William feels woozy after getting struck by the dart. His muscles seem to relax.
Benedict will hang his warhammer at his belt and draw his longbow.
Haela does nothing.
Grum is too far away for her Tactician ability to affect him, and she does not see a need to expend her limited uses of Teleportation Mastery at this time.
Total Defense.
Grum savagely finishes off the wounded morlock in a pair of swings, then finishes off the little one by following up his attack of opportunity.
The morlock attacking Grum swings wild, missing him both times.
Still ethereal, the elf decides to duck into the solid rock to avoid further damage from the morlock destroyer.
Benedict and Haela do nothing.
William is greatly weakend by the poison. He fires at the remaining morlock.
William finishes off the other morlock on Grum.
Aerel will drift out of the wall in sight of his friends and shout at the one that struck him as he rises into the ceiling to give them a clear view if he comes around the corner in pursuit.
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The remaining morlock keeps his frothing rage going as he follows the ghostly Aerel through the cavern. He pulls out a throwing axe and flings it at his target, but its nonmagical nature means it passes through the elf harmlessly.
His attack over, he turns and spots Grum and the remains of his comrades. He renews his grip on his greatclub and prepares to meet the orc in battle!
William takes aim at the last morlock and lets loose on him.
Grum steps up and delivers a massive hit, which William then follows up with several arrows that bring down the final oversized morlock.
The sounds of battle end with the death of the last morlock, leaving only the sound of rushing water nearby to echo through the chambers.
Aerel will utilize the remaining rounds of his incorporeality to scout the rooms to the south by passing through walls and extending just enough of his head to peek in, then fly through.
Benedict is still unwilling to place himself in a tactically bad position by slogging through the mud. So he remains on the far side.
"Let them come to us" would have been a fine plan... he laments silently.
"That pile of corpses to the southeast we can probably ignore, although it might do to scan it with Detect Magic from a safe distance.
Grum, are you badly hurt?"
"We don't need to go that way, as there is a path around from what I can tell."
William flys back to the group and sits on the ground. He looks tired and worn. "Many those darts took a lot out of me. I don't know how much I've got left in me."
"Let me see what I can do," says Haela. She lays hands on William and heals him.
So a single use of Healer's Hands should get him back at least 27 HP at DC 20 (2* his HD plus 5 more from Haela' Frontier Healer trait), 29 HP at DC 25 (+2 Wis), and 38 HP at DC 30 (+9 Planes ranks), and also heal 2 points of Strength damage.
"If we clear out this area, I can take time to do things the slow way."
"I rather wish we had let them come to us, and you had remained behind us, William. Haela and I have stronger armor than you do, and I am entirely immune to poison while she is resistant.
From now on, if we encounter morlocks with blowguns, I will try to make myself their most obvious target."
It's quickly discovered that the southern tunnels connect, so Benedict and Haela can reunite with the group by going around.
Aerel hears movement ahead when he scouts, but whatever it is stays just outside of his darkvision's range.
The roar of water is almost deafening in this worked stone chamber. A raised dais stands two feet off the floor. Water cascades down from the shaft overhead, rushing through the ten-foot wide circular hole in the center of the dais.
A ledge leans out over a great break in the earth, which descends into blackness. Streaks of white coat the walls and floor of the cavern, and tangles of weeds and dried grass poke out from every cranny in the stone.
Carefully carved walls and tile floors give way to roughly dug burrows in this large chamber. Bone and animal-hide nests litter the cavern, and the pungent stench of sweat and filth hangs heavy in the air.
After resting William checks the bodies for any magic.
William finds that the morlock with the blowgun was wearing an amulet of natural armor +2. The three big morlocks each wielded a +1 greatclub and carried a potion of cure moderate wounds.
"Should we make camp here for the night? It has been a long day."
Haela will use the last of her magical healing for the day on Grum and Aerel.
Before the party decides to make camp, Aerel finishes his scouting. The sounds of retreating morlocks lead him to the southwestern caverns. Carefully carved walls and tile floors give way to roughly dug burrows in this large chamber. Bone and animal-hide nests litter the cavern, and the pungent stench of sweat and filth hangs heavy in the air. A vertical shaft descends into the darkness in the farthest southwest corner, while the southeast contains the greatest concentration of cluttered bones.
The party feels that they've explored every chamber on this level, but there are more morlocks in this cavern complex. Worse, they morlocks are aware of the heroes, though they currently seem to be staying out of sight. There appears to be three ways down from this level: rappelling down the large cleft in the earth, climb down the shaft in the morlock nest, or scaling down the waterfall in the center of the complex.
"Let's camp here. Better that any morlocks should come here to fight us, where we know the area is now clear of traps and hazards, than for us to fight them on unfamiliar terrain. I can take two watches."
With his Ring of Sustenance, Benedict takes first and second watch, while Haela takes third.
Amkarang nods, "Agreed. Hei Feng's beard, I could use a good night's sleep."
The party's camp is unpleasant. Not only are the morlock caverns cold and dank, but the air is fetid everywhere except for the pair of chambers closest to the gaping fissure in the ground. The sheer black emptiness of the chasm, of course, is nerve-wracking on its own, so resting becomes a balancing act of getting as close to the fresher air as one dares without coming too close to the ledge.
Those on watch have a different challenge. As the "night" passes, they hear the lesser morlocks in the darkened caves, lurking just out of sight. Every so often, they catch a glimpse of pale, bulbous eyes just at the edge of the camp's light source or their own darkvision. The degenerate creatures don't attack, however, and scurry away if threatened.
This continues throughout every watch, as the morlocks test the guards' alertness and diligence.
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The third watch is almost over, when a putrid stench wafts up from the southern chamber. Aerel had given the charnel grounds full of rotting corpses a wide berth when he explored earlier, and the party did not disturb the disgusting pile before making camp.
However, now there's the sound of movement in that chamber, followed by screams. Out of the darkness, a pair of gore-covered morlocks stumble amidst a moving carpet of wriggling worms. Despite being covered in the swarm, the morlocks stagger towards the camp, drawing the swarm with them!
Everyone can act; on its turn the swarm moves forward with the infected morlocks 20 feet.
This is a rot grub swarm. It has swarm traits, and is likely immune to weapons
”Rot grubs. No point in engaging with weapons - alchemist fire or acid or magic. Don’t let them get on you, either - nasty stuff!”
William pulls out the wand of fireball and launches a burning ball into the mass.
"Keep moving - no need to stand and fight!"
Haela will ready to use Teleportation Mastery to move herself and 3 others away from the swarm should the swarm reach them.
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His eyes wide with fear, Grum pointed his sword at the swarm as he retreated. Something deep inside of him reacted, and a bolt of lightning shot forth from the weapon. Once more, it showed that he had it within him to be a great sorcerer, but that it was completely wasted potential given the kind of person he was. As such, the swarm was engulfed, not only in fire, but lightning as well.
The fireball is less effective than Grum's lightning bolt, which crisps a large number of the parasites. The swarm continues to advance.
Benedict flinches as the swarm approaches. He moves back and draws an Alchemists' Fire.
Haela moves back and takes the Alchemists' Fire from Benedict.
Aerel moves back as he draws an alchemist’s fire, which he holds out if anyone wants to use it. With his other hand, he plucks the final bead from one of the golden necklaces he wears and throws it at one of the infested morlocks.