Helga Silverbrew looks around at the skittering pests and grits her teeth. "Filthy! Absolutely filthy! Men, get these bugs OUT OF MY FORT!"
With that, she begins swinging for the fences.
Unable to back away to get a good shot Glor will smack the purple bug adjacent to him with a mace.
Hezekh launches a pair of quick strikes at the nearest roach
Urist encourages Glor to exterminate more bugs.
Gunnar steps in and swings his shiny new war hammer.
He batters its thorax pretty good.
Hezekh wallops on another roach, his iron fist cracking through its shell again and again. Helga too pulverized one roach, but fails to damage the other. Glor follows up on Gunnar’s roach, killing it with a crunching blow to the head.
Very quickly there are only three roaches left, two are extra crispy, one original recipe.
Goggeck steps back, and brings his innards-coated Longhammer down on another roach!
Boomer snapped off a shot with his crossbow, but the shot went wide.
Toulbe looks around confused and displeased. "Don't destroy the ingredients!!!" he says in a sing songy voice as he continues to try and inspire the group.
Toulbe's words inspire Goggeck to strike harder and faster!
Goggeck and boomer fail to take out any more roaches as Toulbe reminds them of the importance of proper food preparation.
The remaining roaches fight back, as they are as hungry as you are.
Helga holds her roach at bay, while Goggeck swings and misses at those nipping at his heels. They are able to get their mandibles into his calves. Dwarf flesh is a delicacy in the roach world.
With the roach at his calves, Goggeck frees one hand.
The hand covered in cold iron.
Glor moves in and blasts light blue.
Urist continues to give his support from the back line, stepping forward to give Hezekh a reassuring (and slightly magical) pat.
The commander continues her rampage against the roaches, swinging wildly while shouting a few colorful dwarven curses.
Stepping forward, Hezekh batters the roach next to Helga with his metal fist.
Urist gives Hezekh a guiding touch, while Gunnar steps around Goggeck on the table and swings his new hammer down at the vermin.
He crushes the roach with an audible ‘pop’.
Hezekh follows suit and pummels another roach with two successive successful strikes.
That leaves Helga to take out the last remaining bug, which she does with a powerful slam of her ectoplasmic axes.
The mess hall is now clear of overgrown vermin, and free to explore.
Past the dining area lie two doors. The northern one leads into a kitchen area. Toulbe finds plenty of cookware and utensils to add to his collection, if he wants, although they are mostly rusted and corroded with age. A back door leads to a large pantry. Rotted crates contain the remnants of what was once food, but it is clear that the roaches and other vermin had been dining on these goods for some time. The ground is now littered in feces and various vermin carcasses.
The southern door leads into the fortresses brewery. Gunnar and Boomer find a few workable pots and distillers amongst the wreckage. Again, a wasted pantry that once held brewable fruits, grains, and funguses, is now littered and ruined with vermin derived detritus.
With this wing thusly explored, there is now the two downward staircases near the back entrance to be checked out.
A good fight. And less vermin is a good thing. Ready to tackle those stairs? Glor asks.
"How 'bout we send a scout to the bottom?" Boomer suggested. "Meybe Goggek and M'self at the top of th' stairs t' keep watch, Touble taking a sneak down t' look 'round th' corners, an' the rest giving this room a toss t' see if there's anything interesting?"
Goggeck is not careful to avoid stomping on roach carcasses as he gets down from the table. He does not aim for them, but he certainly isn't taking care.
"A fine plan, Boomer. I would also appreciate healing, as I imagine Hezekh also does."
Trouble blanched a bit at the offering for him to go on an adventure alone. "I signed on as a cook, you didn't say anything about me being no burglar or thief who sneaks around a haunted dwarven mountain..." he said looking a bit scared.
Still, he began creeping forwards carefully and quietly.
"You see anything you don't like, you run back up the stairs. I'll make anything following you real unhappy," Boomer grinned as Tolbe began descending.
The commander wordlessly wipes her stained axes on the floors before she marches in step with the team, just behind Boomer and Goggeck. She stands at the ready for the very real possibility that this will turn into a rescue mission.
Meanwhile, Urist follows along while silently attempting to recall an old recipe for Roasted Roach Brain. He could have sworn he once heard of it from a chef back in the Old Fort.
Hezekh coughs and spits out some blood, then nods to Goggeck. "I s'pose a bit o' healing wouldn't be amiss."
Gunnar is able to heal Goggeck up a bit.
While the rest of the expedition waits in the back entrance hall, Toulbe the Brave ventures down the southern stairs. There he finds a broad hallway with two pairs of doors on either side. Forgetting the standard dwarven tactic of following the left-hand wall, he checks out the first door on the right. Peeking inside he finds a room full of stone pots and bronze barrels. Might be worth checking out, he notes mentally, then moves on down to the next door.
At the end of the hallway near the door, he sees another large stone statue of a dwarven warrior. He emits a peep, the stands still until he’s absolutely sure it won’t spring to life. It doesn’t.
Opening the second door on the right, his nostrils become overwhelmed with a sharp acrid odor, like vinegar that’s gone bad. Through his watery eyes he sees a room with three large piles of bleached white bones. Just as he spots a few humanoid skulls and realizes these bones are likely dwarven, something begins to move from under the piles. Toulbe then books it back to the stairs to warn the others.
Goggeck thanks Gunnar then downs another potion while he waits for the gnome's report.
Toulbe coming running down the hall holding his frying pan in both hands screaming "THE SKELETONS MOVED AGAIN!" he says quite bravely. He doesn't stop till he has managed to get to the back of the pack. Once there he practically doubled over in heavy breathing.
He prepares to wait a few minutes to see if any skeletons or perhaps anything else for that matter before reporting what all he found and where.
I suggest we move in as group and investigate. Glor proposes.
Goggeck hefts his longhammer, ready to move out.
"Aye, Glor. I will keep *this* between us and the foe."
If the foe is bones Goggeck, perhaps a hammer would be better. Glor recommends as the group begins to move.
"I'm gonna keep Gogg between us and the foe," Boomer snarked, giving Tolbe a thump on the back and passing him a flask.
He prepped a bomb and let the people with the long weapons lead the way.
Goggeck cautiously leads the way down the stairs. Near the end of the hall he sees a mass of bones moving out of the open doorway. At first it doesn’t really make sense what he sees. Not a bunch of skeletons, nor even one large skeleton, but just a jumble of bones tumbling one over the other. As it nears it begins to make a bit more sense. A large, almost transparent, puddle of grayish slime is crawling forward, the bones merely caught up in its gelatinous matrix. Sticky pseudopods shoot out from the bone jumble, sticking to the floor with a splatting sound and moving the whole mass forward in a very primitive manner.
"Uh..."
Oh, that ain't right. Glor says as he gathers and fires earth at the thing. But his shot sales over the the creature.
Hezekh initially strode forward purposefully, fearing no skeletons. But then he realized what he was looking at, and it gave him pause. He reached into his pack and withdrew a flask. "This is going to take a minute."
Boomer can recognize an ooze when he sees one, but the specific variety currently eludes him.
Seeing this strange foe, Goggeck decides swiftly on a tactic.
"Use range while we still have it!", he calls out, drawing his heavy crossbow and firing a bolt with all of his (limited) aim.
Urist nods at Goggeck, marching forward and drawing his crossbow. "Good'a plan as any!" He takes a shot!
The commanders follows along with the group, moving forward to plug up a hole in their front line. Axes at the ready, she braces herself just in case this thing is faster than it looks.
[damage=1d8+4[/dice]
"Aye, back up the stairs. Don't let that thing git within about thirty feet o' ye. Keep backin' up and pepper it." Boomer said letting his bomb fly, then backing up towards the stairs himself.
Gunnar places a hand on Hezekh’s shoulder, given the steel-armed soldier a bit more confidence for whatever he’s about to do.
Glor surprisingly misses hat should be an easy target. Somehow, so does Urist. The only one who hits is Goggeck, but the ooze keeps creeping forward...
...very...
...slooooowly...
Toulbe whimpers slightly and backs up. He begins reciting how to cook various bones to create broth and marrow dishes frantically!
Goggeck begins a rhythm.
Step back.
Reload.
Fire.
Toulbe gets everyone's saliva glands going, Goggeck sinks another bolt into the approaching ooze.
Hoping to do better than his previous shot, Glor fires earth at the ooze before retreating a full move back..
Urist loads and fires another shot!
The commander continues to keep a readied attack.
Boomer throws another bomb and keeps backing up.
Hezekh spends the next few seconds furiously trying to light his flask of oil.