If there was one phrase Cyanne had heard over and over in draconic, it was "biggest and strongest!" Daen, disgusted with Mizmek's language skills, had even taken time to repeat the phrase with slightly better grammar and intonation, trying to teach Cyanne a more proper style of speaking draconic.
Cyanne repeated it now, hoping that she got the draconic right. "Biggest and strongest, Mizmek!" Then, in common, she said, "Help Luthor!"
Maybe Mizmek would not understand the word "help", but the little kobold could surely see that Luthor was in trouble.
"Luthor, stay back!" Kaz calls, stepping forward with his axe in hand. Blocking out the other threats in the room, he focuses his attention on the centipede in front of him, swinging down in an attempt to cleave through it.
Daen's strike kills a second centipede as Mikmek looks at Cyanne with a confused expression. After a moment, he shakes his head and starts picking his way forward through the melee while brandishing his knife menacingly.
None of the remaining three mites decide to be heroes. Instead, two of them wave their hands, bugging their eyes out of their disgusting faces and screaming words at Kazimir and Luthor. Luthor shrugs it off, but Kazimir feels a momentary disconnect from his god and slips into despair. The remaining mite takes up a position behind one of the egg-mounds and flings a dart into the battle, aiming for Luthor. The dart slams into the witch's shoulder, bouncing off it before falling point-first onto his foot.
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"Ach!" Luthor yelled as yet more attacks struck him. Staggering backwards, jumping on one foot as the dart lodged itself in the other, he quickly touched a glowing hand to his chest.
The glow slipped into his body, so intense it briefly lit Luthor up like a torch. His wounds quickly closed, the dart being pushed out of his foot by the rapid regeneration.
Cyanne is relieved by Luthor's retreat, but realizes that it is now time for her to contribute to this battle as well. "Kaz, remember the inner light that shines within you. They cannot take that away!"
Noting the amount of friendly cover, Cyanne sighs, drops her bow and pulls out her scorpion whip and moves forward. She snaps it over Kaz's head and aims at the green mite 15 feet away from herself. She continues to maintain her bardic performance.
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Laliytsa steps into the space Luthor just vacated. She nods at the witch before speaking to Kaz. "Justa dumb spell. Ain't real. Now arrows? Real as can be" She fires one at the giant bug in front of her"[/b]
(+2 if magical beast)
(+2 if magical beast)
Cyanne's whip catches the mite, toppling it over and digging into its blue flesh with its sharp tips. Laliytsa's arrow takes the centipede in its throat, and it falls forward, spewing stinky green puss onto the cavern floor and into the channels where it joins the rest of the putrid water.
The swordsman danced around the mightiest kobold and with a spin cut the mite in front of him cleanly in half. The spell that was residual from the previous hit also preventing a blood spray. It seemed to be a more precise strike than he delivered against the centipede, but he was still a little disappointed that he couldn't have used it on something stronger. There were at least two mites left, but the more potent magic faded on his sword leaving just the familiar blue glow.
"Some magic exists only in the mind, but not all of it. Arrows are perfectly serviceable though, especially for our needs."
The magic rocks Kazimir to the core; he staggers slightly, eyes wide in the gloom. "Elkfather, have you truly left me?" he murmurs, trying to swallow his panic. His axe nearly slips from his fingers, Cyanne and Lali's words falling on deaf ears.
As the last vermin falls under the arrow, he swallows his fear, stepping forward and swinging wildly at the mite.
With Daen's blow connecting against another mite and cutting it in twain, the remaining two break and run, screaming down the passageway in the opposite direction of the party.
Mikmek brandishes his knife, peering down the passageway before creeping forward. After a moment he turns his head back, staring at the party. "Hairy ones coming? Mikmek is bravest kobold, you saw! Mikmek hears more mites, is going to go kill them!"
Cyanne puts an arm under the staggering Kaz. "The mites have a way of getting into your head, Kaz. When they got into mine, I thought myself the most worthless creature in existance. The Elkfather has not left you, for you are his truest servant. Take a moment, breathe deep, and give yourself a minute to let the spell wear off. You are our light. Do not falter, for we need you."
As Mizmek's words are translated, Cyanne grins. "A moment, Mizmek. We need to burn these piles of eggs first. The last thing we need is more whiptails hatching. Daen, love, can you set them on fire, please?" She gestures, miming pulling out a wand and blasting.
And that should give us just enough time for Kaz to recover himself...
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The half elf still hadn't gotten used to affections, and while it did make him uncomfortable, it wasn't really a bad kind of uncomfortable. He'd rather just go and kill those mites that ran off, but Cyanne didn't really ask him to do things unless there was a reason. He figured he could ask her later about that. He translated for Cyanne, and then took inventory of the piles and his remaining magical power.
He knew how he wanted to start, but it still seemed difficult to get the first word out, so he wasn't sure that it conveyed the correct meaning, but it was worth it to him, even if he looked silly saying it. "Darling, here's only three more charges on the wand and these are spread out enough that it would finish the wand, and take my extra scroll, but I can conjure acid all day long. Looking at all of these eggs, it will likely take that long. That should upset their breeding cycle enough. My shield spell has elapsed, so there is no more rush for me."
He began doing as he said he would, starting with the southwestern pile. If he tired of it or they decided to hurry, at least he could hit the others with gouts of flame.
Cyanne's blue eyes widen and she offers Daen with a surprised and gratified smile.
Darling... He called me darling!
"I forgot the wand's charges were so limited... You're right. We should save them for more important targets."
She tries to consider if there is a better way to kill insect eggs, but cannot think of one other than smashing them.
Yuck. Dung and insect egg goo. This will be NASTY.
She sighs, pulls out her light silver mace. Not wanting to spatter her team, she smashes experimentally at the edge of one of the piles to destroy them.
She looks at her goo-covered mace with disgust. "This method will take too long. Lali and Luthor, do either of you know of a more efficient mundane way of killing these things?"
Well, if nothing else, this will give Kaz the time he needs to recover...
"If not, I will cede to practicality and we can move on and take care of these piles after we've cleared the place."
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Reflecting on the situation later, Kazimir would find himself embarrassed by how long it took him to regain composure. For now, he leans perhaps a little too heavily on Cyanne, trying to find his balance again, trying to control his shaky breaths and sweaty palms. Then the bard mentions light, and as if magic, the word banishes the fear and confusion, allowing his lungs to fill properly and his legs to steady themselves. He peels himself away, averting his gaze in the hopes that nobody will see the embarrassment on his face.
"Mind games," he mutters bashfully, wiping his palms on his trousers. "I'll be fine. We should keep going." At least if he took the lead, nobody would be able to see his face.
When Kaz's back turns, Cyanne mouths, Thank you to Daen.
Then she frowns, prestidigitates the bug goo off her mace, and puts it away before casting dancing lights ahead of Kaz so that the human knight can see.
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He wasn't sure what he was being thanked for, but he was glad enough to be heading out. He gave her a nod and a slight curl of the corners of his mouth, but was looking forward to spend time with the grateful angel later. They'd have to fix the problem of the centipedes later, but he was more interested in finishing the mite extermination. He made sure his blade was clean and double checked that everyone was ready, then followed the column into the next room.
Rolling his previously injured arm, prestidigitating the cloth of his tunic where it had been ripped, Luthor missed most of what was going on around him. It wasnt until Kazimir began moving forward that he finally was able to tear his attention away from his injury. "Coming." He called, hurrying into the midst of the group once more.
Mikmek frowns for a moment before grinning a big lizard-grin as Kazimir walks toward the tunnel. He scurries along beside the man, peering into the darkness ahead of the party.
As the party pushes into the last remaining room, they see a haphazard mess of broken beds, a pair of wagon wheels missing most of their spokes, and a trio of bookshelves, their shelves cluttered with bits of bone, feathers, and dried centipede legs. Decrepit window frames hang crookedly on the walls like bits of art. The ground is further cluttered with a guitar and banjo (both in awful shape) and a picture-book missing most of its pages.
Standing well across the room stand four mites.
Under a pair of shabby beds off in the corner and hidden in the darkness lie two more mites.
WIthout many options left to him, Luthor simply took a few steps back to ensure the others were ahead of him. He had had just about all the injuries he needed for one day.
As Luthor steps back, two of the mites rush forward. Elbowing their way past their friends, they leap onto a pair of dilapidated beds and wave their hands while screaming at the party. Laliytsa shrugs it off, while Mikmek bursts into loud sobs and almost drops his knife in a sudden fit of despair.
The kobold edges forward cautiously, looking over his shoulder as if to check the party's still there. So distracted is he that his half-hearted thrust toward a mite catches only air. The mite points and laughs.
Laliytsa feels the edges of despair prick at her mind but she shrugs it off. The feeling’s nothing compared to the true horrors she’s. But watching that mite cast spells on her means she’s got a great target. The ranger pulls two arrows from her quiver and fires them one after another.
Both the mites catch arrows, and both get propelled off the beds by the force, flopping dramatically to the ground behind the beds with near-identical pitiful screams.
The first blue mite chuckles at his now-deceased friends' antics and takes position behind one of the beds, while the second elects to stand a bit further back. They both pull darts from their belts, hefting them in their thin arms and giving them a toss. The further mite's dart flies true, stabbing into Mikmek's shoulder, and the kobold screeches and hisses as he pulls at it, trying to get it out. The second dart bounces off the dirt near Laliytsa's feet, skipping up and missing her bow-arm by a foot before settling against the cavern's packed-earth wall.
Cyanne sings. It's not a song with words this time. Instead, she uses her voice as an instrument, evoking emotions that are the opposite of the Mite's despair: love, joy, the fellowship of comrades that one can trust.
She is missing the blue skies and open fields of their travels, missing breathing good, clean air. But surely this fight won't take much longer. They'll rescue Mizmek and his statue, clear out the centipedes, and give the mites little incentive to return.
It's their job, and they will complete it.
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Nodding to his angel, the swordsman rushes forward, sword in hand. As he moves, the sword begins to flicker blue again, since the last fight it's eldritch glow had faded. He makes to destroy the mite in front of him, but hits quite a bit of wood in the meantime. The amount he actually damaged the mite, he couldn't see right away, and he hoped he nicked him enough. Scanning the room it looked as if there was only one more, and that should be easy enough.
Kazimir draws his axe and moves up to the far mite.
As Daen cuts down his mite and Kazimir pushes further into the cave, the last remaining mite's eyes grow wide and shift to the right. A moment later, there's a bloodcurdling screech as even more mites boil out from under the bed and rush their enemies. The first fails to get his knife caught in between Daen's legs, while the second's blade scrapes along Kazimir's armor, leaving a gouge but no real damage.
Laliytsa hears the new mites but she can't really see them. She hustles down the tunnel until she's close to Mikmek. After a quick scan she picks the mite furthest down the tunnel; if any mites are unaware of them she doesn't want one getting away to warn them.
Cursing his overly careful nature, Luthor regretted his spell selection. There wasnt much he could contribute to the combat, though had things gone badly it would have been a different matter. Following Cyannes movement, he tried to control his breathing and focused. "Lets see if we cant get some control over this new thing youve taught me, eh?" He whispered to Rikka as he continued to take long steady breaths.
Laliytsa's next shot punches into another mite, flipping it across the room to land in a pathetic heap. Mikmek ducks around Daen, thrusting forward with his looted knife. He looks surprised to make contact with the mite, but his blade leaves only a trivial surface wound. Nonetheless, he chirrups in triumph and holds the knife up above his head.
Luthor's fortune hex gives Cyanne the confidence to run forward behind Mizmek and attack the mite nearest Daen while she maintains her song. She nods back to her Starcount, and strikes out at the mite that tried to hurt him. Using the whip as a percussion aid, she snaps it in time with her song.
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The swordsman's stance changes slightly as he uses his footwork to give him more steady of a position. He swings his weapon hard with the added space, looking to have it bite deep.
After the swing, he felt a bit of a twinge in his leg muscles. All of the riding he'd been doing has not especially prepared him for this kind of situation. He'd have to do more exercises in the morning to make sure he'd be prepared. His teacher always had drilled into him that footwork was the key to swift strikes, and now he was seeing it in action. It would not do him well to be too proud about his performance.
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"Where do these things keep coming from?!" Kaz exclaims in surprise, stepping around Daen and swinging at the remaining new arrival. The momentum of his movement aids his swing, the axe swinging smoothly as a pendulum at the doomed creature.
As Kazimir's axe falls on the last mite with a resounding thud, a silence falls upon the cavern, broken only by the last few insectlike twitches of the dying mites.
The silence lasts only a few short seconds before Mikmek lets out a bloodcurdling chirruping sound and rushes through the cave, knocking the mites' trophies off of shelves and making even more of a mess in his search. As he goes, he chirps in Draconic. "White statue, big teeth. White statue, big teeth. This be much easier if Tartuk gave better description. Soooooo secretive, Mikmek only saw once."
After a few seconds of searching, he turns to Daen and Cyanne. "You! You two hairy ones see statue across bridge, or were too busy. Maybe is there!"
Cyanne kneels in front of Mizmek after receiving this translation. "Do you think it might be in the next cavern? We haven't searched it yet."
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Not particularly interested in looking about, Daen translated with an equal lack of feeling. The only thing that made it tolerable was the cheer and ease in which his angel dealt with the kobold. In this low light, she was even more entrancing as the shadows from their light sources alternatively hid and revealed her features.
"We have not really searched very much of the cavern at all." He had said cavern with a touch of irony. "We have a fair amount of eggs to destroy as well, so if we want to take our time down here and search things out, we certainly can."
"We killed everythin' in the next room right? I'ma gonna go check."
It's unlikely that any mites are left. But Laliytsa sticks to the shadows as she glides into the next room. Paranoia keeps you alive.
Once she's in the next room she takes a look around.
Nothing leaps out to attack Laliytsa. In fact, nothing seems to be moving at all in the next room. As she pushes forward, she has time to spot a half-dozen pegs jammed into the earthen walls, each with a filthy cloak on it, and a table with several piles of dirt and gravel. Atop the table is a statue, perhaps two feet tall and a foot and a half wide.
Mikmek rushes forward, chittering in victory and recklessly brandishing his knife above his head. When he gets to the table, he throws it into the cave's dirt floor point first and struggles to life the statue, which has viciously sharp teeth, scaly wings, and demonic-looking horns. "Mikmek is best kobold! All lady kobolds will love Mikmek now. Long live Sootscales! Death to Tart-er...ignore last part."
Below the table sits a bulging burlap sack as tall as Mikmek and almost as wide. Within are a dozen spears and an assortment of coins. Svetlana's wedding ring is not among them, but there is a note on the table below where the statue was. It has two columns, but what they say is gibberish to you.
Daen still faithfully translates to Cyanne even the words he was told to forget. He's a bit disappointed they didn't find the ring in here, as the information they had seemed to make this the place, perhaps there was more evidence. Seeing the note, he also picks that up and takes a look closely at it. "Hello, what have we here."
The half elf strokes his chin as he ponders the sheet in the dim light. He spoke in common to his compatriots, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the kobold was even there. "This primitive document is some sort of score sheet between the mites and kobolds. It seems the kobolds have Svetlana's ring, magic dust and a good amount of coin. Oleg really wants to get that ring back, and so we have an option of doing that now, or sticking to our schedule. Of course we still don't know where the kobold home is, but I'm sure someone nice can coax the information out of this one here."
A lead to Svetlana's ring! Her love's brilliance awes her, but she knows better now than to tell him so. I've never seen anyone who reacts so poorly to flattery.
Cyanne lifts one eyebrow at Daen's phrasing, and she grins. "Someone nice? Don't you count yourself in that category? I do. "
She kneels down to talk to Mizmek. "Hey friend, you're right. Mizmek is the best kobold. All the lady kobolds will shriek with joy as you tell them about your great victories against the blue meanies and when you carry..." Cyanne pauses as if she's just thought of something. "How will you carry that statue back, all be yourself? Even as strong as you are, it looks like a load that will take more than one to carry."
Cyanne waits patiently for Mizmek's response. Best for him to ask them for help going to Kobold lands than the other way around.
Mikmek sticks his tongue out of his many-toothed mouth, setting the statue down and leaning against it as he thinks. "Dunno. Mikmek can carry, but will take couple of days. All mites never here at same time, so probably will run into them. But idea! You carry statue, and Mikmek introduce you to Sootscale. Will make Mikmek look more heroic to see weak hairy ones he saved in mite lair." He hoists the statue, spinning wildly before shoving it in Kazimir's direction. "You take. Sootscale caverns only ten miles from here. Mikmek lead."
The half elf smirked a little at the bard, seriously contemplating a wink, but refraining for the time being. "I have been called many things, but nice is new. I shouldn't be surprised experiencing new things with you."
After faithfully translating Mikmek's and Cyanne's words to each other, Daen spoke to the group. "It seems that it wouldn't be far to get the ring after all, only about ten miles out of our way. My suggestion is to finish this opportunity, and then perhaps we can push ahead to the forest to get back on schedule.
"On our way out, I feel that a few minutes of stomping about in those egg piles should do the trick on cutting down the number of centipedes hatching in the near future, and the three of us with arcane magic can clean off our lower extremities before we press on. Of course, I'm also fine with just leaving them. If they required a good deal of care, they may not hatch in the numbers we see, and they may have to turn on each other for food."
Daen turned to take a closer look at the statue, and looked at it appraisingly for a moment. Was it really a demon? If so, what kind of place would they be going into? If the kobolds were demon worshippers, they couldn't just let them do whatever they wanted. "Of course, we'll need a volunteer to carry this piece of trash out of the hole."
Cyanne blushes a little at Daen's compliment. "I'm glad. I want to be the source of all kinds of new experiences for you."
Cyanne frowns at seeing the statue thrust unceremoniously into Kazimir's hands.
Is there some way to engineer a sling for it that could be carried between horses? Preferably between Luthor's and mine, since we need the least combat mobility?
Still frowning, she says reluctantly, "I don't know... Mizmek, you are taking us miles out of our way for almost no compensation. Besides, we made a promise to our friend Svetlana that we would search for her ring."
"If only we could figure out a way to help you and still keep to our schedule."
Come on, Mizmek. Take the bait...
When Daen speaks of the eggs, Cyanne agrees. "I'll happily help stomp them and clean us up afterwards. Those creatures are nasty when they hatch."
Mikmek looks at Daen as he translates Cyanne's words. He once again sticks out his tongue. "Dunno about rings." He frowns and sucks his tongue back into his mouth, scowling. "Tartuk takes all shiny stuff, gives it to Sharp-Tooth for us. Maybe he has, maybe not. Come with. Hairy ones follow Mikmek the savior!"
On the way out, the party takes the time to stomp, crush, and otherwise destroy the centipede mounds before cleaning off with a few casts of prestidigitation. Mikmek licks off his clawed feet before anyone can get around to cleaning them, slurping down a few half-crushed eggs before letting forth a deafening belch. "Maybe Mikmek move some kobolds here, be new chief under big tree. Is good eating here, at least!"
Even in what seems to be late afternoon, the sun seems blindingly bright as the party scales the natural ladder formed by the old sycamore's roots and emerges from the caves below. The horses seem to be right where everyone left them, though it wouldn't have been too hard to track them through the deep snow that still sits across the Kamelands as far as the eye can see.
With the sun setting, a camp beneath the sycamore seems to make sense. Mikmek sticks around for dinner, stealing whatever scraps he can before heading back into the mites' lair for the night. As Luthor begins his solitary vigil, the frigid sky begins to cloud over again, but it's wispy, faint clouds, not the ominous kind that come before a storm. His watch passes quickly, though he does notice another campfire atop a hill several miles to the southwest. No more than a flickering candle at this distance, it burns for nearly an hour before going out.
Kazimir's watch proves to be almost as quiet, with one glaring exception.
The remainder of the watches go quite smoothly. Laliytsa is able to see a new fire from the same hill as Luthor, which burns from halfway through her watch until the dawn drowns out the fire's light. Mikmek pokes a head out of the mites' lair and yawns. "Hairy ones ready yet? Much to do, lot of walking."
Cyanne gets up and stretches, the sunlit, snow-filled landscape so welcome after all their time underground. She sneaks a kiss on Daen's cheek and then runs out, letting her limbs move in their familiar early morning dance routine.
She then joins in breakfast preparations, camp-packing and cleanup. As they prepare to mount up, she asks, "Do you think we can rig a sling to make the statue less awkward?"
"Mizmek, do you want to ride with one of us?"
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Laliytsa frowns "Magic dust? What's magic dust? Don' want no kobold throwin' magic stuff in m'face."
While the rest of the group is stomping the eggs the ranger picks a pair up. Alchemists make potions out of weird things. Maybe the crazy one will want these? There’s no harm in taking him some. She wraps the eggs up and sticks them in her bag.
"Saw a fire last night. Thinkin' bandits. Should hurry up on outta here. Kobold’s gotta ride with somebody”
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Caught up in staring into the fire, listening to the sounds of camp - crackling wood, snoring, the occasional movement from the horses - Kaz starts when he looks up and sees his midnight visitor again. After several long moments that seem to drag like hours, he glances around, checking for danger, before cautiously taking his shield and following the creature.
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The morning comes with aches and pains. Kazimir stretches as he wakes, still sore from the confines of the mites' tunnels. "Bandits?" he asks groggily, rubbing at his eyes between buckling himself into his armour. "If you saw them, they're likely to have seen us."
Daen easily gets caught up in his morning routine next to the angel. The kiss warms him to the tips of his ears. He finds her motivating to be quicker on his feet as well, despite the snow, because the incentive is in lessening the interval in which he can see her graceful movements.
When bandits are mentioned, Daen nods at Lali's suggestion, although he is a bit reticent to stop the morning routine and in any way cut short the magnificent dance. "Yes, let's get moving. I'm sure we will find them sooner or later. I doubt they'd follow us into the kobold's camp in any case, but we should definitely be on our guard on the way out."
As they make ready, he regards Cyanne's question concerning the statue. "We've made it this far, and while it's a bit awkward, I think we'll manage. There are only a few more miles to go." Reaching up somewhat cautiously, he puts a few strands of hair behind her ear and brushes his fingers across her cheek as his hand makes it's return trip to his side.