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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 4160147" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dungeon Crawl Classic #3 The Mysterious Tower Level 3-5Turn 96: It gets worse.Bec suddenly turns right, something moving in the corner of his eye, it’s a Shrieker, it must be, his greatsword cuts a swathe in the fungi and sure enough another Shrieker is silenced, once and for all.Movement again, Bec’s not done, his greatsword cuts again, mows down a straggly looking fungi, violet in colour, no matter- the Barbarian rushes over to help Ala down the last few feet of the rope. The second Violet Fungi is of course dead now, not that Bec knew what he was doing.“There.” Bec points, Ala rushes over to Cas as fast as she can cutting a swathe through the fungi in the process.Anya’s Mage Armour suddenly takes effect, she stands tall, trying to spot whatever struck Cas.“He’s breathing, just- quickly.” She sees Ala coming. “There’s something in here, something dangerous. NEWT.”Newt is hidden from sight, trying to fix the strap that’s broken on his armour; he knew he should have worn some pants today.A little way from the Gnome a straggly looking violet coloured fungi snakes along the ground, getting closer by the moment.“NEWT. Where are you?” Anya calls again.“OOOoooooOOOOOoooooOOOOoooooOOOOoooOOOoo.”“Will someone shut that bloody Shrieker up, it’s enough to wake the dead.”Bec nods and marches off towards the offending fungi.“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrgggggghhhhh.”A nearly naked Newt leaps into the centre of the chamber, propelled by his magical boots. “Aaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhh.”Newt leaps again, lands off-balance, almost trips- pointing back the way he came.“There’s something there, creepy, straggly, like… what?”The other members of the Goodman Gang are staring at him, at least those in the cavern, Jim’s only just starting down the rope now, he must have tied it off somewhere up top.Actually they’re staring just past Newt, over his shoulder- behind the Gnome.Newt turns.“That’s a big stick-insect.”GULPWhat’s got six legs, is about ten feet long with giant mandibles, looks kinda insect-like, yellowy-brown in colour- earth tones, and must weigh over 800 pounds? Oh, and snacks on demi-humans…The Ankheg arrives to see what all the fuss is about.CHOMP.Followed by.FIZZLENewt is sent tumbling backwards by the force of the creatures half-bite, half-butt attack; he’s also covered in acid. Luckily his armour is ok, he isn’t wearing it, his skin seems to be less ok, it’s burning up. “<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />.” It’s Bec’s turn to get literate.The Ankheg emerges fully from a second cavern to the west, entrance previously concealed by the myriad fungi.“Aaaaaaaargh.”CRUNCH.Jim drops the last ten or so feet into the chamber, and shatters his ankle.The Ranger hobbles towards the giant insect, blocking out the pain.“It bloody hurts. Ooooooo me foot.”I said blocking out the pain.“A little help, anyone…”Jim stumbles on, a brave lad.“Smidgin” Anya’s back in action, a pair of magic Missiles arc out from her hand, twist through the air and punch circular holes in the side of the Ankheg.“RRRRRAAAAAAARRRRR.”Who’s not happy.“Cas.” Ala whispers.“Whassup? Can I have a sandwich?” The Paladin awakes, courtesy of Ala’s healing hands.“Just like old times”, Ala grins, leans in and kisses the Paladin full on the lips.“Buffet?” Cas shakes his head, it’s all coming back to him- although the huge monster attacking Bec seems to be new.“What’s…” He manages before Ala screams.“Aaaaargghh.” That’s her now, right on time.“What is it?”Ala grabs the Paladin and pulls, dragging him back, out of the way, the side of the Priestesses face swells and pulses, buboes and blisters form, just like the ones on Cas.Ala pulls with all her might, certainly faster than the Violet Fungi which twists and coils, then slinks along the ground, disappears back into the fungi forest.The Ankheg snaps its jaws shut just short of the massive Barbarian, Bec steps back and swings hard, his blow shatters the armoured plates to the left hand side of the insect’s skull, a rich brown liquid spills from the rent.The Ankheg sways, backs away slightly, wary of the Barbarian.And in the same instance a strange looking fungi twists and turns, emerges from the undergrowth at the Barbarian’s feet, Bec notices the new arrival as it coils and rises, like a snake ready to dart in.PUCKThe Barbarian kicks the Violet Fungi, sends it skidding back into its hiding place.Bec dances forward, slashes hard, the Ankheg falls back again, retreats to the entrance to the second cavern chamber.Ala dumps her man, Cas leans against the wall, watches her go.“Chaffinch.” He waves.The Priestess is out of breath when she crashes to her knees back at Newt’s body, she wipes as much as she can of the acid gunk off the mostly naked Gnome and at the same time sends healing pulses into Newt’s broken body, she cradles the Rogue’s head in her warm and loving arms.His eyes blink open.Newt makes vaguely mewling sounds then signals, a thumbs up. Ala drops Newt’s head, which thunks into the cavern floor and is up and off to see who else might need her efforts.“Ha Ha.”The Violent Fungi stretches out towards Bec, Jim however is ideally placed.SWIPEHe slashes hard with his axe, destroying a good half of the plant, in effect cutting the thing in two.“OOOoooooOOOOOoooooOOOOoooooOOOOoooOOOoo.”The Shrieker’s still going, and in fine voice.“Will someone please shut that thing up?”Anya realises she’s talking to herself, everyone else seems to be otherwise engaged, either fighting or not dying, just.“If you want something doing…” The Wizard heads over to the wailing fungi, toting her staff.“Didn’t expect that did ya?” Jim is talking to the Violet Fungi, the strange plant remains closed mouthed on the subject, instead expends its energy on lashing out and lassoing the Ranger’s leg.“My bad foot.”Jim tumbles backwards, bad foot in the air- blisters begin to swell up, he suddenly feels very…“I feel very…”Jim’s sick all over, actually mostly over himself.WHUMPFollowed by.WHUMP“OOOoooooOOOOOooooo...”The Shrieker stops shrieking.It’s suddenly unnervingly quiet.“BUFFET.”Bec continues to harry the Ankheg which again gives ground, they’re almost in to the second chamber now.HACK-SPIT- BLEEEEEEEEEEUUUUUGHHA line of Acid is projectile vomited back into the chamber by the Ankheg, Bec’s soaked, as is Anya, her robes are ruined, Bec’s armour not much better.“Right for that- you die.”The Barbarian lurches towards the Ankheg, greatsword out before him.The giant insect continues to retreat; Bec follows it back, into the second chamber proper, an irregular cavern roughly triangular in shape. In the southwest corner is a well built stone chimney or pillar that stretches from the floor to the ceiling. It’s ten feet to a side. A huge pile of dung and refuse is heaped beside it. A little north of it along the wall a wide tunnel leads upwards at an acute angle.Back in the first chamber Cas has had enough of lying around, a short spiritual interlude later and he’s back on his feet, less damaged than before, but equally giddy. The Paladin stumbles towards the second chamber, ostensibly to support Bec.He collides with the cavern wall en route, as I say, still a little giddy after his brief lie-down.“Will you all just please stop getting hurt, what am I some kind of walking first aid station, can we please try to work together, it’s a shambles just like it was at the beginning…” Ala harrumphs and stamps her foot.A freshly healed Jim waves his thanks and dashes off in pursuit of the Violet Fungi.The Ranger gambols and smashes his way through the fungi forest, a swathe of destruction in his wake, and more by luck than judgement stumbles upon the Violent Fungi, although half the fungi it once was.The poisonous plant rears up before him.SLICEAnd is cut down in an instant.Meanwhile Bec has backed the Ankheg almost as far as it can go, the horrible insect has taken a couple more blows, nothing major, but it has so far failed to connect with the tough Barbarian.CRUNCH.Its luck changes.For the worst.The Ankheg stoops to conquer, darts down to bite the Barbarian where he stands, miscalculates the distance and ends up smashing its mandibles in to the hard stone cavern floor.Bec is at the creature in an instant.CRUNCHThis time the Barbarian lands a decent blow, the Ankheg sheds armoured plates, a mandible, and gallons of its brown blood, it attempts to crawl away, as far away as it possibly can from the whirlwind of destruction before it,CRUNCHIt doesn’t get far.The giant insect wilts and slumps to the cavern floor.Bec totes his greatsword over his shoulder and strides off back into the first chamber, passing a woozy looking Cas on the way.Jim’s not well, Newt’s not well, Anya’s robes are near ruined, and she’s not exactly perky having been drenched in acid vomit. Ala is generally annoyed with the slipshod nature of the last series of encounters.Bec’s ok, a little crispy at the edges, his armour could do with a clean, but generally happy with his lot.He whistles a happy tune.“Retreat, back to Scat- rest.” The Paladin mutters and then has to be lifted out of the chamber, as do many of the other members of the Goodman Gang by the hail and hearty Bec.They retreat.They rest.While Scat watches over them.“One WHISTLE, One PARPKeep moving.One FART, One TRUMPOne kick up the PUMP,We’ll all be merry and SHIIITE.”Next Turn: Back down the hole.</blockquote>

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