Mots eyes narrow to a squint as he spots the more vicious vegetable-man. The crate of alcohol all but forgotten the Highlander spins the grip of his spear and lets fly for the foul fiend!
Growling as the weapon leaves his hand the big warrior reaches into the crate and grabs a gourd of homebrew.
Beorae lifts her scimitar as she finishes casting her spell. No sooner has she finished muttering her incantation than a giant centipede slithers its way out of a crack in the dirt behind the vegepigmy leader!
The centipede immediately snips at the veggie leader with its monstrous mandibles .
Beorae grips her sword and brings it down on the leader.
Meanwhile, Shark continues to attack the veggie in front of him .
The chieftain's fellow tribesman capably defends itself against the big grey cat. Themp's dagger slices the bigger vegepygmy, followed by a cut from the druidess, and then a bite from an oversized centipede! Mot's spear digs into the fungal flesh, but the chieftain shakes it free.
The vegepygmy attempts to aid his chief by wielding his spear to defensively cover one of his leader's sides against the tall folk.
Weathering the many attacks, the heavily-tendriled plant man spins savagely with sharp claws outward.
The whirl ends with a haphazard lunge at Beorae, teeth first!
Both the Sevenstone and her summoned creature keep out of reach, but Themp feels the little sharp claws dig furrows into his leg. Despite its recklessness, the chieftain fights with an unexpected tenacity of one so small.
Over the area where alcohol burned away the mold, the yellow cloud thins to breathable air.
Nme'an continues towards the tangled melee in front of him, hardly noticing the cloud of spores hanging in the air around him. His forward progress is temporarily halted as Shark goes on the attack. Unable to engage the enemy himself, the Knight Apprentice to use his tactical experience to help lead the battle:
"Olp, Mot, switch places. We need you in the fight, Big Man. Themp, Beorae, disengage and attack from a safe distance if you can. Watch out for the mold behind you. Shark, Uh... Bi. Centipede? Smash."
Flinching from the vicious blow, Themp feels the adrenaline shrugging a slightly grogginess off.
"Watch out, this bastard is toxic!"
And with the warning, he steps out of Nme'an's path, lets go of his dagger and wields the lent bow against the chieftain, point-blank.
The vegepygmy sees an opening as Themp draws his bowstring.
But the canny street rat dodges the spear.
Olp nods and tries maintain his defenses while backing away from the chieftain.
Beside the gnome, he takes a gourd from the chest in Mot's arm. The tribal gnome likewise takes another gourd, and throws it at a mold coated wall nearby.
As the thick blanket of fungus dissolves under the burst of alcohol, metal glints by light of Beorae and Nme'an, mostly buried under the dying mold.
"Language..." Nme'an chides at Themp's strongly worded warning.
Mot watches as the fungus dissolves from the wall under the barrage of alcohol. Spinning the gourd in his oversized palm the Highlanders eyes narrow as his, admittedly weak, brain tries to process an idea. As the chieftain strikes out again however, thought vacates his mind and he blindly throws the flagon of wood-alcohol at the furious little fungus-beast.
Beorae steps back at Nme'an's request just in time for the gourd to splash against the vegepygmy leader. “Shark!” With her free hand, she picks up a new gourd from the crate and breaks it over the mold behind her. Rounding around behind Mot, Shark follows Beorae's lead and takes her place in the melee.
Both creatures snap at the leader with their jaws.
Themp's arrow pierces the chest of the vegepygmy leader, which throws it off balance for a moment due to the close-range impact. A following burst of alcohol sizzles at the mold-infested chieftain, and it bares its teeth at the towering highlander. Clouds of yellow spores puff up when the druidess steps too close, though Beorae perseveres and the wood alcohol burns away the brown mounds of mold. Bits of cloth and small wooden weapon handles begin to show underneath.
Shark and the centipede fail to connect with their prey.
The smaller vegepygmy steps back from the archer after an order from its chief, but not before a parting jab at the tall man.
Themp sees the attack coming and deftly sidesteps the spearhead. The chieftain makes a wild swipe up at the Casns before stepping back as well, turning its other claw and teeth to the centipede.
But Mot easily dodges the sharp claws and the hard chitin of the centipede saves it from the worst of the chieftain's fury. The two vegepygmy close ranks, with a dark tunnel at their back.
Mot growls at the clawed attack as he sidesteps it, dropping the crate in the process. Seeing the chieftain apparently beginning a withdrawal the Casns warrior leaps over the giant centipede and spins on his heels, tucking and rolling past the bigger pygmy, coming up with sword in hand.
The highlander's blade bites deep into the savage little plant man, nearly cleaving its top from its bottom. But the greatsword stops against the sturdiest of the vegepygmy innards and the chieftain wretches itself free from the runic steel. A few lopped off tendrils fall to its feet as a yellowy transparent ooze beads around the chieftain's devastating wound.
With no path to his more dangerous foe, Nme'an instead moves to engage the closer of the two vegepygmy.
for
Amazed at the leader's reluctance to die, even after Mot's vicious blow, Themp can't help but shoot yet again.
Beorae follows the movement of the group so as to provide light for her companions.
The centipede and Shark both sidestep with the vegepygmy and continue their attacks.
Another arrow sinks into the chieftain's side, and it clicks frantically as Shark tears away at its fungal body. Seeking to get away from the big man and his big sword, the chieftain leaps back the way he came, and stops short right next to Beorae! A flurry of claws and teeth threaten the Sevenstone and her striped beast.
Snarling as vegepygmy claws draw tiger blood, the big grey predator bats away the second attack. The claw lines in the fur redden, and Shark's blood mixes with the yellow spores left behind. The chieftain completes the circle of his attack, turning his teeth to Beorae's leg. She feels the needle-point teeth sink into her knee, and looks down to see spores falling free from the tendriled head onto the wound.
The kneebiter hisses and clicks savagely up at the druidess. The other vegepygmy tries to stab its spear at the tiger while he is distracted.
Perhaps not as distracted as the plant man supposed, Shark deftly dodges the jab. After a titter from the chieftain, the spear-wielder tucks to roll away, between the tiger and the archer.
But the lesser vegepygmy is not so good at tumbling is its ferocious leader, and opens its defenses to Nme'an and Shark along the way.
Nme'an tracks the plant creature as it tries to flee past him, but he is having none of it. He swings his sword horzontially at the escaping vegepygmy.
for
Moving forward with the sword's momentum, Nme'an steps up and lifts his sword for a downward slash against the more dangerous foe.
for
Shark moves to chomp at the rolling vegepygmy, but is cut short when the paladin's blade cleaves the creature in half.
Beorae sidesteps again, putting the leader between Shark and herself.
Turning to the leader, the grey tiger lashes out again.
And Beorae takes another swing with her sword…
…but fails to make contact.
The centipede cuddles with Mot.
The knight apprentice’s downward cut and Shark’s claws stop the raging vegepygmy chieftain in its tracks and tears it to pieces. As the plant matter falls lifeless to the ground, a tiny wisp of oily black smoke rises up from the mound of former chieftain, and quickly thins into nothing.
The dirt walled tunnels are now quiet, save for the sounds of battle above ground. A good deal of mold still lives in darker corners of the warren, and a yellow cloud still fills nearly half of the open area.
“You did it!” exclaims the gnome alchemist. He picks up a gourd from the chest that sits on the floor. “Quick, let’s clear a path to my brothers and sisters above!”
He hurls the gourd at the patches of mold.
Nme'an thinks for a moment he might have seen something odd emerge from the chieftain's body, but his concern for the injured sees him turn away without giving it a closer study.
Mot pats at the ethereal centipede absentmindedly before striding forward and reaching into the crate on the floor. "Es thes tha whey ta yoor ken?" He asks as he points with his sword at the moldy wall to the northeast.
As the chieftain crumbles, Themp surveys the room for any additional dangers.
Already aware of the cloud of spores east of him, Themp notices another southern tunnel thickly blanketed with the brown mold. Spore clouds do not fill that corridor, but the thief suspects that will change if he or his companions wander too close. He does not hear any other movement in the dark tunnel entrances that spread out from the open area. Aside from the debilitating mold, Themp does not detect any other dangers in the warren.
"Yes, this is the way to the entrance," the gnome answers. "When you are ready," he says to the half-elves, "bring your light."
Olp walks up to the crate and hoists it up with both arms, using the shaft of his spear the support the bottom.
Mot strides towards the dissipating cloud of spores and hurls the gourd of alcohol at the far mold splotches. Muttering a prayer about "spilling one for the gods" as he does so.
Gripping his sword tightly the big Highlander takes a deep breath and whispers "Nae clood weal bea tha deth o' mea!" before rushing through the spores out into the darkened tunnel.
Nme'an turns to watch Mot sprint off towards further battle, and though a part of the Knight Apprentice wishes to follow, he knows that the others need tending to first. Nme'an kneels and says a brief prayer. Like before, a wave of light surges outward healing those nearby while bypassing the Chieftain and the two most recently slain vegepygmy. He also takes the time to stroke Shark's fur. Having done all he can, Nme'an too heads for the unseen exit.
“Yeah, we should get going…” Before she heads into the next room with the others, though, Beorae glances at the bits of metal that were hiding under the spores.
Beorae summons Shark and takes a deep breath before diving into the cloud of spores.
Noticing there still is a big spore cloud blocking the way, Themp moves just out of the edge of it, casually inspecting the metal under the sterilized fungi.
As he is done with his inspection, he strolls after Beorae, careful not to breath too deeply when inside the spore cloud.
A moment of her full attention on the covered metal tells the druidess a few things: the shapes underneath the mold are vaguely resemble three human-sized figures, and the visible metal is dull, thick, and scratched, typical of steel used for armor and weapons. Her sharp eyes notice what could be rib cages covered in dead mold, turn outward as if pried open.
Based on the presence of armor and humanoid form, Beorae suspects that bodies of men, perhaps Dawnflower knights, served as incubators for the spores to mature into vegepygmy. Some insects have been known to plant eggs into a living victim, wherein the offspring eat and claw their way out when they are ready. It looks like the mold-to-vegepygmy process might be similar.
The gnome and kobold waste no time following after the big man as the tunnel is illuminated by the lights of the half-elves. Fortunately, the movement of their allies seem to have scattered some of the spores already.
Some of the yellow spores cling to the gnome's body, eating away at his exposed skin.
The thief quietly stoops and tugs at one of the pieces of exposed metal. He ends up disturbing a small round shield and the arm bones attached to it, half-buried in the gunk. Frantic that his grave robbery will be noticed, the scoundrel's quick hands go for a ring stuck on one of the finger bones before letting the rest of the shielded arm fall. The attempt is sloppy and obvious, but thankfully the gnome was already around the corner.
Holding the chest of alcohol out in front of him, Olp hurries past Mot into the dark, not needing the magical light to see.
Nme'an continues through the cloud of spores the follows the underground tunnels up upward towards what he hopes in an exit.
With long-legged strides Mot closes the remaining distance between himself and the battle. At the sight of the melee above ground the mammoth warrior lets out a happy bellow as he raises sword high above his head, bringing it down in a vicious slice towards one of the vegpygmy!
Beorae and Shark scurry through the tunnel, the druidess drawing the wand of healing as she takes in the immensity of her companion’s wounds. The pair are quicker than the paladin and pass him as they emerge into the fresh air above ground. In one smooth motion, Beorae drives the point of the blade into the soft earth and reaches out for Shark’s back. Making contact, she channels healing energy from the wand into the tiger.
Invigorated by fresh strength, the tiger lunges at the first vegepygmy he sees.
Taking long strides, Themp follows his companions out in the open. As he processes the on-going battle's scale, he stops short by Beorae and draws his bow.
"Mr. Knight," he calls Nme'an over his shoulder. "you're the one with military expertise here. What the heck do we do?"
The gnome keeps up with the tall folk, rushing headlong to the mass of vegepygmy, to the point of smacking a plant man in the face with his own forehead.
Olp brings the chest of alcohol to the mouth of the cave. Mot sword, Themp's arrow, and Shark's sharp teeth miss their foes. The surrounded gnomes cheer at the sight of their allies and fight on with renewed vigor.
Some of the vegepygmy break off from the tribe of gnomes, raising their spears up at the Casns and Shark. The gnomes defend themselves as best they can. The tiger's attackers are too slow, and he is able to defend himself. However, Mot's errant swing throws his weight right toward a spearhead. Before he can recover, two vegepygmy click as they shake highland-bloodied spears.
The tribal leader is run through by one of her assailants! Though she cries out, a sudden calm takes her face as she puffs her cheeks with short, quick breaths. Crooking an arm over the bleeding wound, her thin legs roll and dance underneath her, quickly lashing out like twin whips aimed at the spear-wielder!
Her grievous wound slows her movements, and her foe leans back out of the way. A moment later, her comrade boxes the vegepygmy head between two fists and greenish yellow plant juice squirts up out of the smashed head. It falls to the ground.
A short ways from the main battle, one gnome appears to stand against three vegepygmy. Surrounded and cut off from her kinsman, she defends herself to little avail, sustaining spear stabs as she positions her back to a tree.
"Drop the bow, arrows aren't working," Nme'an answers the rogue. "Beorae has a sling... try that instead. Perhaps you would have more luck."
"Bi Sevenstone, I think it best that you stay back and commit yourself to healing our injuries with that wand of yours."
"As for myself," the Knight Apprentice says, "I shall follow Mot in cutting through the enemy..." With that he moves forward towards the raging battle and lashes out at a Vegepygmy to Mot's right.
for:
His swing missing, Mot feels his ire growing. A feeling that is only compounded as the warrior feels the wounds bestowed by his enemies. With a growl he shifts his weight and brings his sword whistling upwards in a backhanded sweep.
The vegepygmy use their size and quickness to avoid both blades of the knight and warrior.
Olp lets the crate fall to the ground. Now with a hand free, he takes an alcoholic gourd out. His eyes narrow to the distant edge of the battlefield, where a she-gnome has backed away from a cluster of vegepygmy. He hurls the container high overhead, to land in the momentary opening.
That is, he meant to throw the gourd. Rather, it slips from his grip mid-throw, and it bounces from one claw to another in his fumbling attempts to grab it again. The gourd breaks over his scaled feet, and the kobold covers his snout as the fumes cause him to cough and water the eyes.
Similar in theory to an egg being more fragile than a chicken, it seems unlikely that the alcohol will harm the matured vegepygmy is any significant way.
Themp begins to snicker at the paladin's suggestion, but decides to humor him anyway.
"You know what, Mr. Knight?" he addresses Nme'an while slinging his bow on his back "Beats the crap out of knifing these buggers."
Turning to Beorae, he calls her attention. "Hey, Red! Throw me your slingshot and some pellets, will ya? Mr. Shiny Pants thinks it's best for me to give it a go."
Beorae pushes her sling and a fistful of bullets into Themp's open hands, preoccupied with closing her companion's wounds. She traces the tip of the healing wand along Shark's injuries as he faces another vegepygmy. Themp finds five slinging stones in his hand.
"Olp, you have a sling too, right? Save the alcohol for the mold left in the cave," advises the druidess.
Many of gnomes dodge or deflect the spearheads of the murderous plant folk. However, one of lady gnomes is stabbed twice by her assailants. In the chaos, a vegepygmy darts in under Nme'an's shield and drives the spearhead up between two metal plates covering the knights stomach! The stab does not puncture as deep as it could have, but the crude spear does come away bloody. The fungus folk that evaded the Casns blade lunges and pokes a thick highland leg.
The wounded gnome gives as good as she gets, and drops one of the vegepygmy with a solid strike to its head. The male gnome beside her kicks another of her attackers apart, following up with a hard elbow to a vegepygmy at his back. The gnome tribe leader finishes off the elbowed one before stepping up to Nme'an's attacker, delivering a hard kick to the back. Already injured from before, the knight's assailant crumples to the ground. The she-gnome nods to the half-elf, glad to see the tall folk joining the fight.
One gnome flanks Shark's prey and hits it hard, though it still stands. Another of the female gnomes gives a vegepygmy a one-two punch and it also falls to the ground. She then moves toward her kinsman, who fights apart and surrounded.
"Your pipes, monster-man!" cries one of the male gnomes to Mot, "Let it be the last thing these clickers hear!"
Nme'an moves forward the slashes at the plant creature to his left.
for
Mot glances up in time to see one after another of the foe-plant fall to his allies. His eyes light up with the thrill of combat and as he hears the shouted suggestion for music the barbaric warrior cannot resist!
Letting his sword fall to the ground, Mot unslings his pipes with a roaring laugh that fills the clearing; Ha Ha Haaaaaa!" He bellows before taking a comically oversized breath.
Striking up his instrument the Highlander blasts it directly into the face of the nearest vegpygmy, it's melodic thunder tearing a hole through the jungle.
Bolstered by the sudden sound from the big man’s instrument, Shark takes a sidestep behind Nme’an, placing himself in a position to attack both of the closest vegepygmy.
He swipes at the first one on his left with his claws…
…and immediately follows up with a claw to the one on his right .
Meanwhile, Beorae reaches out toward Mot and tries to heal some of the many wounds he has incurred.
Shark tears his prey to shreds, as Mot's bagpipes squeal over the sounds of battle.
Nodding to the advise, Olp drops his spear and unties a leather strip from his belt. Picking a smooth bullet from a small belt pouch, he places it into the sling. Slowly at first, the kobold circles the simple weapon overhead.
The thief loads the sling, and flicks his wrist to whip the heavy end once, twice, three times, as he looks up to pick a target. On the fourth spin, he looses the ball at their guide's attacker.
Used to pulling back a bowstring and holding still for an accurate bow shot, the spinning release of the sling misses the plant man by a hands-breadth.
Another vegepygmy flanks the brewer of wood alcohol and stabs him with a spear. The rest of the gnomes are able to defend themselves against the advance of the fungus folk, save for the furthest one, surrounded and assailed by spears.
The gnome leader and the male beside her rush to the aid of their surrounded kinswoman. Ekki'Ekki'Ptang's matriarch stops short to drop a vegepygmy that stood in the way of another who hurried to her aid. The gnome manages to kill two vegepygmy before her allies arrive.
Five vegepygmy remain standing on the battlefield, and their chatter is mostly drowned by the highland pipes.
Nme'an moves to help the flanked Gnome to the north.
for
Mot continues blasting away on his pipes. Face flushed with the effort of keeping the bag inflated as well as showing the biggest smile the Highlander can muster. He dances a little jig around friend and foe alike, with mocking little hip-swings and pelvic thrusts directed at the strange plant-men.
Nme'an cuts down one of the vegepygmy.
Moving into the battlefield with his sling spinning overhead, Olp releases the stone at one of the remaining four plantfolk.
The spear-wielder seems to be out of practice with his sling, as the shot soars high into the trees.
Themp lets loose another rock, cursing under his breath.
Beorae pulls her sword from the ground and sheathes it while directing Shark to attack the veggie behind Mot .
“We need to get the rest of the mold down there. Come on, Themp.”
Themp's shot barely misses again, but Shark quickly moves in to finish off the vegepygmy.
A pair of plant folk make a concerted effort to stab at one of the wounded gnomes...
...but their coordination fumbles and they turn to flee.
Two gnomes give them a parting smack, and then four give chase.
The fleeing vegepygmy are beaten into the ground.
A female gnome smiles when it is now her foe that is surrounded by her kin, and together they reduce the last of the invading species into bits of plant.
"Ekki'Ekki'Ptang!" trills the gnome leader victoriously, and her tribe cries out in unison: "Ekki'Ekki'Ptang!"
But before celebrations continue, the gnomes still standing rush to the pile of fallen gnomes, about fifty feet from the cave mouth. They appear to be working together to stop the bleeding and bind their grievous wounds.
Olp puts away his sling, and retrieves his spear. Stowing it on his back, the kobold slowly approaches the crowd of gnomes, working to save their fallen brothers and sisters. He stands from a distance and watches with curiosity.