Davina hurries to the warehouse following Blackfeather. She approaches the door and checks to see if it's locked or trapped. "Thank you Blackfeather."
T'chazzar moves quickly to accompany Davina to the new location.
Walking up to cover Davina, Domitius has his crowbar in hand as he says, "Please let me know if you'd like me to try it my way."
From his perch on the corner of the building, Blackfeather nods at Davina before again pecking at the purple goo that afflicts it. Davina finds no traps on the door and discovers that it is unlocked. More accurately, she notes that the locking mechanism has been burned almost entirely away, likely with some kind of acid.
The door opens quietly. Basic warehouse supplies, such as ropes, hammers, crowbars, and cargo nets, hang from the southern wall of this room, but no workers are present. Several crates stand against the eastern wall. Another door stands against the north wall. A pulsating mass of purplish-black sludge lies along the floor in the northwest corner, and long filaments anchor the substance to the walls and ceiling. A lump that appears to be a large egg sac lies at the center of the slime, with tiny legs visibly scrabbling beneath its surface. Four other nearby egg sacs have already burst. Their former inhabitants are very likely the quartet of giant centipedes that stir to action as the outside door is opened. The giant vermin show signs of demon bile affliction as well, as purple nastiness oozes from their maws and between some of their chitinous plates.
It appears the demon's bile has morphed these mundane (but giant) vermin into fiendish creatures (meaning they can smite good, have some SR, and some resistance to cold and fire).
"Blagh. I hate bugs."
Never a big fan of creatures of this sort, Domitius is utterly repulsed by the additional uckiness of the demon bile that seems to be having its way with these creatures. Domitius strides into the room, sword a-swinging, looking to clear some of these... things.
Dom steps forward and hacks the nearest centipede in half, making it a bit easier for the others to enter the premises if they so wish.
T'chazzar moves past Dom, drawing his sword as he goes, and mutters, "Hrm. Same kind of vermin we have in the Darklands." He stabs with his backsword at another one of the centipedes.
T'chazzar's stab is true but doesn't penetrate very far beneath the insect's chitinous plates. Still, it writhes in considerable pain.
"These things are like those other demons. Not all damage goes through. Weren't those other things vulnerable to silver? They are somewhat resistant to cold and fire as well.
Davina drops her rapier, and pulls out her silver dagger pulls out her rapier as she moves up to engage one of the creatures.
Kiri entered the room behind her companions and saw the monstrous creatures they were facing. She quickly pulled in the winds and sent a blast of air at the nearest unengaged centipede.
Kiri's air blast throws a centipede hard against the north wall, mangling it. The two remaining vermin scuttle forward to attack Davina and T'chazzar . Each hero is nipped
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T'chazzar grunts and mutters, "Poison. Just making my cycle better."
Leora rushes to help her friends in battle as quickly as her armor will allow her. Hearing what T'chazzar said about poison, she lays a hand on his back. Noticing that their enemies are just giant bugs, she doesn't bother trying to hide the divine nature of her magic from them. "Keep it together, T'chazzar, you've got this! Stupid centipedes won't keep us down!"
"Well that hurts." The poison begins to course through her veins. Davina steps to the side to allow Dom to get into the action. She stabs at the centipede in front of her with her rapier.
Stepping into the gap between the two centipedes, Domitius cleaves at the one by T'chazzar.
Davina and T'chazzar each feel the centipedes' venom begin to affect their systems . Domitius hacks down the centipede T'chazzar had already wounded. Anthough Davina successfully jabs her rapier's tip into the head of the centipede nearest her, it's still quivering and may yet be capable of attacking some more.
T'chazzar stumbles slightly, brings his shield down to guard against the low strikes of the centipede, and moves to a flanking position.
With the last centipede being beaten down she turned on the egg sack. With another violent burst of wind she attempted to destroy the egg sack and the, hopefully, helpless centipedes within it.
Kiri blasts the egg sac, destroying a fifth gestating giant centipede therein. The creature near Davina isn't quite dead, though; it snaps its mandibles at her wildly in its death throes. It misses by a wide margin and collapses at Davina's feet, quivering slightly as the last of its lifeforce ebbs away.
Kiri's momentarily spooked by sudden movement behind her, but it's only Blackfeather descending from his roof to poke his diseased head through the doorway to look for his missing mistress.
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(includes +1 from touch of good as this would've happened in the same round that I made my attack, above)
With the mutant centipede threat eliminated, your group has time to look around the room a bit more carefully. There's a trail of papers leading to the north door and scuff marks on the floor indicating that a heavy piece of furniture seems to have been dragged through fairly recently.
Upon closer examination, the papers are records of the comings and goings of items to the warehouse, all signed by a fellow named Jozepi Rastuni, perhaps the owner or manager of the place. The earliest date on the paperwork is about 45 days ago; the most recent is 2 weeks ago.
Leora tends to Davina and T'chazzar as they recover from the centipede bites, but there's little she can do as the poison runs its course. "Are you guys doing okay? "
"Gross! I didn't know centipedes could get that big. Hey Blackfeather, have you been inside here before? Have you ever eaten any of these giant centipedes?"
The overgrown familiar rudely (or perhaps a bit clumsily) pushes past Kiri to get next to Leora, shaking its head and clacking its beak a couple times before looking down at a dead centipede and answering. "Not been here before. When mistress not return, ate some bugs in water. They bigger now. Crunchier." His head turns this way and that before he squawks, "Where is mistress?"
Davina puts down her backpack, and pulls out her Alchemy lab. "Dom will you carry this for me? With this poison damage. It's too much for me to carry."
Davina looks around the room, and then listens at the door, and checks fr traps.
The door to the north appears untrapped to Davina; she also hears nothing stirring beyond it.
Davina opens the door, and looks inside.
Torches in each corner of this large chamber shed dim flickering light between high columns of barrels and crates. Four large pillars support the ceiling. Purplish-black slime covers the western wall and much of southern one, too. The heaviest demon's bile concentration, however, is in the northwest corner, stretching between the walls, pillars, and crates with long filaments. Countless lumps, varying greatly in size, lie motionless within the great swath of sludge, some on the floor, others atop crates, and at least one glued upright to a pillar. This last purple cocoon has a distinctly humanoid size and shape.
Also present, standing before a desk that has been converted to what appears to be a makeshift alchemy lab, is a young man you assume must be Gavin Brassvane. He's oozing demon's bile and strings of the stuff dangle from his arms; he mutters something incoherent. North of him, some species of oversized flying vermin takes flight as the door is opened...a red, spiky fly of some sort with a long lolling tongue that ends in a sharp point.
The thing flies the entire length of the next chamber with frightful speed and its tongue--actually a proboscis of some type--stabs at Davina like a spear! Davina manages to dodge the attack, and the battle is on!
"Buzz! BUZZ! Yes--kill her!" Gavin shrieks madly.
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Ugh, why did it have to be insects?
Trying to take some heat off the already injured Davina, Domitius bursts into the room. Trusting his armor to protect him from the fly, he barrels through the doorway, past his comrade, and when he's gotten past the fly, Dom pivots and brings his sword down on the creature.
The sudden attack of the flying...thing, was disturbing, especially when it was so fast, but Kiri knew one masquito was much like another, regardless of size. They all went splat when hit hard enough. With that in mind she made a sudden leap, her form sailing across the purple sludge with ease and, when she landed, redirected the gust that had sent her sailing across the room so that the winds slammed into the bug with severe force.
Leora can't see what's going on, but it sounds like trouble. She trods up behind Davina as fast as her mail armor allows and raises her flask, before taking a swig. "Let's do it!" she shouts.
"Hey Blackfeather, I bet she's in here!" Leora calls to the bird.
Davina attacks the bug with her rapier, and then slides to the side to allow others to move in.
T'chazzar steps in to the other side of the doorway from Davinia and does his best to stab at the fly, though fighting around the corner proves difficult.
Davina employs a classic stab-and-move technique, lightly wounding the flying horror before getting out of the way so others may take their shot at the thing. Leora blesses you for the battle, T'chazzar tries unsuccessfully to stab the fiend-fly from a position near the open doorway.
Then Dom takes matters into his own hands, bull-rushing the insect to clear the way for the others. He drives the flying thing nearly all the way back to where the alchemist's apprentice, Gavin, stands looking on in surprise at this turn of events. Unfortunately, the hook fly's pointed proboscis stabs into Dom's neck and its legs clamp around the half-orc's head and torso as it attaches to gorge itself on blood.
Kiri takes advantage of the open doorway to swoop through and hammering the bug with a powerful air blast, leaving it badly wounded. With decidedly less grace, Blackfeather crow-hops forward, making it as far as the open doorway.
"Interlopers! Interferers!" Gavin screams. His left hand presses against the side of his head like he's in pain but his right fishes into the pouch of his apron and he pulls out a small object, closes carefully on Kiri, and hurls the object at the strix. He scores a direct hit, and gooey strings of black with purplish highlights entangle Kiri before dripping to the floor.
"Ha!" Gavin crows madly. "Feathered fool! You'll soon feed my...Puh! Puh-puh-puh!" You never get to hear what Kiri will feed because a fresh gout of demon's bile shoots out Gavin's nose, partially covering his lips. Meanwhile, the hook fly maintains its grapple on Dom and begins draining his blood
While in the giant hook fly's grasp, you realize that its abdomen is bloated and shifting, like there's something alive or growing inside it.
It appears that Gavin has somehow fused demon's bile into a common tanglefoot bag. What new traits this might give the alchemical weapon you cannot guess.
"Ubiraysya ot menya!"
Domitius shouts as the fly feeds on him, alternating betwwen horror and fury. For the moment fury wins out, as he tries to get his blade into position to harm the creature.
T'chazzar hops over the demon-infected raven and moves to assist Dom in dealing with his bloodsucking unwanted visitor.
(includes +1 from bless)
T'chazzar gallantly moves to Dom's aid as the half-orc tries to deal with the clinging fly. The drow's blade finds the mark, causing the thing to loudly buzz in pain and anger. Dom's subsequent slash connects with the grasping fly's abdomen. Shrieking, the thing goes into its death throes; it pretty much explodes, showering Dom, T'chazzar, Gavin, and the nearby floor with runny ichor and hundreds of dead baby hook flies. Their hooks are still sharp, however, and Domitius, T'chazzar, and the mad apprentice find several of the dead bugs embedded in their flesh moments later .
Seething with fury, the young half-orc glowers at Gavin as he reaches up to his neck, and without looking, pulls out the fly's proboscis and throws it to the floor.
"No more bugs to save you. Now, boy," he growls, "Now I hurt you."
Kiri was amused by the fool's attempt to entrap her and enjoyed the sight as he saw her slip free from the entangling gunk with ease. With another scream of movement, air slammed out at Gavin in a dense gust.
"Ew!" Leora says as ichor and dead baby flies spray around the room. She's glad she was far enough away not to get splashed.
She thumps Davina on the shoulder. "Take heart, we've got this! ", then moves forward next to Domitius.
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Davina upset with the turn of events moves right up to Gavin. "What have you done with the other teens and our friend?" She doesn't wait for him to respond, but strikes out with her rapier. She has a terrible suspicion they are in the cocoons.
Even though the entangling goo makes it more difficult, Kiri's able to batter Gavin with an air blast. Davina, aided by Leora's magic, stabs the alchemist's apprentice in the shoulder even as she demands answers from him.
Gavin winces in pain; when his eyes widen again there's madness and confusion reflected in them. "Why would you try to stop the inevitable? See how I've made the royal jelly grow??!! The demon worms call out! If you don't serve them, you'll die!" His eyes narrow and he tells Davina: "You'd look good in purple!" He draws a heavy mace from his belt and tries to brain the aasimar with it! Davina manages to raise an arm in defense, thwarting the attempted head shot, but that arm takes the brunt of the blow .
Blackfeather takes flight, weaving between the weblike hanging tendrils of demon's bile as he glides over the swath of the purple stuff. He caws out, "Mistress?" as he flies but he doesn't seem to know which cocooned figure is Triella.
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Domitius has been through a lot in the past few days. Imprisonment and torture by the Old Man and assault by big, blood-drinking flies, that he could deal with, but the idea that this gooey schmuck was going to hurt his friends, well that took Dom to a whole new level of anger.
As Gavin swings at Davina, Dom steps to him, blood in his eyes. "And you'll look good in pieces!"
Davina's arm goes numb for a moment, but she manages to hold on to her rapier. She steps to be in flank with Dom. "I don't think so. You may say hello to the demon worms." This won't be fun to explain to his family, but what can we do.
Davina manages a weak hit, but Dom proves true to his word, following through on his threat with a savage hack from his falcata that drops the mad apprentice to the floor where he gurgles a bit as his lifeblood...and a bit of demon's bile...oozes from his wounds. Gavin's not dead yet but he's not far from it, either.
Most of Domitius' attention is focused on Davina's arm. "Sudarynya, are you able to move it...?"
Davina looks around the room as she moves toward the cocoons. This could be bad. I hope they are alright in there or aren't in there at all.
One can hope.
Some of the non-humanoid lumps in the demon's bile seem to be egg sacs of different sizes and stages of development.
There's one particularly large egg sac near one of the humanoid-shaped cocoons to the north that may be close to hatching; it seems to have another giant hook fly squirming inside it.
T'chazzar mutters something unintelligible and hustles toward one of the pulsing egg sacks, drawing back his sword to run it through.
Joining her friends in the large chamber, Leora glances around the room now that she has a clearer view. Noticing her friends' injuries, particularly Davina, she heals the alchemist.
"I'll take a look at Gavin in a second here, and see if this demon bile stuff is something we can fix." Leora gives a worried glance at the unconscious boy. She isn't sure if they will be able to help him get better, but doesn't like the idea of explaining what happened to the gnome they'd met earlier, either.
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