Move 418: Deeper into the Quaggoth CavesAloysius, Azrun, Echo, and Jana moved down the tunnel to where Kanon had paused to cast a spell. His dust devil whirled near him. The tunnel opened into a small cave that was swarming with quaggoths. It looked like around twenty or so; two of them were taller than the others, one of them towering over even the other tall one. There were two wounded quaggoths among them, sporting wounds suspiciously like the ones Azrun and Echo had given the ones that ran away. A group of the creatures were hovering around the water hole in the northern part of the cavern, but another group of about eight or so decided to charge the newcomers. The cavern was smoky, but they could see another tunnel with a char on the floor. From that direction, they could hear Blacky and especially Dalgaer yelling battle cries.
A rock flew up from the tunnel floor and smacked Kanon hard enough to interrupt his spell casting.
"Sweet Mystra!" cried the Aloysiuses. "Azrun, Echo, attend those in front!" They began casting.
The priest shook his head free of the haze as the rock slammed into him. He looked back at the others with a look of genuine sadness on his face, "If you want......go back. Join with the others. The dust devil and I will fight a retreat. It seems I was a bit rash." The priest laid his armored forearm against his chest and closed his eyes as the Quaggoths closed in.
Azrun dropped his bow and moved up with his staff, "Hell, we're all about being rash around here. No sense in getting yourself killed because of us though. Aloysius has a plan I think, Echo still has a spell or two and Jana has a big friggin sword. We'll be fine." With that he prepared to accept the charging furry critters.
"No shit,' Jana grumbled. "Use that windy thing of yours to block them off so they can't overwhelm us," she said to Kanon as she moved up to meet the quaggoths, sword and shield ready. "Close the gap!"
"Jana, not yet!" Echo called. "Hold up, let me try a spell. Everyone, watch your eyes."
Jana obediently halted her advance.
Azrun turned away from the chargin quaggoth until Echo's spell was complete.
Echo met the charging quaggoths with a colorful fan of a spell much like what Aloysius had used against them earlier. Their handy habit of charging in packs allowed her to take out five of the eight coming in. The remaining three, not dissuaded from attacking, picked targets. Two went after Aloysius and the third after Kanon, narrowly avoiding running into the dust devil.
The creatures were slow enough that their attacks did not prevent Aloysius from casting his spell as well. Another forked bolt of lightning sizzled into being, right in front of the quaggoths by the pool. It took down half of them and covered the other half with electrical burns. It hit one of the tall ones, but it did not take him down. All of the lightning struck quaggoths began howling in rage and charged. The other two quaggoths, the tall ones, followed suit. The tallest one wore bracers and carried a two-handed sword. His not quite as tall companion had a gold buckle at his waist and a two handed stone axe.
None of the three quaggoths in melee managed to hit anyone, but Kanon's flying rock came back and thwapped him again. From the other tunnel, they heard Dalgaer yelling, "HU-AH! NOW IT'S FUN! THREE ON ONE!"
Kanon brandished his shining mace and started to attack one of the Quaggoths in front of him.
Jana attacked the quaggoths on Aloysius. "Get back," she said to him as she tried to get the creatures to turn their attention to her instead.
The mage and his images began casting again.
Azrun saw the other gang heading toward them now. He reached into his pouch for something small and then began to cast a spell pointing at the tallest quaggoth.
Echo pulled out a couple of daggers while taking a few steps back.
Echo threw two daggers into the herd of quaggoths and two of the fried creatures dropped. Aloysius cast a spell, and the two quaggoths already standing before him dropped into a slumber at his and Jana's feet.
About then the herd arrived, spreading out among the people standing there. One went after Echo, but she deftly dodged its axe. Another went after Kanon, but it ran into his dust devil before it could get to him. The whirling cloud dropped the injured creature. The quaggoth that had already been fighting Kanon shrugged the priest's mace away and cut him with its axe. An burned quaggoth went after Azrun, but the bard managed to avoid the stone axe that came his way.
The remaining injured quaggoth and all three of the tall ones went in the direction of Jana and the Aloysiuses. The hurt quaggoth took an ineffectual swing at Jana, but the other three attacked the wizard and his copies. The biggest quaggoth, the one with the two-handed sword, destroyed on of the images with a mighty blow. It seemed pleased with itself as it gave a triumphant howl. Jana rid them of the injured normal quaggoth that had come after her and the tall one that had gotten caught in the lightning bolt as well.
Kanon continued to try and bash the quaggoths facing him.
The mage images each snatched a dagger from their respective bandoliers. "Taste my steel, fell beast!" the scrawny man said in a fit of overconfidence. He attacked whichever one Jana didn't.
Azrun swung his staff at the quaggoth attacking him, trying to take it down quickly.
Echo pulled out another dagger and tried to slash the quaggoth.
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