"Yes, in de holes you goes!" Moffdust peeks around the corner and casts Grease on the altar stone to help the demon find the hole. "Look out Oopses! One demonses comin yer ways." Tee hee. She pops a fistful of wands out of her haversack in case she needs to use one of them next round.

Jurz drifts ten feet east, to a place where he can see what is happening but isn't close to the action.  He has his gold-hilted dagger in his hand, waiting .....

Minmorc scoops Raven out of the way and dumps her safely beside Riza. Then he steps forward to swing his greataxe at the giant-demon-thing on the altar. His 'Axe-Wife' carves a deep gash across the monster's belly but instead of blood it is a slimy white liquid that oozes out of the wound. Although it seemed like that blow should have dealt a serious wound it looks like it is only a moderate wound instead.

Raven is outraged at being called a goose but thanks Minmorc effusively for rescuing her. Arlein hisses and snarls at the giant-demon-thing as though she was just as outraged about being called a duck. 

Dregz seems determined to sacrifice himself to distract the giant-demon-thing. He steps around behind the altar, waving his flail and shouting at the monster up on the altar. However, his antics barely elicit a glance from the creature, which seems more focussed on those in front of it with bigger weapons in hand.

Bulldust steps forward and hooks at the creature's foot with his goose-hook just as Moffdust casts a spell to coat the altar with grease under the creature’s feet. Its feet slip on the grease and down it goes, sliding down the sloping altar and plunging down into the pit. Bully tries to hit the creature as it falls but he stumbles and barely manages to avoid falling into the pit  Minmorc follows Bully's lead, almost too closely! Minmorc also misses and barely manages to avoid falling into the pit as well.

Jurz shifts position slightly for a better view but the creature has fallen down the pit before he or Riza decide on any particular way to attack it.

The giant-demon-thing snarls as it falls into the pit but moments later that turns into menacing laughter as it plummets down the shaft with Moffdust's shouted warning to Oopses echoing down the shaft around it. Those close enough can only watch in horror as it slams into the webs right on top of Oopses. Worse yet, the little goblin's scream is suddenly cut off as the creature swallows him whole!

OOC: Main game map updated.
Everyone is at +1 to hit and +1 on saves vs fear from Minmorc's Bless spell for 10 more rounds.

"I'm comin for yer, yer Bastard!" Leaping into the air Minmorc grips the handle of the axe wife and places both feet below her head as a digger would to sink a shovel, shooting downwards as a bladed cannon ball.

Minmorc jumps and plummets down the shaft axe first. He hits the giant-demon-thing right in the back and his weight drives the axe blades deep into the creature's body. Minmorc crashes onto the creature and suffers some bruises as well, but the creature definitely gets the worst of it. It is now grievously wounded and coughs up a great ball of white slime as the weight of the giant orc squashes its body into the webs.  The white slime-ball shoots away out of sight toward the eastern end of the web.

"Hur, hur, hur... TOUCHDOWN! Now say Nuncle and admit dat YER der goose an I'll accept yer surrender!"

"No surrenders ! No surrenders !" Dregz demands crossly, hurrying around the altar stone to stare down into the hole, trying to see what is going on.  "You'se must cut poor Ooopses from der demon's belly !"

"DEN it can surrenders !"

Jurz approaches the pit carefully, making sure that he is not going to be the next one who falls down there.  His eyes open wide in surprise as Minmorc talks about the demon surrendering, but he has no advice to give at the moment.  And there is no way that he would consider contradicting Dregz when the hairy goblin is that certain of himself.

"I fink Oopses shot outta it when I landed - a real foul ball dats bounced outta play and got stuck onna statue. Oi, Oopses, doze yer arms an legs stickin outta der gunky ball? Is yous still attached ter dem?"

The little goblin considers what might constitute extenuating circumstances if he knew the meaning of the word, his religion and the prophecies thereof not really allowing for shades of grey, except for the sort that don't breathe a whole lot and drain the life from you.

"Dat's alright den," Judge 'I am der Lore !' Dregz relents. "If Oopses is okay den it can surrender !"

Not only is the giant-demon-thing squashed by giant Minmorc's weight but it is completely entangled in the webs as well. Everyone suddenly hears a voice in their heads.

"Nuncle ... Goose ... Surrender" it says.

"Dat went well." Bulldust is impressed by Min's leap of faith and relieved that he doesn't have to jump in there as well.

OOC: For anyone else who doesn't fancy following Oopses and Minmorc's method of rapid descent, Minmorc has left his 100ft rope near the eastern edge of the pit, with one end already tied to the altar outside the temple.

Minmorc will take a moment to look around the area that he's now in, to see if there's any items of interest or any more of the snakey things. He'll also look down at the Demony thing. "So Goose... wot are you, wot are dey and is der anyfing round ere ter eat?"

The little priest listens with interest to whatever lies the demon-ghost (or maybe it's a ghost-demon) tells the big Orc.  He also takes the opportunity to fish out his Magic Stick and take another direction sounding, just to confirm that down the hole he and his tribe all must go.

Jurz just watches and listens to the nuncle-ing below, something that can swallow Oopses whole is something for the big guys.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 23:45, Sat 02 Dec 2017.

Moffdust creeps to the edge of the hole and peers down, the demon's surrender playing in her head. She eyes the rope dubiously. "I can gets us all down deres nice and safes wid a Fedder Falling spells. Wes just all has ter jumps at de same times. Bestest if dear Oopses webses is gone before we jumps. So does youse wants ter jumps all togedders?"

Dregz checks the direction to the team's goal and finds the rod still points down into the depths of the pyramid. In fact it is pointing down toward the western end of the webs, behind and far below the tilted altar.

The creature sighs angrily before its voice is heard directly in everyone's mind.

"What I am now is nothing compared to what I used to be! You would have been shaking in your boots if you saw me as I was then! I was an elite warrior of the Nine Hells of Baator, a Hamatula! You might not know that name but even you would have heard of us as Barbed Devils. Now I am reduced to this pitiful form with nothing to eat but those wretched lemures. No, there is nothing for you to eat down here. Those lemures taste awful."

OOC: Main game map updated.
Everyone is at +1 to hit and +1 on saves vs fear from Minmorc's Bless spell for 9 more rounds.

"So yous a devil eh? stuck in a hole eating slug fings sounds like hell ter me... so whys you stuck ere, shouldn't yer be somewhere warmer?"

"This is my chance for redemption. My chance to be forgiven and restored to my previous status and power. Help me do that. Help me and you will be richly rewarded!" the former barbed devil replies.

"I'll jump in wiv ya Moffa, when da webs are gone."

"Me's too." Jurz pipes up, tagging his acceptance on the end of Bully's.  However, he is more interested in the conversation with the devil below, as he wonders what help the infernal creature will ask for.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:01, Mon 04 Dec 2017.

"An wots der yer need fer redemshin?" Minmorc can vaguely remember hearing that it's always a good idea to make deals with the devil.

Dregz is naturally suspicious of anyone and everyone who is not his tribe and does care to draw a distinction between paladins and those from the infernal depths.

There's no harm in listening though ... indeed the devil's request may provide a cautionary lesson in what needs to be avoided at all costs !

Lemures.  Almost as bad as lemurs to one who has little use for the finer points of spelling.  Slugs, though ... those he can deal with.

"Bring der salt," the hairy little priest advises (while providing nothing by way of a suggestion as to where one might find such, let alone in sufficient quantities for his purposes¹), as he queues up with the rest to take advantage of Moffa's offa.


¹  though while we might need a lot of salt to rid ourselves of slugs, we'll only need a take grain of it with the devil's words.

"We jumps when de webs is gone. Den we begins de assaults!" Moffdust listens to the conversation between Minmorc and the devil.