Move 280: Meet the Grells
Tunnels--Midday, Day 25 (10 Marpenoth)The broken rock was very difficult to walk over. It was even sharper than it looked from the distance; a misstep was likely to result in the shards cutting through even the tough soles of boots. The group made their way carefully over the stuff, moving more slowly than before.
The tunnel they were in widened slightly in an area that was more like a bend than a small cave. It forked, with the wider branch leading to the north and the narrower to the east. From the group's current position, they could see that the east branch was another tunnel, but their line of sight was blocked for the northern branch.
This area was occupied by a many-tentacled creature floating near the ceiling, its body a mass of folded and wrinkled flesh. The front of the creature was identifiable only because of the presence of a sharp hooked beak. It gripped a spear with four of its tentacles. It did not seem any more surprised by the group's approach than they were by its presence, and it descended from the ceiling some as it flew toward them. A second creature of the same description flew into the area from the north tunnel.
Olaf let go of his sword as he paused in the line, leaving it hanging motionlessly in mid-air. He reached inside his tunic and pulled out a vial of water which he poped with a practiced movement of his thumb and quickly splashed some water onto the group. "Great Tyr, Bless our Righteous Struggle!" he called.
"Oh, gods," Jana muttered as the grell closed. She checked her footing as she drew her sword. "Let them come to us," she advised. She waited and when the first grell was in range, attacked the body with her sword.
"If you say so," Arachne's voice muttered. "Though why the Grells aren't thinking that theirs is also a righteous struggle is something I'll never figure out. Protecting home and hearth is -- never mind..." The illumination shifted in a direction which implied that a certain gnome might be trying to get out of people's way.
"Someone watch our flank," said Aloysius nervously. "Azrun, Echo, address the one in the rear. I'll attack the one in front." He began casting a spell.
Echo pushed back her cowl and began casting a spell.
Blacky nodded at Jana'a command and made sure he knew where his feet were placed in relation to the sharp stuff as well. He readied his axe and struck at the first tentacle to come in range.
Azrun nodded, "I'm on it" He turned and began casting.
Olaf cast a spell, resulting in a feeling of comfortable confidence in the outcome of the fight. His sword hung in the air in front of him, unsupported by anything as he cast. Aloysius stepped forward slightly to begin casting,
but as the grell swooped down on Jana and Blacky, he stopped. Echo and Azrun both targeted the second grell with magic missiles. A total of five missiles struck the creature, leaving it looking a little worse for the wear.Grells were apparently not the most graceful of flyers, if the one dropping on Blacky and Jana was any example. It zigged when it should have zagged as it tried to slap Blacky with a tentacle, managing to make itself unsteady enough that it couldn't attack again. Blacky hit the offending tentacle, which then hung uselessly under the flying monster. Jana swung her sword at its fleshy body, but it swerved just enough to avoid being cut.
The second grell flew around its companion and over the heads of the front line fighters to drop in the midst of the spellcasters who had just caused it a considerable amount of pain.
Olaf grabbed his sword from the air and launched himself at the grell among the other spellcasters, calling "For Tyr!"
Azrun shouted to Echo, "Echo, help the front group me and Olaf have this one!" Azrun stepped back a step and then cast another spell.
"Dammit," Jana muttered as she whiffed. She swung twice more at the grell's body.
Amid an awful lot of noise (shouting, clattering weapons, spellsinging, whatever sounds injured grells make) the halo of illumination that everyone knew surrounded invisible Arachne and her light stone drifted back toward the corridor by which the party had arrived.
"Damn!" cursed Aloysius under his breath as he turned to address the grell that was attacking the spell casters.
Echo gave the second grell a worried look and began casting again.
"The tunnel to the north looks to open into a cave," Renn said loudly. "Lighting is poor, but I don't believe I see any Grell, and the floor is solid, normal rock... none of these jagged rocks."
Happy with the effect of his last attack, Blacky targeted a couple more tenticles to disable with his axe.
Arachne's little light moved down the tunnel the group had just come down, away from the melee, as the fighting continued. The grell that descended on the spellcasters was immediately met by Olaf and his silent sword, the old priest slicing into the creature with his blade. Azrun, true to his word that he and Olaf could take care of this grell, finished it off with a handful of magic missiles. The grell fell to the cavern floor in a tentacled heap, the impact with the sharp rocks damaging it body even more.
Echo hit the grell fighting Blacky and Jana with two magic missiles of her own. Blacky attacked more tentacles, this time cleaving one off completely as well as disabling another. Jana's bastard sword squished into the folds of the monster's body as it turned on Blacky with its spear, poking him with the spear point which jolted him with a short crackle of energy from the weapon. It also slapped at Blacky with two of its remaining functional tentacles and at Jana with the last, but all three missed. Aloysius moved into a new position and burned the grell with a fan of flames emanating from his hands. The grell cheeped and squawked now, but as Jana sliced into it once more, it too fell to the cavern floor.
"Well, that smarts." Blacky said matter of factly as he rubbed the spot where the spear had hit him then noticing that his hair was standing on end. "Doesn't do much for your hair either, but it might be useful." He carefully examined the spear the grell had hit him with.
Aloysius glanced down at the dead grell before redirecting his attention towards the passages ahead. "No doubt they saw our light and will be ready for us," he said quietly.
"What sort of magical firepower do we have left?" Jana asked, staring at the body in front of her. "Gods, that's gross," she mumbled.
"I've used but one spell," replied Aloysius, "and we still have the wand if need be. If you think it appropriate, Stargazer would like to move to the front as he has a spell he'd like to try on the next grell. Due to their method of approach, our order wouldn't seem as critical as usual."
"I've got one magic missile spell left," Echo replied.
Azrun looked about before replying, "I have one more magic missile and 2 web spells left." He kept looking around expecting more to come out.
"Are we staying here or moving on?" Echo asked.
Once the relative quiet of postcombat discussion had replaced the general brouhaha of melee, Arachne's little light returned to the group. "Nothing to report from those two side tunnels," the gnome's voice said. "That _was_ the flank you wanted watched, right?"
"I think we should put a scout forward again.' Olaf says quietly. "Not real far, just about 100' or so. Within easy hearing range, yet at the edge of our light source. If invisible, and able to see in the dark, the danger would be minimal, and we would be within easy reach at a shout for aid. Future ambushes like this could be very
dangerous."Arachne was very quiet during the scouting discussion, except for one very softly muttered, "Oops," as well as asking, "This was an _ambush_?" when Olaf so characterized the grells' attack. Her halo of light moved close to Renn's gear while he was working on Blacky, hovering there quietly.
"And fatal for the scout. No," Jana said flatly. "These creatures attack from above and their touch can freeze you in your tracks. A scout would be helpless. Anyone who went off alone would be lunch before the rest of us got there. Staying together, so anyone who gets hit by these things, is our only hope." She looked around to see what the others thought of the two options.
Azrun looked around again, "Although your plan has merit, Olaf. I think staying together is best too. We're not going to catch them by surprise no matter what at this point. We make too much noise. Perhaps now Arachne can sniff these things out for us and we'll be a little forewarned. I don't guess anyone has a spell that could protect our front people from electricity do they?"
He waited for an answer before looking at the rod the grell had, "Could I look at this for a moment? Maybe I can figure out how it works."
"Oh." The gnome's one word sounded as if Azrun had just answered a question she'd been about to ask.
"I don't.”
One of the grell spears rose up from the rocky floor and twirled around. "I'd be interested in hearing anything you could learn about these things Azrun," Renn said as the spear lowered and then rested on the floor again.
"Blacky, rest a bit, I'd like to take a look at your wounds. Even though they're not that bad, we might as well get you taken care of while we have the opportunity," Renn's voice continued as the sound drew closer the the injured warrior. A somewhat eerie scene unfolded as a roll of the gauze and the linen Renn uses as a compress appeared and worked themselves around Blacky's wounds. A light clucking sound came from near Blacky as the completed bandage work was checked for it's strength.
"That should help," Renn said cheerfully, then began to pray over Blacky's wounds.
"Thanks, hope you don't mind the burnt chicken smell." Blacky laughed "Anyone have any idea what made the floor like this. The grell either did it to slow down their opponents or they picked this area to lair for the same reason. If they created this floor we may have some substantial magic to deal with." He finished
looking at the floor closely.The group heard Renn chanting as Blacky's wounds healed completely.
"Not I," Renn said. "Apart from my paralysis cures' and other healing spells, I've but a prayer of sixth sense, silence, strength, and faerie fire.
"As it seems we've reached the grell's territory, sticking together appears to be the safest route...we don't know if these creatures can sense those who can't be seen," the elf's voice finished.
"Nothing for sparks, no," Arachne's voice admitted.
Olaf shook his head, "No, I'm afraid not."
Azrun shrugged his shoulders, "Eh, it was worth asking."
Aloysius folded his arms and looked around the ceiling of the area. "Know do they that we are here, and since they be intelligent, they have likely arranged a trap of some sort. If we scout not in some manner, we shall simply walk right into whate'er it is they have in store for us. Stargazer likes not the notion of sending anyone ahead alone, but neither is he fond of traversing dank underground tunnels infested with monsters intent on devouring his flesh. Nonetheless, both are tasks which need be done."
Echo sighed, "We don't have anyone invisible who can scout. Renn is our defense against their paralysis and Arachne shouldn't go alone. That leaves me, and I don't have an invisibility spell for myself. Do you have one?" she asked Aloysius. "I also don't think I can use the boots on this rock. I doubt running on it
at all would be a good idea. I think staying together is best, but if the rest of you think we need a scout, I'll do it.""Stargazer can attempt such a spell," replied the mage. "Perhaps Echo and Rennirolas could go," he suggested. "Would that I could see in the darkness so I could go myself."
Azrun looked puzzled for a moment, "Why not scout until we get to darkness? We can see ok with this glowing moss. Of course the razor rock would slow down their escape from anythign that could float and was trying to eat them. Oh, and let me point out that some critters can tunnel through rock and stuff, so there's that also."
"I know there's the saying "Forewarned is forearmed". Well, here's another one, "There's safety in numbers." You guys are talking about sending our healers and wizards up there into who knows what. Along with the little gnome who can get our butts out of here. The fighters make too much noise. That leaves me......and I'm not doing it either. We had a plan coming into this, which was stick together. So far it's worked. Let's keep going with it" He inhaled a breath before he turned blue and waited for the others to get moving again.
"There's no reason an invisible scout would be attacked by the creatures. But it is dangerous, and I am unsuited to do it myself, since I can't see in the dark. So, if folks don't want to do it. I understand." Olaf answered.
"You make it sound like a matter of courage, Olaf," Jana complained. "It's not. It's just a matter of not being stupid. Gods above and below, we're in the damned Underdark, as in 'dark.' The creatures down here don't have to see someone to know they're there. They can hear us and smell us. While someone like Echo might be hard to see or hear, I'm sure not betting her life those grell things couldn't tell she was there just as plain as day! And have you noticed the floor here? If she got into trouble, she couldn't run. It's suicide to send a scout right now. Not to mention the obvious tactical need for having us all together in case some of us get paralyzed. Besides, it's not even dark here! So unless you're prepared to run ahead and get your own ass eaten, don't go inferring that anyone else is lacking in courage or willingness."
Jana growled in frustration. "So we're all moving forward and we're staying together. Those two weren't really all that tough once you get past their tentacles, so let's try to hit any more we see with arrows first. Maybe if there's a bunch close together, we can catch 'em in that web spell and set 'em on fire. Except we'll need to try to anchor the web or they could just float into us, all burning and stuff."
Aloysius pulled a vial from his robe. "Now is as good a time as any for this, I suppose," he said. "As we are relatively certain that we shall be engaging in combat soon, and that the grell are evilly disposed, perhaps Stargazer should invoke an aura of defense against them? It will provide some, although not total, protection and will last for about the next 10 minutes."
Looking at Jana, he added, "If you think this is wise, I shall need a moment to draw the inscription on the floor for the spell. The range afforded is 10' from the person the spell is centered 'pon. I can cast it twice, which may well serve to cover most of the party."
Azrun scratched his head, "Umm...Aloysius, maybe you should wait until we know we're going to be in a fight. No sense in wasting spell components or spells at the point. We're not sure if there are anymore."
Olaf listened to Jana's long speech quietly. "It is not a matter of courage, but it is not as stupid an idea as you suggest, nor is it suicide for the scout. But, reasonable people can disagree on this. Since my idea _does_ require that someone accept some additional risk, and I can't do it myself, I more then understand if folk's don't wish to do it. No one here is even remotely a coward, and I'm sorry my comment implied otherwise. It was a suggestion, that's all.""There are more," said Aloysius confidently. "When Carmeneren warned us to beware of the grell, she meant more than those two, I am certain. Besides, I am not really wasting spells. If I don't use these, then they are wasted."
"Janathell, if you think it imprudent, I will abstain. If not, tell me who I should cast the spells upon."
Azrun turned to Aloysius, "Didn't you say the spell only lasted 10 minutes? At the rate we're going, we won't be back out in the tunnel in 10 minutes. I'm just saying we should hold off on it until we know we're going to need it."
"Does that spell stop if you hit someone, like that invisibilty spell? If it does," Jana speculates, "it won't be much good to us. But you know more about magic stuff than I do, so whatever you think is best."
"No, it will continue for about 10 minutes regardless," replied Aloysius. "My suggestion was made on the assumption that we are moving forward. If we aren't, I will withhold the spells."
"Oh yes I am," Arachne's voice said. "That's pretty obvious, at least to me it is. I'm not worth shucks in a fight -- I can't hit the broad side of a barn door with my sling or knife because I'm too scared what the barn door's going to do to me after I get it mad. I'm only too happy to get the heck -- to skulk the heck -- out of the way when enemies turn up. I mean, I feel _guilty_ being invisible and just lying low while the weapons fly and the wounds bleed, but that doesn't mean I won't go back to Echo the next day when the spell wears off. Of course I'm a coward."
"So... Um..." The gnome's voice was clearly reluctant. "If you want me to take my halo and go a ways -- a _hundred_ paces?" Panic edged closer to her voice. "-- forward. I guess I could do that..."
Olaf smiled in Arachne's direction. "Only fools and the mad are not afraid, Arachne. It takes great bravery to do this, to come here and risk one's life as you do to help others. Do not belittle yourself. You are one of the bravest people I've ever known. I've met many tall, strong sellswords in my day, and most of them were not fit to polish your boots. And we have decided the scout position is too dangerous."
There was a scraping of a gnomish boot on the ground. "All right," Arachne's voice said softly. She sounded relieved.
Azrun examined the grell's weapon for a bit as the other discussed plans. After a few minutes, he smiled, "I think I figured it out. It's a force of will thing..YOu concentraet and think about it sparking and it does. But it only works so many times. It's like that wand I think." He smiled proudly as he looked at the weapon, "Oh, who wants to use it?"
"Interesting," mused Aloysius. "But we should keep in mind that the grell are impervious to electricity. No doubt a function of the fact that they live their lives in an ungrounded state."
Echo suggested, "Blacky and Jana are going to be most likely to hit something with them."
"Yeah," Jana said, "but I don't think they'll work on these grell things and I don't want to not be able to use my sword 'cuz I'm carrying a zap-spear, so we may need to leave 'em behind."
"I can strap one to my back." Olaf said, "Though I cannot use one."
Azrun nodded, "I think we should keep one just in case."
"This is probably the razor rock that Carmeneren told us about," Echo said. "I guess it either occurs naturally or something else made it but I don't think it was the grell."
Echo twisted the tail of her cloak nervously. "If we don't move somewhere, forward or back, soon, we are going to be fighting again right here. Let's cast what we're going to cast and move."
"Well, it would seem we are intent 'pon moving ahead," said Aloysius. He took the vial he was holding and walked in a circle, carefully pouring some of the powder in the vial on the floor. He took care not to injure himself on the sharp rocks.
"There, I propose to cast these on either Eric or Janathell, and then on someone towards the back of the group. The radii of the two spells should then cover most of the party. Who shall receive these spells? Once they are cast, we must move ahead immediately so the spells will still be functioning if more grell lurk nearby."
Azrun shrugged again, "You can cast it on me, Aloysius. I'm in the back."
Arachne's halo approached the spear that Olaf didn't take. "Since they apparently don't last forever," her voice suggested softly. "We might want as many zaps from the things as we can get." There was a pause while, presumably, the invisible gnome attempted to make the spear disappear.
"Go ahead and cast it on me. I can use all the protection I can get." Blacky said to Aloysius. "I'll definitely want to check out one of those spears when we rest. I'm sure something else down here will feel their sting, if not the grell. Azrun do you have to be holding it to invoke the 'spark' or can they be thrown as well?"
Aloysius cast his spells on Azrun and Blacky. "Let's move now," he implored.
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