"Joren!" Samir's voice has taken on an unusual tinge of anger as he shouts at the warrior, his hands curling into fists. "Absolutely not! Get your self righteous ass out of there now! This is not your heroic last stand you honorable idiot!"
Sweat runs down the half-orc's face, and his breath hitches just a touch in his chest. He can feel the exhaustion catching up to him, his reserves both physical and magical all but tapped out. "I don't think the queen can move away from the pillar, you have to get out of her reach!" He punctuates his last words with a flicker of fire tossed into the bank of fog, aiming high to avoid his friend and desperately hoping to somehow connect with the monstrosity inside.
Casting Firebolt at the Gloazen Queen, 19 to hit with disadvantage, 15 magical fire damage.
Joren curses silently in his mind as the gloazworm larva escapes him and shoots with breathtaking speed through the wax to its target. An able-bodied soldier who cannot protect civilians who were in his power to protect is failing his duty. Can only be trying to protect the others now...
He moves his echo 30' out of the mist, SE-->S-->S-->S-->S-->S, then his bonus action and 15' of movement to swap places with it.
Moving 10' further south himself, Joren brings his Dunamis Blade down on the gloazworm larva that is gorging itself on the dead captive (Cap3) Dunamis Blade to hit: 16 Dunamis Blade damage: 11 magical slashing
Then, he shoves the still living Cap4 5' further south (hopefully meeting no resistance), and moves into their spot with his last 5' of movement, out of the wax. Back in the Fog Cloud, his echo silently disappears as Joren glances at the artificer.
"Samir, being the most brilliant person I know, I think you may have been misconstruing what I was tryin-," Joren drawls, stopping suddenly.
Joren's greatsword splits the little gloazworm in half, causing it to gush blood and ooze.
The firebolt strikes through the mist, eliciting another shriek from the queen. Her arms scythe out once more, striking where Joren and his echo once were. But she strikes nothing. Then the cavern trembles again. There is the sound of grinding stone, and her abdomen withdraws from the ceiling. The fog parts around her massive head as she starts crawling forward on spindly legs sprouting from her bloated and bleeding abdomen, grease clings to her appendages, slowing her down a bit. Seeing everyone for the first time, her mandibles open and she hisses. Spittle flies out, melting through the wax where it lands, and she surges forward..
More gloazworm larvae pop out through the membrane coating her abdomen, plopping on to the ground and beginning to burrow in.
(With the grease, her movement doesn't quite bring her out of the echo's range, so no AoO this round)
Something snaps in Malachi’s mind as the Gloazworm Queen drops from the ceiling, some desire to send the creature somewhere else, a desire to prevent it from getting closer to him and his companions. He is slightly surprised when a gateway opens around the creature, surrounding it in a sphere of blackness and bitter cold. It is positioned so Joren and Vilus are outside of the sphere, but they can hear disturbing whispers and other sounds from the darkness.
“We need to keep the creature inside that if we can” Malachi shouts and moves back toward the tunnel next to Ashley. He leans against the wall, breathing heavily from exertion. “I am almost spent, I don’t have much left to give.”
(Queen is blinded and takes 2d6 cold damage if she starts her turn within the sphere, an additional 2d6 acid damage if it ends the turn in the sphere)
Vilus dashes south east to the middle of the entrance just near Samir, scooping up captives 1 and 4 as he goes past. With one victim sling over his shoulder and one hanging limply under his other arm Vilus then continues south to just past the crack in the wall. He gets out of the way to let people pass and shouts out "come on! We can trap it in here, slow it down a bit.
...Ash! Can you tap into that heart? Feel out it's power. Wield it?"
Shrieks, pops, and splatters can be heard from within the void Malachi summoned forth. But as quickly as each sound starts, it fades, growing tinny and distant. Like the noises are being plucked away one by one, sucked into nothingness.
Barely the cacophony of noises behind her, Ashley stops on the stairs in the statue room and looks at the beautifully carved silhouettes standing in the room. She hears Vilus's cry and looks down at the item in her hands. The heart that now feels like it flows through her and wonders what secrets it holds.
A new symbol flares briefly to life on the back of Samir's gloved hand as he point off into the darkness, angling away from the direction where Vilus stands. He can feel the illusion reach out and coalesce into the sound of a person crying and sobbing within the bounds of Malachi's spell, hoping to distract the Queen from escaping. Wishing he could do more, but feeling the ache of using even this small amount of magic, he turns and heeds his own advice, taking up a spot by the narrowed passage and ushering everyone is as quickly as possible.
Casting Minor Illusion more or less randomly into the Hunger of Hadar spell. Hoping that this will distract the Queen.
Joren grunts in approval as Vilus, whatever he had been doing out there to the side of the chamber, now dashes past, scooping up two of the weakened captives. Hoping that the Gloazen Queen is too blinded by Malachi's (otherwise disturbing) magic to lash out opportunistically, Joren follows suit.
Moving southeast first to throw the last remaining living captive (Cap2) over his shoulder, he also dashes south out of the room. Dropping the captive back on their feet at the end, Joren turns and draws his Dunamis Blade once more, summoning his echo 30' north of himself, in the south end of the chamber.
The echo stands, an obvious target in case Samir'sMinor Illusion does not draw the Gloazen Queen's attention.
His companions seem to have the idea now, but he reinforces it with a battlefield shout. "Everyone moving out! Double-time! Behind the bottleneck."
More pops and squeals emerge from the darkness as other gloazworm larvae presumably perish in the inky black. The Queen lashes out at the sound near her but strikes nothing but air once more. Furious, she bulls ahead, emerging from the void and heading toward the party at a tremendous pace. The moment after Joren gets through the hole and summons his echo, he sees the queen ram her head into the door. The stone cracks, but holds for now. She rears back, preparing to strike it again.
Everyone is back in the entry hall now. Their broken cart still sits awkwardly atop the rails, blocking the way of the three carts the cultists had used to get here. On the other side of the large stone door, 8 more Gloazworm larvae drop down onto the ground.
Malachi pushes down the hall toward the remaining minecarts and their only means of escape from the creature. “Help me move this out of the way!” He leans his thin frame against the broken mine cart that had carried them there, trying to clear the tracks. His rising fear from the presence of the gloazworm queen gave him a burst of strength, but he looked desperately at his friends for help. “We can use the other carts to make our way back to the surface!”
Vilus focuses on a point of the ceiling just above the massive insectoids body and unleashes a clattering boom of arcane energy, hoping to catch both the queen and the stone work above her in a thundering Shatter spell.
He then rushes over to Malachi and prepares to help move the useless cart off the track, "Got it, get ready to push!"
(Action shatter, DC 14 con save for 21 thunder dam, half on success.
The door holds fast against Vilus' magic, but the ceiling above the Queen is not so sturdy. Through the hole in the door, Vilus sees large chunks of stone falling to the ground, some striking the Queen's head on the way down. Then with the crash of their impact, a large cloud of dust rolls through the opening.
(Queen took a bit of extra damage there, and her DC for breaking down the door has gone up by +1)
Realizing that the secret to this heart of fire cannot be figured out in the heat of the situation, Ashley runs back up where Vilus was and seeing the Queen through the hole in the door, she casts bane upon it. She then uses the rest of her movement to run as far as she can towards the carts.
Malachi gets enough force behind his shoulder to knock the lopsided cart off the tracks and then tip the rest of the way out of the path of the other carts
As Ashley concentrates on the Gloazworm Queen, she gets a sense of satisfaction when she feels it's luck twist. (Bane takes effect)
Then she sees several pale wriggling forms squirming out from under the rubble behind the hole in the door. Moving slower on solid ground than within the waxy goo of the previous chamber, they crawl forward,
They tense up and lunge, all at the same time. 2 at Samir, and 2 at Joren. But they struggle to adapt to the dusty floor, each flopping harmlessly a few feet. One seems to roll onto what may be its back and tries to right itself to no avail.
(1 and 2 have bane and leapt at Samir. 3 and 4 leapt at Joren. 4 is incapacitated for the next round)
Joren, unable to keep his echo out of the way of the falling masonry from Vilus'shattering magic, readies his stance for the oncoming gloazworm larvae.
As the vile arthropods fail in their attacks against him and Samir, Joren lashes out in reaction (Sentinel) at one that attacked the half-orc (larva 1), pivoting to side-swipe it and slicing clean through its disgusting body.
The squeak that escapes Samir as the masonry comes crashing down, is almost as undignified as the one that comes just shortly after as the larvae come leaping out at him. Ducking away, he manages to avoid the disgusting little things. Joren's blade lashes out, easily removing one of the creatures. A moment later, one of Samir's little discs chatters to the ground next to the one struggling to right itself. Immediately, a stream of blue fire jets upwards, hissing in its intensity as the half-orc himself begins making his hurriedly towards Malachi and the mining carts.
Seeing two of the larvae remaining, Joren first attempts to make quick work of them. Unfortunately, only one of his strikes is well-aimed.
Joren'sDunamis Blade attack 1 on larva 3 to hit: 20 (dirty) Joren'sDunamis Blade attack 1 on larva 3 damage: 12 magical slashing
Joren'sDunamis Blade attack 2 on larva 2 to hit: 9 Joren'sDunamis Blade attack 2 on larva 2 damage: 12 magical slashing
Summoning and leaving his echo at his current position with a bonus action, Joren turns and retreats in the direction of the carts (taking a potential baned attack of opportunity from larva 2). As he goes, he attempts once more to hoist whichever captive is lagging the furthest behind on his shoulder (free action) and carry them the extra 30' before setting them down.
"Samir! Vilus! Or anyone who is knowing how... getting all of the magic carts ready to move please. Sooner the better!"
One of the gloazworms leaps futilely at Joren's turned back, flopping back down to the ground beside the 2 freshly slain grubs Joren left behind.
Then comes an ominous tremble. The queen has rammed against the door again, and stone cracks. The door itself stays intact, but the stone all around it shatters. Slowly, the massive door starts to tilt, falling towards the adventurers and the captives alike.
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"Joren!" Samir's voice has taken on an unusual tinge of anger as he shouts at the warrior, his hands curling into fists. "Absolutely not! Get your self righteous ass out of there now! This is not your heroic last stand you honorable idiot!"
Sweat runs down the half-orc's face, and his breath hitches just a touch in his chest. He can feel the exhaustion catching up to him, his reserves both physical and magical all but tapped out. "I don't think the queen can move away from the pillar, you have to get out of her reach!" He punctuates his last words with a flicker of fire tossed into the bank of fog, aiming high to avoid his friend and desperately hoping to somehow connect with the monstrosity inside.
Casting Firebolt at the Gloazen Queen, 19 to hit with disadvantage, 15 magical fire damage.
Joren curses silently in his mind as the gloazworm larva escapes him and shoots with breathtaking speed through the wax to its target. An able-bodied soldier who cannot protect civilians who were in his power to protect is failing his duty. Can only be trying to protect the others now...
He moves his echo 30' out of the mist, SE-->S-->S-->S-->S-->S, then his bonus action and 15' of movement to swap places with it.
Moving 10' further south himself, Joren brings his Dunamis Blade down on the gloazworm larva that is gorging itself on the dead captive (Cap3)
Dunamis Blade to hit: 16
Dunamis Blade damage: 11 magical slashing
Then, he shoves the still living Cap4 5' further south (hopefully meeting no resistance), and moves into their spot with his last 5' of movement, out of the wax. Back in the Fog Cloud, his echo silently disappears as Joren glances at the artificer.
"Samir, being the most brilliant person I know, I think you may have been misconstruing what I was tryin-," Joren drawls, stopping suddenly.
He turns and looks back behind him.
"What is Vilus still doing out there?"
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Joren's greatsword splits the little gloazworm in half, causing it to gush blood and ooze.
The firebolt strikes through the mist, eliciting another shriek from the queen. Her arms scythe out once more, striking where Joren and his echo once were. But she strikes nothing. Then the cavern trembles again. There is the sound of grinding stone, and her abdomen withdraws from the ceiling. The fog parts around her massive head as she starts crawling forward on spindly legs sprouting from her bloated and bleeding abdomen, grease clings to her appendages, slowing her down a bit. Seeing everyone for the first time, her mandibles open and she hisses. Spittle flies out, melting through the wax where it lands, and she surges forward..
More gloazworm larvae pop out through the membrane coating her abdomen, plopping on to the ground and beginning to burrow in.
(With the grease, her movement doesn't quite bring her out of the echo's range, so no AoO this round)
Something snaps in Malachi’s mind as the Gloazworm Queen drops from the ceiling, some desire to send the creature somewhere else, a desire to prevent it from getting closer to him and his companions. He is slightly surprised when a gateway opens around the creature, surrounding it in a sphere of blackness and bitter cold. It is positioned so Joren and Vilus are outside of the sphere, but they can hear disturbing whispers and other sounds from the darkness.
“We need to keep the creature inside that if we can” Malachi shouts and moves back toward the tunnel next to Ashley. He leans against the wall, breathing heavily from exertion. “I am almost spent, I don’t have much left to give.”
(Queen is blinded and takes 2d6 cold damage if she starts her turn within the sphere, an additional 2d6 acid damage if it ends the turn in the sphere)
Vilus dashes south east to the middle of the entrance just near Samir, scooping up captives 1 and 4 as he goes past. With one victim sling over his shoulder and one hanging limply under his other arm Vilus then continues south to just past the crack in the wall. He gets out of the way to let people pass and shouts out "come on! We can trap it in here, slow it down a bit.
...Ash! Can you tap into that heart? Feel out it's power. Wield it?"
Shrieks, pops, and splatters can be heard from within the void Malachi summoned forth. But as quickly as each sound starts, it fades, growing tinny and distant. Like the noises are being plucked away one by one, sucked into nothingness.
Barely the cacophony of noises behind her, Ashley stops on the stairs in the statue room and looks at the beautifully carved silhouettes standing in the room. She hears Vilus's cry and looks down at the item in her hands. The heart that now feels like it flows through her and wonders what secrets it holds.
Gazing into it she tries to understand...
But it eludes her for now.
"Everyone, keep going!"
A new symbol flares briefly to life on the back of Samir's gloved hand as he point off into the darkness, angling away from the direction where Vilus stands. He can feel the illusion reach out and coalesce into the sound of a person crying and sobbing within the bounds of Malachi's spell, hoping to distract the Queen from escaping. Wishing he could do more, but feeling the ache of using even this small amount of magic, he turns and heeds his own advice, taking up a spot by the narrowed passage and ushering everyone is as quickly as possible.
Casting Minor Illusion more or less randomly into the Hunger of Hadar spell. Hoping that this will distract the Queen.
Joren grunts in approval as Vilus, whatever he had been doing out there to the side of the chamber, now dashes past, scooping up two of the weakened captives. Hoping that the Gloazen Queen is too blinded by Malachi's (otherwise disturbing) magic to lash out opportunistically, Joren follows suit.
Moving southeast first to throw the last remaining living captive (Cap2) over his shoulder, he also dashes south out of the room. Dropping the captive back on their feet at the end, Joren turns and draws his Dunamis Blade once more, summoning his echo 30' north of himself, in the south end of the chamber.
The echo stands, an obvious target in case Samir's Minor Illusion does not draw the Gloazen Queen's attention.
His companions seem to have the idea now, but he reinforces it with a battlefield shout. "Everyone moving out! Double-time! Behind the bottleneck."
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
More pops and squeals emerge from the darkness as other gloazworm larvae presumably perish in the inky black. The Queen lashes out at the sound near her but strikes nothing but air once more. Furious, she bulls ahead, emerging from the void and heading toward the party at a tremendous pace. The moment after Joren gets through the hole and summons his echo, he sees the queen ram her head into the door. The stone cracks, but holds for now. She rears back, preparing to strike it again.
Everyone is back in the entry hall now. Their broken cart still sits awkwardly atop the rails, blocking the way of the three carts the cultists had used to get here. On the other side of the large stone door, 8 more Gloazworm larvae drop down onto the ground.
Malachi pushes down the hall toward the remaining minecarts and their only means of escape from the creature. “Help me move this out of the way!” He leans his thin frame against the broken mine cart that had carried them there, trying to clear the tracks. His rising fear from the presence of the gloazworm queen gave him a burst of strength, but he looked desperately at his friends for help. “We can use the other carts to make our way back to the surface!”
Vilus focuses on a point of the ceiling just above the massive insectoids body and unleashes a clattering boom of arcane energy, hoping to catch both the queen and the stone work above her in a thundering Shatter spell.
He then rushes over to Malachi and prepares to help move the useless cart off the track, "Got it, get ready to push!"
(Action shatter, DC 14 con save for 21 thunder dam, half on success.
Movement, to Malachi)
The door holds fast against Vilus' magic, but the ceiling above the Queen is not so sturdy. Through the hole in the door, Vilus sees large chunks of stone falling to the ground, some striking the Queen's head on the way down. Then with the crash of their impact, a large cloud of dust rolls through the opening.
(Queen took a bit of extra damage there, and her DC for breaking down the door has gone up by +1)
Realizing that the secret to this heart of fire cannot be figured out in the heat of the situation, Ashley runs back up where Vilus was and seeing the Queen through the hole in the door, she casts bane upon it. She then uses the rest of her movement to run as far as she can towards the carts.
CHA save of 15
Malachi gets enough force behind his shoulder to knock the lopsided cart off the tracks and then tip the rest of the way out of the path of the other carts
As Ashley concentrates on the Gloazworm Queen, she gets a sense of satisfaction when she feels it's luck twist. (Bane takes effect)
Then she sees several pale wriggling forms squirming out from under the rubble behind the hole in the door. Moving slower on solid ground than within the waxy goo of the previous chamber, they crawl forward,
They tense up and lunge, all at the same time. 2 at Samir, and 2 at Joren. But they struggle to adapt to the dusty floor, each flopping harmlessly a few feet. One seems to roll onto what may be its back and tries to right itself to no avail.
(1 and 2 have bane and leapt at Samir. 3 and 4 leapt at Joren. 4 is incapacitated for the next round)
Joren, unable to keep his echo out of the way of the falling masonry from Vilus' shattering magic, readies his stance for the oncoming gloazworm larvae.
As the vile arthropods fail in their attacks against him and Samir, Joren lashes out in reaction (Sentinel) at one that attacked the half-orc (larva 1), pivoting to side-swipe it and slicing clean through its disgusting body.
Joren's Dunamis Blade Sentinel reaction attack to hit: 22
Joren's Dunamis Blade Sentinel reaction attack damage: 12 magical slashing
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
The squeak that escapes Samir as the masonry comes crashing down, is almost as undignified as the one that comes just shortly after as the larvae come leaping out at him. Ducking away, he manages to avoid the disgusting little things. Joren's blade lashes out, easily removing one of the creatures. A moment later, one of Samir's little discs chatters to the ground next to the one struggling to right itself. Immediately, a stream of blue fire jets upwards, hissing in its intensity as the half-orc himself begins making his hurriedly towards Malachi and the mining carts.
The worm hisses and writhes. It's skin shrivels and shrinks, and its innards burst out of one end like it is turning itself inside out (dead).
Seeing two of the larvae remaining, Joren first attempts to make quick work of them. Unfortunately, only one of his strikes is well-aimed.
Joren's Dunamis Blade attack 1 on larva 3 to hit: 20 (dirty)
Joren's Dunamis Blade attack 1 on larva 3 damage: 12 magical slashing
Joren's Dunamis Blade attack 2 on larva 2 to hit: 9
Joren's Dunamis Blade attack 2 on larva 2 damage: 12 magical slashing
Summoning and leaving his echo at his current position with a bonus action, Joren turns and retreats in the direction of the carts (taking a potential baned attack of opportunity from larva 2). As he goes, he attempts once more to hoist whichever captive is lagging the furthest behind on his shoulder (free action) and carry them the extra 30' before setting them down.
"Samir! Vilus! Or anyone who is knowing how... getting all of the magic carts ready to move please. Sooner the better!"
(Joren's reaction also resets).
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
One of the gloazworms leaps futilely at Joren's turned back, flopping back down to the ground beside the 2 freshly slain grubs Joren left behind.
Then comes an ominous tremble. The queen has rammed against the door again, and stone cracks. The door itself stays intact, but the stone all around it shatters. Slowly, the massive door starts to tilt, falling towards the adventurers and the captives alike.