"Perhaps we could soften them up from afar and then rush one or two. I can establish a life link to two others, to give an extra layer of surety of survival."
The party waits an hour. The survivors state the creatures should have retreated beneath the earth by now. One of the child lookouts climbs upon the narrow window ledge above and confirms that they are gone for now. Thus, they open the door to allow you access to the bridge leading to the watchtower.
Dugan begins a thorough search for items heavy enough to crack carapace if dropped from the height of the secure areas. 'Not much of a marksmen, but I can push with the best of 'em.'
"I would be similar in that respect, Dugan."
"I have a few javelins but I doubt enough to put it down but I sus[ect Dugan would put them to better effect than me."
The contents of the windmill are not what one would request when under siege, particularly by such dangerous monsters. Besides the empty sacks left behind by depleted food stores, there are various farming tools, lengths of rope, wooden wedges, a mule harness as an auxiliary way to turn the millstone, planks and poles, and smaller hand tools to maintain the mill's workings.
The watchtower provides a smattering of more straight-forward resources. There is the aforementioned crossbow, a masterfully crafted heavy contraption that was likely an heirloom from a veteran who settled here. There are only 12 bolts remaining with the heavy crossbow. There are also leather armor, spears, and cudgels to outfit a four-man militia team. Lastly, there are a pair of oilskin cloaks, presumably meant to be used during patrols in rainy weather.
'Reckon we could rig up those spears some how and drop a trap on some of 'em from the bridge? Kind of a reverse spiked pit?' Dugan asks, going over the meager armament in his head.
"Sounds like an idea, the hardest part will be the first one or two. I've been thinking and maybe I might be able to attract one using unseen servant to drag a bag of rocks or something about. I'd need to be within thirty five feet but that's close enough to be moving something around under the bridge. Not enough to trick them into thinking it's a person but a small dog or something just maybe."
'Reckon we could rig up those spears some how and drop a trap on some of 'em from the bridge? Kind of a reverse spiked pit?' Dugan asks, going over the meager armament in his head.
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Dugan sets to work rigging together his vision for death from above. Starting with a basic square framework. He breaks the spears off about halfway, attaching them to the framework and sharpening and attaching the other ends in a similar manner. He adds as much weight as he can to the top of it while still keeping it movable to the bridge.
'Wish we had a bit of poison... human waste 'll do in a pinch.' he muses, stepping back and examining his work.
Micheo looks over the equipment, racking his brain for any other uses for the equipment, trying to help Dugan best assemble a trap.
"With peoples permission when we are ready to start luring them in I'll cast heroism on Ulark and Duggan, it's got a pretty long duration so that shouldn't be a problem. I can have my unseen servant spell start bringing back javelins and things to us as well though it'll take time as it will be ferrying them back one at a time."
With nothing but time on your hands, and plenty of spare hands to assist, you eventually construct the contraption that Dugan had envisioned. By now, the morning has worn on into mid-afternoon. Only a handful of daylight hours remain.
Inconnu puts a few bits of useless material into a sack and gets ready to starting using it as a lure to attract the tunnel monsters. "Everyone ready?"
Dugan double checks the location of the contraption on the bridge before giving Inconnu a thumbs up.
Micheo nods, preparing himself for battle.
The party puts together the final touches, such as coating the trap's spearheads with waste to ensure that even if a wounded ankheg should escape, it will not be allowed to nurse its wounds cleanly.
When the time comes, Inconnu's unseen servant drags a flour sack filled with rocks across the earthen trail beneath the bridge. The afternoon sun casts lengthening shadows across the abandoned homes huddled around the hilltop sanctuaries. It does not take long before one of the ankhegs erupts from the ground and seizes the bait with its hooked limbs and mandibles.
The mule harness, affixed with the four shortened spears, is unleashed upon the beast. They pierce its carapace and inflict a terrible injury, eliciting a hissing shriek of pain. Finding its potential meal to be a ruse, the wounded ankheg looks ready to retreat beneath the ground again, giving the party a brief window to try and finish off the monster.
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Dugan is taken aback for a moment at the efficacy of his trap. Stirring himself he attempts to hit the creature with a pilum.
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Inconnu starts cheering on the others as the trap is sprung.
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Surprised about how well the trap worked, Ulark wasted no time in leaping to the attack. Feeling especially heroic and with his courage inspired he didn’t see how he could miss!
Micheo hurls a bullet from his sling at the creature, hoping to help end it.
Even with Inconnu's magical support, Micheo's sling bullet goes wide, clattering against the adjacent rock face beneath the mill.
Ulark leaps down from the bridge and buries his axe in the wounded beast's head - leaving it to fall, twitching, to the sandy path.
Responding to either the unseen servant's bait or perhaps the sudden impact of Ulark's boots upon the ground, two more ankhegs burst out of the ground about a dozen yards away.
Dugan adjusts his aim and his strong arm hurls the pilum the extra distance needed to strike the newly arrived target.
The iron head of the pilum sinks into the beast's carapace.
Micheo launches another bullet, aiming much more carefully this time!
Dugan begins manuevering down the ramp to aid Ulark on the ground. He hefts and hurls his last pilum at the nearest ankheg.
Inconnu kept calling out encouragement. He drew out another javelin as he crossed the bridge and hurled it at the insect creature that had spat at Dugan. "Don't get cocky, if we kill one maybe two more it's a great days work. We don't have to get them all."
Not wanting to drop his axe, Ulark stood between the group and the beast and took up a defensive stance.
Inconnu's javelin and Micheo's sling bullet each find their marks, dealing strong wounds against the burrowing beasts.
One of the ankhegs - the one with Dugan's previous pilum embedded in its carapace, and now with Micheo's sling bullet buried in its chest - rears back and spits a searing stream of acid towards Ulark.
The second ankheg barrels down the village path, its spiny legs kicking up dirt and dust as it charges Ulark. Fortunately, the creature's mandibles cannot breach the mighty lumberjack's defenses. Less fortunately, Dugan's last pilum only grazes the monster, dealing no appreciable damage.
Dugan steels himself before flinging himself forward toward the waiting ankheg. The dwarf brings his axe around for a might overhead swing down at the beast... and realizes he's going to be short. He falls to the ground between the structure and the beast with a loud clang of metal.
Ulark rushed in to attack, but had to abandon his efforts when the glob of acid forced him to turn his charge into a diving roll to avoid having his face melted.
Inconnu kept circling around and cheering on the others as he flung another javelin... but this one clattered to the ground.
Micheo seizes his rapier and dashes towards the fray!
Fortune spurns the party, at least for the moment. Ulark and Inconnu's attacks fail to find their marks, and Dugan's attempted heroics finds him sprawled upon the ground. Worse still, the ankhegs press their own attack with greater success. The one snapping at Ulark manages to seize the lumberjack's arm in its mandibles, crushing at his bones while his divinely protected skin resists the burn of its acidic bile.
The other one skitters forward to pounce upon the prone Dugan, but his mighty mithral armor protects him from the creature's bite.
Dugan attempts to keep the beast at bay as he returns to his feet. Once more vertical he roars in anger at the beast and takes a swipe.
Eyes wide with fear, Ulark struggled (in vain) to break free.
Rapier in one hand, buckler in the other, Micheo rushes to strike at the nearest ankheg!
Inconnu keeps cheering on the others while casting a spell on Ulark... who found himself covered head to toe covered in a film of grease. With a smile on his face he prepared his last javelin.
Dugan's armor protects him again as the ankheg takes an opportunistic chomp while he rises. He soon puts a stop to that once and for all by felling the beast with one good swing of Glintaxe. Unfortunately, Micheo's rapier merely grazes its target without piercing its carapace.
Inconnu's spell allows Ulark to break free from the remaining ankheg's mandibles, and the lumberjack easily evades the monster's next bite.
Out of the corner of your eye, you espy disturbances in the earth that suggest more of the creatures are burrowing towards you from the outlying pastures. You do not have long before the creature's "reinforcements" arrive.
Dugan turns his attention on the remaining insectoid creature. He rushes forward to strike the beast.
Ulark hit the ground and slid, given his new slippery nature. He got to his feet and brought his axe up in one fluid motion, hitting the beast in the mandibles.
Seeing Dugan's finishing blow against one ankheg, Micheo rushes forward to strike at the next, unheeding of signs of others approaching!
Your combined onslaught hacks the ankheg into gory chunks, leaving a veritable feast for the carrion birds once they dare return in the monsters' wake.
Two more burrowing trails continue to draw closer, like oversized, monstrous moles.
Dugan spreads his legs and prepares to chop down at any carapaced creature that bursts forth within his reach.
Axe in hand, Ulark readied himself for the two beasts that were coming. He steeled his nerves by thinking about the harm that the creatures had done to the town and the good that would come by removing them.
Micheo stands ready to skewer any insect-beast that comes within his reach.
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Unlike the previous ankhegs, these two wait until they are almost upon their prey to erupt from the ground in a shower of clods and pebbles. The first bites down hard upon Micheo's torso with his broad mandibles, threatening to crush ribs while tossing the paladin around. His counterattack with his rapier skitters across the foe's carapace, failing to breach its defenses
The other ankheg could be mistaken for misfortune incarnate. No sooner has its bug-like head emerged from the ground but Glintaxe is soon buried in what might be the creature's neck, as though Dugan were aiming to fell a tree. The sudden blow easily turns aside the beast's snapping jaws. Ulark then strides forward with his own axe and shows Dugan how felling is done, delivering a killing blow upon the ankheg's head.
'Bastard!' Dugan shouts at the just-killed ankheg.
He whirls around and steps up to the remaining creature, attempting to deliver another strong blow.
Not noticing the impending danger, Ulark instead joined the attack on the remaining Ankheg.
Micheo is far too distracted by the ankheg trying to tear him apart to notice much else. He struggles to break free!
Micheo breaks free from the ankheg's grasp just in time to escape the gleaming swing of two axes as Dugan and Ulark deliver an encore of their beast slaying. Thus, the Sarenite avoids accidentally losing his arm when the monster is nearly cleft in two.
Unfortunately, the trio of frontline warriors remain heedless of the remaining danger coming their way.
Can Inconnu, from atop the ridge, spot it and warn them in time?