The bolt flies true, skewering the mite in the chest. The creature wobbles a moment, as if moving toward the entrance Rufus now covers before collapsing dead.
Inspecting the room leads to little value. The mites have small daggers and darts on them but nothing of any real value. The rest of the room is filled with small bones, wood scrapes and a variety of different, but useless, items that the mites seemed to use to create contraptions of some kind.
Rufus, closer to the 'exit' and the light from Castor allowing him to see, finds that the exit splits a little ways further in. One going down and to the left, another going down and to the right.
Approaching the split, Castor can hear a soft scream followed by softer giggling similar in pitch to the mites just before coming from the right 'branch' but doesn't hear much of anything coming from the left branch.
"I hear some mites to the right. One of them pretended to scream, then laughed... I'm not sure what to make of that."
"It'd be wise to investigate" Xelani replies in a murmur.
"Perhaps these cramped tunnels can work to our advantage" she adds, addressing Rufus. "Negating their only way of retreat was a tactically sound decision, but should we, as I fear, come to face greater numbers, holding a bottleneck instead might mitigate our numerical disadvantage. Not to mention we all know how devastating Korinne can be against clumped up foes."
"Wisely said, Xelani. Rufus, care to lead the way?"
Nodding in agreement, Rufus proceeds down the passage Castor indicated.
You move through the small tunnel for about 10 feet before it opens up into a new cavern.The walls of this egg-shaped cavern are obscured by thick tangles of long, pallid roots. To the east, the chamber opens into a wide, root-filled chasm.
Inside of the cavern are 6 mites, each holding a pointed stick and poking at something on the wall. That something being a dark scaled kobold, bound by what appears to be roots. One of the mites pokes the kobold who screams a bit, causing the mites to giggle. 3 other kobolds are tied up to the wall, however their lifeless eyes and numerous wounds tell the soon fate of the living kobold.
As you enter, one of the mites perks up and looks at the group. He hisses and the others turn, dropping their pointed sticks and pulling out small knives.
Rufus signs to Korinne to attempt her spell against the Mites as he prepares his own response.
"Είμαστε φίλοι. Φυλή σας μας έχει στείλει για να σας βοηθήσουν!"
The magnificent color washes over the group of mites. Most of them seem momentarily dazzled but quickly shake off the effect. One, near the back, does drop unconscious.
Xelani, after the colorful display, lets loose an arrow and easily spears one of the small creatures dead.
"By the stars of Desna, may our weapons strike true!" Castor calls out, grasping his holy symbol and holding it up to the air. The iron butterfly's wings glow with ethereal light, which expands to fill the room with a faint, glittery luminescence, covering the party and the chained Kobold.
"See if one of you can free the kobold; we'll need all the help we can get."
Quickly advancing on the closest of the small blue creatures, Rufus slashes fiercely at the verminous fey.
Rufus cuts down one of the mites with a swift chop of his large sword. The other mites, probably rethinking their aggressive attitudes, start to turn around and run.
Rufus, seeing an opportunity, slices with his sword at a nearby mite.
his slice cuts through the small creatures chest, severing the spine easily. Effectively, he has slice the little blue bundle of skin in two...
As the diminutive blue menaces turn their backs and run, Xelani rapidly shoots another arrow at one of the fleeing mites.
"Oh no you won't..."
Castor nocks an arrow, aiming for another one of the fleeing mites.
Allowing his momentum to carry him after the retreating mites, Rufus slashes at the closest of the final two.
Korinne's and Castor's shot miss wide, cutting a few of the vines that span the nearby chasm. Xelani's shot is true, killing one of the fleeing mites. The other gets to the vines and starts to climb on them but Rufus's quick action cuts the creature's head clean off.
With the mites dead, you hear the sound of the kobold on the wall moving a bit. The kobold whimpers a bit saying, "Θα έρθει να σώσει Mikmek από φρικτό μπλε αυτά ;"
"Φυσικά!" Rufus replies as he quickly makes his way to the bound kobold. "Δεν νομίζω ότι η φυλή σας θα σας αφήσει ακριβώς εδώ, έτσι δεν είναι?"
"You don't think your tribe would just leave you here, do you?"
"All the same," Castor says, invoking minute amounts of divine magic to seal up the small cut left in his finger by his bow's string. "If I'd made a shot like this last one when my father was teaching me archery, the other trainees would never have let me live it down."
Curious about the chasm's depth, Castor leaves Rufus to discuss with the kobold. Instead, he picks a pebble off the floor and transfers his Light spell to it, dropping it down the chasm to get a better idea of the distance to the bottom.
"Λοιπόν , όταν σκέφτεστε για το ..." the Kobold shakes his head and looks at Rufus. "Πρέπει να βγούμε . Ανάγκη για να σώσει Sharptooth και να φέρει πίσω στη γενιά πριν μας όλα σκοτώνει !"
"Well, when you think about it...
Need to get out. Need to save Sharptooth and bring back to clan before he kills us all!
As the two of you are talking, Castor takes the light infused rock and drops it down the chasm. It seems to hit something and bounce off...the hit doesn't make the sound of rock hitting rock...in fact, Castor is pretty sure whatever it hit is moving...
Before he has time to call out, a gigantic form surges from the chasm. It's long body is covered in chitinous plates and you can see many small legs holding up it's body and allowing it to move about. It crashes into the small hole that opens up into the cavern the group is currently in.
The creature gnashes it's mandibles a bit, something green and not too pleasant dripping from them, obviously looking for a meal...
The cenitpede lunges at castor, the giant mandibles sinking into the half-elf's thigh. The pain is immense and you feel a little weak as something starts to pulse through your veins.
Castor's eyes widen in fear as the gigantic vermin surges from the chasm and all but takes his leg off.
"Help!" He shouts, stumbling back, hoping to get away from the creature and fall back to a safer distance.
Xelani was intent watching Rufus' conversation with the kobold, ready to provide help or healing if it was needed, when the Desnan's shout suddenly forces her to turn and focus on the new threat at hand.
"What? Castor!" she exclaims, as she shoots an arrow at the insect-like creature who has just wounded her companion.
"Thank you," Castor sighs. "I thought for sure I'd be losing my leg."
Rufus bellows as froth begins to form at his lips.
Xelani's attack bounces off of the creatures thick chitanous plates. While it doesn't seem to be able to move well within this tunnel, it's armored hide still provides it with some protection.
The creature shuffles a bit and then, lightning quick, it snaps it's jaws at Xelani, the creature probably realizing that so far she has been the only threat.
The creature's attack misses Xelani as she dodges easily out of the way and it smashes into the rock nearby.
Knowing he could do little good in melee, Castor opts to ignore the burning passion Rufus's chant inspires. Instead, he approaches the warrior, and merely whispers a few benedictions.
"That your blade may strike true."
Xelani hears Rufus' thunderous battle call, inspiring her to charge blindly into her foe. The effect is short-lived, however, as her disciplined training allows her blood to chill and her mind to regain the necessary focus. She carefully takes a step backward while shooting at the creature.
Xelani can't quite comprehend the meaning of Rufus' words, but the sound of them alone is enough to instill a battle lust into her soul. She drops her bow and draws her sword, swinging it at her monstrous foe.
Rufus continues his rant as he swings his blade at the many-legged vermin.
From the heavens above, a lucky star twinkles for Rufus.
Xelani moves forward, drawing her blade and cutting into a part of the creature flesh, between the chitinpus hide. The huge insect chatters at her. It turns its head as if to strike her but this leaves a large opening in it's hide.
Seeing the opening, Rufus moves forward and rams his large blade into the creature. The blade sinks deep and Rufus twists the blade up and down, creating larger gashes in the creature's softer skin. The centipede screams in horrible pain and retracks itself back.
Rufus is able to pull his blade free before the creature takes it with him. Ichor flows through the wound in huge amounts, staining the ground black.
The creature rears, obviously in pain and seemingly woozy from the wound. It sets its sight on who did this to it, and chomps at Rufus.
The centipede chomps into Rufus chest, the disgusting sound of ribs breaking able to be heard over it's own noise. It shakes Rufus a bit an then flings his body against the wall. Rufus's body hits the wall hard with a wet sound of a body breaking.
Caster feels a little more sluggish as the poison courses through his body.
Xelani stares in horror at Rufus' body being mangled and casually thrown away. She knows that probably makes her the next one on the menu, but she lunges at the beast nonetheless, knowing full well she's the last line of defense between it and her companions.
"Castor - heal Rufus! Korinne, keep up the pressure!"
"Rufus!" Castor shouts, stay with us!
Castor lifts his holy symbol high, channeling his divine gift, forcing Rufus's wounds closed and healing the party.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The centipede, still bleeding from it's side, moves slightly to avoid the ill timed sword swing from Xelani. The bolt from Korinne bounces harmlessly off of it's hide.
It moves to attack Xelani, the other creature close to it.
The creature extends it's head but that pulls on the wound already done to it. The wound causes it to 'tug' out of the way of Xelani, causing it's maw to miss her cleanly.
Xelani sees the vicious gap Rufus' blow opened on the creature's side. Knowing she has to end it now, she aims at the vulnerable spot while swinging her blade with all her might.
Castor ignores his arms and legs feeling progressively stiffer, concerned with more pressing matters. He maintains the holy channeling.
Xelani's sword enters into the vulnerable spot and she feels the blade slice into the flesh. The giant creature immediately stops thrashing about. It shudders for a moment, and then slumps over. As Xelani pulls her blade free, huge amounts of black ichor pore from the wound. It's obvious that whatever she hit was the last shred of whatever kept this thing fighting.
The battle over, you can survey the area. With the creature lumped over, you can easily move to the next cavern if desired. The centipede did not destroy the rope like vines leading on. The kobold, seeming to have been keeping quiet so as not to draw attention to itself, now starts to make noises, as if it was trying to get loose from it's bonds.
"That was entirely too close for comfort," Castor says, applying more healing to Rufus. "I was well and truly scared that we'd lost one of ours to this beast..."
"I'm afraid I'm running dangerously low on blessings for today. We may be best served by retreating and returning after we've had a chance to rest. I believe it would be foolish to go any further..."
Castor slowly rises from kneeling next to Rufus to heal him, and finds himself struggling with that simple action.
"... Would any of you happen to be familliar with how to treat venoms? I'm pretty sure that bite was carrying something fierce."
As Castor's minor miracles restore Rufus to consciousness if not full health, he rolls upright once more. "Whatever we do, we'd best do it quickly. There are no guarantees they aren't preparing a counter action even now." Nodding his thanks to the half-elf, Rufus makes his way over to the bound Kobold. "Τι απαντάτε εσείς σε; Έχεις καμιά ιδέα πόσα από αυτά τα παράσιτα παραμένουν;"