He stood in the entrance to the cavern, his senses keen from being an assassin of the underdark. The air around wasn't quite correct for what it had been on many occasions when him and scouting parties had come out to secure the tunnels of enemies to the city. The city of Sshamath. He wore a hood with a face mask to keep the sound of his breath silent, keeping him more aware of his surroundings. With him, he had a powerful group. A druid, by the name of Hyga. Short and stalky, a small powerhouse. Delith, an archer with arcane magics of sorts at her command. Lilith of queller Oreb'le'i, a Yathin of Lloth, Jeromon Jr. A hired sword, Earth Genasi of servitude to a very powerful drow in Sshamath. Mort Danicen, another assassin, and long time scout partier of Konravian. Pyro, of queller Xilaben. A very powerful magic caster, with even the ability to teleport. They stood in the cavern doorway. They were on one mission, and one mission alone. To thin out the ranks of the Basilisks, which had been sorely over populating the area for some time. Hyga the druid, called out back to everyone. "They're gone. All of them. Not a single track in the area." While Hyga was inspecting for tracks, it was actually Konravian who noticed some sluggish tracks, almost such as what a gelatin cube leaves behind, paired with what appeared to be humanoid tracks leading to the northwest. He signaled back for everyone to come and have a look. Upon a short discussion, everyone decided it best to follow the tracks to see where they may lead. And perhaps even answer the question of the missing basilisks. Being a member of the circle, and a soldier of the Alhoon war, Konravian was no fool to how battle were, and how they quickly could go south. He decided to scout ahead of the group. The tunnel was a very tight tunnel for such a large amount of people to be in at the same time, so they naturally formed a line. The tunnel had sharp jagged stalagmites and stalactites about, there was no light visible, as no one in the party needed such things. As the end of the tunnel came about, there was an opening in the center that lead into a spiderweb of other tunnels. Konravian looked back to the rest of the group, and signed in the intricate drow sign language. "Enemy ahead, just one gelatin cube." Just as he finish signaling, the enemies were all about, attacking from all directions. It was an ambush. The sound of swords and spells rang loud throughout the tunnels. Gelatin cubes, and somehow, cultists! They appeared out of nowhere, and attacked the party like a plague. They formed up into a light formation, specific sometimes for use in underdark battle when surrounded on all sides. The cultists threw heavy magic back at the group as they threw their own volleys of spells. The battle raged on for a few minutes, then all were dead on the enemy side save one single cultist. He withstood everything the group had. The assassins at his back tactically disappearing every once in awhile. Only to appear at another place around him and continue their assault. Jeromon's massive build and scythe worked viciously at him, empowered by gifts from the casters, wards to improve his fighting capabilities. The casters fought frantically to kill the cultist, flinging spells and wards around hectically. The druid had been repositioning himself every so often to shoot into the fray without harming those of his own group. Finally the cultist had been slain. Deciding to regroup and have a look around, the group thought it was all over, however... Once again Konravian noticed something out of the blue. Green Blood! Leading to a small crevice in the floor of the cavern. More humanoid tracks accompanied the blood. So our party decided to follow them down. Shortly inside, we could tell there were many more oozes and cultists around. Hyga had commented on the strange large amount of tracks. There was a brazier lit with fire just inside the room, a strange oddity for the likes of the underdark, as most creatures have infravision or some sort of dark vision to compliment the darkness around. There were traces of ooze tracks all but on the ceilings. Which were lower than most of the gigantic ceilings throughout the underdark. Directly ahead, an empty room in the cavern with some boxes and crates. Perhaps a safe place to rest? *Konravian thought to himself.* The mercenary earth genasi, Jeromon Jr. had already begun his charge into the next room when he triggered a trap that hit the whole party hard. Acid burned their lungs and faces. Lucklily there was a jabress to heal everyone who was injured with her divine magics. Konravian decided to take point, as he could search, disarm, and scout ahead. Being an assassin, he was also skillled in the art of finding enemy weaknesses and going for them, while hopping in and out of shadows tactically to confuse them. No sooner than they got out of the room, two cultists and another ooze attacked the party. This fight wasn't quite as viscous as the ones in the tar pits were, which seemed a bit off to Konravian, but he didn't make mention of it. It also helped that they sent for a rather powerful faern who joined them shortly after entering the cavern. Pyro assisted in warding the the group with some powerful wards before the second battle. As they bounded the corner, Konravian decided to check for some more traps. No traps were in this smaller room with yet another lit brazier. By the time he had finished searching for the trap, the next wave was upon them. Two more cultists and oozes, this battle again was fierce. It took the group some time to fell them all. Some were badly injured in this battle, so they decided to go back to the vacant room for a regroup and rest to gather their strength. The rest was uneventful and was much needed after strenuous combat over a large amount of time. Proceeding through back to the next room, Hyga the Gnome druid had stopped the group. His face pale white. He commented. "Either there's a lot of oozes in that room... Or one big one." The group found it strange that he would comment on the size of such creatures, as they were normally massive anyway. It would seem the ones they had already been fighter were larger than normal even. If one could call such creatures by any description normal. Upon entering the room. There were multiple cultists around the room, and the most massive gelatin cube, any of the group had ever seen. Konravian jumped into the shadows as Jeromon charged right passed him, the rest of the group following. This was an experienced group in the ways of combat, the casters immediately started flinging their spells at the massive creature. Mort, another assassin who had much experience fighting alongside Konravian had begun phlanax fighting the cultists opposite the side Konravian was. One attack high, one attack low, whenever the enemy attacks one of them, they step into the shadows and allow the other to get it's attention. Such is the way of drow assassins. They paid little heed to the cube, as their attacks weren't powerful against such creatures. They rely on finding the weaker points on something they fight, such as vitals. These creatures had none. Shortly after the cultists fell, they began their tactics on the cube. While fighting this cube it made the comment. "When I was younger, creatins like you showed respect." Konravian laughed at this creature, and merely stated. "Dos attacked udos first." The cube in an angry rage shot bodies out in all directions at the party, a very powerful attack for one as ancient as this one. Konravian fell. Lifeless. Luckily Lloth favored Konravian, as he brought her pleasure on many occasions, he was brought back. By Lilith Oreb'le'i. A priestess to Lloth. Shortly after. They noticed an alter to worship these oozes. ((Can't for the life of me remember the name of the ooze deity.
Will add later.)) Also there were chests in the room trapped. And the altar had been destroyed in the battle, causing a collapse in the ceiling and preventing further passage down the tunnels. The first trap went off, and hurt the party quite a bit, as nobody thought to step back, and Konravian didn't think to tell them to do so. Also, he wasn't used to traps giving him much of a problem, so he didn't consider the thought. (<3 failing intel roll, both in game, and out. Lol!.) The second trap was devastating and almost killed the entire group. Shortly after, they decided to go back to Sshamath to report, resupply, and venture into the tunnels with some rothe in order to free the passage of it's barrier for further investigation.
To Be Continued... ((
)) Thanks everyone who was involved.
