Elyana was nervous being underground hunting creatures that could move through the stone and appear from anywhere. Fortunately Alric had a good sense of when the creature's would attack them as he yet again gave them warning. Elyana chanted and gestured as she sent an arc of electricity leaping from her hand to hit the mephit to the right that then leapt to the one straight ahead.
Despite being the ones doing the ambushing, the Mephits were caught completely off guard. The one on the right took the full force of the spell while the other one, its feet still in the stone, took the electrical arc straight to the head. Which blew it apart in a shower of pebbles, shortly followed by the rest of the body as it collapsed.
Round 1:
Zaranna, Alric, Elyana, Cardren, Earth Mephits (Concealed from Alric and Cardren)
Mephit 2 (Left, Enlarged, Clumsy 1):
Mephit 3 (Right, Enlarged, Clumsy 1): -12
Seeing one of the mephits fall to Elyana’s magic, Cardren moves to the one untouched by her magic. Wanting to leave the front of his opponent open to ranged attacks, Cardren slides to the creature’s side then launches an attack of swift punches in an attempt to stun the mephit. He thinks he sees an opening in the mephit’s defense and attempts to kick its knee.
The first punch hit the Mephit square in the jaw, causing its head to reel back. The sudden shift in stance caused Cardrens eyes to lose focus for a moment, making him miss his next swing. He quickly readjusted and planted his knee in the center of its torso.
Round 1:
Zaranna, Alric, Elyana, Cardren, Earth Mephits (Concealed from Alric and Cardren)
Mephit 2 (Left, Enlarged, Clumsy 1, Stunned 1): -14
Mephit 3 (Right, Enlarged, Clumsy 1): -12
Zaranna moves back to avoid any of them getting her in melee, and takes a couple of shots at the one on the left.
◆Stride, ◆◆2 shots
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Zaranna's first arrow skipped off the stone wall and her second one barely scraped its shoulder.
Round 1:
Zaranna, Alric, Elyana, Cardren, Earth Mephits (Concealed from Alric and Cardren)
Mephit 2 (Left, Enlarged, Clumsy 1, Stunned 1): -16
Mephit 3 (Right, Enlarged, Clumsy 1): -12
Alric moves through the dim lighting quickly now, engaging with the other earth mephit who was not dealing with a close encounter with an enemy. The two blades would be draw like flashes, striking at the foe.
Alric moved up and slit his blade up the entirety of the Mephits torso. If the damned things bled, the ranger was certain it would be doing so profusely. Regardless, it crumbled to nothingness.
The remaining creature shook its head to rid itself of the stars Cardren caused and lashed out at him.
He proved too elusive to be hit with such clumsy attacks.
Round 2:
Zaranna, Alric, Elyana, Cardren, Earth Mephits (Concealed from Alric and Cardren)
Mephit 2 (Left, Enlarged, Clumsy 1): -14
Zaranna shoots at the remaining mephit again.
◆◆◆ 3 shots
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Despite the little bastard being such a larger target, only Zaranna's final arrow struck true. Obliterating it entirely.
With combat finished, Cardren controls his breathing, feeling his pulse in his wrist. He looks at his companions to see how they are faring. He swallows, frowning slightly, then chuckles.
”I’m thirstier than I should be,” the monk says with a shrug and shake of his head. “Not worth taking a drink right now though. Oh, I forgot to mention it earlier, I have an elixir that lets the drinker see in total darkness. Some potions for healing too.”
You move on to the fourth junction where you turn right, then turn left at the next junction. As soon as you make the next right, Alric makes his signal again and everyone notices the four mephits rushing at them full bore.
Round 1:
Cardren, Elyana, Alric, Zaranna, Mephits (Concealed vs Alric and Cardren)
Mephit 1:
Mephit 2:
Mephit 3:
Mephit 4:
Zaranna backs up and moves left a little, to stay out of melee range and avoid shooting through her companions, and then shoots at the closest mephit.
Elyana was not shocked when another wave of mephits came for them. The bastards were persistent if nothing else and she could only hope that they would be running low in number by now. She chanted and gestured and once more an arc of electricity leapt from her fingers to hit first one and then another of the attacking elementals.
Zaranna's first arrow ripped a small portion of her targets wing, but the second one went wide.
Elyana's spell followed up Zaranna's shot with a direct hit to the chest. Unfortunately the elf's target for the second arc anticipated it and dodged it completely.
Round 1:
Cardren, Elyana, Alric, Zaranna, Mephits (Concealed vs Alric and Cardren)
Mephit 1:-11
Mephit 2:
Mephit 3:
Mephit 4:
Alric sees the mephits coming for them and grimaces, wrapping his cloak around him as he tries to disappear again out of sight. In the dim lighting, there are momentary flickers of his cloak moments before it swallows the light all around them.
Alric seems to vanish entirely in the lowly lit corridor, even from Elyana and Zaranna.
Round 1:
Cardren, Elyana, Alric, Zaranna, Mephits (Concealed vs Alric and Cardren)
Mephit 1:-11
Mephit 2:
Mephit 3:
Mephit 4:
Cardren moves to intercept the rushing mephits. He notices the arrow and magic attacks against one, so he uses the momentum of another one against itself, attempting to trip it. Whether or not it falls, the monk focuses again on the meridian and pressure points of his enemy to stun it with a barrage of blows.
The mephit Cardren attempted to trip barely managed to stay on its feet. Which seemed to work to it benefit as it's off balance state caused the monk to miss his mark.
That one, as well as another, attempted to beat Cardren down with their tiny fists.
The injured one missed all together, but the other one landed two solid blows.
Meanwhile, the other two moved passed towards the pair of elves. One was suddenly distracted as Alric came out of nowhere with a sword swing thatm while missed, got its attention.
Using the opening provided by the Ranger's miss, the little bastard managed to punch Alric in the side twice.
The remaining one continued on an blasted both Elyana and Zaranna with its pebbly breath.
Round 2:
Cardren, Elyana, Alric, Zaranna, Mephits (Concealed vs Alric and Cardren)
Mephit 1 (vs Cardren):-9
Mephit 2 (vs Cardren):
Mephit 3 (vs Alric):
Mephit 4:
When one of the mephit's made it through the line to reach her and Zaranna Elyana gave a cry of pain at the sudden deluge of rocks that slammed into her.
Fortunately the barrage was not too bad and she didn't get injured all that badly. She narrowed her eyes at the mephit and then cast a spell once more sending a jag of electricity jumping from herself to the nearest two mephits.
Zaranna moves away from Elyana so that they can't both be caught in a breath attack again, then shoots again at whatever mephit she can get a good shot at.
(deadly d10)
Against the two opponents, Cardren decides to trip both of them. He pushes against the one who hit him twice then attempts a similar maneuver with the other one. Cardren’s hands are a blur as he attempts to strike one mephit.
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Elyana's spell caused both Mephits to shake violently as the electricity struck each in the chest and spread throughout their bodies.
The Oracle's first arrow completely shot through the Mephit that sprayed pebbles at her and the Sorceress, dropping and disintegrating it. Taking careful aim at the other one engaging with Alric, she fired her second arrow and completely removed its head, pinning it to the wall. The decapitated body fell to nothingness immediately afterward.
As Cardren knocked one of the little bastards on its ass, the other one nimbly dodges his attempt. Unfortunately, he lost his balance and ended up fallen himself. Kicking out at the one he missed, the Monk pummeled his target to dust.
Round 2:
Cardren (Prone), Elyana, Alric, Zaranna, Mephits (Concealed vs Alric and Cardren)
Mephit 2 (vs Cardren | Prone):
The two strikes hit hard against Alric, staggering the ranger as he coughs hard. Shaking his head, he focuses through the pain and gets ready to strike down his foe. An arrow flies over his shoulder though and smashes the head of the zombie before him. It crumples to the ground, leaving it open for Alric to move. He sees the foe laying upon the ground and studies him just for a moment before advancing upon his prey.
While the Ranger's strikes did a rather decent amount of damage, the last Mephit was still not dead.
With absolute fear in its eyes, the Mephit sank into the stone floor and disappeared completely.
Elyana saw teh mephit flee in fear of them after wiping out it's companions and she found herself wondering, Why are all these mephits down here anyway? It was strange, especially since they were somehow trapped, and she found herself wanting to know what was going on here. This all seemed unnatural to Elyana and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.
"We never thought to ask the mine owner why the mephits were here or how they got here did we?" She looked at her companions questioningly and then added, "I think there is something going on that he didn't tell us. These mephits seem angry about something and that is odd, I didn't think elemental creatures generally got angry."
Elyana looked to where the mephit had disappeared and then said, "I want to try something before we push on, I want to try and talk to the creature. I don't know if we can speak a language in common or not but it is worth a try,"
It sunk into the floor... do you think it is still there, listening?
Elyana shrugged her shoulders at Zaranna's question and said, "I don't know, it's possible it would feel safe there and not go any further. The only concern is that I don't know if I can actually talk to it. What language would a mephit speak anyway? The only language we might share would be sylvan but I think that it is unlikely to work."
Well, I speak draconic, but that doesn't really sound right either... I'm not sure we can talk to them, but if you want to try, maybe just try common. They might have picked it up from the miners, at least a few words. Or... do you have a translation spell? I don't, but it does sound like something that could come in handy.
"If you think you can talk with them, we'll give it a try. Now just give me a quick moment here." Alric mutters as he takes out some bandages and begin to wrap his side where the stony fist had collided. "Just keep an eye out, yeah? We should conserve the resources we have."
Alric bandages himself and while he still winces slightly, the pain is not as terrible. He looks towards Cardren and nods if he wants to be looked over as well.
Cardren releases a long exhale as the fight ends. While Alric treats his wounds, Cardren stretches while gently touching the areas where he was hit. ”Is it stuffy down here? I just feel so thirsty. Much more so than I should be after two fights like that.”
He takes out his waterskin and nods at Alric. "Please, check my wounds."
"There, you should be alright. Just try to favor your other side, alright?" Alric says, lightly tapping his friend on the side.
”I’ll do my best,” Cardren says nodding at Alric’s wise suggestion. He tests the bandages with some slow stretches and some quick punches to an imaginary foe.
”That’s strange,” the monk says frowning. ”I’m not as thirsty as I was. It’s like I had a cup of water.” He shrugs and shakes his head, looking at the others in confusion.
”You know,” Cardren says as he thinks, looking at their opponents’ bodies. ”I think the mephits were doing something to me when they hit me. They’re causing my thirst. Watch out if they hit you.”
Continuing along your way, you finally reach Shaft thirty-seven. Cautiously moving down the shaft, you quickly find a natural crevasse leading down a dark natural corridor.
Elyana's shoulders drooped a bit when no one seemed to know what language the mephits spoke/ She had hoped to figure out what was happening from them but as aggressive as they were if she couldn't ultimately talk to them in a shared language it was likely too dangerous to even try. Once they began to move on she took her place in the line as she always did and followed along.
Zaranna moves forward with the rest, keeping her eyes open for more mephits.
Cardren moves down the tunnel, as quietly as he can at the group’s speed. He wonders how many people it took to dig this tunnel and how long. ”Maybe the dirt gargoyles are mining too. From underneath.” he says quietly to the others. ”I’m just wondering why they’re here.”
Could be that... could be we're mining close to their homes, or could be they just don't like us. I think Elyana's idea of trying to talk to them was a good one. Too bad we don't know their language.
"They may still yet understand Common, even if they don't speak it. I think it is worth the risk." Alric mentions, agreeing with Zaranna. Down into the dark corridor, Alric's eyes strain to see for a moment. "Cardren, can you hold a torch. It will give us away but it is better than being blind in the dark."
Cardren smiles. ”Not a problem,” the monk says as he lifts the torch to light their way.
Squeezing through the narrow opening, you continue on your way. If not for Cardrens torch, it would be completely dark. Several long minutes pass as the corridor twists and turns until up ahead bluish glow becomes visible. Cautiously pushing on you eventually come to a gigantic cavern, its ceiling covered with thousands of bioluminescent insects, mimicking a clear night sky. A few pools of water glow with the brightness of a full moon night, providing just enough light that the two humans can see without issue. Stalagmites of various sizes crop up from the floor. Surprisingly, the air is like that near a freshwater spring, crisp and refreshing.
Zaranna smiles at the quality of the air, and goes over to one of the pools, trying to see if there is anything in the water or if it is safe to drink.
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Zaranna takes one of her extra vials and scoops up some of the water so she can see the creatures more closely. She also casts detect magic to see if the water or the creatures radiate any kind of enchantment.