Round Three:
Painfully returned to consciousness thanks to Simn's timely interventions, Havrin is alarmed to see Bea struck down by the gigantic vermin. Glancing up the stoic ranger is even more surprised to see Adam - who is obviously still suffering from the poison of the other centipedes - standing protectively over him and stabbing bravely at the massive centipede with his rapier.
"Adam! Get back before that thing snaps you up and swallows you whole!" Havrin rasps to the halfling bard.
Unable to stand as of yet, Havrin unsheathes the kukri at his belt and slashes at the giant centipede.
Jacyn swings yet again, trying to bring the thing down.
Havrin, your kukri attack was actually on Round 4.
Round 4:
Lashing about, the centipede attacks the last person to hurt it: Jacyn.
Its wounds appear to be taking a toll on its accuracy, though, as the cavalier sidesteps out of the way.
Round 5:
Remembering that Bea had a healing potion on her, Retsiji attempts to find it and dose her.
Retsiji finds the potion, but it takes his entire action.
Muttering in Hallit,
Round Five:
Still lying prone - and being defended by Branko, of all people! - Havrin slashes at the massive centipede with his kukri.
Although Restij was seeing to Bea, it couldn't hurt to add his own efforts. Things were a bit crowded to try and engage the centipede himself, and his options for healing were limited so long as it was still alive to be mended itself.
"Die, you stubborn bastard!", Jacyn calls at the beast, smiling at the satisfying connection of sword to soft tissue.
Round 5:
Before Jacyn can act, the centipede gets its attack.
Perhaps confused by the plethora of targets before it and the way they keep moving around, the centipede lunges for Jacyn but its mandibles only close on air. Jacyn's return blow strikes true, though, severing some critical vessel or connection in the thing's body. The massive creature relinquishes its hold on the side of the chasm. Curling and uncurling in dying reflex, it falls to the bottom, tearing roots loose from the walls and landing with a loud crack.
Looking down at the bottom of the chasm where it landed, Jacyn can see a gleam. When Retsiji holds his staff out, Jacyn is able to clearly discern a bag of coin that the centipede partially tore open when it landed. Next to it is what appears to be a lump of ivory, carved in a shape you can't distinguish from the ledge.
After watching the creature fall, Jacyn sighs with relief. He turns to his companions, asking, "Are you going to be able to take care of their wounds, Simn, or do we need to turn and leave now?"
Bea is at -2hp and still unconscious.
Round 6:
Retsiji administers the CLW potion to Bea.
Adam looks down into the chasm and sees the sparkling gold.
"Treasure!... and some type of ivory thing. Might be important."
Before he can try to jump down, his own numbness reminds him of his companions. He turns to Bea and Retsiji. "Will she be all right?"
As Adam prepares to go over the cliff, Jacyn grabs him by the back of the shirt. "Would you prefer I lower you down with some rope? You being injured and all, I wouldnt want you to hurt yourself further while climbing."
Bea awakens in a fit of coughing after the foul-tasting liquid was poured down her throat. She immediately tries to sit up, winces in pain, and lays back down as she looks around and sees there's no more danger. More relief as she sees everyone else is ok.
Before he can try to jump down, his own numbness reminds him of his companions. He turns to Bea and Retsiji. "Will she be all right?"
She manages a slight smile but says nothing. After a moments pause she works on sitting up again, but this time much more slowly and carefully, and rests her back against the side of the tunnel while watching Adam prepare to climb down.
With the centipede dead, Simn was at last free to dispense healing, and he did so.
"We should track down Terrell," he said, "Odds are he's made for the exit, but I wouldn't want to be running around on my own down here. I can patch us up for now, but I say if we see anything else that size we turn around and walk away."
"If Terrell ran, he probably ran straight into more of this little creatures. And I don't think they would appreciate their new house guest. We can only provide protection for those who stay with the group."
He looks down the chasm again. "I have no intention of climbing. I was going to... how do you put it... fall gracefully. You can throw me a rope when I'm down there and pull me up."
With that, Adam does exactly what he says he would, jumping into the chasm and using the roots to swing and drop lower.
Despite the persistent numbness that throws off his timing slightly, Adam nimbly makes his way down the side of the chasm. The bottom is littered with the husks of kobolds and other creatures that have vanished down the maw of the great centipede. The sack contains a few hundred coins--mostly copper and silver, some gold. The ivory piece is a small (about the size of Havrin's two fists) bloodstained statue of a squatting horned devil, wings folded behind it.
As Adam is being pulled up with the treasure, everyone can clearly hear a distant scream from back the way you came. It, of course, sounds like Terrill. As the echoes of the scream die away, they're followed by a disturbing chorus of mitish tittering.
"Thank you, Simn," Havrin says as the gnome's healing energies wash over him.
"And thank you, Adam... and Branko... for defending me when I fell," Havrin says humbly to the halfling and the former bandit. "I won't forget your acts of bravery."
Havrin keeps watch back the way the party entered as Adam descends to retrieve the treasure and Jacyn pulls him up. At the sound of Terrill's distant scream, Havrin nocks an arrow to his bow in preparation of firing upon anything that emerges from the passage. "Sounds like we're going to have to fight our way out if we go back the way we came..."
Retsiji frowns. "Havrin, what you said before--about them trying to pin us between themselves and the centipede? If they did that and we pressed on, we might be able to get back to the entrance before them. They left their treasure here, which suggests they didn't anticipate we'd be able to get past the centipede. We'd have to hurry, though."
Jacyn drops to a knee, pulling his pack from his shoulders and offering it to Adam, "I can carry whatever you do not feel able to. Also, that 'fall' was astounding. You'll have to teach me how to do that sometime."
Jacyn nods at Retsiji's suggestion, "Agreed."
Branko looks slightly flustered, but replies, "Bah. I did it for brave Surtova halfling, not <insert Hallit term here>"
As waves of healing energy wash over her, Bea looks visibly relieved and rises to her feet, wincing slightly."Thank you all, I thought I was done for." Glancing at the statue she continues, "Looks like we found what we came here for. Let's get out of here - if they've circled around behind us I agree we should press on back to the exit."
"Looks like we found what we came here for. Let's get out of here - if they've circled around behind us I agree we should press on back to the exit."
"Sounds good to me. Let's see if we can find a way to cross this chasm."
Adam looks at the roots in the chasm, seeing if there is a way across.
"I wonder if these mites regarded the giant centipede as some type of deity. Just... interesting."
Simn gave it one last burst of positive energy. Best to hold some in reserve in case of another fight.
"Let's go then," he said, testing his weight on the rope loops and, once he was sure they'd hold him, making for the other side of the chasm. He didn't think Terrell was still alive, but if the opportunity arose, they should check. Trying to head backwards into a planned ambush, well, that was an all around bad idea.
As Simn channels energy into the party, the last of Bea's wounds close and disappear. Bea smiles, "Thank you Simn. Here, take this." She takes a length of rope from her pack, handing one end to Simn, then passing it through her belt before passing it to each of her companions in turn to do the same. "It's not ideal, but we haven't much time. Quickly now.
As soon as she's secured the rope with the last in line, she follows Simn across the chasm.
Adam also makes his way across the frail bridge.
Jacyn takes the section of rope from Bea, securing it to himself while speaking to her and Havrin alike, "It's good to see neither one of you were permanently injured by that thing."
Jacyn secures his shield to his back before attempting to climb across.
"Come on, you three!" Jacyn calls to Havrin, Retsiji, and the remaining recruit, stretching out an arm across the schasm, in an effort to help them jump across.
Havrin waits for Retsiji and Branko to cross before crossing himself.
Havrin and Adam, the two of you immediately notice that several of the rope loops the mites have put up are tied so they'll give out when any weight is put on them. Using only the sound loops, crossing the chasm is a DC 5 task. Branko fumbles a bit, but is able to get across in something like good order. While Branko crosses, Retsiji invokes Diviner's Fortune on himself.
It doesn't help. On his first try he ends up clinging to a loop for dear life with both hands, swinging back and forth, unable to reach the next loop. He pauses for a moment, eyes closed, and tries to relax. Havrin gives him a quick shove to get him started in the right direction. Second time's the charm, as he dexterously clambers from rope to rope across the chasm. Havrin follows with ease.
The passage from the chasm opens into a large oval chamber, about twenty feet by thirty feet. Tied to the wall are four black-scaled kobolds. All have multiple small wounds, and three hang limply from their bonds. The fourth looks up with a grimace as you come in, his expression rapidly changing to something else. "Hey! You enemies of mites? You help me, I help you!"
Jacyn leans down to whisper to Adam, "We could check with them that the statue you found is the right one, even if we don't help them. What'cha think?"
Adam looks over the kobolds with some glee.
"At last, someone I can actually talk to! Hello kobolds!"
Remembering the fiasco that happened when he offered tax-collection duties to the bandits they had conquered, Adam decides to play it safe and let the others decide what to do.
Havrin glances toward Jacyn and Adam as the half-elf confers with the halfling. The ranger looks questioningly to Bea, Simn, and Retsiji, then shrugs his shoulders and turns to address the bound kobold.
"Yes, we are enemies of the mites," Havrin responds warily to the kobold when he sees that Adam is making no further move to speak to the creature. "How could you help us?"
The three who are hanging limply don't respond. The one who spoke before says, "They're dead. Not much time to talk--many mites come back soon with mite chief and big bug!" It looks inquiringly at Jacyn. "You have statue? Old Sharptooth? We take it back to Ch--to temple! Give you much treasure for it! Hurry!"
A cross look comes over Jacyns face at the kobolds comment. He appears more annoyed with himself for speaking louder than intended than he is at the kobold for overhearing him. Turning to Havrin, he motions to the kobold, "I follow your lead on this friend.", dipping his head in a slight bow.
"We killed the gigantic centipede," Havrin informs the kobold. "But I think we'd prefer to avoid all of the mites just the same."
"Looks like we've got the kobolds' stature, and a guide who can lead us to their lair," Havrin says to his companions. "Shall we take him with us and get out of here?"
Bea is taken aback by this turn of events - obviously not something she expected. She watches in stunned silence for a moment. We may be able to use this fellow to trade with the Kobolds and avoid further bloodshed. She swallows hard, draws a dagger as she steps up to the kobold, and speaks while cutting him loose, "Well, it looks like our entourage is growing by the day. Let's get out of here."
The kobold falls to his knees at Bea's feet. "Thank you, thank you!" He jumps up. "We go now! Let me see statue when we safe."
The party (restored in number, if not in mass) heads to the only other entrance to the room, a shaft in the ceiling on the opposite end from the chasm. No one hears anything from the shaft. However, as you're climbing up everyone clearly hears a chorus of mitish moans from behind you. A single loud, shrill voice cuts through the chorus, shouting something in a language none of the party knows. Retsiji chuckles a bit as he climbs. "I think they liked their pet quite a bit--they're not happy with us at all."
Like most of the other surfaces in the complex, the shaft walls are a tangle of roots, easily climbed (DC 5 Climb check--don't do what Retsiji did and you're fine!).
Retsiji easily scales the wall, as does Branko. The kobold's wounds slow it down considerably, but it still manages to make it to the top.
The chamber above where you collected the kobold is quite small (about 15' by 15'), and is apparently a workshop of some kind. Three crude wooden workbenches are in a tight cluster in the center of the room, covered with scraps of wood, crude metal implements, lengths of rope and twine, and a bowl filled with shards of broken glass. There is an exit into a tunnel across from the shaft opening.
Jacyn climbs up last, making sure none of the mites rush up behind them. Once up in the workshop, he calls over to Bea, "Can you see alright in the tunnel, or would you like me to come up there?"
Bea manages the climbs the climb with some effort, and peers into the darkness of the tunnel waiting for Retsiji's light. She gets an idea and asks him, "Can you make my sword glow like that?"
Retsiji shakes his head. "I can only make one thing glow at a time, so if I made your sword glow my staff wouldn't."