Move 290:  Last Grell Standing

Last Grell Standing

Grell Nest--Early, Day 26 (Marpenoth 11)

Renn called for Jana's help with the tentacle on Blacky. She went after it, getting rid of the thing before it could do any more damage to the already badly damaged Blacky. With the tentacle out of the way, Renn quickly took stock of the situation and determined that a healing spell, rather than bandaging, was the only thing likely to help.

Aloysius stepped forward out of the darkness the grell had cast on him. The
mage used the wand to call another ice storm into being above the pillar, raining more hail stones on the monster. The grell did nothing in response.

Another glowing portal appeared in front of the webs, near where Renn had left Echo. The single remaining black tentacle kept up with its flailing in front of the first doorway.

"Now you die, monster!" called Aloysius as he moved up a short ways towards the grell. He once again pointed the wand in its direction.

Jana ran to attack the tentacle near the portal.

Renn gave Jana a grateful smile after he finished casting the healing prayer on Blacky. "My martial skills aren't the equal of you warrior types," he grinned as he pushed himself to his feet, then hurried to check on Azrun and Olaf. He began to bandage the worse off of the two.

Jana ran over and eliminated the tentacle in front of the first portal.  Renn had to pick between who to check on first, as both Olaf and Azrun looked terrible. He moved to Azrun's side, discovering that the bard had evidence of serious internal injuries from the tentacle constriction and also needed a healing prayer posthaste to stay alive.

Aloysius pointed the wand at the giant monstrosity on the pillar. Nothing happened. The grell continued to sit there.

Echo's unconscious body began inching ever so slowly in the direction of the portal in front of the webs.

Jana rushed toward Echo. "Arachne?" she said, waiting for confirmation before sheathing her sword. Her hands free, she grabbed Echo. "Can I just push her through, or do I need to carry her and come back for the next one?"

With Azrun no longer in danger of dying, Renn hurried to Olaf to check his condition. He used his final healing prayer if that was needed, otherwise Renn used his medical skills to keep Olaf from slipping away further.

Aloysius looked at the wand and frowned. Once again, he pointed it at the big grell.

Again, Aloysius pointed the wand at the giant grell. Again, nothing happened.

Renn ran over to check on Olaf and began patching up the wounded priest.

Arachne confirmed, very quietly, that she was back in the cavern and that just pushing people through the door might be harmful to them. Jana picked Echo up and walked through the door. The portal that Jana went through disappeared behind her.

Renn chewed at his bottom lip, then began a chant over Olaf.

After Renn finished with Olaf, Aloysius spoke to him in elvish. "I believe the large grell is out of useful magics, Rennirolas. It is my further opinion that it cannot move, or it would have already. The wand is out of charges, and I have no way to injure the beast. Perhaps, once your work with the wounded is done, you could employ your bow to finish that awful creature once and for all, while we have the
opportunity. I shall watch the northern passage for you."

Aloysius moved to the northern passage.

"Um, Aloysius, could you help me get the injured out of here while you're watching that passage?" a small, gnomish voice asked from pretty nearly under his feet. "It's best to move them through the door quickly -- in one rushed motion, you know -- and I can't manage that by myself.  I wasn't doing very well with Echo and these guys each weigh a lot more than her. And keeping that thing open is draining me when there's an awful lot of patching up to do, so I'm sort of in a hurry..."

Aloysius looked in the direction from where Arachne's voice had come. "I knew not that you were still here, small one," he said. "I'm not sure I'll be very useful in moving them. I am loathe to leave anyone alone here, lest there be other grell about."

He fretted for a very short time before going over to where Azrun was. "Afraid am I that I'll be able to drag him at best," he said as he grabbed the bard under the arms. "Perhaps between the two of us we can get him through without causing further injury."

The mage waited for Arachne's help before trying to get Azrun through the portal.

"You must be a mind reader Aloysius," Renn replied in elvish as he smiled grimly, "as that was exactly what I'd planned on doing. Not sure if those small grell that flew off through the north passage can do much of anything, but be careful."

Renn cast a healing prayer on Olaf. Aloysius drug Azrun across the broken rocks of the cavern floor that had grown the black tentacles.

Aloysius and invisible Arachne tried to arrange Azrun in a manner that they could get him through the portal without hurting him any more. Even with the two of them, they were struggling with the bard's weight, and it was looking doubtful that they could get him through the doorway quickly. Jana walked back through without Echo. She stood in front of the portal looking dazed for a few moments. Renn fired his bow at the big grell. His first shot flew wide of the large stationary target. On his second shot, he broke his bowstring.

Jana moved to grab Azrun. "Here," she said, handing Renn her bow. "Don't break it." She started back toward the portal as quickly as she could, carrying Azrun. "Arachne, you probably ought to come too."

"Yes, all right," Arachne's voice agreed. "There's, um, Blacky and Olaf to be collected also. And, um, I don't think I'd better try any spooky magic healing while we're depending on my door to stay in touch.  And the bandaging-work's all already been done so I'm not sure what use--" Her muttering was cut off abruptly, most likely because the unseen gnome had just crossed after Jana through the portal.

"Thanks Jana," Renn said as he tested the new bow. He laid a number of arrows before him and loosed a pair at the stationary grell.

"Rennirolas, try to fire from the creature's side," suggested Aloysius. "Methinks it hath erected a barrier of some sort that interferes with missiles employed against it from the front."

Jana carried Azrun through the portal. Arachne stopped talking or left the cavern with her, one or the other.

Aloysius continued to stand guard while Renn used Jana's short bow to fire arrows at the grell. Jana came back through again, taking about the same amount of time to regain her bearings as it had taken before. By that time, Renn had fired six arrows at the grell on the pillar, and none of them had found their mark.

"Damn," Jana commented upon seeing the big grell with no arrows in it, "And I thought I was a bad shot." She hurried to the closest body, picked him up and hurried back toward the portal.

"It's not the archer, it's the bow," Renn grinned through a grimace.

Aloysius frowned and shrugged his shoulders as Jana once again entered the portal to depart.

"Hmmmm....." he mused. "Methinks 'tis not likely thy marksmanship that is the culprit here, Rennirolas.  Perhaps the creature has warded itself somehow against missiles. That would be quite clever of it to such a thing, as we can't reach it from down here. If such a ward does exist, it cannot remain indefinitely."

He folded his arms and stared intently at the big grell for a moment. "Mayhap Janathell could employ one of the orcish long spears to dispatch the beast.  We could try oil, but we would have to throw whate'er contained the fuel, and the ward may likely protect it against that as well. A perplexing conundrum. Hast thou any suggestions friend Rennirolas?"

As soon as his last few words exited his mouth, the mage's face went white and he swallowed hard. He looked down at the ground and mumbled to himself.

"Jana may be right, it could just be that my aim is poor. I'm not quite used to a short bowstave... the pull is different from that of my longbow," Renn shrugged
as he took another pair of arrows from the pile before him. "But if this creature is warded against our arrows and the like, his protection must wear off soon," Renn added with a nod at Aloysius' point.  Rennirolas maneuvered towards the southern end of the cavern.

As Jana hurried to the portal, she said, "Aloysius, Renn, we're leaving.  Get Olaf and start dragging him to the portal. I'll be right back."

Rennirolas looked away from the grell and loosened the tension on Jana's bow. "What ails you Aloysius?" he asked.

"Certainly," Renn nodded as he swept his arrows up and put them back in his quiver. "Aloysius, lend what assistance you can if you please," the elf said as he hooked his arm's under the man's arms. "I feel weary as if mighty Shevarash has led me on a monthlong hunt for the spawn of Lloth," Renn smiled tiredly.

"Hmmm . . .?" said the mage distractedly. "No. I mean, nothing. Nothing ails me." He sighed. "I am . . . fine."

Aloysius did what he could to help get whomever's body that still needed moved moved to the edge of the portal.

"Methinks we should not just leave this grell here like this," he said. "We have an opportunity to rid the world of its blight, if only we are clever enough to think of a way to do so." He watched as Renn headed for the southern part of the cavern.

"Maybe if you positioned yourself more proximately to the target?" he suggested. "But not too close. It still has use of its tentacles, I suspect."

He watched the elf to see how the next round of arrows would perform.

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