Move 211: Warm Fuzzies
Side Cavern--4th Watch, Day 4When Aloysius asked the deep gnomes how much farther, Pruc, the one who spoke a little common, considered it before replying, "Leave Carmeneren. Rest this," he held up two fingers before finishing, "Find you." He did not seem to have any idea what Jana was talking about when she asked about the sword, but it was unclear whether he did not understand her or actually did not know anything about the sword.
Pruc and Ciekor seemed rather disconcerted by the amount of light surrounding them in the small cave. They did their best to get away from it, but eventually, they just covered up their heads and tried to sleep.
The first three watches passed peacefully. However, during the fourth watch, when Daelen was up alone, the sound of movement out in the tunnel barely gave any warning before a group of large bipedal creatures with shaggy white fur burst into the cave. One of the deep gnomes bolted awake with a start and quickly woke the other. Both of them grabbed their swords and moved to attack the creatures. The noise woke Jana and Olaf, but everyone else, for the moment, remained asleep.
Jana blinked her eyes, then opened them wide at the sight of the creatures. She scrambled to her feet, calling out "Wake up!" as she grabbed her bastard sword and shield. She moved to intercept the nearest creature. "Wake up!" she repeated.
Daelen unhooked the whip from his belt, unfurling it with a loud crack. Swinging it in a circle around his head once to build momentum, and to give his target the chance to close to optimal range, the warrior lashed at the thing's upper body in hopes of entangling a limb or the neck.
Olaf pulled a small nail from his pouch and prayed, "Tyr, Hold These Foes of Justice that they might be judged!"
The people who could get to their feet moved to intercept the creatures entering the cave. The two deep gnomes went after separate creatures, both of them cutting into a leg with their short swords. Daelen snapped his whip, wrapping it around the upper torso and one arm of the creature fighting Ciekor. This did not stop the monster from swiping the Svirneblin warrior with his free arm, however, even while struggling to get its other arm loose. Another of the hulking white furred things, just entering the cave, slashed at Daelen, but its claws did not get through his armor to cause any damage.
Another of the creatures was held fast by Olaf's prayer. Jana raised her sword against the final creature, but he avoided the blow. He made a dramatic upswipe with his right claw, ripping a gash in her studded leather
armor and her leg as well.Jana's shouting woke almost everyone and the ensuing sounds of combat woke the rest. Two more creatures ran into the cavern and waded into the fray.
"Ow! Godsdammit!" Jana yelped. She tightened her grip on her shield and took another swing at the creature then reversed the direction of her blade and swung again.
Aloysius cast a spell.
Blacky struggled to wake up and grab a weapon.
Echo grabbed a dagger and went to help Jana as soon as she could get awake and up.
Renn grabbed his longsword and held his shield tightly as he snapped out of his reverie and looked to enter the combat.
Azrun bolted upright with the screaming, "What the..." He quickly jumped up and cast a spell.
“Eat this, you hairy bastard." Daelen growled as he swung his shield at the monster, then dropped his whip so he could draw his sword and hack at the creature.
Olaf rose from the ground and drew his sword. He then attacked the closest of the beasts.
"What? Huh?" Arachne sat up as the chaos exploded. "Oh...uh...right... Where'd I put that thing?" She dug through her gear for her brand-new (loosely speaking) short sword, found it, then, still barefoot and sleep-disheveled, looked around for something to kill. "I don't know how people do it," she muttered to herself. "Managing to wake up bloodthirsty..."
Aloysius and Azrun started hurling spells. Aloysius pelted the creatures facing Ciekor and Pruc with one and two magic missiles respectively. Azrun hit one of the unengaged monsters with two missiles of his own, effectively catching the thing's attention. It moved toward the spellcasters. Arachne found her sword but failed to make any headway in damaging the approaching creature. Blacky grabbed his great axe and moved to aid her, but his attack was no more successful than hers. The mound of white fur seemed similarly affected by whatever was causing everyone in the immediate area to miss, clawing in Blacky's direction but getting nowhere near him.
The other unengaged creature went after Olaf. He met it with his strangely silent longsword. His attacker miscalculated its swing, however, a near fatal error as Olaf slashed across its massive chest and one arm. The cut he opened on its arm sprayed blood violently.
Jana and Echo double teamed the one that had just ripped into Jana's armor. Echo buried her dagger in its fur. It turned on her and raked her with both claws. While it was distracted with her, Jana cut into it with her bastard sword. It fell to the cavern floor, its white fur now red with its blood.
Daelen released his hold on his whip, freeing the monster entangled in it, but Ciekor took the already wounded creature down with another blow from his short sword. Meanwhile, Daelen missed the creature that had approached him with his shield swipe and got scraped with a claw for his efforts.
Renn moved to Pruc's aid. The deep gnome cut into his opponent with his short sword while Renn did the same with his long sword. It bellowed in pain and rage and in a wild frenzy slashed Pruc with both claws. Ciekor quickly moved in beside Renn and Pruc, trying to find an opening to drop the enraged creature.
Olaf continued his attack, slashing skillfully at the creature before it could recover from the wound.
Jana jerked her sword out of the falling creature, her attention turning to Echo. "You okay?" she asked anxiously. When she saw the wounds were minor, she suggested, "Keep an eye out for more," then moved to prevent the immobile creature from causing any additional mischief.
With the two gnomes plying their blades to the severly wounded beast, Rennirolas looked about quickly. He slipped to Daelen's side and looked to help against that creature, his longsword at the ready.
"I'll distract it, you try to get it's back!" Daelen shouted as he went on the offensive, using his shield as a weapon between sword strikes.
Echo tried to work through the fighting to the cave entrance.
Echo moved gingerly through the fight, making it to the cave entrance and ducking outside into the total darkness. Jana made her way over to the held creature and put her sword through it. The two deep gnomes cut down the enraged beast in front of them before it could cause any more damage. Aloysius incanted the same spell that he had before, this time hurling one magical bolt at the monster fighting Daelen and Renn and one at the two facing Arachne and Blacky.
Renn did not make contact with the creature facing him and Daelen, in spite of Daelen's attempts at distraction with his sword and shield. Daelen's awkwardly attempted shield punch quite nearly kept him from causing any damage with his sword as well. He managed to nick the creature just barely with his blade. The white furry thing swung at Renn, but luckily, his light armor deflected the damage.
Olaf swung again at the creature he was facing but his sword got lost somewhere in all the fur and didn't seem to cause any additional damage. The creature's previous wound, however, was bleeding badly and weakening it. It had not been weakened so much that it couldn't get its claws in Olaf, however; the priest of Tyr sustained a couple of minor gashes. The creature began howling and snarling.
Before Blacky could swing his axe again, the monster impaled his right arm with one claw and ripped into it with the other. With no armor to protect him, muscle and sinew tore down to the bone, leaving the arm all but useless as he dropped his axe. Arachne and Azrun, possibly stunned by the sheer goriness of Blacky's rended flesh, did not act.
Jana yanked her sword free, splattering blood as she did. She scanned the area quickly then headed to attack the creature which had just mauled Blacky. "Azrun," she said firmly, "snap out of it. Help Olaf."
"No need!" Olaf called. "I've handled more frenzied beasts in my time. Aid our wounded comrade!" Olaf used the beast's wildness against it, thrusting in time with its attack.
Azrun's jaw had hit the floor with Blacky's injury. He shook it off and try to figure out where he could do the most good and the least harm. Finally he pulled something from his pouch and pointed a finger at the fuzzy critter on Blacky and Arachne and cast a spell.
Blacky opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came but a small croak as tears welled up in his eyes. In one of the few defensive manuevers by Blacky ever witnessed by the group, he fell back cradling his right arm with his left and attempted to dodge any further blows by the creature.
Arachne tossed aside her sword. It hadn't been much comfort anyway. She ran to Blacky, trying to figure out how to get a gentle hold on him without impeding him. "Let me help?" she shouted to Blacky. For her, at least, it was a shout.
Aloysius and Azrun both began casting spells again. Azrun dropped some more light on the creature facing Blacky and Arachne, but the light did not center exactly on the thing as he had hoped. Instead, it seemed to fall directly behind it. When Aloysius finished the incantation of his spell, two exact copies of the wizard appeared.
With another masterful stroke, Olaf cut into the creature's left leg with his sword. Blood sprayed wildly from its femoral artery as it fell to the cavern floor.
Jana went to the aid of Blacky and Arachne, catching the monster's attention enough to allow both of them out of the melee. She bit into the creature with her bastard sword, possibly with less finesse than Olaf, but the end result was the same as the beast crashed to the floor in a bloody heap.
Ciekor and Pruc, not interested in waiting to see if Renn and Daelen could dispatch the final creature, edged in on the combat and took the thing down in an extremely businesslike manner that showed the two Svirneblin warriors were very accustomed to fighting side by side.
Echo returned to the cave after the fighting had stopped. The campsite in the small cavern was now rather bloody all in all, and at least most of the blood had come from the white furry attackers. Arachne tried to help Blacky with his arm, which was the worst non-fatal wound some of the group had ever seen. The wound Jana had taken some weeks earlier when the scrag tried to rip her throat out could be thought of as worse, but of those present now, only Aloysius and Jana herself had seen that. Arachne's care stopped Blacky's bleeding, keeping him from weakening any more, but as for actually repairing the arm, it looked as though it might take a very long time using her normal methodologies.
The Aloysiuses simultaneously drew daggers and looked around. "Oh," they said with a hint of realization, looking around at the motionless fuzzies. They looked over at Blacky and Arachne. "How is Eric, Arachne? Perhaps we had best rest a bit afore moving onward so that Eric's wound can be tended."
Echo crept back in. "I didn't hear anything else coming. I guess we're safe for a little while," she reported. She winced at the sight of Blacky's arm. "Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked.
Olaf went at once over to Blacky and knelt beside him. Holding his holy symbol in his hands, he touched Blacky's wound lightly and prayed, "Lord of Justice, Grant this brave warrior healing, so he may continue this crusade for justice."
Once Echo had confirmed there were no more nasties lurking nearby, Jana cleaned her sword on the fur of one of the creatures she'd killed and sheathed it. She looked at the gash in her armor and winced, apparently more concerned about the leather than about the cut on her leg beneath. She reached down, examining the damage. Her fingers were bloody when she brought them away. "Well, shit," she muttered. She looked over at Blacky and winced. "Damn." She turned to the gnomes. "What do you wanna do with the bodies?"
Once the bodies had been dealt with and those seriously injured seen to, Jana approached Arachne. "I'm lousy at bandaging. Would you mind?" she asked, indicating her leg.
"I might be able to do some kind of repairs on the armor," Echo told Jana when she saw her looking at the gash in it. "I'm not sure. I don't know much about armor, but I can sew."
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