Leora steps forward into the room that had once been the stables and notices the demon bile dripping off of the giant cockroaches. She raises her flask high and amber light spills out around her, not unlike the color of a nice mug of ale. "Eugh! Stay back you gross bugs! Be cleansed by the power of booze!"
T'chazzar shrugs. "A regular part of the menu in the Darklands," he says.
While Leora's positive energy discharge removes the outward signs of their taint, the giant vermin still seem anxious to snack on the invaders into their home.
Also, a quick look around reveals no colonies of demon's bile on the walls or floor...at least not yet.
"More demon bile. Of course. I think we're about to find out where Firefly Man has been hiding."
After gathering power while Davina picked the lock, Kiri enters the livery and unleashes an air blast at the cockroach to the north. She strikes it dead-on, causing it to fly back into the stall wall with a sound that's part crack, part squish. That bug won't be getting back up.
Dom is approached and snapped at by the southernmost roach, but its mandibles fail to find flesh. Poor Leora is swarmed by three more roaches (including an unseen one that was lurking deeper inside the ruins), but only one is able to bite at her and it misses.
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Hands tightly gripping his sword, Dom picks his spot, and brings the blade crashing down on the bug that approaches him.
"Ugh! Only thing that's gonna make this better is if the Firefly Man is here..."
The cockroach Kiri apparently killed suddenly staggers out of the stall, looking an utter mess but still somehow standing. It crawls up to the strix but cannot yet attack her. Meanwhile, Dom's falcata does a number on his vermin foe, but it also stays up after a savage hack.
Realizing that if Dom or Kiri can't kill one of these nasty bugs with a single blow, Leora decides to see if she can help finish one off. "How is this thing still walking?" she wonders with horror, as she swings at the mangled roach.
T'chazzar tugs at his sword, which sticks slightly. He tugs harder, then moves into position to try to help Leora. He lashes out with his backsword at the one she just hit.
Kiri stepped back from the nearly dead roach. the things were disgusting and she wanted them all dead. She wished that she could kill them all at once but knew that it wasn't happening. She sent another burst of wind into the creature, fully intent on taking it down.
Davina moves up as close as she can get. Her rapier out and ready.
T'chazzar's blade pierces the cockroach's head and apparently finds what passes for the thing's brain: It hisses, spasms, and drops to the floor. While Kiri's next blast misses, Leora also scores a head shot, poking another cockroach good. This one, however, is fresh and doesn't drop from the stab.
The four remaining cockroaches are joined by another, drawn out of the shadows by the ongoing battle. It scuttles forward to (eventually) join the scrum. Its mates snap their mandibles at the front-liners: Leora and Dom are nipped . Davina's able to parry her attacker's incoming bite and may make a retaliatory riposte .
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Dom does his best to put down the roach he's facing. "I liked this place better when it was full of feral dogs."
Kiri shifted a bit closer so she could see the only roach unengaged and sent a burst of wind flying at it.
Dom's hack fails to connect as the bug shifts its position a bit at the last second. Kiri has better luck battering the newest arrival with an air blast, however.
T'chazzar circles around to the line of roaches facing Leora and Davina, and stabs at the one on the end of the line. He mutters, "This city is full of vermin."
"Take that!" Leora takes another swing at a roach. "These things are dang tough! Worse than the ones that I'd find scuttling around under the bar!"
Davina applies a riposte at the cockroach.
Davina stays where she is, and attacks again with her rapier. "I really hate bugs."
T'chazzar and Davina damage the northernmost cockroach some more; one of two more hits should drop it for good. But it won't die easy--it whirls on T'chazzar and takes a bit out of the drow's leg . Davina and Leora aren't quite quick enough to avoid having their legs nipped as well . Dom's foe chomps empty air and the last cockroach, already messed up pretty good by Kiri's air blast, scrabbles up to join the melee.
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Having turned his foe's mandibles away from his leg with his sword, Dom then brings the falcata back down for another quick chop.
Leora grimaces as the mandibles sink into her leg. Seeing that one of the other roaches is nearly done for, Leora slashes again with her rapier. "I wish we could just stomp on them!"
A second major strike from Dom doesn't quite finish his hacked-up vermin foe. Likewise, Leora's rapier strike doesn't kill the other badly-wounded giant roach.
T'chazzar shuffles back at his foot is nipped, then lunges in with a hard downward drive of his blade.
Davina attacks at the cockroach right in front of her. She is so upset about the bite she misses with her attack, and almost gets T'xhazzar in the foot instead. "Sorry about that."
Aggravated at the luck of these filthy bug Kiri stepped back and prepared another burst of wind. When it was ready she let it fly at the nearest of the damned resilient bugs but wasn't pleased to see it looked like it would hit right in front of the insect as she tried not to hit Leroa with it.
T'chazzar's stab is both accurate enough and deep enough to finally put down the northernmost roach. Kiri's latest air blast clips the roach closing on Dom, causing more damage but not putting the resilient bug down. Two unharmed roaches are still threatening Leora and Davina, and two wounded ones are near Dom. Lots of mandibles snap menacingly, but no pair comes remotely close to connecting.
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T'chazzar continues to adjust his position (another 5' step) and lashes out at the roach now between him and Leora.
"Nice one, guys" Leora says to T'chazzar and Davina after the three of them whittled down the one roach and T'chazzar struck the killing blow.
One enemy down, Leora's eyes flick to the injured roaches, but she figures Dom and Kiri can handle them. Hopefully between Davina, T'chazzar, and herself, they can finish these two bugs off quickly.
Davina stabs with her rapier. She's still distracted by the clicking mandibles, and misses almost nicking Leora.
Thinking about the punishment these roaches are withstanding, Domitius has a brief flash of memory, back to the day when as a child, Dukkan saw his tribe decimated. Orc warriors fighting in the night, still swinging axes and thrusting spears at each other even after taking wounds that would have killed humans.
Snapping back to the present, he eyes the roach at his feet. You're no Night Fang, and you're sure as hell no Cinder heart. He lowers his sword at the little monstrosity.
Although Davina's attempted stab fails to connect, the blades of her friends do not. T'chazzar and Leora flank and start carving up another cockroach, while Dom's falcata beheads the badly-wounded one he's been battling. Half of the vermin are dead, and 2 of the three remaining bugs are injured.
Shifting to one side Kiri sent another blast of air out at one of the surviving roaches. She was determined to kill one of them at the very least.
As Kiri's latest air blast misses, the remaining roaches gnash their mandible, targeting Leora and Dom (twice). None of the three comes very close to a hit, however.
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T'chazzar makes a low sweep and tries to finish off the wounded roach that still squirms between him and his allies.
(if it hits)
Aggravated by the evasiveness of the Roaches Kiri tried to smack one again, another burst of air leaping out to slam into one of the insects.
Davina stabs at the roach next to her. She connects finally.
Since the roach wasn't even close to touching her, Leora is able to concentrate and line up a good swing at the closest remaining bug.
Dom tries to hack at the already-wounded northernmost roach, but his timing's thrown off when most everyone else targets that foe, too. T'chazzar has a similar problem and also misses. Davina and Leora are in rhythm, though, and each scores a hit that pierces the beleaguered cockroach's carapace. Kiri chooses a different target, and her air blast puts more hurt on the southernmost roach .
The mindless vermin don't use much in the way of tactics: instead of flanking Dom, the southernmost cockroach tries to bite him where it stands. Strangely enough, the lack of strategy works: It chomps deep into the half-orc's leg, drawing a gush of blood . The other roaches snap at Davina and Dom but miss.
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T'chazzar growls with frustration, spins his sword once, and then slams it down at the roach between himself and Leora.
Seeing the roach take a nasty bite out of Dom, Leora eyes him with concern, but hopes they can finish the roaches before too much longer. She notices T'chazzar has been bitten a few times too, in addition to her own wounds.
She determinedly stabs at the roach between her and T'chazzar that's hopefully almost dead.
Working in tandem, T'chazzar and Leora make a couple of quick jabs that send the wounded cockroach sinking to the floor with a few final harmless twitches .
Kiri was pissed at her inability to hit these cursed bugs and gatherd in one final burst of air. Once the winds were ready she took aim and let them fly at the remaining roach.
Doing hid best to ignore the pain in his leg, Dom steps around to try and get into a better position.
Davina moves into a flank position with Dom. "These things are tiresome."
Dom's falcata ends the life of the southernmost roach , leaving only one undamaged foe to kill. Kiri and Davina quickly do something about that, their attacks doing some significant damage and leaving the last cockroach staggered but still capable of biting. It snaps its mandible at Davina but misses. The mindless vermin is too dumb or wounded to flee or at least try not to get flanked; it apparently intends to fight to the bitter end.
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T'chazzar steps up to finish off the staggered roach.
"Vermin. Feh."
"Yeah, if I never see another roach of any size, I'm good with that."
Dual strikes from T'chazzar and Dom seem destined to kill the roach...but as they draw their blades out of the oversized bug it twitches anew, still having a bit of life in it, it seems. Leora delivers the killing blow an instant later, wiping the ichor off her blade on the sole of her boot.
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T'chazzar wastes no time in giving the livery a once-over. "What exactly are we looking for?" he asks as he checks the various stable stalls for trapdoors and looks through the hayloft for any traces of passage. He even checks the wagon to see if there are any signs that people have used it recently.