Valeria grabs an arrow from her quiver and begins making her way forward as the sounds of yet another scuffle break out.
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Knowing he's surely about to pass out from the pain, Tik attempts to curse the one that's swallowing him, letting out a "gurglegurlehhssssssk" as his bones crack and he's sucked up inside of the creature's maw.
"Tikkernik! No!" Fidget shouts, horrified to see her new friend in such a condition. She immediately runs into the room and squeezes her eyes shut, concentrating as hard as possible. Her bottom wiggles a bit as she starts to shake with divine energy. She hums at a high pitch, the sound becoming higher and higher each second. Suddenly, her eyes open as a pale gold light bursts out of her chest and shoots across the room, landing square in the middle of Tik's torso.
Hearing the commotion of Tikneser's feet struggling against the cavern floor, Ruarc hustles to the front of the column, pushing past the others.
Bartimaeus rushes up and tries to bite into the wriggling tentacles. He can't find purchase on their slippery bulk. Nathaniel springs forward behind him with Ruarc, blade raised. A small slightly hysterical comment emerges from him. "Tik, save your courting for the bedroom, please!"
Valeria grabs an arrow from her quiver and begins making her way forward as the sounds of yet another scuffle break out.
Knowing he's surely about to pass out from the pain, Tik attempts to curse the one that's swallowing him, letting out a "Graaahgurglegurlehhssssssk" as his bones crack and he's sucked up inside of the creature's maw.
"Tikkernik! No!" Fidget shouts, horrified to see her new friend in such a condition. She immediately runs into the room and squeezes her eyes shut, concentrating as hard as possible. Her bottom wiggles a bit as she starts to shake with divine energy. She hums at a high pitch, the sound becoming higher and higher each second. Suddenly, her eyes open as a pale gold light bursts out of her chest and shoots across the room, landing square in the middle of Tik's torso.
The darkmantle on Tik's head continues to squeeze down on the ratfolk, trying to crush his skull. The rodent-man's skull fragments like the shell of a stubborn nut, and he loses consciousness. Feeling the rat go limp, and still presented with multiple foes, the darkmantle releases its grip on Tik.
The second darkmantle lashes at Bartimeus, trying to conduct the same skull crushing operation on the lion-man. Bart easily dodges the lashing, grabbing tentacles with a low growl.
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Weighed down by his armor, Ruarc is unable to close the distance to the darkmantles fast enough to make an attack. Instead he circles around, positioning himself in a place where he'll be able to offer a useful distraction for his companions.
Valeria continues her circuit of the room, firing an arrow at the nearest squid thing, though in her panic the shot flies high.
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Tiknesr falls to the floor in a crumpled, bloody pile looking as though he's breathed his last...until Fidget's golden light starts to knit him back together.
Fidget feels a sickening *CRUNCH* in her left shoulder and arm as she takes on some of Tik's injuries. "Ooof!" she gurbles as she moves up to one of the octopuses. "We're having octopus for dinner!" she squeaks in rage, attempting to slice and dice the beast. Her scimitar barely shaves off a piece of skin, and she scrunches her nose in frustration.
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Weighed down by his armor, Ruarc is unable to close the distance to the darkmantles fast enough to make an attack. Instead he circles around, positioning himself in a place where he'll be able to offer a useful distraction for his companions.
Bartimaeus snarls, bites and claws at the darkmantle, as Nathaniel swallows a curse at Tik's fall. One of Bart's claws tears the darkmantle's flesh, but Nat misses completely.
Valeria continues her circuit of the room, firing an arrow at the nearest squid thing, though in her panic the shot flies high.
Tiknesr falls to the floor in a crumpled, bloody pile looking as though he's breathed his last...until Fidget's golden light starts to knit him back together.
Fidget feels a sickening *CRUNCH* in her left shoulder and arm as she takes on some of Tik's injuries. "Ooof!" she gurbles as she moves up to one of the octopuses. "We're having octopus for dinner!" she squeaks in rage, attempting to slice and dice the beast. Her scimitar barely shaves off a piece of skin, and she scrunches her nose in frustration.
The darkmantles attempt to hover into a falnking position on Bartimeus, but they flouder, unused to such aerial maneuvers. Bart and Fidget lash out at them, but miss. The two squid-like creatures lash out at the lion outsider. The distraction provided by Tik's foe, allows the wounded darkmantle to envelop Bart's head and begin to crush his skull. The darkmantle squeezes down, its tentacles wrapping tightly around Bart's throat.
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Hit
Grabbed
Ruarc steps into a flanking position with Nat and swings Justice at the darkmantle between them with a shout. The squid-thing flattens itself into a disk and avoids the blow.
Fidget takes another invisible punch, this time in her hip. She winces in pain and starts to feel a bit woozy. She sees Tik start to take some deep breaths, and, with a blink of her eyes, the link between the two of them is severed.
She makes another attempt to slice and dice the octopus, and this time her scimitar connects with its target. "Nobody eats Big Lion!" she roars, puffing out her chest.
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Valeria takes a couple steps closer to the fight, steadying her bow and loosing another arrow. This time, it strikes it's target, burying itself in the upper body of the one wrapped about the lion-man.
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Suddenly awake again, Tiknesr gasps and wheezes as consciousness returns. His skull and body throb in pain and he attempts to play dead on the floor...but he does wink at Fidget, who he barely remembers covering him with a healing golden light.
Tik looks up at the creature that hadn't yet resisted his misfortune. The bloody, saliva-covered rat man squints -- trying to surround it in a haze of ill luck -- but just gasps again in failure.
Ruarc steps into a flanking position with Nat and swings Justice at the darkmantle between them with a shout. The squid-thing flattens itself into a disk and avoids the blow.
Bart lets out a strangled roar and tries to open his jaws wide enough to bite down hard on the darkmantle flesh. Concerned for his companion, Nat steps up and precisely brings his blade down on the creature's skin, trying to cut its writhing tentacles free. He does so, killing the beast.
Fidget takes another invisible punch, this time in her hip. She winces in pain and starts to feel a bit woozy. She sees Tik start to take some deep breaths, and, with a blink of her eyes, the link between the two of them is severed.
She makes another attempt to slice and dice the remaining darkmantle, and this time her scimitar connects with its target. "Nobody eats Big Lion!" she roars, puffing out her chest.
Valeria takes a couple steps closer to the fight, steadying her bow and loosing another arrow. This time, it strikes it's target, burying itself in the upper body of the aberration.
Suddenly awake again, Tiknesr gasps and wheezes as consciousness returns. His skull and body throb in pain and he attempts to play dead on the floor...but he does wink at Fidget, who he barely remembers covering him with a healing golden light.
Tik looks up at the creature that hadn't yet resisted his misfortune. The bloody, saliva-covered rat man squints -- trying to surround it in a haze of ill luck -- but just gasps again in failure.
The pincushioned cephalopod lashes out at the half-elf who killed her mate, trying to get revenge before she too gets cut down. It manages to whip his face, hard, with several tentacles, but can't pull its fleshy pocket over his head.
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Fail.
Ruarc slices out at the last monster. He cuts it in half.
Tik sits up slowly and blinks, trying in vain to wipe the blood and saliva off of his white fur. With a wheeze he says, Thank you -- hhhhurrrh -- Fidget. And I suppose I deserve that, for going out front alone. Still, any more help would be -- hhhhhurrrrh -- greatly appreciated. I feel like I just got chewed up and spit out...which I guess is pretty much correct."
Fidget kicks the dead octopus in the face, making a resounding *SQUISH* and getting octopus goop on her boot. "Icky!" The kick sends jolts of pain through her injured hip, and the gnome glances down, surprised, almost as though she had forgotten she was hurt. "Oh, that!" she exclaims, then heals herself.
Then, she kneels down beside Tik. "You're welcome! Don't feel bad!" she says. Her facial expression grows very grave. "Nobody should be chewed up by octopuses." She casts another spell on Tik.
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Bartimaeus' face is bruised and bloody, covered with sucker marks. He spits out a broken fang to the ground and turns away to lick his mane clean. Nat passes him a potion. He breaks it open with a claw and swallows it quickly, tossing the empty bottle to the ground.
His wounds melting away, he growls for a moment then rejoins the group. Nat relaxes a little, then turns. "Darkmantles, those things were?" He looks around. "Think there will be more?"
Valeria walks over to the other side of the cavern, looking for her errant arrow. She eventually finds it, splintered after having struck the opposite wall. She sighs and turns back to the group. "Is there any hope of us reaching the surface before morning? What time is it, anyway?"
"Uuugh. Naptime, I think." the battered rat man replies to Valeria. After Fidget's healing magic he seems to be firmly back in the land of the living, but still quite battered, bruised, and of course covered in octopus spittle.
He stands, tries to wipe some of the sticky saliva off of him, and then says, "I suppose we'd best keep going...though I think I'm going to give someone else a turn at being our valorous scout for a little while."
Once he learns about the statues in this room, Aravashnial becomes very intrigued. He shares one of his theories with the crusaders.
"An old legend says that after the First Crusade a group of crusaders who had become infected with Abyssal energies fled into these caverns to raise their deformed children in peace, and that their descendants live on today in the tunnels below the city. The presence of these statues here gives significant credence to the tale, I assumes they were carved by the children."
"Y...you mean we might find people down here? Would they help us?"
The elf shrugs. "I find that prospect...doubtful. But you never can know what's happened in all that time."
Valeria hangs her head when Aravashniel shoots her hopes down.
Oh well, a girl can hope, can't she?
She looks to the exit tunnel, and since the rat no longer wishes to lead, she knocks an arrow and proceeds down the path.
Valeria makes her way to the next tunnel, it's very short and opens up into another cavern. A small campfire and a well-used bed roll, along with a few utensils and tools , sits near another cave opening in the far wall of this cavern.
As she's taking this in, she hears chanting and looks up to her right. The blurry, magically indistinct form of a short humanoid floats near the ceiling of the cavern to her right. It flings its hands outward and two virulent green colored magical missiles fly from them to strike the aasimar archer unerringly. "Вы крыжакі ніколі не возьме мяне назад! Я памру першым!" the floating figure says.
Valeria raises her bow and fires on the dwarf. She hits him right in the chest, nearly piercing his heart.
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The blurry dwarven arcanist clutches at the arrow in his chest and draws a potion from his belt.
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Millorn 19
Party 14.2
Hit
Valeria grits her teeth against the pain the dwarf's magic caused her as she fires another arrow that narrowly missed its target.
"Guys! There is a psycho dwarf trying to kill me in here!"
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Fidget runs after Valeria into the next room. She bursts out laughing when she sees the floating dwarf.
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Nat hesitates for a second, looking up at the dwarf, then curses. "If this goes wrong, I'm sorry." Bart looks at him a moment before nodding. Nathaniel drops his weapon to the ground and moves to stand in front of Valeria, blocking her shot. Bart crouches in front of him protectively, claws hidden and mouth closed. Nat raises his hands and speaks, trying to smile. "Well met? My name is Nat... I heard people live down here, are you one of them? We just want out, I promise, we don't want you dead. Sorry about my friend." Sensing some incredulous looks, he turns his head back. "He's not a demon or a skeleton or an insect; I see our best chance to get out of here safely. If it goes wrong, hopefully he shoots me first." Nat turns and braces himself for whatever the dwarf does.
The dwarf ignores Nat's pleas. Either he doesn't understand, or doesn't care what the half-elf has to say.
As he runs up, Tik says "Huh, it was worth a try Nat, but note he hasn't spoken Taldan to us. Does anyone here speak Dwarven? I've never had the occasion to pick it up."
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The blurry dwarven arcanist clutches at the arrow in his chest and draws a potion from his belt.
Valeria grits her teeth against the pain the dwarf's magic caused her as she fires another arrow that narrowly missed its target. "Guys! There is a psycho dwarf trying to kill me in here!"
Fidget runs after Valeria into the next room. She bursts out laughing when she sees the floating dwarf.
Nat hesitates for a second, looking up at the dwarf, then curses. "If this goes wrong, I'm sorry." Bart looks at him a moment before nodding. Nathaniel drops his weapon to the ground and moves to stand in front of Valeria, blocking her shot. Bart crouches in front of him protectively, claws hidden and mouth closed. Nat raises his hands and speaks, trying to smile. "Well met? My name is Nat... I heard people live down here, are you one of them? We just want out, I promise, we don't want you dead. Sorry about my friend." Sensing some incredulous looks, he turns his head back. "He's not a demon or a skeleton or an insect; I see our best chance to get out of here safely. If it goes wrong, hopefully he shoots me first." Nat turns and braces himself for whatever the dwarf does.
The dwarf ignores Nat's pleas. Either he doesn't understand, or doesn't care what the half-elf has to say. He continues to try to fumble the potion open.
As he runs up, Tik says "Huh, it was worth a try Nat, but note he hasn't spoken Taldan to us. Does anyone here speak Dwarven? I've never had the occasion to pick it up."
Ruarc moves into the next room as well, keeping an eye on the dwarf, but he makes no move to retrieve his sling, assuming this will be over before he could get off a shot.
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The dwarf finally manages to get the stopper out of his potion, and quickly gulps down its contents. His wound partially heals and the arrow is pushed out of his chest.
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