Everybody drops low, and Ziyad's fog swirls up around them. Shuushar steps into the deep water and with a soft plop, completely disappears under it. For a few tense moments, all they can hear is the soft splashing of the approaching drow, and murmurs in undercommon. As they approach close enough to inhale some of Stool's spores, the little myconid is able to translate silently to you.
::Ugh, I hate walking through this faerzress. Messes with your head. Are you sure they came this way? Well, the tracks came into this cavern, didn't they? And there was noise up ahead a moment ago. Maybe we should wait for the others? What, and explain to Mistress Ilvara that we were afraid of getting our feet wet? No, no, you're right. Shh...do you hear that? Where did they go? What's that mist? I don't know, but I'm not walking into it.::
The sounds of splashing move to the south of you, and then there's a big splash and a gasp as one of them finds the deep part. The other two try to muffle laughter as the one who fell pulls himself up on the others side. ::Oh ha ha, very funny. You take point next time. We're almost past that mist. Here, step over. Shh, they must be just ahead....:: The whispering stops as they begin to move past you.
Lets see if I can scare them, Shushaar, can you make gurgling slurping sounds? Dont stand directly behind the tentacle I am conjuring, drow will likely fire at it
In an eerie silence, a black, slick 15 feet long tentacle rises from the fog, extending from it, as if sniffing, probing towards the drow. The Fog hiding the true extent of the creature.
Alexandra prepares to have the artfully dodge any crossbow fire.
Tentacle summoning? Somewhat risky in your situation, but it could workd.
Why risky?
Rule of pretty female characters like either of us, if you dick around with anything tentacle related... Actually if you want to go in for a penny in for a pound, if the deities ruling this plane approve I have a way to sell your bluff better.
A light glow begins to emanate from the fog... these are tattoos-stars on Kalanzar's body begin to glow. This time, not all tattoos are glowing, but those that shine make it even brighter than usual and clearly connecting into some familiar constellation! He takes a step out of the fog...
...and a magical silver fire, gathering from these stars in his hands, falls on one of the drow pursuers. Then Kalanzar returns to the border of the fog - so that the light still illuminated the cave, but his figure itself was hidden. He stands right next to the illusory tentacle, possibly discouraging the attackers from any desire to enter the fog.
:: Maddy. Your time has come. :: Kalanzar hopes that he has now made the right bet on the fury of this woman. The cards are laid out on the table...
If we're attacking, let's get some initiative rolled up in here first.
Alex made the tentacle, which got everybody's attention. Then initiative order begins. Everybody who beat the drow, go ahead.
Shuushar will obligingly make a lot of splashing and gurgling from the underneath the tentacle area.
You hear the druid's thought in your head - :: Forward :: - and he himself begins to move to the edge of the fog...
This should be clearer. I'll give Ksenia a day, otherwise I'll bot her and move us forward.
.
.
Ksenia: 21
Jimjar: 18
Shuushar: 18
Kalanzar: 12
drow: 11
Ziyad: 11
Maddy: 10
Alex: 6
Ksenia slides into the deep part of the water and with a hand on the ledge, half swims, half hand glides her way to the edge of the mist. Spotting the drow, she ducks her head under the water and swims a few feet further, holding her breath and preparing to strike from behind if any of them move up to the mist.
The drow had reacted with alarm when the tentacle appeared. One of them shouted and stumbled back, nearly falling. Then Kalanzar stepped forward and cast his spell. The bolt of light slammed into the drow's chest, knocking him back into the water. He lay, mostly submerged, and did not get up again.
The other two drow shared a look, and one of them cried, "That's the prisoner! They're in the fog!" Turning his face to the entrance of the cavern, he screamed, "Mistress! Jorlan! We have them!"
Then he turned to Kalanzar, and fired his crossbow at him. The bolt thunked deeply into the drow's leg, spreading its poison through his blood.
The second remaining drow raised on hand and made a finger-flicking motion. A spray of pink glitter shot from his fingers, settling over the area that Maddy, Ziyad, Stool, Kalanzar and Jimjar stood in.
From somewhere behind them, a shrill whistle sounded.
S$#@ they are organized Alexandra thinks as she unleashes her Eldritch Blasts
Maddy cringed as the alarm was sounded before rushing forward with her weapon drawn. They couldn't be allowed to get away
Alexandra and Jimjar shot at the nearest drow, and the combination of eldritch blast and poisoned bolt were enough to drop him, bleeding, into the shallow water. Maddy sprinted from the fog, leapt over the deep part, and delivered a serious blow to the last remaining drow scout.
See Maddy strike a mighty blow at one of the drow, Ksenia surges up out of the water and swipes her short sword across the back of its knees trying to finish it off:
Ksenia watched from under the water, glad to have swum up to the drow unnoticed, and now trying to assess what was happening. The faerzress, glowing and purple, swirled above the water, and even through it, making everything distorted and muffled. Still, she could see well enough when Maddy leapt practically over her, and when blood hit the water.
The dwarf came silently out of the water and managed to slice clean through the femoral artery. At the same time, Ziyad hit it with a bolt of fire to the torso. The drow barely managed a gasp before hitting the water, dead.
In a matter of seconds, three drow scouts were dead. But the alarm had been raised, and Ilvara and her minions were not far away. It was time for a plan.
Alexandra immidiatly grabs the weapons of the closest drow, as well as his backpack.
Jimjar, grab what you can of their gear quick, Shushar, do then same, then dunk them in the deep spot you found
She pauses
I will maintain the illusion of a tentacle, 60 feet away behind us, until it would leave the water. We need to move quickly.
Ksenia shakes water off herself like a sodden blink hound and grabs the pack and weapons of the drow she hamstrung.
Has Maddy always glowed? Ksenia asks the group via Stool. Nevermind, no time for that. Maddy, love, your radiance will pull them after us like moths to a campfire, might want to cover up while we run. She pulls the drow's cloak off and tosses it to Maddy.
She then rolls the body into the deep channel of water and takes off at a run in the direction they'd been heading. I'll take point and scout ahead! She enthuses.
Kalanzar fully agrees with Alexandra. He quickly examines the bodies of the drow, removes everything valuable from them, then extinguishes the glow of the stars on the body
Run for our life.
And he rushes into the darkness, urging everyone else on.
Kalanzar, you are a Drow, and a Drow male, can you shout something like "Invisible foes, likely Demons retre... Dying noises" She is hectically scooping up things
Only if you think it could work, they use signals so they are in noise distance
Kalanzar remembered his own words that Ilvarra would hunt them even at the very bottom of the Abyss. She simply has no choice, and her subordinates even more so. I'm a bad actor. And I'm doubt the demons will stop them. They're following us too hard.
You all take precious seconds to strip the fallen drow of their backpacks, crossbows, quivers, and shortswords. You're just rolling the final body into the deep part when you Stool shrieks in your minds, :: THEY'RE COMING!!::
It's time to run.
- none
- poor visibility
Save
Shuushar turned, and in his panic immediately ran back into Ziyad's mist. He corrected his mistake, however, backtracked, and followed Ksenia as fast as his legs would carry him. He might be a pacificist, but that didn't mean he was going to sit and wait to be recaptured.
Jimjar ran as best he could, though his small size was a handicap in a footrace.
Alexandra rapidly moves towards Maddy, puts Maddy left hand on her and says Hold on, Ill lead She runs.
Ksenia runs for her life, visions of the horrors of the drow enslavement flashing before her eyes. She concentrates only on forging forward, making sure the way is clear for her friends.
Now that she is out of the water, just how freezing it was hits her like a hammer right between the eyes, but she finds some warmth in the running and manages to not slip or fall even as she splashes ahead.
Maddy was torn between trying to run ahead of everyone because she was glowing and literally a walking target, or else to stay back and make sure she made the best target when their pursuers caught up to them.
Her indecision, along with Alex taking her hand, caused Maddy to get too close to a couple rock pillars and she got momentarily wedged between them.
Blowing out all the air from her lungs, Maddy managed to pull her chest and stomach in enough to squeeze in between the pillars. She knew that she needed to be more careful so she wasn't a liability.
Turning to Alex she said, "I think while I'm glowing it may be in your best interest to stay a safe distance from me or you become a target too. I'll do what I can to stay ahead so they assume you all are further away than you are."
Alexandra find it it initially cramped to lead Maddy around, there are other running people, obstacles, rifts, drow shooting in their general direction and then a combination of Maddy pushing, Alexandra slipping and the ground being overgrown with subsurface weeds caused her to nearly slam headfirst into the same pillar that actually also bedeviled Maddy!
Alexandra my little darling fly, you remember dancing with that utterly lovestruck admirer of me whom you graciously took off me? In that incredibly cramped nightclub? Use Your Training, because that is what it totally was YesYes!
A timely intervention from her Patrons resulted in her getting into a steady rythm, easily guiding Maddy around obstacles (easy, that effing stone doesnt even try to grab her haha!) and making good progress, almost dancing through the areas.
60 feet I think.
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Start of their turn
JJ=mist +40
Ksenia = mist +50
others = mist +60
drow = mist -140
- distance between lead drow and trailing quarry - 180 ft
entanglement
uneven ground
deep water
fail
save
fail
fail 1 level of exhaustion
end of turn
leaders = mist-80
trailers = mist -140
The drow splashed into cavern, running at full speed. They had heard the scout's warning, but hadn't received a reply to their whistle. Which meant that the escaped prisoners were putting up a fight.
"Look, fog! That's not natural." One of the drow called out as they dashed forward. "And what is THAT?" he calls out, seeing the tentacle.
"Argh!" A high pitched voice calls out. Asha had tried to cut between two pillars, and had become badly entangled in some old webs. "Cut me out, you fool!" she demanded of her nearest minion. He turned to obey and immediately fell into a pool of deep water. Pulling himself out, teeth chattering, he started cutting the junior preistess free.
"They can't be far ahead, keep after them!" Ilvara demanded, her voice like ice. It was clear she was convinced her minions would fear her more than they would the giant tentacle.
Alexandra makes the tentacles organically move down beneath the surface before she leaves its range, keeping it behind her as some bubbles.
no complication
Alexandra keeps moving, but a lack of hindrance this turn allos her to have the tentacle "reappear" at various distances past the fog, hoping to create the illusion of perhaps several creatures.
She moves 60 feet.
Ksenia dashes, running as fast as she can, realizing that she is slightly slower than the others and is going to be left behind...
Her fear fuels her luck and she avoids tripping or otherwise encountering disaster, moving another 50 ft.
Maddy managed to disentangle herself from her environment and other bodies and dashed ahead.
As she ran, she was relieved to notice that she quit glowing but this meant that her vision immediately dimmed. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the new light level and thankfully she didn't encounter anything that would complicate her movement in the meantime.
She knew that she could keep running but she began to feel guilty about running ahead now that she wasn't glowing any longer. She paused and looked back, wondering if anyone was falling behind and wondering if she could help. Specifically she was wondering about Jimjar and his shorter legs.
Like a nimble lizard (which he actually turned into), Kalanzar rushes along the walls away from his distant relatives. This helps him not to get into the puddles below, but it does not help at all when it turns out that the walls are much more uneven than the ground. He has to cling and put his paws more carefully where on the ground he would just run to the right or left. The force of gravity did not give him such an opportunity now.
I answered that question in the discussion thread. Maybe it got lost in the all the descriptions and instructions: Right now, you're in an enormous, vaulted cavern, nowhere near the walls.
So you can be a lizard, but you can't run on the walls. There are occasional pillars and rocks and stalagmites, but even with darkvision 120 feet, you cannot see any walls in any direction. So you can be a lizard, but deep water will still be a problem.
It seems that Underdark itself is preventing this drow from leaving its dark realms. It beckons, calls him to stay with his creepy ancestors, and who does not succeed, it trips.
With the last of his strength, trying not to lose his balance, Kalanzar runs over the slippery stones visible on the surface of the puddle where he ran. This is hard for him, and straining the muscles of his leg and back with the last of his strength, he calls out to his dark goddesses, praying for protection....
It works, but only partially. After skipping a stretch of water, he finds himself among some boulders that are not so easy to get around. Oh, I wish I was a lizard now, running freely on the walls...
As the party ran, splashed through a particularly deep puddle, throwing water behind her into Jimjar's eyes. The svirfneblin wiped his eyes clear and managed to keep his (rather slower) pace.
The group is starting to string out a little, as the fast and the lucky pull ahead, and those with shorter legs or worse luck fall a bit behind.
Behind them, the drow continue the chase. One of the guards has to waste precious seconds cutting Asha free from the webs, then turns and runs again. The junior priestess immediately finds herself faced with more pillars, and wastes even more time navigating them. The rest of the pursuers, however, get within 20 feet of the mist, and can now see the trailing quarry.
"I see them!" a shrill voice shrieks in undercommon behind you. Jimjar and Kalanzar glance back, and can just see Ilvara and a few of the others coming within darkvision range behind them. "RUN, you useless males! I'll slow them down!"
poor vis
obstacle
entanglement
poor visibility
poor Asha
Don't think. Run. Run. Don't think. My lungs are burning... Don't think. Run.
Alexandra who was moving pretty quickly before hearing a shrill voice she recognices as Ilvaras.
Oh Lady in shadows, allow me to shut that nipple handed twerp up
She prays under her breath and she fires an eldritch blast at the shrill voice
And then quickly moves Move 30 foot away.
Maybe that keeps her from commanding her minions effectively
No complication! Ksenia curses her stubby legs while praising her continued luck and makes it another 50 ft.
Maddy saw Jimjar falling behind and cursed herself for not having helped him to begin with. They were only as fast as their slowest member.
The young woman pivots on the ball of her foot and begins to run back towards the svirfneblin.
The sound of Ilvara yelling quickened Maddy's pace. She wasn't going to leave anyone vulnerable to being recaptured.
She ran back to Jimjar, grabbed his arms to haul him onto her back, and began running away from the drow yet again.
poor vis
fail
poor vis
barrier
uneven ground
poor vis
fail
pass
fail
fail
Shuushar zigged right to avoid a stalagmite, and disturbed a family of bats from their roost. They flapped and clicked around the kuo-toa's face, and for several precious seconds, he was running blind. Ziyad, Kalanzar and Ksenia ran past him as he shouted and flailed at his face.
Maddy, realizing Jimjar was constantly falling further behind, halted and ran back for him. The svifneblin made a surprised "erk" sounds as she heaved him onto her back, but he clung to Maddy tightly, making sure not too choke her. "Thanks!"
Alexandra, recognizing the voice behind her, unconsciously slowed her step, waiting for the drow priestess to come into sight. The moment she did, she blasted her with eldritch energy, and was satisfied to see it slam into the drow's stomach. The warlock then turned and ran, in step with Maddy.
Behind them, Ilvara howled in pain, and stopped running for a moment. Bent double at the waist, she bowed low, as if speaking to the earth. Fell language rolled from her lips. "ئامادەبن، پارێزەری باوباپیرانم. یۆچلۆل، ئامادەی وەستاکەت بە."And the air in the cavern began to shimmer and glow.
60 feet ahead of Ilvara (50 feet behind Maddy, Alexandria, Jimjar, Shuushar and Ksenia), a shape appeared suddenly, violently, into the cavern. The demon looked like little more than a mass of quivering, oozing wax-like flesh with a humanoid face twisted in hunger. Steady streams of blood and bile pour from the creature, sizzling as they hit the water. Arms, or maybe tentacles, appear and recede with dizzying speed, as if the creature can't decide upon its final form. And yet there's a clarity in the thing's bloodshot eyes, and it stares at it's quarry with murderous appetite.
The demon doesn't need Ilvara's command. It throws itself forward in a mass of gooey motion, then abruptly turns to mist. The noxious looking green vapor travels silently forward, churning like nauseated stomach, ready to envelop those who would stumble or fall behind.
Most of the drow continue to run, overtaking Ilvara, and Shoor shouts in jubilation as he sees what she's summoned. Behind the priestess, the junior preistess and her bodyguard continue to struggle, getting caught briefly in Ziyad's mist, and falling further behind the leaders.
On Maddy's back, Jimjar cranes his head around to see what just popped into creation. Too terrified to turn his comment into a wager, he cried out, "Run, Maddy! It just got worse!"
In the lead, Ziyad could see the end of the dimly lit area approaching. Either they were approaching the wall of the cavern, or the edge of the faerzress, and were about to enter the darkness.
Ksenia glances over her shoulder at Jimjar's shout.
Her eyes widen and her legs keep pumping, and she wheezes her way another fifty feet, avoiding any obstacles.
Alexandra, being close to traling the group but having spent her action both catching her breath and shooting ilvara in her no doubt actually being a thing seconary hands starts running for real.
Эй там, беловолосый ценитель пауков, который вызвал тебя, не заплатив тебе дань, вкуснее.
Abyssal
Oi there, the white haired spider appreciator who summoned you without paying you tribute is tastier
She cant resist making a snide comment at Ilvaras expense to the demon though.
Kalanzar looks back, feeling great danger. I've heard of these things... Mother never said their names... But I heard... We're in trouble...
Thinking about this, he runs into a ruined house... a house? Stop. Literally for half a second, the druid slows down, looking around in shock, since what he took for the skeleton of a house or rather a cathedral are the ribs of the skeleton of a huge, simply gigantic creature.
But still, it can't throw Kalanzar off the path and rhythm. He has to run. Faster! And without stumbling.
Maddy grabbed Jimjar and ran. She could hear quite the commotion behind her but she didn't risk tripping by looking.
Jimjar's warning made her blood run cold causing her to pick up her pace as much as she could with a passenger on her back. She grunted a response so he knew she heard him but she didn't want to waste her breath on talking as she ran. A faint voice from deep within suggested that she lose control, drop Jimjar, and fight whatever was behind. But Maddy didn't want to fight right now if she didn't have to, if she could help get them all to safety. Although she was beginning to think that their window for escape was quickly closing.