Finn must be getting the hang of this since it takes him far fewer tries with this door all the while his mind is a blur with wondrous imaginings of what lies within.  What treasures of old are to be theirs?  Or what horrors?  And it doesn't take long to find out.

His stomach turns at the sight at the half man – half bug thing.  Some might confuse Razzel's unsinkable bravado for an insane level of arrogance or delusional denial.  Not so.  Currently Finn is terrified.  Nearly shaking in his shoes.  Not the sort of cowardly terror, but a healthy amount given the weirdness of their predicament.

Finn reaches out a hand and mumbles a few words in some ancient tongue.  Gibberish to any but Judoc.


OOC:
Cast spell and touch Gustav.

Rondald aims carefully at the creature, before releasing the crossbow bolt at it. He is not sure what it is, but pretty certain it is not friendly!

"I wonder if that paper burns..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:55, Wed 26 Feb 2020.

The six gird themselves for battle, waiting to see if the things charge...  Only Rondald, the one man with a ranged weapon, raises it in aim, his finger pressuring the trigger as he lines the sights up on the flying imp.

Twang!

The crossbow string surges forward, launching the bolt into the empty space ahead...  Empty indeed, for the little flying bat-insect has entirely disappeared.

Smash.  The bolt crackles into the black glass wall at the end of the cell, shattering into a thousand pieces.

"Good thought."  Judoc responds to Rondald's comment, summoning a lemon-sized ball of flame into his hand and waiting for a moment before hurling it at the enormous nest.  The throw is straight as an arrow, connecting with the center of mass of the giant, red construct and the thing immediately bursts into flames!  Over the sound of the building, crackling fire, a thin, tinny voice can be heard screaming, which echoes off the walls of the chamber such that it sounds like a chorus of hate.

Though with the nest burning, it becomes apparent that now none of them can see any of the little beasts...  an odd position given that there was one just flying at the center of the room...



OOC:  Some characters posted a little more than a second, which I went with but it makes this next post a little bit weird.  That puts us a little bit into the next series of actions as some of the decisions were independent of the little bastard disappearing.  Rondald fired off his crossbow bolt (He spent his first second aiming and his shot missed prior to the thing going away) which is Rondald's first second of his next post.  Judoc likewise aimed and then threw his fireball, which puts him two seconds into his next series of actions.  Everyone else, give me three seconds.  I'm tempted to keep moving until the next real action happens, but I wanted to give Finn/Judoc an opportunity to buff, etc. if it was desired.  Thanks for those that have rolled vs. hearing and HT, if you missed it on the last post, one more chance here before I do it for you.

Magnus narrowed his eyes and looked all around, his pointed ears twitching this way and that as the all seemed to hold their collective breath.

Inwardly he was once again rebuking himself for not buying a damn helmet, and promised himself that he would make it happen if they made it out of this.

He kept his mace (he now thought of it as his mace after it had been discussed with the others) cocked back on his right shoulder, ready to lash out and seat down anything airborne should it suddenly appear, or fly out from the vault.

Likewise, Gustav stands, on edge, ready to swing, but sees nothing .  He listens closely for the buzz and where it might be.

Finn watched as the little bird sized daemon bug vanished into thin air.  Had he not been where he was and seen and heard all the oddities he's witnessed over the past few months he would be shocked.  Maybe even flummoxed.  Or dumbfounded.  But as it is he merely smirks with an annoyed expression.

His mind tells him to watch the paper nest like structure for fore warnings on an attack but he cannot help that his gaze drifts to the seductive call of the huge crystal.  What is it, he wonders and how much is it worth?


OOC:
Take my bow off my back and begin to load an arrow.  No spells at this time.

Dropping his bow after the shot, Rondald readies his axe and shield...listening intently.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:50, Thu 27 Feb 2020.

A moment of rather tense moment of relative silence begins, broken only by Rondald dropping his heavy crossbow to his strap, letting the weapon swing back below his right side.

Finn too, decides to bring a different weapon to bear, gripping the leather hold of his bow off his chest, flipping it up and grabbing it as it falls, reaching back to his quiver to bring an arrow to bear.

The rest though... remain entirely silent, waiting for the hum of beating wings (which seem to echo everywhere) to come close enough to attempt an attack of some sort...

"Ow!"  Terri starts, her one good hand swatting her knife up and over her shoulder uselessly, the movement impulsive at first, though it slows to an imprecise and sluggish finish.

Rondald's eyes dart to his wife, his shield gripped in his right hand as he thrusts his left through the arm straps... he had thought he had heard something close, though he had not expected it to bypass him for her.

"Shii..."  The word doesn't even finish out of Terri's mouth before she sinks to her knees, then face first to the floor, her eyes completely blank.

"What the...?"  Judoc growls, pulling his attention off of the blazing inferno of the hive only to watch his comrade sink to the ground.

Slowly, one of the small insect birds materializes from nothing on Terri's shoulder, its thin needle-like beak submerged in her neck, its rancid, pallid flesh suddenly flushed with her lifeblood.

Suddenly, another lemon-sized ball of flame appears just above Judoc's fingers...

OOC:  No change to the map above.  Finn has his bow readied in his left hand and is reaching back into his quiver to ready an arrow.  He will be ready to shoot in 2 more seconds (first turn ready bow second turn shoot or aim).  Rondald has dropped his crossbow (onto the sling) and has grabbed his shield off his back, which is 1/2 ready on his left arm.  One more second and the shield will be ready, your axe will take one more second to grab.  Terri has fallen to her side and seems to be either unconscious or disabled.

Let's do 2 seconds of action this time

Magnus shifted his weight from hoof to hoof as he waited, and watched, and listened.

When Terri fell the Minotaur struggled to keep his attention on their surroundings, difficult as it was, then suddenly lashed out to his left with the mace.

How he was going to hit a Target so small, that he could not see, he had no idea. Even if he did he did not know what good it would do, and had to trust to the arcane powers crafted into the ancient weapon to do their work.

Gustav realizes what has happened and immediately goes to push the doors closed Quickly before we have many to fight!

If it wasn't clear why all the trouble from how difficult the cells were to open it should be abundantly clear when Terri falls to the ground motionless and a small grotesque bug thing appears on her neck.  There is a reason why the elves of old made the opening of their vaults such a chore.   A normal man would reconsider his decision to go treasure hunting through centuries old and unknown horrors, but Finn isn't normal.

At first he leans towards the pair of doors but seeing that Gustav has the same idea he instead spins on his heels to make for the fallen woman.


OOC:
Drop everything in my hands.  Run to Terri.  Attempt to grab at the deamon bug thing.

As the new fireball materializes in his hand, Judoc scans the area, looking for more of the strangely humanoid bug creatures. He wonders how intelligent they may be, and if their faces are indications of their sapience. The mage is reasonably sure that the curious structure covered in the red liquid is their nest.

Heaving the fireball at the structure, he steps toward Terri and holds out his staff, murmuring words of power as he does so.

OOC: Throw the fireball at the nest. Then step one space toward Terri.

Judoc hurls his ball of flame forward, intending to do more damage to the red nest, though his flame misses some feet off to the left this time, busting into a puff of smoke.  However, it seems that the miss has made little difference in the long run, for the nest is now entirely engulfed in flames which lick upwards towards the ceiling, spewing thin wisps of black smoke which curl outwards along the glossy black roof.

Meanwhile, Gustav places his buckler low and thrusts his shoulder forward, slamming himself into the heavy door.  The thing moves but slowly and Gustaf has to hurl his body forward with another surge of momentum before the thing truly starts moving closed.

Meanwhile, Finn makes all his effort towards Terri, dropping his bow to the ground with a clatter before reaching out in an attempt to grab the little imp, though his aim is off, all of his adrenaline preventing him from making a refined grab.

And as he misses, Finn is horrified as another of the little bastards appears, seemingly from out of thin air, upon Terri's shoulder.  His thin, needle like beak thrust into her neck as well...

With a crash, Rondald sags to the ground, his hand just barely having gripped upon the bands of his shield.  Like a stone, Rondald plunges face first into the glossy black floor, completely unconscious.

Magnus however, has seemed to figure out his own peril before it comes... Without having seen the thing, he swats out haphazardly with his mace, apparently hitting nothing...  He feels a slight pinch at his cheek, and though he knows his skin is much tougher than most, the sudden collapse of two of his companions has the minotaur nervous...  And indeed, it takes just a second and he feels a surge of dysphoria, a spreading numbness from his cheek that floods his head and his body like a piercing fog which seems to inhibit his thoughts and movements...

Judoc notices the odd movements of the minotaur as he steps to the side, placing his staff onto Terri's side to cast a healing spell... he notices another of the things appearing on Rondald's unconscious form, its body ripening from pale to pink as it sucks on the sailor's lifeblood.

OOC:  I figured getting something up was better at this point than making things pretty.  Map is below.  Rondald and Terri are both unconscious now.  Magnus is at -3 to DX and IQ for the duration of the poison effect.  There are now 2 of the things latched on to Terri, one on Rondald, and presumably another one somewhere around Magnus.  By the way, what Finn saw was a slow loss of translucence... like a fade from nothing to substance.  There is obviously magic to these creatures, and Judoc would describe what they are doing as invisibility.

2 more rounds of action please.

Gustav keeps pushing until the doors close, then turns with sword and shield up (he's been pushing with them in his hands, as he never put them down be fore applying himself to the door). They seem to attack the neck... he is as aware as he can be, hoping to drag the edge of his blade across one ...  he moves his blade so that anything near his neck has some chance of being cut.

Magnus thrashed about as he realized what was occurring. The mace fell upon its lanyard, as the Minotaur remembered all too well what had occurred the last time he had attempted to wield it like a scalpel instead of what it was, a weapon of war.

Wildly he grasped at his face with his gloved hand, groping, trying to grab, crush, or otherwise deter his invisible attacker. A low sound of frustration bellowed out as his nostrils flared, and his wide eyes could not help but see what was happening to his friends.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:33, Wed 04 Mar 2020.

Finn is known for being an idea man, and thats just fine by him because people tend to overlook his many, many other talents.  Perhaps his most proud moment in creative solutions was when he came upon a tip that a wealthy collector was in possession of some religious artifact, a cup from Saint Something-or-other and this particular cup was coveted by another rich collector.  Razzel knew that the owners security was mad tight.  Chances were slim at best of getting in, grabbing the cup and getting out without being pinched.  So did he give up?  Never.  He let himself get caught.  That's right.  Finn snuck in, grabbed the cup and then let himself get caught.  And everything else played out as planned.  The master of arms called for the watch.  The sergeant of the watch patrol promptly returned the cup and dragged Finn off in irons.  Or, so it looked on the surface.  What no one knew except for Finn and his accomplices was that the cup which was returned to the master at arms was a fake.  Finn was hiding the real cup in his pants which he pilfered before he was nabbed.  And the watch patrol were none other than associates of his who promptly, armed to the teeth, escorted him to their buyer and not to prison.

Finn's true gift is not coming up with creative solutions but eliminating bad ones.  By instinct and without much conscious thought the plucky agent of the Row crosses several poor options from his list of choices.  Left with the most obvious his fingers begin to twitch as he mumbles a few strange words words in some long forgotten language.


OOC:
Cast a spell.  Try to grab the nearest deamon bug with both hands.

This message was last edited by the player at 20:31, Wed 04 Mar 2020.

It is only a moment gone in the fight and the six that had once stood to open the chamber of Perdition have been whittled down to four without so much as a single hit being made on the tiny beasts...  Gustav slams the near door closed, rushing over to the other door in case there are more of the bastards still to make their way out, he puts his shoulder against the massive black portal and slowly the thing begins to move...

Letting his mace drop to the strap, Magnus grabs over his shoulder twice, reaching for the little bastard that stung him on his exposed skin.  Twice he misses the thing and he can feel the little whelp drop onto his shoulder with another jabbing tweak that sticks him right in the neck!  Looking back, Magnus watches the little beast fade into existence while perched up on his shoulder, it's needle like beak poised for another strike!

Finn meanwhile, takes a moment for casting, putting a magical sheet of armor around his body that, with any luck (something Finn is not known for), will make him impervious to the little beasts.  He conjures the mana around successfully, though as the moment passes, he watches the color drain from Terri in a wave starts near her neck.  His buffer complete, Finn reaches again for one of the little bastards, but they are just too small, and he only manages to slide his hands along the side of one of them, grabbing nothing when he finally closes his hand.

Judoc however, his face betraying his doubt and anger, is not to be foiled by the small size of the mutants.  He extends his staff at Terri, rather than the little beasts, touching her again as he did when he had been healing.  This time, however, that is not his intent.

"Forma Ignis!"  Judoc shouts as his staff sparks against Terri's skin with unbridled energy, a spark large enough that it sets her entire body aflame!  Immediately the smell of burn and char fills the air along with the inhuman shrieks of the two tiny creatures.

Finn has to jump backwards to avoid the blaze, though Terri, the center of the fire itself, seems to be no worse for wear for it's effects...

Judoc on the other hand seems to be immediately exhausted, his forehead pale and sweating with driblets of blood running from one of his nostrils as his eyes strain to keep focus on the fight.

Meanwhile another of the little imps appears on Rondald's shoulder, it's beak submerged in the sailor, drinking deeply from his lifeblood.

OOC:  Sorry, no map again this time.  Not sure if the body of flame spell would have ever crossed Judoc's player's mind, but to me it seems like something Judoc would do.  Terri has essentially been transformed into a living fireball, completely engulfing the two Haemovorids (you can't make this shit up) that are making a meal out of her.  Two are now also on Rondald (one hex away from Finn), both of which are feeding.  Magnus also has one of them on his shoulder, though that one hasn't seemed to be as successful in taking a bite...  It will take Gustav one more second to close the last door (the one on the right).

Lets do another two seconds worth of action.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:46, Sat 07 Mar 2020.

Gustav keeps pushing, when closed, he turns and steps away from the door/wall so he can move his sword about his neck and shoulders. He heads toward Rondald.
I will not allow one of these beasts  to suck my blood, the salle taught me better than to succumb easily He thinks

Razzel exhales hard.  Tiny daemon bugs.  Well, not tiny.  Bird sized which for bugs is colossal.

There are nightmares that go like this.  Poisonous flying bugs the size of birds, that can disappear from plain sight, swarm you, drop you like a sack of dirt and suck the life force from you.  Except this isnt a dream.  Why in Gods name were these things created?  An weapon to send against another nation as Haj Umr so desired?  Or defense of such a foreign tower?  Some sick joke?  Or something else?  Whatever the reason Finn was beginning to understand why the elves of old locked these monsters away.

Spinning on his heels he turns to Rondald and does his best to aid the sailor.


OOC:
Try to grab the nearest deamon bug (on Rondald) with both hands.

The Rift, the Banestorm is common knowledge right?

There was nothing dignified about the Minotaurs frantic attempts to save himself from whatever poison these Demon bugs could bring to bear. The others had dropped in what had seemed like seconds and be was fighting for his life and theirs.

He spun in half a circle as he tried grasping over his shoulder, like a dog trying to catch his tail, before in frustration and having finally caught sight of the thing on his shoulder, he suddenly hurled himself backwards in an attempt to crush the thing beneath his bulk.

In his mind, it would either need to take flight and readjust, or perish messily.

As a bonus he felt like a had a slightly charred barn door strapped to his left arm, and this he brought up to cover his head as he waited, and listened for any sign that the insect had survived.

Somewhere he could smell burning and the sounds of frantic combat came to him under the bulwark.

Once Gustav had closed the second door, still leaving a wide seam between the two of them though it seemed small enough so that no more of the blood-sucking wretches could fit through, he swatted his sword around his head and face, frantically trying to protect himself from any more of the little bastards.

Indeed, frantic was the right word for the moment for just a few feet away Magnus was attempting to squash the little bastard on his shoulder by throwing his weight down on top of it.  His actions are sluggish though, his movements inhibited by whatever poison the things had infected him with.  His body does not seem to cooperate in time, and as he feels another pinch just at his neck that doesn't seem to pierce the skin before he flops himself back, the monstrosity lifting itself from his shoulder as Magnus falls hard to the glossy black floor with a jarring impact that jangles his steel shirt.  Recognizing the monster has gone for the moment, Magnus lifts his shield over his head to protect himself as he struggles to manage his debilitated state.

Just a few feet over, Finn moves over to Rondald, snatching out at one of the two little monsters with their straw-like beaks thrust into his flesh.  Finn misses his first grab, though with his second attempt he managed to grip the thing's body between both hands, ripping its beak out of Rondald's neck with a thin spurt of blood before the thing begins to writhe spastically in Finn's grasp.

Judoc, exhausted, turns to find himself engaged with the creature that had just left Magnus, its tail thrust out before it as it dives ahead.  Judoc attempts to get his staff in the way, but the thing is just too small, and its barbed tail jabs Judoc in a bit of exposed flesh.  His hands sagging, Judoc turns his body, swatting out with his staff, though the blow goes high, missing the bug as he flutters higher up for another pass.

The smell of burn and char fills the air as Terri continues to smolder quietly.

OOC:  I'm the worst.  I've spent most of the day getting the last touches on our house together and putting the finishing touches on a TV table (basically the center unit of an entertainment center) that I'm building from scratch.  I'm trying to keep the story going at least.  Finn has one of Rondald's bugs grabbed in both hands, Magnus is supine with his shield over his head.  Gustav is still standing next to the right door of the cell, and can move towards Rondald next turn.  Judoc is exhuasted and is now facing off against on of the beasts.  There seem to be just three of the things total for now:  One in Finn's hands, one facing Judoc, and another one still feasting on Rondald's neck.

Let's do another two rounds of action.

Gustav, reasonably sure that nothing is buzzing close to him, steps forward and swings at the one hovering over Judoc.
Then turns and swings carefully at the one on Rondald with the flat of the sword.

Magnus was fairly sure that he had not killed the thing as he impacted into the ground with a grunt. However, he was still in the fight, for what it was worth.

Slowly he exerted enough effort to sit up, then rolled onto one knee, the sheer weight of his armor making the motions difficult. He tried to control his breathing as he did so, watching and listening for any sign of his previous attacker.

Out of the corner of his eye Finn assessed the danger.  The big Minotaur has fallen adding to their ranks succumbed to the potent poison.  Judoc is wobbling on his feet either through excessive spell casting or being stung, or both.  Only Gustav and himself are left in good shape and thank the heavens the swordsman has gotten the doors closed.  The question of the day is, how many of these unseen nightmare bugs are flying around the room looking for a spot to land?

Not stopping to ponder the answer Razzel snatches his knife from his belt.

Though Magnus is not out of the fight, he makes the third of the small party of six on the ground...  he rolls back to a knee, searching over his shoulder to find one of the vexing little creatures if he can.

Gustav however, has taken the fight into his own hands.  Certain now that there are none of the things circling his own head, he steps forward, his sword ready to attack the beast that is threatening Judoc.

The little imp moves quickly too, jabbing its needle like beak as it dives forward right past Judoc's hurriedly swung staff.  The imp makes contact, plunging its beak into Judoc's flesh and making the mage stagger, though Gustav strikes as soon as the thing stops moving.  The black sword cuts forward, slicing just high of Judoc's shoulder in a stab that saws the beast near entirely in half.  His body hangs limp by its face, half of it flopping wildly by a thin strand of flesh holding it together.

Gustav feels the joy of the strike surging up his arm, propelling him forward as he continues to step ahead towards where Rondald is laying unconscious.

Finn too, seems to be making more progress.  With a firm grip on another of the beasts, he grabs his knife in the flick of a wrist.  Though the little thing writhes and wriggles, it is simply too small to make much headway against the much larger Finn.  Finn finds that is nearly unimpeded as he lines his blade up against the things neck, slashing it viciously as the thing screeches then gurgles its hatred, finally falling limp as it bleeds freely all over Finn's hand and knife.

With but another step, Gustav swipes his blade again, this time with the flat so that even if he cuts straight through the beast, he still will not harm his friend.  The black sword lands with a crushing blow on the back of the monster's head causing the thing to go limp immediately...  from there, it is a small task to rip the thing from the side of Rondald's neck and crush it under his boot.

It takes a moment to reassure themselves that Judoc's heavy breathing is not indeed hiding the buzzing sweep of more of the little flying beasts.  Though after several moments of hastily throwing their heads in all directions to look and listen, they finally convince themselves that there are none of them left, at least outside of the cell.  Judoc tumbles down to a wall, his breath coming in great gasps.

It takes another several seconds, but eventually Terri returns to her normal state with no trace of the two imps that had attacked her in the first place.

OOC:  A little over two seconds there, but as Gustav had already made his next roll, and rolled a critical success, I figured we may has well just end the fight there.  As a reminder, the cell doors are closed (though not 'locked').  Rondald is still unconscious and exceedingly pale.  Terri is unconscious as well, though she does not seem as rough as her husband.