"At least we found what we came for," says Karri, her voice passive.
No one appears to be coming yet...
Lyla freezes for a moment watching the stitched body. "Now, messed up."
Lyla follows Nalun and keeps going until she gets a better sense of what they are up against.
Talking to the west! Nalun hisses in a low voice and begins creeping that way.
Standing before the passage is the injured derro from before and a half-orc with greying hair, his face marred by several scars. His left eye is shut with a particularly nasty scar running down it. His studded leathers and flail appear to be of high quality, but the wooden shield at his side looks to be little more than a dinner plate in his hands.
"--I saw them! Nearly killed me! Ruined EVERYTHING! Everything, they did! Don't know how they managed to get past the boneworms--crafty ones, they are. Yes yes yes!" The derro babbles to the half-orc.
The half-orc looks behind him as if to confer with someone only he can see. "Well, thank you kindly for informing us. Of course, if you had just bothered to do something more to distract them, we might not need to have had this conversation." A gruff voice says from beyond your line of sight.
The derro pales. "Are you MAD?! What could I do against five of them?! There's only one of me and five of them! Five to one odds!"
"Noted." The gruff one cuts the derro off. "Alright, Vreeg, you've heard the little guy. What do you reckon we ought to do with him?"
You don't catch the reply, but it causes the half-orc to start giggling. It's not a pleasant sound, and the derro knows it. "WAITWAITWAITWAIT--"
The derro's plea falls on deaf ears as the half-orc's flail falls on his head with a wet *CRUNCH*. The little man falls over, his milky-white eyes wide open and rapidly becoming covered in blood.
The half-orc giggles again. "They make funny noises when ya swat 'em. Oughta do that more."
"Right. Now, stay alert--Severin and his crew are coming, so get ready."
Nalun is going to try and creep forward to fire his bow at the Orc!
The arrow flies from Nalun's bow and pierces the half-orc's calf. He yells in surprise and pain!
The gruff voice sighs. "G&+*@#MIT. Didn't expect them to be here so soon."
Lyla is a little surprised to see Nalun prepairing the bow before they've had the chance to warn the others, but once the arrow is in the air, she remembers she just might have an easy tool to alert the group about the imminent combat. She grabs a stone in her backpack and throws it on the floor at Giggle's feet; she covers her own ears as the stone bursts with a thunderous noise that echoes throughout the underground complex.
Giggles is distracted by the pain in his leg from the arrow, and as such, isn't really fazed by the thunderstone's blast.
The other one, on the other hand...
...appears to not have been as lucky.
Karri
Giggles
Demitri
Deaf Guy
Ortik
Lyla
Nalun
Baddie 2
A twang of bowstring. A howl of pain. A crash of thunder. Now!!! Karri relaxes, letting the Legion move forward in her. Her eyes shift to the unnatural green that signals the Legions arrival. The echoing sepulchral voice comes up, "That's a laugh we know. How will it sound from the side of his throat?"
Karri steps forward into the mouth of the narrow tunnel ready to advance further...
Giggles turns his wrath on the tunnel the arrow flew from, and his eyes widen in glee as he spots Lyla. "Fine! You be next!"
He limps over to Lyla, his hobbled leg trailing blood as he brings his flail to bear!
...unfortunately for him, he stumbles on a chair as he makes his way to her, his swing BARELY missing her head as his swing takes a great chunk out of the earthen wall near her.
Demitri sighs as Nalun engages without a plan or backup. "Damnit all." Demitri will delay until there is an opening.
Staggering from the passageway, covering his ears, is a heavy-set man with closely cropped light hair and a scar over his right eye. He's clad in Korvosan Guard chainmail with a large warhammer at his side. He looks up at the intruders, his eyes on Nalun.
He yells as he levels a light crossbow at Nalun.
He fires...
...and subsequently demonstrates why Giggles should have moved as his bolt *whizzes* past Nalun's ear. If it weren't for the half-orc in the way, it would have hit him in the face.
"Lyla, get behind me now. Karri back up. " Nalun barks. Nalun then stows his Bow and draws his Falchion.
-Posted with Wayfinder
"We want their blood! Get to them now!!!" Karri barely understands what Nalun is asking her to do...the struggle beings in her mind.
As Nalun begins to back into the cave, Ortik begins speaking the tongue of cities, looking to bring some backup into the fight.
Lyla turns around dodging Giggles' blows and runs between Nalun's legs, taking the corridor back to the previous room. "Hey Giggles, come get me if you can!"
Lyla beats a hasty retreat as Ortik begins chanting a spell.
There's a brief pause in the fighting as the sound of a spell being completed comes from the passage Private Karralo Sand was guarding. With a *WHOOSH!* comes a derro, this one clad in black robes with white embroidery in the shape of zombies and skeletons all over it. He flies up near the ceiling of the bedroom, over the bed, and grins.
"Ah... human resources. About time--I would like to lodge a formal COMPLAINT!" He snarls and giggles at the same time. Apparently, that's his idea of a joke. "I simply cannot--and I do mean CANNOT--work in these deplorable conditions!"
Demitri will move up and
"Everyone get behind me. I'll hold the line."
Nalun nods in understanding a the guardsman's tactics. We will let them into the room and then flank!
Karri corrals the Legion's enthusiasm long enough to step back into the first room, waiting for the enemy to attack. Oh, a gift to bring pain on these...
Giggles looks up and sees Nalun, his falchion readied and his bow on his back. "YOU!" He snarls before hobbling forward and swinging mightily at him!
The flail smashes into Nalun's ribs, causing the half-orc to giggle gleefully.
Karralo grumbles and reloads his crossbow before firing at Nalun, since he's the only target present. He aims and tries to avoid shooting Giggles in the back...
...and this time, the bolt is much more accurate, nailing the bounty hunter in the thigh.
Nalun withdraws behind Demitri. Let them into this cave he hisses as he dodges past.
Nalun limps near Ortik, whom he sees is in the middle of a spell. Whenever, you've got a minute, my ribs feel in a bad way...
Ortik doesn't immediately respond to Nalun, but nods his head to indicate he's heard the man. He finishes his chant, and a large anthill grows between Giggles and Demitri. Out of it clambers a massive ant, its mandibles clacking at the half orc before him. "Sic 'im, Adam!", he shouts as he turns to Nalun. "Alright, cousin, let's put your blood back in you." He pulls out some moss and packs it into the man's wounds, which begin to heal under his touch.
Finishing my summon monster II, and I'll place the giant worker ant (GiAnt?) in the space next to Giggles.
Adam: HP 18, AC 15.
As for Nalun, I'll use my cure moderate wounds on him.
Ortik's ant erupts from the anthill in a spray of earth and sets upon Giggles with a vengeance. Its pincers sink into Giggles' wounded leg, drawing a roar of pain from the half-orc!
Lyla prepares her crossbow with a poisoned bolt and stares at the corridor, waiting for Giggles to come into sight.
The flying derro snickers at the sight of the ant mauling Giggles. "Oh, little green man, are you telling me you cannot defend yourself against one worker ant? For shame, sir! For shame!"
He raises a hand and utters an incantation, launching three missiles of force at the ant!
"Halt!" Demitri will cast a spell attempting to stop Giggles in his tracks.
Demitri's command hits Giggles hard. Combined with the pain he's in, it's enough to stop him in his tracks.
"Arghlblarghluhhhh" Giggles tries to form a rebuttal, but it gets lost in translation.
Karri paces, babbling incoherently as she struggles to keep the Legion down. I thought we were going to fight, not tapdance!
Giggles holds his head and starts wobbling about as Karralo reloads and aims at the worker ant.
The bolt he fires sticks the ant in the mandibles, causing it to shriek in pain.
Vreeg sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.
Nalun stows his Falchion and switches to his bow.
Brother Dwarf, I thank you. But your ant is holding up the party.
"Holding the line, more like," Ortik says as observes Nalun's wounds - or, rather, the lack of them, now that his magic has done its job. "But you're right, we need them in here. Come on, Adam! Finish him off!" The ant chitters, snaps his mandibles at Giggles, and scuttles backwards to bring the fight into the cave he and his friends were in.
I'm going to use one of my Inspiring Words to inspire Adam.
Adam: AC 15, hp 5/18
He's going to bite Giggles, then take a 5' shuffle.
...
Giggles staggers backwards as Adam the Ant bites at him, missing wildly. The half-orc shakes his head rapidly to clear his mind of the magic affecting him.
Lyla keeps her crossbow trained on the passageway.
Demitri will put on Adam the Ant.
Karri curses and spits, the Legion so close to action...
Giggles refocuses on the ant before him, his eyes clear. He steps forward and swings at it with a roar!
And misses horribly. Evidently, some of Demitri's spell still lingers.
Karralo can be heard cursing loudly (as he is wont to do) before reloading his crossbow and taking a few steps forward.
Looks like those idiots are stuck in the tunnel, Lyla sighs, tired of waiting for Giggles. She hops down the table and stops right behind Demitri, taking aim through his legs and firing at the half-orc.
Adam chitters and hisses, snapping his mandibles at Giggles and Karralo. "Language, Adam!", Ortik shouts, shaking his head. "Your service is almost at an end, my friend. Once more, and you can return to your hive." Ortik waits for an opening while his conjured servant holds the line.
Same as last round, except with less sucking this time. Expend one more Inspiring Word on Adam.
Adam: AC 15, hp 5 (+1 temp) / 18
Nalun holds his bow up, but doesn't fire due to the people and ants in the way.
Giggles grunts in pain when Lyla's bolt clips his shin, but doesn't appear to have been affected by the derro poison on it...
...that being said, it doesn't help much when Adam the Ant promptly sinks its pincers into his gut, drawing a lot of blood. The half-orc's jaw drops open and he stares, dumbfounded, at the wound.
Vreeg sighs and scratches his armpit. "Oh, must I do EVERYTHING around here myself? Of course not--I have help for that. Here, let me demonstrate."
The sound of fabric being torn and the RATTLING of bones heralds the arrival of a skeleton!
"Now, Bonesley, be a good boy and start SLAUGHTERING THE INTRUDERS OR YOU'RE FIRED!"
"Everyone move back!"
Karri steps back, seething at her inaction. Her head cants to an impossible angle and she makes a strangling noise, that may be laughter.
Giggles rears back, woozy from blood loss, and swings his flail with the last of his fading strength...
...and his flail smashes into Adam's skull, sending bits of exoskeleton every which way. The brute giggles one last time before passing out in a pool of his own blood on the tunnel floor.
Karralo's patience appears to finally be at an end. He throws his crossbow to the floor and runs down the tunnel, drawing his warhammer as he moves!
He roars before swinging madly at Demitri as he comes into view!
His warhammer manages to catch Demitri's shield, sending a nasty shock up his shield arm.
"I think you need the help actually."
Demitri takes a swipe before stepping back.
Karralo parries Demitri's swing with his warhammer.
Unfortunately, one of the side effects to thunderstone exposure is deafness.
Karri shifts and then reaches into herself and pulls out one of the Legion. She readies it to hurls at the raving man and grins, her teeth exposed as her lips pull back and taut against her face.
Asvreeg turns the corner into Karri's line of sight, she casts the demon's energy and it explodes into a fantastic spray of color and light.
Nalun sighs and fires his bow