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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 841524" data-attributes="member: 6294">"Good Friends & Fine Spirits" by Mystic Eye Games  - Part 11Of all the group, Ming Li is perhaps the least hampered by their current predicament.  Falling easily into the meditative calm of combat, she crushes one of the roaches against the tunnel wall, while slapping aside the lunge of another.Unfortunately, apart from Macwood - whose small size gives him some room to manoeuvre - the rest of the adventurers find themselves fighting at a significant disadvantage.  This is most pronounced for Briar and Anastria, who normally rely on their speed and agility to protect them in combat.  The elven woman in particular seems utterly unable to contend with the scuttling roaches in these tight confines.  She thrashes wildly, her blows striking only air or dirt, while one of the vermin bites at her exposed face, and another at her flailing feet."Someone help Anastria!" Sirdros calls from his position at the rear of the party.  The roaches are little threat to him - they bite harmlessly at his heavy armour - but his voice is strained with concern over his sister, whose cries he can hear, but for whom he can do nothing to help."I've got my hands full!" the Padre half-snarls in reply.  His words are literally true: he cracks a roach in half as he speaks, his gauntleted fists tearing it in two."Look on the bright side!" Macwood calls cheerily through the melee, while lumps of dislodged earth shower down around the adventurers, "At least if we die here we'll save on burial costs!"Briar responds with a string of invective about the halfling's parentage, punctuating his remarks with a dagger blow that skewers a roach to the wall.  A second roach lunges in and bites the rogue's hand, drawing a high-pitched yelp from the young man, but he hangs on to the weapon.By now the stabbed or crushed carcasses of almost a dozen roaches litter the floor of the tunnel, but enough remain that only Ming Li is free of attackers, while Anastria is still plagued by the two that originally attacked her, neither of which has she yet managed to harm.The monk pauses, glancing at the two people on either side of her.  Seeing Briar still fending off a roach with his bleeding hand, she snaps out her foot, knocking the insect onto its back.  Briar gives a shout of glee and pins the stricken roach with his dagger - then stabs it several more times for good measure.Quirking an eyebrow at the rogues vigorous dispatch of the roach, Ming Li turns back to her other neighbour, but Macwood has by now killed the insect he was fighting.  Broken bits of chitin and smears of roach innards cling to his sleeve from where he crushed it under his forearm."I've heard of moths in your clothes but this is ridiculous." He quips, then wriggles forward to assist Anastria.  With the bard's help, the elf finally manages to kill the two roaches that have been plaguing her, though she bears several bites to her legs and a deep gash on her cheek as mementoes of the fight."Anyone badly hurt?" the Padre asks, "Other than Anastria's pride?"Having determined that no-one is in danger of dying from their wounds, the group presses on, moving even more slowly now, as they constantly scan the walls of the tunnels for signs of another ambush.  After a time - it's difficult to say how long, though their light spells have not yet run out - they notice that the tunnel is beginning to slope slightly upwards.  This gradually becomes more pronounced, though the slope remains quite shallow: they are still able to crawl, rather than climb, along."There's some kind of light, ahead." Macwood hisses back to the others.  "Let me check it out."  Without waiting for a response, he crawls forward, leaving the group's light behind.  Within seconds, he has disappeared into the gloom."We should go after him." The Padre doesn't like to be left behind. "How can he even tell there was a light ahead, it still looks dark to me.""There's a light." Anastria responds tersely, "Though your human eyes are too weak to detect it.""We should still go." The Padre persists, ignoring the elf's comment on his race, "What if he gets into danger?""We'll know if he's in danger." Ming Li says quietly, keeping her eyes ahead, watching for signs of the bard's return."How?""He'll scream.""Like a girl." Briar concurs.  He shrugs when Anastria shoots him a dirty look, "It's true.""Not that you can talk." The Padre hasn't forgotten the rogue's high-pitched yelp of pain in the last fight.  Briar blanches at the comment, but the others - their attention focussed forward - don't notice.After what seems a very long time, Macwood reappears, moving quickly along the tunnel towards them."The tunnel comes up into some kind of derelict house!" he reports, breathing heavily from the exertion of his fast-paced crawl.  "And it's absolutely filled with roaches."</blockquote>

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