Move 236: Rude Awakenings
Tunnels--Second Watch, Day 12Everyone settled down to try to get another uncomfortable night's rest. The watches began, and those not watching did what they could to rest on the rocky, cold floor.
During second watch, Jana and Arachne began going from person to person, quickly waking them from an already restless sleep. They could all hear noises coming from down the tunnel, from the direction of the troll caves. It sounded like a large group and it was rapidly approaching the camp.
Blacky quickly began putting his armor on.
"Aloysius, how large is that pit of yours?" Blacky asked, struggling to get into his armor.
"Anybody got any spells that might help?" Jana asked. "I'm hurt pretty bad still and so's everyone good with a sword, so we can't stand and fight. If you've got any brilliant ideas, now's the time."
"I'll try to bend Corellon's will to me in the form of a healing spell," Rennirolas offered. He spoke hurriedly in his excitement, "Apart from that, I have a spell that will summon a globe of darkness, two silencing spells, and a boon that will limn whom I choose in a fae light. And from scrolls we'd recovered before, I have one spell that will give a small vitality boost to one person, and a spell that will raise our spirits while hindering those of our foes for the duration of my chanting."
Renn gave a small grin, "Unfortunately not much, but perhaps with Aloysius' pit and my darkness we could make fast our escape, and perhaps using more of our oil to create a fiery blockade would slow down the trolls even more, til a defensible position could be found?"
Rennirolas began to chant an elvish prayer, in beseeching tones. He winced at the completion, and shook his head. "I'm afraid I could not draw my lord's attention to myself," he said quietly.
Olaf quickly stood and pulled his chain over his shoulders. He then pulled two vials from a pouch and handed one each to Jana and Daelen, "We need you two at full strength."
After they took the vials Olaf said, "We need someone to stay behind and slow them down. I will do that. I have a couple spells left that will be especially useful in annoying trolls." He turned to Renn and handed him his sword, "This is Susk, the Silent Sword. Will you make certain it is returned to a Temple of Tyr, and that my passing is reported?"
Renn took the scabbarded sword in his right hand, and latched on to Olaf's wrist with his left before the Holy Justice could release the blade. "I don't think it's the time for personal sacrifice just yet good Olaf," Renn smiled pleasantly. "Though should you fall I will do all in my power to return Susk to your brethren."
Daelen accepted the potion with a shrug but looked slightly surprised at
Olaf's offer."There's no point in throwing away your life, old man, none of us could hold them back long enough to make much difference. Don't worry, there'll be plenty of opportunity to get yourself killed in the future. Besides, if we flee we'll simply lead them back toward the gnomes." he said as he put on his armor.
"For once I agree with Jana, we can't just stand and fight, we'll have to get creative. I suggest we move this battle to somewhere narrow enough that Aloysius's pit will be an effective barrier instead of a hazard."
"An illusion -- especially one with sounds or smells -- might buy you time to withdraw," Arachne said quickly. "Speaking of withdrawing," she added, "if you want to run for it, that's all right with me. I won't be able to keep up, but if I just have myself to worry about, I might be able to come up with some other way to avoid them."
"I'm afraid I have no useful incantations available at the moment," said Aloysius. "The pit is 10 X 10 X 10. I doubt it would cause the trolls any measure of inconvenience."
He pulled a scroll case and a couple of flasks of oil out of his pack. "Janathell, tell me what you would have me do, and I'll do so. This scroll has an acid spell I could employ, but it will only be a minor hindrance."
As Aloysius organized his flasks and his scroll case, he added, "Oh. If we are going to stand and fight, I'll need a torch to light these oil bombs with."
Echo said, "I don't have any spells." She tried to assist Blacky getting into his armor while she asked Arachne, "Do you want the boots? If we have to run, you could keep up. I don't want to leave anyone."
As he dug through his pack, Aloysius became increasingly nervous about the sounds rising in the tunnel.
"Janathell, might I hazard a suggestion. If we are staying, I could place the pit in the middle of the tunnel. The fighters could kneel down so that myself, Echo, and Rennirolas could hit the trolls with flasks of oil as they approach. That would give us a first strike and perhaps enrage some of them enough to make them fall into the pit."
He looked at her skeptically. "After that . . . ." He shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm not adverse to retreating so long as Arachne can be accounted for."
"Or," added Aloysius, somewhat frantically, "better still - Echo, Olaf, and myself could throw oil over the kneeling fighters, and Rennirolas and Azrun could shoot arrows. That would maximize our first strike."
"Sorry," he apologized, "I'll try to be quiet now."
"I don't think an acid spell from a scroll is going to make a difference," Jana replied to Aloysius. She downed the potion Olaf handed her with a nod of thanks. "I don't really have any good ideas. Let's uncover and toss a few light stones and Aloysius can deploy his pit while their eyes are still adjusting. If anyone else has any good ideas, now's the time." Jana handed her muffled light stone to Arachne then moved to the front of the group, closest to the noises, and readied her sword and shield.
Aloysius prepared to place his pit in the middle of the tunnel, just in front of the front rank of fighters.
Aloysius knelt down on the tunnel floor about 10 feet from the wall. "I'm going to try and narrow the tunnel by 10 feet with the pit," he explained hurriedly. "That will give the fighters less space to defend. I'm putting it right in front of the front rank on that side," he added, indicating the side away from Blacky, Daelen and Jana.
His hand on the patch within his robe, he stared into the darkness and waited to act.
Azrun's eyes seemed to roll around in his head as he tried to force the open. Once he knew what was going on, he looked down at the place where Echo had sewn his shirt, "Damn, back for seconds already....What to I look like a Bard Buffet....geez!" He stood up and tried to find all of his stuff. He wobbled a little bit standing up, some from the wounds, some from being still asleep ," I don't reckon anyone has an illusion spell to put in the hall way to make it look sealed do they? If I wasn't afraid they'd tear it up I'd say we could stick the house in front of the tunnel, to block it."
Arachne looked at Jana for a decision.
"So I'm going to throw this stone at them when you say 'Now,'" the gnome said, after unwrapping the thing only enough to be sure she knew what Jana had given her. She re-wrapped it, then moved to a position at the back. Still keeping the stone covered, she loaded it into her sling.
Olaf replied, "I think the pit can make a big difference. I have a spell that will allow me to hurl small balls of fire, so I can easily ignite any spilled oil. If, for example, we poured some on the ground on the otherside of this pit, I could ignite the oil when they are walking through it."
Olaf looked rueful, "I suppose my standing alone as the real guard doesn't make as much sense as I thought. How long will this pit remain?"
"It's permanent," replied Aloysius without looking backwards. "Janathell, I'll open the pit when you tell Arachne to throw the light stone. Olaf, I have oil but no flame. Perhaps you can use your spell on the ones I can hopefully douse."
"Yeah," Jana agreed, "let's use the pit to limit their access. As much as possible, anyway. Can anyone see anything?"
Everyone hurriedly got on their feet, the chaos of the situation falling into some kind of practical order as precious time ticked away. Jana and Daelen downed potions given to them by Olaf. Both Daelen and Olaf struggled into their armor while Echo assisted Blacky into his.
As the noises got louder and closer and the arrival of the other group seemed imminent, Aloysius pulled a patch off his robe, creating a pit on one side of the tunnel. The fighters tried to block off the remaining width of the tunnel. Arachne slung a light stone down the tunnel, revealing that these were not trolls but rather something they had yet to see down here. This was a group of man sized reptilian-like humanoids, roughly the color of the surrounding rock in the tunnels. The ones leading hurled javelins into the group about the time that the light stone landed among them.
Blacky, Daelen, and Jana were all hit with javelins, as were Azrun and Renn. The other missile weapons clattered harmlessly onto the cavern floor, one or two even falling into the pit. The lizardlike creatures blinked against the light and rushed foward anyway, emitting a foul stench that caused everyone to gag and struggle for breath. One of them blindly stumbled into the pit, but the others seemed able to avoid it.
The creatures leading the charge had fin-like crests on their heads that went down their backs, but some of the ones farther back did not. Several of them seemed to be carrying various bits of equipment, and a few of the creatures were considerably smaller than the others. All of them looked emaciated, and they wielded no weapons now that they had thrown their javelins, although they seemed intent on attacking anyway.
"Great, a bunch of stinking, starving lizards. Just what we need."
Blacky tossed the javelin aside and prepared to meet their charge.Trying not to puke, Aloysius attempted to invoke the magic of his boots by saying, "Inseridek".
The sling was in her hand and targets had presented themselves.
Arachne attempted to take a shot at them.Echo positioned herself on the side of the tunnel with the pit. She took a shot with her crossbow into the group of lizards behind the ones charging the fighters.
Renn kept his bow in hand as he tried to find a way to take a shot at one of the lizard creatures.
Jana took an involuntary step back, gagging and retching. "Dammit!" she choked out, then regained her ground. She took a swing at the nearest lizard creature, not putting nearly as much muscle behind it as she usually did. She continued muttering "dammits" between gagging and broke out into a cold sweat.
Everyone in the party except Azrun, Daelen, and Renn was nearly overcome by the stench now surrounding them. Some of them actually retched, while others gagged and broke out into a cold sweat as they countered the attack in the tunnel. Aloysius activated his boots and began to float up towards the ceiling.
The reptilian creatures pushed forward, although only three of them had enough room in the partially blocked tunnel to engage the fighters. One of them, the one that moved after Daelen, was somewhat larger than the other two. Blacky and Jana dropped two of them in one blow, even though they were obviously sick and weak from the smell; it seemed that most of the nearly starved lizardlike things were no match for the party. The one on Daelen proved somewhat tougher, looking only badly injured from the sword wound it took.
Arachne, Azrun, Echo, and Renn arranged themselves in front of the pit to fire missiles at the back ranks of the lizards. Two more of them fell from arrows, crossbow bolts, and/or sling stones as they looked at them across the pit.
More lizards filled the hole that their fallen comrades had left; these were cut down with as little effort as the others. They were almost completely unable to penetrate the armor worn by the fighters. One of them bit Jana on the wrist before it died, and the larger one scratched Daelen across the face. Both injuries seemed minor, especially compared to the wounds that both fighters still sported from the trolls. Two more lizards farther back in the tunnel fell to missile fire, even though they seemed to be trying to get out of the way now. The larger one fighting Daelen fell as well, sending what sounded like a cry of general panic through the remaining lizard men.
In only a couple of minutes, barely the amount of time it had taken Aloysius to reach the tunnel ceiling, the group had taken out ten of the smelly creatures. As the noises they were making rose in pitch and volume, the ones now faced with the deadly fighters blocking their way seemed to give up on the idea of clawing and biting. They changed their tactic to attempting to get past them, shouldering and pushing to clear the path. The ones behind them pushed forward too, looking panicked enough that it was uncertain whether they would trample each other, or anyone else in their way, in their attempt to get by.
Used to working around the stench of unwashed dock workers and rotting fish heads, Daelen wrinkled his nose in disgust but didn't seem otherwise affected by the wretched body odor of these creatures.
"I almost wish it were the trolls..." he grumbled as he saw their numbers, then met the charge of one of the crested leaders with a vicious overhead slash from his burning sword.
"Back you stinking worm!" Daelen said, shoving with his shield and bashing with the flat of his fiery blade at the incoming lizards.
"Jana, should we let them past?" Blacky asked as he tried to hold the line against the lizards.
"They look scared, but I'm not sure it's of us..." the blond warrior commented, adding his own though to Blacky's question, "Maybe we should be running too."
Jana had trouble speaking, what with being busy gagging and all. "Let a couple past, Daelen" she choked out between gags and swings. "If they run, we might oughta join them. Renn, you and Azrun make sure they don't hurt anyone."
Arachne ceased slinging stones. She glanced behind herself to check the location of her pack and the likely flight route (if that was the next order), then resumed watching the lizard people. She gave no explanation; the area was already pretty noisy.
Aloysius began to float back towards the floor, but kept himself above the level that the lizardmen would be able to reach him. "W-what . . . . about . . . the gnomes?" he called as best he could inbetween gags.
Echo put another bolt in her crossbow but did not fire it. She watched the fleeing creatures to see if they would run or not.
Renn nodded and drew his longsword, he watched the lizard creatures as they passed, and if they attacked anyone, he retaliated. "Perhaps that troll that ran encountered the lair of these creatures," he said sourly.
Olaf also allowed the creatures to pass, holding his sword ready.
"I'm sure the gnomes can handle a bunch of these things. If we weren't in such bad shape we could fight them in our sleep smell and all." Blacky commented up to Aloysius.
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