Raja drops a box of paper lanterns and cedar weights.

It is a lovely summer day. We /could/ be grilling foods on an open fire pit. We /could/ be lazing about on a fishing bank with a line cast in the water. We /could/ be enjoying a nice dip in the cool water and spending time with friends. But, no. We are all gathered here staring down a deep, dark hole that wafts out a hint of something disgusting. A system of lanterns have already been set up on the ridge of the hole, paper lanterns going down along the length to illuminate the way. However, deep down, there is a blot of darkness at the end of the tunnel, most likely the opening to some sort of 'room' or cavern.

If you wish to climb down roll strength/athletics at normal

Bonibel checks strength and athletics at normal. Bonibel is successful.

Tython checks strength and athletics at normal. Tython marginally fails.

Bonibel stares down into the hole. The petite Apothecary, sunburnt and freckled as she is, rests her hands on her hips as she stares into the lantern lit grloom below. "Well, aint n' time like the present." And down she goes. With movements that can only be described as ferret-like she manages to scramble halfway down and peers first down and then up to watch the others.

Tython knows about the hole, at least he knows it's there and how wreched of a place it is. The Culler is uncharacteristicly grim as he stares into it, but a polite smile is offered to Bonibel as he looks at her and even winks her way, before he ties a strip of cloth around his face, and starts climbing down after Bonibel, somewhat to the side of her.
The Culler's foot finds something solid, his shoe has a good grip of it but whatever it is doesn't have a good grip of the tunnel surface so it slips from under him. His hands reach out and scrabble at anything nearby, raking fingers against Bonibel's foot as he falls past her only to be caught by the 'safety rope' with a loud *HOOOF!* as the air is temporarily knocked from him.

Jhond checks strength and athletics at normal. Jhond is successful.

Jhond is one of the folks that had originally found the hole and just didn't have the time to go down it. Now there is nothing but time! to counter the Culler's grim expression Jhond grins broadly and waggles his brows. "Down we go!" and lays on his belly to get his feet down, attaches a lantern to dangle below him from his belt and starts to climb down with hands and feet finding holds along the sides.

Boni smiles at Tython in the moments beore they head into the hole and her eyes widen when he slips and slides down the side of the hole. Sadly she is nothing solid so the Culler's fingers brush over the leather of her boots and she looks just over the edge with a small huff when she sees that Tython was caught by the rope. "Thank's f'r volunteerin' t' scout. How d' things look?" Boni's teeth flash in a feral grin. She glances at Jhond and nods in approval that he managed to make his way down.

As you descend, a pungent aroma wafts up from below. The smell is near overpowering and nauseating. It is really difficult to determine what the aroma is. There is the hint of rot mixed with mold and a dash of loamy earth... and something else..

To finish your descent and to not get sick, roll Endurance + athletics at normal

Bonibel checks stamina and athletics at normal. Bonibel fails.

Jhond checks stamina and athletics at normal. Jhond is successful.

Boni smiles at Tython in the moments beore they head into the hole and her eyes widen when he slips and slides down the side of the hole. Sadly she is nothing solid so the Culler's fingers brush over the leather of her boots and she looks just over the edge with a small huff when she sees that Tython was caught by the rope. "Thank's f'r volunteerin' t' scout. How d' things look?" Boni's teeth flash in a feral grin. She glances at Jhond and nods in approval that he managed to make his way down.

"Eh, feck.." The scent makes Bonibel sway a little, which is an accomplishment given that she smells like a medicinal cabinet. She's a little too busy paying attention to the face that she's retching to pay attention to here her grip is placed and down she goes... caught with a squeak at the end of the rop, hanging there limply as she continues to heave. It's not pretty. Look out below.

Jhond wrinkles his nose as the aroma of the pit wafts up to them on their way down. He eyes Tython as the rope goes taut and pauses a moment. "That's not you is it? didn't pack a change of breeches" he says with a tone of good natured ribbing before continuing his way on down with a less than please look on his face at the aroma. There is a wince as a Bonibel falls as wel and he calls down to her as he descends. "You alright?"

Raimon checks strength and athletics at normal. Raimon marginally fails.

Raimon checks stamina and athletics at normal. Raimon marginally fails.

Raimon manages to slip and barf at the same time. Perhaps it's the sudden catch of the safety rope and the snap-jerk of the stop - of - the - fall that finally looses the contents of Raimon's stomach? Maybe it's the sudden barfing that causes Rai to lose concentration and slip? Raimon tries his very best to -not- remember which it was, just to get this over with, with the minimum of additional awkwardness. Somehow. Rai tries to aim his barf at the wall least likely to dip on someone. Small mercies, perhaps, but: courtesy counts!

Tython checks stamina and athletics at normal. Tython is successful.

You make it to the bottom of the tunnel and set feet into a squishy, mushy ground. The ground beneath your feet squelch within some thick ichor. With empty stomachs, there is nothing left to barf. But for some of our group, their stomachs are not having any of this delightful aroma. As lanterns are lifted to look around, you will see this used to be a man-made room. However streaks of green and brown sludgy bits stretch up over the walls and across the floor. There are a couple of boxes to the side. They all seem old and broken, the contents long gone. A corpse lies with fleshy bits still hanging from bone.

Please roll perception (at normal) to search the room. You may add intelligence + animal ken to investigate the sludge (at hard)

Bonibel hangs there off the rope like so much bait. She ragdolls pathetically for a few moments moaning like a queasy ghoul, spinning on the end of the safety rope. "Uuuuuuuuhhgg... Skald preserve me.. 'M fine.." Hurk. "'m just fine. Cannae say that for whatever's makin that smell though." This is offered woozily and she sighs reaching into her pouch and pulling out a little bottle which she pours into her hand and smears under her nose. "Y'mind helpin' me down?" She wonders this of Jhond as Raimon readies to join them. "I'll share." She holds the pot up as incentive for someone to help the petite redhead from the end of the line.

Tython can't breath for a moment, and then he's breathing stinky air, but ah-hah! The cloth he tied around his mouth and nose is scented! So instead of horrible nasty septic stank, he's smelling rosy septic stank. At least he's not going to throw up his rum! He turns his head, and holds a hand up with a thumbs-up to Boni, nope, everything's awesome. "Meant't do that." He mutters as he starts to get his footing again, to proceed downward with a wince of lingering ache.

Bonibel checks perception at normal. Bonibel is successful.

Bonibel checks intellect and animal ken at hard. Bonibel marginally fails.

Jhond checks perception at normal. Jhond fails.

Raimon checks perception and investigation at normal. Raimon is successful.

Jhond gets down to the bottom and undoes the rope around his waist before moving to help the others finish their descents. He seems to be too preoccupied with not stepping in any recent vomit than to really take a close look around at the surroundings. maybe sandals weren't the best idea.

Raimon is done puking, althouth he's still somewhat mourning the loss of the dinner of the night before. As such, he's no great and pressing need, nor motivation, to further investigate the sludge. Nope. Not right at the moment, at least. After poking around the boxes, however, Raimon realizes: "Hey guys! That corpse used to use this room as a hideout and was a dust dealer -- there's tainted dust residue in the boxes . . . "

. . . and whoever - it - was was carrying a small pouch of dust to deal out of."

As Raimon pokes about in that box, beetles scamper out of the box, fleeing from the probing hand. Though a pair of dumb beetles scamper up Raimon's arm! As the group pokes around the room, they will find a wall that has crumbled. A tunnel has been burrowed through the wall. It was definitely something burrowed. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. However, that sludge.. it utterly coats the walls. And there is a chittering sound.

Boni gets herself free and tucks the salve away though she does seem to be returning to her normal sunburnt shade rather than the gray green. She looks around and eyes the beetles with a wrinkle of her nose. "Grand." She sighs at the news delivered by Raimon and she pulls her gloves from her belt and pulls them on. "Seems like his plans went south, eh?"

"Why my Mom always told me to stay away from the stuff" Jhond says as he looks towards the corpse of the dust dealer, "just look what happens" A cluck of his tongue as he moves to peer over Raimon's shoulder at the boxes. "Looks like some other occupants have made use of the space."

Tython is frowning as he looks around, even with the cloth covering his nose and mouth one might see it. It's a good thing he wore some nasty clothing today, just taking his weapons along of course but, it's best to have clothing you can just throw in the river when you're done. "Feckin' nasty." He mutters the obvious. "You'd have ta' /be/ on dust tae' wanna' hideout here long term." He makes his way to the hole, not touching anything, just investigating..

Raimon ponders all of the tactical considerations inherent in fighting a dust-crazed sludge-'o-gator in a tunnel in the side of the bottom of a well of putrescence. And any way you slice it, that prognosis comes up "not so good." Raimon wonders: "Could we possibly lure it out at least partway into the tunnel, somehow, maybe, and deal with it using pointy sticks while using those box bits as cover to hide behind?" Whatever 'It' is?

Chitter. Chitter. The chittering gets a little louder. The sound of things scampering around can be heard from the darker corners of the room. Wait.. the sound is even coming from overhead!

Roll dexterity + dodge at normal

Raimon checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Raimon is successful.

Bonibel checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Bonibel is successful.

Tython checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Tython is successful.

Jhond checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Jhond is successful.

Boni's hand drops to her pouch and she slinks backwards as the sound of the chittering comes from the tunnel. Boni chooses to be 'backup', in otherwise, in the back and making sure there are at least three bodies between her and the noise.

"Feckin.." Mutters Tython as he holds the lantern up exposing beatles, not skittering away but going /toward/ them. He draws out his rapier, and uses it to trace the tip back and forth across the approaching beatles in sweeping motions, not requiring much strength but for a well-balanced weapon such as this it may allow him to hold them at bay. As they begin falling from the ceiling the man growls and starts swiping his other hand over his head trying to keep them off him, as he backs up toward the entrance making sure everyone else is at behind or beside him at least.

Tython wields The Cutting Storm, a diamondplate rapier.

Bonibel takes A small sharp black knife with a squat rounded handle from A water-proofed medical pouch.

Bonibel wields A small sharp black knife with a squat rounded handle.

The person backing up is probably the smart one. jhond, though, tilts his head slightly at the chittering and steps forward towards the wall. his gaze moves upward as he notices the ceiling seems to be moving as well to spot the beetles. "Well... crap." He says right before they start to fall. He focuses on his feet again to avoid stepping and slipping on anything as he begins to move back towzrds the way up as well and draws the two swords at his side as he does so.

Jhond wields Sweet Lies and Bitter Truths, a pair of alaricite swords.

Raimon defends the light source(s), figuring the easiest way for this to get worse is to have to fight these things in the dark. Could result in a fair bit of accidentally stabbing each other, that. The name of the game here is probably 'surface area' so if he needs to mash battles against the walls and ceiling, he'll do it with the wide flat part of the ax so as to get as many as possible in each . . . smooshing.

Beetles. Everywhere! They are oversized for sure! It would seem that our group of adventurers have stepped into their hive! These beetles aren't acting right either. Instead of scampering away, these are running towards them! Each one of these beetles sports wide jaws and a large horn and tough carapace. The exoskeleton is black and shimmers in the light of their lanterns. When the lanterns get close, they do skitter back into a more shadowy corner. It is hard to see all of them! They move through the shadows and the darkness with ease, jumping out to bite at our heroes. You will see one, then you won't. Wait! There it is again! It is extremely hard to keep track of them.

Jhond checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Jhond is successful.

Raimon checks dexterity and huge wpn at normal. Raimon is successful.

Bonibel checks dexterity and small wpn at normal. Bonibel fails.

The Northern Apothecary is just here to support so the sudden arrival of the chitonous invaders has her shaking herself and trying to mince backwards and avoid the rush of beetles. "What're these little fecks? High on dust?" Poor Boni isn't prepared for a tiny rush of enemies.

Raimon doesn't so much try to aim at individual rhino beetles, at least not to start out with. Raimon merely swings his weapon against the ceiling and the walls: sidewise, using the flat of the weapon, pretty much like you would use a shovel. *CrONcH* Seems to work. Raimon keeps at it . . . grim work.

Jhond uses his sword blades to bat away a beetle as it drops before dipping one down to swing at the floor with a crunch of metal on chitin. The other moves up to skewer one as it falls and he keeps moving back. "Don't let these bug you too much!"

Crunch! Gush. Ick! The bugs are getting crunched by our heroes, but the tide keeps flowing. More flow out of the tunnel, scampering along the walls, on the ceiling, and on the floor. They fan out and then rush in towards the group. These things are about the size of a man's hand. It does take a bit to crunch into them. But, they are still stompable with good boots! Not sandals. Sandals do not stomp these beetles.

Jhond checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Jhond is successful.

Raimon checks dexterity and huge wpn at normal. Raimon is successful.

Bonibel checks dexterity and small wpn at normal. Bonibel fails.

Boni is flailing and shaking her skirts and trying to stomp the stubborn little insects off but no matter what she does she can't get the little things off her. Thankfully the people that Bonibel has decided to hide behind are far, far more capable than the queasy redhead.

The dead bodies of the beetles keep piling up. Jhond's feet are disgusting in those sandals as muck, sludge, and beetle bits coat them. Raimon has some scuffs on him, but nothing bad. Poor Bonibel. The critters /love/ her! They bite into her soft flesh. She is tasty! In the background, Tython is smushing his own batch nearby. The hoard of beetles no longer flow from the tunnel. It is just the beetles left in the room that surround them.

Jhond does not even try to stomp them. That is what a good blade is for. He leans down slightly and waits, picking his targets at the beetles rush towards them and nearly cuts one in half with one blade before stabbing another nearly through the top and taking another step back. "Dont get any in your mouth!" he calls with a grunt of effort at the stab, "probably give you a nasty bug."

Raimon continues to defend the light sources, smoosching bugs against the wall, or the ceiling, or the floor, as appropriate. Or expedient. Or handy. Raimon's not too particular, as long as they eventually get out of this mess!

Bonibel checks dexterity and small wpn at normal. Critical Success! Bonibel is spectacularly successful.

Jhond checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Jhond is successful.

Raimon checks dexterity and huge wpn at normal. Raimon marginally fails.

Bonibel cant get a grip on one of the little things to throw at Jhond, she's laughing anyway and also in pain, ow. One might begin to doubt the petite Apotehcary's sanity as she cackles beween pained yelps as pinchers dig into her. Finally she appears to have had enough and a beastial snarl busts through her usually cheerful demeanor and she starts using her punch knife for it's true use. Simply punch-stabbing the cronchy enemy while swearing in a fairly colorful fashion.

Raimon, in his zeal to defend the lights, accidentally brushed up against the wall, and is beetle-y rhino-valanched. Ugh. He swats most of them off. Mostly. One gets inside his collar, which proves to be an unpleasant thing.

The heros keep at it and before you know it, there is no more gnashing of beetle jaws into their exposed bits. They had gone through a lot of these feral creatures. The bodies and bits are piled on the floor. Bonibel is splattered with the goo after she went feral and demolished like half the room in one go! So now, things have grows silent. But... it still stinks.

"I don't know enough about bugs to make anymore jokes!" Jhond calls out followed but another crunch of his blade biting into one of the giant things. "But these things are huge! they really beetle-ittle the regular ones!" Stab! Stab!

Bonibel's hands hang at her side and she pants for a few moments, covered in goo and glowering with bright hazels into the hole like she might go wading in there and continue her mini-berserk rage. Instead she mutters a quip at Jhond, "Thank the stars f'r small favors." She shakes her hand off sending goo and bits onto the sticky wall.

Raimon carefully cleans off his weapon, as incredulous as that might seem, given the fairly ubiquitous filth down here. But it's not a 'good habit' if you stop it for whatever reasons. Raimon carefully inspects the edge. Nothing wrong there, as he'd been using the flat. OK. Raimon looks around at the carnage. Has second thoughts about looking. Ah Well. "Why do you s'pose they attacked?" Raimon wonders. "Did they get into the dust?" "Would they have made that big a tunnel, do you think?" Raimon points to the side passage, curiously. Raimon's no expert on insects. Or arachnids. Gonna need someone else to know!

"Maybe their nest? bees and ants do that, right? Swarm and attack of the nest is poked at?" Jhond guesses with a shrug of his shoulders. He gives a beetle another stab, just to be sure before giving a nod towards Bonibel. "you alright? should we move in further?"

When nothing else comes out of the tunnel, it would be safe to assume that they killed the nest of beetles. When explored, the tunnel winds up being rather short and leads to a circular 'chamber'. In the middle are several bodies, well, mostly skeletal. It would seem that is what these creatures had been feeding on down here. As they dig around, they find a few pouches of silver and a few writs on the various corpses. If these rooms are cleaned out, they could actually be used for something!