Move 373: Trying to Kill Each OtherSmooth Caverns--Afternoon, Day 37 (Marpenoth 20)
Renn joined Jana in dancing around Blacky, trying to subdue or disarm him without hurting him too badly. The three of them exchanged a few spectacularly unsuccessful blows. Azrun started kicking the roper, an action which did infuriate Blacky more. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, depending on one's point of view, Blacky was too tangled up with Jana and Renn to do anything about it. Jana slapped Blacky with her blade once more. Blacky's handaxe hit home on Jana, the smaller weapon still doing no paltry damage in the hands of the strong fighter. Jana was looking ragged by this point.
"Dammit!" Jana growled and whacked twice more at Blacky. "Snap out of it!"
After the last swing, a confused look comes over Blacky and he drops his axe to the ground. "What the hell?" He said looking as if his ax had betrayed him, then he saw Jana's wounds. "oh shit...."
When she saw Blacky drop his weapon, Jana tried not to hit him, instead backing off warily.
Azrun looked at Blacky closely trying to discern whether he was bluffing or not. "Ummm...what's going on Blacky? You ok, big guy?"
Renn kicked Blacky's hand-axe away from the immediate area and kept his sword pointed at the warrior. "Back up," he snapped. "Over there somewhere" Renn said as he waved his longsword to an unoccupied area away from the other four people in the dry area of the chamber.
He backed up to Jana's side. "Not that I really have to tell you this, but keep an eye on him," Renn said in Elvish after a quick grin. The elf slung his shield over his back and sheathed his longsword, then began to chant.
Echo got out of the way. She still held her dagger and watched everything going on.
"Jana, are you okay?" she asked, eyes on Blacky.
"Not really," Jana admitted. She kept her shield and sword between herself and Blacky. "Put your hands over your head and kneel," she directed him. "Someone tie him up 'til we know he's okay, please. Echo, you think we oughta check out that critter, see what it's got in its tummy?" she asked, watching Blacky carefully as she did.
When Blacky dropped his axe, the fight stopped, at least temporarily. Renn prayed for healing for Jana while she ordered Blacky to kneel down. Azrun and Echo both watched uncertainly.
"I don't know, I was just trying to protect my fr...,that thing. For some reason I thought you guys were the enemy. I don't understand..." Blacky said as he backed away from the rest of the group, trying to remove the dead thing's tentacles from him as he went.
Azrun walked over to Blacky, "It's ok, Blacky. Renn, said it felt like that things excreted some sort of poison through its tentacles. Kinda like the grell, but instead of paralyzing you, it more was like mind control. This must be some sort of different species of roper. It looks different than the others. What happened wasn't your fault, ok? You were being controlled by it. It could have happened to any of us."
Azrun looked around at battered group, "Perhaps, it would be best if we found a suitable place to hold up and rest for the evening. I'm sure Renn is getting low on healing and we can't afford to get into another major battle in our current condition. I know I'm just about out of spells."
"Indeed, I am," Renn nodded. "I've but a few spells left, and none of them are healing boons." He patted Jana's shoulder. "I'll see what I can do for you and Blacky with medicinals and bandages once we make camp," he smiled.
"Good to have you back Blacky," Renn grinned, his stance markedly softer. "I thought you may have still been entranced at first, and hopefully, that is not the case," he finished with a smile, a quick flash of his teeth.
Echo nodded, still watching Blacky suspiciously. "I can work on that." She started cutting the roper with her dagger. She was pensive, looking at Blacky when she made the first cut.
"Are we going to rest here?" she asked. "It might be as safe as we're going to get."
"As little as I like the idea of wading through that nasty water all cut up to hells," Jana said, "i like the idea of hanging out here where we can't see the floor even less. 'Bout anything could sneak up on us."
"Wherever we decide to camp, I can ward the area," Renn interjected. "And as for a place to rest, what about the chamber with the creature in the pillar?" he asked of no one in particular. "There's only one entrance, and I'm still curious about the..whatever..that is in the pillar.
"Or we could leave this section of the tunnels completely, going back the way we came," Renn shrugged slightly and spread his hands wide. "Either would be fine by me," he admitted.
Azrun looked around, "I vote for back out of the tunnels. Whatever was messing with Arachne before may affect her ability to contact me."
"Oh," Echo replied. "I thought the opposite. I thought it'd be hard to sneak up on us since they'd have to splash through the water. It doesn't matter to me where we stay," she added quickly, "as long as it's a cave instead of...."
She cut on the roper while talking. She stopped suddenly and squealed in disgust. "There's a body in here!" She stood up gagging.
"Ugh," Jana declared. She looked at Echo then at the roper then back at Echo. Grimacing, she walked over to the roper and peered inside. "We should see if we can find out who this is," she said. "I mean, if it were me, I'd want someone to tell my family. If I had a family to tell, that is."
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