Samirah looks down the rope, waiting for a few people to go first, and sighs. "If you see me falling past, it's not a dramatic entrance, and I may need you to stop me before I hit the ground." She calls, cheerfully.
Nurah looks at the thin, line of the rope, the far drop. Raising one eyebrow at Chancre, "That does not look like a promising stairwell to a performance stage."
Sosiel, a quick glance at Chancre, then he smiles at the little woman. "I'm sure you can bring a certain joie-de-vie to the darkness." Touching her shoulder.
Or not - as Nurah slips from the rope and starts to tumble through the air on a collision course with the ground.
Roshan does manage to grab a hold of the falling halfling... for the briefest of moments. Then she slams slips out of his grasp and slams into the floor.
There is a long pause from the people at the top of the hole, a sympathtic whimper from Anevia, who then shrugs, and shimmies down the rope. Followed at a break by a much slower and carefully moving Pan.
"That normally works," Sosiel says with no little apology to the damage blonde halfling glaring up the distance. "Once I get down, I'm happy to fix the damage."
A bit of a false start as Sosiel slips on the rope, catching himself... then immediately following Nurah in his plummet down into darkness. This time, however, Roshan managed to grab and hold the much heavier and metal clad cleric.
And finally Sosiel makes it to the ground.
Ahead you see multiple tunnels twisting out of the room, continuous, high-pitched noise issues from the three tunnels ahead, a disconcerting drone melded with the discordant buzz of an angry crowd.
But all of the tunnels lead eastward, as is the strong reek of the slime.
Chancre winces as Nurah hits the ground. "Way to sell that performance."
Roshan winces, helps Nuvah up off the ground and circles his first clockwise in front of his chest.
Later, after everyone is down, he spends a few moments looking up towards the top of the rope, as if contemplating something, then shakes his head and heads off softly and silently in the direction of the droning.
"You brought the joie-de-vie so efficiently!" Samirah says, clapping a hand on Nurah's shoulder. Then she peers upwards, just a hint of longing in her eyes, and heats her blade. "One day, I will learn how to take the sun with me into the darkness."
Chancre pulls out his ioun torch, and lets the little flaming ball circle his head, casting strange and wild shadows.
Samirah mutters something that sounds suspiciously like "showoff". But she also edges a little closer to Chancre.
Although Chancre's light remains the most solid lighting, the roof has smaller holes and cracks that let light filter down. After his own harrowing journey to the ground, Sosiel lays a hand on a scowling and bruised Nurah, healing the halfling ().
Moving through the tunnels, the group quickly sees a few of a the vescacor. Unlike the masses of the creatures that were seen exiting and entering the cave system, these bugs are small, the chitin exostructure looking softer. They move only slightly, the action seeming pained and almost random.
The first few of the creatures that the group encounters are easy to avoid. Far ahead in the darkness, you see a pulsing light with shifting colors. The disco lighting reveals that the few vescacor turns into a mass that bumbles and mews in the darkness. The almost instinctual gnawing of the bugs was revealed when Pan's foot came to close to one of the near-larval creatures, but a quick glaive from Sosiel put the single creature out before the change in its drone alerted the swarm.
"She's there. On the far side of the swarm," Konstantin murmurs, pointing. "Samirah and I could clear the way with fire and ice, giving the rest of you a clean shot to her."
She puts her hand on Konstantin's arm, but addresses the question to anyone with an answer.
"Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves from... whatever it is they'll probably spit or ooze on us? I've found that those jumping into a room first tend to get hit in the face with curses and bodily fluids and the like, is all."
Konstantin shrugs in confusion at Samirah's excellent question.
"Is it one of those savage breasts you can soothe?" Chancre asks Nurah.
Konstantin summons the freezing mists from the walls and floors in the path toward the queen.
Fort Save DC22
Fort Save DC22
Roshan
magic: +1/+1
masterwork: +1
Point Blank: +1/+1
Deadly Aim: -2/+4
"Okay, I'll proceed as normal then and hope I do not get a curse in my face." She whispers.
Samirah takes a deep breath, and runs into the the room with her weapon glowing red hot, straight towards the vesacor queen. "There's no room for you on this plane, demonspawn, and here is your end, delivered!" She doesn't slow to give the speech.
Chancre casts Shield of Faith on himself.
Working on the not-outrageous assumption that cold iron will be necessary for the demonic queen of vermin, Míril nocks a cold iron arrow and shoots it into the queen as soon as she has a shot on target.
Since the queen would have had a great deal of cover from your attack, I guessed you would have wanted to move.
Konstantin summons the freezing mists from the walls and floors in the path toward the queen. The narrow passageway clears of the slimy nauseating hungry mass.
Samirah takes a deep breath, and runs into the the room with her weapon glowing red hot, straight towards the vesacor queen. "There's no room for you on this plane, demonspawn, and here is your end, delivered!" She doesn't slow to give the speech. Although the queen doesn't flee at this bold entrace - the mass of swarms in the room does retreat - filling the nearby tunnels with the creatures, but clearing the battlefield to the pulsing queen vescacor.
Roshan, too, moves into the room, his weapons ready for a deadly barrage.
Perhaps wiser, Chancre stays back casting a protective shield on himself.
For her spot next to Chancre, Nurah's child-like voice raises in the counterpoint to Samirah's cry, detailing all of the ways the current world is a bad-wrong place for the vescacor queen. Then she casts a spell on herself that speeds her reactions.
Miril moves into the room, stealthily, maintaining her combat advantage.
"Support the commander," is the quick order from Anevia to Pan as the more experienced combat veteran slips through the darkness on Miril's heels. Pan moves up just enough to place herself between Kon and the mass of bugs that fled from Samirah.
Sosiel moves up into the room, taking a support position in case of injury.
swarmB -9
Konstantin summons another icy mist from the floor in the western tunnel, catching the swarm within.
Save DC 22
Samirah heats her blade and throws herself at the queen while the insect minions are otherwise occupied.
Roshan
magic: +1/+1
masterwork: +1
Deadly Aim:-2/+4
Bard:+2/+2
Roshan takes a step forward and throws.
Chancre moves to within range , and casts Spiritual Weapon. Intended target? The queen.
Keeping to the shadows, Míril creeps closer to the Queen.
The chilling mists around the swarms continue to crystallize. More bugs fall to the floor, frozen solid. The remaining bugs are sluggish in the cold and vascillate between the two groups of warm flesh to devour.
Konstantin summons another icy mist from the floor in the western tunnel, catching the swarm within. Even the bugs that survive the rising mist are rimed to the wall.
Samirah heats her blade and throws herself at the queen while the insect minions are otherwise occupied. Alone in combat with the awakening queen, Samirah deals a heafty and heated blow.
Roshan takes a step forward and throws. A single chakram makes its way across the room to thud into the flesh of the queen.
Nurah continues her loud exortations from the relatively safty of 'back here' but she does grease the floor and walls of the tunnels so that more of the voracious creatures can't overrun the small group of spellcasters.
A font of chaotic energy seems to erupt from the vescacor queen as her maw opens to yammer the endless chorus of discordant babble. Even as the wound from Roshan starts to heal, Samirah can feel the maddening pressure of the unpleasant noise pound at her skull. The buzz of the bloated queen's body barely rising from the ground adds to the uncomfortable noise and the things body undulates to bring forth a wad of ... something... that is spit across the room towards Roshan. () The acidic effuvent slams into Roshan, the acid eating away at flesh, and the drone of the nearby swarms... changes.
Drawn by the pheromones in their queen's spit, one of the swarms in the southern passage swoop up to surround Roshan, while the second is drawn between the near presence of Chancre and the heady pull to the north. The western swarm tries to surge to the mute man, but is staggered by Konstantin's ice. The swarm that did move immediately sets into Roshan with impossibly sharp teeth.
Keeping to the shadows, Míril creeps closer to the Queen.
Anevia on quickly breaks to the other direction, moving so that she can be in flanking position with either Samirah or Miril the following round.
"Shelyn bless us, every one." Is Sosiel's comment. One with slightly more force than if it were to come from, say, Aron.
swarmB -9,-15
swarmC -16
queenie -35,-47
Roshan -27
1st Frost Fall
Save DC22 for half
2nd Frost Fall
Save DC22 for half
Konstantin summons more mists onto the swarm in front of the spellcasters.
Save DC22
In an attempt to silence the mad droning, and retaliate for whatever it is the queen spat at Roshan, Samirah continues to hack away at the insect demon's body.
Chancre tries again. He is not going to be out-magicked by a ... whatever it is.
"Gibbering chaos right back at you, lady!"
In the shadows, Míril moves closer to the Queen, and when she deems herself to be close enough, she fires a cold iron arrow in the Queen.
She quickly follows up with a second attach while the Queen is off-balance.
Roshan
magic: +1/+1
masterwork: +1
Pt.Blank:+1/+1
Deadly Aim:-2/+4
Bard:+2/+2
The bloody and partially melting monk bursts out of the mass of voracious appetite. He leaves a trail of vescacor nits behind, dashing across the floor headed due North. Another circle of cold iron slices the air towards Jabette the Prolific.
As the wracking cold shreds and freezes the vescacor, Konstantin summons more mists onto the swarm in front of the spellcasters. Even as the revolting creatures strain for Chancre's warm, bloody flesh, they are staggered into place.
In an attempt to silence the mad droning, and retaliate for whatever it is the queen spat at Roshan, Samirah continues to hack away at the insect demon's body. The queen's baleful attention falls on the fire-haired woman before her, the insensate droning almost becoming understandable.
The bloody and partially melting monk bursts out of the mass of voracious appetite. He leaves a trail of vescacor nits behind, dashing across the floor headed due North. Another circle of cold iron slices the air towards Jabette the Prolific.
"Roshan! Watch out for the slime patch!" Samirah is able to warn the monk a split second prior to the chakram leaving his hand. It is that slight change in footing that allows Roshan's weapon to fly true.
Chancre tries again. He is not going to be out-magicked by a ... whatever it is.
"Gibbering chaos right back at you, lady!" This time Chancre's weapon of force keeps its structure when attacking the demonic bug - but her surprisingly hard carapace keeps her internal structure safe.
Nurah turns to Konstantin, "That ice of yours really is effective, isn't it?"
The gibbering focuses on Samirah, hitting her with a near-physical blow seconds before the queen's mouth and claws scythe down with deadly intent. Samirah counters the bite that drips with flesh-searing acid, parring with a punishing blow that cuts deeply into the gut of the creature, spilling slime and pre-larval vescacor onto the stone floor.
Gravely injured but clinging to life with a unthinking tenacity, the queen's claws flash out. Samirah easily parry the first blow, a truly feeble attempt as her life seeps onto the floor. And the follow-up is parried as well.
The one swarm that is able to move follows Roshan with a deadly hunger, burning the monk with acid.
In the shadows, Míril moves closer to the Queen, and when she deems herself to be close enough, she fires a cold iron arrow in the Queen. Which sinks past the creatures defenses to lodge in undulating and slimy flesh.
Miril quickly follows up with a second attach while the Queen is off-balance. This attack barely finding purchase in a chink in the unnatural creature's armor.
And it is this attack that finally finishes off the abyssal horror. The death scream of the queen is subsonic followed by a supersonic blast that ripples out and up, traveling through the stone as if it were not there. All around the caverns, you see vescacor shrivel or explode.
Anevia skids to a stop, her hands going over her ears as the queen's death shriek rips through the air. Her swearing is expressive if silent.
The small number of vescacor that survived the queen's death throws, start to converge into the birthing chamber, moving past the group as if there were geologic formations.
Nurah turns to Konstantin, "That ice of yours really is effective, isn't it?"
"Yes. It is."
Konstantin raises his hands to summon more ice against the gathering bugs. "Are they going toward the queen or attacking?" he wonders aloud.
Nurah kicks at a bug scrambling over her foot with pinched disgust on her face. [b]"I think if they were in their right mind that thing would be trying to strip my flesh.
Even as she says that, the violet pulsing in the alcove off of the birthing chamber speeds up.
"When I crept past that alcove, I saw the source of this purplish light," says Míril. "There's a mauve crevice with mist seeping through. Probably from another dimension, given how the crevice ripples and moves like it's alive."
"We should probably do something about that." She looks to the rest of the group, but especially Chancre and Konstantin, who seem to know the most about such things.
Roshan looks down at the tattered mess of bloody cloth and flesh. Something of an angry, disgruntled snort escapes through his nose and he begins moving towards the pulsing violet emanations. He flashes a sly smile at Miril.
"When I crept past that alcove, I saw the source of this purplish light," says Míril. "There's a mauve crevice with mist seeping through. Probably from another dimension, given how the crevice ripples and moves like it's alive."
"We should probably do something about that." She looks to the rest of the group, but especially Chancre and Konstantin, who seem to know the most about such things.
Konstantin will join the others, and have a look for himself. "I am worried all I will be able to do is freeze it shut."
"Nice hit, Miril!" Samirah says, voice warm, as she attempts to wipe her weapon off on the corpse of the late queen. "And Nurah, I must say, I really enjoy having the vocal back up during a battle. Once this business for Kenabres is finished, I may consider hiring you just to follow me around and sing with me."
She glances at Roshan's wounds and waves Chancre and Sosiel over. "I am sorry I could not cut the queen down before you were hit."
She moves towards Konstantin to peer into the purple.
"I can try burning it?"
"Should we try shoving the queen's body back through it? Maybe with a remonstrative note?"
Chancre shakes his head. "They don't call this place the World Wound for nothing."
"I really hope the answer doesn't turn out to be 'we need to go through and close it from the other side.' I really do."
"Nice hit, Miril!" Samirah says, voice warm, as she attempts to wipe her weapon off on the corpse of the late queen.
"Thank you," Míril says simply. "I do best when my adversary doesn't see me coming."
She glances at Roshan's wounds and waves Chancre and Sosiel over. "I am sorry I could not cut the queen down before you were hit."
The silent monk glances back at the apology. Confusion apparent in the glance. He waives it off.
A finger taps the air, thumb comes from under his chin with a head shake, then an open palm gestures towards the area where the monster loogy and swarm engulfed him.
As the group talks, more of the vescacor that survived the death of the queen trickle into the cavern. Those in the lead converge on the dead body of the queen and begin to consume the still pulsing mass of flesh.
"When I crept past that alcove, I saw the source of this purplish light," says Míril. "There's a mauve crevice with mist seeping through. Probably from another dimension, given how the crevice ripples and moves like it's alive."
"We should probably do something about that." She looks to the rest of the group, but especially Chancre and Konstantin, who seem to know the most about such things.
At Miril's comment the group's attetion to the small off shoot cavern. A meaty, sulphuric copper smell reeks in the small hot place, the transitioning purple mauve pulsing both hypnotic and disturbing to observe. A few more of the creepy vescacor pull into the room through the mass of roiling light to join into the feeding frenzy in the main chamber.
As the group talks, the edges of the crack stretch and pulse faster, as if something larger than the diminutive bugs is trying to force its way through.
"I can try burning it?"
"When is fire not the correct answer?" Nurah asks, quite seriously.
"When is fire not the correct answer?" Nurah asks, quite seriously.
"Fire elementals. Red dragons. Things like that," says Míril absently as she continues to peer at the writhing crevice.
"Spells that prevent teleportation. Dispel evil or dispel chaos, maybe. None of those I can do. Yet. But I'll bet if we collapse this little cavern, we can block it manually."
As the pulsing starts getting faster, Míril nocks a cold iron arrow just in case.
"When is fire not the correct answer?" Nurah asks, quite seriously.
"Obviously, you are not from Irrisen," Konstantin says archly.
He nods at what Chancre says, though the manual detonation bit sounds like news to him.
"Oh I don't know, Irrisen could use a little more fire, I think." Samirah says with a grin. Then she shrugs. "If a little jet of flame won't solve this problem, let us collapse the cavern and get back into fresh air."
She leans towards Nurah. "Fire is always the answer." She says, just as seriously.
Konstantin considers the cave. "Давайте посмотрим, что другие державы скрываются в крови..."
"Perhaps... stand back, I think," he says. He concentrates, mutters a few arcane words, holding his arms, palms out, straight from his chest. A low thrum echoes through him in a solid wave, and to the roof of the glowing purple cave.