"I don't think it's a good idea," Cassian said to Sy, as the others walked into the opaque bubble nestles amongst the rocks. "Who is to say we won't be surrounded after we sleep? Besides, just because Whistle says it's indestructible, doesn't mean we should trust her. And what if she steals our souls while we sleep? I'm staying out here."
"I'll keep you company," Sy offers. "I don't much care to be cooped up with everyone so soon after a fight anyway."
The pair sat in companionable silence for awhile. After a time, Cassian withdrew the potion and began polishing his shield with it. Sy closed her eyes and meditated. Twenty minutes passed in this fashion, when suddenly Sy sat upright. "Did you hear that?" she asked, worry tinging her voice. "It sounded like voices coming from further up the tunnel."
"I did hear something, are you sure it was voices?" Cassian asked.
"Yes, but not a language I understand, so it probably wasn't the bugbears. It sounded similar to abyssal. Maybe it was infernal? I know that sounds similar," Sy said, pondering. The shadow fey stood up and looked down the tunnel. "I don't see anything though."
"Maybe they were just a few tunnels away," Cassian suggested, continuing to polish his weapon.
Sy sat back down. "Maybe it was nothing," she muttered. "Just my imagination." As soon as the elf sat down however, she felt a tremor emanate from the rocky floor of the cave. She glanced up at Cassian, but the half-orc was still studiously polishing his shield. She pretended not to have noticed, in case it was her imagination. A low growl echoed out from the tunnel the party had come from, and infernal voices began to sound as though from all around Sy. "Infernal badger!" the elf shouted, leaping to her feet and looking around wildly.
Cassian stood as well and tapped on the dome. "We might have company here," he declared.
Fei's face poked out of the bubble. "I know, we have been followed by an individual. That someone is hiding in the shadows there, in the tunnel from which we came."
"A badger?" Sy asked, worried.
"No, the badger noise was me," Fei said."
"Should I throw my hammer at them?" Cassian asked.
"Or lightning?" Sy suggested.
"Look we know you're there!" Cassian shouted into the darkness.
A voice shouted back in infernal, but none of the party understood. Cassian looked thoughtful. "Well, it's not a beholder, that would have attacked us by now. Perhaps it is a very smart badger?"
"That's what I've been saying!" Sy said.
"There is no badger," Fee said with a sigh.
"What's going on out here?" Arnick asked, walking out of the bubble while polishing his bow.
"There's someone in the tunnel there," Fei said, her face still the only part of her showing through the bubble. "But we don't know if they are hostile or not."
"Why don't we check it out?" the gnome asked, walking forward. As Arnick reached the branch where the tunnel split to the east, he noticed a small light shining from its depths. "Gazer!" he shouted, pulling his bow. Cassian immediately joined Arnick in loosing a missile, Arnick from his bow and Cassian from his crossbow, while Sy hurled a ray of frost. The Gazer froze solid, while Arnick's arrow and Cassian's bolt flew wide, but before the frozen monster could drop to the floor a magical stone hurled by Fei shattered it into spinning shards of ice.
"We are in enemy territory," Fei called out. "Are you with us or against us, whoever is following us? If you are against us, I will personally tear your throat out. If you are for us, please lend us your assistance against the monsters in this cave."
"I don't know if I like you or not yet," Ekemon said, emerging from the shadows. An indigo skinned tiefling, large ram's horns circling the sides of his head. "Do what you will then."
"Are you from this world?" Arnick asked.
"I don't know, I just woke up here. I saw you fighting some monsters, so I killed one of those eyeball things."
"I don't believe that," Cassian began, only for Arnick to interrupt him with "I totally believe that!"
"If it helps, I saw you burn that house down," Ekemon added. "I've been following you since."
"Why have you been following us?" Fei asked, bemused.
"I just wanted to know what you were up to."
"A normal person may not want to follow us, they may end up dying," Fei warned.
"Do I look like a normal person?" Ekemon asked, indicating his purple skin, blue hair and horns.
"I don't know actually," Fei allowed. "What does a normal person look like?"
Sy motioned for Cassian to join her. "Could you look at this hammer with your glasses again? I seem to be holding it again, but I didn't pull it off my belt."
"I need some light," Cassian said, nudging Fei. Fei offhandedly gestured and a bonfire sprang into existence nearby. "Better," the half-orc said. "Let's see, it looks the same as before, there's a line of magic looping through the hammer and into your arm. It seems... it seems to be attaching to something in your wrist? Maybe an anchor point? I don't know much about magic though."
The group was interrupted by the echoing blast of an explosion. Cassian whirled on Ekemon. "Was that you?"
"No," the tiefling replied. He gestured to the north tunnel, which was now on fire. A line of bugbears hurled barrels onto the flames, which proceeded to explode as well. "I think it was them."
-----------------------
Inside the bubble, Sadun, Poppy and Whistle jerked to their feet as the explosion echoed in their ears. Fei turned from her position looking outside the shelter. "The bugbears have found us," she reported dryly.
Sadun ran out of the shelter and looked around. A line of flames was roaring in the northern tunnel, the shapes of bugbears dumping some flammable liquid outlined in the flickering light. The dragonborn went back inside. "We need to go," she reported, gathering her belongings quickly. "They're forcing us further into the tunnels."
As Sadun left with Whistle and Poppy, she saw Sy raise her hands and hurl a ball of fire at the kobold's, while a mysterious tiefling touched his hand to the fire and pointed at a bugbear. The singled out bugbear was immolated in retributive flames moments before Sy's fireball exploded. The remaining bugbears perished instantly as the barrels they carried also blew up, triggering several more nearby barrels. The roof shook.
"Run!" Sadun shouted, already heading towards the eastern tunnel. The rest of the party quickly followed after her. Behind them, the cavern they had been resting in collapsed in on itself. As the dust settled, the group looked around.
"Looks like the tunnel continues east, and branches back north again here," Arnick said. "Should we split up?"
Sy motioned the gnome to be quiet. "I hear voices from this east tunnel. Some of them are in goblin. Let me see. 'Intruders are there, lets ambush them.' So there's an ambush. Also I heard barking."
"Did they say anything about my gauntlets?" Cassian asked.
"They said ambush and woof woof," Sy replied sarcastically.
"Well I want to go see what's up here before we walk into an ambush," Arnick said, striding purposefully northward.
"I will accompany you," Sadun said. Fei moved to follow.
As they walked away, Sadun heard Cassian suggest "Maybe we can ambush the ambushers, let's hide here."
---------------------------
While Cassian and Sy worked to hide themselves, Ekemon took it upon himself to scout ahead. Silent and deadly, the assassin moved town the corridor in the direction from which Sy had heard voices. The tunnel soon opened up into a wide cavern, and a group of creatures stood, their backs to the tiefling. Ekemon made a mental note. 'Looks like four bugbears. Two of them have bandanas on their heads, they must be ninja. There are also some fiery dogs, maybe hell hounds?' Satisfied, the tiefling turned and snuck back to the group. Cassian had hidden himself in the middle of the tunnel, directly behind a bear trap Fei had put down. A large rock stood next to the half-orc where Sy had been standing. He stopped and looked at Cassian.
"Do you think you're hiding there?"
"Pretty good, right?" The half-orc replied.
"Sure sure, look there are some ninja bears and hell hounds down there. So we should be careful when we go looking for trouble."
"Ninja bears?" Cassian said in wonder.
"I mean, bugbears dressed like ninja. I assume. They had bandanas."
"Well, I look forward to dealing with them," Cassian said.
"Cass! We need your glasses!" A loud whisper came to their ears.
"Oh, one moment, I'm needed elsewhere," Cassian said, turning and walking towards where Sadun and the others had disappeared.
---------------------------
"Oh good, it's a dead end," Sadun muttered, as she reached the end of the northern tunnel with Arnick and Fei. "At least we probably can't be surrounded this way."
"Ooh, a chest," Arnick said. "I wonder what's in it?" As he approached the chest, the gnome hesitated. "Last time the chest punched Cass, so I should be careful here." Drawing his quarterstaff, the gnome smacked the lid of the chest. Nothing happened. Arnick tapped it again. "It sounds hollow," he said. "Thin wood too." Arnick walked around behind the chest, and carefully opened the lid such that it faced away from him. A green-tinted gas began spewing forth. With a curse, the gnome shoved the chest closed again.
"That looked familiar," Sadun said. Fei nodded in agreement. Slowly, the gas seeped into the ground.
"I'm sure there's something in there, but I don't want to get poisoned," Arnick said thoughtfully. The gnome snapped his fingers and picked up the chest, then turned around such that the lid opened towards the dead end. "Now, a little effort," he muttered. Quickly, Arnick lifted the lid of the chest and dumped the contents on the floor. The wood of the chest cracked in his hands as he did so, and the chest fell apart. An orb rolled towards the wall of the cave, green gas pouring from pores all over its surface. A black robe lay crumpled on the floor as well.
"Let me try something," Sadun said, standing next to Arnick. With a deep breath, the dragonborn exhaled a spray of freezing air. The green gas froze and began to float upwards, while a sheen of greenish ice coated the orb. "Not quite what I was expecting," Sadun muttered, looking at the layer of floating green crystals.
Arnick ducked under the gas layer and grabbed the orb while Sadun snatched the robe. "Here, use the robe to cover this so we don't all get poisoned," Arnick suggested, handing the orb to Sadun. "And keep exhaling on it, let's not let it warm up. Sadun nodded in agreement. "Any idea what it is?"
"The gas I have seen," Sadun said. "It drove a certain rat to acts of extreme violence. It is also very poisonous to others."
"Should we smash it?" Fei asked.
"It could be useful," Arnick pointed out. "I think the robe has magical enhancements, but I cannot tell what kind. Cass! We need your glasses!"
"I'll make another campfire for him," Fei said, gesturing to the wall. A small fire sprang into existence as the half-orc approached.
"What do we have here?" Cassian asked. Arnick pointed to the robe. Sadun unwrapped the orb and continued to exhale steadily on it while the half-orc examined the robe. "Hmm, I think it might make you invisible? Let me try it on."
"Yes, I can no longer see you," Fei reported a moment later. "I definitely makes you invisible."
"I can't see myself, this is too weird," Cassian said. He appeared a moment later, shrugging off the robe. "And, now I can't see anything? What is happening? Wait, wait my vision is returning. Ok, that's a relief. I think the robe blinds you once you take it off for as long as you had it on perhaps."
"That seems a dubious benefit," Sadun said. "But I'm sure we can figure out some use for it."
"Maybe Poppy should wear it? It would keep the enemies from seeing him," Cassian suggests.
"I cannot see in the dark anyway," Poppy points out. "How does it help if you can't see me either?"
"Good point, good point," Cassian admitted. "I suppose we should be getting back."
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"I think the biggest problem we have," Ekemon explained to Sy, "are the hellhounds and the damn ninja bears."
"What is a ninja bear?" Sy asked, utterly befuddled.
"I don't know, there were bugbears, but they looked stronger and buffer than the other bugbears, and they had the ninja bands. Ninjas are stealthier than I am, that's where I learned my stuff from."
"Ok, tieflings are ninjas," Sy agreed.
"That's right, watch this, hiyah!" Ekemon declared, and then stood very very still.
"Uh, yes, very good," Sy said, laughing nervously.
"You can't see me, can you?" Ekemon asked, dancing.
"Uh, everyone?" Sy called out.
"I'm glad to see you are getting along," Fei said, walking up behind them.
"Please stop," Sy said.
"Damn, you can see me?" Ekemon asked.
"Yes? You just stood still, and then started dancing," Sy said.
"Well, I'm just going to go shoot someone now," Ekemon said, walking down the tunnel towards the bugbears.
"Did you find anything other than the robe?" Cassian asked, turning to Sadun.
"Yes, this orb I have been breathing on," Sadun said.
"What does that do?"
"If I stop breathing on it, it will release poison gas."
"Should we throw it at the enemy?"
"What if it breaks?" Arnick asked.
"You did see the tiefling leave, right?" Sy interrupted. "Just making sure it's not just me who can see him."
"Oh, yeah we had best follow him," Sadun said.
The group walked quietly down the tunnel. Ekemon met them partway down. "There's a net hanging over the tunnel a little further in, and I think one of the bugbears saw me," the tiefling reported.
Following Ekemon, they soon came upon the net. "I could not see how to deactivate the trap before they spotted me," the tiefling explained. "But I had hardly begun to look."
Everyone looked around carefully, but nobody saw any sign of a trigger.
"Wait," Fei said quietly. "Follow the line of rope from the top of the net. There, by that rock. There's a bugbear holding the other end. It's not triggered, it's just dropped. I'll deal with that." With those words, Fei drew her spear of lightning and hurled it at the surprised bugbear, slicing its arm clean off. The net began to fall, but stopped midway down as the bugbear's hand, still gripping the rope, lodged in the rock.
"Well, I guess we're fighting now," Sadun said.
"I see the ninja bears!" Sy called excitedly, pointing. "They're over by that stalagmite!" She reached to her belt, pulled out the hammer and glared at it a moment, then shrugged and charged to the still dangling net and launched a ray of frost at one of the ninjas.
Arnick began to follow suit but stopped short. "Did anybody notice this troll over here?" the gnome called out, pointing at a large stone skinned troll looming just to the left of the tunnel egress. Pulling his lightning bow, Arnick fit an arrow to the lightning string only to be surprised when two sparking arrows appeared alongside. He took aim and fired all three arrows at once at a similarly surprised bugbear standing behind the troll. The bugbear took all three arrows in the chest and slumped to the floor. The string of the bow fizzled out.
"I'll have to figure that out later," Arnick muttered, running up to the troll and punching it repeatedly in the shin. "Ow, it's like hitting a brick wall!" The sound of stone grinding on stone came from above and Arnick looked up to see the troll looking down on him. An arrow flew past the troll and pierced one of the two hellhounds' throat, toppling the creature instantly. The second hellhound rand between the troll's knees and bit hard into Arnick's arm. As the hellhound danced back away from the gnome, Arnick groaned in pain, his wound searing with fire. Despite the pain, Arnick was able to spin as a flash in the corner of his eye caught his attention, snagging a javelin out of the air and chuckling weakly at the bugbear who had thrown it. Unfortunately, Arnick's display of skill was lost on the troll towering over him, who promptly clubbed him into unconsciousness.
"Arnick!" Cassian called out, seeing the troll stepping over the gnome's body. "Don't worry, we'll get you!" The half-orc darted behind the nearest ninja bear and smacked it repeatedly with Mjolnir, but the bugbear simply turned its attention to him, grinning wickedly. A blinding flash of light blinded all the combatants for a second, replaced by the warm glow of a wall of fire. Several of the bugbears, caught in the blaze, yelped in agony. The hellhound however seemed to grow emboldened by the fire, while the troll's skin cracked, and then seemed to absorb the flames licking towards it.
With a roar, Sadun charged the troll, her great sword crackling with electricity. She moved for a powerful swing, and the sword slipped from her fingers, flying back away from her. Ignoring the curse of pain from Sy behind her, Sadun seamlessly turned the swing into a motion to pull Briarblade from her back.
On the other side of the troll, Sadun noticed Sy appear in a puff of misty, her shoulder bloody and the spirits of long dead dragonborn warriors taunting her. Sy pulled Arnick away from the troll, attracting the attention of one of the bugbears and the remaining hellhound. The bugbear swung its club at the horned elf, but the swing went wide, the club catching fire as it passed through the magical fire. The hellhound was more efficient, opening its maw and unleashing a gout of flames that scorched both Sy and the unconscious gnome. With a flourish, Sy drew the flames away from herself and into her hammer.
The troll swung its massive fists at Sadun, who parried the blows with Briarblade. Even so, the force of the impacts forced the dragonborn backward, her feet digging into the hard stone of the floor. The troll grinned, the fiery lines along its rock hard skin knitting its wounds back together even as an arrow pierces its forehead. Hearing motion behind her, Sadun reacted, plunging Briarblade into the floor. Flowers sprouted from the bare rock, releasing a cloud of pollen. The body of a bugbear, holding her lightning sword, collapsed at her side.
Glancing around, Sadun saw Cassian taking the head from one of the tougher bugbears before moving to attack another, while Fei, transformed into a white bear, bit hard into the shoulder of a third. The wall of fire dissipated, leaving the combatants in the flickering glow of the troll and Sy's glowing hammer. Arnick was up again, trying to beat the hellhound back with Sy at his side, probably thanks to a timely curative spell from Whistle. Turning back to her foe, Sadun roared a challenge and threw everything she had into her blade work, slashing and stabbing at anything on the troll that looked like a weak spot. The flaming creature let it come, grinning maniacally. Another arrow pierced its forehead, but the shaft burnt off immediately and the flames seemed to knit the troll back together faster than Sadun could injure it.
A burst of flames from the hellhound caused Arnick to fall to the floor again. "Whistle, help!" Sy shouted, bringing her hammer around in a wide arc and smashing the hound away from the limp body of the gnome.
"The bugbears are all down," Cassian called, charging and swinging over and over again with his great sword. One final blow lopped the troll's arm right off.
"Kill that dog already Sy!" Sadun shouted, chopping the troll's second arm off.
The shadow elf grunted in frustration and swung, her hammer crushing the hound's skull. "There, it's done! Can I get a break now? It's hot in here!"
Whistle ran over to Arnick and restored the gnome to consciousness again.
Sadun glared at the troll as its severed arms raised themselves from the floor and swung at her and Cassian in turn. With a cry of surprise, Cassian swung at the troll again, severing its leg. The troll bent over Sadun and bit her in the shoulder.
The group gathered around the troll, slashing and hacking at it. Sadun scraped her blade along Talna's shield, strapped to her back, and swung the electrified blade at the troll, but it kept biting, it's arms clawing at any available target.
"Fei! Put out the fires!" Sy called from her position seated at the far side of the room. The polar bear grunted and growled in response, biting at the arm that was clinging to her. A moment later, the druid reverted to her human form, sighed and flung a conjured icicle. The icicle pierced into the troll's back and exploded into a cloud of ice slivers. The glow from the arm near Cassian dulled, and the arm came to a halt.
Cassian picked up the remaining arm and threw it at Sy, who yelped and stood quickly, flinging a ray of frost that extinguished the flames animating it. The arm shuddered and lay still.
Sadun lopped the troll's head off, only for it to fall and bite her arm on the way down. Sy threw another ray of frost into the troll's body, extinguishing the flames there. Sadun shook the head off of her arm and into the waiting coils of Fei, who had become a large snake. The snake engulfed the troll's head and suffocated the flames. The rest of the troll stopped moving and toppled over.
Cassian and Sadun took several minutes to stomp the various bits of troll into small pieces, and then collapsed to the floor in exhaustion.
"Am I the only one going to loot these corpses?" Arnick called out into the silence.
TO BE CONTINUED
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