Move 356:  Alert

Smooth Caverns--Early, Day 37 (Marpenoth 20)

The group had progressed about fifty feet down the right-hand passageway when they heard footsteps and Renn's voice hiss near Jana, "two ropers, in a chamber ahead. They were both moving this way, but I don't know if they knew I was there, or if it was because they could hear everyone moving about."

The tunnel at the spot where they now stood was about fifteen feet wide. At the moment, they could see nothing within the range of their lights.

"How far is the chamber?" Echo whispered from the back.

About two hundred feet from the fork in the tunnel," Renn replied hurriedly. "And the tunnel curves to the left slightly just before the chamber entry."

"Is there any way to get some light on them?" Jana whispered.  "I don't think I'll see 'em before they're in range otherwiese," she explained.

"I'll..see what I can do," Renn said with a quick exhalation of breath. "They may not be affected by an attempt to cover them with light, but the lightstones I carry may, perhaps, give everyone enough light to see them before those cursed tentacles can grab us."

"Don't get too close," Jana suggested. "Just toss one or two down there."

Blacky peeked around the edge of his shield and readied a hand axe to throw as soon as the ropers came in range.

The group waited for Renn to do something about the lighting situation.  Azrun tried to position himself behind his shield in a way that would leave his hands free and still afford him some degree of protection.

A very short span of time passed before the tunnel in front of them lit up and they heard sounds of a single person running. The additional lights allowed them to see a bend about sixty feet ahead of them, but they did not see any ropers yet.

"They're coming still," Renn reported breathlessly. "My magic didn't effect either of them, but I dropped light stones to see if that would help to see them earlier."

"Okay," Jana said, "Me and Azrun will start firing arrows at 'em as soon as we can see them. We'll fire and then we'll all back up a bit, set back up, fire, back up. Blacky, if you can't get your axes that far, you could help us by keeping hold of our shields. I'm thinking we'll eventually have to move forward and engage them. Echo, can you make sure nothing's coming up behind us?"

Standing in the tunnel, doing nothing other than waiting, made the time go slowly, but eventually both ropers that Renn had warned them about crept into view. They advanced towards Blacky and Jana.

"I'll keep to the back for now," Renn said, his voice moved from in front of Jana to behind the front row.  "May your aim be true," Renn added, then began to chant.

"Blacky?" Jana asked, holding out her shield for him to take. "I really need my hands free..."

 Jana pulled her bow and began firing. "Let's concentrate on the one on the right," she said to Azrun.

"Yes," Echo whispered.

Blacky put away his axe and held his shield in one hand while taking Jana's in the other. Keeping himself completely covered. "Let me know when we need to attack." He said to Jana.

Blacky tried to hold onto his piece of wood and Jana's to allow her to shoot her bow. He was able to hold both up easily and stayed behind his. Jana was forced to expose herself to a slight degree in order to fire her bow. Azrun had to abandon his all together to use his bow but the two in front of him still provided cover. When Renn finished chanting, a comforting feeling of well-being washed over the party.

Both of Jana's arrows missed. Azrun hit the roper they were aiming at with one of his arrows. The two ropers moved to opposite sides of the tunnel and crawled up the walls as they kept creeping forward.

"Fall back," Jana said, backing up. After they'd moved back 20 feet, she stopped and fired again.

"I'll use my bow if my being invisible doesn't matter now," Renn suggested from behind the front line of the group.

Azrun did as he was told and fell back 20 feet before letting loose with another volley of arrows. "Interesting tactic...sticking to the ceiling like that..."

Blacky carried the shields as he moved back with Jana.

---

Previous Move
Next Move
Back to Move Summaries
Back to Night Below Main Page