Shiv casts light on his scythe and he and croc both half move towards the battle.
Shiv taps his scythe and a bright light pops forth, illuminating the section of cave they're in. Hamley shields his eyes from the sudden light and whispers, "aw, come on. Not so bright. Not when I'm trying to hide." Shiv and his trusty croc head towards the fight.
From the same hallway, the boil-covered Lizardfolk comes lumbering forward. As it nears the Kuru, you can see a sense of fear starting to come over it...
...but it manages to shake it off and the Kuru holds fast.
As he continues to approach, Hamley now feels this sense of dread coming over him...
...He's not sure what it is, but sensing the Lizardfolk approaching freaks him out and he feels the compulsion to flee from it!
The Lizardfolk continues to close the gap on the Kuru and takes a big swing with its morningstar that is dripping with some green liquid.
1 round onset, 2 consecutive saves
It smacks the Kuru across the chest, causing the Kuru to catch its balance.
The Lizardfolk that was first spotted joins in the fun and also takes a swing at the Kuru along with attempting to bite him.
The Kuru manages to dodge this morningstar, but the Lizardfolk's maw clamps down on the Kuru's neck, killing him instantly. The Lizardfolk drops him to the ground and lets out a challenging hiss.
Ko'Tua hears his fellow Kuru fall and flies into a rage. He sprints around the corner, attempting to push through the fear...
...and fights it off. He comes face-to-face with the Lizardfolk and lets out a cry of his own before slamming down with his club.
He bashes it across the face, breaking its neck, and it falls backward, landing in a cloud of dust. Ko'Tua eyes up the boiled Lizardfolk.
Tenney stays back between Marcos and Kahli, keeping a safe distance.
-----------------------------------------
Marcos' voice continues to echo through the cavern and inspire his teammates!
The Lizardfolk in front of Lash is frustrated she was able to fire arrows around it unharmed, and it attempts to bring down its morningstar on her before gnashing its teeth at her.
Lash doesn't even need to tap into her higher defensive abilities to dodge the Lizardfolk's meager attacks.
Hamley can't contain himself and drops his dagger before retreating at full speed.
------------------
[ooc]Bonuses:
Lash: +2 competence bonus to attacks and damage, +2 save vs fear
Everyone Else: +3 bonus to attacks, +2 bonus to damage, +2 bonus save vs fear
Shiv smiles as he gets into the fight.
Move: Move forward to M12
Croc move:With his dash he can double move out past (crossing through the Kuru's square, out to N15, then in to flank in M14
Standard:
While Shiv is able to brush off the hideous nature of the Lizardfolk, his croc is unable to, and turns tail and flees.
Shiv takes a mighty swing at the boil-covered Lizardfolk, but is unable to connect.
Lash is horrified as the lizardman chomps down on the Kuru. It is clear he is dead.
All her bravado seems to be dissipated. Instead, she turns to a judicial focus and readies her two arrows. She spins to the left as his blow comes down, and then to the right as his other comes. Both miss, fortunately, and as she recovers from her spin, she zeros in on his face and fires as his next attacks prepare to come in at her.
Surprised to see Hamley running, Kahli knows that he can't run far. She moves forward readying her crossbow for a shot. Seeing 1 lizardman not in melee (#3) she quickly fires.
Kahli runs up until she can see the disgusting-looking Lizardfolk. She levels her crossbow, takes aim, and fires true. Her bolt strikes the creature's collarbone, almost piercing out through its back.
Lash side-steps the Lizardfolk in her face and attempts to make a pincushion out of it, but the Lizardfolk tracks her and is able to push her bow out of the way, causing her arrows to strike the ground between their feet.
The extra ugly Lizardfolk goes to retaliate against Shiv with his full might, flailing wildly with its morningstar, claws, and teeth.
Ko'Tua sees the Lizardfolk wavering and steps in to try and finish the job.
There's a violent flurry of metal and teeth, but all the combatants come away unscathed.
Tenney stays where he is, watching from a distance.
-----------
Marcos keeps his speech while walking and aiming his crossbow. He tries a shot at one of the lizardfolk.
Marcos moves down in front of Tenney, his vocal performance continuing while he takes a shot. Trying to avoid his allies, unfortunately, his bolt flies high and lodges into the wall.
Lizardfolk 2 sees Lash's fancy footwork and the extra combatants coming from the east, and moves to put Lash between them before attacking her again.
Lash remains on her toes and is able to avoid its frantic attacks.
Hamley continues to panic and keeps running away, heading back down into the stone hallway as fast as possible!
-------------------
Round 3
Both seem to miss each other, but their song and dance has to have one member who will succeed. The lessons of her master come into her mind clearer and clearer. Despite the rushed, pained swings of the lizardman, she is calm and smooth. Hopefully, now that she faces away from her allies, none of them will, by chance, take a hit of one of her stray arrows if she misses.
Lash is able to sense the Lizardfolk's movements and manages to land a shot, the arrow piercing through its left arm. Lash can hear the scraping of the arrowhead against bone and the Lizardfolk lets out a pained hiss. It quickly recovers and is able to duck the second arrow.
Face-to-face with the hideous Lizardfolk, Shiv is able to get a better look at it and takes a studied swing.
The lighted scythe finds only air as the Lizardfolk steps aside. The Croc continues retreating to the south, following Hamley.
Kahli hopes to finish off the Lizardfolk before more damage can come to her allies and fires another bolt blessed by Calistria.
Aiming too far left, her bolt ricochets off the stones outcropping and deflects to the floor.
Ko'Tua says something in Kuru to the Lizardfolk before attacking with his club and trying to bite it.
Kahli's bolt hits the wall, some small rocks pelting the Lizardfolk, and distracting it long enough for Ko'Tua to get a clean hit in. Shiv can hear its skull crack and watches it collapse to the ground. Ko'Tua spits on the Lizardfolk then sees Lash is still toe-to-toe with the final Lizardfolk and sprints over to help her.
Tenney remains where he is.
-------------------------------------------------
In the distant light, she can see Tenney just standing there. She doesn't blame him but would prefer if he did something helpful instead of cowering there. She isn't sure she trusts those two. While she disapproves of the cannibalistic behavior of the Kuru, she finds them far more honorable so far and feels particularly sad that his companions have died. As he rushes in to save her, she spins out of the way of the next two attacks of the lizardfolk with dance-like proficiency.
Even before he can attack, she seeks to defeat the Lizardman in front of Ko'Tua so that he understands that she is not as weak as he perhaps thinks the ribbon-haired aasimar is.
Seeing the melee in front of her end, Kahli moves into the room.
Once they've reached that far, Marcos asumes they can end the combat without his assistance. He stops the prayer, and throws one last projectile at the lizardfolk, who is nonetheles completely overwhelmed numerically speaking.
Marcos focuses more on killing the Lizardfolk than speaking forth inspiration, but the distance, geography of the cave, and his allies in combat conspire to make his shot land short, skidding across the floor and kicking up pebbles.
The Lizardfolk sees Ko'Tua approach, and attempts to avenge its fellow Lizardfolk.
Ko'Tua isn't in position to defend himself yet and the Lizardfolk gets a clean hit across his arm as Ko'Tua is slow to block the attack.
Kahli rushes forward to join Shiv, now standing near a pile of dead bodies, both friend and foe.
Lash slides to her right and closer to the water, away from the melee between Ko'Tua and the Lizardfolk. Unfortunately, with Marcos' inspiration ending and trying not to hit Ko'Tua, her two shots go high and wide.
From a distance, Marcos can hear the faint echoes of Hamley yelling "I'm coming! Hold on!" Shortly after, he emerges from the hallway stairs, running back towards the group.
Shiv runs down to join Lash and get into a position to flank with Ko'Tua against the Lizardfolk, believing his talent (or at least armor) will protect him.
Shiv makes it safely, easily deflecting the Lizardfolk's morningstar.
Ko'Tua grins. "Shiv, you smart fighter!" He steps closer to the wall then unleashes his full fury at the final scaly beast.
The Lizardfolk barely knocks away Ko'Tua's club but it can't stop Ko'Tua from closing the distance and sinking his teeth into its throat. Ko'Tua pulls away, a gush of blood pouring down the front of the Lizardfolk as it falls back into the wall and slumps to the floor.
Ko'Tua chews on the scaly skin and swallows it. "Shiv, we make good team." Ko'Tua's breathing is heavy, but slows over the next 30 seconds. He makes his way back to the other Kuru and kneels, quietly chanting something. Marcos can hear Ko'Tua speaking of the Kuru "being a worthy sacrifice to The Blood Queen." Ko'Tua then pushes his hand into the Kuru's chest, bones snapping and muscle tearing, before Ko'Tua pulls the Kuru's heart out and ingests it while remaining kneeling.
Looking over the three Lizardfolk, the group finds:
If the group ventures to the campfire, in the northwest corner, they find a light brown bag with a variety of pockets. It emanates magic...
Hamley and Tenney stay back in the second area. The croc rejoins Shiv. Ko'Tua stays in reverence by the fallen Kuru. The area is silent for now.
As the body Ko'Tua bites falls to the ground, he will see a perfectly placed arrow planted in the thing's chest--a mortal wound. She is sure the lizardman is finished.
Before he tears into him, Lash will rescue her arrows from the area of the Kuru's meal.
"Why do you feast on him? Why be a cannibal when there are such other delicacies in the world? Is it cultural? Do you do this out of vengeance?"
Her hand will cover her mouth as she half-averts her eyes from the display.
Ko'Tua pauses for a moment before responding to Lash. "My people learned to gain power from the flesh of our enemies." He wipes his bloody hands off on his thighs. "I eat the heart of Kuru to honor him." He stands and begins making his way to the water before pausing by Lash. "I saw the arrow in lizard man. You shoot at others, not me, and we be friends." He gives a bloody grin before continuing on, rinsing his hands at the pool's edge.
"It must be cultural then. There is no way he actually gains power from eating his companion's heart. In a twisted way, he is acting like...someone who has sworn a vow to another and is fulfilling it. It's disgusting, but I can't begrudge him what he was brought up in. After all, there is very little you understand about even Marcos's words that lift you up or Kahli's touch. Why wouldn't he believe the lies told to him?"
She nods to Ko'Tua but doesn't smile back at him. Her eyes go back to the mutilated body of his kuru companion and then to Tenney. She wonders within herself how one of the two men's actions could be more honorable than the other's.
"I suppose we should search these. Don't touch the diseased one with your hands. Use one of their javelins to do anything."
Eventually, they finish searching and it is then that she realizes they left behind their accumulated wealth behind a wall of water. The previous level didn't allow them to retrieve it and is, by now, all underwater.
She will take up one of the morningstars and a couple of the javelins, the small bag of bugs, and will hand the piece of paper to Marcos.
"Can you read it?" "He does seem so well educated. I bet he has had some experience with this writing."
Looking to Hamley, she asks, "Why did you run?"
She, after all, didn't feel the fearful effects of the menacing lizardfolk from where she stood.
Marcos takes the piece of paper Lash is handling. He can't read shit.
"Of course."
When Lash approaches Hamley, he and Tenney are having a quiet argument, and Hamley steps away when he sees Lash coming close. He sighs at her question and shakes his head. "I...I don't know why I ran. I never even really saw the thing. I just felt it coming closer and I lost my nerve." Tenney steps up and places a hand on Hamley's shoulder. "Yeah, he's never been much of a fighter. He's more the brains. Well, no, that's me too." Tenney scratches his chin and thinks for a second. "He's a good friend!" He gives Hamley two pats on the back and walks off.
Meanwhile, Marcos casts a spell and focuses on the slip of paper. Suddenly, the words make sense, and he realizes it's written in Draconic. His eyes scan over the paper...
My Friends,
You might have some visitors. Don't let them make it to the church. If you succeed, I will ensure your clan safety. I make no promises if not.
Remember to use the tunnels to avoid the mushrooms.
Graciously,
Your Benevolent Benefactor
Shiv isn't sure what the three empty vials are.
He then grabs the vials of the green liquid and magically detects some sort of poison in them.
He shakes the vial and is able to identify what it is.
He then checks the bag that Marcos detects magic coming from and tries his hand at figuring out what it is.
But has no idea what it is or why it's magical.
----------------------------
The area is quiet and the party slowly moves about, checking the bodies and loot, staying near the safety of the campfire. From this position, the light from the campfire barely illuminates the edge of what appears to be mud and some large rocks on the floor. Shiv and Kahli take a look, and their low-light vision is able to perceive farther, seeing a whole area in the adjacent chamber that is covered in mud with large rocks strewn about. Each rock is a few feet across and is sticking two feet out of the mud.
The party isn't able to see much into the chamber to the north quite yet as the light isn't illuminating it and even Lash's darkvision can't reach that far. From the 10-15' they can see into that area, it's empty.
Whoever looks at the pool of water can see about 10' down into the murky water and barely see the bottom. It's fairly murky (you don't think you'd be able to see farther than 10').
Kahli hears the words as Marcos reads the paper. "Strange! They were supposed to keep us away from a church? I guess we'll understand that when we find it. But.... 'use the tunnels to avoid the mushrooms'? Must refer to some sort of mushroom monsters?"
"But, Maybe it's a distraction? There might be some mushrooms ahead and trapped tunnels if we try to avoid them!?!"
"Yes, we should be wary. The old fart knows what we can do, and he might have written this to lure us into the tunnels." Marcos knows that's close to paranoia, but that's how it works, he guesses.
Coming to have a look at the pool...
...he comments about the narrow passage on the east wall.
The two seem to be having some sort of argument and she is not keen on them silencing themselves. Perhaps they were planning something? As they speak, she wonders at their words. Perhaps it is her time among the company of theives, but knowing they were smugglers makes her not trust every word they say.
"We don't expect you to fight, but do whatever you can do to make sure we all live," she responds.
Having seen how Shiv is testing the vials, she will move to copy him while Marcos deciphers the language. She will attempt to see if she's heard of the effects these mysterious concoctions could produce.
As Marcos decides to work his magic and impressively casts a spell that allows him to read it, she is glad her assumptions of him being well-learned were true.
"Interesting," she comments. She listens to her companions reason out the mystery of the note. "Perhaps one of these other paths will reveal this to us. I'm going to have a quick look around to make sure that we aren't missing anything important."
Shuffling off, she will head around the cavern they are in until she gets to the water. When she does, she will notice that through the murky water, she spies an entrance.
"I'll be right back. I see a way to check out. It might be nothing," she mentions to the group and will descend into the water, attempting to make it through the tight fit.
Seeing Lash step into the water Kahli moves up to the edge to provide any support possible. "Wait! Maybe you should take one end of a rope? That way if something grabs you we can try to pull you back?"
After translating the letter and conveying his thoughts to the group, Marcos steps up to the pool and kneels down to get a better look. He's able to see the gap and the sharp rocks and gives that information to the group.
Kahli ponders on the letter before seeing Lash hop into the pool and rushes to the water's edge, offering help.
Lash, while she can't hear what they're saying, gets the feeling that Tenney and Hamley are arguing about something. She feels it highly unlikely they were planning anything in that conversation.
Looking at the empty vial that each of them carried, she determines that they contained a potion of Darkvision, probably how they were able to gain that sight.
Lash makes her way around the immediate area, but doesn't find anything hidden.
She slides into the water, and finds it a little chilly, but not uncomfortable. She takes a breath and goes under, swimming the 10' down to the bottom of the pool, grabbing the stone and righting herself. She can see 10' into the small gap and notices the edges of it lined with sharp rocks. However, with her limited vision, the gap continues on past how far she can see, and Lash is unable to determine how far the gap goes.
Lash will hand the potion of darkvision to Marcos and will tell him what it does. Having an insight herself, it brings an all-too-famliar feel to her so she knows.
Hurrying along to the pool, she grits her teeth as she wades into the water.
"Bracing, but not too bad."
With Kahli offering a rope, she considers:
"It looks like there are sharp rocks in there. Normally, I would say yes, but I don't want to get tangled up. You can say a prayer for me though!"
She will take her breath and submerge. Strangely enough, when underwater, her glowing tattoos are far more visible on the dark of her burned-looking skin. As noticeable as they are, in a moment they are gone into the murky depths and twists of the cavern's path.
Lash grabs the walls and pulls herself into the gap. Almost immediately, her shoulder scrapes against the wall, a small stream of blood coming out. The continues forward, but bounces off the other side, catching her left side on the jagged rocks. She manages to straighten herself out and kick her way through the last 20' of the tunnel.
Lash now finds herself in another pool. To the north, west, and south, she sees rocky walls, but cannot see the far east side of the pool beyond the 10' of murky water. Looking up, right at the edge of her 10' vision, she thinks she can see the surface of the water.
Lash will move upward to see if the zone she sees at the 10' edge of her vision is the surface. She is slow and careful in her movements, and if she does break the surface, she is careful of releasing all of her air unless it is a large cavern.
Lash swims up and slowly breaks the surface just enough to get a sense of her surroundings. She can see about 15' of cave floor before there's mud with large rocks jutting out of it. With some logical deducing, she figures this is the southern side of the mud area Shiv saw from the campfire.
Kahli hears Lash's comment and does offer up a prayer for Lash's safety, then stands by the water nervously waiting.
While Lash swims away, Ko'Tua steps up next to Kahli at the water's edge. "Who you pray to for power? You have good words and your fighting strong. You make good Kuru." He smiles, the light glinting off the saliva on his sharpened teeth as he waits for an answer.
"Oh, I'm here," she thinks to herself. She will spy out any potential threat ahead of them in this room. Also, she looks for where this mud came from. Is it what is making the water in her area so murky? Can she see mushrooms from here? If not, she will see if the land to the north of her is solid enough to stand on and will climb out of the water.
Lash wades over to the edge of the cave floor and braces herself, slowly pulling herself up and onto dry land. Looking back into the water, she can now see another gap in the eastern side of her current pool with a similar narrow opening. Staying crouched, she can see across the mud pond and counts the large stones scattered about, with a larger one stuck in the middle. Each one is slightly rounded, sticking a foot out of the mud, but could easily be stood upon. Looking up at the 15' ceilings, there are a handful of stalactites of various sizes (from 2' to 6') with water dripping from them and into the mud.
While Lash is scouting ahead and Ko'Tua is speaking to Kahli, Tenney and Hamley return to the group. Hamley makes his way up towards Shiv, settling against the wall. Tenney gives a quiet call to Marcos and nods his head for him to come over.
Ko'Tua stays by Kahli, waiting for her response.
Marcos wants to wait until Lash comes out of the water, but he notices Tenney wanting a private talk and he follows.
He listens to the thug's thoughts spoken aloud without a gesture, letting the man finish.
"Why do you think he'll betray us? Actually, you showed a behaviour not too far away from what I'd consider treacherous. Should I distrust you?"
He lowers his head in a more friendly speech.
"Listen, from what we've seen, he wants to get out of here. Like you and me. And he eats dead people. But that doesn't mean he's gonna kill us to eat us. If he's smart enough, he'll realise he won't go anywhere with a full belly but no allies."
After that, he puts a hand on Tenney's shoulder.
"What about you? Should we be best friends just because you don't eat dead people?"
For a moment, Lash considers heading back. She has already been a little bit injured, but part of her wants to continue to see if this is the passage that the note spoke of. A few seconds pass and the dripping aasimar decides to climb back into the waters.
Carefully, she will proceed further into the tunnel to the east. If there are sharp rocks there, she may consider turning back and going the way she came.
Kahli perks up at the question. "I pray to Calistria, goddess of Lust and Revenge. Aside from the standard healing or harming powers of any cleric She grants me power over Luck and Trickery. I use the power to help my team in really hard battles, both to help our aim and harm the enemy's ability to harm me."
"You say I would make good Kuru. What does the word mean? Was it your tribe name? Or something more special than that?"
Kuru cocks his head slightly. "I never hear of Calistria, but revenge is something my people know well. Kuru is our people. We kill. We eat. We celebrate. You follow lust and revenge." He smiles. "You make good Kuru."
Lash can spy that it is wider, but the rocks would still cut her up. Feeling already cut up enough and bleeding all over, she decides to head back.
Lash will emerge from the water of the pool. She doesn't seem to be out of breath as though she had held it long. In fact, she wasn't even gone that long in reality. At first, her slender body bears no sign of the damage she sustained, but as the air and gravity hit her, small trickles of blood begin to reveal themselves upon her upper torso on her shoulders and the backs of her legs (where she was the most careless).
"Ugh...a vicious swim between those rocks. I did the best I could. There actually is a place further, but I didn't want to risk it. It seems this cavern connects to where the water opens up." She will point to the next room over. "It is positively full of mud, and on the far side from where I was, I could see a treasure chest."
Marcos lets Tenney walk away, sad by his attitude. Why can't he understand?
Shaking his head, he goes back to the water, a bit worried.
"Still no news of her?"
Kahli considers KoTua's response and nods. "We are very similar in our beliefs, except that I wasn't raised to eat parts from slain enemies. Meat from unintelligent animals, properly cooked.... Yes. I'm not sure I would enjoy eating raw meat from an intelligent person that I had to kill."
"Lash, Let's get those cuts cleaned and cured. We have no idea what might be in that water!" She conjures clean water to clean Lash, then uses a charge from the wand.
"Hmm.... That was weak!"
"Thank you," she offers to Kahli for the healing. She can see her wounds close, and instead of sitting in her blood, will move back to the water and wash off what lingered. Now she begins the process of taking off her boots by the fire the lizardfolk had and drying off. Adding what little wood they had to the blaze, she will dry out quite quickly she suspects. "I'm sorry I couldn't go further. I felt it wasn't worth dying over. I couldn't see anything indicated in that note," she comments regarding the note that Marcos had read.
Kahli stows the wand and readies weapons. "So we go the easier way...."
"We'll see...," Lash rolls her eyes to Kahli. Knowing their luck, their "host" will have made it much harder to go this way. Once she is dried off, she will undo the lizardfolk's alarm trap and collect the bell and rope. Who knows if or how they may need it in the future. Perhaps for their own safety? Once done, she will head toward the next junction.