Erix batted away Phin's assault ""s cold out. G'back t' bed. S'not... "
The moment Phin roused him enough for his mind to comprehend where he was, adrenaline finished the job. Erix scrabble to his feet just in time to dodge floating fair-floss like wisps of web.
Lupi looked at the room and thought "This got really messy real soon..." She did not have range or visibility on much else than the wounded dwarf and the webs covered most of him too. Since the battle was already coming to blows with the other group, she conjured a greenish orb of acid and threw it towards the dwarf.
The dwarf took the hit on his head, but it just barely scratched him.
I guess either way...
Creatures that fail lose their movement and become grappled in the first square of webbing that they enter.
The dwarf took the hit on his head, but it just barely scratched him.
Lupi took a deep breath and concentrated on the near future and walked into the webs. As she got just inside the room, she read the final words from the Color Spray scroll. A cone of psychedelic color sprang from the scroll towards the Kamadan and the strangers fighting it.
Alua found herself immediately stuck in the webs. This was going south, fast, and worst of all, the kamadan was looking close to death.
Alua screamed. "If you kill him, nobody wins. If we work together, we can all get paid. You think Werem won't pay all of us to avoid a scandal? Let's stop fighting each other, rub some more poison gently into this thing before it dies, and work together." Turning to her team, she said, "Stop attacking them!"
Diplomacy was for the NPCs, the other team, not mine. Sorry that wasn't clear.
No, they should be compelled by the fact that Alua is the boss!! :)
EDIT - sorry, don't know why there are two ref saves there. Obviously a copy/paste error.
And yes, Alua will try to wade through the webs.
***
As she yelled for the fighting to stop, Alua tried to break her way through the mess of webs.
Well, no matter what the bonus, whether CMB or EA, that roll ain't doing it!!
Baran dropped his bow and drew his rapier. He pushed forward and tried to do one of those little tumbling rolls the duelling club taught him to absorb falls in the hopes it would get him past the archer and the spear maiden. He was actually quite good at them. He launched himself forward but he was thrown off at the beginning by the flash of a spearhead before him.
_________________________
Baran held out his rapier an inch from the wizard's throat, "Drop the spell and stand down - "
While Alua tried to appeal to the opposing team's better natures the self-styled goblin didn't choose to leave things up to chance, and the flash of wildly flashing and blinking light and colors streaming from her pointed caught all three - the woman, the dwarf and the beast head-on, and the trio reeled back, moaning and staggering, trying to make sense of a world suddenly filled with blinding light.
Concentrating on his own set of problems and threats, Baran continued on his bold plan of action and charged towards the pair on the floating disc, dodging past the expected spear thrust that failed to happen and around the archer suddenly confronted by a man wielding a blade to her bow. As she moved ot drop her bow and draw a pair of knives sheathed on her belt, it was the reaction of the spellcaster who stole the attention of both archer and bard.
The young man had just managed to tug out the arrow shallowly lodged in his flesh and had been staring at the stained arrowhead in growing alarm when his gaze suddenly snapped to Baran, practically screaming threats to his face. The bard could see the other man's eyes suddenly dilate, open wide, wider still, as his attention shifted from Baran to something just over his left shoulder.
Then the man screamed. Screamed like he saw Death Himself come to claim him.
And he turned, running full-tilt away from what was coming at him.
Right off the edge of the small disc, his scream quickly fading as he fell.
Baran and the archer only had time to exchange startled glances before the disc beneath their feet flickered. Dropping their weapons as horrible realization dawned, they both leaped at the safety of the room ever as the magical disc, having been abandoned by its creator, blinked out of existence beneath their feet. And while Baran barely managed to catch hold of the edge, the archer wasn't as lucky, the rock she was reaching for crumbling uder her fingers and all of a sudden, her own scream of terror joined that of her companion, both soon cut short by wet, meaty sounds of impact.
The Kamadan blinked its eyes against the flood of light to clear them felt its body becoming more sluggish every moment as the poison from the arrows made its way through its heart and into its brain and finally went still, groaning and growling fitfully as it tried to fight against the thing that had assaulted it so many times over the last few weeks.
All of a sudden, the odds had shifted rather dramatically. As the shield-bearing dwarf blinked his eyes clear of the blinding colors he heard the death-screams of his two allies holding the read - a quick glance behind him showed no sign of either, nor of the disc that had carried them all up the tower and that he had counted on taking the subdued beast down with them. The spear-wielder holding his back was reeling from the elven wench's spell and while most of the competition were still caught by the conjured webbing that was unlikely to last for very long. At least the blasted beast had succumbed to the poison.
It was starting to look more and more unlikely they'd be able to cash in that reward after all.
"About that offer to work together, lass?" the dwarf said to Alua. "You still good with that?"
Lupi was horrified to see the disk disappear and her new friend falling to hang on the edge of the building. Lupi looked at the immediate future and saw the webbing grab her left leg, if she moved it. She knew the future might be slightly different, if she did something different, so she tried to move her right leg first, and the webbing grabbed her right leg...
Unable to move she shouted to Baran "Hang on, we are coming!" Lupi was happy to see the dwarf had second thoughts, but was still wary of him and readied a spell for the purpose.
What have I done?! The arrow, the sedative, I knew it might affect a person differently ... but Erix, he was in danger. I was just going to threaten. Two people dead. Not Ravers, people. They must have had families. This isn't what Professor Thorn wanted when he sent me out into the world. What have I done???
Baran looked down and could see the bodies below, in the abstract. It gave him motivation to pull himself up, to try, with more than half-a-heart. It wasn't much more than half-hearted though as he struggled and got nowhere.
Unable to move she shouted to Baran "Hang on, we are coming!" Lupi was happy to see the dwarf had second thoughts, but was still wary of him and readied a spell for the purpose.
"Get to the Kamadan first! See if you can do anything!", he yelled back but already sounding a bit breathless.
Erix struggled forward, but for the first time in a long time his size counted against him. Where a smaller person might twist through, every damn strand seemed to catch at Erix's frame.
Grunting he pushed harder, straining for purchase against the floor as strands started to snap with a noise like twanging bowstrings.
Mind changed on the usefulness of the two newest members of the party, Erix thrust out a hand to haul in the dangling bard. "Good job!" he nodded in what was, for Erix, effusive praise.
Mind changed on the usefulness of the two newest members of the party, Erix thrust out a hand to haul in the dangling bard. "Good job!" he nodded in what was, for Erix, effusive praise.
Baran had killed ravers today. That was one thing, but he was obviously struggling now, "Thanks - and for the lift." His reply was distant. His mind was at the bottom of the tower.
Alua screamed as people began falling off the tower. "Baran!" The oracle began tearing her way through the tower towards where everybody had fallen. Erix beat her there, and her heart started again when he pulled the young man up.
Looking over the edge, she flinched away at the site of the dead people below. Turning to Lupi and Baran, she almost shouted at them, but the stricken look on the young man's face was enough to stop the words.
Taking a deep breath, she instead turned to the dwarf and said, "Now? Now you want to cooperate?" Taking another breath, she said, "Fine. You start by helping tie that beast up." Taking a look around, she said, "Can we make a travois with what we have here, or do we need to brave the dogs and go back for the materials?"
Taking a deep breath, she instead turned to the dwarf and said, "Now? Now you want to cooperate?" Taking another breath, she said, "Fine. You start by helping tie that beast up." Taking a look around, she said, "Can we make a travois with what we have here, or do we need to brave the dogs and go back for the materials?"
"Now? Lady, who would give up their prize when they were winning?" the dwarf asked, clearly perplexed. "If ye want to keep goin' I'm gonna give ye my best, but living poor beats dyin' in my book. Mind ye, were our positions reversed, I mightn't be quite so quick to give ye quarter, truth be told. Not that I'm complainin', ye understand."
"Can't help with no travois, since we meant to bring the beastie down with the disc," he went on, casting a look at the hole in the wall where only moments before the magical platform had been hovering at, "but we brought along plenty of rope an' chain, in case the poison wasn't up to snuff."
Baran rushed over to the kamadan and put an ear to its' ribcage, he checked its' eyes, and tried to determine if it was still alive. "Is it even alive?" He looked at its' mass, "Its' going to take all of us to carry it. Could we lower it out of the hole, build the travois on the ground? I could go down by rope first and ..." His voice trailed off.
Alua fixed the dwarf with a glare. "Just because our employer double-crossed us doesn't mean we have to stoop to his level. Did you know there was another team? Do you know if we're the only other team? Or will we have to fight again on the way out of here?"
She sighed, then moved over to where Baran was examining the kamadan. Even asleep, it looked terrifying. And magnificent. Seems wrong to bring this creature so far, only to hunt it in some ceremony. Still, religion wasn't her specialty, and she could hardly blame people for trying to fulfil the wishes of their gods.
Checking out the creature, she determined that he was in fact asleep, and not dead. Still, he was bleeding, so she lay her hands upon him, and called upon her inner strength to nudge his wounds closed.
Making up her mind, she said, "Let's avoid the doggos if we can. Phin, if we lower a rope, can you climb down with Erix, and fetch the travois materials? We can haul them up and put it together here. We'll tie this kitty up nice and tight. Then we can move together down the tower."
Turning to the dwarf, she said, "Do I have your word that you will cooperate and help us, and not turn on us? If we lose the kamadan because you and your friend attack us halfway down, then nobody wins. And my friends will stop listening to my instructions to play nice.” She stared at the warrior, waiting for his word.
As the battle seemed to be over for a while at least, Lupi relaxed a bit. She was surprised to see such a strong reaction from Alua to a couple of strangers "Maybe she is just not so familiar with death that I am". She was also interested in how trustworthy the dwarf would be and came closer to Alua to be able to whisper advice. She was trying to understand the situation here and came up with a question to the obviously rather greedy dwarf "How much are you paid to get the Kamadan?"
[dice=heal to check on the Kamadan]
Alua fixed the dwarf with a glare. "Just because our employer double-crossed us doesn't mean we have to stoop to his level. Did you know there was another team? Do you know if we're the only other team? Or will we have to fight again on the way out of here?"
"Know? Not like they told us, but we weren't born yesterday - a few Galifars to weight the right palm an' an acolyte in the temple told us all sorts o' things she had seen. Includin' another group of curious visitors," the dwarf said, kneeling by the side of his remaining ally, slapping her cheeks not too gently to snap her out of the effect of Lupi's spell. "While Taran stayed behind doin' that - seems we were there to see the man before yer lot - Alai was already scoutin' out the area. Climbed one of the adjacent towers an' saw ye takin' on the local loonies outside. So we waited for ye to get in, to distract whoever might have made it their home, an' made our move. And if we had been just a tiny bit faster..." he sighed.
Turning to the dwarf, she said, "Do I have your word that you will cooperate and help us, and not turn on us? If we lose the kamadan because you and your friend attack us halfway down, then nobody wins. And my friends will stop listening to my instructions to play nice.” She stared at the warrior, waiting for his word.
"Two against five ain't the same kind of odds four against five were," the dwarf said, shaking his head. "These ones ain't worth throwin' the dice for. So, a truce. I promise we won't turn on ye and will even give ye aid - reasonable aid - until we get the beastie to the transport team. After that, we go our separate ways, an' no-one owes anyone else nothin'. Ye good with that?"
Lupi was happy on dwarfs response, she looked around the sticky strands and said "I know this spell, it will be still in here for the next half an hour at least. You can basically burn it away, but us and the Kamadan would better be off the webs, unless we burn too."
[dice=heal to check on the Kamadan]
[dice=heal to check on the Kamadan]
Lupi looked around and said "I don't have any spells or other means to burn the webs away and the Kamadan sure looks heavy. I guess I could stand on guard, if the skeletal dogs reappear..."
Alua nodded slowly. The dwarf certainly wasn't born yesterday, though she was feeling as though she was. It hadn't occurred to her that Werem might hire more than one team, and pay the winner.
"How much were you promised for retrieving the kamadan?" she asked. Had they been fleeced on that too?
Turning to Lupi and Baran the look on the young man's face as he fell, her voice raw, screaming his name - Alua shuddered involuntarily - she asked, "Do either of you have any fire magic that could clear this away? A flaming knife or something?"
Lupi said "I don't have any spell or magic item, but I guess ordinary torch would do it. I don't have any torches, I am relying on my goblin darkvision."
Making up her mind, she said, "Let's avoid the doggos if we can. Phin, if we lower a rope, can you climb down with Erix, and fetch the travois materials? We can haul them up and put it together here. We'll tie this kitty up nice and tight. Then we can move together down the tower."
"If you want, I think I can get down there. Assuming there aren't any other surprises. Might be better to send Phin down, and I haul everything up, if we can knock up a pulley." he clarifies, moving closer to add more quietly "Just 'cos they have the same target doesn't mean they have the same employer - or even the same mission."
Phin glared at the dwarf. Someone who changed their tune so quickly couldn't be trusted. If it was up to her, she may have made sure he 'accidentally' fell over the side but she was okay with letting Alua let him help them for the time being.
She pulled out her rope and her grappling hook. She moved towards the edge, "We better hurry while the tranquilizer works. I do not want that thing waking up mid-delivery."
You plans made, you got to work. As you were spoiled for rope, Erix made good his intentions of demanding Phin tie another rope for to her belt before beginning her descent, and it very nearly proved necessary as her first foothold crumbled into dust under her boots. She did regain her hold after a few harrowing moments and she landed safely on the collapsed roof of the mansion, all too close to the two broken bodies of the fallen mercenaries. Navigating that field of rubble was slow and occasionally painful as pieces of the crumbling stone, rotting mortar and water-and-moss-slickened foor tiles shifted and slid under her feet, threatening to send you tumbling or twist your ankle, but you persevered, and dragged the rope you descended with along to the entrance, so you could begin your climb up from a stable footing.
The courtyard was eerily quiet, with only the bodies of the fallen Ravers staring you with their unseeing eyes as you crossed the grounds to retrieve the bundled goods you had hid away. After Erix had hauled the bundle up your own ascent went more smoothly than your trip down, as you had already scouted out some hand- and footholds to use and others to avoid.
While Phin was off on her quest the rest of you had kept busy - First by hacking off the kamadan's sleeping body clear of the webs, and while Erix, Alua and your temporary dwarven ally did your best to wrap the feline in the chains and ropes the other team had prepared, Lupi lit found a torch among the ruins of the temple and lit up the webbing, flinching back as the whole mess burned up like nothing she had seen before. As you blinked your eyes to adjust the return of gloom after the brief bout of brilliance, you noted something familiar among the piles of rubble - mangled bodies of two more of the skeletal canines you had fought on the level below, most likely victims of the tower's top room's new ruler and apex predator.
Once the travois was constructed, under Baran's watchful eyes, and the great beast was loaded on it, the trip through the tower and across the courtyard proved even more torturous than you had expected. Even with the tools you had prepared, hauling half a ton of dead weight down twisting hallways left even Erix and the sturdy dwarf gasping for breath before you were done, and until you reached the clear ground outside the manor hall, the two of you had to manage the weight by turns - there simply wasn't enough room for multiple people to draw the travois any meaningful distance.
After the horror of moving the travois through the ruined keep, the last leg of the journey, with more of you able to help manage the weight, seemed almost like a walk in a park in comparison, and when you got within sight of the warehouse the transport team had taken over you suddenly had others willing to help you drag the beast inside.
"It would seem congratulations are in order," Captain Irvallo said as he came to meet you, clearly impressed by your prize. "And retrieved in a timely fashion to boot - I and my coin purse owe you a thank you!"
Lupi kept some distance to the captain. She was more used to running away from officials rather than discussing with them. She did say good-byes to the dwarf and spearwoman though.
Baran was quiet and took the back seat on every step. When it came time to assemble the travois he worked industriously, giving brief instructions. Once it was done he nodded in confirmation. When it came time for him to help draw the beast he tired quickly, more quickly than anyone else. He was strong enough, but too easily winded. He didn't even think to look for his rapier and assumed it lost and bent into uselessness, or perhaps shattered across some bit of courtyard wall. Occasionally, he shot a glance at the archer but only swiftly lest their eyes meet. When it came time to pass the creature off a wave of relief passed over him ... but he stayed quiet.
"How much are you paid to get the Kamadan?"
"How much were you promised for retrieving the kamadan?"
As they dragged the kamadan through the broken tower, Phin took a moment to corner the dwarf. "I couldn't help but notice that you avoided the same direct question from two of my colleagues. I won't be so easily put off. How much were you getting paid to retrieve the kamadan and who promised you the coin?"
Phin wasn't so willing to let the dwarf and human just go their separate way but she had to grudgingly admit that they probably wouldn't have been able to get the creature through the tower so quickly without them. She guessed that their payment for their help was to let them go. The rogue watched them leave and said in parting, "We better not see you anytime soon."
"It would seem congratulations are in order," Captain Irvallo said as he came to meet you, clearly impressed by your prize. "And retrieved in a timely fashion to boot - I and my coin purse owe you a thank you!"
The graceful elf smiled and bowed with a flourish, "It was well worth the trouble to know that your coin purse has been saved." Her smile widened, "I would say that you, Captain, are a sight for sore eyes but my eyes are about the only part of me that doesn't hurt after that little jaunt. The sooner we conclude business, the better."
Phin paused and looked at the others, "Is it alright if we accompany you back? After all the trouble we went through, I would really like to see the kamadan safely reach its destination." And make sure that we get paid for our trouble...