Move 411: Executing the Quaggoth PlanBlacky and Jana each took a dose of the potion once the plan was settled on. Dalgaer, and from the direction her voice had come from, Arachne waited slightly ahead of the group, right on the light's edge. Aloysius spoke the command word for his boots from in the midst of the rest of the group. In the darkness ahead of them, snarls and growls became audible, but no quaggoths appeared in the range of their lights.
"Let's go," Jana said to Blacky as she started down the tunnel at a fast walk. "I'll toss my lightstone into them when we get close, so I can use my sword two-handed."
Blacky paced Jana down the tunnel, gripping his greataxe and ready for battle.
Dalgaer followed Jana and Blacky but at a slower pace, letting them move far ahead but staying in front of the others so he could block any quaggoth attacks on them. He kept his ax at the ready and looked for unexpected side passages and up at the ceiling every few feet to look for traps or ceiling passages as well.
Arachne went unseen.
Kanon followed behind the two warriors alongside Dalgaer. He reached down and gripped the handle of his mace calling upon the powers granted by his god.
Azrun put his light stone in a pouch on his belt. He then moved up with the rest of the group lagging a little behind so that he could stay out of the way of the fighters and anyone else looking to beat something into submission.
Blacky and Jana went forward at a rapid pace, lighting up the tunnel in front of them. Dalgaer and Kanon, then Azrun, followed. As soon as their lights moved forward, they saw another tunnel split. One tunnel bent up to the northwest; the other lead nearly due west. The noises coming from the tunnel leading to the northwest were easy to follow. One light remained stationary in the alcove they had just left. Kanon's mace lit up in answer to his prayer.
As soon as they entered the tunnel, they were met by a quaggoth pack with fifteen to twenty members. Jana threw her light stone into their number, which seemed to check the creatures momentarily. It also provided enough illumination that the party could see that the tunnel opened into a cavern about forty feet ahead. The quaggoths recovered enough to surge forward, meeting the two lead warriors. Jana, with a two-handed swing, hacked into one of the large creatures, elicting a howl of rage. It used its stone axe on the woman, but the blow did no damage to her. Blacky cut another quaggoth down quickly with his axe. The pack pushed through to some degree, some stopping to fight the two warriors in front and some flowing back as they could get through toward the next rank.
Dalgaer spread his feet wide and prepared to meet the rush with ax ready. "Garl!" he yelled fiercely as he swung at the first quaggoth to come into reach.
Undeterred by the onrush of the Quaggoth stragglers Kanon stepped behind Dalgaer and began to chant as he slipped a loop of wooden prayer beads into his mailed hand, "Lathander dispel enlightenment in the hearts of those who dwell in darkness and who do not know the glory of your touch." After intoning those words he raised both his hands together as if in offering spreading them with the wooden beads hanging out slightly, "I beseech you humbly to bring favor to those who fight alongside your servant against darkness!"
"Crap!" Jana groused. "We've gotta hold 'em, dammit." She hurried to finish off the one on her before moving to the next, positioning herself to block the tunnel as best she could.
Arachne took no visible action and there was now way too much noise in the corridor for anything audible by her to be heard.
“Dalgaer and Kannon should be able to handle any that get through us! Besides, I see more in the cavern beyond! We've got to concentrate on taking down as many as possible before we're vulnerable again!" Blacky shouted above the growls and sound of battle as he took a couple more swings.
Azrun's jaw dropped as he saw the mass of fur and swinging metal, "Well this ought to be all kinds of fun." With that he spoke the words to a spell and pointed to one of the furry critters in the second tier.
The mass of furry creatures swarmed and swung their axes at the intruders in their territory. Blacky and Jana were each faced with three of quaggoths, and an additional five made their way past them to find opponents. Behind those, another five, one of them a head taller than the rest, pressed in, trying to get in on the fighting. Jana cut down the quaggoth that she had injured, then felled a second with a mighty sword blow. Blacky killed another with his great axe. The potion protected both of them. Jana missed taking a bruising, and Blacky, continuing his previous trend of quaggoths getting in lucky shots on him, might have lost a leg and ended up with a stone axe buried in his chest.
Kanon finished praying just as two of the quaggoths reached him. Only one of them managed to make contact with the priest, but he did not appear to take any damage from it. A handful of magic missiles flew from Azrun's hands to one of the monsters on the Morninglord, nearly killing it. The quaggoth responded with a howl of rage. A different quaggoth charged after Azrun, giving the bard a wound with its stone axe. Dalgaer met two of the furry things with his own axe. He took one of them down, but not before both of them got in hits on the gnome.
The quaggoths that had not gotten to opponents yet now pushed in harder, trying to get around swinging weapons and bodies littering the passage. The tall one began howling and snarling at the others. Those members of the party who had a chance to look behind them noticed that the stationary light became dimmer and moved in their direction.
Kanon drew out his glowing mace and the shield from his back and attempted to smash the wounded Quaggoth facing him.
"This is kinda cool," Jana remarked as she swiped at the quoggoth on her. When it fell, she immediately moved on to the next.
"If by 'cool' you mean 'I'm not dead and bleeding on the floor', I agree. Don't get cocky, though, we don't know when this will wear off." Blacky said attempting to take down a couple more of the beasts.
Azrun grumbled and moved away from the attacking quaggoth and attempted to get another spell off.
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