The creatures just wave their wirithing appendages at her, scratching their star shaped head, looking puzzled. They gurgle a bit more but it doesn't seem so urgent, more of curious now.
Then one creature draws a ?? on the ground.
Piotr is leery of the creatures, getting his sword and shield ready. Ann at least pauses and tries to decern their intentions. "Any fight we could avoid at the moment is better for us." she says to the readied paladin.
Baldy is excited. The creatures wrote in the language of giants.
She dings to Ann while mimicking a quill-on-parchment with her right index finger and left hand. Then she ponders a bit. If the creatures can write… She dings some more, making her right hand ‘talk.’
Ann tries drawing a fox in the dirt with a stick, next to her own question mark. Pointing at her group and then the fox. "We need to find her. She is our friend."
Ann gets the impression that the creatures don't understand what she is saying, but next to the fox drawing, the same one draws another ?.
Pausing for a moment, she goes up the rope again, dips her finger in the yellow blood, and brings it back down, showing the creatures and draws a new ?
Those two creatures look a little more interested - then point to the pool behind them with their appendages.
Baldhart wants to rescue Hanako. Are these creatures helping? The fairy will fly well above the water, if the creatures truly intend to let her pass.
She points to herself and the party giants, then points to the water.
If the creatures still appear to be permitting the party to pass, Balhart does so. If she gets by the creatures unmolested, she dims her luminosity and tries to see what’s ahead without being seen.
The creatures ignore Baldhart flying past them and Baldhart finds herself in an aqueduct that is half filled with water (waist deep for medium creatures), and could be squeezed through by a medium creature. There are spots of yellow blood on the aqueduct tunnel heading west. Baldhart hears squeaks coming from the western tunnel.
Baldhart flies back to Ann. She picks up sand with yellow blood on it (the dot of Ann’s question mark), then points to where she saw the yellow blood. She signals others to follow.
"Okay" she says softly to the star shaped heads "We're going to go that way." pointing "Thank you for the help and not trying to kill us."
She nods to the others and starts heading that direction, her brother trying to stay between her and them as they move.
The star-shaped heads point at the back of the party and mime shoveling something into their mouths.
"You think they want food?" - Garrosh comments, while following along with the others.
Baldy dings and flashes very, very bright green.
Do giants normally keep food with them? I must pay close attention.
"I have only dried rations..." - he grabs two portions, and carefully throws them toward the creatures.
The creatures happily fall upon the dried rations like they haven't eaten for a long while,making happy gurgling noises.
"Ok good" - Garrosh nods - "Next time perhaps we can offer them something better, if we know what their preferences are... Hopefully nothing unnatural..." - then he continues after the others.
A low, circular stone wall marks the lip of a well in the center of this room. A bucket sits beside a block and tackle attached to a wooden frame near the wall of this round chamber. A corridor exits to the west. Unfortunately the place is totally infested with dire rats, as well as a knot of rats with their tails tied together.
The knot of rats waits.
Baldhart flashes a bright light, then zips behind her giant friends and tries to keep out of reach.
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"That was the weirdest... thing... I've ever seen. Wait, why do these rats all have their tails tied together? What sick person would do that?"
Being in the back, Kilarra takes out her crossbow and loads it. She puts her foot on her greatsword, careful not to leave it untouched.
One of the dire rats looks dazed.
"How are we getting past all this?" - Garrosh draws his morningstar, and readies an attack to squish any rats that approach.
The dire rats move up but only one manages to get to Piotr.
The knot of rats still waits.
"Probably slowly." Kilarra says. "It's too cramped."
She'll target one of the further dire rats (light blue), shooting her crossbow through her allies' legs. Then she'll reload.
Piotr makes a clumsy swipe at the lead rat. "If we back up to the fork there, two of us could get attacks in."
Ann retreats so others can back up.
Baldhart agrees with Ann’s logic.
She waits for others to back up, wills Daze on a different rat, and gets behind the party.
Kilarra's arrow passes between Piotr's legs, rather too close to certain parts for his comfort, but the dire rat ducks out of the way. Piotr, hampered by the cramped space, hits the aqueduct wall instead of the rat.
Baldhart realizes that the rat is unaffected by the spell.
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Garrosh retreats as well - "This is a crazy thought but... Do you think our friends with tentacles like rats?" - he comments, moving as far back to the cave as he can - "Worth a try?"
The dark blue rat attempts to bite Piotr, with the tied up rats still waiting.
"Worth a try!" Piotr says as he withdraws.
"It's Brilliant!" Ann adds, managing to get out of the water, unlike her slow brother.
Baldhart will sit on Ann’s shoulder, or if she seems to object, she will hover close by.
Her reasoning, such as it is: any creature that can eat a dire rat could eat a fairy, if it wanted to. It must be her having a body-shape like her giant friends that protects her. And the floating creatures are smart and nice, too. But the fairy does not want to tempt fate. I have a goddess to rescue!
Kilarra holds her crossbow in one hand, and picks up her greatsword in the other. She then backs up as best she can, leading the group back to the tentacle things.
Ann doesn't object to being Baldhart's chair. (At least not when she is little like this).
The rats continue to follow, and having only Kilarra in reach, one of them attempts to bite her. The party does not see the lot of rats with tails knotted together in the aqueduct.
Ann doesn't object to being Baldhart's chair. (At least not when she is little like this).
Baldhart can’t do much at this size besides spy, so for now she remains perched on Ann’s shoulder, watching the entryway for incoming dire rats.
Piotr gets to the entrance and waits on Kilarra.
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Kilarra retreats to the cavern hiding behind the elder things. The dire rats rush out of the aqueduct, attacking the nearest target in sight, namely the elder thing.
The tentacled ones gurgle abit in a confused manner while looking at the party puzzled, then decide to take matters into their own tentacles.
The one nearest to the dire rat crushes it with a flurry of tentacles, then the other tentacled one picks up the lifeless body, stares at it for a while, then drops it into its mouth, chews it, then gives a big broad grin.
The party watches, bemused as the two tentacled creatures take turns to kill the rats, then pop them into their mouths. In about 2 minutes, there are no more rats coming out of the aqueduct. However the party catches sight of the rats with tails tied together briefly, before seeing the fate of its compatriots and retreating back into the aqueduct.
Baldhart’s eyes widen as creatures larger than herself are easily gobbled up by the tentacled creatures that were watching her draw in the sand a minute ago.
She will remain on Ann’s shoulder.
"It was a good thing we did not decide to confront these creatures" - Garrosh comments, taking note of the carnage, and nodding at their tentacled 'allies'
He moves slightly ahead to peer down the tunnel - "The other strange monstrosity seems smarter than the rats that chased us though"
Garrosh does not see anything from his angle, but perhaps the creature has run further into the aqueducts...
Ann gives the two creatures a deep curtsey and a smile of thanks. Piotr gives them a wide berth. Still holding sword and shield, he comes up behind Garrosh, "Gotta go that way, so better now I guess." once Garrosh gives him the go-ahead, he'll start advancing slowly.
"I do not see the other, but it must be around there somewhere. We need to stay sharp"
Going down the aqueduct, Garrosh catches a flash of a rat tail and hears some squeaks from beyond.
"They are just up ahead" - he informs his companions.
If the ceiling is high enough, Baldhart will fly ahead and observe the rats from high out of reach.
She’s trying to understand these creatures whose tails are tied together, though ultimately her goal is to find Hanako.