Dungeon Delving, Part 2 - RPLOG
Participants
Date
28/8/478
Log
Mervyn shakes his head at Natska, "I said we have seen some rock spiders moving around, but we did not /find/ the nest, and I am pretty sure that you were warned about dangerous wildlife." Mervyn says as he dodges one of the spiders lunging at him.
% The rock spiders begin their assault at earnest, Fenris managing to dodge two lunging at him, while Zuri avoids another two attempting to rush him, and Cassidy avoiding another who attempted to fall on top of her.
Natska however opts for using her divine maths, a quick spell causing a temporary pillar to form and knock the spider attacking her before crumbling back onto the ground.
Reginald on the other hand fails to avoid the spider attacking him in time. The spider attempts to sink its fang deep into the old lynx's side, but is met with the chain on him, causing it pull back, but remain clinging on him.
Zuri tumbles away from the two rock spiders, his instincts serving him well. He recovers and steps away, trying to clear some distance from the spiders while weaving a bit of divine math to protect his allies. He focuses on Reginald, who seems to be in need of the most immediate assistance, and starts to weave a layer of earth and rock around him to deflect the spider's attacks.
Fenris sidesteps lightly from the rock spider attacks, keeping his hands jammed deep in his pockets, then spins on his heel, launching into a flurry of hard kicking attacks. Mervyn may have seen a certain kangaroo using a similar style when the bandits were driven from the nearby area. The tiger grunts and frowns as he fights, clearly uncomfortable and in pain, but working through it.
Quickly shifting away from the aggressive spiders, Natska drops back and behind Cassidy. As she moves to a more defensible position she begins working her maths, seeking to tilt the encounter in her allies'favor.
Cassidy glances around at the collection of spiders after dodging away from one of the falling ones. She positions herself near Natska, drawing her sword to be ready to fend off any that close in. She's not content to just wait, though, flicking her free hand towards the spiders as she lances out with a number of firebolts.
Knocked to the ground by the force of the falling rock spider, Reginald struggles to keep a grip on his weapon. Despite his armour protecting him from more serious injury, the rock spider's fangs would no doubt leave a nasty bruise behind. However, he does not have time to linger on the pain. Bolstered by Zuri's assistance, for which he would be thankful if he had a chance to notice, the feline brings the stock of his carbine down on the side of the foe atop him in an attempt to dislodge.
Zuri manages to successfully cast his spell coating Reginald in a layer of stone as the lynx manages to knock off the spider off his body.
Fenris's attacks inflict severe wounds on the spiders pretty faces as they squeak in agony, before he quickly dodges the attack of a third spider.
Meanwhile Natska and Cassidy team up together, Cassidy's arrows set two of the rock spiders on fire while Natska's dark miasma cause three of the spiders around the group to begin fighting among each other. The two ladies are quickly attached by three other spiders, Cassidy dodging one of them while Natska pushes off the other two with her air magic.
The spider count has been severly reduced now, most of them lying dead or dying, with Mervyn idly humming to himself while he leans on what looks like a table as he watches the group finish off the rest of the spiders.
Zuri looks around for anyone else to protect or heal. As the party seems to be handling these spiders with no effort the salamander opts to rest instead, not wanting to over-stretch his magical muscles just yet.
Fenris grunts at the effort, but keeps up the onslaught. "Mervyn," he pants, "Why, exactly, do you even come on these expeditions?"
Reginald , using all of the energy he can muster, rolls himself into a kneeling stance. He hastily shoulders his firearm, trying to rest its sights on the, still very much alive, spider. Just as the creature gets back on its feet and rushes him, the lynx steadies his aim, and squeezes the trigger.
Natska puts a little more distance between herself and the spiders, then gestures and afflicts one with dark fire. "Oh well."
Cassidy takes a swift stab at one of the avoided spiders, trying to stick it with her sword as she backs up to keep pace with Natska. "Try not to get yourself wounded again, Fenris! You don't have any fur left to burn off, this time!"
Mervyn looks at Fenris and shrugs, "Mental and emotional support." the sparrow says in a deadpan tone with a smirk on his beak as Fenris continues attacking the three spiders.
Reginald's attack manages to hit the spider's side, causing the creature to writhe in agony as it flops on the ground.
Cassidy and Natska continue their attack, Natska's fires setting two of the spiders on dark flames while Cassidy's sword pierces the third one.
It appears the the spiders are mostly finished, one of them manages to jump on Fenris's back, but thankfully the bite fails to penetrate the armor deeply, while Cassidy dodges another one.
Fenris spins with a grunt of effort to dislodge the spider on his back, continuing his arc to add that little bit of extra power to a brutal kick to the carapace!
Natska focuses on the last remaining critter, setting on it with another tightly controlled strike of dark magic. "I'm sure he just enjoys watching you work, Fenris. It is poetry in motion. Is anyone injured?"
Cassidy darts aside of the incoming spider, bringing her sword up. While she's sure Natska can handle it, she helps expedite the matter, striking out with another thrust. "I am not," she says, stepping back after it is dealth with.
Reginald stands himself up, trying to straighten himself out. He is stopped short by a sharp pain in his side, where the spider's fall and attempted bite had bruised him. He does his best to hide any visible sign of pain on his face, before turning to Fenris.
When he is content that the other being has dispatched the remaining enemies, the lynx stalks towards the other feline, a look of anger on his face, and a growl in his throat. Reginald pins Fenris up against the cold, stone wall with his free hand, the other cradling his own injury. "A little caution wouldn't go amiss, tiger." He almost spits the last word out, before making his way further into the ruin.
Mervyn looks down as the last of the spiders are dispatched as he stretches his arms, "And another job well done." the sparrow says as Reginald commences his short outburst, "Easy there, uncle. We are all friends here." the young sparrow teases as he begins moving to the exit of the room, doodling something on a book he has, Kyth follows quickly after the sparrow.
The group leaves the scene of carnage and the spell of burning chitin and spider insides as they continue their journey into the tunnels. Every now and then the sparrow would stop at one of the forks and crossroads before moving into a certain pass, "Lovely place, eh?" the sparrow says as he inspects one of the less deteriorated murals. The group finally reaches a corridor. The moment Mervyn steps inside, the walls shake and suddenly four blades swing from their hidden compartments. The sparrow raises a brow and sighs, "Really? Where did they get their trap designs from, 'The Mansion of the Mysterious Lord?' he deadpans before looking back at the group, "Let us see how you solve this." he says as he idly leans on one of the walls letting the team deal with the corridor of blades.
Cassidy manages to notice that behind where Mervyn is leaning are four small protruding stones each with the same four symbols as they saw before, a 'fish, a 'door', a 'boat', and finally something that looks like nothing a being would even associate with.
Zuri follows the group after they've dispatched the troublesome spiders. The salamander stays with the group, quite unlike his usual, highly adventurous self. He's not going to take any chances in the current state of things... he blinks at the swinging trap, scritching his head. "Hm... well, last time it was all about jumping on the fish panels, so.. I guess it would be too obvious if it was those again."
Fenris allows the lynx to push him around, though he grunts with discomfort when he backs against the wall with his still tender ribs protesting. He says nothing to the accusations, but turns to walk after the others, hands still jammed in his pocket. "I appreciate the concern," he says to Cassidy with a smile, "Don't you worry about me. I've seen more than my share of places like this." The tiger looks at the tunnel and folds his arms. "After you then," he says, "Since my way is too difficult."
Natska frowns as she watches Reginald and Fenris, her ear flicking. She starts to say something, pauses at Fenris' remark, then gives the tiger a little nod and waits for their group's pathfinders to lead the way.
Cassidy slides her sword back into its scabbard and approaches the edge of the tunnel, eyeing the blades. "Hmmm... Not sure about the rest of you, but Zuri and I might be small enough to dance between them and get across. It'd be risky, though, so I'd definitely prefer it as a last resort."
Reginald , who had put a little distance between himself and the group since his outburst , takes a look around the room. He doubts he'd be able to make it through those blades in one piece, but, other than the buttons on the wall, nothing else stands out to him. Sods law that, after his little lecture about caution, there only way forward seemed to be throwing it to the wind and seeing what happens. Looking at the furless tiger, he lets out a resigned sigh, before leaning up against a nearby wall, still cradling his bruise.
Zuri slowly approaches the swinging blades, nibbling on his lip. "I guess we could make it across... but it's still risky. If we knew we could disable it from the other side then that might be an idea." The salamander wiggles his nose at the swinging blades, as if daring them. "Then again.. it's just a moving thing, right? And moving things can be stopped." He plants both his feet firmly on the ground, channeling his earth magic onto his surroundings to try and reshape the corridor, to create pillars or other impediments that would jam or block the blades from functioning.
Zuri's earth magic works, he finds that channeling powers in this kind of environment is a bit hard than normal, but his attempt is successful as he manages to form two sturdy pillars in front of the first three blades, forcing them to stay in place, however the last blade remains active, managing to knock off the weak pillar that Zuri attempted to form there.
Fenris gives Reginald a lazy salute, then saunters over to the array of levers. The tiger looks between the four switches as a vivid green ? appears on his cheek. He ponders for a moment, and then shrugs, reciting his own version of an ancient chant of luck. "Eenie, Meanie, Minie-" he starts, "FISH!" The tiger reaches out and flips the fish lever, seeing as it was the one that got them through the first puzzle. He looks up and smiles, applauding Zuri's work. "Or we could always try that way!
Fenris's chant of luck must really work as the moment he pulls the fish level the last blade swings one last time before disappearing, a small rumble on that side of the corridor indicating that the blade is once more secure in its container. The path is now clear for the group.
Natska folds her hands together as she watches, tail slowly swishing back and forth behind her as she observes. She miles and nods at Fenris when he pulls the lever, then peers past, looking down the hallway. "After you, gentlemen."
Cassidy grins at Zuri, nodding. "I was going to suggest doing that! You read my mind," she says with a little laugh. "Good thinking." And as the fourth blade comes to a stop, she starts forward again, drawing one of her daggers from its sheath.
Before Fenris had even pulled the lever of his choice, the middle-aged lynx had no doubt in his own mind that the fates would fall in the tiger's favour. Reginald just lets out a sharp exhale in response. However, his eyes are drawn to the newly appeared mark on the other being's cheek. He couldn't about put his finger on the exact meaning of such a strange occurance, but it did make him feel a little uneasy - is there something playing behind the scenes here ...
Reginald follows the other beings, keeping himself at the back of the group.
Mervyn nods his head and begins his march again, "Another job well-done, team." the sparrow says again with his usual smirk as he moves down the corridor and continues their journey. Mervyn contiues moving through the twisted passages for the good portion of an hour with thankfully little opposition before he raises a brow and takes a right as he and the group enter a wider hallway, rubbing his chin, "Oh, fascinating this passage was not documented before." the sparrow says as he and the group continue through the hallway.
A couple of minutes later and the group enter a ridiculously large hall. One can easily throw a mansion or two here and they would fit with enough room for a sizable garden! And the roof is almost as tall as a dozen heavy clan beings stacked on top of each other. The room is filled with murals of clear fish iconography as well as the tall, lanky creatures this team one can finally see their faces, an odd featureless thing with only three holes, the eyes and mouth perhaps? There are a lot of clutter here from old furniture and containers, but the truly impressive feature here is the huge underground cove, clearly dug out just like the rest of this room and designed to look like a lake of some sort. This clearly implies that the beings have traveled back to the coast, and this cavern is dug into one of the mountains surrounding the city overground. The cove's edges, once probably some form of ornate marble fences, are now covered in various forms of green moss.
"Quite, impressive, eh?" Mervyn says as he writes down a note, "Will have to check this place in more details, I guess it acted as a fish market of sorts?" he muses, one wonders how much effort and time it took to dig this place out AND then decorate it with smooth stone and murals; however, all of the beings assembled can remove their gaze from the majestic room to notice that the lake seems to have a glowing object inside it....
Zuri grins at Cassidy as they 'solve' the puzzle, as it were. "Yea, great minds think alike, as they say!" The small salamander follows along until they exit out onto the large 'hall', the sight of which makes the salamander stop to admire it properly for a few minutes. He blinks on noticing the shiny thing in the lake. He does like his shiny things. The salamander skips over towards the lake, wanting to get a closer look at it.
Fenris saunters along quietly, making his own observations and drawing his own conclusions. The mark on the tiger's cheek has vanished as if it had never been there. "You put elaborate decorations in your fish markets in Cliffside and Braevales?" he asks, shaking his head, "There may have been fish involved here, but I imagine it was more than a market." The burned feline wanders over to look over the water and to peer into its depths. "What are looking at?" he asks, pointing out the luminous object.
Natska quietly snickers, her ears perked. "A fish market, yes." Her tail swishes back and forth, and then she begins moving towards the lake. "And what is th-?" she asks, almost echoing Fenris. "Although, of course, no touching... I really want to know though!"
Cassidy frowns a little, shrugging. "A fish market might be possible, but... Hmm. I'm not sure. I'd say fish -temple- more than anything, at this rate." She follows after Natska, keeping to her side as she looks over the room, and into the source of the glow of the lake.
Reginald stays a little way back from the water, partly due to his fear of it, and partly to keep to himself. He instead takes the time to admire the surroundings, wondering how much energy must have gone into making a room this grand.
As the group all go towards the lake to look, they notice something clear, and huge, in the lake, but before they can react four tentacles quickly arise from the water and darts towards the four beings. Natksa using quick air math manages to throw herself away from the path of the tentacle, falling down on the hard round below. Fenris, Zuri, and Cassidy are both quickly wrapped and hoisted up into the air, just as big waves begin hitting the shore of the cove as something gigantic begins to arise from the lake.
Most beings who live on coastal cities on Promise, Firmament being one of them obviously, would recognize such a creature, towering in size, gelatinous consistency, clearly transparent...a Cephalopotamus. While most beings would only ever see the dead specimens that get beached on the coastal cities, the groups are now officially one of the few to see one alive, and unfortunately hungry. This particular subspecies appears to be bio-luminescent, its transparent corpus letting out an apparent glow. The body of the creature finally rises before it flops onto the water again, causing another huge wave before it finally manages to bring its underside above water, and exposing its other distinctive feature, the large deadly beak that is its mouth.
Thankfully both Fenris and Cassidy have their own armor, the covering protecting them from the venomous appendages, for now. However Zuri's clothes prove useless as he is given a dose of the toxins, causing a buzzing noise in his ear as he begins to lose feeling around his waist and tummy, the toxins numbing the nerves there.
Mervyn sighs and shakes his head, "I certainly didn't expect this." he says letting his fascination with the rare creature go and focus on the mortal danger, "I guess I will have to intervene." he comments as he gestures with his hands, Zuri suddenly feeling a really strong gale of wind wrenching him from the tentacle holding him, the salamander was lucky that the pain of the tentacle squeezing to keep hold was numbed. The salamander is then thrown back onto the ground as 'gently' as possible.
Zuri yelps as the tentacles appear seemingly out of nowhere, and can't react in time to avoid being snatched up. He struggles as best as he can, but his world is soon a turned into a mish-mash of pain, numbness and confusion as he's flailed about, then swept up by wind and thrown to the ground. He gets up onto his knees, his body in too much pain to manage more than that, and begins to hyperventilate as he teeters on the edge of panic. The salamander places his hands to the ground and starts to channel a protective, healing magic upon himself, drawing both upon the earth under his feet and the water currently drenching him to the bone to protect and heal himself.
Fenris wastes no time. The advantage of being unpredictable is learning to expect the unexpected. He whips his gun from his back and fires into the water.
Natska quickly scrambles back up to her feet, eyes widening at the giant creature. However, it has Cassidy, and so she is quick to respond. She gathers her will and her math, then begins wearing the thing down.
Cassidy startles as she's pulled up into the air, bringing a hand up to hold her hat on. "My, I've never seen one quite this big! The ones I've battled were all... Smaller," she murmurs, lashing out with the dagger held in her other hand to try to cut herself free from the tentacle, her thick leather coat doing its work as she prepares to catch herself with air magic should she succeed in escaping.
Some would say that Reginald's fear of water was unreasonable. Well, the lynx suddenly feels more justified in his stance when he lays his eyes upon the monstrosity before him. THe feline stands as still as a statue, paralysed at the sight. He is only brought too when the salamander comes crashing back down. Reginald scrambles for the nearest piece of cover available, tail tucked between his legs and ears pressed flat against his head.
When he manages to regain some composure, the shaking kitten peeks over the moss-covered, low stone wall he had taken refuge behind. As his eyes fall on the terror yet again, the feline's first instinct is to bolt, to leave a never look back - and it is a compelling feeling. But that is something this cat has done his entire life, and something he is not proud of. Perhaps, he should finally try something different ...
Resting his carbine on the top of the wall, Reginald surveys the beast. Try as he might, he cannot get an angle on the creatures mouth, so, cursing, he sends a shot down range into the creature's side ...
Zuri's spell is pulled off without a hitch, the ancient, moss covered stone underneath him quickly rising to cover the salamander as the wetness on him suddenly moves from being an annoyance to a soothing gentle touch. The buzzing in the salamander's ears and the lights in his sight are quickly erased as a lot of his pain fades, his coat of stone covering him like a cocoon before breaking down again, leaving the salamander with a layer of defensive stone. A good portion of the pain fades away and some of the feeling returns to the salamander's mid-section as he prepares to get back into the fight.
Fenris's crossbow shot manages to land on the creatures underside, planting a bolt in its gelatinous flesh. This causes the creature to squeeze the tentacle around Fenris's waist, giving him even more discomfort as he is slowly crushed, his armor losing some of its efficiency as Fenris begins to lose feeling in his midsection, those poor ribs.
Cassidy's dagger manages to penetrate deep into the creature's flesh, causing it to drop the Fennec down. While the maneuver is different, Cassidy's skill in flight gives her an edge as she casts the familiar spells to quickly move her back safely onto land.
Natska's dark spell covers the creature with a dark miasma as it clearly affects it. The majestic image growing a bit damp as its glow becomes dimmer while it grows more sluggish.
Reginald's musket shot hits true, penetrating the creature's side. Whether it was pain or reflex, the creature attempts to lunge one of its tentacles at Reginald, which he barely dodges.
Mervyn loses his smirk as he finally shows what a capable air magician he is, deflecting two tentacles moving on the ladies Solaicious. Unfortunately for Zuri, this help is not afford to him as he attempts to dodge a tentacle going for him...and succeeding, grabbing the mander and hoisting him up into the air again. Luckily for Zuri, there is no pain this time, in fact he is getting better underneath his armor, but slowly chunks of stone fall into the lake below, the salamander's armor certainly won't hold forever.
Zuri squirms and struggles against the tentacle holding him, the salamander trying to wiggle free but failing to get much purchase against the tentacle's strong grip. He instead focuses on offense, a first for the hearth magician. He wiggles his hands as he focuses on the enormous reservoir of water right beneath him
Fenris gasps as he is squeezed, dropping his old firearm into the water below, its shot spent. He scrabbles at the pockets of his coat and at the soul pendant around his neck, hoping his armor will hold out for just a little longer.
Zuri squirms and struggles against the tentacle holding him, the salamander trying to wiggle free but failing to get much purchase against the tentacle's strong grip. He instead focuses on offense, a first for the hearth magician. He wiggles his hands as he focuses on the enormous reservoir of water right beneath him - the lake itself. He tries to rile up the water, to create a sizable water spout that will hopefully slap at the tentacle holding him.
Cassidy carries herself back to safety, touching down next to Natska. "The sooner we subdue this thing, the better, I should say." She conjures up a bit of air math to lash out at the creature, puncturing winds to try to poke holes in it.
His cover reduced to rubble by the beast's appendage, Reginald barely manages to dive out of its path. The lynx collides with the ground beneath him, the thud hidden by the sounds of the battle. Winded, the feline barely manages to coax his body into scrambling a short distance in front of him, this time offered sanctuary by what appears to be a stone market stall.
Cowering behind this cover, the feline snatches a cartridge from his bandoleer, tearing the top off with his teeth. As another of the monstrosities tentacles come crashing down nearby, the lynx jerks, missing the muzzle with the shot. With a 'click', the metal ball falls to the ground, and Reginald eyes open wide in panic. Before it can roll out of his reach, the cat lunges out, only just catching it with the tips of his fingers.
Retrieving the round, he rams it down the barrel, panic filling every fibre of this being, before he dares to peek out of his refuge.
Natska gives Cassidy a short nod as she hurries next to her wife's side, then settles back into her ready stance; she calls up another potent working of dark math, attacking the jelly fish's strength and vitality.
Zuri's water spell was quite impressive, but might have been lacking in strength; however, it was enough for the tentacle to drop the salamander letting him fall directly into the sea. There Zuri would gaze onto the rest of the creature's submerged body and the many tentacles covering its underside, underneath were other forms of marine life, flora and fauna. The lake was certainly quite deep.
Fenris manages to successfully change his souls.
Cassidy's spell collides with the creature's side leaving a couple of cuts on the goo-like body.
Natska's spell causes the creature to raise a tentacle and bring it back down as if it was annoyed at something while Mervyn led out his own barrage of cutting winds.
The creature grows dormant for but a second, as if considering whether the food was worth it or not. Suddenly the tentacle squeezing Fenris grows more slack, dropping the tiger in the water, to see the magnificent ecosystem underneath. Meanwhile the creature itself brought down all of its limbs back onto the leg with a huge crash, sending more waves as it dives into the water again. Zuri and Fenris can see it diving deep before it exits through what appears to be a pathway, from the salty taste of the water, it obviously leads into the sea. Looks like that the fight is over and the predator escaped his would-be prey.
Zuri swims back to the surface as quickly as he can, the salamander not wanting to risk another close encounter with that creature. He crawls back onto the shore and flops down tiredly, utterly drenched and drained following the painful fight.
Fenris allows himself to float back to the surface and spreads his arms, keeping his chin up and bobbing gently on the water. "I would swim to shore," he calls, "But oddly, I cannot feel my groin. That is one of the strangest things I have said this week."
Natska moves up to the edge of the lake, ears folded; she laughs though as she hears Fenris, then offers him a hand to help him out of the water. "Goodness, Fenris. What a statement. Are you alright?" she asks, concerned.
