Rivet scrambles over the rocks, eyes the spideroid and fires a beam of black light at the spider. It twists slightly differently than that he fired at the raptor before.
Midioto watches as he misses with his first blast, and now the giant spider is coming right at him.
oh carp. NOPE. NOPE.
Midioto will then levitate a nearby fist sized rock, concentrate on it for a few moments while mumbling and then teleport the rock into the spiders brain with a tiny pop!.
Nearby, the spider gives off an enraged scream.
And with that, Midioto s out of existence, reappearing a dozen feet further away from the spider.
Luca stomps to the ground again, a fleeting blink of light washes over him. He wastes no time striking out with a shout punctuating each jab. [ooc]Using Fervor to cast Divine Favor.
"HAH"
"HAH"
"WAHTA"
Wow. Thats impressive Luca! From now on I am making sure you get face to face with whatever we, uhhh... Face...
The spider seems to think that was impressive too as it bellows a high pitch scream and begins to wail before striking at the bird that hurt it so badly
The high pitch noises it produces don't carry the same degree of terror the first burst did, but it's still distracting
[dice=Will save]1d20+8[dice]
The monster screams, clearly not pleased by being surrounded and tries to bite and slam at those surrounding him, desperate to finish the fight as soon as possible given how it is clearly on it's last legs, given the blood dripping from several holes in it's leathery wings and chitinous body
Lwazi grunts as the creature bashes him, then strikes back, slashing with his blade.
Luca perhaps unwisely uses his forearms to block the mandibles of the creature. Though it cut into his arms, it seems like the worst of the poison drips out in front of him.
too many eyes.
"oooooOOOOOO." Luca hops on his toes, pleased with the encouragement and moves back in for another assault.
Rivet shuffles along the cave wall to get a clear shot. "Most grateful to you fellows for holding this awful creature's attention - oh, that must have hurt - there now!" He unleashes the same beam of twisting black light as before.
The monster can no longer take the onslaught of attacks from every direction and falls over on top of Luca, apparently dead
With papers filed and tools aqcuired, Roy stands amongst his group of explorers, ready to carve out a piece of another world for himself and his new employers. Their assistants laid out large chunks of cut crystals and other stones, some he'd recognized from his time in the mines and others not, but he'd never seen anything of any value at such a huge size, making him wonder just how strong the powers they were working with were and who they'd bought these from.
Not having much of any magical ability to speak of he declined learning how to reincarnate people, and he nearly got away with not having the ability to create anything magic shoved in his head, but after some goading from his group, he accepted the ability to work with the weird floating stones their linguist was so fond of, not that he expected to ever use it, but it got them off his back.
He shoulders his pack and they head through the portal, being dumped in the strange new landscape one on top of another. Lucky for his group, he landed first or their resident healer may have been setting someone's arm sooner than expected.
The small troop headed into the forest, despite his uneasiness at being surrounded by so many places to be ambushed from. He takes the back of the group, hoping to keep them from being ambushed.
What he didn't expect is that they would walk straight into their demise less than 100 yards from where they landed.
The linguist, an old librarian named Ingo, spotted a large and thick hided creature munching on some leaves in a clearing of the forest. Apparently it was a triceratops, a long extinct creature on their native plane, but an herbivore and "safer than anything else we'd find here." The rest of his group approached, leaving Roy at the edge of the clearing, still watching their six. There was a scream and a collective scramble as the rest of his party saw what kind of leaves the creature was eating, namely the remains of a Dryad, face frozen in horror after being plucked from her tree and shorn in half, a fate most of those in the clearing would soon empathize with on a physical level as the hulking reptile's face cracks open down the middle and sides, its docile looking eyes being revealed as a disguise for the six sets of real eyes lining the crest of its head. The half orc is just far enough away in the clearing to prevent him from being able to save any of the group as tentacles as thick as tree limbs and topped with all manner of organic spikes and blades any demon would be thrilled to own close around the others, cleaving some and dragging others screaming and whole into its cavernous mouth. He has half a second to pulls his shield from his psyche, the spiraled disk tinted black with fear as he bashes away the mace-headed appendage meant end him along with the rest of his party. He's afforded just enough time to turn and run through the forest, passing sounds and the blurred images of things no sane creature had ever witnessed, these blurring into just colors and then a thick fog. The adrenaline in his system keeps him running blind, by the grace of some higher power not running into any trees or obstacles before careening out of the fog.
As he takes just a few seconds to take stock of his surroundings, his eyes immediately meet a huge tower in the distance, square in construction and taller than any building he'd seen. At the top of the tower were four enormous circles, all adorned with a series of lines and two arms, turning in sync, an oddly orderly sight even on the least chaotic land of this plane. He doesn't have time to think about how are why as he sees a few hostiles at the base of the tower take notice of him and start to run his way. Neither was as big as the beast that had decimated his landing party, but he still wasn't sure he could take both on his own.
However, by the same Providence that took him through the forest, possibly in repayment for the twist of fate that took his crew, the guards never reach him. The enormous building's faces all shudder into the same position, pointing to the top of the tower at once and a deafening clang resounds through the area. The first wave hits the guards and then him, echoing through his mind and fizzling his concentration, his sword fizzling out of his grasp as a dark circle starts at the edge of his vision. A second sound resounds, closing in his view even further as darkness overtakes his vision. A third clang takes him to his knees, a fourth to his hands, a fifth to the ground, and a sixth to unconsciousness. He will remain eternally unaware of the remaining six resonations of the machine during his sleep as well as what happened during them as he was lifted limply and laid somewhere new, in an unfamiliar camp of an unfamiliar party who may or may not at the moment know they needed a new member just as much as he needed a new party.
Lwazi has no time to rejoice in their victory given that the creature had just fallen on Luca. He sets his blade down and tries to lever the creature up enough for the tengu to get free.
Luca turns to the party to congratulate them a little too soon.
"Alright everybody, good... ?" The remains land on him before he finishes. Lwazi leverages his blade enough to uncover a clawed hand. The tengu is more than happy to take the opportunity to dig himself out.
"Thank you. My decisions don't normally weigh on me like that. One moment if you would."
He checks back with the elemental after.
Acck! Here Luca, I will get you out of there immediately!
Midioto then concentrates for a moment, and with a pair of s later, has swapped places with Luca.
Midioto, now under the spider gives off an OOF! before ing out from under there once more to rejoin the group.
Well that was a bit scary. Anyone seriously hurt? No? Thats good. Oh! Did everyone get across the rocks fine? Any stragglers need a hand?
Hmmm. Its an interesting specimen...
Gin stumbling his way down the rubble
before moving to examine the spider along side Midioto.
Once Lwazi is content that his companions are safe, he goes to the passageway onwards and looks down it, looking for signs of any other dangers.
"Look here!" Lwazi calls back to his companions. "Papers, caught in the web but undamaged. Magical scrolls, perhaps? I would not think unenchanted paper would have survived."
"As enjoyable as this cave has been, I suggest we go back to camp to examine those. Easier to treat a paper cut in better lighting I say." The blood the spider drew drips off of his arms, it becomes clear that he notices it, but doesnt seem to mind.
"We should finish while we are here," Lwazi argues back. "There may not be too much left to investigate."
After cutting free the pages, Rivet winds some of the webs on to an arrow. "Possibly useful as part of a trigger mechanism, if nothing else" he explains to anyone listening.
"A trigger mechanism? For what?" Luca's curiosity shows.
Hey guys, can you imagine this thing trying to FLY??
Midioto notices the venom sacs within the spidy-bat and removes it and places it carefully within his pack.
he asks Gin to come on over and help him with his tools and vials.
Hey guys, before we go further, I just want to do a short experement to see if the maelstrom is different from this distance from our camp.
He states as he pulls out a purple apple from his pack and absent-mindedly starts eating it.
Be back in a minute!
Midioto reappears about a half-minute later with another in the exact same position as he had left and frozen in place once more for a good 2 minutes before slowly reviving.
Once he finally revives, Woah! That is always a trip!!
Seeing Rivet gather some of the web, Midioto does the same. Good idea. I am sure that this will have a plethorea of uses. Its strong, lightweight and flammable!
Upon eating the purpke apple, midito starts tk feel oddly tingly.
And with mididoto in the mealstrom, the colors squirm under his flesh as they skintilate around, before he's sent back.
midioto's skin on his arms seems to crawl visibly, as if there was something alive under it.
Lwazi frowns as he looks at Midioto. He couldn't quite put a claw on it, but something didn't feel right...
"Are you well, Midioto?" he asks once the psion unfreezes.
Ghaaa!! That don't feel good... An that didnt happen the last time I journyed into the Maelstrom. This doesn't feeeeel gooood....
Better write this down!!
Midioto says that last bit almost cheerfully, while pulling out a notebook and pen. He then begins writing down his different circumstances and symptoms.
hmmm. Must be something different about this place. I did note that the Maelstrom seemed to be somehow contained oufside this space, but I could not see what was holding it back?
Oh. Idiot. Stupid.
Midioto puts his journal back and pulls out another purple apple.
This. Guys. I wasn't thinking and I reached into my bag to pull out something to eat and I grabbed this...
Ummm. I don't think we can eat the food here, and we had better boil the water at minimum... This will require further observations...
Midioto goes to put the apple back into his pack but hesitantly, it almost seems that he is unable, and instead he just stands there, staring at the apple...
Lwazi frowns. "We shall need constant resupply if we cannot eat the food here..." he comments, then trails off as he notices Midioto's fascination with the apple.
The big catfolk strides over and slaps a hand on Midioto's shoulder, then shakes him roughly. "Snap out of it, Midioto!" he growls.
"Not everything seems as evidently magical as the purple fruit. It was collected for that reason I believe. Perhaps if we avoid inadvertently consuming such?" Rivet suggests.
To Luca, "Trip wires can be so easily seen and stepped over. If we were to set up alarms or more active defences then they would need something similar to operate; a bit of this on a loose string or wire could activate, or 'trigger' such when it attaches to a passer-by.
"On another matter, I believe you demonstrated the use of divine magic earlier. Would your deity approve of using clouds of fog to settle the smoke from the air in these caves?"
While talking to Luca he wanders closer to Midi and tries to activate a power without being noticed.
A moment later he snatches the apple from Midioto's hand.
Sternly he says "One definition of insanity is trying the same action repeatedly and expecting a different result each time. Do you consider yourself insane, Midiotoziggeroto?" as he tucks the apple away.
Lwazi keeps a firm hand on Midioto's shoulder until he is certain he isn't going to just pull another apple out. "We should head back to camp and have our healer examine you, Midioto."
Gin drains any venom he can, his entire focus in his work, ignoring the others.
with the venom removed Gin tries to pull out each fang.
Putting away anything he has gathered, Gin moves his attention back to the group as they mention a healer.
"So what is the problem?"
Gin asks putting his hands behind his back.
Midioto seems a bit out of it as he continues to stare at his now empty hand.
ya.... ya we probably should...
Then with a vilount shake of his head, and a sideways a few feet he seems to shake himself out of it.
Right! Ok. Lets get out of here and head back to camp! ELEMENTAL! Do you want to come with us?
Oops. Wrong tongue.
Exasperated, he turns to Luca
SIGH.... Luca, you ask him!
Lwazi points Gin at Midioto. "Midioto ate one of those apples from earlier, while engaging in his usual teleportation. Now he seems..."
He struggles for words, before lamely finishing, "...affected."