Final F-ant-asy: Lion Edition Part 2

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Log Info

  • Title: Final F-ant-asy: Lion Edition Part 2
  • Emitter: Patch
  • Characters: Andelena, Eztli, Magpie, Slixvah
  • Place: Northeastern Farms
  • Time: October 18th, 2022
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=    The Players    =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Andelena           6'0"     180 Lb     Human             Female    
    Redhead with steel-grey eyes and powerful build.                           
Eztli              4'6"     140 Lb     Sith-Makar        Female    
    A two-toned, short sith-makar.
Magpie             3'4"     36 Lb      Gnome             Female    
    A blond gnome woman wearing a motley of                       
Slixvah            5'8"     130 Lb     Eaglefolk         Female    
    A rust red/white Egalrin covered in veils, ribbons, and shawls.     
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  As the GM  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Patch              4'8"     100 Lb     Dawn Elf          Female    
    A blond Llyranesi with a port-wine stained face. 
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=


Last Time:

Magpie's eyes are the size of dinnerplates as she sails upward, utterly lacking in any motive force to keep her going in that direction. This is a problem. (Note to self: Study magical flight. ... ..... Conditionally, if I survive this anyway.) Then she feels her upward momentum begin to trail off, and in that sick moment before freefall, she clenches the fist bearing the ring, and mentally nudges it to life.

There's a point where she knows she can't help but land on the ledge, and it's at that moment that Magpie begins to loose long, hysterical laughter. "AHAHAHAHAHA OH THANK THE GODS I'M NOT GONNA DIE. HANG ON, ANYA, ADVENTURERS ARE COMING FOR YOU!"

The ants near Magpie are not happy, they chitter and stare after the gnome from the dark corners of this chamber. The girl is deep within, barely seen by the gnome's lowlight vision. The ants haven't harmed her too much. She's been roughed up and dragged about, but she hasn't been stung, or eaten. The ants don't move to attack Magpie, perplexed and unsure as the woman's presence alone doesn't seem to spark their ire. Instead, three more large ants are noticed, along with several workers trying to clear through rock and hardened earth before the pit can consume them. Sadly, the party already knows this is an act in vain.

"Adventurers?! Thank the gods!" the girl's excitement jarring the ants more. "Where is my mother, have you found my new dad?"

Currently:

The party has determined there is a little under 08:00 minutes left before they will be forced to fight the antlion that sits below them. The ants that are stuck between the party and the child are not attacking, but neither do they look too friendly to Magpie's eyes. There is a path, one that carries her closer to the ants and the child, no fighting, not yet. The rest of the party sits peering on the ledge behind Magpie at 20-25 ft. The logistics are a mess, but at least from the new area Slixvah has enough room to launch, and fly properly. 

GAME: Andelena casts Bless. Caster Level: 5 DC: 14

This is a time of precarious measures. A time for calling on gods for blessings. The Sunguard Andelena might not have much to offer in terms of climbing or doing death-defying stunts, but what she does have to offer is faith.

"Oh for fuck's sake," she mutters, offering profanity first before blessings in that classic Andie attitude of hers. She grips her pendant of Daeus that hangs from her neck. "Shining Knight, give us your blessing to succeed in saving the girl and delivering judgment onto any creature of evil that we may encounter," she intones.

And the blessing is... heard. And received. Magpie, Slixvah, Eztli, and herself are all marked with a soft holy glow.

"Uh... no, actually you're the first one we've found," Magpie admits, turning to the wall and jabbing the dagger she was given into the packed earth as hard as she can... then following up with a goof few firm taps with her own weapon. "Okay!" che calls across the pit, as the light of Daeus gives her a gentle hug. "Just a second..."

The roped is looped over the pommel and quillions of the dagger, less 'tied off' than 'tangled hopefully enough' and ended with a quick thread of the rope through a wide enough loop. "Pretty sure I got it, c'mon over everyone! Watch the ants, they look pretty spooked!" 

GAME: Slixvah rolls fly: (18)+8: 26

Slixvah shakes off the warm fuzzy feeling from the Knight as she takes a step back. "I'll head on over and scoop ya cuties up like last time!" she chirps before running forward and flaring her wings out. A leap. Ribbons flutter. And she sails over to the other side as she lands with a scrape of talon. Feathers unfurl to help anyone across. "Hmm. Do we need all of us over? We just gotta get girly out and get the heck out, right?"

"You got the girl? Alright then, make it quick, just make sure she's secure!" Eztli calls over. "We'll make sure the way back is clear, but the sooner we go the safer the path back will be."

"I don't know how much longer before these ledges are all cleared out by that thing." The small makari huffs.

"They got dragged down another tunnel!" Anya calls to the party, standing with only one boot on, and shuffling slightly towards the voices. With the anchoring of rope, the ants mandibles clack together, making a chittering noise as they slowly begin to move away, clearing a path for the would-be rescuers.

In the meantime, Andelena draws her blade. She chooses to remain behind for the moment with Eztli. "Just chill," she tells the pint-size sorceress. "I won't let anything get us back here, and the Knight's blessing is with all of us. We'll be fine." She's firm on that.

With the ants backing off, Magpie darts toward Anya, keeping visibly clear of the ants and their workers. "C'mon c'mon c'mon then," she says, reaching out for the girl's hand. If taken, the sorceress guides her toward Slixvah. "Get her out first," Magpie says, eyes more serious than usual. "We've still got her parents to find yet, and I can take the rope."

Slixvah shoots a finger gun over towards the others as they decide to stay put. "Good call, good call," she coos to them before her attention slips over to the gnome and the girl. She reaches out for her, grabbing the guiding rope they've been using and tying it around her. "Aight, listen up sugar, we're gonna fly ya back over, aight?" she chirps warmly, some of the feathers reaching forth to slowly wrap around her. "I gotcha." 

GAME: Slixvah rolls fly: (16)+8: 24

The egalrin holds the girl close, a surprising strength in those feathers. Another running jump, wings flare, beat once, then they land in the halfway point. "Haha!" she grins cheerfully. Do birds sweat? No. But she's good a concealing her nerves as she lets the girl down for the next leg of the journey.

She also slides the safety rope back down towards Magpie.

With Slixvah having been able to help move the girl across the longer gap, it seems the party was lucky one of their ranks could fly and make it easier. Anya looks a little bit stunned, having clung overly long to Slixvah even after they are safe. "What about the ants?" the girl suddenly asks, a glance shot back towards the ledge where Magpie remains. 

GAME: Andelena rolls Heal: (11)+8: 19

"Ants are fine, I think?" Andelena calls out. "Unless you think maybe they know where your parents are?"

She has a look on her face after that that suggests, 'How the fuck did I suggest that with a straight mouth?' But this is the reality that the Sunguard occupies now. "I dunno. Let me take a look at you and make sure you're okay, sweetie." The steel-gray eyes sweep over Anya for a moment, the tall woman kneeling to meet Anya at eye-level.

Then she offers the little girl a smile and a pat on the head. "Aww, you're okay. You're a little bruised, but that's it. C'mere and gimme a hug if you want one." There's the compassion part of the Sunguard coming through.

"Good, good, it's alright here, we're getting out of this place." Eztli responds when the girl is set down. "The ants, well, I'm going to be honest. We'll do what we can, but your safety comes first. Either they get through where they're tunneling, or we can signal to them to use the rope bridges back the way we came." She offers, keeping things a bit blunt, but reasonable. "I'm not sure which is the better idea, to be honest." 

GAME: Magpie casts Shatter. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16

Look at rope... Look at ants. Look at rope... look at ants.

Then Anya speaks up, and Magpie visibly winces. "...I'll be right there!" the gnome calls over the chasm. "Gimme *one* minute, and if I can't clear their way, I can have helped em!" And thus, she turns, toddling double-time toward the blockage and waiting for a point where both workers are away from the rubble. "I hope this helps at *all,*" she murmurs, placing her hands against the pile. This time, rather than gathering the magic from the air, she sucks in a long, deep breath, drawing in wavering motes of silver-bluish light, lifts her palms so just the tips of her fingers are touching the fallen scree, then slams her palms back down, shouting a single eldritch, untranslatable Word of Power:

"MUAD'DIB!"

That spell of Magpie's does aid the ants digging through rock. It is not enough for the larger ants, but the smaller workers are suddenly working faster, a hole emerging for them as they begin to kick up earth and fight harder to survive. While not enough to save them all immediately, there is some hope of escape.

"Are they that smart?" Anya asks of Andelena in awe, the woman's touch and appraisal, giving the woman her hug. "The ants saved us, that's all I know. The big one got hurt real bad pulling us out of the sand hole." her words showing a bit of her reasoning. "Those bullies won't leave them alone." this being a child's perception of events. Though she did give them one bit of news they didn't have before. She said bullies. Plural.

Slixvah pats the girl atop the head. "Ah, well, ya see sugar, ants are really good diggers! I'm sure they'll get their way out in no ti-" she starts to lie.

Boom!

"... what the cluck was that," she mentions deadpan, leaning out some to try and see past to Magpie. A sigh leaves her, and she shakes her head. An eye reads the girl before she inquires, "Bullies? Like, mo of that thing down in the pit?"

She ushers the group to get her ready for the next obstacle.

"Aww, sh--sugar," Andelena says, correcting herself as she receives a hug from Anya and will definitely never be accused of poisoning such a precious child's mind with awful, awful words. "If there's more of them, then yeah, we gotta split like it's Ceriday." A Ceriday Split, that is. 

GAME: Magpie casts Shatter. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16

"THAT THE CLUCK WAS ME," Magpie says at what is totally actually a conversational level. She might be feeling the aftereffects of standing face-first against an explosion of sonic energy, but there's no vertigo!

Yet.

"GIMME A SEC!" And boom goes the magidynamite once more, and the gnome wheels, running on much more unsteady feet and snatching up the guide-rope. "OKAY I'M COMING! AND WHOEVER'S SINGING, COULD YOU LIKE, TAKE A BREATH? AND MAYBE SING A DIFFERENT NOTE?!"

There is about six minutes left, but Magpie found a solution! It's odd, but as she's trying to get ready and make her climb, she finds a tug come against her robes. One of the smaller ants is now at her side, the others making their escape. It chews on the fabric, some ichor and gunk staining the fabric with a sweet odor as it's inhuman eyes regard the woman. Food? Friend? Weapon? The party will never know what thoughts reside there, because after the small woman has that scent, the ant scurries to catchup to the others. Perhaps a form of thanks?

"What does she mean singing? I don't hear singing." Anya says, Andelena being the form she chooses to hide behind for now, the inspection and semi-nice words that aren't curses seeming to be enough to earn some trust. Eztli gets a smile, but before she can speak to the woman, Slixvah's words cause her mind to seize on those things. "Yes, two. I saw them both when they tore up the road next to the fields."

"BUH?!" Turning and raising one arm to peer at the little ant, Magpie seems ill-inclined to do more than tap an impatient foot, until the ant stops 'chewing.' "Uh... You're welcome?!" she calls after the little guy, then turns back, wrapping the rope around her arms and moving quickly to rejoin her comrades. No time to think about what lies beneath her feet this time! There's people, and ants, to save! And if she smells like cake when she reaches the other side, *she's* not gonna explain it.

"Looks like, huh, guess she's helping them get through? Somehow, didn't know Magpie could do anything like that." Eztli offers, "Well, nice work! But we have to go, so if it's okay over there, lets get a move on!"

"Andy, you should go first, you're probably the strongest out of us, so, helping the rest of us over is best. That and, I don't know how long these walls are going to last. So getting you over when the ropes are their strongest is probably a good idea?"

"I think the singing is probably our friend Mapgie listening to the consequences of her own actions," Andelena explains carefully to Anya with a grin. "Anyway, sounds like I oughta go. You be good, okay?"

Anya gets another headpat from the Sunguard, who saunters up to the rope to climb after Magpie.

Slixvah remains by the side to scoop Magpie up in her feathery embrace once the gnome gets close enough. "C'mon ya lil' dynamite," she calls to Magpie. She looks over her shoulder to the girl. "Don't worry 'bout it! Singing in her head!"

Her sky blues squint. "... two antlions. Aight. Good ta know." 

GAME: Andelena rolls Athletics: (9)+1: 10
GAME: Andelena rolls Athletics: (15)+1: 16 (rpp reroll)
GAME: Magpie rolls athletics+2: (9)+-1+2: 10

"Hey thanks!" Magpie says as she finally clambers off Andelena's back, still raising her voice a bit and a drying trickle of red falling from one ear. "Well that was fun... Okay! So those ants are fine, and I think one of them was thanking me? Anyway let's get out of here and find your parents, Anya. If they're *protecting* you, that's pretty awesome and I'm glad we didn't pick fights we didn't need to."

Pausing, she blinks at Slixvah. "...Two?! Well--" eyes dart to Anya, then to the Egalrin. "--nutbutters."

"Yeah, don't sweat it," Andelena says as the gnome exits her ride on the Sunguard Express. "Just glad that we got out of there without having to deal with ant lion fu--funny guys." Damn, it is really hard to hold herself back. She has to look good in front of Anya.

"Okay. Two of them. We can do this. I'd prefer to carve 'em up open, but the priority is on finding parents." 

GAME: Slixvah casts Heroism. Caster Level: 5 DC: 18
GAME: Slixvah rolls fly: (5)+8: 13

"Two of them, maybe more? I thought antlions are usually pretty solo, but, I've never seen giant ants or antlions before. Just the little bitty ones you sometimes find near roads." Eztli huffs. "I'd like to deal with the antlions too, if they're going to cause more trouble later anyways, but not before everyone is safe."

"And, I need to make sure I'm safe, too. so once you're over, I'm not far behind." They chuckle, watching the crumbling ground and the others moving before her. 

GAME: Magpie rolls acrobatics+1: (19)+4+1: 24

Slixvah sighs in relief as Magpie makes it over, her rolling her wings as she takes up the rear. "Yeah. Two. Tall lady is right, we gotta find peeps first before we go smashin'."

She stops behind Eztli and puts her hands on her shoulders. "Listen here ya pint sized cutie, its just a rope. Ya got it. Ebleiv ni souyfler."

Her hands flash a pinkish tone, then suffuse through the mixed scaled makari.

Everything feels like it lines up, as it should be, as it will. We are playing with the Tapestry after all.

Riding high on the string of unvarnished successes (was she dangling for a bit off Andelena's back? Probably, but she'll remember that later.), Magpie bobs her head after Slixvah, grinning wide. "She's right, we *totally* got this!"

Suiting word to deed, she snatches up the guide rope, and does something she'd always wanted to do, ever since she read about it in a Crimson Pen book; she just hangs on to the rope and hops off the ledge, not-quite-running along the wall until the arc of her swing puts her just above the other side, where she lets go of the rope...

And tumble-rolls to safety, hopping back to her feet seconds later. "See! It's all good!" 

GAME: Eztli rolls athletics +2: (8)+0+2: 10
GAME: Andelena rolls Athletics: (12)+1: 13
GAME: Eztli rolls reflex +2: (16)+5+2: 23
GAME: Andelena rolls Reflex: (19)+2: 21

Once everyone has vacated the landing and the smaller tunnel is clear, Slixvah takes a breath and takes a few steps back... and rushes forward, jumping out once more! Wings supplement the extra distance. One curls in, turning a sharp bank to make it into the tight turn. "Phew!" she exudes after landing safe and sound. "Nice jump, Mags!"

She looks back. "Oh shittake mushrooms, I'm here, I'm here!" she calls out, feathers unraveling and reaching down as a lifeline to hoist up the girls.

"Is this what adventurers really do?" Anya asks, her dark eyes peering from over Andelena's shoulder. She just holds tight to the woman, and seems to fully be enjoying the rescue. "You even saved the ants, you guys are just awesome!" her glance then going down from where Andelena rests before the final climb towards the tunnel. "I'm surprised none of you fell all the way down." not having seen some of the party's blunders in the dark. Even when Andelena almost slipped, the girl didn't start or cry, she almost let out a yelp of excitement. Look, it's a story to tell the other farm kids. She's being saved by the cool guys. Stars in her eyes.

Andelena takes the aid, happily, as the jostling line resulting in her slipping. She gets up and sets Anya down now that the threat of danger is gone, patting down the little girl's hair. "Little bumpy, but we're okay, Anya," she informs the little lady with a grin on her face. "And yeah, adventurers do cool stuff like this all day. Nowwwww, let's go find your folks."

Magpie squeaks in alarm as Andelena and Eztli slip, dancing from foot to foot as Slixvah does what she could never; help pull them to safety. Darn noodle arms of hers...

But Anya's excited question brings a relieved smile to her face. "That's pretty much it! Help people when they can't sort it themselves, be brave for people who're scared... Just, like... remember, Anya, it also takes a *lot* of hard work, and for some people a lotta study."

I mean, not *her,* because sorceress, but... why pass up the opportunity to be a role model to the little troglodyte?

Alright, just one more rope bridge to traverse, should be simple enough right? That is what she would think, if she hadn't nearly fallen last time. And again she had to attempt to make her way back, holding tightly onto the rope. This time it wasn't loose rock though, but the rope itself spinning in her hands twists their grip to the point they have to let go and jump off to the other side of the chasm, clinging to the wall.

"Remind me to never try this again." The small makari grumbles as she's helped up. "At least everyone got across, though."

The party made it! They saved Anya! The girl is a thin pole of a sproutling, but eating up all the advice given to her in this dour circumstance. The party had made it, some rumbling coming from the pit below, the creature building it's nest complete and erupting from it's center. Sadly, no food was found, a warbling insect noise cast out into the darkness from the pit. A reminder that the Party did circumvent a major danger. Though the path now before them is known, and leads back towards the way they came. There are two options left, or, that is what the party believed until they reach the circular chamber. The central passage has collapsed in their absence, and their small friend is still dragging the remains of dead ants their way towards the tunnel they came from. It pauses and clacks mandibles at their return. It seems confused, that is, until it nears Magpie. Its antennas twitch wildly as the hairs on its exoskeleton flex and sweep the air about it's body. It likes the scent that has been left on the gnomish woman, skipping a step or two as it whirls and darts down the first passage. The only one that's left. 

-To be Continued...-

Combatty

First map: https://www.mipui.net/app/index.html?mid=m4isdlq7zcg

Second map: https://www.mipui.net/app/index.html?mid=m6gw9eg7fuo

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