Rusty stalks towards the menacing amphibian and shows it the business end of his sword. It gulps once more and prepares, like its companion, to find lunchables among the heroes. T2 seems particularly taken with the glitter of the dragonborn's scales. T1, on the other hand, has evidently decided that dwarf is on the menu and hops determinedly after Guldarin, wrapping a long tongue around the invoker and preparing to chomp. Rusty too finds himself paying a return visit to the toad's tonsils.
Nayce moves a little bit closer to T1 and tries to pull the toad away from Guldarin. (I don't know if pulling the toad helps or not. I will make the same attack either way.)
T1 croaks angrily as Nayce drags it away from the dwarven morsel, but vindictively bestows the damage on Guldarin rather than itself.
"How dare you! Getting your slimy tongue on my clean robes! I'll, I'll... do something really nasty to you, you recipe ingredient." Guldarin is not pleased, as he aims his rod.
Dorvin bellows, "Your turn, froggies!" hoping to lure the toad restraining Rusty to aid its fellow.
Dorvin pounds across the floor, yanking the toad towards him and once more extracting Rusty from the jaws of death. The toads gulp with anticipatory greed as the dwarf stands defiantly between them.
Amenephus shoots radiant light at the toad threatening his friends and tries to reassure him help is on the way.
Amenephus sends a bolstering prayer towards Dorvin and in the process causes the T1 to writhe horribly as golden blood starts to seep from it.
Dorvin bellows, "Your turn, froggies!" hoping to lure the toad restraining Rusty to aid its fellow.
Rusty returns the favour by moving to flank T2 to take some of the pressure off the warlord.
___
Rusty takes advantage of the opening and jabs the bulbous flesh in front of him.
Too stupid (or too greedy) to care that they are surrounded, the toads wrap rancid tongues around their favoured prey once more, but not before T2 turns a baleful and bloated gaze on Guldarin, temporarily stunning the dwarf.
Nayce tries to finish of a toad.
1d20+14=28 - T2 v Guldarin. Hits. 2d6+5=12
12 damage to Guldarin and he is stunned (se)
In response, as an immediate interrupt, Rusty makes an opportunity attack against T2.
Rusty's attack bloodies his captor and Nayce comes tantalisingly close to finishing off one of the hopping horrors.
Dorvin brings his axe down with a mighty swing, and cries, "Anyone fer frogs' legs?!"
Amenephus channels divine power into Dorvin enhancing his natural toughness.
"Anyone fer frogs' legs?!
Guldarin rolls his eyes enthusiastically.
T1's expression of satisfaction as Dorvin disappears halfway down its gullet turns to absurd dismay as the warlord dices it to pieces from within. To add insult to injury, Amenephus heals the dwarf before the full effect of the ex-toad's bite can take effect.
Guldain seems to take courage from these events and is soon back to himself.
Amenephus launches yet another bolt of divine power right at the offending toad, and some of the radiant power washes over Dorvin.
Amenephus sears the remaining toad with more divine light and the creature flinches. It does not, however, release its grip on Rusty.
"Anyone fer frogs' legs?!"
Rusty licks his draconic lips as he delivers Toad 2's just desserts.
___
Rusty does his utmost to turn the toad into handy snacks even as the amphibian gulps and starts to digest him.
It chomps greedily on the dragonborn, apparantly unaware that it has little longer left in the world.
"That's against all laws of god and man!" Guldarin gestures at the toad. "And we'll see about all this grabbing people too!"
Guldarin's rebuke shatters the toad into a thousand tiny gold-flecked pieces and deposits Rusty unceremoniously on the floor covered in slime. The door now lies before the comrades, the gigantic lock taunting them.
"I hate toads."
"Some of them can be quite tasty, you know. Why, there are lizardman tribes living in the Naghoni Swamps that restrict eating toads to special celebrations, because they like them so much. Though if they don't like you and you still get invited, they'll probably serve you one of the poisonous ones. And those don't taste very nice at all. They add far too much spice to the recipe."
Guldarin regales the party with toad recipes as the group take a short rest a regroup. Thanks to his earlier ministrations, the intense heat remains entirely bearable, although the landscape is not improved by the dismembered bodies and golden blood seeping into the ground.
Rusty picks himself up from amidst the slime and bits of toad, unsure if he will adjust to less a structured life outside the giant, devilish amphibian.
Rejuvenated (but not rested), the group gather as Volund's power washes over you, imbuing you with fresh resolve and power. At your feet lie the bodies of Ghrysigor and the golden toads. Ahead, stands the forbidding door barring your way to the Heartsblood Forge and whatever guardians it may have.
[ooc]I think we should pass on the extended rest. Mammon doesn't seem the type to pass up a midnight snack.
Guldarin finishes prodding at bits of toad to demonstrate the correct method of preparing them for major feasts, and wanders down to look closer at the doors. "Big, aren't they. It does seem to be quite the fashion in dwarven dwellings to build large doors. You'd think we'd make them shorter, so that some of our larger enemies had to duck, but so many are built as if we expect people to bring pet elephants through."
Edit: They certainly look like doors to Guldarin. "Probably quite flimsy, easy to knock down. The cleaners must have a dreadful time whenever they have to clean around here, brushing against them and making them fall apart."
Guldarin's speculations on the size of dwarven doors are rudely interrupted by a agonised roar coming from behind this pair. Mercifully, perhaps, they are locked.
As he passes the fallen devil, he notices a key hanging from one of its necks, half hidden under golden armour.
"…so many are built as if we expect people to bring pet elephants through."
Rusty nods admirably at the foresight of dwarven occupational health & safety.
"Mr Guldarin, open this gate! Mr Guldarin, tear down this wall!" He says, while pointing towards the source of the roar.
"Oh please, there's no need to call me 'Mister' Guldarin. That always reminds me of the way the City Watch adress people. 'Excuse me, Mister Guldarin, but would you mind explaining what you're doing?'. 'I'm sorry Mister Guldarin, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to accompany me to Watch Headquarters.' 'You again, is it? Want you usual cell, Mister Guldarin?'" He looks around for a moment. "Not that I was regularly in trouble with the Watch, not a respectable dwarf like me, no, certainly not, not even when I was younger and, ah... perhaps just a little inclined to do things I perhaps shouldn't have been doing, or at least not been caught doing." He steps up to the doors, puts his hands on them, and pushes.
Dorvin shakes his head.
"Maybe one of these devils was holding a key."