Moon  has definitely earned some attention to her suggestions! Bronn hesitates and listens to her but defers to Darius. He hasn't been mapping actively or anything, these tunnels don't seem that extensive.

Darius, despite his Ranger abilities, lost track of the directions they were going and how they might circle back. Outside, directions would not have been as challenging. But underground, he needed a physical map and he had not taken the time to update recently - so he was twisted around.

He was inclined to follow Moon’s suggestion(s).

“Ok. Moon: go back and try to stay in hot pursuit down a different path or go back, stop and collect what we can before restarting a slow pursuit? In either case, let’s go back to the main chamber and then decide which action to take when we get there.”

So -- retracing your steps?

Moon is agnostic on trying to chase them down or going back for looting, but points out, "Like, if we want to pursue, we shouldn't go all the way back to the main cavern, since it totally gives them, like, more time to run or make defenses, and that would be a total bummer. We passed the only two other directions they could have gone to, like, get here, so if we, y'know, go back, we shouldn't pass them up- we should take either the northeast, or the east. We should only go back to the main once it's all no biggie, y'know?"

"I think if we go north from here, we'll get back to the main cavern we descended into.  From there, we can go East again and continue in that direction.  If that's what we wanna do.

Backtracking'll take us back to the shriekers."

“Agreed. We do not want to go back past those screeching mushrooms. North, then East.”

Bronn merely nodded agreement and tagged along, he was more worried about what the shriekers may have attracted than the fungi themselves. He kept a sharp lookout for trouble.

The group heads north from where they are and end up, as Mac predicted, back in the large chamber.

They then head east again, and (again) reach the fork where the passage splits to (1) continue east and (2) turn sharply SW.

Before the party went SW; this time, they continue East.

This looks like a bedroom (except, of course, it's a cavern).  There is large bed (large, as in human sized) and two chests at the foot of the bed.

There are no exits.

"Well dammit! Did I see ghosts and we got the 'demon' or was there someone else and they just knew the secret ways of this place?" Bronn looked troubled. He looked around as if something, a scratch on the floor, a dropped coin, anything would point the way to some secret passage.

Personally, Moon thought backtracking past the shriekers would have been the better choice. They had passed them before, and nothing untoward had happened, so she was not sure why they wanted to avoid them now, especially if they wanted to pursue. Backtracking seemed shorter than making an entire circle. But they seemed certain, so she followed along.

Not seeing anything to the east did not particularly bother her. If someone had fled, they could have taken the NE corridor out of the shrieker room, instead of this eastern tunnel to here, so there were other possibilities for it to have gone. But at this point, she was also assuming that whatever had fled was long gone.

So, since it did not seem that time was a factor anymore, she would check the chests for traps, and then the room for secret doors.
But if the others decided there might still be a chance for pursuit, she would stop what she was doing and go with them.

The chests are not locked, nor are they trapped.  Inside, they contain clothes.  Ordinary clothes, human-sized, probably for an adult male.

One of the chests has a false bottom (which Moon found, or else you wouldn't be hearing about it).  Inside, she finds

1 pearl
1 piece of onyx
a small bag with 50 gp
2 potions of healing

Moon continues her lucky streak of finding things, and finds a secret door in the southeast corner of the room, heading south.

So. Let’s try the secret door!

ooc: I agree, assuming Moon has informed us.

Of course.

The secret door leads to a 20 foot passage that itself ends in a door,

That door opens on the eastern edge of northern wall to a 60x60 cavern.  There is an exit on the SW wall.

There is a human-sized bed.  There is a chest at the foot of the bed.  There is also a desk.

The party's attention is drawn to the room's occupants, however.

30 feet away is six foot tall blue scaled demon; she has small horns, glowing red eyes, and long black claws.  She is holding a spear with a black shaft; it looks wicked.  She also appears slightly out of focus.

In front of her are two things that look like a cross between an ogre and an orc.  Neither has a weapon; they are ready for a fight, however, and appear prepared to use their fists.

Near her are two xvarts; their jabbering stops when the party enters.  One carries a mace, and the other is in tattered robes.

The demon addresses the party.  Her voice is deep and rumbling and appears to rise from the floor itself.

"Leave this place now, or I will devour your souls!"

"As if! Like, elves don't even have souls, you dumb slutubus! That's, like, why we totally can't be raised from the dead, y'know. We have bitchin' ethereal spirits!" Moon replied, as she cast a sleep spell at them.

(ooc)
Initiative: 8
This message was last edited by the player at 02:03, Sun 28 Apr.

Well. This is what we came for. Unless the Demon is an illusion, Darius will charge the female succubus. Perhaps he can do enough damage to give the rest of the party a chance. Hopefully the Sleep spell will deal with the guards…

10:40, Today: Darius rolled 6 using 1d6+2.  Initiative. – 6

10:40, Today: Darius rolled 18,9,16,12 using d20+3,d6+6,d20+1,d6+6.  Dual Handaxes, Single Attack on Demon. – 18,9,16,12
This message was last edited by the player at 15:42, Mon 29 Apr.

17:06, Today: Bronn Blackwater rolled 9 using 1d8+6. – 9

17:06, Today: Bronn Blackwater rolled 20 using 1d20+4. – 20

17:05, Today: Bronn Blackwater rolled 4 using 1d6+2.  init. – 4

Bronn sprang forward and swung at the demoness! So much for asking her out for a drink after this... he thought.

"Well, my dear," the demon says, smiling, "I'll just have to have you killed!"

Bronn and Darius move up, intent on going after the demon, but she has other ideas.  Smiling, she retreats as they advance.  At the same time, the orcs/ogres move forward to intercept the fighter and ranger.

The xvart who appears to be a spellcaster rubs his hands nervously as he moves closer to the demon.

The mace-wielding xvart moves up behind the orc-ogre things, ready to support (and perhaps enter the fray next round).  He's probably re-thinking that choice as he watches Bronn and Darius dispatch their foes before a punch can even be launched against them.

The demon looks at the carnage, stretches out her hand toward the instigators, and says: "You should not be trifling with me!"

.

Meanwhile . . . at the door . . .

Moon's attempt to cast a spell is interrupted in the rudest way possible.  Appearing in front of her suddenly is a giant man-sized rat, wielding a dagger.  It appears as it is in mid-attack, and it succeeds in nicking her.


Mac responds, hitting the rat/man/thing very hard with his hammer.

Tenzing tries to jab it with his spear, but misses.

A nick is as good as a chop when one is a vulnerable and fragile mage/thief wearing only minimally-protective armor.

Since Mac is engaging the ratman in melee, she will move away and use her last remaining spell on the horde attacking Bronn and Darius.


(ooc)
7 for initiative- normally I'd feel good about that, but he beat her when she had an 8, so cannot relax on it!
If she can't move away and cast, then she will just move out of melee this round, and save the casting for next round.

Bronn moved away from the dead ogre/thing and towards the mace wielding enemy.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:16, Thu 02 May.

Although he was preparing to attack the next minion standing between him and the demoness, Darius realizes (or believes) the demoness may be getting ready to cast a spell.

So instead of swinging his hand axes, he launches one of the hand axes as a missile weapon at the Demoness…

01:21, Today: Darius rolled 3 using 1d6+2.  Initiative for thrown axe. – 3

01:20, Today: Darius rolled 18,1 using d20+2,d6.  HandAxe & Shield, Single Attack. – 18,1
This message was last edited by the player at 05:25, Yesterday.

Bronn advances on the mace-wielding Xvart, intent on killing him -- but he stops, realizing that he should not be bothering the demoness or her minions.

Grinning, the xvart hits Bronn with his mace.


Darius, expecting the demoness to cast a spell, throws one of his hand axes at her.  It hits her; she grabs it with the hand not holding the spear and intones in her deep voice: "Thank you for this gift."  She seems uninjured and unconcerned. Pointing her hand at the ranger she advises: "Your friends need help."


She continues retreating; it is clear now that she is heading for the door on the southwestern corner of the room.  Her intent is clear, because she's practically there.

The spellcasting Xvart retreats with her, but is clearly covering her escape.

Meanwhile . . . at the door the party entered . . .

The ratman -- who seems at least as quick as Moon (and maybe quicker) -- seems to have only one target in mind: Moon.  She tries to withdraw from combat, but the ratman continues to engage her, slicing her again with his dagger.


However, all that quickness is not enough to save him from Mac's hammer (not his knife, but his hammer).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiGFZUnJgqU

 Spitting out blood from the rib-crushing administered by the dwarf, it slumps to the ground.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:43, Yesterday.

(OK, I think I just got some sort of suggestion spell tossed at me? Charm?)

If possible, Bronn gives chase to the demoness. His magic blade should enable him to end her tyranny.

Moon shrieked, about to collapse after that last hit. But with Mac taking down the ratman, she willed herself to stay on her feet, and cast her sleep spell at the fleeing slutubus and blue gnome. The injury slowed her down considerably, but she managed to cast it through the pain.

(ooc)
Initiative: 5

And she is on her last hit point! ^_^;
This message was last edited by the player at 04:30, Today.