"We plan on it."
Lyla stands at the door, hesitating to approach Althea. She takes a small step forward and says "Tell me something only you and I know."
Althea's reply is immediate. "Remember that card you showed me? The one that you thought I put in your book as a bookmark? The one that had the message on the back telling you to go to Lancet Street? It was 'the Joke'."
Lyla's eyes tear up for a second; she raises the goggles and, looking up, opens her eyes wide, giving the tears a chance to dry before they run down her cheeks. "Ok, it's you." The girl rushes to Althea and starts working on the shackles to release her. While picking the lock, she bombards the old woman with a series of questions. "What happened? Are you alright? There was blood all over, the store is a mess. Why did he take you?"
It takes several minutes, but Lyla's able to get Althea's shackles off.
"Well, not long after you left, a gang of thugs sent by Devargo came by. Asked me to come with them because their boss needed a cure for shiver addiction. I always figured he'd end up on the stuff sooner or later--I just didn't know it'd be so soon."
"I told 'em that their boss would have to come out to see me, since my old bones aren't so good for makin' trips around town no more." Althea snorts. "Apparently, Devargo took that as a challenge."
"So the next day, they came back and beat me to unconsciousness before stuffing me into a bag and carrying me to this place. I'm fine now... mostly." She rubs the back of her head. "Not sure I can say the same for the rest of his workers."
"After I saw Devargo's condition, I figured that's why he took you," Lyla says as she checks on Althea's general health. "About his workers... what do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I say I mean." Althea rubs her wrists. "Devargo don't treat his workers well. Sure, he PAYS them well, but he's especially intolerant of screw-ups." She looks past Lyla, out the door to the rest of the ship. "There are still some workers in here, some of them in the shiver lab, but others..."
She shudders. "Well, I don't know if ya heard, but Devargo dropped one of his goons into the room below his throne. The chitterin' I heard coming from there... it didn't sound like any spider I've ever heard."
As if on cue, the *chittering* starts again. It's definitely not the chittering of a spider.
Kroft nods at Demitri. "We've got things under control up here. Would you mind going and clearing out the rest of the ship? Just so we don't miss anything?"
"On it." Demitri looks to everyone else. "Let's move out."
Demitri follows the rest of the team below decks in time to hear a sharp *chittering*. It doesn't sound like a spider at all...
"That sick sonuvab@&#! keeps an ettercap here?" Demitri mutters while looking for stairs down or a trap door.
Helping Althea to her feet, Lyla notices Demitri's arrival and asks "What the heck is that?"
"It looks like a mix between a spider and a human that can spit webs and inject you with poison. Help me find a way down so we can exterminate it."
"You'd have the right of it, sir." Althea pipes up before turning back to Lyla. "Devargo also had the nerve to steal my formula book from me. Keeps it somewhere on the ship, too. Could you see if you could get it back for me?"
The chittering is coming from this deck, to the south. A hatch in the floor to the south of the hallway looks like it provides access to the bilges. Three doors lead to other parts of the ship: one to the northeast, one to the west, and one to the southeast.
Demitri moves to the hatch. He casts a spell on himself while waiting for the others to join him and then he opens it.
The hatch opens without much resistance, *creaking* as it does. A slimy rope hangs from the edge of the opening, dropping 7 feet into the darkness below.
The *chittering* intensifies, and then abruptly stops.
Oh, this is bad... very bad...but at least Lyla has found her mentor Karri hangs back but is ready to respond to any new threats. She is smiling, just a little bit, holding the Legion at bay. When I call you...there is a balance
Demitri will start climbing down the rope. "It knows we're here. Stay sharp."
Lyla raises an eyebrow. Hmm... you really wanna go down there like that, chief? Don't you have a torch or something?"
"Better than that, though good thinking. I almost forgot." Demitri will cast light on his shield before going down.
The light from Demitri's shield pierces the darkness of the bilges below. He lands in the water with a splash.
The water in the bilges is murky, filthy, and still.
Jakob sighs, wearily, and collects his hammer before he drops down beside the guardsman.
Jakob lands in the water next to Demitri with a *SPLASH*. So far, nothing seems to be coming out...
"Do you see anything down there yet?", Ortik whispers into the bilges, putting away his weapon and shield to begin the descent. He winces as the stench of the bilges hits him square in the face. "Smells worse than the river in the middle of summer down there!"
Jakob readies his hammer to face whatever might come at them.
The arrival of Ortik down the hatch elicits more *chittering* mixed with *hissing*.
Then silence.
The waters of the bilges ripple from somewhere to the north of the assembled group.
It's at this point the three men can see, scuttling out of the darkness to the north, a spider the size of a man and a hideous purple creature with claws like sickles, a distended abdomen, and spidery eyes. Webs line the northern wall of the ship, and the men can clearly see many webbed up cocoons, several of them man-sized.
The men can also see a web-like tripwire tied to several badly-splintered but sharp-looking pieces of wood. If it's triggered, odds are they'll hurt like hell.
Majenko's chirping can be heard above the hatch. <Jakob! Watchout for Chittersnap!>
The ettercap and the spider ready themselves for a fight!
Demitri is able to act before the ettercap and its spider friend!
Demitri
Ettercap
Spider
Ortik
Jakob
"Inheritor, guide my blade." Demitri says casting a spell while inching ever closer without crossing the tripewire.
The ettercap *hisses* before it starts heaving. Suddenly, a web erupts from its mouth and flies at Demitri!
It hits Demitri square in the chest, entangling him!
The ettercap *clacks* its claws together in glee as it directs its pet to attack.
The spider leaps into action, attacking Jakob with its web.
It sails over Jakob's shoulder, splattering against the back wall. It then leaps to the attack!
Peeking at the bilges from the lower deck, Lyla sees the monsters attack and starts mixing an alchmical concotion. She lies down over the opening on the floor, her legs still on the deck, while her torso dangles from the hatch. "Althea, hold my legs so I don't fall–if you can carry those boxes around the store, you can handle my weight!" She observes the action waiting for an opportunity to attack from above.
Jakob drops the hammer and draws his scimitar ... again. He slashes at the spider, roaring in fury.
"Come on, Demitri, you're not going to let some spider creature get the best of you, are you?" He steps in behind the former guardsman, and continues speaking. "Do the Inheritor proud, son."
The spider squeals as Lyla's bomb explodes on it, somehow not damaging Demitri, Ortik or Jakob. Demitri's guided blow carves a deep, bleeding wound into the spider's belly.
When Jakob goes for his scimitar, the spider bites at him...
...and sinks its mandibles into his shoulder. It hurts, but most of its venom is deflected by Jakob's armour.
It's the last thing it does as Jakob's scimitar plunges deep into the spider's gut. It falls off, its legs curling up as it dies with one last *hiss*.
The ettercap's eyes widen at it *hisses* in rage before heaving another web at Jakob.
Its aim is true, entangling Jakob in its web as well.
The ettercap then turns and runs through a door to the north!
With an angry growl, Jakob breaks loose from the webbing and rushes towards the door, stepping over the tripwire.
Demitri will step over and strike at th ettercap.
Demitri's blow comes dangerously close so slicing off something important from the ettercap, but it manages to dodge. It then takes its aforementioned actions, provoking another strike from Demitri as it launches its web!
Demitri's blade cuts a gash into the ettercap's belly as it throws its web. The thing retreats into the room to the north.
Karri almost guffaws at the sight of Althea pinning Lyla's legs to the deck as the Halfling swings half in, half out of the hatch into the bilges. "At least you'll stay clean up here!" She then jumps down to help the boys with this spider-man-thing.
The ettercap doesn't emerge from the north room.
Demitri hears the chittering and opens the western door.
"Devil's piss," Jakob mutters, and kicks the door open.
As Demitri moves to open the door, Jakob kicks the door open, revealing the surprised ettercap.
Jakob's attack strikes true, hitting the ettercap squarely in the gut. The creature *hisses* in pain as combat begins once more!
Jakob then steps back, straddling the tripwire.
Demitri
Ettercap
Lyla
Karri
Ortik
Jakob
Hanging upside down from the hatch, Lyla observes Jakob and Demitri fight the cowadrly creature. She lets her hand rest on a corked phial on her belt. "Hey, give the guy a chance to surrender! Look at him, he's shaking like a cornered dog!"
"If you speak a civil tongue, verminfriend," Ortik says, following the two men forward, carefully avoiding the tripwire. "Then this would be the time to show it. "[b]The loss of your pet is tragedy enough for one day. Let's avoid any further unnecessary killing."