Cain finds the situation entirely too odd for his liking and goes and wakes up Adriana to ask her opinion. Why? because he CAN. Well, that and she does have knowledge of creepy magic stuff. "Lady Adriana, sorry to disturb you, but do you hear creepily disembodied voice grumbling at your presence here? or is it just me?"
Cain is just finishing waking Adriana, who looks none too happy about being awake when the whispering all about turns into high pitched and rather angry sounding screams and cries. Small shapes dart into the camp from all about, little daggers stabbing and slicing at the sleeping mounds.
Two of the short cloaked and wizened looking figures dash at Cael, Cain, and Adriana, while Red and Acalon each find themselves woken from their dreams by the jagged blades of one of the creatures.
The rush of tiny blades takes everyone by surprise, and though a few miss, no one escapes injury from the attack.
Pulls in a deep hissing breath at the pain of his wound and has the presence of mind to grab his sword and shield as he rolls over and stands up. Feeling another attack and seeing the small figures arround he swipes out at them with his sword. He yells with a question more than a statment "MITES?"
hit: +2 if human
damage: +2 if human 19-20/x2 crits
As the dagger stabs him, Acalon rolls, grabs his flail and shield and stands up. Giving the flail a quick swing, he aims at the creature that attacked him.
To hit:
Damage:
Red stands up, staff in hand and (tries to) smash the thing on the head with a magic, 2-handed blow.
Well forget rolling damage
"OUCH. Why you little mangy varmit! Come here. let me give you a taste of what that feels like." With that, Cain fires his crossbow at the little weasel that was attacking... Adriana.
Attack:
Adriana springs to her feet spear in hand as the vermin come swooping in, suffering more cuts from their wicked knives in the process. Staggering back and away from them her arms move in a simple series of spellcasting, causing her body to shimmer briefly as a protective field falls over it.
Cain's bolt, however well intended does little to help her as it sails past its intended target, perhaps thrown off by his own steps back to give himself some room.
Red and Cael suffer similar abuse as they rush to stand and face their attackers, but some friendly weapons do find their marks. Cael's sword bites into one of his attackers dropping him to one knee and causing him to drop the dagger from his hand. Acalon's swing, meanwhile, caves in the chest of his target, dropping him to the ground with a crunch.
The creatures seem to believe they still hold the advantage over their targets and continue to press the attack, two moving to flank around Adriana, whose invisible armor is all that keeps her from another bloody gash, while another two catch Cain between them with a more successful result. The other three continue to flail their daggers at Red, Cael, and Acalon, a couple actually scoring hits.
Grunts in pain as the mites dagger slashes his thigh and brings the sword down in a stab at the offending mite.
hit: +2 if human
damage: +2 if human 19-20/x2 crits
Blocking the two injured mites from his mind, Cain gathers divine energy to himself for a moment before releasing it again like a flood over the battlefield. "Your feeble daggers are no match for the power of the divine side."
Quickly surveying the situation, Acalon moves to attack one of the mites flanking Adriana.
To hit:
Damage:
The burst of healing energy is just what Adriana needed, though she would never admit it.
Seeing the mites move to either side of her, Adriana takes a step forward, splitting between them as Acalon comes up behind the other. As his weapon crushes its skull, she turns facing her other attacker, one hand stretching out towards it.
It's hard to tell exactly what she may have intended to happen, but a disturbing smile does pass over her face, barely noticeable in the darkness.
Red squares off against the mite nearest him. Red weights in fully with his staff (full attack, if first attack is fatal he'll step 5 feet towards Cael's mite and hit it).
to hit 1:
to hit 2:
(on second thought, you could have just skipped me and it wouldn't have mattered...)
d1:
d2:
As the last creature facing Adriana turns and bolts into the darkness, a high pitched wail trailing after, the ambushers find themselves down to four. These don't seem to be odds that they like and the remainder tuck tail and flee into the night.
The two attacking Cain turn and run back towards the gnarled tree, past Acalon. Only one makes it past as Acalon's flail tears through one of them. The other two flee away from Red and Cael, and are soon lost into the night for all but the keenest of eyes.
Cain looks sideways at the fleeing Mites and the direction they flee in. "So, do Mites live in gnareled trees or something?"
Red gives off an adrenaline induced shiver. "GAH!" Red seems to just realize he's in pain from multiple stabbings. "MITES! No wonder the Fey sounded fearful..." Red then looks at his pathetically ineffective staff and angrily tosses it towards his bed. "It is going to be pretty hard to get back to sleep after THAT. So Cael, did you see which way they went? And yeah, what Cain said, are we sleeping on top of their frackin home or something?"
After the enemies run off Acalon shrugs off his shield (still not properly readied) and sets down his flail, looking at the carnage left on its head and on the ground. "So that's a mite, eh? I suppose I can see why those little fey creatures would be scared of them." He begins searching the dead mites for anything of interest. Looking at Red he says "Wouldn't that just be our luck? The creepy tree turns out to be home to killer mites. If so, though, you'd think there'd be more signs of them around and maybe some notable entrance."
Adriana glares after the fleeing target of her spell then brushes her hands over her scanty nightgown. "Next time you hear spooky disembodied voices, Cain, perhaps you could just yell an alarm." She looks about the hilltop, ending at the tree. "Perhaps we should take another, closer look at the tree just to be sure. As Red has pointed out, I don't think any of us are getting to sleep any time soon."
Red walks several feet away from the tree and summons Edi, keeping his eyes glued on the tree for any further attacks.
Shakes his head as he looks out into the darkness.. "As far as i could tell the went that way, that way, and that way." pointing in three separate directions "I think they were just getting away as quickly as possible not going in a particular direction." straps his shield across his back and wipes the blood from his blade and sheaths it. Picks up his bow and arrows and settles them in place stringing the bow. Works for me now that I am properly armed lets see if there is anything we missed earlier" Cael follows Red up toward the tree.
While Red and Cael head towards the tree, Acalon heads over to put on his armor. When finished, he picks up his shield and flail and joins the others in any investigating still going on.
A thorough search of the area around the tree, aided by some light from one of the casters, reveals a small hole in the side of the hill, directly under the tree. It's an easy hole to miss, the way the rock formation lays and with the roots of the tree wrapping over it. It also doesn't take much skill, now that the entrance is discovered, to see the very recent tracks going in and out. Looks like the mites might have beqat a hasty retreat into their hole.
The hole is big enough to get into, but it will be cramped.
"Spelunking into the lair of the enemy. Sounds like a theater production. Too bad there aren't 13 of us. They Fey'd like us though. So, anyone know anything about Mites? Or are we just gonna run in blind?"
Red looks at the hole, then looks at Edi, then Edi looks at the hole, then looks at Red, then they both look at Cain, and Red blurts out, "After you?!"
Raises an eyebrow.... "Aaaa If that tunnel doesn't widen out reaaaally quick we would be slaughtered if we try to follow them. I don't suppose any of you magic user types has a way of checking out the tunnel without us actually going in?" takes a long look at Edi "Hey Red don't suppose Edi is up to a quick recon is he?"
The hole is big enough to get into, but it will be cramped.
Edi glares back at Cael while Red rubs his temple, "Edi is as much interested in heading into a potential death trap as the rest of us. Though I do agree he'd be the best candidate." At that Edi redirects his gaze at Red, and seems to look even more annoyed.
Tries looking all innocent and reasonable. "But if he does get into trouble all he has to do is yell to you and pop hes back in another dimension or wherever he spends the other part of his time, so he does have a quick escape route. Wouldn't want to send anyone on a death mission! shakes his head looking all sorts of worried.
Adriana gazes into the entrance, lowering a light source to see better into it. The root lined shaft doesn't look as though it would be difficult to climb down by any means and the light can hit its bottom. It doesn't look as though the shaft goes more than ten feet before opening into a tunnel running east to west. The tunnel looks to be no more than five feet high.
"Well I can't say much about the accommodations..."[b] She leans back and looks over to Cain. [b]"Mites are a pretty pitiful species of fey, even by their standards. The only remarkable thing I've ever heard about them is that they are cruel little buggers who have a knack for making friends with insects, particularly large ones."
Looks back down into the darkness "Well If we want to take care of these mites someone is going to have to go down there sooner or later. Unless the tunnel widens or gets taller it is going to be impossible for more than one person to melee at a time. The most dangerous locations will be front and back.
He glances around at everyone surrounding the entrance. "Best get this done if we are going to do this. If not I suggest we either leave early or we just closely watch the entrance and try to get a bit more rest before sunrise."
Cael's fingers twitch nervously up and down his bowstring as he sets out a possible plan of action. "Not much room in there for bow work and I am defiantly not best with my sword but am willing to try if the rest of you are. Hate to volunteer you Acalon but either you go first for the mass of metal you are, or I could go first as i know a bit about Spelunking but am not nearly the fighter you are. I would say the other takes the end location and the magical types in the middle. So what ya all think; a trip into the bowels of the earth or just ignore the little mites?"
Acalon looks at the hole, then back at everyone else, then back at the hole again before saying "Well, I'm not sure how much there is to know about such things. You squeeze into a tiny passage, crawl for a while, then fall to your death as the ground drops away from you. I'll go first if we decide to do this, though."
Edi listens to the conversation (through Red's interpretation), and just shakes his head. Then without so much as an indication walks up to the hole and crawls inside. "Edi?!" Red blurts out, "What are you doing?" Red nods knowingly at the silent, telepathic response. Red turns to Cael, "Edi agrees with you Cael, he can't die on this plane, and he doesn't need to draw a weapon, so he's the best in a tight space." Red turns and walks up to the hole, and leans his head inside, listening for any signs of trouble.
Edi Climb:
Edi Perception:
Edi runs into no signs of immediate trouble as he descends to the tunnel that runs below the tree's roots. He reports back that the tunnel looks to run about forty feet before dropping out of sight in either direction. It's a bit cramped, but he's pretty sure everyone could fit in the tunnel, single file. Picking a direction at random he heads west.
Straps his bow to his back and settles the shield to his arm while drawing his sword. "Well looks like we playing mole if we can get a little light lets go after him. Acalon, then Red as Edi is leading then Cain, Adriana and I'll bring up the end. Any objections?"
As Edi gives the All Clear Red relays this information to the group, "No signs of trouble so far... tunnel seems to drop off in both directions after 40 or so feet, so there is probably another level lower... pretty cramped, but everyone should fit."
Red then casts Light on the end of his staff, and starts to make for the hole when Cael speaks up. Red then pauses and nods in agreement. " Acalon as one end of the snake and Edi at the other, Cain and me as 2nds and healer/casters in the middle. Sounds good to me. You're up Acalon."
With that Red dispels the light on the staff, and recasts it on his shoulder. He slings his staff behind him, and readies his cross bow. Then waits for Acalon to decent to the bottom.
Climb:
"So, about 40 feet before the falling and dying starts. Got it," Acalon says before heading into the hole. Halfway in he stops and asks "Could I get one of those light spells up here at the front of the line as well?"
Climb:
Waits as each member climbs down into the earth and with a final look around follows them down.
climb:
Cain hands Acalon a light and follows him into the tunnel. "The exterminator is 'in'. "
Cain takes his sweet time navigating the passage. Hope no one behind him is impatient. He appears to be having some trouble with his movement as climbs in an awkward unnatural manner.
Climbing down behind everyone else, Adriana grumbles softly as she reaches the bottom. "Lovely. Just how I wanted to spend my evening." After standing there for barely a moment she whispers up the line, "I don't suppose we could pick a direction and start going in it. I'd rather not crouch in the doorway all night."
Acalon thanks Cain for the light, then proceeds to follow Edi down the tunnel.
Red follows Edi closely, crossbow at the ready. We make our way to the drop-off and observe the next drop.
Having backed up into the passage opposite the direction of travel, he waits for Adriana to follow the rest of the crew and then takes his place at the end of the line. "I could use a light at this end of travel as well if someone could oblige."
Everyone is squeezing into these tunnels. (Except the mites obviously who are small) This gives you a -2 to hit and a -2 to AC.