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Bladden looks to the left and right, seeing that they're surrounded now... he darts to the south and says, "Dave! I'll soften the one with a green tunic; Aspero! I'll try to zap that giant bug so you can line up a better shot!"
STRIDE to move south as shown on map
QUICK BOMBER Bladden chucks a [color=blue]bottled lightning[/color] at the green-robed gremlin
QUICK BOMBER Bladden chucks a [color=blue]bottled lightning[/color] at the red stirge
[color=blue]If the bottled lightning attacks hits, target is flat-footed against everyone for 1 round; i.e. -2 to AC[/color]
Bladden tosses two focused bottles of lightning, each striking their intended target and momentarily lighting the cave around them.
Encounter Mode! Round 1/2. Bold may act.
Yellow (-8)
Pink
Green (-7; FF)
Kalester
Gwibble
Stirge (-2; FF)
Bladden (-1)
Lleylo
--2--
Dave
Aspero (pending attack)
Hamlet (Horatio: -11, wounded 1)
Lleylo slings down the gremlin closest to the entrance with his third stone.
Horatio rouses upon his master's magic and swipes the soft underbelly of the barbed bloodseeker, spilling the vermin's ichor on the cave floor before crawling away from immediate retaliation.
Dave dashes down the hall to flank the gremlin assaulting Aspero and punches through its armor, leaving an ugly wound. As he steps back, the small, warty, blue creature falls to the ground in a puddle of blood.
Aspero swings his axe at the stirge, missing. He continues his wide swing and chops into the lead gremlin. The larger gremlin squeals in pain as blood splatters on the cave wall.
The gremlin down the tunnel throws a dart at the cat. The barb sinks in painfully and nearly fells the cat. Likely cursing in its alien language, it advances to finish off the cat with its blade.
Encounter Mode! Round 2. Bold may act.
Yellow (-8)
Pink (-13)
Kalester
Gwibble (-18)
Stirge (-2; FF)
Bladden (-1)
Lleylo
--3--
Dave
Aspero
Hamlet (Horatio: -11, dying 2; wounded 1)
Kalester prepares to unleash a powerful blow, but just before he steps forward the gremlin glances at him. There is a malign light in the yellow eyes. The next thing Kalester knows, he is tripping over a stone on the floor and bringing his sword down against the ground with a loud clang!
The lead gremlin stabs at Aspero, grazing his armor. He stabs again and this time just makes it through a seam in the dwarf's armor. The tiny sword pierce's Aspero's skin, leaving the black adder venom behind to do its foul work. It makes one more vain attempt to stab the dwarf, but the last blow fails to make contact.
The barbed bloodseeker, however, grabs hold of the dwarf and sinks its proboscis into his neck where it drinks deeply.
Encounter Mode! Round 2/3. Bold may act.
Yellow (-8)
Kalester
Gwibble (-18)
Stirge (+5/-2; FF)
Bladden (-1)
Lleylo
--3--
Dave
Aspero (-11, drained 1; Fort DC 18 [pre-drained], fail = 4 more damage)
Hamlet (Horatio: -11, dying 2; wounded 1)
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Bladden 5-ft steps forward and launches another series of bombs to try to get his teammates out of this jam...
QUICK BOMBER Bladden chucks a [color=blue]bottled lightning[/color] at the stirge
QUICK BOMBER Bladden chucks a [color=blue]bottled lightning[/color] at the gremlin with yellow shoes
INTERACT Bladden pulls the unconscious cat to safety beside him, away from the nasty gremlin with yellow shoes...
[color=blue]If the bottled lightning attacks hits, target is flat-footed against everyone for 1 round; i.e. -2 to AC[/color]
===================
Bladden steps forward and tosses his bottled lightning. The first bottle strikes the bloodseeker squarely, but this one seems to have more mass to it than the ones encountered in the forest. The second bottle just catches the mite down the hall and explodes. The blast knocks the gremlin to the ground, twitching occasionally as it dies.
Lleylo strides forward and slings the last of the gremlins in the head. The stone strikes solidly, but it is not enough to finish the burly gremlin.
Meanwhile, Hamlet tends to his hunting companion
Encounter Mode! Round 3. Bold may act.
Kalester
Gwibble (-22)
Stirge (+2/-2; FF)
Bladden (-1)
Lleylo
--3--
Dave
Aspero (-11, drained 1; Fort DC 18 [pre-drained], fail = 4 more damage)
Hamlet (Horatio: -7, wounded 2)
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Aspero seems unfazed by the repeated blows, though he begins to sag as the Bloodsucker siphons off his vital juices.
He sets himself firmly, spinning his ax to strike the bloodsucker.
Then swinging at the gremlin in front of him, ...
...and bring the ax back again to strike at the bloodsucker a final time.
Aspero finds it impossible to strike the bloodseeker gorging at his neck. However, when he turns his axe against the remaining gremlin, the dwarf deftly decapitates the warty, blue beast. He makes another futile attempt to cut off the vampiric vermin.
Kalester swings his blade in a careful but powerful arc, nearly tearing the thing from Aspero's neck. However, whatever magics have mutated it have made it rather resilient, and the vermin remains alive and drinking from the dwarf's blood.
Encounter Mode! Round 3/4. Bold may act.
Stirge (+3 | -16; FF)
Bladden (-1)
Lleylo
--4--
Dave
Aspero (-14, drained 1)
Hamlet (Horatio: -7, wounded 2)
Kalester
Aspero finally manages to chop half of the vermin off of his neck. This does, of course, leave the problem of the hollow spike stuck in his neck and the subsequent blood pouring forth.
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Aspero's eyes come back into focus and the darkness wavers briefly before disappearing from his ax.
"Bah, nasty thing... Little help?," with a grunt he tugs the bloodsucker corpse from his neck and quickly covers the wound trying to stop the bleeding. "Or at least hand me a few healer's tools if ye have any?"
Aspero manages to yank out the barbed proboscis and apply pressure to the wound on his neck quickly enough to stop the bleeding.
The crude mine seems quiet now. A quick search of the bodies reveals only tiny swords and tiny darts as well as the empty vial of poison.
Kalester tries to tend to the dwarf's significant wounds, but due to some misfortune, he seems to leave Aspero looking worse for wear.
After Kalester's botched attempt to patch Aspero's wounds, while you sit and decide how best to proceed, you occasionally hear the soft scurry of feet retreating down the tunnels. Perhaps someone came to scout out the results of the battle in its quiet aftermath and did not like what it found. Perhaps whatever it was simply did not like the light.
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Aspero never loses his smile, coughing up a little blood "Aye, Kal was a good try." He pops open a flask and drinks deeply, seeming to brighten up and some smaller wounds seal themselves. "Now that I'm back to fighting shape, let's go see what was spying on us," his eyes move to the motion in the shadows and stands shakily.
"After that shadow then..."
Heading deeper into the cave, Aspero is able to lead you to a excavated chamber where a crowd of blue-skinned gremlins immediately bursts into a panic. They wear raggedy clothes and carry no weapons, although there are tiny mining picks nearby that could certainly be used to lethal effect in a determined hand. As soon as they spy you, they all begin screaming, weeping, and talking at once.
While most of their words are in an unfamiliar language, you catch enough words and phrases in Taldane to understand the general sentiment: surrender.
"No kill!" "Please!" "Not my fault!" "Gwibble!" "Sorry!" "No kill us!"
In addition to the dozen dark fey and their own mining equipment in the chamber, you also spy several 'normal'-sized picks, shovels, an occasional hoe, none of which could the gremlins reasonably use, and several coils of rope. There is also a vein of iron running the length of the wall.
"No kill! Yes, yes! No kill!" one of the gremlin agrees furiously with Aspero when he speaks in Taldane. He draws blank stares when speaking dwarfish. When Lleylo says, 'Gwibble,' over and over, it sets off a combination of panic and attempts at explanation.
Laboriously, you are able to muddle through a conversation with the excitable and frightened mites. They explain to you that Gwibble, their leader, led them to dig their nest here. They discovered the vein of iron, and realized that humans would certainly find it eventually. In order to prevent any of the iron from being used to make cold iron weapons, they were instructed to steal all possible mining equipment from the nearby town. Meanwhile, the others were set to mining out the iron to discard. In order to protect themselves while they worked, Gwibble decided to use the local legend of the Mosquito Witch to scare anyone away. Using a combination of props, disguise, and their ability to control vermin they successfully scared the townsfolk away.
"But the witch!" one of the gremlin exclaims. "Yes! Witch! Witch! Witch angry!"
You further learn that the surviving mites are terrified of the Mosquito Witch, believing that she is coming for them in retaliation for using her name for their own purposes. Gwibble did not share their fears. They show you a folded paper doll like the others, which they claim was left in the middle of their nest one night. Unfolded, it reads, 'leave,' on the inside written in brown ink... or blood.
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Hamlet turns to his comrades: "Wait. So there is a witch or there isn't a witch?"
He then turns to the mites (or whatever they are): "Is there a real witch or not!?!"
Hamlet turns back to the group: "I think it was just these guys pretending."
"So you all made these paper dolls? You really shouldn't play with scissors."
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"Seems the witch is haunting these blokes too." Aspero scratches at his beard, "Aye now, we'll be taking those tools back to the village. Stop with yer spookin' and trickin'. Maybe you can work WITH the villagers, trade some of that ore for something?"
Feeling pushed past his social limits he turns, "Let's get back to town, let them know at least these li'l witches shouldn't cause no more problems."
"Witch! The witch!" the gremlins panic at Hamlet's question. They seem to very much believe her to be real. "Witch dolls. Witch leave dolls. Warnings!"
"Gwibble mean!" one of the goblins expresses. Another adds, "Gwibble force we!"
Once you leave the small mine, you find that the mists have faded only slightly but the mosquitoes are all but absent. Navigating your way through the forest, you find that the town is mostly free of the buzzing and biting pests as well. This, of course, is no relief to your numerous, itching bites already collected.