Lalia hisses through her teeth as the insects strike her, stepping backwards as she brushes chitinous bits of dead arthropod from her face. She reaches out and claps a hand on Drahir’s shoulder and casts guidance upon the man. Her face twists into a feral smile. “Your madness has made you a fool Gellion.” she calls.
Seeing that Gellion needs to be put down but holding out hope that he can still be saved, Dra'Hir feels the Guidance and Blessing focus on his target. As he takes aim at Gellion's shoulder and looses another CI arrow, he tells Lalia, Be ready to use your magicks to stabilize him... he has lost his way but maybe we can bring him back.
Seeing the fly explode without taking any of the party members with it Malochia smirks "I really expected more entertainment Gellion, I'm going to have a stern talk with your mother about this" he yells, clearly trying to distract him.
He pulls a small piece of fleece from his pocket, holds it in between his pinky and ring finger and starts drawing runes in the air with his middle and index fingers. He completes a circle of red bright runes which turn blue and then he presses the fleece in the middle which seems to now be a solid disk. The magical circle fades but he seems to still be holding the fleece pressed against something in the air, concentrating.
Suddenly Gellions mother walks out of the boxes she was hiding behind, with a horrified expression on her face and streams of tears running down her cheeks looking directly at Gellion.
“I’m always ready. Although perhaps we won’t inform his parents of exactly how much we’re about to damage him first.” Lalia responds quietly and smiles.
Dra'hir's arrow barely misses Gellion, deflecting off of the youth's chain shirt.
As Malochia's spell takes effect, the apprentice looks startled to see the figure of his mother step out from behind the crates. "Mother?" he asks to no one in particular, "it's that woman again. Yes, the weak one. Feed her to the worms? No, that doesn't sound right, mother? " Distraught and confused, Gellion hesitates briefly.
Fyrra seizes the chance to strike, jaws crushing the chain links down into Gellion's shoulder as she wraps him in her coils.
Round 3
Earll
Dra'hir
Lalia
Fyrra
Malochia
Fly
Gellion
Del
Earll concerned about ending this as quickly as possible yet having compassion for Gellion opts to deliver a non-lethal attack after moving southeast then south to get into position.
He wonders, does his caution prolong the combat?
The extra effort of attempting to deal a nonlethal blow prevents Earll from dealing a decisive blow on Gellion. The crazed lad meanwhile attempts to break the snake's grapple by main force calling forth unnatural strength and breaking free of the encircling coils.
Seeing the battle turn for the worse, the apprentice attempts to flee from the greased area (provoking attacks from Earll and Fyrra), but avoids them; however, his foot slips on the grease and he falls prone.
Fyrra, enraged at Gellion for breaking free, again attacks and in a blink bites and ensnares the prone apprentice.
Del steps up and once again hurls a sling stone at the apprentice, relying on his ability to stabilize him once he is unconscious. His stone, however, flies high over the prone apprentice.
Gellion thrashes wildly in Fyrra's grip, growling as he rolls around in the grease, but leaving himself wide open to attacks. .
Round 4
Earll
Dra'hir
Lalia
Fyrra
Malochia
Fly
Gellion
Del
Earll makes another attempt to non-lethally end this encounter
The swashbuckler's final strike lands cleanly on the deranged abyssal apprentice, whose eyes roll back into his head as he falls unconscious. The mangled corpse of the dead hook fly, the tiny corpses of the dead hookfly brood, and the apprentice's unconscious form, lit by the flickering light of dim torches, create an eerie and horrifying ambiance in the warehouse.
The purplish-black demon's bile covering the eastern wall and much of the room’s southeast corner continues to pulse weirdly. In the southeastern corner of the room, several human-sized shapes appear to be immersed in the bile.
Fyrra, enraged by her battle with the apprentice, does not immediately release him from her coils, and glances at Lalia as if asking permission to strike a killing blow. Del looks at Lalia worriedly, quickly interjecting, "H-he was not in his right mind. Call off Fyrra!"
”You did good Fyr, stand down.” She switches to sylvan as she speaks to the python. “beḫwala layi ānidanidi migibochi inagenyiwotaleni”
She looks at the apprentice assessingly as she begins to approach.
“āsidesachi” she adds to the snake.
Malochia stops concentrating and releases his hand, the piece of fleece disappears "Not quite the reaction I had hoped for but it's something" Tiki comes out of hiding behind him and he pets the fox with his tail and starts walking towards the apprentice "I guess we didn't have to kill him but I wonder how he is going to feel about that when he learns what he did"
Dra'Hir relaxes his bow and responds to his party, He'll pay for his deeds... But for now let's get him and these poor folks out of here.
He draws his CI Kukri and starts hacking at the bile.
With a hopeful look in the direction of Lalia, the python disentangles herself from Gellion, slithering to the Mwangi woman's side. Lalia approaches the mad apprentice and can immediately tell that he is unconscious but stable and not in any immediate danger of dying.
The Demon's Bile in the large room melts away under the fetchling's cold iron. Del begins to assist, attacking the ooze with his morning star, and between the two of them, the bodies in the southeastern corner of the room are soon free and cleared of the bile. A cursory investigation confirms that these five bodies are those of the five missing apprentices.
After approaching the unconscious individuals in the corner, Lalia checks them over.
an dtógfaidh sé an baile mór seo go léir agus é a réiteach sa domhan thíos she mutters.
“We can’t safely wake any of them. They’ll live, but they all have bile in their mouths and nasal passages and appear to be ill. We have to presume they’re all infected. Our best course of action is likely to restrain them all to try to prepare for if they wake and dispatch some of us to fetch Father Illdris again. If he helps us transport them to his temple, Ms. Pricknettle indicated that he was likely to be able to cure this as well as the potion would.
We can’t leave him alone with any of them though, nor can we let him come here unescorted- there may be things we’ve missed. For that matter, we need to clean up the bile in the other room as well.”
"I'm fairly sure they will eventually become like Gellion, I agree we should keep them restrained" he then smirks "Let's search the room, maybe our s#+$ty little apprentice have some goodies lying around for his fictional mother" with that Malochia searches the room for anything interesting
[dice=Perception]1d20+1[/dice
"Wow these floor boards are made of wood" Malochia says in surprise "Holy s#%+ guys, did you realize there are boxes here?" his tail sprung towards the sky, emulating a large exclamation mark.
That does not mean that it's a bad idea to clean up the bile or to fetch Father Ildris.
Lalia inspects the unconscious apprentices a bit further and does a quick mental calculation. “Hm. They should still be sane for now. Keeping them subdued won’t be a priority, but I doubt we’ll get much benefit from getting them on their feet in here. We should get them cleaned off, get Gellion restrained, and fetch Father Ildris I believe.”
I takes a few days for the bile to corrupt. We have plenty of time before they become a threat. Someone should go fetch Ildris and Pricknettle while the rest of us clear this filth.
As Earll and Malochia prepare to leave to fetch the priest, a faint sound of skittering legs rings out in the warehouse. Two fiendish giant centipedes, glowing with unholy red light through cracks in their shells, make their way into the room from the northern door.
Malochia, off in his own little world, does not notice them mere feet from his position; however, the rest of the group hears the clattering of their many feet and turn to see them approaching the wizard.
Malochia
Earll
Giant centipede (aqua)
Del
Giant centipede (orange)
Lalia
Dra'hir
Curse our lack of foresight! We have 2 more vermin to deal with! Earll moves southwest and west to attack the orange centipede.
The first centipede approaches Earll, hoping to nosh on some yummy human meat, but the quick man deflects the bite before the centipede can get a taste. The answering riposte, however, cannot quite find its target. Del shouts a warning to the group as he draws his sling.
The second centipede also lunges at the swashbuckler who interposed himself between it and the wizard. Despite his extremely quick reactions, Earll cannot quite get out of the way in time, and the arthropod's jaws clamp down on his torso. The bug cannot quite pierce the swashbuckler's leather "skin," however, as his armor just barely averts the blow.
Surprise Round (move or standard action)!
Giant centipede (aqua)
Del
Giant centipede (orange)
Lalia
Dra'hir
Round 1
Malochia
Earll
Growling at himself for moving to quickly and not clearing the bile, Dra'Hir moves SW of the post between him and the orange beast. Calling forth the last of his arcane pool to once again imbue his bow with +1 preparing to shoot.
Lalia can your friend keep an eye on our Alchemist while we deal with them?
Lalia briefly ponders what would be the best way to convey to the snake to guard against the unconscious apprentice without killing him.
Figuring a request like that which is both complex and would be relatively unusual for the python may be challenging in the middle of battle, she decides that going next to the apprentice and asking the snake to defend her would likely accomplish the goal well enough for now. An assessment of both her injuries and the nature of the enemies, which the other party members efficiently dispatched previously, leads her to believe that it would be best for her to stay away from the battle personally and Fyrra could be spared to stand guard over the alchemist for now. She shrugs, casts guidance on the snake, and takes a 5' step down towards the unconscious apprentice.
"Sure, we've got it. Fyr, defend please." she says, indicating the space in front of her to the python.
Earll attempts a new attack on the Orange Centipede.
Earll's thrust connects cleanly, piercing through the centipede's natural armor and inflicting a mortal wound.
Malochia's scowls at the remaining centipede. His pupils glow with a demonic red light as he stretches out his right hand towards the remaining centipede. Glowing abyssal runes surround his hand as he speaks a single arcane word and releases a gout of acid from his hand before turning and retreating behind the boxes to open up a shot for Del and Dra'hir.
The acid splashes harmlessly, though, as the centipede moves aside with surprising speed at the last possible second.
The centipede once again lunges at Earll, redoubling its efforts after seeing its broodmate's death, but the agile man once against masterfully parries its blow before answering with a sharp response that just barely avoids penetrating the centipede's shell.
Del moves to get a clear shot with his sling at the centipede, loading a bullet and letting it fly. His throw flies true, and his bullet crushes the remaining centipede's head, staggering it.
Round 1
Giant centipede (aqua)
Del
Giant centipede (orange)
Lalia
Dra'hir
Round 2
Malochia
Earll
Lalia shrugs and simply prepares to attack with her quarterstaff if any hostile activity occurs in her vicinity.
Dra'Hir takes a step North and levels his bow at the Aqua Centipede and fires.
I mumbles under his breath, I release you from your vile curse, vermin.
"Let us end this! In Cayden’s Name! "
Preparing once more to parry and riposte.
The tiefling moves around the far side of the stacked boxes, and pops out from behind them to launch an attack at the staggered centipede, drawing a flask of acid from his belt with his surprisingly dexterous tail. Arcane power flares around him as he extends his hand and launches another gout of acid at the creature. The staggered creature is unable to avoid the acid, which finishes the work that Del's bullet started, burning through the creature's head and sizzling wickedly as it kills the giant centipede.
After dispatching the final centipede, the group collectively completes the destruction of the remainder of the Demon's Bile in the warehouse. Earll and Malochia then quickly head out to fetch Ildris Ruvarra.
Dra'Hir is visibly exhausted for the second day in a row. He still has spells, but his imbuing magic is kaput.
Friends let's be thorough with the bile clean up... I don't think I would like another bout with these vermin.
While going around slashing away at the bile Dra'Hir, is also casting Detect Magic to see if anything of interest reveals itself.