The rocktopus recoils under the unified assault, physical and mental.
It manages to shrug off the mental assault this time but the physical blows are wearing it down.
Seeing the rocktopus under pressure, Galinndan adds some more. His dagger flashes in what little light there is.
Galenus wakes up with a start, and then starts screaming in terror at the thing wrapped around his leg.
Nine Hells of Holy Fire, what in Moradin's name is that?!
In his moment of terror, he eyes the lycanthropes.
Aaahhh! Wererats!
Instinct kicks in and Galenus just tries to back away as quickly as possible.
Galenus breaks out of the tentacle wrapped all around him. The predator, seeing things go very badly for it, starts squirming off into the darkness.
As the beast shows its back to Kanzen, he slashes at it, though his movements are becoming slow and weary.
Galinndan drives his dagger at the beast's side as it attempts to flee.
As he slashes, he shouts to Galenus:
"Those are the svirfneblin twins! Try not to hurt them!"
the creature fleeing, Tiberius decides to let it go. Like them, it was merely trying to survive. Instead, he turns to the twins, raises his shield in a purely defensive stance.
Well then... How are you two feeling?
The two rats turn at snarl at all of you while backing up with the fur on their backs sticking straight up.
The rocktopus drags itself along on wriggling tentacles, barely managing to make more progress.
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As the creature retreats, Kanzen's well-trained instinct is to pursue, to destroy anything that has the temerity to challenge him, a superior drow. However, as he makes to chase it further, the weariness in his legs slows him down, giving him a split second to reflect on his intentions. He notices the feral snarl on his face, the blood hammering in his temples, the thirst for destruction. As he realises, the adrenaline evaporates in his veins, and his chest begins to burn at the same time as his mind reels at the power of his training at the hands of drow killers.
Is this who I am? he wonders, halting his chase, his face falling into an expression of guilt and dismay. Am I simply who they have made me? Can I be anything else? His manacled hands drop in front of him, and for a moment he watches the creature slither away pathetically, before turning back to the party of escapees in the cavern.
Shocked by the announcement that the twins are wererats, Eddrikk turns tiward them with out-stretched arms.
"Ok 'old up you two, we're yer friends and da danger is gone fer now. Everyone give 'em space and do nah corner 'em.
Galinndan, certain now that the creature was not simply repositioning for another attack, lowers his blade and thinks to himself.
Much better coordination. This group grows tighter.
Seeing the twins hissing, he raises his free hand, palm open.
"Calm. We are with you."
Tiberius sheathes his weapon, but keeps his shield ready but makes a calming gesture with his other hand. He speaks in undercommon. His demeanor is calming, but not passive. He isn't shying away from the two, but is not imposing towards them in anyway.
Easy you too. We don't wish to harm you. Do you understand me? We were traveling together to escape the drow remember?
Having stepped back from his narcissistic musings, Kanzen's mouth opens in disbelief as he slowly realises the significance of the scene in front of him. Is that...? Once again, his blood begins to pump, as he considers the danger every one of them now faces. Beware their bite! Lest you receive their curse as well! Yet despite his frantic thoughts he attempts to keep his demeanour calm, so as to defuse (or at least not inflame further) the situation.
Wh.. W..What? What the f@%#? Galenus says, as he backs up to the wall, creating distance between him and the wererats. His mind tries to process everything that just happened and the change in dynamics between the group.
But.. it's not so much the change that bothered him - it was the surprise of the change. The unexpected. The lies within the group. And that's when he gets mad.
No, seriously, what the f**@? You lied to us? Remember when I said that trust in your team is the only way to survive down here? We're a team, like it or not. And keeping secrets like this can lead to people getting hurt, or worse.
He pauses for a breath. But you know what? We can work with this. So you're a wererat. Who cares? Just, don't you be keeping no more secrets like this, ok?
He looks around to the rest of the group.
Has anyone else got any major secrets they'd like to share?
Galinndan shakes his head.
"I am stealthy, not subtle, as elves reckon it. I have no secrets worth the name."
He turns to the twins.
"As Galenus says, we can work with you. But secrets breed distrust."
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The tension of the wererats' revelation broken somewhat by the dwarf wizard's outburst, the bone-weary Kanzen sighs and steps up to Galenus. "I was hoping to hide this for as long as I could, but... I'm a drow."
Kanzen manages to keep his face deadpan for at least three seconds before his lips curl in a half-smile.
The seriousness of Galenus' expression cracks into a smile at Kanzen's comment. And the smile turns into a chuckle and then a full blown laugh complete with tears and side aches.
Oh, dear lord, he says, wiping a tear away and attempting to take a breather, I was not expecting that.
After some moments he calms down. That's it. I'm done. Let's go.
Matching movement to words, Galenus heads in the direction they were headed before.
The snarling rats calm down somewhat though the peace is nearly broken by Galenus' exclamations. But after a few minutes of hard breathing, the rats smoothly transition back into the gnomes.
Looking around the cavern, you find homes of various shapes and sizes. Apparently the creature fed here often. Among some humanoid bones, you find 30 silver pieces.
Galinndan is quiet as he searches for food and defensible areas to sleep amidst the abandoned homes.
Kanzen looks at the bones around him with interest and curiosity. He turns to Galenus again. "I wonder who or what these belonged to," he muses. He looks for clues about the bones.
Irdril sits back and watches the exchange and tries to pick on more of the language.
Well I was gonna try an' smash me way out o' these cuffs but 'ere seems a bad place ta try...
Eddrikk looks through the bone to see if any might be of use.
Galinndan takes a look around and doesn't see a particularly safe area nearby. You could rest here but there are several entrances to watch. He does, however, find
Kanzen's investigations lead him to believe these bones are the prey of various species preyed upon by the rocktopus. Some of the bones seem to be from humanoids but most seem to belong to large rodents and other creatures. Some shell fragments indicate the rocktopus has found some large crabs to prey upon.
Irdril listens carefully, picking up more and more of the language.
Eddrikk finds a particularly large femur, it probably belonged to an orc, that could be used as a greatclub.
Once the group has searched around the area for a few minutes, they move along, following Shuushar as he finds the way to his people.
The deep gnome twins move along quietly, staying close behind Tiberius for the most part. The other deep gnome eyes them warily then slips over to Eddrikk. Under his breath, he whispers
"I'll bet you 5 silver that they bite someone within a week."
The dwarf shield maiden shakes her head as she follows along in the back. She speaks to those in the rear. "Strange doings here. I always knew the Underdark were a strange and dangerous place... but this..."
Tiberius will walk and speak to Galenus first.
We all have our pasts, that is something that cannot be helped. It caused us no harm,so there should be no ill will. Having kept it secret or not.
He then turns the gnome twins However what he says is also true. we may be in these tunnels for days, even weeks. I'm not saying we should all be friends, though it would help things. We need to be honest with everyone at the least though, that way we can work towards helping each other. I know that can be difficult, particularly if you hold anger towards a people... I know I find it difficult to trust This dark elf with us... but for now, I must. Thank you for telling me earlier.
Turvy looks around uncertainly but Topsy nods firmly, watching Tiberius with wide eyes.
"Alright... no more secrets..."
1/minute: The twin gnomes circle around a foe, snarling fiercely and distracting it. You gain advantage on one attack roll. This ability must be used before making the attack roll.
1/day: The gnomes turn into their wererat forms and swarm beneath an opponent, tearing at its legs. The opponent must make a DC 16 strength save or fall prone.
Inspiration: If their rodent fury is aroused to extreme levels, the deep gnomes swarm over the face of an enemy, clawing and biting. The enemy takes 1d10 piercing damage and is blinded for one round.
"At least I know I'll not die from boredom down here." Cyrus says before he does some scavenging of his own.
Cyrus also succeeds in obtaining food and water.
Eldeth nods in agreent at Cyrus' words. "This be a strange place, alright... I can't wait to get back to Gauntlgrym where ye might be underground, shoor, but not so deep and things make sense."
As she speaks, you round a turn and come to a large cavern lit by glowing fungi of various colors and tall mushrooms made of some hard, wood-like material.
Gauntlgrym? Where do I know that name?
Oh! It's that old dwarven stronghold in some of the old tales. Wasn't that place lost a millenia years ago? Galenus inquires to Eldeth. Did someone find it again?
I've been down in these depths most my adult life. Sure, it can get wierd, but it ain't never been like this before. Something is different this time, and it ain't anything good.
Galinndan's interest perks up at the sound of lost places, that may contain allies.
"Are we very far from Gauntlgrym, Eldeth? And would they allow outsiders like us within?"
you round a turn and come to a large cavern lit by glowing fungi of various colors and tall mushrooms made of some hard, wood-like material.
Looking around, Galenus asks the group, Any chance we could camp here? He knocks on the wood-like material and says, This stuff can come in good use. I've got to find a way to start making notes again. We've got decent light and we could make use of quite a few of these materials here. Maybe make some longer lasting torches out of the glow fungus, or something like that.
Irdirl takes a closer look at the mushrooms to see if they could be used medicinaly or otherwise.
Eldeth smiles at Galenus' question and takes on a far-off look. "Aye it was found alright. That wasn't the hard part, though. The hard part was driving out the dirty sneaks of House Xorlarrin out o' the place. But Bruenor led us well."
She looks at Galinndan and nods warmly. "Aye ye'd be welcome on my guarantee. Even the dark one would be let in. Bruenor Battlehammer learned well not to judge an elf by his skin."
Poking around at the various mushrooms and sniffing them, Irdil notes a rare mushroom that invigorates someone who ingests it and helps them keep going despite difficulty, if ingested within one day of when it was picked.
Galinndan is pleased by Eldeth's words.
"Those are glad tidings. I for one would see your hold."
Galinndan looks around for any especially hard lengths of mushroom that could serve as a second weapon. He has his own dagger to cut out or carve as necessary.
Galinndan finds a sturdy piece of zurkwhood that might serve to make something.
Eldeth nods. "Aye. I would like to see it too. But those accursed slavers turned me around so badly when they dragged me down here I don't know as I could find me way back."
Galinndan takes his dagger to the zurkhwood and tries to shape it into something akin to a shortsword or a dagger.
"Well the company you're in offers some hope there. A number of us have a decent sense of direction.", he offers with something resembling a grin.
Cyrus uses the brief down time to fiddle with the shackles once more.
Aye. We've fallen into a good crowd, it seems. At the very least, once we get to Shuushar's people, we'll ask them for the path to the upper regions. The Kua-tao have been kind to me before and once we return one of their own, I'm sure they'll be happy to help us again.
Meanwhile, Galenus looks for suitable materials to make a spellbook. He casts Detect Magic to look for the best magical material: a suitable writing pad, perhaps the solid wood-like material carved off the fungus and mended with a mending Cantrip and carved with the help of one of the more craftsman-like folk with him); some ink made by mixing the most magical of the luminescent fungus, squeezing the juiced out if it into a pile of molded earth and mixed with dwarven blood (which will be stored in one of the water orb fungus containers); and a quill from... Something. He'll have to find something suitable. Here's no bones from a giant eagle or a phase spider leg or the mandables of a giant centipede or the teeth of a quipper.. but there was that pile of bones back in the Rocktopus den - how far back was that? Probably too far.
He'll have to keep an eye out for something suitable.
Cyrus escapes his manacles!
Galenus rummages around in the fungi and debris and finds some of what he needs and begins making loose pages of shaved zurkhwood. He gets the ingredients for ink but still needs something to write legibily with. He thinks the rest will be ready in a couple more days.
After unsuccessful efforts at carving, Galinndan is clearly ready to move on.
Frustrated and nearing embarrassment at being unable to slip his bonds Eddrikk holds up his new found cudgel and asks, "Any ya'll think ya can smash these chains?"
I could try breaking them with the pipe I still have. Tiberious pulls out the lead pipe he was carrying. ,
Might could snap the chains.
Kanzen lifts his weary head at the exchange between Eddrikk and Tiberius. "If that works, I'd appreciate the same," he says, holding up his manacled arms.