Having pried free the sword, JJ swings with his left hand, hoping to stop the magical chest from bashing the group still further.
But the attack is weak, and glances off the thick wood of the chest.
Hoping that her magical aid has been at least somewhat helpful to her companions, Marigold now reaches out and places a hand on Kikinnin as he drops back next to her and switches to his crossbow.
Still worried by his axe, Kikinnin's bolt just fires to the ground next to the chest, where Ryan is fighting and gets distracted, his mace failing to land over the chest.
While Marigold tries to guide Kikinnin's crossbow, JJ fails to land a second attack of his sword.
The chest attacks JJ this time slamming with his cover piece at the shortswordsman.
Ruben pulls the sticky blade out of the mass of thrashing chest-thing and slashes at it once again.
This time however the blade sticks fast and no matter how hard he pulls it will not come free.
Ruben curses and reaches for a dagger in his boot instead, brining the shorter blade up in a wicked slash.
Finish it!
Frustrated with the trouble hitting what should be an inanimate object, Ryan sighs and swings again, this time connecting, with a final wrench he's able to wrest his mace away from the sticky substance covering the chest.
Maxim holds off applying the acid tonic, reasoning that the corrosive contents may splash his comrades and damage valued weaponry.
Instead the gun-mage points his off hand index finger at the belligerent treasure box in the caricature of a gun and cocks his thumb;
"Toverkracht Projectiel"
Magic Missile!
... then glowing shot of energy fires forth unerringly finding the creature:
After his energy bullet slams into the chest monster, a resigned Maxim stashes the acid and draws forth his dagger.
Before readying himself should a chance to throw the weapon present itself;
:
:
JJ jumps back from the chest lid as it tries to bash him..
He takes his swords and redoubles his efforts to stop the automation and save the rat.
First one and then the other other sword is brought into play to split boards and hack at locks.
<- though I may not get a chance to do that this round?
Seeing that her companions' strikes appear to be fairly effective despite the stickiness of the chest, Marigold sidles up behind Ryan and JJ. "તે રાખો, તે માત્ર એક...એક...છાતી-મોન્સ્ટર-થિંગ છે!" she calls out encouragingly, even though she's pretty sure that only JJ can really understand her. Having already aided Ryan and Kikinnin, she now reaches out to offer the same aid to JJ.
"Keep it up, it's just a...a...chest-monster-thing!"
The powerful combined attack of the party smashes the chest breaking it into pieces freeing their weapons finally.
Without the menace of the mimic, JJ can force the cage lock and free Keygan's familiar.
JJ scowls at the dark creeper.
"You should have told us about that chest!"
He does his best to look menacing.
"What is behind that door?" he says pointing to the north.
"Anything else we should know about? "
Once the chest collapses into a splintered mess, Marigold pauses to catch her breath. "W-what in the w-world was that thing?" she asks, giving even the splinters a wide berth lest they stick to her. "Ch-chests aren't supposed to attack p-people..."
After JJ frees the rat, Marigold cautiously holds out a hand. "Y-you're St-Starbrow, right? K-Keygan's been really w-worried about you." She's not entirely sure if the rat can understand her or not, but she'd heard that the creatures who sometimes served witches and wizards were supposedly much more intelligent than normal. It was worth a shot, not to mention she felt rather sorry for the poor creature having been locked up for who knows how long and possibly with little to no food.
"M-Maxim, you're a wizard right? M-maybe you should look him over, m-make sure there's nothing w-wrong before we take him b-back to Keygan?"
"I suspect it was another of the gnomes magical tricks, like that armor" says JJ.
"Though why they would animate chests and armor is beyond me."
Maxim taps the sundered chest-monster with his boot;
"Perhaps it was a guardian... still wondering what it said though... You'd have thought a gnomiz construction would have spoken their tongue..."
As he muses, Marigold requests he look over the rescued familiar. The gun-mage approaches with a wry smile, stroking the rat with a well worn trigger finger;
"Hey wee man. We've come to take you back to your master..."
Maxim looks over the familiar for signs of damage - both physical and eldritch;
:
:
Ryan still picking sticky bits of wooden chest off of his mace, walks over to where JJ is berating the slayer.
Wwith his empty guantleted hand he knocks the slayer out, not bothering with further questions.
Then without a word moves to assist Maxim in checking out Master Ghelve s familiar; if needed.
"We should secure him in a room that we have the key for."
Kikinnin works his way back over to the chest-that-is-not-chest. He tucks his crossbow away, looking sheepishly towards Marigold for not having used her steadying hand. He's glad for not having to shoot twice, as he was likely to do more harm than good with it.
He works his axe off the dead thing, begrudging the creature its defensive stickiness. As he wipes his weapon clean, he looks over at the rat in a cage.
"Familiars are usually clean things, living without disease among the people. For its time down here, does it look like it turned rabid or anything? Check its gums. Looks for blisters. Also, we might need to check its fur, in case it picked up something foul, like a worm or other parasite."
"You got any suspicion, best put it down here, and we can bring Keygan the carcass for proof of life. Well, that we found it." Kikinnin raises a bushy eyebrow. "What did you find, Maxim? Do we need to return it to Ghelve's before we head down?"
When the group has considered their next steps, Kikinnin tries to return to the elevator, and their descent.
As Ryan turns from knocking out the stalker, he meets a rueful gaze from Ruben.
We keep knocking that thing unconscious we're gonna scramble his brains. He'll lead us into traps every step of the way, just put the damned thing out of our misery.
He then turns back to the mimic and wrenches his blade free.
JJ shakes his head.
"He'll drag you off to hell with him. Lets take him up and see if the temple can get rid of his vanishing. Heck, if you kill him, maybe the vanishing will move to you. "
He looks at the rat.
"And we need to take that back, get it handled. Ghelve is just above us, it can't take too long to go back."
He looks at the door. "I do wish you had let him answer the question before knocking him out."
Marigold flinches as Ryan clubs Yuathyb into unconsciousness but given that nerves seem a bit more frayed among the group than they were yesterday she doesn't offer any objections. However, she balks at the suggestion of leaving the familiar in one of the rooms they'd already secured.
"We c-can't just leave him!" she responds, looking a bit surprised that Ryan would suggest it. "Even if the r-rooms behind are safe, w-what if something happens to us? He'll st-starve! JJ's right, we need to return him to M-Mr. Ghelve b-before we explore any deeper."
"It's alright, Miss Marigold. Rats are hearty little things. You could keep it from eating for two weeks, and it would still thrive. It'll die of thirst first. Can't cannibalize all by itself." Kikinnin shuts up a little, as he realizes she's got senses to offend. "If it'll make it easier, sure, we can bring it back up. Guess we could take the vanisher up with us, too, and see about its chances at Temple."
The black-beard motions to pick up the unconscious stalker, and begin lugging it back to the stairs up to Ghelve's. "We're taking an awful lot of time caring for rats, both literal and figurative. We need to get back to discovering the children."
He looks at the door. "I do wish you had let him answer the question before knocking him out."
"just plan on all of them leading you into a trap and it should be about right down here." Ryan says uncharistaristically bitter from where he stands. Tired of the run around and half wishing it had been the mace he had used instead of his guantlet.
"We c-can't just leave him!" she responds, looking a bit surprised that Ryan would suggest it. "Even if the r-rooms behind are safe, w-what if something happens to us? He'll st-starve! JJ's right, we need to return him to M-Mr. Ghelve b-before we explore any deeper."
However at MG's outburst Ryan's countenance softens as he realizes she thinKS his previous comment was about the familiar. " No not the little rat, I meant the big one, we should return the familiar to its master and get anything that might be needed for a trip into the darklands, I believe both Kikinnin and Maxim can attest to their dangers. Any suggestions for supplies, gentlemen? "
"We need to find the way first!" says JJ.
He pulls out the map. "There are still have a dozen doors. This one to the north is closest, and the creeper took us here. But maybe that was for the rat - or because he hoped the chest would kill us."
He carefully checks out the door, and if he doesn't find anything dangerous, opens it.
Checking the western wall of the forest room, you find after a lot of work a secret door opening to a small hallway with two geared doors.
Yuathyb points to the north "There. I help." He then leans towards the wall beat and tired
Maxim wryly smiles at his fellow dwarf baiting the proverbial moral trap;
"Don't be worrying on The Shuck's words... Little fella will be taken back to Ghelve first. Leastways what we owe the key-master. 'Sides this ain't just a rat, its a wizards rat... Makes it special... like my sidearm. Holy blades like Kikinnin ain't got the comprehension of such matters! Har!"
At Ryan's wisdom the gun-mage nods;
"Aye. Outfitting for a longer haul is savvy. We ain't gonna be up and down a set of pretty stairs once we drop in the elevator. Deep delve could mean deeper sh1te... Bad business all round... Best we gird our loins ahead o' what's next..."
Maxim spits some tobacco with a grim look.
Well if it's worse than hungry chests, pits and bushwacking scum like that Dark Stalker then I'm sure it'll be a barrel of laughs, glad to share such good times with you folks! Ruben jests.
He scowls then though;
Still, we can take it. Those kids can't. If we do go back up top let's not tarry, they been down here too long as it is.
Ryan's hit places the stalker back to the floor, unconscious over the forest grass.
Once you make your way up to the shop Keygan is waiting for you "You made it! I can feel it! Starbow is with you "
When he finally sees the rat he hugs it strongly "What have they done to you!" the gnome insist he is in debt with you.
"I think we are pretty much ready to go, but just wanted to bring your rat back straight away. Where the children are is no place for pets." says JJ, trying to sound grown up.
"Th-that's right," Marigold adds. "W-We didn't want to make him or y-you wait even longer b-but we've still g-got a lot of ground to cover down there so we c-can't tarry!"
However, she can't help but smile as the gnome hugs the rat fondly. It wasn't the missing children, but it was still a start.
"Can you lock up this fella too? And maybe send for the guard. Be careful though, he thinks he has The Vanishing."
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Ruben has nothing to say while the wizard hugs his rat. He saw a lot of that kind of thing at the Acadamae and found it as weird then as it is now.
I suppose Ghelve should just be grateful Black-beard didn't exterminate it.
"Don't be worrying on The Shuck's words... Little fella will be taken back to Ghelve first. Leastways what we owe the key-master. 'Sides this ain't just a rat, its a wizards rat... Makes it special... like my sidearm. Holy blades like Kikinnin ain't got the comprehension of such matters! Har!"
Kikinnin raises his eyebrows, then chuckles heartily. "A caged rat is better than a gutter rat, to be sure. A gutter rat in a cage, not so sure." He taps his nose, and points to Maxim.
As the lay Yuathyb down, still unconscious, he nods along as JJ coordinates getting the stalker looked at for his ever-growing transparency. Not sure what else you'd need to convince yourself that the Vanishing is coming over you, if you can already see through your own hand...
"The darklands call. I don't think we need much more than resolve, if we're ready to head down. We've done well enough so far, sticking together." The black-beard puts a knuckle to his forehead, in remembrance of Dandarrion.
Kikinnin does his best to remember their way back to the elevator, but he routinely lets those smarter than he review the maps and rerun the runs.
Looking over the elevator, he gauges how they're all going to travel downwards, based on the mechanics, and the capacity of the lift itself.
After you close Yuathyb with one of Keygan's locks, you set foot once again into Jzadirune.
Returning to the previous room, JJ searches the elevator door carefully before opening it. Behind the geared D door he happens to overhear voices in a virtual language.
"Today is coming the dragon " says a first voice.
"Pyllrak Shyraat is taking the kids?" asks a second voice.
"That is what he requested. Something special, weaker, easier to train. Nothing to do with those reckless dwarves" answers the first.
"I would not mind placing my hands on that dwarven girl" adds the second.
"You know Khaul does not like us to place hands on his concubines. You have seen what happened with the last one. Look at Zarkad's missing arm" finishes the first.
The conversation descends then into a conversation on whether human or dwarven women are more desirable.
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Maxim thanks Ghelve for his support, dumps any equipment destined for trade and rejoins his comrades in their slow descent back into the deep, before the deeper still.
The gun-mage nods at Kikinnin's words, before speaking his racial tongue in a solemn tone;
"A mély hely; A malachit erőd, akkor kell egymást, mint korábban bátyja. Éles pengével, élesebb. Erős hit és erősebb szíveket. Ezek lesznek a rendelkezések ezen a törekvés, hogy a sötétben."
In the deep place; the Malachite fortress, we will need each other more than before brother. Sharp blades, sharper wits. Strong faith and stronger hearts. These will be our provisions on this quest to the dark...
As the strange voices are heard, Maxim stops not recognising the words, but readying his pick and wand should need arise...
JJ readies his weapons and mouths a warning to everyone to "Be ready"
After checking the door is unlocked, he flings it open and prepares to rush in on whatever creatures are beyond.
Once again in the depths and looking to go even deeper, Ryan gathers his equipment and nods his readiness when JJ indicates others on the far side of the door.
With the party having secured Yuathyb for the moment and returned Starbow, Marigold offers no objections when the group decides to return to the depths.
When JJ mouths his warning to the group, Marigold gulps and nods nervously as her hand tightens on her morningstar.
Oh no, what now...?
As you place the rod on the door keyhole the geared section slides open. As the light pours in you find a couple of muscular, gray-skinned humanoids peering about with tiny, observant and surprised eyes. With them there is a creature with mangy canine's face and the same flat nose, beady eyes, and protruding teeth as a rat grown grotesquely large.
They draw their longswords and ask you in common "Who the hell are you? "
"I am JJ Surabar!" says the slightly intimidated JJ.
His two swords are out and he advances into the room.
"And what are you doing under My town?"
Although the strangers haven't made any overt moves to attack them, Marigold still feels a familiar tenseness settle into her body at the sight of their drawn weapons. She grips her own weapon tightly and watches anxiously as JJ advances into the room, her eyes flitting back and forth between him and the strangers.
"And where are the skulks?" replies one of the individuals in poor Common maintaining the distance with JJ using the longsword.
The other adds "You are entering Kazmojen territory. Unless you have a reason to be here head back now"
The big rat sniffs at JJ and groars at him loudly as he approaches. Its aspect is terribly disgusting and possibly illness contagious.
The humanoids are the only kind of civilized goblinoid type. Hobgoblins.
This is a goblin dog although it resembles more of a rat. Its contact is contagious to non goblinoids.
"We have reason to talk with the half dwarf." says JJ, his eyes cold.
"The Skulks have decided that they don't want to work for Kazmojen any more. I'm kind of surprised to see goblins working for a dwarf myself."
Yeah we've got business alright. Ruben offers. Bunch of kids brought down here recently, we dunno why, we don't care - 'least that ain't the priority just yet.
But we're gonna get 'em back and someone's gonna bleed for taking them in the first place. So 'less you and your chum here want to be the ones to start paying that price you better tell us what you know about this half-dwarf, where he is an' where the kids are bein' held.
He draws his longsword slowly and deliberately, the steel scraping against the leather of the sheathe like a slithering snake.
As the door slides open revealing their newest foes, Maxim tries to appraise their nature:
:
Failing the discern them, the gun-mage mirrors Rueben's action and slides his wand free...
Whatever these low-lives are I ain't parleying with them.
Recognizing the humanoid creatures for what they are, Marigold hisses "તે વસ્તુઓ hobgoblins છે! મજબૂત અને તેમના અગ્નિ-પ્રેમી પિતરાઈ કરતાં વધુ સ્માર્ટ!"
Her eyes continue to flit back and forth, especially now that Ruben and some of the others are also drawing their weapons. She has no idea what's being said but based on tone and body language, it seems like an altercation is imminent unless they can scare the creatures off...
"Those things are hobgoblins! Stronger and smarter than their fire-loving cousins!"
One of the hobgoblins look angry "Those treacherous skulks..." but the other averts his eyes and says "Wait, if they don't want to work more for us, why do they not come personally to tell us?" they raise the longswords menacingly.
When Ruben intimidates them they step back but hold high their weapons diligently. Very carefully one says "They are probably sold by now. Leave now, you cannot pass"
Sold? Keep talking leather-face. Who's selling kids? Why, and to whom? Ruben growls. This don't need to get ugly. We're coming through here and you can still be standing or not when we do. That's your choice.
"Caus' the're scared of you." replies JJ.
The weight of his swords reassuring the youth that he for one is not scared of them.
"But my friend here speaks truly. Those were my little brothers and sisters, and I'm getting them back."
Shield and mace at the ready,Ryan remains silent but paying attention to the exchange between the two parties.
"They are probably sold by now. Leave now, you cannot pass."
Kikinnin's brow lowers. "You're preventing us from finding out now, aren't you? If they're about to be sold, you're wasting our time standing here and talking to you. Move, or we'll lay you low."
Kikinnin moves forward, expecting to be swung on. He's not looking forward to the pain, but he'll let them make their mistake, then answer them in kind.
"Kazmojen sells them to the Darklands denizens. Pyllrak Shyraat is here to take them, but I doubt knowing this will be enough for you to depart. We have orders to not let anyone but the skulks pass. Head back " says one. Even if they seem scared, they dutifully close up the space with their swords blocking the pass to Kikinnin.