Ezekial tumbles to the tick's flank and stabs the giant vermin deeply with his kukri. Aldarion contributes by hitting the tick squarely with a sling stone. The giant vermin shudders from the death blow and then releases Connor from its lethal embrace.
Seres delivers a final jolt to the unconscious mite and kills the tick rider. Mikmek quickly follows up by decapitating the fallen mite leader with his axe - spraying Connor and Ezekial with blue blood. He holds the severed head for all to see, "Death to all fey!"
And then there are only the sound of fading echoes ringing down through the tunnels. As if on cue, the torch sputters out, leaving you in total darkness.
"Maybe not all fey ..." Connor corrects quietly but doesn't move to intercept.
"Let's find your holy totem, Mikmek," Connor states as he rifles through the leader's possessions with a calm, practiced manner.
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"Indeed..." Seres remarks from the darkness. "Though some light may help hasten our search. Anyone have a lantern?"
Wiping the mite blood from his face, Ezekial retrieves another torch from his backpack and ignites it using flint and steel. Connor, you find nothing in the pockets of the mite leader.
The glow of the torch reveals an unearthly stone idol in the southern corner of the room that radiates malevolence. The idol depicts a treelike monster with branch-like tentacles, roots ending in hooves, and a trunk decorated with numerous drooling maws.
Rows of wooden pegs line the northern earthen wall, some hung with tiny, filthy cloaks.
In the center of the room stands a rickety table held together with twine, covered with a filthy redchecked tablecloth and heaped with mounds of dirt and twigs and gravel, apparently arranged to form some sort of map. Sitting at the edge of the map, weighing down a scrap of paper, is a bloodstained ivory statuette of what looks like a diabolic, fanged octopus. A bulging burlap sack sits under the table.
Mikmek gasps upon seeing the ivory statuette, "Old Sharptooth! We must return to Chief Sootscale. Now perhaps Tartuk will be happy."
Mikmek appears disgusted by the statuette. He speaks of Tartuk with disdain.
"Indeed," the gardener declares on sight of the hideous statuette. "You must tell us, dear Mikmek, what you know of Old Sharptooth. And about Tartuk's interest in it."
Seeing his fellow agents feeling as worn out as he is, coupled by the echoes heard down the tunnel, he adds, "Once we are safely out of here. For now," he says as his gaze shifts to the hideous tree-monster idol, "What, pray tell, might that be?"
Seres shrugs at Mikmek and moves to help Ezekial search, starting with the bulging burlap sack.
He grimaces at the tentacled idol with a wary sidelong glance. "Something awful, that's for certain," he replies to Aldarion. "Is it so hard for evil things to worship attractive gods?"
Mikmek shakes his head with frustration, "Tartuk brought Old Sharptooth. He no kobold god."
Seres, within the burlap bag you find 12 Small spears, 193 cp, 120 sp, and 32 gp.
Aldarion rubs his thin goatee for a moment on spotting the crude map upon the table...
"I wonder what kind of god it is, then." He picks up his pace to match the others, and almost amusingly comments on the statue as he does, "My what sharp teeth it has."
"Mikmek, take a couple of these spears. They're better suited for you." Connor suggests, holding his hand out for the return of his throwing axe.
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Mikmek returns the axe and grabs a spear.
Looking around at his battle-worn companions, "We took down their chief, we have Old Sharptooth, and rescued Mikmek to boot. Perhaps we should call it a day and leave." Aldarion nods in the direction of the stairs leading up.
The glow of the torch reveals an unearthly stone idol in the southern corner of the room that radiates malevolence. The idol depicts a treelike monster with branch-like tentacles, roots ending in hooves, and a trunk decorated with numerous drooling maws.
The gardener looks wryly at Zeke. "Of course, but not to long eh?" Aldarion picks up Old Sharptooth with mild disdain upon his face. He places it in his pack, giving a knowing look to Mikmek.
He then casts an even more disdainful look at the tree monster idol. "I reckon this should be destroyed. Any thoughts? Besides, you know... just tossing it into a fire or smashing it?"
Listening more keenly to the distant noises of perhaps more mites, he prepares a small burlap sack to grab the monster idol without his skin touching it. "Perhaps we should worry about that later, let's just take it with us for now."
"That's exactly what I was thinking ... along with burning this whole accursed place. Let's clear our way out and get rid of as much of the infestation as we can."
Connor reattaches his throwing axe to his belt and leads the foray forward with battle axe in hand into the unexplored bowels of this evil place. As blood drips onto his boot, he pauses and turns back to Aldarion.
"Uh, do you have any more of those berries?"
Connor leads the group up the stairs at the eastern end of the cavern into what appears to be a common room of sorts. The damp room is haphazardly cluttered with broken beds, chairs, wagon wheels, and an assortment of worn, tattered, dingy, and broken objects pilfered or salvaged from the surface world. A row of bookcases stands crookedly propped against the far wall, the shelves filled with bits of bone, feathers, and dried centipede legs. Old window frames, cracked and splintered, hang upon the wall like works of fine art. Ezekial quickly scans the room and finds nothing of value.
Continuing up the stairs in the northeastern portion of the cavern the party enters an ascending tunnel that winds upwards for several hundred feet before opening into yet another cavern. The wet-looking floor of this large room is crisscrossed by several shallow trenches, each containing trickles of putrid looking fluid. Six foul mounds of compost and dung lie heaped about the room, each studded with small spherical eggs.
Around the room, crouched behind the compost mounds for cover, seven mites await you with spears and daggers. In front of you are the two giant centipedes previously entangled by Aldarion.
At Connor's mention of burning the whole place down, Aldarion shakes his head. With a raised and halting hand gesture, "We can save our ancient friend, actually." The gardener seems to be referring to the tree. "We just need to aid it by removing the evil blight upon it, let it restore its ancient vitality."
"Why, it's truly a shame." He looks quizzically at the giant centipedes. "Centipedes are actually very beneficial to gardening... though I cannot say how beneficial specimens of this magnitude would be."
"Alright, plant tender, as long as you can guarantee the evil is purged, I can be swayed. But I'm not letting this place remain if there's a chance something else moves in."
"Why, it's truly a shame." He looks quizzically at the giant centipedes. "Centipedes are actually very beneficial to gardening... though I cannot say how beneficial specimens of this magnitude would be."
"Depends on the size of your garden, of course..." Seres winks as he sends an electric jolt into the nearest mite.
;
Ezekial throws his dagger and kills the centipede on the left. Seres firs a jolt at the other centipede but can't hit the creature.
The centipede moves up and attacks Connor but cannot penetrate his armor.
Connor slides to the north of the centipede, taking a raking slash at it as he does so gouging a furrow out of the beast, spraying ichor everywhere. He points the end of his gory axe to the spot to the south of the centipede he just struck, "Zeke, stand firm there ... gardener, do you have any more plants to summon into their midst?"
;
Aldarion smirks back at Seres with a nod. "Indeed."
He smirks some more as the cavalier reads his mind... closing his eyes and concentrating on the great old oak once more, a thick root takes on a somewhat humanoid form as done once before. Though of one substance, a spear appears to form in its "hands."
Aldarion begins a summons as Connnor pivots and cuts down the remaining centipede. Mikmek charges forward and attacks and nearest mite but his metal spear tip is unable to do significant damage to the fey.
The mites erupt in a cacophony of chanting and croaking.
Mikmek's mite counter attacks and wounds the kobold.
; 1C 2E 3S 4A 5M
; shaken
Seres focuses out the awful din and casts another bolt into the fray, this time targeting Mikmek's foe.
;
As the humanoid-shaped tree root's beady little eyes blink with sudden consciousness, its head tilts to look around and discern the situation. It springs to action, tilting its spear-like appendage and circling round one of the mites. It stabs at the nasty blue devil with a solid strike.
Looking on at his magical ally with a nod of approval, the gardener places a free hand upon Zeke's shoulder. With a mild smile, he closes his eyes and recites a low mantra.
The scout feels a sense of connection with the earth, with the land. A positive sensation, it inspires him with a bit of assurance about his capabilities.
Connor, sick of the mites and their bizarre, unsettling rituals slashes aggressively with his axe stumbling as he shakes uncontrollably, only adding to his frustrations.
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Seres blasts and kills the mite on Mikmek. Aldarion's summoned vegepygmy stabs another mite, but the mite is largely unfazed by the plant man's spear like appendage. Aldarion resists the mite's curse and casts a boon on Ezekial. Connor and Ezekial, both shaken by the mite's strange chanting, miss their attacks.
Two mites move up and attack Connor but are unable to hit him. A third mite moves up and stabs mikmek with his spear and greviously wounds the kobold - Mikmek drops to the ground bleeding. The remaining four mites move up and shred the vegepygmy with their spears - killing the plant man.
; Connor
; Mikmek
; Vegepygmy
The tree-like person transfigures back into the root it was a short time ago after the mites spear it through. Traces of the holes remain upon the poor root, to Aldarion's chagrin.
Aldarion meanwhile grows concerned for the fallen kobold. Unable to reach him immediately, he draws his sling and loads it. Crossing his free hand's fingers for luck, he begins to twirl the sling overhead.
Spotting the back of Zeke's head not far from where his sling bullet needs to go, "Uhm. Incoming, Zeke..."
"Push forward! Clear them off Mikmek!"
Connor shouts as he steps to the west, swinging at the mite to his right flank.
With only cantrips left, Seres continues sending lightning jolts at the mites.
;
Ezekial slashes and kills the mite to the left of Connor. Seres fires an electrical jolt at a mite, but the shot is wide. Aldarion moves and loads his sling. Connor hacks at the mite to this right and kills the fey.
The mite on Ezekial stabs at him but cannot hit the rogue. Four mites swarm around Connor - one is able to wound him with its spear .
; Ezekial
; Connor
Aldarion presses forward, releasing his bullet at the mite facing off with Zeke. He gives a worried look at the fallen kobold nearby, hoping to get the chance to close in to treat Mikmek's wounds before it's too late.
"Aldarion and Seres ... focus fire on the same one. Zeke and I will cut the others down."
Connor takes a calculated slash at the one to his southwest, but is unable to carve out a hole for him to move toward Zeke and Mikmek.
Seres nods and sends another jolt at Aldarion's target.
;
|
Ezekial continues his task of butchery. Still using two weapon fighting he slices at the mite in front of him with his cold iron kukri. Dropping that foe he then 5' steps into its position and attacks the mite he is now flanking with Connor with his off hand dagger. Grim determination plays across his face as he executes near perfectly his knife work.
Ezekial cuts down the mite in front of him and then steps forward and kills a second mite. Seres wounds a mite with his electrical jolt. Aldarion fires on and hits the same mite but the fey seems unfazed by the sling stone. Connor fights back against the onslaught of mites but doesn't hit any of his attackers.
One mite steps away and stabs Ezekial hard with his spear, but is unable to push the steel tip through the rogue's armor. One mite steps to attack Connor's flank while the other attacks frontally - both miss.
;Ezekial
;Connor
Seres fires off another bolt, striking a root instead of his intended target.
;
Connor continues to work at the mite to his SW.
Ezekial and Connor each cut down a mite. Cursing, the last mite withdraws from combat and runs into the tunnel at the opposite side of the cavern.
Connor wastes no time and moves immediately to Mikmek to bandage him if he is still alive.
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