Move 371:  Stupid Tentacle Monsters

Smooth Caverns--Afternoon, Day 37 (Marpenoth 20)

Jana gave the monster another sword wound; in return, it chomped down on her shield. The "real" shield held up much better than the pieces of wood had under such a direct attack. Renn tried to cut himself loose with his sword, but he did not get himself free. Azrun ran up and tried to get Blacky's sword. Blacky regained his ability to move and kept Azrun from getting his weapon. He was still being held by the roper's tentacles.

With a strange look in his eyes, Blacky moved away from Azrun toward Jana.

Jana continued to hack at the creature. "Blacky, you're hurt. Stay back!"

"The foul thing has some form of poison," Renn gasped as he continued to hack at the tentacle that held him.

Azrun took a step back from Blacky, eyes wide. He saw him start moving toward Jana and then yelled, "Jana!! Watch out Blacky's playing for the wrong team now!!!" With that he rushed toward Blacky and jumped on him, trying to drag him down.

Jana hit the roper again; by now, it was looking pretty hurt. Renn freed himself from the tentacle that was holding him. Azrun tried to pull Blacky to the ground, but he was wholly unsuccessful. Blacky, ignoring the bard and the two tentacles that were still stuck on him, attacked Jana with his two-handed sword, pressing in with the large blade and cutting her. The roper apparently found an advantage in that, since it managed to bypass the warrior's shield this time to bite her.

Blacky continued his cold, methodical attack on Jana.

"I'm going to heal Jana, and then try to dispel whatever's got Blacky," Renn called in Elvish as he extricated himself from the tentacle. He then began an elvish chant.

Azrun jumped up on Blacky's back, wrapping his arms around Blacky's head trying to keep the man from being to see Jana.

"Get him offa me!" Jana yelped. She hacked twice more at the roper.

Echo appeared behind the roper, her dagger clattering on the rock as she dropped it. Renn chanted in elvish and managed to lay hands on Jana, even though she was moving around a lot, trying to defend herself against both the roper and Blacky. Azrun tried again to jump on Blacky, but the big man more or less shrugged him off once more.

Jana finished off the roper with her deft swordwork. She turned to attempt to thwack Blacky, who did not seem any friendlier now that the roper was down, with the flat of her blade. Between Azrun and Renn being right there and the unfamiliarity of using a non-lethal move in a "real fight," she was unable to hit him. Blacky did not suffer from any such hindrance; in spite of Azrun grabbing and jumping at him and his being tentacled to the unmoving roper, he still sliced into Jana with the two-handed sword again.

"Dammit!" Jana yelled and swung twice at Blacky, still trying to use the flat of her blade on him.

In Elvish, Echo said, "If Renn can't stop him, I might be able to slow him down. Watch your eyes if I give warning." She tried to stay out of the way, a worried look on her face.

"I might have to hurt him," Jana replied in Elvish. "'Cuz he'll damned sure kill me." She was looking a bit worse for wear.

Azrun reached down and tried to tangle up Blacky's legs, "oof! Renn, try cutting those blasted tentacles off of him. If that doesn't work, we need to fall back. I can catch him in a web spell...That'll give us a minute or two to figure things out."

Renn stepped back from the melee and began to cast another spell.

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