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[Vanigo]

As informative as those tapestries promise to be, I think not waking up the lizard bird things is more important. Just leave, trying not to make too much noise.

[xdarkcodex]

Wow there sure is a lot of them... back away slowly.

[GlyphGryph]

With the number of creatures before you, while each rather small and something you are sure you could handle (except, perhaps, for the much much larger one in the middle), the sheer number of them make you hesitate. They don't seem to have responded to your presence yet, and still slumber peacefully, but after running through your possibilities, you can't think of a way that you can fight them all. You spear is warmer than ever, and it seems almost eager to find purchase in the bodies of these creatures, and you feel as if its almost pulling you towards them, although you banish the thought. Despite you unconscious desires, rushing into this battle would prove folly.

So you turn back. You'll have to find another way to deal with these monsters.

As you head back up the tunnel, your head begins to swim, and you fall unsteadily to your knees and drop your torch. Suddenly, images flash before your eyes. You see a vision of your village, the lizard creatures pouring through it, ripping its inhabitants limb from limb. You see a vision of the colossal mass in the room hatching, like some sort of egg, and an enormous and terrifying demon emerging from the cocoon. You see the Tunxit worshipping their dark god, and with a flash, you see them performing some ritual before their altar, setting this process in motion, and you know this image is not of the future, but of the past, and you know that the time until the creature emerges from its cocoon is soon, terribly soon. And then you see your spear, bright and shining, a light in the darkness of this nightmarish future, piercing the demon's heart before it emerges, and you know that.

Regaining your sense of self, you stumble back to your feet, scooping the torch once more into your hand. If there ever was any doubt in your mind what must be done, it is gone, and you know as well that you must lead the charge. You also realize that if you return with only this story, there is no way you will be able to convince you tribe of what is happening here. They will think you have been touched by the spirits, and you must bring back some sort of proof with you if you wish to convince them otherwise.

As you get to the junction, you notice the smoke has stopped billowing from the other hallway - likely your fire is merely smoldering now, if still going at all. Perhaps you could grab anything that survived as evidence. Or you could try to find some tribe mates outside, and bring them back in person. While the elders might not believe the word of a single ambitious warrior, you know that if the part itself vouched for the reality of this incident, it would be enough to sway them.

Perhaps returning the tribe would take too long... it may be better to gather the warriors above and return immediately, and pray the dozen of you are enough to purge this place.

Perhaps...

[Doret]

Return to the group of fellow warriors. Begin a speech related to demon slaying and protecting the future of your tribe and basically rallying your men. After your, hopefully inspiring, speech move into the cave with everyone that came and rush those damn lizards!

[GlyphGryph]

You can't wait for the tribe to gather together enough warriors to return, and decide to gather your companions and attempt to convince them to strike now. Leaving the torch at the entrance to mark the location of the cave, you head back to the Tunxit village.

You find you companions standing around a large fire, muttering to each other in nervous voices, and shifting uncomfortable. Upon spotting you, they seem surprised, and said it was good you lived - they had thought you dead. They go on to explain that while you were away, they had turned to looting the houses and corpses, only to be set upon by a pair of vicious and horrible beasts, all hair and claws and muscle and teeth. Caught by surprise, two warriors fell before a defense could be mustered, and the beasts themselves were unnaturally resilient, continuing to writhe and bite even after they had been pinned to the ground by several spears, at least until a few of the braver warriors set to hacking off their heads with hatchets. Once the bodies had stopped twitching, they had dragged them together and set them alight. They explained that a third warrior had died of his injuries in the fight, and that another was unlikely to survive due to the extent of his wounds. A few other warriors had scratches and bites, but none lifethreatening.

For your own part, you described how you had chased the fleeing Tunxit and what you encountered in the tunnel, firs tthe man's ritual and transfomation, then the monsters in the cavern, and finally the vision the spirits had gifted you with. With some argument, you convince the other warriors that something must be done about this, and that it must be done now. After a warrior looks into the cave himself and confirms your story, one of the warriors is sent back to the tribe to carry the story in case the rest of you fail in your task. Sassus, the most experienced warrior, takes up leadership of the group, and your group of nine descends into the darkness.

As you enter the large chamber, there are many hushed whispers as the warriors finally witness the task that lays before them. With a thinly veiled threat, Sassus manages to keep them in line, and and moves the group back while he ponders the best way to approach the situation. Finally, he explains that you will sweep into the room as silently as possible, hoping to kill as many of the smaller creatures as possible before they wake up, and as they awake, a call will be given to fall back to the tunnel so the others can be fought without your group being surrounded.

If there's anything you wish to say or do before you strike, now would be the time to do it.

[Vanigo]

Hey, what's the terrain like outside? We could make a huge pile of brush outside the door and set it on fire; suffocate the lizards. We'd have to wait a while afterwards for the air to clear, of course, but it sounds much safer and more likely to work.

[GlyphGryph]

It's light forest, so yes - the idea is feasible. Of course, they're also at what amounts to basically the bottom of a hole. While lighting a fire in the ROOM might have the desired effect, it would obviously entail a risk of waking the creatures up, and lighting the fire in the tunnel would result in most of the smoke going up and out, not bothering the creatures in the slightest

[Vanigo]

Not true, actually. A fire inside a cave will suck oxygen out of the lower reaches. During World War 2, Japanese soldiers hiding in caves were sometimes killed when American troops fired flamethrowers at the cave mouth. Although, come to think of it, there's really no way a tribesman would know this.

[Armok]

what abaut lighting it and then showing it into the room (and onto some of the cretures)?

[Vanigo]

That would kinda involve shoving something that's on fire.

[RedWarrior0]

The title of this thread just required me to put my avatar in it. kthxbai.

[GlyphGryph]

So are you going with the fire plan, then? Or original stabby plan?

[Doret]

A combination of the two, have people in the front ready to light dry brush when, and if you escape. Stab the lizards and if we lose too many retreat and have the brush burn as you make an epic final stand. Or is this a bad idea?

[xdarkcodex]

Run in guns blazing but without the guns.

[GlyphGryph]

You suggest that before the men go charging in, you set up line of debris at the entrance to the chamber. As the creatures pursue, you can light the debris on fire, slowing them down and perhaps killing a few in the process. Sassus nods, and sends everyvone out to gather armfuls of sticks, grass, and leaves. Even as they are placed, the creatures remain slumbering, until the signal is given. With a rush, you all run forward with your weapons and set upon the creatures spread across the floor.

As you pass the bottom of the steps, the air in the room takes on a notable change, and your spear nearly leaps from your hand towards the monsters, practically humming in anticipation. The lizards are slowly uncurling, waking up from their deep slumber, and then your spear darts forward, piercing one through effortlessly, pulling back as you slip the spear from the newly made corpse, and then darting forward again. The haze of battle rises up against you, and your filled with a rage that these creatures would dare to exist, and then suddenly the spell is broken as you hear Sassus call your name, yelling for you to fall back. You turn, swiping your spear at one of the creatures that was drawing to close, and run for the stairs, leaping over the corpse of one your tribemates.

Running up the stairs and through the brush, you can hear the rustling of clitter clatter claws climbing behind you, hundreds of hard sharp points tearing at the stone for speed, dozens of mouths screeching for your blood, and then your through, your to the line of spears at the end of the fire chokepoint, and you turn and set your spear with the others as the creatures throw themselves against your wall of death, many living long enough to drag themselves up the spears, teeth snapping and claws reaching for flesh. A warrior falls to your left, and one behind your shoulder as a creature practically crawls over you to bite at his throat, sending your warm blood running down your body from the rip in your shoulder before you feel its limbs go limp and the dead weight falls off of you. The spears of you and your companions are soon being dragged down by the weight of the bodies, and the axes come out tio fend off another wave as Sassus gives the call to light the fires. With a rush of flame, the creatures burst into a cacaphony of shrieks, backing away from the heat, their feathers catching in moments. One flaming creature bursts from the fire, landing on the chest of the man next to you and dragging him down, the screams of the man mingling with the roar of the flames and the creatures death cries. As the smoke fills the air, stinging your eyes and burning your lungs, your group falls back, coughing, out of the caves and into the open air.

Dropping to your knees, you find that somehow your spear is still in your hand, wrenched from a corpse as you retreated before the black smoke.

Looking up after you catch your breath, you take stock. Four warriors have made it outside with you, all wounded, and Sassus is not among them.The others look around uncertainly as the smoke from the cave starts to lessen, unsure of who to turn to for leadership, and then, as one, they decide to turn to you. You nod at them.

"We will remain here for a while longer, rest, and treat our wounds. By then, the smoke should be clear. We will head back down, and make sure we have finished this."

The men are tired, and hurt, and you can see fear in their eyes at the horror and madness they just lived through, at the knowledge that what remained down there could still easily kill them, but the mantle of leadership fell lightly on your shoulders. You knew what had to be done, and that they would do it.

Your own wound as superficial as it is, you guard the exit while the others tend to their wounds. A single lizard creature pokes its scorched head through the hole before you run it through.

Then it is time, and you beckon for the men to follow you back down into the darkness.

(No decision to be made at this point really, though suggestions are fine if you come up with them. More to come in the morning, and that post will probably mark the end of the chapter!)