Calling upon the handy wand again and dodging an opportunistic swipe from the nearby vegetable, Morin mounts the low planter and lays a healing touch on Cain(+6 HP(Bitter Trait.)) Zorden dodges and weaves away from the fray as Kelaria steps into it, bringing her might hammer down once again to make a smoothie out of their enemies--flattening the vegepygmy's head and leaving its body as still as the rest of the growth in the wide central garden pot(-13 HP.) Ionaya draws another javelin, determined to provide what help she can to the desperate Cain, and by some miracle the flimsy, untrained thrust of the misused javelin manages to strike true into the thewy plant's side(-5 HP)--leaving it open to as he hops into the planters opposite her and thrusts down at their foe--skewering him once again(-13 HP.)

The door to the north closes briefly once again before the vegepygy on the other side presses it open once again and moves in to press the attack on Cain and keep him cut off from the others. Both it and the leader continue striking and slashing at the half-elf, but luck is a fickle lady.

Zorden began to clear the barrel of his gun and reload.

Kelaria's motions were not graceful, though they were surprisingly agile.  With metal-shod feet she closed the distance, brought the hammer up.  She had considered switching tactics, but she wanted to keep the other one pinned in and the longer weapon was the better for it.

Nice and simple, Kelaria moves 15 feet east, into the square below Ionaya and Cain but directly between them and attacks the foe they have flanked with her gauntlet as discussed.  The logic being if the one in the doorway tries to escape or whatever it ought to provoke an attack of opportunity.  Kelaria is no battlefield controller but it never hurts to try.

21:07, Today: Kelaria Ironclaw rolled 22 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 13.  Rerolling, Gauntlet Attack! – 22

Swing and still a hit, but very different damage.  Assuming we're too low level for my feat to help with the damage die since that'd be a warpriest in the negative levels lol.  However Inspiration should help.

21:10, Today: Kelaria Ironclaw rolled 9 using 1d4+6 with rolls of 3.  Gauntlet Damage. – 9
This message was last edited by the player at 02:11, Thu 02 May.

Ionaya was still desperately trying to aid her allies while they battle the vegepygmys. Usually she couldn't hit the broadside of a wall with her javelin in her hands, but this seemed to be an unusual day.

Staying in place, she thrust her javelin at the bipedal plant in front of her. However, this time the day turned back to normal and only the inspirational courage from Morin saved her from disaster.

OOC
Ionaya rolled -1 using d20-4+2 with rolls of 1.  Javelin vs. Vegepygmy.
Oops, forgot to add in the +1 from bardic inspiration to the die roll.
So, Ionaya actually rolled a big fat 0.

Badly wounded and with both vegepygmies focusing on him, Cain keeps slashing at their leader as he slowly gives ground.

OOC: Swing and a miss, likely. 5' step south.
14:19, Today: Cain rolled 17,11,3 using 1d20+13,1d8+8,1d6 with rolls of 4,3,3.  Attack, Damage, Sneak Attack. – [roll=1714652369.5671.358371

While the others piled onto to big guy, Morin figured he would lend what physical might he could muster towards wrangling his remaining backup.  Stepping back, he threw his makeshift lariat at the plant-man, in the hopes of tripping it up and controlling it's movement.

FREE: 5' step west.
STANDARD: Throw lariat at basic vegepygmy.  Hits touch attack 13 to entangle (Including the penalty for firing into melee.)

09:10, Today: Morin Matzylford rolled 17 using 1d20+2 with rolls of 15.  LASSO! (vs little guy).

While Zorden reloads, Cain and Ionaya strike at the small but mighty vegepygmy leader, but their attacks are avoided or deflected by the brute's fibrous skin. But soon Kelaria rushes in and gives the little man a mighty wallop with the back of her spiked, gauntleted fist.

Morin backs away from the fight and casts out his handy lasso, managing to snag the smaller of the remaining vegepygmies. The pygmy, now held back from pursuing the injured Cain as the half-elf moves away, instead turns to deal with the gnome that caught him. Ignoring the binding rope, it moves in and swipes its claws at Morin, but fails to touch the nimble bard.

The adonic vegetable leader, leaking sap and puss from multiple injuries, dazed by Kelaria's steel backhand, and boxed in by invaders, hesitates for a moment in fear before tossing his glowing hammer to the ground and backing away to fall to his knees and clasp his hands together--begging for mercy.


This message was last edited by the GM at 01:28, Fri 03 May.

Zorden, his weapon now loaded and able to damage to something, kept it casually ready as the battle seemed to take an unexpected turn.

"Anybody speak plant?"  He inquired, thinking this might actually be a good outcome if they could actually come to some sort of agreement and exchange of information.

Casually dodging the swipes of the remaining vegepygmy, Morin raised a hand for the plant-man to stop. "Hey buddy, get with the program," he remarked, pointing a finger to draw his attacker's attention to the sight of the pygmy champion dropping to his knees. "Fighting time's over.  It's kneeling time now." Being aware that the pygmies probably didn't speak common, Morin got his point across by pointing to the plant-man's knees, then down to the ground.

Turning to respond to Zorden's question, Morin shrugged.  "I've got a scroll of comprehend languages on me.  I honestly don't know if it works for the sort of talking these folks do."

Cain likewise pauses, his sword still pointed at the vegepygmy leader. With his free hand he feels his back for damage and winces when he finds it. Yes, something is definitely broken there. "Are we going to talk to them then? They did attack us on sight the first time we met. And didn't you say they grow out of corpses infected with that mold stuff? Because that kinda seems like a major barrier to diplomacy and peaceful coexistence."

OOC: Well, dungeon diplomacy did work for us so far. Kinda.

Kelaria said nothing, finding the whole thing bizarre.  She stood poised, ready to strike out if the Vegetable showed any sign of treachery.  Perhaps she should stick with the power of Metal after all.

"Could you cast it on him?"  Zorden asked of Morin's scroll, not being very familiar with such things.

"So then he could understand us at least."

The violent vegepygmy seems to clue into the pause in battle and, seeing his leader surrendering and himself not being attacked, pauses as well ... slipping free from the lasso, but doing so at least calmly to see what becomes of the situation. The leader, meanwhile, pulls a pouch from the repurposed cloth loincloth and dumps a collection of nine silverdisks on the floor, as if trying to buy mercy.

"So if we have no way of actually communicating with them, maybe if we take the discs, and maybe the hammer?  That will set some sort of truce?"  Zorden ventured.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:31, Tue 07 May.

Kelaria said nothing as of yet, but her body language suggested she found this all very amusing.  Part of her wanted to squash the little vegetables anyway, but it seemed... impulsive, even to her.

The smaller pygmy was pushing it's luck a little, staying on it's feet and even untangling itself from Morin's rope.  But Morin figured he'd let it slide for now.  Letting the others keep an eye on the surrendered plant-men, the bard casually stepped forwards to scoop up the glowing hammer and the silverdisks, before turning his back on the pygmies for a moment to patch up the worst of Cain's injuries with his magic wand.

With that done, and assuming neither of the prisoners took the opportunity to attack him from behind, Morin turned back to the duo.  Pulling a piece of chalk from the party's miscellaneous supplies, he demonstrated how to make a mark on the metal floor of the ruins, then how to erase it.  "I don't suppose you gentlemen are literate?" He asked, handing over the chalk to the leader.  He gestured towards the ground, in an open-ended invitation for the plant men to explain themselves in whichever way they could.

OOC: using two charges from the wand of cure light wounds.  The first heals 7, the second heals 2.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:30, Tue 07 May.

The smaller vegepygmy stands uneasily and watches cautiously as the mighty leader takes Morin's chalk and turns it over in its hands curiously. After a few moments, it kneels forward to a clean bit of floor and begins to scratch away on the floor with it. It takes a few moments, but it appears the small foe is drawing what seems to be a sharp-angled face with a clockwork gear on its forehead--the symbol of Brigh. It points to the drawing as if it means something, then turns to his companion and begins to make a series of gestures and chest thumps, which are soon answered by the other with similar gestures and slaps.

Cain +6, +1 HP, 9>16. (Bitter)

Cain scratches his head as he looks over the crude drawing. "Any idea who that is? Someone from that first group that came through here?"

OOC: Also, any ideas on what do we do with this lot? Lock them up again once we check out and loot the place?

"That could be the symbol for the goddess Brigh. Councilor Joram Kyte is one of her priests from the temple in Torch." She pauses, "There was a priest from the temple with Khonnir and I, who died at the hands of the mechanical monsters when Gerrol Sonder abandoned us."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:59, Yesterday.

Kelaria, though still silent, listened with interest to this.  This was a most wondrous cave!

Those slaps and gestures sure seemed like language to Morin, though he still wasn't sure if comprehend language would be able to translate it.  Still, it seemed worth a shot.  Rummaging through his scroll case, the gnome drew out the proper sheet and read it aloud, briefly infusing himself with the power of comprehension.  Unfortunately, it didn't make asking questions any easier.

Turning back to the vegepygmies, Morin gestured towards the symbol of Brigh, then mimicked looking around the room curiously, as if trying to locate the holy symbol.

Zorden stood by waiting to see if Morin's pantomiming would be successful.

 The smaller vegepygmy continues gesturing and slapping, but the bulky one keeps his attention on Morin--stepping forward slightly and gesturing at the glowing hammer Morin holds. On further inspection, once you look past the glow, an embossed symbol of Brigh is on each side of the hammerhead. The leader then gestures some more  and tries to lead the party into the previous room.

Should the party follow the vegepygmy leader, he briefly pauses to look over his gunned down friend before leading moving to one of the other four doors in the room--their panels now glowing a dim brown as they've been locked by Morin. The leader presses on the panel, and when nothing happens, turns back and gestures in confusion.

"Whaddya know, it worked!"  Morin exclaimed happily, as the pygmy hand gestures suddenly started to make sense.  Following the pygmy back to the previous room, he translated for the rest of the group.  "Junior here says they should just kill us, which makes him even dumber than he looks. Meanwhile his big bro wants to show us the "progenitors," which...well, remember that russet mold we saw earlier, and how I said it turns corpses into vegepygmies?  Something tells me that behind this door is going to be either what's left of the Brigh party or some kind of messed up mold monster.  My money's on the former, but, uh maybe let's stand back a little while the door opens."

Brandishing his brown passcard, the bard paused to check with his companions before unlocking the door.  "Everyone ready?"

"Yeah, well, the feeling is mutual." Cain comments on Morin's translation. He takes position next to the door, but does not turn his back on the two captives. "Alright, let's see what is in there."