Ardriel takes a deep breath and tries to sight in on one of the cockroaches as he fires another arrow.
Two roaches remain in the fight and the one Fley poked turns to him and returns the favor by clamping down hard on his armor but very little getting through it. The on Leothar doesn't manage to do anything.
Party up.
Leothar steps to get out of Donnen's way, and takes a swing at a roach.
Tired of missing, he is a bit more careful now.
Leothar puts a solid hit on the roach and stuns it but it still stands.
Donnen attacks the closest enemy, trying to help get rid of another foe.
The roach bites at Fley, piercing his skin. Fley screams out in pain. That hurt! He'll pierce the roach in return.
Furrowing his brow, Petsha once again aims at the cockroach to the north and lets another arrow fly.
The *thunk* as it hits its target is satisfying. As always, there's something to be said for persistence.
Fley attacks the roach that bit him after Leothar wounded it. Then an arrow from Petsha comes in and wounds it further though it appears to still be in the fight.
Ardriel tries to focus more as Yarnala, perched on his shoulder, says,
”Concentrate your aim. Focus on the target, and try to hit the mark.”
Ardriel feels something as Yarnala speaks, and he focuses on the roach.
Ardriel puts and arrow into the grievous wounded roach but it is still in the fight.
The roaches attack Lothar and Ian but don't do any damage.
Party is up again.
While the roach is busy trying to eat Lothar, Fley will stab it in the back.
"Damn bugs! I am not your dinner."
Leothar strikes at the one east of him with his axe.
Fley pokes the roach between him, distracting the roach, and Leothar cleaves the roach in two, guts splattered everywhere.
With two of the roaches down and more space available, Petsha makes a move with his bow to a position behind Leothar before taking aim at the remaining threat.
Unfortunately he fails to steady himself properly after the dash and his shot isn't true. His arrow shatters on the cavern wall behind his target.
Donnen goes for the last foe, hoping to end the combat.
The last roach is ganged up on and takes two hits but is still standing though staggered.
It continues to attack Ian and misses.
Party's turn.
Hey mister cockroach, please die.
Leothar steps towards the roach and tries to finish it.
Not having line of sight to the last roach, and frustrated by his meager contribution, Ardriel decides to conserve arrows and instead keeps watch down the hallway they hadn't checked yet in case something came to investigate the sound of combat.
Petsha takes another shot at the cockroach which is proving more challenging to finish than any in the group would have expected.
As the shot once again goes high and another arrow shatters Petsha takes another deep breath tries to find calm his frustrations.
Donnen swings and misses again.
'Ya know, aren't we glad we are fightin' a cockroach? Good sparring, I guess. Good ole' training. We for sure are needing it. - he says, as he seems to inspect the weapon with his eyes - Even our friend the roach seems to need som' training. Or glasses. Hah hah!
The loud clashing and clanging contiues but no damage is done at all. The roach looks around confused on who to attack. He finally decides Leothar
looks the tastiest and snaps at him but misses.
Party up.
At first Leothar is concerned at Donnen's tempting of Fate.
But the roach fails to pierce his sturdy armor, and the dwarf retaliates with a mighty blow.
"Hah! Now die!"
Not exactly the epic victory that Kenabres needs right now... but one step at a time. Stay alive.
As the roach misses it leaves it's neck open to Leothar and he chops it off just like it was an execution. Ian following quickly behind splits the rest wide open. As things quiet down you can now hear Anvenn say "Ah, he just ended it. The fights over." Aravashnial replies with some disbelief, "You mean it took them that long to kill three measly roaches?!?!" Anvenn then brings Aravashnial to where you all can see him. "That was ridiculous! We need to have a talk. If I had my eyesight that would have been over, like that!", he says as he snaps his fingers. "How much experience do you have fighting demons? Cause that's what we are going to face soon enough and these tactics are going to get all of us killed. What can each of you do so we make sure things go better next time." Anvenn looks slightly embarrassed but nods to Aravashnial's words.
Ardriel, looking somewhat embarrassed, says, "I'm...actually not experienced fighting demons at all. I'm a jeweler by trade. Yarnala, a raven sent to me by Yuelral, is the one who told me to bring my equipment - otherwise I might not have even had it. However, I think I can improve by focusing more on my aim and not getting too concerned with watching the fight. That way I can do better next time."
"Your pardon, Aravashnial, but I think we handled that fairly well. It was over in less than a minute, and we were barely scratched. Torag teaches the value of a strong defense. In this situation, with no healing available, I would hope any future fights go like that one did.
Patience and prudence may yet win the day for us.
The one suggestion I do have, and this is no slight to our Gnome friend, is that Fley's efforts might be better employed in helping the larger weapons land solid blows."
Petsha, once the lack cockroach is down, looks down and closes his eyes he listens to Aravashnial's words. I might not have experience fighting demons, and if I keep preforming like this I likely won't have more than once chance to. Erastil grant me the skill to learn and improve.
"Can't say that I've done much fighting at all myself. Hunting certainly, and they share some traits, but they're not the same thing. I've learned to approach the quarry undetected, find the shot and avoid hitting my fellow hunters on the occasions I work with them, but this place, these conditions, they're new to me. If you have pointers to give you've got my ear. This wasn't the entry to the crusades I was expecting, but it's the situation we're in, so I'm ready to make it work."
Aravashnial sighs and says "If you had that much of a problem with a few roaches a demon will have you for breakfast. That is what I am trying to avoid. I have faced demons before, I know what they are capable of. Learn what I have to teach and more of these demons can be killed. Was there anything of value in there to make the fight worth something?"
After a search you turn up atorn bedroll, three candle stubs (each can burn for 30 minutes), a bent fishhook, 10 feet of badly frayed hemp rope, and a copper brooch depicting a bat perched on a mushroom.
Up until a week ago, on my 106th birthday, I was a coward. I hate to admit it, but I was. I had a brief encounter in the Worldwound in my young adult life that scarred me. But that's a story for another time.. Fley takes a second to collect his thoughts. I worked hard teaching the small folk survival skills they may need, but myself? I was petrified of joining the crusades. A week ago, on my 106th birthday, I received a sign from my god - Tanagaar. An owl landed on my window sill. That sign gave me the courage, the courage to go out and join this fight. I was planning on going out into the Worldwound at the end of the week.
But this fight against the cockroaches showed me just how weak I am. I'm capable outside of combat though. With the right teachers, the right training, and enough time, I'm sure I can take down some demons.
After talking with the rest of the group and looking at the items in the bag, he pulls out the brooch. A bat, eh? Is this a holy symbol of some sorts?
Leothar looks at Fley. "One hundred and six? That could be significant. Were you born before, or after? After... everything happened."
'Ya know, what you truly lack is faith. - says Donnen towards Aravashnial - Demons are pretty much like roaches themselves... Just worse. Because they're not only disgusting, but coward as well.
He approaches, still letting his voice sound strong and loud.
Ay'ma paladin of Torag. There's no place for fear or mercy. I despise evil and will fight it until the last fiber of my body. Until da' weapons in mah hands are no more, until mah very last breath. The Hammer will guide me. It will guide us. Don't be so quick tah' judge my iron for a few misguided swings.
As he challenges demons and evil itself, he lets his eyes surround the environment, catching in his cone of view - or cones, if needed - all the present. He tries to catch people reactions - and a little more.
Donnen concentrates on evil and finds none in the area. Aravashnial seems to be a fairly competent person (5-7HD), confident in his abilities though frightened due to his loss of sight. Hogus is a little less competent (3-5 HD) and an arrogant,self-important nobleman with a grating personality, though he seems honest. Anvenn is the same as Horgus (3-5 HD), he seems worried about more than just being trapped down here.
Examining the broach Ian sees it has amethyst eyes but otherwise it means nothing to him.
Arvashnial "I was hoping for more supplies or potions. Speaking of which, have you tried to identify those yet? You are right Ian, time to move forward."
The group moves forward to the next cavern and sees several mounds of rock lie in heaps in this cavern, recently fallen from the walls and ceiling. Now and then, bits of dust settle from cracks in the stone above.
Fley and Ardriel yell out "Snake!" and point but no one else sees it.
Ian and Petsha can act before the snake but don't see it.
Ardriel heard Fley’s description of his experience and says, ”106? You’re almost as old as I am, Fley. I’m 110.”
”We have not identified the potions yet. The little magic I was able to learn before my father disappeared is only usable once a day, so I thought we’d wait until we rested for the night to use it in case we find more things.”
Yep. 106. We're the old men crew! Oh the stories I could tell.
Those are potions alright. I've never really been a potion gnome myself so I couldn't tell you what they were.
As they all turn the corner, Fley spots something slither out of the corner of his eye. Whats that? he asks to no one in particular. As his eyes focus, Snake!
Hearing the cries of "Snake!" Petsha holds his bow at the ready and scans the area to see if it's anywhere he can see.
The snake slithers out from under a ledge and takes out it frustrations on Leothar, however all it manages to do is dull his teeth on his armor.
Party up.
There were a lot of people between him and the snake. Still, he could try to shoot through the crowd.
Or, he could acknowledge that he had no real way to affect the snake at the moment, and wait until there were fewer people between him and the snake.
Fley will rush up past Leothar. Snakey snake! Look over there!
"Thanks, Fley!"
While the gnome distracts the snake, Leothar takes a step and brings his axe down on it.
Or he tries to. He is not yet a veteran warrior, and this group is not yet a well-oiled machine. Still, he made room for others.
Donnen looks at his companions and the new foe. Now, a snake. For moments, he stops to wonder that, despite the many decades of life between them, they’re all just inexperienced, and it shows. Yet, they’re trained; and he knows they’re ready. He won’t take anything less than that. He swings his weapon with anger and violence.
Aaaahhhh! - he yells.