"I'm right here, not sure what more you wa-"
Drot was cut off by one of the mini-monsters taking a bite out of thigh. In that moment of distraction and emotional distress, his inner rage threw Drot out of the way and took control of the Orc. Eyes suddenly ablaze with violence, he shouts!
"TÖDLICHE SPALTUNG!!!"
Using Drot's magic to empower his might, the orc's upper body becomes a blur of light as The Berserker sweeps his hammer through the horrid creatures around him. The hammer, seemingly heading straight for Tesswyn's head, suddenly becomes translucent and passes through her just before slamming into the largest of the beasts and wall.
"I don't know what you are but we'll put you down." His blade glows with divine power as he strikes.
The heroes three attack the monstrosity with all their might, severely injuring it. The beast is still up and attacking!
The thing is still focused on Tesswyn. It tries to bite her, but Tesswyn dodges out of the way.
Meanwhile, the miniature versions of it are still biting at ankles.
Down at the end of the hall, you hear Billy's voice. Holy shit. Hey! HEY! Ha ha! You gotta see this! I found them! Hahaha! I FOUND THEM!
Meanwhile, when waves start up again. Everyone make a Strength Challenge Roll or be knocked down the hallway 2d6 x 2 yards. An Agility Challenge Roll is needed to stand up.
The monster falls to the waves and gets pushed down the hall by 18 yards.
Damage tracker: 62
Charles was too focused on the monsters in front of and surrounding him to notice anything about the walls.
Gritting his teeth against the pain from the smaller creatures bites, he watches as the larger one goes tumbling down to wear he heard Billy calling from.
"He found them, good now we just have to-" he started to move but the sudden undulating rhythm threw him off again and he crashed into the floor.
Gärwin moves unsteadily away from a crushing pillar, swinging his blade at the opposing monster but is unable to land a solid blow.
"The walls are healing!" Tesswyn shouts, pointing out the regenerating veins. She moves after the monster, charging and smashing it with Charles's divine aid!
Hey there, guys. It's alright. We're here to rescue yo-- Ahh! What the f#!# it that?!
Easily moving with floor and intensely focused on killing the monster, The Berserker rushes after it. He charges and brings his hammer down with both hands.
He brings the hammer down but the tumbling creature moves and it glances off the beast.
The monster is still getting hammered by the columns.
Damage Tracker:
31
Billy: 50
Charles: 10
Drot: 18
Tesswyn: 18
Seeing an opportunity, Gärwin grips his blade in both hands smashes the pommel into the nearest pillar, hoping to pin the creature to the floor.
That looks solid enough, open sesame!
Tesswyn takes a moment to open her pouch and pop a healing berry in her mouth before moving further down the hall, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever shit Billy's stepped in.
finally catching a break, Charles manages to pick himself off of the floor and stand. As he does so he shakes his head and glances back at the dead monstrosity.
"Good work Tesswyn. Sorry I wasn't more- oh no. Drot. Drot! Drot'ook, calm down! It's dead." he called out to the raging orc that was busy pulverizing the head of the monster.
After a moment he shook his head and decided to follow after Tesswyn. He was sure Drot would get a hold of himself. Plus, Billy had found the kids but then had sounded distressed.
"EVERYTHING ALIVE!!! RAAAAH!"
The Berserker Rushes down the hall where billy was calling from. He was frantic to sate his thirst for destruction in the short time he had, doing everything in his power to find a target.
As the orc barrels down the hall he spots the thing Billy is facing. Inside a battle erupts between the frightened Drot and the ruthless Berserker. The fear that's been struck causes The Berserker to struggle controlling his limbs as Drot attempts to save his body from what he can only imagine is its demise. Even with the struggle, The Berserker manages to get to the beast. empower his strike and set with wrath upon it.
"ZERSTÖERISCHES ZIEL!"
Suddenly, the doors in the ceramics room opens. The monstrosity is still immobilized for the round, before it'll be able to get up and take chase. The hall is 50 yards long.
Current Distance:
Billy: End of Hall
Charles: Move x3 away
Drot: End of Hall
Gärwin: Move x6 away
Tesswyn: Move x2 away
Gärwin is at the start of the hall. About halfway down, Charles gets up while Tesswyn eats some healing berries.
At the other end of the squishy hall, Drot runs past Billy and smashes his hammer into a tar like substance with tentacles whipping out of it. The tar partially dissolves the hammer.
Billy, sword in hand, steps up next to Drot and attacks as well.
Beyond the tar, there are three halfling children suspending in the air, held in bondage by tentacles coming from the floor, walls, and ceiling. They hang above a pool of liquid, from which the mobile tar emerged.
One of the vine-like tentacles whips out to attack Drot, but it just barely misses as Drot leaps to the side.
Damage Tracker:
11
Charles had a brief moment of fear as the raging form of Drot'ook came rushing at him at an incredible speed, he'd only had a moment to start raising his shield, but then charged past down to the far end of the hallway.
Letting out a sigh he began to chase after the Orc to the far end.
As he arrived he saw the tar, ooze like substance.
Charles steels his will against the monstrosity. He supposed he had Billy's cursing to thank for that. But then he looked at the three Halfling teens who'd been captured.
Tesswyn moves down the tunnel, pausing as she sees the horrid tar attacking Drot. "Nope," she declares, stowing her staff and drawing her bow. Her psychic senses are occluded, so she keeps her distance as she fires an arrow into its quivering bulk.
"What the blazes is going on in here? We gotta move, this whole place is a deathtrap!" Gärwin is looking like he wants to leave more every second. He tries to keep his eyes on the creature behind him.
"Oh, dammit! I'm comin' through!" Gärwin retrieves a small glass vial from his pack and barrels down the hallway.
Too furious to notice the damage to his weapon, The Berserker rears back for another hit. His arms, once again, glow with magical energy after he barks an angry phrase.
"ZERSTÖERISCHES ZIEL!"
Drot slams his hammer down on the tar, finally landing a hit that isn't well absorbed by the odd moving liquid-like substance.
Unfortunately, his warhammer disintegrates in his hands as he does so.
Tesswyn moves forward and fires an arrow, adding to the thing's pain - if it can even feel pain.
Gärwin rushes forward as fast as he can.
Charles advances and inspects the children. A quick glance shows Auri, Byron, and Vanessa.
Billy also attacks with his sword.
Billy's sword also disintegrates.
The tar lashes out at Drot. The tentacles hit the orc hard, and leave behind burn marks.
Damage tracker:
45
Tesswyn swiftly fires two arrows into the ooze!
Breathing heavily, Gärwin rushes past Tesswyn to the end of the hall, hoping he'll make it in time to save Drot and the children. He knows that the creature from the other room will be upon them soon.
As Drot slams the tar-like organism with his magically enhance attack, the stuff splits in two! There are now two distinct things waving pseudopods around like deadly whips.
The first organism was a Size 3; now that it's split in two, each are a Size 2.
"Drot! Catch!" Tesswyn says, tossing the pendant they took from the hag to the orc. "Break it!"
"WAH!? NOOO!!! HAMMER!!!"
Well done sir! Too good! Now what are you going to do? DROT GO TO HELL! Yes, well it'll be both of us if we don't leave soon. We just need the kids! Get the kids, get out, get a new hammer.
You didn't know The Berserker could get even more angry, yet here he is being more enraged at the loss of his weapon.
Luckily Drot heard his sister's call and a hand flung back to catch the pendant, which was swiftly crushed by might of The Berserker.
Everything suddenly slowed down for Drot the Berserker. He quickly reached for his dagger, the first real magical trinket Drot owned. The Berserker wasted no time forgoing finesse and jabbed one of the monsters twice before Drot could pull them away, retreating toward Charles and the children. thrice while Drot was torn between protecting Tess and helping the children.
"By the grace of the New God" he began. "you will be healed."
Tesswyn throws her pendant to Drot, who catches it and breaks it in one swift move, while drawing his dagger at the same time. In a blur of motion, Drot slices and stabs the goo repeatedly, almost faster than anyone can see. When his body returns to normal speed, one of the two tar-creatures is completely obliterated.
Gärwin rushes forward and readies his shield to block. Charles send out a burst of the Martyr's love and heals those around him.
Billy says, I need a sword! Someone give me a sword!
The other tar Creature attacks Billy. The pseudopod slams into the boy, nearly knocking the wind out of him. But he stays standing, ready to fight.
Tesswyn continues to shoot the remaining ooze. After her first strike, she opens her mind up to a flash of insight to ensure the second one hits!
"Billy, catch!" Charles says to the boy as he tosses him his sword.
Gärwin reels back and throws the vial of holy water at the tar creature, hoping that it would be enough to dissolve it away. "I've been savin' this for yah!"
Billy catches the sword put of the air and twirls it around, letting the moment redirect into the tar.
Billy stabs the tar with his sword, dealing solid damage, while Tesswyn fires two more arrows into it. Gärwin pulls out his holy water and pours it on the tar, dissolving the tar into a non-sentient existence.
After the screaming and yelling, you calm down. As soon as it is "quiet," you realize that there's been a background noise the entire time - a constant moaning. It's coming from Byron, who is hanging by the barest threads of life. Despite his condition, he is still conscious and moaning and wailing in pain.
Auri is alive, but he’s bloated almost beyond recognition from the strange growth hormones the tentacles pump into him. His clothes hang from him in tatters and his left hand is a vivid purple, constricted by a silver ring on his ring finger.
Vanessa is alive and unconscious, tentacles covering most of her body.
Finally taking the time to look at the other two Halflings, Charles is furious with himself for not noticing their condition but immediately begins to cast healing spells.
"Oh no! Drot, Billy, cut the girl down now!" he commanded as he walked up to the moaning Halfling.
"Come on Byron, don't die on me now."
"By the grace of Astrid, show me the life that surrounds me... Get him down now." he said gesturing to Auri, as he went back to healing Byron a 2nd time.
He looked at Auri then. "I don't know what that thing was doing to you but we're stopping it.
By the power of the New God, remove the impurities from his body."
"RAAAAAAH!!!"
After the tar tentacle monster falls The Berserker turns to the next available target, Billy. There is a slight hesitation from the orc even though his eyes burned with hatred. He raises his hand with the intent on bring the dagger down on the poor boy.
"ORC STRONG!!! ORC KI-"
Drot stops, His face rests and he blinks the fire out of his eyes. They begin to glaze over and he suddenly looks like he hasn't slept for days. The knife tumbles to the ground as his arms fall to his sides, he stares at Billy for a moment, his face is ragged and emotionless and his breathing is hard.
"Yes, the children, quite right."
He looks past Billy to Charles and walks over to him. He puts his hand on the man's should and leans a little. He thanks the paladin for the healing and quickly starts for the restrained little girl.
"Ah yes, let me see about those bindings. Nothing I shouldn't be able to handle. Hmm."
"Phew... that was too close for comfort." Gärwin looks relieved, but he slowly comes to a realization and his face quickly turns sour once again. "Oh dammit, there's still one more bastard. You lot take care of the children, I'm going to go clean up."
Gärwin turns back into the fleshy hallway and runs once again for the ceramics room. In the distance, you can hear him huffing and puffing as he runs.
Billy looks at Drot with pure fear in his eyes. Drot has just confirmed everything the boy has ever believed about orcs. When Drot reverted back to normal, the fear did not fade quickly.
Drot studies the teenage girl. He touches the tentacles and discovers that most of them brush away easily. But there are three stuck to her face. He finds a way to remove them, and then quickly acts. When all is done, she falls forward into his arms.
She's alive, but exhausted. She can barely walk and will need help getting out.
Byron is easy to take down; the tentacles easy to brush or cut away. His biggest issue was that he was close to death. Now that he's no longer required to stay awake, he passes out.
Auri can also be taken down easily. The swelling and bloating immediately start to decrease when you detach him from the tentacle, but his hand and especially his ring finger start to turn black.
31
"Let me try to get that off," Tesswyn says. She kneels beside Auri as she produces her thieves' tools and tries to cut the ring off of his finger.
The ring pops off and his hand and finger start to return to a more natural color. It might be a while before he's fully healed, but he's one the road to recovery.
All three children have been rescued. They're all alive and bear no permanent scars. Interestingly, they have all been cured of the pox, as well. It looks like at least some aspect of that old tale was correct - the cave did cure them.
From here, you can try to head back the way you came, risking what you know is behind you, or press forward into the next tunnel.
"I guess that counts for something," Tesswyn remarks on their cured condition. She looks back up the tunnel where Garwin went. "Hey, Sir Dwarf! Come on back!" Turning to her other companions, she grimaces. "This is the stomach, right? So if we keep going in this direction, it stands to reason that there might be another way out through the 'back door.' F*~#ing gross, but it may be easier than fighting our way back up."
Charles grimaces at the idea but nods. "Alright then. I'll carry one of them. Billy, here. You can use my glaive, it'll let you keep a little distance from things in case we run into something else. I can't fight with two hands."
As he exchanges weapons he shakes his head. "You don't look great. Here. May the blessing of the New God heal you."
Gärwin's fighting something down the hallway.
"Graah! Come get some ugly!"
Hearing the fighting going on behind them, Charles spins around and looks at the others.
"Can't leave Garwin fighting whatever that is alone. I just hope this room doesn't keep tripping us. Billy, make sure the kids are okay."
"Garwin, make a fighting retreat back to us!" Charles called out as he begins charging back up the tunnel.
Drot catches the poor girl in his arms and hugs her. He holds her tight as he looses the other two children, handing the next one to Pell and the last one to Tess for her to help with his ring. He cradles the little girl gingerly, and she quickly passes out like the other two.
"You might be right Tesswyn but, we know what's behind us and we got past it once. As long as we can keep those defenders at bay we should be able to walk out of here as easily as we came in..."
Drot follows behind Charles a distance, readying himself in case the floor begins its movement.
Tesswyn draws her staff as she follows the others back up the tunnel.
Catching Sight of the unnerving anti-body Drot begins casting his magic as quietly as he can, trying not to wake the girl.
"Imperium; Iaculum!"
Everyone decides to run back to fight the monster. Drot hits it with a dart from a distance, while everyone else catches up to Gärwin.
After a moment of activity, the floor activated again.
The monster gets rolled 16 yards down the tunnel! Drot is now in melee range, but everyone else will need to run back to him.
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