Boros gives the cloud of on-coming insects a flat look, then casts his eyes around their surroundings with a sour grunt. "Right, because it wouldn't a proper trip through this moist, muddy Hell without bugs." His gaze then shifts to his companions, gauging their intent to either fight or flee. "Whatever you decide to do about this, let's make it quick. And just to be dead clear on this, but my pistol won't do much of anythin' to that lot. I mean, I could kill a bug with it, but it'd have to be a good bit bigger than what's comin' at us right now."
"The insects here battle the wind and are not hunting. We could just run past, and deal with the bites when we're through." Varuzhan explains the situation further.
Pointing briefly at Varuzhan, Boros replies. "Right, his idea sounds really good to me, I'm not up to tryin' to swat anythin' with the flat o' my sword." Checking his gear to make sure that there's nothing loose to fall during a hard run, the soldier shifts his weight in preparation while eyeing the swarm.
Initiative
Everybody
Mosquito Swarm(formerly known as Little Flappy Guys)
Kith has a bomb ready but at Varuzhan's words is more than with just spending all his actions running.
Kith is very confident in his ability to outrun hoomans so he will just double move right through the edge of the swarm and keep going south. 30 foot move so that should be 60 feet of movement not necessarily in a straight line.
Not one to waste time, Boros is right behind the sprinting elf in trying to avoid the oncoming insects, though he's willing to get dirty and wet to keep from coming into contact with the swarm, slogging through the scum-coated water to reemerge on the path on the other side. A twitch to the side in mid-step to avoid a stump, and he comes to a brief pause to catch his breath while looking over his shoulder as his remaining companions.
"Well, nothing for it!" Nez shrugs throws up her hood and runs best she can for the south.
"You're comin' with me." Varuzhan prepares for the party's dash by picking up the relatively small and light Miranda. He then runs at an unnatural speed past the threat!
"Eh? Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-" The small tiefling holds onto for dear life. Damn! This was fast. Varu could sell tickets for this ..!
With Kith and Nezari squeezing by just next to them, the swarm advances to engulf them. Countless small proboscis pierce the skin of their victims and draw blood while they try their best to swat them away.
Varuzhan leaps, dashes, rolls, and crashes with Miranda, getting a bit of a head start. "Alright, my wings aren't what they used to be, but you can stay if you want."
Varuzhan heads straight south as far as his wings would allow.
Miranda ponders the pros and cons; flying or soggy marshland. Hmm. Hard. She'd pick flying though!
Seeing Kith get covered in insects as he strays too close to the swarm, an expression of indecision crosses Boros' face, the need to help his companion warring with the reality that he can do nothing effective. Cursing bitterly, he does the only thing that he can do and keeps moving.
Kitch uses a single move action to continue stumbling in his current direction while feeling incredibly sick.
The swarm keeps up with the victims it has already chosen - the mindless insects stick to the closest threat they see.
Nezari keeps running away best she can.
Varuzhan keeps flying with Miranda in tow, hoping to get well ahead of the swarm!
The soldier's instinct to help his compatriots wars with the logic of having more people caught up by the pursuing swarm, and the latter once more win out. He darts down the dirt path, slipping around plants and narrowly avoiding the standing water, then barely avoid a low-flying Varuzhan and his cargo to pause for a quick breath.
Kith manages to shake off the swarm and rushes forward almost blindly, putting as much distance between him and the insects as possible.
And while he and Nezari are still the closest targets, they have proven resilient prey, so far. So as the swarm follows, it shifts target to the soldier running ahead.
Alas, the dampness of clothes, the wind, and the added weight also don't make things easier for the pair of fliers. Being pursued and avoiding plants and jagged rocks causes weight to shift and Miranda almost slips away from V after he needs to evade a whip-like plant the wind was throwing his way.
. Varuzhan starts feeling a bit out of control--for a frightening moment, he feels Miranda sliding from his grasp, before he tightens his grip. "Better get my balance back, " he suggests. He moves toward a tiny spot of land jutting out from the murky water and lands there for a moment.
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!" Blissfully unaware of her near-mud fate, the tiefling enjoys soaring through the air almost as much as she does not being bitten by bugs.
Nez tries to go around the swarm but ends up trudging through a lot more swamp than she expected to do so, making relatively little progress.
Kith doesn't look back. Tending wounds is for later.
As the swarm catches up to him, the soldier begins to curse vigorously, but almost immediately clamps his mouth shut. The few bugs that made it inside before then are expelled in a blast of spittle, and he grimly sprints onward in silence, only breaking stride long enough to periodically clear the area around his nose.
The swarm was unlucky assailing Boros as well, and returns it's attention to the closest two targets - alas, the wind already thinned out their swarm, and soon after, smaller clusters of them begin to break away and move towards their hive.
Soon after, all of them seem to be gone, and you are save again - no other creatures seem to be close by, leaving only the weather to lash out against you - the wounds they caused are still ruptured, however, and profusely bleeding.
If I summed up correctly, that is:
(Boros -5 HP, bleeding 1d4)
(Kith -21 HP, bleeding 1d4)
(Nezari -18 HP, bleeding 1d4)
End combat, but we are tracking rounds, still - and several of you are bleeding, still.
.
"Keep moving--there's another swarm ready to go soon," he warns.
After a short break, he takes Miranda back onto the main path.
With the swarm breaking off, Boros pauses just long enough tend the many minute, but still dangerous insect bites covering his exposed skin. Relying on some field expedient materials, he strips a handful of leaves off of a nearby bush and carefully washes them with a small amount of clean water from his canteen before sticking them to his wounds, counting on the tackiness of the drying blood to hold them in place just long enough.
Looking back at the nest, he can clearly see what looks like a second grouping forming, and that's enough to hurry his steps the moment the last leaf is applied.
His own injuries tended to, Boros swiftly catches up with Kith and attempts the same treatment on the bloodied elf, but the wounds are too numerous to yield to some bits of leaf. "Damn it, I'll have to get back to you, we don't have time to stand around and take care o' this here," he says to Kith with a frustrated tone of voice. "Come on, we need to get movin', before that new swarm arrives." With that, Boros hurries onward to Nezari, and applies his leaves a third time, with a good bit more success than he had on the previous attempt.
"Yeah, this doesn't seem like the place for a camp anyhow!" It was much easier to crack jokes when not being eaten by bugs. Bleh! Still; she had to rate this place slightly above the sewers. A *little* bit.
Nez'll keep moving and try to patch up her wounds best she can as she goes. But it's clear her brutal methods are little more than instinct and imitation and if she succeeds it'll be more by fortitude that good medicine.
After getting his balance again, Varuzhan lifts Miranda once again and flies over the next bit of water, landing on the path comfortably ahead of the others.
Bits of leaf glued to his skin by dried blood, the soldier picks up the pace and breaks into a hard run down the path, his steps veering only slightly to avoid clumps of brush that would otherwise stop his progress.
Confident that they've outpaced the mosquitoes Miranda affords herself a worried glance backwards. "Hrrm." If only they could all fly ...
"Pfft, humans." Varuzhan is clearly proud to have flown himself and Miranda away from the danger, even with his damaged wing. He waits for the rest of them to hurry over.
Kith pauses a moment after getting past the swarm, and patches up his wounds.
He then starts moving again, falling in behind Nezari and Boros, trying to get as much distance as possible between themselves and the Hive.
Having been able to fly, Miranda and Varuzhan are far ahead, and take a short break as they wait for the others to catch up.
They both notice some vines nearby slither across the ground, and jump backwards just as they shoot forwards towards them in an attempt to grab them, while main pulp of the plant opens to reveal a mouth-like opening lined with thorns in the form of teeth.
As Nezari and Boros look back towards Kith right behind them, they see that the Swarm forming at the Hive does not quite seem ready to move out, still attempting to gather in the strong winds.
"Uh oh." Miranda stepped back from the slithering vine. She looks up at their source and gasps. "" That thing was *huge*. "Better back up!" Taking her own advice, the tiefling scurries away from the vines. She wasn't sure how far they reached - hopefully they wouldn't have to find out!
Seeing his companions up ahead suddenly jump away from something, and then getting a good look at what that something is, Boros briefly stutters to a complete stop, throws a look back over his shoulder, and then growls in frustration. "O' course there'd be somethin' else in this cesspool to bother us, because why not," he says to himself as he resumes his pace away from the nest, skirting along the water's edge in the hopes of avoiding what he now recognizes as vines (that are entirely too active for his liking, considering their plant nature).
Varuzhan also jumps back. Helpfully, his knowledge of plants encompassed this strange vine creature. "It's a Marlboro plant. The tentacle vines have a nerve toxin. The longer they hold you, the harder it becomes to resist. Luckily the vines are vulnerable to being slashed off."