"If it wants to kill rag creatures, and we can point him to them..."
Ama gives the others a mischievous look. "Shall I pick the lock on his door open?"
"Yes Ama not look like rag man. Much better if Ama opens cage." Fish slinks back into the dark passage and tries to hide.
"How we point? We hear voices, but at dead end!"
He glances at Fish trying to disappear into the shadows, then looks at Ama, worried. "If we no can point, and it think Nagbur and Fish look like 'rag mans'..."
He trails off with a shudder.
"I'll see if he can have our assurance. If anyone can spot a liar, see if the giant has any uh, tells."
Almalik speaks up to the cave giant.
"One of our friends is clever with locks and maybe can free you, maybe not. We will try. But you must promise to not hurt us. We don't ask for anything from you, just that you do not do harm to the four of us."
"Me no hurt you. Rag men further. Next to weird stone."
As you say you will try and free him you hear him stand up.
"How do you do? Me seen it but not sure."
You see him trying to put his hand through the bars. He manages to squeze his hand through, bending the bars a bit.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Almalik turns to the group.
"He says the rag men are further down, and next to a weird stone. Ama, if you want to try and free him go ahead. I think he's sincere."
I hope.
"Further down," muses Nagbur, "means more to cave we not seen."
Ama briefly turns to face Nagbur. "If he kills me, please make me live again," she says, overestimating the vitalist's abilities.
Unaware of the fact that picking locks without the proper tools makes the job a lot harder, Ama starts working on the lock.
Frustrated with her failed attempts to pick the lock, Ama starts pulling and pushing the door in an attempt to break the door's hinges.
Ama face turns slightly red from the effort.
Ama's last try forces the door loose from its hinges and it fall backwards towards the cave giant, who thankfully stood at a safe distance.
After the door is removed you hear a pleased grunt as the giant steps from the cage outside. Once it is fully in the light you notice that he looks very weakened from his stay in the cage. He looks around as he emerges from the cage and starts forward to the place where the rag men should be.
He advances fast through the cave system until he suddenly comes across a rag man.
Filthy, reeking black rags wrap this small humanoid from head to toe, leaving only its hands and pale white nose visible.
He swings one of his fists and launches the first creature into the wall.
Initiative:
Combat order:
- Nagbur
- Ama
- Southern creature
- Northern creature
- Almalik
- Fish
- Giant
In bold may act. Map updated.
Nagbur grunts in surprise at the sight of the things, then steps forward and points at the nearest one.
Ama moves after the cave giant, her nodachi drawn. When the rag man appear, she figures she'll help clear them.
Her attack goes wide, and she hits the wall instead.
"Well done Ama! You're going to need to explain to me how you can pick a lock but didn't know how to use a sword thoguh!" Almalik hurries along behind the giant, somewhat thrilled at the gigantic wrecking machine the group has unleashed.
Ama gives Almalik a weird look. "Well I just pushed and pulled till the door fell. It takes no genius to do that, does it?"
"By the way, what happened to your hair?" she asks, staring at the two large horns that appeared on Almalik's head.
This part of the mine looks like any other part of the mine. The creatures look like this.
Nagbur hits the closest creature for two damage while Ama is flailing around. Almalik uses disguise self but soon returns to himself again.
The northern creature takes a step back, hisses and the room suddenly turns darker. The southern creatures moves into the spot the northern creature was standing and slices at Ama. He hits her for 3 damage and 2 strength damage for 6 rounds. The giant moves forward in his frenzy and attacks the eastern (southern) creature but misses.
for 6 rounds
Combat order:
- Nagbur
- Ama [7/10hp, 2 strength damage 6/6 rounds]
- Southern creature
- Northern creature
- Almalik
- Fish
- Giant
In bold may act. Map updated.
Feeling the bit of health pulse through him from the creature to Almalik, Nagbur grins wickedly. Another wave of stench rolls off him as he tries to repeat the process.
Seeing no clear way past the giant, Fish decides to hang back for now.
Despite the strength drain, Ama continues to swing her nodachi at the same creature.
Nagbur's stench seems to affect the creature. He seems to lose some health magically. Fish tries to peer around the angry giant but soon decides it's a bad choice and lays back. Ama swings her sword and hits the creature, which lets out an angry cry.
Combat order:
- Nagbur
- Ama [7/10hp, 2 strength damage 6/6 rounds]
- Western creature
- Eastern creature [-8hp]
- Almalik [+1thp 9/10 rounds]
- Fish [+1thp 10/10 rounds]
- Giant
In bold may act.
Almalik advances, calling out.
"Ama! Try to get behind the ragmen and establish a flank!" Almalik begins rubbing his hands together, and smoke slowly rises as he prepares a fire arc.
Almalik moves but otherwise does nothing. The eastern creature attacks Ama and the western creature attack the giant, both miss. The giant attacks next and smashes the western creature against the wall killing it. The creature explodes upon death in a bright flash of light, for the people not blinded the only thing left behind is a heap of clothes.
Combat order:
- Nagbur
- Ama [7/10hp, 2 strength damage, blinded 4/4 rounds]
- Western creature
- Eastern creature [-8hp blinded 4/4 rounds]
- Almalik [+1thp 8/10 rounds]
- Fish [+1thp 9/10 rounds]
- Giant
In bold may act. Map updated.
Nagbur's grin widens and the stench ratchets up a notch as he sees another of the rag men go down. He again lashes out mentally at the remaining enemy.
Ama lets out a high-pitched scream when the bright light appears, experiencing her light sensitivity for the very first time. Luckily the bright light is immediately gone, but it still leaves Ama blinded.
"I'm going going past it now, I can't even see!" Ama replies to Almalik.
Raising her nodachi, Ama tries to hit the rag man in front of her in a desperate swing.
Ama takes a 5-foot step back, to create an opening for someone else to move forward.
Nagbur now smells as bad as the rag men but still misses his attack. As does Ama, although she is blinded the rag men had to jump aside quickly to avoid her attack.
Combat order:
- Nagbur
- Ama [7/10hp, 2 strength damage, blinded 4/4 rounds]
- Western creature
- Eastern creature [-8hp blinded 4/4 rounds]
- Almalik [+1thp 8/10 rounds]
- Fish [+1thp 9/10 rounds]
- Giant
In bold may act. Map updated.
Almalik looks at Ama's positioning with dismay. As he loads his crossbow he begins explaining pedantically.
"Ama, I can send forth a line of fire as one of my abilities. However, unless I want to engage in melee combat with this ghastly thing I can't use that ability without harming either you, or our giant friend here."
Irritably, he loads his crossbow and then fires the bolt directly into the wall.
Still nervous about the giant, Fish stays put.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Almalik misses badly and Fish stays behind. The rag man attacks the giant again and misses. The giant attacks the little man in turn and kills the last creature. The rag man explodes in a big flash and several of you are blinded for some time.
The giant seems to get his breath back for a moment and looks about frantically.
Nagbur walks over to Almalik and tugs at his clothing. "Hey, why you shoot wall instead of rag man?"
Ama rubs her eyes, then stumbles forward while touching the wall with one hand. "Oooohhhh... My eyes..."
Her vision soon returns to normal, but Ama stays near the wall just in case she'll need the support again.
Ama walks forward towards a wall and suddenly sees a man clad in dark clothes. This tall humanoid's pale brow and black, soulless eyes are all that can be seen above a black scarf wrapped around its face.
"I have been waiting for you."
Suddenly the room turns to utter darkness.
"Attack them!"
Calls the same evil voice again. One of the rag men comes forward and moves into the light of the torch. He stabs at Ama and hits her for two damage. You hear a howl from the giant and he runs forward. He attacks the closest rag man but misses.
Combat order:
- Northern creature
- Nagbur
- Giant
- Southern creature
- Tall humanoid
- Fish
- Almalik
- Ama [5/10hp]
In bold may act. Map updated.
"Wait, what?" Still out in the hallway, Nagbur is a little confused about what's going on and what was said. But when a rag man bursts around the corner and attacks Ama, the task at hand becomes obvious. He takes a step back and stinks.
As the area descends into darkness Almalik lets out a groan.
"I shot the wall because the crossbow misfired!"
Looking around, he sees an opening to fire at the rag man, but realises he'd block Fish out from melee. He throws up his hands in frustration and instead moves to the side of the cave giant and holds his action.
Ama does as she did before, manipulating time to make herself act faster. The rag man hits Ama first , but she quickly responds with an attack of her own.
Her nodachi inflicts a heavy wound to the rag man. "Haha! I hit you harder!"
Nagbur an Ama kill the creature with magic and sword. The tall humanoid and the rag man move forward and come inside the field of your vision. They both attack the giant simultaneously. The humanoid hits him for 6 damage.
Combat order:
- Northern creature
- Nagbur
- Giant [-6hp]
- Southern creature
- Tall humanoid
- Fish
- Almalik
- Ama [5/10hp +1thp]
In bold may act. Map updated.
Almalik reaches into his component pouch, and produces a tiny bit of butter, which he rubs between his fingers, chanting.
Almalik casts grease on the sword the humanoid is holding and he barely manages to keep hold of it, given the circumstances a funny sight.
Fish steps forward and attacks the bigger scarier one.
Almalik greases up the tall humanoid's weapon and Fish attack him but misses.
Combat order:
- Northern creature
- Nagbur
- Giant [-6hp]
- Southern creature
- Tall humanoid
- Fish
- Almalik
- Ama [5/10hp +1thp]
In bold may act.
Ama steps forward, and attacks the tall humanoid.
She's distracted by the nose of the dead rag man at her feet, and misses.
It's so huuuge!
The giant attacks the rag man and hits him.
Combat order:
- Northern creature
- Nagbur
- Giant [-6hp]
- Southern creature
- Tall humanoid
- Fish
- Almalik
- Ama [5/10hp +1thp]
In bold may act.
As another rag man comes into view, the darkness suddenly lifts. Nagbur stinks at the newly revealed opponent...
... then steps next to Fish at which point yet another enemy is revealed.
"Uh-oh..."
Reaching over his shoulder, he grabs his spear and readies it, just in case.
Both enemies attack the giant, dealing a very big amount of damage.
Tall humanoid:
Giant:
Rag man:
Combat order:
- Fish
- Almalik
- Ama [5/10hp +1thp 8/10 rounds]
- Nagbur
- Giant [-22hp]
- Southern creature
- Tall humanoid
In bold may act. Map updated.
Fish tries to rush under the giant and tumble into flank with Ama.
He will then take advantage of his new position and strike with his sword.
He misses horribly as the tumbling made him dizzy.
Almalik sucks in his breath and tries to get into melee range, running through the giant's legs and ducking and weaving to avoid an attack.
Once in position (if he survives), Almalik rubs his hands together, blows into them, and throws out a brilliant arc of fire, which scorches both enemies.