Day 9, Loshdain, Thaumont 9th, Dymrak Forest, afternoon, Combat Round 3The beetles scramble over the goblin and horse corpses and across the blood-soaked earth, toward you!
Beetle 1 leaps on Renardius. It can't get its mandibles around the cleric's armor, so it backs up, then spits a stream of oily fluid. With a sickening
ping and
plop, the oil covers the cleric from head to toe. Within seconds blisters form on Renardius' face and hands.
He will be at -2 to hit until a CLW spell is administered, or 24 hours passes. Beetle 2 is on Athelstan seconds later. Its mandibles crunch into the fighter's chain mail, bending some of the links into the skin
(5 hp dmg). It then lets go, backs up, and spits on Athelstan too, with the same results. Gross!
Soldath draws another dart and attacks the beetle in front of Renardius. He misses.
Athelstan, limping, grips Chrysomer gingerly in his blister-coated hands. He swings into his attacker, but the pain is too much. He misses.
Beetle 3 rushes Tret's horse. Its bite misses, as does the spittle.
Biz throws a dart at Athelstan's adversary
(d20: 20!) killing the creature instantly.
Jarek fires an arrow at beetle 4, landing it solidly in the creature's shell
(4 hp dmg).
Beetle 5 attacks Renardius. The bite misses, but the spittle does not. Lucky for the cleric the effects are not cumulative.
"The horses!" Taras shouts. "Look what they did to our horses! Damn those bastards!" With a curse he launches an arrow at beetle 4
(6 hp dmg). The creature falls in mid charge, dead.
Tret backs up his horse to fire at beetle 3, but the mount is too skittish, and he misses.
You hear a rustling in the trees, and a dark shape drops from the branches. It lands with a splat in the mud, and then starts running for the far side of the clearing. It looks like a goblin.
Beetle 6, moving at full tilt, lunges past Renardius and at Jarek, sinking its mandibles into the horse's leg
(5 hp dmg). The horse neighs in pain and panick. The beetle retreats and spits all over the horse. Jarek's mount rears up on its hind legs. The thief struggles to stay in the saddle, but he keeps his balance.
Renardius, covered in more spittle then the DM will be in less than two months from now, fights through the pain and crashes Smiter into beetle 5
(4 hp dmg). It screeches, but stays on all six of its legs.
Beetles 2 & 4 are dead. Beetles 1 & 5 are wounded.
Actions?