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"Good...lizard." It occurred to him that he should find out the gender of his mount. It sometimes had an effect on aggression, feeding habits and the like. It also occurred to him he had no idea how to find out. Maybe the guide knew. Would that be insensitive to ask?
Considering this, he aimed at the attacker that had tried to eat his mount and tried shooting it again.
Horat begins battering his way back to his companions, planning to carve a path back through the lizards to Halgrin's position. The head of his halberd erupts with green flame just before it strikes, leaping from beast to beast!
Enizver barely manages to land a powerful shot on one raptor. Wrinil gets out of trouble while Olivia powerfully blasts the grappled raptor but it does not die. Likewise, Amari fails to hurt it more. Horat damages two raptors somewhat while Halgrin continues to have the worst luck trying to deal with these scaly foes. Kassseen moves back carefully, ensuring she doesn't draw their attention to herself (dodge action).
Two raptors attack Horat but fail to connect with four attacks. A similar assault is launched on Halgrin and one manages to claw him with a hard foot. Amari is bitten and clawed by one raptor (not the one he's grappling who tries to hurt him to no avail) while Enizver dodges the raptor whose attention he has focused squarely on himself.
Liv and Amari let out twin roars of rage as Amari is slashed and bitten by the raptors. How dare they attack such a mighty and noble beast! A bolt of black energy surges from Liv to slam against the creature, intent upon taking it out so that they might focus on the one who dared strike her friend. At the same time, a twin white beam shot out, hitting Amari and healing some of his wounds.
Hissing angrily, Amari likewise lashes out.
Yelping as the raptor continued to try and take a bite, Enizver was forced to switch over to her rapier. It was trying to eat him, after all.
Horat continues to wield flaming halberd against the reptile menace!
Halgrin takes a moment to recover from the vicous raptor attack with a deep breath. He then refocuses his rage and swings his blade.
Wrinil, from around the small wooded patch, appears as he sends a small bolt of fire at the raptor attacking Horat.
Olivia kills the raptor that Amari has grappled so the snake grabs another and begins squeezing it! Horat, Halgrin, and Enizver all land solid blows in melee. Kassseen carefully dodges away from the raptors, trying not to draw attention to herself. Wrinil helps blast a raptor who then attempts to bite Horat but misses and is struck by Horat for his trouble.
The raptor does manage to get a solid claw swipe in on the Untherite, however (10 damage). Halgrin is assaulted by two raptors near him, getting hit twice hard (28 damage before res). A nearby raptor misses Amari wildly but the one grappled by him manages to claw and fight with desperate efficacy (27 damage to Amari). The raptor fighting Enizver is still convinced the gnome would make a good snack and attempts to follow through on his plan (8 damage bite).
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Explaining to the raptor that it's parentage clearly involved a donkey and a flumph, loudly and in Gnomish, Enizver replied in truth with his rapier.
Horat finds fresh strength even in the face of deadly reptilian foes, and launches a fresh attack!
Halgrin drives his blade down again.
Wrinil, again from around the small wooded patch, sends another small bolt of fire at the raptor attacking Horat.
Crying in rage as her new companion suffers mighty blow after mighty blow, Liv continues to shoot at the restrained creature.
From her high vantage point, she calls out to the mighty snake, "Amari, you have done your work admirably! Return now and rest." Amari hisses in annoyance, still eager to fight and kill after his long capitivity. Still, he bows his head and obeys, reverting to his staff form as Liv moves to hover over the now lifeless stick.
Horat and Olivia injure raptors while Wrinil misses. Halgrin and Enizver each strike killing blows. Seeing that only four remain, nearly all wounded, the raptors make a break for the treeline.
Switching back to the Thunder Cannon, Enizver aimed at the fleeing animals. "They were very impolite. Shall I make the trip back home a little safer?" That bite had stung, after all, and it seemed like they'd done quite a lot of harm to poor Winril.
"They were very impolite. Shall I make the trip back home a little safer?"
"No. Leave them be. They're not murderers. Just hungry. Besides we need to tend to our own."
Halgrin sheathes his sword and turns to their guide. "Kassseen, do you think you can find a safe spot for us to rest?"
The lizardwoman eyes the group with a mxiture of admiration and confused fear. She shrugs "Nowhere to safe in jungle. Can try." She elads you forward until she manages to find a small cave descending almost straight into the jungle floor. There you rest safely.
Halgrin nods. "We'll take what we can get."
Wrinil doesn't say anything as they travel. He does however dart his eyes and head constantly at any sound. He is clearly shaken from the ambush.
During the rest he looks around cautiously.
Liv moves to chase the fleeing lizards. After all, it would be so easy with her broom and they hadn't been able to hit her. Ugg, but what if I get lost? And I suppose I *probably* should try tending to the wounds of the meat shields. Slowly she landed back on the ground, claiming Amari once more. Guess I better let the mouse take over again...
Once in the cave Olivia pulls out her healing kit. "Did anybody need any additional bandaging?"
"A mild bite," Enizver replied as he put his gun up. "Nothing dangerous enough to make me a priority, baring infection and the like. Thank you for the offer, however."
Horat allows the reptiles to flee.
He returns to the group, assessing the damage.
"Rest would make sense.", he agrees.
******************
"I will make do.", he replies, looking haler than before.
Kassseen nods. "We should move on. The scent of your blood will draw others. The temple is not far." She begins leading the way back through the thick brush, using large herbivore trails when possible and hacking through vegetation when she must. Finally, you come out into a clearing where you can see the ruined stone of a temple overgrown with vegetation. The vegetation is so thick it is very difficult to tell how large the temple is from here without circling it. You see decorated stonework from here but no visible entrance from this vantage.
"I suppose we should take a look on the outside, get an idea of the size and find the entrance or entrances." Eniver looked around the clearing, in case something had made the place home.
"I'll take an aerial look. That might be faster." Pushing off on her broom, Olivia flies high enough to just pass over the top of the temple, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to their location. She circles the place, trying to get a sense for how large it is or if they are any obvious entrances. She also keeps a wary eye out for potential attackers. They weren't expecting company, but the jungle and temple no doubt held their own dangers.
It's somewhat hard to tell with all the vegetation but Olivia believes the temple to be about 100 x 100 ft across, though that's a rough estimate since it's certainly not a neat square in design, fitting with a temple to a demonic princess. She spies a pair or towers on the opposite side that may well flank an entrance. But her survey is cut short as, after a few minutes in the air, she sees a pack of winged dinosaurs plummeting toward her from high above. She darts under the canopy and they screech in frustration as they zip overhead, unwilling to take their twenty-foot wingspans through the trees.
Enizver raised his gun as the giant monsters soared the sky. This wasn't good. Still, the monsters didn't catch Olivia and Enizver held fire. No point in drawing attention. He simply kept the gun raised and ready in case something went wrong.
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Wrinil seems very close to losing it when he hears the creatures screech. Like an insect hiding from sudden light, Wrinil tries to hide in a nearby bush.
Walking around, you see the entrance to the temple between two towers. It looks dark in there and you can't see what happens after the hall takes a twisting turn to the right immediately inside the entrance.
Well, a way in was a way in. At least they weren't going to have to climb down a suspicious well or the like. Checking the entrance for traps, Enizver waited for Olivia to join them again.
Olivia easily avoids the dinosaurs but resolves not to fly too high again. She quickly returns to the group to report that the entrance is likely between two pillars on the opposite side and that the building seems to be roughly 100x100. "Though obviously, from the air it's impossible to tell if any part of the complex extends underground as well. We should also be careful in open clearings as there seem to be flying dinosaurs that would like to make a meal of us."
Enizver doesn't spot any traps here at the entrance.
"It seems clear," Enizver confirmed to the others. "Same marching order as before?" He didn't want to run into any traps that weren't spotted, after all.
Wrinil nervously nods his head.
Olivia stays on her broom but otherwise makes ready to enter the temple.
You head inside the temple, leaving your guide and the mounts outside. No sooner have all of you entered the tight hallways of the temple, however, than the stone of the entrance collapses behind you in a massive rockfall. This strikes you as odd and troubling but you have little time to react because you hear a shuffling step and see a strange, corpse-like creature moving toward you!
Well, that was fairly standard for a temple like this. A lot of them seemed to be infested with the remains of the last group of people to worship them. Or maybe the undead just liked a temple. It was difficult to tell without talking to one, and most of the ones Enizver had met were more interested in eating him. He was, therefore, more interested in shooting it than identifying it.
Enizver's bullet bounces off the hard flesh of the creature without making any impression. The lightning, however, seems to empower the creature all the more!
Enizver looked in confusion at the monster and then his weapon, shaking his gun for a moment. It hadn't sounded like the powder has gone bad or gotten wet...
Olivia gives a squeak of terror as what was clearly a mummy shambled towards them. Almost as a reaction, white light surged out of her to enhance Horat and Halgrinn. But what else should she do? Should she summon Amari? Amari was strong and would protect her! She started to reach for the staff when a sharp, psychic pain whacked her upside the head, causing her to black out and for Liv to take over once more.
Really? You want to summon a huge snake in these cramped quarters? Could you be any more foolish? Rolling her eyes, Liv snapped her fingers and a dark burst of energy shot out at the creature even as she moves to take cover behind Horat.
Halgrin rushes to the shambling monster, draws his sword and slices the creature.
Horat moves forward and attacks with green flame blade
but he fails to cut into the creature. He then steps back so he can attack it as it approaches. The creature does so, provoking an attack from Horat!
This time, Horat hits but his weapon doesn't seem to have any effect.
The creature moves forward and swings its arms at Halgrin and Horat, missing Horat but striking Halgrin hard (12 dam before resistance).
Halgrin lashes back at the creature and strikes it but his blade bounces off of its strange, hard naked flesh without making any impression.
Horat continues driving his silvered halberd at the creature, attempting to hack it to pieces!
He then lashes out with the butt of the weapon.
He tries to ascertain what the group now faces.