Monday, January 3, 2022

Castle Whiterock 20 December 2021: Still fishing

The murderhoboes

Garreth, half-orc swordsman
    Bleu, droning elf wizard
Zaber, suave and debonaire man
    Logan, wolverine
Polly, cute and deadly elf archer

What they did

Mikal swims away, and the rest of us swim to the door. Unlike other rooms, this is well lit, with a plain stone floor and matching stone walls. The top five feet of the walls have thick mats of green algae; we cannot see the ceiling. A few rotten half-eaten fish carcasses aimlessly drift about the chamber.

Your presence in this chamber disturbs its occupants. Several man-sized beetles effortlessly glide through the water with powerful thrusts of paddle-like legs. Each vermin sports wicked mandibles and carries an air-bubble under its carapace.

Many man-sized beetles swim about. They twitch feelers towards Logan and me. They come near then, after a few seconds of wait, they strike. Garreth swims up and thrusts a knife at a beetle, but cannot hit. Polly rushes another with a shield, but goes past. I whack one twice with my knife, and Logan tries to open one for eating, but misses.

The beetle tries to bite me four times, strangely fast, and I step back. Another likewise misses biting Logan. The others swim nearer. Garreth hones his chi, and Polly cuts up a beetle so bad that it stops moving. Logan gets a mouthful of chitin and a torn muscle as he attacks a beetle, and I cut up the one near me.

The beetle by Logan tries to bite him four times, but he gets back. The beetle near me  gets five strikes and it hits my skull and … seems the gods or goddesses (hopefully the latter) smile on me and nothing happens. Garreth, now fast, comes up and slices up a beetle but doesn't fell it. Polly steps and takes down another with her blade. I hit another one with my knife, but it doesn't fall, so I step away. Logan guts another one, and gets its gooey innards.

The beetle nearest Garreth swats at him six times, crippling his leg and arm and knocking him out. Polly swims to help Garreth and hits it, but it doesn't fall. I try to stab it twice, but it moves like a water-bound ninja and I drop my knife. Logan likewise bites into one.

The one Logan just bit swims away from him; he smells it on the other side of the room. The beetle on Polly chomps seven times on her, taking off her left hand and right leg. Pity, as I always liked her legs. Bleu, at last doing something useful, casts Great Haste on herself. Polly pulls out her rapier and swings away at a beetle, who dodges. I grab my knife, step towards Garreth, and wave at Logan to swim to me.

The mad beetle chases Polly and chomps her eight times, but she gets away from its bite. Bleu casts Concussion into the middle of the room, but she only deafens herself. Polly tries to swing at the beetle, but misses, so I wave at Polly to please go. She doesn't get it, so I ready my knife and pull out Garreth's wineskin with my other hand.

Logan, for our last-ditch try, pounces on the beetle in the middle of the room by Polly. He rips it into itty bitty beetle bits, then glares at the beetle that fled it with bits of the other beetle dripping out of his mouth. That beetle hides, scared of Logan.

Logan and Bleu drag Garreth towards the way out, and I take Polly out, as well as her limbs. Then we go back to Cillamar.

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