Didit unsheats her own sword and awaits patiently to see what can she do to fight if necessary. She follows Kahan and borimer in the formation, trusting in their experiencce.

When it moves, it appears to be nothing more than a blurring of the dark walls or the cave shifting.  It then begins moving closer to you, obviously sensing your heat or smell or something.  As it gets closer, you see what it is, and where your mistake was.

Whatever made the giant snake-like trail in the dirt had not been going the way that Leo and Mal went.  It had apparently been going the other way (unless there are more than one).  And now it has doubled back at the smell of new prey.

It is gigantic but barely visible.  With a chameleon effect, it seems to blend into the shadows and wall of the giant tunnel enough to make it nearly invisible until it is close enough to strike.

And now it is close enough.

ROUND 0

It opens its wings, which destroys the chameleon effect.  It is long like a snake with tan and black markings, but it is huge in size, approximately 30 feet long.  It has a scaly, snake like body and fangs like a viper.  It has no legs, but has talon-like claws at the end of its wings.  And those wings are not bird-like wings; they are bat wings.  It is cold-blooded and nearly invisible to infravision as well as normal sight when it is camouflaged and in the dark caves.

But there is something else.  Inside its wings are parasitic creatures attached to the side of the creature.  The opening of the wings disturbs these parasites, and they release from the giant snake-like body.  You see in a moment what these parasites are as they screech in high pitches and fly directly toward you:  vampire bats.  There are at least six of these bats in addition to the approaching giant creature, which is now about 30 feet away and rearing up to strike like a rattlesnake or other snake when it is getting ready to gulp down a rat.


Visperillion
(Original creature)
HP: ?
AC: ?
Special Attacks: swallow whole, ?
Special Defenses: chameleon camouflage, ?

Parasitic Vampire Bats (6)
(Original)
HP: ?
AC: ?
Special Attacks: disease, ?
Special Defenses: ?

This message was last edited by the GM at 16:04, Fri 23 Aug 2013.

Kahan pulls out his Rod of Absorption and begins casting.

Alarmed at the creatures coming near them, Tahldar steps backwards and casts a defensive spell.

OOC:  I will cast shield and step away from creatures as far as I can while still being able to cast.

Cursing her ill timed choice of defaulting to a weapon Didit decides to go ahead anyway, she moves ahead and tries to strike at the monster or at least act as a distraction long enough for her companions to attack it better.

18:29, Today: Shapfren Diditlew rolled 7 using 1d20. Attack  (THAC0 17).

"What the hell-?"

Borimer closes the distance and makes two quick slashes at the strange wyrm's belly.

Shae had been quiet and contemplative while the other friends went out scouting.  Now she comes to full attention, trying to cast a spell on the flying bats.

she attempts charm animal

ROUND 1

Tahldar, Kahan and Shae begin casting.

The vampire bats fly erratically around you.

Borimer and Shapfren move forward to attack.

Borimer hits the thing twice.  (31 dmg.)

Shapfren misses.

Kahan finishes his spell, and several images of himself appear around him.

Shae finishes casting, and one of the vampire bats stops and lands for a moment in bewilderment.  Then it flies up and lands on her shoulder like a parrot.  (Charm successful: It will aid Shae next round.)

Tahldar finishes casting as he moves to the back of the group.  (Shield cast.)

The five remaining bat creatures fly at you.  One of them strikes a replica of Kahan.  The replica image disappears.  Another attacks Shapfren and misses.  Another attacks Borimer and misses.  One of them latches onto the back of Shapfren's neck and wraps its wings around Shapfren like a hug.  (3 hp dmg.)  Another manages to attach to Borimer's thigh.  (4 hp dmg.)

The giant winged snake creature also lashes out with two talons and its open maw.  Borimer is hit by a clawed wing as the talons scrape across his arm and shoulder, and he sees the mouth coming down at him.  It is so large it could swallow him whole, but he rolls to the side (with the bat still attached like a parasite to his leg) and avoids the open maw.  (7 hp dmg from claw attack.) The other claw strikes out at Shapfren but misses.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:45, Tue 27 Aug 2013.

"Disgusting creatures!" Tahldar says as he prepares to cast.

OOC:  Cast magic missile.  Two bolts on the bat attached to Shapfren and two on the one attached to Borimer.

Shae sends the bat to attack the other bat creatures and then runs after the giant snake to stab it with her spear.

Shapfren goes on to attack once more, ignoring the pain caused by the byte, hoping to hurt it this time


14:45, Today: Shapfren Diditlew rolled 6 using 1d6. Damage.

14:45, Today: Shapfren Diditlew rolled 17 using 1d20. Attack  (THAC0 17).

Kahan attacks the giant bat-like creature with his mace, hoping to fell it before anyone gets swallowed alive.

Borimer ignores the blood-sucking bat attached to his thigh for the moment and steps closer to the serpent beast, taking three more swings at whatever he can reach with his blade.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:43, Wed 28 Aug 2013.

ROUND 2

Borimer strikes, making three gashes in the creature that badly wound it.  (-65 dmg)

The creature strikes back, missing Borimer with one talon and its deadly mouth, but raking him with its other talon.  (-8 hp dmg.)  The other bat creatures strike, and two more of Kahan's mirror images disappear as they are stricken.

Shapfren strikes out and hits the creature as well.  (6 hp dmg.)

Shae hits, striking a blow to the soft mouth of the viper creature.  (Critical hit.  22 dmg.)

Tahldar's magic missiles strike home, killing the two bat creatures on Borimer and Shapfren.

The blows are too much, and the visperillion collapsed dead to the ground, its scales turning a dark brown as their chameleon abilities stop working.

Though the bats slough off them in death, both Shapfren and Borimer begin to feel ill at ease in their stomachs.  (Disease from the bats is starting.)

Borimer tries to keep the contents of his stomach where they belong while whispering to Kahan.

"I'm not feelin' too well..."

Three of the blood sucking bats have been taken down, and the remaining three return to the viper creature, land, and begin sucking at its blood, cozying and pushing their way to the inside of the wings, back into the darkness to feed.

Didit just falls to her knees giving out to pain. "Neither do I "

Tahldar looks at his sickened companions with concern.  There is nothing he can do to help and he waits intently to see what Kahan can do for them.

OOC:  FYI, I have a shield up for the next 35 minutes.

Kahan digs out the opened jar of Keoghtem's ointment he is carrying and starts rubbing an application of it onto Didit's wound, then moving to Borimer. "Well that was interesting. I have never seen such a creature in all my travels... Perhaps Allevia holds all sort of new monsters who will try to kill us. Wonderful." the priest complains, mostly to himself.

Shae says, "The silver lining here is that I got m'self a new pet, neh?"  Shae begins casting.

Shae casts animal friendship on the bat on her shoulder.

Shae successfully casts animal friendship on the parasitic bat.  It still does not communicate but at least its a friend.  Of course, it was also a friend with that viper creature, and it was sucking its blood for nourishment, so we'll have to see where the friendship leads...

You begin the process of waiting for your companions to return.

OOC: If you want to do anything, feel free.

Borimer keeps an eye out for danger while simultaneously seeing where this new friendship goes.  Probably end in bloodshed.

"He-she-it's a cute one, alright."

Shae says, "Not my first choice in pets, but it could be worse."  She pauses.  "Maybe," she corrects, "though I'm having a hard time thinking of a worse pet offhand."

"As long as you keep it away from me I won't care."

Shae says, "Even the ugliest creature can be beautiful in its own way.  All creation serves its purpose."  She strokes the bat's neck and chin.