Dungeon Crawl
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maxentius-septimus
Evard's Tentacles of Forced Intrusion
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Re: Dungeon Crawl
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OP
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Re: Dungeon Crawl
You take your flute and idly tap it to you lips as you pace, trying to recall the many stories of strange beasts hidden within your mind. The tale of the ropers is part of a larger saga, dealing with the adventures of a band of dwarven warriors, seeking to keep their hold from falling to the foes of the underdark. To your recollection, the party of warriors could not harm the ropers with even their sharpest of axes, for the ambushing predators had rock-like skin. But with the party of dwarves was the quartermaster, a dwarf not particularly skilled in sword play, but deft in the trades of logistics, cooking, brewing, and above all held the most wit in his party of otherwise stout soldiers. Knowing that their way went through a nest of the impervious beasts, the quartermaster soaked bits of bread in his strongest brew and tossed the spongey globs into the maws of the ropers, who munched and munched on the notoriously hard to digest dwarf bread and grew heady from the intense concotion, until their tentacles slowed and their mouths grew wide as their inner flesh bulged. In the ropers' lethargy, the dwarves found their task much easier, for their weapons could strike at the beasts' open mouths.
"If only we had some more food, and perhaps some wine or beer," you lament to your fellow companions. "From the tales that I know of them, if they overeat and drink, they grow slow and leave themselves vulnerable."
There is a pause as your companions frown at your interesting but perhaps not so useful information is registered. For her part, Elise looks round the room once more and points to the splintered bits of wood and many stains and bones on the floor.
"A table once stood here. This room is done up like a feasting hall. And some of those stains on the floor look more like wine than blood. And those bones that have been picked clean. Yes some of them are from kobolds perhaps, but here and here - these are from fowl, like a turkey or even a chicken. And that is most assuredly a ham bone."
Hadrian looks over her shoulder and seems to confirm what the cleric has said.
"What do you make of it then?" He asks telling her to go on, but you've already guessed at her meaning and answer for her.
"She means to say that there was probably a feasting table, laden with food in this chamber. Perhaps to do precisely what the tales of ropers suggested. We were meant to feed the roper until it became stuffed. Then we could get the key that lies within it. But..."
Hadrian tilts his chin up in mild frustration and finishes your sentence.
"But somehow ghouls got down into this level, and found the feast for themselves. Then Grat and his kobold buddies, likewise trapped here, took apart the table little by little for their mountain of wood, leaving this puzzle room without a solution."
"To be fair," Elise adds, "The Zerica temple has not been attended to for some time. Any food still on this table would have long been rotten and likely unusable anyways."
"I think you underestimate the roper's tastes," you say, pointing to the thing as it crunches and munches away on the unfortunate ghoul. "I can't think of a more rotten flesh than one of those guys."
Hadrian brightens at this. "Perhaps we must simply feed the beast the ghouls. If it is willing to eat them, let it fill its belly."
"My turning prayer will break once we attack the ghouls again," Elise says. If we intend to fight, best we prepare."
She walks over to you, and brushes a hand lightly over your chest, where the talons have raked you in a criss cross pattern. The adrenaline in your system has allowed you to overlook the wound, but the stinging is growing, and thinking about the unsanitary claws that bit into your flesh, you begin to worry about infection.
"Hold still, Ariel. I will pray to Zerica to heal your wounds. Can't have the pretty bard be scarred now can we?" Elise jokes. Hadrian is looking towards the remaining ghouls cowering in their caves at the end of the chamber, and apparently isn't listening to the cleric's quip.
Elise closes her eyes and places her hands upon your breasts. It would be quite awkward to have anyone else see the two of you like this, but the bloody wounds she's trying to heal make up for it you suppose. Still, does she HAVE to grope you?
She mutters a prayer in the priest-tongue of Zerica, and her hands glow with a soft, almost ghostly blue light. The sting on your chest fades into a dull ache, as the cleric's spell fortifies you miraculously.
(You heal 7 HP!)
Elise gives you one final unnecessary grope with a rueful smirk before letting her hands drop to her sides.
"Zerica was kind enough to heal you, but her guiding voice lowers to a whisper within me. It will be more and more difficult for me to heal the two of you until I have time to commune with Zerica once more and offer her the rites of secrets uncovered," Elise says.
"Then let us avoid being raked by the beasts again," says Hadrian, who brings his sword down on the limbs of the dead ghoul that he slew in combat naught but a few minutes before. Severing them with messy, hacking strokes, he pulls the foul smelling flesh away from itself and flings the bits of rotten meat to the roper, whose tentacles snap at it with deadly accuracy before pulling it into its maw. When it opens its mouth, you can see a well-munched ghoul body already half dissolving in the digestive fluids at the base of the roper's pillar-like body.
Over the next five minutes, your party feeds the second ghoul to the roper. But the creature does not seem to slow or bulge as in the tales, and Elise begins to worry.
"We're running out of time. I'd say we have a twenty minutes, maybe a quarter of an hour to get that key. And that's assuming that this is the final challenge, which we don't know for sure."
You have no idea how long it will take for the roper to get full, nor how many ghouls it will take. You worry perhaps that the tales specifically mentioned feeding the beasts alcohol and that perhaps that was the key to making it swell. You suppose that if you were hasty and desperate, the three of you might try to attack it, but its rock skin will make harming it impossible unless you were to get dangerously close to its mouth. If you intend to feed it more ghoul meat, you will have to attack the rest of the ghouls, who once backed up against a wall, will fight, cleric-spell or no cleric-spell. Maybe you could consult Grat the kobold again, see if he has anything to add to this situation, but that would be back tracking and could take away precious minutes. What will you do?
You take your flute and idly tap it to you lips as you pace, trying to recall the many stories of strange beasts hidden within your mind. The tale of the ropers is part of a larger saga, dealing with the adventures of a band of dwarven warriors, seeking to keep their hold from falling to the foes of the underdark. To your recollection, the party of warriors could not harm the ropers with even their sharpest of axes, for the ambushing predators had rock-like skin. But with the party of dwarves was the quartermaster, a dwarf not particularly skilled in sword play, but deft in the trades of logistics, cooking, brewing, and above all held the most wit in his party of otherwise stout soldiers. Knowing that their way went through a nest of the impervious beasts, the quartermaster soaked bits of bread in his strongest brew and tossed the spongey globs into the maws of the ropers, who munched and munched on the notoriously hard to digest dwarf bread and grew heady from the intense concotion, until their tentacles slowed and their mouths grew wide as their inner flesh bulged. In the ropers' lethargy, the dwarves found their task much easier, for their weapons could strike at the beasts' open mouths.
"If only we had some more food, and perhaps some wine or beer," you lament to your fellow companions. "From the tales that I know of them, if they overeat and drink, they grow slow and leave themselves vulnerable."
There is a pause as your companions frown at your interesting but perhaps not so useful information is registered. For her part, Elise looks round the room once more and points to the splintered bits of wood and many stains and bones on the floor.
"A table once stood here. This room is done up like a feasting hall. And some of those stains on the floor look more like wine than blood. And those bones that have been picked clean. Yes some of them are from kobolds perhaps, but here and here - these are from fowl, like a turkey or even a chicken. And that is most assuredly a ham bone."
Hadrian looks over her shoulder and seems to confirm what the cleric has said.
"What do you make of it then?" He asks telling her to go on, but you've already guessed at her meaning and answer for her.
"She means to say that there was probably a feasting table, laden with food in this chamber. Perhaps to do precisely what the tales of ropers suggested. We were meant to feed the roper until it became stuffed. Then we could get the key that lies within it. But..."
Hadrian tilts his chin up in mild frustration and finishes your sentence.
"But somehow ghouls got down into this level, and found the feast for themselves. Then Grat and his kobold buddies, likewise trapped here, took apart the table little by little for their mountain of wood, leaving this puzzle room without a solution."
"To be fair," Elise adds, "The Zerica temple has not been attended to for some time. Any food still on this table would have long been rotten and likely unusable anyways."
"I think you underestimate the roper's tastes," you say, pointing to the thing as it crunches and munches away on the unfortunate ghoul. "I can't think of a more rotten flesh than one of those guys."
Hadrian brightens at this. "Perhaps we must simply feed the beast the ghouls. If it is willing to eat them, let it fill its belly."
"My turning prayer will break once we attack the ghouls again," Elise says. If we intend to fight, best we prepare."
She walks over to you, and brushes a hand lightly over your chest, where the talons have raked you in a criss cross pattern. The adrenaline in your system has allowed you to overlook the wound, but the stinging is growing, and thinking about the unsanitary claws that bit into your flesh, you begin to worry about infection.
"Hold still, Ariel. I will pray to Zerica to heal your wounds. Can't have the pretty bard be scarred now can we?" Elise jokes. Hadrian is looking towards the remaining ghouls cowering in their caves at the end of the chamber, and apparently isn't listening to the cleric's quip.
Elise closes her eyes and places her hands upon your breasts. It would be quite awkward to have anyone else see the two of you like this, but the bloody wounds she's trying to heal make up for it you suppose. Still, does she HAVE to grope you?
She mutters a prayer in the priest-tongue of Zerica, and her hands glow with a soft, almost ghostly blue light. The sting on your chest fades into a dull ache, as the cleric's spell fortifies you miraculously.
(You heal 7 HP!)
Elise gives you one final unnecessary grope with a rueful smirk before letting her hands drop to her sides.
"Zerica was kind enough to heal you, but her guiding voice lowers to a whisper within me. It will be more and more difficult for me to heal the two of you until I have time to commune with Zerica once more and offer her the rites of secrets uncovered," Elise says.
"Then let us avoid being raked by the beasts again," says Hadrian, who brings his sword down on the limbs of the dead ghoul that he slew in combat naught but a few minutes before. Severing them with messy, hacking strokes, he pulls the foul smelling flesh away from itself and flings the bits of rotten meat to the roper, whose tentacles snap at it with deadly accuracy before pulling it into its maw. When it opens its mouth, you can see a well-munched ghoul body already half dissolving in the digestive fluids at the base of the roper's pillar-like body.
Over the next five minutes, your party feeds the second ghoul to the roper. But the creature does not seem to slow or bulge as in the tales, and Elise begins to worry.
"We're running out of time. I'd say we have a twenty minutes, maybe a quarter of an hour to get that key. And that's assuming that this is the final challenge, which we don't know for sure."
You have no idea how long it will take for the roper to get full, nor how many ghouls it will take. You worry perhaps that the tales specifically mentioned feeding the beasts alcohol and that perhaps that was the key to making it swell. You suppose that if you were hasty and desperate, the three of you might try to attack it, but its rock skin will make harming it impossible unless you were to get dangerously close to its mouth. If you intend to feed it more ghoul meat, you will have to attack the rest of the ghouls, who once backed up against a wall, will fight, cleric-spell or no cleric-spell. Maybe you could consult Grat the kobold again, see if he has anything to add to this situation, but that would be back tracking and could take away precious minutes. What will you do?
Choose one:
1) Quickly, there's no time! Attack the roper and hope for the best!
2) Meat! More meat! Butcher the ghouls in the hopes that you can fill the roper's belly in time.
3) Try to discern more about the situation, perhaps there's something you've been missing? (costs time)
4) Back track and talk to Grat. Maybe kobold ingenuity could solve the situation. (costs time)
5) Cunning plan. (Suggest a variant of the above, or your own idea.)
1) Quickly, there's no time! Attack the roper and hope for the best!
2) Meat! More meat! Butcher the ghouls in the hopes that you can fill the roper's belly in time.
3) Try to discern more about the situation, perhaps there's something you've been missing? (costs time)
4) Back track and talk to Grat. Maybe kobold ingenuity could solve the situation. (costs time)
5) Cunning plan. (Suggest a variant of the above, or your own idea.)
Cevrik777
Sex Demon
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Re: Dungeon Crawl
Hm, My gut tells me to go get the ghouls... but as another CYOA-Writer, the other options are driving me insane with "What if's" ...
I guess I'll have to go with... 2
Puzzling solutions in a CYOA earns "Cev's Mark of Approval".
Hm, My gut tells me to go get the ghouls... but as another CYOA-Writer, the other options are driving me insane with "What if's" ...
I guess I'll have to go with... 2
Puzzling solutions in a CYOA earns "Cev's Mark of Approval".
Shadow
Tentacle Monster
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Re: Dungeon Crawl
If the time runs out, we're trapped here right? Definitely no way out?
My own suggstion would be to do a thorough scan of the feasting hall and make sure there's absolutely no alcohol - no stored barrels mead, hidden bottles of wine, nothing - that we can just pour on the ghoul corpse before carry on feeding it to the mimic monster.
I mean, in the story they were sated by bits of bread, I kinda feel like more and more food isn't the answer, it must've been the alcohol in the bread.
If the time runs out, we're trapped here right? Definitely no way out?
My own suggstion would be to do a thorough scan of the feasting hall and make sure there's absolutely no alcohol - no stored barrels mead, hidden bottles of wine, nothing - that we can just pour on the ghoul corpse before carry on feeding it to the mimic monster.
I mean, in the story they were sated by bits of bread, I kinda feel like more and more food isn't the answer, it must've been the alcohol in the bread.
OP
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Re: Dungeon Crawl
You decide that the key to solving the issue of the roper is to simply stuff it full of ghoul meat, but preparing that particular meal will not be simple. The three adventurers stay close to the walls, well out of the reach of the tentacled creature, and edge their way into the cave-like area of the chamber where the cursed necrotic savages dwell in hiding from Elise's turning prayer.
"Once we attack, the protective aura of my turning will be broken. They will have no difficulties in harming us then." Elise warns you.
You nod and brace yourself, blade held up resolutely as you choose your opponent. There are four ghouls left 'alive' at this point. As the strongest fighter, Hadrian positions himself to fight against two ghouls, leaving Elise and yourself to contend with a single opponent.
On a whispered count, the three of you charge into melee, and the results are brutal, bloody, and prolonged. The ghouls do not go down easily. And the one you happen to be up against is far more cunning and strong than his withered form suggests. He cuts by your defenses, taking advantage of your relative inexperience in the dueling arts. You are struck critically, your armor shredding further as his claws rake you.
Unable to shrug off the pain, you cry out as the claws bite into your bosom, producing a nasty gash that will leave a scar unless tended to by magic - and even then there is a chance of a lasting mark. The ghoul then falls on top of you, following up on its powerful strike, and you are reduced to a position of desperation, simply dodging your exposed neck from side to side and pressing your elbows up in front of you to prevent the ghoul from tearing out your throat with its savage teeth.
"Ariel!" you hear Elise exclaim from somewhere above you, suddenly the ghoul's head is bashed severely by the shield of your cleric ally. The creature recoils and you can see from your dazed position on the floor that Elise seems to have successfully felled her own foe, although she has taken a bit of damage in the process. Hadrian as well seems to have slain one of the two ghouls whom he brought to battle, but the second one is still fighting on.
Though the pain of the ghoul's inflicted wounds still threaten to overwhelm you, there is no time for rest. The ghoul senses that you are close to death, and that if it can finish you, it then stands a better chance of finishing off Elise later on. The cleric sees this and bravely puts herself in front of your prone body, drawing the attention away from you. This quite possibly saves your life, as it deals Elise a cruel blow that is only partially absorbed by Elise's armor because she is fighting defensively.
Together, the two of you manage to bring down the ghoul, though by the time you do so, your arm feels like lead from the number of desperate slashes and thrusts that it takes to bring him down. About the same time, Hadrian manages to finish off the remaining enemy in devastating fashion.
You slump down, resting yourself against the wall. You are bleeding profusely, and though she looks fatigued, Elise kneels by your side and begins to pray. Her hands take on a glowing quality and once again she presses her healing touch against your skin, taking away some of the pain, but still leaving you weak.
"Zerica withdraws further from me," Elise says wearily before propping herself up against the wall beside you. "It's becoming more and more difficult to heal you, and it will not become easier until I rest and commune with her once more. We don't have time to do that of course... not if we want to escape this level."
"You two stay there and catch your breaths," Hadrian says as he takes a rag and wipes the black ghoul blood from his blade before sheathing it. "I will feed these things to the rock beast. I hope for our sakes that this works."
The two of you watch as Hadrian hefts the fallen corpses and throws them within range of the roper's grabbing tentacles. The first body is quickly grabbed and stuffed into the inhuman maw, where it is chewed with sickening crunches and schlorping contractions of digestive tissues. You shudder and try to ignore the sounds.
Unfortunately, after the first body, the roper doesn't seem interested in any more food, and it ignores further offerings. It shows no sign of bloating or sluggishness as mentioned in your tales. You hang your head in depression. You must have missed something. Now the party is more injured, especially yourself, and you've wasted precious time.
"What now?" Hadrian asks, turning to you.
You decide that the key to solving the issue of the roper is to simply stuff it full of ghoul meat, but preparing that particular meal will not be simple. The three adventurers stay close to the walls, well out of the reach of the tentacled creature, and edge their way into the cave-like area of the chamber where the cursed necrotic savages dwell in hiding from Elise's turning prayer.
"Once we attack, the protective aura of my turning will be broken. They will have no difficulties in harming us then." Elise warns you.
You nod and brace yourself, blade held up resolutely as you choose your opponent. There are four ghouls left 'alive' at this point. As the strongest fighter, Hadrian positions himself to fight against two ghouls, leaving Elise and yourself to contend with a single opponent.
On a whispered count, the three of you charge into melee, and the results are brutal, bloody, and prolonged. The ghouls do not go down easily. And the one you happen to be up against is far more cunning and strong than his withered form suggests. He cuts by your defenses, taking advantage of your relative inexperience in the dueling arts. You are struck critically, your armor shredding further as his claws rake you.
Unable to shrug off the pain, you cry out as the claws bite into your bosom, producing a nasty gash that will leave a scar unless tended to by magic - and even then there is a chance of a lasting mark. The ghoul then falls on top of you, following up on its powerful strike, and you are reduced to a position of desperation, simply dodging your exposed neck from side to side and pressing your elbows up in front of you to prevent the ghoul from tearing out your throat with its savage teeth.
"Ariel!" you hear Elise exclaim from somewhere above you, suddenly the ghoul's head is bashed severely by the shield of your cleric ally. The creature recoils and you can see from your dazed position on the floor that Elise seems to have successfully felled her own foe, although she has taken a bit of damage in the process. Hadrian as well seems to have slain one of the two ghouls whom he brought to battle, but the second one is still fighting on.
Though the pain of the ghoul's inflicted wounds still threaten to overwhelm you, there is no time for rest. The ghoul senses that you are close to death, and that if it can finish you, it then stands a better chance of finishing off Elise later on. The cleric sees this and bravely puts herself in front of your prone body, drawing the attention away from you. This quite possibly saves your life, as it deals Elise a cruel blow that is only partially absorbed by Elise's armor because she is fighting defensively.
Together, the two of you manage to bring down the ghoul, though by the time you do so, your arm feels like lead from the number of desperate slashes and thrusts that it takes to bring him down. About the same time, Hadrian manages to finish off the remaining enemy in devastating fashion.
You slump down, resting yourself against the wall. You are bleeding profusely, and though she looks fatigued, Elise kneels by your side and begins to pray. Her hands take on a glowing quality and once again she presses her healing touch against your skin, taking away some of the pain, but still leaving you weak.
You were brought down to 3/18 HP during the fight. Elise heals you for 3 HP, bringing you to 6/18 HP.
"Zerica withdraws further from me," Elise says wearily before propping herself up against the wall beside you. "It's becoming more and more difficult to heal you, and it will not become easier until I rest and commune with her once more. We don't have time to do that of course... not if we want to escape this level."
"You two stay there and catch your breaths," Hadrian says as he takes a rag and wipes the black ghoul blood from his blade before sheathing it. "I will feed these things to the rock beast. I hope for our sakes that this works."
The two of you watch as Hadrian hefts the fallen corpses and throws them within range of the roper's grabbing tentacles. The first body is quickly grabbed and stuffed into the inhuman maw, where it is chewed with sickening crunches and schlorping contractions of digestive tissues. You shudder and try to ignore the sounds.
Unfortunately, after the first body, the roper doesn't seem interested in any more food, and it ignores further offerings. It shows no sign of bloating or sluggishness as mentioned in your tales. You hang your head in depression. You must have missed something. Now the party is more injured, especially yourself, and you've wasted precious time.
"What now?" Hadrian asks, turning to you.
Choose one:
1) We've wasted too much time as it is. We need to fight the roper and get that key from inside of it. We might not be in the best of shape, but we don't have any choice.
2) Maybe we've missed a clue? Let's try to look around a bit more. (costs time)
3) Backtrack. Now that we've killed the ghouls, maybe we can go tell Grat and see if the kobold has a way of dealing with the roper?
4) Another way... (Suggest a variant of the above or your own plan.
1) We've wasted too much time as it is. We need to fight the roper and get that key from inside of it. We might not be in the best of shape, but we don't have any choice.
2) Maybe we've missed a clue? Let's try to look around a bit more. (costs time)
3) Backtrack. Now that we've killed the ghouls, maybe we can go tell Grat and see if the kobold has a way of dealing with the roper?
4) Another way... (Suggest a variant of the above or your own plan.
roughrider890
Jungle Girl
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Re: Dungeon Crawl
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3
Minerve
Tentacle God
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Re: Dungeon Crawl
P.S. : Count this as a simple "+1".
And drink the alcohol, of course, and make a threesome.
P.S. : Count this as a simple "+1".
maxentius-septimus
Evard's Tentacles of Forced Intrusion
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Re: Dungeon Crawl
3
3
OP
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Re: Dungeon Crawl
"We've got to go back to Grat." You say, grunting as you force yourself to your feet. There's only so much that Elise's cleric skills can heal, and you're still bloodied and roughed up. You have serious doubts about being able to handle another fight right now. At least you've survived close contact with a band of ghouls. No average soul could say that.
"He might know how to handle the roper. He would know what the puzzle room looked like before it was dismantled. So he might recall the hints to getting the key."
Having no better suggestions, your teammates heft their gear and stand shoulder to shoulder with you, each of them holding you steady with a hand. You're a bit touched by the display, feeling like a valued member of the team, even if this combat might suggest that bards are simply a liability.
The three of you stride back to the second puzzle room where the great stack of wooden scraps and beams lies, with the smelly kobold hiding at the base, looking anxiously to the hallway where you emerge from.
"Ica ica! You get get?" He scrambles eagerly towards you, positively shaking with enthusiasm. But when he arrives at a closer view and sees the looks on your faces and the sorry state of your armor, he can only frown a bit, his lizard-dog ears flattening noticibly.
"You no get... Grat still stuck here in stinky hole! Oh Grat shall surely starve now! No more newt jerky! No more bog bread! Only tiny bit of grog left in great barrel! Waaah!"
"We tried our best, Grat, but we --" You begin your explanation and then suddenly stop mid sentence, with your ears catching up to your lips.
"Grog? You mean alcohol? You have a barrel of alcohol here?"
Grat sniffs and nods his head sadly. "Took took from room with stink dead people. Thought barrel good good for wood stack. Heavy with grog. Good base. But then water ran out, Grat's friends die. Grat... Grat get thirsty."
"Is there any left?" Elise asks.
"Yeah!" You ask, excitedly. "And was there anything in the other room that said we should feed the alcohol to the roper?"
"Roper?" Grat asks, confused.
"You know... big tentacle'd thing. Looks like a pillar of stone."
"Oohhh, you mean hungry rock!" Grat says, understanding dawning on his reptilian features.
"So you DID know about it," Hadrian grumbles irritably, drawing a nervous mini-squeak from Grat. "You didn't think to mention that?"
"Grat sorry! Grat sorry! Grat and clan-bolds more worry about gnashy stink dead men. Not even get to hungry rock!"
"Go easy on him, Hadrian." You say. "He's starving, mal-nourished, and all alone down here."
Grat nods at this and looks gratefully in your direction. He even skitters closer to you and pets you on the shoulder, which is a nice gesture from the creature, but unfortunately reminds you just how rotten and badly the kobold smells. It really needs a bath.
"Grat think he see something about hungry rock go sleep sleep with grog. It on wall pictures." Grat says.
"Were there pictures on the walls?" Elise asks aloud, not quite sure.
"I guess we missed the decorations while trying not to get eaten," Hadrian grunts.
"Guys! This is great!" You say, standing up quickly and then regretting this instantly as you crumple down, nursing your wounds. You get another sympathetic and smelly pat from Grat. Then you continue on.
"We can use the last of the grog to get the roper drunk. Then we'll get the key, turn the final lock and that should let us pass!"
Grat bobs his head swiftly, even clapping his paws together. "Yes yes! You soak something yummy in grog and hungry roper eat eat!"
"Um... about that," Hadrian says. "We sort've stuffed the roper full of ghoul meat. Now it's not eating anymore."
Grat's joy turns to melancholy. "You stuff stuff the hungry rock!? It not get hungry again for hours! Now we stuck foreverrrr!"
You all look down, at a loss, until mercifully, Grat gives a start and says "Unless..."
You all look expectantly to him. He fidgets, his paws rubbing over one another, nervously as his eyes leap frog from you, to Elise, and then back again to you.
"Out with it!" Hadrian says, stepping forward. "We don't have much time left!"
Grat flinches and huddles forward in your direction. You need to lean away or gag on his stench.
"Hungry rocks have different kind of hunger!" Grat says, wincing. "Maybe you feed feed that, it give you chance to splash grog on rock."
"What do you mean, different kind of hunger?" Elise asks, although as she says it, it seems she stumbles upon some possible meaning, and her expression sours notably.
"Hungry rocks live in cave near bogs. Bogs where Ironscale Clan of kobold live. Protecting dragon eggs! We stay away from hungry rocks, but we watch. They living things, but make more rocks by placing smaller squishy rocks inside other things," Grat says, keeping his eyes on the floor, clearly knowing that what he's suggesting will not be looked upon as a great idea. "Hungry rock senses for females when it full from eat eat. It grab female, find good spot for squishy rock, then it..."
"NO." Hadrian interrupts him. "Not happening. Not an option."
He draws his longsword and looks to you. "I've heard enough. There's only one way through the roper, and that's to hew apart its rocky hide. You're hurt, I don't want you near that thing. Stay here, me an Elise will kill the beast."
"It could be suicide," Elise says. "The roper is a creature evolved to have a perfect defense in its own environment. If we try to solve this puzzle by brute force alone, we are doomed to suffer."
Grat grabs his head and slaps it a bit. "Maybe... maybe we all climb Grat's pile? You stand on top each other... and Grat maybe can reach new level?"
"Pfeh," mutters Hadrian. "Even if it would hold our weight and even if in our current condition we didn't fall down and break our necks, there's no way I'm trusting a half starved, half mad kobold to come back for me in a place like this."
Grat hisses at the knight, earning a hard stare which makes the creature retreat to the other side of you, obviously seeing you as the most sympathetic human ear in the group.
Seeing that the group is starting to waver on the next course of action, you decide to speak up and say what you want to do:
"We've got to go back to Grat." You say, grunting as you force yourself to your feet. There's only so much that Elise's cleric skills can heal, and you're still bloodied and roughed up. You have serious doubts about being able to handle another fight right now. At least you've survived close contact with a band of ghouls. No average soul could say that.
"He might know how to handle the roper. He would know what the puzzle room looked like before it was dismantled. So he might recall the hints to getting the key."
Having no better suggestions, your teammates heft their gear and stand shoulder to shoulder with you, each of them holding you steady with a hand. You're a bit touched by the display, feeling like a valued member of the team, even if this combat might suggest that bards are simply a liability.
The three of you stride back to the second puzzle room where the great stack of wooden scraps and beams lies, with the smelly kobold hiding at the base, looking anxiously to the hallway where you emerge from.
"Ica ica! You get get?" He scrambles eagerly towards you, positively shaking with enthusiasm. But when he arrives at a closer view and sees the looks on your faces and the sorry state of your armor, he can only frown a bit, his lizard-dog ears flattening noticibly.
"You no get... Grat still stuck here in stinky hole! Oh Grat shall surely starve now! No more newt jerky! No more bog bread! Only tiny bit of grog left in great barrel! Waaah!"
"We tried our best, Grat, but we --" You begin your explanation and then suddenly stop mid sentence, with your ears catching up to your lips.
"Grog? You mean alcohol? You have a barrel of alcohol here?"
Grat sniffs and nods his head sadly. "Took took from room with stink dead people. Thought barrel good good for wood stack. Heavy with grog. Good base. But then water ran out, Grat's friends die. Grat... Grat get thirsty."
"Is there any left?" Elise asks.
"Yeah!" You ask, excitedly. "And was there anything in the other room that said we should feed the alcohol to the roper?"
"Roper?" Grat asks, confused.
"You know... big tentacle'd thing. Looks like a pillar of stone."
"Oohhh, you mean hungry rock!" Grat says, understanding dawning on his reptilian features.
"So you DID know about it," Hadrian grumbles irritably, drawing a nervous mini-squeak from Grat. "You didn't think to mention that?"
"Grat sorry! Grat sorry! Grat and clan-bolds more worry about gnashy stink dead men. Not even get to hungry rock!"
"Go easy on him, Hadrian." You say. "He's starving, mal-nourished, and all alone down here."
Grat nods at this and looks gratefully in your direction. He even skitters closer to you and pets you on the shoulder, which is a nice gesture from the creature, but unfortunately reminds you just how rotten and badly the kobold smells. It really needs a bath.
"Grat think he see something about hungry rock go sleep sleep with grog. It on wall pictures." Grat says.
"Were there pictures on the walls?" Elise asks aloud, not quite sure.
"I guess we missed the decorations while trying not to get eaten," Hadrian grunts.
"Guys! This is great!" You say, standing up quickly and then regretting this instantly as you crumple down, nursing your wounds. You get another sympathetic and smelly pat from Grat. Then you continue on.
"We can use the last of the grog to get the roper drunk. Then we'll get the key, turn the final lock and that should let us pass!"
Grat bobs his head swiftly, even clapping his paws together. "Yes yes! You soak something yummy in grog and hungry roper eat eat!"
"Um... about that," Hadrian says. "We sort've stuffed the roper full of ghoul meat. Now it's not eating anymore."
Grat's joy turns to melancholy. "You stuff stuff the hungry rock!? It not get hungry again for hours! Now we stuck foreverrrr!"
You all look down, at a loss, until mercifully, Grat gives a start and says "Unless..."
You all look expectantly to him. He fidgets, his paws rubbing over one another, nervously as his eyes leap frog from you, to Elise, and then back again to you.
"Out with it!" Hadrian says, stepping forward. "We don't have much time left!"
Grat flinches and huddles forward in your direction. You need to lean away or gag on his stench.
"Hungry rocks have different kind of hunger!" Grat says, wincing. "Maybe you feed feed that, it give you chance to splash grog on rock."
"What do you mean, different kind of hunger?" Elise asks, although as she says it, it seems she stumbles upon some possible meaning, and her expression sours notably.
"Hungry rocks live in cave near bogs. Bogs where Ironscale Clan of kobold live. Protecting dragon eggs! We stay away from hungry rocks, but we watch. They living things, but make more rocks by placing smaller squishy rocks inside other things," Grat says, keeping his eyes on the floor, clearly knowing that what he's suggesting will not be looked upon as a great idea. "Hungry rock senses for females when it full from eat eat. It grab female, find good spot for squishy rock, then it..."
"NO." Hadrian interrupts him. "Not happening. Not an option."
He draws his longsword and looks to you. "I've heard enough. There's only one way through the roper, and that's to hew apart its rocky hide. You're hurt, I don't want you near that thing. Stay here, me an Elise will kill the beast."
"It could be suicide," Elise says. "The roper is a creature evolved to have a perfect defense in its own environment. If we try to solve this puzzle by brute force alone, we are doomed to suffer."
Grat grabs his head and slaps it a bit. "Maybe... maybe we all climb Grat's pile? You stand on top each other... and Grat maybe can reach new level?"
"Pfeh," mutters Hadrian. "Even if it would hold our weight and even if in our current condition we didn't fall down and break our necks, there's no way I'm trusting a half starved, half mad kobold to come back for me in a place like this."
Grat hisses at the knight, earning a hard stare which makes the creature retreat to the other side of you, obviously seeing you as the most sympathetic human ear in the group.
Seeing that the group is starting to waver on the next course of action, you decide to speak up and say what you want to do:
Choose one:
1) Grat has the grog. While you might not want to necessarily deliver it in the method he suggested, you could try tossing the barrel into the thing's mouth. Maybe it'll chew down on it and you'll get the result you want. One thing to note... removing that barrel will probably collapse Grat's tower in a permanent way.
2) Grat has the grog and a legitimate plan, even if it isn't the most desirable. If you're no good as a swordarm (yet), then maybe you should just offer yourself up as bait. You figure you could probably get the grog into its gullet before it really gets the worst of its 'squishiness' into you...
3) Like #2, only suggest that Elise take your place. It's her temple, her stupid cult's puzzles, and she's in better condition than you are. You'd owe her one. Okay technically you'd probably owe her two. Maybe more if she gets preggers with a rock baby. Oh heck, point is, she'll get mad at you if you suggest this, but maybe she'll see the need.
4) No. No no no no. You are NOT letting that tentacled stalagmite anywhere near your hoo-hah just to get it drunk. You're tired and out of ideas. Let Hadrian do his knight thing. He probably won't die and doom you to a slow death down here. Maybe.
5) You're not going to sit this out. Grit your teeth and get on your own two feet missy! If Hadrian and Elise are going back into battle, you will too! The grog stuff is too complex. One last charge of the light brigade and so on and so forth. Ugh, your ribs and boobs REALLY hurt though...
6) Hadrian might not trust the kobold, but maybe you've managed to find the one kobold with the heart of gold. And the strength and cleverness to find a way to get you guys help once you help him out of there. It'll take all of you climbing to the top of the wooden pile and standing on one another just to give him the height he needs to scramble up to the window in the ceiling above. It would be a dangerous climb in your condition and you'd easily leave yourself no time to finish the clock quest before the hour is up, but it would bypass all that squishy rock business...
7) Some other idea or variation. (Suggest one.)
1) Grat has the grog. While you might not want to necessarily deliver it in the method he suggested, you could try tossing the barrel into the thing's mouth. Maybe it'll chew down on it and you'll get the result you want. One thing to note... removing that barrel will probably collapse Grat's tower in a permanent way.
2) Grat has the grog and a legitimate plan, even if it isn't the most desirable. If you're no good as a swordarm (yet), then maybe you should just offer yourself up as bait. You figure you could probably get the grog into its gullet before it really gets the worst of its 'squishiness' into you...
3) Like #2, only suggest that Elise take your place. It's her temple, her stupid cult's puzzles, and she's in better condition than you are. You'd owe her one. Okay technically you'd probably owe her two. Maybe more if she gets preggers with a rock baby. Oh heck, point is, she'll get mad at you if you suggest this, but maybe she'll see the need.
4) No. No no no no. You are NOT letting that tentacled stalagmite anywhere near your hoo-hah just to get it drunk. You're tired and out of ideas. Let Hadrian do his knight thing. He probably won't die and doom you to a slow death down here. Maybe.
5) You're not going to sit this out. Grit your teeth and get on your own two feet missy! If Hadrian and Elise are going back into battle, you will too! The grog stuff is too complex. One last charge of the light brigade and so on and so forth. Ugh, your ribs and boobs REALLY hurt though...
6) Hadrian might not trust the kobold, but maybe you've managed to find the one kobold with the heart of gold. And the strength and cleverness to find a way to get you guys help once you help him out of there. It'll take all of you climbing to the top of the wooden pile and standing on one another just to give him the height he needs to scramble up to the window in the ceiling above. It would be a dangerous climb in your condition and you'd easily leave yourself no time to finish the clock quest before the hour is up, but it would bypass all that squishy rock business...
7) Some other idea or variation. (Suggest one.)