the disturbance. One steps forward, clearly in charge from his demeanor and equipment, and bangs the haft of his bardiche on the ground. His voluminous mustache bounces at the vibration. The youngest looking guard carries a torch with him, which he mounts on a metal ring on the wall. The mustached guard speaks, loudly "State your business, lest we detain or cut you to ribbons!"
The men look curiously at the assembled races (the one second to the left spits upon seeing Lindale) but they treat you as humanoids, not monsters.
Bjorkus strikes an intimidating pose but remains silent waiting to follow the paladin's lead.
The boy had better have a plan...
Gabriel glances at the guards and his tail twitches nervously behind him. He wasn't fearful, since his sword was already drawn and he could see far better in this dim light then the others could, but he was horrible at bluffing, so much so that Geoffrey wouldn't let him gamble with the other soldiers 'on principle', even when it was for copper coins and poker chips. He glances to Bjorkus and Lindale, hoping one of them would pick up the slack, but see's that neither of them have taken the lead just yet. The tiefling wanted to disappear when he realized at least one hadn't gotten his quick hint and prays silently that Lindale quickly seizes control of the situation. If he was forced to lie things would end up messy rather quickly.
"I'm afraid it's you who has to state their business soldier. No matter your disdain for me or any race other than your own, we have been sent down here to make sure all is proceeding as planned. It is us checking up on you. Now, show us back to your post and tell me how things proceed and any troubles you have had or by my god and yours, our superiors will hear of this."
Seeing the rest of the group step forward, Dalton also shows himself. This is quite the pickle! He didn't envy the look of the polearm. However, if the years of being under harsh nobles' thumbs had taught him anything, it was how to let them hear what they wanted.
Lindale seemed to have control of the situation, but he might need help assuaging that which spit at him. "No need to be rude!" Dalton says to Lindale with a spit of coughing - completely authentic, that. "But he's right any delays would be most bothersome. Couldn't he find someone younger to light the way? I swear, if I'm sent down in this muck ever again..."
The guards attitudes shift as Lindale speaks. They all seem to relax a bit, with the exception of the fourth guard who is already completely at ease. The lead guard begins twirling his mustache, being a little less full of himself. "Beyond a few other patrols coming by nothing really has happened." He grunts at the large wizards comment. "I've had worse. Anyways, come on over if you really want to, nothing has happened." At a word the guards move back and allow you to see around the corner, where you see the area they've been camped in next to a steel door that has no right being in a cavern like this. The lead guard turns to you. "All is well here, you see. Will that be all? We're not to entertain for too long, the next patrol will be coming along shortly and with it the captain. I don't want to look lazy when he comes about."
Bjorkus eyes the door and then the guards. It didn't look like there was a way to get past them without a fight. Maintaining his silent fearsome presence, he bores into the young archer with the look a lion gives its prey.
Bjorkus eyes the young archer up and down, and all the color drains from his face instantly. The kid puts a hand on the wall, and you can see his legs shaking.
After a snort of satisfaction at the boy's visible fear, the bull gestures to his companions to prepare for a fight.
Toramin will move up next to Dalton so that there are multiple potential threats in range of his hammer.
Master Dalton should not get so close to these guards! Torag confound these lads they are all mixed up with these guards.