Final F-ant-asy: Lion Edition Part 3

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Log Info

  • Title: Final F-ant-asy: Lion Edition Part 3
  • Emitter: Patch
  • Characters: Andelena, Eztli, Magpie, Slixvah
  • Place: Northeastern Farms
  • Time: October 20th, 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. 
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=


One tunnel had collapsed, and one remains as the party makes their way back down the tunnel they had rescued Anya from. One of the three has been saved, and looking at the newly blocked passage, it could take hours to days to clear. Anya seems happy just to be near sentient species, her one missing boot doing little to slow her from following and sticking with the party.

The round room they now find themselves in is a bit cleaner than they had last seen, their ant-buddy they left behind piling corpses having finished his job. Though instead of catching up to the others, it just sits near the pile of dead, covered in ichor and grime. It smells acrid, a putrid scent that stinks the room marking a place to pile the deceased of the nest. It seems that being covered in such stuff has the ant confused as it just twitches antenna and watches the party as they enter.

As Magpie had entered, and the happy scent of whatever was left on her robe causes the ant to excitedly clop, and begin to rush down the remaining passage. (There. XD)

"You doing okay, sweetheart?" Andelena asks as she looks down at Anya. The Sunguard may be tall and imposing most of the time, but it seems like she's rather taken with the little lady... and the little lady is a bit taken with her. Steel-grey eyes normally filled with judgment for lacking and unimpressive individuals are instead filled with warmth. Sure, it's a weird ant and ant-lion-laden place, but she's going to make sure that the kiddo is fine before anything else.

"Hi~!" Magpie calls after the lone worker, waving a greeting. "...Really wish I could talk to ants... Okay so. They took your parents down the other tunnel, right? So we're headed in the right direction." The pile of dead gets a sad look and a wrinkled nose.

"I hope he's going ahead to say we're friends. That'd be *really* nice."

Slixvah rolls her shoulders, the bird lady pulling out a dagger and giving it a flip. With Andie warded and Eztli's Tapestry twisted to weal, the witch looks confident. "Yeah, if you need some healin' lil one, lemme know, it's free," she inquires before looking down the tunnel. "Ant friends sound nice. Make this loads easier."

"I'm okay, just worried." Anya says to Andelena, looking to the members of the party each in turn. "I don't know which way they got draggeded off too." her tone dropping as they didn't have the advantage of light when being pulled into the dark tunnels. "I just wish I hadn't lost my boot.... I liked that boot. My new daddy bought it for me." that problem suddenly causing her eyes to well up with tears. "They'll be okay, yeah?" oh no, /that/ question. Something many adventurer's fear.

As for the ant that left? It can be heard skittering down the hall, until it can't be heard anymore. Though it doesn't just fade away from distance, it suddenly ceases. At least it allows the quiet to prevail in the tunnel once again. That's good, right?

"We need to keep moving, that's all." Eztli sighs when she's able to catch her breath at the crossroads. "I understand you're worried, but worry won't do much at the moment, all you can do is keep moving forward. And the sooner we're on our way, the better things can stand to be."

"Do we send someone back up to the entrance with Anya? If something's down there, but I don't know if we have the time. One of the tunnels collapsed already."

That gets Andelena to take a knee and look Anya in the eyes, smiling benevolently at the little lady in one of the few ways that gets the Sunguard to look like this in front of /anyone/. "Anya, you can't think about that right now," she says. "You know why that is? Adventurers have to deal with rescuing people they love all the time. That fear can lock us up and prevent us from doing what has to be done. You're our assistant right now, so that kind of makes you an adventurer's assistant--and that means none of us can think about the idea of it right now. We have to be brave for your parents' sake."

She gives Anya a hug, because clearly, she needs it right now. "Okay? Please, Adventurer Anya, we /really/ need your help."

"Besides," Magpie pipes up, "it's not *as* bad as it could be! If the ants were keeping you safe, they're probably keeping *them* safe too! Which means we have a little more time, but we gotta hurry. Okay, Assistant Anya? It's okay to ask for uppies if you can't run fast, I do it all the time."

Slixvah inhales, readying to assuage the girl, but the sun guard does it for them anyways. "Yeah, Mags is right. But like Ez said, we gotta get movin'. We gots a rope situated ta easy climb out at that entrance"

Anya the Assistant Adventurer. Oh, those magical words cause a sudden sparkle in the small girl's eyes. "Okay!" she says with firm words and a bobbing head. "Anya will be brave." she affirms, laughing to Magpie's words. It seems that the seriousness of the situation isn't lost on her, but she's going to try and do as the adventurer's say. After all, they do seem to believe in her.

As for the passage, a rumble can be felt coming from its direction, some sounds of shifting earth and rock following it. Whatever is going on, it's clear the small ant didn't cause that. Not by itself.

As the party goes down the last open tunnel, it widens, being able to accommodate two of the members side by side. It's not long before the Party catches up to the ant, but it is not darkness that awaits them, but beams of sunlight that show a ghastly scene. The earth and rock ceiling before them has began to collapse, another pit trap of sand easily recognizable by the party, a trap that they can fully see. A battle of ant and antlion rages before them in the trap below. An ant queen stuck in the pit, and fighting what is an overly-large antlion, one with WINGS! The remains of ants, and another antlion lay in the pit bellow, the battle having been raging a while. It's easy to see that bits of the rock from the collapsed ceiling having fallen into the pit, giving footing and places for movement, but leading dangerously close to the kaiju bug battle.

Across the way the party can see two humanoids huddled together, one of which seems to be unconscious in the lap of another. A stinger protruding from their chest.

"Sugarcookies," Andelena mutters quietly to herself as she beholds the scene. The two humanoids in her back get her immediate concern, judging by the widening of her eyes. She turns back to the rest of the group. "Okay. What's our plan here? I don't like the look of that battle between Ugly-Wings and Ant-Queen over there."

Slixvah ducks low as they sally forth, her twirling the dagger between her fingers as a nervous tick. There was.. a sound? Of... fighting? Then, sunlight!

She blinks. "Oh... tie my shoes and call me a lint licker," she curses. "Das a full adult antlion. Lacewing terror. Adults have wings! We can't let it stay 'round else it'll get out and cause heck!"

Her acute bird senses peer across the way... ".. poor sod is stung by an ant. Posion..."

What's the plan? Slix thinks. This her is forte. Come on... come on... Ah! She snaps her fingers. "Aight, I can take care of the peeps back there. Stop the poison and stuff. Ya'll help tha queen out and get rid of that thing," she mentions, walking over to Magpie and rubbing the scent on her wings, then her feathers smear it on everyone else. Her hands alight with sickly green, and they place themselves on the wall. "Oblrste em," she intones. Energy saps the rock, and turns to a pocket of dust as energy suffuses her body with a shudder. "Ya'll got it?" 

GAME: Slixvah casts False Life. Caster Level: 5 DC: 17
GAME: Slixvah rolls 1d10+witch: (6)+5: 11

"Let me let 'em know you're coming," Magpie says. "And the *moment* you can move the wounded, get 'em over here with their girl. Then we'll be free to kick these stupid antlions into next week."

Is she putting on a braver face than normal? Probably. Gotta look cool for the kids, after all!"

A thought occurs to her, and she blinks, turning to take Anya's hands. "Assistant Adventurer Anya, I got a *real important job for you,* okay? I need you to watch that monster bug down there," she says, pointing at the antlion, "and yell out if it turns away from the ant. I don't know where it'd go, but there's a lot out there that probably can't hold up like the queen can, okay? Counting on you."

With that, she brushes down her dusty robes, and looks *hard* at the humanoids across the way, lips moving in a faint whisper as she brings one finger to her lips, then points it at the sitting one.

Who, a moment later, hears the gnome's voice in their ear. "We're adventurers, and we're coming to help! Your daughter's safe with us!" 

GAME: Magpie casts Message. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14

Eztli was pulling up the read of the group, for some time until she is able to take a look further in.

"Well, sounds like we don't have much of a choice but to fight it, right? If we leave it it'll just cause more trouble." The small makari sighs, only to blink and shrug. "I'll take it you had a reason for that, so, we make a big distraction for them? You okay with being a big distraction, Andelena? Please just, no comments this time, especially around the children." 

GAME: Eztli casts Enlarge Person. Caster Level: 5 DC: 16

"Uh-huh!" Anya answers. "Anya's on the case!" eager to help, more so now that seems don't seem as dire as before. She's eager to help when the adventurer's are showing off and weaving magics. "Anya will show mama she can help. She'll be a good adventurer assistant!" her head bobbing as the others talk of a plan.

The ant queen has seen better days, one leg missing, and gashes are wrent into its side, causing a leakage of ichor. It seems she may not last much longer. Good thing the party is readying. 

<OOC> Magpie says, "Hopping onto Platform 1 as a move action, and casting Ray of Enfeeblement out of my ring at the antlion."
GAME: Magpie casts Grease. Caster Level: 4 DC: 15
GAME: Magpie rolls ranged+1: (17)+5+1: 23
GAME: Patch rolls 1d20+11: (3)+11: 14
GAME: Magpie rolls 1d6+2: (6)+2: 8

"Okaylet'sGOOOO!" Magpie hollers, leaping from the mouth of the cave to the nearest platform and scuttling to its edge. Kissing a ring on her finger, she snatches motes of power out of the air, clenches it into her fist, then points her finger at the antlion. With a single, shouted nonsense word, a beam of seething black-orange energy stabs from her finger, striking the monster's back and sapping away a *large* fraction of its strength.

"KICK ITS BUTT, YOUR HIGHNESS!" 

GAME: Eztli rolls ranged+1: (15)+5+1: 21
GAME: Eztli rolls 4d6+4: (11)+4: 15
GAME: Eztli casts Scorching Ray. Caster Level: 5 DC: 17

Eztli finishes the spell she was working on, and gestures one hand towards the cleric, who suddenly grows in size to take up most of the tunnel entrance where they came from. "Alright, now we need to keep moving!" She shouts back before hopping over to where Magpie was situated, already conjuring a flaming lance next to her hand. With a flick of their wrist it darts down past the giant ant, scorching the carapace of the antlion. "Just hold on and, am I trying to reassure an Ant?" She half calls out, half asks herself. 

GAME: Slixvah rolls healing hex: aliased to 2d8+witch: (13)+5: 18 (Healing to Ant queen)

Slixvah counts in her head as the others charge forth to play hero, her dagger tapping against the stone with an increasing vibrato. "And a one. And a one two three. KICK IT!"

She sprints out, wings snapping out to the sides just as Andelena gets doubled in size. Feathers and ribbons trail along behind her in a fluttering rainbow. Elongated feathers suffuse with a white glow, Slix doing a single barrel roll to the side to slap them across the Queen, restoring her vitality. "Get their butt!" she grins to the bug before looking over to the two humans in the corner. "OI! I'M A HEALER! GET READY FOR ME TA LAND!" she shouts over to them. 

GAME: Patch rolls 1d20+8: (4)+8: 12

The Lacewing goes after he newly healed Queen, but thanks to Magpie's weakening, and Eztli's fire.... it's lost its groove. It's no Stella, so the miss seems to infuriate it, clacking it's jaws and flapping wings as bug eyes take in the adventurers. Hiss. 

GAME: Patch rolls 1d20+6: (11)+6: 17

Oh, the Kaiju battle of Ant vs Antlion is fairly unevenly matched. It took a lot of magics to weaken the Lacewing, but even still the Ant Queen can't seem to get a bite in. At least she's healthy! 

GAME: Andelena rolls weapon7+1-1: (18)+7+1+-1: 25
GAME: Andelena rolls damage7+2: aliased to 2d6+6+2: (11)+6+2: 19

There is a giant woman in the chamber. Augmented by magic and enabled by the power of her own blessing, Andelena the Giant of Selentia steps forward. "Watch and learn, Anya!" she declares. Nothing can possibly hurt her. Everything is riding on turning this nightmare of a day for the little girl into something much better to remember.

Which is why the large Sunguard brings down her longsword on the antlion /hard/, scoring a severe strike into its chitin. She grins as she watches it squirm and squeal beneath her steel. "Not so high and mighty now you've got two big women wailing on you," she jeers. 

GAME: Magpie casts Shatter. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16
GAME: Patch rolls 1d20+6: (1)+6: 7 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Patch rolls 6d6: (27): 27

"Oh that's a nice one," Magpie says absently to Eztli as a lance of fire does much more *visible* damage to the creature. "I want... Okay. Okay. Head in the game," she says, clapping her palms on her cheeks a few times and shaking her head. When done, her eyes have fallen on a pillar of rock opposite their platform, and a grin lights up the gnome's whole face. "Got it!"

Deep breath in once, twice, thrice, somehow managing to *breathe* ambient magic in a way that is much more visible than normal, she cups her hands on either side of her mouth, and *yells* the Killing Word at the base of the rock pillar.

Which crumbles into rubble, causing the rest of the platform to follow and deliver *satisfying* pain to the interloper. 

GAME: Eztli casts Scorching Ray. Caster Level: 5 DC: 17
GAME: Eztli rolls ranged +2: (12)+5+2: 19
GAME: Eztli rolls 4d6+4+1: (16)+4+1: 21


"It's only nice if it actually gets the job done." The small makari huffs, bringing one arm up to block the worst of the stone dust from the shattering stone pillar. "Once that thing's gone, we're getting Anya's parents out of here."

Eztli brings her hand back around, conjuring another flaming spear, and sending it straight to and around the antlion, searing away more of the exoskeleton.

GAME: Slixvah casts Delay Poison. Caster Level: 5 DC: 17

Slixvah looks over her shoulder, her twisting her wings to swoop up into an apex as she pumps a fist. "Heck yeah, LAY IT ON 'EM!" she cheers on before tipping upside down and gliding the rest of the way over. "Comin' in hot!"

The witch's talons glide across the stone with a scrape, carving gouges in their wake. "Hi! Hello! Sorry for the spooky stuff, I gotta fix!" She twists on the spot and flares her wings out, feathers elongating until they all come to a center point way above her head. "EASEC HTE OLWF FO IURNTINO! There's a pulse of verdant invirgoration that travels all the way up her wings, and then the feathers blend together to jab down into the man's arm. The stinger's effects have been muted. 

GAME: Patch rolls 1d20+8: (3)+8: 11
GAME: Patch rolls 1d20+6: (12)+6: 18

The Lacewing is furious, roaring in its insect way, spitting some goo in its rage. As it attacks Andelena, it ignores the ant Queen, missing as it's mouth only grabs bits of earth and rock.

The Ant Queen takes its chance, attacking, but missing its bite. For all the struggle, it seems the armor of the Lacewing is too much alone for the ant, but its good she has backup. 

GAME: Andelena rolls weapon7+1-1: (14)+7+1+-1: 21
GAME: Andelena rolls damage7+2: aliased to 2d6+6+2: (8)+6+2: 16

The titian-haired titan has to finish it. There's a man dying over yonder, whose life Slixvah has just saved. Magpie and Eztli behind her are using their magics creatively and to good effect, shattering platforms and scorching the antlion.

But for a second in time, there's a look on Andelena's face. A look of realization--followed by a grin. "For ANYA!" she bellows--

The longsword goes down. The chitinous armor is torn open. Viscera follows... and the antlion falls limp, broken and battered at the Sunguard's feet.

The whole ordeal had been watched by Anya, eyes sparking as the Adventurer's make such a scare thing look like a summer's walk. "Woah!" she says, left almost speechless by Andelena and the others. She'd never seen magic or a battle of blades, but today she got so see both.

The parents are alive and well, Slixvah's magic having staved off the progression of the ant's sting. Why they stung him still isn't known, but now that the threat is dead, the Queen Ant chirps, an inhuman sound coming from her abdomen as she rubs chitin together to summon her kin. Yes, they have no need to mess with the adventurers. Weak, battered, cold, and decimated... the colony also somehow survived.

Above the party, shouts can be heard. It's Edgar, the villager. "Hey, another hole opened up over here!" they can here him call from above. That is, until his head peaks over the ledge of the collapsed ceiling of rock. "Holy shit, what happened down there?!" suddenly seeing the adventurers, and family. "Are those ants?!"

"HEEEEEEEY EDGAR!" Magpie calls, waving her arms. "YEAH UH, THEY ACTUALLY KEPT THE GIRL SAFE. SO THEY'RE PROBABLY GOOD NEIGHBORS?" Following that with a shrug, she looks across the way at Slixvah, pursing her lips. "Wonder why he got stung though... Have to ask when we're back home."

"LANGUAGE!" Andelena yells up at Edgar, chastising him. Once that's done, however, she walks over to Anya, towering over 12 feet tall... And kneels down. She scoops up the little lady onto her shoulders and stands up, allowing Anya to have /the/ tallest piggy-back ride of her life.

"See, Anya? You can do a lot of really cool stuff," the Sunguard says. "You just have to be brave, believe in yourself, believe in your allies, and do the right thing. Maybe I'll see you at the Temple of Daeus in Alexandria one day if you want to be a Sunguard like me."

There is never a bad time for youth outreach. Meanwhile, Andelena keeps a cautious eye over on the general area of Anya's parents. She doesn't want little Anya to see them if they're bloodied. No kid should see that.

With the antlion falling still, the small makari sighs, and wipes away the dust from her face. "There. Now we can say that it was a nice one." Eztli huffs, peering over at the body, before looking over to the other edge of the cavern. "Yeah, everything's alright over here!" She shouts back up. "Don't come down, but we need your help over at the other entrance."

Slix has the stock of a crossbow half pulled out from behind her robes as she witnesses the might of Daeus slam into the antlion. She punches the air. "Now THAT'S what I'm TALKIN' 'BOUT! Good job girls!" the eglarin cheers.

She puts the weapons away, hands on her hips as she stretches out her back, her looking up to the hole but letting the others talk to Edgar. "Wew. Aight. Clean up." An about face to the ma and pa. "Heeey. Ya girlie is safe no worries! If it's all cool and kosher, sweeties, I'm just gonna.. take some of tha boo boos away..."

The elongated, ribbon like feathers glow a familiar looking white hue as the break into strands, each wing-full wafting towards each parent.

Servere wounds become minor. And minor just superficial. It feels weird. But... not dead! 

GAME: Slixvah rolls healing hex: aliased to 2d8+witch: (11)+5: 16
GAME: Slixvah rolls healing hex: aliased to 2d8+witch: (9)+5: 14

The mother is excited at the news of Anya, shaking her new husband a bit after the healing, and slowing of his poison. "You hear that, Torgid? They found Anya first." a relief there, a hand taken and squeezed by the man, as he looks to Slixvah. "Thank you." he gets out, trying to stand as they prepare to try and leave the cavern.

Edgar nods to Eztli, his smile broad. "Alright, I'll go get more rope!" and he's gone. Though he can be heard clearly calling out to the others. "Valial! They're safe!"

As for Anya, she's standing from where she'd been hiding to watch the battle, the small ant next to her having kept her company. At least until the queen made her noise, and he jumps down into the pit after her. The other ants begin to throw debris downward at the Queen, slowly creating enough friction and grip for her to clamber out of the sand trap. Well, if an hour or so. It's slow progress.

As Anya is hoisted and taken up by Andelena, she's still star-struck by the large woman, her head bobbing as she listens, and clings on that once-in-a-lifetime piggyback. "You guys are so strong! I... did you even get hurt?" she has to ask, the Party having been the peak of professionalism in her eyes. "And the Makari helped you grow so big and strong! Anya wants to be like that." well, the strong part. Anya's not very tall, even for her age group.

Dropping to her knees, Magpie waves over the side at the reduced, but still surviving colony. "Thank you!" she calls, waving at the monarch and her brood, before pushing back up to her feet and chuckling at Anya's chatter. "No, but we were *really* lucky this time. The ants did most of the fighting, and kept your parents safe to boot. Speaking of, um... Hey Slix, you gonna need some help getting them across? Cos it's not *much* of a gap between rocks, but the sand pit's a doozy."

Truly, this was a *shockingly* painless job, and the gnome proves it by regaling Anya with the horrors of Alexandria's waterways. Y'know, for kids!

"No pain, no scratches, nothing," Andelena reassures Anya. "Like Magpie said, though, we were lucky. And we were super lucky to find you and get your help, adventurer assistant!"

The Sunguard is more than happy to keep Anya delighted. She makes sure that Magpie's scary stories aren't /too/ scary. It turns out that the scary Sunguard really does turn into a gentle mama bear when kids are around.

"The magic isn't permanent, so miss Andelena will go back to normal in a bit." Eztli states as she moves back off the pillar and away from the pit. "Alright, we'll meet you over there!"

"Though, once everyone is out of here, what do you all think? Should we go back for the other one? If it's just going to turn into that and cause more problems in the future, I don't know if we should leave it be. I don't know if those ants are going to be able to deal with it on their own."

Slixvah sighs in relief as the parents are safe, her feathers assisting them up. "'ey, sugar," she intones to Torgid. "Tha' magics I used ain't gonna get rid of tha' poison. Just pauses it. So I gots'ta take care of ya once we gets out, yeah?"

She looks over her shoulder to Magpie. "I uh, I can give a lil' hand with hoppin' ova these, but that'd be tha' lost my strongman ace, ya dig? Side's, gonna get people pullin' 'em out soon, so its all a matter of time."

She fusses with helping the parents out of their hiding spot.

To Eztli, she opines, "It'll starve itself out, shug. It spent all that energy gettin' nothin'. And tha' colony of ants is seems like it's gonna check out. So... yeah. I'd rather come back betta equipped fo' underground stuff. We saved tha' folk, we done here."

But she can't help but wonder: that went smooth. Real smooth. Luck was on their side, and she didn't even had to bend it all too much.

It doesn't take long for the party to clear the small dangers, and help the family out of the trap. There were no worms, just ants, and antlions, none of those native to this region. Why they're here is still a mystery, but the mission at hand is finished. The three were saved, and the party even managed to intervene when Turgid was poisoned, delaying its effects with magic.

Eztli does bring up a good point, Anya latching on to it. "The ants aren't safe?" her tone a bit dour at that realization, but to Slixvah's words she is just left bobbing her head. "Good, I hope that thing starves." she states with a huff, clinging tighter to Andelena as the adventurer's help her parents to the tunnels, squeeing when she sees them. Enough so that she bounces to be let down to join them. Regardless it doesn't take long to get to the original entrance, ropes and people waiting to help with extraction. At least the immediate danger to citizens is over. That at least seems to leave the Guild Representative at ease. Valial seems rather happy no deaths are to be recorded. 

-End Scene-

Combatty

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

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

Third Map: https://www.mipui.net/app/index.html?mid=mobkwvrqcwc

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