"Not sure." Talon shrugs.
"Eventually I'll tire of saying this, here in this lovely place - but those little grub things are disgusting. And they're not attacking us, so maybe your feeding station idea is right, Kanthuun. It seems like they're waiting for something - have we got anything we could feed them? Would they want one of the nice hunks of rotten meat scattered about? That seems more than unpleasant enough to satisfy such horrid little creatures."
Sense motive:
"it's a wise suggestion you make, Haka. I wish there was some easy way to get rid of them, although I suppose we can't destroy all the rot grubs on this horrid plane. Our task is to make sure there are no dangers we are leaving behind us as we proceed forward, so if we can give them enough meat to satisfy that goal, then I think it is a good plan."
Feed them? Drovya looks from Haka to Rohini, appalled. Why would we feed them? I would give to aid or comfort to anything in this place, unless it was a prisoner like the Yamah. Are these prisoners? Kanthuun, I thought you said they were fiendish. I say we douse them in lamp oil and let them burn. No sense in leaving them behind us, especially not well fed.
"Well, if they are fiendish they may be resistant to fire, among other things -- I think that is what Kanthuun was trying to warn us. So if we burn them and it doesn't work, then we have the risk of a nasty fight that could weaken us and waste our resources at an inopportune time."
Ah, I think I understand now. Well, if they are fiendish, could Desna's holy light affect them? Perhaps weaken or discourage them from pestering us?
"Why didn't I think of that! In my defense, it is a recent gift from my Lady. If everyone is in agreement, I will go ahead and do that. Perhaps twice if necessary. But if anyone has spells that work particularly well against swarms, we should be prepared with those as well. If necessary, would a web hold them?"
Hanethes shakes his head.
"I'm not sure, I'm not much of a spellcaster. But I can craft acid easily enough if you think that will do well."
Kanthya lets his spell drop reluctantly.
"I can web them up," he says.
It sounds like people are in agreement, so, once the others have done necessary positioning and preparations, Rohini will position herself so that her area of channeling covers all the grubs, but standing as far away from the grubs otherwise. Alignment channel: .
If it looks like it worked, but the grubs still have a good bit of vigor left, she'll do it again. Alignment channel: .
She'll then quickly move back, with the understanding that Hanethes will try to hit them with acid and Kanthuun will try to web them if they still pose a threat.
Hanethes grabs up the vial of acid, prepared to strike after Rohini's second channeling.
He tosses the vial of acid at the grubs, hoping that the burning liquid would do significant damage to them.
for
acid damage.
Drovya backs away and pulls out a vial of holy water.
Haka,
Drovya,
Talon,
Grubbies,
Kanthuun,
Rohini,
Hanethes,
Yamah
Rohini's channel had the effect of springing the waiting creatures into action. They hissed and spewed forth from the hole in the holding tank, which in turn signaled the start of a rhythmic performance on Haka's part. The halfling prepared his sling with his free hand in what could only be consdered trained multitasking.
Drovya took a few steps back and pulled out a vial of holy water, while Talon, realizing he was ill-equipped to face the current for, cleared the way for those better prepared to take on the swarming foe.
The creatures swarmed on the fighter as a concentrated, nausea-inducing mass, rendering him invisible to the others if not for the writhing outline.
"ARACHNIS TOTALICUS!"
"Seriously, I didn't even do any.." Is the last thing you hear before Talon is overwhelmed by the swarm. After that, there is just gurgling as he struggles to even breathe.
Kanthuun! Don't! Drovya shouts as he realizes what the sorcerer is doing.
Likewise, Hanethes holds his acid vial without throwing it.
"That does complicate things, doesn't it. Positive energy effects only then. I don't have any of those."
He turns to the Yamah. "I don't suppose you have anything like that?"
"No, Hanethes, though we can heal your friend otherwise, once he is extracted." the more talktative of the outsiders announced, eyes on the swarm.
Unless she's stopped by the web, Rohini will channel again (see roll above) and then move back if she can do so without triggering an attack of opportunity. If not, she'll take a 5 foot step back diagonally down and draw her spear.
Kanthuun called a massive web into existence, covering the opening of the holding cell and blocking off the ability for any stragglers to join their brethren, though the creatures already attempting to devour the taldan mercenary seemed mindlessly unpreturbed. This would change after the second wave of energy Rohini sent in their direction. A morbid curtain of dead grubs flaked off of the side of the swarm facing the cleric, allowing her brief glimpses of her companion under the masses. While the creatures were dumb as bricks, they were able to tell that the source of their pain came from the cleric. Several of the top-layered grubs made a strange rattling sound, and Talon could feel their slimy bodies swerving to look at another target.
Hanethes, unwilling to put Talon in danger, held his action and his alchemical weapon. Likewise, the yamah held their ground, with the more sociable of the two looking down the tunnel from whence the group had come with glowing eyes.
Watching the fiendish grubs carefully, Hanethes will use his bottle of acid if the swarm moves towards Rohini. Otherwise, he holds his action and just remains observant.
Being covered in grubs was not what Talon had in mind for today. He tried to bat them off as he made haste in the direction away from them. "Why me?" He thinks to himself.
Drovya flings the holy water into the space occupied by the grubs,
vs. AC 5 for x1.5=7 splash damage
then switches Black Ivan back to his main hand as he tries to move away from the swarm.
--Hit
--Fail
--Fail
Haka continued his moving performance, keeping everyone's spirits up while Drovya threw the flask of holy water, which missed and spritzed only a slight amount of liquid on the grubs. It was not enough to dissuade their attention.
After Talon made his timely escape, the creatures lunged for Rohini. Again, a thrown flask (via Hanethes) came close to hitting them, but only a few grubs fell away from acid burns.
Rohini did not have Talon's fortitude. Nor was she fast enough to keep the wretched creatures from tunneling into her wrists as the beasts fell upon her.
Well, this is a pretty tricky situation... Since Rohini can't channel, she'd like to move back as far as she can She'll also draw her wand of lesser restoration during the move.
"Argh! Cast Web, Kanthuun. Don't cast Web, Kanthuun. Black tentacles are due to bad teleportation, Kanthuun. Black tentacles are your bloodline, Kanthuun."
The sorcerer throws up his hands and casts Haste. He then walks towards the nearest and biggest chunks of meat.
"I'm going to feed them. This running around and hacking is pointless."
"Feed them, that's crazy! Oh, wait, no it isn't. In fact, I think someone's suggested it before. Do you need a hand? Not a hand to feed to them, Kanthuun. A hand picking up some of those nasty bits of meat to toss to the grubs."
Haka will assist Kanthuun in lifting a piece of meat, unless someone stronger insists on doing the job.
Hanethes moves back a bit from the swarm. He's still a little uncertain what to do. "Any ideas how I can help, let me know."
"That actually sounds like a crazy wonderful idea."
"Right, Haka, in retrospect we should have at least distracted them by feeding them before our attack. They were tougher than I expected. Getting swarmed by them was really quite disgusting."
They're all insane. Drovya whispers as a crazed glint comes into his eyes. The priestess is infected with hell parasites and they want to feed them. I'm surrounded by madmen...
He fixes Haka with a manic stare. There are parasites in her! Help her!
With that, the magus quickly chants out a spell and moves forward to the swarm. He swings his blade into the mass of writhing worms, knowing that the blades cannot harm them, but that they will deliver his spell more effectively.
Hanethes moved 5 feet back. Considering that they now have a party member with Constitution damage, he might set up his alchemical kit to start making a repair ointment, but I think we have some restoration spells someplace around here. If nothing else, he will probably do so anyway after the conflict to craft some Vermin Repellant.
Before he steps away, Hanethes retrieves and tries to hand his potion of protection from evil to Rohini. While I'm almost sure boring grubs isn't the same thing as possession, it might be.
Oh, okay... He follows her and tries to give the potion to her then.
Kanthuun cast Haste and stormed off through the corridor before Rohini made her way away from the swarm, her face discolored and sickly. A noticeable bulge wriggled near a bleeding entrance wound at the base of one of her arms.
Hanethes moved after her, producing a potion bottle when he grew near to the cleric. The yamah, pressed against the walls with the sudden bottleneck, held out their hands and placed them on Talon and Rohini, respectively, granting relief for everything but the unwelcome guests in Rohini's interior.
Haka followed after Kanthuun in an attempt to find something to distract the nasty bugs.
Drovya defensively casts shocking grasp and plunges Black Ivan into the writhing mass again.
+ 50% = 28 electrical damage.
The shock delivered, he turns and runs after Rohini, thankful for the increased speed from Kanthuun's spell. As he runs, he marshals his arcane energy, returning the formula for shocking grasp to his mind once more.
Hold still Rohini! he cries out as he rushes toward the changeling. This is going to hurt a lot, but it should kill those nasty blighters!
Willing herself to maintain some semblance of composure, Rohini sputters, "Do whatever you need to do if you think it will get these things out of me. The pain I can handle!". She'll pull some still gut out of her haversack.
"Here, let me. I'm assuming this'll help with the puking and it's not some grub poison." Talon takes the vial and pours it down her throat.