Shaedo goes vixen ninja and prepares for going vixen assassin!
First, using ki to move faster, the little kitsune zips down the passage, moving along the wall, five feet above the ground. With her sudden speed, she is little more than a dark blue, silvery, reddish blur.
She re-materializes out thin air thirty-five feet down the hall, perched five feet above ground. From her perch, Shaedo studies the big gob on the far side of the hall Beylinda has not yet engaged, to get ready for some foxy assassin action.
(- any penalties for moving at full speed)
"Let's get the big gob guards and then the beasties!"
Layla moves down the hall toward the fire, but staying to the left, out of the weird mist.
As previously established, she has a kukri ready in one hand and one hand free for chakram throwing.
She flings a chakram at the Far Big Gob who has already been injured, or at the other one if he drops before her turn, or at an obvious enemy she may now be able to see in the side passage if both far big gobs have been taken down.
minus 2 if he's farther than 30ft. from me
From her current position down the hallway, Layla may be able to see the spider beasties, and would try to figure out what she knows about them and how to best stop them.
Does Shaedo have any guesses about what might be going on with the colorful mists around the fire?
I take ten on Knowledge (Local) for a total of 17...
Looks like we have some kinda weird spiders a huntin' around the fire! What do you think Layla?
Bard-ic Knowl-edge: (to aid Layla/) to determine dream spider abilities and weaknesses.
Shaedo, as is her nature, immediately shares anything that comes to mind about the party's foes, all while keeping a vixen assassin eye trained on the other big gob near Beylinda in deadly study.
Layla and Shaedo would definitely share the above info on dream spiders with everyone.
"Watch out for the rainbow gas, guys! It could knock you out and mess with your brain!"
Ick! It's from the web from the spideys that's burning! If we could put out the fire somehow, we could deal with the spideys much easier...
Shaedo narrows her eyes in focus. Concentrate Shaedo, don't get distracted now! Shaedo thinks to herself, banishing her deliberation on the spiders. She thus continues her study of her target for assassination.
Sunny peers around the corner she's using as cover and peers along the corridor.
"Ooo...Ick! Dun't like spideys!" Sunny shivers and squirms just thinking about the nasty, creepy crawleys.
"Does anyone have a water creation spell?"
Not I saddly
Ceru nods and grabs her blanket out of her saddlebag, and douses it with the contents of her waterskin. Hoping it's wet enough, she runs forward and tosses it onto the burning web, hoping it will help put out the fire.
If her survival skill suggests more water will be necessary on the blanket, Layla could dump her waterskin's contents on the blanket as Ceru passes by, or on the fire after Ceru covers it with the blanket.
Vitreous stows the switchscythe and then draws his pistol while running to catch up with everyone else, deftly avoiding whatever pitfalls and difficulties the room presents.
Vitreous is close enough at this point to attempt to shoot a spider, probably. "Oh wow! That is a huge spider. I wonder if it's hostile. Yeah they usually are, but some of them are quite tasty when barbecued."mumbles Vitreous outloud. He mentally shouts"Cover them ears, I'm going to shoot that spider thingy"
Round 2
Distracted by the sudden and real presence of Beylinda, the blue mists, and the smoke, the burly goblins seem not to notice as Shaedo clings to the walls.
Eris, Shaedo, and Layla notice that the two "fire goblins" have been dragged quite a ways down the hall. As the big burly goblin screams in fury and terror, he pulls out another bolt, loads it, and stepping forward a bit, fires. It seems to hit nothing, clattering down the hall against the stone: he seems to be unable to see well, and the spiders are no longer in clear view.
Ooze looses a shaft toward the big burly goblin not currently being attacked by Beylinda (previously named "Far Big Gob 2").
Stone fires his crossbow at the same burly goblin, a full load of two bolts at once. The two bolts continue to fail to come close.
The goblin in front of Beylinda shrieks in a deep, wet way more akin to gargling, as he pulls out a pair of wickedly sharp-looking dogslicers - more masterwork dogslicers? what kind of goblins are these? - and enters a furious frenzy of terrible strikes , though he manages to do little other than be parried by her lightning-swift blade.
His ally quickly moves to flank the tall warrior rumbling a shrill growl, making a terribly powerful swing with his - masterwork?! - horsechopper. Again, despite his fury and the terrible power of his strikes, Beylinda neatly deflects his force, using his own heavy swings against him.
The screams in typical goblin echoing across the halls about being devoured by the creepy crawlies are extinguished suddenly and thoroughly. Those near the halls see the goblins briefly bitten, then collapse into a comatose state as they're swiftly dragged by running spiders into the darkness beyond.
Vitreous runs toward the edge of the side-hall, directly into the rainbow mists. He squints, able to see a massive, furious goblin firing into the distant darkness, and - ever-so-briefly - two screaming goblins being dragged into said darkness with dozens of glittering spider eyes in the distance - before the lights unceremoniously go out entirely, leaving near-pitch, and the ability to see no one and nothing beyond a short ways down the hall.
A moment prior, Ceru takes her blanket, douses it in water, and quickly begins slapping at the fire, hoping to put it out. With the Aid of Layla, and the extra water, they're quickly able to extinguish the fire - leaving the mists intact, but throwing the entire hallway into stark darkness, except for the near-constant lighting coming from the storm in the stair-well room behind them providing bright light in the room and first twenty feet of the hallway, and dim light for the next twenty feet.
Eris attempts to resist the mists , and steps away from the heady and pleasant vapors that she can now barely see. Unable to discern enemies, she makes a tactical retreat back into the light.
Beylinda, able to see in the darkness perfectly well, notes the solid and ancient-looking doors the goblins were guarding, and, while she is fighting defensively, continues to attack the goblin in front of her.
, though unfortunately, her own defensive posture does little for her assault.
Sunny carefully sneaks up, ready to pounce, hiding behind the wall, and peering over the side. It's pitch dark down the side tunnel without the fire. Still, the lingering smell of enticing vapors lingers in the darkness nearby.
Dijiron commands Frosty to strike with the fury of the keeper of the first vault! One of its strikes creates a temporary burst of frost across the burly thing's flesh, as it screams in terror at the floating bit of magic, wide eyes panicking toward the blue mists and the spell floating above his head: "Biru! Biiiiruuuu!" - the first non-weird-goblin thing any of these strange creatures have said.
Those with lowlight vision and darkvision see the mind-altering mists finally disperse into nothing, partially burned away by the fire that created them, partially dispersed by the actions of the smaller folk... and partially because it only lasts for a very brief time.
Layla uses a move action to put her glowing ioun stone into action circling her head.
She takes a five-foot step to flank the big gob that moved to flank Beylinda,
and uses her standard action to attempt to slice it with the kukri in her hand.
(+2 for flanking)
(+2 murderous training cuz he's flanked)
Sunny peers around the corner, trying to see what is happening further along. With the enveloping darkness though thwarting that attempt she sighs but takes advantage of the darkness to start sneaking along the corridor wall.
*Guys? Guys? I can't see any thing?* She reaches out with her 'mind'.
*Make some 'noise'. See if we can use this mind stuff to our better workings...* She suggests.
Shaedo pauses for a moment, silently holding her action in the dark, when Layla's light comes on, revealing the smoosh-face-gob she was studying to eliminate is now flanking Bey while being flanked by Layla.
Gonna be hard to shoot into that dance...
Then her training takes over. Dropping her hand cross bow (or putting it in her sash if that is a swift action), Shaedo rushes along the wall hand and foot up to the gob, and charges him from wall side, giving all the momentum of her charge into a lethal fox claw of death!
What- did I just do? Shaedo mind-stammers, not sure what to make of her body moving into the killing move seemingly of its own accord.
Stepping away from the smouldering webs, Ceru pulls out her standard issue bullseye lantern, makes sure it's filled with oil, and lights it with a tindertwig.
Lulu, lacking much else in current usefulness, simply advances.
bringing her glowing staff with her.
As a move action, Dijiron directly Frosty to continue his assault upon the stupid, smelly goblin he is currently attacking.
His standard action is to cast dancing lights in order to dispel the darkness everyone is having trouble with.
*Sneakin', sneakin, creepin.....*
Vitreous walks to the end of the area of bright light() and using his low light vision attempts to see if there is anything at the end of the hall.
"Here spider spider spider. I've got a bullet with your name on it right here."
To the group he mentally states,"I'll shoot the spider as soon as I see it."
Round 3
Undaunted by the sudden darkness, the goblin in front of Beylinda swings his blades, furiously, though his fury causes him to swing poorly - at best - and enable Beylinda to neatly side-step and avoid the murderous swings.
Furiously, the burly goblin named "Close Big Gob 1" fires again into the darkness, hitting nothing, and - clearly - cursing in their strange language. "Gob-gob-gob-gob-lin! Gobble-lin-lin! Blin!" it shakes its fist and spits into the hall.
No longer able to get a clean shot, Ooze runs forward, aims over Vitreous' head, and narrowly misses his pipe, as he looses his shaft into the hideously stupid-looking freak goblins that were clearly inferior to Ooze. It hits! The bizarre creature is exceedingly unhappy!
Stone rushes down the hall to help his brave tall comrade! He thrusts the sharp end of his crossbow forward... and misses!
Feeling exceptionally surrounded at the moment, the burly goblin named "Far Big Gob 1" launches a furious assault with his dogslicers, failing to do anything from terror and fury, as he drools and foams - frothing mouth and dilated eyes revealing his state of near-madness.
Vitreous, seeing nothing but a now-furious and looking-straight-at-him big goblin, takes careful aim and fires. He briefly mentally warns his allies of a coming loud noise, and , the bullet smoothly passing through the berserk thing's armor.
Ceru pulls out her lamp, steps away, lights it, and shines it down the hall. Suddenly, it's clear: there's a very long tunnel whose walls and ceiling are covered with webs. It looks like - until recently - the floor was as well, however two heavy-looking drag-marks seem to have cleared away much of the webbing. The glittering eyes of two really large spiders are revealed by the sudden light - one on the ceiling and one on the left wall. They start momentarily, but promptly ignore the light.
Eris (now able to see) hurries forward and aims her own Ray of Frost directly at the furious Big Gob 1. She hits! It's amazing! Frost briefly covers the goblin's head, as he stumbles against the weight of the way-cool cantrip!
Layla pulls out her glow-stone, and steps in to strike with her kukri! Unfortunately, the exotic curved blade scrapes across the solid armor the goblin is wearing.
Shaedo, delaying until she can suddenly see once again, charges - fast - acting on well-honed instinct, much to her own shock. Her claws sink into the goblin's neck, and she twists. She finds a dead goblin's no-longer-attached throat dripping in her hand, as she feels off-kilter and confused about what she just accomplished.
Eyes widening when he sees a foxy assassin take down his comrade so cleanly, the remaining Burly goblin before the doors screeches in mortal terror.
Beylinda moves forward and cleanly places a blade through his face.
Sunny, moving quickly and stealthily, manages to slide up, mostly unnoticed, to the large, desperate goblin.
Dijiron commands Frosty to attack! Frost does! They hit! The first one is extremely effective!
Lulu takes great caution having just seen the other people roughly her size be dragged off by webs to who knows where!
Suddenly, twin lines of translucent iridescence alight into the goblin facing Vitreous. The spiders seem to... look at Vitreous for a moment, almost as if asking some sort of polite question? ... but then proceed to scurry through the webbing into the darkness, dragging the hapless burly goblin with them into the depths of the webbing-shrouded halls, gaining concealment from the dangling strands. The goblin shrieks hideously as it's pulled away, still visible, and collecting ever-more of the translucent webbing as it's dragged across it.
Dijiron makes the perception check to see down the spider tunnel.
Layla starts slightly as the big gob she failed to hurt with her blade gets its head ripped off by the fox warrior. She then picks up her two previously thrown chakram, and mentals to the group.
"Whoa. Nicely done, Shaedo.
Beylinda, Stone, Sunny, kill or knock out the big gob you've got surrounded with the blade through his face. Preferably kill.
Let's let the spiders eat the gobs they dragged away. They're only doing us a favor.
Instead of trying to explore the spiders' lair down the side passage, I think we should move on forward through the big doors to face the rest of the gobs, which have probably been alerted to the fact that something's wrong by now."
"Wha-huuuhh?" Shaedo barely manages to vocalize in her sudden distress, not entirely sure of what just happened.
Then she realizes that she is holding a severed, bloody gob head.
"EEeeek!" She screams, but before she blindly throws it away from her, another thought suddenly surfaces involuntarily in her foxy little head: WEAPON!
With a reluctant whimper, Shaedo flies up the wall another five feet and then with a fluid motion, throws the severed goblin head at the remaining big gob. The head flies at the target with potentially deadly velocity.
Standing still, though trying not to stare TOO hard at the glittering spider eyes, Guys? There are two reaaaaaaaaly big spiders up there...
Alright, but if we're to learn more about the Tor, we'll probably have to come back this way eventually...
Ceru slowly backs away, grabbing an arrow to nock just in case the spiders change their mind.
Lulu simply moves a bit closer to everyone, her small stature slowing her down slightly. but not any more than the others.
she remains defensive with her arsenal of attacking magic very small, she has little to offer.
Since the spiders gave him a polite nod, Vitreous calls out after them"Enjoy those tasty goblins with our complements, honored spiders. Do let us know if their tenderizing has met your expectations, and we can see about preparing a few more for your dining enjoyment"
With the pleasantries concluded, Vitreous quickly moves away from the door as his bravado begins to fade. Oh my those spiders could have easily taken me instead of that goblin. I bet I taste better anyways. Mumbling quietly "Oh bandoleer full of boom, please fill my gun, so i can clear this room, and get this adventure dun.".
The goblin being dragged by the spiders surges forward, briefly nearly-escaping (), before the two spiders bite him, and continue dragging him backwards.
Ooze shrugs, takes aim, and looses a shaft toward the struggling goblin and lands a shaft right in his shoulder.
Stone attacks the big goblin... with his helmet! The little blue goblin slams the large dwarven helm toward the freakish cretin... and hits!
The burly goblin having once been deemed "Far Big Gob 1", finding himself currently surrounded, simply lays into Beylinda with a fury born of desperation... but to no avail.
Vitreous calls out pleasantries to the spiders and moves quickly towards the doors.
Ceru peers down the long spider-filled hallway with her lamp. The webs hang deep and obscuring much of the view by causing strange refractions in the light, but she thinks she can see the skittering of the large creatures, and can definitely make out the freaked out weird goblin, struggling as it's dragged along by the webs. Much deeper, she thinks she spies... more... movement... after which she backs away and notches an arrow. Just in case. That is when she notices... the remaining "fire goblins" is still breathing... despite the crossbow bolt through his eye.
Eris continues to ponder the tactical applications of her spells, but unfortunately she is not in a position to attack anything...
Layla quickly picks up her chakrams, ready to assault any foes that come out of them and exhorting her comrades to 'finish it'!
Shaedo attacks the maddened goblin with the head of the one she just killed for , but it merely bounces off of his armor as he jigs backwards.
Beylinda continues her careful defensive assault the maddened goblin. Landing a glancing blow across his brow, the blood running down his face, giving him a desperate, ragged look.
Sunny, finally in position, carefully lines up a blow, and pounces, hard! The dogslicer acquired from the headless tomb flashes out rapidly, her fist following, slamming into the goblin like lightning and thunder. The creature drops, rapidly, slamming to the ground, the fury fading for confusion, then fear, and finally death, all before before his torso fully lands onto the floor.
Dijiron peers, listens, and smells down the hallway, able to smell the venom down that direction, especially aided by Taq.
Lulu moves close to the rest of the group.
A thorough inspection reveals that the doors are locked solidly. A quick (and successful) picking of the lock reveals that they are locked thoroughly as well: not just from whatever door lock is present here, but apparently a bar or other heavy structure has been placed in front of the door. Even with the combined strength of some of your strongest members, it quickly becomes clear that you don't have the physical might to simply shove the thing open - not even Vitreous can shove it open, so the doors must be impregnable!
A quick inspection of the burly goblins reveals that the burly ones all have dirty but exceptionally well crafted armor from some sort of exotic horns and leather that you can't actually identify. They're all equipped with two masterwork dogslicers, a masterwork horsechopper, light crossbows (seemingly balanced to work underwater), and an ecclectic collection of small green gem fragments. They also have well kept, extremely nice cutlery kept in very nice wooden containers - almost reverentially wrapped in nice silk and shockingly clean for these filthy creatures - each consisting of a variety of spoons (of various sizes and shapes, some slotted, some otherwise), forks (including more 'classic' kinds of various lengths as well as a larger two-pronged fork), narrow knives (sharp and dull, serrated and not), sporks, and some shafts of metal and wood - 'chop sticks' you've heard them called. Additionally, each has a different dish of some sort, equally well kept in a small wooden box set with silky lining: a deep bowl, a rimmed plate, and a kind of separated platter/plate with different 'compartments' to hold different kinds of food. Each of these are just as clean as the cutlery and are very fancily and expertly made out of exceptionally tough materials; each of which has bloated, fat flies crafted of smoothly inset obsidian gem, teeth of similarly inset pearl, and various other bones or bodies nearly imperceptibly engraved into the dishes, on a mostly-blue background (apparently having been thoroughly lacquered). Despite the cleanliness of the plates and cutlery, they are obviously well-and-repeatedly used from the very tiny dings and scrapes accumulated over much use.
The one fire goblin had a lighter armor - similar to the one you found in the tomb, only not magical or nearly as foul-smelling - and a pair of nice (but not masterwork) dogslicers.
Ooze: looses an arrow
Stone: attacks the big goblin... with his helmet!
Fire Goblin 1
Fire Goblin 3
Vitreous: moves down the hall
Ceru: backs away and perception check
Eris: I... don't know... sorry
Layla: picks up her chakrams
Shaedo: attacks with a head
Beylinda: attacks!
Sunny: attacks!
Dijiron: perception down the hallway
Lulu: moves
Spiders: drag off, and bite
"Voice?": ??
"So... Up the stairs, down the spider corridor, or try to explode the big metal doors with Vitreous's arsenal? What do you guys think?"
"Up tha' steps, hey? Suny suggests.
Shaedo looks down at the headless gob ten feet below her. "You might say he really lost his head over meeting us, poor fella'." She attempts to jest, though with an audible quaver to her voice. She then looks at the gob Sunny and the others finished off.
"We are deadly... and- my body is moving on its own!" *shudder!*
"Anyone else- have that experience? I'm not sure- what to make of what just happened, but one thing's for sure. I am really glad I am not a gob right now!"
Shaedo scurries along the wall, and cautiously begins to gather the crossbow bolts from the corpses. She checks the crossbows for secret compartments like the other one the party found in the batty-head room!
"This door looks pretty solid. Maybe we should save this one for later, and make sure nothing comes up behind us down the stair ways."
the goblin's have been banging on the door to no avail so either we can pick it open or we should come back later. So either the spider halls or the stairs are next i would say. It makes sense tough to try and finish a level before going up to the next one
Chopsticks? Where did they get those? Unless...Dijiron's voice trailed off as he became lost in thought. They got them from the Ratfolk slaves they mentioned earlier. What were they doing here in teh Mana Wastes where our wizards can't protect the? Damn fools.
Dijiron jolts upright, a sudden memory snaps him from his reverie. Oh! Right, Taq and I smelled venom down the hallway if that influences our decision. I would counsel towards the path of least resistance as we have not rested yet.
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Trying to calm herself down a bit, Shaedo sings a song to herself. Any who listen shall hear a summary of gob-smash one's adventures so far.
It seems the little kitsune means to ease herself by reminding herself of her party's many successes so far, after these uneasy experiences during combat.
"In the messy hall, met eleven lost, who found each other,
In no time at all, we were having a ball, found we could have fun together!
There was a game of wit, much apply spice, and talk to entice,
Then it all came to an end, with a drill sergeant who wasn't nice"
"There was a pretty lady without a face, we read lot'sa books, were told to go to some place,
Called Hight Tower, out in the Wastes! Crazy I said, this fox won't go, but then they persuaded-
somehow?"
"Anywaaaaaaay,
Then we woke up in midst of a march,
out in the Wastes far from the city,
I was parched, took a swig of wine,
and then sang some, look at those clouds- so pretty!
Then it rained, frogs and newts, fire and ice, slugs and pipes,
Hail turned into creatures of all sizes, with polka dots and stripes!
Lightning of every color, though every bolt was deadly,
Our team made the retreat, slow but steady,
Luckily we had found the Tor,
and a mighty gnome tore down the door
Though out in the storm, three or four,
Were still fightin' more an' more,
With elementals and gobbies- to settle some score,
So a song of haste, a call to flee,
my friends finally came back to me,
just in time to escape the beast,
and save the dragon lady who fell to pieces."
*A deep breath*
"And so were inside, all of us, still alive,
we patched ourselves up and stared to look about,
no time soon would we be getting out,
So West turned, and found bodies burned,
Then East we headed, and found statues beheaded,
And finally we found some gobs to smash,
Though spiders took them off so fast,
To their hidden spider lair,
Now where? Through the door, or up the stair?"
The little kitsune sings a louder should she notice anyone listening to her sing.
Sunny does quietly clap her hands and tap her feet along to Shaedo's song. (^_^)
Yay! Shaedo sings with a little more energy, and seems to be regaining some of her characteristic carefree-ness. ^_^
Layla grins at the clever fox song.
"Nice!
Well, that's two votes for the stairs and one for the webbed side tunnel, plus one vote for the path of least resistance.
Would that be the stairs, Dijiron?
Does anyone else want to weigh in with a vote or opinion?"
"I could swear, ...wait I do swear. That spider gave me a wink and a bit of a bow as it dragged that goblin off. I think we should leave them to their dinner and try the stairs, unless we wan't to get creative with my black powder. Though we might need that later."
Layla grins at the clever fox song.
Shaedo finishes her song with a little bow. Her spirits lifted, (and plenty of bolts gathered for her new crossbow!), she is ready to explore the next area her allies choose to go! ^_^
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Sunny can't quite suppress a shudder at Vitreous' comment about the spiders,
"Ugh! Dun't like spideys!" She again says emphatically.
Shaedo starts giggling hysterically. As she catches her breath, "I'm sorry Sunny, that's just me burnin' away the last of the shivers! Things are startin' to get back to the way were- before the creepy-body snatching-likeness durin' the fight! - Except there was no snatching? -Though I did snatch a head, but it wasn't really-me... I don't know. Anyway, fight's done, and it's like we're back to the exploration! And music, banter, and adventure..."
Shaedo sighs, and grins. She starts whistling a tune.
Sunny nods, smiling in response/return to Shaedo. (^_^)