[Horde] Session Fifteen
The group hunkers down for the night and pass out. Azgadaan was on first watch, followed by Spinyl and then Sorak. Remnii would get up every few hours to check on Samaara.
Near the end of the third watch, Sorak hears a strange scratching noise from behind. As he pinpoints it, there is a couple of glass cases with plants in them. As he glances at them, one of the plants sinks down and there is a gentle scratch sound.
As Sorak takes a closer look, a hand bursts out from the soil.
Bursting forth from both plants are two more sporefied, plantified draenei that are clawing at the glass. It is slowly starting to crack and splinter. Sorak combusts one of the draenei with flame shock, and then whirls forward and drives his sword through one of the cases - he successfully strikes the creature on the other side.
Samaara hops up, and seeing that one of the creatures are free of the case, fires an arrow at it. Azgadaan awakens and then runs forward as well. However, the draenei ducks out of the way and his sort chips away at some of the glass.
Yrel grabs Remnii and shoves her behind her. She is not wearing her armor. She then swings her hammer around and shattered through the glass, but when she swings a second time the glass is send spraying in Samaara’s direction - though she is able to jump out of the way.
The thrall then leaps down on Yrel and starts to claw at her.
Remnii hurls a smite at the thrall, and it gets blasted with a bolt of holy energy. It staggers into the wall, but it remains standing.
The other thrall claws at Sorak, and it managed to find purchase with one blow, but Sorak repelled the other strike.
Spinyl lashes out with her whip, but the thrall she attacked whips out with its vines and repels the blow.
Sorak flourishes around with his blade and severs the arm of a thrall. It leaks a thick, black sap, and then it combusts into flames as Sorak once again ignites it with flameshock. There is a gently popping sound as if the sap inside it is starting to boil.
Azgadaan, unfortunately, misses again as the creature sporadically and unpredictably moves.
Spinyl whirls around with her whip, and she managed to sever off a hunk of burning flesh. However, it was sent careening back at her and she had to deftly duck out of the way.
The thrall that is on fire sputters and boils, and then it spews a stream of acid at the group. Sorak, Samaara, and Yrel are able to get out of the way, but the rest are spattered with acid. Spinyl promptly drops.
Remnii uses spare the dying on Spinyl, and then heals herself for a small amount to beat back the effects of the acid.
Samaara once again takes aim and fires, and an arrow burrows deep into one of the thralls. The second one, however, goes wide.
The unburned thrall strikes at Yrel in a flurry of blows, and it tears open several cuts in her skin. However, Yrel strikes back and lights the creature up with holy energy before she follows the blow up with a second one.
Sorak attacks the thrall again, but it ducks under the attack - just in time for Samaara to strike it in the chest with another arrow.
The other thralls continues to attack Yrel.
The room fills with holy light as Remnii starts to mass heal several members of the group, including Spinyl.
The flaming thrall strikes at Sorak, but it tumbles from the case and falls prone.
“Stop MOVING ALREADY!” Yrel shouts and strikes at her opponent. She knocks it prone, but it rolls out of the way of her second blow.
Azgadaan drives his pact longsword at the thrall Yrel was fighting, and he opens a wound in it that starts to leak black sap.
Spinyl, fortunately, wakes up. She scrambles to her feet. She huffs, and then snaps her whip at the other thrall. However, once again, this one is able to avoid the blow as well.
Sorak looks down at the thrall as it attempts to latch on to his leg. He plunges his blade into. Another arrow also dives into its body, and it attempts to claw at Sorak again, but it misses.
The other thrall is still up, and Yrel hammers away at it until it explodes with a sudden surge of holy energy.
Spinyl tries one more time, and she is able to connect with her whip this time. Azgadaan removes his sword and drives it through the thrall’s head - impaling it to the ground.
The ambush is over.
Sorak inspects the corpses. They are much like the other one - they have blackened vines going through the dead bodies.
Samaara brushes a strand of hair from her face: “Good morning, everyone.”
Sorak collects some of the black sap while they take a short rest. Remnii casts prayer of healing.
Samaara, however, stops Remnii as they get ready to leave. “Are you alright, Remnii?”
Remnii: “You know, I feel like I was going to cry when you woke up, but I mist have forgot. I should be asking you that.”
Samaara asks what happened.
Remnii: “Samaara, your heart stopped beating.”
Samaara blinks. “Oh.”
Remnii: “But it doesn’t matter. You made it through.”
Samaara: “And I assume I have you to thank for that.”
Samaara hugs Remnii, and Remnii starts simultaneously laughing and crying. Samaara muses that she had died, but she didn’t remember doing so. Remnii says that she was not dead long enough to have any sort of long-term damage.
Samaara: “It was darker than I thought it would be.”
Samaara gives Remnii a small smile, but then starts to head towards Yrel. Remnii, however, loops her arm with Samaara’s.
Remnii: “Yet here you stand with a light in your eyes. I much prefer that.”
They go together over to Yrel.
Sorak heads back to the workstation with the broken bodies of the cacti. As he looks at the desk, there is sap splattered everywhere, but there are still a few vials upright and in good condition. He is able to get all three of the vials of burning sap. The sap itself is uncomfortably warm, and it’s likely incredibly flammable. It could be used to coat weapons or ammunition.
There is one other interesting thing. It’s a long, sinuous vine. As he looks at it, it seems to be holding its form well, and there are tiny seeds sticking out. It’s hanging between two little prongs. Sorak isn’t sure what it is exactly, but the seeds seem to be radiating some heat.
He tries to gather them, and he is successful. The vine seems to hold whatever shape that Sorak bends it into. The seeds themselves are warm, and it seems they can be plucked off. There are seven.
Sorak plucks one of the seeds from the vine, and then flicks it into another run. It immediately explodes into a cacophony of fire - much to the surprise of the other party members. He very, very gingerly wraps the vine around his wrist.
It’s similar to the necklace of fireballs.
There may have been some other things, but the sap seems to have corroded and burned any of the notes that may have been left.
They continue on and get to another sealed door. The door is cold to the touch - actually chilly. Azgadaan puts his shield up in front of him.
Sorak: “Azgadaan… how durable are you in the first place?”
Azgadaan: “How durable are you?”
Sorak gestures to himself - wearing full armor with a shield.
Azgadaan relents, and Sorak opens the door. There is a chilly burst of wind, and there seems to be a machine that once had shot snow down below but it seemed to have stopped working a while ago. There is, once again, a workstation, but all of the plants in the room are covered in ice.
Yrel walks up to one of the plants and taps it, and an icicle falls off, but the plant doesn’t move.
Sorak goes and investigates the workstation, and it seems to be in better condition. There are some notes present, and there are also two small, sealed canisters that seem to be meant to carry liquid. The liquid inside is deep blue and really cold to the touch. There is also a small canister with snow in it.
Effectively, the two potions are potions of cold resistance - which Sorak give to Azgadaan. The canister of snow seems to have been taken from a different world. It is exceptionally cold, and it does not melt until temperatures are uncomfortably hot. It also is able to conduct heat rather quickly, and takes heat from anything it touches. It could be used for a number of different purposes - though Samaara recommends that it doesn’t get rubbed on one’s skin.
There doesn’t seem to be anything else of note.
Sorak looks at the frozen tree in the room, and as he does, wispy tendrils in the air slam into him and more wisps wrap around him. He is now grappled.
Samaara whirls around and fires an arrow at the frost veil. It strikes, but with a sudden burst of speed, it manages to redirect the arrow into Sorak.
Samaara grits her teeth. “Shit. We need to be careful with this thing! We need to get you out quick!”
Remnii: “Could we bring it out of the cold?”
Spinyl strikes out with her whip, and it connects and slices through some of the thing’s tendrils. However, the shadow damage is split off, and Sorak takes it. However, the slashing damage seems to have not been redirected.
Samaara: “If you have anything sharp, I would use it now!”
Spinyl also had a guess that psychic damage may have been able to get through its defenses without being redirected.
Sorak grits his teeth and starts to glow an earth green as he starts to heal some of his wounds. However he is starting to get chilled to his very core.
Sorak hurls fire at the wisps, and it seems to be particularly effective, but it once again is able to redirect some of the damage back at Sorak.
The tendril squeezes and crushes Sorak, and he loses consciousness as it then releases the orc. Yrel takes the opportunity to use seal of purity. She winds up with her hammer and swings. It smashes into the creature and bats it into the air. Holy fire licks across her weapon as she does so, and then she follows up with a second strike, but it misses.
Remnii then runs up to Sorak and uses spare the dying on him, and then uses flash of light.
The creature seemed to realize it was surrounded, and it attempted to shift, but Azgadaan got a surprise blow on it. He strikes up, a shower of spores launch-- shimmer and sparkling in the air.
Sarok, Remnii and Yrel are unable to cover their mouths in time. They become confused.
Azgadaan channels a chromatic orb, he quickens it and launches it at the Frostveil again, seeing his friends confused. He blasts it and the churning tendrils evaporate. He slashes multiple times and downs the plant with ease. Sarok is able to shake the spores, though things look strange. It looked like everyone grew snouts like Wintermaw. Remnii hears Velen’s voice for a moment, she spins, not seeing him.
The area is once again calm.
Sarok is huffing on one knee. Yrel announces that she doesn’t like this place. Sarok says that M’uru underestimated the dangers, but Remnii argues that M’uru had faith in them to send them.
The group hems and haws for a moment, wondering about maps and key cards. Azgadaan takes the keycard again and the Warband heads into the next room.
They enter a hallway, it’s more hallways and rooms. Spiralling in, from the hall, it opens up into a large atrium. They can see blackened plants. They see blackened vines, too, climbing the walls. By the time they get to the end, it’s all vines. The metal isn’t visible from the door.
Azgadaan enlarges himself and Yrel, preemptively. Sarok casts Inner Fire on himself, too-- he has a faint molten colored glow around him.
The Blackened Grass is below them, and the trees are dripping black sap. The trees are leafless. Sitting away from the party, the observation area, standing on the glass, the Warband sees another Draenei Thrall. This one is different, though.
It’s hard to tell he’s even a Draenei. Only his horns are *almost* visible. “He is. Is here. He is here. He listens, he sings. He dreams. He is dead. He is alive.”
Azgadaan tries to hit the Draenei with a spell, raising his hand. As magic goes around him, the Thrall twitches. Vines reach up from the trees. They begin to crackle and break apart. Facial features appear on the trees as they rise.
Around them, there are at least 30 Draenei corpses, all drained of nutrients, laying limp, tangled in the trees.
Spinyl is up to the plate. She blasts a pool of faerie fire to the three figures. The treants are hit, but the botanist is shielded by their large mass.
Samaara launches off two arrows, both stick, but only one does camage.
Right treant begins to move, reaching wide to smack Yrel straight in the gob. Both arms swing towards the Paladin and connect. Given her size, she is unable to block. With a wince, she takes the damage.
Sarok reaches into his wrist and he plucks a seed off of his newest bracelet. He lobs the seed between the three figures. The seed explodes and straight up fucks up all three of them. As they ignite, Sarok also is able to coat his blade in a poison which also lights up.
Yrel then follows up with a smite. As she swings, the treant manages to fend off her hammer. Remnii then heals her up.
The Head Botanist strides forward. Vines slithered up beside him, and he then strikes Sarok across the chin. Sarok can feel ichor seeping into him.
Azgadaan twins two spells, one misses, but the other strikes true. One of the Treants completely lights up. It goes after Azgadaan, but it fails miserably, unable to hit the Eredar.
The Botanist raises a hand and then it goes to attack Sarok again. He’s able to bat the attack away with a flaming sword.
Samaara looks to Sarok and asks for a seed. Sarok breaks one off and tosses it to her. She pitches it between the three. As the flames erupt, all the Treants crumble to their knees, creaking and crumbling into ash.
Azgadaan attacks the Botanist, but he doesn’t seem to care much.
Remnii heals both Sarok and Yrel. That being said, she’s not used to Yrel’s deep enlarged-voice. It’s a brief moment of laughter in the midst of battle.
Spinyl moves to crack her whip on Lucaam, but he’s able to bat her attempts away with ease.
Sarok gives off a passionate Orc yell, he arcs through the Botanist. A trail of fire blazes behind him. As he slices through, Yrel follows through and they both cleave into the creature. They’re able to slice through the vines.
What’s left under the blackened vines is a desiccated Draenei corpse.
He. Lives.
The group surmises that they’ll meet “he” eventually.
The group soon decides to take a long rest, as many of the spellcasters are weakened from putting out so much magic. While Remnii apologizes, Sarok assures her that it’s not just her.
In this time: Sarok cooks everyone breakfast, everyone thanks him. Azgadaan then tries on his armor for the first time-- Remnii reminds him the the burden is as heavy as it feels. The group also discusses battle plans, Azgadaan decides on trying to persuade the demons below to listen to him.
Near the end of their rest, the Warband hears a hissing sound. Remnii looks up at the open windows. So many gas bags are pushing into the windows. They’re gassing the place up with spores.
With quick thinking, Sarok uses gust to keep spores off of the party. They then escape to the Arcatraz… if that’s what they called escaping.
As they enter a cavern, Samaara warns them to take heed. She says that many of the most intense Draenei criminals have been kept here. There was no definite to destroy the fiends, thus they were kept close.
Spinyl offers to go invisible and scout ahead. She sees a tilted room. There’s a chasm in the wall. She’s on what amounts to a gallows. It’s a steel riser. The ground is stained with thick, blue, blood. There’s more blood and more viscera. There are remains of, what she can assume, are inmates. The skeletons are mainly Draenic, and some others. All of the bones and biological things about the corpses, are gone.
The bones, grounds, floors, walls, and ceilings, are all covered in a thin layer of mucus. Honestly, everything is covered. The walls also have bigger pustules of mucus. It’s then when she sees one of the pustules move. Multiples move, actually. They don’t seem to notice her.
As one of them climbs up, some mucus sloughs off. Spinyl can see a worm the size of a small dog. It squirms its way up, it twists and its aberrant mouth gnaws on a bone.
Azgadaan checks in via message. They come to the conclusion that gross things lie ahead. She notes there may have been a prison break. She notes the creatures will need to be taken care of before the party can proceed.
Since they spoke, more worms slough off. Spinyl checks ahead, and she finds a rough-shod barricade, keeping the worms out. She checks it out, looking to hop over it. Still she’s unable to scale it individually. With a sigh, Spinyl then opts to retrieve the group.
While scheming, Sarok produces a rabbit carcass. Using Samaara’s wisdom, they’re able to work on a decoy, hoping to distract the creatures.
“Give me the bunny.” Spinyl deadpans.
As soon as the bunny is presented, MORE slugs pop out of the goo. Spinyl opts to chuck the rabbit body, she dances away from them, rather eager.
Quickly, the party goes by. Remnii sees skulls on skulls and blue blood soaking into the metal. It’s a gruesome scene.
Reaching the barricade, Yrel and Azgadaan then quickly break it down and build it back up behind them.
They find a crooked hallway with signs of battle and armaments. On the walls, there are inlets that crawl with the larval creatures. The slugs ignore the party.
Remnii then tells everyone that this prison went on stasis. Spinyl then announces that the stais most likely shut off.
Samaara finds Arcatraz Log 1:
LOG GO HERE
Spinyl’s assumption was correct, as Samaara translates.
The next room is blocked by another ramshackle barricade. Spinyl sneaks by and goes to check out the next room. She sees another rising chamber. This one is more intense, though it’s cells. Some of them seem to be broken. There are three that appear to be in one piece.
She looks in the first one, she can see a clear glass container. It’s the skeleton of an Eredar, a Draenei perhaps, preserved in the cylinder. It’s rather dead. She can see its clothing. It’s got robes and bracers-- seems to be Eredar.
The second tank is holding a skeleton similar to a Dreadlord.
The last one has nothing in it. She can see a pile of something(?) in the bottom. It’s strange.
Spinyl continues to scout the room. She looks around, noticing that there’s no class on the two cylinders (dreadlord and Eredar). They’re not the same, only C still has the glass on it.
Spinyl relays the information, and just in time… she glances around the room and she catches a glimpse of the clear glass in the last tank. The cubes squeeze their way out in an uncomfortable fashion.
GELATINOUS CUBES
A portion of the cube lashes out to hit Spinyl. One hits Spinyl, but she manages to duck out of the way of the other.
Samaara looks to the ramp and asks if they want to make a quick escape upwards. Samaara skirts by. The cubes attempt to bite into her. One misses, one hits. “Go! Quickly!” She calls to the party.
The party dashes forward. Sarok and Spinyl guide the athletically challenged Remnii through the cubes to safety. Azgadaan then tries, but he loses his grip for a moment. He falls down behind the cubes-- PSYCHE he catches himself and hauls himself back up. Yrel is able to get by as well.
Sarok and Spinyl get away just fine. The cubes follow Yrel, but she loses them. The Warband makes their way to safely to the second floor.
They ascend into another crooked hallway. They find where the bridge stops making it a problem.
Remnii heals Spinyl via holding hands. Remnii, too, praises her for her hard work. Azgadaan also buffs her Wisdom.
Ahead, Spinyl finds another larger room. Far above and below her, they can see lined cells. The slugs are still visible crawling in and out of the cells. She looks around the proper room, she can hear a different sound. It’s a rubbery, scratchy sound. It’s between that and claws on metal. There’s also some kind of mumbling, down below, too.
She sighs to herself and takes a closer look. There’s a strange, writing creature. It goes up, climbs up into a cell. It’s doing it in five separate cells. It’s in a pattern. It goes up one level each time it does this pattern.
It’s decently far away, thirty feet down. Looking harder, she can see multiples of the creatures slinking similarly. They can either wait for them to pass? Orrr...
Spinyl retreats and the party converses. Remnii and Yrel don’t know squat.
The party then decides to hit them from a distance at first, trying Sarok’s first attempt to get their attention one by one. Sarok attempts to blow a dart at one of the monsters. It makes connection, and Spinyl makes a follow up attack.
The creature, suddenly struck with fear of Spinyl, it gibbers and scoots away from her and the party. Remnii also launches a small spell off at the same creature.
As Azgadaan moves to put his shield in between, he thinks he hears his mother’s voice, right around the way. Instead of moving the shield, he then stands there and calls out for his mother. “Mother?” Sarok tells everyone to back up. He drops a stasis trap before the party. A shimmer rune appears on the floor as he does so, appearing as Elemental energy.
Spinyl lobs an Eldritch Blast at the nerd. It connects with maximum efficiency.
One of the horrors gloops over and moves. That’s all it does. It’s not fast.
Azgadaan spins past, he attempts to push past Yrel. Yrel stops him. “What’s gotten into you?” Azgaddan is stuck between being able to control himself and not. He hears whispers of things that sound so similar, but so off.
Another horror hocks a loogie towards Azgadaan, he dodges.
Samaara fails a Wisdom save, but Yrel brings her to a head.
Remnii launches a Smite off at a horror, it connects.
Azgadaan finally gains control of himself. He conjures an ice knife. While one evades, the knife still explodes forward and hacks of a chunk of another. Yrel and Azgadaan swap places.
Samaara also gains control of herself and she sinks another arrow into a horror.
Sarok’s sigil sinks into the ground for another round. He dips another arrow into poison. The three close in, unfortunately able to get past Sarok’s stasis trap.
One of the horrors vomits up more goo. It hits Yrel straight in the face. While it’s gross, nothing negative happens to her. Another Horror is batted away by Yrel, as it goes for her too.
Spinyl, the gem she is, casts Faerie Fire, now that the Horrors are closer together. They’re all covered in sparkles now.
Scooting around Yrel, another horror scoots and vomits on Samaara and Sarok. It’s just gross for them too.
Remnii smites one of the Horrors out of existence Sailor Moon style. She punishes them in the name of the light. There are now two Horrors left.
Gnashing teeth come in for Yrel, and it connects.
As spittle rains down on Azgadaan. A little pustule pops and a slug/larvae from before is now attached to his leg. It is trying to eat him. Yum. Shorts.
Yrel slams into one of the remaining horrors. Pus goes everywhere, but it still stands. Sarok, once more, coats an arrow. He coerces the fates to let it FAIL miserably. It strikes true, the creature flails. Still, it continues to babble.
Samaara loses control again, she runs into a wall, regains consciousness, and is embarrassed.
Remnii smites again, and she blinds a horror in the process. She’s clearly trying to wrap this up.
The horrors and Yrel volley hits back and forth. The Horrors are beginning to look worse for wear.
Spinyl’s up to bat. She launches a beam at a Horror, it screeches.
Losing control once more, Azgadaan swings into a random target. That random target is Samaara. She urges him to be careful as it lightly connects. Another glob of pus flies to Azgadaan, but it misses.
Sarok barrels past everyone. He casts Flameshock, but the Horror manages to dodge.
Samaara focuses on the little slug on Azgadaan. She nocks an arrow and then pins it to the wall. It liked Azgadaan. It imprinted.
Yrel finishes off the last of the horrors.
As the horrors die, the Warband gets a look at the hall. Yrel scratches where it bit, stating that it hurt.
Sarok picks apart the body of one of the Horrors. It’s just flesh. No one can seem to identify much about it.
The best Azgadaan can tell, about the room, is that the slugs are producing similar mucus to the cubes and the larva from before. There’s some kind of evolutionary link between everything we’ve seen so far.
The group theorizes where the slugs could have come from. There’s a lot of theories, but no evidence. They take a short rest there, while keeping an eye out on their surroundings. Sorak and Azgadaan can recoup mana.
In the next room, Azgadaan is able to find marks of battle. The blood has been sucked clean, but there was a clear battle. It doesn’t look like a siege. There’s more larva sucking up slime, too. There’s not a whole lot worth salvaging.
A top some crates, they find another recording. Samaara reads it off:
ARCATRAZ LOG 2 INSERT HERE They note that Shivarra was taken down, but that it took a lot to kill her. Samaara then notes there’s been two Gaolers. Samara theorizes that whatever happened, with the slugs and the whispers, it’s been making her irrational. She notes the diction is frantic and worried-- she assumes there’s not a happy ending to the story.
Spinyl notes that someone may have twisted their minds. Samaara notes that prolonged exposure to such whispers would not be good for anyone’s sanity.
The Warband marches on.
The next room is visible, hallways are crushed in. They most likely led to other places. Sarok, Spinyl, and Remnii hear voices… that aren’t their own. They’re not in their head, and they’re not coming out of a Naaru. There’s a male and a female voice. Both of them are speaking in Eredun.
It’s just fucking conversation.
It’s muffled, coming from behind a sealed door.
“So how many days do I have to be stuck in this cell across from you? This has to be years at this point that I’ve had to deal with you on a daily basis. Years now?” The woman’s voice scoffs.
“Don’t pretend you’re the one that gets the short end of the stick, woman. How there’s nothing to do, there’s no one to talk to. How do I feel? At least you’re not bad to look at.” The male voice retorts with a shudder.
They continue to jape at each other through the sealed door.
Sarok makes a “shhh” motion. Azgadaan tries, and fails, to try and understand them and how they’re alive. Everyone wants to move on from the door.
Spinyl stares at the door, despite the groups moving on. Samaara approaches her, “Is everything alright, Spinyl?”
Spinyl sighs.
“Speak your mind if you have nothing to say.”
“I don’t know the voices… just… I guess in a way I sympathize being stuck in one place for years at a time.”
Azgadaan wagers that they’ll attack. “I know. It’s what they are, but still.” Spinyl says, she starts to move, sullen.
“Wait! Did you hear something?” The woman’s voice says.
“No, you’re hearing things.” The man’s voice says.
As the party continues, Remnii catches up with Spinyl. Remnii inquires about Spinyl’s emotional state.
S: I suppose it just reminds me of my state here.
The two discuss their own shitty stations in their situations, and even within the Warband-- or hint at it.
Spinyl explains that she’s trying to not let it get the best of her. Remnii then compliments her cool head, saying she’s a welcome change of pace from a “hot bed of hot heads.”
A little awkward, they continue on.
There’s no barricade on the third floor. There are lines upon lines of stasis blocks. As they step in, they see that many of them were still sealed. In many of them, there’s bodies of Draenei. All of them are wearing gaoler outfits. All of their flesh, muscle, and sinew, has been picked clean.
Yrel inquires as to why the guards are in the cells. The, again, come up with a variety of theories: self preservation, betrayal, and riots alike. They decide to look for a recording and to press forwards.
Moving ahead, there are bloody, blue handprints washed all over the walls. It’s clearly Draenei blood. There was no battle here. They find the area slick with slime.
Written in blood, on the wall, they find the Draenic word for “TRAITOR.” It’s written three times in a hasty stack. The word continues to be written deeper into the chamber. With the words, they find another recording.
Samaara looks at Remnii and warns her that it won’t be easy. Remnii braces herself and they listen to the recording:
ARCATRAZ RECORDING.
Samaara surmises that the containment core is up ahead of them. They brace themselves for the next level.
Before them is a chipped and broken would-be containment cell. There’s a massive creature, sitting amidst everything. The dead, broken skeleton of BELOW is alone in the cell.
The Pit Lord sits derelict. The ground is pooling with its blood and the odd mucus. It’s easy to feel the fel-energy rolling off of the ooze at it’s feet.
The Band hears skittering. Larvae burst forth from the skeleton’s blood. From above, from the skeleton’s eye, there comes a giant carrion beetle. They’re far too large for what they should be, but they fed off of the Pit Lord’s carcass with great success. They leap down and immediately charge forward.
The beetle skitters forwards. A roiling current of acid forms in its mouth and it blasts a ray of acid towards Yrel, Azgadaan and Remnii. Azgadaan gets out of the way. Remnii immediately is knocked unconscious. (f u c k)
One of the Carrion Crawlers rushes towards Sorak. Sorak feels his body begin to seize up his joints lock into place. He’s paralyzed.
Samaara immediately sees to Remnii, she stabilizes her. Yrel follows up, healing Remnii just enough to get her up. Wearily, she thanks her family.
Sorak struggles against the tide of paralysis, he manages to shake it off.
Sneaking in an attack, Spinyl, once more, casts Faerie Fire. The beetle and one crawler are drawn into the fire.
The one crawler that dodges bites into Yrel. She’s paralyzed.
Azgadaan requests a seed from Sorak, and Sorak denies him. The Orc wants to see how the crawlies take damage. Thus, a chromatic orb goes wide.
Remnii heals the shit out of her and Yrel, both out of critical.
One of the crawlers knocks Yrel down, biting into her. The stupid thing immediately undoes all of Remnii’s hard work.
Sarok hits, sending a trail of lightning through a crawler.
Remnii heals Yrel, again. If not Arthak, then Yrel. If not Yrel, then Arthak. One of them isn’t even here.
Spinyl attempts an attack on the beetle. He tries to shrug it off rather well. As her spell fails, she feels fear in her gut. Suddenly, Spinyl wishes that she’s in that cage on the other floor. It’s safe in there. The moment passes, though.
Samaara pings the beetle with two arrows. It opens up a couple of wounds, as it begins to seep bright, glowing green blood.
One of the crawlers climbs the wall, sideways. It attempts to make a series of attacks on Sarok. One hits, one misses.
Yrel stands up. She Channels Divinity on the Carrion Crawler before her. She goes ahead to beat the shit out of it. She is able to knock it off of the wall. It takes some fall damage, landing prone on the Alcatraz floor.
Azgadaan is mad. He enlarges himself and swipes a seed off of Sarok’s bracelet without asking. He holds it above his head, 20 feet above the Orc. He feels that Sorak is holding out on resources that could help the combat go safely.
Sarok blasts the Carrion Crawler with a fuckton of shadow damage. As he allows the anger to well up inside of him, he unleashes it upon the Crawler.
Yrel makes two quick swings. First an upswing, then she plunges the hammer through its mouth. She ends one of the Carrion Beetles with an angry look on her face.
Spinyl, angry, changes a spell and sends the Carrion beetle running. Sarok and Yrel achieve attacks of opportunity. As the creature runs away, Spinyl watches her friends carve into the beetles. She can’t help but cackle. It’s not a regular Spinyl laugh. Something about this bug running away feels really good.
It’s a normal succubus laugh.
Azgadaan chucks his stolen seed. He kills the other Crawler. The Beetle is able to shield itself somewhat from the blast.
Spinyl’s next attack goes wide. It’s rude. She’s offended by that, moreso than usual.
Samaara launches off another arrow and it hits the beetle true.
Azgadaan hits the beetle. He threatens it, only wishing for it to attack him.
Remnii crit heals Sorak, he’s engulfed in light and his wounds erase themselves.
Sorak’s face contorts. He grabs the whole pack of seeds. He chucks it into both Azgadaan and the Beetle. They both take a crazy amount of damage.
As Azgadaan struggles to stand, the Beetle goes to attack him. Yrel, on the converse, swings up and takes the hits for Azgadaan. She casts a shield to help him buffer. She falls unconscious, as her shield breaks, behind him. Azgadaan takes a remaining hit.
Sorak hits the beetle.
Spinyl sees the beetle wavering. She feels it in her gut, pushing forward with a spell. She stands up straight, reposed, she takes out her fan. Spinyl flicks it up gently, flicking out a small bolt of fire that careens right into his head.
She laughs. “Well if you two are done wasting time, we’ve got other things to do.”
