The Tiniest Matter
As is frequently the case of mercenaries in Alexandria, irregular militants, whatever you want to call them, you've arrived at the Guild of Explorers because there's something they want you to do.
You're in a waiting room, waiting for to be briefed exactly on what that is and to give you all a chance to get acquainted.
Walery is sitting up straight in his chair, and introduces himself as, "Walery. Mick Walery. Good to meet all of you." He smiles around towards everyone, though there's a bit of mania behind his eyes.
Erakirak seems actively uncomfortable. He's indoors, surrounded by humans... never a good thing. But he's been trying to make more of an effort to get acclimated to Alexandria ever since Murder started showing him around, and the Guild of Explorers seems like a good place to do that... adventurers, at least, he kind of understands, and their missions often involve the outdoors.
As introductions are going around he points to himself and gives a complex whistle-trill, then: "Or Erakirak, in Trade. Or just 'Rak' if that's too hard." He rustles his wings awkwardly. "No, I can't fly yet. I'm pretty good with a bow. I can track. Um... that's it I guess."
There's a Mul'niessa man in the corner. He's handsomely dressed and stands out almost as much for his odd choice of clothes as he does for the fact that he's Mul'niessa. He says nothing and offers no greetings to anyone though he offers polite nods to those that look at him for too long. In fact he doesn't introduce himself at all unless pressed. Even then all he offers is a quiet, brief, "You may call me Daed." Followed by his red eyes slipping around the room assessing everyone in it.
Elzeiros moves his lips to almost form a smile. "Elzeiros." He's standing not far from Erakirak. "Bowman and tracker like him." The glaive he also has might suggest other options as well.
Erakirak reaches a talon out to offer Elzeiros a fist-bump.
Elzeiros actually turns that mouth movement into a full blown smile when he returns the odd bird-person form of greeting.
"Vaalyun. Of the Hearthguard." says the man with the swarthy complexion of the Jade Isles who is dressed in armor emblazoned with a blue rose. It looks all shiny and new as compared to his previous armor that was becoming quite battle-worn. But give it time and some crawling around in the sewers.
"So, um..." Rak offers awkwardly, "do you all have a lot of experience with the, um, the Guild?"
Here comes Kaaeeee, she's tumbling in, yup tumbling. She'd been riding her airboard and well is now flat on her face with the airboard resting on her back... "Ooopse... okie, soo make sure to turn the nose up when trying to mount stairs or whatever!" She says to herself but quite aloud... Kae then sits upright and looks around curiously now.
The wild elf shakes his head after a moment. Every time Rak opens his mouth, Elzeiros has a brief look of amazement. "No. I am just arrived to here. Maybe a week of knowing the Guild."
Walery says to Rak, "I've done a few missions, but I wouldn't say I have a /lot/ of experience."
"Well, the Guild hasn't managed to get me killed yet, so I suppose I have a /bit/ of experience with them. Plenty around with more. Usually they do alright by us. No idea what this is about, though." Vaalyun observes, finding a convenient place to lean against as he waits.
There's a new face in the guild, a young female dawn elf with flowing brunette hair and emerald eyes. She to, is leaning against the wall with her arms folded just about her sternum area. She is silent for the time being, letting those around her introduce themselves. Once some have gone around she pipes up, "Halanestra" and leaves it at that. Those paying attention can see that she's in armor, sword, shield, bow, etc..but the biggest part that stands out is the Althean Pendant she wears around her neck, obviously a cleric.
The good news is that once everyone is assembled, it isn't long before a gnome in gray, muddy overalls follows. The tufts Of hair out of his ears have the only color left on his head, and even that red is fading. Anyone's guess how old he actually is.
"Great," he begins. "You're all here. Good news, everyone! It's time to go to every adventurer's favorite place! The Alexandrian sewers!" He waits for any appropriate moaning and groaning to commence before adding: "Bonus! You'll actually be helping keep me safe while I deal with a rather intense slime issue! It's a tiny problem. No big. But that area of the sewers has a history of various creatures moving in from time to time. Undead, giant ants, uncivilized otyughs, oozes, giant insects, giant fungi, giant rats, dire rats..." The list continues for quite some time.
"... and last but not least, Insane Artificers! At any rate, you'll all be coming with me to get paid in fat, shiny coins of gold."
Erakirak shrugs. That was about what he figured. And the city's sewers can't really be much worse than the city itself, right? He gets up, ready to go.
Daechir who has been silent this whole time save the brief mention of a name looks as though he is seriously considering this project. He glances around the room once and then sighs silently before readying himself to go.
Elzeiros adjusts a few straps and checks a few pieces of gear. "I've not seen these sewers. This will be interesting, right?"
"Outstanding." Vaalyun says, with what is clearly a lack of overt excitement. But, nevertheless, he is fully ready to proceed. "What is this about insane artificers? I suppose a joke about how that's saying the same thing twice would be out of order?"
Walery sighs at mention of the sewers. But it's not as bad as all that? Or is it? He winces as he listens to the litany of what we will face. He's here for the coins of gold, the rest is something he'll just have to deal with. He says brusquely to Vaalyun, "Don't say it too loudly or enthusiastically. It's rude. And we carry Death Rays. They're called Death Rays for a reason."
Kae glances around, blinks and looks around "Where's the crazy artificer!!!" She calls out, her arms flailing above her head... "Not talking about me are you?" She then ummms... "I'm just hyper yet really!!!" SHe calls out cheerfully... "Oh Sewers? We're going into a sewer?" She asks and digs through her pockets before pulling out a mask that she wraps around her face... It's got a bit of artificed attachment to it.. "yay for smeller cleaner outer!! Works 76% of the time!"
Erakirak looks over his shoulder, regarding his quiver. He wonders if his arrows should be called Death Arrows.
"Hey, it's not my fault some of you lose your marbles," replies the gnome. "I'm Grunf. Anyway, we'll be going now."
And with that, you're off to the Alexandrian sewers.
...you're off to the Alexandrian sewers. On a hot... summer...day.. Oh boy.
The smell, even in the earlier parts, is atrocious. Your gnome friend has candied mints he offers each of you to suck on before he pops one into his own mouth. Should you happen to take one, it at least blots out the smell somewhat.
The sewers themselves are... yeah. Ugly. And smelly. And you've headed into them through a grate alongside the river. You can hear the raging sounds of the Tornmawr and the trickling of the servers themselves as waste is carried onto the river and out to the ocean for dumping.
Grunf seems to know where he's going, at least.
Erakirak takes a mint gratefully.
That said, he's had some experience with stinky underground tunnels... the LAST one was full of rotting corpses. He pulls a square of fabric out of his small backpack and ties it around his beak. It doesn't really help, but it makes him feel better.
Plus also it looks kind of cool, he thinks.
Daechir accepts one of the mints but doesn't actually eat it, tucking it away in a pocket when no one is looking directly at him. Not that anyone should care that the Mul'niessa man has clearly decided to save the mint until later. He follows along, staying on the outskirts of the party, but not in the full back. He's not that foolish after all. He does pull a handkerchief out of the same pocket he put the mint into after a few moments to wrap around the lower part of his face. Those closest to him will hear a little chuckle that mingles with the sound of a twinkling bell.
The wild elf wrinkles his nose at the smell even after he's taken the mint from the gnome. Elzeiros pulls a faded green and brown scarf up above his nose as he follows along. He's constantly subconsciously rubbing his hands as if trying to wash the stink off.
Walery takes the mint and sucks on it. He's checking the settings of his death ray and studying some readouts as we move on, keeping as much of a lookout as he can.
Vaalyun hitches his robes up a bit higher, to keep the hem out of the muck, and dodges around the worst of what he can see - though it's probably a lost cause. "Always a fun day out..." he murmurs to no one in particular as he accepts a mint and pops it in his mouth.
Halana takes one of those mints herself, cause this place sucks and anything that helps is better than nothing. For now, she's going to keep to herself and just watch what everyone else is doing. Her job is keeping them all healed up and defended against other magics and that's what she's going to do.
Grunk leads the way.
Apparently, he knows his way around down here! Through tunnels you go, both slick and dry, smelly and... smellier.
You're heading deeper under the ground and the temperature is correspondingly rising. It's getting pretty muggy in here and that makes the stink worse.
"We're almost there," he offers.
Erakirak asks for another mint.
Kae is following! Yay for the mostly affective anti-smell mask... She glances around and umms "I'd offer y'all one of these inventions, cept I havn't gotten everything working right, and if it goes wrong it makes yer nose and upper lip sting when the power source goes pop... Of course it's better than the first one, that one gave me a bloody nose, kind of like getting bopped in the schnozz.." She says and grins a bit.. "Ooh and don't mind me Mr Gnome, I never had marbles, my family never gave em to me..."
Daechir lifts a hand to help stifle the smell coming in from around them, breathing through his fingers. He maintains his position in the group through sheer force of will.
Elzeiros nods once and begins to put his head on a swivel in an attempt to look out for trouble. He doesn't seem to dodge out of the way of sludge or slime very often. He's finally stopped rubbing at his hands.
Walery manages to hold down his lunch, at least. But it could be worse. He's not sure how, but ... it can always be worse. He tries to think of ways it can be worse, then ticks them off mentally as we encounter each one. At least it's not raining. He hasn't got that one yet. Yet.
"I think I'm almost used to the smell down here. That's concerning." Vaalyun comments with a grin. "We're almost where? The place where all foul smells are born? The mouth of the Iron Hells? A lich's boudoir?"
Erakirak shakes his head at that last. "We destroyed the lich."
"It didn't smell this bad," he adds, "believe it or not."
No, don't gawk at the walking, talking bird person, Elzeiros. Despite the internal monologue, he does glance Erakirak's way for the briefest of moments as he and Vaelyun talk. He covers the cloth around his face to either keep from laughing, or keep from puking. He's not sure which.
"There's more than one lich in the world, I'm sure." Vaalyun replies, "And they are remarkably durable, from what I understand."
Erakirak says, "Point."
You finally arrive at the location in question.
It is here you see a whoooole lot of gears and mechanisms directing the s trength and flow of water in this area of the sewers. They appear to be gunked up, seized up. To those trained in that sort of thing, well, this seems like simple problem that wouldn't take a lot of adventurers to get taken care of. However, that's not really why you're here, anyway, at least according to the gnome.
"All right. Let me get to work here. I've gotta clean th4ese up, get the mechanism working again, and when, well, whatever ccomes back, you'll be the ones to deal with it."
Great! He sets about doing exactly that...
GAME: Erakirak rolls perception: (10)+11: 21 GAME: Elzeiros rolls perception: (13)+10: 23 GAME: Daechir rolls perception: (1)+3: 4 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Vaalyun rolls perception: (8)+4: 12 GAME: Walery rolls perception: (11)+8: 19 GAME: Halanaestra rolls perception: (17)+7: 24
...well the good news is that most of you, over the racket of grinding gears and clanking and water, see the horrible creatures crawling along the ceilings, squeezing out of gaps too small to fit their bodies, before it’s too late. Only Daechir seems really caught off guard by their sudden, stealthy arrival.
Tendrils hang off their segmented body, waving back and forth, dripping what is surely poison ichor.
GAME: Halanaestra casts Bless. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14 GAME: Kaelyn activates her Titan Armor, gaining: +4 Dex GAME: Kaelyn casts Shield. Caster Level: 4 DC: 15 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+3: (2)+3: 5 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+3: (11)+3: 14 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+3: (19)+3: 22
Kae sees the creatures, the tentacles the stuffs and blinks a few times... "Nooope!" She calls out, tapping a jewel at her neck. Suddenly Kae's encased in quite flexible looking, exceedingly sleek artifice armor. Seems instead of her going for the big bulky stuff, she's gone with the more nimble finer constructed view... Kae then picks up a little bauble, kind of shaped like a shield with a blue jewel in the middle and activates it.
GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+9: (15)+9: 24
"I knew it was /something/," he qadds.
The horrible, squelching slime trails left by the creatures as their many legs skitter them forward across the ceiling is not out of place here in the sewers. Fortunately, Vaalyun's armor protects him from the rapacious creatures tentacles. Same with Erakirak and Walery, really.
GAME: Erakirak rolls 4+1d8: 4+(5): 9
Erakirak happens to looks up at the ceiling, and his bow is in his hand like a blur... though the creature that attacks him is faster still. Fortunately, not fast enough to hit him, and he fires a single arrow as he back-talons.
GAME: Elzeiros rolls 1d20+8: (12)+8: 20 GAME: Elzeiros rolls 1d8+3: (7)+3: 10
Things happen so fast! As soon as Rak steps back away from one of the creatures, Elz lets loose an arrow in an apparent attempt to create living pin cushions!
Erakirak takes a second to shoot his fellow archer an enthusiastic caw as their paired arrows kill his assailant. He would give a thumbs-up if his talons were jointed that way, if he weren't using both of them.
GAME: Walery activates his Titan Armor, gaining: +4 Dex GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+10: (5)+10: 15 GAME: Walery rolls 2d6+5: (7)+5: 12
Walery looks over what the gnome has brought us to fix. Though the gnome seems to have the fix well in hand. We're simply here for security. This is the sewers, after all. So he keeps a lookout, and he spots the ... the whatever it is. He presses a button at his waist and a glass monocle with a targeting reticle appears over his eye. The light patterns change on his pack, and he brings the death ray to his shoulder. He squeezes off a shot at one of the creatures. A lance of fire shoots from the barrel, striking the creature and injuring it.
GAME: Vaalyun casts Spiritual Weapon. Caster Level: 5 DC: 16 GAME: Vaalyun rolls 1d20+8: (9)+8: 17 GAME: Vaalyun rolls 1d8+3: (4)+3: 7 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+3: (1)+3: 4 (EPIC FAIL)
One of the caterpillars soomz across the ceiling towards Kaelyn and then just sorta falls on its back near her, tentacles and legs kicking.
GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+3: (9)+3: 12
Another one reaches for Halaenaestra -- she made noises -- but it doesn't actually get much further than reaching for her.
Vaalyun steps back from the bug thing, and raises an arm. As he calls out to Althea, a bill made of pure force appears next to him. It attacks the creature who attacked him, landing a solid blow.
GAME: Halanaestra rolls weapon1: (7)+4: 11 GAME: Kaelyn rolls ranged+1: (3)+8+1: 12 GAME: Kaelyn rolls 2d6+4: (7)+4: 11
Kae flails as she's got one kinda on her! Up comes the ray gun and she pulls the trigger. There is the smell of ozone, and the weapon discharges! At least she scorched the thingie on her!
GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+1: (17)+1: 18 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+1: (17)+1: 18 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+1: (18)+1: 19 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+1: (8)+1: 9 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+1: (10)+1: 11 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+1: (13)+1: 14 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+7: (6)+7: 13 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+7: (12)+7: 19
Two of the first wave continue to weave their tentacles at Vaalyun and Walery. They don't have much success. Maybe they are not that dangerous?
GAME: Erakirak rolls 4+1d8: 4+(5): 9 GAME: Erakirak rolls 4+1d8: 4+(1): 5 GAME: Elzeiros rolls 1d20+8-4: (3)+8+-4: 7
Erakirak begins to calmly fire arrows, one after another. The first two take down one of the critters.
The wild elf should probably abandon shooting into melee and switch it up to hack the things apart with the glaive slung awkwardly on his back. He swivels, finds a target, and lets an arrow fly, only to see the arrow clatter across the ground.
GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+10: (10)+10: 20 GAME: Walery rolls 2d6+5: (10)+5: 15
Walery continues to backpedal. He works a lever on his death ray and cycles in another brass device covered in some kind of script. He draws a bead and fires, a bolt of fire lancing out at the target. The bolt of flame engulfs the little critter, consuming much of it. A chrysanthemum of scorch is left around the remains.
Daechir is shocked by the sudden appearance of these... things, unlike his comrades, but once he realizes that they have the critters well in hand he turns his attention on the job that they have at hand - clearing the gears. So he casts a small spell in order to clean some of the muck that is keeping them from turning properly.
GAME: Vaalyun rolls 1d20+8: (11)+8: 19 GAME: Vaalyun rolls 1d8+3: (1)+3: 4 GAME: Vaalyun rolls weapon6+1: (4)+6+1: 11 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+1: (7)+1: 8 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+1: (1)+1: 2 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+1: (3)+1: 4
One of the remaining catterpillar has veered, still trying to get Halanaestra.
Fortunately, it does not manage it.
Of course, that's when /another/.... something arrives. It looks like a... much larger version of what you're already facing. For pseudopods instead of three with a more hardened, segmented body.
To clarify, it squeezed out of an impossibly small crack for its body. Seems its... very... flexible.
GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+3: (3)+3: 6 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+3: (19)+3: 22 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+3: (12)+3: 15
The creature directly in front of Vaalyun is slammed with the force-bill, damaging it again, but when he brings his mace down, it hits the floor rather than the enemy.
Halana's been, well, doing much of nothing as there's been much of nothing to do. Her job is mostly to heal, support, and be there to counteract evil. Then, there's this...thing, that crawls out of a crack. That, that is going to require her to take this a great deal more seriously. In one smooth action, she brings both of her hands to her pendant, Althea's symbol emblazoned on it. A prayer is whispered, and a prayer is granted giving her a slight glow about her figure as her musculature visibly increases in mass. As both hands pull away from the pendant, the each move to her blade and her shield and draw them together, taking stance against the new arrival.
GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+7: (3)+7: 10 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+7: (8)+7: 15 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+6: (8)+6: 14
Erakirak 's eyes widen almost comically at the Mark II Slimer's appearance, and he fires a couple of arrows that bounce harmlessly off of it.
GAME: Elzeiros rolls 1d20+2: (19)+2: 21 GAME: Elzeiros rolls 1d20+2: (10)+2: 12 GAME: Elzeiros rolls 1d8+3: (1)+3: 4
Elzeiros sees the creature charging after Erak and tries to plug two arrows into it, one hits solidly, but doesn't appear to do too much damage while the other goes wide. "Poor choice," he muffles out.
GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+10: (2)+10: 12 GAME: Daechir rolls 1d20+3: (15)+3: 18
Walery has scorched the little pest attacking him, and swings his death ray around to take aim at the big bad looking thing. Unfortunately, he swings it a little too far. His rather coarse estimate of the thing's position turns out to be a bit more coarse than he expected, so of course he misses the shot.
Seeing the larger creature Daed puts aside cleaning the gears for now to reach over and touch the creature... touch it. He shudders and lets the spell sing through his blood harkening back to his ancestors. His hand slides across slime but the damage is done.
GAME: Vaalyun casts Prayer. Caster Level: 5 DC: 17 GAME: Vaalyun rolls 1d20+9: (9)+9: 18 GAME: Vaalyun rolls 1d8+4: (4)+4: 8 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+1: (19)+1: 20 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+1: (4)+1: 5 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+1: (17)+1: 18 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d3+1: (3)+1: 4 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+3: (6)+3: 9
Vaalyun steps back from the thing in front of him, "Althea, strengthen us and let your light shine on this dark place!" The sense of the Evening Star's gentle light flows from his holy symbol, and luck is now on the party's side, a celestial thumb on the scales. Meanwhile, the force-bill thuds down hard on the creature, and splats it. On to bigger and worse things.
GAME: Halanaestra rolls weapon1+1: (14)+4+1: 19 GAME: Halanaestra rolls 1d8+2: (6)+2: 8 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+6: (13)+6: 19 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 2d6+4: (10)+4: 14 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+7: (18)+7: 25 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+7: (6)+7: 13 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+5: (3)+5: 8 GAME: Erakirak rolls 5+1d8: 5+(2): 7 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+5: (14)+5: 19 GAME: Whirlygig rolls 1d20+5: (7)+5: 12
The larger creature just... remains there, frozen in a place, pseudopods twitching. It's obvious it isn't moving much. Maybe this is what passes for laughter.
Erakirak continues to fire on the laughing creature, bouncing one arrow off of its hide but striking true with another.
GAME: Elzeiros rolls 1d20+6: (2)+6: 8 GAME: Elzeiros rolls 1d20+6: (7)+6: 13
Elzeiros continues firing arrows at the huge creature, but the laughing causes Elz to be off target slightly.
GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+12: (17)+12: 29 GAME: Walery rolls 2d6+6: (6)+6: 12
Walery cycles the action on his death ray, shunting another charge into the firing chamber. He takes much better aim than last time and squeezes off his shot, sending a lance of fire into the creature. It strikes and burns, though there's more target than he has burn in one shot. This is going to take a few rounds and some help to take down.
GAME: Daechir rolls weapon1+2: (17)+3+2: 22 GAME: Daechir rolls 1d6+2: (6)+2: 8
With battle fully joined Daechir decides to draw his rapier and stabs the creature through it's plated carapace. There's a wet squelch as the weapon pierces its body and Daed winces internally at the noise.
GAME: Vaalyun rolls 1d20+9: (13)+9: 22 GAME: Vaalyun rolls weapon6+2: (18)+6+2: 26 GAME: Vaalyun rolls 1d8+4: (1)+4: 5 GAME: Vaalyun rolls 1d8+4: (2)+4: 6
Vaalyun waves his mace, and the spiritual weapon attacks the largest creature. It lands a beat before his mace does the same, with a thwunk! and a meaty, cracking sound that rends chitin and whatever is beneath it.
Elzeiros lowers his bow when Vaal finishes off the big creature. He pulls down the cloth covering his face and produces a smile. "Interesting creatures."
With the last of the creatures slain, Grunk finishes off the cleaning. It's disgusting, vile work, but he does succeed in getting it done. When he finishes, he smedars his greasy, gross hands on his own uniform and says, "Right, then! Thanks for that. I'ma get you all back. Come on. Follow me!"
-End-