Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1190577" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #243] What's Bugging You?[/PLAIN]The halfling swallowed nervously and squinted into the dark cave. He could see nothing within beyond a few feet, but that falling rock sounds was too ominous to ignore. He edged through the shadows, moving away from the cleft and back up toward where Ledare and Morier had stationed themselves in the underbrush. He froze in his tracks as the quartet of bug men roared passed in pursuit of Ixin's glowing deception. They noticed him not at all, and Vade was able to creep right up between Ledare and Morier before those two noticed him either."I heard a really loud noise coming from inside the cave," Vade explained in a hushed whisper. "Like rocks falling. We need to go in and help Feln.""Good!" Morier said, gripping his sword eagerly. "I've had enough of skulking about like a thug!" He struggled to his feet, and it was plain that despite his bravado, he was still feeling weak from the belladonna."Wait a moment," Ledare urged, laying her hand on the elf's forearm. "Vade, can you move quickly and find Feln?  You are small and have been able to hold your tongue long enough to be silent.""What's the point?" Morier asked. "If Feln's made enough noise so that we heard it, then the bugs heard it too. There's no secret that we're here and trying to gain access at this point, I'd guess. And unlike the halfling, I can see perfectly well in the dark.""So can I," Ixin said as she trotted across from her own hiding place. The others looked at her questioningly. "It'll take those things a few moments to realize that my illusion was just that. And I saw you guys arguing...""Swords ready," Morier told her. "We're heading in.""Not necessarily!" Ledare countered and Vade quickly told the mage about what he'd heard."I think it makes sense for Vade to stay outside with Ledare while Morier, Windstryder and I to go in for Feln," Ixin said. "I have darkvision and the ability to understand the bugs.""I want to go and help Feln," Vade whined. "He is nice.""You'll be blind," Morier reminded the halfling. The albino's hands moved over the vials in his potion belt and checked the wands he kept in his wrist sheaths. Everything was where it should be. Battle awaited!"There are lots of big nasties in there... you need me! I knew I should have gone with him." The halfling looked genuinely remorseful. "Besides, some boring philosopher man once told me: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."The others looked down at him with surprised expressions on their faces. The little rogue clucked his tongue in  exasperation. "It means don't separate Vade alone in the dark," he explained and wrapped his tiny arms half-way around Ixin's knees. Sighing heavily, she reached down and pried the halfling's arms off her legs."Let's not waste time arguing," she said. "We are needed in the cave so let's stay together as Vade suggests and get moving." As she turned, the sunrod she'd been carrying in her belt plinked onto the ground. Her eyes flicked between it and the too-innocent-looking Vade and she smiled. "If you wanted the sunrod, you need but ask little friend."He stooped to pick it up. "I was thinking that someone could just carry me on their back and I would only have to break open the sunrod when we need it," he said, grinning sheepishly at her. "They already know that we are here anyway.""While we stand here, Feln might be fighting for his life," Morier asserted. "I'm going in.""Go now and find out what has happened," Ledare told them as they hustled down the slope toward the cave. "I will keep those bugs from following you. You have my word."Ledare glanced around and saw the transmogrified insects still flying off in the distance. Of Windstryder there was no sign.Feln dodged the first piece of falling debris, his body moving into Flowing Water Style automatically. The second bit clipped his arm as he wove his body between the third and fourth. The impact threw off his balance and sent him tumbling awkwardly to the ground. After that, it was all he could do to keep from being pinned beneath the wet rubble. When the deadly rain of stone finally stopped, his legs were buried beneath the collapse and his arms and head were bleeding freely from half-a-dozen wounds. Dust choked his airway and he sputtered to catch his breath as he extricated himself from the cave-in."You're not like the others," the girl spoke. Her voice was like music in the damp dark."We are here to rescue you," Feln groaned and coughed as he got to his feet. "Hold on. My friends are coming to save you." He brought one of his two remaining elixirs to his lips and felt the pleasant warmth of healing spread through his body. When it had passed, of his many injuries only an insignificant bruise on his temple remained."Are you hurt?" the girl asked and Feln shook his head. He activated the Ring of Invisibility and vanished a few moments before another voice issued from behind him in the passageway, ringing off the limestone walls.“Petty creatures!” it shouted. “You have incurred the inestimable anger of Brath the Lesser. Prepare to be destroyed!” Feln heard a few muttered words of spell casting and then found himself shrouded in a darkness so deep that even his darkvision couldn't penetrate it."I hear something," Vade warned as they passed through the entrance chamber. "Up above." Ixin and Morier trained their eyes on the ceiling and saw the papery nest that Feln had noted earlier. There were transmogrified bug men visible in many of the entrances and egresses of the nest, but they weren't sleeping any more. And they weren't happy about finding three intruders in their home. A shower of crossbow bolts descended on the trio.Two arrows pierced Morier's scalemail, one striking a glancing blow to his chest while the other cut a bloody groove in his right knee. A shaft found its home in Ixin's right thigh, piercing her armor as if it were silk and not leather. Vade, clinging blindly to Ixin's back faired less well than she. Two quarrels struck him, one in the right shoulder, the other in the right foot.Of the first salvo, only three bolts had failed to find their mark and the three companions could hear the creak of levers rachetting crossbows back into firing position.Outside, ignorant of the troubles within the cave, Windstryder moved through the underbrush as noisily as a ghost. If there was a back door to this cave, she would find it and retrieve the package herself. She could not sit idly by while Mud-Face  secured the package that she had been assigned by order of the King himself to obtain. And what if he failed? The package was too crucial to the fate of  Barnacus to allow her to be relocated or killed if Ugly wasn't up to the task.And so she hunted on the other side of the hill for another way in with her bow at the ready.</blockquote>

Verification