Things Get Even Worse!
6/28/369 O.L.G., 1:30 p.m, near the western edge of Sriti’s Jungle
Sriti’s Jungle stinks of rotting vegetation mixed with the perfume of exotic flowers. The juxtaposition of foul odor and pleasant aroma is gut-churning. The mud beneath our heroes’ feet is sometimes deep enough for them to sink up to the ankles. They slog along, following high ground when they can, but always taking Jawbreaker’s word as to which way is west. West, towards the other side of the jungle. West, towards open ground, with no canopy of trees blotting out the sun’s overhead rays. Our heroes cannot help but hate and fear the jungle at this point. It was just outside the eastern edge that Naomi was paralyzed by the huge wasp-like monster, and if she could wince as her travois is dragged along by the burly barbarian Jawbreaker, bouncing over rocks and roots and depressions, she would. But her limbs, her face, everything remains incapable of movement. It’s almost enough to make her cry- but unfortunately, that is currently impossible. Beau, meanwhile, staggers along blindly, unable to see, Timothy leading him carefully. It is fortunate, in a way, that Naomi needs to be dragged; otherwise, blind Beau would slow the group.
...but wait, it gets even worse.
As the sweat pours down the Chief’s face, as warm drops of water dribble from the canopy overhead and spatter across Timothy, the party heads up a small rise, then back down the other side, where- fortunately- the game trail they are currently walking along navigates between two pools of muddy water. Cautiously, Jawbreaker watches the ground. He knows all too well how easily quicksand can masquerade as solid ground. If he had a hand free, he would poke the ground with a stick- but the sticks in his hands are supporting his paralyzed friend. He grunts unhappily as the travois catches momentarily on a root, and he tugs at it to free it.
Timothy, meanwhile, continues to move forward carefully, leading his blind pal Beau behind him. “Careful where you step, Beau!” he warns. “There are a lot of roots here!” As the group struggles across the uneven ground, none of them see the slow movement of what might at first be thought a log in each of the two pools of water to either side. Timothy furrows his brow in concentration as he picks his way along the path, Beau following and Chief Jawbreaker after him. Neither of them has any warning at all.
Suddenly there’s a huge eruption of water and mud as the monsters to either side surface. Some sort of tentacle slaps out, wrapping around Timothy’s arm! “Hey, look out!” he cries, and suddenly he yelps, jerked into the water.
“Timothy!” shouts Beau blindly.
Jawbreaker jerks his head up and his jaw drops. Timothy starts screaming for help as some terrible monster resembling nothing more than a crocodile with two fleshy tendrils extruding from its mouth has snatched the sorcerer into the water- and into mortal danger! With a growl, Jawbreaker drops Naomi- who grunts mentally- and starts to reach for his sword-
From behind him, the other creature strikes. Suddenly Jawbreaker finds himself dragged into the muddy water by a pair of tentacles, pulled in by an unseen enemy behind him!
“Jawbreaker?” Beau asks in a wavering voice. His only reply is a loud yell of rage as the barbarian... sees.... RED.
Upper arms flexing, Jawbreaker roars. His face contorts in a snarl. His hands bunch into fists. The water in his palms is almost squeezed into steam as he gives out another enraged scream- and bursts free! Whirling, he pulls out the sword he’d been reaching for before and deals the monster a terrific blow across the head, but its knobby hide absorbs much of the blow.
Timothy, meanwhile, is struggling, but he’s too weak to break the monster’s grip. Spluttering, he gargles, “Help!” But Jawbreaker is a little busy- he’s trying to fend off the monster on him, fighting for his life. He dares not break away while it remains a threat; even in his rage he recognizes this.
Fortunately for Timothy, even paralyzed, Naomi retains her mental powers. She focuses as best she can and tries to mind thrust the monster busily chewing on her sorcerous ally, but to her chagrin she finds her mental blast deflects off it like water off a duck. Spell resistance, she thinks with dismay, it has spell resistance! She bears down with her mind, trying again- and this time she forces it to recall the pain caused by a previous terrible experience. Fortunately, the monster’s response is to retreat further into the water. Unfortunately, it drags Timothy with it, crushing him in its jaws. The sorcerer gives out a high-pitched shriek of pain and goes limp, unconscious- and worse, out of Naomi’s field of view.
Great, thinks the psion in dismay.
Beau has done the one thing that he thinks might help. In desperation, he has blindly cast a shocking grasp, and he waves his charged hand around him. “Be careful!” he yells. “I’ve got a shocking grasp up, don’t touch me! Unless you’re... you’re whatever we’re fighting, and then I’ll touch you!” But his voice cracks on the last word; he is largely bluffing. Still, he can hear Jawbreaker frothing at the mouth and growling as he fights something almost right next to him. Beau’s face contorts in a grimace; what he is about to do is so dangerous that it is almost suicidal.
Blindly, Beau steps up and reaches out.
As if by a miracle, he brushes against one of the flailing tentacles. However, his miracle runs out of juice right then, because he fails to penetrate its spell resistance. “Dammit!” Beau shouts, stumbling back blindly.
Timothy is on the verge of death. If nobody saves him right now it will be too late. And nobody else is close enough.
That leaves only one hope: Bob, Timothy’s bat familiar.
Bob drags Timothy’s wand of lightning bolts out of his belt. Flying up, squeaking in terror, the bat squints and tries to use the wand. Nothing. Desperate, it tries again, focusing all its will upon the wand, trying to influence the item- and finally it discharges a blast of lightning into the water! ZARK! The mud-covered crocodile-like monster writhes- and takes another bite out of Timothy.
Bob, flapping in the air, overburdened by the wand, reels. A flash of pain and sorrow runs through the bat, and then a terrible emptiness settles in. Gone, the bat thinks. My friend is... gone. A wash of sadness flows over the little bat, followed by another emotion: a thirst for revenge.
Another lightning bolt shoots into the water, and another. The bellowing of the monster is plainly audible, but it is not enough to satisfy the familiar. Die, monster! the bat thinks viciously. You killed my friend!
Jawbreaker and the beast he’s facing are still toe-to-toe, but the barbarian is falling back, weakening. The thing has smacked and bitten him until he’s severely injured. Now he is forced to stagger away and quaff a healing potion- but as he does so, the monster’s tentacle whips out and slaps Beau across the face! The halfling gives out an agonized cry, groping blindly for a target, and brushes against it; but again he feels his magic slough off of it harmlessly. And suddenly he feels the tentacle wrap around his arm, and the next thing he knows he’s upside down, thrashing in the air and moving towards-
OW! A sudden bite tears flesh from his chest, ripping him open severely, and Beau screams in pain. He can smell ozone from the repeated discharges of lightning off to his- well, over that way, anyhow. “Timothy, help me!” he cries, not yet knowing that his friend is dead. “HELP!”
Jawbreaker can barely stand. He struggles with himself for a minute. He could try to save Beau, risking everything- or he can grab Naomi and hustle her away to safety. But he knows, damn well, that the tentacled croc is not on the edge of death, and he is... and based on how things have gone so far, that doesn’t look good at all. No sir, not good at all...
Jawbreaker’s face contorts in sorrow as he glances at Beau one last time, and then he picks up the travois and starts hauling Naomi as fast as he can.
Naomi groans mentally. She can’t see what’s happening, but it’s clearly not good. As she jounces forward on her crude litter, facing behind her, she sees the lightning blasting off to one side, but there’s no sign of Timothy; and to the other side, she sees Beau struggling blindly in the grip of one of the monsters.
No! she thinks. It can’t end like this! She sends another recall agony at Beau’s enemy, and to her relief it gets through the monster’s defenses. But then her view is cut off by a screen of undergrowth.
Beau, meanwhile, manages- somehow- to bring up another shocking grasp. He’s been mauled fairly badly, and one more good bite will finish him. He’s dizzy, his head is spinning from being spun through the air, he doesn’t seem to have anyone helping him. Things look ugly. He smells the stink of a carnivore’s mouth opening right in front of his head, the carrion reek almost making him vomit.
But there’s no time for that.
He does the only thing he can; he reaches directly into the monster’s maw, and the shocking grasp jolts into the monster with telling force.* For an instant things start to grey out as the tentacles holding him squeeze brutally tight; then the go slack. Coughing out water, Beau drags himself ashore. He’s completely disoriented. He doesn’t know which way to go, which way is which. “Jawbreaker! Timothy! Help!” he coughs, exhausted, and then collapses onto the ground. “Help,” he repeats weakly, to the all-encompassing darkness that is all he can see. Even the sound of the lightning has stopped.
Slowly, alone, helpless, Beau starts weeping.
A moment later he feels a hand fall on his shoulder. “Quick, Beau,” Jawbreaker grunts, “we go.”
Beau gasps. “W-we made it?” His voice shakes.
“Not all of us,” Jawbreaker says sadly.
He does not add that his vision is starting to fade.
Next Time: At last our heroes’ jungle journey ends- but what kind of end is it??
*This goes down in my book as the single Most Needed Crit EVAR. Yes, that’s right- despite a 50% miss chance, and being grappled, Beau got a critical hit with a shocking grasp.
