Seeing his aim is not blessed by any means today, Bydar switches to his glaive and moves closer to the fisher, though not yet in melee range.
Keeping in mind his limited spells and the task ahead he chooses a weaker spell. It seemed the beast was well in hand.
Raxus quickly moves in with his fellows at a fast, low surge like some kind of animal, commanding Dawn to stay back and slamming downward with the curved point of his big hook.
Bridgette charges the beast
Round Three
20 Bydar
20 Raxus
17 Teremith
10 Arumil
08 Enemies
04 Bridgette
Bydar slings his crossbow and pulls his glaive, moving forward toward the cave fisher.
Raxus charges the monster and comes around with a mighty swing, causing a sickening crunch as his weapon shatters the chitin around the monster's head.
Teremith swings again, but narrowly misses.
Arumil causes a small charge to fly at the monster, striking it in one of its massive claws.
It reacts to the new threat by lashing out with a claw at Raxus, missing by a wide margin. Another claw reaches for Teremith, but the tiefling easily avoids the clumsy attack.
Shrill screams echo in the hall as four mites rush into the chamber from the same direction you entered!
Bridgette charges toward the cave fisher, dodging a claw aimed at her torso. Her attack glances off the monster's armored shell.
Arumil glances at the new enemies. Not missing a beat he cast a spell at them, sense they were all nicely bunched up.
Temerith notices the mites coming and backs away from the creature. He begins to chant softly under his breath, before gesturing with his left hand and then tapping his chest.
Bydar sees the Mites coming up, "Well, well... the dragon has two heads." he moves and slashes at the cavefisher hoping they can at least take out one side of the threats.
Raxus jerks his hook free again and slams it back down, whistling sharply and pointing to the new threat.
Dawn reacted instantly to her master's whistle, uncoiling like a spring and snapping at the closest Mite.
Round Four
20 Bydar
20 Raxus
17 Teremith
10 Arumil
08 Enemies
04 Bridgette
Bydar brings his glaive around at the cave fisher, but the blade deflects off the creature's shell.
Raxus brings the cruel end of his ogre hook around and embeds the pointed end of the hook in the underside of the cave fisher's head. The massive vermin convulses one time, then collapses in a heap at the feet of Raxus. The giant vermin is dead.
Teremith casts a spell on himself and he is covered momentarily by a shimmering cloud of light.
Arumil casts a spell at the mites, causing one of them to fall over in a deep sleep.
The three remaining mites spread out, with two throwing darts at Arumil. One of the darts hits the elf in the arm.
The third mite looks at Raxus and its eyes begin to bulge outward - it screams something at him
The fourth mite rolls over, slaps itself in the back of the head, and begins to snore.
-----
Next round!
Bridgette, please let me know what you want to do in round four and five.
Bridgette Continues to attack the fisher
Round 4
Round 5
"Well, since I'm clearly not a fighter by trade, I might as well risk missing from a distance." He switches weapons yet again, and fires a crossbow at the might that wounded the elf.
Temerith grips his weapon in both hands and charges the nearest mite, grunting with exertion.
Not really bothered by the attack, more insulted. He cast a simply spell at the mite.
Waves of uncertainty and depression wash over the big man. His shoulders slump noticeably.
It was my fault. She never would have died if not for me. I'll never be strong enough to face him. No dammen will ever want a mate who cannot protect her.
And then, like a switch, something snapped in his eyes. It started as a rumble, almost a purr, but rose into a monstrous and terrifying bellow as he charged forward into the midst of the the mites like an angry bull, slamming about with his terrible hook.
Dawn continued to snap at the mites, not sure what to make of them. Without the master's usual directions she was a bit frantic and acting on instinct. It showed in her lack of success.
Round Five
20 Bydar
20 Raxus
17 Teremith
10 Arumil
08 Enemies
04 Bridgette
Bydar readies his crossbow and snaps a shot at the mite who wounded Arumil. His bolt hits the creature in the skull and drops it like a sack of potatoes.
Raxus screams so loud that small pebbles are dislodged from the wall. He charges at the mite with the bulging eyes, and with a massive swipe of his ogre hook, cuts the creature in half at the waist. Dawn, momentarily startled by Raxus' roar, tries to bite another of the mites, but is too shaken to get a good attempt.
Teremith follows Raxus into the fray and lays into the third mite. He brings his sword down in an overhand chop that nearly bisects the small fey. It falls limp at his feet.
Bydar shows some relief at actually hitting something with his crossbow.
Arumil takes out his dagger and finishes off the sleeping mite. He checks their bodies for anything useful. He then goes over to study the body of the cave fisher.
Raxus does not relent. The blunt side of his hook slams down on the dead mite again like a hammer, then was tossed aside to clash against the wall as Raxus went after the fey corpse with his bare hands.
The body hurled against the wall with a squelch and he started after it like a rabid animal, but something stopped him. Dawn whined. He looked at her and slowly slowed his ragged breathing, then looked at everyone else. Glancing to the mite corpse and back to the group, his shoulders slumped.
"Sorry."
Bydar puts a hand on Raxus' shoulder, "It's alright."
Temerith nods at Raxus, sheathing his weapon in a fluid motion.
Harvesting the various components and chitin plates from the cave fisher is likely going to require at least ten minutes due to the creature's size.
The hallway to the south is covered in caltrops, but now that the group knows they are there, it's easy to avoid them.
Bydar glances to the south hallway, "I'm curious what's further on that way that they felt the need to caltrop it. Should we take it slow and gather some of the caltrops for our own uses as we move along it, or just avoid them and hope we don't end up running back over it again?"
Still seeming a little unsteady, Raxus was glad to have something to focus on.
"Gather them. This creature's body may prove useful. I will move it to the entrance."
"I think we should proceed quietly farther in."
Temerith walks over to join the others. "Agreed," he states, his eyes still keeping a careful watch on the southern tunnel.
The southern tunnel meanders south and southwest for about fifty feet before opening in a larger chamber. The walls are rough hewn, and another tunnel exits to the west. It is obvious that the excavation in this area was preliminary and does not exhibit the "finished" appearance that earlier parts of the mine displayed.
At the rear of the chamber are several boxes and a large chest. From the look of them, they have only been here for a week or two.
Temerith looks over the assorted items in the southern part of this tunnel, his careful eye trying to ascertain what might be in them. He does not recognize any of them, however, and turns around to watch for any more mites coming from the north.
Arumil looks the chest over. After a moment he lets the others know its strange design.
"I would guess it contains a vermin of some kind. Anything else would likely be as much a danger to them as an enemy. If anyone wishes to open it be careful."
"I suppose we could plug the holes, wait a day, come back, and open it more safely." Bydar muses, "Despite the danger, I am curious. But I don't think my hands are deft enough to try."
As the group investigates the chest, everyone notices that it is latched, but not locked.
"So who's gonna open it?"
Raxus grunts and steps forward to kneel in front of the box then flips the latch and gently raises the lid.
Arumil readies a spell in case it is an enemy.
Inside the chest is the crumpled form of a female humanoid - you can't tell what race she is due to the burlap sack covering her head and tied around her neck. Her arms have been tied behind her back with, and her ankles have likewise been bound.
Various other items, seeming to be personal gear, are strewn about the inside of the chest.
You can tell she is alive from her shallow breathing, but due to the lack of response from Raxus opening the chest, she is most likely unconscious.
Fumbling in his surprise, Bydar instead takes a deep breath and simply glows, wrapping the wounded and hopefully waking the unconscious figure
The unconscious figure startles awake as the divine energy washes over her. Her pleasantly melodious voice shouts out words in a foreign tongue as the sack covering her head begins to be removed.
The young woman blinks in surprise as the sack is finally removed and she finds herself surrounded by several people who are quite obviously not mites. Despite the numerous scrapes, bruises, and filth covering her body, it is obvious that she is quite attractive, with long silvery blonde hair and brilliantly blue almond-shaped eyes.
”Hello? Who are you?” she warily asks in the Common tongue.
"I'm Bydar of Shelyn, here, let me help you with that," the cleric helps her with the sack and bag further, "With me are Bridgette, Raxus, Temerith and Arumil. We're surveyors with a charter to clear the land of banditry and explore. On the way to that, we've ended up on an odd side mission to help rescue a kobold and deal a punishing blow to the mite threat. You are?" He smiles.