Barely still upright, the aberration hisses and lets forth one final terrifying flurry of attacks with its razor-like appendages, including an especially vicious strike at Briar.
The world in Broccan's eyes goes sideways, then fades to black as the miner drops to the ground in a pool of his own blood.
Kata twists her spear from the beast with another grunt and pulls it back to finish the monster - when Broccan falls, and Kata's mind goes blank. No! Nononononono!
Instead she scrambles around the edges of the fight again, finding herself across from Briar, trying to replicate the tactic that had Eddruk so cheered just a few seconds ago. This time though, the elegist's thrust is feeble and hurried, and finds only air.
Briar feels the stab of the knife-like leg right in her stomach. She can’t hold onto a thought for more than the briefest moment, the pain pounding out anything else. She is shaking all over, to the point that she can barely hold onto her dagger. She latches onto the only thought she can grasp, clawing into it with everything she has. ”I’m not gonna die...I’m not gonna die...I’m not gonna die...” Her hands steady. ”I’m not gonna die...I’M NOT GONNA DIE.” She thrusts the blade up towards the ball of the spider’s belly.
The monstrosity freezes, trembles, and then collapses. Its sharp legs curl inward rapidly, almost catching Briar within a final horrid embrace. A stench like crushed ladybugs fills the air.
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Briar just stands there a moment, her dagger still held up in the spider’s belly, the adrenaline still heavy in her blood. She shakes herself back into the moment and glances about. Ed’s got some blood on him, but he’s standing. Broc is down, but he isn’t bleeding. Oh Calistria, Ella! ”Alaïs, Kat, one a’ you get Broc up. I’ll get Ella!” She lets go of the dagger, letting the spider fall limp to the floor with a crunch around the blade and rushes to Ella’s side, pulling out the wand along the way. She crouches down and throws out a quick tap, more concerned about speed than accuracy.
She misses most of the acid burns due to her haste. She curses but then lets herself breathe. She stopped the bleeding at least. She can take a moment and do this right.
Her form is perfect this time. As Rosella’s wounds begin to heal, Briar lets herself roll back onto the ground.
”Well, at least the bug wasn’t poisonous.” A laugh starts, and with the tension broken, it turns into a delirious cackle.
Alaïs steps back when the spider-insect goes into another paroxysm, getting ready to blast it with her magic, if she can, when Briar neatly finishes it off with one last thrust. The elf bard subsides from a rather embarrassingly bookish guard position to hurry to Broccan’s side as directed.
This magic’s not as glamorous, but it is much more important, and she runs quickly over the old, old incantation with the ease of someone who’s practiced it for a long time.
The goddesses smile upon her efforts, and she helps Broccan to his feet with a cheerful, smiling, "Up you get, sir."
Battered and blood-stained, Broccan pulls himself up to his knees, then slowly rises to his feet. ”’lmost cut’n’alf ‘n left lay’n in m’own blood. Thas’ familiar,” he says in a self deprecating tone.”Tha’thing w’s tough.”
He looks around at the wreckage of the fight. ”’s everyone else’kay?”
”Almost cut in half and left laying in my own blood. That’s familiar. That thing was tough. Is everyone else okay?”
"Ugh." Rosella blinks blearily up at Briar from the floor. "What...did you get it?" She props herself up onto her elbows to survey the damage. The beetles seem to be scattered and the spider-thing is dead on the floor. It seems the rest of the group did indeed 'get it.'
They definitely all look the worse for wear though. Most of them are covered in blood, even if the magical healing seems to have gotten everyone up for now.
"Thanks Briar." She tentatively tests her muscles as she stands up. The remaining acid damage feels more like a bad sunburn than anything dangerous, but she's going to be sore for a while. "I'm okay, I think. How is everyone else? Alaïs?" She's pretty sure she remembers seeing the elf take a bad hit. Meanwhile Broccan's also on the floor, and while Briar is standing she doesn't look too good.
"We should probably rest for a bit." She sits back down onto the floor. "Maybe a long bit."
"Oh...an' uh...thanks, m'Lady," Broccan adds after a moment, when he realizes he didn't thank Alaïs for saving his life. "I'da died if you 'adn't 'ealed me up jus' now."
"Thanks, my Lady. I would have died if you hadn't healed me up just now."
Edrukk takes one more massive overhand chop at the fallen creature, partially out of frustration and partially out of desire to make sure it is well and truly dead.
"Gorum!"
He stands there, shaking with rage, staring at the mess of the creature before turning to the others.
"'t 'it me once." He moves from one ally to another, looking them over as if making sure they truly are still alive. Any that need it, he helps to their feet. Looking over their battered group, he says, "Well fought, m' friends. Th' gods 'ave watched o'er 's t'day 'n guided yer 'ands. Well done. We need t' be restin', Ah think."
"Well fought, my friends. The gods have watched over us today and guided your hands. Well done. We need to be resting, I think."
Briar goes to work trying to bring everyone back up to strength while also taking some time to wash herself and others with her conjured water. "Thanks, Ed. That was rough, so the kind words are nice. You'd think it would've been easier for me, considerin'--" She cuts herself off as she pulls out her dagger from the bisected spider, Ed's blow making it much easier to retrieve without having to flip the whole thing over. "Anyways, we're all still breathin', too. Wand's gettin' a little low though, sadly. Been a rough one."
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Battered and blood-stained, Broccan pulls himself up to his knees, then slowly rises to his feet. ”’lmost cut’n’alf ‘n left lay’n in m’own blood. Thas’ familiar,” he says in a self deprecating tone.
And therein lies a tale, I’m sure, Alaïs thinks.
“I think a couple of us have joined that club this morning,” she replies brightly, “and it’s no trouble. The healing, I mean. And my thanks to whoever patched me up, too.”
She takes another look around at the assembled, assessing their various scrapes and bruises.
"Ugh." Rosella blinks blearily up at Briar from the floor. "What...did you get it?" She props herself up onto her elbows to survey the damage. The beetles seem to be scattered and the spider-thing is dead on the floor. It seems the rest of the group did indeed 'get it.'
They definitely all look the worse for wear though. Most of them are covered in blood, even if the magical healing seems to have gotten everyone up for now.
"Thanks Briar." She tentatively tests her muscles as she stands up. The remaining acid damage feels more like a bad sunburn than anything dangerous, but she's going to be sore for a while. "I'm okay, I think. How is everyone else? Alaïs?" She's pretty sure she remembers seeing the elf take a bad hit. Meanwhile Broccan's also on the floor, and while Briar is standing she doesn't look too good.
"We should probably rest for a bit." She sits back down onto the floor. "Maybe a long bit."
“Frightfully sorry about that,” Alaïs offers, noting a scorch mark on Rosella’s armour that seems likely to be a result of the bottle she lobbed at the beetle swarm. “I’m afraid alchemist’s fire is not the most precise weapon, at least in my hands.”
“Though I am very grateful that I managed not to burn anyone’s hair off,” she adds, thinking of the poem she recited in the course of the melee. “There are remedies, of course, but they’re dashedly difficult, if one doesn’t have a talent like my oldest brother about to beg for assistance.”
She speaks with the quietly earnest tone of experience, though in her case it was a disastrously unfortunate coiffure rather than a conflagration. Still she makes a mental note to add to her journal entry for best practices for serious adventuring, if alchemical weapons are going to feature more prominently: It is best to have a flask of tress tincture on hand for unexpected emergencies.
“I can manage another healing spell,” she continues, focusing on the matter at hand, and lamenting, for more than one reason, just how early it is in the day, as she reaches for the pouch of berries she collected outside, and warbles a sprightly tune to match. “Though no more, which might put a damper on further exploration today. It’s a bit early, and it’s a shame we don’t have some ice and the good crystal, but … one or two of these might help to take the edge off too. They'll do for a bit of healing, but you might want to go easy with them. They'll keep until the evening, certainly.”
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Edrukk stops Briar as she approaches, "Save yer magic, lass. Gorum will provide. See t' th' others."
Briar goes to work trying to bring everyone back up to strength while also taking some time to wash herself and others with her conjured water. "Thanks, Ed. That was rough, so the kind words are nice. You'd think it would've been easier for me, considerin'--" She cuts herself off as she pulls out her dagger from the bisected spider, Ed's blow making it much easier to retrieve without having to flip the whole thing over. "Anyways, we're all still breathin', too. Wand's gettin' a little low though, sadly. Been a rough one."
[dice=CLW Briar (her own)]1d8+1
[dice=CLW Briar (wand)]1d8+1
[dice=CLW Broc (wand)]1d8+1
[dice=CLW Broc (wand)]1d8+1
[dice=CLW Ed (wand)]1d8+1
"Thank'ye Mis'Briar," Broccan replies quietly as she touches him with the wand, and he feels the hurt fade away from his body.
"Th' magic'ealin' won' leave new scars't seems," he says to no one in particular.
Edrukk grins, "Ah 'ill take care o' 'at, lad. 'old still."
"Thanks to you too, Alaïs" Rosella sighs in relief as the last of her injuries fade away. "I think I'll save the berry for until we're done for the day. Should probably keep my wits about me right now."
She rolls her shoulders as she stands up again. "Speaking of which, we've got two lifts, or at least I'm guessing the other cylinder is also a lift, and a hole in the ground where a third lift probably used to be. Do we want to check any of them out further? Or call it a day for now?" She pats her bow gently. "My bow doesn't exactly get tired, and that healing made it so I'm not either, but you all used a lot of spells. Plus the wand. If you want to camp out here until you get them back; I've no objections."
She gestures towards the green alcove and the dark pit therein. "If we do keep going, I'm tempted to check that one out first. We already killed the nasty things that were at the bottom; might be a little safer than wherever the other two would take us."
Briar stifles a laugh at Alais's comments about posh crystal and ice. There is something endearing about guilelessness, even if the thought of people having "fine crystal" reminds her of exactly why she doesn't care for the upper classes much. "Long as it won't get me fluthered, I'll take one a' them berries. One halfway-decent drink and I'm red-faced and singing bawdy tunes on the table."
She pats Broc on the shoulder. "Any time, Broc. Glad I'm along to help with this. And you're right on about the scars, at least as far as I'm aware. The Kuthites got a spell that does, but, well, they're Kuthites and nobody wants that. Except Kuthites, of course." She sighs and clicks her tongue. She has difficulty restraining the twinge of disgust she carries for Kuthites as she speaks of them. Edgelords making all the honest freaks look bad, as far as she is concerned.
"Yep, seconding Ella's question. Everyone want to just take a quick break before jumpin' back to it or are we callin' it a day and comin' back tomorrow? If we want to try the spider tunnel, that'd be fine by me. Ella brings up a good point about that."
”Th’ bugs prob’ly’ate ann’eh’thin’ else tha’s down’er,” Broccan speculates. ”We cou’ takeh look’see.”
”The bugs probably ate anything else that’s down there. We could take a look-see.”
"I think it is a good idea. Let's see what is in the bug chamber, and reassess when we're down there. Safe is good, safe-ish is almost as good, and I think that tunnel must be safe-ish." Kata pauses, and then adds one more thought. "I don't have any rope."
Approaching Edrukk, Kata offers the priest a wan smile. "Thank you for the direction in that fight. I've never killed anything before today. I don't... like it, but I think I need to better know how to use this spear." Kata thunks the spear against the cairn floor for emphasis. "Can you teach me?"
Briar begins scanning around. ”I’ve got 100 ft of silk rope around here somewhere.”
The sides of the shaft are rough-hewn stone, and look quite easy to climb, especially with rope.
Approaching Edrukk, Kata offers the priest a wan smile. "Thank you for the direction in that fight. I've never killed anything before today. I don't... like it, but I think I need to better know how to use this spear." Kata thunks the spear against the cairn floor for emphasis. "Can you teach me?"
Edrukk chuckles, relief that everybody made it through the harrowing ordeal still buoying his mood. "Lass, ye struck true 'n oft'n, far better 'an Ah did. Ah think we all could do wit' some better plans 'fore we get 'n 'r nex' scrap. But Ah'd be 'appy t' work wit' ye if'n ye wish."
Edrukk rubs his chin and looks around at the party and over at the hole. "'r group 's no' really seasoned. Ah don' wanna push t' far. But yer adults, young 's ye 'r, 'n Ah respect yer wishes. If'n ye think yer up t' goin' down th' 'ole, lemme go first wit' me eyes 'n Ah 'ill watch while th' nex' comes."
"I'll come'down aft'rya," Broccan says, holding up his sunrod. "I've still got'eh light so th'others can see com'n down."
"I'll come down after you. I've still got a light so the others can see when they're coming down."
Her jaw set in a grim line, Kata gives Eddruk a grim nod. "I'd like that. We can start our first lesson tonight."
As the discussion turns to next steps, Lays moves to the edge of the broken lift. "I can go down after Broccan," Kata murmers, peering into the darkness below. "Don't go far when you get down there. Might be traps.”
Broccan reaches the bottom first, followed a half-minute later by Kata. Dozens of bas-relief figures similar to the one on the sarcophagus lid in the room above stare disapprovingly from the walls here. Many sport crossed arms and stern expressions. A few of the statues' heads are missing, and some have huge chunks torn out of them. Others have a weird melted appearance, as if they've been sprayed by something terribly acidic.
A large glyph that looks like a stylized arrow points down a short corridor to the north, which leads to a four-way intersection.
Kata sees no signs of traps here when she joins Broccan, but hears a faint chittering coming from the intersection.
The chamber is silent, and quite dark, with the lanterns all unlit. All you can hear is the muted roar of the wind from the deadly passage above, and the occasional chittering of a surviving acid beetle scuttling about in the gloom.
Briar gives herself a spray of perfume to help cover up the lingering scent of spider guts, acid, and crisped beetles. The scent is an unsubtle, inexpensive sandalwood. She peeks down into the darkness. ”Darkness and shadow is kinda my area so I’m seein’ fine up here. The rest a’ ya climb on down and I’ll follow up. Or down, I ‘spose.”
Briar begins scanning around. ”I’ve got 100 ft of silk rope around here somewhere.”
"I've got it." Briar's silk rope had been attached to Rosella's grappling arrow, and can be used again for a similar purpose. As the other group starts descending, Rosella holds a torch out to Alaïs. "Can you do that light thing again? That way you and me'll be able to see too, even without Broccan's sunrod."
She calls down to the others. "How's it look? Let us know when we should join you." She doesn't want to climb down on top of their heads, but she also doesn't want the other group to get too far in without them. Splitting up like that hadn't worked out so well for the upper passage.
Broocan moves back under the shaft and waves the sunrod back and forth.
"More'eh! Bugs'ah!" he says in a forceful whisper up the shaft, trying his best to clearly enunciate each word.
Briar stifles a laugh at Alais's comments about posh crystal and ice. There is something endearing about guilelessness, even if the thought of people having "fine crystal" reminds her of exactly why she doesn't care for the upper classes much. "Long as it won't get me fluthered, I'll take one a' them berries. One halfway-decent drink and I'm red-faced and singing bawdy tunes on the table."
"Yep, seconding Ella's question. Everyone want to just take a quick break before jumpin' back to it or are we callin' it a day and comin' back tomorrow? If we want to try the spider tunnel, that'd be fine by me. Ella brings up a good point about that."
“I can certainly understand waiting until ‘the sun is over the yardarm,’” Alaïs says, happily separating the enhanced fruit into a separate vial for later. Her tone is unselfconsciously thoughtful as she gets a feel for the edges of the expression in her mouth: Kyonin’s proud naval traditions and the way she travelled to Varisia notwithstanding, a jolly bold sailor lass she is not. It is likely that many a salt would prefer to brave the other captain’s daughter, as it were, than abstruse conversation with the aesthete.
“I gather that the tides of battle can be drastic, though-” indeed, her chosen weapon is designed both for elegance and to exacerbate the sting of fortune “-and thought I would do my best to get everyone as hale as can be. Those are my spells for the day beyond cantrips (so mostly light and keeping an eye out for magic), so we’ll have to be very careful: I’m not a healer, and a goodberry in time can save a life, but such won’t likely get anyone back on their feet.” Still, not having to spend those moments to cast the spell, if things get so desperate, might help.
"Can you do that light thing again? That way you and me'll be able to see too, even without Broccan's sunrod."
She calls down to the others. "How's it look? Let us know when we should join you." She doesn't want to climb down on top of their heads, but she also doesn't want the other group to get too far in without them. Splitting up like that hadn't worked out so well for the upper passage.
Casting a light onto the gauntlet of her shield arm again, Alaïs prepares to follow the others in her turn.
The whole party descends into the depths, using the rope and numerous handholds and footholds for a relatively easy descent. The shaft descends sixty feet, and opens into the ceiling, so it is quite fortunate that Briar's rope is one hundred feet in length. It spares them a twenty-foot drop and an uncertain return climb.
When they join Edrukk, Broccan and Kata, they see that dozens of bas-relief figures similar to the one on the sarcophagus lid stare disapprovingly from the walls here. Many sport crossed arms and stern expressions. A few of the statues' heads are missing, and some have huge chunks torn out of them. Others have a weird melted appearance, as if they've been sprayed by something terribly acidic.
A large glyph that looks like a stylized arrow points down a short corridor to the north, which leads to a four-way intersection.
Rosella winces as she notices the melted appearance of some of the statues. "Probably the bugs. They had some sort of acid on them." She has the holes in her clothes to prove it.
Taking up her usual position at the back of the group, she peers down each path in turn. "Don't know how much of a maze this is, but in case we get a lot of branching paths we should probably figure out how to deal with them now. I'd say go left whenever we have a choice, and use chalk to mark the paths we take. Don't want to get lost."
First order of business for Edrukk is to gear back up. He'll ask for some assistance to get back into his scale mail as expeditiously as possible.
Then he will take point or tail-end Charlie, as dictated by the party.
"Me'n Kata'eard some chitt'rn 'fore th' rest'o y'came down. 'm think'n there'r still bugs down'ere," Broccan whispers to the group. "If ann'eh y' have ann'eh al'chmist fire, get't ready. If not'I'd say torch's'd best th' bes'bet."
"Me and Kara heard some chittering before the rest of you came down. I'm thinking there are still bugs down here. If any of you have any alchemist's fire, get it ready. If not, I'd say torches would be the best bet."
Rosella leans around and peers out, using Broccan's sunrod for light. There appear to be rooms on either side of the hallway. To the right, it is not difficult to hear movement—creatures skittering about in the shadows.
To the left, she can just make out two large stone slabs, but she can't see anything beyond that.
But something stirs in the right room, too, a similar but smaller silhouette. And this silhouette does not shrink from the light. Compound eyes glitter in menacing reflections as it turns to face Rosella, shimmering yellow slime dripping from its clacking mandibles. It lets out a faint hiss and charges straight towards her.
It is not a spider-thing.
It appears to be a very, very large acid beetle.
And a vast swarm of smaller beetles trails in its wake.
"F#%~." Rosella whispers. She's not usually much of one for swearing, but those shapes are definitely swear-worthy.
She scrambles for her bow, beginning to wish she'd spent less money on fancy gear for Dancer and more money on alchemist's fire. "More beetles! Both big and little, to the right!"
As Rosella calls her warning, everyone hears an enraged hiss from the right passage, and a lumbering form rushes into view, a truly massive beetle with yellow-green sludge dripping from her clicking mandibles. An innumerable chittering brood follows in her wake.
Briar takes off her shield for the moment to have both her hands free to help Ed. "I'm pretty good about helping with armor, taking on and off. Gotta be in my line a' work. Help put on and take off armor more than a squire. Right, lift your arm now." She straps on another piece. "Pleasant guy once tried to teach me all the names of the pieces while I was helpin' him, but I just couldn't be bothered to remember. If I remembered more than half the things people tell me on the clock, I'd have no room in me head for anything worth remembering."
Nadroc. I’m beginning to be very curious as to who all these people were.
Rosella’s shouted warning breaks in on Alaïs’ musings as the bard considers the morbidly melted statues and the glyph in the hall, and spurs her tactical imagination on, such as it is. She’s no alchemist’s fire left, but she has oil, and if they can set it on the beetles and on fire… She grabs a first flask out of her pack and moves to where she can get an easier shot, hopefully, positioning herself where any beetles would have to get past Broccan and Rosella to get to her.
“Edrukk! Broccan! Can you hold the line? Anyone else, a flame, please!” She calls out her suggestions more for the illusion of any control over the situation than because she thinks she’s at all qualified to make them. Her obligations to her queen have been, thus far, mercifully theoretical, but that leaves her all the less sure how to persuade people who aren’t expecting to be (sort of) bossed around by her to go along with her ideas.
The swarm of chittering beetles comes into view in its full multitude as it swells and floods over Broccan and Roselle like a crawling wave.
Steeling his nerves against the crawling and burning sensations on his skin, Broccan moves out of the swarm, beside Edrukk , retrieves the torches from the dwarf's pack, and lights them with the flint and steel from his pouch.
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The feeling of acid sizzling her skin is starting to become all too familiar. With a cry of pain Rosella decides against about shooting the bigger beetle and instead starts digging through her pack. She's not going to underestimate those tiny creatures again!
"You'd think I'd've known better, after Sorin..."
The torches have their own compartment on the side, with flint and steel conveniently on top. The main advantage is that she doesn't have to fully withdraw either before striking a flame. (As long as she doesn't mind a few scorch holes from stray sparks.) Dropping the flint back into the pack almost before the spark is fully caught, she snatches the two torches that seem the most promising and holds them up. "Someone grab one!"