Move 237: The Lizard Things Flee
Tunnels--Day 12, Second WatchGiven an opening, the reptilian creatures wasted no time pushing through. The ones in front were immediately followed by the others. They bumped into people a few times as they rushed by, but they made no further move to attack, only seeming interested in getting down the tunnel. The smelly things trampled across blankets and backpacks, and soon, they were all gone, leaving their stench, the bodies of their fallen, and the mess they made out of the camp in their wake.
"Still," Daelen said as he sheathed his sword and took out his light stone to illuminate the faces of the fallen, "This isn't the kind of surprise we should give to our allies. Besides, if something is coming it might stop to feed on these things..." he wringkled his nose in disgust again, "as doubtful as that might seem. It might give us time to get away."
"Let's see if anything useful came from this carnage..." Despite the stench, Daelen began examining the bodies, especialy the large one he had slain, for anything of value, then went and looked into the pit to see if any of the creatures had survived the fall.
Aloysius lowered himself the rest of the way to the tunnel floor. He held his hands over his face in an effort to ease the effects of the smell. The frail mage was having difficulty even standing up on his own.
"What now?" he asked weakly, before flopping down on the floor. Trying to crawl in the opposite direction of the lizardmen, he mumbled, "N-need . . .some air . . ."
Echo held her hand over her mouth and nose, trying not to vomit. She leaned against the tunnel wall. Through her fingers, she asked Jana, "Do you want me to go see if I can hear anything else coming? I'll just go down the tunnel a little ways."
"Aloysius," Jana asked, still choking, "is that pit of yours here forever?" Jana replied to Echo, "You got those boots on still? So long's you can move fast, yeah, be good to know if something was chasing them this far." She turned to Renn. "We might be coming back down this way. I need you to take a knife and mark both side of this pit and a ways up the tunnel each direction so we won't fall into it ourselves."
Still crawling in search of a decent breath, Aloysius nodded affirmatively.
Olaf said, "Those were trogladytes, subterranean lizardmen. They have, as you smelled, a distinct overpowering stench. Usually they are on top of the food chain. In this case, considering their condition, they were most likely slaves or prisoners, quite possibly slaves or prisoners of the trolls. Though it is possible that someone drove them forward to weaken us before they attack us."
"Likely the trolls sent them after us, not wanting to incur more casualties of their own. Which means that they are weakened and afraid. The other possibility is that the trolls no longer had the strength to hold them as prisoners and they escaped. Either way we should be able to overcome them with another foray once we ourselves are recovered." Blacky surmised.
"I doubt the trolls are that clever or cowardly," Daelen offered, "instead of speculating, could you help me search? I don't want to be at this any longer than necessary... Olaf, you seem to know about these troglodites, isn't there anything you can do to help the afflicted?"
"I've got the boots," Echo nodded. She went down the tunnel the way the lizards came from.
"And I the knife," Renn added, as he drew his belt knife and headed up the tunnel in the direction the troglodytes ran. He walked til out of sight of the pit, then knelt and began to scrape a thick line across the floor. After a pause, he worked at a number of elvish runes on the floor as well, then returned to the gathered group.
He covered his nose and looked even paler than usual at the stench, but said, "marked the line, and also added some warning runes." Renn tried breathing as shallowly as possible and still grimaced at the smell. "I'll go get the other side of the pit now," he said with some cheer, glad to be quit of the reek surrounding the camp and pit.
Echo headed down the tunnel. Daelen searched the smelly lizard bodies, finding absolutely nothing other than a beat-up pair of gold bracers set with bloodstones on the larger one that he had fought and the javelins that were scattered all over the camp. The creature that had fallen in the pit lay unmoving at the bottom of it.
The strong smell started to subside, and everyone stopped gagging and began to feel better. Unfortunately, the odor had permeated their clothing and belongings in the camp, a lingering reminder of the creatures that just went through.
A few minutes later, Echo returned, reporting that she had heard nothing else coming down the tunnel.
Aloysius finally had the strength to stand up. He looked at the bracers that Daelen had retrieved. "Daelen, I do have a spell for the detection of magic if you'd like for me to examine those."
"If you wish," Daelen shrugged and handed the bracers to the mage, "I had planned to keep them but if they carry an enchantment they might serve you better – though I fear they did little to help our scaly friend."
"And by this we are reminded of the old advice that it is unwise to camp in the middle of the road," Arachne observed. "Nice to know that we're really not all that bloodthirsty, in spite of what the trolls may think by now," she added softly to herself. "First excuse our leader gives us and everybody's willing to stop the slaughtering." She smiled, then added, "Aside from the nausea, did they manage to hurt _anyone_?"
"Just a scratch from the javelin here. Want to put that pit to good use and dump the bodies in. We obviously aren't staying here anymore with this stench around, I suggest we head back to our other camp site now that we all can walk." Blacky said.
When Echo got back, she told Jana, "I don't hear anything but the noise we're making. Are we staying here or moving?"
"Let's move back further," Jana said. "We can shove the bodies into the pit. We need to move carefully, though, since those smelly things know we're here. If you guys can think of anything to do to keep us from loosing our lunch if we come on 'em again, speak up."
"They'll probably start smelling better once they start rotting." Daelen commented as he shoved one of the corpses into the pit with the heel of his boot. "I suppose we could torch them."
"We can't waste any oil on 'em," Jana replied. "You can see if they'll catch on their own if you want. If you do, then let's get moving, so we're out of the smoke."
With a shrug, Daelen attempted to light one of the troglodites with his sword before pushing it into the pit.
"We need to get as far away from here as possible," suggested Aloysius. "While we find this smell revolting, there may be other denizens of this dark world who find it appetizing. They'll be drawn by the smell. We may also want to consider making efforts to reduce our light and noise. Even if the troll forces are seriously depelted, which we can't be sure of, there is little point in providing them with information as to our constant whereabouts."
He did whatever he could do to help dispose of the troglodyte bodies.
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