Expedition to the Grey Fangs [Adventure]

Outside the city of Drache lies a number of cities, towns and provinces of varying size and populace. Most of the people living outside Drache are natives who speak Arangothian and observe the native customs and rituals. Click here for a list Arangoth's locales, and here to view a map.
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Re: Expedition to the Grey Fangs [Adventure]

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“Well, those of you who are trusty with a weapon and who don’t mind the dark follow me. Bring a lantern and any extra torches or candles if you have some,” he said turning his back on the group in the small camp. He would walk to where his own supplies were stored and light his own lantern. Setting the lantern on the ground briefly he drew his sword and looked over the blade, shining pale and cold in the moonlight. He had been told the forging of the blade had involved magic, and so he hoped it would be effective against whatever was out there, if it were not fully flesh and blood. Then picking up the lantern in his left hand and holding the blade in the other he would make his way out of camp and up the rocky trail to where those doors stood open, standing dark and silent like a gateway into the abyss. He hoped others were following, but if they did not, he would go alone. He hoped the boy was still alive, at least he would try to find and out what had happened to him. He moved quietly and carefully as he could, for whatever this beast was it was a damn good hunter.
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Re: Expedition to the Grey Fangs [Adventure]

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The dragoness flicked her slit pupils across each line of script, the words bringing to her mind a vision of what had happened to the archaeologist and his crew. She read it through twice before slipping the journal into her belt. A cursory examination of the rest of the pack before she let it hang over one shoulder next to her own gear. If this was Ares' pack, perhaps she would have the pleasure of giving it back to him.

Hearing footsteps approaching, she moved back to the statue and waited, eyeing the niches. Clearly, opening the alcove behind the engraved books had spelled doom for someone. But were the bloodstains on the floor left from the Ares' first attempt to open them, or was it Ares himself who had died there? Was the beast behind the stone guarding something, or a simple wandering dungeon creature?

"Questions, questions," the dragoness remarked in a sybillant tone, taking a brief respite to nibble on a piece of jerked meat (source unknown). A curl of smoke drifted upwards from her snout, splashing silently against the stone ceiling. On a whim, she reached out and pushed against the statue, curious about how easy it would be to move by herself.
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Re: Expedition to the Grey Fangs [Adventure]

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The swordsman outside wouldn't take long to discover the nature of the disturbance. As he approaches the great doors, he can see reflected there on the stone within the glimmer of magelight. Someone was moving within the tunnel beyond, their way lit by some arcane energy. It was dim from such a distance, but still lit up against the night sky. But there, beyond the edge of the trees and in the ruined space where the abandoned camp lay outstretched before the great doors, a figure crouched. By moonlight, magelight, and the reflected gleam from that drawn blade, the shape can be made out. Sinister and large, the creature must stand near six foot at the shoulders, and resembles nothing more than a bald, grey-skinned bat from the waist up. The creature's torso, however, terminates in a similarly grey but much hairier spider's body. Eight jointed legs and a bulbous abdomen protrude from the base of that batlike torso, with those long legs splayed out over the ground itself. The creature's ears swivel and fix on the approach of the man with the drawn blade, and then the creature's head turns, only to reveal a total lack of eyes. Just bare flesh lay where sockets should contain some manner of eyes, and oversized nostrils flare, catching what scent they can. Below the beast's forelegs, bound tightly on the ground, is a squirming, mansized cocoon of tightly wrapped silk

Within the chamber, the push would produce some wiggling, some slight movement. The thing is heavy, terribly heavy, bit seems to be situated on rollers somewhere beneath that base. However, time has taken its toll on the rollers, leaving them only partially operable. It would take a combined push in excess of a thousand pounds to make the thing rotate, which might well be achievable by one person depending on just how strong one was and how much time was given. Indeed, with a few ropes and the bracing around one of those standing stones, even an average man might make the thing turn in time. Either that or topple one of those stones, it's hard to tell just how well seated they are.
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Re: Expedition to the Grey Fangs [Adventure]

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Thalion was moving along the path carefully towards those dark doors up on the side of the mountain. The air seemed quiet, foreboding, and made the hair on the back of his neck rise. He began to get that feeling that often came on him before the onset of sudden battle. As if the plants whispered between themselves of the danger that was too come. He had kept his lantern intentionally dim, enough light to help prevent an accident in bad footing, but not bright enough to destroy his eyes ability to see in the dark. A sudden ping in his awareness made him stop short and he began to scan the shadows intently, and in the faint glow that light the night and gave length the shadows he could just make out the features of a monstrous creature. It was a think of nightmare, a cross between a bat the size of a large man yet below the waist there were the arched legs of a spider. As the creature tuned it’s head towards him another movement on the ground caught his attention, it looked like a cocoon, but roughly the size of a man, and moving. It was not hard to see what was happening, he had disturbed the creature’s meal, and that meal form his guess, was probably human.

Holding his sword out, pointing towards the creature Thalion slowly bent down setting his lantern on the ground. The creature appeared sightless, so the use of light might have little effect. Not surprising if the creature was an inhabitant of the underworld. Its hearing must be keen, very keen, to hunt in the quiet darkness below the world of light and sky. Maybe he could use that to his advantage, he would at least have to try, or abandon whoever was in that cocoon to certain death.

He took a deep breath and reached for his belt knife with his left hand, the one that had been carrying the lantern. Then he charged, but as he charged he let out a deafening roar. The loudest roar he could muster, one meant to cut through the chaos of the battlefield. He hoped it would deafen the creature and distract it so it wouldn’t notice the large knife he threw at the creature’s chest with is off hand. Then behind that knife Thalion charged coming in a swiftly has he could to bring his single edged cutting sword to bear, slashing horizontally at the creatures legs. Predators did not like fights in which they could be injured, he was hopping that this predator was the same. If he couldn’t kill it, maybe he could at least drive it off with a fierce and unexpected assault. The other possibility didn’t bare thinking about.
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Re: Expedition to the Grey Fangs [Adventure]

Post by metalslime »

The creature, an abomination that couldn't have possibly arose from natural processes, doesn't seem to follow the light of the lantern at all. That at least might be some relief, for it meant that the thing could be fought on equal terms. If the monstrosity had been aware of the light, it might seek to put it out. Those large nostrils of the thing's nose flare, taking in the scents near, and when Thalion takes that deep breath, the thing's ears twitch, tilting ever so slightly in his direction. Thus, that roar catches it full on. A sharp, shrill keening escapes the creature as those ears snap back, and it cringes, cowering from the direction of that roar.The knife is thrown, and it looks as if it is going to strike true.

At the last possible second however, the monstrous thing snaps its wings closed, and the knife bites deeply into the membrane there. It's just enough to keep the knife from digging into that torso, but the pain of the blade cutting through and leaving a ragged hole in the creature's wing brings another shrill keening forth. It's high pitched, indeed it's just at the edge of hearing. One can hear the echo of it, seeming louder than the actual keening itself, as more of it is audible as it rebounds from the forest around them. Of course anyone who can hear hypersonics is likely able to hear the full scope of the cry.

The knife wound is enough to keep the thing distracted from the follow up slash, and it cuts through the chitinous surface of one of those monstrous legs, cleaving the thing right off. The other seven legs tense and bound, sending the creature leaping back fully fifteen feet directly away from the source of impact. Another pained keening rises, enough to send that blade to vibrate in Thallion's hand, like some tuning fork. Wounded, the abomination snarls. Black ichor seeps from the stump of its leg, and the wound in its wing, and both wings spread backward, snapping that knife off into the forest somewhere with the movement. With a downward beat, they carry the monstrosity up into the air, leaving that bound and cocooned figure on the ground below. The ascent, however, is slow and clumsy. The thing might be more at home gliding from cavern wall to cavern wall than trying to ascend away from an open battlefield.
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Re: Expedition to the Grey Fangs [Adventure]

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Thalion watched the monstrous beast lift off and awkwardly drift away. His eyes glanced down quickly to the man shaped cocoon and then back up at the sky to make sure the beast was truly gone. If it was, then he would quickly go and retrieve his lantern and set it down by the cocoon as he went down on one knee. As quickly as he could while being careful he would take the tip of his sword and work it through some of the fibers of the webbing and being cutting, with the dull edge towards the victim inside and the sharp edge pointing upwards to try and slice through the silk like cords. He would work for only a few seconds at a time before looking in every direction to make sure the beast had not decided to come back, to sneak up on him silently in the dark while he worked to free the monster’s prey. He thought he had seen movement from the cocoon earlier, and he hoped whoever it was still lived.
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Re: Expedition to the Grey Fangs [Adventure]

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The creature does indeed fly up and away from the battlefield, only to be lost in the night sky for the moment. It's difficult to tell whether the thing is truly gone, or has merely departed the arc of light that might betray its presence. Still, Thallion is not disturbed as he cuts the bindings free, and it might become clear to the dragoness inside the tomb's entry that whatever battle had occurred outside had ended as quickly as it began. Still though, the night creatures remain silent. Nary a single insect nor bush-dwelling vermin makes its voice heard.

The webbing that cocoons the youth is tough, and sticky. Perhaps in a refined form it might be strong as steel, but still raw as it is, it merely takes time and muscle to clear the material from the fellow within. It is the youth who had agreed to watch the animals, and he immediately gasps for breath once it is cleared enough for him to do so. He apepars pale, and strange purplish blotchse surround a bite wound at his shoulder, likely poison from the bat-spider's venomous jaws. "Oh gods, I thought I was done for," He manages to croak out, even as the arm on the side where that bite had taken him begins to go limp. Still, his breathing settles shortly, and is not the strange, gasping that he had before.
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Re: Expedition to the Grey Fangs [Adventure]

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Thalion cursed when he saw the bite on the boys arm. “Keep still,” he said while he took a closer look. It looked bad, but worse he had no idea what to consider. The beast was obviously some unnatural creation and the result of a bite from such a thing could be unpredictable at best. It could lead to a simple fatality, or it might transform the boy into a like creature. As much as he would have liked to have pursued that abomination back into its abode and ended this, he could not leave the boy. “Just try to hold, try not to fall asleep whatever you do. Stay awake!” he said as he sheathed his sword and hoisting the boy onto his shoulder so he could carry the lantern in his other hand he would make off back to came as quickly as he could manage.

As soon as they got to camp he would head straight towards the campfire, where he would set the boy down and check to see if he was still alive. Menxvin providing that he was, Thalion would quickly gather up the charred ends of a few sticks and putting them in a bowl would crush them into a black powder with the pommel of his sword. While he did this he poured some water into a clean camp pot and set it over the goals to be heating. Once the water was steaming he would poor enough into the bowl with the crushed charcoal to make a paste. The paste would then go onto a clean piece of bandage linen and be wrapped around over the bite on the boys arm making a poultice. Charcoal could help draw out poison when put over the bite, but he doubted it would be enough to save the boy.

Ignoring anyone else at camp he would quickly search to see if any of the horses were left, he’d pick out a swift one, and damn the owner if he tried to stop him. He had to get the boy to healer and he would not suffer a miserly soul getting in his way. He would pick what looked like the swiftest horse and made for it carrying the boy in his arms. He hoped the owner would not protest, at any rate he would return the horse if at all possible. But the boy needed a healer now, and if he could just stroll up to the horse and ride away he would. If it became an issue, well he would think of something.
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Re: Expedition to the Grey Fangs [Adventure]

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Stricken by venom, the youth cannot and does not object to being rushed back to their camp. It didn't take much to spook those who remained, and this was certainly above and beyond what many had signed up for. It was enough to make some resolve to leave immediately. Fortunately there were still plenty of supplies, plenty of horses with which one could ride, even after those who were finally unnerved by the events since their arrival had left. As Thalion makes that charcoal past,e the boy grows limp, then still.

It would seem, at first, that the youth had expired. He didn't seem to be breathing, he certainly wasn't moving, limp as a rag doll with his eyes rolled back. And yet, depending on how observant one might be, a terrible truth might come to light. The youth still breathed, his heart still beat, but it was too slow to see unless one were paying rapt attention, and knew just what to look for. The poison itself seemed designed not simply to paralyze, but rather to make its victim appear dead to all but the most careful of watches.
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Re: Expedition to the Grey Fangs [Adventure]

Post by KnightErrant »

Thalion cursed quietly as he applied the poultice to the boys limp arm. It seemed like the deadly bite had already drained the life out of him. He checked for a pulse at the boys neck and felt nothing, except maybe a ghost of the pulse he was hoping to find and even that was probably a trick of the mind have been a trick of the mind.

Sitting cross legged in the dirt he took a deep breath and tried to think clearly. He could bury the boy out here to keep wild animals away and then go after the beast. It was already wounded. Still, if he were to attack it in its own home, in the dark where it was comfortable that would be dangerous if not fool hardy. The monster already whipped out the entire team of explorers that went before. And was there only one of them? Could there be more, or other strange creatures lurking in dark chambers beneath the mountain? No a direct attack without preparation would not do. Now he knew something of what he faced and he could prepare better.

He would take to the boy to a magical healer if he could and maybe they could learn something about the bite. Even if they could not save his life maybe his death would not be completely in vain if they could gain some more knowledge on their foe. At the very least, the boy could be given a proper burial instead of an unmarked grave out in the wild. Also, something in the back of his mind told him this might be the right choice. He didn’t know what that bite could do, and it was a possibility that such bites could transform the recipient into something horrible as well.

Arriving at his decision he rose to pick a stout horse that looked like it could keep up a good pace for a long while. Then with the boy set in front of him he would make his way off quickly towards the south. Looking back over his shoulder at the mountain on last night he thought about the beast in the night and hardened his resolve that he would return.
Last edited by KnightErrant on Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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