Karozekas fires another arrow at the blob.
Between it and Morin's sling stone, the blob explodes in a shower of acidic ooze, splattering Chloe and Tekkis.
Despite the spattering, Chloe manages to make her way free of Sarusa's grasping plants, while Corbyn revives Plod with the aid of a healing draught.
The ornery druidess wades in and smashes her club into the remaining blob, while Tekkis looks at her, unsure what to do. Should we keep swinging, or get out of the way?
For its own part, the remaining ooze rears up and crashes onto Sarusa.
Tekkis at 7 hp
B2 at 13 hp
"We stay and---oof" The rest of Sarusa's reply is cut off by the bash of a blobby pseudopod.
Morin calls out, "Leave her alone, you icky blob!" He launches another slingstone at the remaining ooze.
"I'm alive, but I hurt...
Karo fires another arrow.
*wriggle, wriggle
Sarusa smacks the blob back, unless Corbyn killeded it.
Evidently, a very weak smack.
Chloe utilizes her ranged weapon for the first time in recent memory.
A flurry of arrows, bolts and slings rip apart the remaining blob, resulting in another explosion of acidic goo that Sarusa and Tekkis are fortunately far enough away from to avoid.
The sounds of the lake waters lapping against the shore below once more comes to your ears. The wind runs through the cliff-side grasses and the sky lightens as the sun threatens to break through a thin patch of clouds above. All is quiet and still, aside from your heavy breath as you recover from the arduous combat you have braved.
Morin stands looking at the writhing foliage, scattered drake guts and stinking, splattered blobs of goo for a long moment. He lets out a long, slow breath and says, "Now that was a hell of a fight. Everyone okay?"
Karo checks himself. "I think so. How's Plod?" Karo says, turning to Corb.
|
"He looks like he's going to make it." replies Corbyn.
"That was intense. It was only 5 minutes of combat but it felt like 5 months!"
100XP for Role Playing
535 XP Defeating the Bandits
500XP for Defeating the Corpse Pack
333XP for the Crypt
800XP for defeating the Drake Family
The cavern opening atop the cliff face still beckons, dark and foreboding. Felt like we'd been fighting since last year, Tekkis agrees. Well, he hefts his mattock, we going down, or calling it a day?
"After all that, we can't just walk away," says Morin with a grin. "It'd be like sailing 'til ye can just barely see the coast of Arcadia, then comin' about and sailing home. Down we go."
"We don't know what the oozes were," says Sarusa. "Or if they carried the contagion....the worms. Has anyone else noticed how many worms we've encountered on this journey? Worms for frogs, glow worms, Desna's prophecy of worms...and these...Gellig, don't eat these particular ones. By every monument in Magnimar, Tekk, I feel like a dolt for getting you tangled up in that vegetation. I owe everyone a week's worth of drinks."
The druid takes a look at the oozes' remains, and scouts around for signs of the worms that infested the drakes.
"H-hold, please." Chloe requests, moving to dote over plod whilst apologizing under her breath. Honestly, she hadn't meant to ignore him in combat. She just had no idea where he was and Tekkis was dying.
|
|
"Are you guys sure you want to be running back in there? That was almost a lot worse that it was. We could have died, all of us. I have acid burns all over my skin and I just about lost my best friend in the whole world. As I recall, this isnt even part of our mission. We're sidetracking ourselves, and over what?"
The Mighty plod stands up under his own power. Shaking in the legs he walks over to Chole and nuzzles her in the neck.
"You're the best Chloe, I owe you one."
"We already.. got rid of the mother, yes..?" Chloe says, humming against Plod happily.
"This shouldn't... it shouldn't take long... right?"
I'll go with whatever the rest of you choose Tekkis grunts as he stretches, shaking his shoulders under his heavy plate armor, but let's make a decision. He shakes his head at Sarusa though, Don't mention it. Just glad to have the rest of you along. That was a hell of a scrape.
It is plain to see that the oozes contained tiny worms similar to the ones that were present in the drake you fought on the lake a few nights ago. Outside of a host, they seem to be falling still, perhaps dying in the open air. However, these do not seem like any naturally occurring parasites with which you are familiar. There is something otherworldly about them.
"There may be more of the infestation, and this--"
Sarusa suddenly freezes, squinting at the dying grubs. She holds up a hand, oblivious to anything but the strange forms before her
"Hold. Hold. Not of this world. I must sit."
Sarusa sits cross-legged in a sudden motion and freezes, concentrating so intently that one would think the worms will burst into flame from her gaze.
You detect a faint, evanescent aura from the worms. It fades even as you study it, but you are relatively certain that whatever these worms are, they did not originate on this plane of existence.
"No...that's all I could tell. Not of this world. They are dying here. Presumably outside of a host, they die."
The druid rises.
Sarusa strides towards the cave, casting Light on her club as she goes. "Come on, Gellig, let's make ourselves useful."
Emboldened by the decisive victory over Qarxoosla and her drakeling brood, the party once again plumbs the depths of the lakeside bluff. The earth remains damp and the tunnels lightless but for the illumination of Sarusa's club, although an occasional gust of wind makes its way through the passage, stirring up a sharp stink in the stagnant air of the caves.
Once again, you make your way to a large sink hole, forming a broken ceiling over a chamber of indeterminate dimensions which is floored by a pool of unknown depth. All is quiet except for the chittering of bats above you. There seems to be ample and sturdy stone around the pit, with many fine protrusions to secure a rope to, should one wish to go spelunking.
Chloe lights up her goggles once more before the party descends.
|
|
Corbyn sighs as he follows everybody back into the cave.
"I have a bad feeling about this." he mutters to plod.
Upon reaching the mouth of the cave he says to his mighty companion: "You stay here again and if any trouble comes out of that cave a second time you run. Run and don't look back, you hear me?" he pats Plod on the head and follows his companions into the cave.
Looking down the pit Corbyn comments to the party in a very positive, non-sarcastic tone: "I think we should lower the Halfling, we've had some success with that in the past."
Morin looks up in alarm at Corbyn's words. A thoughtful look crosses his face, though, and after a moment he says, "Okay. Who's got some rope handy?"
He pauses and says, "Or we could all climb down together, I could anchor some ropes up here, and maybe Tekk could go first, since he can see in the dark. Or we drop a light down there first? What do you say, Sarusa? Make some of your magic light and toss it down there?"
Tekkis leans over and peers down into the pit. There's a pool down there, he offers. But I can't see any exits from up here.
"If someone... dangles Morin without a concrete plan... there will be dire consequences. I say w-we go down together, with Corbyn securing the rope and.. descending last."
The first sentence wasn't so much threatening as a statement of the truth. Dangling Morin without a set plan hasn't worked well in the past, and superstitiously, Chloe didn't think that would change.
Well, someone needs to go first, Tekkis shrugs. I guess that's me. The half-orc checks that he has a plug of gilweed close at hand, then prepares to jump down into the water.
"Wait, wait, wait! I thought we were going to use ropes to climb down? That way, we might even have a way back up," says Morin.
He fixes a couple of ropes to the rocky protrusions around the hole, then says, "Okay, Tekk, lead the way."
"Does no one else have a light?"
Sarusa tests the rope, and then prepares to follow Tekkis down.
The rope snakes down and hits the water below with a soft splash. Light? Tekkis grins at Sarusa. Never had much of a need for it myself. He shakes his head with a sardonic sigh. I should probably take my armor off, but who want's to live forever? With a cheerful salute, he descends feet first, hand over hand lowering himself into the watery depths.
Shortly after he calls up, The water's only ten feet down, but it's too murky to say how deep it goes. There's a passage to the northwest, but not much else that I can see.
Morin grabs hold of the rope and descends after Tekkis, saying, "Oh good, a passage. That sounds like a better approach than swimming into the murky water and seeing what we bump into."
Chloe stays close to Sarusa, sensing that Morin and Tekkis will be the first to find trouble.
Sarusa nearly falls down the rope.
Your group manages to make it down into the flooded cavern, Sarusa's magic providing scant illumination in the sunken depths. Treading water, your feet do not touch the ground, and while the flotsam of the weedy depths winds serpentine about your legs, nothing attempts to drag you under. The halls are quiet but for the dripping of condensed moisture from the ceiling.
Once you make your way to the passage, you find the soil to be damp and sandy, though it dries as you progress up a gentle slope into the hidden chambers beyond. The passage narrows to nearly five feet across and continues that way for a few paces before opening into a large, low ceilinged hall.
Roots and stalactites brush the tops of most of your heads, while stalagmites, piles of weedy detritus, broken bones, and reeking offal make the ground difficult to traverse. Here and there amid the wreckage, there are glints of metal, and the hint of treasures hidden among the trash heaps.
The hall branches to your left, right, and straight ahead, with several points where the ceiling has collapsed to create breaks in the passageway.
Morin takes a careful look around for any surprises, then begins to rummage through the detritus to investigate the tantalizing glints.