Kiley shakes herself from her stupor and launches herself into action, Rutilux is closer and apparently in more trouble than Ari is. Besides, Shaggar is with the rogue, so she should be alright. The young tiefling draws her sword as she rushes up and tries to slice through the filament to free Rutilux.
No sooner has Ari sliced through the sticky strand than another one catches her on the shoulder. Sighing, she sets about cutting her way loose again.
Pheliks is dragged along by the cave fisher's pull on Rutilux - apparently the big cat's paws can't quite find purchase on the stone floor - but doesn't let go, continuing the firmly pull at the little halfling. For her part, Sasha realizes that her efforts might be better spent on some magic..."Bless us, Selûne! We need your aid!"
Then she draws her light crossbow and tries to aim at the vermin in the darkness...
Rutilux finds his line snapped, and moves on his own accord just a bit closer, before trying an Ear Piercing Scream for one... the one who tried to tie him up for a meal! The merchant turned adventurer is prone to pettiness like that.
Then when that's cast, "Thank you folks so much, I swear they KNOW just how sweet a fellow I am."
"It's your honeyed tongue," Kiley teases, Rutilux managing to make her smile despite the situation and the troubles she's been pondering while delving into the Underdark.
The cave fisher shakes off the daze surprisingly easily but with several of them taking damage and multiple filaments destroyed, it is obviously clear to the strange vermin that you aren't actually easy prey. They scurry back up the walls they came from and disappear back into their little lair holes, although you can still hear them chittering away as they retreat and they don't sound that far away. Best still be on guard.
This leaves you free to resume your search of the abandoned campsite, and digging through the ruins of the tents and gear reveals a scene of past panic. It's clear that whoever was here before you left in a hurry after being attacked by something. Signs of battle are everywhere: scrapes and drag marks in the dirt around the camp, discarded broken weapons, the like.
Several crates of preserved food rations and other gear sit behind one of the tents, and you are absolutely sure that you wouldn't leave these behind unless it was necessary for your immediate survival.
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"You better run!" Rutilux dusts himself off and shakes his fist in the direction of their retreat, then whispers to the others "let hope they take sometime before they try anew."
"We need to keep our eyes out find clues and..." He bangs his knee against a crate he somehow didn't notice "ow."
Shaggar sheathes his axe but keeps his sling in hand just in case the wall-crawlers come back. He continues searching the camp site. He pulls out a strange lockbox from its hiding spot in the tent. "Odd key and another of these spiral symbols."
Kiley keeps an eye on the holes above them, watching for if the strange bug things come back.
"Is the food still good? It might be worth taking some with us to stretch what we brought with us," she suggests after learning about what all they've found.
"Want me to take a look?" Ari asks Shaggar. "Don't know if I'll be able to do anything with it but no harm in trying." She examines the box closely, careful of any warnings set for those with curious fingers. Satisfied that no such traps are set, she then studies the mechanism - the key does look like it would be a strange one - but maybe she can find a way to bypass it anyway.
Sasha watches the cave fishers go, turning to click her tongue at Pheliks to fully release their halfling friend. "I'll bet they've developed a taste for intelligent life," she says bitterly. "How awful, to be eaten by an oversized bug..."
At the discovery of supplies and the crate, Sasha looks interested for a moment before looking about again. "Whatever scared off the previous owners is likely still out there - let's take it with us and investigate it somewhere more easily defended," the oracle recommends, scanning the darkness (most likely ineffectually).
"Oh.. second." He casts detect magic on the crates and the contents
Is the food still good?
The food inside the crates is mostly preserved foodstuffs: meat jerky, stale crackers, dried fruit, the like. Whoever brought this crate down expected to be away from the surface for quite a while.
Don't know if I'll be able to do anything with it but no harm in trying.
While Ari is correct about no harm being found in trying, she is also unfortunately correct about not being able to do anything. The keyhole is clearly designed for a very specific-shaped key, and she can't even find a place to put her tools to make a dent on opening the lockbox.
He casts detect magic on the crates and the contents
Neither the lockbox or the crates detect as magic, but Rutilux gets the idea that the thick metal of the lockbox would impede his detection should there be something of magical inside.
The rest of the camp doesn't hold much of value or interest beyond a handful of other discarded personal effects and useless smaller equipment, leaving the only way forward in the ten foot wide passage through the cliff wall to the north of the small camp.
What with the combat and the thorough searching of the camp, it has been nearly a full day since you descended from the surface. The question is: push on or try to stay here? You've fended off the cave fishers for now, so it might be safe enough to get some rest.
"Gonna need the lockbox open to see if there is magic inside. Naturally I'm three shades of cautious now." he chuckles trying to take the edge off both is concern and his curiosity.
"If we decide to rest, I suggest at least two folks on each shift for watch"
"I think we should go forward. I'd rather rest where an enemy doesn't know we wait."
Kiley first shakes her head at Rutilux's suggestion before she nods her head vigorously at Shaggar's wisdom.
"Y-yes, forward! I-I don't want to sleep any closer to those things than I need to," Kiley agrees. "I think the elevator down is just through there," she adds, pointing to the building just visible through the tunnel.
"Gonna need the lockbox open to see if there is magic inside. Naturally I'm three shades of cautious now."
"Now you're getting it," Ari grins. "I'm also in favour of rigorous watches, preferably further away from something we already know fancies us for dinner." She peers ahead to where Kiley is pointing. "If we can go down without alerting everyone within a mile to our presence then I guess we should get it done with."
"This place seems forgotten. Perhaps the bottom of the shaft is like it."
Ari hopes that Shaggar is right, mentally whispering a prayer to Leira to disguise their path and keep them hidden. Her tail twitches in a slight frustration about not having the requisite skills to be able to have much sway over the situation.
The camp explored and the decision to push on through the 'night' made, the group makes its way into the passage in the wall. It clearly is not a natural path, although it appears to have been made so far back in the past that rubble and rocks have piled up in the meantime since it was mined out.
As you enter you can hear the scuttling of the cave fishers both above and behind you, but they keep their distance and don't look to be making any moves. For now anyway.
Only a few moments past the entrance to this man made passage, the sounds of some disturbance happening on the cave level above you. Sounds of something fighting and clawing and roaring echo down from up there and follow you for a few more moments before the body of a cave fisher comes crashing down from over the left side ledge. It slams into the ground, several obvious bite marks and other strange wounds seemingly the cause of its death.
Kiley freezes as the cave fisher slams into the ground before them and moves as quietly as she can to someplace she can disappear from any prying eyes. She can feel the fur on her ears and tail stand on end under their covering scarves as the fine hairs on the back of her neck join them. The pupils of her sapphire eyes narrow into slits as she holds her sword in a white-knuckled grip.
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The echoes of the fighting and the dropping body distract our furry hero...
Hands leaping to her daggers, gripping the hilts so tightly her knuckles turn a pale shade of blue close to white, Ari whirls around at the sound of the body crashing down. Looks like the hunter has become the hunted. Seems like we moved on just in time.
Rutilux's eyes widen at ... did someone, no someTHING else just kill that thing that nearly ate him?
Seeing that none of you are getting any closer, the large worm-like creature leaps up out of the pile of rocks it was hiding in and roars loudly from its large clacking beak. The sound of the roar is exactly like the one you heard from above (indicating there's at least one more up there fighting/eating cave fishers) and shakes the stones of the hallway. Rubble falls down the walls, scattering across the floor and sending smaller rocks and pebbles.
The thing rears up to its full height of nearly 9 feet and flails its four mouth-tentacles in a frenzy of activity. At the same time you notice a pair of cave fishers skittering down the wall behind you, seemingly content to wait and see what happens with the bigger predator.
Higher results will get you more info.
This particular grick is much larger than they normally are, indicating how successful of a predator this specimen is.
Init
22- it
21- Ari
20- Rutilux
14- Sasha
11- Shaggar
5- Kiley
(-1 If Wisdom drain hasn't comeback yet)
"I've no idea what this is..." He says as he steps forward, "let's see if this works." The halfling makes a flinging motion, and a bright flare erupts about the terrifying creature.
The beast roars in pain as the flashing light strobes in front of its face; seems as if it does have eyes after all.
Shaggar eyes the creature, unimpressed with the roar. "It's a Grick, an ambusher that hunts along well-traveled paths." Shaggar hefts his axe and charges the monster… trying to recall anything useful about it as he does so.
HP: 28 / 28 | AC:16 / T:11 / FF:15 | CMD:18/17
Bullets (20): x
Arisen 3HP (1):
Effects:
Arisen - Die at -18 HP
Diehard
Kiley suppresses a shudder as she realizes Shaggar is right. She tries to think if there is anything in particular that gricks are weak against as she pulls out her bow and rushes up behind Rutilux.
"If we have to run, grab my sword," she tells the halfling as she drops it next to him and reaches for an arrow.
Unfortunately, between her already tight nerves and the knowledge that the way back is through the cave fishers, Kiley is far too tense to make an accurate shot while trying not to hit Shaggar and the arrow sails past the grick, missing it by close to a yard.
The roar of the creature - a grick, she believes - is unlikely to do much for anybody's nerves but Ari blocks it out and follows up behind Shaggar, waiting for a spot to dart in beside the gnoll and attack the hideous beaked worm thing.
Gritting her teeth against the roar of the abomination before them, Sasha resists the fearful sound and her own instincts. She steps forward and directs Pheliks to, "Guard the back," as she takes aim with her crossbow and fires.
Special attack? Special defenses?
Beyond the roar (which, notably, isn't typical of gricks) it doesn't have any special attacks. Its hide is resistant to non-magical weapons however. (DR 5/magic).
I'm going to go with asking if it has any special weaknesses.
No special weaknesses, stat wise.
I'll take another piece of info that Shaggar hasn't already covered please.
There really isn't anything of note to be remembered ability wise, although Ari does recall that like any predator, gricks do not enjoy fighting to the death while not defending whatever lair they have high up on cliffsides. If you can deal enough damage quickly enough, it's pretty likely you can drive it off without having to fight it completely.
Shaggar's hit just barely connects with the grick's hide, managing to push through it and deal some serious damage.
Now with a target within reach and its roar used, the grick takes its first attempt at getting its tentacles on some prey in a flurry of strikes.
Seeing the bigger threats move away towards the grick, the two cave fishers try their hand at catching tiger for dinner. They each toss one of their horrifically long filaments at Pheliks, but luckily they both miss.
Init
Round 2
22- it
21- Ari
20- Rutilux
14- Sasha
11- Shaggar
5- Kiley
Shaggar absorbs the strikes and skirts around the big creature, daring it to attack him as he becomes a distraction to assist the knife mistress. His axe blow bounces off the creature’s thick hide.
Bullets (20): x
Arisen 3HP (1):
Effects:
Arisen - Die at -18 HP
Diehard
The grick takes the AoO against Shaggar, but instead of lashing out to bite him a tentacle slaps him back into place and prevents him from taking the move he wanted to.
Rutilux sees the cave fishers are back at it again, and emits another magic scream at the nearest one!
"Can we push forward? Pheliks is being fished by the bugs!" calls Sasha as she reloads her crossbow. "Goddess, give me your Divine Favor..." she prays as she takes aim, this time at one of the bugs behind the party.
For his part, Pheliks lets loose with a roar of his own, making clear to the cave fishers that he won't be easy prey...
Pheliks will use Intimidate (untrained) to try and demoralize one of the two cave fishers:
Kiley glances back then down at her sword. She silently curses herself for a fool. She should have waded in, even if she didn't think she could get close enough to help in time.
There was nothing for it now. She shoulders her bow and picks up her sword before moving up.
While the beast is busy trying to stop Shaggar manoeuvring past, Ari uses this as a perfect opportunity to dance forward and slash a line down the creature's body, drawing a line of blood.
The grick is blasted by Rutilux's spell and stunned with the force of it.
The two fishers try their hand at attaching filaments to the tiger, and one actually does connect this time, dragging him closer to the vermin and farther away from the party.
Init
Round 3
22- it (damage to grick: 23. Grick is stunned)
21- Ari
20- Rutilux
14- Sasha
11- Shaggar
5- Kiley
Seizing the moment as the grick struggles under the effects of Rutilux's magic, Ari darts in once more. And once more she focusing particularly on her magical dagger and slashes a parallel line down its torso.
Kiley rushes around to the other side of the giant worm to divide it's attention and to hopefully put it done more quickly. Knowing that it can stop her in her tracks, she tries to tumble past it.
Given how the monster’s hide practically repels blades, Shaggar continues swinging his axe with all of his considerable might.
Bullets (20): x
Arisen 3HP (1):
Effects:
Arisen - Die at -18 HP
Diehard
"Pheliks!" cries Sasha as she adjusts her aim for the fisher dragging her companion closer and fires at it. For his part, Pheliks growls - a low rumble more felt than heard - and swipes his paws and bites at the mostly-invisible filament.
While glad his scream seems to have injured the Grick, the halfling grows worried about Pheliks! "Blasted cave fishers!"
Rutilux casts again, another ear piercing scream...
Ari's magic blade slices cleanly through the stunned grick's hide hurting it and Kiley's strike also manages to cause significant damage even through the heavy protection it carries. Shaggar finishes up the combo with his own powerful wound, noticeably damaging it as well.
The grick shrugs off the magical impairment of Rutilux's second spell, but it is clearly no longer interested in trying to fight prey that is clearly fighting back way more than intended. It swiftly and, more dexterous than you'd expect from such a large creature, scurries its way back up the side of the rock wall before disappearing over the edge of the top. The two cave fishers senseeeeeee that the severely wounded grick is easier prey and release Pheliks from their grasp in order to pursue the worm over the top of the wall.
"Is Pheliks all right?" A beat "Are the rest of us?"
"L-let's get out of here. There's at least one more of those things," Kiley says as she properly puts her bow away and cleans off her sword.
Shaggar grunts and continues on toward the elevator.
Wiping down her magical blade, Ari responds with, "All good here. Or at least as much as you can be when fighting tentacled worm things."
"Well if everyone is okay, I second Kiley's proposal to get the hell out of here. Sorry, about your Sword, Kiley. I wasn't going to leave it, but I also needed my hands free to cast half my stuff." He makes sure Sasha is okay too, then follows after Shaggar