Andaris swiftly blends his mantis style with the style of dragons. He steps back and begins a summoning incantation, reaching into the void for greater power.
Breaking through from the beyond, something akin to an eagle takes position opposite Mihail surrounding Okik. You see it shifting and twisting as if the very geometry of this world isn't designed to accommodate the foreign species.
The world twists and pulls at the 'eagle', it is too flat, too smooth compared to the void-touched home of his great eyrie. It brings its mind to focus on the one his summoner commands to destroy. 'Evil,' it assumes, and challenges the creature with a gurgling cry - the folds of the eagles voice not vibrating fully in this plane.
,
,
,
"We must end this quickly," Mihail warns the others. He takes another swing at Okik to send him out for the count.
"Oops." says Iluna seeing her spell fail. But then, she's not even really sure what spell she was casting. Instinct made her react. Perhaps she failed because she was unfamiliar with it.
She steadies her mind and draws a deep breath, her inner eye tracing the lines leading her to the Derros' consciousnesses.
She tries to concentrate on the feeling, the reaction, the thing... she just tried to do. She follows the invisible lines with her inner eye, and then pushes on the minds of the Derro.
<-
Andaris begins summoning a creature as Iluna tries to work her magic. However, the strange madness of the derro's mind makes it a twisted place, and her manipulations don't produce the desired effect.
Okik effortlessly slips a pair of small shortswords out of sheaths hidden beneath his cloak as his arms arc upwards, slashing with both blades at Mihail. The knight's plate armour, concealed beneath his cloak, turns both blades. "აიღეთ შავი შარდი!" he shouts to the other derro. "ჩვენ ღალატობენ!"
Gonan rushes forward and grabs the shard off the table, then turns to face the door. He takes a deep breath and forces it back out spewing licks of fire on all the derro present.
Gonan spews flame across the table, singing the parchment spread over it. Okik is unaffected by the magic, and while the adjacent guard ducks down to let the table take the brunt of the fire, the guard in the doorway is badly burned.
Kaid'an strikes at the derro guard, but the creature's armor protects it.
Hearing Okik's words, the derro makes a panicked grab for the Shard, but Gonan is too quick. The derro then lunges on top of the table, hands clawing to take the artifact back from Gonan. Kaid'an is quick to protect his ally though, and stops the derro short with a wound to the arms. Mihail also interposes his flail, but the derro is already recoiling away.
The other guard lets loose a blast of sonic energy into the small room, buffeting Gonan, Iluna, Mihail, and Andaris. The heroes fight through the pain, however, refusing to let the damage slow them down.
Mihail brings his flail around again, but Okik is ready and easily avoids it. Iluna has trouble with the already-shattered derro psyche, failing to bring about the unconsciousness she tries to trigger.
Andaris feels the sonic energy batter against him, but refuses to let it interrupt the complex magic of his summons.
With his spell completed, Andaris bashes his fist into Okik's head. He pours madness into the attack, hoping to lower Okik's defenses.
The otherworldly eagle connects with a claw, giving Andaris an opening.
Okik rolls with the punch, seemingly unaffected by the madness. He jabs and slashes at Andaris, trying to find an opening, but the monk is too quick.
Gonan continues to spew flames onto the derro as he slides the shard into his pack.
Gonan's fireblast only strikes the guard on the table , who catches it full-on. He collapses on top of the table, a scorched mess.
'Good, Gonan got the shard. Step one is completed. Once we figure out what step two is we have ourselves a master plan.
<-
Kaid'an successfully pulls Okik's attention, forcing the derro to expend some effort in defending against the new assailant.
Okik barks out an order, and the remaining derro points at Iluna's lights, which promptly fizzle out.
The derro vacates the doorway, heading left.
"We cannot allow them to raise the alarm," Mihail grits his teeth as he swings at Okik again. "We will be easily overwhelmed under the horde of vermin. Best to avoid that."
The 'Eagle' swipes at the fleeing guard with a claw as he runs away.
He then returns his focus to Okik and attempts to tear the offending evil one apart.
Andaris leaps into Okik, slamming his knee into the Derro's face.
Andaris dashes into the hallway to try and catch up with the guard . As he exits the room he says, "Grab Okik, perhaps we can use his life as leverage. Hopefully someone else speaks the common tongue around here!"
Mihail swings at the location where he last saw Okik, but fails to connect.
Okik seems surprised that Andaris can still see, and is unprepared for the vicious blow he takes. Okik's head snaps back, nose trailing blood, and makes a sickening thud against the stone floor.
Andaris runs out the door and sees the remaining derro down the hall to the left, 20 feet away. The rest of the party are left in a pitch-black room with two unconscious derro.
Andaris tears down the hall, catching up to the guard. He is prepared to incapacitate the guard if given an opening.
Plunged back into complete darkness, Iluna casts Dancing Lights once more.
Seeing that Okik is now on the ground, and hearing Andaris running down the hall, Gonan motions to Mihail.
"We should pick them up and take them with as we leave. We might be able to trade them for our safe departure. Someone make sure they're not dead. We're not going to be getting out if they're dead. Let's be quick."
Gonan links arms with Iluna and starts guiding her towards the doorway and nudging her slightly in the direction from which the party entered the room.
Iluna directs her dancing lights into the hallway.
Iluna's lights re-illuminate the room, and then the hallway. Gonan sees the last derro about to round a corner.
Kaid'an checks on the health of the two captured things. Stopping them from bleeding out if necessary.
"I will take the guard, Knight pick up Okik. We need to start moving and get out of here. Wizard, lead the way."
Kaid'an will pick up the one guard.
The guard carefully disengages from Andaris and rounds a corner. You hear two voices in Undercommon from around the corner, one interrogative and the other a breathless reply.
Kaid'an successfully stabilizes the guard, and finds that Okik is in stable condition.
Kaid'an grabs the derro guard, hoisting it onto his shoulders.
Gonan guides the party back down the hall. He tries to remember the steps and turns that Okik took to get them there.
"Follow me - hurry!" says Andaris as he hastens down the hall. He rounds the corner ready to fight, if necessary, but intending to flee as quickly as he can. Having seen the layout as they walked in, he tries to recall the way to the entrance.
Andaris attempts a more precise recollection of the building's layout, and tries to think of faster ways to get out into the streets.
Andaris figures that following the fleeing guard is likely the more direct route.
Andaris races around the corner, seeing the derro guard passing another derro who has poked his head out of a doorway on the right.
Andaris moves back towards his companions, chanting a healing incantation as he does so.
"What's the plan friends, do we go through the guards or try the long way around? I think we have the strength to push through!"
Gonan fiddles with the pearls on his necklace as he responds. "If you think we can do it, then we will follow you."
Gonan moves down the hall to meet Andaris.
"Let us push through these miscreants," Mihail growls. He stomps over the fallen Okik and takes up a position behind Gonan.
The party pushes up around the corner, finding that the second derro has ducked back into the side room while the guard continues his mad dash forward.
Kaid’an leaves the derro guard in favour of carrying Okik. Andaris continues pursuing the guard, but as he glances into the room on his right, he stops in his tracks. The room appears to be a laboratory, and visible inside are a pair of human prisoners shackled to the walls, signs of deprivation and experimentation on their emaciated frames.
The derro researcher inside dashes over to a desk covered in notes and alchemical supplies, but Mihail is quick with an alchemist’s fire and lights the table ablaze. The derro is clearly upset at the damage to research and crosses the room to a second desk, trying to save his papers. Andaris joins in the fight, and the derro provides is easily dispatched. A key is found on the researcher, which opens the shackles on the prisoners.
The prisoners are barely responsive, and have bodies marked with incisions, injections, and patches of fungus. Weak after a long captivity and with eyes unused to light, they stumble after their rescuers once the idea of a rescue makes it into their heads.
Having given up on the fleeing guard, the others check the other two rooms leading off of the corridor and find two more laboratories, each with additional prisoners. Kaid’an searches one lab for a key, but is unable to find one. Gonan finds that the looks seem poorly constructed, but the hard iron of the shackles is difficult to break.
The third lab contains a small cell full of more test subjects, including three who seem freshly-captured. No key is found in this cell either. Luckily, Andaris is able to open the cheap locks restraining the prisoners with a pair of skeleton keys he was carrying with him. A total of thirteen people are recovered from the derro labs, and the party urges them onward out of the building. One of the freshest prisoners, named Cador, is issued a weapon, while the other two assist an unconscious prisoner.
While the rescue operation was underway, the fleeing guard had roused the other derro in the compound. A pair of guards rushes down a connecting hallway, but Andaris inserts himself into the intersection of the two halls. With Mihail’s help, he repels them far enough for the prisoners to move past, then holds his position against the attackers.
A sound burst injures a number of prisoners, but andaris channels to heal them. Outside, guards approach from the guard post by the exit and the building to the left. Kaid’an casts entangle, slowing the approaching ones with a sudden growth of fungus tendrils, while the other two guards fire crossbows. Mihail takes Okik from Kaid’an and pulls out his dagger. Knife held to Okik’s neck, he shouts at the derro to lay down their arms. While the derro do not seem to understand his speech, the intent is clear enough. The derro in the courtyard stop moving and lower their weapons, watching while the remaining prisoners are escorted into the courtyard and start heading to the exit.
As Mihail approaches the guards near the exit, they attempt to daze him. In return, he slits Okik’s throat. The guards attack, and are repelled by the party as Andaris leads the prisoners into the streets.
The spectacle of a mob of human prisoners attracts attention, and a town watchderro strikes at the humans. Mihail catches a townsperson trying to steal away a human prisoner, but the derro flees when attacked. The guard is overcome and the remaining derro on the street retreat to their homes, not wishing to fight armed enemies. Andaris and Gonan together try to retrace their approach, navigating the twists and turns of Corgunbier.
Reaching an intersection, they hear large crowds of derro down one path, while the other seems completely empty. Uncertain of which way they came from, the party tries the empty path to avoid further trouble. They come across signs that Gonan attempts to translate, figuring that they are warnings about a construction area - evidence for the empty tunnel. However, as they move farther forward, the tunnel floor beneath them collapses, dropping the party and their rescued prisoners fifteen feet into a chamber below. With the sounds of guards approaching, they heal the injured prisoners and manage to get them all out of sight. The derro arrive at the hole, shouting in Undercommon and peering in, but don’t spot the party. After a tense few minutes, they leave.
The chamber you find yourselves in seems to be naturally formed, about thirty feet long and twenty feet wide, with a steeply-sloping floor. There is an exit at both ends of the room. You have thirteen other humans with you - three fairly fresh, nine in varying states of weakness, and one unconscious who you are unable to rouse.
You have been underground for about two and a half hours.
"This is not how I was expecting the day to go - though it gives me new purpose to see these men and women freed from the Derro. We must escape!" says Andaris, "Let us rest for a few minutes then we must head out for the surface."
After catching his breath, Andaris speaks to Kaidan. "Let us scout the exits, I will go this way," he points, "and you survey that exit."
Andaris attempts to pass silently through one of the exits.
"Iluna, would you check on the people we freed, see if any of them can help us with either fighting, or finding our way out?"
Gonan shifts her towards some of the more able prisoners.
Once the sounds of the derro guards recede, Iluna conjures forth a pale orb of luminescence. It floats in the palm of her hand.
"Iluna, would you check on the people we freed, see if any of them can help us with either fighting, or finding our way out?"
Iluna moves among the surviving escapees, attempting to sooth away concerns. She also asks if any of them recognize the space they have fallen into. If so, she asks if they can direct them towards the surface.
"It would be good for us to have some light," Mihail comments quietly. "This cloying darkness is unsettling. Who knows what could be lurking down here?"
'Derro...Or worse.'
The prisoners mostly seem to suffer from some memory loss. They recall almost nothing of their captivity, much less their abductions. The exceptions are the three fresh prisoners, including Cador. They inform you that their journey was made in almost complete darkness, and they have no idea where they are.