Move 291: There Goes the Door
Grell Nest--Early, Day 26 (Marpenoth 11)Aloysius, Jana, and Renn tried to get the two large, heavily armored men to the doorway, but neither Blacky nor Olaf was light enough to be picked up, even by Jana. They dragged them as gently, and as quickly, as possible to the portal, but it disappeared before they could get either of them through.
The gigantic grell continued to sit on the pillar, not doing much of anything.
"Shit!" Jana said as the portal disappeared. She turned to Aloysius and asked, "Can you get us through these webs?"
"I could if I had a torch," replied Aloysius. "As could any of us." Turning towards the pillar, he asked, "What about that beast? Even if we could get out of this chamber, doubts have I that we could go far if anywhere at all. Methinks it unwise to leave the creature alive if we can find some way to slay it."
He had made sure his comments were made in a fairly quiet voice in case the big grell could hear and somehow understand what was being said.
"Let me see if I can keep this beast from hearing what we plan," Renn smiled. He chanted and sang an elvish prayer, his hands spread before he pointed at the Grell. "My Lord Corellon, let none hear within this sphere of blessed silence," he finished.
"Now Jana, here's your bow back," Renn chuckled as he slipped the shortbow from his shoulder. "I truly hope you have more success with it than I do.
"And I have some oil in my backpack. Perhaps we could soak the webs with a flask of it and set them alight in that manner Aloysius?" Renn asked.
Aloysius shook his head. "The oil is not needed," he said. "The webs themselves are quite flammable."
He stared back at the big grell. "I'm still not sure why we would consider leaving that creature here, alive. The four of us who are conscious cannot move the four who are not, so we would seem to be stuck here anyhow. If we wait a bit, whate'er protections the beast has will fade."
"Aye, they certainly shall fade," Renn said with a nod of agreement. "For my part, I would rather be able to freely move between the wounded in each chamber, that is why I would like to see the webs removed. Jana can try her hand at injuring the stationary grell with her bow. Oh, and should I be able to get Azrun's bow, I can do the same," Renn added.
"You think that thing doesn't have more spells?" Jana asked. "Obviously our arrows aren't doing a damned thing. Aloysius, use that stupid wand and cover me." With a resigned grimace, she pulled her sword and shield and started toward the large grell. "You two stay back so you don't get paralyzed. And make sure Arachne's okay." Her cautious walk became a charge.
"The wand is . . .used up . . .I'm afraid," said Aloysius. "And how will you reach the creature?" he asked, pointing to the column upon which it sat.
Looking around, he added, "Arachne, are you still about?"
Renn cast a spell. A couple of suggestions about how to proceed were made. Arachne did not answer Aloysius. Jana ran up to the pillar, through the piles of coins and hail stones that were scattered around it. The big grell chirped at her and waved its tentacles, catching her in a fan of flames from its tentacles as she poked at it with her sword. After that, it did not put up any more of a fight. Though the badly injured warrior had something of a difficult time reaching the grell, it was only a relatively small distance above her head, still within sword's reach, so she was able to finish it off within a few minutes.
"Damned sumbitch!" Jana growled as she thrust her sword into the grell a final time. She muttered something else, doubtless obscene, and walked back, limping noticeably. "Burn the webs," she said in a tired voice. "Let's get everyone together. Arachne needs help with Echo and Azrun."
"I hvae not a torch," replied Aloysius. "If the others are on the far side of the webs, perhaps the two of you could proceed to burn the webs and join them. Rennirolas is needed with the wounded more so than Stargazer. I shall proceed to inspect the items by the pillar to try and determine if the grell have anything that might be of use to us."
Aloysius moved over to where the pile of stuff was in front of the pillar and began looking through it.
Jana sighed. "How long before they just go away?" she asked. She walked over to the webs and said, "Arachne?"
As Aloysius went to rumaging, Jana said, "Please don't leave the area. I'll come help in a minute." She asked Renn for a sack or something and went off to help Aloysius collect stuff, holding the bag and keeping an eye out.
Aloysius waited for Jana's assistance. "I have a bag," he said, producing a small patch of cloth from the inside of his robe. "The duration of the webs depends upon the power of the caster. My webs endure for about half an hour. It was unclear to me which mage grell created the webs. Suspect do I that the leader is . . .er, was . . . somewhat more skilled at the arts than I."
"Yeah, well," Jana replied with a quick smile, "that thing's dead and you're not, so I'd say you kick ass right now."
"Certainly, here you go Jana," Renn said as he pulled a rather largish sack from his backpack. "I'll work at getting rid of these webs," he added.
"Arachne," Rennirolas called, "keep back from the webs, I'm going to try to set them alight so the passageway will be clear." Renn cut a lengthy swatch of the gauzy material he uses for the binding of wounds, and soaked it through with one of the flasks of oil from his backpack. He attached one end of the gauze to the webbing and trailed the remainder of it out into the cavern. Renn then used his flint and steel in an attempt to light the rag.
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