"I..." she thinks about the gnomes ramblings "… I don't remember anything said about acid. So... yes?"
"I think that maybe we thought ourselves into this trap. I mean there was no metal-eating monster until we opened the lock. Anyway, I have no clue what to do with this one. I can harass the thing while someone hits with a big bludgeon but that's about it."
Rexandi nods, takes out her vial of acid, then says, "... is someone a better shot than I am with, uh, throwing stuff? Maybe Bazzle?"
When the moment is right Bazzle moves toward Rexandi, "What's this ohhhhh maybe." Bazzle takes the acid and a step back away from the wall where the creature went back in. He looks up like he suddenly thought of something. He reaches into his pack, pulling out a metal face mask. He tears a bit of fabric from his clothes and ties the vial of acid to the mask looping the cloth through the eye holes. "Can't catch flies with vinegar."
Rexandi offers Bazzle the vial of acid, which he takes and starts searching in his pack for the mask.
Just a second later, the Xorn leaps out of the stone wall. Ederion tries to stab at it, but the Xorn's armour has reformed to protect it. In return, it tries to lick Ederion's mithral armour, but Ederion side steps it.
"It's... deliberately standing ther, between us and the far door. Why? I have no idea. And why didn't it didn't fling it's metal eating tongue at one of us with the bludgeoning weapon." Aster snarls to the rest of the group, "Gods I wish we knew what the colored tiles meant!"
Tarnagius steps over to the Xorn and harries it with his heavy mace, enabling Aster to smash into the Xorn's outer shell. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to smash through the whole shell, but it's a good start. "It's guarding the door then. I don't know why, but it must be important. We've stepped on a lot of tiles, Aster. I don't think they mean anything, at least not anymore."
Bazzle takes a step out of the room and quickly rips up some cloth and ties the vial around the mask.
Rexandi moves to give guidance to Tarn, since his mace seems to be important to the fight.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
She is underwater, sustained by a slimy mucus that has spread around her entire body, and entered her mouth, nose, and lungs. She no longer needs to breathe, and thankfully so, for every time she moves she feels the slime wriggle around.
Her captor slowly floats over to Tasha. A horribly obese woman with vacant eyes and tentacle arms. She secrets mucus from her sweat glands, and uses her tentacles to coat Tasha in it. Her expression is completely blank and uncaring. Soon she floats away and closes the door with another terrible screech.
Tasha has been stripped of all her armour and equipment. Her arms and legs are bound behind her, but she feels no rope or chain. The pain yesterday was searing, so much so that it's a miracle she slept at all. Around her is nothing but stone, save for the iron door which has no handle but does have a tiny flap just large enough to send a plate of food through.
Ederion lunges!
And what an incredible lunge it is! When Ederion stabs into the Xorn, a lot of its natural armour falls off. It groans from the attack, but doesn't recoil or show any other form of pain. Instead, it turns some of its outer body into armour, then spins around to attack with its three claws. The first one misses Ederion by a mile, but Aster and Tarn both get hit. It isn't so much the claw itself that hurts, but rather the strength behind it. While Aster is reeling from the claw, the Xorn's tongue darts forward and wraps around her mace. The acid melts a lot of the mass of the mace, which leaves it more or less broken.
Then it takes a step back into the wall, likely to regenerate its shield.
CMD
"It's... deliberately standing ther, between us and the far door. Why? I have no idea. And why didn't it didn't fling it's metal eating tongue at one of us with the bludgeoning weapon." Aster snarls to the rest of the group, "Gods I wish we knew what the colored tiles meant!"
"At this moment, if it doesn't destroy all our weapons and then eats us alive, I will be happy" - Ederion still manages to jest, while waiting for the creature to emerge from the wall again.
With the same thought in mind, he decides to put away his own rapier, and draw the other one they had found before - "I'm not gonna risk it"
"We could try to go for the door?" Aster wonders aloud, "He seems intent on protecting it. Maybe he'll stop disappearing in the wall if he thinks we are going for it."
The door does not appear to be locked.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Tasha's eyes slowly open, the slimy feel around her eyes and mouth strongly suggesting that yesterday's horror was, in fact, not a nightmare.
Within the unbound cloud of black hair in the water, she reflexively turning her head to the side only for the feel of unglueing in her lungs to nearly push her to attempt to heave again. Managing not to inhale in panic, she feels the ooze floating around her, her arms and legs still bound by some unfelt force. Giving her limbs one more wriggle, purely out of stubbornness, rather than hope, she settles down to float on the water once more.
Okay. Stop squirming. Stay calm., she forces herself to think, as she gently floats to a stop. Think. Breathe dee-, a though passes her head, as the ooze scrapes against her trachea once more. S*!~! Don't breathe deep. Or at all.
Simmering down, she glances around the waters of her cell. Fish people? Sea monsters? I managed to get myself dragged into the only plot in Kintargo that doesn't involve Thrune. Pretty impressive. A self-deprecating smile spreads on the woman's face, before going sullen.
Well, if I was to think positively - I'm alive. Which does mean I'm off for either an altar, or a cooking pot. Or maybe both, who knows. I hope I taste like s**&. A moment later, Tasha thrashes under the water furiously for a moment, before coming to a halt, her body heaving with soundless, retching coughs. I should send my strength, whatever happens next... Closing her eyes, she sinks into darkness once more.
Not hearing any arguments against her idea, which may or may not be highly suspect, Aster moves to the door and opens it.
Aster opens the door to reveal a short, but wide hallway. Old, dry drips of blood can be seen stained upon the stone floor, headed to the right. Aster can smell salt water lingering nearby.
Bazzle waits for the creature to reemerge before he throws the acid mask. Rexandi decides to help him by casting guidance.
The Xorn races out of the wall to shove Aster away, but the wererat stands her ground and knocks the Xorn to the side. Tarnagius tries to take a swipe at it, but fails to crack through its armour. Tarn bites his lip and yells "Gods damn it all!" He throws down his shield and grabs the Xorn by the claw. With a loud huff, he drags the Xorn away from the wall, despite being clawed along the way. "Try to step back into the wall now!"
Bazzle waits for the creature to reemerge before he throws the acid mask. Rexandi decides to help him by casting guidance.
When the creature reemerges from the wall. Bazzle pops the top of the acid, holds the metal mask out hoping to draw the creature to him and offer it to him like a snack to a dog in a possibly fool hardy attempt to get the creature to swallow the acid.
The Xorn races out of the wall to shove Aster away, but the wererat stands her ground and knocks the Xorn to the side. Tarnagius tries to take a swipe at it, but fails to crack through its armour. Tarn bites his lip and yells "Gods damn it all!" He throws down his shield and grabs the Xorn by the claw. With a loud huff, he drags the Xorn away from the wall, despite being clawed along the way. "Try to step back into the wall now!"
Bazzle gets the sense that the Xorn isn't interested in the metal mask he's holding. Perhaps it's sub-par for the Xorn's tastes.
Aster does her best to go toe to toe with the large rock creature, wielding broken mace and her rat teeth, hoping to do something while tarn is holding the thing.
---
Her poor slightly melted mace is rather enraged the stupid earth thing keeps wrapping its tongue around it. And it wants to make it pay.
"Just a little longer Tarn! We got this!" - Ederion nods at his companion, shifts his position to flank with Aster, and lunges again, trying to follow up on his companion's masterful attack.
Ederion steps behind the Xorn for a tactical advantage, but realizes that since the Xorn has an eye on each side on it, it can easily track everyone's movements.
Since Aster is using the mace, Rexandi switches to giving her guidance.
Aster not only hits the Xorn with her mace, she clobbers it hard. So hard in fact, that its stone armour breaks apart and falls around it. She even manages to get a bite in, now that its vital organs are visible. That being said, the bite itself doesn't seem to hurt it much. It doesn't even draw blood, assuming a Xorn has blood.
Ederion sweeps to the back of the creature and threads the needle to get into the vulnerable spots now opened up by Aster. Though stabbing through stone-hard flesh proves difficult, Ederion wedges the rapier in the cracks to get as much damage in as possible.
Bazzle is frustrated thinking he really had figured a good plan pulls the acid free. He holds the acid in one hand and a dagger in the other he grits his teeth and tries to get the bottle in the creature's mouth.
Bazzle throws the acid at the Xorn, but he lets go of the vial too early. It flies too far to the side and lands in the unoccupied yellow tile. When it shatters, the acid sprays out in all directions. Though it's very minor, Bazzle, Aster, and the Xorn all get sprayed.
The Xorn doesn't use its tongue this time. Instead it takes a step to the side, which puts it in melee with everyone except Tarnagius. It winds up and tenses all of its muscles, before spinning around like a top and slashing at everyone near it. Most easily telegraph this attack and dodge out of the way, but Rexandi gets caught and slashed. It isn't a huge gash, but Rexandi wasn't doing great to begin with, and now she's hurt even more.
"Rexandi, stand back - don't take any unnecessary risks" - Ederion urges his companion, stepping close to her, and lunging again - "Just lay down and die already" - he growls at the Xorn.
Aster yelps a bit at the acid as it splashes on her fur, but the Xorn getting hurt it worth it. Unfortunately her mace glances off the annoyingly resilient creature that JUST WON'T DIE.
Tarnagius steps in between Aster and Ederion. Using his mace, he harries the Xorn to one side, which it does unwittingly right into Ederion's rapier. The Xorn's eyes go wide with surprise and... fear. Already it stares at the stone wall in hopes of retreat.
Rexandi continues to provide guidance to Aster in hopes that she'll land a final hit at some point.
Bazzle harries the Xorn hoping to give Aster a better chance.
Bazzle tries to help Aster in her attack, but even with the extra help she misses her strike. Rexandi backs up a little and casts Guidance on Aster in the hopes that next time she'll finish it off.
The Xorn spins around again, slashing Aster and Bazzle with powerful strikes. It regenerates some of its shield, made by hardening its outermost stone skin. Then, it steps northward just a bit, looking for the safety of the wall.
Ederion presses on the attack.
Bazzle moves up in frustration. Reverses grip on both daggers and leaps at the creature bringing them down toward the things hide. Brave, or desparate. "Die stone turd."
Aster's broken mace is crap but it is all she has. So she swings again!
Bazzle yells over the sound of combat. "I wonder did we release this thing when we unlocked the floor tile."
Rexandi continues trying to provide guidance to Aster.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ederion pierces its flesh once again with his rapier. The solid chunks of armour fall to the ground, now barely more than flakes and pebbles. Its organs are vulnerable, with little in between to cover up. Bazzle tries to stab them, but the Xorn sees the attack coming and sweeps the daggers aside with its arm. Just as Aster goes in with her damaged mace, the Xorn looks to get ready to block the attack. However, a quick burst of inspiration comes from Rexandi, and Aster is just barely able to get around the Xorn's defense. With all her might, Aster bashes a vital organ, making it explode in gold fluid. Within the gold fluid, little uncut gemstones fall out of the Xorn and clink onto the floor. With that, the Xorn wobbles for a moment before collapsing on the floor. It lies motionless and stiff.
Aster looks dumfounded, breathing heavy, open maw gaping at the collapsed heap of Xorn on the floor.
They did it...
Her form shivers a bit, shortens, plumpens, and gets a lot less hair. "Is everyone alright? Does anyone need healing?" she raised her hand to wipe her brow only to realize she is splattered with gold Xorn fluid, making her turn a sudden ashen color, "Oh... this is... why are we down here again?!?" she whines just bit, feeling a bit justified in it, just for a moment. "Sorry. Let's get moving."
"Don't think I had ever encountered such a resilient creature..." - the elf comments, moving closer to examine the uncut gems.
Then Ederion moves over to the next hallway, peering at the doors beyond.
As Aster starts patching people up, Ederion examines the creature's remains. He identifies the golden liquid as none other than liquid gold. It is warm to the touch, but not hot nor corrosive. The gems are of middling value as they are, but a gemcutter could turn them into beautiful ornaments. Most of the stones are quartz, but there are topaz, rubies, sapphires, and a large fire opal the size of Bazzle's fist.
Ederion sees two doors down the hallway, one on either side of him. The one to his right has a trail of blood passing through it, while the door to his left remains untouched. Both doors are unlocked.
Bazzle remembers that before they were fighting this monster, they were interested in the locked yellow panels.
Ederion motions to the others - "Blood" - he whispers, then moves to the door where the blood trail leads, and checks it carefully.